Parley Oneshots

Iris

Request by _niya_777 

I feel like maybe I would write these faster if I didn't switch what I work on every 5 minutes

Attention span? I don't know her

Also I don't know that much about plants, I literally killed a cactus somehow (rip) so don't trust my plant advice even if I did look it up

Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel.

3rd Person P.O.V.

Harley walked down the city streets, wandering a bit. He didn't really have a destination in mind, just walking to clear his head. He had never been to this part of the city, so with a shrug, Harley walked into a small, cutesy-looking store.

A bell jangled as he entered the shop, the brunette behind the counter picking his head up to look at the visitor. Immediately, he put on a kind, welcoming smile, waving at Harley happily.

"Hi, welcome to Flora and Fauna, would you like some help picking something out?" Harley pressed his lips together in a tight smile, waving the boy off.

"No thank you, just looking around." Harley walked further into the shop, looking around at the colorful arrangement of flowers. He swore he could find a flower of every color of the rainbow in here- red roses, orange lilies, yellow daffodils, green chrysanthemums, blue morning glories, and purple petunias. Yep, this tiny little city flower shop had lots of variety, vibrant green stems and leaves crawling up the walls and partially onto the ceiling. Whoever was taking care of these plants had quite the green thumb.

Harley's mind went back to the boy behind the counter. He looked excited to see Harley, which probably meant he didn't see many customers. It was a shame really. This random flower shop he stumbled across was one of the coolest places he had ever visited in the city- and that was saying a lot.

"Hey," the blond called out, hoping the boy would come find him. "I have a question for you." Sure enough, the boy appeared in the front of the aisle a few seconds later.

"Go ahead, I'll answer anything I can!"

"Who takes care of these plants?" The boy's face fell a little, eyes examining the healthy, broad leaves with worry.

"I do... is something wrong with the plants?" Harley quickly shook his head, waving it off.

"No, no. I just wanted to know. These plants are the healthiest I've ever seen," he complimented.

"Oh!" Peter exclaimed, grinning. "Thank you. I spend a lot of time here, taking care of all the plants. I just love to garden, and seeing all the different plants makes me so happy," Peter smiled, gently rubbing a waxy leaf with the pad of his thumb. "So, is there anything in particular you're looking for? Whatever it is, I could probably find it around here somewhere!"

"Hmm..." Harley hummed, glancing around. A small yellow flower caught his eye, happily facing up at the special plant lights hanging above it. The blond picked it up, cupping the small pot in his hands.

"How about this one?" He asked, whirling around to face Peter. "What is it?" Peter reached out, fingers lightly brushing against the pretty yellow petals.

"It's a yellow iris. It represents passion," Peter answered almost immediately. "I love irises. They're one of my favorite flowers."

"Is that so?" Harley raised an eyebrow. "Well, I trust your taste. I think it'd look really nice in my window, I might have to take it home." He grinned. Peter nodded, glancing up at Harley.

"Of course. Here, let me ring you up." Peter led Harley back to the register, figuring out a price for the small flower. It wasn't expensive in the slightest, and once again Harley was wondering why nobody else was at this flower shop. Then again, this was New York City... a lot of people here just didn't have time for flowers and gardening anymore. It was kinda sad, but understandable.

"Alright, thank you, and if you have any problems, don't hesitate to come back here! I'd be happy to help!" Peter grinned, waving at Harley as he left the shop, holding his yellow iris close to his chest protectively. When he got back to his apartment, he set the pot in a windowsill, smiling at it before sitting at his desk and getting started on some work.

~

It had been a week, maybe. Harley's iris flower was... not well. It looked... sick? Dying? How do you even describe an unhappy plant? Finally, Harley got fed up with not knowing, and he picked up the pot to carry it back down to Flora and Fauna.

"Peter?" Harley called, glancing around the shop. Peter poked his head out from behind a large leafy bush, smiling when he recognized Harley.

"Hey! You're back!" The brunette exclaimed, clapping his hands together. He started walking to Harley to greet him properly, forehead creasing when he spotted the pot. "Oh, your iris!" Peter frowned, carefully touching the yellowish petals of the flower. Harley silently admired the way Peter seemed to care so deeply about plants, watching how he only touched the petals lightly, treating the little iris with the utmost care.

"I can't figure out what's wrong with it," Harley admitted. Peter nodded once, before grabbing a little spray bottle and squirting it on the soil. Humming softly, he glanced back up at Harley with a small giggle and a genuine grin.

"It's dehydrated," the smaller boy stated matter-of-factly. Harley looked confused.

"What? But... I've been watering it every day...?" Peter nodded, humming again.

"It's not enough. Yellow irises need a lot of water to stay healthy, more than most plants," he explained. "It's in a non-draining pot for a reason. I recommend giving it twice the amount of water you're currently giving it, and check the soil constantly to make sure it's not too dry." Harley nodded. "And keep it in the sunlight as much as possible. It looks like that's not an issue right now, but irises love sunlight too."

"I can do that," Harley agreed. Peter's smile brightened, and he backed away from the plant.

"Thank you for coming back, and again- whenever you need plant help, I'd be happy to help!"

"I actually do have another question... but it's not plant related." Harley had a slightly mischievous look on his face, lips curled up into a slight smile.

"Um... well, I'll do my best to answer. What is it?" Peter wondered, tilting his head.

"Would you go on a date with me?"

what if he said no lmao, that'd be pretty funny

But I'm not doing a part 2, please don't ask me to cause it won't change my mind (its cause I still have so many requests left and I'm trying to get them done, which is taking a long time and probably won't be finished with the current batch until like... next year)