First Meetings - Sam/Gabriel
Sam/Gabriel, First meetings, Botanical Garden
The Language of Flowers
“You’re doing it wrong,” a voice from behind Gabriel’s back announces. He closes his eyes for a long moment, hoping whatever asshat is standing behind him will ease on down, ease on down the walkway and bother some other poor schmuck. When he doesn’t hear footsteps retreating he rolls his eyes and mutters, “really?”
When he turns he has to look up, up, up, to get a clear view of obnoxious guy’s face. He’s not unattractive by any means, but Gabriel’s been out here in the blistering sun, bent over these fucking bushes, covered in dirt for half of the day and the last thing he needs is feedback about his bushwhacking skills.
Or lack thereof. He needs this job. Badly.
“You’re supposed to prune in the fall,” stupidly tall guy offers. And maybe, just maybe this enormous doofus is trying to be….helpful?
“You don’t say?” Gabriel offers dryly. “Who knew?”
And now moose man looks...irritated maybe? It’s hard to tell from way down there.
“It’s better for the plants,” he says as he waves at the long line of bushes that Gabriel couldn’t give less than a fuck about right now. “Cutting them back now will throw off their growth.”
“Okayyyyyy,” Gabriel sighs. God help him, the guy actually seems like he cares. “Let’s say, for a second, that I even know shit enough about these plants to agree with you. Tell this shit to my boss, okay? He says cut the bushes, I cut the bushes.”
“You’re not trained for this?” The guy questions with his head cocked to the side like an overgrown puppy.
“Nope!” Gabriel pops the word out with a grin that he knows is going to make him look like a douche. But he’s beyond caring today. Everything hurts, this job sucks, and all he wants is a shower and a drink, “I’m a 26 year old high school dropout working at botanical garden in the middle of the summer trying to help his little brother, you know, the smart one? Save up enough money to go to college because little bro’s scholarships don’t cover everything.”
The tall guy blushes, nods, looks at his feet, nods at his feet, wanders off without saying another word.
Weird as hell.
Gabriel goes back to pruning until he hears yelling from the conservatory and his boss starts screaming his name. Gabriel heads toward the noise, half hoping to get fired, half because he’s a nosy bitch that can’t stay out of anything.
“Gabriel,” his boss bellows, “Leave those bushes alone! We prune them in the fall damnit!”
Gabriel doesn’t exactly have an answer for that. It’s not a question so he just stands there.
His boss stalks off yelling at the other workers who have been doing the same thing Gabriel was working on until two minutes and one weird ass guy ago.
Oh, look! Here comes weird ass guy now.
“Who are you?” Gabriel asks in complete confusion.
Weird ass guy smiles at his feet again before answering, “I’m a 24 year old college graduate with a specialization in botany. My scholarships didn’t cover everything so my older, high school dropout of a brother, worked two jobs my whole senior year in high school to make sure I had enough money to go to college. He calls me the Smart One, but you can call me Sam.”
And yeah, Gabriel might call him indeed.