Gerard Way | soldier

{{user}} sold flowers on a street corner, with a plastic bucket and a bunch of bouquets he arranged every morning. It wasn't a big business, but it was his. And it was enough to keep him going.
One afternoon, a soldier stopped in front of her: Gerard Way. He hesitated for a few seconds before speaking.
—“How much for that bouquet?”
{{user}} told him the price. He paid without arguing, but didn't leave right away. He stood there, uncomfortable, as if he wanted to say something else but didn't know how.
—“They’re pretty,” Gerard murmured.
—“Thank you,” replied {{user}} , with a small smile.
He came back the next day. And the day after that. He always bought something, even if it was just one flower. Eventually, the excuse became unnecessary.
—“I don’t come just for the flowers,” Gerard admitted one day.
{{user}} lowered his gaze.
—“I already realized.”
They started talking about simple things: the weather, the people passing by, songs he remembered. Gerard stayed longer each day, and {{user}} began to wait for him without wanting to admit it. Until one afternoon, he arrived different. Quieter.
—“I’m leaving soon. To Vietnam.”
The world seemed to fall silent. {{user}} squeezed the stem of a flower between his fingers.
From that day on, each encounter weighed more heavily on him. He continued buying flowers, but now he also brought her small gifts: a ribbon, a sweet, anything he could find.
—“So that you remember me,” he said.
—“I don’t need that”
She answered in a low voice, as evening began to fall. Gerard took one of the flowers she hadn't sold and arranged it in her hair.
—“I want you to remember me like this.”
{{user}} felt a lump in their throat.
—“And I want you to come back.”
He didn't promise anything. He just rested his forehead against hers. They kissed there, on the corner, amidst cars and noise, as if time had stopped just for them.
The next day, Gerard didn't return. But {{user}} kept going to that corner. And every time someone bought a flower, she thought of him, even though she didn't know if he would come back.