egobang oneshots // arin + dan au

tattoos - 977

Dan shook his hands out, nerves filling his body. He wasn't entirely sure if this is what he wanted to do. He had seen all his college friends go out and get tattoos, and he figured if they were doing it, why couldn't he?

When he told his roommate he was getting a tattoo, his roommate questioned his decision. 

"Dude, you know you don't have to get a tattoo just because everyone else is, right?" "Barry, you know I don't care about peer pressure. I want to do this for me!" Dan replied, trying to hide that he was, in fact, doing it because everyone else was. 

No one had even pressured him about it, his friends were actually encouraging him not to. But all it took was one night, when Barry, Ross, and Ross' girlfriend, Holly, went out to get tattoos without Dan. They all got something small and unique to them, and they all had a really great time. 

Dan watched their Snapchat stories from home. 

He couldn't deny he was hurt they went out without him, but he knew he was always the fourth wheel to his own friend group. They knew that Dan wasn't one for drinking, parties, or anything crazy like that, so they usually left him out when they went to do those things. 

Dan never brought it up that he felt he was being left out, mostly because he was completely fine being left out of those situations, but it still hurt they never even offered him the chance to go out with them. 

This was simply a mild fuck you! to his friends for never asking him to do fun things. Whether he wants to or not doesn't matter, an invitation is always welcomed.

Doing things out of spite was never in Dan's agenda, but he's almost 19. You have to try new things at some point.

He walked into the tattoo shop, a little bell sounding as he opened the door. He looked around at the checkered walls, plastered with many framed designs and paintings. 

"Hey, how can I help you?" A lady a the front desk asked, logging into her computer. "Uh, I'm Dan, Avidan, here for my 3:45 appointment." The woman giggled as she looked up his name. "First time I assume? You sound quite nervous." Dan rubbed at the back of his neck awkwardly, his palms now sweating beyond belief. "Yeah, I'm just a bit nervous." "Very back, left side."

Dan had emailed back and forth with his artist a bit before his appointment, so he wasn't wasting anyone's time. The artist's name was Arin, and Dan had kept up with his work through the shop's Instagram page.  He was very impressed with all he had done, and seemed to know what he was doing. 

"Hey! Dan, right?" Arin asked, reaching out his hand to Dan. "Yeah, that's me," Dan replied, shaking Arin's hand. "Nice to meet you man! Do you want to go over the design any or just go straight into what we designed in our last emails?" "Let's just go for it." Arin nodded his head and went to print out the design. 

Dan felt like he was shaking, he was so scared out of his mind. Arin came back and began preparing everything. 

As he cleaned off Dan's wrist, where the tattoo was going, he felt his pulse. "Hey, do you need anything? Water, something to hold onto, anything I can get you to calm your nerves?" Arin asked. Dan looked up and saw Arin was quite worried, but insisted he was fine. 

He was not fine. 

"Squeeze this if you feel like you want to cry,  and whatever you do please try not to jerk or move around. Let me know if you need to take a break." Dan took a deep breath as he heard the sound of the tattoo gun. He immediately squeezed the stress ball as hard as he could. 

In the end, it wasn't as bad as Dan worked it up to be. He only took 3 breaks and cried twice, but in the end, it was worth it. Arin wiped down the tattoo one last time. "So, what do you think?" Arin asked with a joyous tone.

"I... I love it! Thank you so much." "Anytime, man." They smiled at each other for quite a few seconds before Arin began to bandage up the tattoo. 

They walked to the front together so that Arin could get the payment settled. Dan admired his tattoo through the plastic wrapped around his wrist. It read, I'm always dreaming, even when I'm awake. Not only was it a quote from his favorite movie, the Last Unicorn, but it symbolized his battle with OCD all throughout high school. He felt like every part of reality was altered by his brain, and he never felt one with the world. 

He lived fantasies in his head and nightmares in reality. He saw the world only through the thoughts in his head, and never in the moment. 

He was glad to have overcome that part of his life. Though it was never truly overcome, he had moved into a better mental state. 

"217 dollars and 31 cents is your total for today," Arin stated, drawing Dan out of his thoughts. Dan handed him two 100's and a fifty. "Keep the change," Dan told him as Arin put the money in the register. Arin shot him a generous smile, and passed him a receipt. "Have a nice day, and stop by any time!" "You too, and thank you again!" Dan exited the shop and looked at his receipt. 

He flipped it over, and scribbled on the back was a number and a note.

You're quite cute. 
If you want to hang out outside of this place, let me know :)
555-2653 ~ Arin