Majus [m] xxx Chiii [f]
He would have laughed had her face not been so intent.
Instead, he sucked in his bottom lip and remained perfectly still, allowing her alabaster fingers to stroke the outermost petals of his captive blue roses as he watched her. Her expression was oddly smooth and when she finally leaned back, he released a breath he hadn't been aware he was holding.
The young woman's smile was infinitely fragile and as crystal clear as glass. She seemed pleased somehow, and when she lifted her smile to him, he chuckled in return.
"I'll take you back to your brother now, Chii."
She did not complain when he took her hand, but then again the mute girl never spoke. It had been a mystery to her family for years why she rejected her words; she was perfectly healthy, in both mind and body, and there had been no traumatic events to ruin her growth. But she had made a fast friend to the gardener of the block, and even know when they passed other neighbors, they were received only with a nod and a friendly smile. It was no longer unusual to see the sun-kissed boy wrapped in roses lead his charge to her doorstep.
Tonight when he planted her feet firmly on the door mat and reached to knock, she stopped his hand with her own. Her fingers were cautious as they slipped up his arm, to the flower that bloomed on his elbow, and softly she bent to press a kiss to its open bud.
Majus was much too distracted to wave when she disappeared inside the house, and lingered on the front step a little while longer, surprised at himself at the whirling of his mind. He laughed, lightened his shoulders, and commented casually, "Not like you can ever court her, Majus. You're just the flowerboy, remember?"
He walked away with a jovial smile and an easy canter, leaving behind his doubt, and did not notice the shadow behind the curtain as Chii watched him go.
-----
The days passed in a blur.
Majus had been commissioned to prepare the various hundreds of bouquets for a local wedding and his fingers flew with a speed he needed on his one-man team; and he worked into dark hours and pink mornings and returned to his cottage too exhausted to even think about offering Chii his presence for a walk.
He relaxed only after he had been paid, and it was that afternoon he found himself knocking on Chii's front door. When her harried brother answered, Majus laughed at his best friend and ruffled his knotted hair. "Where's Chii?"
He gestured sharply behind him and groaned. "The girl has got this idea in her mind that she needs to be covered in flowers or something..." He trailed off and his gaze sharpened on the omnipresent roses that grew his own companion's body. His frown deepened. "You didn't encourage her to do this, did you?"
Quirking an eyebrow, Majus shrugged. "You still haven't really told me what she's done, but as far as I know..."
"Chii, get back here-"
She fled down the stairs from her mother's calls, sticky with whatever her parents had been rubbing into her skin to rid her of her new decorations, and leaped into his arms. Laughing, Majus easily caught her, setting her absently on her feet and leaning back to see whatever damage she had done to herself. Somehow, when he finally noticed the delicate tattoos that flamed across her legs, he couldn't help an amused smile.
"Romano," He said to her brother, pointing at her legs. "These are real ink tattoos. You can't wash them off. Sorry, buddy."
Chii grasped his forearms and extended her leg, pressing it easily to his own. She beamed up at him and he noticed with the jolt that the color of their shared buds were the same. His living and natural, hers born of a needle and dye. Her smile didn't even fade when Romano noticed the similarity and rolled his eyes.
"And you say you didn't influence her." He grumbled, and Majus flashed his familiar grin.
"Sorry, buddy. I guess little Chii here wants to be a gardener just like her best bud."
While he teased his friend, she nestled further against him, resting her cheek on his collarbone and staring idly at the wall. She was perfectly content to remain still until he finished, and by the time Romano headed upstairs to help his parents clean up, Majus was beginning to uncoil her to leave. "Sorry, Chii," he apologize as he unraveled her thoroughly gripping legs from his own. "I gotta go, pretty lady. I'm due back."
She peered up at him and opened her mouth, thoughtful. Majus abruptly paused and squinted at her, suddenly realizing what she was doing; speaking.
"Can..." She breathed, frustrated, and frowned. He could barely understand her words. "Flowergirl..."
He immediately remembered what he had said a few nights ago, walking away from her house and muttering under his breath.
"Not like you can ever court her, Majus. You're just the flowerboy, remember?" His blush flamed across his cheeks, and her grip tightened.
"I'm... just a flowergirl... now." Satisfied with her words, she softly smiled as she met his ever-blue eyes. "Now you... you can court me."
Majus, nervous, glanced down at the ground. It surprised him, the effect Chii's feminine laugh had on him, and she gently brought his chin up with a wide smile. "You... you may start with kissing me... Majus."
And, in the end, he was more than happy to oblige the girl with her new-found voice.
