Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Just give it a chance yeah? I heard there’s piercings there too, you like them."  

Jo grumbled as she walked home that afternoon, Clara’s reasoning’s repeating in her head. Yeah, she had her ear pierced, but that’s all. She wasn’t planning on getting anymore any time soon, she already had someone to go to for that. 

Tattoos however.... 

The blonde shook her head. She wouldn’t get a tattoo, no matter how much Clara begged to get matching ones. Even if for whatever reason she did it wouldn’t be from a new, shady looking place that also did piercings. For one thing that meant they weren’t a full-time tattooist. Not that proving to herself the people there weren’t good at their job just because she hated the look of it. It ruined the look of the street. A big black and grey building amongst normal brick shops and houses. It stood out more than her own shop, that had a rather big sign boarded on the top to get attention of potential customers, as well as the colour scheme being golds and yellows on the outside, to show that it was a happy and friendly place.  

Granted, the tattoo place had always looked run down, and there had been people working on it in spring - that were really loud and annoyed her when she had to be in the shop all day – but at least it was brick and went together with the street. Now they had painted it black, wanting to be a student flat at first, but then Clara told her a tattooist was renting it out. Jo didn’t want anyone there to be honest, it was nice being nothing, non-existent. It was a nice break from the houses, and she could walk through it to get to the beach quicker.  

“You can’t judge a book by its cover, so why a parlour? Would you want someone to judge your flower quality by the look of your shop?”  

She hated that Clara was right. Of course, she wouldn’t want that. She judged people who did that. 

Jo unlocked the door and strolled into her shop, going straight to the desk to set her phone down and write up the three orders she needed to sort out. Clara had set up a website for her and she had to go over to hers for the orders. Luckily, they were local and said they could collect from the shop today, however, she didn’t know what time any of them were coming. Usually when she got a phone order, they would set up a time but Clara didn’t add in that feature on the website. It irked her.  

Half way through looking at the orders she heard a purring noise from the underneath her. She looked down to see a cat rubbing his body against her leg. It must’ve gotten in through the window. When she knelt down slowly to pet it, she noticed it was a calico colour Norwegian Forest cat, and that it didn’t have a collar. Not many cats did to be fair, but she didn’t recognise this one. It looked friendly, and jumped on her desk when she stood straight. After a bit of thought the blonde waltzed over to her fridge in the back of the shop to see if she had milk for it. The cat merely meowed at her suddenly vanishing, but looked happy when she came back with a saucer of milk. 

For the next hour she stood at the counter, petting, feeding, and even talking to the cat, her flower orders long forgotten. In fact, it wasn’t until someone walked into the shop that she remembered where she was. 

“Oh sorry, I haven’t gotten the orders done yet,” Jo said suddenly when she heard the bell ding. She moved away from the cat perched on the counter to the notes and quickly went to move into the back. “Got distracted by the cat. Love animals me. I’m sorry, but it shouldn’t take long. I’m not used to internet commissions as Clara called it. I hate not knowing when someone’s coming through the door.” 

She paused as she looked at the array of flowers set up, some tulips, some roses, and some forget-me-nots – just some she dug up this morning - and scrunched her face when she realised she didn’t ask which order was the customer’s. When she walked back out to the woman, who stood by the desk absentmindedly petting the cat, she realized she had never seen the woman before in her life, and that she clearly dressed for hotter weather than it was today. Maybe she was a tourist? The woman in question looked up at the blonde when she noticed her presence, and that she was staring. 

“Sorry, waiting on three orders, which one’s yours?” Jo explained once it registered to her that she hadn’t said anything, a lump caught in her throat when she glanced between the cat and the woman, noticing the number of tattoos she had on her, and how beautiful she was.  

“I’m not a customer,” she smiled up at her, her voice soft yet there was a hint of amusement in her tone. “I came in here looking for my cat.” 

“Oh,” the blonde slowly walked out, realisation dawned on her a second later when she noticed the cat purring against her fingers. “ Oh . Sorry. He must’ve gotten in here by the window, I left it open.” 

“It’s okay, he’s just exploring the new area.” 

“You’re new here?” Jo approached her and went behind the counter, three printed out cards spread out next to the computer, again abandoned as she kept her focus on the stranger. 

“I’m sure you’ve noticed the new tattoo and piercings-” 

“Oh, yeah, yeah. Explains the tattoos,” she gestured to her, only now seeing that she had one along her collarbone of what looked like flower branches that stopped at her chest that was easy enough to see with her – in her personal opinion – somewhat revealing clothing. How was this woman not cold? She gulped again, her hand falling to her side when she noticed the woman smirk at her, clearly amused by the way her hand was not so subtly pointing at her chest. “Out of curiosity, how many do you have?” 

“Lost count to be honest,” the woman chuckled with a small shrug. 

“You do piercings too?” 

“No, I don’t do them, my colleague Bill does those, she even did mine,” she gestured to her ears, showing three studs along one, and two on the other. “I just do tattoos and henna. We just moved in today and I still need to get some boxes back to the flat. And you’re busy with new orders?” 

“Yeah,” Jo nodded, glancing down at the cat before flicking her eyes at her. “Yeah, yeah, I do. Sorry, your cat’s really cute. What’s his name?” 

“Fitz,” the woman scratched at his ear. “Not my idea by the way, but it’s a good name.” 

“This Bill person named him?” 

“Yeah,” she nodded as she scooped the cat up. “Thanks for looking after him, and if you leave the window open, he might come back, he seems to like you. Which is great actually, he usually doesn’t like strangers, took him a while to get used to me. Sorry, I’m rambling. We’ll be out of your hair now. Thanks again uh... Sorry, what’s your name?” 

“Oh, it’s Jo, Jo Smith,” she smiled as she extended a hand. 

“Nice to meet you Jo,” the woman shifted so she could hold Fitz with one arm and shake the blonde’s hand. “My name’s Yaz Khan.” 

“Yaz...” 

“Yasmin really, but I like Yaz better,” she shrugged before letting go of the rather dazed looking blonde. “See you around then neighbour?” 

Jo didn’t say anything, she merely nodded as Yaz and Fitz left. She realised she still had her hand outstretched, the phantom touch of Yaz’s hand in hers still there, and she looked down as she held her hand to her chest, feeling her heart hammering against it. She swore she was blushing as she sighed, the words slipped out of her mouth so gently that she barely knew she said them, her lips quirked up into a small smile. Luckily nobody was there. 

“Yasmin Khan,” she breathed. “Beautiful name.” 

Chapter Text

Yaz huffed as she set down the last box into the room. They had arrived in the town an hour ago and after having something a bit of a stretch, look around, and drink, Bill and Yaz had moved all the boxes into the building. It was more of a house really, but it was listed as a flat above a work area that was previously used for hairdressing, despite there being a small kitchen in the work area. It didn’t bother them though. Bill even suggested to get a small sofa for customers to sit and have tea if they wait too long, and for the plan she had yet didn’t want Yaz to know. It annoyed her that Bill wouldn’t tell her what this plan was, but just said it was a good surprise. She couldn’t think of anything it could be that they hadn’t discussed already. 

“Have you seen Fitz?” Bill asked as she walked in with a small bubble wrapped lamp in her hand, closing the door behind her. 

“Not since I fed him, no,” she said as she glanced down at the half-eaten bowl on the dusty floor. She looked around the giant room, not seeing him hiding or climbing anywhere. “I can go out to look for him?” 

“Please,” Bill looked up, pleading look on her face. “I’ll look inside, you look out.” 

“I know,” Yaz sighed, knowing how much her friend loved the cat, and how much she’ll start to panic if he’s not found inside in the next five minutes. It was best to split up to find him quicker. “He’s my cat too y’know, I don’t mind going out looking for him.” 

“You sure though? We don’t know the area-” 

“Neither does he,” she shrugged. “He can’t be far-” 

“Maybe try that flower shop across the road? He likes flowers and it’s the only place open to ask if the owners seen him.” 

“Strange that it’s open on a Sunday,” Yaz muttered to herself as she walked out, shutting the door behind her. Immediately she shuddered, the cold finally caught up to her since she had stopped moving for a while and had all of the windows closed since they got there. She cursed herself for not leaving out her coat or a jumper, and that she left her plaid shirt in the shop. It wasn’t until she was at the door of the brightly decorated flower shop that she remembered where she put the shirt. She sighed before stepping in, hoping she could find this cat and not get judged for her appearance. This town seemed like a happy place that never had anything like a tattooist touch it. The big black building standing out of the browns and red of brick was evidence of that. 

“Oh sorry, I haven’t gotten the orders done yet,” she heard a woman, assumingly the owner, say before she looked down at the computer before skipping off into a back room, all the while rambling about how much she loved animals, got distracted, and hated the internet. Or something. It happened so fast Yaz barely saw her, only a blur of blonde hair and blue clothing rush past her when she looked up, and it took a while to process what she had said with her ramblings. Her confusion with what she said was short lived once she saw Fitz happily perched on the counter, a saucer of milk right next to him. He must have been the distraction she spoke of.  

“Being a bit spoiled today huh Fitz,” Yaz muttered as walked over and petted him. The cat merely stretched along the counter and had some of the milk. She rolled her eyes at him and shivered again, noticing the heating wasn’t on. Strange. Even on Sunday’s the heating should be on. Maybe she just opened the shop? It was only half ten after all, and she got distracted by the cat.  

She heard a bit of shuffling from where the woman had gone to, but didn’t bother looking up, seeing as she didn’t need to ask her if she had seen a cat now. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed a blurred blue and yellow figure standing there, and what looked like was only half out of the doorway as she stared at her petting Fitz. 

“Sorry, waiting on three orders, which one’s yours?” the woman asked eventually, glancing down at the cat before looking at Yaz. She smirked slightly when she realised she had noticed the tattoos, looking unsure of how to process them. 

“I’m not a customer,” she smiled up at her, Fitz purring against her fingers as she stroked along his back. “I came in here looking for my cat.” 

“Oh,” the blonde slowly made her way to the counter. Then the penny dropped. “ Oh . Sorry,” she quickly pointed to the open window by a table of Jovellanas in small deep blue pots. Strangely there were no tags on them. Yaz half shrugged to herself, she guessed they were decorative. “He must’ve gotten in here by the window, I left it open.” 

“It’s okay,” Yaz turned to face her, and couldn’t help but be amused by how the blonde looked at her, and how she seemed to feel bad for feeding and petting her cat even though he snuck in. “He’s just exploring the new area.” 

“You’re new here?” 

She motioned towards the big black building across the road. “I’m sure you’ve noticed the new tattoo and piercings-” 

“Oh, yeah, yeah. Explains the tattoos,” she gestured to her, seemingly only now seeing that she had flower branches along her collarbone that stopped at her chest. She gulped again, her hand falling to her side when she noticed Yaz smirking at her. Her reactions to her were amusing. The woman shook her head slightly before breaking her gaze from the tattoos. “Out of curiosity, how many do you have?” 

“Lost count to be honest,” Yaz light-heartedly chuckled with a small shrug. It was only half true really, but didn’t want to shock the woman even more than her appearance already had. 

“You do piercings too?” the blonde tilted her head, like a puppy, Yaz thought, however she looked a bit sceptical and more like a statement than a question. 

“No, I don’t do them, my colleague Bill does those, she even did mine,” she gestured to her ears, showing three studs along one, and two on the other. The woman – who Yaz had only now realised also had a piercing on her left ear that looked really good on her – watched intently as she showed her them. “I just do tattoos and henna. We just moved in today and I still need to get some boxes back to the flat.” She turned around, motioning towards the black building again, before looking questioningly at the woman when she saw three discarded cards by the computer. “And you’re busy with new orders?” 

“Yeah,” she nodded, glancing down at the cat before looking back up at her. She obviously loved Fitz already. He was a lovable cat. “Yeah, yeah, I do. Sorry, your cat’s really cute. What’s his name?” 

“Fitz,” she said as she scratched at his ear fondly. “Not my idea by the way, but it’s a good name.” 

“This Bill person named him?” the blonde raised a brow, looking questioningly at the cat before turning her attention back to her once more. 

“Yeah,” Yaz nodded as she scooped the cat up, holding him against her shoulder. Luckily his claws didn’t retract and dig at her skin like they usually did. She looked back at the woman, who kept not so subtly looking at her tattoos in a mixture of fascination and what seemed like confusion. It was better than judgemental like people usually do. “Thanks for looking after him,” she motioned towards Fitz who surprisingly sat still in her arms. “And if you leave the window open, he might come back, he seems to like you. Which is great actually, he usually doesn’t like strangers, took him a while to get used to me. Sorry, I’m rambling. We’ll be out of your hair now. Thanks again uh... Sorry, what’s your name?” 

“Oh, it’s Jo, Jo Smith,” she smiled as she extended a hand. 

“Nice to meet you Jo,” Yaz shifted so she could hold Fitz with one arm to shake the blonde’s hand. “My name’s Yaz Khan.” 

“Yaz,” Jo somewhat muttered, as if she was in a daze, or confused, Yaz couldn’t tell anymore. What she did know is that they had been shaking hands for a bit longer than a normal handshake should be. 

“Yasmin really, but I like Yaz better,” she shrugged before letting go. The blonde tried to subtly wipe her hand on her denim overalls. She couldn’t blame her, it was a long handshake, and for all she knew this woman could usually hate formalities like that and just did it out of politeness.   

“See you around then neighbour?” Yaz raised a brow, a small smirk on her lips when Jo did nothing but nod. She decided not to press any further and let the florist get back to her work, and she realised she needed to go back before Bill worried. 

“You found him!” Bill exclaimed excitedly as she ran up and grabbed Fitz from her as she walked through the door. “Good thing too, I was getting worried you two had been lost. Where was he?” 

“In the flower shop, being fussed and fed by the owner,” Yaz shrugged as she grabbed her plaid shirt and put it on. She didn’t like that the rest of her clothes were in so many boxes, and she didn’t know which ones, so she had to stick with being cold until either they could get heating or she found a jumper. “She loves him, and I expect him to be back there a lot.” 

“He’s making friends already then,” Bill grinned as she set him down and he went straight for the leftover food from before. “What’s the owner like?” 

“She’s a bit eccentric, I guess? Before I could ask, she went on a ramble about her business and her being distracted by Fitz to get orders done. It wasn’t until I pointed out that I wasn’t a customer she realised it was my – our – cat. She seemed a bit sceptical of our business too, and concerned about my tattoos. She was nice tho-” 

“Can I get a name before the monologue of feelings you have for her already?” 

Yaz frowned when she saw the teasing look on her friend’s face. “Jo. It’s Jo Smith. Probably short for Joanna or something,” she waved her hand dismissively and sat down on the kitchen counter, taking a swig at the kiwi flavoured water she brought in before unloading all of the boxes. 

“Aw, no monologue? Not even a mention of what she looked like? Is she cute?” Bill smirked and strolled over to her, sitting on a box. 

She shrugged. “If you like blondes-” 

“Which you do-” 

“I do not!” Yaz frowned, annoyed at the accusation. 

“Really?” Bill questioned with a small laugh. “Do you want me to-” 

“Please don’t,” she sighed as she put her hand to her face. 

“Izzy, Jenny, Logan, Terry, Jamie,” she stated as she counted her fingers. “And that Rosa girl. Granted, even you admitted that was just a one night-”

“Okay! I don’t need reminding!” 

“Admit it though-” 

“Fine! I may have a thing for blondes, or dyed blondes. Jo does have brown roots, and her hair looked good, oh, and she has this cool chain earing,” she paused when she saw the smugness on her friend’s face, and that she was trying not to laugh. She rolled her eyes, yet felt her face heat up, and threw her now empty bottle at her. “Oh, shut up!” 

Chapter Text

It had been a week since Fitz had wandered into the shop, and Jo had been focused on the amount of orders she got from online customers. She really disliked this new business plan. Granted, it was getting her more – unfortunately not local – customers, so she had to figure out how delivering them would go. Luckily, she had Clara help her out and do the post office stuff for her. It still took a bit of getting used to though. 

She hadn’t seen Yaz or Fitz about, but did notice the other person, assumingly Bill, walk around a lot and bring things into the building from the car. Maybe Yaz had to keep Fitz in? Jo shrugged at the thought, unsure of why she had to give a reason to herself of why she didn’t see Yaz. 

“What do you want for lunch?” Clara asked as they walked back from the beach, bringing the blonde out of her confusing thoughts. It had been a nice day and all the orders were done, so her friend dragged her down to the beach to relax. “My treat.” 

“Oh, what, no,” Jo started to protest but gave up when Clara gave her the ‘don’t be stupid’ look. It had been perfected over the years, mainly at Jo, it was like their code for her to shut up in case she had said something wrong to someone, or just when Clara wanted to get her way. It always worked. 

“What about chips?” 

“Sure,” she shrugged, shoving her hands in her pockets, feeling the small collection of rocks and sea shells. She loved feeling stuff in her pockets, and hated them when they were empty. It was some sort of comfort for her that she couldn’t quite explain. 

“Do you want to wait outside?” Clara twirled around with a raised brow, genuine concern on her face. “You never like the noise in there-” 

“It doesn’t always stop me from going, does it?” 

“No, I guess not,” she sighed. “Fine, come in with me. But I’m still paying.” 

“Yes ma’am,” Jo mock saluted, which earned a laugh from the brunette. 

The chip shop was a bit of a walk away from the beach, but it was still sunny, so they didn’t mind. Although, on the way, a thought popped into Jo’s head. It was a nice day, and there had been quite a few people at the beach, despite it still being working hours, and most people in the town did get chips or some sort of fast food on days like this. The chip shop may be packed. The waiting area was small, only having three seats along the window. If there were more than three people in there, they would have to stand awkwardly in front of them. She knew she wouldn’t know where to look whilst waiting, and it would probably be too hot. There would probably be more than three people. Knowing her luck, their food would be the one that took ages to cook. She had already said she would be going in with her, and didn’t want that look of ‘I told you so’ from Clara. 

“Gay,” she heard Clara snicker as she stopped, subtly pointing to painted rainbow on the pavement. It was rather big and seemed to come from the building to the edge of the pavement. Confused, Jo looked up at the building to realise it was the tattoo parlour. The black building now had some bright colours added to it. The door was still grey in colour, but had a giant purple female sign on it, and a rainbow stretched diagonally around it, faded into the black background of the building. “Oh! Gay!” 

She looked quizzically at Clara, who just grinned at the building and the door. “You really think?” 

“Yeah,” Clara grinned up at her and peered through the door window. “Oh! And she’s wearing a rainbow shirt, c’mon, let’s introduce ourselves!” 

“What? No, Clara, they’re probably busy an-and not open, plus you said we’d get chip-” 

“Hush,” the brunette waved her hand dismissively and knocked on the door, immediately getting the attention of who Jo could only assume was Bill. She smiled and rushed to the door. 

“Hey, sorry, we’re not open-” 

“Oh, no, we’re not customers,” Clara waved at her slightly. “Hi, I’m Clara, and this is-” 

“Jo?” Bill asked. Her question got interrupted by something purring against her leg. “Yup.” 

“Hey boy,” Jo immediately bent down and stroked him, almost forgetting Bill was there. “Wait, how’d you know my name?” 

“Yaz said that’s what your name was,” she grinned. “I’ve also seen you walk into your shop a few times.” 

“Oh,” she smiled slightly before standing back up, letting Fitz go back inside. “So you’re Bill I take it?” 

“Yeah,” she held her hand out to her. It took a few seconds for the blonde to realise she was going for a handshake, and held her hand, possibly squeezing it a bit too tight for a moment. It didn’t faze the woman though. “Bill Potts, nice to meet you.” 

“Nice to meet you too,” Jo smiled at her. 

“And Clara yeah? Do you work at the flower shop too?” 

“Not really,” she shrugged. “I help out there a lot, but I don’t really work there. Or get paid.” 

“I have offered to pay you, you just never take it,” Jo said quickly, feeling the need to explain herself. Bill and Clara just laughed. 

“Do you girls want to come in?”   

“Sure!” Clara answered for them and walked in once Bill left the door. Jo followed, curiosity getting the better of her. The rainbows had piqued her interest.  

“Yaz should be down in a minute, she was washing up,” Bill said as she unpacked a piercing gun from its bubble wrap. It looked in good condition, almost new, but judging by the box it was in, Jo guessed it was hers from home rather than a newly bought one. 

“Washing up?” Jo tilted her head slightly. 

“Yeah, oh! The paint on the doors still wet, hope you didn’t touch it.” 

“No, we didn’t,” Clara assured when she saw the worried look on the co-owner's face. “You should probably put a sign out though. Just in case.”

“Yeah, that’s an idea,” Bill muttered as she looked around. She bolted for a drawer and got out a piece of paper and a pen. Scribbling down something she then skipped out of the door. 

Jo didn’t know what to do when she left, knowing that Yaz was upstairs, and if she came down to see them just standing there might alarm her. However, she was intrigued by the black piercing gun that had a rainbow sticker on it. It seemed they had a theme going. She walked over to it, examining the condition. It looked barely used and properly looked after, that was good. 

“Jo don’t,” Clara warned, knowing what her friend was thinking. 

“I wasn’t doing anything,” she held her hands up. “Just... Looking.” 

“Don’t touch anything,” she muttered as she got closer to her, tapping the blonde on the head. 

“I wasn’t going to-” 

“Oh, hello,” they stopped as they heard someone from the stairs. They turned around only to see it was Yaz covered in small splashes of different colour paint, mainly reds, blues, pinks and purples. It mostly went along her arm and her hands, and there was a smudge or two of purple paint on her face and neck. “Sorry, we’re - Oh, it’s you.” 

Jo instinctively took a small step away from the piercing gun when Yaz jogged down the stairs and went to the sink. “Hey,” she waved slightly, unsure of what to do. 

“Bill let us in,” Clara explained, yet still glanced between the blonde and the gun, making sure she didn’t touch it. It would be bad to lose these people’s trust so quickly. “Hi, I’m Clara.” 

“Hi,” Yaz grinned at her. “I would shake your hand but I’m sure you don’t want paint on it.” 

 “Why isn’t Bill painting too?” Jo asked suddenly. 

“She said she wanted to work on her set up today,” Yaz shrugged as she grabbed the flannel by the sink and wiped at her hands, blending the colours together. “Plus, she wants to do the inside.” 

“You’re going to have the inside painted too?” Clara looked around, wondering where there would be room for paint. 

“Yup,” Bill appeared in the doorway. “The all black might scare people.” 

“That’s a point,” Jo nodded, looking around the place. 

“So, Bill, how does this piercing gun work?” Clara asked as she pointed to it. 

“You thinking of getting one?” she raised a brow as she walked over, picking it up. 

“Well, no, probably not the gun,” she admitted. “Maybe another piercing though.” 

“When we’re open you’re welcome to come over and look at what we have. Right now, though it’s just a few studs and the chair,” she gestured to the grey chair in the alcove where the windows were. 

As Clara and Bill talked Jo slowly walked up to Yaz, who was still washing her hands in the sink. “Uh, need help or anything?” 

Yaz looked up at her, smiling kindly as she scrubbed the small towel along her arm. “I think I’m good, thanks.” 

“Okay,” Jo muttered and looked towards her friend before looking around again, feeling a bit awkward now. She noticed there was another chair, identical to Bill’s, but a dark shade of purple, closer to the wall where there was only one window. The wall near it had pictures and sketches of tattoos, assumingly previously done ones by Yaz. She couldn’t see the details clearly so she walked over and stood in front of the wall, looking at each picture individually. 

The sketches looked like the basic tattoo ideas, some geometrical shapes, some shaped like animals, some flowers. It looked like these ideas were scrapped or just examples of what she could do before she officially started tattooing people. There were a few flower tattoos on people’s waist, arm, back, some coloured and some just black with a bit of shading. A tiger in tall grass caught her eye. The water colour effect done on it was beautiful, and the tiger had bright blue eyes contrasting with the dark oranges, browns of the fur and green of the grass. There was a tribal dragon tattoo going along someone’s arm, from their shoulder to their elbow, and what looked like had red eyes. One freaked her out, a giant 3D looking spider on a guy’s chest, he also looked to have a faded neck tattoo of what looked like bite or scratch marks. He might have regretted that one since it was faded, and looked like badly covered by paint that had been rubbed off slightly. She also noticed a multicolour gender queer symbol on a person’s shoulder. She stared at it, looking at how it looked like there were small splatter marks of the colours blending together. That must have been hard to do. 

“Like what you see?” 

Jo jumped when Yaz spoke, unaware she had even stood next to her. She looked between her and the pictures, nodding. “Yeah, they’re really good. You’re talented. I could never do anything like that, heck, I can’t even draw stickmen properly.” 

Yaz laughed. “Thanks. Ever thought of getting a tattoo?” 

The blonde’s face scrunched up and she shook her head. “No, not my thing.” 

“Hmm, it’s not everyone's thing,” she shrugged. “So, nice day? I heard Clara say something about a beach?” 

“Oh yeah, we just came back from there. We were going to get chips but I don’t think that’s happening now,” she sighed as she glanced back at Clara, still in a conversation with Bill. 

“Why not?” 

“Well I have an order to get to,” Jo trailed off, as if realising something. She quickly twirled around and rushed to her friend. “Clara my phone.” 

“What why-” 

“I need it,” she persisted, holding her hands out. Clara rolled her eyes and fished the phone out of her bag. “Thanks.” 

“No problem.” 

Jo flipped open her phone as she walked back to Yaz, who was patiently waiting there, watching her with an amused look on her face. “Why don’t you keep it in your pocket?” 

“In case it fell out,” she shrugged as she went through some files on her phone. “Ah, yeah, I have a customer coming for an order in half an hour... And I haven’t done it. Damn.” 

“Surely it can’t be that bad,” Yaz said softly, seeing the slight panic in the blonde’s face. “Is it a big order?” 

“No, just a small bouquet,” Jo bit her lip. “But it’s Mrs. Hannigan. And Clara’s busy with Bill, I don’t want to drag her away...” 

“Why do you need Clara?” 

“I uh... Well the last time I was alone with her I accidentally insulted her and she yelled at me. Usually Clara helps with the order or talks to her so I don’t have to.” 

“What if I come?” 

“What?” Jo snapped her head up at the woman. 

“Would you be okay with that?” Yaz asked cautiously. “If I came along so this Hannigan woman doesn’t have to talk to you?” 

“That would be great,” she grinned, thankful that she did not have to face Mrs. Hannigan alone. “Thanks!” 

“No problem,” she shrugged, yet smiled at her. “Let me just get this paint off my face then we’ll get going.” 

“And neck.” 

“What?” Yaz asked as she turned to the sink again. 

“You also have some paint on your neck,” Jo said as she pointed to just under her jaw. 

“Oh, thanks,” she said as she grabbed the flannel and scrubbed again. “Hey Bill, what do you think of chips for late lunch?” 

“Sure, do you know where it is?” 

“I can show her,” Jo chimed in as she raised her hand slightly, walking closer to them. “We can get them on the way back?” 

“Yeah,” Yaz grinned as she finished washing the paint from her face and neck. She searched around before sighing and heading for the stairs. “Just give me a second.” 

Jo nodded, watching her skip up the stairs. She went to go to Clara but found she was stood right behind her when she bumped into her. 

“Tenner should cover it,” she said as she handed her a ten-pound note. 

“What? No, I don’t th-” 

“Well it’s all I’ve got-” 

“I can pay, I’ll be going-” 

“I said I was going to pay and I’m going to pay,” Clara said sternly as she shoved the money into her friend’s hand. “What’s after anyway?” 

“Oh, I’ve got that order with Mrs. Hannigan-” 

“Oh, I’m so sorry I forgot!” 

“No, it’s okay,” Jo assured when she saw the guilt on her friend’s face. “Yaz said she’d come with me, you continue to talk with Bill.” 

“You sure?” 

“Yes-” 

“Ready to go?” Yaz asked from the stairs as she put on a red plaid shirt and put her wallet in her back pocket. “Bill what do you want from the chippy?” 

“Just chips and a drink,” she shrugged. 

“What drink?” 

“Vimto?” 

“If they don’t have that-” 

“They have Vimto,” Clara chimed in. 

“Okay,” Yaz said with a small nod as she walked over to Jo’s side. “Are we ready? You need to get your order done.” 

“Yeah, we’re good to go,” she nodded as she put the tenner in her pocket along with her phone, only now remembering she had shells and stones in them. 

Jo took the lead and walked out after asking Clara what she wanted and headed to the shop, Yaz following close behind. There was a bit of silence as they walked, only hearing people from the beach – someone had decided to bring a speaker – and a bird or two. Once they made it into the shop Jo went straight to the small shelf behind the counter and put her new rocks and shells in the small ceramic pot. 

“You collect them then?” Yaz asked as she looked over the copious amount of small stones in different decorated jars, and shells in different bowls. 

“Yeah, sometimes,” she shrugged. “If I see one I like or haven’t seen before I bring it here. Just a little habit of mine. Have you never collected stones before?” 

“When I was younger, I had a bag full of sea shells from school trips, but they would be gone within a year ‘cause I’d get bored of them. How long have you had this set up?” 

“About two years now, maybe less, I’m not the best at keeping track of time,” Jo said as she started to walk to the back. “Just need to get the order done, feel free to peruse. Great word that, peruse. Quite weird though, isn’t it?” 

“Quite,” Yaz chuckled and looked around the room.  

Jo merely nodded and twirled around to the back to make the bouquet. She looked at the card she left in the morning and picked up the purple flowers, carefully putting them in a small pot and counted them before wrapping them up. She grabbed a small thin purple ribbon to go with the white and purple theme she decided to go with. Once she was done, she grabbed the card and headed out to the counter. 

“You weren’t kidding about loving animals,” Yaz said as she looked up at the wall. Jo paused before looking where she was, only to see the pictures she had stuck on there with her and customer’s pets. Mainly dogs but some cats and one ferret. 

“Oh yeah, I always ask to take a picture with the animals that come in here,” she explained as she walked over to the computer. “It was just a thing that happened. Clara took a picture of me and that Labrador and Australian Shepherd, said it was nice, stuck it to the wall and it kinda grew from there. Became somewhat of a tradition.” 

“It’s nice,” the tattooist nodded approvingly before turning her attention to the blonde. “So, what’s this Mrs. Hannigan like?” 

“She’s a bit like Mrs. Bucket, well, bouquet technically. She’s the kinda person that would think about what to wear whilst answering her pearl white slimline telephone,” Jo giggled as she pressed enter on the keyboard, getting the general price up for the flowers. 

“What?” 

Her face dropped and she twirled around to face the confused woman. “Haven’t you seen that?” 

“Seen what?” 

“Hyacinth Bucket? Tries to be posh?” 

“Not ringing any bells,” Yaz shook her head, crossing her arms.  

“Keeping Up Appearances?” Jo raised a brow, hoping she’d remember the name. 

“Never heard of it,” she shrugged.  

“Oh my god, you have to watch it,” she raised her voice, shocked that she hadn’t seen it. “I have it on DVD, maybe one day we could watch it? When we’re both free?” 

“Sure,” Yaz grinned as she leaned on the counter. “What is it though?” 

“Comedy sit-com. It was in the 1990’s. I have to show you the Chinese takeout part-” 

“Hello, Joanna?” a woman spoke as she came through the door, wiping her feet on the matt. 

“That’s uh, not my name Mrs. Hannigan,” Jo said as she walked up to the counter, trying to keep a cheery tone. “You can just call me Jo.” 

“If Joanna’s not your name then what is it?” she asked, almost as if she was accusing her of something. Of what was unclear. 

“Isn’t Jo enough?” Yaz raised a brow, her arms crossed when she turned around to face her, as if she were daring her to speak. 

“Who’s this?” 

“I’m Yaz, hi, I just moved here-” 

“You have tattoos,” Mrs. Hannigan stated. 

“Yes, I do, piercings too,” she faked a smile, jaw clenched.  

“Hmm,” she turned her attention back to the blonde. “Do you have the bouquet or do I have to wait again?” 

“I have finished it actually, it’s just in the back,” Jo grinned triumphantly and ran over to get the flowers. She came back a moment later and set them down. 

“Excellent, how much is it?” 

“All business huh?” Yaz whispered to the blonde, who somehow managed to hold in a laugh as she checked the price on the computer. 

“That’s £25,” Jo said. Mrs. Hannigan nodded and reached into her bag, seemingly struggling to find her purse. “Hyacinths are beautiful,” she pointed out, breaking the awkward silence as the customer found the money. “They also represent sorrow an-” 

Yaz nudged her with her elbow and shook her head. Jo nodded and snapped her mouth shut, understanding her stating the meaning of the flowers she had chosen could be deeply personal, and upset her, which she didn’t want. She looked at Mrs. Hannigan, who had paused and glared at her before finally finding her purse and setting down the money on the counter. 

“There,” she said rather irritably which made Jo flinch slightly, very worried that she had said the wrong thing again. 

“Thanks,” Yaz chimed in and took the money when she saw the blonde just standing there. Mrs. Hannigan smiled slightly at her and took the flowers before walking out. “Don’t be afraid to come again!” 

When the woman left the building, Jo released a breath she wasn’t aware she had been holding. “Thanks, I – don't be afraid to come again?” 

“I panicked,” she admitted with a bashful grin. “I haven’t done this before.” 

“Worked?” 

“In a flower shop, no. Normal retail, stacking up shelves? Yes.” 

“Okay well, I usually just thank them for buying off me,” Jo grinned before logging out of her computer and putting the money in the register. “Chips then?” 

“Sure,” Yaz grinned. “I’m starving actually, kinda skipped breakfast painting the building.” 

“Get a bigger lunch, that’s what I would do,” the blonde shrugged and then stopped in her tracks. “Actually, I might do that, I haven’t had anything either.” 

They laughed as they exited the shop and headed down to the chippy. Along the way Jo talked about Keeping Up Appearances and some of her favourite parts in it, obviously trying to get Yaz to be interested and watch it, despite her agreeing to do it before. Once they got to the chip shop Jo was relieved it wasn’t packed like she initially feared, and with Yaz there talking to her she didn’t mind the heat or noise from it.  

There were still so many questions she had for her, but decided to keep them to herself for now, seeing as this was only the second time they had spoken. She didn’t want to scare her. That was something Clara had always warned her about. Most of the time with new people Jo would nervously rant about either a random fact or something to do with the topic, but whichever one she’d spend fifteen minutes to thirty talking about it would get on their nerves. Sometimes she’d just stay quiet, but sometimes that would weird the people out. Needless to say, it wasn’t easy for Jo to make new friends. Which was why she was so happy to have Clara still with her after all these years, yet still pondered on why. 

“Ah, that was quick!” Clara interrupted her from her thoughts when she walked through the door. 

“Yeah, the order was quick and nobody was in the chip shop,” Jo replied as she awkwardly handed her friend her box of battered sausage and chips. 

“Thanks-” 

“I know you guys came from there, but what do you think of having these out on the beach?” Bill asked when she got her food and drink from her friend. 

“I don’t mind,” Yaz smiled. “It’s still a nice day out.” 

“Sure, I’m up for that,” Clara grinned. She turned to her friend. “Jo? What do you think?” 

She thought about it for a few seconds, a bit stumped since everyone was looking at her. Quickly, she weighed out pro’s and con’s, despite knowing her answer already. There was nothing else to do, it had sounded like the music had stopped, and Yaz and Bill hadn’t been there yet, and were probably fed up of being in the studio. Jo looked between all of them, a mixture of questioning, concern, and happy facial expressions shot her way. The questioning look Yaz had slowly turned into concern the longer she took to answer, which immediately made her mind up. 

“Sure, sounds fun!” 

Chapter Text

“What you thinking so hard about?” 

“Huh?” Yaz asked when she snapped out of her day dreaming. She turned to Bill, who had a smirk plastered on her face. “What?” 

“You’ve been washing that glass over and over,” she motioned down to the clean glass. Yaz blinked a few times before looking down, realising she had been repeatedly scrubbing the same spot. She shook her head and put the glass to the side, grabbing a plate. “Were you thinking about Jo?” 

“What? No,” Yaz responded a bit too quickly. She didn’t even need to turn around to know her friend was grinning at her. Sighing, she continued to wash the plate. “Shut up.” 

“I haven’t said anything!” Bill laughed. 

“You’re going to and I don’t want it right now.” 

“Fine, fine,” she held her arms up in mock surrender and made her way up the stairs. “I won’t say anything to you.” 

She looked up at her, confused for a second, until she saw the grin on her friend’s face. When she noticed the mobile in her hand, slightly faced her. The screen was on some sort of messaging app, and she could just about make out a C in the name. It clicked.  

“Oh, don’t you dare!” Yaz ran up to her but Bill ran up the stairs, laughing as she waved the phone in her hand. 

“Since when did you get Clara’s number anyway?” Yaz asked once they had calmed down. She had spent the last twenty minutes chasing Bill around the apartment, trying to get the phone, trying to talk her out of gossiping to Jo’s best friend about how she was in a daze thinking about the blonde. 

“I think it was sometime after the beach,” she shrugged. 

“Why?” 

“Can’t I have other friends?” Bill chuckled. 

“’Course you can-” 

“Plus, you can’t deny you’re getting closer to Jo,” she grinned.  

“We’ve only hung out a few times,” Yaz rolled her eyes.  

“It’s good that we’re making friends here. Guess we can thank Fitz for that,” she paused and looked around. “Where is he anyway?” 

“If he’s not here I can take a guess,” she sighed. 

“The cute animal lover blonde that you’re so into?” Bill grinned. 

“I’m not into her!” 

“You so are!” 

“Can’t I be friends with an attractive blonde without getting feelings for her?” Yaz raised a brow. 

“Apparently you can’t,” her friend grinned. She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, looking away from her. Once it was clear Yaz wasn’t going to engage in this topic any further, Bill nudged her. “But hey, I know we’ve been here for a few weeks now, and the stores done, but I’m not so keen on Fitz being out alone. Could you check in on the flower shop to see if he’s there? Instead of being so pouty.” 

“Fine,” she sighed before getting up. “He’s your cat too.” 

“Yeah but I don’t like Jo in that way, plus I think she’ll be happy to see you too,” Bill said as she glanced down at her phone. 

“Why would she be happy to see me?” Yaz twirled around, confusion and concern on her face. 

“She’s been a bit off with Clara lately,” Bill shrugged, yet her tone was serious. “I mean, that’s what Clara said, and she’s her best friend so I guess there’s something wrong.” 

“And why would I help that?” 

“I don’t know,” she shrugged again. “Just, maybe something’s wrong? Maybe you could be a distraction?” 

“Distraction?” Yaz raised a brow. “I’ll talk to her fine, but I’m not distracting someone-” 

“Fine, fine. What about you pitch her our idea-” 

“Pitch?” she laughed. “It’s not a thing we’re trying to sell Bill!” 

“Yeah, okay, well tell her about it. She’s lived here longer than us and she’ll know if it’s something people will like.” 

“Fine, I’ll talk to her about it – wait, what if she’s not-” 

“Clara’s confirmed my suspicions,” Bill grinned, waving her phone. 

“You talk too much,” Yaz shook her head with a sigh.  

She headed towards the door, grabbing her leather jacket from the hook. Luckily, there were no cars around so she didn’t have to look when she crossed the road to the flower shop. She looked around, noticing there was a different bunch of flowers outside by the door. Decorative, she guessed. They looked like yellow tulips. She looked up at the building, noticing they almost matched the theme of the building, and only now noticed the name of the place. T.A.R.D.I.S. Rather odd, she thought, but guessed it meant something. Shrugging, yet making a mental note to ask her about it, she walked in. 

The room was empty. The door was open, so she guessed she was at the back doing some orders, or in the garden she always spoke fondly of. Clara had mentioned she spent most of her free time there than at home. It was rather endearing. 

“Oh, hey Yaz,” Jo walked in with a basket half full of Lillies and soil, in her usual denim dungarees, with a navy-blue t-shirt, yet had no socks or shoes on. 

“Nice feet.”  

“Thanks!” she grinned as she set the basket on the counter. She looked over the orders before pausing and looking up at her. “Oh, you meant that in a kidding way, didn’t you?” 

“Not exactly kidding, just like a ‘why are you barefoot’ way. But it’s fine.” 

“Right,” she nodded, frowning for a second before she looked up at her, smiling. “Well, I was just in the garden and going to go out there again, so I didn’t think there’d be any point in shoving my shoes on just for a few seconds. Also, didn’t think you’d be here. Not complaining, but why are you here?” 

“Looking for Fitz, you seen him?” she questioned cheerfully. As soon as she asked there was a small meow coming from the back. “Guess so.” 

“Sorry,” Jo smiled bashfully. “He came in through the window again and kept me company. Sorry, I should have told you.” 

“How could you without leaving him here?” Yaz laughed, then something came to mind. “Actually, since it’ll be easier, if you’re up for it, wanna exchange numbers?” 

The blonde stopped what she was doing and snapped her head up at her. “Uh, sure yeah. At least then you won’t worry about Fitz.” 

“Yeah,” she reached for her phone in her pocket. “And y’know, we could tell each other when we’re free so we don’t walk in on appointments and collecting-” 

“You’re wearing a leather jacket,” Jo said as if she were voicing her thoughts, and what sounded like admiring the outfit choice. 

“Yeah?” 

“Um,” she gulped, blushing slightly. “Sorry, just noticed. It’s nice. Leather jackets are cool, yours is really cool, wish I could pull it off – wearing a jacket I mean!” 

She couldn’t help but laugh a little at the flustered blonde. “It’s cool,” she looked over her. “I like your style too, I could never get used to or pull off dungarees, even denim ones.” 

“Thanks,” she grinned as she fished her mobile out of her pocket and handed it to her. “Don’t have a password.” 

“Okay,” Yaz said slowly as she passed her own mobile. It was odd not to have a password nowadays, but she brushed it off. She unlocked it and saw the background, a humming bird by Jovellana’s, water coloured, but had a space background, some sort of galaxy she couldn’t pin point. It was clearly computer edited but looked nice. “Where did you get the background from?” 

“Huh? Oh! Clara made it for me,” she smiled up at her before looking puzzled at Yaz’s phone. 

“Didn’t know Clara was a computer wiz- You okay there?” 

“Yeah, yeah,” Jo nodded, looking over the phone. “Just never seen this many apps, and I don’t know where contacts are...” 

“The icon has a person on it,” Yaz giggled as she put her number in the blonde’s phone. “If it’s not on the home screen wipe your finger up and it should be with the other applications.” 

Concentrating, she did as she was instructed. Her face lit up and she tapped on the icon. “Oh! Okay now I see... The plus sign yeah?” 

“Yup,” Yaz grinned and passed her mobile back to her. “So... Flip phone?” 

“Not exactly,” Jo shrugged as she typed. “It’s not really old or anything, just looks it. I don’t use it much anyway, it’s just for planning stuff.” 

“Right,” she nodded. After a bit of silence, the blonde passed the mobile back to her. “Thanks. Oh! Speaking of planning stuff. Bill and I thought of doing a little pride stall type thing, but we’re wondering if it’s a good idea.” 

“Well, I know Clara will like it,” she said as she mulled over it. “It would be nice, and this town is quite open minded... Well, besides the odd few.” 

“Drunks?” 

“Someti- How’d you-” 

“We’ve had a few comments on the rainbow and the girl gender sign on the door, nothing too bad though,” she said as she waved her hand dismissively. “So, do you think it’s a good idea?” 

“Yeah, sounds fun!” Jo grinned, although it looked a bit forced. “So it would be like a mini pride?” 

“Kinda yeah,” she shrugged. “Haven’t thought it all the way through.” 

“I’ll tell Clara, she might have ideas.” 

“Okay cool,” Yaz nodded. There was a bit of awkward silence, nobody knowing what to say. Jo seemed a bit fidgety standing there, and that’s when Yaz remembered the reason for the bare feet. “So, uh, you’re gardening?” 

Jo looked up, almost as if she was taken out of her day dreaming. Then again, she probably was. Even Yaz noticed her lingering stares at her jacket and vest, maybe even her flower branch tattoo. Given her work, it wouldn’t be surprising if she had been trying to figure out what flower it was to. Yaz brushed it off as that, knowing if she focused too much on the reasoning, she was staring she would get flustered and probably blurt something out. She had to keep telling herself she wasn’t checking her out, just so she wouldn’t dwell on it. 

“Oh! Yeah flowers,” Jo grinned bashfully. “Yeah, I’m planting and picking, watering, taking care of the flowers really.” 

“Fitz isn’t causing trouble?” 

“No actually, he just sits on my lap most of the time purring,” she looked back at where the cat was, surprised he hadn’t come out yet. “It’s quite calming.” 

“Like planting flowers is tense?” 

They paused. Jo merely stared at her, seemingly trying to figure out how she meant that, whereas Yaz cursed herself for saying it. She didn’t know the first thing about flowers, and Jo clearly had a passion for them. Bill had said she’d been off with Clara, what if something had happened that she’s not telling anyone and flowers are her coping mechanism. Maybe that Mrs. Hannigan had come over and given her a hard time, and she fixated on it. According to Clara, and from what she’s seen, it seemed like Jo was the type of person to fixate on things she had no control over. Maybe that’s why she liked the flower business, there’s some sort of control in what you can do when creating an order. Maybe planting them made her calm, but Fitz presence had made her calmer. She should have kept her mouth shut. 

“Sorry, I didn’t mean anything by that,” she smiled nervously. “Think I’ve spent too much time being sarcastic with Bill-” 

“So it was sarcasm?” the blonde tilted her head. 

“Um... Yeah, I guess. Sorry, I shouldn’t have said it, it just sorta happened-” 

“Sometimes you don’t have a filter?” 

“When being sarcastic, yeah, some times,” she chuckled slightly, still anxious that she had somehow upset her. 

“I’m like that, most of the time, not really knowing what I’ve said until after, and still not responding how I should,” she looked down slightly, as if she were reliving some of her worst times. Her voice had gone quieter. “Once I was talking to a friend, well, kind of a friend, we talked a bit but only really hung out when it was convenient, y’know?” 

Yaz nodded, a few people came to mind. 

“Anyway, she said how her grandmother was super religious and didn’t really talk to her family much because they weren’t or something. She had that amnesia thing, and I think passed away. But when she and her family sorted through the house, she saw a picture she drew her when she was younger. Sure, she couldn’t remember her and barely saw her as she was growing up but she kept that. And my stupid mouth said that maybe she forgot she had it if she had amnesia,” Jo paused, looking frustrated. “It wasn’t until she reacted that I realised what I had said. Luckily, it wasn’t a bad reaction, at least, not as bad as it could have been. She laughed a bit and said something like ‘gee thanks’. I knew I should have apologised then, explained that I didn’t mean it, that I wasn’t aware of what I was saying, that my mind was too focused on the new surroundings to fully focus on her story. While I was screaming in my head that I should not have said that, my actions contradicted it. I just brushed it off and shrugged.” 

Seeing how much that got to her, Yaz walked around the counter and hugged her from the side. Jo froze for a second before relaxing into it. 

“Sorry,” Yaz mumbled into the blonde’s shoulder. “Seemed like you needed it.” 

Jo smiled, and put her arm around the one that was across her chest, seeing as that was the only move, she could make to reciprocate it. “Thank you, really.” 

“Anytime Jo.”

Chapter Text

After that day Jo had gotten closer to Yaz, and vice versa. They had opened up more about themselves, hung out more, texted more. Jo would always be up at night and sometimes Yaz would text, wondering if she was still up. She responded immediately. It was nice having someone to talk to when she couldn’t sleep. She would usually talk to Clara, sometimes they’d be up on video chat drinking tea or some other hot beverage until the sun would rise. They couldn’t do that now though. Clara had a side job of nannying and working on the website for the flower shop – since Jo still couldn’t work that out – and some freelance editing when she got bored, so she couldn’t stay up as much. She would still text Jo to see if she was okay or asleep when she could, but Jo would lie so she didn’t keep her up.  

Yaz however, never had any tattoo appointments in the morning so she would lie in if she stayed up too late talking to Jo. She still felt guilty sometimes for that, but she loved talking to her so much she’d lose track of the time easily, and Yaz had always assured her she liked staying up talking.  

One night when Jo couldn’t sleep, they talked about going to the beach the following day, try to tire her out so she could sleep the next night. It was a good idea, and she didn’t mind going to the beach. She figured she could add to her collection.  

“Hey Yaz!” Jo greeted as she ran up to her shop, meeting her new friend at the door. “How’d you sleep?”  

“Pretty good, just woke up an hour ago actually-”  

“Sorry-”  

“Don’t be,” she said as she shrugged on her red plaid shirt. “It was my choice. What about you?”  

“Fell asleep after we said good night,” she lied with a small shrug. Really, she had been up all night, too excited about going to the beach with her.  

“ Plus side it’s a nice day,” Yaz smiled up at the clear sky before looking back at the blonde. “New clothes?”  

“Oh, uh yeah, kinda ,” she looked down at herself, remembering that she had chosen her light pink short cotton dungarees rather than the denim ones she wore most of the time. She had other clothes, but she preferred her denim ones when working in the garden. She also wore a white elbow length shirt with her rainbow flip flops. “Clara got me them last week but I didn’t want to get them dirty so I never wore them whilst gardening and then kinda forgot about them.”  

“They look good. Cool rainbow flip flops too!”  

“Thanks!" she grinned as she stuck her leg out, admiring the footwear. Jo went back to walking and looked over Yaz, seeing what she could say. She wore her red check shirt, white vest top, and short thigh length denim shorts with her converse. She had to stop herself from staring at her legs. “Your outfit is awesome too!”  

“Thanks.”  

“No leather jacket though?” the blonde raised a brow, remembering how often she wore it.  

Yaz laughed. “In this weather? Do you want me to bake?”  

“Oh! Baking, we should so do that!”  

“What?”  

“What?”  

They halted, staring each other down. Jo looked somewhat embarrassed whereas Yaz looked amused, with a hint of a smirk. When she noticed she blushed even more and looked away at the floor.  

“You bake?” Yaz asked eventually.  

“Well uh, I wouldn’t really call it baking,” she said as she awkwardly shuffled on the spot, putting her hands in her dungaree pockets.  

“I’ve always wished I knew how to bake,” the brunette said thoughtfully. “Guess it was one of those things I never got around to doing.”  

“Really?” she looked up at her. “I actually love baking, besides flowers it’s my favourite hobby. Haven’t done it in a while though, kept burning the biscuits...”  

Yaz chuckled. “Well if you’re still up for it we can do it. But not at my place it’s small and Bill will be there. Maybe at yours, if that’s alright?”  

“Sure!” Jo beamed, excited she would be in the kitchen with her.  

“Great!” Yaz grinned and then pointed in front of her. “After the beach?”  

“Yeah, sure,” she nodded as she started to walk again.  

The walk to the beach was nice. They talked a little, but Jo kept on getting lost in her own thoughts when she’d notice another tattoo on her and tried to figure out what it was. She had what looked like a flower on her mid right calf, but with the movement and angle Jo wasn’t sure. She could tell Yaz had noticed her staring at her, but didn’t say anything. By the time they got to and sat down on the beach Jo couldn’t think of a conversation topic, and any time she tried to look at Yaz she’d pause, getting distracted by how she smiled at the sea, clearly enjoying the view.   

It was beautiful.  

She was beautiful.  

Jo shook her head slightly at the thought. When she did, she noticed the tattoo again, now seeing it clearer now that she could see the side of her leg clearer. She got caught staring at it again.  

“It’s a lotus flower.”  

“Huh?”  

“That tattoo, it’s a lotus flower,” Yaz chuckled, side eyeing her with a smile.  

“Oh! How come I didn’t get that,” she groaned. “Sorry, it’s nice. When did you get that?”  

“Oh, sometime after the dragon fly and before the branched,” she waved her hand dismissively.  

“Dragon fly?”  

“Yeah,” she turned around to show her the black and grey dragon fly on her shoulder, shrugging her check shirt off. “And some flowers below, and it leads to the henna design on the hand.”  

Jo looked down, taking all the tattoos in. “ So, it’s a sleeve?”  

“Yeah, in a way,” Yaz shrugged.  

“I like the flowers on your chest,” Jo said as she pointed at the tattoo. It was a lovely water colour piece with small blossoms on the branches. “Nice watercolour too.”  

“Thanks,” she grinned.  

“Blossoms yeah?”  

“Yup!”  

“They’re pretty,” she smiled, but had to push herself to stop looking at Yaz’s chest, and instead looked at the sea. “They’re usually on trees or shrubs, ones that grow fruits like cherry or plums. They’re nice too. Thinking about it the blossom colour actually matches the fruits, in a way, that’s interesting. Interesting choice for a tattoo too. Cherry blossoms in Japan represent the fragility and beauty in life, that it’s almost overwhelmingly beautiful... Wonderful, but it’s also tragically short. Bitter sweet really... Um, what are you doing?”  

She stopped when she noticed Yaz staring at her, smiling at her. “Listening? You’re cute when you’re talking about stuff you’re passionate about.”  

Jo blushed, and cleared her throat as she looked away. “Oh uh, t-thanks. People don’t usually look at me when I start rambling...”  

“Really?” Yaz frowned. “Do they do that thing when they pretend to be listening but getting ready to leave?”  

“No, just... Okay yeah, actually some people at the shop just leave or say they have to get going. But Clara listens, unless it’s like the thousandth time I’ve talked about the same topic. Most of the time when I start rambling, we’re doing something so she doesn’t look at me.”  

“Oh well, I’ll listen. Flowers are actually pretty interesting,” she said as she leant back on her hands, digging her palms into the sand. “If you ever want to rant go ahead.”  

“Really?” Jo looked at her, bewildered expression on her face.  

“Yup,” she grinned at her. “It’s fun listening to you.”  

Jo fell silent, a bit unsure of what she could talk about without boring the girl to death. Yaz noticed her concerned look.  

“What’s wrong?”  

“Huh?”  

“You’ve gone quiet. Did I say something?”  

“Oh no,” she turned to her. “Um, do you want to go seashell shopping?”  

“Seashell shopping?” Yaz asked, confused yet amused. “What’s that?”  

Jo looked confused herself. “When we uh, look for shells on the beach,” she gestured to the sand and stone area near the water. “I don’t know why I said that...”  

“Do you usually call it that?”  

“No...”  

“Hmm,” the brunette hummed before grinning and moving to get up. “Yeah, I’d like to. See if we can add to your collection?”  

And that’s what they did. They searched around the beach for stones and shells, laughing and running away from the tide when it came close. Jo even got her foot wet, and almost lost her flip flop when she ran away. Yaz went to the rescue though and grabbed it before the tide came in again. It was fun.  

“This one’s nice,” Yaz said as she picked up a plain white shell and examined it, now that they were further away from the sea.  

Jo stopped what she was doing and walked over to her, peering over her shoulder. She looked at it confused. “It’s plain, you can get them anywhere.”  

“Are you questioning my taste?” the brunette questioned with a little smirk.  

The blonde went wide eyed and jumped back. “Oh uh, no, no, just-”  

“I’m just teasing, don’t worry,” Yaz laughed as she turned around to face her. “It’s nice though, like a blank canvas.”  

“You’re thinking of painting it?”  

“Maybe,” she shrugged. “Depends on what I would draw.”  

“Hmm,” Jo looked around in thought. “Maybe small henna? Like the one on your hand, all circlely -”  

“Circlely? Is that even a word?”  

“Well... It is now,” she nodded, confirming her choice.  

“Okay,” Yaz laughed before inspecting the shell once more. “Actually...”  

“What? Do you have an idea?” Jo tilted her head at her. Before she could respond the blonde shrieked and jumped forward when she felt water on her heel.  

“Actually, we should probably get going,” she laughed when Jo shook her foot in the air.  

“Yup, good plan.”  

The walk home was better than the walk there. They actually stuck to a conversation and Jo was beaming at collecting thirteen more shells for her collection. Yaz only had that one shell and kept it in her hand the whole time. Whereas Jo kept her findings in her pocket. They discussed the different type of shells, the blonde almost going on one of her rants but she stopped herself, despite Yaz’s assurance that she didn’t mind the rambling.  

“Um, do you have anything else to do?” she asked slowly once they stopped at the tattoo shop.  

“A client in ten minutes actually,” she sighed as she looked at her watch. “Sorry.”  

“No, no that’s fine. Not like you can control it. I said I’d meet up with Clara anyway-”  

“You’re talking too fast,” Yaz laughed. “But hey, I can pop over to your shop later?”  

“Sure yeah, I’d like that,” Jo grinned. They said their goodbyes and she walked back to her shop, thinking of the beach, and what supplies to get for when they bake. What to bake was another question.  

“What’s with the smile?”  

She stopped in her tracks, seeing Clara behind the counter. “Oh, hey-”  

“You like the outfit then?” she grinned, clearly waiting for a praise in finding another outfit for her.  

“Yeah, thanks again for it-”  

“Did she like it?”  

Jo paused again and looked at her confused. “Well, yeah, pretty sure. I mean, she did save my flip flop from drowning.”  

Clara laughed. “Well it’s good you had a nice day out with her. Maybe next time try a restaurant?”  

“What? Wouldn’t that be kinda a date...” Jo sighed when she saw what her friend was doing. “No, I’m not going to ask her out.”  

“Why not?” she groaned. “She’s cute and likes hanging out with you-”  

“Exactly, I don’t want it to be awkward if she says no, or isn’t even-”  

“ Oh, you so know she’s bisexual,” Clara said in a matter of fact way.  

“Leave it okay?” Jo groaned as she headed to the back. “We gonna watch something or what?”  

With a shrug Clara followed and they sat on the small sofa in the living room like area. They didn’t talk much after that. Mainly just quips about the TV Show’s inaccuracy with time and space travel, and that Jo didn’t like they made flowers the threat by making people hallucinate a maze that they couldn’t get out of. They even grabbed popcorn and tried that trick to catch it with their mouths. It didn’t go well.  

After watching a few episodes of the show Jo heard the little bell ding. Confused, since she didn’t have any customers today, she walked out to investigate. Turned out it was Yaz.  

“Oh hey, sorry, watching a show with Clara,” Jo said as she gestured to the back.  

“It’s okay, you can go back to it. We can hang out later or tomorrow if you want?”  

“Oh um, sure,” she grinned. “Um, are you sure you don’t want to join us?”  

“Nah, it’s alright,” Yaz smiled as she fished something out of her pocket. “Just popped in to give you this.”  

Confused, Jo walked over and held her hand under Yaz’s held out one. She dropped a colourful small object in her hand. Upon closer inspection she noticed it was the shell that Yaz had picked from the beach, painted over with water colour style rainbow colours that beautifully bled together, and what looked like gold flecks of glitter.  

“Oh! This is so cool!” she shrieked. “Are you sure I can have this?”  

“Have what?” Clara asked as she walked out, a bit of popcorn in her hair. “Oh, hi Yaz.”  

“Hey Clara,” she greeted with a small wave before turning her attention to the blonde. “And of course, I’m sure you can have it. It’s why I made it and came over here.”  

“Yaz you’re the best!” Jo shrieked and ran over to her, hugging her. She almost toppled over.  

Yaz smiled and hugged back. “I doubt that but the hug’s nice.”  

“Don’t you get any ideas missy,” Clara said with her arms crossed, mock annoyance. Jo pulled back and they both looked at her confused.  

“Any ideas?” the brunette asked cautiously.  

“I’m the best friend, you better not replace me.”  

Chapter Text

For the past month Jo and Yaz hadn’t been able to meet up due to work and other issues on Yaz’s side. In the last week Clara had met up with Bill and relayed information to Jo when they last met, saying that Yaz had been busy with work but also had to go home for a few days for her sister’s birthday. Despite being reassured that she was okay and just busy, Jo really wanted to see her and catch up. So, she did the only thing she could think of to be able to talk to Yaz. 

She walked in to the tattoo and piercing parlour, her sudden confident energy doubling when she noticed there were no customers in the room. Bill and Yaz stopped their conversation when she did, looking slightly confused by her appearance. Yaz smiled up at her nonetheless and put her hot mug down on the small coffee table.  

“Hey Jo-” 

“Can I get a tattoo?” 

“You? At tattoo?” she asked, laughing a little as she stood up. “What happened to it not being your thing?" 

Jo shrugged as she sat down on the chair, “I like the way you do it.” 

“You haven’t-” 

“I’ve seen how they’ve turned out,” she gestured to the array of tattoo pictures tacked to the wall. “They’re really good, and I trust you to do it.” 

“Okay,” she smiled at the blonde as she got her sketchpad out and sat down next to her on the stool. “What do you want?” 

Jo shrugged, “surprise me.” 

“Surprise you?” Yaz laughed. “This is a permanent tattoo, not a drawing!” 

“Technically it still is a drawing,” she pointed out. “Well, more like an art piece with you doing it. Maybe it can be considered a masterpiece...” 

As she hummed in thought over what she could say, Yaz rolled her eyes and opened her pad to an empty page. “You are aware it’s going to hurt, a lot.” 

Jo froze. 

“And needles,” Yaz carried on, noticing the woman had tensed. “Do you not like them?” 

“Not really no,” she muttered, sliding down in the seat slightly, biting her lip. “Um...” 

“I take it you don’t want a tattoo then,” Bill asked, yet couldn’t help but laugh a little at the blonde’s predicament. 

“Have you got anything less painful?” Jo asked quietly, looking at Yaz with pleading eyes. 

“There’s henna,” she smiled as she closed her sketchpad. “Harmless and temporary.” 

“That’d be amazing!” the blonde shot up in the chair, a big grin on her face. 

 Yaz laughed and put her pad on the table. “Okay, go and sit on the sofa and pick which hand you want it on.” 

“Okay,” she nodded and climbed out of the chair, stumbling only a little as she made her way to the sofa by the coffee table. Tapping her foot nervously, she leaned back and looked behind her. “How does henna work anyway?” 

“It’s basically just a paste that dyes your skin for around two weeks,” Yaz shrugged as she grabbed what she needed and sat down next to the blonde. “Do you know a design or should I surprise you?” 

“Surprise me,” Jo nodded and stuck her left hand out on the table. 

“Okay,” she sighed as she got to work. 

It only took around twenty minutes for Yaz to apply the henna to the back of the blonde’s left hand, and all the while, despite being in a bit of a daze over her soft touch and expertise in art, Jo asked her to say what she knew about henna to pass the time. Jo needed a distraction before she became a flustered mess in front of her and her friend. It was hard to sit still for that long, so hearing facts about what was being put on her made her forget about how much time had passed and how much she needed to move. 

“It’s actually called mehndi – henna is the dye,” she quickly explained when she saw the blonde’s confused expression. “When it’s in a pattern like this though, you call it mehndi. I usually just say henna cause it’s what people commonly know it as.” 

“Cool...” 

Jo admired the design Yaz had decided to do. There was small flower like patterns on the tip of her fingers, the index one’s being linked together to a larger flower on her knuckle between her thumb and index finger with small leaf like vines. To the side, leading down to her wrist, there were smaller flowers like the ones on her fingers leading towards a rather smaller, yet larger than the connecting designs, flower on her wrist. Between each larger flower there were intricate lines and arrow like patterns connecting them together. 

“It’s also traditionally from India,” she smiled as she just finished the last line of the petal on her wrist. “And other places like Bangladesh and Pakistan. My Noni used to put it on me and Sonya when she would visit, like the one her mother used to put on her.” 

“That’s cool,” Jo nodded, lightly jutting her knee as she focused on the final touches of the design. “This is cool. Everything about this is cool-” 

“Using cool too many times there, buddy,” Bill smirked at her. 

“Leave her alone,” Yaz chastised as she gently placed her friend’s hand on the table. She smiled up at her as she put her supplies away. “There all done.” 

“This looks so,” she trailed off, glancing at Bill a bit as she thought for a word. “Amazing.” 

“Glad you like it,” she grinned as she grabbed a mug. “Should have seen the ones I did when I was just starting out trying to do designs on skin. The dye would always come out in small splodges ‘cause I would squeeze the bag too tight, and sometimes rush it when I got too frustrated with it.” 

“Like me when I first iced a cake,” Jo smiled up at her, then paused before frowning at herself. “Sorry, not a good comparison-” 

“No, no, that’s actually a good example,” Yaz laughed a little as she put the kettle on. “Like thick herby smelling icing, but on people’s skin rather than fondant. Tea?” 

“Sure!” 

“You can move your hand by the way,” the tattooist smirked slightly when she noticed her hand had been firmly planted on the table since she got up. “Just try not to take the paste off yet, needs to stay on for two hours.” 

“So you’re stuck here for two hours blondie,” Bill teased with a small smirk as she stood up and headed out the door. “Don’t want to get gardening stuff on it, do you?” 

“Oh,” Jo shook her head, blushing slightly as the realisation dawned on her. “No, I don’t.” 

“Where’re you going?” Yaz asked Bill as she got her coat, looking rather annoyed at her. 

“Out, can’t I do anythin-” 

“You’re hanging out with Clara, aren’t you?” 

“Maybe?” she shrugged as she walked out. “See ya Jo!” 

“Bye,” she waved slightly as she left. “Didn’t know she had plans with Clara today.” 

“It was probably last minute,” Yaz shrugged as she sat down, placing a mug of tea in front of the blonde. “You don’t have to stay here though-” 

“I don’t mind,” Jo said as she took a sip from the tea, but jerked back when she burnt her tongue on the hot liquid.  

“Hot?” 

“Just a bit,” she blushed slightly as she set the mug down. “Remind me it’s there?” 

“Sure,” Yaz laughed. “So, what do you want to do in the mean time?” 

“Oh, do you want to watch Keeping Up Appearances?” Jo asked almost to eagerly as she looked up at her friend. 

“Sure!” 

“Be right back," the blonde grinned as she shot up from the sofa to the door. Even though she was excited to finally watch the series with Yaz, to spend even more time with her in a less professional manner, she still felt a bit nervous at the prospect. As she opened the door, she remembered the mehndi on her hand and slowly moved her hand as she walked out, making sure she didn’t ruin or accidentally rub off the dye as she sprinted from the tattooist to her shop to get the boxset.  

She stopped just outside her door, staring at her hand, admiring it. Admiring Yaz, her talent, and her pick for the design. It more than Jo would have suggested for her to do, and felt it suited her a lot.  

It was brilliant. 

Yaz was brilliant.  

Chapter Text

A few days after the tattoo to mehndi situation, Yaz had agreed to bake as long as they did it at Jo’s, since she had a bigger kitchen. They just needed the supplies and needed to figure out what to cook. They had talked about it for weeks now but never done it, so Yaz just told Jo to show up with a cook book when she could since, besides the pride event her and Bill were organising, she had nothing to do that week. It also got on her nerves talking about plans that never go ahead, and sometimes Jo would be busy with orders without anyone’s knowledge, or she’d want time alone, so she made sure Jo took charge of when they were. 

Today they had agreed to hang out after talking most of the night via text again. It was fun texting her and sending her pictures of Fitz when she couldn’t sleep, but most of the time it would be dawn before they knew it and Yaz would only get a few hours in before she had to wake up again. Sometimes Bill would let her sleep and be quiet, but when she had stuff to do, she woke her up. 

“You said you’d help prepare for tomorrow,” Bill whined when Yaz groaned and rolled over when she woke her up. “And plan. You’re good at planning.” 

“When I’m awake,” she grumbled into her pillow. 

“It’s not my fault you were talking to your crush all night,” she shrugged, plonking herself on the edge of Yaz’s bed. “Does she ever sleep?” 

“She might have insomnia, leave her be-” 

“I noticed how you didn’t disagree with the crush part,” Bill laughed slightly. 

“She’s not my crus – I'm not fully awake yet alright?” she gave a frustrated sigh when she flopped to her back, facing her co-worker. “Can’t I sleep in today?” 

“You’re not getting me with those puppy dog eyes,” she looked away, shielding her eyes with her hand. “Anyway, aren’t you hanging out with your crush today?” 

“Not my crush,” Yaz rolled her eyes as she leaned up. “Yeah, I am. Dunno when she’s gonna be here. Actually, could you wait downstairs? If she doesn’t see anyone through the window she’ll wait outside until she sees someone.” 

“Really? She won’t knock?” 

“Nope,” she turned to grab her mobile, seeing it was already half one in the afternoon. “So can you? Please?” 

“Fine,” Bill said as she got up. “You better be downstairs within half an hour or I’m coming up with ice cold water. And you know I’m not joking.”

Yaz shuddered, remembering when they had to get up early for a meeting but Yaz’s alarm didn’t work, so she got cold water dumped on her. It definitely woke her up. “Okay, okay, I’m getting up.” 

“Good,” her friend smirked at her before she headed downstairs. 

Groaning, she rolled out of bed. Literally. She made sure her hands were on the floor first before shuffling forwards, stretching a bit, and then put her feet on the floor. It was better than hitting her head like the first time she tried to roll out of bed. It was hard not to just fall asleep on the floor. The carpet was rather soft. She shook her head and pushed herself off the floor and stood up.  

Bill was right, she said she would help today, and she needed to. It was just as much her idea to organise this event as Bill’s. Yawning, Yaz trudged over to her wardrobe and picked out her outfit for the day. It seemed bright out, so she just decided to wear her black tank top and three-quarter denim jeggings. She also brought her purple check shirt out to tie around her waist just in case it got cold. 

Weather was fickle after all. 

With the clothes laid out on the bed she looked through her drawers for what she needed and threw them on the bed too. Despite being up and about, she could have sworn she was still half asleep, and forgetting something. Maybe it was to check the time? Text Jo? Shrugging, she lazily shoved her top off and dropped it to the floor, picking up her stick of deodorant to use. Once applied she yawned and shoved, with a bit of a struggle, her sports bra on over her head. 

She raised her hands above her head, locking them together, stretching as she yawned again. Her back muscles flexed as she twisted her arms and arched her back slightly. 

There was a thud close behind her. She jumped and turned around, expecting it to be Bill plonking down the bucket of water, or Fitz knocking her lamp over again. However, when she looked down at the source, she saw a beige and yellow tote bag on the floor, and looked up to see Jo standing in the doorway, looking stunned and blushing. 

Before she could say anything though, the blonde rushed out, apologising over and over as she ran down the stairs. Sighing, she shoved her tank top on, knowing that Bill knew she would have been getting changed, and that Jo wouldn’t have come up without being told to. It was a move to get them closer, at least, in Bill’s mind, probably Clara’s too. She couldn’t help but feel bad for Jo in this situation, knowing she’d feel awkward about the apparent intrusion. She even left her bag in the doorway. 

Once Yaz was fully dressed she picked the bag up. It was heavier than she thought, and seemed to be used for a lot for random things, it even looked like there was a bit of soil on the handle. She looked more on the outside, seeing a water-colour painted Hufflepuff yellow crest on it. Fitting, she mused, smiling at the bag. Jo was definitely a Hufflepuff. Looking inside, she saw baking supplies and a small cook book for deserts.

“Oh, right,” she nodded, and laughed a little seeing a small rainbow whisk that was crammed in there. “Cute.” 

Her phone went off. She placed the bag on her bed and checked it to see a text from Jo herself. 

Jo: Sorry, forgot I have two orders to do today and haven’t started. And don’t want Mrs. Hannigan to get annoyed again. Your uh tattoo reminded me.  

Yaz sighed, feeling a bit down that she left. 

Yaz: You left your supplies here. Cool bag btw. Do you want help with the order and Mrs. Hannigan?  

It took a few minutes for her to respond, so Yaz sat down on her bed. 

Jo: Sorry, I’ll come by later. Or you can keep them and we can do it another time? With them already in a bag we’re most likely to do it or remember. And no, it’s okay, Clara’s helping me with her. But thanks!  

It was hard to figure out whether she was lying or not, but she figured it was better to let Jo be by herself if she needed to be and felt uncomfortable around her. She just hoped it wouldn’t last. 

Yaz: Okay, no problem. I’ll keep it on the counter by the microwave to remind us. Are you still coming over to the event tomorrow? I mean, it’ll be right outside but y’know .  

Jo: Yeah yeah , we’ll be there. I forgot that was tomorrow.  

Yaz: Anyway, you go do your order. We can talk later yeah?  

Jo: Yeah. Talk later.  

And with that she locked her phone and put it in her back pocket before walking downstairs with the bag. 

“Oh you made it-” 

“Shut up,” Yaz snipped when she put the bag on the counter and grabbed a mug from the overhead cabinets. 

“What did I do?” she asked, now confused. 

“Did Jo leave straight away or did she talk?” 

“Straight away, kept mumbling ‘sorry’,” Bill shrugged. “Guessed she forgot I was here.” 

“She saw me practically in my underwear, and she got caught by dropping her bag so now she’s embarrassed and most likely feeling awkward about it,” Yaz told, clearly irritated. She turned the coffee machine on and placed her mug under it. “Why did you get her to go up there?” 

“She wanted to see you about cooking, apparently you’ve talked about it a lot,” she said as she sat down on the sofa. “She was excited, so I thought she’d like to surprise you with it. Sorry for not knowing you’d be dressed.” 

“You knew damn well I wasn’t dressed-” 

“Should have closed your door-” 

“I thought you had!” 

“Yaz,” Bill said after a moment of silence between them. “I’m sorry okay? I thought maybe you-” 

“You thought of some way to edge us closer together,” she groaned. “I know you and Clara want us to be together but I don’t kn-” 

“She does like you,” her friend rolled her eyes. “Even if you both don’t know it, you do like each other. For as long as I’ve known you, I’ve never seen you be this close with someone so quickly. And Clara has said the same thing. Usually if Jo wants to befriend someone she’d try once and if it didn’t work or she felt awkward she would let it go, but with you, despite how you first interaction went with her thinking you were a customer, she’s... She likes you okay? And you like her.” 

Silence. Yaz didn’t know what to say, and she was still too tired to process this properly. So what if Jo did like her, it wasn’t up to Bill or Clara when they would get together, if at all. It was up to Jo and her. For all she knew Jo just wanted to be around her cause she was her friend. It was all just so... Confusing. 

“Let me wake up,” she sighed as she grabbed her coffee, avoiding eye contact with her friend. “And I’ll help decorate for tomorrow.” 

“Sure,” Bill nodded as she got up and walked over to a box filled with rainbow bunting. 

They didn’t talk about the incident with Jo again that day, just focused on getting ready for the event tomorrow. It wasn’t too bad. After a few hours Yaz was back to her old self and wasn’t mad at Bill anymore, whereas Bill chose to pretend the conversation had never happened. At least, for the rest of the day. She didn’t want to put more stress on Yaz after all.  

It was safe to say, the tattoo parlour had never seen so much rainbow before. There were lots of rainbow bunting all over the doors, windows, the stalls, wherever they could go really. They had a few tables out for food and drink, some alcoholic that some of the older teens were clearly happy about. Their parents however, not so much. Yaz brushed off the stares they got from one of the mothers when their child would dance with a can of larger in their hand. They were just having fun after all, and it was an open area so the parents could leave whenever. 

Besides that, there was a joyful atmosphere and everyone would dance to the music in their little cluster of groups. Some would merge, whereas other people tended to stay with their friends and not socialise that much. 

Yaz noticed someone staring at her tattoos, and honestly, who could blame them, they were everywhere, and she was used to it. At least this person merely looked intrigued by them and not disgusted.  

“This is cool,” Clara danced a little as she bumped into Yaz, Jo tagging along with a half cup of lemonade in her hand. “Not so big that there’s haters, but big enough to reach everyone in the town!” 

“Yeah, looks like everyone’s having fun,” Jo smiled and drank the rest of her pop. 

“I hope they are,” Yaz nodded as she looked around, before noticing how the blonde seemed rather tense compared to her friend. “Are you having fun?” 

“Yeah, yeah,” she assured. “You?” 

“Yeah, just been walking around, seei-” 

“Hey Yaz,” Clara turned to face her, clearly unaware she was talking in the first place. “When were you going to tell me you have a back tattoo?” 

“Clara,” Jo hissed. 

“Now I guess?” Yaz laughed, looking between the flustered blonde and her friend. 

“Heard you have a nice shape too,” the brunette grinned. “Jo got a good look at those muscles. You work out?” 

“Clara,” she whined, face turning red, looking away from them. 

“Yeah, I do,” she smirked before looking at her. “Good to know someone likes it.” 

“Oh, she definitely liked it,” Clara laughed, wrapping an arm around her best friend to keep her still. “Couldn’t stop talking about it.” 

“Clara shut up,” Jo muttered, still avoiding eye-contact with the tattooist. 

“What did you like about it?” Yaz asked as she stepped forward, looking over the blonde. She looked up, clearly stunned that she was joining in on the teasing, and looked away again. 

“Um,” her face scrunched up adorably as she tried to think of a response. “It... It looked cool?” 

“It was on your back,” Clara suggested, giggling when Jo scowled at her. 

Yaz laughed at that. “Well Jo, you know you can see it whenever, you just need to ask.” 

Clara whistled, whereas Jo blushed even more, mouth open slightly as she thought of what to say.  

“See Jo, you just need to ask,” her friend grinned. “Can I see it?” 

“Sure,” Yaz shrugged and twirled around to lift her top up, showing her back. “See it?” 

“Whoa, that looks cool!” Clara exclaimed. “And you really do work out. Do you have abs?” 

“Clara!” 

Rolling her eyes at Clara’s weird attitude, yet laughed at Jo’s flustered state, she twirled around lifting her top up a little to show her. “That answer your question?” 

“Wow!” she looked very impressed. “See Jo?” 

Yaz glanced up to the blonde, seeing her wide-eyed expression fixed on her torso. When she realised she was staring a little too long, she shook her head and stammered out as she took a step back.  

“Sorry uh y-yeah, g-good... I uh, j-just need to...” She turned and bumped into someone, a rather tall looking man that wore a grey hoodie. He didn’t look impressed. “S-Sorry!” 

He merely shrugged it off and walked away. Yaz laughed along with Clara at Jo’s flustered, clumsy behaviour as she staggered over to where the drinks were just outside the tattoo parlour. 

“Think I scared her off?” Yaz asked, rolling her top down. 

“Hmm, maybe I teased her too much,” Clara looked at her friend before turning her attention to the tattooist. 

“Okay Clara are you drunk or something? Usually Bill and your teasing is more subtle than that,” she asked, now needing to know what was up with her. 

“Maybe a bit tipsy,” she shrugged. “But seriously, yesterday she was talking about your tattoos and all almost constantly.” 

“Really?” Yaz asked, looking between the blonde and her friend. “Flattered. Bill did that on purpose though, which was not cool.” 

“Yeah, she did text about that-” 

“About what?” Bill showed up, practically jumping on Clara. “What did I miss?” 

“Yaz flirting with Jo,” Clara grinned cheekily. 

“What?!” 

“I was not!” she protested. “I’m uh, gonna go check on her.” 

It didn’t take long to get to the blonde, who had gulped down a cup of lemonade. “Oh, uh h-hey.” 

“Hey,” Yaz smiled up at the blonde. “Sorry about the teasing, but hey, you’ve seen all of my tattoos now.” 

“And a bit more,” she blushed again when she realised what she had said. “Sorry, I didn’-” 

“It’s okay,” she laughed. “Seriously, you don’t need to apologise-” 

“What about for yesterday?” Jo asked meekly, shoulders hunched as she put her hands in her long coat pockets. 

“It’s seriously okay Jo,” Yaz assured kindly. “That was Bill’s fault anyway, she knew I was getting changed. You did nothing wrong okay?” 

It took a bit for Jo to be sure, but eventually she sighed and nodded. “Okay, yeah... Not my fault...” 

“So, you’re a Hufflepuff huh?” 

“Hmm?” 

“Your bag with the cooking stuff,” she clarified. “Hufflepuff yeah?” 

“Oh! Yeah, I am,” she grinned. “Clara made me do the test, turns out she’s a Gryffindor. Are you any?” 

“When I first took the quiz when I was young, it said I was a Slytherin but I took it recently and it changed to Gryffindor,” she shrugged. “Maybe I’m a mixture?” 

“Ma-” 

“Hey, you’re the tattooist, right?” a guy with a rainbow flag tied around him like a cape asked as he tapped Yaz on the shoulder. 

“Yeah?” 

“My friend wants one but he’s too shy to come over,” he smiled at her. “Think you can approach him?” 

“Yeah, sure,” she smiled at him before turning to Jo. “Wanna come with or?” 

“Nah, I should go find Clara before she starts climbing trees,” Jo said as she sipped her lemonade. When she saw the confused look on the brunette’s face, she clarified. “She’s done it before, got a broken arm. I’ll see you around though?” 

“Yeah,” she grinned up at her before following the late teen to his small group of friends. 

Two of them ended up wanting tattoos after seeing the amount Yaz had, and she noticed the one with the skateboard was the one staring at them a lot throughout the day. She brought them into the parlour and did a few sketches of what they wanted. The trans man with the skateboard wanted a hummingbird tattoo on his chest with the trans colours blended within the wings, whereas the other agender person wanted one on their forearm of a Lion King quote with a paw or two near it. It was up to her. With half an hour doing the hummingbird design and ten minutes on the quote, they agreed immediately and selected dates and times for when to do the tattoos. When they were happy with the dates they went off back to the ‘party’ as they called it. 

The rest of the day she walked around, had a bit of food, and saw Bill kiss a woman by a tree near the end of the event. She shrugged at that and decided to see where Jo and Clara had gone off to now that the crowd had slowly began to disperse. Shortly after she started looking she got a text. 

Jo: Sorry, left early. Took Clara home, she was started to dare people. Turns out she’s a lightweight. 

She laughed at that. 

Yaz: No problem. You doing anything now? 

Jo: Might go into my shop and order something for next week now that I’ve remembered. 

Yaz: Okay. I’m gonna go find Bill and get her help clearing up. Might just do most of it tomorrow though. 

Jo: Anything I can help with? 

Yaz: Nah, it’s okay. You go do your order. Check in later? 

Jo: Sure! Good luck finding Bill. 

Yaz: Good luck dealing with a drunk Clara! 

Bill tapped her on the shoulder. “What you smiling at?” 

“A drunk Clara daring people to do things,” she laughed before she looked at her friend. “What happened to that girl?” 

“What girl?” she asked with mock innocence as she strolled away. “C’mon, I wanna at least get these tables in!” 

Rolling her eyes, knowing she wasn’t going to get anywhere with her about the mystery girl, she got to work. Within half an hour they had brought the tables inside and Yaz put the rest of the rainbow bunting in the box, putting it on one of the clearer tables.  

“Pretty good idea huh?” Bill grinned as she brought a box in and set it down on the sofa. 

“Yeah,” she nodded. “You think we can finish clearing up tomorrow?” 

“Don’t see why not,” she shrugged. “Tired huh?” 

Yaz nodded and yawned as she passed the keys to Bill. “Can you lock up?” 

“Sure. Night Yaz.” 

“Night Bill.” 

She flopped on her bed as soon as she made it upstairs. It was tempting to sleep in her clothes, but Yaz knew she had to get changed. Begrudgingly, she got up and did so. Moments later, she was in her purple check pyjama bottoms and a grey vest top. Just as she got comfy, her phone went off. 

Jo: Hey, are you busy?  

Confused, and checked that it was close to midnight, she scrambled up and typed out a reply. 

Yaz: Just finished packing up, getting into bed now. What’s up?  

Jo: Sorry to ask, but...  

There was a pause. 

Jo: Could you come over?  

Yaz double checked the text, making sure she wasn’t seeing things. Nope, it still said it. She hummed as she looked around, realising her clothes were already in the wash basket, and that she was in her pyjama’s now.  

Jo: I would ask Clara but she’s really busy in the morning. Not saying that you’re not, if you are its fine, we can talk after.  

As soon as she read that she made up her mind. The thought that the blonde was not okay echoed in the back of her head, and made her worried sick.  

Yaz: I’ll come over.  

Jo: Really?  

Yaz: Yeah. You staying in the shop again?  

Jo: Yeah, how’d you know?  

Yaz: Lucky guess?  

Jo: Okay, well I can come pick you up?  

Yaz: From across the road? Nah, it’s cool, I’ll just come over.  

Jo: You sure?  

Yaz: Yeah.  

Jo: Oh, are you okay sharing a sofa bed?  

Yaz: Yeah, are you?  

Jo: Yup. Just hope I don’t keep you up.  

Yaz: Do you snore?  

Jo: No? I don’t think I do?  

Yaz: Should be fine.  

Yaz got out of bed and shoved her converse back on. As she stood, she looked over herself to see she was still in her pyjamas. She shrugged, it was midnight after all, nobody was going to be out. Surveying her room, she grabbed a pair of jeans, tank top, and her check shirt from the pile of washed and ironed clothes by her wardrobe that she was supposed to put away that day. 

“Thought you were sleeping?” Bill asked as she walked through the door. “Or does it take you that long to put your pj’s on – wait, those are new clothes.” 

“Going over to the flower shop,” Yaz said quickly as she held the bundle of clothes under one arm. Her phone buzzed on the bed and she grabbed it. 

Jo: Doors unlocked just walk in.  

Yaz: Will do. Be over now.  

“Jo wants you over now?” her friend questioned as she slumped on her own bed. “Booty call?” 

“What? No,” she shook her head as she pocketed her phone. “She just wants me over.” 

“And you’re going?” 

“Yes.” 

“Even though you’re exhausted?” 

“I’m not exhausted,” Yaz rolled her eyes. “Just tired. And so what? She’s asked for me to come over and I’m coming over-” 

“To the flower shop? Doesn’t she have a house?” Bill asked, genuinely curious now. 

“Yes, she does but-” 

“Have you been to her house?” 

“No-” 

“Why the-” 

“Bill!” Yaz snapped, twirling around to face her. “Look she texted me to come over and said she would usually ask Clara but she’s busy in the morning. She seemed shocked when I said yes and as usual, cautious about it. I’m guessing she just wants company or something-” 

“She has company,” Bill said, smirking when all her friend did was look at her confused. “Fitz is over there. Haven’t you noticed he’s not here and hasn’t been for most of the day?” 

Yaz paused and glanced around, listening out for any noise he would make. “Oh...” 

“But if she’s asking you something she would usually ask Clara, especially at this time of night, I’d say she’s down and wants a distraction,” she shrugged as she kicked off her boots. “Didn’t you think that?” 

“Well, yeah, I just didn’t want to-” 

“Say it?” 

“Assume,” she sighed. 

“Well, you go off, check on her,” Bill motioned towards the door. “Tell her I say hi.” 

“Will do,” Yaz muttered as she headed out.  

She grabbed the spare keys from the counter and unlocked and locked the door as she went out. It was rather cold out now compared to earlier that day, so Yaz rushed over to the flower shop, spare clothes bundled under one arm. 

“Hey,” she greeted, seeing Jo jump slightly when she opened the door. “You okay?” 

“Uh yeah, just,” she paused when she noticed the bundle of clothes her friend had under her arm. “You’re still in your pyjamas.” 

“Yeah,” she nodded. “It’s midnight, nobody’s out there.” 

“Nobody,” Jo muttered as she nodded. She looked up at Yaz, as if she were snapped out of a daze. “Right yeah. Oh! Fitz is here by the way.” 

“Getting spoiled no doubt,” Yaz laughed as she put her clothes on the counter. “Bill did say he was here.” 

“Observant,” she nodded. “Oh, I better lock the door before I forget.” 

Yaz side stepped to let her pass and went around the counter to put her keys in her jeans pocket. She saw Jo fumble with the keys before she successfully locked it. She even double checked as she looked out into the empty street, she was thorough to say the least. 

“Oh uh, sorry again about the not knocking yesterd-” 

“Is that why you wanted me over?” Yaz raised a brow, a slight smirk on her face as she crossed her arms. “To apologise? Again?” 

“No, no,” Jo twirled around and shook her head. 

“Then why do you want me over?” 

“Um... Well,” her face scrunched up as she thought. “I guess I didn’t want to be alone tonight? A-And after yesterday I now know you have a single bed so I thought it would be better if you came over to a double,” she pointed at the made-up sofa, yet faltered as she stared at it. 

Yaz looked expectantly at her, giving her time to collect her thoughts she was obviously struggling to put in order. 

“Then again I have an actual bed at home... I would suggest we go there but it’s,” Jo glanced past Yaz at the window, gulping slightly. “Dark... A-And late. Hmm, I could have just slept on the sofa? But then Bill-” 

“Okay, you’re going down the rabbit hole,” Yaz raised her hands slightly as she stepped towards her. She slowly held onto the blonde’s hands, slow enough for her to back out in case she didn’t want to be touched, and not to alarm her. It turned out she didn’t mind and let her be dragged forward a little as she looked up, snapped out of her confused state of them suddenly holding hands. Yaz couldn’t help but notice the pink tint to her cheeks as she looked over her, as if she were trying to figure out what Yaz was doing. “It’s okay that you want someone here and I’m flattered to be your second choice... Well, third including Fitz, but he was already here being spoiled.” 

They laughed when they heard a meow coming from the back. “Yeah... I uh, should have told you about him being here sooner-” 

“If you’re going to apologise again, I’m out,” Yaz laughed, but stopped when Jo looked concerned about her not serious threat to leave. She loosened her grip, letting her hands drop to her side and Yaz’s to stay in place, not use to the sudden loss of contact. 

“A-Are you sure you want to stay?” she asked eventually. 

“Yes, I do, I swear,” she confirmed. “I was joking, it was a joke-” 

“Oh,” Jo gasped when it dawned on her. She turned away. “Oh I am so slow sometimes, sorry I-” 

She stopped when she found she had apologised again. “It’s okay Jo-” 

“Do I really apologise that much?” 

“Sometimes,” she shrugged and walked to her side, leaning forward slightly as she looked at the blonde. “But it’s okay.” 

“Isn’t it annoying?” she asked, looking up at her. 

“If you did it every other sentence on purpose, then yeah, it would be,” she smiled slightly when Jo straightened up. “But you don’t, so no, not really. It’s quite endearing actually, knowing you care that much.” 

“O-Okay,” she turned around and headed to the back. “Sorry, we should get to bed, it’s midnight, you’re probably tired.” 

“Aren’t you?” 

“Yeah,” she shrugged. “But you sleep more than me so...” 

“Okay,” she sighed, too tired to convince her how much she needed sleep too. “You okay with my stuff on the counter?” 

“Yeah,” Jo smiled as she got into the sofa bed and patted the empty space next to her. 

Yaz climbed in and snuggled closer to her out of instinct. As soon as she realised she shifted back, in case Jo was uncomfortable with it. She was going to ask but got interrupted by Fitz walking on the sofa bed and laid down in between them. There was no need to ask now. They smiled at the cat and fussed him, stopping slightly when their hands touched. It was odd, but nice. Jo sheepishly pulled back and smiled at her. 

“G’night,” she muttered before turning on her back. 

“Goodnight Jo,” Yaz smiled, suddenly feeling really tired once she got comfortable. She stopped petting Fitz and put her hands to her face for her head to lean on, taking a quick glance at the blonde before her eyes fluttered shut. 

It didn’t take long for her to fall asleep.

The next day Jo helped Yaz and Bill with clearing up. It didn’t take long since Bill had done most of it by the time they got there in the morning, something she kept bringing up. Another thing she kept bringing up was how they had spent the night, making suggestions. Luckily, Jo hadn’t caught on to any of them, or if she did, she didn’t show it. She was rather spaced out, and most of the time got distracted by Fitz and talked to him. They didn’t mind though; it wasn’t like she had to clean up. However, despite the constant reassurance when she realised they would look at her talking to him and apologise before going to help. 

“Sorry,” she said for the fourth time that morning, blushing every time she got caught. “Fitz is very distracting...” 

“It’s okay Jo, you don’t have to help,” Yaz laughed. “We’re just finishing up anyway.” 

“Are you sure?” 

“If you want to help that bad,” Bill called from upstairs. “Then turn the kettle on!” 

“I-I can do that,” Jo nodded as she rushed to the counter. 

Yaz merely laughed a little at her eagerness to help and turned to bring another box upstairs. “Just don’t burn yourself!” 

“It’s not even hot yet,” she heard her mumble. 

They laughed as they finished packing up. It didn’t take long to get everything done, and it was only ten minutes until they were able to have their tea, that was conveniently set on the table when they got downstairs. Jo sat on one side of the sofa, sipping at her tea cautiously, no doubt burnt her tongue on it before. Yaz noticed that her mug was situated in front of the seat next to her whereas Bill’s was set opposite them. A small nudge and wink from her friend as they walked down the stairs made it known that Bill noticed it too. She merely rolled her eyes at her. 

“Burnt your tongue?” Bill asked the blonde as she slumped down on the sofa. “Thanks, by the way.” 

“What makes you think I’ve burnt my tongue?” she tilted her head. 

“You’re slowly sipping your tea rather than gulping it down,” Yaz laughed a little as she sat down next to her and scooped up her own mug. 

“Oh,” Jo looked a bit shocked that Yaz had figured it out like that. “Well... Maybe...” 

“Definitely,” Bill laughed as she picked her mug up. Jo merely pouted at the friendly ridicule, whether she knew it was friendly or not was another thing. 

“Aww,” Yaz giggled a little at her cute expression. Suddenly, she had the urge to give her a peck on the cheek, but stopped herself from doing it. She found she had leaned over to her a little, and in her confusion played it off as nudging her with her shoulder lightly so no tea would be spilled. “No worries, we’re just messing.” 

Jo nodded as she sipped her tea. Before anything could be said by Bill, who gave her friend a weird look when she leaned back into her usual sitting position after the almost kiss, Clara walked through the door. 

“Oh, we said we’d go out today didn’t we?” Bill said as she took a gulp of her tea. 

“Yeah, no rush tho-” 

“Nah, it’s cool,” she shook her head. “Sorry Jo, really nice tea but I did make other plans.” 

“You made the tea?” the brunette at the door raised a brow. 

“Yeah?” she looked confused at her. 

“How long have you been here then?” 

“Few hours?” she shrugged. 

“Well, Bill and I are gonna get chips and go to the beach, wanna come? Or finish your tea?” Clara asked as she leaned on the wall by the door. 

“I think I’ll pass,” Jo said uneasily. “I don’t really feel up to going to the beach.” 

“I can stay here with you if you want,” Yaz suggested, but then backtracked once a thought popped in her head. “Unless it’s a social thing and you’ll rather be alone?” 

“Oh uh, n-no it’s not a social thing,” she clarified, looking a bit worried for a second, but then smiled at her. “I’d like that though.” 

“Okay, you two love birds want us to get you anything?” Clara raised a brow. 

“Nah, we can get some later,” Yaz said as she sat down on the sofa, and then looked back at Jo. “If that’s okay with you?” 

“More than okay,” she grinned and joined her on the sofa. 

“They didn’t disagree with the love birds,” Yaz heard Bill mutter to Clara. 

“Text if you need anything,” the brunette said with a small smirk, clearly finding Bill’s remark amusing. 

“Will do,” Jo nodded, taking another sip of her tea. Once they were out, she turned to Yaz. “Love birds?” 

“They’re just joking,” she waved her hand dismissively, taking another gulp of her beverage. “So, anything particular you want to do?” 

“Um, I don’t know,” she shrugged. “We could bake may-” 

She stopped when a man walked in with a rucksack on his shoulder loosely and a skateboard hooked under his other arm. His bright pink tank top with a skull and rainbow design on it clashed with the greens and purples on his skateboard and beanie. He had an undercut and dyed blonde hair on the top with streaks of blue in, and his hair on the side and back indicated he was originally brunette. He looked very familiar to Yaz, and then it clicked when he smiled up at her and set his skateboard by the door. 

“Oh, sorry I forgot I had an appointment,” Yaz said hurriedly as she stood up, stumbling over to the customer. “Busy day yesterday.” 

“It’s okay, I’m late anyway,” he smiled at her as he shook her hand, and paused when he saw the blonde sitting there, looking confused at him. “You’re Jo, right? From the flower shop?” 

“Yeah, sorry have we met?” she asked as she stood up. “You look familiar.” 

“Might have seen each other in passing, and yesterday. But officially, a while ago, I was with my mum at your shop, and she still gets flowers from you when we need them,” he shrugged, yet chuckled slightly. “I did have longer hair back then, and was younger.” 

“Are you Mrs. Harper’s son...?” 

“Yes!” 

“Well it’s good you two kinda know each other,” Yaz grabbed a piece of paper with a bird drawing on it. “Are you comfortable removing your shirt with Jo here?” 

“Oh, I can leave if you-”

“Nonsense, I mean, as long as you’re okay with it I’m okay with it,” he grinned. He walked over and held his hand out. “Name’s Taz by the way.” 

“Nice name,” Jo shook his hand. “Are you sure you’re okay with me being here?” 

“Yup,” Taz nodded and shrugged his bag off his shoulder before turning his attention to the tattooist. “Made any changes?” 

“Nope, just like you wanted it,” Yaz said as she showed him the drawing. “Have you thought of any changes? I mean, this is going to be on you permanently so...” 

“Your design is still amazing,” Taz grinned at her and gave the paper back. “Still can’t believe you finished it in half an hour.” 

Jo peeked at the design, not so sneakily as she leaned over, balancing on one leg to look, yet almost tumbled over. She somewhat played it off as a step and ended up next to Yaz. Her jaw dropped as she looked at the paper. “It took you half an hour to do that?!” 

“Yes,” Yaz laughed when she pointed at it, as if needing more clarification. She merely nodded again, a slight smirk on her face at her friend’s awe. 

“Whoa,” she stared at it with childlike wonderment. “I can’t even draw a circle in half an hour!” 

“Awesome right,” Taz laughed as he put his bag on the floor. “Top off?” 

“Sure,” Yaz patted the seat and went to grab some paper. “Just need to trace it on you so make yourself comfortable.” 

“Okie dokie,” he said as he climbed onto the chair and took his tank top off. 

“Oh wow, haven’t heard that in a while,” Jo giggled slightly. 

“What, ‘okie dokie’?” he raised a brow at her, smirking slightly. 

“Yeah, you never hear that anymore,” she said as she moved to his side. 

Yaz grabbed the things she needed and sat down on the stool. “You’re gonna start saying it aren‘t you?” 

“Possibly,” she shrugged, yet smiled at her. “Yeah, most likely.” 

“Okie dokie,” she smirked slightly when the blonde looked at her with an indignant look, mouth slightly agape. “You comfy?” 

“Yeah,” Taz grinned. 

“Good, you’ll have to stay still for a while.” 

“So, why have you not had this done before? If you’ve had surgery for two years?” Jo asked while Yaz was copying down the design. 

“Honestly, we didn’t have a tattoo shop in town, and everywhere else that’s close by either wasn’t comfortable tattooing scar tissue, or homophobic and transphobic. After two of those I gave up on trying,” he then nodded and pointed slightly at Yaz. “Then I saw your work and the thing you held yesterday, so I thought you wouldn’t have a problem-” 

“I don’t,” Yaz assured. “Sorry to hear about those others though. They shouldn’t be like that.” 

He shrugged, “Some people are. Just like people still protest at pride events even though it does nothing.” 

Jo nodded in agreement, yet Yaz could have sworn she looked uneasy at the subject. “Good thing this is a small town,” the tattooist said. “Didn’t see any yesterday at least.” 

“That’s true,” Taz nodded. “How’s tracing going?” 

“Quicker than the tattoo,” she muttered, just finishing up. “Now are you sure you want this design?” 

“Yup!” 

“Good,” she grabbed the needle and ink from the small table. “Now sit still, this might hurt.” 

 Surprisingly, he did sit still for the entire time, only moved his hands a little when a certain part hurt or when he was talking to Jo. Despite her being socially awkward, she seemed happy to talk to him, but Yaz saw her get distracted or just stare in awe at her doing the tattoo. It was amusing when Yaz would look up at her staring and she would get embarrassed and looked away, most of the time. Turned out it was pretty easy to make her blush, and Yaz couldn’t deny she was adorable when flustered, and it was fun to be the reason. 

“There, all done,” Yaz said as she set the tattoo gun down. “You can have a look in the mirror then I’ll need to wrap it.” 

“Wrap it?” Jo asked. 

“Yeah, so it doesn’t get infected when he leaves,” she clarified as she took her gloves off. “Didn’t you know that?” 

“Clearly not,” she sighed before looking at the tattoo again, noticing the customer move a little. “Oh, uh, do you need help up or anything?” 

“Nah, I got it,” Taz laughed as he shifted to move off the seat and walked over to the mirror. There was a small gasp once he saw it. Yaz walked over, admiring the gleeful expression on his face at her work. She noticed there were tears in his eyes, threatening to spill. “Oh my stars... This... I would so hug you right now but... Y’know.” 

“Side hug alright?” she suggested. Before she got a response, he wrapped an arm around her and pulled her in close. Cautiously, as not to touch his tattoo, and since he was quite a bit taller than her, she wrapped her arms around him. 

“Thank you so much Yaz,” he sniffed as he let go, wiping away his tears. “So, So much.” 

“You’re very welcome,” she grinned up at him. “It was a pleasure really; I haven’t done anything like that before to be honest.” 

“I noticed it was different from the ones on your wall,” Taz smiled. 

“Oh! That’s a thing I was meant to ask, can I...?” 

“Of course!” 

Yaz went to grab her mobile but saw that Jo was already handing it to her. She must have picked it up from the sofa. “Thanks.” 

She nodded slightly at her before turning to Taz. “It really suits you.” 

“Thanks!” he grinned. “You ready to take the photo?” 

“Yeah,” Yaz said as she moved the phone a bit closer and took the picture. “Done, just need to wrap it now.” 

“Good,” he checked his watch. “I’m actually running a bit late for something. How much is it?” 

“Ninety quid,” she replied as she went to grab the plastic. “Have you had a tattoo before?” 

“Yeah, on my leg,” he nodded. “I know what to do after.” 

“Good,” she smiled up at him as he wrapped his torso in cling-film. “You should be able to put your top on now, just don’t press anything to your chest.” 

Jo passed Taz his tank top, which he gratefully accepted and shoved on before grabbing his bag and grabbed the money for the tattoo. “Thanks again, and thanks for the company Jo.” 

When Yaz saw Jo struggle for a response, she chimed in as she was handed the money. “Our pleasure, really.” 

“I’ve really gotta head out, see you around,” he said quickly as he picked up his skateboard and walked out. 

“Thanks,” the blonde muttered. 

“No worries,” Yaz smiled up at her before she put the money in the register. 

“What do you wanna do now?” Jo asked when Taz left on his skateboard, twirling around to face her. 

“I’m actually pretty hungry, wanna get chips?” she raised a brow. 

“Sure,” she paused and checked her pockets. “Left my wallet at the shop... Get it on the way?” 

“I can pay it’s fine-” 

“No, no, I wanna pay for myself,” she shook her head. “Hate owing people money, and sorting it all out. Better if we just order separately. Sorry, just-” 

“It’s okay,” Yaz smiled up at her. “It’s also understandable.” 

“You sure?” 

“Yes,” she grinned. “C’mon, you go ahead and I’ll lock up.” 

It only took a second to lock the door and walk over to the shop, yet Jo fumbled a bit with her keys. As soon as they walked in, she made a b-line for the back. 

“Just gonna find my wallet,” Jo said as she walked pass the desk. 

Yaz looked at the pictures tacked to the wall behind the desk. She noticed there was one from the day they went to the beach together, the blonde still wearing those rainbow flip flops as she knelt down by a German Shepherd puppy. “Hey you got one from when we went to the beach. Thought you were just chilling with Clara.” 

“Oh, yeah, we were, but the puppy came in with someone putting in an order,” Jo said as she walked into the room, putting her wallet in her coat pocket. She leaned on the door frame as she looked at the array of pictures. 

Yaz nodded and looked around a bit more, seeing if anything else had changed. She laid her eyes on the painted shell she gave the blonde, set up in the front of her collection. “Oh, so you did keep it.” 

“’Course I kept it,” she grinned as she walked over to her. “Why wouldn’t I?” 

“Dunno,” she shrugged. “Just... Surprised that’s all.” 

“It’s beautiful why would I get rid of it?” she tilted her head, confusion evident in her features. 

“Well, not get rid of it per say, but have it mixed in with the other-” 

“Do you not like it separated like that?” 

“No, no,” the tattooist shook her head, facing her friend. “It’s good really, kinda flattering actually. Just surprising.” 

“Okay,” she nodded slowly, looking at the painted shell. 

“It’s rea-” 

The computer bleeped. “Oh!” the blonde rushed to the device, almost knocking into her friend, which made her laugh slightly and move to the front of the desk. “Sorry, forgot I had an order...” 

“It’s okay,” she laughed slightly. “Anything important?” 

“Need to bring in some more flowers,” she chewed her lip as she looked at the screen. “Won’t be able to grow them in time.” 

"I’ve been meaning to ask, why do you keep them there if they’re not for sale?" Yaz twirled around, her arm leaning on the desk whilst the other hand pointed to the flowers by the window in the deep blue pots. "All of the rest of the flowers have prices on them, why don't the Jovellanas? They're beautiful flowers too, would definitely sell."  

"Hmm,” Jo thought for a moment before shrugging. “Feels weird selling my name.” 

"Your what?" 

Chapter Text

It had been a few months since the Pride event and Jo and Yaz had gotten into a routine of staying over one another's once a week. Yaz had even been to her house and baked brownies with her, something Clara had claimed didn’t happen very often. Jo found it odd that Clara made a big deal about Yaz coming over, only to realise she was trying to tease her again. Bill and Clara had gotten annoyingly good at that lately. 

“I swear, she likes you!” Clara laughed as she put a card on the small, uneven stack. 

“Please, you’re just trying to distract me,” Jo murmured, concentrating on what number was on top and which one was going to replace it. They decided to have a little card game night to themselves at Clara’s flat. Like the good ol’ days as she had put it. It was nice. 

“No, you’re just too serious about this game,” she laughed even more when the blonde hesitated putting the card down just to look up at her. “You gonna put it down or what? I’m losing years over here.” 

“Fine, fine,” she huffed out as she flipped the card and put it down. Not a match. Well, that was good for now, she guessed, since now she had Yasmin Khan on her mind. “Your turn.” 

“Finally,” Clara shook her head slightly as she put her card down. “Wonder when we’re gonna get a pair.” 

“Hmm,” Jo quickly examined the card before going to put hers down. 

“Speaking of pairs,” her friend started, waiting for the blonde to have her turn. “Think you and Yaz would make a great one.” 

Her hand twitched, dropping the card onto the pile. Luckily, it was the two of hearts instead of one of the Aces that Clara had put down previously. 

“Oh, what was that?” 

“What was what?” Jo shifted in her seat, straightening up. “Your turn.” 

“C’mon,” she laughed. “Can’t you just admit you like her too?” 

“There’s no evidence that she likes me. Your turn.” 

“There so is,” she put her card down. “Jo c-” 

“Snap!” the blonde slammed her palm down on the cards. She grinned smugly at her. “I win!” 

Clara merely shook her head and laughed at her. “Way too into the game.” 

Jo collected all the cards and shuffled them. “What game next?” 

“One you won’t win?” her friend shook her head with a small laugh. 

“Maybe?” she shrugged, putting the cards into a neat stack. 

“You’re hanging out with Yaz tomorrow right?” 

“Yeah? Why-” 

“Explains it then,” Clara smiled as she stood up from the pillow covered floor. “Drink or snack?” 

“Both?” she said uncertainly, trying to figure out what her friend had meant. 

“Sure,” she nodded, heading towards the kitchen. 

“Wait, explains what?” she asked as she went to follow her. 

“Why you’re hanging out with me tonight.” 

"You're my friend, why wouldn’t I?” 

“We haven’t done this in ages, and you’re meeting Yaz tomorrow – by the way, who’s idea was that?” 

“Hers,” she shrugged. 

“Where you going?” Clara smirked, raising a brow. 

“Beach.” 

“And you seriously think she’s not into you?” 

“Cut it out,” she groaned as she rolled her eyes. 

“Okay, okay fine. But answer me this,” she waited until the blonde looked up at her. “You’ve hung out with her a lot, even at the beach. So why do you decide to stay over mine the night before meeting up with her instead of the shop like usual? What’s so different about this time?” 

Jo shifted, looking away from her. 

“You, my dear friend, want to talk to me about something, and probably get advice. So, once I’ve gotten us snacks, we’re talking. Got it?” 

Jo nodded meekly and sat back down like a dog being old to stay for the hundredth time. Shortly after Clara returned with a bag full of crisps and two bottles of cherry-ade. Once she sat down and passed the bottle and a packet of ready salted crisps to her, she looked at her expectantly. 

“Well?” 

“I think I may like Yaz,” Jo huffed out, finding no point in postponing it now. “But I don’t know what to do...” 

“Ask her out,” Clara suggested, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Maybe it was. 

“It’s not that easy-” 

“Yes, it is. Jo, I know it’s scary to ask someone out, but I know she likes you too, even if she doesn’t know it herself. Besides, what’s the worst that can happen? She says no?” 

“What about our friendship?” she looked up at her, clearly concerned about the possibilities. 

“What about it?” 

“I don’t want it to get ruined,” she blurted out before shrinking back and staring at the floor. “Not like it did with River...” 

“Okay, because you went out with her and she broke things off and went away, wasn’t because of you. It’s just how River is, she doesn’t stay in one place for long. I swear, if you ask Yaz out and she says no you won’t be ruining your friendship. She won’t stop wanting to be friends with you like River okay?” 

“Yeah,” the blonde sighed. “Yeah, I know, it’s just....” 

“It’s okay Jo,” Clara shuffled to her side and wrapped an arm around her. “I know we tease you a lot about her, but if you really do like her I suggest you do something about it instead of waiting for her. Or you could both miss your chance. It doesn’t have to be tomorrow, or this week, heck, not even this month. It’s whenever you’re ready okay?” 

Jo nodded. “Yeah... Okay.” 

“Besides, she might ask you out,” she shrugged. “You never know.” 

“I guess I don’t...” 

Yaz had managed to get the day off and asked Jo if she wanted to hang out at the beach, it being a nice day was her excuse. Jo agreed almost instantly, knowing she didn’t have any orders for a bit, and besides, gardening could wait for another day. It’s not like she needed to do much anyway. They hadn’t discussed what they were doing there, but Jo immediately noticed the check blanket bundled up under her arm when they met at the shop. She said it was to sit on so they could relax without getting sand everywhere. It made sense, she figured, since the last time they went to the beach Jo had to get changed before she could sit down in her house. 

It was nice, just sitting down next to each other, watching the waves. There had been a few people on the beach, Jo noticed as she looked around. A family with their two dogs walking along, the kids racing the along the shore. A couple were sunbathing, the woman reading a book, the man seemingly asleep on the sand with his hat over his face. It was a warm day, so there were people in their swim suits either relaxing on the sand, kids building sandcastles, or swimming in the ocean. There was even a shirtless guy walking around, occasionally yet not so subtly looking at some of the girls in bikini’s when they swam. He even winked at Yaz as he walked past, only to get a shake of the head and roll of the eyes from her. Jo giggled at that, and the fact he looked somehow offended by her rejection of him, despite it being a cheap wink. Safe to say, he carried on walking. 

With the focus on the blanket when they met up, Jo hadn’t had the chance to see what exactly Yaz had been wearing. She wore her ripped skinny jeans, red plaid shirt now loosely tied around her waist, and a short-sleeved band tee that she didn’t recognise. She guessed some sort of alternative rock band, or the lyrics were actually from a TV show she hadn’t seen. Whichever way, it was more fitting to the weather than what she had thrown on. She had her long coat with her, in case the weather turned, or to sit on if the blanket was too small. Luckily, it wasn’t. Her elbow-length blue shirt with multicoloured stripes along the chest, yellow braces attached to her shin length blue trousers. She had brought her boots, seeing as they won’t fall off like her flip flops, but she put them to the side once she got comfortable enough to sit down. Her outfit was far brighter than Yaz’s, despite being covered is layers, she didn’t feel that hot. Not enough to wear something as revealing as a swimsuit anyway. Sure, she had taken her coat off, but that was as far as she was going to go. Whereas with Yaz, she could see her as the type of woman to not care much about revealing their skin to the sun. She hoped she had sun cream. 

Ahead of them Jo noticed two kids swimming in the sea, splashing water at themselves and the dogs. Yaz laughed when the smaller dog picked up a big stick, twice its size, from the water. 

“Aw cute,” she giggled. “Wonder if the dog’s actually gonna swim...” 

“Have you gone swimming in the sea before?” Jo tilted her head to the side as she watched the dogs chase the waves. 

“No actually,” Yaz tilted her head slightly, looking at the blonde. “You?” 

“No,” she shook her head. “Dangerous for one.” 

“For second?” 

“Seaweed,” she shuddered. 

“You hate seaweed?” the tattooist asked, shocked yet somehow sounded amused. 

“The way they feel is so.... Ugh, no. Freak me out.” 

“You’ve stood on seaweed before though,” Yaz giggled. 

“Yeah but I had flip flops on,” Jo countered. “Although, when I was younger I would avoid it altogether, shoes or not.” 

“That’s kinda cute actually,” she admitted with a small smile, whereas the blonde just stared at her with a confused expression. “Small you dodging seaweed like the plague walking on the beach. Jumping over it, side stepping. Giving it death glares no doubt.” 

Jo blushed slightly when she laughed. She turned away and looked out to the sea, noticing some kids splashing water in each other’s faces. “Why haven’t you then?” 

“I don’t know actually,” Yaz sat up, looking ahead of her as if she were examining the ocean. “Don’t want to be dragged out, I guess? That sounds scary.” 

“Yeah, it does,” she agreed with a small nod. 

They went silent after that, none of them really knowing where to steer the conversation. Jo focused on how calming the waves looked when the tide would come in, leaving tracks of sticks and small pebbles on the wet sand. She wondered if they could go on a hunt for some shells later, if she had any room to add to her collection. 

Yaz stretched, leaning back with her legs outstretched, her fingers locked together as she made a sort of stifled yawn noise. She had taken her plaid shirt off from her waist and now discarded it where her shoes sat. She caught a glimpse of her torso when she unwrapped the shirt sleeves from her t-shirt, making it ride up, noticing again just how toned she was. It made her remember the conversation between her, Clara and Yaz at the Pride event, about her seeing her back tattoo whenever she wanted, all she needed to do was ask. That reminded her of what Clara had said about Yaz liking her back. 

“Do you,” she paused, unsure of how to word it. It didn’t help that she had somehow managed to hold Yaz’s attention enough for her to look at her, gently encouraging her to carry on, most likely understanding this was the social awkwardness side of her showing. “Um, do you like me?” 

That seemed to take Yaz by surprise if her widened eyes were anything to go by. She didn’t answer straight away, clearly working out a response. “Like you? I’m here with you, aren’t I?” 

“No - well, yeah, you are,” she shook her head slightly, turning to face her despite wanting to bury her head in the sand right now. “But I mean... In that way...?” 

“Oh,” she barely whispered as realisation hit. She looked away for a few moments, as if she had to think about it. 

Jo shifted on the spot, now aware of how much of a stupid question that was. If Yaz had to question it then she probably didn’t. It was stupid. It was a stupid question to ask, and now that she had asked, she wished she hasn’t. Of course, Yaz didn’t like her. Why would she? It was just Clara and Bill getting in her head. Making their remarks, jokes, assumptions. She had known Yaz for a few months now, and sure, had gotten close, but did that mean anything? For all she knew this was a normal friendship to Yaz. A friendship now ruined. Why did she have to voice her thoughts? Why ask such a stupi- 

“Can I kiss you?” 

“W-What?” she turned to face her to see she had shuffled closer to her, a bright smile on her face. 

“Can I?” she asked slowly, raising a brow. 

Silently, Jo nodded. Slowly, Yaz shifted to move herself closer and gently placed a hand on her cheek, smiling up at her, silently checking that she was actually okay with this. Her eyes flicked down to her lips momentarily, bracing herself for what they were about to do. Slowly, she leaned forward too, enough for Yaz to accept it as a yes and finally pull her towards her, pressing their lips together. The feeling of another person’s lips against hers took her a bit by surprise, despite her knowing it was going to happen. Wanting it to happen. Jo was suddenly too aware of how she moved and whether she was doing it right. She felt so unprepared. However, those feelings faded as quickly as they came when she felt Yaz’s hand go to her waist as she kissed more firmly, pulling her closer. Somehow, knowing she wanted this as much if not more than Jo, made her feel more at ease and relax into the kiss. 

It felt amazing. 

Unfortunately, it ended too soon for Jo’s liking.  

Yaz pulled back, giggling slightly at the blushing blonde. She removed her hand from her waist and gingerly took her hand, looking up at her in what looked like a mixture of disbelief and joy, if that was even possible.  

“That answer your question?” she asked quietly, yet grinned up at her. 

“Um,” she gulped, clearing her throat, her mind still processing what they had done. What she had wanted to do since she met the wonderful tattooist. How she looked up at her with the same amount of joy on her face as she felt at Yaz reciprocating her feelings. She looked down at where her hand was still being held and decided to do the same. Normally, any prolonged contact with someone like that would make her uncomfortable, but with Yaz, it felt natural. “Y-Yeah it does...” 

 “Guessing you like me too then, if that kiss was anything to do by,” she looked hopeful. 

Jo nodded fervently. “Yeah, yeah, um... So...” 

“Do you want to go out?” Yaz asked, knowing what was going on in her head enough to take the lead. “We can go slow if you want? Maybe try a date sometime. If you want that is.” 

“I do want,” she nodded, leaning forward slightly to move into a more comfortable sitting position. “Um... Y-Yeah, a date would be good.” 

“Is tomorrow too soon?” 

“Not soon enough,” she muttered, but straightened up when she saw the questioning look on her possible girlfriend’s face. “Uh yeah, tomorrow’s good.” 

“Great!” Yaz grinned as she stood up, their hands still holding one another’s. “Meanwhile, wanna play that wave game you showed me?” 

Jo looked at the sea, noticing the kids had gone to join their parents screaming about ice cream. That gave her an idea. She turned back to Yaz with a small smile. “Yup, but only if we get ice cream after.” 

“Deal,” she laughed as she helped her up. 

They spent the next half hour playing closer to the sea, running away from it when the tide came in. Due to a rather fascinating shell half buried in the wet sand, Jo lost and got her feet wet when a wave washed over her, making her squeal at the cold suddenly hitting her feet. Yaz laughed at that, but helped her dig up the shell once she sprinted away from a piece of seaweed. After that, they decided to go get that ice cream she promised her. Luckily, the ice cream van was still there. 

“What do you-” 

“What do you wa-” 

They paused and looked at each other when realised they had spoken at the same time. Yaz giggled at that but managed to speak before the blonde. “So, what do you want?” 

“Ah, no, I was gonna ask that,” Jo pouted, crossing her arms.  

“Well I asked first,” she laughed. 

“Nope,” she shook her head. “I’m gonna pay-” 

“I don’t mind paying it’s ice cream-” 

“Ladies,” the ice cream woman interrupted, a tad bit irritated but also amused by their squabbling. “I don’t care who pays just please tell me what you want, there’s line behind you now.” 

They turned behind them to see a few kids staring at them, some looking impatient, some looking amused, and one looking up at them in awe. That was confusing. However, Jo got too embarrassed to think about it, and twirled around straight away, ducking her head down as she fiddled with the change in her pocket, whereas Yaz smiled meekly at them and turned to face the woman. 

“Sorry,” she apologised. 

“Why don’t you pay for each other's ice cream?” the brunette suggested. “That way you both get to pay for each other?” 

“That’s a good idea,” Yaz nudged the blonde. “What’cha say?” 

“Sure,” she grinned up at her, fishing her change out of her coat pocket. “What do you want?” 

“Hmm,” Yaz looked up at the choices. “Mint choc chip please. What about you?” 

“Bubble gum please,” she grinned up at the woman and put the money on the window when she passed the ice cream to Yaz. Once hers was done Yaz did the same. “Thanks!” 

They gave an apologetic look to the kids before making their way back home. Laughing at how awkward that was, they agreed to say beforehand who pays for things so it didn’t happen again. Once they ate their ice creams, they started talking about their now revealed feelings. 

“Oh my god, do you know what this means?” Yaz asked with a rather shocked expression. 

“What does it mean?” Jo asked slowly, clearly not understanding. 

“Clara and Bill were right,” she hissed, as if it were a bad thing that they knew about their feelings for one another first. Despite their jokes, it was actually a good thing that they realised it before they did, or before they acted on it, since it helped Jo ask her question on it today. However, she knew they’d never hear the end of it. 

“We can’t let them know that they were right.” 

“Haha yeah,” Yaz agreed. “Although, if you didn’t want to tell them straight away that’s okay with me. I get that Clara’s your best friend, but I don’t have to tell Bill if you don’t want me to.” 

“I don’t mind,” Jo shrugged. “If you want to tell anyone I don’t mind.” 

“Hmm,” she hummed as she slowed down, eventually stopping just short of the parlour.  “Y’know, we don’t have to tell them per se.” 

“How so?” the blonde tilted her head. 

“Well, Clara has an appointment with Bill in,” she checked her watch, “thirteen minutes. If we time it right, we could do something couple-y when she comes in.” 

“Like what?” 

“How do you feel about being called babe?” 

They had talked about their plan on the way back and once they actually got to the tattoo and piercing parlour Bill was just walking down the stairs with her drink. They had all made a bit of small talk until Bill had to look over her folder and set up for Clara’s appointment. Turned out she wanted a helix piercing on her right ear. 

“So, you have to get your flowers done?” Yaz started. When Jo looked at her confused, she nodded her head to the window, indicating she saw Clara approaching. 

“Oh yeah,” she nodded as she stood up. “See you tomorrow then?” 

“Yeah,” she grinned up at her as she grabbed her coat and made her way to leave, almost bumping into her friend on the way. “See you tomorrow babe.” 

Jo faltered when she heard that come from her, not expecting it to sound so... Right. She smiled shyly at no-one in particular, just about to leave, but stilled when she heard a thump of a folder hitting the floor. She turned around to see Bill had dropped her file, and was staring at her friend and her in shock, her mouth agape. Clara nudged her almost urgently, the same expression on her face. 

“No,” Bill half whispered as she walked towards them, now completely discarding her files. Yaz merely grinned and nodded. “Oh my god, you two are going out?!” 

Clara not so lightly hit the blonde’s shoulder. “Was this today? Did this just happen?” 

“Um, yeah,” Jo replied, still rather shy at the admission despite their reactions being incredibly amusing. “About two hours ago?” 

“Yeah about that,” Yaz finally stood up. “Sorry, couldn’t resist.” 

“Who asked who?” her friend asked a bit too urgently, only to be interrupted by Bill’s question. 

“Wait tomorrow? Are you?” 

Yaz nodded with a big grin on her face, but Jo looked confused. When she saw that she huffed out a laugh. “Our official date.” 

“Oh, yeah. Um, who’s planning that actually?” 

“Pick you up at two?” she smirked slightly at the small squeal their friends made at Yaz’s boldness. It took Jo a second to compose herself, feeling a little taken back by the question, despite knowing her answer immediately. 

“Uh, yeah sure,” she grinned. 

“Bill,” Clara started as she hooked arms with Jo. “Mind if I re-schedule for tomorrow?” 

“Sure,” Bill smirked. “Say two o’clock?”