[#229] Tattoo (Original)

[yoshishisha]

Theme Prompt: Optimism
Title: Tattoo
Fandom: Original
Rating/Warnings: None
Bonus: Yes
Word Count: 520
Summary: Kirian gets a tattoo. And feels a lot about it.


It was odd, Kirian thought, to feel so at ease with someone’s needle in your arm.

His head was fuzzy, almost empty, fixated as he was on observing the almost invisible patterns on the white ceiling to dissociate from the stinging scratching pain of the tattoo needle getting closer and closer to the crease of his elbow.

He breathed in, tore his eye from the wall to glance at the encouraging eyes of his brother behind the name of the tattoo artist.

Cheru, they’d introduced themself, and Kirian couldn’t help but think it fit perfectly. They didn’t exactly look cherubic, traits too strong to remind one of the angelic babies too often pictured when thinking of cherubim even as they were softened by roundness in some parts. They did look soft in that moment though, peaceful as they scratched marks in indelible ink on Kirian’s upper arm. Their voice was grounding as they checked in every once in a while, asking where Kirian was on the pain scale to check if he was still good to continue.

Kirian definitely said a number. His voice more dreamy than usual as he was pulled out of his contemplation.

“4, probably?” he said, not really paying attention to the response. What did 4 mean on that scale anyways? It did hurt, but it was more uncomfortable than painful, and it was a sensation he could sustain for a while before he’d need to pull away.

“Maybe 3, actually,” he corrected himself, like the correction was important, like anything less than total honesty would be a fault even if it had been accurate in the moment.

He breathed again. In, then out, and wondered if he’d been holding his breath. Probably not. He’d be more out of breath if that were the case.

He looked at the artist again, to restrain himself from raising his head to look at his arm and possibly moving it accidentally. They looked focused, and sure of themself, and in that moment, Kirian felt filled with the confidence that everything would be alright. The rest of the world could wait for a while.

“And we’re done!” Cheru said, voice upbeat with the satisfaction of a work well done, and Kirian sat up gingerly.

He looked at his arm, at the new piece inscribed on it and smiled.

“I love it, it’s perfect,” he breathed, filled with indescribable emotion.

Marcus laughed, the sound filling Kirian’s world with light as usual.

“Never have I seen my brother look so optimistic about a choice of his, Cheru. He’s gonna ride that wave for at least a week before descending into pessimism once again, you should be proud!”

Kirian didn’t listen to the response, opting instead to take his brother’s hand and line up their arms together so their matching tattoos were next to each other.

They were complementary, not identical, but they were both perfect. A ray of sunshine hit the window at just the right angle to illuminate them and in that moment, Kirian did feel like everything would be alright in the world, at least for a little while.

Comments

[badly_knitted]

This is lovely!

[yoshishisha]

Thanks!

[a_little_apocalypse]

This is very sweet ♥