"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TAE!!!!!!!" the other three screamed as they opened the bedroom and woke him up in the middle of the night.
Jungkook jumped on the bed and pulled him up and kissed him. They wished him a happy birthday and settled back on their beds.
That morning, Seokjin made a cake for him.
Jungkook stood beside him and held the cake right in front of his face. "Now wish and blow" he said.
"Jin hyung isn't coming to the parlour today. He said he isn't feeling well. So you come with me" Jungkook told Taehyung, glaring pointedly at Seokjin.
Seokjin understood and immediately improvised by fake-coughing a bit and repeating what Jungkook said.
"Who, me?" Taehyung asked. "Yeah, you" Jungkook replied. "Sure" Taehyung replied, grinning like a kid.
Jungkook felt heavy as he brought Taehyung to the shop that once belonged to Hoseok.
"What am I supposed to do here?" Taehyung asked once they entered the parlour. "Come with me to the inner room and give me some company" Jungkook said.
Little did Taehyung know that Jungkook had turned the sign 'closed' on the parlour so that no one would come and disturb them.
"Do you wanna try making a tattoo?" Jungkook asked.
"Yeah, sure." Taehyung deadpanned.
"No, I mean it. I will help you and guide you if you wanna try it"
"Nah! You do it yourself. I don't wanna kill anyone on my birthday"
"Come on, you won't kill anyone..."
"........"
"Why are you thinking so much about it?!" Jungkook asked.
"I won't know what I am doing due to a few obvious reasons that you might have forgotten" Taehyung said sarcastically.
"No, I didn't. I told you I will guide you" Jungkook said. "Come on, try it. Just once" he said.
"..............."
"............."
"Okay, but don't blame me if it goes horribly wrong and you can't walk again for the rest of your life" Taehyung warned.
"I won't" Jungkook chuckled as he rolled up his pant sleeve, and rubbed alcohol over a small area that was surprisingly still clear.
He took Taehyung's hand and placed it on the clear skin. "Feel it, okay? This area is completely empty. Do whatever you want over there. I won't mind even if it looks like some kid's scribble" Jungkook said.
Taehyung ran his fingers over the skin with shaky hands. "You are trying to put me in jail, aren't you?" he asked with an equally shaky voice.
Jungkook simply chuckled and got the equipment out while Taehyung kept feeling his skin repeatedly. He took Taehyung's hand and placed it around the machine and trailed his fingers across it, explaining various parts of it and how he was supposed to use it.
He then placed the needle on his skin. "Now feel my skin again with the machine" he said. Taehyung roughly estimated how much of skin was there and nodded when he was done.
"Don't kill me, though" Jungkook said, chuckling. Taehyung scowled. "Sit and pray" he replied.
He placed a finger on the skin and put the needle right below it. Jungkook had enough tattoos on his body that he didn't feel the sting of the needle anymore.
He stared at his leg as his boyfriend drew half of a heart while keeping his finger in the same place.
He then put another finger at the end of the half-heart and brought the machine back to the first finger. He traced the path of the other half until he reached his second finger and completed the heart.
He then brought his fingers towards the inside of the heart and let them meet. Hoping he reached the center, he moved a finger slightly to the left and brought the machine back to his finger. He engraved a shaky 'TK' inside it.
"Done, I guess" he said and switched it off.
To say Jungkook was speechless would have been an understatement.
He fought the lump in his throat as he stared at the tattoo his boyfriend had made.
Yes, the heart was shaky, and so were the letters. But he felt overwhelmed by the symbol that he made. He felt overwhelmed by how careful his boyfriend had been to try and be perfect.
"It's perfect" he whispered. He bandaged his leg and threw himself on Taehyung, successfully startling the poor soul and making him yelp loudly.
"Aren't you going to have any customers?" Taehyung asked. "Nope. The parlour is closed for today" Jungkook replied, wrapping himself around his boyfriend like a koala.
"Then why di-" Jungkook cut him off by placing both of his hands on his cheeks and squeezed his face.
"Shhhhh!! No talking! Just listen" Jungkook said. Taehyung nodded, bewildered by his action.
"Will you marry me?" Jungkook asked. "W-What?" Taehyung was beyond shocked.
"Will you marry me? I don't want to live with anyone else, Tae. You are my everything. I suck at good words, so bear with this crappy speech. I am ready to spend the rest of my life with you. I am ready for you to give me a life. You know that we both are lost and broken. I am ready to find myself with your help. I am ready to do it together. Do you wanna do it too, Tae?" Jungkook asked.
He removed his hands from his face and brought out the ring.
"I know how much you are yearning to see the ring right now, but I promise I will propose to you once again after your surgery, whenever it is. I don't care if it is never gonna happen, Tae. I love you. And nothing else matters to me.
I don't want you to think you are going to be a burden for me, because you are going to be my stress-reliever. You already are. Your smile makes everything worth it, Tae. So please, will you marry me?" he asked again, placing the ring box on Taehyung's hand.
"Yes" Taehyung whispered as he pulled the ring out of the box and felt every inch of its surface. He returned the ring back to Jungkook.
"I love it, I love you, and yes, I would love to see the ring, so I am going to kick your ass if you don't propose to me again after the surgery. But yeah, I love you and I am ready to explore this world together with you, Jeon Jungkook" Taehyung said.
Jungkook took his hand gently and slipped the ring around his finger. He pulled Taehyung into a kiss that lasted for hours.
"You know what? This is not the only tattoo you made for me" he whispered. "Uhuh?" Taehyung asked.
"There was a pretty ugly scar on my heart, Tae. You made a tattoo on it too. You made me look at it differently. You made it beautiful enough for me to be able to try forgetting the scar behind it. And I love you for that, Tae. You made The Tattoo on my Heart" Jungkook said, holding Taehyung's face.
"Not gonna cry. Nope!! Not gonna cry at all" Taehyung muttered, shaking his head. Jungkook chuckled at him and pecked his lips again.
"Let's go home. I can't wait to show this ring to Joon hyung" Taehyung said. "Sure" Jungkook grinned and got up to put the machine back in its shelf.
..........................
"Hello, Joon!!"
"Hey, Ju"
"Joon! The surgery! We made a small mistake in the surgery, and we rectified it, and it worked, and Tae's gonna have it soon, and everything will b-"
"Hey, hey, hey, slow down a bit"
"That surgery!! We fixed it!! Bring Tae to the hospital next week. We will do it" she gushed through the words, too happy to maintain a human pace.
"Okay....give me some time.....when exactly should I bring him?"
"Monday morning"
"Daegu, right?"
"Yeah"
"What about payment?" Namjoon asked.
"After the surgery"
"Ohh okay"
"We are gonna admit him right after you bring him. The surgery will be on Tuesday. He will have to keep the bandage on till Thursday. We will remove it on Friday" Ju explained.
"I can't believe this" Namjoon sniffled.
"Wait for the silver lining!!"
"What?!" Namjoon asked.
"I told you that his sight is gonna be blurry and that his glasses are gonna work from now on, right? Well, we found out how to fix that, and everything is going to be fine. He won't need any glasses. He just shouldn't go out in the sun too much for a few days. Everything else will be fine" Ju said.
"Thank you soo much, Ju. I can't believe this is finally happening. I will get him on Monday" Namjoon said. "Yeah, I gotta dash. I'll talk to you later, okay?" she said. "Okay, bye" he hung up.
He ran to Seokjin and hugged him tightly. "He will finally be fine, Jinnie" he whispered. "What?" Seokjin turned around.
"Ju called just now. They found out what went wrong. Apparently, even his sight is gonna be completely fine after the surgery. She wants me to admit him on Monday" Namjoon said. "THAT'S AMAZING!! WE NEED TO CELEBRATE THIS!!!!" Seokjin exclaimed.
"YESSSS" Namjoon yelled happily.
"Did someone open the door just now?" Seokjin whispered.
"Yeah, I guess" Namjoon whispered back and they ran to the living room with Seokjin's cricket bats, thinking they were going to have to deal with robbers, only to find Taehyung and Jungkook sitting on the couch as if they hadn't moved from it all day.
"Oh, it's you guys" Namjoon sighed and threw the bats behind the couch.
"GUESS WHO'S ENGAGED!!!" Taehyung screamed, making Jungkook close his ears. "GUESS WHO'S GETTING A SURGERY!!!!" Namjoon screamed, making Seokjin close his ears.
Soon, the room erupted into shouts of celebrations and congratulations.
"I am taking the next week off" Namjoon declared.
"So am I" Jungkook said.
"Me too" Seokjin said and they continued celebrating the happy news.