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“Ow! Shit, that hurts!”
“Well no shit?”
“Damn, Rudo.” Riyo lounged deeper into the empty bathtub, one leg hanging over the edge. “Didn’t know you were such a pussy.”
The three of them were crammed into the apartment’s tiny bathroom. Rudo perched tensely on the closed toilet lid, Riyo somehow making the dry bathtub look comfortable, and Zanka standing between them with a sterilized needle in hand.
“I haven’t even done anything yet,” Zanka said flatly.
Riyo barked out a laugh. “Man’s scared of the idea of the piercing.”
“I’m not scared,” Rudo shot back immediately.
Zanka lifted the needle an inch and Rudo flinched so violently he nearly tipped sideways off the toilet.
Riyo folded in on herself, cackling. “Oh my god - you are terrified.”
“I just don’t trust him!” Rudo jabbed a finger toward Zanka. “He looks like he learned this in prison.”
“I did learn it from a guy with tattoos,” Zanka admitted.
Rudo stared at him in horror. “That is not helping!”
Zanka shrugged. “He was good at it, if that makes you feel any better.”
Riyo snorted loud enough for it to echo off the tile. “Move before you pass out from fear. I’ll go first.”
Rudo stood immediately. “Gladly.”
“Coward.”
Riyo swung herself out of the tub and nudged him aside with her foot before dropping onto the toilet seat like she owned the place. She tilted her head back casually.
“See? This is how normal people behave.”
“You already have, like, five piercings,” Rudo muttered.
“Seven.” She corrected quickly.
“Alright.” Zanka stepped closer, squinting at her eyebrow. “Don’t move.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
For all the trash-talking, his hands were steady. He cleaned the spot with ease, expression going blank with concentration. Riyo watched him upside down for a second before glancing over at Rudo.
“You’re pale.”
“I’m considering if I still need eyebrows.”
Zanka pinched Riyo’s brow between his fingers. “Ready?”
“Do it.”
The needle slid through.
Riyo hissed through her teeth, shoulders jerking once. “Tss - fuck.”
Across the bathroom, Rudo made a strangled noise like he was the one getting stabbed.
But after a second, Riyo exhaled hard and relaxed again. “Okay. Yeah. That sucked.”
“See?” Zanka said, already threading the jewelry through. “You survived.”
“Barely. I think I saw god for a second.”
“You don’t believe in god.”
“I do when metal goes through my face,” She smirked.
Rudo stared as the small silver bar settled neatly through her eyebrow. “Wait.”
Riyo grinned at him. “Looks good, right?”
He squinted. “Actually, yeah.”
Zanka leaned back to inspect his work, giving a small nod. “Not bad.”
Riyo immediately hopped up and crowded the mirror, turning her head side to side. “Oh, hell yeah.” A grin spread across her face. “I look cool as shit.”
Still holding the needle, Zanka looked between them with exhausted disappointment. “You two are unbearable.”
She wiped tears from the corners of her eyes, still laughing. “Alright, little bro. Your turn.”
Rudo eyed the needle like it had personally threatened him with all its object-ness. “How bad was it. Seriously.”
Riyo’s grin turned downright evil. “Worst pain of my life.”
Rudo’s face lost all color the second Zanka uncapped the second needle. One look at the gleaming metal and every ounce of confidence evaporated from his body.
“Okay,” he said quickly, holding up both hands. “Cool. Never mind.”
Zanka stared at him flatly from where he’d comemdeered he sink from Riyo. “You’re backing out again?”
“I’m making an informed medical decision.”
“You were literally begging for this piercing last week,” Riyo reminded him.
“Last week I was brave and stupid,” Rudo snapped back. “I’ve changed. I’ve grown as a person.”
Zanka let out a long, exhausted sigh through his nose and carefully set the sterilized needle onto the counter with a sharp clink.
“You are genuinely the most dramatic person I’ve ever met.”
“That’s insane, coming from a guy who wears twelve belts at once.”
Before the argument could properly start, Riyo suddenly snapped her fingers hard enough to make both of them jump.
“Wait.”
The boys looked at her.
Slowly, a grin spread across her face. A grin that meant she’d just had the worst idea imaginable and was already emotionally committed to it.
Zanka saw it instantly. “Oh no,” he said.
Riyo pointed at him. “You should let me pierce you.”
“Absolutely not.”
“C’monnn,” she whined, already reaching for the disinfectant bottle anyway. “You said I sat still really well.”
“That is not remotely a qualification.”
The second attention shifted away from him, Rudo perked up like a man resurrected.
“Wait, no, yeah,” he said immediately. “Do it pussy. No balls.”
Zanka pointed at him accusingly. “You do not get a vote after chickening out twice.”
“I think I deserve two votes for surviving this traumatic experience.”
“You haven’t survived anything,” Zanka stared at him harder. “You got scared by antiseptic wipes.”
Rudo ignored him completely and leaned forward over the bathtub edge, suddenly invested.
Riyo moved closer to Zanka with dangerous enthusiasm sparkling in her eyes.
“Snake bites,” she said.
Zanka frowned immediately. “I already have piercings.”
“Not snake bites.”
“I enjoy being able to eat food without drooling, thank you very much.”
“Jabber would probably think you’d look hot.”
The bathroom went silent.
Rudo’s eyes widened so hard it looked painful. “Damn,” he whispered.
Zanka clicked his tongue sharply, but not before the tiniest hesitation crossed his face.
Her grin became vicious. “Oh my god,” she gasped dramatically. “That worked?!”
“It did not.”
“It totally did!”
Rudo slapped the side of the tub like an excited spectator at a boxing match. “Wait, wait wait, let her cook.”
Zanka looked between the two of them with the exhausted expression of someone realizing the universe specifically hated him.
“I should’ve stayed at Jabbers.”
“Too late,” Riyo sing-songed.
Before he could protest again, she shoved lightly at his shoulder toward the closed toilet seat.
“Sit down.”
Against every instinct for self-preservation, he actually did.
Rudo immediately doubled over laughing. “You folded so fast!”
“I can still stab your eyebrow right now.”
Rudo instantly covered his face protectively and scooted farther down the bathtub.
Riyo, meanwhile, looked delighted beyond reason. She snapped on a pair of black gloves with exaggerated drama, grinning so hard her cheeks hurt.
“Alright,” she said brightly. “Don’t move.”
Zanka narrowed his eyes at her. “You literally mocked him for saying that five minutes ago.”
“Growth.”
“You’re enjoying this too much.”
“Correct.”
For the first time all night, Zanka looked mildly nervous. Not enough to back out, he was no pussy, but still.
His mouth fell open in delight. “Dude,” he breathed. “He’s so scared.”
“That’s just smart-person fear, you wouldn’t be familiar with the concept.”
Riyo laughed under her breath and stepped closer, tilting his chin up between her fingers to hold his face steady.
“Aww,” she teased softly. “You’re trusting me. That’s so sweet.”
Zanka’s glare lost about half its effectiveness once he caught sight of the needle.
“I can revoke that trust whenever I want.”
“No, you can’t.”
The joking faded into nervous anticipation while Riyo cleaned both spots carefully with practiced hands. Despite all the chaos, she was weirdly focused on it, expression sharpening with concentration.
Rudo leaned sideways from the tub to watch, fascinated now that he wasn’t the victim anymore.
“You guys are kind of concerningly good at this.”
“We’re talented,” Riyo said. She lined the needle carefully against the mark beneath his lower lip. “Ready?”
Zanka exhaled slowly through his nose. “Do it fast.”
The second the needle pushed through the skin, his entire body locked. A sharp hiss escaped through clenched teeth before he jerked slightly.
“Motherfu - fuck!”
Rudo collapsed forward against the edge of the bathtub, laughing so hard he nearly slipped in. “Oh my god, holy shit - ”
Riyo was grinning so hard she almost couldn’t focus. “Stop laughing before I mess this up.”
The second piercing went smoother, though Zanka’s grip tightened hard enough around the sink edge that his knuckles blanched white.
The moment the jewelry finally clicked into place, Riyo stepped back dramatically and threw her hands up like she’d completed surgery.
“Done.”
Zanka immediately snatched up the mirror from beside the faucet.
Rudo leaned forward anxiously. “Well?”
Zanka tilted his head slightly, silver spikes catching the yellow bathroom light. His expression shifted into something deeply annoyed.
“Fuck.”
Riyo smirked knowingly and crossed her arms. “That good, huh?”
Zanka clicked his tongue again, still staring at his reflection.
“I hate that you were right.”
Rudo pointed at him dramatically from inside the bathtub like he’d just witnessed history unfold. “You can actually admit it?!”
“Keep yelling like that,” Zanka said dryly, wiping his hands on a paper towel, “I’m sure Enjin won’t wake up at all.”
All three of them slowly turned toward the bathroom door.
The apartment beyond it sat dark and quiet, the thin strip of hallway visible beneath the frame completely still. Somewhere deeper in the pipes, something creaked.
Rudo inhaled sharply, remembering that face. “Oh my god,” he whispered. “You’re so loud.”
Zanka looked at him, “I’m loud?” he whispered back incredulously. “You screamed before the needle even touched you.”
“That was a fear response!”
“You yelled ‘motherfu - ’ so hard the mirror vibrated,” Riyo hissed.
“Because I had metal shoved through my lip!”
Rudo pointed at her in betrayal. “You are supposed to support me.”
“I did. I called you brave in my head.”
“Shhh - ”
All three of them froze again.
The bathroom fell quiet except for the faint hum of the overhead light and the occasional rattle of old plumbing in the walls. Everyone listened carefully for footsteps. A door opening, and Enji’s rumbling voice demanding to know why his apartment sounded like a back-alley medical clinic at two in the morning.
But no angry parent emerges from the depths of the apartment to discover his children committing crimes against hygiene.
Rudo let out a slow breath. “Okay. We’re good.”
The second he said it, Riyo slapped both hands onto his shoulders. “Nope.”
Rudo blinked up at her. “What?”
“You are not escaping this again.”
His eyes widened instantly, but before he could react, Zanka grabbed the back of his hoodie and hauled him bodily back toward the closed toilet lid.
“Traitor!” Rudo whisper-yelled, digging his heels dramatically against the tile floor.
“You wanted the piercing.”
“I wanted the idea of the piercing!”
“Well,” Zanka said calmly, steering his brother into the seat, “now you get the reality too!”
“This is kidnapping,” Rudo informed them.
Zanka shoved him firmly down onto the toilet seat before he could make a break for it again.
“Sit still before you crack your skull open trying to escape.”
Rudo looked between the two of them with genuine heartbreak in his eyes. “I thought we were a family.”
“We are,” Riyo said brightly. “Which means we get to bully you.”
“That is not what family means.”
“It kind of is,” Zanka muttered while reaching for the disinfectant again.
Rudo crossed his arms tightly over his chest, trying and failing to look dignified.
“I’m not scared.”
“You’re shaking,” Riyo pointed out immediately.
“I have low blood sugar,” he grumbled.
Zanka grabbed the disinfectant again with the exhausted patience of someone dealing with a very loud stray cat. “If you pass out,” he said, “I’m leaving you face-down on the bathroom floor.”
“You’d leave my corpse here?”
“You are not dying from an eyebrow piercing, Rudo!”
Riyo leaned against the sink, grinning lazily. “Actually, if he dies, can I have his jacket?”
Rudo gasped. “Dude?!”
“What? Waste not.”
“Hold still,” Zanka ordered.
Before Rudo could start another argument, Zanka grabbed his chin firmly and tilted his face toward the harsh bathroom light.
The movement shut him up instantly. Rudo went completely rigid.
Riyo’s grin widened immediately.
“Oh my god,” she whispered delightedly. “He looks like a terrified little chihuahua.”
“Shut up!”
“You’ve got the same eyes.” She cackled.
“Open your eye,” Zanka instructed.
“I am opening my eye!” Rudo turned on him.
“You’re squinting so hard your whole fucking face is folding.” He slapped Rudo on the head a few times for emphasis.
Rudo inhaled sharply through his nose while Zanka started cleaning the skin above his eyebrow.
The bathroom suddenly felt way too small. His knee bounced nervously.
“I can still back out,” he muttered weakly.
“No,” both of them answered immediately.
Riyo patted his shoulder with fake sympathy. “Don’t worry, dude. You’ll survive.”
“That’s not comforting when you say it like that.”
Zanka leaned closer, brows furrowing slightly in concentration as he lined the needle up above Rudo’s eyebrow.
“Ready?”
Rudo instantly grabbed both sides of the toilet seat hard enough for his knuckles to turn white.
“No.”
Zanka didn’t even blink. “Close enough.”
“WAIT - ”
The needle went through anyway.
Rudo made a sound so loud, sharp, and genuinely wounded that both Zanka and Riyo lunged for him at the exact same time in pure panic.
“Shhh!”
“Keep your voice down!”
“You stabbed my face!” Rudo whisper-screamed, recoiling so hard Zanka had to grab his shoulder to keep him from jerking sideways into the sink.
“Oh my god,” Riyo wheezed, already folding in half laughing. “You are being so dramatic.”
“There are actual tears in my eyes!”
“There were tears in your eyes before he even started!”
Zanka was biting the inside of his cheek hard enough to hurt, trying not to laugh while he threaded the jewelry through.
“Stop movin’,” he warned, shoulders shaking suspiciously.
Rudo hissed sharply through his teeth as the jewelry clicked into place.
“Ow - Ow fuck - okay, wait - okay.” He blinked a few times rapidly, looking startled.
“There he is,” Riyo said proudly, patting the top of his head like he’d just returned from war. “Our brave little soldier.”
“I saw God, and he was disappointed in me.”
Zanka finally secured the jewelry and stepped back from him with a tired exhale.
He stayed completely frozen on the toilet seat, shoulders tense and hands gripping the edges like he still didn’t fully trust reality yet.
Slowly, cautiously, he lifted a hand toward his eyebrow, stopping just short of touching it.
“Done?” he repeated carefully.
“Yep,” Zanka said. “You survived your near-death experience.”
Rudo ignored him completely.
Like someone approaching a wild animal, he slowly turned toward the mirror above the sink.
Riyo immediately leaned in beside him, practically vibrating with anticipation.
“Well?”
Rudo stared.
Then his eyes flicked upward toward the small silver ring hooked cleanly through his eyebrow. The metal caught the cheap yellow bathroom light every time he moved.
It sharpened his face somehow. Made him look a little older in a way he definitely hadn’t been expecting.
His eyes widened slowly. “Holy shit.”
Riyo immediately threw both fists into the air in victory. “I knew it!”
“Quiet!” Zanka hissed automatically, throwing a paranoid glance toward the bathroom door.
Rudo turned his head side to side in the mirror, disbelief melting into a grin he was trying very hard to hide.
“I look cool,” he said, sounding almost offended by it.
Zanka snorted softly and crossed his arms. “Told you.”
“You screamed for ten straight minutes just to end up liking it,” Riyo added.
“I did not scream for ten minutes.”
“You screamed before he even touched you.”
“That was different.”
“How?”
“That was preemptive screaming.” He said it so seriously that it was almost believable that it was a real thing.
Riyo ended up laughing hard enough that she had to lean against him for support. “You are the only person I know who gets scared in advance.”
“It’s called survival instinct.”
“It’s called being a baby,” Zanka corrected.
Rudo opened his mouth to argue, caught sight of himself in the mirror again, and immediately got distracted.
“Okay, but it actually does look sick.”
“There it is,” Riyo said smugly. “Acceptance.”
She slung an arm around his shoulders, still grinning wildly. “Aww. Look at us. Matching bad decisions.”
Zanka leaned against the sink beside them, silver snake bites glinting every time he smirked.
For a second, all three of them just stared at themselves in the mirror, messy hair, tired eyes, cheap bathroom lighting, fresh piercings, and all.
“I’m never admitting you guys were right again.”