Bulletproof Love
Dylan’s Inks II
Dylan’s P.O.V
As I closed the door behind Drew, I heard another door open from the back of the house. I spinned around to see a very sleepy-looking Tony submerge from the hallway. His hair was disheveled and his eyes had bags under them due to the small amount of time that he’d been awake. “Good morning,” he said as he stepped to me and planted a soft kiss on my forehead.
“Hey, Turtle.” I blushed under the feeling of his lips on my skin.
“Who was that at the door just now?” he stepped back in order to make eye contact with me.
“Oh, that was Drew. She stayed the night at you guys’ place after getting too drunk with Mike to go home, so she came here to change and stuff.” He looked shocked at how nonchalant I was about the situation, but I shrugged it off. I decided not to tell him about mine and Drew’s speculation that Jerry may or may not be Jack’s brother because we weren’t completely sure about it, and I didn’t want to worry him.
“So, how’d you sleep?” I asked, changing the subject.
“Alright, I guess. Your bed sucks,” he let out a low chuckle, and I saw his chest rise and fall with his laugh.
“Shut up!” I laughed with him and punched him playfully on the shoulder. “Besides, you can’t seem to stay away from it. You’re always finding excuses to stay with me,” I giggled and made my way to the kitchen, and Tony followed suit. I hadn’t eaten since about lunchtime the day before, and I was practically starving. I made my way to the fringe and sighed, remembering that I hadn’t yet gone grocery shopping and all I had was yogurt and frozen fruit.
“Excuse me, but if I’m correct you asked me to sleep with you last night.” He playfully rolled his eyes at me, and I did the same.
“Smoothies?” I asked him, placing the ingredients on the counter where he was seated. He nodded in response. “But you need to watch your attitude, mister,” I got back to our conversation as I pulled the blender out from the cabinet under the counter and plugged it in next to the sink. “There’s a reason why you have yet to get lucky.” I looked at him over my shoulder and winked before looking back at the blender to put the yogurt and fruit in the tall glass container.
“Ouch,” he said sarcastically while dramatically clutching the plain white t-shirt he had put on after he woke up at his chest and faking a pained expression.
He opened his mouth to say something, probably a smart remark to counter the joke I had just made, but I hastily started the blender and yelled over the sound, “Whoa! I can’t hear you!” He tried to yell over the blender and me, but to no avail, and he eventually gave up with a frustrated sigh.
After a few seconds, I stopped the blender and grabbed two tall glasses from the cabinet to pour our smoothies into.
“Wow, this is actually kinda great,” Tony said with somewhat of a surprised tone after taking a sip from his glass.
“What, you didn’t think I could make a good smoothie?” I said with a smirk.
“I don’t know, but damn you look hot in the kitchen,” he licked and bit his lips while looking me up and down.
“Shut up you perv!” I bursted into a fit of laughter and he joined me. Soon my stomach began to cramp up from laughing so hard, and I gripped the sides of my shirt. Tony’s face was becoming red from his laughter, and after a while we stopped and looked at each other. “It wasn’t even that funny,” I said, letting out one last giggle.
“I guess not,” he chuckled, wiping a tear that’d formed in the corner of his eye. “Well, what do you wanna do today?” he asked before taking another sip of his smoothie.
I looked at the stove clock. 1:08, it read. “I wanna go to the shop for a bit. I gotta update our portfolio and pay some bills and such. You wanna come by? We’re not open today, so maybe I can show you around or something.
He nodded, “Sure, but you need to go grocery shopping today, too. You can’t live off of smoothies forever.”
“I’ll do what I want!” I said, crossing my arms over my chest and pouting like a child.
“Alright, whatever you say, haha.” He looked down and frowned for a second. I looked and saw that he’d already finished his smoothie, but mine wasn’t even halfway done.
“Wow, you really liked that, didn’t you?” I said with a playful chuckle.
“Actually, it was terrible,” he said sarcastically and grinned at me.
I rolled my eyes before putting my cup in the fridge and walking off toward the bathroom. “I’m gonna take a shower, okay?” I called over my shoulder at him.
“Alright!”
About forty-five minutes later, we were both dressed and heading out the door. Tony and I hopped in my car and started off toward my tattoo parlor.
Once we were inside, Tony looked around, wide-eyed. He’d obviously been in several tattoo shops before, including mine, judging by the lack of un-inked skin he had on the upper half of his body, but when he was in the lobby, he acted as though he’d never seen one before. I remembered that when he was here before, he was too busy copping an attitude to realize the exquisiteness of the tattoo parlor he was in. “You look like a kid in a candy shop,” I said casually as I sat behind the front desk.
“I feel like a kid in a candy shop,” he replied, never taking his eyes off the walls of band logos, posters, and pictures of tattoos. He continued to look around and I started to do some of the financial things that kept my business running. Usually Darren helped me with this stuff, but since he wasn’t here and I was, I took it upon myself to take care of things. About an hour or so later, I figured I’d done enough for that time, and turned to Tony, who was lounging on one of the large red leather chairs reading an old Alternative Press magazine.
“Tony,” I said, and he looked up at me.
“Yeah?”
“Do you want anything? I mean, if you can find a spot…” I laughed a little, and he smiled back at me.
“I think I have some space on my ankle still,” he looked down at his feet wondrously, and I laughed out loud. “What?” he asked, peering up at me.
“You think you have space on your ankle?” I kept laughing, and he did the same.
“Hey! When you have as much ink as I do, you start to lose track.” He pulled up the bottom of his jeans and found a spot on the outside of his left ankle. “Yep, now I know I have some space on my ankle.”
I shook my head at him and lead him to one of our back rooms. I set up everything and he sat on the big black chair. I reclined it so that his feet were up. Tony rolled up the bottom of his jeans on his left side so that I could access his ankle. “Okay, you ready?”
“I would be so much more ready if you told me what you were doing.”
“Oh, hush. You’re gonna like it, okay?”
I put the stencil to his skin without showing him what was on it and began. It wasn’t going to be a big tattoo, or one that was extremely detailed, either, so it only took about forty minutes or so. Finally I was finished. “Alright, I’m done!” I said to him.
He stood up and walked to the mirror perched on the wall. “Wow, that’s really cool,” he said, a hint of amazement in his voice.
“You like it?” I asked, walking up behind him. He just nodded in response.
I had tattooed my shop logo on his ankle. It was a cursive ‘D’ with an ‘I’ in the form of a quill going through it. Drops of ink fell from the tip of the quill-shaped ‘I’. I designed the logo when I was in art school; it was simple, but it had some sort of edgy elegance to it. It was nearly ironic, but I loved every last curve of the design. I usually didn’t outline, and I had never tattooed my logo on anyone, but I figured Tony was special enough for this. He and I were now the only people to have this tattoo, it kinda felt like it brought us closer.
“You have this too, right?” He asked, practically reading my mind.
“Yep!” I rolled up the sleeve of my hoodie to reveal the same tattoo on my right wrist. He gently grabbed my hand in both of his and ran his thumbs over the dry ink, tracing circles around it. I looked up to see him staring at me, a distant glance in his eyes. He leaned down until our faces were just centimeters apart.
I closed my eyes and tilted my head up toward him. My thoughts were swirling, almost as if I’d never been this close to him before. But in all actuality, every time felt like the first time. I could feel his soft breath faintly touching my nose, slowly getting closer and closer, and I forced my mind to silence itself so that I could savor the moment. Soon, but not soon enough, Tony’s lips were on mine. There was no intensity, no heat, only passion and…and… is that love?
“Thank you,” he whispered against my lips after separating us.
“Mhm,” I mumbled back.
Reluctantly, I pulled away from him, never moving my eyes away from his. “I’m gonna get everything cleaned up, and we can go out to get dinner or something, cool?” I tried to act casual in order to suppress the butterflies that were swimming around in my stomach, but, despite my efforts, they didn’t stop fluttering.
“Cool,” he responded with a wide grin.
As I closed the door behind Drew, I heard another door open from the back of the house. I spinned around to see a very sleepy-looking Tony submerge from the hallway. His hair was disheveled and his eyes had bags under them due to the small amount of time that he’d been awake. “Good morning,” he said as he stepped to me and planted a soft kiss on my forehead.
“Hey, Turtle.” I blushed under the feeling of his lips on my skin.
“Who was that at the door just now?” he stepped back in order to make eye contact with me.
“Oh, that was Drew. She stayed the night at you guys’ place after getting too drunk with Mike to go home, so she came here to change and stuff.” He looked shocked at how nonchalant I was about the situation, but I shrugged it off. I decided not to tell him about mine and Drew’s speculation that Jerry may or may not be Jack’s brother because we weren’t completely sure about it, and I didn’t want to worry him.
“So, how’d you sleep?” I asked, changing the subject.
“Alright, I guess. Your bed sucks,” he let out a low chuckle, and I saw his chest rise and fall with his laugh.
“Shut up!” I laughed with him and punched him playfully on the shoulder. “Besides, you can’t seem to stay away from it. You’re always finding excuses to stay with me,” I giggled and made my way to the kitchen, and Tony followed suit. I hadn’t eaten since about lunchtime the day before, and I was practically starving. I made my way to the fringe and sighed, remembering that I hadn’t yet gone grocery shopping and all I had was yogurt and frozen fruit.
“Excuse me, but if I’m correct you asked me to sleep with you last night.” He playfully rolled his eyes at me, and I did the same.
“Smoothies?” I asked him, placing the ingredients on the counter where he was seated. He nodded in response. “But you need to watch your attitude, mister,” I got back to our conversation as I pulled the blender out from the cabinet under the counter and plugged it in next to the sink. “There’s a reason why you have yet to get lucky.” I looked at him over my shoulder and winked before looking back at the blender to put the yogurt and fruit in the tall glass container.
“Ouch,” he said sarcastically while dramatically clutching the plain white t-shirt he had put on after he woke up at his chest and faking a pained expression.
He opened his mouth to say something, probably a smart remark to counter the joke I had just made, but I hastily started the blender and yelled over the sound, “Whoa! I can’t hear you!” He tried to yell over the blender and me, but to no avail, and he eventually gave up with a frustrated sigh.
After a few seconds, I stopped the blender and grabbed two tall glasses from the cabinet to pour our smoothies into.
“Wow, this is actually kinda great,” Tony said with somewhat of a surprised tone after taking a sip from his glass.
“What, you didn’t think I could make a good smoothie?” I said with a smirk.
“I don’t know, but damn you look hot in the kitchen,” he licked and bit his lips while looking me up and down.
“Shut up you perv!” I bursted into a fit of laughter and he joined me. Soon my stomach began to cramp up from laughing so hard, and I gripped the sides of my shirt. Tony’s face was becoming red from his laughter, and after a while we stopped and looked at each other. “It wasn’t even that funny,” I said, letting out one last giggle.
“I guess not,” he chuckled, wiping a tear that’d formed in the corner of his eye. “Well, what do you wanna do today?” he asked before taking another sip of his smoothie.
I looked at the stove clock. 1:08, it read. “I wanna go to the shop for a bit. I gotta update our portfolio and pay some bills and such. You wanna come by? We’re not open today, so maybe I can show you around or something.
He nodded, “Sure, but you need to go grocery shopping today, too. You can’t live off of smoothies forever.”
“I’ll do what I want!” I said, crossing my arms over my chest and pouting like a child.
“Alright, whatever you say, haha.” He looked down and frowned for a second. I looked and saw that he’d already finished his smoothie, but mine wasn’t even halfway done.
“Wow, you really liked that, didn’t you?” I said with a playful chuckle.
“Actually, it was terrible,” he said sarcastically and grinned at me.
I rolled my eyes before putting my cup in the fridge and walking off toward the bathroom. “I’m gonna take a shower, okay?” I called over my shoulder at him.
“Alright!”
About forty-five minutes later, we were both dressed and heading out the door. Tony and I hopped in my car and started off toward my tattoo parlor.
Once we were inside, Tony looked around, wide-eyed. He’d obviously been in several tattoo shops before, including mine, judging by the lack of un-inked skin he had on the upper half of his body, but when he was in the lobby, he acted as though he’d never seen one before. I remembered that when he was here before, he was too busy copping an attitude to realize the exquisiteness of the tattoo parlor he was in. “You look like a kid in a candy shop,” I said casually as I sat behind the front desk.
“I feel like a kid in a candy shop,” he replied, never taking his eyes off the walls of band logos, posters, and pictures of tattoos. He continued to look around and I started to do some of the financial things that kept my business running. Usually Darren helped me with this stuff, but since he wasn’t here and I was, I took it upon myself to take care of things. About an hour or so later, I figured I’d done enough for that time, and turned to Tony, who was lounging on one of the large red leather chairs reading an old Alternative Press magazine.
“Tony,” I said, and he looked up at me.
“Yeah?”
“Do you want anything? I mean, if you can find a spot…” I laughed a little, and he smiled back at me.
“I think I have some space on my ankle still,” he looked down at his feet wondrously, and I laughed out loud. “What?” he asked, peering up at me.
“You think you have space on your ankle?” I kept laughing, and he did the same.
“Hey! When you have as much ink as I do, you start to lose track.” He pulled up the bottom of his jeans and found a spot on the outside of his left ankle. “Yep, now I know I have some space on my ankle.”
I shook my head at him and lead him to one of our back rooms. I set up everything and he sat on the big black chair. I reclined it so that his feet were up. Tony rolled up the bottom of his jeans on his left side so that I could access his ankle. “Okay, you ready?”
“I would be so much more ready if you told me what you were doing.”
“Oh, hush. You’re gonna like it, okay?”
I put the stencil to his skin without showing him what was on it and began. It wasn’t going to be a big tattoo, or one that was extremely detailed, either, so it only took about forty minutes or so. Finally I was finished. “Alright, I’m done!” I said to him.
He stood up and walked to the mirror perched on the wall. “Wow, that’s really cool,” he said, a hint of amazement in his voice.
“You like it?” I asked, walking up behind him. He just nodded in response.
I had tattooed my shop logo on his ankle. It was a cursive ‘D’ with an ‘I’ in the form of a quill going through it. Drops of ink fell from the tip of the quill-shaped ‘I’. I designed the logo when I was in art school; it was simple, but it had some sort of edgy elegance to it. It was nearly ironic, but I loved every last curve of the design. I usually didn’t outline, and I had never tattooed my logo on anyone, but I figured Tony was special enough for this. He and I were now the only people to have this tattoo, it kinda felt like it brought us closer.
“You have this too, right?” He asked, practically reading my mind.
“Yep!” I rolled up the sleeve of my hoodie to reveal the same tattoo on my right wrist. He gently grabbed my hand in both of his and ran his thumbs over the dry ink, tracing circles around it. I looked up to see him staring at me, a distant glance in his eyes. He leaned down until our faces were just centimeters apart.
I closed my eyes and tilted my head up toward him. My thoughts were swirling, almost as if I’d never been this close to him before. But in all actuality, every time felt like the first time. I could feel his soft breath faintly touching my nose, slowly getting closer and closer, and I forced my mind to silence itself so that I could savor the moment. Soon, but not soon enough, Tony’s lips were on mine. There was no intensity, no heat, only passion and…and… is that love?
“Thank you,” he whispered against my lips after separating us.
“Mhm,” I mumbled back.
Reluctantly, I pulled away from him, never moving my eyes away from his. “I’m gonna get everything cleaned up, and we can go out to get dinner or something, cool?” I tried to act casual in order to suppress the butterflies that were swimming around in my stomach, but, despite my efforts, they didn’t stop fluttering.
“Cool,” he responded with a wide grin.
Plot twist! Dx
3/17/14