Four

by Tia Fielding

  COUPLE OF days later, they were discussing music in the living room.

  “I need more wine for System of a Down,” Francis complained, but Kaos shushed him and turned on some song that was deceptively calm in the beginning and horribly loud soon after.

  “Can we go back to your grandma’s favorites?” Padraig asked over the music, and Kaos grinned at him, then danced around the living room with Hestia jumping around him.

  Padraig glanced at Francis, and his gaze landed, for the third time that day, on the hickey on Francis’s neck, by his collarbone. It was yellow now, but it had been violently purple and black on Friday when Francis had done his walk of shame with his head held high. They hadn’t asked, because Francis didn’t seem to be ready to talk about who he’d spent the night with.

  When Kaos was far enough toward the kitchen with Hestia, Francis moved like a snake, grabbed the phone Kaos had been using to play his music, and swiped quickly several times. Some gritty rock song Padraig didn’t recognize started to play, and Kaos whirled around. Then the chorus started, and Padraig’s jaw dropped right along with Kaos’s.

  “‘Fuck Me Like You Hate Me’?” Kaos walked closer to the couch. “Francis….”

  “No, never mind. I just…. Let me pour more wine,” Francis said, doing so, but his hand shook.

  Padraig shot a look at Kaos, who seemed equally as worried. “Hey,” Padraig said, and waited until Francis looked at him, very obviously ready to bolt. “How about we show the kid Birdcage tonight, eh?”

  Francis gave him a wobbly smile. “Yeah, I think that’s a good idea.”

  “Didn’t you say it’s part of the queer card test?” Kaos chimed in. “I’m obviously not a proper queer person yet, so chop chop! I’ll make popcorn—you guys find the film on some streaming service.”

  “Streaming service?” Francis placed a theatrical hand over his chest.

  “I’m pretty sure I have the VHS somewhere in this house…,” Padraig mused out loud.

  “Oh my God, you two are so old!” Kaos called over his shoulder.

  Padraig held his hand out and pulled Francis to his side. “You don’t have to talk about him. But don’t for a second think you can’t. No matter who he is, okay?” Padraig had a pretty good idea, after some things Kaos had told him and things he’d observed himself, but he didn’t want to pressure Francis.

  “I know. Thank you.”

  “Anything for family.”

  They showed Kaos Birdcage and gave Hestia to Francis for the night for comfort, and the next morning, he seemed better.

  WORK PICKED up in the spring. The season meant new life, and that always showed in a veterinarian’s office.

  Hestia and all her even-remotely local siblings had been spayed or neutered, so at least Padraig didn’t have to worry about her. There would be the mandatory lessons people learned the hard way, and puppies and kittens, along with other unwanted animal babies, the further into the spring they went.

  Kaos was having fun at Pink Ink, but since Marcus’s former clinic had officially been licensed as a place where he could tattoo people, he was planning on opening a tattoo shop, along with the souvenir shop, in mid-April. He was staying with Christa until then, because her next guest artist wasn’t available before.

  Things had settled down, and everyone around town treated Padraig and Kaos like a couple. Even when Kaos was in his most feminine days and wore heeled knee-high boots and enough makeup to really be noticed, nobody said a bad word, at least not to their faces.

  Cecil and Diana Stevens got a divorce. They’d owned the camping grounds in town for decades, but decided to sell it after they both wanted to get out of town. Old Man Lewis had passed while on vacation in Florida with his wife. He’d run the garage for as long as Padraig could remember. Mrs. Lewis moved out of town, and the garage was for sale too. Seeing the place empty on its lot at the end of the main town area, right next to the Tripod, was sad, mostly because Padraig was used to the lights on when he looked across the road as he left work in the evenings.

  Personally, Padraig hoped more young people would move into Acker and keep the town alive. He wasn’t holding his breath for that, though, but at least the camping situation would be better after the new owner fixed everything up.

  On a Saturday about a week before the grand opening of the “clinic shop,” as the locals were starting to call it, Padraig, Kaos, and Francis asked around for help to get the interior of the shop properly decorated and all the shelves and things ready. It shouldn’t have been a surprise that people volunteered immediately. They were put into two shifts, because while the space was comfortable, it couldn’t hold too many people inside.

  There were plans, of course, because that was just how serious Kaos was about it, and his preparations on paper had been enough for the inspector who had come to look at the space for his license.

  Because the room was split into three—with the front being the biggest, the middle being slightly smaller, and the very back, with the door that led to Padraig’s clinic, being very, very small—they’d gotten creative.

  Kaos would tattoo in the middle part and have some smart storage solutions there for anything they might need. The back room had a tiny bathroom that someone Makai’s size had problems fitting in, and a break room that consisted of a minuscule table, a sink, and a chair. There was a microwave in a cupboard on the wall, but it was… well, tiny.

  The front was the souvenir shop. There was a small counter in the back corner, and the rest of the space would be organized to hell—because, let’s face it, it was the only way this could work.

  But first, in the morning shift of the operation, there was assembling to do.

  “Okay, so, this is what we’ll do,” Kaos said, clapping his hands to get everyone’s attention. “I’m going to be in the middle room, painting the mural on the wall. Padraig is half here and half at the clinic, so he’ll do whatever he can but concentrate on the animals. Makai and Jason, if you two could go get the pastry display case from the diner and be super careful with it, I’d appreciate that. Once you’re done, Francis will direct you some more.”

  Makai and Jason left immediately, and the rest of the room turned to Kaos once more.

  “Now, Emil, Nora, and Francis, you three figure out the assembly line for the shelves, then use the guys for whatever help you need with that once they get back.” Then he looked at little Joy—she was having a girl day and was wearing pink overalls and had her hair in braids—and her mother Lotte, and smiled. “You two ladies are in charge of figuring out where the photos go on this wall. The shelves go to here and here”—he gestured at the appropriate spots as he explained—“so you have these spaces to fill with the frames. Figure out an order you want to use and call me to take a look before you make any holes in the wall.”

  Everyone seemed happy to follow his lead.

  Once people started to work, Kaos went into the middle room. He’d had an idea of a mural and was going to paint it in parts, some now and some in the afternoon. He’d finish detailing it early next week before the furniture—the biggest part was what Kaos had called a tattoo bed, which sounded oddly scary to Padraig—arrived.

  Padraig went after him, and as soon as they were out of the view of people in the front, he grabbed Kaos’s wrist gently. Kaos turned and smiled at him, not a bit surprised, it seemed, and came to him willingly. They kissed, but soon the sounds from outside signaled that Makai and Jason were back with the standing pastry display case.

  “I love you,” Kaos whispered against Padraig’s mouth, then pecked him on the lips and stepped back.

  “Love you too, sweetheart.” A knock sounded from the door between the clinic and the shop, and Athena, who was in for an extra shift to help at the shop in the afternoon, called to him. “I got to go. Have fun!”

  Padraig turned to go, and Kaos sneakily squeezed his ass and winked at him when he looked over his shoulder. Athena smirked wickedly at his blush, then assisted him in giving a very large
Maine Coon an ultrasound.

  IN THE afternoon, sisters Erin and Evy Peters—one of the deputies and a local therapist respectively—came to take over some of the work. They brought goodies, because while Leah and Stuart couldn’t leave the diner, they’d sent some food for those who stayed behind, finishing up the shop. They had all worked through lunchtime, so Padraig and Athena joined Kaos, Makai, Emil, Francis, and the sisters in the front for snacks.

  “This looks awesome already,” Erin commented, gesturing around the space with her burrito.

  “Yeah, it really is nice,” Evy agreed, her dreads falling over her shoulder as she peered into the tattoo studio. “Loving the art, Kaos.”

  “Thanks!”

  The door opened, and the last person Padraig had thought would get involved, especially with such a collection of queer people—literally everyone inside right then, as Athena had come out to him as bisexual a while back—in the same space.

  “Mark,” Erin said, sounding confused about her colleague’s appearance.

  “Uh, I went to eat at the Tripod, and Leah sent over some shakes for you guys,” he said, almost scuffing his boot on the floor.

  Deputy Forrest looked sheepish, clearly uncertain of his welcome, and for good reason.

  “I brought coffees to those who Leah said would prefer it instead, and the muffins are on me. As a… you know, sorry. For the LGBTQ community in town.”

  Everyone in the room tensed slightly, and a distinct red was rising along Forrest’s cheeks, which were covered in dark blond scruff.

  Kaos cleared his throat. “Okay, I’m the second newest part of this community, but this is mostly my business, my space, so it’s up to me to say this.” He got to his feet from where he’d perched on a chair, and Padraig saw Forrest shrink into himself minutely as soon as Kaos stepped closer. “It’s a start, okay? From what I hear, you’ve been a fucking asshole to everyone here since the summer.”

  Makai glowered in the corner where he sat with Emil, who put a calming hand on his arm.

  “That’s more than I can really ask for,” Forrest murmured. Then he seemed to make a decision and lifted his gaze, looking at each and every person in the room, ending at Francis. “I don’t expect you all to accept me into the community, let alone your circle, but I’m gay.”

  Emil looked like a physical manifestation of “I told you so” right then.

  “So treat us with kindness, and we’ll do the same to you,” Kaos said softly, then grabbed one of the bags and the tray of coffee, freeing one of Forrest’s arms. His other hand was still clutching a tray of the shakes very carefully.

  “Okay,” Forrest replied, then ducked his head. He started to figure out which shake was what flavor and doled them out to everyone.

  Francis hadn’t said anything and seemed to be holding himself very carefully as he accepted one of the coffees from Kaos.

  Evy and Erin chatted with Forrest, taking the tension out immediately as they were bound to do, and everyone continued to snack on the goods on offer.

  “You okay?” Kaos asked Francis, who nodded, the motion immediately drawing Forrest’s gaze from across the room.

  “Francis, when you’re done, can you come play nurse with some baby bunnies?” Padraig asked, and Athena seemed to understand what he was doing, despite not knowing anything about the situation.

  “Yeah, there are many little fluffy bottoms to check through and vaccinate. I could use extra help,” she said cheerfully.

  “Sure. I’ll finish this and come with you guys.” Francis looked relieved.

  Whatever was going on between him and Mark Forrest, Padraig didn’t have the whole story. Hell, he didn’t have any of the story, and he wouldn’t press. But he could give Francis an escape when he so obviously needed one.

  Chapter Seventeen

  KAOS LIFTED the tattoo machine and tilted his head, looking critically at the shadow he’d just created on Francis’s skin. “Can you sit fifteen more minutes?” he asked, and Francis nodded without taking off his headphones. Kaos dipped the needle in black ink and began to work again.

  The bell chimed over the door, and voices he didn’t know, including those of little kids, came through the partially closed curtain. Francis nodded again, and Kaos put the machine on the tray. He kept his hands up so he wouldn’t mess with hygiene, and elbowed his way past the curtain.

  He smiled. “Hi, guys, I’m Kaos. I run this place. Anything I can help you with?”

  “Hi. We’re just going through town again and noticed there was a shop here we haven’t seen before,” the thirtysomething man said, taking in the art on the wall.

  “We’ve come through here every year since the kids were little, so we’re excited for anything new,” a pretty woman maybe a few years younger than the man said, smiling back at Kaos. “Did we interrupt you?”

  “A little bit, but that’s why there’s a bell that I can hear over the tattoo machine.”

  “That’s so cool!” said the oldest of the three kids, a boy of maybe ten, his eyes as wide as saucers.

  “So cool,” parroted a girl, who must’ve been couple of years younger.

  The third one, a toddler, nodded vigorously with a thumb in their mouth.

  “Do you guys have any tattoos?” Kaos asked the kids, making the mom smile as she turned to look at the pastry display case.

  “Nuh-uh, we’re just kids!” the girl said in a tone that suggested Kaos was a bit stupid for asking.

  “Well, I might have a solution for that,” Kaos said, and the dad turned to look at him with interest. “I have temporary tattoos made from my own designs for kids, and I can also draw on your skin with body markers. They’re FDA approved, so nontoxic.”

  “I don’t see why not. But you were in the middle of something there?” The dad nodded toward the curtain, while the kids were quieted surprisingly efficiently by the mother when they started to squeal.

  “Fifteen minutes and I’ll be done. No other bookings today. Have you had lunch yet?”

  “No, we were going to Tripod, like we do every summer,” the mother replied.

  “Well, why don’t you go grab lunch and be back when you can? I’ll be here, and I’ll come up with some designs for you guys. Can you tell me your very favorite thing in the world?” Kaos took off the gloves and went to his notepad on the counter.

  The kids talked to themselves, and soon the boy came to him with determination in his face. “I like superheroes, but Cap is my favorite.”

  “Captain America, all right.” Kaos wrote it down, smiling. “And you?”

  The girl seemed to make up her mind and said, “Ponies.”

  “All right, and how about you?” Kaos asked the little one. “If you can’t come up with anything, there’s some I have ready if you want to look?” He tapped his folder of permanent tattoos.

  The child seemed to surprise even their parents. They pulled their thumb out with a pop and very carefully enunciated, “Applejack.”

  “You’re lucky—I draw a mean Applejack.” Kaos grinned at the kid, who grinned back before sticking the thumb right back into their mouth. “So, more real ponies or My Little Ponies for you?” he asked the sister.

  She confirmed that she’d meant the real ones.

  “Alrighty, then. Have a nice lunch, and I’ll see you soon!”

  The family filed out, and Kaos went back to Francis. He pulled on another pair of gloves and picked up the machine again.

  “You’re good at that,” Francis said quietly.

  “What?”

  “Little kids.”

  “I suppose so. All I know is they don’t want to be treated like little kids, so I tend to talk to them like I would anyone.” Kaos made sure he had fresh ink on the needle and started to work on the tattoo again.

  “Yeah,” Francis murmured, then turned his music back on.

  Francis was now splitting his time between Padraig and Kaos’s place, his workplace, and, Kaos suspected, Mark Forrest’s place as well. Francis had tak
en a job as a wealthy older couple’s personal nurse and had his own room there for when he was too tired to drive home after a workday.

  “Okay, all done,” Kaos said after ten more minutes, and wiped the tattoo down. He wasn’t sure of the significance, but it wasn’t his to ask, so he didn’t. He wrapped it up and took the payment from Francis.

  “See you tomorrow,” Francis said as he was leaving.

  “Yeah, remember to bring dessert!”

  “Will do! Bye!”

  They tried to eat together at least once every week, just to catch up, even when Francis’s clients weren’t doing so well. It wasn’t an easy situation in that household, and Francis was often tired when he came home. At least they could offer that to him, Kaos thought.

  HE DID the kiddy tattoos, sold the family some souvenirs, and then later in the afternoon, Padraig dropped off Hestia, who had been with him on some farm runs.

  “Come here, princess!” Kaos knelt to hug their blue-eyed girl, and then wiped slobber off his face before kissing Padraig. “Hey, stranger.”

  “Hey, yourself,” Padraig murmured, and deepened the kiss until they were both hard and aching.

  “Three more hours and then we can go home. Stop teasing me,” Kaos panted out when Padraig finally pulled back.

  “It’s not teasing if I plan to deliver,” Padraig replied smugly. Then he leaned down to pet Hestia. “Be a good girl. Daddy’s going to snip snap a boy dog now.”

  Kaos shivered delicately, making Padraig laugh.

  HESTIA LOVED the shop. She had her own spot on the window seat, where she lounged as the Lady of Kaos’s Ink & Things. She even had her own sign above her dog bed that said so, which made it official.

  With very little effort, she’d grown up to be a sensible, obedient, very pack-oriented young dog, and Kaos couldn’t have been more proud. She was half-asleep on her perch when her head snapped up and her tail tapped on the window.