flower boy | seungjin

22

Hyunjin doesn't like the stares Jeno keeps throwing at him over lunch.

"What's the matter with you?" he finally asks, clanging his spoon against the bowl a little too loudly. This catches Jaemin's attention, from where he's sat next to his boyfriend, and the boy glances up and flicks his gaze between them.

Jeno smirks, "Not much. You're going to see Flower Boy today, aren't you?"

Hyunjin sighs. "What's it to you?"

"You know exactly what it is to me."

He shrugs, "I also don't understand why it's such a big deal. It was just a stupid dare, why are you so determined to see me go through with it? We're officially 'boyfriends' now, so why can't you just let it go?" Hyunjin's hand twitches in retaliation when he airs the quote-marks around the word 'boyfriend'.

"Remember this is my apartment you're living in, right?" Jeno snaps, "Who else would be able to put up with you living with them? Be thankful I let you sleep here - I bet you don't even have enough money to fly back to Korea, let alone stay somewhere here." As he speaks, Jaemin's jaw suddenly goes slack and his eyes widen, but he keeps his eyes trained on Hyunjin all the same.

Jeno leans forward. "Complete the fucking dare, Hyunjin."

A shiver snakes down Hyunjin's spine, raising his hairs on end and making him draw in a deep breath. He gives a small nod.

Clearly satisfied, Jeno lounges back in his chair with a smug grin plastered across his face.

Hyunjin scrapes his chair back and stands up, all energy suddenly vanished from him as he puts his plate in the sink and grabs his coat. "I'll be back later," he says finally, before hastily making his escape through the door and leaving the couple alone.

Thanks to his chat with Jeno, Hyunjin's running about ten minutes late. Thankfully it's not too crowded today – despite it being a weekend. But the sky is overcast and grey, so Hyunjin guesses most people stayed indoors. He tugs his jacket tighter around himself. As he's walking, his phone vibrates in his pocket.

Flower Boy
Hey where are you?

Although Jeno's words still linger at the back of his mind, Hyunjin can't help but smile. It won't happen now, he assures himself. I have more time.

Hyunjin
I'm on my way x
sorry I got caught up :(

Flower Boy
Oh ok:)
see you in a minute x

Hyunjin speeds up his pace, reaching the street of the diner within five minutes. As he approaches the glass front, his phone vibrates again.

When he reads the message, Hyunjin's heart plummets.

Flower Boy
I know this is a weird time to say it
and normally people wanna say this in real life
but if I did that I might combust so I'm gonna say it here.

Hyunjin doesn't want to read what comes next. Maybe if he doesn't, it'll just go away.

His eyes betray him.

Flower boy
Hyunjin... I love you

Hyunjin's eyes screw shut and his knees buckle. He stares at the message again to make sure he's seeing it right and lets out a trembling breath. If he decides to ignore Jeno now, the boy will start getting suspicious, and by then Hyunjin will be in even deeper, which will make it even harder to follow through. Hyunjin would rather break someone else's heart than give them a chance to break his.

Or he could carry on - tell Seungmin he loves him back - and make him happy and decide to not care if it's him that gets hurt.

But I guess humans are just selfish like that.

Hyunjin
And I love how gullible you are, Flower Boy.