The first one was, "It's Got Bette Midler," and not to long after that he gets a Magnolia for his mom, over his heart. He's addicted soon enough. He's got two ¾ sleeves, and a bunch of random tattoos spread around the rest of his body. Most either have to do with music, or fashion, or Blaine, but some are just there to look pretty and fill in the empty spaces of ivory skin that Kurt can't seem to stand anymore.
They're all easily covered up. They have to be, because just because he has a stable and accepting job at Vogue right now doesn't mean he'll always be so lucky. He can wear a button down, and a pair of slacks and no one would ever know that he's let his body become the canvas of his soul.
Blaine loves them. He spends hours on end tracing the outlines on his back, kissing them, licking them… He's yet to get any; he leaves this particular hobby to Kurt. They each need their own right? Blaine has boxing, and Kurt has a tattoo of boxing gloves that come together to form a heart.
It's a few days before their wedding that he gets the idea for his next tattoo. It breaks his "covered up" rule, but it's too perfect for him to care. He grabs his soon to be wedding band and hops on the subway. Thankfully Owen has a walk in appointment available, and he explains exactly what he wants. Owen's the one that suggests doing it in his own handwriting, instead of a font. Kurt loves that idea.
They chat as Owen traces what Kurt wrote for him. Owen demands to hear the whole story behind the tattoo. So three days before his wedding, with Blaine in Vegas with Cooper, he dives into the story of two boys meeting on a staircase. Which quickly melds into the story of a boy falling in love as another boy sings a Katy Perry classic.
When it's all done Kurt cries. Not because of the pain, but because it's suddenly all too real. And Blaine's not in the same state, never mind in their apartment, waiting for Kurt to get back so they can have dinner and a glass of cheap, boxed wine. All before settling down for a movie that quickly turns into something far less innocent.
He doesn't call him though. He's out with Cooper, probably playing Black Jack, hopefully winning more money than he's losing. He probably wouldn't answer his phone anyway, probably wouldn't be able to hear it, or even feel it over the buzz of hundreds of drunken gamblers.
He's just drifting off to sleep, resigned to not talk to Blaine for the next few days, when his phone buzzes across his bedside table.
It's Blaine.
They talk for a half hour. Blaine was miraculously able to escape Cooper's constant hold on him with the brilliant excuse of having to go to the bathroom. His Fiancé was an absolute mastermind.
Kurt asks how Vegas is, Blaine says it sucks. Kurt chuckles, Blaine says he's serious. Kurt understands, because he misses Blaine like crazy too. And he can only imagine how being with a drunk Cooper 24/7 must be.
They say their 'good byes', and 'I love yous' and they hang up.
Kurt doesn't tell him about the tattoo yet.
Kurt doesn't tell him at all actually.
It's not until Saturday that Blaine finds out.
He's standing patiently at the alter, smiling from ear to ear. Five days in Vegas, five days without seeing Kurt. He didn't even get to see him when he got in from his flight last night; some crazy superstition Kurt had, that he was pretty sure only applied to Catholics (which they aren't) but he went along with it because it was what Kurt wanted. Blaine could wait one more day if it meant he got Kurt for the rest of his life.
Burt walks him down the aisle, far too slowly for Blaine's liking. He wants him here now. When he does join him, Blaine snatches his hand without a second thought. He doesn't car if it's not what they practiced, he just needs to touch him. He knows Kurt feels the same way when he clings back to him. They exchange dopey smiles that are two equal parts exhilarated, and scared shitless.
They barely pay any attention to the J.P. as he reads whatever speech he prepared. Instead they just look at each other. Taking it all in, one more time as unmarried people. They snap out of it enough to recite their vows. At the end there isn't a dry eye in the house (including the J.P.), and their grip on each other is even tighter.
They have to let go though, because it's time for the rings.
Blaine stumbles a little when the J.P. asks him is he takes Kurt first, because that's not how they planned it. But he recovers and says, "I do," and Kurt's amazed at the emotion behind those two simple words and how they hit him like a ton of bricks.
And then it's his turn, and the shakiness in his hands intensifies.
He says, "I do," and holds out his hand for Blaine to slip the platinum band on his finger. Where most people look down, wanting to watch the metaphorical transition from "single," to "married," he can't look away from Blaine's face.
He's glad he can't. Because as Blaine slides the cool metal over his finger he sees the proof of what he means to Kurt, etched permanently onto his skin, in plain daylight, for the whole world to see. And it's that little hitch in Blaine's breath, and the stunned blink of his eyes as they come up to meet Kurt's, that's what he'll remember most about this day. The look of Blaine's face, of his uninhibited love, will be forever etched across Kurt's mind. In a sense it's like another tattoo, but so much stronger. He knows it won't fade with time, or stretch as he ages and his skin sags. He'll never regret it, not even on the days where nothing seems to look right; he'll know he's jut being silly. Because just as it's etched, right above the line of his ring, he's found his missing puzzle piece, he's found something more permanent than a tattoo. He's found love.