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The idea of getting a tattoo came spontaneously, after Jake had a silly conversation with his best friend Sunghoon about it; Sunghoon, who was quite the enabler, and had several tattoos himself.
“I’ve always thought about it,” Jake replied as they were on the topic. “But what if it like…really hurts?”
Sunghoon couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Jake. It’s going to hurt,” he explained. “But it’s so, so worth it. And it’s not like you have to get anything crazy.”
Jake just sighed and rolled his eyes, and the conversation drifted, but later that night as Jake went to bed, the thought lingered. He thought about what he would get; and there was one thing that always stuck when he pondered the idea. The same concept that he liked since he was an older teenager thinking about it.
He looked to his side, where Layla curled up next to him, sleeping safe and sound. Her soft snores repeated in a steady rhythm, and Jake smiled as he petted her head slowly. He always wanted a tattoo for his best friend.
Layla basically grew up with Jake. She was always there for him, there to greet him right as soon as he walked through the door when he’d arrive home from school, would wake him up each morning by climbing on his bed and giving him licks on his face. She was a constant in Jake’s life; if anything deserved permanence, it was Layla.
So before Jake could talk himself out of it, he texted Sunghoon, asking for his tattoo artist’s contact.
The tattoo shop wasn’t anything like Jake expected. He had a certain assumption about what tattoo shops looked like; but this was completely different. It had plants hanging around each corner and prints from the various artists’ work covered the walls. Jake admired it all, how different it all was, just how talented and detail-oriented it all was. But his attention was quickly caught by the man walking over to the desk in the entrance of the store.
Sunghoon did not prepare Jake for the fact that the artist — Jay — was handsome beyond belief. He wore a tighter-fitting t-shirt, which exposed his tattooed arms and muscular build. It made Jake’s mouth water a little, embarrassingly so.
“You must be Jake?” he asked energetically. Jake snapped back into reality, smiling as he chuckled nervously. Jay held out his hand, and Jake took it, shaking it as firmly as he could with how weak he felt in that moment.
“Yeah, that’s me,” Jake replied. Jay studied Jake for a split second, one that felt so long, though.
“You can follow me.” Jay led them back to his station, where more of his art lined the walls. It was mostly black and grey work, but the subject matter varied; animals, plants and flowers, portraits, among other things. Jay’s art style was more delicate than Jake expected. He loved everything about it.
Jake sat down on the chair as Jay sat down on his stool, grabbing the paperwork for Jake to fill out. It didn’t take long, and as he filled it out, Jay put on softer music to play over the speaker at his station. Once Jake signed his signature at the bottom, he handed the clipboard back over to Jay with a small smile.
“Perfect,” Jay hummed to himself. “First tattoo?”
Jake sucked in a sharp breath. “Yeah. How’d you know?”
“Well, besides it telling me on this form, you look like you’re ready to run.” Jake blushed at that comment. Jay pulled out his iPad and showed Jake the design, and there Layla was, drawn beautifully by Jay in a minimalistic cartoon style that Jake adored. “Here’s what I came up with.”
As Jake studied the drawing, he smiled slowly, his heart racing even more. “It’s perfect,” Jake replied. “I love it.”
And so Jay printed off the stencil, and then he instructed Jake to roll up his sleeve, and once Jake pulled up the fabric to reveal his skin, Jay kept his eyes on Jake’s, for whatever reason. Jay smiled faintly before he put some gloves on, grabbing Jake’s wrist to steady his arm as he sanitized Jake’s skin. The feeling sent shivers down Jake’s spine, especially as Jay’s fingertips lingered around his skin as he reached behind him for his stencil cream. Jay looked so concentrated as he prepped Jake’s skin, and Jake couldn’t look at him for too long before his heart felt like it was going to beat out of his chest.
“Okay, hold still now,” Jay spoke gently as he put the stencil on Jake’s arm. Jake held his breath as Jay put it on, then once he peeled it off, Jake looked down instinctively. “How’s it look? You can check in the mirror.”
Jake walked towards the long mirror near Jay’s station, looking at his arm and feeling proud. “Looks good.”
“Alright, we can get started then. Do you want a pillow for your back?” Jay asked, and Jake politely accepted as he lay down on the chair. Jay set up the arm rest for him, and Jake gently set his elbow on it. It felt like Jake’s heart was going to fall into his stomach, and then, he didn’t know if it was because of the fact that he was about to have a needle poking into his dermis at a rapid rate, or if it was the fact that the man doing it to him was too handsome to comprehend.
But once Jay turned on his tattoo gun, Jake’s nervousness seemed to quadruple. Jay looked up at Jake, gentle and kind. “You ready?”
Jake hesitated to reply. “Yeah, yeah. I think so.”
Jay chuckled. “I’ll do one line, then we’ll see how you’re feeling, okay?” he suggested. “It’ll feel like a little tickle at first, then like a scratch.”
That actually made Jake feel a little better — he exhaled slowly, nodding, then Jay grinned and leaned forward, putting the weight of his hands on Jake’s arm. Then, the needle hit his skin, and it did tickle at first, and by the time Jay was done drawing the first line, Jake couldn’t really gauge what it’d actually feel like.
“How was that?” Jay asked.
“Not as bad as I thought,” Jake replied honestly. Jay smiled fully at that, then continued working on Jake’s skin. As time passed, the pain became more tangible, and Jake’s chest felt tight at the sensation. It only took a few minutes for Jake to start to tense up, balling his hand into a fist, grimacing at the sharp feeling piercing his skin.
“Spoke too soon?” Jay questioned. Jake’s cheeks flushed a little at that.
“I should have mentioned I have a low pain tolerance.”
“It’s okay,” Jay replied. “We’ll take it slow, you’re in control of all of this. But you gotta breathe.”
Jake laughed before exhaling a deep breath quietly as Jay continued. It hurt more and more, but the linework wasn't the worst part; it was when Jay started the light shading things got more difficult to endure. Jay must have noticed. He stopped for a moment, turning the tattoo gun off before he poured out some more ink.
“Tell me about her,” Jay said causally. Jake was confused for a moment, then realized what he was asking.
“Oh, she’s been my dog for a while now. She’s a lovebug,” Jake explained. “It’s so cute, when she sleeps in my bed, she has to be touching my legs. Like, at all times.”
Jay laughed at that. “That’s cute.”
“Yeah, she’s a cutie. When we first met her at the shelter, she came right up to me. But before that, the workers said she hid in the corner every day. That’s when I knew she would be my best friend.”
And the talking helped; it made Jake think about Layla, and not the needle punching his skin over and over as the moments passed. Jay smiled to himself as Jake talked about Layla.
“That’s sweet. I had a dog in childhood, but he passed away, and since I moved out I always wanted to try having a cat,” Jay explained. “So I got little Mars a year ago now.” Jay pointed to a photo of a black cat, framed and sitting on the table of his station. Jake smiled at the photo before looking back ahead of himself.
“Mars is a cute name,” Jake commented. Jay smiled, eyes softening at that.
“He thinks he owns my apartment.” Jay chuckled. “He’s a bit chaotic.”
“Sounds like Layla. She thinks she owns my bed. Takes up all the space at my feet every night.”
The needle met Jake’s skin again and again, and this time the sting felt sharper — a dragging, persistent scratch as Jay worked on the shading. Jake inhaled sharply, shoulders tensing despite himself.
“You’re doing really well,” Jay said gently. “You wanna take a second?”
Letting out a nervous breath, Jake nodded.
“Sorry if I’m being a bit dramatic,” Jake apologized. Jay’s eyebrows furrowed and he shook his head insistently.
“You’re not! It’s a sensitive spot, one of the harder ones on the arm,” Jay explained. “You’re being very brave.”
That made Jake laugh softly. Jay turned the gun off and set it on his cart, taking off his gloves and washing his hands. He then grabbed his phone, pulling up photos of Mars, showing Jake one of the cat as a little baby.
“This is Marsie when I first got him,” Jay explained as he showed Jake photos of the kitten. “My friend’s cat had a ton of babies so I had to take one. It was hard not taking more than just one.”
They both smiled before Jake grabbed his own phone from his lap. He pulled up a photo of him and Layla from not too long ago.
“This was Layla after her groom a few weeks ago,” Jake said. Jay’s lips curled into another smile, dimples deepening in his cheeks, making Jake’s stomach tingle. He bit his lip and looked up at Jake, into his eyes, holding his gaze there for a moment before Jake couldn’t help it and looked away.
“You two are cute.”
That made Jake blush beyond control. He immediately bit his lips to subdue the smile creeping up on his face. Jay then went back to tattooing Jake again.
As Jay finished up the tattoo, Jake focused more on him than the ache growing under his skin. The way Jay’s eyes narrowed as he tattooed was incredibly attractive to Jake; he could only look away when Jay occasionally peered up at him.
“So,” Jake started again as the pain got more intense. “How long have you been tattooing?”
“A few years now,” Jay said as his thumb brushed lightly near Jake’s wrist. Jake tried not to shudder at the contact. “Sunghoon was actually one of my first loyal clients. How do you know him?”
The shading continued, and it burned more than the linework had, but Jay’s voice was calming, along with the gentle pressure of his hand.
“We went to school together,” Jake replied. “I always liked his tattoos, so I knew I could trust you with this one.”
That earned a small, satisfied grin from Jay. He then turned the tattoo gun off and set it down before wiping down the area on Jake’s arm. Jake looked down, then his eyes flicked up at Jay, who was grinning small to himself.
“All done,” Jay said happily. And Jake stood, looking into the mirror, frowning sweetly at the sight of Layla on his arm. Jay captured her essence perfectly; the slight tilt of her ears, her serene eyes. Jake’s vision started to blur the more he looked at it.
“I love it,” Jake said softly. “Thank you, Jay.”
Relief washed over Jay’s face. Then, Jake walked back towards Jay and he wrapped up the tattoo, holding Jake’s wrist again, a little more firmly this time. Jake swore, his thumb brushed back and forth over his hand as Jay held it there.
“You did so good,” Jay encouraged.
“I bet you say that to all your clients.”
Jay shrugged, pondering for a short moment. “Just the cute ones.”
Jake blushed, chuckling a bit louder than he had hoped. He hid his face, hanging his head low, then looked up at Jay again.
Jake then paid him, and then reached into his pocket for the wad of cash he took out for a tip. It was well over twenty percent, and as he handed it to Jay, Jay looked at it with a confused expression. “Really?”
“For being so patient with me,” Jake chuckled. Jay frowned.
“Thank you, really.” Jay grabbed his business card, handing it to Jake. “If you have any questions about aftercare, just text me. Or if you think of another idea and want a follow-up appointment.”
Jake licks his lips and lets out a shaky breath. “I’ll try and think of something.”
Their eyes locked for a moment, then Jake exhaled a long breath. He didn’t want to leave, truthfully; if he had to endure the pain of another tattoo to spend more time with Jay, he would.