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Kaminari skipped to the flower shop next door. The owners were a nice middle age couple that let him use their flowers as references for some of his tattoos. Sometimes he would just sit there and sketch. The shop was relaxing and way less chaotic than the tattoo shop.
“Hey Mr. Yada- you are definitely not Mr. Yadama,”
Sitting behind the front desk was a tall man in a black shirt that clung to him and the store's green apron. His dark purple hair defied gravity, and had eyebags that could rival any college’s students during finals. He was messing with the edge of the flower catalogue he was reading.
“I am not,” the man looked up from the flower catalogue. God Kaminari thought a voice that rich should be illegal.
“Who are you?”
“Mr. Yadama and Mr. Aizawa’s son. You must be Kaminari. They said a blonde with sleeves from the tattoo shop next door, would come over sometimes and draw some flowers,”
“They did?” The other man nodded,” That’s nice of them. Why aren’t they here?”
“Papa made dad take a month-long vacation. Something about dad not needing to work his remaining limbs to the bone. I’m here till they come back,”
“Cool, cool I’m Kaminari,” Kaminari internally cringe “but you already knew that,” he threw some finger guns before cringing again and cursing himself.
“Mhm,” the purple hair stranger stared at him unimpressed
“What’s your name?”
“Shinsou,”
“Shinsou, Shinsou,” Kaminari mutter to himself “got it,”
Shinsou rested his head against his hand and sighed “Do you need anything?”
Kaminari perked up, remembering what he came to the shop for “Do you have any lavender, yellow, and yellow with slight red tip roses? I need some references for a piece I’m doing next week,”
“Maybe, let me check in the back,”
“Thanks man, you’re the best,”
Throughout the next week Kaminari kept on going over to the flower shop. As the days went on Kaminari popped into the store more and more often. Not because he may or may not want to see a certain purple hair boy- thank you very much Jirou- but because flowers tattoos had suddenly been in more demand.
So as soon as he got a call about a tattoo that would have flowers around it’s border, Kaminari basically sprinted next door.
“What do you need?” Shinsou didn’t even look up from the flower catalogue
Kaminari dramatically slapped his hand over his heart “I’m dying from the amount of hospitality my dude. Can you point me to some lilacs?”
Shinsou tilted his head to signal Kaminari to follow him.
As they walked through the store Kaminari took it upon himself to small talk, silence was never his forte “So what do you do when you aren’t working here?”
“Studying,”
“You’re still in school?”
“I’m starting my masters in phycology,”
“And working here? Damn that’s impressive,”
“Not really. Just a lot of coffee. Plus I’m not usually working. Only for this month,”
“Still that’s super cool. You’re going to be a super smart brain person. You are going to be able to tap into somebody’s mind,”
“That’s not really what I’m trying to do,”
“Still, it’s super, super cool. I dropped out. College was never for me. Then I started tattooing and now I’m here,”
“School isn’t for everyone and in the end it worked out for you. I’ve seen your work. It’s good,”
“Really?” Shinsou nodded “thanks man,”
“Here’s the lilacs section,”
“Ooo all of these are so pretty,” Kaminari walked along the lilacs section, taking in all the impossible amount of colors “These are the color of your hair,” Kaminari crouched in front of the purple lilacs
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“The color is pretty,” Kaminari took out his sketchbook and started drawing
Just a few days later Kaminari got a request for a tattoo of some carnations. Sure he could go online and look up carnations but there’s real life ones next door. So once again he makes his way next door. And once again, no Jirou, he was not going over there because he thought Shinsou was cute.
When Kaminari walked in, Shinsou was watering some bluebells by the front door. When he saw Kaminari he put down the watering can on the ground and pushed back his hair.
“Hey, do you need a specific flower?”
“Carnations, but the client didn’t give me a color. Said I could do any color I think looks cool. So I get to go crazy,”
Shinsou didn’t say anything but waved for Kaminari to follow him. After passing the rose and daisy section they made it to the Carnations section. Kaminari walked back and forth, trying to decide which color he liked.
“Personally I like the yellow carnations,” Shinsou suggested
“They’re pretty but I feel like they need another color,” Kaminari tapped his pencil on his lip “Yellow ink doesn’t last long so pairing it up with another color will distract from its fading. I like the dark pink. I think they would make a good combo. But then again pink ink doesn’t last that long either…”
“You have a good eye for design,”
Kaminari turned his head around to look at the other man “You think so?”
Shinsou shrugged “Yeah, I would hope so. You are a tattoo artist after all,”
“True, yeah,” he laughed “I’m just surprised whenever someone compliments me,”
“Why?”
“Oh I’m kinda a stereotypical dumb blonde. I made it into a pretty prestigious highschool. So when report card time rolled around my parents shook their head. I was alway the bottom of the class. The bottom of the top is still the bottom. Then I dropped out of college so…”
“I don’t think you’re dumb. Maybe not book smart but definitely not dumb. You have an eye for design and that’s definitely something,”
“You think so?” Kaminari couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face when Shinsou nodded “that’s really nice of you to say,”
“It’s not much if it’s true,”
Over the next week Kaminari spent with Shinsou, he was able to break down the other man’s antisocial nature. Shinsou actually started to have conversations with him. Kaminari found out more about him. Shinsou had a soft spot for cats. He has a younger sister named Eri. He liked cats and animals in general. He enjoyed cycling. Which explained how damn thick his legs were, and no Kirishima, he was not obsessed with that fact or Shinsou’s muscles.
Kaminari was sitting on a stool at the flower shop. He was on his lunch break and wanted to do some sketching. He was all out of ideas so he decided to see if Shinsou would mind if he hung out there for awhile.
“I like the pink and yellow carnations I sketched a few days ago,” Kaminari tapped his pencil against his sketch pad “Any other flowers that are good looking in yellow and pink?”
“I’ve always liked alstroemerias. We have some pink and yellow ones,”
“Alstoemerias,” Kaminari said the word slowly, stressing every syllable “sounds pretty,”
“They are, cmon they’re over here,”
Kaminari grabbed his pencil and sketchbook and followed Shinsou “What’s your favorite flower?”
“Hmm I don’t know. If I had to pick one it would be lilies. I like the yellow and red ones,”
“Very cool. Mine are roses. Though I find red ones kinda cliche. The purple ones are nice though,”
“Purple?” Shinsou smirked
Kaminari couldn’t help how his cheeks warmed up “it’s a nice color,”
“I think yellow is a nice color too,”
Kaminari blinked a few times and resisted the urge to slap his cheeks to keep the blush away.
“So what about those Alstroemerias?” he said slightly too loud
“Hey Shinsou,”
“Hi Kaminari, any flowers you need in particular?”
“No, I'm just looking for some sketching inspiration. I can leave if you’re busy,”
“No I just got done with the flower display and I don’t have any boutiques to do,”
“What does the flower display look like?”
“It’s not pretty, I’m not going to lie,” Shinsou put his hand on the back on his neck
“Oh come on you’re probably just being hard on yourself. Please show me,”
“Fine, cmon it’s in the back,”
Kaminari couldn’t stop the “Wow,” that left his mouth when his eyes laid upon the beautiful display
Before him was thirty or so sunflowers arranged in the sun. The display was easily feet wide. Kaminari had a few constructive criticisms. The rays could be a little clearer. Not all of the rays were the same length. But in that moment all he could think about was the beautiful thing Shinsou created.
“Yeah I know,” Shinsou rocked back on his heels “I’m not much of an artist bu-”
“No, no,” Kaminari waved his hands “I loved the display. It’s very pretty. I’m surprised you didn’t put it up front,”
“I was more or less experimenting. The display I tried to do with the yellow roses totally failed,”
“Failure is a very important part of learning. Especially when it comes to artsy stuff. I like sunflowers better anyways,” Kaminari said “do you mind if I sketched this? I might turn it into a tattoo. If you don’t mind,”
“If you want too. I don’t know why you would,”
“Give me all day and I’ll give you a million reasons why,”
“God you’re dramatic,”
“But you love me,”
“Nah but I’ll admit you have a certain charm,”
“Wait what?” His smile turned into a shit eating grin “Yay I’m growing on you,”
“You’re growing on me like a weed,”
“So rapidly?”
“Annoyingly and almost impossible to get rid of,”
“One day you’ll admit you love me Shinsou,”
Kaminari was talking to Shinsou while Shinsou was moving some yellow roses from the front of the store to the back and putting orange and pink tulips into the front window.
Kaminari was telling the other about how Mina was trying to get him to get more piercings when he first noticed. Shinsou’s unruly purple hair was up in a ponytail and was wearing a black tank top instead of his usual black t-shirt. At first Kaminari thought the purple on Shinsou’s shoulder blade was a bruise. But as he looked closer he realized the purple mark was something else.
“You have a tattoo,”
“I got a few of them actually,”
“Oh my god that’s so cool,” gushed and physically perked up when an idea popped into his head “hey so I’ve offered this to Aizawa and Yadama a few times but they never took me up on it but you might,”
“What is it?”
“Well why don’t I give you a free tattoo? Kinda a thank you for letting me use your flowers as reference,”
Shinsou took a moment to think about the offer “Let me think about it and get back to you,”
“Yay!”
“Wait did you say you offered to give my parents tattoos?”
“Yeah but they always said no,”
“You seriously thought they would take you up on the offer?”
“No, but they’re nice enough to let me sketch in here and use flowers for reference for free. Free tattoos is all I can offer. I definitely didn’t expect Aizawa to get one but Yadama seemed like the free spirited type, y’know,”
Shinsou laughed and the butterflies in Kaminari's stomach went into overdrive “Yadama is actually terrified of needles. He has a tongue and ear piercings but getting those put him off for life. Aizawa on the other hand…”
“Oh my god are you actually telling me Aizawa has tattoos,”
“He has a cat paw print of a cat we had but passed away. He also has some clouds on his right shoulder. Though he’s never told me why,”
“Interesting. Out of the two of them I definitely wouldn’t expect him,”
“Dad is definitely something,”
“Hey can you do me a favor and help me move these new flowers?”
“Yeah totally,” Kaminari picked up the first pot “I’ve never seen these before. What are they?
“Ambrosia, they’re hard to grow and require a specific climate so we usually don’t have them. But dad said there was a client who wanted them. So we were able to order them and he’s going to pick them up later tonight,”
“Isn’t ambrosia the things Greek gods eat?”
“I don’t know maybe,” Shinsou put down a lot and picked up another one “we just have to move those two and then we’re done,”
Kaminari groaned as he put down the last pot “It must be nice to work around all these pretty flowers. Though I wouldn’t survive moving them around all the time,”
“It’s fine. I’m not great at taking care of them. If it wasn’t for the automatic water systems all of the flowers would be dead,”
“I actually have a pretty green thumb believe it or not. But my work hours are so weird that I don’t think that I could keep one alive at home.”
“Why don’t you have one at your workstation?”
Kaminari shrugged “I guess if I want to have a flower around the store I would want it to be really pretty,”
“I actually think there’s something you might enjoy,”
“Ooo show me,”
Shinsou went into the stock room and appear a few minutes later. In his hands he held a mix of red, white, and pink Camellias small round wooden basket.
“Did you do these yourself?”
“Yeah, I had an order for a bouquet but I had no idea how to do it so I started experimenting,” Shinsou explained, “do you want them?”
“What, really?”
“Yeah this is an experiment and I don’t really have a purpose for them. Plus you seem to like these colors and I have nothing better to do with them.”
“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, you are the absolute best,” Kaminari practically vibrated where he stood
“These are going to be the most well cared for and beautiful flowers you’ve ever seen,”
Kaminari was humming a random indie pop song to himself while he was sketching some pink and yellow tulips. He was sitting on the ground in the flower shop while Shinsou swept the floor.
“I’ll take you up on you offer,”
“Hun?” Kaminari was yanked out of his little world he was in and turned his head to Shinsou
“For the free tattoo,”
“Oh, yeah yeah when do you want to do that?”
“When are you free?”
“I’ll have to check but I’m pretty sure next Tuesday at 3ish maybe 4,”
“Why don’t you text me when you’re free and I’ll send you what I want,”
“Sure but umm I don’t have your number,”
“Give me your phone and I’ll put my info in,”
“Yeah,”
Kaminari gave Shinsou his phone.
“I’m definitely sending you memes now,”
“Please don’t,”
“Pick up lines then?”
“I’ll take the memes then,”
A week and countless memes (and some totally not cheesy pick up lines) later it was Tuesday at four thirty. Kaminari heard his coworkers before he heard Shinsou.
“Oh so you’re the flower boy from next door that Kaminari has been spending so much time with,” he heard Mina say from the front desk.
“Wait, that is the Shinsou, and Kaminari is always talking about?” He heard Sero say
Before any teasing or interrogating could start Kaminari fast walked from his station to the front of the store. He didn’t even say hello before grabbing Shinsou’s wrist and dragging him to the back of the store. Where his tattooing station was.
“So you talk about me?”
“Shut up,” Kaminari felt his cheeks beat up
“I forget you’re not the only employee here,”
“Why? Is it because I’m the only one that comes to your store?”
“Exactly,”
“Not my fault that they don’t realize they can get real life reference next door,”
“Sure that’s why you come over all the time,”
“Are you saying I have alternative motives?”
“Yup,” Shinsou popped the p “or at least I hope so,”
“Where do you want the tattoo,” Kaminari said a little to loud and could hear Kirishima and Sero snickering
“I can’t have any on my lower legs or arms because I want a chance at getting a job,” Shinsou said more or less to himself “will my rib be fine,”
“Yup, no problem. Take off your shirt, and lay down on the chair,”
As soon as the sentence left his mouth Kaminari realized the huge problem. Shinsou was going to be shirtless. Holy shit Shinsou was going to be shirtless. How the hell was he supposed to tattoo a shirtless Shinsou?
“Ok,” Shinsou started to take of his t-shirt
Kaminari quickly turned around, setting up some stuff at his station. He did not need Shinsou to see him looking at him like a dumbass while he took off his shirt. Nope!
Kaminari finished up the few things he needed to do. He grabbed a hair tie and put his hair up in a loose ponytail . He put on his gloves and snapped them. He took a deep breath and bit the bullet. He was going to have to see Shinsou shirtless at some point and not die.
When he turned around his mind was screaming “attractive dude with his shirt off!” but one brave brain cell was able to yell above the others. Saying “HEY! He has some cool ass tattoos!”
His one brave brain cell was processing Shinsou had a motherfucking black and gray dragon along the left side of his torso. Holy shit that looked so fucking cool. A compass, he’ll admit it’s kinda cliche but in Shinsou it looked pretty cool. Below his right peck was a cat playing with yarn. On his right left pec a moon surrounded by the night sky.
“Wow all of these are so cool,” Kaminari sat down next to Shinsou and traced the small ball of yarn next to a cat right below Shinsou’s peck “ahhh sorry I shouldn’t be feeling you up when I’m supposed to be giving you a tattoo,”
“It’s fine,”
Kaminari tried hard not to choke on his spit and managed to wheeze out a painful “ok,” before he cleaned off the area and placed the stencil on Shinsou’s rib. Once Shinsou okayed it he grabbed his tattoo gun and got started.
“You have a lot more tattoos than I thought. You said you had a few not that you torso is basically covered,”
“Yeah well...I have two on my back and two on my right thigh and one on my left,”
“I’m pretty sure you have more tattoos than I do,”
“And how many is that?”
“Well as you can see I have sleeves. Got a few pieces on my back, a blue and red koi fish and a bunch of butterflies.
I got a cheesy lion tattoo on my chest. I also have this huge ass lighting storm on my ribs. I want to get another rib tattoo one day because they look really cool but they fucking hurt. Well you already knew that and I’m reminding you of that right now,”
“It’s not to bad,”
“Just wait. I’ve seen bodybuilders tap on rib tattoos,” Kaminari laughed “let’s see ummm my right thigh has a tarot fool card Kacchan convinced me to get when I was blackout drunk. I also have this funky little astronaut dude on the same thigh. I don’t have any on my left. Though at some point I want to get a few on there. Maybe some flowers would be nice,”
“You definitely have more than me,”
“Maybe, but that’s expected of a tattoo artist,”
After that they fell into a comfortable silence.
“So why a daisy?” Kaminari tried to distract himself from the fact that Shinsou was shirtless and hopefully Shinsou from his pain
“My sister, they’re her favorite,”
“Eri, right? How old is she?”
“Thirteen,”
“I know you like animals. Do you have any pets?”
“No but I’m taking care of my dads’ cats right now,”
“How many cats do Mr. Yadama and Mr. Aizawa have?”
“Two. They have a cat that’s a few years old and the other one is fiveish,”
“Damn those two are middle age gay couple goals,”
Shinsou laughed
They feel into a rythm and while Kaminari never felt his blush go away but more or less could keep his gay thoughts at bay.
Before he knew it he was done with the daisy. It was fairly simple.
Shinsou got up and looked at his tattoo in the mirror.
“It looks really good. How much is it?”
“Like I said it’s free since you dealt with me for this whole time,”
“Thanks, but let me pay you by taking you out to dinner?”
Kaminari blinked a few times like he was physically hit. If his whole face was pink from seeing Shinsou shirtless then his whole body was crimson.
“Sorry, was that too direct or unwelcomed?”
“What? No, no, no, hell yeah I’d would go out to dinner with you,”
“I’m free Saturday night. Want to go to that restaurant down the block from here?”
“See you then,”
Once Shinsou left the shop Kaminari let of his excited sequel that he had been holding and jumped and let out a “hell yeah,”
“Shut your bisexual disaster ass up Dunce face,”
“Sorry Bakubro,” Kaminari shouted to the front of the store “but I have a date!”