AFFINITY.

part 11 | agaricus bisporus | thirty-one

Taehyung was feeling anxious. He kept walking down the street, stopping and then talking a few steps back. He knew it was silly.

And that he looked like an idiot.

The number of old ladies who had given him odd looks was getting dangerously high. But then again, he had been trying to walk up to the apothecary door for almost twenty minutes. Taehyung looked at the familiar door and felt his stomach twist.

He really wanted to see Yoongi, but at the same time, he really didn't want to walk into the store.

Inside his basket Sugar Cube growled, making his displeasure perfectly clear. Taehyung's eyes flickered to the hidden door on the side of the building. He could just slip through that and escape directly to the garden without talking to Yoongi first, but that would kind of defeat the purpose. He was here to talk. Not run. Even though running sounded like such a great idea. The option was there, but Taehyung knew that if he skipped out of seeing Yoongi today they'd probably never actually talk about the kiss. And they really needed to talk.

But Taehyung felt like a coward.

He knew he had to talk to Yoongi and he couldn't keep putting it off. After his talk with Seokjin, the day before Taehyung knew that the more he tried to postpone talking to Yoongi the more callus he would probably look. He couldn't help but wonder how he would have felt if Yoongi had kissed him and then avoided him for three days.

He looked forlorn down at tuff of flowers sticking out of Sugar Cube's basket. It was an idiotic idea to give Yoongi flowers. It really was. He had a whole garden full of them, but he knew Yoongi would just get weird if Taehyung got him chocolate and Seokjin had told him not to get too grand or Yoongi would get confused.

So, flowers it was. Potted, of course.

So, the only thing Taehyung had been able to twist up at the last moment was a bunch of all his favorite flowers tired up with one of Bogum's vines – with the roots in a tiny pot which Taehyung had gotten from his Grandmother before leaving for the Academy. The Ivy was still feeling jealous about not having been included in the meeting with the Blood oak so Taehyung hadn't had the heart to stop the Ivy when it insisted on cutting off a piece of itself to join Yoongi's potted bouquet.

He had been sure to do it as quickly as he could so Bogum wouldn't feel any pain.

Taehyung was so relieved that most plants didn't feel more than a mild discomfort when being cut. If Taehyung had been able to hurt Bogum the poor Ivy would never have been trimmed and Taehyung would have ended up crushed under the weight of it.

He hadn't been able to stop his magic from healing Bogum's cut immediately. After all, there had to be some good things to Taehyung having more magic than he knew what to do with.

Taehyung sighed, shuffling his feet a little. A whole swarm of small umbrella-like mushrooms was unfolding at his feet. Taehyung wondered if it had been wise to wear the purple shoes, but it was the one thing that always got Yoongi's attention. Hell, it had been the thing that made Yoongi notice Taehyung even existed in the first place. Without them, Taehyung would probably still just have been some random customer.

Taehyung clutched the basket in his hands tighter. Taking a deep breath as he stared at the stairs up to the apothecary. He couldn't delay it. He had to face Yoongi and tell him how he felt. He had promised both Seokjin and Bogum.

And after the having seen the Vindicta Thorna the day before Taehyung really didn't want Seokjin to make use of his threats.

Taehyung's stomach turned, immediately filling with even more butterflies. If everything went well he was about to get more of Yoongi, get more of his hugs, more of his smiles.... And more kisses. Which was something Taehyung was looking very much forward to because he hadn't been able to stop thinking about having Yoongi in his arms again.