Chapter Text
foolish sighs, grabbing a rag to wipe the countertops down with. his coworker is useless, staring at the tattoo shop where her crush works. foolish thinks that crush is a strong word, he doesn't even recall them knowing his name.
"ponk, can you please water the roses?" foolish asks somewhat desperately. he loves his coworker, a lot more than he's willing to admit, but he can't help but be frustrated by their lack of work.
"ok, ok," ponk replies. and true to his word, ponk gets up and grabs one of the many staff watering cans around the store.
it’s february, and foolish can already feel the heavy increase of customers as valentines day preparation begins. it’s always overwhelmingly busy and loud, a stark contrast from the quiet atmosphere it provides any other time of year.
the door swings open, and the calm atmosphere is suddenly bombarded with bickering. foolish rolls his eyes, the scene in front of him not being a new one at all.
"bossman you have to believe me here, bossman please" the younger of the two begs overdramatically as he follows a tall blond into the store. there's an unintelligible reply, which causes the first speaker to laugh loudly.
foolish coughs, gaining the attention of both of his brothers. the younger one, tubbo, guiltily quiets down. he evidently doesn’t lose any of his energy - he bounds forward, chucking his backpack in the corner before snooping around the store. foolish never quite understand it - he comes into the store after hours practically every day - there's nothing more for him to discover.
ponk walks back in with the dangerously-full watering can, nearly tripping over the small boy. she apologizes quickly, before tuning out the three brothers to finish her job. foolish can’t help but watch - ponk’s gardening ability never failing to floor him, even after years of working side-by-side.
"oh! mom's waiting for us in the car, we're taking sam to our house as well, so you're sitting in the back with tubbo," dream speaks up. "how much longer are you going to be?" he leans against the back wall, narrowly avoiding toppling a display of small pots over.
"sam?" foolish asks, cocking his head to the side. he racks his brain for anything close to a ‘sam’ but comes up short.
"oh! a friend in my bio class. we have a class project," dream fills in. foolish turns towards ponk, who’s still watering flowers.
"go! it's my fault we're closing late and i'm basically done anyways," ponk says, waving the trio away towards the door.
"thanks!" foolish gets out before being pulled out the door by tubbo's surprisingly strong grip.
foolish climbs into the car before he realizes. he's sitting next to sam. scratch that, he's sitting next to ponk's crush. he’s never quite seen him, at least not like this. he's tall, maybe not as tall as dream, but tall nonetheless. ‘sam’ doesn’t quite notice him, more focused on whoever he was texting. foolish doesn’t blame him.
the car ride passes smoothly, albeit awkwardly. foolish doesn’t blurt out the fact that his coworker oogles the stranger in the car as a way for them to avoid working, so that’s a major plus. tubbo is scarily silent, and foolish looks over to make sure he’s actually in the car multiple times during the course of the 10 minute car ride. [he is, for the record]. dream and their mom are talking quietly in the front - something about a tv show, maybe? foolish is too preoccupied with the attractive kinda-stranger next to him.
with the car off, all members hop out. there’s mild complaints as three people try to get out of one door, but the process goes pretty smoothly. foolish is just glad that the house is big enough for all of them.
“sam’s going to be with me! don’t bother us,” dream calls as he drags sam into the house. foolish pities him.
“i’m working too! if you need something, no you don’t,” puffy calls out as she retreats back to her office.
foolish shrugs off his coat, letting it fall onto the couch before he flops down on it. he mentally calculates a list of responsibilities he has to complete before going to bed. laundry, packing, and worst of all, physics homework. like any normal person, he doesn’t want to do any of it.
he considers laundry and packing as essential two - he’s quite literally going back to his crappy dorm after the weekend - there’s no way he’s going back with dirty clothes.
he’s about halfway through his second load of laundry when he’s finally approached by the kinda-stranger. he knocks on the already-open door and waits for foolish to look up.
“i’m heading out, but it’d be kinda awkward to not introduce myself properly. well - you probably know who i am but -” he cuts himself off awkwardly. he takes a breath. “my names sam, i’m a sophomore at the local community college and i’m in your brother’s biology class. i’m a compsci major, if you care about that. it’s very nice to meet you, dream mentions you a lot.” foolish sees why ponk likes him so much.
“i’m foolish - strange name i know. it’s a long story. i’m a junior in college, i am not in your biology class. engineering major.” sam nods in understanding. if you told foolish this morning he was going to be ponk’s wingman he would’ve laughed in your face. but here he was, “you work at that tattoo shop right? the one across the place from ponk’s?”
“yeah! i don’t think i’ve ever met ponk, but the displays you guys have out are really wonderful. i’ve been meaning to get my mom something from there, a little apology for being such a bad kid.” he’s grinning, and foolish has to remind himself that he’s doing this for ponk.
“we’d love to have you,” foolish starts. “but maybe not right now, i don’t think you’d appreciate our pre-valentine day february customer service. it’s so incredibly packed all the time.” sam laughs.
“no one-on-one customer service then? damn, i might have to go somewhere else,” he teases.
foolish is struck by how pretty he is. he’s no stranger to liking men - he’s not exactly out of the closet but he’s not exactly in one either. he tends to tell people he likes men part-time, when it’s convenient for him. still, he’ll simp for pretty boys any day. and sam is exactly that - pretty. he's cute in a boyish way, different than ponk.
“well, i think i’m overstaying and i need to do some work around the house anyways. do you work tomorrow?” the question comes off as casual, but foolish can’t help but hope that it means something more.
“no, we’re half-days on fridays and george usually works them. i’m working saturday i think?”
“well, i’ll see you saturday.” foolish’s heart soars. and with that, sam awkwardly finger-guns before turning on his heel and walking away.
saturday can not come sooner. he can’t say that he sat around waiting for it to roll around because he didn’t, he studies and goes to lectures and talks to friends. but it’s the first time in a while that he’s genuinely looking forward to his job.
“morning,” ponk greets as the familiar ring of the bells sound as foolish walks through the door. foolish just waves before clocking in for the day. sam never gave a time, so foolish tries to pretend that he said he’d come right before closing so that he’s not waiting for someone that might not even come.
the day passes slowly nonetheless, both coworkers struggling to keep up with the never-ending stream of customers. foolish rings them up, silently judging every single person’s bouquet. hey, he needs to do something, right? he’s just lucky that his machine is working properly - he has plenty of horror stories from when something went wrong.
ponk’s racing around, helping customers and desperately refilling displays. they’re everywhere yet nowhere - foolish struggles to find them to ask a question about pricing on multiple occasions.
closing could not come sooner. however, foolish can’t help but be disappointed at the lack of the cheerful brunette. he tries not to take it personally, he doesn’t succeed.
the door chimes just as foolish starts heading to the back, and he’s mildly baffled at the lack of bickering.
instead of his brothers, he’s greeted with sam himself. he looks exhausted. ponk glances at foolish, but he can’t decipher it in time before sam speaks.
“hey, foolish! hey…ponk, right?” ponk glances at foolish again. this time foolish knows he’s in trouble.
“hey sam,” foolish starts off slowly. as much as he was looking forward to seeing sam again, he never really considered how ponk would feel about him suddenly being buddy-buddy with her long-term infatuation. “did…did you finish your biology project?”
“hey!” ponk interjects. “i need to talk to foolish in the back. alone.”
“no you don’t!” foolish counters, trying to get away from the back as quickly as possible. it’s no use though - ponk can be freakishly fast. and freakishly strong too - foolish realizes this as he’s being yanked backwards.
“this is a terrible first impression,” foolish loudly whispers as he lets himself go limp in ponk’s hold.
“well what do you want me to do about it now! just drop you here and go back and be all like ´hey sam! it’s very nice to meet you sam. no, i’m not trying to murder my coworker sam!” ponk mocks quietly as he closes the door behind them.
the backroom is nothing special - there’s one shelf that is lined with various gardening tools, including the watering can ponk was using the other day. mismatched gardening gloves line another shelf. there’s a minifridge and a sink, and that’s about it.
“ok, ok, jeeze” foolish says as he steps back from his coworker. he’s fighting back giggles, and ponk was grinning too.
“we probably looked ridiculous” ponk points out. foolish laughs at this. “...i just embarrassed myself in front of the guy i’ve been crushing on for months.”
“it’s not the end of the world - sam was over at my house yesterday, he was doing some biology class with dream. hence my question. and why he knows my name. he’s probably used to this kind of shit - have you met my brother?” and with that, foolish reopens the door, revealing a incredibly amused sam.
no one says anything. ponk refuses to even acknowledge sam, too embarrassed to say anything. foolish doesn’t know what to say, and by the looks of it sam doesn’t either.
“are you guys always like this?” sam finally breaks the silence.
“yes,” foolish says.
“no.” ponk stands her ground for a second, and sam raises an eyebrow in disbelief. “i guess sometimes?”
“oh! they are ponk, by the way. no one ever answered your question. it’s just the three of us, well not me you and ponk - george. yeah. ponk george and me run this place.” foolish thinks that he should maybe shut up.
“it’s very nice to finally meet you, ponk. i see you decorating the windows and stuff. your store is always nice to look at.”
the conversation continues on like that for a while. at some point, ponk gravitates towards foolish - pulling him into their side nervously. foolish resists the urge to hold his hand. they don’t talk for hours - all of them remorsefully saying their goodbyes after fifteen minutes due to separate responsibilities.
foolish goes home, greeted by tubbo working ‘diligently’ on homework. he knows he’s playing minecraft, tommy’s voice seeps through ‘discarded’ headphones. he plays dumb and ruffles his hair anyways. the house is quiet, dream and their mom out and about with errands, and patches sleeping next to the large living room window.
sunday passes uneventfully, other than tubbo’s impromptu party after foolish packs his car.
monday morning starts with someone loudly knocking on the door. foolish opens it, being the only one in the house awake. ponk is standing there nervously, and sam stands awkwardly behind her. the two of them look ridiculously out of place. foolish raises an eyebrow, eyes flickering between the both of them.
“hello?” foolish asks unsurely.
“hi,” ponk says, completely out of breath. they’re nervous, that’s for sure. “sam and i are going out. on a date. like now.” sam doesn’t say anything, but he’s still visibly engaged in the conversation.
“congratulations?” now foolish was truly and utterly lost. and he doesn’t think it’s his fault this time. foolish doesn’t think that they’d do this to rub it in his face. he doesn’t really know sam, but he’s worked alongside ponk for years, and that would be completely out of character. granted, foolish thinks his crush on ponk is out of character too.
“you’re invited,” ponk says again, like it would help foolish understand better. it doesn’t.
“why would i be invited to your date?” the question is valid, foolish thinks. a date was a two-person event.
“ponk’s saying that we would like for you to join us. like…a three way date,” sam finally speaks up. he’s more relaxed than ponk is, but maybe that’s because he’s was the one being pined over for months, and not the one pining. or maybe he’s just not anxious.
“as friends?” ok, foolish’s critical thinking skill may not be top-tier, but c’mon. sam and ponk stare at him blankly. sam turns to ponk, asking a silent question. ponk nods exasperatedly.
“he’s always like this. no, not as friends. we want to take you out on a date. a real actual date."
foolish freezes. a date? the three of them? people can do that? he thinks it over. on one hand, what if sam’s a crazy murderer who’s going to turn of them the second he can get away with it? but that would be incredibly unlikely, and foolish knows ponk. ponk has always had a good taste in people.
“oh. i think i’d like that.”
“perfect. you ready to go? ponk wants to show us somewhere special,” sam says. foolish nods. and with that, they’re off.