Chapter Text
“Skull, dearie?” A bright red glow lifted away from the carnations at the scratchy voice. A hum was the answer as the older woman smiled from the back door leading to the storage area. “You okay watchin’ the shop while I finish up some inventory back here?”
A nod and she grinned at him. Miss Callen was a kind soul, one of the few willing to offer him a job with his hulking and cracked appearance. Nearly three years have passed since he found himself such a calm profession working as a florist for the woman. He should write down a note about buying Miss Callen’s favorite coffee mix for the upcoming anniversary of his hiring date. She always said it was unnecessary and she was happy to keep him around to lift the large bags of soil and plant pots, but he could see the tenderness etched into her face each time he went out of his way to do something nice for her or to thank her.
“Good! Now if only Jacob was as dependable as you.” He scoffed at the mention of her son, earning a cackle from the woman. She knew of his distaste for her rather racist and slimy kin. The lazy bastard rarely showed up to work on time (if at all) and had a nasty habit of flirting with anything with a pulse. He was the one who had an issue with the hiring of Skull, pitching a fit to his mom and trying to convince her Skull would rob them blind the moment she turned her back.
This was quickly disproven when an actual robbery happened while Skull was on the clock and managed to throw the would-be robbers out with a few bruises and pissed pants. The next day he came in for work, Miss Callen and the other sweet floral worker Rebecca (he defaulted to calling her Red because of her vibrant hair) surprised him with a platter of homemade cookies and a case of beer. He shook his head at the alcohol, he was on the clock after all, but Miss Callen snarked that she was the owner of the shop and did as she damn well pleases– including letting her employees enjoy a drink or two when it was slow. When he told Paps, his bro was ecstatic to share the left over cookies with him.
The bell ringing above the front door drew Skull from his reminiscing. He shrank in his spot behind the counter to appear smaller as he turned to the figure shuffling inside. They seemed to fumble, back turned to him as they tried to shake dry their umbrella outside the door before fully stepping into the warmth of the shop. A fitting red sweater dress clung to their form, ending just below their knees where a pair of thick black boots squeezed their calves and gave them an extra two or three inches in height.
He had to force his single working eyelight up to her face once she turned and locked eyes with him. Her makeup was simple but smudged, mascara creating dark blots under her eyes from where it was rubbed away and lipstick all but worn off save for the very corners of her lips. Her hair looked like it was previously done up nicely, a few strands left out to frame her face, but now various frizzy ends stuck out and clung to her skin, wet from the rainy weather. Despite this, she was still rather attractive in Skull’s opinion, her form glowing under the overhead warm lights. Red looked good on her.
She blinked at him, flashing a timid smile as she approached. He sucked in a breath and shrank further in his seat, not wanting to scare her off with his appearance. A hand lifted to confirm his beanie still remained in place on his skull, covering the hole he had despite how itchy he found it. He learned to wear it whenever he was working the front in case customers came in as they usually got visibly disgusted by the sight of his injury, which, in turn, had many of them leaving before purchasing anything. A scowl nearly pulled at this face. Stars, people were so stupid.
“Hello.” Soft and wispy, she greeted him as she stopped about a foot from the counter, body language unsure and hesitant. She glanced away to look around at the flowers hanging from the ceiling and the wall planters. “I apologize, I know you are closing soon– but I was hoping I could get some help making a small bouquet?”
Skull looked down at the digital clock displayed on the counter register, a wide ipad on a swivel stand with one of those card sensor things on the side of it. True to her words, the clock read 8:49PM, eleven minutes to closing on a Tuesday night. She was likely to be their last customer for the day. Had she been rude off the bat or requested a ridiculously long or large order, he would’ve told her to scram, especially since Miss Callen or Red were typically the ones that handled the customers while he wrapped orders. But the woman before him looked so uncertain if her presence was welcome this late and she was asking for one small bouquet? How could he turn her away?
He took a moment to gather his thoughts and turn them into words, speaking as softly as he could with a slow nod. Her eyes flickered back to his in surprise before a relieved smile pulled at her lips, making him flash one of his own. “... can help… what kind of flowers?”
“O-Oh, um– sorry, I’m not sure.” Hands wringing together, she flushed with embarrassment. “I don’t know much about flowers, I just kind of… wanted something nice to end the day with.”
Skull thought for a moment before rising from his seat with a hum and stepping over to the assembly table. He laid out a sheet of brown paper and cut a sizable length of twine as she stepped closer carefully, like she was afraid of invading his space. “... any allergies?”
A glance to her had her shaking her head and he was moving around the room, gathering various cut flowers. Some Babies Breath, a few yellow Cosmos, some Marigolds, a couple Daisies– he paused to turn to her, observing for a moment how she gazed at him in sheer fascination, eyes glued firmly to the warm toned flowers clutched in his hands before grasping three Lavender stems and one pink Hyacinth to center the arrangement around, doing his best to ignore the flush that was settling onto his cheekbones.
Normally, a small bouquet would be around fifteen stems, but as she seemed to be having a bad day he grabbed a few extra to make it look a little fuller. Returning to the table he was quick to set the flowers and greenery together, adjusting and snipping them so none smushed or overlapped another too much before wrapping the brown paper around and slipping the twine underneath it. He twisted the knot, looping a few bows before reaching under the table. Pulling out a packet of flower food, he hid it in the paper under the leaves and fidgeted with the crinkles in the paper.
Swiping a large hand across the table, he pushed most of the scraps into the compost bin to the side, trying to buy time as his nerves started getting the better of him. The action bought him all of five seconds before he had to steel himself and turn to the curious eyes of the woman. She was closer than she was before, separated only by the corner of the work table, she stood with her hands still wrapped around one another as she tilted her head at the arrangement in his fingers.
He bent down slightly and held out the flowers, trying to will the tremor in his fingers to cease, flinching as her own grazed over his and seared warmth into his marrow. The single working eyelight he had was locked onto her expression as she tenderly pulled the bouquet closer to her, fingers brushing the underside of the leaves and petals. Her soft lips, dusted pink, were parted in what he thought was wonder as she scanned over the flowers, hands rotating the bundle slowly before her brows knit and a smile pulled at her features.
“I know flowers have their own language and can be used to convey messages sometimes, but I don’t know much about the specifics. Marigolds mean… wealth?” Her eyes flicked up to his and a grin flashed across his teeth. “You trya say you hope I’m wealthy? Is this bouquet gonna cost me my favorite kidney?”
A laugh rolled out of him before he could stop it, shaking his head as he moved back to sit behind the counter. She moved to follow him as he waved her over, an easy expression settling over her features. “nah… can mean wealth but… but i added them for joy and… resilience.” Her face flushed a pretty shade of pink and he quickly looked down to the ipad, typing in her total. “a nice end to th’ day.”
She was quiet for a moment as he tapped against the screen, bouquet hugged to her chest before she spoke in a soft whisper. “What’s your name?”
“...’s Skull.”
Another smile flashed his way and a warmth panged in his chest cavity. “Thank you, Skull. I know it’s your job and all but–” She rubbed at her neck just under her ear as she chuckled, looking away. “It means a lot, so thank you for humoring me tonight.”
He was quiet but nodded, stuck in a daze and unable to shake himself out of it, even as she paid and gave a farewell. All he could do was stare as she walked out the door with a soft jingle following her, his thoughts passing by without being processed. A soft hiss of air left him as he deflated into his seat, the old wood of the stool creaking in protest. Eyelight once fuzzy, sharpened and snapped behind him as a hand clapped down on his shoulder, startling him.
Miss Callen wore the most devious look and he immediately scowled at her, trying to sink away from her hand in vain. “Having fun there?”
He grunted and she laughed gleefully at him. Playfully, she leaned against him as he did his best to look at anything but her.
“I think that was the most I’ve heard you speak in a single day! And oh they way you kept glancing at her.”
“...shaddup.”
Another evil cackle and he was shoving her off softly to stand. “Don’t think I didn’t see the Hyacinth you snuck in there.”
“stalker.” Rather than offended, she seemed to revel in the insult, swinging around to stand in front of him.
“Well? Did you get her number? She is pretty cute.” Another grunt and Skull could feel his face pinching up in embarrassment. Miss Callen raised a hand to her chin in mock thought, face one of faux innocence. “I wouldn’t mind some lil skeletons running around the shop.”
A noise of sheer exasperation left Skull as she deflated to the floor, collapsing in a pile of bones against the counter as she howled with laughter above him. Stars, she was going to kill him.
The bell sounded again and Skull had to fight the urge to snap his head up in hopes of seeing the woman. Did she forget her wallet or something? But then the greying woman raised her arms and stepped over him towards whoever entered the shop, making relief and disappointment clash within him. “Bones! How good to see you again!”
“Hello Miss Callen!” His brother's familiar voice filled the shop with joy.
“Here for your brother?”
“Indeed! I Assume The Lazy Pile There Is Him?”
Skull tuned out the rest of the conversation, barely paying attention as he was lifted by Bones and carried out the shop. Instead, his thoughts drifted back to the moment the woman in the red dress was handed the arrangement. How her face softened as she took in every detail he put into the bouquet. How she smiled when she thanked him. The sweet sound of her laugh. The playfulness in her eyes when she joked with him.
He hoped to see her again.
~~~
A week passed as typical without hair nor hide of the woman in red. The shop ran smoothly the following week with only one incident involving Jacob tripping and breaking a few vases, all while attempting to blame Skull for it. Not his fault he couldn’t see the small bone that sprouted from the floor in time, not that Miss Callen ever thought Skull could ever have done something so sneaky. Why, he could barely hurt a fly! It was how he ended up passing time more quickly and, occasionally, how he managed to get Jacob to piss off out of the store faster.
Today, however, he was stuck with Jacob again as he set about manually watering the flowers. Some of the potted ones were given the watering can, while the trimmed ones were given careful sprays from his spray bottle, a mix of flower food, spring water, and a smidge of his own magic to preserve them a bit more– something Miss Callen immediately adored about him before paying him off with a generous bonus each time he spared some of his limited magic to help the shop.
His gaze twitched to Jacob as he fumbled with the control panel to the automatic sprinkle system. Annoyed grunts and curses left the man child in random bouts of anger as he struggled to get the system back up. Why the hell was he trying to fix the sprinklers again? Skull could easily get the wiring going again in a jiffy if Miss Callen would let him– oh, that’s right. She had threatened to fire Jacob’s no show ass if he didn’t contribute more significantly. The overconfident jackass’ solution? Fix the outdated sprinkler system Skull has been asking his boss to replace for the last four months when it first started acting up.
She had confided in him that she would, but first she wanted to see how serious Jacob was about working at the shop and not just asking for allowance money anymore. Until this point, it had been Skull keeping it within semi-working order, thanks to a bit of duct tape and some elbow grease. He and his brother had always been good at jerry rigging traps and puzzles, both before and after the famine. Jacob had no such experience and was by no means a mechanic.
Skull had to suppress a snicker as another loud curse left the human male.
The front bell jingled and Skull turned to greet the customer, water can nearly falling from his grasp as familiar shy eyes locked onto him. She wasn’t in the red sweater dress this time, dressed more casually with a simple pair of black jeans, a plain green shirt, and a thick black jacket with fur lining the inside. It looked oversized and bunched at her wrists as she stepped further into the shop. Her hair was let down this time, falling behind her and bunching in her hood.
“Hello, again.” Her greeting took a solid ten seconds before it registered in his head and he nodded rapidly, trying to show he wasn’t intentionally unresponsive to her.
“...you’re back.” Unlike most, she didn’t look uncomfortable by his slow responses or continuous staring as he tried to process the world around him. Instead, seemed overjoyed by the fact he remembered her. How could he not? She flooded his thoughts every waking hour. He had been hoping to see her again, but was losing confidence of her return as the week had progressed. “the flowers?”
“Finally started wilting the other day. Was thinking of getting a replacement bouquet.”
Skull smiled and beckoned her closer. He gestured to the flowers he was just watering, a tilt in his head as he looked down at her. She wasn’t wearing makeup this time.
She thought for a moment, carefully looking over the bundles and nametags. Peaking up at him, she bit her cheek before speaking. “Can… Can I have you surprise me again? The last one you made was really sweet.”
He paused, thinking. Then, a slow nod. “theme? or, uh…”
The last one he made her was to cheer her up, it would make sense if she had something in mind this time too. However, she shook her head. “Whatever you think would suit me, I suppose.”
Skull took another moment to assess her again, tracing her delicate skin and the soft curve of her face with his eyelight. She wore the same boots and saw they were slightly scuffed at the toe. Worn but clearly cared for. His gaze lifted to the pop of color in her outfit. Green was cute on her, sure, but he liked the dark red from before more.
He thought back to their first conversation. She didn’t know much about flower language, but seemed curious. Would she take offence if he showed interest? Would she notice? Fuck it.
Finally, he turned and began gathering the flowers he wanted. This time, instead of a yellow and pink theme, Skull pulled purple and blue flowers with a small spring of Ivy and some Babies Breath for some added cushion. He caught her eyeing the nameplates of the shelves he pulled flowers from, a look of concentration stretching across her features as he turned to set the plants on the work table.
As he did so, he nearly jumped at how close Jacob was to him, a look of annoyance etched into the man’s face as he stared up at him. Flattening his own expression, Skull waited for Jacob to say what he wanted, grunting out a sound of confusion. The man looked irritated even more so before pinching the space between his eyes and sighing and hissing out his next sentence as if it physically pained him to do so.
“Look, how much do I gotta pay you to fix the sprinkler system and say it was me that fixed it?”
Blinking, it took a few seconds for Skull to properly understand what he was asked, and when he did, he was pissed. Seriously? He shook his head and shifted back towards the table, earning the ire of Jacob.
“Are you for real? Why won’t you fuckin’ help?”
“... ‘s not my place. Old lady’d be pissed.”
A nasty sneer seeped onto Jacob’s face as he glowered at the giant. “‘Not your place’? You don’t know your fuckin’ place if it was colored in pink neon!” He nearly yelled and Skull winced, sparing the woman at his side a glance.
Why the hell was he choosing now of all times to act up? Especially when they had a customer, even if it wasn’t the one he’d secretly been hoping for all week, this was literally the worst time Jacob could choose to make an ass of himself. A finger was jabbed under his nasal cavity and he nearly gagged from the sweaty stench wafting off the man.
“Listen here you overgrown cheap Halloween decoration–” A low growl slipped out of Skull before he could stop it, shoulders hunched and head tilted down. His teeth clenched in an effort to not lose his temper. Luckily, he didn’t have to.
The bell rang and a familiar head of brown and grey hair walked in, making Skull slouch with relief and Jacob to step back with a huff. She took one look over at Skull, the flowers in his hands, and the woman at his side before her grin grew exponentially and she was swiftly walking over.
“Jacob, my boy.” Her hand clapped him on the shoulder as he forced a smile at her. It was quickly dropped once she leaned up and pressed a kiss to his cheek.
“Oh– ew, mom!” How mature. But she was already dragging him to the back away from the two as she rambled about her bad hip acting up and needing his help lifting some crates. “Why can’t you just make the horror show do it– ow!” Miss Callen smacked him on the back of the head and finished shoving him through the storage doors.
“We have customers you dick!” And then she was gone, muffled conversation being all the two could hear of them. Sighing, Skull ran a hand down his face before a snort had him glancing to his side.
“Wow, and I thought some of my coworkers were assholes.” She turned to him, a look of concern etched into her face. “You okay? I can come back another time if you need a moment.”
His sockets widened and he moved closer, hand lifting and pinching the fabric of her jacket sleeve. Flinching, he let go of her but gave a quick shake of his head, expression no doubt pleading. Please don’t go.
Her lips twitched upwards, the worry fading from her and he found he didn’t mind if she was worried about him. Her eyes moved back to the flowers in his hands. “Are those Forget-Me-Nots?” A grin spread on Skull’s face as he nodded. Seems she knew more than he thought. “You think those suit me?”
“... small, cute, an’... hard to forget– and i forget a lot of stuff.”
Phalanges fidgeted with the blue petals as he began laying the flowers out on a piece of brown paper. He chanced a glance and saw her turn as pink dusted her cheeks again. Pressing some Lavender into a few branches of Babies Breath, he turned back to his assembly. Adjust the Daisies between the Violets, layer in the little blue flowers, a sparse sprinkling of Ivy between the petals and voila!
All too soon, he was passing the finished bundle back into her hands as she stared shyly down at it, fingers brushing his as she took it with the gentleness of a spring wind. That expression was back, soft and analytical as she studied the careful arrangement, but there was something else too. Something contemplative as she bit her cheek, her thumb sweeping over a Violet loosely.
“what’s your name?” He blurted, nerves getting the better of him and he immediately wanted to facepalm himself.
“Oh… Oh! Stars, sorry! I never introduced myself last time.” Her embarrassment made him feel better about his own as she stuck out a hand for him to shake, face flushed and eyes fretful. “It’s ___.”
Taking her hand, Skull couldn’t help the fond look he gave her. Unfortunately, the conversation wrapped up quickly and he rang her out. However, unlike last time, she paused at the door and turned to him, a mischievous glint in her eyes.
“I’ll see you next week for another bouquet!” And then she was gone, leaving poor Skull with a racing heart and a dumb grin even Jacob couldn’t make go away.