Disclaimer: I do not own Waterloo Road or any of the characters in the story

Chapter 11

Marco clutched the wrapping on his forearm, as he lay in bed staring at his new tattoo, reflecting back on how it came to be.

It started the day after his and Leo's games night. He was on the phone with Leo, discussing how much he missed his friend, and he really wanted something to remember him by, and instantly his mind stopped on a tattoo. It was a healthy pain release, and a great way to remember his friend, in Marco's opinion.

"No way. One it's illegal, two you'll have to hide it at school. It's not worth it." Leo attempted to convince Marco out of it. He knew the boy was prone to rash decisions he ended up regretting later, and as much Leo knew his efforts would probably be in vain, it never hurt to try.

"You just said you thought tattoos were cool. I'm sketching up a few designs now." Marco replied, kind of wanting Leo to jump on the bandwagon and be a bit more supportive, rather than being so sensible.

Leo couldn't deny, he found tattoos pretty cool, and with Marco's already punk-like image, it would suit him perfectly, making rather difficult for him to continue his protest, but he tried to keep it sensible, since he knew Marco and sensible weren't exactly compatible.

"I do, but just because I say there cool doesn't mean you run to the nearest tattoo shop and get one." Leo was flattered Marco was kind of taking his opinion into consideration, even if it was selectively.

"Come on. It's not like it's anything stupid. I knew Cory since we were four, it's worth it."

"How are you going to get one though, don't you have to be 18?"

"That is one of the stupidest things you've asked me." Marco replied stoically. "How do you think I got into nightclubs? There's such a thing as a fake ID."

"You're not changing your mind, are you?" Leo sighed in defeat. 'Well at least I tried.'

"Nope." Marco replied popping the 'p'. "You should come with me."

"I can't get a tattoo!" Leo exclaimed "I don't know what I'd want and I don't have fake ID."

"I didn't say for you to get a tattoo, I wanted you to come with me."

"I'll still have to be 18 though, right?"

"I don't think so, if you're not getting inked, you don't need to be 18."

"Fine, I'll tag along."

"Promise?"

"Yeah, I promise."

So, Marco spent the next day in his art lesson sketching up ideas for a tattoo, unknowingly to everyone else. People were treading too carefully around him for his liking; it was just making things more uncomfortable than what they really were. He would pass Leo designs discreetly in class for his opinion. Leo never realised how good of an artist Marco was, but he was really talented. He didn't understand how he was on the athletics team, when it was obvious his true passion was art, seeing how picky he was being over every design. Leo found it difficult to criticise, feeling he had no room to, since he felt his artistic talent didn't stretch far beyond stick men and working on Photoshop.

When the day of the appointment rolled around, Marco practically dragged Leo to the tattoo parlour.

"You don't have to walk so fast you know."

"I'm just super excited; it's the beginning of a tattoo era." He said walking into the shop. He'd already had a design sorted with the artist and was all ready to get it done, when he was hit with a wave of nervousness, which was written all over his face when the stencil was placed on his left forearm, starting from just below the palm of his hand to mid-way up his arm.

"You can't back out now, you'll be fine." Leo encouraged, staring at the stencil on his arm, after looking at basically all of Marco's designs, he really liked how they'd managed to combine some into the final design.

"He's allowed to stay in, isn't he?" Marco asked the artist, as Leo felt kind of awkward standing there.

"Yeah he can stay." The artist replied. "It's cute your boyfriend came to hold your hand."

At that comment, both boys' eyes widened, and Marco chuckled nervously, trying to ignore the fact his cheeks were burning up. "Hey, you can stay, and we're just friends." He replied defensively. 'Well that's awkward.'

"If you say so." The artist mumbled under his breath.

The needle was exceptionally painful when it went over his vein, making Marco gritted his teeth, but all he was thinking was the comment from the artist.

Did he want to hold Leo's hand? Yes.

Was it because he was in pain? He wasn't quite sure.

Leo wasn't exactly opposed to the idea of holding Marco's hand either.

A few pain staking hours later, where Marco was too focused on staying completely still to say a thing, it was finally finished. The final piece was a guitar of the same brand as Cory's, with his friend's signature on the guitar, like he was a famous musician, and his birth date and death date underneath the guitar. He knew how big music was in Cory's life, and that's how he wanted to remember his friend, as that's how he wanted to be known. Marco couldn't help but want to stare at it all the time walking home, as much as it hurt.

"It's phenomenal. I'm so glad I went for black and white." Marco said, in awe at the ink on his arm.

"It looks so amazing!" Leo replied, smiling at his redheaded friend. "As much as I hate to admit it, I'm glad you got it. Tattoos are so much nicer when they mean something."

"I can't wait to add to it now; I'm definitely starting the sleeve."

Leo had to admit to himself, he really wouldn't mind Marco having a tattoo sleeve or two.

"You've not become addicted have you?"

"No, they're cool, but I'll save my next one for when I have a ground breaking idea for it. I've already got this in my ear to stop me getting a job; I need to slow down before the only job I can get is serving fries" Marco replied, pointing to the gauge in his ear.

"You could go into tattoos yourself. Your designs were all amazing. I wouldn't mind you designing a tattoo for me, when I'm 18." Leo complimented, emphasizing the final statement jokingly.

"You're serious?!" Marco was taken aback by Leo's compliment, he always got praised for his artwork, but he didn't know whether it was because it came from Leo, or what, but he genuinely thought it was one of the best compliments he'd received for his artwork.

"Of course I am, you might think the sports teams are your thing, but you're a really talented artist." Leo responded softly.

"Wow. I don't even know what to say." Marco murmured, grinning. "If I go into tattooing, I'll need someone to help me run a business, since I'm hardly good with money so I'd be flat out broke in about a week, and you'd be first on my list. I need someone to tell me I'm being stupid sometimes."

"Well I tried and failed this time. I suppose this wasn't that stupid though, in hindsight. How come Lizzie isn't your top choice, you two are really close."

"I dunno." Marco shrugged, though he knew, he knew exactly why he'd want to work with Leo. "Probably because she'd spend all the profits on Italian food, and I really value your opinion, so I'd like you there to ask." Marco internally praised himself on not exactly lying, but not spilling the whole truth either.

"You mean that?" Now it was Leo's turn to be surprised by what the other had said. He didn't feel like many people respected his opinions at all, so for Marco to say how much he takes his opinions into consideration was strange, in a nice way. He was trying his best not to let Marco know how he really felt; he knew it would just make everything so much more awkward, since Marco had girls following him all the time, and could flirt with them all at the same time with ease.

Leo knew there was no way he would even consider it.

"Yeah, I do. It's a shame you don't see it. You're an amazing person Leo; don't let people tell you any different. I don't know think I would've coped at all with Cory if you weren't there."

Leo was pretty sure his heart skipped a beat. He was trying to convince himself Macro was just missing his friend and he would've coped fine without him.

"You don't mean that…"

"…I do. You saw how much of a mess I was when I found out about it. I probably still wouldn't have told anyone and I'd just be so miserable. I can trust you with stuff like that. I know you're not the most extroverted, and I'm probably a lot to cope with sometimes, yet you're fine with me calling you up at awful times at night for really stupid reasons, and dealing with my terrible SA's. You may not think it Leo, but you've really helped me."

"You've only failed one SA, they aren't terrible." Leo insisted. "And I did what I thought any good human would do. I'm really nothing that special."

."You need to believe in yourself a bit more Leo, you're better than you think you are."

The boys talked for a further few minutes before they headed their separate ways for home, both with the day's events running through their minds.

Leo sat on his bed, with Marco's words running through his head.

"You're an amazing person Leo…"

"I really value your opinion."

"You're better than you think you are."

And one comment in particular:

"It's cute your boyfriend came to hold your hand."

Leo ran his hands through his hair in confusion. It was the first time he'd ever really sat down and thought about it a bit more rationally. He enjoyed the time he spent with Marco, a lot. More than what he'd felt with other friends. He felt the same way as he did when he had his first crush in Year 7, if he had to compare the feeling to something. What he was feeling was a crush. He had never acted upon a crush, and didn't really know where to begin, especially since he'd never had a crush on a boy before. He knew sexuality was always up for debate, since he'd never thought about it, since he was never the "stereotypical gay person" but he wasn't exactly the macho, constantly at the gym, or trying to pick up girls all the time either. All this thought led him to the conclusion that he had no clue what was going on with his sexuality, but he did know that this crush he had on Marco wasn't going to stay in the back of his mind for very much longer.

Marco stared at his tattoo, and reflected on the day's events. He was overly flattered that Leo even thought about his artwork in such a way. He also remembered how shocked Leo was by his compliments when they were walking home. Marco smiled at how much he liked Leo's introverted, nature, and his endearing lack of self-confidence, even though Marco thought he was adorable.

He also noticed the continuing thoughts running through his head, which had been nagging at the back of his mind for a while, but the thoughts became more and more prominent in his brain, the more time he spent with Leo. He didn't mind it occasionally, but when they got more frequent, he was super conscious of his actions in case he did or said something and blew his cover and rendering their friendship to an awkward mess. Trying to convince himself he was straight was his main priority by flirting with the girls in school, though he never really felt anything towards the girls. He used to be able to have any girl he wanted, but he just didn't want any.

'I'm straight, I like girls, right?'

'But Leo's smile is adorable.'

'No, no, he's my friend, it's weird fancying your friend, isn't it?'

'But you do though, don't you?'

But he was so conflicted. He knew he still liked girls, and there were girls he found attractive, but then why was he getting butterflies every time Leo text him.

Another main thought running through his head was the tattoo artist's comment.
"It's cute your boyfriend came to hold your hand."

Making him rack his brain for answers to the so many questions running through his head.

Was he really as bothered about this as he reacted? No, of course not. He was more embarrassed that his face went like a tomato than the actual comment.

Did he want to hold Leo's hand? Kind of.

Was it because of the pain? Most likely not.

Did he want Leo to be his boyfriend? Possibly.

Did he think Leo felt the same way? He had no clue.

But one thing was for certain

Marco had most definitely fallen for Leo Fitzgerald.

AN: Woohoo! Finally some development, eh? Even if the chapters seem to be really long, I only planned for this to be short, but that plan didn't really work, so sorry for the big lot of super long chapters idk when to stop anymore. Sorry updating has slowed down, I've had the flu, and tbh all I really wanted to do was sleep, so updating wasn't really on my mind. I'm still feeling a bit icky, but I'm well enough to type etc.

The tattoos may seem random, but I promise it plays in hugely later on :D

I love everyone who reads/reviews/follows/favourites and like always….

See you next chapter ^_^ xxxxx