Archive of Our Own

“What do you think about tattoos?” Kurt suddenly questioned, interrupting Blaine’s hot date with a Cosmopolitan magazine and cup of hot chocolate. Blaine looked over at him with furrowed eyebrows, obviously questioning what was going through his boyfriend’s head.

“They’re cool I guess. I don’t have an issue with them, obviously,” Blaine gestured to Kurt’s clothed back, referencing his “Bette Midler” tattoo. Kurt rolled his eyes at the obvious being stated.

“Well I know that, you doof,” Kurt scooted closer to Blaine on the couch, taking the magazine out of his hands. Blaine scoffed, but reached out for his boyfriend, gesturing for him to come closer. Once they got in a position deemed close enough for Blaine, Kurt craned his neck back far enough to look at his boyfriend and continued his conversation.

“As I was going to say before I was oh so rudely interrupted,” Kurt sneered, jokingly. Blaine stuck his tongue out at his lover and coerced him to continue.

“What do you think about getting your own tattoo?” Kurt asked. Blaine’s heart dropped to his stomach. Sure, he thought Kurt was a badass for having a tattoo and definitely wouldn’t mind a little ink on his own body (especially since he knew now that Kurt found it attractive) but the needles. Needles had always been Blaine’s biggest fear, ever since he was a child. His mom informed him of the absolute scene he made when he got his shots at two months, and he was aware of all the fits he had thrown over the years when he needed to renew his school physical.

Kurt looked up at Blaine expectantly, giving his boyfriend a faint grin of support. Kurt was too cute and Blaine couldn’t help himself. He grabbed his boyfriend’s face and smashed their lips together, feeling like the luckiest guy in the world. At this, Kurt spun around from his place in Blaine’s lap to face him, and continued the kiss, the question completely fading out of play with Blaine’s lips wrapped around his own.

They finally separated to breathe and Kurt looked at Blaine with the same look as before, just a little more love in his eyes (if that was even possible.)

“Blaine,” Kurt dragged out the last letter. “I know you just did that thing that you do when you don’t want to talk to me about something.” Shit, he knows me too well , Blaine thought. Still, Blaine kept up his act, hoping to avoid the question until he could make Kurt forget about it.

“What thing? This thing?” Blaine fake questioned, putting his hand over Kurt’s jawline, ready to lean in for another kiss. Instead this time, Kurt placed his whole hand over Blaine’s mouth, not giving in.

“No, Blaine Devon. I know you do this exact thing every single time you’re avoiding something so we’re gonna talk about it,” Kurt spoke with intent in his voice, not letting Blaine distract him.

“Oh no the middle name. I’m in trouble now,” Blaine responded with a fake shiver. Kurt gave him That look and he knew it was time to get real with him. Blaine sighed and lightly nudged Kurt off his lap, ready to have a conversation with his loving and understanding partner. Kurt would understand, right?

“Okay, so, you know how when I had to get my shots for senior year I wouldn’t let you go with me and I told you it was because I didn’t want you to see my butt when they stuck the needle in?” Blaine spoke quickly, trying to save himself of the embarrassment he knew was coming.

“Yeah, and I told you that you were ridiculous because I’d already seen your butt many, many times before,” Kurt smirked, hoping to get a rise out of his boyfriend. The comment made heat come up to Blaine’s cheeks and the tip of his ears and he playfully punched Kurt in the arm, muttering something along the lines of oh my god shut up.

Blaine continued on with his explanation, “Well, the real reason I didn’t want you to go is because I’m kindasortaterrifiedofneedles and didn’t want you to know,” Blaine let his words scramble together and Kurt looked at him promptly.

“What was that again?” Kurt smirked.

“I said I’m definitely one-hundred percent petrified of needles okay? Jesus, Kurt!” Blaine said, sort of pissed off that Kurt made him say it out loud and then repeat it . Kurt looked at him with a glimmer in his eyes and a sad smile on his face, knowing he’d upset his boyfriend.

“Aw baby, I’m sorry. I didn’t know. Sorry I pushed it out of you,” Kurt said, expecting a reaction out of Blaine. Instead, Blaine sat there with the same pout on his face, only a small hmph sound escape his lips.

Kurt knew Blaine was just being a baby about the situation and took matters into his own hands. He crawled onto his Blaine’s stubby legs and mounted him, putting his hands on Blaine’s shoulders. His boyfriend still lay there, no acknowledgement whatsoever. Kurt immediately sighed and took his hands off Blaine’s shoulders, moving them to his sides under his loose pajama tee. He softly tickled the section of Blaine’s body at his hand’s disposal and began planting tiny, chaste kisses over various parts of Blaine’s face. When he saw Blaine finally crack a smile, the ticking became less soft and more playful. Eventually, the man below him started laughing uncontrollably and letting out soft, pleading “Stop Kurt’s” or “I can’t breathe’s.”

Kurt finally began to cool down when he knew Blaine probably, seriously couldn’t breathe and laughed along with his partner. He pressed a smooth kiss against his lips and moved his hands again, this time to cup Blaine’s soft jawline. He pulled away after a minute and spoke.

“I’m sorry about making you tell me, baby. I’m kind of an asshole,” he uttered, concerned Blaine was still pissed. Blaine looked back at him with shiny eyes and smiled. Really smiled.

“I know you were only prying because I led you on. You’re forgiven.” Blaine said, grabbing Kurt’s face again. Kurt smiled lovingly back at his companion, cuddling his face tightly into Blaine’s stomach.

“I might think about getting that tattoo though, if you do it with me,” Blaine said, while holding Kurt to his chest. Kurt immediately sprung up, taking Blaine’s arm with him.

“Really?” Kurt said excitedly, “I don’t want you to if you feel pressured or feel like you have to. Only if you really want to.” Blaine beamed back at Kurt, noticing he was being arguably sensitive with Blaine.

“Well, you’ve got to face your fears at some point right? Why not with someone I love?” Blaine asked Kurt. Kurt squealed and kissed his boyfriend’s cheek, jumping off of him to go get his laptop to look at designs.

“Come on Blaine, we’re gonna be late!” Kurt yelled from the living room, trying to get his voice through the dividers into the room Blaine was currently situated in.

Blaine let out a deep sigh and looked in the mirror again, completely not prepared for this situation. He quickly looked over his ensemble, a pair of loose fitting grey sweatpants (that he may or may not have stolen from Kurt) and an old, blue Dalton hoodie (which he had also stolen from Kurt’s huge dresser. But hey, Kurt taken it from him first!) Kurt had told him to dress comfortably, especially since he could sense Blaine was already afflictive of the situation in and of itself. Kurt had checked over with Blaine multiple times, assuring him that he wouldn’t be disappointed if Blaine wanted to back out. (Okay, he would be slightly disappointed, but only because he wanted to help his one true love conquer his greatest fear. Come on, that’s like the peak of romance!)

Blaine raised the curtains that separated he and Kurt and walked out with a forced smile upon his lips. Kurt had immediately noticed how ingenuine it looked and walked over to him, grabbing his hands.

“Blaine, you don’t have to do this. I know how scary it is to face your fears, and for me it was worth it, but if you want to stay home binge watch Scandal all day, that’s completely fine with me!” Kurt kissed his boyfriend’s nose lovingly and made sure to add a quick as long as I’m spending time with you .

Blaine smiled at Kurt’s sincere attempt to calm him down and squeezed his hands even tighter than before.

“I promise, I can do this.” Blaine looked up at Kurt, acknowledging his loving look and kissed him softly on the lips, being sure to loosen the grip on his hands.

Kurt all but squealed at that and did a little jump in the air, just in case Blaine couldn’t tell how excited he was.

“It’s probably a good thing you said yes. I never would’ve let you live this one down Mr. Courage ,” Kurt finished with a giggle, obviously joking at the fond memory of a boy in an awkwardly fitting blue and red blazer. Oh how he made that ugly, polyester look work, Kurt will never understand.

“Oh shut up, you know you love my cheesy high school endearments,” Blaine teased.

They exited the apartment together, still hand in hand with Kurt mumbling something along the lines of yeah, I guess I still do.

The two walked into the rough looking tattoo parlor on Broadway Street, still proudly hand in hand. Kurt looked over to his boyfriend, silently questioning him. Are you still sure about this? Blaine had sensed the question coming again, for what seemed like the five hundredth time, he just wasn’t sure when to expect it. He responded by squeezing onto Kurt’s hand tighter and plastered a tight lipped smile onto his face that responded for him.

Kurt sauntered up to the counter and started a conversation with the burly, tattooed man who Blaine assumed ran the place. He had always admired his boyfriend for being quote unquote “the strong one.” Sure, Blaine was out and proud, but holding hands with his boyfriend and starting up a conversation with a man who looked like he was the leader of a biker gang specifically for middle aged men with goatees and lots of questionable piercings, was nothing Blaine could do with such a confidence as Kurt’s.

Though the man gave them a confused look as he glanced at their intertwined hands, not a word of hate spewed from his lips and for that Blaine was eternally grateful. This day was already going to be humiliating enough, he didn’t need to be ridiculed for being comforted as well.

Kurt set the pen down as he finished signing them both in and squeezed Blaine’s hand again. Blaine let out a soft sigh and led his boyfriend to the waiting chairs, ready for this to be over already.

“You know, I’m really starting to hate these looks you’re giving me,” Blaine spat out, unintentionally. Immediate regret filled his eyes when Kurt dropped his hand and let a frown settle upon his lips. Blaine reached back out and grabbed Kurt’s pinkey with his whole hand, lightly squeezing.

“I know you don’t want to be babied,” Kurt sighed, but continued. “I just want to make sure you’re comfortable. I know you’re going to be cursing me when you’re in that chair, but I want to make sure you’re not going to resent me for putting you in a position of pain or whatever.”

Blaine looked over at his boyfriend with loving eyes and sighed. Man, have I really found the perfect guy. The thought came out as more of a statement than a question.

“I pinky swear that I won’t regret this, Kurt. You just have to trust that I want to do this as much as you do,” Blaine spoke with a softness, careful not to upset Kurt anymore than he already had. Kurt smirked, moving his pinky around in Blaine’s fist.

“Well, as long as it’s a pinky swear,” Kurt giggled, smiling Blaine’s way. Blaine returned the same smile and turned his head to look at the multiple people getting ink etched into their bodies. Suddenly, he felt like he was gripping Kurt’s pinkey tighter than he should’ve been.

Well, Kurt was definitely right about one thing. He was cursing Kurt’s name by the time he was in that chair. Only in his mind, of course. Kurt had already gotten his tattoo, and it took everything in Blaine not to vomit and/or pass out while he watched. Kurt, himself, had barely flinched, the roman numerals carefully and strategically placed on his wrist.

They had decided upon getting matching tattoos, with little to no fight from either party. The idea of the date of their first kiss being on their bodies forever was a slightly comforting thought to both Blaine and Kurt. Of course, they considered the possibility of a breakup to themselves (both of them shivering at the thought) but had both decided to get them, in lieu of the bad thoughts.

Kurt admired the numerals on his arm with a soft smile, Blaine coming over and looking with him. Kurt looked up at his boyfriend and ran a hand through his curls. He smiled down at his boyfriend.

“You’ve got this Blaine. I know you can do it,” Kurt said, proudly.

Blaine gulped as he sat in the chair, Kurt being on the opposite side of the wrist being tattooed, holding Blaine’s hand ( obviously. ) A girl with straight, black hair and a septum piercing walked into the room, and Blaine swore he could hear his heart drop all the way to the floor. To Blaine’s embarrassment, the girl could completely sense his fear and she walked forward to the chair after thoroughly washing her hands.

“I know this is all very intimidating, but I promise I don’t bite,” the girl gestured to herself and offered out an extended hand. Blaine tentatively nodded and shook it, but still couldn’t find words. The girl looked at him with a confused face, and Kurt stepped in before Blaine completely mortified himself in front of the woman who would be drawing permanent ink on his skin. Something that would be there forever .

“Forgive my boyfriend, please” Kurt said, looking over at Blaine’s widened eyes. “He’s just really afraid of needles, and this is his first tattoo. I’m Kurt by the way.”

“It’s Melody,” the girl said, smiling down at Kurt. She looked at Blaine, obviously concerned. “Now, what’s curly’s name over here?” She was obviously referring to Blaine, considering he had completely disregarded gel this morning and opted for a more “grungy” look. ( They have to think I’m cool Kurttttt. ) Kurt laughed at the innocent stab at his boyfriend and responded for him.

“It’s Blaine,” Kurt said, catching Blaine’s attention. Kurt raised his eyebrows at his curly haired partner and Blaine nodded his head, answering Kurt’s obvious question. Melody looked at the boys and smiled, silently swooning.

“Oh Kurt and Blaine, how cute,” she said, in a light tone. Kurt blushed and Blaine revealed an award winning smile.

“There he is!” Kurt exclaimed. The blush passed off of Kurt to Blaine and he felt the heat rising to the tip of his ears. Melody smiled at the pair and silently got up, preparing all of her materials.

“One last time, are you good with all of this?” Kurt asked Blaine, concerned to get another annoyed reaction from the boy in the chair. Instead, Blaine responded with a quick peck to the lips.

“Well, I can’t let you rep our date alone, now can I?” Blaine smirked. Kurt, still having ahold of his hand, squeezed tightly and rested his head on Blaine’s shoulder as Melody prepared and sterilized her equipment.

She made her way back to the couple and grinned at the sweet sight in front of her. Kurt immediately backed off of Blaine’s shoulder, an obvious disappointment for the latter. Melody sat in her chair to the other side of Blaine and pulled out a bottle of watered down antiseptic soap and dry wipes from her metal work station. She immediately poured the substance from holding in the bottle onto her wipes. She wiped down Blaine’s wrist (after she had shaved the thick hairs that were growing in different places close to it.) Completely painless, read the look on Kurt’s face when Blaine looked over.

Now comes the hard part. Melody pulled out her tattooing tool and Blaine pardon his french almost fucking pissed himself. Blaine’s hand immediately squeezed Kurt’s, tighter than he was meaning too, but Kurt didn’t seem to mind. He just leaned in Blaine’s ear and whispered sweet nothings about how it would all be over soon and you’re so much stronger than some ink machine, you’re Blaine Anderson. Blaine smiled at that and let his attention diverse to Kurt.

Melody’s voice and the incessant humming of the machine broke Blaine out of his Kurt-induced trance. 

“I’m going to go on three, Blaine. Can you count with me?” Blaine nodded, swallowing the lump in his throat almost immediately.

“One.” Oh my god.

“Two.” Holy shit.

“Three.” What am I even doing?

Truthfully, it wasn’t as painful as Blaine thought it would be. Sure, the burning was sort of intense and it made him want to cry out for his mom, but instead he just looked at Kurt with tears in his eyes. Kurt stared back sadly, a look of complete guilt washing over his face. Blaine was concerned about his boyfriend more than himself, so he tried to speak over the loud machine currently marking his body for life.

“Kurt, it’s okay babe. I’m fine,” Blaine winced at that last part, only making Kurt feel worse. Though he felt completely terrible, he smiled at his boyfriend and brushed a curl from his eyes. Melody stopped going for a second and looked over to the two, concerned.

“You doing all right, Blaine?” Melody smiled. Blaine nodded, the spot on his arm still burning. “Alright dude, we’re halfway there.” Blaine looked over, dumbstruck. It’d already been 20 minutes in the chair, being poked and prodded with a needle that made an extremely loud and annoying noise. Maybe this wasn’t so bad after all.

The next twenty-five minutes went by like a breeze, Blaine being completely distracted at how attentive and caring Kurt was being. Anytime Blaine needed anything, be it a drink of water or a hand to hold, Kurt was there at the drop of a hat. When the tattoo was finished, Blaine was still distracted by the blue of Kurt’s eyes. The boy’s were just staring at each other with loving looks in their eyes, and Melody knew they wouldn’t be seeing a doctor to remove these anytime soon.

“Sorry to break up The Moment guys, but it’s all over Blaine!” Melody said, clapping with her still gloved hands. Blaine looked over at his tattoo artist, then back at his wrist. Sure enough, there it was.

III • XV • XI

In ink and on his right wrist, the big, bold letters represented the day he’d found the love of his life. Said man was sitting right across from him, same ink displayed on his left. Blaine couldn’t help but lean over, leaving his inked up arm behind, and connect he and Kurt’s lips. Sure, it was a little awkward with Melody, a woman they barely even knew, in the same room, but they both thought it was just as perfect as the first kiss they shared.

Before they knew it, they were yanking themselves from the tattoo corner and up to the desk to pay. Melody was giving them verbal instructions on how to care for their new additions and eventually handed them a paper with the same information printed in bold ink. They both thanked her, truly grateful for the work she had done. They found the man who had plastered on Kurt’s tattoo (the first and second times) and thanked him, with a quick saluted response.

They exited the parlor, giggling at anything remotely (and not) funny. They laughed all the way to the stairs of the subway, when Blaine grasped Kurt’s hand in his.

“Thank you for making me face my fear, Kurt. I truly have no idea what I would do without someone as amazing as you,” Blaine spoke genuinely, from his heart. Kurt would always be his, no matter what, and today had just proved that further.

“Yeah, I know. I’m pretty great. Like the Superman of conquering fears don’t you think?” Kurt replied, obviously channeling his inner Rachel Berry. They both let out a cackle at that and connected their hands, walking down the stairs of the subway together. And that’s all they needed.