flowers and ink ii

Jinki gets his first tattoo on the day he turns 19. His mother almost falls off her chair when he proudly shows her the small flower on his bicep and he isn’t allowed to show it in public. Unluckily for Jinki’s mother, he is old enough to get more than one tattoo.

In Jinki’s opinion, tattoos are the most exquisite form of art. He admires those who paint on him and other people and often wishes that he could do it too.

His own passion lies elsewhere, however. Such as with the countless of orchids that fills his room and his most beloved bonsai that sits proudly in his window sill. His friends think he’s silly - Jinki likes to think that it shows how compassionate and warm he is.

Whatever it truly shows doesn’t really matter, though, because Jinki still proudly nurses his flowers and the garden as if it was his kid and no matter what people say, they can’t change that fact. That’s why most people have accepted that flowers and Jinki go hand in hand. Now Jinki and tattoos go hand in hand as well.


Over the next couple of years, Jinki collects a sleeve, a small side tattoo and black and white line art on his shin. Jinki’s mother slowly starts to accept that her son is beginning to look like those rockers she sees in the news sometimes - except Jinki’s tattoos are of flowers and plants and mostly harmless, not skeletons, guns and girls.


When Jinki turns 26, Minho hands him a beer and sits down beside him.

“I’ve heard a new tattooist started in Hongdae,” he says and takes a swig of his beer. “Rumors has it that there is this really cute piercer.”

Jinki bites his lower lip so he doesn’t start laughing at Minho’s dreamy sigh.

“You could barely handle getting your eyebrow pierced. I don’t think you could get another,” Jinki says and Minho turns to glare at him.

“I could if she’s cute.” He takes another gulp of his beer and then points it towards Jinki. “Hey, you should go with me. Get a new tattoo from this place as well! Maybe the tattooist is awesome. After Taeyeon left The Holy Koi you haven’t really been able to find a new one as good as her!”

Jinki grumbles a little at that. Minho is right. Taeyeon had been Jinki’s tattooist the past year but she had left for Tokyo with her boyfriend Jongin and Jinki was not flying to Japan every time he needed a new tattoo.

After a few seconds of thoughts he nodded and agreed to accompany Minho to the shop, if only because Minho wants to flirt with the piercer.


The Painted Tide Tattoo says the sign over the shop. Jinki swears Minho has asked him to meet him here, but the shop looks nothing like what he has been used to. There is no staircase down to an underground lobby, no skulls in the windows, no black paint and no shadows.

The lobby is open and wide, the large display window houses a large Fortune Host along with pictures of drawings, both on paper and on people. There are spotlights in the ceiling, making the room glow in a comfortable light but it’s not in any way dark.

Jinki turns to look at his wrist watch and swears. Why is Minho always late?

When Minho does arrive, Jinki is starting to get cold and he glares at his best friend, but the other man doesn’t care much for Jinki and just drags him into the shop.

The shop is as light as it looks from the outside. The walls are white, a gorgeous piece of art hanging on the back wall where benches and comfortable chairs sits in a designated waiting area. The counter is made of wood and compliments the floor nicely.

Minho sends the woman behind the counter a wide smile and walks up to her while Jinki stays behind and admires the shop that is unlike anything he’s ever seen. Jinki can faintly hear Minho and the girl talk but he doesn’t really zoom in on their conversation.

It isn’t until Minho actively calls for him that he turns around.

“Don’t you wanted to get a tattoo of that Japanese Iris on your back?” he asks and Jinki nods.

“Yeah, but I wanted it to be … you know.”

Jinki gestures lazily with his hand.

The Japanese Iris is his favourite flower. It’s soft and delicate, a little like he sees himself. Not that anyone would agree with him, but Jinki doesn’t like to think of that. He also wants the tattoo to be special. He wants it to be dreamy, soft, delicate and without hard lines. He wants it to be like a water paint drawing, standing out on his tan skin in the most astonishing ways ever.

The woman behind the counter just raises an eyebrow at him.

“Hey Junghee, could you..?” a man says as he enters the lobby from a backroom and only then does he notice they have customers. Jinki just stares at him.

His hair is black and his eyes dark brown and he should look like any other Korean on the street, but he doesn’t. Because his hair and his eyes are were similarities to the outside world stops. His facial shape is soft with a certain edge to it, his eyes feline-like as they look at Jinki with a certain intensity. His skin is pale in the most beautiful way, it compliments him and doesn’t look odd at all. He has broad shoulders but is skinny, almost scarily so but for some reason Jinki doesn’t want to force feed him.

If it wasn’t because he stood behind the counter, Jinki would have guessed he was a model. Or a celebrity. But here he is, behind the counter, talking to the piercer Minho has been flirting with for the past 10 minutes.

“Could I what?” the woman asks and the man pulls his eyes from Jinki to look at her.

“The guy in the back says his piercing might be infected, could you take a look at it while he’s here anyway?”

She raises an eyebrow.

“I’m not a doctor, Key,” she says and the man, Key, sends her a smile.

“No, but you’re almost a nurse, hush hush.”

He gently pushes her towards the back room and she glares at him one last time before she shuts the door behind her. Jinki smiles shyly as Key turns his attention towards Minho and Jinki.

“Can I help you?” he asks and before Jinki gets to say no, Minho has blurted out that Jinki would like a new tattoo. Curse Minho.

Key digs behind the counter and hands over a small book of common designs. Minho looks through it for a while before he gasps and reaches out to wave Jinki towards him. As Jinki looks around Minho, he looks at the most beautiful drawing he has ever seen. This is far better work than Taeyeon’s and Taeyeon is outstanding.

“Is this yours?” he asks and looks up to get eye contact with Key who is writing on a laptop. Key turns his attention to his customers and notices the drawing before he nods.

“Yeah, it’s nothing much.”

Jinki begs to differ.

“Can you do water colors?”

Jinki asks and Minho raises an eyebrow in confusion. Jinki ignores him. Key nods again.

“Sure. Do you want an appointment? We can talk more about design, detailing, colors and so on.”

Minho nudges him in the side before Jinki has even uttered a word.

“Yes, he would like an appointment.”

Key smiles and starts naming dates and times.


When Jinki leaves The Painted Tide Tattoo he has an appointment with Key the next week. Jinki can’t get the face out of his mind, however. The beautiful smile that showed tiny dimples, the way his eyes sparkled, the beautiful hand writing on the small appointment card.

Everything about Key had been perfect. Jinki just hopes his tattoos are as perfect as his appearance.

author's notes

So - this is the tale of the first time Jinki and Kibum meets. Junghee is an "almost nurse" in Kibum's head because she was studying nursing before she became a tattooist and piercer, believe it or not. She never actually finished the degree but Kibum still (mis)uses her abilities at times, haha. 

Jinki does not end up with a water color tattoo of a Japanese Iris, but he does end up with a Japanese Iris later. It's located on his chest, intertwined with a white lily and they both bloom right above his heart, on his left pectoral. It might be Jinki's favorite tattoo and despite being warned against tattoos that might symbolize love, he's sure their flowers (and love) will never fade - thus why he gets it. Kibum makes it of course. 

Jinki does not have the florist shop at this point, though, although he is a florist. He just works elsewhere.