"Hit by a Falling Star"

It was a lovely Thursday morning.

Business had, like many days before it, been slow.

On such slow, boring, non-profitable days like this, Mr Mushnik would let Seymour wander off to busy himself and to prevent the young man from destroying any more inventory in his clumsiness. Seymour wasn't a wandering soul, he had little friends (even less if he omitted his co-workers) to hang out with, and the streets of Skid Row weren't the type to be wandered by a waifish florist.

He did however, enjoy the Uptown wholesale flower market.

Mr Mushnik used to drag him along to the 5am market back when he was a boy, just barely beating the morning rush and getting back with enough time for Seymour to get his petal-covered tuchus to school. It helped that his guardian got better deals from the wholesalers when a sleepy doe-eyed child was clinging to him. Even years on some of the older wholesalers recognised Seymour as "Mushnik's boy" and would give him bushels to bring back to the store: at a reduced price of course.

One seller that Seymour was particularly fond of was Mr Chang. The old man imported and grew his own exotic plants, and had been sneaking the young botanist cuttings and clippings ever since he was a teen.

Mr Chang was there that morning, like many before it. Display tables were set up in front of his shop, showcasing his more unusual specimens. Mr Chang liked to import plants from all over - not just his native China - and had entire shelves and tables dedicated to cacti, succulents, and short squat trees called "bonsais" that grew as if they weren't contained in a coffee tin.

"Good morning, young man!" the old shopkeep smiled. "Business as usual?"

"Unfortunately." Seymour replied in a half-joke. "The shop has been empty all day, so Mr Mushnik gave me a break." He did a quick scan of the exterior tables. Dracaenas, peace lilies, gerberas, peonies, a row of sprouting sagaros and whatnot.

Nothing too unusual at a glance.

"Anything new today?" Seymour asked hopefully.

Mr Chang shook his head. "Not since last week. There should be a shipment of new Iris variates by the start of next month."

"Oh…" Seymour deflated a little. "I guess I'll have to wait until then."

He was always excited to see new, strange, and exotic plants for himself. Mr Mushnik only really bought flowers that he knew buyers would buy, and only really allowed Seymour to buy anything stranger than a daisy if Seymour could buy it out of his own pocket.

Still, he should browse a little more.

As he was scoping the cacti for a replacement for one he had accidentally over watered, something unusual happened.

At first he just thought an autumnal rain cloud had bustled in. Then it got dark.

Seymour's eyes immediately flickered to the sky, where he could see the Sun be quickly blotted out by a dark round shape.

"A solar eclipse? At this time of year?"

He stood there for what felt like hours, staring straight on into the Sun's halo. Even though rational thought told him to stop staring or less he go blind, Seymour couldn't tear his eyes away from the shape. He could hear cars and people stall as seemingly everyone was entranced by the skies. A strange humming sound filled Seymour's ears and without warning; a new darkness overcame him.

"OW!"

He came to seconds later, the sky back to it's original blue, and himself on the ground on his back. He felt like he had just been hit with a rogue baseball. There was a burning pain in his throat and his mouth felt like it was full of metal. He sincerely hoped he hadn't bitten his tongue or broken a tooth. He lay like that in a daze until Mr Chang ran to his side.

"Are you alright my boy?" the old man asked, trying his best to bend down on arthritic knees. "You looked dead on at the eclipse! I'm surprised you're not blind!"

Seymour opened his mouth to say something, only to be met with a violent upheaval. An angry nauseating pressure pressed against the roof of his mouth. He coughed and spluttered until a mass, no bigger than an apple, fell out of his mouth and into his palms.

In his hands lay a crumpled and very wet plant.

"I'm so sorry Mr Chang!" Seymour panicked, trying to think how his clumsiness could have led to this. "I think I almost swallowed one of your plants!"

The old man waved him off. "No worries, boy. A piece of bok choy probably fell out of my window planter." He finally managed to Seymour onto his feet and gave the plant a good look over. "Though I don't remember ever eating something like that."

Seymour agreed. The thing in his hand, although looking similar, didn't appear to be a piece of Chinese cabbage like Mr Chang suggested. The leaves twisted in a spiral pattern before ending at a large rose-like bud.

It was strange and unusual.

"How much?"

"Excuse me?"

"How much for this plant?" Seymour reaffirmed, wiping saliva off of it's form.

Mr Chang gave him strange look before answering. "I'll tell you what. For both the plant, and a tin to put it in, I'll take 2 dollars."

"A dollar ninety-five."

"Sold!"

With that, the strange plant was carefully moved into a waiting Maxwell House tin along with a cupful of moist dirt. After wrapping the bundle in newspaper, Mr Chang gave Seymour a few suggestions.

"It looks like bok choy to me, but it also looks a little bit like a succulent. Make sure to keep an eye on what it grows into and tell me when it's farther along."

Seymour beamed, holding his new treasure to his chest. "I will! Thank you Mr Chang!"

"Now get along before Mr Mushnik begins to wonder where you've been."

Seymour then paled.

"You're right! Goodbye Mr Chang!"

The old man smiled as Seymour bounded away, before going back to tend to his stock. After a moment or two he looked upwards.

"Strange." He thought to himself. "I thought the eclipse wasn't until February."

"Where in heaven's name have you been?" Mr Mushnik yelled as Seymour stumbled into the store. "I've had three orders come I while you were gone! People outside have been running around because of some total eclipse, and you're out playing in traffic!?"

"Sorry, I was at the market Mr Mushnik!" Seymour apologized meekly. "And I found this strange and unusual plant. Well… more accurately it found me."

"I don't care who found who. Just put it downstairs with the rest of your time-wasters and help me man these orders!"

"Okay, Mr Mushnik!"

The older man huffed as Seymour stumbled down the stairs, only to call down seconds later. "And make sure to wipe that grass stain off your neck! It'll scare the customers!"

"What customers?" Seymour thought dryly, placing the news-wrapped bundle onto his end table. He peeled the wrapping away to reveal the strange bud to the dim basement light. The bud seemed to curl at the change in light, perking up like a bird to sunrise.

"At least you're a new face huh?" He spoke to the plant, knowing he wouldn't get an answer. It had been a habit ever since he was a child and had learned that talking to plants could help them grow due to the air humans breathed out helped nurture the plant's growth. "You gave me a fright. Landing on my face like that. I could have swallowed and digested you like a sprout if you hadn't been careful."

The bud looked at him as if it did not understand what he said. Most likely because it was a plant.

"Still, you're a real beautiful little thing." He cooed, running a finger over the top of the bud. The inner most petals started to unfurl, exposing a pinkish-blue center. Seymour moved his finger to look closer at the bud, only for it to curl close once more. "Don't be too shy. I won't hurt you. I just need to figure out what you are first-"

A shout came from above. "SEYMOUR!"

"I'm coming Mr Mushnik!" He responded, quickly rushing to the sink to wash whatever stain his boss had complained about. In the mirror he could definitely see small green marks around his mouth and neck - likely from where his new friend had hit him. A small rub with the washcloth cleared up most of the stain, though there was still a light bruise forming where he had the strange burning sensation earlier.

"That's gonna leave a nasty bruise." he said allowed, mostly to himself. "Another one for the collection I guess." He then addressed the plant, who was now seemingly preening at the attention. "I sure hope you don't turn out to be some kind of poison oak."

"SEY-MOUR!"

"Sorry Mr Mushnik!" As he tripped over his own feet to the stairs, pausing only to whisper. "I'll be back soon. Just keep photosynthesizing for now."

As Seymour Krelborn exited the basement he failed to notice something very crucial.

The tiny, strange, and unusual bud - was smiling.

Thanks for reading! There will be more updates soon and thank you very much! I will also like to give thanks to linadoonofficial over on tumblr for giving me the inspiration to finally post this!