Sweet as Honey

①: Artemisia

The tiny and tucked away farmer's market where Jotaro sold his honey had been the same for as long as he could remember; even when he first started coming here with his mother and his grandfather, it had been the exact same, from the old Italian man and his grandson that peddled homemade wine and strange antiques down to the golden haired father and son duo that sold flowers right next to their stand. The father was too snooty for Jotaro and his mother's tastes, but Jotaro had formed an unusual bond with the son; and as they both grew up to run the stands that had ran in their families for years, they became close in both friendship and proximity. Other than that, however, Jotaro's life (and business) had remained the same, with only a few minor shakeups.

That is, until a strange customer had shown up one day, his face partially obscured by a huge noodly red bang. He had strolled up to Jotaro's stand and picked up an empty jar, quietly observing the bees that were lazily flying about.

"Ah, pardon me. I got a little distracted." his airy voice made Jotaro's heart flutter a bit. "Do you do half filled jars? If not, I understand, but it never hurts to ask."

"Yeah, I can do that for you." Jotaro took the jar from him and placed it under the bucket with the honey gate attached. "You caught me at just the right day, too. It's the first time I've ever done something like this."

"Really? Then I guess I'm luckier than I thought."

Jotaro's cheeks flushed a little as he began to fill the jar, and he bit his lip gently. His thoughts were buzzing more than the insects around his stall; so much so that he could barely focus on keeping an eye on the amount of honey in the jar.

"Are these your bees?"

"Huh?" Jotaro's gaze flickered up and away from the jar for a moment. "Oh, no. They just hang around because of the honey and the flowers. But I do feed them, sometimes. That's why they're so calm."

"I see, I see... That's really sweet, y'know." the redhead accepted the honey and began to dig in his wallet for money. "Most beekeepers just shoo away bees that aren't their own."

"It's theirs anyway, so I may as well give back a little, 'n stuff. These little gals work so hard, I'd imagine they appreciate a little R&R just like us. And, don't worry about it. This one's on me."

"T-Thank you, uh... I don't believe I caught your name, actually. Sorry."

"Don't sweat it. It's Jotaro. But I didn't catch yours, either."

"Noriaki. And, thank you again, Jotaro. I'll be sure to drop by again some other day."

And with that, the mysterious redhead was gone. Jotaro's heart was beating a million miles a minute, and a smug chuckle from beside him only worsened it.

"I don't think I've ever seen anyone flirt so clumsily in my life. You're getting soft, Jotaro. Never would have guessed redheads were your type, either."

"Whatever, Giovanna. I wasn't flirting with him. It was just business."

Giorno laughed at him again and adjusted a flower arrangement, trimming off a few dead leaves from it. Jotaro rolled his eyes and rearranged the jars on his table, putting the filled ones towards the front instead of the empties.

"If that was just business, then why didn't you get a single dime from that jar, huh?"

"Because it's good business to be nice to the occasional new customer. It encourages them to come back. Duh."

"Jotaro, for the twelve years I've known you, you've never given out a freebie to anybody, new or not. Besides, I saw the way you were staring. You're totally into him."