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Rory walks into the tattoo shop, hands shaking slightly. Of course, this had been a dare from one of his new friends. Get a tattoo. Fine. That was easy. Right??? His parents had let him do anything he had wanted since he celebrated his 18th. God knew they complained about him being too reserved! So, tattoo. Yes. That was 100% done. He was all over the idea. Mhm.
His friend had also given him the extra challenge of letting the artist choose whatever they wanted to tattoo wherever they wanted to do it. The idea seemed less promising by the second, but Rory was determined to not seem like a wimp! Although, really, his friend wasn't there and the door was wide open and there was a bookshop nearby, he could escape for a quick second, couldn't he?
The bell chimes. No, he cannot, since there now is a lovely person looking back at him.
"Helloooo?" They drag out the o's, as Rory seems a bit spaced out.
Rory quickly blinks, face heating up with embarrassment. "Yes! Sorry. Hello. I'm, uhm, here for a tattoo-?" His voice breaks halfway through and he mentally curses.
"I assumed so," The person mutters, staring at the sign at their left that clearly says 'TATTOOS HERE :)' with a few oddly drawn stars and hearts.
Rory laughed nervously, hands shaking and twitching at his sides. He doesn't want to speak any more in case he fucks up, so he just hands the person his phone. The person who, he know sees, is wearing a little name plaque that has a drawing of a red planet on it. Mars is probably their name. He doesn't want to risk calling them the wrong thing.
"Oh, Pinterest. Do you… want me to choose for you?"
Rory nods quickly, face still as bright red as the drawing on the name plaque.
"Right. Okay. You seem nervous, and we have time to spare. I'm Mars." He (he?) utters, scrolling through the app. "You want a small tattoo, yes? Since it's probably your first one? Or are you always this nervous when it comes to meeting new people?" Mars grins and is clearly trying to get Rory to laugh, but either the joke doesn't land or Rory really is nervous. Mars bites back a sigh and smiles.
"I found a small tattoo I could do for you. It's- Are you certain you want to do this? You don't seem too happy,"
Rory just nods wordlessly, trying to seem as excited as he can, forcing a shaky smile. Mars clearly doesn't believe the silent lie.
"Whatever you say, then. Sit in the chair, mystery boy." Mars leads him to a shiny black chair which, at first glance, seems very uncomfortable, but when Rory hesitantly sits on it, he finds himself sinking into it. That makes him hum quietly and inadvertently. Mars smiles at that, and Rory finds he does too.
The brunette doesn't look at the design picked by Mars, too worried he might not like it. So, in all the session, whilst the needle is piercing onto his skin (although it isn't as bad as he thought it'd be, it was painful), Mars is talking about something or another, looking at him more than he does at the tattoo. That only serves to make Rory more nervous (nervouser? mmm…no.), trying to stay still. He closes his eyes and lets out a deep breath, barely listening to Mars as he went on and on.
Once he actually comes back from his little dissociation trip, Mars is still tattooing, but this time he's quieter, not really talking to him, moreso mumbling to himself.
"You can talk louder," Rory finds himself speaking, and it's clearly a shock to both people, since Mars stays quiet. "If- if you want! Obviously, I don't mean to- Do what you want it's fine." Rory tries to remedy the broken attempt at conversation and sinks further into the chair, whole face scrunching up as he closed his eyes in frustration.
Mars hums quietly, speaking up. "So, as I was saying, it's crazy how-"
The session passed too quickly for Rory's liking. He found that he loved how words formed by Mars, it seemed different to other peoples way of speaking (that definitely sounded weird). And he actually smiled at him! Although that might've been because Rory was a paying customer. Yeah, probably it was, but that's- He'll keep being delusional and let himself overthink later.
Anyway, he liked the tattoo that he had done, it was a lovely hibiscus flower, which Mars had cheerfully informed him on completely, rambling about facts. As it seemed, he really liked hibiscus flowers.
Rory didn't get the chance to ask for Mars' number before he was clocking out, after he had put the money in the register. Mars was walking out the door and Rory's heart sunk, before he expectantly looked back.
"Coming?"
"Wha- where?"
"The bookstore. You said you'd recommend some books to me."
Rory blinked. Oh. Yes, he had!
"Right. Yes, okay-" He walks towards Mars, awkwardly maneuvering to get out to the street and not bump into him. He still hadn't noticed that Mars (in washable pen, of course) had written his number next to the hibiscus flower on his wrist.