Note: daffodils=meeting
Yellow roses=friendship
goodbye=White and yellow chrysanthemums
Combretum=reunion
Red roses=love
Black roses=death
Lillies=sadness

  Hank knocked on the Leblanc family's door, knocking on the door with a bouquet of daffodils clutched in his tiny hands. He was surprised when a black woman opened the door to the small house, a mixed boy who was maybe a bit younger than him clutching onto her skirt. He shakes his head and looks up at the woman, holding up the lilies as offering. "Hello ma'am, my name is Hank, it's nice to meet you, I live right across the street from you" Hank introduced himself. He was less than enthusiastic to be there, but his parents heard about the new neighbors and wanted to make a good impression, but of course, they were far too busy to do it themselves. The woman who was standing before him smiles softly at him and gently took the lilies from his small hands, "well thank you darlin', you can just call me Martha, and this is my boy Alastor". I looked over at the boy clutching the woman's skirt, his big chocolate brown eyes locking with his own steel grey ones, but the boy quickly hides away behind his mother. Hank had never seen a person like this boy quite before, the idea of a person having brown skin was completely foreign to him. This was the day he met Alastor for the first time.

The young lad came back to that house the neck month, he was far too curious about the black skinned woman and the brown skinned boy. For some reason, his parents seemed repulsed when he described the two, particularly when he mentioned their skin, but Hank didn't really understand why. He didn't really care though, he didn't really like his parents much anyways, so their opinions on people they haven't met yet didn't really matter to him. As he knocked on the hard wood door again, his small hand held onto a bundle of yellow roses. He picked them right out of his mothers garden, he doubted his mother would ever notice they were ever gone in the first place, and he certainly wasn't going to rat himself out. Much to his surprise, the boy he met that day was the one who opened the door, only to squeak and close it immediately after. Hank was taken off guard, he wasn't expecting for the door to open only to immediately be closed right in his face. He was relieved when the door was opened by the woman he saw before, the boy cradled in her arms as he was once again clinging onto her tightly.

  "Well hello there darlin', what brings you out here" Martha asked him, as Alastor ever so slightly peaked out from his mothers chest to get a good look at Hank. "I just wanted to come by and visit ma'am" Hank answered honestly, as he found himself staring in wonder at Alastor's bright, crimson eyes. He hadn't noticed before, but both Martha and Alastor seemed to have those big, beautiful red eyes, did everyone of that skin tone have those eyes? Martha smiled down at him and kneeled down to his eye level, "well thank you dear, that's very nice of you" Martha says sweetly, gently putting Alastor down on his feet so she could take the roses from his arms. "Why don't you two play while I put these in a vase" Martha suggested as she stood up again, Alastor whimpered as he tried to cling to his mother again, but the woman gently pushed him forward as she headed back inside the house. Two awkward boys were left alone to make conversations on their own, the two just standing in total silence for awhile, until Hank decided to speak. "I like your eyes" Hank blurted out, not entirely thinking about what he said, and yet it seemed to be the right thing to say. Alastor lifted his head to look at Hank properly, his cheeks tinted a bit red, and he finally spoke to Hank, his voice coming out as a high pitched squeak. "Do you mean it..." Alastor asked timidly, his scarlet eyes looking at his so earnestly it caught Hank off guard, "I mean...yeah, they're...pretty" Hank admits with a flustered blush. Alastor smiled a tiny bit, taking Hank by the hand "um...then let's play" Alastor cheers in a soft tone, Hank smiling in turns as he nodded his head and let Alastor drag him off. That was the day they would become friends.

  White and yellow chrysanthemums where held tightly in Alastor's arms, tears running down his face as he looked at the man who just handed them to him, Hank trying to avoid contact to hide the tears rolling down his own cheeks. Adults were taking Alastor away to an orphanage after the brutal murders of his parents, and Alastor was still too young to work and take care of himself, so he had to be sent away to an orphanage. Hank's parents were once again too busy with their work to care, but Hank used the little bit of pocket money he had to get those chrysanthemums for his friends goodbye. Alastor burst into sobs as he hugged Hank tightly in his arms, the older boy hugging him tightly as well as he let himself break down. It wasn't fair, why did this have to happen to them? Alastor and Martha were such nice people, so why did they have to suffer like this? Hank couldn't possibly understand, or even try to. Al was cruelly pulled from Hank's arms, both reaching out for each other as they tried not to let go, but the adults were just too strong. Just like that, Alastor was gone, and Hank was left all alone.

Hank held the beautiful red flowers in his arms, he planned to plant them with the others in his tiny garden in the backyard, even though he didn't exactly have a green thumb. He always picked the red flowers, because they always reminded him of that boy from his childhood, the boy that had to go away one day. He was so young back then, he could hardly remember that boy from his childhood, but the memory of bright scarlet eyes was permanently etched into his mind. He learned later on that his parents dislike toward the family was because of their skin, but he never really understood, because to him, they seemed just like any other regular people. "Oh dear, it seems all the Combretum are gone, what a pity" he heard a thick transatlantic accent sigh beside him, to which he looked at the man beside him. The man wore a sleek brown suit with a black bow tie and white undershirt, his pants were a matching shade of brown and he had polished black shoes, but Hank's breath hitched as he saw that the brunette had light brown skin, and scarlet eyes hidden behind red tinted glasses. Hank gripped the red flowers in his arms, his hands starting to feel clammy as he stared the other man down, his mouth going dry as he tries to form words. The man turned and caught sight of him, his smile stretched out impossibly wide as he gave a polite wave, "well hello there good sir! You're one lucky fellow it seem" the other said in a chirp tone. Hank almost teared up as he held out the bouquet, "they...were actually for you Al" Hank mumbled. Alastor's eyes widened to the size of saucers as he looked at Hank closely, "Hank" Alastor asked in a questioning tone, earning a curt nod. This was the day they were reunited.

They had a lot of catching up to do after they met up again, all the things that happened over the several years they had been apart spilled out from their lips as they spent everyday talking to each other. They talk about how Alastor had become a famous radio show host and Hank had inherited his parents casino, which greatly surprised Alastor, since Hank would always talk about how badly he wanted to be a magician, but he didn't pry. Alastor was no longer the timid and quiet boy Hank used to know, now he was loud and long winded, a man oozing charisma from his very pores. This...infatuated Hank, the way Alastor cared himself with such grace and pride, how he always seemed to be on top of everything, but most of all, how he always seemed to be just out of his reach. He knew he had fallen hard for his childhood friend, maybe that was why he was standing in front of the radio host door with a bouquet of roses, after a very awkward and short conversation with the lady at the flower shop. Alastor opened the door with his huge grin like always, the kind of grin that made Hank's heart pound in his chest at a rapid pace as he tried to find his barring, but he ultimately just ended up holding up the flowers between their faces. Hank was temporarily mesmerized as he noticed how closely the red of the roses matched with the creole man's burning eyes, it caused his breath catch in his throat, preventing him from speaking. It seems Hank didn't need to say a word however, as Al gently took the bouquet from his and pulled him inside, so they could safely share a tender and loving kiss. This, was the start of their relationship.

    Hank was somewhat disappointed as he noticed all the red roses were already sold out at the local flower shop, Al was going to have his fucking head for this one, his fault for waiting last minute he guessed. It was the anniversary of when they first started dating, and Hank was going to get red roses as a reminder of the day, but he stupidly waited til the very last minute and now there weren't any left for sale. He decided to buy a bouquet of black roses instead, since black was Alastor's second favorite color, maybe Al won't be as angry as he would if he just came empty handed. Alastor wouldn't yell at him or anything, no Al was the passive aggressive type of guy, and that freaked Hank out way more than if Al were to just yell at his face. Hank looked down at the bouquet in his hands, a soft smile gracing his features as he thought about his boyfriend, even if their relationship had to be kept a secret from the world. Hank walked off to Alastor's house, knocking on the door and waiting to be let in, as Alastor should have returned from the radio station by that time, and yet he received no answer. He waited, he waited for maybe hours, he waited until he finally gave into the frustration and just went back home, angrily throwing the flowers onto the kitchen table. He grabbed a bottle of cheep booze from the fridge and fell back on the couch, turning on the radio as he drowned out his sorrows. "Beloved radio host shot dead by New Orleans police" suddenly echoed from the ham radio, causing Hank to cough up the alcohol previously burning his throat, his eyes wide as he gripped the device in his strong grip. This couldn't be happening, it all just had to be a bad dream right? A nightmare he'd end up waking up from! Yet it wasn't...this was all reality, and this was the day, that Alastor died.

   Hank held the gentle white lilies in his arms as he slowly walked towards the cemetery with his head hung low, Alastor didn't receive a funeral, he was hated by everyone in the city after his crimes had been revealed. It didn't matter anyways, Alastor had no family to attend anyways. It was just him, Nicki and that weird bitch Mimzy who was stalker levels obsessed with him. Hank sighed and tried to clear his thoughts, this wasn't the time to be thinking about any of that after all, he was hear for a very important reason. As he stepped up to the handmade grave he made for his true love, he kneeled down and put down the bouquet beside it, "hey Al" he said in a soft tone. "I just wanted to come and visit ya...since you always hated being by yourself and all, always said it was too boring for ya" he chuckled softly to himself. "I know if you was here, you'd be tellin' me I should be smilin', and how I'm not fully dressed without it" he says with a fond smile and a small eye roll. "...it's gettin' harder and harder everyday to keep goin' on without you Alastor, Nicki's been a real wreck since ya went and got yourself shot...and, I have been too" he confessed. "I just wanted to tell ya goodbye, since I ain't gonna be able to see ya for awhile, but I'll be seein' ya real soon" Hank promised as he slowly stood up. "I love you" he whispered, and walked away from the graveyard, not looking back. He climbed inside the army van, a helmet strapped to his head and Alastor's shotgun clutched in his hands. "I'll see you real soon Al" Hank thought to himself, and just like that, the van took off for Vietnam.