oddly enough, he feels nervous. it’s weird because this is for hakyeon, and he’s never been nervous when it comes to hakyeon. not since they’d gotten together, at least. but hakyeon is aging, and it makes him both nervous and excited. (he wonders if everyone who looks at them thinks that hakyeon is a pedophile, when in reality, the human is the younger one.) he’s scared because the speed at which hakyeon ages is significantly faster than the rate he ages at, and the humanity of that reality worries him.
glancing down at the bag that holds his presents, he waits anxiously for hakyeon. there’s a bouquet in his arms and all he’s really waiting for is hakyeon’s return from the watering can.
when the door opens, he steps forwards, his eyes widening as his wings flutter delicately, emerald eyes bright and sharp. “hakyeon-ah, welcome home.” he calls out, ducking slightly behind a doorway so that his offerings aren’t immediately seen. it’s only when the human rounds the corner, shoes off, jacket hung up on the pegs, that he smiles shyly, his expression partially hidden behind the huge bouquet of flowers.
“happy birthday, hakyeonnie.” he murmurs as he flits forward, carefully pressing the bouquet of flowers into his boyfriend’s arms. red carnations, forget-me-nots, hydrangea, red and white roses, and purple tulips comprise the bouquet, and he hopes – he knows – that hakyeon will understand the meanings behind the flowers.
within the bag that he presents to the male next are two pots – one containing bamboo, and the other arbutus. all of his flowers have meaning, but not only that, both bamboo and arbutus are flowers not native to korea. and perhaps if hakyeon were anyone else, he would have a difficult time coaxing them to grow, but hongbin knows that these two plants will never die, because he won’t allow it. hidden at the bottom of the bag is a fairly heavy object, the one that hongbin had put a good deal of thought and effort into. an elf-made steel dagger, subtle charms for accuracy and effectiveness woven into its crafting, hidden within a handsome black leather sheath, embroidered with stars.
“happy birthday,” he repeats once all his presents have been given. “i love you.” he leans in to press a soft kiss to plush lips, careful not to touch the dagger, his cheeks pink, almost as pretty of a shade as his hair.
his day has been rather ordinary, not having actually realized that it was his birthday. he had woken up, eaten breakfast – hongbin hadn’t been home when he had woken up, which had been normal for the past couple weeks and hakyeon wasn’t really planning on questioning the faery, considering he had just kind of assumed that the other was catching up on some much needed nature – and left for work. his birthday was never really a special event, usually coming and going without him noticing for a few weeks’ time. he’s used to realizing he had aged up once it’s deep into july and this year wasn’t supposed to be any different than other years.
work is the same as usual, just tending to his plants and pruning them every once and a while, whenever one seemed like it needed to be. the sprinklers went on at their usual time and he had a handful of customers that came by to buy flowers for loved ones. there’s a lot of time spent reciting plant meaning off the top of his head for one high school boy who seemed to be buying something for a girl, he scoffs to himself, and something for his mother and hakyeon has to literally rely on every bit of his knowledge that he had forced into his brain when he had first started working at the watering can. it was exhausting, and annoying, but he always felt rather fulfilled when he had successfully helped his customers.
once he’s closed the shop though, he wants to grab some food on the way home, maybe a milkshake for hongbin too, he heads out and starts walking back to his apartment. there are a handful of fast food shops on the way back home, and he goes to most of them at least once a week. other places like the sushi restaurant and the chicken restaurant get usually two visits a week, depending on whether he actually had groceries at home or if either him or hongbin felt like cooking.
this was not one of the weeks where hakyeon felt like cooking.
he stops to get mcdonald’s on the way home, grabbing an m&m mcflurry for his live-in faery, chewing on a fry as he heads home. the walk isn’t a long one but he enjoys it all the same, finding himself in front of his door before he knows it. he unlocks it. slides inside and toes off his shoes in one smooth motion, putting the bag and the drink carrier down to slide his leather, motojacket off of his shoulders and he hands it up.
picking up the food again, he steps further into his apartment, parting his lips to call out and check if hongbin is home but he’s ambushed by the older before he’s even reached the kitchen. “hongbin –”
the faery’s words catch him off guard and he pauses in his steps, eyes casting a glance over the other’s frame and takes in the bouquet of flowers. he had done inventory today and he knows those are definitely not from his shop and it clicks – that’s where hongbin had been disappearing to for the past little while.
is it his birthday? he actually has to pause and think for a moment before he realizes that tomorrow is definitely july first, considering a few of his customers had commented it on it being the last day but it just hadn’t clicked until now.
the flowers pressed into his arms are beautiful and he can’t help his automatic reaction of leaning down to sniff at them quietly, smiling to himself. “they’re beautiful,” he breathes out softly, noting the flower types and automatically matching meanings to all of them, and realizing with a slight start what the overall meaning behind the bouquet was.
(he quietly goes over them in his mind, noting them and quietly tucking them into a hidden corner of his heart for a rainy day. red carnations, of course, represented a deep romantic love and he feels himself blushing just slightly at the thought of what hongbin considered their relationship and his chest feels warm as his eyes rove over the rest of the bouquet, picking out different flowers. forget-me-nots were tied to true love where purple tulips represented a forever love and he’s trying hard not to grin now, pursing his lips to prevent the smile from breaking through. hydrangeas gave a message of heartfelt gratitude for being understood and he chuckles softly, thinking that despite how grumbly he was most of the time he did usually appreciate hongbin and would never think of not having accepted the faery despite the fact that he was, indeed, a faery. and lastly, red and white roses together meant that they were united, and he couldn’t agree more.)
hongbin hadn’t just grown these randomly, it seems, and he can’t help the little smile tugging at his lips as he lets his guard down for a moment. he ushers them both quietly into the kitchen so he could put the food onto the counter, to really be able to look at the presents. he peeks into the bag, quiet and he eyes the plants, quietly musing over those meanings too.
he’s practically a walking, talking encyclopedia of plant meanings, at this point.
(bamboo represents longevity, strength and grace and he can’t help but slot a playful glare at hongbin there, amused. arbutus was different and that one makes him pause for a moment, glancing at the other again for an entirely different meaning. it makes a weird feeling jump into his throat and he has to swallow a few times before it goes away.)
once he’s taken the two pots out of the bag, there’s only one thing left inside of it. he pulls it out gingerly, feeling the magic practically humming underneath the sheath and he grins, almost cheekily, as he notices the stars embroidered into it. he loves it already, thinking of the older, still reliable, one sitting inside their bedside drawer.
“thank you,” he breathes out softly, accepting the kiss and letting a rare, gentle smile adorn his lips. he’s not going to say it back, they both know that, but he does lean over to plant another gentle kiss on his faery’s lips before he pulls away, going to get a vase to put the bouquet into.
the flowers are placed into the vase, he has tons lying around the apartment and it takes him a moment to find the perfect one, placing it on the counter and smiling fondly at it. turning back to hongbin, he reaches out to tug on his hand, fingers lingering for a moment too long before he nods at the fast food, hoping that the mcflurry hadn’t melted too much.
