Work Text:
it should be another ordinary saturday morning at work, but then the store door bell rings and a boy gets inside smeraldo flowers. he stops right in front of the door, looking sort of lost. and he's crying.
okay, maybe he's not full on crying at the moment, but his eyes are all puffy, like he was sobbing before entering the shop. plus, he's still sniffing a lot, the tip of his nose red. it's not the first time yoongi gets customers looking a certain suspicious way or asking for questionable things, and it certainly won't be the last. what yoongi has learned while working at smeraldo flowers: he can't care too deeply about the customers that get inside. people will always just come in, drop their feelings on him sometimes, and go away just as quickly as they came. so yoongi listens, gives them what they asked for, and forgets about everything the minute they walk past the door on their way out. it's easier that way, no strings attached.
it's a cold january winter day in seoul, the weather forecast predicted heavy snow shower in the morning when yoongi was leaving for work. so maybe the guy is just allergic to the wind or something. maybe he's got the flu. but there's something about him that worries yoongi. no, worry wouldn't be the right word. bothers him. makes him curious.
because, the thing about the boy is: he is really, really pretty. and yoongi has nothing if not a weak heart. he blames it on being a pisces (even though he likes to pretend, with no success, that he does not give a shit about astrology).
the boy looks like he's on his twenties, maybe around 22 years old. he doesn't look any older than a college student. his black hair with light blond edges is messy, loose strands falling over his large, expressive eyes and covering his eyebrows, that are furrowed like he's trying really hard to look somewhat more serious. his lips are shiny from crying, coloured the prettiest shade of pink. honeysuckle. the boy is just adorable. and yoongi decides that whoever made him that upset just shouldn't ever be allowed to do that.
"hello… can i help you?" yoongi offers from behind the counter, but the boy doesn't see nor hear him at first. he's looking around the boutique, observing the colors and shapes of the plants. yoongi stands up and talks again as he walks towards the boy, this time raising his voice just the tiniest bit to make sure he listens. "hey, are you okay?"
"sorry, i'm-- i'm fine," the boy stutters finally looking at yoongi, even though his voice comes out choked. he runs a shaky hand through his hair, not looking fine at all. he has tattoos all over the knuckles on his right hand. when yoongi approaches him, he notices how wet his eyelashes are from tears.
"do you want to come and sit at the back?" yoongi asks, reassuringly touching his shoulder. "i can get you some water, is that okay?"
the boy nods vehemently, not trying to hide how upset he is anymore. it was pointless doing so. he's taller than yoongi, but he looks so fragile standing there, the giant puffer jacket he's wearing is basically swallowing his body and covering half of his legs, making him seem much smaller than he actually is. the black combat boots on his feet look weirdly out of character for this outfit. yoongi isn't big on public displays of affection at all, let alone making any sort of skin contact with total strangers, but the boy looks so tiny it makes him really want to give him a comforting hug. "yeah, i guess i could use a glass of water, t-thanks."
the boy follows yoongi towards the back of the shop. yoongi points to the table where the employees craft flower arrangements and do little workshops, and the boy sits there waiting, delicately wiping off the tears from his eyes with the back of his hands. yoongi walks to where they keep the kitchen stuff, fills up a glass with filtered water and grabs a box of tissues. he comes back and sits next to the boy, watching him as he drinks it. "so..." the boy clears his throat. "i'm supposed to be going to my ex-boyfriend's wedding today," he finally manages to say.
"oh." yoongi says. he thought he had experienced all kinds of romantic heartbreak while working at a flower shop, but that's an entirely new one. he can add that to the list he keeps on his phone of awkward situations he's been aware of since becoming a florist (items include the time he had to turn a wedding bouquet into a funeral flower arrangement). "wow, that really, really sucks."
the guy sniffs, grabs a tissue to dry his runny nose and proceeds to talk, really fast this time. "yeah, i know right? and at the last minute this morning he called me and went like "oh, i don't think we have flowers for the cake table, can you pick some up on the way here?" and i was feeling like shit, and i don't know the first thing about flowers, but i was obviously like "okay, no problem!" but the snow is killing my car, and i don't even know if i can get there in time, and now i'm crying about it to a total stranger--"
"jesus, your ex sounds like a fucking asshole." yoongi interrupts him before (cute) boy starts crying again. sad crying inside smeraldo flowers is just prohibited from this day forward, only happy tears allowed, yoongi declares it on his brain. perhaps he gets nervous around people crying, and the boy just looks like he's so nice. he doesn't deserve it.
yoongi analyzes him from head to toe, stares at his big doe eyes, seeing something rather innocent there. and he gets an idea."hang on, wait here." he says, and feels the boy observing him as he goes around the shop, getting a light brown pot and gathering some flowers here and there, arranging a quick bouquet.
"here, for your ex's wedding," yoongi hands him the finished piece. "these are geraniums, they symbolize stupidity," he explains pointing to the pink flowers with lighter edges. "as for basil, it's usually used as food flavor, and not made to be in a bouquet because it symbolizes hatred," he points at the deep toned green leaves with tiny purple flowers. "and this," he points at the white flowers, "is meadowsweet. do you notice how strong they smell? they symbolize uselessness. so this essentially mean a huge 'fuck you,' because what kind of piece of shit asks their ex to get them flowers on their wedding day?"
"this is so great" the guy smiles gently for the first time since he entered the shop. goldenrod. his teary eyes sparkle just the slightest bit, and it's enough to light up the entire place, yoongi thinks. it leaves the edges of the boy's face looking a lot less sharp. it's such a lovely, pretty smile, almost as pretty as he is. he should be always smiling. it makes the corners of yoongi's mouth go up as well, and he just knows that the softness of this strangers smile will get imprinted on his brain for days, long after he's gone. "thanks for making me the 'fuck you' bouquet, i guess." he chuckles. yoongi's heart flips. "how much do i owe you for this?" he asks, reaching for what probably is his wallet on his inner coat pocket.
"oh, the passive aggressive bouquets are on the house," yoongi says right away. the least he can do is give it to him for free. "it's fine." except it's not fine. he'll probably have to pay for it himself after if he doesn't want to get in trouble with his boss. but seeing the boy waving him goodbye and stumbling out of the door with the bouquet in hand, he decides it is worth it.
♡
"...and then he smiled at me, all teary eyed and everything, and i wasn't expecting him to be so pretty, then i noticed he had an adorable mole right below his lower lip--"
"...and then he had to go, but you failed to get his name because he was late and basically ran away from the shop," taehyung completes, eyes focused on the sketch in front of him. today he's coloring what looks like a drawing of a lion with watercolor ink. "yes, it was absolutely tragic, hyung. you've told me this like 5 times already," he says, but sounds amused at yoongi's misery.
yoongi is sitting at the arrangement table crafting flower crowns with taehyung. it's a special order from a long term customer of the shop, a kindergarten teacher who asked for thirty pieces of miscellaneous flowers to welcome their students back from winter break. it needs to be done by the end of the day, and yoongi already finished fifteen of them. taehyung doesn't even work at smeraldo, doesn't give a shit about flowers, but comes by often on his free afternoons off college to keep yoongi company. he usually brings coffee and snacks, they eat together, and yoongi works while taehyung mostly draws on his sketchbook or plays some sort of shooting game on his phone. sometimes when there's no work left for yoongi to do, they simply sit there and play together.
it's been three days since cute boy entered smeraldo flowers looking all sad and distressed, and yoongi hasn't stopped thinking about him since then. he's tried. it's kind of ridiculous that yoongi, who has been a florist for three years already, has a crush on a client. it's such a high schooler behavior of him. but he cannot help it. he closes his eyes and all he can see is cute boy. all he can think about is wanting to see cute boy smile again. all he wants to do is make pretty bouquets full of meaning for cute boy, he wants to put pretty flowers on cute boy's soft looking hair and just. just.
he hasn't gay panicked this badly in a very long time, so it feels foreign on his heart. and all there's left for him to do is wait for the boy to maybe show up again. it's not even certain that he will ever come back. yoongi probably wouldn't, if it was him. he was going to his ex's wedding, so odds are he wants to erase every single memory related to that from his head.
the whole thing is stupid. plus, it's been too long since yoongi found himself interested about another human being entirely, and taehyung hasn't stopped teasing him about it since he told him about their little encounter, so that's a fun bonus. yoongi should've kept his big mouth shut if he didn't want his crackhead friends meddling in his business.
"but i didn't even think about getting his name before he was gone, taehyung-ah!" yoongi sighs loudly, dropping the crown on the table and rests his torso on the chair dramatically. "life is so unfair! i'll probably never see cute boy again in my life!"
and maybe it was a fluke. destiny definitely works in mysterious ways. but at the exact second yoongi says that, the bell above the front door of smeraldo flowers rings, warning them that a customer is entering the shop. and then the boy is right there.
"oh! it's you!" yoongi exclaims, immediately standing up without thinking twice, not even ashamed about the way his heart instantly did backflips inside his chest just at the mere sight of cute boy. he carelessly shoves his chair to the side, and it probably hits taehyung who exclaims an 'ouch,' and yoongi doesn't even bother to care. because cute boy came back! he's here!
"yeah, it's me!" the boy chuckles, walking towards the crafting table. he looks well rested and much, much happier than the last time they saw each other. his eyes sparkle the fairy lights that decorate the shop. how is he so effortlessly dreamy? he holds a tiny flower pot on his hands, and as it stopped snowing in seoul and the weather is already warmer, he's wearing a light coat and skinny jeans that highlight his legs. and oh my, his thighs. yoongi stops himself from staring anywhere that isn't his face. he's been longing to see that face again.
"that's cute," the boy says, pointing at the flower crown taehyung had put on yoongi's head a few moments earlier, that for a second he didn't even remember he was wearing. but of course he'd be wearing something dumb when what he really wanted to be doing was making an impression.
"oh, thanks! i just made it." yoongi isn't able to contain his excitement, truly. he will definitely be embarrassed later when he overthinks the situation. but at this moment, he's most certainly not thinking. he's just happy to see cute boy again. "wait! i think i have the perfect one for you."
yoongi turns around to get the flower crown he had just finished giving some final touches from the table (and taehyung is looking at him with that devilish smirk he does, at which yoongi just quickly mouths 'shut your face' at him) and gingerly places it over the boy's head. it suits him. tiger-flower, yellow petals with orange dots splattered all over them. please love me.
"oh, thank you!" he touches the crown lightly with his fingertips. "it doesn't look silly?" he asks. and he's still smiling, and he holds all of the lights in the universe on his sweet eyes, and oh, to hell with it. yoongi is simply gone, to the point of no return.
"no!" yoongi's brain goes be cool be cool be cool be cool, but what comes out of his mouth is: "it looks kind of adorable on you." he can hear taehyung snorting on the back at yoongi's (failed) attempt to be chill, and he knows he will be teased mercilessly later. he will never hear the end of it.
"hm, so, anyways… this is for you." he hands over the pot he's carrying to yoongi. "to say thank you! you know, for the other day," he completes, stumbling over his words.
"you really didn't have to!" yoongi says, and as his hands reach for the pot, he just holds the boy's hands over it. and they're as warm as yoongi's cheeks suddenly feel. they look at each other for what seems like several minutes, even though yoongi knows only half a second had passed. but their hands are touching, and they're looking at each other straight on the eyes, and it's so intense but it feels so good, and they're definitely having a moment, and the next thing yoongi's brain registers is the boy grabbing his face with his free hand and pressing the softest kiss on his right cheek.
it lasts for barely a second but it's like time stopped altogether. the entire world just stopped existing, taehyung's presence not even there anymore, and yoongi's cheeks are burning, especially where the boy's lips have touched him. soft, like honeysuckle. he hopes his face doesn't look as red as it feels. but his brain is short circuiting, chanting he 'kissed me! he kissed me!' so, yeah. that's another thing for him to completely obsess over on the following days.
he looks at the boy and his eyes are wide, like he can't believe he mustered enough courage to do that. yoongi's pleased to see that at least the boy's cheeks are also as red as full bloomed roses, and he knows his own pupils are probably blown wide as well, so he glances at the flower pot on his hands, just to look somewhere else. cheery yellow daffodil flowers glance back at him. new beginnings. his heart races faster.
"you were really nice to me, so of course i had to," the boy mumbles. yoongi looks up at him again, but he's already walking away. "listen, i've got to go but…" he turns his head back. "make sure you read the note i left, alright?" he says, holding the front door open, the tiger-lily crown still resting against his fluffy hair.
"o-okay..." yoongi stutters, not really wanting him to go so fast, but doing nothing to stop him. the boy winks adorably at him and lets the door shut behind him with a silent bang.
yoongi lets out a heavy breath he didn't even notice he was holding. he looks at the little yellow post-it attached to the flower pot and smiles right away. it reads, in pretty handwriting:
7657-4634
wanna go for a drink?
jeongguk :) x