Work Text:
Choi Yeonjun had never seen such magnificent art before.
Oh, and there were the drawings and paintings made by Beomgyu and the rest of the art club members too, he guesses.
Ever since the day started, Yeonjun has been looking forward for it to end. Well, not exactly end, just after his classes end. Don’t get him wrong. He loved his classes, his teachers, and his course in general. After all, he’s pursuing his one true love: dance. Still, there was a massive difference between dancing for a grade and dancing just because he wants to. He was already packing the last of his notes, eager for the hours in the studio ahead of him when his phone lights up and starts showing one notification after the other, all from one person: the bastard he called his best friend.
So here he was, evidently annoyed but still playing the role of a good friend as he enters the art studio, two cups of iced Americano in hand. Beomgyu beams at him, his loud voice filling the otherwise silent room as he accepts the cold drink he requested earlier.
“Thank you, hyung. I owe you my life,” he announces before taking a sip of the bitter brew, loudly relishing the drink. It really was a relief that Beomgyu is good at art, otherwise the other members would have already kicked him out of the room with all the noise he’s been making since Yeonjun’s arrival. The rest of the room’s occupants paid them no mind, continuing on with their own works with unbroken attention. All except for one person.
He hears a muffled high-pitched giggle from across the room. To his surprise, he finds that the source was a male student, one he has never seen before. The giggler was not sitting in front of an easel like the rest of the other students were. Rather, he was towering over one, standing just behind another art club member who was painstakingly taking the tape off her work. His face was partially covered by his large hand, suppressing the last of his giggles. Finally, when he seems to have had enough, he removes the hand and faces Yeonjun in all of his glory.
“Sorry,” he mumbles to them.
Sorry? That was not supposed to be the first word that Yeonjun hears from this stranger! Be not afraid – now that’s would have been more fitting. Not that the stranger was some eldritch-looking amalgamation of eyes, wheels, and animal heads. No. He was the opposite of it. Dark, brown wavy hair that looked so fluffy, Yeonjun can already imagine how soothing it must be to run his fingers through the strands. Warm brown eyes that are still curled and gleaming with mirth. Perfectly pink lips that are lifted to a blinding smile. A perfectly chiseled face adorned with the most adorable and kissable moles. It would have been perfect if he was wearing something white but his oversized, yellow hoodie also looked great on him. Even with the weird splash of the pastel color, he was still a living, breathing example of those biblically inaccurate angels that Yeonjun has often seen in paintings, the ones molded into perfection and inhuman beauty by the most careful sketches and strokes from the most talented hands. It should have been illegal to see such beauty for free but here he was, standing and shining right in front of Yeonjun, completely unaware of how the latter’s heart was doing cartwheels inside his chest.
Like a dainty dandelion dancing in the summer breeze, the stranger passes by them. He gives the rest of the club members a bow and a hushed “thank you” before skipping out of the room, taking Yeonjun’s breath with him.
“Who was that?” Yeonjun asks, completely confused and bothered by the fact that nobody seems to be as affected by the celestial beauty’s presence as he was.
“Who?”
“That angel who just exited the room.”
“Angel?” Beomgyu asks, finally lifting his gaze from his sketch to look at the empty doorway. “Ah, you mean Huening Kai? Yeah, he really is an angel. Always coming here to commission us for drawings. Unlike some people out there.” At the last statement, he gives Yeonjun a side eye to which the older boy responded with a slap to his shoulder before leaning down beside him.
“You should’ve told me someone like him constantly drops by here. I would’ve delivered your coffee without any complaint.”
“Don’t tell me you’ve fallen for Kai?” Beomgyu laughs out loud, only to drop it when he registers the confused expression on Yeonjun’s face.
Yeonjun responds by taking one of Beomgyu’s hands and placing in on his chest, letting the younger boy feel his racing heartbeat underneath. He didn’t know what he’s feeling, if he has actually fallen for Kai just like Beomgyu had said but he can say one thing for sure: he doesn’t hate it. His racing heartbeat, the warmth spreading from his face down to his neck, the smile that he cannot resist when he recalls how Kai laughed earlier, they were all things he wanted to experience again. More than anything, he just really wanted to see Kai again.
Beomgyu looks at him in silence before setting aside the pencil he’s holding. He grabs his backpack before dragging Yeonjun out of the room.
“Ya, where are we going?” Yeonjun belatedly panics, effortlessly pulling his hand away from the younger boy’s grasp. As much as he would love to see Kai again, he had no plan whatsoever. He didn’t know what to do when he comes face to face with the beautiful boy again.
“You need an intervention. We’re seeing Soobin-hyung.”
❀❀❀
As expected, Soobin heartily laughed after hearing Beomgyu’s excited exposé of what went down earlier. Leave it to their resident therapist to find joy in his suffering before attempting to help him out. Yeonjun would have kicked him away if only their limbs weren’t all tangled up. To be fair, it was also their fault for insisting to make themselves comfortable in Soobin’s tiny couch.
“Hyung, I have never thought of you as the type to fall in love at first sight,” the younger boy finally remarks after he recovers from his laughing fit.
“Don’t call it love, please,” Yeonjun begs though the smile from his face is unwavering. Obviously, it was too early to call it love but he can’t deny that there was already an attraction, regardless of how shallow it may be. “You don’t get it, Bin! This guy is the embodiment of beauty itself. It’s virtually impossible not to fall for him.”
“Oh, but I do get it, though. We’re talking about Huening Kai, who literally lives across me.” Soobin replies in a matter of fact tone, pointing towards the door to emphasize his point.
“What!?” The two boys ask loudly in unison, followed by a loud whine from Yeonjun as he throws a pillow towards Soobin’s direction. “Why have you never told me about him?”
“You literally just met him today!” Soobin throws the pillow back at him.
“Are you two close, hyung? What else can you tell us about the love of Yeonjun-hyung’s love?” Beomgyu finally juts in again, his voice taking a melodic tone as he refers to Kai. Yeonjun ignores it, eagerly looking at Soobin who, to his disappointment, shakes his head. “He only came here to introduce himself when he first came in before the school year started. We’d exchange greetings when we meet each other in hallways but we’ve never really talked beyond that.”
“Okay. I know something about him though.” Beomgyu snaps a finger to grab everyone’s attention. “He likes flowers. Every time he commissions us to draw something for him, it would be some kind of flower.”
Soobin nods at that. “He brings flowers home. A lot.”
Well, that was tragic, Yeonjun thinks as he feels his stomach drop. He has never felt something like this for someone before so he was admittedly excited, hopeful even. Having those feelings crushed so quickly made his bright smile disappear.
“He doesn’t have a significant other, if that’s what you’re worrying about,” Soobin assures him when he notices the sudden drop in the older boy’s mood. “I heard him and his sister bicker about it just last weekend.”
“You should befriend him, hyung,” Beomgyu suggests. “Who knows? Maybe you have a chance. Do you think he’s home right now?” With that question, he faces Soobin. “Maybe we can just knock there and invite ourselves in.”
“No!” Yeonjun immediately screams, his heart almost stopping just before he manages to drag back the younger boy who has already tried to make a run for the door. “Gyu, we’re literally strangers! Do you want me to just come up there and accidentally scare him off?”
Beomgyu returns to the crowded couch, a mischievous smile on his face. “I know that. Well, what do you want us to do now?”
“Us? What do you and Soobin have to do with this?”
“Duh, everything! It’s our best friend’s first love! We have to make sure you get him and that you get your happily ever after together. You in?” Beomgyu questions. He holds out his hand and waits for his hyungs to stack theirs on top of it, as if all of this was just one of those stupid games they used to play when they were still innocent brats.
With a smile that Yeonjun could not interpret, Soobin joins in. The two younger boys stare at him with eyes full of expectations. Though he still had no idea what the other two were planning (and he was fairly certain that there was some mischief involved in that plan), he couldn’t help but be encouraged. “If this goes wrong, you guys owe me a month’s worth of lunch,” he threatens as he places his hand on top of theirs.
“It will never go wrong, hyung. Just trust me. Operation Make Huening Kai fall for Choi Yeonjun begins!” Beomgyu screams as he flings their hands up. Yeonjun stares at them, his gaze getting stuck on the ceiling of Soobin’s room as he mumbles a silent prayer to whichever god is listening out there.
Please don’t let us mess this up.
❀❀❀
After a week of observing (Not stalking! Yeonjun would like to clarify that) the younger boy, Yeonjun has decided that leaving anonymous notes would be an ideal way for him to start introducing himself to Kai. He didn’t want to come off as a creep considering that besides the first time they saw each other at the art studio, their paths have not crossed again. If Soobin had been mistaken about Kai’s relationship status, he can easily stop giving him the notes. And above all, he’ll be free to tell Kai whatever he wanted to, and see if the younger boy would like it. He does have plans to confess to him in the future but before that, he wanted to be sure that he really did have the chance.
It was Soobin who suggested that Yeonjun give him a flower along with the notes, to which the other two immediately agreed. Conveniently, one of Soobin’s aunts owned a small flower shop just a few blocks away from their university. So there they were, looking for the perfect flower to accompany Yeonjun’s first words to Kai.
Beomgyu scrolls through the document he completed the night before. It contained the references of all of the flowers that Kai has requested them to draw in the past, along with some information that he looked up about them. “This one doesn’t grow here in Korea so that’s out (Queen Sirikit). This one’s toxic to humans (fire lily). This one blooms only after 15 years (Rothschild’s slipper orchid). And this one’s an actual frigging drug (thorn apple). Where the hell does he find these flowers!?”
“There’s no way you sell those flowers, right?” Soobin asks his cousin who was currently manning the store.
The girl shakes her head no. “We can order some of them if you want but it will take a while and cost you a lot, lot more,” she explains.
Yeonjun could not afford to do that. He goes around the shop, scanning the rows and rows of flowering plants and bouquets ahead of him when one specific flower grabs his attention. Between two tall trellises with purple and pink flowers, he immediately spotted a splash of a color that he has recently found a liking to. The small, unassuming plant had round, yellow flowers with tiny petals that don’t have a specific shape. Just the sight of them brings back memories of Kai in that adorable yellow hoodie.
“I think I’ll get this,” he calls out with a smile.
Soobin’s cousin approaches him to read the label placed on the pot. “Carnations. It’s probably one of the most affordable ones here so that’s a good choice. How many would you like?”
“Just half a dozen for now, if that’s fine.” He wants the best for Kai, he really does, but he also can’t afford to splurge over a gift that may or may not be accepted by the recipient. The girl wraps the freshly-cut stalks in newspaper, and after paying, the trio leaves for the nearby bookstore. There, Beomgyu picks several pads of yellow stationery to match the flowers that Yeonjun got earlier.
After a long day of hanging out with his friends, Yeonjun holes himself up in his room. On his desk was a lamp, the only light turned on in the room, shining down on the pad of yellow sticky notes. Beside it was a plastic cup filled to the brim with water, a make-shift vase for the carnations. He thinks long and hard for the perfect words to potentially begin a friendship with the current love of his life, as Beomgyu had started calling Kai, but to his despair, they were evading him. There was so much he wanted to say but also too little knowledge to be certain of what Kai may like. While looking around, his gaze drops to the yellow flowers beside him.
With a smile, he recalls his first encounter with Kai. Though he found it a shame that the younger boy wasn’t wearing white back then, the yellow hoodie has burned itself to his memory, emphasizing Kai’s inherent brilliance. Without another thought, Yeonjun writes down a simple compliment.
❀❀❀
It was now Beomgyu’s turn to laugh his lungs out.
“Please tell me you didn’t actually do that,” Soobin begs the older boy who only scratched his nape in embarrassment. “Is it that bad?”
“I listened to you wax poetic about Kai for hours. I’ve heard you call him an angel, your muse, the apple of your eyes, the frigging son of Aphrodite, and all that cheesy shit, and you mean to tell me the first thing you actually told him is that you liked his hoodie?” Beomgyu asks in between wheezes before bursting out in laughter again.
Yeonjun looks to Soobin for support but finds none. Their group’s middleman is just as out of it as Beomgyu though his laughing was not as boisterous as the youngest. “No offense, hyung, but I expected better from you.”
“Ya, what’s with those expectations? You know this is my first time with this whole flirting thing.”
The two boys’ laughter ceased as they stared at their hyung with offended gazes. “You’re kidding, aren’t you?” Beomgyu asks.
Yeonjun could only shake his head, a shy smile making its way into his lips. He wouldn’t call himself a beginner in love, per se but through the years, he’s grown accustomed to being in the receiving end of others’ adoration. He didn’t need to exert all this effort to get someone that he likes, he thinks. He can’t be so sure as he has never met someone who made him feel like Kai after all.
“You called me baby as soon as I got off the bus on my first day here,” Soobin remarks.
“Mom thought you were my boyfriend for the entirety of our high school years,” Beomgyu adds.
“What!?” Those never happened!” Yeonjun retorts.
“Oh, they did, and it’s because of your shameless flirting, hyung!” Beomgyu accuses. “God, I don’t even want to imagine what goes on in your head to come up with those words.” He ends the statement with a shudder.
“Luckily for you, we kept a record of every single one that we can remember,” Soobin announces as he takes out a small notepad which he handed to Yeonjun. Sure enough, it was filled with sickly sweet phrases that are light years away from the vocabulary that the younger two used. Great. At least, he had some sort of guide now. He just hopes Kai would appreciate them. “Why do you even have this?” He asks.
“To make fun of you.”
He slaps both boys in their shoulders before running out of Soobin’s dorm room with the notepad.
For the next few weeks, Yeonjun kept the contents of his notes to himself. He didn’t even get to use the contents of the notepad as they were too intimate, most likely stemming from his closeness with its recipients (that is, if Soobin and Beomgyu weren’t lying to him). Sticking to compliments felt like the safest choice so that’s what he did, easily finding great things to emphasize to the younger boy. On stressful days, he wrote Kai affirmations that he would have loved to hear for himself. Occasionally, he’d slip a pick-up line or two that made him laugh, or snacks and drinks that Soobin had supposedly seen from the younger boy’s grocery runs. And on days when he was too drained to think of what to write, the few art lessons he received in freshman year helped as he would opt to draw something adorable, mostly the tiny penguin plushy that hangs on the younger’s boy backpack.
Luckily for him, despite all of the teasing, his friends were still there to help. Soobin and Beomgyu would leave the presents in his stead when he was too busy to do so, making sure that the younger boy would receive it even without him. Even Soobin’s aunt also volunteered, giving Kai a vase with a single carnation as his reward for finishing a week of long tests without revealing the identity of its sender.
After that first note, he has also grown brave enough to stay for a bit to check the younger boy’s reaction. And every single time he manages to catch Kai in the act of receiving his gifts, his heart soars to the sky. He witnesses how Kai’s wariness slowly faded with more notes and flowers he received. Instead, every note and flower he received elicited gleaming eyes and smiles that they both could not resist showing.
The notes and the flowers seems to have fulfilled their purpose, building up the younger boy’s interest for his faceless admirer, and Yeonjun had also mustered the courage. All that’s needed is the perfect time and place for his confession.
❀❀❀
“Hyung, the music club is holding a concert after midterms.” Beomgyu excitedly exclaims after delivering yet another drawing for Kai. “I already got you a ticket.”
Yeonjun stares at the pink stub in question. “Why though?” Of course, now that he has heard of the upcoming concert, he was eager to watch Kai play. He just did not expect the younger boy to buy the ticket for him.
“Ah!” Soobin’s eyes light up in understanding. “This is perfect moment for you to confess, hyung.”
Yeonjun sputters as the younger two bump their fists. “Ya, isn’t that too soon?”
“But hyung, just picture this,” Beomgyu sighs dramatically. “Kai steps down from the stage and you’re there, wearing a suit and holding a bouquet of carnations. He accepts the bouquet, you hold his hand, and you leave the auditorium while the rest of the audience applauds, witnessing the beginning of our batch’s cutest couple.”
Yeonjun wants to groan in annoyance but he could not. Instead, he was smiling like an idiot and he knows that but he’s not stopping himself from getting lost in Beomgyu’s silly and unbelievable scenarios. Even without the applause and grand exit, it would be nice to hold Kai’s hand in his but still, “I can’t do that, Gyu. There’d be too many people and it would be too embarrassing if he rejects me. I also don’t want to distract him from his playing.”
“Then, we’ll do it after the last show. We could ask Mr. Min to relay a message for you. You’re pretty close with him, aren’t you?”
He is. It was already a big surprise when he found out that the seniors’ Contemporary World professor was also a skilled pianist, composer, and the adviser of the university’s music club. And it was also a surprise that Yeonjun greatly enjoyed his classes, even though he enrolled in it by complete accident. “He’s my professor, Soob. He’s not supposed to be meddling with my romantic affairs.”
“Yet you’re the one meddling with his romantic affairs? Have you forgotten that you set him up with Mr. Jung? They literally started dating because of you.”
“That was by accident.” Beomgyu wasn’t far off from the truth though. Yeonjun did play a role in the relationship between his two professors but he did not set them up. He just happened to notice Mr. Min hanging around the dance studio for many days and brought it up during one of his conversations with his primary dance instructor, Mr. Jung, out of complete curiosity. The next thing he knew, the two of them are going out, and were grateful for Yeonjun. For what exactly, he still doesn’t know but the pair had mentioned owing Yeonjun a lot for that.
“Come on, hyung. I’m sure Mr. Min wouldn’t mind it. I’d ask him for you!” Beomgyu really was the devil on his shoulder. Yeonjun prided himself over his professionalism and respect for his seniors but the temptation of using Beomgyu’s confidence was slowly, slowly eating at him.
“I swear he won’t know it’s you.”
Well that changes things. “You sure?”
“Swear on Soobin-hyung’s life.”
“Ya, why are you swearing on my life?”
“Deal!”
Surely, Beomgyu wouldn’t want anything to happen to Soobin, right?
❀❀❀
Yeonjun is starting to have cold feet.
As if he was one of the performers for today’s concert, he woke up early and spent the rest of the day preparing for the last show. Though he could easily dress himself up, he wanted to show more effort thus he even set an appointment at a nearby parlor, letting a professional touch his hair up to better match the dapper suit that Beomgyu willingly lent him. An hour before the auditorium doors would even open, he was already at Soobin’s aunt’s flower shop, making sure that the bouquet he purchased looked as cheery and as perfect as he wanted. Half an hour before the show, he was already by the auditorium doors, listening to the musicians tuning their instruments and doing last-minute practicing. And upon the opening of the doors, he immediately chose a second-row seat, just close enough to see the piano but not too close so as not to unintentionally give himself a heart attack when he sees the younger boy in a suit. While waiting for the program to officially begin, he also sees Mr. Min flash him a thumbs-up, signifying that Beomgyu did not keep his promise but at least, the second to the last note has been surely relayed. Everything is going perfectly well.
The show itself went perfectly well too. Though Yeonjun doesn’t know much about classical music, it was not difficult to appreciate its beauty. Many a times did he catch himself swaying to the melody provided by the strings or bobbing his head to the beat of the percussion. And in the midst of it all, there was Kai. Though the piano was situated behind the rest of the players, he could easily pick up the notes that Kai were playing. He thinks the notes coming from Kai’s piano were the core of the performance, as well as the cherry on top. It seamlessly blended with the rest of the instruments yet Yeonjun can easily pick them out. The succinct pressing of the keys produced a series of clear and beautiful sounds that resonated throughout the entire auditorium, providing accompaniment while also further elevating the splendor of the piece. Yeonjun finds himself entranced upon noticing that Kai wasn’t even looking at the keys at all. The younger boy had his eyes closed, a subtle smile on his lips, and completely lost in the masterpiece that was coming from his own fingertips. The sight makes his heart swell, filling him with more affection for the boy he has never even officially met.
After the curtain call, he was expecting Kai to go down the stage alongside the other musicians who eagerly met their families and friends but even when the auditorium has long been vacated, the younger boy was nowhere to be found. The sudden silence and solitude was stifling, closing in on him and dragging him in a pit of anxiety deeper than he already felt earlier. His only consolation so far has been the glimpse of Taehyun’s notably blond hair, disappearing to the backstage though it has also been some time since then. From all the times he performed on this exact stage, he has perfectly memorized its layout so he knows that there was another exit behind the stage. Was it possible that Kai had sneaked out without him realizing? Maybe he forgot about their supposed meeting. Or he remembered but just chose not to meet Yeonjun at all. His mind was starting to reel from all possible outcomes of this situation, each thought becoming more negative than the one before it when he catches sight of a familiar pair appearing from the backstage and slowly approaching him. He could not stop himself from brightly beaming at them before taking the bouquet from the seat he left behind. To add more to his relief, Kai's best friend only gave them a knowing smile before leaving the two of them behind. He makes a mental reminder to try and get close to Taehyun as well.
“You really stayed behind.” Yeonjun could only whisper. Though Kai was already out of his suit, and his face was completely free from the makeup he wore earlier, he still looked as stunning as he did on stage. He would’ve dreaded the fact that Kai wasn’t looking straight at him if only he could not see the blush and the shy smile that the younger boy was sporting.
“Of course.” Kai replies, still not looking at him yet still making Yeonjun's heart soar to the skies. The affirmation gives him the courage he needs, and he steps closer before presenting him the bouquet. “Here.” Kai doesn't reply so he goes on with genuine pride, “I can’t believe I’m doing this but I’m glad I did. Your piano playing really is magical. And you also looked wonderful in your suit.”
Kai keeps his silence as he takes the bouquet and reads the final note. Yeonjun hopes that he wasn't coming off as too direct or too creepy with his introduction. Finally, the younger boy asks, “Yeonjun-ssi, no offense but do you have any idea about flower language?”
Well, that was unexpected. Never once did it enter his mind to know what the carnations meant. “Please, call me sunbae or hyung. Whatever’s fine with you. And no,” he clarifies first before scratching his nape in embarrassment, justification spilling out of his mouth before he could comprehend what he was saying. “You see, I just chose these flowers because they remind me of you. You’re always so cheery and bright, and these flowers make me feel the same. I hope they were able to bring you happiness just as much as your presence does for me.”
God, Yeonjun was definitely whipped. He can already hear Soobin and Beomgyu's teasing all the way from Soobin's dorm room.
“Well." Oh no, why was Kai's voice trembling? “I hate to break it to you but I enjoy learning flower meanings, and you’ve been giving me flowers that mean rejection and disappointment.”
Yeonjun’s heart drops along with his jaw. “Wait, really? Oh my gosh!”
“Ah, but it’s okay. You didn’t know the meaning, didn’t you?”
“No! No, not at all! Shit. That was the exact opposite of what I wanted to tell you,” Yeonjun could not stop himself from verbalizing his thoughts. Without his initial hesitance, he snatches the bouquet from Kai’s arms. “I’m so, so sorry. Please give me some time to fix this mess.” He hears a soft, questioning “okay” from the younger boy before promptly leaving the auditorium, not once looking back at the beautiful boy he’s been looking forward to meet.
He runs, not minding the burn in his lungs and his legs, how the wind was messing up his previously styled hair, how his cheeks stung with tears, both from his embarrassment and the unintentional message that he’s been telling Kai, the boy who in his opinion, deserved nothing else but perfection. Finally, Soobin’s dorm comes into sight. He climbs the three flight of stairs leading to Soobin’s actual room, opens the door without warning, and collapses to the floor. The noise summons his friends, and they look down at him with concern painted in their faces. Before they could even ask him what had happened, he screams.
“I need your help again!”
❀❀❀
The next morning, Yeonjun drags his friends to the flower shop long before the rest of the city could open its eyes. After finding out just how badly he had messed up, Soobin and Beomgyu had no choice but to help their hyung apologize. Once again, Soobin suggested that he uses flowers but with careful consideration of its meanings. Kai would appreciate it more, he said. That is, if Yeonjun hasn’t unintentionally destroyed Kai’s love for the flowers and their meanings.
With a flower language blog opened in Beomgyu’s phone, they scanned the contents of the shop, comparing the photos to the real ones, and collecting a handful that suggested the messages that Yeonjun wanted to relay. Guided by Beomgyu’s eye for aesthetics, they ended up with a white, yellow, and purple bouquet which he wrapped in a yellow newspaper and tied together with a golden ribbon.
“Do you think he’d actually accept my apology?” Yeonjun voices out as they were making their way to the younger boy’s first class.
“He may. He may not. But you wouldn’t know if you don’t try.” Soobin shrugs. He hates how the younger boy’s perfect sense squashes his fear.
“You can do this, hyung. All you have to do is say sorry, and let the rest of the bouquet tell him what you want,” Beomgyu adds as a final note, pushing Yeonjun towards Kai’s classroom. Before Yeonjun could respond, the younger two already ran off.
When the classroom doors open, Yeonjun immediately notices Kai. A flicker of hope rises within him when the younger boy gives him a small smile but his heart picks its pace when he Kai starts to approach him. With nowhere else to run, he hold the bouquet higher, hoping it would be big enough to hide his face, which was growing warmer by the second. When he sees spots a pair of sneakers standing right in front of him, he resolves himself and begins, “I read that yellow carnations can also mean an apology. I just need to clarify to the person that that’s the meaning I’m referring to.” He starts.
“Sunbaenim, you don’t need to apologize, really.” But he does. Kai was a complete stranger, a stranger that he likes at that. He also knows that Beomgyu told him to only apologize but he did not need room for any more misunderstandings. And he also wanted to make up for the younger boy after the wrong message he’s unintentionally given Kai so he pushes on.
“The daisies represent your purity and innocence which makes me happy. The orchids are meant to represent your beauty. The yellow roses are my way of telling you that I want to be your friend. The lavender ones, along with the lilac magentas,” Yeonjun breathes for a moment. “They mean love at first sight and first love.”
“I know all of that,” Kai replies, his tone light, and giving Yeonjun more hope than ever. He feels the bouquet being nudged to side and though he knows he looks like a tomato right now, he could not stop himself from smiling at the sight of a smiling Kai in front of him. “I hope I didn’t upset you with the last two flowers.” He tries.
“Well, you already know I love flowers and you gave me a whole bunch of them!” Kai exclaims, and Yeonjun feels the younger boy’s excitement rubbing on him. “And you did have the yellow roses. We can start with that. Anyone who gives me flowers is already a friend of mine.”
“What do you say about lunch together later? My treat,” Yeonjun suggests, his confidence rising as he holds out the note with his phone number. He’ll have to thank Beomgyu for being so confident and suggesting that he prepare that beforehand.
“That sounds good. Thank you for this, hyung.” Kai accepts both the bouquet and the note. “I’ll see you later?”
“Yeah, see you later, Kai.” He waves weakly before he turns back to where he saw his friends disappear earlier. From a nearby hallway, Beomgyu and Soobin’s heads popped out. Seeing the dopey grin on his face told him everything they needed to know.
“Congrats!” They chorus. With a face-splitting grin on his face, he runs to them before scooping them in a hug, loudly exclaiming his thank-yous.
❀❀❀
Yeonjun wakes up to another good day. It’s been about ten months since that first lunch with Kai and since then, the two of them have been getting to know each more, just like how he wanted. And since then, he’s found more reasons to love the younger boy. He loves how sweet and caring Kai was, even when they were still not close. He loves how playful Kai is, dragging him to do things he hasn’t done since childhood and sharing more of his interests with him. He loves how his optimism never seems to fade yet he’s always there to listen to Yeonjun when things get too overwhelming, genuinely supporting him and being a reliable shoulder to cry on.
In turn, he loves making Kai smile, teasing him and flustering him with more pick-up lines. He loves pampering the younger boy and seeing his eyes light up in excitement with his small gifts. He loves hugging Kai and giving him playful kisses, making the younger boy giggle and earning him tummy rubs in exchange. But above all, he just loved being with Kai. In the past few months, the younger boy has been his definition of happiness, every moment with him has been pure bliss and sometimes, Yeonjun would feel as if he couldn’t handle more but he’d have to prepare himself. Today was different after all, special even. They were going out for a date, and Yeonjun? Well, he’s planning to ask Kai to be his boyfriend today.
When he makes his way to his room’s kitchen, he’s surprised to find a vase of flowers that he clearly recalls never putting there. Of course, Kai had been giving him flowers but he never tells Yeonjun their names, nor their meanings. The only thing he can do is look them up and hope that he finds the correct name, and the meaning that Kai must be suggesting to him. Much like the flowers he’s received from the younger boy in the past, this was not familiar to him as well but a quick search for its unique, pink heart-shaped petals gave Yeonjun the answer.
It was a flower called Asian bleeding heart. What the fuck?
“Kai, did I do something wrong?” were Yeonjun’s first words to Kai that day. He did not wait for the time of their date anymore. Instead, he rushed to their dorm, needing to know if something had happened for Kai to suddenly change his mind. Was he reading Kai’s actions wrong all along? Was he unintentionally making the boy uncomfortable? Did Kai knew his plans for today and wanted to reject him in the subtlest of ways? Taehyun even gave him an awkward smile before leaving the two of them alone.
“I don’t know,” the younger boy whispers, his head hung low.
Yeonjun panics, taking Kai’s hands in his. “Kai-ya, please tell me. What did you mean with those flowers? Are you getting uncomfortable with all of this? I can step back if you want. Just please, be honest with me.”
“I’m sorry, hyung.” Kai was trembling. He removes his hands from Yeonjun’s grasp, opting to cover his face with them.
“You don’t need to be sorry, Kai,” Yeonjun explains. He still doesn’t know what was going on but this is the end of their story, he guesses, and he needs to accept that. He wouldn’t want to hurt Kai anymore, even if he still has no idea how he may have done that.
“No, I’m sorry for tricking you.” Kai finally lifts his gaze, and Yeonjun finds that he wasn’t crying at all. He even had the audacity to flash Yeonjun a peace sign. “I just had to get back at you with that whole yellow carnations fiasco.”
Like a bucket of ice-cold water being dumped on him, Yeonjun realizes what Kai had just pulled. Confusion, lingering anxiety, annoyance, relief, and more affection for the younger boy coursed through his system all at the same time.
“Ya, you rascal!” He screams, repeatedly hitting Kai’s arms as the younger boy tries to wrap him in a hug, laughing at his demise. After a while, they both managed to calm down. “What do they mean then? Those flowers,” Yeonjun asks, wiping some tears that managed to escape his eyes.
“Well, they could indeed mean a broken heart or unrequited love but I gave them to you as a symbol of unconditional love.”
Oh. Yeonjun takes the chance. “So you won’t say no if I ask you to be my boyfriend?”
“Of course not!” Kai screams. “Hyung, are you serious?”
“Dead serious. Kai Kamal Huening, will you be my boyfriend?”
Kai responds by throwing himself back onto Yeonjun. “Yes, a thousand times yes!”
Yeonjun drops a quick kiss on Kai’s cheek, making him hide his furiously blushing face behind his hands, looking just as ethereal as the first time Yeonjun has seen him. Man, he really was lucky. Who would have thought that angel would actually become his boyfriend? “So, you’re still up for our date later?” He asks.
“Of course, boyfriend.” Kai bats his eyelashes at him.