The Mishap at Mushnik's

Part 2: Leather and Flowers

        Later that afternoon, Seymour woke from his elongated slumber. He had almost forgotten all about the events that took place eariler that morning. However he was soon reminded of it the moment he tried to sit up and an arm restricted him. He panicked for a moment before looking down and seeing a sleeping dentist holding him close to his chest. Soft breaths taunted the silence within the room. It seemed like he was a heavy sleeper, that was good. But now Seymour had am even bigger problem. He was late for work and his co-worker and love interest's boyfriend was in his bed. He swallowed hesitantly before sliding out of his arm. He watched cautiously as Orin shifted to turn away from him. The florist let out a soft sigh before moving to grab his clothes off the ground and find replacements for the ones he lost upstairs- upstairs! Shit
His clothes were still upstairs! Along with Orin's leather jacket and gloves. Oh god this was it, they definitely knew now. He just had a long talk waiting for him upstairs.
Once dressed, Seymour silently made his way up the stairs and into the main shop. Mushnik was standing at the counter, aggressively trying to get a stain off the surface while Audrey sat in the back attending to the arrangements. It seemed like nobody had even noticed him or the scraps of clothes lying around.
Seymour tip toed over to the vest laying on the ground before freezing at the sound of someone clearing their throat. He looked up at Mushnik with a nervous grin
"Oh Hi-"
He squeaked and moved to kick the sweater under a table.
Mushnik straightened his back and eyed him,
"It's almost closing time, where have you been? Asleep? You must've had quite the nightmare."
He mustve been referring to the noises he was making, awe geez.
"Nightmare? Uh. Yeah! Yeah- I just couldn't get out of it, you know?"
Seymour let out an awkward laugh before moving to start organizing the flower pots, he started this eariler but was unfortunately "distracted" from his task.

Mushnik shook his head at the boy before pausing. It looked like there were little bruises lining Seymour's neck,
"Seymour my boy-"
He began and walked around the counter to him,
"Where did you get all these bruises from?"
At that point Audrey had come out of her little room to talk to the two, hearing Seymour of course, but now had become concerned with the recent events.
Seymour froze, not knowing what else to do. Just then his prayers were answered.

Audrey moved over to him, pulling his shirt collar down a bit to peer at the bruises,
"Did you get in a fight? Seymour, was it those rough boys on the corner?"
She squeaked.

Seymour quickly pulled away and backed himself up,
"Uhh, Yeah! I didn't want to say anything in case you both would worry, but things just happen sometimes."
He shrugged and continued about his business like nothing.
Although his luck was short lived.

A stirring came from the steps below, heavy foot steps led up to the main floor. Then the Raven haired man revealed himself to the group.
He had put his dentist uniform back on and walked over to receive his leather, his pacing slow and with a wide smirk on his lips.

Everyone stared at him, then to Seymour, then back to him. Every second felt too long, but with each second did the two realize what was going on.  Audrey was the first to make a noise, I could see the tears welling up in her eyes. She covered her mouth to muffle a gasp before Mushnik huffed,
"You got in a fight, huh? With who? Him?"
He pointed at Orin before storming over to him,
"Look Bub, I don't know who you think you are but if you think you're going to taint an innocent boy like Seymour you've got another thing coming-"
Honestly Mushnik cared for the wellbeing of his employees, even though it was more Audrey than Seymour, he hated Orin with either of them. So it worked.

Orin adjusted his jaw with his smirk rested firmly on his lips before narrowing his eyes,
"Seymour's not much innocent anymore."
He growled, shot Seymour a wink and Audrey a scowl before shoving his way passed Mushnik and out the door. Of course they let him leave. It would be dangerous to keep him.

They were silent for another moment before Mushnik turned to Seymour, more disappointed and concerned than angry,
"Did he do something to you?"
Mushnik held Seymour by his shoulders, Audrey right by his side. I could tell she wasn't upset with him, just scared I suppose.

Seymour sunk into his shoulders, looking between the two. His mind played through all the memories of eariler today. It all seemed like a wonderful nightmare to him.
"I-"
He stammered, not exactly knowing what to say.

Mushnik pushed away from him and paced slightly, holding his own hands against his chest, like there was a pain that had begun,
"He did, didn't he? My God- I should have gotten here eariler-"
He continued to ramble, almost like a heartbroken father would.
Just then Audrey began to cry, wailing on how she knew something like this would happen and that she was sorry.
Seymour had to say something to ease them. They were on the verge on sobbing and calling the police, two things Seymour didn't want to be responsible for.
The frustrating decision began too difficult to live with, he couldn't take the guilt anymore,
"I let him!"
He shouted, the room instantly falling silent.

Mushnik, after a long pause, repeated him,
"You....you let him?"
He murmured, Audrey wiped her eyes dry and stared at him.

Seymour swallowed and backed up a bit,
"I uh...yeah... yes. Yes. I let him do that to me.."
He breathed, looking down at his feet. He knew that he only let him because he thought there wasn't any other way. He looked back up, instantly attempting to defend himself,
"But it was forced on me at first! I tried to stop him but-"
No matter what Seymour said it still felt guilt and wrong. However it only felt bad with Audrey and Mushnik, not Orin. He didn't regret the things he did, well like 75% of the things he did with Orin.
Seymour glanced away again, his eyes darting between anything that wasn't Audrey or Mushnik,
"I-I'm gonna go-"
he squeaked and hurried out the door. He needed to find Orin and talk about this. Well, as much as he could.

To Be Continued-