disclaimer, i've never gotten a tattoo aha
for amber, via one shot exchange
prompts at the bottom
952 words, by google docs
"How much?"
"One hundred dollars per hour, the first hundred paid in advance," Scorpius repeats with a sigh, looking Albus up and down.
"Great." Albus taps his foot on the floor, feeling anxious. He didn't mean to do this, really. He was drunk, can you blame him? "And you're depriving me of a refund?"
"No refunds," Scorpius confirms, looking bored. "But you don't have to do it. You just won't get money back."
"I'm not going to just waste that money!"
"So get a tattoo," Scorpius says, yawning—actually yawning, in Albus' time of distress.
"Don't they hurt?" Albus argues. Scorpius nods, rolling his eyes. "I can't get one!"
"Well, then run, run away as fast as you can, and we'll just keep your hundred dollars. Thanks for the service!" Scorpius gives Albus a smile and returns to his Big And Scary machine, that Albus is pretty sure drills into your skin and permanently marks it.
"You sure it was me who came in here, anyway?" Albus asks. Again.
"Yup," Scorpius says, fiddling with ink bottles. "You came in, asked for a tattoo today, paid me the hundred bucks, gave me your number, and threw up on my floor. You were quite elegant, really."
Albus can feel a blush spreading across his face. Was it his fault that he was drunk? Well, yes. But was it his fault that his drunken self ordered a tattoo and threw up? No, it was his drunken self's fault. Which means that he should be able to get his money back.
"Well, then I guess I need a miracle," Albus says, clasping his hands together, "I'm going to get a tattoo."
"You seem scared," Scorpius notes. "Do you want me to hold your hand and get someone else to do it?"
"Can you?" Albus asks, feeling really scared. He doesn't even know what tattoo he's going to get. "Can you help me?"
Scorpius sighs and looks at Albus like he's utterly insane, but he still gets up and goes into a back room.
"Rose!" he says. A girl with messy red hair and lots of tattoos comes out.
"Yeah, Scorp?" she says, after giving Albus a quick look.
"Tattoo," he says, pointing a single finger gun at Albus. Rose nods and points to the big leather chair.
"Take a seat. What tattoo do you want?"
Albus hesitates as he sits down. "I don't know," he admits.
"You got a favorite quote?" Rose asks grabbing a piece of paper as she sits on the stool next to the chair.
"Er—'What you loved as a child you will love forever'," Albus replies. He does love that quote, from one of his favorite books.
Rose scribbles on the paper for a moment, before showing it to Albus. On the sheet is his quote, in cursive.
"Want that?" she asks, pulling on rubber gloves as if he's already said yes.
"Sure," he agrees. He then looks at Scorpius and smiles, holding out his hand. Scorpius rolls his eyes for the umpteenth time, but still takes Albus' hand. Rose shoves up Albus' sleeve and he flinches before she even does anything.
"Oh, calm down you baby," Scorpius says, once again rolling his eyes.
"Baby? You don't even have any tattoos!" Albus argues, eyeing what he can see of Scorpius' body. It does look completely clean.
"Not that you can see," he says with a wink. Albus isn't sure how to take that, but he grips Scorpius' hand tighter. "Talk about something you love," Scorpius suggest, squeezing Albus' hand a bit.
"Well, I love books. I'm an author, really," Albus says, trying to ignore the poking occuring on his bicep.
"Favorite book?"
"It's a kid's book, I know, but I love Percy Jackson."
"Ah." Scorpius—wait for it—rolls his eyes. "Saw the movie. It was awful."
"Never judge a book by its movie!" Albus says, appalled. "Percy Jackson is one of the best series ever."
"I'm sure. What do you write?"
"Fantasy things, mostly. World building."
"Wizards?" Scorpius asks with a chuckle.
"Yeah. Wizards with wands and secret magical schools," Albus says smiling.
"See?" Scorpius says, giving him a smile for the first time. "You don't even realise the pain."
"Yeah," Albus agrees. "I've fallen under your spell. I'm utterly hypnotised."
"Good. You're done."
Albus looks over and sees that Rose has put down the needle and is putting plastic wrap on Albus' arm.
"Oh," Albus says, amazed at the amount of time it took.
"Yeah, it was short," Rose agrees, grinning. She holds up a mirror so that Albus can see what the tattoo looks like. It's redder than he expected. "You happy with it?"
"Yeah, I guess," Albus says, looking at the cursive under the plastic wrap. He realises that he's still holding Scorpius' hand, but he doesn't want to let it go. It's nice to hold it.
Scorpius clears his throat and lets go of Albus' hand, though, after a moment of them standing there in silence.
"Well, it's official. You have a tattoo. You look fetching. I have your number, also, so I'll call you if we need to follow up on it," Scorpius tells him, rubbing the back of his neck.
"You have follow ups with tattoos?" Albus asks. He's never heard of needing a follow up. What would that even entail?
"Yeah, if we need to see the customer again," Scorpius says smiling at him.
"He's flirting with you, dude," Rose says getting up and going back into the back room. Scorpius blushes, down to his neck.
"Hey."
Albus laughs and gets up. "I guess I'll see you at that follow up, then," he says, giving him a wink.
Scorpius smiles.
And, of course, rolls his eyes.
for:
gobstones [grey - alscor; "i need a miracle"; deprive]
library lovers [fangirl - slash pairing; writer; something coming to an end]
writing club [disney - the sultan - hypnotised/short/happy; showtime - as long as you're mine - "i've fallen under your spell"; buttons - "can you help me?", offical; lyrics alley - but i don't want to let it go; restriction - no hogwarts houses; jenny's jovial questions - "never judge a book by its movie"]
serpent day [hundred pacer - "run, run, as fast as you can…"]
insane house comp [fetching]
monthly one shot exchange [amber - alscor, fluff, elegant]
scavenger hunt [other house member's otp]
amortentia [peppermint]