Intimately Inked [manxman]

Chapter Three

Throughout the week, there were several events that only served to further intertwine mine and Seb's lives. He came to the shop after lunch on Tuesday to distribute flyers for dance classes, as well as give me the sign-up forms for Blaine. I went ahead and filled them out. We had talked about it the day before, and she'd promised that she really wanted to do it and would try her best. So, I signed her up, making a mental note to take her shopping for dance clothes in the next few days so she would be prepared for her first class.

"The classes for the girls' age division will happen on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5 to 7 in the evening," Seb said, slipping the completed forms into a manila folder.

I nodded. "That's fine. I might have appointments during those times, but I'll still be over there to pick her up by 7." I bit my lip and glanced down at my appointment list for the day. I still had an hour. "You know, if Maggie ever gets bored over there while you're teaching a class or something, she's welcome to come by. Blaine works on homework and stuff back here, so if she wanted a break or something..." I trailed off, shrugging. We'd only gotten the girls together once, so I wasn't sure how ecstatic he'd be about leaving his child in my care while he was working across the road.

But, I also knew how hard it was to be a single parent without many resources, and there were days Blaine got really restless during my appointments. Rarely, my appointments went over two hours--the average length of Seb's classes--so I couldn't even imagine how antsy that'd make Maggie.

"That'd actually be really great. I've got a friend that's volunteered to watch her, but she has such a hectic schedule that there are a lot of days that I wasn't sure where to put Maggie." He scratched the back of his head. "Well, same goes with you. If you run over on an appointment or something, I can keep Blaine at the studio until you're finished."

"Thank you."

"It's no problem." He shrugged nonchalantly. "You're doing the same for Maggie, after all. Single dads gotta stick together."

"I guess you're right."

The conversation drifted after that, and I led him into the back to work on his sketch a bit more. So far, we had a smattering of silhouetted birds flying, but he wanted to think on it more before he fully committed to the design, which I respected. It was permanent art on his body, after all.

A few days later, Friday morning, I sat in my studio, painting something that looked like it came from space when my phone vibrated noisily on my desk. I frowned, balancing the paintbrush on table so I wouldn't get paint everywhere, then answered the phone, silently swearing when I realized I still had paint on my hands.

"Hello?"

"Gods, you sound more hateful than me. Who pissed in your cornflakes this morning?"

"Nice to hear from you too, Aurora," I drawled, smirking. As my only friend up until a few days ago, I'd relied on her a lot. We had similar pasts, and we'd both gone through a lot, so we managed to find solace in one another. She'd even helped me when it came to adopting Blaine. "How are you?"

"Well, I'm still breathing, so I guess most people would consider that a victory."

I snorted, "Or a travesty, because, you know, it's us."

"Oh, don't remind me. Just because your mood ring is a filthy brown today doesn't mean I'm ready to sink down to your level." Her eye roll could've been audible. "I actually called you for a good reason--in fact, it might just turn that shitty brown into a lovely pink."

I scowled, walking over to glance out the studio door and make sure no one had walked in while I wasn't listening for the bell. Satisfied that I was alone, I perched on the stool in front of my canvas. "I'm not coming to another wedding as your fake husband."