There's Nothing Holding Me Back | L.S.

Three: Tattoos & Preparation

Word Count: 3,070

Louis thinks Harry's definitely still blushing from his cheek kiss when they pull into the parking lot of the small tattoo shop. Harry points out Gemma's car of the three that are there and parks next to it. They walk into the building, Harry holding the door open for Louis, and a woman excitedly runs towards them and tackles Harry into a hug. Louis assumes the girl is his sister, and she does look a bit familiar from the last time they had met.

"Hi, you must be Gemma? I'm Louis," he introduces himself when she's pulled away from her brother though it was probably unnecessary because they'd met.

"I know!" Gemma exclaims, pulling him into a hug as well. She seems very touchy so Louis really should've expected this, but he still gives Harry a surprised look over her shoulder. Harry looks at them fondly, glad that both are being friendly. "I would say Harry's told me so much about you, but he really hasn't..."

Louis lets out a laugh and confesses, "that's understandable seeing as we only met each other last night."

Gemma gasps and looks at Harry to check if this was true. When he nods, she says, "that's insane! You're already getting tattoos?!" Harry grins and shrugs sheepishly. Gemma just shakes her head but doesn't actually seem mad. Then, she asks, "what are you getting?"

"We're gonna get the words 'in my blood' in cute cursive," Louis and Harry share a sweet smile as he explains. Harry then walks to the front desk to talk to the receptionist.

"That's sweet! Is it supposed to be like the Shawn Mendes song, or...?" Gemma asks.

Louis nods, grinning. "It is, yeah. I'd tell you the whole story, but I think-"

Harry catches their attention when he crosses back to them and tells Louis, "I'm going first so you'll have plenty of time to explain then, but right now you've gotta go write out my tattoo, babe." Louis blushes at the word babe but says nothing and walks to the desk.

Before Harry walks down the hallway, Gemma stops him and tells him she needs to ask him something quick but private. Louis takes one of the two seats by the front after drawing out the cursive he'd imagined, adding a small heart to the end as a surprise for Harry.

"Is there something going on between you two?" Gemma asks bluntly.

Harry becomes flustered quickly, a familiar reaction of Harry's to Gemma. "What? No, of course not. We just met."

"Harry, there's a hickey on your neck." Harry's hands dart immediately to his neck to cover where he knows the spot is, though he's forgotten about his and Louis' bathroom shenanigans from earlier that morning until this moment.

"Different person, Gem, I gotta go." Gemma tries to call after him but he ignores her and continues walking. She sighs and decides to ask Louis instead, so she heads back to sit next to him.

"So, about that story..." She begins, watching as Louis' face turns from neutral to happy.

"Of course! Well, last night I was just kinda chilling at my house, binge watching Glee on Netflix, and suddenly it's three in the morning, so I turn off the TV and go to go to sleep but I hear music coming from next door. But, the thing is, it's not, like, party music or anything. So I walk outside and follow it to the house next to mine, see that there's a ladder up to the roof, and climb up and sit next to this dude. That dude was Harry, and we talked for a few minutes, danced a bit, and then he invited me to sit inside because he was shivering. I ended up just staying the night because I'm lazy, but we decided to get in my blood tattooed because we danced to it," Louis summarizes.

Gemma widens her eyes, nods, and says the occasional "yeah" through his speech, but afterwards she says, "that's so sweet! Much better story than when we met..."