S29: Inked Up
Title: Inked Up
For: S29
Rating: PG-15
Length: 11.2k
Summary: Sehun makes a list about the things he wants to do before he finishes college. The hot tattoo artist comes with it.
Sehun shakes the empty can of iced tea. Great, now he doesn’t have an excuse to not to go in. He slowly walks to the trash can, eyes never leaving the small, red tattoo shop across the street. The sun is so bright and aggressive today, like it wants to burn the whole street down. It doesn’t help that it’s ten in the morning. But the good thing about sunny days is that they turn windows into mirrors, and this makes Sehun feel like the people in the shop didn’t see that Sehun has been burning holes into their glass door for an hour. Sehun is perfectly aware that he is on the mirror side of the window, and the people on the inside have an HD resolution of him being awkward.
He pushes his bangs out of this face. They are wet with sweat and they probably look disgusting now, just like how Sehun feels. He took a shower before leaving the dorms but he’s sweating so much that his shirt is clinging to him like an uncomfortable second skin. He likes to think that he’s sweating because it’s so hot outside but the truth is that he’s so fucking nervous and he has always been an…emotional sweater? He takes a deep breath and places his hands on his waist. He is not even going to get a tattoo today. He’s just going to make an appointment, pay the deposit and ask some questions about the process maybe. He doesn’t need to be a thirteen-year-old girl about this. He just needs to get his shit together and cross the street.
Jongin said that a tattoo artist here is amazing and everything will end up being fine. No, actually he said that everything the tattoo artist - Min..hyuk? - touches will end up being the most amazing thing ever. Jongin, Sehun’s questionable best friend, is an asshole, but Sehun learned over the years that he can trust Jongin with his life. Jongin has a thing for tattoos - that he will regret so much once he’s thirty - and Sehun has to admit even though they have the lamest context, Jongin’s tattoos are a work of art.
“Welcome,” the guy at the counter greets him with a raspy voice. When did Sehun even walk in? Okay, hold on. He was planning to have another mental breakdown in front of the door once he crossed the street but now he’s actually in the shop? Everything just happened so soon, and Sehun is not ready for this.
“Uhm, hi.” Sehun walks towards the counter. He can do this. He just has to get his head in the game.
The guy at the counter is intimidating. VerySehun would do. His instincts and every fiber of his being wants to run away now, and this is why Sehun can’t do this.
“I can wait for an hour.” Again he was not audible. “I’m gonna sit here and wait,” he says louder. “I feel very lucky.”
The dragon boy smiles a smile that makes everything much more uncomfortable to Sehun. He actually looks like he made a good deal. A drug deal. “You are lucky. Minseok-hyung is the best.”
Sehun thinks an hour is supposed to be longer than this. He doesn’t recall hours being this short. An hour feels like a decade when he has to sit through Mental Health Care Law and Policy class, but time sure does fly by when you sit on a leather couch, and try to stop sweating. He’s gross. Sehun is so gross and sticky, and he is supposed to sit very close to a guy he’s going to see for the first time. First impressions are so important. They can save a person’s life. What if he grosses out the tattoo artist and the artist gets his revenge by digging the needle, the thing whatever it’s called, deeper than necessary, and it gets into a vein, and he keeps doing it over and over again until Sehun has skin cancer? Okay this scenario might be a little bit exaggerated, and of course, his tattoo artist is a professional. Sehun has an app called Whisper though, and he regrets downloading it. He regrets it so hard. It’s unbelievable what kind of confessions doctors do in that app. If doctors can do such things, imagine what an ordinary tattoo guy would do.
Tattoo guys. Sehun bets he’s old. Aren’t they usually like that? At the age of forty five, either skinny and tall or very fat and tall but tall and intimidating nonetheless. Probably has tattoos on his neck and all over his arms so he looks like he’s wearing a long sleeved turtleneck. And totally, totally has that hair cut with the sides shaved. Piercings must be all over the place, and that ear stretch thingy is a must have for that kind of guy. That’s just disgusting. Sehun feels like throwing up thinking about what the stretch looks like after you take the earring off. Who the hell does that? Tattoo guys apparently. And Sehun is about to be one of them. He’s going to board the Tattoo ship. He chose thug life.
“You are gonna get a tattoo?” There is a tall guy looking down at Sehun, voice so deep he could be the voice actor of a Russian Mafia. Sehun gapes. He’s everything, everything that he pictured in his mind. Only a younger version with very intense eyebrows.
“Uh, yes,” Sehun replies, standing up, and he resists to the urge to salute to this inked-up giant Vogue model. He notices the door that the dragon guy went through seconds ago is now open, and Sehun can see the beginning of a chair, which looks awfully like the ones in dentists’ offices. The tall guy smiles at him. Sehun wants to runaway.
“It’s hard getting a tattoo.” The guy is literally breathing in Sehun’s personal space, hovering over him. Sehun nods. “Don’t you think that the artist is going to do all the work.” Sehun nods again, and then there is a forefinger, pressing against his chest. “You are going to take that ink. Take it hard. Then you are going to go home, and take care of it, love it, learn to live with it.” Sehun loses his balance and almost falls back to the couch. He eyes the distance between him and the glass door that opens up to the beautiful, safe street. It’s not manly to runaway but it’s okay. He can always change his town. And his name maybe. Sehoon will do.
“Will you stop scaring my customers?” a guy walks out from the room to the hall, with a smile that shows his gums. He walks behind the counter and opens a door which looks like a restroom or something. He doesn’t bother closing the door behind him and starts washing his hands.
“I’m telling the truth.” The guy thankfully starts walking to the counter, away from Sehun. “It’s easy to regret stuff.”
“Speaking from experience?” He grabs paper towels to dry his hands and when he raises his head he smiles at Sehun, giving him a wink. Sehun awkwardly smiles back.
“Shut up Minseok. Hey, kid.” The tall guy looks back at Sehun. “Don’t you even dare to get tattooed if you are drunk. You might end up with a scorpion that has his tail curled downwards.” He rubs his face furiously before talking again. “Have you ever seen a scorpion with it’s tail curled downwards? That’s just impossible? It’s anatomically wrong unless its tail is broken, and who’d want that? What is a scorpion without a tail? I’ll tell you. A man without a penis. A woman without-”
“I think that’s enough of a lecture.” The guy whom Sehun assumes is Minseok extends his hand out to him expectantly. The tall guy raises his eyebrows and takes out his card.
“I hate this scum’s guts but he’s the best really. He saved the day somehow. I don’t even remember where the old tail is located.” He lifts his shirt up revealing red, abused skin and a scorpion next to his hip bone. Sehun gulps, looking at the angry red that outlines the tattoo. “Seriously Minseok how did you do it?”
“Magic,” Minseok says once he gives the guy his credit card back together with a receipt.
Sehun stares awkwardly behind the tall guy crossing over the street, getting into his car. A part of him wishes that it would be him. Already done with this thing, and good to go.
“Sorry about Yifan. He’s actually a good guy.” Minseok smiles leaning to the wall on the hall. Sehun can tell that they are actually friends with the way they made dinner plans before finally getting Yifan out of the shop.
“And very hot,” the dragon boy chirps in from where he’s placing a set of piercings in the display.
“Sorry about Zitao too, but he’s not a good guy.” Minseok grins wider when the dragon boy narrows his eyes at him, then he turns back to Sehun. “First time getting a tattoo?” There’s a knowing smirk on his face, but it’s good hearted, playful almost.
“Is it that obvious?” Sehun puts his hands in his pockets, smiling.
“Just a little.” Minseok shrugs and stops in the door frame. “Come here, I won’t bite.” He smiles, white teeth, gums and all. Suddenly Sehun finds looking at him in the eye very hard.
“I wasn’t expecting to get an appointment today,” Sehun sputters out, feeling uncomfortable on the leather chair which is bending back way too far. Everything is adding to his anxiety. “I mean, I was not expecting it to be this easy. My friend told me that it’s really hard to get an appointment from you.” Now that he’s watching Minseok opening a new box of black plastic gloves, Sehun is so aware of not being ready.
“Normally it would be a little harder. We are supposed to be closed for a week though. Yifan just chose this time to fly over here from Beijing with his emergency case." Minseok smiles at Sehun, making him smile too. "Since I already opened the shop, I thought why not? And we’ll have almost all day to work on giving you a tattoo that will make both of us proud.” He turns to Sehun and leans on the table, head tilted to the side. “May I know your name please?”
“Sehun,” he quickly blurts out and wants to disappear into the thin air when he sees the amused look on Minseok’s face.
“Okay, Sehun, so what do you have in mind?” He draws his chair and sits, arms crossed. He has thick, toned arms. Sehun feels ashamed of himself for admiring the way Minseok looks in just a simple black shirt in a situation like this. He opens his mouth to answer him - just like he’s supposed to do - but then closes it. His first instinct is to say he wants a tattoo on his arm because… It is just simple? And covering it up would be simple too. But now that he’s sitting here and things are starting to get real, his thoughts start to change too.
He did decide on what he wanted but he never pictured it clearly. The shape, the size, the placement - as long as it’s easy to cover - didn’t really matter to him. He felt like the less thought he gave into it, the easier things would be, considering how much he doesn’t actually want this. But as he takes in the sight of the room, and takes in the presence of Minseok, he starts to give a little bit of value to it.
“This silence is very reassuring.” Minseok smirks. Sehun shakes himself out of it.
“Sorry. I - uh, I want a tree on my back. On my shoulder blade.” Sehun decides, finally.
“What kind of tree do you want? Tell me the details like its size, style, which shoulder blade you want it on. Give me the picture you have in mind,” Minseok says, placing his elbows on his legs and leaning on them.
“I’d like it to be crooked, like heavy on one side but not… in a way that would make it an ugly tree. Size doesn’t really matter as long as it doesn’t peek from the collar of my shirt.” Sehun stops and thinks if there is any details he wants other than those. He still doesn’t have a picture in his mind but he’s really okay with it. As long as it has these key points he doesn’t really care that much about how it looks. “I’m kind of fond of abstract art. The rest I want to leave it to you.” Minseok reaches back, and grabs some paper and pen.
“Okay then, I’m gonna draw some sketches for you. Feel free to point out the things you don’t like about it so we can create something that you will want on your skin for forever.” He starts drawing lines on the paper.
“Let’s just not do that.” Sehun quickly says. And he feels very nervous as he takes in the surprised expression Minseok is starting to have. He doesn’t really want to give him a hard time or to make him uncomfortable, but they are not going to get anywhere if he keeps asking if Sehun wants this design or that. He’s sure he will ask Minseok to change this, change that, start a new sketch, and so on. But it would have nothing to do with the quality of the sketches or the ideas, and would have everything to do with the fact that Sehun is not interested in the idea of getting a tattoo. The only tattoo that will be acceptable to have on his skin will be the one that is already there, and - he hopes - he’ll grow to understand it, and like it. “I’d like it if you could just do it on my skin. I mean, I saw your work before so I think whatever you do will be more than okay.”
“Are you in a hurry or something?” Minseok’s expression is amused, but also there’s this kind of judgmental feel in the tone of his voice. Sehun wishes he knew how to explain.
“No, it’s not that. I’m sorry.” He sighs. “It’s just... Athing. But you have to believe me when I say it will be a lot easier for both of us if I don’t see the tattoo unless it’s done, or at least half way through.” So there will be no turning back. Minseok raises his eyebrows and keeps looking at him as Sehun keeps his gaze lowered, feeling like a cat who just spilled milk all over the carpet.
“It’s okay with me, but it will change some of the rules. This time I won’t give you a chance to comment on it. If you have parts that you didn’t like you’ll have to find another artist to cover it up. Because right now you are giving me the permission to do as I like, which means that you don’t get to whine.” Minseok pulls a pair of gloves from their box.
“I know, don’t worry about it. You are right. I mean, I know what I’m getting into. I’m okay with anything.” Sehun feels the hesitation in the room disappear as Minseok gives him that grin, with the gums. “Just don’t tattoo a penis on my back.”
“The idea has crossed my mind, I’m not gonna lie.” Minseok smirks, and Sehun - surprising himself - breaks into laughter. Minseok motions to a regular chair without armrests. “I’m going to ask you to sit on this chair with your back facing me, since I’m tattooing your back,” he explains, turning the chair around. Sehun does as he’s told, very aware of his awkward posture as he decides to put his hands on his lap between his body and the back of the chair. He thinks about placing his elbows on the back of the chair but it would probably lift his shoulder blades.
“Sehun,” Minseok says, laughing as he draws his chair and sits so he’s facing Sehun’s back. "It's not the punishment chair or something." Sehun is straining his neck, trying to give him a frustrated look. “And you have to take off your shirt sooner or later.” Minseok smirks. Ignoring the blush that is probably taking it's place on his cheeks, Sehun takes off his shirt and keeps looking to the front, not facing Minseok. He's sure the tattoo artist is not going to make things easy for him.
He feels cold, moist cotton rubbing his skin on the left side of his back, quickly wiping the area from his shoulder to the small of his back. So Minseok chose his left side to tattoo.
“I want to use colors. Is that okay with you?” Minseok asks, and Sehun is just glad that he asked.
“Do you think it will look good?” Sehun thinks of the green leaves that will cover his back. It will be like a green shirt that he can never take off. Green is not even his favorite color, neither is brown. This is just stupid. To him tattoos are stupid like the people who get them… He’s not judging-okay he is- but he just can’t relate to it. Why would anyone want to wear the same shirt for the rest of their life? They might look beautiful but they should disappear instead of staining the skin forever. They are stains. They look fake and out of place on the skin in Sehun’s eyes. They are not meant to be there.
“Well, I think they will look more than just good,” Minseok stops rubbing the skin, leaving it wet and cold. “You got the perfect skin for tattooing really. The color and the texture is very easy to work with. I can basically use any color and shade and it’ll look good on you.” Minseok is speaking from a professional kind of view. To him Sehun’s skin is a canvas. So there’s no need for Sehun to feel butterflies in his stomach which he’s totally not feeling right now.
“Sure, go ahead,” Sehun says and literally jumps when he feels something unknown touch his skin. Minseok chuckles.
“It’s a marker. I’m sketching the tattoo,” he informs Sehun, voice awfully amused. Sehun closes his eyes and tries not to think about how much of a fool he’s making out of himself.
It’s big. The design is awfully big. From his shoulder to the small of his back, he feels like there’s not a spot that the marker hasn’t touched.
“I haven’t even started tattooing you, but you already look so painfully regretful,” Minseok says with his usual amused tone as he drags a long line down.
“I’m not.” Sehun straightens his back, causing Minseok to draw back his marker immediately. “It’s just my face.”
Sehun suddenly feels two strong hands grabbing his shoulders, pushing them down gently. “Relax. Don’t do anything unnatural.” Sehun tries to sit like Minseok navigated him, and tries not to move. The tattoo is going to be a big one, he can feel it. He’s having a hard time keeping up with what Minseok is drawing because he is not always doing clear lines. Sometimes he drops a line in the middle then goes to another corner and Sehun can’t understand if it’s leaves, branches or what. But the idea of Minseok tracing those lines again with a needle is not very pleasant to think about. It’s just a marker but Sehun already feels like it’s burning.
“Would you judge me if I asked you about numbing creams?” Sehun tries to sound amused, like he’s joking. Minseok’s laugh immediately fills up the room.
“Not gonna happen Sehun.”
The pain is real. That’s the only way Sehun can describe it. In theory Sehun did deal with things that hurt ten times more - like the one time he dropped his mug on his lap, and spilled boiling hot coffee all over himself two hours before the exam- But still it’s not easy to sit through. First of all the pain is unknown, making Sehun extra sensitive to it. Getting used to it is not easy either, because Minseok is not constantly tattooing one place. Whenever Sehun feels like he’s getting used to having the needles there, he moves to somewhere else, bringing new emotions, and leaving a burning, tingling sensation behind. Some places hurt more while some of them feels a little better, and he feels himself break into a sweat while trying to adjust. The other fact that is wearing him down is that this takes long. Seriously long. It’s been two hours, and as the time passes Sehun feels weaker. He’s been just sitting there, doing nothing, but he feels like he just ran a marathon.
He let's a groan slip past his lips. Minseok told him that he can scream, or talk as much as he wanted as long as he sits still, but also told him that not to stop Minseok. The tattoo artist explained saying that it’s hard getting back the feeling once he’s stopped without his will, and often results with him forgetting the little details he has just realized or the ideas that only forms once you start tattooing. Sehun respects that, and he wants to go with it but he can’t help that he just wants to push that stupid machine away from his body, and step on it until it can’t make that stupid, awfully loud buzzing sound. Anger, strangely, is one of the emotions that suddenly spark when he’s getting tattooed on a sensitive area that hurts more.
Sehun starts to wonder if anyone did push the machine away, or moved away from it causing Minseok to make a mistake. He would have to deal with covering it up afterwards, maybe changing the design he made in a way that he didn’t want. Suddenly Sehun is aware of how hard Minseok’s job is. He’s dealing with humans after all.
“Do you turn people down?” Sehun’s voice is so strained. He’s talking between his teeth. “Like refuse to tattoo them or something.”
“Yeah, very often.” Minseok sounds pretty relaxed for a guy that is constantly doing a critical job. Sehun, himself, is the worst multitasker. He realized he can’t chew gum while climbing up stairs just recently, so he thinks Minseok is very impressive. “I’m very picky to be honest.”
There is a growl building up from his throat that is not possible to hold back so he decides to release it in the form of a “do tell more”. Minseok laughs wiping away the ink with a cotton.
“Well not tattooing first timers on their face, neck, and hands is an unwritten rule. Other than that I don’t tattoo anyone that I feel doesn’t understand the importance of it or can’t bear the consequences, like reckless kids or adults that think this is a joke. People think that it’s none of my business, but it is. I want to respect the tattoo I do, and I want people to do the same.” Minseok’s tone has changed somewhat, to something more serious and thoughtful.
“Then why didn’t you kick me out?” Sehun wants to slap himself as soon as the words leave his mouth. What is he trying to do going around, provoking Minseok? Minseok stays silent for a minute, probably at a critical point with the tattoo.
“No, I really wanted to tattoo you. I even felt like locking the door in case of you chickening out.” He chuckles.
“Because I have the perfect skin for tattooing?” Sehun mocks, but he’s actually dead curious.
“Because you are a challenge.” Minseok corrects. Sehun tries to look back at him because he’s so confused, but immediately turns back when Minseok glares at him. No moving around, right. “I really want to see if I can change the way you look at tattoos.” He can hear the gummy grin from Minseok’s tone, and strangely he really wants to turn back, and see it.
Minseok has already broken a lot of stereotypes for Sehun today with or without the tattoo. He was expecting someone that he would probably hate if they were classmates in high school. But compared to what Sehun had pictured, Minseok is the definition of the opposite. He’s remarkably short, like he would have to look up to talk to Sehun if they were standing close. But it doesn’t mean that Sehun doesn’t feel small next to him. He has this way of talking that makes things sound interesting. His voice is nice, and somehow hard to memorize so that it feels fresh every time he speaks. He has one of those faces that makes you don’t want to look away. All gentle eyes, high cheekbones and the gummy smile, of course.
One of the interesting things about Minseok is that he doesn’t have a tattoo in sight. Sehun has been looking at his neck, hands, arms, anywhere he spots skin, but he didn’t see any signs of the ink. Is it really possible for a tattoo artist to not have a tattoo? Maybe he has them in the places that clothes can cover up. As his knuckles are turning white from gripping the chair hard, and his face scrunching up in pain, Sehun feels really ashamed of wanting to find out so badly.
“I can give you a break now if you want, but it will probably make things harder for you when we start again. Do you still want it?” Minseok breaks his thoughts.
“Oh my god yes, yes please!” Sehun groans. He’s in too much pain to care about embarrassing himself. The buzzing sound suddenly stops and Minseok pulls away.
“Since you asked so nicely.” For the first time, Sehun is so happy to be able to turn back and see Minseok’s amused smile. Minseok's eyes widen,lips forming an 'o'.“Are you okay? I’m sure you didn’t bleed enough to have anemia.”
“I feel kind of dizzy.” Sehun rubs his eyes noticing the way half of his back hurts when he lifts his arm. He just voluntarily gave himself a flesh wound didn’t he?
“It happens.” Minseok suddenly stands up and walks to the table. He grabs a candy bar from the drawers, and walks towards Sehun to give it. Sehun was too busy feeling the pain as he kept moving his shoulder so he didn’t reach out or something, and now he feels bad for making Minseok come to his feet. “Your sugar level drops while your body is under pain for a long time.”
“And you still refuse to use numbing cream on me,” Sehun says, opening the package of the candy bar. “Thanks hyung.” His eyes immediately grow larger upon realizing his words. It just came out by itself. Minseok grins.
“You are doing really good without the cream though. We are almost done. Wanna see it?” He looks at Sehun’s back, appreciating his work.
Sehun, too tired and busy eating his Snickers, doesn’t really care anymore. “Yeah.”
Minseok gestures him to stand up, and stay in front of the body mirror attached to the wall. As Sehun is turning around trying to catch a glimpse of the things happening on his back, Minseok appears with a smaller mirror behind his back. It takes a moment for Sehun to realize it's on his back, and his eyes widen as he stares at his very own tattoo.
“Sehun,” Jongin mutters as they stand in front of the mirror in their shared room, with his hands on Sehun’s shoulders, taking in the sight. “It’s fucking beautiful.” Sehun tries to pull his shirt back down but Jongin yanks it up. “I swear next time I’m lying naked in front of Minseok Hyung and telling him to draw me like one of his french girls or something.” Sehun shoves him away. That image was seriously disturbing.
1. Get a tattoo. Checked.
He put the hardest challenge in the first place so that the rest of the list would seem like a piece of cake.
Sehun is pretty much aware of this whole list of “things I want to do before I finish college” is like the most childish, stupid idea ever. But he did it anyways. He ripped a page off from his math book, and grabbed a thick marker. He sat down, and made the whole list in his room, at the night of his high school prom. It just came to him when all of his classmates gathered, and decided to go clubbing after the prom. The only invitation Sehun got was the sight of them walking to the door together, and one of the girls being considerate enough to turn back, and spare a glance at him. Sehun knows nobody would say anything if he would just run to them at that moment, and tag along-since people usually have hard time feeling Sehun’s existence- but he knew it would only bring some more misery to this miserable night in so many painful ways.
As he came home, and got rid of that uncomfortable suit, he made up his mind. Sehun was going to be a different person in college. He was going to be a whole new Sehun. Well, to be honest, Sehun never really thought of himself as a loser. He thinks he is a cool dude. He likes his way of living. He had never been interested in what people of his age are usually interested in. To Sehun, party means having enough potato chips and coke to pull an allnighter as he goes through anime marathons with Jongin. An amazing day means a day that he gets to stay at home the whole day, and do whatever he wants, while he eats whatever he wants. He has a few close friends, and he loves them. Sometimes he feels lonely when none of them are available, doing their own things, but Sehun can handle that. He wouldn’t say no to having a lots of friends that are not that close to him, just enough familiarity to be able to join a group of them when he wants to go to drink bubble tea, and Jongin is not around. But he tried that, and that never works out. Usually ends up with painful awkward conversations, and both sides swearing in the inside to never meet again if not necessary.
Birds of a feather flock together, and life had clearly showed Sehun that fuck having the same feathers, Sehun is not even a bird. Just for once Sehun wants to disguise himself as one, wants to see what’s that fuss is about, want’s people to stop telling him to “live a little”. And what time could be better than now?
2.Fuck dye your hair. checked.
This new platinum blonde hair is being seriously itchy as Sehun tries to go over his notes.
The library is almost empty since it’s summer time, and it’s perfect time to study and be relaxed, but there Sehun is, being superbly distracted. He can feel his shirt catching on the dead skin of his back, as he leans on the desk. He has been peeling them since forever. It’s itchy, but not that bad. Getting a tattoo didn’t work out as Sehun thought it would do. He thought he would feel blunt, young, and stupid after getting a huge mistake painted on his back for the rest of his life. And that was going to make him bolder. It was supposed to make Sehun feel like he fucked up so there wouldn't be a problem with fucking up some more. But his tattoo didn’t end up as a mistake. Somehow having a huge colorful thing on his back felt good.
Water colors, Minseok managed to paint on his back. There was no rough lines, and no outline of the tree. There was just splash of colors. Floating, faint blue lines made the branches, and when it met with the orange, getting slightly darker, it had it’s trunk. There were tones of yellow, blue, orange, purple, and somehow it was a perfect balance of lively and calm, warm and cold. Drops of ink, and blurred colors saved the tree from looking naked, without giving it actual leaves, and the right side was designed to seem like it was fading away, giving the crook Sehun wanted. He spent hours in front of the mirror, looking at his tattoo over two weeks, and everytime he looks at it he realizes something new. Just like how you track the ink droplets you see a faint outline of a Koi fish, an owl, and even a small wolf peering at him from behind the trunk. He wonders if he is imagining it or if Minseok actually putted the droplets in order to give the idea of them being there. The first time he tried to scratch his back while looking at his tattoo, Sehun's breath got caught in his throat. As he lifted his arm, and moved his shoulder blade, the whole picture became alive.
“That’s one heck of a tree of life,” Jongin had said after he finally let Sehun pull down his shirt. Knowing Sehun since their elementary school days, spending more time in Sehun’s house than his own, Jongin knew that Sehun’s mother had an obsession with the whole idea of the tree of life. His mom used to do paintings of them, draw, weird, skewed trees of her own life to the point that the whole house was full of her paintings of colorful, different, weird trees. She even drew one for Sehun, a small, bright green, thin tree. After she passed away Sehun’s dad came home one day, drunk as hell, and got them off of the walls before he threw them all away.
Sehun didn’t really think about trees of life when he decided to get a tree tattooed on himself. They were a part of his childhood that was already forgotten and very blurry. He just googled tattoo ideas from minimalist tattoos to litteral tattoos. When he saw a shadow of a tree on a man’s back Sehun felt like he found what he was looking for.
Sehun asked for just a tree that had no meanings or whatsoever. Minseok gave him what he didn’t know he wanted.
Sehun flips his notebook close, and leans back on his chair, sighing. He struggles for a while to take his phone out of his pocket because damn those jeans are skinny, and texts Jongin, asking where he is. Jongin’s reply comes immediately, telling Sehun to come to the coffee shop in the campus. Sehun is at the opposite end of the campus, but why not waste time, and effort to walk over there, since he sucks at doing actually useful things today. He seriously needs to go over his notes, but college is the time to be reckless right? And the best way to be reckless must be walking six kilometers to the coffee shop under the burning sun at the noon. The universe is probably supporting this decision because surprise! His burned, dry scalp becomes even more itchy when he gets sweaty.
He spots Jongin immediately when he enters to the coffee shop, since there isn't many people in it compared to the line of sleepy students that goes all the way across the street during the winter. The campus, during the summer time, feels abandoned. The students that has to go to the summer school are the only ones left, usually because they failed a few exams. Just like Jongin, and his friends Chanyeol and Baekhyun that is sitting together in the corner.
"Hey! Isn't this your hot nerd friend?" Baekhyun says to Jongin after sparing a glance at Sehun. Jongin turns, and waves at Sehun with a grin. Sehun rolls his eyes before grabbing an empty chair, and dragging it towards their table. Jongin often does that. He doesn't inform Sehun about iif he's alone, or sitting with someone before ordering Sehun to come. He thinks it's a legit way to force Sehun to socialize. It never works.
"Nice hair color, but copying my style is not gonna get you anywhere." Baekhyun flicks his hair, batting his eyelashes. He has a similar shade of platinum blonde that Sehun has, with pastel pink highlights. He sees Baekhyun occasionally when he is with Jongin, and every time they meet he has a different color. He has an extreme case of static hair. His hair is puffed up, and looks like it's made of nylon. Sehun wonders why would anyone do that to their hair. His itchy scalp tells him to shut up.
"Where have you been?" Jongin swings an arm around Sehun's shoulder, pulling him close. "Took you long to get here." Sehun huffs, earning him a part in the middle of his bangs.
"Library," he replies, and he knew he shouldn't have. Baekhyun makes a sound at the back of his throat, looking away.
"Why are you here?" Chanyeol asks. Sehun dumbly blinks at him. "I mean one does not come to the campus during summer willingly." Chanyeol smiles, showing a lot of shiny teeth.
"Oh, I have to attend summer school." Sehun shrugs. Baekhyun's jaw falls dramatically
"You failed?" He pushes his bangs away from his face, looking pissed off. "How am I supposed to survive this education system when even this guy fails?" He points at Sehun. Jongin pats Sehun's back as Sehun sighs. Since the summer school started, he spent his every day explaining the same thing.
"I didn't fail. I have this double degree program which allows me to graduate with two diplomas. Some classes were clashing, and a few ones didn't fit into the semester." The way Baekhyun is narrowing his eyes, and leaning onto the table is distracting. "So I need to take them now." Baekhyun hums, nodding.
"I don't understand you," Baekhyun says as he leans back, hands in his pockets. "But I accept your existence." Chanyeol spurts his coffee, and shoves Baekhyun away, almost making the blonde fall together with his chair. Jongin laughs as Baekhyun holds onto the table with his life. In the name of being friendly, Sehun chuckles.
People think they are being funny, and friendly. They are actually being friendly, Sehun knows that. It's just that once you hear the same things all the time from everyone... well... It becomes pretty annoying. Sehun is aware of the fact that his insecurities are interfering with his feelings, but he can't help getting offended sometimes. Why does he always come off as different? What is so different about him? Why does he has to face with the same problems over and over again when he wants to get along with people. It feels like there is this huge wall between him and other people. He keeps crashing into the wall when he tries to be casual.
Sehun gets up to get himself a cup of black coffee, and to get over his head. The conversation had just started, there is no reason to give up right now. Just because it started like all the other ones did, it doesn't mean he can't change things. Maybe this time he can turn the tables.
"So we were thinking about going out tonight," Sehun hears Chanyeol say just when he gets his mug, and starts walking towards their table. "I have this gig at Sound Holic. It's a great venue, girls are coming, I have discount on drinks and it's going to be perfect. You have to come." Chanyeol spares Sehun a glance as he pulls his chair, and sits down.
"Man, it sounds amazing but-"
"Don't you dare." Baekhyun shoves his fore finger at Jongin's face. "No buts, you are coming."
"I seriously can't come. You know how my dad is, I can't fail again or else he's gonna cancel my program, and sign me up for economics or something." Jongin shrugs. Coming from a family full of diplomats, and lawyers, Jongin is giving off a fight everyday to be a dance major. His parents are not the worst. They are supportive in their own way, but they use every opportunity to convince Jongin into giving up dancing as a profession.
"I'm slowly losing my dongsaeng, and it makes me bleed in the inside." Baekhyun goes for a dramatic nose pinching.
"No need to be dramatic now, Hyung. I'm sure someone else would come. I mean discount on drinks and all." Jongin leans back shrugging.
"Yeah, I'll come," Sehun says, and Jongin sits back up, blinking at Sehun.
"Yeah?" Chanyeol smiles.
"Wow." Baekhyun grins. "It'll be a sight to see."
"Sehun, I don't think-" Sehun shushes Jongin with an immediate glare.
"What time does your gig start?" Sehun turns to Chanyeol, feeling proud.
"Around ten p.m. but other bands will be playing too so everyone is going to be there around eight thirty or something." Chanyeol smiles, looking smug. "I don't recommend showing up early, since the best performance of the night will be ours."
"We'll see." Sehun smiles, feeling like he successfully learned a new language.
"Sehun, that's not a good idea." Jongin says once they are in the dorm and Sehun is trying to find something to wear.
"What's wrong with you?" Sehun throws one of his shirts towards Jongin. He is already nervous to the core, and Jongin being like this is only making things even worse. "Weren't you the one going up and down, telling me to live a little?"
"Yes, but you don't know Chanyeol, and Baekhyun. I'm sure you are not familiar with the others as well. If you go there you'll have to drink." Jongin throws the shirt back at Sehun. " It's not everyday you get wasted."
"That's the point!" Sehun rolls his eyes at Jongin.
"You don't know how the alcohol will affect you. Some people last till morning, and some gets blacked out with just few shots. You don't even know what type of drunk you are." Jongin gets up from the bed, and walks towards Sehun."What if you are the type that cries while drunk, and you get emotional because of having the biggest butt in the whole place or something?" Jongin smacks Sehun's butt.
"Shut it, mom." Sehun scrunches up his face, trying to kick Jongin's butt in return. Jongin coos at him before hugging him from behind.
"I remember the days you were shorter than me." Sehun pushes him away, laughing. Jongin goes back to sit on his bed, looking heart broken.
"What I'm trying to say is that, you might lose control, and I don't think anyone will be there to help you out." Jongin says. “And somehow Baekhyun is much more of a jerk than he already is when he’s with you.” Jongin shakes his head, shrugging. " Just don't go."
"I’ll go, because sometimes that’s just how things work," Sehun says going back to his closet, fishing for the skinniest pair of jeans he owns. Some type of anger starts bubbling in the pit of his stomach. For the first time in his life Sehun is doing what Jongin has been telling him to do since they hit puberty, and discouragement is all he gets.
Jongin shakes his head. "No, Sehun." He leans forward, taking his intervention position. "You know that I'm an asshole, and the others are too. You don't have to do shit just because we talk shit. Just don't listen to us."
"And that's what I'm doing right now." Sehun grabs his clothes and heads to the bathroom to change. They have been together for so long that there is nothing unseen between them. It's just that Sehun needs to put an end to this before things get ugly. Well, at least Jongin’s aware of his status as an asshole. It’s nice to know.
Sehun wishes he listened to Jongin, because damn he was right. He’s feeling like the biggest idiot for coming here while another wave of nausea, and dizziness wash over him. He was not expecting to drink that much. The first few Vodka shots were pushed into his hands forcefully by Baekhyun, and even though the poisonous taste Sehun drowned them. He did it because it helped. It helped with the awkward feelings, and it also helped him to not to give a shit about Baekhyun's innuendo, and constant snarky remarks. Turns out Sehun is the type to still be Sehun, but nauseous while drunk. The best part of this thing that he feels bolder, and doesn't give a shit about anything anymore. Which is probably why he was downright ignorant when the group of girls Baekhyun and Chanyeol's hanging out with tried to go giggly on him.
He thinks he said something about being too drunk to act like he's straight. He also thinks Baekhyun heard that.
3. Get wasted. Checked.
"There you go big boy." Baekhyun gives another shot to him. He is smirking, and the flash of his phone shining into Sehun's face is blinding. He pushes it into Sehun's face as Sehun tries to block the flashlight with his hand. Baekhyun is filming him.
Sehun is probably not thinking with his head as he grabs the shot, and splashes it onto Baekhyun's face, and shirt. His phone also gets its fair share
"If you think you are gonna get snapchat material from me you can just go fuck yourself." Sehun doesn't usually swear. Sehun would never do something like this under normal circumstances. He's slurring on his words like the half of his face is paralysed, but it feels good. "You little son of a bitch." Okay, he needs to spice up his swearing game, but damn it feels so good. All those years he shutted up, and listen to people talk up and down about him, make a joke out of him, let them make him uncomfortable. "Fuck. You." Now Baekhyun is blinking up at him, with his wet bangs parted from the middle, and it just feels so fucking good.
Sehun is expecting a punch to be thrown at his face any moment from now on as Baekhyun calmly wipes his phone with his shirt, and puts it in his backpocket. He looks up, but Sehun can't tell anything from his expression. Hell, he can't even see Baekhyun's face clearly. Everything he sees is a strange mix of blurry, vibrant colors.
"You can." Baekhyun takes a step towards him. It takes a moment for Sehun's brain to catch up. "If you want."
Sehun falters as he takes a step back. Baekhyun comes even closer, eyebrows furrowed.
“Is this a joke?” Sehun is very confused as Baekhyun comes even closer. “Someone’s filming this right?” Sehun is kind of proud himself for still being able to remember all those novels he read about alcohol and sex tapes. Baekhyun shakes his head, and puts his hand onto the counter, caging Sehun.
“I’m not joking around. I want this.” Baekhyun cups the back of Sehun’s neck with his free hand, and pulls him down until Sehun can feel the older’s breath on his lips. “I like boys, I like you, no shit.” Then suddenly Baekhyun’s lips are so close, and the alarms are going off in Sehun’s head.
"Stop it," Is the only thing Sehun manages to get out before he is shoving Baekhyun away, and doing his best to disappear into the crowd. He's about to fall limbless to the floor, and pass out in his own vomit. He has been slowing down kiloliters of saliva, and can't even walk two steps without stumbling violently, but still he is not drunk enough to sleep with Baekhyun. He would never, ever be drunk enough for that. Sehun gags. Fuck. What is he even doing here? Fuck the list, fuck everything he needs to go home before he blacks out.
He raises his head, and the bitter juice coming from his stomach burns his throat immediately. He tries to swallow it down as he looks for the restrooms in this mess of blurry,dancing lights. Suddenly he finds a figure that is so stable standing in the corner. Sehun feels steady as the figure becomes clear to him, feeling relieved.
It so warm. Sehun is so sweaty, and seriously wet all over the place. It tastes like something died in his mouth, and the body has been there for months. His head feels like his brain is jumping up and down in it, slamming itself to the walls of his scalp, and his body in general is just seriously so uncomfortable to be in right now. He opens his eyes, thinking he should at least get away from the sheets before he drowns in his own sweat, and his bones fuses into the mattress.
"Good morning sleeping beauty." A seriously thick voice resonates in his scalp, making Sehun wince. There is a bald guy lying next to him, and his face is seriously up close. Sehun finds himself staring at the bald guy's thick eyebrows before he's yelping, and falling off from the edge of the bed. The bed. It's someone else's bed in someone else's room. The way the cold floor touches his naked butt brings Sehun into a whole new level of freaking out.
"You've been a bad kid." The guy looks down at him from the edge of the bed. Sehun quickly pulls a pillow down, putting it on his lap, and hugging it like his life depends on it. Sehun keeps blinking up at the guy like a deer in the headlights. His brain is not working probably as he tries to understand what is going on. "But to be honest, I had fun." The smell of body lotion hits Sehun's face like a train as the man sits up, making Sehun go nauseous. The guy only has a pair of red boxers on him, and Sehun can tell that he just came out of shower. There is no way he would get drunk enough to sleep with a bald guy, and not remember it afterwards, Sehun tells himself as he tries to hold onto the last bit of sanity he has. "Aren't you gonna say something?" The man crosses his arms over his chest.
"I-uh..." Sehun starts blabbering while trying to remember what happened after he ran away into the crowd. He keeps staring at the scorpion tattoo right next to the guy's hip bone. It feels oddly familiar.
"Is that all you got after all those things that happened last night?" The guy shakes his head. "Do you at least remember my name?"
"Yifan." Sehun is sure that didn't come out of his own mouth, but maybe if he plays well enough he might convince the other that it did. The door suddenly opens, and Sehun's jaw falls as Minseok walks in.
Minseok is wearing a pair of black jeans and nothing else. His hair is wet, and the droplets are falling from his hair, trailing down his toned chest, and did someone carve those abs out of marble or what? Sehun feels extremely ashamed of staring at him in a situation like this, but it's not stopping him or anything.
"Stop playing around. You said you wanted to go to shopping." Minseok points at the door. "I'm going to drive you to the airport in two hours. If you are not here by then, you can just grab your gucci bag, and take the metro." Sehun almost jumps when Minseok suddenly looks at him, and smiles. "Good morning by the way."
"Way to ruin the mood." The guy, Yifan gets up from the bed, and walks out of the room, leaving Sehun and Minseok alone.
"Uhm..." Sehun wants to hide behind that pillow, and just vanish. Somehow sleeping with a bald guy feels like a much better scenario than being naked in front of Minseok right now.
"Your clothes are over there." Minseok gestures to the chair on which Sehun can see. "When you are ready you can come to the kitchen to have some breakfast." His level of professionalism is literally amazing. He looks back at Sehun once more to give him a smirk before he leaves the room, and closes the door behind himself. The image of the tattoo on Minseok’s back stays with him for a while. It was a portrait of a wolf and a full moon. Sehun breathes in and out, trying to calm himself down.
It takes awfully long for Sehun to dress up in his clothes. He seriously wants the whole ground to swallow him up. Some memories from the last night comes to him, but not all of them. He just remembers seeing Minseok at the club, and the way the older looked up, smiling at him. The rest of the story, and why did he woke up with a bald guy is mistery.
His clothes are all washed up, and there are no wrinkles at sight. Not to mention they smell amazing.
"You know, you have this talent of making ordinary chairs look like they are advanced punishment chairs." Minseok grins, showing his gums and all as he places a cup of coffee next to Sehun's plate.
"I'm so sorry for everything that happened last night. I don't know how- I mean..." Sehun is not sure if he should make it clear that he doesn't remember even a single thing about what happened last night. He rubs his eyes. The headache is only getting worse. "I fucked up. I'm seriously sorry."
"And what exactly are you sorry for?" Minseok sits down opposite of Sehun with a knowing smirk on his face. Okay, he knows that Sehun doesn't remember a thing. Sehun sighs in defeat.
"I don't really know, but I woke up naked next to a stranger in- I don't know whose apartment is this, and I thought apologizing would be a good way to start?" Sehun looks down, getting red in the face as Minseok bursts into laughter.
"First of all, whatever you think that happened between you and Yifan didn’t happen. He was just playing around.” Minseok leans back on his seat with his arms crossed over his chest, grinning. Sehun should stop staring at his toned arms, but the tank top Minseok is wearing looks way too good on him. “You woke up naked because you threw up all over yourself so I had to undress you. I was planning on leaving your underwear on, but then you threw up again so…” Minseok shrugs as if he’s talking about the weather. Sehun has never been mortified like this in his entire life.
“Please.” Sehun covers up his face with his hands, looking down. “Just let me die silently.” Sehun grabs the butter knife next to his plate, and starts testing it on his wrist, he dull edge is only leaving white lines. “Can i get something pointier?” Minseok reaches over the table and grabs the butter knife away from him.
“Don’t be drama queen about it. It can happen to the best of us.” He applies strawberry jam on a piece of bread, spreading little chunks of strawberries with the butter knife, then he puts the bread on Sehun’s plate. “Eat up. I prepared breakfast just for you. I usually only drink coffee in the mornings.” Minseok grins. Sehun is stuck between being overly embarrassed and being overly attracted. His heart can’t handle both.
“I’m seriously sorry.” Sehun still can’t bring himself to look at Minseok in the eye. “For all the trouble I gave you last night.”
“Sehun,” Minseok says, reaching over to put his hand on Sehun’s arm. Sehun almost jumps, but saves himself from the awkwardness just in time. “I saw you at the club throwing up, and brought you here at my own will. I suffered the consequences, but it was my own decision, and I’m totally sorry that you had to wake up on the same bed with Yifan.” Minseok sighs, shaking his head. “I should’ve locked him in his room.” Sehun smiles at that, rubbing his face with his palm.
“You should’ve left me back in the club.” Sehun mutters. Minseok rolls his eyes at him.
“I tried contacting your friends or something, but your lock screen didn’t let me.” Minseok gets up, and grabs a phone from the counter that Sehun recognizes as his own. Sehun quickly checks the notifications one Minseok hands it to him. There are tons of Kakao messages from Jongin asking if he’s alive, and complaining about not being able to call him because he forgot to pay the bill. It’s kind of touching to see how hard he tried. He sent texts from facebook, Line, and he even sent Sehun a few e-mails. The notifications are so much that it’s covering up his whole lock screen, covering up the wallpaper. Sehun drops his phone to the table, covering up his face with his hands again.
“You saw it,” he mutters. Taking a picture of his Things I want to do before I finish college list and making it his both homescreen and lockscreen wallpaper for motivation wasn’t the brightest idea ever. “God, please just kill me.”
“Hey, c’mon.” Sehun feels Minseok’s hands on his shoulders, and tries not to think too much about the goosebumps he’s having all over his skin. “I liked your list. I think it’s cute.” Sehun groans as Minseok chuckles.
“That list is going to be terminated to be never seen again,” Sehun mutters. He feels Minseok’s fingers digging into his shoulders gently, relaxing the muscles there. He resist the urge to sigh as Minseok’s hands travel to his neck. The guy is not only hot, but he also gives good massages. Sehun is doomed.
“Believe it or not it’s a good list, and can give you great experiences.” Minseok pulls a chair next to Sehun, and sits down.
“Yeah?” Sehun is already missing Minseok’s hands on his shoulders.
“Do you regret getting a tattoo?” Minseok asks, tilting his head to the side. It’s his form of aegyeo, Sehun starts to realize, because he totally knows he looks cute when he does that.
“No! I actually-” Sehun finished the first season of Inked Up just a few days ago. “I love it, and I have been really interested in tattoos lately. Trying to learn things about it.” Sehun feels proud as Minseok grins wide.
“Really?” Is it just Sehun, or is Minseok leaning a little bit closer. “What new things did you learn about it?”
“Well, I know better than to call your machine a gun.” Sehun shrugs as he watches the way Minseok laughs. It’s so cheesy and fucked up to think that it sounds so melodical, but that’s just how Sehun is. Sehun is fucked up.
“You see? That list made you learn some really important things.” Minseok suddenly reaches out and runs his fingers through Sehun’s hair. “Though I must admit going blonde was a daring one.” Sehun smiles. His heart is doing funny things as he leans into the touch. “Just make sure to have someone to help you out next time.” He pulls back, and smirks. “Maybe that way you could stop completing your tasks like it’s your homework, and actually have fun.” Sehun pouts as Minseok chuckles.
“Do you.. Uhm, think that you could be the one to help me out?” What was that? “I mean you helped me out last night, and all.” Sehun has no idea where that came from. He just wanted to hold onto things, and now he’s here. Was that Sehun’s poor attempt to ask Minseok out? Sehun has no idea. But even though the intense suffering from embarrassment, Sehun was happy to see Minseok again. He thought he would never get the chance to see him again. He thinks he really wants to see him more.
Minseok is humming, puffing his cheeks, considering it. Sehun is minutes away laughing it off, and going for the butter knife again.
“That depends.” Minseok leans back, grinning. “Do you think I’m a hot guy?” It takes a moment for Sehun to understand what Minseok is referring to, and when he does he forgets how to function.
“Yes.” He manages to breath out. It’s good think that he remembers how to breathe. The smile Minseok is giving him is blinding.
Minseok leans forward, placing his hand on Sehun’s thigh. Sehun is blinking at him trying to remember how to human. Minseok chuckles.
“Come closer, I won’t bite.” Minseok is biting his lip, and his eyes are trailing down, getting fixed at somewhere on Sehun’s collar bones. “Yet,” He adds, and that has Sehun leaning down, clumsily clashing his lips onto Minseok’s. Minseok smiles into the kiss, and tilts his head to the side for a better angle. His hand is warm at the back of Sehun’s neck, pulling him closer, and leading him. Sehun likes having it there, he thinks, as Minseok makes him moan into the kiss with that amazing tongue of his.
“Sehun, please stop smiling like that!” Jongin starts shaking Sehun. “Are you in some sort of alcohol coma? What happened to you?” Jongin cups his face, tilting it from side to side, examining it. Sehun just made out with Minseok before the older drove him to his place, and Jongin surely knows how to ruin things. “I’m never leaving you alone again! God! Sehun, talk to me!”
“Let go before I cut your dick and shove it down your throat,” Sehun mutter between closed teeth. Jongin immediately pulls back, hands up in the air.
“Dude, welcome back."Jongin grins. “But seriously, what happened?” Sehun waves him off as he hops onto his bed.
Unanswered call sign has never looked this beautiful before, Sehun thinks as he adds the number as a new contact. Before he got off from the car Minseok asked for his number, and ringed Sehun so he could add him back. Sehun drops his phone to the bed and buries his head onto his pillow, squealing.
4. Date a hot guy. Checked.
"Seriously, you are creeping me out." Sehun feels the mattress sink down as Jongin sits next to him, but doesn't bother getting up.
Jongin is awfully silent while Sehun was expecting him to push more, and ask questions.
"Sehun, what's that?" Jongin asks, sounding amused.
"What?" Sehun mumbles into his pillow.
"I don't know, you tell me. Dye your hair, get wasted, date a hot guy, have sex with that hot guy-" Jongin yelps, dropping the phone to the bed as he gets hit square on the face with the pillow that Sehun threw at him.
For: S29
Rating: PG-15
Length: 11.2k
Summary: Sehun makes a list about the things he wants to do before he finishes college. The hot tattoo artist comes with it.
Sehun shakes the empty can of iced tea. Great, now he doesn’t have an excuse to not to go in. He slowly walks to the trash can, eyes never leaving the small, red tattoo shop across the street. The sun is so bright and aggressive today, like it wants to burn the whole street down. It doesn’t help that it’s ten in the morning. But the good thing about sunny days is that they turn windows into mirrors, and this makes Sehun feel like the people in the shop didn’t see that Sehun has been burning holes into their glass door for an hour. Sehun is perfectly aware that he is on the mirror side of the window, and the people on the inside have an HD resolution of him being awkward.
He pushes his bangs out of this face. They are wet with sweat and they probably look disgusting now, just like how Sehun feels. He took a shower before leaving the dorms but he’s sweating so much that his shirt is clinging to him like an uncomfortable second skin. He likes to think that he’s sweating because it’s so hot outside but the truth is that he’s so fucking nervous and he has always been an…emotional sweater? He takes a deep breath and places his hands on his waist. He is not even going to get a tattoo today. He’s just going to make an appointment, pay the deposit and ask some questions about the process maybe. He doesn’t need to be a thirteen-year-old girl about this. He just needs to get his shit together and cross the street.
Jongin said that a tattoo artist here is amazing and everything will end up being fine. No, actually he said that everything the tattoo artist - Min..hyuk? - touches will end up being the most amazing thing ever. Jongin, Sehun’s questionable best friend, is an asshole, but Sehun learned over the years that he can trust Jongin with his life. Jongin has a thing for tattoos - that he will regret so much once he’s thirty - and Sehun has to admit even though they have the lamest context, Jongin’s tattoos are a work of art.
“Welcome,” the guy at the counter greets him with a raspy voice. When did Sehun even walk in? Okay, hold on. He was planning to have another mental breakdown in front of the door once he crossed the street but now he’s actually in the shop? Everything just happened so soon, and Sehun is not ready for this.
“Uhm, hi.” Sehun walks towards the counter. He can do this. He just has to get his head in the game.
The guy at the counter is intimidating. VerySehun would do. His instincts and every fiber of his being wants to run away now, and this is why Sehun can’t do this.
“I can wait for an hour.” Again he was not audible. “I’m gonna sit here and wait,” he says louder. “I feel very lucky.”
The dragon boy smiles a smile that makes everything much more uncomfortable to Sehun. He actually looks like he made a good deal. A drug deal. “You are lucky. Minseok-hyung is the best.”
Sehun thinks an hour is supposed to be longer than this. He doesn’t recall hours being this short. An hour feels like a decade when he has to sit through Mental Health Care Law and Policy class, but time sure does fly by when you sit on a leather couch, and try to stop sweating. He’s gross. Sehun is so gross and sticky, and he is supposed to sit very close to a guy he’s going to see for the first time. First impressions are so important. They can save a person’s life. What if he grosses out the tattoo artist and the artist gets his revenge by digging the needle, the thing whatever it’s called, deeper than necessary, and it gets into a vein, and he keeps doing it over and over again until Sehun has skin cancer? Okay this scenario might be a little bit exaggerated, and of course, his tattoo artist is a professional. Sehun has an app called Whisper though, and he regrets downloading it. He regrets it so hard. It’s unbelievable what kind of confessions doctors do in that app. If doctors can do such things, imagine what an ordinary tattoo guy would do.
Tattoo guys. Sehun bets he’s old. Aren’t they usually like that? At the age of forty five, either skinny and tall or very fat and tall but tall and intimidating nonetheless. Probably has tattoos on his neck and all over his arms so he looks like he’s wearing a long sleeved turtleneck. And totally, totally has that hair cut with the sides shaved. Piercings must be all over the place, and that ear stretch thingy is a must have for that kind of guy. That’s just disgusting. Sehun feels like throwing up thinking about what the stretch looks like after you take the earring off. Who the hell does that? Tattoo guys apparently. And Sehun is about to be one of them. He’s going to board the Tattoo ship. He chose thug life.
“You are gonna get a tattoo?” There is a tall guy looking down at Sehun, voice so deep he could be the voice actor of a Russian Mafia. Sehun gapes. He’s everything, everything that he pictured in his mind. Only a younger version with very intense eyebrows.
“Uh, yes,” Sehun replies, standing up, and he resists to the urge to salute to this inked-up giant Vogue model. He notices the door that the dragon guy went through seconds ago is now open, and Sehun can see the beginning of a chair, which looks awfully like the ones in dentists’ offices. The tall guy smiles at him. Sehun wants to runaway.
“It’s hard getting a tattoo.” The guy is literally breathing in Sehun’s personal space, hovering over him. Sehun nods. “Don’t you think that the artist is going to do all the work.” Sehun nods again, and then there is a forefinger, pressing against his chest. “You are going to take that ink. Take it hard. Then you are going to go home, and take care of it, love it, learn to live with it.” Sehun loses his balance and almost falls back to the couch. He eyes the distance between him and the glass door that opens up to the beautiful, safe street. It’s not manly to runaway but it’s okay. He can always change his town. And his name maybe. Sehoon will do.
“Will you stop scaring my customers?” a guy walks out from the room to the hall, with a smile that shows his gums. He walks behind the counter and opens a door which looks like a restroom or something. He doesn’t bother closing the door behind him and starts washing his hands.
“I’m telling the truth.” The guy thankfully starts walking to the counter, away from Sehun. “It’s easy to regret stuff.”
“Speaking from experience?” He grabs paper towels to dry his hands and when he raises his head he smiles at Sehun, giving him a wink. Sehun awkwardly smiles back.
“Shut up Minseok. Hey, kid.” The tall guy looks back at Sehun. “Don’t you even dare to get tattooed if you are drunk. You might end up with a scorpion that has his tail curled downwards.” He rubs his face furiously before talking again. “Have you ever seen a scorpion with it’s tail curled downwards? That’s just impossible? It’s anatomically wrong unless its tail is broken, and who’d want that? What is a scorpion without a tail? I’ll tell you. A man without a penis. A woman without-”
“I think that’s enough of a lecture.” The guy whom Sehun assumes is Minseok extends his hand out to him expectantly. The tall guy raises his eyebrows and takes out his card.
“I hate this scum’s guts but he’s the best really. He saved the day somehow. I don’t even remember where the old tail is located.” He lifts his shirt up revealing red, abused skin and a scorpion next to his hip bone. Sehun gulps, looking at the angry red that outlines the tattoo. “Seriously Minseok how did you do it?”
“Magic,” Minseok says once he gives the guy his credit card back together with a receipt.
Sehun stares awkwardly behind the tall guy crossing over the street, getting into his car. A part of him wishes that it would be him. Already done with this thing, and good to go.
“Sorry about Yifan. He’s actually a good guy.” Minseok smiles leaning to the wall on the hall. Sehun can tell that they are actually friends with the way they made dinner plans before finally getting Yifan out of the shop.
“And very hot,” the dragon boy chirps in from where he’s placing a set of piercings in the display.
“Sorry about Zitao too, but he’s not a good guy.” Minseok grins wider when the dragon boy narrows his eyes at him, then he turns back to Sehun. “First time getting a tattoo?” There’s a knowing smirk on his face, but it’s good hearted, playful almost.
“Is it that obvious?” Sehun puts his hands in his pockets, smiling.
“Just a little.” Minseok shrugs and stops in the door frame. “Come here, I won’t bite.” He smiles, white teeth, gums and all. Suddenly Sehun finds looking at him in the eye very hard.
“I wasn’t expecting to get an appointment today,” Sehun sputters out, feeling uncomfortable on the leather chair which is bending back way too far. Everything is adding to his anxiety. “I mean, I was not expecting it to be this easy. My friend told me that it’s really hard to get an appointment from you.” Now that he’s watching Minseok opening a new box of black plastic gloves, Sehun is so aware of not being ready.
“Normally it would be a little harder. We are supposed to be closed for a week though. Yifan just chose this time to fly over here from Beijing with his emergency case." Minseok smiles at Sehun, making him smile too. "Since I already opened the shop, I thought why not? And we’ll have almost all day to work on giving you a tattoo that will make both of us proud.” He turns to Sehun and leans on the table, head tilted to the side. “May I know your name please?”
“Sehun,” he quickly blurts out and wants to disappear into the thin air when he sees the amused look on Minseok’s face.
“Okay, Sehun, so what do you have in mind?” He draws his chair and sits, arms crossed. He has thick, toned arms. Sehun feels ashamed of himself for admiring the way Minseok looks in just a simple black shirt in a situation like this. He opens his mouth to answer him - just like he’s supposed to do - but then closes it. His first instinct is to say he wants a tattoo on his arm because… It is just simple? And covering it up would be simple too. But now that he’s sitting here and things are starting to get real, his thoughts start to change too.
He did decide on what he wanted but he never pictured it clearly. The shape, the size, the placement - as long as it’s easy to cover - didn’t really matter to him. He felt like the less thought he gave into it, the easier things would be, considering how much he doesn’t actually want this. But as he takes in the sight of the room, and takes in the presence of Minseok, he starts to give a little bit of value to it.
“This silence is very reassuring.” Minseok smirks. Sehun shakes himself out of it.
“Sorry. I - uh, I want a tree on my back. On my shoulder blade.” Sehun decides, finally.
“What kind of tree do you want? Tell me the details like its size, style, which shoulder blade you want it on. Give me the picture you have in mind,” Minseok says, placing his elbows on his legs and leaning on them.
“I’d like it to be crooked, like heavy on one side but not… in a way that would make it an ugly tree. Size doesn’t really matter as long as it doesn’t peek from the collar of my shirt.” Sehun stops and thinks if there is any details he wants other than those. He still doesn’t have a picture in his mind but he’s really okay with it. As long as it has these key points he doesn’t really care that much about how it looks. “I’m kind of fond of abstract art. The rest I want to leave it to you.” Minseok reaches back, and grabs some paper and pen.
“Okay then, I’m gonna draw some sketches for you. Feel free to point out the things you don’t like about it so we can create something that you will want on your skin for forever.” He starts drawing lines on the paper.
“Let’s just not do that.” Sehun quickly says. And he feels very nervous as he takes in the surprised expression Minseok is starting to have. He doesn’t really want to give him a hard time or to make him uncomfortable, but they are not going to get anywhere if he keeps asking if Sehun wants this design or that. He’s sure he will ask Minseok to change this, change that, start a new sketch, and so on. But it would have nothing to do with the quality of the sketches or the ideas, and would have everything to do with the fact that Sehun is not interested in the idea of getting a tattoo. The only tattoo that will be acceptable to have on his skin will be the one that is already there, and - he hopes - he’ll grow to understand it, and like it. “I’d like it if you could just do it on my skin. I mean, I saw your work before so I think whatever you do will be more than okay.”
“Are you in a hurry or something?” Minseok’s expression is amused, but also there’s this kind of judgmental feel in the tone of his voice. Sehun wishes he knew how to explain.
“No, it’s not that. I’m sorry.” He sighs. “It’s just... Athing. But you have to believe me when I say it will be a lot easier for both of us if I don’t see the tattoo unless it’s done, or at least half way through.” So there will be no turning back. Minseok raises his eyebrows and keeps looking at him as Sehun keeps his gaze lowered, feeling like a cat who just spilled milk all over the carpet.
“It’s okay with me, but it will change some of the rules. This time I won’t give you a chance to comment on it. If you have parts that you didn’t like you’ll have to find another artist to cover it up. Because right now you are giving me the permission to do as I like, which means that you don’t get to whine.” Minseok pulls a pair of gloves from their box.
“I know, don’t worry about it. You are right. I mean, I know what I’m getting into. I’m okay with anything.” Sehun feels the hesitation in the room disappear as Minseok gives him that grin, with the gums. “Just don’t tattoo a penis on my back.”
“The idea has crossed my mind, I’m not gonna lie.” Minseok smirks, and Sehun - surprising himself - breaks into laughter. Minseok motions to a regular chair without armrests. “I’m going to ask you to sit on this chair with your back facing me, since I’m tattooing your back,” he explains, turning the chair around. Sehun does as he’s told, very aware of his awkward posture as he decides to put his hands on his lap between his body and the back of the chair. He thinks about placing his elbows on the back of the chair but it would probably lift his shoulder blades.
“Sehun,” Minseok says, laughing as he draws his chair and sits so he’s facing Sehun’s back. "It's not the punishment chair or something." Sehun is straining his neck, trying to give him a frustrated look. “And you have to take off your shirt sooner or later.” Minseok smirks. Ignoring the blush that is probably taking it's place on his cheeks, Sehun takes off his shirt and keeps looking to the front, not facing Minseok. He's sure the tattoo artist is not going to make things easy for him.
He feels cold, moist cotton rubbing his skin on the left side of his back, quickly wiping the area from his shoulder to the small of his back. So Minseok chose his left side to tattoo.
“I want to use colors. Is that okay with you?” Minseok asks, and Sehun is just glad that he asked.
“Do you think it will look good?” Sehun thinks of the green leaves that will cover his back. It will be like a green shirt that he can never take off. Green is not even his favorite color, neither is brown. This is just stupid. To him tattoos are stupid like the people who get them… He’s not judging-okay he is- but he just can’t relate to it. Why would anyone want to wear the same shirt for the rest of their life? They might look beautiful but they should disappear instead of staining the skin forever. They are stains. They look fake and out of place on the skin in Sehun’s eyes. They are not meant to be there.
“Well, I think they will look more than just good,” Minseok stops rubbing the skin, leaving it wet and cold. “You got the perfect skin for tattooing really. The color and the texture is very easy to work with. I can basically use any color and shade and it’ll look good on you.” Minseok is speaking from a professional kind of view. To him Sehun’s skin is a canvas. So there’s no need for Sehun to feel butterflies in his stomach which he’s totally not feeling right now.
“Sure, go ahead,” Sehun says and literally jumps when he feels something unknown touch his skin. Minseok chuckles.
“It’s a marker. I’m sketching the tattoo,” he informs Sehun, voice awfully amused. Sehun closes his eyes and tries not to think about how much of a fool he’s making out of himself.
It’s big. The design is awfully big. From his shoulder to the small of his back, he feels like there’s not a spot that the marker hasn’t touched.
“I haven’t even started tattooing you, but you already look so painfully regretful,” Minseok says with his usual amused tone as he drags a long line down.
“I’m not.” Sehun straightens his back, causing Minseok to draw back his marker immediately. “It’s just my face.”
Sehun suddenly feels two strong hands grabbing his shoulders, pushing them down gently. “Relax. Don’t do anything unnatural.” Sehun tries to sit like Minseok navigated him, and tries not to move. The tattoo is going to be a big one, he can feel it. He’s having a hard time keeping up with what Minseok is drawing because he is not always doing clear lines. Sometimes he drops a line in the middle then goes to another corner and Sehun can’t understand if it’s leaves, branches or what. But the idea of Minseok tracing those lines again with a needle is not very pleasant to think about. It’s just a marker but Sehun already feels like it’s burning.
“Would you judge me if I asked you about numbing creams?” Sehun tries to sound amused, like he’s joking. Minseok’s laugh immediately fills up the room.
“Not gonna happen Sehun.”
The pain is real. That’s the only way Sehun can describe it. In theory Sehun did deal with things that hurt ten times more - like the one time he dropped his mug on his lap, and spilled boiling hot coffee all over himself two hours before the exam- But still it’s not easy to sit through. First of all the pain is unknown, making Sehun extra sensitive to it. Getting used to it is not easy either, because Minseok is not constantly tattooing one place. Whenever Sehun feels like he’s getting used to having the needles there, he moves to somewhere else, bringing new emotions, and leaving a burning, tingling sensation behind. Some places hurt more while some of them feels a little better, and he feels himself break into a sweat while trying to adjust. The other fact that is wearing him down is that this takes long. Seriously long. It’s been two hours, and as the time passes Sehun feels weaker. He’s been just sitting there, doing nothing, but he feels like he just ran a marathon.
He let's a groan slip past his lips. Minseok told him that he can scream, or talk as much as he wanted as long as he sits still, but also told him that not to stop Minseok. The tattoo artist explained saying that it’s hard getting back the feeling once he’s stopped without his will, and often results with him forgetting the little details he has just realized or the ideas that only forms once you start tattooing. Sehun respects that, and he wants to go with it but he can’t help that he just wants to push that stupid machine away from his body, and step on it until it can’t make that stupid, awfully loud buzzing sound. Anger, strangely, is one of the emotions that suddenly spark when he’s getting tattooed on a sensitive area that hurts more.
Sehun starts to wonder if anyone did push the machine away, or moved away from it causing Minseok to make a mistake. He would have to deal with covering it up afterwards, maybe changing the design he made in a way that he didn’t want. Suddenly Sehun is aware of how hard Minseok’s job is. He’s dealing with humans after all.
“Do you turn people down?” Sehun’s voice is so strained. He’s talking between his teeth. “Like refuse to tattoo them or something.”
“Yeah, very often.” Minseok sounds pretty relaxed for a guy that is constantly doing a critical job. Sehun, himself, is the worst multitasker. He realized he can’t chew gum while climbing up stairs just recently, so he thinks Minseok is very impressive. “I’m very picky to be honest.”
There is a growl building up from his throat that is not possible to hold back so he decides to release it in the form of a “do tell more”. Minseok laughs wiping away the ink with a cotton.
“Well not tattooing first timers on their face, neck, and hands is an unwritten rule. Other than that I don’t tattoo anyone that I feel doesn’t understand the importance of it or can’t bear the consequences, like reckless kids or adults that think this is a joke. People think that it’s none of my business, but it is. I want to respect the tattoo I do, and I want people to do the same.” Minseok’s tone has changed somewhat, to something more serious and thoughtful.
“Then why didn’t you kick me out?” Sehun wants to slap himself as soon as the words leave his mouth. What is he trying to do going around, provoking Minseok? Minseok stays silent for a minute, probably at a critical point with the tattoo.
“No, I really wanted to tattoo you. I even felt like locking the door in case of you chickening out.” He chuckles.
“Because I have the perfect skin for tattooing?” Sehun mocks, but he’s actually dead curious.
“Because you are a challenge.” Minseok corrects. Sehun tries to look back at him because he’s so confused, but immediately turns back when Minseok glares at him. No moving around, right. “I really want to see if I can change the way you look at tattoos.” He can hear the gummy grin from Minseok’s tone, and strangely he really wants to turn back, and see it.
Minseok has already broken a lot of stereotypes for Sehun today with or without the tattoo. He was expecting someone that he would probably hate if they were classmates in high school. But compared to what Sehun had pictured, Minseok is the definition of the opposite. He’s remarkably short, like he would have to look up to talk to Sehun if they were standing close. But it doesn’t mean that Sehun doesn’t feel small next to him. He has this way of talking that makes things sound interesting. His voice is nice, and somehow hard to memorize so that it feels fresh every time he speaks. He has one of those faces that makes you don’t want to look away. All gentle eyes, high cheekbones and the gummy smile, of course.
One of the interesting things about Minseok is that he doesn’t have a tattoo in sight. Sehun has been looking at his neck, hands, arms, anywhere he spots skin, but he didn’t see any signs of the ink. Is it really possible for a tattoo artist to not have a tattoo? Maybe he has them in the places that clothes can cover up. As his knuckles are turning white from gripping the chair hard, and his face scrunching up in pain, Sehun feels really ashamed of wanting to find out so badly.
“I can give you a break now if you want, but it will probably make things harder for you when we start again. Do you still want it?” Minseok breaks his thoughts.
“Oh my god yes, yes please!” Sehun groans. He’s in too much pain to care about embarrassing himself. The buzzing sound suddenly stops and Minseok pulls away.
“Since you asked so nicely.” For the first time, Sehun is so happy to be able to turn back and see Minseok’s amused smile. Minseok's eyes widen,lips forming an 'o'.“Are you okay? I’m sure you didn’t bleed enough to have anemia.”
“I feel kind of dizzy.” Sehun rubs his eyes noticing the way half of his back hurts when he lifts his arm. He just voluntarily gave himself a flesh wound didn’t he?
“It happens.” Minseok suddenly stands up and walks to the table. He grabs a candy bar from the drawers, and walks towards Sehun to give it. Sehun was too busy feeling the pain as he kept moving his shoulder so he didn’t reach out or something, and now he feels bad for making Minseok come to his feet. “Your sugar level drops while your body is under pain for a long time.”
“And you still refuse to use numbing cream on me,” Sehun says, opening the package of the candy bar. “Thanks hyung.” His eyes immediately grow larger upon realizing his words. It just came out by itself. Minseok grins.
“You are doing really good without the cream though. We are almost done. Wanna see it?” He looks at Sehun’s back, appreciating his work.
Sehun, too tired and busy eating his Snickers, doesn’t really care anymore. “Yeah.”
Minseok gestures him to stand up, and stay in front of the body mirror attached to the wall. As Sehun is turning around trying to catch a glimpse of the things happening on his back, Minseok appears with a smaller mirror behind his back. It takes a moment for Sehun to realize it's on his back, and his eyes widen as he stares at his very own tattoo.
“Sehun,” Jongin mutters as they stand in front of the mirror in their shared room, with his hands on Sehun’s shoulders, taking in the sight. “It’s fucking beautiful.” Sehun tries to pull his shirt back down but Jongin yanks it up. “I swear next time I’m lying naked in front of Minseok Hyung and telling him to draw me like one of his french girls or something.” Sehun shoves him away. That image was seriously disturbing.
1. Get a tattoo. Checked.
He put the hardest challenge in the first place so that the rest of the list would seem like a piece of cake.
Sehun is pretty much aware of this whole list of “things I want to do before I finish college” is like the most childish, stupid idea ever. But he did it anyways. He ripped a page off from his math book, and grabbed a thick marker. He sat down, and made the whole list in his room, at the night of his high school prom. It just came to him when all of his classmates gathered, and decided to go clubbing after the prom. The only invitation Sehun got was the sight of them walking to the door together, and one of the girls being considerate enough to turn back, and spare a glance at him. Sehun knows nobody would say anything if he would just run to them at that moment, and tag along-since people usually have hard time feeling Sehun’s existence- but he knew it would only bring some more misery to this miserable night in so many painful ways.
As he came home, and got rid of that uncomfortable suit, he made up his mind. Sehun was going to be a different person in college. He was going to be a whole new Sehun. Well, to be honest, Sehun never really thought of himself as a loser. He thinks he is a cool dude. He likes his way of living. He had never been interested in what people of his age are usually interested in. To Sehun, party means having enough potato chips and coke to pull an allnighter as he goes through anime marathons with Jongin. An amazing day means a day that he gets to stay at home the whole day, and do whatever he wants, while he eats whatever he wants. He has a few close friends, and he loves them. Sometimes he feels lonely when none of them are available, doing their own things, but Sehun can handle that. He wouldn’t say no to having a lots of friends that are not that close to him, just enough familiarity to be able to join a group of them when he wants to go to drink bubble tea, and Jongin is not around. But he tried that, and that never works out. Usually ends up with painful awkward conversations, and both sides swearing in the inside to never meet again if not necessary.
Birds of a feather flock together, and life had clearly showed Sehun that fuck having the same feathers, Sehun is not even a bird. Just for once Sehun wants to disguise himself as one, wants to see what’s that fuss is about, want’s people to stop telling him to “live a little”. And what time could be better than now?
2.Fuck dye your hair. checked.
This new platinum blonde hair is being seriously itchy as Sehun tries to go over his notes.
The library is almost empty since it’s summer time, and it’s perfect time to study and be relaxed, but there Sehun is, being superbly distracted. He can feel his shirt catching on the dead skin of his back, as he leans on the desk. He has been peeling them since forever. It’s itchy, but not that bad. Getting a tattoo didn’t work out as Sehun thought it would do. He thought he would feel blunt, young, and stupid after getting a huge mistake painted on his back for the rest of his life. And that was going to make him bolder. It was supposed to make Sehun feel like he fucked up so there wouldn't be a problem with fucking up some more. But his tattoo didn’t end up as a mistake. Somehow having a huge colorful thing on his back felt good.
Water colors, Minseok managed to paint on his back. There was no rough lines, and no outline of the tree. There was just splash of colors. Floating, faint blue lines made the branches, and when it met with the orange, getting slightly darker, it had it’s trunk. There were tones of yellow, blue, orange, purple, and somehow it was a perfect balance of lively and calm, warm and cold. Drops of ink, and blurred colors saved the tree from looking naked, without giving it actual leaves, and the right side was designed to seem like it was fading away, giving the crook Sehun wanted. He spent hours in front of the mirror, looking at his tattoo over two weeks, and everytime he looks at it he realizes something new. Just like how you track the ink droplets you see a faint outline of a Koi fish, an owl, and even a small wolf peering at him from behind the trunk. He wonders if he is imagining it or if Minseok actually putted the droplets in order to give the idea of them being there. The first time he tried to scratch his back while looking at his tattoo, Sehun's breath got caught in his throat. As he lifted his arm, and moved his shoulder blade, the whole picture became alive.
“That’s one heck of a tree of life,” Jongin had said after he finally let Sehun pull down his shirt. Knowing Sehun since their elementary school days, spending more time in Sehun’s house than his own, Jongin knew that Sehun’s mother had an obsession with the whole idea of the tree of life. His mom used to do paintings of them, draw, weird, skewed trees of her own life to the point that the whole house was full of her paintings of colorful, different, weird trees. She even drew one for Sehun, a small, bright green, thin tree. After she passed away Sehun’s dad came home one day, drunk as hell, and got them off of the walls before he threw them all away.
Sehun didn’t really think about trees of life when he decided to get a tree tattooed on himself. They were a part of his childhood that was already forgotten and very blurry. He just googled tattoo ideas from minimalist tattoos to litteral tattoos. When he saw a shadow of a tree on a man’s back Sehun felt like he found what he was looking for.
Sehun asked for just a tree that had no meanings or whatsoever. Minseok gave him what he didn’t know he wanted.
Sehun flips his notebook close, and leans back on his chair, sighing. He struggles for a while to take his phone out of his pocket because damn those jeans are skinny, and texts Jongin, asking where he is. Jongin’s reply comes immediately, telling Sehun to come to the coffee shop in the campus. Sehun is at the opposite end of the campus, but why not waste time, and effort to walk over there, since he sucks at doing actually useful things today. He seriously needs to go over his notes, but college is the time to be reckless right? And the best way to be reckless must be walking six kilometers to the coffee shop under the burning sun at the noon. The universe is probably supporting this decision because surprise! His burned, dry scalp becomes even more itchy when he gets sweaty.
He spots Jongin immediately when he enters to the coffee shop, since there isn't many people in it compared to the line of sleepy students that goes all the way across the street during the winter. The campus, during the summer time, feels abandoned. The students that has to go to the summer school are the only ones left, usually because they failed a few exams. Just like Jongin, and his friends Chanyeol and Baekhyun that is sitting together in the corner.
"Hey! Isn't this your hot nerd friend?" Baekhyun says to Jongin after sparing a glance at Sehun. Jongin turns, and waves at Sehun with a grin. Sehun rolls his eyes before grabbing an empty chair, and dragging it towards their table. Jongin often does that. He doesn't inform Sehun about iif he's alone, or sitting with someone before ordering Sehun to come. He thinks it's a legit way to force Sehun to socialize. It never works.
"Nice hair color, but copying my style is not gonna get you anywhere." Baekhyun flicks his hair, batting his eyelashes. He has a similar shade of platinum blonde that Sehun has, with pastel pink highlights. He sees Baekhyun occasionally when he is with Jongin, and every time they meet he has a different color. He has an extreme case of static hair. His hair is puffed up, and looks like it's made of nylon. Sehun wonders why would anyone do that to their hair. His itchy scalp tells him to shut up.
"Where have you been?" Jongin swings an arm around Sehun's shoulder, pulling him close. "Took you long to get here." Sehun huffs, earning him a part in the middle of his bangs.
"Library," he replies, and he knew he shouldn't have. Baekhyun makes a sound at the back of his throat, looking away.
"Why are you here?" Chanyeol asks. Sehun dumbly blinks at him. "I mean one does not come to the campus during summer willingly." Chanyeol smiles, showing a lot of shiny teeth.
"Oh, I have to attend summer school." Sehun shrugs. Baekhyun's jaw falls dramatically
"You failed?" He pushes his bangs away from his face, looking pissed off. "How am I supposed to survive this education system when even this guy fails?" He points at Sehun. Jongin pats Sehun's back as Sehun sighs. Since the summer school started, he spent his every day explaining the same thing.
"I didn't fail. I have this double degree program which allows me to graduate with two diplomas. Some classes were clashing, and a few ones didn't fit into the semester." The way Baekhyun is narrowing his eyes, and leaning onto the table is distracting. "So I need to take them now." Baekhyun hums, nodding.
"I don't understand you," Baekhyun says as he leans back, hands in his pockets. "But I accept your existence." Chanyeol spurts his coffee, and shoves Baekhyun away, almost making the blonde fall together with his chair. Jongin laughs as Baekhyun holds onto the table with his life. In the name of being friendly, Sehun chuckles.
People think they are being funny, and friendly. They are actually being friendly, Sehun knows that. It's just that once you hear the same things all the time from everyone... well... It becomes pretty annoying. Sehun is aware of the fact that his insecurities are interfering with his feelings, but he can't help getting offended sometimes. Why does he always come off as different? What is so different about him? Why does he has to face with the same problems over and over again when he wants to get along with people. It feels like there is this huge wall between him and other people. He keeps crashing into the wall when he tries to be casual.
Sehun gets up to get himself a cup of black coffee, and to get over his head. The conversation had just started, there is no reason to give up right now. Just because it started like all the other ones did, it doesn't mean he can't change things. Maybe this time he can turn the tables.
"So we were thinking about going out tonight," Sehun hears Chanyeol say just when he gets his mug, and starts walking towards their table. "I have this gig at Sound Holic. It's a great venue, girls are coming, I have discount on drinks and it's going to be perfect. You have to come." Chanyeol spares Sehun a glance as he pulls his chair, and sits down.
"Man, it sounds amazing but-"
"Don't you dare." Baekhyun shoves his fore finger at Jongin's face. "No buts, you are coming."
"I seriously can't come. You know how my dad is, I can't fail again or else he's gonna cancel my program, and sign me up for economics or something." Jongin shrugs. Coming from a family full of diplomats, and lawyers, Jongin is giving off a fight everyday to be a dance major. His parents are not the worst. They are supportive in their own way, but they use every opportunity to convince Jongin into giving up dancing as a profession.
"I'm slowly losing my dongsaeng, and it makes me bleed in the inside." Baekhyun goes for a dramatic nose pinching.
"No need to be dramatic now, Hyung. I'm sure someone else would come. I mean discount on drinks and all." Jongin leans back shrugging.
"Yeah, I'll come," Sehun says, and Jongin sits back up, blinking at Sehun.
"Yeah?" Chanyeol smiles.
"Wow." Baekhyun grins. "It'll be a sight to see."
"Sehun, I don't think-" Sehun shushes Jongin with an immediate glare.
"What time does your gig start?" Sehun turns to Chanyeol, feeling proud.
"Around ten p.m. but other bands will be playing too so everyone is going to be there around eight thirty or something." Chanyeol smiles, looking smug. "I don't recommend showing up early, since the best performance of the night will be ours."
"We'll see." Sehun smiles, feeling like he successfully learned a new language.
"Sehun, that's not a good idea." Jongin says once they are in the dorm and Sehun is trying to find something to wear.
"What's wrong with you?" Sehun throws one of his shirts towards Jongin. He is already nervous to the core, and Jongin being like this is only making things even worse. "Weren't you the one going up and down, telling me to live a little?"
"Yes, but you don't know Chanyeol, and Baekhyun. I'm sure you are not familiar with the others as well. If you go there you'll have to drink." Jongin throws the shirt back at Sehun. " It's not everyday you get wasted."
"That's the point!" Sehun rolls his eyes at Jongin.
"You don't know how the alcohol will affect you. Some people last till morning, and some gets blacked out with just few shots. You don't even know what type of drunk you are." Jongin gets up from the bed, and walks towards Sehun."What if you are the type that cries while drunk, and you get emotional because of having the biggest butt in the whole place or something?" Jongin smacks Sehun's butt.
"Shut it, mom." Sehun scrunches up his face, trying to kick Jongin's butt in return. Jongin coos at him before hugging him from behind.
"I remember the days you were shorter than me." Sehun pushes him away, laughing. Jongin goes back to sit on his bed, looking heart broken.
"What I'm trying to say is that, you might lose control, and I don't think anyone will be there to help you out." Jongin says. “And somehow Baekhyun is much more of a jerk than he already is when he’s with you.” Jongin shakes his head, shrugging. " Just don't go."
"I’ll go, because sometimes that’s just how things work," Sehun says going back to his closet, fishing for the skinniest pair of jeans he owns. Some type of anger starts bubbling in the pit of his stomach. For the first time in his life Sehun is doing what Jongin has been telling him to do since they hit puberty, and discouragement is all he gets.
Jongin shakes his head. "No, Sehun." He leans forward, taking his intervention position. "You know that I'm an asshole, and the others are too. You don't have to do shit just because we talk shit. Just don't listen to us."
"And that's what I'm doing right now." Sehun grabs his clothes and heads to the bathroom to change. They have been together for so long that there is nothing unseen between them. It's just that Sehun needs to put an end to this before things get ugly. Well, at least Jongin’s aware of his status as an asshole. It’s nice to know.
Sehun wishes he listened to Jongin, because damn he was right. He’s feeling like the biggest idiot for coming here while another wave of nausea, and dizziness wash over him. He was not expecting to drink that much. The first few Vodka shots were pushed into his hands forcefully by Baekhyun, and even though the poisonous taste Sehun drowned them. He did it because it helped. It helped with the awkward feelings, and it also helped him to not to give a shit about Baekhyun's innuendo, and constant snarky remarks. Turns out Sehun is the type to still be Sehun, but nauseous while drunk. The best part of this thing that he feels bolder, and doesn't give a shit about anything anymore. Which is probably why he was downright ignorant when the group of girls Baekhyun and Chanyeol's hanging out with tried to go giggly on him.
He thinks he said something about being too drunk to act like he's straight. He also thinks Baekhyun heard that.
3. Get wasted. Checked.
"There you go big boy." Baekhyun gives another shot to him. He is smirking, and the flash of his phone shining into Sehun's face is blinding. He pushes it into Sehun's face as Sehun tries to block the flashlight with his hand. Baekhyun is filming him.
Sehun is probably not thinking with his head as he grabs the shot, and splashes it onto Baekhyun's face, and shirt. His phone also gets its fair share
"If you think you are gonna get snapchat material from me you can just go fuck yourself." Sehun doesn't usually swear. Sehun would never do something like this under normal circumstances. He's slurring on his words like the half of his face is paralysed, but it feels good. "You little son of a bitch." Okay, he needs to spice up his swearing game, but damn it feels so good. All those years he shutted up, and listen to people talk up and down about him, make a joke out of him, let them make him uncomfortable. "Fuck. You." Now Baekhyun is blinking up at him, with his wet bangs parted from the middle, and it just feels so fucking good.
Sehun is expecting a punch to be thrown at his face any moment from now on as Baekhyun calmly wipes his phone with his shirt, and puts it in his backpocket. He looks up, but Sehun can't tell anything from his expression. Hell, he can't even see Baekhyun's face clearly. Everything he sees is a strange mix of blurry, vibrant colors.
"You can." Baekhyun takes a step towards him. It takes a moment for Sehun's brain to catch up. "If you want."
Sehun falters as he takes a step back. Baekhyun comes even closer, eyebrows furrowed.
“Is this a joke?” Sehun is very confused as Baekhyun comes even closer. “Someone’s filming this right?” Sehun is kind of proud himself for still being able to remember all those novels he read about alcohol and sex tapes. Baekhyun shakes his head, and puts his hand onto the counter, caging Sehun.
“I’m not joking around. I want this.” Baekhyun cups the back of Sehun’s neck with his free hand, and pulls him down until Sehun can feel the older’s breath on his lips. “I like boys, I like you, no shit.” Then suddenly Baekhyun’s lips are so close, and the alarms are going off in Sehun’s head.
"Stop it," Is the only thing Sehun manages to get out before he is shoving Baekhyun away, and doing his best to disappear into the crowd. He's about to fall limbless to the floor, and pass out in his own vomit. He has been slowing down kiloliters of saliva, and can't even walk two steps without stumbling violently, but still he is not drunk enough to sleep with Baekhyun. He would never, ever be drunk enough for that. Sehun gags. Fuck. What is he even doing here? Fuck the list, fuck everything he needs to go home before he blacks out.
He raises his head, and the bitter juice coming from his stomach burns his throat immediately. He tries to swallow it down as he looks for the restrooms in this mess of blurry,dancing lights. Suddenly he finds a figure that is so stable standing in the corner. Sehun feels steady as the figure becomes clear to him, feeling relieved.
It so warm. Sehun is so sweaty, and seriously wet all over the place. It tastes like something died in his mouth, and the body has been there for months. His head feels like his brain is jumping up and down in it, slamming itself to the walls of his scalp, and his body in general is just seriously so uncomfortable to be in right now. He opens his eyes, thinking he should at least get away from the sheets before he drowns in his own sweat, and his bones fuses into the mattress.
"Good morning sleeping beauty." A seriously thick voice resonates in his scalp, making Sehun wince. There is a bald guy lying next to him, and his face is seriously up close. Sehun finds himself staring at the bald guy's thick eyebrows before he's yelping, and falling off from the edge of the bed. The bed. It's someone else's bed in someone else's room. The way the cold floor touches his naked butt brings Sehun into a whole new level of freaking out.
"You've been a bad kid." The guy looks down at him from the edge of the bed. Sehun quickly pulls a pillow down, putting it on his lap, and hugging it like his life depends on it. Sehun keeps blinking up at the guy like a deer in the headlights. His brain is not working probably as he tries to understand what is going on. "But to be honest, I had fun." The smell of body lotion hits Sehun's face like a train as the man sits up, making Sehun go nauseous. The guy only has a pair of red boxers on him, and Sehun can tell that he just came out of shower. There is no way he would get drunk enough to sleep with a bald guy, and not remember it afterwards, Sehun tells himself as he tries to hold onto the last bit of sanity he has. "Aren't you gonna say something?" The man crosses his arms over his chest.
"I-uh..." Sehun starts blabbering while trying to remember what happened after he ran away into the crowd. He keeps staring at the scorpion tattoo right next to the guy's hip bone. It feels oddly familiar.
"Is that all you got after all those things that happened last night?" The guy shakes his head. "Do you at least remember my name?"
"Yifan." Sehun is sure that didn't come out of his own mouth, but maybe if he plays well enough he might convince the other that it did. The door suddenly opens, and Sehun's jaw falls as Minseok walks in.
Minseok is wearing a pair of black jeans and nothing else. His hair is wet, and the droplets are falling from his hair, trailing down his toned chest, and did someone carve those abs out of marble or what? Sehun feels extremely ashamed of staring at him in a situation like this, but it's not stopping him or anything.
"Stop playing around. You said you wanted to go to shopping." Minseok points at the door. "I'm going to drive you to the airport in two hours. If you are not here by then, you can just grab your gucci bag, and take the metro." Sehun almost jumps when Minseok suddenly looks at him, and smiles. "Good morning by the way."
"Way to ruin the mood." The guy, Yifan gets up from the bed, and walks out of the room, leaving Sehun and Minseok alone.
"Uhm..." Sehun wants to hide behind that pillow, and just vanish. Somehow sleeping with a bald guy feels like a much better scenario than being naked in front of Minseok right now.
"Your clothes are over there." Minseok gestures to the chair on which Sehun can see. "When you are ready you can come to the kitchen to have some breakfast." His level of professionalism is literally amazing. He looks back at Sehun once more to give him a smirk before he leaves the room, and closes the door behind himself. The image of the tattoo on Minseok’s back stays with him for a while. It was a portrait of a wolf and a full moon. Sehun breathes in and out, trying to calm himself down.
It takes awfully long for Sehun to dress up in his clothes. He seriously wants the whole ground to swallow him up. Some memories from the last night comes to him, but not all of them. He just remembers seeing Minseok at the club, and the way the older looked up, smiling at him. The rest of the story, and why did he woke up with a bald guy is mistery.
His clothes are all washed up, and there are no wrinkles at sight. Not to mention they smell amazing.
"You know, you have this talent of making ordinary chairs look like they are advanced punishment chairs." Minseok grins, showing his gums and all as he places a cup of coffee next to Sehun's plate.
"I'm so sorry for everything that happened last night. I don't know how- I mean..." Sehun is not sure if he should make it clear that he doesn't remember even a single thing about what happened last night. He rubs his eyes. The headache is only getting worse. "I fucked up. I'm seriously sorry."
"And what exactly are you sorry for?" Minseok sits down opposite of Sehun with a knowing smirk on his face. Okay, he knows that Sehun doesn't remember a thing. Sehun sighs in defeat.
"I don't really know, but I woke up naked next to a stranger in- I don't know whose apartment is this, and I thought apologizing would be a good way to start?" Sehun looks down, getting red in the face as Minseok bursts into laughter.
"First of all, whatever you think that happened between you and Yifan didn’t happen. He was just playing around.” Minseok leans back on his seat with his arms crossed over his chest, grinning. Sehun should stop staring at his toned arms, but the tank top Minseok is wearing looks way too good on him. “You woke up naked because you threw up all over yourself so I had to undress you. I was planning on leaving your underwear on, but then you threw up again so…” Minseok shrugs as if he’s talking about the weather. Sehun has never been mortified like this in his entire life.
“Please.” Sehun covers up his face with his hands, looking down. “Just let me die silently.” Sehun grabs the butter knife next to his plate, and starts testing it on his wrist, he dull edge is only leaving white lines. “Can i get something pointier?” Minseok reaches over the table and grabs the butter knife away from him.
“Don’t be drama queen about it. It can happen to the best of us.” He applies strawberry jam on a piece of bread, spreading little chunks of strawberries with the butter knife, then he puts the bread on Sehun’s plate. “Eat up. I prepared breakfast just for you. I usually only drink coffee in the mornings.” Minseok grins. Sehun is stuck between being overly embarrassed and being overly attracted. His heart can’t handle both.
“I’m seriously sorry.” Sehun still can’t bring himself to look at Minseok in the eye. “For all the trouble I gave you last night.”
“Sehun,” Minseok says, reaching over to put his hand on Sehun’s arm. Sehun almost jumps, but saves himself from the awkwardness just in time. “I saw you at the club throwing up, and brought you here at my own will. I suffered the consequences, but it was my own decision, and I’m totally sorry that you had to wake up on the same bed with Yifan.” Minseok sighs, shaking his head. “I should’ve locked him in his room.” Sehun smiles at that, rubbing his face with his palm.
“You should’ve left me back in the club.” Sehun mutters. Minseok rolls his eyes at him.
“I tried contacting your friends or something, but your lock screen didn’t let me.” Minseok gets up, and grabs a phone from the counter that Sehun recognizes as his own. Sehun quickly checks the notifications one Minseok hands it to him. There are tons of Kakao messages from Jongin asking if he’s alive, and complaining about not being able to call him because he forgot to pay the bill. It’s kind of touching to see how hard he tried. He sent texts from facebook, Line, and he even sent Sehun a few e-mails. The notifications are so much that it’s covering up his whole lock screen, covering up the wallpaper. Sehun drops his phone to the table, covering up his face with his hands again.
“You saw it,” he mutters. Taking a picture of his Things I want to do before I finish college list and making it his both homescreen and lockscreen wallpaper for motivation wasn’t the brightest idea ever. “God, please just kill me.”
“Hey, c’mon.” Sehun feels Minseok’s hands on his shoulders, and tries not to think too much about the goosebumps he’s having all over his skin. “I liked your list. I think it’s cute.” Sehun groans as Minseok chuckles.
“That list is going to be terminated to be never seen again,” Sehun mutters. He feels Minseok’s fingers digging into his shoulders gently, relaxing the muscles there. He resist the urge to sigh as Minseok’s hands travel to his neck. The guy is not only hot, but he also gives good massages. Sehun is doomed.
“Believe it or not it’s a good list, and can give you great experiences.” Minseok pulls a chair next to Sehun, and sits down.
“Yeah?” Sehun is already missing Minseok’s hands on his shoulders.
“Do you regret getting a tattoo?” Minseok asks, tilting his head to the side. It’s his form of aegyeo, Sehun starts to realize, because he totally knows he looks cute when he does that.
“No! I actually-” Sehun finished the first season of Inked Up just a few days ago. “I love it, and I have been really interested in tattoos lately. Trying to learn things about it.” Sehun feels proud as Minseok grins wide.
“Really?” Is it just Sehun, or is Minseok leaning a little bit closer. “What new things did you learn about it?”
“Well, I know better than to call your machine a gun.” Sehun shrugs as he watches the way Minseok laughs. It’s so cheesy and fucked up to think that it sounds so melodical, but that’s just how Sehun is. Sehun is fucked up.
“You see? That list made you learn some really important things.” Minseok suddenly reaches out and runs his fingers through Sehun’s hair. “Though I must admit going blonde was a daring one.” Sehun smiles. His heart is doing funny things as he leans into the touch. “Just make sure to have someone to help you out next time.” He pulls back, and smirks. “Maybe that way you could stop completing your tasks like it’s your homework, and actually have fun.” Sehun pouts as Minseok chuckles.
“Do you.. Uhm, think that you could be the one to help me out?” What was that? “I mean you helped me out last night, and all.” Sehun has no idea where that came from. He just wanted to hold onto things, and now he’s here. Was that Sehun’s poor attempt to ask Minseok out? Sehun has no idea. But even though the intense suffering from embarrassment, Sehun was happy to see Minseok again. He thought he would never get the chance to see him again. He thinks he really wants to see him more.
Minseok is humming, puffing his cheeks, considering it. Sehun is minutes away laughing it off, and going for the butter knife again.
“That depends.” Minseok leans back, grinning. “Do you think I’m a hot guy?” It takes a moment for Sehun to understand what Minseok is referring to, and when he does he forgets how to function.
“Yes.” He manages to breath out. It’s good think that he remembers how to breathe. The smile Minseok is giving him is blinding.
Minseok leans forward, placing his hand on Sehun’s thigh. Sehun is blinking at him trying to remember how to human. Minseok chuckles.
“Come closer, I won’t bite.” Minseok is biting his lip, and his eyes are trailing down, getting fixed at somewhere on Sehun’s collar bones. “Yet,” He adds, and that has Sehun leaning down, clumsily clashing his lips onto Minseok’s. Minseok smiles into the kiss, and tilts his head to the side for a better angle. His hand is warm at the back of Sehun’s neck, pulling him closer, and leading him. Sehun likes having it there, he thinks, as Minseok makes him moan into the kiss with that amazing tongue of his.
“Sehun, please stop smiling like that!” Jongin starts shaking Sehun. “Are you in some sort of alcohol coma? What happened to you?” Jongin cups his face, tilting it from side to side, examining it. Sehun just made out with Minseok before the older drove him to his place, and Jongin surely knows how to ruin things. “I’m never leaving you alone again! God! Sehun, talk to me!”
“Let go before I cut your dick and shove it down your throat,” Sehun mutter between closed teeth. Jongin immediately pulls back, hands up in the air.
“Dude, welcome back."Jongin grins. “But seriously, what happened?” Sehun waves him off as he hops onto his bed.
Unanswered call sign has never looked this beautiful before, Sehun thinks as he adds the number as a new contact. Before he got off from the car Minseok asked for his number, and ringed Sehun so he could add him back. Sehun drops his phone to the bed and buries his head onto his pillow, squealing.
4. Date a hot guy. Checked.
"Seriously, you are creeping me out." Sehun feels the mattress sink down as Jongin sits next to him, but doesn't bother getting up.
Jongin is awfully silent while Sehun was expecting him to push more, and ask questions.
"Sehun, what's that?" Jongin asks, sounding amused.
"What?" Sehun mumbles into his pillow.
"I don't know, you tell me. Dye your hair, get wasted, date a hot guy, have sex with that hot guy-" Jongin yelps, dropping the phone to the bed as he gets hit square on the face with the pillow that Sehun threw at him.