"Foggy Gets Ink"
Characters: Foggy Nelson and Matt Murdock, from the Daredevil comics. Marvel owns 'em, I just like to write about them. No profits to be made from this ficlet.
"When did THIS happen?" Matt Murdock was floored to think that his straight-laced, bowtie-wearing law partner had gotten a tattoo.
Red-faced, Foggy Nelson winced. He wasn't going to tell Matt about his little indiscretion, but there wasn't much you could hide from him.
Matt had noticed it when Foggy had been back in the office bathroom, grabbing a quick shave after another all-nighter working on a case. Foggy had his shirt off, and Matt had come in for a quick leak before they met the morning's first client. Matt had reached over to give Foggy a friendly shove out of the way, when he smelled the fresh ink and felt a different texture on Foggy's upper arm. He traced the design with his acutely sensitive fingers. "What is it?" Matt grinned at the notion that his best friend had done something so out of character.
"Uh, they call them tribal tattoos, Matt. This one is kinda like Celtic knots all the way around my arm." Foggy blushed even brighter. "It's kinda a long story."
"Give it to me, Fog. I wanna know what caused you to take the walk on the wild side." Matt finished his business and leaned on the doorframe.
"Back while you were in the midst of all that tabloid crap, I met this woman at the coffee shop. I kept seeing her there day after day, ordering her herbal tea. She was about our age, sort of a New Age-y chick, with long dark hair, the funky clothes and jewelry, very friendly. We got to chatting every morning, because I wanted a little company, and you were nowhere around, so things got more friendly and I finally asked to sit with her. Seemed innocent enough."
"See? I don't have to be around for chicks to notice you."
"Yeah, right," Foggy huffed. "Anyway, a few days later, Skye-- with an "e" on the end-- asked me to go to a party with her. It was going to be in an artist's loft somewhere, and sounded like it might be fun."
Matt chuckled. "Skye? Guess her parents were real tree huggers, huh?"
"Probably so." Foggy rolled his eyes, knowing Matt wouldn't catch his ire for being interrupted. "We met after work, and went to this loft, and damn, was that a bunch of weird people. The place was real retro, with sixties-style furniture and shag rugs and lava lamps and stuff. And incense. You woulda had a fit, in more ways than one."
"No doubt."
"Anyway, they also had plenty of wine, so we started drinking. The more I drank, the more fun I had. It started to get hot in there, so Skye and I headed for the roof. She pulled out a joint and lit up, and--"
"Foggy! You didn't!" Matt burst out laughing.
"--and, yeah I did, Matt. You gotta believe me, I was really drunk. Before I knew it, I was pretty stoned, too. We were giggling like schoolgirls up there, and she asked me if I wanted to leave the party. I said yeah. Things get a little hazy after that. Man, I'm really sorry."
Matt put his arm around Foggy's shoulder. "Don't worry about it. Didja have a good time? Don't tell me you woke up the next morning with this tattoo?"
"Uh huh. Hung over in Skye's apartment. Skye said we both got them, some sort of hippy-dippy commitment thing. I freaked out, told her no frickin' way, got my clothes on, and left. Musta made a huge ass of myself, because I haven't seen her since, not even at the coffee shop." Foggy hung his head ashamedly.
"Well, at least you have a decent souvenir, huh?" Matt slapped his friend on the back and left Foggy to finish his shave.