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Blood and Ink
Garak’s tattoos were a source of great interest to Julian. They had been a shock the first time he saw them, but after that, they became almost an obsessions. When he was alone with Garak, in bed, he would trace the designs with his fingers, with the tip of his tongue. He would map the twists and turns of the snake as it wound around the older man. The details were what held his attention. The scales on the snake’s body were small, smaller than the nail on his pinky finger, and each one was perfect, an exact copy of it’s neighbors. He could follow the smooth path they made all the way around Garak’s body. He had done so once before, with his teeth and tongue. He had mapped the trail with kisses, starting at Garak’s back with the head, then following it’s body down and around. The design of the snake was large, and in between the heavy coils of it’s body the skin had been filled in with flowers and clouds and insects. It made it appear as though the snake were emerging from a mist, the soft grey tones darkening to sharp black lines in places. The snake’s body was a shifting haze of blue and grey and just the barest hint of green. Julian sometimes imagined that if he turned his head at the perfect moment, in just the right light, the tattoo would shift under his gaze like the film on gasoline.
The lines were delicate, beautiful, the color still clear and the lines still sharp. Julian sometimes wondered at how long they must have taken. He didn’t know much about tattooing but it wasn’t hard to believe this had taken a great deal of work, and likely a great of time as well. Hours. Days. Were they done all at once, or done over the course of time. Try as he might he couldn’t imagine Garak in a tattoo shop, reclining on a fake leather barber chair, a young man with stretched earlobes laboring over him while heavy metal blared in the background. Also, the design wasn’t quite like anything he had ever seen before. tattoos were a common enough sight in the city, even some large ones, but Julian had never seen anything like it before.
When he asked Garak about them, all he got in return was dissembling. Garak would smile and rub a thumb over a line of scales on his arm and make something up.
“Oh this? it’s a birthmark actually, I was born like this, it caused my mother quite a shock you know.”
“I got them on a dare Julian. I was a very silly young man, and I simply could not back down from the challenge.”
“It was very trendy to get tattoos when I was young! And as you know, I am a very fashionable gentleman, so it only made sense that I would do this.”
“Actually, this tattoo is a coverup of a much worse one I had done when i was younger, it was an awful thing. You know, you should never get the name of a lover tattooed on you, it is bad luck.”
Eventually, Julian gave up asking the tattoos and just decided that appreciating them was more fun. Knowing they were there made him feel special. Garak was astonishingly good at hiding them. Every day he put on long pants, a long sleeves shirt, buttoned high up the neck and the cuffs buttoned tight, no matter the weather. When he prepared to leave the apartment he would double and triple check himself in the mirror, making sure his shirt was tucked in tight and his socks were pulled up high in case his pants rode up. When he was done he looked much like any middle aged man. Julian couldn’t help but think of it was rather cunning camouflage.
Despite never showing his tattoos in public, Julian noted that garak was rather fastidious about caring for them. Every morning after his shower he would take a moment and carefully apply lotion to his skin, massaging it into every inch of inked skin. Julian had offered, in a somewhat flirtatious manner, to help the first few times he had watched the ritual, but after the third or fourth refusal he had simply sat back and watched the show.
Garak was not the kind of person who spent a lot of time naked. Even when they fucked, Garak prefered to stay clothes as long as possible. He would slowly strip Julian, kissing and licking and biting at the exposed flesh that was revealed as he went. His own clothes he shucked in a much more casual manner, taking them off and throwing them aside only when they got in the way of what he was doing.
Watching Garak, naked except for those tatoos, was thrilling for Julian. He would lounge on the bed, stretched out like a lazy cat, chin in his hands and watch Garak through heavy lidded eyes. Garak began the same way each time, performing the task like an absolution. First, he would towel himself off, then he would set aside the towel and take out the tub of lotion. Julian wasn’t sure what the contents of the tub were exactly, he hadn’t been brave enough to spend any real time poking about in Garak’s bathroom cabinets, but they smelled of something sweet and almost medicinal. Garak would take the tub and carefully take a small dollop and put it in his hands, working it back and forth until it was warm and ready. Then he began, working form the bottom up, he would place first one foot, then the other, on the edge of the bathtub, rubbing the lotion up his muscular legs, then into his soft stomach, across the broad expanse of his chest and shoulders, then back down again to his arms. He never looked at Julian when he did this, simply performed the task and then cleaned up.
When he looked up he noted Julian staring at him and he smiled, one of his rare true smiles, one that reached his eyes.
“Having fun my dear?” He raised an eyebrow and spread his arms slightly, obviously aware of where Julian’s attention had been.
Julian laughed and slid forward on the bed. “How could i not be having fun, enjoying a view like that?” He reached out an arm, beckoning the other man over. “Come and join me. Let me show you how much I enjoyed it.”
Garak’s smile shifted into a predatory gaze as he stalked over to the bed. There was soft light coming in through the window, warm and tinted orange. In that light, Julian could could see Garak’s tattoos twisting, turning, the body of the great serpent coiling around him, it writhed when he moved, his muscles shifting underneath the skin.
Julian smiled and grabbed the other man, pulling him down onto the bed. Garak laughed and let himself be dragged down, falling on top of the smaller man, pinning him down onto the mattress. Julian squirmed under him, enjoying the sensation of his freshly lotioned skin. He dragged his hands up and down Garak’s back, luxuriating in the soft warm feeling of the other man’s skin.
Being with Garak was so different from being with a woman. He was no longer the firm, well toned man he might have been in his youth, and he was slightly soft around the middle. The first few times he had been with Julian he had shied away from the younger man’s hands when the skimmed over his stomach, but now he seemed to enjoy the touch. He leaned into the warmth coming from Julian’s hands, moaning low in his throat as those clever fingers moved over him, fingernails ghosting over his tattoos.
Then after a particularly long and intense bout of sex, Julian had asked Garak how they were done.
Garak had rolled away with a sigh, tossing one decorated arm over his eyes.
“They were done the old fashioned way. They took hours and hours, hundreds of hours. I had to lie perfectly still as a man hand tapped the images into my skin.” He traced the knot the snake formed on his chest. “The outline of the snake was done in a single day, y the end, I couldn’t move without being in pain. Then, I returned again and again as he added to the design.”
Garak sat up and kicked the sheets off so his legs were visible. The body of the snake dipped low around his hips, but the rest of his legs were covered in a tangled pattern of flora and fauna. Leaves and flowers crept up his body like it was a garden trellis, and on the outer edge of his left thigh there was a pair of wasps, the scales on their wings so delicate it was almost invisible.
Garak flexed his toes, the pale unadorned flesh in stark contrast to the navy blue sheets. “I had to go back a dozen times, maybe more. I laid on a platform low to the ground and did not move a muscle for hours at a time. At night, I stuck to my sheets, when I woke up my blood and the ink would have dried overnight, and when I peeled the sheets away I could see imprints of my tattoos, all in the shape of my body. I would change the sheets each time, and keep the dirty ones. When it was all over I burned those, they were records of myself, all blood and ink.”
Julian leaned over and put his head on Garak’s shoulder, hand sliding over so he could lace their fingers together. “Do you regret it? Going through all that.”
Garak seemed to think it over for a moment before answering. “I regret many things julian, but I accept the things I have done to myself or let others do to me. And even though it is sometimes hard for me to see it, I can accept there is some beauty in what remains.” He reached up to pull a hand through Julian’s hair, the tangles catching between his fingers. He laughed, low and breathy, when Julian winced and made a rather high pitched squeaking sound at the pain.
“How do you think I would look with a tattoo?” Julian slid down so he could sprawl across Garak’s lap. “I think I might look good with one, it would be kind of...sexy. I would look like a bad boy.”
Garak tried and failed to stifle a laugh. “Oh, I’m not so sure about that my dear.” He reached down and gave Julian a series of quick pinches up his ribs. “Besides, I’m not sure you have the constitution for something like this.”
Julian pouted and rubbed at his abused abdomen. “Ouch, okay okay. You’re wounding my pride.” He rolled away so he could sit back up. “You know, I really like your tattoos. I realize you don’t really care for them, but I think they look nice on you.” He rubbed a hand over garak’s leg. “And it’s sort of hot, knowing that under that perfect proper exterior there’s this amazing secret.”
Garak seemed to find the last part extremely amusing. He laughed so hard he lost his breath for a moment, reaching out and grabbing Julian’s shoulder for support so his didn’t just topple over. “Oh, my dear boy if only you knew the half of it.” He stifled another fit of giggles. “But I am glad to know you find my tattoos so interesting.”
Julian grinned wickedly. “Does that mean you might start showing them in public now?” He lowered his voice. “It would be great you know. You could just show up at the pizzeria one day in short sleeves. I bet you would shock everyone.”
Garak rolled his eyes. “I don’t think so my dear.” He smiled when he saw the pout on the younger man’s face, and leaned over to press a gentle little kiss on his lips. “Maybe it’s nicer this way hmm? Having some of my secrets for yourself?”
Julian thought about it for moment and then nodded. “Yes, I suppose it is.” He smiled again and leaned in for another kiss. This time, long and slow. And as his hands moved over Garak’s skin again, tracing the same paths over his body, fingers following the lines of his tattoos, he realized Garak was right. It was nice to have something about Garak only he knew, to have something of the other man all for himself.