Donghae was having trouble falling asleep and he realized it was because he was thinking about it again. What was the creature on Hyukjae’s hip? He had been mulling over the question nonstop for days. It was silver with a hint of blue, just like the moon tattooed on Hyukjae’s side. Was it a fish? Fish were silver. Did it have scales? He couldn’t remember. Donghae only knew it was a creature because he had seen one of its eyes peeking from between the flowers. The creature’s eyes resembled Hyukjae’s, almond-shaped, mono-lidded, beautiful round irises... But what kind of creature was it? The artist had said the tiger on his arm represented courage, so Donghae was sure the creature on his hip had a deeper meaning too. Did fish have a meaning?

Feeling frustrated, Donghae picked up his phone from the nightstand. The obvious solution was to just call the artist and ask him about it. Donghae was a badass, he even had the piercing to prove it, but when it came to calling his crush on the phone… He wasn’t scared. Nope. He just thought it was rude to call so late at night. Yup. So, he decided to text Hyukjae instead. That’s the only reason. It definitely wasn’t because he was shy.

Donghae didn’t want Hyukjae to know how obsessed he was, so he couldn’t ask the man about the tattoo right away. His plan was to ask the gorgeous artist some questions about his piercing first; that’s why Sunny had given him the number after all. He’d ask some harmless questions about his piercing and then casually slip in some questions about Hyukjae’s tattoo too. It was the perfect plan.

He felt heat rise to his cheeks as he typed a quick message to the artist and sent it immediately to keep himself from chickening out. While waiting for Hyukjae’s response, Donghae read what he had typed and groaned. "How long does the piercing hurt?" Apparently, his nervous habit of blurting things out also applied to text messages. Instead of sending a greeting, asking Hyukjae if he was awake, or identifying himself, Donghae had simply blurted out the first random question that had popped into his head. Thankfully, Hyukjae responded right away, so he didn’t have to wallow in his regret for long.

“Hi Donghae.”

He knows it’s me? If he saved my number how come he never called?! Don’t be delusional, Donghae! He probably has caller ID. Hyukjae’s first message was quickly followed by another.

"It shouldn't hurt unless you're playing with it."

"I'm not playing with it!"

"Then it shouldn't hurt. Is it infected? Send me a photo."

Donghae's eyes went wide, and he shook his head vehemently. He had only asked one question, but his perfect plan was already falling apart. There was no way he was going to send Hyukjae a pic! "It doesn't hurt, it's fine."

"Then why did you ask?"

Donghae scowled at the text and threw his phone across the bed. He rolled onto his side with his back facing the device and covered his face with his hands. Not only had he not learned anything about Hyukjae's tattoo, but now the tattoo artist thought he had an infected ! Donghae groaned miserably.

A few hours later, Donghae was still in bed, when the doorbell rang and woke him up. He padded over to the intercom as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "Yes?" The person on the small screen turned around and if it wasn't for his familiar voice Donghae wouldn't have recognized him at all!

"It's me, open up."

Donghae gasped and his eyes went wide, then he squinted at the screen. "Hyukjae?!"

"Yeah. Let me in."

It was definitely Hyukjae, but not the Hyukjae Donghae was used to seeing. This Hyukjae was wearing an oversized sweater that barely let his fingers poke through and showed off his collarbones. He was wearing converse sneakers and big round glasses! He had no visible tattoos or piercings. At least the ripped skinny jeans were familiar. "What are you doing here?"

"You know why I'm here. Open the damn door," Hyukjae growled. He was irritated, but he was also aware that people passing by on the street could hear their conversation, so he didn't want to announce anything specific.

"Uhh… hold on." Donghae saw Hyukjae glaring at him through the camera, but it couldn't be helped. He quickly glanced around the house; it was messy, but thankfully not dirty, so it would have to do. Next, he checked his reflection and cursed. He was a mess! He tried to smooth out his bedhead as he ran to the bathroom and grabbed his toothbrush. After brushing his teeth, he quickly washed his face and applied a few skin products. By the time he returned to the intercom to buzz Hyukjae in, the man looked pissed.

He held the front door open as he waited for Hyukjae to make his way up the elevator, and he smiled brightly when he saw the man. Thankfully, Hyukjae's expression also softened when he saw Donghae. "Hi," Donghae greeted him shyly.

Hyukjae caressed Donghae's glowing cheek and gave him a soft kiss on the lips out of curiosity. Mint. The last of his annoyance evaporated away and Hyukjae smiled at the adorable brunet. He decided to forgive Donghae for making him wait since it was obvious what the man had done with the time. Letting the kiss be his greeting, Hyukjae walked past Donghae and let himself into the apartment.

"Um, I wasn't expecting a guest, so it's kind of a mess. If you had called, I would have met you somewhere." As Hyukjae walked around and looked through his house, Donghae studied Hyukjae's new concept. Cute nerdy Hyukjae was undoubtedly hot and Donghae was beginning to think there was never a situation when Hyukjae wasn't hot. Submissive, aggressive, nerdy- Donghae wanted it all. He was suddenly pulled out of his thoughts when Hyukjae turned to face him and arched an eyebrow.

"I did call."

Donghae frowned, then the memory of throwing his phone across the bed returned to him. "Oh!" He ran to the bedroom and found the phone hiding in the covers. He turned it on and felt his cheeks heat up when he saw the handful of texts and phone calls he had ignored from Hyukjae. He started to read through them, they were mostly questions asking about his health and his address, when he felt something hot caress his neck. Hyukjae's breath. The man had followed Donghae into the bedroom and was reading the texts over his shoulder. Donghae squeaked and jumped as he turned to face the artist. "I fell asleep, and the volume was turned off," he admitted sheepishly.

"It's probably better like this anyway," Hyukjae said as glanced at the bed before returning his gaze to Donghae. Donghae followed the direction of Hyukjae's glance and when he saw the bed, he his lips nervously. Hyukjae moved closer to the brunet and Donghae backed away from him shyly, which amused Hyukjae. What did the little kitten think he was going to do? Hyukjae herded the nervous brunet towards the bed and when the back of Donghae's legs hit the mattress, Donghae squeaked again and Hyukjae grinned. "Get on the bed," he ordered.

"Why?"

Hyukjae ignored the question as his agile fingers worked on untying the drawstring of Donghae's pajama pants.

"Wait! You told me not to get hard until it heals."

"You're right. I did."

Donghae slapped Hyukjae's hand away, and quickly tied the drawstring into a knot. "Stop it!"

Hyukjae huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. "Then you do it!"

"No."

"You don't have anything to be ashamed of."

"How would you know? Did you peek?!"

"I didn’t peek. I saw the measurements when I ordered your jewelry."

"For a tattoo artist, you sure do a lot of things that have nothing to do with tattoos," Donghae pouted.

"Tell me about it," Hyukjae said with a laugh and a nod.

"Do you always burst into your client's homes to look at their ? This is crazy."

Hyukjae scoffed. "You reached out to me and said something was wrong. If it makes you feel better, we can go to The Dungeon and I'll check it there. Or you can take a picture and send it to Sunny. I don't really care which one you choose, but it needs to be checked."

"No, it doesn't!"

"Why are you being so stubborn? It's really difficult to get an infection because your urine sterilizes the wound every time you pee, but if it hurts, then it's best to check it to be safe. I'm not going to judge you or think less of you, I just need to make sure you're okay."

"I don't have an infection! It was just an excuse to call you!" Donghae snapped. "You're so dense!" Hyukjae's lips curled into a gummy smile and Donghae thought it was incredibly unfair for the artist to look so adorable after being so annoying. "And why are you dressed like that anyway?!" He snapped.

Hyukjae looked down at himself in confusion. "If you wanted to call me, you could have just called me. And what's wrong with my clothes? Is that what you wanted to talk about?"

"No. I wanted to ask-" Donghae cut off his words before he could embarrass himself more. He took a deep breath and looked at the artist, but he couldn't think of anything to say that would save the situation. At least he had stopped himself from blurting out more nonsense.

Hyukjae smiled softly and tilted his head towards the door. "Can I have something to drink?"

"Sure." Donghae walked towards the kitchen and was followed by Hyukjae. The artist jumped up and sat on the counter as Donghae moved around the kitchen preparing tea. He was thankful to be out of the bedroom and to have something to do.

"Thanks," Hyukjae said as he accepted a mug of tea from the brunet. Donghae leaned against the wall across from him and sipped at his own tea. He waited a moment as he admired the brunet before beginning the conversation again. "You called me kind of late, so I just threw something on to come over, but I don't think it looks bad."

"It doesn't look bad. I'm just not used to seeing you in casual clothes, so I didn't recognize you. Do you wear contacts at work? Is it hard to work with glasses?"

Hyukjae laughed and shook his head as he took the glasses off. "They're just a fashion accessory. I didn't want to put on eyeliner, so I wore these to hide my face. Is that what put you off?"

"What about the sweater?"

"My sweater?" Hyukjae lifted his arm and looked at it. "I don't know. It's just a sweater. It's comfortable." He shrugged. Was Donghae really confused by a sweater?

"Why is it so big? Does it belong to your boyfriend?" Donghae wished the question didn't sound so much like an accusation.

"I like baggy clothes."

Was Hyukjae avoiding his question about the boyfriend? "You don't wear baggy clothes at work."

Hyukjae laughed. "Do you wear baggy clothes to work?"

"No. But I also don't wear leashes or shirts with holes."

"Ohh okay! Now I see what the problem is... You like the y concepts!" Hyukjae had to put his mug down to keep from spilling his tea as he laughed.

"No," Donghae whined. "I like this cute concept too. I like all your concepts."

"You like all my concepts, but you prefer the concepts that show off my body."

"No! I didn't say that."

"Well then?" Hyukjae took one more sip of his tea, then he moved closer to Donghae. He put one hand on the wall just above Donghae’s shoulder and caressed the brunet’s cheek with his other hand. "Can I kiss you?"

Donghae didn’t learn anything about the silver creature on Hyukjae’s hip that night, but he did spend a lot of time making out with the artist, so even though his perfect plan had failed, he still considered the night a success.

It had only been a few days, but Donghae was already desperate to see Hyukjae again. He wasn’t confident enough to ask the man out; Hyukjae was way out of his league, and he had also avoided Donghae’s question about having a boyfriend. He didn’t want to make up an excuse to call, since that hadn’t worked out the last time. He eventually decided to visit The Dungeon in the hopes of casually running into Hyukjae. The first two times he tried it, Hyukjae was either not working or was busy with a client because Donghae couldn’t find him. His third try was the charm though.

Hyukjae noticed him right away, but he was busy talking with a customer, so Donghae sat down and fli