artfully flawed | hyunjin x reader
happy birthday @starhhj ! ily!
artfully flawed | hwang hyunjin x reader wordcount: 1.5k inspired by: idk man i watched shark week summary: hyunjin just wanted to surprise you
Four dates so far, and they’d all been flawless by being artfully flawed.
When going to see a movie two weeks ago, Hyunjin and yourself had managed to wander into the wrong theatre and sit through an hour and a half of some terribly done teen romance that probably had vampires in it but you don’t remember because you had spent the entire time cracking jokes and predicting the futures of the thirteen year old girls sat two rows in front of you. The evening ended with milkshakes and an adorable kiss on the cheek from your date.
At the quirky young adults cafe you were eating at the Thursday before last, a couple of barely legal boys had gotten piss drunk a table away from you. They were loud and a bit obnoxious, but Hyunjin saw the face you made when they clearly called out the color of your skirt and stood almost immediately. He walked to them, put his hands on their table, and made it very clear that if they made another comment about you, he would make sure they never forgot him. The combination of Hyunjin’s piercing gaze and tall stature clearly intimidated them enough to shut up for the rest of your visit. Hyunjin paid for the meal like the gentleman he was, walked you home, and hunched over a bit so you could return his cheek kiss without straining your toes.
The following weekend, you invited Hyunjin to your tiny apartment so that you could prepare a casual meal. Your roommate was at her family’s house for the week and you had gone grocery shopping the day before. Saturday at five, Hyunjin watched and laughed as you tied on the apron your mother had given you ages ago (one of those custom prints with some painting project you did in the early years of primary school) and put your hair up in a bandana. By six o’clock your kitchen was a wreck, half on fire, half smoking, and you ordered tteokbokki for delivery and cracked open a bottle of soju. It was delicious and some guidance from a random astrology notification led to your first kiss with Hyunjin, and despite the smoke and your hair being a wreck, it was perfect.
Just last tuesday, Hyunjin had called you up right after you had gotten out of work and asked if you could meet him for lunch at a cafe. You groaned a bit and teased him about how long the subway ride would be from your workplace, but agreed nonetheless. He was waiting at a table for you and mentioned that your hair was a bit of a mess as you sat down. Not in a judgmental way, but as a gentle comment so that you wouldn’t feel embarrassed when you noticed it later. As you sorted out your hair, he just smiled at you and asked how work had been. You made a comment on how domestic he was being and he laughed, then promptly knocked his water glass off the table and watched in horror as it shattered into a million pieces on his sneaker clad foot.
That’s why you weren’t worried when Hyunjin told you that today’s date would be a surprise. He held your hand on the bus and you suddenly got extremely suspicious when he led you off.
“Are you taking me to an aquarium?” you ask suddenly.
He turns and grins at you. “So you figured it out?”
You quickened your step slightly to keep up with his long strides and looped your arm under his. “I’ve never been to an aquarium.”
“So you’ve said. I decided that needs to change.”
You quietly recalled mentioning your lack of childhood on your second date.
He paid for your tickets and waited while you messed with your jacket zipper and laughed and told you to get a move on when you purposely took too long reading the sign at the entrance that literally only stated the name of the building.
“It’s my first visit, I’m trying to take everything in,” you said, then leaned in closer to the sign. “Do you think this is granate or some other type of polished stone?”
Hyunjin called you an ass and tugged on your hand until you tumbled after him, laughing. He led you to what he said was called “The Shark Walk”.
“Is this like in Shark Tale? Is there going to be a whale wash or something?”
He groaned jokingly. “I can’t believe you saw that awful movie.”
“You obviously did too,” you laughed. “You wouldn’t have reacted with such distaste if you hadn’t.”
“There’s no whale washes, but it is pretty fantastic.”
You clung to Hyunjin’s arm like a lost child, looking around curiously in the dimly lit halls at the metal shark engravings on the wall. You turned a corner and stopped in your tracks.
Hyunjin laughed at you. “Come on, you wimp.”
You looked at him and back at the floor before you. Only it wasn’t floor. It was glass. And below it, you saw several sharks - quite large sharks, might you add - swimming about. “That is sketchy as fuck.”
His bravado, however, quickly melted as soon as he stepped foot on the glass. The two of ou gingerly walked across the glass, and you felt your heartbeat quicken as a shark drifted past. You shuddered and let go of Hyunjin’s arm, jumping the last few feet to make it to solid ground a bit faster. He followed suit, his long legs carrying him faster than yours had as he made a noise of discomfort.
“I don’t like aquariums,” you decided.
“Okay, yeah, that sucked,” Hyunjin shivered and silently asked himself why he had decided that path was a good idea. “But you’ll like the rest of the place.”
He was right.
You were enthralled with everything, needing to examine each tank you passed with great detail. You watched the brightly colored fish swish through reefs and dig about the gravel. You were particularly excited about a sucker fish attaching itself to the glass, reverting to your toddler self and tugging on Hyunjin’s sleeve to get his attention. He laughed as you imitated a puffer fish by inflating your cheeks and wagging your hands on either side of your face. You pointed out every manta ray you saw before Hyunjin smiled at you and said “It’s called Ray Lagoon, love. It’s bound to have a few.” You stood by a large tank, completely disregarding your date, and watched open mouthed as dozens of yellow fish flitted by. The vastness of the tank baffled you. You wondered where it ended.
And somehow, the best was yet to come.
Hyunjin had returned to your side and intertwined your fingers as you walked into a tunnel, completely submerged in water, with seaweed drifting about and fish swimming overhead. You must have looked ridiculous, for Hyunjin had taken one look at you and couldn’t quit his giggling. Dragging him along, you watched manta rays and rockfish and a shark and a bunch of whatever kind of fucking fish Dory from Finding Nemo was. You pointed and gasped lightly and held your free hand to your mouth every time you found something new of interest, slowly drifting down the tunnel towards the exit. You commented on the coral and the fake rib cage around you. Hyunjin pointed out a large school of silverfish that swam in complete synchrony and you started grinning uncontrollably as you watched them switch directions several times.
“I really like aquariums,” you announced as you exited the tunnel.
Hyunjin laughed. “I know.”
You suddenly looked up and turn to him. “Now I feel guilty. I’ve been completely ignoring you.”
He shook his head. “Don’t feel guilty, I’m the one who brought you here.”
“But I feel bad!” You pouted as the two of you began walking again. “I should be making sure you’re enjoying yourself as well.”
“Trust me, I’m enjoying myself.”
You smiled up at him. “You really like aquariums too, Hwang?”
He looked at you out of the corner of his eyes and smirked slightly. “It’s not my favorite, but I’ve really been loving your reaction to it.”
You could feel your cheeks heating up slightly. You brushed it off and hoped to go the red you felt wasn’t showing on your face. “That’s nice.”
Hyunjin laughed. “It’s cute. You act like a child.”
“Hey!” You shoved him out of his stride and giggled. “Not fair.”
But you were still slightly flustered because Hyunjin had called you cute.
He put an arm over your shoulders and walked clumsily toward the next feature. You wrapped your arm around his waist and giggled, watching your feet. You decided that you liked this. This queasy feeling and this exciting place and this dorky boy. You liked where it was going and you didn’t mind that you weren’t quite sure where exactly that was. But you liked it. You liked that it was artfully flawed.
