So this was originally a prompt from AOSshipper, but I think it grew a bit too much to be a one shot and we'll have to see how many chapters it makes.
Prompt/Summary: Tattoo/Florist AU with Jemma playing the tattoo artist and Skye the florist, they both meet on their first days of work, and at first they think a little low of each other.
It wasn't that Skye disliked people for having tattoos, she just wouldn't get one herself. She liked her skin just the way it was, and she didn't understand how someone could trash it with permanent ink.
Okay, so maybe she was a little bit prejudice. In her defense, she had met a lot more suspicious characters with tattoos than without. The most rough and aggressive strangers she'd come across had had at least one of the marks in an obviously visible place, meant to intimidate with whatever image happened to be printed there.
Because of this, Skye wasn't incredibly thrilled to find that a tattoo parlor had opened up next door when she came in to work on her first day. It hadn't been there when she'd been given a short interview only a week before. The job had seemed almost too good to be true. Her new place of work was a quaint little florist shop that wasn't busy, but had enough business to keep it going and pay a few employees to help the owner run the place. Nice and partially secluded in the small town, it was the perfect place for Skye to enjoy caring for the plants, among other duties, and simply continue a quiet life. Her childhood had been rough enough, it was time for her to settle somewhere peaceful that could keep her occupied and content.
Like most things in Skye's life, the better this seemed, the faster something ruined it. Just getting out of her van, she could already hear fairly loud rock music coming from the parlor next door to the florist, completely countering the feel of the street corner in more ways than one. Even the exterior appearance of the place contrasted from its neighbor. The pale pastels of the flower shop were crushed by dark shades of red and neon signs in the window. The tattoo parlor had an uncompleted look to it, a few things inside that Skye could see through the large window looked out of place, but maybe that's what it was supposed to look like.
Grumbling to herself, Skye made sure her car was locked, double checking it. She had never worried about theft in the area before, but now there was a tattoo parlor here to attract...well, the type of people she often saw sporting tattoos. Maybe she was a little judgmental, but it was better to be safe than sorry, especially since Skye could not yet afford to replace anything if it were to be stolen. She side-eyed the parlor as she made her way to her new workplace as if it was an actual person that had offended her and infringed on her personal space and privacy.
Once she made it inside and it was impossible to see the tattoo parlor, Skye instantly relaxed. The muscles in her shoulders and neck were less tense as she draped the loop of her assigned apron over them and wrapped the long strings around her waist once before tying them behind her. The fresh scent of all the flowers reached her nose and she inhaled deeply.
Skye had experience working in a place like this and she had already been briefed about her role previously, so she instantly fell into what would become her new work habit. There were plenty of flowers that needed to be cared for and watered as well as others that needed to be potted or seeds that needed to be planted.
After the initial watering process, Skye shuffled over to the clipboard on the wall behind the counter that listed all the arrangements she was to make and set aside for when the delivery boy came to work his shift later in the day. It was a neat, organized list, except for the yellow sticky note stuck right in the middle of it.
"Skye- As a little welcome from us, I'd like you to make an arrangement for the new tattoo parlor next door. Whatever you think is fitting. -Coulson" Skye read the note aloud, even though there was no one around but the flowers to hear her, and she groaned a little bit as well. She had been hoping that the parlor next door would be like an annoying neighbor that you dislike even though you've never actually met them other than awkward run-ins on the street. A neighbor that you ignored and never had to actually speak to, living out the rest of your time there never communicating with the person at all.
It didn't seem as if that was going to be the way things were going to work out, though. She had to welcome this neighbor with flowers. They were her choice, too.
Flowers in a tattoo parlor? Skye didn't really know what would be best for a place like that, so she put together a group of vibrant reds, oranges, and yellows that seemed to go with the bold color scheme of the tattoo parlor, at least what Skye had seen of it from out front.
Skye didn't lock the door behind her as she left the calm setting of the flower shop, the errand wouldn't take too long.
After staring at the place for several minutes, Skye finally decided to suck it up and walk in. A little bell jingled over her head as she pushed open the door, it was probably the one thing it had in common with the flower shop.
Not knowing what kind of person to expect coming in here, Skye was still surprised by the appearance of the woman who looked up at her. She had short, light brown hair that just reached her shoulders and a sweet, innocent looking face, something Skye definitely hadn't expected of someone working here. The woman was wearing a tank top, probably to show off the tattoos on her arms to any customers. Skye couldn't help but stand there with the vase in her hand and let her eyes roam the expanse of the visible skin. There weren't many, but what Skye could see was a flock of birds flying across the woman's collarbone from her shoulder in a way that seemed to fit right in with her body.
"Can I help you with something?" She asked when Skye hadn't moved after standing there staring for quite some time. This finally spurred Skye into action and she came closer, holding her arms out with the vase in them.
"I work at the florist next door, and we wanted to welcome you." Skye didn't know if this person was the manager or owner or what, and she said "we" because she wasn't exactly going to point out that she didn't want this place here.
"Oh... Thank you." The woman said, taking the flowers from Skye and walking back to the front of the parlor to set them on the front desk. Skye was so focused on that British accent that she definitely noticed how forced it sounded. The Brit didn't seem too pleased with their neighbor situation either, apparently.
Like Skye, Jemma was already beginning to judge the woman who had walked in based on her career choice. If you could call flowers a career.
What Jemma didn't understand was why someone would want to work as a florist, what a preposterous way to make a living. It seemed lazy of the buyers, too, to pay money for something they could go out and find themselves. It was like having a store to sell rocks or dirt, something people were very capable of finding on their own. Wouldn't flowers mean more as a gift if they were found or even grown by whoever was giving them? It just seemed weird to Jemma.
She had to admit, though, the flowers did look nice on the front desk and strangely, they contrasted just enough to fit in with everything in the parlor.
The woman who had brought them was still standing there quite awkwardly, Jemma noted when she turned back around. Neither of them really knew what they were supposed to say, but Jemma guessed it was her turn to add to whatever small conversation they were having. Why else would the florist be standing there in her apron, putting all of her weight on one foot as she shifted uncomfortably.
"Is there something else? Were you considering getting a design?" Jemma gestured to the binder full of pictures of tattoos she'd given people throughout her time as a tattoo artist.
"No, not at all." Skye's eyes widened at what the Brit was insinuating, and she held her hands out in front of her and gestured as she spoke. She only realized how condescending she'd sounded when she saw the frown on the woman's face and she tried to correct her mistake. "I mean, I could never get a tattoo. Needles and I don't get along." Even though Skye had never had a problem with needles, it was the first excuse she could think of that wouldn't offend everyone who had ever gotten a tattoo.
Jemma couldn't help the small laugh that she let out at the reaction. It wasn't like she'd never have people come in determined to get a tattoo and then leave with only a tiny dot because they chickened out once she got started, but she still found it funny anyway.
"Well, thanks again... for the flowers." Jemma told her, and the brunette took this as her signal that she could leave, because she nodded, mumbled something that sounded similar to "you're welcome", and rushed out, nearly bumping into a customer at the door.
Skye groaned and rolled her eyes. She wished she hadn't had to deliver those flowers like that, it was obvious that the woman hadn't really known what to do with them and didn't appreciate them like Skye did. The whole situation irked her, and now she had to work next door to this person for who knows how long, probably until one of the services ran out of business.
The rest of Skye's morning shift went quickly, she mostly set up bouquets that would be delivered by someone else or picked up by customers. She was still happy to take her lunch break, she was starving because she'd slept in on accident and skipped breakfast. There happened to be a deli just around the corner, another convenience Skye had found when she was looking into this job.
It didn't take long to get the sandwich she'd ordered and there had been no complications, at least until she spotted the familiar hairstyle on the way out the door. Apparently the tattoo artist from before took her lunches here, and at the same time. Skye was hoping to just skit past her and not be recognized, but it wasn't going to work out that way. She was so focused on getting towards the exit that she wasn't paying attention to the people around her, and someone bumped into her, throwing her off balance.
Much to Skye's disbelief and horror, she stumbled over to the side before inevitably tripping over her heals and falling right on top of the very person she'd been trying to avoid. Now a blushing mess, Skye scrambled off of the near stranger's lap and tried to access damage. It didn't look like she'd spilled anything other than herself, but the girl she'd fallen on looked a little displeased, but also entertained at the same time.
"Well, hello again, Daisy." The woman chuckled, and Skye's cheeks reddened even more. Was this woman mistaking her for someone else?
"What?" She asked dumbly, grabbing some of her change from the ground to busy her hands.
"The flowers you brought, they were daisies, and I don't actually know your name..." The tattoo artist trailed off, and Skye felt her heart swell a little at the fact that she'd gotten a nickname like this, though she didn't know why. She hadn't liked this woman initially, but maybe that was just because of the whole tattoo thing. Now that she thought about it, really, she actually liked the delicate birds across the woman's chest. They suited her.
"Skye." She blurted out. "My name is Skye."
"It's nice to meet you, Skye. I'm Jemma Simmons." Jemma smiled and held out her hand, and Skye was beginning to wonder why she'd even thought Jemma was intimidating at all. It was like she'd imagined all of it, Jemma seemed like a pretty friendly person. Her cute smile helped with that.
What was she thinking? It wasn't often Skye thought things like this, especially not for people she thought she would hate, but maybe this could be a first.
"Are you on lunch break? Why don't you join me?" Jemma asked when Skye still hadn't replied, gesturing to the seat across from her at the two person table in the busy deli. Whoever had bumped into her had apologized and rushed off long ago, and Skye was amazed that there was still a seat left in the lunch rush.
"Are you sure?" Skye raised her eyebrows in question and looked at the seat she was being offered. She wasn't very social, and she was surprised Jemma even wanted to be with her at all after the weird way she'd been acting, and the fact that Skye had practically sat on her lap only moments before.
"Of course." Jemma grinned. Skye hesitantly slid into the wooden chair and a smile finally crossed her face when she saw how happy Jemma was.
They made small talk for their forty minute lunch break, and Skye mostly found herself listening to Jemma talk about this or that, mostly staring at one bird in particular on Jemma's collarbone. She liked the tattoo, there was no denying it now. All she wanted to do was reach out and touch it, trace the birds' wings with her fingertips over what looked like very soft skin, but that would be highly inappropriate.
"Skye," Jemma chuckled, and Skye finally looked back up to her face, blushing once she realized she'd been caught.
"Hm?" She raised her eyebrows and took another bite of her long forgotten sandwich. Her throat was dry, so she also took a quick sip from her soda.
"I asked you why you became a florist, but it didn't appear as though you were listening." She smiled, and even more heat found its way to the tips of Skye's ears. It took a moment to consider her answer, or to even figure out a way to explain.
"I had a pretty ugly childhood," Skye started, not sure why she was already opening up and sharing a bit of her past. She saw the sympathetic look on Jemma's face, but she didn't immediately apologize like everyone else had, simply continuing to listen intently. "Flowers were the only thing in my life that remained a beautiful constant. I guess I've just always had a thing for them. It seems stupid now." Skye looked down at her food, avoiding eye contact with the woman sitting across from her.
"I don't think that's stupid at all." Jemma said, finally causing Skye to lift her eyes again. There was silence then, at least between them. There were still people bustling about the deli, but Skye couldn't hear any of it. She wanted to ask what the birds meant, but she didn't know how.
There was suddenly a little beep coming from Jemma's wrist, and she silenced it by pressing a button on the side of the watch. Less than a few seconds later, Skye's cell phone buzzed telling her to get back to shop.
"I guess it's time to get back to work." Jemma smiled and collected her trash to toss on the way out the door. Skye felt a pang in her chest when Jemma stood up, and she wished she had another ten minutes left.
"It was nice meeting you." Skye caught up to her quickly at the trashcan and threw away her own paper cup. In a split second decision, she jumped forward and held the door open for Jemma.
"You as well." Jemma said, almost shyly, and it made Skye giddy. It was a shame that they both had to get back to work, but now Skye was glad that they were neighbors, so she was sure she would be seeing Jemma again sometime soon.