Work Text:
it all began on a gloomy night.
(chan disagrees, argues that it started during a bright, sunny day, but that doesn’t matter. it’s jisung’s story, and he’ll start from wherever he wants.)
he’d been reckless, out too late with his friends and desperate to get home quickly. at least, that’s what he says, the dark alleyway supporting his story, his fear of everything helping him.
in truth, there’s no reason why jisung went there, the pitch black darkness faintly glowing with the soft lights emanating from the few apartments whose lights were still lit. it’s like there was something calling to him, beckoning for him to come waltz into the alleyway.
that’s when the rain started, already hard and heavy, no buildup or preamble.
jisung had no umbrella. after all, the forecast didn’t say anything about rain, and even if it did, it’s not like jisung checks it anyway.
it’s what makes him run, his footsteps heavy but not quite loud enough to distinguish over the rain, fast in a way that he’s never known himself to be.
and as he ran, there’s a tingle in his mind, a voice telling him go left and he does, his feet skidding against the pavement as he changes direction and—
and nothing.
the rain still drowned out his thoughts, still clapped against the pavement, but it didn’t hit him.
he looked right, and then left, and that—
that’s when it all began.
➴➷➴➷➴➷
jisung’s eyes fall onto the door, and then drift to the open sign. gently, he pushes the door open, flinching at the quiet chime of the bell that seems too loud, too noticeable above the pounding of the rain.
“can i help you?” jisung jumps back, eyes widening as he turns to face where the sound came from. behind the counter is a man, his long hair framing his face, and his eyes crinkling at the edges, a polite smile on his lips.
from outside, lightning flashes and the man frowns. “ah, did you get trapped in the storm?” the man lets out a sigh, moving to look underneath the desk. “here,” he tosses an umbrella that jisung can barely catch, “take this. i doubt it's going to let out anytime soon.”
“but what about you?” jisung bites at his lip, turning the umbrella around in his hands. “do you have an umbrella? i don’t want to, like, steal your umbrella. it’s pretty bad out there, i can just run home.” there’s another flash of lightning, and before jisung can process anything the man’s laughing.
“don’t worry about me,” he says, ”i live upstairs. someone forgot this here earlier, so you might as well take it.”
jisung blinks. “oh,” he says. “should i bring this back tomorrow, then?”
the man’s smile widens. “sure,” he says, a lilt in his voice that jisung can’t quite place. “you should probably get going now, though. before it gets worse.”
it’s as jisung’s waving goodbye to the man that he notices the smudge of black that peeks out from his shirt, a stark contrast against his skin, and he wonders how he never noticed that throughout the entire conversation.
as soon as he opens the door, there’s a flash of lightning, the boom of thunder following close after.
when he turns to look at the shop as he rounds the corner, he can’t find it. after all, none of the lights are open.
➴➷➴➷➴➷
jisung almost forgets about the umbrella.
or, well, not really forgets about the umbrella . it’s more like he forgets about the interaction as a whole until changbin, his roommate, brings it up.
“is this yours?” he asks from near the doorway of their apartment, turning around to show jisung the umbrella and— oh yeah , he did get caught up in a storm yesterday, didn’t he?
jisung shrugs. “not technically?”
changbin gives him a deadpan expression.
“okay so like, remember how i went out with minho, hyunjin, and seungmin last night? well, i may have sorta been like, caught up in a storm at uh, maybe 1am? and there was a place that was open, and someone who claimed to live upstairs told me i could take it because someone forgot it there?” jisung pulls at the end of his sleeves, pushing them above his fingertips.
“so you stole an umbrella.”
“i didn’t steal the umbrella!”
“sure you didn’t,” changbin says. “just make sure to give it back.”
➴➷➴➷➴➷
the thing is, jisung expects to see the long haired man when he gets to the shop, and he almost leaves when he doesn’t.
two hours of searching and asking locals (who had no idea what jisung was talking about) later, jisung had finally managed to find the shop again, the buildings surrounding it seemingly doing nothing to block the rays of sunlight from washing over jisung’s skin, almost burning him throughout his search.
he looks through the glass window, and at the desk is someone who most definitely isn’t the long haired man, a girl whose blonde hair almost reaches her leather jacket seated there instead. she’s smiling while talking to someone who also isnt the long haired man, and jisung’s about to turn around and leave when the fluffy haired boy that the girl is talking to turns his head and catches jisung’s eye.
through the door he can see the fluffy guy smile and wave, the bit of light shining from outside framing his face and, well, now jisung has to go in.
(
this
, chan insists,
is where it began.
)
➴➷➴➷➴➷
“welcome!” the fluffy guy says when jisung opens the door, and it takes most of his willpower not to run back out. “do you have an appointment?”
the girl looks ready to flip through the book in front of her, but jisung shakes his head and she freezes.
“you don’t?” she asks, her eyebrows furrowed as she glances at the fluffy guy. “are you here to make one?”
jisung shakes his head again. “i’m here to return this umbrella,” he says lamely, lifting his hand. “i sorta ended up coming in here while it was storming last night and the guy let me borrow it. said he lived upstairs.”
“oh,” the fluffy guy says, “that’d be jaebum.” he nods, and walks towards jisung. “is that all, or would you like to get a tattoo as well?” he winks after that and his face breaks into a grin again, his dimples on full display.
jisung lets fluffy guy take the umbrella from his hand. “see,” he says, pulling his sleeve down with one hand and scratching behind his neck with the other, “like, i would , but i have no pain tolerance so i think i might die if i do.”
“oh, don’t worry about the pain,” the girl says, “our artists are really good at making sure it doesn’t hurt,” she glances at fluffy guy again, “especially chanie here.”
“well, i wouldn’t really know what to get,” jisung says, and it’s not like that’s a lie , per se, but there’s also the underlying thought in his mind telling him not to , that there’s something strange about this… tattoo parlor? something in his gut telling him that getting involved with these people would be a big mistake on his part.
then, fluffy guy’s (chan’s?) smile softens, and his eyes go gentle around the edges as he says, “that’s alright, you can always come back if you want one, yeah?”
jisung nods, gulps, and he’s about to turn around and leave when chan’s eyes widen and his head jerks between jisung and the girl.
“wait,” he says, staring at jisung, “can i get your number?”
the girl at the desk outright laughs at that, a pretty noise that makes her shoulders shrug up.
“my- my number ?” jisung breathes out a laugh in disbelief. “why?”
chan scratches at the back of his neck. “well, i mean, you said you didn’t know what you’d get, right?” he asks, and there’s a glint in his eyes. “maybe i can help you decide on something. or, if not, then at least you’ll have a number to recommend people to come here?” he gestures around. “i don’t know if you’ve noticed, but it’s kind of hard to find this place.”
it’s like there’s something shimmering in the air, something that makes chan sparkle just the slightest bit , even though he hasn’t moved an inch. the sliver of light falls onto the girl, and she looks like she almost isn’t even there, her hair glowing in a way that makes her look ethereal.
it’s not a conscious decision when jisung ends up taking his phone out, unlocking it and handing it over to chan, whose smile seemingly turns everything back to normal. the shimmer is gone and now chan’s number is in his phone.
before he can say anything, chan steps away, lifting his right hand, which now has the umbrella hanging from it. “i should go talk to jaebum about what to do with this,” he says. “i’ll talk to you later?” he winks and walks away.
➴➷➴➷➴➷
“you should get a tattoo,” changbin suggests when jisung tells him about the new name on his phone. “hell, i’ll even get one with you.”
jisung glares. “changbin, you and i both know that i have the pain tolerance of a wet noodle.”
changbin shrugs. “that sounds like a you problem,” he scoffs, “why did you even give this guy your number, anyway?”
and see, jisung doesn’t really have an answer to that. it’s like his body moved on it’s own, handing chan the phone without a second thought because, in order for there to have been a second thought, that means that there was a first one. he can’t tell changbin though, doesn’t want to open himself up to sly remarks that changbin would most definitely have.
so, jisung grabs his phone out of changbin’s hand, pouting at him in the hopes that changbin would let this go.
it’s when changbin opens his mouth to say something else that jisung’s phone makes a sound, his ringer apparently turned on while they were shuffling the phone back and forth. honestly, he didn’t even know that his notification alarm sounded like that.
looking down at his phone, he wishes that he knew so that he knew better than to let changbin crowd next to him, his head almost on jisung’s shoulder with the way he’s leaning to look at the phone screen.
bang chan (tattoo guy)
hey uh
i just realized i never got your name
oh yeah!
this is chan
bang chan
from the tattoo place
with the umbrella
changbin raises an eyebrow, looking between jisung and the phone. “he doesn’t realize that he already put his name in your phone, right?”
jisung shrugs as much as he can with changbin on his shoulder.
bang chan (tattoo guy)
i know lmao
u put it in when u like
took my phone
i had to make sure you’d remember me!
how am i supposed to know how many chan’s you know
…
dude u put ur last name
and “tattoo guy”
fair sgskshjshd
so
your name?
“i don’t trust him,” changbin says. “something about this seems fishy, and it’s not the fact that he can’t remember what he did like, three hours ago.”
“is it the keyboard smash?”
changbin shakes his head. “nah, that just means he’s a bottom.”
jisung rolls his eyes.
bang chan (tattoo guy)
han
that’s my name
han!
it’s nice to meet you, han!
we met like
3hrs ago…
yeah but
we didn’t have much time to talk
changbin sighs and shakes his head. “dude,” he says, “why are you humoring him?”
jisung shrugs. “i mean, it’s not like i have anything better to do right now.”
“help me with my new track?” he raises an eyebrow, standing up and extending his hand out to jisung. “it’ll probably be more interesting than whatever’s going on with fishy tattoo guy.”
“sure,” jisung says, taking changbin’s hand, letting himself get hoisted off of the couch.
➴➷➴➷➴➷
“oh my god,” jisung sits up to put his head in his hands, exhaling heavily.
apparently chan won’t even leave jisung’s mind while he’s asleep, prodding deeper and deeper into jisung’s subconscious until he’s all that jisung can think about.
he takes a hand off of his head, leaning over to press the home button on his phone to check the time. 5am, fuck .
sighing, he leans back, pulling his sheets over his head. he squeezes his eyes shut, his heart beating rapidly against his chest, a soft “ fuck ” falling from his lips as he moves a hand to run through his hair.
i don’t want a tattoo , he thinks to himself. tattoos are permanent and painful, and i’m small and fragile.
it doesn’t matter that fluffy guy appeared in his dreams, his soft smile gently coaxing jisung into the seat that would no doubt hold his demise, the cool feelings of alcohol rubbing against his skin jolting him awake from the dream.
his phone pings despite being on vibrate, and he groans as he pulls off the blanket and leans over to look at what’s on the stupidly bright screen.
bang chan (tattoo guy)
hey
wanna get breakfast tomorrow
dude it’s like
five in the morning
y the fuck r u even awake???
aha
it’s not like you’re asleep, either
i just woke up ):
oh
did i wake you?
)))))):
i didn’t mean to wake you up!
go back to sleep!
answer me tomorrow?
)))):<
no ):<
oh, okay then
that’s fine ahaha i was just curious
what
oh nah
i’ll grab breakfast w u
if u pay ;)
oh, you’re one of those people
and so what if i am!
food is the way to a boy’s heart
buy me food and u’ll get my heart
cute
but i also hope that you and ryujin
never end up formally befriending
each other
ryujin?
whomst?
the girl from the shop aha
blonde?
oh
the scarily attractive one
please don’t tell her that to her face
;)
buy me dessert and i’ll think about it
now you’re just trying to get food out of me!
this is unfair!
ur fault for asking
guess u don’t wanna get breakfast together
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
no wait
fine
pleasure doing business with u, bang chan
wish i could say the same, han :(
jisung sighs, making sure his phone is on do not disturb this time as he tosses it off to the side, hearing it’s thud as it hits the ground but ignoring it in favor of trying to get a little more sleep in.
➴➷➴➷➴➷
jisung doesn’t purposely get to the tattoo parlor thirty minutes before the time that he agreed to meet chan. in fact, he doesn’t really remember going to the parlor at all , his feet instinctively dragging him in its direction before he can even process what’s going on.
“hi, han,” the blonde girl greets, a smile on her lips as jisung enters the parlor. “chan’s in the back with jaebum working on a tattoo.”
“he should be done soon, though,” a silver haired boy adds on, his bright eyes sparkling in a way that makes him look otherworldly, his smile being accentuated by the freckles on his face. “it’s nice to meet you!”
jisung nods, giving a slight smile to the boy he’s never met before. “same to you.”
he worries that he came off too cold for a split second, but then the silver haired boy’s smile widens, his eyes almost disappearing. “i’m felix,” he says, standing up to offer his hand to jisung.
“han,” he says, taking felix’s hand, feeling himself relax slightly when he makes contact with felix’s skin as they shake hands.
“wanna sit with us?” the blonde girl asks. “there isn’t that many appointments today, so we were just watching a movie while we were waiting.”
jisung raises an eyebrow. “a movie?” he says, letting felix gently guide him behind the desk, pushing jisung slightly into a seat next to the blonde girl before he sits down as well, draping an arm around jisung’s shoulders.
“a silent voice,” felix says almost into jisung’s ear. “we wanted to see who would break and cry first.”
jisung hums. “that doesn’t sound like something you should be watching while at work.”
“it’s fine,” felix says, reaching out his other arm to press play, “ryujin does this all the time.”
“i don’t,” she says, but her eyes are locked on the playing movie, and felix’s lack of response says that the conversation is over.
➴➷➴➷➴➷
“are you crying?” jisung hears a familiar voice call from somewhere to his left, but he’s too busy wiping his eyes with his sleeves, trying to clear them enough so that he can read the subtitles.
he’s halfway leaning on felix, but felix is also halfway leaning on him , which balances it out. ryujin hasn’t started crying yet, but her eyes are glassy and jisung can’t tell if she’s stopping herself so that she can beat felix (which she already has by a long shot) or if it’s because she still has to work after this, and the last thing customers need is for the receptionist to have red-rimmed eyes.
“ shhh ,” ryujin hisses, her eyes not moving away from the screen, “this is the saddest part.”
“why are you watching a movie at work?” a different voice says, one that he hasn’t heard before, so he chances a glance up to look at the person who spoke. she has long, soft looking brown hair, but what catches his attention is the large block of bandage on her upper arm, a clear indication that she had been the person being tattooed in the back.
“why not,” jisung can feel felix shrug, “it’s a good movie.”
“ignore them,” he hears chan stage-whisper, “they do this all the time.”
ryujin pauses the move. “i do not!” she says.
next to him, felix tries to stifle a laugh on jisung’s shoulder.
the long haired man rolls his eyes. “ryujin, we all do it. don’t pretend like you’re not like the rest of us.”
chan laughs and looks at jisung. “so,” he starts, a small smile on his lips, “are we still on for breakfast, or are you too busy right now.”
jisung feels his face heat up. “i can go to breakfast,” he nods, and felix takes that as his cue to take his head off of jisung’s shoulder.
“i’ll get your number from chris later,” he promises, and jisung doesn’t know who chris is but he doesn’t bother to question it, knowing that it’s probably someone who works here and had spoken about him with chan just as ryujin had.
jisung nods, a smile breaking out on his face. “if you don’t, i’m forcing chan to give it to me later.”
➴➷➴➷➴➷
“so,” chan starts off as they walk towards a small shop that he’d sworn had some of the best food he’d ever had, “did you tell ryujin that she was “scarily attractive” to her face?”
jisung laughs. “i didn’t,” he says, “but i should’ve. that would’ve been so interesting to see her reaction.”
“oh?” chan says, a small smile on his lips. “do you like her,”
jisung’s nose scrunches up. “nah,” he says, shrugging, “not my type. same with felix. they’re both too scarily attractive.”
chan outright laughs at that. “felix is the least scariest person i’ve ever met.”
“well maybe when you met him he didn’t look like he was a god attempting to hide amongst us mortals.”
“well that’s an interesting way of putting it,” there’s a hint of a lingering laugh in the way he speaks. “you should try telling him that.”
jisung shrugs. “i probably won’t,” he looks up. “it’d be weird, wouldn’t it? to tell a guy i just met that i think he’s extremely pretty.”
“you two just met?” chan’s eyes widen. “like, you actually just met?”
“yeah?” jisung says.
chan shakes his head. “wow, han. you’re really one of a kind, you know that?”
➴➷➴➷➴➷
jisung doesn’t realize this until their orders arrive, but chan’s like a flytrap, and jisung thinks he’s become chan’s prey..
“if you could get a tattoo,” chan starts off, “what would you get?”
jisung frowns. “didn’t i already tell you that i don’t know?”
chan hums. “you did, but sometimes people don’t know what to get because they don’t know how it’d look on them, so they worry about that. do you?”
the thing is, jisung’s never thought about really getting any tattoos. the mental image of a needle pressing against his skin for what may be an hour isn’t pleasant, and neither is the thought of a bandage taped to him for hours before he can let his skin breathe.
“no,” he says. “i’ve actually never thought about it before. i don’t have the best pain tolerance, so i never wanted to get one.”
chan nods, and he looks understanding, his fluffy hair almost falling into his eyes. “what about now, though? would you still not want one?”
jisung shrugs. “i mean, if i ever end up getting something, it’s gonna be small. not that it matters, because i don't think i’d know what to get, anyway.” jisung takes a sip of his water. “what about you?”
chan raises an eyebrow. “what about me..?”
“what kind of tattoos do you have, if any?” jisung rests his cheek on his palm, his elbow on the table, and from the angle he’s at he can see a shimmer of black poking out underneath chan’s sleeve, something that he hadn’t noticed before even though he could’ve sworn that he’s seen chan’s wrist before.
there’s. a soft smile tugging at chan’s lips, his right hand coming up to pull at his left sleeve, a flex in his muscles making the tattoo twitch (can tattoos twitch?) as he pulls his sleeve, revealing a small tattoo of a kangaroo.
“i have this little fellow,” chan says, his eyes twinkling. “i got him when i first came here, so it’s like i have a piece of australia wherever i go.”
“australia?” jisung asks. “are you australian?”
chan’s nose scrunches up as he laughs. “yeah,” he says, “bang christopher chan, certified aussie, at your service.”
(chan laughs at him, looking back at this. laughs at how jisung knew so much about him, and yet he still refused to give chan his first name. jisung rolls his eyes, but he can’t help but agree.)
“interesting,” jisung hums, taking a mental note of that. he guesses that he ended up finding out who felix’s chris was after all.
➴➷➴➷➴➷
if there’s anyone from the tattoo parlor that jisung doesn’t expect to run into while grocery shopping, it’s the brown haired girl who got a tattoo last time he was there.
“hey,” she greets, a warm smile on her lips when jisung turns to look at her. “you’re that guy that was with felix and ryujin, right?”
next to him, jisung doesn’t even need to look to know that changbin’s radiating confusion off of him in waves. after all, it’s not every day that jisung randomly gets approached by people that changbin’s never met.
jisung catches his eyes, and changbin shrugs. “guess i’ll go grab some things while you two catch up,” he says, not leaving any room for argument as he slinks away.
“it’s a pleasure to see you again,” jisung says, aware of how stiff he probably seems, his hands practically glued to each other in the pocket of his hoodie.
the brown haired girl brushes a piece of hair behind her ear. “where’s my manners,” she says. “i’m sana, and you?”
“jisung,” he says without thought, before he slaps a hand on top of his mouth.
it’s too late, though. there’s a glint in her eyes as her smile turns sharper. “jisung?” she asks. “i thought your name started with an h?”
“han,” he says, “han jisung. i usually go by han around people i don’t know very well.” he lets out a nervous laugh, hand moving to play with the hair at the nape of his neck. his eyes travel to where he swore sana had a bandage from her new tattoo the last time he saw her. “what happened to your tattoo?” he asks, eyes wide when he notices how much larger it was than the bandage he had seen.
“oh?” sana reaches her left out to run her fingers along her right forearm, tracing the beautiful lines that make up the tattoo. “do you like it? i think it looks really pretty, even though i didn’t know what plant to get this time.”
jisung nods. “i didn’t think it was that big when you first got it,” he says, eyeing the design, his eyes getting caught on the green of the leaves, their color changing slightly as sana moves.
“it grew,” sana says seriously. “that’s the thing with tattoos from that parkour. you don’t get them willy-nilly. they’re really nice company, so i can’t imagine someone getting a tattoo there unless they want the comfort of having a friend on their skin.”
it doesn’t make sense when she says it. after all, tattoos don’t grow . but then jisung remembers how jaebum’s tattoo hadn’t showed up until the end of their interaction, or how chan’s tattoo had peaked out under his sleeve only after jisung brought it up, and he wonders.
a friend on their skin , he thinks, and it feels almost impossible to imagine.
“does it hurt?” he asks instead of voicing any of his thoughts. “the growing, does it hurt?”
sana’s smile comes back, soft and gentle. “nope,” she shrugs. “it feels comforting, almost.”
and that’s all it takes for jisung to solidify the thoughts in his head, all it takes for jisung to decide on what he’s gonna tell chan later.
➴➷➴➷➴➷
“jisung, i love you, but i think you’re going insane,” is what changbin tells him when he brings it up.
“i swear i’ve seen the tattoos move,” jisung says. “i know it sounds impossible, but trust me. it’s almost like magic.”
“magic doesn’t exist,” changbin says, but all jisung can think about is how calming it is in the tattoo parlor, about how he couldn’t even hear the thunder his first night there, about how chan sometimes looks like he’s practically glowing .
“maybe,” jisung says, “but there’s something about that place, something that seems like it almost could be magic, and i want to find out what it is.”
changbin rolls his eyes. “i don’t think the key to doing that is to get a tattoo.”
jisung shrugs. “maybe not, but it might be comforting,” he pauses. “like a friend. might even end up being a better friend than you.”
jisung laughs when changbin grabs a pillow from their couch, raising his arms to protect himself when changbin throws it at him.
➴➷➴➷➴➷
bang chan (tattoo guy)
hey
i need a favor
yeah?
what’s up?
can u decide on a tattoo
for me to get
i’m thinking a quokka or a squirrel
????
well those are some uh
questionable choices
it’s because i’ve been
compared to both
and i think they they’ll be
nice company
oh?
well then let me think about it a bit
so that i can pick the best one for you
or i can sketch both, if you want?
whatever u want
free real estate
i don’t think that applies to something
that’s getting inked onto your skin?
too bad
i’m making it apply
can u do it?
i’ll try my best
i’ll get back to you in a few days
okay, han?
jisung
???
it’s
han jisung
oh
OH
JISUNG
OKAY
i’ll get back to you in a few days, jisung!!!
i’ll be looking forward to it
➴➷➴➷➴➷
changbin, despite his reluctance, agrees to come with jisung.
“you owe me one,” changbin had grumbled, pulling on a jacket and shoving on his shoes despite saying that he wouldn’t come not even ten minutes earlier.
“i’ll buy you lunch,” jisung had replied, and that was the end of that.
now, though, changbin seems almost surprised at where the tattoo parlor is, gently tugging jisung in warning as he gets closer.
“ that’s the tattoo parlor?” he hisses. “you’ve been going to a tattoo parlor that’s practically in the middle of an alleyway ?”
jisung shrugs. “i mean, i did tell you i was looking for a shortcut,” he says as he walks forward. “if i knew you were gonna be like this, i would’ve asked minho to come with me, instead.”
changbin visibly bristles, and jisung has to restrain a laugh as he strides forward, reaching the parlor before jisung does and swinging the door open. quickly, jisung follows him inside, a wide smile on his face.
“han!” felix says when he sees him, waving happily behind the counter, ryujin offering up a smile from next to him when she sees him before going back to whatever she was doing on the computer. “chanie’s in the back with jeongin to decide what kind of design he wants for when he gets a tattoo.”
jisung doesn’t know who jeongin is, but he takes what he can get and gives felix a nod. “sweet. what about jaebum?” he asks as he makes his way to sit down at the waiting chairs, grabbing changbin by the wrist to drag him with him. “doesn’t he need to be here for chan to give me a tattoo? because apprenticeship and all?”
“nah,” ryujin says, her eyes still focused on the screen, her fingers tapping away at the keyboard. “i mean technically yeah, but chan’s almost done with his apprenticeship. i think chan just feels better when jaebum’s there because jaebum’s good at covering fuckups.”
felix rolls his eyes. “i’m pretty sure that jaebum goes with chan because he has nothing better to do. and like, probably legal reasons. mainly because he has nothing better to do, though.”
next to jisung, changbin lets out a laugh.
“damn,” changbin says, leaning back, “are you two also apprentices?”
ryujin shakes her head. “nope,” she takes her eyes off of the screen to grin at him. “i just work the desk most of the time, though jaebum takes over every once in a while.”
“ah,” felix puts his hands behind his head, leaning back, “i just freeload most of the time, but i’ve been thinking about becoming a tattoo artist. i’ve just gotta work on my portfolio a bit, find an apprenticeship, maybe pray to a god, all that good stuff.”
“sometimes you worry me, felix,” jisung says.
felix shoots him a pair of finger guns.
➴➷➴➷➴➷
by the time chan and jeongin come out, ryujin’s already finished her game of tetris (which, honestly, isn’t the most surprising thing that anyone in this shop has done) and changbin’s stuck in an in-depth conversation with ryujin and felix about the logistics of how magic would be used in the real world (felix and ryujin share a look at that, jisung notices, but they don’t say anything incriminating).
“felix!” the boy who could only be jeongin says, rushing behind the counter and sliding into the seat next to felix. quickly, he pulls out his phone, excitedly telling felix about the designs that he had looked at.
jisung wrings his hands, his usual hoodie gone in lieu of a t-shirt and jacket. he takes a deep breath, closing his eyes as he releases it, waiting a moment before he looks up at chan, whose eyes are already on him.
“are you ready?” he asks softly, and it feels like it’s just him and jisung in the room.
jisung nods, gulping down on nothing. “as ready as i’ll ever be,” he says, patting changbin’s shoulder so that he’s aware that jisung’s leaving.
➴➷➴➷➴➷
it’s not that bad, actually.
well, ryujin already told jisung that it wouldn’t be that bad, that chan makes it as painless as possible, but jisung’s learned not to trust other people’s pain tolerance.
“and we’re done,” chan smiles brightly as jisung, almost shining in the artificial light of the room. “was that so bad?”
jisung shakes his head. “absolutely not,” he says, and he means it.
➴➷➴➷➴➷
bonus:
“chaaaaannnnn,” jisung whines, sliding into the seat across from the fluffy haired guy. “he keeps making fun of me.”
across his skin, the small quokka seemingly laughs, laying down along his wrist.
“and?” chan asks. “what am i supposed to do about that?”
jisung pouts. “you have life to this meanie,” he says, “can’t you take it away? just for a minute?” on his wrist, the quokka sits up quickly and sprints along his arm, traveling until he’s somewhere in the middle of jisung’s shoulder blades, and jisung rolls his eyes.
“do you regret it?” chan says, his hands wrapped around a mug he had taken out of jisung and changbin’s cabinet. “getting a tattoo? i mean, you already knew about the, like, kinda living creatures thing, but still.”
jisung frowns. “of course i don’t,” he says. “i thought about getting a tattoo a lot after meeting you, so stop trying to convince me that it’s a mistake.”
“i wasn’t-“
“good!” jisung smiles at him. below the neck of chan’s shirt, his kangaroo pops out, moving to rest on his collarbones.
this isn’t where he thought he’d be when he first got caught in that storm on that first night, isn't what he thought he’d be doing, and he’s okay with that. sometimes the universe gives you lemons, other times it gives you sketchy magical tattoo shops with cute fluffy boys and friends that walk along your skin.
whatever the universe does, jisung’s just happy that it led him to the tattoo parlor, happy that he got to meet chan and felix and ryujin (and even the elusive jaebum).
jisung stands up. “come on,” he says, lightly tugging on chan’s wrist. “the others are waiting for us.”
“okay,” chan smiles back, something just offkey of
normal
, almost like he’s shining, and jisung’s never been happier.