17 Tattoos by Storm Petrel (PG)

[katemonkey.livejournal.com]

Fandom: The Losers
Pairing: Gen, but with elements of Pooch/Jolene and Cougar/Jensen
Length: 1020 words
Author on LJ: storm_petrel, but primarily storm_petrel
Author Website: AO3
Why this must be read:

The team have a great many tattoos. It's the kind of thing we notice, from Jensen's bull on his arm to Clay's teddy bear head in the soft skin between his fingers and thumb. And what's great about a tattoo is that, no matter what it's of, that tattoo will have a story behind it.

This story is a collection of vignettes, the briefest of descriptions of the tattoos the Losers have. And, in those descriptions, and their reasons for getting them, you see into their lives, their histories, their souls. From Clay's drunken maple leaf to the "CA" on Jensen's back, their tattoos are a part of them as they are part of their skins, and Storm Petrel nails each character with such insight that you'll feel like you know them too.

Excerpt:
5. Pooch has Jolene’s name in discreet dark ink where his wedding band should sit. He got that tattoo a week before he proposed, so he was pretty goddamned relieved when she said yes. On missions, on the run, every night before he goes to sleep, he presses his thumb against it, for comfort and for luck.

17 Tattoos