god thats a lot of flowers

Him

Evan Hansen. A florist? More likely than you'd think. After falling (or at least how the story went) out of a tree while being Park Ranger, Evan decided it'd be best to go with another job, but one still pretty influenced by nature. That was his special thing, and while flowers were much more different than trees, the boy discovered, there were a couple of small potted trees Evan could relate to inside of the shop.

'The Flower Pot' was a good-sized shop near the Willowbrook Mall, and the manager took pretty good care of the plants, as far as he could tell. It had generic office lights in the ceiling, which tried its best to illuminate the room and did a decent job, but plenty of sunlight shone through the large windows by the entrance.

With tiled floors that had squished and crushed fallen leaves and petals scattered all over them, despite Janna saying she did indeed clean up earlier, and plants lined up from smallest-to-tallest in some places, though the best plants were always the ones displayed outside of the store, it wasn't a bad store. It was pleasant, actually.

His favourite part about working there was how close the mall actually was, and while walking close to the highway always scared Evan a bit, it was about a 10 minute walk from the shop to the food court. Of course, he'd never really buy anything there for lunch, after all, why would he? The poor kid gets nervous enough helping out a customer in the shop, but at least he was asking if they needed help. Not like in the food court, where he told them what he wanted. That was even scarier.

What if they didn't like his food choice or thought he was too fat or skinny? What if they thought he was weird to order without any friends? What if he orders too much?

That's too much for Evan.

Now, let's start the story, shall we?

Evan Hansen, the now florist but still tree expert, leaned on the cold countertop, elbows exposed to said cold, waiting for someone to come in. No, wrong. He probably looks too much like he doesn't want to be there. He does! Perhaps another stance. Back straight, good posture and hands folded on the counter. Also bad. Now he looks too keen to work at the shop, like it's his dream job, like he was made for this, that it's his very passion and he quit college just to be there.

The bell rang, indicating someone entered the empty shop, and it interrupted his thoughts. Shoot. Social interaction, the thing he was hoping to avoid on this day. Actually, the thing he was hoping to avoid for the rest of his life. Even at the cost of not getting money. But then the police would show up at his door if he didn't pay taxes... Humans are social creatures and Evan hated it.

Ok, so 'hate' is a strong word. Evan... Disliked it a lot.

A lot.

Trying his hardest to make himself invisible, the stranger hardly noticed the employee and looked at the flowers, squinting as though he was trying to get all the details the flower had for him, like some news article writer trying to 'squeeze the juice' from whomever they're reporting on to make it interesting.

The person was male- obviously, despite certain things, he definitely had broader shoulders and a much more masculine build... 'wait but what if the person was trans and just was still transitioning oh my god I'm such a terrible transphobe I bet I mean I'm assuming their gender oh god' was a thought that kept flashing in Evan's mind before he looked up and decided he should probably ask them if they needed help.

"Do you need something?" He asked, trying to remain as emotionally stable as he could.

The stranger, who he decided to call by male pronouns because it was the safest option he felt, wore his copper hair messily up, a piece in the front falling gracefully over his right eye. Or, his left eye. Three black earrings were placed on his visible ear, three signs of his 'badassery'- the other signs were some tattoos poking out from the hoodie he was wearing, which was scrunched up so his forearms were visible, an odd tactic because if he was hot he could... take it off? He was also holding a sketchbook and pencil. An artist, huh. Probably here to study flowers?

Evan's favourite part about him were his eyes- The blue-gray orbs that looked so tired and mad and honestly, relatable.

The other glared at him, a rude look on his face quickly making its way in its place. "What? No, mind your..." His voice trailed off, the scowl fading as he made eye contact with Evan's blue optics. His eyes widened a bit as he stood up a bit straighter (Evan barely even noticed he was slouching, if he was honest) and his face flushed as he continued rather weakly, "own... Business..."

What did he do. What the hell did Evan do. The kid was freaking out on the spot, still holding a smile, but his mind raced with questions- Does he think Evan is weird? A guy? Working at a flower store? Oh my god. He's going to have to move to Chicago and then he might end up being murdered by some jazz actress or something, like in the musical or movie, and oh my god Evan is so weird and gross and-

"What... What kind of f-flowers are you looking for?" He had to continue. It was his job. If it wasn't, the boy would've speed-walked out of the shop and then get hit by a car who didn't notice he was there.

Silence ensued before the other boy- Evan was now pretty sure- started leaving, saying rather awkwardly, "No I hate flowers also I have to leave right now", but it came out more like "NOIHATEFLOWERSALSOIHAVETOLEAVERIGHTNOW" and his pale skin turned more red before he turned and left the kid alone in the abyss of flowers.

No one was here. No peppy girls, no nagging bosses and most importantly, no awkward strangers who leave saying they hate flowers. Was he happy to be alone? Earlier? Yeah, he would've been fine with it. Now? Now, he had so many question. A lot. Too many. What did Evan do? Why did he leave? Was it even Evan? Should he tell his boss about his weird encounter? No, that'd be weird, right?

Evan Hansen, the new one, the florist one, seemed to be just as bad as the old one at human interaction.