mnemophobia | dh + pl

two

a/n: I just realized the reason I was getting like, no reads on this story was because I had it set so only my followers could read it lmao

phil's pov

I groaned, pulling off my shirt and throwing it on the bed with the rest of my rejected outfits. I had never been one to take more than ten minutes to get dressed, but today I had been going through outfits for nearly half an hour trying to find a nice outfit. I recognized what I was doing was stupid, but I was going to see Dan again and he was really cute, and I was almost positive he was gay.

I sighed, turning to the mirror. I finger-combed my black hair into it's usual quiff, a few lose strands poking out. My skin looked almost paper-white next to the dark ink of my tattoos. There were a few that I had done in color, but almost every one was outlined in black. It looked cool, but it also made it look like I never left my house.

I sighed, turning back to my closet and running my tongue over my lip piercings. I really needed to figure out what to wear.

Seven shirts later, I had finally decided on a black muscle tee with the words "New York City" written in small, white letters across the front and ripped, black skinny jeans. In all truthfulness, I had never been to New York; I just figured if no one else knew that then it didn't matter.

Already running a bit late, I grabbed my leather jacket and was out the door.

...

"You're late. Again," Liam grinned impishly at me as I walked into the already-unlocked tattoo parlor.

"You can tell me I'm late when you're the boss," I muttered, setting my coffee down on the counter and unlocking my office. "Who the hell let you in, anyway?"

The blonde slouched down in my office chair, propping his feet up on my desk. "I nicked a key."

"Ah. Remind me to change the locks," I muttered, glaring at him.

Liam had curly blonde hair, tan skin, and bright green eyes. Between his messy hair and worn leather jacket, he was ruggedly handsome. And though I would never admit it to his face, I was somewhat jealous of his good looks.

"Oh, shut up," Liam laughed, "Are you really going to lock out your most dedicated employee?"

"If you were really that dedicated then you would restock the fridge," I replied coolly.

"Was it my turn to do that? Shit, my bad," Despite Liam's apology, I could tell he really couldn't care less about his little slip-up.

"Whatever. Start cleaning the needles," I demanded, motioning to the row of tattoo equipment.

"Yes sir," Liam gave me a mock salute, complete with his signature smirk before heading off to complete his task.

...

My original plan was to return Dan's bag during my lunch break, but work was slow and I was impatient.

"Hey um, Liam?" I called out into the shop, "I need to run an errand, can you cover for me?"

"Yeah, sure." Liam paused before adding, "Where are you going?"

"I just need to get some coffee, I feel kinda drained." It wasn't often that I lied to Liam, but I knew that if he found out I had a crush on the flower boy down the street, I'd never hear the end of it.

"Oh, okay. Can you pick me up something? My wallet is in my bag." He motioned to a worn, black backpack behind the desk.

"Yeah, no problem. The usual, right?" I gave a forced smile, grabbing a few pounds out of his bag. Of course, Liam would want some coffee. Why didn't I say I was going to buy cough drops or something?