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When they’re only a few steps from reaching the door of the shop, Daishou suddenly grinds to a halt. He stares at the letters blazoned across the window in large, bold letters: TATTOO & PIERCING.
Kuroo brings his face close to Daishou’s with a grin. “Don’t tell me you’re scared of a little blood?”
“Hardly; I can’t wait to see you bleed.” Daishou doesn’t tear his eyes away from the storefront. “I’m just not entirely sure sticking needles through my body is really what I want to be doing on a Saturday afternoon.”
“Are you backing out?” Kuroo’s voice is still teasing, but his eyes hold disappointment. He tries to hide it, which makes it even worse – Daishou can feel his resolve cracking down the middle.
“Of course not.” He shoves Kuroo’s face away and stalks forward. Kuroo falls into step beside him a second later, swinging an arm over his shoulder. Daishou doesn’t throw it off, but he does pinch the skin near his armpit, which makes Kuroo yelp indignantly and pout in a way Daishou will never admit is cute.
The door opens to the soft tinkling of bells. A woman who looks to be only slightly older than Daishou and Kuroo greets them when they walk in. She’s exactly what you’d expect from a place like this; covered in tattoos and piercings, her hair dyed a bright shade of blue. Daishou tugs self-consciously at his own hair, which has long since faded from the brilliant shade of green it used to be.
“What’ll it be, boys?” She tries – and fails – to make her voice sound cheerful.
“Tongue piercing for me,” Kuroo says. “Helix for him.”
The woman eyes them up and down skeptically. “Can I see some ID?”
“We’re twenty,” Kuroo protests indignantly, but he hands over his ID card without a problem. After a moment, Daishou does the same.
The woman takes a look at their cards before handing them back with a sigh. “See?” Kuroo grins. “Twenty.”
“Barely,” the woman mutters. Louder, she says, “Please fill out these forms, then take a seat. Someone will be with you in a moment.” Just before Kuroo turns to take a seat, she calls out to him. “Happy birthday, kid.”
Despite the grudging tone she uses, Kuroo’s face lights up in a smile. “Thanks.”
He’s still beaming when they sit down. Daishou narrows his eyes. “Did you want to do this today just so more people would congratulate you?”
“Of course not.” Kuroo looks genuinely offended – a rare sight. “I’ve wanted to get a tongue piercing for ages, and now I finally can. Of course I’d want to do it as soon as possible.” As soon as my parents can’t stop me anymore, is what he doesn’t say, but the words hang in the air anyway.
Daishou moves his hand a little closer to Kuroo. After a while, he feels Kuroo’s pinky pressing against his. He keeps staring ahead and doesn’t comment on it. A normal conversation between them might consist mostly out of taunts and insults, but that doesn’t mean they don’t know when to stop.
They sit like that while a moment turns into another, then into too damn long. Kuroo is getting restless with impatience; Daishou can tell, because he keeps finding a different position every few seconds.
“Will you sit still?” he snaps. He’s not really annoyed, just impatient.
“Touchy,” Kuroo mutters.
“If by that you mean I keep getting touched, then you’re absolutely right, since you keep bumping into me.” He glares at Kuroo, who clicks his tongue like he wants to argue. When Daishou just keeps glaring, he settles down and tries to sit still – which he manages for about two seconds, before he starts moving again. Daishou just groans.
By the time the piercer finally arrives, Daishou is just about to lose his mind. He knows Kuroo feels the same, because he shoots out of his seat to shake the piercers hand. Daishou follows at a much more subdued pace.
“You first, then?” The piercer – a middle aged woman with a long ponytail – laughs as she says this. Try as he might, Daishou can’t find a piercing on her.
“Yes, ma’am,” Kuroo says. He’s obviously trying to be polite, but the effect is kind of ruined by the way he’s bouncing on the balls of his feet in excitement.
“Well, then. I understand you’re here for a tongue piercing and you’re friend—”
“Boyfriend,” Kuroo corrects her gently.
Aside from a small blink, there’s no reaction to the interruption. “You’re boyfriend is here for a helix piercing. Correct?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Kuroo says again.
The piercer goes on to introduce herself and explain the process of getting a piercing and the risks involved. Daishou tries his best not to listen; he’s sure that, if he heard all the details, he’d chicken out. If it was really dangerous, Kuroo wouldn’t have brought him along. He starts listening again when he hears, “—both of you could come with me.”
“Both of us?” He repeats faintly. “Are we allowed to be in there at the same time?”
“Sure. Lots of people bring friends, family or their partner with them for moral support,” the piercer explains. “This isn’t any different.”
Daishou swallows. “I’d be there while Kuroo is getting pierced?” Forget being scared by a description of the risks involved with getting a piercing; watching Kuroo get a needle stuck through his tongue will make him terrified for life.
The piercer seems to sense some of his hesitance. “Only if you want, of course.”
“I think I’ll just wait here,” Daishou says. He’s sure his face is white as a sheet. For once, Kuroo doesn’t make fun of him for it. He just squeezes Daishou’s hand and shoots an encouraging smile over his shoulder as he leaves.
Almost immediately, Daishou regrets not coming along. Being alone like this gives him every opportunity to just get up and leave. Sure, Kuroo would be pissed for days, but he’d get over it eventually.
He’s still considering making a run for it when the piercer comes back out and invites him into a sterile white room with what looks like a dental chair and a bunch of equipment in it. Kuroo is sitting in a chair in the corner, looking at his tongue with the help of a handheld mirror; it’s swollen and red – too red to be natural – but there’s a little ball sticking out of it.
“How do I look?” he asks when he spots Daishou. His speech is strangely slurred with his tongue swollen like that – and, Daishou reminds himself, probably hurting like hell. His reluctance grows and, if not for Kuroo’s mouth stretching into a wide grin, he probably would have bolted.
“You—” Daishou’s voice is strangely high-pitched. He clears his throat before it can become too obvious and starts over. “You look great.”
“And so will you,” Kuroo promises.
Daishou swallows, nods, and takes a seat in the dental chair. The piercer explains, again, what she’s about to do, before cleaning his ear with a cotton ball soaked in cool liquid. She gathers the needed equipment and asks, “Ready?”
“Wait,” Daishou says. “I’m—”
“Suguru,” Kuroo says. Daishou’s head whips to the side to look at him, because Kuroo almost never uses his first name. “There’s nothing to be afraid of. It only hurts a little.”
Somehow, Daishou highly doubts that, but he decides not to mention it. “Okay,” he says. “Do it.”
Before the words have fully left his mouth, there is a dull pressure at his ear. A second later, the pressure is replaced by a sharp pain that throbs throughout his entire body and makes his vision go white. There’s blood trickling down the shell of his ear and it’s fucking disgusting, honestly.
A few seconds that feel like an eternity later, Daishou vaguely hears a voice, though he can’t quite make out the words. “What?” he asks, trying to focus through the pain.
“I said, you’re done.” The piercers voice breaks through the fog in his brain. With it, his sight slowly starts to return. “Have a look.” She pushes a mirror, similar to the one Kuroo was holding, into his hands.
Daishou sucks in a breath. His ear might be red and swollen, but he can’t deny it looks good.
“Hey, that looks awesome!” Kuroo’s breath washes over his cheek. Daishou hadn’t noticed him stand up, much less come this close.
“Yeah,” Daishou says. He turns and smiles, because it’s over and he did it.
Kuroo smiles back at him. “You did it. That was pretty brave.”
“I am brave.” Daishou slings his arms over Kuroo’s shoulders and smirks. “You probably screamed like a baby.” He leans in to kiss Kuroo’s affronted expression away when he’s interrupted by the piercer’s words.
“No kissing for at least two weeks, If you want your tongue to heal.”
There is a moment where both of them are frozen in place, before Daishou grits his teeth and says, “This is your fault.”
“Don’t be like that. I’ll make it up to you.” Kuroo wiggles his eyebrows suggestively. Daishou’s cheeks flush at the thought of just how Kuroo might go about making it up to him. He decides to forgive him, for now.