Youngjae had sat with Zelo on the top deck for nearly another half hour before a rather pale Jongup came over to join them, keeping his eyes locked on the horizon as he sat next to Zelo. Knowing that Zelo was in good company with Jongup, Youngjae stood up and excused himself, slipping back off to the interior of the ship as he tried to find something, anything, to distract his swirling thoughts.

The distraction came in the form of a rather hard bump to his shoulder, and the familiar deep voice of Yongguk as the elder caught him before he feel over, “You okay, Youngjae?” he asked quickly, raising an eyebrow, “You’ve got to pay more attention to where you’re going… If you were on the top deck, you might have gone overboard”

Youngjae let out a small laugh of mostly nervousness, “Y…yeah… Sorry hyung, I’ll pay more attention next time!” he said, rubbing the back of his neck as he smiled up at Yongguk.

“Youngjae… what’s wrong?”

His shoulders slumped a little, “Am I really that much of an open book?” Youngjae asked with a slight puff of his cheeks, let out the air in an exasperated huff as Yongguk nodded in agreement, “You’re not supposed to agree, hyung!” he said, pouting just a bit now.

“Yeah, okay…” Yongguk said with a light laugh before jerking his head to the side, “Walk with me?”

Youngjae nodded a little, falling into step next to Yongguk as they walked down the near silent halls.

“Are you going to tell me what’s on your mind?”

Shaking his head softly, Youngjae shrugged, “It’s not really important, hyung… I’m just… sorting some stuff out…”

Yongguk nodded, and Youngjae couldn’t help but feel a bit of nervousness well up inside of him as Yongguk’s expression seemed to read that the elder knew exactly what Youngjae was turning over inside of his brain.

“Well, I’ll help you get your mind off of it then… Do you know where you want your tattoo?”

Youngjae blanched a little, “That thought is just going to make me more anxious!!” he cried, trying to clear his mind of even the suggestion of the tattoo.

“They really aren’t that bad, Jae!” Yongguk stopped walking before grabbing the edge of his shirt, pulling it up to reveal his own tattoo to Youngjae. The masked bunny was right at the bottom of his rib cage, the mask a deep and vibrant red with an odd sort of gas-mask type theme to it.

“Did it hurt?”

“It stung a little, and itched afterwards, but… It was more annoying than anything else…” Yongguk said as he fixed his shirt, “Don’t worry though… We only go to the best in the business. He’ll take care of you!”

Despite his nerves, Yongguk’s smile was contagious and soon Youngjae found himself smiling along with the older male. “O... okay… I’m trusting you with this, cause… those bunny things are permanent, so it better be cool!”

“Oh c’mon Jae… the Joker is literally the best tattoo artist this side of Asia, I promise.”

“I can’t do it… I really can’t.” Youngjae whined as Zelo and Jongup stood on either side of him, his arms looped into theirs as they drug him along to the small shop. The yacht had docked not too long ago into a small, unassuming port in Japan where Yongguk’s tattoo specialist worked out of. “Can’t we just draw it on with some markers and call it a day?”

“Nah-uh, hyung!” Zelo said, tugging on Youngjae’s arm to keep the blonde moving, “We’re almost there, no turning back now!”

And sure enough, there was no turning back because before he knew it, Youngjae was being pulled into a small little shop, led straight to the back and was plopped down into a reclined chair.

“Yah, what makes you think you can just waltz up in here and do whatever the hell you want?” the curtain from the back room was pushed aside as a guy with purple hair stepped out, pushing his glasses onto his face as he studied them. “Aish, who am I kidding… I want hugs now!” He paused right before he was about to hug Zelo and raised an eyebrow.

The maknae rolled his eyes, “Okay, okay! Geez, can you smell this thing or something, Junhyung hyung?” he asked, pulling the can of Coke that was hidden away in his jacket pocket before handing it to Junhyung who accepted it with a wide grin.

“Aww, Zelo-ah, you shouldn’t have~!”  He said with a light laugh as he pulled the younger into a quick hug. He made his rounds, hugging or high fiving each of the members in different fashions as he greeted each of them.

Finally he turned to Youngjae; seemingly sizing him up as he took in the younger’s appearance. “You must be the new recruit Guk was telling me about…” Junhyung turned to look at Yongguk, “He’s a bit fluffy, don’t you think?”

“I can hear you!” Youngjae pouted, crossing his arms with a pout.

Junhyung let out a little laugh before flopping into the rolling chair next to Youngjae and popping open the top on the Coke Zelo had given him, downing nearly the whole thing in one go before he set it off to the side and pulled on a pair of plain black, latex gloves, “Alright, what color and where at?” he asked, looking at Youngjae expectantly as he began to pull out the supplies he needed.

Youngjae, however, couldn’t take his eyes off the tattooing gun that lay on the work table next to him. “I… I don’t know…” He finally stuttered.

“I think it should be yellow.”

All eyes turned slowly to the brunette that was reclining back in one of the nearby chairs, his hands tucked beneath his head. “What? What’s wrong with yellow?”

“Nothing, hyung…” Jongup said, watching Daehyun, “Just… why?”

“Well, we don’t have a yellow yet… plus… Jae is like a big ball of sunshine… it’s fitting.”

Jongup shrugged in slight agreement, “That does make sense, I guess.” He turned to look at the paler then normal Youngjae as the dark blonde continued to watch in morbid fascination as Junhyung set up his tools. “What do you think, Jae hyung?”

“If yellow is the least painful color, then I’m game.”

Yongguk let out a small laugh, “There’s no need to be nervous, Youngjae… then again, five of us staring at you isn’t going to be helping much…” Yongguk turned to look at Daehyun, “We’ll be down the street when you guys get done, okay?”

Daehyun nodded before pushing himself up from his reclined position to drag over one of the empty rolling chairs like Junhyung had as he took a seat right by Youngjae’s head, “Yah… don’t watch what he’s doing… it’ll make it worse.”

Youngjae looked over to the brunette, nodding mutely. He kept his gaze locked on the other as Daehyun looked up to Junhyung.

“What’s the least painful place?”

“Probably his .”

“NO!” Youngjae practically jumped out of the chair, his cheeks a beat red as he shook his head, “Nah uh, no way am I getting it there!”

Junhyung laughed, “Okay okay… fine… How about right above your belt line, on your lower back… maybe a little to the right of your spine?”

Youngjae tried to picture the location, “Will it hurt?”

“I guess we’ll find out.”

It felt like forever until Junhyung was finished drawing out the design and ready to actually tattoo it into Youngjae’s skin. The younger was currently laying on his stomach, his arms hanging off the sides as he stared down at Daehyun, who had moved to sit on the floor right beneath him. They were in the middle of a rather intense game of Kawi Bawi Bo (with the promise of another cheesecake on the line) when Junhyung fired up the tattoo gun, the whirling mechanics bouncing around in Youngjae’s skull as his face paled.

“Hey… Down here, Youngjae.” Daehyun said, reaching up and putting his hands on either side of Youngjae’s face to keep the younger’s attention focused solely on himself.

It worked for a split second until Junhyung pressed the vibrating needle against his skin to begin the outline. Youngjae wanted nothing more than to flinch away from it as it stung into his flesh, but he remember the multiple warnings he had been given.

Move and you’ll have a permanently screwed up tattoo on your body for the rest of your life. Not that, you know, having a perfectly okay tattoo permanently on his body that symbolized a gang that he shouldn’t technically be a part of was any better.

The thoughts slid away though as Daehyun began to rub his thumbs lightly on Youngjae’s cheeks, “See, isn’t so bad, right?” He asked, smiling.

“I… I guess not…” Youngjae mumbled, trying to ignore the annoying sting as Junhyung continued to work.

“Want me to tell you a story?”

Youngjae nodded, a light smile crossing his face as he soon forgot the pain in the right side of his hip as he watched Daehyun’s face practically light up as the Busan boy dove head first into a story, his hands moving wildly to express some sort of emotion that Youngjae wasn’t quite so sure about.

A light blush spread through his cheeks as Youngjae’s focus fell from Daehyun’s all around persona and honed in on the other’s lips, watching the way the satoori flowed so easy from them. It was cute the way that every few minutes, Daehyun would his lips as to not let them get dry, not even notching as he did.

Youngjae did, however, and it only caused his blush to darken just that much more.

So what if maybe it wasn’t just some sort of school girl crush that was liable to go away in just a few short days that he had on the older brunette. Either way, he wasn’t going to ruin the mission over some ‘could have been’s. 

Aish, this could have been better... halfway through the proofreading of it, I began to fall asleep, so, sorry for any typeos... till next time~!

*simply to tired to type anyting more*

Cuddles,

Lynn