Disclaimer: Not mine, all JK's.
A/N: If I get enough reviews, you might just get another chapter ;)
Sirius shook the rain water from his hair as he entered the tattoo parlour, earning himself a slap on the arm from a laughing redhead and a roll of the eyes from her husband from behind the counter. He shrugged off his leather jacket and pulled a stool up to the counter to grin across at James and Lily Potter, throwing a wink to the latter and giving the former a hearty handshake.
"Haven't seen you here in a while, Sirius." Lily commented, her tone begging for answers as she held her tongue stud between her teeth with a smile, "I wonder why…"
Sirius grimaced, reaching into his jeans pocket to pull out a cigarette and his lighter before he threw his jacket over the stool and sat down with an exaggerated huff, "Was hoping you wouldn't ask about that."
"What, my best mate runs away to Paris with his fiancé and I'm not supposed to ask why he's back?" James asked dryly, pushing up the sleeves of his black top to reveal two sleeves of ink tattooed up both of his arms, tribal designs to match those along his collarbone and on the back of his neck. Then he pushed his glasses back up his nose and ruffled his hair, ruining any tough guy image he might have had, "Nice try. You weren't supposed to come back until next year. In fact, you've only been gone for three months."
"It's slightly warmer in Paris than in London." Sirius mused, lighting his cigarette and pulling on it slowly.
"And you're not wearing a ring." Lily observed, nodding at his hand and refusing to play along with his distractions, "I'm not sure you understand what eloping is, Sirius."
"Oh, can it, Lils." Sirius sighed, rolled his eyes, "It didn't work out. Bitch stole my credit card three days into our elopement and left a note saying that she's never loved me, but she had to get money somehow to get to her lover somewhere in southern Italy."
"Christ." James muttered, shaking his head as Lily laid a hand over his, "Sorry, mate."
"Save it." Sirius shrugged, tapping his ash into the tray on the counter, "We all know it was a marriage of convenience. We only left to piss my father off."
"How long have you been back?" Lily asked gently, recognising more emotion than indifference on his face, "Does your mother know you're back?"
"'Course not." Sirius scoffed, holding the cigarette between his teeth to run his hands through his wet hair, "And she won't until I've got a decent story sorted out. Got back about an hour ago, dropped my stuff off at the flat and came straight here."
"Do you want a drink or something to eat?" Lily offered kindly. Sirius shook his head, lifting his hands from his hair to raise his arms in a leisurely stretch. He was about to assure her that he was fine, seeing as first class flights tended to feed you quite well, but never got the chance as the door opened at that exact moment.
Sirius turned, lowering his arms slowly as his eyes landed on the customer in the otherwise empty shop. It was a man, about his own age, with brown, shaggy curls framing an inescapably attractive face with strong lines which bordered soft brown eyes with hints of amber and hazel. His nose was a little too long, but the feature suited him and made him more rugged, a look that might not have been achieved alone with his full lips and bright smile.
His eyes lowering, Sirius took in the white t-shirt, and the lack of a jacket in the miserable September weather, which was soaked through and clung to his body in a mesmerising way, outlining his defined chest and toned abdomen. Sirius lifted a hand unconsciously to take hold of his cigarette again and take a slow drag before dropping his hand to the counter, smoke billowing from between slightly parted lips as his eyes ventured lower, over the mouth-wateringly pronounced hips to the low-slung jeans, which were so sinfully form-fitting, he swore that he could see every muscle of man's legs contract and relax as he walked into the tattoo parlour.
"How you guys doing?" the man asked as the door closed behind him, breaking Sirius from his reverie when he heard the smooth voice that sounded like an audible smirk. The man blinked as water dripped from his hair and into his eyes and grinned at James and Lily, "Lovely weather we're having."
"Almost as good as summer." Lily agreed, leaning forward and propping her elbows on the counter to smile at the man, "Here for another inking, are you?"
"Why else would I be here?" the man laughed, coming to sit on a stool beside Sirius'.
"To enjoy our wonderful company, of course." James said, pretending to be affronted, "What's the pen this time?"
"Cheap biro." The man grimaced. James groaned, shaking his head.
"In this weather? I'd be surprised if it' still there." The bespectacled man sighed, "Right, wait here. I'll go scrounge a towel from the flat." He turned, pausing to slap Sirius' on the shoulder with a small smile, to go through the door behind the counter to head up to his and Lily's flat above the shop. Lily left to put the kettle on, convinced that both men would catch colds if they didn't get something warm in them that instant, leaving Sirius and the stranger alone.
Sirius found he couldn't stop his eyes from drifting towards the man, so he cleared his throat and spoke to distract himself: "I got caught in the rain, too." He kicked himself instantly – obviously, he'd been caught in the rain, he looked like a drowned rat.
The man turned his head, his chin resting on his palm. Luckily, he didn't reply to the brain-dead attempt at conversation. Instead, he stared at Sirius, his complexly coloured eyes boring into his own grey ones. Sirius found himself unable to break eye contact, not wanting to miss one moment of that intense, enigmatic gaze.
Slowly, the man's gaze left his to travel down Sirius' body and back up again. A sensual smile tilted the stranger's lips up and he dropped one eyelid into a wink in such a way that made Sirius feel like all of his previous flirting – however successful – had been child's play. A shiver ran through his body and suddenly he wanted this man, needed to have him, to know him. Was this what his women felt like when he first met them and seduced them?
"Remus, you can go sit in the chair. Here's your towel." James said loudly as he entered the shop again and threw the man – Remus – a powder blue towel and skirted around the counter to head into the tattooing area. Remus caught the towel and stood, retracting his gaze from Sirius, who let out a breath he hadn't realised he had been holding and lifted his cigarette to his mouth.
The smoke merely leaked from his slightly parted lips however, when he turned to watch James at work. Remus was standing beside James as they chatted and had taken his top off and was in the process of drying his torso, giving Sirius an almost unobstructed view of what looked like black, jagged scars lacing in unsystematic patterns across his back and looping around to his front. When he focused, though, the scars seemed to be words, a few dipping beneath the waist of his jeans. Never before had Sirius been so compelled to read.
-Break-
"Oh shit. Shit, Remus…"
The guy, Mark or whatever, shuddered and then collapsed on top of Remus, who closed his eyes and lay his head back on the pillows. He let out a breathy moan when Mark pulled out and rolled over to sit on the side of the bed and start searching for his clothes. Remus watched him and rolled onto his front as the other man pulled his clothes on quickly.
"That was great." Mark said, turning to Remus before leaving, "We should do this again. Sorry I have to leave so quick—"
"It's fine." Remus interrupted with a disinterested shrug. Rolling onto his side briefly, his picked up the black biro from his nightstand and offered it to Mark, "Why don't you write me a message? No numbers, no names."
Mark looked like he wanted to ask something, but changed his mind and took the pen. Remus watched his eyes rove over his naked body, adorned only with the etchings of his previous lovers. Words, whether they be kind, sexual or cruel, had been tattooed down his legs, along his arms, across his chest and stomach and on his back, some dipping lower than was proper. Mark chose a spot low on the back, of his hip and scribbled something, before dropping the pen and giving a hasty goodbye. The door slammed a moment later.
Remus yawned as he rolled up to sit on the end of the bed and reached to pull on his jeans, t-shirt and shoes without looking in the mirror to read the message – it was his custom not to read them until James Potter had inked them permanently into his skin. The method ensured that he wouldn't be able to scrub off negative comments.
The moment he heard the door bang close in the hall, Remus ran a hand through his mussed hair and exited his flat too, humming to himself as he locked up skipping down the stairs, out into the rain and down the street to the tattoo parlour only a hundred yards away from his home. The cold didn't have a chance to seep into him by the time he arrived, only managed to flatten his hair against his face and neck. He pushed open the door and stepped inside – it was pretty close to closing time, so the only people in there were James and Lily and some other guy sitting at the counter, who turned as he entered.
Instantly, Remus' eyes were drawn to the stranger, but his gaze only lingered long enough to catch him giving Remus a slow, almost deliberate once over. Trying to suppress a smirk, Remus stepped further inside and closed the door behind him and blinked the rain water from his eyes as his vision blurred, turning to smile at the owners.
"How you guys doing?" Remus asked, "Lovely weather we're having."
"Almost as good as summer." Lily smiled, "Here for another inking, are you?"
"Why else would I be here?" Remus chuckled, moving towards the counter to hop up onto a stool beside the other guy.
James gasped and acted offended, "To enjoy our wonderful company, of course. What's the pen this time?"
"Cheap biro." Remus answered, pulling a face guiltily. James groaned with a shake of his head.
"In this weather? I'd be surprised if it's still there. Right, wait here. I'll go scrounge a towel from the flat." James turned, stopping to thwack the other guy on the shoulder and then leave to go up to his flat. Lily smiled and went to put the kettle on, telling them both that they would catch colds. The guy beside Remus coughed awkwardly, which amused him.
"I got caught in the rain, too." He said sheepishly. Remus turned then, leaning his elbow on the counter and resting his chin on his hand, choosing not to reply to the awful attempt at conversation. The stranger's stone grey eyes caught his and then locked on, unblinking and slightly hooded. Remus let his gaze travel downward – leaving the high cheekbones and raven black hair cut to his shoulders, damp from the rain – to his broad shoulders, strong arms and perfectly sculpted torso under a tight, black The Who t-shirt, which tapered down to narrow hips and spread legs clad in leather trousers. He lifted his eyes back up to the man's and gave him a wink and a smile, his mind instantly imagining how they would fit together. The stranger's strong arms wrapping around Remus' smaller body, those hips pistoning between his legs…
"Remus, you can go sit in the hair. Here's your towel." James announced as he came back. He tossed Remus the towel and wandered over to the chair. Remus stood, finally breaking eye contact with the stranger, who lifted his cigarette and continued to smoke distractedly, and followed James with a small smirk. He lifted his soaked through top off as he answered a few questions of James' about his latest squeeze.
"Right, you can lie on your right side on the chair and we'll get this done." James said, clapping his hands together. Remus nodded and lowered himself onto the leather chair as James reclined it all the way, allowing him to roll onto his side for James to see and work on the space on the left side of his lower back. The text curled around onto his hip lightly, Remus realised when the tattooist started to trace the message before he cleaned the area and started to ready his needle.
Remus lifted his gaze to the stranger sitting across the room and smiled when he saw the other watching him intently. His smile widened when he watched the grey eyes tracing the words across his body. Lily came back through with the tea, handing one cup to Sirius and keeping one for herself.
"I'll pour yours once James has finished." The redhead assured Remus as she walked around the counter to turn the open sign on the door to the closed side. Remus always liked to come to the shop late, he always got the privilege of staying after closing time and talking with the two people who had come to be his friends. The buzz of the needled started up and then came the sharp sting of it on his skin. Remus looked up when James got to work, meeting the other man's eyes, which had lifted from his body back up to his face. The stranger stood, murmuring something to Lily, and made his way to sit on the other stool beside Remus' chair, watching James work on him.
"You thinking about getting anything done, Sirius?" James asked, talking in that funny way he did when Remus could tell he had his tongue between his teeth as he concentrated. "Any more ink?"
Sirius, Remus thought, instantly fitting it to the man's appearance as he sipped his tea.
"I'm good for now." Sirius said with a shake of his head, lifting his right arm slightly and bringing Remus' attention for the first time, to the two intertwined black snakes. "I wouldn't mind a piercing, though."
Remus lifted his eyebrows in sceptical surprise; sure, Sirius dressed like a bad boy, with his rock bank t-shirt, his tight leather trousers and his one tattoo, but he obviously came from a very different background, what with those aristocratic features and that posh boy accent. A piercing just wouldn't suit him.
"Ooo, I'll do it now!" Lily said enthusiastically, abandoning her tea to bound over, "I've had literally no work today."
"Brilliant," Sirius grinned, setting his tea on the floor and reaching down to pull his t-shirt off.
"Whoa," James chuckled, pausing in his work on Remus, "What're you doing, mate?"
"I want my nipples done!" Sirius snorted like it was obvious, dropping his shirt on the floor. Remus swallowed at the sight of the other man's chiselled torso, at the pronounced abs and hardened pecs. "It's supposed to feel amazing during sex, y'know, when—"
"Okay, okay, we get it." James laughed, continuing on Remus as Lily snickered went to fetch her tools, "There we go, Remus. Done. Just let me put something over it." James scooted his stool over to the bandages and tape as Lily started to numb Sirius.
"You're sure about this?" Lily asked, picking up the piercing needle, "It's not just because you're upset about here, is it?"
"No," Sirius said dully, "Just do it. It...it'll be cool."
"You might want to hold onto something." Lil warned as James came back and fixed a bandage over Remus' newest tattoo – he still didn't know what it said, but that could wait. He lifted his hand and gave Sirius a half smile.
"You can hold onto my hand." He offered. Sirius looked at him in surprise as Lily and James exchanged an amused glance, before taking Remus' hand. Without any warning, Lily got to work and Sirius yelped, his fingers squeezing Remus' painfully.
"Christ," Remus hissed, "Do that again and I'll get them to pierce your dick. Show you what real pain is."
Sirius looked over at him in shock, pain forgotten, his eyes drifting down to Remus' crotch doubtfully. Then Remus winked to assure him that he was joking and Sirius gave a great, barking laugh that made Remus grin and want to hear it again and again, but it was cut off when Lily did his other nipple. James sniggered at the tight-lipped expression on Sirius' face.
"Are they bleeding?" Sirius asked timidly, making Remus laugh.
"No, you nancy." James laughed. Lily rolled her eyes and left to find some cleansing alcohol for him to take home. James wandered away muttering about tea, leaving Sirius staring down at his chest and Remus watching him, still lying on his side.
"Why the tattoos?" Sirius asked suddenly, startling Remus, "Some of them, they're…vulgar."
"Not my words." Remus shrugged with a wide yawn, "And before you ask, I'm nothing special. Got no drug problem, no abusive past. It's just what I do."
Sirius looked around at him then and caught Remus' gaze in intense grey eyes.
"Have you ever considered getting a name done?"
Remus searched his gaze and answered, "Not until now."