The sun was shining in Inkwell Isle and the weather was exceptionally warm. Cagney Carnation was incredibly thankful for the amazing weather. After months of the cold winter he suffered from (as well as all of Inkwell Isle's residents) Cagney's spirits lifted immensely and wasn't as irritable as he was during that time. Cagney loved to be outside during the summer and that's exactly what he was doing at this moment. He swung from his hammock and tended to his garden. As you may well know, flowers deteriorate during the winter and so Cagney took special care of his garden and himself. Still, however, something was keeping Cagney down and he didn't know what.

Elsewhere, Rumor Honeybottoms was tending to her Beehive. During the harsh winter months, production of honey was low, leading to a deficit in the economy and leaving many working bees to live in poverty. Only the elite were unaffected by this. The hive was in full work mode to make up for a lack of production with very little breaks. Rumor inherited her role as queen when her mother left to pursue other endeavors. Rumor was 19 at the time of first becoming queen and was now in her mid 20s.

Rumor wished she could see her mother more often. With her busy schedule she barely had time to talk to her. Her only day off was Sunday and even then Rumor was busy filling out paperwork. Even though she was royalty and was wealthy enough to purchase whatever she liked, Rumor felt empty. There was a growing sadness that consumed her everyday. Perhaps it was the fact that she had no one to talk to. Everyone talked to her as though she ruled over them (which was true) but she wanted someone to talk to her as a friend. An equal.

Back with Cagney, he was outside growing new breeds of plants. Dandelions, Sunflowers and Roses. He took special pride in his garden and flowers because, to him, they were his children. However, there was something that was affecting Cagney. He felt lonely. He could surround with only so many plants but they were inanimate objects. Cagney always wanted a girlfriend, heck even just a friend. He was always cast aside because of his large unappealing nose.

Cagney recalls the time he tried to ask out Hilda Berg to the high school prom. He figured he had a chance because they both had large angular noses. "What an idiot" Cagney tells himself. He wrote her a poem which she merely threw away promptly after she read it and rejected his love letters. "What a loser" Cagney could recall Hilda Berg's statement to her friends. He went home crying himself to sleep that night.

Cagney was a hopeless romantic. He never had any positive experiences with girls or any romantic ones. Well it wasn't all that bad now that he remembered it. Cagney remembers a girl who did treat him with respect: Rumor Honeybottoms. She was leader of the cheer team at high school and rightfully so. Rumor could light up an entire room with her personality. She was nice to everyone she met and interacted with. Cagney had her as a lab partner in Biology class and those were some of the best times of Senior year.

Thinking about Rumor made him all warm and fuzzy inside. Those feelings were quickly replaced by sadness as he realized he never had a shot her and probably never will. Rumor was way above his league. Why would an attractive, curvy and popular girl like Rumor go for a lonely twig like him? By now, the two were way past high school so maybe he did have a shot. Cagney knew where her beehive was, although he could only talk to her if she knew him, which she did. Cagney was incredibly frightened at the prospect of talking to Rumor. What if she didn't want to talk to him? What if she moved on? Worst off, what if she had a boyfriend? However, Rumor swallowed his fear and put his anxieties aside. It was now or never. Cagney knew what he had to do and ran off to find Rumor.

(A/N): Hey guys, Silver Espeon here! See I told you guys I was gonna put out more Cuphead stories! I found that there was a surprising lack of CagneyxRumor Honeybottoms stories on this site and decided "why not?" So I put out this story for all the CagneyxRumor shippers out there. I mean a flower and a bee? It makes perfect sense. I'll be continuing this fic so watch out for chapter 2.