tattoos || c.h.

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ғᴏʀᴛʏ ғɪᴠᴇ

calum

"no." i say sternly. "leave. you're not welcome here." i walk up to the woman who's entered my tattoo shop. "you have no right to be here."

"cal-." she tries to get out, but i don't let her.

"everything is great right now and you're not going to come in here and screw it up." i'm not dealing with her.

"hey, turns out they were at the diner down the street." mia comes in laughing. the second i look at her, her expression changes into being worried. "what's wrong?" i switch my eyes to the woman in front of me again. "who're you?"

"her." ashton seethes.

"hey, julian, wanna go meet my dads?" mia tries to get julian out of the room. she's probably afraid of what i'll say and doesn't want julian to witness that.

"yay!" julian squeals and mia walks him out to where i follow with my eyes and see two men old enough to be mia's fathers. mia quickly makes her way back inside the parlor with a more than livid expression.

oh, shit.

mia may not be julian's biological mom, but she's the one julian never got to have. you don't mess with a mom. you don't mess with a mia.

"are you the girl who's taken my place?" reece says in a snarky tone. mia's nice, but you don't mess with her. especially, when it comes to julian.

"are you the woman who up and left her son?" mia steps closer to reece, and i'm scared. aren't i supposed to be the one telling reece off? i look to see zayn and ashton, they're just as surprised as me.

"like you said, he's my son." reece crosses her arms.

"here's the difference between us," mia gets in reece's face, "through the months i've been with julian, he's been a happy go kid and that's thanks to his amazing father, that you also left." mia's face looks like she's ready to unleash hell. "and julian calls me mom, and that was before i started to date the man who you left to grow a kid by himself."

"he'll be calling me mom once he knows who i am." reece tries to step aside mia, but mia doesn't allow it.

"he's not going to know who you are because the second you walk out of this parlor you're going straight to your car and leaving." mia orders reece and reece doesn't seem to be too fond of mia's actions. "and don't you dare, for a second, believe what you did was okay and thinking it's perfectly fine to come into their lives after you fucking left both of them heartbroken."

mia cussed. shit. i try to step in, but ashton grabs me back. i don't know if he's scared both women will attack me or if he's being entertained or both.

"you don't how i felt and why i did what i did!" reece snaps back and mia doesn't give a shit for her words.

"you could've talked them out with the father of your son and he would've been there! that's how relationships work!" mia raises her voice. something that only happens when she's way passed angered. "you left your kid and the man you said you loved, so don't you dare come in here and think that everything is going to be fine and i'm going to allow you to tell julian who you are."

"you're not his real mother, so i don't care if you allow me to or not." reece leans on snarls.

"fine." mia smiles and looks to me. shit. she's smiling when angry. "biological father of julian," mia says, "do you allow reece to see and/or speak to julian?"

"no." there's no hesitation in my answer and reece doesn't seem too happy with it.

"mom?" julian sounds worried as he enters the shop with mia's dads and june. "what's happening?"

"this lovely woman here is leaving." mia looks to julian and back to reece. "aren't you?" don't mess with mia.

"hmph." reece seems not too pleased and leaves the building.

"who was that?" one of mia's dads ask. going to guess that's her biological father, as she has his tan skin and his nose and cheekbones.

"someone." mia still sounds upset, but she picks julian up when he reaches his hands up. even when pissed, she'll do what julian wants. "but, hi tyler."

she calls her dad by his first name?

"which one is calum?" the other man talks. does she talk about me to her parents? "june said that you're dating him." nevermind.

"me." i sound nervous as i step forward. i'm meeting her parents. oh, fuck. i hear zayn and ash snicker behind me.

"and which one is ashton?" tyler raises his eyebrows and i hear them stop snickering. "the one who's dating my other daughter?"

"that, uh, would be me." ash sounds more nervous than me and mia and june are getting a kick out of this. "i'm ashton."

"edward." edward reaches his hand out to me and i take it. he's got a strong grip and looks in really good shape. if anything happens, then i'm dead for.

"calum." i shake his hand with a firm grip, too. "nice to meet you." mia and june burst out laughing as edward goes to ashton and the other man walks towards me.

"i'm tyler." i shake the other man's hand as edward moves to talk to ashton. "heard you were a single dad for awhile." we let our hands drop to our sides. "it's scary and you freak out, but then you find a good friend or have a significant other who helps you and reassures you that everything is going to be fine and you're already a great parent." he gives me a smile. "and i've heard you're a great dad, but don't realize it."

i look behind tyler and see mia still holding julian. the two and june are in their own conversation as zayn joins them.

"i've never seen mia care for a kid so much." tyler follows my view. "and she doesn't get mad easily, so if she got mad at that woman for you, she cares and feels deeply for you."

tyler's words bring a smile to my face as julian runs up to him.

"can i have a hug?" julian asks tyler and he gladly embraces him in a hug. "thank you."

mia keeps her eyes on julian as he interacts with her father and she looks up to meet my eyes. she seems to genuinely be happy right now, even after the fight with reece.

"sorry for scaring you shitless." mia whispers to me as julian and tyler walk towards edward and ashton. "wasn't trying to do that."

"i've never seen you so angry." i admit and she rolls her lips into her mouth and seems as if she's contemplating on saying something.

"as a kid who had their mother leave with no explanation and felt like they're the reason why," mia looks at me, "hearing that julian felt the same way hurt me. so, when ashton said 'her' with his, yours, and zayn's facial expressions, i knew it was reece."

"to have the woman who brought you into this world to then just randomly leave and have you feeling like you're the reason, sucks." she looks to face julian now. "but to have her come back into your life and her think everything is going to be fine and you'll accept her back is something hard to do. why? because both of you will finally get to know one another, and if the mom even cares deeply now, the kid will always have a feeling they're going to leave again and believe for a fact that they're the reason."

"you love julian, don't you?" i question her emotions towards my son. "like a mom?"

"would it be bad if i said 'yes'?" she now looks me perfectly in the eyes.

"no." i shake my head and pull her in for a hug.