Love Me Like You Do (Ianthony AU)

Chapter 10: Surprises.

~Ian's POV~       

November 30th

My rejection of Anthony's advances the first time we hung out seemed to put him off of trying to get into my pants. There's been a few moments where he got too touchy or made too sexual comments, but other than that he's been well behaved. 

But, saying that, just because he stopped flirting with me and trying to get in my pants doesn't mean he stopped sleeping with other people. He didn't even have to tell me he was sleeping with people, I knew. It wasn't huge things, just small things I noticed whenever I went to his apartment to hang out and play video games. Such as a pink sweater left hanging on his bathroom door, or underwear that definitely were meant for a woman discarded in the doorway to his room (don't worry I'm not stalking, his room is on the way to the bathroom). And I'm sure he has guys over too, I just can't distinguish the difference between their stuff and Anthony's, not that I care who he sleeps with or anything. We're just friends...

Although things with my friends have been good, things with people at work and who came to the coffee shop in general were not so good. 

Anthony and I had been spotted out in public, at the movies and such, and people my age who knew who I was had taken to calling me a not-so-nice nickname. Anthony's whore. They all knew we'd slept together, but the fact he was keeping me around as a friend had sparked up some rumors from those who had nothing better to do with their time then to make fun of others. Anthony had no idea about the nickname or the rumors, and I was planning to keep it that way. 

But in much better news, today is a special day for me. November-thirtieth. My birthday, I'm twenty-four to be exact. My schedule for today is completely packed though, I've already been to see my parents and sister this morning. I'm now on my way to Anthony's, he says he has a surprise for me, and then we're both going over to Dan and Phil's house to hang out with the whole gang. 

When I got to his building, after the ten minute walk from my house, he was waiting outside, like he said he would be, leaning against his car casually. He smiled when he saw me and hugged me tight when I was close enough. He released me and stepped back, keeping that grin on his face. "Hey birthday boy! Ready for your surprise?"

I laughed at the excitement in his voice and gave him a big smile in return. "Of course, and it better be great, considering you made me walk all the way here."

He rolled his eyes but didn't stop smiling as he looked at me. "Well, I was letting the suspense build."

"How can I be excited when I don't know what this surprise is?"

"You'll like the surprise, trust me."

I smiled and walked around to hop in the passenger seat of his car, him getting in the other side. The fact that he hasn't stopped smiling since he's seen me is actually kind of alarming.

~

Well..I'm surprised. We're at a tattoo parlour. I looked at him, panicked. "Anthony, you can not be serious!"

"I'm deadly serious, Blue Eyes. Come on, there might be one you like."

I sighed and got out of the car, shutting the door behind me and following him into the shop. The inside had tattoo drawings covering the walls, and I saw a familiar face behind the counter. She smiled when she saw us, and I saw that without her pizza delivery outfit she had tattoos up and down her arms. 

Anthony greeted her with a hug when she came out from behind the counter. "Hey Kalel, I've brought Ian along with me this time. I want him to get his first tattoo and I knew you'd be just the one to convince him," he told her, as soon as they released from the hug. 

She smiled at me and gave me a hug of my own, catching me off guard as I cautiously hugged her back. She let go within a few seconds and took a step back. "Don't worry Ian, it doesn't hurt as much as you'd think and I'm not gonna screw it up and give you one that looks like a penis or anything," she said, giving me a cheeky smile when she finished informing me. 

I laughed a quick, nervous laugh. "I don't know what to get though.'' 

Anthony interjected before Kalel could respond, "you can see some of mine, maybe you'll like one."

"Uh, sure," I responded, still not sure about any of this. 

He pulled off his jacket, putting it neatly onto the counter, and held out his arms for me to inspect. There were a lot. The triforce from The Legend of Zelda, the mushroom from Mario, a Pokeball and even a small rose on his left bicep. And that's just a few of them. But there was one small one on the inside of his right wrist that caught my attention, it looked to be a play button for a video but with an 'S' between the two arrows. I grabbed his wrist and inspected it carefully. "What's this symbolize?" I questioned him. 

"Just a website called Smosh.com I made when I was younger, it didn't really take off though. But I really liked the logo I made so I got it tattooed when I was eighteen, it was my first," he said, smiling down at me. 

"Maybe it should be my first tattoo then as well, I really like it." Something about it I just loved, and I didn't even really know why. 

He gave me an extremely bright grin and patted me on the back. "Well I'm getting inked as well, so you can watch me go first."

Kalel called us over to the tattoo table and Anthony pulled off his shirt, lying on his back on the table. Turns out he wanted tiny indigo and baby blue angel wings on the right side of his rib cage, it didn't take too long and he sat very still throughout the whole thing. 

Next thing I knew Anthony was up and had his shirt back on and I sat down in a chair instead of lying on the table. Anthony showed Kalel the tattoo I wanted and I told her I wanted it on the inside of my left wrist. She drew it out on a piece of paper and got the size I wanted (tiny, one inch by one inch) before getting to work. As soon as the needle touched my skin I blindly reached for Anthony's hand and gripped it as hard as I could, causing him to wince in pain. I lessened my grip slightly and endured the stinging.

She announced she was done with a smile on her face, causing me to look down at my new ink and let my lips curl upwards into a smile of both relief and joy. She put duct tape over it and told me not to let it get wet for a while. 

I realized I was still holding Anthony's hand and released it with a blush across my face. As Kalel put the needles away I admired Anthony as he stretched his back and felt my stomach get all fluttery. 

Anthony is a pretty great friend after all, at least he's great at surprises. 

This birthday had gotten off to a pretty good start..

A.N: this chapter is a disaster, I'm so sorry it's terrible. I'm stressed and exhausted and is there anyone who even likes this story? Anyway, I'M SORRY FOR THE HORRIBLE CHAPTER.