Beauty Beyond Skin Deep (Aphrodite!Todomatsu and Reader)

Prologue

My fingers were light on the petals of the flower, gently urging it into a more open position while I held my breath. The purple coloration caught the natural sunlight beautifully as the flower kept my adjustment, a soft hand laying itself on my shoulder as I stood back up.

"You're always fidgeting around that bouquet," The deep voice of my dad completely contradicted the flower shop that he and my mother owned, his hand lifting off before stooping low to look at my work, "Are you sure that the name is appropriate?"

"Dad," I drew out his name with a laugh, tugging on his sleeve when he started reaching out towards the centerpiece of the grandstanding bouquet, "Leave my competition piece alone."

"Why should I?" He shot a teasing look down from his 6' 7" hulking frame, adopting the 'bull in a china shop' trope with the remnants of his bodybuilding career still present within his muscles, "It's not like the competition is coming up. In fact, I believe it finished yesterday."

"And I took second place!" I jabbed his right upper arm before lifting the winning flowerwork vase back onto its pedestal near the front of the store, "Leave my carnations alone."

"Do you know how expensive that bouquet of flowers is?" My dad chided as he followed me throughout the store, "Calling it 'Aphrodite's Dream' is nice and all, but I'm not sure we can afford keeping those carnations, ferns, and alstroemeria in stock. That little shout-out you did at the award presentation was nice and all...but we're only a family-run business. We're not like the larger chains around the city who can order and restock specific flowers within a day or two."

I stilled at his voiced concern, lowering my gaze from the paperwork I needed to file down to my worn shoes, the threads no longer holding their original bright pink color and stained with dirt where the original white had peeked through.

"I...wanted to try and get more business here, Dad. I don't think that my announcement of where I got my flowers from will really affect us that much...maybe a new customer or three," Sucking in a deep breath, I turned to face my dad who had stopped to reorganize the cooled display case, "I let the excitement of the competition get to me. I'm sorry--"

By the time I fully faced him, his arms were around me in a large bear hug, "I'm not mad at you, pumpkin. Just leave the public relations stuff to me next time, okay?"

"Okay," I tried to hug him back as much as I could before he set me down gently.

"Oh, look at the time!" He exclaimed in surprise, running a hand through his short hair in disbelief as shock settled on his face, "I'm gonna be late to visit Mary!"

My eyes widened in surprise before grabbing the car keys that were sitting on a shelf just underneath the register, tossing them to him when I was sure they were firm in my grip, "Go! Give her hugs and kisses from me!"

"Are you sure you're able to watch the store by yourself?" My dad easily caught the keys while taking off the hand-stitched apron he always wore around the store.

"Get going, Dad! I'm not a kid anymore!" I strode over towards him and lightly pushed him towards the storefront door, "Get!"

He laughed before quickly turning and kissing my forehead, leaving the store with a playful wink...leaving me alone while he visited his wife -- my step-mother.

The happy smile slowly faded as my eyes wandered the suddenly quiet flower shop, taking in a slow breath as I looked back towards the paperwork in my hands.

File these first, worry about memories later.

----

"'Aphrodite's Dream', huh?" A voice snapped my attention up from my phone, a man with short dark hair staring hard at the competition piece, "That's quite the claim."

"The name is pretty good, right?" I gave a smile as the man switched his focus from the flowers to me, "Kinda makes you wonder if the goddess would give her blessing on it."

"Oh...I doubt that," His confident tone made my smile drop a little, "Persephone nor Demeter would even dream about this bundle of weeds."

"Leave my store," I stood up with a frown, not wanting to take harsh criticism from this stranger that thought he knew what my work was worth, "I never asked for your input about the name being correct or not, and I certainly don't want your critique of my hard work. Leave the store now."

"For what reason? I haven't threatened you, nor have I damaged any of your goods," The confident smirk on his lips only grew, "You don't even know if I'm here to purchase something."

"Are you?" I merely raised an eyebrow.

"No."

The eyebrow fell flat again, "Then get out."

The man simply hummed in satisfaction as his gaze dwindled down towards the bouquet again, "I think I shall. A god such as myself wasted only a little time to see what the hubbub was about, and it's sorrowful to see such a talent waste away in a rundown little flower shop."

Before I could speak another word of warning, the man vanished from sight. I stared at where he had been, blinking in surprise before slowly moving to where the bouquet was.

In place of my hard work was a small handwritten note, with some kind of language that I couldn't read scrawled on the blank surface:

Θα σε δω σύντομα, ανθοπώλη.