Flowershop

Chapter Three

Kiku woke with a start to his phone rapidly vibrating. When did I fall asleep? he tiredly thought. He snapped his eyes open and answered it, still somewhat asleep and irritated.
"Yes? What happened now, ma?" He groggily answered, not even bothering to read the caller ID. "Oh," He murmured, trying to mask his embarrassment. He was suddenly glad it wasn't his mom that called, he spoke so rudely! "It's you."

Alfred excitedly dialed his crush's number hurriedly, smirking and looking at all the flowers that lined his balcony. He really does love those, doesn't he? he fondly mused to himself. Was he going to be happy with the surprise he thought up. He walked up the complex's stairs, waiting for him to pick up. He frowned when there was no answer. Is he okay? he thought as he called once more. Kiku finally answered on the last ring, and he sounded funny. "Yes? What happened now, ma?" He heard Kiku say sloppily. Oh man, was he sleeping? Alfred questioned silently. But damn, his voice was so sexy upon waking up. He smiled and bit his lip as blush unknowingly crept upon his face. "So, are you ready to go?"

Kiku registered the voice on the other end of the line. He half-heartedly sighed, and asked Alfred to repeat himself. Now?! he silently fumed. Why couldn't Alfred call in advance, he probably would've stayed awake! He exhaled and answered in a calm voice, "Yes Mr. Alfred, I live at-"
"Dude, I'm already here!"
What?!
It took Kiku a moment to register his words. "Wh-But how! How did yo-"
"So, are you going to let me in?"
Kiku cringed, he could just hear the dumb smile in that man's voice. Oh, the nerve of him!
He strided over to his door, and opened it quickly to see Alfred standing there, that same dumb smile plastered on his face, with the phone still held up to his ear. Strange. He had no flowers or anything with him. Some of the flowers displayed in Kiku's house were from noneother than Alfred himself. Sometimes it was one of the flowers he bought that day. He rubbed the bridge of his nose descretly before bowing and saying his welcome.

Kiku roughly opened the door, and looked at him with a pissed look on his face. His hair was a little messy, and his eyes red and watery. Alfred silently apologized to him for waking him up from his nap. He moved his hand up to his face to brush his hair away. He then bowed and welcomed me. He inwardly felt a little down at that. He didn't need to bow and be soo formal, it's like we're not even friends or something! "Come in Mr. Alfred, please sit down. Exuse me while I go to the restroom." Alfred watched him walk to his bathroom, still feeling a little guilty. He took a look at the place Kiku lives in. It was a nice little apartment, with a warm, homely feeling to it.

He had a clean balcony, and nice floral curtains on the sliding glass window. His couch sat facing his television (which was unsuprisingly free of any dust), with a black, bamboo coffee table in front. It connected to the kitchen, with what he guessed was his bedroom right next to it. The bathroom was across from the bathroom. He then directed his attention to all the flowers, and the occasional succulent. He had pots and pots of flowers he didn't even know the names of. He recognized the forget-me-nots, the tulips, daffodils, chrysanthemums (he had a lot of those), cherry blossoms, and teddy bear sunflowers. He smiled dreamily as he saw the flowers he had given Kiku around the place too. He sat down as he heard the door open.

Kiku had tried his best to clean himself up nicely. He combed his hair a bit, and splashed cold water on his face a couple of times to wake up and get rid of the sand on his eyes and the dried drool on his face. He was wide awake now, and not really upset anymore. He walked over to the couch where Alfred was sitting. He was surprised, he honestly thought he would be snooping around his house.
Alfred jumped up when he saw Kiku with a slight blush on his face. He grabbed his hand, and asked once again if he was ready to go. Kiku responded with a polite "yes," and with that they left his clean apartment.

They rode in to their destination in silence. For Alfred, it was a comfortable one. As for Kiku, he thought it was quite the opposite. How the hell did Alfred know where he lived?! He had an internal battle with himself, but decided it was nothing. It's not like Alfred was going to harm him in some way. He was just a lonely, childish, young adult. Kiku whipped his head back to see that they had passed the park they were supposed to be going to. "Um, Mr. Alfred, may I ask where we are going?!" He asked in slight panic. Alfred chuckled and replied with, "You'll see, Kiku!" He then turned on the radio and listened to extremely loud music. He was enjoying it, that is until he saw the look on Kiku's face. He pouted at it, and then turned the music off. He stared at the rode ahead of him with a big, one thousand watt smile resting on his face. Kiku will be so happy!

After about a half an hour drive, Kiku stepped out of Alfred's Prius, and onto the grass. He fixed his winded hair and smoothed his shirt down. His nose picked up a sweet, fragrant smell. His eyes scanned the terrain. There was soft grass everywhere. He stood there sniffing and taking in all the scents. The aroma that filled his nose made his heart frantically jump, and as he turned around, he spotted a sight that he has been longing to see since he had arrived in New York.
His eyes widened.
Alfred had taken him to a botanical garden.