Tattoo Rivalry
.Inspired by recent events.
[Friendship Fic]

"It's going to hurt and you will bleed." Kai sipped his hot beverage with his eyes closed. "Just remember to breathe, Tyson."

Naturally, the Granger sat back in the cafe booth and he smirked cockily. Tyson wasn't intimidated by the advice that his captain was giving, after all, the pair have almost beaten each other half to death on many occasions – in and out of the dish.

"Nah, I'm nervous, but I am ready." Tyson winked and picked up his white chocolate. "Still, I do think I should have drunk something stronger like a coffee."

Disappointed in his teammate's weak choice, Kai shrugged and placed his cup onto the saucer. "The sugar in that drink will help." He muttered and crossed his arms across his broad chest.

"Hm." Tyson then sipped his drink and then paused, "Wait, how do you know what a tattoo on the ribs feels like?"

Crimson orbs revealed themselves and they stared through Tyson, "Have you not seen my tattoos?" He questioned and huffed at Tyson's blank reaction. "I'll take that as a no." Instead of unbuttoning his shirt in the middle of the cafe, Kai pulled his mobile out of his pocket and he showed Tyson some photographs.

"Whooooah!" Tyson laughed, he was impressed with the detail and the scale of the body art. "Wow, and they're on one side of your ribs? Jeez, Kai. They're amazing."

Kai nodded and put his phone back into his pocket. "As I said, it's going to hurt. But you'll be fine." He encouraged reluctantly with a dry expression staining his pale face.

Out of all the people that Kai knew, he was just as surprised as everyone else when he agreed to get his next tattoo with his rival. There were occasions when the raven-haired blader began to have second thoughts about this opportunity, but now that he was sat facing the Dragoon wielder, Kai seemed secretly pleased to know that he would not be going through this alone.

Once they had finished their hot beverages, the two made it to the tattoo studio and paid their artists upfront before being escorted to their stations. Kai had no problem with removing his office shirt to show his impressive physique, after all, he works hard to maintain it. Tyson on the other hand, just turned his back to everyone hide the vacation figure that he'd built up on the tournament breaks.

With their designs traced onto their ribs, the two men took their position by laying on their individual benches. They were facing one another from either side of the room, but neither of them was ready to show any weakness... yet.

The sound of the needle bounced within the room and the artists started to outline the images from top to bottom.

"Well, this isn't so bad." Tyson announced with ease as he stuck up his thumb to Kai, "I don't see what the fuss is about."

Even though that comment was said to provoke the Russian, Kai just ignored him and he patiently waited for the moment when Tyson would soon choke on that phrase. Funnily enough, that moment was now - the further the artist worked up their ribs, the bluff caved in.

Kai was closing his eyes, meanwhile, Tyson was fixating his attention on the details of the room to distract himself. Both of them were struggling to maintain a steady breathing pace as the tingle could be felt deep within their bones.

"This, is, evil." Tyson scoffed, "Jeez."

"Has Kai fell asleep?"

"WHAT!?" Tyson shrieked in shock, "You're joking."

His eyes flung wide open to see that Kai was peacefully laying on the bench with his eyes wide shut. His breathing pace was calm and his muscles seemed content, it was literally identical to the times when they had shared a room together in their tournament days.

"Wow, he's hardcore!" Another artist complimented from the other side of the room. "Kai is like the ideal customer."

"He's just showing off now." Tyson rolled his eyes and then frowned, "He's probably thinking about how he's going to lose in the next tournament."

Tyson stuck out his tongue but he soon sucked it back in when the needle came back into contact with his ribs. This time, the line seemed to be longer than the others and Tyson couldn't breathe until the tattoo artist had stopped.

"URGH!"

'If that bastard can do this, then so can I.' No matter how tightly Tyson would close his eyes, he couldn't resist the urge to squirm. He grunted under his breath and attempted to steady his breathing pace, but it was no use, the sharp pain drilling into his skin was too vicious to ignore as it traveled inside the skin.

"Urghhh." The champion gritted his teeth and clenched his fist, "The further up you go, it hurts!"

It almost nerved the Dragoon wielder to know that Kai was still resting with ease. It took Tyson the last of the energy left in his body to prevent him from throwing his shoe at the Hiwatari. Was he jealous? Maybe. But Tyson didn't want to suffer this alone.

'Then again – I can tell him it was easy when he wakes up! Mwahaha.' Tyson lit up and smirked, 'Rest well, Kai.'

Once it was all over, three hours later, the two rivals walked out of the shop to endure the force of the autumn wind. Kai briefly glanced at Tyson to notice that his eyes were welling up with tears.

"I told you-"

"Just shut up." Tyson snapped whilst sucking in the soft breeze. He embraced the sensation of the cold wind brushing against his warm throbbing skin. "I just can't get over how refreshed you look. Kai, you took a freakin' nap whilst having your ribs tattooed. That's not normal!"

The captain had to pout his lips to hold in a laugh, but his cool remained. "We should do this again. I enjoyed-" He found himself being cut short by Tyson's snap.

"No, never." Tyson stretched his neck from side to side. "I'd rather bey-battle Brooklyn again."

"It's not that bad."

"Are you kidding me!? I feel like I've been stabbed."

A/N: A big massive thank you to Katya92 for the support whilst I was having my ribs tattooed. We had a laugh :D - Granger~