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“So… I’ve been thinking,” Jisung shout-slurs over the pulsating music into Felix’s ear as they shuffle around on the dance floor, “that I want more.”
“More?!” Felix stops mid-grind and looks back at Jisung in alarm. “Sorry Sungie, but you’re just a bro to me…”
“Not that, you doofus, although I’d never have known from how you’re dancing on my dick. I meant more!!” Jisung flails around, trying to gesture at something but nearly hitting someone in their face instead.
“Sorry, sorry,” Felix apologises hurriedly and pulls Jisung off the dance floor before they get into an altercation. “Sungie, we’re not having more drinks, we are so…” Felix frowns, searching for the word. “Drunk. Yeah, drunk!”
“No, I mean yes,” Jisung agrees into Felix’s neck. “We’re drunk. No more drinks, but I meant these!” He holds his arms out, twisting them back and forth to show Felix his tattoo sleeves.
Felix frowns again, trying to parse what Jisung is saying. “You want more arms?”
“No, more… ink! Tattoo things.” Jisung wriggles his arms at Felix again.
“Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh…” Felix’s brow clears up as they fumble back to their booth in the club’s corner. “Just ask Bin hyung to do more for you, he’s a good… a good…” Felix thinks about the word. “Drawer! Right, Binnie hyung?”
The said good drawer raises an eyebrow as Felix climbs onto his lap. “I’m a good, what now?”
“Drawer! Like… like you can draw things on people.” Felix wrinkles his nose at Changbin adoringly. “You can draw more on Sungie, right?”
“Oh! Oh and also…” Felix continues as he slaps Changbin on his front, “You’re not just a good drawer, you’re also a good chest of drawers!” Felix and Jisung dissolve into peals of drunken giggles as Changbin stares blankly at the both of them.
“Alright, we’re packing it up for the night,” Changbin mutters, picking up their things. “You two need water and to not be in public.”
“Nooooo, I’m fine,” Jisung says, draping himself over both Felix and Changbin. “Look, I can look things up on my phone fine.” He pulls up an Instagram account on his phone and shows it to Felix. “See, I wanna go to this guy for my… more. He is a good drawer too.”
Felix squints at the little picture grid. “Oooooh, he is definitely very ‘more’. Is he also a good chest of drawers?” He pats Jisung’s chest, then Changbin’s chest with an eyebrow waggle. As the two drunk friends break into uncontrollable giggles again, Changbin rolls his eyes.
The trio bicker good naturedly as they stumble out of the club, and between one moment and the next, Felix leans over some grass and throws up.
-----
“Jisungie, please show the nice driver your address that you have saved on your phone.” Changbin says as he puts Jisung into the front seat of the ride-share that pulls up. Jisung obliges, smiling sweetly at both Changbin and the driver as he does so.
“Text me when you’re back, you hear, Jisung?” Changbin continues, hoisting Felix a little higher up his back. “I’d bring you back myself but Felix…”
As if responding to his name, Felix snores a little on Changbin’s back.
“It’s okay, hyung,” Jisung waves off Changbin’s worry. “I’m fine, not that drunk. Take care of Lix!"
“Okay, I’ll hear from you later. Text me!”
-----
The address that Jisung is dropped off at is decidedly not his home. It is somewhere that is somewhat familiar to Jisung though, he’s only been staring at pictures of it and its owner for the past two weeks. Without further thought, he pushes through the store’s entrance, surprisingly still open despite the hour.
“Hello,” comes the surprised greeting.
“Hi,” says Jisung. “I’m here for more!”
“More…? Of what?”
“Ink!” Jisung declares, dropping his jacket on the waiting couch. He shows off his tattooed half-sleeves to the very confused man behind the counter.
“Look, this is done by Changbin hyung,” - Jisung flexes his right arm - “And this one by Chan hyung” - he twists his left arm - ”And maybe now something by you, right?” He ends with a big hopeful smile.
“Hey, I’m sorry, but…”
“What’s your name? I’m Jisung!”
“I’m Hyunjin, hello. Are you drunk, Jisung?”
“I’m not drunk! I know drunk people shouldn’t be doing tattoos but I am super, totally, definitely not drunk.”
“Jisung, do you have someone I can call to bring you home?”
“Nooo I came here all the way for a tattoo, are you going to give me a tattoo, Hyunjin?”
“I don’t think I can,” Hyunjin begins, but he trails off as Jisung breaks into his biggest pout, the one that Chan says is the beginning of the end.
“Please?” Jisung says, his pout deepening. “It’s my birthday but my best friend Felix got really drunk and his boyfriend Changbin had to bring him back and they left me all alone. There’s no one to celebrate with me now so I thought it would be nice to do something for myself.”
“The same Changbin hyung who did those sleeves for you?”
“Uh huh! They’re my friends. Are you going to give me a tattoo too? I want to be friends with you too!”
“... Alright, I guess we can at least talk about it. Sit here, let me get you some water.”
“Yayyyyyyy,” Jisung’s face crinkles into a giant smile, “I knew you were nice. You’re such a nice person, Hyunjin.”
“Am I?”
“Uh huh. I saw you! It was raining so badly and you were outside there, right? Digging in the drain,” Jisung points outside the shop’s window. “I wanted to come ask what you were looking for, but then you fished out two little kitties from the drain and brought them inside. I've been watching you! You’re so nice!” He starts to look around the store excitedly, dropping to his knees to look for any signs of the cats.
Hyunjin stops in the middle of tapping on his phone and looks up at Jisung with some surprise. "You've been watching me?"
Jisung frowns. "Um, I know it sounds weird but I like that cafe nearby. Right there, see." He points to a cafe across the road, its lights turned off in the late hour. "Sometimes, I people watch out of the window. I can see you if you’re moving around outside your store or through your window if you’re painting here."
Hyunjin huffs a laugh, then resumes tapping on his phone. "Good to know. If you’re on the floor looking for the cats, they’re with a friend who loves them. They can’t live here."
That seemed like all he wanted to say about the situation, so Jisung stands and looks around the tattoo shop, letting his gaze wander around while Hyunjin busies himself. It’s a cosy little space, decorated in the manner of a well-loved art studio. Hyunjin has chosen warm wood surfaces for most of the interior, and art of all sorts adorns the walls of the shop. The room lighting is low, making the space inviting instead of clinical, and there’s a gentle floral fragrance in the air. In the waiting area where he is, Jisung recognises the big easel he often sees Hyunjin at. Jisung turns to ask Hyunjin about the half-finished sketch on the canvas, a figure with a moth over their eyes, but Hyunjin is missing. Well, Jisung will just continue looking around then.
The actual working area is towards the back of the shop, and Jisung pushes past the privacy curtains to investigate. The space is minimal, dominated mostly by the tattoo bed. It's currently in full recline, beckoning to Jisung, who suddenly feels very very tired.
When Hyunjin finds Jisung, he’s already lying on the tattoo bed, on the brink of sleep. "Hey, nice Hyunjin," Jisung mumbles sleepily, "I want that tattoo. Please?"
Hyunjin laughs as he puts some water beside Jisung. "You look comfortable. Sure you don't wanna just sleep?"
"No…" Jisung grabs Hyunjin by the wrist gently. "I want a dinosaur tattoo. Holding a balloon. Because it's my birthday, and it's my birthday tattoo. Please?"
"Happy birthday, Jisung. Sorry, I don't have any available flash pieces that look like that. Maybe you should just…"
"Okay! Fine! Then dealer's choice. Do whatever you want. Your art is all so pretty, like you! And your smile! Your smile is so pretty. I just want something today! From you. For my birthday?"
Jisung blinks expectantly at Hyunjin, who is flushing pink.
"Where do you want it?" Hyunjin asks, relenting as he takes his seat.
"Here, on my ribs and side." Jisung pulls up his tee with no hesitation, exposing his entire torso, and Hyunjin’s blush deepens a little more.
"Okay, and how big?"
"Up to you," Jisung grins, holding back a yawn. "Dealer's choice, remember?"
Hyunjin just hums as he pulls on his gloves. In a haze, Jisung watches as Hyunjin putters around the shop, pulling out tools and pressing buttons on machines. The last thing he remembers before he falls asleep is Hyunjin carefully wiping his torso with a cool, disinfecting wipe.
-----
When Jisung wakes up, he has to take a moment to figure out where he is. He shoots up, a colourful blanket falling from him as he does so. Oh crap. That’s right, he came to Hyunjin’s tattoo studio last night. He's still on the tattoo bed, and from the brightness outside, he's spent the night.
He peers out from behind the privacy curtain, and sees Hyunjin asleep on the waiting room couch, wrapped up in another colourful blanket. Jisung ducks back next to the tattoo bed, smacking his forehead in agony repeatedly. Okay okay okay, I need to not make a bigger fool of myself than I already have. Jisung tries to slink out without disturbing Hyunjin’s slumber, but as he tries to scoot past the curtain, it rattles loudly on its rails. Jisung winces, immediately checking Hyunjin, but it’s too late, Hyunjin is already stirring. Despite the embarrassing situation, Jisung can't help but admire Hyunjin’s long lashes fluttering as he comes awake, even as he tenses in some anxiety at the upcoming conversation.
"Hi," Hyunjin says as he spots him and Jisung is fit to burst from Hyunjin’s sleepy smile.
"H-hi," Jisung mumbles in response, his stomach a knot of stress. "I am so, so, so, sorry for last night."
“How much do you remember?” Hyunjin laughs as he stretches, his tee riding up a little bit to show a trim tummy, and Jisung’s mind whites out for a bit at the sight.
“Um,” Jisung stammers when his mind comes back online. “I was really drunk last night, and… I came in here demanding a tattoo…? Oh no, hyung!! I was supposed to text him!”
Hyunjin points to a side table where Jisung’s phone is plugged in. “You are a lifesaver, thank you!!” Jisung babbles as he unlocks his phone fearing the worst. I just hope Changbin hyung hasn’t filed a missing person's report...
All things considered, it wasn’t too bad. Three missed calls and fifteen texts from Changbin, which started from a gentle “where the fk are you” to the final “istg i will revive you and kill you again myself if you're dead in a ditch somewhere bitch call me when you’re up!!!!”
Jisung puts the call aside for the moment to deal with more pressing things, like the tattoo he had supposedly come here for in his drunken state. Hesitantly, he peeks under his shirt, and sees a large swath of gauze wrapped over his torso.
“Sorry,” Hyunjin says at the sight of Jisung staring at the gauze. “I ran out of my large dermal bandages, that's what happens when you don't make appointments.” He laughs, a little bubble of a giggle, and Jisung immediately wants to hear it again. “It’ll be fine, take it off when you're home when you're ready to shower. Do you need me to run over the aftercare procedures with you?”
“No, I’m good, I think I’m pretty experienced,” Jisung grins as he flaps his tattooed arms. “I can do that. What do I owe you?”
Hyunjin floats over to the counter, tying his long hair up as he does so. "$500 for the tattoo."
Jisung blanches but the tattoo, judging by the size of the bandage, is pretty sizable. and if Hyunjin had thrown in a "nuisance" fee for him being the utter mess he was last night, it's entirely understandable.
Jisung hands over his card without a word, and signs the slip without even looking. What with the entire embarrassing situation, and the way Hyunjin is looking all cutely mussed and sleepy, he can’t even look Hyunjin in the eye.
"Here we go," Hyunjin chirrups, handing back his card with his receipt folded under it.
Jisung shoves the stack into his pocket and books it, muttering a quick “bye” to Hyunjin as he pushes out of the door, the bell clinking as he leaves.
Outside, the early morning sun hits him, and he decides to work off his hangover by walking the twenty minutes home. Oh yeah, Changbin hyung. He drops Changbin that promised call, and his friend picks up on the second ring.
“Han Jisung,” Changbin rumbles.
Before Changbin can start his nagging tirade, Jisung launches straight into his apology. “Changbin hyung, I am so, so, so, sorry. I should definitely have called you last night. I showed the wrong address to the driver and I passed out before I could call. But I’m here now, I’m safe.”
He can almost hear Changbin thinking about what to say next.
“Where did you end up last night?”
Jisung hesitates. He’s not sure he wants to share with Changbin exactly where he went just yet, not while he’s still burning with embarrassment inside.
“A friend’s place,” Jisung mutters.
Changbin doesn’t respond for a moment, as if wanting Jisung to say more.
“You have friends?” Changbin finally says.
“Hey,” Jisung protests weakly. “Shut up, what are you then?”
“Your conscience,” Changbin responds dryly. “Call Felix, he’s worried about you.”
“Isn’t he with you?”
“He’s sleeping off his headache at home, I’m at the gym.”
“Freak.” Jisung laughs. “Go get those beefy muscles. I’ll call Felix.”
They end the call with some vague arrangements to see each other soon, and Jisung calls Felix immediately. The call is just about to ring out when Felix finally picks up.
“Hello?”
“Happy birthday honey,” Jisung whispers greasily down the line. “I heard you were thinking of me.”
“Jisungie!” Felix’s voice brightens and Jisung hears the rustling of sheets over the phone. “Where did you go last night?”
Jisung had been too ashamed to tell Changbin, a respected hyung, the full truth of his embarrassment last night, but Felix is his best friend, his almost twin, so he finds himself spilling about what happened last night naturally.
“So you have some new ink?” Felix says excitedly, “What is it of?”
“Well, that’s the thing,” Jisung admits. “I don’t know. I haven’t taken the bandage off yet.”
“Han Jisung,” Felix says, the most serious Jisung has ever heard him. “You will wait for me to show up with my camera before you remove any of that.”
“You want me to continue sitting in my filth from last night for the next hour, waiting for you and your camera to show up?”
“Yes. I’ll bring you breakfast.”
Jisung sighs. Classic Felix. “Fine.”
--------
Felix shows up at Jisung’s apartment in record time, armed with a sunny smile, croissants and iced americanos. “I know you’re wallowing in your filth,” Felix cackles as he holds up his delicious-smelling bags, “But let’s eat first.”
They sit around the coffee table, chewing happily on their pastries as Jisung shares details of Hyunjin’s studio and his embarrassing adventure from the night before.
“So he was as dreamy as you had built him up to be in your head after all?” Felix teases as Jisung lingers a little too long on the description of how Hyunjin had bunched his hair up that morning while biting onto his hairtie.
“Alright, enough.” Jisung says, his face red. “Can we film whatever you want to film so I can take my shower?”
“Okay, I'm so excited,” Felix is vibrating out of his seat, and has his camera out ready to video the unveiling. "Do it slowly, bit by bit," Felix starts moving around him professionally, looking for the right angle and lighting. "Gotta have the grand reveal."
Jisung obliges, starting with the right corner nearest to him over his ribcage. Slowly, some text in a heavy gothic font is revealed.
"Bella Vita," Felix reads off. "Beautiful Life. Well, kinda basic but why would Hyunjin put such a big bandage for just a line of text? And didn't you say he had a really artistic style?"
Jisung is confused too. "Maybe it's a paragraph of text, or something?"
It isn't. The next part Jisung reveals is a barbed wire in an infinity sign, then a feather, then a scorpion, followed by a blackwork tribal pattern of some kind. Jisung and Felix sit in silence, staring at the seemingly unconnected symbols now adorning Jisung’s skin.
“Ah,” Felix begins, trying to find something nice to say. “His lines are very neat.”
Jisung groans. “Just tell it to me straight, this tattoo sucks.”
"Maybe it's a coded message of some sort?" Felix ventures hesitantly, looking at Jisung’s torso from different angles as if it would make the meaning of the symbols clear.
Jisung sighs, a great gusty moan of despair. "It's a punishment for me being a big nuisance yesterday. I'm sure of it."
"Kinda large and permanent punishment…" Felix says doubtfully.
Jisung just shakes his head, resigned to his lousy tattoos. "I'll just go take that shower and I'll see if Bin or Chan hyungs can fit me into their schedules for a cover up soon."
He trudges to the bathroom, and heaves yet another sigh as he regards his mishmashed set of tattoos in the mirror. So much for nice Hyunjin, Jisung thinks morosely. He’s disappointed of course, after all, all his earlier tattoos are meaningful to him, and ultimately he really wanted to be friends with Hyunjin, who he believed before this to be a gentle and endearing soul. I guess I was sorely mistaken.
In any case, he's now off crop tops for the time being. He'll probably need a couple of months for this set to heal fully before Bin and Chan hyungs will even look at him, so… Wait. Healing. He stares harder at his new tattoos, squints at them a little. He hesitantly runs his fingers over the blackwork, but instead of the raised skin, slippery blood and plasma discharge he's expecting from a freshly done tattoo, his skin is smooth and dry. Wait. He touches all of the symbols, first gently, then a solid swipe over each one, and none of them feel even the least bit swollen or hurt. Wait.
Growling now, he dabs some hand sanitiser on a washcloth and begins furiously scrubbing at "Vita". The “ink” starts to flake and peel off onto the cloth with his ministrations. They’re not actual tattoos, but transfers! Fucking Hyunjin gave him fake tattoo transfers and made him think he was getting real ones!
Jisung silently screams, half in anger and half in relief. Wait. Fucking Hyunjin charged him 500 bucks for transfers!!!
Jisung bursts out of the bathroom, startling Felix. “They’re transfers!” Jisung sputters, thrusting the washcloth with its incriminating flakes at Felix. To his credit, Felix doesn't laugh outright into Jisung's face, but the corners of his mouth do twitch dangerously.
“That’s good, right? What are you going to do now, Jisungie?”
“I’m going to confront that fucker,” Jisung mutters.
-----
Jisung knows Hyunjin typically opens his store at around 3pm, so fifteen minutes to the hour, he charges down the street to catch Hyunjin unlocking his doors. Hyunjin sees him coming from afar, and has the audacity to lean against the wall casually, waiting with a wild grin on his face as Jisung approaches.
"Hwang Hyunjin, you utter fraud, return my 500 bucks to me!" Jisung hisses as soon as he enters earshot.
Hyunjin laughs, his whole face scrunching up delightedly, and if Jisung wasn't so mad, he'd be finding Hyunjin’s laughter adorable. As it is, his anger is deflating fast at the sight of Hyunjin's mirth.
"I see you've discovered my stellar skills with a wet tissue and dollar store transfers. How'd you know my full name?" Hyunjin asks, waving him into the store through his wheezing.
"I may or may not have looked you up previously," Jisung mutters, his anger dissolving completely into some embarrassed hilarity. And as always, he can’t stop running his mouth when he’s trying to hide his embarrassment. "I wasn’t bluffing last night when I said I thought you and your art were pretty. Now stop stalling, and return me my 500!"
"Hey, those transfers cost me money too. How about 490?"
"You literally just said these were dollar store transfers?!”
"Tattoo shop markup," Hyunjin explains with a teasing smile, “and Changbin hyung said to make you pay, although perhaps he didn’t mean it quite so literally.”
“C-Changbin?!” Jisung splutters in utter betrayal.
“Yeah, I texted him last night once you said your sleeves were done by him and Chan hyungs, and that you were with him last night. I figured he’d want to know you were somewhere safe.”
“Of course you know them,” Jisung throws his hands up in frustration. “Tattoo artists! I should have known Seo Changbin had a hand in this prank.”
"Okay, fine," Jisung continues, "490. And you buy me coffee for all the emotional trauma you've put me through.” A burst of bravery makes him add the last part. “And you give me your number."
Hyunjin just grins. "Didn't check your receipt from this morning?"
Jisung fishes out his card and the receipt from his wallet. He unfolds the piece of paper and sees instead of a $500 charge, a printed system message from turning the machine on. And below that, a scrawled "HHJ", followed by a phone number.
Jisung looks up to see Hyunjin smiling at him still. "I still want my coffee," Jisung grumbles and Hyunjin laughs, a delighted chuckle at a prank gone well.
“Let’s go get one then. Happy birthday Jisung.”