[note: some people wanted a sequel and i wanted to write a 50/100K special when it & if it came round (ended up being 50K because i'm impatient), so here is your update on where the dudes are all at a bit over a year later]

白いカーネーション
(white carnations)
spring

Jungkook didn't get letters often. All his friends communicated with him electronically and most official letters went straight to the elder's of the house. So it was a surprise when he opened the letter box and found the top one addressed to him. A burst of curious excitement bubbled up inside the brunette as he hurried back inside, eager to hand the other letters over so he could open his own. Once in the kitchen, he dumped the letters on the bench and continued into the living room. With hands now free, Jungkook carefully—but eagerly—opened the envelope and pulled out the card inside.

You are cordially invited to the joining of Jin and Joon in holy matrimony.

The trainee chef hadn't thought his smile could get any wider, but after reading the card it proved him wrong. He continued reading, growing more and more pleased with this news. He was also touched they'd invited him, after months of no contact. Initially, the brunette had tried to keep in contact with his ex-boss to get updates—but never Taehyung, that hurt too much—but eventually they just grew out of touch. A busy season hit both the flower shop and restaurant and both were too distracted to remember to message one another.

Reading further, Jungkook discovered that the wedding would be taking place overseas. This, he figured, would be due to the current marriage laws in Korea. The invitation informed him that they would pay for a ticket, if he couldn't, but the brunette couldn't accept that. For the next couple of weeks, he would be working extra to save up; he was probably going to have to work extra even after, and borrow some money from his parents.

"What's that, Jungkook?" Looking up, the younger male saw his mother standing at the doorway. She entered, sitting down beside him on the couch.

"You remember Jin, right? My old boss?" The older woman nodded, fond smile on her lips. "Well, he's getting married. And I'm invited—this is my invitation. See." He handed the card over to Mrs Jeon so she could read it; skimming through, she read it much quicker than he did.

"It's overseas..." She commented, glancing back up at her son. This provided him an opportunity to mention working overtime, but she continued before he could even intake a breath, "Your father and I will pay. I've got some money stored away."

"But–" Mrs Jeon shook her head.

"Let us do this for you, Jungkook. We barely spend our money anyway, let it be put to some good use." Without any warning, Jungkook tacked his mother and pulled her into a tight hug. After she stabilised herself, she chuckled softly and returned the hug. "You're paying for the suit though. And you'll have to buy them a nice present."

"Oh God..." Jungkook muttered, eyes growing wide as he realised the work ahead of him.

Mrs Jeon chuckled again, giving him a light pat on the back, "We'll help you with that too."

ーー＊ーー

Being out of the country by himself was weird enough, but attending this wedding was foreign too. He hasn't been to many in his life, and rarely had he been as fond of the marrying couple as he did with this pair. As the day grew near, he worried his suit wouldn't be nice enough, that they wouldn't like his gift (which they spent a whole day searching for), that they wouldn't like him now and that they'd regret inviting him. Minjae, his plus one because there was no way he was coming alone (and after he quit, they had become quite close friends so it took little to convince her to take a trip overseas), had told him to calm down and that it would be fine, but it didn't do a lot to reassure him.

But, as he sat amongst the guests and watched them both walk down the aisle, all that was forgotten. When Namjoon and Seokjin said their vows, against his own wishes, some happy tears pricked his eyes. Once again, he found himself imagining his own wedding, wondering what it might be like. If it was half as beautiful as this one, he'd be a happy man.

At the reception, Jungkook felt out of place. He quickly realised he knew very few of the married couple's friends and found himself standing awkwardly to the side. No one had sat down at the tables yet, so he wasn't quite sure what to do. He could see Namjoon and Seokjin a few metres away, but they were surrounded by people and he couldn't bring himself to go up to them yet.

"What should we do?" Jungkook whispered to Minjae as he gazed around the room.

"Socialise, stand here and watch people if you'd really like. I think there's some food over there."

"But no one else is eating..."

"Maybe they're all doing the same thing as you. Maybe you need to be the first person to go over there, sacrifice yourself for the greater good."

"Can't you go first?" Jungkook was not above pouting, as he tried to convince Minjae to get some food. And it worked. The older girl rolled her eyes and walked over, being that sacrifice for the greater good—or, at least, people's stomachs.

"Jungkook, is that you?" A voice exclaimed. Startled, the brunette jumped quite noticeably. This caused the owner of the voice to laugh and Jungkook could feel his cheeks heat up. He looked up, spotting a familiar butcher almost instantly. Yoongi was the person from the florist-era that Jungkook saw most often; after his butchery went under, he'd ended up working with the Jeon's. He worked as a chef, making his famous skewers for them. Even Grandma Jeon approved of this business venture, which brought in a decent increase in customers.

"Of course it's me." The brunette responded as he was pulled into a hug by the older. With a slight groan, the blonde squeezed him tightly.

"It's good to see you. Did you enjoy the wedding? Did you know the bar is open tab? Whatever you want, just order it." Yoongi pulled away to take a sip of whatever drink he'd order from the bar. "I have no clue what it is; it just sounded fancy."

"Oh... you're that person at weddings." The brunette muttered, eyes still scanning the crowd. Though he didn't want to admit it, he was looking—searching for someone he knew had to be here.

"I think we're sitting next to each other too." Yoongi continued. There was a brief lapse in silence as the older took another sip of his bright pink drink and the younger continued to search. Pointing, the butcher says, "He's over there. I'm gonna go talk to someone else. Have fun."

After gaining this direction, it took Jungkook a matter of seconds to spot his old friend. He had dyed his hair again, now it was a dark brown, cut shorter than the younger was used to. Now, in his completely black suit, chatting happily to a male by his side, he looked more handsome than ever—the effeminacy was still there, but it wasn't as obvious as usual. He'd changed.

Minjae returned with two plates full of finger food, having waited til the end of the previous conversation to re-enter. She handed one of the plates to Jungkook, before following his gaze.

"Who are you looking at?"

"Taehyung." The dark haired male responded vacantly.

"Oh, him." The older student frowned lightly, eyes searching for someone. "I can't see the hair."

"He dyed it brown." Silence fell between them as they both watched the florist, who still was distracted by his friend.

The moment when Taehyung spotted Jungkook was obvious. Eyes travelling across the room, they soon met the watching brunette's but kept moving. Then, it registered in his head who he saw and the florist's gaze returned to him. The smile on his lips slowly diminished, almost growing sad. In response, as a greeting, Jungkook's own lips curled up into a quick smile. It lasted less than a second and wasn't genuine, but it was a greeting—Taehyung knew he'd seen him.

With a quick word to his friend, the older male started walking through the crowd to Jungkook. The chef could feel his heart pounding in his chest, nerves buzzing around his body. There was an impulse telling him to run, but he refused to let his legs move. He waited, watching as his old friend grew closer. That was, until Minjae gave him a rough shove forwards and his legs started functioning again.

"Jungkook," Taehyung said softly, the smile returning, "You're here. And you brought, a girlfriend?"

"In the flesh. And it's Minjae—a close friend." Jungkook gave a small smile in return. The sweet scent of lilies was wafting over to him, smelling even better than the flowers he had planted in the garden. He'd missed that smell. "How have you been?"

There was a beat. Then, without warning (for the second time in that hour), Taehyung wrapped his thin arms around the younger male and hugged him tightly. Head buried in the crook of the florist's neck, all Jungkook could smell was lilies. The hug was warm, so warm it sent its heat right into the younger's core.

"I've missed you so much." The older brunette confessed into Jungkook's neck. With the sudden attack of familiarity—a familiarity he'd missed, the younger felt just about ready to cry. He hugged Taehyung tighter, not willing to let go.

"Me too." He said softly, voice breaking. "I'm so sorry. I– I'm sorry for leaving, and for saying everything I said. I–" Jungkook cut off as Taehyung hushed him, a light chuckle leaving the older. He, unfortunately, ended the hug as he pulled away.

"It's okay. I forgave you, remember? You did get my flowers, didn't you?" Jungkook nodded. Taehyung smiled happily, too happily for his following comment, "I got yours."

"Sorry about that..."

"Don't be. It made a pretty neat necklace." The older reached inside his collar to pull out a silver chain from underneath his shirt. Hanging off the chain was a small pendant with the pattern of a striped carnation. "That's one of the petals from the bouquet. I got it preserved and made into a necklace. Pretty, huh?"

"Seems like a weird memory to preserve." The florist shook his head again.

"It's not so sad anymore." The smile seemed to grow on Taehyung's lips and he grabbed Jungkook's wrist. "You haven't seen Jin and Joon yet, have you? You have to do that; Seokjin hasn't stopped going on about seeing you again for ages." Jungkook then turned to Minjae, who got the message almost instantly and joined the pair. Brief introductions were made and the girl then followed behind the pair.

When they approach the newlyweds, Jungkook is pulled into yet another hug—a group hug this time—and is greeted warmly by the pair. Even Minjae was hugged, though no one but Jungkook really knew her.

"Congratulations." Jungkook said from inside the tangle of arms. "Can't say I didn't see it coming, but I'm happy for you guys."

"It was a beautiful wedding." Minjae added, somewhere at the edge.

"Thanks," Seokjin responded, thankfully beginning the process of detangling the group by being the first to move out of the hug, "We're glad you came. Sorry about the long trip, hopefully it wasn't too difficult."

"It was fine, don't worry." The youngest smiled at his old boss, trying to reassure him. "How have you been?"

"Stressed." With a soft sigh, Seokjin ran his fingers through his hair. Earlier today it had been perfectly styled, but nerves and fidgeting had since messed it. "There's so much planning with weddings—I thought I was drowning."

"I decorated the place." Taehyung piped up with a quick raise of his hand, bringing the attention back to him. "All the flowers, my idea."

"Except the bouquet." Seokjin added after he frowned at his cousin. "Designed by me."

"He chose them all to mean everlasting and pure love." Namjoon placed a kiss on his husband's cheek, lips spread into the widest smile imaginable. Looking at the pair, seeing how happy they were together, Jungkook couldn't help but smile too.

ーー＊ーー

"Isn't this—hic—th'most be-beautiful—hic—thing y'ever seen?" Taehyung frowned slightly as Yoongi leaned against him, barely able to hold himself up. In front of them, Seokjin and Namjoon were doing their first dance. It was clear they'd practiced, and yet the younger male still seemed to accidentally step on his husband's toes on occasion. Though, from the furrowed eyebrows and quiet muttering between the couple, that might be due to nerves.

"Get a little carried away with the free drinks?"

Yoongi shook his head, "I wouldn't forgive myself if I didn't. Who in their right mind says no to free drinks?" The butcher squinted at the florist, staring at him for an almost uncomfortably long time. Taehyung shifted from foot to foot, unable to hold to gaze. "Don't I know you?"

"Yeah, we, uh, used to hang out... We went to the pool together."

"Shit," Yoongi sighed as he rested his head against the younger's shoulder, disappointed, "I was hopin' I didn't. I thought th' pointa weddin's was gettin' with a stranger."

"I think the point is the couple getting married." Again with the staring; Yoongi seemed to just stare as his inebriated brain slowly comprehended what was being said. And Taehyung could see him comprehend it, see the way his thoughts were slowly ticking away within the fog of the alcohol.

"Y'might be onto somethin' there." Taehyung nodded slowly as his gaze returned to the dancing couple. A few others had started dancing along to the music. Then, Yoongi gave him a nudge, "We should dance."

"I don't think that's a good idea, given you can't stand on your own." The younger male responded as he gestured at the way Yoongi was leaning against him for support.

Another second of silence.

"True."

Jungkook grinned as he watched the group of guests gather behind Seokjin and Namjoon, who were both gripping the bouquet and discussing how they were going to throw it in time. The group was murmuring loudly and competitively, all claiming that they would be the one to catch it and be the next one—hypothetically—to marry. Minjae was somewhere amongst there, more for the fun than a desire to win, but the chef chose to sit this out, letting people who want to catch it have a chance instead.

"Ready?" Seokjin called out as he glanced over his shoulder, getting a cheer in response. After the married couple counted to three quietly between themselves, the bouquet was swung over their shoulders and thrown in the general direction of the crowd. A small fight followed, as members of the crowd tried to push their way to the front and reached for the flowers.

But then, seemingly out of nowhere, a still drunk Yoongi appeared at the front of the crowd. To this day, no one quite knows where he came from or how he got there—and the butcher barely remembers the day. But he caught it, without any effort.

And that wasn't even the strangest thing that happened.

Grabbing the nearest person, which just so happened to be Taehyung (whether this was coincidence or intentional, no one knows either), Yoongi swung him down and pressed a wet, drunken kiss on the younger's lips.

"We're next." He sung. Taehyung only smiled and pat his shoulder, standing upright again.

"Maybe in your dreams."

However, everyone whooped and cheered and Jungkook even yelled out, "I better be the best man!"

After the wedding ended and everyone went their separate ways, Minjae and Jungkook made their trek to the bus stop. With a small frown on her brow, the older girl spoke up, "So who is Taehyung to you? And don't you dare say old friend again, because old friends don't hug each other like that. Best friends, maybe, but not some casual friend."

Jungkook paused for a moment, thinking. A smile tugged at his lips as he thought back on all the fond memories he had with the older male. And then, from these memories, came a single word.

"He was my carnation."

ーー＊ーー
note : months in the making but we got there

But thank you for supporting this story. There wasn't a lot of a point to this chapter other than trying to make the ending happier for you guys. Hope it worked. There also won't be anything else written for this, so feel free to just imagine whatever you want for their future past here (:

Also, for those wondering what's up with jihope given they weren't at the wedding, they didn't attend because they were on an anniversary holiday of their own somewhere really nice & really romantic & they're just really happy, okay?