#pom writes

You were never one to be fond of the idea of getting a tattoo. It most probably stemmed from the fear of needles that you've had since you were a child and never quite grew out of. The mere thought of your skin being pierced and inked was enough to send a chill down your spine, which was why you vowed to yourself to never so much as step foot into a tattoo parlor.

Your girlfriend, on the other hand, loved getting tattoos. Her skin was like a canvas, and the tattoos she had gotten over the past couple of years were the works of art. You weren't surprised, Chaeyoung herself was nothing short of an artist, after all—if you handed her a pen and a piece of paper, she'd be able to conjure up a masterpiece out of thin air. Although you were still very much against getting a tattoo yourself, you've learned to love each and every one of the tattoos adorning her skin just as much as you loved the person herself.

Chaeyoung told you her intentions to get a couple more new tattoos shortly before TWICE began filming for the music video of their then newest title track, More & More, for the mini album of the same name. She was over at your place for a visit and the two of you were lazing on your couch together, television turned on and your eyes on the screen but neither of you really focusing on the program playing. You had an arm around her shoulders while she rested her head in the crook of your neck, the room pretty dark save for the light flashing from the TV screen and some sunlight that filtered in through your drawn-in curtains. "I've already looked up some designs I like," she had said. "I'll only pick one or two to get tattooed."

You didn't think much of it at first, the only thing that crossed your mind was "Ah, my girlfriend is getting another tattoo, cool." However, that was until you made an off-handed comment, with your eyes still glued on the TV. "You really like getting tattoos, huh? You have so many already, but you still want to get more."

Upon hearing your words, Chaeyoung suddenly became aware that you were subconsciously rubbing her upper arm gently, your fingers brushing right over the cherry tomatoes tattoo she had there. She didn't say anything at first, your living room back to being quiet other than the voices of the actors coming from the TV speaker. "Yeah, I really do," she suddenly answered you after you thought that the topic had been dropped. "I hope you don't have a problem with that."

Although she had muttered the last part under her breath, you were able to hear it clearly. You turned away from the TV to look at her, with a tiny crease between your eyebrows that were furrowed in confusion. "What do you mean? Why would I have a problem with it?" you asked her softly.

Chaeyoung met your eyes and sighed. "Not everyone is a fan of girls with tattoos, you know?" she said, her gaze dropping from you to her lap. "So as the person I'm dating, I hope you're not one of those people. Those people who hold prejudice against tattoos or something like that."

Throughout the duration you had known Chaeyoung, you had always viewed her as someone who's free-spirited and jaunty, who doesn't let what other, insignificant people think of her get to her head, as long as she's able to do what she wants to do and be who she wants to be. So seeing her suddenly be so self-conscious about her tattoos, about something she'd usually feel so natural about, caught you by surprise. You realized that, perhaps, as her significant other, your opinion of her meant more to her than that of others did, and you immediately regretted letting your guard down and making such a careless remark.

"Hey," you called out softly, reaching for one of her hands to hold it in yours. "I do not and will never have any kind of problems with your tattoos. I know you love them, and that's completely okay," you assured her, offering her a gentle smile when she looked up at you. Her eyes searched your face for a moment, before she started chuckling.

"Thank you, y/n. Wow, that conversation got so serious all of a sudden. I feel a little embarrassed now, let's talk about something else."

You obliged with a nod, letting Chaeyoung shift the conversation to a different topic as you didn't want her to feel awkward or uncomfortable. Though you did make a mental note to remind her more frequently that you loved her, every single part of her.

On the day of her appointment at her regular tattoo parlor, you gave her a call. "Hey, y/n," she greeted you when she answered her phone. "What's up? I was just about to head to the tattoo place."

"Yeah, that's what I called you for," you said on your end of the call, feeling a little nervous but refusing to turn back on your decision. "Would it be okay if I tagged along with you?"

Your question was met with a moment of silence as Chaeyoung fully took in what you were asking her. "You want to come with me...to a tattoo parlor?" she asked for confirmation, and you nodded, although you were well aware that she wasn't able to see you. "Yes," you verbally answered. "I wanna accompany you as you get your new tattoos."

Knowing you, Chaeyoung surely hadn't expected you to willingly want to watch her get tattooed, in fact it came as a pretty big surprise to her, but if that was what you truly wanted then she had no reason to refuse. She texted you the address of the tattoo parlor and you met up with her there roughly half an hour later, swallowing down your nerves and telling yourself that you were doing it for you girlfriend all throughout your journey.

As the two of you entered the establishment, Chaeyoung noticed your shifty eyes looking all around the tattoo studio, and saw that you seemed more unsure of your decision to come by the passing second. "If you're having any regrets, you can leave at any time," she told you.

Despite the slight uneasiness you were feeling, you quickly shook your head. "It's okay, Chaengie. Like I said, I'm gonna be here for you."

"But why? y/n, you and I both know you're scared of needles, including tattoo needles."

"Because I know how much you love your tattoos. And I love you, so I wanna give you my support."

Your response was enough to put a wide smile on Chaeyoung's face, and seeing her smile was enough to make you smile too, in spite of your jitters. Chaeyoung's hand found yours and held it tightly as she led you deeper into the tattoo parlor. "Thank you," you heard her whisper. "I love you too."

The tattoo parlor was brighter than you had imagined it to be, but frankly that was because you had pictured the place to resemble a dark, soul-sucking torture chamber. Although the sufficient lighting managed to calm your nerves down a bit, the many scary-looking tattoo designs—skulls, snakes, demonic faces—hung up on the walls as decorations weren't helping. As you sat next to Chaeyoung at one of the tattooing stations, you did your best to not look at anything that, to you, were frightening, especially the tattoo machines.

You stayed quiet and only watched as Chaeyoung showed the tattoo artist the designs that she had chosen and told him where she wanted the tattoos to be. Your body tensed up and your breath hitched in your throat when the man took out a tattoo machine and started preparing to tattoo your girlfriend. Chaeyoung, noticing that you were as stiff as a board, gave you a reassuring smile. As much as you appreciated the gesture, you weren't able to smile back.

When the man finally started, you immediately diverted your eyes from your girlfriend to stare down at the floor. However, that did little to nothing to block out the whirring sound of the machine as it did its job. You gripped Chaeyoung's hand, the side that wasn't being tattooed, claiming that you were comforting her, though she had a feeling that it was the other way around instead.

"You're acting like you're the one getting a tattoo," she couldn't help but tease you.

When he was done with her tattoos after what felt like an eternity to you, you let out a heavy sigh of relief. You were finally able to turn back to Chaeyoung as she showed you her two new tattoos, one of a plant on her upper right arm and another of a butterfly by her right wrist.

"Woah, they look great," you complimented, genuinely impressed by the artist's handiwork. "I can't believe I made it through that, I guess watching people get tattooed isn't so bad after all."

Chaeyoung raised an eyebrow at you, amusement evident in her smile. "It isn't, but saying you watched me get tattooed is a bit of a stretch," she opined, and you pouted. "I was still here nonetheless," you argued.

"Alright, alright. Fair enough." Your girlfriend chuckled. "Then maybe next time you can take it a step further and get a tattoo yourself."

You playfully scrunched up your nose at her words and were about to oppose, until she continued. "Maybe we can even get matching ones!" she proposed, her eyes bright with excitement over the idea. Your expression softened in an instant, a wide smile making its way onto your face. Whenever she looked at you like that, with such innocent joy, it was near impossible for you to ever say no.

"Well, maybe one day," you told her, as you helped her up from her seat.

"Maybe one day, we can get tattoos together."

. . .

Scene 1, in front of a bookshelf and behind a large table. A young Seven was sitting quietly by herself, relaxed, and fumbling through pages of a large book. The book was heavy and pristine, with intricate gold linings: a luxuriously illustrated copy of the Grimm’s Fairy Tales. She picked on the edge of the paper with her fingers. It appeared that she had been looking at the same two pages for a while. 

Behind the bookshelf, a small shadow emerged. It was young Five, not much larger than the quiet, mousy being sitting by the table, though he had a much disproportionately larger presence, perhaps due to the assurance in his strides, or perhaps due to the large stack of hardcover books in his arms. The books were also hardcover as well, although they were filled with scratch papers in between, and looked considerably more worn out than the one in front of Seven. They were quite heavy, especially for a boy so small, but Five didn’t flinch or complain, just went on his way. He seemed to be just passing by, but then he slowed his footstep as he noticed the other presence in the vicinity. Five shot a fleeting glance across the quiet room and recognized Seven. He quickly stumbled to a stop before launching himself forward again, skipping through a spatial jump, landing right next to her, all without missing a beat.  

Five: What’re you doing? 

His sudden appearance evidently startled Seven. She made a surprised, high-pitched squeak, which in turn also startled Five a little. The nearby shelf shook and vibrated for a bit, and Five almost dropped his books. Both of them were a bit embarrassed.

Seven: Why did you suddenly appear like that? 

Five: I thought you'd noticed me by now! You always did before. 

Seven: Well, I didn’t this time. 

Five: Apparently, yeah. What happened to your super-power-hearing-thing? 

Seven: What? 

Five: That’s what you called it. 

Seven: What are you talking about? 

Five wanted to argue further, but he noticed that Seven was getting increasingly annoyed. He hadn’t talked to her for a while, so he hesitated and shut up, for once. Some time ago Seven was suddenly dropped from their regular common training sessions and disappeared for months. Nobody in the lot knew where she went. He tried asking Mom and Pogo a few times, but they only told him not to worry, and that he should focus on his own studies. He had a vague idea that they must have relayed his behaviours to Dad, because he found his workload increased tenfold soon afterwards. Even after she finally came back, he got so busy with the fast-paced new curriculum assigned to him, and she became so oddly slow and quiet, that they barely interacted anymore.

Five:...Alright. Neverminded me much. Anyway, what are you reading? 

It was uncommon that Five was relenting, even in a slightly insulting way. She blinked blankly a few times, her gaze somewhat unfocused behind her thick curtain of fringe. If this were another time, she wouldn’t have let the bickering end so easily, but Seven had been in this dazed mood since forever, so this exchange ended up passing through her without leaving much of a mark, just like most of the things in her life did. So she carried on. 

Five: Seven? Hello? Is anyone home? 

Seven: …. I’m reading this book, as you can clearly see, (if you have eyes.) 

Five: Yes, I can see, (as I have eyes,) but what is it about? It seems unworthy of your time. You were just sitting here, looking incredibly bored. 

Apparently, when you are trying to avoid something, with every fiber of your soul, that is when it will always find you. Perhaps it's the rhetoric of the red string itself; how it dangles from your hand, pompous. Saying, smugly, without words, I told you so. All roads lead back to the source, capillaries or roots of a tree funneling to the same end goal.

In your case, all roads lead back to the SuperStar Daycare.

--

You want a normal, average, fated romance as much as the next person. Butterflies fluttering in your stomach, and a healthy connection with someone who makes you feel like you fit in.

Really, it's not too much to ask.