Chapter 5 Ink & Glass
A Mark Between Them
The next evening, Elliot arrived at the station with an odd sense of anticipation that he refused to name.
He had spent most of the day thinking about the almost-kiss.
Not constantly, he told himself.
Only occasionally.
Unfortunately, the definition of occasionally had become rather generous.
He had remembered the way Kai had moved closer, slowly enough to give him time to retreat. He had remembered the warmth of his breath and the intensity in his eyes. Most of all, he remembered that he hadn’t moved away.
That part mattered.
Elliot had spent years being careful about everything.
With Kai, he was beginning to discover what it felt like to want something before deciding whether he was allowed to have it.
When the train arrived, Elliot stepped inside and immediately found Kai near their usual place.
Kai glanced at him.
“You’re late.”
Elliot looked at the station clock.
“I’m early.”
“Not by my standards.”
“You have standards now?”
“I’ve always had standards.”
Elliot smiled.
“Could have fooled me.”
Kai laughed and moved aside so Elliot could stand beside him.
For a while, they simply watched the city pass outside the windows.
The previous evening’s almost-kiss remained between them, unmentioned but impossible to forget.
Elliot wondered whether Kai was thinking about it too.
He suspected he was.
After several minutes, Elliot looked down at Kai’s tattooed hands.
He remembered the conversation about tattoos.
“You said you design them yourself?”
“Most of them.”
“What would you design for me?”
Kai looked at him.
“You want a tattoo?”
“No.”
“Then why ask?”
“I was curious.”
Kai studied him.
“That’s dangerous.”
“Why?”
“Curiosity gets people into trouble.”
Elliot smiled.
“Maybe I like trouble.”
Kai’s expression changed slightly.
“Careful.”
Elliot looked away, suddenly aware of the meaning behind his own words.
The train slowed unexpectedly.
An announcement came over the speakers explaining that there would be a short delay because of congestion farther along the line.
Several passengers sighed.
Kai leaned back against the pole.
“Looks like we’ve got time.”
Elliot looked at him.
“For what?”
Kai reached into the small bag he carried with him.
Elliot watched as he pulled out a compact tattoo pen.
His eyebrows rose.
“You carry that around?”
“Sometimes.”
“Why?”
“Because I work with it.”
“On the metro?”
Kai shrugged.
“Not usually.”
He turned the pen in his fingers.
“You still want to know what I’d design?”
Elliot looked at his own hand.
“Maybe.”
Kai held out his hand.
“Give me yours.”
Elliot hesitated for only a second before placing his hand in Kai’s.
The simple contact made his pulse jump.
Kai’s fingers were warm and slightly rough, a contrast to Elliot’s softer skin. He turned Elliot’s hand palm-down and examined the back.
“What would you put there?” Elliot asked.
“Something small.”
“Why small?”
“Because you look like you’d panic if I suggested anything bigger.”
Elliot laughed.
“That’s insulting.”
“It’s accurate.”
Kai’s thumb rested lightly near Elliot’s knuckles.
He studied the shape of his hand as though considering a canvas.
Elliot became increasingly aware of how intimate the moment felt.
They were surrounded by other passengers.
Nobody seemed to notice.
Yet somehow Elliot felt as though the carriage had become quieter.
Kai took the pen and began sketching.
The design was simple.
A thin curved line formed the shape of a small path, crossing itself once before continuing forward. At the center was a tiny geometric mark resembling a star or compass point.
Elliot watched the design take shape.
“What is it?”
“That’s for you to decide.”
“You’re the artist.”
“You asked what I’d design.”
Kai finished the final line and lifted the pen.
The temporary design sat neatly on the back of Elliot’s hand.
It was subtle.
Elegant.
Almost delicate.
Elliot liked it immediately.
“What does it mean?”
Kai looked at the drawing.
“It could mean finding your way.”
Elliot looked at him.
“That’s surprisingly sentimental.”
“Don’t tell anyone.”
Elliot smiled.
“I won’t.”
Kai’s fingers remained around Elliot’s hand.
Neither seemed in a hurry to let go.
Elliot looked down at their hands.
There was something about the contrast that fascinated him.
Kai’s tattooed fingers holding his unmarked hand.
Rough beside soft.
Ink beside clean skin.
It shouldn’t have looked like they belonged together.
Yet somehow it did.
Kai noticed him staring.
“You don’t like it?”
“I love it.”
The answer came too quickly.
Kai’s eyes lifted.
Elliot felt his face warm.
“I mean the design.”
“I know.”
The faint smile on Kai’s face suggested he didn’t entirely believe him.
The train remained stationary.
The delay continued.
Passengers shifted around them, some checking phones, others sighing impatiently.
Elliot barely noticed.
Kai’s attention remained on the little design.
“You’d have to be careful with it.”
“Why?”
“Don’t wash it too hard.”
Elliot looked at him.
“How long will it last?”
“A few days.”
“Only?”
“It’s temporary.”
Something about that word bothered Elliot.
Temporary.
He looked down at the mark.
“I wish it lasted longer.”
Kai’s gaze moved to his face.
The atmosphere changed.
Elliot hadn’t meant to say it aloud.
Kai’s expression softened.
“You can always get the real thing.”
Elliot looked at him.
“A real tattoo?”
“If you want.”
“You’d do it?”
Kai smiled.
“Who else?”
Elliot laughed softly.
The train began moving again.
The carriage shifted.
Kai finally released Elliot’s hand.
The absence of contact felt immediate.
Elliot flexed his fingers.
He looked at the small design again.
It was only ink drawn onto his skin.
Nothing permanent.
Nothing important.
And yet it felt like something belonged to him now that hadn’t existed before.
Kai looked toward the window.
Elliot watched him.
There were so many things he wanted to ask.
Where had Kai learned to tattoo?
Why had he chosen that particular design?
What did his other tattoos mean?
What did he want from Elliot?
What did he want from this?
The rules prevented him from asking most of those questions.
For once, Elliot didn’t resent the rules.
He liked the mystery.
He liked having something that belonged only to this strange space between stations.
The train approached Elliot’s stop.
He looked down at the mark again.
Kai noticed.
“Still like it?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
The doors opened.
Elliot stepped onto the platform.
He looked back through the glass.
Kai was watching him.
Elliot raised his hand slightly, showing him the little design.
Kai smiled.
The doors closed.
The train moved away.
Elliot remained on the platform, looking down at his hand.
The mark was tiny.
Almost insignificant.
A simple design that would disappear within days.
But he didn’t want to wash it away.
He wanted to preserve it.
He wanted to keep looking at it.
As he walked through the station, Elliot realized why.
The design wasn’t what mattered.
Kai was.
The man he had met by accident had become part of Elliot’s thoughts before Elliot had even noticed it happening.
He thought about Kai during meetings.
He wondered whether Kai would be on the train before he boarded it.
He smiled at messages that had nothing to do with him simply because they reminded Elliot of something Kai had said.
And now there was a small mark on his hand that had been placed there by Kai.
Elliot stopped near the station exit and looked at it again.
He knew it would fade.
That was the point of a temporary design.
But he found himself wishing it wouldn’t.
For the first time, Elliot understood that Kai was no longer just the tattooed stranger he met during his commute.
He had become the person Elliot looked for when the train doors opened.
And that realization felt far more permanent than the little mark on his hand.
The Shop
By the time Kai unlocked the door to the tattoo studio, the streets had quieted considerably.
Most of the shops around him were already closed, their signs switched off and their windows dark.
A few restaurants remained open farther down the street, filling the night with the smell of fried food and the distant sounds of conversation, but Kai’s block had begun settling into its usual silence.
He stepped inside and locked the door behind him.
The familiar smell of disinfectant, ink, soap, and metal greeted him immediately.
For a few seconds, he simply stood there.
This place always did that to him.
It reminded him of who he was when everything else became too complicated.
The studio wasn’t large. It had never been designed to impress anyone. There were two tattoo stations, a small reception desk, shelves filled with supplies, framed artwork covering the walls, and an old leather chair near the front window that had belonged to his father.
Kai walked toward the desk and switched on the overhead lights.
The warmth disappeared.
Reality returned.
A stack of envelopes waited where he’d left them.
He stared at them.
Then he sighed.
“Of course.”
He dropped his keys onto the counter and picked up the first envelope.
Past due.
The second was worse.
The third contained another notice from the supplier.
Kai opened none of them.
He already knew what they said.
Money owed.
Payments delayed.
Another deadline approaching.
He placed the envelopes back on the desk and rubbed both hands over his face.
The studio had survived bad months before.
He had survived bad months before.
This was temporary.
It had to be.
Kai walked toward the tattoo stations and began checking the equipment even though he had already cleaned everything before leaving earlier.
It was easier to focus on something physical than numbers.
He checked the machines.
Replaced a few supplies.
Wiped down the work surface.
Reorganized bottles that didn’t need reorganizing.
When he finally stopped, the studio looked exactly as it had twenty minutes earlier.
Nothing had changed.
Except the bills were still there.
Kai looked toward the appointment book.
There were fewer names than there should have been.
The next few days were nearly empty.
He had once had clients booked weeks in advance.