Jongerry tattoos?
Jon gnawed on his bottom lip, trying very hard not to wrinkle his carefully put together resume, as he stared at the double doors to the Magnus Institute. He itched for a cigarette, but he was trying to quit and stinking like smoke would be a very poor first impression.
“Right,” he muttered to himself. “It’s just an interview, Jon. Not the end of the world.”
“You’d be surprised what could be the end of the world.”
Jon jerked around, crushing his resume. There was a man just a few steps behind him, decked out in all black, old leather jacket, combat boots, and his long black hair looking like it had been dyed in a sink. An unlit cigarette was squeezed between two fingers, even his nails were painted black.
“P-pardon?”
The man shrugged and put the cigarette in his mouth, but didn’t light it. A bold black eye inked on his middle finger stared at him and Jon stared right back.
“I’m trying to quit,” the man said as if that explained something.
“What? Oh.”
Jon realized he’d misinterpreted his staring. He didn’t bother correcting him. It was less embarrassing to let him think he was thrown off by the unlit cigarette instead of waiting for his tattoo to blink. Which. Was stupid. Very, very stupid.
“Uh. Me too.”
“You going in to make a statement?”
“N-no. I have an interview.”
Jon dropped his gaze to his ruined resume. Mr. Bouchard had a copy of it already of course but this felt like a bad sign. The man studied him. A little shiver worked its way up Jon’s spine.
“You should skip it,” the man held out a surprisingly well-printed but somewhat tattered business card.
Jon took it, brows furrowed. Pinhole Books. Mary Keay. Another name was scrawled just above the the crossed out Mary.
“Gerard?”
“That’s me.”
“You own a bookstore?”
“…more like an eclectic collection of antique books.”
Jon felt a chill sweep over him, more severe than Gerard’s scrutiny had.
“Like Leitners?”
Gerard’s gaze focused on him intensely.
“Used to,” he said carefully. “I prefer destroying them now.”
Jon crumpled his resume into a ball.
“How does one go about doing that?”______________
Send me prompts
