The Border of Asakusa (Benimaru x Reader)

The Tattoo

Mara knocked on Vulcan's open door. "Hey Mar!" He smiled over his shoulder as she walked in.

"How'd you know it was me?"

"You're the only one in the station polite enough to knock."

"Ah." She smiled. "Does your tattoo offer still stand?"

Vulcan turned to face her, leaning against his workbench. "Sure does! What you got in mind?" She nodded at his phone, which vibrated. He opened the text. "Oh." He glanced down her body. "Same placement?"

"Yep."

"I think this will look great on you. Change into shorts, I'll clean off the work bench."

Mara stepped out, grabbed an iced coffee, and an article of clothing you made her buy but that she'd never worn until today. She returned braless in a black tank and a black dual high slit skirt. Vulcan did a double take as she walked toward him. He crossed his arms and rolled his lips between teeth as she hopped up onto the high table, sipped her coffee, and crossed her legs to accentuate the slits.

"Distracting your artist can lead to poor quality control..."

She sipped her coffee again. "I don't have any shorts."

He sighed in deep sexual frustration. "Stand back up." She jumped down and he kneeled at her feet. His fingertips brushed away the fabric of the skirt as he pulled the back off the transfer paper with his teeth, before tenderly wrapping the stunning design around her thigh. "Take a look in the mirror."

The two thigh bands had a gorgeous collection of wildflowers growing up out of them. "I love it! I think it's perfect."

He kneeled at her side with a marker. "What do you think about adding a couple additional wildflowers here-" he traced up her thigh to her hip.

"Oo yes!" Her eyes glowed down at him in excitement.

"Perfect." He sketched the added flowers, holding her steady with his hand cupped around the inside of her leg.

She watched him in the mirror. "What kind of flower is that? I've never seen it before."

"It went extinct in the Great Cataclysm. My pops had a book of nature and animals from before the fire. I always thought it was beautiful."

"It is beautiful..."

He rose to his feet. "We'll start with you on your back." He patted the work bench and she hopped back up. "I grabbed you a pillow-" He tipped his head to the top of the bench. Mara rested her head comfortably back. It smelled like him, herbal and earthy with a touch of molten metal. "You ready?" She gave a thumbs up and immediately felt the stinging burn of the needle tip.

"Do you still have the book?" She asked, completely relaxed.

"I do." The caution in his voice stemmed from how truly unphased she was by the discomfort of a tattoo.

"Could you tell me about some of your favorite animals?"

The twinkle in his eyes warmed her heart. He spoke for an hour or so about the vastly different species that used to inhibit the now fractured planet. As he finished his detailed description of jellyfish to a mesmerized Mara, her phone rang.

"I need your help." You began. "The 7th's Calendar photo last year-"

"Yeah. Your boy should've won, in my opinion." Mara sat up, her legs outstretched on the table, with Vulcan seated to her right. Unsurprisingly, as the bands seemed to be his specialty, he'd invented an exceptionally effective tip for his tattoo gun that knocked them out quickly. The flowers, however, were going to take much more time, attention, and detail.