Jesus Likes Chris

I

"Girl, you sure you want this tattoo?" Jesus questioned Eva for the fortieth time as he sanitized the skin on the left side of her heavily tanned stomach. 

The young woman ran her fingers through her short green hair, frowning. "Nigga, stop asking.  I love my wife with all my heart. The bitch moved back to New York with me. Tattoo it."

"Puta, this is a bad idea." He shook his head, checking to make sure his gloves were intact before he picked up a disposable razor. "You musta picked up some weird hippie shit in Chicago to wanna tat your wife's vagina on you."

Eva rolled her bright eyes. "I'm paying you."

Jesus shook his head, shaving the little hairs on her skin in order to make sure everything was smooth. Then he sanitized her again. After, the man picked up the stencil he made based on the photograph he gave her from the thermal-fax, trying to convince the hardheaded woman one last time.

"Nooooooo." She settled into a childish pout, her eyes glazed over sadly. "Stop trying to convince me not to. I'm not stupid. If she and I divorce, I'd just remove it."

"Yeah, but you're a model. Can you have a toto on your side?" He wet her skin to be able to apply the stencil as best as he could.

She shrugged as best as she could while laying on a bench. "My agency doesn't have specifications."

"You can't do print..." He laid the stencil on the spot she told him she wanted it.

Eva waved him off, glancing down. "Eh, they'll just photoshop it out or cover it with makeup. I don't care... wow, it's so pretty."

"You mad weird but whateva." He applied ointment to the stencil. "Yo wish is my command."

He readied his tools quickly but neatly, as five years of training had taught him, ready to start the piece on his good friend. He loved tattooing with a passion. It was a career he always wanted since the first time he stepped foot in his cousin's shop at eight. It was an art form he had a gift for and he was well aware of it, putting effort into every piece he created... even the stupid one's like Eva's. After his apprenticeship with his cousin's business partner after high school, he was allowed to use their free chair with no costs until he was bringing in good money.
Julius's photography and instafame helped him out with that tremendously. He even got to do a couple celebrities because of his friend's connections. He was blessed to belong to group that he did. Even when they were away, they were still pressuring him to do something with himself. If it wasn't for them, he would've been like his cousin who did tattoos to pay his bills and still living in his packed apartment. They convinced him that he was able to create a brand. Because of them, he did an associate's in community college for business.

They left him alone with the tools to make better life choices. He was twenty three, living on his own with a better car than the hooptie he used to roll with, and able to pay his bills on time.

After about two hours of tattooing and two breaks, Jesus glanced up at his canvas. "You good?"

"Yeah..." She craned her neck to look at her stomach, face still wet with tears of agony. "It's so pretty."

"You such a pussy." Jesus teased with his voice muffled by his mask, cleaning her new tattoo. "No wonder you got a pussy tatted on you."

"Kill yaself." She huffed as he covered it.

"Don't be saying things like that." The long haired man shook his head, backing away from her to clean his station and dispose of all needles in its rightful place. "First tat and it's of a vagina. I'm judging you hard."

"Daniella got my name tatted on her wrist so I had to one up her. One year with my bitch and six months of matrimonial bliss, ayyy." She flashed her ring that she had been waving non stop since she moved back two months ago.

Jesus rolled his eyes as he washed his freshly ungloved hand after removing his mask. "Girl." He leaned against the wall that was covered in photographs of his best tattoos. "As ashamed as I am to have you as a friend right now, that's love.

"Yeah, everyone but you in love. Adrian and Julius, Chris and Savannah, Me and Daniella..."

"Chris and Savannah been broke up." Jesus rolled his eyes.

She sucked her teeth, sitting up with a hiss. "Yeah, because after college they don't wanna be in the same places but you can tell they still love each other. They be on each other's dicks on insta."

"Maybe someday they'll reunite but the only reunion I'm thinking about is SQUUUUAAAAAD!!!!" He shouted loudly, his cousin peeking into the room a couple seconds later with a confused look on his chubby face.

"Why you dumb loud for?!"

"Nigga, you loud." Jesus turned to Eva and snorted. "Dominicans be like."

Angel sucked his teeth for an exceptionally long time, his eyes landing on Eva. "Hey, mami." His tattooed hand waved before he stepped out after shooting Jesus one last frown.

Jesus walked over and closed the door. "I can't wait til I'm ready to get my own shop."

"How's the day job going?"

"It's going... I finally spoke to this nigga and I plan on going out with him for drinks on the weekend."

Eva chuckled. "Meaning you bouta get fucked up. How he look?"

The man pulled his phone out from his pocket. "Light skinned, thick, with green eyes and braids. Looks like he'll fuck up my guts which is what I need right now cuz I ain't have sex in about a year."

"You wiiiiiilding. Us leaving you alone gotchu like that?"

"I'm about my paper." He rubbed his fingers together. "Dick ain't the focus when you grinding hard. I ain't have my friends to really rely on, no disrespect, so I couldn't afford to fuck up. Now y'all all back and I'm ready to have fun."

Eva grinned. "You still ain't tell Chris you're gay?"

"I'm not..." His eyes squinted. "I'm not gay. I like women."

"The last time you fucked a girl was the summer after senior year."

He shrugged. "I mean, yeah, but like...We haven't talked much since he went to college."

"Now that's he back, y'all about to be all over each other."

The petite man just shrugged his shoulders, although his stomach had butterflies trying to fight their way out. "He's strictly vagina."

Eva cut her eyes at him. "Whatever. I'm just so glad we're all back together by next Thursday. I'm about to pull up the Julius and Adrian's crib. You coming later?"

Jesus checked the time. "Sure... I have one more client but that's a small tattoo so I'll be by at eightish. I got work in the morning though so I can't stay all night."

"You on yo grown man tings. It's cool, I got an audition tomorrow."