Tattoos Together || Larry Stylinson

Chapter 18

"No, I'll do this now."

I exhaled audibly and nodded. So, he was sure.

When the door to the tattoo studio was opened, a small bell rang out.

I headed for this building because I had gotten a sibling tattoo pricked with Lottie there the previous year and I remembered how kind and empathetic the artist had been to my sister since it was her first one. It was worth mentioning that Lottie's motif had been significantly smaller than what Harry wanted, and on the outer upper arm, which is a less sensitive area.

"Hey." I said to the blonde woman behind the counter.

She pulled her bulging and obviously not quite natural lips in a friendly smile.

"Do you speak English?" I asked, just to be careful and was a little relieved when she answered yes.

"How can I help you two cuties?" There was a thick accent in her voice, but it didn't change anything in her sounding very polite and friendly.

"The lovely curl head here would like to get a tattoo." I explained and pointed with one hand behind me, at Harry, who gave the impression that he would like to turn on his heel and run away.

The tattoo artist seemed to have noticed his restlessness and turned to him directly "Come a little closer, boy."

Harry did what he was told and now stood next to me.

"Do you already have an idea what it should be?" He nodded.

I poked him in the side and whispered a low, amused "You have to talk Haz, otherwise she can't do anything."

With fingers trembling with excitement, he unfolded the sheet on which I had drawn the butterfly and presented it to the blonde.

"That's beautiful, did you draw it?" She tried to loosen up the conversation.

"Sorry, he's really nervous, it's going to be his first tattoo. I've drawn it by the way." I explained the obvious to her.

She nodded approvingly and came walking behind the counter to shake Harry's hand.

"Well, my little one, it will take me half an hour to prepare the template. Have you thought about that really well?"

"Yes, I have. But don't we need a declaration of consent?" I shook my head and took the answer from the artist who had introduced herself as Peggy.

"There is no legal age limit for it here in Italy... can we pay in advance?" I asked, knowing full well that the session would be long and, in the end, Harry was probably happy to get home as soon as possible.

Peggy told me the price, which was significantly cheaper than it would for getting a tattoo like this in our homeland, and I paid for it against Harry's sake.

"Feel invited." I grinned as my boyfriend took a seat on the comfortable leather-covered chair.

Harry was shaking even more than before and seemed to be following the clock's second hand with his eyes.

I sat next to him and grabbed his hand to calm him down. His palm was wet with sweat. Sweat of fear.

"So young man, you will have to take off your shirt now. It's not that cold today, luckily." I heard the blonde announce at some point with her sugar-sweet voice before she was even in the room.

I winked encouragingly at Harry, who was fumbling helplessly at the bottom of the garment. Not being able to take it off alone because of his excessive demands. I quickly helped him, holding the shirt on my lap as I sat back in my chair.

In the meantime, Peggy had sat down on an office chair with castors and moved a mobile table next to Harry, on which was everything that she would need.

She laid one gloved hand on my boyfriend's thigh to get his full attention.

"So, my dear. You haven't taken any blood thinners in the last week? That means no Marcumar, Ibuprofen or Paracetamol? -Sorry, I have to ask that."

He shook his head in the negative.

"Very good. If you are not feeling well, just raise your hand. I will then stop... Would you like to have a numbing ointment? The effect will probably wear off after two hours."

"I would love to." Harry whispered and I knew full well that he would have loved to be anesthetized.

After the applied numbing cream had been given a few minutes to take effect, Peggy adjusted the template and shortly afterwards she began to work on the soft skin of the angel in front of her.

Harry had closed his eyes a little panicked shut and clawed at my wrist. I whispered little comforts to him and let my fingers dance over his arm.

For a long time, it went quite well, until Peggy got closer and closer to the middle of his stomach and my boyfriend gave agonized whimpers.

I shushed him softly. "I told you so babe."