Chapter 12

It was late at the tattoo shop, most the other artists gone already. Javier was cleaning his station when Messiah walked in, looking tired as hell from work.

"You still doing walk-ins?" Messiah asked, dropping into the chair by Javier's station like he belonged there.

"For you? Yeah." Javier turned, noticing how Messiah's shoulders was tense. "What you thinking about getting?"

"Something small. Just need to get out my head for a minute."

Javier studied him for a second. "You good?"

"Yeah." Messiah wasn't meeting his eyes though. "Just one of them days."

"I got time if you trying to talk about it." Javier kept his voice casual, knowing how quick Messiah would shut down if he pushed too hard.

For a minute it was quiet except for the music playing low in the background. Messiah was looking down at his hands, jaw tight like he was fighting with himself about something.

"My sister called today," he finally said, voice barely above a whisper.

Javier just nodded, letting him take his time.

"Ain't heard from her in minute. She... she still with them."

Javier ain't need to ask who "them" was - he'd picked up enough about Messiah's family situation to know it wasn't good.

"That's rough," he said quietly, moving to sit closer but not too close.

"Yeah." Messiah was still looking down. "She too young to be dealing with all that shit."

They sat in silence for a bit, Javier just being there while Messiah worked through whatever was going on in his head.

"You want that tattoo still?" Javier asked after a while. "Or we can just chill. I was bout to roll up anyway."

Messiah finally looked up. "Yeah that's cool."

Javier pulled out his stuff, rolling up with practiced movements while Messiah watched. When he lit it, he passed it over without saying nothing.

They passed it back and forth for a bit, that comfortable silence falling between them again. Messiah's shoulders started to relax slightly.

"You eat today?" Javier asked, noticing how Messiah was leaning back in the chair now, guard dropping bit by bit.

"Nah came straight here after work."

"I got you." Javier pulled out his phone to order food. "The usual?"

"How you know my usual?"

"Pay attention." Javier grinned at him. "Plus you always get the same thing when we grab food."

Messiah just shook his head but didn't argue. While they waited for the food, Javier started sketching something new.

"What's that?" Messiah asked, leaning closer to look.

"Something I been thinking about for your next piece. If you want it."

Messiah studied the design. "That's hard actually."

"Yeah? We can do it whenever you ready chiquito."

This time Messiah didn't even react to the nickname, just kept looking at the sketch. Their shoulders was touching slightly but neither one moved away.

The food came and they ate right there in the shop, talking about nothing really - soccer, tattoos, music. But something was different tonight. Like Messiah sharing that little bit about his sister had shifted something between them.

"You need a ride home?" Javier asked when they was done eating.

"Nah I got my car." Messiah stood up, stretching. "Good looking out though. For everything."

"Anytime." Javier walked him to the door. "You know where to find me if you need to get out your head again."

Messiah nodded, and for a second it looked like he wanted to say something else. But he just gave Javier that small smile that was showing up more often lately.

Later that night, Messiah was laying in bed trying to sleep. His cat was curled up next to him like always, but his mind kept going back to how easy it felt being around Javier. How dude just let him be quiet when he needed to be quiet, but somehow still knew exactly what to say when it mattered.

His phone lit up with a text.

"Get some sleep chiquito"

Messiah stared at the message, feeling something warm spread in his chest. He ain't used to nobody checking on him like this. Ain't used to nobody caring enough to notice when he wasn't okay.

"Whatever," he texted back, but he was smiling a little as he put his phone down.

Across town, Javier was in his room working on that design he'd shown Messiah. He kept thinking about how Messiah came to him when he was feeling messed up about his sister. How that meant something - dude who ain't trust nobody actually trusting him enough to be vulnerable.

"Taking it slow," he reminded himself. But he couldn't help smiling when he thought about how Messiah ain't move away when their shoulders was touching, how he seemed to feel safe in Javier's space.

Baby steps. But they was moving forward.