a flower || l.s.

05 ♥ FLOWERING

"Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you," Louis repeats over and over again, and Liam laughs.

"It's no problem, Lou. Visit me more often, I miss you."

"I will." Louis gives Liam a hug before going back to the shop.

It's past midnight and Harry's light isn't on. Louis kicks some fallen leaves out of the way to get to the door, unlocks it, and then sits at his desk in the store for a little bit. He loves to just look at his store because he loves everything about it so much.

The colours, the carpeted floor, the wooden walls, the lights. Everything about it is just him. It represents him so well.

Louis plays music in his head and nearly kicks off a piece of paper on his desk that he somehow didn't notice was there before. He wonders if it's from Harry, which gets him a little more excited than it should.

He opens the letter and reads what it says:

Louis, the flowers weren't pointless or meaningless. You can look them up if you want, I left a book for you :) -Harry x

What is that supposed to mean?

Louis looks around his tiny desk and sees a book, small and a little old-looking. Signification des Fleurs. French. gets up anyway and goes to his back room where he stores records.

He also has all of Harry's flowers lined up at the back of the wall, next to the window. A tiny watering can and a spray bottle sit next to them. It's the most colourful room in the store, hidden from customers.

Louis would never admit it, but he liked the flowers a tiny bit and couldn't bear to throw them out even though he didn't understand or like the person who constantly gave them to him.

The sun during the summer shone onto the petals and gave them a bright feel. In the winter, the clouds would block the sun and snow would pile up outside his window, so Louis brought in a light for plants to keep them alive. At some point, some would wilt, but Harry never stopped replacing them without knowing he was.

You can look them up if you want :) -Harry x

He turns on his phone and one by one, figures out the names of the flowers, and searches for whatever meanings Harry wanted him to find.

    -♥-

Harry can't sleep and he's just sitting here in the dark, waiting for the morning to come.

He wonders if he should have left the note there. Does Louis even understand what he means? He's never been very good with words. He'd written the note in less than a minute and never thought about it too much. Maybe this won't work and Louis won't figure them out. Maybe he won't even care.

Throughout the many months Harry had gifted Louis a flower, he'd thought every flower through before giving them to him. He hopes Louis can figure out what he meant by them, because he's given so many that he's forgotten why he gave each one.

    -♥-

Alstroemeria, one that Harry had given him more often during the first weeks that he started gifting the flowers to him. Friendship.

Louis can't imagine him wanting any sort of relationship with Harry months ago. Has that changed? Perhaps.

Amaryllis, the red one, the one Harry gave him just two weeks ago. Beauty. Harry gave him a lot of those. Harry's sort of beautiful too.

Louis searches up the heather flower, one Harry also left for him often. Admiration. Louis doesn't know what there is to admire about him. All he does is sort tapes and talk to customers. Harry's got the curls and the eyes to admire.

So many others; carnations, stocks, orchids. All of them represent something related to beauty.

Louis sees the daffodil Harry had given him on the day he apologized and searches it up, eager to find more meanings.

Forgiveness. Louis realizes that might've been a reason Harry had wanted him to take it. Harry wanted him to know he forgave him. The way Harry values their almost non-existent relationship is so fascinating to Louis, but not in a negative way.

The more Louis finds, the more he understands how Harry was feeling during the days he gave him each of the flowers. He finds every single one he can.

Harry admires him a lot. According to the flowers.

His eyes flicker in the dark to a bottle with a tiny bit of water in it, sitting by the window covered by the blinds. Through the plastic, Louis can see the stems of two wilted flowers. Left there by Zayn, no doubt, but the flowers are from Harry.

Louis finds the names of both flowers; one is an aster and one is called anemone.

They represent patience and anticipation, and  were left when Louis was away. It all kind of makes sense.

For whatever reason, Louis is losing his balance and he sits down, leaning against a low shelf filled with a bunch of cassette tapes. His eyes fill with tears and he wipes them with his sleeve.

He stays like that until he falls asleep, in the dark corner of his record store.

-♥-

The leaves. Harry realizes the leaves have been kicked out of the way again. He doubts Zayn would leave so late at night. Louis might finally be back.

-♥-

Louis wakes up in his own bed, Zayn sitting on the bean bag.

"Morning, sunshine," Zayn teases.

"Hi, Zayn," Louis tiredly replies.

"I saw you looking a mess on the floor in the middle of the night so I carried you up here like the angel I am," Zayn tells him.

Louis sits up immediately, the letter and flowers rushing back to his mind.

Harry did that? Harry really did that. He hid messages in the flowers and gave them to Louis, and Louis shrugged them off. Harry probably thinks he threw them out. But he kept giving him a flower, never stopping.

Shit.

Is that why he was looking so stressed this past week? Because he couldn't tell Louis what he wanted to tell him?

"What's wrong?" Zayn asks.

"The flowers, Zayn." Louis stands up. "All the flowers had a meaning to them and I didn't know and I just ignored them."

"I have no idea what you mean but that's cool, I guess." Zayn gives Louis a thumbs up and Louis hits it away. "Ow."

"No, every flower Harry gave me meant something, like beauty or friendship or some shit and I didn't realize it," Louis briefly explains.

"Sounds like a movie," Zayn comments.

"I know it does, but I need to go see Harry," Louis rushes.

"Run like the wind, cowboy," a confused Zayn calls as Louis runs down the stairs.