( chapter one )

❛ tattoo ❜

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     Alaska loved art. she loved to draw, color and paint. it was her favorite thing to do, no matter the circumstances. it was her stress-reliever. one day, she had been at a local diner where she was sketching a design on a napkin with a pen she had in her pocket when a big, burly guy named gus came up to and asked if she ever thought of becoming a tattooist. and that's how she ended up working at his tattoo shop.

her aunt had not been very excited about her working there but that was before she realized how happy it made her after the death of her father and supported her just like her cousin, lydia. it had been two months since she had arrived in beacon hills and a month since she started working and she felt as if her life was getting back on track.

it was the night before school started that everything had wrecked her life once again.

two boys that were around her age walked through the door with two papers in the darker skin boys hand as they walked up to the desk, alaska was situated at. she had been sitting in one of the chairs while gus outlined a her latest tattoo on her forearm before being interrupted by the two boys pulling in.

"welcome to gus' tattoo. how may i help you" alaska said tapping her glove covered fingers on the glass too while looking at the two boys blankly who seemed surprised by her. she had just started her period and wasn't ready to deal with teenage bullshit despite still being a teenager herself.

"i'm here to get a tattoo" the darker skinned tone boy said causing alaska to lift and eyebrow at him. out of the corner of her eye she could see the other boy facepalm as if his friend said the stupidest thing, which he did.

"scott, why else would be in a tattoo shop if not to get a tattoo"the other boy said in a sarcastic manner as "scott" smiled sheepishly towards alaska.

"i was trying to specify that i was the one getting a tattoo" scott said glancing back at his friend who seemed to be drawn towards the design books on a table.

"alright, how old are you" alaska asked standing up straight from where she leaned on the counter to make eye contact with him. scott was surprised by the height of her and assumed that she was standing on a higher level ground.

"uh, 17" scott answered sighing when he saw his friend looking through the books with a concentrated expression.

"do you have parental consent since you're not over the age of 18" alaska was very bored. she had been working the front desk the entire summer as she drew designs but she hasn't been able to actually ink someone yet. she had practiced on oranges and bananas in her free time and she had been doing really good.

"yes, i came in early this week and picked up a paper" scott said handing over the paper. alaska sighed taking the paper from the boys hands into her gloved ones and glancing over it.

"do you have an idea of what you want" alaska asked as she put the paper underneath the desk and watched as the boy pulled out a paper with two stripes. the bottom stripe was slightly thinner than the top one. "gus, you have a customer"

scott winced at her loud voice as she had back the paper before guiding him into a seat before taking a pad of paper and a pen and sitting in the other as the two boys waited.

"this is scott and that's his friend.." alaska's voice added slightly not knowing the boys name as gus came into the room.

"stiles" the boy, stiles filled in for her causing her to wave in his direction still focusing on her drawing.

she glanced up when gus sat down in the rolling chair as he assessed the drawing he had taken from the boy before going back to what she was doing.

"boy, it's a good thing you drew me a picture" gus said in a sarcastic tone causing alaska to snicker. she glanced up when she saw stiles spin in the corner of her eye to him holding a book in scott's direction.

"hey, scott, you sure you don't want something like this" stiles said pointing to a lizard man with a weird look on his face before turning it away at scott's face. "too soon? yeah"

she watched as stiles walked up on the other side of scott watching as gus gathered everything to start the process. "i don't know, man. are you sure about this? these things are pretty permanent, you know"

"i'm not changing my my mind" alaska heard scott say as she finished up the last of her drawing.

"okay, but why two bands" stiles questioned causing alaska to smile. she knew what they meant because she had the exact same tattoo on her thigh.

"i just like it" scott shrugged making it known he had no idea why.

"but don't you think your first tattoo should have some sort of meaning" stiles asked as alaska finished up her design. she looked up at the two boys as gus glanced over at her.

"getting a tattoo means something" scott defended weakly causing alaska to snicker quietly to herself as she stood from the chair and walked over.

"i don't think that's—" stiles started but gus interrupted him as he cleaned the tools on the cart.

"he's right. tattooing goes back thousands of years. the tahitian word tatua means "to leave a mark," like a rite of passage" gus informed putting down what he was doing to glance at the teens and saw how amused alaska looked with the bickering between the two boys.

"yeah, see? he gets it" scott said looking happy that someone was on his side for once.

"he's covered in tattoos, scott, literally" stiles scoffed looking at the man while waving his hand over the man to make a point.

"here, gus" alaska said handing over the drawing to the man so he could see a better example of the design the boy wanted.

"woah" scott said looking over the drawing as stiles gave the girl an impressed look.

"and by the way, his tattoo has a meaning" alaska said gaining the all the males attention as she gestured towards the paper with her head. "the two bands on the bicep symbolize both strength and courage. by highlighting the bicep muscle, the solid black bands also highlights physical strength, too"

"really" the two boys questioned at the same time. alaska let out a soft laugh before nodding her head.

"alright, come on" gus said standing from the chair while looking at alaska. she looked at him confused along with the other two. "you want tatto or not"

the two boys look at the girl to see her eyes light up at the offer as she smiled the biggest they've seen the whole time. "hell yeah, but only if scott's okay with it"

"yeah, sure, why not" scott agreed once everyone looked at him and watched as alaska giddily sat down and got ready to do his tattoo.

"okay, you ready" alaska questioned him, raising an eyebrow before he nodded his head. "you don't got any problems with needles, do you"

"nope" scott answered as he looked straight ahead when she brought the needle of the gun towards his arm. alaska nodded before starting on the outline that gus had drawn, ignoring the slight winces as she focused on his arm. "stop twitching"

"i tend to get a little squeamish, though, so..." stiles sentenced endded abruptly making her perk up and move the gun away from the boys arm before she saw him fall out of the corner of her eye causing her to gasp and jump slightly when a thud sounded through the room.

"gus" alaska called out and tried to keep her laughter in as she saw scott sit up slightly to look at his friend. "stiles fainted"

alaska and scott heard a disgruntled sound before they watched as gus came in and put an ice under the boys head before shrugging. "he's okay"

alaska let out a small chuckle before looking back at scott who just looked as if this was a normal occurrence for the boy. alaska gave the boy on the floor one last glance before going back to the tattoo.

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It had been out an hour since the two boys left and alaska was finally off work and headed home when she came across a blue jeep stranded in the middle of the road with its sores open. parking her car, alaska got out of the car and looked inside the jeep to see it empty before looking over to see a group of four people standing around another car. walking forward she recognized one of them to be her cousin, lydia.

"lydia" alaska called out as she got closer and saw the deer through the windshield of her cousin's car. "what the hell happened"

"alaska" lydia whipped around and ran towards her cousin who brought her into a tight embrace. alaska had always given the slightly younger girl a sense of safety.

"are you okay" alaska said pulling away and running her gloved hands over the girls face to check and see if there was any injuries on the girl.

"no, a deer just came out of nowhere and crashed into the car" lydia said turning towards the car and waving her hand towards it.

"okay, let's just get you home. i'll even bring your friend home, too" alaska said glancing at the dark-haired girl that lydia had told her about. her name was allison, alaska thought. "or she can stay the night and we can get ice cream and binge watch the 100"

"how do always know how to cheer me up" lydia chuckles slightly wiping her face as alaska rubs her shoulder. alaska glances over at the other and recognizes the two boys.

"scott, stiles" alaska says as they walk over with allison and see that they seem shocked. alaska notices that the bandage is lower on his arm than originally was but didn't say anything.

"hey" stiles said as if he was trying to cover up something he wasn't suppose to be doing earning looks from his friends and and amused look from alaska. "no, okay"

"well, i'm alaska, lydia's cousin" alaska said looking at the three of them before her eyes landing on allison. "you're allison, right? lydia's told me all about you"

"yeah" allison said sending the girl a shy smile. "i've heard about you, too"

"how do you know these two" lydia asked looking at her cousin while sending a look to the boys as if to say behave.

"scott came in to get a tattoo. did it myself" alaska said gesturing to the bandage as she wore a proud smile.

"yeah, she did an awesome job" scott said and he was really pleased with the work of it didn't disappear 10 minutes later. "stiles, not so much"

"what" stiles squeaked out looking at his friend in betrayal before looking at the girl with wide eyes. "no, i did, i just didn't like the design scott choose"

"oh, come on. what's wrong with two bands" scott said throwing his hands in the air causing allison to giggle earning a lopsided smile from scott.

"you know what, i'm just going to shut up" stiles huffed as he puts his hands on his hips and puffed out his cheeks.

"yeah, that's not possible. within the time with you being at the tattoo shop while fainting, you spoke more than lydia has all summer" alaska deadpanned earning a laugh from the two girls as stiles looked defeated at this while scott lightly pat his shoulder causing hi. to hit it away.

"you're mean" stiles said pointing at the girl before walking away and getting into the driver side of the jeep and sulking in it.

"yeah, okay. i'll see you tomorrow, scott and tell pouty not to pout so much it'll give him wrinkles. come on, girls" alaska said waving to the darker skin tone boy before guiding the girls to her car and passing the jeep. stiles stick his head out the passenger window behind them.

"i heard that" stiles shouted at her, only earning the middle finger from the redheaded girl causing scott to laugh.

"i think you met your match" scott said getting into the jeep as stiles scrambled back into his seat and started the car.

"shut up" stiles grumbled causing the teen wolf to laugh even more earning a shove in the shoulder form the sarcastic boy which didn't faze him.

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a/n— i'm so excited for this book. alaska is mood for all of us and extremely relatable. she is literally me. i constantly use sarcasm as a defense no matter what. she has become one of the character that i take to heart and extremely love! i hope you guys enjoyed and comment what your thoughts about alaska and the chapter!

sign-off gif credit: coast_by_coast