Light stared at the large collection of snack foods on the table, one leg curled under himself and the other rested down over the edge of the bed. "All this junk food and no alcohol?"

A lighthearted scoff was heard from the nearing hall that led to the bathroom. "You should never get a tattoo with alcohol in your system. Makes the ink bleed." Beyond shut a closet door and carried a box over to the table. "Oh! That reminds me. I made you something." The brunette excitedly looked up to the other. "Oh, don't get your hopes up that high. It's nothing exciting, in fact, it's a bit of the opposite." Light smirked as he sneakily peeked into the box Beyond had set onto the table before walking into the kitchenette.

A cupboard shutting was heard as golden eyes widened at an expensive looking tattoo machine and a large array of colored inks. "Beyond!" Light shouted in a near accusing tone.

The raven rounded the corner with a binder open in his hands. He glanced his scarlet eyes up and smirked while mocking a defensive tone. "Don't accuse me of theft!" Walking over to the bed and setting the open binder into Light's lap. "Murder my pervert dad. Yes. Steal from Julie? Never."

Light stared blankly at the raven. "Okay. That was a nuke of information. Wait a minute!"

Beyond shifted a knowing glance at Light. "Oh, please. I know Gio told you guys. He told me he did. He can't keep a secret from me." He excitedly tapped on the binder, directing the brunette's gaze down to the item in his lap. "I'll tell you after you look at that! Well, maybe not everything about it. But! I will talk about my dad, at least a little, if you want."

Light chuckled as his eyes landed on pages full of information about tattooing. One page contained a basic build of a handheld tattoo machine. Another contained a human body with all of the nerves and muscles mapped out. Light smiled at the pages. 'These are hand drawn and everything is written by hand, not exciting, my ass.'

Light turned the page and saw another two drawings with red circles over certain areas. "The nerve plexuses and muscle divots?"

Beyond lifted the remote to the television and started scrolling through the streaming services. "Yeah, I call them trigger points, the next page has common bone placement near the skin. Just areas to be aware of, a lot of time hitting those causes a lot of pain for the client and possibly cause them to jerk or have a reaction. I'll usually warn the client or just brace for impact. I use pressure confusion on them. So, when I know I'm coming up on a sensitive spot I'll apply a lot of pressure in a somewhat local spot, but not the area itself to try and distract them. For instance, if I'm doing a spine piece I might lay my arm on their side with heavy pressure." Beyond mindlessly flipped to the next laminated page while still staring at the television. "That one is a color coordinated drawing of areas of pain, red means, 'fuck this guy, I might hit him', and green means very little pain and only mild discomfort."

Light quietly shut the binder and set it off to the side of him while smiling. "That might be the nicest thing I've ever been given."

Beyond shifted a smirk at Light. "That's awful. At least the bar of gift giving is low. I tried to get it done before Christmas so I could give it to you then, but I'm terrible at keeping gifts from people. It's like I'm compelled to give it to them. Fun for the moment, but ruins the occasion."

Scooting closer to the raven, Light kissed Beyond's cheek quickly. "I love it. I can tell you hand drew the whole thing."

Beyond rubbed the back of his neck and blushed faintly. "Yeah, well. There weren't any good models that highlighted what I wanted. I'll keep making stuff for it, it's all I had time to do right now. There's a ton of other stuff that needs to go into it. But, I was drawing a blank when I was putting it together." Beyond cleared his throat and grabbed the box from the nearby table. "Ahem. So, do you have any idea what you want?"

Light shook his head while pondering possibilities. "You should pick."

Huffing a quiet laugh out, Beyond shook his head. "Oh no. At least pick the location, because, if you let me choose, I'm going to tattoo your butt."

"Why, you want to look at it?" Light leaned in with a smug grin.

Narrowing his scarlet eyes playfully, Beyond leaned in the rest of the way and rested his forehead against Light's. "Mm, I'd like to do more than look at it. So. Like I said. Pick a location, okay?"

The brunette snickered as he flopped backwards on the bed. "I don't know? My forearm?"

Beyond assembled his small machine while smiling at Light through ashen bangs. "Yeah, that's a decent spot, any idea of what you want? Should have at least an idea, it's going to be on you forever, even if you get it removed you'll have a scar in its shape."

"Hmm, you're the tattoo guy, something that represents freedom, or maybe like a rebirth?"

Preparing the inks into small containers, Beyond never glanced away from his task. "Could do a phoenix." Beyond paused, stared up at the ceiling and sighed heavily. "No, because I have a really dope idea for a rib tattoo for a phoenix." Light pulled his shirt off and smiled excitedly. Causing Beyond to chuckle. "You're kidding right? You're going to gun for a rib tattoo for your first big tattoo? Do you know how much that's going to hurt?"

The brunette shrugged casually as he raised his hands up. "I'm a masochist, remember? What's the worst that happens? I get teary eyed and get an erection?"

Beyond snorted out a laugh and nodded as he slipped a pair of gloves on. "Okay, fair. Which side do you want it on? You know what, vetoed, it's going on your left, pull your pants down a little." Light tilted his head in mild confusion before laying onto his right side and undid his pants, rolling the top portion down slightly. "You're left handed, doing your left side now will give it some time to heal before you really have to do anything else."

Light relaxed onto his side and yelped slightly at the cold sensation on his side. "What is that!?"

The raven chuckled as he wiped the skin down with an alcohol prep pad. "Well, shit, unless you want to take a shower first. My apartment isn't as sterile as the shop, so I need to minimize the possibility of infection."

The machine clicked on, Beyond listened to it for a moment before applying the ink to the needles. Placing a gentle hand over Light's ribs. "Deep breath in, deep breath out, because I'm going to start in one of the shittiest areas." Flicking his sanguine eyes towards Light's face, which was resting near one of his legs. "I swear to god, if you bite me, I'm going to set the ink in after I'm done."

Light furrowed his brow. "Don't like bites?"

"Oh, that isn't the problem. I like them a little too much. I got blue balled once today, it won't be happening again." The raven smirked at Light who only chuckled in response. Applying more pressure towards Light's ribcage, the needles made contact with his hip which elicited a giggle from the brunette, which forced a smile out of Beyond.

Gio and Maddy walked silently next to each other in the hall. Gio stopped in front of his door and sadly stared at the handle of his door. He opened his mouth to speak before recognizing the sound of a tattoo machine. Maddy smirked at Gio before knocking on Beyond's door.

"It's open! Just don't scare me or I'll stab Light!"

Maddy pushed the door open quietly and walked in towards the living room area. "What? There's a tattoo party happening and we weren't invited?" She leaned over to look at Light. "Did he pass out?"

Light slowly shook his head in response. "No, I'm fine." Golden eyes opened slowly as he gave her a thumbs up.

"He's handling it better than you did. Don't give him shit. I've had to stop a couple of times and wake him up just to make sure he didn't pass out. Little shit was asleep." Beyond stopped the machine and changed needle types.

Maddy surveyed the tattoo. "Holy shit! That's fucking gorgeous!" The tattoo displayed a shattered birdcage on Light's hips with a trail of deep red cinders going upwards to a scarlet, orange and golden tail of a fiery phoenix, its wings spread widely, every feather perfectly detailed. "Damn, your skin is resilient as hell." Maddy gently touched the skin away from the site and pulled slightly. "Damn that looks good though. Shit, Beyond, do my next one. I see why you're always booked way the fuck out. How does one make a mythical creature look fucking real? How long have you guys been at it?"

Beyond shrugged. "Depends, what time is it?"

"Like, midnight, dude."

"About nine hours." Focused on cleaning the machine and preparing it, hardly glancing his eyes away from his task.

Gio folded his arms over his chest and looked over Maddy's shoulder at the design. "Damn. That's insane. The sheer endurance of both of you."

Pouting slightly, Maddy whined. "Light! I wanna do one!"

The brunette chuckled and reached his right arm out. "Got a perfectly good wrist right here."

"Holy shit! Right now!?" The brunette shrugged causing Maddy to squeal excitedly and dart out of the apartment. "I gotta get my stuff!"

Beyond lifted the needles and changed angles to sit behind Light. Gio sat on the edge of the bed. Watching the artist for a moment. "Your free hand is insane, dude."

The raven smirked while he remained focused. "Truthfully, I hate pre-drawn tattoos. They confine the artist. I wanted to go as high as the upper ribs, but with the natural curve of his body it wouldn't set right, it'd look forced. So, I settled for ending the design along the lower and mid ribs and shade filling around it."

Nodding his head while tilting it slightly to take in a different angle. "Man. You're gonna have to let me do one for you too!"

Light smiled and nodded slowly so as not to move too much. Beyond began the first stages of shading the tattoo. "You know, Gio is far better at more sensitive areas like collarbones, hands and feet."

Maddy ran into the apartment carrying her own box with a bright smile. "And I have just the idea! A vegvisir! It's an Icelandic symbol that means "road map"." She started setting up her equipment and eagerly wiped the area on Light's wrist.

Light stood in the bathroom admiring the tattoo in its finished state in his reflection on the mirror. A fiery phoenix dropping black feathers that appeared to be disintegrating to ash as they fell, a broken bird cage that rested on his hip with brilliant accented shading to mock a burst of flames. The brunette looked up and grinned widely. "I love it."

Beyond leaned in the doorway of the bathroom with his arms loosely crossed. "Well. Eleven hours later, you should. Oh. Check this out. Stop babying it for a second." The raven swatted Light's hands away from the design. "If you pay close attention to the gold, it shines. I used a glitter pigment for highlights, and…" Beyond clicked the bathroom light off and held up a UV penlight to the tattoo where, previously seeming invisible, blue lighting surrounding the phoenix lit up under the black light.

"What!? That's so cool!"

Clicking the bathroom light back on the raven smirked smugly. "That tattoo would run someone about three thousand euros. And normally it would take about three sessions."

Light stared blankly at the artist, slightly slack jawed. "I don't know if I should pay you, hug you or… you know."

Beyond chuckled and held his hand in front of him. "Not necessary, how about we watch that movie I wanted to watch hours ago. Just a perk of being here, I guess." The raven fidgeted with his fingers. "Since my shit is out, I'm going to tattoo my finger."

Rubbing the lotion onto the new tattoo, Light smiled and chuckled as Beyond walked back into the living room. Letting the lotion air out and seep into the skin the brunette smiled when he heard the machine's rhythmical hums once again. Light started wrapping his waist the way Beyond had shown him with gauze. He turned his attention to the runic symbol on the inside of his right wrist and smiled before giving the second tattoo the same attention.

Light smiled when he saw Beyond's attention focused onto his right hand's pinky. Sitting next to the raven he leaned over to see what was being drawn. "What is that?"

Beyond lifted his right hand proudly displaying the pinky, which now had a red line with a drawn knot around it. "So, I can't forget about our promise, when we first made it it was my right pinky. So, here it is!" The raven smiled as he applied antibiotic cream to the site while watching the movie that had started.

Light flicked his eyes to the television screen and smiled about the tattoo Beyond had just given himself. A few silent moments passed before Light stuck his left hand out. "I want a matching one! It was both of our promises!" Beyond smiled and quickly changed his needles to the ones he'd already cleaned and obliged without protest.

Maddy waited for Light at the end of the hall and chuckled at his disheveled appearance. "Sleep well?"

Nodding, Light chuckled. "Except when I rolled over onto my side and it stung me awake." The brunette linked arms with Maddy as they walked outside towards the coffee shop. "Oh!" Light lifted his left hand and showed Maddy the extra inked addition.

"Cute! Is there a reason for it?"

"When we first met, we decided that we'd try being friends, but my ex omitted so much truth from me, I didn't want his brother to do the same thing to me. So, I made him promise that we'd always be transparent with each other." Maddy rolled her eyes and giggled. "He started it! He did his first!"

"Gross, I wish you two would just date already."

Light scoffed as they arrived at the coffee shop. "I'm trying! He's a tough one to crack. God, all I had to do was smile and wink at his brother and I had a ring!" Maddy laughed loudly as they walked in. "Not even a blowjob budged him, or at least any signs of obvious budging."

Maddy covered her mouth and gasped while swatting Light. "You didn't!"

The brunette shrugged casually at the concept. "Okay, first of all, he's hot, I don't care what you think. Secondly, you don't let an artist give you a three thousand euro tattoo without some form of payment. Lastly, I'm living with him rent free, I don't care what he said about not needing to pay him for anything."

Maddy smirked as she ordered her coffee. "I knew I liked you. Probably rent free in his head now, too." She smirked and winked at Light.

Beyond paced a line in Gio's apartment. "Bro. I'm so fucked!"

Gio sighed and slid his bed upright into the couch position. "Why? The next course of action seems pretty natural. You obviously, and I mean, painfully obviously, like each other. I think the next natural step is to be together. I mean, you do like him, right?"

Beyond slumped himself on Gio's couch and sighed heavily. "Yeah."

Gio poured coffee into the top of the pot. "And you don't want him to give up on you, right?" Beyond shook his head sadly. "Okay, so, I think, and I'm not a professional, you should open up to him, you gotta give him a reason not to leave. You don't have to tell him everything right away, but you should answer any follow up questions he has. Or, at least that's what my therapist says." Gio's sapphire eyes watched the coffee drop into the pot. "Since you guys didn't have an established friendship before, you need to move a little faster."

Beyond leaned back on the couch, resting his head on the back of it. "You don't think he'd run?"

The man behind the counter let out an amused huff. "Brotha, if he was going to take off on you, don't you think he'd have done that before you permanently marked his skin?" Gio sighed and smiled at the raven. "Every time I glance across the shop, if Light isn't diligently working on whatever task you gave him, he's stealing glances of you." Gio carried a couple of cups of coffee into the living room before handing Beyond one. "He's always talking to Maddog, if anyone would have the best insight, it'd be her." Taking a sip of the black liquid, Gio sighed happily. "Or, you can take him somewhere romantic, right? Watch his body language, if he seems totally into it, ask him out right then and there, plan for both results though. If he seems more casual, don't make any moves, just enjoy the company and probably accept that this is more of a fling." Gio shifted a sidelong glance at Beyond. "I don't think that's the case though. I don't know Light as much as Maddog does, but, from what I've seen, he's a hopeless romantic who has dreamed about loving love his whole life. Finally, along comes a dipshit, who's also been in love with the idea of love, but has rarely ever been shown it… maybe you two have a lot in common."

Beyond netted the cup in his hands and stared at his brown tinged reflection, a small frown forming on his lips. "I'm afraid it's me who's the broken one. It seems like every time I try to get closer to him, something happens, or I start doubting myself. Like, I'm misreading the situation and it isn't that deep. Or, that it's just a carefully masked manipulation. Anyone smart enough to attract L's attention, would be more than capable of it. What if I'm wrong in the whole situation and it's another trap. Get into a relationship with someone who seems like they have it all there, but it's just another psycho that's one bad day from screaming at me."

Gio set his hand on Beyond's shoulder. "Don't think that hard. Stop thinking, stop worrying. Does Light make you feel happy, it seemed like it yesterday. Let go, Beyond. Let your feelings carry you. It's okay to let your heart lead. Sure, sometimes it's wrong and you get hurt. But do you really want to play this game and risk losing him over it and be left wondering; 'what if', for the rest of your life?" Gio sighed and let his own arm fall back down. "You can't keep being this hot and cold with him, or if it's something you can't stop, at least help him understand why you are."

Beyond nodded and took a drink of the coffee. He scrunched his face at the bitter taste. "Sounds like I need to ask Maddog's advice. Speaking of, have you talked to her?"

Setting his cup on the table next to the couch, Gio groaned and ran his fingers through his forest green hair. "She isn't ready. She… she's had a lot more on her mind than she lets on."

Beyond raised his eyebrows and leaned a little closer. "Like what?"

Gio sighed and shook his head. "I can't. It's a lot, dude."

"Not even a hint?" Gio stood up and grabbed a piece of paper and sketched out a fire rose symbol and set it in front of Beyond. Staring at the symbol for mere seconds, Beyond's eyes lifted towards Gio. "Jesus."

The other nodded and sighed out just above a whisper. "Yeah."

Beyond pulled a cigarette pack out of his back pocket. "Explains the big ass Medusa on her back. He popped a cigarette into his mouth, "Can I bum a coat?"

Gio smirked and grabbed a sweater, tossing it at Beyond as he slipped his own coat on and pulled a self rolled cigarette off the bar. They both stood in the cold smoking in comfortable silence before Gio spoke. "You recognized that symbol awfully fast. I only know it because she told me about her situation and asked if I'd give her that symbol. Have you had someone request it before?"

"Because it's one of the few tattoos on me that you didn't do." Gio shifted an uneasy glance towards his best friend, who had his cigarette haphazardly hanging from his lips. Their eyes met and Beyond sighed, plucking the cylinder from his mouth and lifting his hair, placed right below the hairline, at the base of the skull on the raven's neck was a familiar symbol. The Fire Rose. "Because I understand her pain better than anyone knows, maybe not to the same extent, but I get it."

Gio released a shuddered breath. "Why didn't you ever say anything?"

The raven shrugged nonchalantly while smoothing the back of his hair down. "It wasn't me. But, someone I loved very dearly."

*The fire rose tattoo is a symbol of unity of survivors of sexual assault and molestation, inspired elements of the design are linked back to Lady Gaga and her song - 'Til It Happens To You*