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“hey, how do i say ‘fuck you’ with flowers, but like, passive-aggressive?” a boy with bright, red hair shoved twenty dollars onto the counter in front of bambam.
bambam immediately recognized him. anyone would have, really; he was one of the most popular kids among the art students. he was a dancer, one of the best in the district, and a fairly good painter from what bambam could tell. his work was posted in the hallway next to bambam's.
he was also, and bambam would swear to anyone, the most beautiful boy that he'd ever seen. he was kim yugyeom.
“uhm, a bouquet of geraniums, foxglove, meadowsweet, yellow carnations, and orange lillies,” bambam raised an eyebrow at the younger boy. “who exactly are you sending a 'fuck you' bouquet to?” he asked.
“an ex-boyfriend, he’s an asshole and i’m too passive aggressive,” yugyeom explained. “also, why did you know that so quickly?”
“i’ve sent my fair share of ‘fuck you’ bouquets,” bambam shrugged. “it’s only twelve dollars, by the way,” he handed yugyeom his change. he began to walk around, looking for the different flowers needed. “so uh, what’s your name?” bambam asked, trying to pass it off like he didn't know him.
“oh, i’m kim yugyeom!” the red haired boy smiled, immediately asking, “you’re kunpimook, right?”
bambam swears his heart skipped a beat. "oh, um, yeah!" he answered. "i go by bambam, though."
"oh, sorry! i saw your work in the hallway, it was amazing! the colors all blended nicely and it looked so realistic! also i just really love flowers," yugyeom rambled, a big smile playing on his face. bambam ducked his head so yugyeom wouldn't see the bright red his face was turning.
bambam had never seen much of this side of yugyeom at school; he'd always seemed cold and distant. he wore leather jackets (fake leather- he wouldn't tell anyone that he had a thing against wearing real leather), skinny jeans, and always had makeup on. bambam had never seen this- this form of him.
he'd never seen the large, bumbling idiot wearing a light pink crewneck over his worn out skinny jeans. he'd never seen this yugyeom, with no makeup and puffy, red eyes from crying. he'd never seen this big of a smile on the younger boy's face, and never heard him giggle like this. it was a whole different person, a different side of yugyeom. bambam was faced with the total opposite of what he'd gotten used to, and even sort of fallen in love with.
and he was completely okay with it.
yugyeom finally took notice of the music playing softly throughout the flower shop. "is this neon bunny?" he asked, following bambam to look at the flowers.
"oh- yeah! you listen to her?" bambam replied, shocked that someone else knew about her.
"duh! her voice is beautiful," yugyeom gushed.
the two boys walked around the shop in silence, listening as the music changed to another artist that neither boy was completely sure they knew of. yugyeom stared at a bouquet of lilacs with a blank card attached. lilacs were one of his favorite flowers, and he wondered why they were already in a bouquet with a card.
bambam finished picking out the flowers he needed, making sure to tell yugyeom he had to leave the foxglove out.
"why?" he inquired.
"yug, it can kill people if it's inhaled. we don't sell foxglove here," yugyeom blushed slightly at the nickname bambam had said. "so instead, i replaced it with birdsfoot trefoil."
"what does each flower stand for?" yugyeom asked. he knew what most of the flowers stood for, but he wanted to see if bambam knew as much about flowers as people said he did.
"well, geraniums mean stupidity, meadowsweet is uselessness, yellow carnations mean 'you have disappointed me', orange lilies stand for hatred, and birdsfoot trefoil is revenge. foxglove would be insincerity," bambam explained.
yugyeom nodded, and then decided to push further. "why'd you pick those specific ones?"
"well, an ex is pretty useless, and since your eyes are so puffy and red, i assume they hurt you, so hatred and disappointment, and anyone would be stupid to give up a person like you," he said, without even thinking.
yugyeom paused, a cocky smirk spreading across his face. "oh yeah?" he leaned down on the counter. "and why is that?"
"listen, yug, will you just pay and stop embarrassing me?" bambam sighed. he could feel the blush creeping across his face, and he cursed himself silently for being so shy.
"not until you tell me exactly why, and give me your number," yugyeom said.
"oh my god, please-" bambam groaned. "you're like, beautiful, and you're so talented, and apparently you're this huge dork who likes flowers and big pink sweatshirts and the same artists i do, and you're also really hot but that's not my point and-"
"bam, you're rambling."
"listen to me! you shouldn't have to be broken up with. you're so perfect and if anyone can't see that, then they can actually choke on foxglove," bambam continued. yugyeom laughed, smiling a little wider.
"you think so?" he asked the older.
"yeah, i fuckin' know so," bambam answered.
"okay, then let's put these flowers up, and we can go get dinner. when do you get off?" yugyeom proposed.
"um, in like 15 minutes?"
"okay, so what do you say? there's a really nice barbecue place down a few blocks, and i'd love it if you went with me."
bambam nodded quickly. he wasn't sure if this was a date, or if it was just a "let's be friends" kind of thing. either way, he was okay with it.
---
a few weeks later, the two became official.
and a few months later, yugyeom popped into the flower shop again.
"two questions, bammie!" he sang as he walked in. bambam looked up from his laptop and smiled.
the two had gone out a lot together, and yugyeom had even asked the boy to come to his dance practices.
if bambam had learned anything about yugyeom in the past two years he'd known about him, it was that he never asked any of his dates to his dance practices.
"okay, what are they?"
"so first of all, i need a bouquet of flowers to tell someone that i think i love them, and are you ever going to hire me? i've applied three times, bam!" he questioned the older, emphasizing the importance of the applications.
"okay, my grandmother runs this shop, she has to approve them, and who are you sending flowers to, huh?" he poked yugyeom's chest lightly, teasing the younger.
"there's this boy from school named jackson, he's a senior and i-" yugyeom started gushing, the fakeness of it radiating off of him.
bambam muttered a small, "shut up, idiot," and took yugyeom's hand, leading him to the aisles of flowers. he took out a few red roses, tucking them neatly together inside a towel to dry them from the water they'd been in, and then fastening a ribbon around them. "i say go the old-fashion, victorian way, and give him red roses. they also happen to be his favorite flowers," he said, handing the roses to yugyeom. "that'll be six dollars, by the way."
"but how much for me?" yugyeom asked.
"six dollars, idiot," bambam huffed.
"i'm your boyfriend."
"twenty dollars."
and yugyeom paid for the flowers, giving bambam the full twenty dollars, sighing and whining dramatically, and then was on his way.
a few minutes later, bambam's phone lit up, with a short text that said, "tonight, my place, 8:30, dinner?" bambam quickly typed "yes," and then let out a small squeal of excitement.
when he got to yugyeom's house, the roses had been placed into a nice vase, one that bambam had given him a few weeks ago. bambam smiled at the memory and walked inside.