Work Text:
≿━━━━🌷━━━━≾
It was just another late Thursday afternoon when Hoseok met him. Situated across the square from the university campus, there was no shortage of young men looking to make grand gestures, but he was different.
Perhaps it was the gold in the sun across his face or the flecks of it glittering in his hazel eyes, Hoseok was enchanted. There were strands of orange and blond caught in his dark hair, and he bounced up and down on his heels with an excitement that Hoseok hadn’t seen in anyone who stopped at his stall. His nose twitched in sensitivity to the smell, and there was something very rabbit-like about the motion.
“Can I help you?” He asked, approaching him carefully, as if the butterflies in his stomach were holding him back.
The stranger looked at him and smiled. “Are they roses?” He asked, pointing to the pink camellias.
“Oh, no, but they’re a great substitute! They symbolise faithfulness and everlasting love,” he explained.
He scrunched up his nose. “Seems a bit too much to give to a girl on a first date,” he seemed disappointed, as if he’d already had his heart set on those particular flowers.
Hoseok felt his own heart sink a little. Of course he was looking for flowers for a date. Why else would he ask about roses?
“Well, so are roses, but what about sweet peas?” he suggested, crouching down to the metal vase between their feet. He pulled the perfect example from the bunch, a pale purple flower with a ruffled appearance, delicate and pretty and fragile in the burning sun.
“Sweet peas symbolise pleasure, but they’re also used for greetings,” He let the other man take it, noticing how gingerly he held the stem, the tips of his fingers cradling it as though it were precious. Flowers were precious to Hoseok.
“They’re perfect,” Jungkook agreed, bringing the flower to his face to smell. His nose twitched in discomfort. “They smell really sweet,”
Hoseok chuckled, feeling his heart do backflips. “These look best in a bunch, so are ten flowers at 1,500 won each okay for you?” He asked, taking the flower from his hand and setting it down on the counter.
“Sounds good!” He confirmed, bouncing excitedly again.
Hoseok counted the flowers and made his way around the stall to set them down on the counter. He wrapped the stems in a white ribbon, securing it with a bow, taking a moment to stare down at them and realise that he was probably never going to see this piece of heaven on earth again.
He needed to learn that crushes will do him no good.
As the customer paid, Hoseok’s eyes caught sight of the vase of bright yellow tulips on the counter. He picked the freshest one from the bunch and offered it to him, a little token of his attraction.
“It’s for you,” he said, blaming the sudden burning on his cheeks on the sun.
The other man blinked at him, confusion lining his brows.
“What does it mean?” He asked, curiosity suddenly lighting the darkness.
Yellow tulips mean hopelessness, a love lost.
“It means good luck!” He replied, managing to somewhat replicate his smile. His smile was too beautiful to compare.
The customer laughed, the sound so childish yet heaven sent. “Thank you, uh - what’s your name?”
“Hoseok,”
“Jungkook! It’s nice to meet you,” the younger replied.
Putting a name to the angel in front of him took his breath away. It felt like a sudden uprising in his chest, as if his heart was attempting to break free. There were flowers in his lungs, camellias and daisies and dahlias, a whole garden singing of love and beauty.
The dizzying high ended when Jungkook turned, smiling at a woman across the square with long dark hair and olive skin, no rips in her jeans and brand new shoes.
“Isn’t she pretty?” He murmured.
Hoseok couldn’t say anything. She was beautiful, eyes wide set and lips pink, her face round and youthful. She looked so well put together, an air of wealth about her that Hoseok could feel even from his little market flower stall.
“You better go give her those flowers,” he replied.
“Thank you, Hoseok-ssi!”
He gave him one last blinding smile before skipping off to meet the woman on the other side of the square.
He kissed her cheek, handing the bouquet over to her, but much to Hoseok’s delight, kept the tulip for himself.
≿━━━━🌷🌷━━━━≾
Hoseok inherited the stall upon the discovery that he was allergic to bee stings.
It was a vivid memory, despite his age, he could remember the pain as if it were yesterday. Then came the suffocation, the look of horror on his mother’s face, their frantic search for the histamine shot that they kept around in case of such incidents.
He remembered his grandmother carrying him away from the hives, rubbing his back with her old gardener’s hands, her dialect still clear in his ears:
“This is Khloris’ way of setting your path in life, she’s chosen you,”
Yet Hoseok hardly felt chosen. He felt cast aside, forgotten. Beekeeping, selling honey, baking, it was his family’s pride, the flowers were just an afterthought.
So reluctantly, he followed his aging grandmother into the city every day to open their weathered market stall across from the university. He watched the ‘big kids’ come and go, men in suits buying flowers for their beloved and pretty women looking for something to brighten their kitchen sill.
Over time, the bustle of the city grew on him, in spite of his rural upbringing. He watched the bumblebees bump into the hydrangeas and pansies, and now the big monster of his childhood was now just a friendly little creature of mysticism and friendship. Now, he wouldn’t dare swap the bustle of the city and the boys in love for hours and hours of honeybee song.
He opened up the staill on Friday morning with sleep still clinging to his eyelashes, the heat of the July sunshine already beginning to burn on the back of his neck. The stall would need another coat of paint at the end of the season when the sunshine wasn’t so harsh.
“Hoseok-ssi?”
The voice was familiar, a sound like Romantic poetry, reminiscent of summer hazes and long shadows across dust covered floors. It made Hoseok’s heart ache for something he couldn’t lose if he never had it to begin with.
Still, he turned to face Jungkook. He was dressed in blue jeans, tight fitting around his thighs, and a yellow t-shirt emblazoned with some band that Hoseok had never heard of. His dark hair with its honey tones was neatly parted across his forehead, curling ever so slightly as if in defiance.
“Jungkook! Hi! How did your date go?” He asked.
His ears flushed pink, eyes meeting the ground bashfully. “It was great, we went out to dinner and - shit I’m already late for class, are you free for lunch?”
“No I work until 6,” he replied apologetically.
“Well I’ll bring you noodles or something and we can chat then!”
Jungkook skipped away before he could protest that there was absolutely no need, even if he hadn’t planned on eating during the day anyway. Still, some company would be nice, maybe he could teach Jungkook a thing or two about flowers too.
With their meeting sort of scheduled, Hoseok carried on with his day, the sun dragging across the sky as if the whole world was moving in slow motion. He sold a bunch of daisies to an old man to gift to his sick granddaughter, a single blue dahlia to a child passing the stall with her mother.
Sometimes, when he missed the beehives and his old family home, he remembered the delight on children’s faces upon discovering his little market stall of a shop, the colours and the smells and the low hum of insects. The bees might have rejected him, but he’d found a home within the family of Khloris, the Goddess of flowers.
He hardly noticed it was midday as he made his second cup of mint tea. He considered it a privilege to be able to make his own tea from the things he grew, maybe he should sell his herbs too.
“Hoseok-ssi!”
Jungkook’s voice was unmistakable. Deep yet musical, Hoseok wasn’t ever going to forget it.
“Just call me hyung, Jungkook,” he chuckled, opening the side hatch to let him in.
The interior of his little stall was tiny, overcrowded with vases and buckets full of flowers, shelves stuffed with arranging equipment like every shade of ribbon under the sun and boxes of plant feed that he’d been there since his grandmother was a child.
He kept a couple of stools under the counter, where there was a little safe box for money and a notebook to record his sales and stock. The smell of pollen and flower petals was almost overwhelming, but Hoseok’s nose was used to the assault, unlike Jungkook. His nose twitched as he entered the hut, taking the seat that was offered to him.
“Mint tea? We grow our own mint leaves,” Hoseok offered.
Jungkook nodded eagerly, rooting through his backpack for something.
“I wasn’t sure what to get so I got a bunch,” he explained, placing cup after cup of ramyeon on the counter, each one a different flavour. “Keep the rest, you need to eat during the day,”
Hoseok wondered how Jungkook knew that he usually skipped his midday meal, but he didn’t question it. He let it warm his heart, let the softness of it soak him for a moment before he carefully placed Jungkook back into the ‘acquaintance that he didn’t stand a chance with’ category.
“Thank you, that’s very kind,” he replied.
“Who’s ‘we?’ You said ‘we grow our own mint leaves’,” Jungkook asked.
Hoseok helped himself to a cup of soy noodles, putting the kettle back on the boil for their noodles and Jungkook’s tea. “This is a family business, my grandmother’s parents started beekeeping and then she expanded the farm as a young woman to grow flowers and herbs and things, my sister takes care of the bees while I sell the things my father grows,” he explained.
“Oh wow, that’s awesome!” Jungkook seemed genuinely excited, as if he’d always dreamed of a life in the countryside.
Hoseok handed him his tea, settling his noodle cup on the counter to let it cook. “I suppose so, my friends thought I was the most boring person in the world ‘cause they dreamed of curing cancer or going to the moon and I only wanted to play with bugs,” he chuckled.
“I think you’re cool,” Jungkook laughed, and although Hoseok had moved on from such juvenile concepts, he wasn’t too old to develop a crush.
“Anyway, tell me about your date,” he prompted.
He supposed that it was a conversation that two friends might have, and Hoseok was surprised to have that familiarity settle over them so soon. He’d never found someone so willing to settle into his company before, it made something in his chest tighten. Still, he resolved himself to keep calm, his energy to a minimum in fear of scaring his new friend away.
“I mean, you saw her, you know how pretty she is,” he chuckled, face pink. “I think it went really well! She’s chatty and she laughs at the bad jokes I stole from my brother, so yeah,”
There was undeniable shyness lowering his voice and flushing his face, it was endearing to watch. He tried to hide it behind his noodles but Hoseok just had a way of knowing such things.
“Tell me about her,” he suggested, if only to see him blush for a little longer.
Jungkook paused for thought, pouting as he did so. “She… didn’t tell me much about herself, she always directed the conversation back to me and hyung, that’s a good thing though, right?”
His wide coffee eyes were pleading with him for reassurance, and although every fiber of his being was warning him of something wrong, he couldn’t bear the look on his face, suddenly desperate and hopeless.
“Maybe she’s just shy,” Hoseok agreed.
Jungkook relaxed, broad shoulders sinking as he let go of the breath that he’d been holding. “Yeah, she’ll warm up eventually!”
Hoseok wasn’t a jealous man, he adored the romance between a couple in love too much to be jealous of Jungkook’s girlfriend, but he was glad when the conversation shifted away from her.
Jungkook pointed to various flowers in the stall, asking him ’what’s this?’ and ’what’s that?’ wide eyes curious and fascinated.
No one had ever loved the flowers in his stall quite like he did, yet Jungkook listened to every meaning, the perfect flowers for a wedding and the when was the best time to plant them.
Even after he’d finished his noodles and as he risked being late for another lesson, Jungkook listened and asked.
His curiosity fell on the yellow tulips, a little more wilted than the one he picked yesterday. “I thought tulips meant friendship,”
“Pink ones do, the colour of a flower is very powerful to its meaning,” he explained, watching as he took one very carefully from the vase, holding it in the palm of his hand. “Keep it if you like,” he offered.
Jungkook looked up at him with a smile. “No one’s ever given me flowers,” he replied, carefully arranging his backpack so that the head of the tulip could stick out from the black canvas, its striking yellow overpowering the dark easily. Hoseok wished it wouldn’t.
“I need to get going, hyung, thanks for the flower!” Jungkook said, offering him a bright smile. His smile must taste like honey.
“I’ll see you on Monday, Jungkook,” he replied, but he was already halfway across the square.
Maybe he should drive home that weekend, to sit amongst the flowerbeds and tell the bees of his newfound love, listen to their buzz like the gossip of friends. Maybe he could pick himself some Butterfly Weeds and hope that his heartache would end soon.
≿━━━━🌷🌷🌷━━━━≾
Hoseok didn’t see Jungkook again on Monday, or Tuesday, and at first it makes his heart ache with the heavy emptiness of losing what you never had to begin with. Jungkook was just a pretty face who showed an interest in his passion, the one that so many other men had scorned before he even had a chance. Jungkook was a taken man who wouldn’t date the lonely florist outside of his university anyway.
By Wednesday, the pain stopped, and he was sure that he could carry on with his life, no better off and no worse off, just existing as though nothing had happened. He was too occupied in trying to keep the fresh jars of honey out of the sun to notice the emptiness much anyway.
Thursday, and a week since he was first cursed, Hoseok felt almost reminiscent. He should never have fallen for him anyway, it was so unprofessional, and besides, crushes are hardly anything to get so upset over.
He found himself clinging to that sentiment when a familiar face appeared on the other side of the counter in the late afternoon.
Jungkook’s skin looked warm and gold in the sunshine, his forehead lined with a bead of sweat, his cinnamon hair a mess. He looked natural, effortless, and the crushing feeling came instantly back with a swarm of butterflies in his stomach.
“Jungkook!” He greeted, hoping he didn’t sound too desperate.
“Hi, hyung! I’m sorry I’ve not been around much, I’ve been with Bongcha a lot,” Hoseok didn’t question it, his heart already ached. “I need another bouquet from you,”
“Oh? What’s the occasion?” Hoseok asked.
“I’m taking her to meet my brother,” he explained.
“Ah, so a flower that is welcoming and friendly, let me see…”
He turned to his shelves, examining rows upon rows of potential offerings, he even left the stall to look at the vases outside, putting him dangerously close to Jungkook and his fresh cotton scent. Crushes are hardly worth getting upset over.
“Ah! Violets! He suggested, lifting the vase to show their pale purple petals and yellow centers to Jungkook. “They symbolise peace, so not quite what you’re looking for, but they’re very beautiful, don’t you think?”
Hoseok looked up, and Jungkook’s figure was surrounded by a halo of sunlight. He had to squint to see him, but the brightness of his pretty smile prevailed, more beautiful than any flower he’d ever had the honour of tending.
“They’re very beautiful,” he agreed, taking one between his fingers to lift it to his face, inhaling its scent with a long, deep breath.
Oh how Hoseok had wished for a man who could love the world like this.
Still he put it to the back of his mind, beating the butterflies in his stomach to death with a brick as he wrapped Jungkook’s bunch. It was hopeless, a part of him wished that he would just stay away.
The younger paid and collected his flowers, and as he turned to leave, Hoseok couldn’t resist himself.
“Hey don’t forget your flower!” He called after him, holding up another yellow tulip in offering.
Jungkook jogged back, grinning from ear to ear. “Why do you keep giving me flowers?” He asked.
Hoseok shrugged. “Flowers say what you wish you could.”
≿━━━━🌷🌷🌷🌷━━━━≾
Hoseok visited home that weekend so that he could watch his sister take care of the bees from a safe distance. Home felt like a place of grief, not quite the same since his grandmother passed, but still home, safe.
He sat in the flower beds and told every little insect that went by of his crush, the brutality and the cruelty of it all. How he wished Jungkook would just stay away. It was stupid of him to fall so quickly, but ever since that day that they’d shared a lunch hour, Hoseok had fallen for more than just his pretty smile.
It was his laughter, unrestrained and childish, the way that his eyes crinkled and his nose scrunched up, shoulder hunching over as his entire body surrendered itself to the emotion. It was the curiosity in his eyes as Hoseok showed him his favourite flowers, his wrinkled nose as he tasted mint leaves for the first time, the pout that his mouth sometimes fell into unconsciously.
Hoseok craved everything about him, he wanted to hear all of his terrible, stolen jokes, his worst childhood memory and his favourite nightmare, he wanted it all. He lay back in the grass and thought of him, playing baseball in the street to pass the afternoon or walking his friend’s dog to be a help. Maybe he was curled up in front of his favourite movie, listening to the radio, simply existing in the world.
Hoseok wasn’t a jealous man, but he refused to think that he might be with her.
When the time came to leave, his sister handed him a little parcel, clutching his hands around the box.
“You seem down, take these,” she insisted.
So he returned to the city with a box of honey cakes, cut into little hexagons as though they were made from honeycomb.
There were too many for one man to eat alone, so he kept them cool below the counter and left one sacrificial cake beneath a bell jar for advertisement. He’d even convinced the bakery just two stalls down to lend him some cupcake boxes in return for a few sprigs of lavender.
His day felt cheerful, a few white clouds slowly making their way across the sky and the breeze just strong enough to provide some relief from the burning heat of summer. He swapped his usual mint tea for an ice cold caramel latte from the coffee stand across the square, paying in daisies and pink tulips.
His spirits were high as he made friends with some children on a nursery trip, letting the small group take a buttercup each as they passed him by. There truly was joy and love to be found in flowers, he wondered what he’d done to be so blessed with his path in life.
Jungkook came by at midday, although he wasn’t stopping for lunch. His girlfriend was with him, and up close she was even more beautiful.
“Are you selling cakes now, hyung?” Jungkook asked, his tone surprisingly flat.
“My sister made them and there’s far too many for me,” he explained, suddenly struck by how perfect the pair went together.
They both shared the same wide, curious eyes, an eternal youthfulness in their faces that was unmarred by city life or generations of family expectations. As she introduced herself to him with a polite bow of her head, Hoseok felt all of his misguided animosity towards the woman he’d never met dissolve into happiness for the pair. Still, his heart ached somewhat, but he reminded himself that crushes were not worth getting upset over.
“I’d love to try one,” Bongcha said softly, looking to Jungkook for agreement.
“Make that two,” he added.
Hoseok set about preparing the cakes, folding the boxes around them and tying them both off with white ribbon. He picked a yellow tulip from the vase, a fresh delivery from the early hours of the morning and tucked it under the ribbon tying Jungkook’s box.
He stared down at it. It seemed almost petty, and yet it reminded him of the other man, bright and cheerful yet bruising to his chest.
He couldn’t give Jungkook a flower without giving one to his girlfriend. He looked back at her, just in time to catch her smile, radiant, almost as radiant as Jungkook’s.
With his mind made up, he picked a delicate white blossom with waxy petals down from the shelf, tucking it into the ribbon and taking it across to the counter.
“Oh? Flowers too?” She chuckled.
“Hyung has a thing about giving away flowers,” Jungkook mumbled, staring down at the tulip in his hands as if he’d been handed a curse. There was no joy or light to his face, even the yellow glow of the tulip reflected on his chin couldn’t warm him up.
He put it to one side, assuming it was just a bad day.
“It’s a gardenia, it represents beauty and clarity,” he explained to Bongcha, feeling the weight of his dislike for her lift from his chest.
Jungkook paid for the cakes, though he hardly said much, only offering him a strained smile as they left.
She snapped the stem so that she could tuck it into her long dark hair, throwing a polite wave over her shoulder as the pair walked away hand in hand.
≿━━━━🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷━━━━≾
Jungkook didn’t come by as promised. The weather grew hotter and hotter and the air felt charged with the promise of a storm, and yet Hoseok was stuck waiting for Jungkook.
It was time to close the shop to wait out the storm indoors, but he didn’t want to miss him. What if he came by and the place was closed up? What if he missed his chance?
It was hard to rationalise to himself that friends aren’t once in a blue moon things. They’re tangible and lovable and even though Jungkook made his heart tremble with wishing, he would come back. That’s what friends do.
As the sky turned black, he knew he had to give in, and began marching each of the vases indoors, cramming his little space to the brim. Rain was beginning to fall, heavy droplets that almost bruised his skin with their force. He sighed, knowing that he would be soaked by the time he ran all the way home.
“Hyung?”
Hoseok whipped around to see Jungkook standing there, his shirt stained with raindrops and his hair flattened by the sudden heavy downfall.
“Jungkookie, I’ve missed-”
“Can we talk, hyung?” Jungkook asked, pushing him into his little market stall and pulling the hatch closed behind him.
The sound of the rain was deafening against the roof, but at least they were dry. Surrounded by plant pots and vases, there was hardly any room for one of them, let alone the pair.
His face was just inches from Jungkook and for once, the younger didn’t look happy. There was a heaviness to his eyes, damp with unshed tears.
“Is everything okay?” He asked quietly as if every word was a shout in the confined space.
“Why did you lie to me about what the yellow tulips mean?” He asked, the first of the tears beginning to fall.
Instinctively, Hoseok reached up to swipe the tear away, and Jungkook didn’t protest. He blinked and more came, but his resolve didn’t break. He simply continued to stare up at Hoseok, demanding an answer.
“You said flowers say the things you can’t so I went and looked up some flower meanings and you lied! It doesn’t mean good luck! It means unrequited love, Hoseok!”
Hoseok could lie, say he was confused, he should’ve checked the book instead of trusting his head. But that wasn’t fair.
“Jungkook, I’m sorry, it was silly of me to even give you a tulip in the first place,” he tried, cupping his face in his hands. “I just… wanted to tell you that I think you’re beautiful but you looked so happy and in love and I really should have just kept those thoughts to myself.”
Hoseok wondered if there was a leak in the ceiling or if he was crying too.
“Do you still think that?” Jungkook asked with a sniff.
Hoseok nodded. “I think you’re handsome and smart and talented and funny and caring and generous, no one’s ever shown an interest in my flowers, no one stops to check I’m eating lunch,” he laughed, heart aching with every modifier.
“I gave you the tulip ‘cause you’re beautiful to look at, like flowers are, I wanted to tell you how you made me feel somehow, but then I came to love you more and more for who you are as a person,” he explained, regretting not giving him something more general instead.
Jungkook sniffed, nodding as though he’d accepted his explanation. “Do you still have some ramyeon and tea? I’m cold.”
Hoseok was grateful for the outside water collector he’d installed, refilling itself in the rain shower. He set the kettle to boil and took a stool down from the counter for Jungkook to sit.
They were silent, letting the storm overhead shake the little stall. Even the heads of his flowers turned to face the floor in grim recognition of the tense atmosphere.
He handed Jungkook his noodle cup and some chopsticks, setting his tea to cool on the shelf.
“I’m sorry Jungkook,” he sighed. “Stay until the storm ends, I don’t want you getting sick in this shower,”
The younger laughed miserably, holding the noodles between his hands to bring some warmth to them. The storm would pass soon enough and he’d be free to go, like a bee trapped in a greenhouse, waiting for daylight to come.
His sad smile fell, and he sighed. “Truthfully, I was researching flower meanings because I wanted to impress you.”
Hoseok made a noise of surprise, not quite sure what to think. “To impress me?” He couldn’t help but laugh. No one had ever tried to impress him before, especially not with knowledge of his greatest passion. Most men thought impressing him meant flashy cars and high earning jobs, his opposite.
“Yeah, the way you talk about flowers and nature is so filled with love, I want to fall in love like that too,”
“You have Bongcha,” Hoseok laughed, pretending it didn’t seem silly to compare the love of a woman to the love of the earth. Jungkook was the luckiest of the two in the garden.
“She was using me,”
“Oh,”
The surprise in his voice was genuine, and something in his heart felt guilty. She was such a beautiful woman, the glitter in her eyes could do no wrong.
Although, his mind was cast back to the last time he’d seen Jungkook and the only time he’d met Bongcha. He’d seemed down, the shadow of a phantom lingering across his usually bright smile. Did he know something was wrong? Was it the tulips?
“Turns out she was really into my brother and wanted to get closer to him, not me,” he sighed, stirring his noodles, unable to eat. “I get it, you know? Seokjin hyung is way cooler and funnier than me, and he’s really handsome too, I’d pick him over me,”
Hoseok leaned over to comfort him, almost angry that he would even suggest such a thing. He’d never met Jungkook’s brother, but he couldn’t believe that there could be anyone with a prettier smile or more charming to be around.
“Don’t say that!” was all that he could manage, and he knew how pathetic it sounded. The silliness of his crush suddenly felt like a rock in his stomach, and he realised that he knew nothing about the man sitting in front of him, nothing to truly comfort him by at least.
He wished that there was more that he could say to make Jungkook meet his gaze and see the sincerity in his eyes. He’d known of this angel for just a few short weeks, and every second with him was gone too soon, and he had nothing to say to make him realise that he could steal hearts with just a flash of his smile.
“You’re wonderful in all your own ways, she’s a fool to not see that,” he said, almost upset for him. He supposed that there was nothing to hide with his crush exposed and lingering in the air between them.
Jungkook didn’t reply, and so Hoseok didn’t push it. He wished there was a single flower that he could give to express all of his feelings.
“I want to forget about her anyway, she showed her true colours,” he sighed, shoulders shrugging in defeat.
The storm seemed to quieten above them, the thrashing rain slowing into a steady pitter patter. Jungkook shall want to leave soon, and then it would all be over. Hoseok’s latest bubble of love burst in the most embarrassing way possible.
If he was in Jungkook’s shoes, he’d be too embarrassed to show his face. He’d throw the dying yellow petals and never think of them again, bury himself in the misery of betrayal so that he never had to think about Hoseok again.
Yet there he was, sitting across the tiny room from him and eating instant ramyeon as though he were sick, their knees so close that they were almost touching.
“What made you come here? Even after I lied to you and sneakily hit on you?” He asked.
Jungkook shrugged. “You’re a friend, you look like you give good hugs,” he explained, managing a shaky smile. There was something unspoken in his eyes, haunted and lost, clamoring for Hoseok’s attention.
“You can tell me, I’ve already embarrassed myself enough,” he reassured, voice shy.
Jungkook swallowed hard, fidgeting with his fingers anxiously. “You said flowers say what you can’t and I wanted to find one that explained my feelings, but I couldn’t even pinpoint what they were,”
Hoseok was confused, but before he had a chance to voice it, Jungkook was speaking again,
“I wanted to buy another bunch and give it to... to you, honestly, but I was with Bongcha and I felt so conflicted, and besides, I didn’t even know what I wanted to say! So many flowers mean ‘I want to marry you’ or ‘your beauty puts the Gods to shame,’ when all I wanted to say was I think you’re neat, and you have a pretty smile,”
Jungkook stammered his way through his quiet rant, his cheeks pink with embarrassment. When he was finished speaking, he looked at him with his wide deer eyes wet with more tears, begging for approval, some sign of acceptance, but Hoseok was too shocked to speak.
He wished that he could do more than just stare back at him, eyes wide and mouth agape.
“And then I found the yellow tulips and a part of me felt hopeful and another part felt confused, but I was with Bongcha but my heart wasn’t in it, and then Seokjin hyung called me and told me what was going on and I-”
Hoseok reached out and grabbed his hand. “Breathe, Jungkook,”
As if he’d truly forgotten, Jungkook gasped, shoulders heaving as the realisation of his panic settled in. “It’s okay, take your time, breathe,”
The gentle tap of the rain on the roof filled the tiny space, soothing Jungkook as he regained his composure. He didn’t push Hoseok’s hand away as he wiped the tears from his cheeks, leaning into his touch.
“I’m trying to say I like you,” he mumbled.
Hoseok let the revelation settle in the air as he tried to suggest. The dark little room suddenly felt a bit lighter, his flowers perking up as if they could sense the love between the two.
“What did you ever see in me?” He chuckled, handing Jungkook his tea, almost cold.
“Your smile,” he replied, grinning into his lap as if he felt the same swirling in his chest as Hoseok. “And how you love the little things in life as if they were the greatest things on earth.”
He let him sip his tea, tidying up their half finished noodle cups as he waited for Jungkook to finish his story. There was a tightness in the line of his shoulders and the worry in his eyes that told him that there was more to come.
A minute or two passed before he continued: “I used to watch you from the campus steps, you’re so happy and cheerful and kind, and I’m glad I met her, ‘cause she gave me the courage to go and talk to you,
“and I thought that, now that she’s gone, what else do I have to lose, right? Why not come here and tell you how I feel? I didn’t expect to cry, though,”
The pair laughed, and Hoseok rather liked the way they sounded together, a harmony of opposites almost. His heart felt as though it were burning, his stomach a twist of butterflies and his lungs full of flowers, but suddenly everything felt brighter, as though Jungkook had come and brought the sun to his otherwise uninteresting life.
“I’m glad you did,” Hoseok admitted. “You were on my mind all the time, even though I hardly know you, there’s something about you that pulls me in, maybe it's your smile too,”
Jungkook giggled, his toothy grin on full display. For the first time, Hoseok noticed the dimple in his cheek, shallow but beautiful. It was as though he were seeing him for the first time, surrounded by flowers and eyes red with tears, too pretty for words.
“What flower would you give me now?” He asked, looking up at him with pink cheeks.
Hoseok stared at the garden around them, and they all clamoured for his attention with their bright colours and poetic messages. He could see Jungkook in each and everyone of them, the modest whites and glamorous pinks, the deep hues of purples and blues and the cheerfulness of a yellow. For a moment, they spoke of nothing but love and beauty, the complexities and intricacies of their meanings pushed to the side to highlight their singular sentiment.
“I’d give you them all.”
Jungkook rolled his eyes, but in no way was it malicious. His cheeks turned an even deeper shade of pink, the romanticism of his words making his heart do flips in his chest.
“Choose one!” He insisted.
Hoseok looked around the room again, refusing to listen to every single shouting flower he heard. The daisies were too simple, and roses too cliche. Gardenia’s were too dramatic, and lavender too fragrant for his sensitive sense of smell.
Peonies, however, were perfect. There was only one left, but its papery, delicate rustles expressed a quiet emotion that Hoseok had wanted to speak since he’d first laid eyes on Jungkook.
He leaned over and picked it from the vase. “Peonies express romantic attraction between strangers,” he said, clipping the stem short so that he could tuck it into Jungkook’s hair.
A petal flaked off into his soft honey hair, the baby pink of the blossom only serving to highlight his beauty, leaving Hoseok breathless. He wished there were words to explain how his heart clenched.
“That sounds like us,” Jungkook agreed. “Is there a flower that says ‘I want to kiss you?’”
Hoseok laughed, yet the flowers blooming in his lungs left him choking on oxygen.
Jungkook grinned, eyebrow raised as if he were waiting for a real answer. “Well?”
Hoseok was helpless as he leaned in to kiss him, an explosion of pollen and fireworks in his chest. It was gentle and slow, a simple meeting of minds that opened something long forgotten desire for human love within him. The pressure in his body released, shoulders relaxing as he felt Jungkook cup the back of his neck, pulling him closer to deepen the kiss.
He pulled away with a sigh, heart thumping with glee. Jungkook’s eyes were heavy lidded, his lower lip a little puffy from their kiss. With each passing moment, he grew more and more beautiful in Hoseok’s eyes.
“Well… it sounds like the worst of the weather has passed but… you can stay for awhile if you want?” he suggested, hoping that he would.
Jungkoook pretended to think, his grin giving him away, before he leaned in and pressed his lips to Hoseok’s once more. “I think I’ll stay,” he whispered back.
≿━━━━🌷━━━━≾