Tattoo // Calum Hood // au

Prologue

There are three different types of love: Eros, philos, and agape (1).

Eros love can also be known as "erotic" love. This is the type of love when you have strong feelings for another, and is most often influenced by physical features. For example, a man says he has "fallen in love" with a woman because she "intelligent" or "looks like an angel", or a woman "falls in love" with a man because he "has robust features" or "is charming".  However, it is not simply thinking somebody is good-looking.  It is a part of you loving a person because of either physical or emotional features of the person.

The flaw in this type of love is simply: it is a "self-benefiting" love. It is merely based on what benefits you, and does not put into consideration how it benefits the other person. It is "I love you because you make me feel good and you make me happy". Keyword: me. It is a selfish love.

When the person doesn't "feel happy" in loving that person, or the relationship no longer benefits them, they feel as if they are "falling out of love", when there was never "true love" in the first place.  Claiming that a person gets bored with a relationship means one thing: the relationship was only there to entertain them.

Philos love can simply be defined as a platonic love between friends or family.  This is the type of love you show somebody you care for, but do not love romantically.

The flaw with philos love, however, is that it is not always reliable. Families often fight, parents get divorced, and friendships don't always last forever.

The final type of love, agape love, can be defined as unconditional love.  This is the highest, most powerful form of love.  This is a selfless form of love, which is given even if the giver is receiving no benefit in return.

Agape love is what many people consider to be true love. It is when a couple argues, but no matter what, they will always love each other.  They do not let troublesome times break them apart.  No matter what their partner does, they will always love them.

Love, being the powerful force it is, is something that everybody knows about, but in a bigger way than you may think.

Everybody knows who a person has ever loved, in both an eros love and an agape form of love.

You see, when a person is born, they are given a unique mark on their left ankle— a tattoo, if you will— and no two people are given the same mark.

When a person possesses an eros love for another, the tattoo of the person being loved appears on the lover, but it appears only as a faded tattoo.

When a person loves somebody with an agape love, the tattoo of the person being loved appears on the lover, with full, bold colors.

Any tattoo begins as a faded mark. However, some will turn into a full, bold mark.

So, it is nearly impossible to hide your love for another— unless, of course, you wear something over it or cover it up with makeup.

What if one day, you find out that a member of a famous band now has your mark lightly colored onto his skin?

And what if it just happens to be a member of the band you despise?

1. Eros (EH-ros), philos (FEE-los), agape (uh-GAH-pay)