“Seriously? With the puns? Every day?” Michael said as he appeared behind Kian. Kian spun around with a smirk.

“Of course every day what do you mean! I’m running out though, I better figure out some new ones… Also, were you listening in on me? What if I have some private convos with my thick, rooted-“

“Alright alright, thank you, let’s stop there. And I wasn’t listening in on you, you’re just god damn loud,” Michael huffed and crossed his arms, looking at the plant who was now holding up Kian’s jacket proudly. “Do you ever stop to think, that perhaps the plant doesn’t want to be smothered by your horrible fashion choices?” Michael said as he walked up beside his brother who now looked quite busy checking on some seedlings. Though at those last few words, Kian turned his head, holding his gardening shovel up towards Michael’s face.

“First of all, Rick the prick loves to hold my precious jacket. Second, horrible fashion choice? You mean, my rare piece of 892 clothing that you wish you would have found first? Come on baby brother, jealousy doesn’t suit you very well,” Kian smirked and lowered his shovel back into the soil, being gentle around the small fragile roots. Michael sighed and pushed up his safety glasses that rested on the bridge of his nose. 

“Mmhm, right, jealous,” he huffed and walked further ahead down the hallway of plants, gently reaching out to examine some leaves that had a rather striking purple pattern on them. “Did you grow these? I haven’t seen these before,” Michael furrowed his brows and Kian glanced over. He blushed slightly, shrugging.

“Uh, I guess. I was just doing some cross-breeding and uh, yeah, that was the result…” He mumbled, suddenly getting a bit awkward and shy. Michael smiled and shook his head at his brother’s behaviour.

“You know it’s fine to be good at what you do, right? Even if it so happens to be plants. It’s more than fine actually, results like these are invaluable, have you examined the core structure and the moisture content to find out if-“

“Already done and filed,” Kian mumbled, brushing off his hands as he walked up to his brother with a soft smile. “And uh… Thanks,” he said awkwardly and patted Michael’s shoulder a little. Michael smiled. Sure they liked to mess around and try to get on each other’s nerves, but he liked these moments too.

“No problem, you did good,” Michael smiled and nodded once more, patting Kian’s shoulder back before clearing his throat. “Right, I should head back. I’m monitoring some new bird eggs and they shouldn’t be left alone for too long. See you later for a late lunch?” Michael said before taking his leave, after getting a nod of approval for lunch from his brother.

Kian watched as Michael left before turning his attention back to the purple speckled leaves. He smiled. He was actually very proud of his achievement. A pattern like that combined with such a deep purple colour had not been seen before. He was really good at what he did, even if it was hard to realise it sometimes. 

“If only I was as skilled with the language of love as I am with plants,” Kian said with a huff and a wrinkled nose. “Oh well, at least I have Rick, even though with him, love hurts sometimes, literally,” he leaned back and let out a hearty laugh. “God I crack myself up!” He exclaimed loudly.