did did did did I, stutter, stutter, stutter?
"Welcome, challenger!"
Stumbling forward with nervous excitement, Iris finds herself propelling forward out of her chair and onto her feet; from her position she can only see the vague, darkened outline of her stranger, but she can already feel the excitement coursing through her veins. Her voice surely reaches this challenger as she hears her own voice chime back to her: the Champion's Room is elegantly made (if just a little lonely looking) and has great acoustics. "I've been waiting for - achoo!" The unexpected force of her sneeze sends her a half-step backwards and causes her to dissolve into unprofessional giggles.
After she calms herself, she notices that her challenger is tall; male: carries himself well, but not too confidently. Also, it appears that he is carrying something. "Sorry for th- ah! achoo!" Although unladylike and unneeded, Iris rubs at her nose before attempting speech once again, but as soon as she looks up from her sleeve, her large, maroon eyes connect with startling green irises that have her breath hitching. This isn't a foreign reaction to these familiar eyes and is coupled by a totally new excitement coursing through her.
"Cila - choo!"
Sheepishly, he scratches the back of his head and now she can see what he is carrying in tow: a bouquet of red, variegated, and cream-colored tulips. A gasp escapes her; quickly, she covers her nose and mouth with her hand. "'m 'llergic to flowers," comes her muffled voice from behind her hand.
"A-Ah!" Cilan exclaims, accidentally dropping the tulips and blushing wildly, "I'm s-sorry! Um, I didn't e-expect you to be allergic..."
She shakes her head: tendrils of her hair falling into her face. "Don't be sorry! They are beautiful!" Another sneeze slips from the Champion and she giggles as her face fills with color. "Thank you, really!" Going against the rational thought to stay far away from the flowers so she can quit sneezing, Iris strides forward and stoops down to collect the flowers. Instantly, Cilan is on the ground beside her, hands quivering as they help hers: accidentally bumping hers and sending jolts of electricity through him. In turn this has his blush darkening.
After the last flower is collected, Iris looks up at Cilan, even kneeling with her he is significantly taller; she giggles softly and begins to lift a hand up to cup Cilan's cheek, but then: "Choo!"
"Ble-Bless you," Cilan replies softly, blinking in surprise when Iris begins to dissolve into a fit of giggles: leaning forward and pressing her forehead against his shoulder as she shakes ith laughter.
"Okay, so w-we know not to bring flowers anymore," she says, swiping at her eyes then pushing the flowers away so that she might have a moment uninterrupted. Her hand reaches out and gently rests on Cilan's flushed cheek; he gulps and the room goes deathly silent. "Thank you, Cilan; you have beautiful eyes too."
Surely now couldn't have been a better time for Grimsley to walk in with a devilish grin on his face; then comes the catcall.
/;
Walking into the flower store, Iris realizes that she is completely insane and out of her element; the various types of flowers sway with the slight breeze that carries from outside and the smell of the store instantly hits her. She sneezes.
"Heliotropes," she says aloud in a seemingly awed voice before sneezing again. This draws the attention of a worker and she smiles at Iris.
The blonde worker reaches up and pulls out a bunch of heliotropes and then adds baby breath, "Hello, Miss Champion. Does this look well enough?"
"Can you wrap it?" Iris asks politely, digging in her small purse for the money that she has to exchange for the flowers. The worker nods and walks over to the counter. "Oh! Another favor to ask... Can you send them to Striaton?"
"Striaton?" The worker cocks her eyebrow, but doesn't question her. "Where exactly...?"
"Oh! The restaurant, please. Address them to Cilan," she holds out the money, looking away from the worker and blushing, "from me."
/;
"Um, y-yes, I'm able to change y-your order..." Cilan fumbles terribly before walking away from the table and immediately is stopped, "H-Hello?"
The poor boy looks up at Cilan with huge eyes and holds out the bouquet of flowers awkwardly, "From Champion Iris!" he squeaks, then adds, "sorry to disturb you while you are working!" Then the boy scampers away, leaving Cilan there to blush violently in the middle of the restaurant.
It takes him only seconds to realize what flowers these are and a smile lights upon his face brilliantly.
/;
"Look what loverboy sent," Grimsley grins from ear to ear as he carries a bouquet of white violets and puts them in a vase far away from where Iris is seated. He gets her attention within seconds and she smiles before pulling out her Xtransceiver.
"Um, h-hello?" Cilan's face appears and Iris suppresses a sigh because she is not succumbing to this crush, but only replying to Cilan. "Iris?"
"Cilan, let's," is all she says at first, and then: "Achoo! - alright, no more flower talk, Cilan."
She's giggling: blushing and looking unbearably beautiful; Cilan wishes that he could touch her flushed skin, or just hold her hand. "A-Alright," he nods in agreement after awhile.
After they say their goodbyes, Grimsley grins: "Is it too soon to start planning your wedding?"
He receives an answer through the tossing of a pillow; he takes it as a "no."
/;
Hesitantly, Iris holds up the mistletoe she's bought; it takes Cilan a moment to understand, but once he understands, he is trying to fight the anxiety building up inside of him. "Please," she whispers, but it isn't a plea. There is a certain longing in her voice that grips him so suddenly that he forgets himself and swoops down in a swift moment and takes her into a gentle kiss that lasts only seconds.
But as soon as he pulls away, Iris is pulling him in again: you want to speak the language of flowers, she says, and mistletoe says kiss me.
AN: Part 3 of the contest I am currently in. The prompt was Flowers and I chose (clearly) to do it to gameverse!Wishfulshipping. The key of this story was for Cilan's bashfulness/shyness in the game to fall to the background because with Iris he is able to speak another language: the language of flowers, even though she is seemingly allergic to them. Now time to explain the meaning of some of these aforementioned flowers so you don't have to google them yourself! Tulip (red, variegated, cream): declaration of love; you have beautiful eyes; I will love you forever. Heliotropes: Eternal love, Devotion, I give myself to you/I will love you forever. Violet (white): Let's take a chance. Mistletoe: Kiss me.
Reviews would be appreciated! Feedback is always nice. Gameverse was definitely a new taste for me. Listen to Stutter by Mariana's Trench because it is an awesome song. Really no connection to this story except Cilan's shyness and the author loves Mariana's Trench.