Apollo entered The Roost, taking a seat in front of the counter. The cafe was mostly empty today, save for Cesar and Cyrano who were perched at their regular spots. Both of them were arguing about something when they turned to look at Apollo.
He got comfy in his seat as he ignored the stares he had already gotten so used to. Ordering his usual, a cup of black coffee, he quietly waited for the owner to brew his drink. He allowed himself to unwind as he listened to the slow pouring of the coffee.
"The perfect temperature to draw out the taste... is 175.38 degrees... Here you are." Brewster set the cup down in front of the eagle. Apollo gave a curt nod and promptly took a sip of the steaming hot beverage.
He gave a small smile, "This is very good. Thank you."
"I'm glad. Please take your time to enjoy while it's still hot..." The rooster remarked before going back to polishing cups. He always told his customers that coffee was always best savoured hot, and any suggestions of letting it cool down were met by a baffled stare. Because of that, Apollo always drank his coffee right after it was made.
The stereo was playing K.K. Lullaby, a song by K.K. Slider. It was a substitute for the real K.K. Slider, who only came to play on Saturdays. The music wasn't any less calming though.
He rested one wing on the table as he sipped at his coffee. Idly staring at the wall in front of him, he began thinking about... anything. About his life recently, or the things that were happening in the small village.
The fireworks festival was coming up. He would look at the excited children, animatedly talking about how they were going to stuff themselves full of unhealthy food from the stalls. He would softly smile to himself, reminiscing about his own childhood. The freedom of being able to run around and do things like catch bugs and dig up treasure... That was what being young was like. He had since long grown up already, but the feeling of longing was still there.
The illusion was immediately shattered when the kids noticed him looking at them. They'd dart away, scared of Apollo and what he might do to them, and a frown would replace his tiny smile. He was aware of how intimidating he could look sometimes, but any attempt to seem non-threatening wasn't noticed by anyone as they would awkwardly try to shuffle away, or even just run from him.
He sighed, setting his empty cup down on the saucer and putting an abrupt stop to his depressing thoughts. He got ready to pay just as Brewster turned around.
"Would you like another cup?" He asked.
Apollo set the coins down on the counter, "Yes please."
The owner nodded his head and picked a clean cup from the many he just finished polishing, discarding the empty one in the sink with the saucer. He took the already brewed pot of coffee and poured it in.
"Enjoy..." He placed the cup down on a new saucer and slid the coins off the table, putting them in the cash register.
Apollo watched the rooster go back to what he was doing. Despite what everyone else thought of him, Brewster always seemed to treat him nicely everytime he came here. He knew it was mandatory for him to act this way towards all his customers, and he did come very often, but he still appreciated it nonetheless.
As he was drinking his coffee, the song suddenly switched to K.K. Bossa. He put his cup down, and quietly started to hum to the song. He made sure it was quiet enough so only him and Brewster could hear, but there was no point since no one else was left in the cafe.
This song held a lot of meaning to him. It was the first song he had heard K.K. Slider perform, it was the first song he had ever bought a record of, and it was the song that played at his first date with... Bianca.
He hardened his gaze. Bianca... They had only been dating for a brief year, but it was the best year of his life. He would never meet anyone else he could connect to so much.
But after their first year, things began going downhill. They became an on and off couple, separating for presumably the last time only to get back together again. Their last breakup had been particularly nasty, and he was sure that they would likely not resume their relationship, much less speak to each other at all.
Yet he still missed her. His feelings, while dwindling, were still there.
He looked down at his half drained cup. The coffee had already cooled and lost its flavour. He quickly chugged down the rest before taking out more coins, setting them beside the cup.
"It was delicious, thank you."
Brewster gave a barely visible frown, "It's not good to chug coffee... Even if it wasn't the ideal warmth, you mustn't rush like that." He said, taking the coins.
"You're right, I'll keep that in mind next time." Apollo smiled politely and walked out of the cafe, climbing the stairs to the museum. As he was walking, he passed by someone with white fur.
Taking a double take, he saw that the attrative figure he walked past was Bianca. He didn't pause as he exited the museum, but instead stared at her from the corner of his eye. He had seen her around town strolling about sometimes, but it had been a while since he had gotten to be that close to her, if even for a second. She had gotten prettier.
He turned his gaze back to the exit. Even if those were his thoughts, it didn't make any difference in what she thought of him. She hadn't looked back once when they crossed paths.
He sighed again. The whole purpose of his visits to The Roost were to relax his mind, but he found that they were starting to follow a pattern. Nice and calm in the beginning, but his thoughts were ultimately his own downfall. He considered taking a hiatus and not going back for a while, but he couldn't do that. He had a reputation to maintain as one of the cafe's recurring customers, and if he stopped going Brewster would profit less. It wasn't the place's fault anyway. It was his.
But he had to put an end to these conflicting thoughts. Bianca and him weren't going to get back together, but he could at least try to reconcile with her. Perhaps they could at least be on speaking terms again.
It was less of a friendly gesture and more of a selfish desire to put his own thoughts to rest. He would make it into a friendly gesture though. Taking a detour to the Gardening Store, he went inside and looked at the vast selection of flower seeds. At a first glance, nothing in the aisle interested him.
Just as he was about to move on to look at Tom Nook's, he spotted a bag of seeds for blue roses. Blue roses... Perhaps Bianca would like those. He bought a couple bags and walked off, carrying them in his wing. He already had all the necessary tools at home to raise flowers.
It had been a long while since he last look care of a garden. His skills were a bit rusty, but he was sure he could grow some beautiful flowers to give as a bouquet to his ex. He paused. Wasn't this less friendly and more romantic?...
Well it was too late now. By the time the sun had started setting, he had planted as much of the flowers as his soil could fit. He grabbed his watering can and gave all the seeds an even share of water.
He wiped his forehead with a wing. He ended up working all afternoon, which really worked up a sweat from him. He carried all his gardening tools back to his shed, and went back to the front to check up on things.
It still looked like an empty bed of soil, but soon small green stalks would sprout up, and they would eventually become beautiful, bright blue roses. He was looking forward to it.
. . .
Bianca opened her door, having heard someone ring the doorbell. She looked around. There was no one standing there.
She quirked an eyebrow. Was this a prank? Just as she was about to close the door, her eyes drifted downwards and she lightly gasped.
Sitting on her doorstep, was a giant bouquet of her favourite blue roses. She picked it up, gazing at the dazzingly bright flowers. They were absolutely beautiful! But who could they be from?
She turned it around for any sign of a name tag or card, but found nothing. Looking down again, she found a piece of paper on the ground.
Apollo, it said in cursive.
So it was him who gave her the roses. She observed the bouquet again. The flowers were in impeccably good condition, probably from months of intense loving and care. She put them to her nose, giving a deep whiff and letting the sweet scent fill her nostrils.
She pulled away. Picking up the paper, she turned it over to see if it said anything else on it. It didn't.
...He was going to have to try harder than that if he wanted her to speak to him again. But this was a good start. She smiled, closing the door behind her.
AN : I loved this movie as a kid. It's still one of my favourites, along with the game, specifically Wild World. So I've been wanting to write about this for a long time.
I like the movie enough by it's lonesome, but I wished they had expanded on Apollo/Bianca (Whitney) a little more. That was the only possible pairing (besides Ai and Yu, which I totally ship btw) I could write about, hah.