Jeongguk sighed heavily before he turned back to his lecture. The swift look through his shop had been one of routine and as always not necessary at all. Nobody was here. Well, he supposed that was his own fault. He was not the kind of person who smiled all day. That´s why people thought he was grumpy and when he didn´t answer or react to them they mistook his shyness (because damn did he have a problem with being open and stuff, how are other people always so chill with talking to strangers like it´s nothing? He didn´t get it), his so so so annoying shyness, they mistook it as him being impolite. Really, at times he could throw a table at himself for not getting his mouth open and say a simple “Thank you” or “You´re welcome”.

In other words for the rest of the town Jeongguk was an insensitive prick. That´s why almost nobody visited his sweet little flower shop. Of course there were a few visitors though. Only a few. Otherwise he wouldn´t be alive. But they were either unbothered brutes themselves or some teenagers who lost a bet and had to prove a point by buying flowers from Jeongguk. There was not really an in-between.

It was a shame. Because right now everything was blooming as the sun rays of late spring pulled all those colorful delicate plants out of the soil. Paradise for flower shop owners. The flowers could be ordered regional and not from across the sea. They were fresh and beautiful! Yet here Jeongguk sat, all alone in his shop surrounded by flowers whose destiny was to wither away as nobody bought them.

Other florists couldn´t save themselves from orders and were swimming in money at this time of the year. Jeongguk could go mad about it. Not only because the others earned money as easy as breathing air right now but because most of his competitors were complete fools too. Like, that one flower lady didn´t cut the flowers in an angle of 45 degrees but just horizontal. Did she learn nothing about how to treat plants at all or what? And the bouquets they arranged often looked so horrible Jeongguk could gag. No sense for aesthetics at all. He couldn´t look at other bouquets for more than a second or he´d throw a tantrum.

Why? Because in difference to all the others, Jeongguk knew old-fashioned stuff like the flower language. And if he looked closer at the work from those other florists, their bouquets were practically talking rubbish. Something along the lines “I´m waiting for you, I´m engaged you look good in blue, I hate you I love you let´s never play cards on the playground again, miss me?”

Don´t think about it, Jeongguk scolded himself. It leads nowhere anyway. He was just about to get stuck in his lecture again as all of a sudden the chiming bell announced a customer. Already a complaint about the interruption on his lips, he looked up to see a small young man with bleached blond curly hair standing in the entrance. He nervously fiddled with his sweater paws as his eyes darted from one corner to the next, avoiding Jeongguk´s stare.

Jeongguk barely managed to catch his book before it could fall down and give away his surprise. He hadn´t seen a new face in quite a while. But then he thought about the reason for the sweet (what the brain? Thanks for nothing! It´s not like he´s a dish or something so this word is in complete wrong context here, would you mind to work properly please) man´s visit and instantly sobered up.

“Can I help you?” he asked coolly.

“I, uhm, I just… actually I don´t… I mean I´m not sure but… “, the blond tried and failed in forming a coherent sentence.

Jeongguk sighed and ran a hand over his face. Habit. “Look, I´ll just give you a tulip for free with my tag on it so you can go already, okay?”

“W-what?!?” the stranger blurted and finally looked at him with wide eyes.

“Don´t ‘what’ me” the florist retorted with much more bite than intended. “You have to prove your bravery to your buddies by coming here or not? Don´t think I don´t know about those games. So if you don´t actually want to buy something let me give you a damn flower and stop lingering please. This would do both of us a favor as you are obviously uncomfortable being here and I don´t fancy being part of pranks”, he went on while preparing a red and yellow flamed tulip with swift movements. “Here you go.” He reached the wrapped flower across the counter to the still baffled customer.

“I- this is not a prank though. Nobody told me to go here. And I wasn´t actually looking for a tulip either. Anyway, why would I try to prank you or anything?” The blond´s eyebrows were furrowed in irritation.

“Because that´s always how it is.” Suddenly, Jeongguk didn´t have the strength to stand anymore so he sat down. “Apparently, I´m very mean and have no heart, maybe I´m a or some low demon too, depending on who you ask. So my visitors are either ones who don´t give a damn about anything or some students who need to prove themselves. After a few times it gets old.”

The stranger scooted closer. “That´s… not nice”, he admitted. Jeongguk shrugged.

“So uhm, I´d like to buy some flowers.” Jeongguk bit back a nasty comment (“You don´t say. This is a flower shop, what else could you want to do?”) and waited for the man to go on.

“I´d like to get flowers for somebody which mean ‘thank you’ and maybe… maybe imply subtle affection too.” At the last words the blond had gone bright red and Jeongguk almost didn´t catch them.

He hummed. “I see.” Jeongguk looked around the room, scanning the plants on offer and thinking about a proper combination. He tilted his head in question. “Any constrictions about the prize or size, any wishes or preferences?”

The blond shook his head. “It´s up to you.”

“Okaaaay…” he drawled, walking around, touching some flowers and discharging them again. An idea was blooming in his head. Having free hand for a change was nice. He picked a few flowers and went to the counter, spreading them out in front of his customer. “I could put a Lisianthus flower in the center, that stands for appreciation”, he pointed at a single rich white flower, “add some Canterbury bells meaning gratitude”, he pointed at some delicate blue and pink flowers, “and wrap it up with two or three Elder flowers which indicate compassion. As a finish I´d add some leaves and decorative grass. Would that be okay by you?”

The blond nodded eagerly. “That´s… that´s perfect! Thank you.” He beamed.

Jeongguk swallowed and looked down fast. He hadn´t been smiled at for quite some time. “You don´t have to thank me” he mumbled. “I´m just doing my job.” Wasn´t he glad his hands were busy preparing the arrangement so he could continue looking down.

The smaller man snorted. “Yeah but you´re doing your job much better than the other florists I visited. The others just wanted to give me a bundle of marguerites or something because they don´t scream ‘love’ in your face like red roses do so it should be fine. But you, you sat down for three minutes only thinking about my request. You took your time thinking it through and didn´t throw the first thing in reach at me. Also, you seem to know quite a lot about flowers and their meanings which is very cool. And you have uncommon flowers on offer here. I mean, who else sells Elder? That´s really interesting!”

Jeongguk wasn´t blushing. No, not at all. He just… uhm… felt warm from running around to retrieve the needed stuff. Okay, maybe it hadn´t been running but only fast walking but still! He was not blushing!

Oh, now get your mouth open for once! “Th-thank you”, Jeongguk stammered as he cowered and made himself small. A smaller target for praises or interaction in general. Yes, that was good. Now keep going. Talk to him, ask him something. Come on, it´s not that hard.

“S-so… whom is that for?” He still didn´t look up as he wrapped the flowers in paper and calculated the prize.

“Ah well, you know…” He didn´t need to look up for hearing the smile in his customer´s voice. “I just moved here recently. Needed a change from the big city. So I got me an apartment in the east of this town. As you can imagine it´s difficult to move out and in alone. But as I didn´t know anybody here and my friends were all busy I had to do it alone.” The man sighed dramatically. “But just as I was about to carry an old wardrobe up the stairs alone half of the weight was lifted from my shoulders and a tall smiling man helped me carrying the damn heavy thing. Turned out we are neighbors. His name is Hoseok. Oh, and mine is Jimin by the way, Park Jimin. So yeah, out of nowhere there he was, my savior in suffering, the kind-hearted and handsome Jung Hoseok. He really helped me a great deal moving in here. And whenever I thought it was getting too much he just smiled and made a joke. I swear this man is made of sunrays. And even his mouth has a heart shape. Like this.” Jimin drew a big heart form around his own mouth and giggled.

By now Jeongguk was staring since quite a while. At Jimin. At his twinkling eyes and the wild movements he made with his small hands, at the soft shifts of his oversized sweater. And he couldn´t help but think that whoever that Hoseok was, wasn´t as much of a shining fluffball of sun as Jimin.

“So”, Jeongguk silently clapped his shoulder for sounding way calmer than he felt “In other words this is a ‘Thanks for carrying heavy stuff around with me even though you don´t know me and I kinda like you but don´t want to be obvious so let´s be friends’-bouquet in kinds?”

Now it was Jimin who was blushing. And giggling again. Jeongguk found he liked the sound. “In kinds”, Jimin agreed hesitantly and paid his bill. “Thank you, uhm…”

“Jeongguk. Jeon Jeongguk.” He offered Jimin a hand, unusually bold for his standards. The latter shook his hand with another bright smile.

“It´s a pleasure to meet you.” He carefully grabbed the flowers and took his leave. “You aren´t as bad as everybody says. I hope you know that. Goodbye~”, Jimin added smiling but with a serious tone. Leaving a dumbstruck Jeongguk behind.

 

---

 

“Hello?”

Jeongguk spluttered, splaying tea everywhere as he beheld the familiar figure in the entrance, soft voice floating through the room as if to not disturb the flowers.

“Hello, good morning, no wait, good afternoon, I mean, err… uhm, hi? Hi. How, what are you, how can I help you? I mean, just if you do need help, do you need help? Oh god, please ignore me, I just, uhm…” Jeongguk felt his face turning redder by the second as Jimin invaded his personal space and laid a hand on his forehead.

“Are you alright?” the blond asked worriedly.

Jeongguk took a big gulp of air to calm down. It helped. Partially.”Yeah, I just… I didn´t expect to see you again.”

“Oh, is that so? Well, I guess I can just go again then…” Jimin pouted.

It took three seconds for Jeonguk´s mind to register the words. Then at least a hundred alarms went off in his head. “No!”, he shouted and pretty much jumped over the counter to stop Jimin from leaving. Only his foot got stuck at the chair so he ungracefully plumped down on the countertop, the air whooshing out of his lungs as he laid there like some beat up fish, his arms still stretched out towards Jimin while his legs were trapped in weird angles. “I didn´t mean it like that” he groaned muffled against the counter, his cheek squished on the cold wood. He wasn´t sure whether Jimin heard it or not as the blond was busy laying on the floor and laughing wildly, legs kicking the air and arms wrapped around his stomach. Jeongguk grinned weakly. It must´ve been quite some sight. However, he was happy Jimin was laughing because of him.

By the time he had managed to free himself from that stupid chair Jimin had calmed down enough to take a standing position again.

“So” Jeongguk asked, chin propped on one hand while he was still laying on the counter with his whole upper body, trying to act casual “what´s up today, Jimin-by-the-way?”

Jimin´s giggles changed from funny laughter to shy blush giggles. “I uhm, I might need your help for a ‘secret shy love-bouquet’ in kinds.”

Jeongguk´s lips twitched upwards as they were both quoting each other from their last encounter. “I take it Hoseok-sshi liked the flowers then” he stated while wandering around and contemplating different flower combinations.

“Yes, he liked them very much, thank you” Jimin furiously nodded his head. “They got a prominent place in the middle of his dining table. Very beautiful.”

“And you know that because…?” Jeongguk combed through another row of plants.

There was that sweet giggle again. “Oh, I visited him. Got that idea on tumblr. First, I asked him for an egg as if I didn´t want to go out grocery shopping because of a single egg. Of course I got my egg. Then I waited five minutes before I went back knocking at his door again to ask for a quick explanation how to make pancakes. I mean, there is no way I do not actually know how to make pancakes but I needed a reason to talk to him, okay? So I asked him and kept interrupting with stupid questions like in what direction to beat the dough until Hobi-hyung came over to me and taught me how to make pancakes. It was so amazing, cooking together with him! We had a lot of fun.”

Jeongguk had made his choice of the day and brought the flowers to the counter. He nodded along, urging Jimin to go on.

“Hah, it was great. And it may or may not have slipped my mouth that I don´t know how to pancake but I make a mad chili con carne instead. So next day I found myself in Hobi-hyung´s kitchen and taught him how to chili con carne. That´s when I saw your flowers on disposal at the table, blooming in all their glory. From then on we visited each other almost every day and life is fantastic…” Jimin dreamily looked into nothingness.

“Sounds nice. I´m glad for you” Jeongguk said and meant it. When Jimin was happy he was happy too. He motioned the other to come closer. “Okay, so I´ve got blue salvia – I think of you; carnation – that stands for fascination in any way; Leucadendron – compliment; bachelor´s button – hope in love and to top it, motherwort. This plant is literally the flowerication of ‘secret love’. That good?”

Jimin gaped at him, then he dissolved in another fit of giggles. “F-flowerictaion… oh my god… I can´t” he gasped, clasping his sides.

“Let me be, you know what I mean” Jeongguk grumbled but smiled anyway.

“S-sorry, it´s just… flowerication… hah… god, you are great. And yeah, the combi is cool. Flowerication tho… wow.”

Jeongguk didn´t pay attention to the blush on his face anymore. He just continued to smile as he worked on the arrangement.

“Alright, that´s it.” He handed the package to the blond. “Good luck with Hoseok-sshi. Show him how to Jimin, yeah? Chivalry is not dead. Fighting!”

Jimin laughed and they fist-bumped. As he went off, Jeongguk could have sworn the delicate man was floating.

 

---

 

“I want to declare love” Jimin announced the second he set foot in the flower shop. It had been a few weeks since his last visit. Weeks Jeongguk had eagerly waited to see him again.

“Well well, if that´s not Jimin-by-the-way” the young shop owner mused while shamelessly staring at the blond man and the happiness radiating from his frame. “The ship is sailing then?”

“To eternity and beyond!” Jimin shouted with a tiny fist lifted upon his head.

Jeongguk was already on his feet going here and there. Listening to Jimin praising that Hoseok-guy, flaunting about how great he was. Whenever he turned to catch a glimpse of his customer (and maybe friend?) he could literally see hearts spraying out of those shining droopy eyes. He felt a slight sting of jealousy. Nobody had ever looked at him like that. And it wouldn´t have mattered, it really wouldn´t if it hadn´t been for Jimin having that expression. For Jeongguk knowing this was not about him but about some other guy who had the luck to be Jimin´s neighbor. Jeongguk swallowed hard. Swallowed down the bile, the jealousy and his feelings for the mesmerizing young man who was visiting for the third time now. Because if Jimin was happy he had no right to interfere. Jimin deserved to be happy and if Jeongguk was not part of the plan so be it.

And what about your own happiness? Jeongguk told the voice in his head to shut the up and go hide in the corner of shame. He took a bit longer to collect the remaining flowers. Took his time until his hands weren´t shaking anymore and he was positive he could pull off a cheery vibe.

As he was spreading out the different flowers on the counter Jimin was already taking a tulip and twirling it in his eyes, sighing heavily. Jeongguk batted his hands away and Jimin pouted.

The blond examined the different flowers. “No roses?” he questioned.

“Pfft, hell no!” Jeongguk blew his fringe away. “Roses are boring. Everybody does roses. This here is way more exciting. Look, tulips for declaration of love. I set them in the center because that´s the main message. Then here we have fennel. Many people think fennel is boring. But it has a really nice meaning: worthy of all praise. I also got some forget-me-nots which stand for true love and osmunda for dream. Because in my opinion real love is like living a dream. Put all of this together and you have your declaration of love for advanced people. Much more cool than common roses. Who needs roses? Fennel is end play, mark my words.” He puffed out his chest mockily.

Jimin didn´t laugh though. Instead he watched Jeongguk with a strange view the latter didn´t understand.

“You are sparkling.”

Jeongguk choked. “I´m what?!”

“Sparkling.”

A thousand things ran through Jeongguk´s mind at that. He opted for a sassy reply. “Yeah well, actually Stephanie Meyer wrote Edward and all those other sparkling vampires after me. We are old buddies, me and her. But she didn´t want me to get too popular so she changed my looks drastically in her Twilight novels to the Edward everybody knows. Please don´t tell anyone but I´m the original.” He winked and bared his teeth.

Jimin was still not laughing. His expression was more one of… awe. Awe and confusion and something else. “No, I mean when you talk about flowers. You just had that spark in your eyes as you explained the flowers to me. It was… it made you look so different from your usual self.” His facials softened. “You really do love your job, don´t you?”

Jeongguk didn´t have the words so he just nodded in confirmation. Jimin´s view saddened as he held Jeongguk´s stare. He didn´t need to say the next part out loud but they both knew what he meant, knew it was true.

The others don´t know but you are actually very passionate about your job. That way it hurts even more, the others completely misunderstanding and neglecting you, right? It affects you so much more than you are ready to show and they keep going on and on.

…Yeah.

It was silent as they just stared at each other in sadness, as Jimin rounded the corner and hugged Jeongguk tightly, as the taller squeezed back and had a hard time holding back his tears, as Jimin his back, as he detatched himself from Jeongguk, took his flowers and left.

“Goodbye, Jeongguk. I wish you more happy days to come” Jimin whispered in the silence. Then he was gone. Jeongguk broke down on his chair and buried the face in his hands. Because what Jimin just said sounded an awful lot like a farewell. Like he wouldn´t come back again. And Jeongguk was not okay with it.

 

---

 

The door bell sounded. Jeongguk looked up to his new customer. The tea mug slipped his grasp and crashed on the ground. His eyes were widened in shock and his mouth hung open while he felt his body going hot and cold. For Jimin was standing in the door with tears running down his cheeks.

Jeongguk´s whole body twitched as he held back to run to Jimin, engulf him in a tight hug and pepper him in soft kisses until he was smiling again.

“How do I say ‘ you’ in flower?” Jimin hiccupped weakly.

And that was it! Jeongguk became a whirlwind as he rushed from one end of the shop to the other in fury, throwing flowers on the counters with gritted teeth. A few he had to throw away as he´d gripped them to hard in his rage.

If Jimin had seen his eyes sparkle the last time then he surely saw them burning now. He roughly pulled Jimin to the counter and pointed at the flowers. His explanation pointed, voice ragged. “Foxglove – insincerity. Meadowsweet – uselessness. Yellow carnation – disappointment. Orange lilies – hatred. Dead leaves – sadness. I shall add some thorns too.”

Jimin just nodded. So Jeongguk got to work, fuming. He kept silent as he worked on the ultimate ‘ you’-bouquet. He wouldn´t ask Jimin what happened. If the crying man was ready he would tell him on his own. Jeongguk wouldn´t pry.

But as Jimin still hadn´t calmed down after twenty minutes Jeongguk pulled him to the back room, sat him on a chair and handed him a cup of hot steaming tea. He quickly went to change the sign from ‘open’ to ‘closed’ (not that it was necessary as nobody would come but still) and hurried back to Jimin with a plush blanket.

Like that they remained for a while, Jeongguk hugging Jimin in his blanket, pressing the blond head against his chest, whispering sweet nothings, alternating between the soft curly hair and massaging neck and shoulders while Jimin wetted his shirt.

It took some time but eventually Jimin calmed down and his tears stopped to flow like water through a broken dam. Jeongguk took the opportunity to stuff Jimin´s mouth with chocolate. There were still some tears coming as Jimin chewed on the chocolate so Jeongguk got a bottle of whipped cream out of his mini fridge. At the sad blonde´s confused expression he bluntly squeezed Jimin´s nose shut so he had to open his mouth. As the blond did so Jeongguk sprayed whipped cream in his mouth until a white mountain was building on Jimin´s face. While Jimin now was busy swallowing and cleaning up the mess on his face, Jeongguk went to retrieve a bunch of different small wildflowers. He gave a few of them to Jimin to eat. The others, he began to weave in the curly blond hair as he made tiny braids. And finally, Jimin opened up to him and talked.

He had a special kind of bed, he explained. It looked normal on the outside but actually one can sleep in the bed inside too. In a small room hidden under the mattress and in the wooden frame one could sleep in a space beneath the actual bed and no one could see the bed was actually occupied. For reasons he didn´t remember Jimin had chosen to sleep in his hidden bed last night.

He had been awakened in the middle of the night by his door slamming shut, by Hoseok´s voice speaking with somebody else. Jimin at some point had given Hoseok a spare key as they were coming over to each other so often they were practically living in two apartments at once. And that night Hoseok was ushered to the bed room by a raspy voice.

Jimin didn´t – couldn´t – go into detail but Jeongguk got the gist. Got that Hoseok had had with somebody else in Jimin´s bed, literally above his head. The blond said he´d heard something been shouted in the throngs of pleasure that sounded like “Yoongi” or something like that. He didn´t go into further detail. Just one thing he quoted, one sentence that other man he didn´t know had said in the afterglow.

“Did you ever tell that boy we are a thing since years?”

Hoseok had said nothing and Jimin had been laying beneath him, silently crying. In the early morning he´d clambered out of his hidden space while the other two were still sleeping soundly. And now here he was.

Jeongguk´s palms hurt from where his nails dug into the flesh. Saying he was angry would be an understatement. He was outright livid. He had wanted to throw punches the moment he´d seen Jimin crying. And he´d lept up while the blond had talked more than once, prepared to pounce, to hunt down whoever Hoseok was and make him pay for every single tear Jimin had shed. Had it not been for Jimin throwing himself at Jeongguk and holding him back with all his strength that hoe would´ve been a bloody pulp by now.

But he had to respect Jimin´s wishes. Had to stay by his side. So as the blond begged him on his knees not to hurt Hobi-hyung, Jeongguk forced himself to sit down again even though every fiber in his body was barking in protest. He promised to not physically harm the one who had played Jimin so badly.

Two cups of tea and a lot of chocolate later Jeongguk offered Jimin to stay with him that night. Or as long as he wanted. Jimin politely declined the offer. He wanted to deliver the flowers. What he didn´t know was Jeongguk had sneaked a small card in the bouquet, ‘ you bastard’ scribbled on it.

As he was about to leave Jimin saw his reflection in the shop window, saw all those flimsy braids and flowers arranged like a crown. The hint of a smile played on his features. And Jeongguk thanked the heavens for it as it meant that deep down Jimin still had some remnants of joy left in his heart.

The rest of the evening Jeongguk busied himself with plucking flowers in as small pieces as possible. When he ever got to meet that ing Jung Hoeseok he couldn´t guarantee for anything.

 

---

 

Jimin came over the next week and pestered Jeongguk with questions.

“What does this flower mean? How do you keep flowers fresh? What are the basic rules in arranging a bouquet? Do you have a favorite color? Where do you live? How did you fall in love with flowers? Where are you from? Do you miss Busan? What´s the name of this flower? Are there different meanings depending on the flower´s color?Why does nobody else sell Elder in their shop, it smells so good?”

It went on and on like that. There was always a new question waiting when Jeongguk answered patiently. As it was too much for one day, Jimin came back the day after again and asked even more. He seemed to be determined to learn everything about flower language and flowers in general (and about Jeongguk but maybe that was just his imagination). So it became a daily routine. Jimin would visit in the late afternoon, ask Jeongguk anything and then talk about this and that at a cup of tea and some cookies, cuddled against the shop owner. Jeongguk had had a tiny heart attack the first time the blond had nuzzled against his chest. He had been screaming in his head for minutes straight on but Jimin had already been dozing off and he didn´t want to disturb his hyung (because apparently Jimin was older than him, believe it or not) so he had remained still. And from thereon it had become part of their routine too, the cuddling.

Jeongguk even tried to learn how to make coffee for Jimin. Personally, he thought it was a poisonous brew of mud but there were people who actually liked coffee and Jimin was one of them. Jeongguk knew for a fact his coffee was horrible. Anyways, Jimin always drank it to the last drop without fail. He didn´t understand how anybody could get his failures down their throat. But Jimin did. He didn´t know why, didn´t allow himself to ponder.

 

 

---

 

Summer came and went. Jimin had become a constant in Jeongguk´s life, even more than the man delivering him fresh flowers every week. Because Jimin came every day and the delivery man only once a week.

At some days they would communicate through flowers only, arranging bouquets in silence and passing it to each other, waiting for a reply arrangement and replying themselves. They spun wild stories like that as some flowers had different meanings and could be read in more than one way. Or sometimes they had to improve because the fitting plant was missing. It wasn´t rare for them to end up laughing whole-heartedly together about their latest bizarre ‘conversation’.

Jeongguk cherished every single moment of it. And whenever Jimin was about to take the name of a certain er in his mouth Jeongguk slapped some flower in his face. Then Jimin would grab another poor flower and take revenge. They would begin a flower-sword fight with no rules. The reason for it long since forgotten by Jimin who was busy dodging flying daphodils.

And every day Jeongguk would hold a sunflower next to Jimin to see who was shining more. Jimin didn´t question his weird behavior.

 

---

 

Autumn had arrived. It had become more chilly, dead leaves floating around in red and yellow and brown and Jimin´s sweater paws were back.

Jeongguk deemed his coffee skills acceptable by now. New challenge was adding patterns on the milky foam. Patterns that did not look like a fat snake throwing up. He would get the hang of it, eventually. Practice was everything, right? Fighting!

One day though, something was different. Jeongguk couldn´t point it out but he knew he was right the minute Jimin made a specific order. Made an order at all instead of taking a seat and asking away. The by now dark haired man (and Jeongguk hadn´t known hair colors could be an issure but Jimin with dark hair was serious sh*t and he had no clue what to do except shoving his feeling even further away) named him a list of flowers he wanted arranged in a bouquet. Banksia, lily of the valley, water lily, bellflower, flax and kannedia.

Jeongguk frowned at him. Not because those flowers were very unusual and he didn´t have everything on store. But because of the choice. Because of the flowers´ meaning. Banksia stood for new beginnings, lily of the valley for increased happiness. Water lily symbolized purity of heart, bellflower gratitude. Flax said ‘I feel your kindness’ and kannedia meant mental beauty.

That combination was bugging him to no end as it sounded an awful lot like Jimin giving Hoeseok a second chance. And Jeongguk knew Jimin was aware of every single flower´s meaning. They were on same level in regards of flower language by now.

Jeongguk made no move for the flowers. Instead, he grabbed Jimin´s arm and looked him deep in the eyes. “Are you really sure of this? After everything that happened? Do you really really want to do this, are you a hundred percent sure?”

Jimin smiled up to him reassuringly. “Yes. I want this. I gave it a lot of thought and this is the right decision.”

Jeongguk took a shuddering breath, then he leaned down to hug his hyung tightly. “I just… I don´t want you to get hurt again” he murmured in Jimin´s shoulder. The elder drawing idle circles on his back. “Can we not maybe like, talk this out properly please?” He felt Jimin shaking his head. His heart slumped down.

“There is nothing to talk out, Jungkookie. I made my choice. And nothing can change it anymore, not even you. Least you.”

Jeongguk scrambled away like being hit. Least you. As if… just as if he wasn´t important enough to have any weight in Jimin´s decisions. But maybe that was how it was, he had misunderstood it all along… maybe he really didn´t hold a place in Jimin´s heart the way his hyung did for him.

Relucantly, Jeongguk got to work, searched for the flowers while he subtly rubbed his chest as if to soothe the pain inside. It took him way longer than usual until he was done.

“Just… promise me one thing, hyung” Jeongguk begged as he handed the finished bouquet to his friend. “Whatever happens, whatever he does – tell me. Call me at midnight if necessary. I don´t care. But tell me. And remember that you´ll be welcome in my home anytime.” He was that desperate to beg. But for Jimin, he would beg a thousand times if it meant help in whatever way.

The smile Jimin gave him was blinding. Jeongguk felt his lungs constricting at the thought of who made Jimin smile like that and buy flowers again. Maybe he should stalk Jimin and install security cameras in his house. Just in case. And maybe he should start secretly camping next to the house Jimin and Hoeseok lived in. Once a liar, always a liar. That bastard!

“I promise”, Jimin chirped, effectively drawing Jeongguk back to reality.

As he was too far away to hear Jeongguk whispered “Take care of your heart, hyung. You only have one.”

 

---

 

Later that day a student came in prancing. Obviously part of the prank/bravery test category. Jeongguk wordlessly handed him one of his ‘ you’-bouquets (he always had some prepared in store since that day) and took double the prize when he saw the brat trying to put something into his flower water.

On his way back home a strong cold wind was blowing, making Jeongguk shudder. What a sh*tty day. He couldn´t wait for it to end.

As he got home he walked past it first – because there was no way that was real. But curiosity got the best of him so he went back the few stairs. And really, there stood a familiar bouquet in a bucket, wrapped in grey paper and held together by one of his tags.

With shaky hands he un-wrapped it and revealed the bouquet he´d made for Jimin earlier that day. A letter fell out and into his lap. Jeongguk ripped open the envelope with such force he ripped the card inside in two too. Luckily, it was still readable.

Jeongguk´s eyes flew over the words again and again. He couldn´t grasp them, had forgotten every word the instant he´d read it but the essence, the meaning settled in his chest with a fuzzy feeling. He couldn´t recall the sentences no matter how often he read it. Still, there was warmth spreading everywhere, pushing the autumn wind out of his system.

He couldn´t tell how long he had sat there, staring at Jimin´s letter. Somewhen Jeongguk got up. And with a gentleness as if it was the most delicate thing to ever exist he carried the flowers inside.

The smile wouldn´t vanish from his face even as he went to sleep, the flowers right next to his bed.

‘Thank you for everything. I love you.’

“I love you too” he whispered into the darkness. Towards Jimin´s flowers.

 

---

 

It wasn´t as chilly as the day before, Jeongguk noted on his way to work. Maybe it was just his imagination. The fallen leaves weren´t any longer depressing dead corpses lying on the pavement to rot away, they were colorful spots in the quiet town. Vibrant red and yellow, calming brown, fiery orange. Not dead but awake. Awake, waiting for the next step in the endless circle that was nature and life. Awake, as Jeongguk felt since he had met Jimin. Since he had found that declaration of love on his stairs yesterday. Oh, Jeongguk wasn´t skipping around joyfully or anything. But he held his chin high, not staring at the grey stones beneath his feet. Greeted people with a short nod or even murmuring a clipped ‘Morning’ before hurrying away. And the people were eyening him like an alien for he was never interacting with anybody in whatever way.

But he felt exceptionally great, okay? He was allowed to act strange. He felt amazing for a change. Until he reached his flower shop, unlocked the doors and went inside where he could swear it smelled like Jimin already. Jimin. His mind went blank. Jimin would surely come today again and expect some kind of reaction. What in god´s name was he supposed to do?! Jeongguk crouched down, head in his hands, cold sweat already forming. He had no idea, no idea whatsoever how he should approach Jimin. How he should look him in the eyes, how he should form a coherent sentence, what he should say, what do with his limbs that felt long and useless now. There were so many possibilities how he could ruin it. Jeongguk felt like the Goblin in that K-drama as he realizes he told Eun Tak about his sword and runs around in circles with fear for dear life. Yes, he felt exactly like that now. Like one step, one encounter with Jimin away from dying.

I- I can´t do this. Not now, not like this. And maybe it was a coward´s choice, maybe it was the worst he could opt for but on trembling legs Jeongguk got up and locked his front door again, hanging the ‘closed’-sign in the frame. He was not ready to face Jimin yet. Maybe he wouldn´t be anytime soon. It had been so sudden and… how had it even happened in the first place? The both of them falling for each other? What did I miss?

He laid flat on his back in the dark shop, hoping for answers to appear as he kept staring and staring at the ceiling. One minute. Two. Three. Five. Twenty. One hour. Longer even. The dim autumn light slowly changed as he just laid on the floor and tried to find answers while his brain remained empty. Finding answers when one´s brain is empty is impossible. An impossible task, just draining him from his energy and will to do something.

There was a soft knock on the door, an even softer voice calling out for him. The floor him up even more, glued him to the cool surface. A few more knocks broke the silence, one louder than the other and the calls got worried, desperate even. But Jeongguk was stuck on the floor and couldn´t move a single finger. The cold sweat hit him with full force again. Eventually, the frantic shouts and knocks died down. Jeongguk dared to take deeper breaths.

Some minutes or hours later – Jeongguk couldn´t tell, he had lost any track of time – he got up groaning. Dragged his heavy limbs from here to there and tried to warm up, get the blood back to circulate. At his third round through his shop, this time taking a different route, he spotted the cowering figure in front of the customer´s door. Creeping closer, Jeongguk found his assumption verified. None other than the one and only Park Jimin was sitting on his perch leaning at the door, knees tucked up, hands rested in his lap and eyes closed. A wave of warmth flooded Jeongguk´s system at the sight, together with regret as he had been the one shutting out his dear hyung.

On silent feet he made for a far corner of his shop, grabbed what he needed before he could freeze in self-doubts once more and sneaked out through the back door. In hopes of his determination holding on long enough.

For the records, it did last. But barely. The four minutes out there had been the longest in his life. Holding his breath to not wake the young man and with shaking hands Jeongguk had placed a single flower in one of Jimin´s small hands. A proud and glorious Dahlia. Forever thine.

Jimin would know the moment he saw it, would understand him. Hell, they´ve had a whole afternoon discussing Dahlias and Shakespeare English afterall. With one hand Jeongguk internally patted his shoulder, congratulating himself for being such a clever fox whilst with the other hand he slapped himself for making Jimin wait and freeze.

He hadn´t been careful enough though as Jimin was already stirring when he shut the back door. And just like before Jeongguk didn´t know what to do but this time muscle memory took over and on auto-pilot he walked to his place behind the counter. Potential customer – get in position. Only Jimin wasn´t a common customer. Nothing on him had ever been common or normal or plain and boring as it was the case for all the other customers. And now this not-usual person entered his shop smiling widely and clutching the flower to his heart. At the sight his knees gave out and Jeongguk flopped down on the counter, burying the bright red and hot face in his hands. It turned even hotter as he could practically feel the sweet smile directed to him transforming into a smirk.

“Well, what´s wrong Jungkookie?”

“Oh leave me alone you tease”, Jeongguk groaned. “I´m deep-frying myself right now. My brain is mush already and my heart keeps beating like a woodpecker. All because of you, I hope you´re happy now.”

Jimin cooed at the words combined with the sight – the mess named Jeon Jeongguk. “Aw, is my poor Kookie suffering from feelings? C´mere…” He rounded the counter and pulled the taller in a hug, his back. The same way Jeongguk had done it to him months ago.

“Oh god, I´m gonna implode if you keep that up” Jeongguk mumbled against Jimin´s shoulder. The older just laughed (Jeongguk thought of glistening dew drops pearling down a big tropical leaf at the endearing sound). He tightened his grip around the younger and placed a sweet kiss on Jeongguk´s hair. And indeed, the shop owner made some weak crashing noise at the action.

There was a moment of silence as Jeongguk gathered all his courage, gaining strength from the body contact. But he needed to be really really certain about this.

“So uhm… if you, y´know, love me and… I... love… uh… you… too... does that mean we are a thing now?” The last part came out rushed and Jeongguk tucked his face back in the safety of Jimin´s shoulder.

Again, there was that wonderful laugh. Maybe Jeongguk didn´t need to become brave and bold towards his hyung. If the reward for him making a fool of himself was Jimin being happy then he was totally fine with it. Oh god I´m such a dork for him, it dawned the young shop owner. And only as his body was shaken from the force of Jimin´s loud laughter he realized he´d said the last part out loud. A hand clasped above his mouth he stumbled away in shock. He hadn´t intended to say it, was already embarrassed enough without that.

Happy tears were shining in Jimin´s eyes as he chased Jeongguk and gave him a small peck on the lips, still giggling a little.

“Yeah, I guess that makes us a thing” he finally answered, adoration evident in his voice, his eyes.

“…Why?” The question was out before Jeongguk could stop it. He hadn´t intended to say that out loud either. Gosh, were was his brain-to-mouth filter all of a sudden?

“Why?” Jimin gave him a dumbfounded look. “Did you not read the letter afterall?”

“Wha- of course I did, hyung” the younger hurried to assure. “It´s just… I read it a hundred times but I still can´t recite a single sentence. My mind somehow doesn´t seem to get it. To comprehend the words. It´s not because I can´t read because I can I swear! I´m not an analphabet. But your letter I… I just can´t get it. The message, the meaning of the words get stuck somewhere between my eyes and my brain as it seems like impossible this is all real and happening, in fact I still feel like dreaming and-“ He forcefully shut his mouth as he noticed his ramble. Wondering what shade of sun-burned red (it´s Jimin-burned you idiot) he was sporting by now Jeongguk made a point to avoid Jimin´s gaze.

Jimin then took his hand and lead him in the back room to sit down. Cuddled together – Jeongguk´s head swelled at that – his hyung tried his best to explain it. How he fell in love with him. The vibration of him speaking against Jeongguk´s chest keeping the latter grounded.

He talked a lot about Jeongguk being wonderfully passionate and dedicated, about his soft inside and clear, bright mind, about all the little things he did, about the space he´d given Jimin as he would never dig for information or sniff in his private life. But mostly he called Jeongguk a selfless and caring person, putting himself behind Jimin´s well-being and always being there for him and giving him just exactly what he needed every time. Last time being yesterday as it had been evident Jeongguk had disliked the thought of Jimin going back to Hoseok but respected his choice.

Whenever Jimin had finished with one point he leaned in to place a gentle kiss on another part of Jeongguk and whispered a soft ‘thank you’. As he was done laying his heart bare, the younger was silently crying, shoulders shaking violently.

“Gosh, I--- I need to grow a whole new flower to express how much I love you” he hiccupped.

And that shy smile he got from Jimin as the older now was at turns with going bright red, that smile he would hold in his heart for forever. No matter forever was a damn long time. It deserved a special place, in fact deserved a spot in all renominated art galleries of the world. But for now his heart would have to do.

 

---

 

Unsurprisingly, there were no other visitors for the rest of the day. Which gave Jeongguk enough time to roast himself internally. Whenever he was looking at Jimin, he could feel heat rising to his cheeks and ears – he definitely needed to learn how to control that. Of course Jimin not being blind (and ogling the shop owner as much as the other way around) noticed Jeongguk´s face constantly becoming flaming red.

As Jimin gave him the thousandth questioning and encouraging look to speak his mind, the younger´s resolve snapped. With dry mouth he tried – and almost failed – to ask the question burning at his tongue for hours now.

“Do you… uhm… want to… come… over… hyung?” Every word was weaker than the one before and at the end of the sentence Jeongguk did implode in earnest. He felt light and hot and torn, drunk on his own shyness. Just as if his head had been blown off. Not that he had an actual comparison but it had to feel like that.

Jimin was already jumping on his spot, chanting ‘yes yes yes yesss~’as his eyes had turned into crescends. And Jeongguk was remembered of those little plastic solar flowers people placed in their car or wherever, those brightly colored flowers swinging from side to side and giving off a childish, happy vibe. Just like his hyung right now. He hurried to get ready and lead his happy waving flower home.

The walk home was the longest and shortest he´d ever had at the same time. It was hard to explain. So Jeongguk stopped deeper thinking about it and just let it happen. He did not notice the looks other town people gave him for being in company as he was too engrossed with his hyung´s lively chatter. There was no tension between them even though they now were a couple and Jeongguk loved that. Loved the easy flow between them still being there. Except when he couldn´t get his mouth open just like earlier but it probably would never change.

“Woooow, there are so many flowers blooming in your garden and that even as we have fall already!”

Jeongguk raised an eyebrow pointedly. “I thought you´ve been here yesterday already?”

“I was busy running away from the scene of crime as fast as possible, let me be! So back to the topic. Flowers!” And Jimin, he really pouted.

Jeongguk couldn´t help but laugh. It felt great. “Yeah, I planted a three seasons garden. Come, I´ll show you.” He held open the wooden gate for his hyung. Taking him by one small hand, he lead him through the small garden in front of his house. “See, three seasons garden means you mix up plants blooming at different times a year so there is always blooming something. Except winter that is. Right now it´s the different kinds of Fantasia Mums and that dwarf burning bush over there being the color specks. In spring, it´ll be the Lungwort, Weigela and Poker primrose´s turn and in summer the red daylilies, Black-eyed Susan and blue butterfly delphinium. It´s beautiful, isn´t it?”

“Yeah”, Jimin agreed absent-minded while looking at Jeongguk. “Beautiful…”

However, as his hyung leaned down to try smelling the colorful leaves and small blossoms Jeongguk was hit by a weird realization out of nowhere. He wished he could make it un-thought.

“Oh my gawd”, he gasped.

Jimin jolted up. “What? Is it poisonous?!” he shrieked in bewilderment.

“No but…” And again, his brain-to-mouth filter was lacking. “Did you never think about how when you smell flowers you actually smell organs, like flower , and all at once?”

Jeongguk gaped at Jimin as if the latter had been the one saying it. “Oh my god, thanks, brain, for nothing” he mumbled while face-palming.

Jimin´s eyes in the meanwhile had caught a mischievous glint. “Mhm… and how exactly did your thoughts end up there? What a dirty mind…”

And had Jeongguk deemed being safe he saw himself just now being attacked by another heat wave on his face and everywhere. “I was not- oh god I swear I didn´t think of that, hyung… please, I really didn´t, I-”

But Jimin, the little devil, only smirked knowingly and gave him an intense stare. Gosh, Jeongguk felt his knees going weak at that look. He needed to do something. Anything was fine. So he pulled his hyung to the door and let him in his house. Leading him to the living room which was, how he realized belated, a total mess.

So he began to frantically run around and tidy up the room around his guest as good as possible. All the while caring for his plants in- and outside. But one grin from Jimin and he was distracted. Distracted enough to mix up things big and like that he found himself casually watering the cramped coffee table while staring at Jimin. One look to the left and he saw the books he´d placed back moments ago sticking out of a big grass plant.

Jimin was howling, rolling on the ground and hitting the couch´s side as he beheld the thoroughly watered table. Jeongguk, close to a heart attack tried to save the TV remote and the piles of handwritten documents, in between throwing away empty beer and energy drink bottles together with a soaked thus inedible sandwich from last day. As his hyung had calmed down he helped Jeongguk hanging up page after page on the clothesline. At least the pages that didn’t rip in two at the attempt.

“What are those for?” he asked after the sixteenth page had fallen apart beneath his hands.

“Oh those…” Jeongguk drawled. “I´m making an online course about marketing, so… yeah.”

Jimin gasped. “Wow, that´s so… uh… cool!”

“And…?”

“And so you, actually. Jeon Jeongguk, lone florist, dedicated to defy his fate and get customers! You really don´t like to lose, do you?”

Jeongguk looked down to him confused. “Huh? Where´d you take that from?”

But his hyung only winked and gave him no further explanation.

As Jeongguk was busy trying to make some decent meal for dinner Jimin took it upon himself to get to know the house. After no long he came back to the kitchen, many different emotions running across his face.

“An explanation is needed”, he declared.

“About what exactly?” Jeongguk asked, hiding behind his big kitchen knive and being very very busy cutting radish.

“About my flower bouquet being IN your bed! Did you sleep-hug them or what?”

Jeongguk spluttered and almost cut off his finger. “Wha- Did not!”

“Did too~”

“No! Did not!”

...Okay, maybe he did. But how could he not?

 

---

 

The dinner was calm and relaxing until Jimin opened his mouth to ask a question Jeongguk wasn´t sure how to understand.

“So… do you live here, in this big house, all by yourself?”

The weary sound made the younger of the two uneasy. There were so many possible meanings and implications attached to that simple questions his head was spinning. What did Jimin want to hear now?

“…Yes, I do?” It came out more as a question than an actual answer.

The strange look he got from his hyung – wait, his boyfriend, he could call him boyfriend now, it hadn´t sunk in still – didn´t make him feel better a single bit.

After some minutes of eating in silence Jimin then offered to help make the house ‘livable’. Jeongguk thought it was completely unnecessary but his… boyfriend insisted it looked cold, almost as if nobody was really living in there but only occupying it. But if it made Jimin happy to decorate stuff or whatever, well…

“I have my flowers though and nobody ever visits anyway so why should I bother? It´s enough for me how it is?”, he tried for the last time to get out of somebody messing with his home even if that somebody would be Jimin.

As response he was hit on the arm violently by his hyung. “Jeon Jeongguk, that´s not how you do it!!!”

Jeongguk was nothing short of baffled. He hadn´t expected an outburst like that. “W-what´s not what?”

But Jimin had already retreated to his chair and was now sitting across from him, pouting angrily. “At least say ‘I have my flowers and you, that´s everything I need’. You can be so unromantical for a guy who´s communicating through flowers. Come-on, we are a couple now, you are allowed to be cheesy once in a while by law”, he whined.

To Jeongguk´s immense relief Jimin didn´t resist as he came to engulf him in a tight hug. “I´m sorry”, he murmured against the black locks, threading his fingers through them. “I didn´t mean to be unromantic. But I feel extremely uncomfortable with the idea of somebody belonging to somebody else, as if people were things. That´s why I didn´t say it like that. I don´t intend to think of you as a possession that´s why you´ll probably never hear me saying stuff like ‘I belong to you and you belong to me’ or ‘I´m yours and you´re mine’. I know it´s meant in a different way but it just… it doesn´t sit well. I´m sorry. It´s a bit different with the flower language but the meanings there are limited anyway.”

Jimin shook his head against the taller´s chest. “No, don´t be sorry. I was… I was childish and selfish. I am sorry. It´s a really considerate way of thinking of yours and I´m glad I got to know you. Thank you.”

 

---

 

They spend the rest of the evening cuddling on the couch, whispering flower names in each other´s ear like secrets. Every single flower´s meaning sweater than the one before. Until it ended in a somewhat kind of contest who could name more flowers that mean ‘I love you’ in one breath. But it was sweet. Sweet and warm and intimate. And Jeongguk was sure even though most people would deem their current behavior strange they made an amazing couple still. And whoever could not see that was probably blind or dumb or had an ugly heart. It didn´t really matter. Jimin pulling him down for another chaste kiss had him forgetting about ugly hearts.

Time passed in a blink and soon Jeongguk found to his endless shock (because how, when did that happen?!) that it was past midnight already. Refusing to let Jimin wander the streets alone at such a time and not wanting to part already, he offered him to stay over. It sounded like a good idea and the rationally speaking right choice at that moment. Jimin also was more than happy to take up on that offer.

But Jeongguk belatedly realized he´d put himself in a complete new kind of hell. Because Jimin had been fine sleeping on the mattress (Jeongguk had tried to switch their places, he really had but Jimin was adamant about him staying in his own damned bed). However, one or two hours later the younger had been waking up from Jimin climbing in his bed too and snuggling up against him. From there on he hadn´t been able to close his eyes again. This closeness – it was one thing to cuddle for hours but a whole other level of intimacy to sleep together.

Jimin´s smell (he even smelled as sweet as he was, what the actual hell) combined with the soft calming breathing pattern, the breath fanning Jeongguk´s skin, the body heat and the tingle on every place where their limbs and chests and everything touched… this together with the sight that was Park Jimin sleeping in his arms in the dim moonlight and the occasional mewls escaping the content sleeping beauty but especially the knowledge this was not a dream - it was too much.

All of those aspects standing alone were already doing things to Jeongguk, making him feel in ways he´d never had before. But everything together, all at once – too much. He needed fresh air. Quick.

Cautious not to wake up Jim- his boyfriend, Jeongguk got up and went outside.

Laying in the chilly, actually freezing autumn night air for half an hour and he still hadn´t calmed down. His heart was working enough for two and he couldn´t bear the thought to go back to bed. Didn´t trust himself. Not because he was a man and had needs – that played a minor role right now. Okay, maybe not minor but it was like 47 percent the reason he couldn´t go back. For the other 53 percent it was because he was honestly afraid to squeeze his hyung to death at a sudden rush of affection.

He turned around on the grass, contemplating to take a cold shower and get rid of the 47 percent. But that would wake up Jimin, his shower was a loud moody thing.

Groaning, Jeongguk sat up. He couldn´t go back to sleep. His mind was too full and his heart was aswell. How was he supposed to fall asleep at this rate?

Somehow, he ended up then t the grass around his house. At three at night. With paper scissors. He wasn´t even surprised by himself anymore. Not after he´d watered his table and the love of his life had declared love back. So what if he was being strange?

After a good deal of grass been taken care of, his thoughts ended up at Jung Hoeseok. From there-on the grass-cutting got aggressive. Which was at the same time more energy-consuming so finally Jeongguk found his sleep as the sun was already rising.

 

---

 

As Jeongguk woke up he was laying in his bed again. And he was inclined to think everything had been a dream. Hadn´t it been for the sheer smell of Jimin still clinging to his sheets.

Right. Jimin!

On wobbly feet Jeongguk got up, looking for his boyfriend. He hadn´t to search long, the small man laying on the bare floor (of all places) and reading a book. At the sound of clumsy feet walking around he perched up his head, smiling at Jeongguk and singing a good morning.

Jeongguk looked at him still drowsy, then looked at the clock hanging on a wall – and cursed. It wasn´t morning at all. In fact, it was late afternoon already.

Some tiny part he would thank later kept Jeongguk from freaking out right there. Instead, he just asked “Wait… what- what week-day do we have again?”

Jimin giggled. “It´s Saturday, chill, Jungkookie~ here, have some cereals with fresh fruits and yoghurt as starters.” He lead Jeongguk to the already prepared breakfast.

Obediently, the latter sat down and ate. Then he remembered something. “Wait… how did I get into my bed?” he asked while still chewing and pointing his spoon on Jimin.

Jimin took that as cue to flex. “How, I carried you there of course! You better not underestimate me, I´m actually very strong. But that reminds me now in return”, he tapped a finger on his chin “why did I find you knocked out in a pile of grass, seemingly cut by hand?”

The cereal bowl suddenly was the most interesting object Jeongguk had ever seen. “I, uh… Icouldnotsleep!”

“Is that so? So it had nothing to do with the fact that grass stands for homoual love?”

Jeongguk dropped his spoon and splattered his face with yoghurt as result. “How do you-“

“Oh please, I googled it of course” Jimin waved a hand dismissingly. “Whenever you do something strange it has a deeper meaning so I figured I should look it up.”

Not sure whether to feel offended or not Jeongguk still tried to defend himself. “I´m not strange!”

But Jimin didn´t have it. “Uhum, sure. I´m just saying ‘smelling organs’. Suit yourself.”

“Hey, everybody knows it´s true, people are just not aware because they don´t use their mind. But the knowledge is there so actually that was not sooo strange, okay?!”

What remained unsaid was Jimin´s imply of a hidden meaning behind the ‘smelling organ’ thing. Because if he really was hinting in the direction Jeongguk thought he was then the florist was in dire need of a cold shower indeed.

Jimin on the other hand, utterly unaware of the turmoil raging inside his lover examined the living room, thinking loudly about how to rearrange and decorate things and what colors could fit. Jeongguk figured the good-for-his-heart calm and boring days were now officially over.

 

---

 

"But I really don´t need curtains", Jeongguk protested for the nth time. "Except you, nobody comes even near my house, not even the delivery man. He has a ing drone to bring stuff on my door. So why?"

Jimin huffed. "Why? You can´t just leave your windows... empty! But why breathe if you die anyway, huh?"

Jeongguk tried not to look offended. And seemingly failed, as the older now cooed and pinched his cheek.

"Aw, poor Kookie. I just want to help making your home more homey. You´ll feel better if we decorated a bit, I promise. You trust me, don´t you?"

Relucantly, Jeongguk nodded. And Jimin beamed. "Alright. Let´s go shoppinnnng~"

The younger sighed and surrendered.

First, they went to a second-hand shop because 'there are the things that have a soul, Kookie'. As Jimin breezed through the shop with the young florist in tow, their first shopping basket was filled within five minutes. So were the second and third shortly after. It was only as the shop owner kindly asked Jimin to leave a few things for other customers too that the small man decided they´d chosen enough. For now.

But one walk to the back of the room and Jimin´s arms were full with even more stuff. It took quite some convincing and sweet-talking from Jeongguk to get his hyung to agree selecting the most important things and leave the rest there.

Things that made the final cut were: a set of old wooden frames (Jimin suggested to use them for pressed flowers and even though Jeongguk didn´t admit it he kinda liked the idea), a big vase that looked like some swirled branch (‘We can put reed in there and a few twigs!’), a rug with stripes in earthy colors, some candle holders, three oval wooden plates in different sizes, then a basket to put in fruits and vegetables (‘Fruits?’ ‘Yeah, y´know, bananas and stuff. It´s healthy. Really, you should try it, get away from your energy drinks and instant noodles.’), two pillowcases and a very big photograph from leaves with sunlight shining through.

Jimin had also wanted to buy two blankets, a small cat statue, an ancient-looking chest and a lamp but the younger had been adamant there.

They carried the purchased stuff home as apparently the shop was just down the street and roughly set them up under Jimin´s supervision.

But then they got up again to visit the mall in a city nearby and Jeongguk was bitter because he really really didn´t want to go. However, he also didn´t want to cause a fight and his hyung had been so happy in the local second-hand shop so he kept quiet about it.

As they were at the mall, the younger made a point storming past everything expensive, he hadn´t that much left from his saving. To Jimin, he said it was because of all those people cramping the areas where the more costly furniture was sold – which oddly was the case, shouldn´t it be the other way around? And it was true he disliked crowds so he wasn´t exactly lying.

At the end of the day Jeongguk had managed to successfully lead his hyung somewhere else whenever the older showed interest in not-so-cheap stuff or change the topic rather quickly when the questions got near the sensitive topic of money.

That´s how, to Jimin´s utter dismay, they hadn´t bought curtains. Jeongguk just prayed his boyfriend hadn´t connected the dots and concluded the younger simply couldn´t afford any more ‘decoration’. He didn´t want to seem poor, didn´t want to embarrass himself.

Of course Jimin had noticed it.

How Jeongguk knew? Well, he might or might not have followed Jimin as the other kept disappearing every day for a short while after their shopping tour. He would never call it stalking though, because it wasn´t – the young florist just so much as happened to go in the same direction as his boyfriend. Yup, legitimate.

And he just barely managed to hide in an entrance way as Jimin halted in his track and snorted at a stranger passing by.

Confused, the woman looked at him as he muttered “Well, that was to be expected” under his breath but clearly audible, even for Jeongguk.

“What´s wrong with you?”, the woman questioned slightly offended. “Do you have a problem?”

Jimin shrugged lazily. “Well, I mean if you really want to give those flowers to your – what, boyfriend? Husband? Then it´s totally your thing I guess…”

Bewilderment entered the woman´s features. “Why, what´s wrong with my flowers?”

Again there was that snort from Jimin which Jeongguk had to admit he found very cute. Just as the whole act his boyfriend put on, so bratty and un-Jimin-like but still… cute.

“Madam, did you ever hear about the flower language? Yes? Even worse then! What you are holding in your hands is practically a mixture of ‘I adore you’ and ‘I pity you’ and ‘I´m angry with you’. Really, which one is it you want to say?” The small man pointed at the sunflower in the middle first, then some Camellias and a Furze.

Clutching the freshly bought flowers tightly, the woman scowled at him. “So what? It still looks nice and he won´t know that. Who cares for such stuff nowadays anyway?”

“Oh, another florist here in town does”, Jimin quipped and his whole demeanor changed from smartass to whipped. “You might know him as the Must-avoid-at-all-costs-jerk. But actually Jeon Jeongguk knows way more than the florist you just visited. I personally made a comparison. So next time you want to buy flowers maybe you´d like to get some that go along well with each other and maybe you´ll want them to live longer than those will do. Because the treatment they received is not the best and I promise you they´ll wither within the next five days. Just saying.”

“What, but they all wither within a few days, that´s normal!”

“Oh, is it? Well, you´d be surprised then. Try the Jeon flower shop just once and make yourself an opinion.” Jimin grinned at her widely and continued his way. The woman stared after him in bafflement, then at the flowers in her hand, at the retreating figure of Jimin and at her flowers again, now her brows furrowed as she picked at the different plants.

Jeongguk shook his head, still well-hidden. You little fox, Park Jimin.

 

---

 

To his big surprise there indeed were new customers starting a week after that incident. Jeongguk almost doubled over as one of the women who never missed a chance to badmouth him even in his presence crossed the threshold. She fidgeted around nervously, eyes darting here and there and it remembered Jeongguk very much of the first time he´d seen his boyfriend.

He pointedly cleared his throat. “Uhm, can I help you?”

She shrieked. “N-no, yes, I mean, uh… I-I heard you know one thing or two about flower language and… stuff?”

Dumbfounded, Jeongguk nodded. “Y-yes, that´s right. Are you looking for a special flower arrangement carrying a certain meaning?”

“I, uh, yes.”

Silence.

Jeongguk waited patiently but the woman kept quiet. Geez, get out of your shell, dummy!

He cleared his dry throat once more. “I´m sorry but if you want me to make an arrangement for you I´d need you to be a bit more specific.”

The woman´s head snapped up, eyes wide. “Oh, of-of course!”

Again, silence fell. Jeongguk sighed under his breath. “Okay… so, what do you want the message to be?”

“I-I-I I love you?”

The young florist raised an eyebrow. “That´s it?”, he pushed. “Nothing more specific? ‘I love you’ is quite random, don´t you think?”

Fear and nervousity on the woman´s face were replaced by puzzlement. “I can be more specific?”

“Of course you can.”

She pondered about it. “Hm, well… it´s gonna be our wedding anniversary soon so maybe something like… ‘Remember the wonderful moment’ or something?”

Jeongguk stilled, taking his time weighing the options he had with the plants currently in his shop.

“B-but if that´s no good then I can think of something else too”, the woman hurriedly said as the young florist didn´t move for a few seconds.

God, so impatient. People don´t value time these days.

“No, it´s alright. I think I have an idea. But first, would you like a big bouquet or just a few flowers?”

She waved frantically. “Oh no no no, only two or three flowers are enough, nothing too extraordinary!”

Jeongguk nodded. “Okay. Follow me, please.”

He lead the woman around, suggesting different ideas. They ended up with a Periwinkle – ‘sweet remembrance’; a Geranium – ‘Recall’ and an Amaranthus for ‘unfading affection’. Jeongguk adorned these three single flowers with a few Forget-me-nots (‘true love, remembrance’) and some strands of decorative grass, then handed it to the woman giving her a few advices how to care for the flowers.

She looked outright baffled yet happy and very satisfied with the outcome and left the shop humming. Jeongguk didn´t know how to feel about it as that particular woman had never been nice to him from day one and now was waving back at him and singing a cheery ‘Thank you’. It was… strange.

Not even twenty minutes later a whole group of women giggling like teenage girls came in. Jeongguk knew for a fact they were friends with the one who just left. Wondering if this maybe just was some new kind of mean prank to rile his hopes, he fulfilled their unique wishes. Impressed by his knowledge they left and one of them whispered a “Sorry” as the others were out of range.

Sorry for always treating you so bad. Sorry for telling things about you that are far from being true. Sorry for misunderstanding you. Sorry for never stepping in when the others made jokes at you.

Jeongguk gulped down the big lump forming in his throat and blinked away the tears stinging at the corners of his eyes. He nodded silently, telling the woman he got it. He understood.

One hour later a man clad in business attire and looking back over his shoulders numerous times came in. He´d heard the women gushing about the shop and wanted to surprise his girlfriend with a romantical bouquet – ‘as sappy as possible’. He made Jeongguk explaining him the different meanings of all those flowers three times before he got out his smartphone, typing the information while the annoyed but willing florist told him everything for the fourth time. With a deep bow he left and rushed away, eager not to be seen.

Jeongguk gaped after him, gaped still as the door opened and a shy boy came in. Whatever Jimin had been doing the last days – it was working! It was working and it was a miracle because in three hours he had made more money and seen more different faces in his shop than in a whole usual week!

As the boy left happily with the cheesy love declaration in his hand, the door hadn´t even fallen shut and the very woman Jeongguk had witnessed being not-so-subtly hinted by Jimin to come here was strolling towards him with a small list in her hand what she wanted to know. Turned out both her and Jeongguk had much fun going through the questions. With every question he answered without problems, her eyes went wider. She didn´t buy flowers but left with the promise to come back again. Jeongguk smiled and wished her a nice day. She just caught herself in time to not trip.

Content, puzzled, surprised, overwhelmed, not sure if this was really happening and feeling some more things at the same time the young florist leaned back in his chair, head tilted upwards and eyes closed. He needed a break. This was such a strange experience, that he was in actual need of some time to catch his breath. A quiet chuckle made its way past his mouth. What a day. Eyes firmly shut, he purposefully took deep and slow breaths, the knots of tension in his stomach unfurling and soon he was sound asleep.

Next thing he knew were soft plump lips pressing against his in a gentle manner. He smiled against the familiar lips, relishing in the sensation before he popped his eyes open.

Sure enough there was Jimin leaning over him, breaking into a sweet smile as their gazes met.

“Hey”, he whispered as he took a seat in the younger´s lap. “How was your day?”

Jeongguk didn´t have the words to answer so he just pulled his hyung closer and snuggled against his chest. Jimin laughed endearingly while his hands began carding through the younger´s black locks. He dragged his nose along Jeongguk´s neck then placed a small taunting peck just below his ear before he pulled away.

“So…”, he cupped Jeongguk´s face in his sweater paws and the younger didn´t miss a mischievous glint in his eyes. “About those beautiful yellow curtains we saw the other day…”

Jeongguk eliminated all space between them and crushed his hyung in a tight hug. “You are amazing”, he mumbled against the soft cotton, his grip tightening at the wonderful sound of Jimin´s laughter. He waited until his favorite sound had died down before he engaged his hyung in a passionate kiss.

 

---

 

It became a routine for Jeongguk to secretly follow his hyung around when he was recruiting new customers. The younger had learned to read the signs, to connect the dots when Jimin became restless, skipping around with eyes on his phone and a devilish grin on his face.

Like that, he witnessed conversations with different levels of hilarity. But his favorite was the one about Harry Potter:

Jimin had cornered a young woman with glasses and a ‘Ten points to Mrs. Norris’-shirt and was busy bickering about the flowers she held. She didn´t make it easy for him though.

“What do you mean, flower language is boring and not up to date?!” Jimin´s voice had went an octave higher and his satoori accent was clearly audible.

The woman was completely unfazed by his demeanor. “I mean it just exactly as I said.”

“But – how could you?! Don´t you know how cool it is to know one or two things about it? Even J. K. Rowling used it as hint in her books god-dammit!”

At that, the almost-girls eyes went wide and Jeongguk had to bite back a laugh as Jimin smirked. Gotcha!

“Oh, don´t you know that the very first words Snape said to Harry were a huge foreshadowing? Do you remember what he said?”

Eagerly, the young woman nodded. “Of course! He said ‘Mr. Potter. Our new celebrity. Tell me, what would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?’ and Harry was like ‘Idk, Sir’.”

“Exactly. And do you know the solution? Do you know why Snape asked that particular question?”

She shook her head and Jimin puffed out his chest proudly.

“Let me enlighten you, then. Asphodel is actually some kind of lily. A special kind that, in the Victorian flower language, means ‘My regrets follow you to the grave’. Wormwood in the meanwhile means ‘absence’ but also symbolizes bitter sorrow. Now, if you combine that what would you get?”, he asked, edging the stranger on who was hanging on his lips and up every bit of new information about her favorite book.

Jimin waited five seconds for dramatic purposes before he answered the question himself. “It means ‘I bitterly regret Lily´s death’, obviously”, he gloated. “And if you were familiar with the flower language you could´ve figured out Snape´s secret feelings for Harry´s mother in the first book already, way earlier than everyone else.”

“Whoooooooaaa…”

“I know, right? So, do you want to learn a secret language to catch insiders and buy cool flowers next time?”

“…Yeah… but like, wow!”

Jimin smiled from one ear to the other as the young woman walked away, still shaking her head at the revelation. Jeongguk sneakily got out of his hiding place and gave his hyung a high-five. Since then his secrecy façade was blown. Not that he really cared much.

 

---

 

 

One day, a self-confident boy strutted to Jeongguk, one the florist would usually classify as somebody trying to prank him.

“So…”, the boy went off in a challenging way “I heard you know stuff about flowers. But do you have cool bouquets that don´t mean the usual ‘I luv you’? I mean, do you have something not-nice, something sick?” He smirked, expecting the answer to be ‘No’ and deeming himself the winner of that new sort of challenge.

Jeongguk just smirked back. Bring it on, brat. He motioned the boy to follow him – follow him to his stock of different ‘ you’-bouquets. He always kept some ready since that day when Jimin had come in as a sobbing mess thanks to that mother*cker Hoeseok. Passionately, he began explaining the different arrangements to the boy. It took maybe one minute to get him hooked. The boy bought one of the smaller and cheaper ones with an evil grin and thanked Jeongguk loudly.

Two days later he was back, bombing the florist with questions and bought another ‘ you’-bouquet. He kept returning, challenging Jeongguk to think of new combinations. It didn´t take long and they had designed a new ‘ you’-bouquet and named it after the boy. Jeongguk had already decided the boy was his second-most favorite customer. Eternal fav was out of question Jimin.

 

---

 

Jimin never missed visiting Jeongguk in his shop. This did not change with the slowly increasing amount of customers too. Sometimes then the young florist closed the shop early only to have more time for his hyung and himself. He secretly missed his lazy days where he could talk and fool around with Jimin the whole time. But he didn´t said it out loud – he would never hear the end of it if he did.

Jeongguk was just silently enjoying the view (‘the view’ meaning his hyung was standing behind the counter and playing florist, smiling at and greeting invisible customers) as he had an idea. On tip-toes he made his way to the storage and retrieved one twig. Then he went back and changed into his role as customer.

“I want this”, he declared, holding up the twig with peach blossoms.

Jimin gave him a blinding smile. “Excellent choice, sir”, he chirped. “Simple yet elegant.” His chubby fingers hovered above the cash register, seemingly typing in the prize. “This will be-“

Jeongguk silenced him with plucking the biggest blossom from the twig and tucking it behind Jimin´s right ear. Then he leaned over the counter and gave his madly blushing hyung a sweet kiss.

Peach blossom – this heart is thine.

 

---

 

It was Friday, Jeongguk wandering the streets and doing grocery shopping. Jimin wanted to teach him how to cook a simple version of lamb skewers today. And he wouldn´t have noticed, would´ve passed by and not looked at the two guys across the street twice – hadn´t a certain name piqued his interest.

“…and yesterday Jiminie gave just another handful of strange flowers to me, I don´t get iiiit~”, the taller man with red hair whined at his smaller grumpy companion.

Jeongguk spun around and walked in the same direction as those two, following them closely enough to hear everything they said.

“So? What´s wrong with getting flowers beside you still not telling that boy to back off as the coward you are?”

“Aish, so mean, Yoongi-hyung~ I don´t mind flowers in general but Jiminie gave me the exact same flowers every week since… y´know. And he always looks at me expectantly like I should understand what the hell is going on. I feel like he speaks greek to me. I don´t understand ing greek!” The red-head threw his arms up in an overdramatic gesture while he went on whining and complaining loudly.

Hoe- this! This is Hoeseok!

The sudden realization hit Jeongguk like a flash. He felt bile rising in his throat, his body slowly heating up. With clenched fists, he followed the two. His vision got cloudy as he kept staring holes in Hoseok´s head from behind.

No! Keep it together. You promised him not to hurt that ing hoe. Don´t be the immature one here. He gritted his teeth and slowly opened his fisted hands, taking deep breaths.

But he still wanted – no, needed to make a point. So Jeongguk got out his cellphone and called Jimin. He subtly changed to the other side of the road so Hoe ing Seok could see him and he had a good view on the other aswell.

“Hello? Jeongukkie?”

“Jimin-ah”, Jeongguk answered loudly in what he hoped was a light and optimistic tone. And sure enough that red head whipped around to him. Jeongguk gave him his best death glare and a raised middle finger.

“Is… is everything okay? Are you alright?”, Jimin asked and sounded honestly concerned. Of course – of course he had noticed the younger´s strangled voice. By now, they were an open book for each other.

Jeongguk was still glaring and Hoseok who looked confused and not only a bit terrified. “Yes, I´m… I´m fine. Babe, when are you gonna come home?” He internally cringed at the pet name he´d never used before. But then a smile crept up his face. Home. Because by now it wasn´t an understatement to call his house Jimin´s home too. The older was visiting often enough and had gotten cozy there, decorating and cleaning up and teaching Jeongguk a healthy lifestyle. And maybe he hadn´t moved in yet – but it was obvious while the small man was sleeping in his own apartment he was living at Jeongguk´s place. Their home.

The fond smile turned into a sneer, rather baring his teeth as the florist remembered the two men watching him across the street. He gave the taller one a daring look and then mouthed ‘Back off’. Jimin was with him now. And he would let nothing – nothing and nobody come between them. Especially not a certain someone.

Hoseok seemed still uneasy and greatly puzzled but the other man – Yoongi – must´ve gotten the hint as he grabbed the red-heads wrist and dragged him away roughly, away from the looming danger that was Jeongguk.

He watched in satisfaction until there was a reply on his phone.

“…did you really just call me ‘babe’?” Jimin sounded highly amused.

Jeongguk pouted. “So what if I did? I love you, am I not allowed to call you like this?”

His only reply was a snicker.

 

---

 

Jimin was already waiting for him at the perch as Jeongguk came home with the groceries. Theoretically he could´ve gotten in long ago with his spare key but he always made a point to wait for the ‘owner of this house’. Jeongguk greeted him with a peck on the nose tip and unlocked the door.

“Hyung, did you know”, he began while unpacking all the things he´d bought “that there is a flower that only blooms every couple years? One should think it must be a breathtaking, exquisite rarity, a real gem right? But actually that flower stinks horribly. It smells like corpses to attract flies. And that´s quite disgusting. Ugh! I mean what the ! Why corpses?”

Head resting on his hands as Jimin sat on the kitchen counter and watched the younger, he sighed. “You met Hoseok, didn´t you?”

Jeongguk froze, his eyes slightly widening. “How did you-“

“How did I know?”, the older interrupted him and laughed but it sounded hollow. “Oh, come on. It was so obvious. I should be offended for you implying I didn´t get all those hints you threw at me.”

Jeongguk was still not moving. With another sigh Jimin hopped down from his chair and rounded the counter to hug the younger. Soothing hands his back and eventually, Jeongguk relaxed beneath the skilled hands of his hyung.

“I didn´t do anything tho”, he mumbled in the crook of Jimin´s neck. “Just gave him a nasty look. But I didn´t do anything.”

“And I´m very proud of you, for keeping control and being responsible, Kook. You did the right thing.” Jimin peppered his face with chaste kisses and then pulled him to the living room.

“I so happen to even have a reward for you”, he sang.

On the coffee table were placed two pots with succulents, their shapes ones Jeongguk had never seen before. With a raised eyebrow, he turned to Jimin, silently asking for elaboration.

“So you see, that one”, the small man took one pot in his hands “is a ‘senecio peregrinus’. I thought it was cute because the leaves look like tiny dolphins and I like dolphins. And that one”, he took the other pot “is… uh… I forgot the name but it looks like tiny bunnies and it´s so adorable, I had to think of you as I saw it on the internet. And I thought, well… they´re two cute pots. And we are two cute men – oh don´t give me that look, you are cute! So maybe we could like, adopt and name them? Something like ‘Minnie’ and ‘Kookie’?” He smiled up to Jeongguk shyly, waiting for a reaction. Jeongguk´s lungs constricted. Why had his hyung to be so damn sweet?

He didn´t answer yet but instead went to get a black marker. Under Jimin´s curious eyes he placed the pots right next to each other and drew stick arms and hands at them, making it look as if the pots were hugging each other. Then he got up and reciprocated the action, pulling his hyung in a warm hug with his hands splayed out on the delicate back.

They stayed like that for a moment before Jeongguk took both of Jimin´s hands and placed a kiss in each palm.

“Let´s sell them under those names as a match in the shop”, he rasped.

The look he got in return from his boyfriend made him feel like overflowing. He dipped down and let his lips speak against the ones from his hyung for no words would do justice to what he felt in that very moment. Or simply whenever Jimin was around.

 

---

 

Jeongguk stiffled a coo at the endearing sight of his boyfriend. It was normal by now that Jimin helped him with small task in the flower shop. Like just now, where he tried to place the newly arrived pots of "Kookie´s" and "Minnie´s" (decorated also by Jimin) on the top shelf. But he simply couldn´t. The small man even had his feet stuck between plants on the lower rug, swaying dangerously and still refusing to use a ladder. At this point Jeongguk was worried for both his flowers and his boyfriend. So after somer more seconds of watching in worry he sneaked up behind Jimin, wrapping his arms around his waist and lifting him up. Jimin shrieked and almost dropped the pots. Jeongguk just chuckled and placed a tender kiss on the elder´s spine. 

To be honest he´d needed a stepladder himself to properly place stuff on the top shelf. But why doing it the easy way when it was so much more fun to lift up his hyung again and again so he can position all those “Minnies” and “Kookies”? It was good training, he got to touch his cute boyfriend nonstop and as cherry on top was rewarded with soft giggles from him too. What else was there to wish for?

 

---

 

It didn´t take long for the first customer to notice the new plants on display. After fawning all over the cute shapes of their leaves, a middle-aged woman approached Jeongguk who was patiently waiting behind his cashier desk.

“What do the titles “Kookie” and “Minnie” mean, sir?”

Okay, admittedly he should´ve seen this question coming. But for some reason he hadn´t thus was caught totally off-guard. Jeongguk felt blood rush up to his face. Shrinking back, he tried subtly-not-subtly to retreat.

As if on cue Jimin shot up from wherever and grabbed the florist´s hand, keeping him in place.

“That´s us!”, the small man gloated happily. “Minnie”, he pointed at himself “and Kookie.” He tried to drag the younger back to the front who had shied away and was trying to hide his buff statue behind the smaller.

And maybe Jeongguk had put something wrong in his boyfriend´s cereals this morning to make him take revenge or Jimin was just so damn happy. He couldn´t say which one was the case as the elder pulled him down to place a wet, sloppy kiss on his cheek. Right in front of the customers.

Jeongguk jumped and dashed to the storage room, leaving a laughing Jimin behind.

“Awww, you two are so cute…”, he heard the woman chant.

Another customer, however, was not that thrilled as he made a noise of disgust.

What followed was a loud whack and the woman reprimanding the other customer: “Oh, shut it!” After that it was silent.

Jeongguk gawked at the veil separating storage room and shop. Gawked because a customer defended him, defended the both of them. Gawked even more at the fact his customers were interacting, which required at least two customers to be here at the same time. How many years interaction was not possible simply because he never had more than one customer at once, often no one at all? It was a miracle, a god-damned miracle things had changed like this. All thanks to Jimin and his guerilla marketing.

Just then the black-haired fluffball entered the storage room too, grinning widely. Jeongguk took his face in his hands and placed a soft kiss right on the elder´s mouth. “I love you”, he whispered against his lips.

Jimin grinned even wider. Intertwined their fingers and dragged the younger back to the front. There the woman was already waiting to buy a Kookmin set, an endearing smile on her face at the sight of the both men holding hands. Together, they wrapped up the pots – Jimin the “Kookie”-pot and Jeongguk the other one.

 

---

 

As they arrived at Jeongguk´s house, Jimin was still full of energy. In the last daylight he did his best to ready the garden for incoming winter. He had dirt all over, hands wound from pine needles of the branches he placed on the ground. But his cheeks had a rosy glow and he didn´t complain once about the stinging pain in his fingers.

Jeongguk watched him wordlessly then gave his own working gloves to his boyfriend. He knew he could´ve just told the elder to let it be but he didn´t want to stop him. Because one, Jimin would be quite pissed at him as he wanted to help the younger and be useful. He could also understand it as an implication he was doing things wrong and couldn´t even manage such a simple task. For reasons Jeongguk didn´t know his hyung´s mind worked like that. He always assumed the worst.

And two, he knew how much Jimin loved it to do just something. Anything. So the florist stood back and watched him work diligently, confirming ever so often to him that he was doing it right. Jeongguk´s fingers were itching to help, still he remained on his spot. Jimin wanted,needed to do this alone, needed it for his self-esteem. And Jeongguk would let him even if he really really didn´t want to.

After the sun had set he took his boyfriend inside and tended to his hands with honey, healing balm and pecks on every digit.

 

---

 

With the days getting shorter and air turning crispy it was no wonder Jimin was courious. So one day he asked the young florist what he would do in winter when people didn´t buy flowers anymore.

At first, Jeongguk had kept quiet. He didn´t want to answer honestly. Because the truth was: he didn´t know. Winter always was the worst time of the year. People only came to get that one typical Christmas plant with red leaves. It was not enough to live from the earning. Sure, Jeongguk always tried to save some money for winter but that was easier said than done. Maybe he´d need to deliver newspapers again like the years before at very bad conditions. Though he didn´t know whether they´d take him this year too, he had caught a nasty cold last winter and been more useless than not.

In either case he didn´t want to tell Jimin. The fact was, in winter he was poor. He wouldn´t even be able to make jokes and stuff in flower language with his boyfriend as he had to save every flower he got. Maybe he´d need to take another credit. If things got really bad he might even need to ask his parents for help. Jeongguk hadn´t talked with his parents in years.

Winter was boring and cold and harsh for him. Jimin did not need to know. So after a very long and suspicious silence he changed the subject instead of replying. “I like winter”, the younger said. “You´ll be all cozy, wearing fluffy sweaters against the cold. The others won´t see your glorious body beneath, I like that part a lot”, he babbled mindlessly. “Can´t wait to see you with a huge scarf and beanie. Bet you´ll look so sweet…”

Jimin gave him a pointed look. “Are we being possessive now?”

Jeongguk just pouted. “So what if I am?!”

The elder cooed, completely forgetting his initial question.

 

---

 

If Jeongguk thought the matter was all good and forgotten, then he was wrong. Five days later Jimin rushed straight into him, holding up a sheet of paper covered with various drawings from flower bouquets. The younger could just shoot up his arms and wrap them around his boyfriend to prevent them both from falling.

“What´s with you?”, he chuckled, still baffled.

Thrumming with excitement, Jimin peeled himself off the younger and then exclaimed: “I have an idea!”

“…O…kay?”

Navigating both of them to the nearest table, the elder elaborated with high-pitched voice. “I have an idea for the flower sale. What do you think about a ‘How mad is she’-scale?”

Dumbfounded, the younger could only blink. “A what?”

“A ‘How mad is she’-scale”, Jimin repeated, not the least annoyed as he pushed Jeongguk down onto a chair and seated himself on his lap. “Y´know, for classy men who screwed up and made their better half angry with whatever. They want to save their sorry a** by being sappy and buying flowers but don´t know which ones. So we make a scale from one to five and depending on how serious the case you can suggest the es the right bouquet.”

Thinking he slowly got the idea, Jeongguk hummed and urged his hyung to go on. Jimin beamed.

“So I thought, least bad category is number one. There a single red rose – oh, don´t give me that ‘roses are uncool and overrated’ look, it was just an example – would be enough.” The blond pointed at a drawing of a single flower with some grass and decorative leaves. “Number two wouldn´t be that funny anymore, maybe three flowers and more green stuff would be appropriate here.” He pointed at another drawing. “Number three could be like, five flowers and a bow, number four a big bouquet and number five – world-ending rage level – a huge bouquet in fancy wedding style. You feel me?”

Jeongguk nodded. What was way more important though…

“Wait. Did you draw these?”

With a confused expression, Jimin nodded. And Jeongguk freaked out.

“OHYGAWD, for real??? Are you an artist? How come I never knew?! You are amazing! Whoa, I´m totally your fan!”

The elder laughed, loud and bright, hitting the florist on several places. “I´m not… gosh, you´re so cute! I´m not an artist.”

“Then what?!”

“Did I never tell you? I´m a dance teacher, Kookie.”

Jeongguk´s mouth fell open and he outright stared. “You´re a what.”

Jimin rolled his eyes but amusement tugged the corners of his mouth upwards still. “I´m a dance teacher. Is that so difficult to believe? Originally I was even a professional dancer but two years ago I had an accident and the injury didn´t heal completely.” His eyes drifted off. “I could no longer take part in competitions let alone perform my usual strict daily routine. It was the out for me. But I didn´t want to give up on dance completely so I became a dance teacher. However, my injury was still evident so my doctor adviced me to go somewhere on the countryside, somewhere with clean, fresh air and nature that should help me heal. So here I am.” As if to scare the bad memories away, he smiled his signature smile at the florist.

Jeongguk´s grip on his hyung tightened. It was evident how much Jimin missed being a dancer although he hadn´t voiced it out. He snuggled into the crook of his neck.

“Can you… can you show me? Can you dance for me?”, he rasped against the velvety skin.

Jimin contemplated, turning his head around. “Here is not enough space, I´m afraid. Sorry, Kookie…”

But Jeongguk shook his head and rose, still holding up the black-haired as he walked to a well-hidden staircase and up to the attic, careful not to bump his hyung´s head against the ceiling.

Now it was Jimin´s turn to stare. “What the- how?”, he asked weakly as he beheld the clean, spacious and completely empty room that was the attic.

Jeongguk scratched his neck, feeling slightly embarrassed. “I come here whenever my mind is too full and I need a break, y´know. That´s why I keep it like that.”

Jimin tip-toed and gave him a sweet, understanding peck.

And then he danced.

He danced like there was no tomorrow. He became water, became the embodiment of grace, all fluid movements and feather-light steps in the rhythm to a slow, emotional instrumental from his phone. He became the music itself as he floated across the floor, unlike to everything Jeongguk had seen before.

Just one time at a particulary high jump the movement seemed off, legs not stretched entirely and the landing wobbly. But Jimin caught himself and continued like nothing had happened.

As the music ended he sacked to the floor, breathing heavily and chest heaving at a rapid pace, however, with a blissful expression on his face.

Jeongguk scurried there and pulled him back into his lap, wiping the sweaty bangs out of his face.

“You are more beautiful than any flower I´ve ever seen”, he murmured.

Jimin stretched out one arm and touched the younger´s cheek with his fingertips. “I love you too. Beyond dance.”

 

---

 

At the next week, Jeongguk indeed installed a big advertisement at the front of his shop with bold letters asking ‘How mad is she?’ and five pictures showing flower arrangements of different sizes beneath.

So far nobody had made use of the scale, only some women entering the shop had amusement twinkle in their eyes.

Jeongguk was on his break and diligently working on a coffee for Jimin, decorating the foam with a house pattern. Together with a cookie and a Protea (meaning change/transformation), he brought it to his hyung chilling in the storage room.

With question marks in his eyes, Jimin accepted the offer.

Now as his hands had nothing to do anymore, Jeongguk stood there and fiddled with his thumbs awkwardly. Gulping once, twice.

“So, uhm, I know this is kinda sudden but like… I mean… do you want by any chance… to… move… in?” The last words came out as a high-pitched shriek, Jeongguk wanted to hit himself.

Abandoning the coffee on the next-best surface, Jimin leapt up and into Jeongguk´s arms. “Finally you ask!”, he shouted happily right in the younger´s ear who flinched only a bit. “Hell yeah!!!”

At this Jeongguk grinned like a dork and spun his boyfriend around as best as he could in the cramped room.

The customers didn´t comment the both of them holding hands for the rest of the day, just gave them pointed looks of one kind or another.

After work they sat in the garden and plucked strands of almost frozen grass, throwing it at each other and shouting “I LUV YOU” for at least half an hour.

An old man stopped at the fence, asking if they were alright.

They just laughed.

 

---

 

On the weekend, the big moving started. Jeongguk had made space at home the days prior for belongings of his hyung. Now they both were at Jimin´s flat, packing stuff and throwing away other stuff while Jeongguk had a very hard time staying concentrated. Because of course that Hoeseok had offered help and somehow he was everywhere. Jeongguk wanted to punch him all across the room.

Jimin on the other hand seemed to be unfazed by the red-head´s presence, smiling nevertheless. Only if Jeongguk looked closely he could tell it looked a bit strained. But of course idiot Hoeseok didn´t notice at all and the youngest slowly became really really annoyed.

So as the red-head came too close to him while carrying a package he shoved him, making him trip and just barely save the box from crashing down.

“What´s your problem?!”, he asked, now slightly angry too but at most confused still. And Jeongguk had enough.

Without a further comment he grabbed the older´s arm and dragged him violently to the bedroom, empty except for, well, the bed itself. He inspected the bed shortly and found a knob to pull, revealing the hidden space beneath the bed. Still saying nothing, only staring and silently fuming he waited for a reaction.

And it seemed Hoeseok wasn´t as dumb as usual as all color drained from his face at the sight of the hiding place. “Sh*t”, he muttered.

“Exactly”, the florist growled. “And now kindly off, will ya?”

He was already roughly pushing past the elder as he was stopped by him.

“I didn´t… please, there was never something going on between us…”, he pleaded while holding Jeongguk´s wrist.

He yanked his arm away, being satisfyingly close to slapping the red-head in the face. “, I know!”, he snapped. “But couldn´t you have TOLD HIM? HUH?!?”

And he exploded, hands already on the collar of Hoseok´s shirt, veins protruding on the back of his hands and his arms, teeth gritted.

Jimin found them like that and he was fast to rush to Jeongguk´s side, trying to soothe him. Fear swinging in his voice as he´d never seen Jeongguk angry before, not like that.

But the youngest was far from calming down. He picked up his boyfriend and threw him over a shoulder like a sack of potatoes, ignoring Jimin´s complaints and fists thrumming against his back. “Move, you er”, he snarled at the gaping and trembling Hoseok who couldn´t stumble away fast enough.

At the whole ride back Jeongguk stayed angry. He was beyond mad. Jimin remained quiet, fearfully glancing to his boyfriend. As they got to -now their- home, the smaller was careful to make no noise with the car door or do anything that could startle the younger and make him snap. As Jeongguk approached him he ducked away first.

But instead of losing it and throwing things or, god beware, hurt Jimin the florist engulfed him in a tight hug. Holding him close, like his own talisman. With every passing second the steam and anger built up inside him practically whooshed out of his body. Jeongguk became calmer the longer he hugged his hyung.

“Are you not going to go berserk anymore?”, Jimin asked uncertainly, still not locking eyes.

Jeongguk chuckled apologetically. “No, I think I just needed a hug real bad.” He absentmindedly carded his hand through the elder´s fluffy black hair. “Needed to feel you. Smell you. Hear your breath pattern. Know you´re still here, still real. Sometimes I feel like I could wake up anytime to find you gone, all just been a dream. And if I´m near this er my fear gets even bigger. I´m sorry you had to see me like that…”

Jimin perked up. “Smell me?” A mischievous grin spread on his face. “Like all those flower organs? What part of me do you want to smell exactly?”

“Really now? That´s what got stuck?” The florist shook his head in disbelief. “What a dirty mind you have, my love. Nobody would suspect when looking at you, being all sweet and adorable.”

“And how would you know I´m sweet? You never really tasted me, maybe you should”, the blond purred suggestively.

Jeongguk groaned in defeat while Jimin laughed his beautiful laughter and went inside to prepare dinner.

 

---

 

Jeongguk awoke with a squeal right next to his ear.

“KOOKIE, LOOK AT THAT!!!”

He shot up, eyes wide.

“I ate my broccoli mom, I promise!”

Jimin all but fell out of the bed next to him, laughing hard.

It took the younger quite some time to registrate Jimin´s scream hadn´t been one of fear but joy. And as he looked out the window he knew the reason.

“It´s snowing”, the elder exclaimed happily, eyes shining with childish giddiness and mirth. “You know what that means, right?”

And with that the florist was dragged out of his bed and into the freshly fallen untouched snow, still wearing his pajamas. Just as he stepped outside, Jimin already piling up snow with his small hands to form a snowball, Jeongguk’s only thought was how differently they both thought about the meaning of this first snow.

For Jimin, the cold white was reason to jump around at the sight, throw countless snowballs after his boyfriend, build a snowman half made of dirt sticking to the few snowflakes that had fallen overnight. For him, falling to the ground and spreading his limbs to make a snowangel was a necessity that moment. Even if it meant the small man soon was drenched with cold thawing water and freezing horribly.

For Jeongguk on the other hand his least favorite season had begun.

“Now your idea with the desperation scale will have to prove itself”, he murmured to himself while watching Jimin skipping around, leaving footprints and the sound of laughter everywhere.

 

---

 

And proving its value it did.

A man who had let Jeongguk explain the ‘How mad is she’-advertisement some days prior while chuckling along came to the flower shop three days after the first snow again. Only now he didn´t look amused, he seemed rather uneasy.

“I, uhm, I´ll take a number two please”, he muttered while staring at his shoes.

Jeongguk raised an eyebrow until he understood what this was about – yes, he´d temporarily forgotten the scale Jimin came up with.

The florist hummed, contemplating. “Okay sir, may I ask what happened to choose the right flowers?”

“…Well…” The tall businessman from a few days ago now was very small. “I may or may not have eaten the last piece of my wife´s favorite chocolate without her consent…”

Biting back a grin, the florist got to work. For the man he chose an olive branch – asking for peace, a filbert – for reconciliation, and in the center a gladiolus for sincerity. Arranging the plants he explained their meanings to the sorry man, not missing to discreetly advice him to buy a new chocolate of the same kind too.

This one man was the first ‘poor soul’ as Jimin called them, but he remained by far not the only one. After the first handful of men had taken advantage of Jeongguk´s services in order to soothe their women´s wrath, the word was spreading. Soon people who were in dire need of a unique apology became a fix part of the florist´s customers. Proudly Jeongguk also noticed girls and women amongst them. Who said chivalry was a men-only thing? To a particulary sweet and caring girl he gave a honeysuckle as sign of her bond of love for free as she wouldn´t stop talking about her girlfriend with the same expression Jeongguk saw on Jimin whenever the latter was talking about him.

 

---

 

If one would ask Jeongguk what was the turning point of business going sh*tty in winter then he would say it was the day an old man burst into the shop shouting “Help! It´s a five!!!”

The whole flower shop had frozen in alarm, eyes of other customers (because hell, there already were other people inside) going wide in shock. Gasping for breath the grandpa had confessed he´d forgotten the marriage day. It had been their fiftieth wedding anniversary, the golden wedding. And he´d forgotten it. While the other customers swarmed the grandpa and patted his back in compassion, Jeongguk whirled through his shop and picked the flowers he needed to create the ultimate apologize bouquet. He was in his element, letting the plants speak for the man as he arranged them in the proper order while being aesthetically pleasing at the same time. Because the more plants were added, the more possibilities to read a bouquet it created. The order of arrangement was an important aspect in those cases.

Drowning out everything else, Jeongguk had passionately taught the old man the meaning of his bouquet. His hands had flown from one plant to the next as he explained in detail then hovered above the arrangement as he summarized the main aspects. All the while just having eyes for the old man and the flowers laying in front of him. So he hadn´t noticed how the other customers had stilled, listening in fascination to him. Only as the florist had been done talking and loosening a heavy breath he´d seen all those eyes on him. Blushing madly at the uncomfortable attention he´d shied away and picked up his routine again.

The day after Jeongguk had found himself eye to eye with the very same old man. The stranger had fallen on his knees and thanked the younger over and over again while smiling like an idiot. He´d even brought pralines as his thanks.

And this, this had been the turning point. From then on Jeongguk barely was more than five minutes alone in his shop. His flower shop was – in the most literate way – flourishing.

Yes, Jimin´s idea was gold. It was proving its worth again and again and again.

 

---

 

Now as Jeongguk had established a reputation as a capable florist with vast knowledge on his subject the other florists in town were paying attention to him too. And they didn´t want to let it go without a fight. Wanted their customers back.

One day Jeongguk found most of his flowers withered, caused by something been mixed into their water. So with Jimin´s assistance he gave an impromptu workshop how to craft arrangements and decoration out of dried plants and how o dry them properly in the first place. Especially the middle-aged women were delighted.

Another day somebody broke in and was just starting to demolish everything. But for whatever reason the boy who´d invented new you-bouquets together with Jeongguk was there too, witnessing the sabotage and screaming bloody murder at it. They got the troublemaker. It was the foreign florist from uptown. He was charged to pay double the prize of what he´d destroyed. Jeongguk now had a wooden pedestal were he could display flowers of the month.

Other rivaling florists were trying to be more sneaky and discreet. Jimin had gotten the younger to dress up and spy on the concurrence together – the dance teacher sporting huge glasses and vibrant red hair at the occasion. Jeongguk´s mouth had twisted downwards at the sight of variations of his own ‘desperation scale’ hanging in other shops. They were copying him! Jeongguk had needed a lot of angry cuddles that day.

Surprisingly enough the stream of customers to his own flower shop didn´t get less. Some people even talked with him about the issue. Turned out they all knew who´d had the idea first. They stayed loyal to him. Jeongguk gave out free hot chocolate for a whole week as he heard that.

 

---

 

Winter was great!

Best season ever.

Jeongguk spent much time chatting with his customers, especially with his regulars – damn it felt good to say it out loud, “regular”. People were staying inside longer than really needed, avoiding the nasty cold outside. It was the most interesting winter Jeongguk could remember. He loved it. Loved doing his job, being finally appreciated for his work, interacting with people. On Friday evenings he would cuddle with Jimin on the couch and share his top five stories of the week with his love.

But most importantly, winter had Jimin wearing cozy oversized sweaters every day. And Jeongguk ing loved it so much. He wasted no chance to sneak his arms around his boyfriend and bury his face in the fluffy warm material. The other would always answer the hug giggling, resulting in the younger peppering his face with kisses. Leading to hot make-out sessions more often than not.

It was heaven.

Jeongguk adored his hyung from the bottom of his heart, showering with love and flowers at every occasion. His job was fun by now, exciting even. He could make it through winter without financial problems. Every single day was the best day of his life as he woke up to the face of the sleeping most beautiful man right next to him.

He could die happily like that, Jeongguk decided.

“Good morning, my love”, he whispered, leaning down and pecking Jimin on the nose tip.

The black-haired´s nose scrunched up in a cute way and Jeongguk smiled fondly as he got up to prepare his boyfriend´s favorite breakfast.

He was almost done as he heard bare feet padding towards him, felt strong arms wrap around his waist from behind.

“Morning, my joy”, Jimin mumbled against his back.

Letting his head fall back Jeongguk hummed, smiling even wider and allowing the warmth to spread in his whole body and swallow him up.

This was home.

 

~Ende~

 

 

---

This is now officially the final version. I hope you like it ^^