fic: permanent marks (ficuary)

[csi_sanders1129]

Title: permanent marks
Chapters: 1/1
Author:csi_sanders1129
Genre: Humor. Fluff.
Ratings: T
Word Count: 650
Pairings/Characters: Cooper Frederickson/Josh Miller
Synopsis: In which a very drunk Josh gets a tattoo.
Comments: Written for Ficuary 2021, Prompt: Tattoo. Established relationship. Comments and kudos would be awesome. Enjoy!

"What happened to you?" Cooper asks, when he steps foot into their dorm room and finds Josh still in bed. A glance at his watch verifies that it is, indeed, nearly nine. He's not one for early mornings, but Josh always has been and the fact that he's still buried under his covers suggests the other man may have had a rough night. Which is weird, because Cooper is usually involved in those sorts of bad decisions. "I thought you just went to have a few drinks with the guys last night."

Josh groans, throws his pillow at Cooper, but that wasn't a very effective plan because now he doesn't have it to block out the sun streaming in through the window. "A lot of drinks," he grumbles.

Cooper laughs, "Sorry I missed it, then." He'd been on his way back from a trip to check in on his dad after the old man broke an ankle during a brutal snowstorm. Still, he didn't think Josh would be the one to get up to trouble without him. "C'mon, you've already missed your first class, some breakfast might help you sober up."

"Mmmrrrrrngh," comes the zombie like moan of discontent as Josh slowly worms his way out bed. "Never let Pickle talk you into doing shots."

"Oh, is that what you did? No wonder you're so hung-over. It's terrifying how well he can hold his alcohol – I've learned that lesson before." He watches as Josh stumbles his way into clean clothes – he's allowed to do that, they've been sleeping together for a year now, thank you very much – when the sight of a stark white bandage on Josh's ass catches his attention. "What the hell else did you do last night? End up in the hospital?"

Josh whirls around, confused. "Huh? What? No?" Then, dawning realization crosses Josh's face. "Oh, shit. Zeke."

Cooper is still perplexed. "Zeke?"

"Zeke dared me to do something dumb."

"Dumber than taking shots with Pickle."

Josh rolls his eyes, "he dared me to get a tattoo."

Cooper cannot stop the laugh that escapes him. "Oh, boy. I am so sad I missed this. Do I want to know what of?"

"I… don't remember?"

And, well, there's only one way to solve that problem, isn't there? "Come here," he prompts. Josh reluctantly complies. Cooper reaches out to peel away the bandage but Josh stops him.

"Just… whatever it is, can we reign in the mocking? Please?"

Cooper does his best to keep a straight face. "I think that highly depends on how silly it is, but I promise to restrain myself as much as possible," he swears. Carefully, he pulls away the tape holding the gauze down and is utterly floored by what he finds. The tattoo is just simple lettering, but -

'Property of CF'

- is very much not what he was expecting. And honestly, he supposes, he doesn't know what he was expecting, some silly thing Josh might have picked out while he was wasted and definitely not sober enough to actually get a tattoo. Instead, Josh had drunkenly selected a tattoo meant for him.

"What?" Josh demands, likely alarmed by Cooper's stunned silence. "How bad is it?"

"You know how I said I'd restrain myself? That might be harder than anticipated, but for very different reasons," he says, which does not answer Josh's question at all. "I like it."

Josh retreats to the bathroom to see for himself, emerging a brief moment later with his face flushed a lovely shade of pink. "Okay, could have been worse," he concedes. "Our secret?"

If it had been literally any other tattoo Josh got on a drunken dare, he would have teased the hell out of Josh for it, but given its content and that Cooper would very much like to be the only one who ever gets to see it, that's a secret he's happy to keep.