We don't know if he paid for his tats... he may have a friend or a relative that is a tattoo artist.. We don't know how young he was when he started having them done, we don't know what his appearance was in his younger days, we don't know anything about him. Vanity may not even come into it, he could be covering his body for personal reasons. His appearance as he is now is maybe something he loves or regrets, we don't know. He's very knowledgeable and skilled at his craft and that's what he's there for. In the real world SJ wouldn't give him the time of day. She irritated me in one of her recent chats when someone mentioned Nick should come with subtitles and she responded by saying that is why she repeats everything he says.
How very condescending of her....Personally, I've never had a problem understanding him and even those that do should be able to grasp the gist of what he is saying.