SquidgeWorld Archive

"Would you stop moving?"

Josh rolled his eyes and tried to twist so he could see what was happening without actually moving any relevant parts of his body. "I can't believe I let you talk me into this."

"Hey, I didn't talk you into anything. I won the bet fair and square. If you want to welsh..."

"I don't back out on my obligations," Josh hissed through gritted teeth, his eyes squeezed shut as he waited for the pain to subside.

"Obligation? Well if that's how you feel forget it," Cooper muttered.

Josh sighed and forced his eyes open again, managing to flinch only slightly as another flash of sharp pain rolled through him. "That's not what I meant and you know it," he said quietly, reaching out to run a soothing hand through Cooper's hair. "I mean I wouldn't have suggested this, but I want to do it."

His boyfriend met his gaze again with a bright grin, leaning forward to brush his lips across Josh's before he pulled back again and captured the other boy's hand in his. "I hope you mean that, because this is the part where it gets a little painful. Just try to relax and breathe deep and it'll be over before you know it."

Josh nodded and closed his eyes again, telling himself that he trusted Cooper enough to do what he said. Normally that thought alone would be enough to send him into an uncontrollable fit of laughter, Cooper had never done much to inspire anyone's trust and Josh was really the first exception. He did trust Cooper, though; he trusted him enough to ignore the burning sensation and the soreness he knew he was going to feel in the morning. It was a small price to pay for the look of awe and complete devotion on his boyfriend's face in that moment, it wasn't often he got to see Cooper that vulnerable and if this was what it took he wasn't going to complain.

"You realize we can never break up now," Josh whispered when the worst of the pain subsided. "You're stuck with me forever."

Cooper grinned, nearly erasing the anxiety in his eyes from watching Josh in any kind of pain. It was almost gratifying for Josh to watch Cooper worry about him, after all that wasn't something he saw every day either. "Yeah, like I'd ever want to get rid of you," Cooper answered, closing the distance between them again. Josh grinned back and leaned forward, most of the pain forgotten as he lost himself in the feeling of Cooper's mouth moving against his.

"You say that now," Josh murmured when they finally parted, his heart beating too fast and his face flushed. "Just remember, I'm doing this because I love you."

"You're doing it because you couldn't admit that you don't know anything about basketball," Cooper reminded him, smiling as Josh narrowed his eyes. "If you hadn't lost the bet you wouldn't have said yes."

"I might have," Josh insisted, his expression serious as he watched suspicion flicker in Cooper's eyes. "What? It's not like I never try anything new, I came to school here instead of staying home and going to Indiana, didn't I?"

Cooper smiled indulgently and leaned forward to plant another quick kiss on Josh's lips, reaching up and tracing the other boy's jaw line with his fingertips as another jolt of pain evoked a flinch from Josh. "You okay?" Cooper whispered, his voice infused with gentle concern that Josh wouldn't have believed him capable of a year ago.

"I'm fine," Josh answered. "At least I will be."

A throat cleared and they looked up in unison, remembering for the first time that there was someone else in the room. A hot blush crept up Josh's cheeks as Cooper grinned and draped an arm over his shoulder. "Alright, kid, you're done," the older man said as he stood up and turned away from the couple.

Cooper gripped the arm closest to him and tugged, practically bouncing in his chair as he tried to get Josh to turn toward him. Josh rolled his eyes and turned in his chair so Cooper could get a good look at his right shoulder. He craned his neck to try to get a look, but all he could see was a blur of black ink and angry-looking red skin. "Oh man, my mom's gonna freak."

"What? It looks cool," Cooper said, glancing up at Josh before he looked back at his shoulder again. He reached out and ran tentative fingers over the skin surrounding the mark, smiling to himself as it finally sank in that it was actually there. "I can't believe you went through with it."

"I can't see it," Josh pointed out, looking around until his gaze landed on a hand mirror. He leaned over Cooper and grabbed the mirror, smiling as Cooper's lips ghosted over his bare shoulder blade. He sat up again and thrust the mirror into his boyfriend's hand, wrapping Cooper's fingers around the handle and adjusting the mirror so he could see his shoulder. "Hold this up so I can look."

Cooper took the mirror and held it up, smiling as he watched Josh's jaw drop. "Wow," Josh whispered, his fingers tracing the outline of the irritated skin as he looked at his new tattoo. "I didn't expect it to look so...wow."

"Is that a good wow or a bad wow?" Cooper asked, squirming in his seat as Josh stared at the reflection in the mirror. He was still having a little trouble believing that Josh had actually gotten his name tattooed right there on his shoulder for anyone to see, but there it was in black and...well, black. The original bet had been for a heart with Cooper's name in it, but when they actually got to the tattoo parlor Cooper relented on the heart and let Josh get a solid Celtic armband with his name worked into the design. The end result looked even cooler than Cooper had expected it to, but it was the fact that Josh had gotten something so permanent that he couldn't believe.

"Definitely good wow," Josh answered, reaching out and pulling the mirror out of Cooper's hand. "I meant it, Cooper. You're stuck with me now, because I hear it hurts more to get these things removed than it does to get them put on, and I'm not going through that again."

Cooper laughed and leaned forward to press a firm kiss to Josh's lips, grinning at the low moan that escaped Josh's throat when he pulled away. "Come on, get up," he whispered, standing up and pulling Josh out of his chair.

"Now that's an idea I can get behind," Josh said, reaching for his shirt and pulling it gingerly over his sore shoulder. "Let's go home so you can show me how much you appreciate my sacrifice."

"Later," Cooper answered, pushing Josh out of the way and sitting in the chair he'd just vacated. "My turn."

"What are you talking about?" Josh asked as he watched the tattoo artist settle back into his chair and pull out a fresh needle. "Coop, what are you doing?"

Cooper pulled his shirt over his head and dropped it on the floor before answering. "I told you, it's my turn. You think I was going to let you do this alone?"

Josh opened his mouth and then closed it again without saying anything, watching as the tattoo artist traced a heart-shaped pattern on Cooper's chest just above his heart. His mouth twitched as he realized what the other boy was doing, caught between wanting to laugh and wanting to grab Cooper and pull him into a hard kiss. Considering how close the tattoo needle was to his boyfriend's chest he decided that wasn't a good idea, though, and he settled for reaching for Cooper's hand and twining their fingers together.

Cooper squeezed Josh's fingers and stole another glance at the other boy before he turned back to watch the progress of the needle over his skin, gritting his teeth against the pain as the artist burned Josh's name into his chest with the hot needle. "Okay, yeah, this hurts," he said, sucking in a sharp breath when the needle full of black ink left only to be replaced with another needle, this time filled with red ink to color in the heart.

"You don't have to do this," Josh said, his eyes glued to the tattoo as he watched the heart slowly fill with red.

"Sure, you say that now," Cooper teased, his hand tightening too hard around Josh's as he closed his eyes. "I figured if you weren't going to use my suggestion for a design someone might as well."

"How romantic," Josh shot back, lifting the hand wrapped in his and brushing his lips across Cooper's knuckles. He didn't complain when Cooper's hand tightened reflexively around his fingers again, figuring it was the least he could do. After all, he was the one that lost the bet, Cooper didn't have to get a tattoo if he didn't want to. "I'm just counting myself lucky you didn't tell me I had to get your name tattooed on my ass."

A low, throaty chuckle escaped Cooper's throat as he forced his eyes open, swallowing convulsively as his gaze locked with Josh's. "Don't tempt me."

"Oh no, I love you enough to do this once but that's it. You can forget a repeat performance."

"Spoilsport."

"Whatever," Josh shot back, but he couldn't quite hide an amused grin. "Yours is a lot smaller than mine."

"You picked your design, don't complain to me," Cooper said. "Besides, mine's heart-shaped, that makes up for size hands down."

Josh grinned and pulled his hand out of Cooper's as the tattoo artist sat back, needle still poised in his hand as he examined his work. "That's what you wanted, right?" he asked, raising one eyebrow at Cooper as he held up the mirror for the younger man to see.

"Yeah," Cooper answered, smiling to himself as he ran his fingers over his skin near the tattoo.

"Hey, don't touch it," the older man said, shaking his head at the two of them. "You both need a bandage and you need to keep them covered for 24 hours. I mean it," he added when Cooper started to argue. "Keep your fingers off the design until the ink sets or you'll smudge it and then you're stuck with the mess. And you owe me a hundred and twenty bucks."

Josh's jaw dropped but Cooper didn't even blink as he pulled his wallet out of his jeans and handed over his Visa card. They both sat less than patiently as he covered their new tattoos with bandages and ran Cooper's credit card through the machine, Josh peering over Cooper's shoulder as he signed the credit slip. "I can't believe two little tattoos cost over a hundred dollars," he whispered.

"Worth every penny," Cooper said, craning his neck to brush his lips against Josh's before he handed the receipt back to the tattoo artist. "Come on, let's go home and start breaking the rules."

"What rules?" Josh asked as Cooper pulled his shirt back on and shoved his receipt and wallet back in his pocket.

"That whole 'keep it covered for twenty-four hours' thing," Cooper answered, grinning at Josh's expression. He let his gaze trail down Josh's frame and then back up again before looking into his eyes and raising his eyebrows. "Although I could think of a few other things I'd like to uncover too."

Josh laughed and reached for Cooper's hand, pulling him out the door of the tattoo parlor and down the sidewalk in the direction of their apartment. "Sounds good to me," he said, sighing as Cooper pulled his hand out of Josh's to slide his arm around his waist and pull him closer. He knew Cooper would never believe him that he would have gone through with it even without a bet, but the fact was he kind of liked the idea of wearing Cooper's name on his arm. He'd known almost since they met that they belonged together, the tattoos just showed the rest of the world what they already knew.