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Toudou maintained that the intensity of his reaction had less to do with the nature of the revelation, and more to do with it being a complete and utter surprise, Maki-chan! True, the revelation itself had been shocking and somewhat horrifying, but that was beside the point.
He had been lurking on Ren's blog as he was wont to do, hoping for more pictures of Makishima modeling the newest designs, when one particular photo caught his eye. It was only a thumbnail at first, some design that both brothers had clearly had a hand in — a one-sleeved shirt that cut sharply across the front, leaving half of Makishima's chest bare, and well, with Maki-chan looking like that, how could he not click on it?
It wasn't until the image opened up in all of its full-screen glory that he saw those things. He gasped, frozen in horror as he stared at the screen.
As soon as he remembered how to move again, he opened Skype and began frantically calling Makishima, not giving up until his call was finally answered. "Maki-chan, what did they do to you!?" he wailed.
"Who did what to me?" Makishima asked, running back through his memory to try to find the source of Toudou's current meltdown. He had returned from a ride to Skype ringing on his laptop and over a dozen missed calls from Toudou, so he hadn't even bothered to change out of his cycling gear before answering, but he was starting to regret that decision.
"Your…" Toudou said, gesturing inarticulately at his chest, "in the photo...with the shirt, and the….the thing!"
"Heh," Makishima chuckled as the pieces fell into place, "you saw?"
"Of course I saw, Maki-chan! Why didn't you tell me!? How could they do that to you? Didn't it hurt? It was all red."
"Of course it was red; I had it done right before the photo shoot. It looks a lot better now. See?" He unzipped the front of his jersey, showing Toudou two matching barbells through his nipples.
"Gaah!" Toudou yelled, burying his face in his hands and trying to scrub the image out of his head. "Why are they still there, Maki-chan? Why haven't you taken them out yet?" he said, his voice muffled by his arms.
"Why would I do that?"
"You had them done because they'd look good in the photos, right? Please tell me it was just for the photo shoot," Toudou wailed, desperately clinging to his last hope.
"What? No. I'd been thinking about it for awhile, but then Ren and I were looking at this collection and thought they'd be a really nice addition, so I went for it."
Toudou's mouth was still hanging open. "Didn't that hurt, Maki-chan?" he asked, wavering between poking at his own chest curiously and covering it protectively.
Makishima shrugged. "Not for that long, and it was worth it ya' know," he said.
"I still can't believe you let someone do that to you, Maki-chan. They're not even pretty."
Makishima laughed. "I expected that, but I think you might be surprised when you see them in person."
"But Maki-chan, you're halfway around the world. How's that supposed to work?" Toudou whined.
Makishima just gave one of his enigmatic half-smiles. "I have to get ready for dinner with Ren and some clients now," he said. "Love you, Jinpachi."
"I love you too, Maki-chan, even if you did let someone stick nasty metal spikes through you," Toudou said as the call cut off, leaving him staring at the blank screen and wondering what Makishima had meant with that last exchange.
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He wasn't waiting long before he found out. Only a few weeks later, Maki-chan caught a last-minute flight over from England and showed up unexpectedly at a race. Racing again was just like old times, but as soon as it was over, Toudou practically dragged Makishima back to the hotel and demanded to see the "ugly monstrosities" in person.
Makishima chuckled as he unzipped the front of his jersey, baring the front of his chest for Toudou's inspection. Toudou stared at the piercings for a long minute before he spoke. The color hadn't come through at all in the grainy video, but both of the barbells were a dull, metallic green, a bit darker than Makishima's hair. Toudou squinted at them.
"They're not pretty," he said finally. "They're gangly and awkward, and…" Toudou trailed off, and Makishima just smirked at him.
"…and somehow they suit you," he admitted finally.