Eddie Munson x Male Reader
A young man sat in a backless rolling chair, hunched over their sketchbook as they worked on finishing up a flash sheet of florals for their boss as the bell on top of the front door to the shop rang, the jingle covered by the rock music blasting throughout the shop. It was nine in the morning on a weekday and only him and the shop owner was in at that moment, the other artists reserving themselves to come in once their usual rush hours hit.
Y/N bounced their head along to the music as he finished the spit shading and lifted up the paper off of the transfer sheet and admired it. ‘Just one more week.’ He thought to himself. He had been certified for months, had built his own machine and was more than heavily stocked up on supplies but his boss had held out on letting him take up a booth in the shop. Either telling him the same old story about the owner still not being convinced on them, shops in the neighboring cities had a tendency of poaching artists fresh or otherwise.
Breaking down the other artists set ups, answering the phone, keeping track of bookings and check outs all whilst building their portfolio. It was a thankless job but to him it was worth it, beyond worth dropping out of school to pursue the opportunity he’d been given. “Y/N! Get out here!” The shop owner Fuji was calling out to him over the music and they immediately jumped out of the chair and headed that way towards the store front, sore from sitting in that position for too long.
He leaned against the arched doorway for a moment stretching, “Yeah?” He’d expected them to ask them to go on a coffee run before the others showed up but when they opened their eyes and saw the owner leaning on the counter with an unamused look on their face and a young man with long, curly brown hair standing opposite of them with a sheet of loose leaf notebook paper out in front of them he opened his mouth again to speak.
“You didn’t hear this dude banging away on the bell?” Well, if you could’ve been honest with him no you hadn’t. The constant loud buzzing of the machines coupled with the shop music had done your ears in quite a bit. But you couldn’t respond like that. “No sir, I’m sorry about that..” Y/N made his way over, standing next to the man his age. Trying to ignore the feeling of their dark eyes as they bore into him whilst he looked at the drawing on the paper done fully in black pen with a messy signature at the top. ‘Eddie Munson’.
“Okay kid, like I was saying..” He pointed to the paper on the counter. “Even if I had anyone in the shop right now, something like this wouldn’t be in your price range.” The man had finally been able to pull his eyes off of you before scoffing lightly, a grin on his face as he did so.
“Wow, okay well first off, I’m not a kid. Secondly how do you even know my price range?” Y/N’s lips tightened into a line as he looked away from the interaction. He didn’t know whether he wanted to laugh or feel bad for them as he knew his boss well enough at this point, he didn’t like when people got an attitude with him. He was ‘too old for that shit’ as he’d put it. ‘Kid’ was the nicest thing he could be called at any given time, the guy should be happy he hadn’t been called shithead’ or something else along those lines.
The boss man watched as they pulled their folded black wallet connected to their belt loop by a chain out of their pocket and pulled a fifty dollar bill that looked like it had been through a washing machine at least five times out and slapped it on the counter confidently. “There.”
Fuji grunted as he bent down and pulled one of the thick binders out from under the table top and slid it across the counter, Y/N knew that book. It had the shop minimum flash designs in it. Your usual tiny hearts, butterflies, stars and letter work for those generic couple types who came in to get each other’s initials tattooed a week before the breakup. “The shop minimum is eighty, but that kid-” He pointed to you. “He hasn’t tattooed shit a day in his life, I’ll let him do something out of there on you for fifty.”
Eddie opened the booklet and quickly flipped through it before looking back up with a look of confusion. “Uh, no.”
“Then no deal. Come back next year and hopefully grandma gives you more birthday money next time.” He chuckled at his own shitty joke and pulled the binder back towards him to put up as the man grabbed the sheet of paper and money off the counter, effectively crumpling both before storming out of the shop. Y/N watched him disappear out the door, the tinted windows hiding them from further view.
“Hey boss man? Let me go talk to them real quick. I need a cigarette anyway.” You bounced on your feet waiting to get the okay from them before rushing out after them. Fuji rolled his eyes and motioned with his hand for you to get out. He knew you would probably grovel on your hands and knees to that kid to convince them to get something meaningless out of the booklet if it meant you could finally hit some skin.
Which was close to being true, you might’ve been inclined to beg if you thought it would be necessary. Just as you pushed open the front door and looked around the smoking area out front you saw them sitting on one of the benches dejectedly holding their drawing.
“Hey!“ Y/N jogged over and grabbed the piece of paper out of their hands, beginning to look it over more closely. “Look, my boss is supposed to leave in like..five minutes.” You checked the time on your watch before looking back down at them.
You cursed and scrambled to pull your cigarette pack out of the back pocket of your black jeans. Your mind was racing and it was like your skin was vibrating as you thought about finally getting to do your first piece on someone. Along with the adrenaline rushing through you from what you were planning on doing. Your artist was going to kick your ass.
“So, I’ll do it.” You mumbled around the cigarette in your mouth with excitement as you took a seat next to him on the bench and went over his design. It was a beat up looking coffin with two roses on each side at the bottom with scribbled in shading, or coloring, you weren’t exactly sure.
Eddie looked at you as you talked to him about the specifics of what you knew you could get done but it was almost like he zoned out through most of it. You seemed so familiar to him, he’d thought the same thing when he saw you walk out from the backrooms. You couldn’t be younger than him if you worked here and you definitely weren’t older. But with the amount of tattoos you had already it seemed make since that you would be to have had the time to accumulate them, the black tank top that clung to you allowed him to see the countless pieces that covered your upper arms. Leading his eyes to travel to your neck and then down to the hem of the shirt, preventing him from viewing your chest piece in full.
“Hey, buddy—“ You snapped your fingers and smirked at his slightly dazed expression. “You okay? I’m not putting something on you if you’ve been drinking or anything..”
“Huh? No! I mean..no. I haven’t been drinking. It’s just..” Eddie cracked a smile in an attempt to cover his embarrassment from being caught looking at you way too hard. “I feel like I know you from somewhere? If that makes sense?”
Y/N ashed his cigarette and handed him the drawing back. “Doesn’t everyone in Hawkins know everyone else?”
“So you’ve always lived here?” Eddie watched them nod and stand up, shaking their hands out to get ready for the session, knowing how tense in them he got when holding anything for an extended amount of time.
“Since elementary school, yeah. We gotta go do paperwork before he fucks off, just pretend to pick something alright?” Eddie stood up as they tossed their cigarette butt out into the parking lot that extended out from where they had been sitting and followed them back inside. They were quick to change face before they headed back inside, the serious look on their face replaced the one of enthusiasm they had when talking about the piece of art that would soon be on his body forever.
Eddie raked his brain as he filled out the short form for the shops records, desperately trying to think of where they remember them from. School? That was definitely a possibility, seeing them in the hallway in passing, though he couldn’t imagine he wouldn’t have at least attempted to approach them. If they were even half as intimidating as they are now back then that would make more sense. Damn it! This was going to drive him crazy!
“Alright.” The owner walked out of the backrooms where Y/N was meticulously prepping their set up so he’d be able to have it completely ready and out of the way, saving more time for getting the stencil ready and then the actual tattooing process. Eddie stopped tapping his fingers on the table and stood up straight when the bearded man made his way over, snatching up the filled out form and looking it over briefly.
“Mhm..Okay.” He put it back down, taking note that ‘Eddie Munson’ was the same age as his fledgling apprentice. “Don’t fuck this up by trying anything kid, You’re lucky the door was even unlocked when you got here.” And with that he look his leave. Trusting Y/N to get him out before the other artists arrived after lunch. Perhaps he wasn’t a full fledged resident yet but this would definitely be something to tell the others about, he knew Y/N had been jumping at the chance to tattoo someone other than himself.
Eddie waited for the front door to close before rushing through the doorway to see Y/N folding Eddie’s drawing back up, the stencil finished. “Whoa, that was fast.”
“I’ve gotta be fast, the others will kill me if they find out what I’m doing..” He sighed and got up out of the chair he’d pulled up beside the booth an arm rest pulled up in front of that. “Sit. You want it on the other forearm right?” Eddie nodded and did as he was told although their back as turned as they pulled on a pair of black latex gloves. “Okay, shave it.”
“What? I didn’t have to shave last time I got one done..” Eddie looked at the little disposable razor on the metal side table where other things sat neatly laid out.
“Dude, no offense but didn’t you get those when you were like sixteen?” Actually he had been seventeen.
“So you do know me! We went to school together, right?”
Y/N rolled his eyes and made his way back over to his seat, picking up the razor and holding his free hand out to indicate he wanted him to give him his arm. “I told you. Everyone knows everyone in Hawkins..”
Eddie was beaming like a dumbass now knowing he wasn’t the only one to recognize the other person. Y/N actually clocked him a lot quicker after seeing his name on paper. His hair was a hell of a lot longer but his kitchen scratch tattoos were signature, he couldn’t forget Munson. “What happened to you? I haven’t seen you in school in..hell I don’t know how long.”
The young man looked up from the now freshly shaved arm with a perplexed expression. “You’re still in high school?”
Well damn, way to make him embarrassed about it now. Not that he had ever been proud of the fact, actually he was always very embarrassed when the topic was brought up.
Y/N half smiled as he grabbed the transfer sheet and rolled over to dab his gloved finger in some Vaseline to rub on first. “Explains why your band is full of kids.” Ooo you— you had him there. Maybe not really, Gareth was the only one who really looked like a teenager still. All the Hellfire members would give him shit about his baby face.
“Wait wait, hold on.” Y/N looked up after laying down the stencil, hoping it was perfect despite Eddie’s mouth constantly moving. “You’ve seen my band? Like, us actually play?” His face was so bright with that smile, it made you feel silly.
“Don’t cream your pants, it’s not like there’s much other live music around here.” You peeled up the paper and looked it over letting your eyes come back up to meet his. That bastards’ face was way too close to yours! Pushing your rolling chair back with your feet to get a little distance before clearing your throat and motioning for him to make sure it was placed exactly how he wanted it.
“Oh..Yeah, looks good to me.” Eddie replied after giving it perhaps a five second look over.
“Are you sure?” Y/N pressed. This was his first tattoo ever on someone else, his first client essentially, and he didn’t want to fuck it up.
This was exactly why neither of them had interacted up until this point. They both had this intimidating air about them but at any give time they would have made the other embarrassed in a heartbeat. It was almost disgusting of Eddie to be relaying the mans’ earlier words as the whir of the tattoo machine began. Eddie wasn’t a fan of pain, at all, and when Y/N started to go in on the line work it successfully made his thoughts of creaming his pants retreat. “Fuck..”
Y/N stopped, pulling his hands away from his skin momentarily. “You haven’t ever had one done sober have you.”
Eddie tried and failed to hold back a chuckle before they started again. Using two of their gloves fingers to hold the skin taught as he drew on him painfully. “Nope.” He watched as Y/N’s tongue flicked out across their lip and they caught their tongue piercing between their teeth, a normal act he did when concentrating but this time it was on two things at once. Not fucking up this tattoo and not laughing.
Eddie was actually finding it pretty easy to concentrate on your face as you worked on him. Your eyes, your mouth. Fuckin’ pretty boys always got to him. “So why do this for me? Your boss said it would be expensive.”
“I don’t get paid either way, I might as well take the opportunity to do something nice for once.” Y/N dipped into the black ink in the little cap again before shifting into a better position for the shading process, he wasn’t giving him any color so it was actually going very quickly. For several minutes neither of them talked and when they did that the pain seemed to be more intense for Eddie, if you looked up at him you’d see the little muscle in his jaw clench along with his teeth and eyes until finally he had to say something to break the quiet streak.
“So Y/N, I’ve got a question.”
“Shoot.” Y/N tried to stay stoic and in the zone as he rubbed a bit of moisturizing ointment on the tattoo, hoping it could help calm the skin down some. The paler you were the more red and angry the skin tended to get he’d noticed.
“You smoke weed?” He hung his head, failing at suppressing the grin on his face so badly that it almost rivaled Eddie’s.
“Would I? With you? Never.” He tried to avoid looking at the man’s face but it was near impossible, especially when he heard him give a gasp as if you’d wounded him.
“And why is that? Don’t you think this right here is a bonding experience? You’ve marked me for life, the least I could do is repay you with something other than money.” Eddie watched you cover go to double dip, he was too distracting.
“Oh so this is intimate to you huh?” You went ahead and started going in on the finishing touches before he could reply with words, pulling a low hum from him that was drowned out by the buzz of the machine.
“Ugh! Fuck you..” He finally chirped when you stopped, pulling his arm off of the cushioned rest. He hadn’t been ready.
“You wish Munson.” You flashed him a cheeky smile as he held his arm, eyes on you. His mouth was slightly agape as if he’d heard something pornographic.
“Get your dirty little hands off that thing before you get it infected, Alcohol and then we’re done.” Dirty? Alcohol? Done?
“What the fuck, we’re done? It’s already done?” He pulled his hand off of his arm and stretched it back out in front of him, admiring your work silently. Until you grabbed your green tinted bottle of alcohol off of your station and gave it a spray. He could have killed you, he felt like you’d tried to kill him. It worse than getting the damn thing done times eleven!
“Oh no you don’t!” You dropped the bottle and quickly reached forward to grab his hands to keep him from touching it again. Once again you found yourself so close to his face, you could see every line in it as he bit his lip, looking back at you with a pained, pitiful expression.
“You did that on purpose.”
Y/N chuckled and nodded his head before they locked eyes again. “I had to. You know, disinfectant n’ all.”
“One star review, no, zero star review. ‘The cute tatted up bastard assaulted me when we were done, I demand a refund.’ That’s what I’m going to say.”
Your eyebrows shot up hearing that. It was a funny joke, but ‘cute’? That was blatant disrespect. That was hurtful. And it was flirting.
“I’m charging you full price now, two ounces of your best. Delivered.” You made sure to lean in closer as you inundated the curly haired man with certain feelings. He could smell the smoke on your breath from earlier you were so close.
“Jokes on you big guy, I can only get one ounce at a time.”
“Sounds like you need a new guy then.” Y/N let him go and immediately stood up to go retrieve the one thing he’d forgotten, a sheet of plastic wrap. Eddie was floored, perhaps even enamored. Were you some kind of jack-of-all-trades?
“You got the number for one?”
And the rest is history. Eddie wasn’t smooth by any means, but he had successfully gotten both a hot man’s phone number and some new ink. And in the end he made sure to promise to only come to them from here on out, with more money next time.
