A/N: Originally an AoKuro drabble, but since it's more than 3k words, I think it's just a bit too long to still be considered a drabble. So now it's a one-shot. Level up! xD

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Tattoos: A bit of rain and some hipster vibe makes all the difference

I kind of randomly thought this up on a whim at midnight, but I really wonder if anyone else headcannons Aomine as a tattoo artist. Kinda? Potentially? Anyways. I can totally picture Aomine as a hipster, and it just keeps eating away at me inside until I get ride of it by writing fanfiction. So here it is.

Warning: long for a drabble, more than 2k words…

Rating: T (I mean some might argue that it's K+ but I think it's definitely more T)

"Hey there, did you bring my coffee?" A tall read haired man sat swiveling on a stool in the front of a shop. If it could be called a shop. It was more of a small hole in the wall with a few cool graffiti designs on the front and a whole bunch of intricate ink patterns splayed across a slightly frosted glass pane.

"Yeah yeah, I got it. Expensive crap, you know." A second tall man with dark blue hair joined the red head at the front desk (really just made out of a few repurposed wooden boards they had found in an abandoned junkyard). "Wait, let me grab some paper and charcoal."

He rooted around in the messy back cabinets, searching for some sort of paper. "Damn, where'd you put the paper, Bakagami?"

"I dunno, look for it yourself, Ahomine."

"Che, helpful as ever." Finally, he seemed to be satisfied with the paper he'd managed to turn up in the never-ending black-hole of junk.

He pulled up a stool. Just as he was about to ask which coffee cup was his, Kagami's phone rang.

"Hello? Yeah. Mhm. WHAT? No, no. Listen, I'm kinda busy today- Wait no don't do that- yeah ok ok, I'll be right over. Gotcha. No, wait for me, I'll be there asap. Yeah. Ok. Cool. See you."

"Hey bro, everything ok?" Aomine asked, slightly concerned.

Kagami furrowed his brows. "Yeah. I mean, no. I don't know. My friend from America, Alex. You know her? The blonde chick who's visited a few times. Yeah, her plane just touched down, but the train line from Shin Osaka to Tokyo isn't operating because of the weather warnings we've been getting. I just promised I'd go pick her up."

Aomine sighed. "Ok, but you owe me 'cause today's Thursday, and we're always busy on Thursdays."

"Yeah. Look, we can grab dinner tonight. I'll pay. Come on, it's free food man." Kagami frantically rooted through the piles of tattoo designs on the desk, trying to find his keys. "Oh god dangit, where did I put them…"

"Ok sure. I'm not going to turn down an offer for free food. And here are your keys, by the way." He tossed them lazily to Kagami.

"Thanks, I'm off." And with that, the red head swung the door open and ran outside.

Aomine sighed. It was going to be a long day without anyone else around in the parlor.

Finally, it hit 6, only 30 minutes before they were going to close for the day. The one good thing about Thursdays was that it was the one day of the week (including the weekends) on which they closed early. They normally didn't get many customers at this time, since everyone was grabbing food and heading to dinner. Furthermore, with the current weather conditions, no one would be out wandering far enough from the residential area to find the shop. Outside, it was storming hard. The rain had started more than half an hour ago, and was still going strong. Thank god Kagami had left his umbrella, which Aomine was planning to use to grab food in case Kagami didn't get back in time. Although, he could just order take out, since he lived right above the shop…

He sat back down on a spinning stool and sketched aimlessly with a chunk of black charcoal, half-listening to the loud EDM music blasting in the background.

It had been a hectic day, as customers one by one filed in to get their designs. In the first 4 hours of the morning, he'd drawn up more drafts and custom designs than he had the entire rest of the week combined.

He sighed again, pulling out his prized sketchbook from his backpack and flipping open to the drawing he was currently working on. The only issue was that he didn't know anyone who would be able to pull off the tattoo. It wasn't necessarily the most intricate design he'd come up with, but it definitely required a very specific body shape.

It was a panther with two swirling wings, both gradients from black to white. A fraction of the animal was in shadow, so the gradient scale effects would be easier to see and more prominent on someone with a pale skin tone. The wing shapes were quite dynamic, so he would need to find someone with slim shoulders and a narrow back. He'd already accounted for the prominent ridge of the imaginary person's spine, and added enough detail around it to transform the originally problematic feature into a centerpiece with a prominent role in the design. The second wing was only half finished, so Aomine set to work on the second row of feathers.

Just as he was entering his zone (Get it? Zone? Like the ZONE? Yeah, I'll just stop now) and getting into it, the tinkling chimes rang, signaling that someone had just opened the door.

He looked up, irritated and ready to snap, at whatever unfortunate soul just happened to enter the building. It was a pale blue-haired boy, who was soaking wet and clutching a plastic waterproof bag with a small box inside it.

"What do you need? We're closing soon," He muttered gruffly, still not over having his work interrupted.

The small boy blinked. And then, "I'm looking for Kagami-kun."

Aomine stopped. "He's not here."

The boy blinked again, and when he spoke, it was with a careful, measured tone: "I'm supposed to drop off something for him."

"He's not here, go home."

"He said he would be here."

Aomine sighed and mentally face-palmed. How stubborn was this boy going to be? "Look, I don't know what your deal is, but regardless what he said, he isn't here right now. Things came up. Just leave whatever he told you to drop off on the desk over here and go."

"No, he wanted me to deliver it directly."

God the boy was irritating.

"Fine, I'll give him a call, but don't come any closer. Stay near the entrance mat, I don't want you dripping water all over the floors. We have enough work here as it is." Digging out his cellphone (they didn't own a landline), Aomine quickly speed dialed Kagami's number. He picked up after the 4th ring.

"Hey Aomine, I'm on the road right now-"

"What the hell man? You're driving from Shin Osaka all the way to Tokyo?" Aomine exclaimed. "Do you even understand how long that's gonna take? When the hell am I gonna get dinner?"

"Yeah sorry man. But don't worry, I've already been driving for more than an hour and a half. I'll be back in time. Did you need anything?"

"Yeah, some kid here says he has something for you?"

"..Excuse me, but I believe that we are roughly around the same age. Please do not refer to me as 'some kid'."

Aomine looked up and gaped at the other boy in disbelief. He turned back to the phone. "You talk to him, I'll put you on speaker."

Immediately, the boy leaned in slightly closer and said, "Kagami-kun, how dare you not show up when I finally deliver the package that you asked for!"

Aomine found it odd because despite his harsh words, the light bluenette spoke in a very soft, measured, and polite tone of voice.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Alex just arrived so I had to go pick her up and the train lines aren't working because of the weather."

"Bakagami, you really did plan this?" He groaned in disbelief. It was just like Kagami to plan a rendezvous with someone and then completely forget about it.

"Look Aomine, I gotta go, the roads are getting pretty slippery and I don't wanna have an accident. Just take Kuroko to the back and have him put the package in the safe. And don't even think about opening it. Grab him some dry clothes too while you're at it. You can pull them out of my closet."

"Oi, Bakagami-" A loud beep told him that Kagami had just hung up. Aomine looked furious for a moment. "That bastard, how dare he hang up on me.." he grumbled under his breath.

"Um… So may I come in now?"

Turning around, Aomine realized that the boy was still standing obediently at the door mat where he had been ordered to stay. "Yeah yeah, I guess I don't have a choice anyways. Let's go to the back."

"Uh… shouldn't you stay here? In case a customer comes-"

"No one besides for you would be crazy enough to wander around in this weather. No customers are gonna come. Let's go." With that, Aomine lead the boy, Kuroko was his name? to the back staircase.

"Here, the safe is right inside the left drawer. Put it in while I grab you some dry clothes." Aomine turned and opened Kagami's closet. Immedaitely, he was welcomed by a barrage of junk and piles of dirty laundry. Great. Rooting through the pile, he tried to locate something clean for Kuroko to wear.

…And he swore when he realized that he wasn't able to find a single clean piece of clothing.

"God dammit, that baka owes me at least 3 meals now," he muttered. Turning, he saw that the boy was still waiting expectantly. "That stupid Kagami doesn't have any clean clothes, so you can borrow a pair of mine. Just give them to Kagami so he can bring them back later. My room's the first one on the left, let's go."

As they entered Aomine's room, Kuroko found that he rather enjoyed the style. It had a very urban-hipster feel to it, with stacks of vinyl records, wooden planks for shelves, and stacks of tattoo designs splayed across the wooden oak desk that was literally a solid slab of wood attached on one edge to the design-covered white wall. "You're a very talented artist, Aomine-kun."

"…How do you know my name?"

"Kagami-kun always talks about you."

Not knowing what to say, Aomine grunted. When he threw open his closet doors, Kuroko found that even his style of dress looked hipster. Aside from his ridiculous collection of ripped skinny jeans, hoodies, and flannels, the hipster wardrobe style was complete with an entire set of loose beanies, more than 4 pairs of combat boots, and an entire rack of muscle tanks. The only thing missing was a pair of glasses.

Aomine rustled through his clothes, trying to find something that would fit Kuroko's small stature. He looked back at the boy as if sizing him up. "Just so you know, nothing I have is going to fit you. Be prepared." Finally, after a few minutes of riffling through his clothing racks, Aomine pulled out a large black hoodie and a pair of basketball shorts. "Try these."

Kuroko took the clothes greatfully. "Um.. would you… er… you know.." He shifted.

Aomine blinked, not understanding.

"Turn around."

Feeling confused, he did.

There was a moment of silence. Unsure of what was going on, Aomine turned back around to ask what the boy was doing… except he was met with the bare back of a shirtless Kuroko. And then it began to click. That was why he had been asked to turn around. Oh.

Silently, he was about to turn back around, until he found his eyes tracing the prominent ridge of the boy's backbone. He was pale, and had narrow, sharp shoulders. He was skinny, but definitely well-exercised and lean. Suddenly, everything clicked and fell into place at once. He was perfect. The perfect person for his tattoo.

Turning around hastily to gather his thoughts, Aomine wondered how he hadn't noticed before when the boy first walked in. His thoughts were quickly interrupted.

"Um… Would you happen to have any other pants?" Turning around, Aomine saw that Kuroko was currently clutching the slippery fabric of his basketball shorts and bunching them around the waist to prevent them from sliding down. Yup, as he predicted. They were too big.

"Uh.. yeah… hang on a sec." Rooting through his wardrobe again, Aomine pulled out the smallest pants he had- a pair of gray sweatpants that he hadn't worn for years. "Here try this one." He didn't have to be reminded to turn around this time.

The pants were still ill-fitting, but could at least stay up (albeit a bit loosely) when Kuroko pulled the white drawstrings as tight as possible. "Thank you, Aomine-kun. What should I do to repay you?"

"It's fine. Actually, hey, listen. Can I give you a tattoo?" He blured out bluntly.

"What?" the boy looked completely caught off guard.

"Look, I have this design, it's my masterpiece, and it's almost finished, but there hasn't been anyone who can pull off the tattoo right, and…" he trailed off, finished with his rambling.

Kuroko blinked. "Um.. I've never had a tattoo before.."

"It's ok, it just stings a bit, like a piercing but a bit longer."

"…I've never gotten a piercing."

"…" Aomine didn't know what to say. "Uh.. let's head downstairs and you can at least see it before you decide."

He shoved all of the papers messily off of the nearest seat to make room for Kuroko. Aomine handed Kuroko the sketchbook, not sure why he as feeling slightly nervous.

"I mean, I understand if you don't wanna do it, but-"

"Let's do it."

"Yeah that's ok, I thought you'd- wait what?" Did his ears deceive him?

"Let's do it," Kuroko repeated. "It looks interesting. But can you possibly make the lines extremely thin and light?"

"Uh.. yeah. Yeah, I can. I'll do it."

And that was how, minutes later, Kuroko found himself lying shirtless while Aomine cleaned the skin of his back carefully. "This.. might hurt a bit. Don't move, ok?"

"Ano.. Aomine-kun, your design is only half completed….."

"It's alright, I'll finish it as I go, trust me. I've done this a billion times."

Kuroko wasn't exactly sure how reassuring that solution was, but there wasn't any going back. He couldn't help but crane his head to watch as Aomine prepared his tools and the gun.

It felt weird, having ink essentially injected into your skin. But after a period of time (Kuroko lost track of whether it was a few minutes, a few hours, or sometime inbetween), Aomine sat up and stretched. "It's done."

Kuroko couldn't help but notice the pleased look of satisfaction and pride that Aomine wore. He craned his neck trying to catch a glimpse.

"Here." Aomine carefully set a dual-mirror tool in front of Kuroko, allowing him to see his back and the design.

Kuroko stared. His eyes traced the slow, dipping sweeps of the wings. His fingers instinctively reached up and tracked the ride of the panther's back in the mirror.

"So.. uh… do you like it?" Aomine asked gruffly, averting his eyes slightly.

At first, Kuroko didn't say anything; just traced the dynamic spaces between the areas of the composition. And then, he breathed so softly that Aomine almost missed it:

"Yeah. I like it. A lot."

With that, Aomine began tidying up as he left Kuroko to examine his new tattoo in the mirror systems.

Just as he was finishing up, Kuroko approached him. "How much?"

"What?"

"How much do I have to pay?"

Aomine stared for a moment. Finally, "No it's fine. Seriously. It's completely fine."

"I insit."

They both stared for a few seconds. Finally, "Food. Uh…" Checking outside, he noticed that surprisingly, the rain had died out. "Do you wanna grab something to eat now that it's stopped storming and mother nature seems to be smiling upon us once again?"

To his surprise, Kuroko smiled. "Sure. But only if Aomine-kun promises to take me somewhere that hipsters hang out."

As he grabbed his flannel and locked the shop, Aomine grinned. "Sure, but I'm no hipster. Just a tattoo artist."

Kuroko shrugged and called it "Denial". He had already changed back into his original clothes, which had dried while he was getting tattooed.

They headed down the street towards the hipster diner, a vintage burger joint called "Maji Burger". Suddenly, Aomine's phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Hey, I'm in town now, just dropped Alex off at my apartment. I'll pick you up so we can both grab something-"

"Nah man. It's fine. You can pay back your debt another time. I'm busy." Aomine smirked.

"….Busy?" Kagami echoed in disbelief. "But I refused a catch-up dinner with Alex for this-"

"Nope, sorry man. Gotta go. I have a date."

"A DATE?" Kagami yelled in disbelief.

Having predicted it, Aomine managed to save his ears by holding the phone an arm's length away. "Yup. With your friend."

"My friend- KUROKO? Ahomine-"

"Gotta go. See ya."

With that, Aomine hung up and grinned satisfyingly.

"Ano… Aomine-kun, I couldn't help but over hear your conversation where you claimed we were going on a date-"

"Claimed? Nah, I told him we were going on a date."

"Erm.. I don't recall agreeing to-"

"You don't have to. We hipsters blaze trails, Kuroko. You gotta ride the momentum. Move with your own flow."

"So-"

"So this is a date now, because I said so. Oh look, we're here."

As he pushed open the clean glass door of Maji Burger and held it for Kuroko to walk through, Aomine couldn't help but grin even wider.

At least today wasn't the worst day of the week.

Watching Kuroko's eyes brighten at the sight of a vanilla shakes on the menu, Aomine couldn't help but chuckle, thinking that maybe this was the beginning of something truly beautiful.

And when Kuroko reached up to point out the shake for the cashier, the edge of his shirt rode up slightly, enough so that Aomine could distinctly see a small section of the thin ink lines, dark against his pale porcelain skin.

Yup, definitely beautiful.

And we never find out what's in the box mwahahaha. That's a story for another day, except I have to figure out how to write it because I just don't ship Alex and Kagami. Definitely not. Well I'll figure something out hopefully.

A/N: I love this drabble so much, I'm actually really proud of it. This was an original idea (although knowing the internet, a bunch of people have probably already thought of it). I might write a full length AoKuro fic with this AU, not sure yet. I should probably finish up all my other full-length works first though. We'll see.

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Anyways, good night/day, people! Thanks for reading!

Ciao!

~Vieux

Legit, this drabble was more than 3.2k words (without the ANs). Can this even be considered a drabble? :D