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Mizi, Sua and Till have spent their day together at a coffee shop and a few clothing stores, discussing everything that needs discussing and everything that shouldn't be discussed.
Till has been planning on opening a small "business", a place where he does piercings, but struggles with the current economy and also, opening a lot on your own with no help or support is pretty difficult. Mizi and Sua have brought up Ivan to Till a few times today, but excessively when the piercer job was brought up.
Ivan does tattoos, Till wants to do piercings, quite the match, so why don't they find a lot and start this business together? Their past isn't the most perfect but it can work out pretty well. Till quite likes the idea because it'd be a head start, but seeing and working alongside Ivan for who knows how long? Terrifying.
It's now evening and right as they exit their last shop of the day, a man dressed in dark colors, baggy clothes and sitting on a motorcycle motions for Till. It is Ivan, who else could it be?
The girls giggle and Till turns back to look at them, one waving with half a smirk on, and the other one doing a wave like a mom would, as they slowly start walking away. Till turns back and looks at Ivan who has now lifted his visor to lock eyes.
Quite a menace, thinks the gray haired man as he has really.. no option but to approach Ivan, which seems to be preparing a helmet. Till shuffles around as he walks, it's that awkward moment when you walk towards someone you know and it's too far to shout or talk to them so you just do whatever.
“Why, hello there.” Ivan looks at Till with sharp eyes and thankfully a smile hid beneath his own helmet.
“Hi.” Till tries to sound bored and bothered, by the situation and by the man in front of him who is now extending the helmet.
Till takes it and looks dumbfounded at it, these things are always just so confusing to fix on your head. He always breaks a few of his hairs while adjusting it, and Ivan looks at him deeply. It's awesome just how wonderful things go for Till.
He puts it on his head and starts messing with the little zip to make it fit him perfectly so it doesn't fall when Ivan will start speeding for no reason. Yet, he barely manages to form that thought completely because Ivan already got off the bike and is now adjusting the helmet, and all that Till sees is the other man's black leather jacket and some small pins attached to it. Well, it might be better than being eye to eye level with him.
That is, until Ivan leans down and lifts Till's visor, which makes Till a little flustered, but he doesn't know why. He could probably swear that he has nothing going on with the man but there are just things that his body does and reacts while around Ivan.
“Say, have you ever rode on the back of a bike before?”
“..yes” Till doesn't even know why Ivan asked this since he's been riding for longer.
Let the instructions begin anyway, “Your feet go there,” Ivan points at some spot on his bike, “you sit here,” he pats a place behind him, “you put your hands on the gas tank,” he points to yet another spot on his bike, “when I accelerate, you put your hands around me and when I take turns you lean together. With me.”
Till's eyes are a little bit widened and while he is not a fan, he is weirdly into this thing, [backpacking]. He gets on as he's told and while Ivan is typing an address into his GPS, he reaches out with his other arm and holds Till's knee. He is somewhat shocked, but realises he doesn't have too much balance as of right now and extends a hand and holds on to Ivan's shoulder.
They both know what kind of sly smile Ivan is wearing yet again hidden beneath his helmet. He puts both his arms on the bike's handles and turns around asking “Are you ready?”
Till doesn't know where they're headed to but still nods and slowly moves his hands up around Ivan as he starts driving.
“You can come closer to admire me y'know.” Ivan looks at Till, who is sitting down on a chair, clearly uncomfortable since he is bending his back in weird ways just to catch a glimpse of whatever Ivan is doing.
“More like I make sure you don’t stab yourself with the stencil.” Hurries Till, and only after the words leave his mouth he realises that what he said doesn't make that much sense.
Ivan continues to work on his tattoo but he hears a chair be lazily dragged around the empty hallway – and he can't help but wear a smile.
Till throws the chair across from Ivan and rests his chest on the backrest, staring so deeply at Ivan without even noticing. Oh and the way the stencil goes a little bit up then back down again as he trails it over some muscles.. kinda dreamy if you think about it.
But Ivan is quick to notice and he wants to make sure that the other man knows it, so he doesn't miss a heartbeat, “My eyes are up here.”
“They should be down on your arm if I'm being honest.”
“Oh, come on,” Ivan lifts the stencil and puts it down for a moment so he can run his hand through his hair, “you know I didn't mean it like that.”
Till doesn't say anything, he raises his eyebrows in amusement but not for long, and right as he does that, Ivan mutters “not that I don't like it..”
The room is quiet and really the only thing that makes some noise is the stencil, until Ivan strikes again "Would you pierce my lip?”
“..why?” Till asks confused, Ivan really just formed a thought and fired it out in the next moment.
“Because I'd like one, don't you think it'd look good on me?” He smirks and he stares so intensely at Till's face that he can notice him blush a little.
Till scratches the back of his neck, “Well I can just stab you with the needle while piercing you so.. that fancies me.”
“Go get your stuff.”
“Huh?!” Till sits straight and looks at Ivan with a raised eyebrow, “You want it now? It's kinda late..”
And as his eyes run towards the clock which indicate 11:50pm, Ivan almost accuses him,
“Yeah, why? Are you busy tonight? Need to go anywhere?”
“No, I just thought it's late.” He looks down at the stencil that is still drawing some lines and filling in some small shapes that he can't quite make out from the distance.
“If you're tired we can do it tomorrow.” Ivan adds in a soft tone. “I didn't notice how late it is.”
“If I give you a piercing..” Till taps the backrest of his chair and it draws Ivan's full attention to him, “will you give me a tattoo?”
Ivan smirks at that trade offer but he is almost over the moon to hear Till ask for that himself, he tries to contain himself as much as he can. “Ooh, my Till wants to get a tattoo.. well of course.”
He finally finished his own and is making space so that Till can get all of his tools close. He fancies to tease his so dear best friend so he continues, “anything for you.”
Till rolls his eyes as he throws all his tools on the table, clanking loudly.
“I feel like there's something new about you but I can't quite point out what it is.” Ivan says as he scans Till which is cleaning a needle.
“My new belt?”
And before he can even blink, Ivan's hands are glued to Till's hips as he just dragged the man.. to admire the new belt. It's funny how he's the one who did the motion and he is also the one that is blushing.
He left out a surprised noise, Till's now caged between Ivan's legs. He chooses not to say anything – because he actually can't think straight anymore.
“If you still want this piercing,” Till coughs as he finally breaks free, not that he minded being held even if it was by the hips.
“Yes yes..” Ivan lays back on the chair as Till starts working.
First, a small dot for the positioning of the piercing – Ivan approved immediately. A cold alcohol wipe is now dabbing on his bottom lip, making it slightly twitch.
Then, Till holds the needle and inserts it from the inside of the lip onto the outside, he does it pretty fast and easily. Thankfully it's not a complicated procedure (especially now with tools, compared to how he'd try to give himself piercings with sewing needles a few years ago).
“..almost there.” He drops something on his table as he picks up the jewel that'll soon replace the needle from Ivan's mouth. Ooh and Till? He just can't help himself as he starts giggling.
“You look hotter when you don’t talk.”
What is quite impressive, is that Ivan doesn't even attempt to move – knowing that the needle is in, or that he wanted to further indulge Till. After all, he was given a compliment.
Till is very careful with the whole action, from cleaning to picking a jewel. And what he just thought of? Is not a lie at all, in fact this new addition to Ivan's pretty face only accentuates his beauty.
Right as Till finishes, he notices Ivan is staring into his eyes, at which, he lightly slaps Ivan across the face. Not enough to hurt, just to make sure his eyes aren't locked on his anymore.
He throws everything he used in a small container which he then puts away on a shelf. Assuming he was next for a service, Ivan started gathering his tools again, to give Till the promised tattoo.
“To what tattoo do I owe the pleasure?”
“A swirly music sheet with some notes,” Till shows Ivan a reference picture, “on my collar bone. Left one.”
And when you think it couldn't get better, Till dragged his shirt down by his collar with one finger, showing a little bit of skin.
And if that wouldn't make Ivan go insane, then I don't know what would..
“I fancy that.” He turns around to hide his expression, barely being able to hold in the dumb smile that he almost forces into a smirk, just in case Till sees. He motions the man to lay down on the bed as he adjusts his own chair.
“Take off your shirt.”
“..right.” Till almost realises the consequences of his wishes. But.. does he really mind? I don't think so.
Ivan had already prepared the stencil, he pressed it down right underneath Till's left collarbone and held a small mirror to make sure the spot was approved of.
“If it starts hurting too much you just let me know and I move the tattoo gun..” his words trail off beautifully, each word just got quieter and quieter but his tone was somehow tender like it never was before. Till has heard Ivan's voice in multiple instances, and it never sounded like it. Not even when they were in forced proximity.
Ivan moves the stencil almost gracefully and traces over the lines ever so carefully.
But this is Ivan after all and he has kind of a stupid idea, but he is the artist so he can do whatever. He even has a script prepared.
He murmurs a little bit, shuffles around a little bit and by now, Till's attention is focused on Ivan.
“Everything's okay?” Till asks, hoping whatever's bothering Ivan is something easily fixable.
He was never so glad before to receive such a question, “I'm not sitting exactly comfortably..” It's like he is trying to build a little suspense.
Till murmurs an “okay,” and before he truly gains voice, Ivan is on top of him.
Quite.. the option for a tattoo artist. To straddle your client's body, especially with your legs almost glued to their waist, then leaning down, touching chest to chest, all for a collar bone tattoo…
Till sucks in a breath, he doesn't know yet if it's in annoyance or to stiff his laugh as the stencil continues to move.
“Mhm, way better,” says Ivan, his expression beyond satisfaction.
Till feels insane for some time, him resisting the urge to say something is the most not-like-him thing.
In reality, he just couldn't think of anything. To find something to reproach is unlike him, he doesn't really find anything striking.
“Are you sure this is correct?”
“My arms are positionated properly for tattooing this spot.”
So are your legs, huh, Till thinks to himself. “Is this professional?”
“Since when does that matter?”
“Since we decided to open this business?" That was more like a half question from Till.
“There are no customers or people who can see us now, are there?”
And while Ivan thinks he's sleek and Till is digesting his words, there are two girls just outside the shop. Mizi and Sua, through a peephole made by a small uncovered spot by the old curtain that needs to be chanted and is atop the back window, a picture is shot.
Obviously, neither of them know, or can notice. The spot is so small that they didn't know existed, but to think that someone would take a picture.
Some more time passes and Ivan patches the tattoo, gives Till instructions – as if he wouldn't know, but annoyance might as well just be Ivan's love language.
Ivan finally gets off of Till, they pack their stuff and lock the place for the night, now heading for their shared apartment.
What a day, to be straddled by your roommate and stab him in the lip. Till was wishing that the stabbing would wear the actual meaning of the word and not be just a fancy cover for the pierce.
As they get home and throw their stuff both on the floor and their living room's sofa, Till starts, “I'm gonna take a shower,” he stretches and yawns a little, but then he hears this aggravating noise, more exactly, Ivan's voice,
“You sure you don’t want me to shower with you so I can make sure your tattoo is being taken well of?”