flower boy [seongsang]

x ;

[ begin. ]

fifteen minutes to five o'clock and yeosang is walking around his shop, pulling the small weeds that are sprouting. he has been doing this for a few minutes so far and he's almost done. after a minute, he pulls, from what he has seen, the last weed and so he grabs his watering can and sets off doing that task.

soon enough, he hears bells ringing and he startles and the sudden noise, a small gasp leaves his mouth. he quickly composed himself though. just as wooyoung had done the first time he came to the shop, he hears a voice call out.

"hello, yeosang?" he hears a clear and pleasant voice, maybe a bit nasally.

"hello, i'm right here," he answers. he stands up from crouching to water the flowers on the bottom shelf and walks toward the voice. he's met with a short man. "hello, hongjoong," he says shyly.

"hi yeosang!" hongjoong says happily, smiling. "seonghwa just got a call so he's outside." yeosang nods his head in acknowledgment.

"here come this way, your backpack looks heavy." the taller boy leads the older to the back room where there is a table. it's half covered with pots, other types of plant holders, and small gardening tools.

hongjoong puts his bag in a chair that is at the empty side. "having a room back here seems handy," the shorter bit thinks aloud.

"you can sit and make yourself comfortable, i'm just going to clear the table." yeosang sets off doing the task.

"do you need help?" hongjoong asks, a genuine offer.

"no, i'm okay. thank you though," yeosang smiles lightly. "and yeah, having this room is nice because it can be a storm back here but my customers would never know," he chuckles. "plus, i have room to do homework back here, though i mostly don't ever bring homework here."

"i'm sorry to impose on your shop and on your personal time, really."

"it's really fine. i don't mind at all," yeosang assures. he picks up a few of the gardening tools and walks them to a shelf with organizer slots on one shelf. he separates the tools into the proper spot, going back to grab the last handful. before he can, he sees a taller figure is behind him, holding out the last of the tools.

"here you go," he says.

"oh, thank you, seonghwa. you didn't have to," yeosang says. yeosang can't help but admire the older. he looks handsome, especially that he is in yeosang's happy environment, surrounded by plants and pots and gloves and shovels. "i got the rest, you should go sit down and get your things out."

"okay," seonghwa drawls out the word, walking to take a seat next to hongjoong.

yeosang puts the rest of the tools in their proper spots, grabs the few clay pots and puts them on another shelf, then grabs a washcloth to wipe that half of table down because it was dirty from the pots.

after he finishes cleaning up, he sits down across from the two older boys.

"okay, can i get one of your assignment papers?"

"yeah, here," seonghwa hands him the sheet with the instructions and expectations.

yeosang puts it in front of him and leans down to read it, his hair covering his eyes. he brushes a hand through his hair to get it out of his way. little does he know that one of his new friends secretly loves the way he did that.

"okay, so i think i get the gist of the report. correct me if i'm wrong, i want to get it right," he looks the two briefly in the eyes to ensure they're listening. "you're supposed to look up a poet who has to have enough credible information about them to be able to write a paper. you have to then analyze four poems and figure how the life they led influenced their poetry. content-wise and style-wise. that's the part that's the same as my grade. but you guys have to also replicate those four poems, using them like templates, so it's advised that you don't choose overly complex and long poems."

hongjoong nods slowly, soaking in the information. "that sounds about right, yeah."

seonghwa agrees quickly. "wow, it took me nearly thirty minutes of rereading the guidelines to understand what mr. kim wanted and you took two minutes," he says light-heartedly. the three boys chuckle at this.

"when it comes to poetry related assignments i pay close attention and i decipher the main points of the assignment faster because i get excited," yeosang explains shyly, playing with the ends of the sleeves.

"cute," seonghwa mumbles under his breath. hongjoong raises an eyebrow at this incredulously, entertained at his friend shyly and unconfidently complimenting.

seonghwa can be quite flirty, but he never oversteps. hongjoong has never caught him mumbling compliments under his breath before as he always make sure they're heard well. he chooses not to say anything about it at this second, saving the teasing for later.

yeosang also hears it and blushes slightly. he quickly looks down and hides his face for a moment before facing them again. "okay, so do you guys have any idea of who you want to research?" he switches the subject quickly.

[ end. ]
sorry for the long wait, i didn't know what to write. i got a bit stuck. hopefully this makes sense. it's been a bit since i've written this story so i'm not confident. sorry