it wasn't even two days later when that little brat stomped into the parlor, holding a shred of pink construction paper.
harry rolled his eyes, and continued to tattoo a pikachu on this huge nerd. he had done other Pokemon on the same man, so they're kind of friends.
the twink strolls up to the desk where zayn stood, and gave him the slip of paper.
"you need an actual person with you here, lad," zayn explains, "not a piece of paper."
louis looks down, and says, "but mummy can't come with me."
"then you can't get a tattoo," zayn said, turning around and tossing the paper in a bin.
the boy, who could barely see over the desk, gasped, and tears quickly filled his blue eyes.
"b-but she can't come!"
that got a few looks from people, and zayn looked over to harry for help. harry just shook his head, and said, "sorry, earl. i'll be back in a minute."
earl understood, and harry strides over to louis and crouches down to his level.
"you know you can't get one," harry says, "without your mum or dad."
louis almost groaned, because these stupid people won't listen to him.
"where's your dad? if your mum can't come, he can," harry insisted, and louis looked down again.
"don't have one," louis mumbled, rocking back and forth on his heels.
that explains the skirt. and the pink.
"where's your mum, then?"
louis' lip begins to tremble, and harry swears that he heard a whimper from the smaller boy. he squeaked, "the doctors won't let her come home."
oh. oh. oh god.
harry feels like complete shit, because then the small boy reaches up to wipe his teary eyes. he did that.
well, he and zayn.
"well..." harry sighed, hating that he was actually going to do this, "i'm almost done with my last client of the day, so i guess i can be your adult."
louis looks up, and blinks away some of his tears, "you?"
harry nods, "yeah, i mean, i'm not your dad or anything, but i can do it."
louis smiles, like a big sunshine smile, and giddily tramples harry into a hug, squealing like a child.
people in the parlor smiled, happy that the brat got what he wanted, and stopped making a scene.
zayn sat back skeptically, and watched harry carefully. softy.
-
harry waved goodbye to earl, and as soon as he turned around, he saw louis sitting in the chair, jumping up and down.
"okay, okay," harry said, "you're gonna have to chill if you want me to do this. i don't want to accidentally stab you in the neck."
louis stopped, and nodded. the thought of being stabbed anywhere scared the crap out of him.
harry took the tattoo gun, cleaned it, replaced the needle with a sterilized one, and turned it on. the buzzing obviously made louis a little uneasy, harry could tell.
he gripped the arm of the chair a little tighter, and he lost a little bit of the color in his cheeks.
"it's not gonna hurt you," harry said bluntly, "just a little needle."
lou nodded, and tugged the neck of his shirt down to reveal a very small collar bone. harry blinked, and realized that he had been staring.
"um, okay," harry shook his head, "let's go."
he began to draw the little heart on the skin, and louis' eyebrows furred together. he wasn't good at tolerating any pain.
harry had already gone through half of the heart, and then louis grasped his other arm, claiming, "hurts."
"halfway done," harry assured, not making any move to make louis let him go. he kind of... liked the small fingers curled around his wrist.
"done!"
louis quickly brought his hand back, and jumped out of the chair to check it out in the mirror.
he took one look, and then wanted to pass out because there was blood.
"you made me bleed!" louis exclaimed, and harry was already there to wipe it away. then, all you could see was the heart. almost perfect.
louis grinned, and gave harry yet another hug, chanting, "thank you, mister!"
"you're very welcome," harry said, patting the younger boy on the back, "now you have to come back monday so i can make sure it's clean, okay?"
louis nodded, and as soon as a plastic plaster was put over it, louis skipped out of the parlor. harry sighed, and leaned in his stool.
"harry," zayn called, "what are you doing?"
"i'm about to clean up, but-"
"no, i mean with the boy," zayn rolled his eyes, "he doesn't need to come back. the tattoo is fine."
harry shrugged, "i don't know. that boy seems a little off. i just want to check up on him."
zayn scoffed, "sure you do."
