#changjo

Pairing: Tatttoo Artist Choi JongHyun x Reader Park JangMi. Genre: Romance Warnings: Mentions of sexual states, making out, little suggestive, mentions of jealousy Boy Band: Teen Top, Changjo (Choi JongHyun) Summary: When those around him viewed JongHyun as someone who inflicts pain by inserting needles and ink into someone's body, staining them with sin, making them ugly, for JangMi the art of drawing and tattooing had been and continues to be an indecipherable work. However, that didn't stop her from taking art classes just to be close to JongHyun.

★⌒ヽ(●’､＾●) <3 ★⌒ヽ(●’､＾●)

“ Tattoo me a rose!”

JangMi tells Jonghyun unexpectedly, without a trace of hesitation or stuttering in her voice, looking him straight in the brown eyes, sending shivers through his entire body, as if he had just been electrocuted by the power of her words. JongHyun knows this determination all too well, what he doesn’t understand is where JangMi boldness comes from.

At this moment, JongHyun doesn’t know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing, or a joke, and he doesn’t even know if this fact brings anything good or not.

In his opinion, being bold is fine, but knowing when and under what circumstances to use that boldness is something else entirely, something JangMi never mastered well enough to use as a privilege. Because sometimes, being bold is a privilege, not a rudeness! 

On the contrary, she's just showing him a blatant disrespect!

But, on the other hand, it takes skill and practice to know where, with whom, and especially when to use them. However, this time, in his opinion, she went way too far with her joke, and this has to end now.

“ A bad joke!”JongHyun thinks to himself before meticulously analyzing his best friend's face and the reason why she made such a sudden and irrational decision. But when has she ever been moderate in her actions?! NEVER! When has she thought first and then acted? NEVER!

JongHyun carefully scans her body again, looking for any sign that might indicate anxiety, agitation, or fear, despite her determined appearance, but unfortunately he finds nothing that indicates the agitation and audacity with which she burst into his tattoo studio.

“ Her hands aren't even shaking.” He realizes with stupor, as her large purple eyes stare at him without blinking, as if what he's just asked her to do is something normal for both her and him. Instead, she flashes him a smile at the end of her statement, raising her eyebrows in a gesture of instigation, ignoring his best friend's disapproving gaze.

“ Since when has she been wearing these kinds of lenses?” 

Without moving, JangMi speaks in a firm voice as soon as she sees no reaction from him, emphasizing her words loud and clear for the second time, making sure that this time he actually hears her. “ Tattoo me a rose!”

Abandoning his work for a moment, JongHyun turns to face JangMi, looking at her very confused, but also slightly irritated at the same time by her sudden outburst - which seems more insistent than a polite request, as it should normally be - and by her sudden and unannounced appearance in his tattoo studio, because, firstly, he doesn't like to be disturbed when he's working, and secondly, he initially thought he hadn't heard correctly and that she was just playing a bad joke on him. But if he ignores those two aspects he had initially thought about, her behavior now simply leaves him speechless, not knowing how to respond to her rude demand - because that's what it is: an exaggerated and rude demand - and he's not sure what kind of reaction he should have at this moment, or at least if he should have one, as she flutters her long, dark eyelashes at him.

JangMi’s determination seems real, unwavering, but also impulsive and imposing. He takes a deep breath, trying to keep his nerves under control before unleashing his evil side, which, by the way, has never been a good thing. Not that that would scare her in any way, but he still has the right to go against her stupid wish.

“ What are you waiting for?!”

Before Jonghyun can give her a positive or negative answer to her unreasonable demand - which, by the way, he considers inappropriate for such a delicate and refined girl as her - he must find out the real reason behind her unusual demand. Because a demand like this seems more like a whim, a lack of attention on his part towards her, and he hopes it will pass quickly before it is too late. Before he, or she, or both of them regret it!

Jonghyun rests his elbows on the desk, interlacing his fingers, looking at her seriously and assessing the level of her madness in his head as he tries to remain calm. “ Why Jang Mi?” 

After a long and oppressive silence in which she was confronted more with his angry gaze than with his words, the only word he finally decided to utter was actually a question. “ A damn question!” JangMi's indignation begins to grow in her when her best friend tries to interrogate her as if she is some criminal. However, she chooses to remain calm and balanced for now, without taking a step back or fearing him. So, instead of responding with a satisfying answer, her interrogative response will soon appear, with a tone slightly surprised by his question. “ Why what?!”

Hearing JanMi's answer in the form of a question confuses Jonghyun even more, raising even more curiosity and questions on his part. As he expected, his best friend's choice is firm, without hesitation or stuttering, which is surprising, considering that lately she had been stuttering a lot whenever she was in his presence. He found this habit of hers, which had been around for some time, very strange.

But, as a good friend that he is, JongHyun hardly tries to ignore her habit that now seems to have miraculously disappeared. However, he can't risk anything right now, because if remorse starts to creep in later, not only will he feel guilty for not doing everything he could to change her mind, but he'll also feel sorry for the pain he's going to cause her with the tattoo needle. A physical pain he doesn't want her to ever feel on her smooth, beautiful skin.

Sighing, the young tattoo artist gets up from his chair and approaches her slowly, with small steps, while he stares at her with his piercing brown eyes, which leave room for many interpretations, but he has never failed to truly see her. Even after all these years together, she still has no idea how to read him, and he often wishes her to stop being so obtuse when it comes to him.

On the other hand, JangMi looks at him coldly, to show him that whatever excuse he throws at her will not intimidate her, will not make her change her mind at all, and, moreover, the decision she made a long time ago will not be influenced in any way by his words. She knows that it will take a lot of time and effort to make him fulfill her insistent demand - neither a wish nor a request -  but she is confident that she will win in the end, because she always wins!

“ Why do you want a rose tattooed on your skin so much?” JongHyun asks her again very calmly, curious to see who will give in first, although he cannot allow himself to be defeated until he fights her stubbornness, until he makes her change her mind, understand that her beautiful and smooth skin does not need to be stained with permanent or temporary ink, and she does not need such marks to be attractive. She just needs to remain as she is: beautiful, pure, untouched in any way. 

He picks up his pencil and turns to finish the sketch of the drawing, focusing instead on what is truly much more important.

“ Why do you keep asking me the same question?” A slight frown creases her forehead as his eyes stare straight into her soul, stripping away every protective layer she's put up like a shield to try to intimidate her. And she'll be damned if she lets him!

Even with her stutters, she tries her best to keep it under control in his presence. But if she continues to be hard-pressed to be convinced by this appearance of him so sexy and attractive in his black tank top, revealing his gym-trained body, with those perfectly contoured pink lips, with his short bangs, she might completely lose herself.

“ Are you going to do it or not?” Question after question, without any concrete answer. Words after words, without any concrete motivation. That's all his best friend offers him, and if she thinks that her impulsiveness, stubbornness, and demandingness, which looks more like an order, will change his mind or impress him in any way, she's damn wrong.

“ You suddenly have a lot of courage. I wonder where it came from?!” JongHyun replies rhetorically after about a minute or so of reflecting on how he should react to her stubbornness, which shocks him more than it should surprise him in a positive way.

Putting down the pen he was holding to draw a pattern for one of his regular clients, Jonghyun frowns and focuses all his attention on his best friend who burst into his tattoo studio, completely devoid of any trace of clients. Narrowing his eyes and crossing his arms over his muscular chest, the tattoo artist continues to watch her in silence, trying to figure out if she is looking for attention - especially his - or if she has really gone crazy?! - which is hard to believe. Maybe she is bored?! Or maybe it is one of her tantrums because he hasn't paid attention to her for a while?!

“ Damn!” It seems that the expression of irritation on his face does not bother or affect her at all, and she simply stands there, facing him, as if she had done nothing wrong. Without taking into account in the slightest his opinion on this momentary problem - she still did not know if it could be called a problem, let alone a momentary one - of hers, and dared to rush into his tattoo studio without calling him first. 

Always the good or bad news should be given face to face and not through a phone call or text, but she's crossed the line of common sense. However, dropping news like that as if it were a normal thing to do on a very hot summer day, almost trivial in her opinion, is a dilemma that he is not at all happy with it.

It's not that JongHyun doesn't like having her around, especially when he's drawing, but the fact that he has her here, in front of him, with one bare shoulder smelling of lavender, wearing a yellow summer mini dress with yellow heels, full lips, big purple eyes, full of makeup, making her look like a doll... well, her appearance and behavior right now are definitely not suitable for a delicate and elegant girl like her. She looks more like a woman who's out to pick up men. And suddenly he feels slightly aroused seeing her like this, and one thing's for sure: he's not going to play the hypocrisy card by pretending he's not affected by her in any way.

“ It's definitely not doing me any good right now!” The young tattoo artist thinks, not yet ready to openly and loudly admit that he's been attracted to her for some time. It's just that, the moment he realized he was in love with her, he decided it was better to be a coward than to jeopardize his friendship with her by behaving recklessly and impulsively, like she's doing now.

Being her best friend since freshman year of high school definitely brought him more disadvantages than advantages, but he never said anything to her because he really enjoyed being around her, trying to keep up with her impulsive personality. From day one he noticed that she was both fun and tiring, but he didn't dislike her. He just kept it all to himself!

At first, JongHyun found it difficult to read JangMi's thoughts or even guess her next moves, so many times she surprised him with her unusual ideas, scaring and surprising him in a way that he could not explain at all at the time. She was - and still is - both unpredictable and impulsive, so that whatever mistake she made, she never denied it.

Looking at JangMi closely, JongHyun realizes that the current situation was different, but Jang Mi remains the same: the girl with an extraordinarily stubborn but strong personality, who always does what she wants and says what she thinks without fear of consequences. It's just that, over time, he has learned to read her better, despite her unpredictability.

Although, on the other hand, he can't afford to be careless or impulsive! At least not when it comes to her, the girl he cares about so much. So he keeps wondering what made her make such a radical decision so suddenly?! And he needs to figure it out quickly for the safety of his mind and his hormones!

“ I've always admired her for her way of being, but not today!” The visible frown on his forehead had not yet disappeared as he continued to stare at her, expecting at any second a new outburst from her. 

“ Tattoo me a rose...” JangMi exposes even more of her right shoulder in front of him without moving an inch from where she is or glancing at him, pointing with her index finger to the spot where she wants him to tattoo her with his magical tools. 

Ever since she learned about his ability to imprint any kind of design on someone's skin, the girl has secretly wanted him to leave his mark on her, making her feel that she belongs only to him, in a unique and special way.

She discovered that JongHyun's gift - as she calls it, because, after all, that's what it is - is impossible to surpass or copy because of her clumsiness and ignorance and those skillful hands of his, which saved her drawing in art class. She never told him about her little secret of being part of the art class, and he never asked her anything, and silently, always helped her. He could reproduce anything! And so, in her heart, little by little, she began to shyly sprout a deep affection for the silent and reserved boy.

The boy whose touch she so desperately wants to feel on her skin, burning her, turning her on even more than she already is. She feels her heartbeat increasing with every second she spends in his presence, her lips burning with anticipation to be kissed passionately while wondering at the same time how it would feel on her lips.

As his soul began to speak to her through the art he created with his skillful hands, transforming a banal sketch into mastery, she was seduced by the way he saw the world, by the way the colors danced on his easel as if caressing it, afraid to hurt it with his brush. And then, in that moment, all she wanted was to become his most precious easel.

The feeling she had had since the day she had first seen him painting in art class was getting stronger and stronger, butterflies fluttering in her stomach as if they were dueling there, while she tried to keep her calm. The euphoric emotion every time she saw him or when she spoke to him, or the simple thought that flew towards him made her see everything bright, colorful and she felt like the world was at her feet at any moment. And when she was away from him, his absence saddened her, feeling an increasingly oppressive state, and she couldn't wait to see him. She had the impression that time was passing so slowly that she thought it was against her. She wanted to share everything with him, she longed for his touch, she dreamed every moment of how his embrace would feel, while he was her first thought at the end and beginning of every day. 

That's why, every day, JongHyun is her motivation to become the best she can be, to live up to his standards, to be the right person just for him. And only God knows how much she adores him and misses him in a way that no one would ever understand. Moreover, there are times when she is not sure that he would understand everything she feels and how much she misses him, even when he is with her.

But what's the point of all these feelings and emotions of hers if he continues to ignore her as a woman?! When all she wants is for him to  really see her.

At one point, she even became jealous of his clients because they had the honor of feeling his strong but gentle touch - because JongHyun would always be the only one he entrusted with this difficult task - of his attention to his clients, his care for them and his art. 

“ If only he knew..” JangMi adds silently, her little confession. Not that he probably doesn't know about her feelings, but he just prefers to pretend he doesn't know, and she plays along with him.

The gentleness she sees in him, the patience with which he always puts up with her, the warmth with which he always smiles at her, the way he spoils her through modest, small, but resonant actions, penetrate deeper and deeper under her skin and into her heart, just like a tattoo, like a scar that she doesn't want to get rid of.

His works of art that she might as well classify as masterpieces - she could fill the walls of his house with them so that she could gaze at them in peace for as long as her heart desires, maybe even dance among them while they look at her with endless adoringly - and not just simple tattoos or paintings, as he sees them, should have taken him to the highest heights of glory, to be worshipped like a god on a golden pedestal.

 “ He should be my god instead!” If only JongHyun had the courage to overcome the fears and constraints that always prevent him from doing everything he wants and feels, maybe he wouldn't be so tormented by his inner feelings. But to him, Jang Mi seems to be just a simple friend and that's it!

“… right here, on my shoulder!” JangMi's long, pale fingers draw circles around the exposed skin, drawing her bets friend's attention to the chosen spot, making him worry and fear at the same time, but feel something he shouldn't feel as his gaze is fixed on that particular spot. He imagines touching her exposed shoulder, kissing it lightly and running his fingers over her shoulder blades, making her shiver. He would have loved to see her breathing quicken under his touch, the heat spreading across her skin, how she exposes her neck to let it fall prey to his hot mouth.

JangMi stands still, her eyes fixed on him, teasing him, provoking him. His fingertips burn him, the fire he thought was extinguished actually smolders, and his mouth goes dry. And all he needs is her!

While she kept putting images in his head that she shouldn't, giving him an infinity of ideas and places how he could love her more and better, fulfilling all her deepest desires, satisfying her needs in ways she couldn't even imagine, he was trying hard to remain a true gentleman for such a delicate woman.

JongHyun can already imagine, with his eyes wide open, her smooth skin, smelling of lavender, her hot mouth waiting to be kissed, to be ravaged, her hair with the scent of oranges, the sun casting its rays playfully on her body covered only by the sheet through which he can see her voluptuous forms pressed against his muscular body, sleeping peacefully. His own heaven!

But heaven will not help him get what he wants if he continues to be a coward who is content with only crumbs and illusions. Although he is perfectly aware of this, their friendship still comes first!

“ Fuck!” JongHyun almost reveals his indecent thoughts about her, trying to resist her temptations. So he turns his back on her, puts his palms on the desk for support, and takes a few deep breaths before facing her again.

But it's so hard to do it when she's looking at him smiling in a way she shouldn't: provocative and innocent at the same time, just to force herself out of this whole situation.

 And God knows how hard it is for him to bear all this. The pain of not having her, her absence, the sexual desire, the inner fire that burns within him, making him want her more and more, drives him crazy. The need to touch her and possess her, to tame her, to taste her... Oh, God, it drives him crazy and she has no idea how affected she is each time! She has no idea the effect she has on him!

“ How should I interpret this impulse of hers, that strange vibration coming from her, in a way that she doesn't think I'm offending her?!” He is so affected by her that everything he does, everything he thinks, is only for her good. Because today, he wouldn't be here if it weren't for her!

CONCEPT PHOTO I ALBUM RELEASE 2025.08.21 6PM (KST)

t.changjo being able to meet my childhood idols still feels surreal, even after 16 years