“Mom, dad! There’s a hot guy with weird feet hugging the pansies!”

But his parents were no longer in the kitchen. Silence reigned in the house. With a little frown, WW walked over to the staircase. “Mom!?” He called up. Nothing. “Dad?!” He looked around to see no signs of life. Did they leave without me? He waited a few seconds before taking a deep breath and shouting as loud as he could, “DENNIS?!”

Still nothing.

Even dead-naming his mom didn’t work. They really had left without him.

A smile, a wide, real one, finally spread across his lips. He didn’t have to go to the shop. Sure, he was alone with a strange-footed man who was, he hoped, still passed out in the garden, but not having to spend the day in that cramped shop full of flowers was a welcome thought. The smile disappeared as he reminded himself, “I’ll have the rest of my life to make up for the days I miss now…” He sighed before walking to the kitchen.

Unrest was stirring his chest, as it always did when he thought about the shop. It was the pride of his parents’ lives, aside from him, and he knew that when they were ready to pass it along, it would fall to him. A heavy, unwelcome inheritance. It wasn’t that he didn’t like all the various flora. But with the massive, beautiful garden in their backyard and the occasional morning eating breakfast surrounded by flowers, and then the shop? He didn’t want his entire life to be about flowers. He had started having occasional nightmares where they came to life, broke into the house, and… He shuddered at the thought as he filled up a glass of water. Not the most pressing thing right now, WW… He told himself.

The man hugging the pansies hadn't seemed human. Not with those feet. Or the green eyelashes and eyebrows. Hair, he could have dyed. He supposed he could have dyed the rest, too, but… It seemed natural. He wasn’t sure. He wasn’t sure if he believed in non-human humanoids, or in magic, or… Or anything like that. He had never given it much thought. It was too early to start then.

When WW got back to the man, he was still unconscious. He set the glass down on the cobbled path and sat next to him. “Excuse me?”

No response.

“Hey…” WW nudged his shoulder. The ‘vine’ twitched, which made WW flinch back. “Wh—” He mumbled, watching the vine go straight, then curve back away from the man. Is that a… Tail? It went limp and fell back to the ground. I can’t back down now. He told himself. “E-Excuse me?” He nudged the man’s shoulder again, and he groaned.

WW watched, having scooted away, as the man stretched out, finally releasing the pansies. He groaned again, slowly turning his head away from the ground as he pushed himself groggily off the ground. His big, dark-circled green eye blinked open. He frowned. “You’re not Tierich…” He grumbled, looking around.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” WW scowled. Most of the left side of the mans face was covered in miniature flowers and leaves, all sprouting from his skin. More flowers. Am I dreaming? Is this one of my nightmares?

“Sorry, I know it’s obvious,” The man huffed as he sat rubbing his eye and yawning, “I’m hungover… D-Do you know where my friends are? I can’t… Remember anything…”

WW watched the vine coil itself around the man’s hips. “You’re not human.” WW mumbled. The situation was beginning to sink in. His mind was a blank white slate.

The man scoffed. “No shit, none of us—” He finally looked to WW again. His eye went wide. “Oh. What? You-You’re—” He stammered. “Shit. Shitshitshit. Oh no.” He rambled as he pushed himself to his feet, swayed, and took a stumbling step away.

“What are you?” WW asked, too stunned to move from his spot on the ground.

“Leaving. I-I’m leaving!” The man called back over his shoulder. WW only found his feet when the man had nearly reached the flower-covered trellis that marked the edge of the property. He chased after the strange man, whose vine-tail dragged along behind him. He wobbled when he put his hands on the trellis.

“Are you seriously telling me that magic exists?” WW watched him climb up with wide eyes.

“I told you nothing. You saw nothing. I’m leaving.” The man didn’t look back when he reached the top. Then he was gone. WW put a hand over his mouth when he heard a heavy thump, followed by a yelp and the man groaning in pain. Then, silence.

“What the fuck…” WW mumbled, sitting onto the ground. The blank slate that had appeared filled up again with his thoughts. “So… That happened?” He looked around himself, at all the plants. “We don’t have any hallucinogenic plants. That was… Real… Well. I guess that’s that question answered…” Magic existed. Apparently. Or at least, fantasy type races of people.

He found himself staring up at the top of the trellis, as if the person would come back. Part of him hoped he did. He wanted to know more. What was he? Some kind of… nymph? No, that didn’t sound right… Was there an eye under the flowers? Did his skin somehow turn to soil where they grew? Did he need to water his face? WW laid back onto the grass, staring up at the sky. Honestly, he was a bit disappointed that his first and probably only encounter with magic was a plant person, of all things. He’d been cute until WW’d seen the flowers, too… He pouted, sitting and then standing up again. He wondered if the plant man’s hair felt like grass, or something. It had looked soft… He couldn’t help that his mind kept trailing back to him. Where did he go? How come humans hadn’t seen his kind yet? He watered the garden like he was supposed to. Then he went back inside and grabbed a towel.

He turned on the hot water, despite the heat outside. When he stepped in, his mind wandered to the man, again. He shut his eyes as he leaned against the shower wall, the steam already fogging the mirror. He couldn’t stop his mind from conjuring the man’s image. Those toned arms... He was sure his chest was the same. Just muscular enough to see, but soft to run his hands down… He wondered if he liked having his tail pulled. Wondered if it made him moan. Wondered what his kisses tasted like… For now, they tasted like his own skin as he bit down on his hand. He couldn’t stop any of those thoughts. All he could do was edit out the flowers on his face, and deal with the consequences.