"I've been thinking,"

Raven snorted. "Uh oh. This should be good."

"Shut up." Clarke hissed while delivering a lighthearted slap to her friends shoulder. "So, I've been thinking; before I was rudely interrupted. That I want a piercing."

"Ok. Not as bad as I was thinking this was going to be. Where?"

"...nipples?"

"Oh. Unexpected, but cool- I guess." Raven tilted her head sideways, assessing her best friends seriousness. "I know someone. Octavia, remember her? I showed you her instagram."

"The rocker bike chic?"

"Yeah. She does piercings in her brother's tattoo shop. She's good."

Clarke nodded. "Yeah, ok. Will you come with me though?"

"Aw, babe. You know I'll support every bad decision you make."

X

Clarke halts in front of the tattoo parlor. She take a deep breathe composing herself and clearly rethinking what she was about to do.

"Aw, come on! Don't chicken out now. Seriously? Let's go." Raven grumbled pushing the blonde closer to the door. That seemed to encourage Clarke enough to grab the door handle and whip it open. Inside the tell-tale buzz of a tattoo gun vibrated through the parlor and everyone in sight seemed to be wearing black clothing or a leather garment with tattoos peaking through in various places. To the left, a man with dark curly hair was hunched over an older man's arm, moving his tattoo gun over dark intricate swirls. Clarke was mesmerized by the moving muscles under the artists' sleeve tattoos.

"Hey! You must be Clarke?" the girl who stood behind the counter piped up upon seeing the two frozen at the entrance.

"Oh… yes. Yes. That's me- Clarke." She stumbled while stepping closer to the counter. The brunette seemed to sense the girl's nervousness and tried to comfort her with a warm smile.

"I'm Octavia. I'll be doing your piercing. You still up for it?" She raised an eyebrow as a challenge. Clarke grinned. Oh it's on.

X

Octavia led the girls to a private back room after signing some forms and going over the procedure.

Pain wise Clarke expected worse, but it was still painful. Octavia seemed to help by keeping her distracted with random chatter.

"So what inspired this move?"

"A girl on tumblr." Octavia laughed at that.

"You want to become a tumblr girl now?"

"No. Just thought it was hot. I'm a doctor, doesn't leave a lot of time for being a tumblr model."

"Fair enough. I wanted to become a doctor too."

"Really?"

"Oh yeah, when I was 12. Then realised all the work, colleges and study involved and well… here I am. A piercer who's apprenticing to become a tattoo artist."

"If only I had that realisation… maybe I'd be here too." That forced a snort out of both Raven and Octavia. The conversation flowed and the three agreed to meet up sometime and exchanged phone numbers.

A knock on the door startled them.

"Hey Octavia you done in there?" A gruff voice sounded from the other side.

"Yes!"

A mop of curls popped in through the door. Clarke recognised the man as the tattoo artist she saw earlier. She studied the man's tan face and smattering of freckles from her seat on the other side of the room.

"You need a ride home? Lincoln left a while ago."

"Yeah, I'm done here." Octavia said while cleaning up her work station. The man cast his glance away from the brunette surveying the other two occupants. His gaze seemed to linger on the blonde, his eyes quickly glancing down at her new 'piercings'- which were really obvious through her tank top. He swallowed.

"I'm Bellamy. Octavia's brother." he said, still looking at Clarke. Their eyes were locked on each other.

"I'm Raven." The latina said clearly amused by her friend who seems frozen and showed no signs of responding. "And this is Clarke."

"Well nice to meet you… I'll uh. Wait outside. See you." He cleared his throat and left. Octavia and Raven shared a knowing look over Clarke's head.

X

Raven was not at all surprised when Clarke told her a week later that she wants to get a tattoo. Neither was Octavia when Raven called and they cackled over the phone, while the blonde pretended she didn't know what they were laughing about and that it had NOTHING to do with a certain man.

Nothing.