flower boy | seungjin

04

Later that evening, after the day bleeds into a cool and blustery night where the sky is scattered with twinkling stars, Hyunjin finds himself sat by an open window. The wind flutters against the back of his neck, making the fine hairs stand on end. He's hardly engaging in the conversation, as he still feels the pull of tiredness as his body still isn't used to being awake at different times.

Seven boys are dotted about the room in front of him, all talking at various levels with different people. Hyunjin doesn't try and join in. His gaze is too focused on the city in front of him, still alive with colours flaring up from the streets. He doesn't understand how people can sleep peacefully through this.

Hyunjin sighs, his hands falling from holding his chin to resting on his stomach and fiddling with each other. He subconsciously picks at a loose nail, trying to find some sort of comfort in the loud noise.

He can't.

"Hey Hyunjin! Truth or dare?"

He turns to Renjun, "W-what?"

Apparently, the seven of them had struck up a game of truth or dare, and the drinks lined up on the table only make Hyunjin raise his eyebrows. Obviously he has no problem drinking, but to say he knows what any of the drinks before him are would be a lie. They all look disgusting.

"Truth or dare?"

He shrugs his shoulders. "Dare." How bad could it be? "Have you guys never heard of soju before?"

Mark chuckles, "Duh," he says, "But you can't get it here."

Jeno assigns himself the job to come up with Hyunjin's dare, whilst he thinks the rest of them get on with Chenle's turn, and they all groan when he picks a hopefully harmless truth.

Meanwhile, Hyunjin trains his eyes on Jeno. He doesn't like the look he has on his face. Jeno has a glint in his eye and a subtle smirk playing on his mouth. He leans forward and stares right at Hyunjin, like an eagle watching its next prey. Hyunjin gets the idea that whatever this dare is, he won't like it that much.

"I've got Hyunjin's dare." Jeno announces, leaning back in his chair, throwing his arm around Jaemin with a smug grin on his face. Everyone goes silent.

"You know that annoying stuck up kid from the flower shop?" Hyunjin nods, suddenly intrigued.

"Yeah?"

"I dare you to go back tomorrow and make him fall in love with you. Then you can dump his ass or something."

Hyunjin scoffs, "How the fuck am I supposed to do that?" Already, there's a knot of uneasiness at the bottom of his stomach, but he doesn't reach forward for the table of drinks.

Jeno shrugs, "I'm sure you'll find a way." After a long second, Hyunjin nods.

Immediately, Jaemin straightens up, "Jeno, I'm not sure that's okay." He places his hand lightly on Jeno's bicep. "Even if he annoyed you."

Mark chimes in too, "I don't know dude, surely you can't just play with someone's feelings like that."

"Too late," Jeno says, "Hyunjin agreed, so he's gotta do it. Right?" He throws a piercing glare Hyunjin's way, and slowly, the boy nods.

"It's fine," he says. "I don't care."

Mark sighs, "Seriously? He was a nice guy."

Hyunjin stands up, "If he's a nice guy, then he won't fall for someone like me. He'll end up saying no and that'll be the end of it." He starts to make his way across the floor to the door, intending to go to bed, when Jeno stops him.

"The dare is to make him fall in love with you, Hyunjin. You can't complete it otherwise."

Hyunjin stalls. "Okay," he says eventually, "Fine."

"I'll make him fall in love with me, then leave him."

*****

A smile works its way onto Hyunjin's face as he stares down at his phone. The only light in the room comes from a small lamp beside him and the brightness pulsing from his screen.

Nancy
So, what about that hang out? I know some cool places.

Hyunjin
Good thing you do, I haven't been to New York in ages

Nancy
What made you come back?

Hyunjin
nothing, just felt like it

Nancy
lucky thing you get to travel
i've never left america

Hyunjin
maybe one day i could take you to korea

Nancy
bit early for that isn't it?

Hyunjin
only if you make it

Nancy
wowww
bc that's not cringey at all

Hyunjin
;)

Nancy
ANYWAY
how's monday evening?

Hyunjin
i don't exactly have anything to keep me busy

Nancy
cool
you're living with mark, right?
i can pick you up

Hyunjin
but i'm the one that's supposed to do that

Nancy
you don't know where i live, idiot

Hyunjin
you could tell me?
...
alright

Nancy
:)
see ya

Hyunjin
bye <3

Hyunjin cringes when he sees the heart that his fingers typed out automatically, but he doesn't try and resurrect his mistake and leaves the messenger app.

Nancy seems genuinely cool, and their chat had definitely made Hyunjin smile more than he was expecting. However, for the past two hours since Jeno's dare, only one person has been coursing through his brain.

Hyunjin thinks back to the moment he saw the flower boy, and how he'd almost brushed right past him as he searched for the person who had gotten pissed off at them. Something about the boy definitely doesn't fit; his puppy like looks and style were such a direct contrast to his tone that Hyunjin frowns just thinking about him.

His thoughts are also on the dare itself. But Hyunjin shakes his head. Whatever. It's not going to be difficult, I'm not exactly new to breaking people's hearts. I would've found someone else to do it to anyway. This is nothing.

At that moment, he hears footsteps and voices going past his door. It's something like three in the morning, and presumably Donghyuck, Renjun and Jisung have gone home and the others are making their way to bed.

Hyunjin drops his phone onto the mattress beside him and switches off the lamp, but he doesn't sleep.

Instead, he can't calm his mind, which is raging with thoughts about not only the girl he's going on a date with, but another person as well.