Days Till Kim Jongin (Somewhat) Grows A Pair: 72

“Can you just please grow a pair and walk up to him, then make out with him?” Lu Han cries out in frustration, flopping beside Jongin, who looked like he was trying to fire lasers from his eyes by staring at the only customer (Do Kyungsoo, Jongin knows his name because of reasons and not because he’s a stalker) in the store every time he got a chance to, Lu Han almost ripping his hair out, only stopping because he needs his perfect hair to seduce that tall, dark (actually, the complete opposite) and handsome boy who passes by everyday and occasionally drops in to buy a large bouquet.

“Shh! Don’t talk so loud!” Jongin panics, practically slapping his hands over Lu Han’s opened mouth, earning a rather loud muffled yelp, causing the only customer, the boy who has been in there for seventeen minutes and four, five, six, and counting seconds, not that Jongin keeps track, to jolt at the noise. He removes a hand for Lu Han’s mouth, waving awkwardly at the customer, lips curving upwards to a lopsided smile, rewarding him with several nods of acknowledgement from the customer. He could feel Lu Han smirking against the palm of his hand, before he lets out a manly shriek when Lu Han his palm. “Eww! Lu Han! What the !” Lu Han cackles (maniacally, according to Jongin), as Jongin wipes his hand on the apron. “Anyways, you tell me to grow a pair, how about you? You’ve been crushing over S-Se...Sehun? For ages.”

“I’d on his pair.” Lu Han replies, and Jongin really hopes that dreamy, sparkly glint in Lu Han’s eye is some huge spec of glitter Lu Han managed to get on his eye.

“What.” Jongin looks at his incredulously, way beyond TMI, even for Lu Han.

“What. What.” Lu Han says, pretending like he didn’t just say that/his evil twin did it. “Oh, look! He’s coming this way.” He continues, pinching Jongin’s cheeks, because Jongin ‘needed a splash of pink on his cheeks’, patting his cheeks cutely as he watches Jongin did a live version of ‘dshikedjskl’. Lu Han laughs behind his palm, turning away from the two, walking away to tend to the flowers.

“H-Hi...I-I...uh...” the boy stutters, cheeks going pink, trying to hide his face beneath the layers of his turtleneck.

“Marry me?” Jongin blurts out, eyes widening at the words that slipped out.

“What.” His eyes shoots up at Jongin, eyes wide with surprise, and Jongin thinks it’s so cute he just wants to smother the boy with kisses.

“I said, can I help you?” he says, surprisingly smoothly, smiling dorkily at him.

“Uh...um...yea...can I get a small bouquet of roses...like yesterday?” Kyungsoo asks tentatively, pointing towards the bucket that was filled with a mixture of red, pink and white roses, surrounded by different types of flowers.

“I’ll get them for you!” Lu Han chirps up, suddenly beside Jongin. “Smooth move.” He whispers into Jongin’s ear with a teasing voice.

Days Till Kim Jongin (Somewhat) Grows A Pair: 44

For the last month, 28 days 16 hours 47 minutes and counting (not that Jongin was keeping track or anything) to be exact, the same girl, that turns Jongin into what Lu Han calls as an exploding tomato, comes in almost every day, wondering around the store for at least 20 minutes, only to buy a rose or a small bouquet of roses. Not that Jongin minds, since he gets eye candy for at least 20 minutes, and he didn’t mind if Kyungsoo stayed longer (stay with you forever, Lu Han whispers).

Today was like any other day, Kyungsoo came in at 3:47pm (he doesn’t remember how many seconds, because,glasses), after school, still in his uniform, hair slightly messy, thick rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose, for emphasis again, glasses. He was arranging the shelves with the newly arrived potted plants, placing a few of them side by side before spraying them with water and repeating the sequence again. So maybe he was sorta spacing out (aka Jongin's way of saying imaging the both of them sharing a tall milkshake with two straws, cliché but Jongin likes it) when he caught sight of Kyungsoo’s glasses while he was walking up and down the aisles between the cracks of the shelves.

As Jongin continues to stare, lowering his body slightly for the lower shelves, his hands continued to stack the shelves, one particular pot barely halfway in, almost dangerously perched on the upper shelves, not that he noticed. Then their eyes met, for a few seconds, causing Kyungsoo to blush, before he tries to avert his eyes. Lu Han almost fell over to the floor, cackling and howling with laughter when he sees Jongin flails in his spot, another form of 'jdowopsns', head knocking the slight overhand of the shelves.

The next thing really does get Lu Han on the floor, rolling around, trying to calm his sides, that were starting to ache from laughing so hard. The pot that was perched on the edge, topples over, knocking Jongin square on the head, the clay pot cracking slightly due to the impact.

The Kyungsoo’s eyes widened, eyes so wide he could rival with an owl, racing over to Jongin, who was now squatting down, trying to hold back his curses and colourful language, because it was unprofessional (and not because he wants to Kyungsoo to not hate him for swearing).

"Are you okay?" Kyungsoo asks worriedly, squatting down to Jongin's level, carefully touching his head.

Jongin's head snaps up, and he swears he feels his heart stop. "Yea! Yea! Of course I'm fine! Not that I need CPR or anything! Though it would be very much appreciated!" And so has his brain-to-mouth filter.

"Y-You're bleeding..." Kyungsoo replies, pointing with a shaky finger towards the corner of Jongin's forehead that had blood dripping down.

"Oh I'll be fine! Don't worry about me! You want a bouquet of roses right?" Jongin starts rambling, quickly fleeing from his spot to grab to a bunch of roses from the bucket, only to remember they have not been de-torn yet.

"M-Maybe I should go...so you can go to the hospital...you might have a concussion..." Kyungsoo says, before he gives Jongin a small smile and waves goodbye, eyes still filled with worry as he leaves.

"At least it wasn't a bag of fertilizers that fell on your head." Lu Han tries to comfort him, once he's done laughing, patting Jongin by the shoulder. "Then again, that would've been incredibly hilarious."

Days Till Kim Jongin (Somewhat) Grows A Pair: 16

It's been 16 days since that incident, and 16 days since Kyungsoo last dropped by, which meant 16 days of Jongin waiting for him.

"You should just ask him for his number." Lu Han said, flicking leaves at Jongin's face.

"And you should go talk to Sehun."

"Who said I haven't? Who said we weren't together?" Lu Han scoffs, pumping a fist at his chest.

"Oh, look, here comes your 'boyfriend'." Jongin says, pointing out at the window, where Jongin was making his way to school. "Go make out with him." he says, pushing a protesting Lu Han out of the door, right in front of Jongin.

"O-OH. SE. HUN." Lu Han says rather loudly, startling Sehun, face red with embarrassment, reminding Jongin that Lu Han looks like an angry, exploding Rudolph.

The awkward silence between Lu Han and Sehun was too much to handle for Jongin, causing him to fish out his phone and record it, muffling his fits of giggles behind his palm. Sehun raises an eyebrow at Lu Han, watching him just stand there, Lu Han’s hands balled into fists, his face all sorts of awkward. “BYE.” Lu Han practically shouts, waving stiffly at Sehun, then running back into the store.

“You’re such an .” Lu Han groans at Jongin.

+++

It’s almost closing time when Kyungsoo appears in the store (with what Jongin calls as ninja skills), immediately walking around the aisles which had shelves that were holding various of potted plants, sachets of seeds, different kind of pots and other stuff that Kyungsoo wasn’t really paying attention too. Jongin, on the other hand, was busy doing stock takes, clipboard in one hand, his other hand flicking through the packets of seeds as he counts, somehow not noticing Kyungsoo’s presence.

That’s when it happens.

He was reaching upwards, body almost practically pressed up the tall card rack, his work shirt hiking up as well, revealing the tiny strip of his tan skin, fingers folding around the corners of a handful of cards. There was a brush of fingers, skin on skin contact, forcing Jongin to look downwards, only to find Kyuungsoo beside him, a good half a head shorter, reaching up for the same stack of cards that Jongin were just about to count.

Kyungsoo turns to face him, eyes widening in surprise as he quickly withdraws his hand, only to have it held still by the latter. Jongin vaguely thanks the possible concussion of his head from a couple of weeks ago, because his brain doesn’t stop him from lowering and tilting his head to capture Kyungsoo’s (heart shape, very kissable, pink) lips.

There’s a soft gasp of surprise from Kyungsoo’s parted lips, mixed with a sigh of relief from Jongin, when their lips met, Kyungsoo’s eyes falling shut as he kisses back, both equally inexperienced. “Please go out with me.” Jongin breathes against Kyungsoo’s lips when Jongin pulls away, face still inches away. “Before you say no because I don’t know you. Your name is Do Kyungsoo, you’re I think 173cm, no I am not your stalker. You’re really cute, especially with your stupid glasses, I don’t even know why I like them so much. You go to an all arts school, you’re 19, you come here almost every day to buy roses. And you possibly could have a girlfriend and why am I still talking djbdewiud.” Jongin rambles in rapid Korean, slowly becoming an incoherent mess within seconds.

“I think you might really have hurt your head badly.” Kyungsoo replies, cheeks pink with embarrassment. “And...I wasn’t going to say no. Kim Jongin, age 18, works here with Lu Han, I don’t actually like roses, I just come here to see you...?” he continues, voice going softer and softer, ending with a quiet whisper, but Jongin catches it anyways.

“Then would you call me a flower killer if I told you I pull flower petals going ‘he likes me, he likes me not’?”

+++

“HOLY CRAP LU HAN!” Jongin shrieks, trying to shield his eyes, when he reaches the counter, finding Lu Han on the floor, sprawled on top of Sehun, both their hairs dishevelled, lips swollen, clothes...Jongin doesn’t want to know where they are, nor does he want to know why Sehun has a piece of ribbon around his throat.

“Have you ever seen him with eyeliner? He’s like a god.”

--End--