Chapter Text
Jungkook pulled to a stop at the curb, kicked his kickstand, unstrapped his helmet, and hung it on the handlebars of his old moped. With one hand, he straightened his unruly bangs and, with the other, he gently picked up the fresh bouquet of flowers that he had selected an hour before.
This arrangement wasn’t the best, in fact, it was an overly cheerful mess in his opinion, with splashes of lilacs, a yellow tiger lily here and there, groupings of white daisies, and poms. And two sunflowers. Just two. Two of the largest he could find, placed right in the middle of the bouquet.
As a middle-aged tenant was leaving, he slipped into the apartment complex, made his way up the stairwell, and halted in front of room 205. He knocked loudly, because people these days always had headphones in or were watching the latest Netflix series at full volume. Jungkook was guilty, too, as he almost always had his headphones in, listening to music or playing co-op with his online friends. Half the time it was a struggle to get anyone to open their door, but the flowers couldn’t be left in the hallway, waterless and doomed to wilt until the proprietor found them.
This door, surprisingly, was opened almost immediately by a rosy-cheeked guy, with disheveled hair the color of champagne. He was holding a nearly empty glass of wine in one hand.
Jungkook glanced at the room number again, just to make sure he was at the right place.
He had been expecting a young woman, as the occupant of 205 had been described to him as “a gorgeous blonde, with pinchable cheeks and a smile to die for” by the guy who had made his order over the phone. While the description was extremely accurate, this person was, without a doubt, another man.
To say that he was surprised was putting it lightly, but he tried to be professional and not let it show.
Jungkook, in his three years of making flower deliveries, had never once made a delivery from a man to a man, unless you counted funeral flowers, but those contained zero postmortem romantic intentions as far as he was aware.
This lively bouquet, which Jungkook passed to the other, most certainly had romantic intentions as the card that came with it had been personalized and read: You’re really cute when you smile. Thank you! Love you! xoxo
Jungkook had chuckled when the customer asked him to write that.
“You’re thanking her for her smile?” Jungkook had asked.
“Of course, I am! You thank people when they give you wonderful gifts,” the man replied.
Jungkook hadn’t argued. Love was weird. It made people all mushy like that.
Smiley, true to his descriptor, was smiling brightly at the flowers. Then, he directed that smile towards Jungkook and asked, “Do I know you, cutie?” with a small amount of confusion.
An awkward few seconds elapsed before Jungkook realized that he was the “cutie” Smiley was referring to.
“Oh, they’re not from me,” he said, while indicating to his work-shirt, which had Jin the Florist hand-stitched neatly on the right pocket.
“Ah, so they’re from Jin?” Smiley asked and took a nice long inhale of the aromatic bouquet.
“Uh, no. I mean, yes, they’re from Jin’s but not from him,” Jungkook stuttered out, which, annoyingly, seemed to amuse Smiley.
Then, spotting the card, Smiley opened it and read it aloud. “‘You’re really cute when you smile. Thank you! Love you! Ex-oh-ex-oh.’ And it’s not even signed,” he said as he pushed his lips out in a pout.
Jungkook shrugged. “Secret admirer. You’d be surprised how often that happens. He seems to really like you though. It was hard to get him to stop talking about you long enough to get the order out of him.”
“Him,” Smiley repeated softly and he sounded pretty okay with his admirer’s gender. Thrilled even. “Who is he?”
“Well,” Jungkook said and scuffed his shoe against the ground. “He ordered over the phone and never gave me a name, so...I don’t know. Even if I did know, I think we probably have a customer confidentiality rule or something like that.”
Smiley hummed and finished off his glass, glossing his upper lip with a burgundy hue. “What else did he say about me? Anything specific?”
Jungkook was hovering somewhere between intimidated and amused, because Smiley was clearly about to play Nancy Drew and search for hints as to who his mystery person was. The one who placed the order had mentioned that his person was as clever as the devil.
And twice as pretty, Jungkook unintentionally completed the saying to himself.
“I’d love to help you, but I have another bouquet to deliver in the neighborhood and it’s currently baking outside, so I can’t really stay,” Jungkook said with a note of apology in his voice. He truly did hope that these two guys would find each other, because their combined enthusiasm and shamelessness was magnetic.
“Right, sorry,” Smiley quickly said. “I should put these in water, yeah?”
“Yeah, a tall vase would be good. There’s also a little pack of plant food on the back of the card. Just pour it in the water and they should last a week or so.”
Smiley gave a small huff. “I don’t have a vase.”
That was unfortunate. Jungkook wished he had one to give him.
“Tall cup?”
“I’ll see what I can do. Thanks,” Smiley said, hugged the bouquet to his chest, and peered over the mound of flowers to gift Jungkook with an even brighter smile than before.
“Thanks,” Jungkook echoed, dumbly, and gave a small goodbye nod as Smiley closed his door with his foot.
If his mystery man ever called Jin’s again, Jungkook would talk him into buying a vase for sure.
* * *
As it so happened, Mystery Man did call again about a week later. Jungkook was currently on the phone with him and feeling vicariously giddy from the way he talked about his crush, when the bell on Jin’s entrance jingled and none other than Smiley walked in, gazing around the cheery, flower lined shelves with appreciation.
A light breeze from outside blew in through the open door, tousling his blonde hair and making his loose-fitting, blue and white striped shirt billow.
It felt like he was the main character on the stage of Life—the sort of person who made heads turn wherever he went.
“Your person is here,” Jungkook said into the phone, cutting the other off mid-soliloquy about how beautifully his other half moved when he danced.
“Oh my god? Seriously? Jimin is there? Let me say hi!”
Jimin. Jungkook committed the name to memory, happy to be able to set aside the nickname he had been using every time he wondered how the two spirited men were fairing.
“You’d blow your cover if I let you do that,” Jungkook pointed out.
“Oh, right, this is a stealth mission,” Mystery Man said with realization, like the desire to simply talk to Jimin was enough to blind him to all his other plans.
Love was all encompassing like that, Jungkook supposed.
When Jimin spotted Jungkook in the back, he stretched his arm high to give him a big wave. The blue polish on his nails sparkled under the fluorescent lights. Jungkook returned the greeting with a more reserved gesture.
“I know what I can do,” Mystery Man said suddenly, and Jungkook could hear him snap his fingers at the new idea that had popped into his mind. “Let him pick out the vase. Put it on my card!”
Jungkook grinned into the phone. “I’ll have to convince him to buy our one of a kind, gold plated special,” he teased.
“Sounds expensive. Good thing I’ve got enough carisma points to charm you into a deal,” Mystery Man said, easily playing along.
“Are you going to roll for it?” Jungkook asked.
There was a bit of shuffling on the other line and Jungkook, honest to god, heard a dice roll.
“18 plus my bonuses. Beat that.”
Jungkook let out a happy laugh, because none of his friends were very good at being so silly. His friend Yoongi had a dry sense of humor that often dropped into the realm of gallows humor. Namjoon had a hard time telling when people were joking, because he took words at face value way too often despite the fact that his own manner of speaking was flowery and symbolic half of the time. And Jin, while playful, was not at all adept in gamer speak, so Jungkook’s best jokes went whooshing right over his head.
Mystery Man was cool. Jungkook decided that he liked talking to him.
“Someone’s making you smile,” Jimin said as he reached the counter.
Jungkook fought back his smile to no avail.
“It’s your admirer.”
At that, Jimin’s eyes lit up like fireworks on New Year’s Eve. “No way! You’re fucking with me,” he said leaning closer as if he could catch the voice on the other end of the line.
Mystery Man had a very distinct, velvety voice that anyone could probably pick out after hearing once and Jungkook was suddenly feeling very caught up in helping him maintain his cover for as long as possible, so he quickly said, “One vase for the captivating dancer, Jimin. Thanks for your order, Prince Charming,” and hung up the phone, trusting that Mystery Man wouldn’t be upset about the sudden cut off.
Jimin quirked an eyebrow and nodded to the phone. “Are you his friend, now?”
“Ah, no. I’ve never even met him,” Jungkook assured.
“Never even met him and yet you’re calling him, Prince Charming. Are you trying to steal my admirer?” Jimin asked with a playful lilt. “I’ve never had a rival that was as cute as me before.”
Jungkook glanced down and fiddled with a pen on the countertop, wishing that he could bury his face in his hands at the moment. Mystery Man described Jimin as someone who had an abundance of love to give, but Jungkook was beginning to suspect that he was simply a flirt, and he never knew what to do when girls flirted with him, much less when a guy was doing the flirting.
“He’s trying to charm your pants off, so, yeah, Prince Charming. Your Prince Charming,” Jungkook emphasized.
“I like you,” Jimin said with a grin.
Jungkook shot his head back up and blinked several times. “Um. I barely know you?”
That made Jimin laugh, with his whole body tilted slightly back and his hand hiding the full image of his open-mouthed amusement.
“Not like that, Jungkook,” Jimin said after he regained control of himself and eyed the name tag on Jungkook’s pocket. “What I mean is, you’re nice. Usually, guys aren’t so casually accepting of my go-bold-or-go-home manner of being gay as fuck. Or are you only being nice because I’m a customer?”
Jungkook gave him an amused smile. “Prince Charming is my customer. I don’t see you paying.”
“See? You’re sweeter than the flowers you sell. Too bad I can’t buy you instead,” Jimin said flirtatiously, once again making Jungkook want to hide under the counter for the remainder of the day. Then, Jimin glanced over to a display of tulips and pointed towards the pink ones. “I’ll take two of those, please.”
It took Jungkook a moment to recover from his flustered state, but he did manage to eventually head over to the display, with Jimin trailing behind him.
“I want to give one to The Prince,” Jimin informed.
“You don’t know who he is though,” Jungkook said.
“Duh. You’re the delivery boy. You’re going to have to figure out who he is for me,” Jimin said smugly as he stepped up beside Jungkook, standing so close that Jungkook could smell the faint spice of his cologne.
He was short, Jungkook noted. A whole head shorter than him, at least—a fact that he hadn’t noticed before because Jimin’s personality seemed to make him occupy twice the space that he actually did.
“How am I supposed to do that?” Jungkook asked.
Jimin shrugged. “I’m the customer here. You’re supposed to fulfill my request.”
“Within reason,” Jungkook added.
”I think it’s a perfectly reasonable request seeing as you already have his number. How about you ask him his name next?”
Right. Name would be good. Jungkook had been wanting to know it, too, but hadn’t felt confident enough to ask.
Jimin took two fresh tulips from their vase and nodded at them in approval. His bangs were so smooth and healthy that they bounced lightly from the minuscule movement.
“What was I hearing about a vase?”
Jungkook quickly looked away and towards the shelves of colorful, ceramic flower holders.
“I told The Prince that you didn’t have a vase, so he offered to buy you whichever one you like.”
Jimin brushed his hand against Jungkook’s shoulder as he walked by him and towards the display. It was harder to concentrate after that.
“The Prince likes giving gifts it seems. That must be his love language,” Jimin said as he browsed. “That’s good. I like gifts.”
“Sounds materialistic,” Jungkook said, rubbing his hand against the spot on his shoulder subconsciously, then, realized that was the exact opposite of what he should have said to a customer that he was trying to get a sale out of.
Luckily, Jimin just chuckled and said, “Clearly gifts aren’t your preferred language of love. Different people express their love in different ways, you know. How do you show your love? Verbal affection? That’s my number one, in case you were curious. Spending quality time with one other? Doing tasks for your lover? Or, maybe you prefer physical touch?”
The way Jimin said the last one, while tossing a sidelong glance at where Jungkook was still holding his shoulder, was enough to make him blush on the spot.
Jungkook stuffed his hands in his work apron.
“I’m probably the task one. I like helping,” Jungkook said, by some miracle managing not to stutter. “Where’d you learn all this?”
“From my best friend,” Jimin said, his tone changing from flirty to affectionate in an instant. “He’s really into love counseling and shares literally everything he learns with me. The five love languages were part of his thesis on how divorce rates could be lowered if we were given proper relationship counseling in high school.”
“That’s actually pretty interesting for a thesis.”
“I know, right? It was the first essay he ever aced, too. I was as proud as he was,” Jimin said. Then, he pushed aside two large vases, reached back into the recesses of the shelving, and pulled out a particularly hideous vase that had been shoved back there. He brushed an impressive layer of dust off the side and declared, “This one.”
Jungkook dubiously eyed the bright green monstrosity, which had yellow and red hearts on it. It had been on that shelf since Jungkook had started working at Jin’s and for a good reason too, it looked more like a high school art student’s first ceramic than a sellable vase. “You and The Prince both have a weird sense of taste.”
“Clearly it’s destiny,” Jimin replied, taking no offense. “And if I don’t buy it, who would?”
“Wow, what a hero,” Jungkook said with a little shake of his head, though he suspected that Jin might actually consider him one since the item had been doing nothing but taking up space.
They both ambled back over to the register, where Jungkook tied a small bow around each tulip’s stem.
“3500 won,” Jungkook said. “One flower for The Prince and the other...?”
“...is for you,” Jimin answered easily as he placed a few bills down, picked up one flower, and then leaned over the counter to tuck the tulip behind Jungkook’s ear, which reddened almost immediately. “Tell The Prince that I said thanks for the vase. Okay, sweetheart?”
Jungkook nodded a bit dumbly.
With that, Jimin turned away and sauntered out of the store with a sway to his hips that was as smooth and as captivating as a dance.
Less than a minute after Jimin had left, Jungkook, with a single mission in mind, picked up the phone to call The Prince back. At the second ring, an excited, “Did he pick a vase?” came through on the other end of the line.
“The ugliest vase known to man,” Jungkook replied. “It cost you ₩25000, by the way.”
“Money well spent. Ugly things deserve love, too,” The Prince said, without missing a beat. And it was official, these two guys were a perfect match. “I can’t wait to see it when he gets home.”
“Home? You live together?” Jungkook asked, surprised by the new information.
“Practically,” The Prince answered. “We’re a few doors from each other, but more of my stuff is in his place than mine at this point. I’m going to ask him to move into a bigger apartment with me once we start dating.”
The amount of confidence that The Prince had in a positive outcome was, frankly, inspiring. Jungkook never knew anyone who didn’t fret and stress over telling their crush that they liked them, but The Prince didn’t seem to have a single doubt in his mind about the outcome.
“So what’s your apartment number? 207?” Jungkook hazard a guess, hoping that he wasn’t being too obvious in his ploy.
“I’m in 209. You should come see me! We can be friends!” The Prince said full of excitement.
That was leagues easier than Jungkook expected.
“Do I get to know my new friend’s name?” he asked, remembering that Jimin told him to start with that.
“My gamer friends call me V.”
“V? Is that short for something?”
“For victory, for peace and love, and for D.Va.”
D.Va, from Jungkook’s absolute favorite game, Overwatch. V was more and more likeable by the minute.
“Alright, V, I’ll be at your place in, like, ten minutes,” Jungkook said, picking up the single pink tulip and deciding that this delivery took priority over the others he had to get to today.
If nothing else, he’d use this as his fifteen minute lunch break, even though it was only 10AM.
It was amazing the things he did for love. He was clearly a Cupid’s angel in the making.