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A sigh left Wild while he was tending to the different flowers that decorated the shelves around the flower shop. It was unlike him to be moody whenever he is tending to flowers, being around them would always bring up his mood and cause the rain clouds that hang over his head to disappear. He had hoped it would do the trick again but it hasn’t. Instead bitterness, annoyance, and worry sunk deep within his stomach, chewing him from the inside out.
Behind him, out of his sight. Flora turned to look at him, worried and confused by his behavior. “Is something wrong Wild? You’ve been acting off all morning. You haven’t gotten tired of me now, have you?” Wild snorted at Flora’s question as he looked over his shoulder to give her a small smile. She sat in front of the cash register and had her chin resting in the palm of her hand. “There’s a smile, now what’s the problem?”
Wild sighed at the question. He could hear the worry and curiosity that was dripping from her voice. Wild knew it must be strange for Flora to see him like this. She knew how much Wild loved working at the flower shop. He loved being able to spend his time around nature and being able to work with one of his closest friends. “It’s Hyrule. I’m worried about him. He’s been stressing out a lot about his exams lately.” Wild explained as he turned around to face her with his arms crossed over his chest.
“Uh-huh. I know Hyrule’s been busy with school but there’s gotta be more to that for you to be this upset.” Flora stated with a raised eyebrow, trying to fish for more information from Wild.
Wild rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly before he shrugged. “It’s just-it’s been a while since I’ve been able to actually hang out with Hyrule. He’s been pretty busy trying to stay ahead of his classes since getting accepted into college. He’s really determined to become a doctor and I’m happy for him. But he’s been becoming distant and now with the exams coming up, he’s become pretty much a shut-in. Me and Legend have been trying to get him to hang out with us or one of us but he keeps telling us he has to study. I ended up getting into an argument with him and he said we wouldn’t understand cause neither me or Legend had gone to college.” Wild curled into himself at the memory of that, those words had dug deep into him. It reminded him of the old feelings of failure that he buried deep in himself for never trying to attend college. More school was just the last thing he wanted to do after finally graduating high school.
Flora hummed at that with a frown. “I talked to him the other day on the phone to see how he was doing since it’s been a while since I spoke to him. But he told me that he was doing great and that he wasn’t having problems with college.” She then sighed. “Then again, he’s never liked asking for help since he doesn’t want to be a bother.”
“Pretty much. Me and Leg-”
Wild was cut off by the sound of a bell, signaling the sound of the front door being opened as a customer entered. Immediately, Flora sat up straight at the sight of the customer, placing on her best customer service smile as she greeted them cheerfully. He swallowed back a sigh from leaving him as he turned back towards the plants that covered the shelves. He doesn't turn back until hears the bell ring again, while Flora is thanking them for coming by.
When the door fell closed, Flora turned back towards Wild, giving him her full attention. Wild let a sigh leave him then as he crossed his arms over his chest again. "We’ve been thinking of dragging him out of there but we’ve been also trying to give him some space before doing anything drastic and making even more upset.”
"Well, tomorrow is Sunday so I was planning on planting some new flowers in my garden at my place. I was planning on inviting you to help out but if you want, I'll help you drag Hyrule with us to help. Some fresh air would be good for him." Flora offered while a wide grin appeared across Wild's face. “I can also knock some sense into him too since I’m in my final year of college myself. So maybe he’ll listen to me.”
Wild launched himself at Flora to hug her tightly as an excited squeal left him. "Yes! Thank you! That is a great idea! You're the best Flora!"
Flora laughed as she hugged him back with a grin of her own. "It's no problem Wild," Flora began before she pulled away to give a light-hearted, stern look. "Now, you need to get back to work! We're still on shift and the flowers in the back still need to be watered!"
Wild chuckled as he pulled away. "Yes ma'am!" Wild tells her with a sloppy salute before running into the back while Flora laughed again. Excited for tomorrow, hanging out with his closest friends. "I'll tell Legend the plan after the end of the shift!"
This was it. This was the day where Hyrule was going to die from stress. His brain felt like it was melting into nothing but liquid from trying to cram so much information into it. He knew that medical school was going to be overwhelming. He thought he had been ready, that he was prepared to take on any obstacle the road to becoming a doctor may throw at him. It was only his first year of being in college but already he was feeling stressed out with a mountain of schoolwork to deal with and then the exams of the end of his first year already sneaking upon him in the blink of an eye. He can't give up now though, not after getting this far to reach his dream. Despite the exhaustion that weighed heavily on him, he had to continue studying, he had to pass the exams to achieve his dreams. Failure wasn't an option in his mind.
But the words he was trying to read were becoming too blurry for him to comprehend. A sigh left him as he pulled off his glasses and rubbed his face before running his hands through his messy hair. His eyes were burning from exhaustion, closing them brought a sense of relief to them. After a moment, he could feel himself starting to nod off while sitting upright. He knows he shouldn't allow himself to fall asleep but he didn't have the brain cells to stop himself from laying his arms across his med book and placing his head on top of them. He welcomed the darkness that came with closing his eyes as he let himself succumb to his need for sleep.
The next thing he knew, he was jolting awake at the sound of his door being slammed open. "Good morning Hyrule! Today is the day you will be leaving this house!" A groan left Hyrule at Wild's loud voice. He glanced at the clock, it was a little after eight in the morning. He slept longer than he meant to and yet he still felt exhausted.
Hyrule turned around in his chair to find Wild standing in his doorway with a wide determined grin and his hands on hips. He was surprised to find Flora, standing behind Wild with a wide grin of her own on her face. Hyrule raised an eyebrow at this, whenever these two were together outside of the flower shop, it only meant chaos when they were left to their own devices for too long.
A sigh left him before he opened his mouth to turn down their offer to hang out again. He hated having to turn down another offer to hang out with Wild, he loved going hiking and or just simply hanging out with Wild. But he had to focus on studying, Wild knew how important becoming a doctor was to him. But before he could say anything, Flora and Wild were on either side of him in the blink of an eye and hooked an arm around his shoulders and proceeded to drag him out of his chair.
It took him a second to realize what was happening and by then, they were already out of his room and on their way to the living room. Hyrule began to squirm their grip, trying to break out of it with a scowl across his face. "Hey! Wait! I still need to study! I can't hang out with you two! Wild! Flora! Let me go!"
"Nope! No is not an answer for today!" Hyrule groaned at Wild's words, but his eyes lit up with hope when he spotted Legend sitting at the dining table, eating breakfast while he was reading something on his phone.
"Legend! Help me! They're kidnapping me!" Hyrule called out to his roommate while Flora snorted and Wild laughed.
Legend seemed to drag his eyes to look up at Hyrule from his phone while he was still chewing. Seconds seemed to tick by agonizingly slow while Legend was finishing the bite of his food, with each second that passed. They were getting closer and closer to the front door and Hyrule was about ready to yell Legend's name again when Legend finally swallowed and opened his mouth to speak.
"I see nothing," Legend spoke as a shit-eating grin appeared on his face.
Hyrule’s jaw dropped at Legend's blatant betrayal that held no guilt in it while Flora and Wild both laughed which caused them to weaken their grip on him. He tried to take that moment as his chance to escape but Wild and Flora reacted quickly to this attempt, tightening their grip on his arms before he could get even an inch away from them.
A groan left Hyrule as he gave up while Wild snickered. "Nope, you aren't getting away that easily." And then they continued dragging Hyrule and at this point, he let them drag him out of the front door. Hyrule turned his head to look over his shoulder to see that they were heading to Flora's car.
"Where are we going?" Hyrule finally decided to ask as they stopped to let Flora unlock the car doors while Wild kept a hand on Hyrule's arm.
Wild grinned as he moved to slung his arm around Hyrule's shoulders. "You'll find out when we get there!"
Hyrule rolled his eyes at that before but a small smile made its way to his face as he breathed in the fresh morning air. Being outside in the sun was already doing wonders for him. He still felt exhausted but not to the point where he may just die from the stress of everything.
He should be studying though. If he doesn't then he'll fail. He can't fail, he has to pass, he has to become a doctor. It's his dream-
Hyrule shook his head as he focused on straightening out his clothes, only to realize he was still in his pajamas and was currently barefoot. He looked up at Wild as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Can I at least go back and change my clothes and grab my shoes?"
Wild raised an eyebrow as he opened the passenger door for Hyrule. "And risk you locking yourself in your bedroom again? No. Besides, I already grabbed your shoes. They're in the car and I got some old clothes at F-our stop you can change into when we get there." Wild told him with an amused grin as he pointed towards the open car.
Hyrule winced at the reminder, feeling guilty for shutting Wild and the others out. He climbed into the car without a word and closed the door. He saw Wild giving him some kind of unreadable look before he turned around to go claim the shotgun seat while Flora was in the driver seat. He found his shoes and a pair of socks in the backseat with him. He pulled on the socks and shoes while the car was being turned on and they then began their way towards wherever their destination is.
It was silent during the car ride at the beginning with Hyrule staring out the window and watching the scenery pass on by them. He was trying to not focus on the thoughts that were pestering the back of his mind, telling him he needs to study or he'll fail.
"Hyrule," Flora broke the silence, which brought Hyrule to look away from the window to catch Flora glance at him through her rearview mirror before focusing on the road again. "Do you know why we dragged you out of your room?"
Hyrule raised an eyebrow at the odd question. "Because you wanted to hang out with me?" He asked, wondering maybe that wasn't the reason but he wasn't sure what else it could be.
"Well yes, that but it's also because trapping yourself in your bedroom, barely eating and sleeping, and only just studying isn't healthy. You need to take breaks or you're going to have a mental breakdown." Flora explained.
Hyrule made a face at Flora’s words. It was the same thing Wild and Legend had been saying but neither one of them had gone to college. They don't know what it's like or understand the stresses of-Hyrule’s thoughts trail off when he caught Flora glance at him again through the rearview mirror before she let out a soft sigh. "Hyrule, what's my major?"
Hyrule blinked before realization flashed across his face before he grimaced. Wild and Legend may not have gone to college, but Flora was currently in college herself and was in her final year of it. "Uh, physics?"
"That's correct!" Flora said as she smiled and glanced at him through the rearview again before focusing on the road. "And let me tell you, there is a lot to physics, and so much to study and memorize. I made the same mistakes you made but I've learned from them and switched to healthier methods of studying. Now, if you want to, I can help you with studying, we can help each other. Even if we do have different majors, I've learned that studying with others makes studying more fun and less stressful."
Hyrule's eyes widened at that. "Y-You want to do that?" Hyrule asked, surprised that Flora would want to help him.
"Of course! We're friends if I had realized sooner that it had gotten this bad. Then I would have offered it sooner." Flora said with a soft sigh. "Next time Hyrule, remember that we're all friends. You can always come to us if you ever need any help with anything. We care about your well-being."
Hyrule was silent at that, the voice in the back of his head that was telling him that he needed to be studying had gone silent too. Instead, now he could feel the guilt turning his stomach. He hasn't met to worry them, that hasn't been his goal. He had gotten so caught up in his head though and because of that, he was terrible to Wild and Legend. He needed to apologize to them, he’ll apologize to Legend when he gets home. But Wild was sitting in the chair in front of him so he could apologize to him now.
He swallowed as he looked towards where Wild was sitting. “Uh, Wild, I...I’m sorry about what I said.” He had regretted saying those words to Wild as soon as they left his mouth. He saw how much those words had hurt Wild. He should have known better, he knew how much of a failure Wild feels for not going to college like how some of their friends had, including him and Flora.
Wild turned towards Hyrule in his seat with a grin. “Don’t worry about it! What matters is that you’re finally listening, and are taking a break. Just don’t do this again or I will drag you out of your room again with no hesitation.” Wild threatened as he pointed a finger towards Hyrule.
Hyrule chuckled at that as he nodded. “Of course, it won’t happen again.”
Wild grinned at that. "Anyways, now that has been settled. We're almost there! I can't wait! What flowers are we-" Wild cut himself off at Flora's glare, which pulled Hyrule away from his thoughts.
He looked between the two curiously, whatever they were planning had something to do with flowers. Maybe they were heading to the flower shop Flora and Wild both worked at? Hyrule looked out through the car window to see if he recognized their surroundings. Only to realize that they were now pulling up into the driveway of Flora's home. He blinked in surprise at this while Flora parked the car and turned it off.
Hyrule’s eyes widened when he finally connected the dots and looked towards Wild and Flora with a grin. "Are we planting new flowers into your garden Flora?"
Flora sighed as she shot Wild a glare while Wild shrugged with a sheepish look. She then turned to smile at Hyrule. "Yep! It's time to plant some new flowers and I was thinking you and Wild would enjoy helping me with that."
"Alright! Sounds great!" Hyrule said as he opened up the car door to jump out as the other two did the same. "Where's your aunt? Is she here?" Hyrule asked curiously as he stepped beside the other two while Flora locked her car.
"Urbosa is out with some girlfriends from work," Flora answered easily while she pulled out her house key to unlock the front door. "So we have the place to ourselves!"
Hyrule nodded while Wild grinned and grabbed Hyrule's arm to pull him into the house causing Hyrule to laugh. "Come on, before your chance we wanted to let you pick what the first flower we should plant."
"Alright," Hyrule agreed as Wild led Hyrule to the dining table which had a bunch of gardening tools laid out onto the table along with packets of different types of flower seeds.
Hyrule studied each species of flower before he stopped at the picture of a golden flower. He grinned as he pointed to the packet. "Could we plant some marigolds?"
"Definitely!" Wild cheered.
They then continued to pick a few more flowers to plant, there was a warmth in Hyrule's chest that filled him as he stood with his closest friends. Happy, and satisfied to be around them, excited to get into the dirt and be around nature again.
Hyrule found that today was a good day to be planting marigolds with friends.