(INCOMPLETE) Of Ink And Flowers - A LGBTQIA+ Love Story

Chapter 1

                                                                The Business Across The Street

Lufi POV:

I stood in front of the black building, the sign hanging above it read "The Tattoo Parlor" in a red font that looked like it was off a choker set from Hot Topic. I pull the keys out of my pocket and open up the door. This is the first time I'm seeing the parlor fully done. I flip the light on and almost drop the cup of coffee I had been holding.

I stared in awe at the black leather seats and fancy tattoo gun with a bunch of colorful ink. I went over to the giant black desk, and I see a glimpse of my face in the glass tip jar, "This is it. This is my new life," I say adjusting my black nose ring. I flip a switch and the "Open" sign lights up. I sit down in the chair behind my desk. The Tattoo Parlor is in business.

An hour goes by and I finally get my first customer. A darker-skinned girl with round gold glasses, a gold nose ring, small gold hoops, and coily dark brown hair walks in. "Hello, You must be the new business in town, I'm Marissa Green, I run the bookstore next to the coffee shop," She reaches her hand out.

"Hello, I'm Lufi Muhamad. Are you here to get a tattoo?" I ask, shaking her hand and trying to smile (It probably turned out looking like a smirk).

"Sure, might as well see how good this parlor is to see if I support," She smirks a little. Weird.

"Do you have any idea what you would like to get?" I ask pulling the sketchbook out from under the desk with a black pen.

"A stack of three books, with round glasses and a cup of tea on top, and the stack of books says 'One More Chapter' " She counts each feature on her fingers and then looks at me as I scribble a quick draft.

"Like this?" I ask showing her the drawing. It took about 5 min to draw, she had simply sat down in the rating area and flipped through channels on the TV.

"Exactly," She stands up and walks over to me. I guide her over to the tattoo chairs and ask her where she wants it. 45 min later and she has a new tattoo on her forearm and I have a 20 in the tip Jar.

A few more hours pass and I get a few more customers. 18:00 hits and I clean up a bit, put the money in the safe, and lock up shop. I start walking home, satisfied with the fact I at least got more than one customer today. Hopefully, tomorrow won't be as slow.

Deimos POV:

Ahh, just another relaxing day in the flower shop. Business is a bit slow, but that means I have some time to work on a few flower arrangements. I grab a few arborvitaes to add a little spice when suddenly, the she-devil I call my best friend, Marissa Green bursts through the door, causing me to drop my flowers (luckily I caught them).

"DEIMOS!" She yells, power-walking in.

"What do you want? You almost made me drop my flowers," I roll my eyes walking over to the table where I was collecting flowers for a bouquet. Marissa and I have been friends since we were 12 and I moved in with my grandma.

"Look out your window," She says pointing to the building across the street. I see a pale man sitting at a desk with a black mask hanging under his mouth. His hair is dark blood red on one half and raven black on the other. He has a whole lot of black piercings in each ear and a black nose ring. His eyes are a brown that I can only compare to rich dark chocolate. "It's an emo in the wild," Marissa whispers into my ear.

"Come on Marissa, what's the big deal?" I walk back to my table and start arranging the flowers I had strewn across the table. Marissa followed behind me.