It all started in the school's greenhouse.

It was a pretty regular Tuesday. Classes were over and BDubs had stayed behind like usual in the greenhouse to check up on the plant he'd been chosen to look after from his Science class.

He had dragged one of his close friends along, and he could already hear his companion complaining. "Duuuude. This is boringgg." The taller of the pair whined, staring miserably down at his wilting marigolds.

BDubs glanced sideways at his friend Etho, looking him up and down with an unimpressed expression.

Like usual, Etho had his dyed white hair tied up in a horribly messy plait with tufts sticking out everywhere. He was wearing a baggy black hoodie with a Canadian flag that was surprisingly decently stitched onto one of the sleeves (Etho was originally from Canada and also attempting to get better at sewing) and semi-baggy pants (baggy clothes were a staple of Etho's personality) with tears all over them (clearly Etho couldn't sew those together).

His gray trainers were incredibly scuffed and covered in mud, and the laces had definitely seen better days. He had multiple chain bracelets and a chain necklace with a cross at the end (Etho wasn't religious in any way apart from being obsessed with Greek gods, he just thought crosses were cool).

The boy with oddly coloured eyes (blue eyes so dull they appeared gray) also had a cross-shaped earring in each ear and was wearing the same black fingerless gloves he wore every day (BDubs wasn't entirely sure that the gloves had ever been washed).

Annoyingly (and irrelevantly), he was also just under a year older than BDubs (both were 16 but Etho would turn 17 in three months while BDubs would turn 17 in 11 months), a fact that Etho never let BDubs forget.

He also wore a face mask every day. BDubs wasn't sure why he did this.

"It's not boring, you're just bad at looking after plants." The curly-haired brunette shot back. "I think this is fun!" BDubs added, proudly adjusting his potted horsetail plant.

"Yeah, maybe slightly enjoyable at times, but is it 'staying after school' fun?" Etho said sceptically, poking his drooping flowers with one finger.

"Yes. It is." The boy with heterochromic eyes huffed. Gardening was one of the only things he was really passionate about.

Etho glanced between BDubs' flourishing horsetail and his half dead marigolds. "It's only fun for you because you're really good at gardening! It's not fair."

BDubs raised one eyebrow. "Uh.... My gardening skills might not be the problem." He shot Etho a toothy grin, remembering a second too late the gap between his front two teeth (something he was kinda insecure about but you didn't hear that from him) and his missing tooth from where he'd walked into a wall, and he snapped his mouth shut. "My gardening skills aren't the problem." He repeated. "It might be your lack thereof."

Etho scowled, smacking BDubs lightly over the back of the head. "Well, it's not my fault this greenhouse doesn't provide optimal conditions for plant growth!" He snapped. His friend continued to rant about plant growth conditions (Etho had endless knowledge about random things) and BDubs nodded and hummed quietly, tuning Etho out mentally as he had grown used to doing.

His friend was halfway through his rant when BDubs noticed his other friend Gem walked in.

Gem was an odd character, to put it politely. She had curly ginger hair that she cut herself, bright green eyes and freckles scattered all over her face and shoulders. She was wearing a sleeveless green-gray turtleneck and a silver charm bracelet with a coloured bisexual flag and a silver silhouette of a stag head as charms on it.

The girl also wore ripped denim jeans and black leather boots, and she had golden star earrings. She also walked with a slight limp, although BDubs wasn't sure exactly why.

"Hey, loser. And BDubs. What are you guys doing?" Gem added as she reached their table, ignoring Etho's furious protests as he stopped ranting.

"Just checking up on our plants!" The shortest of the group informed her. "Yours is doing fine, I see." BDubs nodded at her potted allium a few seats away from where he and Etho were sitting.

The girl nodded brightly. "Mhm! It's pretty easy to look after." Her gaze drifted to Etho's plant pot. "Clearly that isn't the case for marigolds."

BDubs shot a warning glance in Etho's direction as his friend started his rant again. "Dude, don't even."

"Yeah, Etho. Don't even." Gem said smugly before turning her attention back to BDubs. "Anyway, BDubs, I need to talk to you- and unfortunately Etho-" This was met with an, 'Oh, come on!', from their taller friend. "-about something..." Gem trailed off as her gaze drifted down to BDubs' plant pot. "...important." The redhead finished lamely.

The youngest of the group (as reluctant as he was to admit that about himself) followed her gaze- and stared as well.

At some point, his hands had moved to be directly in the plant pot instead of resting on the table next to it, and the horsetail had become wildly overgrown and was...

Glowing slightly?

Etho stared as well, and for a moment all three of them watched in silence before Gem muttered something about how this only confirmed her theory. BDubs silently wondered how late this would make him going home before shrugging and deciding that the orphanage staff wouldn't particularly care if he got hit by a car, so this surely wouldn't matter.

The girl in front of him glanced slowly between Etho and BDubs before saying quietly, in a tone much lower and more serious than her normal excitable manner of speaking, "You two need to come with me."

Gem then turned and walked out of the greenhouse without another word. BDubs, unsure of what else to do, exchanged a glance with Etho (who simply shrugged) before the pair ran after her.

I speedran this anyways enjoy y'all

Comments and votes are appreciated! <3 :]

I love Gem and Etho's outfits in this I want to steal them

Sorry for any errors <3