One year later
Baz whistled approvingly. "Looking good, man."
Pride blossomed in Juice's chest. It had indeed turned out well. But getting confirmation from an expert still did him good. After all, he could not erase a mistake easily. Earlier, he had set the outlines. For a while, he had considered leaving the coloring to Baz, but in the end, he'd wanted to do it himself. It had taken him months before he was confident enough to do so, but he had been able to go one step further each time. Raine's tattoo shop was doing very well and he had employed Baz permanently, who'd become a good friend real quick.
Raine looked over his now-colored shoulder. "Can I finally see it?"
Juice suspected that his husband had not been able to resist the mirror in the bathroom and had already caught a glimpse of the black outline. But now that the wings were flaming fiercely on his shoulder blades, it was a very different sight.
"Yeah, you think you're ready for that?" Teasingly, Juice pressed a kiss to the juncture between Raine's shoulder and neck. "Maybe you'll think it's terrible."
"If it was terrible, Baz would have said something. The last thing we want is bad publicity for the shop huh?"
Grinning, Juice pulled his phone out of his pocket and filmed the tattoo so Raine could see it from different angles. He handed the device over and stood next to him so he could see his reaction. Still a little nervous, he pressed his nails in his palms. He wanted to explain what the thought behind the tattoo was but felt embarrassed now that Baz was standing next to them.
A bell rang; someone entered the tattoo shop. The corners of his mouth curled as he saw Mouse enter. Sometimes it was as if she could pick up his thoughts. She shoot him a smooth wink—one that also made Baz walk away from them. The two had been dating for a few weeks; right after she moved in, the guy often stopped by in the evenings to help her fix stuff in the house. Though it could well be that he also... fixed other stuff.
He shook off the thought and focused on Raine. The man grabbed his hand and replayed the video.
"It looks awesome." He shoved to the side so Juice could sit next to him.
Together they watched the video again. When the skin was healed, it would look a lot nicer.
"It's supposed to be a phoenix," Juice said. "Because we've left our old lives behind and are now... living a new life."
"A very civil life." Grinning, Raine put his arm around him and pressed his lips to his jaw. "I'm very happy with it. With both the tattoo and that civilian life."
"I'm happy to hear that." Juice looked at his wedding ring. "Because there's no going back."
"Nope." Raine's eyes gleamed. "For the rest of your life, you're mine."
"Well, that's enough, you slimeballs." Skye walked up to him. "How can you work with those two?" she asked Baz, looking over her shoulder.
"I thought you even used to live with them."
"With one."
"Stop whining," Juice cut her off with a grin. "At least now you have your own guy to keep your bed warm."
"That helps," she admitted. "Well, let me see the end result. Yesterday Sasha was couldn't stop shouting that Daddy was getting a new plate."
Juice stood up chuckling, giving Raine room to turn towards Skye.
"Wow, those colours! It's beautiful, dude." She smiled warmly at him. Soon, a playful look came into her eyes. "Now it's my turn to get you a tattoo that symbolizes our friendship."
"What were you thinking of? A mouse on my ass?"
"Hell no," Raine replied. "You can get a mouse under your armpit."
"Hey!" Skye kicked at his foot, which he pulled away laughing.
Juice chuckled softly, wrapped his arms over her shoulders and pulling her into an embrace. "Chill. Come up with something fun." He raised his right arm. "There's plenty of room here."
She rubbed her thumb over the Rubics Cube Raine had put there six months ago. "This one is still nice. Then I need something that matches it, though. A sudoku?"
"A sudoku?"
"What, do you prefer something like a unicorn?"
"I'd rather have you think about it a bit longer." He gave her a shove and grabbed the stuff to cover Raine's tattoo with. "Otherwise, go ahead and cook."
"Pff, I'm a guest tonight. The days of those privileges are over, you know."
Juice grinned. "It was worth a try." He treated the tattoo as Raine had taught him while Baz got ready to close the shop.
The four of them walked to the nursery a few streets away. A warm feeling coursed through him as he was the one Sasha ran to. She clung to his legs.
"Hey little girl." He lifted her up. "Was it fun today?"
"Yes." She nodded determinedly. Then she looked at Raine. "You got the tattoo from daddy, didn't you?"
Daddy. It was not the first time she called him that, but like every time, it caused a lump in his throat. He pressed the girl a little closer.
"As soon as you get home, you can see it."
Cheering, she struggled free to grab her shoes. Juice let his hand slip into Raine's, who gave a squeeze.
This was another moment when he had to tell himself that this was not a dream, that it was real. That he was happy.
. . .
So, this was it! The end! And I hate it, I'm gonna miss these guys so much <3
But they've been through enough and they deserve a peaceful life now. :)
As promised, I will work on a spin-off for Phantom. I still have some other things to finish up before I will start that one, but you can already find the story on my profile, so you won't miss the first update if you put it in your library. It's called "Phantom".
I'm going to rework this fanfic into an original character's mini series that will be published in Dutch in 2024, so if you have any suggestions to improve this story, please let me know! All feedback is very welcome.
I want to thank every reader who made it to the end. And for the ones who took the time to leave comments: THANK YOU SO MUCH. You have no idea how much it motivated me to keep writing, while other stories have stranded. You're the best. <3
If you enjoyed this book, I hope you'll check out my other stories too.^^