Work Text:
“I can't believe you two are really making me do this.”
Jay sighed as he parked his car in front of the tattoo shop. He felt a hand land on his shoulder and pat it.
“Next time you should follow through with your dare.” Sunghoons voice filled his right ear from the backseat of the car.
“Yeah and it was such an easy dare.” Jake chimed in, causing Jay to roll his eyes.
“You try outrunning a security guard after getting caught trying to climb the statue in the quad to hang a shirt on it and see how easy of a dare it really is.” Jay said.
“At least you didn't get caught.” Jake pointed out.
Jay gripped the steering wheel tightly to prevent himself from hitting the boy. He let go when he noticed his knuckles turning white. “Let's just go in before I punch you both.”
The trio exited the car and walked towards the shop. The red neon sign which read “Inked by Lee” buzzed loudly above their heads.
“How did you even find out about this place, Jake?” Jay asked.
“My friend from class told me he and his brother own a shop when I told him about your dare.” Jake said as he held the door open for the two other boys.
For a college student to own the shop, it was decorated nicely. Framed sketches lined the walls along with other various art pieces. There were multiple couches and chairs for customers to sit and fill out forms or wait to be called back.
“Hello! Welcome to Inked by Lee.” A girl with pink hair and tattoos called out when Jay, Jake and Sunghoon walked inside. She was sitting behind a clear desk that held different piercing jewelry.
Jake led the trio as he walked over to the desk. “Hi, we're here to see Heeseung.” He told the girl whose name tag read Siyoon.
“He's with a client right now and he should be finishing up in a few minutes but you can take this and fill it out while you wait.” Siyoon smiled as she handed Jake a clipboard with some papers on it.
Jay snatched the clipboard out of Jake's hand as soon as they turned away from the desk and went over to the couches. The cracked brown leather squeaked under the weight of all three boys as they sat down.
He overheard Jake and Sunghoon laughing and whispering about how pretty Siyoon was as if she wasn't only a few feet away. Jay shook his head and started to fill out the paperwork.
A couple of minutes passed and the sound of a door opening caught the attention of Jake and Sunghoon. The sound of voices talking filled the room as two boys walked out of the door.
“Thanks again.” One of the boys said as he went to Siyoon and pulled out his credit card.
Jake stood up and pulled Sunghoon along with him over to the other boy who was standing by the now closed door. The boy had tattoos that covered his arms in a patchwork style and a few piercings on his face which included a nose and lip piercing. His hair was long which resembled a mullet cut and was dyed a dark teal green color.
“Heeseung hyung!” Jake took the others, Heeseungs, hand in his and patted him on the back.
“Is he the one getting the tattoo?” Heeseung asked when they pulled away, pointing at Sunghoon.
“No, no.” Sunghoon waved his hands in front of his chest. “He is.” Sunghoon stepped aside and pointed at Jay who was typing something on his phone.
“Dude,” Heeseung started. “He's hot.”
Jake and Sunghoon exchanged a look of disgust before they started talking at the same time.
“Jay?!” They both exclaimed quite loudly. “You must be talking about someone else.” Jake said.
The aforementioned boy lifted his head up to see his friends talking to someone new. He grabbed the clipboard off of the couch and took it over to Siyoon.
“Thank you.” She said as she took the clipboard back. “Heeseung, the tattoo artist, is actually right there so you can go over and talk to him. Good luck!” Siyoon gave Jay a small smile, her tongue piercing peeking out a little.
Jay bowed slightly and walked over to his friends and the tattoo artist. Heeseung extended his hand out to Jay who took it and gave it a shake. “Nice to meet you Jay, I'm Heeseung.”
“You guys can follow me into this room.” Heeseung started walking back toward the room he came out of. Jay, Jake and Sunghoon followed behind him like ducklings.
Inside the room there were two leather chairs, the tattoo chair, a metal table and a rolling chair. One of the walls was lined with bookshelves full of books, ink and other small trinkets. Similar to the main room, framed sketches were hung along the other walls.
“So what are you thinking of getting?” Heeseung asked Jay while putting on a fresh pair of black gloves. He gestured to the chair and Jay took a seat.
Before Jay could even open his mouth Jake started speaking. “Actually, we had an idea.” Jake said.
Heeseung raised an eyebrow as he looked at Jake and Sunghoon who were seated in the other chairs in the room.
“Because our dear friend Jjongsaeng here failed to complete his date, we get to pick out his tattoo.” Sunghoon said in a teasing manner knowing it would rile Jay up.
Heeseung nodded along while he gathered all the materials that he would be using for the tattoo. Jay's eyes followed the boy as he moved around the room on the rolling chair.
“And we were wondering if you'd let us do the tattoos.” Jake said.
“What?!” Jay's attention was fully directed towards Jake now. He stood up quickly with a horrified expression on his face. “Is that even allowed?”
Heeseung shrugged in response when Jay looked at him. “No one's ever asked that before.”
“Please Heeseung hyung, let us do it.” Jake begged. He hit Sunghoon on the shoulder so he'd join in.
“Yes please hyung.” Sunghoon tried his hardest to give the older boy puppy eyes.
Jay pinched the bridge of his nose in embarrassment and annoyance at his friends. He really hoped Heeseung wouldn't fall for Jake and Sunghoons antics. Sadly, he was wrong.
“Well I don't see why not.” Heeseung said. “As long as Jay is okay with it I don't mind.”
“Oh don't worry Jay is more than okay with it.” Sunghoon said before Jay could object to their plans.
Heeseung looked up to Jay who was still standing up and asked, “Are you okay with it?”
Jay sat down and threw up his hands in defeat. “Whatever I don't really care.”
Heeseung handed Jake and Sunghoon their own pair of gloves and began to explain how the tattoo gun worked. He showed them how to hold it properly and how to pick up the ink. Soon after he was finished going over the basics, Heeseung walked out of the room leaving the three boys alone.
Jake took a seat on Heeseungs chair and turned to Jay with a mischievous grin on his face. “Take off your sweats please.” He said which caused Jay to laugh out loud.
Jay's laughter subsided when he realized that Jake meant it. “You really want me to take my pants off in front of him? Jake I don't know if you've noticed this but he's very cute and I don't wanna embarrass myself in front of him.”
“First of all, ew. Second of all you should've thought about that before you agreed to this.” Jake said. “Now take them off.”
Jay got off of the chair once again and slid his sweatpants down to his feet, curses spilled out of his mouth as he kicked them off. The urge inside of him to strangle Jake was getting stronger and stronger.
“And lay on your stomach.” Sunghoon added from behind Jake.
A loud exhale could be heard in the room as Jay climbed back on the chair, his now pantsless legs exposed to everyone. Suddenly there were some shuffling noises behind him and Jay looked back to see Heeseung rolling another chair into the room.
“What's going on in here?” Heeseung laughed upon seeing Jay laying on the chair in nothing but his underwear and hoodie. Jay buried his face in the chair when he felt it starting to heat up.
“Jay is ready for his tattoo.” Sunghoon said in a sing-song tone.
“You're doing it on his legs?” Heeseung asked and both boys nodded in response. “Let me get him ready and you guys can start.”
More shuffling could be heard and Jay lifted his head and saw Heeseung changing into a new pair of gloves. The older man grabbed some paper towels and poured a liquid on it before he sat down on the chair. He rolled it over to where Jay was and rubbed the liquid on the back of his thighs.
“Don't worry, I won't let them hurt you.” Heeseung reassured Jay as he felt how tense his legs were. He squeezed Jay's legs a little to get him to relax.
After giving Jake and Sunghoon a thumbs up, Heeseung scooted over to the top of the chair near Jay's head to keep him company.
“If it hurts you can hold my hand.” He said quietly to Jay, offering his hand to the boy.
The buzzing sound of the tattoo gun soon filled the room as Jake turned it on. “Okay Jay-Jay I’m starting so don't move or you'll ruin my beautiful work.” Jake said. He used Jay's nickname in hopes of calming the older boy.
“Go ahead.” Jay said, his voice shaking a little bit.
The trio never understood how the punishments for these simple dares they started doing back in their first year of high school got so intense, and somewhat dumb, but they never thought to stop them. It brought fun and excitement into their young lives.
Jake started on the first part of the tattoo and Jay hissed as soon as the needle touched his skin. He shut his eyes as Jake continued working on his tattoo.
A finger smoothed out the crease in between Jay's eyebrows and lifted his chin up. Jay opened his eyes to see Heeseung staring at him, a small smirk on his face.
“Hey.” Heeseung called out quietly. He knew that talking to his clients always made the process a bit easier. “Is this your first tattoo?”
Jay shook his head no and moved one of his hands from under his head to show Heeseung the letter J that was inked onto the side of his pinky finger.
“Was this also the result of losing a date?” Heeseung asked as he took Jay's hand in his own.
“No.” Jay said before he winced in pain. He gritted his teeth before speaking again, “They've been my best friends since preschool. We just decided to get matching tattoos when Sunghoon turned eighteen. It's on our pinkies to promise that we'll be friends forever.”
Heeseung hummed while he played with Jay's finger. “I got a tattoo when I was eighteen too but my story isn't as cool as matching tattoos with best friends from preschool.”
Jay laughed slightly at the older man then asked, “Can I see it?”
Heeseung rolled the chair back a little and turned around. He lifted his shirt up to reveal a tattoo of a tiger along his spine that went down from the base of his neck to the bottom of his ribs.
“Wow.” Is all that came out of Jay’s mouth as he looked at the tattoo.
“Pretty cool, right?” Heeseung let his shirt fall and turned in the chair to face the other boy. Jay nodded his head and rested it on his arms again.
“Hyung what do I do now?” Jake called out loudly, trying to be louder than the buzzing.
“Well first turn it off.” Heeseung laughed. He stood up and walked over to the metal table. He grabbed a piece of paper towel to wipe off the excess ink on Jake's design before placing a clear bandage over it.
“My turn!” Sunghoon pushed Jake out of the chair and sat down. His feet tapped on the floor in excitement.
“It's all yours.” Heeseung handed Sunghoon the tattoo gun after turning it on and went back to his seat next to Jay.
“What did Jake do?” Jay asked once Heeseung was in his line of sight. Heeseung looked over to Jake who held a finger against his lips.
“You'll find out soon.” Heeseung patted Jay on his head and smoothed out his black hair.
“It's really, really good Jay-Jay.” Jake stated. He was very proud of his tattoo.
Jay rolled his eyes and raised his hand so that the younger could see it and gave him the middle finger. A gasp came from Jake which made Jay forget about the pain on his thigh for a second as he laughed.
Sunghoons tattoo took longer than Jakes but Jay had barely noticed how much time passed by while talking with Heeseung. They chatted about school and more of Heeseungs tattoos that Jay found interesting and soon Sunghoon was calling Heeseung over to help him wrap up the design.
“You're all done Jay.” Heeseung said and stuck his hand out to help Jay stand on his feet. He led him over to the full length mirror in the room so he could see the tattoos.
Jay squinted as he tried to read what the tattoos said and then he realized. He leaned in closer to make sure he was really seeing what he was thinking in his head. Jake and Sunghoon had both written their names on the back of his thighs, Jake on the right and Sunghoon on the left.
Jay turned around to face the two boys. Sunghoon tried to hide behind Jake but him being taller made it difficult. Jay stormed over to them and they swore they could've seen steam coming from his ears.
“Jay, they look really good.” Jake put his hands on Jay's shoulders to comfort him but also to keep him away from them. “Right, Heeseung?”
Heeseung let out a tiny snicker as he shook his head. He decided to busy himself in cleaning up the mess they had made.
“Out of all the tattoos in the world,” Jay started. “I can't believe I'm sticking with your names on my legs forever.”
“At least we'll always be a part of you.” Sunghoon peeked out from behind Jake but quickly ducked back down once he saw Jay's face.
“You two are already a part of me.” Jay said with a scowl as he lifted his pinky. “And why couldn't you have gotten someone with nice handwriting to write it out?
“Hey! You have the worst handwriting out of all of us!” Jake said defensively and Sunghoon backed him up.
Jay muttered something under his breath as he grabbed his sweatpants to slide them back on. Heeseung had been leaning against the wall watching the three of them arguing.
“How much do we owe you hyung?” Jay asked the tattoo artist.
“Nothing.” Heeseung said.
“Nothing?” Jay repeated.
“I didn't really do anything.” Heeseung pointed out. “If anything you should be paying Jake and Sunghoon for their amazing work.”
Jay squinted his eyes at Heeseung while the other laughed at what he said as if it was the funniest thing ever.
Jake reached into his pocket and pulled out a crumpled twenty dollar bill. “At least take this hyung.” He pushed the bill into Heeseungs hand.
Heeseung shoved the bill into the back pocket of his pants and opened the door. “Let me walk you guys out.”
The trio filed out the door, Jay sticking around so he could be the closest to Heeseung. The older boy noticed and winked at him. They all waved at Siyoon as they walked past her and out the front door. Sunghoon and Jake waited by the car as Heeseung and Jay talked.
“Thank you for letting them do this.” Jay told Heeseung as he stepped closer to the taller boy.
“It was nothing.” Heeseung said as he brushed a few pieces of Jay's hair out of his face.
Jay opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by Sunghoon. “Jongseong, stop flirting and open the door.”
Jay forced himself to smile so he wouldn't have a violent outburst with Heeseung standing in front of him. “Thank you again.” He bowed to Heeseung before walking to the driver's side and letting everyone in his car.
Once inside, Jay started yelling. “Sunghoon! why would you say that!”
“Because it's cold out there and you were just standing there flirting with him!” Sunghoon exclaimed.
Jay reached into the backseat but was stopped by Jake before he could grab onto Sunghoon.
“Jay, wait.” Jake pulled him back into his seat. “I have an idea.”
Nothing good ever came from Jake getting an idea, especially at night time. “What is it?” Jay questioned.
“I dare you to go get his number.” Jake smirked.
Now if anyone else has been told this they would've declined the dare. Jay however never liked to decline any of the dares thrown at him. He was far more afraid of the punishments that the younger boys could give to him.
Jay didn't know what could be worse than getting tattoos from his best friends but he didn't want to find out. “I'll be right back.” He said before getting out of the car and making his way back into the tattoo shop. He saw Heeseung sitting on one of the leather couches and walked over to him.
“Missed me already?” Heeseung joked as Jay sat down beside him with a determined yet flirty look on his face.