Ronan let out a slow breath as the pain of the needle built and moved over his spine.

"You good? Need a break?" Adam asked.

"Keep going," Ronan commanded.

Adam wiped away excess ink from Ronan's back before leaning over and continuing the line he had been tracing. He wished Ronan would just give in and ask for a break because Adam could use one as well. His muscles were stiff from sitting in this position for so long. He longed to stretch and work out the kinks in his joints, but if Ronan could sit through three and a half hours of unrelenting needle poking, Adam could at least suffer some stiffness.

"It looks good on you, Ronan," Gansey said, coming to inspect Adam's work. Adam had thought 'Gansey' was a weird name, but it was the only one he would give. He had paid for his own tattoo in cash that he had on hand (who just carries that much cash on them?) so Adam couldn't even ask Noah what Gansey's first name was.

Ronan grunted, keeping his mouth shut. Adam could tell that he was grinding his teeth and tried to speed up a little, but there wasn't much he could do without sacrificing the quality of the art. He wiped away some more splattered ink and continued.

Finally, after another forty-five minutes, Adam finished the section he had outlined for this session.

"Sorry that went a little longer than expected," Adam apologized while stripping off his black latex gloves and tossing them in the near by trash can.

"It's fine," Ronan said, standing and stretching. "How's it look, Gansey?"

"Positively perfect," Gansey answered. "It's flawless."

Adam retrieved a handheld mirror from the front desk and brought it to Ronan so he could check it out in the reflection of the big mirror hanging on the wall.

"You're right," Ronan said after staring in the mirror for a long minute. He looked Adam in the eyes. "Flawless."

For some reason Adam couldn't quite understand, hearing that from Ronan made Adam's face heat slightly and he was sure his ears were pink. Probably because Ronan seemed like the type that was hard to please. Succeeding in that made Adam flush with pride.

He cleared his throat. "I'm glad you like it." He beckoned Ronan over to the front desk so he could pay. Ronan was already pulling out his wallet. "Let's call it six hundred."

Ronan looked up. "You said four thousand for the whole thing. I owe you eight."

Adam shrugged. "Six will cover it." He had no idea why he was fighting to get less than he quoted Ronan. Usually he had to argue with clients when it ended up costing more than originally quoted.

Ronan shrugged. "What's your last name?"

"Parrish. Two R's."

He wrote out a check for six hundred and handed it to Adam.

"All right, let's schedule your next appointment for two weeks from now and we'll see how you're healing. If it looks good, we'll start the next session," Adam said, skipping through the day planner to find an empty slot for him. "Looks like I can do Thursday or Saturday that week."

"Let's do the Saturday, I don't know what my class schedule will look like yet," Ronan said. He looked almost angry about it.

"Okay, let's do noon then?"

"Works for me."

"Let me get you bandaged up. Keep it on for hour or two and then wash it with antibacterial fragrance free soap. Use Aquafor on it three times a day for three days. After that you can just use any fragrance free lotion on it. Three times every day," Adam instructed.

"Three times daily," Ronan nodded. He let Adam dress his tattoo and then pulled his shirt over his chest.

"Yup, you got it," Adam said. "Feel free to call or drop by if you have any questions."

"See you in two weeks then," Ronan replied as he Gansey started to leave. As they passed the front desk Ronan reached into his pocket. "One more thing."

Adam raised his eyebrows in a silent question.

Ronan pulled out a huge wad of money. Who were these rich kids?

He counted out a couple of bills and slapped them on the desk. "Your tip." Then he left.

Adam went to the counter. Four hundred dollar bills. "What the fuck?" he asked Noah and Blue, holding up the money for them to see.

Blue laughed. "Someone has a crush."

"I wasn't going to say anything, but yeah, definitely," Noah chuckled. Adam shook his head, but his ears turned pink in embarrassment.

"Whatever," Adam mumbled. "Help me cash out for the day."

….

"What was that?"

"What was what?" Ronan asked.

"You tipped him sixty six percent," Gansey said.

"No, he under charged me. I owed him two hundred extra and then I tipped him twenty five."

"Seems like there was more to that," Gansey said in a sing song voice.

"Shut the fuck up before I throttle you." Ronan reached to scratch the back of his neck.

"Hey, don't do that." Gansey smacked his hand away. "Noah said no scratching. It'll mess up the lines."

"Whatever," Ronan snapped. "Just take me to the admissions office."

"They're closed on weekends. But we can go on Monday," Gansey said gleefully. He hadn't asked why Ronan had suddenly decided to attend Gansey's university, but Ronan got the feeling he already knew.

"Fine. I have to tell Matthew I'm signing up." Gansey gestured at Ronan's phone as answer. He pulled it out and sighed. Then he dialed Matthew's number.

He answered on the second ring. "Ronan! Thank God you called. Declan was starting to get worried about you."

Ronan barked out a laugh. "Declan isn't worried about me. He's worried about the family name."

"He is worried about you," Matthew insisted.

"Did you tell him where I was?"

"Nope," Matthew sounded proud. "I didn't tell him anything. He didn't call Gansey did he?"

"No." That was proof enough of Matthew's silence. "I have to tell you something."

"Do I have to keep it secret from Declan again? It was so hard this time," Matthew complained.

"No, actually, he should know too."

"Ooookay," Matthew drew the word out slowly.

"I'm applying to Gansey's school."

"Really? You're going to college?"

"Yup."

"THAT'S SO AMAZING!" Matthew yelled into the phone. Ronan pulled the phone away from his ear until it seemed safe to bring it back.

He could hear Declan in the background. "What are you yelling about, Matthew?"

"RONAN IS GOING TO COLLEGE," Matthew screamed. Ronan had to take his ear away again.

Ronan waited until Matthew and Declan were done to talk. "I'm going to talk to admissions on Monday and then I'll be back to pack my shit."

"I'll start for you!"

Ronan chuckled. "Thanks, kid. I'll see you probably Tuesday, maybe Wednesday."

"See you." Matthew hung up.

"They excited?" Gansey asked.

"Matthew is, at least."

"I'm sure Declan is too."

"Yeah, probably. Happy I'm not bumming around the farms," Ronan said, referencing his family home.

"Happy you're doing well for yourself," Gansey amended.

"Signing up for college is not equal to doing well."

"That's true, but I really think this will be good for you."

"Well don't get too attached to the idea. It's just one sememster. If I even get in," Ronan said.

"They'll let you in," Gansey said confidently. Ronan knew that meant Gansey was planning on bribing whoever he had to in order to get him in. He would let Gansey, because for the first time in a long time, Ronan actually wanted something, in a real way. Not necessarily to go to this school, but to see Adam. He could have just visited Gansey every couple weeks, but Ronan wanted to stay close to Adam.

I might as well get something productive done while I'm waiting around, he told himself.

Even he didn't believe that.