tsv oneshots

how to keep a promise.

a/n: short, sweet, platonic breddy.

-

brett and eddy love making promises.

case in point:

"we'll do a livestream at 500k!"

"we'll do two livestreams at 1 million!"

"we promise to learn that piece in 2 years time."

however, they aren't very good at keeping them.

so, neither of them worried too much when brett promised, at the end of a video:

"if this video gets to 500k likes, eddy and i will get matching tattoos!"

it wasn't going to be a big deal, 1) because it was unlikely that the video was going to reach that many likes, and 2) they weren't obligated to keep the promise anyways.

-

after brett turned off the camera, eddy looked at him in surprise.

"matching tattoos? bro, really?" he asked, fighting back laughter.

"it's never gonna happen—500k likes? no way," brett responded.

"good, because i'm scared of needles." eddy confessed, "and commitment."

-

two weeks later, brett and eddy were in deep shit.

brett's challenge did not go unheeded, unfortunately, and their video received well over 500,000 likes.

but, it wasn't a problem, right? they broke promises all the time, and no one really cared anyways.

except it wasn't like that this time.

h*lary h*hn (a/n: starring out her name because she absolutely cannot find this) had encouraged them in the comments to get a viola tattooed, as payback for what they had made her post on her instagram story.

on top of that, ray suggested that they get each other's names tattooed, even going as far to campaign on his instagram to get people to like the video.

and, the video's popularity had caused them to gain quite a few subscribers.

with all those people watching, they couldn't let them down.

right?

-

"brett, what the fuck?" eddy was panicking, pacing around their recording room, hands running hastily through his hair.

"i know, i know," brett groaned, laying on the piano bench, face down, very uncomfortably.

"we have to do it," eddy declared, very regretfully.

"do we though?" brett asked, face red as he sat up from hanging off the piano bench.

"are you kidding?!" eddy exclaimed, "of course we do—h*lary said so."

"oh god, i can't believe i got us into this shit," brett ran his hands up and down his face, stressed.

but, eddy was right. they made a promise, and this time, they really did have to keep it.

-

brett and eddy looked very out of their realm as they stood in the tattoo parlor. no piercings, no tattoos, and wearing shirts that said "musician" on them. yeah—they couldn't have been more out of place.

both of them were terrified, too. eddy flinched whenever he heard a tattoo gun start up from across the room, humming at an even b natural. how ironic. brett's face paled at the sight of the heavily inked arms of the man at the front desk.

but they had no choice. they made a promise, and they were going to carry through. the appointment was set, and there was no turning back now.

the man with the tattooed arms led them back to his station, preparing the needles and ink while eddy set up the tripod, his hands trembling.

they would film the whole thing, of course.

"what are you boys getting today?" the big, burly man asked with a thick australian accent.

brett fumbled with the small picture in his pocket.

"uh, here. same thing, for the both of us." brett said awkwardly. it must have looked weird, two guys walking into a tattoo parlor together to get matching tattoos. brett was painfully self aware.

the tattoo artist looked at the picture and nodded. it was a treble clef, small and simple. perfect for brett and eddy.

in usual twoset fashion, brett and eddy did scissors, paper, rock to see who had to go first. eddy lost, and he slumped in the chair in defeat.

he turned his right forearm face up, preparing himself for the experience of a needle stabbing into him repeatedly for the next 20 minutes.

brett sat next to him, holding his hand outside the frame of the camera for moral support.

eddy squeezed his eyes shut and held his breath as he heard the buzz of the tattoo gun get closer.

brace yourself, eddy.

okay, it's coming any second now.

any second...

after quite a while of holding his breath, eddy opened his eyes cautiously.

he was getting tattooed, alright, but it didn't hurt, at all.

his eyebrows furrowed in confusion, and he loosened his tight grip on brett's hand.

"huh, it doesn't even hurt," eddy mentioned in shock. it was actually a thousand times less terrifying than he'd thought it be.

twenty minutes of sitting in the tattoo chair went by with a breeze, and it was finally brett's turn.

he didn't have a fear of needles, so he was less scared than eddy initially. and, after seeing eddy's mild reaction to the tattoo, he was confident that it wouldn't be so bad.

he was wrong.

as soon as the needle pricked his skin for the first time, brett gasped in pain.

"shit, that hurts," he hissed, squeezing eddy's hand so hard that his knuckles turned white.

eddy leaned closer to brett in worry.

the tattoo artist continued on with his work, unfazed by brett's expletives.

"fuck, oh god," brett groaned as the needle stabbed into his arm repeatedly.

how did eddy make this look so easy?

he was breathing heavy and sweating, trying to handle the pain.

eddy pushed the hair out of his eyes and squeezed his hand back in encouragement.

"it's halfway done, brett, you can do it!"

brett leaned his head back and winced, holding back the tears behind his eyes.

if eddy said he could do it, he could do it.

and sure enough, he did. after an excruciating 20 minutes, brett stood up and looked down at his and eddy's right forearms.

the small black treble clef stood out in sharp contrast to their pale skin, but ever so beautifully. it was admittedly minimal, but they wouldn't have had it any other way.

"woah, dude, this is so cool," eddy said in amazement, bringing his arm up to his face.

brett inspected his tattoo as well. the skin on his arm was throbbing, red, and angry-looking, but the treble clef itself looked perfect.

the two violinists left the tattoo parlor with smiles on their faces after paying and thanking the man.

they walked down the street to eddy's car, sunlight in their eyes.

"hey brett?" eddy broke the silence.

"yeah?"

"we should keep promises more often."