Tradition

Aosh studied the finished tattoo encased in plastic wrap in the mirror. Violet swam happily along with her brothers and sisters on Aosh's skin. Darcy always did exceptional work with every request that Aosh sent her way, even if it was short notice. As the Alpha ogled his newest addition, Tiza sidled up to Darcy as she was cleaning up her station.

"Excuse me, um, I was wondering, If you had the time...er," Tiza takes a deep breath and tries again, "If you have the time could you possibly do me next?"

Darcy side-eyes him while she's sanitizing her equipment.

"What do you have in mind, hun?"

Tiza bites his lip and shows here the picture in the portfolio in his hands.

Aosh catches a glimpse of their muted conversation in the mirror and quirks an eyebrow. The two are huddled over her tablet on the counter whispering about something.

The next thing he sees is Darcy slapping the tattoo chair happily and Tiza sitting on it.

Aosh's eyebrows shoot up and he turns around just in time to see Darcy leave the room with her tablet in hand, announcing that she'd be back. Tiza is sitting in the chair, staring at the ceiling, his hands wringing themselves together in his lap.

Quietly Tiza chewed the inside of his cheek.

He was really going to do this, wasn't he? Tiza never thought he'd ever want to do this up until now. But then again there are a lot of things he thought he never wanted to do until he met a certain someone. Aosh approached the Omega, the other's name falling off his lips in question.

"What?" Tiza asks, the usual edge to his voice shrouded in nervousness.

"Are you going to get tattooed?"

Tiza didn't look like the type to even think about wanting tattoos. And Aosh would be right. Tiza wasn't.

"Would I be sitting in this chair otherwise?" Tiza dares to look at Aosh, his eyes flitting down to catch the others gaze for just a moment to see Aosh's eyes alight and a grin set on his face.

Once again Tiza is thankful when Darcy comes back and breaks the weird feeling in the room. She sits between them and asks Tiza to pull down his pants.

Aosh almost swallows his damn tongue.

"Wait, wh-wha-" Aosh stutters out.

Tiza's face tints the smallest amount of pink before he is shimming his shorts down to his knees. Darcy readies the applique and her fingers grace the hem of Tiza's underwear, a pink semi-sheer pair with a lace hem before she stops and asks if it's ok. Tiza gives a curt nod of his head and Darcy pulls the garment aside just enough to keep Tiza still covered but expose his right hip. Gently she applies the applique.

Aosh tries to be gentlemanly, he really does, but he can't help but peek at what kind of tattoo Tiza was going to get on his hip of all places. The Alpha tries not to linger on the thought of Tiza in his underwear, or how his hips would feel under his fingers. God forbid he starts to think of what happened during his rut again. But it gnaws just at the surface.

When the applique is pulled away, a small koi fish is left in its wake.

"A koi?" He asks, mouth dry.

"Violet," Tiza corrects, "She was such a good friend to you...I wanted to remember her as well. You said it was tradition, right?"

"Y-Yea." Aosh wonders if it's possible for his heart to actually pound out of his chest because it feels like a close thing.

Aosh doesn't question him, doesn't make another comment, but he does pull the spare chair closer so he can watch. He doesn't notice how this makes Tiza's cheeks even ruddier. The whir of the tattoo gun makes Tiza's heart rate increase, and he starts taking heavy breaths through his nose in anticipation of whatever pain will come.

Needles meet skin and Tiza lets out a shaky sigh as the first lines are drawn.

Ok, it's not as bad as he thought. He steadies his breathing anyway while she works, especially when he realizes he's not breathing properly, and thus getting a little light-headed. It feels like a cat is scratching at his hip relentlessly with the sharpest claws imaginable. When he finally gets used to the pain Darcy moves closer to his hip bones and the Omega almost cries out at the surge of pain. Instead, his hand reaches out for something to grip and catches Aosh's hand. Tiza's hand squeezes down on Aosh's and Aosh rubs his thumb over white knuckles to soothe him.

"Are you ok?"

"Y-yea...it just...fuck...it fucking hurts." Tiza had his eyes shut up until now and he squints them open to see Aosh holding his hand, a look of concern painting his features, and he's still shirtless. He squeezes them shut again because seeing Aosh shirtless was definitely not going to help his breathing.

"You're doing great, she's almost done."

"This is what you feel every time you get one?! How the hell do you have almost two armfuls?! A-are you a closet masochist or something?"

Aosh laughs, "No! I got used to it after a while. And to be fair that's a pretty sensitive spot to get a tattoo, let alone your first one, so it's going to hurt."

"I'll let you in on a little secret Tiza, Aosh passed out when he got his first tattoo so you are already doing leagues better than him." Darcy chimes in.

Aosh is about to protest Darcy outing him like that, but when that comment causes Tiza to chuckle he decides against it.

"I would've loved to see that," Tiza says between winces of pain and laughter.

............................

Tiza can't stop looking at his plastic-covered hip in the mirror. The delicate linework of the koi fish in black scrawls across his hip and the little explosions of blue accent it beautifully. Tiza feels oddly giddy right now. He twists to the side, and then to the other and concludes that it looks good from every angle and that though the pain was a bitch, it was fucking worth it.

It must've been some kind of body-positive serotonin-inducing ink Darcy had injected him with because he was really liking the way that he looked right now. Which never happened. With his thumb still hooked under his underwear and shorts, he turns to Aosh.

"It looks good doesn't it?"

"It looks fantastic…" is all that Aosh can say, lest he says something inappropriate.

Satisfied with the answer the Omega turns back around.

"Can you please drool over him outside? I don't want to mop my floors." Darcy chides.

"Shut up, I'm not drooling," he says, wiping at his mouth.

"Tiza, make sure you keep that plastic on for a few days to let it heal," she calls.

"Mmn, how much do I owe you?"

Darcy looked between the two, an obviously smitten Alpha and an oblivious Omega, and waved her hand.

"It's on the house, you just have to let me do your next one."

Tiza scoffs and pulls out a fifty-dollar bill from his wallet and hands it to her.

"At least let me tip you."

"You're so sweet! Aosh you better keep an eye out on him or else someones going to swoop in and snatch him." Darcy laughs as she returns to cleaning her station.

Aosh rolls his eyes at her comment. He didn't have it in him to explain that things weren't like that. Tiza still stands at the mirror, admiring himself with a small smile set into his usually pouty lips. There's a fluttering in his chest and a wish to capture this moment. So comes closer and asks.

"Can I take a picture? This is the first time I've gotten a tattoo with somebody."

"Why the hell not," Tiza says.

Because why the hell not! Tiza actually wanted a picture anyway. This is the first time he's decided what he wants to do with his body, without being bogged down by the constant shame he felt and the opinion of others. He wanted a picture and he wanted to remember this lighter than air feeling he had.

Aosh pulls out his phone to capture the moment, Aosh baring his bicep and Tiza baring his hip and a smile on both their faces.