i expect i'll regret you (1D, tattoo!AU)
i expect i'll regret you
AU where zayn is a tattoo artist and liam does piercings and louis is their assistant and niall runs the bar down the street.
oh, and then there's harry.
fortamzinrose ecause i promised her zarry
in return for her lovely writing
15 January - 1748 words
Warnings: erm, tattos and piercings?
the boy named harry stumbles into the parlor one wretched morning, laughing hysterically at the small drenched bundle that is louis. zayn’s in the corner, sketching out a design for the barkeep down the street - niall? he thinks - and he curls in on himself as the loud, booming laugh rolls through their shop.
louis is just the shop assistant - the word administrative is even in his title somewhere - but mostly he works there because liam gives him piercings for free now. zayn grumbles about it a lot, because they could actually use a proper assistant who can balance the books, but he understands liam’s absurd love of the boy. someday, he thinks, i’ll make liam actually ask that darn boy out. he smiles to himself as he thinks it, though, because zayn is actually a pretty big fan of romance. not as big a fan of louis, but he’ll make do for a mate’s sake.
innate sacrifice is a tiny tattoo and body modification parlor. zayn does all of the tattoos, liam does the piercings and other mod work. there had been an older tattoo artist awhile back, but he’d left once the younger boys had a good handle on the shop. everything is at their discretion, everything is subject to change. they’re not big on finality, which is probably ironic in the tattoo business, but zayn doesn’t mind.
louis’ got purple in his hair this week and zayn rolls his eyes. the dye job was clearly a home event, because the rain’s left purple residue dripping down his face. liam emerges out of the back room just as louis straightens out of his sodden mess, and he actually clucks in horror at the puddle gathering near the door. his friend is pressed against the door, actually physically moving himself backwards as liam advances upon louis and his guest. zayn straightens up in interest - this could be fun.
no one comes in to a parlor when it’s raining this hard, so zayn isn’t actually upset that louis is late or that he’s brought one of his bedraggled hipster friends with him. he’s just kind of introverted, not in the mood to chat up new people. the boy’s still pressed against the door, though, and liam’s face is pretty menacing, so zayn stands up sort out his friends.
liam’s actually berating louis for being wet. louis looks absolutely miserable and liam looks terrified. zayn can’t quite understand coming out of liam’s mouth because he’s speaking so fast, but he catches bits like “could have died” and “sister got pneumonia” and he’s pretty sure one of them is going to cry if he doesn’t butt in now.
“louis, the space heater’s on in my corner. go change into something dry out of the stockpile and curl up by it. liam, go make him tea if you’re so worried.”
both boys looks appropriately stricken and turn to go. the stockpile is their lost and found, only no one ever comes back for the odds and ends they leave behind. zayn’s entertained the thought of opening a pawn shop. there are some great band tees in the stockpile, and the watch that the weird grandpa had left behind after getting his kids’s names tattooed in comic sans down his spine had to be worth something.
zayn realized there was still noise coming from the door, and looked up.
the boy was standing normally now, dripping just as bad as louis had been. his hair was sopping, long and probably shaggy when dry. zayn did his best to smile instead of grimace, but he wasn’t sure he’d succeeded.
“erm, i’m... i’m harry?” the new boy said - harry said, zayn corrected in his head.
“friend of louis?”
“yeah, we’re old pals. he said you were good with tattoos?”
“best in this town, although that probably isn’t saying much.”
“louis raves about you, and that’s enough for me.”
“louis raves about liam.”
harry grinned at that, his head shaking with the force of his odd, stuttered laugh. zayn thought he could maybe get used to the sound.
louis twirled back into the main room, having found a truly ridiculous outfit in the stockpile. he was dressed in girls’ yoga pants - a nice shade of purple - and an oversized Def Leppard tee. his eyeliner was still perfect, and zayn was convinced he’d stuck it there with magic - or got it tattooed, he supposed, but zayn was pretty sure that he’d remember tattooing eyeliner on louis.
“hey haz, grabbed you dry stuff too!” louis yelled, throwing a pair of sweats and the soft Ramones tee that was zayn’s secret favorite.
“thanks, lou.” harry grinned, shucking off his wet shirt right there in the entrance. zayn went to grumble, but looked up first, and his breath caught.
harry had beautiful tattoos. his swallows needed a few touch ups, but the lines were gorgeous, and the detail work was impeccable. the cage on his ribcage was minimalist and the wobbly lines meant that zayn had definitely met that tattoo artist before. zayn’s eyes slowly mapped out each individual tattoo, itching to know the stories behind them.
harry caught him looking and smirked at him, turning to stretch out, all lithe and - and were those extra nipples? zayn blushed and turned away, scuttled back to the corner by the tattoo bed. he was saved by whatever embarrassing comment harry was going to make by liam coming back into the main room.
liam spluttered and gaped and dropped the paperwork in his hands. the smaller papers broke free and fluttered about on their way down, giving liam the look of a snowglobe for a few brief moments. he manages to save the tea in his other hand, though. his mouth opened and closed uselessly a few times, eyes wider than zayn thought was possible - until he figured out why.
liam had been presented with the lovely, intimidating sight of one louis tomlinson’s ass upon entrance of the room. the purple yoga pants were doing absolutely nothing to hide the swell of his admittedly plump behind, and he was angled so that liam had no chance of seeing anything else when he walked in. louis dropped down to pick something up off of the floor as soon as he heard liam’s spluttering, bending smoothly in half and sweeping whatever it was off the floor before snapping back up. liam made some odd gestures with his hands that either meant zayn save me or i’d tap that. zayn wondered if liam knew which he meant.
louis turned to face liam slowly, smile innocent and bright. liam’s eyes snap to his face, intense gaze a side effect of trying so hard not to look elsewhere.
“hiya, bossman. what did you need me to help you with today?” louis’ eyes were glinting sharply, something oddly dangerous in them. zayn was a little worried he would have to step in, liam was still make fish shapes with his mouth - though, to his credit, zayn was sure those pants were just as revealing in the front as they were in the back, and zayn knew for a fact that louis was not a small man down there. (zayn was also never going to drop in on any parties louis threw ever again).
“well, i, erm, i just - ah, here!” liam spluttered, shoving the tea into louis’ hand. he immediately knelt down to pick up the papers that he had dropped, grumbling angrily about the mess and how things were out of order and - zayn stopped listening, assured that liam wasn’t going to spontaneously combust while attempting to get louis to work. he turned to his desk, eyeing the design laid out on top.
he sighed loudly. he really hated this design, but it had been requested in detail and the girl was willing to pay more than usual to come in at an odd hour. he was mostly done, a few tweaks and some cleaner lines were all he could do until he had the girl in front of him.
it was designed for placement on the inner thigh - a placement zayn strongly disapproved of, considering the actual design, but it wasn’t his tattoo. it was an atrocious design, a teddy bear for one thigh and tweety bird for the other - both in punked out attire. when her thighs were touching, they’d appear to be holding hands. it was apparently a gift for her boyfriend, something about nicknames and true love and zayn really didn’t care how much it meant to her, it was still a stupid idea.
inner thigh tattoos should be sexy. zayn would like nothing more than to scrap this girl’s idea and plan out a large spread of peacock feathers winding their way between her thighs, the last tendrils delicately brushing out right at the hip joint.
he pushed the thought away and started cleaning up his sketches.
he was just getting focused when he felt a warm presence leaning over him. it was harry, of course, clearly hoping to watch him work. he waited for harry to take in the artwork, unsure of his reaction.
harry burst into laughter, his hand flying up to cover his mouth as if to contain it somehow.
“if that’s the kind of art you usually ink, i might have to make louis reconsider his favorite artist.” he said, once he’d stopped laughing.
“it’s a request!” zayn said, voice strangled. for some reason, he really wanted harry to think well of his artistic abilities. he pushed the design to the side - lightly, he did still need it after all - and pulled some designs he’d done on his own out. harry was warm and solid against his back, and it was pleasant and quiet for once. they leafed through the designs slowly, harry murmuring questions and zayn responding in lengthy, rustling sentences about line thickness and texture and the benefit of a single ink color.
it wasn’t nearly as weird as it should have been, zayn thought, considering they’d known each other for not even a day. it was pleasant and altogether too short, as louis gave off a loud squawk of indignant disbelief just as they were truly getting into it.