Chapter Text
Every two or three days a bouquet will arrive at the reception in the lobby of Tee’s company. It will always arrive around the end of lunchtime, when Tee is just returning from his lunch break. It’s become a routine now. Tee will come back from his lunch break, take the bouquet from the receptionist, and head back up to his office.
When the bouquets first started arriving, there was much speculation. The employees whispered about who could possibly have the courage to send a bouquet to their CEO. At first, they would crowd around looking for a card, or a name, or some indicator revealing who the gifter was. The first time one arrived, half of the building held its breath waiting for Tee’s reaction.
They could not be more disappointed with the lack of reaction. Tee accepted the bouquet with a polite smile and a nod of thanks from the receptionist before heading back to his office.
When the second bouquet arrived a couple days later, the whispers and speculation intensified. Within hours, everyone in the building knew about the bouquets, and there were divides within departments about who the bouquets could be from.
Tee maintained the same calm facade every time a bouquet arrived. His secretary found it amusing how the color schemes of the bouquets always seemed to clash horribly with the color of the suits her boss wore each day. Almost as if it were on purpose. But Tee never batted an eye at the colors, always accepting them with the same (somewhat infuriating to his employees) calm smile and nod of thanks to the receptionist.
Tee, however, knew exactly what his boyfriend was doing. His boyfriend knew he hated mismatching colors and that he meticulously planned his outfits weekly. He had everything color coordinated in his closet. His office and the building design chosen specifically to fit Tee’s taste. The dress code for his staff. The only thing out of place were the bouquets that Dew sent to “liven the space up” (Dew’s words, not his). But they both knew Tee wouldn’t get rid of the bouquets. They sat, in all their mismatched glory, on a shelf next to the window with the most sunlight exposure in Tee’s office, until they dried up or died. But even then, the sentimental fool Tee is, and because, or maybe despite the fact that Dew owns a flower shop, he’ll press the dried flowers between book pages he never reads or frames them into bookmarks and brings them home.
Dew teased him when they had first gotten together about his obsession with matching colors and color coordination, but it was all in good fun. Dew loved that about him and Tee loved that Dew was always trying to lighten up any space he could with bright colors.
When the first bouquet arrived, Tee went home that night determined to question Dew. But when he arrived home, he almost forgot all about the bouquet as soon as he stepped through the door. Dew had prepared dinner, himself it seemed, and had set the table up nicely the way Tee liked but was usually too tired to do in the evenings.
“Welcome home,” Dew says with a smile. Tee gaped at the setup, unable to form words for a good minute.
“Dew?”
“Hi, love. I made dinner.” Dew glances up and smiles, his eyes crinkling with laughter as he takes in Tee’s reaction. “Congrats on one year as CEO of your company.”
Tee blinked. He had forgotten about that. He seemed like the type to count the days for his milestones, which Dew had teased him about when they first met, but he wasn’t, not really. The only milestone he counted was his days with Dew.
“What…” Tee can’t find the words to express himself. His eyes follow Dew and he continues to set the food on the table, occasionally glancing at Tee, who is still frozen in the entrance-way.
“Come here,” Dew motions towards the table, and steps forward to wrap his arms around Tee as he approaches the table. “Congratulations. I’m proud of you,” he whispers against Tee’s ear.
Tee shivers slightly before stepping back. He wants to collapse against Dew and cry, for remembering and doing things like this for him. “Thank you,” he says instead, “for all this. And just everything you do for me.”
Later, once Tee has collected himself and they are both sat enjoying dinner, Tee remembers.
“Oh yeah, what was that bouquet today for?”
Dew giggles, in a way that Tee hasn’t heard since their university days. “For your one year as CEO. Didn’t you like it?” Dew looks back at Tee with wide-open earnest eyes, awaiting his response.
Tee knows that look. He sighs. Shoves a spoonful of food into his mouth to delay answering. Chews slowly. Finally, “you know I did. I like everything I get from you. I like everything about you.”
“Even the colors?” Dew’s smile melts until it’s bordering on a smug smirk. The atmosphere shifts into something teasing and playful.
Tee narrows his eyes. “You did that on purpose.”
Dew doesn’t deign that with a response. Instead, he turns back to his food, humming happily. Tee sighs, shaking his head but doesn’t push it.
“How was your day? Many customers?” Dew glances up.
“Yeah, a few. But I closed shop earlier today.” Dew nods towards the dinner in front of them. “Wanted to go shopping for groceries.”
Tee hums in response.
“Oh!” Dew perks up excitedly, “But there was one mom who came in to place an order to decorate her house for her daughter’s birthday. The theme is super cute.”
Dew does know who to arrange pick bouquets according to color and theme. He just purposely chooses to pick clashing colors for the bouquets he gifts to Tee. He finds it funny. And he knows it irritates Tee.
“Yeah?” Tee loves how excited Dew gets when he talks about his shop and his business and his customers.
“Yeah. It’s a garden theme, so the flowers fit right in. The color scheme is also perfect.” Tee nods along like he knows what a garden theme is supposed to entail.
Later that night, as they’re getting ready to sleep, Tee rolls over and stares at Dew scrolling on his phone.
“Dew,” he says quietly.
“Hmm?” Dew doesn’t look up from his phone.
“Thank you,” Tee says.
At this, Dew does look up. “For what?”
“For the bouquet today. For dinner. For everything you do for me. I’m sorry that I’m so busy all the time.”
“None of that,” Dew responds, putting his phone down. “You studied so hard for this career, I don’t want you to feel this way just because of me. I know how much this company means to you. Don’t apologize for taking care of it. Plus, I like taking care of you like this. And I’ll always support your dreams.”
Tee assumes the bouquet is a one time thing. For a special occasion.
Then, three days later, another one arrives. Tee doesn’t know what special occasion it could possibly be. He panics, thinking maybe he forgot something important, like his and Dew’s anniversary, but he checks his calendar and nothing comes up. Their anniversary is months away. Tee wracks his mind to come up with a reason but comes up blank.
When he arrives home that evening, Dew is lounging on the couch, the TV on, but his focus is on his phone. “Welcome home,” he says without looking up. “How was your day?”
Tee removes his shoes and hangs his bag up before replying, “Is today a special day?”
That gets Dew’s attention. He knows immediately what Tee is asking. He smiles cheekily up at Tee. “No, I just felt like it.”
Tee lets the matter drop. He knows that if Dew wanted to, he’d explain further.
The bouquets continued to arrive anonymously every few days. Tee accepts the bouquets every time with calm, composed smiles, but underneath he’s only a little exasperated at Dew’s insistence of sending so many bouquets, and so often.
A betting pool develops between departments, with a few individuals determined to suss out who the secret sender was, convinced that it had to be someone within the company. Tee wasn’t well known outside of the company, so the logical conclusion was that it was someone who worked in the building. (Right?) The only question was who.