Work Text:
The needle burns a little against Xiao’s shoulder as Venti deftly moves his pen across his arm. But he doesn’t flinch or move. Xiao’s already used to it by the second session, and honestly he’s been in fights that have hurt way worse. He just watches as Venti draws on his skin, the pen leaving behind a jade green, red welting underneath. Venti works, chattering about various small talk topics, not really holding a substantial conversation, and Xiao just nods or makes small noises of agreement. It’s pretty relaxing, the dull droning of the pen and Venti’s bright voice threatening to lull him into a daze.
“A—nd done!” The pen clicks off, and Venti brings around a hand mirror, showing Xiao the green design wrapping around his arm. Red blooms under the green ink, bleeding just a bit, and Venti presses a bandage to the area.
“You know the drill from last time, so make sure to take care of it properly, Xiao.” Venti smiles as he takes off his apron. “Don’t want it getting infected.”
“Of course not.” Xiao stands and stretches, wincing a little as the skin on his arm stretches as well.
“I’ll go ring you up at the counter then.” Venti stands and stretches as well, walking out of the back room to the front of the store. The walls are covered in various sketches and drawings, which Venti said were mostly done by his coworker, Albedo. But the one that always draws his eyes is a simple drawing of a bouquet of cecilias.
“Oh, I drew that one.” Venti comments, noticing where Xiao was staring.
“It’s very nice.” Xiao tears his eyes away to look at Venti.
“Ehe, thank you.” Venti laughs as he works the register. “Card again?” Xiao nods and pulls his card from his wallet, swiping it. The machine pings and Xiao taps in his pin. “Thank you for your business!”
Xiao nods. He sometimes finds it a little hard to respond to Venti’s cheery nature, but it always makes him happy to see him, whether he’s getting a tattoo or Venti is visiting his store.
“I’ll probably be dropping by your store tomorrow, someone wants a floral design so I need to buy some more flowers.” Venti says casually, not looking up from the register as the receipt prints.
“Alright. Are there any you need in particular?” Xiao takes the receipt from Venti’s hand, the paper crumpling a little as he shoves it into his wallet.
“Nope! I’ll just look around at what you have.” Venti’s smile is so brilliant and warm that Xiao can’t help but smile a tiny bit as well.
“I’ll be waiting for you, then.”
—
Xiao winces just a bit as he hefts up terracotta pots, moving around some of the larger planters. His arm is still sore from the tattooing, but nothing he needs to take the day off from. And Venti said he’d be coming today, so he needs to make sure the shop is open. He brushes stray leaves from his apron, looking at the door for once again, the latest of many times. But each time the butterfly shaped bell at the top of the door remains still. It’s been chilly lately, so business has been slower. Not that he can complain, it’s a nice break from the big summer rush.
Ring.
The bell chimes as the door opens, Venti popping his head into the store.
“Hey there Xiao!” He waves , and Xiao silently waves back. “How’s the tattoo doing?”
“It’s fine.” Xiao replies, rubbing at the bandage under his black sleeve. He decided to redo the bandage, so that the angry red wouldn’t scare any of his customers.
“Ehh, that’s good, I’m glad.” Venti’s gaze wanders around as he examines the colorful blossoms crowding the store. He stops before the bundles of windwheel asters, watching them slowly spin in the slight breeze coming from the ac.
“Anything catch your eye?” Xiao peeks over Venti’s shoulder. They were all pretty normal flowers, nothing particularly special.
“Hmm.” Xiao watches grabs a few handfuls of flowers, bundling them together. “I think I’ll take these ones.”
“Alright, I’ll ring you up then.” Xiao makes his way to the register, putting in the prices for each flower. “Your total is 978 Mora.” Xiao watches as Venti fumbles in his pocket, pulling out some crumpled bills.
“Phew, I have enough.” Venti laughs, and Xiao can’t help but feel mesmerized by it. Watching him surrounded by flowers is truly stunning, almost more suitable than the tattoo parlor that Xiao’s mostly seen him in.
Pulling himself from his daze, Xiao counts out some coins before handing them over. “Here’s your change. Thanks for shopping with us.”
“Oh, are you still getting that tattoo on your shoulder blades?” Venti asks, taking the bundle of flowers back from Xiao. He nods.
“I was going to call and make an appointment soon.”
“Great, I can’t wait to see you again.” Those words make Xiao’s heart flutter as he watches Venti leave the store, the same butterfly bell ringing sounds more joyful than before.
—
“And we’re done.” It took two sessions again, but the golden wings on Xiao’s shoulder blades are done. It’ll be hard to replace the bandage, but hopefully it heals over properly the first night.
“Thank you.” Xiao winces a little as he raises himself from the reclined chair. He can feel it sting every time he moves his arms.
“I’ll ring you up at the front.” As Xiao puts on his shirt he watches Venti walk out. The walls are still plastered with the same drawings, but there are a couple new ones. One of them is the wing design now emblazoned on Xiao’s back.
Venti quickly rings him up, and Xiao can’t help but wish he could stay longer, talk a little more. But about what? He barely responds when Venti talks, how could he start up a conversation himself?
“Hey, Xiao?” Xiao looks up from his wallet. Venti looks nervous, his cheeks just a touch pink. “Do you wanna maybe get drinks sometime? We’ve already seen each other a few times so I thought we could hang out outside of work.” Xiao can feel his heart soar.
“Of course!” Xiao says, maybe a little too enthusiastic as Venti leans away a bit. Xiao moves back a little, embarrassed. “I want to get to know you better too.”
A great smile blooms on Venti’s face, the same one that makes Xiao’s heart skip a beat. “Alright then, let’s exchange numbers and I’ll text you some time.”
Xiao fumbles in his pocket for his phone, handing it to Venti. He quickly puts in his contact information, and Xiao sends him a short “hi.” He can feel his heart in his throat when Venti’s phone goes off.
“Ehe, I’ll text you when I get off work then.” Xiao can only nod. His face feels warm and he can only hope he’s not bright red. “I can’t wait to see you again later.”
As he exits the tattoo parlor, Xiao can feel his legs weaken considerably. He finally got the cute tattoo artist’s number. What a score.