Zelo was seventeen. He was a public figure but he was still a teenager. It was hard to always be on his best behavior. Some days he just wanted to go to school, hang out with his friends, eat junk food-regular kid stuff. There was nothing wrong, per se, with his job-he loved what he was doing-but he still wanted a break.

Zelo knew certain things to be absolute fact. He knew that he was porcelain white. It was obvious that he towered over the other members, even when Daehyun wore extra shoe lifts. He knew that no matter how many times he slapped it away, Himchan’s hand would still come up to pinch the baby fat on his cheeks.

More than anything, Zelo wanted to stop being treated like a little kid. He was considered an adult in some countries! Besides Himchan’s habit of pinching his cheeks, the other members had their own ways of reminding him of the .

Yongguk was always trying to teach him something. Zelo thought he would die of embarrassment when the leader sat him down and attempted to have a talk with him. Daehyun would always teasingly offer Zelo a sip of soju whenever he managed to sneak a few bottles into the dorm. Youngjae rented R-rated movies and didn’t let Zelo watch. Jongup didn’t do anything, but he never spoke up for Zelo when the others treated him like a child despite the fact that there wasn’t that much of an age difference between the two of them.

Zelo knew that all their fans, well most of them anyway, were older than him. He was slightly jealous when during fansigns the majority of the members were called ‘oppa’ except for him. He loved his fans, especially since they took such good care of him, but he was a man too! He had pride!

Zelo decided, after more than a year of being pinched, cooed at, and called various forms of cute, that he was going to change his image…nothing drastic enough to ruin his career, but still big enough to make an impact. Seeing his leader in the dorm shirtless (in a totally platonic way) gave him the perfect idea.

Zelo was going to get a tattoo.

Now that he had an idea, he needed a plan. Placement. The placement was paramount. It had to be somewhere it could be seen and hidden at the same time. It couldn’t be too big, too elaborate, or too colorful. It needed to be manly, but also mean something. It took hours before Zelo finally came up with a design and placement he could live with. Now he had to find someone willing to do it. It was at this time that Zelo remembered he was painfully underage.

No one knew about Zelo’s plan, not even Jongup, yet Yongguk kept hovering around the younger like he knew something was up. Zelo would just smile innocently and try to throw off the leader. He couldn’t get caught before he even did anything!

For weeks after he decided on his plan of action, Zelo was stuck. Then, right before their next comeback, he got the answer to all his problems in one badass package. His prayers would be answered by none other than Natasha Bang. The only issue was to get her alone to explain what he wanted without being overheard or discouraged by Yongguk. The chance came easier than he would have thought and he almost missed it when the oldest Bang came to visit her baby brother and Zelo was the only one at the dorm.

One more thing that Zelo knew: the harder people tried not to fall for him, the harder they fell. That being said, he used his magic on Natasha and managed to convince her to risk her career, and a lecture from her younger sibling, to give the kid what he wanted.

One Thursday night, after the last recording for the weekend’s music shows, Zelo made the excuse of going to visit a relative in the city and went to meet Natasha. Now that he was about to go through with it, Zelo felt a bit of nervousness. This was permanent. When his mom, not to mention everyone else, found out, he was going to be in so much trouble. Of course, this whole thing was about being a rebel so it would be worth it…hopefully.

“Look kid. This is serious,” Natasha warned. “I have a bit of a soft spot for you, so that’s the only thing that’s letting me do this, but this is your last chance to back out.”

Zelo glanced at the tattoo gun in the older woman’s hand. He swallowed hard and nodded. “I’m going to do it.”

“Fine. From here on out, there’s no turning back. You’re not going anywhere until I finish.”

Zelo nodded again and let Natasha position his arm on the chair’s armrest. The tattoo gun started whirring. Just before the needle pierced his skin, Zelo turned his eyes away…

It burned. Zelo’s hand burned like the devil was poking it repeatedly. Actually, it wasn’t his whole hand, just his thumb where the small microphone was inked into his skin. Despite its size, it itched like a motherfather but it was worth it. Even though it irritated him a little, it was the symbol of his rebellion. He’d gotten this far without getting caught. It was almost fully healed now so all that was left was to figure out how to reveal it to everyone else.

The day came when they were about to fly to Detroit. Partway through the flight, Zelo was using his thumb to scroll through his iPod when Jongup looked over and noticed.

“Z…what’s that on your hand?”

For a second Zelo froze. He fought the urge to break into a grin as he shrugged nonchalantly. “It’s a microphone.”

“I know what it is but,” his voice lowered, “did you really get a tattoo?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“You’re so going to get it,” Jongup commented.

This time, Zelo did grin. “I know.”

*****

“…completely irresponsible. How did you even get someone to agree to do that? Do you even know the enormity of the decision you’ve made?...”

Zelo faded in and out of Yongguk’s chastisement. He knew it was coming, but he felt as though the leader was making too big of a deal out of it. It was tattoo. If he really didn’t want it to be shown, all he had to do was wrap some sport tape on it and call it a fashion trend. What was the problem?

“Are you listening to me?”

Zelo nodded absently. “Don’t make decisions without consulting someone. I understand.”

“That’s not the point. I know you’re young and you want to do things but you have to think about your image.”

“I know. That’s kind of why I did it.”

The leader shook his head. “Don’t do anything like this again, okay? It’s small at least. Next time you want to be a rebel, shave your head or something else less permanent.”

Zelo grinned. “Sure.”

“By the way, who did it anyway?”

“That’s confidential.”

“Fine. Go.”

Zelo bolted out of the room and into the kitchen where Jongup was eating an apple.

“I told you he was going to go off.”

Zelo smiled, looked down at his thumb, and looked back at Jongup. “Totally worth it.”