Work Text:
Jaehyung opened a little flower shop dowtown Seoul called "The little Fae", hpping that his love for flowers will help others in their most important moment of their lives. He moved from Jeju in the hopes to make a little more each month than he did back there. The man wasn't good at advertising his business so he hoped that having the shop in a pretty populated street in Myeongdong would help him gain popularity quick. It was great for the first few months, his arrangements were unique and mostly for any kind of situation someone could hand flowers in.
Each morning when he opened the little shop, putting bigger plants outside and brooming a little around, he got greeted by a guy that worked right across the street at a gaming place. The man always waved enthusiastically at Jae and if he didn't open really early, Jae could think the man across the street just greets everyone but the reality was he was the only one greeted. He always bows his head and offers a small wave at the other. And that makes him seemingly happy. They never crossed the street to actually talk but Jae feels weird whenever the other isn't there to greet him. But hey, probably the other doesn't work seven days a week and lives upstairs from work, so Jae understands.
As the weather grows colder there aren't many customers and Jae thinks he probably made the biggest mistake to even dream that his small shop would even survive in such a city. So he just hopes and prays it will be better in the future.
One morning before opening he doesn't see the guy from across the street but doesn't give much thought to it although he is always there on Wednesdays to greet Jae. That happens several days in a row and he just wonders if he quit or changed his shift but one morning, Jae sees him again, waving at him like usual and he lets out a breath he didn't notice he was holding. The man shows him a paper and points to it then he points towards Jae's shop. He doesn't get it at first and mouths a "what?" getting a "look at the flyers" in return. So Jae turns and sees beautiful hand-made ads about his flower shop on the walls and light poles up and down the street and his face and ears burn red at the realization.
"Did you make these?" He asks and gets a very proud nod in exchange and Jae swears nobody has done something like that for him in his entire life.
Jae decides that he will think about a way to thank the other, especially when more people actually start coming and he decides to investigate how many of those ads did gamer boy put around and was surprised to see how far he did actually go. Jae was flattered so the first thing he did in the morning was to create a special flower arrangement in a box, but him a coffee and a cookie and wait in front of the gaming place for the other to come.
"Oh.. hey!" gamer boy greets as he appears in front of the door and sees Jae standing there awkwardly.
"Hey.." Jae waves a little, just as usual and he gets lost for a moment. He noticed the guy was good looking and he would lie if he would say he didn't let his mind drift for a bit a few times.
As he notices the other chuckling and crossing his arms at him, Jae looks at the flowers and then hands them to the other "Please accept these as a thank you for what you have done for me and my shop!" Jae says with a big grin, cheeks rosy. "I also got you coffee and a cookie because I'm very bad at saying thank you--"
The other chuckles again and takes everything from Jae, "It wasn't much for me to do, I have lots of free time here and I watched you and noticed how worried you were so I thought I could help somehow." he said, his voice going like honey down Jae's ears.
Jae furrowed his brows and crossed his arms "I saw those ads even 4 subway stations from here... you did do a lot for me!"
"Well, I like to walk home by foot so I just printed more and put them all over. I know how it feels to have something of your own and fearing that it will go out of business."
"Oh-- do you own this place?" Jae asked, mouth hanging open.
"Mhm. It's just a thing I did for extra income at first because being an arts major doesn't exactly bring a lot of jobs.. but I made it and I don't need to worry that much." He sips from the coffee after putting the flowers inside and inviting Jae in. It felt so weird to see that place up-close after months of looking at it from the other side of the street. "And you looked like you needed some help and I was able to help you so, why not!"
Jae smiled widely as he looked at the other "Really, nobody has ever done anything this big for me.. like your ads brought me more clients than I had in the first days of opening so this is huge for me!"
"I can still help if you let me." He grinned and then extended his hand to Jae "I'm Younghyun by the way. I never got to greet you."
"Oh, and I'm Jae!" he shook Younghyun's hand and blushed his a bit more.
***
Jae accepted Younghyun's help and now he had an Instagram page and a site where people could see his works and give orders a few days ahead. He was working late almost every day but it made him happy to finally have the recognition he longed for. And all that thanks to Younghyun and his vision. Sometimes the younger, as Jae learned the other was about a year younger than him, would come by and watch him work with the delicate flowers and plants. And they grow closer and closer and Jae doesn't know if he is in love or just has a stomach flu.
"You know what today is?" Younghyun asked a Friday night just before closing when he was moping the floor to help Jae finish earlier.
"Friday?" Jae chuckled but he felt his heart stuck in his throat when Younghyun gave him a certain look, "Sorry, I don't know what today is--"
"It's been six months since you opened the shop."
Jae furrowed his brows, "Why would you memorize that exact day?' He tilted his head, crossing his arms at Younghyun.
"Well, wouldn't you remember the day when your whole life changed?"
"Excuse me?"
"Wow you really can't pick up on all those hints I've given you.." he sighed and put the mop against the wall. "You really are something."
"Enlighten me then, Einstenin." Jae had this weird sense of humour that somehow was extremely appealing to Younghyun.
For a second there Younghyun weighed his options and instead of being bold or cliche, he hands Jae a daisy. "Well, I've liked you ever since. A lot."
"Oh--" when the realization finally hits Jae, he blinks a few times and picks the flower, one of his favourites actually.
"Exactly, oh." Younghyun grins and shakes his head, "It's fine thou--"
"So this was it? The feeling I kept having about you?" Jae stopped him out of the blue and Younghyun was never more confused, "I thought I have a stomach flu or something since we first ate together--"
"Really? What do you think it is then?' Younghyun asked, faking a worried expression.
"I've been in love all this time?" When Jae realized he just said what he was thinking out loud he blushed a deep shade of pink and Younghyun bursted into laughing.
"I didn't picture this moment like this but I really want to kiss you for a while now." Younghyun looked at the speechless Jae and pulled him closer, "So, can I?"
"Please?" Jae whispered trying not to sound so desperate.
So Younghyun did and Jae's lips felt even softer than he ever imagined. Jae, although being taller, melted in Younghyun's embrace as he finally felt like home for the first time since he moved to Seoul.