fandomtownies | Covent Garden Flowers, Thursday

Oh, come now, Octavia. If grocery store sake could be a thing, then why not flower shop tea? Although Shunsui would hope there'd be very little argument over which was clearly superior.

Either way, Shunsui was breezing into said flower shop, quite a bit later in the day, of course.

"Well," he stated, grinning at Octavia by way of greeting with a slight tip of his still-sliced hat, "this is quite the unexpected turn of events, isn't it ♥?"

Pity he couldn't get some flower petals to drift artfully down with his entrance. It would have been just the place for it!

Well, except maybe the fact that then Octavia would probably have to clean them up, so maybe it really was better without. For now, he'd just have to be content with his usual theatrics.

"It is," Octavia agreed readily, looking over from where she was standing by some purple flowers. "Usually, you just make the store phone ring a little oddly."

Instead of showing up in person, looking like petals should have drifted down from the ceiling to herald his arrival.

"Today's order of business requires a bit more of a personal touch than a phone call would allow, I'm afraid ♥. As much as I hate to put you through any unnecessary or undue work, Octavia-chan ♥..."

Absolutely nothing in his tone suggested even the slightest bit of remorse, or even the smallest hint that any actual work would be involved.

"You're not too busy today, are you? Not drowning in complicated floral arrangements or awash in complaining customers ♥?"

"It's January 2nd," Octavia replied with a softly scoffing kind of tone. Which maybe betrayed how she probably didn't really assume his intentions had anything to do with actual work. "I don't think people even remember flowers exist, right now."

"Imagine," he said, lifting his brows at the girl who grew up under the floor on a spaceship, "ever forgetting that flowers exist..."

Which meant moving right along.

"But I'm not here for flowers, Octavia-chan ♥," he said, breezing closer, a little bit past, seemingly to mildly look around at the store's current arrangement, and then looked over his shoulder a bit at her with a smile. "It's been a week now of mourning my poor Nanao-chan VI's unfortunate demise, and I think it's time to find another dear roommate. It's gotten so quiet without her around. ♥."

"Not sure looking for a new plant for your apartment counts as not being here for flowers, Shunsui," Octavia noted with a sliver of wryness, watching him. "But, something similar or something different, this time?"

"Oh," Shunsui chuckled a little, "another bonsai, of course ♥. Which is very much a tree and not a flower, Octavia-chan, although there certainly are ones that are flowering."

He tilted his grin her way. "I'll accept no other roommate ♥."

Edited 2020-01-02 19:49 (UTC)

"And yet it doesn't say Covent Garden Trees out front," Octavia replied with a bit of a drawl.

Still, she glanced around for where the selection of bonsai were currently located. She was pretty sure they'd kind of disappeared for a while during the holiday season.

"There should be some here, though if none of them seem like... roommate material, I can also put in an order."

"Oh," Shunsui waved a dismissive hand, "there shouldn't be a need to go that far, Octavia-chan." Especially since that would require something that could undeniably be considered actual work. "It's so rare to find one that isn't roommate material, after all, and then the real problem becomes the difficulty of choosing just the one ♥."

Although, considering that the numbers were not just arbitrary, he would probably be back for the others eventually, anyway.

It didn't count as fully actual work simply because he was neither a person yelling at her nor a sweet old lady intent on telling her about their entire household plant history, or any of the other kinds of customers that regularly tried Octavia's patience at this shop.

"Come on," she said, nodding him towards where the bonsai were, once she'd spotted them. "Here."

There weren't many, but they were nice, and there were still a few different kinds to choose from.

Shunsui always could start delving into the demises of Nanao-chans I through V, though, if it turned out that this particular foray into bonsai shopping seemed a bit too lackadaisical for her tastes.

"See, now," said Shunsui, nodding back before following her direction and drifting over to go have a closer look, "that's a wonderful selection, especially for a place not called Covent Garden Trees ♥. Just the sort of quality I've come to expect! And that's not even mentioning the charming and lovely and helpful staff ♥."

"Just doing my job," Octavia replied, following him over to the tiny trees in question. She'd thought about getting one of them for herself, once or twice, but so farhad chosen against it. "That's all."

"Well, you're doing that job excellently, Octavia-chan," Shunsui assured her, sweeping around the assorted little trees as if another angle might provide him with a view to make it easier to decide. "Easily the most pleasant bonsai-shopping experience I've had to date ♥."

Octavia gave that a faint huff of an amused noise, and a tiny nod that may have been one of thanks, but could just as easily have been just an 'okay, sure'. She didn't say, either way.

She didn't say anything else, either. Just stood there and watched him look at the tiny trees, while Envy sang on the radio about being 'fine to sit and stare at the door / can't run anymore / too weary to stand'.

Well, what was a show without an audience, anyway? Because Shunsui was, like he did with so much, making quite the show of inspecting those tiny trees, turning them around to examine all the angles, holding two up, one in each hand, as if comparing the spread of their branches, their weight, the tilt of their trunks. Holding one out at a distance and tilting his head with his other hand at his chin, one eye closed as if guaging some sort of distance or imagining just how any given one might look in his austere and spartan apartment, how it might look there among all the sake bottles and unwritten pages.

Finally, he seemed to have come to some sort of decision, but not a full one, as he picked up two, turned his attention back to Octavia with the requisite lazy grin, and asked, "So, what do you think, Octavia-chan ♥? This one?" He lifted the one. "Or do you think more...this one ♥?" And lifted the other.

That really was quite the show, and one that Octavia found herself watching raptly. There was just something so... light about it all.

And when he asked her about her opinion, she actually gave it some thought and some time, even if she wasn't going to get anywhere near his level of meticulous inspection of the trees.

"They're both good." It wasn't even just her customer service side talking, mostly because she didn't actually have one. Still, she nodded towards the second one. "But I like that one better."

Sentimental reasons, but at least it wasn't obvious.

While Octavia's quiet consideration might have lacked the meticulousness or the drama of Shunsui's own, watching her as she worked through the decision was just as captivating to him. And when she'd made up her mind, he met her answer with a bright, pleased smile.

"That's the one I was leaning towards, too, Octavia-chan &hearts," he told her, although whether or not he'd say that regardless of what she picked was something that might never be truly know. "I think we have it, then! My Nanao-chan VII ♥!"

And after setting down the first so the second could be held aloft in triumph, he patted a hand on top of the first one. "Though it was a very tough decision, bonsai-chan ♥," he assured it. "You did wonderfully, it just wasn't meant to be."

Considering Shunsui's track record, though, that first one likely dodged a bullet.

Octavia assumed so, but she wasn't going to say it out loud.

Still snorted quietly, though, but that could've been for many other reasons. "Maybe someone else will come for it later," she rasped. "Do you need anything else?"

"Unfortunately," admitted Shunsui with a chuckle, "no. I appears as though all my plant needs are sufficiently taken care of. Well....I'm sure I can think of something else, but I would so hate to distract you from all of your very busy and very important work here ♥."

Octavia crossed her arms with another little huff.

Her tone was much softer than what that stance might have caused him to anticipate, though. "Why don't you let me decide what's worth getting distracted by, huh?"

The effort of keeping a straight face in response to that would be an awful lot of work, so Shunsui was mostly not even going to bother trying.

"...and ♥?" he asked.

"And, what?" Octavia returned, raising her eyebrows just a little bit. "I don't know what your other needs or wants might be, but I will know if they're worth my distraction."

She relented with a shrug, though.

"But, considering how busy the shop isn't..."

His odds were okay.

Shunsui felt he had to spare at least a little bit of a look that expressed that it didn't exactly take a genius to figure out what those other wants or needs could be, but he supposed, if she wanted to go spoil the fun and have him spell it right out for her...

"Your company, Octavia-chan," he told her. "Would that fall under a need or want worthy of your distraction ♥?"

If he wanted to stop having to spell things out, he really needed to look elsewhere. Octavia was unlikely to get over this particular hang-up of hers any time soon.

(She was trying to. But looks didn't help, Shunsui!)

She shrugged one shoulder. "My company? Barely sounds like a distraction to me."

Perhaps if it felt a little less like she was being willfully obtuse, while also leaving him wide open for things like this, she would earn herself fewer looks.

"Then you sell yourself short, Octiavia-chan," Shunsui said, his look this time softening s little after a moment, just before the grin slipped in. "But I'd be happy to show you how distracting it could be...♥"

"You're free to try, anyway," Octavia replied, with a slight drawl, and the barest hint of something amused.

As if he wasn't a very tall man in a flowery pink haori and therefore pretty much an immediate distraction just by being in a room.

Without even getting into any of Octavia's personal weaknesses when it came to him.

And Shunsui did rather pride himself in his skills at distraction. To that, he couldn't give his own little amused breath, taking a moment to set Nanao-chan VII safely and securely back down on the table before shifting his attention back to Octavia, his smile quirked, his brow, too.

Willfully obtuse or not, it was hard to believe that anyone who knew him would hand him an invitation like that and not expect him to seize on it. And he could only hope that that was the intention, but, really, he'd hardly ever let that stop him before.

The tilt of his head worked exceptionally well to allow him to lean in closer as he asked, "Am I ♥?" He lifted a hand, brought it close so he could brush back a hair (imaginary or otherwise), his hand retreating with a trailing thumb along her cheek, the only warning she'd get (or would hopefully need) before he leaned in more to kiss her.

The stray hair was more on the imaginary side, this time. Her braids looked a little different than usual today, and despite having been slept in, they were still holding pretty well.

Not that any of that mattered, really.

And, obtuse or not, the steps past the first bit of leaning in were getting familiar and so teh amount of warning was sufficient. His lips still found hers on the tentative side, though, but still kissing him back.

No punches, kicks to the face, backing up or freezing...yet...so off to a good start, so Shunsui moved closer, wrapping his arm around Octavia's waist to help bring her in the rest of the way. His other hand stayed close to her face, a gently brushing thumb to go along with the increase in confidence behind the kiss that always came with clearing that initial moment without bruises.

It was the arm that did it.

Octavia seemed fine one moment, but in the next, she was pulling back just enough to break the kiss and pres two of her fingers against his lips instead.

However, the difference was that while he'd been gone, Octavia had actually thought (and talked) about why all the freezing maybe happened, and so this probably wasn't about to go spectacularly sideways.

"Okay," she breathed. "Wait."

... She just needed a second to gather her thoughts.

If he was honest, Shunsui would have to admit a significant thrum of disappointment that there still seemed to be this other obstacle still awaiting after the first, but he couldn't say he was surprised, either.

But he stopped, he waited, holding himself still as could be. How could he not? She had him there by the lips.

And he may have left it there, just giving her the space, the time, with nothing more than a hopefully patient but expectant look, but he just couldn't help himself from adding a quiet, rumbled, "'Til the very end of time, if I must, Octavia-chan ♥."

It was a welcome addition, because even though it might not have been obvious, Octavia kind of worried about pushing him away, or wearing out his patience. Reassurance was a good thing.

Her expression softened, just for a second.

Then, after a glance around, she dropped the fingers from his lips to reach for his hand, instead. "Come with me."

This shop had a back room.

Barely a distraction, indeed. Shunsui could keep that thought to himself, but he didn't have as much luck with the faint grin on his face. When her hand found his, he entwined his fingers in her and lifted them both, just for a moment, just enough to press a kiss against hte back of her hand.

"Wherever you fly, hato, I'll gladly follow ♥."

Yeah, yeah. He was, as always, a gigantic distraction. And one that Octavia was now tugging along, first past the counter and then into the back room.

She nudged the door mostly closed after them, but not all the way. That way, she'd still hear the chime if someone came into the store.

Then, and only then, did she finally step closer to him again. Not that she'd gone very far at any point: their fingers were still laced together. "I don't like public spaces," she said, looking up at him. "It's what freaks me out."

Looking back at Octavia, unable to keep his thumb from brushing against her hand as he held it, Shunsui blinked a few times, and then smiled, with a relieved breath of a laugh.

"Is that all it is, Octavia-chan?"

Relieved, yes, but not exactly entirely convinced that that was all it was. Not entirely convinced, no, but more than willing to take it.

"Clearly," his free hand lifted to brush back a braid, mostly just so he then continue with a brush against her shoulder, "we need to stop always meeting so publicly ♥."

"It's probably not all it is," Octavia admitted. Really, she knew it wasn't. "But it's a big thing." And one that she'd so far managed to actually put into words, which made it into something she could actually do something about.

Hence the back room.

"So, yeah." She gave his fingers a little squeeze. "Private would be better, sometimes."

Something like that very rarely was all it was, but Shunsui never was one to deal with details he didn't have to unless he had to.

"Private is good," Shunsui agreed, smiling softly as he squeezed back, then leaned in to press a kiss on Octavia's forehead, then pushing back his hat enough to allow him to rest his forehead on that spot. "Is this private enough?"

"It is," Octavia murmured. She'd purposefully led them to a spot away from any possibility of being seen through the crack in the door. "Not ideal --" Her ideal had rapidly become the galley on the Cape Rouge, which was not an option for them. "-- but it's enough."

She just didn't want to be seen.

A breath, and she added, "Try it if you don't believe me." But it wasn't about thinking he didn't or wouldn't believe her. It was an invitation.

"Oh, I believe you ♥," Shunsui assured her, even if it wasn't about that, "but I'll try it, all the same."

Just a tilt of his head and his hand drifting from Octavia's shoulder to her chin, lightly lifting it under a curled finger to make it just that much easier for his lips to find hers again.

It was light to begin with, this time, too.

But this time Octavia shifted closer to him without prompting, and her free hand came up to stroke the line of his jaw. So 'tentative' was out the window for now.

For now. And, with the hopes to make it for a while, Shunsui kept it light, too, slow, languid, for now, following Octavia's lead just as easily as he'd followed her back there in the first place.

It was the smart choice. And although smart choices weren't necessarily Octavia's forte, she was going with one now. Just slowly relaxing into it all without rushing, just letting herself feel every little detail.

After a moment, still keeping the kiss nice and slow, she finally let go of his hand, but only so that she could try and urge his arm around her waist. She wanted that to be a thrill in her spine and not the cage it had turned into when she'd been all too aware that someone might walk in.

She didn't gave to try very hard. The moment Octavia let go of his hand, Shunsui's arm was almost already moving that way. Almost. But he waited, and then her finders confirmed, and his arm was back around her to hold her. Then he stopped, for a moment, for his own breath, though in that moment, he had to push down the temptation to duck his head, start kissing along her cheek, down her neck, that temptation that always insisted it never hurt to try, even when he knew for a fact when it would.

But he didn't. Not now, not yet, returning his lips of Octavia's with just a bit more of his own eagerness behind it.

They'd only just barely made it past what had tripped Octavia up in the store proper, so it was probably for the best not to rush.

But they had made it past it. Just like she'd thought, and hoped, this time his arm wrapping around her waist didn't set off any warning signals in her brain. This time, it was a little more like that first time at the onsen, when his arm had just felt faintly reassuring: this time, it was just... nice, and she could just allow herself to enjoy being that close to him.

Her now-free hand slid up to the back of his neck, as if he needed any extra incentive or encouragement to keep ducking down to meet her. She could tell he didn't, she could feel it in the subtle shift in the kiss --

And she responded in kind, with just a little more eagerness, a little more hunger.

Covent Garden Flowers, Thursday

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