AN: A short tattooed Lance interval... because Lance is Lance and I like Lance. =) ********************** Nightmare of a Lifetime: Chapter Eighteen ******************* “I want a tattoo.” Nicole raised her brows at Lance over dinner. They had snuck away together, a favorite escapist tactic they had managed a grand total of two times. Well four, but once Bill forced himself upon them and once Joey tagged along. They were in a hole in the wall Italian restaurant in Detroit the night after an early evening concert that Joey had recommended on the condition that Nicole dance an entire night with him the next time they went clubbing. Perry was impressed despite herself; Joey had damn tasty connections. “Correct me if I’m wrong,” she said as she twirled pasta around her fork expertly, “but don’t you already have a tattoo? Two in fact…” Lance rolled his eyes as he swallowed his lasagna. “They’re not real tattoos. They’re just on my ankles. Pansy assed tattoos even.” Nicole snorted with laughter. “I think I’m rubbing off on you. Pansy ass was definitely not in your vocabulary eight weeks ago.” “You weren’t in my vocabulary eight weeks ago.” She laughed again but blushed despite herself. “Aren’t you the charmer?” “It’s the Mississippi drawl,” he replied, voice lower than normal, smooth as molasses, “drives the girls wild every time.” This time Nicole’s laugh was a hearty chuckle. “Okay, okay, what are you thinking of getting then Mr. Mississippi Charm?” Lance answered promptly, “A phoenix across my shoulder blades, with its wings spread.” “A phoenix?” Nicole asked, skeptical. “Like you can talk. You have a peacock inked around your navel.” “Good point. Okay, you want one tonight?” Lance spluttered. “Do you know someone here, in town?” She rolled her eyes. “Umm yeah. Detroit, Eminem, I’ve hung here before. If I have friends in town I know a respectable tattoo establishment.” Lance grinned. “Let’s go after desert.” Nicole shrugged. “Sure, why not. You know its really sad when watching a boy band member get inked is considered the day’s highlight…” “I think it’s sad you know a respectable tattoo parlor in every major city.” “Shut up Poofu.” “Nicole.” She growled. “You annoy me.” He simply laughed, enjoying the company of a woman who might be a little rough around the edges but who had taken him under her wing so to speak and made him part of the her closed circle of friends. Nicole Perry had been stuck with them for three months but she hadn’t been stuck liking them. He never forgot how precious the gift of her friendship was. Few people would take him to get a phoenix inked across his shoulders, no questions asked, with minimal ribbing. ************************************************************************************* “Shit this hurts…” “Pansy,” Nicole said with a grin as Lance clutched her hand and hissed. The tattoo artist watched the two before him bemusedly from beneath his thick sunglasses as he worked. Fred Smarts recognized the girl vaguely; she had come in a couple times with some of his more well known regulars. He recognized the man from the posters adorning his daughter’s wall. “I’m going to start the color now,” he instructed as he removed the needle for a moment. Lance Bass nodded wearily. “This is really a two visit job, any reason we’re rushing it?” “Cause we’re out of town tomorrow and I wouldn’t trust anyone else in the northeast to finish the job,” the girl responded with a bright smile aimed in his direction. Fred was flattered despite himself. She was rather pretty in a delicate sort of way, all inked and pierced and dyed, a goth child of the streets. He knew he’d learned her name once but they all bled together after awhile. “What about Billy Kincaid?” he asked gruffly. The woman shook her curls. “Nope… he has wonderful tribal patterns but hardly your attention to detail. We’re at the right place; I wouldn’t have let him get one otherwise.” “You think you could have stopped me?” Lance asked with a grunt as Fred began to ink the color of the phoenix’s wings across the singer’s broad shoulders. The girl laughed like the wind, breathless but hearty. “In a heart beat.” Fred smiled as he continued to work. ************************************************************************************* Lance craned his neck to stare at himself in the mirror, shirtless, but newly inked, like a copper penny. “Wow,” he breathed, impressed. Nicole, who rocked back on her heels to better study him, was impressed too. Fred Smarts had done a wonderful job, not that Nicole had had any doubts. The phoenix looked beautiful spread across Lance’s pale skin in a scarlet and gold stain outlined by black. The skin was inflamed and irritated but it would look even better in a few days. “You’re going to be sore as hell tomorrow,” Perry said. Lance shrugged and winced. “I know. My mother’s going to kill me.” She snorted, amused. “No she won’t, not until she gets grandchildren. Bill might kill us both for getting this done without him here, or Joey. Joey definitely would have wanted to laugh at you some.” Lance grinned happily, like a puppy. “Chris is going to freak; he counts on me to keep the boys in line.” “JC’s gonna freak when he starts thinking about how many needle pricks it took to get that done.” “Justin’s going to freak when he finds out mine are bigger than his.” Nicole chuckled wickedly. “Then my mission for the night is already complete.” Lance shook his head. “Pissing Justin off is all it takes to make you happy, isn’t it?” She winked. “It’s the little things in life that matter most. Come on, let’s get you bandaged and dressed and back to the hotel before security calls the police on us. We’re never gone this long and it’s almost four in the morning.” He gingerly complied.