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Spring had come.
Without a doubt, it had settled onto the manor, leaving tiny cues, not only limited to weather— The residents were more lively, light, as if they had gone out of hibernation if one may say, but most importantly, the flowers had begun blooming.
When the snow finally started to melt away, when the greenery revealed itself to the inhabitants once more as it did every year, when the very first flowers started to bloom while the white was slowly fading away.
Purple peeped out amidst the sparkling snow. Snowdrops, were they? The blonde man thought to himself as he peered down and crouched towards the budding bundle of flowers.
He himself had started to notice the changes around here. After all, he had to be observant to everyone around him— Those he could help, those who needed help. He had noticed how the gardener, Emma, would sing songs and hum while skipping around the place, or how the puppeteer seemed to leave his comfortable abode once in a while and lurk around.
Ah, the puppeteer– That was his boyfriend, wasn’t it?
It was an odd title. One he had not used on anyone before, one that feels almost wrong to claim, to the point it invoked even a sense of confusion in him. Was he right to have this title be bestowed upon him? By someone like Matthias, by someone who seemed to give life to his world just by breathing. But, he was his boyfriend, wasn’t he? He was his, and so was he.
..That still sounded a tad bit wrong to him.
But alas, as his lover, he had to do something about his beloved puppeteer’s new habit of leaving his room for once. It used to be a rare occurrence, especially during the winter, he would complain about how cold it seemed outside of his room, but since it’s warming up, perhaps now he’s finally deciding to split from the messy and frankly, grey place?
Right. He’s getting off topic. He needs to do something with the seasons warming up.. Had Matthias mentioned liking flowers? Or anything similar to that, to be fair. Perhaps he’d enjoy an outing to see the newly sprouting flowers, or maybe he should gift a bouquet to him? No, too cliche.. No matter, the man had to see the flowers himself. The beautiful snowdrops blooming, a hint of colour in the shades of white.
He got up from his crouching and made a way to visit the puppeteer himself personally.
—
Much to the fire investigator’s surprise, Matthias was not in his room. What answered at his door, much to his dismay, was the annoying brat of a puppet that always seemed to follow the person it was supposed to resemble.
It had screeched once it opened the door, its puppet face turning into a scowl when it seemed to recognize the man’s face and gleaming expression (It seemed to shift from excitement to disappointment all within one blink,)
“Eugh! What are you doing here? Matty’s not here, in case you’re wondering— Probably trying to get a life for once..”
The fire investigator blinked. Then again. Before finally processing what he was seeing and going back to his usual cheerful tone.
“Ah! I was wondering where Matthias was? Have you had an idea of where he is?”
“Nope! He’s been off since this morning, leaving me behind! I was thinking about following him but I thought he was going to see you so I didn’t want to third-wheel.. Again.”
“Oh. Alright. I’ll be on my way then!”
—
By now, Florian had grown dejected. Sincerely, he had zero idea on where the man could’ve gone! He had actually started to grow concerned at one point, but he was aware that he knew how to handle himself, he was freakishly tall and scary enough for no one to usually approach him (except for him and Lily, of course), and even if he did get in trouble, surely he’d be able to get himself out of it, right..?
No matter, there was no point in dwelling on something like that. There was no point in worrying over a man who could protect himself perfectly fine.. But, still, where had he gone? If not his room, or the library, or the kitchen, even the storage rooms, where could he be?
With that, he made way to the very place he had made the whole idea of going to the garden with Matthias at.
The garden itself, of course.
He sighed as he opened the doors to the outside, a mix of both green and white flooding his eye, but it had grown dark by now— The little lamps set inside the garden seemed to illuminate the area, giving the whole place a soft glow to it with the warm lighting. It was something Matthias would love. A quiet and humble place to relax.. It was a shame he couldn’t bring him here toda-
Huh? He saw a glimpse of the same dark hair he had caressed countless of times in the very corner of his eye, but when he looked in that direction, that same hair was gone.
Had he seriously missed him that much that he had started to hallucinate? No, he knew him— He knew how he looked like, and how his hair looked like.
He looked in the direction again. Squinted, and at the very corner of the garden, where a certain group of purple snowdrops lie, a puppeteer was crouching down, looking at them.
His heart filled with relief, joy, and multiple other positive emotions at once.
He wanted to call out to him, hug him tight in an embrace and question him for being out for so long, but he seemed to be frozen in place.
Love, love seemed to entrap him in that moment— He was processing so many emotions at once but one prevailed, love, and it surged through every fibre of his being, enveloping him in something so extreme yet so fulfilling.
He truly did miss him that much. And once he realised it, love seemed to release him from the cage that was his body and allowed him to walk towards the man.
As his footsteps grew closer, the puppeteer seemed to snap out of his dissociated state and jerked at the sound, his body rising from its crouched state, his seemingly safe space ruined by someone that was probably someone that he had never talked to before—
Florian?
His eye widened at the blonde walking towards him with the most soft smile he had seen in a while, and his heart welled up with joy, then worry, then joy again. He pushed the feeling of unworthiness aside and looked at the man walking towards him again, and smiled.
He too has missed him. And perhaps this whole dilly-dallying around to distract himself from the absence of his beloved fire investigator had been in vain afterall..
It didn’t matter. Before he could process, the blonde had come up to him and hugged him. He was warm, unlike the weather outside— It was chilly, yes, but he had forgotten to take a coat and with his flimsy clothes he had already started to shake at the temperature. And it felt.. So nice.. To finally feel an ounce of warmth again.
That warmth coming from another human body instead of a lifeless warmth emanator made it feel even better. He hugged the shorter man back, before he departed from their embrace, and, per usual, the man went on a tangent,
“Matthias! Where have you been? I’ve been looking for you everywhere.. You’re so cold? Are you alright? Should we go inside?”
He seemed to stop as he realized how much of an overbearing boyfriend he started to sound like. He awkwardly chuckled, before continuing,
“I.. I just wanted to ask if you’re alright? It’s not like you to be out so often, no?”
The puppeteer’s poor heart was now filled with warmth incomparable to any fire he had felt.
“No.. I’m fine, I just.. Wanted to go out here to, uhm, look at the flowers..”
“Ah.. Do you wanna look at them together? If I recall correctly they’re snowdrops— Always the first to bloom after winter!”
“Oh.. I just thought they were pretty..”
“Perhaps we can get some? We can ask Ms. Woods if we really need to..”
“There’s no need! I.. I don’t wanna harm the planet by pulling out flowers..”