title: Badass
rating: PG
pairings: Light Yamagoku
warnings: None, really. Body mod.
summary: Yamamoto gets a tattoo for all the wrong reasons.
The first one hurts the most, Dino had told him.
Then you just kinda get used to it. like plucking hairs or scratching a bite. It hurts, but it's standable, and after a while you just stop feeling it.
Or even better, it starts feeling good in a whole new way.
Yamamoto didn't quite believe him completely, because putting a needle in your body a thousand times had to hurt one way or another. He knew this out of his own personal experience of being stabbed repetitively by sharp things, but he didn't argue the point, just smiled and nodded.
Besides, his mind was made up anyway.
__________
"Gokudera-kun, what's so interesting?" Tsuna had asked, placing a friendly hand on his right hand man's shoulder and shaking him out of whatever daze the storm guardian had been entranced in.
"Oh, it's nothing, Tenth," Gokudera had replied innocently, all smiles and daisies and sparkling eyes for Tsuna.
But Yamamoto had seen.
__________
"On your hip?" Dino seemed impressed when Yamamoto spilled the news. "Bone hurts worst, I can tell you that."
Yamamoto laughed and shrugged.
__________
"On your hip? Bone hurts worst," The tattoo artist warned, eyes serious under extensively pierced eyebrows.
"That's what I want," Yamamoto reassured, shirt already off.
"Whatever you say, kid."
__________
It had hurt, it turned out. a lot more that Yamamoto had expected. Getting tattooed was in no way comparable to getting shanked with a sword- two totally different pains.
Yamamoto personally prefered the shanking.
"Feel badass?" the guy asked as he was ringing out, heavily inked hands cupped outwards as Yamamoto counted change. (He had saved up.)
"Something like that," Yamamoto replied, hipbone on freaking fire.
"Be sure to wash that, kid."
__________
"Yamamoto-kun, did I hurt you?!" Tsuna withdrew his hand from where he had playfully smacked at Yamamoto, face open and concerned.
"Ahaha, sorry Tsuna, I just am a little tender there, that's all."
Gokudera's eyes narrowed.
__________
"Let's see it," Gokudera commanded, cornering Yamamoto in Tsuna's bathroom.
('I'll be back in an hour,' Tsuna had told them. 'at most. you know how mom is with grocery runs, she'll call me every minute adding stuff to the list...')
Yamamoto laughed, even as Gokudera made a grab for his shirt. "There's nothing to see," he lied, not wanting Gokudera to see it, not now, not when it was all bruised and scabbing along the ridge of his hip.
"Bullshit," Gokudera countered, caging Yamamoto against the sink with skinny arms and boney legs. "You've been favoring your hip since last week like it hurts like fuck if anyone touches it. if you're hurt, it's my job as family to make sure you're taking care of it properly. And you're retarded, so you're probably fucking it up worse."
"You have a point," Yamamoto rationed, "but I'm not hurt. Trust me."
"Shut up," Gokudera said, and then Yamamoto's shirt was yanked up to his nipples, and there it was, exposed to the air in all of its blue-black-yellow, mottled glory.
"A tattoo," Gokudera breathed, air hissing through his teeth.
"Like it?" Yamamoto couldn't help himself, and Gokudera had this look on his face, like he had tasted something really peculiar.
"Why did you get this?" and holyjesusfuck, Gokudera was a smart boy, smart enough to know you don't touch new tattoos, but even if it hurt Yamamoto wasn't going to stop him. This was kinda what he had been going for all along, after all.
"No reason," Yamamoto said smoothly, leaning against the sink and smiling broadly.
Gokudera pulled the shirt down, rough. "I thought you were hurt, you idiot."
"Nope," Yamamoto replied, standing up. "But you know, I kind of had you in mind."
Gokudera stared at him. blinked. stared some more. "What."
"See," Yamamoto grinned and tugged at the hem of his shirt, tilting his hip up so his pants slid down to reveal the entirety of the ink. "It's a lightning bolt. I thought that-"
"Don't even complete that sentence." Gokudera looked a bit shellshocked, ring-heavy hands already tugging Yamamoto's shirt back down. Yamamoto didn't miss the way his face was red, his pierced ears crimson. "The tenth will be home any time now, and, and- just. god. You."
"I take it you like it," Yamamoto hazarded, his tone teasing as he slid his pants back up to their rightful place.
Gokudera turned around, lighting a cigarette and looking at him consideringly. "Show me again when it's healed and I'll tell you what I really think."
Yamamoto felt a little badass.
