Steve and Robin have been working at the plant nursery for months. It was the only job that would hire them both, and it's honestly been the best job they've had.
Steve loves taking care of the plants, loves the way the outdoor plants wave at him in the wind and sparkle in the sunlight after he's watered them. No one gives him weird looks when he talks to the plants because everyone that comes in understands, they're all plant people too, they know talking to plants is hard to resist. Steve loves that they are very good listeners, especially the ferns in the back corner of the nursery. They brush their long arms against Steve's cheek and make him feel so much better after he's finished dumping all his problems on the poor plant.
And then they get a new employee, a guy with long curly hair and too many tattoos and piercings for Steve to count. His name is Eddie. And he does not have a green thumb. Not at all.
Steve can't understand why the nursery hired this guy! He's hopeless!
Steve watches in horror from behind his beloved ferns as Eddie accidentally chops the head off one of the gorgeous rose blooms while pruning and then tries to hide the evidence. He walks away from the rose bush with the poor chopped off bloom clenched tightly in his fist and then he dumps it in the compost bin.
Steve spends the rest of the afternoon glaring at the new guy while talking to the poor rose bush. Eddie flushes a shade of red similar to the rose he murdered any time Steve looks at him, and Steve hates how pretty he looks, hates that it causes a small smile to pull at his lips.
And then Eddie drops a watering can on a peace lily, a peace lily that Steve spent weeks nurturing back to life and the spell Eddie put on him with his flushed cheeks and big, brown eyes is broken.
Robin pities the poor new guy, she can see he's struggling, so she just makes him do all the heavy lifting with her. She doesn't want him anywhere near Steve's precious plants. She saw Steve reach for his giant pruning shears a few days ago when Eddie went near his ferns.
"You know he's terrified of you." Robin says to Steve on their joint lunch break. They're sitting on a stack of soil bags watching Eddie potter around and show people the plants they're looking for. Steve will give him that, he's good with people. Really good.
"Why? I'm nice." Steve takes a bite of his sandwich and avoids Robin's stare. He knows she's giving him the 'don't bullshit me' stare and if he looks, he'll crumble and do something ridiculous like admit he has been kinda mean to the new guy and that he should have just helped him out from the start instead of threatening to chop his fingers off every time he touched Steve's plants.
Steve sighs. "OK, fine. I've been a dick." Robin nods and steals the last bite of Steve's sandwich.
"Now, make it right and play nice with the pretty boy."
"He's not pretty."
"That's not what you said to your precious ferns yesterday. I think you said –" Steve walks off before she can finish and ignores her laughter as he stalks over to where Eddie is crouched in front of the baby succulents.
Steve clears his throat to get his attention and the poor guy jumps in fright and nearly smacks a succulent off the stand. "Steve! Hi! I was just talking to them. I promise."
Steve stifles a laugh and sits down on the floor in front of the low plant stand. He gently pulls a dead leaf off one plant before offering Eddie a smile, a truce. "That's good. They like it when you talk to them. I actually sing to them when I'm here alone." His sudden gentleness must spook Eddie because he just blinks at Steve, his mouth open slightly as he stares in disbelief that Steve actually just spoke to him.
"You can sing?" Eddie sits down next to him and mirrors Steve's actions; gently pulling dead leaves off and checking the soil.
"No, I can't." He laughs. "But the plants don't seem to mind."
They sit in silence for a minute before Steve gathers up his small pile of dead leaves and stands up, Eddie follows suit. "I'm sorry I've been such a dick." Steve rushes out before he loses the courage to admit it. "It's just... you're awful with plants."
Eddie laughs, the sound catches Steve off guard and echoes around the nursery, and Steve realises in that moment that he's never heard Eddie laugh before. It's loud and beautiful and Steve wants to hear it again. Every day.
"I know. I don't have a green thumb at all, but this is the only job that would take me. I think the plants want me to quit."
Steve wanted him to quit. He'd grumbled to Robin about it nearly every day. Eddie knew that and he still stayed. He smiles at Steve in a way that says he doesn't mind, he's just teasing.
But Steve still feels like a total asshole.
"I could teach you how to look after them properly." Steve offers. "I should have offered to help weeks ago." He adds on quietly as they walk through the rows and rows of plants. Steve touches all of them gently, he grazes his fingers along their leaves in a friendly greeting.
"I'd like that. I'd like that a lot." Eddie says with a smile so bright it could rival the sun and cause all of the flowers to bloom.
They spend nearly every day at work together after that. Steve helps Eddie learn all the plants' names, their technical names and the secret names Steve's given them all. Steve shows him how to prune and shape the baby hedges and tries not to blush when their fingers touch while passing over the shears. Eddie is a fast learner. He absorbs everything Steve says and then executes it perfectly. He looks over at Steve and smiles excitedly after he successfully prunes the rose bush without chopping a single bloom off.
The more time they spend together, the more Steve becomes aware of the feeling blooming in his chest. It tickles his ribs and causes him to blush and bump shoulders with Eddie more often, causes him to tuck a stray piece of hair behind Eddie's ear and brush his hand along Eddie’s back whenever he passes him.
The new bloom in his heart causes him to kiss Eddie in the back corner of the nursery behind the ferns.
Turns out Eddie has a green thumb after all because there is something so beautiful blooming between them, and so far only the ferns know about it.
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What are your gravity falls characters headcanons?
OKOKOK SOOO !!!
gender and sexuality hcs:
dipper: trans guy, he/they, asexual, demiromantic/cupioromantic (IM ON THE FENCE SOOO lets just say hes arospec. maybe aroflux?)
mabel: either transfem or genderqueer (i love both), bisexual, she/her but im not opposed to the thought she uses neos/xenos
stan: transitioned to male but later found out hes genderfluid, bisexual, also arospec, he/him
ford: transitioned to male but later found out hes agender, asexual, demiromantic, and gay. as for pronouns he/him, but probably has a bunch of cool alien neos he picked up during his 30 years travelling. but mostly uses he/him for simplicity's sake
OTHER HCS !!! (SPITFIRE ROUND GO!!!):
ford loves mabel juice. when ford came back dipper and him binged watched all of the star wars movies he missed. ford LOVES cats and i mean LOVES them (mabel is ecstatic when she finds out). dipper played guitar for probably like a month before giving it up completely. fiddleford gave ford his iconic coat during their college years. also the pines are all somewhere on the autism/adhd spectrums
theres like a BUNCH others i cant all put on one post + i cant remember atm sooo i hope these will suffice :D
BUT here are a couple links to some REALLY good character analyses that really resonated with me that you guys should totally check out (if you haven't already)
Why Stanford Pines from Gravity Falls is Autistic and Why it Matters
Gravity Falls and LGBTQ+ subtext: Decoding the Queercoding | A Video Essay
anyways, this was long. wow.
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music chain! list 5 songs that give off this vibe: partners in crime
send this to the last 5 people who were active in ur notes (+ anyone you want) with a vibe of your choice (as vague or specific as you want)
LOVE a music ask game!!! 😍 Playlists are my specialty so I really wanted to do this justice; I tried to strike a good balance between ‘this song is about a bond between people’ and ‘this song is about getting into trouble’, lol
1. Chains : Radical Face
2. Bullets : Tunng
3. Spring / Sun / Winter / Dread : Everything Everything
4. Go to Sleep Kimberly : Superet
5. Maya the Psychic : Gerard Way
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