Chapter Text
cring
The bell chimed, signifying a customer coming in. Mitusri's head looked at the door to welcome the person who just came in. "Ah, Tomioka welcome. You must be here for your appointment right?" Giyuu just nodded. "Sanemi is waiting for you, just go the furthest room to the right. You can tell it's his room cause the door has clouds on them" Mitsuri smiles at him sweetly. The brunet whispered a small thanks as he went further inside the shop.
The parlor was dim, giving off an edgy vibe, the LED lights illuminating the hallway. The walls were painted black, adorned with pictures hung on the wall. The pictures consist of staff that have worked for the shop and famous clients. At the end of the hallway, there's an LED sign that says 'Hashira'. That was the name of the shop. Giyuu continued to walk until he's reached the last room of the hallway. The door was decorated with paintings of oriental clouds.
'This is Sanemi's room alright' Giyuu thought to himself.
He hesitated for a bit, not knowing if he should knock or not. He decided to knock on the door, afraid that if he were to just open the door, the man inside the room would just yell at him. They've met a couple of times, most of their meetings consisting of Sanemi yelling at Giyuu for being an idiot.
"Come in!"
When Giyuu came into view Sanemi's eyes widen,
"You?!"
"Yes me, look you probably hate me but I just want a decent tattoo and Mitsuri says you're the only person available at this hour" Giyuu explained, not in the mood to get into a fight with the white-haired man. Sanemi's eyes widen even more at his client's statement, he hadn't meant it that way. He wanted to correct himself but just decided against it. He mumbled a sorry instead and told Giyuu to take a seat.
"Have you decided on what you wanted to get yet?" Sanemi asked as he prepared his equipment. "Yeah, a rose tattoo on the back of my right shoulder" Giyuu replied. Sanemi nodded "Do you have a reference photo that I could follow?". The brunet let out a small 'mhmm' and pulled out his phone from his bag. "Here," He said as he gave his phone to the tattoo artist. Sanemi gave him his phone back and hummed, "The tattoo's pretty simple, quite detailed but simple. Probably will take me an hour or two. You good with that?" Giyuu nodded and took his shirt off, "Well then lets start."
Thirty minutes have passed and Giyuu is in pain. According to google, having a tattoo done somewhere along the shoulder isn't really that painful, but it's his first tattoo. The tattoos outline was already done, he heard Sanemi said a while back. Another ten minutes of silence and pain went by. The tattooist decided to break the silence,
"I don't hate you." He said softly, working on the details of the tattoo.
Giyuu was a bit shocked at this, "Really? When you first came to my shop you tried to pick a fight with me." he snorted recalling the time he told Sanemi that he could come inside his shop and only getting a glare as a reply. "I'm sorry, a customer pissed me off and seems like it affected me the entire day" Sanemi's temper usually gets the best of him. Giyuu turned his head a bit to look at Sanemi, "it's fine, the customers here probably give you guys tons of unnecessary stress." Sanemi meets Giyuu's gaze and chuckles a bit "Damn right".
Silence passed by them again, Sanemi wanted to break the silence again but Giyuu got to him first.
"Is it almost done?" Giyuu asks. "A few more lines then we're done" He replies, concentrating back to the tattoo, making sure he wouldn't make a mistake. Giyuu noticed the artists' movements becoming less and less. "And we're done!" Sanemi exclaimed he was contented at how it turned out. "Give me your phone," he said to the florist. Without hesitation, the florist gave it to him. Sanemi quickly snapped a pic of the tattoo and gave it back to the owner. "You like it?" He asks sheepishly. 'What the fuck has gotten into you Sanemi get a fucking grip! You're one of the best tattooist here, of course, he's gonna-'
"I don't like it" Giyuu turns around to look at Sanemi, looking as emotionless as ever.
'what?' Sanemi swears he felt his heart dropped. It's not the first time he has heard a client say he didn't like the outcome but, hearing it from Giyuu felt different. More painful.
Giyuu panics a bit, seeing the artists' face drop. He has no idea what possessed him but his hand found its way to the other's cheek, causing Sanemi to stare back at Giyuu.
"I love it." The florist says with a smile.
Sanemi's heart busted a nut. A huge one.
Oh no,
I think I'm catching feelings.
Sanemi then realized Giyuu's hand on his cheek, he felt heat rising up his face. Giyuu seems to realize it too and immediately retracts his hand, obviously embarrassed from what he did. "I-I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me." He looks down embarrassed. Sanemi was even more flustered at this, 'fuck is it legal for someone stuttering to be this cute?!' Sanemi's gonna go feral if Giyuu's gonna continue being this cute.
Regaining his composure "Are you apologizing for the hand or the prank where you told me you didn't like the tattoo?" the tattooist asked with a teasing smirk plastered on his face. The smirk had an effect on the florist.
'oh no, he's hot!'.
Giyuu felt like fainting.
"BOTH!" The florist cried out.
Sanemi let out a small chuckle and patted the brunet's head. "Let's patch it up". Sanemi then proceeds to patch Giyuu's tattoo and explains to him what to do and what not to do. "If you have any more questions, just swing by the shop." Giyuu just nods at this, face still tinted with pink. He puts his shirt back on and gathers his belongings. He was about to walk out of the room until he heard Sanemi's voice, and he just stops.
"Never thought you'd be into tattoos"
"Well, you'd be surprised at what else I'm into"
"Yeah, like what?"
"You."
It took Giyuu a lot of confidence to say that. He looked at Sanemi dead in the eyes and smirked at him.
"If you wanna talk, you know where to find me."
He then takes his leave. Giyuu was proud of himself that he was able to pull that off. He felt victorious and embarrassed. But more victorious of course, Sanemi's reaction was everything. He walked out of the hallway and was met with Mitsuri at the front desk.
"So do you like your new tattoo?" She asked cheerfully, "Yeah Shinazugawa did a great job with it." He gives her a small smile and shows her the picture Sanemi took earlier. "Oh wow, it does look great!! Sanemi must be proud of it!" The pink-haired girl let out a delightful squeal. "Eh? It's a basic tattoo why would he be proud of it?" Giyuu asks rather confused. He's seen Sanemi's work online and he's done bigger and more extravagant complex designs. Something worth to be proud of.
"It's because his client seems to genuinely like the tattoo."
Both Mitsuri and Giyuu faced the new person who came in. "Ahh Tengen, how long have you been standing there?" Mitsuri asks. "Long enough to see that Giyuu genuinely likes the tattoo Sanemi made. No matter how simple or complex the design is, when we see a client who's happy with the outcome we've made, that's what makes us proud of our work" Tengen explained to Giyuu. "We used to go to school together Giyuu and from the 4 years we've been around each other, this is the most emotion I've seen from you. You're flamboyantly beaming with happiness right now" Tengen continued clarifying to Giyuu on how easy it was to read him. The florist was a bit flustered with what the flamboyant man has just said."Well, what can I say, those were the dark days" He looked at Tengen and gave him a small smile.
He looks back at Mitsuri giving her his payment, adding in a little tip (and a small paper). "It's getting late, can't let Aoi handle the shop much longer, she's probably scared off most of our costumers by now," Giyuu says his goodbyes to the other two and takes his leave.
Meanwhile back at the shop with Sanemi...
The white-haired man was a mess, a HUGE flustered mess.
Sanemi.exe has stopped working.
This time, it took a lot longer for Sanemi to regain his composure. What Giyuu said has been playing on repeat ever since he has left.
'you.'
'you.'
'you.'
He wanted to die right then and there. He took a breather for a while and tried to calm himself. He knew he was attracted to the man from the first time he saw him open his shop, but he didn't expect to fall hard for him.
Sanemi grip his hair and screamed.
Once he was done, he practiced his breathing technique and tried to act like a functional human being again.
"Tomioka Giyuu, What the fuck have you done to me." He said to himself as buried his face to his hands.
Just then, he heard the door swung open and came in a worried Mitsuri, "Are you okay? I heard screaming, are you hurt?" Sanemi looks at her with an exasperated face. "Yeah I'm fine just go back I'll start cleaning up now." He says to her, pushing her out of the room. "Okay okay, here's Tomioka's payment" She handed him the bill. He accepted it and said his thanks as she walked out of the room, not forgetting to close the door.
Sanemi counted the money he received. 'What the fuck Giyuu, you overpaid.' The artist sighed. As he counted he saw a piece of paper in between the bills. He tucked the money in his pocket and opened the paper.
Tomioka Giyuu, xxxx-xxx-xxxx
"That cheeky bastard" Sanemi whispered to himself as he read the paper. A little smile crept to his face.
Perhaps this is the happiest he has been in a long time.