Word count: ~2100 words

There was a little gift exchange going on with the tumblr fandom, so I decided to partake in it and offer a gift to someone! So here we are with the Four Horsegirls Of The Apocalypse (the ship name for Linh/Marella/Maruca/Stina)

Anyways, human au (everybody in their twenties, prolly) because why not! This time we've got flowershop au, coffeeshop au, tattoo artist au, all in one! (Each one's got their own career, also stina is a librarian, though it doesn't really get focus). Just a whole bunch of fluff and getting together!

Linh uses ve/ver pronouns, Marella uses ze/hir, Maruca uses e/em, and Stina uses she/they, because I'm hir with my neopronoun aegenda

Linh Song was happy with ver life. The job was nice, ve worked at a flower shop where ve got to grow ver flowers and occasionally gush about flower language to the customers who were curious. Ve loved hearing about the various reasons why people were buying flowers- a confession, an apology, a gift.

The area was nice too. Ve lived in the city, but there was a school and a park nearby, so during the afternoons, the streets were crowded with more than just cars driving by the road. It was heartwarming to see the occasional child come and buy a flower for their friend.

"This one's my friend's favourite colour!" They might have said, and Linh smiled at them, giving them a slight discount because they were adorable.

The best part of it all though, was the company.

The bell chimed, and Linh looked up reflexively to see someone with curly hair walk in, a book in one arm, and a tray with two coffees in the other.

"Oh, is it lunch already?" Linh asked. "You can sit down, I'll be right there in a minute."

Stina nodded. "Marella and Maruca are both busy, so they won't come until later. Maruca made our coffee."

"I'll have to tell em thanks," ve said, getting ver co-worker- Jensi- to take over since he'd just finished his break.

Once that was settled, ve sat in the chair next to Stina and pulled out ver lunch.

"Oh, that's a new book," ve remarked, pointing to the book on the table. "Is it good?"

"Haven't read it yet, so I can't say," Stina replied. "Honestly, I picked it up because the person who returned it said there were lesbians and there's also a horse on the cover."

Linh laughed. "You would read a book because of a horse. Wait until Marella and Maruca hear that. I can't blame you though."

Stina rolled her eyes. "I've already conceded I'm a horsegirl, what else do you expect from me?"

"I hope you know that admitting it was an awful idea, right?"

Stina sighed, more fond then exasperation. "Yeah."

Their conversation ended, and there was silence, but not an unwanted one. They sat there, eating their lunches, and Linh took the opportunity to just look at Stina and admire how pretty she was. If ve ilted ver head just right, it looked one of the flowers behind her was actually in her hair.

Ve stood up. "I'll be right back."

Ve went to the counter, remembering that ve had a single oxalis flower. Ve took it and went back to Stina. Ve leaned forward and tucked it behind ear, ver hand brushing against her cheek.

Okay. Wow. She looked way prettier than ve'd been expecting, and it wasn't doing good things to ver heart. There was a slight pink flush to her cheeks, matching the colour of the flower.

"Thanks," she whispered, smiling.

A loud alarm rang, ruining the moment.

"I have to get back to work now," Stina said, packing up. She gave ver a long, tight hug. "I'll see you later."

"Have a good day!" Linh said.

•~•~•~•~•~•

"So, what if I got myself another tattoo?" Marella asked, as ze, Linh, Maruca and Stina sat at a table at the coffee shop Maruca worked at.

"Where are you going to put it?" Maruca asked.

"Probably on my arm," ze replied, flexing hir arm.

Linh's eyes lingered on hir arm, focused on the details of some of the other tattoos ze had on hir arm. Marella worked as a tattoo artist at the parlor next to ver shop, and not for the first time, ve wondered what it would be like for ze to give ver a tattoo-

Ve looked away, realizing that ve had to have been staring for too long. One look at Maruca though told ver that e had been doing the exact same thing. At least it wasn't just ver.

"What should I get though?" Marella asked, oblivious to the staring that had been doing on.

"You should put a flower," Stina suggested. "One of the flowers at Linh's shop, maybe."

"Ve helps grow really pretty flowers," Maruca agreed.

Marella looked thoughtful at that. "I'll take a look to see what flowers there are. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea, actually."

With three equally beautiful pairs of blue eyes now on ver, Linh found it a little hard to breathe. "Of course! You can come whenever you want!"

It wasn't as if it were the first time that they'd come to ver shop, in fact, they generally have their lunch breaks together (usually in Maruca's shop, but sometimes not; like now. Either way, it didn't matter too much, since their jobs were all next to each other anyways). But sometimes ve would be caught off guard by how beautiful they all were.

(Ve was in this odd situation, because they all seemed receptive to the mild flirting ve had done in the past, but there was a difference between mild flirting and an actual confession.)

"Great," ze smiled. "I'll come over tomorrow and be there to do some sketches."

•~•~•~•~•~•

"Oh dear, Linh," Maruca said at the cashier. "I've got your order ready. Are you alright? You look tired."

"Yeah," ve sighed. "I'm fine. My parents called, they wanted to have our family reunion scheduled for earlier this year."

E narrowed eyr eyes. Linh had told em and the others about ver parents in the past, so e knew exactly why ve was exhausted.

"I'm starting to think that we should actually let Marella commit arson," e mumbled, just loud enough for ver to hear.

"You know I can't let hir do that," Linh said.

"Yeah yeah," e grumbled, getting Linh's coffee. "Won't stop us from thinking about it though."

Ve took ver coffee from Maruca, ver hand gently brushing against eyrs. "Thank you for this," ve smiled. "Seeing you has already made my day better."

E smiled back. "I'm glad I can help. Have a good day, Linh."

•~•~•~•~•~•

"Linh, one of your girlfriends just entered the shop," Jensi called out.

"Which one?" ve blurted, putting down ver water bottle, ready to get back to work. "Wait- I'm not even dating any of them."

"Yet," he corrected. "Also, it's Marella."

"Don't be so loud about it!" ve whisper-yelled.

Jensi was the other person on ver shift, and it meant that he usually had to watch Linh be a disaster in front of ver crushes, and listen to ver ramble about how pretty they all were. Despite the fact that he wasn't even interested in romance, he was a very attentive listener and liked hearing what ve had to say. So really, ve couldn't blame him for teasing ver, when it meant that he was willing to put up with ver rambling.

"Are you looking for the flower to use as your tattoo?" Ve asked Marella.

Ze nodded. "I'll be looking, you carry on."

Whenever ve wasn't busy taking care of a customer, ve was staring at Marella as ze walked around, gently touching the petals (Linh had given the three of them permission to do so, and showed them the proper way to do it So they wouldn't harm the flowers).

"The pansies look nice," Marella remarked. "Red would probably be a classic choice, but the orange ones kinda look better. Hey Linh, what do they mean?"

"They represent joy, happiness, and optimism."

"Oh, sweet. I'll buy one."

"You don't have to-"

Marella cut ver off. "It's fine, I wanna pay for it."

"Okay, if you insist."

Ze bought the flower then sat by the counter, pulling out a notebook and pencil so ze could draw the pansy. Linh loved watching hir draw, the way ze got focused, it was captivating.

Marella didn't have hir shift for today until later in the afternoon, so ze stayed inside of the flower shop until it was time for ver lunch break.

"Alright, I think I've got it," Marella declared, holding up hir notebook.

While drawing and the actual flower didn't completely match, it was still really good. When it came time for it to be an actual tattoo on Marella-

"Here, it's for you," Marella said with a smile, hir hand extended towards ver. And in hir hand was the same pansy that ze had been drawing.

"Me?" Linh whispered.

"I thought that you should have it. I heard from Maruca about this morning, and I figured that you should have some of the joy and happiness that this flower represents."

"T-thank you," ve murmured, sure that ver face was on fire, and even Marella's face flushed red as ve accepted the flower.

"You're welcome. Let's uh- head to Maruca's for lunch. Bye Jensi!"

"Bye Jensi!" Linh said.

"Have a good lunch, you two!" He replied.

When they got there, Stina and Maruca were already sitting at the table, all four drinks already prepared. Linh sat down next to Stina, who set down their cup and hugged ver.

"How are you feeling?" They asked.

"I'm a lot better now," ve said. "I'm with the three of you."

Stina pulled away so they could go back to eating. "That's good."

"Who here thinks I should burn-"

"Marella!" Linh chided half-heartedly, while Maruca and Stina's hands were already raised in agreement.

"They deserve it!" Ze said.

"There has to be some other way to piss them off," Maruca said. "Even if I agree."

Linh hummed thoughtfully. "What if I brought you three with me?"

The three of them stared at ver.

"Are you allowed to bring your... friends?" Stina asked. "Isn't this a family thing?"

"It'd definitely annoy them," Linh replied. "Though I was thinking more..." ve took a deep breath, not sure where this sudden feeling of courage was coming from. "as my girlfriends, maybe?"

The three of them stared at ver.

"Or you could ignore what I just said," ve added quickly, covering ver face with ver hands.

Dark hands pried vers off of ver face. "I'd like that," Maruca said. "Not just to piss them off, but being girlfriends in general."

Linh smiled. At least one of them didn't oppose.

"I'm glad it's not just me," Stina sighed in relief. "I'd love to."

Marella nodded. "It was really tough trying to get the courage to confess. So, we're dating now?"

Linh took the hand that Maruca was holding and held Marella's. Stina put their hand on top.

"Yeah," ve said. "Looks like we are."

•~•~•~•~•~•

"You have got to be kidding me," Linh groaned, pointing at Tam.

Tam was pointing back at ver. "You didn't tell me you were finally dating them!"

"You didn't tell me that you're dating Keefe either!" Linh retorted.

Keefe waved, and ve smiled and waved back, before looking back at Tam. "I can't believe we just copied each other."

Linh and Tam were standing at the driveway of their parents' house, Linh's girlfriends behind ver, and Keefe (who was now dating Tam!) behind him. It was actually really funny, that they somehow both got with their partners and decided to bring them to the family reunion just to annoy their parents, but at the same time, did they really have to do the same thing?

"Congratulations though. Keefe, he was really pining after you," ve teased.

Keefe grinned. "I'd love to hear about Bangs Boy waxing poetry about me."

Tam sputtered, but recovered quickly. "You wouldn't believe all the stuff I had to hear from Linh, like Marella's arms-"

"Okay, let's go inside!" Linh yelled, dragging Tam with ver as they finally entered the house.

"What are... they doing here?" Quan asked.

"Those are my girlfriends!" Ve said cheerfully.

"And that's my boyfriend," Tam added, pointing at Keefe.

The look on their parents' faces was so so worth it.

•~•~•~•~•~•

"So uh, Tam said something about my arms?" Marella asked, stretching casually. It allowed ve to get a good look at the recently added pansy tattoo.

"I, uh-" ve covered ver face.

"No no, I completely agree," Maruca said. "You have really good arms, because you work out."

Stina nodded.

"Huh," Marella said. "I mean, I kinda knew that, but I didn't think you liked them that much. You should come join me at the gym."

Linh hummed. "Maybe."

"I don't actually feel like doing exercise though," Maruca said.

"That's fair."

"Wait, Marella?" Ve said.

"Yeah?"

"One day could you uh... give me a tattoo?"

Marella smiled. "Yeah, sure!"

"I think I'd like one too," Stina added. "I think we should get matching tattoos, if you all want."

"That sounds so cool," Maruca said.

"Okay, I can do that. We can go look for designs later."

Linh smiled. "Let's do it."

[Request status: closed]