Being a tattoo artist hadn't exactly been Giovanni's dream job, but as opposed to being an artist in any other capacity, it was one of the options that helped him pay the bills. Over time, he’d just come to love it for what it is, which was surprising considering the amount of people he had to interact with on a regular basis. That didn’t deter him in the slightest, however. Another surprising fact he’d come to learn about himself.
He'd gotten lucky to be able to open his own studio after a couple of years of experience and the well wishes of his former bosses and co-workers, but with parents that were relatively well off he didn't see it as much of an achievement. Not that he had especially relied on them or anything... but they helped out enough in various areas of his life where he didn't need to stress about things like food and a roof over his head. For example, they covered pretty much his entire education, so he didn't have any student debt to worry about, a thing that made him just a little less empathetic than he'd liked, but he never mentioned his parents' support whenever customers asked him about it.
Speaking of, more often than not new customers would come in asking for something specific, to which all he had to do was make a stencil from an image and just do his thing. Easy enough. Even the studio’s regulars only ever needed touch-ups or wanted something small added onto what was already inked onto them. His favourite cases, however, were without a doubt the people who came in on a whim, usually rather riled up and motivated and asking him to just draw on whatever he liked. He found that typically they wanted to get a tattoo as a sort of protest, or to solidify their beliefs.... or something more or less as eloquent. Giovanni almost admired them, actually, for having the guts to turn to such a dramatic solution for whatever it was they were facing. He didn't particularly care as to why people wanted to get tattooed in the first place, having none himself, but it was definitely interesting to take note of the range of demeanours of the people that entered the store.
So he observed the fresh faces of two young women as he stood behind the counter, spinning a pen in his fingers and turning his attention away from the shop's schedule on the monitor in front of him. It was going to be relatively quiet for him, as the customers that had made bookings had specifically requested for Gregory and Haru, two of his employees. Not that he was complaining - it gave him a day to just relax and handle the walk-ins they were usually appointed for, for as far as he was concerned his studio was one of the few in the area that actually accepted them. He still had Illima to help him out in that regard as well, so he knew that the day was going to go as smoothly as it usually did. Not that a tattoo business ever got ridiculously hectic - there weren't many people in the area clamouring for tattoos, after all.
Hence why these two young women interested him. The one with straight pink hair tied into a side updo approached the counter with a bright smile, one so dazzling that Giovanni would probably have to squint if he looked at her directly. She had a monocle for her right eye perched on the bridge of her nose, and he then noticed that her eyes were the same shade of pink as her hair. He tilted his head a little to take note of the woman whom she was dragging along by the hand, and his interest piqued further. The other woman almost seemed to be cowering behind her, head angled to the floor as her face was painted with the brightest blush he had ever seen on a person. She appeared to be trying to make herself look as small as possible; it was sort of cute. She reminded him of a timid little animal.
"Good afternoon!" The more chipper of the pair spoke first, bringing Giovanni back to reality where the two of them stood on the opposite side of the counter. Her voice was excitable, but not loud. A person who knew their manners, he thought to himself as the woman spoke again, "Am I right in remembering that this place accepts walk-ins?"
“Uh… yeah, yeah we do.” He cleared his throat and nodded, setting the pen down and redirecting his gaze to the monitor in front of him. “We’ve got two artists free today, myself and Illima. Got anything in mind for what you want?”
“Oh, I’m not looking to get one.” The pink-haired woman stepped aside and tugged her friend forward. The brunette stumbled to her side, yelping and quickly raising a hand to the bridge of her glasses, likely to prevent them from falling off. She made a strangled noise as she helplessly looked up to her ever-smiling friend, even though said friend evidently paid zero mind. “But my friend here is~!”
“C-...Charlie!” Finally, the brunette spoke, but it came out as more of a defiant whine than anything else.
“I’m just helping you, Tora. You’ve been talking about coming here for the past two weeks, and you even have what you want in mind, don’t you?” The woman apparently named Charlie put her free hand on her hip as she tilted her head. Her manner of speech was a strange one; it wasn’t forceful, yet there was a sense of urging and genuine inquisition present, even though Giovanni was almost certain that she wouldn’t simply let “Tora” leave if she said no.
“B-But… But I…”
“But you?”
Again with that strangely unthreatening yet threatening tone… even he was feeling pressured even just listening to her speak. However, eventually the woman named Tora heaved out a heavy sigh and reached into the bag slung over her shoulder. Giovanni guessed that she was about to pull out a printed paper or a phone and show him images of the kind of tattoo she wanted, but to his surprise she pulled out a… sketchbook?
He could tell it was a sketchbook because he owned one that was pretty much identical, save for all the customisation she had done - the cover was covered up with stickers and markings and all sorts of different décor, and the only way Giovanni could actually tell it was the same sketchbook as his own were the surprisingly untouched letters that spelled out the book’s brand. He was still intrigued, however, for it wasn’t often that people came into the shop with their own designs ready, and not to be stereotypical, but he supposed that Tora’s introverted nature aligned with the fact that she was quite obviously an artist.
Tora shook her other hand free of Charlie’s so she could start flipping through pages, looking more and more nervous by the second. Giovanni wished for some way to comfort her that wouldn’t be perceived as weird, but he thought to just let it be for the time being. At the very least, he’d wait until Charlie wasn’t around if Tora actually did want a tattoo. Though, he wasn’t quite sure whether or not that would be more or less weird…
When finally he was shown a piece of paper with a very intricately drawn illustration of two fish swimming around each other, Giovanni’s eyes widened just a little.
“Did you draw this?” He couldn’t help but ask, tentatively taking the paper in his hands. Tora nodded, still not looking at him, so he tried to muster the warmest tone he could. “It’s very beautiful.”
Her already vibrant face flushed even redder, but he assumed that she took it as a compliment regardless.
“Where do you want it done?” He asked in a slightly softer tone.
With Tora’s failure to reply immediately, Charlie opened her mouth again. “She wants it down the middle of her upper back.”
“I see… is this your- um…” Noticing how Tora had buried her face in her hands, he looked straight at Charlie. It really felt as if he was speaking to Tora’s parent or caretaker rather than her friend. “Is this her first tattoo?”
“Yes, it is. Have fun, dear~!” Charlie had then lovingly pat Tora on the cheek before waving and sauntering out of the studio. It was the most abrupt exit Giovanni had ever seen anyone have the audacity to make, and it left poor Tora frozen with shock as she watched her friend abandon her without warning.
“...Is she always like that?” Giovanni thought striking up a light-hearted conversation would help, but Tora jumped on the spot at hearing him speak, and for the first time since she entered she’d looked him in the eye - albeit unintentionally, it seemed, for instantly she snapped her gaze down to the floor again. A shame; he would never say so out loud, in fact he internally chastised himself for thinking such a thing, but her eyes were especially attractive.
“Y… Yeah, aha, um- she’s- we’re… friends.” Tora sucked in a breath, still avoiding eye contact before making an awkward gesture with her hands. “S-So… how does this work?”
“Well, I just need some of your details first.”
“A-Alright.”
“Hey, Illima, can you help me prep one of the rooms?”
“Sure thing, Mr Giovanni!” Illima, another one of his long-term artists playfully saluted him before starting to prepare the equipment needed to resanitize the room. “Is it a new client?”
“Some young lady came in with her friend,” Giovanni said as he put the paper with Tora’s drawing into the thermal imager to make a stencil of it. “Or… more so her friend dragged her in. I do think she wants something done, but she’s… very nervous about it.”
Nervous was an understatement, really. Tora hadn’t looked him in the eye again aside from that first accidental glance. He wasn’t even sure if he believed himself when he said that she probably wanted to get a tattoo, but he’s gotten people who changed their minds last minute too, which was a little bit annoying but otherwise understandable. He wouldn’t blame her if she ended up doing the same. It seemed like Charlie had a lot to do with her even stepping foot in the studio in the first place.
“Aw~ How cute!” Illima gushed as the machine announced its finished job with a short pattern of melodic beeps. “Oh, is that the design she wants?”
“Mm. She drew it.”
“Really? Wow!” Illima picked up the edges of the stencil paper and admired the two fishes. “She’s so talented! This is absolutely gorgeous !”
Giovanni chuckled, before starting to shoo her off. “Right, now hand it over. Go, go do your job.”
“Sir, yes sir!”
“Right this way, miss.” Giovanni led Tora into the studio room that Illima had just finished re-sanitising and arranging. There was a chair and a massage bed, and between them there was a rolling stool and a stand for the tattoo equipment. It almost looked like the setup of a dentist’s office, but a lot less clinical. Almost instantly upon seeing the new face, Illima gasped and gave her an enthusiastic little wave.
“Hi there! I’m Illima, one of the tattoo artists here,” She said, tugging off the latex gloves she wore and tossing them along with a paper towel into the bin by the door. “I saw your drawing and it was so pretty. Are you an illustrator, perhaps?”
“Ah-” Tora visibly faltered, but mustered a meek little bow as she mumbled under her breath, “I… I am.”
“That’s so amazing! I can only really draw flowers - those are my specialty here, so if you ever want to get a tattoo of something floral, you know who to book.” Illima flashed a grin her way before bouncing on her toes and standing upright. “Well, I’ll take my leave now, but you can relax, miss. You’re in good hands - Mr. Giovanni’s our best artist here.”
And with that, she gave another quaint little wave before slipping past the two of them out of the room, shutting the door behind her.
“Uh… I mean, I own the place, so…” Giovanni tried to crack a joke, but he quickly turned away and started to wash his hands. At not hearing any response from Tora other than the sliding of her shoes against the floor, he felt himself blushing from slight embarrassment. However, he cleared his throat and gestured to the other side of the room. “You can undress behind the divider over there-”
“Huh?” The sound that came out of her mouth was something akin to a mouse’s squeak. It wasn’t particularly loud, but Giovanni could hear it over the running water. He quickly realised that with her frazzled state of mind he might have to explain a little further, so he shook some water off his hands and turned to face her.
“Y-Your tattoo-” He sputtered out, trying to recover from the two stacks of embarrassment inflicted on his mind. “It’s on your back, so- I need to… it’s…”
He gestured around his upper body, and for a second he swore he could see a cloud of smoke puff out from Tora’s ears as her face exploded with colour once again. For some reason seeing her get shy about it made his heart squeeze with an unfamiliar feeling.
“I-I’m so sorry!” She exclaimed, before dashing behind the divider. Giovanni bit back a sigh, starting to tie up his hair into a loose bun. Just as a precaution, he turned his back to the divider as he started to put on some gloves.
“W-When you’re done, you can lay on the bed… table… yeah,” He said in a slightly raised voice just to be sure she heard him. There was no verbal response, but he heard the shuffling of fabric stop for a second before resuming again, so once again he chose to assume that the message got through. It really was difficult to tell, but so far Tora was relatively sensible even if he had to re-clarify some things for her. He’d never met anyone as shy or as socially awkward as she was, that’s for sure, so it was tough to adapt to since his routine included being the passive listener, but he supposed in the long run it would be useful for if he had any similar customers in the future.
He heard some footsteps and rustling, discerning that Tora must have come out from the divider, but decided to stay facing away just in case. He drummed his fingers against the side of his leg, tapping the bun on his head a few times before he heard a quiet voice stammer out, “ R-Ready ,” to which he turned around slowly to see Tora laying on the massage bed.
“Ah, alright.” He made his way over to the stool and rolled closer to the bed, pulling the stand along with him. Thankfully he didn’t have to tell Tora to tie her hair up, for she’d already done so. Her hair was pulled up into a bun similar to his own, and it seemed to be quite thick. He wondered how much effort she put into taking care of her hair, or if her genetics were simply on the lucky side. Giovanni himself just stayed loyal to basic hair care and it proved effective, much to the jealousy of a few of his friends, but he was simply blessed, he supposed.
With Tora’s hair out of the way, it provided him a view of the back of her neck, which he noted was practically crimson, alongside the tips of her ears. He really didn’t want to induce a cardiac arrest, but she’d come this far already… surely the rest of the process wouldn’t take too long for her to get accustomed to.
“Okay, so…” Giovanni used the ball of his foot to turn on a nearby lamp to shine over Tora’s back. “Just relax, okay? You’re a brand new client, so I’m going to check your skin before I clean and sterilize it.”
“M-mm.”
He could see how some of the tension left her body after he told her what he was going to do, but obviously it hadn’t eased her entirely. So giving her a notice beforehand helped…
“My…” Giovanni let his fingers cover just above her upper back as he spoke. “My hand’s going on your back in three… two… one.”
And once he finished his countdown, he started with just his fingertips, placing them onto the skin of her back. He could feel Tora tense for just a second, but he heard a gentle exhale as her muscles relaxed. A small smile made its way onto Giovanni’s face, glad that he found a way to keep her somewhat calm.
“I’ll… keep talking you through things, so you don’t have to worry too much, alright?” He said, leaning over her a little more and moving his fingers ever so slightly. Chuckling a little once he heard another hum of acknowledgment from her, he picked up a small razor with his free hand. “Now I’m just gonna shave the fine hairs a little. You shouldn’t feel a thing…”
And with that method he managed to get her skin prepped for the stencil to be placed onto it without her being too much of a jumpy little critter. It certainly saved both of them quite a bit of time and mental stress. Giovanni heaved out a breath as he picked up the paper and stood up from the stool, aligning it over the centre of Tora’s back, where the two illustrated fish would be between her shoulder blades.
“I’m applying the stencil now. You wanted it right down the middle, right?” He asked.
“...Y-Yes.”
Oh, a full word response!
“Alright. Ah, I should just let you know that tattooing this particular area of the back may hurt a little more than the rest because of the difference in muscle density,” He explained, before quickly adding, “t-that’s not to scare you or anything, of course. In fact, I should have probably told you earlier since this is your first tattoo, but…”
But I was so distracted with trying to calm you down was the honest answer that flitted through his mind, but his words trailed off as he tried to figure out something else to say ---
“I-I know,” Tora suddenly said, “I-I know… that it’ll hurt more but- but I’ll be fine. I have a… decent tolerance for pain.”
Hearing that put Giovanni’s heart at ease. In fact, hearing her speak in a complete sentence with more than three words really sparked something inside of him. Had he managed to soothe her enough that she was willing to properly communicate with him now?
“That’s good to hear. So you did your research before coming, huh?” Giovanni said as he pressed the stencil paper onto her back, aligning the design as best he could before peeling off the paper.
“I… I’ve wanted a tattoo for a while.” Tora’s voice was still quiet, but at the very least she wasn’t mumbling anymore. If anything it was only a little muffled due to the massage bed. “I was just… too scared to actually go and do it.”
“Ms. Charlie seems like a good friend, then,” Giovanni picked up some ointment from amongst his tools and started to apply some over the stencil markings. “I know what it’s like to not be able to go for something unless someone pushes me to do it.”
“Really?”
“Ha, yeah. This studio wouldn’t exist, for example.” He remembered how Elijah had brought up the idea on a whim one day when he was out for lunch with some friends. Initially he hadn’t put much thought into it, especially since he was just entering his third year as an artist at a relatively renowned parlor, but Gabriel and Michelle had added on that he had the potential, and Gabriel furthermore followed up with a potential plan that would help him start up in less than a year. Giovanni was doubtful, especially since he wasn’t a big fan of the prospect of quitting a stable job and sacrificing a source of income for the potential to gain another, especially considering the risk of opening a business in the first place, but Elijah just wouldn't stop pressing him . To an annoying extent. Eventually he went through with it just to get her off his back, and honestly, so far he hadn’t regretted it.
“I see… w-well, I’m glad it does.”
“Do you? Even if it’s your first time here?”
“Um-”
Giovanni heard her voice get stuck in her throat, and for a moment he wanted to apologize for being so straightforward, but just moments later she continued to speak.
“I mean, maybe this is rather pessimistic of me, but… I don’t think any other artist would treat me as well as you have, Mr. Giovanni,” She started, her voice wavering more with each word she spoke, “I- um, things like this are usually very difficult for me, and I thought this would be especially scary, but… you’ve been very, um p-patient with me, and… so… thank you?”
Giovanni had changed his gloves and sat back down on the stool with the tattoo pen in hand by the time Tora had finished talking, just in time for a light laugh to pass by his lips as he brought the machine closer.
“It’s really nothing. I’m… glad I could help. Getting a tattoo is a big commitment - hell, I don’t even have one myself - so I just think it’s good for people to go into it with a still mind. You know, to make sure they’re not doing anything too rash. The least I could do was help you get used to things first. Ah, I’m gonna lower the bed a little, then I’ll get started with inking.” Giovanni pressed a pedal on the ground, and a soft whirring sound was emitted from the bed as it started to sink ever so slightly.
“You don’t have a tattoo, Mr. Giovanni?”
“Not a single one.”
“Can I ask why?”
He hummed a little in thought, scooting closer on his stool as he turned on the machine. It really wasn’t that difficult of a question to answer - he just never had anything in his life that meant enough to him to motivate him to get a tattoo. However, the more he thought about it, the more depressing it sounded. Instead, he gently patted her on the back as he brought the pen closer to the bottom of the design where the first fish’s tail was.
“Like I said - it’s a big commitment.”
“Have you gotten used to it yet? The, uh… inking.” Giovanni’s eyes darted to the back of Tora’s neck, no longer as red as it was at the start of the procedure. Their chatter until that point had been enjoyable; he learned that she was just a few years younger than him and a manga artist who illustrated on the side. Very impressive for someone fresh out of their education, he had thought, and once again, stereotypical , but how she acted was very in line with the fact that she was a manga artist. He found her pleasant to talk to nonetheless, for once the awkward shyness dissolved she really was a friendly individual.
“It’s like a constant stinging feeling, but it’s… not as bad as I thought it’d be. I’d prepared myself for hours of something way worse than this,” Tora laughed. Her laughter was quite charming, Giovanni thought. At this point she had her arms folded over the massage bed, chin propped on top of them, almost certainly having gotten comfortable.
“Your tolerance really is quite high,” Giovanni said, brows raised in slight astonishment. “For your first one as well, it’s quite amazing.”
“Well, I still feel the pain. It’s just not necessarily as painful to me as it is to others, you know?”
“Hm.” He chuckled. “What a way of putting it.”
“S-Sorry.”
“No, it’s not like it’s a bad thing. I’ve just never heard someone describe a sensation like that before. It’s interesting.”
“Oh, I see. I’m… glad? People usually say the way I think is weird. Charlie’s probably one of the few people who actually understands me, the friend who was with me earlier, but… I mean, that might just be because she’s as weird as I am. N-Not in a bad way, but it’s like- um… uh…”
“Maybe not ‘weird’. You guys are, hm… ‘different’ enough that you’re similar?”
“Y-Yes! Yes, like that.”
“She certainly seemed unique, I have to say.”
“She’s a little intimidating, but she has a good heart… I-I think.”
“I mean, she had enough gall to literally drag you in here, seemingly against your will,” Giovanni laughed lightly. “It looked like you wanted to run away back at the counter.”
“I-I’m sorry… and in her defence, I did really want to get this done!”
“I’d sure hope so, since you’re still here.”
“Ah-”
“Oh god, not you too.”
“What? What’s so wrong with liking coffee?”
“I have a friend who’s addicted to that stuff. The instant he starts talking about brews and blends and whatnot he just won’t shut up. Dude’s so obsessed he runs his own shop - it’s the one right opposite the studio.”
“With the… the blue door?”
“Bingo.”
Daniel was never pushy with his adoration for coffee; as in, he never forced anyone else to try it if they didn’t want to, but he had such a way with words that he somehow managed to appeal to about… three other people. Sure, in the grand scheme of things it didn’t seem like a lot, but three was three too many in Giovanni’s opinion, even if he was included in said three.
It’s not like he was as crazy over it as Daniel was, but every now and then he did opt for a cup from his shop in the mornings. Daniel was always so smug whenever he served him a cup…
“Hey, coffee’s pretty good, you know. It’s got all this versatility and so many different cultural adaptations.”
As if he hadn’t heard that before. Giovanni rolled his eyes as he brushed some hair out of his face.
“Okay, but let me do you one better,” he said. “Alcohol.”
There was a short pause from Tora.
“I could never disagree there.”
“Do you do any other kinds of art?”
“Mm… other than drawing on people-”
“Pft.”
“-sometimes I paint on puzzle pieces in my spare time. Well, I try to paint in general, but doing so on puzzle boards I find can be much more fun.”
“I’ve never heard of anyone doing that before! Do you do each little piece individually and put them all together at the end to see what they make, or do you paint over them all at once so it’s like your own custom… puzzle… thingy-thingy?”
Giovanni couldn’t help but laugh at Tora’s endearing choice of words.
“I alternate between the two,” he said. “Sometimes I like seeing what comes out of different bursts of creativity, sometimes I do like making my own… custom puzzle thingy-thingy.”
“That sounds so fun! Maybe I should try that one day,” Tora turned her head to rest her cheek on her arms. Giovanni could see the faintest of pouts on her face. “The only problem is… I’m bad at painting.”
“Oh, really?”
“Really! I’m just… horrible with layering colours and all that. I can do it digitally because there’s all these tools to edit it, but when it comes to real life there’s no way I could do it right.”
“Hey, practice makes perfect.”
“I appreciate it… but I think I’ll stick to digital art.”
“So, I gotta ask… what’s your manga about, anyways?”
“Uh.” The flush had faintly returned to Tora’s skin, but now it remained in the threshold of pink instead of a full-on red. “I-It’s nothing special, really. There’s four story branches and they all intersect at certain parts, but they all deal with some sort of issue regarding, like… spiritual stuff, sorta.”
“What do you mean by ‘spiritual stuff’, exactly?”
“L-Like, um… in one branch, a doctor and scientist take care of this doll that mysteriously comes to life. In another, there’s a sickly girl who’s constantly followed by spirits and an exorcist who tries to help her. In another, there’s a boy who allows himself to get possessed by a spirit in order to achieve his dream, and in the last one is a child who runs from his family full of mediums and fortune tellers.”
“I see… so, the ‘afterlife‘ sort of spiritual.”
“Mostly, yes.”
“Sounds interesting. And pretty deep.”
“Maybe that’s what it seems like, but the further I get into it the more I’m afraid it’s just a confusing mishmash of genres…”
“If the storytelling’s good, does it matter? I think you can appeal to a wider audience that way. I’m not big on manga, but maybe I’ll check yours out if I see it in the stores somewhere.”
“T-T-That’s unnecessary!” The pink had turned to red.
“You’ve already made your sales pitch to me, so I might as well give it a go, right?”
“T-That wasn’t- n-no, wait, that wasn’t my intention-!”
“I’m just teasing. You haven’t even told me the name of it yet.”
“‘C-Cause… ‘cause I publish under an alias.”
“Wow, concealing your real name… so I’ve kinda got a celebrity in my studio right now.”
If it was even possible, Tora got even redder.
“That’s not- I-I’m not that- it’s- I-I-I’m just-”
“Pft, s-sorry, sorry, I’ll stop now, really.”
“Are you close with your employees?”
“I like to think so. The amount of times we’ve gone drinking together is, well… you’d need all of our hands and feet to count them, and even then it wouldn’t be nearly enough.”
“Aw, that’s nice.”
“I don’t even like calling them my ‘employees’, actually, even though they technically are. It’s the same with ‘co-workers’. ‘Assistants’ doesn’t feel right because they don’t work to help me, and ‘fellow tattoo artists’ is just… too long to say.”
“So on paper they’re your employees, but at the heart of it they’re really just friends who happen to work for you, am I right?”
“Ha, yeah. That’s pretty much it.”
“‘Work friends’ doesn’t feel right either, huh… that one would imply you all work together under someone else, but you’re their boss.”
“I sure hope they don’t just see me that way. I met Gregory and Haru through working at different parlours, and I kept in contact with them even when we went our separate ways. When I heard they were looking for a different place to work, I thought I’d recruit them. Illima was the only one who went through the proper hiring process, and she was actually the first person to start working here, but she won’t stop calling me ‘sir’ even though it’s been, what… nearly two years, now.”
“Maybe it’s just to show how much she respects you. Is that the lady who was cleaning the room when I came in?”
“Yeah. She’s the youngest one here, I think, but she’s only a year or two older than you. She really gives this place the liveliness it needs.”
“She seems very nice. I wasn’t expecting her to compliment my drawing…”
“Oh, she really likes chatting with the clients. She’s friends with almost everyone she works on, it’s actually impressive. She’s just the type that’s easy to talk to, I guess.”
“You’re easy to talk to as well, er, Mister Giovanni.”
“Ah, just ‘Giovanni’ is fine… and thanks. I could say the same to you, miss.”
“J… Just ‘To’- o-oh actually, if it’s standard to call your clients like that then that’s fine, but if it’s not then, um, you don’t need to use any sort of, like… title… thing… I-I’m just saying.”
“So… ‘Tora’ it is, then?”
“...Oh! Y-Yes, yes, that’s- that’s more than okay!”
“Alright, and you’re done.”
“Huh? Already?”
Giovanni started gently tapping her on the middle of her upper back, then moved to her left shoulder blade. Tora jumped a little at the latter contact, to which Giovanni chuckled. “You didn’t feel me cleaning or drying your back? Or putting on the adhesive sheet?”
“Uh… I-I did!” She turned her head to the side with a sheepish smile. “I just didn’t know that meant you were done.”
“Didn’t you do your research?” Giovanni started to pull off the gloves on his hands.
“Ah- s-sorry…”
“Come on, I was kidding. No need to apologize for that.” He stood up from the stool and pushed the machine aside. Swiftly he turned around to toss the gloves and start washing his hands. “You can get up and get dressed now. I’ll talk to you about the aftercare stuff back at the counter.”
“Okay!”
“Oh, and you probably saw it but there’s a mirror where the divider is. If you wanna take a look, you know.”
“I will, thank you!”
Giovanni turned off the water and started flicking his hands dry as he did a sort of half-turn with his body. Much to his relief, Tora was already behind the divider, and so he undid his hair to re-tie it into the same updo, just for appearances sake, then opened the door and left the room.
Back on the floor, he saw Gregory behind the counter and waving off the client he had just finished attending to. Haru was sitting on one of the waiting chairs munching on a burger, her apron unfolded on the chair next to her. Gregory closed the cash register and walked out a little to lean on the wall. “Just got done with a job, Gio?”
“Yeah. She should be out soon.”
“Heard from Illima she was a nervous wreck,” Haru said through a mouthful of burger.
“It was a rough start, but we started talking and then she didn’t even realise when I was finished,” Giovanni laughed a little at the recollection.
“Did you chat her up that much?” Gregory raised a brow as a small smirk made its way onto his face.
“Choose better phrasing, man.” Giovanni rolled his eyes, slipping behind the counter. He didn’t think that he did anything special, really - he just wanted to make sure Tora felt comfortable throughout the process. Of course, he did genuinely like talking to her; in fact, it was probably the most he’d ever spoken throughout a session with a client, and he hadn’t even realised it until it was over. Truth be told, he’d worked a little slower than usual as well - not just to accommodate for her, but also because he wanted to prolong the time in which they could talk. It wasn’t entirely selfish, right? He could simply excuse it for wanting to be a little more attentive to the details of the design. Yes, totally.
After typing a couple of things onto the computer, he saw Tora peeking out from the hallway and gestured for her to come over. Meekly she nodded, bowing to Gregory and Haru as she passed them, though kept her head down as once again she was standing on the other side of the counter across from him.
“Tora, this is Gregory, and that’s Haru. The other two that work here.” Giovanni gestured to the individuals he addressed as they waved at Tora and gave amicable smiles, though Haru looked like a chipmunk with how her cheeks were puffed out from the food. Tora bowed twice more to each of them, and Giovanni could faintly hear her stammer out, “ Nice to meet you ,” though he was unsure if either of them heard it as well. He hadn’t noticed that she kept her head down to them until she turned back to him and lifted her gaze.
Ah, there were those eyes again; Giovanni took them in, and even behind the frames of her glasses they really added to her doe-eyed appearance. The shy little smile she flashed his way only accentuated that fact, and he found himself having to quickly look at the monitor that had nothing of note on it as he fumbled with the calculator in order to suppress the blush that would have otherwise broken out onto his complexion. Now that he could properly look at her face-to-face, Tora was… dangerously cute.
“Uh… aftercare instructions, right.” Giovanni cleared his throat as he started fiddling with a stray pen on the counter. “I’ll, uh… would you prefer I write it down on paper or I send them to your number in a bit?”
Tora started rummaging through her bag, humming briefly before she responded in a rather soft tone. “Y-You can just… send them to my number.”
“Right. But well, to summarize,” He started, “you can take off the dressing - that’s the gauze and cling wrap - after about, let’s say six hours. Take it off with clean hands, rinse it, put on some lotion, repeat for six days. You can remove the adhesive on that sixth day, and just keep it clean and wash it gently every day. If there’s any major irritation or discomfort, come back and see me, alright?”
“I-I think I got it,” Tora said, “because, well… I’ve done my research.”
The two of them laughed quietly, and Giovanni was about to send her amount to the card reader, but -
“Hey, Gregory, why does it say that the payment for Tora’s service has already been made?” He turned to look at the man leaning against the wall, but all Gregory could do was shrug and tilt his head.
“Oh that’s-” Haru spoke up, crumpling the wrapper for her burger between her hands. “Some pink-haired lady came in earlier and asked if she could pay for it. Illima handled the transaction, I think.”
“Can she do that?” Gregory laughed awkwardly, eyes shifting to Giovanni, who simply shrugged.
“Did she have a monocle, Haru?”
“Yeah!”
“Then it’s alright,” He waved a hand dismissively before looking back at Tora. “Nothing to worry about, it seems your friend wanted to be extra generous.”
“T-That’s… I… hm.” Tora furrowed her brows for a moment before she pulled out some coins for her pocket and slid them over the counter. “Uh… a-a tip! For… for good service.”
“Huh? Oh, I… I appreciate it.” Giovanni blinked owlishly, looking down at the coins that she definitely didn’t count, but he was a little too stunned to count them either. Instead, he simply clamped his hands over them and pulled them towards him, trying to ease his heart that started to swell slightly. He didn’t realise that such a small, innocent gesture could make him feel so happy, and he fought the stupid smile that tried to stretch across his face.
“Would you still want a receipt? Just to like… I dunno, some people like to keep track of this sort of stuff.”
“Y-Yes, that would be greatly appreciated,” Tora nodded vigorously, her cheeks dusted a modest pink.
“Right, here you go.”
“Thank you!”
“Hopefully I’ll see you around,” he blurted out. “Um, bye.”
“Yeah, me too! B-Bye-bye!”
And with that, Tora bowed her head for the umpteenth time before she quickly opened the door and scurried out of the studio. Giovanni watched from the window as she beelined straight to a familiar pink-haired woman standing outside the coffee shop across the street and seemingly started to berate her, which he inferred from the way she started to lightly stomp her feet and flail her arms. Charlie didn’t seem fazed in the slightest, in fact she just slung an arm around Tora’s shoulders and pulled her into the coffee shop. He couldn’t help but chuckle to himself and turned around, only to see Gregory, Haru and Illima staring at him with gaping mouths.
“Um… how can I help you?” He droned out slowly, raising a brow and rubbing the back of his neck.
“Gio, you might as well have asked her out just now,” Gregory said nonchalantly.
Giovanni almost fell over right then and there. The blush he had been trying to repress finally surfaced, and he forcefully coughed into an enclosed fist a few times before he stood back upright, eyes darting between the three of them yet never really lingering. “W-... Wha…”
“Seriously, watching her as she leaves? ” Haru gestured widely to the door. “‘Hopefully I’ll see you around’ ?! Giovanni!”
“She’s- a client-”
“So? We’re not some company that bans fraternization or something!” Illima piped up, unexpectedly passionate about the topic. “If you see someone you like, you should go for it, right? Talk to them more, get to know them better!”
“I- we just had casual conversation while I did her tattoo,” Giovanni sputtered, leaning on the counter and putting a hand to his forehead, sincerely flabbergasted by how insistent the three of them were being. “Maybe now we can be considered acquaintancesor something, but what on earth makes you think that I-”
“Giovanni, we don’t accept tips.”
“Huh?”
Gregory pointed to the hand that Giovanni had pressed onto the counter, and Giovanni slowly lifted it to see the coins underneath, a couple of them stuck to his palm from how hard he had shifted his weight. For a while he stared at them, even as one-by-one they fell off his hand and onto the counter. The scattering of change resounded through the front of the studio, and after an empty silence Giovanni turned to look out the window again.
Even if Tora and Charlie weren’t in view any more, he knew that he’d seen them entering the coffee shop. The one right across the street, with the taunting blue door. He’d always suggested that Daniel repaint the door to a more standard colour, like a modest shade of brown or even a refreshing white, but he just seemed so goddamn adamant on keeping it the way it was. There’s no way that someone would miss a shop with a bright cobalt blue door, so maybe it could be considered somewhat of a brand, but - okay, too off topic.
He looked back at the trio that was now watching him expectantly. He swallowed briefly, before smacking his lips and clearing his throat.
“Do… do you think I should-”
“““GO!!!””” All three of them yelled in unison, and after wincing at their collective noise Giovanni swiped his hand over the counter and exited the studio, heading straight for the coffee shop with the coins clutched tightly within his palm.
“Don’t you think that barista’s kinda cute? The one with the blue hair.” Charlie crossed one leg over the other as she leaned to the side a little to stare over Tora’s shoulder.
“I think he’s the owner,” Tora said, stirring her latte and bringing the ceramic up to her lips. Taking into consideration the fact that his hair was the same shade as the door , she thought that it was a pretty fair assumption- “But I’m just guessing based on what Giovanni told me.”
“Giovanni?” Charlie grinned straight at her this time. “Is that his name? My, you two got quite friendly.”
“W-What’s wrong with calling him by his name…?” Tora frowned, taking a sip of her drink to hide her embarrassment. “He said it was fine, so… and he’s nice to talk to! I might honestly consider going back and getting another tattoo done somewhere else just because of how nice he was to me.”
“Oh, how much you’ve grown in the past two hours,” Charlie sighed affectionately, and Tora genuinely couldn't tell if she was joking or not, but rolled her eyes as she dug her fork into the slice of cheesecake that they were sharing.
“Listen, he was just very nice and accommodating, you know? It felt like he was genuinely attending to what I needed and making sure I felt safe and stuff. It’s what gave me the... confidence, or whatever, to start talking to him in the first place.”
“How cute,” Charlie said. “Just be careful. You want to pick your men wisely, especially in these times~”
“Says the one who won’t stop sneaking looks at the barista.”
“What? I just think he’s fetching.”
“That’s what you always say, then---”
Suddenly, there was a fist that knocked on the edge of the table before sliding inwards. Both Tora and Charlie turned their heads to see that Giovanni was the owner of the fist. Slowly he loosened it, revealing the coins he had been holding and leaving them on the table.
“G-... Giovanni?” Tora blinked rapidly as if not believing he was there. “Uhm- hi! Uh, w-what’re you- what’s-”
“We don’t, um-” Giovanni took in a breath and sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. “Sorry, but w-we, uh, we don’t… accept… um, tips…”
Tora stared at him for a few seconds before she instantly gathered up the coins and shoved them into her pockets, suddenly feeling as if her face was just set on fire.
“Ah- that- uh-” Even after she had made such a show of giving it to him! She was a fool to assume that they accepted tips! She should have checked beforehand, she should have asked - no, but if she asked and he said no then she would only feel like more of a fool! She prayed for any god above to smite her and disintegrate her body and soul so she no longer had any capacity to feel or comprehend anything, especially the shame and regret that was slowly invading every inch of her mind. Repeatedly she started bowing her head. “I-I’m sorry- my bad- I’m really, really sorry, I had no idea. I wouldn’t have done it if I knew, I’m so-”
“I-It’s okay!” Giovanni quickly started waving his hands. “You don’t have to apologize, I… I was just a little shocked, so I accepted it. But it’s not like a, uh… like a taboo or anything. We just prefer… not to do it at our place. You didn’t know that, so it’s really alright.”
“Okay, that’s good, phew, b-but I… I…”
Giovanni seemed just about ready to turn around and leave, but at Tora’s continued stammering he stayed standing where he was, watching her carefully. She wondered if this is how he observed her while he was doing her tattoo, but she put those thoughts on hold as she tried to force out the words that started to bubble in her throat.
“I-It’s just that no one’s ever treated me as well as you have, and it may not be significant to you but it really meant a lot to me, and I just wanted to show my appreciation… somehow.” She started off speaking with a false sense of confidence, but she was quick to deflate under Giovanni’s gaze as she almost shrivelled up on the spot, her words turning into a mumble by the time she was done speaking. She quickly averted her gaze to take a long sip of her coffee, before setting down the cup with trembling hands, and suddenly she wished she could turn back time and in that reversed time space choose to never open her stupid dumb stupid foolish mouth---
“Then buy me coffee.”
“Huh?” Tora’s head snapped back up, and she could have sworn that Giovanni’s face hadn’t looked quite so pink before.
“B-But not today. Not now,” he added. “Here, tomorrow. At ten in the morning. If… if you’re free, of course.”
Was he… asking her out by asking her to take him out? Or did he just want her to buy him a cup of coffee at that specific time the next day? Or was she misinterpreting him horribly and somehow he meant something entirely different?
“Sorry, I… can you, maybe… c-clarify?” Tora could barely get the words out with her heart starting to thump so hard she felt as if she was going to choke. Charlie was remaining tactfully silent, having taken the opportunity to start eating more of the cake, but that was the least of Tora’s worries right now -
“I-I wanna get coffee with you. Tomorrow. If that’s okay. You don’t, uh, actually have to buy me a coffee, I just- I just want you to get… some. With, um… me.” Giovanni’s gestures were stiff and awkward, with his eyes never really focusing on any one thing in front of him, though eventually they seemed to settle on the top of Tora’s head, for she could tell that he was looking at her, just not quite. Ultimately it helped her, for she didn’t know if she would be able to continue breathing if they actually made eye contact. After all, she still had to answer him…!
“Y-Yeah, sure!” She finally stuttered out. “I’m- I’m free tomorrow. At ten. T-To get coffee! For- with you. Yes. I'd like that!”
Great going, Stutter-brain.
“Oh.” The surprise on Giovanni’s face started to stir up panic in Tora’s already overzealous heart, but as his expression softened into a gentle smile, she felt her own heart rate calm down at the sight. One of his hands eventually settled on the back of his neck as the other slipped into the pocket of his pants, and suddenly the stance he took on was more relaxed, though still a little antsy. “Then, uh… is meeting here alright?”
“M-M-M-More than okay with me!”
“Great. I’ll… I’ll see you tomorrow.”
And with that, he gave her a quick little wave before he speed walked out of the coffee shop. Tora was left staring at the spot where Giovanni had been standing, and was only shaken out of her daze when Charlie poked her on the cheek.
“Sweetie, do you know what just happened?” She asked with her ever-present smile on her face. Tora showed no physical response, but there were just about a million thoughts running through her mind.
Eventually, she settled on, “D-Did I… just… get asked out?”
“Yes.”
“H-... how? Why-?!”
“Apparently, by tipping your tattoo artist.”
