DRAWING STARS AROUND MY SCARS;

𝘐 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦. 𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝙬𝙚𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙨, 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘬𝘺. 𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝙧𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘮 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘸𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢 𝙗𝙪𝙧𝙙𝙚𝙣 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘴 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘐 𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘐 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭? 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝘣𝘺 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙙 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦.

[thomasbautista]

𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐌𝐀𝐒 𝐁𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐀 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐊𝐄𝐑 ›› tattoo artist ‣ agender (he/him & they/them)

he reminds me of staying under the covers on rainy mornings, soft hands sending shivers through your body as they caress your skin, late night parties with your best friends, staying up to watch the sun rise, the warm colors painting the trees during fall.

— info — wanted connections

[daily-men]

CHARLES MICHAEL DAVIS photographed by Kat Holt

[thomasbautista]

— SETTING: birdsong park ; sunday morning — AVAILABILITY: closed starter for EVIE GIBSON | ( @eviexgibson )

Usually, when Xavier wasn't around for him to annoy and/or he hadn't spent the night before either gaming with Sully or rolling on someone else's bed, Thomas could easily be found at the park, sketching bypassers. It helped him exploring different drawing styles, so it was a past time that would also help him grow into a better artist. iPad in hand, he stopped himself when a colored ball rolled to his feet, causing him to look up and smile at the blonde approaching him. "Hey! Candy canes lady!" He remembered her coming over with a friend during the Santa in the Sands event and getting candy canes tattooed. "How you doing? This yours?" He picked the ball up, offering it to her.

[xavierramzi]

Had it really been so obvious? To Tom, he wasn't certain that things had to be spelled out for the man to notice. No, that came with the territory of knowing one another as well as they did. "Old grump, huh?" Tongue swiped over his bottom lip as he swallowed down the bitterness that coated it. He'd been busy, sure, but he hadn't known he'd been that outwardly distracted. "I have a life. I've been staying in the city a lot. Do you really think the only thing I do there is work?"

[thomasbautista]

Staying in the city a lot, to Thomas, meant not coming home and subsequently, it meant not getting some rest, so of course Thomas could only think that's what had been happening to his friend. He'd known Xavier practically his whole life—and even though the duo only grew attached to the hip after becoming adults, Thomas still cared about him like he was a younger brother, so of course he worried if Xavier was overworking himself. "Isn't it though?" He glanced to his side as he jogged to one of those basketball-esque arcades. "You've got that seriousness to you. I can't help but think it's been all work and no play for Jack. Am I wrong? Is Jack having some play?"

[thomasbautista]

— SETTING: upper hand — AVAILABILITY: closed starter for MARCUS BISHOP | ( @marcusbishop )

Thomas had just said goodbye to his last client of the night. He was going to start cleaning up his station to go home, but he was so damn proud of his latest creation that he felt like it would be okay to show it to Marcus before doing so. "Hey, check this out." He popped onto the empty reclining chair in Marcus working area and showed his phone. It showed the first session of the tattoo he'd just finished, with just a few of the stencil lines under the black lines of the contour. "Pretty dope, isn't it? Swipe left to check it already healed before we started working on this session." Now, Tom wasn't really into bragging about his own art, but sometimes, he really felt like he'd done one hell of a job. "Do you want to post it on our Instagram feed?"

[thomasbautista]

— SETTING: the bar at paradise point ; saturday night — AVAILABILITY: closed starter for NIKO STEWART | ( @nikostewart )

Sometimes, a change of scenario was good for the soul, so when Niko asked if they could meet at the bar of Paradise Point, sure, Thomas didn't mind at all. He would probably just stick to the regular beer unless Niko was buying because he needed his precious money for other things, but Tom was more than okay with just beer. Hell, he loved beer, too. Upon spotting Niko in one of the VIP booths, he couldn't help but to chuckle, especially since there seemed to be a handsome waiter swooning over him.

"I see you've started the party without me." He smirked, motioning his head to the waiter, who shyly stepped away. "Aw man, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to shoo your boy away. I'm sure he'll be back. You're like a dick magnet anyways." He teased. "How are things?"

[thomasbautista]

— SETTING: pinewood social house ; sunday — AVAILABILITY: closed starter for XAVIER RAMZI | ( @xavierramzi )

"I'm telling you..." Thomas continued as they both hopped out of Xavier's car and started making their way towards the social house, which was a place Tom used to take Xavier to when the latter was a kid and Tom and his family would come around in the summer. Granted, they had a few years of difference in age there, but Thomas had always enjoyed how kid Xavier ran around asking him to play. It was something he used as ammo to poke fun of serious, adult Xavier nowadays. "...all you need is to get your ass kicked in the arcades to forget about whatever's been making you feel like an old grump." He chuckled. "Is it life, Zay? Is the lack of it? Because I'm not even sure if you have a life these days. All you do is work, man."