Work Text:
20-year-old Seungmin just opened his very own coffee shop. Slowly but surely, his shop gains popularity. It was situated in a quite lively neighbourhood in the middle of Seoul, He was the only coffee shop in the entire street, making it somewhat easier for him to attract pretty regular customers. Over the year, his coffee shop grew so big, almost everyone in the neighbourhood knew about Seungmin. Yet, it didn’t last.
2023, Seungmin just turned 23 and his shop has never been this empty since the opening. It was none other than Seo Changbin’s fault. Half a year ago, the older guy had opened a tattoo shop right opposite Seungmin’s. The boy wasn’t tall, yet he had tattoos covering both of his arms and his neck, stern eyes and a deep voice. He scared the elders who were coming to Seungmin’s shop. Whenever he had a tattoo session, Changbin would blast music so loud it could be heard from the coffee shop, making some of his customer run away to find a quieter place. Seungmin’s turnover was decreasing, and it was Changbin’s fault.
Grabbing his cup of coffee, Seungmin cheered his employee about getting more customers soon. They all took their respective cups, holding them high in the air and clinking them together. Seungmin glanced at the tattoo shop, wanting nothing more but for Changbin to move his shop out of his sight. “You’re staring again, boss” one of Seungmin’s employee—Jeongin—said. The barista then smiled and looked away, listening to whatever his employees were talking about.
Inside of the tattoo shop, Changbin was sitting on a leather couch next to one of his closest friends—Chan. “I still don’t get why he hates you this much,” the older boy said while looking at the coffee shop across the street. “I don’t know, I tried to be nice with him, but I think it’s to no avail. Maybe he just hates tattoos?” Changbin said with a sigh. “It’s your first enemy, and I can’t believe it’s such a puppy-like boy,” Chan laughed—Changbin only sighed harder.
Every day looked the same. Seungmin would walk in the streets towards his coffee shop, glancing at the tattoo shop who was still closed. Then, he would work and clean his shop, never losing sight of the other shop. Then, around 9am, Changbin would walk in the streets towards his shop, and Seungmin would stay on the coffee shop’s doorstep, frowning upon the tattoo artist. Changbin, as politely as he could, would bow and then retreat to his shop, not leaving it for the entire day. It was an odd routine, for the both of them. Some customer would ask if Seungmin had some kind of obsession over the other boy, if he was in love or anything. Seungmin would always scoff at those questions and hide in his shop’s kitchen.
He didn’t have an obsession with that Changbin guy. Of course not. He couldn’t have one. It wasn’t like he was thinking of his shop whenever he lied down on his bed, trying to find sleep. Oh… Actually, he did. Thinking of all the customers that had entered and exited his shop with proud smiles and new tattoos on their skin, Changbin on his doorstep waving at them with a bright smile. Maybe he did look through the tattoo shop’s Instagram account every night to see the newest tattoos. Maybe he did envy his popularity. And maybe his hatred wasn’t related to his lack of customer at all, because it wasn’t like his shop had been deserted. He probably lost ten regulars, if not less. It was barely showing in his turnover. Seungmin’s employee knew that his hatred wasn’t because of that, yet they didn’t say a word and let everyone think they lost thirty customers because of that tattoo shop.
Seungmin never really talked to Changbin, despite the occasional “hello” and “go away” they would exchange in the morning. He knew some his employees were acquaintances—if not friends—with the older boy. He never asked them what he was like, if he was a nice person. He kept his opinion on the boy and wished he’d leave before he had no other choice but to talk to him.
Of course, things didn’t go the way Seungmin had wanted. Beginning of August, Seungmin opened his shop with a smile on his face. He loved the summer, and nothing could make a summer day bad. Maybe he should have kept that thought for himself.
Jeongin was his employee but also his closest friend. The boy knew him almost as perfectly as Seungmin knew himself. So, it was weird when the boy walked towards him and asked if he wanted to go to that party to celebrate the tattoo artist’s birthday. Taking the invitation in his hand, Seungmin looked at the prettily written words before looking back at his friend, “Why would I?” Jeongin didn’t ask any further and let the idea of going to the party together die down in his mind.
It was a surprise for almost everyone there when Seungmin entered the room with a gift in his hand. Prettily dressed, nicely wrapped gift held with both of his hands, Seungmin walked towards the celebrated boy. He handed him the gift in one move, “Happy birthday, I guess,” and once the older boy had taken his gift in his hands, he walked away. Seungmin did thought about leaving the party but thinking he had got dressed for nothing if he did, he stayed next to the buffet.
Changbin walked to the buffet, took a drink and stayed standing up next to Seungmin, looking in front of him, at his guests having fun over some music, “I didn’t think you’d come.” “Why did you invite me?” Seungmin asked, not looking at the older boy either. “Because I need to ask you something,” the tattoo artist said, finally turning aside from the party to look at the barista. “I’m listening,” the younger stated, still looking in front of him. “Why do you hate me?” At these words, Seungmin looked at the older boy. He scoffed, feeling a multitude of thoughts invade his mind at the same time. His heart started to race, seeing the boy from such a close distance. “Mh?” Changbin waited for an answer, looking at the barista straight in the eyes. However, he didn’t get anything back. The boy simply put his drink back on the buffet and left the party.
After that day, the two boys didn’t talk at all. Seungmin stopped coming to his doorstep to look at the tattoo artist in the morning. He stopped looking at him—at least whenever it was obvious. They felt like two strangers once again.
“So, what’s your deal?” Jeongin asked, serving a glass of water to his boss. They were both sitting opposite each other, at the best table in the coffee shop. It was late at night; the two friends had stayed after closure because Jeongin needed to talk with him. Seungmin was a bit anxious as to what his friend needed to tell him—the last time this happened, Jeongin had announced his friend that his parents were getting a divorce and he needed to stay at his place for a few days. Was it something like that again? His sudden question felt like it was not. “My deal? What do you mean?” Seungmin said, sincerely oblivious. “Why did you come to Changbin hyung’s party to leave so quickly? Did something happen?” Seungmin shook his head no, because nothing had happened, and it was true. Jeongin sighed, putting his glass of water back on the table, “Look, I know you since I’m 16. I know you better than anyone else. If it’s because of that stupid tattoo you’ve been dreaming about, just go for it. Stop playing hard to get.”
Maybe Jeongin’s words kept on ringing in his head. Maybe Jeongin’s words were true. Maybe, it’s because of Jeongin’s words that he walked past the tattoo shop’s door and towards the counter.
Changbin was shocked when he turned over and saw the barista with a piece of paper in his hand. He looked anxious, out of place. “Can I help you?” Changbin’s voice cracked a bit, he was as anxious as the younger boy in front of him, maybe even a bit more. “I want to get a tattoo,” Seungmin said while putting the piece of paper on the counter in front of the tattoo artist. On it, was a small cup of coffee drawn. It was simple, minimalist even. “Sure, where do you want it?” Seungmin didn’t say anything, he visibly hadn’t thought about that. Changbin smiled, taking the paper in his hands, “It’s pretty small, I think it’d look good on your forearm or you shoulder blade.” Seungmin looked up and nodded, “My forearm, maybe. The left one,” he clarified.
A few more questions and a form filled in, Seungmin took his appointment. A month to wait, and he was finally getting the tattoo he had dreamt of for years.
September 22nd, Seungmin’s birthday. The coffee shop was managed by his employees as he walked towards the tattoo shop. It was finally D-day, and his heart was pounding in his chest.
He entered the shop, Changbin greeting him and asking him if he had slept well. It felt weird to Seungmin, but answered truthfully nonetheless, “I didn’t really sleep, I’m a bit scared.” Changbin hummed, preparing the stencil with the cup of coffee. “You don’t need to be scared, I’m not gonna hurt you or fail your tattoo,” he tried to reassure the boy. The only answer he got was a ‘I know’ because Seungmin did know. He had read all the reviews on the internet and saw every single tattoo the boy had posted on his social medias. He was confident that his would look amazing. What he was scared of was… something else.
Changbin led the barista to the next room, cleaning the boy’s forearm before applying the stencil on it. He then let the boy take place on the chair in the middle of the room.
Lying down on the leather chair, Seungmin eyed the older boy who was preparing the small pots with ink as well as his needles. He gulped and closed his eyes tightly, inhaling sharply, holding his breath a few seconds before exhaling. When he heard Changbin chuckle, he opened his eyes again, “What?” Changbin quickly glanced at him before focusing on his needle once again, “If you’re really too nervous, we can reschedule.” “No, I can do it,” Seungmin assured with a confident tone—yet he wasn’t at all.
Changbin waited until Seungmin had finished his breathing exercises, nodding at him that he was ready. The tattoo artist took the younger boy’s arm, spreading his skin a bit on his forearm. “I’m starting,” he said before pricking along the stencil with his needle. Seungmin inhaled sharply once again, a small noise getting lost in his throat at the pain, he closed his eyes once again. “Is it too painful?” Changbin asked, genuinely worried. “No… No, it’s ok, I can bear that,” Seungmin says, still holding his breath and not opening his eyes.
Changbin was working slowly on the tattoo, focused. Yet, he talked with Seungmin, trying to distract him from the pain he was clearly holding in, “What made you want that tattoo?” Seungmin chuckled and opened his eyes, finally. He looked at the wall in front of him, a side smile on his face, “My parents never allowed me to do what I wanted, they forced me to study maths, and science. I hated it so much. I’ve always wanted to own a coffee shop. So, I asked to study economics—because it would allow me to start a business correctly and trick them into thinking I wanted to do some maths,” he paused for a second, gulping as he felt the needle a bit too much on his skin. “Then, I opened my shop and dropped out from my studies. My parents were mad, to be honest. So mad, they told me to never come back in their house. Not like I’d want to, actually.” Changbin hummed, letting the boy know he was listening carefully to his story. “The coffee shop is all I have, it’s so important for me… I’ve always wanted to get a tattoo, to have something meaningful deep in my skin. Once again, my parents had always told me tattoos were bad, that it made someone look like a delinquent. I grew up in this mindset. But now that I’m leaving far from them,” he paused again, not because of the pain on his skin, but the pain in his heart. “I wanted to do what I want. And what I want is to have a fucking cup of coffee on my forearm,” he firmly said despite the tear rolling down his left cheek.
Changbin looked up at him, putting the needle on the small tray next to them and wiped the boy’s tear. “I’m proud of you for staying true to yourself,” he said with a smile on his face. “And I’m sorry for letting my fear of getting a tattoo make me hate you,” Seungmin confessed, looking at the older boy in the eyes.
Seeing the tattoo artist from such a close distance, Seungmin realised that he didn’t have stern eyes at all—they were just a bit too dark for their size. He also discovered that he had quite chubby cheeks, making him look younger than his age. His mouth was slightly curled upwards, making him seem always happy—or was he? Scrutinizing him, he saw that his neck tattoo was a big rose, with red petals and hundreds—if not thousands—of dots in the middle. Looking down, he saw that his left arm was covered with a dragon—it looked like the mythical animal was climbing his arm. He didn’t got time to look at his right arm that the tattoo artist cleared his throat and went back to work on his forearm.
An hour and a half later, Seungmin was back in front of the tattoo artist’s counter, giving him the money for the tattoo. “Come back in a month to show me how it’s healing, ok?” The barista nodded and left the shop, going to his own instead of going home.
Two weeks later, it was Changbin’s turn to step foot in Seungmin’s territory. All the employees eyed their boss who simply walked towards the older boy who was sitting next to the big window. “Hi,” he awkwardly said. For some reasons, Seungmin hadn’t been able to keep the tattoo artist away from his mind. He had to admit that now that he wasn’t hating him anymore, he was seeing him in a new light. The older boy was totally his style—and that, Jeongin had told him at least a hundred times. Only now he acknowledged it, so, seeing him again made his heart race.
Hiding in the kitchen, eyeing the boy drinking his cup of coffee, Seungmin felt like he was back in high school where he would hide from his crush all day long. “What are you doing?” Jeongin’s voice made him jump. “Don’t scare me like that!” “Are you hiding from him? I knew he was your style,” Jeongin grinned proudly.
When the older boy paid for his coffee, he smiled brightly at Seungmin before taking his hand in his. Seungmin internally panicked. “Can I see how your tattoo is healing?” the boy asked—of course it was for the tattoo. “It hasn’t been a month yet,” Seungmin naively said. The older boy simply chuckled before rolling up the barista’s sleeve to look at his tattoo. “It’s healing nicely, that’s good.” He then put his sleeve back in place, smiled and left the shop. Seungmin was still frozen on the spot, his skin burning from Changbin’s touch.
If Seungmin used to be obsessed with the older boy’s job, he was now obsessed with him in general. He couldn’t get his face, voice, touch out of his mind. Every day he would look at him, but not with hatred anymore, with the hope the boy would come to him and have a conversation.
Exactly a month later, Seungmin came back to the tattoo shop to check if it was completely healed. They went back to the room were the boy had gotten tattooed. The barista sat back on the leather chair while the tattoo artist took care of the part that had leaked a bit too much ink, filling it back. This time, it wasn’t painful. Maybe because he wasn’t scared anymore, or simply because he had gotten used to the stinging feeling the needle made on his skin.
“It’s all done. Still, could you come back tomorrow around 8pm?” Changbin said while cleaning his needle. Seungmin looked a bit taken aback, gulping down his saliva, “Sure, but why? Is there something wrong with my tattoo?” Changbin chuckled, turning back to face Seungmin, “No, I would just like to take you out on a date.” The barista’s cheeks got red in a second, nodding shyly before getting up from his seat, “I—I need to go,” and he hurriedly left the shop to hide once again in his shop’s kitchen.
The next day, Seungmin asked Jeongin for help on his outfit. He didn’t know where they were going, nor what they were going to do. He wore a pretty simple outfit, a nice pair of jeans with a white shirt, two buttons undone as Jeongin suggested. 7:57pm, the barista put his apron back in the backroom and made his way towards the door. 7:58pm, he saw Changbin coming out of his shop and his heart started to race. 7:59pm, he got out of his shop and crossed the street. 8pm, he was standing in front of the older boy, both smiling with pink dust on their cheeks.
It was surprising enough that Seungmin talked to Changbin, but even more that the two boys were having a date. Probably the entire neighbourhood heard of it. ‘Did you hear that the little Seungmin from the coffee shop finally stopped being oblivious about his feelings and ate at that restaurant with that Changbin guy?’ was possibly all the neighbourhood talked about. It made the two boys laugh as much as they were embarrassed.
The date had gone smoother than the two boys had thought—now that they didn’t hide behind a fake hatred having a conversation was way easier. Actually, finally opening up about his feelings, Seungmin felt like talking to Changbin was the easiest thing in the world—if he forgot about his racing heart, of course. They had gone to a restaurant Chan had suggested—they make the best dumplings he had argued—and after two or three awkward sentences, they got to know each other. “And, that’s after seeing my childhood friend getting a horribly drawn cat tattooed on his butt cheek that I decided to become a tattoo artist,” Changbin had said in the middle of their meal—laughing too hard at that story, Seungmin wasn’t able to eat anything, holding his belly as he laughed loudly.
It was now way more natural for the two boys to wave at each other in the morning, or for Changbin to come eat lunch in the barista’s shop. Everyone got shocked at first, seeing them spend so much time together, but it wasn’t a bad kind of shock, more of a relief. However, it was still very pathetic to see how oblivious the two boys were. After asking him on a date, everyone would have thought Seungmin would guess that Changbin was interested in him, and since he had accepted the date, that Changbin would guess Seungmin was also interested in him. Yet, it was only bad flirting and no actual move—he doesn’t like me that way they were both saying to their respective best friends.
Having enough of this, Chan decided to do something about his hopeless of a friend. He entered the coffee shop for the very first time, walking directly towards Seungmin. “Can I talk to you?” was the only thing he said. A bit unsure, Seungmin eyed his employees. “I’m a friend of Changbin,” Chan clarified. Seungmin then nodded, put his apron on the counter and sat at a nearby table with the older boy. “Did something happen?” the barista asked, a bit worried because of the situation. “Yes and no,” the older boy started. “He’s probably going to kill me for this, but I need to tell you something on his behalf.” Seungmin glanced around him, his eyes falling on the tattoo shop. Changbin was there, behind his counter. As if fate was playing with them, Changbin looked up and his eyes met with Seungmin’s, then slowly drifting to see Chan in front of him. The tattoo artist’s face morphed in fear. “Changbin likes you. Not in a friend way,” Chan said at the same time the artist exited his shop to cross the street. Seungmin didn’t know where to look, nor what to think.
Seungmin felt contradictory emotions in his stomach. He was relieved and happy that the boy he liked did like him back. Yet, he was anxious and scared that it was simply a joke. The older boy seemed scared as he walked towards the coffee shop, and Seungmin’s mind only made him believe it was to clarify the misunderstanding, that he didn’t like him back.
His body going on autopilot, the barista got up from his chair and exited the shop, coming face to face with the artist. “Whatever Chan told you, I promise I can explain,” the older said. “You don’t like me?” was all the barista dared asking. The older’s face looked even more scared, and the barista only feared getting an indirect rejection even more. “I—I do but… I’m sorry. I know you don’t but—” “But I do too,” Seungmin interrupted him.
Facing each other, frozen in front of the coffee shop, they didn’t know what to do except staring at each other. All the shop’s employees and customers were looking at them, wondering if they were finally going to confess and kiss or if it was going to be a heart-breaking scene. As it was going, with none of them moving, it felt like it was going to end badly.
It probably took Changbin a full minute to process what Seungmin had just said, which is why he didn’t react right away. Still, when he finally did understand the four words the barista had said, he could swear he had never smiled so big in his life, “You do?” The barista nodded, and absolutely did not expect the boy in front of him to hold his face and kiss him in front of his employees and customers—whom he could hear cheering even with the door closed.
After confessing and kissing, it had been a bit chaotic. Not knowing how to react, Seungmin had ran away into his shop’s kitchen. Chan had left to see Changbin and rationalize the situation. Then, the barista avoided the tattoo artist for as long as he could—meaning, two days. Once he couldn’t ignore him any longer, he barged into the boy’s shop and kissed him in front of his customer. This time, it’s Changbin who ran away and hid in his shop’s toilets—for lack of a better option. Seungmin sat on the floor next to the door, “I’m sorry. Was that too much?” he said after some time. The older boy opened the door, first looking in front of him but only when he saw no one he looked down, finding the barista on the floor, “I just was not ready for…that.”
They went on another date after that—a real one this time where the both of them knew there was romantic feelings involved. Changbin had bragged about his incredible bowling skills, so, that’s where they went. However, whenever the boy threw the ball, he never really scored high. “I’m doing this on purpose! It’s no fun if I’m winning all the time!” he claimed, yet he did not win at all that day. Seungmin laughed at him, he was having so much fun he almost forgot about the other people around them—yet he couldn’t really forget about them when they kept on hushing him because of how loudly he laughed. After their little bowling competition, they ate at the nearest fast food restaurant and walked a bit in the streets. None of them remembered who did it or when they did it, but they ended up holding hands, not caring about the few glances they got from elders.
“I had a lot of fun today,” Seungmin said when they stopped in front of his apartment. He was still holding onto Changbin’s hands, caressing the tip of his fingers with his, playing with them a bit. He didn’t want to let go of him yet. “Me too,” the older boy simply said, yet not moving at all. A comfortable silence fell upon them as they looked at each other.
Squeezing Seungmin’s fingers between his, Changbin took a step closer to the boy, leaning in a bit, only stopping when his face was close enough to feel the barista’s breath against his skin. “Do you want to be my boyfriend?” he whispered. When Seungmin nodded, he leaned in again and let their lips meet, both of them smiling.