Roses and Ink|Cricky

8|Doodles

Chris' POV:

I watched Ricky carefully as he doodled in his notebook, leaning against me with his legs pulled toward his chest. We were sitting in the lobby of his shop, soaking up the free time we had together.

I glanced at his little drawings, smiling at the hearts intricately drawn around the edge of the page. Even his drawings were cute. Especially for little doodles, they were still so well done. Immaculate line work and a damn good shading job. Every once in a while, Ricky would set his pencil on top of his notebook and shake his hand about to get rid of cramps.

I smiled softly and kissed his cheek once he did the hand thing again. "I love those little hearts." I told him, pulling him closer with the arm I had wrapped around his waist.

He looked up and me and blushed. "Thank you.." He whispered. He grabbed his pencil again and started yet another doodle, placing the outline of a rose inside the heart border. "How close together are the thorns?" He asked, looking up at me with how doe-like blue eyes.

"Pretty close... Maybe about the width of your finger apart down the stem." I answered. He nodded and went back to his drawing, scooting even closer to me and leaning against me. His body was so damn tiny compared to me. I loved it. I could just scoop him up and hold him all day.

As I sat there with this pretty boy, my mind started to wander about him. I wanted to know more. Where he was from, his childhood, fears and interests. I knew that I had to ask him out again, not the other way around. Ricky was too shy to make a move like that and I was aware of it. But, the question did remain: when was the right time to ask for a second date? It had only been a little less than a week since our dinner-movie date and since then we'd seen each other almost every day. Usually just a little chat on our breaks and some almost cuddling like we were now. I didn't want to bombard him by asking him out too soon.

I sighed softly to myself, which caused Ricky to look up at me again. "You okay?" He asked, his brows furrowed slightly in light concern.

"Y-Yeah, sorry." I mumbled. "Just thinking about stuff."

"Stuff?" He inquired.

I shrugged. "Just usual stuff." I lied. "I'm supposed to be getting a delivery of petunia seeds and still haven't gotten them yet. Come to think of it, it might be about time to water the sunflowers again." I rambled. Ricky got the message and sat up, allowing me to stand.

"Oh... W-Well I'll see you around then?" He asked, tucking some of his black hair behind his ear. His hands fell in front of him and he tugged on the sleeves of the jacket he wore. My jacket.

"Of course, doll." I lifted his chin and kissed his forehead. "If I don't see you before closing, I'll give you a call tonight. Okay?"

He smiled and blushed, nodding. "That sounds nice, Chris." He got on the tips of his toes and gave me a peck on the cheek. "I should probably go clean up my area a bit before my next client." He chuckled.

I couldn't help but smile. He was so cute, so sweet. I wanted to just kiss him right then and there, but it still felt like it would be too soon. So we just stood there in a comfortable silence, eyes going from each other to the floor for what seemed like hours.

"Chris, go back to work." Ryan Ashley teased me, snapping off her gloves while she came out of her cubicle.

I laughed softly and slid my hands into my pockets. "That's my signal." I whispered. I gave Ricky another kiss on the forehead before leaving the shop and making the short walk across the street.

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A few hours passed before I was back at the tattoo shop, laying on Ricky's bench as he doodled on the back of my hand with a marker. "Have you thought about the tattoo design?" He asked me sweetly, pulling the marker away and grabbing a cotton bud. He wet it in his mouth and lightly cleaned up his lines.

"A little bit. I want more pumpkins inked... I'm still wary about covering my gay tattoo." I admitted with a light laugh. "Could you do that for me?"

"Like, jack o lanterns?" He raised a brow and looked up at me. A small bit of hair hung in front of his face before he tucked it back into his beanie. "I could do something like that for you, Boo." He smiled sweetly, his little dimples showing.

"God you're so fuckin' pretty." I grumbled, placing my free hand over my face to avoid the blush that was beginning to rise to my cheeks. I heard the shy giggle from Ricky and smiled. "You're even pretty when I cant see you." I huffed.

Ricky pulled my hand away from my eyes and sighed. "Oh shut up. You're the pretty boy here." He kissed my forehead before grabbing his marker and going right back to my hand. He was just drawing out little smoke clouds, placing an occasional pair of eyes behind said smoke. Although it wasn't what I had in mind for my hand tattoo, it was still beautifully done as is. He was just so creative.

Creative. The word hit me like a truck. Ricky was the definition of the word creative. He could draw something straight from his imagination with vivid color and no hesitation. He could come up with alternative ideas in the blink of an eye. He hardly needed inspiration for what he's able to do with his hands. Creative. Artistic. Ricky.

I had to get creative with my next move on Ricky. It had to be cute, but not overwhelming. Big, but not over-the-top.

"On second thought... I think I do have an idea for that tattoo."

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hey it's me again. i don't know if i like this chapter or not. however, the bb 2ndSucksDick approved so i figured it was good enough. thank you always for the support. i'll try and update more frequently. -rick