Love is not Extinct ~ HALLOWEEN SPECIAL
Love-Lies-Bleeding
"Ani!"
Hinata turned around just in time to nearly be tackled with a hug, causing him to drop the flowers he had been holding in his hand onto the counter. He blinked and his eyes shifted down to the orange hair that was now tickling his nose as his sister tried to bury her face in his chest. Leaning his head back, so that he could speak without eating her hair, Hinata reached up and patted her head gently.
"What happened? Is everything okay?"
Natsu pulled back and looked up at her older brother with a pout and Hinata had to resist the urge to smile at how cute she looked. Now a second year student at Johzenji High, Hinata Natsu was really growing up; but her older brother still saw the little sister who would always follow him around as a kid. She had grown out her bright orange hair and wore it down, with a small section from the front of her hair pulled back into a beret in an attempt to keep it out of her face. She still had the same big, beautiful brown eyes, now framed with full beautiful lashes. Hinata knew that since junior high she had been very popular among the boys because of this.
"Boys are so stupid!"
Well, popular with boys, except the one boy she wanted attention from.
The corner of Hinata's mouth twisted up into a soft, knowing smile that was sympathetic but amused. Turning around, he picked the Jules Elie peonies he had dropped, and inspected them to assure they hadn't been damaged before he returned to arranging them in the vase of ivory dendrobium orchids and Queen Anne's lace that he was arranging for a wedding the following weekend.
"What did Takeda do?"
"Nothing," she mumbled, leaning forward and resting one elbow on the counter as she reached over, adjusting a few of the orchids in the arrangement. "He is just clueless. Are all boys so clueless?"
"Speaking as a former high school boy, I would have to say yes." Hinata chuckled. His poor little sister had been crazy about Takeda Minakami since their second year of junior high when they were in the same class. Takeda, or Kami as many people often called him, was a good kid, hardworking, nice, and energetic. But he was completely clueless that Hinata's little sister liked him. Natsu had even worked to get the position of the manager of the boys volleyball club rather than joining the girls team, because she wanted to be there to support him.
Being the nephew of Takeda Ittetsu, who was the youth program coordinator at the Karasuno Sports Center that he played volleyball at, as well as being a member of Yamaguchi's High School Volleyball team, Hinata had met the boy on many occasions. He was a talented player, a libro, and likely to be the team captain once the third years left. Hinata wished that he could give his sister some sound advice but, despite that he was nice and friendly, the boy's mind was filled with only volleyball and school. He had a plan for his future and, though he didn't think Takeda would be opposed to dating someone, he clearly didn't think about it.
Natsu sighed, standing up again. "Where's mom?"
"She went out with a friend," Hinata replied with a smile. He was happy that his mother could take time to do things like that these days. Running their family flower shop had been very taxing on her. She loved the work but it took up so much of her time. Since Hinata had graduated university, his mother had trusted him to manage things at the shop almost completely, which allowed her some much needed relaxation time. These days he hardly ever even needed her help in the shop. With Natsu helping on weekends and the few part time university students who worked there, he had everything under control.
"Well, I'm going to go home and do some homework," she said, as a bell rang, signalling that a customer had entered the shop. "Seeya!" She ran around the counter and passed the new customer as she left through the front door.
Well her moods sure shift fast.
"Welcome to Sakura Studio!" he chimed cheerfully as he looked up to greet his new customer, and found himself having to consciously keep himself from gawking. Standing in front of him, looking at the cooler full of premade displays, was a tall, raven-haired man dressed in black slacks and a rich, navy blue button up shirt that was tucked in, but the sleeves were rolled up to his elbows and it was only buttoned up halfway, revealing a black t-shirt underneath. At his waist he wore a utility belt that held both a set of handcuffs and a gun.
Hinata shook his head to focus himself as he set down the peonies and walked around the counter to assist the man properly.
"Good afternoon sir. Is there something I can help you find today?" When the man turned to look at him Hinata's heart nearly leapt into his throat. He might have even jumped a little - though he would choose to act like that didn't happen. The man standing in front of him had an intense stare as he looked down at the shorter male with a pair of dark blue eyes. Hinata felt like those eyes were piercing through him, but they also were so captivating he had to focus on not stuttering as he continued, "If nothing here fits what you are looking for we do custom arrangements. I can help you build the perfect bouquet."
The man stood up straighter, looking down at the shorter floral shop employee as he folded his arms. Hinata felt like the dark-haired man was gauging him to determine whether or not he was even worthy to communicate with a superior being such as himself. But finally, after an uncomfortable moment, he spoke, and his voice was surprisingly calm and even.
"I'm not even really sure what I am looking for myself," he admitted, unfolding his arms and putting his hands in his pocket, shifting his body to put his weight more to one side. "I was sent here by my sister to get some flower arrangements for her salon."
Though his comment had been a statement, the inflection of the voice made it clear that it was more of a question. This man clearly had no idea what he was expected to get and was lost and frustrated that he had been given such a task. Hinata smiled.
"How many arrangements does she need?"
"Uh, she said three." He shifted his weight again and pulled out his phone, pulling up a text his sister had sent with her specifications, reading it aloud to the florist. "Three arrangements. One large one for the front desk and two smaller ones for the tables between the client stations. I want them to look elegant but Halloween-ish." He put his phone away, looking back down at Hinata, hoping that he understood what that meant.
"Humm…" Hinata put one hand on his hip as he tapped a finger on his lips with his other hand, pondering the request. "What kind of salon does she have?"
"She is a hair and make-up artist."
"Ooh!" Hinata perked up, causing the man to step back, startled by the sudden energy. "Does she do hair and make-up for weddings?"
"Uh..." He stared at the orange haired florist, perplexed. "I think so?..."
"I have been looking to connect with someone in that field. I would love to get her contact information. If she would be okay with it, I have a lot of customers who come in for flowers and often ask for recommendations for other wedding-related services like that." He beamed up at the tall ravenette before taking a step back, his smile turning a little sheepish. "Sorry, sorry. We can talk about that after. Let's find you the perfect flowers for these arrangements."
The Hinata turned and started walking towards the door to their left, which led to the cooler that held all the flowers. The man followed him, a little uncertain. After stepping in, he was overwhelmed by the floral scent and the amount and variety of flowers in this small space.
"Let's see…" Hinata mumbled to himself as his mind went into work mode, almost tuning out the man watching him curiously as he moved about the space.
Pulling over a little cart, Hinata started gathering a few flowers and placing them gently into a water-filled bucket that was already laying on the cart. Black calla lilies, quicksand roses, and scabiosa pods would make a good base for each arrangement and he felt that they would give the proper elegant but Halloween feeling this lady was looking for. Then he grabbed some fiddlehead ferns and myrtle for fillers. Now he just needed an accent.
Hinata paced back and forth, occasionally picking up a flower and examining it before putting it back and moving onto another flower. The taller male watched his process with curiosity. He had never considered the effort that would go into something like this. He always just assumed that you could throw flowers together in a vase and call it good. It had never occurred to him that choosing and arranging the flowers was so important.
"Oh I know!" Hinata exclaimed, making his customer jump slightly, startled by the sudden volume after it having been quiet for so long. Running over to the back corner, he pulled out a bundle of flowers that were long and droopy with an almost burgundy-red color, bringing it over to the cart. "These will be a perfect accent. The amaranthus caudatus will fit really well with these other flowers, and also it's more commonly known name is very fitting for Halloween: love lies bleeding."
He smiled up at his customer who was just staring at him, confused. "That's uh...a bit morbid."
Hinata snorted with a smile as he put the amaranthus into the bucket with the rest of the flowers. "It's only called that because of how it looks. Actually, this flower has heavy roots in Greek mythology and symbolizes immortality."
The dark-haired man just nodded. He didn't particularly care why the flower was called what it was, or the symbolism of the flower in general. And he only found it mildly interesting that the man was so well versed in the history of flowers. But he didn't want to be rude.
"Would you like to send your sister a picture of these flowers and see if they will work for what she wants?"
"Huh?" The man had to focus back on the florist's face, realizing that he had become distracted by the bright orange and disheveled hair that bounced everytime the man took a step. "Picture. Right."
He pulled out his phone as Hinata squatted down by the flowers, reaching over and arranging them slightly to make sure that everything was properly visible and that the picture would show everything like it needed to. After taking the picture he opened it up to look at it and make sure that he got everything in it before sending it to his sister.
"We can leave these in here and you are welcome to come wait on the bench we have in the shop while you wait for her response," Hinata offered as he pushed the cart to the side and led him back out into the main shop, showing him where the bench was before going over to the counter to continue the arrangement he had been working on.
The ravenette sat down, pulling out his phone as he heard the ping that signaled his sister's response.
[16:38] Kageyama Miwa: Forget the flowers! Who is that cutie kneeling next to them!?
Forget the flowers? Kageyama scrunched his eyes in confusion before he opened up the picture to look at it again and realized what she was talking about. When he had taken the picture, the orange-haired florist had still been kneeling next to the flowers and was framed perfectly in the picture, looking down and touching the end of one of the amaranths gently. He blushed as he realized the picture looked like he had been taking it to capture an image of the florist, while he actually wasn't paying attention.
[16:39] Kageyama Tobio: That's just the florist I was not intending to take a picture of him he just said to send you a picture to make sure you liked the flowers.
[16:41] Kageyama Miwa: Well you should totally ask him out. Super cute!
Kageyama glared at his phone, annoyed. Why was she pestering him about this? Why did she always have to pester him about his love life in general? It was bad enough that she had asked him to come take care of this for her today after work when all he wanted to do was go home and relax, but now she was going to harass him to ask out a stranger?
[16:42] Kageyama Tobio: Do you like the flowers or not?
[16:42] Kageyama Miwa: Boo! You're no fun! LOL
[16:43] Kageyama Miwa: Yes I like the flowers Tobio.
Sighing with relief, Kageyama stood up, sending one last text as an afterthought.
[16:45] Kageyama Tobio: He mentioned earlier that he has been wanting to find a hair and make-up artist that he could refer customers to. I guess he has a lot of people when they come in for wedding stuff asking if he knows others in related fields.
He walked over to the counter and Hinata looked up as he approached. He smiled and those brown eyes seemed to sparkle. He was almost blinding to look at, like trying to stare at the sun. How could one person radiate so much warmth and light?
"My sisters say she likes them," he said flatly.
"Perfect!" Hinata put down the flowers he was working with and walked over to the computer to type in the order. "This should only take me a day to complete so you could pick them up tomorrow, anytime after noon. Does that work for you?"
Kageyama simply nodded, looking down at his phone to see his sister's reply.
[16:47] Kageyama Miwa: Yes! That would be great! Get his contact information for me and tell him I would love to network with him.
"Also..." He returned his phone to his pocket and looked back at the shorter man. "She said she would love to network with you and wants your contact information."
"That's great! Thank you!" The florist pulled a business card out of one of the drawers and set it on the counter. Flipping it over he quickly jotted something down on the back before handing it to Kageyama. "Here is my card with the shop information on it and my email. I wrote my cell number on the back, tell your sister she can call or text me anytime."
Kageyama took the card and placed it in his pocket with a nod. "Thank you. I'll see you tomorrow afternoon."
"Okay!" Hinata chimed, waving in large arches as the man turned and started to walk out of the shop. "See you tomorrow! Have a nice day!" Kageyama waved a hand once without turning around as he opened the door, the bell jingling behind him as he walked out of the shop.
Ani: Older brother (when referring to your own older brother)