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Jason groaned as Thalia gleefully dragged him down the street towards the small shop. He loved his sister, he really did, but sitting and watching her get another tattoo
wasn’t exactly what he had pictured when she had called him and asked to hang out earlier.
A bell jingled as they walked into the tattoo parlor and alerted the drowsy-looking worker to their presence. Jason noted that she was probably around his age, and had long
dark hair braided over her shoulder. She flicked her dark eyes toward Thalia, then Jason, and back again.
“Hello, my name is Reyna, and welcome to The 12th Legion Tattoo Parlor, how may I help you?” she recited clearly.
Thalia grinned and started talking enthusiastically about the new design she wanted, a crescent moon over her left shoulder.
Jason eventually tuned out and started looking around the small shop, browsing the tattoo designs on the walls.
“Thinking about getting one?”
Jason nearly jumped out of his skin and whirled around, taking in this new character. The man was a few inches shorter than Jason, with a dark, messy undercut and even darker eyes. He wore black, torn skinny jeans and a graphic tee shirt for a band Jason didn’t recognize. He had a sleeve of tattoos along one arm, which didn’t surprise him, seeing as how he probably worked here.
Jason couldn’t help but think he was kind of super adorable despite his over-all aura of “dark scary death-boy”.
“Well?” he asked. It was about then Jason realized he had been staring.
“Oh! Um, well, I hadn’t been planning on it…I’m actually here with my sister…” he trailed off, unsure of what else to say.
“Ah. Figures.” He smirked. “You don’t exactly seem the type…no offense, I mean.” the man said.
Jason suddenly felt slightly self-conscience of the way he was dressed. He also, weirdly enough, felt the urge to prove himself to this cute tattoo artist.
“Well, I wasn’t planning on it originally, but all these designs have convinced me otherwise.” Jason said without thinking.
“Oh, really?” The tattoo artist said, smiling in a way that did weird things to Jason’s stomach.
“Uh-huh.” He said, although the words sounded a little forced, even to him.
“Well, in that case, we should get you settled, huh? I’m Nico. Nico di Angelo.” The man, Nico, said.
“O-Okay. My names Jason. Grace. I mean, Grace is my last name, not my first.” Jason stuttered, immediately regretting this decision. He wasn’t exactly sure what he had been
thinking but whatever it was, it was not thought through logically. He was terrified of needles. Why did he suggest this? Why? Shit, this is a horrible idea. Possibly the worst idea
you’ve ever had. Way to go, Grace.
“Coming?” Asked Nico, gesturing to a chair next to what Jason could only assume was a standard tattoo station-area-thing.
Jason locked eyes with Nico and found himself nodding and began walking toward the chair against his brain’s will. Ah. That’s why.
Thalia glanced up from where she was, Reyna dutifully bent over her shoulder inking her design into her skin.
“Finally decide to get a tattoo, little brother?” she joked. It was then that Thalia finally saw Nico arranging the bottles of ink behind him. Her grin widened in realization and she winked at Jason. Jason just groaned.
“So. What do you want?” Nico asked him.
Your phone number. “Um…I’m not entirely sure.” He said. He really hadn’t thought this through.
Nico chuckled. “I thought you were all inspired?”
“Well, I was. But it’s kind of a big decision. Slightly permanent.” He replied anxiously.
“It is, in fact, permanent.” He chuckled. “What kind of things are you interested in?” Nico asked.
“Well…I was always into old Roman mythology. You know, like gods and stuff? My sister used to read stories to me about wars and heroes when we were younger.”
Nico nodded thoughtfully. He walked away and returned about a minute later with a book full of designs. He flipped through the pages until he found the one he was looking for.
It was an image of an eagle in flight, over the letters SPQR.
“How about something like this?” Nico asked him.
“That’s…actually a little bit perfect. But why Jupiter?”
Nico shrugged. “You just seem the type.”
“Not sure if that was an insult or not…”
Nico laughed and Jason melted a little bit. “It could go either way. I suppose that depends on how good of a customer you are.” He said teasingly.
This was a good decision. A very good decision.
“Where do you want it?” Nico asked him.
Jason thought for a moment before he held out his right arm. “Here.” He said, gesturing toward the inside of his forearm.
Nico nodded and set to work.
In hindsight, it really didn’t hurt as bad as Jason thought it would. This knowledge did not prevent him from gritting his teeth and clenching his eyes shut throughout most of the procedure. But Nico talked and laughed with him and that helped significantly with the pain.
When it was all over, he walked up to the counter with Nico and met up with Thalia, a freshly bandaged crescent moon on her shoulder. Nico gestured at Reyna and they started talking quietly behind the counter.
“So….” Thalia started and Jason groaned again.
“Please don’t.”
She smirked. “I never said a thing.”
“You were going to.” Jason said, wanting to be annoyed, but mostly still on a semi-high from his conversation with Nico. He looked down at his bandage covered arm.
Thalia just laughed. “Well, I already paid so I’ll just wait outside.” She said with a wink.
Jason glared at her retreating form before walking up to the counter.
“How much do I owe you?” He asked Nico.
Nico gave him a small smile. “No charge.” He said.
Jason protested immediately. “I have to pay you! You did such a good job…it’s a matter of principle.”
Nico just laughed and waved him off. “It’s too late, it’s already been paid for. Nothing I can do.”
“At least let me tip you.”
Nico smirked. “And how would you like to pay?”
Jason stalled. Was he…flirting?
“Umm…coffee? Maybe? I mean, if you like coffee. Because some people prefer tea, and sometimes people don’t like hot beverages at all so maybe iced tea? Unless tea isn’t your
thing either, I mean I do have cash…”
Nico cut him off. “Coffee. Coffee is good.”
Jason just grinned. “Good. That’s good. I’ll, uh, I’ll just…”
Nico smirked again and slid a receipt across the counter. Jason took it and looked down at the words written on the receipt in neat handwriting. Nico di Angelo, 858-3429.
“I’ll, um. I’ll call you!” Jason said, still grinning like an absolute idiot.
“You do that.” Nico said, smiling back just as goofily.
Jason waved goodbye and almost tripped over his own feet as he walked out the door.
Maybe coming here with Thalia wasn’t the worst thing to ever happen to him.