#but it's also terribly inconvenient and mortifyingly embarrassing | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

hsmuffintop · 6 years

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This is based on a post my best friend sent me and occurs in an alternate universe where Louis is a weenie about getting tattoos (which he may actually be but considering how many he has, I'd guess not).

I wrote this instead of sleeping Wednesday night I think and have only read it through a couple times so all mistakes are mine and whatever. also I hate the ending but can’t think of a way to end it without adding on multiple hundreds of words and I like the length it is.

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It’s times like this that Liam hates that he’s such a good friend.

He and Louis were having a lads’ night in, talking shit and eating junk, when they got on the topic of tattoos, and 20 minutes later found them in the lobby of the tattoo shop down the street from Louis’s flat because Louis decided he wanted a new tattoo and wanted it now.

It’s big, is the thing, and the only place where it would sit right and have Louis still be able to see it is his ribs. He knew it would hurt more than most of his other tattoos, as the ribs are well-known to be a particularly sensitive area, but he told the man who was going to tattoo him, a new guy to the shop named Zayn, that he was sure he’d be fine.

He was wrong, and Zayn had popped his head around the corner into the lobby not ten minutes after he’d taken Louis back to his chair because Louis was asking for Liam.

“I think he underestimated how much it was gonna hurt,” Zayn says quietly as he leads Liam to his little cubicle-type area. “See his type in here all the time. I think he’ll get through it, though, with you back here.”

So Liam goes and sits near Louis’s head and starts talking about all kinds of nothing that doesn’t make any sense but Louis isn’t whining or making faces of complete agony anymore so he marks that as a success.

The process goes smoothly for the next few minutes, Liam trying and failing to accurately describe the latest episode of a show he’s been binge watching, taking the long way around the story and breaking off into tangents on purpose so he doesn’t have to think of a new subject any time soon. Then Zayn runs the needle of his tattoo gun over a particularly sensitive spot that makes Louis yelp, and Zayn stops right as Liam grabs Louis’s hand.

“You alright?” Zayn asks, and Louis nods, patting the back of Liam’s hand with the hand Liam’s not holding, giving him a small smile in thanks before asking Liam to continue with his story.

Ten minutes later, Liam is still making up stuff to talk about, but it’s out of self-preservation at this point because Louis is squeezing the shit out of his hand and he knows that if he stops talking and distracting Louis from as much pain as he possibly can, Louis is liable to legitimately break his hand. This is where he starts to hate that he’s such a good fucking friend.

So he keeps talking and Louis keeps squeezing, grimacing occasionally when it really hurts but Liam just pats his hand and waits for the grimace to go away before stopping. They get into a pattern, and after a while, when the movements become subconscious, Liam notices that Zayn looks up at their hands every time Liam pats Louis’s, then looks back down quickly to, y’know, do his job, before looking up again every time Liam moves. It’s starting to bother him, but it all comes together in about half a second, right before Zayn asks Louis a question.

What Liam notices, is that Zayn isn’t looking at his and Louis’s clasped hands, but at the rainbow bracelet Liam is wearing, and putting two and two together between that and the way Liam is being so tender and soft in comforting Louis.

“So, are you guys close?” Zayn asks right after Liam realizes what he’s thinking, intentionally overly-nonchalant about it, and Liam would deflect but he can’t come up with anything fast enough, so Louis answers.

“Yeah, of course. That’s why I asked him to come with me.”

So, to recap: there’s Liam, a supportive best friend who also happens to be an Out and Proud Gay Man; Louis, a well-meaning but painfully oblivious 100% Straight Man; and Zayn, a tattoo artist who thinks Louis and Liam are BOYFRIENDS because of their closeness and lack of physical boundaries, and is quite possibly uncomfortable with the situation but is trying to stay professional so he can get paid. Liam is having a crisis and Louis is none the wiser.

Zayn looks between the two of them a couple times, hopefully unaware that Liam is internally screaming like one of those rubber chickens because he doesn’t know what to do?? Does he keep holding Louis’s hand and petting him occasionally and just let Zayn keep thinking they’re together?? Does he stop holding Louis’s hand?? Does he correct Zayn and explain that while, yes, he is in fact gay, Louis is not, and because of that fact, they are not boyfriends?? Does he somehow get the message across to Louis and let him know why Zayn is acting a little shifty ever since Louis answered his question that way?? WHAT DO???

His brain settles for none of those things and he just stays quiet, screaming internally, waiting for Zayn to say something. Anything.

“Cool man, that’s great. Good for you.”

A hole could open up under Liam’s chair right now and make him plummet straight into the molten center of the Earth and he would be grateful. God, this is so embarrassing. It can’t possibly get worse.

(Wrong.)

Zayn puts down his tattoo gun and stands up, stretching out his back and suggesting that Louis should do the same. He does, with Liam’s help, but sits back down soon after because he got lightheaded from getting up too fast.

“Could I maybe have some water?” he asks, and Zayn nods, leaving the room. The thought crosses Liam’s mind that he should mention something to Louis about this hilarious and in no way at all mortifyingly embarrassing misunderstanding that’s happening here, but Zayn comes back infuriatingly fast with a bottle of water before he can say anything.

Louis takes a few sips before handing the bottle to Liam, who assumes that Louis just wants him to hold it while he lays back down on the chair and starts putting the cap back on.

“No, drink some,” Louis says, and, again, hole. Under Liam’s chair. Much better than this. So Liam takes a couple swallows and Louis smiles like he does every time Liam does something he tells him to, no matter how ridiculous or dangerous, and Liam has to really try to not get mad about it. It’s not Louis’s fault this misunderstanding happened; it’s nobody’s fault, really, except maybe Zayn’s for assuming Louis and Liam’s sexualities, but even then, that’s a truly honest mistake to make.

All in all, it takes an hour and a half to finish (the first stage of) Louis’s tattoo, and while Zayn is wrapping it up and giving his spiel about aftercare, Louis makes a comment that Zayn might be seeing them again soon, as Liam is planning on getting a new tattoo next.

“Oh yeah?” Zayn asks, and Liam begs and prays to every higher power that exists that Louis doesn’t say something terrible. It doesn’t work.

“Yeah,” Louis says, “and I’m gonna hold HIS hand through it like he did me.”

“I mean, I should hope so,” Zayn says, and Liam is so embarrassed he doesn’t know what to do. He’s spent more time internally screaming and facepalming in the last hour than he has his entire life. Again, not Louis’s fault he’s a completely oblivious heterosexual garbage person who can’t read body language, but it is a HUGE inconvenience at the moment.

Louis pays Zayn and they leave the shop, and Liam doesn’t say anything until they’re back at Louis’s place. Louis doesn’t understand at first, then can’t believe it, then laughs for a solid ten minutes.

The next time Louis goes in, for the second stage of his tattoo, Zayn asks where his boyfriend is. Louis laughs because he still thinks it’s hilarious, and changes the subject, because he is nothing if not a mischievous asshole who likes to keep people guessing. And if Zayn thinks he and Liam are together together, so be it.

#my writing #1d fic #lilo #platonic lilo #text post #1d writing #i’ll link the post when i get home #idk how to do it on the app

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