Work Text:
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Mingyu knew Universe Factory.
Not personally or anything; it was just impossible to work for-slash-with Hoshi and not know that the studio was responsible for ninety percent of Hoshi's body modifications.
Other members of Hoshi's team had informed Mingyu that he'd likely end up there with the performer at some point: it wasn’t uncommon for him to take staff along to his appointments. Mingyu doesn’t know if he believes them, but if it does happen…
He’s got notifications on for the Universe Factory Instagram. It’s not super clear how many artists actually work in the shop, but he knows that Hoshi (Call me Soonyoung! Please. I love my stage name but I’m not always on like that, y’know?) has one primary artist. That artist doesn’t show his face as far as Mingyu has been able to find out, but he does have his hands in some progress photos.
Is it weird that Mingyu is kind of obsessed with those hands? Probably, if you listened to Mingyu’s friends. But Mingyu knows how to appreciate talented hands, and the guy behind Soonyoun’s tattoos is incredibly talented.
The newest post involves those gorgeous, strong-but-slender hands turning the arm of his client to show off the in-progress coloring of a dragon climbing from wrist to bicep. Mingyu recognizes the tattoo as one that Universe Factory had posted a few months ago, when the lines and preliminary shading had been done. The short reel was clearly taken during a break, a few smudges of ink on skin that won’t be there in the final posted pictures. The artist must really like this piece - Mingyu has been following the shop for long enough to know that reels in the middle of sessions weren’t common.
He likes the reel, and finally gets back to work: he’s got three new recipes he’s trying out for nutritious snacks and quick meals for the upcoming European tour.
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Mingyu forgets about Soonyoung taking staff to Universe Factory for a few weeks as the tour preparations really get rolling. Meal plans and lists of what he’ll need for equipment and supplies on the road consume Mingyu’s thoughts, all while he keeps working on Soonyoung fed day to day. It’s hectic, but Mingyu loves his job.
One week before the team is due to fly out to London to kick off the tour, Soonyoung catches Mingyu in the company kitchen. Mingyu is in the middle of packing that week’s protein-and-energy snacks into reusable containers.
“Hey! Do you have extra of the chocolate ones?” Soonyoung leans against the island piled high with meal prep containers.
Mingyu doesn’t even have to think about it before he says, “Yeah, I always make too much of them.” It’s true: Mingyu usually has a portion or two left by the middle-end of the week, and he usually gives them away to gym friends or other staff in the building. He hasn’t managed to cut the recipe to just what they need, not that he’s tried too hard - he likes to be able to share what he makes if he’s got some extra.
Soonyoung makes a pleased noise. “You give them away when there’s extra, right?”
“I do.” Mingyu grabs an armful of the containers and moves toward the fridge again. “Is there someone in particular I should give them to? Or…” He has to move a few things around in the fridge to make them fit. Turning to Soonyoung and the remaining containers, he offers, “I could make another half batch if you wanted to give some to a friend or something.”
“My friend Jihoon has been complaining about hitting some of his nutrition goals with how much he’s been working and these taste better than the protein bars he’s been eating.”
Mingyu nods understandingly. He knows vaguely of Jihoon, one of Soonyoung’s many friends but one that can’t make it to shows or events very often. Other staff has met him, but Mingyu’s one of the newest on Soonyoung’s team and unlike fans, he isn’t big on digging into Soonyoung’s private life. Mingyu pulls two containers from the nearest stack, checks that they’re the requested chocolate ones, and slides them toward Soonyoung across the island. “These are definitely better than mass produced bars.”
Soonyoung gives him a sunny smile, and pulls the containers toward his body. “Awesome! Want to come with me?”
Mingyu keeps putting things away. “Go with you?”
“I’ve got a session,” he starts, and sounds kind of shy as he continues, “and Jihoon’s gonna ask me questions about what’s in these that I won’t be able to answer.”
Closing the fridge, Mingyu gives his most reassuring smile. “Of course I’ll go with you!”
“You’re not afraid of needles, right?”
Weird question, but Mingyu answers honestly: “Not at all.”
Soonyoung nods, and his phone dings. “I think that’s Wonwoo saying the van’s ready.”
Mingyu blinks. “Your session is now?” He doesn’t even know what kind of session it was - there wasn’t anything on Soonyoung’s official schedule as far as Mingyu recalled.
“Oh, yeah. Gotta get in whenever I can. You’re free, right?”
What the hell, why not? This whole job has taken him places he never thought he’d be able to go, and Mingyu trusts that Soonyoung isn’t going to put him in danger on purpose - or without warning. “I am. Want me to bring anything else?”
“Now that you ask -”
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Soonyoung doesn’t bring many of his staff to his sessions with Jihoon, and when he does it usually means Soonyoung likes and trusts them and wants them to be friends with Jihoon for whatever reason. The tall man that had followed him into the studio like a curious puppy isn't unwelcome, just unexpected.
“You’ve been complaining about not reaching your protein goals,” Soonyoung says - without a hint of irony or innuendo - as he tosses his expensive oversized designer shirt onto the seat of the cuck chair Jihoon had dragged across the studio for the unexpected guest. “Mingyu’s got great snacks for that.”
Mingyu is standing awkwardly next to the chair. There’s a large insulated bag at his feet, and he bows when Jihoon looks at him. “If Hoshi-hyung invited me when he shouldn’t have, I can go…”
Jihoon shakes his head; he would have preferred a heads up, that's all. He trusts that Soonyoung wouldn’t bring anyone untrustworthy into his studio. Jihoon kicks at Soonyoung’s foot, and grabs his iPad from the rolling cart next to the tattoo chair. Without looking at either of them, Jihoon replies, “It’s fine.”
Shirtless, Soonyoung presses against Jihoon’s side to get a look at the screen. “What’d you come up with this time?”
There's a whole folder dedicated to past and future plans just for Soonyoung on Jihoon's iPad. Jihoon's been tattooing him since he got his first machine, and Soonyoung's body is practically a road map of Jihoon's skill progression over the years. Their heads nearly touch as Jihoon flips through sketches and finished pieces to pull up a handful of things they could get through in the handful of hours Soonyoung has.
“These stripes!” crows Soonyoung. He zooms in on the file, a mock up Jihoon had done directly on top of a picture of Soonyoung from his last promotional cycle.
The ‘stripes’ are painterly swoops and swirls that are densely packed at his hand and wrist and loosen up toward his elbow, trailing off entirely near his shoulder. It's not Jihoon's typical style, but one he's been playing around with recently and really enjoying; the organic shapes are a different kind of challenge. He'd had a feeling Soonyoung would like it - between the movement of the piece and the way it could be interpreted as artistic tiger stripes, it's right up Soonyoung's alley.
“Do we have time for this?” Soonyoung asks, eyes bright. He clings to Jihoon's arms, makes his eyes as big and pleading as possible. “Jihoonie, please say we have time for this.”
Even though he already knows the answer, Jihoon asks, “When are you supposed to be home?”
“Breakfast time tomorrow,” Mingyu responds before Soonyoung gets the chance. He ducks his head, wincing at bringing attention to himself, and explains, “I'm in charge of the meal.”
Jihoon nods. “Yeah, we have time.” He slaps a hand on Soonyoung's stomach, the satisfying smack of it loud in the studio. “You didn't have to take your shirt off.”
Simultaneously sheepish and beaming, Soonyoung drapes himself on Jihoon, arms over his shoulders and cheek against cheek. “I got excited.”
Mingyu isn’t able to stifle his laugh, or maybe he doesn’t even try. It’s endearing, and maybe Jihoon gets why Soonyoung brought him along. It’s not like Jihoon hasn’t heard about the newest addition to Soonyoung’s team: Soonyoung talked about his cooking as though it was the greatest thing he’s ever experienced, and it seemed like half of the messages he got from him anymore were pictures of meals Mingyu had made.
Soonyoung doesn’t put the shirt back on. Mingyu is still standing there awkwardly. Jihoon sighs.
“There’s an island and a fridge toward the back of the studio. You can put stuff away if you want.” Jihoon gestures vaguely toward the back half of the studio. “I’ll get the stencil printed.”
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Being in Universe Factory is surreal. He’s more starstruck in Jihoon’s presence than he’s ever been in Soonyoung’s, despite their very different flavors of fame. He’d recognized the studio as Soonyoung led him down the stairs from the entrance, paintings and figurines so familiar from Instagram reels and posts.
Jihoon isn’t what he expected, if Mingyu’s honest.
Strong hands, aloof attitude, obviously fond of Soonyoung (who wouldn’t be?), but so much shorter than Mingyu had been picturing.
Not that that’s a bad thing!
Except for the fact that it is, for Mingyu in particular. Mingyu, who is most attracted to short, commanding guys who are confident and accomplished in their field, is definitely in trouble here. His months-long, silly little crush on the barely seen main artist at Universe Factory is going crazy right now.
“- Mingyu?”
”Huh?” He’s startled out of his thoughts, and finally refocuses on Soonyoung standing shirtless in front of him. “Sorry, I missed what you said.”
Soonyoung laughs, and smiles, and some of Mingyu’s tension eases. “You follow the studio’s Instagram, right?”
Mingyu’s face is so, so warm. He hasn’t exactly been subtle about his appreciation for the tattoos that get posted on the account, including Soonyoung’s own collection of work. “Uh, yeah. I do.”
Soonyoung leads him further into the studio, toward a butcher block island in front of a kitchenette with a sink, fridge, microwave, and fancy coffee maker. It’s automatic for Mingyu to heft the insulated bag onto the island and start unloading it. Most things go into the fridge, except for the electrolyte drink and a few bottles of water. Soonyoung leans on the island, watching him. Mingyu pushes the electrolyte drink toward him: he’s going to need it if Jihoon’s going to put that whole tattoo on his arm tonight.
“You like Jihoon.” A statement. No judgement, but maybe some contained interest.
He could deflect, could admit to being interested in Jihoon’s work and his friendship with Soonyoung. He didn’t need to tell Soonyoung about the huge crush that seems like it’s only going to get bigger tonight. But he also didn’t like the idea of lying to Soonyoung.
“Yeah.”
Soonyoung hums, and Mingyu isn't sure what to do with that. They're silent, the only sound between them being Soonyoung opening and taking a swig of the electrolyte drink. It's not awkward - Mingyu is too familiar with Soonyoung to be uncomfortable when it's just them - but it is kind of weird. He doesn't let himself swan dive into anxiety over whatever Soonyoung seems to be plotting, no matter how easy it would be, and decides right then and there that he's going to trust Soonyoung.
They don’t have to wait long for Jihoon to reappear. He doesn’t say anything yet, just inclines his head toward his tattooing station and heads that way. Soonyoung grabs Mingyu’s sleeve and tugs him along and encourages Mingyu to take the seat Jihoon had pulled over earlier.
It’s entrancing to watch Jihoon.
Pale hands disappear into pink gloves. A disposable razor was already on the wrapped rolling tray, next to a bottle of green goo. A squeeze bottle of some cleaning solution is there too, and Jihoon uses it and a piece of paper towel to clean Soonyoung’s arm before shaving him from wrist to shoulder. Jihoon’s cheeks puff out a little as he concentrates, and it may be one of the cutest things Mingyu’s ever seen.
Mingyu can hear Jihoon directing Soonyoung, but can’t hear the specifics. Soonyoung looks so focused, intently watching Jihoon line up different parts of the large stencil and make little reference marks with what Mingyu thinks is a permanent marker. Jihoon’s face goes just as focused as Soonyoung’s, intense from where Mingyu is sitting, as he spreads some of the green goo onto Soonyoung’s arm.
And then Soonyoung giggles. And Jihoon huffs a laugh and takes off his gloves. And Mingyu‘s stomach does a little flip.
“Let that dry for a minute.” Jihoon walks away, toward a wall of tattoo ink bottles. He calls back to Soonyoung, “Color?”
Soonyoung shrugs. “What were you imagining when you drew it?”
Jihoon hums. “Black and gray.”
“That, then.”
Jihoon nods, and Mingyu watches him start to pull bottles of ink off the shelves.
Mingyu watches the stencil go on, watches Jihoon set up ink cups and water and some kind of lubricant, an array of needle cartridges, and finally his tattoo machine. Soonyoung takes a seat on the tattoo chair-bed, and Jihoon wraps an arm rest with plastic to get Soonyoung’s arm in the perfect position to start working. The last thing he does before settling onto his rolling chair is queue up a Marvel movie on the television that the tattoo chair is pointed toward.
“You can move closer,” Jihoon offers without looking at Mingyu.
Mingyu does move, scooting in until he could touch Soonyoung without trying if he wanted. It gives him a great view of Jihoon pulling the first line up Soonyoung’s forearm. Soonyoung hisses and Mingyu offers his hand to squeeze.
“Thanks.” And he proceeds to squeeze the shit out of Mingyu’s hand off and on for the next few hours.
Jihoon doesn’t talk much as he works, but Soonyoung does. He talks about the upcoming tour and how Mingyu is going with him, gassing Mingyu up for being skilled at his job and caring. Jihoon smiles at him during a pause to change the needle cartridge, and Mingyu would swear his heart fluttered.
“You got any tattoos?” Jihoon asks when Soonyoung finally gets caught up in the movie.
Mingyu shakes his head. “Not yet. Maybe in the future.” He couldn’t tell Jihoon that he was the only artist Mingyu wanted to work with, and that he’d chickened out the couple of times he’d tried to fill out the Universe Factory booking inquiry form.
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Jihoon gets into the zone when he tattoos. Especially when he tattoos Soonyoung. It’s usually easy to let his friend yap as he works, but Mingyu is big and cute, and Jihoon wants to know more about him. So he asks questions.
“What would you want to get?” He doesn’t have any ideas for Mingyu yet, but it won’t be long before something comes to mind. It’s a bad habit of Jihoon’s: he can’t help but imagine everyone around him wearing his art on their skin.
Mingyu thinks about it, and it’s actually quiet for a few minutes, just the sound of Jihoon’s machine and the movie. Soonyoung is sitting really well today, better than the last session they’d had - but that had been on the front of his thigh and Jihoon didn’t fault him for being a little squirmy. Jihoon takes a short break, just long enough to get one glove off and take a couple swallows of his Coke Zero and stretch his back.
With a new glove on, he checks in with Soonyoung before starting again.
“Maybe a camera.”
It’s been long enough that it takes a second for Jihoon to understand why Mingyu says it. “A specific model, or…?” Jihoon looks at him as he carefully wipes over his recent work. He’s most of the way to Soonyoung’s elbow, and he’s making better time than he thought he would.
“Probably a -”
Jihoon knows he’s not going to remember the model Mingyu rattles off but nods like he’s committing it to memory, and he makes a mental note to ask Soonyoung about it later. The whispers of ideas float through his mind as he continues to work on Soonyoung, and Mingyu doesn’t offer much more than maybe like one of those technical drawings? which Jihoon could certainly use as a jumping off point.
Soonyoung asks for numbing spray for his inner elbow, and Jihoon nods. A great time for a break.
Jihoon stretches, and finally lets himself really look at Mingyu. He’s tall and broad, with warm skin, prominent canines, and a habit of making himself look smaller whenever possible. He’s attractive, could be a model if he caught the right eye, and Jihoon is genuinely a little surprised that Soonyoung’s company had only hired him as a chef. Mingyu is in comfortable looking jeans and a long sleeve shirt, and Jihoon would like to see his bare arms - there’s no doubt in his mind that Mingyu’s arms looked good and would be very inspiring.
Soonyoung is the one to grab whatever protein snacks Mingyu made, and he has to admit that the ball shaped protein snack he’s offered is much better tasting than the protein bars he’s been keeping on hand. He appreciates the chocolate flavor, and whatever is keeping the balls moist.
Mingyu beams when Jihoon says he likes them, and Jihoon could get used to seeing that smile. He mentally shakes himself for being so fond already - he has no idea if Mingyu will be back in the studio, with or without Soonyoung.
“I think my elbow’s numb enough,” Soonyoung says after Jihoon’s had a third snack. He’s already making his way back to Jihoon’s station.
“Probably not,” Jihoon replies. It’s rare that any numbing product will make a ditch tattoo painless, but Jihoon knows that Soonyoung will tough it out for these stripes.
Mingyu folds himself into the cuck chair again, and openly watches Jihoon put on a new set of gloves with an intensity that Jihoon tucks away to think about later. Jihoon needs to focus on getting Soonyoung’s tattoo finished before he can entertain the way Mingyu’s attention could make him feel.
A new movie is queued on the television (thank you, Soonyoung) and he rolls his shoulders before getting to work.
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It’s well after midnight by the time Jihoon has taken a few pictures and applied several pieces of transparent bandage to Soonyoung’s arm. The tattoo is beautiful, flowing up from Soonyoung’s wrist in dark black and shades of gray - a combination of brushlike strokes and almost tiger-like stripes. It’s very Soonyoung and fits him perfectly. It’s a bold look, and Hoshi’s fans are going to lose their minds when they see it.
Mingyu can’t stop yawning, and Soonyong is acting like he’s had a double shot americano even though he’s only been drinking water for most of the evening. Soonyoung is chatting Jihoon’s ear off, and Mingyu is doing his best not to nod off or get caught staring at Jihoon too much. Jihoon’s hair got pushed off of his forehead in the last hour, and Mingyu is looking when his jaw isn’t popping on the persistent yawns.
Soonyoung has his shirt back on, and links his non-bandaged arm with Mingyu’s.
“Oh, is Wonwoo-hyung here already?” Mingyu asks, dazed. Did he drift off? Jihoon and Soonyoung laughing makes him think he did.
“Let me know when you get home,” Jihoon says.
Mingyu can’t actually tell if it’s directly only at Soonyoung. Huh. He’s not awake enough for this. He does manage to say, “It’s good to meet you, you’re very skilled,” as Soonyoung tugs him along to the stairs.
Jihoon follows them up to the door, lets Soonyoung hug him, and offers Mingyu a card for the studio. Mingyu takes it, is pretty sure he tells Jihoon good night, and almost falls flat on his face as Jihoon locks the studio door behind them.
They’re in the van, on the way to Soonyoung’s home when Mingyu finally looks at the card.
Don’t be a stranger. -J
And a phone number.
Oh.
Mingyu smiles dopily, and watches the streetlights pass by outside the van window.