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spring

Spring was always a good time to be a florist; a time of blossoming meant that there were plenty of flowers and plenty of customers. Spring was the time of year when the small flower shop on the corner went to a particularly great amount of effort to make sure it was able to supply flowers for all occasions, as Spring was typically associated with birth and flowers and it seemed to encourage more customers. Baby boy? Chrysanthemums. Asking that pretty girl in class out on a date? Tulips.

The flower shop was always cheerful-looking during Spring, with its stands filled with colourful flowers and a perfume floating on the breeze. It drew people in, people who wouldn't normally consider buying flowers would suddenly realise the need for them in their lives. Business, like the flowers and many other things, would be blooming. But because of this, the two florists often found themselves wishing for a third pair of hands, a little trainee florist who could do all the smaller jobs while they took the bigger ones. They'd advertised the fact that they were hiring, but neither had anticipated how fussy they would be in regards to who would be their apprentice.

"I think he's just after the money, no love for the flowers." The older of the florists, Seokjin, said as their last applicant left and they reviewed their notes and his résumé. He groaned as he stretched his arms over his head. "I don't like him."

"He answered the questions too strategically, like he was telling us what he thought we wanted to hear." The younger florist, Taehyung, responded, tapping his pen against the open page of his notebook. Although the applicant hadn't realised this, he hadn't actually taken any notes during the interview. All that was on the pages was a flower, scribbled in blue ink, that stretched across the two pages. He'd been bored; the man hadn't been able to hold his attention for very long. "When's the next interview?"

"Soon, I think." Seokjin flicked through his diary, stopping on that day's page. "Yeah, we have half an hour."

The pair sighed, slumping in their chairs simultaneously. They now resigned themselves to the fact that this was going to be a long day of interviews, although both would have much preferred to be out with the flowers.

Taehyung had got a job at Seokjin's shop back in high school, when he'd been in need of a place to work for work experience. His cousin had eagerly offered him the job, in need of an assistant just as much as he needed one now. The younger male had quite quickly discovered his cousin's passion for flowers was contagious and the work experience evolved into the part time job he had. While he was going to university, he figured he was just going to be working as a florist until it either stopped being successful or he retired.

The effeminate worker had been resting against the counter when the next applicant came in, lazily flicking through a magazine Seokjin had bought earlier that day. He looked up as the person came to an abrupt stop at the door, staring around at the multitude of flowers. His eyes widened, seeming surprised or amazed by something he was seeing. The lilac-haired man chuckled to himself and closed the magazine. The boy began to make his way towards the counter, walking slowly as he took in all the flowers on his way past. He paused at one particular flower, his interest evidentially caught.

"Can I help you with something?" Taehyung asked, approaching the boy. The boy appeared to be around his age, except he obviously worked out a lot more than Taehyung and as a result appeared bigger than the more delicate male. His white t-shirt cut off to reveal the muscles beginning to form, showing them off. The florist's sudden appearance must have surprised the boy because he jumped and looked over his shoulder with even wider eyes. The florist chuckled again, covering his mouth as he tried to hide his amusement. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. But do youー need something?"

"Oh, it's fine. I'm just here for the job interview; I got distracted by the... flowers..." The boy trailed off as he dropped his gaze to the ground, gripping his little piece of paper as he grew embarrassed.

"You must be Jeon Jungkook then, I'm Kim Taehyung." Taehyung introduced himself with a smile. "And don't be embarrassed about getting distracted, I do it all the time. The flowers are so pretty it's hard not to stop and admire them, especially those ones." He pointed at the flowers Jungkook had been looking at, the red and white striped carnations that Taehyung loved so much.

"They're pretty." Jungkook muttered as he looked up again, not meeting Taehyung's gaze as he stared at the flowers. He then frowned, finally looking back up at the older male. "I'm sorry but what did you say your name was again?"

"Taehyung." He held his hand out to the younger, and they quickly shook hands. Taehyung's smaller hand was practically engulfed by the other male's, the femininity of his contrasting against the more masculine hands the younger possessed.

"So... You're a boy?" The potential employee's cheeks started to turn red, growing darker and darker until they almost resembled the scarlet of the carnations. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, I thought you were a girl. Now I feel even more embarrassed... This isn't a good start to the interview."

Being mistaken for a girl was nothing new to Taehyung; with his thin frame and delicate features it seemed easy for people to just assume he was female. That combined with constant disregard for gendered clothing or colours, which just added to people's confusion when they discovered that Taehyung was very much a male. Apparently wearing a pink sweater just meant that the feminine curves were being hidden and that Taehyung was a girl. He didn't mind it too much though, and sometimes would even just go along with it for the hell of it.

"Oh, no, it's okay." Taehyung said quickly, trying to reassure Jungkook. "Seriously, I get it all the time and I don't mind much."

"Oh. Are you one of those people?" Jungkook's confusion seemed to be growing, rather than being satisfied by Taehyung's response. "Are you, like, transgender or something?"

"Nope, I was born a boy and I can assure you I'm male." Along with his confusion, Jungkook's embarrassment seemed to be growing as well. He dropped his head again, his cheeks continuing to grow in darkness. The blush appeared to be creeping up to the tips of his ears, which were poking through his hair, and Taehyung couldn't help but smile at him. He shouldn't have laughed, but the little chuckle just bubbled up his throat and escaped. He hadn't been laughing at obliviousness, but he realised afterwards how it could been taking that way. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have laughed."

"I'm sorry for being stupid." Jungkook muttered, still staring at his feet. He sighed heavily, the action making his shoulders raise and then flop exaggeratedly. He looked at his watch. "I'm late for my interview and now I've insulted one of the employees."

"No, it's really okay. You haven't insulted me, I swear, and I'll tell Seokjin that I held you up. Come on." Taehyung pat Jungkook's shoulder lightly, feeling the boy tense underneath his grip. "Let's go do this interview."

"So why do you want to work here?" Seokjin asked, chewing the end of his pen as he leaned back in his chair and watched Jungkook. Jungkook shuffled uncomfortably in his seat, having grown more nervous under the scrutinising gazes of Seokjin and Taehyung. Unlike most of the previous applicants, Taehyung had actually paid attention to Jungkook during the interview. There were no scribbles in his notebook and his attention had been, mostly, 100% on Jungkook.

"Um, well, for starters because I need a job ー soon my parents won't be around to provide for me and, you know, I need money to survive. Plus no one really wants to be known as the guy who's thirty and still living with his parents." Jungkook exhaled slowly, his cheeks puffing up as he blew the air out. "I, um, also... I don't actually know much about plants; I know you've got to water them to keep them alive but... like, to be honest this place seems like one of the better alternatives. I swear if you choose me I'll google flowers and stuff, I'm a good learner." Jungkook sighed again. "I'm not good at selling myself, am I?"

"If I'm honest," Seokjin said, placing his pen on the desk, "no, you're not. We've had plenty of clients who are a lot better with their words―"

"But." Taehyung interjected, throwing Seokjin a look when he noticed Jungkook growing less and less confident with every word Seokjin said. And that wasn't good, given he started with little confidence.

"But, at least you're honest. And flower knowledge isn't a problem, basically your job would be to sell the plants not be an expert on them. And you can learn." Seokjin hummed quietly as he looked down his list of questions. "When would you be available?"

"I have no social life, so outside of school I'm always free. Except for, you know, the unplanned events my family throws at me... Literally, sometimes they just hurl a calendar at me." This earned some chuckles and appeared to bring a little bit of Jungkook's confidence back.

"Well, I guess that'll be all. We'll email you or call you with the news; good or bad, you'll be hearing from us." Seokjin said as he leaned across the table to shake Jungkook's hand again. Taehyung did the same, whispering a 'good luck' as he did so. Jungkook gave him a small smile back and slowly stood up. He said goodbye before walking out of the little office at the back of the florist. Seokjin yawned when he left, before speaking, "I don't know, what do you think?"

Taehyung smiled as he looked at the door, "I like him."

――＊――

"Hi, Jungkook. This is Kim Taehyung, from the flower shop, could you please call me back when you get this? On this number." Taehyung said in the message before hanging up, sighing as he had failed to get in contact with Jungkook. He stared down at his phone, frowning, before the screen lit up. He quickly answered it. "Hello?"

"Hi, this is Jungkook." Taehyung's smile grew at the sound of Jungkook's voice, pleased and amazed that he called back so fast.

"Hi, Jungkook, it's Taehyung!" The older male visibly became more animated as he spoke, as though Jungkook was actually standing in front of him and he was talking directly to him.

"Yeah, I'm sorry I didn't answer the phone. I was in the shower, by the time I'd grabbed the phone it had already ended."

"Oh, okay. Sorry for interrupting your shower."

"You weren't interrupting anything, I was just drying myself ― still am... not that you need to know that... Sorry."

"It's fine. Anyway, I called to give you the news about the job you applied for." Taehyung heard Jungkook mutter 'here we go', and he chuckled. "Aw, don't be so pessimistic, it's not so bad. Unless you didn't want to get the job..."

"No, I wanted to, of course I wanted to― wait. Did you just say...?"

"Congratulations, Jungkook, on being the newest member to the team!"

"That explains all the confetti emoji you sent me."

Taehyung chuckled, "yeah, I just got excited and my finger did a little spasm on the emoji. I dunno, but you got the job!"

"I know... well, now I do."

"Yay! We can work together now, and I'll teach you all about flowers and their meanings and it'll be fun. Working at the shop is fun, trust me."

"Alright. Um... When do I start?"

"Seokjin and I were thinking next week, I can give you a little tutorial type thing and then you can properly get started, if that's not inconvenient."

"No. Like I said, I have a tiny social life. My schedule's all free."

"Great. I'll see you on Monday then. The store opens at eight, by the way."

"Okay, I'll see you then."

ーー＊ーー
note : my heart is literally racing at the prospect of publishing this oh my gosh