Before I Forget

Nothing Weird About It

As Hawk stepped into the tattoo shop, the first thing he saw was Sky lying face down on the tattooing table, naked from the waist up. Rico was working on her left shoulder blade and looked up as he heard Hawk approaching.

"Hi, bro," he said, and Hawk gave a nod as a greeting.

Of course, Sky would be half-naked since it was the back of her shoulder that was being tattooed, but still, that sight hit Hawk like a wrecking ball. He hadn't been expecting to see her like this, barely decent in the presence of another guy.

He's just doing his job for fuck's sake. This is not the time to throw a fit.

"Hi babe," he said, walking closer - and hearing his voice, Sky carefully lifted her head to see him.

A ghost of a smile touched her lips, but she was pale and looked tired. "You came."

"I said I would. Sorry it took a bit longer." He grabbed a chair and sat down next to the table. "How do you feel?"

"Okay," Sky said. "A bit sore."

Hawk glanced at the design on her skin and realized it was some kind of a bird. A bird on her shoulder, the feathers of its long tail ran down her arm, the spread wings covered the front and the back of her shoulder. The bird's head curved towards Sky's neck, a delicate head with long, beautifully drawn feathers and a sharp beak that was opened as if the bird was singing, or screeching. The tattoo was far from finished, only the black outlines were drawn, and it was obviously going to be a colored design, but still, it looked awesome. And yet, it made his chest tighten.

"You're having a scar covering tattoo," he breathed.

"Yeah," Sky replied silently. "What do you think about it?"

"I think it's gonna look super cool."

Because what else could he say? He didn't feel like Sky's scar needed to be covered. He loved that scar because it was a part of her. He loved to kiss it, to feel the hollow in the middle of the star shape, he loved it because it was a part of her story, and there wasn't anything he didn't love about her.

But at the same time, he knew how much she hated the sight of the scar, and not just because she thought it was ugly (which it wasn't), but because seeing it always made her think about the day when Kat had died. And if covering the scar would make her pain diminish even a bit, then she should definitely go for it.

"It's a phoenix," Sky said silently. "It's gonna look so great when it's done, the feathers are gonna be all fire and flame."

"A phoenix?" Hawk turned his gaze from the tattoo to her eyes which were partly covered by her hair.

"Kat used to call me that," she said simply, as if it explained everything, as if there wasn't a whole story behind that short sentence. A story Hawk wanted to hear, but something in Sky's voice told him this wasn't the time or place to ask more.

"I love it," he said. "The name and the tattoo."

Sky didn't reply, but as Hawk reached to take her hand (the right one, not the one that was tattooed), she took it and their fingers entwined. Rico continued to work on the tattoo, drawing precise, black lines of the phoenix's tall feathers on Sky's shoulder blade, and the only sound in the room was the soft buzzing of the tattoo machine.

"You're not gonna be able to do karate this week," Hawk told her after a while.

Sky groaned. "I know. Sensei will be so pissed."

"Yeah, but he's always pissed," Hawk noted with a dry laugh. "You'd better tell him the reason, though. He's gonna think that tattoo is badass."

"True."