Work Text:
“I like the butterfly one.”
“Really?” Bansai smiled. “I got this one thinking of you.”
Bansai’s ears were pierced all over. On his right ear, seven rings on his helix. A simple earring on his earlobe, a piercing on his tragus. On his left ear, five rings on his helix, and a silver butterfly on his earlobe, designed as if it was landing on his lobe. It was small and delicate, contrasting with the rest of the aggressive style that Bansai had adhered since he joined his rock band. It was beautiful.
Takasugi didn’t say anything, but Bansai could see the tip of his ears had gotten pink.
How Bansai managed to convince Takasugi to get his own ear pierced was something he didn’t know for sure. It was completely against Takasugi’s classical Japanese style. Even after they started living in Edo, that was more modern, technological and westernized each day, Takasugi still stuck to wearing yukatas and kimonos, zoris and getas, and fundoshis as underwear. He ate mostly Japanese food—with the exception of his beloved yakults and some yogurts—and prefered classical Japanese music over the western Rock bands that Bansai enjoyed to listen. But this Takasugi accepted to have his ear pierced, as long as it was Bansai himself who did it for him.
The next time they met, which was when Bansai’s band’s tour was finally over, Bansai showed up with sterile needles in a small plastic bag and another butterfly earring that looked just like his, but turned to the other side, in another one.
It had been a month since they had last seen each other, so they had other priorities over piercing Takasugi’s ear, like going to bed together and making a sweaty mess out of each other. But after a while, when they were done, Bansai woke up a dozing off Takasugi with a question.
“How about we get your ear pierced now?”
Takasugi took a few seconds to reply, as if he was digesting the question, but his answer was positive.
Bansai got up from his bed, and gathered the instruments they would need. First he grabbed a lighter and left it on the bedside table.
Takasugi, still lying on the bed, watched Bansai’s actions. He arched an eyebrow.
“Do we really need all of that?”
“Of course. I wanna do this right, I don’t want your ear to get infected.”
Takasugi nodded.
Bansai cleaned his hands with alcohol from a bottle, and put on medical gloves. He grabbed a small bar of soap, a pack of gauze, and the plastic bags containing the sterile hollow needle and the butterfly earring.
Takasugi sat up on the bed with his legs crossed as he watched Bansai getting things ready.
Bansai sat in front of him on the bed and asked him to get the lighter.
“Light it up and hold it for me while I sterilize the needle,” he said. Takasugi did as he was told, and Bansai took the needle out of the bag and sterilized the needle with the fire. He did the same with the earring afterwards.
Next, Bansai picked the soap and approached Takasugi. He held the bar of soap behind his right earlobe with one hand, and with the other he held the needle. He touched Takasugi’s lobe with its tip.
“Ready?”
“Yes,” Takasugi replied.
Carefully, Bansai stuck the needle into Takasugi’s earlobe. He pushed it in fast, so Takasugi wouldn’t feel it too much. Takasugi didn’t make a sound, as expected. He wasn’t one to complain about pain. Bansai felt when the needle had went through Takasugi’s lobe and touched the soap, and then stopped. There was just a drop of blood.
He left the soap on the bed and picked the butterfly earring, sticking it into the hollow needle, and then pulled the needle from the other side, making sure the earring wouldn’t leave its place. After it was done, Bansai picked a gauze and soaked it with alcohol, using it to clean the blood off Takasugi’s ear.
When he was done, he looked at Takasugi and smiled as he took the gloves off.
“It looks perfect on you.”
Takasugi didn’t reply, but he grabbed a mirror from Bansai’s bedside table and looked at his right ear, where he now could see a small silver butterfly landing on it, just like the one Bansai had on his left ear.
“It looks good,” he finally said. There was a smile on his lips.
“These are unique, you know?” Bansai started, touching his own earring and pointing at Takasugi’s with his free hand. “I designed them myself and got them custom-made with silver. Only we have them. Even if my fans want to get copies, they won’t be the same.”
“So they are like—” Takasugi noticed what he was about to say and stopped himself. Then he opened his mouth again, and decided it was time for him to admit what they had out loud. “They are like our engagement rings.”
Bansai’s golden eyes seemed to brighter up when he heard Takasugi’s words. His smile got wider.
“That’s right. They’re our engagement rings.”
He approached and kissed Takasugi’s lips, which was quickly reciprocated by him. They were engaged now. Finally, after so many years, their relationship had a name.
Bansai withdrew and grabbed everything he had used and placed it all on top of the bedside table, then turned to Takasugi and kissed him again, this time lying him on the bed and getting on top of him.
They had another, rather lazy making out session before they fell asleep on each other’s arms.