You get me dizzy

Chapter 13

Zayn flips him off. “I think, that the first one to get laid should not have to pay for weed for an entire week.”

Leo thinks about it. At this point, it can be anyone’s guess on who the first one to get laid will be, because they’re both sexually frustrated and not really motivated to find someone. Not to mention that neither of them have been out to a club in weeks.

“Alright.” He agrees and watches Zayn stub the joint into the ashtray.

He checks the time on his phone, but then remembers that he doesn’t have to be at the tattoo parlor today since Tom’s got it covered. He decides that the best thing to do right now is to roll another one, and Zayn doesn’t seem to mind when he pulls the Tupperware on his side of the table.

“Can I ask you something? It’s been bugging me for a while.”

Leo rolls his eyes. “Hm?”

“When did you start using the word ‘fortnight’?”

***

Leo wakes up with drool on his chin. Not the most attractive way to wake up, but then again, no one’s there to see it.

Except, there is someone there to see it.

“Why are you looking at me while I sleep.” Leo states more than asks and turns on his other side, away from Zayn.

“I’m not, but your alarm’s been ringing for the past half hour and you didn’t even hear it.”

“s**t, what time’s it?” Leo asks and turns on his back, opening his eyes to face the ceiling.

“Ten past one.”

“f**k. Fuckfuckfuck.”

He pushes the blanket to the edge of the bed with his feet and sits up at the edge of the bed facing Zayn.

“What time do you have to be there?”

“First appointment’s at two. Tom called to make sure you didn’t oversleep.”

“What did you tell him?”

Sometimes, even though the parlor is called LWTattoos, it feels like it should be called ‘Tom keeping Leo’ s**t in check tattoos’, because he acts more like a boss than Leo does (Zayn’s words, not Leo’).

“What do you think I told him?” Zayn asks, following him into the kitchen, where a pot of coffee (bless Zayn’s dark soul) is already on the table.

“That I definitely overslept.”

“If you already know, why do you ask?” Zayn grins and sits down at the table across from him.

Leo can’t even be bothered to come up with a snarky remark right now, since he hasn’t been able to function in the morning without a coffee and a cigarette for the past five years, not to mention keeping up with Zayn’s ‘jokes’ in the morning.

“You should become a standup comedian.” Leo mutters under his breath. “What with all your good jokes.”

Anyone would take one look at Zayn and think that he’s not a morning person. They’d say that he’s the mysterious artistic type (because of his tattoo sleeves and changing haircut and the way he dresses) that chain-smokes and doesn’t talk too much. And while the second part is true, the ‘not being a morning person’ part definitely isn’t. He’s the only person Leo knows on this earth that wakes up in a good mood, but proceeds to get worse throughout the day.

Leo, on the other hand, is the exact opposite. Waking up in the morning and having to leave the comfort of his bed is the worst part of his day by far. And anyone who would take one look at him would say that he’s an extrovert; someone who always makes jokes and lightens the mood at any social gathering. Which also implies that he’s always happy and in a good mood, something Leo certainly disagrees with.

This is why Zayn and him work; they balance eachother out. Over the years, Zayn has learned to be more open, which is where his witty ‘jokes’ come from (Leo takes full credit for each and every single one of Zayn’s lines, because when they met Zayn was very closed-in and couldn’t even take a joke). Also, thanks to him, Leo has become more responsible and polite (aka, he’s stopped making comments about everything-for the most part).

They drink coffee and smoke a cigarette in the kitchen by the window before Leo goes to the bathroom to take a shower and put on some clothes.

“Dress for the pub, because it’s twenty minutes away from work.” Zayn yells from the living room and even though Leo doesn’t reply, he does just that.

“We should really invest in a car.” Zayn mutters as they wait for the metro in the overcrowded station.

“You’ve been saying that every single day for the past two years.”

“And this time I mean it.” they both say at the same time (Zayn in a serious tone, Leo in a mocking accent).

Tom is already in the back office, going over some sketches while also checking emails, red as a tomato because the universe had just decided that a heatwave would be appropriate for London.

“We’re here.” Leo announces and drops into one of the chairs by the desk.

“Good.” Tom says, not looking up from the computer. “We’ve got an appointment overlap that needs to be taken care of, ten new sketch requests and three new appointments that need to be scheduled for tomorrow.”

“Aren’t we fully booked until next Thursday?”

“Yeah, but they’re urgent.” Tom finally looks up from the laptop screen. “You should put some sun cream on.”

“I could say the same to you.” Leo smiles and takes the sheet of paper that has today’s date on top.

Tom blatantly ignores him and focuses on Zayn now. “I forwarded the sketch requests to you, tagged as urgent and not really urgent, but if you could do them all today while Leo and I get to work-“

“That’s my job, innit?” Zayn asks and takes a seat behind his desk, turning on his tablet/laptop/sketch pad.

Leo looks over today’s appointments while silence settles into the office, everyone deep in their own work. Well, Tom and Zayn at least, since Leo can’t really figure out how he’s supposed to fit three medium tattoos in just one hour.

“How am I supposed to-“

“I’m also working today, so I’ll be taking one of them.” Tom answers, not even waiting for Leo to finish the sentence. “The ones in the pink font are mine.”

“Suits you.” Leo smirks. Tom. A six-foot-two ‘walking tattoo’ (Leo’ first thought about him during Tom’s interview years ago when he first started out) of a man, who now has two kids and a wife. “Where’s Max?”

“Took two weeks off as of today, I told you.”

Max. About Leo’ height, no tattoos, nose piercing, but great artist. He’s worked with Leo longer than Zayn has.

“I don’t really remember signing off on his vacation days and you know how Em gets about these things-“

“I did, it’s fine.” Tom says, meeting Leo’ eyes.

“What would I do without you Thomas?” Leo cries. “You’re the best COO I’ve ever had.”

“I’m the only COO you’ve ever had.”

That’s true. When Leo opened up his place almost four years ago, he was CEO (still is, but that’s not the point), CFO, COO and everything else rolled into one. He found Max on Grindr of all places, and after a one night stand (it wasn’t really, because they both kind of wanted to bottom and it ended up being awkward), they got to talking (and drinking) and Leo ended up telling him about how he just rented a space in the city to open up a tattoo place and how he can’t really back out now since he already paid three months of rent, and Max ended up telling him how he’s been struggling to find work as an artist since he finished Uni.

A lightbulb went off in Leo’ head then and Max didn’t even waste one breath when Leo asked whether he’d like them to work together. Zayn wasn’t really happy about it, because Leo’ could’ve asked him first too, but in Leo’ defense, Zayn had been working for the same advertising company ever since they got out of Uni. So Max has been here for the past four years, Zayn and Tom have been here for almost three, and Emma (their CFO) for two.

The door chimes at the entrance and Leo looks at the clock on the wall. It’s past 2pm, which means that his day officially started.

He checks the schedule once again, tries to memorize it by heart (he doesn’t), and then walks out of the office to greet the first customer of the day.

***

Seven hours, three coffees, and twenty-three tattoos later, Leo drops back into his chair in the office and lets out a sigh. Thursday, Friday and the weekend are definitely the busiest days at the parlor. That’s why they work Monday-Wednesday from 3-11pm and Thursday-Sunday from 1-9 (8pm on Sunday’s). He took a day off yesterday due to ‘personal problems’ (he got too high with Zayn and they both decided that they weren’t fit to go to work – Tom saw right through them but didn’t object), so he made up for it today.

“What time is the whole pub thing?” Leo asks and takes the office Tupperware out of his (and Tom’s) desk.

“They’re meeting at ten.”

Leo places a small amount of weed in his rainbow grinder and starts twisting it while asking Tom to give him the schedule for tomorrow.

“Fully booked as usual, from two until eight. But those three urgent ones need to be put in there somehow.”

“Can’t you take them while I do someone else?”

“We’re already working together back-to-back tomorrow.” Tom tells him and Leo stops grinding to place a hand over Tom’s.

“I love how our relationship continues to blossom.”

Tom takes his hand out from under Leo’ and looks at him with the ‘Tom look’; a look that means ‘cut the bullshit it’s time to get serious’.

Leo sighs. “Fine.” He opens his laptop and asks Tom to send over the schedule. “Tell me again why these three are so urgent? Why is Sarah’s heart or Lilly’s arrow or Harvey’s tiny cross tattoo urgent?”

Tom looks up, and usual, he’s got an answer to all of Leo’ questions. Leo should really consider giving him a raise sometime soon.

“The two girls want to come in together at the same time, said something about doing it together and it’s the only day they can both make it work, and Harvey said that he won’t be in London next week and would also be open to paying a ‘late fee’, that’s how urgent it is. Plus, Zayn can take the arrow and I can take the heart while you can take the cross. And I know we only have two beds, but the cross is supposed to be on his hand so it can be done at the table.”

Leo rolls his eyes. “What did you tell Harvey about the fee? What fee?”

“He offered to pay triple of what it would cost.” Tom says.

“And did you tell him that we don’t do that here?”

“I did.”


“And what did he say?”

“He said thank you when I told him that he can come in after hours. It’s a small cross, it can be done in under fifteen minutes-thirty, tops, if he wants to fill it up.”

Leo nods. “Who are we to deny someone the right to express themselves, right?”

Tom agrees and Leo gets back to rolling. The office phone rings and Tom looks at Leo, who in turn looks down at the open paper he’s about to take care of, so Tom rolls his eyes and takes the call.

“LWTattoos, this is Tom.”

Leo cackles.

“Yeah. I talked to the boss-he said it’s fine. Uhuh. How? We’re going to schedule you and two others at the same time shortly after 8pm. That’s private. Yeah, hold on.”

Tom presses the mute button and Leo looks up at him.

“He asked who will be getting tattoos at the same time as him, told him it’s private.”

Leo snarls. “Who does this guy think he is? Queen of England? s**t, maybe it’s a prince.”

Que the ‘Tom look’.

“We can’t be taking any chances Thomas! Just tell him it’s two girls.”

Tom unmutes the call and repeats what Leo just told him.

“Yeah? Okay. Sure, no problem. Have a good day Mr. Specter.”

Leo stops and looks at Tom. Then looks over his shoulder, just to meet Zayn’s eyes, who carry the same ‘are you serious’ look that Leo’ have.

“What?” Tom asks.

“Oh, poor Thomas.” Leo shakes his head. “It was a prank call.”

“What? How can you even tell?”

“Have you ever seen Suits?” Leo asks.

“No, but I guess that the two of you are watching it?”

“Yeah. And Harvey Specter is the main character. Don’t tell me, he cancelled?”

Tom’s expression changes to admit defeat. “Yeah, he did. But he said he’ll call again when he’s going to be in town.”

“Sure.” Leo laughs. “I guess we can expect a call from El Profesor any day now.”

“And be prepared to tell him what you’re wearing.” Zayn adds. Leo bursts out laughing and turns his head to appreciate Zayn’s joke.

“What are you talking about?”

“Are you-Thomas! Honestly, just go on Netflix every once in a while, when you have time. You’d understand.” Leo says, taking his disappointed-parent tone.

“Well, Leon, I’m too busy keeping your s**t in check than to start watching shows.”

Leo pouts. “Touché.”