Fic: Love-Trap, aka No Invisible Worms Allowed
Title: Love-Trap, aka No Invisible Worms Allowed
Rating: PG
Word Count: 760
Warnings: Merlin eats worms. (in other words, crack is the new black.)
Author's Notes: With all due apologies to lavvyan and her wonderful SGA Greenhouse AU.
Summary:
Sage didn't notice him immediately, which allowed him a little time to settle his leaves and take in his New Surroundings. The other plants in the nursery where he'd grown up liked to tell one another scary stories about how the Humans who came and went away with a pot or bag and did Dreadful Things to them, and he hadn't been sure what to think. After all, nobody ever came back to tell what really happened when they were taken away, but on the other hand... Nobody Ever Came Back.
All in all, he was feeling relieved and rather pleased with the sunny spot he'd found his pot in. This didn't seem too bad, even if there were a few colourful flower-like flying things that made him feel oddly uneasy despite their loveliness. His happy mood lasted until Sage finally noticed him, and seemed a little taken aback. "You're new," observed the herb thoughtfully, studying him with a disconcerting degree of interest.
"Yes, hello," he replied politely, trying to refrain from twitching. One of his leaves brushed against his neighbour lightly, completely by accident, and it hurt. "Ow! What was that?"
"I've never seen any plant clumsy enough to grow into my thorns," sneered his neighbour, who turned out to be a tall, leafy plant with thorns all over and gorgeous, wonderful-smelling crimson blooms that made him feel small and plain beside it. A Rose! He'd never seen one before. The Rose looked down at him disdainfully. "You look ridiculous. Are you even a real plant?"
That was too much, even if the Rose was gorgeous and wonderful-smelling. "Of course I'm a real plant," he snapped back. "Not all plants are smelly and prickly," he added, and a Daisy growing in the garden a little away from the shelf of potted plants giggled softly, while a tall, elegant Iris managed to express cool amusement without saying anything at all. He would have felt proud of himself for making the proud Rose sputter in outrage, except Sage was sighing and looking disappointed, and made him feel embarrassed for being so juvenile and petty.
"Oh, look what a cute little thing you are," cooed a Human suddenly from above him, and stroked one of his leaves with a black tipped thorn. He shivered and wondered about poisoned stings, but the thorn did not hurt him, and the Human stopped touching him soon enough.
"Thought you'd like that thing," said the Human with the booming voice who had brought him home. "Water them while you're at it."
"Yeah, whatever," said the Human with the black thorns, and then he went a little blank with bliss as cool water poured over him. When he came back to himself, the Human was murmuring dark and frightening things about storms and sickness and worms, and he found himself terribly grateful when the Human finished up and left them.
The Rose, who had been the subject of the strange chanting, looked upset as well, and he found himself oddly sorry for the Rose, and determined not to let the terrible things the Human had spoken of happen. He carefully extended a leaf to the side of the Rose, waiting, and sure enough, just as the Human said, one of the bright flying things landed on it, with Definite Ill Intent, and he closed the leaf over it quickly.
"Did you just move?" hissed Sage in shock. "What was that?"
"I didn't do anything," he protested quickly, suddenly remembering the Gardener who had raised him talking about how special he was and unlike all the other plants, and feeling terribly afraid that he really wasn't a plant after all.
Sage looked unconvinced but also impressed. "How did you do it?"
"Really, it was just the wind, or something." But then there was another flying thing, less colourful, but which also gave him Bad Feelings. He snapped that up too, unsuccessfully trying to do it below pot-level so Sage wouldn't see.
"That was amazing," whispered Sage conspiratorially, and he felt somewhat better about the whole moving-and-catching-flying-things thing.
The Rose was carefully turned away, spreading out its leaves to catch the sunlight, and incidentally blocking some of his sun too, the ingrate. "Whatever unplant-like things you're getting up to back there, I didn't see it and I don't want to know."
Somehow, he thought that might have been something like an acknowledgement that the Rose didn't care if he was a real plant or not, and he thought, this was a really good place to put down his roots.
THE END
Rating: PG
Word Count: 760
Warnings: Merlin eats worms. (in other words, crack is the new black.)
Author's Notes: With all due apologies to lavvyan and her wonderful SGA Greenhouse AU.
Summary:
Sage didn't notice him immediately, which allowed him a little time to settle his leaves and take in his New Surroundings. The other plants in the nursery where he'd grown up liked to tell one another scary stories about how the Humans who came and went away with a pot or bag and did Dreadful Things to them, and he hadn't been sure what to think. After all, nobody ever came back to tell what really happened when they were taken away, but on the other hand... Nobody Ever Came Back.
All in all, he was feeling relieved and rather pleased with the sunny spot he'd found his pot in. This didn't seem too bad, even if there were a few colourful flower-like flying things that made him feel oddly uneasy despite their loveliness. His happy mood lasted until Sage finally noticed him, and seemed a little taken aback. "You're new," observed the herb thoughtfully, studying him with a disconcerting degree of interest.
"Yes, hello," he replied politely, trying to refrain from twitching. One of his leaves brushed against his neighbour lightly, completely by accident, and it hurt. "Ow! What was that?"
"I've never seen any plant clumsy enough to grow into my thorns," sneered his neighbour, who turned out to be a tall, leafy plant with thorns all over and gorgeous, wonderful-smelling crimson blooms that made him feel small and plain beside it. A Rose! He'd never seen one before. The Rose looked down at him disdainfully. "You look ridiculous. Are you even a real plant?"
That was too much, even if the Rose was gorgeous and wonderful-smelling. "Of course I'm a real plant," he snapped back. "Not all plants are smelly and prickly," he added, and a Daisy growing in the garden a little away from the shelf of potted plants giggled softly, while a tall, elegant Iris managed to express cool amusement without saying anything at all. He would have felt proud of himself for making the proud Rose sputter in outrage, except Sage was sighing and looking disappointed, and made him feel embarrassed for being so juvenile and petty.
"Oh, look what a cute little thing you are," cooed a Human suddenly from above him, and stroked one of his leaves with a black tipped thorn. He shivered and wondered about poisoned stings, but the thorn did not hurt him, and the Human stopped touching him soon enough.
"Thought you'd like that thing," said the Human with the booming voice who had brought him home. "Water them while you're at it."
"Yeah, whatever," said the Human with the black thorns, and then he went a little blank with bliss as cool water poured over him. When he came back to himself, the Human was murmuring dark and frightening things about storms and sickness and worms, and he found himself terribly grateful when the Human finished up and left them.
The Rose, who had been the subject of the strange chanting, looked upset as well, and he found himself oddly sorry for the Rose, and determined not to let the terrible things the Human had spoken of happen. He carefully extended a leaf to the side of the Rose, waiting, and sure enough, just as the Human said, one of the bright flying things landed on it, with Definite Ill Intent, and he closed the leaf over it quickly.
"Did you just move?" hissed Sage in shock. "What was that?"
"I didn't do anything," he protested quickly, suddenly remembering the Gardener who had raised him talking about how special he was and unlike all the other plants, and feeling terribly afraid that he really wasn't a plant after all.
Sage looked unconvinced but also impressed. "How did you do it?"
"Really, it was just the wind, or something." But then there was another flying thing, less colourful, but which also gave him Bad Feelings. He snapped that up too, unsuccessfully trying to do it below pot-level so Sage wouldn't see.
"That was amazing," whispered Sage conspiratorially, and he felt somewhat better about the whole moving-and-catching-flying-things thing.
The Rose was carefully turned away, spreading out its leaves to catch the sunlight, and incidentally blocking some of his sun too, the ingrate. "Whatever unplant-like things you're getting up to back there, I didn't see it and I don't want to know."
Somehow, he thought that might have been something like an acknowledgement that the Rose didn't care if he was a real plant or not, and he thought, this was a really good place to put down his roots.
THE END