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There are three things one needs to consider before making a bet.
First, bet on something like money or ice cream or doing the winning person’s homework, not permanently dyeing your hair or getting your ears pierced.
Second, no matter how sure you are that there’s no way you’re going to lose, which is why you agreed to those conditions in the first place, never underestimate the incompetence of your best friend.
Third, have forgiving friends who won’t hold it against you and let you out without actually having to follow through, rather than constantly remind you of your complete and utter failure.
Oikawa Tooru considered none of those things.
To be fair, he would have never expected to lose. If anyone knows Iwaizumi, it’s him, they’ve practically grown up as brothers and he would have thought he would never in his life lose a bet concerning him. Sadly, fate came to kick him in the ass for his display of utter hubris.
Well, he’s here now, no going back. The tattoo studio he’s standing in front of looks more like a barber from the outside, not dark and edgy like he thought but rather unassuming and professional. He researched this place before going here – it got good reviews, and he’d much prefer letting people put a hole in his skin that actually know how to do it over some amateurs with a piercing gun.
That doesn’t change the fact that he’s terrified. Of course, he would never admit that out loud, but he sure as hell won’t lie to himself. He never even considered getting any sort of piercing before that stupid bet, and he was certain he wouldn’t have to think about it afterward. Oh, how foolish he’s been.
The studio marks the dead end of a decently busy shopping street, and the sun is blocked out by a roof spreading out from it several meters. It’s nice, picturesque even, and a deceiving contrast to what’s to come.
Tooru has been stalling for a few minutes now, hiding behind a pillar and pulling up his unchanging Twitter feed just to have an excuse to not go in there just yet, but slowly, he’s starting to feel a bit dumb. Sure, it’s scary, but people do this all the time, right? And the internet reviews all seemed very happy with the place so he has no reason not to be.
Then again, he was never really the intended audience for this sort of thing, unlike the people rating the studio online.
“Come on, you’ll have to do it eventually,” he mutters to himself. Hanamaki will not tolerate him not keeping up his end of the bargain, and he may not be the best person to have ever walked this planet but he’ll be damned if he isn’t upstanding. What was that about thou shalt honour thy gambling debts?
So he goes inside.
(After checking the window for a few more minutes.)
The interior of the store isn’t quite as neat as the exterior – still professional and clean but held in darker colours, and it’s much smaller than he expected. There’s a chair that reminds him of the dentist – not the most pleasant of imagery, to be honest – and behind the counter, a staircase leads to what he assumes is the apartment above it while just next to it, a curtain is blocking the way to a back room. The walls are decorated with tattoo designs, but there’s not much more up on them, rather than at his regular hairdresser where you can hardly see the wall behind the myriad of wall scrolls depicting hairstyles that have long ceased to be in style.
“Welcome,” a soft voice says from the side and he only glances at the man for a split second before focusing his attention on a display of earrings a bit too fancy to fit the mood of the studio. He’s afraid that if he actually looks at him, his fear will show and he’ll run out screaming. “How can I help you?”
“Uhm …” Yes, he likes this pair, glittering with aquamarines on what he assumes is silver. “I’d like to … Get my ears pierced?” It sounds a lot more like a question than intended.
“Would you now.” He doesn’t sound convinced; only one more reason to avert his eyes for as long as possible. Does he have the right to refuse service if he realises Tooru’s terrified? Because he needs to get this done anyway, and the sooner he’s got it over with the better. He doesn’t want to overcomplicate things.
“I would,” he manages to say without too much of a delay. “Just … Something small. You know. Uh.”
Wow, he’s killing it today.
“Are you sure?” The tone of his voice indicates that he knows exactly Tooru isn’t, which marginally pisses him off. Who is he to question his motivations? He can bet he gets a lot of customers who are a tad bit nervous, and scaring them all off sounds like the very opposite of a good business plan.
At last, he raises his head from those earrings to properly look at the man and tell him exactly that – but he stops in his tracks when he finally sees him.
Oh shit.
He was wrong about the ‘man’ thing, this boy can’t be older than him, and he probably should have been able to tell that from his voice that seems to suit him perfectly. Tooru isn’t sure what he expected, but it most certainly wasn’t this. Soft-looking, curly and wild black hair but relatively short and not out of control, framing sharp features with sea-green eyes – his favourite colour – accentuated by just enough eyeliner and somewhat droopy eyelids. Both of his ears are pierced, silver rings at the top of the left one and bigger black circles at the earlobes of both. Surprisingly, that’s all there is; he doesn’t see any tattoos, and nothing is glistening on those pristine lips or that straight nose or those thick eyebrows.
“Yes,” Tooru says a bit too quickly.
A small laugh comes out of the boy’s mouth and curves his lips upward a bit, and perhaps going to this studio was a bad idea because he didn’t expect to meet the most beautiful person on this planet anytime soon but life sure has a way of ruining his plans.
If nothing else, it’s extremely motivating. The prospect of this boy taking care of his piercings, not to mention the fact that they look great on him so they might on Tooru as well, is exciting.
Hold on, if he’s not older than him, he’s a high school student – is he even allowed to? For all he knows, he’s just helping out with the sales and the one actually piercing him will be someone creepy.
“Alright then, if that’s so, take a seat.”
On that dentist chair, huh. He’s not thrilled.
“How old are you?” he asks instead – maybe he’s just one of those people who look younger than they are and he’s judged him all wrong.
“Sixteen.” Holy shit, he’s younger than Tooru! His shock seems to be written on his face, as he earns another amused huff. “Don’t worry, I’m qualified. My mother owns this place, so I’ve been learning since I was small. Or do you need to see my certificate?”
“N-no, I was just a bit …” Confused? Surprised? It’s admirable, though, that someone so young would be given such an important task. If he’s sixteen, he’s likely a second year and has enough to do with school as it is. “Sorry.”
“No need to be, I know it can be a bit jarring,” he replies with a soft smile that makes Tooru’s heart skip a beat. “What’s your name?”
“Oikawa Tooru. And I’m guessing you’re Akaashi then?” That was the name of the studio at least – it’s a bit of an unusual last name, but it somehow suits him.
The boy – Akaashi – nods. “Akaashi Keiji.”
He slowly makes his way to the chair of doom but Akaashi doesn’t follow, rather goes for a small nook he didn’t even see when he came in. There, he gathers some things Tooru can only assume are important, and when he turns back around, he catches him sneaking glances so he quickly averts his eyes, blushing furiously but not feeling all that embarrassed.
“So, what brought you here?” he asks when he comes back and hands him a piece of paper and a pen. A quick skim over it reveals it’s a short contract asking for his written consent and whether he has any allergies, and warning about possible negative effects. It’s not much scarier than what he already researched on his own. “No offense, but you don’t seem like the kind of person who would come here out of the blue.”
“Uhm, rude,” Tooru answers playfully while he’s signing the contract. “I’ll have you know that I’ve done much more extreme things than this.”
Akaashi takes the piece of paper back, quickly skims over it and goes to put it on the counter. “Oh, I don’t doubt that. I bet you’ve jaywalked.”
He gives him an exaggerated gasp. “Of course not! Not that extreme!”
For the first time, Akaashi laughs out loud, and it’s a sound that does all sorts of things to him, soft and clear and beautiful. “Seriously though …” He goes to that nook again to gather some more things, and it sounds vaguely metallic, and then he hears water rushing over his hands. Once again his heartbeat picks up the pace, though this time not for more comfortable reasons that don’t involve the prospect of having a needle tear through his earlobe. “What brought you here?”
“A friend,” Tooru answers, but decides to give the whole story after a moment. He wants to trust him. “Actually, a lost bet with a friend, so same thing.”
He freezes in motion just as he’s on the way back to him, and suddenly he feels like he’s made a mistake. With furrowed eyebrows, Akaashi asks, “You’re only doing this for a bet? That’s hardly giving consent.”
“Correction, I was doing it for a bet, I do actually want to do it now though.” It’s just when the words are out that he notices he’s not lying. He’s still a bit scared, but the idea of ear piercings doesn’t sound half bad anymore.
Akaashi visibly breathes out in relief and finally starts moving again. “What kind of bet did you make where your punishment for losing was to get your ears pierced? That really is extreme.”
“Well, Makki said he’d permanently dye his hair neon blue if he lost, so … I guess we were both just really sure we’d win. Honestly, I still don’t know how I lost! I didn’t count on Iwa-chan being such a wimp.”
“Do I want to hear that story?” He pays great attention to not look at Akaashi sorting through his equipment. Tooru doesn’t consider himself particularly scared of needles, unlike his sister who regularly passes out when she so much as comes close to a syringe, but he supposes nobody is too happy about the idea of having them pierce through their skin. He knows that earlobes aren’t sensitive, but he can’t imagine how much, say, a tongue piercing must hurt. Ouch.
“It’s not all that interesting,” he answers truthfully. “Iwa-chan – I mean, Iwaizumi, my best friend – likes this girl from another school, and he was going to ask her out. So we bet if he’d actually do it, and I said yes. Iwa-chan isn’t fazed by a lot of things so I thought it was a no-brainer, but he ended up chickening out and well …”
Akaashi side-eyes him very judgementally. “That sounds like a stupid thing to lose a bet over. What school are you going to? I don’t think I’ve heard the name before.”
“Oh, Iwa-chan and the others aren’t from here. I just moved here from Miyagi during spring break, and they’re from my old school there. I’m going to Nekoma though.” He does miss Seijoh sometimes, although the volleyball team at Nekoma is great and he has some good friends, none of them come close to their unbreakable quartet of himself, Iwaizumi, Hanamaki, and Matsukawa. If it wasn’t for social media and video chat, he wouldn’t be able to keep a connection, so he’s very thankful those things exist, but the idea of losing touch with them is scary nonetheless.
“Nekoma, huh,” Akaashi mutters and raises a hand to Tooru’s temple, then gently pushes his hair out of the way. The touch is feather-light and leaves his skin prickling, and while his heart is doing somersaults, he can’t help a somewhat smug grin when it lingers for longer than necessary, brushing over his hair. “It’s so soft …”
A laugh bubbles up in Tooru’s throat involuntarily; he feels a bit light-headed, and he thinks he could get used to that feeling. “Take your time.”
He feels him flinch but he doesn’t take his hand away, instead opting to repeat the motion, once, twice, three times, almost hypnotically, and it’s been a while since he’s last felt so beautiful. The touches are appreciative, fascinated even – to think that he’s doing this to that gorgeous boy … It sounds almost like a dream.
He resists the urge to close his eyes, rather admires the image of Akaashi to his side, soft blush painted on tan skin.
Eventually, he does let go and turns back to his equipment, and the moment may be gone but the atmosphere lingers, a quiet tension in the air unlike anything he’s felt before.
“So, earlobes,” Akaashi murmurs before taking a small box from the table by the chair and opening it to reveal several pairs of ear studs, all small and unassuming. “You’ll have to pick a pair to start with.”
“They all look the same,” Tooru whines. Granted, the colour of the little stone embedded in metal is different for each, but he was hoping for something a bit … Grander. He knows he has to pick ones that make healing easier first, but still.
There’s a particular pair that catches his eye, a sea-green not unlike Akaashi’s eyes, and it’s perhaps a bit sappy but heck, it is his favourite colour after all. “These ones?”
He seems to notice the connection, as a smile flashes over his expression, so quickly he almost doesn’t catch it. “Alright.”
He puts the case away again and pulls out a small bottle filled with some sort of liquid from another, along with a small pad of cotton. Tooru’s breath hitches when he sees it – for the first time he remembers that they’re really doing this, and that he’s going to walk out of this with actual ear piercings.
“Lean back and relax,” Akaashi says quietly and Tooru does as told, although it’s a bit difficult to be entirely calm. “I need to disinfect it first, anyway. I promise none of this will hurt.”
He can’t imagine it not even stinging a little bit, so this is likely just talk to make him feel better, but uttered in that velvet voice, it works. Besides, Akaashi doesn’t seem like the kind of person who’d lie about it.
“So,” he starts as he’s applying the cold liquid, and he’s so gentle with it the cotton tickles Tooru’s skin. “What year are you in? Third?”
“Third, yes. It’s kind of annoying that I had to transfer in my last year, especially for club, but it works, I guess.”
“Club?” Another hand brushing his hair away, another soft static sent through his skin. He can’t help but imagine what it would feel like to hold hands with him, or have those gentle fingers brush over his cheeks, his collarbone, his lips. The heat rising to his cheeks is overwhelming but in no way unwelcome, and Tooru thinks it was a good idea to come here after all.
“I play volleyball,” he answers, his voice barely louder than a whisper, incapable of being more.
“Oh, one of my friends is on the volleyball team, maybe you’ll meet him someday.” Akaashi sighs and it almost sounds a bit nostalgic. “I used to play too, but I don’t have the time anymore. Nowadays I’m officially on the literature club, but only because our advisor never checks on us, so I can go home earlier and help out here.”
He draws away from him and takes a sharp needle out of a box, then glances at Tooru and shoots him a calming smile, as if to say don’t worry. That’s easy to say, and he turns away to stare at the wall rather than think too hard about his impending doom. “Which position?”
“Setter, usually. Our club wasn’t all that serious, so we switched around a lot, but I liked playing setter best.”
“I know, right? I’m a setter too. I was pretty well-known for it back in Miyagi, actually!” It’s something he likes to brag about since in Tokyo, nobody cares. Well, at least not yet – the name ‘Oikawa Tooru’ is an unwritten story here. He’ll have to change that at the Inter-High, and he knows he can.
Akaashi hums in appreciation and leans forward, quickly runs his hand through Tooru’s hair again. “I’d say I’m rooting for you, but my friends won’t be happy with that. So, make second place, alright?”
“What if we win?”
“I think I wouldn’t hate that.”
It’s a quick sting, like being poked with a sharp pencil – not pleasant, but nothing that can be described as painful. In fact, he hardly even notices, as he just now picked up Akaashi’s scent, a distracting one that’s not too sweet and not too much. It’s certainly a perfume or a nice shower gel, but dosed perfectly, and he’ll have to ask what kind it is. Coupled with the sensation of his hands lightly brushing his skin, and the warmth coming from his body, it’s hard to focus on anything but that.
“There,” he breathes, and perhaps he’s just the tiniest bit too close to be considered professional. It sends the best kind of shivers down Tooru’s spine. “One down, one to go.”
“Do you treat all of your customers like this?” slips out of his mouth and he’s answered to with a quiet laugh.
“I don’t really know what’s wrong with me for doing this right now, to be honest. You’re allowed to feel special.”
And feel special he does, when the tone of his voice is affectionate and the next thing he feels are his hands once again brushing away his hair, this time on his other side. He’s not scared at all anymore, in fact he’d like for this to go on for a while, though he knows all good things must come to an end eventually.
As such, he relishes in the touches, small as they may be, and he hardly even notices the needle piercing through his other ear when his attention is taken up completely by the boy doing it.
The progress is quickly finished, and he’s about to put in his new ear studs but before he can reach for the box, Akaashi beats him to it, and Tooru leans back into his seat, closing his eyes as the metal breaches through his now open skin. It’s a sensation that’s easy to overlook, even when he’s not utterly distracted. He always assumed it would hurt more.
Akaashi finishes by ruffling his hair and it’s a nice, a little tickling feeling he could get used to, despite the fact that his hair was falling wonderfully today and that essentially destroyed it. He could not possibly care less.
“Nice work,” he says and Tooru narrows his eyes at the statement.
“Uhm, I’m supposed to say that to you.”
Another one of those breathtaking laughs he can’t get enough of – and it just now starts occurring to him that he may or may not be majorly fucked considering he’s known this person for not even a day and he’s already crushing on him majorly. Now that the whole piercing progress is over, he does feel a little bit stupid, but the high of his feelings carries him along to a point where it doesn’t really matter.
“Honestly, I was afraid you’d start crying. You wouldn’t be the first one. So nice work keeping it together.”
“I’m very tough!” he complains and hops from the chair that in hindsight wasn’t really like a dentist’s chair after all. Those aren’t as comfortable. “I may cry at the bill though … How much was that again?” He knows he has enough, but the exact amount he has to pay has melted and flown down the drain sometime during the process. In fact, thinking clearly is still a bit of a challenge.
That is until Akaashi smiles a little guiltily and says, “Don’t worry about it.”
It takes a few seconds to settle in what that means, and when he finally realises that he just got this whole thing for free, there’s only one cohesive sentence forming in his head. “That is a terrible business strategy.”
“I know,” he answers and when their eyes meet, he looks just as taken aback as Tooru. “Mom won’t mind if it’s only once though. And I’d say losing that bet was already payment enough for you.”
“Still, absolutely terrible business strategy. Can I at least tip you?” He wouldn’t accept no for an answer anyway and hands him a 500 yen bill, more than he’d usually give but definitely less than he’d have paid for the actual thing.
Akaashi quickly explains the rest to him – that he shouldn’t take the studs out unless it’s absolutely necessary, tape them for practice, clean them properly and all of that, which he already knew because he might have gone a bit overboard with his research.
“I suggest you come in again after a while so I can check if everything is alright,” he says eventually, and the smile playing around his lips tells of his intentions. “Next week, maybe? Usually I’d say in two weeks, but who knows what might happen …”
“Who knows,” he muses with a smile. “Maybe something will happen even before that.”
“You never know.”
It’s unfairly painful to leave the studio after saying his goodbye, much more painful than the piercing could have ever been, but his heart feels light and his gut tells him that this is nowhere near the end.
“See you then,” Akaashi says as he pushes open the door, and it’s three very simple, everyday words, but somehow, they feel like a beginning.