A/N: Please note I'm not a professional tattoo artist or a person with lots of tattoos, so sorry if my information is incorrect. I had to google stuff. I only have one tattoo so I'm no where near a professional.
"C'mon Jase, it's just a tattoo." Nico said nudging Jason towards the tattoo parlor.
"With needles poking me Nico." Jason grumbled.
"Don't tell me you're afraid of needles Grace. We've been through worse."
"I'm not afraid of needles." Jason glared as we walked in the place. "I just don't want to sit down in a chair for a long period of time while I get poked with needles."
Nico rolled his eyes at his friend, "Don't sorry Jase. I know the artists here, they're good and won't make you suffer too bad." Nico gave the girl behind the counter a small nod. "Hello Reyna."
"Di Angelo." The girl, Reyna, gave Nico a small smirk. "What can I do for you today?"
"My friend Jason here is getting his first tattoo. He's kinda scared." Nico teased.
"I am not!" Jason argued.
Reyna smirked a little. "Don't worry kid. It's okay to be nervous for your first tattoo." Jason rolled his eyes. "Are you getting anything Nico?" Reyna turned her attention back to Nico.
"Yeah, I wanna add another to my sleeve."
Reyna nodded and turned back to Jason. "What do you want and where at?"
"Oh, uh..I'm not sure on what tattoo yet. My arm I guess?" Jason said hesitantly.
"I'll get Percy to help you decide. He's good with coming up ideas. Percy, once you're done with those two you have another client."
Jason turned to look at the guy at one of the few occupied tables, his breathing hitched. The man was in early or mid twenties if he had to guess, with tattoos of his own adjourning his muscled arms, raven colored hair in a quiff slightly shaved on the sides, the tips of his hair dyed an electric blue color. He had a bit of his stubble on his face the most gorgeous pair of sea green eyes Jason ever laid eyes on.
"Alright Reyna." The male answered. Damn, even his accent was hot. New York maybe? Jason doesn't know but he's thanking his lucky stars that he got such a hot guy to do his first tattoo for him.
"He's single y'know." Reyna whispered quietly. Jason jumped in surprise and turned back to look at her with wide eyes. "Oh n-no I was-"
Reyna smirked and laughed slightly. "I get it. He's hot, all the young girls go to him when he's in to get their tattoos done. He's good for business and great to look at. It's a win win either way. Isn't that right Rachel?"
"So true Reyna." A girl with fiery red up piped up from her spot drawing up a tattoo idea for Nico. "If he was straight and I wasn't ace and aro I would totally go for him."
Nico nodded his head in agreement. "If I wasn't dating Will I would totally go for him. I can set you two up Jay." Reyna laughed at Jason's blushing face.
"Alright Annabeth. It's done. Take a look in the mirror." A pretty curly haired blonde with intense grey eyes got up from her spot in the chair and admired her dove tattoo in the mirror and smiled. "I love it Perce. You never fail to disappoint me."
Percy smirked, "Now if you ever wanna get that tattoo covered up you know where to find me." Percy winked.
Annabeth rolled her eyes and smiled. "Or I could just go to Rachel, she's amazing and great to stare at too." Annabeth sent Rachel a wink who sent her a wink back.
"Whatever." Percy smirked. "Have fun on your date!"
"It's not a date Jackson." A girl with uneven choppy brown hair with dark tanned skin and kaleidoscope eyes said.
"Could've fooled me with the couple tattoos." Percy winked.
"They're best friend tattoos Perseus." Annabeth poked his chest playfully and gave him a mini glare.
"Annabeth why are you so afraid of loving me?" The Native American girl said with a smile.
"Oh c'mon Piper. We have lunch with Hazel in ten minutes." Annabeth said dragging Piper behind her. "Oh and thanks Percy!"
"Yeah thanks for the owl Percy!" Piper called out over her shoulder and left with her blonde friend.
"You see ReyRey," Percy said turning to Reyna with a smirk. "That could be us getting friendship tattoos but you're playing."
Reyna snorted, "Why on earth would I get anything related to you tattooed on me?"
"Because you love me so." Percy smiled.
Reyna rolled her eyes, "Get back to work Jackson. He needs help deciding on what he needs."
Percy turned to Jason with a smile. "Well c'mon dude." Percy walked Jason over to his station and sanitized the area. "Have a seat." Percy grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil as Jason took a seat in the chair. "Have any ideas on what you wanna get?"
"Not really, no." Jason said. "It was kind of a last minute decision with Nico. But my ancestors were Roman so maybe something about my heritage. Roman Mythology is kind of a big deal in my family."
Percy gave him a smile and started drawing something on the paper. "It's Greek mythology with mine. My dad's name is Poseidon, like the Greek mythological sea god. My mom wanted to give me a Greek name so she named me after the Greek hero Perseus since he was the only hero with a happy ending."
Jason gave him a smile. "Alright so how about SPQR?" Percy showed him the design. "That looks great." Jason smiled.
"Alright where do you want it?" Percy asked.
"On my arm right here."
"Alright give me your arm and relax." Percy sprayed Jason's arm with alcohol and rubbed it in and shaved away the hair. "Now I'm going to stencil the drawing on so you can get an idea of what you're gonna get. This isn't going to hurt." Jason nodded and Percy got to work. "So this is your first tattoo? Nice."
"Yeah." Jason said. "Nico and my sister Thalia have been trying to convince me forever to get one."
"Thalia Grace?" Percy asked surprised.
"Yeah, you know her?" Jason asked.
"Yeah, she comes in sometimes to flirt with Reyna. It's fun to see Reyna get flustered. But yeah, I knew her back in high school, we were friends then she moved back to California for a little while. Now she's back and shows up every once in a while to try and embarrass me with stories from our school days. It's terrible."
Jason laughed, "Yeah that sounds like Thalia."
Percy smiled and finished the stencil design. "Alright you can look in the mirror and see." Jason checked in the mirror and nodded his head appreciatively. "I like it."
"Cool, now this is where the real fun starts." Percy said with a slight smirk.
"I have a feeling this is going to be painful."
"The outline of the tattoo is the most painful part. Shading and coloring the tat is more annoying than it is painful. I've had people tell me the outlining doesn't hurt at all and I've had others tell me it feels like sunburn, cat scratch, cigarette burn, and a bee sting. All depends on your pain tolerance level." Percy shrugged and took off his gloves and threw them in the trash and pulled on another pair. And put Vaseline on the stencil. He then opened up the needle and needle tube pouches and assembled the machines, turned on the power and began the tattoo.
Jason winced a bit when the needle touched his skin and tried to calm his nerves. "You okay there kid?" Percy asked.
"Yeah I'm okay." Jason said trying to hold back another wince.
"The first few lines are always the worst until the body gets used to the pain." Percy said as he continued working on the tattoo.
Jason nodded and caught a glimpse of Nico sitting in one of the chairs across the parlor getting another tattoo added to his sleeve, having a conversation with the red haired girl from earlier Rachel.
"Do you go to school?" Percy asked.
"Yeah, Olympia University. I'm studying law. I'm in my Sophomore year." Jason answered, finally starting to get use to the sting of the outlining.
"Law student? Nice. Now I know who to go to if I ever need a lawyer." Percy sent him a wink and Jason blushed.
"So what do you do beside tattoos?" Jason asked.
"In the summer I give surfing lessons, I volunteer at the firehouse a lot. And sometimes I give tours at the aquarium on the weekends. Well not really, my little sister makes me take her a lot and I'm always having to point everything out so usually parents just follow me around with their kids."
"Sounds like you're busy a lot."
"On the weekends usually. During the week I'm usually here. The fire station usually only needs me when one of their workers is on vacation or sick. Not that my mom minds really. She rather me volunteer for something less dangerous." Percy shrugged and finished the outlining of the tattoo. "I'm gonna give you a quick break to relax your arm. You can take a look in the mirror if you like." Percy said taking off his gloves and throwing them in the trash.
Jason looked in the mirror to admire the outline of his tattoo. "Looks good Jay." Nico said. "I didn't think you'd actually go through with this. Too proper for this sorta thing." Nico teased. "Too afraid of disappointing daddy."
"I can be a rebel like Thalia."
Nico snorted. "Yeah, okay, Grace."
Jason rolled his eyes, "I'm here aren't I?"
"I know I don't believe it. I even texted Thalia a picture and she can't believe it."
"She must be real proud that we're tatting up her baby brother." Percy said with a smirk, putting on another pair of gloves. "Making a rebel out of daddy's golden boy."
Nico laughed, "Thalia is so proud. Don't be surprised if she stops by to see how it's going."
Jason groaned and Percy laughed. "Alright Grace, ready?"
"As ready as I'll ever be." Percy smiled and started shading and coloring in the tattoo. "Does it hurt?"
"Not really. It's just irritating. It's not like the outline." Jason said.
"Tattoo pain depends on a person's pain tolerance and the placement." Percy said. "I once had a guy get his girlfriend's name tattooed on his ribs. Tried to warn him about the placement but he wouldn't listen. About five minutes into the outlining he wanted to take a break. Then 4 months later he came back into the parlor wanting to get it covered up. Something about how he and his girlfriend broke up."
"So the ribs is the most painful?" Jason asked.
"It's one of the few." Percy said wiping the excess ink and continuing his work. "Hands, feet. Mainly the very top of the feet. At first it's tolerable but after a while it's a bitch. I've heard the elbow is pretty terrible as well. The back of the knee, the spine, ankles, hip, clavicle, behind the ear, the wrist, the eyebrow. Although, I don't know why anybody wants to tattoo their eyebrows and eyelids. Chest and neck hurt too."
"Thanks for future references." Jason teased.
Percy laughed, "The tattoo pain also depends on how much cushion you have. If you're just skin and bones it's gonna be more painful because you're constantly going over the bone, if you don't have any cushion it's gonna hurt more."
"Good thing I'm not my friend Leo then." Jason joked.
"He's pretty scrawny." Nico commented. "Like a Latino elf."
"We're almost done." Percy said wiping away some more excess ink. "So what do you usually do when you're not at school?"
"Run errands for my dad, attend whatever party my step mom Juno makes me attend. Try to keep Leo and Nico out of trouble."
Percy laughed, "Keeping Nico out of trouble seems like a lot of work." Nico flipped them off and they both laughed. "Alright Grace we're done." Percy said putting his needle down and wiped the fresh tattoo and cleaned it. "Go ahead and take a look." Percy said cleaning up his station and throwing away the used needle.
Jason looked at the tattoo in the mirror and smiled. He can't believe he just got tatted up, especially by a guy as hot as Percy. Fate really was on his side.
"Ready to bandage it?"
"Sure." Jason sat back down in the chair and watched as Percy wiped away the blood and plasma from his arm and bandaged it up.
"Alright so, here's a list of instructions on how to take care of the tattoo. Keep the bandage on for between 2-4 hours. To remove the bandage soak it with warm water to prevent it from sticking to your skin. Then wash it gently with lukewarm water with mild unscented antibacterial soap with your hands gently. But don't put it directly under the water, splash it with water or do it in the shower. Then pat it dry and leave it uncovered for 20 minutes to an hour."
"Once your tattoo is fully dry, and the skin begins to feel tight you can apply a little ointment, such as Bacitracin or A&D, to the tattoo. Make sure to apply only a very thin layer that's just enough to make the tattoo shine and rub it in gently until it's absorbed by the skin. It's very important that you don't apply too much ointment, or else you'll suffocate the tattoo. Do this for about 3-5 days. Make sure to wash and moisturize it 3-5 times a day as well until it is fully healed."
"Make sure you don't soak it until it is fully healed. Don't expose it to direct sunlight, don't pick or scratch at it. You don't know how many times I had people come back in for touch ups because of that. Try patting it instead. Avoid tight fitting clothes, avoid working out, avoid swelling." Percy explained. "If you have any questions I'm sure Nico can answer any of them since he's almost a professional now. Or you can just stop by the shop or just call me." Percy winked and wrote down his number in the instruction sheet.
"I'll make sure to give you a call if I need anything." Jason blushed.
"Percy just ask the boy out already." Rachel grumbled from her place at Nico's side.
"Rachel." Percy sighed. "She's a pain to work with sometimes."
"I can hear you asshat." Rachel rolled her eyes. Nico laughed.
"Anyways, I get off in ten minutes. You wanna go somewhere?" Percy asked biting his lip.
"I would love too." Jason blushed again. "Anywhere Thalia is least likely to show up and bug me." Percy laughed. "Deal."