tw ⚠️

_

it took mingi pretty much the whole week to comprehend what yunho had confessed to him, but truly he didn't think he would ever be unaffected by hearing jeong yunho say "I love you".

the boy in question was busy arranging a bunch of his favourite flowers for the window of the front room, the sunflowers standing tall and proud.

"they look beautiful" mingi spoke as he entered the room.

"don't they just? I would fill the entire house with sunflowers if I could"

mingi beamed at his boyfriend's joy. "they're our flower"

yunho finished perfecting their positions and made his way over to the other, snaking his arms around his small waist when he reached him. "I guess they are" he whispered before kissing mingi deeply.

"what was that for?" he asked, still not accustomed to receiving so much affection from another person.

"what? can't I kiss my favourite person for no reason other than that I want him to know that he's loved?"

mingi giggled quietly, still unsure of how this wasn't all a dream. how had his life changed so drastically in just a matter of months? despite yunho's disagreement, mingi thought he must be some kind of angel.

either way, there was no one else like yunho in this world and mingi was sure of it.

---

sometimes in life, the best things can come out of the worst moments. but unfortunately, sometimes the reverse is also true.

the day had passed by so far pretty uneventfully. customers came and went, yunho and mingi made beautiful displays and sang and danced along to the radio. they got coffee and cake from aurora and san was excited, as always, to see them.

but it was later that afternoon that everything changed.

at around 3:30pm, a face that was both recognised and feared by mingi appeared through the glass panels of the door - and before either boy could do anything about it, in stepped youngjo.

"you got it fixed then - the door?" he snickered.

"mingi, go into the back" yunho immediately warned. but mingi stood frozen in his spot.

"he doesn't have to do what you say" youngjo stated as he made his way further into the shop.

"no - but you do. this is my shop and you need to get out"

youngjo let out a sharp burst of laughter as he picked up one of the flowers from a bucket and lifted it to his nose, before throwing it back down on the floor. "I don't think so"

"what do you want?" yunho asked calmly.

youngjo turned his attention to mingi who was cowering behind the counter still. "I just want mingi to come with me"

now it was yunho's turn to laugh, "like I'm gonna let that happen"

youngjo smirked like he found the whole thing immensely entertaining, "that's a shame"

"what do you mean?" yunho wanted to know.

youngjo was silent for a couple or seconds, clearly enjoying building the suspense. and then he simply said; "nice shop you've got here, isn't it?"

yunho saw red. "are you threatening me?!"

youngjo only shrugged.

"get out. out, NOW!" yunho demanded as he backed the boy towards the door he had entered through. yunho was undoubtedly bigger than him, and it seemed youngjo didn't fancy his chances with the boy. so he walked backwards until he had crossed the threshold back onto the sidewalk.

youngjo then looked over yunho's shoulder and addressed mingi; "one last chance, mingi. you can come with me now or-"

"or what?"

at that moment, youngjo took something out of his back pocket and twirled it around in his fingers. yunho immediately recognised it as a lighter. he just looked at mingi's ex-boyfriend completely bewildered.

"you think I don't know how much chemical shit there is on all those flowers? they would go up in seconds" he taunted as he flicked the lighter on and off.

"mingi," yunho called through the shop, "call the police"

"it's no use" youngjo interjected smugly, "I'd be long gone by the time they came"

mingi watched from inside, feeling time itself seem to slow down.

"you wouldn't do it and we both know that, so why don't you just leave, youngjo? mingi doesn't fucking want you. he never will. you're disgusting"

"you're making a huge mistake right now" youngjo warned.

"yunho, leave it. I'll go with him" mingi called, panicking that youngjo was going to hurt him.

"like hell you will" yunho cried passionately. "just get the fuck out of here, youngjo. you're poison"

and then the last thing he heard was youngjo's vicious laughter as he activated the flame and threw the lighter into the shop.

sure enough, the flowers immediately burst into flames which began to spread through the sea of foliage laying on the floor.

if time had slowed down before, it now completely stopped for mingi. for a few seconds, all he could do was stare at the orange haze before him.

somewhere in the background he could hear yunho's voice screaming "mingi, get out! get out of there, please!" from outside. the flames prevented him from running to mingi like he wanted to.

and then something awoke mingi from his stupor and he realised what was unfolding in front of him. he grabbed a large towel from the rail behind him and ran over to the flames, hoping to suppress them with the material - wanting more than anything to save yunho's precious flower shop.

but it was way past that point already. the fire was spreading - quickly.

as for youngjo, he was already gone.

"argh!" mingi screamed as he threw the towel onto the flames. in his shock, he had got too close and the fire had seared the skin on his hand.

"mingi? what's going on?! just get out!"

"the shop!" he screamed over the crackling.

"I don't care, mingi. I don't care! just get out. please!" he yelled as he began to sob. and then he remembered - he could get to mingi through the back door.

he raced around faster than he knew he could run and pulled the door open wide. to his relief, he bumped straight into mingi, who was also now trying to leave through the back exit.

"thank god!" yunho cried out as he took hold of the hand that wasn't injured and pulled mingi away to safety. he took him to the road just in front of the shop where he knew they were safe and then allowed himself to inspect mingi's injury.

"oh my god..." he breathed as he took in the severity of the burn. mingi just held tightly to his wrist above the injury and tried not to break down from the pain. he collapsed onto his knees on the floor and yunho knelt beside him.

"what did you do?!" yunho asked as tears flooded his eyes.

"I t-tried to put the fire out..." mingi spoke through the pain.

in the background yunho heard voices shouting him. san and wooyoung, he thought. but he couldn't answer right now. he couldn't concentrate on anything else.

"why did you do that, mingi?!"

"your s-shop..." he croaked out. a siren now began to sound in the background. someone had called the fire brigade. but yunho hadn't even looked at the state of his shop yet, it didn't matter. he couldn't take his eyes off mingi.

"I told you, I don't care about my shop. I don't care! fuck, mingi. I care about you, I love you! the thought of losing you..." he trailed off as a man in fire-protective clothes touched his shoulder.

"sir, does this building belong to you?"

"yes.. yes. but w-we need a paramedic. my boyfriend.. he's hurt" yunho stuttered, tears falling quickly down his cheeks.

"we'll call an ambulance now" the man informed him.

"yunho, I'm so sorry..." he heard san behind him, but he couldn't turn around - mingi had now also begun to cry.

"it hurts so much!" he sobbed. yunho glanced down again to the sticky, wet, red mess of a burn on his boyfriend's hand and felt sick to his stomach.

"oh god... I know, I know, baby. they're coming, okay? you're okay" he soothed as he wrapped him in a tight hug.

and then he finally braced himself to turn and look at the burning building.

it was ruined.

completely.

he felt his heart break inside.

he thought of his sister and how eden had been her dream.

he couldn't speak.

he couldn't move.

but then he heard mingi whisper, "I'm sorry, yunho" and felt him shaking uncontrollably in his grasp, and he knew he had to be okay for mingi.

he had mingi and he had to protect him.

he had mingi and that was all that mattered.

_

a/n: damn this chapter was hard to write...