"Oh my gosh, I think I'm going to throw up," Jeno exclaimed to the boys surrounding him, looking at the neon sign that boldly shone 'open'. They all just laughed and patted his back. Mark came up next to him and rubbed his shoulder comfortingly.
"Listen, dude, we'll be at the ice cream parlor around a block from here. We'll stay there until you're done since it's open all night." Mark explained and Jeno glared at him. The rest of them waved as they headed off and Jeno responded with a vulgar gesture.
"How is this parlor still fucking open," Jeno whined to himself, his eyes to the mocking 'open' sign.
Jeno looked back at the parlor from his retreating group of 'so-called' friends. He looked at the warm and inviting shop with the name 'NCITY' printed across the top. Jeno rubbed his hands together completely regretting going to the party. He could have easily turned down the dare but Mark and Jisung had brought up some compelling points. And by compelling points he meant blackmail. What blackmail? Jeno's body shivered at the thought of that video spreading throughout the school and had found himself immediately agreeing to get the tattoo rather than see that video come to light.
Jeno sighed, mustering up the courage to enter the shop and took the first step towards the door. His hand closed around the door and he heard a soft ding sound out as he entered the dreaded parlor. He was immediately met with four pairs of eyes and he shifted nervously under their stares.
"Hello! Welcome to NCITY tattoo parlor!" A bright smile greeted him from behind a desk. "Here to get a tattoo?"
"No, he's here to get a new pair of shoes, yes he's here to get a tattoo Ten." A taller brown-haired male sarcastically remarked earning a hit over the head with papers.
"It's a fucking greeting babe," who Jeno concluded was Ten said, still sweetly smiling. The other two males laughed and the shorter one turned to Jeno with a laid back smile on his face.
"Here to get a mystery tattoo?" He offered and laughed at Jeno's shocked expression. "I just assumed because it's close to 3 am and you look extremely uncomfortable."
Jeno fiddled with his hands before he nodded, "My friends dared me too, blackmail was involved and here I am." He laughed shyly at the end and the shortest nodded his head understandably.
"Well then I'll be taking care of you tonight, My name's Renjun." the tattooist smiled and offered his hand towards Jeno who shook it. Suddenly his words sunk into Jeno's brain and his smile widened.
"Wait you're Renjun like Huang Renjun? From the art department?" Jeno exclaimed and suddenly felt embarrassed at Renjun's shocked expression. Renjun blinked, unresponsive before the pink-haired boy behind him nudged him.
"O-oh uh yeah that's me. Renjun from the art department." He said, a disbelieving but extremely happy grin forming on his face.
"Cool. Sorry, I asked I had just heard your name and art department together. I didn't mean to be rude." Jeno apologized but Renjun waved his hand as if to wave the apology away.
"Don't be sorry! It's perfectly fine." Renjun's addicting smile rested on his face and Jeno started to unconsciously smile. "You can settle payment Ten over there at the front desk." Renjun motioned to Ten who waved happily at Jeno. Jeno just nodded and walked over to pay for his mystery tattoo.
After paying Renjun motioned for Jeno to follow him down the hallway and they headed down. Jeno glanced at the pink-haired guy, finding him somewhat familiar but not really thinking too hard about it.
Renjun brought them to a room and opened the door, motioning for Jeno and the other boy to enter first. When Jeno entered he looked around completely shocked.
"This is a nice room." Jeno plainly said and Renjun laughed as he made his way in behind Jeno.
"Thanks, I painted it myself." Renjun grinned and Jeno stared at him shocked before hitting himself in the head.
"Right, art department," Jeno muttered as he shifted to the table Renjun and the other boy stood by.
"So before we discuss tattoo placement, I wanted to introduce you to our new intern, Na Jaemin." Renjun motioned to the pink-haired boy who stood beside him.
"Hi, I'm Na Jaemin. I'm here to learn and observe and then eventually become a tattooist myself." He laughed lightly, running his hand through his pink locks.
"Hi Jaemin, I'm Jeno." Jeno smiled at the angelic-looking boy. He then blinked shaking himself out of his thoughts about Jaemin and looked back to Renjun who was staring at Jeno as if he was reading his thoughts. Renjun seemed to shake himself out of his own thoughts and motioned for Jeno to have a sit.
Jeno sat tentatively down on the table and started to become anxious as Renjun moved to stand in front of him. Renjun seemed to immediately notice Jeno's spike in nerves and put his hand reassuringly on Jeno's thigh.
"Is this your first tattoo?" Renjun quirked his head to the side as his thumb ran back and forth across Jeno's thigh.
"U-uh y-yes." Jeno stuttered, cursing at himself. He could only focus on Renjun's touch. His hand on Jeno's leg and his thumb running back and forth. Jeno felt his stomach turn over and Renjun's touch sent shivers down his spine. Jeno took a quick inhale as Renjun's hand hit his thigh lightly and Jeno blinked looking into Renjun's amused eyes.
"I asked where you wanted it." Renjun clarified for the confused and dazed boy.
"Oh sorry," Jeno let out a shaky breath, "Um somewhere easily hidden?" He offered, not knowing exactly where he wanted it but definitely not out in the open.
Renjun gave Jeno a wicked grin before responding and Jeno felt his heart rate quicken again.
"Well spots, where you can easily hide tattoos, could be on your hip bone maybe," Renjun said, his hand leaving Jeno's thigh and moving to ghost over Jeno's hip bone, "Or maybe your inner thigh?" Renjun looked back up at the flustered boy as he placed his hand on Jeno's inner thigh.
"W-well Uh," Jeno swallowed thickly, flickering his eyes over to Jaemin who seemed as equally amused as Renjun, "I think my hip bone is fine." Renjun nodded in confirmation.
"Well now that's settled could you please lay down for me and unbutton your pants?"
Jeno felt his face heat up and blinked several times. "W-what?" He stuttered and Renjun laughed at the decomposed boy.
"Your hip bone Jeno, I need to be able to see it and touch it to tattoo it." The boy explained and Jeno gave him an awkward smile.
"Sorry." He lightly laughed and Renjun waved away his apology again before turning to talk to Jaemin. He seemed to be explaining something but Jeno's mind was completely gone.
He laid down on Renjun's table and unbuttoned his jeans, his fingers shaking as he pushed them down and looked down in despair as he realized his underwear covered his hip bones. He sighed dejectedly and laid his head back on the table staring at the ceiling. A long time of period passed and Jeno almost wondered if they had left the room and he was just laying there by himself.
"Hey Jeno," Jaemin's face came into view above him and gave him a reassuring smile, "Renjun just finished designing your tattoo and he's gonna start soon. Now, this'll hurt, especially since this is your first one," Jaemin explained and Jeno suddenly felt sick.
Jaemin seemed to notice and grabbed Jeno's hand, holding it close to his chest. "I'll be here so feel free to squeeze my hand as much as you want okay?" Jaemin smiled softly and Jeno took a deep breath nodding. Jeno flinched as he felt rubber come into contact with his underwear and he glanced down at an apologetic Renjun.
"I'm just going to have to pull these down a little bit to reach your hip bone, okay Jen?" Renjun explained holding up his newly gloved hands and Jeno let out a shaky breath, reddening at the pet name. Jeno felt Renjun pull his underwear down to expose his hip bone and Jeno felt like he was going to pass out his heart was beating so fast and his stomach was doing flip flops.
"Okay, Jen so because it's going onto your hip bone there is an extremely high chance that this is going to hurt. A lot. Especially because this is your first tattoo. So I'm going to use the lowest amount of needles for yours. You'll probably feel either a vibrating pain or a sharp, stinging pain. I'm going to use this numbing product," Renjun lifted it up, "to help and minimize the pain as much as I can. It'll probably feel a bit like bee stings but try not to move away, or else it'll mess up the tattoo." He explained and Jeno nodded his head, acknowledging he heard everything that Renjun said.
Renjun picked up a couple of needles packages and opened them in front of Jeno to show that they were new and sterilized. "Okay ready to get started?" Renjun asked Jeno as he got the rest of his equipment on and in order.
Jeno closed his eyes tightly was nodded his head quickly. He felt a hand brush his hair and looked up into Jaemin's eyes.
"You can do it Nono!" Jaemin said determinedly and punched his fist in the air. Jeno gave Jaemin a tight smile and squeezed his hand tightly.
Then the sound of the tattoo gun filled the air and Renjun started.
The pain that Jeno felt was startling and he gritted his teeth together, scrunching his eyes closed, probably breaking Jaemin's hand. Jeno immediately wanted to move away from the needle but stayed still, not wanting to disappoint Renjun and ruin the tattoo.
The pain was so intense that Jeno wanted to cry. He suddenly felt a hand stroke through his hair repeatedly and felt breath brush against his ear as Jaemin began to whisper encouraging phrases.
"You're doing so well baby, just a little more alright sweetie." Jaemin's sweet voice entered his head and Jeno nodded rigidly, his head shifting towards the boy as if to encourage him to keep talking.
The pain was almost unbearable as time seemed to drag on and as if answering his silent pleas Renjun stopped. "I'm stopping for a minute or two alright Jen?" Jeno almost cried when he realized he would have to go back under the needle.
"You're okay baby," Jaemin whispered, continuing to run his hand through Jeno's hair.
"Alright, Jen I'm starting back up again," Renjun said way too quickly for Jeno's liking. He nodded and grit his teeth, gripping Jaemin's hand in anticipation.
And so Renjun continued.
After another unbearable amount of time had passed the needle stopped and Renjun let out a deep breath. "All done."
Jeno almost started crying in relief at those two words and he heard Jaemin cheer and start to whisper praises into Jeno's ear, making him swell up with pride. He looked up into Jaemin's face which was beaming with pride and Jeno gave a tired smile back. He heard Renjun rustling around in the background but Jeno stayed focus on Jaemin's addicting smile.
"Would you like to see your new tattoo?" Renjun's face came into view next to Jaemin's, giving Jeno a teasing smile. Jeno nodded, dread settling in his chest. Renjun crossed over to his other side and with Jaemin's help they moved Jeno up to see his new tattoo.
"You've got to be kidding me."
"You said I could tattoo anything I wanted."
"I can't believe that's permanent."
Jeno looked at his hip bone, his eye wide at the letter's printed there.
H.rj + N.jm
"A-are those your initials?" Jeno exclaimed incredulously, looking between a smirking Jaemin and a grinning Renjun.
"Huang Renjun and Na Jaemin," Renjun confirmed, admiring his handy work.
"O-oh my gosh." Jeno stuttered, turning a bright red at the fact that these two stunning guys just tattooed their names onto his skin.
"I'm not really gonna lie, our initials looks pretty damn good against your skin," Jaemin remarked at the ink on Jeno's hip.
"I really couldn't help myself Jen, It was too tempting not to mark you as ours." Renjun chuckled as Jeno whipped his head towards him.
"A-as yours?" Jeno stuttered wide-eyed and Renjun just winked at him. Jeno had no idea what the fuck was going on but at the same time he kind of like it.
"Well, it's up to you really." Renjun shrugged and Jeno shook his head in shock.
I'm marked as theirs. What does that even mean? Are they dating? Do they want me to date them? Both of them? Questions swirls around Jeno's head and the two artists sensed his overwhelming distress.
"Listen baby, you don't have to answer or respond right now." Jaemin rubbed circles onto his back reassuringly.
"But I don't even know you guys!" Jeno managed to exclaim and the two laughed.
"That's your first protest? Not, 'But there's three of us?'" Renjun laughed and Jeno's face turned red for the nth time that night or, technically, early morning.
"W-well" Jeno started to protest but Renjun grabbed his arm softly making him stop.
"I'm going to start some aftercare and I'll explain what you have to do in order to keep your new tattoo in tip-top shape," Renjun said and Jeno just nodded again, completely dazed.
"This is petroleum jelly, I'm just going to apply a thin layer before I cover it with a bandage," Renjun explained before he started.
"Give me your phone," Jaemin said, drawing Jeno's attention back to the pink-haired boy.
"Huh?"
"I want to put our numbers in it silly." Jaemin smiled and Jeno just blinked before handing his phone over.
"Password?"
"I'm not telling you!" Jeno protested before taking his phone back, putting in his password away from Jaemin's prying eyes and handed it back.
Jaemin typed away, smiled, then looked up at Renjun. "Do you care what I put in as your contact name?" Renjun gave him a quick shake, busy placing the bandage over Jeno's new tattoo.
Jaemin smiled evilly and typed some more before handing the device back to Jeno.
Jeno glanced down at the two contacts one reading "Nana" and the other reading "Moomin Obsessed." He looked back up at Jaemin who was nodding and smiling at him, waiting for Jeno to say something about his contact names.
"You're Nana?" Jeno offered and Jaemin's eyes glinted.
"Of course! I'm definitely not Moomin obsessed."
A sound of protest came from the end of the table and the two looked to see Renjun looking at the two of them, betrayal evident on his face. "I told you I'm not obsessed!" He protested but Jaemin shook his head before leaning in toward Jeno.
"He definitely is."
"It was a slip of the tongue! Oo I regret meeting you Na Jaemin." Renjun threatened and Jaemin rolled his eyes.
Jeno looked between the two and started laughing. Hard.
When he finally stopped Jaemin and Renjun were looking at him with concern.
"What?"
Jaemin looking accusingly at Renjun, "Did you drug him or something?"
"With what?" Renjun exclaimed and scoffed, "Petroleum jelly?"
"You guys are too hysterical," Jeno huffed and smiled at the two, "I feel like we've known each other for more than a couple hours." It seemed like such a cliché statement but in Jeno's case he felt it accurately described his situation.
Jaemin and Renjun smiled widely at him, nodding their heads in agreement.
"Well, our initials are tattooed on your skin. Forever." Jaemin said pointedly.
The three boys dissolved into hysterics.
____________________________________
Long chapter over! I had way too much fun writing this.
And so the plot thickens. What will happen next?
The suspense!
Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter as much as I did.
Love you all so much! Stay safe and healthy.
Until next time :)