I'm so nervoooouuus about this chapteeeeer I hope it's not a let doooown I know a lot of y'all were asking for iiiiiiiit

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Jinwoo shuddered in the cool air outside the tattoo shop as he gathered the courage to enter.

He shifted from foot to foot, making sure to keep out of the window where he could be seen by the man who was seated inside.

Mino was at the counter, leaning over some magazine, looking bored. He had no costumers at the moment, while his co-workers were busy – which was exactly how Jinwoo had wanted it to be when he entered, yet he was still hesitant.

But he wasn’t going to quit. At some point he broke, if only because it was too cold outside for him to stay standing.

He pushed the door open and took a few reluctant steps inside.

Mino looked up upon hearing the small ‘ding’ from the door. He gave a tired yet bright smile and said, “Hey there. Can I help you?”

A few more reluctant steps and Jinwoo was at the desk. He rested his loose fists on the edge of the surface, looking around the shop, delaying the moment he would have to lock eyes with Mino.

His gaze passed over the other two artists, both hunched over their respective works.

Finally his gaze made a full circle and rested on the man before him. “Yeah,” he said.

He saw the way Mino was looking at him, expectant, waiting for him to speak. Mino was lazily chewing gum and suddenly the sentence Jinwoo had practiced in his head got erased from his mind.

“Does your gum ever get caught in your piercing?” He deadpanned.

Mino’s smile was swept away in an expression of surprise; he’d even stopped chewing while trying to make sense of the question.

And he burst out laughing.

It was the genuine kind, a loud and warm sound that would make the most serious of people crack a smile. And so did Jinwoo.

“I mean... It hasn’t happened yet, but now I won’t be able to stop thinking about it!” Mino accused, looking at the other with an amused smile.

Jinwoo gave an innocent little shrug.

Mino rested his elbow on the counter and placed his cheek in his palm. “So, can I help you? Or did you come in here just to ask me that?”

Jinwoo’s anxiousness returned like a tidal wave; it was the moment he’d been preparing for, the sentence he’d practiced over and over in his head, despite its simplicity. “I’d like to get a tattoo?” It came out more as an uncertain question rather than a request.

Mino straightened up, as if already slowly warming up for work. “Yeah, that’s the general idea of coming here. Do you know what you want to get tattooed?”

And then it hit him. It was the part Jinwoo had completely overlooked. “Uhm... No, not really. I have no idea where I want it either...”

Mino’s smile was tired but he didn’t call Jinwoo out on his indecisiveness. “I gotchu. Let’s figure out the what first and then we’ll figure out the where.”

He brought out a couple of catalogues for Jinwoo to take a look at. He skimmed through them; the sound of pages turning filled the dimly lit space, along with the steady hum of the machines. There was even chatter to the right, but Jinwoo didn’t look up to check which one of the other two artists was making small talk.

Jinwoo turned out to be much more indecisive than initially thought. He went through one whole catalogue before he started seeing Chinese characters.

That was when Mino shifted, frowning at the pages. “, uh—I don’t recommend any of those. A friend wrote them and he’s a ing , I bet he wrote some nasty on purpose.”

Jinwoo smiled, looking over all the truly nasty phrases translated as things like “love” and “eternity”. “Yeah, your friend... He really is an .”

Mino tilted his head. “You understand?”

Jinwoo threw a quick glance up at him, adjusting the strap of his bag. “I’m uh... I’m a linguist, Chinese was my major,” he blurted out, shrinking as he spoke. He didn’t look up to see the reaction, but he did hear the reply and the amusement in Mino’s voice,

“Oh? So what do these say?”

Jinwoo shook his head. “Things I don’t want to repeat.”

Mino chuckled again and Jinwoo thought to himself that he could get used to that sound. His laughter was contagious and was Jinwoo not so anxious, he would have laughed along.

He looked down again, nearly burying his face in the pages. “Okay, I want this,” he said, deciding on impulse. He felt like he was taking too long to decide and he didn’t want to keep Mino waiting.

He leaned over to see what Jinwoo was pointing at. “Does it really mean ‘blossom of the evening star’?”

Jinwoo huffed. “No. I have no idea what that’s supposed to mean in Korean either, but it sure does sound stupidly poetic.”

Mino was still snickering, flicking his gaze up at Jinwoo briefly. “Well what does it mean?”

“Just... Winner.”

“That’s it?”

“Yeah. Person who wins. Winner.”

Mino gave a small nod and stretched. “Amazing. Now for the where...”

“Where does it hurt least?” Jinwoo tried to sound sarcastic or calm, but his voice came out sounding actually worried.

“It really depends. It hurts least in places with least nerve endings, but it also depends on the size of the tattoo and the size of the needle,” Mino explained.

Jinwoo shuddered at the mere mention of needles, but Mino didn’t seem to notice. He kept going,

“But this thing is like, really small and not coloured, obviously. It won’t take long which means less time to suffer. Although the lines are thin and it has tiny details so I’ll have to use a smaller needle, and the smaller the needle, the more it hurts.”

Jinwoo blinked. “Oh.” He wasn’t sure if that was good or bad news – it would hurt, but it wouldn’t last long? He didn’t bring his thoughts out in the open, not wanting to show how scared he was. Instead he said, “You just called your job suffering.”

Mino gave a Cheshire grin. “Nah, my job’s the fun part. It’s the customer who suffers.”

Jinwoo wanted to laugh, he really did, but he was already freaking out way too much to register the humour in Mino’s statement.

“I’m kidding!” He reassured, seeing Jinwoo’s terrified expression.

“Ah—Yeah, figured,” he muttered.

Mino regarded him carefully, realizing that he should probably say something to ease Jinwoo’s nervousness. “Listen, I do cover ups of my own work for free. And let’s just say no one’s yet asked me to cover anything up.”

Jinwoo nodded along, the information was at least of some consolation.

He cleared his throat, clasping his hands on top of the counter. “I’ll be okay, I’m sure... We still need the where. Where can I get a tattoo so that it doesn’t mess up job opportunities,” he mused, trying to figure it out himself.

Mino chuckled, shaking his head. “Well, assuming that no one will make you take your shirt off at a job interview, pretty much all of your torso and stomach is safe, yeah? As well as the back and thighs...”

“So, a lot of options,” Jinwoo muttered. His mind was racing, trying to decide quickly not to waste too much time. “I guess we can do lower stomach?”

 Mino nodded, “You’re the boss,” he said, flashing a smile as he started to gather the catalogues. “I can’t write hanja for so I’m just gonna print out the stencil, that okay?”

Not that Jinwoo knew what a stencil even was, but he didn’t want to bore with stupid questions so he just agreed. Whatever the proposition was, it didn’t sound dangerous

“Okay then, take a seat over there and I’ll be with you in a second.”

Jinwoo nodded, watching Mino walk away before moving to follow the instruction.

He went over to where Mino had showed him, put his bag on the ground and sat down, throwing look around the shop – he hadn’t paid attention to details when he’d first walked in.

Various tattoo designs were framed and hanging off the black walls. The furniture followed a red and black pattern and white neon lights illuminated the space. Two stations were occupied at the moment, which was that one thing Jinwoo had actually noticed.

Mino was back quickly, whistling some song as he walked over and sat down opposite of Jinwoo. He was busy cutting out what Jinwoo recognized as the two Chinese characters that would soon be inked into his skin.

And at first Jinwoo was paying attention to what Mino was doing, but after he lifted Jinwoo’s shirt with absolutely no hesitation, the elder’s heart nearly stopped and he could focus on nothing else but the touch. It was quite subtle – something about disinfection that Jinwoo did not listen to, only watching Mino’s hands work, gaze trailing up his veiny arms, which Jinwoo was absolutely weak for.

It took him quite a while to realize that he was chewing his bottom lip and had to make himself let go. When he did, he felt as if he would have drawn blood if he’d continued biting.

It was just a split second that Mino looked up, and then that second stretched on a second too long as his gaze lingered on Jinwoo’s lips.

By the time Mino looked down again, Jinwoo’s heart was racing.

“Since it’s your first time I should probably tell you what we’re doing—”

“Wait, how do you know it’s my first time?” Jinwoo cut in.

Mino gave a sympathetic smile. “Honestly it’s not hard to tell.”

The blonde sighed. “I guess you’re right. Go on, educate me.”

“So, I’ll apply this,” he lifted the stencil for emphasis, “wherever you tell me. The ink will transfer and you’ll tell me if you’re satisfied with the positioning. If not, I’ll just wipe the lotion off and we’ll try again.”

Jinwoo gave a sharp nod. “Simple.”

Mino smiled. “Yeah, simple. Show me then.”

Jinwoo took a look down at his own stomach, trying to imagine where a tattoo would look best. It didn’t really matter to him, seeing as it would mostly be covered – he wasn’t the type of guy who liked to take his shirt off often. He didn’t even like beaches and pools all that much.

He pointed a spot on his lower stomach to the right, next to his hip.

Mino nodded and got to work. And yes, his hands were gloved and the touch wasn’t direct. But Mino was pressing the stencil to Jinwoo’s skin and his hold was so firm that Jinwoo’s heart started beating hard against his chest and his breath hitched.

Mino mistook Jinwoo’s flusteredness for discomfort. He glanced up, although not letting go of Jinwoo, and said, “You can still bow out. You can’t go back once I start with the actual tattooing, but you’re still good to give up.”

Jinwoo shook his head quickly. “No, it’s not that—I’m fine.”

“If you say so,” Mino hummed.

He finally removed his hand and Jinwoo felt like he could breathe again, but he was left feeling tingly, the cold hitting his skin in absence of Mino’s warmth.

He looked down, tilting his head. He’d known even before that he would probably just give a green light on the first try because he truly didn’t want things to take too long – all that deciding whether the placement was just right.

“This is good,” he said quickly.

Mino raised his eyebrows, surprised by the sudden decisiveness. “You sure?”

“Yeah. Let’s just... Get it over with,” Jinwoo muttered.

The other chuckled, shaking his head. “Okay, I get it.”

Jinwoo had to look away from the needle, since the smallest glance made a bubble of panic rise from his gut to his chest. He had to at least try to hide the fear, he didn’t need Mino to see him as a coward from day one.

Unfortunately, nothing could escape that boy – or perhaps those kinds of details were just something he had to pay attention to – either way, Jinwoo’s reaction didn’t go unnoticed.

“Scared of needles?”

Jinwoo sighed and nodded.

“Hey, that’s cool, I just have to make sure you won’t faint or something because it’ll be on me.”

“I won’t faint,” Jinwoo shot. “It’s not – it’s not so bad, I’m not even afraid, just a bit...” He trailed off, unable to find the right words to describe the feeling. “I’ll be fine as long as I don’t look.”

“You sure?”

Jinwoo looked him in the eye and nodded.

“In that case, look away now,” Mino said.

The moment he felt the prickling pain, Jinwoo started wondering whether it was worth going through it to get a boy’s number. Besides, that was a goal Jinwoo was nowhere near achieving.

On the other hand, he did get incredibly close to Mino more quickly than he’d gotten close to any of his previous crushes, so perhaps it was okay.

“So you studied Chinese, but what is it that you do?” Mino asked, not looking up from Jinwoo’s skin where his work was being done.

Jinwoo in turn didn’t look back at Mino, knowing that he wouldn’t bear to see the needle.

And he knew what the other was doing with the banter; distracting him from the pain.

“I uh—I’m a translator and a writer,” Jinwoo said. “It was a tough call between linguistics and literature, of course I wasn't an idiot to try and do both at the same time. But writing had always come naturally to me without a special course and I can always read in my free time, while on the other hand I didn't like the idea of learning a whole language on my own. But I think I'll start saving up so I can take on literature, this time it won't be my parents financing it all.”

Jinwoo usually didn’t talk much, especially not about himself. Truly he felt like a bother whenever he said more than two words, but this was a matter of necessity and both him and Mino knew it.

“You want to go to college twice?” The tattoo artist asked in disbelief.

“People do that,” Jinwoo muttered.

“No, that’s honestly impressive. Imagine being that passionate about something, a lot of people don’t have that.”

“You’re passionate about what you do?”

“Very,” Mino said sincerely. “I didn’t always know this was something I’d do, but I was kind of a hopeless student. Only did well in what I was good at, that sort of deal. I figured that I won’t make a living off of anything in the academic realm and when I was getting my first tattoo I realized that the job is a practical one and connects to something I’m good at.”

“Which is?”

“Drawing,” Mino said.

Jinwoo’s lips parted in a little ‘o’ shape of realization. “So did you finish a school to do this?” He paused and added quickly, “I’m genuinely curious, by the way. I don’t mean to say that this job is something anyone can do or for people who don’t know what to do with their lives..”

“Ah, don’t worry. I really only ever hear about that stereotype at family dinners,” Mino joked, getting a small chuckle out of Jinwoo.

“Remind me not to make you laugh cause I really need you to stay still,” Mino added.

Now that he’d said it, it was hard not to laugh. “Shoot, sorry.”

“It’s good, I didn’t up. But yeah, I did go to college, majored in art, go figure. I make some money on the side off of that too, but for me drawing and painting is more like writing to you. I love it, but I don’t currently live off of it.”

Jinwoo nodded. “That’s really nice. How lucky are we, to have two things we love to do?”

“Very lucky.”

As the conversation died out and was replaced by the hum of the machine, Jinwoo was unfortunately left to focus on the pain caused by his skin being cut open repeatedly. The fact that he was slowly getting used to the sensation didn’t make it all that easier and still it was the only thing Jinwoo could think of.

Halfway through, Mino’s co-worker from the station on the right had finished his part and he walked over to say goodbye.

“Looks like Dongwook will finish before you, too,” he mused.

“Yup, I’ll close up,” Mino said.

His friend leaned in to take a look at Mino’s work. “Oh, he chose one of my designs,” he hummed, smirking until he actually read the word and his shoulders dropped in disappointed.

“Nice try, . He speaks Chinese,” Mino said, smirking.

The guy blinked and stared at Jinwoo.

“Ah, you’re the one with the nasty mouth,” Jinwoo hummed.

“Yeah, that’s Jiho,” Mino introduced informally.

Jiho smiled in what was supposed to be an innocent manner, but he ended up looking as sly as ever. “Yeah, that’s me. Anyways, you boys have fun, I’m going home.”

He went to say goodbye to the other guy, Dongwook, before going out the door.

“We’re doing the second character now,” Mino informed. “How are you holding up?”

“I’m suffering,” Jinwoo admitted.

Mino chuckled, shaking his head. “That wasn’t unexpected. Hang in there, you got this far.”

Jinwoo didn’t want to let the silence stretch for too long, because he felt like the stinging was getting too much. But he didn’t want to talk about himself again so he instead tried to think of something to ask Mino.

However, Mino beat him to it,

“I’m sorry I’m not so chatty, I’m just really exhausted.”

“It’s okay,” Jinwoo said. “I’m trying to find something to ask you that doesn’t sound like a question from a family dinner.”

Mino laughed again – clearly holding back in it since he needed his hands to be steady and he needed to stay focused. “What, like do I have a girlfriend?”

Jinwoo swallowed. “Do you?”

“Nah. No one even asks me that at family dinners anymore, it’s more like has Mino stopped around yet.”

“Ouch,” Jinwoo mumbled.

“Yeah, well, it’s my fault for ever letting my parents find out about my uality. Now I’ll never escape that stereotype.”

“And uh, what’s your...” Jinwoo trailed off, realizing that the question may be inappropriate.

But he was proven wrong when Mino briefly lifted his hand from Jinwoo’s hip to point behind himself at a small bi pride flag stuck along with a bunch of pens.

“Oh.”

His impulsive decision to get a tattoo was truly starting to pay off. It wasn’t his number, but Jinwoo now knew two crucial things about Mino: he was single and into guys. There was that detail about him “ around” but it was mentioned in the context of family dinners and stereotypes, so Jinwoo couldn’t take it seriously.

Besides, even if it was true, it wasn’t unexpected. Quite the opposite, if Mino was anything like his past boyfriends he would be the type to only be interested in .

Jinwoo has only had a few relationships in the past but they were all more or less the same – he falls for a guy who is his polar opposite on so many levels, the guy likes him back and thinks for one split second that he wants a deeper relationship, he stays in Jinwoo’s life just long enough to him up emotionally and physically before admitting that he’d only ever been attracted to Jinwoo because of his looks and his charming innocence.

We’re too different. You’re a cutie but I don’t like you like that. I need some freedom. He’s heard it all before.

Jinwoo wasn’t even optimistic at that point. He expected all the same things from Mino. And perhaps this time, when it’s all over, he wouldn’t fall apart. Perhaps he would finally be used to that kind of treatment.

These thoughts, as well as the continuous pain, nearly brought tears to Jinwoo’s eyes.

“What about you?” Mino asked, snapping the elder out of his thoughts.

“What about me?” He asked, nearly having forgotten their conversation to that point.

“What’s your preference?”

Jinwoo’s gaze fell on the pride flag that he’d been shown a minute ago and he remembered what the discussion had been.

“Me, well... I like girls—”

“Oh.”

“—as friends,” he added.

That was the only time Mino tore his gaze from his work, briefly. He was smiling. “So you also have lots of fun at family dinners.”

“I don’t attend family dinners, so I’m okay,” Jinwoo said.

“I’m sorry,” Mino said, although he didn’t know what the exact issue was.

And Jinwoo didn’t elaborate. He only said, “It’s okay.”

“I’m nearly done,” Mino told him.

Since there was still some time to fill and Jinwoo finally got an idea about what he could ask Mino, he spoke.

“What’s the biggest tattoo you have?”

Jinwoo had seen traces of letters sticking out from under the edges of Mino’s shirt, but the fabric still did a good job at covering them up so he couldn’t see what the tattoos were.

“Well... Most of the ones I have are pretty big and roughly the same size, so I don’t know which one would be the biggest,” he said. “I can show you when we’re done.”

“Sure,” Jinwoo said, trying not to think too much about it. Even though, up until that day, he’d never gotten a tattoo himself, he did have quite a thing for them.

By the time they finished, Dongwook was also done with his work. He too came to say goodbye, telling Mino something about a big tattoo and multiple sessions, which Mino sympathised with.

And then it was finally, finally the time to set the needle aside.

That didn’t mean that Jinwoo would be resting, since Mino was again applying lotion and Jinwoo could swear to God this, the entire session, was the closest he’d let a stranger get to him and for some odd reason it didn’t feel uncomfortable for a second – in the terms of human relations, that is. The tattooing process itself was most definitely uncomfortable.

And Jinwoo was left wanting Mino’s touch not to go away, but he didn’t dare let those thoughts escalate so quickly.

While doing this and covering Jinwoo’s new, tiny tattoo in clingfilm, Mino was talking. He was telling Jinwoo all the important things about the healing process, what he should do when he gets home, how he should take care of the tattoo until it fully heals, how he will know that it has healed.

And he truly tried to pay attention – that was all important to know – but his mind kept going back to Mino’s hand on his stomach, his other holding his hip and Jinwoo felt like he couldn’t breathe.

“Got it?”

Jinwoo’s ears were buzzing. “Sure.”

Mino sighed, finally letting go of the elder. “Listen, it’s important you do exactly as I told you so we can try to avoid any trouble. Do you need me to tell you again?”

Jinwoo quickly shook his head, making his locks bounce around his face. “I promise, I got it.” He paused, his heart starting to race as he spotted an opportunity. “Maybe you can give me your number so I can ask if I forget anything...”

Jinwoo wasn’t sure if Mino’s smile was amused or fond, but it was there and it was beautiful.

“As if I wasn’t going to do that, silly. Who else are you gonna call if things go wrong?” He reached over to get a business card of simple design with four numbers printed on it. One was the shop’s number, the other two were Jiho and Dongwook’s.

“That’s me,” Mino said, pointing to the third number with his name next to it.

As if Jinwoo didn’t already know. As if his gaze wasn’t plastered to that name as soon as he saw it.

“Thank you.”

All that was left was to handle the payment and with them being the only ones in the shop there wasn’t even the machine’s buzzing to fill the silence.

But again Mino had something to say, a question that Jinwoo wasn’t quite ready to answer.

“Why did you decide to get it?”

The blonde blinked. “Huh?”

“The tattoo. You had no plan or anything so I’m only guessing it was an impulsive decision. Or was it a dare?”

“It was an impulsive decision.” Then he continued, cautiously. “But with a reason.”

“Oh? May I hear it?”

Jinwoo cleared his throat a little, clutching the card Mino had given him. “There’s this... There’s a coffee shop across the street. I used to go there to study and now I go there to work, I like the environment. And... I watched this place getting opened. One day I saw a – I saw a really handsome guy arrive on a motorcycle and I watched as he got into the shop and all I could think was... I really need his number.”

 He dared look up. Mino’s smile was now definitely amused, he clearly liked this story.

“You got a tattoo to get a number. That’s pretty impressive, most people aren’t willing to go that far for a possibility of a date,” he noted.

“What can I say, I’m reckless,” Jinwoo said and the pure sarcasm of his statement made Mino burst out laughing.

He was no longer holding back, since he didn’t need to keep himself steady. And he was mesmerizing, his smile had to be the most beautiful thing Jinwoo had ever seen.

“Well, you have all the numbers there. I hope you call your guy sometime soon, I’ll be cheering you on!” Mino hummed.

Jinwoo felt heat rise to his face at the clear teasing because there was absolutely no way Mino didn’t realize he was the guy from the story. If nothing else gave it away, he was the only one who rode a motorcycle of the three who worked at the shop and Mino had to know that.

“Right. I wouldn’t want to come on too strong though, so I might wait a little while,” Jinwoo said, deciding to play along.

“Sounds like a plan. I hear he’s pretty busy over the week too, but he does absolutely nothing on weekends.”

“Good to know,” Jinwoo said and at that point he too was smiling because he couldn’t believe Mino’s silliness. “Well, uh, see you,” he muttered and started towards the exit.

He heard Mino call out a “bye.”

At the door, however, he stopped, turning back towards the counter.

“Question,” Jinwoo said to get the other’s attention.

Mino looked up from whatever he was doing, eyebrows raised.

“Do you think it would be okay to call him for something other than tattoo matters?” Jinwoo inquired timidly.

Mino grinned. “I think he’d love that.”