𝕊𝕦𝕘𝕒𝕣 ℍ𝕚𝕘𝕙 • 𝕂𝕒𝕣𝕝ℕ𝕒𝕡

Chapter 19: Twizzlers + Tattoos

"I found them!" Nick cheered as he walked into Dreams bedroom. He proudly showed the bright red package before tearing it open. He tore it open and pulled out a few strands of red licorice. "Here bite down."

Karl bit onto the twizzlers like his life depended on it. The loud buzzing of the machine turned on and off as Dream warmed it up. "Ok Karl, I need you to put your hand on the stool," Dream stretched a pair of gloves over his hands and strung a mask around his lower face.

"Ths stoohl?" Karl asked, mouth of twizzlers, as he pointed at the only stool in front of him before retracting his hand just before Dream could grab it.

Dream nodded his eyes were gentle. "Karl this will take less than three minutes I promise, it's such a small tattoo," Dreams voice was muffled from the fabric.

Karl let out a sigh as Nick sat down on his right, taking his hand in his own. He gently pecked his cheek. "George and I are right here, and if it is seriously too much Dream will stop right away ok?" Nick said quietly, nuzzling his head into the crook of Karl's neck.

Karl took a deep breath and gave Dream a nod. The cluster of needles soaked in ink whirred to life and made contact with Karl's skin. He squeaked, tightening his grip on Sapnap's hand as he bit down on the sweet strawberry flavored candy. Dream focused intensely as he filled in the two little dots, stopping every few seconds to wipe at the fresh tattoo to make sure he wasn't messing up. He apologized quietly every time Karl made a noise of discomfort, but he was never told to stop.

By the time it was over Karl had slight tears pricking his eyes. George gave him a hug, praising for sitting through the whole thing in one go.

"I had to take a good few breaks with mine, otherwise I would've started screaming," George told him with a giggle, "welcome to the club though!"

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Nick let go of Karl's hand. "My turn Dreamie!" He took his shirt off laying down on his back and handing Dream his phone.

"Nick," Dream groaned, "I said nothing hard," Dream whined as he looked down at the design, George peering over his shoulder.

"It looks simple enough," George said, grabbing the pen.

"But I don't wanna shade," Dream dragged out the last word.

"Please Clay! Consider it a late birthday present," Nick pleaded.

Karl was only half listening to the conversation as he looked at Nicks toned torso. Why did this man always have to take his shirt off without warning Karl? Karl peered over at the phone.

"Where are you gonna get it?" He inquired, Nick had sat up to tie his hair back..

"I want it on my right rib, where George has his tattoo," Nick said with confidence.

Dream snorted. "You're kidding right? This is just a bit your doing to rile up George right? Nick, Georges was painful and it was like all together a five minute tattoo. This? This will take maybe half an hour at least depending on how big you want it." Dream stared his best friend in the eyes, determination unwavering.

Dream sighed and pulled out his own phone pulling up a pain chart. He showed Nick. "See red? Red painful. Ribs very painful," he spoke like a caveman hoping Nick would stop being so stubborn.

"I want the rib tattoo Dream, we'll take breaks as needed," there was a dark sparkle in Sapnaps eyes. "Besides I'm not a pussy I can handle some pain, I barely flinched at my collar tattoo."

Dream sighed, grabbing the rubbing alcohol and starting to clean his friends skin. He asked George for the pen and started sketching a small flame. "Jesus Nick, I can feel your bones, are you sure you want this?" Dream took a picture of the sketch to show him.

"That looks great, and yes I'm sure now you stop being a pussy for me and start piercing my skin," Nick grabbed his t-shirt and put part of it in his mouth. He put his balled up left hand into the pockets of his sweats and took a deep breath.

The machine hummed loudly as Dream rolled his eyes, starting to out line the flame. Nicks face contorted every now and then, the veins in his left forearm were very visible from how hard he was balling his hand. Karl looked at the boy with concern. He had no clue how Nick was sitting here, just taking this. It look incredibly painful. He watched as bold, black, eyebrows knitted together in agony, as he finally opened his mouth after eight minutes to let a small gasp of pain, still in control of his body though not daring to move.

"Almost there, just hang on one more minute," Dream muttered as he focused on the line art.

The machine left Nicks skin and he let out an exasperated sigh of relief. He picked his head up slightly to look at the out line.

"Holy mother of- that was so painful," Nick sounded out of breath.

"I told you it was going to be but noooo you're so head strong," Dream sighed. "Do you still want me to shade it?"

"Oh fuck yes, I'm all in now," Nick put the shirt back in his mouth.

Karl sat down on the bed by Nick. He ran his finger through the long black hair, the older boys face visibly relaxing. Karl went to pull his hand away when the machine turned back on but Nicks left hand flew up to meet it, bringing it back to his hair.

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"Ok- ok shit! Time out!" Nick yelled as the machine clicked off.

Dream wiped the back of his hand across his forehead as he looked at the almost finished tattoo. "Alright, I'll admit this looks hella cool." He wiped at the design gently, still making Nick flinch.

Karl continued to run his fingers through the raven locks as he stared in awe. George had explained to him how shading definitely hurts more than the actual line art, so the fact that Nick had just sat through fifteen minutes or more of shading on his ribs was damn impressive. Especially since it was only his second tattoo. Nick looked up at Karl to see his eyes wandering around the area of the tattoo.

"Like what you see cutie?"

Karl blushed but still nodded, hoping to take Nick down with him on the wave of embarrassment.

"How is your pain tolerance so high? I would have never been able to go through with this even if I didn't have a phobia of needles," Karl stared into Nicks eyes in awe.

"Generally, it wouldn't be this high. I just feel like showing off to you," Nick winked.

Karl giggled and it blended into the humming of the machine as Dream quickly finished the grey scale ombre up the flame.

"Alright time to wrap you like a slab of meat buddy," Dream rolled over to the cart of draws and grabbed a roll of plastic.

Nick sat up slightly, Karl supporting him. Dream wrapped his ribs in the film until it was secure and tapped in place.

"Try not to be a dumbass and move it to much for me ok?"

Nick nodded with a smile before collapsing into Karl's lap, starring up at him with a goofy smile.

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A/N: teehee hope you guys enjoyed Nick being an Alpha for a lack of a better word and trying to show off to Karlos. Hopefully the next big thing will be happening soon.

ALSO THANK YOU FOR 2K YOUR ALL AWESOME ILL TRY TO UPDATE AGAIN TONIGHT!!!!!