The Power of Flowers
Marluxia was in a bind.
It wasn't the first time it had happened. It seemed he was always in some kind of trouble, whether it was with the Superior for perfuming the hallways or with Larxene for being himself or with Axel for once again decorating his room with wonderfully pink things as a joke. And of course, Vexen was angry with him on a day-to-day basis, no matter how many times he tried to make it up to the crazy, but wonderful, scientist.
He sighed, his pink hair drooping as if in reflection of his inner turmoil.
He couldn't blame anyone but himself, really. The very first time he met the blond, he had called him a "crazy old man, who might as well stay in the basement for the rest of his life so no one is forced to look upon his ugliness".
Marluxia later came to regret that statement, when he bumped into a rather handsome blond with his hair braided over one shoulder wearing blue silk pajama's. As it turned out, the handsome man was none-other than Vexen, fresh out of a shower after spending two weeks working on a science project that was a matter of life-or-death for Saix (and quite possibly the rest of the Organization), who was having extreme difficulty controller his Berserker-mode.
Larxene and Axel made fun of him for several weeks after learning of his crush on the not-so-friendly man, though both of them shut up once they found out his feelings were sincere. Axel still made fun of him on occasion, not seeing anything special about Vexen, but Larxene was always there to offer her own special brand of advice.
He was starting to regret listening to her.
For a while things had been going alright between him and Vexen. They were at least conversing somewhat civilly with one another, which was a big step up from the silent treatment and glares from before. Marluxia had just been getting confident enough to hope Vexen saw him as a friend when Larxene ruined it all by asking when their first date was and whether or not she should get to work on finding Marluxia the perfect wedding dress.
It had all been in jest, of course, though Vexen didn't see it that way.
And so that left Marluxia, roaming the streets of a random little town, wracking his mind for a way to make it up to his crush.
It was on the older side of town, with nicely renovated buildings, that he found his haven. One of the buildings was a newly refurbished flower shop called "Nobara Flowers". The neatly arranged decorations in the window were what caught his attention at first, but what drew him in was a small sign which read: "Looking for the perfect way to tell someone how you feel? Convey it with flowers! Every flower has its own meaning."
Marluxia walked inside and instantly felt at home amongst the plants. The floral scents drifted past his nose, making him sigh with happiness. It was a nice change from the white walls and sterilized scents of the castle.
"Hello? May I help you with something?"
Marluxia jumped, nearly knocking over a potted rose. He recollected himself just in time and turned to face the speaker, a young man wearing a multi-colored bandana over top of his silver hair. Briefly he found himself at a loss for words, wondering what the young man used to condition his hair. Seconds later, he snapped himself out of it, remembering the reason he was there.
"I want a bouquet of flowers for, uh, someone I like," he finished rather lamely. "I made hi-er- her, rather angry the other day and want to apologize. Thing is, h-she won't listen to me."
"I have just the thing!" Said the silver-haired man. "That is, if you would like one of our specialty bouquets. They cost a little extra, though I have most of the meanings memorized."
"That's fine," Marluxia replied, trying to catch a glimpse of the man's name tag. "Firion."
Firion nodded and disappeared into the back, returning moments later with a few stems of a lovely purple flower. "This is purple hyacinth. It means something to the affect of 'please forgive me'."
Marluxia awed over the simplistic beauty of the plant. It was perfect, though he needed something else in the bouquet. Something pink.
"We also have a few white and pink gladiolus, which can be used to convey sincerity," Firion added helpfully. "Hydrangea's can also be used to say 'I'm sorry'. Or perhaps you're looking for something a little different. Something to say 'I love you'."
A light pink tinge crossed Marluxia's cheeks. "I-I think I should keep it simple for now. Don't want to make hi-her any more angry. I like this hyacinth. Maybe mixed with some pink gladiolus? And then maybe something green to fill in the spaces between."
"We have a few different variety's of fern. I'll bring out a few examples to show you and you can pick which one you like best. The gladiolus too." Once again, Firion disappeared into the back to pick out a few different stalks from the refrigerators.
Together the two picked out the perfect arrangement, complete with pretty colored tissue paper around the stems and a cotton-candy pink ribbon to add a little extra flourish. Marluxia happily paid Firion a little extra, promising to return again some day, and then set off back to the castle, hoping to catch Vexen before he went to bed for the night.
Back at the castle, he ignored Larxene as she tried her best to apologize for what she said earlier. She finally took the hint when he reached the door to the basement and glared at him.
"Good luck," she said, motioning to the flowers. She then spotted Demyx trying to sneak down the hall with his sitar, smirked, and sauntered over to torment him.
Marluxia took a deep breath and slowly reached for the door handle, praying that Vexen wouldn't throw another flask at him. The last time it happened, well, it wasn't pretty.
The door opened before he had a chance to grasp the handle and he sucked in a breath when he found himself standing face-to-face with the very scientist he was looking for.
"I- um- hi?"
Vexen did not look amused.
"Here!" Marluxia shoved the flowers in his face. "I bought these for you! They have meanings! I wanted to show you how sorry I am for what happened earlier!"
"So you bought me flowers?" Vexen asked, taking the flowers so they would no longer be in his face. He sighed at the hopeful look on the pink-haired man's face and looked down at the flowers, wondering what was so special about the pink and purple buds. It was then that he noticed the card with a rather obvious 'I'm Sorry' scrawled across the front. Flipping it over, he found the names of the flowers and their meanings in Marluxia's familiar, tidy handwriting. "I'm not sure why you need flowers to tell me this, when you're more than capable of telling me this yourself."
"It's the sentiment that counts, you scrooge!" Marluxia argued, finding himself back in familiar territory.
Arguing was completely normal, so long as there was no true anger in it. The two of them were, after all, very different people. Though that was part of the fun.
"If you're going to use flowers, then why tell me what you mean when you're giving them to me? It ruins the whole point," Vexen replied with a hint of a smirk on his face.
"Because you won't figure out what it means. Therefore, I have to tell you."
"I'd look it up if I wanted to know."
"Do you want to know?"
"Not particularly."
"See!"
The two stared one-another down for a moment before Vexen rolled his eyes and held out the bouquet.
"Don't these things need water or something?" He asked.
Marluxia took the flowers with a nod. "Yeah! I'll go get a vase and some water. Then you can put them in your room! I think they'll look rather nice near your window against those blue curtains."
"I'm going to refrain from asking how you know what my room looks like and how those decorations got there to begin with and instead give you permission to bring those to my room. And then leave." Vexen added after a second of thought.
Marluxia was too happy to pay much attention to the added statement. Vexen had invited him to his room for the very first time! It was a momentous day indeed.
Several weeks later, after dropping by Nobara Flowers nearly every day, Marluxia found himself with a part-time job there. Firion had been rather impressed with the pink-haired man's knowledge of plants and his ability to retain new information on them and finally decided it was best to ask him to work there.
"Can you go check on that new shipment?" Firion asked around noon. "They should be done soaking by now."
Marluxia set down the piece of fern he had been fiddling with in boredom and did as his boss asked. Working there wasn't nearly as fun as he thought it'd be, so he took any opportunity to move away from the cash register.
The bell above the door chimed and Firion looked up to greet the first customer of the afternoon. He couldn't help but smile when he saw the wild, sunny blond hair of his favorite Blitzball player.
"Hey, Rosebud!"
"Hello, Tidus," Firion replied, fighting a blush at the use of his nickname. "What brings you here?"
"Well, you, of course. I don't really need flowers. Though these are pretty." Tidus gestured to the roses, knowing how much care his friend gave to them. They certainly showed it, with their bushy, leafy greens and the many red roses blossoming perfectly. He grinned at his friend when he reached the counter. "So you'll never believe what I got for us tonight!"
Firion didn't have to think for very long. There was only one thing Tidus had been wanting to do with him for several months.
"Ta-da!" Without waiting for a reply, Tidus whipped out two tickets for a sailboat ride. "I told you I could get 'em! I was kind of hoping for an early morning ride, but sunset's are really pretty, so I'm not going to complain. So can you get off work?" He looked at his friend pleadingly, reminding Firion of an anxious puppy.
"Hmmm…" He pretended to think. "Let me ask the boss. Hey self," he said to himself, ignoring the giggling from Tidus. "Can I get tonight off? 'Gee, Firion, I don't know. We're really busy.' I'll work extra hard tomorrow. 'Okay. I guess it won't hurt.' Thanks boss!" He grinned at his friend, thankful he was able to contain his laughter long enough to get through his one-man act.
"Thank your boss for me, Rosebud," Tidus teased. "I'll see you later. Around seven, okay?"
Firion nodded, waving goodbye to his friend as he hurried out of the shop to go get ready for sailing. He stared after the blond for a moment before letting out a soft sigh. "Oh Tidus…"
"Tidus, huh?"
Firion jumped, whipping around so fast that he heard his neck crack in protest. "M-Marluxia! You heard all of that?"
Marluxia raised an eyebrow in amusement. "Sure did, Rosebud."
"Don't you have work to do?"
Marluxia looked around the shop and then back at his boss. "No. Though it sounds like you do. How many hours is it going to take for you to get ready for your date?"
"It's not a date! It's just a friendly outing. We're friends!" Firion said, blushing furiously.
Marluxia made a sound of amusement. "You know, you should consider giving him a sunflower."
Firion found himself momentarily lost for words. He looked away from his employee and took a few deep breaths, calming himself down so he could properly form a sentence. Then he coolly said, "Maybe you should give one to your Vexen."
"Nah, I was thinking more along the lines of Amaryl- Hey! How-?" Marluxia went pale when Firion slid a picture of a certain blond scientist from his apron pocket. "How'd you get that?"
"It fell out of your wallet," replied the silver-haired man. "So. Amaryllis, huh?"
Marluxia flushed. "Shut up, Rosebud."
Sunflowers: Cheerful flowers, which always face the sun. A symbol of pure love.
Amaryllis: Represent radiant beauty. give to someone who is beautiful inside and out.
Well, I wanted to write something along the lines of a "What if Marluxia and Firion met", but it turned into this instead. First time writing a Marluxia/Vexen fanfiction!
Not sure if this is supposed to be AU or not. I guess you can just take it however you want.