Brian stares at Jack incredulously. "Wait," he says, voice low. "You want me to help you choose a tattoo?"
"Well, yes," Jack says. "I know neither of us truly have one, but... I want your input. You will be seeing it more than anyone else, after all."
Brian swallows hard at this and looks away, gnawing on his lower lip. "Well, what are you thinking?" he finally asks and Jack sits down next to him, handing him his phone. Brian automatically swipes it awake and stares down at the image search results before him. "A... a schooner?" he asks, eyes widening. "Wh-"
"I've liked the looks of them for awhile," Jack explains. "But this time with you, how passionate you are about pirates and the like, has given me an entirely new appreciation for them." He tucks some of Brian's hair behind his ear and leans in, kissing him. "Please help me with this?"
"I mean, yeah," Brian says, suddenly feeling breathless for a number of reasons. "Absolutely. But where-" He falls quiet when Jack grips his hand and ghosts it over his chest, mouth going dry. "Holy shit. Really?"
"Yes," he murmurs. "I want everyone to know..." His smirk is faint, somewhat lopsided. Brian, hand still pressed against his heated flesh, presses forward and kisses him again, shifting over to straddle him, cradling his face. "I thought you'd like that..."
"You have no idea," he mumbles.
Over the months that he's taking a bit of a hiatus from wrestling, Jack sits for a number of tattoos, the one on his chest barely dry before he decides he wants some on his arms too. Brian jokes about the tattoo bug but says nothing, aware that it's Jack's body, Jack's decision. Whenever he's not busy with 205 Live, or his own shows, he sits in the dimly lit tattoo parlor and tries to distract Jack through the hours of sitting through the persistent pricking of the tattoo needle. Signs of pain are subtle when it comes to Jack but Brian can read him quite well by now and when Jack's jaw twitches, a longer space than normal holding between his breaths, Brian's hand slips into his own and squeezes.
Jack looks at him during these moments and Brian pretends that it helps, that some of the tension eases out of his body when they touch. They have to be careful while the tattoo heals but all Brian really wants is to run his fingers over the fine lines of the ship spanning Jack's chest. "Maybe you could have S.S. Kendrick written across the bow," he suggests, touch ghosting down Jack's ribs instead as he presses into him from behind.
Jack barks out a laugh and huffs at him. "S.S. Spanky," he responds, to which Brian pouts before chuckling warmly as well, pressing a kiss to Jack's throat, along his jaw. Jack sighs, his fingers pressing into Brian's hip as his mouth glides along Jack's shoulder, soft kisses and bites waking him up better than anything else at this outrageous hour of the morning. "Brian," he exhales, resting his head back against Brian's shoulder and humming as his fingers glide along Jack's body, careful to avoid his chest and arm.
With enough time and patience, the tattoos heal and Jack is allowed to take the protective covering off. His skin is somewhat itchy and sensitive the first time Brian touches the lines of the ship, and he gasps, eyes darkening as he watches Brian gently rub lotion into his skin. "Good?" Brian murmurs and Jack nods, pressing back into the pillows.
"Yes," he sighs softly, hooking his legs around Brian's and dragging him closer. When those infuriatingly beautiful blue eyes look at him, he smirks and wraps his arms around Brian's neck.
"Whatcha doin', Jacky?" Brian asks, so close that their noses touch, a teasing lilt to his voice.
"If you don't know already, it's been much too long," Jack teases him back and Brian sneers a little at that before pressing his hand against his shoulder and pinning him down.
"You don't think it's a little too soon?" he wonders, ignoring Jack's attempts as he continues to massage the lotion in.
"For us? Never."
Brian pauses at that and quirks an eyebrow at him, remembering. Through orbital bone breaks and leg injuries, despite Drew Gulak and Ariya Davairi, they had always found themselves here, face to face in the bed that had slowly become theirs, and- He shrugs. "Alright. If you're sure. I'd hate to mess up this careful workmanship," he says, casting one last look at the tattoo before wiping his hands off on a towel that Jack had pointedly put on the bed next to them.
"I'm sure," Jack murmurs. "It's healed, the tattoo artist said I could even safely go back to the ring around now when I asked him."
Brian hums. "Gonna show the world, huh?" He stares down at the ship. "Ya know people are gonna have a lot of bullshit opinions."
Jack shrugs. "They always do. My hair, my physique. The only opinion I care about..." He grips Brian's face and stares deep into his eyes. "Is yours."
Brian stares at him for a long, heated moment, and then exhales. "Damn, Jack. You definitely know how to make a guy feel special." He smirks slightly and then leans in, kissing just above where Jack's heart is racing, in the center of the mass of lines that form the ship that Brian had picked out for him.
Jack has so much he could say to that but the words get lost somewhere between Brian's kisses. He decides it's ok, however, as he tangles his fingers in Brian's dark hair and holds on, arching up into Brian's ministrations.