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After weeks of planning, discussing designs and thinking of meanings, it was almost done. All Joey had to do now was actually get the tattoo.
He stood outside the tattoo studio, an unusually bright building called ‘Chromia Creates’. Large blue windows scaled the walls, leaving a scarce amount of space for the floral logo design that sat at the top of the one-story building. He looked in the window briefly, checking his hair and combing his fingers through it. He may have forgotten it was a window, and accidentally locked eyes with an employee, and a cute one at that. The man had short, dusty blue hair and gorgeous blue eyes. He winked at Joey flirtingly, and Joey winked back in reply. One might say that his face blushed at that moment, but it could just be excused as a reaction to the warm spring day.
He brushed his hands along the fabric of his trousers, getting rid of the invisible creases in his cargos. With a quick push, the door to the tattoo studio opened, the jingle of a bell notifying the employee of his entrance. The blue-haired man looked up from the reception desk, placing his pencil back onto the desk.
“Greetings! You’re Joey right?” He asked, slightly swivelling in his desk chair.
“The one and only.” Joey replied, walking over to the desk, his slightly heeled boots making a click-clack for every step he took.
The employee began to open and close drawers, pulling out sketch pads and notebooks, flipping through them, and then putting them back in.
After a dozen or so awkward seconds, he found the one he was looking for, placing it onto the desk with a thud.
“There we go. I’m Scott by the way.” Scott said, flicking through his notepad until he found the right page. Now, Joey would’ve usually tried to read what it said, but considering it was upside down from his perspective, and he probably wouldn’t be allowed behind the reception desk. Not to mention, he was dyslexic. You wouldn't believe the amount of times he had misread something so bad that it changed the context of a sentence. Spoiler alert, it was more than you could count on your fingers. So, he had to settle for waiting, tapping a foot against the floor to fill the awkward silence of the studio. Almost like the idle pose for a video game character, he checked his nails, the rainbow nail polish chipping at the edges. Great, he would have to fix that when he got home.
“So you’re getting the parrot tattoo?” Scott asked, holding up the drawing to show him, as though Joey hadn’t been designing it for weeks. He had wanted a tattoo since he was little, and was constantly getting in trouble for drawing on his arm with a sharpie, so when the thought had crossed his mind a few weeks ago, he was ecstatic to get one. It did take a while to think of what to get however, and he had spent many a morning sitting next to his parrot Xornoth, racking his brain for ideas. The actual idea was so obvious though, that it should’ve been the first thing he thought of. Get a tattoo of the parrot! So, he sent a quick sketch with some labels to Chromia Creates, and before he knew it, the employee had sent a drawing back.
“Yup!” Joey nodded, placing his hands beside his pockets, his legs swaying slightly.
Scott stood up with a small nod as he tucked his chair under the desk. He looked up at Joey, and Xornoth was he short. He was at least a foot shorter than the peacock hybrid, his head barely making it up to Joey’s shoulders.
“How’s the weather up there?” The blue-haired man chuckled, putting his hand above his brow in a faux attempt to block out the imaginary sun.
“It’s gorgeous, just like you.” Joey replied with a wink, grinning down at the shorter man.
“If you keep complimenting me my head will be so big I won’t be able to get out the door.” Scott rolled his eyes lightheartedly, almost as though they had been long-term friends.
It wasn’t long before he had reached the tattoo chair, waiting while Scott gathered his equipment. He had taken pride in his outfit today, but that wasn’t the reason he was wearing it. The turtleneck had no sleeves, and therefore meant Joey wouldn’t have to spend the next three hours holding up his sleeve. He ran his fingers through his ear feathers as he waited, as soft as ever. It was one of those mindless things that he did, like picking his nails or fiddling with a bracelet.
Once Scott had wheeled back over on his spinny chair, tray of tools in hand, and Joey had taken a look at those needles, he began to feel slightly lightheaded. Despite his insistence that he was scared of nothing, he secretly had a phobia of needles. Whenever it was flu jab season back at school, he made a point to take the day off, or to beg his parents to let him not have it. Thanks to this, he hadn’t had to face his fear for a long time. Maybe he should’ve thought about that before booking a tattoo appointment where they literally shove needles into your arm. Oh well, too late now!
Scott put those tacky latex gloves on his hands, the snap! of the elastic echoing a couple times. He then squirted some of the sanitizer onto his gloves hand, before rubbing it into the place where the parrot tattoo would be. Maybe it was the touch-starved side of him thinking, but it felt nice, in an odd way.
“Not only does your clothing make you look cute but it’s practical too.” Scott commented, taking a wipe and wiping Joey’s left bicep.
“Thank you!!” Joey smiled, acting all normal on the outside when really, his stomach was doing front flips. Scott had just called him cute!! Well, pretty much.
Scott picked up the stencil and held it up to Joey's arm, slightly rotating it for a few seconds until getting it right and placing it onto his bicep.
“Does that placement look good to you?” Scott asked, releasing the pressure on the stencil. Joey nodded, lifting up and twisting his left arm to see it. The placement was perfect, and after a minute of small talk the stencil was removed, leaving purple line art on his arm.
Scott picked up the tattoo machine from his tray, dipping it into the small pot of ink on the table next to him. Joey’s heart was racing, and despite the fact he could barely see the needle, it was still there! It’s fine, he only had to sit there for like.. two hours. He would manage! As Scott pressed the needle to his skin, Joey took a shaky breath and squeezed his eyes shut. He waited a couple seconds, then looked back at his left arm to see Scott had already made a start. He exhaled with a sigh of relief at the realisation that it didn’t hurt at all! Well if it did, he just ignored it.
Somehow, Joey made it through the rest of the appointment. His belonephobia- a long word for fear of needles -must’ve been off duty that day, because he didn’t really think about the fact a needle was being shoved into his arm. He was more focused on getting to know the cute tattoo artist, and by the end of the session, not only did he walk out with a gorgeous parrot tattoo, but also with Scott’s phone number. Perhaps he would be getting another tattoo sometime soon.