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“This is a terrible idea, Pads.”
It wasn’t very often that one would hear those very words come out of James Potter’s mouth. James would almost always go along with anything Sirius said. Sirius and James were best friends, after all. Two peas in a pod, peanut butter and jelly, eggs and bacon. Remus often said they shared half a brain cell, though James argued that they at least had one full brain cell between them. Remus had then informed them that that wasn’t much better.
“I’m serious, Pads.” James says. Back to the situation at hand. Sirius was seated on the bathroom counter of the Gryffindor Boys’ dorm room, facing the mirror. In his hand, he held a sewing needle that he had borrowed from one of the girls–Mary, James thinks–and the other hand was stretching his left ear lobe.
“Please,” Sirius scoffs, his silver eyes sparkling mischievously at James in the mirror. “We’ve done way worse things than an ear piercing. Now hand me that ice cube. I have to numb my ear with that.”
“Won’t your dear old mother be upset?” James asked sarcastically. Both of them knew very well that the dreadful Walburga Black will lose her mind when Sirius comes home with both of his ear lobes freshly pierced. James hopes to discourage Sirius by pointing this.
To his dismay, Sirius only brightens. “That’s exactly the point!”
“To upset your mother and spend your entire summer with her making you miserable?”
“She’ll make me miserable all summer anyway. I might as well have some fun first.”
James falls silent at first, then something new crosses his mind. “What if it gets infected?”
“That won’t happen.” Sirius says, sounding way too confident for a thirteen-year-old who was about to stab a needle through his ear.
“You don’t know that.” James argues, but Sirius ignores him. James was never very good at arguing with Sirius. It was mostly Remus’s and Peter’s job to discourage Sirius’s (and James’s) bad ideas. Remus would point out all the ways something could go wrong and Peter would simply worry and fret and refuse to participate. Most of the time it was annoying, but James found himself wishing for either of them right now. But alas, the two of them were stuck in a Charms class that both Sirius and James were supposed to be in right now.
“Prongs, hurry up and hand me the ice cube.” Sirius huffs, and James knew he lost this battle. Maybe he should just let Sirius do it. Sometimes the only way to convince Pads not to do something was just to let him do it and realize in the process that it was a bad idea. Sirius was awfully stubborn that way, James thinks, as he hands him the ice cube. Sirius beams at James in the mirror, and James couldn’t help but give a tiny smile back.
“Okay,” Sirius exhales, after spending five minutes with the ice cube pressed to his left ear lobe. “Do you think my ear is cold enough?” he bends forward, nearly toppling off the counter so James could touch his earlobe.
“I guess it’s cold.” James says doubtfully, stepping back. “Do you know how cold it’s supposed to be?”
“No,” Sirius bites his lip, sitting up. “Cold enough to numb my ear, but that’ll take forever. I’ve dealt with pain before. I can handle an ear piercing.”
“Alright,” James agrees, though a sinking feeling is settling in his chest.
“Okay,” Sirius murmurs to himself. He holds the needle up to his earlobe, taking a deep breath. James squeezes his eyes shut, not wanting to see what follows. When nothing happens, James opens his eyes again. Sirius is frozen, his eyes squeezed closed. He’s still clutching the needle in one hand.
“Pads?” James frowns. “Are you okay? Why didn’t you pierce it?”
“James, do you love me?”
“Huh?” James is incredibly confused.
“Do you love me, Prongs? And do you trust me?”
“I mean, of course. Yes, I do. But what does this have to do with piercing your left earlobe?”
“Um,” Sirius begins, biting his lips sheepishly. “Can you do it for me?” James blinks, caught off guard. Then it sinks in. Sirius wants him to pierce his earlobes because he is clearly too nervous. James takes a deep breath to answer.
“Absolutely not! I am not about to stab your ear with a bloody sewing needle that probably isn’t clean! Are you crazy? You know how I get about blood–ewww, Sirius, I do not want to pierce your–”
“Merlin!” Sirius cuts him off, looking exasperated. “You sound like Moony.”
“I do not!” James huffs, though he secretly admits to himself that he does. He hesitates with himself, mentally arguing. Finally, he lifts his eyes to meet Sirius’s, and huffing and grumbling, he grabs the needle. “Fine, I’ll do it. But you owe me all your Chocolate Frogs. Including the cards that are in them.”
“Deal,” Sirius grins at him wildly and James feels warmth bloom in his chest.
“Come on. We should do this in the bedroom.” James says, and Sirius hops off the counter. In the bedroom, Sirius lay on his bunk, head in James’s lap. He had his eyes squeezed shut, hands clutched into fists. “Are you absolutely positive you want to do this?” James asks, turning the needle over in his hand, half-hoping Sirius would back out and change his mind.
“Just do it, Prongs.” Sirius grits out.
“Alright,” James sighs. “Three, two, o–”
“Don’t bloody count down! Just do it–” Sirius begins, but is cut off with his own scream as James pierces his ear with the needle. James starts to scream too, shoving Sirius off of him. They stand across from each other in shock, and then James starts to scream again when he sees the needle impaled in Sirius’s ear. Sirius starts screaming again because James is screaming.
“What the hell did you do?” Sirius howls, running to the bathroom mirror.
“You told me to pierce it!” James shouts back, standing behind Sirius as they stare at his reflection in the mirror.
“Oh, Merlin.” Sirius’s lower lip trembles and he blinks back tears. “What do we do, Prongs?”
“We’re going to have to pull the needle out. And then put the earring in.” James inhales sharply, unable to look away from the needle currently stuck in Sirius’s ear. “Do you even have earrings?”
“Yes.” Sirius sniffs. “I’m not completely unprepared. Marlene lent a pair to me.” He holds up two shining silver star earrings.
“Fantastic,” James says dryly. “Now sit up on the counter again.” Sirius, thankfully, does as he’s told, sitting to face James. James steps up on a stepstool and takes a deep breath, bracing himself. He warns Sirius, “This is going to hurt.” Then he begins to gently pull out the needle. Sirius begins to whimper, squeezing his eyes shut. James takes another deep breath, and then instead of slowly pulling the needle, he whips it out. Sirius squeals in surprise and pain, whipping away from James abruptly, and accidentally knocking both of them to the floor. For a moment, they both just lay tangled on the floor, Sirius on top of James.
“Is it out?” Sirius asks, lifting his chin.
James turns his head so he can see his ear. “Yup.”
“Great.” Sirius lays his head back down on James’s chest. For a moment, they both just lay there in silence.
Then: “This is really gay.” Sirius says. “I’m quite literally on top of you.”
“Yeah. Imagine if anyone saw us like this.” James grins. They both begin to giggle, and Sirius sits up, helping James up.
“It’s not bleeding too much, is it?” Sirius frowns worriedly, turning to face James.
“Nah. Let’s go ahead and put the earring in.” James hands one little silver star earring to Sirius. Sirius stands up in front of the mirror, sliding the piercing in. He only winces once. Then he turns to grin at James.
“How do I look?” he asks, striking a pose with his hand on his hips, as if he is on a runway.
“Fabulous.” James does his best to put on a high, elegant accent, that he thought upperclass ladies might use when discussing the latest trends over tea. It must not have been very good because Sirius laughs at him, which was James’s goal.
“It’s perfect.” Sirius beams at his reflection in the mirror. “I hope Mother has a fit when she sees it.”
“You know she will.” James stands up behind Sirius. He hands the needle to him. “You’re welcome, by the way.”
“Thank you!” Sirius says happily, though he frowns as James turns to leave the bathroom. “Where are you going?”
“What do you mean? It’s almost been an hour, Pads. We already missed one class. We shouldn’t miss Transfiguration, too.” James frowns right back at him, confused.
Sirius holds up the second earring and the needle, grinning mischievously. “Aren’t you forgetting something?”
“What is it?” James sighs, already regretting letting Sirius do this in the first place.
“We have to do the other side!”
Shit, James thinks, but he heads back inside the bathroom, sighing. He’s already mentally coming up with ways that Sirius would have to pay him back with. Maybe he’ll get his own piercings and make Sirius pierce them for him. After all, piercing each other’s earlobes does sound more appealing (though arguably more painful) then the Transfiguration class that awaited them.
Sirius grins at him as they head out to the bedroom to pierce the other ear. “You know I love you, right?”
“Yeah, yeah.” James fake-grumbles, sitting on the bed. “Come here. Let’s get this piercing over with. Then I want you to pierce mine. We can match!”
After all, isn’t that what best friends are for?