Note: This is non-canon. Nobody has headphones, tree of life doesn't exist, none of the events that happened in the main storyline happens here, nobody's corrupted, etc. Also these aren't their normal day jobs.
Rain is so comforting.
You get that sometimes? That sense of peace when the skies turn a murky greyish blue and down pours the tears of the heavens. The warm, cosy interior of the cafe that I'm in is the perfect setting for welcoming tired, cold, weary travellers. The coal-black lamps dangle from the ceiling, emitting a bright orange light that warms up the atmosphere, letting a deep warmth seep into the cold hearts of anyone seeking refuge from the harsh rain outside. It's a cozy orb of warmth against the bitterness outside, much desirable when compared to the contrasting atmosphere outside. Winter was coming, and the days were getting colder and colder. They've even started lighting up the fireplace in the cafe. The lights beyond the huge glass windows flickered and danced as cars and people passed. Even thought it was the mid-late afternoon, the sky was getting extremely dark. I usually come here on my lunch break. The sandwiches are great and the coffee's even greater. As the faint sound of rain formed a peaceful ambience, I sipped my coffee feeling a calm sense of serenity.
"Hey." Mordecai, my best friend who works at this particular coffee shop, sank his body deep into his favourite couch. The uniform of this particular cafe he worked at was just a plain black T-shirt with a black apron. "Hey. Hey. Heyheyheyheyheyheyheyhe-"
'What is it, Mordecai?'
"I'm bored."
'I could tell.'
"Today's pretty slow for a rainy day, usually we're more busy than this.' He yawned.
'You should get a cat or a dog to just chill here, it'll get more customers.'
He nodded. "Definitely. Want another coffee?"
'That's the fifth time you've asked me that within the past hour, Mordecai.'
"Understood" He snorted, taking another drink from the mug he had in his hands that warmed up his dark fingers. He brushed a lock of deep purple hair off of his face and stared out into the rain. "So, (Y/N), you hear about that new Flower Shop that's just opened down the road?"
'I work at a tattoo parlour, Mordecai, what the hell do you think I care about Flowers?'
"I know, I know, just wondering, nothing much ever happens around here and I just thought that I'd go over and check it out when the weather clears up sometime, from what I could see there, there's an awful lot of pink roses out front."
'Huh.'
"Anyways, It's One o'clock right now, you should be heading back to the parlour. You're the only one working there, right?"
'Nah, Pi's there as well. Thank god for him, he covers my lunch break, I cover for his.'
"Good system. Want a coffee for the road?"
'I'm good, thanks'
Leaving the warm cafe was a bit harder than I anticipated, because the moment I felt the warm light leave my back, I froze up as the chilling wind blew daggers through my body. The air outside was chilling, and the dark sky didn't really do much to improve the mood. The dark greyish blue seemed to drop a weight onto my emotional state, because it was like everything warm in me just left. I hugged my denim jacket close. The tattoo parlour: GLOBAL wasn't too far away, thankfully.
I've been working at GLOBAL for about two years now. It's pretty small, but we manage to get by. I don't take too much pride in being a good artist, in my opinion my partner Pi's much better than I am, but he says that it's just my personal style that's different. I quite like tattooing dream catchers, I've got a few tattoos of it on myself as well. Because it's such a cold day, I'm thankful I decided to go with my thick denim jacket. The cold went right through me, and I bought my arms closer to fight off the harsh embrace of winter.
Soon enough, the rectangular sign GLOBAL written in white against black is dropping down from a ceiling, indicating the location of my workplace. Unlike the Cafe Mordecai works at, my tattoo parlour has a much cooler lighting. The black and whiteness in this parlour gives everything a sleek, professional look. Leather chairs, white walls with pictures of tattoos plastered all over them, machinery, fashion magazines, Low-fi music, there's even a couple containers of teabags.
When I entered the parlour, I sighed in relief when a familiar warmth enveloped me. We kinda have to keep the place warm because people would be removing bits and pieces of their clothes for their tattoos. Pi, a ginger-haired figure sitting on a leather office chair, rolled around and faced me.
"I was wondering when you were gonna come back." He smirked. I could see the hint of a tattoo beneath the collar of his Orange T-shirt. He tied his hair back up into a man bun and stood up, reaching for his thick black coat. "I was starving."
'Well, you can go do whatever the hell you want now, I'm covering you.'
"Thanks mate" He pat my shoulder as he opened the door. "Want anything?"
'Nah, just came back from Mordecais.'
"Kk." Pi whistled as the door shut behind him. Now back at work, I sit down in a chair and sigh, staring up at the white ceiling. I found myself nodding to the beat of the Dubstep music playing, letting my mind swim between the layers of bass and treble.
Until I was woken up from my trance by the sound of the door opening and a cold gust of wind sweeping into the parlour. I look up, and it's a man. He looked not too much older than I was, but was absolutely massive. His head barely brushed against the top of the doorframe. His pink hair was messy and he was dressed in all black with a couple of pink bracelets and rings adorning his fingers. He looked exhausted and worn out, with his eyes drilling deep into his skull. Speaking of which, it's strange how one of his eyes is black and the other one was pink. They were filled to the brim with exhaustion and gloominess, did something happen?
"Hello." I sat up straight, ready to process this guys request. He definitely looked the type to be getting a tattoo, and if I were to guess, he already had a few on him right now.
'Hi.' He sighed, sitting on one of the leather couches we have in the parlour. 'Uh, quick question, do you guys do tattoo removals?'
"No we don't, sorry. Ex-girlfriend's name tattooed on your asscheek?"
'Chest, actually.' He cracked a tired smile at my joke. 'And it's... erm... my ex-fiancée.'
"Oof. Fiancée? Damn, poor thing, what was her name?"
'Trinity.' He grunted, leaning back. 'It was really bad. She was the love of my life, we even adopted a kid from the nearby orphanage a few months before I proposed. His name was Radius, just seven years old, had the most vibrant smile you can ever imagine on a kid. Of course, he's with her now that we've broken up. She broke my heart. I miss him. Moved to this little town, turning over a new leaf, I guess.'
I let a silence pass by between us.
"Um... I can't really remove your tattoo of your Fiancée's name, but I can cover it up."
'That's better than nothing, I guess.' He nodded, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a wallet, and handed me an ID. If this man's old enough to propose then he's obviously old enough to get a tattoo. But I think it's just routine, because when he took off his shirt, I saw a couple of other tattoos on his body, covering his tinted pink skin. A warm, yellow sun on his bicep. An Ace of Spades on his hip. A minimalistic barcode between his shoulder blades. A treble clef on his forearm, succeeded by a few music notes that I identified as the opening notes to "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana. But last but not least - the tattoo he wanted me to cover up. A basic, cursive name imprinted where his heart was. Trinity.
"Alright, so, Circumference, what would you like?" I remembered his name from the ID he gave me. Twenty-three years old. He's quite a bit younger than I thought he was. Three years older than I am. (They're aged up in this btw)
'Please... don't call me that.' He sighed. 'Just call me Fresh.'
"Okay then, Fresh, what would you like?"
'I'm thinking a rose.'
I almost snorted hearing him say that. A rose. Wow, because of the fact that this guy already had a few tattoos that weren't mainstream I had thought that he wouldn't be like the rest. Seriously, if I had a dollar for every time a teenage girl came in here like "I want an infinity sign with the words "Love life" in it" I wouldn't be working at a tattoo parlour.
And I swear if ONE MORE PERSON enters this place asking for a tattoo of an anchor, feather, rose or a flock of birds I will literally tattoo a dick on my forehead.
"Okay, a rose. The tattoo coverup won't work with most coloured inks, so it's just gonna be black and white, you okay with that?"
'Yup. I'm okay.'
Using a ballpoint pen I outlined where I planned to give him his tattoo, and had a vague idea of what I'm going to do. The word Trinity will be lost in the ink, blending into the blacks of the rose on his chest. His fiancée would be no more. After getting the ink ready and putting gloves on, I looked at him for some sort of validation. He nodded, and I went to work.
When I was drawing the rose on his chest, erasing all the was left of his fiancée, I realised that he was oddly calm.
"Already used to the pain?"
'Yup.' He said. His voice was monotonous, but it sounded strained.
"Alright. Just gimme about ten more minutes."
'Sure.'
As the minutes passed, I started to notice that his chest was a bit more firm than I first thought it was. It might be the fact that hardly anyone came in here asking for chest tattoos, but I swear, normal people's man-tits aren't supposed to be this hard. I looked further down and I realise he has a faint outline of a six-pack. It looked a bit watered down, possibly from an abnormal amount of food and beer which I assume he consumed after his break-up.
Once I was done, he looked in the mirror I showed him. The rose was about the size of my fist, with two leaves protruding out. It blossomed like it was in the middle of spring. You can barely tell the word "Trinity" was there at all. The skin around it was red, even against his pink skin. He just stared at his own chest, unblinking, eyes lost in the reflection.
"Um... Circ- Fresh? You good?"
'I'm fine.' He muttered, lying back down on the table. He stared at the ceiling.
"I'm sorry, it's just..." He sighed. "I've known Trinity for twenty years, and... well... She just... left me out of almost nowhere..."
'Twenty years?' I blinked. Telling from this guy's young age and the fact that he seems to be the impulsive type, I thought they were together for like, I dunno, three months before they noped out. 'Oh... That's a really long time...'
"And like- After she left life's been kinda hard. I'm too tired to go to work, I'm eating a crap ton, I've drank like, a hundred beers within the past few days, yeah. It's hard." The moment he started talking, it all just spilled out, without much pause in-between. I have absolutely no idea what to say. So I just pat his shoulder.
"Anyways, I've just made this extremely awkward and depressing, so, what's your name?"
'(Y/N)'
"Ah. Live around here?"
'Duh, never even left this place in my life. Someday I wanna save up enough money to see the world. I know this guy, name's Neptune, who's literally sailed the seven seas and seen the world in all its glory, the beautiful lakes, the exotic flowers and birds, the fragrant spices and whatnot, I want to see it too.'
"Oh. Him, the guy with the eyepatch selling fish? Met him once."
'Yeah, him. I wanna be like him.'
"Cool."
Awkward silence.
"Thanks (Y/N), how much should I pay you?"
'40 Bucks.'
"Wh- Wait, 40 bucks?" His eyes widened.
'...That's about the average price for a tattoo that size... I can't go any cheaper.'
"Nonono, that's not the issue, it's just... That's... oddly cheap..."
'Oh.'
"I'll give you a fifty." He said, pulling out his wallet.
'Okay, thanks Fresh, have a nice-'
"Keep the change."
'...What?'
"Keep. The. Change." He repeated himself. Almost immediately, I shut up. It was like he was staring into my soul, ordering me to be quiet. I just accepted the bill without much protest. Yay free money. He turned his back, about to leave, and he was just about to exit the door when he stopped mid-step.
"Thanks, by the way."
'For the tattoo? No problem, it's my job-'
"No, for listening to me ramble about how shitty my life is."
'O-Oh. No problem.'
He turned around and smiled at me before he left the shop and into the dark abyss beyond the door. He seemed so tired and... dead. I hope I seem him again, and I hope that he's feeling better then as well.
"Mordecai, I swear to- IT IS LITERALLY SEVEN IN THE MORNING, I START MY SHIFT AT ELEVEN, WHAT THE HELL MAN???"
'I told you, I wanted to check out that new flower shop!' Mordecai chirped, face beaming. A large cloud of mist left our lips whenever we talked. 'I wanna buy some flowers for Blake. Wanna make a good impression on him, you know? I heard that he really likes Carnations.'
"And why are you bringing me with you?" Usually I do, but in this cold autumn morning I literally do not give a rats ass about his crush.
'Because I don't wanna be alone. I'll make you a coffee after this, 'kay?'
"And one Grilled Cheese."
'And one grilled cheese, sure, sure.' He laughed, looking at down the street where we were walking. He's always been a morning person, and I just can't seem to understand why anyone would in their right mind willingly choose to wake up at six. His face is glowing, mine seemed to radiate darkness. How does he manage to get his hair so nice and tidy? Meanwhile I'm here looking like a human bird nest. It's not even funny. 'And here we are!'
With bloodshot eyes, I stared at the flower shop he told me about. It was small and modest, with a purpleish sign out front, with the word "Khloris" on it in red. Nice name. All over the sign was a faint flower pattern, each with a uniquely coloured tint. Mordecai mentioned that there was quite a bit of pink roses out the front, and I now see that he wasn't lying. The place was blooming with the romantic pink petals. The sign out front said "OPEN" and the doorbell rang when we stepped in. The entire place was stocked with beautiful flowers, and the sweet perfume of pollen was in the air.
"Morning, what can I get-"
I stared at the shopkeeper.
The shopkeeper stared back at me.
"Fresh?" I muttered, not sure whether to laugh or be shocked. "You work here?"
'Yeah, I do, I know, surprise surprise.' Fresh turned towards me. He was in some different clothes now. He wore a thick pink sweater with his sleeves rolled up underneath a black apron. Back at the tattoo place I couldn't see it properly, but he donned a couple of metallic earrings. Did he have an eyebrow piercing? I can see his tattoo of the opening notes to "Smells Like Teen Spirit" on his forearm. Before we entered he was holding a large bouquet of white roses, staring at them thoughtfully. I did not picture him to be the kind of person to own a flower shop, I admit, so I just stared at him in stunned silence. Damn, the guy even was even wearing a colourful flower crown.
"Wait, wait, wait." Mordecai butted in. "You two know each other?"
'Got a tattoo at her place yesterday.' Fresh shrugged.
"Ooooh! Can I see?"
Fresh looked at me. He looked back at Mordecai. After hesitating for a few moments, he untied his apron and lifted up his sweater. The tattoo I remember imprinting on his chest was still as bold as ever, though the skin around it seemed to lose its redness. Mordecai looked at me, before looking back.
'Anyways, thanks for that, (Y/N).' He smiled tiredly. He had quite heavy bags under his eyes and he looked a little bit hungover. 'Oh, I know what to do'
He walked up to a series of large black boxes filled with colourful flowers, and started picking away. After a while, he comes up to me, a small bouquet of fragrant pink roses in his hand. "As a thank you."
'Thanks' I smiled, taking the small bouquet in my hand. I examined it closely with hands trembling with a warm surprise. Nobody has ever given me a bouquet of flowers before, so I didn't know how to feel. The silken petals almost crumbled between my fingers. 'They mean anything?'
He pointed to a sign on the wooden walls. It was a chart with all sorts of different coloured roses and their meanings. Displayed towards the middle, Pink roses means Gratitude.
'Oh. Okay.'
"Uummm..." Mordecai butted in. "Have I just become the third wheel now?"
'Oh. Hi, didn't realise you were there.'
"EXCUSE ME?"
'I'm Fresh. You?'
"...Mordecai..."
'Nice. Hi Mordecai.'
"Hi.'
Very awkward silence.
"So, uh, how much for some Carnations?"
'What colour?'
"Um... I dunno, the guy I wanna buy them for likes Yellow, so I guess yellow?"
At that moment, Fresh actually snorted. He turned his head away and covered his face partially.
"...what?"
'Nothing, nothing, nothing, I recommend you not getting him those, I recommend something else.'
"...Okay then, what do you recommend then, o great and powerful flower man?"
'You want carnations get him white ones.'
"Okay then, white Carnations it is, how much for a bouquet?"
'Fifteen for a small one, twenty a medium and twenty-five a large.'
"Reasonable, lemme just- Ah shit. I forgot my wallet at home, I'll be right back!" Mordecai quickly ran out the shop and now Fresh and I were alone.
"So... why did you decide to become a florist?" I asked after thinking about something to fill the silence.
Fresh leaned against the counter. "I dunno, I've just always loved flowers, and the lifestyle's pretty peaceful, guess it always stuck out to me as something I wanted to be."
'Ah. I'm sorry, you just... didn't really seem the type to me.'
"Surprises a lot of people, to be honest. The fact that I was an ass in high school didn't help. Why did you decide to become a tattoo artist?"
'Was bored. My co-worker Pi said I'd be perfect for the job.' I shrugged.
"Do you have any tattoos?"
'Actually... I do... A few I don't feel comfortable showing, but...'
I rolled up my sleeve and exposed a tattoo of a dream catcher on my forearm. "I quite like doing dream catchers, so I did this on myself" I pointed to my thigh that was covered by a pair of warm jeans. "I have a steam train on here. Was bored one time, one of my first tattoos. It looks like shit in my opinion." I turned around and lifted up my hair, revealing the silhouette of a bird on the nape of my neck. "I got Pi to do this one. I rarely see it, actually."
After a few more explanations, all of which Fresh nodded as he took in the information, I finally stopped talking. "So... yeah..." But Fresh's focused gaze was still fixated on my body.
"Hey." He lifted up a large finger and pointed at my chest. "What's that one below your collarbone?"
I was wearing a thick jacket over a shirt that exposed my collarbones, so I knew what he was talking about. I hesitated, before pulling the collar of my shirt down and revealing an umbrella on the left side of my chest, located above my heart. With my shirt on it was partially covered.
"This... well, I won't say much, but... Umbrella over heart, tears like rain, I think you can piece together what it means."
He nodded.
"Hey, (Y/N)?"
'What is it?'
"Can I get your number?"
I was a bit taken back from his request, because I don't think anybody who I barely know has really asked me for my phone number. Mordecai and Pi have, but that's only because Mordecai was my BFF and Pi was my co-worker.
"Relax, relax, I don't want to get it on, my heart needs a few months before I can fall in love again, It's just that- well, I've just moved here, I don't know anyone, I don't know what places sell good pizza, and you seem like a nice person. You even listened to me ramble about my ex-fiancee, so why not?"
'Sure, I'll give you my number." I smiled as I took out my phone. After spending a few minutes exchanging numbers, I suddenly remembered something he said. "Oh, by the way, as for pizza, there's this place down the road called "Papa's Pizzeria" which is pretty damn good, plus it's cheap.'
"Awesome, thanks Sweetheart."
I blinked. Sweetheart? After saying that, Fresh's smile dropped and he realised what he just said.
"Shit, I'm so sorry, I'm just too used to- I always- Damnit, just forget I said anything."
'No-No problem...'
"Aaaaaand I've just made things a lot more awkward now, didn't I?"
'Don't worry, I do that all the time. Never on command.'
He laughed nervously. At that moment, the doorbell rang behind me, and Mordecai had reappeared in the doorway, heavily breathing with a leather wallet in his hand.
"So, Twenty-five for a medium?" He approached Fresh.
'Twenty.'
"Alrightio.' Mordecai pulled out a twenty dollar bill. "White carnations."
Fresh nodded before turning away and started to clip away at a series of white, fragile petals, and soon enough, just like how he gave me my bouquet of pink roses, he gave Mordecai a bouquet of white carnations. Except this time, Mordecai actually requested for and paid for his.
"Bye, have a nice day (Y/N)" He waved as I left the shop with Mordecai. As the two of us were walking down the road, each holding onto our own respective bouquets, Mordecai suddenly started to laugh.
"What's so funny?"
'You two got along well, didn't you?' He wheezed, covering his face slightly.
"I mean, I guess? We just talked"
'Talked? Girl, are you sure you just talked? Honey, I saw you pull down your shirt and you two exchanging numbers, don't lie to me.'
"You saw that?" I half-yelled, whipping my head towards him. How much of our exchange did he see? "I was just showing him my tattoo!"
'Yeah, nice try. Plus, you do realise how red your face was in there, right?'
"I-It was?"
'You're like a tomato! How did you not notice?'
I bought a hand against my cheek. He was right, it was warm. "Okay, first of all, he broke up with his fiancee a few days ago, he's still pretty hung up about that, so I seriously doubt that he's gonna just ask me out to coffee anytime soon. And I'm pretty sure that he's nice because he's lonely, heartbroken and doesn't know anyone here."
I felt a vibration echo through my thigh, and when I took my phone out, I stared at the interface.
💐🌸🌹Flower man 🌹🌸💐
coffee at 10 tmrw? i want to show you my cat dumpling
"DAAAAAAAAAYUMN GIRL" Mordecai, who I didn't realise was looking over my shoulder, squealed. "YES, I SHIP IT, WOOHOO!"
"MORDECAI WILL YOU SHUT UP? LIKE I SAID, HE'S PROBABLY JUST LONELY"
Another message.
💐🌸🌹Flower man🌹🌸💐
srlsy tho i dont know anyone here its kinda lonely plus i have a feeling u'll love dumpling she is adorable no pressure tho
'SEE? WHAT DID I TELL YOU?'
"That is an extremely stereotypical way of texting." Mordecai muttered. "How old is he?'
'Twenty-three'
"Oh sh- Girl, I didn't know you were into older men-"
'OH WILL YOU SHUT UP ALREADY, IT'S A THREE YEAR AGE DIFFERENCE, GET OVER IT'
But Mordecai just kept on fangirling over the two of us. I mean, I can sort of understand, the guy just wants me to be happy, and Fresh already has his seal of approval even though the florist barely even acknowledged him. Plus, he knows how hard it is for guys to fancy me, so when one does, he just loses it. I just smiled and rolled my eyes. While he was yabbering about how cute the two of us will look, I pulled out my phone.
I have a shift tomorrow at 11. Will 1 PM do?
💐🌸🌹Flower man🌹🌸💐
sure thing
nice tattoos btw
Oh. Thank you 😊 You too
💐🌸🌹Flower man🌹🌸💐
anyways i gtg now, ttyl look forward to seeing u
I smiled at "Look forward to seeing u". Hardly anybody ever tells me that, so I feel kinda happy.
Likewise. See ya! 😋