Forget Yesterday

It was coming to the end of February now, and Alex was having a rather slow day at work. All his prep was done and Jack had meetings all afternoon so he couldn’t text him, so instead Alex had decided to hang out behind the counter with Ryan. He was already regretting his decision.

“I’m telling you! Lullaby has no contest when it comes to his work!” Ryan ranted.

“Uh, I’ve seen the film version of Fight Club?” Alex offered.

Ryan stared at Alex in disbelief.

“You uneducated Neanderthal. Palahnuik deserves better than you,” Ryan muttered.

“Be nice, baby!” Brendon yelled from his tattooing room.

Ryan blushed slightly, making Alex laugh. He’d never understand exactly how Ryan and Brendon worked, that’s for sure, but it was obvious how besotted they were with each other.

“Truce?” Alex suggested.

“Truce,” Ryan nodded.

A few minutes later a young woman came in, popping gum loudly. Alex cringed at the noise.

“Butterfly tattoo,” Ryan murmured.

“Please, belly piercing,” Alex replied.

Alex knew his belly piercing’s when he saw them.

The woman took a few more seconds looking around the shop, before she approached the desk. 3…2…1…

“Hi, um, can I get my belly pierced?” she asked.

Alex fought not to smile smugly at Ryan. He always knew.

“Sure thing. I’m Alex and I’ll be doing your piercing. Why don’t you fill out your forms with Ryan while I set up and we can go from there?” Alex smiled.

The girl grinned and nodded. “Sweet,”

15 minutes later, the girl was admiring her new body jewellery in the mirror, her grin even wider. This made the crescent moons on Alex’s shoulder from her fingernails worth it – how happy he could make his clients. Especially his clients with a low pain tolerance. A true smile was so rare from strangers these days, wasn’t it?

“So just make sure you clean it properly twice a day, don’t play with it or twist it, and the piercing should heal up perfectly. Any problems, just drop by, okay?” Alex told her as they walked back out to the front of the shop.

“Sure! Thanks Alex!” the girl said happily.

He laughed as she hugged him, not realising that Jack was standing at the front desk with a frown on his face until the girl was walking out. Then Alex laughed again.

“You, Sir, get far too jealous too easily for your own good,” Alex mused, walking up to Jack and resting his hands on his waist.

“Yeah, well, she had great tits and she was really pretty, can you blame me?” Jack muttered.

“If I actually was attracted to tits, you wouldn’t be here,” Alex smirked.

“Neanderthal,” Ryan muttered.

Jack blushed slightly but bent his head to kiss Alex softly, making Alex smile. He knew Jack wouldn’t stay jealous for long.

“So what sprung on this surprise visit?” Alex asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I can’t stay long, I still have accounts to sort out before the end of the day, but I just wanted to ask you something,” Jack said.

“Fire away,” Alex smiled.

“Emma wants to know if you’ll come over tonight for a movie night?” Jack said.

“Does she now?” Alex mused.

“Hey, you can ask her yourself if you want,” Jack defended.

Alex just smiled a little wider. Jack really was too adorable for his own good sometimes.

“Let Emma know I’d love to,” Alex nodded.

Jack smiled a relieved smile.

“Great. I gotta warn you, Emma’s going through a Disney phase this week,” he said with a wince.

Alex shrugged. “I know every Disney song off by heart,”

Jack’s eyebrows shot up in surprise, but he smiled.

“I think you might just be her new best friend,”

Alex just laughed. “I’ll be over at 6?”

“Perfect. I’ll see you later,” Jack beamed.

Jack kissed Alex quickly but firmly, before leaving the shop. Alex just sighed happily. Wow.

“Fuck, if you got any more perfect I’d think this was a Disney movie,”

Vinny. Leaning against the doorframe to his room with a smirk on his face. Great.

“Uh, why?” Alex asked, not really sure if he wanted to know the answer.

“You making Jack jealous then immediately making him forget why he was jealous, then you liking Disney as much as Emma likes Disney…it’s a big deal,” Vinny said.

“A big deal for us or…”

For Emma?

“For the entire time I’ve known Emma, she hasn’t liked anyone new in Jack’s personal life, let alone a boyfriend, so for her to ask you to come over for something she likes is a big deal. You’re pretty much golden in her eyes, man,”

Alex just grinned. That definitely sounded like a good thing.

“So you think she really accepts me, not just because I’m pretty?” Alex asked hopefully.

Ryan rolled his eyes at Alex’s words, but Alex ignored him, making Vinny laugh.

“Yeah, Emma accepts you, for real. Don’t screw that up,” Vinny smiled.

“I won’t,”

Alex meant it.