Phineas Flynn was defiantly not a punk. He wasn't a rebel, he wasn't a thug and he certainly wasn't a gangster. Anyone could tell that from his naturally cheerful attitude that he could be none of these things. So you may be confused as to why he was walking into a tattoo parlor.
"Hello there, how can I help you?" A young woman at the front desk asked Phineas as he stepped inside. She was a young woman, somewhere in her mid-twenties with multiple piercings in her ears as well as one in her lip and her nose. She was about the average height of a woman, probably five foot four, with dark brown hair and bronzed skin.
"I have an appointment with Ed Rodriguez." He said.
"You're right on time Mr. Flynn. Ed's just down that hallway there, third room on the right." She said, pointing to the hallway on his right. Phineas thanked her and walked fallowed her directions. When he walked in, the first thing he saw was a man in his late forties with a thick goatee and many different tattoos running up and down his arms and bald head. The room had a counter on its right side with many different tools and ink colours. There was a big mirror along the back wall and in the center was a black leather chair with a set of handles near the base of the back rest.
"Hi there," Phineas said to get the man's attention. He looked up from his magazine and nodded. "Are you Ed?"
"I am," he said in a slight Mexican accent. "Are you Phineas Flynn?"
"That's me,"
"Alright, I've got the stencil ready, where do you want it to go?" he held up a piece of clear paper with an intricate design outlined in black ink.
"It's going to go on my left shoulder blade."
Ed just nodded again. "Alright, have a seat in the chair and you can hang your shirt and jacket up by the door."
Phineas nodded and started to take off his brown leather jacket, followed by his white business shirt. Once that was done, he sat down in the chair, facing the head rest. Ed took a razor blade off of the counter and ran it over his shoulder blade, cutting off any small hairs that may have been there before. He quickly took the stencil and pressed it against Phineas's skin then peeled it off, leaving an outline of the design on his shoulder. A few seconds of silence passed before he heard the sound of the needle powering up. Phineas took a deep breath in to help steady his growing nervousness.
"Alright, I'm going to start with the stenciling first. Fair warning, it's going to hurt. Any time you're ready." Phineas took another couple deep breaths, before giving him the go ahead. He was certainly right about one thing, it sure did hurt. Phineas grunted, but kept his jaw clamped shut. After all it would be worth every bit of pain in the end. "So Mr. Flynn, if you don't mind me asking; how'd you come up with the design?" Ed asked, not taking his eyes off his work for a second.
"Well… It's a symbolic thing. My wife and I are going to have a baby, so I wanted to get something relating to that. It's a Hamesh Hand, a common symbol for protection and it's used a lot in Hebrew jewelry. Since my wife is half Hebrew and our child will be too, I took that design and replaced the eye in the middle with a picture of an angle that represents my wife and a smaller angle that represents our daughter. So the whole thing is supposed to represent me as the symbol and they're the ones I'm going to protect." He said. His voice strained and betraying the amount of pain he was in.
Ed slightly nodded his head. "So you're having a kid, huh? Congratulations." He said.
"Yeah," Phineas smiled, despite his discomfort. "We're expecting her in early June."
"You picked out a name for her?"
"We were," he grunted again as the needle momentarily treaded over bone. "We were thinking of naming her Marie or something close to that. It's always been one of my favourite names."
"Besides you wife's name?"
"Besides my wife's name." both the men gave a little chuckle.
Soon, the stenciling was over and Ed wiped away the ink that had leaked back out of his skin. Phineas was panting slightly, resting his triangular head on the top of the head rest. The entire area resonated with a dull, throbbing pain. Ed simply let Phineas rest for a minute while he switched needles.
"We've got some pop in the back if you if you'd like."
"Sure," he said. Ed quickly got up and walked out, leaving Phineas alone. The adult inventor let his mind wander in hopes that it would help distract him from the pain. His mind quickly wandered to the thought of his wife. He briefly wondered how she'd react to him getting that tattoo. She was going to be surprised when she found out, that was for sure. Phineas though back more; to about five months ago when Isabella had called him into the living room of their house, a nervous and excited look on her face. That was the night he found out she was pregnant.
That night was defiantly one he would never forget. He thought back even further, back three years, to his wedding day. They held it in the Danville church. Almost everyone in the tri-state area was there to celebrate the wedding. He had been nervous as hell. Doubts kept flying through his head to the point where Ferb had to literally smack the sense back into him. The wedding went off without a hitch; Isabella came down the aisle looking like an angle in her wedding dress.
Phineas smiled blissfully as he continued to reminisce, but before he knew it Ed returned with his soft drink. He took the drink gratefully and gulped it down all in one go. As soon as Ed was ready, he went to work on Phineas's tattoo again. The colouring part wasn't nearly as painful as the stenciling; it almost felt like someone was pinching his skin in between their nails. About half way through the colouring, Ed started to smear rubbing alcohol over the area and within a minute Phineas could barely feel the needle going in him.
"Alright Mr. Flynn, you're all done." Phineas sat up straight and moved his shoulder a little. The pain was still there, but it felt more distant than before. "Why don't you take a look?" Ed gestured towards the mirror. Phineas stood up, stretching his legs and walked in front of the mirror. His eyes widened when he looked over his shoulder at Ed's work.
"Wow," he said in awe. Ed had done a fantastic job; the lines and shading were incredible, perfect down to the last detail.
"Glad you like it," he responded. "Come over here and let's put a bandage on it." A couple minutes later, Phineas was putting his shirt back on and getting ready to leave.
"Thank you Ed," he said. "You did an amazing job."
Ed nodded. "Mr. Flynn before you go, can I ask you one last question?"
"Sure,"
"Are you the same multi-billionaire Phineas Flynn that they're saying is the next Albert Einstein slash Bill Gates?"
Phineas chuckled and slipped on his leather jacket. "Yes, yes I am."
Ed laughed and stuck out his hand. "Pleasure meeting you,"
Phineas shook his hand. "Same here." He said then turned and walked out the door.
