Work Text:
Seungwoo comes in every Tuesday, like clockwork.
“Hello, stranger!” Sejun chirps, recognizing the tuft of blueish-black hair immediately. If he checks, he knows that Seungwoo is penciled into his schedule book. It’s always Subin’s doing. He knows that Sejun has a soft spot for the quiet man who is their most regular customer by far.
However, today, that means that Sejun has back-to-back appointments. He’ll have to be mindful about time—something that's very difficult to do when Seungwoo is around.
Seungwoo smiles, brilliantly, and follows Sejun into one of their backrooms. “How has work been?” Seungwoo makes small talk, never prying too much. “Subin said you guys were nearly booked today when I called last week.”
Laughing, Sejun goes over to his inks and sketches. “He didn’t lie. We always have time for you though. You’re a regular.” His smile is soft as he watches Seungwoo sit gingerly in the seat. Sejun thinks he remembers a conversation about a bad knee—years of therapy and pain medication.
“Every Tuesday,” Seungwoo nods. “I thought I wasn’t going to be able to make it on your schedule though. I thought Subin would have his first shot with me.”
“I wouldn’t trust Subin with an ink gun. Boy can’t draw to save his life. That’s why he handles the piercings.” Sejun laughs, sterilizing his equipment as they talk.“So, another star?” He collects the black, white, and yellow inks in preparation. It could go unspoken. Seungwoo has other tattoos, but they aren’t Sejun’s doing.
But all the stars? They are all Sejun’s creations.
He’s been forming them into a constellation of his own creation, but he hasn’t told Seungwoo that yet. It feels too personal for their relationship. “Yeah.” Seungwoo rolls up his sleeve. “We’ve almost covered my whole arm.” Sejun marvels at it for a second, as he does every week. The stars are so tiny, but they’ve got a system to them. The tiny black stars glowing dimly in yellows and whites look lost, like misplaced freckles.
“And I still don’t know anything about them,” Sejun comments, but doesn’t dive deeper than that.
Surprise still colors Seungwoo’s face as he turns to look at Sejun, who is pulling up a seat beside him. “You’ve never really asked.” He blinks, almost as if he’s just realizing it. “I never thought about telling you because usually people ask.”
Subin’s voice interrupts their conversation. “I thought you told Seungyoun to come in at noon?” He calls and his voice travels from the front of the store all the way to the back.
Underneath his breath, Sejun curses. “Fuck. I thought I did too.”
“Seungyoun?” Seungwoo purses his lips. “Might be a stretch, but Cho Seungyoun?”
“That would be him,” Sejun shakes his head. Then he raises his voice to talk back to Subin. “I told him that if he wanted to come in early then he could… I said that before you penciled Seungwoo in.”
“Should I send him back home then?” Subin calls back mischievously. “You don’t want to see him any earlier, right?”
Rolling his eyes, Sejun begins to sketch another star on Seungwoo’s arm, trying to discern if he likes the placement before he proceeds to marking his arm up in permanent ink. “ Wait , you can’t just go back there,” he hears Subin say.
Seungwoo lets out a low whistle when Seungyoun appears in the doorway. “Long time, no see, Seungwoo.” He says, surprising Sejun who was unaware that Seungwoo knew the R&B artist personally . “It’s been, what, almost six years?”
“Five.” Seungwoo is smiling, but there’s something oddly hollow in his voice. Sejun wants to press, wants to know everything there is to know, but he bites his tongue.
“Five,” Seungyoun shakes his head. “Seungwoo was my first boyfriend.” He tells Sejun. Subin’s eyes go wide and he looks conflicted before he excuses himself to go back to manning the front of the store. He has an appointment in ten minutes anyway. Plus, Sejun is sure that he can hear everything he wants to know. Their voices carry well. When that pretty boy had come in to get his lip pierced, Sejun had heard every word of Subin’s painful flirting attempt.
“You two don’t talk anymore since you got super famous?” Sejun teases.
“Sometimes, but only texting.” Seungyoun frowns. “I’ve been meaning to hook back up with him—oh, not literally—unless you are okay with literally?” He stumbles over himself, but not in a way that is sloppy. If anything, it is endearing. Sejun finds himself smiling.
“Well, too bad he’s fully committed to me now. We hook up every Tuesday at 11:30.” Sejun replies, and shines with pride when Seungwoo laughs at his joke. “I mean, of course, we could make room for you, I guess .”
Seungwoo nods. “If you have time in your busy schedule for us, then we could make the time for you too. Listen, Sejun’s got mad business and I’m a very busy professional doctor.”
“Wait,” Seungyoun holds out both of his hands. “Call me daft, but I just stopped understanding if this was a joke or not.”
“It doesn’t have to be a joke,” Sejun mutters.
-
Like clockwork, Seungwoo and Seungyoun come in every Tuesday at closing.
Seungyoun always hovers over Sejun’s shoulder as he inks up Seungwoo’s skin with another star—for his father who passed away on a Tuesday, two years ago.
After he’s done, they throw on their jackets and go to a bar to sing karaoke and drink cheap booze. At the end of the night, they fall into bed together, sparing affection through lazy kisses and soft whispers. Sejun comes to find out that Seungwoo has liked him for awhile, and somehow, Seungyoun too. It works, with them, in their little apartment in Seoul. It may have started as a joke, but now it was real—for them, it was love. Another constellation of Sejun’s design.