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Hyunjin has had tattoos for most of his life at this point. His first was when he was 16 – a black outline of the sun in the dip between his thumb and forefinger. It was easy to cover, but still something that Hyunjin was constantly aware of. It was his own little secret for awhile since his manager told him he wasn't allowed to get any tattoos until he turned 21 and had a stable modeling career. Hyunjin's parents, on the other hand, disagreed, and appreciated the sentiment behind the small sun inked into his skin: a tribute to his late grandfather, his tan skin, and the countless hours he spent outside simply enjoying the world in its most pure form. Nature was what he cherished most, and Hyunjin felt that he took a bit of the sunshine with him when he passed. His manager was a bit more forgiving after hearing the heartfelt meaning of the tattoo, but still discouraged Hyunjin from getting more.
Hyunjin was 16, and being told "no" only further motivated him to do exactly what everyone told him not to do. His parents told his manager this, explained that if Hyunjin didn't have the tattoos done at an actual shop, then he would have them done by "some sketchy dudes in an alley." He would've never done that, but a risk to his health and safety was all it took to convince his manager that foundation and concealer were his new best friends.
Hyunjin's second tattoo came later that same year when his family moved to a different neighborhood. For as long as Hyunjin could remember, his family lived in the countryside, always surrounded by growing trees, clean air, and areas largely untouched by modern society's dirty hands. During May of that year, not long after Hyunjin turned 17, his father accepted a job in a small town near Seattle and uprooted the family to move closer. Hyunjin didn't really mind the change; his "friends" at school all saw him as only a pretty face, and barely knew him as a person. He didn't have any family left in the little village he'd been raised, and he was getting older, growing tired of seeing such a tiny fraction of the world every waking moment. The change was welcome, really.
Hyunjin only truly missed one thing: the trees. Even though the city was less than two hours away from his hometown, the foliage disappeared at the city limits. Hyunjin only saw trees when he crossed into the neighboring county, which was rare being that the city had everything they needed. Thus, came the tree on the back of his right arm, just above his elbow. It wasn't a huge tattoo, but it was big enough to be intricately detailed, and Hyunjin adored it. It was a simple black outline of a withered maple, thin at the trunk, with branches reaching up towards his shoulder. There was one single blue bird perched on the branch closest to the ground. Hyunjin liked to think of the bird as himself, looking into the distance, searching for people who yearned for the places they'd never been. Maybe the bird was keeping watch – of him or the tree, he wasn't sure. Maybe it was just stopping by to rest for a bit, or contemplating whether or not it should make its home on that very branch. Hyunjin never really specified the meaning of the bird to his parents or his manager because he didn't want it to mean just one thing. The bird was him, everyone else, and anything he wanted it to be. The bird was nothing. The bird was something. The bird was everything, and so it would stay.
Tattoos number three, four, and five came in rapid succession of each other during Hyunjin's last two years of high school. He used his tattoos to mark recent milestones in his life, and to remember things important or valuable to him. Number three was a thin black outline of two hands clasped together on his ribcage to remind him that he had people who would always be there for him: his best friends Felix and Seungmin, and his parents, whom he loved more than anything in the world. Someone would always be cheering him on, of that he was certain.
Tattoo number four was a bit of a spur-of-the-moment thing. It was two weeks after he'd gotten his third tattoo, and Felix wanted one of his own. Tattoos were becoming somewhat of an addiction for Hyunjin, and he knew that if he accompanied Felix into the shop, he would walk out with fresh ink on his skin. Of course, he did. It was a simple black band around his left ring finger, the same finger he would put a ring on if he ever chose to get married. Hyunjin had always admired his parent's relationship, but never wanted the same thing for himself. That isn't to say that he never wanted to fall in love, he just didn't see himself getting married anytime soon. For the time being, he belonged to himself, and when a part of him belonged to someone else in the future, he would cover the band with a wedding ring. Eventually.
Hyunjin's fifth tattoo was more of a decoration than anything. It was also the one his manager disliked the most because it was so difficult to cover, but Hyunjin kind of got a kick out of seeing how red his manager's face turned seeing it everyday. The tattoo was simple, clean, just like the others. It was a thin vine that wrapped around Hyunjin's wrist and up the side of his pinky with small, round leaves placed sporadically on each side. It looked like a bangle if you were unable to see the ink curling up his hand, and Hyunjin absolutely loved the artistry of it. The placement of his tattoos was just as important to him as the tattoos themselves, and this one was special for that reason. It fit his body like it belonged there, like his skin had never been without it. The vine became a part of him, just as his other tattoos had. Just as sure as the sun would rise in the morning, this tattoo was meant to be inked into Hyunjin's skin.
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You Can't Cover Up My Heart
Fanfiction- Hyunjin wraps himself in everything that is Jisung and it's seamless. So much like the vine that snakes around Hyunjin's wrist that Jisung avoids covering, the faded maple tree that crawls over the firm skin of his bicep, the setting sun in the di...
