Fresh Ink, Part 2 (Renji/Byakuya AU)
Title: "Fresh Ink" (Part 2 of ?)
Pairing: Tattoo artist!Renji x grad student!Byakuya
Genre: University!AU, Romance, WIP
Rating: PG still...though it's just dying to break out of that rating. ^_^
Words: 1092 for Part 2
Disclaimer: Bleach is not mine. The university is, though.
A/N: This icon is what Byakuya's new tattoo looks like.
Monday came, and Byakuya was horrified to find that he was actually nervous. For what, he wasn’t sure. He certainly wasn’t afraid of the pain; four years on the university crew team had given him plenty of conditioning in that area. Nevertheless, he went through his day unusually distracted. He almost forgot about the Milton class he had to T.A. for and ended up arriving two minutes late, which distressed him terribly, though the students didn’t seem to notice. The more perceptive undergraduates did pick up on how atypically unfocused their T.A. seemed, though as usual most of them were more preoccupied with watching him than listening to him anyway. His eye kept drifting to his watch, which flickered steadily closer to five o’clock.
The fateful hour came. Arriving at the studio, Byakuya immediately noticed the absence of a certain redhead. In his place behind the counter was another young man, with spiked black hair and a “69” tattooed on his cheek, who looked like he had just walked out of a music video. Byakuya found the man’s choice of body art rather vulgar, and was just beginning to wonder if this whole endeavor was a mistake when Renji emerged from the back of the studio.
“Hey, it’s Professor Kuchiki, right on time,” the redhead grinned. Byakuya tried to suppress both a cringe at the epithet and a surprised smile at the fact that Renji had remembered his name and his career objective. Fortunately for Byakuya, who was no fan of facial expressions, especially unintentional ones, the two canceled each other out.
“I’ve got your design all ready to go, so if you’ll just follow me we can get started.” The artist led him down a short and surprisingly clean hallway and into a small white room that reminded him of a doctor’s office. He laid his coat on the stool in the corner and eyed the large reclining chair with skepticism.
“So have you decided where you want it?” Renji asked.
“I have two ideas, actually,” he replied. “Either over the shoulder blade, or possibly right above the hip, here. On the left side. Which would be preferable?”
“Show me with your shirt off,” Renji answered. Byakuya blinked at him, and the redhead laughed. “You’ll hafta to take it off to get the tattoo either way.”
Byakuya couldn’t argue with that. He knew Renji couldn’t actually see his heart pounding furiously against his chest as he unbuttoned his shirt, but that didn’t stop him from worrying about it. As he folded his shirt he felt the other man’s eyes watching him rather intently.
“Now show me again,” said Renji.
“Either here,” Byakuya turned his back to the artist and pointed to his shoulder blade, “or…” He hesitated a bit, realizing what he would have to do to properly expose the other area in question. He almost decided just to go with the first option. But then, scolding himself for letting some uneducated kid intimidate him, he unfastened his belt and carefully edged down the left edge of his waistband, revealing the tight pale skin above his hip. “Or here.”
Renji looked to be assessing the alternatives - or something - very carefully. “The second one,” he concluded. “I usually don’t recommend it ‘cuz some people tend to put on weight there, but you’ve got quite the figure, I’ve gotta say. Who’da thought, English major and all.”
“I rowed in college,” he said, feeling himself flush slightly.
“Yeah, but that was what, three years ago?”
Byakuya was surprised Renji had remembered the exact year of his graduation, much less his major. “I’ve kept in shape since then.”
“No kidding. Well, what do you say we do the hip then?”
Then Byakuya uttered a phrase he seldom used. “I trust your judgment.”
“Alright then. Just lie back here and get comfortable.”
Byakuya wondered how exactly he was supposed to be comfortable when a gorgeous man was standing over him with an electric needle and hitting on him, but he tried his best. Renji looked again at the edge of his pants and frowned. “You might want to pull that down a little more…there we go. That’s perfect.” Renji rubbed something cool onto his skin and Byakuya repressed a shiver.
“Okay, I’m gonna make a small line first, and then stop, so you can get used to how it’ll feel.”
It felt a little like a red-hot fingernail was scraping across his skin. He didn’t mind it at all.
“How was that?”
“That was fine.”
“Great. Now try to relax. It’ll be easier for me and for you that way.” Byakuya closed his eyes and made every effort to relax, though it wasn’t an area in which he was particularly skilled.
Renji made another line with the needle, and Byakuya found the sensation to be quite bearable. The noisy drone of the machine irritated him much more. After awhile, the burning intensified a bit, and he was just beginning to feel genuine discomfort when the buzzing stopped.
“All done.”
“Already?”
“You sound disappointed,” Renji smirked. "You can always come back if you want more.”
Byakuya stood up and looked in the mirror. The delicate design looked even better on him than it had on the stencil. “Thank you,” he said, rather impressed. Renji taped a wad of gauze over the freshly inked tattoo, and Byakuya suspected he had let his hand linger there an extra second.
“You’re all set. Now let me tell you how to take care of it, ‘cuz it’ll be pretty sensitive for a while. You can take this bandage off tonight, and then clean it with liquid Dial soap, pat dry, and put this ointment on it.” He handed Byakuya a small tube and a business card. “After three or four days, you’re gonna switch to a water-based lotion, but keep cleaning it like that three times a day for two weeks until it’s totally healed. During this time, don’t go swimming, or to the sauna, or anything where it would get submerged in water except showering. And if you have any questions, concerns, or want to go out for a drink sometime, my number’s on the card.”
Byakuya’s eyes widened. “Did you just say…”
Renji looked at him.
“…water-based lotion?”
“That’s right. After three days or so.”
“All right.”
Byakuya quickly redressed himself and thanked the artist again before leaving the studio. On his way out the door, he slipped Renji’s card into his wallet where he could easily find it again, just in case he felt the need for a touchup.
Link to Part 1
Pairing: Tattoo artist!Renji x grad student!Byakuya
Genre: University!AU, Romance, WIP
Rating: PG still...though it's just dying to break out of that rating. ^_^
Words: 1092 for Part 2
Disclaimer: Bleach is not mine. The university is, though.
A/N: This icon is what Byakuya's new tattoo looks like.
Monday came, and Byakuya was horrified to find that he was actually nervous. For what, he wasn’t sure. He certainly wasn’t afraid of the pain; four years on the university crew team had given him plenty of conditioning in that area. Nevertheless, he went through his day unusually distracted. He almost forgot about the Milton class he had to T.A. for and ended up arriving two minutes late, which distressed him terribly, though the students didn’t seem to notice. The more perceptive undergraduates did pick up on how atypically unfocused their T.A. seemed, though as usual most of them were more preoccupied with watching him than listening to him anyway. His eye kept drifting to his watch, which flickered steadily closer to five o’clock.
The fateful hour came. Arriving at the studio, Byakuya immediately noticed the absence of a certain redhead. In his place behind the counter was another young man, with spiked black hair and a “69” tattooed on his cheek, who looked like he had just walked out of a music video. Byakuya found the man’s choice of body art rather vulgar, and was just beginning to wonder if this whole endeavor was a mistake when Renji emerged from the back of the studio.
“Hey, it’s Professor Kuchiki, right on time,” the redhead grinned. Byakuya tried to suppress both a cringe at the epithet and a surprised smile at the fact that Renji had remembered his name and his career objective. Fortunately for Byakuya, who was no fan of facial expressions, especially unintentional ones, the two canceled each other out.
“I’ve got your design all ready to go, so if you’ll just follow me we can get started.” The artist led him down a short and surprisingly clean hallway and into a small white room that reminded him of a doctor’s office. He laid his coat on the stool in the corner and eyed the large reclining chair with skepticism.
“So have you decided where you want it?” Renji asked.
“I have two ideas, actually,” he replied. “Either over the shoulder blade, or possibly right above the hip, here. On the left side. Which would be preferable?”
“Show me with your shirt off,” Renji answered. Byakuya blinked at him, and the redhead laughed. “You’ll hafta to take it off to get the tattoo either way.”
Byakuya couldn’t argue with that. He knew Renji couldn’t actually see his heart pounding furiously against his chest as he unbuttoned his shirt, but that didn’t stop him from worrying about it. As he folded his shirt he felt the other man’s eyes watching him rather intently.
“Now show me again,” said Renji.
“Either here,” Byakuya turned his back to the artist and pointed to his shoulder blade, “or…” He hesitated a bit, realizing what he would have to do to properly expose the other area in question. He almost decided just to go with the first option. But then, scolding himself for letting some uneducated kid intimidate him, he unfastened his belt and carefully edged down the left edge of his waistband, revealing the tight pale skin above his hip. “Or here.”
Renji looked to be assessing the alternatives - or something - very carefully. “The second one,” he concluded. “I usually don’t recommend it ‘cuz some people tend to put on weight there, but you’ve got quite the figure, I’ve gotta say. Who’da thought, English major and all.”
“I rowed in college,” he said, feeling himself flush slightly.
“Yeah, but that was what, three years ago?”
Byakuya was surprised Renji had remembered the exact year of his graduation, much less his major. “I’ve kept in shape since then.”
“No kidding. Well, what do you say we do the hip then?”
Then Byakuya uttered a phrase he seldom used. “I trust your judgment.”
“Alright then. Just lie back here and get comfortable.”
Byakuya wondered how exactly he was supposed to be comfortable when a gorgeous man was standing over him with an electric needle and hitting on him, but he tried his best. Renji looked again at the edge of his pants and frowned. “You might want to pull that down a little more…there we go. That’s perfect.” Renji rubbed something cool onto his skin and Byakuya repressed a shiver.
“Okay, I’m gonna make a small line first, and then stop, so you can get used to how it’ll feel.”
It felt a little like a red-hot fingernail was scraping across his skin. He didn’t mind it at all.
“How was that?”
“That was fine.”
“Great. Now try to relax. It’ll be easier for me and for you that way.” Byakuya closed his eyes and made every effort to relax, though it wasn’t an area in which he was particularly skilled.
Renji made another line with the needle, and Byakuya found the sensation to be quite bearable. The noisy drone of the machine irritated him much more. After awhile, the burning intensified a bit, and he was just beginning to feel genuine discomfort when the buzzing stopped.
“All done.”
“Already?”
“You sound disappointed,” Renji smirked. "You can always come back if you want more.”
Byakuya stood up and looked in the mirror. The delicate design looked even better on him than it had on the stencil. “Thank you,” he said, rather impressed. Renji taped a wad of gauze over the freshly inked tattoo, and Byakuya suspected he had let his hand linger there an extra second.
“You’re all set. Now let me tell you how to take care of it, ‘cuz it’ll be pretty sensitive for a while. You can take this bandage off tonight, and then clean it with liquid Dial soap, pat dry, and put this ointment on it.” He handed Byakuya a small tube and a business card. “After three or four days, you’re gonna switch to a water-based lotion, but keep cleaning it like that three times a day for two weeks until it’s totally healed. During this time, don’t go swimming, or to the sauna, or anything where it would get submerged in water except showering. And if you have any questions, concerns, or want to go out for a drink sometime, my number’s on the card.”
Byakuya’s eyes widened. “Did you just say…”
Renji looked at him.
“…water-based lotion?”
“That’s right. After three days or so.”
“All right.”
Byakuya quickly redressed himself and thanked the artist again before leaving the studio. On his way out the door, he slipped Renji’s card into his wallet where he could easily find it again, just in case he felt the need for a touchup.
Link to Part 1