nikolausstark

[nikolausstark]

theobailey·:

starter for @nikolausstark··

at silver sun flowers

After the fifth Uber ride cancelled on him, Theo decided that he needed a car. He had a license he barely used back in London, often trading it for rides from his friends, public transportation and walkable distances. He should get a car, but by the time he realized that, it was too late. He was too late. Looking outside his window, the weather seemed nice enough that he could walk over to the brunch spot, but as he would find out several minutes later, his legs were even less cooperative this morning than usual. Seeing nowhere to sit, and deciding that his mom needed a proper “I’m-sorry-I’m-late” gift, Theo decided to walk inside a flower shop. “Bloody hell,” he cleaned some sweat off his brow with the back of his sleeve, “I often forget how cities in America are laid out. Everything is so far away.” He gripped his crutches and stumbled over to the counter, addressing the vaguely familiar guy there with a smile. “I am gonna get some flowers but can I take a seat first?”

For every handful of customers who came into his shop intentionally Niko imagined there were at least one or two who stumbled inside purely by accident or out of curiosity. What had been a reasonably busy morning had petered off into a far more mellow late morning-- something Niko was endlessly thankful for given how much his hip was giving him grief; it was something he’d mentioned to his doctor already but apart from dragging himself back to physio there seemed to be very few solutions if he was intent on working as much as he usually did. He glanced up from his perch on a stool he usually kept in the back at the sound of the bell above the door, his head canting to one side reflexively at the sound of a very non-American voice and the familiarity he could feel sparking somewhere in the back of his head as he studied the other man. His mind caught up to the question he’d been asked a second later and Niko scrambled off of his stool, “Shit, yeah, absolutely-- let me get you a decent chair, dude, give me a second.” He hurried to the back room to wheel out a cushioned desk chair, rolling it to one side of the front counter and locking the wheels before he smiled at Theo. “All yours-- you can hang around as long as you want-- it’s pretty slow right now.” He paused, drawing his bottom lip between his teeth as he continued to study Theo. “This is probably gonna sound insane but you look super familiar-- have we met before?”

[nikolausstark]

rosalia-bonet·:

“Good, proper bacon, sure. But artificial flavoured bacon stuff just tastes weird to me. I completely agree with bacon and chocolate though, that’s probably a sweet verses salty thing.” She considered. “Yeah, I think I’m good with it not changing my life too.” Rosa laughed softly. “God, I still can’t believe you beat Mike. I remember his dad going ballistic and making him run a marathon after that.” She recalled, shaking her head but still a hint of a laugh. She started them in the direction of the cupcake shop upon his request. “No problem. I feel like I’m slow most days at the moment so we can be slow together.”

“Mike’s dad was a douche, honestly. When I told my parents my dad laughed so hard he shot water out of his nose and I’m like, pretty sure my mom got a picture of it,” Niko said with a laugh. For all of the ways his parents could be hard-asses in their own right they’d spent most of Niko’s childhood and his life in general, really, being mellow and lovely and supportive. His dad had always had a mischievous streak and he was Niko’s biggest supporter when it had come to the ridiculous things he’d gotten up to on base as a kid. “Why’s that?” He asked, dark eyes flicking towards Rosalia curiously. “D’you have a bum leg I don’t know about?” He teased, reaching down to tap on his right leg where his prosthetic began. 

[nikolausstark]

rachelhargrove·:

*

At least he knew that he looked young, she thought as she laughed a little again when he called himself Peter Pan. “I think someone might think I was on LSD or something if I tried telling them that story.” Rachel offered him as she shifted her eyes to the ground for a moment as she tried to collect herself fully. Her eyes flickering up with a look appreciation at his compliment. “Thank you, that’s really sweet. I can’t take much credit for them, but thank you.” She wondered if he could tell she was feeling like shit, she knew that most of the time she had minimal poker face when it came to her emotions. Rachel nodded in understanding at Niko’s words. “Same here. Just needed to let out frustration. Sometimes I cry a little when I’m angry.” She admits as she felt her blood pressure cooling down.

“That sort of implies you think you’d be hallucinating dudes that look like me if you were tripping which like, more power to you, it’s just kinda funny,” Niko said with a grin. He was teasing and he hoped that the tone of his voice and the smile on his face would make that abundantly clear. It always seemed to him that he was his most outgoing when he was trying to comfort another person— when he could put all of his energy and focus into fixing something that might have been broken, even if that fix was only a temporary one, a band-aid on a bullet wound-- to quote his father. His smile widened, cheeks flushing noticeably as Niko’s shoulders rose into a shrug, “You don’t have to thank me for pointing out the obvious, but you’re welcome anyway. I like making people smile-- I was sorta hoping that might work so it was a ‘two birds with one stone’ sorta thing.” He explained unnecessarily, a chuckle rolling through him in response to Rachel’s admission. “God, me too. I used to get so much shit for it in the Marines. Everyone but my best friend kept asking me how such a pussy got through boot camp-- dickheads.” He rolled his eyes at the memory but it wasn’t enough to sour his mood. “Hey, can I ask you something? You can tell me to fuck off if you want but uh, you wanna go get a drink or something? Sorta seems like you could use one. Unless you don’t drink ‘cause that’s... fair. I just thought I’d ask?” His voice shifted at least half an octave upwards at the tail end and Niko resolutely ignored it and the blush creeping down into his neck. 

[nikolausstark]

katerinadelarosa·:

.

“Must be my lucky day,” Kat teased back, chuckling softly. She appreciated anyone with a positive attitude and a sense of humor and Nikolaus seemed to have both. The fact that he knew what he was doing and would be able to help her make sure she was getting the exact right blend of flowers to wow her mom only made it better. Kat knew a lot about a lot of things around the world, but flowers wasn’t something that had ever been on that list. Outside of knowing what was safely edible out in the wild, Kat wasn’t very well versed in it all. “I’m thinking I’d want to do something not very traditional, my mom is a little bit out there,” Kat suggested with a shrug. Her mom would appreciate the traditional choice, sure, but there was a vibrancy to the woman that Kat felt deserved something a little more special. “She love a lot of bright colors and anything…loud.” Loud was the word for it. Anything that stood out and drew attention was her mother’s style. “If you have any bright colored options that have a good meaning behind them, I’d love that.”

“Sounds like it,” Niko agreed, winking as he turned away from Kat to peruse a section of tropical flowers he’d gotten in the previous week and been taking painstaking care of since then. “I can definitely appreciate that. Tropical flowers are pretty good for non-traditional in this case, I think. I don’t usually get a lot of requests to use them for Mother’s Day but I think they’re beautiful so we can definitely make it work!” It was its own special challenge to build something special from an atypical base, at least where flowers were concerned, but it was something Niko enjoyed doing whenever he got the chance; it was a way of testing his skills, so to speak, not something he got to do often in a job as quiet as owning his shop but some part of him, he imagined, still craved the feeling of of doing something unexpected or accomplishing something brilliant even if he was the only person who would think so. He gathered several birds of paradise, cradling them in the crook of his arm while he stepped gingerly around some of the displays to gather a few hibiscus flowers and several calla lilies that he arranged quickly before he turned to show the bouquet to Kat. “What’s the verdict? Loud enough for your mom? I can try to find something else to add if you want, too, that’s no problem.”

[nikolausstark]

everdaugherty·:

—

Ever was glad that the other took his joke with ease and that it didn’t seem to bother him. It was all meant in good fun. Ever looked around the shop at the huge selection of things and found himself a bit overwhelmed. This was the first time that he had decided to get Leo flowers and he now realized that maybe it was for good reason. He wasn’t sure what his boyfriend liked flower-wise and was lost in all of the options. Knowing Leo he would probably be happy with anything but after everything Ever had done to him he wanted it to mean something. “I’m going to be completely honest with you and tell you I have no idea what he would want.” He said with a shrug. “I’ve never given him flowers before and I’m not sure if that makes me a horrible boyfriend or not.” He was a horrible boyfriend, just not for that reason. “He’s a vibrant, bubbly person and the past few weeks haven’t been the best for him. Things are turning around and I want to get him something to make him smile.”

“You know,” Niko said with a hum, “It might be because I’m a florist but no one’s ever bought me flowers before. A partner, I mean. I don’t think it’s a bad thing-- just a new thing, huh?” He finished, flashing Ever an encouraging smile as he began to drift around the shop-- favoring his left leg. He rolled Ever’s description of his boyfriend around in his mind as he moved-- pausing to gather a bundle of flowers made up of lavender roses, orchids and sunflowers that he arranged with deft hands into a bouquet he was satisfied with, taking a bit of ribbon from a spool on the front counter to tie it together before he turned with Ever with a curious tilt of his head. “What d’you think? I usually put these little cards in with the bouquets I make that basically explain what the flowers mean if you’re using floriography which is uh, the language of flowers. The name makes it sound way more complicated than it is. But these guys-- the lavender roses-- usually stand for something like wonder and enchantment. Orchids are a love and care flower and sunflowers are sort of in that vein but they’re cheerfulness and care.” He paused, smiling. “I’m kind of a dork about flowers in case that wasn’t obvious. Does it sound alright or do you want me to try for something else?”

[nikolausstark]

[nikolausstark]

dylan-westwick·:

-

With the other woman with the same name gone for a bit now, she felt a bigger responsibility to make sure to tend to the community garden. Dylan had felt a little lighter today. Her shoulders weren’t sagging as much and maybe it had to do with the change of the weather or just that with time healing all wounds, but either way she was glad to get out of her work clothes and into something she could get dirty to tend to the her plots, Dilan’s plots, and the plots they’d created for the garden. She was glad to see that Niko was there too, another plant enthusiast. “Hey Niko, good to see ya, it’s been awhile. Yeah, I was goin’ to tend to some of the plots. You got some…” She gestured towards her own cheek to let him know there was a bit of dirt on his face. “Anyway whatchya got goin’ on your plots?”

“Shit, really?” Niko pulled at the collar of his shirt until he could wipe his face off with it, offering Dylan a bashful smile when he was reasonably confident he wasn’t walking around with dirt on his face anymore. “I can’t say I meant to say hi to like, one of the prettiest girls I’ve ever met with dirt all over my face-- that’s kinda embarrassing but hey, I guess that’s my brand. Dorky and embarrassing,” He shook his head with a brief shrug, the ease with which he poked fun at himself one of the few things that kept him from obsessing over any embarrassing interaction he had with anyone at all. He glanced over his shoulder towards the garden plots before he turned back to Dylan with a bright smile, “Watermelons! Among other things but I was working on the watermelons when I saw you-- it’s about the time that some of the less cold resistant stuff I have can come out and I love watermelon so I figured why not, y’know? What’re you gonna work on? Anything new?”

[nikolausstark]

closed starter for verda durmaz ! ( @verdadurmaz​ ) location — the sweet spot.

When Niko had opened his own shop he’d been welcomed into the circle of business owners Downtown fairly graciously; he figured that was at least part of the reason that he’d been determined to do the same thing when The Sweet Spot storefront opened up properly but truthfully, he just enjoyed doing things for people. Between Ver coming into his shop for flowers regularly and the fact that he made a point to take over a new handmade bouquet and a pretty vase to the bakery once every week or every couple of weeks if he was waiting on flowers or a particular vase-- he saw her pretty much as regularly as any of his friends outside of work situations. Even if he spent most of their interactions blushing or smiling like a complete dork he still enjoyed being able to do something nice for her and that was all that was in his head as he pushed his way into the bakery with a vase balanced in his hands. He peeked around the flowers to smile at Ver, “Special delivery! I thought the sunflowers would be nice now that it’s starting to get a little more summery out, y’know? I know I probably could’a waited until you came into my shop but the peg leg needs a stretch-- it’s a little stiff today-- so I figured I’d just come down myself.”

[nikolausstark]

closed starter for dylan westwick ! ( @dylan-westwick​ ) location — community garden.

In the years he’d called Providence Peak home Niko had developed a particular fondness for the fact that there seemed to be a community garden of some sort in every neighborhood he could find in town. Whenever he was feeling out of sorts or even when he wanted to do something with himself that allowed him to get out of his apartment, he’d make his way down to the community garden to tend to the plants. His mood hadn’t driven him there that particular day, thankfully-- only an urge to get some sun as best he could-- and with the weather getting a little warmer day by day he’d gotten it into his head to try planting a few new things in his section of the garden. He was halfway through planting a row of melons when he glanced up and saw Dylan approaching the entrance to the garden-- a smile breaking over his face immediately as he raised a hand to wipe sweat from his face and smeared soil across his cheek in the moment before he stood and hurried (as much as he could) to Dylan with all the energy of a puppy greeting someone familiar. “Dyl! Hey! What’s up? Are you hanging out for a while?”

[nikolausstark]

rachelhargrove·:

*

She saw the younger guy in front of her and nodded, feeling a bit embarrassed as she felt like a bit of a crazy old lady right now. His suggestion made her crack a smile though before a small choked up laugh left her lips as she shook her head. “No, no you don’t need to blow on my eyes, that’d be a little weird.” Rachel in actuality had nothing in her goggles and just was feeling defeated. Logically she knew that a relationship took two people, but she still felt like she was the downfall. That he couldn’t trust her enough to know she wouldn’t leave him again. That she was the one who gave him trust issues. That the reason he felt guilty was because she had pressured him in some way to be with her. She scrunched up her lips for a moment and wiped at her eyes. “I think I’m fine, it got out or something.” She said as she looked around at the mess both of them had created. “You um…come here often?”

In spite of the fact that it took him all of two seconds to recognize that the laugh that escaped Rachel wasn’t altogether happy, the sound of it in and of itself made Niko all but beam outright-- the pride of earning it at all clear on his face even as he shrugged. “That’s totally fair. You can tell people some weird kid who looks like he should be auditioning for Peter Pan asked if he could blow dust out of your eyes at the Break Room-- it’s a weird enough story to get a laugh, don’t’cha think?” The smile on his face was perhaps only making his Peter Pan comparison more appropriate but Niko had always prided himself on his ability to try and make people feel comfortable around him and even if his mood wasn’t the greatest, the urge remained. “That’s good! Here’s hoping it stays that way, yeah? You have really pretty eyes so it’d kinda suck if you always had dust in ‘em-- no one would ever be able to see,” Niko said, a laugh of his own bookending his comment before he shook his head. “Nope. It’s my first time-- I’m... having a sorta rough day and someone suggested this place? It’s cool. I wouldn’t have thought to come here on my own. What about you? You a first timer too?”

[nikolausstark]

rachelhargrove·:

character: open (capping @ 3) @providencepeakstarters·

location: break room, university heights

The petite woman had a lot of anger to get through and frustration that was beginning to pent up. She didn’t know how exactly she was supposed to let it all out so she had gone to a place that felt like a healthier way to cope rather than to smash little trinkets and things that she couldn’t afford to break. Last week she had thought she would be with the man she loved forever as he celebrated a milestone of turning forty. Now she was left with a bitter taste for hot air balloons. And she found herself with a sledgehammer, panting heavily as she finally finished and realized that there were a few tears. “I…I think I just got some of the dust in my goggles.” She let the tool clamber to the ground as she lifted up her goggles and wiped at her eyes.

Whenever he’d been questioned about what he found the most difficult about living with his Bipolar diagnosis, Niko had always had a tendency to stammer out something noncommittal because it changed so easily depending on the day and how he was feeling. On that particular day, he’d have told anyone asking that it was the fact that he was so manic his temper was a on a hair trigger; he’d screwed something up at the shop and nearly launched a vase through the front window in a fit of anger he wasn’t proud of or used to. He’d called his dad on the verge of tears just to talk to someone and it’d been his father’s suggestion that he check out the Break Room-- somewhere he might be able to level his mood or at least get some of his aggression out in a vaguely productive way. Niko had agreed reluctantly but he had to admit that standing around with a collection of shattered things by his feet was strangely soothing-- even if he became distracted immediately by the sound of someone speaking. “You okay? I’d offer to help but like, the only solution I have for that is literally blowing into your eye and that’s kinda weird for most people, right? My sister only lets me do it because we’re related and I’m annoying. Unless you want me to try ‘cause I definitely can.”

[nikolausstark]

antcinedupont·:

Flowers had always made Antoine nervous for reasons that he didn’t fully understand. They were beautiful and smelled heavenly and he loved them, but seeing them frequently made his anxiety spike and it was for this reason that he was shocked to find himself standing in the middle of a store full of them, drowning in the cloying scent their petals gave off, permeating the air around him and invading the rest of the store. He was examining a bouquet of baby’s breath and peach colored roses when he heard a voice behind him and turned. Instantly, he felt somehow caught and said, “N-no, I just…” He looked back at the bouquet he’d been examining and blinked. He turned back to the other man. “Your store is beautiful. I had to look inside.” It wasn’t the total truth, but the truth sounded much more strange: I was on a walk and somehow ended up in here. He didn’t want to sound crazy.

He’d never been capable of sorting out whether it was the fact that he spent so much time in the store or that he lived in an apartment above it or some combination of the two but Niko felt the most comfortable in just about every way he could think of when he was safely inside his shop. Especially when his moods were a bit more variable or he wasn’t sleeping as much as he should have been— both of which had been true for the last several days as far as he could tell; he’d sort it out properly with enough time but for now he was focused on working to make himself feel at least a fraction more normal. The uncertainty in the other man’s voice gave him pause for a moment, his head canting slightly to one side before a gentle smile curved the edges of his mouth upward and he nodded. “Thanks very much— I’m pretty proud of it so I appreciate that a lot. Did you need help finding something or would you rather I just kinda, stop pestering you? It’s pretty slow today so if nothing else I’ll just be behind the counter if you need anything.”

[nikolausstark]

katerinadelarosa·:

.

It wasn’t all that often that Kat found herself buying flowers, but with Mother’s Day right around the corner she was getting her gifts in order so she could spend the day celebrating with her mom. She’d already gathered most everything, the last thing on her list being a nice bouquet of flowers to finish it all off. Walking into the flower shop, Kat smiled over towards Niko, lifting a hand to wave over at the guy. “My guy, definitely could use some help,” Kat admitted as she started to let her eyes flicker around at some of the various options. “I’m trying to get a good last minute bouquet for my mama to add to her gifts for Mother’s Day. What can you suggest for me?”

“Good thing that’s my whole job, huh?” Niko replied, smiling. It had been an unexpected benefit of opening up a flower shop— the fact that something as simple as putting together a bouquet could make someone happy or help them in some way had always been something that he enjoyed and he took great pride in the bouquets he made for his customers. They were all as individual as he could make them in the moment-- no one bouquet every quite the same as a another but he’d been told that was at least half the benefit of coming to him for those sorts of things. “I can suggest all sorts of stuff for you, honestly. Carnations are the traditional Mother’s Day flower and it’s usually... white carnations in specific but the pink ones are really pretty too and we’ve got both in. I always give my mom lilies and irises for Mother’s Day because she likes the colors but I’m also that nerd who knows what all of these things mean in the language of flowers and stuff so it’s like, a thing for me, y’know?” He paused to roll up the sleeve of his shirt and show Kat the iris tattooed on his forearm, “This is an iris if you don’t know what it looks like off the top of your head.”

[nikolausstark]

rosalia-bonet·:

Rosalia listened to Nikolaus, ready to fully take on board his suggestion of cupcakes but before she could thank him, she paused and listened to him talk about bacon-avocado ice cream which took her a second to comprehend. “Bacon and Avocado together normally - not even in ice cream form - sounds weird and yet, now I desperately want to try it to see if it’s actually good but in ice cream form sounds way worse because wouldn’t that be more artificial bacon and avocado flavourings?” Rosa pondered way too much on the idea until she realised she was rambling about it. “…So cupcakes are a good choice… want to get some cupcakes with me?”

“Isn’t bacon one of those foods that sorta makes everything taste better? I’ve had chocolate covered bacon and it was super good but maybe I’m just... sort of a weirdo,” Niko mused with a snort. “Yeah, I can’t remember how they made it but I think they made everything fresh so maybe it’d be a little better than you think? But still weird, I bet. I’m glad I can’t try it because I think it’d change my life in a not fun way and I’m good on that.” He shook his head with a crooked smile, “Is that a trick question? If that cupcake eating contest I had with Mike Jenkins when I was like, seven and I think you were eight-- couldn’t turn me off cupcakes then nothing can. I think I ate like twelve in a sitting, do you remember that? I was sick for hours afterwards.” It hadn’t been one of his finer moments but he’d been exceedingly proud of his win in the moment-- seven-year-old Niko, admittedly, had been very easily pleased by most things. “Lead the way, Rosa! Full disclosure I might be a little slow today but I’ll keep up okay in the long run, I think.”

[nikolausstark]

everdaugherty·:

—

Now that things with Leo had gone back to as normal as they could have been, Ever was doing all he could to prove that Leo had made the right decision. Small love notes stuck into pockets, his favorite meals, all of the attention he could ask for, and more. Flowers were another things that he knew Leo was fond of and he had set out to pick some up to surprise the other male with when he returned home. 

As he entered the flower shop the bell rang out above him and he looked around for a sign of someone around and noticed a man heading in his direction. “I hate to break it to you but I have a man of my own.” Ever joked, a smile wide on his face. “That’s actually why I’m here. I wanted to get some flowers but I’m not all that sure what to get him.”

Niko held his palm open over his heart with a faux-wounded expression in response to Ever’s joke, biting back a smile that revealed itself in short order as the florist laughed softly. “Story of my life, honestly,” He joked in return, dark eyes already shifting away from Ever to inspect the stock in the store. It wasn’t an altogether necessary gesture considering Niko more or less had a running knowledge of every change they had in the store down to the date they’d gotten any particular flowers in-- especially if they were something he’d been looking forward to having in stock. He glanced at Ever curiously, “Do you know what his favorites are? Or what he’s liked before? I can usually put something together if you give me that but we can definitely just wing it if you don’t.” He stepped around Ever-- his nose wrinkling at the pins and needles sensation that rolled through his leg just above the prosthetic-- he’d have to get his cane but he wanted to avoid it a while longer if he could. “If you don’t know his favorite— are you looking to do something like roses? More traditional?”

[nikolausstark]

open starter ! location: silver sun flowers, downtown !

After several extremely busy days at the shop, they seemed to have hit a lull that Niko was more than a little thankful for. He’d spent the last fifteen minutes dozing off in the back to try and make up for his poor sleep schedule while one of his younger employees looked after the shop before he’d come back out to relieve them for their lunch break. He yawned into the crook of his elbow as the bell above the door rang cheerfully and he offered a wave in response, shifting his weight to stride towards the guest with only the slightest limp– the dark circles under his eyes offset strangely by the altogether bright smile on his face. “Hey, there! Something I can help you find? Or do you have an order to pick up? Whatever you need– I’m your man, so to speak.”