Pursuit of Diligence (Part 2)

Aster was looking forward to his next meet up with Primrose - to check up on the flowers, of course - not for the cherubun himself. Don't be ridiculous. 

Despite his protests, other buns were being very ridiculous about it. Primarily his littermate, Sweetpea - why he stayed in contact with that bun was beyond him sometimes - though other buns seemed to take notice of Aster's somewhat changed demeanour regarding his Embassy visits as well. The greed bun was the worst about it though.

"You know he's not going to fuck you, right?"

"Excuse me?!" A scandalized Aster clutches at his chest, shocked by the bluntness of the greed bun across from him. 

Sweetpea raises his brow at the outburst, "I mean, I guess I'd be pretty upset too if I did all that work for nothing, but-"

"Hey, I'm trying to get into the gardens, not his pants!" Aster insists. "And it did work, I have access to the gardens as long as there's a cherubun chaperone present." He crosses his arms defiantly with an annoyed huff. Sweetpea couldn't boast that fact; surely, they'd never let him in even if he cared to try. Then again, he was an excellent conman...

"Wow, limited access, you are lucky," a silence begins to grow between them as Aster glares daggers at Sweetpea and his comments. 

Why did he still hang around his littermate? All he ever did was bring Aster down in one way or another, and worse, he seemed to enjoy it. If he was being honest with himself (which he was not), it was because he was one of the few buns he knew that would still tolerate him. Even if that meant putting up with him right back. 

"Either way, you got competition," the other bun smirks over his coffee. Noticing an accusatory look immediately coming from Aster, he clarifies, deadpan, "not me, but I'd throw the towel in if I were you. Save yourself the embarrassment of getting turned down by the head priss."

Aster could not believe what he was hearing, but it made his cheeks flare red nonetheless. "For the last time, I'm not interested in Primrose! But if I were, I can guarantee you there would be zero competition!"

Sweetpea bursts out into laughter, "yeah, zero from you!"

Aster stands in an instant, nearly knocking the cafe chair over as he does. This does little to intimidate his littermate, who laughs even harder at the furiously flustered bun. Abandoning his drink and his attempts at convincing Sweetpea of the truth, Aster collects his things and storms out of the cafe.

Even as he hurried away and down the block, the laughter followed, urging him to get home faster.

----- ----- -----

The purple and white bun once again finds himself at the Embassy, gussied up for his not-date with his not-love interest, and doing his best to forget his luncheon with Sweetpea. This was easier said than done - as usual - and his words still clung in Aster's mind. 

There were more important things to think about, however, like taking care of the garden and the rare plant life within. He could be tormented by Jerkpea's comments once he was home and heading to bed just like everyone else did.

It doesn't take long for Aster to locate Primrose, who was already waiting by the entrance to the gardens. With a smile, he makes his way over to the cherubun, readying for another day's worth of gardening, but as he approaches, Primrose makes no moves to lead him into the gardens. It takes Aster a moment to realize he's holding a medium sized wooden box in his hands and curiously tilts his head. "More seeds?"

"Hello, Aster," the angel bun greets him, but there is a distance in his demeanor. Aster thought he looked distracted but quickly excuses it as the head of the Embassy having much on his plate at any given moment in time. "Something has come up, and I was hoping you could do me a favour."

"Oh? What do you need?" He answers a little too eager to please. Aster watches as the cherubun scans the lobby, clearly looking for something or someone else other than the gorgeous bun in front of him. Pouting at the diverted attention, he adds, "is everything okay?"

With a huge sigh, Primrose shakes his head. "It seems I double booked our time for today, and on top of that, I meant to make a delivery," he holds up the box with emphasis. 

Aster could see where this was going, but he wasn't happy about it. 

"I'm sorry to ask, but it would really help me out if you could take these tea leaves to Dove," the cherubun continues. 

Was this the competition Sweetpea had mentioned, Dove? There's a knot twisting itself up in his stomach, he was no errand boy. Still, he was eager to please, "okay, quick delivery, then back to work on our plants; sounds -" 

"Oh, no, just the delivery today, I can only keep an eye on one of you at a time," the angel bun looks back into the living sea of buns around them, still searching.

Aster could feel his cheeks go hot again. Why did he have to give up his garden time? Was he being rejected? And why did it matter if he was?

"Alright, deliver tea to Dove, got it. Should I stop in tomorrow for make-up garden time, then?" He prompts hopefully.

Once again Primrose shakes his head, "no, we'll have to schedule you for next week, my apologies."

"Oh," quietly escapes the bun, but his disappointment is evident. "Then I guess we can continue next week."

----- ----- -----

Aster, tea box in hand, makes his way back down to Burrowgatory, very disappointedly. Today was proving to not be a good one for the succubun, and while he trekked to Dove and Jackal's place, Sweetpea once again makes his way to the front of Aster's thoughts. If it wasn't Dove that had Primrose's attention, maybe the bun who took his appointment did. He'd need to find out who that was, do something about them.

What was he thinking? No wonder he was giving off the impression that he liked Primrose. 

Shaking the nonsense out of his head, Aster eventually finds his way to the pair's abode. With a few sharp knocks on their door, he waits slightly too long for his liking before the door opens. It's not the cherubun that answers, however, but their roommate. 

The envy bun sighs as she observes him momentarily, "look, whatever you're selling, we aren't interested -" and the door begins to close.

"Wait! I have tea, for Dove!" Aster calls through the narrowing crack of the door, half tempted to shove his foot in the way. The door stops closing before he has to intervene, and from the depths within, he can hear excited footsteps approaching. There's a whispered exchange before the door opens again, this time with an excited cherubun at the forefront. "Dove, right? Primrose sent me, he's overbooked, apparently, but wanted to make sure you still got this."

Aster holds the box out to them, and it's gleefully grabbed by the cherubun. "Oh! Just in time, I finished my tea leaves just this morning," Dove opens the box and examines it's contents before snapping the lid shut and smiling towards the purple bun. "Thank you so much! Would you like to stay for tea with us?"

"Hey, hang on a minute, we don't know this guy -" Jackal rightfully interjects.

"If Primrose trusts them, so do I. You know how he is; he wouldn't just let anyone handle this," Dove lightly laughs. "How about it, uhm...?"

"Aster," he fills in for them. Remembering his etiquette training, and not wanting to leave on a sour note on the off-chance it got back to Primrose, he begins to let the down easy, "and while I appreciate the offer, I should really -"

Dove's enthusiasm dims, and the tiniest of frowns takes place on their face. "oh, I understand, you're probably very busy helping out. Well, maybe next time then?" Their smile returns and Aster feels considerably less guilty about turning down the offer. 

"Yeah, next time - assuming you're also okay with that?" He asks in Jackal's direction.

The envy bun shrugs, but after a look from Dove, relents, "yeah, sure. We'll have a regular tea party."

Aster detects the sarcasm, but Dove doesn't appear to, based on their beaming expression, "ah! I can't wait!"

"Yeah, same," Jackal answers, but the lust bun can see her expression softening as she looks at Dove's enthusiasm. "Well, it was nice meeting you, thanks for the delivery, Aster." 

"Yes! Thank you so much!"

With a few more drawn-out pleasantries, Jackal can finally close the door, and Aster can head home for some much-needed peace.