a peaceful week flew by for jungkook — a week without catching a glimpse of kim taehyung anywhere, not even on the news.

jungkook's eyes scrutinized the design on the open sketchbook placed on his lap. "do you think this looks way overdone?" he questioned, lifting the sketchbook up so that he could show his friend, namjoon, who was busy putting up some new tattoo designs in the display case near the counter.

namjoon turned around and tapped his chin in thought. "i think it looks fine. well, everything you come up with always looks great, jungkook," he claimed with a grin, folding his arms across his chest.

jungkook shook his head with a light chuckle and tore out the page with his finished design, getting up and handing it over to namjoon so that he could put it in the display case as well.

kim namjoon, also known as RM by regular customers of the parlor, is seokjin's boyfriend of 2 years and is the co-owner of the cypher tattoo parlor, alongside jungkook himself. in spite of his somewhat harmless appearance (like those cute dimples), he seemed to cause destruction wherever he went.

fun fact, jungkook was the one who introduced namjoon to seokjin a while back and boy did he feel accomplished as hell when he found out they ended up together.

"i'm going down to jin's cafe to grab a bite. he said it's on the house for me," namjoon then announced, stepping back from the display case and peering at the younger tattooist sitting on the side. "you want anything?"

"nope, but thank you," jungkook replied. "i'm not hungry yet. you can take your time though, i'll be fine looking after the place myself."

"alright. thanks, buddy," said namjoon, throwing his bomber jacket and sunglasses on before stepping out the door with a small wave.

right after namjoon left, jungkook leaned back on the couch with a loud sigh, fingers playing with the spine of his sketchbook absentmindedly.

"i should probably get someone to fix that," jungkook mumbled to no one in particular, scrunching his nose at the cheap wallpaper that was gradually peeling away from the walls and ceiling.

another sigh slipped out from between his thin lips.

then the bell on the door suddenly chimed, announcing the presence of a new customer, followed by an all-too-familiar velvety deep voice that managed to wrack jungkook's mentality to the core.

"good afternoon, jeon jungkook."

"mr. kim," jungkook muttered through gritted teeth, not bothering to tear his attention away from the wall. "what brings you here to my parlor? i thought you detested tattoos, no? don't tell me you're going to ask me to give you a fucking tattoo."

"how professional of you, jeon. but no, don't worry, i didn't come here because i wanted a tattoo," taehyung retorted with a grimace, causing jungkook's head to quickly snap towards him in slight perplexity.

that was when jungkook noticed the good-looking brunet timidly standing next to taehyung, clad in an expensive dark suit and locks delicately falling over his forehead.

"this is my co-worker and best friend, yugyeom," taehyung introduced with a bored expression which heavily contrasted with the shy beam stretched out on his friend's face. "he told me he wants a tattoo and you were oddly the first person i could think of, so here you go," he explained, gently pushing yugyeom towards jungkook.

"uh, hey, you're jungkook-ssi, right? i've heard a lot about you from taehyung," yugyeom started with an anxious giggle. "i hope that my suit won't get in your way or anything. i just got too excited about getting a tattoo."

he's kind of cute, jungkook realized. 

"it's nice to meet you, yugyeom-ssi," the black-haired male returned with a small smile, trying to ignore the fact that taehyung talked about him to yugyeom. "you don't need to be so nervous around me. i might appear intimidating but i'm literally the opposite, trust me. oh, and don't worry about the suit — i've had customers dressed in more bizarre shit."

"well, there you go. have fun, yuggie," taehyung exclaimed in a high-pitched sing-song voice,  swiftly exiting the shop and not forgetting to slam the door shut behind him as he did so.

bitch, jungkook cursed in his mind.

"wait, does he call you yuggie?" he later asked with his eyebrows shot up, an amused look crossing his features.

"yeah, he's been doing that ever since i started working for him a few years ago," yugyeom responded with a shrug, raking his gaze over the neverending tattoo designs on display. "to be fair, i call him taehyungie too but he hates it."

"that's really cute, like you," jungkook shamelessly commented, smirking at the blush that instantly bloomed across the other's cheeks. "now, what kind of tattoo do you want to get?"

maybe kim taehyung's actually not that bad for helping me score a possible date from this.