Work Text:
“please tell me you aren’t planting anything for a specific person again.” huening bahiyyih mumbles as she walks into the demeter cabin, heading over to where huening kai is hunched over the table, tucked away in the corner of the living room. he’s sure she’s already rolling her eyes, just by the change in tone as she says, “you know, i love plants just as much as the next person, but… kai, please.”
“it’s for science,” he says almost immediately, even if he knows that’s… not quite what he’s doing. he’s been trying his hardest to plant a flower that is the perfect gift for – admittedly – a long time, but he keeps failing and failing. and sure, any passerby might say it isn’t a fail, since kai believes choi beomgyu takes each of the plants he’s been secretly gifted, but no one will confirm it for him – and he’s too scared to ask him if he appreciates the gifts because that would be weird. if he even still has them, he thinks of a beat later, his self-deprecating side sticking out like a sore thumb. he leaves them for him, with his name written on a little card, but still. he doesn’t know if he takes them, or throws them away somewhere. it doesn’t stop him from doing it, though, because there was one time he heard someone say that beomgyu liked the first few he had received – but that was a while ago. “the soil and ambrosia both make them grow faster. it’s literally science,” he continues, as if that’s even an excuse to frankly waste most of the ambrosia he’s given, and to technically steal from the strawberry fields. it’s fine, he’s a demeter kid. he’s given special access to these things because of his ability to plant so well, or at least that’s what he likes to think. no one has seemingly complained yet, and the soil is replaced every so often, so it’s not really that big of a deal. “besides, i like giving them to him – er, leaving them for him. i think he likes them.” he glances over his shoulder at her, noting that she doesn’t quite look as impressed as he expects, but that also equally doesn’t surprise him. she is quite literally his sidekick, except for when it comes to figuring out the enigma that is talking to beomgyu.
she hums, looking through his collection of seed packets he gets from the big house in the cabinets off to the right.
“i think you should just tell him,” bahiyyih says, eventually tossing kai another bag of seeds over her shoulder, not even caring to know if he will catch them or not. he does, fortunately, and he looks at the package to see what flower it was. this time it was forget-me-nots, which are perfect because kai thinks beomgyu is unforgettable. “i’m running out of ideas to help you. there’s only so many flowers and other supplies available to us. i’m about to start asking the hephaestus cabin to build the perfect flower - one that won’t die and one that you can get to specifics so that he can keep it forever.”
“that wouldn’t be genuine, ‘planted from the soil of the earth’, and all that…” kai mumbles, “and i’m pretty sure mom wouldn’t like that at all.” he crinkles up his nose at the thought of spending any more time down in the forges than he has to, just because of the searing heat, “and the hephaestus kids certainly wouldn’t like me taking up their space.”
bahiyyih gives a small huff of frustration. “then start giving him something new! give him a harvest! give him something he can use. fill it up with grains and produce and have it be useful!”
“if he’s even keeping this stuff, which you refuse to help me find out –” he says, before he blinks, owlishly looking up at his sister. “wait, it’s not even harvest time.”
“i’m just saying… it's a reminder for future attempts,” bahiyyih looks a little lost in thought before she sighs, “though, if you’re still not talking to beomgyu by then, we might have an issue.”
kai rolls his eyes, before eventually glancing back at the packet of seeds in his hand. “are you sure about these? do you think forget-me-nots would be too cheesy?” he ignores the glare his sister gives him, because okay, he’s been holding off on the forget-me-nots because he does admittedly think they are a little cheesy, but she is the one that threw them at him, anyway.
“i think you’ve gone past being cheesy. you’re probably smothering him.”
“you gave them to me!” kai pouts, before throwing an arm back and pointing to the door. “then get out if you aren’t going to help!”
bahiyyih snickers, glancing around at more of his tools and the dirty work desk that he’s claimed his own for about a year and a half. “alright, alright. give me five minutes, i'll sneak some more soil out from the fields for you, you look like you’re running out.”
“thank you.” he says.
“only if you promise to talk to him. okay?”
kai sighs, suppressing the urge to thump his head against the workstation. “fine, fine. i’ll figure it out sometime soon and report back to you.”
“thank you,” she sing-songs as she heads out of the cabin, closing the door behind her. he instead chooses to lean back in his chair, looking at the package of forget-me-nots in front of him and wondering how the hell he got caught up in all of this. he can’t believe he can’t just talk to his crush, especially about the plants he’s been leaving for him. the topic makes a familiar ball of anxiety twist up in his gut, threatening to get bigger the more he contemplates it.
he’ll get over it soon, he promises. he promised bahiyyih anyway, since she’s probably tired of his antics. he’s tired of his antics. he pushes away the self-deprecating thought of why hasn’t beomgyu sought him out and reaches forward, tearing open the package.
it still doesn't stop him from leaving the now sprouting forget-me-nots on his front porch, like normal.
“can you be my spy, hyung? i don’t even know if he likes them.” kai whines out the next evening, holding onto soobin’s arm as they sit together toward the empty end of the apollo table. “it’s stressful!”
okay, so he knows he’s promised his sister that he’d talk to beomgyu, but that has not been working in his favor. ever since then, he’s hardly seen him – and the times that he’s been close enough to try and say something, like in the dinner line waiting for food, it never comes out and he never manages to gather his attention. it’s kind of… pathetic, really.
“i’m sure he likes them,” soobin says, returning to eat his bread despite kai clinging to him. “and how can i possibly be a spy in the aphrodite cabin for you?”
“you can use yeonjun and it’d work in your favor because you’d be talking to him—!”
soobin and taehyun blink, awareness settling over them as they listen to kai’s reasoning. “yeonjun-hyung is an athena kid?” taehyun replies.
“but his friend wooyoung is an aphrodite kid!”
“how can you possibly think they’ll agree to all of that and not think beomgyu is accepting your flowers?” taehyun asks, and kai peers over at him. “besides, that’s not either of them being a spy, that’s wooyoung being one. and wooyoung doesn’t know you enough to put up with your shit.”
“wow.” he sighs, running his hand through his hair before he delves into how this makes sense, because it does – he’s thought it out all before even considering asking soobin. “and it’s because i get nervous around beomgyu because he’s cute. yeonjun is obviously friends with wooyoung and beomgyu. and, like i said, yeonjun and soobin-hyung can team up and eventually fall in love and get married—” kai teases, though he gets cut off mid sentence as there’s a sharp elbow nailing him right in his side.
“shut up, he’ll hear!”
taehyun rolls his eyes. “this whole plan is lame. he probably has them out on the porch of the cabin, you could probably just look —”
“yeah, and be labeled as a stalker?” kai huffs. taehyun grumbles out a, ‘yeah, and leaving him flowers everywhere doesn’t make you one?’ under his breath, but kai ignores that for now. “and soobin-hyung would still be a spy, anyway, since he’ll still be relaying information to me.” he turns his attention back to him. “please?”
soobin tries his best to glare over at him, but eventually melts due to the puppy eyes the other is giving him. still, he holds onto his original word. “you’re a big kid. you can talk to your crush and see if he likes the flowers you’ve been giving him.”
“that’s weird, though,”
“how?” taehyun asks, a little amused.
“what if he thinks it’s creepy that he’s getting flowers? then if i ask about it, he’ll know i’m doing it and then he’ll think i’m creepy, or something,”
“gods. you’re worse than soobin-hyung. you both suck at this.”
“hey!” kai and soobin both shout, gathering the attention of a few spare campers who look over at the loud sound, before they’re settling back down and focusing on their own conversations.
“just saying.”
“i am not as bad as kai, at least i’ve actually had a conversation with yeonjun,” soobin mumbles under his breath, and kai pouts because he’s said hi to beomgyu… once – and okay, maybe it was a long time ago, but it still counts.
“yeah, for a minute,” taehyun reminds him. “and then you got so nervous you couldn’t talk any more after that and you ran away.”
kai huffs, stabbing a chopstick through a piece of the bulgogi he has on his plate. “that’s why if he works as my spy, he can talk to yeonjun a lot more!”
“kai, he can hardly talk to him now, you think asking him to talk to him is gonna change anything? listen — no one is being a spy, this isn’t some james bond movie.”
“but it could be—“
“no.” taehyun interrupts. “soobin-hyung, an apollo kid, is not going to be your spy. if anything, i should be your spy, since your backwards logic apparently has athena kids getting involved.”
kai pauses a bit, before the forgotten reality of taehyun being an athena kid like yeonjun catches up with him, and technically he doesn’t need soobin to ask yeonjun — that was until he finally processes taehyun’s words. he opens his mouth, only to get shot down by taehyun immediately. “no, kai, i won’t be your spy either.”
“fine,” kai pouts and crosses his arms, “then he’ll just have to figure out how to talk to yeonjun himself. and i didn’t want you to be a spy anyways, you’d tell beomgyu everything.”
“i wouldn’t tell him a damn thing.” taehyun smirks. kai watches him warily.
“and i don’t have a problem talking to yeonjun!” soobin dodges the sympathetic looks he gets from the other two, and huffs - moving to eat his bread instead of trying to convince them.
taehyun looks up after a moment and kai realizes he has a bit of a smug look on his face, and as he hears another voice enter their conversation, a bit of a snarky, “you don’t?” it finally clicks in his head why taehyun had that grin.
soobin flinches as he recognizes whose voice that is - and kai turns to see yeonjun standing behind him, a plate of food in his hands and a cocky smile on his face. “hi, hyung,” taehyun greets, an evil glint in his eyes as he watches soobin’s obvious embarrassment. “do you want to eat with us?”
“sure. i was passing by to get to the athena table, but i’ll join you three instead.” yeonjun says, taking a seat beside soobin, but eventually his smile melts into something soft when he looks at him, and soobin thankfully seems to chill out to the point where he’s actually able to eat, surprisingly. that is, until yeonjun quietly coos out, “cute,” and soobin’s face flushes red. kai wants to laugh, but he knows it’s best not to.
taehyun also doesn’t laugh, but he instead focuses on yeonjun and says, “you can finally hear about kai’s stupid ass plan to make sure choi beomgyu likes his flowers.”
there it was.
kai kicks taehyun’s shin under the table, hard — a lot harder than he had intended, but it still got the point across. taehyun jolts, gasps out in pain and glares up at him as he almost curls into himself, his hand rubbing at the injury. soobin scolds them, but it’s a quiet request as kai then rushes out, “it’s not a stupid plan, i’m just nervous and besides — i’m not even going to do it anyways, so it’s not like it matters.”
yeonjun looks a little shocked by the revelation that kai had been giving beomgyu flowers, but that’s quickly overlooked as he quirks an eyebrow, leaning over to look at him. “what do you mean? what’s this plan?”
kai’s face heats up as he glances over toward him, and he feels like he’s being questioned by his mother, yeonjun’s eyes trained on him with a small encouraging, but knowing, smile on his face. still, kai doesn’t budge. “it’s not a big deal,” he mumbles.
“kai-ya,” yeonjun says, a little amused now as taehyun hisses something under his breath about getting kicked. “come on, you can tell me.”
“it’s not a big deal,” he repeats, “it’s—”
“he was going to ask me to ask you to ask wooyoung to ask beomgyu if he likes his flowers he’s giving him as gifts,” soobin interrupts, his back straightening as he looks at yeonjun, and okay, yeah - it does sound stupid when he phrases it like that, but kai can’t help but stubbornly defend it.
“hey, no, that’s not what it was like—”
“that’s pretty much what it was,” taehyun chirps in, despite his voice showing it was clear he was still a little agitated by the kick. “he kept calling soobin his spy.”
“did not —”
“did too!”
“i’ll just ask beomgyu myself for you, how about that?” yeonjun cuts in as he moves to stand up, and kai lunges past soobin to grab onto him with a shout to get him to stop. yeonjun looks at him with an amused smile and suddenly kai understands exactly why soobin is just a tiny bit afraid of talking to him. he’s definitely the child of athena at heart.
(it was easier when yeonjun was looking at him like how his mother would - from what he remembers of her – with soft eyes and a warm smile. now kai’s looking at a sly fox, a warrior in the making with precise logic and hidden aggression coursing through his veins. not that he was necessarily aggressive about it, but definitely straight-forward with how easily he had spoken about it – a warrior, ready to head out to the battlefields with a sort of dominance and confidence, anyway. kai supposes this idea is the same way, and he knows he’d get swept up in the aftermath if he allowed yeonjun to even dare head over there.)
“hyung, no — kai has to do it. if he wants to know if beomgyu likes the flowers, he can ask him himself.” taehyun says once yeonjun agrees to kai’s plea and sits back down, and soobin agrees. kai pouts and messes with the little amount of food he has left on his plate. he’s not happy with the idea of yeonjun going over there and asking, but he’s not too keen on the idea of having to do it himself. both options seem like they’d end awfully – if beomgyu found out it’s been him giving these gifts, how would he react?
would he be disgusted?
“it’s not like i can just go up and ask him,” kai mutters, “otherwise it’s weird jumping the gun like that.”
“well, yeah,” taehyun says, like it’s obvious. kai supposes it is, he just doesn’t have the ability to handle it. “just have a conversation with him first.”
“you’re going to have to eventually talk to him anyways,” soobin says, though kai can tell in his eyes he prays he doesn’t bring up yeonjun again in front of him, “so you might as well start it off with some sort of conversation and then build your way to asking about the flowers and if he likes them.”
“but what if he doesn’t?”
yeonjun hums, before saying, “i think he would’ve made a huge deal about it by now if he didn’t.”
“he does throw temper tantrums sometimes,” taehyun mutters. “besides, he’s smart. if any of us ask him, he’ll know who is sending us. it’s just better to ask him yourself. and to hold a conversation with him.”
taehyun glances at soobin too, just quickly, and immediately soobin and kai duck their heads and focus on eating.
yeonjun grins. “you can do it, kai-ya.”
and, so he tries. it’s not really intentional though, because as he’s heading toward his cabin all while passing through the backyards, he sees the patio the aphrodite cabin has (and that other campers have spent the past few years jealous of) and sees a wild amount of plants nestled there, tucked away in a corner. he’s seen these plants before, there’s nothing new there since most are those big outdoor plants he's always had, like those elephant ear plants that kai remembers seeing in that one flower shop across from his old home. there are some, though, that he can see that have very distinct pots – and his breath catches in his throat as he pauses his walking, looking at them with a smile on his face. he still has them. there’s even some on the windowsills for the smaller ones that he’s planted for him.
seeing the grand scale of it all, though, is what blows his mind. he really had given him quite a few, and having it thrown back in his face as he stares at the plants is enough to have his hands shake with a familiar anxiety – because beomgyu must’ve been so overwhelmed. bahiyyih is right about that, about this whole situation, but she’s almost always right so there’s no shock there. he had made this entire thing his love language without realizing it, and now seeing the amount of plants he’s given him throws him off-kilter.
it’s a love language, but for a man who probably doesn’t even know who he is. he’s got no reason to, anyway – they’ve never spoken besides that one time, probably back when beomgyu first came to camp. it was that long ago, anyway. he doesn’t even remember when exactly it was.
and then all the awkward attempts, only to stand there and be overshadowed by something else entirely, like another friend getting beomgyu’s attention, or him walking off without even realizing that he’s standing there, trying to talk but staying silent like a gaping fish from one of the ponds nearby.
“you know,” he hears a voice say out of nowhere, catching kai off-guard and sending him all but scrambling to the ground with a loud shout. he hadn’t even heard anyone come up.
he looks up at the owner of the voice, seeing choi beomgyu staring back down at him with amusement and mild concern laced in on his features. fuck, the sunshine makes his pretty brown eyes even prettier – a sweet chocolate color that kai swears he can get lost in.
the shout seemingly startled beomgyu, but he laughs as he holds out a hand to help him up. kai takes it despite his hands being a little clammy, and he tries to ignore the fact that holding his hand sends a spark down his spine. beomgyu lets go after a lingering moment, and kai can’t really blame him – his palms must be so sweaty – before he continues his original thought, “it’s a little creepy.”
“what is?” kai stammers out, his heart beating in his chest but he tries to remain cool because was he talking about him noticing the flowers or the flowers as gifts themselves? but, that would mean he would know it was him? oh gods.
“looking into someone’s cabin.”
“oh!” oh no, this is the worst. bahiyyih, taehyun and soobin would be losing their shit. “no, i was just—i was just passing by to head back to my cabin, and i—and i saw a bunch of plants in the window, i just—” i was just looking at the flowers i had given you, looking at how some are on your porch while some are in on the windowsills.
“kai-ya,” beomgyu teases, giving a cheeky smile as he reaches over and shoves at his shoulder a bit, “chill! it was a joke. it’s fine, i knew you were looking at the flowers and plants i have. i have quite a few.”
“oh. um.” kai’s face heats up. “yeah, i knew that’s what you meant.”
“mhm.” beomgyu snickers. “do you want to come in and see the rest of them? they’re pretty. though, a demeter kid like you would know that already.” he starts to walk toward the patio and back door, before looking back and asking, “you could point them out and name them for me? you’d know all about that, right?”
did he know he gave them to him? or is he just being cheeky again? shit…
“sure, yeah, that sounds fun. i’ll try my best.” kai smiles, but it’s awkward — and beomgyu picks up on how kai had hesitated. still, he grins and kai swoons a little at how he beams at him.
beomgyu leads him up the porch and gestures vaguely to other potted plants, the taller ones like the elephant ear that kai hadn’t given him but kai still acknowledges, rattling off the common names (and the genus names of each, too, for no reason) just to hear the small murmurs of ‘ooh’s that beomgyu gives him in response. they go inside after a moment and kai truly sees what kind of disaster he’s gotten himself into. he’s already come to terms with the fact that he’s underestimated himself when it came to giving him gifts — but he surely hadn’t expected for beomgyu to have kept almost all of them alive.
“oh wow,” he breathes out, feeling a little dumb by the lack of enthusiasm he shows. he sees almost every single pot, positioned on desks, or bookshelves, or the windowsills; some hanging from rope like how one would hang succulents, some nestled on the table in the center like a beautiful center-piece. he feels a flush of admiration, or maybe adoration, once realizing how well beomgyu has taken care of them. it almost makes him want to cry, if he’s being honest. it’s just a sentimental thing, and it almost gives him the boost he needs to say that he’s given them to him – but he doesn’t. he can’t.
“yeah. they’re so pretty, aren’t they? oh!” beomgyu exclaims, gently grabbing a potted plant with tiny blue flowers growing on it from its spot on the counter. “this is the newest one i’ve gotten. it’s very pretty. they’re my favorite so far.”
and kai has to take a moment, because they’re the forget-me-nots that he had left him yesterday. still, he refrains from thanking him, because he didn’t know if he should – that would seem weird, right? he just nods instead, mumbling out a small, “yeah, they’re pretty.”
“my siblings always tease me and say it’s my secret admirer collection. like they’re not the ones who adore every single new flower i get, anyway.” he rolls his eyes, but holds the pot of forget-me-nots close, with such a gentle grasp that kai almost doesn’t register what he’s said. secret admirer collection? and sure, it is just that, but hearing beomgyu say that is odd.
“oh?” kai almost chokes out, before coughing a bit to hide the squeak that came from him. “is that a good thing… or a bad thing?”
beomgyu sets the forget-me-nots back down in their respective spot on the counter before he smiles and says, “i think they’re all just jealous. it’s a good thing, because i like them a lot, and plus, i get to keep them alive… a few of them had died already but i’m trying my hardest to water them and tend to them.” oh. that would explain why there’s not all of them there, given on the mental list of flower packages he’s already opened and planted when scanning the room, but it still makes kai’s face heat up regardless. if those few hadn’t died, he’d still have them, and that just does things to him. it makes his heart race, makes his stomach flutter with the idea that beomgyu actually cares about these flowers.
it’s sweet.
“well, i’m glad you like them.” kai says, but cringes a bit when he realizes that sounds too direct. “otherwise that might be a bit weird, right?”
“maybe. but everything’s good.” beomgyu pauses, looking over at him and kai’s breath catches in his throat. “i’ve asked everyone i know this,” he says, voice a bit quieter now, “but no one seems to have an answer - or they just pretend like they don’t know. but… do you know who’s leaving me these flowers?”
kai hesitates. he wants to tell him, he really does, especially after the confirmation of him liking the flowers enough to keep them alive — but he can’t. from his point of view, it almost seems too convenient for him, almost like kai would be just agreeing with him to get a date.
(this was why he needed a spy, dammit.)
“i don’t know,” kai whispers, noting how beomgyu’s looking at him with a certain gaze in his eyes that oddly reminds him of taehyun when he’s already got everything figured out — and now is when kai finally accepts the fact that they’re called the evil twins by new campers. what if taehyun had been playing him this whole time, and what if he had told him already? he’s really hoping taehyun had stuck to his original word of having kai talk to him first, since he had been so hellbent on preventing soobin from doing so. he wouldn’t rat him out like that, would he?
“kai,” beomgyu says, taking a bit of a step closer — and kai doesn’t move, frozen to the spot despite needing to move. “i’m pretty sure you do.”
“and if i do?”
beomgyu watches him carefully. “then tell me.”
“it’s…” kai finally takes a step back, allowing himself to breathe a bit without his senses overloading on beomgyu, beomgyu, beomgyu. he doesn’t miss how beomgyu’s mood deflates, but it’s just for a moment as kai then finally gets out, “it’s me.”
suddenly, the atmosphere in the room changes and beomgyu brightly grins, his eyes sparkling as he says, “i know.”
kai’s eyes widen as his brain catches up to what he had said – and he’s sputtering out, “wh-what? what do you mean you know?”
“i know it’s you, i know you’ve been giving me the flowers. i just needed confirmation and i needed to hear it from you.” beomgyu laughs a little, like it’s obvious. kai’s not sure how he figured it out, but then again, maybe he hadn’t been as sneaky as he originally suspected he was. “thank you, by the way. i appreciate all of them, they’re all really pretty.”
“you’re pretty,” kai mumbles, his face heating up as he hastily plays with his long sleeves. he knows he shouldn’t just jump the gun like that, but to be fair - beomgyu had started it. “and i like you. so i’ve been giving you… flowers that are pretty too.”
beomgyu’s face turns red almost immediately. kai supposes he can feel victorious for catching him off guard like that for just a split second, but it’s quickly overturned by how he’s fallen silent. “oh,” he mumbles out, “i mean, yeah, th-that was kind of… the next thought, i just hadn’t really… figured that i would be right.”
“yeah,” kai mumbles sheepishly. “i’m… i’m sorry.”
beomgyu looks up at him after that, furrowing his brows and still ignoring his red face. “why are you sorry? i like them. i like you. i was… i am just a little nervous, since i was really wanting that to be the reason but i wasn’t expecting it to be true, too.”
“oh,” kai echoes from beomgyu earlier, finding himself taking a step forward again. “is… is that okay?”
“yes, of course it’s okay,” beomgyu says, a sweet smile replacing the slight frown that had threatened to show, “it’s cute. you’re cute. i was hoping you’d like me.”
“i do,” kai says. he knows he should take it slow, already clumsily racing through the whole ‘i like you’ thing in record time, but he figures that the admittance would help as he gets to finally know beomgyu more, right? he doesn’t want to jump into a relationship without being friends, of course. “hey, did… you want to go back to my cabin? i can show you my work station, and my supplies, and stuff… like the packages of flower seeds i still haven’t planted.” there’s not that many left, but it’s still quite a feat that he’s impressed with. besides, he doesn’t think bahiyyih will be there to bother them, anyway. she’s usually out around this time, and kai thanks his mother up above for the timing so he doesn't quite have to report back to her about the promise just yet. then, he adds on after a moment of silence, just to make sure he’d be fine with it: “if you want, of course!”
beomgyu beams at him. “of course, i’d love to see it. you could give me more tips on how to tend to them. they are precious to me, after all.”
and kai swoons.