水仙
spring

Jungkook was feeling incredibly nervous for the first day of work, so nervous, in fact, that he'd barely slept that night and now he was struggling to finish his breakfast. The omelette he'd made lay on the plate before him, looking unappetising despite the boy's usual liking of the egg. He had a lump in his throat and he was pretty sure there were more than just butterflies in his stomach.

He quickly realised that trying to eat breakfast was a lost cause and chucked what remained of his omelette out, sighing at the waste of food. He continued on with the usual routine of getting ready to greet the outside world: having a shower, getting dressed, making sure he had everything he was going to need during the day. It all went by quicker than he'd expected or hoped and soon he was walking out the door, still trying to figure out if it would be quicker to walk to flower shop or catch the bus.

His decision was made for him as he watched the bus drive past and he sighed. At least, he thought, the walk to work ー he was still unused referring to it as that ー would allow him to try and get rid of a large majority of his nerves. Or at least he hoped, and if his past experience with hope was anything to go by then he was probably going to be just as nervous when he arrived as he was now.

The small budding flowers that were cropping up in all the gardens Jungkook passed just reminded him of what he was heading to, and the fact that he really had no clue what he was doing. He wasn't sure what had possessed him to apply for a job as a florist ー most likely sheer desperation ー but he had and now he was going to be working there. He gave himself a week, if that, before they realised how bad an idea choosing him was and fired him.

Jungkook arrived at the shop just on time, having had to sprint the last few metres to make sure he wasn't late. He stood outside the shop, cheeks flushed as he tried to catch his breath. He'd been slacking off in his exercising, and now he was regretting it.

"I need to start working out again..." He muttered to himself as he turned to the shop, slowly opening the door. Once again he was taken aback by the myriad of flowers and the strong mix of perfumes that washed over him like a tsunami when he entered. It took him a moment to collect himself, as he wondered if he would ever get used to the smells.

Taehyung stood at the counter, sipping a takeaway coffee (Jungkook assumed it was coffee) as he read a magazine. Jungkook frowned as he approached him, still unable to wrap his head around the fact the effeminate male wasn't a girl or transgender. He looked like a short haired girl with his thin frame and feminine features. The younger would just have to take his word that he wasn't

"Hey Jungkook, ready for your first day of work?" Taehyung asked cheerfully, too cheerfully for this early in the morning, when he noticed Jungkook. He played with the rim of his cup, a slender finger slowly tracing the edge of it.

"No." Jungkook said before quickly laughing, trying to play it off as a joke. Thankfully Taehyung seemed to think it was one and chuckled as well.

"Now, I'll basically be teaching you everything, Seokjin has some business thing he has to look after. I'll just show you everything you need to know, and some stuff you don't ー like the flower's meanings and stuff. They're nice things to know but not necessary. Just give people a pretty flower and they're generally happy." Taehyung shrugged as he lifted the cup to his lips, taking a sip of the coffee (it was definitely coffee, Jungkook could smell it). A bit of the froth accumulated on the top of his lip but disappeared after a quick flick of his tongue. "I also have a smock for you, so that the dirt doesn't mess up your nice clothes, and a name tag. Come."

Taehyung placed the now empty cup back down on the counter as he headed into the back room. He reached into his pocket, pulling out a packet of chewing gum. Jungkook declined the piece offered to him and they entered the back room and Taehyung headed over to a little white pile that was sitting on the edge of a table standing against the wall. Picking it up, he chucked it at the younger male, who caught it... If you could call it hitting his face and landing into his hands 'catching'.

"There's your smock, the height of fashion these days." The lilac-haired male said as he walked over to where Jungkook was, playing with the safety pin part of the name tag. He then handed the name tag over to Jungkook, much more safely than the way he'd thrown the smock. The brunette took it and began dressing himself in the uniform, putting the smock on over the clothes he was wearing and then sticking the pin into his shirt. Taehyung smiled approvingly, though the younger male felt like the smock did nothing to flatter his appearance. "Perfect. You'll win all the ladies in that."

"I'm sure..." Jungkook responded sarcastically. While his personality and charm, which Jungkook had a lot of, might help the ladies overlook the ugliness of his outfit, Jungkook doubted that the smock itself would actually be the cause of his ladykiller ways.

"Now, onto teaching." The florist clapped his hands together and then gestured for Jungkook to follow, heading back out into the shop part of the florist. "It's pretty easy, working here. All you have to do is sell flowers and keep the customer happy. The thing I think you'll have the most difficulties with is the different occasions and which flowers you should sell ー you know, the meanings and things."

The new apprentice nodded, doing his very best to take in everything his teacher was saying. It was difficult, because as Taehyung spoke Jungkook would find himself getting distracted by other things ー like how Taehyung really did look like a girl and he honestly wouldn't be surprised if boobs were hiding underneath the loose sweater the older male was wearing. He blinked quickly, trying to clear his thoughts and focus on flowers. Flowers... Flowers ー Taehyung's lips looked like they had lip balm on themー no, flowers.

"Typically, as you would expect, roses are for most romantic things. Especially red roses, they are very popular and most people don't even care about what the roses mean. If they need to confess their love or celebrate an anniversary, most of the time they'll get roses." Taehyung said, walking about to the large range of roses they had. As they grew closer, the smell of roses began to overpower the other flowers.

"What are those ones?" Jungkook asked as he pointed at the red and white flowers he'd gotten distracted by the last time he was there. He wasn't sure what it'd been, but there was something about them that he liked. Taehyung smiled fondly at the flowers.

"They're striped carnations, my favourite. They're not very popular because they're not really that exciting in appearance. Plus they're generally used for rejection or refusal, and who really uses flowers for that sort of thing?" Taehyung chuckled as he looked at Jungkook, his smile stretching into a funny box-shaped grin. "I think when people are rejecting others, they're not really nice enough to go out and buy flowers for them. But I think they're nice; if I was going to reject someone, I'd use those."

"I like them." The younger said quietly. The declaration seemed to please Taehyung, whose smile grew even larger, to the point where his eyes were starting to resemble two crescents.

"I think you're the first person I've heard say that, beside Seokjin who loves every flower." Taehyung pat Jungkook's shoulder gently. "I think we'll become good friends, Jungkook."

ーー＊ーー

Jungkook yawned as he walked into the lounge room of Jimin's place, a can of coke in his hand and a game controller in the other. He sat down on the couch next to his friend, placing his coke on the ground as Jimin hit play on the game they were playing. The sounds of guns and dying quickly filled the room, accompanied by the two friends' groans of disappointment and triumphant cries.

"So how's the florist life?" The older male asked as he sniped Jungkook. His question was quickly followed by a cackle as the younger died.

"I don't know, it's alright. The boss, Seokjin, is out all the time and I think he has a boyfriend. I mean, he's always talking about this guy who gives him free coffees and cakes and he sounds like he likes him but I don't know, the whole shop is full of weird people." Jungkook shrugged as he tried to help get his character back to the position it'd been in before. "Like, the other guy ー Taehyung ー looks like he's a girl. I thought he was when we first met, it was embarrassing."

"Ha, you suck. Just like you suck at this game." Jimin said as he killed Jungkook again. Jungkook emitted a slow exhalation of air, resting the controller on his thigh as he waited to respawn. It was getting frustrating, dying over and over again, but if he gave up now then Jimin's teasing would increase tenfold. He respawned and continued to try and beat the (obviously) more competent male. His attempts were futile, the older male had specifically chosen a game he was good at and the younger wasn't, but it was the only thing he could do. Conversations ceased between the pair as they focused on beating the other. Silence fell over the room, save for the quiet clicking of buttons.

Jungkook groaned as he died again. While he was pleased he'd survived longer than normal, it was still frustrating to lose. Jimin laughed exultantly.

ーー＊ーー
note : I think I'll start doing weekly updates now (unless my impatience gets the better of me but I'll do my best to fight it)

But I keep forgetting that I'm further along this story than anyone else and my brain can't quite comprehend that you guys don't know the characters like I do.