Apartment Mayhem

Friendly Arts

I finish up a doodle on a scratch piece of paper as class ends. I fold it up and shove it into my pocket as I grab my things and head out. I keep my eyes low as I make my way to the pickup. Then I hear someone mutter my name.
I turn and see a familiar face. "Elliot?" I mumble and they walk up beside me, hastily making their way through the crowd.
"What are you doing here?" I ask him and he tilts his head in confusion.
"Going to college, like you. How have you been?"
"I've been...feeling better, you two?"
"I...I'm working on it. I'm going to counseling," they tell me before they mess with their hands and looks at them.
"Oh seriously?"
"Yeah. It's different...my counselor is an eccentric one."
I scoff, "I know how that is."
I hear a car horn honk and I look over to see Roman, looking over at me. I can't read his expression so I look over to Elliot. "I gotta go," I hold out my phone to him, "enter your number and I'll text you later? That cool?"
He nods and enters his number in quickly. I take back my phone once they're done and smile to them, "good luck, buddy."
"You too," Elliot half smiles as I hop into the passenger seat.
"Who was that?" Roman asks as I get buckled and I look over to him.
"An old friend, Elliot," I close the door and slide into my seat, "They're really nice, but accidentally get in too many bad situations."
"Yeah?"
"Mhm," I reach into my bag, "I remember you said something about drawing a portrait of you on Christmas?"
He gasps in astonishment, "You did not."
I hold up the portrait of him that I doodled in class, "I did."
He takes the drawing and looks it over before hugging it, gently, "I love it so much, Virge."
"I love you so much."
His face flushes red and he cover most of it with his face, "shut up...I love you too."
I smirk and put my feet up on the dashboard. That's his weakness. Flirting. Well, people flirting at him. It's adorable. He sets the drawing in his bag before driving home.
"How was your day?" He asks, still a bit flushed.
"Boring. I just wanted to get out of there, you?" I look over to him and cross my arms.
"Good, I love my acting class."
"Nice, Nice."
"What should we do today?"
I've had an idea for a while and it might be an interesting this to do. "Get tattoos," I blurt and blink before biting my cuticles.
"A tattoo?" He raises an eyebrow at me but keeps his attention on the road.
"Well, it's been on my mind lately and I've always wanted one."
"Really?"
"Yeah..." I fidget with my fingers. He's not going to like that idea. He might think it's hard for a commitment like that. It'll turn out terrible. He won't support you on this idea.
"Well, that would be splendid. I'll tell the other boys and we'll find some place to get you a tattoo," He says, cheerfully.
"Wait-really?" I look to him, looking to see if he's telling the truth.
"Yeah, of course! Logan would totally try to find the best place for a tattoo that has a fair price and...I think you'll look fantastic with a tattoo."
"Thanks," I smile softly and run a hand through my hair.
He pulls up to the apartment and we both grab our things before heading out. It might still be pretty cold but the sun is shining through clouds like a light diluted by paper. I notice him locking up the car before walking inside with me.
We walk in to Patton making out with Logan. "Oh come on, you two, you have a room." Roman groans as they pull away.
Patton giggles as Logan adjusts his glasses, "Not my fault."
I roll my eyes and set my bag by the door as Roman continues "Well, now that I've got your attention, as per always, Virgil wants to get a tattoo,"
"A tattoo?" Patton sits up and rubs his wrist, "doesn't that hurt..?"
"Depends on where you get it," I tell him, "I've been researching about it for a while."
"Really?" Logan pops up from behind the couch back, "have you found the best tattoo parlor?"
"No,"
"I'll find it," he grabs his phone and starts looking as Roman looks to me with a face full of 'didn't I tell you?'
"Oh!" Roman blurts, "How about we all go and we all choose a tattoo for each person except for the person getting it?"
"Oh god," I mutter, feeling the the fuzzy feeling well up in me.
"That sounds sweet!" Patton chimes and squishes his cheeks.
"But I kinda wanted to get a few already," I latch my pinky onto Roman's, a thing we do when I'm not feeling well.
He looks over to me with worry, "then you'll have one from all of us. It'll be special."
"Yeah," I murmur and look down.
"My darling prince, it'll be okay. I promise we won't pick something bad, okay?"
I take a deep breath and look up to him, "I know."
He smiles and plants a kiss on my forehead, "good."

After a bit of researching and finding pictures for the tattoos we all want, we head to the tattoo parlor. I bite on my stim toy as Logan drives us there. Roman might be more excited than I am. He's giggling and gushing with Patton in the back about tattoos.
Logan parks in the parking lot and locks his car once we all hop out. I look to Roman and Patton to see their happy smiling faces. I half smile before pulling out my phone and texting Elliot.
Hey
Hey
He texted back straight away. I guess he's up to nothing.
What's up?
Just waiting for my counselor to call me in.
I'm sorry.
Nah, it's all good. What about you?
I'm...I'm getting a tattoo.
Really? That's sick.
I'm anxious as all hell 😰
I believe they'll be great. Ttyl, my counselor is here.
K, ttyl.
I lift up my head to see Roman holding open the door for me and I rush over, heading inside. "Sorry," I mumble to him.
"It's okay, just didn't want us to freeze our butts off." He chuckles and rubs my back.
I nod and sit in the waiting room with the others with the cash in hand. It's a lot but we can handle it, especially rich kid Logan over there. He mainly paid for the tattoos, so now we can't make fun of him for a while. The Tattoo artist walks up to the counter and looks over to us, "Well this is a big group. I'm Andy."
Patton waves, "Hi, I'm Patton."
"I know, Logan told me all of your names and I'm guessing...Logan is the other glasses wearing guy. You," Andy points to Roman, "are totally Roman and that makes the last one, Virgil."
I do a quick wave as I bounce in my seat. "So who's going first?" Andy looks at the four of us.
Roman and I look to Patton and Logan before Patton stands up, "I'll go first."
"Alright, come on back," Andy heads to the back and Patton follows with Roman not to far behind.
There's some mumbling before Roman sits back down. "I can't believe he went first," Roman mutters to me and I nod in response.
I glance over to Logan and I see him darting is eyes around the room. "Logan, Buddy, you okay?" I ask as he looks to me.
"I..." He sighs and runs a hand through his hair, "feelings."
Roman chuckles, "if you're worried about Patton, you can go and watch, Microsoft nerd."
He scowls at him and gets up before walking off to Patton. I bite my stim toy and look to Roman, who seems to be staring into space. "Where is Patton getting his?" I ask, tapping his knee.
"Hmm-" he looks to me then smiles, "he's getting his on his collar bone."
I pull out my phone and look at a pain chart for tattoos. It's completely red. "That's...going to hurt...a lot," I warn him and he shakes his head.
"Patton just laughs off pain and says it tickles. He'll be fine."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah, he has a high pain tolerance."
I nod, but I still feel bad for the guy. It's going to hurt a lot. We wait in the buzzing silence as Patton gets his tattoo done. The occasional chuckle will come through the buzzing of the parlor. It's eerily creepy that he can withstand that pain just by laughing. I would be screaming and biting my lip to the point it bleeds.
Roman rests an arm around my shoulder and I lean into him, loving his touch. I close my eyes and tap my phone as I feel his hand on my shoulder start to move. He plays with my hair, massaging my scalp with the pads of his fingertips, and I smile more. It's soothing. I've never felt this before. I feel the drowsiness kick in from the relaxing movements and I rest on Roman's shoulder.

I shoot up awake when I hear Logan yelling in pain. "What's going on?" I ask Roman as I see Patton's converse turn the corner.
"Logan's tattoo? He's getting it on his wrist and he's not that good with pain apparently," he tells me with concern.
We both get up and look around the corner to Logan's arm stretched across a cushioned table while facing away from us. Patton is holding his hands and mumbling to him sweet nothings from the kneeling position in front of him. We head over and Roman rubs Logan's shoulders, humming quietly to release tension.

After that mess, Roman gets his tiny crown by his hipbone. I roll my eyes at that. I think he did that for me. What a dork, have fun putting on pants.
Now it's my turn and I go back hesitantly. Sitting in the chair, Roman shows Andy what it is and they nod back, telling him to stay back here. He doesn't object and sets his phone by them. I bite my stim toy and hold out my arms. "Where would you like them?" Andy says, cleaning up the tattoo needles.
"Uhm, The arrows on my right wrist, the symbol on my left wrist with breathe underneath it, the other tattoo on my fore arm, near my elbow," I look up to Roman." 'you love my dark' on my left forearm."
Roman looks confused then his eyes light up with love, "can I get 'you see all my light' on my arm later?"
Andy smiles, even with pain hidden behind it, "of course."
I smile back and look up to Roman. He smiles back brightly. I love him so much and Thank heavens he's here for me.

{All the ones on the left are Virgil's, right down is Logan, Roman, Patton then Roman and Virgil}