𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘥𝘴 𝘦𝘯𝘷𝘺 𝘶𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘦'𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘭

🌻―დ➷ sweet jesus just take the W (day 15 - gratitude)

hi guys don't worry i didn't die. i just got hit with the horrors and with horrible writer's block.

anyway this chapter is self indulgent as hell. it has two ocs. it has sappy as hell moments. this is cringe as hell, but i'm free. also this one goes out to a friend who was upset i kept giving this twink so many Ls

also originally this was titled "we had to make a stop so this idiot could make a proper bouquet" but it didn't fit the title character limit

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Gracideas.

They're said to be flowers you give to someone to show gratitude.
Often times for things like anniversaries and such.

That's something he didn't expect to see such an abundance of, honestly. Not that the lands were completely barren, but it was pretty hard to find such kind of flower back then, so being given one at all was a pretty big deal. By that point you'd probably be asking to get married.
Now he saw them being grown left and right. Not that it was a bad thing per say, just... one of the many things he wasn't exactly used to.

Even then he often saw people giving them to others and... he often thought to himself. Thought of himself in the position of receiving flowers. Not just gracideas just. Any kind of flower in general. But he couldn't really fathom ever being on the receiving end. Or rather, he wouldn't know how to handle it. The very idea just made him feel incredibly awkward around it, let alone the thought of how to reciprocate the gesture.

But even, it wouldn't stop him from wishing for some. The fact that he could wish for anything made his chest ache, made him wonder what sort of person he would look like if he were given a bouquet of flowers everyday.
It almost felt... nice, somehow.

Despite this, he didn't really know what was taking his partner so long. Even if Floaroma was filled to the brim with flowers of all colors and shapes was beautiful enough, the fact remained that it wasn't really what they came here for. It was just meant to be a temporary stop.
It didn't help either that Winter, the kid that travelled with them both either wouldn't really answer anything related to it. The most she would do is signal with her mouth that it was "shut".
He sighed and rolled his eyes. She was difficult to talk to in the first place, and now she was even more so because there was an obvious reason why they were here. What that reason was however was beyond him.

At least there was a bit of solace in the fact that she was equally annoyed at the wait.

"I apologise for the wait...!" a voice suddenly rang out. Whatever he was doing, he was finally done with it. He couldn't really stay mad at him, but the wait really wasn't worth it. Or at least he thought so, upon seeing he was also carrying something.
Before he could process it though, the girl stood her ground. "Arc, for the love of- Why would you take so long?! It's something as simple as just choosing some flowers, damn it! You're lucky I bowed to not spoil your surprise."
The boy chuckled lightly. "Aaah... I'm sorry... I just wanted to make it extra special! I couldn't really just choose any... And I know how hard it can be to fi-"
"Then you could have asked one of the florists, idiot." she shot an icy glare at him. (A little more and the flowers probably would have died right then and there.) "We don't have any time to spare either. Especially the amount of flowers you just fucking bought."
For a moment he could catch her mumbling something about the money he probably spent being hard to get back. Which was... understandable.

He looked back at him, the sight of his green eyes locking with his. Right, for the time they've known each other, he always thought he was some sort of angel. He almost looked like he was sculpted in the image of Arceus, but given an amount of patience and kindness that he didn't really believe he deserved.

Thankfully he had let go of that fantasy long ago. He wasn't some sort of otherworldy being. Arc was human, just as he was.

The sight of what he was holding finally registered in his mind. A large bouquet, one that was pretty intricately adorned too- even if it was a bit messy in some of the flower choice. (He guessed her deduction was right now. He really was trying to handpick which ones to use, instead of actually asking what would be the best choice.)

Now he wasn't exactly knowledgeable in flower language, but he could recognise a few ones. A few that meant happiness and hope and things of that sort. Others that meant friendship and protection, and the rest were probably simply random ones that caught his eye. (Those ones he was sure she knew that too).

There were there kinds of flowers that caught his eye the most though.

First of all: sunflowers. "Sunflowers aren't usually used in bouquets, what the hell." he thought at first, but he quickly realised the meaning behind it. In certain contexts, they meant joy or pure thoughts. In others, things like loyalty. Longevity.
Adoration.

That last one made him pause. Not only that it was what caught his attention in the second one: Heliotropes.

Now, these were definitely meant to tie togheter. If sunflowers were "adoration", the heliotropes were "devotion". He was almost certain that choice was one of the few completely intentional ones too; Arc was extremely into things such as myths and the like, and even stopped at one point to tell him about the mythos for these ones. An unrequited love to the sun god that turned into these flowers. That's why they called them heliotropes after all. The flower of devotion. He could imagine how proud he must have been when it came to making this bouquet, even if the way the flowers were mixed and placed together wasn't exactly neat.

The last kind of flowers that caught his eye though...
"...Gracideas?"
He didn't even realize he said it outloud.

Arc merely nodded, before offering out the bundle of blooms to him. "They mean gratitude, thought I think that's kind of common knowledge by now... I mean-" he took out his notebook, scratching his head as he prepared to read over the notes he made while picking out flowers.

He looked down at the flowers in his hands with furrowed eyebrows. Then his gaze went back up towards Arc. "...Why are you giving me these, anyway...? They're pretty, but..." he trailed off, glancing away. His face grew warm a little as the realization that what he was currently holding probably meant more to Arc than just flowers hit him.

Arc gave a small smile as he gently took the flowers from his hands. "...Gracideas symbolize the feeling of being thankful for everything." he spoke up. "And... well, it seemed like you need it the most out of the two of us."
-"What do you mean-?"
-"It means I'm grateful! For you existing... And. Y'know. Coming into my life."

Oh.

His words made it hard for him to speak again. His heart felt like it was going to beat right out of his chest, and his palms started growing clammy in a matter of seconds.

He didn't really know what to say in response, and it was probably better for him that he didn't. Because if he did say anything at all, he might have burst out laughing, or he might have run away. Or, maybe, he might have just started crying right then and there.

"Something is wrong with me." he thought to himself over these feelings, only this time it wasn't exactly a negative thought. It was rather... A question. A question as to why he was acting like this, over such a small act of kindness; and what he should do, so not to just freeze and make this more awkward than it already was.
If anything, the idea of accepting a gift from somebody like this made him even more nervous than having to confront him for... Practically all the harm he had done. Not just to him, but to others as well.

"...Thanks, I guess. For everything."
He wishes those words hadn't come out as shaky as they did. That they had been more confident, less unsure.
Because, well. Who doesn't appreciate a genuine, heartfelt thank you from someone close? Especially if it was about something as minimal as just "existing"."Soooo we're done here, aren't we?" Winter suddenly chimed in. "We. Are. Stalling. Again. Let's get moving already."
"Ahaha... Right! I forgot... Sorry."

As much as he tried to calm his heartbeat, his ears soon began burning once more, and he found it hard to even breathe without stammering like crazy. He was lucky Arc was understanding at least, just trying to calm him down as the three of them set off. There really wasn't anything more he needed to focus on anyway.
Even with the heartfelt moment the two of them had on the way though, Winter couldn't stop looking at them while thinking "Hm. Cringe."