God can you imagine teenchesters giving each other really bad tattoos where John won't be able to see them. Like I imagine Sam getting Dean's initials on his hip and Dean getting Sam's on his. Dean also has a very crooked smiley face that Sam gave him when he was like 14.
Omg, I love it! This feeds into my hc that the Winchesters actually are artists, for one. I am convinced they all draw and doodle--look at the stuff in John's journal; that is art! So the next step for a self-taught artist is, naturally, homemade tattoos!
Dean uses a needle, a Bic, and a mirror to put Sammy's initials on his hip the first time Sam gets injured saving Dean during a hunt.
Sam is laid up in bed, notices Dean walking stiffly and asks about it. Dean says it's from when Sam pushed him out of the way, but Sam doesn't buy it and pesters Dean about it until Dean finally shushes him and shows him the healing block initials "SW".
Sam wants to touch it, but he holds back because it's basically an open wound. Looks hopefully up at Dean.
Dean blinks in that way he has when Sam is so little brother Sammy and catches him off guard. Smirks a little, touched and feeling that rightness of things falling into place.
"After you're all healed up from this," he says, gently jiggling Sam's bandaged leg.
When Dean does Sam's tattoo, it's better than his. For one thing, he doesn't have to look at it backwards and upside down. For another, he gets more ink into his scratches--really makes sure his claim on his little brother is gonna stick.
But the best part is the way Sam quietly hisses and moans and grabs Dean's shoulder as he marks him.
When Sam is 14, Dean already has a handful of poke-and-stick tattoos hidden under his clothes. Dean is old enough to get real tattoos now, but he likes doing them himself. He's moved on from hard-to-use Bic ink to stolen fountain pens to--now--a bottle of india ink. He still uses a needle from his first sewing kit. Sam has watched Dean do most of his tattoos.
"Let me do your next one," Sam demands when he sees Dean pulling out his supplies when John leaves them in yet another fleabag motel. Dean keeps everything in a cookie tin he found at Goodwill.
Dean pauses what he's doing to raise an eyebrow at Sam. "You want me to teach you?"
Sam pulls a chair up and twirls Dean's Zippo through his fingers before lighting it. Grins at Dean's surprised look. "I already know how."
And without waiting for permission, Sam lines up the supplies and starts sterilizing the needle. Dean makes a 'huh!' face and shrugs his acceptance.
"So what're ya gonna give me, little brother?"
"You'll see," Sam says, and pushes Dean to turn around on his chair.
He stares at the freckles on Dean's shoulders, and suddenly has to suppress a snicker when he thinks about playing connect-the-dots with them.
Dean frowns, trying to concentrate on the shapes he feels Sam tracing with his fingers.
"Not my shoulders," Dean reminds him. "Dad might see it."
I'm not," Sam cuts him off, voice calm despite feeling giddy and annoyed at once. "Anyway, you're 18, Dean."
"You know that doesn't matter."
Dean supresses a shiver when Sam sighs over his back and slides his fingers down to Dean's hip, where "SW" hides beneath Dean's pants.
Sam hooks his fingers into Dean's waistband and tugs demandingly. Dean obliges, shifting to stand and lean against the kitchenette counter, holding the waist of sweats and boxers out of the way.
Sam traces the initials with his fingertips, goosebumps raising on his arms when he feels Dean's raise on his hip. Thinks, 'Now this will really be my mark.'
He makes a smiley face from scratch, right below his own initials. The eyes are simple dots, unequal in size because he just can't get them even, and the smile is wobbly because he holds the skin too taut. It's stupid, and perfect.
And Dean makes him laugh when he finally sees it in the mirror and tries to copy the expression. š„“
They cover hidden places with words and doodles and protective symbols. When Sam goes to Stanford, Dean gets out his kit and stares at the
and almost goes through with tattooing an X through it. He slashes it with a thin blade instead, and the cut barely even scars.
When Jess asks Sam about the faded doodles mapping his body like the hunter kid version of classroom note passing, Sam tells her it was just stupid kid stuff. There's not a lot to say.
The night they escape from the Benders, Sam finds the old tattoo kit in Dean's duffel next to the first aid kit. Pulls them both out, stacks them together, and grabs the medical whiskey.
He traces the faint X on Dean's hip when he finds it. Then traces the faded initials with the needle and ink. Renews them; makes them his.
The X is barely a memory.
