[Finished.] 𝐅𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐱 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐬

'*•.¸♡𝙍𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙆𝙪𝙧𝙤𝙠𝙞𝙗𝙖 𝙭 𝙍𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝙏𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙤𝙤 𝙎𝙝𝙤𝙥 𝘼𝙐 𝙋𝙩.𝟸♡¸.•*'

From where we left off! Enjoy!

+*:ꔫ:*﹤~Timeskip~ ﹥*:ꔫ:*+ﾟ

It was another slow business day, with not many clients coming in. It felt like forever before Ryou had finally arrived. He silently sat down in the chair, making himself comfortable. You're about to pick up your tools, but then you remember something. You giggle to yourself and go get Ryou a glass of water. Y'know, just in case. He discusses the place that he wants the rose in more detail today since he didn't talk too much about it last night. You draw it out and ask if he likes it. He nods, and you grab your pen once again.

After a while of inking, you finally ended up on his inner elbow. You told him that this part is the part that would probably cause the most pain and asked if he wanted a break. He took you up on your offer and took a few minutes to himself before telling you that he was ready.

Your machine hovered over his arm and finally started to buzz. His other arm shot up beside him to grab your sleeve. You immediately pulled away.

"Are you okay? We don't have to do this all right now, you know. It's okay to be nervous." You reassured him with a smile.

His face flushed, embarrassed at what his reaction was. He said to just get it over with but didn't want to let go of your arm. You gently grabbed his hand in your non-dominant one and began making more black lines on his skin. He flinched and hissed at the pain a few times, but to that, you rubbed his hand with your thumb to soothe him.

You were finally done with his inner and forearm, glad that the worst part is over. You wipe your brow, offering your client a smile. He was in immense pain, but the sight of your kind smile comforted him. You noticed the tiniest of tears in his eyes. You reached up to ruffle his black hair, telling him that he was doing amazing. You then asked if he wanted to be done for the day. It's not that it was close to closing time, not at all, but that you felt like you had put him through enough pain today. He refused to be done for the day, only wanting to take a break. You reluctantly agreed but made sure that he knew to tell you if he wasn't feeling good. Making sure to remind him about yesterday's incident. His face reddened at that and he assured you that he'd tell you.

You kept inking his skin making sure he was as comfortable as he could be. It was finally time for his upper arm, right around his shoulder area. You warned him about this area too, since it was almost directly on the bone. It was about to hurt a lot. He promised you he was ready, and you tried to lighten the mood by teasing him about yesterday. You had to get fairly close to his face to focus on his shoulder so as you could imagine, he wasn't quite paying attention to your words. He was trying to look at anything but you. (And the immense pain of course.) He struggled to keep a straight face, tears stinging at his eyes once again. You gave him another break, giving him some water and getting a little bit more work done on your laptop.

After another day of work, you finally had to go home. You had about two-thirds of color left to do. It shouldn't take too much longer since he wanted his tattoo to be mostly black. Maybe a few hours at most. You thought about this and got a little sad after realizing tomorrow was probably the last time you'd ever see Ryo again. Sure, you were sad, but there wasn't much you could do about it.

+*:ꔫ:*﹤~Timeskip~ ﹥*:ꔫ:*+ﾟ

Today was the same as the last, not overly eventful. Then Ryou entered the shop. Your smile widened, and you welcomed him in. He made himself comfortable in the chair once again. You wordlessly continued your art. You were now doing the outside of his arm, so the pain wasn't too bad. Ryou was silently enjoying being next to you. He found your concentrating face cute. 'Alice talked to me about maybe liking them. Should I ask them out? What would they like to do? They're probably busy anyway. Maybe on a weekend?' His thoughts ran through his mind, trying to make a plan, hoping to see you again more often.

You looked up to ask what he thought so far but came face to face with him. just a tad too close. Any outsider may think that you two were a couple. You figured he was staring at you so you tried to lighten the mood by trying to be smug.

"What? Am I still not close enough?" You giggled at the end, failing to make your question sounds smooth.

He couldn't respond. That was just too much for him. Pretty sure his brain just short-circuited. He had to finally ask you out. Now. Too bad he couldn't speak.

"You okay there, Ryou? Need some water? You better not pass out on me again," You hurried to hand him his water, his only response being able to grab the beverage out of your hand. (Barely without dropping it.) He up and left to get some cool air for a second, needing to calm down.

'I hope he's okay, did I do something wrong?' You thought to yourself. A few minutes later, he returned.

"You." He said sternly, pointing his finger directly at you.

"Me?" You asked, a quizzical expression covering your face.

"Let's..." he didn't really think this out, did he? "Um, we should-" he got quieter with every word, his confidence slowly fading. "I want to hang out. Soon,"

"Oh, yeah, sure! We should go for coffee or something!" You got nervous for a second, thinking you hit a nerve earlier. You were glad to hear what he had to say, though.

He sat back down in the chair, trying his best to avoid all eye contact with you. A good tune started playing on the speakers so you absentmindedly started to hum along.

"Aaaand done! I hope you like it, this is by far my favorite tattoo that I've made. You did amazing, Ryou," You offered him another one of the smiles he loved. He didn't want to look away, but he was curious about how good the tattoo looked. He peered down, seeing all of the details. He was amazed by your skill. The Kraken, the black rose, the seahorse, the shrimps, all of it. The shading was done so well, it suited him perfectly. He smiled. That was the first time you've seen him do that. It was barely noticeable, but you saw it. A genuine, happy smile.

That got you excited. Did he like it? He must have if he smiled like that! You were basically vibrating in place while he was taking note of every detail of the masterpiece on his arm. He finally turned around to face you.

"Thank you. I'm glad that you were the artist for my first tattoo. And about that coffee, my treat?"

A/N Whoo! I really hope you liked this one, 2.8k words total! Please pLEASE comment, I love seeing comments so much ahh

Aug 27, 21