endure and survive. | tlou

࿔ ellie ( tattoos. )

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𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: as requested by a lil bit of everyone, ellie gets another tattoo with the reader!

Ninety percent of the time you wondered how you let Ellie talk you into the things she talked you into. She was always doing that to you, putting on false puppy eyes and saying please so sweetly. Damn her.

Ellie grits her teeth at the contact of the tattoo needle pressing into the softness of her skin. On her left forearm, just underneath her elbow, Ellie allowed you to be the one to do her next tattoo - mostly because she knew you didn't like Cat, and secondly it would be more meaningful this way. At first you'd been overly nervous at the idea of giving her a tattoo as it was something you'd never done before, but she was quick to assure you that you'd be fine.

You had taken to practicing in the quiet hours of the night when you could find someone willing to let you try, just so you didn't completely butcher the tattoo. So after your third or fourth try you finally agreed to do the prized tattoo for her, a replica of the spacecraft pin on her bag. It was a fond memory of hers, the way she'd gotten it with Joel, and she always talked about the galaxy due to her aspiring dream to have been an astronaut. It seemed only fitting that she had a way to hold that in her heart -her skin- forever.

"I don't think it looks bad." You mumbled, wiping her skin with Vaseline. You turned your attention to the strips that needed to be filled in, dipping the needle in black ink once more before going to work. "I'm sorry if it's not as good as, well, hers."

Ellie shook her head, gazing down at your progress on the rocket ship with pride. For someone who'd never done a tattoo before you were doing great, it's not like she could be angry at you. It was surprising that you could even find the equipment to do the tattoos anymore, so she was happy with it however it turned out. "It looks great, babe."

She was thankful she knew what the pain of these felt like in advance, though it wasn't as bad as she'd been told it would've been. Sure, her right arm was tender for nearly a week with her arm piece but that was a massive tattoo with a lot of hours put into it. The part she dreaded most was how ungodly itchy they were in the healing process, that and the peeling. Though, it did sting when the needle drew closer to the nerves in her elbow.

With your left hand you reached around to grab a damp cloth, wiping the excess ink from her reddening skin. You spared a glance down at your work, not too bad for a beginner. "It's almost done, are you okay?"

When you'd started the tattoo it had been passing eleven at night, you dreaded to know what time it would be at this point. You had a shift in the dam the next evening, covering for someone who'd gone into labor, and you needed to get up early so Tommy could show you what to do. Though, this experience was rather fun, maybe you'd let Ellie give you a tattoo later on. You'd always wanted to get a fern to match hers, just much smaller.

"I'm good." She replied, truthfully for once. It had taken Ellie a while to feel okay again after Seattle, even more so when she'd returned from Santa Barbara. She was just thankful you were willing to hear her out, to forgive her for leaving again. The three fingers of her left hand squeezed your arm for comfort when the needle moved in quick strips down to shade the outer area of the moon.

After a moment of quietness, you shading and wiping the mixture of ink and Vaseline from her arm, you leaned away from her arm. "Done, I think." You smiled, proud of yourself for accomplishing the task.

Ellie leaned down to observe your work that would now permanently remain on her skin, a look of seriousness plastered on her features. With every passing moment of silence from her you grew anxious, did she not like it? Did it not look good? Given, some of the lines might be a tiny bit crooked but it wasn't that noticeable.

"Don't you like it?" You questioned, twiddling your fingers together. Half of a frown curved downward on your lips at her silence, worried you'd put something on her she wouldn't like.

After a moment the auburn haired girl finally looked up at you, maintaining that serious expression. She almost looked as if she were going to say something harsh, criticizing your work. "Y/N." She started, eyes glinting with mischief. A second later her lips curved upwards into a playful grin, one that made you playfully smack her shoulder. "It looks great, babe."

You chuckled in relief, smiling. "You think so?" As Ellie nodded you reached around to grab some Saniderm bandaging, you'd went overboard when raiding the local tattoo parlor, and began wrapping it over her arm. "I think it said to leave it covered for an hour?"

She rolled her eyes, impatience settling over her. Ellie was never one to be patient with things like this. "Y/N, you know I don't need that."

You hushed her, revealing a tube of, hopefully still good, ointment. "If you're getting a tattoo from me, you're taking proper care of it. I asked Maria to help me find all this stuff since her dad had a couple tattoos back in the day."

Ellie chuckled quietly as you rambled on about how and when to apply the ointment, and that you'd be making sure she did so. To quieten you down she leaned forward, capturing your lips on hers for a lingering moment.

"Not cute." You teased, disposing of the leftover ink on the counter. Ellie followed behind you, helping clean up the mess and dispose of the needle. You'd found extras anyway, so if you ever needed them again they'd be sanitary - for the most part.

"Can I tattoo you next?"

"Maybe."

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˖ editing update 1/11/21 : why'd i unpublish this one it was literally fine??

࿔ rhae ♡