Chapter Text
It's been a daunting few days. Against all his anxiety and perhaps his better judgement, Seonghwa had booked a tattoo appointment for the weekend, and thus the last three days he had been idly standing by in wait, nervous and convincing himself that he wanted this tattoo because it meant something, and he was sure of it.
The fact that the tattoo artist he had found by chance on instagram was severely handsome was just a nice plus. And no, he wasn't nervous because he had gotten a call (who even calls anyone?) To set up the appointment and had a very in depth conversation about what he planned to get with this very kind and charismatic older man covered practically head to toe in black ink, and his thick australian accent definitely didn't make Seonghwa's skin prickle with how low the timbre would go at times.
No, he didn't spend the last few hours watching reels of him working, talking, and being just generally cool. No he didn't have a crush.
Shut up.
He did what he could to settle himself down. He watched movies, went out for a walk, went to the gym, got groceries, cooked and cleaned. And it was 2 am and his eyes were wide as saucers, staring at the ceiling.
Maybe he was exaggerating because it was going to be his first tattoo- but San and Wooyoung had gotten matching ones not long ago and they assured him it was no big deal. More like a sharp sting for the first few minutes and then it became a generally numb sensation.
But to be fair he was less worried about the pain and more worried about if he would still like the tattoo a few years down the line.
He had talked it out with Ian for the better part of 20 minutes- the concept wasn't complicated. Initially, he had explained that he wanted a torch, or something akin to it. When Ian asked why, it wasn't accusatory but curious.
"Well uhm... my name is Seonghwa, and it means holy fire. And i thought about olympians and the torch that they need to carry -umm. Do you know the myth of Prometheus?"
He heard a shuffle and and a "uuh". Then silence. Then a gasp "Oh yeah! The one where he steals the fire from some god, i forget who. And he gets tied to a big rock and his liver gets eaten every day."
Seonghwa giggled. He smacked himself on the leg, then continued.
"Yeah well, Prometheus stole the fire from Zeus and gave it to the humans so they could progress in civilization. So i thought that the holy fire in the olympian torch was a good idea. But... i dont know if it's that good of an idea. I don't know if a torch is that cool to look at every day, or if it'll get the point across."
Ian hummed. " What's the point you wanna make? I haven't seen you in person to give you like, an assessment of what would look cool on you, but we can get together. Do you wanna come by the shop this saturday so we can chat more? And maybe we can whip something up. I'm sure we can figure something out."
Seonghwa blinked, they were too many questions at once and he didn't know which one to answer. "Yeah, we could meet up and talk"
"Yeah yeah totally. I like when people have a cool idea, gives me a break from the fuckin' pinterest stuff and the zodiac symbols n' shit. Ah sorry about that" he laughs a bit nervously and Seonghwa laughs too.
"No, you're totally okay. It must get old very quick"
"Yeah well, work is work. I'm sure those mean something too, to someone. Probably" there's shuffling again and then a mumble. "Okay, i gotta wrap up. Saturday at four pm sound good to you?"
Seonghwa startles, then nods, then remembers he's on the phone and says "yes! Sure. Thank you so much, do i have to pay for the--"
Ian doesn't let him finish "nah mate forget about it. We'll see when we get to it, i won't charge you for a chat."
Seonghwa is then, seriously taken by how nice and genuinely kind this man is.
He hopes he's gay, though he doubts it.
"Okay, see you on saturday then!"
"Absolutely my man! A pleasure. See ya soon"
He falls asleep at roughly four am, after his eyes start stinging and exhaustion gets the better of him despite the anxiety.
The shop is situated in a nice part of town. It has wide glass doors, painted black, of course, and the walls were lined with paintings and drawings, spanning multiple styles - but the ones that reigned supreme were neo traditional and traditional.
San had come along with Seonghwa as moral support. Though Seonghwa kind of doubted he'd get tattooed that same day, San had insisted that if a talk had gotten Seonghwa so anxious he definitely had to see what the fuss was all about.
When they went in, they were almost immediately greeted by a tall guy with very few tattoos but a ridiculous amount of piercings - eyebrows, septum, bridge, labret, helixes and earlobes - that smiled kindly at them. "Hey guys! What can i help you with?"
His voice was low, and it made sense because he was a beast of a man. Seonghwa had to raise his head to meet his eyes.
"I uh, have an appointment with Ian?" Seonghwa offered shyly. He wasnt necessarily an anxious or introverted man, but he was decidedly out of his element. Getting a tattoo was the biggest act of revelry he had thought of commiting to date. Well, other than coming out of the closet to his family and in his workplace. And having a big dude with a mean face and a lot of metal sticking out of his skin was a little bit intimidating. However, it seemed this shop was full of just cool dudes.
"Oh yeahh! You're the torch guy? Yeah yeah he's finishing up a flash walk-in, so if you guys wanna wait, you can sit on that couch over there". He points to a wide three body couch to the left of the room, right next to one of those infinity fountains that was kind of out of place, but made a relaxing sound. There was music playing faintly from somewhere in the back, but mostly all that could be heard was the whirring of the tattoo gun and some chatter coming from the hallway.
Seonghwa nodded and walked a couple steps to the couch to sit down. He brushed some lint off his sweater and looked around, taking in the artwork on the walls with his hands folded over his lap. San was snapping pictures and looking at stuff across the other side of the room.
The pierced guy fiddled with an electric oven looking thingy that was situated in what seemed to be his work area - a small table with a big, comfortable reclining chair next to it - and spoke to Seonghwa as he put a few things into the oven "first time getting a tattoo?"
Seonghwa giggled. "Is it too obvious?"
"No no... i mean yeah, but i get you. Needles are scary."
Seonghwa frowned slightly "but... you have a ton of piercings"
"Yeah well, its different cause getting a piercing is like ripping off a bandaid. You just go through it for a second and then it's done. And you can keep your eyes closed the whole time"
Seonghwa hummed "um... you do have tattoos right?" He thought he could see one peeking out of a hole on his jeans, right over the thigh.
"I have a couple big pieces, yeah. Hongjoong, one of the guys, uses me as his guinea pig"
Seonghwa hums again. "Are there a lot of artists here?"
"Right now it's just Ian and Hongjoong and me" he turns to look at Seonghwa and continues "i don't tattoo though, I just do piercings"
Seonghwa frowns again. This guy just said needles were scary. Then he realised he only said that, not that he personally was scared of them. He thought it was a kind gesture for him to validate Seonghwa's nerves like that.
"What's your name?" Seonghwa asks, relaxing a bit into the couch.
"Song Mingi. You?" He grins and Seonghwa thinks it probably is mandatory to just be cool and handsome to work at this place.
"Park Seonghwa. That's my friend, Choi San"
Mingi turns his head to look at San "nice to meet you too"
San approaches him and loosely shakes his hand. They exchange a strange look, and thankfully, Ian emerges from the back room with a client, chatting them up. He walks them to the front door and Seonghwa's full attention is suddenly on him. He didn't know how it was possible for a man to radiate warmth, but he did. Not to mention how much handsomer he was in the flesh, how confidently he moved across the space.
And his biceps were fucking huge.
Then he notices Ian has turned and is now facing him, smile wide and welcoming.
"Seonghwa yeah? Glad you made it man. I've been thinking of your piece a lot!" He reaches for a small hug as Seonghwa stands, and he smiles "nice to meet you"
Seonghwa stammers and nods "yeah, you too. Um... i'm curious as to what you've come up with"
Behind Ian, he can see San's face right over his shoulder. His shit eating grin makes Seonghwa blush.
"I didn't come up with a lot cause i wanted to meet you first, pick up your vibe." He gives Seonghwa a small pat on the shoulder and sits on the couch, urging him to join in. "And I need to ask some basic questions. Did you want it colored or just black?"
Seonghwa sits, and San joins at his other side. Mingi disappears into the back, and chatter can be heard once more.
"Just black, i think? I read it holds up better"
Ian makes a so-so gesture with his hand. "The way the ink holds has more to do with where you get the piece and how well you take care of your skin. And you take good care of yours"
Seonghwa blinks and nods "yeah, i do."
"Where did you want to get it?"
He sighs "well, i haven't made up my mind completely? I thought about getting it over the ribs, but my friend said it really hurts there. I'm a teacher so I can't really do it somewhere too visible."
"Yeah, ribs might not be the best place to start... well no, it depends-- how big do you want it?"
San snorts and coughs to cover it and Seonghwa's ears go red. He'd hit him, but it'd only make things worse. Ian just acts like nothing has happened.
"I was thinking about eight to nine inches?"
"Greedy" San cuts in, and Seonghwa does kick him this time.
"Not that greedy, it's prolly a bit too big for the first time but you're brave, yeah? You look like you are"
San starts shaking trying to contain his laugh and Ian looks at Seonghwa, and Seonghwa just doesn't know what to make of it- cause Ian's face reads innocence, but his eyes are twinkling.
Well, fuck it.
"I have built up some tolerance. I think i can handle it."
"Oh shit" Ian laughs "that's the spirit! Anyway, I was talking to my um... what would you call it? Student? Apprentice? Okay yeah, Hongjoong. He's very good at the more modern type of design, i've got a more traditional approach to illustration. So i thought you should explain to him what you want and I can like, chip in with the more technical stuff. If you don't mind? Just to give him a little more experience. And to be honest, i just think he's a better fit for you"
Seonghwa tries to process the information as quickly as possible as he nods. "Sure, i mean... what you think is best? Do you think traditional style wouldn't suit me?"
Ian gives him a quick once over "traditional is too harsh looking for you, maybe? The lines are too thick and the shading is a bit strong. I think you need a more unique touch, like... wait, lemme- JOONG? JOONG?"
A voice yells back from the back room"Yeah yeah just a second!"
There is shuffling and a man emerges, fixing a pair of dark shades over his spiky bright orange hair. He had a look to him like he hadn't slept well in a decade, he had a very enticing looking hoop on his lower lip and both his arms and what was visible of his chest and neck were almost wholly covered in tatoos. Some black, some with a splash of color, but to Seonghwa it didn't really matter, cause that man's face and slightly pissed off expression had basically made him short-circuit.
He was gorgeous, lovely, the prettiest boy Seonghwa had ever seen. And even if less than a minute ago he had felt smitten with Ian, now it didn't matter. Hongjoong was gorgeous and so, so fucking cool. He dragged his body across the space like nothing could ever bother him enough to hurry. He was dressed in loose, comfortable black sweatpants that still had an edge to them with some clothespins and bits of fabric sewn in, which Seonghwa guessed was a DIY. And he had a striped purple sweater that looked like it was falling apart. It made him think about how the dudes in Nana were dressed.
Suddenly Seonghwa was acutely aware of how uncool he looked with his black dress pants and bone colored sweater that matched his sneakers, and his dark brown saddlebag. He couldn't look more beige and bland. He hadn't even put makeup on.
And as such Seonghwa understood somewhat why Hongjoong was looking at him with the utmost disinterest. Even some slight disdain.
"What is it?" He asked Ian. Seonghwa felt slightly taken aback at the lack of honorifics, but Ian didn't seem to care.
"Remember that client i told you about that brought up the myth of Prometheus and the stolen flame?"
Hongjoong's eyes flit to Seonghwa and his brows furrowed almost imperceptibly. "That's you? I thought you were a walk in"
Seonghwa nods and can barely hear San muttering "whats up with this guy"
"So you actually like neo trad?" Hongjoong says, standing closer to the couch. He was looking at Seonghwa a bit more, although he still seemed like he would rather be anywhere else.
Seonghwa is confused. " I haven't seen any type of design yet, but i might"
Hongjoong makes a face "nah I think it wouldn't click with your whole thing. It's way too bold."
Seonghwa frowns "excuse me, 'my whole thing?'"
Hongjoong just moves his hand, as if pointing at Seonghwa's general presence. "Your style, your vibe."
"What's my vibe?" Seonghwa asks, half amused, half pissed off.
"Uh... like... more normal. Delicate."
Seonghwa snorts. "Because I wear colors?"
Hongjoong frowns "no, you just... look like you're a softer type of person, is all"
San leans in, laughing softly "excuse me man, but i've seen this dude punching teeth out. Don't let his cute eyes fool you, he's a beast"
Ian laughs and cuts in just to ease the tension. "Anyway, what if we both make a couple designs and you pick the one you like the most? I'll make a traditional and an engraving one and Joong can make a neo trad and...uh, blackwork? Maybe?"
"i'll make a fine line one. That would look good" Hongjoong says, completely disregarding Ian.
"Yeah, you'd make fine line?" Ian asks, amused "that would be a first"
"It would be what would fit him best, yeah" Hongjoong says, scratching the back of his head.
Ian smiles wider and stands "i'm gonna go get the sketchpads, you two talk"
He strides back to the backroom and the three of them sit in silence for a moment. Hongjoong isn't looking at Seonghwa at all, he's scrolling through his phone and biting on one of his nails, chipping the black nail polish off. Seonghwa looks at San, widening his eyes at him as if to ask "what the hell?". San shrugs slightly. They sit in silence for another 30 seconds before Hongjoong stands and hurries to the back as well.
San and Seonghwa are left alone.
Seonghwa turns to San and leans in, whispering.
"These guys are kinda weird"
"You can still tap out. We make a run for it, right now" San offers.
Seonghwa giggles "No no, they're both making designs for free, the least i can do is check them out"
San raises his eyebrows "you have been checking them out"
Seonghwa pushes his shoulder against San's. "That's besides the point"
"If you have to choose, i'd go for Ian. I don't like the shorty, he acts like he's hot shit"
Seonghwa shrugs "I mean, he kind of is"
"Dude what's even your type?"
"Anyone but you" Seonghwa says with a snort. San squints at him.
"You keep telling yourself that, buddy."
Mingi pokes his head out of the doorway "hey guys, come on in if you want. This might take a while."
They stand and follow Mingi through the door, into a very short hallway. They enter the farthest room at the end of it, where they seem to have a well illuminated common area with two laptops on a single small table, a bunch of boxes filled with what Seonghwa guessed were supplies lining the walls, and both Ian and Hongjoong were sitting on their own beanbags off to the left, scribbling. Ian was doing it on a sketchpad and Hongjoong on an ipad.
The place was well decorated with paintings and drawings, it smelled faintly of weed mixed with incense, and there was music coming out of a tiny speaker atop the table in the middle of the room.
It was nice. It felt very relaxing in there, like it was someone's home.
Mingi pulls an extra chair over to the table. "Do you guys want a coffee, some water? They're gonna be doing that for at least half an hour" he moves toward the water dispenser "or like, if you got somewhere to be, you should go. They get in like a flow state and stuff"
Both San and Seonghwa sit down and Seonghwa hesitates "is it okay if we stay? I can come back later. So you guys can draw at your own pace..."
Neither Ian nor Hongjoong answer, so Mingi does it for them "they do a thing where they time each other on who can come up with a better idea in the least amount of time or some shit uh... based on God knows what. I have no fucking clue what their deal is, I just know that it's like a dick measuring contest, but Ian is too straight to actually whip his dick out"
Mingi talks freely, as if they weren't there. And by the way none of them look up or offer a reaction, it might as well be true.
San looks at Seonghwa and offers him a sad smile.
Seonghwa clicks his tongue and smacks his arm lightly.
He had stopped looking at Ian as soon as Hongjoong walked in, so he didn't really care that he was straight. He was more interested by how Mingi hadn't said both of them were.
He looks off to the side, and sort of stares at the artwork on the wall around Hongjoong. It's mostly skulls and animals, flowers, mushrooms. There's some psychedelic nature to the designs, high color values and deep contrasts, and an impressive attention to details on shading and highlights. They were mostly printed works, save a couple acryllic paintings here and there of Asian influence. Seonghwa was very partial to a crane painted in a greyish blue with sharp red accents, framing what looked to be the span of a man's back and shoulders with its spread out wings.
To Ian's side, greyscale reigned. Abstract figure expression and gothic lettering accented with equally gothic and intricare filigree, some pieces that looked straight out of a medieval tome with its engraved style. A few hyperrealistic portraits that looked half finished on purpose, with blurred out eyes or mouths. It was beautifully haunting to see. There was a raw honesty to them.
Seonghwa thought the contrast between Hongjoong's colourful and playful realism that looked so put together and ordained, and Ian's loose and conceptual greyscale was kind of opposite to their personalities. Ian was the cheery, friendly one. Hongjoong had barely talked or made eye contact. Ian was dressed up in neat, clean clothes that screamed profesionalism. Hongjoong looked like he had just crawled out of a dumpster.
However, he did think that they had one thing in common: no matter what, their attention to detail was stunning. Their imagination was grand, adding layers upon layers of texture to deepen a piece, their composition was near flawless. It was amazing how much they had honed their eyes to just know how to put an image together. Nevermind the style or subject itself, their execution was always perfect.
"These pieces are better than the ones in the lobby" Seonghwa mused offhandedly.
"These are the ones that aren't for sale, i think" Mingi answered, offering Seonghwa and San a warm cup of tea for each. "They have meaning, I guess"
"They have soul" Seonghwa says "I can kinda tell when someone makes a piece that they wanted to make"
Mingi sits across from them "you can?"
"I'm an art teacher" Seonghwa smiles softly, his eyes back on Mingi "i guess i have a trained eye"
"Really? Neat. What age do you teach?"
"Elementary school. I like working with kids rather than adults" Seonghwa says with a soft smile.
"That's a sweet choice. You look like you'd be good with kids, i scare them"
Seonghwa laughs "I think they'd surprise you. I have a friend that's all tatted up and they think he's really cool."
"Yeah but piercings are more aggressive looking to some people. I don't know why, they're certainly not permanent. If i take them off i'm just a dude"
San chips in after sipping on his tea "if you're scaring people it's because you're huge, not because of the piercings"
Mingi laughs and it's quite adorable "yeah i guess that's true too"
"I don't think it's scary. I think you're cute." Seonghwa smiles kindly and sips on his tea.
Mingi looks a bit shocked, but laughs none the less "ah-" his eyes flit to San, apologetically.
"Oh no no" San waves his hand "no no, we're just friends"
"Ohh sorry I assumed" Mingi scratches his neck "i'm surrounded by a lot of queer people and end up just thinking everyone's gay until proven otherwise."
Both San and Seonghwa chuckle and Seonghwa speaks up "we're both bi, just not into each other. He's too buff, i like 'em normal sized." he said, kinda hoping Hongjoong would overhear.
"And i like... my boyfriend I guess." San snorts "i don't really have a type"
Mingi smiles "that's sweet. It's been a while since i've dated anyone"
Seonghwa hums. "Same"
Mingi blinks up to him and he's about to say something when Hongjoong springs up.
"I'm done! It's done"
Ian stands right after him "Aw you beat me by a couple seconds! Hey, come check them out, Seonghwa."
Seonghwa stands and approaches them, and both men flip theit pads around.
Hongjoong had made a torch, bright electric blue with a contrasting yellow flame that went up into an orange and red gradient. There was an almost neon green bounce light on the torch aside from the yellow and red reflections on the metal of the torch..It was very well made. His other design was maybe the same drawing, but the bare bones of it, just the linework. That one was a bit more underwhelming.
Ian had drawn something entirely different than the original idea. He had made a sword engulfed in flames. The weight of the lines made it look like the flames came off the sword. There was not much else to it- the shading was cross hatched and squiggly and it looked like a loose hand, but it was cool. It was so much cooler than a torch.
"Wow... how did you come up with a sword?" Seonghwa asked, leaning in to take a closer look.
"I just thought you have a warrior vibe to you. Like you would put up a good fight" Ian says offhandedly, like what he just said made any sense to everyone else and not just to himself.
Seongha takes a second, closer look to Hongjoong's, because he doesn't want to be mean. "I love the bounce lights. And this blue is really cool, makes the torch look chrome"
Hongjoong mumbles a thanks and pulls the pad back to his chest.
"I don't know, they're both really cool designs" Seonghwa laughs breathlessly. "But i guess... i guess i'll go with Ian's"
Ian pats Seonghwa's arm loosely and smiles "nice! Any requests, something you wanna change or fine tune?"
Seonghwa shakes his head "i think it's okay as it is"
Hongjoong is about to leave the room when Ian calls him over again "get your station ready, you're doing this one"
"Huh?"
"Yeah man, I gotta go take care of some stuff. You can take care of my mate Seonghwa, yeah?"
Both Seonghwa and Hongjoong look momentarily stunned. And Hongjoong looks at Mingi and then at Ian "I have class in like half an hour"
Seonghwa pouts internally.
"Okay. Let's settle an appointment for next week then? You don't have class on thursday, do you?"
Ian's eyes bore into Hongjoong and he shakes his head "not on thursdays, no"
Ian nods and Seonghwa and smiles "what time works for you?"
"Um... after three pm? I can skip the gym, I guess"
"Oh yeah no working out before or after a tattoo, okay? Thursday at five sound good to you?"
Seonghwa nods and adjusts his bag "yeah, sure"
Ian pats his shoulder again. "Then it's a date for you guys".