taehyung focus
a sleepy taehyung struggles to keep his eyes open as he sits back against the worn bus seat, tilting his head slightly to look out of the windows at the fleeting streetlamps they pass by. on his right is jungkook who's hunched over in his seat, distractedly scribbling away at a piece of folded paper spread on his thigh. taehyung leans over slightly to get a look at what the boy was scrawling so earnestly.
"that's really good." taehyung hums, eying the flower design on jungkook's paper appreciatively. "you draw really well, kook." he murmurs before leaning back in his seat, rubbing his eye tiredly.
"o–oh, thanks." jungkook mutters, slightly embarrassed. he wasn't one to show his drawings; they were usually messy scribbles done on the back of takeout receipts — they were private, special things that jungkook liked to keep for his eyes only. so the fact that taehyung had taken a peek at his tattoo design and liked it, causes jungkook to squirm in his seat a little shyly.
"so where are we going?" taehyung asks, wrapping his arms around himself.
"a tattoo parlour." jungkook replies, recovering from his slight shyness. he refolds the piece of drawn on paper and holds the tiny square in his palm, the four blunt corners digging into his clammy skin.
"a tattoo parlour?" taehyung repeats, surprised. "why're we going to a tattoo parlour?"
"to get a tattoo, duh." jungkook rolls his eyes before adding on in a quieter voice, "im thinking about tattooing this design on my left hand — what d'you think?" he looks over at taehyung, expectantly waiting for his answer.
taehyung gasps, "you're going to have a tattoo of your own artwork on your hand?? that's so cool!" he says, eyes round with awe.
"it's not that cool." jungkook mumbles, feeling shy all over again.
"yes, it is!" taehyung argues back.
"jeez, don't yell in the bus."
taehyung lowers his voice at jungkook's words and murmurs, "yanno, ive had tattoos before."
brows furrowing, jungkook swivels his head round to face at taehyung, "what? you've had tattoos done before?" he asks, astonished.
a wistful taehyung side eyes jungkook, "hm? of course — every kid had them when i was younger. didn't your generation have them? i had an awesome spiderman tattoo on my knee and a batman logo on the back of my hand—" taehyung says rather proudly as he folds his arms over his chest. "— but my nanny made me wash them off immediately."
"kim. . . are you talking about those sticker tatts you get in those marvel candy packs?"
"so you do know what they are! have you seen them in store? do they still sell them or not?" taehyung asks excitedly.
"oh my god, kim." jungkook shakes his head, laughing.
+
after a short bus ride in which taehyung and jungkook argued about whether sticker tatts were actual tattoos or just body stickers (jungkook finally caved in with a sigh and let taehyung claim that sticker tatts were still tattoos, sticker-like or not), they walk away from the bus station they were dropped off at and head down to the street where the tattoo parlour resided at.
even though it's a short five minute walk, it's tiring for sleepy taehyung who just wants to sleep by a radiator and wrap his goosebump littered limbs up in warm fuzzy blanket.
august weather in gwangju should not be as cool as it right now, taehyung thinks bitterly as he stumbles his way after jungkook into the cold darkness.
thankfully, they stop soon at a shop.
pressed between a closed furniture shop and a 7/11, is a small square of a building, painted a gothic black save for the shop title which is painted in a flurry of flame red and bright orange. RED DRAGON TATTS is scribed onto the building's front in the aforementioned colours.
the shop's large windows which should be transparent and clear, are covered side to side, top to bottom, in tattoo designs. papered designs ranging from thick black tribal swirls to intricate flowers coloured in faded red and blue. taehyung stares in awe at the many designs pasted onto the crowded windows, stunned at the wide array.
he doesn't get too long to admire the artwork though, because jungkook pushes through the door, entering the parlour. taehyung follows him in quickly, eager to not lose sight of the younger.
taehyung gasps at the interior of the building when he steps foot inside the tattoo parlour. inside, you have your average booths, loaded wth tattooing equipment and chairs and sanitary items. but that's not what causes taehyung to gasp — it's the shop's decor. it's insanely beautiful in a grungy gothic way; more faded tattoo designs cover the painted black walls, showcasing more art, and there's pretty potted red roses dotting around the place, adding a burst of colour amongst the dark tones. from some corner of the room, a couple of incense stick are lit, burning a sweet scent into the room, a scent that taehyung decides he wholeheartedly loves.
he pads over to one of the walls littered with designs and studies them with wide eyes. taehyung'd always had a penchant for art: he'd revelled in renoir's pieces when he visited an art museum earlier on in the year, finding the artist's pieces majestic and beautifully done, but here, the artwork was different; they were beautiful in a crude, rough way. a way that taehyung comes to adore more than renoir's as he goes through the tattoo designs.
"wow." he breathes, running his mocha coloured eyes over the sketches.
"jung—", he looks over his shoulder, wanting to beckon jungkook over to look at the artwork but stops when he sees jungkook busy talking to the workers of the parlour. he bounds over to jungkook and the couple of guys he was now handing money to.
one of them, a young tattooed man — looking similar to taehyung's age, speaks, "alright, im gonna go transfer this on to thermal paper and be right back. my colleague here'll take you to a seat and get you as comfortable as possible," the man's smiles assuringly, defined cheekbones rising. he turns away whilst studying jungkook's unique design, "yo, this is really good." he says over his shoulder.
embarrassed once again, jungkook mumbles a thanks and follows after the colleague who leads them down an aisle separating two sides of the tattoo parlour. on both sides of the building, chairs you'd typically find in a dentist are placed one after the other. some customers occupy these seats, currently in the process of getting a body part tattooed, and some seats are empty. the colleague leads them to an empty seat, seating jungkook in the main seat and offering taehyung a plastic fold out chair which he takes gratefully.
"ryuu'll be here in a minute with your tattoo and he'll start the process." the colleague explains, "try not to touch any of the machines while you wait." the man says, "only tattooists touch the machine — okay?" jungkook grunts in response and taehyung nods quickly. satisfied with the answers he's received, the man walks away after telling them bye.
taehyung hoists his legs up on to the seat of his plastic chair, sitting cross legged as he fidgets with the long sleeves of his hoodie. he drifts his eyes upward to look at jungkook who shrugs off his leather jacket, revealing the white t-shirt he had on underneath.
"want me to hold it for you?" taehyung asks, motioning with his hand at the leather jacket. jungkook hands over the jacket wordlessly and sets himself to sit in a comfortable position on the leather chair. taehyung takes his jacket and drapes it over his lap, fiddling with the collar as they both wait for 'ryuu' to come.
"first time?" a customer on jungkook's right calls out, capturing both boys' attention. it's a haggard looking thirty-something year old woman lying on her front on a table of some sort, her straggly blond hair spewing over the sides and her blue t-shirt ridden upwards to reveal a pale backside which a tattooist pores over as he draws a dove on to her unblemished skin.
jungkook grudgingly nods in response. the woman smiles, "thought so. don't look so tense — as long as you're good with pain and can breathe normally throughout the process, you'll be find." taehyung smiles at the woman's advice. jungkook, on the other hand, simply turns away to stare ahead of him, looking as tense as ever.
taehyung looks up at him whilst chewing his lower lip with concern, "d'you want me to hold your hand?" he offers, raising a hand.
jungkook rolls his eyes, "im fine, kim. just gimme a second." he breathes out, looking away. taehyung, unconvinced, stays mum.
a couple of seconds later, ryuu walks down the aisle, transfer paper in hand and wearing a small smile on his face. "ready?" he asks. jungkook mutters out a "yeah" and lets ryuu take ahold of his right hand. the young man studies the back of his hand carefully before taking a sanitising wet wipe in his hold and wiping the skin clean.
"right, im gonna apply the transfer on to your skin." he announces, applying a stick of something wax-like all over jungkook's hand and wrist before taking the transfer paper with the design and placing it on to jungkook's hand, smoothing it down.
a few seconds, ryuu pulls the slightly damp paper away from his hand and places it on a side table. taehyung cranes his neck to look at jungkook's hand — blue-purple lines trace jungkook's design on to the skin.
"im not gonna lie; this is gonna hurt like a bitch — it won't be tiny pin pricks driving into your skin, it's gonna be a huge ass needle." ryuu explains, meddling with the machine. he stops for a second and looks over at jungkook, a grin on his face, "still wanna go ahead?" he asks, arranging what looks like ink caps into the machine.
"yeah." jungkook says, staring at the blueish purple lines marring his skin.
ryuu looks away and messes around with the machine for a few seconds, "if you want me to stop at anytime let me know, alright? we can take breathers from time to time if you want." the man says, gathering a sterile pouches he had bought with him and opening them up to reveal glinting needles. taehyung gulps as he watches ryuu take the needles with a gloved hand and place them into the machine, inserting it cleanly.
once the machine is deemed ready, ryuu pulls out a spinny chair and seats himself by jungkook's side. "im going to apply ointment — this'll help the transfer stay on longer without me accidentally rubbing it off and it makes it more comfortable for you."
as ryuu lathers on ointment onto jungkook's skin, taehyung takes this as his chance to study this ryuu. he's a tall, weedy looking guy with tattooed lanky limbs that hang off his body. long dark hair is pulled back into a small messy man bun that sits atop the man's kinda handsome face. kinda handsome if it weren't for the stretched scar littering his cheekbone. ryuu looks up then and cracks a smile, noticing where taehyung was staring at.
"hiking accident." he says simply as he picks up the tattooing equipment, a quill like handheld item with a needle pointing outwards, and looks up, humming, "im gonna outline your design first and then we'll shade and add colour, alright? this is what im going to use. now, you good to go?" ryuu asks, hovering the appliance just over jungkook's hand.
jungkook swallows before jerking his head into a curt nod, allowing ryuu to go ahead.
ryuu places the appliance right against jungkook's skin, starting the process. jungkook sharply inhales at the feeling of the appliance against his skin but stays still and quiet, almost soldier-like. ryuu reminds him to keep breathing as he works, and jungkook lets out a ragged breath, and takes one back in.
now, taehyung who'd been watching silently up until now, breathes in shakily, worried about jungkook's condition. jungkook doesn't exactly look like he's in any immense pain but taehyung knows otherwise — the tattooist had made it clear that pain would be an obvious factor and surely jungkook's feeling it right now. so, worried about jungkook's plight, taehyung places his hand inside jungkook's free one, interlocking their fingers and grasping on tightly in attempt to distract jungkook from the pain. jungkook makes no indication of knowing that taehyung's hand is in his until a second later when he squeezes taehyung's hand, hard. as jungkook watches the process occur and repeatedly squeezes taehyung's hand, taehyung rubs (what he hopes is) soothing patterns on the boy's skin with the pad of his thumb.
it's a painstakingly slow process to outline the whole of jungkook's detailed design — so slow that taehyung's finds himself changing his posture multiple times, his back being incredibly stiff and sore from sitting up straight for so long. in the end after finding no comfortable position allows him both to hold jungkook's hand and sit up nicely, he frustratedly props his free hand onto jungkook's chair and places his cheek in it, propping his face up as he holds jungkook's hand. he stares into the distance with hazed eyes, finding the whole ordeal incredibly boring. it's not long before taehyung's eyes lid and close sleepily, falling into a quiet slumber — the older boy still feeling pretty tired despite his nap earlier on.
jungkook doesn't notice at first that the older's gone to sleep; he only realises when he feels a sudden weight against his left thigh. taking his eyes of the tattoo that was starting to form on his skin, jungkook looks downwards warily to see taehyung's head resting against his upper leg, cheek pressing against his dark jeans. he raises a strained eyebrow at the sight before lazily tugging his leather jacket lying across taehyung's lap and carefully draping it over taehyung's sleeping form. ryuu catches this small action and smiles as he scratches ink into jungkook's skin with the needle, "he your boyfriend?" he asks quietly.
jungkook regards taehyung's sleeping face; his small pink mouth is parted slightly and his dark lashes are lined up perfectly.
jungkook sighs and reaches for the boy's hair, pushing a stray couple strands away from the boy's face before answering the tattooist, "no."
"might be nice though. to have him as boyfriend." jungkook adds on in a thoughtful murmur, wistfully.
"sorry, what was that?" ryuu hums, pulling away from jungkook's hand to clean the needle.
"u–uh, nothing." jungkook mutters, looking away from taehyung's perfect face and cringing at his thoughts.
"okaaaaaay then. anyway, that's the outline done, shall we get started on shading and colouring?"
+
taehyung's lightly shaken awake from his slumber an hour later with someone murmuring his name.
"kim, im done. let's get going." taehyung lifts his head up from whatever surface he was resting against and looks around him blearily. he recognises the tattoo parlour's decor as he rubs his eyes clear.
yawning, he turns at the sound of something rustle and spots jungkook standing by the dentist-y chair he was occupying a minute ago, midway slipping on his black leather jacket. a white bandage is rolled around his hand, protecting the newly done tattoo.
"it's finished?" taehyung asks.
jungkook nods, "just five minutes ago."
"how was it? did you like it? did it hurt a lot then? cause i couldn't tell."
"was nice — came out really good." jungkook replies as he gathers the information sheets ryuu had given on how to care and clean for his tattoo.
"i didn't see the final result." taehyung murmurs, yawning again.
"you can see it tomorrow." jungkook replies with a muffled yawn. "c'mon, it's late." he says, causing taehyung to look around the shop again. all the customers that were here seemed to have left during the period taehyung was asleep, only a few shop workers cleaning up are present now.
"m'so tired.' taehyung groans as he rises to his feet, body clicking and cracking as he walks after jungkook. with a soft whine, he walks out of the shop, jungkook walking close by.
without a word exchanged (both too tired to converse), they make their way up the dark road towards the lit up bus stop whilst shivering at the sudden coolness the night had brung.
a few slow minutes later, they seat themselves on the bus stop's hard plastic chairs and wait for the bus to arrive. as indicated on the bus stop's electronic noticeboard, it's a six minute wait for the bus to pick them up. during those six minutes, taehyung wavers in and out of sleep; his head lolling forward and jerking back in surprise when he's abruptly woken up. jungkook almost laughs at the sight but his hand and arm throbs with pain so he resorts to a smile and the next time taehyung closes his eyes, he cups taehyung's head and guides him to rest his head against his shoulder.
moments later, an empty bus trundles up to their side, opening the doors with a loud hiss that awakens taehyung who squints at his surroundings in a dazed state. they're quiet as they board the bus awaiting them, silently walking to the back where they both slump against their seats, exhausted and cold.
+
a while later, the bus draws up to the bus station directly opposite the borrowed apartment they were lodging at. jungkook presses the button to allow the driver to know that it was their stop before looking over to his side to see taehyung dozing off again, his head leaning against the icy window. eyes lidded, jungkook sighs as he shakes taehyung awake for the second time. his shaking doesn't seem to awaken the boy however, because all taehyung does in response is groan in protest.
aware that the bus had other places to stop at, jungkook weakly hauls taehyung up with one hand and forces him to stumble, half awake, down the bus. they wander off the bus, cross the road after looking left and right (cause they don't want what happened to jin's girl), walk into the apartment building and board the juddering elevator sleepily.
once the elevator reaches their floor and with a ding, opens the two sliding door, both boys drag their tired selves down the hallway to their door, unlocking it and pushing themselves inside.
taehyung immediately makes a bee line for the pull out couch, grabbing the blanket and wrapping it round himself before stilling his body, falling asleep once again.
jungkook should change his clothes and brush his teeth but he's so exhausted from sitting on that chair for so long and the pain inflicted onto his hand that he doesn't bother slipping out of his jacket — he just kicks off his sneakers and flops backwards on to the couch, the bed creaking under his weight as he places his bandaged arm over his eyes, blocking off the city lights flowing into the room through the uncovered balcony windows.