Navel
Ludwig knew he could be intimidating. He also knew that, in his industry, being intimidating could be bad for business- they weren't a biker scratch shop, and the last thing any of the workers wanted was a chapter of the Hell's Angels clogging up the waiting room. It was fine when people came in asking for tattoos, as they expected a scary tattooist and got one in the shape of a 6-foot-tall Swede, but people don't expect piercers to be the same. Mainly because their experience with piercers tended to be a kid with a piercing gun. Still, Ludwig enjoyed his job, and had never doubted that picking this over university had been a stupid decision. He just wished he could pierce more people; he apparently still looked grumpy even when he smiled, and the more sensitive customers were sometimes put off.
At that moment, there were two girls standing at the desk and asking about piercing prices. Feliciano, ever the cheerful shop assistant, was talking them through procedures and showing them jewellery from the counter. One was short and was a "normal", the other dressed in a lot of black and skinny jeans. He could already picture the shop's other piercing rolling his eyes and smiling, saying something about emo kids and Snakebite Saturday. It's true that most of the piercings the two do on a regular Saturday are navels and lips; they're the shop's most popular piercings, and people generally tended to go somewhere cheap to get their ears pierced. Combined with it being the weekend, and therefore no school, a large portion of customers were also between 16 and 18. Ludwig continued reading his copy of Tattoo Monthly, paying attention to the girls at the desk and the chattering shop boy. After a few minutes, he heard the girls asking for Tino.
"Oh, Tino isn't in right now." the Italian said, "but he should be back in an hour. Ludwig's here though! He's my favourite piercer, ve. He did this for me!"
With that, Feliciano pulled up his top and revealed a sparkling bar at his navel, with a small blue jewel. Both the girls looked down to have a look at the quality.
Tino was the shop's other piercer. Short, chatty and outwardly friendly, it didn't surprise Ludwig too much when people asked for him. However, said friendly piercer had gone for lunch and was once again harassing the staff of a local shop about piercing guns and aftercare. Ludwig just hoped the Finn wouldn't get into an argument with the cross-dressing shop manager, because Berwald probably didn't feel like visiting a shop security centre, and he didn't feel like being the only piercer for the rest of the day. Saturday was the busiest day of the week, and they really needed both piercers working.
"And Ludwig's really gentle, ve! He rubbed my tummy before he pierced this to calm me down, although if you don't want him to do that 'cause it's a bit creepy then he won't. He asks people things first and likes to make sure they're as happy about their piercings as he is!"
Oh. Right. Back to the matter on hand.
He wanted to intervene and ask Feliciano to please be quiet, but the two girls looked over at him, grinning. The short one asked for a waiver and a pen, and the girl with the thick eye make-up winked before asking for snakebites. Turning bright red and averting his eyes from the customers and a chirpy Italian, he went to set up the jewellery. Maybe he'd have to have a talk with Feliciano later about public exposure...
Then again, maybe not. When Feliciano turned around, still holding his shirt up and smiled, Ludwig could've sworn he found that "cute".