The Boy With The Magnolia Tattoo (phan)

chapter 1

"Some days it storms. Some days it shines. That is how flowers grow."

...

Dan Howell honestly doesn't want to be here. His parents' flower shop has no air conditioning, and it's the dead heat of summer. He wants to go upstairs, where there's air conditioning and no men stumbling in and explaining the most recent problems in their love lives. He loves flowers, due to the fact that he's grown up around them, but sometimes he just wants to get away. Today is one of those times.

The most uncommon thing about his families' shop is it was located right next to a tattoo parlor. Dan had nothing against the tattoo artist and his family, it was just funny to him to stand outside and look at the drastic differences between the two neighboring buildings. The building Dan lived/worked in was tall and white, with green outlines on the roof and window sills. His mom prided herself on making the building look as much like a doll house as possible.

The tattoo parlor they shared walls with was another story. It was dark and wide, a red neon sign glowed on the top that read Lester's Tattoos and Piercings. They had only a few windows, and you could barely see in even when the lights were on. The paint on the outside walls was black and chipped, and he's never been on the inside. He can hear them blasting music when they're open, and it's the cause of most of his parents' head aches. He likes the music however, as it's what he listens to himself. He would never tell his parents though.

Dan doesn't know much about the Lester's, just that it's owned by a heavily tattooed man and his wife, who is equally covered in tattoos. He's pretty sure they have a son, but he's never really seen him. Dan lives with his mom and his dad, a couple obsessed with flowers, as you could guess. They catered to everything that you could ever possibly need flowers for, weddings to proms to funerals. Once they even delivered flowers to a movie set when Dan was 11.

Dan is 17 now, and the second he turns 18 he's out of here. He plans on moving to another town and starting his own flower business, as he can't see himself doing anything else. But he can't live with his parents anymore, they're homophobic and racist and just plain rude. He started to realize how unfair they were when Dan became aware of his own sexuality. Growing up, Dan never took that big of an interest in girls, despite everything he was told. He never found them pretty. Finally at the age of 17, he's starting to face the fact that he's not straight. But he figures that's a problem for another day, there isn't any pressure in his life to come out yet.

His mom walks in as he's rearranging the magnolias for the third time. No one was buying them, and they were Dan's favorites. He loved how simple and beautiful they looked, and he wanted everyone to appreciate them, too.

"Dan! I've already told you twice! Throw the magnolias out! Nobody buys them in the summer, because they're not in bloom. Do it quick before your father sees, or he'll get mad with both of us." Dan's mom said as she descended the stairs. She was dressed in a light green dress with her familiar light purple apron draped in the front. Her hair was swept into her usual simple bun, and her face has been recently showing signs of wrinkling and aging, something Dan never thought he'd see from her.

"But surely someone will buy them." Dan responded. He really didn't want to have to go out back and throw them out.

"Dan, I've been in this business far too long. Nobody buys them in the summer!"

"Why not?" He replied, genuinely curious. They looked like they were in bloom.

"They don't resemble the essence of summer! Now do it before I have to yell at you again." She said in a tone of finality. Dan huffed as he gathered all the magnolias in his arms, determined to do it in one trip.

He swung the back door open with his feet, and stepped out into the familiar humidity of sunsets in the summer. The trashcan was in the back alley way, and as Dan walked to the trash, he left a trail of Magnolias he couldn't be bothered to pick back up. Dan shuddered as he approached the alley, he's been afraid of this place for as long as he could remember. When he was younger he would get nightmares going back here.

But today he got the opposite of a nightmare. Across the way from the trash in the alley was a boy, around the same age as him. He had his eyes shut, with headphones in, leaning back against the brick wall of the tattoo parlor, his black hair falling in front of his eyes in a similar fringe haircut to Dan's. He was pale, with very nice features. It irked Dan that he couldn't find out his eye color since he was asleep.

But wow, did Dan find him beautiful.

Dan didn't want to wake up the boy, who he came to the conclusion was the son of Mr. Lester. He proceeded to tiptoe to the garbage can and quietly open it, and tossed the flowers in as softly as possible. He slowly lowered the lid before turning to head back, but before he could walk away something on the boys arm caught his eye.

A magnolia tattoo.

After the door clicked shut as Dan went inside, the boy cracked his eyes open and let out a sigh. He had pretended to be asleep when he heard his neighbors back door open, as he came out here because he needed some alone time. Now taking in his surroundings, he noticed a trail of magnolias leading from the door to the alley way.

He silently laughed at the coincidence, as the flowers matched his tattoo perfectly.

...

AN: Thanks for reading part 1! I'm basing this loosely off a post from imagine hourly on tumblr, so idea credit to them. :) if you like the story so far please vote or comment and expect part 2 soon!