Flower Language [Dan/Shibani]

Shibani yawned and stretched out his body onto the soft pillows at the back of Dan's shop. As he blinked blearily, he couldn't help but notice a strong, floral scent invading his nose. It was odd; this was a dango shop, so why did it suddenly smell like flowers? He stared up at the ceiling in sleepy bewilderment, wondering if Dan had somehow managed to get a burst of inspiration for new dango for the coming of spring. Still...it usually didn't smell this strongly.

The lazy bun managed to get enough motivation to sit himself up on the pillows, rubbing some of the sleep out of his eye when his gaze landed on a large bouquet of flowers placed gently on the ground near his pillow pile. His eyes widen in surprised and all of his motions stopped. What were these doing here? With careful placement of his hands, Shibani crawled over his pillows towards the delicate flowers to get a better look at them. He wasn't a flower expert, but these were fairly common and some were even favorites among some of the other buns, so he could recognize them. As he came closer, he gently grabbed one of his fancier, frillier pillows and placed it under his butt, sitting down and picking the bouquet up with gentle hands. He really didn't want to smother them or accidentally squish them. Someone obviously put time and effort into this.

Shibani lifted his head up to listen to his surroundings; it was unusually quiet. There was no boiling water, no heavy hammer pounding mochi, no sound of footsteps or grunts of irritation. Dan must have been out.

Did Dan leave these here? Shibani thought to himself, glancing back down at the bouquet in his hands. He carefully turned the flowers this way and that, examining them more closely. The main flowers were fully bloomed white camellias, taking up most of the look with their many petals and their dark emerald leaves. On the sides to add a bit of accents were angelica flowers. Shibani couldn't help but chuckle quietly at them since they kinda looked like their own tiny bouquets, but their small, white flowers matched that of the camellias well. Holding the flowers together were vines of morning glories speckled throughout the bouquet, adding a nice pop of color to everything. There were even beautiful pink hollyhocks contrasting with the blues of them. The colors of the two flowers stood out so well among all the white. Upon closer inspection Shibani also noticed ivy tying the stems together at the base, wrapped tightly enough to make sure the flowers didn't separate, but loose enough to not harm any of them.

Shibani held in soft laughter at the sight. It was a very strange bouquet, but the thought of Dan's large hands working so delicately with such fragile plants really tickled the albino bun. He could only imagine how the man's brows furrowed deeply and how his quiet growls sounded as he was lost in hard concentration at even making these. But then again, he was a master mochi maker; he had far more skill in those hands and patience in his mind than what other buns might give him credit for. Dan wasn't just a brute.

With a featherlight touch, Shibani brushed his fingers over the petals of the flowers, feeling the different structure of them. Some were very soft and easy to move, while others, like the camellia, felt firmer and more stable. Yet every single flower was without blemish or tear. Dan must have spent quite a long amount of time going through which ones to pick, then having to use awareness to make sure they weren't harmed in transportation or setup. It was honestly rather impressive and the sleepy bun smiled happily at the gift he had received. At the thought of so much work, he couldn't just let Dan's gift go without response. 

With another yawn the white bun got up and headed into Dan's kitchen.

When Dan returned back to his shop, he didn't expect anything to have changed. Shibani could sleep through a hellstorm, a hellquake, and a blizzard all at the same time. He found himself worrying at times over the bun, lest someone come in and take advantage over him or Murmur forbid he suffocated in his own pillows. Burrowgatory was safer than that, but still, he wouldn't like something bad happening to the guy.

The first thing Dan did as he entered his shop was go to check on Shibani. As expected the bun was still curled up into his pillow pile, sleeping the day away like the lazy ass he was. But his eye caught sight of the bouquet nearby, placed gently into a green vase and moved to the corner of the room so that the sleepy bun's movements and pillow tossing wouldn't knock it over. Dan stared for a moment before moving away from the room, refusing to acknowledge the flutter in his chest. He would just get back to work, not like his hammering would wake the guy.

It wasn't until he moved over to his workspace that he noticed pops of color on his dark countertop. A white carnation, daisies, white lilies, and salvia arranged along the edges of his working area. The large bun stared down, his eyes going from one flower to the next. The carnations were cut messily and set up together and it was obvious that the daisies were simply picked right out of a meadow. The lilies had so much pollen on them that it was sprinkled all over the counter and the salvia, while beautiful with their deep, purple color, had shed some of their flowers and leaves in his workspace.

Look at this mess...Dan thought to himself. That bastard didn't even think to put them in any kind of arrangement. What a lazy-

Dan sighed and leaned on his counter, covering his face with one hand. The scent of the flowers caressed his nose, the image of Shibani's happy smile while picking them- thinking of him- plagued his mind.

For the moment Dan was grateful there were no customers. He didn't want to have to explain his heated face.

Extra: Meaning of Flowers

For Shibani:

White Camellia - "You're adorable"

Angelica - Inspiration

Morning Glory - Affection

Hollyhock - Ambition

For Dan:

White Carnation - Innocence, pure love, sweet love

Daisy - Loyalty, "I'll never tell"

White Lily - Happy, walking on air

Salvia - "I think of you"