Jinwoo realized a bit too late that the way he’d been working so far would become quite distracting ever since his encounter a week ago.

Though his laptop was right there with the file opened, the manuscript that he was translating next to it and the dictionary along with it all, he was able to ignore all of that, rather living through his dilemma of whether to message Mino and if so, what to send him.

He kept glancing at the shop across the street, he couldn’t see Mino from where he was sat in the coffee shop, but he knew the younger was there and that was enough for him to panic at the mere thought of sending a message.

Every now and again Jinwoo would open their empty chat, contemplating, and then close it again. He was so immersed in the problem that he didn’t notice someone walking up to his table.

“Hi!”

The greeting startled Jinwoo out of his daze and he glanced up at the person before him, looking like a deer in headlights.

“Oh, um, hi,” he stuttered, brows furrowing at the boy who was fiddling with the lace of his apron. The green fabric had the logo of the coffee shop on it.

Jinwoo didn’t mean to be rude, he was just surprised to see anyone talking to him. He didn’t understand why anyone would want that.

“Can I sit down?” The boy asked.

If only because of how nervous he seemed, Jinwoo nodded.

“I’m Seungyoon,” he introduced himself once he was sat opposite of Jinwoo. “I’ve seen you around, you come here a lot.”

“I’m Jinwoo, nice to meet you.” He ran a hand through his hair, once again throwing a glance across the street. “Yeah, I like to work here.”

Seungyoon rested his cheek in his palm and tilted his head quizzically. “What do you mean? What do you do?”

“I’m a translator and a writer, so... I like the atmosphere here. I’ve actually been coming here to study since I was a student,” he added, finally laying his eyes on Seungyoon. “I uh, I haven’t seen you though.”

He gave a goofy grin. “You would have if I’d been here. I only came to Seoul a year ago for college and got this job, what, two months ago?”

“Oh, I see,” Jinwoo said, but he felt the conversation would die out with that. He dreaded the awkward silence that would come after.

Seungyoon didn’t let it happen. He kept chatting, “I’m sorry I approached you so suddenly, it’s just that... I don’t have any friends,” he said the last sentence through laughter, perhaps trying to make it lighter, but Jinwoo caught the way he ducked his head as he said that.

He cleared his throat and continued, “I’m on a break right now and you’re the only one I saw coming back here continuously, so...” He shrugged.

Usually, Jinwoo wasn’t the one for spontaneous friendships—Well, he had been, but that changed somewhere through college. Whatever the case, he surprisingly found Seungyoon’s presence and nervous chatter charming.

“Making friends is hard. And to just go out more is a lot easier said than done,” Jinwoo said softly. “Don’t stress too much about it and remember that it’s not wrong to sometimes go places alone.”

Seungyoon watched him and then his gaze softened, his smile widening. “Thank you. Thank you, really. I needed that.” He paused, ducking his head to think through Jinwoo’s words.

Then he straightened up, leaning in a bit over the table. “So. What about you? How’s life going? You seem... Distressed.”

Jinwoo’s smile was faint and bitter. “I kinda am. I’m supposed to be working, but I’m... Distracted.”

“Anything you can tell me about?”

Jinwoo looked to the side, his leg beginning to bounce. There was no harm in telling Seungyoon about the phone number, he just had to be careful not to say who the person was or mention his gender.

Besides, maybe Seungyoon had some advice.

“Well,” Jinwoo started, shifting in his seat. He kept his head down, fidgeting with the pages of his dictionary. “I recently got someone’s number and... I don’t know what to do.”

“That’s at least simple,” Seungyoon chirped. “Just send them a message! A simple hi will do.”

Jinwoo looked up from the lined up words, chewing on his bottom lip. “It’s not that simple. They’re a tattoo artist and, um, I got a tattoo to get that number. I’m supposed to—”

“Wait, you didn’t get tattooed just to get the number, right?” Seungyoon asked, blinking.

Jinwoo pursed his lips and gave a small nod.

Seungyoon burst out laughing, covering his mouth as he doubled over. “Oh, wow! Must be someone special then!”

“We’ll see,” Jinwoo muttered. He cleared his throat. “Anyway, I’m supposed to text them if something goes wrong or I need some help. I did imply that I’d like to... Well, talk and... But I’m still not sure...”

Seungyoon had by then calmed down and he was listening, nodding along. He placed his palms flat on the table, looking at the sugar container that was in the middle. “If you made it clear that you’re interested, the same strategy applies. Except that you can use the situation to your advantage,” he added, now looking up.

Jinwoo narrowed his eyes, cautious. “What do you mean..?”

“Here’s what you do – you say something along the lines of: hi, everything’s alright with the tattoo, but I was wondering how you’re doing. It’s simple, friendly and steps over the professional boundary.”

Jinwoo blinked and nodded, then nodded again. “That’s good. That’s really good,” he mumbled. He grabbed his phone, now determined and inspired by Seungyoon.

When he opened the chat that time, he didn’t chicken out and close it. He sent,

[xxjjjwww] Hi

[xxjjjwww] Everything’s fine with the tattoo, don’t worry

[xxjjjwww] But how are you?

And then he panicked and closed the chat. When he looked up from his phone, with a proud little smile on his face, he saw Seungyoon smiling right back at him.

“There you go! I gotta go back to work now, though but let me know how that went, okay?”

Jinwoo nodded. “Thank you. Really.”

From that moment on, Jinwoo was finally able to get his mind off of Mino and get his gaze off of the shop across the street. He was able to lose himself in his work, in redesigning sentences and searching for words.

Before he truly got back to work though, he threw a glance at the counter where Seungyoon was chatting up a customer while making their coffee.

He’d never thought he’d even think anything like that, but he was really glad he got approached that day.

* * *

The reply came in the evening when Jinwoo was long done with work, curled up on the couch with a book on his knees and a cup of tea in his hands.

He wasn’t used to his phone ringing – it could be off silent an entire day and still not let out a single sound because he hardly talked to anyone and most of the communication needed for work went down in emails.

So the little ping of his phone startled him quite a bit. But once he realized what was going on, both objects he’d been holding got set aside and he grabbed his phone, holding his breath as he read the reply.

[realllllmino] oh hi! glad to hear ^^

[realllllmino] i'm exhausted but fine otherwise

As Jinwoo stared at these two messages he wished he had Seungyoon by his side, because he had no idea how to respond. He still wanted to ask Mino out, but he didn’t know how.

Thankfully, Mino proved to be the smarter of the two – or more impatient.

[realllllmino] what about you? what've you been up to?

[realllllmino] though i saw you at the cafe today

[realllllmino] uuh not in a creepy way

Jinwoo watched as the messages kept coming and he felt his tension clear away, with relief taking its place. So, Mino was chatty. At least he seemed to want the conversation to keep going.

[xxjjjwww] Hhhhh that’s okay! Yeah, I was working

[realllllmino] yeah yeah

[realllllmino] how’s that going?

[xxjjjwww] It’s going well, just... Well, my job allows me to slack off a lot and it’s frustrating

[realllllmino] maybe you just need the right motivation

[xxjjjwww] I guess so

Jinwoo bit his lip, feeling like the conversation was going in the direction off a cliff, where it would fall into oblivion. But once again Mino was the one who came to the rescue.

[realllllmino] here’s an idea: how about you give yourself a goal to reach until this weekend and if you do it, i’ll go out with you

Jinwoo stared at the screen. He put his phone aside, stood up and walked a lap around the couch. Then he dropped back onto it, grabbed his phone and read the message again.

It was still there and it was true.

Mino had just asked Jinwoo out, for him.

It had never been this... This easy. Jinwoo had always had to chase the guy.

He needed a moment to collect himself.

[xxjjjwww] I was wondering if you would. After all you still haven’t shown me your tattoos

[realllllmino] oh right, i said i’d do that

[realllllmino] then you should show me yours kkk

[xxjjjwww] You’re my tattoo artist, of course I’ll show you

[realllllmino] i can’t wait

[realllllmino] hit me up on friday then

Only then did Jinwoo allow himself a moment of celebration.

He was exhilarated. He hadn’t felt that excited for a date since his last relationship—

But no. He didn’t want to think about his ex or exes at the moment. He wanted to think about Mino and their upcoming date and, of course, he wanted to focus on setting a goal to reach by Saturday.

It was miraculous, really. For the first time in a while he was truly motivated.

* * *

As he made Jinwoo’s coffee, Seungyoon kept glancing at him, evaluating, with a knowing little smile on his lips.

“You’re in a good mood today,” he noted.

Jinwoo bounced on his heels and shrugged, though his own happy smile was giving him away.

“I do have you to thank for that,” he said.

Seungyoon raised his eyebrows. “Me?”

“You helped me send that text. And long story short I have date this weekend.”

Seungyoon’s smile softened. “I’m so happy for you... Guess it’s a good day for the both of us,” he said and handed Jinwoo his coffee.

Foam cup in hand, he stepped aside to let the person behind him place their order before he asked,

“What happened?”

Understandably so, Seungyoon was all smiles, keeping his head down while he worked. “Nothing happened yet, we’re just... We’re just talking. But I want to ask them out soon.”

Jinwoo had missed this feeling; the second hand happiness one feels when looking at someone else who is happy. He hadn’t had anyone in his life to feel that for for so long. It was quite a healing emotion.

“I’m glad... I know out of the two of us apparently you’re the one who doesn’t need advice, but still, if you need anything I’m here.”

“I think I’m better at helping others than myself,” Seungyoon admitted. “But aren’t we all?”

Jinwoo nodded, a sympathetic little smile on his lips. “In that case, I’m here for you.”

* * *

That day started oddly good. Everything was far too perfect to be true.

It was sunny outside, the early morning rays illuminated Jinwoo’s room in such a way that made it look like a well edited photograph. Waking up in that scene felt surreal.

Even his breakfast that morning looked instagram-worthy, the coffee and pastries on the floral table cloth with Jinwoo’s favourite book on the side.

He hadn’t noticed it until then, but his desk too looked like something straight out of a room décor catalogue, and it made it very pleasant to work there.

What was he working on? Just something on the side, seeing as he’d already reached his set goal the day before.

And yes, it meant that he would be going out with Mino that day.

He’d messaged the younger the evening before telling him that his part of the deal was fulfilled and Mino had happily proposed a time and offered to pick him up.

That moment was fast approaching but surprisingly Jinwoo wasn’t nervous. After so long with no dating whatsoever, one would think that he’d be anxious or excited. And, well, he was, but he was kind of numb to both of those sensations.

It was good in a way. Jinwoo didn’t like freaking out about things, it was too exhausting. He wished he could feel a bit more of the positive emotions though, but still. If that was the price he had to pay to get rid of anxiety, he’d take it.

Things were still perfect while he was getting ready. He’d put on a random playlist, and yet every song was his favourite, one after another. His makeup and outfit were on point and the most surprising thing was that when Jinwoo stood in front of the mirror, he liked what he saw.

He stood there and when his phone buzzed, receiving the message that Mino was out front, he felt the little sting of nervous excitement, just enough to make him smile.

He went out.

“Wow.”

It was the first thing Mino said upon seeing Jinwoo.

He was leaning against the side of his bike in a way that made it look unstable, but Mino was relaxed as ever. After all, he knew what he was doing.

“You got all dressed up for me?” He inquired in a teasing tone with that smirk of his.

Jinwoo blushed a little, fixed the strap of his bag on his shoulder. “I didn’t—I always dress up—”

“I’m messing with you,” Mino interrupted. Then he added, in a much softer tone, “You look beautiful.”

Jinwoo dropped his gaze and shifted from foot to foot, unsure what to say.

“Oh, I have something for you,” Mino then said and started to search the pockets of his leather jacket, of which there were many. “There it is!” He exclaimed as he took out a piece of folded paper. He handed it to Jinwoo.

Curious, the elder opened it to see it was a page torn out of a sketchbook. There was hardly any room that wasn’t covered in doodles. Jinwoo tried to take it all in, to take note of every detail, but he realized quickly that there was too much going on on that single page. He would have to sit down and dedicate some time to looking it all over. What caught his attention immediately, though, was the cat sitting atop rooftops, looking at the stars.

“I thought, flowers are overrated,” Mino said. He couldn’t help but smile proudly at Jinwoo’s astonished reaction.

“And anyway, there’s flowers in there,” he added and pointed to the corner of the page where, indeed, there were lilies drawn in ink.

Jinwoo’s lips curled into a smile as he laid his eyes on the word in the middle, winner, written in Chinese, just like his tattoo.

“Thank you,” he said, carefully folding the paper how it had been, and putting it in his pocket.

“So, where do you wanna go?” Mino asked, putting his hands in his pockets.

“Oh, um…” As if Jinwoo hadn’t overthought it all already and didn’t have a prepared answer. “There’s this diner… It has really nice pancakes. I, uh, I really like sweets.”

Mino pouted and nodded once. “I can see that. After all, you’re a total sweetie.”

Jinwoo didn’t understand it, he really couldn’t. How could Mino flirt so shamelessly and be so casual about it? Then again it wasn’t unexpected. Jinwoo figured he probably flirted with everyone and… It was working. Jinwoo liked the attention. He was getting caught way too easily, but that was to be expected too. He was only slightly disappointed with himself.

“Anyways, tell me where it is and we can get those pancakes,” he continued as if he’d said nothing odd. But he must have been aware of Jinwoo’s blush. Mino mounted his bike, expecting Jinwoo to follow – which he did, although with a tiny bit of hesitation.

“Sure,” the elder muttered, trying not to think about how he’d be clinging to Mino throughout the ride – because falling off the back of a motorcycle wasn’t something he’d do on a first date.

Mino watched him, took note of Jinwoo’s evident nervousness and his smile grew all the more amused. “First time?”

Jinwoo nodded shyly.

The younger grinned. “Don’t worry, just hold on tight.”

Jinwoo’s heart had been racing the entire time – mix together the speed and the fact that he was completely pressed up against Mino and you got one boy who could hardly breathe. Upon reaching their destination and getting to stand on his own feet again, Jinwoo concluded that he might be able to get used to racing against the wind, but clinging to Mino like that would likely always make him breathless.

Mino stood in front of the door, looking up at the neon sign. He nodded approvingly. “It looks nice,” he said and very casually hooked his arm to Jinwoo’s. “Shall we?”

This wasn’t helping Jinwoo’s heart situation.

Call him sappy, but the entire scene looked like something straight out of Grease, only more modern. And Mino, with his leather jacket, ripped jeans and many buttons as decoration, fit right into the picture.

Sitting opposite of him in one of the booths, Jinwoo watched him talk. He wasn’t exactly listening to what Mino was going on about – it was all just banter anyway – but still, that was on him.

Jinwoo only snapped out of it when Mino stopped talking.

“I kind of feel like I don’t have your attention,” Mino said softly, not to make it sound sarcastic.

Jinwoo straightened up, clearing his throat. “I’m sorry, I… I was distracted.”

“How so?” Mino insisted.

Jinwoo took one of the napkins with the diner’s logo on it and started picking at it, keeping his eyes fixed on that task instead of Mino. “I was thinking about how well you fit in here. Like a… picture from a moodboard or a photo card or… I don’t know. You’re… you’re just really—handsome—”

Mino watched Jinwoo stumble over his words with a small smile on his lips. “I do have that biker aesthetic, don’t I,” he said in an amused tone.

Jinwoo gave a small nod, shrinking a bit into himself.

Mino leaned in, whispering, “You know what we should do?”

He waited for Jinwoo to look up, for their eyes to meet before he continued,

“We should come here in some ridiculous time of the day, like 5 am, when the place is completely empty and have a photoshoot, just the two of us.”

As if that suggestion wasn’t amazing already, he went on,

“Although we’d need someone to take a picture of us together, there—” he pointed to one of the walls. The entire place was decorated with different kinds of text on the walls and Mino was pointing to the one that read “no dancing in the aisles”, “I want to have a picture of us dancing there.”

“That sounds incredible,” Jinwoo whispered.

Mino too took a napkin and started twisting it this way and that. Jinwoo watched his hands move, watched as the napkin transformed into a rose right in front of him. It was a bit lumpy because of the inadequate paper, but it was holding up.

When it was done, Mino offered it to Jinwoo.

“I thought you said that flowers were overrated,” the elder remarked.

Mino pouted. “If you don’t want it…”

“No, I do!”

The younger smiled and tucked the paper flower behind Jinwoo’s ear.

It was surreal. All so surreal.

Over the course of their dinner Jinwoo found it easier and easier to relax and just talk to Mino. Even though it seemed impossible, he even got used to his handsomeness, his glimmering little smile, his dimple, the way he leaned in when he talked, his subtle touchiness.

Or maybe it was the table between them that was making it easy to get used to all those things. But either way, Jinwoo was feeling good. He was enjoying the conversation, the presence; it had been a while since he’d had a good conversation.

He liked it. He’d missed it. It was nice to talk to Mino.

But as the end of their evening approached, Jinwoo kept thinking about that one thing that he wanted to do, but was unsure how to bring up. It was when they’d paid and were preparing to leave that Jinwoo finally decided to speak up.

“You, uh… you still haven’t shown me your tattoos,” he said, trying to keep his tone as casual as possible.

Mino stopped wiggling out of the booth and he grinned. “Oh, yeah! Probably shouldn’t do it here though.”

Jinwoo nodded in agreement, although he hadn’t really thought about where they could do that.

Once standing, Mino took Jinwoo’s hand and started leading him towards the bathroom.

Oh.

Jinwoo’s heart was speeding up again.

Mino pulled him inside and into one of the stalls. He seemed awfully unbothered by the few people who were there, giving them judgmental looks.

Inside, Mino shrugged off his jacket and handed it to Jinwoo with a “hold this.” Then he took off his shirt too.

He opened his arms, letting Jinwoo have a look. And maybe, just maybe his smile was no longer amused or teasing, but shy.

Jinwoo got the strangest urge to touch him, to run his fingers over the letters on Mino's shoulders and neck, under his collarbone, on his chest.

But of course, he wasn’t confident enough for such a thing, and besides, he had self control.

He only stepped closer to be able to properly read all of the text on Mino’s body and have a look at his arms too.

But up close like that Jinwoo could see that Mino was getting uncomfortable the longer he was exposed so Jinwoo stepped back and said a small “thank you” as indication that he was done looking.

Mino pulled his shirt and jacket back on. “Now you,” he hummed, crossing his arms.

Jinwoo rolled his eyes. “Well, it’s only fair…” he pretended that it was a huge bother, even though he knew he wouldn’t be exposing himself nearly as much as Mino had.

He pulled up his shirt for Mino to see the nearly healed tattoo that was just above the rim of his jeans.

Mino didn’t hesitate at all, easily taking Jinwoo’s hips and lightly brushing his thumb over the characters. His touch was so sudden that Jinwoo nearly flinched away. The younger must have caught his little wince because he made sure not to linger and let go quickly.

“Sometimes I’m just so proud of my work,” Mino said, smiling brightly.

Jinwoo tugged his shirt back down and did one button of his coat. “Yeah, it turned out nice..”

“I hope you’re not regretting it,” Mino added as he opened the door and walked out with Jinwoo.

He shook his head quickly. “No, not at all. I like it, I—really, I do.”

Mino smiled and once again hooked their arms together like he had on their way inside. “I hope it was worth it. Getting the number and going out with the guy, I mean. I hope he didn’t disappoint.”

Jinwoo shuffled closer to him – which was something he was hardly ever comfortable enough to do – and said, “It was nice. He was very sweet and kind. I loved talking to him. I just feel like he’s out of my league, you know.”

Mino clicked his tongue. “Who even uses that argument anymore? No one is ever out of your league, let me tell you. And I’m sure things aren’t what they seem. I’m sure he just… knows how to act confident.”

Jinwoo went quiet, thinking about it for a second. They had stopped in front of the door, standing opposite of each other. It was dark outside with the light from the diner illuminating them.

Jinwoo looked up at Mino and offered a reassuring smile. “Thank you for tonight,” he said sincerely. “I haven’t… it’s been a while.”

“Hey, no problem, it was my pleasure. This was… different,” Mino said but didn’t elaborate even when Jinwoo gave him a confused look.

Instead he just said, “I’d like to take you out again sometime.”

Jinwoo smiled. “I’d love that.”