Flowers

“Imagine if the world was a better place, Hyun! We could like..move to somewhere quiet. Like someplace by the sea.” Shun started slowly getting quieter as he thought. He sat on the side of the bed messing with his hair before falling back to lay next to the other, “…And…things would be good.” Shun smiled a little to himself, looking over to Hyun. Hyun turned a takoyaki over in his fingers before taking a bite of it.

“If only. Slaying seems to be the only thing you know about…I don’t..mean any offence but you seem skilled in that area. Say things were better. What would you even do out there.” He said in response glancing back to the other. Shun smiled, ears flicking as he was acknowledged.

“If only.  Hm.” Shun reached over, taking one of the takoyaki’s from Hyun’s plate, “Well..I know things other than slaying. My mom uh…she taught me a lot actually. I think I would be a florist.”

“Shun. You a florist?”

“I..I like flowers.” Shun admitted looking away as he ate the stolen snack. His ears ducked as Hyun half laughed at that. “Tch. What would you do then? Your string of fate flies close to mine, one would bet you lack any foresight if your path was cut short.”

Hyun sat up slightly struggling to process the word vomit that came from his friend’s mouth. “I don’t know. My parents would probably love for me to go to college. Anything active I guess.” 

“So a pole dancer” 

“No. No way.”

Shun suppressed a light laugh unable to even imagine the other in that situation, “Your destiny is everchanging like the wind. It’s good to have a plan C.”

“What happened to B?”

Shun smiled putting his hand out to Hyun for another takoyaki, “One can only read the wind’s path for so far. The curvature of the earth cuts it into many winding paths. Which crossroad will one take? That’s up to you. Plan B versus Plan C. One difference can mean the world.” Hyun dropped another snack into his hand and tilted his head slightly. Shun sighed but smiled, “Plan B is just a half-assed Plan C. Might as well skip it and think harder on your options before settling. You know, Listen to your elders or whatever.”

“You are a year older than me, Shun.” Hyun laughed rolling his eyes as he slid off the bed looking around his friend’s room. Shun’s room was rather clean, new foster home meant he had to slightly behave for a bit. He had a few small potted flowers on his window sill, one that had been with him for a rather long time. “Are you ever going to plant this one outside?” Hyun asked reaching out to touch the white petaled flower.

“Hyun- please don’t-” Shun started a little too late to stop him as Hyun’s finger brushed it, “mm..mom..gave me that one.” He said picking up the tiny pot and moving it away, “I’ll plant it someday. Whenever I can finally settle down.” Shun looked over the plant before putting it back and grabbing a spray bottle. He quickly misted the three flowers before sighing. “it’s just the only thing I have left of her. Sorry.” Hyun nodded awkwardly patting the other’s back before moving away, figuring that Shun would feel better if he wasn’t too close to it. The serval moved on to look at the messy box of trophies that the other achieved last year. He pulled out the one on the top before dropping it back in.

“You won that by literally two seconds.”

“Jealous.”

“Not really, we were on the same team idiot.”

“Still jealous it wasn’t you!” Shun laughed lightening up a bit as he leaned back against his bed, half zoning out as he watched Hyun look around. “Hey..um are you going to that…dance thing coming up? I figured I would use it to get out of the house.”

Hyun hummed going through the box still, “Winter formal. Like…ballroom dancing? Not really my thing. I bet Noir and Cass will go. Which means Cass will take me.”

Shun internally felt his heart crack. Right. Cass. He almost forgot those two were a thing now. Shun stared at the window. Sadly asking a boy out before him didn’t warrant vengeance. He must’ve zoned out for quite a bit as Hyun moved in front of him snapping at his slightly taller friend.

“Hey dude….You ok? If you need someone to take you I can-”

“No no no! It’s fine. It would probably be weird to decline your boyfriend asking you and taking me instead-”

“Oh, that’s right. I forgot you like Noir don’t you? Cass told me about that-” 

Shun felt a quiet ringing in his ears as Hyun went on. Noir??  Were they trying to set him up for failure?? Noir hated him. Well…hate was a strong word but. When was the last time they talked??

“Why don’t you confess to him? Noir will definitely say yes. He’s kinda desperate since Cass and I got together.”

Shun took a breath falling back on his bed and slowly rolling over to put his head in the pillow. Did this warrant a scream? Vengence for believing something that was wrong? No…a little..too much… He pulled slightly at the sheets with another sigh, “I’ve never confessed to anyone. I don’t go beyond friendship. Better to not confess rather than being rejected.” Hyun put his hand on his hip listening to that. Typical Shun thinking way too far into things. 

“Up to you. But fair warning Cass is trying to set you two up…You know if you like someone else you could tell me, Shun.” Hyun said sitting on the edge of Shun’s bed. He caught a glimpse of Shun’s smile before the other rolled his eyes.

“I’m not one for love. The wind can’t be tied down. Not when it has a duty to perform. If the wind loved one over another their love would be caught in a tornado and tossed out to sea.”

“That’s dark.”

“..yeah…Life is dark,” Shun mumbled grabbing Hyun’s hand and dragging him farther onto the bed. Shun managed to get the other to lie down pinning him under his own weight. He laid his head on Hyun’s shoulder, closing his eyes for just a moment, “Can you spend the night?” Shun’s ears flicked slightly at the sound of Hyun’s breath. The beat of his heart against his own. One much slower than the others. Hyun squirmed slightly managing to get his phone from his pocket to tell his parents. Shun sighed softly wrapping his arms loosely around the other, “thank you.”

“Hmph. You’re heavy.” Hyun said in return, shifting slightly to get some of Shun’s weight off of him, “You’re walking me home in the morning.”

“Ah yes. Hyun’s ‘You’re walking me home but I’m actually trying to beat you there. Oh, and my parents are going to make you stay for breakfast.’ My favourite game is watching you run across traffic and counting how many times you almost get hit by a car.” Shun mumbled feeling Hyun punch him lightly.

“Like I would get hit by a car. And you said you like my mom’s cooking.” 

“Hm. Of course not. I wouldn’t let a car touch you. And I do.” Shun said leaving that at that. Admittedly Hyun’s mom’s cooking reminded him a bit of his own. 

“You wouldn’t?” Hyun whispered back, only receiving a quiet hum in return. He glanced over to the other after a moment. Shun fell asleep. Typical. Shun tended to pass out after school for some reason, despite skipping most of his classes. Honestly, even Cass and Hyun had no clue where the other would go off to. Wherever he went….Shun made a lot of money. Hyun figured it was something similar to what he wanted to do someday. Mercenary hunting. He knew better than to not ask while he himself was not ready for that just yet. Hyun moved one more time managing to free one of his arms to grab the blanket. Whatever. He figured if Shun was sleeping he might as well try to sleep too, lest poet over here manages to beat him in their morning run.