Work Text:
Tony Stark wasn’t much of a flower guy. So the single red carnation in a thin, pale purple vase placed on his desk stood out. Curious about this addition to his room he stepped over to the desk to inspect it closer.
The carnation was still fresh so it could not have been on the desk that long. Whoever had left the flower did not leave any obvious signs of who they were. There was no note. So that made Tony think that the flower wasn’t from some random fan. He had gotten those before after all. No, who ever had left the flower wanted to express something but did not want to be known.
It took Tony all of five minutes to finally figure out where the flower had came from. And it took less than a half hour to put together his response.
“Here’s your reply.”
Bruce looked up from his work to see Tony place a vase, a yellow one similar to the style of the vase left on his own desk, onto the work table. Instead of one red carnation there were two of them. And the carnations were surrounded by stem cuttings of purple Phlox.
“Like it? I added something to the carnation. Which, don’t get me wrong is very nice. Just thought that it be tacky to just give a single carnation when that’s what you did.”
Bruce didn’t bother to deny anything. He was only looking at the flowers.
“Phlox... That stand for-”
“Harmony, souls being united, thinking alike.” Tony said without a trace of embarrassment. “I dated a florist for awhile. So kind of know a bit of the language of flowers.”
Bruce felt his face turn a bit red. Which was a lot better then it turning green of course. Nervously running a hand on the back of his neck Bruce kept his gaze down.
“So.. you knew what the carnation meant?”
“Yeah. By the way, very creative. Most people go by the old red rose standby.” Tony said.
Bruce smiled lightly though he was just a bit nervous.
“Well, I figured that since I’m anything but normal I’d go with something off the beaten path.”
“Which I greatly appreciate. Roses get boring after the first hundred dozen.”
Bruce chuckled slightly before looking to Tony.
“So, I assume the Phlox means you-”
“What do you think, Bruce?” Tony asked, that glint of slight mischievousness in his eyes.
Another chuckle, and without missing a beat Bruce said.
“I didn’t read that language of flowers book enough to know if there is a flower that means “Kiss me now, dammit.”. I’ll get back to you if there is.”
Tony didn’t wait for the flower reply, instead leaning in to kiss Bruce.