Work Text:
“Hey Ben. Got a walk-in for you.”
Ben grunted, wiping away a bead of ink from the fourth fine-line rib tattoo of the day. The beta woman he was working on was tense under his gloved hands, and hadn't relaxed a fraction since they'd started.
Lexi, by her own admission, spoke alpha grunt fluently. She only gave him a second before she kicked at the bottom of his stool.
“Custom ink, paying cash. Yes or no?”
Ben grunted again.
“Please use your words,” Lexi begged. When Ben didn’t respond, she kicked his stool again. “Hey. Alpha.”
Ben bit down, ignoring the shiver that went down his spine. Lexi was gifted in making the supposed submission a challenge at the same time.
“You're going to fuck up this pass.” Ben wiped again, ignoring Lexi’s look. “And then I’m going to have to cover it. Is that what you want?”
“What?” the beta woman asked anxiously. Ben nudged her elbow, gently moving her back into position.
“He's joking,” Lexi said, making a face where the beta couldn't see her. Her eyes were like hot coals burning into his back. “Kid’s willing to let you design it and everything. He asked for the best freehander.”
That was interesting. Ben rounded off the tail of the cursive y, then leaned back to examine his work. My Story wrapped around the beta’s ribs, legible even when her chest expanded with breath.
“All done,” Ben murmured, tapping her arm. The hint of alpha rumble in his voice woke her up. “I’ll wrap it, then you know the drill.”
Lexi waited patiently -- her version of it, which was impatiently leaning in the doorway and tapping her foot -- until the client was gone and Ben’s workspace was cleaned up, sanitized, and prepared for the next client.
“I need a yes or no,” she said, putting her hands on her hips. “Or I’m finally going to figure out how to work that gun and do it myself.”
Ben stared at his mate, unable to help the smile that spread across his face. “Sure you are.”
The hint of alpha still lingering in his voice sent a flush up Lexi’s neck and into her cheeks. Still, she raised her eyebrows, waiting for an answer.
He couldn’t ever tell her no.
“Dynamic?”
“Hm,” Lexi said, which was a surprise, considering her nose. “Maybe a beta? He didn't smell like much, to be honest. Maybe a whiff of something almost sweet.”
“Beta or Omega is fine,” Ben said. He jerked his head at the chair. “Send him in. He say anything else about what he wanted?”
“Nada. I screened him already though, so no swastikas or anything like that.” Lexi tapped the doorway with a closed fist. “I’ll send him back. Please don’t grunt at him. At least say hi.”
The door closed. Ben hid a smile in his hand, playing it off like he was stroking his beard. As if on cue, Lexi’s mating bite on his neck began to itch, like she was mentally trying to set her teeth into it just to bug him.
“Hi.”
Ben looked up. Then he continued to look up, and up, until his eyes surmounted all six and a half feet of his next client. He was a redhead, nebulously twenty-something, and -- like Lexi had mentioned -- barely smelled like anything at all.
Pushing back his chair, Ben stood up, offering his hand. The kid stared at it for a moment, then shook back with a surprisingly pleasant grip. Not trying to crush his fingers or leaving him chasing the ghost of a handshake.
“I’m Ben,” Ben said. He waved at the chair. “Take a seat and let me know what you’re thinking.”
“Roy,” the kid said, giving him a respectful nod. Ben nodded back, pleased by the slight flash of his neck. Roy was a bit of a traditionalist, which didn’t bother him.
Once seated, the kid pulled off his long-sleeved shirt, baring his arms. Ben leaned in, examining the tattoos that covered his arms.
“Nice stuff,” Ben said. He tilted his head to the side, spotting a few empty spaces. “You looking for something to fill ‘em in?”
“Yeah.” Roy glanced down at his right arm, turning it over. “This one, I think. By the inside of the…”
“The elbow,” Ben finished for him. He looked up, only for the kid to duck the eye contact again. “That’s one of the most painful spots. You know that, right? Lots of nerve endings and thin skin. And healing it’s a bitch.”
“I’m okay with that.”
It was spoken with confidence, and Ben wasn’t the kind of person to ask more than once. He considered the spot one last time, thinking.
“Any direction on design?”
The kid shook his head. “I trust you.”
It was a hell of a gamble, but Ben respected that. He reached for his gloves, snapping the first one on.
“Let’s get started then.”
Roy wasn’t much of a talker, and Ben hadn’t expected him to be one. He could clock that kind of thing the moment a walk-in client sat down. Some were anxious, and used talking as a way to dispel that emotion. Some clients just didn’t like silence. And some clients, like Roy, seemed perfectly content to close their eyes, dozing off as the tattoo gun buzzed.
Ben settled on outlining his space first, looping through one of the existing tattoos to create a slim circle. He used the rest of Roy’s tattoos to guide the design, noting the heavy emphasis on symbolism and shading.
The cuff on his upper right bicep looked like a bird of prey’s talons, upon closer examination. A vaguely-Byzantine tattoo filled in the bottom, beautiful strokes outlining the silhouette of an archer, bow drawn and ready to fire. Across from the archer on the opposite arm was a wolf, so realistic, Ben’s back ached at the thought of how many hours it must have taken his artist.
The circle began to expand with shading and texture. Ben braced himself for the first jerk or jump that always happened with clients, experienced or not, but as the needle entered the crook of his elbow, Roy didn’t move a muscle.
Must be nice, Ben thought, slightly jealous. He scanned the kid’s face just in case, but his jaw was slack and his eyes weren’t clenched shut. A hint of scent tickled his nose, but it didn’t smell like stress, so he continued.
As he started to fill in the scales one by one, shading as he went, the scent became stronger. Ben paused at one point, clearing his nose to try and scent it clearer.
Alpha.
His eyes narrowed. The kid had a good act going if he’d been able to keep that hidden for this long. Lexi wouldn’t have turned him away point-blank, but neither of them were particularly inclined to alpha scents stinking up the tattoo rooms. Alphas tended to let more than a polite amount of aggression and pain pheromones into the air around them, especially when the tattoo became more painful as time went on.
Ben had had more than a few alpha clients lurch up and take a swing at him when that threshold was crossed. They could go from limp and trembling to a full-on alpha challenge in seconds, latching onto his scent and deciding, because he was the closest alpha, he was responsible for their pain.
He wasn’t going to kick out the kid with a half-finished tattoo, but it was a close thing.
“You’re an alpha.”
Roy blinked. He gave Ben a dazed look, like he hadn’t expected to be spoken to.
“Yeah. Unfortunately.”
Huh. Ben bent back down, trying not to make direct eye contact. If the kid read it as submission, so be it. “Unfortunately?”
“I have a…” Roy trailed off, his brows pinching together. “I have a problem with instinct, sometimes.”
Ben hummed, risking a slight hint of alpha in his own voice. Luckily, the kid didn’t start at that either; if anything, he relaxed even further.
“Too much instinct, or not enough?”
Roy’s lips split into a rueful smile. “Too much.”
“I can understand that.”
It took a few minutes, close to a half hour, for the kid’s scent to begin to emerge. The rigid hold he’d had didn’t disappear or fragment. Rather, it slipped away, like he’d removed an unnecessary layer. The small room began to fill with his scent almost instantly, causing the air filter behind the small table to kick into higher gear.
Ben braced himself for a bitter inhale, already anticipating the kind of pheromones a 20-year-old alpha could pump out. But the scent that filled up his nose and mouth was -- beautiful. It wasn’t the right word for an alpha scent, but it was the only one he could think of in that moment.
Beautiful. A scent filled with the deep, rich tones of whiskey and a hint of something wild Ben had only ever associated with Pack Alphas, when they’d still been around. Something that burned even when suppressed, a scent that was so alpha, in the most basic sense of the word, that it outstripped any alpha challenge scent turned its way.
It was the kind of scent that came from being utterly at peace with one’s instincts. It wasn’t turned in Ben’s direction, but that didn’t stop him from leaning forward and chasing the scent. Instead of setting him on edge, the scent reassured him. It made the alpha instinct in his body stand on end, watching but not wary. If he concentrated, he could almost feel the way Roy’s alpha was looking at him, like recognizing like even though the kid’s eyes were shut and his attention was far, far away.
Caution won out eventually, even though his instincts insisted he was safe. Ben shook the kid’s arm, chirping softly.
“Kid.”
Roy remained in whatever trance he’d entered, blank-faced and limp. His shoulders had rolled back slightly, lending him a more confident kind of posture. The kid had walked in the room hunched over, his scent so tightly locked down, even Lexi hadn’t been able to sense the powerful alpha simmering under his skin.
You’re an alpha.
Yeah. Unfortunately.
Unfortunately?
I have a problem with instinct, sometimes.
Ben returned to his initial outline, altering it slightly. Two tail-ends were added to the circle, one slightly larger than the other. It shifted the focus of the tattoo to the right, but luckily, there was still space there.
If the kid noticed the change in direction, he didn’t say anything. Instead, his eyes fluttered closed and his breaths became slow and measured. It almost looked like he was asleep, even though Ben’s instincts told him otherwise.
With the new design in mind, Ben began to follow Roy’s breaths as he continued, inhaling and exhaling when he did. The kid’s scent continued to intensify as the first hour passed, overwhelming the air filter and sinking Ben so deep into his own instincts, he barely even noticed.
It was like thinking without words. Typically, it took him a good hour and a half to settle into what Lexi called his creative mode. But with the kid’s scent in his nose, breathing alongside his alpha, it had taken barely a few minutes. What had originally been a simple tattoo had become something sacred. Ritualistic.
Ben honored the alpha and the man, combining the two in his design. The Ouroboros he’d started out with in his mind was now a two-headed snake, twisted into the Greek alpha symbol. Instead of swallowing itself, the snake’s heads were separated by a small space. One head stared straight ahead at the viewer; the other had its eyes closed, its head bent forward, but not in submission.
When he was three-quarters of the way done, Lexi knocked on the door. Ben grunted, only realizing after that he couldn’t think of a single word to say to her.
His mate stepped into the room, closing the door behind her. Her eyes found his, a deep blue that charmed potential clients and hid an unexpectedly wicked sense of humor. Within a few seconds, her pupils began to dilate, swallowing the blue of her irises.
“Oh,” Lexi said, and put out a hand to grab the closest flat surface -- the cabinet next to the door. She blinked a few times, shaking her head to clear the scent, but seemed unsuccessful.
Ben rumbled something that was almost a word. She half-walked, half-stumbled over to him, flattening herself along his back and locking her arms around his waist. The breath she let out next to his mating bite made him shiver.
“Knew he wasn’t a beta.” Lexi’s arms tightened around his waist. She lowered her head, pressing her face between his shoulderblades. “I feel like I’m fucking high.”
Ben turned his head to the side. Lexi met him with a kiss that deepened and deepened, forcing him to abandon the tattoo gun on the table and reach for her with both hands.
It wasn’t like being in rut, or during Lexi’s heats. It was like a reminder -- scenting an alpha this strong, remembering the instincts that stretched between them already that had been shunted to the side as they’d built this business. It reminded him how much he cherished the word alpha in her voice, teasing or otherwise. It made him want to grab her from behind, dig his thumbs into the soft flesh of her hips, and cradle the slightly-softer belly between them until she sank back against him, relieved of her own duty to protect that vulnerability.
It made him remember the alpha that didn’t live inside him -- the one who was him. And the omega inside his wife, who’d never whined this much outside of heat. Who rarely gave into this kind of scenting and instinct without reassurance and a good twenty minutes of her nose buried in his scent gland.
Lexi broke off the kiss eventually, tipping their foreheads together and letting him catch his breath. Ben continued kissing down her neck, setting his incisors, delicately, against her mating bite. It was a rarity for a modern omega, and more prominent than Lexi’s family had liked. And yet, it felt like the very first time all over again, when he’d bitten her mid-heat and felt the world explode around them.
“Client,” Lexi breathed, even though she was trembling against him. “Baby. Alpha. Alpha.”
Ben pulled off reluctantly. He met his mate’s eyes, realizing his pupils had to be just as dilated as hers. Beautiful blue eyes, fully swallowed by the black of instinct. She had never been more alive than in this exact moment.
“I’m sorry,” Lexi whispered, trailing a hand along his jaw. Ben leaned into the touch. “What are you giving him?”
Ben lifted the cloth he’d hastily thrown over the open tattoo, showing her the outline. Lexi hummed low in her throat, pleased.
“Yeah, that’s fitting.” She glanced at him, then back to the kid. “That’s probably the only alpha tattoo I’d let you get away with. The rest of them are so douchey.”
He grunted, acknowledging his mate’s excellent point. This wasn’t a walk-in alpha stinking of booze and declaring his designation long before he ever walked into the shop. The alpha wasn’t a symbol that the kid’s life orbited around, or some sort of touchstone to keep with him. It was him.
Divided against himself, but still one being. The heads were opposite, facing off against their twin, but they shared a body. And without both heads, the alpha couldn’t be drawn.
Ben continued the tattoo with Lexi on the stool behind him, half-asleep against his back. Maybe it was the slow afternoon, or just the kid’s scent, but she didn’t race back up to the front like she usually did. When her nose grazed his mating bite, the shiver of his hand became the texture for a snake scale, or a shadow under the tails.
At the end, he switched inks, grabbing a shimmery red tone he rarely even looked at, much less used on clients. The shade was built on a silvery-grey base, lending it a slightly holographic appearance. The red tones would only appear when the arm moved.
Alpha red, Ben thought as he built up the shading he’d already completed. It was more than fitting for the kid. And, in the same way he kept his own instincts caged up, the red would only appear when he allowed it to.
When the tattoo was finally complete, it took him a moment to remember how to speak. He craned his head over his shoulder, huffing softly at his mate to wake her up.
“G’na,” Ben frowned, clearing his throat. “Gonna wake him. It’s done.”
Lexi pulled away from him, getting back on her feet with the assistance of the back of Ben’s stool. She smoothed down her bangs, nodding her head.
“How much you wanna charge him?”
Ben glanced down at the tattoo, and the sleeping alpha attached to it. Having a moment like that with his mate was priceless. Even if pressed, he wouldn’t have charged the kid. Not when the tattoo was a gift from one alpha to another. A reminder passed along in ink, in return for the reminder Roy’s presence had sunk into him.
“It’s on the house.”
Lexi’s eyebrows lifted, but she didn’t comment. Her eyes darted down to his lips, then back up to his face. Just as she began to turn away, she tilted her head to the side, baring her neck.
Alpha.
The empty ink capsule shattered into a mess of plastic in Ben’s hand. It took him a moment to unclench his hand, picking the pieces out individually and throwing them into the garbage can. When he was done, he sanitized his hands again, ensuring there was no trace of red across his palms.
“Hey.” Ben nudged the kid’s arm. “Kid. You’re done.”
Roy remained unresponsive. He didn’t seem like the kind of alphas who got off on pretending to be asleep, which was a mercy. Still, Ben wanted him awake either way.
“Kid. Roy.” Ben cleared his throat, raising his voice. “Roy.”
The unintentional crack of alpha-command in his voice caused the kid to snap up into a seated position, reaching on either side of him for something to hold onto. His eyes darted around the room, bright with alpha red from the pupil to the corners of his eyes.
All at once, the scent pulled back. The eyes dimmed into a light, almost green color. The feeling of alpha that had permeated the space for so long was ripped away, folded down somehow back into the kid and locked down tightly.
Ben grunted, grateful that Lexi hadn’t been present to witness the shift. It hurt, somewhere deep in his instincts, to feel a fellow alpha shove down so much of himself and pretend it wasn’t there. The scent that had smelled like whiskey and felt like war drums and crackling fire -- it was gone, every single atom of it.
“We’re done,” Ben said gently. Roy blinked at him, then jerked his head up and down. His eyes lowered to Ben’s chin in deference. Deferring to him.
Ben ignored the deference, exhaling. He held up the Saniderm.
“Want to see your arm before I wrap it?”
Roy immediately looked down at his arm. Ben heard the breath catch in his chest, a soft noise that sounded like surprise and felt, almost, like dismay.
It was a hard lesson, but Ben didn’t regret passing it on. Even if the kid didn’t appreciate it now, one day -- one day, he would. He knew that in his very bones. This would be an alpha to watch for. The kind that emerged only every few generations. They all found their Pack and meaning eventually. Even if modern customs had made it so much harder.
“I…” Roy trailed off. He looked up at Ben. “Thank you. It’s beautiful work.”
“It’s on the house,” Ben said, just to watch the kid flinch. He held up a hand. “And that’s not negotiable. You try to pay my mate and I’ll put you on your ass out front.”
The kid was smart, and he put the picture together quickly. “The woman out front is your mate?”
Ben gestured for the kid to stand. Roy complied, trailing behind him as they headed up front. It felt strange to have the kid behind him when he’d seen the nuclear bomb of instinct he was carrying deep inside of him.
Lexi greeted them by the front desk, slightly more put together than she’d been before. Her eyes were still a little dilated.
“How’d it go?” she asked the kid. “You were conked out for a while there.”
“Yeah, I guess I just,” Roy shook his head, “fell asleep or something. I was going to meditate, but I guess I needed a nap.”
Lexi took the receipt from him, underlining the brief description he’d added of the tattoo and then, with a vicious flick of her pen, crossed out his zeros for good measure. She handed the receipt to Roy, who looked just as stunned as he had in the back.
“Please let me pay for something,” the kid pleaded. “I can pay for the materials, or the tip, or--”
“No.”
Lexi was the Omega, and her word was law. Ben raised his eyebrows, amused by the way Roy’s mouth snapped shut, cutting off whatever he’d been about to say.
“You can leave a review if you’d like,” she said, tucking a shop card into his hand. “Do you need extra wrap, honey?”
Roy stared at her for a moment, speechless. Ben would have gotten a little huffy if he couldn’t see the desperation in the kid’s eyes. Like he’d never been ordered around by a stubborn, loving omega before.
“I’ll add some extra to your aftercare bag,” Lexi said eventually. She reached down below the counter, digging through the bins. Ben took that as his cue.
He rounded the counter, slipping behind his wife. It was, on the surface, a defensive posture. A don’t look don’t you dare reminder to a rival alpha. But it was more than it appeared. It was him standing alongside his mate, matching bites displayed even though the custom had died out in their families decades prior.
You can have this too, Ben’s alpha whispered. If you want it enough. If you LET yourself want it.
Roy’s head jerked to the side, ducking his eye contact. Ben sighed, letting it go. Even though every instinct in his body wanted to shake the kid until his head was on straight and the alpha wasn’t eating him alive from within. Until the two heads realized what they shared, and represented, between the two of them.
“Here you go,” Lexi said, straightening up. She added extra Saniderm to the bag, added the aftercare instructions and ointment, and sealed it. She pushed the bag across the counter, smiling when Roy reached for it.
“Thank you,” Roy said to them both. The two words held a hit of alpha tone. Just enough to give Ben hope.