A Flower's Affection (KiriBaku Flower Shop AU)

Eijiro Kirishima - It's Giving Feral

Just in case anyone was getting a little confused about the timeline and needed a recap to where we are right now, I was feeling nostalgic today. Also! All of the bonus content and special chapters will eventually be moved to their own one shots and such, or maybe a collective drabble, so that I can keep track of my actual chapters. Since we're getting so close to an actual 100.
(My editor says that my bonus chapters don't count, so I think we're at like 95 right now.)
        Enjoy .

He was really turning twenty. Wow. In all honesty, Eijiro had truly never believed he would make it all the way to twenty years old. And a part of him believed he wouldn't deserve it.

Life was not perfect. It wasn't great. It was barely even good.

Life was chaotic. When he thought about the past year, there was a lot that came to mind. Eijiro remembers how horribly he'd been struggling before a certain UA third year came in inquiring about a job. The winter had been hard on the flowers, he was almost completely out of stock, and he had just spent the very last of what he had making the final payment on mortgaging the shop. It was his now, indisputably. The banks couldn't take it from him, it wasn't foreclosed anymore, he didn't even have to pay rent. So much hard work and now his home was his.

And even after he still might lose it. The money he'd had to spend for the building had belonged to the business. He had nothing of his own—he didn't take real paychecks. Only what he really needed for food, and even then, he relied pretty heavily on gifts given to him during patrol. It wasn't a lot, but it was enough to get by without resorting to pickpocketing like he'd learned when he was younger. His clothes were all old, many with holes and most didn't even fit right. Everyday he came to terms with maybe having to sell the things in his basement. He could have maybe made a little money off the treadmill he'd fixed up, but the punching bag was worth next to nothing with how many times he'd had to patch it. His misshapen collection of weights might sell for a decent bit, and he could always pawn the TV. After that would be some of his hero merch, but most of that hadn't been well taken care of over the years. A lot of the smaller pieces had been lost when he smuggled it from the house.

He could sell the business downstairs. Then he could rent out the space. It would be weird, owning the basement and second floor while leasing out the ground floor, but it might be necessary. He would need to find a real job, too, but no one really wanted to hire a kid with a GED instead of a diploma, even if he kept hiding his quirk. And forget going to school again. Forget UA University. If things got worse than that, he could rent out the basement, too. He'd have to move all his hero things upstairs, where no one would see them or bother them. After that if he had to lease the apartment or sell the building, he'd have to give up being a hero. If things ever got really, really awful and he didn't have anywhere else to go... well, maybe he could go back. And explain how he left things to Spades.

Eijiro remembers hurrying to wipe away tears when the shop bell rang on a dull Thursday in February. How in one hand he held the confirmation of the last mortgage payment and in the other a written apology from one of his vendors. The shipment meant for him had been caught in a freeze, so it wouldn't be coming in. Not with Valentines in a week. Eijiro would have to make do with whatever stock he already had, and hope they still looked blooming and beautiful in the week after. He remembers how he turned to greet what he thought was a customer with the fakest smile he'd ever managed.

He'd been surprised, genuinely surprised, when the older boy asked if they were hiring. How he'd had to explain that while he desperately needed the help, he couldn't really afford the payroll. Tamaki had shrugged. "I'm sure you'll find the money somewhere."