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Ten had stayed until late at night at his aunt’s flower shop trying to finish some arrangements of red roses. It would be Valentine’s Day was on the next morning, and those flowers were always the popular gifts for people’s special ones. He had promised to help aunt Nam since the previous week, and he offered to stay there to finish the work after she had told him she wasn’t feeling very well.
He didn’t mind helping her, since she was one of his favorite people in the world and because he also liked Valentine’s Day. He always thought that flowers were beautiful, and even though he didn’t like picking them from gardens and stuff, it was sweet how some people used them to show love on Valentine’s Day.
Aunt Nam said that Ten could take one (or more) roses home, after he had finished his “job” and he took the opportunity to do so. Maybe he’d try to see if he could grow it at home anyway, since he didn’t want the roses to die. If not, at least they would still look beautiful at Ten and his friend’s shared apartment.
Said friend slash roommate was the same one for who Ten had feelings, but he lacked bravery on the confessing department. So that’s why he’d spent Valentine’s Day alone, with no flowers or significant other, since his friend was the only boyfriend he could ever want.
Ten would like to think that he was a very subtle person when it came to the matters of heart but knowing his friends and knowing how almost all of them knew about his feelings for Taeyong, well, not so much then.
But it was okay, since he and Taeyong were still the best of friends and they still met every day, and Ten could still hide how in love he was with Taeyong. Well, at least hide it from the boy himself that is.
When he entered home, Ten expected Taeyong to be asleep already, but the other boy was at his desk, with his laptop open and headphones on. It wasn't that late, but since Taeyong liked to go to bed early Ten had thought that he would be sleeping by now. He greeted his friend, though, and the other boy replied with a peace sign – which, usual.
Ten put his things on his desk, beside his bed, and went to the bathroom for a change of clothes.
When he came back, he decided to sort out the roses he had brought so that later he could put them on a vase in the kitchen. He sat on his bed and started the work, finding some flowers that couldn't be cultivated, since there were more petals than root.
(Ten watched the way Taeyong seemed concentrated on his homework. He wished he could give one of those roses to his friend, for Valentine’s day; wished he was brave enough to confess to his friend that he really liked him in a more than friends way. But Ten was a coward, and he didn’t want to lose Taeyong, so he still said – and did – nothing.)
He got so distracted by the roses that he didn’t even notice when Taeyong sat on the bed too. He looked up and saw Taeyong sitting almost beside him, staring at the flowers.
“What’re you doing with this?” Taeyong asked, taking one of the roses in his hands.
(His hands looked so soft and Ten often wondered how it would be to be to touch them without caring about letting his feelings show.)
“Uhm, aunt Nam let me keep those, after I had finished arranging the ones in the flower shop,” he explained. “I think they're cute...” He shrugged.
Taeyong nodded, agreeing, and then he kept watching Ten for a while, while Ten pretended he didn’t get nervous having the other looking at him so attentively.
Ten tapped Taeyong’s arms to get him to look at him, since he’d had a dumb idea. The idea consisted of trying to put a rose on his hair, as if it was an accessory, to make Taeyong laugh.
(It was dumb because Ten had always been dumb when it came to make Taeyong happy, no matter what.)
“Tae, look,” he held the flower over his fringe, “Is this good?” He pouted when the other looked at him bemusedly. Ten put the flower behind his ear, “or like this?” He laughed at his own childishness.
“Yes,” he answered. “It’s pretty…” Tayeong added, giggling a little and looking away.
Ten was sure that he blushed when he heard that because he also shrieked since the sound of the other’s laugh was adorable. Taeyong was adorable.
(A voice very similar to Johnny’s said something on his head that sounded like “you’re ridiculously whipped, dude” and to be honest, he couldn’t deny it.)
Ten finished arranging the flowers in a basket and then went to grab a vase with water to put them in. He’d buy the stuff he needed to cultivate it the other day after his classes.
When he came back to his bed, he noticed how Taeyong was looking at his own hands that were holding a pillow on his lap. He seemed stressed or nervous about something, and Ten didn’t like to see his friend anxious about stuff, since sometimes he tended to overthink about it till the point it caused him trouble.
“What’s up,” Ten asked, poking Taeyong with his leg to annoy him because he was also a little shit. “Did something happen?”
Taeyong shook his head, only sighing. Ten knew that it could be a sign that he was thinking about what to say, so he looked at Taeyong to give some sort of support.
“It’s just…” he sighed again, “you know how tomorrow’s Valentine’s Day right…?” He asked rhetorically.
Ten still replied with a mumbled “yeah" and a nod.
“Would you,” his voice was shaking a little. “Would you want to go out with me to spend the day?” Taeyong glanced at Ten quickly (he was blushing) but then he looked down at his hands again, when Ten didn’t reply for a while. “We can go only as friends, if you’d prefer…” he shrugged, as if he was saying something unimportant.
On the other hand, Ten had just had his whole world shaken up, because was Taeyong really inviting him to spend Valentine’s day on a date with him?
Holy shit.
Ten breathed slowly, trying to calm himself a little. He’d never want anything more than being in a date with Taeyong. Was this the happiest day of his life?
“I’d rather we spent the day on a date,” he said. “I’m game if you are,” Ten replied cheekily, grinning a little at the development of his day.
Taeyong stared at Ten, laughing a little at seeing his expression. “Yeah, I’d like that too…” He smiled that beautiful smile of his, and Ten felt even more happy and in love and fucking whipped.
Take that Johnny! When would Johnny ever get asked out like this by that cute boy from his communication classes?
(Ten’s kidding. He’s been trying to set the boy and Johnny up for a while, and as far as he knows the other boy does think Johnny is cute too. But Ten is more interested in his own cute boy at the moment.)
Ten and Taeyong only stared at each other for a while, and Ten didn’t know why they seemed to be so closer to each other at that moment, since they didn’t seem like it some moments before.
Taeyong touched Ten’s cheek gently, and Ten felt it get pretty warm under the other’s hand. He could combust at any moment now. He sighed when he noticed how Taeyong’s eyes went to his lips for a moment, before going back to stare at Ten’s eyes.
Ten was afraid of messing it up, but he couldn’t help but to lean forward, touching his forehead to Taeyong’s. He whispered something along the lines of “tell me to stop,” but Taeyong didn’t seem to want that, since he was getting even closer, so Ten closed the space between their mouths and kissed Taeyong.
He put his hands on Taeyong’s neck, stroking the skin there. He could feel himself trembling – or was it Tayeong? – so he tried to enjoy as much as he could that feeling of kissing Taeyong, of being kissed by him and having his face caressed by the one he was in love with.
Ten didn’t know how long it took for them to separate themselves from each other, or how much little kisses they kept giving each other in that short span of time. He only knew that kissing Taeyong made the butterflies in his stomach go crazy, and he couldn’t stop the smile that took over his face when Taeyong looked at him and ran his thumb over Ten’s lips.
(He also blushed even more but hell if he would let it show how weak he was for Taeyong – and his touch and his eyes and his everything—)
Taeyong cleared his throat, and if Ten wasn’t being deceived by the light, he’d say he had seen a light blush on his cheeks as well.
“So…” Taeyong smiled shyly, “…date tomorrow?” He bit his lip.
“Yes,” Ten nodded happily, holding Taeyong’s hand. “Can I call you ‘boyfriend’ already?” he suggested cheekily, raising one eyebrow as if daring Taeyong to disagree about it.
“Uhm, seems pretty fair to me…” The older boy seemed to be making an effort to not smile, if the pout on his face was something to say about it.
Ten, however, couldn’t hold it in and he ended up giggling anyway. He supposed it was okay to laugh that much when he was so happy to be with Taeyong – like he always had been. He never wanted that feeling of belonging that he felt with the other to end.
(They ended up doing a lot more kissing that night, and the day after that – on their date – and after that too and so on… Ten didn’t have to spend anymore Valentine’s Days without a significant other in his life – they were all spent with Taeyong in the end.)