アネモネ
spring

"I'm so hungry, I could eat a... whole all you-can-eat buffet." Taehyung announced as he entered the store. A month had passed since the food poisoning incident and the younger had been wary around fish since. Not much had changed between the pair after they'd fallen asleep in Jungkook's bed, except maybe they'd grown a little closer.

"You'd get fat." Jungkook pointed out.

"Yeah, but I think I'd be the cute sort of fat," the older male mused as he took his place beside Jungkook. "You know, the sort that just rolls around the place? Besides, you'd still like me, wouldn't you?"

The younger male chuckled as Taehyung nudged him, nodding his head. "Sure, of course."

"Hey, you're pretty muscly." Taehyung grabbed Jungkook's arm. He squeezed it, feeling the muscles underneath his fingers. "Do you work out?"

"I used to, a lot. I haven't been able to recently, but sometimes I still go running in the morning. When I'm not too tired."

"Oh, that's so cool. I should work out; maybe it'll make my arms bigger. Look." Taehyung pulled his sleeves up, revealing his tiny arms. He grabbed Jungkook's hand and made him touch them. His arms were soft, flustering Jungkook a little. "See, they're not like yours at all. You're all muscly and strong and I'm justー tiny."

Their touching was interrupted by a customer entering the shop. She walked up to the counter, not even looking at any of the flowers. The two florist watched her in uncertainty, already not liking her. She glanced at Taehyung, obviously taking in his dyed hair and overall appearance. Jungkook suspected she probably thought he was a girl.

"The person I'd previously hired for the decorations at my wedding has fallen through, so my sister recommended this place. Do you just do flowers or are you able to handle most of the decorations?" Their mild dislike immediately increased at her tone. She looked down at the two men, impatiently huffing as she awaited their response.

"We specialise in flowers but yeah, we can handle more than just that." Taehyung responded, a friendly smile on his lips despite his current feelings towards the woman. Her eyes widened at the sound of his voice, confirming the younger's supicions. "You'll have to organise meeting times with our boss and all that. How long do we have until the wedding?"

"Four weeks. I know it's not long, it's made it hard for me to find a replacement, but like I said the previous people fell through. You won't back out part way through, will you?"

"You have our promise that if we accept your job, we won't quit until the job is done." The lilac-haired male assured her.

"Good. Well, would I be able to book a meeting with your boss then?"

As Seokjin handled the customer, Jungkook and Taehyung passed the time with a few little games. The first was arm wrestling, which the older had suggested purely to test the strength of the younger's arms. Taehyung had lost, naturally, even with Jungkook going easy on him. The second one was I-Spy but both had gotten bored after realising they kept choosing flowers and there wasn't much room for variety in the small store.

Finally, they ended up playing Mercy ー another one of Taehyung's suggestions. As they pinched and twisted each other's skin, neither could muffle their quiet cries of pain and screams of 'mercy'. By the time Seokjin and the woman had finished, the pair were covered in red marks and had mixed expressions of pain and amusement. Jungkook also had a bite mark at the bottom of his neck, from when Taehyung had bit him in a moment of desperation.

The older pair frowned at the younger pair, obviously confused as to exactly what had gone down while they were discussing wedding plans.

"Uh, Taehyung, Jungkook, this is Park Hyejin. We'll be helping with the decorations at her wedding. Hyejin, this is Kim Taehyung and Jeon Jungkook. I can promise you that the decorations are in good hands." Seokjin introduced everyone. The woman, Hyejin, didn't look any happier despite his assurances.

"I hope so. A lot of work has been put into this, I hope the decorations don't let everything else down." She sighed, uncrossing her arms as she pushed some of her fringe behind her ear. "Anyway, I've got to go. I have lunch with the in-laws in an hour, I've got to get ready. I'll be back in a couple of days?"

"Yep, of course. Have a good day." Seokjin continued to smile as he walked the woman out, no sign of it being forced. He then returned to the rest of the group. "Right, that's that sorted then. I suppose we should assign positions, right? I can handle the venue; Taehyung, can you do the after-party and all that?" Taehyung nodded. "Good. And Jungkook, given it's your first time you can just have the bride. It probably sounds like a big job but basically all you've got to do is listen to what she says and wants and make it happen. It's probably the easiest, and Hyejin seems to know what she wants. Is that alright?"

"Yeah, I can do that."

"Good. Now, I'm going to go figure out our schedules for the next couple of weeks. You just go back to working ー except none of what you were doing earlier, it looked and sounded like you were doing something that shouldn't be done in public."

"We weren't! We were justー"

"I know you weren't, but customers might not. It might scare them away." And with that, Seokjin left, ending any further discussion on the matter.

ーー＊ーー

A few days later, Jungkook was meeting up with Hyejin at a cafe. Seokjin and Taehyung were checking out the venue, having already received some information from the bride-to-be via email, but the youngest had to go meet her in person.

"Now, my in-laws are very traditional people so I'd like to keep things as traditional as possible," Hyejin explained over coffee. "However, I don't want this to be a drab, stereotypical wedding with red or white roses. Do you understand?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Don't sound so formal, it makes me feel old. Hyejin is fine." The woman sighed, stirring her teaspoon around her cup. "Anyway, so I was thinking ー maybe, you know, some white flowers or something, but make them meaningful. I don't just want them because they're pretty."

"Well, um, I did some googling..." Jungkook said as he pulled his iPad out. "I've got some flowers that might work, depending on the price range you're going for."

"Just show me the flowers and we'll think about prices later." The younger nodded and opened up his photos.

"Uh, well first was the red or white roses, but given you don't want them we'll skip those. Th-There's gardenias, which mean purity and joy. Um, tulips ー love and passion." Jungkook swiped through the images of the bouquets and flowers he'd found. "For the boutonnières, you could have some stephanotis or sweet peas. Stephanotis are a traditional bridal flower through, because they mean marital happiness. Sweet peas just mean pleasure."

Hyejin sat there silently for a moment, her expression showing no sign of approval or disapproval. It worried the apprentice florist, who had been nervous about this whole ordeal to start with. He hadn't been to enough weddings to know what people usually had at them, and his mother hadn't been much help when he went to her. He was relying entirely on what Taehyung and the Internet had told him ー and now he had the added pressure of trying to find some untraditional but traditional in appearance flowers.

"I like the sweet peas and stephanotis. Maybe we could do a combination." Hyejin suggested, breaking the uncomfortable quiet. "I don't really like any of the other flowers though. They'd keep the in-laws happy but not me." She sighed. "I have another appointment soon, if you have anything better then we can walk and talk. Otherwise I'll pay for the drinks and then go."

"No, sorry. I'll find something else tonight."

Hyejin nodded. "Good. Oh, and I changed my mind, don't limit yourself to just white. They all look so drab and I'm already wearing enough white as it is. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Alright. Have a good day."

Jungkook sighed as he and Jimin lay on his bed, looking at all the flowers. Occasionally the older male would pipe up, pointing at a flower that had caught his attention. Most of the time his suggestions weren't helpful, as their meanings wouldn't fit or they'd be out of season.

"Why does a flower shop do weddings as well? I thought they were two separate things." Jimin said as he pointed at some purple flowers. Jungkook clicked on them, already identifying them as lilacs.

"These could work. And I don't know, because it brings in more money?"

"Probably, that sounds about right." The blonde male pointed at another flower, carnations this time. "Oh, so there's this new guy in class."

"Is he nice?"

"Yeah, I think so. He sits next to me and we spent lunch together. You should see him dance; oh my God, he's good. I've watched him dance a couple of times and honestly I think I could watch him all day. He probably couldn't dance all day, but still..."

"Well, it's good that you've finally made a friend." Jimin had been complaining to the younger about how lonely school was without him. Jungkook had decided to put off going to university for a year, choosing to get a job and save up some money first.

"Yeah, he's a better friend than you. He doesn't ditch me." The older chuckled as he teased his friend. "I'm kidding. You're a good friend, Jungkookー hey, what about that flower?"

ーー＊ーー
note : I don't think I've actually properly written anything in a little while... oops

The more exciting parts of the story are yet to come, I think. You've just gotta make it through the spring.

Immktured.
I'm tired.*