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Satoru stares up at the tattoo shop in front of him, dread pooling in his gut. He never thought of stepping foot into one of these, never even wasted a moment to think about getting a tattoo and now that he has to he feels vaguely sick.
He wonders if it’s too late to turn back, or if he simply can make a run for it still, but he knows that it’s futile. Shoko will know and then she’ll be merciless for at least another year, and rightfully so.
Satoru lost that bet and the stakes were exactly this: getting a tattoo at a tattoo parlour of his choice.
“Fuck me,” Satoru sighs out, before he straightens up and steps into the shop. It’s kind of homey and not at all what Satoru expected; there are warm colours everywhere, it’s decently warm in the shop and soft music is coming from a speaker somewhere.
It would be a nice place to stay if it didn’t mean that Satoru would have to get some ink into his body.
“Hello there,” a voice calls out to him, and Satoru’s eyes snap to the person behind the counter.
It feels a bit as if the entire air is being sucked out of him, because the guy is hot in a way that makes Satoru believe his image might have been taken directly out of his head.
“Hi,” Satoru breathes out and the guy gives him a kind smile.
“First time?” he asks and there is real sympathy in his voice as if it isn’t strange at all to see a grown-ass man nervous like this.
“Yeah, that easy to tell, huh?” Satoru asks, scratching the back of his head.
“You get an eye for it over the years,” the guy explains with a shrug. “I’m Geto Suguru, what can I help you with today?” he then asks and Satoru warily steps closer to the counter as if a tattoo could jump at him any moment.
“I’m here to get a tattoo,” Satoru says, trying to put some conviction in his voice but he knows he failed when Suguru raises an eyebrow at him.
“Are you now? Could have fooled me,” he laughs out and Satoru is mesmerized by him.
“Rude,” he still gets out somehow and feels strangely accomplished when it makes Suguru laugh again.
Satoru thinks that might be a sound he could get addicted to.
“Are you certain you want to get a tattoo? We also offer piercings, if that’s more to your liking,” Suguru offers after a moment and Satoru wishes he could get a piercing instead, but the bet was specifically about getting a tattoo.
“I am,” Satoru lies straight through his teeth and Suguru levels him with a look.
“Sure,” he replies, clearly not believing a word Satoru said but he does lean on the counter, looking expectantly at Satoru. “What kind of motive were you thinking, then?” he wants to know and it brings Satoru up short.
He didn’t think about a motive. He didn’t even think of a place where he could stomach getting a tattoo yet and it must show on his face because Suguru snorts.
“I see you came perfectly prepared.” He walks around the counter and shows Satoru a little seating area. “We have portfolios of our artists here. Why don’t you browse through them and see if anything catches your eye. If that happens, we can talk it over. Alternatively, we can brainstorm and I can draw something for you.”
“You’re a tattoo artist?” Satoru blurts out and briefly looks Suguru over.
There are no visible tattoos on him, and it’s kind of throwing Satoru off if he’s being honest.
“I am. Not everything has to be visible,” Suguru tells him with a wink and Satoru has to fight the urge to ask him to undress.
“Huh,” he instead somehow gets out and allows Suguru to push him down on the couch, dropping a folder into his hand.
“Go through these. I’m right here so if you have questions, feel free to ask, alright?”
“Thanks,” Satoru mutters, staring at the folder in his hands as if it’s going to bite him and then he turns because he’d rather watch Suguru walk away.
It’s a sight to behold, that’s for sure and it’s only when he vanishes deeper into the shop that Satoru turns his attention back to the folder.
He flips through it, before he takes the next one and then the next and while there are some nice and even beautiful artworks in there, nothing speaks to him.
Satoru thinks he is perfectly able to appreciate all of them on someone else’s body but he simply cannot imagine any of them on his own.
“So, how is it going?” Suguru asks eventually, having returned from whatever it is he was doing in the back and Satoru leans back with a sigh. “I see,” Suguru chuckles out and sits down next to Satoru. “A more personal approach might be it, then.”
Satoru isn’t sure where he got the sheets of paper and the pencil from but they are in Suguru’s lap now and he’s looking expectantly at Satoru.
“What kind of motive would you like?”
None, Satoru wants to say but he can already hear Shoko laughing at him, and he’s not going to give her that satisfaction.
“A butterfly?” Satoru blurts out, because it’s the first thing on his mind after seeing approximately twenty in the folders and Suguru freezes momentarily before he presses his lips together as if he’s trying to suppress a smile.
“Sure,” he easily agrees and then Satoru has the agonising pleasure of Suguru swiftly sketching him something.
Satoru is never going to admit it but he’s completely mesmerized by Suguru’s hand, by the swift and sure moves it makes and he certainly doesn’t do a double take when he spots a hint of dark ink at the base of Suguru’s hand.
“Like this?” Suguru asks after not even five minutes and shows Satoru a beautiful, delicate butterfly.
“It’s gorgeous,” Satoru says, because it is but still. It’s not something he wants on his body.
“But you’re not convinced,” Suguru easily reads off his face and Satoru shrugs.
“I’m just—not decided yet.”
“How about this then,” Suguru says and hides the butterfly away again.
Satoru hopes that it will eventually see the light of day again, even if it’s on someone else’s body, because it’s simply too pretty to hide away.
“You think about it some more and when you have a more concrete idea, you come back. I’m here most days, so we can figure out what you truly want. How does that sound?”
It sounds a bit as if Suguru is asking him out for a date, Satoru thinks before he vehemently pushes that thought away. Suguru is at work and he’s just being professional. It’s completely inappropriate for Satoru to think something like that.
“Sounds good,” he weakly says and certainly doesn’t mourn when Suguru gets up and walks away from him again.
“I’m looking forward to seeing you again, then,” Suguru tells him with a small smile and it occurs to him that Satoru never even told him his name.
“Satoru. Gojo Satoru,” he introduces himself belatedly, and Suguru’s smile grows bigger.
“Until the next time then, Satoru.”
~*~*~
Satoru is back in the tattoo shop three days later. He still doesn’t want a tattoo and he barely has an idea what he possibly could accept on his skin, but he wants to see Suguru again. He wants to hear him talk again and he wants to see him work again.
“Satoru, you’re back,” Suguru greets him when he steps into the shop and it makes Satoru freeze in surprise.
“Suguru, hi,” he finally gives back, his mind whirring because Suguru remembered his name.
“Are your thoughts any clearer now? Do you have an idea you want to discuss?”
“Yeah, actually,” Satoru lies straight through his teeth and waves a sheet of paper at Suguru.
He did come somewhat prepared after all.
“Oh,” Suguru says, clearly surprised himself and he comes around to take the paper out of Satoru’s hand.
“I’d like something like this, maybe. But—I’d like you to draw it,” Satoru says, because he can’t get Suguru’s butterfly out of his head.
It was just a sketch, done in no time at all, but something about it was so beautiful, so fragile—Satoru simply wants to see Suguru draw something again.
“I see,” Suguru says, folding the paper back up again before he hands it back to Satoru. “Take a seat, I’ll be with you in a minute.”
Satoru does and true to his word Suguru is there before Satoru can do something stupid, like miss him.
“Didn’t take you for a flower guy,” Suguru idly mutters as his pencil flies over the paper and Satoru doesn’t actually know what to say to that so he simply shrugs.
Suguru gives him a smile in return, which feels like more than Satoru deserves, because he has no intention of getting that flower tattooed. At this point, he’s simply hogging Suguru’s attention and keeping him from his work.
“Listen, I can see that you’re still kind of uncertain about this,” Suguru says, still drawing and not meeting Satoru’s eyes. “I have a long-time client come in soon, I think he’d be fine if you’d want to watch him get a new tattoo? If that would help?”
“I—” Satoru cuts himself off. He has no intention of getting a tattoo, ever; it would just be a waste of time for him to stay and it will probably only be a disappointment for Suguru. “Sure,” he finds himself saying anyway and his stomach lurches a little when Suguru gives him a smile at that.
“I’ll ask Sukuna when he comes in, which should be right about—”
The door opens and a heavily tattooed guy comes in. He looks scary as hell, if Satoru is being honest, but then he gives Suguru a big grin and suddenly he’s not so scary at all anymore.
“Geto!” he calls out and Suguru waves at him.
“Sukuna, hey,” he gives back, getting up. “Listen, this is Satoru. He’s still a little nervous about his first tattoo, and I thought it might be a good idea if he could watch today? Maybe that’ll settle his nerves.”
“Sure thing,” Sukuna gives back with a thumbs up. “First times are scary.”
He says it without judgment just like Suguru is acting as if there’s nothing wrong with Satoru being hesitant, and nervous and undecisive. Satoru would have never thought these people to be so welcoming if he’s being honest and he is a little bit appalled at his own prejudice.
“Thanks, man,” he replies and then he’s being swept away by Suguru and Sukuna.
He stays the entire appointment, if only to have Suguru explain everything in that soothing voice he has, but when he stumbles out of the shop three hours later, Satoru knows one thing for certain.
He’s never going to get a tattoo.
~*~*~
Satoru is back not even two days later and Suguru laughs right in his face.
“Very rude,” Satoru huffs out, already turning on his heel to walk back out again, but Suguru quickly comes around the corner and catches the sleeve of Satoru’s sweater.
“No, Satoru, stay, it’s just—you looked like hell last time you walked out of here, I didn’t expect to see you again.”
It hadn’t been the most pleasant experience, watching Sukuna get that tattoo but Satoru is ashamed to hear that Suguru noticed.
“Yeah, well—” Satoru says and then doesn’t actually know how to finish the sentence.
“What are you here for?” Suguru wants to know, a sparkle in his eyes and Satoru shrugs, looking to the side.
“I thought maybe we could brainstorm some more,” he weakly says, knowing that no matter what gorgeous design Suguru comes up for him, it will never see the light of day, and Suguru seems to know the same, because he shakes his head.
“Listen, Satoru. It’s painfully obvious that you’re not a tattoo guy. You don’t want one. I can only guess as to why you stepped foot in here for the first time, but it certainly wasn’t to get a tattoo.”
Satoru deflates, even though there’s no judgement in Suguru’s voice.
“It’s a dare. I have to get a tattoo,” Satoru admits and Suguru shakes his head.
“Never let something like a dare decide this. That’s just stupid.”
“Don’t I know it,” Satoru sighs out and Suguru belatedly lets go of him. “Shoko will laugh at me for the rest of my life, though.”
“And your poor ego couldn’t take it,” Suguru says in sympathy and then laughs when Satoru pouts at him. “Okay, hear me out, and I might be overstepping here,” Suguru then says and Satoru is all ears immediately. “You’re not a tattoo guy and yet you keep coming back which makes me wonder, not gonna lie,” Suguru tells him.
Satoru prays to all the gods he knows that he doesn’t flush as brightly as he feels right now, but when Suguru smirks at him he knows it’s a lost cause.
“Why don’t you take the direct approach to whatever it is you want?”
“Because this is your workplace and it would be kind of inappropriate to ask you out here?” Satoru blurts out and then fights the urge so slap a hand over his mouth.
“I own this shop. If I find it inappropriate I’ll ban you, easy as that. So why don’t you try it out?”
There’s not much Satoru has to try out, not with the way Suguru looks at him, he’s certain of that and so Satoru takes a deep breath.
“Hi, I’m Satoru. Would you like to go for a coffee with me?” he asks, almost feeling not at all stupid and something warm blooms in his chest when Suguru smiles brightly at him.
“Hi, I’m Suguru, and it would be my pleasure. I leave in an hour.”
Satoru matches his smile and thinks that if everything could be as easy as this, then he might even get a tattoo one day.
Not today, though, because today he has a date with the cutest tattoo artist he knows.
(Satoru does eventually get a tattoo. Suguru asks him to trust him and so Satoru does; he walks out with a little infinity symbol on his hipbone, the initials S and G tattooed in the loops. Suguru never tells him if those are supposed to stand for Satoru’s name or Suguru’s own and Satoru thinks, in the end, it doesn’t matter. It will always be them, together, anyway.)