When Jaehwan is sad, he looks much like an unwatered, wilting flower.

Wonshik doesn’t really think he’s a big fan of flowers (he never really thinks about flowers, actually), but as he looks up from his laptop, seeing Jaehwan huddled up in the corner of the couch, pouting at the cartoon he’s watching on TV, he really wishes he could just pick up a watering pot and pour happiness over Jaehwan’s head until he smiles.

“Jaehwan-ah,” he says and Jaehwan looks up at him with the same dejected expression he’s been wearing since morning. “You okay?”

Jaehwan shrugs and turns back to the TV, playing with the hem of the plaid quilt he’s cocooned himself in.

“I’m really sorry,” Wonshik mumbles.

“It’s not your fault,” Jaehwan replies, sighing. “It’s not like you’re one of my family members who decided to collectively betray me.”

“They didn’t do it on purpose, Jaehwan,” Wonshik echoes what Hakyeon kept telling Jaehwan all this time until he finally left the dorm to spend the holiday with his family, just like the rest of their group. “You know it’s always like gambling: you plan your family trips and then you can either go or not. It’s not their fault you have an event coming up in two days.”

“They’re going to Thailand without me!” Jaehwan exclaims and the haggardness of his face has now disappeared, an angry flush painting his cheeks pink. “Chuseok is about being together with your family! Why are youeven here?!”

Wonshik recoils from the loud question as if it was a physical blow. He takes a deep breath and turns around in the chair, clasping his hands together on top of his knees as he looks at Jaehwan patiently.

“I needed time to work,” he says.

“So why are you here at the dorm? Why aren’t you at your studio? Are you babysitting me? Did Hakyeon tell you to?”

Wonshik fights his facial muscles lest they make the corners of his lips curl up in a smile at how ing adorable Jaehwan looks when he’s sulking. He knows that would just earn him a long rant, a few light kicks in the shin, and possibly a couple of hours of silence—he doesn’t want Jaehwan to be silent.

“You know what?” he asks.

“What?” Jaehwan barks, crossing his arms in front of his chest and pursing his mouth in an irritated manner.

“Do you want to go shopping with me?”

“Everything’s closed,” Jaehwan huffs. “It’s ing Chuseok, Wonshik… I hate Chuseok.”

“Not everything’s closed,” Wonshik shakes his head. “Some shops at the mall are open.”

“How do you know?” Jaehwan an eyebrow scornfully.

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I don’t usually go home for Chuseok.”

“You’re a workaholic,” Jaehwan mutters, but then there it is: a bite on the lower lip, a sideways glance at the floor, one back at Wonshik and another one back at the floor, a sigh, and then Jaehwan says, “Okay, let’s just go somewhere; I’m tired of sitting here watching stupid cartoons.”

He untangles himself from the quilt and stands up, ready to go to his bedroom to change, but he stops in his tracks and looks back at Wonshik.

“Can we take Badass, too?” he asks, voice full of hope.

Wonshik is a weak, weak man.

“Yeah, I’ll wake him up,” he nods, smiling.

“Can I?” Jaehwan asks half an hour later, reaching out for Badass’ leash.

Wonshik hands it over to him as they make their way towards the nearest mall on the eerily empty streets—it looks much like a scene out of a utopia where a bunch of aliens abducted every earthling except for the two of them and the shop assistants they met at the pet store where Wonshik bought Badass a bag of treats, and at the confectionary where he bought Jaehwan an enormous lollipop.

Wonshik is roused from his reverie when he notices he’s walking alone, turning around quickly to look for Jaehwan and his dog.

“You’re a very smart little guy, you know that?” Jaehwan coos at Badass, crouching down in front of him, holding one of his paws which Badass tries to pull out of his grip with great force. Jaehwan finally lets go of the puppy’s limb and reaches into his pocket, taking out a treat to give to Badass. “You still need to learn how to give me your paw, but you’ll get there soon. Here you go, baby.”

Wonshik laughs at the scene, feeling like he might melt. “Stop giving him so many treats, Jaehwan,” he says. “He’ll get even fatter.”

Jaehwan narrows his eyes and then leans down closer to Badass, saying, “Don’t listen to daddy, you’re beautiful.”

He stands up and continues walking towards the mall with Wonshik’s dog, nibbling on the edge of his large swirl lollipop. Wonshik takes a moment to just stand there and watch Jaehwan skip down the pavement, humming a song to himself and looking truly happy—like a flower blooming.

Wonshik stops by the shop window of one of his favourite stores when he notices something inside: a baseball cap that catches his attention with its blue colour and the bright red and green of the embroidered rose just above the brim.

“Jaehwan-ah,” he says and Jaehwan stops as well, gently pulling Badass back towards the shop window. “I need to go in there.”

“Okay,” Jaehwan replies, munching on his lollipop. He’s bitten off a small part of it. “We’ll wait for you there.” He points at the bench on the other side of the road. “Just go and be pretty, big boy!”

Wonshik practically chokes on his own saliva when Jaehwan winks at him, looking around on the empty street before jogging across the road with Badass in tow. Jaehwan will be the death of him.

Roughly three minutes later Wonshik leaves the shop with a new baseball cap on top of his head and his previously worn one in his hand, walking towards Jaehwan and Badass with his limbs feeling a bit like jelly and his palms sweating, a smile constantly trying to make its way on his face.

“Looks nice,” Jaehwan says, waving towards Wonshik’s new cap with the remnants of his lollipop. “Why this one?”

“Oh, well,” Wonshik sits down next to Jaehwan and takes the hat off, turning it around in his hand, not even thinking through what he wants to say before he blurts out, “because it reminds me of you.”

Wonshik doesn’t realize his mistake until he looks up at Jaehwan staring at him with wide eyes from behind his round glasses, the right corner of his lips shaking with a suppressed grin. Wonshik feels every drop of blood slowly leave his face, making him feel dizzy.

“You’re cute,” Jaehwan chuckles then and leans in, pressing a kiss to Wonshik’s cheek, smiling at him afterwards, his eyes sparkling with millions of tiny stars.

Just when Wonshik would say something rash again (ask Jaehwan if he can kiss him, which, admittedly, would be an awful thing to ask), Badass starts barking and the moment is broken: he yanks Jaehwan towards the bushes from where a small squirrel jumps over to the bark of a tree, running up towards the crown.

Wonshik watches Jaehwan fight his way through the dry branches reluctantly, yelping, and the embarrassment suddenly disappears as he bursts out laughing, watching his favourite flower bloom in the middle of the dead plants.