Chapter One: The Tattoo
"You're drooling."
Luka straightened quickly, wiping a hand over his chin. "No I'm not." He turned around to see his sister walking in from the back room, a sprig of lavender tucked behind her ear.
"You might as well have been," she says, walking closer to lean beside him at the counter. "Not that I'd blame you – Marinette's cute."
The Marinette in question was the owner of the tattoo parlour across the way. On quiet days like today, she could be seen sitting outside her shop with a sketchbook. Luka swallowed dryly. The sun was shining off her impressive tattoo – a full sleeve that wound around her wrist and up over her shoulder in a tangle of flowers and vines that he couldn't see clearly.
"Well?" Juleka's dry voice snaps his attention back.
"Well what?"
She waved a hand towards the door. "Are you going to get a tattoo?"
Luka splutters. "W-What? Why would I – what makes you think –" How'd she known I'd considered it?!
He's saved by the bell – literally – as Rose walks in. "Jule's, what are you doing to your poor brother this time?" She asks, joining them at the counter which was suddenly feeling a little cramped.
Pecking her partner on the cheek, Juleka smiles innocently. "Trying to convince him to get a tattoo."
"Oh, you totally should!" Rose claps her hands. "You have to go to Marinette – between her and Nathaniel, you'll get the coolest tattoo! Marinette was the one who designed ours!"
"Really?" Luka glance at Juleka's uncovered wrist. It was ringed by a flower wreath – red and purple roses (passionate love and love at first site), hot pink dahlias (commitment) and bright red gladiolus' (strength and integrity). Rose had one exactly the same. It was a beautiful representation of their relationship – one Luka was waiting for them to consummate with a marrige. It was also a nod to their shared brainchild.
The Secret Garden might have only been a few years old, but it had blossomed into one of the most successful flower shops in Paris, often completely selling out around any holiday, and with a reputation for incredible flower arrangements, which Luka was proud to say he had a hand in.
Luka smiled. "I wouldn't mind a tattoo," he said after a moment, "Maybe something for you and mum – like her raven tattoos."
Juleka's smile was small, but no less terrifying for it. "Then go talk to Marinette now. Doesn't look like she has any clients." She was still sitting outside her shop.
As Luka was pushed out the door, Rose shoved a small posy of cherry blossoms into his hand. "Give Marinette these – they're her favourite!"
How does she know her favourite flowers? Luka thought wildly as the door locked behind him. Slowly crossing the narrow avenue, he could feel their gaze burning into the back of his neck, and his hands became sweaty. They were making him nervous. He didn't normally get nervous. He normally wasn't going to ask a very cute girl to give him a tattoo.
Marinette looked up as he approached, and he couldn't help but notice how adorable the freckles dotting her nose and cheeks were. Luka dug his fingers into his leg. You're here for a tattoo, he reminded himself, not to check out the artist! But he couldn't stop himself from taking in the blue sheen to her pigtailed hair, the welcoming smile stretched across her face, the impressive artwork which looked even better close up. Spiralling around her arm on pale green stalks and vines were cherry blossoms, pink orchids, blue morning glories, larkspur, hyacinths and bright yellow daffodils. Renewal, fertility and abundance, affection, cheer and goodwill, sincerity, luck and good fortune… he thought absently. After so long working with flowers – and even longer hearing about them from Rose – the symbolism came to mind automatically.
"Uh… hello?"
Luka blinked. Her eyes are really blue. Then he remembered himself and smiled. "Sorry. Are you Marinette?"
Her grin became wider. "Yup! Are you Juleka's brother?"
"Yeah. She and Rose said that these were your favourite flowers?" He held out the blossoms. "They asked me if I could give them to you." Well, technically they did. Even if it was meant to be more from me than them.
"Awww, thank you!" Marinette buried her nose in the pale pink petals and breathed deep. "They're beautiful!"
"You're welcome," Luka said numbly. Her smile was almost blinding. "Uh, there was something else."
Marinette's head tilt made her pigtails bounce. It should be illegal for someone to look this adorable. "How can I help?"
"I was wondering about getting a tattoo."
"Oh, of course!" Marinette leapt to her feet. "What else do you come to a tattoo parlour for? I'm so sorry, come in and we can get started right away!" She babbled. "Or should I say, welcome to Charmed Ink! Do you have any ideas for what you want? I'm partial to flowers as you can see, but I'm good at more tribal stuff too, and lettering, but Nathanial's the best for portraits and a lot of the animal stuff.."
She continued to talk even as Luka took in Charmed Ink. The art on the inside of the tattoo parlour made it look larger than the comparatively small storefront suggested. The back wall was painted with an incredible mural of cherry blossom trees in full bloom, framing a red bridge arching over a river. The side walls were white and in scattered groups were photos of tattoo art – in one clump was a variety of dragon tattoos, in another was various words in all different fonts. The two tattoo stations were set in the back corners, with a small waiting area directly before the entrance. This was where Marinette led him, stopping quickly at a desk partially hidden by a folding screen.
She noticed his awed look at the back mural and smiled, a little calmer now. "That was a collaboration between Alix and Nathanial – he's my other tattooist. They were all in my class in collége and lycée – same with Juleka and Rose, actually."
"They did a great job," Luka murmured. "And I've seen your work before – the tattoo you did for my sister was incredible. I was kinda looking for something similar."
"Were you wanting a tattoo on your wrist too?" Marinette sat on one of the plush couches, and Luka sat across from her.
"No, I was thinking of something on my shoulder – my left shoulder," He gestured, "Maybe going down my arm a little? I don't want to go for a full sleeve now, but looking at your tattoo, I'd definitely consider it for the future."
Marinette's blush travelled across her cheeks and up her ears. "That – that's a good plan. I can definitely work with that." She made a note before looking at him under he lashes. "Were you wanting flowers?"
At Luka's confused look, she continued, "You said you wanted something similar to your sisters, but you didn't want it on your wrist…?"
"Ah, that's right." Luka tapped at his knee a little, quick staccato beat. "Yeah, I was thinking blue iris, gladilous and maybe daffodils."
"Is there a meaning behind those flowers, or…?" Marinette made another note.
Luka nodded. "Yeah. Gladiolus' are mum and Juleka's birth flowers, not to mention their symbolism – strength and integrity. Blue Iris' are my birth flower, meaning faith and hope, and daffodils are good luck and good fortune, but I also like the yellow."
Marinette hummed. "I take it your favourite colour is blue?" She asked, waving her pencil at his blue hoody and matching Jagged Stone t-shirt. With a wince, he realised he was still wearing the Secret Garden apron over his faded jeans. Whoops.
"How did you guess." Luka deadpanned, and he grinned at Marinette's chuckle. "But seriously, yeah, I like blue and yellow. And, if we're going for something like the start of a sleeve… think you could incorporate a snake or something in there?"
"Snakes are transformation and renewal, aren't they?" Marinette murmured as she wrote. "There was this one symbol I remember, with a snake biting its tail…"
"The ouroboros," Luka nodded, "It's an eternity symbol."
"Hmmmm…" Marinette started sketching in earnest. "So we're going for something that can be added to later, definitely going for a circling snake – probably around your arm – but should the head be going up or down – put the flowers in colour clusters, or mix them up… maybe have them growing out of the snake? But if the snake is blue… you've got the more teal tips to your hair, so I could go for something more on the green side of the spectrum to help tie it in, but the snake should also stand out…"
All Luka could do was watch as Marinette seemed to get lost in a creative haze. Her pencil moved rapidly over the page as she sketched, occasionally going back over a line with her eraser, muttering about her hand not listening to her brain. Once or twice she looked something up on her phone before continuing – at one point, she leapt out of her seat to go and stare at one of the photos on the wall.
This process went on for about twenty minutes, Luka browsing through social media in between watching Marinette with what Juleka would probably class as a 'disgustingly lovestruck' look on his face. He couldn't help it! She was just so vibrant, pouring all this passion into her work. Not to mention the cute little wrinkle between her eyebrows as she seemed to struggle with something at the bottom of the page.
Marinette slammed her sketchbook down with a bang that made him jump. "So! I have a tentative outline – tell me what you like and don't like, and we can work from there."
The sketch – and Luka didn't know how Marinette could class this as an outline given the level of detail – featured all the aspects he wanted. On the front and back sketch of his arm and shoulder was a winding snake, the head sitting just under his collarbone and the rest of its body circling his arm before ending just above his elbow. But it didn't just circle his arm. It also twisted around the gnarled and knotted stems that supported intricate bursts of flowers. An iris sat directly below the snakes head before more flowers dotted the stem around his shoulder to a larger, more detailed flower on his shoulder blade. Gladiolus's tangled with the main body of the snake, interspersed with tiny iris' and leaves, merging with daffodils close to his elbow. Each flower differed in size, though the iris on his back was the largest, probably about the size of his palm if he got the proportions right. Notes on both sides of the sketch were arms with arrows and a frankly scary amount of question marks. Luka looked away when he saw the words 'dark coffee brown' and 'burgundy vs wine'.
"This… this is incredible Marinette." He looked up at where she was wringing her hands. When she bit her lip, he had to refrain from reaching up and biting it for her. Concentrate Couffaine!
Marinette giggled, the sound high with nerves. "Thanks Luka. It's a bit rough, and I'd want to go over the colours with you before we start anything, but I'm glad you like it. Anything you'd want to change?"
"Not really," He hummed. "How would you continue this, if you were going for a full sleeve?"
When Marinette took a seat at his side, leaning into his shoulder a little, Luka stiffened. He hadn't noticed before, but she'd split the posy of cherry blossom flowers into two and attached them to her pigtails – their scent wafted over him, and he tried not to breathe too deeply. "Well, if I was going to do a full sleeve with the snake, I'd make the snake the body of the tattoo," she said, pointing at various parts of the sketch, "Probably make the circuits wider and accentuate the gaps a little more with the flowers. The head would have to be a little bigger, to make it proportionate, but otherwise not much would change."
Luka nodded slowly. "So, say, if you maybe did that – the thing with the head and the – the circuits? And then have the snake 'end' in a clump of flowers above my elbow." It was his turn to point, dragging a finger along the clump of daffodils and trying very hard to ignore the way Marinette pressed just a little closer to see. "Maybe if you added some of the gladiolus and iris here as well, and then if I add more to the tattoo later, you can have the rest of the body kind of emerge from there."
"That would work really well actually," Marinette said as she took the sketchbook back. Luka tried not to pout as her warmth moved away. "I can make a wreath just above your elbow – kinda like what I did for Juleka and Rose – and have the snake's body 'disappear' into that. It would be easy work to make it 'reappear' beneath it later."
Marinette scribbled these notes in as she spoke, before turning back to him. "So, about price… for a piece like this – half sleeve, colour and design… you're looking at about one and a half grand."
His eyebrows threatened to disappear into his hairline. "That low?" While he hadn't seriously thought about getting a tattoo before today, he'd spent time with a lot of people who had. A full sleeve tattoo could cost as much as four grand – a half sleeve would be at least two.
"You're getting the friends and family discount." Marinette shrugged. "And I've been in a bit of a designing rut lately – all people seem to want are dragons or family names. This is a bit of a godsend, actually."
Luka smirked. "Friends and family discount, huh?"
With her nose in the air, Marinette sassed, "Of course. Juleka's my friend, and you're her family."
Throwing caution to the wind, Luka leaned in a little. "That's why, huh? I'm hurt Marinette."
"Hopefully you aren't so sensitive when it comes time for me to break out the needles, Luka. I don't want to listen to you crying for the six hours this is going to take." The smirk she shot him sent a thrill through his chest. She's got some fire.
"Oh believe me, Marinette." Luka steadied himself on the couch back behind her shoulders and gave Marinette his best stage-ready, sweet-talking, come-hither bedroom eyes before growling out, "I don't think six hours with you will be any hardship."
Author's Note
So here is my first work for Writer's Month! It's a day late because my Microsoft Office expired, and I didn't have the money to renew it until today '-_-. But I hope you enjoyed it, and I am going to continue this after Writer's Month has ended – I have plans for at least another chapter, maybe two, with some of Marinette's POV. So stay tuned and don't forget to tell me what you think – I also have tumblr ( Celebrimbor97) for those who want to rant with me ^u^