Work Text:
Steven was always late for work. The excuses seemed endless, each morning going on and on about some bullshit that could never actually happen. Lila, the owner of the little shop, was getting tired of him spewing nonsense, and told him to get his act together.
"We have a wedding party coming next Monday for their flowers. 8:00 am sharp. You got that? If you're late again I'll have to give all your shifts to Marina."
The small girl bustled around behind the counter, collecting and putting together beautiful bouquets and flawlessly impressing passersby and customers alike. Steven always envied Marina's perfect eye for these things.
"Actually, I can't work then," Marina leaned on the counter and looked at Lila, "I forgot to tell you. It's my wedding party on Monday. My fiance set it up."
"You're getting married? Shit man, I still don't have a girlfriend." Steven frowned and crossed his arms.
"Or a boyfriend," Lila and Marina chimed in together. Steven rolled his eyes and hopped over the shop counter, lazily strolling to the back to grab his apron.
Eventually, he made his way back to the counter and started pressing buttons on the cash register. Lila swatted his hand away as she walked past into the office, sighing. Steven turned and took one of his favourite flowers off the wall, a perfect hyacinth, twirling it around between his fingers. Marina puts her arm around his shoulders, leaning over to see the flower.
"You could get that tattooed you know, if you wanted," she spun back around towards the tall wall covered in flowers, "My fiance owns the shop a few doors down," Steven had seen the parlor in passing, usually running past it in his rush to be on time-ish. It was a large shop, with sprawling glass windows covered in art of all styles. Steven had never seen the inside of a tattoo parlor, he had always been a little nervous to do anything of that sort. That said, Marina looked like she wanted to show him, and he wasn't one to say no to his co-worker. "If it helps, Mr. Nerves, I'll get a tattoo with you. I see you getting all nervous."
Steven laughed halfheartedly and nodded. "Fine, what have I got to lose."
He was terrified. Marina pulled him along, his feet dragging along the pavement, his mind racing.
Am I really going to do this?
A bell rang as the door closed and Steven blinked. This place was closer than he thought. Marina ditched him to run towards the counter, asking after someone named Pheonix. The man behind the counter was decent looking, Steven thought. He had cropped black hair, a bit longer on the top so it fell to the side. His arms were covered in tattoos of all kinds, and he had a piercing through his eyebrow.
"Uh, hello?" Steven blinked and all of a sudden the pretty man was right in front of him, waving a hand in front of his face. Steven jumped backwards and hit the door, prompting the stranger to grab his arm and pull him back. "Are you okay? You were all zoned out."
"Oh! Uh, yeah, sorry." Steven smiled awkwardly at the man.
"You with Marina?" He turned back towards the front, gesturing for Steven to follow. He did, reluctantly, embarrassed to be caught and unsure of what to do. “She told me what's going on. C'mon back, I can do this one for free.”
Well, Steven certainly couldn’t turn down anything free.
He was directed to a chair in the back, right next to Marina. She was already getting set up, her artist a woman who was most likely the Pheonix she was looking for earlier. “You excited?” she asked, laying her arm onto the little table, already prepped and ready. Steven shrugged, sitting where the pretty stranger told him to. “I promise it isn’t as bad as you may think.” She gestured to Pheonix, who had a scattering of small tattoos up her arms. She nodded, agreeing with Marina, who just laughed and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
Steven gagged sarcastically and focused on the man in front of him.
“So what exactly are we looking for? You can pick from the wall or the binder, though I do customs as well.” Pretty stranger handed Steven a binder, then waved towards the vast wall of designs in front of him. Marina took the book from his hands and flipped through the pages, then handed it back, pointing to one. It was a beautiful line art hyacinth, exactly what he had imagined. Pretty stranger took the book back and looked at the design. “This? Alright, give me a second.”
Steven leaned back and looked at the ceiling, trying (and somewhat failing) to mentally prepare himself for this. He heard the little rolly chair being pulled over, and the sounds of the machine and ink being set out on the table next to him. “So where is this going to be?” Steven looked at the pretty stranger, confused. “The tattoo. It has to be somewhere, so where do you want it?”
Oh. Right. Steven shrugged again, looking over to Marina. She was already getting tattooed, talking to Pheonix and laughing about something she said. “I don’t know. Surprise me?” the pretty stranger looked at him and chuckled, tapping the side of Stevens neck.
“Is that okay?” Steven, being the mess of nerves he was, nodded. “Alright, nice. You don’t often see first timers get a neck tattoo, and they are my favourite to do.” Pretty stranger angled Stevens head to the side and Steven held his breath. This was even scarier when it was an attractive person, and he was so close. So very close.
“So, uh. What’s your name?” he asked, grabbing the side of the chair to ground himself.
“Carter. Keep quiet, or this will hurt even more than it has to.” Steven shut his mouth.
“That hurt like a bitch,” Steven muttered, getting up out of the chair and following Carter to see his new ink.
“You took it like a champ for a first timer, most people basically shit themselves.” He laughed and took the bandages off, wiping down Steven's neck before showing him to the mirror. The tattoo was incredible. It looked even better than the picture in the book, the small design seeming magical, like some sort of sigil. He stared in awe, glancing over his shoulder in the mirror to see Carter grinning behind him.
Carter has a nice smile, he thought.
What? He shifted his gaze to Marina, sitting on the edge of her chair visibly flirting with Pheonix. Gross, nevermind. He turned around to look Carter in the eyes.
“You like it?” Carter asked, still grinning. Steven nodded then winced, putting a hand over the fresh art on his neck. “Be careful, you moron.” Carter laughed lightly and carefully moved Steven's hand out of the way to check the site. Steven went pink, and he could practically feel Carter's breath on his shoulder as he cautiously fiddled with the new bandages. Shit, fuck. Steven had to leave, before he made a fool out of himself.
“Thank you, Carter,” He shrugged Carter's hands off of him and quickly strode to the door. “See you at work, Marina. Thank you again,” He pushed the door open, running into a stranger in his rush. Quickly apologizing, he ran back to the flower shop.
It had been a week since his tattoo, and all Steven could think about was Carter. He had been on time every day save one, just so he could walk past the tattoo parlor on his way. Lila had been pleasantly surprised at the change, and Marina told her about Carter.
Marina had to drop the aftercare instructions at his apartment after his walkout. “Why the rush out, loverboy? Saw something you like?” Steven threw a pillow at her in the doorway.
His tattoo was healing well, and he started wearing v-necks to show it off. Every chance he could he would talk about it, spewing dramatic stories of its backstory. Each day he would ask Marina if she would take him again, not for him but as “moral support” while she gets more ink done. Each time without fail she would turn him down, telling him to “go himself if he wants to go that badly”.
Finally, he decided he would. He wandered over on his lunch break, anxiously awaiting the interaction. Steven would have to face Carter eventually, so it may as well be now, right? As he walked through the door and the familiar chime of the bell rang, he looked up towards the desk to see…
Not Carter.
Another man stood behind the counter, fiddling with the cash. He looked up, then smiled.
“Welcome! What can I do you for today?” The short, dark haired man asked. It was the stranger he had run into the week prior. Steven tried to look behind him into the belly of the shop, to see Carter. “So, are you here for some ink or a piercing?”
Steven startled and looked back at the man, blinking. “Uh, piercing?” The boy frowned a little, then smiled once more and gestured to the back.
“I’m not certified to do that sort of thing yet, so I’ll have to pass you off to my talented coworker!” Carter walked out of the back room, pulling on his black latex gloves. Steven froze and stared in awe at him. This was what he was there for.
“Close your mouth, track star. What are you doing back here?” Carter was standing directly in front of him, just like the last time.
“Oh, right. Um, piercing, I think?” Steven stumbled over the words, looking to Carter for some form of guidance. Carter shook his head and smirked.
“Right this way. Try not to run off again, yeah?”
“Yeah, yeah. Sorry about that, by the way.” Steven followed Carter like a lost puppy towards the back corner of the shop. The two passed a sweet looking girl getting a tattoo, a strawberry with a knife stabbed into it. The back corner was blocked off by only a partition, a table and a shelf with a few drawers. He sat on the medical-bed-esqe chair, staring at Carter as he pulled out the needles from the drawers, laying them on the table.
“What are you looking for today? Something daring again?” Carter crossed his arms and smirked, looking at Steven expectantly. Steven looked at his feet and thought.
“Honestly, I have no idea. I just wanted to see you again,” Immediately he slapped a hand over his own mouth, eyes darting up to Carter. “Shit, I didn’t mean to say that out loud. I’m so sorry.”
Carter sighed and smiled ever so slightly. “No need to apologize. To be frank, I wanted to see you again too.” Steven slowly uncovered his mouth, his jaw on the floor.
“You.. You what?” Steven looked dumbfounded. Carter laughed and returned to fiddling with the needles.
“So maybe some basic lobe piercings, for a start? Totally up to you. You don’t have to do anything either, your choice. I do nipples, ears, anything.” Carter turned back, holding up the sterilized bag containing two piercing needles.
“Oh, yeah, okay. Or, maybe, to stick to my theme, of course, maybe nipple piercings?” Stevens mind was racing at speeds he had never dreamed of. Maybe a piercing or two would help him clear his head? Carter grinned wider and nodded, gesturing to his shirt. Steven blue screened. Knowing everything he knew now, this seemed more intimate than it had ever seemed before, not even counting the bandage from the last time.
Carefully, he pulled up his shirt, painfully aware of the two eyes on him the whole time. Carter got to work, being ever so professional given the circumstances.
“Deep breaths, okay? These can be rough, so if you need to hold onto something you are welcome to break the chair, I won’t mind.” Steven inhaled and held his breath, as Carter counted from three and stabbed him through the chest. It hurt more than the tattoo, he seriously wasn’t lying. The chair wasn’t enough and Steven shut his eyes, wondering why he had decided to do this in the first place.
“And, done.” Carter wheeled his rolly chair back and stood up, supposedly retrieving the bandages or something of that sort.
Steven sat up carefully. He watched Carter work, watching the muscles in his back tense as he reached to the top drawer to put something away. Carter turned back, catching Steven.
“See something you like?” He shimmied his shoulders as he sat back down, reaching towards Steven's chest to wrap the bandage around the piercing. Steven gulped and slowly nodded his head, watching Carter like a hawk. The latter sat back, admiring his work then looking up at Steven. “Can I, uh. Can I kiss you?” He asked, looking sheepish for the first time.
Steven froze and stared at him. Was this real? He nodded and leaned forwards, Carter meeting him in the middle.
It was wonderful. Who knew the only thing they needed was some ink and a hyacinth?