My latest ficcy. Excuse me for all the grammatical and spelling errors in this and all my other stories. English is not my mother language. It may be good enough to extract compliments from my teachers but apparently not enough to right long stories so you'll just have to forgive me since I hate reading a story over, checking for errors. I'm a lazy bitch

An amateurish story by Crimson Waterfall

TAINTED FOR LIFE

'Oh my GOD! What is THAT!'

'Duo, don't be ridiculous, it's a tattoo. Duh!'

Duo looked like his eyes would fall out of there sockets. His sister, Hilde, had a... a... tattoo! He looked at the black drawing on her skin and swallowed. Their parents were going to have a fit. Dad would suffer from heart failure and it would take mom three months of Prozac before she could get over the fact that her, goodie-two-shoe daughter had a tattoo. HE would have heart failure and a prescription of Prozac!

'Are you CRAZY! Do you want to die!' After their parents would have recovered, some heads were gonna roll. And he was afraid that it wouldn't be Hilde's since he is the big brother and he is responsible for his baby sister. Bleh! Be hated being responsible. He wasn't even sure if he knew HOW to be responsible.

'duo, you're overreacting. It's just a small tattoo. Mom and dad will never notice!'

Duo put his hands on his hips looking angrily at her 'And what if I TOLD them. You know I am incapable of shutting my mouth longer then a nano-second.'

'Yes, unfortunately, I noticed that.'

Duo scowled.

'BUT, you, my dear brother, won't tell them.' She stated, fixing herself a drink and a sandwich like nothing was wrong. She had wanted a tattoo for a very long time, but never told anyone about it, since it would be considered a 'scandal' in a wealthy family like theirs. AND she never had the guts to actually walk into one of the tattoo-shops this city sported.

'And WHY, exactly, would I not rat on you and your litlle...' He looked at the tattoo again and fell silent.

'Because I, dear brother, am going to tell mommy and daddy that my faggot brother forced me to since there was this really cute guy in the tattoo-shop.'

Shit! He knew that would mean his death. Ever since he had told his parents that he preferred men over women, Hilde had been their favourite child. THAT didn't bother him that much, but now... he got blamed for everything his dear sister did. Breaking a window. Borrowing dad's Lexus. Being impolite during a business meeting from his father. Yeah, he could actually be blamed for that... It sucked.

'I wasn't lying about the cute guy by the way.' Hilde said matter-of-factly as she took a bite from her sandwich and covered her tattooed wrist with a black sweatband.

He sighed dramatically and threw his hands in the air. 'Don't tell me you did this JUST to impress 'the cute guy' at the shop.'

'Maybe I did, maybe I didn't. Though I must say he held my hand rather gently when he tattooed it.' She said mysteriously, grinning as she could imagine fume coming out of her brothers ears.

'And what if we go to a party from dad's work? Wear a sweatband as well!' He demanded, still furious. It was obviously that the reason why she swallowed her nerves the guy in shop was. That made him even more angry, before she would regret it later and then blame it all on him, telling mom and dad.

'Duo, really, get a grip. It could be covered with a simple watch or bracelet! I really think you're blowing this thing up. It isn't that bad!'

'No! It is worse! Mom and dad will want my head on a silver plate for this!'

'... you want to hear about the cute guy, don't you?' She said with an evil smile.

'Yes.' He said, without thinking and then covered his mouth with his hand. 'I mean: No!'

Hilde just smiled knowingly. She got him all figured out. He hated the smug look on her face. Though he knew she didn't mind him being gay, actually calling it cool once, she didn't hesitated to tease him with it, or use it against him. He hated her for that.

'Fine, then I won't tell you.'

But he was curious about the guy she was talking about and followed her upstairs as she left, not bothering cleaning up her plate, knowing that the maid will do it later. He even followed her into her room and earned an angry look, but then it changed into a smug one once again. He like the angry one better, but beggars can't be choosers (1).

'I thought you weren't interested?'

He hated that tone of voice and suddenly, pride got the better of him and he flashed her a smile. 'No, I'm not. I wouldn't look so smug if I were you. Mom and dad will never believe your: Brother forced me! Story. Believe me, you'll be grounded for the rest of your life.' He lied and walked away, seemingly confident.

'We'll see Duo. We'll see...' she called after him, but he could detect some insecurity in her voice and that made him grin victoriously. He had won this battle, she won't be telling the parents any time soon. ... He hoped...

But to be honest, he was a bit curious about the guy and frankly didn't know why it just... a cute guy in a tattoo-shop, somehow it intrigued him. Maybe he should pay the shop a visit?

'O my god! A tattoo?' His best friend Quatre asked, smiling, something twinkling in his eyes. How could he not realise how dangerous this is! He should know! He had, for crying out loud, twenty-nine sisters! But then again, he was the youngest, so that must be some kind of privilege or something. The youngest is always considered innocent. Fuck...

'Quatre. I am in some serious shit and all you can do is smile!' He waited for a while but Quatre didn't respond. He waved in front of Quatre's dreamy eyes. Still no response. 'Hello-ho! Get you're sick perverted mind out of Trowa's pants and pay attention!'

Everyone in the busy street they were walking through looked at them strangely. Duo just smiled nervously and pulled Quatre with him to a quieter place and hissed: 'I don't mind you having a boyfriend, but I can't deny that it bothers me to no end that I don't even seem to exist anymore!' His speech had the effect he had hoped for. Quatre looked at the ground, he must be flooded with a feeling of guilt. At least... he hoped. Then the blonde looked up, smiling. Huh?

'You know what Duo?'

'No...' he said cautiously, 'But you are probably going to tell me.'

'I think you will be much less jealous of me if you found a boyfriend of you're own.'

His eyes again threatened to come out and Quatre already began to pull him through the streets. Where the fuck was he going and what in the hell was he thinking! He wasn't jealous of him and Trowa! Pffff, how could he even THINK that! But the idea of having a boyfriend didn't sound all that bad and it looked like Quatre already knew the perfect guy for him so he let himself be led by the small blonde, but reminded himself that he'll still had to scream at him later for thinking HE was jealous. Duo didn't even know what jealousy was since he had always got what he want. Always. No exceptions.

He swallowed, suddenly thinking, KNOWING, that this wasn't such a good a good idea as he read the name of the store in front of them: LifeTime Tattoo. He swallowed even harder when he read all the colourful flyers on the big, floor to ceiling, windows of the shop. -A tattoo bigger then 20 square centimetre? Get one of the tattoos below for free!- -We also do full body tattooing- -Want to remove your tattoo, we can do that and put on a new one on the spot!- This... was... scary... He didn't even know shops like that would promote themselves like that!

'come on Duo! Let's go find that cute guy Hilde was drooling over!' Quatre said and pulled duo into the shop. He looked around nervous as a bell rang once they entered and all faces turned towards them. It was some sort of waiting room, red carpet, red paint on the walls and the rest was mostly yellow and gold. In the seats, waiting to be 'tainted' for life were three men and a woman, all of them already had a lot of tattoos and some had piercings as well. Besides the counter where a sweet smiling woman stood behind, was a yellow curtain, behind that where probably the chairs where the... painting would be done.

'Can I help you boys?' The woman asked. She was rather young, but had big breast she showed of with a low cut top. She had grey, smiling eyes and red/brown curled hair that reached to her shoulders. Duo could do nothing but stare at the piercing in her nose and the tattoo of a footprint of a bear or something just above her... well developed breast. He was rendered speechless for the second time this week. He must be getting a fever.

But Quatre smiled his blinding smile and said: 'My friend and I are thinking about taking a tattoo but we just wondered... well, maybe we can just look first, see how it is done?'

The woman smiled and nodded. 'Of course, many customers want to watch first. Follow me.' She pulled the curtain aside and walked into a less colourful room where three 'dentist' seats were. There were white curtains to surround the chairs but they didn't. Maybe the two men, occupying two of the seats didn't found it necessary to have some privacy while getting a tattoo. Actually, they were talking to each other and the 'artists' drilling the ink into their bodies.

'Gentlemen, do you mind having an audience?' She asked and both men shook their heads. She smiled at the two young boys and left the room.

Quatre nudged Duo in his side, wordlessly telling him to search for cute guy.

He looked nervously at the tattoo-artist (2) closest to them but grimaced. That COULDN'T be the cute guy Hilde was talking about or she would have more shocking news for man and dad. It was a middle-aged, fat guy with tattoos all over him, even his scalp, which he shaved, was tattooed. He turned to look at the other one but found that he could only see his hands, holding the bussing needle as he tattooed a dragon on someone's arm.

Cautiously he walked forward turning his head to look past the white curtain and held in his gasp as he saw the other tattoo-artist who definitely fitted Hilde's short descriptions. He said on some kind of barstool while he focussed on his job, he seemed to be absorbed into it not noticing anything as he carefully gave the green dragon on the mans arm more details so that people would gasp and say: 'That is beautiful!' when they looked at it.

From what he could see he wasn't so full of tattoos as his colleague was. Actually, he could see just one, a tribal band on his upper right arm, the side that was facing him. Other then that he had a piercing in his right eyebrow and looked like a walking god. A perfectly sculptured body that he showed of in a tight white tank top and low riding faded jeans duo didn't even DARE to wear.

Finally, the young man, he couldn't be much older then him, stopped as his finished putting scales on the head of the dragon and he looked up at his 'audience.' He smiled and said a simple: 'Hey'. Before continuing putting more scales on the body of the dragon.

Duo knew that he must have looked like a total moron, ogling the tattoo-artist the way he did. 'I-is it alright if I come closer?' He asked shyly.

The young guy looked up again after a while and gave him the same kind smile 'Sure, come as close as you wish.'

And he did just that. He walked past the man and noticed that he had a tattoo of a simple black dragon with red eyes on the back of his neck. He sat down on a chair on the other side of the man who was being... painted... tainted, coloured, whatever you want to call it. But he didn't look at the needle, he looked at the artist and he found himself loving the way he frowned while he was absorbed into his job. He noticed only now that he had the most exquisite blue, since he had been to busy checking out his body before, eyes where everyone would drown in. In concentration he leaned forward more so now his chocolate brown hair covered his face from Duo's view.

'You're really talented.'

Duo looked up, surprised and say Quatre standing VERY close to the man he had been admiring, watching intensely at how he painted the 'drilled' into the mans skin.

'Thank you.' He mumbled, not even looking up from his work but he leaned back again so that duo could once again appreciate his delicate features. Delicate features? Where the hell did THAT came from! This guy didn't look delicate! He looked... tough, maybe, like- like he had been through a lot of stuff and had seen the ugly side of this world, Duo concluded as he looked into his vibrant wise eyes.

Suddenly he straightened in his chair and put the needle away, getting a tissue, wiping the skin that now sported a dragon and before bandaging the arm up he asked the owner of the arm what he thought of his newly acquired piece of art.

The man loved it... and he should. I looked like it belonged in a museum.

The man thanked the young guy and left with a satisfied look on his face.

The tattoo-artist he had been ogling removed the needle point, throwing it away, replacing it with a new one and cleaned the ink up and replaced the paper cover on the chair. Then he looked up at Duo, then at Quatre, smiled again and said: 'I'm Heero, does anyone of you want to be artisticated?'

Artisticated?

Heero laughed and explained: 'That's how we like to call it, but let me try again: does anyone of you like to have a tattoo? Then tell me where and what.'

Duo blushed, he must have asked it out loud... But he shook his head violently. 'We were just watching!'

'Me or the tattoo?'

Duo blushed even more and reminded himself that he needed to breath otherwise he would suffocate. He almost got himself coughing fit.

'Both.' Quatre smugly said and then: 'I was just wondering and I hope you don't mind me asking but: What kind of tattoos do YOU have?'

Heero looked at him funny with raised eyes and Quatre, never being one with much patience asked irritated: 'WHAT!'

Heero just laughed. 'You sound really weird with that accent, what is it, English?'

Quatre got a bit of a red hue on his cheeks and Duo wondered why he blushed about that, he himself came from England as well and never blushed when someone mentioned his accent!

'And you too.' Heero directed at Duo.

Okay, until now. There was just something in his eyes... like... like he had a fetish for Englishmen. It was... unnerving and flustering.

'You still haven't answered my question.' Quatre complained.

'I'll tell AND show you.' Heero said grinning. What was he up to? He pointed at the Tribal band on his arm then stuck out both his arms, palms up. On both his wrists where Chinese/Japanese signs. Heero pointed at the right one and said: 'This means Earth.' Then he pointed at the left wrist 'And this is heaven. Chinese.' He added.

'Are you Chinese?' Quatre asked as he shamelessly looked at Heero, not only at the tattoos.

'No, my father is Japanese. I got these from a friend of mine, WuFei Chang, he is Chinese.' He then turned around, pointing as his neck which wasn't really necessary cause the black tattoo stood out on his skin and then lifted his white tank top a bit, showing off a thick black tribal on his lower back with in the centre an eye. After that he sat back down again, finished.

'Is that ALL?' Duo couldn't help but ask, in his mind he had pictured any tattoo-artist full with tattoos, no patch of uncoloured skin left on his body.

'You're thinking stereotypes boy. I only take tattoos because they mean something to me and no, that's not all.' He said with a mischievous smile 'But you'll have to get closer to me to see those.' He explained.

Duo's mind raced, trying to figure out where they will be. Around his... manhood? On his ass? Suddenly the question: are you gay? Popped into his head and it almost rolled out of his mouth.

'Wow! Is that a tongue piercing!' Quatre exclaimed, shaking Duo awake with curiosity.

Heero opened his mouth and stuck his tongue out with was decorated with a simple silver stud. 'To please my lovers.' He said with the same grin plastered to his face. But duo still couldn't find out his sexual orientation with that remark. Since being orally pleased by someone with a tongue stud was pleasurable for both men and women. But his mind was still to occupied with the possibilities of where his other tattoos would be to think about it for to long. He felt his face grow hot thinking about how Heero would look naked and he new that he must be WAY off for he had never seen a guy, with a body half as good as Heero, naked. Except himself. He wasn't bragging or anything but he did have a nice and defined body.

'So I take it you don't want to be tattooed?' Heero asked one last time and Duo almost thought he was going to talked them into it, but he didn't.

'You tattooed my sister last week.'

Heero just raised his eyebrow, not knowing whom he was talking about since the only similar thing he and Hilde had were their eyes.

'Hilde Maxwell?' He asked.

Heero nodded 'The spoiled little rich girl.' He said, probably before thinking the words over before they rolled of his tongue as he seemed to regret them now.

'Yeah that one. May I ask... did she scream or anything? Did she cry?'

'That's confidential.' Heero said with a grin. His next customer lay down, pointed at his arm and said: 'Here is my arm, do what your artistic mind tells you to do.'

'I love it when people give me the room I need for my creativity.' He said as he grabbed the ink and the needle. He turned to Duo and Quatre and said his goodbye.

Just before they left the room Heero said: 'Like a baby.'

They turned around and raised their eyebrows in question.

'She was bawling like a baby.' Heero said in a hushed tone, like he had just told God was gay or anything.

Duo smiled and left the room, knowing that he would come back to this shop more often to visit the wonderful artist working there, hoping they could become friends... and more...

(1) I don't think this is an existing word, but you know what I mean with it...

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