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Flowers make Taehyung sneeze.
This is usually only a problem in the spring, when all the flowers are blooming and pollen is flying everywhere. Taehyung takes some allergy medicine and carries some tissues with him and it’s okay. It’s bearable.
What’s not bearable is working in a flower shop three days a week from two to six in the afternoons, arranging bouquets and trimming flower stems until all the roses are thornless.
“Why,” Jimin deadpans. Taehyung sneezes for the umpteenth time and grabs at a tissue in his apron, moving away from his best friend and pulling a dying daisy out of a basket along the way.
“Go away, Jiminnie.”
Jimin follows him around the small shop.
“Why are you working in a flower shop, Taehyung-ah? Of all the places you could find a part-time job at, why would you— oh.”
The door swings open with a little chime and Jimin almost runs right into Taehyung’s back. “Hello, Jungkookie!”
Jimin steps away from Taehyung with a gleam in his eye and Taehyung almost stuffs his tissue in his best friend’s mouth. The new arrival blinks at Jimin and then smiles slowly at Taehyung, revealing the cutest bunny teeth. “Hello, hyung. Here’s the mail for today,” he says.
Jungkook is tall with great shoulders and huge doe eyes. Taehyung never stood a chance.
The second Jungkook leaves, Jimin rounds on his friend, poking him in the chest with a finger and a wide grin that Taehyung matches helplessly. “You little shit! You’re really working in a flower shop just because that kid delivers mail here?”
Taehyung shrugs and hums as he drops off the mail in its usual box. He goes back to arranging flowers and tries to bask in the memory of Jungkook’s smile today, but Jimin doesn’t give up.
“Do you even know how old he is?”
“He’s nineteen.”
“What is he studying?”
“He’s a dance and music major.”
“Oh. A double major? That’s impressive for that kid… I guess. Why is he delivering mail?”
“It’s his part time job. He delivers mail to all the shops in this area.”
“So when are you going to make a move?”
“I’m working on it.”
Jimin smirks and raises an eyebrow. “You’re in loveee.”
Taehyung scrunches his face and pushes his best friend out of the shop. “You’re disturbing business. Go bother Yoongi hyung.”
“You’ll get more business if I’m here!”
“No. Go away, Jiminnie. I have a seduction to plan.”
“But I’m a great seducer!”
First Taehyung greets Jungkook with a rose in his mouth, casually, as if he walks around with roses in his mouth all the time. It’s romantic! It makes people think of those fancy salsa dancers, and Taehyung definitely wants to be associated with good dancing. And romance! It’s also kind of hard to talk, but Jungkook has that amused smile on his face, so Taehyung calls it a victory.
He doesn’t tell Jimin about pulling a stray thorn out of his tongue.
The second attempt is foiled by a faulty watering system. The hose somehow goes haywire and Jungkook gets the brunt of it, water making the back of his shirt stick to his skin.
Taehyung’s eyes are impossibly wide. “…Oops. Oh, shit, are you okay? I’m so sorry! Here, I have a rag—maybe a shirt—whoa, what’re you do—!” and his voice ends in a helpless whimper as Jungkook pulls off his shirt, revealing smooth planes of muscle and skin.
Jungkook is blushing, or—no, maybe he’s just turning red from embarrassment. “Do you, um, have that shirt I could borrow?”
Taehyung shuts his mouth with an audible snap and wordlessly hands him one of the spare uniform shirts, a plain black polo with the flower shop’s logo on the back. He knows he’s staring, but how can he not , especially when Jungkook’s shoulders tense and his fingers are so nimble with the shirt, thank god I gave him one of the shirts Hoseok hyung tried to fold properly; hyung never does it right.
“Thanks, hyung,” Jungkook whispers. Taehyung nods, trying to form words, but his brain refuses to cooperate and Jungkook makes to leave before pausing at the door. “Um… I’ll bring the shirt back tomorrow. I hope… I hope you’ll be able to get that palm tree watered.”
“You what?!” Jimin cackles and his whole face scrunches up and Taehyung would tell his best friend that he’s cute if he hadn’t been laughing at him. Besides, Jungkook is still cuter in Taehyung’s book.
“I was trying to do that thing where you have the hose strategically positioned so—”
“So he would subconsciously think perverted thoughts? Taehyungie, you are a horrible person,” Jimin says, giving Taehyung his best fake-disappointed face.
Taehyung scoffs. “Well I already planted the ‘romance’ seed, so I needed to show him somehow that I can do more than just romance!”
“Wow, Tae-Tae, you already got him shirtless and you haven’t even been on a date yet.”
There is a small cough by the door and both boys whirl around. Taehyung blinks.
Why.
Jungkook is half hiding behind the door and holding the flower shop shirt in his hands. His cheeks are pink and Taehyung hopes he didn’t hear what they said. He probably did.
Taehyung thinks of a hundred ways to stage his own disappearance, but none of them involve Jeon Jungkook running away with him, and that… that just won’t work.
“Here’s your shirt… hyung,” Jungkook says, holding the shirt like a peace offering. Taehyung takes it and tries to hitch up a normal smile, but his ears are burning too hot and Jimin’s grin is too sly.
“Thanks, Jungkookie! You’re early today!”
Jungkook nods and hands over the mail. “I wanted to come earlier to thank you for the shirt…”
And then he leaves. Taehyung didn’t even have a chance to explain.
Taehyung stares at the door Jungkook had just disappeared through, and Jimin slaps him hard on the back. “Aw, don’t worry, Taehyungie, he’s probably just shy. Why don’t you try being normal around him instead of trying so hard?”
Jimin meets the eyes of his best friend and frowns a tiny bit. Taehyung just sighs.
Taehyung doesn’t work every day, so a little time has passed since The Shirtless Incident and he thinks he might be okay. It wasn’t that bad to have Jungkook overhear them, right? Maybe now Jungkook knows that Taehyung is into him?
Taehyung pulls a daisy from a nearby bouquet and starts plucking petals off.
He likes me…
He doesn’t like me…
He totally got my hints and is going to jump my bones when he sees me…
He hates my guts and will never show his face again…
He likes me…
He doesn’t like me…
He probably thinks I’m too weird…
He thinks I’m the awesomest guy ever…
The door opens with a chime that Taehyung doesn’t notice and Jungkook makes it all the way over to the counter before Taehyung looks up.
“Bwah!”
Jungkook flinches and wipes at a stray speck of spit that landed on his cheek, and then he laughs.
Taehyung stares because Jungkook’s laughter is filling his veins with sparkles and daydreams and suddenly, it feels like everything is going to be okay.
“Hi, hyung.” Jungkook’s smile is shy and quiet.
“Hey, Jungkookie.”
“So… do you like to watch anime?”
Taehyung’s eyes widen and his face splits into the biggest grin and they spend the next few hours talking about Haikyuu!! before Taehyung thinks of a few things.
“Hey, don’t you have to deliver mail?”
Jungkook shakes his head. “It’s my day off today.”
Taehyung grins sheepishly. Jungkook came to visit on his day off! “Oh. How did you know I liked anime? Lucky guess?”
This time it takes Jungkook longer to answer. He’s biting his lip and very obviously struggling with something mentally, but Taehyung can’t stop staring. Finally, Jungkook glances away and mutters, “I asked Jimin about you.”
“Waaaah! Really?” Taehyung hops a little behind the counter. “You asked Jiminnie about me? How do you know him? What did he say? Does that mean you like me too?”
Jungkook turns three different shades of red and splutters. “He’s on the dance team at school and he said you’re very interesting and if I break your heart he’ll break my legs.”
Taehyung beams and then winks. “Ah, but in order to break my heart, you have to have it first.”
Jungkook’s jaw sets and he finally meets Taehyung’s eyes. “That’s what I’m working on.”
Hidden behind a particularly large flower arrangement in a corner of the shop, Jimin pounds his fist into the ground. “…That little shit! First he doesn’t call me hyung, and then he has the nerve to go around saying cool things like that—so casually!”
Yoongi closes his eyes for a few long seconds and sighs as quietly as he can. “Now that you know Jungkook and Taehyung are alright… how were you planning on sneaking us out of here?”