Title : The Garden of Live Flowers
Pairing : Yohji/Ryuuichi
Rating : PG
Warnings : Fluff. A lot. And Aya being Aya.
Special Disclaimer : Gravi belongs to Maki Murakami and co., and WK to Takehito Koyasu and his cronies. I am none of those people. I'm just playing in their insanely huge sandbox, really. Also, the title of this part and those following will all be chapter titles taken from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carol. Which I am not either.

O.O.O.O

"If you're not buying anything, get out !"

Yohji sighed and put his head under his pillow, trying to go back to that blissful state known as sleep, but in vain. Aya could bellow very loud when he wanted to. It was a wonder that the windows of the shop were still intact after being subjected to this five times already this morning. Yohji's rest was now damaged beyond repair.

Another sigh, and Yohji gave up the idea of going back to sleep. He got up, took a few minutes to dress and light a cigarette, made his way downstairs, and almost bumped into Omi as he passed by the door leading into the shop.

"Oi, Omi ! How many girls to make Aya sound that riled up before noon?"

"Oh, it's not the girls," Omi answered, closing the door carefully and leaning on it with a sigh.

Yohji raised an eyebrow.

"Then what?"

"A man who came in and started looking at the flowers. He wanted some, but he didn't know which to take, so he asked me the name of a flower, and I told him what it stood for too. And … now he wants to know the name and meaning of every single flower we have in store."

"And he's not buying anything, by the sound of it," Yohji drawled.

Omi winced.

"Aya-kun was calm the first five minutes, then he became irritated and now he's close to homicidal."

"How long has the guy been here?"

"Almost two hours."

Yohji whistled and glanced at the door.

"And he's still alive. I'm impressed."

It was enough to make him momentarily forget his urgent need for caffeine. But Omi was still leaning on the door and casting a disapproving glance to Yohji's cigarette.

"Aya-kun already told you not to smoke in the shop," he said. "He's going to be mad enough as it is if he finds out that you've been smoking here."

Yohji huffed, but caught one of the ashtrays that Aya had strategically placed everywhere in the house so that he could ask Yohji to put out his cigarette without being given the lame excuse that there was nowhere to do so.

"I don't want any casualties," Omi warned, moving away from the door.

"I'll do my best," Yohji promised, disappearing into the shop.

Aya was easy to locate. He was standing near the cash register, fists clenched and glaring a hole into the back of the guy's head. If looks could kill, the guy was already a pile of ashes. Unfortunately for Aya, he didn't seem to be aware of it.

"And what about that one?" he asked, voice filled with childish excitement.

"It's a white camellia," Aya said through gritted teeth. "It symbolizes adoration, perfection and loveliness." He spat the words as if they were the most repulsive he had ever said.

"I bet Tohma would like that," the guy said, giggling. "What about that one?" He pointed at the flower next to the camellia.

Yohji wasn't feeling particularly sympathetic towards Aya. Aya had woken him up after all. But on the other hand … the guy had pretty much done what Yohji had planned to do to make sure Aya knew just how pissed off he was. As it was, the blond wasn't sure he could have done better if he had tried.

"It's a gardenia," Aya growled like he was going to explode any minute. "It stands for …"

And Omi had said 'no casualties'.

"Oi, Aya," Yohji interrupted. "Omi needs you in the back."

Aya started and glared at Yohji, eyes narrowed. Yohji just smiled smugly.

"I'd hurry up if I were you."

"You're not me," Aya snapped.

"There is a God," Yohji retorted.

Aya huffed and stalked off to the back of the shop. One less thing to worry about until he found out that Omi didn't need him at all. Yohji sighed and turned towards the client that Aya had abandoned.

"Sorry about that," he said, scratching his head in an embarrassed manner. "You were looking at the gardenias, right? They stand for …"

"Yohji ?"

Taken at unawares, Yohji stopped talking to stare at the guy. He looked awfully familiar. So did the pink stuffed bunny in his arms. The date-thief and his secret weapon.

"Ah … Kumagorou, right ? And …" Yohji paused. Calling the guy 'Ryu-chan' in the middle of the shop didn't seem like a good idea. They had only ever met once after all, and Yohji still had a hard time figuring out what the hell exactly had happened that time.

"You remember us !" 'Ryu-chan' beamed as if Yohji had just told him he had won the lottery. "I told Kumagorou you would, but he kept saying I was just being silly … You said I was being silly, Kuma-chan, I swear! But still, you did save his life and I told him it was not nice to say that when you had saved his life, and …"

Yohji gaped as the guy babbled on and on, making the stuffed bunny bob up and down. There was no logical explanation for the continuing existence of that man if Aya had been subjected to this for two hours.

When it became obvious that the guy wasn't going to stop talking any time soon, Yohji threw the semblance of propriety he usually tried to keep up with the few clients who weren't teenage girls through the window and interrupted him.

"I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name last time …"

The guy looked surprised for a moment, then he smiled again.

"I'm Ryuuichi," he said. "Is there really a kitten in the house?"

Yohji blinked.

" … What?"

"Kumagorou asked your friend, but he wouldn't tell him, na no da !"

Yohji tried to stifle a giggle at the thought of Aya being asked a question by the stuffed toy.

"Aya has a very low tolerance to little pink bunnies. Kind of an allergy. And to answer your question, we have a cat, but she hasn't been a kitten for several years now."

Ryuuichi actually looked disappointed for a second or two.

"Oh … well, I guess, kittens have to grow up into cats, ne, Yohji ? They can't stay kittens forever, na no da !"

"Uh, yeah … I guess," Yohji agreed. "So … did you actually want to buy flowers, or do you just enjoy getting a rise out of florists early in the morning ?"

It was Ryuuichi's turn to blink and look confused.

"Kumagorou wanted to come in here because he wanted to know about the kitten, na no da ! And then, he saw the flowers, and well …" Ryuuichi came closer and held the plushie away at arm's length to whisper in Yohji's ear, "he's a bunny, you know ?"

Yohji nodded almost automatically, staring at the pink stuffed animal with a nervous smile on his face.

"And did you … and Kumagorou find any flower you like ?" he asked.

"Yes ! We want a bunch of those !" Ryuuichi said, pointing at a bin that contained an array of small, wild-like flowers that came in shades of pink, lavender, blue and white.

"Oh, viscaria, good choice ! They're very pretty, and they last quite long in a vase if you change the water regularly," Yohji commented. "Do you want me to gift-wrap them ?"

Ryuuichi discussed the gift wrap option with Kumagorou, and they agreed on it, plus a card that Ryuuichi took his time to choose on the rack while Yohji picked the best flowers and tied them together with a bit of greenery.

"Who do you want to invite to dance, Ryuuichi-san ?" Yohji asked as he rang the flowers and card up and took a leaf of shiny, transparent plastic and a bow out of the drawer. There was the chick he'd seen with Ryuuichi last time, he thought. The flowers would match her hair color, that was for sure.

"Huh ?"

"The flowers," Yohji explained. "That's what they mean."

"Ah, yes, your friend told us ! Well … It's a secret !"

The transaction was finished in a matter of minutes. Ryuuichi asked for a pen to write the card. Yohji gave the man his most sincere smile and his most heartfelt thanks as he finished the gift wrap and took Ryuuichi's money. Now, what kind of face would Aya make when he'd realize that not only had Yohji managed to make the guy get out, he'd also managed to sell him something in the process ? The gloating would be enough to entertain Yohji for the rest of the day.

Come to think of it, Aya was taking his damn sweet time to come back and yell at him. Either Omi had invented some kind of excuse right off the bat, or Aya had killed the poor boy to release all that pent-up frustration in an act of unrestrained fury and was busy hiding the body.

"Thanks, Yohji ! Bye bye, na no da !"

Yohji was still in the middle of saying "Have a nice day !" when he saw that Ryuuichi had already left. And that there were now other customers waiting to be served, and that he still hadn't ingested any sort of caffeinated beverage, and that he was alone in the shop.

He could have kissed Omi's feet when the boy came in fifteen minutes later carrying a steaming mug that showed no sign of having been defiled by either sugar or cream.

"Thank God ! I was about ready to go and check that Aya hadn't mauled you into pieces ! Where is His Prissiness anyway ?"

"I told him I'd take his shift this morning, and he … kind of stormed off," Omi said, handing the mug to his teammate. "Hey, what's this ?"

"Hmmm ?"

A gift-wrapped spray of viscaria flowers was innocently lying in the middle of the counter with an envelope pinned to the plastic. Yohji swore under his breath.

"Oh, crap ! He forgot his flowers ! And I don't even know his address or his last name ! What are we gonna do if …"

"Uh, Yohji ?" Omi interrupted. "There's your name on the card."

Yohji hastily put the mug down on the counter before he dropped it in shock.

"What ?"

"Look !" the teen said. "I think … I think they're for you," he added with a smile. "That's sweet."

"That's crazy, you mean !" Yohji said, but there was no mistaking his name haphazardly scribbled in hiragana on the white paper.

He opened the envelope and took out the card.

'Ageha, tomorrow night, 10:00pm. See you then.', it said.