⏤IMPRESSIONS
After that terrifying night, they couldn’t get you out of their heads.
“I really hope she’s okay,” James sighs, running his fingers through his already untamed curls and messing them further.
“She was shaking like an autumn leaf,” Sirius clicks his tongue, his expression souring as he thinks back to the drunk bastard that dared to attempt something so horrific on you, “disgusting lowlife…” the tattooist didn’t even realise he had been clenching his hands into fists until Remus’s much larger hands took a hold of them.
“She’s safe and sound at home,” the tall brunette forces a half decent smile, “at least she’s okay now,” his reasoning did little to help and Remus knew it because he couldn’t even convince himself of the sentiment.
That night, sleep was hard to find.
Like an answer from the gods, you were once again before them but no longer shaking in fear. You were happy, pretty as a flower in full bloom and smiling sweetly, the picture of a warm spring day. They largely shrugged off their actions last night, not feeling too heroic if it weren’t for your dedication to thanking them by cooking a delicious meal.
Remus found you captivating. Not a single piercing in sight, such wasted potential for the additional accessory but still so beautiful and radiant without it; there’s no need to puncture your unsullied skin. The morning sun looks good on you, a much preferred contrast to the pale moon from the previous night of terror. Your features are clear and easy to appreciate, something Remus was grateful for.
He wants to ask for your well being, his heart aching for your welfare and his mind begging for certitude. However, his anger was what commanded priority as the fateful night’s aggressor made a momentary glimpse in his mind’s eye and his biting tone triumphs bitterly.
“It’s alright, don’t worry, I told my manager and he’s been banned from the pub I work at so I haven’t had any more bad encounters,” your sweet voice broke through his wrath and eased the tension from his shoulders. Your demure disposition was like sweet, creamy chocolate to his eyes —delectable. You look precious and his heart wavers with a familiar feeling.
Interesting…the brunette thinks to himself, the feeling and notion intensifying when Sirius enters the scene and regales you with more flamboyance than he typically would any other woman. It reminds him of the days the leather-clad tattooist was notorious for sleeping around before finally finding a permanent romance with his coworkers and long time friends.
As Sirius leads you away, he and Remus make eye contact. It’s brief but a spark, something electric and intimate flickers between them over the curve of your shoulder. Sirius smirks and Remus covers his grinning mouth.
He feels it too, they both surmise, fingers tingling from the fever crawling up their spines, readying to devour them in the feeling.
Sirius feels the fondness warming his chest significantly amplify when alone with you. There’s something kittenish about your mannerisms that catches his eye. It pulls him in like an invisible red string snaring his heart. Not only that but you made for quite the view —with a beauty unique to you but was so enchanting and fit for your character only. It wasn’t a spell you cast on him without his knowing, however; he willingly asked you to subjugate him the instant he met your eyes that morning. There’s an urge that rises from the pit of his stomach to hold you close the same way he embraced you the previous night and turned you away from your aggressor. He was a shield for you then; he wants to be a shield for you now. But more…intimate.
Keep your hands to yourself Sirius, the tattooist warns himself, imagining Remus in the room staring him down with incisive eyes. To control his jerking fingers, he lifts his arms and drapes them across the back of the sofa, where they grip onto the leather like his life depended on it.
Thankfully, you provided the perfect excuse for distraction and Sirius talked you through the many tattoos you had grown a darling curiosity over. That simple aspect about you is so lovable, it’s hard to look away from your changing expressions. With your pretty eyes, fluttering lashes and sweet lips, you continually tug at the string holding Sirius’s heart captive, as if to say ‘come closer, I want you beside me,’.
I hope they’ll understand…Sirius pleads to a god he didn’t previously believe in, they have to understand that, for her, these feelings are predestined —it won’t feel right just to let the feelings, let her, go.
“You’ll feel it too James,” Remus chuckles softly but deeply, one arm slung over the tattooist’s shoulders as he whispers his speculations into his ear, “she wears a sweet poison for perfume, I swear,”
“I still can’t get over the fact that she’s cooked us lunch,” James grins widely, “that in and of itself is enough to win over my heart,” they share a short laugh before finally stepping into the room that you and Sirius were in, swinging open the door as they do so.
James was at a loss. It was a joke at first. Both Remus and Sirius knew his love for food but having you feed him so attentively with the cutest smile on your face and those sweet sweet eyes looking up at him, James was tempted to push aside the food and eat you up instead. If it weren’t for Remus silently urging for his self-restraint — warm, brown eyes, now a sharp, cool blade of warning — James could have very well lost himself in the feeling and done something stupid to sabotage all their chances. He was a clown at times but not without a brain.
For a brief moment, James shares a look with Sirius. Out of all three, Sirius had the reputation of being the most impulsive with James coming straight after him and Remus trailing not too far behind, although was the one who could hide it the most effectively. There’s a roguish sparkle in Sirius’s grey pools but, like Remus, his gaze became a sharp tool of admonition, which was rare for the leather-clad tattooist.
It’s a miracle…James laughs to himself but succumbs to his desires somewhat, kissing your cheek under the guise of gratitude.
“You’re too kind, angel, thank you,” James can feel the warmth radiating from your cheeks due to the proximity and has to bite his lip from grinning too much. From his peripheral view, he can ascertain a small degree of envy glimmering behind the eyes of his two lovers but it isn’t enough to overwhelm the fascination and virtuous adoration they've developed so naturally for you.
I probably look the same way, James resists the urge to shake his head, I can’t believe we’re about to do this allover again…
“Do you think this is too much, Remus?” Sirius asks in a low whisper, leaning over the seated brunette after readying the printer.
“No matter what I say, you wouldn’t care, so why bother,” they share a chuckle but smile at their mutually growing feelings for you, “it’s temporary anyway…the same way this growing crush will be. But in the sense that it’ll become something more one day,”
“You feel it too then?” There's a feverishness behind Sirius’s words —it’s something contagious.
“So much so that I’d die if she leaves without this tattoo on her…even if it is only temporary,” the two take their time signing their names carefully before getting James to sign his.
It was true. All three men would die if they didn’t take the opportunity to sign their name over your heart the same way you’ve already done for them. The ink you used was invisible but scorched their skin so deeply, it was impossible to even think about erasing. Their ink would only be temporary but they’ll strive to make it an eternal one. No matter how long and no matter what it takes, they’ll make it a reality.
All three are a man of their word.