Sadly for the last day of @matchablossomweek I didn’t have anything new written so I decided to use what I had started for day 6: tattoos/piercings. Enjoy!
“No no, this is a horrible idea.” Kojiro stepped back, hands raised. He was perfectly fine with the thought of a piercing when Kaoru first brought it up, but he was becoming less and less okay with it. Seeing the needle in his pale hands was enough to shake his determination.
“Are you sure? I mean, I’ve done it quite a few times.” Kaoru motioned to the four piercings stuck through his ear.
“Yes. Yes, I’m okay with not committing to this like you did.”
Kaoru sighed and slipped the needle back into the repurposed contact case that now held various items required for giving oneself any kind of piercing.
“How are you able to bring yourself to stab through your skin like that?” Kojiro shivers at the memory of when he tried to talk Kaoru out of the first ear piercing. There was a lot of crying and swearing. Kaoru kept saying that Kojiro passed out, but the latter refuses to admit to anything.
“After enough practice, it’s really nothing.” Something in that statement set Kojiro’s nerves on end.
“I’ve had practice. Simple as that.” Kaoru tucked the lens case into his pocket and leaned his elbows against the rail. The sun was starting to set over the ocean. The gentle waves glittered a dark turquoise and reflected light shone off the bottom of the overpass.
“Hey, this may seem random but,” Kojiro wrung his hands together nervously for a second before dropping them to his side and taking a deep breath. “Have you ever thought about your future? Like, getting married and starting a family or something?”
Kaoru noticeably tensed at the mention. Sure it’s something he may have thought about at one time, before his parents decided that he needed to focus more on continuing the family business and they’ll take care of everything else. Including his love life. He sighed and finally looked at his friend again. The warm glow of the setting sun outlined his face beautifully, framing it in an ethereal glow. Those eyes, a soft red that held nothing back and always displayed the raw emotions Kojiro had difficulty expressing physically. The messy mop of green hair that, try as he might, Kaoru could never get fully untangled.
“Yeah.” Kaoru’s voice broke slightly. “Yeah, I’ve thought about it.” He pulled his hair back behind his ear so he could see Kojiro fully. Not once in the history he’s had with Kojiro has Kaoru seen him change expressions so quickly. He finally settled with an almost pitying look. “But it’s fine. After all, the only thing I need to focus on is my calligraphy.”
“But you’re not happy.” Kojiro spoke softly. Sadly.
Kaoru thought for a moment. He wanted nothing more than to run off with Kojiro, like all the American romance movies he’d seen. Run from his family, his responsibilities. Every day would be a new adventure and he’d get to spend it with Kojiro. The next day, the next week, next year. With Kojiro. His friend since grade school, his crush since high school. For a moment he allowed himself to bask in that fantasy.
“We could run away.” His own voice startled him, pulling him from his thoughts. But now that the idea was out there, he couldn’t just stop here. “Just us, drifting from place to place. We wouldn’t have to worry about anything but where we’re going next.” Kaoru knew by the way he was moving his hands and speaking quickly that his eyes sparkled.
“Kaoru.” Kojiro picked a spot on the ocean just over Kaoru’s shoulder. He didn’t want to acknowledge what he was about to say. “You’re engaged, aren’t you.”
Everything crashed down on him at once. The thin grasp of hope he had slipped out of his reach. Kaoru stuttered for words. Yet another thing that never seemed to happen around Kojiro. He’d always felt confident in what he had to say with his friend there to back him up. “I never had a choice. I don’t even like her, let alone love her. I haven’t had the courage to tell them that I’m in love with someone else.” The words started pouring from his lips. “Someone I’ve known for a long time that, if I could, I’d give the whole world to. Whenever I’m with him I feel like anything is possible. No no, that’s not it. I know that anything is possible. His confidence is intoxicating and I can’t get enough of it. It feels impossible that there’s ever a dark thought in his mind, and yet I know because he’s told me. There’s no way in hell I could stop loving him and-” Kaoru shook his head, but the smile on his face never faded. Not when he thought about Kojiro.
“Wait what? Tell who? What’re you planning?”
“Your parents. If you’re too afraid to, I’ll tell them.” Kojiro had a blazing determination in his eyes.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?”
“I’m positive. Come on, I’m not letting you live another day like this.”
Kaoru carefully traced the edges of Kojiro’s tattoo as if he was inking it all over again. It was funny how little memories like that can slip through the cracks and yet show up so unexpectedly at the slightest prod.
“You were so scared of a needle piercing your ear and yet you trusted me enough to give you a tattoo?” Kaoru teased, his eyes shifting from the inky black sun to Kojiro’s eyes.
“After the absolute shitstorm I caused you? I had to at least let you do something.”
“You always were a people pleaser.”
Kojiro left a soft, feathery kiss on Kaoru’s forehead. “Only for you, Kaoru.”
