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“And then he came home with six new tattoos! Rash was in huge trouble” Tubbo was laughing over dinner, telling a story of his home planet before he decided his true interest was with the stars and left to join a ship that would let him persue that.
Tommy, who had been laughing and listening to the story, paused for a moment. “What was that word you said? Tattoos?” he asked, wondering if he heard that wrong.
Tubbo nodded. “Yeah! It’s where artists press ink into your skin and it stays there permanently! A lot of species get them. Sometimes it's for culture reasons, or for fun” Tubbo explained with a smile on his face.
Tommy’s jaw dropped. “You’re shitting me. Humans have tattoos as well! What’re the odds” he exclaimed, excited to share something with his new family. Back on Earth he had been practically counting down the months until his eighteenth birthday so that he could get tattoos. Unfortunately, he was kidnapped into space before that could ever happen.
Tubbos’ wings started buzzing happily, asking for details on how human tattoos work. In return, Tubbo was happy to exclaim that the processes worked almost the same to how it did in space, and Tommy was practically glowing with the realization.
“We should get a space tattoo” he said in his excitement, not expecting it when Tubbo immediately bobbed his head, something he picked up from the human, and agreed instantly.
“That sounds amazing! We could get it at the next planet we’re going to, which will be in 4 cycles!” the winged alien was practically floating out of his seat with how excited he was, and Tommy could see the amusement reflecting in the other members that were sitting around the table, watching the interaction take place.
“You all should get one as well. We can get matching tattoos and I’ll be the first human to get a space tattoo” Tommy said, in awe over the idea. If only Earth could see him now! Not that it ever would, but that was something Tommys grown past by now.
“There’s a slight problem with that. My species can’t handle ink in our bloodstream, Techno’s can’t get pierced by needles, and, well, Ranboo and Phil could probably get one” Wilbur explained.
Ranboo was quick to shake his head with a worried warble leaving their mouth. “No. Sorry, but I don’t do needles if I can help it” he said politely.
“No worries big man. Phil?” Tommy asked, turning his attention to the captain of the ship.
Phil’s wings ruffled. “I don’t really want a tattoo mate. You and Tubbo can get one, though. We can find a place when we get on planet” Phil said. Tommy was a little bummed, but it was quickly overtaken by the sheer excitement over the idea of getting a tattoo in space. A space tattoo!
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The days, or cycles as he had gotten into a habit of calling it, passed slowly as excitement built for Tommy. The day before they were going to land on the planet, Tubbo had worriedly asked him if he had more caffeine than normal. At Tommy’s confusion, Tubbo pointed out that Tommy’s knee had been shaking nonstop for the past thirty minutes. Tommy had chuckled, and sheepishly explained that this was just something that happened when he got excited.
The landing of the ship went by with practiced ease, something that no longer worried Tommy like it used to. It was quite an interesting experience the first time he was fully aware as a ship docked, and he would be lying if he said he didn’t get flashbacks from the ship he crashed when the ship rumbled and thrummed under him, causing the blonde to panic. Now, he was perfectly fine with it, barely batting an eye at the way the ship shook violently as it entered the planet’s atmosphere.
When the ship was settled, Tommy took off his buckles with hands shaking from excitement. When he had expressed just how excited he was, the crew all decided it was probably best to get the tattoo the first day on planet, or else “the human might explode” as Techno joked, though there was a slight suspicious glint to his eye, as if expecting Tommy to refute his claim. To everyone’s relief, he didn’t.
“Lead the way Wilbur!” Tommy shouted as soon as the ship’s doors were open. The alien laughed, leading the group towards the studio with Tommy and Tubbo babbling the entire way, smiles never leaving the pair’s faces.
“Holy shit” Tommy breathed as he looked at the studio. He had only been in an Earth tattoo studio once when he had accompanied one of his older foster brothers to get his millionth tattoo, and this was nothing like anything he had seen before.
The studio was styled almost like the medbay of the ship, in the way that the arrangement of the clean white chairs were spread out throughout the room. There was none of the loud buzzing that Tommy associated with tattoos, despite the fact that there was another alien currently getting a tattoo from the looks of it.
Phil walked over and began talking to the alien sitting at a desk as Tommy and Tubbo debated what they were getting. Sure, they had chatted about it frequently before arriving at the studio, but neither of them were decisive enough to make a decision.
One thing Tommy did know, though, was that he was getting the tattoo on his inner arm, one of the areas he could have uncovered while maintaining his disguise. He was pretty sure the tattooer wouldn’t react well if they found out they were tattooing a human. Not to say that Tommy didn't ask Phil if he could reveal just that. It was shot down quickly.
“What if we did the Earth phrase you were talking about?” Tubbo prompted.
Tommy hummed in consideration, a smile growing on his face as he agreed.
Once the tattoo artist agreed to tattoo the two of them (which Tommy was surprised when they asked no information from the group), it was a hard process explaining that they wanted a tattoo in a language the artist had never seen before. Tommy had to say that he was from a really small galaxy over a hundred light years away and their language was pretty unknown. It wasn’t a lie, per say. The artist agreed, and Tommy was able to sketch out the words, checking over the stencil multiple times to make sure that it was written right. He really didn’t want it to be like those tattoos he’d seen on Earth that claim they’re some happy phrase in japanese or something and it ends up being the word soup. As funny as those were.
Tommy was prompted to go first by Tubbo, and Tommy braced himself for pain, only to have his eyes widen when it barely hurt at all.
He must have had a certain look to his face, because Phil chuckled and explained that most tattoo ink had a numbing agent to it that made tattoos relatively painless.
Almost an hour later, Tommy was switching places with Tubbo, who could barely get his wings to stop buzzing as he got the same spot on his forearm tattooed.
In the end, the two smiled brightly as they compared tattoos, the phrase “Until the end of time, to the edges of the universe” displayed proudly on their skin in English. Tubbo had been learning from the human and was able to understand all of the words now, especially when Tommy had explained each word before the two of them got the tattoo.
What amazed Tommy the most, though, was that under closer look, it seemed that the tattoo was glowing slightly, and the ink seemed to be swirling under his skin as if it was something out of a movie.
“Why is it doing this? Is this normal?” Tommy asked, panic growing at the thought that maybe his body had a bad reaction to the alien ink.
“The swirling? That’s completely normal. Does human ink not glow?” Tubbo asked.
Tommy shook his head, his gaze captivated by the beauty of the tattoo, tears stinging his eyes as he realized everything this tattoo represented. It, obviously, signified his human origins. Where he came from, and his journey of getting here. Most importantly, though, it symbolized the family he grew into out in the vast expanse of space, people (or aliens) that he would put his life on the line for, and would get the same in return. It represented all the people he lost along the way, and even more that he found.
His crew said nothing if they saw the silent tears drip down his face, giving Tommy a moment to revel in the life he had built for himself in a universe where he thought it would once end.