[Samuel x Roman]

r o m a n
​
With the lovely fragrance of the bath bomb filling the room, Roman was finally able to relax. He leaned against his boyfriend's chest and closed his eyes for the moment, allowing the warm water to soak away the tension that had been built up all day. Of course, he had to stick his feet out of the water, but he didn't care that much.

"In a couple of days," Roman replied in a sleepy voice. He had started his internship and the guy who was showing him the ropes had booked him his first proper tattoo. "This lady wants her kids' names and birthdays on her forearm so I'm doing that on Tuesday."

Roman could not be more excited. His dream was to be a professional tattoo artist and it was coming true. He felt very proud of himself, which he felt was deserved for once.

Roman turned his head and kissed Samuel on the chest. "I'll take a picture to show you. Hey ... did you still want a tattoo at some point?"
 
Roman's lips against his chest felt nice and made him smile. Actually, everything about Roman and the moment they were currently sharing made him happy, and so did the idea of Roman having made enough progress for it to be time for him to tattoo Samuel soon. Samuel would have been lying if he said he wasn't excited about Roman finally getting to tattoo him. He had wanted this for years now, not because he was especially interested in tattoos but because he just wanted Roman's art permanently on his body.

"Of course I still want one," Samuel assured him, "I'm not letting you start off your tattooing career without tattooing me,"

Then Samuel moved a dripping wet hand up to Roman's hair, brushing some strands out of his face and dampening them in the process. Roman was too beautiful for this world and Samuel would never get tired of just looking at home and touching him like that.

"Can I tell you about the idea I have for it?" Samuel asked, he was basically admitting to having spent time figuring out said idea but he didn't mind it, hell, he wanted Roman to know he was excited about getting the tattoo.
 
r o m a n
​
Roman could have purred when Samuel pushed a hand through his hair. It was his weakness, and Samuel obviously knew that and used it to his own advantage whenever he thought to do so. But Roman was not complaining in the slightest. He closed his eyes and lifted one of his own hands to trace little patterns across Samuel's abdomen.

"I would love to hear about your tattoo idea," he said honestly.

Roman had a million tattoo ideas circling around in his head, but he had yet to find a person to give them to. He would happily give Samuel whatever tattoo he requested, and he was excited to leave a work of art on his boyfriend's body. It was almost like an offical declaration of their relationship's permanence.
 
Part of Samuel kind of just wanted to give Roman free reins with the tattoo, just to see what he did, but he kind of wanted a say on it since it would be his first and he also kind of wanted Roman to get to practice as if he was an actual client with a request, so that him getting the tattoo still could be part of Roman learning how he would be working in the future. Only futures clients probably wouldn't discuss their ideas with him in the bath.

"Remember that day when I decided to stop being dumb and let the school know we were friends?" Samuel started as if it actually made sense in the context. Thinking back to the time he had been to scared to have people know he and Roman was even friends was a little weird, it felt like something so far back in the past and something that was almost ridiculous now, "In class that day you drew a bird on my arm, I think I want something like that,"

Samuel moved his hand from Roman's hair for a moment to hold up his forearm and trace at the are where he wanted it, "here kind of," then he moved his hand back to continue play with Roman's soft brown locks.
 
r o m a n
​
Roman smiled. He loved the tattoo idea. It was rich in memory and emotional sentiment, meaning that it meant something, rather than just a silly spur-of-the-moment kind of thing. He had seen a lot of clients come into the tattoo parlour he was working at with no idea of what they wanted, and he doubted that they were ever truly happy with the product they walked out of the shop with.

But Samuel's idea had a memory attached, and it was a memory associated with him. Therefore, Roman couldn't help but love it.

He opened his eyes to see where Samuel was pointing, still smiling. Once his boyfriend's hand was returned to his hair, Roman lifted his own to touch Samuel's other forearm, where he had indicated the tattoo would go. He gently traced his fingers over the smooth, tanned skin. He could feel the hard muscle beneath it.

"Do you have any idea of the colours you want? It would look nice in watercolours ... or black and white, maybe."
 
"Water colours sounds cool, to be honest,"

Samuel smiled and placed a small kiss in Roman's hair before moving his hands to Roman's chest, letting one of them absentmindedly run slowly up and down over Roman's prominent ribs.

"You can do whatever your comfortable with doing at the point, though, but if get to choose I think I want colours," Samuel said, Roman would just be getting started with tattooing on real skin so obviously he would need some easier works for practice before getting to the more intricate stuff and if Roman felt black and white was the best he would go with it, but if Samuel did get to choose he'd want colours just to get to see the full extent of Roman's abilities, "I'll leave the actual colours up to you though, whatever looks nice, you have an eye for that so I trust you more with that decision than myself, like I wouldn't know what colours work best with my skin tone or whatever,"
 
r o m a n
​
"I can do colours," Roman assured Samuel. And he actually could -- in fact, doing black and white was often a lot more difficult than doing colours, he had learned when he had been training. "So you, my love, can have all the colours you desire."

The bath itself was quite colourful. He had used the Experimenter bath bomb, which had decorated the warm water with beautiful hues of blue, pink, purple and orange, as well as given the room a vanilla-like aroma.

"I think pinks and purples and blues will look good in the tattoo," Roman said to his boyfriend. "Do you know what kind of bird you want?"
 
Samuel closed his eyes for a moment and tried to think of what bird he wanted but realized that he didn't know all that many birds on the top of his head that would fit the tattoo idea.

"Well I want a bird that's a little more peaceful, so not a bird-of-prey," Samuel said thoughtfully, describing what he wanted so Roman could help him come up with something, "So you know, something like a swallow or a dove, but, like, cuter"

Samuel couldn't believe he was specifically requesting a cute bird, rather than a cool one, but it did fit the tattoo idea a lot better, and he had kind of come to terms with cuteness being a good thing, even when it was referring to him, over the years. Roman called him cute on occasion, sometimes he complained for the fun of it but mostly he enjoyed it.
 
r o m a n
​
A smile crept across Roman's face. "So I could do a chicken, or a turkey, or a duck or something?" he teased, poking Samuel on the forearm where he said he wanted a tattoo. "That's it, you're definitely getting a chicken."

He was kidding, of course, and he kissed Samuel on the chin to affirm it.

"Nah, I'll play around with some sketches and have something for you when you want it," he affirmed, kissing his boyfriend on the neck now. "I love you."
 
"Love you too, no chickens, though," Samuel said, chuckling a little as he did because of Roman's joking. He was sure Roman would come up with some amazing sketches but for now his lips on his neck felt as fantastic as always and Samuel really wouldn't mind some more of that.

It was a couple of weeks later when Samuel found himself in the tattoo parlour Roman was interning in, it wasn't his first time there, he had, of course, visited his boyfriend here before, whenever he got the chance really and he was not feeling as out of place amongst the tattooed people working and coming in and out of there as he had the first couple of times he came by.

Today was different, though. Today Samuel was getting his first tattoo and he was incredibly excited, and also a little nervous. Roman had spent the past weeks slowly working his way up and being assigned more difficult pieces by his mentor, Samuel had seen a few of them and they were all as amazing as expected. They had also spent the last weeks working on the design Samuel wanted. They had settled on a humming bird in the pink blue and purple hues Roman had suggested and Samuel absolutely loved the final design.

Upon entering the woman manning the reception, bookings and drop-ins at that moment recognized him and told him that Roman was in the back room, which made sense, it was around lunch time and Samuel would be his next booked in client.

Roman was indeed there with some of the other artists working at the parlour. Samuel leaned down to kiss the top of his boyfriend's head, something he always liked to take the opportunity to do when Roman was sitting or lying down and he was at a lower level than his normal towering height.

"hey, love," He greeted him and then reached and opened hi bag and placed a can of coke in front of him, "I stopped by the store on the way here," he had a feeling Roman would never forgive him if he went to the store and got himself a snack, consisting of some dried mango for later, and not getting something for Roman. Plus Roman was going to spend the next hours tattooing him so getting him a treat felt like the right thing to do.
 
r o m a n
​
Roman had professionally done seven tattoos by now, and he was getting paid for it too, receiving some of the cost of the tattoo while the shop received the rest. He didn't mind -- he was just happy that he got to do what he dreamed of doing. And Roman really, really loved it.

"Thank you, gorgeous," Roman said happily, taking the can and turning around to give Samuel a kiss to the chin. He was sitting with his boss and two of the other tattoo artists that worked there.

"Is this your first tattoo, son?" Roman's boss, Mick, asked Samuel. He was a big guy who looked like a biker, with a scruffy beard and his hair in a ponytail. He was in his late forties.

"It sure is," Roman answered for Samuel before stealing another chip from the table before them. "So if you hear any screaming, it's him."

"I hear you're doing colours today, Roman," mused Val, the curvaceous woman who looked like a human pin up doll. Mick was convinced she was in love with Roman.

"Watercolours, to be precise."

"That's ambitious," commented Travis, who looked like a punk rocker with his red Mohawk and full sleeves of tattoos. He was very cool and Roman admired him a lot. "But I'm sure you can handle it."

Roman glowed at the compliment. "Thanks, Travis."

He then lead Samuel out of the break room and into one of the spare workrooms that had become his own while he had been interning there. Each artist had their own room they worked in, and there were always a few spare so Mick had let him have this one. Val was convinced that it meant that he was going to offer Roman a job when he finished his internship, but Roman wasn't sure.

"Sit here," Roman directed Samuel, pointing to the chair before he crossed to his desk to put the finishing touches on the stencil. "You nervous?"
 
Samuel was glad to see Roman getting on with the other employees, not that that was surprising at all with how charismatic he was, but this was the kind of place Roman would be working at in the future so the fact that it was working out for him was something that made Samuel happy. It also made him happy that the other artists seemed to be confident in his abilities. Samuel had a feeling that meant a lot to Roman.

"Yeah, a little," Samuel said honestly as he did a directed and sat down, he had been asking Roman about the pain levels quite a lot, not that he'd know from experience but it was obviously something he would have gotten to learn. He had been assured that there were definitely worse places to get tattooed than his inner forearm but that some people found that it hurt quite a bit, "but I think it'll be okay,"

Samuel obviously didn't like pain a lot, not that most people liked pain, growing up with a violent parent had just made him a little more emotionally sensitive to it. He had a feeling this would feel different enough from that for him not to really associate it with it though, but on top of that he often fell and scraped his hands and knees playing soccer, proof of this was a small scab on his left knee, which wasn't technically a bad experience but he often became quite light headed after breaking skin so he wasn't sure how needle poking through his skin a gazillion times would affect him.

But all of this honestly felt like minor concerns, all in all, he was just very excited about it all and it really outweighed any bad emotions this time, "Will you walk me through what you're doing? I'm curious,"

While he had come visited a couple of times he had only caught glimpses of Roman actually tattooing, he looked incredibly cool while doing it but Samuel didn't want to disturb and would just wait. It was going to be fun to both see and experience the process.
 
r o m a n
​
"Okay, so I am about to take this stencil and apply it to your arm," Roman said, holding up an image of the complete design, copied onto a piece of special paper. He sat in his wheelie chair and wheeled it over to Samuel.

In a few seconds the image was stuck onto Samuel's arm. He peeled it off to reveal the complete design of the hummingbird in flight, with watercolour swirls around it. Roman was quite proud of it.

He put on a pair of latex gloves and prepared the needle. He had already set out the inks he would need for the tattoo, so he turned on the machine and looked up at his boyfriend.

"Are you ready?" he asked softly. "Because if you aren't, it's fine."
 
Once Roman prepared the needle and whatever else he had to do Samuel took a moment to just look at the outlines of the designs on his arm, getting used to the idea that this was what was going to be on his arm, permanently and in colour after they were done.

"No I'm ready," Samuel said, keeping his eyes on Roman rather than his arm and the equipment as he tried to brace himself for, however, the needle would feel like by relaxing as much as possible," You can start,"

He trusted Roman with this like he would no other person, he doubted he would even want to get a tattoo if Roman hadn't been making them, even if it would be painful he would have Roman there and then afterwards he would always have some of Roman's art with him, which was just felt like part of Roman with him, and that was the best part of it all.
 
r o m a n
​
Roman hesitated for half a moment longer, before he finally lowered the needle onto his boyfriend's skin.

The tattoo took a few hours to make. In those few hours he other artists came in every now and then to see how Roman was doing, and then would occasionally offer some advice, which Roman took on board. Val brought both the men some cookies at some point, which Roman appreciated greatly.

At around four in the afternoon, the tattoo was complete. Roman pulled away from Samuel's arm and stood up to assess his work, the needle in his hand still. It looked like a watercolour drawing on his boyfriend's skin. The hummingbird, which was coloured in a sea green tone with a white underbelly, had its wings outstretched and they were blurred to simulate its flight. It was surrounded by whorls of pink and blue and purple, like watercolour smudges that stood out beautifully against the golden tone of Samuel's arm.

It was amazing.

"Do you like it?" Roman asked his boyfriend.
 
Initially, the pain was something he wasn't used to and felt quite bad, but as a little time passed it became more bearable and he was able to ignore it. Samuel watched as Roman worked, finding the process interesting. He had always loved watching Roman express his creativity, seeing him turn blank papers into masterpieces and fill quiet rooms with the most beautiful music and this was no exception.

As Roman worked Samuel made some quiet small talk with him, trying not to disturb him too much, and when the other tattoo artist came in he sat quiet and patiently let Roman take the advice he was given. It took four hours total but it never got boring and when Roman seemed to consider it to be done Samuel could barely contain his excitement.

He had seen the tattoo while being made of course, but now he could move his arm to properly admire the work and it was absolutely amazing, everything from the pretty blueish greens of the bird to the beautiful pinks purples and blues of the water colour effects. Samuel just looked at it quietly without answering for a moment, making sure to absorb every little detail even if he would be able to do that however much he wanted from then on. This was a permanent part of him now, forever on his skin and he absolutely loved it.

"It's perfect," Samuel said finally, turning his gaze up at Roman, a bright smile on his face, "I love it so much," and then added, "Have I told you how proud I am of you?" because Roman was achieving his dreams and that was amazing.
 
r o m a n
​
A bright smile lit up Roman's face when his boyfriend affirmed that he liked his tattoo. And that he was proud of him. A lot of people were proud of Roman for his work and where he was at in his life, but somehow, Samuel's opinion and pride meant more to him than anyone else's.

"I'm glad you like it."

"Is it done?" Mick asked, sticking his head in to see what was going on.

"Yep."

Mick entered, as did Val and Travis and they all grouped around to look at the tattoo. Roman proceeded to pack up his machine while his colleagues looked at his work.

"No way you did this. I couldn't do watercolours for years and I still can't get it this good," said Val.

"I told you, he's a prodigy," Travis said to her, elbowing him.

"Roman," said Mick with surprising gentleness for a man of his appearance, "this is amazing. You should be proud of yourself."

Roman smiled at the three artists, all of whom he greatly admired. "I am. Thank you."

"I was going to wait until your internship was finished before telling you this but I don't see a point in waiting any longer. Roman, you've got a job here if you want it."

Roman's smile disappeared and his eyes widened. He was holding a cloth in his hand, about to wipe the excess ink off Samuel's arm, but now his hand was shaking. "Really?"

"Of course. You're one of the most talented people to have ever worked here. This is only -- what -- your eighth tattoo and you're doing watercolours? If I let you go, it would be the worst decision of my life. You can start here as soon as you like."

Roman's hand stopped shaking and he just stared at Mick with a dumbfounded gratitude. This was the first tattoo professional to say these things about him. This was proof that he was more than what people like Luke said didn't matter, that Luke was wrong. This was proof that he could make it, because people like Mick believed in him.

A couple of happy tears escaped Roman's beautiful green eyes but he wiped them away. Val made a little 'aww' sound and Travis was nodding in approval at Mick.

"I'd love that," Roman breathed. He squatted down next to Samuel to wipe his arm clean. "I'm meant to graduate in a couple of weeks with my diploma."

"Don't be ridiculous. You're starting next week."

Roman let out a breathy laugh, a victorious sound, and smiled up at Mick. "Thank you. Thank you so much."
 
If Samuel had been proud of Roman before it was nothing to what the moment he realized what Mick was about to say, and even that paled in comparison to how proud he was when he had actually said. And when a couple of tears slipped out of Roman's eyes Samuel felt himself tear up a little too. Roman had done a total of eight real tattoos and was already getting permanent employment alongside some talented tattoo artists. This was proof that Roman could make it despite having the odds against him, it was proof that his talents far outweighed his inability to get tattoos and it was proof that his haeomophilia really couldn't stop him from achieving his dreams.

They then wrapped things up at the parlour, Samuel got his arms wrapped up in plastic and Roman got a chance to thank and talk Mick and the others, Samuel thanked them too, Roman deserved this and he was so happy these people were giving him a chance. Then they headed over to the store the store on the way home despite Samuel already having been there. They had celebrating to do and that called for all of Roman's favourite snacks and treats. Samuel also called Evan while they were there to make sure they could come over, he told him the good news but asked him not to tell London yet because he was sure Roman wanted to tell her himself.

Once they came home London, Evan and Allison were already in their apartment, they had given each other the spare keys because that only made sense. Allison was playing with the pets on the floor and the smell of food came from the kitchen where Evan had already started preparing it. Evan wasn't as good at cooking as Roman but he was far from bad at it and him making the food meant they wouldn't have to wait too long for the celebratory dinner.

"We're back and we bought ice cream!" Samuel announced as they came in the door, Lady excitedly left Allison's side to greet them like dogs tended to do but Lola and Malfoy stayed by her side.
 
r o m a n
​
"Yay! Ice cream!" London chirped, jumping up from the bench and running over to them. She took the bags from Samuel and brought them over to the kitchen. Roman squatted down to pet the dog. He hadn't stopped smiling since they had left the tattoo parlour, where he would now be working.

"I got a job," he said to his twin, standing up and moving over to where Allison was sitting with the other two animals. He sat down beside the child, kissed her on the top of the head and scratched the bunny behind the ears.

"Huh?"

"Mick, my boss, he saw Samuel's tattoo and offered me a job, not caring if I have my diploma or not yet," Roman continued. "Like, I still have to finish my course but I'm starting work there next week."

London's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree and she came running around to sit on the floor and wrap her brother in a tight hug. "Oh my God, Roman, that's incredible!"

Roman grinned and rubbed her back. "Thank you. Samuel, show her your arm."

"Wow," London breathed, looking at the tattoo. "That's amazing. Show Evan. Evan, look at Samuel's tattoo, my brother did that."
 
"Yeah let me see," Evan said, just as eager to see it as Samuel was to show it.

"Amazing, right?" Samuel said proudly as he showed his friend his forearm.

"Whoa, yeah I can see why they would give you a job for that, it's freaking amazing," Evan said as he inspected Samuel's arms, Samuel was glad to hear his friend seemingly being proud of Roman too, "Really, congrats dude,"

He turned back to the food he was making, stirring the sauce he was making for the chicken that was cooking in the oven. It was all smelling really good and Samuel had gotten quite hungry over the hours spent getting the tattoo.

"Oh wait, does this mean you're going to quit your job at lush? How are we going to get free bath bombs now?" Samuel joked a little and sat down with Roman and London on the floor to play with Allison and the pets while Evan was finishing up the food. He gave both Lola and Malfoy some hello scratches and ruffled Allison's adorable brown locks a little.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back