One step forward, two steps back
Title: One step forward, two steps back
Author: Anonymous until 1/30/14
For: eexiee
Pairing: Baekhyun/Kai [side: Suho/OC]
Word Count: 9,191
Summary: Jongin wants to take a step forward, but each time he does, he takes two steps back with Baekhyun
Warnings: cussing, hinted smut
Rating: PG-13
One
“Hi Baek,” Jongin smiled as he walked through the doors of Baekhyun’s hospital room. He pulled up a chair next to the bed and placed a bouquet of flowers on the small table.
“How are you feeling? Are you feeling any better? I brought you flowers again. They’re peonies this time. Remember how you would always try to persuade me to apply for a job at Kyungsoo’s just so we’ll garden together? You insisted that we needed to tend to your ‘babies’ together. You thought it was a great way to bond.” Jongin bitterly chuckled. “Don’t worry; I’m tending to your babies for you while you’re away. They miss you, you know.”
The air around them grew still.
“I miss you too.” Jongin finally whispered quietly.
Jongin sat motionless looking at Baekhyun hoping, no. Pleading, that a miracle would somehow happen allowing Baekhyun to wake up any second so they can continue on with their normal lives as if nothing had happened.
But that was just Jongin wishing.
“Shit,” Jongin muttered as he glanced down at his watch. “I have to get to work now. You know how upset Kyungsoo would be if I’m late again. He threatened to fire me if I was late again last time. Enjoy your flowers, Baek. I’ll be back again tonight, love you.” Jongin quickly kissed Baekhyun’s forehead and rushed out the door.
÷
*BRRRRRINGGGG*
Baekhyun groggily rolled over and turned off the alarm. He sat up rubbing his eyes and was welcomed by a sweet aroma.
“What’s that smell?” Baekhyun thought to himself, blinking a few times trying to recover from the morning grog when he finally recognized the scent. “Is that the smell of...peonies?” Baekhyun was surprised; there weren’t any peonies in his room, so why does his room smell like them?
“Maybe I’ve been at the flower shop too much,” he muttered quietly into the air. “Maybe the flower scents are finally getting to me.”
The petite male got out of bed and headed for the bathroom to carry out his usual morning routine. Drying his hair with a towel as he came out of the bathroom, he headed towards his closet to choose an outfit. He decided to go with a pair of black skinnies and plain black t-shirt paired with his favorite light washed denim jacket. As he was styling his hair, he looked up at the clock to check on the time.
“Fuck, it’s already 7:30. I need to hurry if I don’t want to get fired.” He finalized the finishing touches of his hair, grabbed his black converses and ran out of the house, locking the door behind him struggling to put on his shoes and run at the same time.
Baekhyun finally made it to the bus stop right on time. By the time he reached the bus stop, the bus has already pulled in. He quickly ran up the steps and paid the bus driver for the bus fare.
He eyed the crowded bus hoping to find an empty seat amongst the sea of passengers. Managing to find an unoccupied seat in the back, Baekhyun wiggles through the passengers. Unfortunately, the rubber tires of the bus screeched to a halting stop as the bus lurches forward and threw Baekhyun into someone’s lap.
“Do you mind?” an unfamiliar voice spat.
Baekhyun looked up and was greeted by a pair of dark orbs staring back at him. The stranger had a bronze skin and a perfectly chiseled jawline that could kill. A pair of plump pink lips that looks like it could suck the life out of him at any moment given and dark luscious hair perfectly tousled as if the stranger has just gotten out of bed. If sex was a human being, the stranger was it.
Sex.
The stranger was pure sex.
The 100% organic grown on healthy farms kind of sex and-
Baekhyun’s train of thought was interrupted by an agitated voice, “I said, do you mind?” the stranger asked again through clenched teeth this time.
“I- I’m sorry,” Baekhyun blushed as he quickly got up and bowed at the stranger.
“I lost my balance and I-“
“Look, I don’t care so just please leave me alone.” The stranger replied quite coldly.
“Ok, geez what’s your problem...” Baekhyun muttered back, hoping that the other wouldn’t hear him.
Sure the stranger was hot as hell but that doesn’t mean he had to be an ass about it. It wasn’t like Baekhyun purposely planned to fall onto his lap.
“I didn’t want to fall onto your nice, warm lap anyways.”
Baekhyun managed to get to the empty seat and sat down next to a sleeping old lady.
When the bus reached his stop, Baekhyun hopped off and half ran to the flower shop. Chimes greeted him as he opened the doors to the shop.
“I’m here!” Baekhyun shouted, not to anyone in particular. “And on time!” he quickly added.
The shop was small owned by one of his good friends, Kyungsoo. For the most part, he and Kyungsoo were the only people that occupied the shop, but occasionally, Oh Sehun, the teenage delinquent from the neighborhood, would seldom wander in to help them when he felt bored or just looking for some company.
A small head poked out from the corner in upon hearing Baekhyun’s arrival.
“Oh, hey Baek, I thought you were going to be late. Again.” The tiny man said with wide eyes.
“Please, Kyungsoo this is only my...” Baekhyun stopped for a second and started to count on his fingers.
“Tenth. This is your tenth time Baekhyun. Jesus, if you keep this up I’m going have to fire you, best friends or not.”
“Oh, relax a little, will you? You’re too uptight. You gotta hang loose sometimes.” Baekhyun grinned as he threw on his work uniform that consisted of a dusty blue apron and a name tag that read, “Baekhyun at your service.”
“Excuse me, I am loose, Byun Baekhyun” Kyungsoo stated matter of factly. “I’m the loosest person you have ever met!”
“Sure, you are ‘Soo,” Baekhyun chuckled.
“Hey can you watch over the shop for a while? I need to go to the back and check on the new shipment of seeds that came in yesterday.”
“Yeah yeah, go do your thing,” Baekhyun said as he waved Kyungsoo off.
“Oh, and please try to be a good worker, ok? Don’t be a bitch to the customers like the last several hundred times. You’ll ruin my business.”
“You can leave now,” he turned around to reply but Kyungsoo had already left.
Baekhyun sat on the wooden stool behind the cash register messing around with the pens until he heard the door open followed by the swinging of chimes.
“Good morning, welcome to Bud Buddies, how can I help you today?” Baekhyun greeted the customer, still looking down at the pens.
No response.
He finally looked up and almost fell back out of his chair.
“Oh, it’s you,” the customer retorted. “What are you doing here? Are you stalking me?”
“What? No!” Baekhyun half shouted.
“Baekhyun! Is everything alright out there? I hear screaming.” he heard Kyungsoo question from the back of the store.
“Uh, yeah, everything is fine! Go back to counting or whatever.” Baekhyun shouted back.
He quickly turned around and faced the customer and yelled at him in a hushed tone.
“Look, I don’t know what your problem is, and I could care less, but I am not following you. I lost my balance on the bus and unfortunately fell onto your lap, nothing else. I also happen to work here, thank you very much so you can get off your high chair and realize that not everything revolves around you Mr. I’m-too-good-for-anyone.”
“Huh. Guess it’s my unlucky day today.” the stranger mused.
“Douchebag.”
“Is this how you treat all of your customers?”
“That’s none of your concern.”
“Whatever, I’d love to stay and chat, but-actually I take that back. I’d hate to stay and chat so you need to hurry up and do your job. I need a dozen of red roses with a hint of baby’s breath that needs to be delivered to this address by tomorrow.” The stranger said as he handed Baekhyun a card with an address written in sloppy handwriting.
“Who are the roses for?” Baekhyun asked, squinting at the card trying to make out what the writing said. “Your girlfriend?”
“That’s none of your business.” The other male shot back.
“Whatever. As if you could get a girl with that attitude.” Baekhyun muttered to himself.
“I heard that.”
“I don’t care,” Baekhyun remarked as he wrote down the order, “I’m going to need a name and number too.”
“Are you going to use it to stalk me and try to keep in touch with me?”
“Totally.”
“Jongin. Kim Jongin.” The stranger said. Jongin grabbed the pen Baekhyun was using and along with Baekhyun’s hand, he started to scribble numbers on it but before he was done, Baekhyun pulled back.
“What the hell?!”
“Relax,” Jongin smirked as he pulled Baekhyun’s hand back. “It’s just my number. Didn’t you want it?”
“Yes, but it’s for business inquiries only, you dipshit, why are you writing it on my hand?!”
“Well I didn’t see any paper lying around so I’m using your hand. You know, saving trees, helping the environment. Calm down, you look like an angry poodle.”
Baekhyun gasped, “I certainly do not!”
He was going to make another remark but Jongin was already heading towards the door leaving him fumbling in his mess of words.
“Whatever, just make sure you get the flowers to the address on time! I’m deducting a dollar off the total charge for each minute you’re late.” And with that, he left Baekhyun standing in the flower shop dumbfounded and pissed.
“Asshole.” Baekhyun muttered.
“Who was that?” Kyungsoo asked as he struggled to the front holding a box filled with miscellaneous flower bulbs and seeds of all kinds. “I heard the chimes so don’t even try and tell me that it was no one.”
Baekhyun groaned as he ran his fingers through his hair, making it messy. “It was just some jerk I happen to ran into on the bus earlier and he wanted an order of roses and baby’s breath no later than…” He looked down at the card. “5pm sharp somewhere in Gangnam today.”
“Someone from Gangnam wants a small bouquet of roses from this little shop?” Kyungsoo whistled. “I knew this place would be a hit.”
“What are you waiting for Kyungsoo? We need a dozen of roses, pronto! The guy said he was going to deduct a dollar for every minute I’m late, and I cannot afford to have a pay cut.”
÷
“Morning Kyungsoo!” Jongin said as he raced through the flower shops door nearly knocking off the flowers on display on his way in.
Kyungsoo looked up and to see an out of breath Jongin. “Morning to you too,” he chuckled. “Did you visit him again this morning?”
“Yeah.”
Kyungsoo hesitated for a bit before asking, “How is he?”
“Well…you know. The same.”
“Ah, I see.” Kyungsoo mused.
It’s been a vicious cycle every morning for the past couple of months. Jongin visiting Baekhyun before coming to work to replace Baekhyun’s place for the time being and Kyungsoo asking him how Baekhyun is doing; only to get the same response over and over again. Kyungsoo doesn’t even know why he bothers to ask, but he does anyway because he felt obligated to.
Truth be told, Kyungsoo missed Baekhyun too. The shop has gotten quieter and the flowers weren’t as lively when Baekhyun was there. It’s like the flowers were mourning for Baekhyun as well. After all, Baekhyun did spend most of his time tending to the flowers when he wasn’t busy sassing at the costumers.
“Hey, I need you to go run this delivery real quick,” Kyungsoo said as he went behind the counter to grab the information. “A dozen of roses are to be delivered at apartment number 24 in Irwon-Dong, Gangnam.” Kyungsoo reads.
“Oh…”
Kyungsoo sensed a hesitation in Jongin’s reply and questioned, “Why? What’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing. It’s just that…it’s the same order I ordered when I first came here…”
Kyungsoo feels bad for asking Jongin. He should have remembered. He looks at the latter hoping to see some kind of reaction, but there was none at all.
“If you don’t want to, I can deliver it myself,” Kyungsoo started.
Jongin finally spoke, “Nah, it’s ok. I think I can handle a small delivery. No problem.”
With that, Jongin grabbed the flowers on the counter and headed out the doors.
÷
“Are you sure this is the right house?” Sehun asks as he looked at the paper again.
“Yep, this is it.”
Sehun visited the store before Baekhyun had left so he decided to come along “to keep Baekhyun from running into trouble.”
“That is a nice ass house,” Sehun whistles giving the place a look over. “Someone hit me up with the owner.”
“Hey, watch your language. Besides, who’d want to hit…you?” Baekhyun smirked.
Sehun playfully shoved Baekhyun, “I’m not that young!”
The two males walked on the gravel pathway admiring the towering marble pillars that were supporting the house.
“Damn.”
“I know.”
“Yeah, but damn.”
“Yes, Sehun. I get it. Knock on the door.” Baekhyun ordered has he handed Sehun the bouquet.
“Wait what, no! Why do I have to knock??” He said as he handed Baekhyun the flowers back.
“Because what if Jongin opens the door!”
And flowers once again landed back in Sehun’s arms.
“So? You’re the delivery guy!” Sehun whispered. “I’m just here to protect you.”
Baekhyun and Sehun were too busy bickering on who should knock that they didn’t realize that Sehun’s arm hit the doorbell as he handed Baekhyun the flowers, and in the midst of their argument, the door opened and a man stepped out.
“That door looks like it costs more than my life!” Sehun practically yells, “What if I break it with my super strength?! You do it!”
“Can I, uh, help you?”
Baekhyun and Sehun quickly turn around and see a small man looking curiously at them. Definitely not Jongin, Baekhyun thought.
Unlike Jongin, this man was shorter and quite fair. He was in wearing distressed jeans paired with a white button up, the top two buttons undone and a heather gray sweater, both rolled up to reveal his lean arms.
Sehun nudged Baekhyun to answer. “Oh, yes, I’m from Bud Buddies here to deliver an order?”
“Bud Buddies?” The man asks as he ran his fingers through his slightly damp hair. He probably just got out of the shower. “I don’t remember ordering anything from there.”
“Jongin made the order, Kim Jongin?” Baekhyun said, slightly confused.
“OH! I remember. I sent my cousin out to order a dozen of roses for my wife, Heewon. He must have forgotten to tell me where he ordered from, silly me.” The man chuckled. “Give me a second-- let me go grab my card.” He said as he ran back in his house.
Sehun looked at Baekhyun and just shrugged.
After a few minutes maniacally searching, the man came back somewhat out of breath with a gold card in his hand.
“How much for the flowers?”
“It’ll be ₩4247 please,” Baekhyun said as he reached for the card scanner. “I’m also going to need you to sign the receipt to verify this delivery too.”
“Sounds good to me.” The man said as he swiped the card and signs the paper.
Baekhyun thanks the man and looks at the receipt, “Kim Joonmyun” he read to himself, barely making out the scrabbles.
“Thank you,” Baekhyun smiled, “I hope your wife enjoy the flowers.”
Joonmyun gave another wave as Baekhyun and Sehun walked away from the house.
“Well, that went better than expected.” Sehun happily spoke, nudging Baekhyun.
“What’d you expect? A five headed breathing monster to open the door?”
“Hm, maybe.”
“Right.”
“Hey hyung.”
“What.”
“Let’s go buy some ice-cream to celebrate the successful delivery.”
“No.”
“Come on! We need to celebrate the fact that you didn’t get into trouble.” Sehun insisted.
“I didn’t bring my wallet.” Baekhyun said as an excuse.
“You sir, sit on a throne of lies. What’s that bulging in your back pocket? Don’t even try and tell me that it’s your ass because we all know that’s not true. Your ass is the size of a mini pancake they sell in the frozen section of the supermarket.”
“Excuse me but-“
Before Baekhyun could even finish his sentence, Sehun was already jogging in the other direction where the ice-cream parlor was.
“I want a chocolate cone, and you’re paying!” He shouted and ran full speed to the parlor.
“What’s with everyone cutting me off today?” Baekhyun said as he shook his head and ran after the younger male.
÷
Jongin takes a look at the house and sighs. He should have known. When Kyungsoo gave him the address he didn’t even realize it was Joonmyun’s address. If he had known, he wouldn’t have accepted the task so easily.
Taking a deep breath, Jongin walked up to the front door and knocked.
Once.
No answer.
Twice.
Still no answer.
Jongin was going to give up and just lay the flowers in front of the door and send the bill later but Joonmyun had already opened the door out of breath.
“Sorry, I…uh…you see, Heewon…she…”
“Ew, stop right there.” Jongin said, eying Joonmyun’s messy hair and unevenly buttoned shirt.
“Are you wearing ladies pajama shorts?? Hyung.
Instead of replying, Joonmyun madly blushes, the red slowly creeping up his face and ears.
Jongin rolled his eyes, “Anyways, here’s your delivery,” he said, handing Joonmyun the flowers.
“Wow, Kyungsoo’s fast, I just placed the order yesterday. Why don’t you come in, I think Heewon’s making tea,” Joonmyun said, opening the door wider for Jongin to come in. “I got to go find the card anyways.”
Jongin didn’t refuse and took off his shoes following after Joonmyun.
“Just place the flowers on the dinner table,” Joonmyun added as he disappeared behind some door.
Jongin walks into the kitchen greeted by the scent of jasmine tea.
“Who was that babe?” A femininely voice called out.
A petite, slender woman with long chocolate brown hair turned around from the stove and faced Jongin as he placed the flowers on the table.
“Oh! Jongin. Sorry, I thought you were Joonmyun.” She smiled, heading towards Jongin with a cup of tea in each hand.
“Care for some tea?”
“Uh.”
She noticed the flowers behind him and cooed, “What are these? They look lovely! Oh, and smell so good,” she complimented, burying her face in the red roses. “Did Joonmyun order some again?” she asks, emphasizing on the word “again”.
“Hee?”
“Yeah, Jongin?” She replied, still admiring the flowers.
“You’re not wearing any pants.”
In fact, Heewon was only wearing a long, baby blue button-up shirt that fell at her knees; probably her husband’s.
“Oh my god, I forgot,” she gasped. “I’ll go change real quick, make yourself at home.”
And with that, she left Jongin alone in the kitchen giving him time to think.
Ever since Baekhyun’s delivery to the Kim’s, Joonmyun had been placing an order every month at Bud Buddies. Apparently, his wife adored Kyungsoo’s flowers and couldn’t get enough of them. So being the good husband he is, he asked Jongin to order roses every month to surprise her. Thanks to Joonmyun’s monthly orders, Baekhyun and Jongin quickly became close.
÷
It was a particularly bright and sunny day out yet Baekhyun was stuck at Bud Buddies organizing different kind of flowers for customers’ orders. He was busy humming along to the radio when the front door swung open, setting the chimes off.
“Hey Jongin,” Baekhyun said, not once looking away from his work.
Jongin stopped by the flower shop so much it became a regular routine. Aside from his many visits, he would always stop by on the third of every month at 4 o’ clock sharp to place an order for Joonmyun.
“The usual?” Baekhyun proceeded to ask.
“You know it,” came the reply.
“Give me a just second; I need finish trimming the flowers first.”
Still facing away from Jongin, Baekhyun suddenly felt two strong muscular arms find their way around his waist.
“You didn’t even look at me once,” came a sultry whisper into Baekhyun’s ears as a chin rested on his shoulder.
“Hmmm.” Baekhyun hummed in response, not even phased at the intimate touch. He was too occupied on the flowers to even care.
“Baekhyunnn...” Jongin whined as he buried his face into the crook of Baekhyun’s neck
Baekhyun’s neck stiffened and he accidentally “trimmed” a whole rose bud off.
“Jongin!” he scolded. “You know I’m extremely ticklish around my neck area, look at what you did! You’re a murderer!”
“You’re the one holding the weapon,” Jongin said putting his hands up. “It’s not my fault you love your ‘babies’ more than you love me,” he pouted.
“You’re just like a kid; I don’t even know why I bother to associate myself with you.” Baekhyun sighed as he bent down to pick up the fallen rose bud and continuing on trimming the rest of the flowers.
“You hate me.”
“You know that’s not true.”
“Then prove it.” Jongin replied, quickly turning Baekhyun around to face him. “Prove to me that you love me more than those silly flowers.”
“One,” Baekhyun starts, pointing his index finger to the Jongin’s chest, “those ‘silly flowers’ are the reason why I’m still able to keep myself off the streets. And two,” he continued, “is this enough proof for you?” he finished and pulled Jongin into a kiss.
Jongin pulled back, “I think I need more proof,” Jongin said, smiling as he leaned in and deepened the kiss.
“KIM JONGIN AND BYUN BAEKHYUN. GET YOUR HANDS OFF EACH OTHER RIGHT NOW. WHAT WILL THE CUSTOMERS THINK WHEN THEY WALK IN AND SEE YOU TWO EATING OTHER’S FACE OFF. THIS IS A FLOWER SHOP AND I FORBID PUBLIC DISPLAY OF ATTENTION IN MY SHOP.
“Ignore him,” Jongin chuckled as he grabbed Baekhyun’s waist pulling him in closer.
“But-“
“KIM JONGIN, GET OFF MY EMPLOYEE RIGHT NOW.”
“Ughhh,” Jongin groaned finally letting go of Baekhyun. “You’re being overly dramatic, Kyungsoo. Just because you can’t get dick doesn’t mean you should get in the way of others you know.”
“Shut up, that’s not the reason,” Kyungsoo retorted. “I just don’t want to blind my valuable customers’ eyes just because you can’t keep your hands to yourself. I need to start charging you every time you come here without buying anything.”
“Excuse you, I came here to place an order for Joonmyun remember? Your highly valued VIP customer?”
“Oh,” Kyungsoo quickly looked away and then looked back up at Baekhyun.
As for you, Byun Baekhyun, if I ever catch you being all handsy on your boyfriend again I’m going to deduct your pay cut in half!”
“What?! He came on to me. Baekhyun tried to explain to Kyungsoo. “I wouldn’t lay a finger on that thing even if you gave me a raise.”
“Well, the kiss you just gave ‘that thing’ says otherwise,” Jongin smirked. “Not to mention at the fact that the first day we met you came crawling onto my lap.”
“Shut up, that didn’t happen.”
“I don’t care who started it but I don’t want it. You people are disgusting.” Kyungsoo spat, his face all scrunched up.
Jongin quietly scurried to one of the chairs while he waited for Baekhyun finished his work and put together a bouquet for Joonmyun. They didn’t want to set off Kyungsoo again. Well, that and the fact that Kyungsoo was eying them like a hawk.
“Finished!” Baekhyun finally said, beaming at his work.
“Took you long enough...” Jongin muttered.
“Shut up. Kyungsoo, I’m going to go deliver these to Joonmyun real quick, ok?”
“Go ahead, send him my greetings.” Kyungsoo replied.
“I’ll come.” Jongin added, standing up to join Baekhyun.
Baekhyun took off his apron, grabbed the flowers, and headed out the door with Jongin before Kyungsoo added:
“Oh, and Baekhyun?”
“Yeah?”
“Go ahead and take the rest of the day off, it doesn’t seem like the shop’s going to be busy any time soon.”
“Really?” Baekhyun excitedly asks, “Are you going to deduct my pay cut?”
“I will if you don’t hurry up and go.”
“I’m going, I’m going. Thanks a lot, Kyungsoo!” Baekhyun said, running back to give his boss a hug.
Instead of returning the hug, Kyungsoo threw Baekhyun off of him, “Ew, get off of me. I don’t know where your nasty hands have been.”
Baekhyun cheekily laughed and jogged back to Jongin. They were about to leave when Jongin turned around and pulled Baekhyun close.
“Kyungsoo, look!” And when Kyungsoo looked up, Jongin leaned in and gave Baekhyun a kiss on the lips.
“KIM JONGIN I’M GOING TO RIP YOU IN HALF.” Kyungsoo shrieked.
“We love you!” Jongin and Baekhyun chimed together, laughing and half running out the door.
÷
“Got it!” Joonmyun happily smiled as he walked into the kitchen with his wife.
Jongin looked up to see a properly dressed Joonmyun holding a card along with his wife who was fully clothed as well.
“When will you ever learn to keep your card with you at all times?” Jongin chuckled. “Or at least somewhere you could easily locate it.”
Joonmyun just shrugged, “Eh, probably never,” and headed over to join Jongin at the table.
“How’s Baekhyun?” Heewon shyly asked, pulling out a chair from the table.
Jongin hesitated before answering, “He’s…fine. Doctors are still unsure when he’ll recover. Or if even if he will at all…” he trailed off.
Sympathy and sadness fell on Joonmyun and his wife’s face while listening to Jongin.
Heewon reached over and gave Jongin’s hand a squeeze, reassuring him that Baekhyun would be fine.
“We all miss him,” Joonmyun started. “Heewon and I were just discussing about how we missed having you guys over for tea yesterday actually.”
“Me too.” Jongin whispered, barely audible.
Things change, but not Joonmyun and his wife. They’re never going to change. Jongin thought, smiling. Same old, same old. And he’s glad it’s that way.
÷
“Hellooooo?” Jongin greeted after he punched in the code for Joonmyun’s house. “Anyone home? We have a special delivery for Mrs. Kim Joonmyun!” He called out, only to have silence answer him.
“Are you sure they’re home?” Baekhyun asked, taking off his shoes.
“He told me he would be home,” Jongin replied. “Maybe he’s upstairs working?”
The two headed up the winding staircase and down the aisle of rooms, peeking into each one to look for Joonmyun.
“You look over there, and I’ll look over here.” Jongin said as he headed in the opposite direction.
“Joonmyun~ Heewon~ Come out come out wherever you are~” They both called out.
After being unsuccessful in finding the couple, Baekhyun decided to give up.
“Jongin, let’s just leave the flowers here and go on a date or something. I’m not going to spend the one day Kyungsoo allowed me to leave early just to look for your cousins.”
“Joonmyun are you in he- OH MY GOD JOONMYUN AND HEEWON.”
Baekhyun jumped in surprise and turned around to see Jongin slamming the door shut with wide eyes. He instantly rushed over to Jongin to see what was going on.
“You look like you have just seen a ghost, Jongin. Are you ok? Are you hurt? What’s in there?” Baekhyun asked, shooting question after question while inspecting to see if Jongin was hurt.
“I…I think we should go.” Jongin stuttered, pulling Baekhyun away from the door.
“What, why? Jongin, I did not just waste all that damn energy just so we could play Dora the Explorer with Joonmyun. Now what did you see in there?”
Baekhyun shimmied out of Jongin’s grasp and headed towards the door.
“NO BAEKHYUN, DON’T DO IT.”
“What could be so bad that- MOTHER OF TULIPS OH MY GOD MY EYES.” Baekhyun shrieked slamming the door behind him.
“I TOLD YOU NOT TO.”
“I DIDN’T KNOW THAT WAS TAKING PLACE. I feel like crying. No puking. Maybe both. Jesus, Jongin I’m scared.” Baekhyun said sniffling and running to Jongin’s arms.
“What do we do now?”
“I don’t know.”
“Say something.”
“You saw it, you and I both screamed yet no reaction. They’re not going to stop and there’s no way in hell I’m opening that door again.”
“Dammit, you’re right.”
“Let’s just sit…and wait it out.”
“Fine,” Baekhyun groaned, “I can’t believe this is how I get to spend the rest of my day. Waiting for your cousins to stop banging.”
*THUD* “Faster Joonmyun, faster! Oh my god you thrust like a bitch, HARDER.”
“Did you hear that?”
“Hear what? I didn’t hear anything. Must have been the wind.”
“Must have been, let’s watch the T.V.” Jongin quickly suggested.
Jongin and Baekhyun scuttled to the large sofa and turned on the T.V with the volume turned up to max.
After a full season of Breaking Bad and a couple episodes of SpongeBob, Joonmyun and Heewon finally headed down stairs, but barely in any clothes.
“I’m disappointed this time,” Heewon spat. “Last time when we did it on the sofa you were so much better.”’
“I’m sorry, babe, my junior was just having a bad day.” Joonmyun quietly responded.
“I can’t believe we bought this enormous place and out of all the places we had sex, the best one was on the sofa. I expected the kitchen table to be the best of something, I don’t know.”
Joonmyun pulled Heewon into a hug, “I’ll make it up to you next time when we’re on the grand piano.” he growled in her ear. “In the meantime, let’s have some tea,” he smiled cheekily. “OH. Jongin…Baekhyun. How long have you guys been here?” Joonmyun asked in surprise as he landed on the last step of the staircase.
Jongin looked sarcastically at his imaginary watch on his arm and responded, “About thirty moans ago and,” he stopped to tap a finger on his head to make it more dramatic, “and I believe ten orgasms ago.”
Joonmyun’s face immediately turned fire engine red in embarrassment and his wife was burying her face into her husband’s back. “Why didn’t you guys call?”
“Oh we did. We screamed and everything, but I don’t think you heard us.” Jongin said eyes on the T.V.
“Huh? Wha--?” Baekhyun shot up, startled. He was tired of watching, he ended up sleeping on Jongin’s lap.
Baekhyun rubbed his eyes and looked up, “I see you’re finally done.” he said, yawning.
Joonmyun’s face got red again, “I’m sorry, I should have been more alert.” he blushed.
“Yeah yeah, can you go get changed?” Jongin asked, shooing them away. “I don’t need to see you half naked after what I saw earlier.”
Joonmyun looked down and was flabbergasted at the fact that he was wearing only his boxer briefs and looked over to see his wife in his t-shirt.
“R-Right, we’ll go get changed right away and then we can discuss things in a civilized manner.”
He grabbed Heewon’s wrist and half sprinted up the stairs, skipping steps in the process.
“Hurry up, and don’t get distracted!” Baekhyun yelled after them.
*THUMP*
Baekhyun and Jongin looked over at the stairs and saw that Joonmyun skipped a few too many steps and tripped on the staircase. They both started to giggle when they heard Joonmyun call out, “I’M FINE! Give us a minute,” followed by more running.
÷
“Remember that one time you guys caught us in the act?” Joonmyun asked in reminiscence.
“Which time? We caught you guys many times.” Jongin asked cringing at the memories. “More than I’d like to, actually.”
“You didn’t let me finish. Anyways, I was going to ask you if you remembered that one time you caught us in the act and we ended up going out to sing karaoke in celebration of your one year anniversary of dating.”
“Joonmyun.” Heewon warned, squeezing his hand to stop. However, being clueless as he was, Joonmyun didn’t get the hint so he kept going.
“Didn’t you plan on proposing the idea of him moving in with you that night?”
Jongin’s body went stiff.
“Joonmyun.” Heewon snarled through clenched teeth.
“What?” He innocently asked.
“I can’t believe you would bring that up at a time like this”
“I did.” Jongin finally said. “I never got the chance to. We were all so drunk that night, it didn’t even come across my mind once.”
Joonmyun’s face fell.
“Good job, you twit.” Heewon hissed at him. “Look what you did.”
Jongin looked around the kitchen until his laid eyes on a picture frame that hung on the wall. It was a picture of the four of them that night at the karaoke bar. Jongin had his arm wrapped around Baekhyun smiling and Baekhyun was giving Jongin a kiss on the cheek. Joonmyun’s face was red from the alcohol, his eyes half closed in the picture, and Heewon was sprawled on Joonmyun’s lap, resting her head on Joonmyun’s shoulder.
“I should have done it earlier.” Jongin mumbled. “It’s my fault.”
÷
Jongin fidgeted on the sofa as Baekhyun once again laid his head on his lap. He was jumping with excitement yet he was nervous at the same time. Tonight was the night. He was going to ask Baekhyun to move in with him. After a year of successfully being together, most of the time anyways, he was going to take their relationship to the next level. The thought of marriage did come to mind, but Jongin wasn’t ready for that big of a commitment. Besides, marriage after one year of dating was a little bit too much. He didn’t want to come off so strong and scare Baekhyun off.
“Why are you fidgeting? Am I making you uncomfortable? I can sit up if you want…”
“NO.” Jongin shouted, and pushed Baekhyun’s head back down. “I just…uh. My balls itched.”
“What.”
“My balls itched.” He deadpanned.
Baekhyun raised his eyebrows. “You want me to calm that itch of yours?” He asked, smirking.
“Are you serious right now, oh my god, Baekhyun. We’re in Joonmyun’s house if you don’t remember. On his couch to be exact.”
“Yeah, so. They made us wait while they had sex. It’s only fair.”
“Okayyyy,” Joonmyun said skipping down the stairs. “Sorry for taking so long, Heewon couldn’t decide whether she wanted to look causal or sensual.
“What?” Jongin and Baekhyun both chorused.
“Beats me.” He shrugged. “Women.” He collapsed on the couch next to them, rolling his head from side to side. “So what are you guys up to, why are you here?”
“What, I can’t visit my cousin if I want to?”
Baekhyun rolled his eyes, “Don’t listen to him, we’re here to deliver your flowers.”
“Ah, I forgot about ordering those. I’ll go get the card. Now where did I put it…”
“You’d forget your head if it wasn’t attached to your head,” Heewon said, pulling him back. “I saw it on your desk while you were changing so I grabbed it for you.”
“My wife’s the best.” he smiled cheesily and kissed her.
Jongin came back with the roses while Baekhyun took care of the payment.
“Ooooh,” Heewon cooed, “They’re gorgeous, as always. Thank you so much for coming all the way here to deliver them.”
“Do you guys have any plans for tonight?” Joonmyun asked as he swiped his card.
“Well…” Jongin started.
“Good, then why don’t we all go on a date?” He asked, cutting Jongin off.
“But we-“
“Never mind you, Jongin. We’re going and that’s that. Let me go grab my jacket and then we can go!”
Jongin sighed at his cousin. I guess I can ask Baekhyun later when we’re there.
÷
“MAKIN’ MY WAY DOWN TOWN, WALKING FAST, FACES PAST, AND I’M HOME BOUND.”
“Shhhh, Baekhyun! People are looking!” Jongin giggled, his face red from the all the beers he had consumed earlier.
After happily eating and chatting at one of Heewon’s favorite restaurants, Joonmyun suggested that they go karaoke. The couple had to literally drag Jongin and Baekhyun into the bar after they attempted to make an escape. After many bottles of beer and fine wine, courtesy of the owner, Kris, Baekhyun and Joonmyun ended up on the stage belching out the lyrics to Vanessa Carlton’s “A Thousand Miles”.
“…IF I COULD FALLLLL, INTO THE SKYYYY. DO YOU THINK TIME, WOULD PASS ME BY.”
“I didn’t know hyung could sing so well,” Jongin said, turning to a woozy Heewon.
“There are a lot of things you don’t know about him,” she giggles. “Like how good of a man he is in bed.”
“Oh my god, please. Spare me the details.”
“Whaaat? I’m just telling you *hiccups* the truth.”
“’CAUSE YOU KNOW I’D WALK A THOUSAND MILES, IF I COULD JUST. SEE YOUUU.”
“TONIGHTTTTT.” Baekhyun and Joonmyun both chorused.
“WOOO! ENCORE” Heewon and Jongin both shouted and clapped from their seats.
The two singers staggered off the stage and tried their best to make their way back to the seats without tripping.
“You were great babe.” Jongin whispered into Baekhyun’s ears as he slid in the booth next to Jongin.
Baekhyun giggled, “I know.”
The couples drank some more beer, sang some more songs, and talked about random things until Kris came in with a Polaroid camera.
“Ayyy, how are my favorite customers?”
“Shut up Krrisiss just because you had a fling with Heewon back in high school doesn’t mean we can be your favorites.” Joonmyun managed to sputter.
“You guys went to high school, but I went to school high.” Jongin interrupted pretending to smoke a blunt.
“I,” Joonmyun continued, “couldn’t physically beat you then, but look at me now-“
“I’M GETTING PAPER.”
“SHUT UP, JONGIN. Anyways… look at me now Krsisss. I’m rich, a-and and I’m banging your high school sweetheart every hour of the day. I-I-I bet I could beat you right now too.” Joonmyun slowly stood up and puffed out his chest, “COME AT ME CANADIAN BOY.”
“Woah there, you’re drunk Joonmyun,” Kris said, pushing Joonmyun back down to his seat. “You guys look like you’re having a blast so I came over to see if you wanted to take a picture.”
“Shureee,” Joonmyun happily replied, oblivious to what the situation was.
“Ok, come closer together” Kris instructed. “One… Two…Jongin and Baekhyun, stop eating off each other’s faces and look at the camera!”
Jongin pulled away from Baekhyun and smiled at the camera, while Baekhyun still kept his lips puckered which landed on Jongin’s cheek. Heewon managed to pass out on the count of two, and by the time Kris finished counting down to one, Joonmyun was half closed blinded by the flash.
Kris took the Polaroid out and shook it a few times before giving it to the couples. “Wah, that looks…er...really nice. Here you go,” he said placing it on the table. “Have fun, enjoy the rest of your stay!”
It was around one or two in the morning when they decided to leave. Joonmyun offered to pay for a taxi to take them home, but Jongin declined.
“It’s ok, Joonmyun. I can take care of my man.” He said, trying to wink but ended up looking like a twitch.
Joonmyun steadied the passed out Heewon on his shoulders and leaned her into their taxi so she could get in. “You sure? Alright then, I’ll see you guys soon. Good night!”
÷
“Well, I better get going,” Jongin said standing up. “I’ve been here long enough, Kyungsoo’s probably wondering where I am.”
“Right, sorry for taking so much of your time.” Joonmyun apologized. “We should talk again sometime.”
“We should.” Jongin agreed.
Joonmyun and his wife walked Jongin out the door, and Jongin headed back to the flower shop. On his way back, he ran into Sehun who was walking out from the ice-cream shop.
“Oh hey, Jongin.” Sehun said slurping away on his chocolate cone. “Another delivery for Joonmyun?”
Jongin nods, “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be studying for your college exams?”
Sehun stared at Jongin and shook his head. “I can’t believe you would ask me such a question.” he tsked. “You should know me by now.”
“True.” Jongin mused.
Sehun stopped licking his ice-cream for a moment and looked down at the ground. “I remember the first delivery for Joonmyun like it was just yesterday.” He sighed. “I followed him around so I could keep him out of trouble.”
He bitterly laughed while Jongin stayed silent.
“In the end, I was the one who got him into trouble.”
“Sehun, you know that’s not true. What happened was way out of your doing. It was no one’s fault.”
“Yeah, but if I had been more careful, things wouldn’t be like how it is now.”
Jongin didn’t say anything.
÷
Baekhyun, still a little bit tipsy, asked “How are we going to get home now, smart ass.”
“We can come over to my place.” Jongin giggled.
“But your house is ten miles.” He stops for a moment, “that way.”
“Oh.”
“Jesus,” Baekhyun groaned. “Stay here, let me call Kyungsoo and see if he can pick us up.”
Baekhyun trieed to dial Kyungsoo’s number, but unknowingly, he accidentally dialed Sehun’s number. On the fourth ring, Sehun finally picked up.
“Hell-o?” Sehun groggily asked, obviously disturbed from his sleep.
“Kyungie is that you” Baekhyun stuttered.
“Baekhyun?”
“yEs. DING DING DING WE HAVE A WINNER.”
“Christ, it’s two am in the morning, what are you doing? Are you drunk?”
“Mayyyybe.”
“God, where are you? Let me come pick you up.”
Baekhyun stumbled around and looks around his surroundings, “I’m at the Kris Woo..OO guy’s place? I think?”
“Ok, hold tight, I’ll be there in a few.”
It took Sehun about a twenty minute drive to get to where Jongin and Baekhyun were, and by the time he got there, they were once again eating each other’s faces off. Sehun swore he saw Jongin trying to take off Baekhyun’s pants too, but it was too dark to be certain. Sehun got out of his car and made way to where the couple was sitting.
“Ahem.”
No response.
Sehun tried again, “AH HEM”.
“Wu hH? Oh hi Sehun,” Baekhyun smiled. “You’re here. Thanks for coming buddy.”
“Exactly how many beers did you guys have,” Sehun said scrunching up his nose. “You two need a bath.”
“Yeah yeah, whatever, just drop us off at Jongin’s house ok?”
“You owe me gas money though.” Sehun snapped.
Sehun helped Jongin and Baekhyun into the back seats of his car and then climbed into the driver’s seat to drive them home.
“Yah yah yah, you two best not be doing anything in my car. I just got her cleaned yesterday.”
“Shut up and drive, Sehun.” Jongin retorted.
“Kim Jongin, I will stop the car and kick you out.”
“Sehun, don’t you fucking dare.” Baekhyun threatened. “Can you also turn on the radio?”
Sehun sighed and turned on the radio. For the most part of the ride, Baekhyun was singing along to the radio and Jongin trying to take Baekhyun’s clothes off while Sehun tried to stop him periodically.
“I SWEAR ON YOUR GRANDMA’S GRAVE THAT IF YOU TRY TO TAKE OFF BAEKHYUN’S PANTS ONE MORE TIME, I’M KICKING YOU OUT.”
Sehun turned his attention back on the road when the car in front of him suddenly jerked to a halting stop.
“What the hell…” he wondered. He was about to honk the car, but then he heard a loud thunderous crash, followed by the sound of metal being bent and glass shattering.
“OH FUCK, HOLD ON YOU GUYS.” Sehun panicked, as the car in front of them collided with their car.
Sehun frantically tried to turn the steering away from the crash but it was too late. The car spun around in circles before it finally collided against the other car.
Barely scathed, Sehun managed to get out, observing the current scene. He saw about two or three other cars in the same condition as his and a big fourteen wheeler truck on its side. Immediately, he grabbed for his phone and dialed for the police and the ambulance.
Sehun went over to check on Jongin and Baekhyun who were still in the car, hoping that they too, were unscathed. He struggled to pull out Jongin who seemed fine with the exception of a few minor cuts here and there, but other than that, nothing life threatening. Baekhyun, on the other hand, was still trapped in the car. Sehun was more worried about him because out of the whole car, his side was the side that came in contact with the collision more.
By the time the police and ambulances came, Sehun and Jongin succeeded in bringing Baekhyun out. He wasn’t as lucky as the others. He had a huge gash on the side of his head and several open wounds scattered on his entire body. Worse of all, he was unconscious. The paramedics attending to Baekhyun while the Sehun was trying to hold him back from running to Baekhyun.
“Please!” Jongin sobbed, “Please save him!”
“We’ll try our best sir, but in the meantime, I think the police would like a word with you.”
“Shhh, Jongin. Don’t worry, the paramedics will take good care of him,” Sehun said trying to sooth him. “Let’s go talk to the police officers.”
Jongin sniffled, not liking the idea of leaving Baekhyun alone, but he made no effort to resist.
“Sir, can you tell what happened here?” a police officer asked Sehun.
“You see, Officer…uh,” he looked at the name tag, “Tao. I was driving my friends home when all of a sudden the car in front of me jerked to a stop. Momentarily after that, I heard what sounded like two cars ramming into one another, and by that time, my car was too affected.”
“I see.” The officer said, scribbling something down on his pad. “Hey, Yixing! Find anything?”
“Yeah,” the other officer in blue replied walking towards them. “From what it looks like, the driver of the fourteen wheeler was driving under the influence of alcohol. Probably lost control and rammed into the other drivers which then affected them.” his hand pointed to Sehun and Jongin.
“Christ, why are there so many DUI’s these past weeks…” Tao angrily mumbled. “Ok, I’m just going to need you to provide us your I.D and insurance information and then you can go.”
Sehun begged Jongin to take the cab with him so they can rest up and see Baekhyun tomorrow, but Jongin refused and insisted he take another cab to stay at the hospital with Baekhyun so Sehun didn’t force him any longer.
÷
“It’s not your fault.” Jongin finally spoke again. “It was that Chanyeol dude or whatever that decided to drink and drive, putting people’s lives at risk.”
“Yeah, but I’m just so mad that you and I, along with the other victims, Luhan and Xiumin, were barely hurt yet Baekhyun’s hurt so badly.
“Me too, but what’s done is done.” Jongin replied. “Anyways, I gotta go now. Go study or something before you flunk out of college.”
Sehun sighed, “I guess I’ll see you around then.”
Jongin nodded, and the two walk their separate ways.
Instead of going back to Kyungsoo like he had originally planned, Jongin decided to take a detour and visit Baekhyun again.
÷
“Jongin, I’m afraid Baekhyun is under a coma right now.” Dr. Zhang informed.
When the taxi dropped Jongin off at the hospital, he ran as fast as his legs could carry him to where Baekhyun was stationed. When he rushed in, he saw nurses scurrying around injecting plastic tubes to Baekhyun’s arms and attending to his wounds and the doctors checking up on his conditions.
“How long do you think he’ll be like that?” Jongin asked.
“It’s uncertain,” Dr. Zhang answered. “It could be days, weeks, months, or even years. It depends on the patients themselves. I’ve seen cases where some recover the next day, and some about ten years. I’m afraid I can’t give you a certain answer right now, but we’ll be keeping an eye on him, Jongin. Don’t worry, he’s in good hands.”
Jongin visited Baekhyun regularly with flowers each time he came to visit. Days passed and so did months, but Jongin continued to visit him, not giving up. There were times where Jongin would spend consecutive days at the hospital, refusing to leave Baekhyun’s side and starved himself until Kyungsoo or Joonmyun would have to personally come and drag him home. He was a lifeless human being without Baekhyun.
“Baekhyun, please come back,” he sniffled. “Please wake up. I didn’t even get the chance to ask you to move in, or even propose. I never got the chance to tell you how much I love you and that I want to spend the rest of my days with you until we grow old together. I miss you so much. Kyungsoo, Joonmyun and his wife, and Sehun all miss you too, so please come back.” Jongin continued to sob as he held on to Baekhyun’s lifeless hand for his dear life. “Just please wake up.”
÷
The strong smell of the hospital hits him as he walks through the automatic doors. He’s been here so much for the past months that the secretaries and nurses all know who he is and don’t even have to question him about his arrival.
“Jongin,” Hyeri, the secretary at the front desk greeted him. “Visiting Baekhyun as usual?”
Jongin nods and smiles at her as she opens the doors to the patients’ rooms for him.
Along the way, Yura, Victoria, Luna, and the other nurses greeted him and sent him their wishes to Baekhyun. Everyone at the hospital pretty much knew about Baekhyun’s circumstance.
He reached Baekhyun’s room and walked in slowly and quietly, not wanting to disturb the other patients around him.
“Ah, Jongin,” Dr. Zhang greets him as he pulls the stethoscope away from Baekhyun’s heart. “I see you’re here to visit again. I just finished giving him his daily checkup, and he seems to be fine. His room nurse, Taeyeon, will be here shortly to replace his sterile water bag. I’m going to leave you two alone now.” He smiled, taking his equipment to leave the room.
Jongin smiled and thanked the doctor before he presumed his visiting routine.
“Hello again, Baekhyun.” Jongin said reaching for the latter’s hand.
“I told you I’d come back again. You wouldn’t believe the things that happened to me today.” Jongin continued.
“It felt like I was reliving our lives or something. Kyungsoo made me deliver Joonmyun’s flowers and I caught Joonmyun and his wife in the act like old times.” He laughed.
“Can you even hear me right now? I wish you would wake up so we can create more memories,” Jongin longingly sighed. “I’m not getting any younger you know. Just the other day, I found a strand of silver hair! Me! With silver hair! Can you even imagine?”
Jongin was interrupted by his conversation with Baekhyun when he heard a quiet knock on the door.
“Come in.”
A petite nurse shyly came in with new sterile water bags for Baekhyun.
“Hi, I’m Taeyeon, Baekhyun’s room nurse? I came to change his water bags.”
“Please do.” Jongin said, standing up to give her room.
Taeyeon walked over to the other side of the bed, ready to change the water bags, when the heart monitor next to Baekhyun sky rocketed and started to continuously beep.
“What’s going on?!” Jongin asked frantically. “What’s wrong? Is he ok?”
“I…I don’t know,” Taeyeon quietly answered, “I’ll go get the doctor.”
“Hurry!” Jongin roared.
Jongin looked back at Baekhyun was still motionless, but his breathing seemed to be more noticeable.
Dr. Zhang came rushing in and immediately started to check on Baekhyun. The monitor finally stopped beating, and he turned around to face Jongin with a relaxed smile.
“Don’t worry,” he said, “Everything’s going to be just fine. In fact, I think Baekhyun will recover in no time”
“Really?” Jongin’s eyes shot up, “Do you really mean that, Doctor?”
“Yes,” the doctor chuckled. “Just give him a bit more time and he’ll be walking and talking just like before.”
Tears started to run down Jongin’s eyes, he’d been waiting for this day for so long and it was finally happening.
“I’m going to go check on his records, and I’ll be back momentarily.” Dr. Zhang stated, and he left Jongin in the room alone, once again.
Jongin quickly rushed to Baekhyun’s side. “Did you hear that Baek? The doctor said you’d recover in no time.”
Jongin suddenly felt a squeeze on his hand and he looks down to see Baekhyun’s hand intertwined with his.
“Baekhyun?” Jongin slowly asked.
“J-J-Jongin?” A weak voice responded.
It was a weak voice, but Jongin didn’t miss it. It was the voice Jongin had been longing to hear ever since he stepped foot into the hospital, and today, he finally got to hear it.
“Yes, it’s me, Baek. I’m here, right here with you.” Jongin said stifling a sob. “Welcome back, love.”
“Jongin?” The voice asked again.
“Yes, Baekhyun?” Jongin answered again, tears running down his cheeks against his own will.
“Why didn’t you give up on waiting for me?”
“I’ll stop waiting for you when Kyungsoo doesn’t threaten to fire his employees for being late. I’ll stop waiting for you when Sehun starts studying, and I’ll stop waiting for you when Joonmyun stops buying his wife flowers.” Jongin said, leaning in to give Baekhyun a long meaningful kiss.
“Thank you, for waiting for me.”
A/N:
OH.MY.GOSH. I DID IT. I FINISH MY FIRST “REAL” FIC. I’m going to cry this is amazing. I never thought I’d be writing a fic, but here I am, with a 9k+ worded fic. To my recipient, I really hope you enjoy my fic for you; I really tried my best to make this a good one! I hope it’s what you were expecting!
To clear up any confusion, the fic started off with present day Jongin and Baekhyun, and then it moves to past Jongin and Baekhyun after the big break. So after each break, the tense is changed, sort of like a flashback. In the last paragraph, it was indeed present day Jongin and Baekhyun.
I’d also like to thank my friend Randy for inspiring me with the flower shop name “Bud Buddies” and thanks to Emily and Kathy for proof reading it for me. But most of all, thank you to my friend, Joyce, who held my hand through the last stretch of this fic and made it possible for me to even complete it. So thank you so much, Joyce. ♡
One
Author: Anonymous until 1/30/14
For: eexiee
Pairing: Baekhyun/Kai [side: Suho/OC]
Word Count: 9,191
Summary: Jongin wants to take a step forward, but each time he does, he takes two steps back with Baekhyun
Warnings: cussing, hinted smut
Rating: PG-13
One
“Hi Baek,” Jongin smiled as he walked through the doors of Baekhyun’s hospital room. He pulled up a chair next to the bed and placed a bouquet of flowers on the small table.
“How are you feeling? Are you feeling any better? I brought you flowers again. They’re peonies this time. Remember how you would always try to persuade me to apply for a job at Kyungsoo’s just so we’ll garden together? You insisted that we needed to tend to your ‘babies’ together. You thought it was a great way to bond.” Jongin bitterly chuckled. “Don’t worry; I’m tending to your babies for you while you’re away. They miss you, you know.”
The air around them grew still.
“I miss you too.” Jongin finally whispered quietly.
Jongin sat motionless looking at Baekhyun hoping, no. Pleading, that a miracle would somehow happen allowing Baekhyun to wake up any second so they can continue on with their normal lives as if nothing had happened.
But that was just Jongin wishing.
“Shit,” Jongin muttered as he glanced down at his watch. “I have to get to work now. You know how upset Kyungsoo would be if I’m late again. He threatened to fire me if I was late again last time. Enjoy your flowers, Baek. I’ll be back again tonight, love you.” Jongin quickly kissed Baekhyun’s forehead and rushed out the door.
÷
*BRRRRRINGGGG*
Baekhyun groggily rolled over and turned off the alarm. He sat up rubbing his eyes and was welcomed by a sweet aroma.
“What’s that smell?” Baekhyun thought to himself, blinking a few times trying to recover from the morning grog when he finally recognized the scent. “Is that the smell of...peonies?” Baekhyun was surprised; there weren’t any peonies in his room, so why does his room smell like them?
“Maybe I’ve been at the flower shop too much,” he muttered quietly into the air. “Maybe the flower scents are finally getting to me.”
The petite male got out of bed and headed for the bathroom to carry out his usual morning routine. Drying his hair with a towel as he came out of the bathroom, he headed towards his closet to choose an outfit. He decided to go with a pair of black skinnies and plain black t-shirt paired with his favorite light washed denim jacket. As he was styling his hair, he looked up at the clock to check on the time.
“Fuck, it’s already 7:30. I need to hurry if I don’t want to get fired.” He finalized the finishing touches of his hair, grabbed his black converses and ran out of the house, locking the door behind him struggling to put on his shoes and run at the same time.
Baekhyun finally made it to the bus stop right on time. By the time he reached the bus stop, the bus has already pulled in. He quickly ran up the steps and paid the bus driver for the bus fare.
He eyed the crowded bus hoping to find an empty seat amongst the sea of passengers. Managing to find an unoccupied seat in the back, Baekhyun wiggles through the passengers. Unfortunately, the rubber tires of the bus screeched to a halting stop as the bus lurches forward and threw Baekhyun into someone’s lap.
“Do you mind?” an unfamiliar voice spat.
Baekhyun looked up and was greeted by a pair of dark orbs staring back at him. The stranger had a bronze skin and a perfectly chiseled jawline that could kill. A pair of plump pink lips that looks like it could suck the life out of him at any moment given and dark luscious hair perfectly tousled as if the stranger has just gotten out of bed. If sex was a human being, the stranger was it.
Sex.
The stranger was pure sex.
The 100% organic grown on healthy farms kind of sex and-
Baekhyun’s train of thought was interrupted by an agitated voice, “I said, do you mind?” the stranger asked again through clenched teeth this time.
“I- I’m sorry,” Baekhyun blushed as he quickly got up and bowed at the stranger.
“I lost my balance and I-“
“Look, I don’t care so just please leave me alone.” The stranger replied quite coldly.
“Ok, geez what’s your problem...” Baekhyun muttered back, hoping that the other wouldn’t hear him.
Sure the stranger was hot as hell but that doesn’t mean he had to be an ass about it. It wasn’t like Baekhyun purposely planned to fall onto his lap.
“I didn’t want to fall onto your nice, warm lap anyways.”
Baekhyun managed to get to the empty seat and sat down next to a sleeping old lady.
When the bus reached his stop, Baekhyun hopped off and half ran to the flower shop. Chimes greeted him as he opened the doors to the shop.
“I’m here!” Baekhyun shouted, not to anyone in particular. “And on time!” he quickly added.
The shop was small owned by one of his good friends, Kyungsoo. For the most part, he and Kyungsoo were the only people that occupied the shop, but occasionally, Oh Sehun, the teenage delinquent from the neighborhood, would seldom wander in to help them when he felt bored or just looking for some company.
A small head poked out from the corner in upon hearing Baekhyun’s arrival.
“Oh, hey Baek, I thought you were going to be late. Again.” The tiny man said with wide eyes.
“Please, Kyungsoo this is only my...” Baekhyun stopped for a second and started to count on his fingers.
“Tenth. This is your tenth time Baekhyun. Jesus, if you keep this up I’m going have to fire you, best friends or not.”
“Oh, relax a little, will you? You’re too uptight. You gotta hang loose sometimes.” Baekhyun grinned as he threw on his work uniform that consisted of a dusty blue apron and a name tag that read, “Baekhyun at your service.”
“Excuse me, I am loose, Byun Baekhyun” Kyungsoo stated matter of factly. “I’m the loosest person you have ever met!”
“Sure, you are ‘Soo,” Baekhyun chuckled.
“Hey can you watch over the shop for a while? I need to go to the back and check on the new shipment of seeds that came in yesterday.”
“Yeah yeah, go do your thing,” Baekhyun said as he waved Kyungsoo off.
“Oh, and please try to be a good worker, ok? Don’t be a bitch to the customers like the last several hundred times. You’ll ruin my business.”
“You can leave now,” he turned around to reply but Kyungsoo had already left.
Baekhyun sat on the wooden stool behind the cash register messing around with the pens until he heard the door open followed by the swinging of chimes.
“Good morning, welcome to Bud Buddies, how can I help you today?” Baekhyun greeted the customer, still looking down at the pens.
No response.
He finally looked up and almost fell back out of his chair.
“Oh, it’s you,” the customer retorted. “What are you doing here? Are you stalking me?”
“What? No!” Baekhyun half shouted.
“Baekhyun! Is everything alright out there? I hear screaming.” he heard Kyungsoo question from the back of the store.
“Uh, yeah, everything is fine! Go back to counting or whatever.” Baekhyun shouted back.
He quickly turned around and faced the customer and yelled at him in a hushed tone.
“Look, I don’t know what your problem is, and I could care less, but I am not following you. I lost my balance on the bus and unfortunately fell onto your lap, nothing else. I also happen to work here, thank you very much so you can get off your high chair and realize that not everything revolves around you Mr. I’m-too-good-for-anyone.”
“Huh. Guess it’s my unlucky day today.” the stranger mused.
“Douchebag.”
“Is this how you treat all of your customers?”
“That’s none of your concern.”
“Whatever, I’d love to stay and chat, but-actually I take that back. I’d hate to stay and chat so you need to hurry up and do your job. I need a dozen of red roses with a hint of baby’s breath that needs to be delivered to this address by tomorrow.” The stranger said as he handed Baekhyun a card with an address written in sloppy handwriting.
“Who are the roses for?” Baekhyun asked, squinting at the card trying to make out what the writing said. “Your girlfriend?”
“That’s none of your business.” The other male shot back.
“Whatever. As if you could get a girl with that attitude.” Baekhyun muttered to himself.
“I heard that.”
“I don’t care,” Baekhyun remarked as he wrote down the order, “I’m going to need a name and number too.”
“Are you going to use it to stalk me and try to keep in touch with me?”
“Totally.”
“Jongin. Kim Jongin.” The stranger said. Jongin grabbed the pen Baekhyun was using and along with Baekhyun’s hand, he started to scribble numbers on it but before he was done, Baekhyun pulled back.
“What the hell?!”
“Relax,” Jongin smirked as he pulled Baekhyun’s hand back. “It’s just my number. Didn’t you want it?”
“Yes, but it’s for business inquiries only, you dipshit, why are you writing it on my hand?!”
“Well I didn’t see any paper lying around so I’m using your hand. You know, saving trees, helping the environment. Calm down, you look like an angry poodle.”
Baekhyun gasped, “I certainly do not!”
He was going to make another remark but Jongin was already heading towards the door leaving him fumbling in his mess of words.
“Whatever, just make sure you get the flowers to the address on time! I’m deducting a dollar off the total charge for each minute you’re late.” And with that, he left Baekhyun standing in the flower shop dumbfounded and pissed.
“Asshole.” Baekhyun muttered.
“Who was that?” Kyungsoo asked as he struggled to the front holding a box filled with miscellaneous flower bulbs and seeds of all kinds. “I heard the chimes so don’t even try and tell me that it was no one.”
Baekhyun groaned as he ran his fingers through his hair, making it messy. “It was just some jerk I happen to ran into on the bus earlier and he wanted an order of roses and baby’s breath no later than…” He looked down at the card. “5pm sharp somewhere in Gangnam today.”
“Someone from Gangnam wants a small bouquet of roses from this little shop?” Kyungsoo whistled. “I knew this place would be a hit.”
“What are you waiting for Kyungsoo? We need a dozen of roses, pronto! The guy said he was going to deduct a dollar for every minute I’m late, and I cannot afford to have a pay cut.”
÷
“Morning Kyungsoo!” Jongin said as he raced through the flower shops door nearly knocking off the flowers on display on his way in.
Kyungsoo looked up and to see an out of breath Jongin. “Morning to you too,” he chuckled. “Did you visit him again this morning?”
“Yeah.”
Kyungsoo hesitated for a bit before asking, “How is he?”
“Well…you know. The same.”
“Ah, I see.” Kyungsoo mused.
It’s been a vicious cycle every morning for the past couple of months. Jongin visiting Baekhyun before coming to work to replace Baekhyun’s place for the time being and Kyungsoo asking him how Baekhyun is doing; only to get the same response over and over again. Kyungsoo doesn’t even know why he bothers to ask, but he does anyway because he felt obligated to.
Truth be told, Kyungsoo missed Baekhyun too. The shop has gotten quieter and the flowers weren’t as lively when Baekhyun was there. It’s like the flowers were mourning for Baekhyun as well. After all, Baekhyun did spend most of his time tending to the flowers when he wasn’t busy sassing at the costumers.
“Hey, I need you to go run this delivery real quick,” Kyungsoo said as he went behind the counter to grab the information. “A dozen of roses are to be delivered at apartment number 24 in Irwon-Dong, Gangnam.” Kyungsoo reads.
“Oh…”
Kyungsoo sensed a hesitation in Jongin’s reply and questioned, “Why? What’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing. It’s just that…it’s the same order I ordered when I first came here…”
Kyungsoo feels bad for asking Jongin. He should have remembered. He looks at the latter hoping to see some kind of reaction, but there was none at all.
“If you don’t want to, I can deliver it myself,” Kyungsoo started.
Jongin finally spoke, “Nah, it’s ok. I think I can handle a small delivery. No problem.”
With that, Jongin grabbed the flowers on the counter and headed out the doors.
÷
“Are you sure this is the right house?” Sehun asks as he looked at the paper again.
“Yep, this is it.”
Sehun visited the store before Baekhyun had left so he decided to come along “to keep Baekhyun from running into trouble.”
“That is a nice ass house,” Sehun whistles giving the place a look over. “Someone hit me up with the owner.”
“Hey, watch your language. Besides, who’d want to hit…you?” Baekhyun smirked.
Sehun playfully shoved Baekhyun, “I’m not that young!”
The two males walked on the gravel pathway admiring the towering marble pillars that were supporting the house.
“Damn.”
“I know.”
“Yeah, but damn.”
“Yes, Sehun. I get it. Knock on the door.” Baekhyun ordered has he handed Sehun the bouquet.
“Wait what, no! Why do I have to knock??” He said as he handed Baekhyun the flowers back.
“Because what if Jongin opens the door!”
And flowers once again landed back in Sehun’s arms.
“So? You’re the delivery guy!” Sehun whispered. “I’m just here to protect you.”
Baekhyun and Sehun were too busy bickering on who should knock that they didn’t realize that Sehun’s arm hit the doorbell as he handed Baekhyun the flowers, and in the midst of their argument, the door opened and a man stepped out.
“That door looks like it costs more than my life!” Sehun practically yells, “What if I break it with my super strength?! You do it!”
“Can I, uh, help you?”
Baekhyun and Sehun quickly turn around and see a small man looking curiously at them. Definitely not Jongin, Baekhyun thought.
Unlike Jongin, this man was shorter and quite fair. He was in wearing distressed jeans paired with a white button up, the top two buttons undone and a heather gray sweater, both rolled up to reveal his lean arms.
Sehun nudged Baekhyun to answer. “Oh, yes, I’m from Bud Buddies here to deliver an order?”
“Bud Buddies?” The man asks as he ran his fingers through his slightly damp hair. He probably just got out of the shower. “I don’t remember ordering anything from there.”
“Jongin made the order, Kim Jongin?” Baekhyun said, slightly confused.
“OH! I remember. I sent my cousin out to order a dozen of roses for my wife, Heewon. He must have forgotten to tell me where he ordered from, silly me.” The man chuckled. “Give me a second-- let me go grab my card.” He said as he ran back in his house.
Sehun looked at Baekhyun and just shrugged.
After a few minutes maniacally searching, the man came back somewhat out of breath with a gold card in his hand.
“How much for the flowers?”
“It’ll be ₩4247 please,” Baekhyun said as he reached for the card scanner. “I’m also going to need you to sign the receipt to verify this delivery too.”
“Sounds good to me.” The man said as he swiped the card and signs the paper.
Baekhyun thanks the man and looks at the receipt, “Kim Joonmyun” he read to himself, barely making out the scrabbles.
“Thank you,” Baekhyun smiled, “I hope your wife enjoy the flowers.”
Joonmyun gave another wave as Baekhyun and Sehun walked away from the house.
“Well, that went better than expected.” Sehun happily spoke, nudging Baekhyun.
“What’d you expect? A five headed breathing monster to open the door?”
“Hm, maybe.”
“Right.”
“Hey hyung.”
“What.”
“Let’s go buy some ice-cream to celebrate the successful delivery.”
“No.”
“Come on! We need to celebrate the fact that you didn’t get into trouble.” Sehun insisted.
“I didn’t bring my wallet.” Baekhyun said as an excuse.
“You sir, sit on a throne of lies. What’s that bulging in your back pocket? Don’t even try and tell me that it’s your ass because we all know that’s not true. Your ass is the size of a mini pancake they sell in the frozen section of the supermarket.”
“Excuse me but-“
Before Baekhyun could even finish his sentence, Sehun was already jogging in the other direction where the ice-cream parlor was.
“I want a chocolate cone, and you’re paying!” He shouted and ran full speed to the parlor.
“What’s with everyone cutting me off today?” Baekhyun said as he shook his head and ran after the younger male.
÷
Jongin takes a look at the house and sighs. He should have known. When Kyungsoo gave him the address he didn’t even realize it was Joonmyun’s address. If he had known, he wouldn’t have accepted the task so easily.
Taking a deep breath, Jongin walked up to the front door and knocked.
Once.
No answer.
Twice.
Still no answer.
Jongin was going to give up and just lay the flowers in front of the door and send the bill later but Joonmyun had already opened the door out of breath.
“Sorry, I…uh…you see, Heewon…she…”
“Ew, stop right there.” Jongin said, eying Joonmyun’s messy hair and unevenly buttoned shirt.
“Are you wearing ladies pajama shorts?? Hyung.
Instead of replying, Joonmyun madly blushes, the red slowly creeping up his face and ears.
Jongin rolled his eyes, “Anyways, here’s your delivery,” he said, handing Joonmyun the flowers.
“Wow, Kyungsoo’s fast, I just placed the order yesterday. Why don’t you come in, I think Heewon’s making tea,” Joonmyun said, opening the door wider for Jongin to come in. “I got to go find the card anyways.”
Jongin didn’t refuse and took off his shoes following after Joonmyun.
“Just place the flowers on the dinner table,” Joonmyun added as he disappeared behind some door.
Jongin walks into the kitchen greeted by the scent of jasmine tea.
“Who was that babe?” A femininely voice called out.
A petite, slender woman with long chocolate brown hair turned around from the stove and faced Jongin as he placed the flowers on the table.
“Oh! Jongin. Sorry, I thought you were Joonmyun.” She smiled, heading towards Jongin with a cup of tea in each hand.
“Care for some tea?”
“Uh.”
She noticed the flowers behind him and cooed, “What are these? They look lovely! Oh, and smell so good,” she complimented, burying her face in the red roses. “Did Joonmyun order some again?” she asks, emphasizing on the word “again”.
“Hee?”
“Yeah, Jongin?” She replied, still admiring the flowers.
“You’re not wearing any pants.”
In fact, Heewon was only wearing a long, baby blue button-up shirt that fell at her knees; probably her husband’s.
“Oh my god, I forgot,” she gasped. “I’ll go change real quick, make yourself at home.”
And with that, she left Jongin alone in the kitchen giving him time to think.
Ever since Baekhyun’s delivery to the Kim’s, Joonmyun had been placing an order every month at Bud Buddies. Apparently, his wife adored Kyungsoo’s flowers and couldn’t get enough of them. So being the good husband he is, he asked Jongin to order roses every month to surprise her. Thanks to Joonmyun’s monthly orders, Baekhyun and Jongin quickly became close.
÷
It was a particularly bright and sunny day out yet Baekhyun was stuck at Bud Buddies organizing different kind of flowers for customers’ orders. He was busy humming along to the radio when the front door swung open, setting the chimes off.
“Hey Jongin,” Baekhyun said, not once looking away from his work.
Jongin stopped by the flower shop so much it became a regular routine. Aside from his many visits, he would always stop by on the third of every month at 4 o’ clock sharp to place an order for Joonmyun.
“The usual?” Baekhyun proceeded to ask.
“You know it,” came the reply.
“Give me a just second; I need finish trimming the flowers first.”
Still facing away from Jongin, Baekhyun suddenly felt two strong muscular arms find their way around his waist.
“You didn’t even look at me once,” came a sultry whisper into Baekhyun’s ears as a chin rested on his shoulder.
“Hmmm.” Baekhyun hummed in response, not even phased at the intimate touch. He was too occupied on the flowers to even care.
“Baekhyunnn...” Jongin whined as he buried his face into the crook of Baekhyun’s neck
Baekhyun’s neck stiffened and he accidentally “trimmed” a whole rose bud off.
“Jongin!” he scolded. “You know I’m extremely ticklish around my neck area, look at what you did! You’re a murderer!”
“You’re the one holding the weapon,” Jongin said putting his hands up. “It’s not my fault you love your ‘babies’ more than you love me,” he pouted.
“You’re just like a kid; I don’t even know why I bother to associate myself with you.” Baekhyun sighed as he bent down to pick up the fallen rose bud and continuing on trimming the rest of the flowers.
“You hate me.”
“You know that’s not true.”
“Then prove it.” Jongin replied, quickly turning Baekhyun around to face him. “Prove to me that you love me more than those silly flowers.”
“One,” Baekhyun starts, pointing his index finger to the Jongin’s chest, “those ‘silly flowers’ are the reason why I’m still able to keep myself off the streets. And two,” he continued, “is this enough proof for you?” he finished and pulled Jongin into a kiss.
Jongin pulled back, “I think I need more proof,” Jongin said, smiling as he leaned in and deepened the kiss.
“KIM JONGIN AND BYUN BAEKHYUN. GET YOUR HANDS OFF EACH OTHER RIGHT NOW. WHAT WILL THE CUSTOMERS THINK WHEN THEY WALK IN AND SEE YOU TWO EATING OTHER’S FACE OFF. THIS IS A FLOWER SHOP AND I FORBID PUBLIC DISPLAY OF ATTENTION IN MY SHOP.
“Ignore him,” Jongin chuckled as he grabbed Baekhyun’s waist pulling him in closer.
“But-“
“KIM JONGIN, GET OFF MY EMPLOYEE RIGHT NOW.”
“Ughhh,” Jongin groaned finally letting go of Baekhyun. “You’re being overly dramatic, Kyungsoo. Just because you can’t get dick doesn’t mean you should get in the way of others you know.”
“Shut up, that’s not the reason,” Kyungsoo retorted. “I just don’t want to blind my valuable customers’ eyes just because you can’t keep your hands to yourself. I need to start charging you every time you come here without buying anything.”
“Excuse you, I came here to place an order for Joonmyun remember? Your highly valued VIP customer?”
“Oh,” Kyungsoo quickly looked away and then looked back up at Baekhyun.
As for you, Byun Baekhyun, if I ever catch you being all handsy on your boyfriend again I’m going to deduct your pay cut in half!”
“What?! He came on to me. Baekhyun tried to explain to Kyungsoo. “I wouldn’t lay a finger on that thing even if you gave me a raise.”
“Well, the kiss you just gave ‘that thing’ says otherwise,” Jongin smirked. “Not to mention at the fact that the first day we met you came crawling onto my lap.”
“Shut up, that didn’t happen.”
“I don’t care who started it but I don’t want it. You people are disgusting.” Kyungsoo spat, his face all scrunched up.
Jongin quietly scurried to one of the chairs while he waited for Baekhyun finished his work and put together a bouquet for Joonmyun. They didn’t want to set off Kyungsoo again. Well, that and the fact that Kyungsoo was eying them like a hawk.
“Finished!” Baekhyun finally said, beaming at his work.
“Took you long enough...” Jongin muttered.
“Shut up. Kyungsoo, I’m going to go deliver these to Joonmyun real quick, ok?”
“Go ahead, send him my greetings.” Kyungsoo replied.
“I’ll come.” Jongin added, standing up to join Baekhyun.
Baekhyun took off his apron, grabbed the flowers, and headed out the door with Jongin before Kyungsoo added:
“Oh, and Baekhyun?”
“Yeah?”
“Go ahead and take the rest of the day off, it doesn’t seem like the shop’s going to be busy any time soon.”
“Really?” Baekhyun excitedly asks, “Are you going to deduct my pay cut?”
“I will if you don’t hurry up and go.”
“I’m going, I’m going. Thanks a lot, Kyungsoo!” Baekhyun said, running back to give his boss a hug.
Instead of returning the hug, Kyungsoo threw Baekhyun off of him, “Ew, get off of me. I don’t know where your nasty hands have been.”
Baekhyun cheekily laughed and jogged back to Jongin. They were about to leave when Jongin turned around and pulled Baekhyun close.
“Kyungsoo, look!” And when Kyungsoo looked up, Jongin leaned in and gave Baekhyun a kiss on the lips.
“KIM JONGIN I’M GOING TO RIP YOU IN HALF.” Kyungsoo shrieked.
“We love you!” Jongin and Baekhyun chimed together, laughing and half running out the door.
÷
“Got it!” Joonmyun happily smiled as he walked into the kitchen with his wife.
Jongin looked up to see a properly dressed Joonmyun holding a card along with his wife who was fully clothed as well.
“When will you ever learn to keep your card with you at all times?” Jongin chuckled. “Or at least somewhere you could easily locate it.”
Joonmyun just shrugged, “Eh, probably never,” and headed over to join Jongin at the table.
“How’s Baekhyun?” Heewon shyly asked, pulling out a chair from the table.
Jongin hesitated before answering, “He’s…fine. Doctors are still unsure when he’ll recover. Or if even if he will at all…” he trailed off.
Sympathy and sadness fell on Joonmyun and his wife’s face while listening to Jongin.
Heewon reached over and gave Jongin’s hand a squeeze, reassuring him that Baekhyun would be fine.
“We all miss him,” Joonmyun started. “Heewon and I were just discussing about how we missed having you guys over for tea yesterday actually.”
“Me too.” Jongin whispered, barely audible.
Things change, but not Joonmyun and his wife. They’re never going to change. Jongin thought, smiling. Same old, same old. And he’s glad it’s that way.
÷
“Hellooooo?” Jongin greeted after he punched in the code for Joonmyun’s house. “Anyone home? We have a special delivery for Mrs. Kim Joonmyun!” He called out, only to have silence answer him.
“Are you sure they’re home?” Baekhyun asked, taking off his shoes.
“He told me he would be home,” Jongin replied. “Maybe he’s upstairs working?”
The two headed up the winding staircase and down the aisle of rooms, peeking into each one to look for Joonmyun.
“You look over there, and I’ll look over here.” Jongin said as he headed in the opposite direction.
“Joonmyun~ Heewon~ Come out come out wherever you are~” They both called out.
After being unsuccessful in finding the couple, Baekhyun decided to give up.
“Jongin, let’s just leave the flowers here and go on a date or something. I’m not going to spend the one day Kyungsoo allowed me to leave early just to look for your cousins.”
“Joonmyun are you in he- OH MY GOD JOONMYUN AND HEEWON.”
Baekhyun jumped in surprise and turned around to see Jongin slamming the door shut with wide eyes. He instantly rushed over to Jongin to see what was going on.
“You look like you have just seen a ghost, Jongin. Are you ok? Are you hurt? What’s in there?” Baekhyun asked, shooting question after question while inspecting to see if Jongin was hurt.
“I…I think we should go.” Jongin stuttered, pulling Baekhyun away from the door.
“What, why? Jongin, I did not just waste all that damn energy just so we could play Dora the Explorer with Joonmyun. Now what did you see in there?”
Baekhyun shimmied out of Jongin’s grasp and headed towards the door.
“NO BAEKHYUN, DON’T DO IT.”
“What could be so bad that- MOTHER OF TULIPS OH MY GOD MY EYES.” Baekhyun shrieked slamming the door behind him.
“I TOLD YOU NOT TO.”
“I DIDN’T KNOW THAT WAS TAKING PLACE. I feel like crying. No puking. Maybe both. Jesus, Jongin I’m scared.” Baekhyun said sniffling and running to Jongin’s arms.
“What do we do now?”
“I don’t know.”
“Say something.”
“You saw it, you and I both screamed yet no reaction. They’re not going to stop and there’s no way in hell I’m opening that door again.”
“Dammit, you’re right.”
“Let’s just sit…and wait it out.”
“Fine,” Baekhyun groaned, “I can’t believe this is how I get to spend the rest of my day. Waiting for your cousins to stop banging.”
*THUD* “Faster Joonmyun, faster! Oh my god you thrust like a bitch, HARDER.”
“Did you hear that?”
“Hear what? I didn’t hear anything. Must have been the wind.”
“Must have been, let’s watch the T.V.” Jongin quickly suggested.
Jongin and Baekhyun scuttled to the large sofa and turned on the T.V with the volume turned up to max.
After a full season of Breaking Bad and a couple episodes of SpongeBob, Joonmyun and Heewon finally headed down stairs, but barely in any clothes.
“I’m disappointed this time,” Heewon spat. “Last time when we did it on the sofa you were so much better.”’
“I’m sorry, babe, my junior was just having a bad day.” Joonmyun quietly responded.
“I can’t believe we bought this enormous place and out of all the places we had sex, the best one was on the sofa. I expected the kitchen table to be the best of something, I don’t know.”
Joonmyun pulled Heewon into a hug, “I’ll make it up to you next time when we’re on the grand piano.” he growled in her ear. “In the meantime, let’s have some tea,” he smiled cheekily. “OH. Jongin…Baekhyun. How long have you guys been here?” Joonmyun asked in surprise as he landed on the last step of the staircase.
Jongin looked sarcastically at his imaginary watch on his arm and responded, “About thirty moans ago and,” he stopped to tap a finger on his head to make it more dramatic, “and I believe ten orgasms ago.”
Joonmyun’s face immediately turned fire engine red in embarrassment and his wife was burying her face into her husband’s back. “Why didn’t you guys call?”
“Oh we did. We screamed and everything, but I don’t think you heard us.” Jongin said eyes on the T.V.
“Huh? Wha--?” Baekhyun shot up, startled. He was tired of watching, he ended up sleeping on Jongin’s lap.
Baekhyun rubbed his eyes and looked up, “I see you’re finally done.” he said, yawning.
Joonmyun’s face got red again, “I’m sorry, I should have been more alert.” he blushed.
“Yeah yeah, can you go get changed?” Jongin asked, shooing them away. “I don’t need to see you half naked after what I saw earlier.”
Joonmyun looked down and was flabbergasted at the fact that he was wearing only his boxer briefs and looked over to see his wife in his t-shirt.
“R-Right, we’ll go get changed right away and then we can discuss things in a civilized manner.”
He grabbed Heewon’s wrist and half sprinted up the stairs, skipping steps in the process.
“Hurry up, and don’t get distracted!” Baekhyun yelled after them.
*THUMP*
Baekhyun and Jongin looked over at the stairs and saw that Joonmyun skipped a few too many steps and tripped on the staircase. They both started to giggle when they heard Joonmyun call out, “I’M FINE! Give us a minute,” followed by more running.
÷
“Remember that one time you guys caught us in the act?” Joonmyun asked in reminiscence.
“Which time? We caught you guys many times.” Jongin asked cringing at the memories. “More than I’d like to, actually.”
“You didn’t let me finish. Anyways, I was going to ask you if you remembered that one time you caught us in the act and we ended up going out to sing karaoke in celebration of your one year anniversary of dating.”
“Joonmyun.” Heewon warned, squeezing his hand to stop. However, being clueless as he was, Joonmyun didn’t get the hint so he kept going.
“Didn’t you plan on proposing the idea of him moving in with you that night?”
Jongin’s body went stiff.
“Joonmyun.” Heewon snarled through clenched teeth.
“What?” He innocently asked.
“I can’t believe you would bring that up at a time like this”
“I did.” Jongin finally said. “I never got the chance to. We were all so drunk that night, it didn’t even come across my mind once.”
Joonmyun’s face fell.
“Good job, you twit.” Heewon hissed at him. “Look what you did.”
Jongin looked around the kitchen until his laid eyes on a picture frame that hung on the wall. It was a picture of the four of them that night at the karaoke bar. Jongin had his arm wrapped around Baekhyun smiling and Baekhyun was giving Jongin a kiss on the cheek. Joonmyun’s face was red from the alcohol, his eyes half closed in the picture, and Heewon was sprawled on Joonmyun’s lap, resting her head on Joonmyun’s shoulder.
“I should have done it earlier.” Jongin mumbled. “It’s my fault.”
÷
Jongin fidgeted on the sofa as Baekhyun once again laid his head on his lap. He was jumping with excitement yet he was nervous at the same time. Tonight was the night. He was going to ask Baekhyun to move in with him. After a year of successfully being together, most of the time anyways, he was going to take their relationship to the next level. The thought of marriage did come to mind, but Jongin wasn’t ready for that big of a commitment. Besides, marriage after one year of dating was a little bit too much. He didn’t want to come off so strong and scare Baekhyun off.
“Why are you fidgeting? Am I making you uncomfortable? I can sit up if you want…”
“NO.” Jongin shouted, and pushed Baekhyun’s head back down. “I just…uh. My balls itched.”
“What.”
“My balls itched.” He deadpanned.
Baekhyun raised his eyebrows. “You want me to calm that itch of yours?” He asked, smirking.
“Are you serious right now, oh my god, Baekhyun. We’re in Joonmyun’s house if you don’t remember. On his couch to be exact.”
“Yeah, so. They made us wait while they had sex. It’s only fair.”
“Okayyyy,” Joonmyun said skipping down the stairs. “Sorry for taking so long, Heewon couldn’t decide whether she wanted to look causal or sensual.
“What?” Jongin and Baekhyun both chorused.
“Beats me.” He shrugged. “Women.” He collapsed on the couch next to them, rolling his head from side to side. “So what are you guys up to, why are you here?”
“What, I can’t visit my cousin if I want to?”
Baekhyun rolled his eyes, “Don’t listen to him, we’re here to deliver your flowers.”
“Ah, I forgot about ordering those. I’ll go get the card. Now where did I put it…”
“You’d forget your head if it wasn’t attached to your head,” Heewon said, pulling him back. “I saw it on your desk while you were changing so I grabbed it for you.”
“My wife’s the best.” he smiled cheesily and kissed her.
Jongin came back with the roses while Baekhyun took care of the payment.
“Ooooh,” Heewon cooed, “They’re gorgeous, as always. Thank you so much for coming all the way here to deliver them.”
“Do you guys have any plans for tonight?” Joonmyun asked as he swiped his card.
“Well…” Jongin started.
“Good, then why don’t we all go on a date?” He asked, cutting Jongin off.
“But we-“
“Never mind you, Jongin. We’re going and that’s that. Let me go grab my jacket and then we can go!”
Jongin sighed at his cousin. I guess I can ask Baekhyun later when we’re there.
÷
“MAKIN’ MY WAY DOWN TOWN, WALKING FAST, FACES PAST, AND I’M HOME BOUND.”
“Shhhh, Baekhyun! People are looking!” Jongin giggled, his face red from the all the beers he had consumed earlier.
After happily eating and chatting at one of Heewon’s favorite restaurants, Joonmyun suggested that they go karaoke. The couple had to literally drag Jongin and Baekhyun into the bar after they attempted to make an escape. After many bottles of beer and fine wine, courtesy of the owner, Kris, Baekhyun and Joonmyun ended up on the stage belching out the lyrics to Vanessa Carlton’s “A Thousand Miles”.
“…IF I COULD FALLLLL, INTO THE SKYYYY. DO YOU THINK TIME, WOULD PASS ME BY.”
“I didn’t know hyung could sing so well,” Jongin said, turning to a woozy Heewon.
“There are a lot of things you don’t know about him,” she giggles. “Like how good of a man he is in bed.”
“Oh my god, please. Spare me the details.”
“Whaaat? I’m just telling you *hiccups* the truth.”
“’CAUSE YOU KNOW I’D WALK A THOUSAND MILES, IF I COULD JUST. SEE YOUUU.”
“TONIGHTTTTT.” Baekhyun and Joonmyun both chorused.
“WOOO! ENCORE” Heewon and Jongin both shouted and clapped from their seats.
The two singers staggered off the stage and tried their best to make their way back to the seats without tripping.
“You were great babe.” Jongin whispered into Baekhyun’s ears as he slid in the booth next to Jongin.
Baekhyun giggled, “I know.”
The couples drank some more beer, sang some more songs, and talked about random things until Kris came in with a Polaroid camera.
“Ayyy, how are my favorite customers?”
“Shut up Krrisiss just because you had a fling with Heewon back in high school doesn’t mean we can be your favorites.” Joonmyun managed to sputter.
“You guys went to high school, but I went to school high.” Jongin interrupted pretending to smoke a blunt.
“I,” Joonmyun continued, “couldn’t physically beat you then, but look at me now-“
“I’M GETTING PAPER.”
“SHUT UP, JONGIN. Anyways… look at me now Krsisss. I’m rich, a-and and I’m banging your high school sweetheart every hour of the day. I-I-I bet I could beat you right now too.” Joonmyun slowly stood up and puffed out his chest, “COME AT ME CANADIAN BOY.”
“Woah there, you’re drunk Joonmyun,” Kris said, pushing Joonmyun back down to his seat. “You guys look like you’re having a blast so I came over to see if you wanted to take a picture.”
“Shureee,” Joonmyun happily replied, oblivious to what the situation was.
“Ok, come closer together” Kris instructed. “One… Two…Jongin and Baekhyun, stop eating off each other’s faces and look at the camera!”
Jongin pulled away from Baekhyun and smiled at the camera, while Baekhyun still kept his lips puckered which landed on Jongin’s cheek. Heewon managed to pass out on the count of two, and by the time Kris finished counting down to one, Joonmyun was half closed blinded by the flash.
Kris took the Polaroid out and shook it a few times before giving it to the couples. “Wah, that looks…er...really nice. Here you go,” he said placing it on the table. “Have fun, enjoy the rest of your stay!”
It was around one or two in the morning when they decided to leave. Joonmyun offered to pay for a taxi to take them home, but Jongin declined.
“It’s ok, Joonmyun. I can take care of my man.” He said, trying to wink but ended up looking like a twitch.
Joonmyun steadied the passed out Heewon on his shoulders and leaned her into their taxi so she could get in. “You sure? Alright then, I’ll see you guys soon. Good night!”
÷
“Well, I better get going,” Jongin said standing up. “I’ve been here long enough, Kyungsoo’s probably wondering where I am.”
“Right, sorry for taking so much of your time.” Joonmyun apologized. “We should talk again sometime.”
“We should.” Jongin agreed.
Joonmyun and his wife walked Jongin out the door, and Jongin headed back to the flower shop. On his way back, he ran into Sehun who was walking out from the ice-cream shop.
“Oh hey, Jongin.” Sehun said slurping away on his chocolate cone. “Another delivery for Joonmyun?”
Jongin nods, “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be studying for your college exams?”
Sehun stared at Jongin and shook his head. “I can’t believe you would ask me such a question.” he tsked. “You should know me by now.”
“True.” Jongin mused.
Sehun stopped licking his ice-cream for a moment and looked down at the ground. “I remember the first delivery for Joonmyun like it was just yesterday.” He sighed. “I followed him around so I could keep him out of trouble.”
He bitterly laughed while Jongin stayed silent.
“In the end, I was the one who got him into trouble.”
“Sehun, you know that’s not true. What happened was way out of your doing. It was no one’s fault.”
“Yeah, but if I had been more careful, things wouldn’t be like how it is now.”
Jongin didn’t say anything.
÷
Baekhyun, still a little bit tipsy, asked “How are we going to get home now, smart ass.”
“We can come over to my place.” Jongin giggled.
“But your house is ten miles.” He stops for a moment, “that way.”
“Oh.”
“Jesus,” Baekhyun groaned. “Stay here, let me call Kyungsoo and see if he can pick us up.”
Baekhyun trieed to dial Kyungsoo’s number, but unknowingly, he accidentally dialed Sehun’s number. On the fourth ring, Sehun finally picked up.
“Hell-o?” Sehun groggily asked, obviously disturbed from his sleep.
“Kyungie is that you” Baekhyun stuttered.
“Baekhyun?”
“yEs. DING DING DING WE HAVE A WINNER.”
“Christ, it’s two am in the morning, what are you doing? Are you drunk?”
“Mayyyybe.”
“God, where are you? Let me come pick you up.”
Baekhyun stumbled around and looks around his surroundings, “I’m at the Kris Woo..OO guy’s place? I think?”
“Ok, hold tight, I’ll be there in a few.”
It took Sehun about a twenty minute drive to get to where Jongin and Baekhyun were, and by the time he got there, they were once again eating each other’s faces off. Sehun swore he saw Jongin trying to take off Baekhyun’s pants too, but it was too dark to be certain. Sehun got out of his car and made way to where the couple was sitting.
“Ahem.”
No response.
Sehun tried again, “AH HEM”.
“Wu hH? Oh hi Sehun,” Baekhyun smiled. “You’re here. Thanks for coming buddy.”
“Exactly how many beers did you guys have,” Sehun said scrunching up his nose. “You two need a bath.”
“Yeah yeah, whatever, just drop us off at Jongin’s house ok?”
“You owe me gas money though.” Sehun snapped.
Sehun helped Jongin and Baekhyun into the back seats of his car and then climbed into the driver’s seat to drive them home.
“Yah yah yah, you two best not be doing anything in my car. I just got her cleaned yesterday.”
“Shut up and drive, Sehun.” Jongin retorted.
“Kim Jongin, I will stop the car and kick you out.”
“Sehun, don’t you fucking dare.” Baekhyun threatened. “Can you also turn on the radio?”
Sehun sighed and turned on the radio. For the most part of the ride, Baekhyun was singing along to the radio and Jongin trying to take Baekhyun’s clothes off while Sehun tried to stop him periodically.
“I SWEAR ON YOUR GRANDMA’S GRAVE THAT IF YOU TRY TO TAKE OFF BAEKHYUN’S PANTS ONE MORE TIME, I’M KICKING YOU OUT.”
Sehun turned his attention back on the road when the car in front of him suddenly jerked to a halting stop.
“What the hell…” he wondered. He was about to honk the car, but then he heard a loud thunderous crash, followed by the sound of metal being bent and glass shattering.
“OH FUCK, HOLD ON YOU GUYS.” Sehun panicked, as the car in front of them collided with their car.
Sehun frantically tried to turn the steering away from the crash but it was too late. The car spun around in circles before it finally collided against the other car.
Barely scathed, Sehun managed to get out, observing the current scene. He saw about two or three other cars in the same condition as his and a big fourteen wheeler truck on its side. Immediately, he grabbed for his phone and dialed for the police and the ambulance.
Sehun went over to check on Jongin and Baekhyun who were still in the car, hoping that they too, were unscathed. He struggled to pull out Jongin who seemed fine with the exception of a few minor cuts here and there, but other than that, nothing life threatening. Baekhyun, on the other hand, was still trapped in the car. Sehun was more worried about him because out of the whole car, his side was the side that came in contact with the collision more.
By the time the police and ambulances came, Sehun and Jongin succeeded in bringing Baekhyun out. He wasn’t as lucky as the others. He had a huge gash on the side of his head and several open wounds scattered on his entire body. Worse of all, he was unconscious. The paramedics attending to Baekhyun while the Sehun was trying to hold him back from running to Baekhyun.
“Please!” Jongin sobbed, “Please save him!”
“We’ll try our best sir, but in the meantime, I think the police would like a word with you.”
“Shhh, Jongin. Don’t worry, the paramedics will take good care of him,” Sehun said trying to sooth him. “Let’s go talk to the police officers.”
Jongin sniffled, not liking the idea of leaving Baekhyun alone, but he made no effort to resist.
“Sir, can you tell what happened here?” a police officer asked Sehun.
“You see, Officer…uh,” he looked at the name tag, “Tao. I was driving my friends home when all of a sudden the car in front of me jerked to a stop. Momentarily after that, I heard what sounded like two cars ramming into one another, and by that time, my car was too affected.”
“I see.” The officer said, scribbling something down on his pad. “Hey, Yixing! Find anything?”
“Yeah,” the other officer in blue replied walking towards them. “From what it looks like, the driver of the fourteen wheeler was driving under the influence of alcohol. Probably lost control and rammed into the other drivers which then affected them.” his hand pointed to Sehun and Jongin.
“Christ, why are there so many DUI’s these past weeks…” Tao angrily mumbled. “Ok, I’m just going to need you to provide us your I.D and insurance information and then you can go.”
Sehun begged Jongin to take the cab with him so they can rest up and see Baekhyun tomorrow, but Jongin refused and insisted he take another cab to stay at the hospital with Baekhyun so Sehun didn’t force him any longer.
÷
“It’s not your fault.” Jongin finally spoke again. “It was that Chanyeol dude or whatever that decided to drink and drive, putting people’s lives at risk.”
“Yeah, but I’m just so mad that you and I, along with the other victims, Luhan and Xiumin, were barely hurt yet Baekhyun’s hurt so badly.
“Me too, but what’s done is done.” Jongin replied. “Anyways, I gotta go now. Go study or something before you flunk out of college.”
Sehun sighed, “I guess I’ll see you around then.”
Jongin nodded, and the two walk their separate ways.
Instead of going back to Kyungsoo like he had originally planned, Jongin decided to take a detour and visit Baekhyun again.
÷
“Jongin, I’m afraid Baekhyun is under a coma right now.” Dr. Zhang informed.
When the taxi dropped Jongin off at the hospital, he ran as fast as his legs could carry him to where Baekhyun was stationed. When he rushed in, he saw nurses scurrying around injecting plastic tubes to Baekhyun’s arms and attending to his wounds and the doctors checking up on his conditions.
“How long do you think he’ll be like that?” Jongin asked.
“It’s uncertain,” Dr. Zhang answered. “It could be days, weeks, months, or even years. It depends on the patients themselves. I’ve seen cases where some recover the next day, and some about ten years. I’m afraid I can’t give you a certain answer right now, but we’ll be keeping an eye on him, Jongin. Don’t worry, he’s in good hands.”
Jongin visited Baekhyun regularly with flowers each time he came to visit. Days passed and so did months, but Jongin continued to visit him, not giving up. There were times where Jongin would spend consecutive days at the hospital, refusing to leave Baekhyun’s side and starved himself until Kyungsoo or Joonmyun would have to personally come and drag him home. He was a lifeless human being without Baekhyun.
“Baekhyun, please come back,” he sniffled. “Please wake up. I didn’t even get the chance to ask you to move in, or even propose. I never got the chance to tell you how much I love you and that I want to spend the rest of my days with you until we grow old together. I miss you so much. Kyungsoo, Joonmyun and his wife, and Sehun all miss you too, so please come back.” Jongin continued to sob as he held on to Baekhyun’s lifeless hand for his dear life. “Just please wake up.”
÷
The strong smell of the hospital hits him as he walks through the automatic doors. He’s been here so much for the past months that the secretaries and nurses all know who he is and don’t even have to question him about his arrival.
“Jongin,” Hyeri, the secretary at the front desk greeted him. “Visiting Baekhyun as usual?”
Jongin nods and smiles at her as she opens the doors to the patients’ rooms for him.
Along the way, Yura, Victoria, Luna, and the other nurses greeted him and sent him their wishes to Baekhyun. Everyone at the hospital pretty much knew about Baekhyun’s circumstance.
He reached Baekhyun’s room and walked in slowly and quietly, not wanting to disturb the other patients around him.
“Ah, Jongin,” Dr. Zhang greets him as he pulls the stethoscope away from Baekhyun’s heart. “I see you’re here to visit again. I just finished giving him his daily checkup, and he seems to be fine. His room nurse, Taeyeon, will be here shortly to replace his sterile water bag. I’m going to leave you two alone now.” He smiled, taking his equipment to leave the room.
Jongin smiled and thanked the doctor before he presumed his visiting routine.
“Hello again, Baekhyun.” Jongin said reaching for the latter’s hand.
“I told you I’d come back again. You wouldn’t believe the things that happened to me today.” Jongin continued.
“It felt like I was reliving our lives or something. Kyungsoo made me deliver Joonmyun’s flowers and I caught Joonmyun and his wife in the act like old times.” He laughed.
“Can you even hear me right now? I wish you would wake up so we can create more memories,” Jongin longingly sighed. “I’m not getting any younger you know. Just the other day, I found a strand of silver hair! Me! With silver hair! Can you even imagine?”
Jongin was interrupted by his conversation with Baekhyun when he heard a quiet knock on the door.
“Come in.”
A petite nurse shyly came in with new sterile water bags for Baekhyun.
“Hi, I’m Taeyeon, Baekhyun’s room nurse? I came to change his water bags.”
“Please do.” Jongin said, standing up to give her room.
Taeyeon walked over to the other side of the bed, ready to change the water bags, when the heart monitor next to Baekhyun sky rocketed and started to continuously beep.
“What’s going on?!” Jongin asked frantically. “What’s wrong? Is he ok?”
“I…I don’t know,” Taeyeon quietly answered, “I’ll go get the doctor.”
“Hurry!” Jongin roared.
Jongin looked back at Baekhyun was still motionless, but his breathing seemed to be more noticeable.
Dr. Zhang came rushing in and immediately started to check on Baekhyun. The monitor finally stopped beating, and he turned around to face Jongin with a relaxed smile.
“Don’t worry,” he said, “Everything’s going to be just fine. In fact, I think Baekhyun will recover in no time”
“Really?” Jongin’s eyes shot up, “Do you really mean that, Doctor?”
“Yes,” the doctor chuckled. “Just give him a bit more time and he’ll be walking and talking just like before.”
Tears started to run down Jongin’s eyes, he’d been waiting for this day for so long and it was finally happening.
“I’m going to go check on his records, and I’ll be back momentarily.” Dr. Zhang stated, and he left Jongin in the room alone, once again.
Jongin quickly rushed to Baekhyun’s side. “Did you hear that Baek? The doctor said you’d recover in no time.”
Jongin suddenly felt a squeeze on his hand and he looks down to see Baekhyun’s hand intertwined with his.
“Baekhyun?” Jongin slowly asked.
“J-J-Jongin?” A weak voice responded.
It was a weak voice, but Jongin didn’t miss it. It was the voice Jongin had been longing to hear ever since he stepped foot into the hospital, and today, he finally got to hear it.
“Yes, it’s me, Baek. I’m here, right here with you.” Jongin said stifling a sob. “Welcome back, love.”
“Jongin?” The voice asked again.
“Yes, Baekhyun?” Jongin answered again, tears running down his cheeks against his own will.
“Why didn’t you give up on waiting for me?”
“I’ll stop waiting for you when Kyungsoo doesn’t threaten to fire his employees for being late. I’ll stop waiting for you when Sehun starts studying, and I’ll stop waiting for you when Joonmyun stops buying his wife flowers.” Jongin said, leaning in to give Baekhyun a long meaningful kiss.
“Thank you, for waiting for me.”
A/N:
OH.MY.GOSH. I DID IT. I FINISH MY FIRST “REAL” FIC. I’m going to cry this is amazing. I never thought I’d be writing a fic, but here I am, with a 9k+ worded fic. To my recipient, I really hope you enjoy my fic for you; I really tried my best to make this a good one! I hope it’s what you were expecting!
To clear up any confusion, the fic started off with present day Jongin and Baekhyun, and then it moves to past Jongin and Baekhyun after the big break. So after each break, the tense is changed, sort of like a flashback. In the last paragraph, it was indeed present day Jongin and Baekhyun.
I’d also like to thank my friend Randy for inspiring me with the flower shop name “Bud Buddies” and thanks to Emily and Kathy for proof reading it for me. But most of all, thank you to my friend, Joyce, who held my hand through the last stretch of this fic and made it possible for me to even complete it. So thank you so much, Joyce. ♡
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