Masterpiece [h.s]

twenty nine

"Jesus, Harry! That's definitely too much pressure!"

Harry frowns and quickly pulls the machine away, "I'm sorry! Shit! I'm sorry, I thought that I-"

Carter laughs loudly at his panic, her bright smile easing his racing heart. "Harry, I was kidding. Trust me, if you actually managed to do it wrong after all of my teaching there would be a lot more curse words."

She'd do a hell of a lot more than cursing, but the less that he knows, the better. Just in case he fucks up later on.

Harry shakes his head and he can't hide his smile as he returns to setting the ink in her skin. "You scared the shit out of me either way, so congratulations."

Carter bites her lip to keep from laughing because she knows that if she does she'll screw up whatever the hell it is that he's tattooing on her and they'll both be devastated.

"Tell me again why I can't look at the permanent ink that you're putting on my body?"

Harry rolls his eyes as he wipes away some excess ink and picks up where he left off, "Because it's special and I didn't want you to tell me no before I even finished, let alone before I even started."

Carter grins and hums happily to herself, "I've trained you well, young grasshopper."

His laugh rings loudly off of the walls and echoes brightly in her ears, "Shut the hell up before you make me mess up."

Holding back her laughter proves to be far more difficult this time and she can't help that it escapes. Instead of being grumpy, Harry stops tattooing and laughs with her.

Carter takes the moment to admire the crinkles by his eyes, his wide grin and deep dimples, his laughter lines, and the look in his eyes when he looks at her. He's absolutely breathtaking and she loves him far more than she should.

"I love you."

The suddenness of the familiar three words takes him by surprise for a moment and his already too-big-smile widens as he tucks a stray strand of hair behind her ear, "I love you too."

The gentle buzz of the needle comes to a stop and Harry grins, "Finished! You better not hate it, but if you do, please don't tell me."

Carter sits up a little quicker than she should and she wobbles a little before taking a deep breath and trying again.

She doesn't think that he did anything bad for the time that it took him to complete the small tattoo. And, as long as it isn't something completely moronic, she's sure that she'll like it.

Harry's up and blocking the mirror before she's even taken two steps toward it. He's beyond nervous that she'll hate it.

"Promise that you won't tell me that you hate it if you hate it?"

Carter smiles up at him warmly and places her hands on his chest. She can fill his heartbeat pulsing through her fingertips and she gets lost in the steady beat for a moment.

Her light blue eyes meet his lighter green ones with utmost sincerity, "I promise."

Slowly, Harry moves out of the way, his fingers catching hers and lacing them together because he wants to and because he wants a little more reassurance.

The words "I promise" are written just above her heart in his relatively neat and familiar style of cursive.

Carter's speechless. Her fingers gently run over the raised skin and her lips lift up in a warm smile.

She thinks that it's absolutely beautiful. The words are simple enough, but what makes them beautiful is the fact that it's a promise that he made to her months ago.