A/N: The obligatory flower shop AU. You're welcome.
Mikasa sat at the register, flipping another page of The Return of the King. She probably should have been looking over the flower shop liker he cousin had asked her to while he arranged and labeled bouquets from online orders in the back of the store but the truth was that, with the exception of holidays, business was pretty much nonexistent. There would be customers here every once in a while but it was nearing the end of the day and she doubted that anyone would come in. So here she was, alone with her book and surrounded by an abundance of sweet-smelling flowers, waiting for the clock to finally strike five so she could pack up, bid her cousin goodbye, and leave for the day.
She probably would have done so if the door hadn't swung open just then, the bells chiming to announce the arrival of a new customer, and she looked up to find a boy around her age, breathing heavily. He slammed a twenty-dollar bill on the counter in front of her, his blue eyes glimmering. The boy was breathing a little heavily, as if he had run all of the way there. "How do you say 'fuck you' in flowers?" he asked, entirely serious.
"In flowers?" she repeated, a little confused. Nonetheless, she set her book down and gave him her complete attention.
He nodded. "Yeah, it's for my friend Jean."
"You want to say 'fuck you' to your friend Jean?"
"You're right. That scum doesn't deserve to be called my friend. He was never my friend anyway, that jerk," the guy growled to himself. He turned back to Mikasa. "No, you're right. He's more of an acquaintance to me. A nuisance, really."
"Ah," she said, her lips twitching slightly. Strange as he was, this guy was pretty amusing. "A bouquet of 'fuck you' flowers coming right up, sir." She
The guy smiled as Mikasa made her way to the other side of the counter. He had a nice smile, she thought; it was a little bit too wide for his face but it was oddly charming. "'Fuck you' flowers. I like that," he said. "I'm Eren, by the way." He followed her to the side where they kept the flowers grouped by type and color.
She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and smiled, making sure not to keep her face forward so he wouldn't see her growing grin. "I'm Mikasa," she told him.
"So, Mikasa," said Eren, leaning forward and tilting his head to get a better view of her face. He was just about the same height as her, maybe half a centimeter taller or shorter she couldn't decide, with messy brown hair and mischievous blue eyes. "What does one put in one of these 'fuck you' bouquets?"
"Well, Eren," she said, adopting an air of importance. Mikasa reached out and plucked a few geraniums, bright red ones, and handed them to him. "I, for one, would think it would be a good idea to start with geraniums. They symbolize stupidity, you see."
He nodded. She could see he was biting his lip to keep from laughing. "Stupidity. Absolutely perfect. Jean's full of stupidity," he told her. "This bouquet should have an abundance of geraniums."
Mikasa gestured towards the flowers and gave Eren a mock bow. "Be sure to take as many as you think would be sufficient," she said. "But perhaps I might interest you in something other flowers as well to give your bouquet more variety. Take, for instance, the meadowsweet, which symbolizes uselessness." She waved her hand to dainty-looking flowers, small and white as snow.
Eren's grin grew even wider as his eyes gleefully took in the flowers Mikasa had just introduced. "You know, you're a very knowledgeable florist," he said, clearly impressed. He took a couple of meadowsweet, adding them to the collection of flowers already in his hand.
She shrugged. "Technically I'm not the florist. I'm just looking over for my cousin while he works on some stuff in the back. But I've seen him make enough of these 'fuck you' bouquets to send to his friends to make one for a customer if they request one," she replied. She walked over to the carnations, plucking a few yellows ones and handing them to Eren.
He took them, their fingers brushing slightly, and looked at them curiously. "He sends them to his friends that often?"
"Yeah," she laughed. "They annoy him to no end but they still somehow manage to remain friends. Weird, I know." She nods at the carnations in his hands. "Yellow for disappointment."
"Ah." Eren brought the carnation to his nose and breathed in deeply, nodding. "Yes, I recognize this scent. I smell it on Jean every morning."
Mikasa giggled. "Ready for the last one?"
"This passively aggressive loath-filled bouquet is in your knowledgeable hands," Eren replied. "Well, literally mine but metaphorically yours."
She laughed and reached for lilies – a soft orange like the setting sun. "Orange lilies to finish it off," she said. "They represent hatred."
He gave out an exaggerated gasp, staring at the lilies with wide eyes. Eren took the flowers from her and cradled the finished bouquet in his arms like it was a newborn baby. "It's beautiful," he whispered.
She smiled ruefully at the bouquet. "Almost too pretty to give to anyone even if it's a pretty cool way to say 'fuck you,'" she commented.
Eren looked at Mikasa thoughtfully. "You know, you're probably right about that," he said slowly. "I mean, Jean doesn't deserve a cleverly thought out and carefully picked passive aggressive 'fuck you' bouquet. What would be an even bigger 'fuck you' is me just never responding to you. Being the bigger man instead of even bother to give him a response, you know?"
"You just thought of this now?"
Eren grinned at her. "I never said I was the smartest guy out there." He handed the bouquet back to her. "You can tell your cousin he can use it for one of his friends."
Mikasa took it gently from him. "I'm sure he'll send it to someone soon," she replied sagely. She headed back to the counter and put the bouquet next to her book. "Sorry I couldn't help you find anything to purchase though." She made a move to hand him back his twenty but he shook his head.
"You did plenty and actually," he said, looking shyly at her, "are there flowers that mean 'new love.'"
"Lilac," she said automatically.
"Lilac," he repeated. He walked backwards until he was standing next the section of purple flowers. "These ones, right?"
She hid her smile behind her hand. "Those are irises," she giggled. She pointed at the flowers besides the one he had been looking at, the ones that were a much lighter shade of purple. "Those ones are lilacs."
"Oh!" He took a handful of them and walked over to the cash register, smiling over at Mikasa with that charming grin he had. "Thanks."
"Who are you giving them to?" she asked curiously.
"You," he replied. He held the lilacs out to her.
Mikasa's eyes widened but she took the lilacs from him. "Oh, you're giving them to me," she said. She could feel a blush blooming across her cheeks and she hoped it wasn't too noticeable.
"Yeah," he said. Eren rested his elbow on the counter. "So if you're free after work or something, do you want to go on a date?"
She pursed her lips and looked down, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. "Yeah," she said, smiling. "I'd like that."
I saw this prompt on tumblr and thought it would be cute. I can only write fluff for SnK. Isayama's given these poor guys enough blood and gore and tragedy. As for what Jean did, I will never know. I like to think that Jean even breathing pisses Eren off.
