Chapter Text
They stepped into the shop, greeted with a single bell. Nothing extravagant, just a short chime. Its only purpose, to call attention to any who might enter, at least held true and someone’s voice called a greeting from a place just out of sight.
“Gimme just a sec, I’ll be right up there.”
Waiting for the shop’s current attendant to come into view, the two who stepped in, took the time to look around. The front of the parlor had dark painted walls adorned in photos with silver frames, and the lights came down to illuminate the rows of artworks on display. From the door to the edge of the counters, different sized frames were pressed together, leaving very little room for the black paint to peek through from behind—and yet, such tight placement didn’t appear cluttered. Corner to corner, more frames stretched and led back around to the other end, and both visitors glanced at each other from opposite ends of the entrance.
“I think this is definitely the right place, Goku. Look at some of these artworks,” a woman spoke to her companion, nodding over to a few particular framed photos. “These look similar, don’t they?”
“Ah, yeah, that’s exactly like what that lady had,” he nodded, very enthusiastic. He rummaged through a pocket for his phone, to thumb through his own photos to bring up the one he needed to compare with. He was on a mission and so far, this had been the best lead for what he wanted. Other promising ones had turned out be busts, but surely, after the picture he took the previous night, he had to be on the right track.
Holding up the phone, he zoomed in on the photo of the girl’s back. Even in the dim lighting, the intricate details were so well laid and stunning that Goku had actually made...a bit of a scene in order to get the photo at all. He needed to have the reference once he saw the sheer amount of fine work and the scale of it. The gentle flow of the Koi fish on her back had blended so perfectly in with her frilly costume, that he’d almost thought it was part of her dress. He almost thought it was an expensive fabric—like he’d expect of one of Bulma’s friends to wear.
But when he’d turned his head and saw the gentle curve of her back, dipping down to the waistband of a skirt, he’d realized it wasn’t fabric at all. Maybe it was paint. Maybe that was why he reached out and touched her. To see if it was paint. Of course, that didn’t excuse him from having done so. In retrospect, it was rude to intend to smudge her paint just to see if that was what it had been; but ultimately he determined that the beautiful array of lines and colors—flowing and yet detailed down to the hundreds of individual scales—were part of her skin. This artwork was a tattoo. This was what he wanted!
“She was kind to tell us where she had it done after you accosted her.”
“I didn’t cost her nothin’.”
A sigh followed immediately after and the woman shook her head, placing a hand to her forehead. “This is why I didn’t let you come alone, you know. You can’t be trusted when you’re with me, let alone without me.”
“Aw, c’mon Bulma...I did say I was sorry…” he avoided direct eye contact, because he knew she was giving him that look again. He’d nearly avoided being punched in the face by Bulma’s guest and caused everyone to stop what they were doing to sort out why he’d put his big hands on her bare back. Luckily, he was actually practiced in martial arts, with good reaction time, and hadn’t just come to Bulma’s party in a karate costume to be cute—he was just being lazy and didn’t care about dressing up. Her initial screeching had startled him, and even he was prepared to fight whoever touched her...Until he realized it was him and then he apologized profusely. So much so, that everyone was then confused.
The whole ordeal was wild ride and Bulma wasn’t ready to let go of it, reminding him that he needed to remember that people had boundaries and he wasn’t actually raised by actual monkeys.
But he really needed to know where her artwork had come from. When she was done threatening to leave her handprints on his cheeks, and with Bulma’s gentle explanations, she finally understood what he was so fixated on. Her tattoo was on display and he wanted it. Not that specific one, but that quality.
“Hey, missy, what can we do for you?” A man’s voice called and both heads turned up to a rough voice. Goku was a big man, but this man was bigger. For a moment, Goku didn’t respond, he was distracted by big arms and a wide chest—a man who looked like he probably came off a wrestling circuit and Bulma must have noticed that, because he cut him off before he could even say a word.
“Goku, focus, we’re here for a reason, you fight obsessed meathead,” she pulled him by his shirt, so he was standing right beside her. She put a hand on her hip and shook her head, tilting it back toward to the mountain of a man. “I’m sorry, he sees big muscles and gets worked up. We had someone recommend this place. Said you have artists who do big scale works? She said hers was done by a guy named Turles? This knucklehead is looking for a pretty large piece.”
The big bald man raised a brow and glanced over Goku, “Oh yeah? You got any ink on you already or is this a first? You know what to expect right?”
“I’ve looked into it, talked with a lotta artists...they usually back out when I show em what I want though…” Goku chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck.
“Well, now I’m intrigued, I’m Nappa. We gotta few stubborn punks back here who might be up for the challenge; but let’s take you back here, get with him and see what you’re looking for first.” Nappa motioned to them and Goku grinned toward Bulma. She chuckled and patted his back, right behind him.
The shop itself was clean, spotless, and smelled strongly of antiseptic. Bulma said that was a good sign, so he was already encouraged. He could see that their work setting was open and brightly lit, and their equipment was organized and put away when it wasn’t in use. The individuals themselves had arms full of tattoos and numerous facial piercings, some wild hair styles and no dress code, but the practices were very meticulous from what he could see. Gloves were in use, and the two he could see working had masks, and clearly laid out materials for clean up. Look for stuff that won’t contract you a disease, Goku, was what Bulma said.
“Hey Turles, found another body double of you,” Nappa abruptly cackled as they walked by another man sitting at a computer with a graphics tablet. He tilted to the side and eyed them and Goku blinked back at him.
“...What the hell, where are they coming from—” Turles pointed the tablet pen at him accusingly.
“Oh wow Goku he does look just like you,” Bulma she patted his shoulder. “Just...more sunbaked and with more mental acuity…”
“You know, I’m going to take that compliment.”
“These two are here on a recommendation. Guess they got a big piece they need. Your clone does anyway. Said they saw somethin’ of yours.” He started, and Bulma moved over to Goku to prompt him to pull the picture open on his phone again. She pointed for him to show the photo to the man, and he leaned forward a bit to see what was being presented.
“Ah, yeah, I remember that, I can’t take all the credit for that one, though. I didn’t do the scales on that. That was a joint effort. I did to the rest of it, but that was an endeavor. You’re looking at a long project somethin’ of that size. Many sessions. And if you’ve never been inked, you should have a pretty good tolerance for pain.”
“Oh don’t worry about that, this fool probably doesn’t feel pain anymore,” Bulma looked at him and shook her head, disapprovingly, because his recklessness was largely the reason she was saying that. He had tendencies of getting himself into trouble… Whoops.
“Did you have a design in mind?”
“Yep!” Goku responded immediately, ready to get that part over with. He was either going to be told no now, or no later. And he’d rather hear it now, than go through all of the efforts and see them back out. “I have a better picture of it, on a file that can be pulled up on a computer, but I keep a printed copy for showing it. I have it on my phone too.” He offered, reaching for his back pocket.
“On your phone? Email it to me instead, so I can see it. I’ll pull it up here. If we’re gonna seriously look, I wanna see it for real.”
Goku paused and grinned. That was more interest than he usually got. More often they just looked at the print out, but he wanted to see it in its real clarity. Goku looked over at Bulma, and handed her his phone. She exhaled at him and shook her head again. He would fumble around forever trying to figure out how to send an email from the pictures menu. He only just got his phone. He wasn’t that great with it. When she did it, it was sent fast and Turles’ computer made a noise to indicate he’d already received it.
The expression Turles had morphed slowly after he loaded the picture and blew it up. Steadily, a brow raising, from expecting to see a large design to seeing a large design of an alarmingly intensive amount of detail. “...How big were you wanting this again?” He leaned off a little to look at Goku from the side of the computer screen.
“...Whole back…?”
“You know that this is going to take a very, very long time, right?”
“Uh huh…”
“Hurt like a bitch, right? You don’t look like you have any ink on you, so that’s a huge first project. And this’ll be going over the spine and some ribs. It’s got heavy ink, super fine detail, shading, color. I mean, go big or go home, my guy, but that’s smacking it into orbit.”
“...That’s not a no, is it…?” Goku didn’t bother to address any of his concerns. He understood them, but he wanted the answer more than the worries. The rest could be handled once he got beyond the real hurdle.
“I mean...I’m gonna be honest with you, I’m not the one you wanna talk to, but,” and he paused, changing his voice to bring Goku’s eyes back up to him, after his words made him look down with a sensation of disappointment. “The guy who did the scales on your fish lady, might be willing to give it a go if you can sweet talk him enough. That’s the hard part though. He’s extremely prickly and if he doesn’t like you, he might tell you to go fuck yourself.”
“I mean, the fish lady said the same thing and I put my hands on her. So as long as I don’t do the same to him, I’m at least off to a better start, right?”
Turles paused and glanced up at Nappa, reaching for the phone next to him without breaking eye contact. “Vegeta’s gonna hate this guy, and I’m going to love every second of it.” He cradled the phone against his shoulder, the plastic receiver clicking against any number of silver earrings. “Yeah, Vegeta, come down for a sec, I got a challenge for you. Bet you can’t do it, you talentless shit.” Abruptly he hung up and looked back at them. “...Listen, it’s the only way to get him to respond in a timely manner.”
Timely was correct. A door flung open, and the sound of boots stomping down stairs followed. There was no need to guess who Vegeta was, he made himself well announced, coming into the room, throwing glares at Goku’s tanned body double. He...was not exactly what Goku was expecting, but he seemed to fit the attitude that Turles said he would have. His expressions indicated he was definitely a prickly sort, anyway.
“What the fuck do you want, Turles. Can’t you and Nappa handle handle new projects for one damn day. I just finished a massive one. Why aren’t either of you actually working?”
“Our clients aren’t in yet, that’s why,” Turles waved him off, clearly used to his hissing. Goku watched them for a moment and wondered just how he was going to get him to agree if he’d just finished working on something large already...He’d be willing to put it off, if he wanted.
Nappa came over to him with a book and opened it and Goku held his hands out to hold it while he flipped through it, selecting pages within it. “This is some of the catalogue. Our little in-house Prince over here is the detail oriented one, you’re gonna wanna beg him.” He grinned and flipped to a page that made Goku’s mouth open in awe. It was a fantasy castle inked into the side of a lady’s body, from her ribs to her hip. The shading and fine details were captured in subsequent pictures, so he could see how they’d healed so clearly.
“Wow. That’s Exactly what I want. You can see every brick in the castle.”
“Yeah, he’s obsessive, however. You’re going to be married to him for as long as it takes to finish it. He will follow up with you about your healing process, and everything. If he elects you, you’re stuck til he decides you’re done.”
“That sounds like exactly what I want.”
“And do you know how expensive this is going to be?” Vegeta’s voice cut in between Goku and Nappa and they turned back to see Turles showing him the image. The image was a dragon. A long, winding Chinese dragon. It’s body would even spill over his side a bit. Large claws, big teeth. “Thousands of goddamn scales.”
“If you can’t do it, Vegeta. Just tell the poor boy now.”
“It’s not that I can’t do it, and you know it. You can’t do it. You couldn’t do the damn scales on the Koi fish.”
“I could do it. It’s just not my specialty we all have our strengths. Yours is in being a shitnugget, Vegeta. And being obsessive. This is basically the holy grail of obsessive. Look at this. It’s like the perfect chance for you to prove how big your dick is. You put this on his back and I’m pretty sure you beat us all. Even your old man will have to be impressed and not think we’re all just a bunch of hooligans.”
“He’s always going to think you’re all hooligans.”
“I’m trying for you, but he’s being stubborn,” Turles shrugged and looked over at Goku, who wandered over to Vegeta, once he was given his chance to worm in between their exchange. Turles seemed to know that Goku wanted to talk to him.
“Would you pretty please consider doin’ it?” He asked, handing the book back to Nappa so he could clap his hands together and bow a little bit to this shorter, grouchy man. Vegeta was a whole head smaller than he was. Like Nappa and Turles, he appeared to have a worked out build to him, so he had to conclude that the group of them were possibly related somehow—or at least worked out together. He’d have to ask sometime! But he really wanted to get him to agree. He could tell he was a determined sort, if those pictures told him anything. “I really want the best for this tattoo…”
“Listen, asshat, I’m not the best artist, so you’re looking at the wrong guy.”
Goku shook his head and looked up at him, very determined. “I don’t need a flawless artist, just someone who’s really good an’ will take care of me and make every detail matter. It’s for my grandpa. An’ it’d rather have someone who’ll look after every lil bit, than someone who’ll make a pretty picture real fast and have it look all bad later.”
“...God damn it...Still, you know this is going to be expensive, right? I am not cheap.”
“Money isn’t an issue, that’s why I’m here,” Bulma wiggled her way over and leaned against Goku’s side, patting his chest. “I’m covering it, so don’t worry about that.”
Her words pulled a brief silence and Vegeta stared at her for a moment. He scratched at his neck and then looked between Nappa and Turles quietly. He shifted a little bit and folded his arms. Clearing his throat, he spoke to his own associates. “Did either of you realize this guy brought Bulma Briefs with him, or are you that fucking dense?” He barked at them both.
“Wait, what—”
“That’s Bulma briefs—”
“You stupid shits—I cannot trust either of you—this is why my father thinks your hooligans—because you are—.” He hissed at them both and turned back to the two guests. “Where did you hear about us from? Honestly, you can probably afford to go to the top of the country and you’re here?”
“Goku wants to stick with small place with a personal experience.”
“I costed a lady and she gave me a picture! And then told me where to go.”
“Goku, don’t repeat things I say, good grief—” Bulma shook her head and then shared the same photos with Vegeta that were shown to the others, still in possession of Goku’s phone. “This girl had this tattoo. And Goku fell in love with it. Well, he fell in love with the work. Or something. It reached out to him...Or he reached out to her…? It was a wild party for the wrong reasons.”
“...Why is he dressed as a clown?”
She looked up at him, “that’s your take away from this?”
“He’s acting like one, I assume that’s what he’s dressed like, but, what the fuck sort of parties do you host.”
“It’s my martial arts uniform—”
“Pipe down clown, the responsible people are talking. You’re going to sign his permission slip, correct?” Vegeta asked Bulma very seriously, glancing up at Goku. Goku was still clinging to his hope he was going to say yes. He hadn’t yet, but he sounded like maybe he was leaning toward it?
“Yes. If you agree to it. I will pay you, very well. You know who I am. Goku is willing to suffer for it, I promise. I will tip you a Goku tolerance fee, even, if you do it. I know it means a lot to him. And we haven’t been able to find anyone willing to do it. It’s big, I know. Either their work wasn’t what he wanted, they weren’t clean enough for me, or they didn’t have the time for him.”
“Listen, the moment I realized who you were, I already made up my mind. If you want me to suck his dick on the side, I’ll consider that too,” Vegeta’s tone was far too deapan and Turles dropped his tablet pen, scrambling to recover.
“Son,” a deep voice pulled attention to the doorway, but Goku couldn’t see the source of the voice. Just a brief warning that seemed to tone Vegeta down before he could make another crude comment. “Keep it classy, for gods’ sake.”
“Whatever, fine.” Vegeta grumbled and stepped back toward Turles, “Shithead, set him up with a starting appointment for me, while I discuss this thing and get his mom here to sign papers with him.”
Goku grinned widely, unbothered by Vegeta’s attitude. He was kinda mean, but that was fine. Mean people didn’t really bother him all that much and it just meant he wasn’t going to hide anything from him. If he had something to say, he was going to say it. Bulma would have quickly shut it down if she thought it was all wrong, but she seemed to think his sour note personality was worth dealing with.
He was just very lucky he actually showed up to Bulma’s dumb party or he’d have never seen the girl with the pretty fish tattoo.