Cho Kyuhyun was a dangerous bastard.

Jongwoon knew that. Anyone who ever saw the eye of the abyss for more than three seconds knew that, from all the men from the underground, Cho Kyuhyun was the one you needed to avoid the most, no matter how normal he looked, no matter how polite, how nice, he was too be avoided.

No matter how handsome he was as well.

Jongwoon was very much annoyed at himself right now.

When the man came into his shop, with his perfectly maintained suit, well-combed hair, doe eyes, and bloody shirt, he instantly recognized the man; how could he not? He was Cho Kyuhyun, the man you needed to worry about if you valued your life just one bit. Jongwoon saw what he could do if he disliked you; after all, his ex-employer died because Cho Kyuhyun thought he must die. Oh sure, he didn't do something as terrible as dirtying his own hands, no, Cho Kyuhyun was far more dangerous than that, but the results were the same nonetheless, his employer died, and he needed to find a new job, far away from this world.

Jongwoon was a good fighter, and he didn't consider himself dumb either, but because he wasn't stupid, he knew that staying in the abyss would only swallow him whole in the long run, so he left as soon as he saw the opportunity. He didn't want to be part of this world in the first place, just life sometimes, and you needed to do things you didn't want to do at first. How ironic the one who gave him this opportunity was this bastard of a handsome man.

Damn it; the bastard was so good-looking; it was so unfair.

Jongwoon tried his best to keep calm during the whole session; hurting by mistake a man like Cho Kyuhyun wasn't a good idea after all, but the bastard eyes on him...Jongwoon wasn't dumb; he could recognize interest, and, in another situation, the claim would have been returned ten times, but it was Cho Kyuhyun. And as much as his interest was flattering and, in some way, wanted, he wasn't stupid enough to involve himself in that way with a man like that. Cho Kyuhyun was known to appreciate the ones he could trust, but Jongwoon was still determining if being the lover of the city's underground leader would be good for him.

So yes, when Kyuhyun left his shop, he was glad. He was happy that he could return to his peaceful life of having no clients and close to shutting down his store because he had no money, and the amount Kyuhyun gave him didn't change that.

But it was okay; he'll find something else to do if he must; he just needed time.

He thought he could leave the memory of encountering Cho Kyuhyun as a strange one in his head, but apparently, the bastard didn't see it like that.

"Hello, "Yesung," we meet again."

The bastard came back to his shop.

Jongwoon was stunned for a few seconds; he had been cleaning his tools when the door rang again, a rare occasion, unfortunately,  but his happiness about having a new client faded away when he saw the "innocent" smile of the man before him.

"Cho Kyuhyun." After a few seconds of stunned silence, he said, "What are you doing back here?"

Kyuhyun kept smiling at him, fake innocence plastered all over his face; Jongwoon looked at the men standing outside the shops; this time, he came with many people, not good, really not good.

"What do you mean? I'm here for the same reason anyone would enter a shop like this, to get a tattoo."

Jongwoon eyes widened in surprise.

"There are a lot of better and more well-known shops out there; why come back here?"

"I just liked your work; I'm a man of habits; if I like something, I'm very faithful to it," he smirked. 

Jongwoon scoffed. The bastard wasn't even trying to hide his intentions now.

"..Do you already have a design in mind, or do you want to review my portfolio?" He asked instead of getting angry or giving him any reaction. Bastards like him got high on people's responses, after all.

But Kyuhyun didn't act as if he had been rebuffed or something similar, and he just kept smiling at him, his eyes lighting up with something Jongwoon wasn't sure he liked.

"Anything you want, your best artwork." He finally said, "I trust you."

Jongwoon almost dropped his tools at those words.

He looked at Kyuhyun's face, nothing abnormal coming up on it as if he didn't say one of the best yet most dangerous things you could hear in the underworld.

Cho Kyuhyun was known to value trusted individuals who would never betray him. 

Hearing this sentence by Cho Kyuhyun meant he would get through a test. 

Jongwoon trembled for the first time he saw him, not necessarily because of fear but because of the pressure those words meant.

"You shouldn't trust people you don't know. I'm not sure I'm worthy of being trusted by you."

"You are more worthy than many because you react like that to those words." He said, smiling, smirking. "Let's see if my trust is well placed, no?"

"But I don't want your trust." He whispered.

Kyuhyun's smirk got a bit softer at this.

"I know what you're thinking; I do not expect anything of you except tattoos; you saw what almost happened to me with my last artist, right? Whatever I wish for with you in the future, my only expectations would be good tattoos. I need someone who'll not try to kill me, okay?" 

Jongwoon was stunned. He kept looking at Cho Kyuhyun with confusion in his eyes and skepticism. Were his skills so excellent to be guaranteed this position in his circle?

"But why-"

"You don't need to ask yourself those questions; it'll be infinite; I just decided it was going to be you, that's all." He interrupted him, "is that okay with you?"

Jongwoon grumbled about bastards who weren't polite enough not to interrupt others, and it looked like it amused Kyuhyun greatly, with how his eyes got even more alive each time he heard one curse come through Jongwoon's pretty pink lips.

And then, after a while, he sighed.

"...Alright, where do you want your tattoo?"

Kyuhyun's smile grew bigger. 

"Above my left ankle."

Jongwoon hummed and looked at his portfolio with a design that'll fit the place and that he would consider good enough to be one of his best.

He paused at one design of forsythias he did a long time ago: pretty yellow flowers imagined semi-realistically as if floating on water. 

It was a pretty design by itself, but what interested him the most was the meaning behind forsythias, anticipation.

With this, he'll tattoo right into Kyuhyun's skin his anxiety and anticipation towards what a future with him meant. The thought made him shiver and blush a little bit.

Kyuhyun looked interested in his blushing face, probably wondering what he chose to make him go like that.

When Jongwoon showed him the design, he didn't react much to it, just nodded; Jongwoon didn't know if he understood the meaning behind it or not, but he didn't look unhappy, so he showed him back to his working bench.

"Please sit down here and make yourself comfortable while I prepare the tools.

"Okay, Jongwoon Hyung." 

Jongwoon stiffened at that while he looked back at Kyuhyun, who looked at him innocently. Of course, the bastard did a background check on him. 

Jongwoon sighed.

"Bastard, who gave you the right to call me hyung? I didn't know we were that close," he mumbled. 

Kyuhyun outright laughed at that.

"Is it really the only thing that bothered you in what I said?" Jongwoon rolled his eyes.

"I don't expect a bastard like you to wait patiently for me to trust you enough to give you the right info about me like a normal human being, so no." He said a bit more sharply and then sighed. "Just do whatever you want."

Kyuhyun didn't look as happy as before at those words. 

"I didn't go too far, I promise. I just wanted to be sure you weren't someone who might want to kill me but hide it very well." He started with, a bit more serious, "I just know your full name and how you were involved with an old rival of mine; that's it, nothing else, I swear." 

Really, Jongwoon was going to keep being surprised today. Why was the big bad boss trying to justify himself to him? He didn't need to do that. Except...

Except if he tried to have a relationship based on trust.

Jongwoon wasn't sure, once again, if it was a good thing or not.

He sighed once again.

"Okay, I get it. My privacy is safe, etc., etc." Kyuhyun looked a bit happier at that, and for some reason, he didn't really like it; his own heart felt more at ease. Oh no, Jongwoon didn't like what those signs could mean in the near future. 

"Let's start, shall we?"

Kyuhyun nodded and then smirked a little bit when Jongwoon gently grabbed his ankle while Kyuhyun was sitting on the working bench, looking down at him. Jongwoon realized that because of where the tattoo would be, he was literally kneeling in front of him.

Jongwoon cursed internally once again; the bastard knew what he was doing. He looked up at him, his eyes full of anger, but what he met with wasn't a gaze full of himself, but something a bit darker, sinister, something that instantly extinguished his own flaming look.

Desire.

Desire couldn't be as well hidden as usual in this position, and under the shock of the weight of this gaze directed at him, Jongwoon instantly lost his fire, caught off guard, and then under it, without his weapons, he blushed. He, ing, blushed.

Such a bad idea to respond to someone like his interest with such a positive one.

So he instantly looked down, back at the smooth skin above the man's ankle, and started preparing the skin before putting his needle, his mark, on Kyuhyun's skin, for the second time.

He worked in silence for the second time, but he could still feel the weight of the man's gaze on him while he was working; he could feel the occasional goosebumps going through Kyuhyun's skin when he touched a more sensitive area, it was a lot of things to think at once, but Jongwoon had a reputation to hold so he didn't let himself be too distracted, concentrating as much as possible on the task at hand.

Once it was done after an hour or two, Jongwoon finally let himself relax, looking proud of his artwork on the city leader's skin, a small smile dancing on his lips.

"It's stunning." Jongwoon jumped out of thought a little bit and finally looked back at the man he tattooed for the majority of the past two hours. 

Kyuhyun was smiling, a softer expression on his face, looking happy at the artwork on his ankle.

"You truly are talented; the shading is great; it's not easy to master yellow tones on the skin."

Jongwoon hummed happily; he could deny it all he wanted, but being complimented on his work made him proud, his heart beating a little bit faster while his face started to bloom happily as well.

Kyuhyun looked at him, a bit shocked; he didn't see him smile much.

"...Yeah, it's wonderful."

But Kyuhyun wasn't looking at his ankle while saying that, and Jongwoon wasn't dumb enough not to understand.

He wanted to tell him his interest wasn't welcomed, he wanted to say to him he didn't want to see him again, and Kyuhyun, as much of a powerful man he was, wasn't one to be known to force himself on others, Jongwoon knew if he genuinely made himself clear, he didn't want anything to do with him like that, then Kyuhyun would respect his wishes.

But he didn't say anything. Jongwoon chuckled inside.

He was so so ed.

"Glad you like it." He ended up saying instead,

"I like it very much," He said while fixing Jongwoon.

Okay, the world will not know Cho Kyuhyun for his subtlety. He avoided his eyes, shaking slightly; it was too much.  

After he paid, once again, way more than he should have done, Kyuhyun told him he would recommend his little shop to some of his friends because he liked it very much.

"But keep your best design for me, alright?" He chuckled, and Jongwoon was dumb enough to only nod to that.

Kyuhyun looked at him one last time before leaving the shop and then turned around. 

Jongwoon was finally letting all the stress he had accumulated during the last three hours go, but before he left, Kyuhyun turned again and smirked at him.

"I, too, am "anticipating" many of our future meetings, Jongwoon Hyung. See you soon." And then left.

Jongwoon laughed at that.

Cunning bastard.