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It took little effort to convince Isa the idea was cool. He always admired adults and older teens who had piercings, always envied them. He swore to himself, the moment he didn’t need his parents’ permission to get his own piercings, he would get them done.
Isa had gone so far as to research piercing parlours within walking distance of his home. To his surprise, there were a few to choose from, all of them reputable, with what he felt was fair pricing. He’d have settled on a shop, but he had no way of telling if they would change practices, policies, or even locations by the time the sun rose on his 18th birthday.
What had taken convincing, begging, pleading, and even mild bribery, was skipping two years of Isa’s grand plan, and just letting Lea do the whole thing himself. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on which of the duo you asked) Lea was a frighteningly good negotiator, and Isa could be a complete pushover where the redhead was concerned.
Lea wanted to jump right in, guns blazing, but Isa would hear none of it. If they were going to skirt practices of the law and common sense, he was going to make sure they did everything else right.
So, for the period of a few weeks, Lea and Isa (mostly Isa) poured through every bit of information they could find. They scoured archives at the library until they found what they were looking for. They even asked Lea’s oldest brother, who had his ears pierced for as long as either of them could remember, at least.
They were both careful about avoiding their parents, although Isa had a sneaking suspicion that Lea’s mother had caught on terribly quickly. For a woman with so many children, surprisingly little snuck past her.
Gathering the materials proved little issue. They could buy alcohol, cotton balls, and nitrile gloves at their local store, and Isa’s parents drank enough wine that a cork wasn’t too hard to come by. The needles were the real issue.
They tried snooping around the school’s science labs, but they overturned nothing. Everything was locked up without a teacher present, and no matter how skillful Isa’s distractions or Lea’s stealth, they couldn’t search the labs beneath a watchful teacher’s nose.
“There is one way…” Lea pointed out one day through a mouthful of ice cream.
So during one of their many castle break-ins, the duo took a detour. They were far from mapping the place out, but it wasn’t difficult to come by a storage room, and from there they could pilfer a handful of needles after a lengthy visit with Subject X. Isa was eager to point out what a useless distraction this was from the real reason they entered the castle, but Lea was always quick with a retort; They were already there, so they might as well make use of their time.
Lea and Isa anticipated a struggle to get the earrings themselves, but it turned out they didn’t need to be adults to buy basic little studs. No one asked their age or for identification - they simply selected their studs and made their purchases.
The day finally came on a Sunday - no work, no clubs, no studies, and they’d already been kicked out of the Castle the day before, so breaking in again was too risky. There was some argument on where they would do this, and opted for Isa’s bedroom. He was an only child, but his parents kept busy enough that he could get away with almost anything, so long as he didn’t make too much noise. Lea’s mother was too watchful, and with four other kids around, one was bound to walk in on them.
“Man, why did you pick such girly ones?” Lea was holding the small plastic package up, watching as the cubic zirconia surface of the studs glinted under the warm white bulbs. He tossed it up in the air for emphasis, but Isa snatched the package after it reached the crest of its arc.
“There isn’t anything girly about them.” He had selected a set of basic, silver-colored studs, with round false diamonds set within them. One such stud had a miniature crescent moon dangling from it. “They are exactly what I like, and they aren’t stupid, like yours.”
“Hey!” Lea fished his own packet of earrings from his pocket and brandished them at Isa like a talisman against evil. The metal studs were shaped into small, stylized fire-sigils. If crafted properly, they may have bolstered Lea’s promising abilities with fire magic. Neither was sure if that was the case. “There’s nothing wrong with fire, Isa! Just ‘cause you can’t stand the heat!”
Isa’s face scrunched up in a scowl, but he schooled the expression away. In seconds, he appeared just as cool and unaffected as ever, and he waved a hand over his shoulder to further the image.
“Well, if I can’t stand the heat, maybe you should go first?”
He didn’t have to look to know that Lea clammed up instantly. There was no doubt in Isa’s mind that Lea started to chew on his bottom lip.
“If- If anything, you should go first!” Lea asserted. He stomped over to the table and grabbed up their package of sterile needles. “I’m the one who did most of the reading on how to do this! So, like, I know better! Got it memorized?”
“Fine.” Isa picked up the bottle of alcohol and the package of cotton balls and plopped down at his desk chair. While Lea fidgeted with the needles, Isa set about cleaning off his earlobes. “I’ll go first, but you had better not mess this up.”
“Man, do you have no faith in me?” Lea paused once he got the box open, realizing he had skipped a step. He reached for their box of nitrile gloves to pull a pair on. “Aw, man!”
“Already ruined something?” Isa stared at Lea with his eyes half-closed, like a cat watching a struggling mouse. In Lea’s opinion, the cat was way more intimidating.
“No, just-” Lea sighed and held up his hands. The gloves were baggy and bunched up in odd places. “I guess I didn’t look at the size, and I got huge ones.”
Isa snorted and fished another cotton ball out to tend to his other ear. “Better too big than too small, I guess?”
“I guess so…”
The next few minutes were spent in comfortable silence as Lea set everything up. Despite his brash and oft-bumbling appearance, he was no fool.He had done his research well, and he was good at following directions. Isa usually made him set up labs in science class, and he was putting that skill to use, now.
“Okay… you ready?”
The silence turned from light and pleasant to an ugly thing that hung between them. Lea and Isa could see it in each other’s eyes - neither was completely calm about this. Even Isa, with his perpetual veneer of serenity, looked taken off-balance by the implication of their next step.
Isa’s eyes flicked from Lea’s gloved hands to the tray of materials. In particular, his gaze lingered on the needles set out. Lea followed his attention and stared, as well.
And then he burst out laughing.
“Man! You look more serious than finals!” Lea waved a hand in the air as he tried to quiet down. “Come on, it’s a piercing! You don’t like it, you let it heal up, okay? Let me at ‘em.”
Lea’s mirth - often an annoyance as much as it was a treat - was a balm to Isa’s nerves. He found himself laughing along at the ridiculous situation. They made almost-weekly break-ins at The Castle, and there they were, nervous about one or two little needle pricks?
“Okay.” Isa pulled some gloves on and picked up the pilfered wine cork. Isa wasn’t crazy about it, but if it worked, it worked, he supposed. “Do it.”
Lea nodded. In a wordless instant, he was looming over Isa, his bright eyes trained on his friend’s earlobe, the mark he’d made with a pen and the aid of a mirror to show Lea where to stab.
“Okay… I’m gonna count to three.”
“Don’t count to three!”
“What? Why not? Don’t you wanna, like, know when it’s coming?”
Isa bumped Lea’s shin with his boot. “No, stupid! The anticipation just makes it worse! Just go!”
“Okay! Okay, okay, I’m gonna- I’ll just- onetwothree!”
The only noise Isa made was a quick hiss, more from surprise than anything else. Lea kicked into action fast - he threaded the earring through Isa’s ear, then swapped his gloves out and moved onto the second one.
It was done before either of them realized it. Isa sat up and demanded the mirror, to admire Lea’s handiwork. He had a barb on his tongue, ready to spit it in the name of their usual friction-filled camaraderie, but he found it softened before it could pass his lips.
“Wow… that looks- you did a good job, Lea.”
Lea stood up straight, preening over the compliment. “Wow! To hear you finally admit it is music to my ears!”
Isa turned his head form one side to the other, watching the earrings in his reflection. He felt light, suddenly, fulfilled.Sure, this was nothing compared to… anything else the duo had ever done, but it felt good. It felt a lot like taking destiny into his own hands. Maybe it was the endorphin rush, maybe it was because it was something he wanted for so long - who knew? But when he looked at Lea, it was with the biggest, most genuine smile his friend had ever seen.
“Dang…” Lea dragged the pad of his thumb across his nose and stood proud, with his balled hands rested on his hips. Isa’s smile was immediately infectious, and it had Lea grinning just as wide. “Didn’t think you’d be so happy about it! Too bad I don’t have a camera, right now.”
“Oh… shut up.” Isa stood up. He still felt light, and his chest a little fluttery. Lea looked oddly jittery, too, given that things went off without a hitch. He looked like his heart was beating too fast. “Let me go wash my hands, and I’ll do yours.”
The door suddenly slammed open, and a bouncy girl with bright red curls grinned at them. She was Lea’s only sister, and the sight of her froze both boys in their tracks.
“LEA! It's time to go home and Mom won’t stop talking to Mrs. Isa's Mom-” She interrupted herself with a loud, exaggerated gasp, and she thrust her finger in Isa’s direction. “What are you two DOING!?”
“Shit- Lily!” Lea rushed over to her. “We weren’t doing anything!”
“Why is Isa bleeding? Why do you have needles!” She stared up at Lea, her eyes and mouth going comically wide. She took a deep breath.
“Lily! Lily, c’mon, please don’t-”
“MOOOOOOM!”
Isa covered his face with his hands and slumped back onto his desk chair. Lea covered Lily’s mouth.
“Stop it, Lily! Just- cut it out!”
Lily broke away and, laughing, ran back down the stairs. Lea and Isa listened in horror as she called out: “Mom you’ll never guess what they were doing up there!!!”
“Well, buddy…” Lea stared at Isa with the gravity of a man facing down a firing squad. “It was sure nice knowin’ ya.”
Isa waved one hand. “I’ll see you after we’re ungrounded.”
“So, next year?”
Despite the situation, Isa laughed. “Sure.”