Whose Addiction? (Dave Navarro x Reader)

Chapter 1

Present day

A month. It's been a damn, stressful month since I've submitted my form. I couldn't help but to check my email every once in a while. Well, I checked my inbox way more often than I'd like to admit. Okay, fine. I checked it every couple of hours. At least I did for two weeks after I sent my form. From then on, I kind of started losing hope. There are many great tattoo artists out there. What could they possibly see in me? Tyler kept telling me that I had a good chance of getting picked. Yes, Tyler knew I submitted a form. 'Who is Tyler?' you may ask. Well...

I started tattooing when I was 23. I had a friend who was older than me and was a tattooer. Her name was Tyler and we'd known each other since high school. At the time, we were studying Graphic Design; well, at least I was. Tyler dropped on the second semester. She dropped out because she had gotten a job as a tattoo artist.

I would always go to the tattoo place she worked at and watch her work for as long as I could, which was until I had to go home or until she closed shop. Eventually, she started teaching me the basics. I would draw my own designs on paper and she would tell me how to tattoo in that style. I remember when she would let me do small tattoos on people when her boss wasn't around. I had a lot of fun, and barely made any mistakes for old, rookie me.

Long story short, she turned me in. I was mad at her at first, thinking she had betrayed me for telling on me, but instead, she told me that her boss was amazed by my designs (and slightly angry that she had let me tattoo without any supervision), and wanted me to start working there. Of course, I couldn't stay mad at my best friend. I gladly accepted the offer and started working there. Just as Tyler did, I also dropped out of college to pursue my new dream.

What did my parents think about that?

I've been emancipated since I was 18; my dad died 11 years ago and my mom neglected me most of my childhood, so I naturally decided that she would no longer be part of my life. It's not like she didn't exactly oppose either. Now that I think about it, she must have actually been glad to sign the emancipation papers when I presented them to her. Anyway, since then on, I haven't spoken a word to her, and not that I intended to. I was fine where I was and I didn't need her.

As years went by, my tattoo skills seemed to improve. Most of the people that walked into the tattoo place, left with a tattoo of mine and a big smile, and the ones that didn't- Oops? That's just your regular tattoo artist job. Now, I was 27 and I felt more than ready to give it a shot at competing with the big leagues. As much as I'm scared of them, I know that maybe, and just maybe, if I try hard enough, I'll get somewhere big. Becoming a tattoo artist instead of going to college was the best decision I could've ever made.

I gained enough money to live a decent life. Tyler and I soon moved together in a spacious apartment that we could afford if both of us worked. We've been living together ever since. We were both 27 years old now.

I snapped out of my daydream as I heard the familiar entrance bell chime, indicating that a customer had just walked in. I put a small smile on my face as I faced them, ready to tattoo anything they requested.

Time skip brought to you by my lazy butt (:

I sighed as I wiped the skin of my canvas one last time before I leaned back and admired my work.

"You're all done," I told the nice lady sitting on the tattoo chair, or as I like to call it: the throne.

She smiled excitedly as she got up and went to the full-body mirror, admiring the piece I had just done on her side. It was a black and white, flower piece. Three blooming flowers bundled together and leaves coming out from behind the flowers. The tattoo was placed on her left side, right above her hip.

"Oh my god, I love it!" She stared at the tattoo in awe. I smiled.

"I'm glad," I simply replied as she stepped back from the mirror and went to sick back down to the throne.

"I'm gonna clean the tattoo and cover it with plastic to prevent infections," I said as I grabbed the saran-plastic roll and a bottle filled with a fluid.

"And I'm going to apply some antibacterial ointment, just 'cause you can never be sure. Lay down, please," I instructed and she complied. She laid on her side; of course, on her tattooless side. Once I gathered the bottle of antibacterial ointment and saran-plastic, I got up to prepare a bowl with warm water, a bottle of soap, and a cloth.

I went back to the girl and squirted some soap on top of her tattoo and started to softly wipe it. She hissed slightly, indicating that it stung. I tried to do it softer to soothe the pain. Once there was no soap, I ripped a piece of the plastic and used it to cover her tattoo, taping the sides and made sure no air could get in.

"Okay, now you're all done. Do you know what your aftercare instructions are?" I asked her as I stood up while removing my black, latex gloves. I stepped on the trashcan's pedal, opening the stainless-steel bin's lid, and disposed of the used pair of gloves. She nodded.

"I do, but I'd like to receive some from you. Y'know, since all tattoo artists have different aftercare instructions," She said shyly. She was right, though.

"Of course. Here," I said as I reached out for a sheet of paper with pre-written instructions. I had made them myself to save up time and for my costumers to not forget. I'd never seen another tattoo artist do it before, so I took the chance to do it for the first time. She took the paper and read through it quickly. She nodded once again.

"Okay, seems easy enough," She said confidently.

"Good," I replied as we both stood up from our seats. I lead her to the register machine where a coworker of mine helped her with the billing information and all. While they did this, I cleaned up my booth. When I was done, she came over to me.

"Hey, your tattooing skills are awesome. Thank you for doing mine," She said and opened her arms for a friendly hug, which I accepted. The embraced lasted a couple of seconds before she pulled away.

"No problem. Glad I could do it for you," I said with a smile, which she returned as she said her goodbyes and exited the tattoo shop. That was the last customer of today.

I sighed tiredly since I spent hours seated in a quite uncomfortable position as well as hunched over, yet I was happy to make my costumers happy. I went over to Carley, who was the girl in charge of receiving the costumers' money, payments, etcetera.

"Phone, please," I asked her politely. She nodded and retrieved my phone from inside her desk. We had this thing between my co-workers and me where we would give our phones to Carley on our work shifts to avoid distracting ourselves while working. Plus, Carley would inform us if we received anything that seemed important.

Talking about my co-workers... I was the only one at the shop today, my tattoo mates and I took turns to show up at the tattoo shop. I had to admit, our shop was quite small, so one different person would come in every day and close shop, and once everybody had come in, the cycle repeated. I hope that wasn't too confusing. Carley had to come in every day, but they paid her enough to keep her coming in.

I unlocked my phone and checked my notifications as Carley started closing shop. She tidied everything and locked the front, glass doors. I was about to look through my emails before Carley started talking.

"Ready to go, (Y/N)?" She asked, her bright, green eyes shimmering. I nodded and sighed, this time a sigh of tiredness.

"Yes, let's go," I replied as we both exited through the back door.

(A/N): Hello, dear reader! 

My name is Nicci, nice to meet you :)

I hope you're liking the story so far. This chapter was more of an introduction to (Y/N)'s life and background so you can get to know her better as the story unfolds. The next chapter is already written, but I wanna hear your thought about the story so far. How are you liking it? Feel free to leave a comment below with your rants, thoughts, ideas, etc. I'll be reading every comment. Thank you so much for reading and I'll see you in the next chapter!!

-Nicci