Beauty Beyond Skin Deep (Aphrodite!Todomatsu and Reader)

Chapter 1

I bit my bottom lip in frustration, my left eye twitching in annoyance at the bouquet displayed in front of me. The flowers were beautiful, holding their color and standing tall despite the heavy handling that they had endured the past few hours.

The bouquet was to be my latest entry in a regional flower arrangement competition, but I couldn't come up with a satisfying design for it. The trash bin near my workbench held the remains of the past few weeks of designs and redraws, overflowing with ideas that I initially loved before they lost their appeal.

"Hey, pumpkin," My dad's voice called out from the flower shop as the bell near the door rang out his entrance, "How's the new submission coming along?"

"Not great..." I moaned as I finally pulled myself away from the workbench, sitting down heavily on the bar stool nearby while I let out a deep sigh, "I've tried using what we can get here, but nothing seems to be working."

"I can always order you some exotic buds if needed," Dad walked through the doorway leading to the small work area, his arms full of groceries for the apartment we lived in upstairs, "You don't need to press yourself so hard on this, buttercup."

"I know," I took some of the bags and followed him up the slim stairway hidden in the back, "I've just been feeling antsy recently."

"Are you afraid that the guy is gonna come steal your new competition piece?" My dad barely glanced over his shoulder at me, his eye firm, "I know it's been a few months, but it's been all quiet on the western front."

I glanced to the side, thinking back to the man with short dark hair and a holier-than-thou attitude, "I'm not especially worried...I just can't seem to find the same momentum that I used to have."

"Why not take a walk around town? That always helped your mother when she was stuck on a project," Dad's voice carried from around the corner as he walked into the apartment, "It's not like it would do any harm."

I stopped at the threshold of the doorway, taking a slow breath in before stepping inside, "You're right...I'd just be slamming my head against a brick wall if I kept going."

Grabbing my wallet, keys, and phone, I announced my plan to walk around the nearby botanical garden until later. My dad wished me a safe journey as I closed the door behind me, leaving behind the headache of a floral arrangement as I stepped outside the flower shop.

----

The borrowed pencil in my hand flew around the unused napkin, my eyes glued to the bush full of carnations that were in full bloom. The bushes had been planted close enough together with different colored buds so that the colors intermixed with each other, oranges rubbing against reds and whites.

A soft smile tugged at my lips as I looked down at my sketch, the pencil marking out details of how the carnations could be used in a competition bouquet.

I folded up the napkin carefully and slipped it inside my light jacket pocket, tucking it between the other napkins that held similar ideas with different flowers. Snapping a few reference pictures with my phone, I stood back up and eyed the bushes for a little bit longer.

"I'm guessing that a bouquet with those carnations won't be called 'Aphrodite's Dream'," A voice spoke up from behind me, the bored tone sending chills down my spine before I tore my gaze away from the flowers and walked with haste towards the next garden area.

The thief.

"You're really just going to walk away from me?"

Fuck off.

Silence followed my footsteps, navigating my way into the enclosed greenhouse that contained some humidity meant for the flowers. The orchids within brought the smile back to my face, encouraging me to bring out another unused napkin and sketch some design ideas that would enhance the orchids' natural beauty.