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It’s not until the next star torment that both the dark type siblings are at that it gets noticed. Marnie is in the back room shooting the shit with Hop, some of the other gym leaders are nearby, and her sleeve falls just the slightest while she’s pointing at the battle on the screen. Hop grabs her wrist and pulls the sleeve further down.
“What’s this?” He asks, staring.
“Oh yeah, it’s new,” she replies, smiling down at the tattoo that’s freshly healed but still tender. “Piers gave it to me.”
“Oh like he designed it?” Hop asks, confused.
“No, like he stabbed me a million times with a needle.” She answered nonchalantly. “It’s one of those things he knows how to do.”
“Huh,” Hop says while he rotates her wrist to get a better look at it. A shadow falls over them and Marnie looks up to see Raihan and Nessa looking down at the tattoo too, drawn in by the commotion.
“Piers?” Raihan asks, both he and Nessa wear matching looks for curiosity.
“Yeah. He designs things when he’s having trouble writing music, says it helps him think. I think he’s got some stuff for some of the other gym leaders designed too.” She tells them as she pulls her arm out of Hop’s grip and fixes her jacket sleeve.
“Hmm, I’ll have to ask him,” Raihan comments before they turn back to watch the match.
It’s a couple of weeks before Raihan brings it up over their usual Tuesday night drinks. "Marnie mentioned you gave her the new ink,” he starts off, taking a sip of his beer.
"Yeah didn't seem right for her to get it from anyone else," Piers tells hum.
"She said you matched.” Raihan pauses, hoping Piers will show him the tat. He doesn’t.
“She also said you designed for all the gym leaders," he continues, it’s the question he really wants to know the answer to anyway.
"Maybe,” Piers replies, sitting up a little straighter and looking at him now.
"I'm curious,” Raihan says, hoping it comes off as relaxed and not nervously excited.
"Two conditions." Piers starts and Raihan knows he’s going to hate this. "More like one," Piers tells him after pausing for a moment. The glint in Piers’ eye spells trouble.
"Still curious,” he answers, never one to back down from a challenge.
"I'm inking you,” Piers states now fully focused on Raihan, wondering if he can talk Raihan out of this.
"That was a given,” Raihan responds.
"You don't get to see it first,” Piers says, a wicked smile on his face now.
"Excuse me?" Raihan’s not sure he heard that right.
"I get to tattoo you but you don’t get to see the design at all before it goes on. Leap of faith and all that,” Piers says, waving his hand, fully expecting Raihan to back out now.
“Deal," Raihan tells him, smiling just as widely.
"What?" Piers pauses mid lifting his drink up for another sip. There’s no way that Raihan should agree to something like this.
"What you got going on tomorrow? Offer to crash on the couch still stand?”
Next week Nessa calls Piers out of the blue to grab coffee. Not even thirty minutes in she mentions how she and Raihan had crossed paths earlier. Piers slides his phone across the table with a sigh, the design he already planned out for her on the screen.
“Perfect,” she tells him. “Got time now?”