A/N - Saw this on a prompt thing and bam. John is Delirious btw
"Yeah, every day we're open" Scotty confirms, sipping on some coffee.
"Maybe it's the amount of people he's killed" Tyler laughs and Craig hits his arm.
"We'd know about it, maybe he just likes tally marks?" Craig defends.
"Mhm I don't know, does he say anything while its happening or?" Evan asks.
"Have you even asked him?" John adds. Scotty shakes his head.
"Never bothered, maybe he doesn't want to talk about it" He explains, standing up to clean the remaining of the tattoo parlour.
"Fair enough, I should head out. Gotta go finish some business" Tyler stands, dragging Craig along as they leave the shop. Scotty smiles and waves at them before looking at the others.
"I would love to stay, but I gotta go eat man, I'm starving" Scotty nods understanding and waving goodbye to John and Evan who walk out.
Scott puts on some music and turns the sign out the front of the shop to 'OPEN' before walking to the back and swings around in his chair, waiting for the familiar customer.
He would be lying if he said he didn't like the man, His smile, Eyes, lips, skin, hair and even the aroma he gives off. Everyday he comes in and gets a tally mark added to his back. Respecting the mans privacy, Scott never bothered to ask why.
The shop is usually quiet most days, Saturday being the most popular, you generally get the same person coming back for a part tattoo or teens looking for a cheap cut. Scott still loves his job.
Around lunch and bell alerting Scott someone entered the store goes off and the familiar brown skinned man walks in. Scott stands up and walks over to him. "Same as usual I assume?"
The boy nods, taking his shirt off and sitting on the chair, taking out the cash and handing it to Scott. "You always pay extra, why?" The normal cost would be 10-15 but he always pays 20.
"Feel like it" The man shrugs.
"Can I at least have a name?" The man looks back at Scott sceptical, then answers.
"Marcel" Scotty smiles and grabs the tools, strapping gloves on, grabbing a stencil so the line will be straight. In total Marcel has 58 tally marks, covering the top left corner of his back.
"I assume you want to know why I get this done?" This is the first time Marcel has talked this much so Scott is excited.
"It's your privacy, it's definitely intriguing but I don't mind" Scott answers, adding the stencil to Marcels back and getting ready to ink.
"Thanks" Marcels head goes down and Scotty begins to ink the line.
"So where are you heading after this?" Scotty asks after a brief silence.
"Mhm nowhere special... Just home" Marcel mumbles, playing with his ring.
"Married?" Scott asks another question.
"Used to be" Marcel answers, huffing out a sigh. Scotty instantly feels bad.
"Oh- I'm sorry I didn't realise and oh god" Scotty stumbles out, putting the tools down, also finishing the tattoo.
"It's fine, didn't mean much to them anyway" Scotty wipes off the extra ink, passing his shirt back to him.
"Ok... Cya tomorrow?" Scotty says, pulling the gloves off.
"You bet" Marcel slips his shirt on and walks away, into the streets of LA.
The next couple of days were like usual, not much communication only money exchanging and a few hello's. Marcel has spiked Scotty's curiosity and he really wants to know why he gets a tattoo everyday, and where he's getting the money from. Surely his back would start hurting.
Evan, Craig, Tyler and John aren't helping either, they show up at unexpected times and just talk really loudly, disturbing Marcel. Scott would shoo them out every time but they never accepted.
It was today Scott really got to see a different side of Marcel. Evan and John both barged in the room, acting like a sassy gay couple, joking about stupid things. Marcel cracked a smile and laughed? but like the laugh when you breathe heavily.
Scott smiled and both John and Evan laughed. Running back out. "I apologise for their behaviour, I try to tell them to stop, but I just- they're uncontrollable" Marcel nods.
"I used to have friends like that..." Marcel whispers.
"what happened?" Scotty asks, cleaning off his back.
"I fucked it up" scotty's mouth goes into an O and he nods, not wanting to push. Scotty stands up and goes behind the counter.
"Ya know, this shop won't be open forever, eventually you'll have to find another person" Scotty informs, watching Marcel put his shirt on and turn to face him.
"I know, eventually i'll stop" Marcel walks towards the door.
"Wait, why don't you hang out with us tomorrow, It's my day off, if you want a tattoo I can do it and then we can go grab lunch with the boys" Marcel thinks about it for a while.
"Meet you here then?" Scotty beams and nods.
Marcel then walks out the shop, leaving a very happy Scotty to ponder on his thoughts.
