Junhoe was lying comfortably under his blanket, the sound of his usual stupid games filling the room as he was busy tapping on his phone screen out of sheer boredom. He peeked at his clock and broke into a smile, his classmates were probably released from their last lesson now while he spent the day at home after catching a little cold. The only thing he felt guilty about was that this being his last year of school, he should have been more responsible towards his studies. But this was only the third week of the misery he had ahead of him, so he thought he could rest a bit.

He enjoyed being at home alone without having to worry about anything, there was no one he could disturb and there was no one who could disturb him. Being the only child was a huge benefit when your parents were away for a business trip.

He was about to win the game when a phone call messed up everything. Junhoe glared daggers at his friend’s name before he decided to swipe green.

He waited a second before he spoke. “Yes?”

“Finally! What took you so long?”

He sighed. He wasn’t in the mood to argue right now. “What do you want, Hanbin?”

“I guess you are really sick if you’re not even responding as you usually do. Anyway, my friend just called and he’ll be at your place in an hour or so to tattoo you.”

“What?!” Junhoe jumped as quickly as he heard his friend, not caring about pulling half of his sheets after him. “Hanbin! This was supposed to happen on Friday!”

“Yeah, but he called and asked if you are free today, and since you are, I told him it’s okay. Don’t worry, I’m on my way to you.” It was audible now that the boy started walking.

“But I’m alone! My parents are away for the entire week!”

“Your parents? I thought you said that your father agreed to pay it for you. Junhoe, did you lie?” Hanbin stopped for a second, but he didn’t wait for the answer and continued to walk.

“No, he really gave me the money, but… How do you know this guy again?” Junhoe gulped.

“His father works with mine, he’s a cool guy, he did my tattoo last year, remember? Though he is a college student, he works part time as a tattoo artist downtown, but he mostly goes to houses.”

Of course Junhoe remembered. He only asked to be sure, because this situation was still unbelievable to him, he’s wanted to get a tattoo for a long time now, and when he started to think more about the idea during the summer, he didn’t take it into account that he can get it so soon. His father was more supportive of his wish than he would had ever dreamed of, his mother was a bit reluctant at first, but apparently only because she thought her husband wouldn’t be happy about their son being inked for a life.

Junhoe looked at the clock again, he squeezed his phone tight as a surge of anxiety washed all over his body, as if the temperature has dropped many degrees within seconds and suddenly he was trembling when he crawled back to bed to hide under the warm blanket where he felt safe. The thought of cancelling the whole thing was tempting enough to mull over it, but then all those hours he spent to figure it out what he would really like would have gone to waste.

The more he pondered about it, the more he realized that the knot in his stomach is not necessarily a bad thing, it was alright to be scared. After all he was just an eighteen year old teenage boy who hadn’t gotten a tattoo yet, and everyone was saying he should prepare for the worst because it would hurt like hell. Although he considered himself as someone who had high pain threshold, these thoughts were just getting into his head.

His excitement didn’t go away at all, Hanbin simply caught him by surprise with his call, he didn’t have much time to get ready and when he imagined himself falling asleep tonight with his freshly made tattoo, it was just too surreal to be true. He awaited this for weeks now, so he had to pinch his arm to make sure he wasn’t dreaming. The loud beating of his heart helped in the persuasion.

“Come on, stop pacing, I’m starting to get dizzy!” Hanbin threw a pillow at him from the couch where he was sitting calmly like nothing meaningful was about to happen.

Junhoe caught his friend’s generous gift to him, then hugged it while he sat down on the small table in front of the boy who was still in his uniform. Deep down inside, Junhoe appreciated what Hanbin was doing for him.

He opened his mouth to reply, but the doorbell rang.

Hanbin got up smirking and patted Junhoe’s shoulder as he walked past him. “I’ll let him in, so you’ll have time to put on your big-boy pants.”

Junhoe buried his face into his hands and grunted in response, but stood up and put the pillow back where it belonged. He heard a cheery voice coming closer, just as he took a deep breath, his eyes met with two dark ones which were shining with glee.

He felt his face heat up and he didn’t know where to look or what to say, because the guy standing in the doorway was nothing he’s imagined. He had a muscular body, but with no visible tattoos all over him and instead the bad boy attitude he’s expected he saw a cheerful (and probably really cool) guy.

“So hyung, he is your victim today, Koo Junhoe.”

Junhoe really wanted to make Hanbin the victim by murdering him straightaway, but he didn’t get the chance thanks to his guest’s chuckle.

“Nice to meet you Junhoe, I’m Jiwon.” Jiwon offered a hand which Junhoe didn’t hesitate to shake, maintaining the eye contact while he muttered some greetings back. Why was he so mesmerized by Jiwon’s voice?

Hanbin on the other hand raised his eyebrows after hearing Bobby introduced himself with his birth name that he didn’t do often when he was in his tattoo artist mode. He also noticed how Junhoe became almost shy around him however usually he was much more easygoing.

Right, he might have forgotten that the two of them were totally each other’s types.

“Umm, is the couch okay? Or I don’t know, should we go to my bed?” Junhoe only realized what he just said when Hanbin bit his bottom lip in an attempt to stifle his laughter, and an amused smile played on Jiwon’s lips too. “I… I m-mean…” He kept looking at Hanbin desperately for help because his brain completely shut down and he couldn’t even think of how he should correct himself in a non-awkward way.

Jiwon chuckled. “Don’t worry, man! This is not the weirdest thing I’ve heard. Though I would wait with that bed invitation until we get to know each other better.” He winked at him as he walked to the couch to put his things down.

Junhoe was beet red by now, his heart was racing in his chest and his friend’s knowing look didn’t help his case either. He liked the man’s attitude, but that was the root of the problem. He couldn’t decide whether Jiwon was actually flirting or not, he could easily say these things just to lighten up the mood a bit.

“Hyung! Do you want something to drink?” Hanbin saved him by taking over the role of the host, he moved around in the Koo household as if it was his second home, and Junhoe’s mother liked joking about that she had two sons.

Junhoe was grateful, Hanbin obviously knew the man better and knew how to interfere if he had to.

“Ah, yes, please. Water would be good.” Jiwon nodded while he was packing out stuff what Junhoe saw for the first time in his life.

Hanbin went to the kitchen to get the water, leaving Junhoe alone with the older, so he gathered all his courage to walk next to Jiwon, which was ridiculous because this was his house, he should have been the one leading the other and feeling confident.

“You’re a big Michael Jackson fan, huh?”

Junhoe blinked slowly at him trying to process the question because he payed much more attention to his own thougts. Then the realization hit him. “Oh, yeah. I’ve been a fan since I was a kid.”

Jiwon hummed and smiled. When he finished taking out everything he needed, he put the bag on the floor and pointed to the small table where Junhoe was sitting before. “Is it okay if I sit on it?”

“Sure.” Junhoe nodded and took a seat on the couch, heart beating loudly in his chest. He still couldn’t believe it that he is going to get his first tattoo, this was just unrealistic.

It felt like only a minute passed after Hanbin returned with the water and Jiwon drank it while the two were talking about some neutral things, Junhoe didn’t zone out completely, he caught some word but all lost their meaning to him. Should he join them too? It wasn’t rude too remain silent and let Hanbin do the friendly interactions, was it?

Junhoe didn’t know what he should say, he didn’t want Jiwon to think of him as some awkward kid who couldn’t put his thoughts into words, but also didn’t want the older to see him as some rude teenager who only cared about his tattoo and nothing else. When he was finally about to open his mouth, Jiwon was more than ready to mark his skin with a tattoo needle.

Everything progressed quickly from there, Junhoe was already lying on the couch with a stiff posture, his fingers intertwined on top of his abdomen, eyes watching every move of Jiwon’s. The older’s smile was calm, so after a while Junhoe relaxed a bit, the cool demeanor helped too in the process, because he felt he was in good hands.

Hanbin stood behind the couch, but stayed close to his friend in case he needed to provide emotional support, and silently examined the two main stars of this event. He was proud of Junhoe in some ways, he thought for a moment that the boy would back out as soon as he saw the needle or heard the sound of the tattoo machine, but so far he didn’t protest. Hanbin could see the understanding in Jiwon’s eyes, he must have noticed how nervous the boy was and tried to distract him with his ordinary questions and funny remarks. It was working.

He couldn’t help but tease them when Jiwon was a second away from starting the work. “Hyung, don’t mix up the picture with your phone number accidentally, Junhoe will be grateful if you write it down on just a paper.”

Jiwon smirked at him. “Ah and you should watch out, Hanbin-ah, my hand might slip towards you with the machine still functioning. Right, Junhoe?” He winked at the boy.

Junhoe could only nod, his face was light red again. Hanbin grinned and patted his shoulder, then shut his mouth. He hoped though that his friends will keep in touch after this.

Junhoe looked away when the machine buzzed again, he instinctively reached for Hanbin’s hand that was resting on the couch above Junhoe’s head. Hanbin squeezed back at the exact moment when the needle met his skin, leaving permanent marks after itself.

Jiwon stopped after the first line to ask him if he was alright, he quickly got the green light so he didn’t waste any time to continue the tattoo.

Junhoe realized it wasn’t as bad as he’s imagined. His heart was still beating loudly, but he was more excited than afraid, and when he found out that he couldn’t see anything from the man leaning over his leg, his eyes were practically glued to the sight. There was something fascinating in the way Jiwon concentrated on his work. On his leg.

It was too good to be true. Junhoe couldn’t believe it was happening to him, it felt like a dream, a really good one on top of that. Maybe he thought the pain was bearable only because he let his excitement take over him, but that wasn’t totally correct.

Sometimes it felt like Jiwon only pressed a pen on the surface of his skin and swinged that on the lines, sometimes he only heard the buzzing sound of the machine and didn’t feel anything, but sometimes the pain struck him hard, making him clench his teeth, merely for passing seconds though and then it was peace in his body again.

It was all over in the blink of an eye. Junhoe was surprised because almost an hour felt like a couple of minutes, the pain didn’t even bother him towards the end, he focused on talking with Hanbin and Jiwon. He felt comfortable talking to Jiwon.

“So how bad was it?” Jiwon was packing away the stuffs he used. Junhoe sat up with a happy grin on his face.

“It wasn’t that bad! I find it worse when they take your blood.” He answered with shoulders shuddering a little from the past experiences, earning a laugh from Jiwon and Hanbin. “Hey, but it’s true!”

Junhoe got up to his feet, he only felt now that his right leg was a little numb, but he reached to the conclusion that it was totally worth it as he stared down at his freshly made tattoo. An iconic Michael Jackson dancing shape.

“Do you like it?”

“I love it! Thank you so so much!” He clapped his hands together and bowed. The tattoo looked better than he thought it would, it was truly beautiful.

Jiwon’s favourite part of his job wasn’t the actual work part, of course he enjoyed that too, but it was way better looking at his clients’ faces after they saw the result of his work and their suffering. The look on Junhoe’s face was priceless, pure happiness and amazement, his heart filled with warmth at the sight of that.

Maybe he should really leave his phone number on a paper to see what comes out of it. He might get a new friend to hang out with or they might become more. Either way, he liked the boy’s company and he’d have loved to be around him.

One and a half years later

Junhoe was heading to his flat near the campus after his day officially ended, when his phone started ringing, he quickly grabbed it from his pocket and smiled at the name. He’s been waiting for this call all day.

“Hey babe.”

“Hey, Junhoe-yah. How was your day?”

“It was fine. I’m going home now. Are you driving again while you are on the phone?” Junhoe scowled as he heard the car moving. Somehow he could always tell when his boyfriend broke his promise to him. He was just simply scared because the other had a minor car crash last winter, and although the man was over it, Junhoe was certainly not.

He shut his eyes as the awful memories returned.

“Yeah, sorry. I’m a bit late, but I swear I’m paying attention to the road too, okay?”

“You better! When are you coming home? Should I order something?” Junhoe stopped at the red light and waited patiently to be able to walk across the street.

“I don’t know, it depends on traffic and how long I will be there at Donghyuk’s place.”

“Donghyuk? The hot one with the cute smile?” Junhoe narrowed his eyes as the boy’s face popped up in his mind.

“Yes, the hot one with the cute smile.” Junhoe almost couldn’t believe that his boyfriend had the nerve to laugh at him!

“Yah, Kim Jiwon! You don’t have to repeat every word I say.”

“Sorry, babe. But just so you know, Donghyuk thinks you are pretty cool and he also said that we are cute together.”

“He did?” Junhoe halted for a second, but quickly continued to wak when he realized he’s in the middle of a crowded street. He reached their shared apartment (which was technically Jiwon’s, he just moved in when he started university) not long after that.

“Yeah, but I gotta go now. See you later?”

Junhoe put his bag down and walked to the kitchen. “Yes, I’ll wait you with dinner.”

“Thanks, Junhoe-yah. I love you!”

“I love you too!” Junhoe had a wide smile on his face, his heart still fluttered hearing the words. After they hung up, he called Hanbin and invited him over to study together.

Junhoe was sure that it was his best decision in his life that he let Hanbin choose the guy who made his tattoo.