Like You

It’s been some time since Eden and Vanna ventured into the embassy’s gardens to water the plants together. Since then, their efforts had finally borne fruit: the seeds that they had carefully planted had all bloomed into wondrous flowers, not unlike the feelings between the two, whose petals had unfurled—slowly but surely—into a lovely flower of its own. It was early in the morning when they walked into the greenhouse, nothing but fine mist and their hushed voices filling the air. The embassy proper had not yet opened for bureaucratic business for the day, and few buns were in the area save for Primrose (who was undoubtedly sprucing up already-sparkling floors) and the pair, so the gardens were blessedly calm and empty. Eden had said the day prior that the early morning was the perfect time for harvesting cut flowers, as the plants would have plenty of moisture to survive whatever wait there would be before their parts were put to use.

“You know a lot about this, Eden!” Vanna had commented, impressed. “Do you cut flowers often?”

There was a strange look in Eden’s eyes as he’d heard the question, and Vanna had been unable to pinpoint what emotion it was trying to convey. In a blink, the look was gone. Ephemeral. “I used to do it a lot,” came his simple answer. “Not so much anymore.”

“Oh, I see…” Maybe he would come to know more about the history behind those words in the future. At least, he hoped—that they would grow closer still, that the flower blooming between them would show off prettier colors yet. But that was an idle daydream for another day.

Presently, Vanna guided Eden toward the area within the gardens where they’d planted their allocated seeds. Vanna’s pace was relatively slow; sleep still clung to him this early in the morning, like a layer of pesky plant burs, unwilling to let go. Eden, on the other hand, was wide awake, carefully managing a fresh bucket of water and two pairs of gardening shears in his grip. He was used to waking up this early due to his duties within the church, he explained, before quietly adding that even if he wasn’t used to such early times, he’d still make an attempt to get up anyway. Anything to spend time with Vanna. Anything to view the flowers they had worked so hard on together. He was visibly in a good mood, that gentle expression on his face again as his long tail swayed behind him.

The further they walked, the more dazzling the sights became, and as they approached their destination Vanna could hear Eden inhale sharply.

“These are the ones?” Eden’s voice was extremely quiet.

Vanna turned to face him, and was delighted to see the wonder in the little nun’s eyes. “Mhm, the very same seeds that you helped me plant so long ago. Beautiful, aren’t they?”

For Vanna, the moment was tinged with bittersweetness. The look on Eden’s face brought him nothing but joy—he knew that he’d like them, he thinks to himself with satisfaction—but that look of wonder reminded the cherubun of his earliest memories of the meadows. He was so small back then that many of the flowers had towered over him, but he looked at them just the same: his eyes wide in awe, taking in the colors and the smells of it all. Up there, the air was so much fresher, and the gentle breeze had brought with it more floral scents from clouds afar. Eden would not get to experience such simple pleasures, but he clearly enjoyed the sight of the blooming flowers all the same.

Vanna watched as Eden set the bucket in his hands down before reaching out for a particular flower, its petals as dark as the true night sky. Small particles on each petal glittered like starlight as they caught in the light, Eden’s thumb brushing against them carefully, as if one wrong move would cause the flower to wither away.

“We have this holiday called Mochi Moon.” Eden said as he handed one of the shears to Vanna. Vanna took them and he continued, “They say that if you leave out mochi of good quality, there’s a chance that the demon Allocer will take one for himself. And if he does, he’ll bless you with a vision of the night sky—the real night sky.” With shears in hand, Eden cut the stem of the flower a few centimeters from its base before lifting it to get a better look at it.

“Oh?” Vanna blinked. It was the first time he’s heard Eden mention anything about demons.

“Some buns who’ve had these visions, they drew what they saw. And I’ve seen some of the pictures…they look just like this flower. A dark sky filled with lots of little lights, and one big one…they’re called stars, right?”

“That’s right. The ‘big one’ is called the moon, not a star…but it does shine just as bright.”

Eden silently plucked off the leaves near the end of the flower he’d just cut, pocketing them before he spoke again. “I can’t believe something so pretty really exists. It seems unreal. But it is real. Do you…” 

Vanna could see Eden’s brows furrow as he thought about what to say, his long tail stilling behind him as he pursed his lips. He knew the succubun by now, knew that if he was allowed to keep overthinking he might put himself in a bad mood. So with a gentle smile, he took hold of Eden's hand—the one that was currently holding the flower—and squeezed it encouragingly. “Do I what, Eden?”

Eden looked at him before quickly looking away. “...Do you miss it? Seeing the moon and the stars. Th-the real night sky, not just what we have here.”

“Oh, Eden…” Vanna felt as if he was saying that a lot nowadays. Even now he couldn’t get over how sweet the nun was, or how he seemed to be so thoughtful at what felt like the most random moments. He squeezed Eden’s hand again before letting go. “I’ll always miss it—the sun, the moon, the stars, and a true sky... I wish I could show you the difference between what you see in Burrowgatory and what I used to see in the Heavenly Meadow. Words can’t explain how beautiful it is. If only I could give you a vision to show you what I used to be able to see.” That last part was said in jest, Vanna’s smile widening as he giggled. “But I’ve made my peace with never seeing them again. Those were the last things I said goodbye to before I left for good.”

He could see that Eden didn’t find the answer satisfactory, and the succubun even seemed to be deflating a little. “Don’t be sad on my behalf, silly. If I never left, we wouldn’t have met, and I find that possibility to be much sadder.”

Plink! Eden dropped the flower into the bucket of water at the same time he whipped his head around to face Vanna. His eyes were wide with surprise and his face was cherry-red, and all Vanna could think in the moment was of how darling he looked. “You…”

“Hmm?” Vanna’s smile grew gentler once more as he inclined his head towards the shorter bun.

“Do you…really mean that? You’re not just saying it to make me feel better, right…?”

Vanna’s reply would come to him as natural as breathing, no thought needing to be put into it. “I like you, Eden.”

“H-Huh? Y—”

“I like you a lot. I’m so lucky that I was able to see you at the church when I first came here, and I’m even luckier that you found me afterwards so that we could be friends. And I’m happy that the one I’ve come to like is you and no one else.”

“...”

“Did you know? I was really sad that day when you found me here in the gardens. I was having second thoughts about leaving; I thought with how aimless I felt, maybe I shouldn’t have left. Maybe Melangel was right, and I was dooming myself to a life I wouldn’t love. All those bad thoughts were weighing me down, and then you came and offered to help me.” The symbolism was not lost, even on someone like Vanna. “Some buns would call that divine intervention, you know.”

“I-I….you…”

“You don’t have to say anything about it now, Eden. Maybe it might be better if you gave it some thought? We do have to harvest all of these flowers still, and I don’t want to put you on the spot. So…” Vanna held his own pair of garden shears up to show Eden, waggling them with a lopsided smile. “Teach me how to do this properly first.”

---

Eden taught Vanna how to harvest the flowers properly to keep them in good condition. Cut the stem to a length of your preference, then remove any leaves that would be below the water level once you deposited the blooms into the bucket. Eden pocketed every single pulled leaf, promising that he would store them separately for later.

“Why do we only have to pull the ones that would be underneath the surface?”

“Because the leaves will rot quicker if submerged in water.”

They worked together, never straying from one another’s side. Every time Vanna snuck a glance at Eden, he seemed to be lost in a world of his own, though his hands moved with practiced efficiency despite that. It made the cherubun wonder even more how often Eden used to harvest flowers, and why.

It wasn’t long before the small patch of flowers that they’d planted together were all properly harvested, their gentle fragrances intermingling in the bucket. Looking at their harvest, Vanna’s heart felt several times lighter, as if he was finally, truly shedding the weight of guilt that had burdened him so long ago when he’d first held those seeds in his hands. 

Seizing the perfect moment, Eden took Vanna’s hands into his and shyly looked up at him with the tenderest expression he’s ever seen on the succubun. Eden didn’t wait for Vanna to ask what was wrong, because Vanna obviously knew—

There was still one more flower to harvest, wasn't there?

“I like you too, Vanna.”