North Starr

25

Season Three

Melanie returned from Italy and immediately fell face first on her bed, falling asleep.

A pounding sounded on the wall nearby and she awoke to see Derek who was frowning. "Your friends are here. They refuse to leave without you."

"Well too bad. They're gonna have to."

"I don't think they're leaving without a yes."

Melanie got up and cursed under her breath as Derek handed her coffee and she gave a small, grateful smile. "Thanks."

He nodded. "Don't harass them too much."

"No promises."

Melanie glared at her friends as she joined them and Stiles glanced at Scott with a slightly terrified look.

---

The teens arrived at Beacon Tattoo and walked inside. Scott explained to the tattooist what he wanted. Melanie frowned, wondering why he wanted two bands.

The tattooist directed Scott to sit in one of the chairs and looked at what Scott drew. "Boy, it's a good thing you drew me a picture."

Stiles held up an image of a kanima-looking creature. "Hey, Scott, sure you don't want something like this?"

"Or this?" Melanie asked as she held up a beastly werewolf-like image.

Scott frowned at the two of them causing Stiles to say, "Too soon? Yeah."

Melanie met Scott's eye. "Are you sure about this, Scott? Tattoos are permanent and it's hard to remove 'em."

Scott shook his head. "I'm not changing my mind."

Stiles sighed in annoyance. "Okay, but why two bands?"

Scott shrugged. "I just like it."

Melanie frowned. "Shouldn't your first tattoo have some sort of meaning?"

"Getting a tattoo means something," Scott retorted.

Stiles frowned for a moment. "I don't think that's..."

The tattooist finally spoke. "He's right. Tattooing goes back thousands of years. The Tahitian word "tatua" means "to leave a mark." Like a rite of passage."

Scott motioned to the tattooist with a jerk of his head. "Yeah, you see? He gets it."

Melanie gestured to the tattooist. "He's covered in tattoos, Scott, literally."

The tattooist sighed and held up a large needle. "Okay, you ready? You ain't got any problems with needles, do you?"

"Nope," Scott replied, shaking his head.

"I tend to get a little squeamish though, so..." Stiles began as he passed out in the back.

"He'll be okay in a little bit," Melanie informed, once she'd made sure Stiles was okay.

Around an hour or so later, Scott's tattoo was done. Stiles began driving his friends home as Scott groaned. "Oh, man."

"You okay, Scott?" Melanie asked.

Scott winced as he glanced to her. "Kinda burns."

Stiles noddded a few times. "Yes, you just had your skin stabbed about 100,000 times with a needle."

"Yeah, but I don't think it's supposed to feel like this."

"Oh, God," Scott groaned again. "No, it's definitely not supposed to feel like this. Oh, I gotta take this thing off."