Tattoo Artist | o. diaz

ochenta y dos: safehouse

Venus and Luciana stared at Cesar as he sat on Venus' couch, scarfing food down like he hasn't eaten in months. "Cesar, I thought you were working with Jamal at the shop?"

Cesar froze, but didn't bother to look up. "I am." He didn't want to tell her the truth. How he lost his sense and slept with Paula. How he regretted it and only did it because Monse was far and Paula was close. Now, he didn't even want to face Paula and deal with the tension. "Today's my day off though. How's the shop?"

"Good, w-"

"She's thinking about expanding it." Luciana commented, a big smile on her face as she shook Venus' shoulders. "Cash money things."

Venus smacked her lips, then pinched Luciana's thigh. "I wanted to tell him."

"Well, you took too long."

Luis walked over to Cesar from his play corner and tapped his leg. "Tío, want to play? I got new legos, and cars."

"Papito, he's still eating."

Cesar looked down to Luis and said, "Maybe later." Luis sighed, but nodded his head as he went to the couch and started watching Spongebob.

When Luis was gone, Venus turned to Cesar. "Cesar, what's going on?"

Cesar paused and looked away from Luis to look at Venus who had one of her eyebrows raised. "What do you mean?"

"Cesar, I've known you long enough to know when something's up. What's wrong?"

Cesar cleared his throat and looked to the girl he's considered a solid mother figure in his life for the past 4 years. "I'm leaving."

"Really? You just got here though."

Cesar shook his head at Luciana and smiled when he saw her grab Venus' hand. "No, I mean, I'm leaving town. It's not safe for me here anymore, so I'm going to live with one of the OG Santos, Chivo."

"The one with all the gnomes that had a heart attack because of Jamal?"

Cesar scrunched his face up and looked to Venus who remained unbothered. "How do you know about that?"

"Who do you think Jamal rants to when he can't hold his secrets in anymore? I know everything. Everything." Venus raised her eyebrows, giving Cesar a pointed look. Cesar shifted as Venus eyed him, then he looked down to his plate of food. "Anyways, are you sure his place is safe?"

"Monse and the guys told me he lives in a neighborhood right outside of here and apparently it's boring. And to them, boring means safe. Plus he calls it his safehouse."

"Do you know how long you'll be gone?" Venus asked. She looked at the 14-year-old and felt a sudden wave of sadness going over her.

"A week? That's how long he'll let me stay, but they're trying to get me out of Freeridge, so the Prophets can't find me. I just wanted to say bye because I don't know if I'll ever come back." Venus nodded then stood up so she could sit in the empty seat beside him. "So thank you, for never giving up on me."

"Of course, you know I love you, Cesar. Just be safe, please."

Cesar nodded his head and smiled as Venus leaned over and hugged him tightly. "So exactly how much did Jamal tell you?"

Venus laughed and laughed even harder at her next words, "Money Bunny to Paloma."

× × ×

"Luis, stop running around."

"But I bored." Luis groaned, throwing his head back and stumbling when he lost balance. "I want tattoo."

Luciana perked up and scooped Luis up off the ground. "Oh, I can give you one." Luis squealed as Luciana threw him over her shoulder and then gently threw him down into her chair. "Which one, papi?"

Luciana held 5 temporary tattoos in front of Luis and started to imitate the real tattoo process, starting by putting gloves on and taking out alcohol pads. Luis couldn't chose just one, so he ended up with an sleeve of temporary tattoos about an hour later because Luciana was trying to be as dedicated as possible.

"Aye, we match!" Pablo exclaimed, watching Luis run to Venus who was still filling in the bird tattoo on his shoulder. "Mira, tenemos un búho."

"Mamá, I want tattoos like tío."

"When you're older, papito. Go get your backpack." Luis sighed and ran off to Venus office, looking for said item.

Everyone continued talking and laughing with the Santos getting tattoos when the bell above the door rang. Luciana was going to stand up and greet the person that walked in, then froze when she saw all the green he was wearing.

"Yo, Venus, where's Lil Spooky?"

Venus froze and pulled her hand away from Pablo's shoulder to turn around and find the prophet. There were already over 5 Santos in the building, and Pablo was the first to stand up. "Get the hell out."

"Or what?"

SORRY BABIES 🥺 I HAD THE BIGGEST WRITERS BLOCK SO I JUST DECIDED THAT ALL THE CHAPTERS (including the last one) WILL BE FULL OF DRAMA SO PUT ON UR SEAT BELTS :)