Chapter Text
Keith hated the shop across the street.
Hate was a bit of a strong word. He didn’t hate it so much as he would rather have preferred to stare at paint dry than deal with the new place across from his job. A flower shop was more preferable than a tattoo shop, right?
“Keith are you okay? You’ve been glaring at the new place so much I’m worried your face is gonna get stuck like that?”
Keith gave the tattoo shop one last glare as before turning towards his co-worker.
“Hunk, you’ve gotta think about how this will affect us. We could be run out of business by them!”
Hunk laughed at the idea, patting Keith on the back. “I think you’re over-reacting dude. “
“What’s so funny you two?” A deep voice asked.
“Oh, Shiro!” Hunk exclaimed, chuckling the last of his laughing fit away before continuing, “Keith thinks the new shop across from us is going to put us out of business.” He said, wiping a few tears from his eyes.
Shiro chuckled a bit at the idea, Keith huffing and muttering about him being the only one caring about the store’s business.
“Keith I know you mean well, but you do have to admit that’s a little crazy.” Shiro told him, placing one of his new arrangements on a display table. “We’ve done pretty well for ourselves; it sounds like you don’t have faith anymore if a new business scares you.”
Keith was about to reply when Hunk gasped suddenly, almost running out of the store. Curious and slightly frightened, Shiro and Keith followed him.
Hunk was a little out of breath after crossing the road, but he forgot about his slightly tired muscles as he approached the person in front of the tattoo shop’s door. Before he could greet them, he noticed his co-worker and boss following him.
“Hunk, what happened? Why did you run out?” Shiro asked.
“Oh I-“ he started but was distracted by the sound of keys falling. Temporarily forgetting about the questions, he turned towards the person bending to pick up their keys.
“Lance, hey man!” he greeted.
The person, Lance, looked up at his caller. A second of registering the person, he stood up with the biggest grin on his face.
“Hunk!” he exclaimed, giving him the biggest hug he could muster with his arms, “It feels like it’s been forever since I saw you! How are you dude?”
“Haha, I’m doing alright! What about you?”
“Hunk? You know this guy?” Keith cut in, temper slowly rising that they were wasting time talking to this person instead of working; a small bit of fear that maybe someone would sneak into the now empty store.
“Oh, sorry.” Hunk said, detangling himself from the man. “Keith, Shiro, this is my best friend Lance.”
Keith took in the appearance of this “friend” of Hunk’s: a guy who maybe had an inch or two more than himself in height dressed in torn jeans, a plain white v-cut shirt covered by a worn green jacket, warm skin that may or may not have reminded him of sunflower faces, short hair that looked incredibly soft, eyes that reminded him of bright blue hydrangeas, a small silver nose ring in his left nostril, and silver and blue piercings decorating his ears.
He felt…something while looking at him. He settled on annoyance, fixing Lance with a look.
“I’m Shiro, nice to meet you.” Shiro said, holding out his hand for Lance to shake. “I own the flower shop across from you.”
“Takashi Arrangements? My mom loves you! She always talks about the flowers you show in the window and brings home a small bunch when she can.” Lance said, chuckling a bit as a smile played across his lips.
Keith, ignoring the heat in his face, cleared his throat and suggested to no one in particular that they all had jobs to get back to. Lance checked his phone and agreed, saying his boss would probably break his arm if he didn’t open up shop soon.
“It was nice seeing you again Hunk. Nice to meet you, Shiro, Keith.” He said, giving them all a smile as he unlocked the entrance and headed inside.
Keith was the first to turn and head back to the shop, his insides a mix of frustration of the new shop and intrigue at how Hunk knew someone as opposite looking as Lance. Every hour he stared at the shop across, hoping that somehow his staring would scare Lance and the other employees off and leave him in peace.
“Back to glaring huh?” Hunk asked, spraying the window with cleaning solution.
“I don’t glare.” Keith replied.
“Hey Hunk, how do you know Lance? He doesn’t seem like…I don’t know, I just didn’t expect you to have a friend like that?” He asked, curiosity burning, shifting his eyes from the window to Hunk.
Hunk chuckled before he answered. “I know him from school. We shared classes together, lived a few houses down from each other. He had to move away for a bit, but we ended up finishing school together. He might come off as annoying, but he’s a great guy. I think you two would get along well if you talked to him.”
Before he could answer back, the sound of a bell alerted him to a customer. Actually, customers.
Inspecting one of Shiro’s new arrangements was a woman. If Keith had to describe her with one word, he’d pick ethereal. She had hair like clouds, color the same as pale lavenders, arms covered in tattoos of flowers, a few Keith recognized with others foreign to him. Her complexion was like coffee, eyes a crystal ocean blue. Her outfit, a cropped long sleeve matched with a floral skirt, displaying a water-colored tattoo of chrysanthemums on her left calf, gave Keith the impression of royalty.
At her side was someone else who was vastly different in appearance. Their hair reminded Keith of a mop, a few auburn locks sticking out. They were dressed in denim overalls, a black shirt underneath accompanied with brown work boots and a set of headphones accented with green hung around their neck. Tapping the tip of their boot on the ground, they re-adjusted their glasses as they told the woman something in a low voice.
After a few minutes, they both walked to the register, the person in overalls handing a piece of paper to the woman, taking it with a manicured hand.
“Do you think you can do this?” She said, handing the paper to Keith.
Keith examined the paper. Almost chicken scratch style writing aside, he read back to the woman her order.
“Two arrangements of white and red amaryllis, one blue morning glory pot, two arrangements of white roses and forget-me-nots, and three arrangements of purple and blue columbine flowers, correct?”
“Yes. How long will this take you?”
“About…two, three days?” He replied, working through the work of getting the flowers and having Hunk and Shiro arrange them.
“Alright.” She said, reaching into the hidden pocket of her skirt to produce her wallet.
“Your name, miss?” He asked, grabbing a pen to jot down the name of his customer.
“Allura de Altea.”
“Do you want to come in and pick them up or would you like us to deliver?”
“Delivery, please.”
“Where to?”
“Altea’s Art.”
“Oh!” Hunk called from his window, looking over at the pair. “You work at the tattoo shop?”
She laughed before answering, “Yes, I’m the owner. And this is Pidge, my assistant who works the front desk.,” she said, waving a hand to Pidge.
“We actually met your other employee, Lance.” Keith added.
“Ah, our head piercing specialist and second tattooist.” Pidge stated, adjusting their glasses. “He does excellent work, so you should consider coming in.”
“Pidge, you’re already in charge of advertising, you don’t have to advertise everywhere we go.” Allura giggled, hand fixing a stray lock of hair.
“I’m just trying to make sure we get customers.” They shot back.
“In any case,” Allura said, eyes flitting between Hunk and Keith, “whether you decide to pay us a visit is up to you.”
She started to head towards the door, grabbing the handle as Hunk called out to her.
“It was nice meeting you!”
Looking behind her, she gave him a warm smile. “You as well.”
With her and Pidge gone, Hunk was immediately at Keith’s side, practically star-struck.
“Man, can you believe how amazing she looked? I wonder if the tattoos helped add to it…do you think I’d look good with tattoos? Or maybe some piercings?”
“I don’t know.” Keith answered, rewriting the order in legible writing for Shiro to read.
“You should come with me on break to go check out the place!” Hunk suggested.
Keith nearly ruined “columbine” in surprise with the sudden idea of how to spend his break.
“Hunk, why the sudden interest?”
“Uh, I don’t know. I’ve always really admired the skill that goes into tattoos; how someone can work with needles and paint so well and the people who can sit through them to have them. I thought maybe I’d look cooler with one? If you don’t want to go I understand.”
“It’s alright,” Keith said, giving Hunk a pat on his back, “I’ll go with you.”
Hunk lit up even more with Keith’s promise to go with him.
“Thanks Keith! I’ll see you in an hour!” He said, taking the order slip to deliver to Shiro in the back.