Only the Brave

Chapter 61: Trying Together

Taking a fortifying breath and focusing hard to stay calm, Regulus holds his left arm still for the man with the gun. He's very handsome, which helps because it's distracting Regulus from the fact that he'll have to endure his touch for several hours if he's going to get this done.

The tattoo parlour is 'closed for personal reasons' today. Regulus is trying to leave his manipulative ways behind, but he wasn't willing to wait weeks for an appointment. He has standards and a magic wand. He's alone here with the headlining artists, who is according to Regulus and Sirius' research, the best there is.

Wrinkling his nose a little bit, he eyes the dark mark on Regulus' arm. "Who did you say did this one?"

"I didn't say," Regulus replies primly. "It's none of your business."

"Fair enough," he says, shrugging.

The full design that Regulus and Sirius worked on all day yesterday is spread on a side table next to them so that he can look at it for reference. He's already transferred the lines to Regulus' skin with some muggle technique he's not bothered to learn anything about.

"If it gets too much, you let me know," the artist says, starting his gun. It makes a buzzing sort of noise that's not entirely unpleasant.

"Sure," Regulus says, as if a little ink being punched into his skin could ever compare to the kind of pain Regulus has known. Still, the guy's a muggle. Not his fault he's no idea who Regulus is or what he's done. 

When he puts his hand on Regulus' arm to steady himself, Regulus has to grind his teeth to stop himself from flinching. But he's stubborn, and he's going to get through this. He wants this tattoo done. A carefully woven tapestry that will absorb the mark and make it part of a bigger story. Action-man was right that there's never getting rid of the skull and the snake, but that doesn't mean Regulus was going to just let it be.

After a few minutes, his body relaxes as it understands he's not in danger, and this isn't an undead body in a lake. It's a blond tattoo artist with nice brown eyes that's working on Regulus' arm with impressive focus.

"Dorcas, are you there?"

"Reg?" 

"Yes, hi. Can you talk?" 

"Yeah. Marls' still sleeping. Are you okay?" 

"Just bored for the next few hours," Regulus glances at his arm.

For a muggle, this would take several sessions spread over weeks. Fortunately for him, he's a wizard with very good healing skills and absolutely no qualms about modifying the artist's memory so he gets it all done in one go.

"Oh, wonderful," Dorcas thinks rather cheerfully. "Then you have plenty of time to explain to my why Sam and Emmeline barged in here last night to tell us we missed all the drama."

"Ah," Regulus pairs that with a twinge of amusement so Dorcas can feel it, too. "I stabbed the action-man."

"Regulus!"

"James slammed him onto a table." 

"You somehow made that sound dirty and it's making me uncomfortable." 

"It was very hot." 

He feels a laugh through the link, then curious excitement. "Alright, then. Tell me everything."

####

Absurdly, because he's got quite literally nothing to do with this situation, James wishes Sirius was here. It's just that this is one of the most terrifying things he's ever done, and he usually faces hard situations side by side with Sirius.