Big Book Of Parvill One Shots

The Problem With Living Above A Flower Shop (S)

TW: Flower Shop!AU

Strife doesn't like attention, to be quite honest. He doesn't want his life on display- at least, not what he can't dictate the reporters see. He'd rather no one know his private matters, such as where he lives, or, more importantly, his sex life- not that he has one, at this moment.

But he doesn't want any of the reporters knowing that he doesn't live in a high rise, big flashy apartment- he was considering it, for marketing's sake, but when he saw the price of it, and the price of utilities, he paled, and turned it down- he may be CEO of Strife Solutions, but he's not going to waste money like that, jesus. He didn't need to spend all that money, not when he was paranoid of losing it all.

So he looks around for a small place, where hopefully no one knows his name, and he finds one. There's a small flower shop, near enough to his work that he can walk, and the apartment upstairs has tall ceilings, and a good enough kitchen. It's a small place, which is perfect- he doesn't need any more room, not if he's going to be paying for heating, and the bathroom is big enough for his purposes.

When he moves in, the place doesn't fill up much; really, the only thing that's changed is his queen sized bed in the bedroom, and his desk added to the living room, as well as the state of the art coffee maker in the kitchen. The place is still sparse, and that's just the way he likes it, because he doesn't need anything else, doesn't need to fill the place up- it's just some place to sleep, or work, if people suspect he's been spending too many hours at the office.

And it's comfortable, really- at least, until the shop gets a new shipment of flowers in. Suddenly he's irritable, his sinuses acting up, and he's sure it's because of that- but he doesn't want to lose the apartment, especially when it's so quiet, and no one's found him yet.

So he does what he thinks is best- he goes down to the shop, and looks around, trying to see which flower is the bad one, that he'll buy, if only to get them out of the store, and his life. He didn't expect the cashier though, who perks up when he comes in, and has a manic grin on his face as he moves out from behind the counter, coming straight for Strife, who takes a step back, looking wary.

The cashier (he doesn't catch his name, in the onslaught of chatter), just rambles at him, his voice pitched up and excited as he tugs Strife around the store, gesturing to multiple flowers, and before he can blink he's standing outside the store, clutching a bouquet and blinking confusedly, not knowing what just happened- except that he's managed to purchase these somehow, and well, he can narrow the flowers he's allergic to down now, because these aren't the ones that made him sneeze at least.

He guesses that it means he'll have to go back down to the store, and buy more flowers, to see what happens? At least these smell good, and so he takes them up to his apartment, already planning on what to say next time he has to come down.

When Strife gets over the confusion of buying the flowers, his first impression is, admittedly, to toss the flowers out. He fights himself over the urge, because he paid good money for these flowers, and he might as well enjoy them- there's no way he's throwing away something that expensive, not when his money's already gone down the drain.

So he goes back upstairs, grabbing the vase that had been empty ever since he moved in, and fills it with water. He puts the flowers in carefully, before carrying the vase to the living room, so they'll have enough sunlight. And then he sits down at his desk and gets to work, only pausing to glance at the bright flowers a few times, although he quickly loses himself in his work until it's dark.

Still, the flowers sit on his desk until he finally comes out of his work, rubbing his eyes and yawning slightly before he grabs his mug and goes to get more coffee, and his eyes fall on the flowers, flushing slightly when he remembers their existence- he needs to remember his original goal and not get caught in the cashier's rambling again- tomorrow he'll go into the shop and find out for certain what flower is making him sneeze and then he'll be done with it.