Yeah, I Almost Cried

I liken relationships to tattoos, even though I only have one tattoo and the longest relationship I have had cannot be satisfactorily quantified by the smallest of metrics. It all kind of happens in the same stages. It's something you like and flirt with. Slowly you outline what it will be like. Nothing has happened but you've thought about it, or not, you love the idea of it and are filled with anticipation before you realize what is going on and it's too late.
The first sting you shrug off. It's fine. That was just a blip. The next one is a little worse and you begin to think maybe this won't work. Suddenly it feels like someone is dragging a dull knife through your skin. It's like fire and burns even after the needle has moved to the next section. You want to say, "stop, it's over," but don't want the other person to think you can't handle it and tell you to grow up. You bite your tongue or the inside of your cheek to try and redirect the pain. You try to hold in everything you want to say to be strong, but the truth is you suck and it hurts like a bitch! Soon enough it's done. You're kind of bleeding and put a piece of gauze over it to protect the open wound but can't help but try to lift up the bandages for another look. The scabs form and the blood is gone, but the surrounding area is still a little red. If you're lucky there's no itching (never had this problem in a relationship but with the tat it really itched, lol) and what's left was worth it. Kind of.
While you love it, your friends smile and agree that it's great, but after time they let you know what they really thought and it wasn't good. You defend it and say it's not that bad but maybe they're right. You spend some time remembering what it felt like and for whatever reason begin thinking you could do it again. For some reason it's harder to remember how much it hurt and you want another. It'll be great! Really! This time will be better. You remember thinking it wasn't going to be as bad as you had thought; riiiiiight, it was WAY WORSE! Why would it be different this time around? It still involves a needle. It may not be the same one (hopefully because that is gross) but they do the same thing... THEY SCREW YOU OVER! Well maybe not really but it's still going to hurt at some point. Any thoughts for another tat?
 I don't think this post gave me anything to add to my list of traits. Maybe big baby. Holler at me if you think of one.