SUMMARY: With his girlfriend being an aspiring tattoo artist, Eddie decides to be her first client.

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

Eddie looked down at Jensen, who was peering at him through her thick lashes. They were sitting in the kitchen area of his trailer. His right arm was resting on the table where the edge was covered and taped down with saran wrap.

His arm was shaved and cleaned. And a sketch of five bats trailed the side of his arm near his elbow.

He eyed the blue ink that marred his skin.

Jensen was going to give him a tattoo. His first tattoo. It made sense since he knew that this was what she wanted to do. She had dreams of opening her own shop and becoming a world-renowned tattoo artist, traveling to conventions.

He had found a stick and poke set and he thought he could be her first canvas. She had to start somewhere with a live human canvas. There were only so many second-hand baby dolls she could cover with tattoos.

"Why wouldn't I?" He asked through the curtain of his bangs.

Jensen's bottom lip became trapped between her teeth.

He wondered if this was the perfectionist artistic side coming through. He brought his left hand up and cupped her jaw. His thumb swiped her bottom lip, causing it to release from its trap.

He leaned forward and placed a chaste kiss on her lips. This was fairly new between them. It was like balancing on a tightrope of protecting their years of friendship while navigating the romantic aspect of it. Because even if they didn't want it to, it did change things between them. There was a wanting there he didn't have before. It was almost like a craving. Sure, they could blame it on the rush of hormones - desire. His girlfriend was fucking hot. That was a plain fact and everyone knew it, men and women alike. Yet, there was something about the physical aspect of touch that always left him wanting.

It was addictive, quite frankly. It made him wonder why they teetered on the edge rope of friendship for so long.

"Okay, if I fuck up, you can't be mad," she told him as she grabbed the materials.

He shrugged. "Do your worst, baby."

Jensen rolled her eyes. She dipped the needle in the black ink and started on the outline of the first bat.

He didn't know what to expect, pain-wise. It hurt, but not as much as he expected. He kept quiet, as he knew Jensen was nervous about doing this. Her tongue was poking out as she worked on keeping all the lines straight.

His brown eyes admired his girlfriend. He wanted to drown in that river of self-doubt, but he had a strong safety net that kept him afloat. There were no words to describe Jensen. They were total opposites just from a physical standpoint.

To put things plainly, he was white, and she was black. They lived in a small Podunk town of Hawkins, Indiana. Sometimes, he felt as much as the town hated him, they were voyeurs in their relationship for pure entertainment.

Eddie was a metal head with wild (once frizzy) hair. He was the Dungeon Master for his Dungeon and Dragons club. He was in a heavy metal band with calluses on his fingers from his guitar. To help out his uncle with financials, he sold drugs, and it looked like he was going to be repeating his senior year.

His girl, though. She was too beautiful to be with him. He knew that for a fact. Her curly hair was more luscious and tame than his. His girl was a disco queen. Despite the burning of disco vinyls, which she mourned every year with her own memorial, she was Donna Summer's eternal fan.

It was common to find her tanning on top of his trailer in nothing but a skimpy bikini, as she refused to lose her melanin as if it was possible.

Her fingers were always known to be stained from charcoal. It was common to find pastel fingerprints on his shirts and jackets. His lips would always quirk up when he would leaf through his journals for his music or DD campaigns to find the residue of her materials staining the page.

He thought it was those stark differences that brought them together. It made everything richer- intense between them.

Now it wasn't as if they were polar opposites. They had their love of movies. They could get into wild debates about the morality of characters. The set designs and lighting in media. They could go for rides in the city to scour music stores and underground artists performing in seedy bars. There were Atari tournaments and thumb wars. They had their own book club of picking a book to read with each other a month.

Yet, the most important thing was the love and support they gave each other. She was his strength, as much as his weakness. He was drowning in his love for and from her.

"You okay?"

Eddie blinked and focused on Jensen, staring at him from her seat. She had finished all the lining on the bats.

Eddie nodded. "Yeah. Feels kind of relaxing."

Jensen snorted as she wiped his arm, removing the ink smears. "Masochist."

Eddie threw her a wink. His thoughts went to those handcuffs hanging in his room. "Maybe."

"Shouldn't be too long."

"It looks sick."

"You're just saying that."

"No, I'm not," Eddie insisted. The tattoo didn't seem bad to him. You could tell it was a flock of bats and the lines weren't shaky. He knew she practiced on pig's skin and that was more than what he imagined most aspiring tattoo artists practice on.

"Hey," Eddie whispered. Jensen looked up at him. Some of her hair was escaping out of her bun and he lifted his hand and tucked her hair around her ears. He couldn't help himself and peppered her face with kisses.

"Eddie!" Jensen said through giggles.

"Just one more kiss."

Jensen complied, and his reward was a deep, wet kiss. If that kiss was any indication, he may be in for a special treat tonight. "Now let me finish."

"Yes, ma'am."

Eddie relaxed in his seat. His mind jumped from everything from plotting a new DD campaign, to a new song he wanted to learn on his guitar, and he even went as far as planning what he would get Jensen for Christmas.

"Okay, I'm done," Jensen announced and wiped his arm. He grinned widely as he admired the ink. His hand went to the back of Jensen's head and he brought her into a searing kiss.

"It's amazing, sweetheart."

Jensen's cheeks were warm. "I'm glad you like it."

"You want a picture for your portfolio?"

Jensen's eyes lit up. "Yes, I didn't even think of that!"

Eddie smiled as Jensen grabbed the camera and snapped a picture. She immediately began cleaning his arm and gave him instructions as if she wouldn't be there monitoring the healing progress.

Eddie watched and enjoyed the sight of Jensen's ass when an idea popped into his head. He walked behind Jensen, startling her from the position as his hips pressed against his hips.

"You want one?"

"Want what?"

He said against her ear. "A tattoo?"

"And you're going to do it?"

His hand traveled to her hip before he traveled to the front and popped open the button to her shorts.

"Eddie…"

He smirked against the crown of her head as his finger dipped beneath the band of her underwear and trailed to the side of her hip. He tapped the area. "A bat right here."

"Matching tattoos?"

"Hmmm, and you can have someone else do the rest because I'm not messing up this beautiful skin."

"How thoughtful of you."

Eddie rewarded her by slapping the band of her underwear against her skin. "Eddie!"

Eddie chuckled. "Come on, show me how this is done."

Jensen wouldn't add another tattoo until they had their first child, a daughter, Amara, five years after Eddie graduated high school. She added a second bat when she gave birth to their second child, Wayne Jr., three years after having Amara.