Strictly Stories

The Tattoo Pact

This one-shot is a request from @TudorPrincess12 with the prompt being about Steps deciding on a tattoo as a band pact. Hope you all enjoy reading it! :)

_

"Tell me, why again are we doing this?" Lisa questions the band nervously as they make their way towards a taxi. "H was obviously just joking with the idea of a tattoo, wasn't he?" 

"In fact I was completely honest. Doing some kind of band tattoo is lovely, that way we can show what we mean to each other." H explains, still proud of his idea. 

"And you all mean a lot to me but- but why doing a tattoo? I mean-" Lisa stutters nervously as H takes his fellow Welsh bandmate over to the taxi they booked. "What if- if I don't like my tattoo?"

"Oh come on, I don't want us to do something weird or inappropriate." H laughs, sitting down on the back seat of the car with a smile. "For real, Lisa. I wouldn't want you all to do a weird tattoo. It will be something lovely."

Lisa sighs as she watches the landscape in silence while the others are already busy with discussing on which kind of tattoo to do. 

"Maybe something about our songs. Like a quote or something." H arguments, but the others shake their head.

"No, I think a proper picture is better. Like, we did quite a few songs so it would only led to discussions." Faye replies back. Besides H of course, it seems like she's o quite fond on the idea of a tattoo. But well, to her bandmates she always is a bit like the rocker of the band, preferring rocky clothes, changing her hairstyle (like the dreadlocks she currently decides on) and listening to plenty of rock music. Her bandmates are certain Faye planned a tattoo before H even told them his idea. 

As for Lisa, she seems to be quite nervous. Even as they walk towards the tattoo studio she's biting her lip thoughtfully, almost tripping over her own feet as she stares at the shop with a frown on her face. "I don't know." she mumbles. 

In a friendly manner Claire puts an arm around her shorter bandmate, smiling. "Come on. Want to look at the pretty ideas they offer? I bet there are pretty nice tattoo ideas."

The others smile at this manner, being quite used to Claire being a bit like a sister towards them. 

"Okay." Lisa replies quietly, now looking around in the shop with slight interest. It's a pleasant shop, definitely, but she still doesn't know what tattoo she should decide on. And she's far too nervous. 

"Woah, that looks so amazing!" they all hear Faye saying. Their tall bandmate points at a picture of (probably) a celebrity who shows a tattoo over his arm, a tattoo of some kind of fantasy creature. "I want that!"

"First of all, you said that about literally every single tattoo we looked at and besides, I don't think that Pete will be too happy about you arriving at rehearsals with a tattoo over your complete arm." Claire arguments, fully knowing about how easily her bandmate is to impress. 

"But-"

"That looks great." Lee tells them, interrupting their conversation, showing them a picture of an tattoo example too. 

"No, definitely not!" Lisa squeals. "That looks weird! What is that actually?"

"Isn't that from one of these creepy movies?" H teases. 

"It is." Faye replies, rather annoyed. "Can we do our tattoo now? It's so exciting!" 

"How about deciding on a tattoo? We said it's a pact." Claire explains, taking her usual duty of being like a band leader. "Any ideas?"

"Definitely something that defines us." Lee replies. "Hence why a line from our song is actually a good idea."

"No, no line from our song. That's boring!" Faye announces. 

"Okay, my lady. What's your idea?" H teases, playfully pulling her by her dreadlocks. "See, you don't know what we should do either."

Faye bits her lip, before just keeping quiet. 

"I know something!" Lisa announces after the band was thinking in silence for a while. With all eyes resting on her she tells them her idea. "How about dance shoes?"

Claire frowns. "Sorry, Lisa. But we're no dancers."

"But we're Steps! As in dancing our steps. And besides, we're a line-dancing pop group so dance shoes is actually a good idea." H replies. "It defines us as a band but not too obvious. I mean, we all like dancing. Even if it's just dancing at bars." he adds upon seeing Claire still frowning at them. 

"I like that." Lee grins.

"Sounds about correct to me." Claire answers after thinking about this idea for a moment. After all it was still true what H said: they might are no dancers but they do dancing in the band and quite like dancing as well. "Okay. Let's do dance shoes as a tattoo."

Happily that they agreed on which tattoo to do, H takes the duty of talking to the shop owner. The guy walks over to them, seeming quite satisfied upon realising that he could earn a good amount of money when doing a tattoo for all of them. H politely explains their idea, not minding about the frowns he earns - and not minding about what that guy thinks about their band pact in general. To H and also to the others it's a great idea to show their bond as a band. 

Happily smiling, Faye sits down as she watches the tattoo being done - her obvious excitement showing. "What kind of tattoos do you do else?" she asks, watching the dance shoes being drawn. "What? This tattoo is a band pact but I might want a tattoo of my own." she adds, seeing the others looking at her with surprise. "Thank you! It looks amazing, what a great work of art!" she squeals, admiring the tattoo in fascination. 

Lisa sits down rather quietly, shrugging as the shop owner starts painting her tattoo. She bits her lip thoughtfully, while H sits down next to his fellow Welsh bandmate. "Hey, no worries. It looks great and I bet Johnny will like that tattoo as well." he explains her, patting her head as she let out a little cry - being happy when the tattoo was now painted and she could take her place with the others again.

Both Claire and Lee seem quite relaxed when their tattoo is done, both being quite satisfied and happy with their decision. True that they're no dancers but the hint to their bandname is actually pretty clever and yet the tattoo isn't too obvious. They all were suspicious at the start when H told them his idea about doing a tattoo to show their bond as bandmates - but now they really like the idea. Hopefully their producer Pete wouldn't think about it as weird or something. 

"Guys, doesn't it look totally amazing?" H asks, admiring his tattoo now too. "I think this band pact is another great idea of mine." he jokes.

"I admit, I quite like it." Lisa admits. "Who knows? Maybe I will do another tattoo when thinking of something properly." she smiles. "Sorry if I annoyed you with being a bit nervous."

"Hey, I totally understand you. Bet we all were a bit nervous." Claire assures her. "But look at us - we made a true band pact and I can't tell you how happy I am about that. You all are simply amazing and mean so much to me."

"Go Steps!" H cheers as the others join with applauding each other in happy laughters. They know about their band pact being a great idea, even if the band might separate when they would want to do music of their own - but they all are fairly certain that even then their bond aside the band would still be amazing.