It Started With a Bouquet
Authors Notes: Made a few edits in the second half to better fit in with the Family Tree Universe Timeline
Looking up from the arrangement he was working on, Marluxia saw a single person entering his small flower shop. It was a man with long blond hair and bright green eyes, something that Marluxia noticed instantly.
"Welcome to the Graceful Dahlia. What can I help you with?" Marluxia asked as he placed the roses he was holding down on the counter. When the man turned towards the voice from where he was looking at the refrigerated display cases, the pink haired man sent him a smile.
"Oh, I'm just looking for a bouquet for my wife," the man said, his hands in the pockets of his knee length black overcoat. He really looked out of place in a shop like this.
Smiling again, Marluxia wiped his hands on his dark green apron before walking out in front of the counter. "Alright, are you looking for anything specific?"
The man just shook his head, long blond hair swinging with the movement. "No, nothing really. A bouquet, nothing with a vase or anything of that sort though."
"Well, do you know her favourite flower or favour color? That's a good place to start."
Something flashed in the man's eyes that Marluxia couldn't quite identify. "Yes, white calla lilies."
"Alright," Marluxia said, opening the cold unit and selected three different bouquets, walking back over and setting them on the counter for his customer to examine, "These are the three that I have made up with callas right now, but if there is nothing here that you think that she will like, I just got some new lilies in this morning, and would be happy to make one up that she would like."
Green eyes scanned over the bouquets before he finally selected one, "This one will do fine."
Smiling gently once more, Marluxia took the bouquet and began to wrap in it floral paper. "You can tell her that I'm putting in some extra flower food, so if she wants these to last, change the water…"
"That won't be necessary," the blond said solemnly, interrupting the man.
"Are you sure? I'm afraid that they probably won't last much more than a week then," Marluxia said with a slight frown.
The man sighed, placing his hand on his forehead, "My wife passed away three years ago. I'm buying these to place on her grave."
Marluxia's blue eyes went wide as an embarrassed flushed blossomed over his cheeks. "Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry. I didn't know."
Handing the pink haired man his credit card, the blond just shook his head, waving the comment off, "How could you have possibly known?"
"Still…"Marluxia trailed off as he rung the bouquet in, suddenly going quiet as he got lost in thought for a moment, his eyes clouding over.
Wondering what exactly had been said to cause the flower shop employee to grow so silent and down, the blond wondered what he was getting himself into. After all, this 'Marluxia', according to the white lettering stitched on the top of the dark apron, had been all smiles and laughter up until this point. "Is something the matter?"
"No, its nothing," Marluxia muttered, wiping a single stray tear away from his eyes, "I'm just so glad to hear that you are still able to show such a commitment to your wife even after she has passed on. It really is amazing," Letting out a deep sigh, he handed the card back to his customer.
When more tears appeared in Marluxia's eyes, the blond man raised a single thin eyebrow, "Um, should I leave?"
Grabbing a tissue from a near by box, the pink haired man gently dabbed at the tears that were escaping his eyes, "I'm so sorry. To tell the truth, I'm going through a fairly bitter divorce battle at the moment," Marluxia sighed, "My wife just up and left in the middle of the night only last month. She even had the divorce papers delivered to me so that she wouldn't have to return herself. But the hardest part is that she wants absolutely nothing to do with out three daughters. She didn't even wait until Vanille was a year old, she's only just four months now. She wasn't even weaned. It's been a nightmare."
Marluxia was no longer able to keep his emotions in check as he buried his face in his hands and let out three short sobs, one for each of his beautiful daughters.
Rolling his eyes the blond man then reached one hand up to massage his forehead, "I need a coffee," he muttered quietly.
"Coffee?" Marluxia questioned looking up, a small smile breaking onto his face, "Yeah, coffee sounds good right about now."
Green eyes went wide as he watched the pink haired man slipped his apron off and laid it on the counter. Marluxia then collected the other two bouquets and put them back in the fridge before waking over to the door, flipping the sign to say 'Back in 20 Minutes' before flipping off the lights. Trying to stutter out a protest, the blond man couldn't believe that this overly emotional man had just invited himself to coffee.
"Can you really just close your business in the middle of the day," the blond questioned cynically, "just to have coffee with a stranger?"
"What's your name?" Marluxia's blue eyes bore down into the blond, causing him to shiver. Why? He didn't know why.
"Uh, Vexen," the blond said after recovering from the shock.
"Well, Vexen, Marluxia said with a smile, "I'm Marluxia. I guess that means we aren't strangers anymore. So I'm closing my shop to have coffee with a friend. Besides, I need to take a lunch break at some point anyway, and there is no one else to take over while I do. My patrons are all used to this."
Vexen sighed, wondering what he had done to deserve this annoyance today. However, he decided to just go for the coffee, after that he would never have to see the pink haired man again.
Like so many other things in his life, fate had decided that it had other plans. Marluxia had turned out to be good company, Vexen learned. They had spent the entire time talking about their children, Vexen had even found the will to speak about Kain, who he had lost barely three months after Elina died. The blond man had never found it so easy to talk about these things with another person, let alone someone he had just met.
"Would you like to do this again sometime?" Vexen suddenly asked, completely out of the blue and interrupting Marluxia as he had been talking about his eldest, Lightning and how she had already become the leader.
Blue eyes widened in shock at the question before melting away into softness, complete with smile, "Yeah, I'd like that."
Before they knew it, Marluxia and Vexen had begun to meet once a week for coffee. Vexen had come to look forward to their meetings. The pink haired man was so much fun to be around, always having a witty comment, or funny story or just an ear to listen. It was after the seventh such meeting that something hit Vexen like a ton of bricks.
He was attracted to the other man.
No, that couldn't be.
Ever the logical man, Vexen tried to think of any other reason to why he looked forward to these little rendezvous. Maybe it was because he had so much in common with the younger man, or that he had been searching for someone he would be able to really talk to since Elina died. Then why every time that he tried to come up with a reason, he could only think of the way that Marluxia's eyes lit up when he smiled, or the sound of Marluxia's laughter, or the way his name sounded when it was said by Marluxia.
Pacing up and down the floor of his study, Vexen tried to think when the simple friendship he had desired to build with the younger man had turned to desire of a different sort. He had never felt this way about another man before and he still wasn't sure how to react to it. Was he just trying to fill the void that had been left when Elina and Kain had died? Or was there the chance that this could be something real? Would Marluxia even consider being with another man?
Wait, why was Vexen even considering it?
The questions just kept popping into his mind, and there was nothing he could give a proper answer to. How on earth had that happened? There was no reason for it to have come to light, but here it was, staring him straight in the face. It was something he couldn't deny and needed to address as soon as possible. However, despite spending generous amounts of thought to different ways to overcome this, this…infatuation as soon as possible everything had come to the same conclusion. Vexen had to tell Marluxia about the attraction. Maybe Marluxia would just laugh and tell Vexen to stop fooling around, and then Vexen could pretend it was all just a joke. Not to mention that Marluxia was 17 years his junior and had three daughters under the age of six. What would he be getting himself into if the pink haired man surprisingly said yes?
Several days later, when they met for coffee, Vexen was obviously bothered by something, but what, Marluxia had no idea what. He watched as the blond man couldn't keep his hands still, playing with the sugar packets, or his spoon or one of the many other things that littered small bistro table.
"Is everything alright?" the pink haired man questioned, noticing the odd behaviour from the normally collected man. Marluxia knew that Vexen was slightly under pressure at moment due to his daughter's graduation coming up in a few weeks, but could that be the reason for the interesting mood that his friend was in?
"Of…of course. What makes you say something so absurd?" Vexen was taken aback by Marluxia's perceptiveness. He had thought he had been discreet, but apparently that was not the case.
Marluxia just chuckled, "Who are you trying to kid, Vexen? I just watched you put three packets of sugar in your coffee and I know for a fact that you normally don't put anything in it at all." Vexen's eyes went wide as he lifted his mug to his lips, wincing when the overly sweet flavour hit his tongue. "So why don't you just tell me what's up?"
Pressing two fingers against his forehead, Vexen silently ran over what exactly he was going to say so that if Marluxia was to be disgusted by the notion, he could play it off as a slip of the tongue. "Well, I was wondering if you would possibly like to go to Quistis' high school graduation with me."
Cocking one eyebrow at the quiet question, Marluxia was curious as to why Vexen had been so nervous to ask something like that, "Sure, but don't you think it might be a little awkward for her? I'm not sure that I'm someone that she'll want there. I don't even know her."
"No," Vexen interrupted him before Marluxia got too far, "No, I don't mean merely as a friend," his grip on his mug increased exponentially as he prepared to say the words that might change his life forever. "I meant it as my date."
Marluxia gasped as a blush rose to his face with such intensity that it reached to the very tips of his ears. He had never expected Vexen to say something like this. It was too soon for him to even consider dating after Ruby left, right? Then why was he feeling a flutter in his chest when he looked into the older man's emerald eyes. Larxene had told him to stick to dating guys and that he desperately needed to find one and have a 'good gay fuck fest' in her words, but she mean now after only three months? Then again, he knew how hard it had been for Vexen to ask him, and in all honesty, Marluxia had felt the pull of attraction for the other man the moment that he had laid eyes on him. What was stopping him? "Won't Quistis be upset if you bring another man as your date?" his hands were trembling as he played with the green napkin, just from something to keep his fingers occupied.
Vexen's heart rose slightly when he didn't hear an outright refusal, but it still wasn't the answer he wanted, "No. I've discussed this with both her and Vaan, and they are both supportive of me and us if you choose to say yes," Vexen said mutedly, trying not to sound too eager or desperate.
Marluxia just smiled softly reaching his hand up and laying it next to Vexen's, his fingers ghosting over the back of the blond man's hand, "I would love to, Vexen. But I do feel that I should warn you."
"Warn me?"
"Yes. I'm a vain little peacock. Do you honestly think that you will be able to handle me?" Marluxia's voice was low and husky, sending something up and down the blond man's spine.
A corner of his lips turned upwards as Vexen looked up at a grinning Marluxia. "I'm always up for a challenge like that."
-)- -
The next month had been an insane whirlwind for Vexen, with Quistis' graduation coming upon them so soon and getting her enrolled and choosing her courses for university in the fall. Due to this, Vexen had been unable to spend much time with Marluxia. They had been able to keep up with their once weekly meetings, but now their coffee dates had moved on to other venues like the movies and dinner dates. Those times were all absolutely wonderful in the blond man's mind, and he knew that deep down, he needed the pink haired man in his life, though to what extent, he wasn't sure.
Due to the fact that both men were still recovering from heartache, they decided to take things very slow. That didn't mean that there hadn't been small caresses and gentle touches, but that was enough for both of them for now. Vexen had seen it necessary to introduce Marluxia to his children, and both Quistis and Vaan had liked the pink haired man instantly. That might have mostly been because of the fact that Marluxia seemed to make their father happy for the first time in years. For that reason Quistis was more than happy to know that Marluxia had agreed to accompany Vexen to her graduation.
When the big day finally came, Marluxia made his way out back, helping to make sure that Vexen was indeed ready to admit that his baby girl was growing up and becoming a young and mature woman.
"How are you doing in here?" Marluxia asked softly as he pushed the door open to the room Vexen was getting ready in.
Vexen gave an odd motion with his head that was a cross between a nod and a headshake. "I can't believe that she's graduating today, Marluxia. I still remember when she would run up and show me her multiplication tables and ask me if she did them right," Vexen sighed as Marluxia gave him a soft smile, walking over to make sure that the calla lily boutonnière was on straight on the man's dark suit jacket.
"She is a fine young woman, Vexen. You've raised her well," the younger man whispered, moving on to straighten the lapels, "I can only hope that Lightning, Serah and Vanille turn out half as wonderful as she is."
Vexen reached up and wrapped his hands around the pink haired man's forearms. "They have you. Of course they will." Their voices were both very quiet as they stood in silence for a moment. "Am I really ready to let her grow up?"
Marluxia just smiled, "Growing up is just part of life. She's going to do that no matter what. But you've raised her well. She's graduating a year early, proving that she has a wonderful head on her shoulders. And she's not going anywhere yet. You said she's going to live at home while at university."
Vexen sighed once more; voicing the final concern he had about today, "I wish that Kain and Elina were here to see this."
Drawing the blond into his arms, Marluxia was careful to not crush the flowers pinned to both of their chests. "You know that they are both watching over everything always," he whispered, "I have to admit though, I'm sort of glad they aren't here."
Cocking a single eyebrow at the younger man who had buried his face into the long blond hair, "Wh...Why do you say that?" Vexen stuttered.
"If they were here, then I would have never had a chance to be with you, I'm sorry if I sound selfish. Vexen, I know that we haven't known each other for long, but I think I'm falling in love with you. All of your little insecurities, your quirks, your studious nature, everything," the pink haired man whispered.
"Marluxia…" Vexen gasped, a slight blush appearing on his face as Marluxia pulled back. Without a single warning, the younger man leaned in and pressed his lips to the surprised blond's in a soft and chaste kiss. Their first. They stood there locked in their joining of lips for what seemed like forever.
When he finally pulled back, Marluxia looked upon the red cheeks that made the emerald eyes appear even brighter. The pink haired man chuckled, "If you keep blushing like that, you're going to take all the attention away from Quistis today."
Vexen just scowled, turning away from the taller man. There was no denying the happiness that was shining in his eyes however. 'You're not the only one healing, only to fall in love again,' he thought, unable to voice his thoughts out loud. Not yet at least.
But someday. Someday.
If you like this story please check out some of our other stories from our Family Tree Universe in our archives :) And as always, if you would like to see where the pairings and family lines came from please go view our deviant art page, http :/ crymsonpahoyhoy . deviantart . com /, minus all of the spaces ;) The deviations are called FF KH Family Tree.
P.S. Oh please, oh please, oh please review! It will make us want to write more if you like it :D