[zapdragon555]

Blue listened quietly, watching as the red snip in his palm was wrapped over and over with pristine white gauze, absorbing Gabe's words in the quiet flower shop. The white noise ring of panic in his ears had finally stopped, or at least slowed to a gentle hum. He blinked when Gabe finished, looking up at him with a small half-smile and a shake of his head. "Oversharing is... allowed," he murmured, and smiled a little wider, dipping his head to look at his hand, an excuse to hide the majority of his smile.

He wasn't sure why he was happy. It was a sad story. He corrected the smile with a small rub of his free hand over his cheek, glancing away. "I... kind of ran away from some things, too. A lot of things... everything. So... I understand, ahm... I understand," he finally finished, nodding a fraction of a bit, and glanced up as the bandage was tied.

"Yeah... feels fine," he said, the small smile returning. He flexed his fingers, wincing a little at the pain beneath the gauze, but was able to make an almost-fist around the gauze. "Guess I probably can't use this hand for a little bit. If... you still want it, I'd be fine with cutting you some of that viscara." He held up his other hand, wiggling his fingers a little, a kind of quiet mischief in his eyes. "Ambidextrous."

[MythicDusk]

He felt his heart skip at the mischeif in Blue's eyes. Felt something in him heat up that sent a smile rocketing straight to his face, which set his cheeks ablaze and his brain spinning in tight circles. "Yeah! Yeah if it's no issue, I'd love some." He could feel his heart thundering in his chest, could feel the promise of excuses to come see blue building in his head, slotting in bit by bit like a jigsaw.

He licked his lips carefully, letting out a tense, breathy laugh that he didn't realise he had been holding. His cheeks burned with a blush and with the grin that he couldn't will to fade away. "I'm glad you're alright, Bluebell."

He heard himself say it that time, and he let his face fall, let the smile drop away and panic flood his eyes. "Fuck- oh jesus I'm sorry, I just- I just make nicknames for my friends out of the blue- fuck god I'm sorry, I'm not saying I see you as a friend- god I'm making a mess of this, I mean I would like to see you as a friend."

He let his breath wheeze out of his tight chest as he buried his face in his hands. "I'm sorry I'll just- I'll just go."

[zapdragon555]

When his hand was freed, Blue carefully picked himself off of the chair he sat in to retrieve the scissors from before and rinse them of any blood--there was none, but one couldn't be too careful. He snipped at open air to test them in his non dominant hand, then snipped them close with a small, audible sound at that nickname again. He turned back to Gabe, his eyes wide for a few moments, a light dusting of pink on his cheeks.

Slowly, he let himself smile, let his shoulders drop, and let a quiet chuckle of happiness escape him. "Don't go," he murmured, gazing at Gabe for a brief few seconds before moving over to the viscara, a soft hum on his lips as he went. "In fact, stay. If you leave without this viscara, I'm charging you tenfold."

His voice was light, even if its quiet sternness--an obvious indicator that he was joking. He mulled over his next words for a bit as he carefully clipped some flowers off and moved for the string, carefully holding one end between his middle and ring finger, the best he could do with a bandaged hand as he wrapped it around the stems. "Blue isn't my real name," he said after a long moment, then cringed slightly with a rueful smile. "Well... I've decided it is, actually. And... can you believe I never actually thought about it being flower related?" The grin on his face was real--a true amusement, small as it was, as he looked up at Gabe's bashful face. It softened back into a shyer smile, and he tied the knot properly.

"I like it." A simple response, and he hoped it soothed over Gabe's obvious embarrassment. He didn't want Gabe to feel embarrassed. Not after helping him and being kind; soft voice, focused eyes. Blue would remember that focus for awhile after.

[MythicDusk]

Gabe felt his shoulders relax at Blue's soft words, the anxiety that was in his chest fluttering free from his throat as he let a slow breath be drawn from him. He could feel the redness on the tips of his ears, could feel the heat on his cheeks in his palms as he slowly lowered his hands. His soft, blue eyes looked up to the other man, nodding gently at the mention of the name.

He had never experienced it, but he understood it. The closest he had ever gotten was the dumb nickname he used to use as a kid.

'Angel'.

Thinking back on it, it was dumb as hell.

He let himself be broken out of his reviere by Blue's comment of liking the nickname, and he found himself grinning. Wide and joyous.

"Well I guess I'll be using it a lot more, Bluebell."

[zapdragon555]

Well, that grin was worth something, anyway. Blue smiled slightly, turning away from Gabe's impossibly sunny stare, a hot tone to his voice as he spoke. "Don't wear it out," he snapped, but it was friendly enough, and the smile on his face was still visible. "Don't let it catch on, now. I only want you calling me that. If I come in to work in a week and hear people calling me that instead of Blue, your ass is... getting, uh, kicked..." he'd trailed off, flushing slightly at the first thing he'd said. Only wanted Gabe calling him that.

He wasn't sure what to make of his own words. So instead, he brought the bundle of flowers over in his uninjured hand, and held them out with an averted gaze and a visible pink blush to the tips of his fingers. "Here," he murmured, his injured hand tucked to his midriff, almost protecting it, or perhaps protecting himself with it.

[MythicDusk]

Gabe felt himself blush at Blue's words, his grin growing impossibly wider. "I'll make sure it'll be only me, Bluebell." He placed extra emphasis on the 'bell', making sure to tease as much as he could before he was faced with the flowers, and he felt his blush grow hotter, show on his cheeks as his eyes flicked from the flowers, to Blue's face, to Blue's hand before he carefully, gently took them. He felt the warmth of Blue's palm as his fingertips brushed against hit as he took the flowers.

"Thank you. I-uh. How much do I owe you?" He licked his own lips in preperation for the second question that he felt bubbling up, his blush deepening, travelling down his tattoed neck, under his collar. "And- uh, do you have any hints for how to, like, keep them alive? Ma has a bunch of secrets that she never told me but, if I stick stuff in just water it tends to die real quick, yknow?"

Not that he would mind coming in to buy another bundle if they did die quickly, of course. But he still needed to buy things other than flowers from the cute boy's shop who calls himself Blue and will only let him call him Bluebell.

Gabe thought for a moment that he felt his heart skip a beat.

Next time he came in, he was gonna ask if Blue wanted his number.

[zapdragon555]

Blue's expression took on an exasperated smile, rolling his eyes as Gabe took the flowers from his hand, impossibly gentle. "Thin ice," he warned, pointing the same finger at Gabe's face.

He was cute. Blue allowed himself to dwell on that, for just a moment. Cute, handsome, hot, whatever, he was kind. Not many people would rush down the street for some bandages and patch up his hand while he sat in a chair and just let them.

It was such a little piece of viscara--surely something he would've snipped off to prune it anyhow. For the time being he avoided the question of price in favor of the other. He turned round to the counter and plucked a small cart from a plastic carton, and held it out to Gabe between two fingers. "This should tell you all of that. Has a recipe for a homemade preservative that I use... no secret or anything. Just tried stuff until it worked," he said with a small half-smile. "Still, up to two weeks is usually what this'll do. If you do it right," he added, and it almost sounded like a threat, if he weren't smiling (smirking?) and his voice wasn't so soft.

He settled back for a moment, eyeing Gabe for several beats, that old impulsive feeling pushing words out of his mouth. "If you take me out to dinner one day after closing, that'll pay for this, and the next two bushels if you come back," he said, all in one breath, cutting his eyes away to stare at the tile floor. His face pink, pink as his fingertips. "Or... six dollars," he said, much smaller. Clearly embarrassed.

[MythicDusk]

Gabe felt himself grin, felt a tease rise in his chest as he spoke. "Is that six bucks a bushel, or six bucks overall? Because if its the second one, you may just be selling yourself short, Bluebell." He carefully tucked the card into one of his pockets, playing with the delicate flowers, twirling the stalk carefully.

"But if dinner will get me some more flowers, and the ability to see my little Bluebell a little more, I'm down."

He felt his eyes lid, felt his lips take on a more sultry smile before he stood from the counter, letting his eyes flutter closed as he brought the viscara to his nose and lips, enjoying the feeling of the soft petals against his skin.

"I'll see you tonight, Bluebell. It's a date." He grinned again, walking out of the store with a surprising spring in his step.

[zapdragon555]

"A bushel," Blue said, unable to stop the small grin from appearing on his face at Gabe's words, and his smile. Better than the people saying he was still underpriced after upping his prices at least six times since first starting out. His eyes flicked to the flower as it twirled gently between Gabe's fingers, little flickers of blue petals.

He felt a small pang of annoyance at the overuse of the nickname--more so embarrassed that he liked it so much, that he was so taken with it. Names meant something--not just a label a stranger decides to start calling you...

And yet, Blue really didn't want Gabe to be a stranger. It was out of character for the introverted, quiet florist persona he'd been sculpting for himself for the past year and a half. Keeping people at a comfortable distance was the highest goal, and frankly, the idea of wanting this boy to come back, and more still, take him out to dinner... Well. Blue was a bit too focused on the sight of soft petals against Gabe's lips, which looked ungodly soft, right then, for whatever damnable reason. He felt a coil of startled arousal wind through him, and he hurriedly shook his head to clear it, making a soft scoffing noise at the date comment. Even so... he couldn't help but smile, red face and all. "See you tonight," he echoed, softly, before the door fully shut.

For a long moment he stared at the potted viscara plant on the counter, as if it would explain all that had just happened. Finally, he just buried his warm face in his hands, forehead pressed to the gauze and bandage that wrapped his hand. A date... it really was a date, huh...

[MythicDusk]

It had been a restless few hours for Gabe. He had actually closed up the shop early so he could preen. He had even called his sister on video chat so she could judge his outfits. She had vetoes the suit and tie, making a face and huffing 'Far too formal for a first date. You're going for dinner, not asking him to marry you.'

Gabe pulled off the suit sharpish.

Eventually, they had both settled on a simple slacks, nice shoes and sweater outfit with a collared shirt. He had carefully draped his coat over his arm. He was happy that the place he was thinking of wasn't more than a few blocks away. He glanced at the watch he had strapped on and swallowed nervously. It was about time.

He stepped in through the doors with a slightly sheepish smile, shifting the coat in his arm carefully. He resisted the urge to muss up his carefully combed and tamed hair. He also resisted the urge to tug at the collar around his neck.

"Hey, if I'm too early, I can come back later."