Written for Aki as part of a Secret Santa on Discord
Title: A Little Pinch
Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s
Relationships: Yusei & Jack & Rua & Ruka
Rating: G
Word Count: 1,678
Tags: Found Family, Fluff
Summary: Rua wants to get his ears pierced, just like Jack.
Rua expected a lot more opposition to his idea than what he got.
He thought for sure that Ruka would whinge and whine and nag him that absolutely not. Horrible, terrible idea but instead, she smiled and her eyes sparkled.
“I think that sounds wonderful,” Ruka gushed, “I think you would look really nice with earrings, just like Jack.”
“Heh, yeah, just like Jack.” Rua embarrassedly admitted.
He wanted his ears pierced - and yes, exactly like Jack. Rua felt his cheeks flushed as his twin sister, as if by telepathy, had exactly picked up on where this whim had come from. He wanted to be just like the big brother that he saw in the Jack Atlas. It was such a cool, almost rebellious statement to make. Their parents would never let Ruka pierce her ears, let alone her brother at their wee tender age of thirteen-ish.
It was exactly because their parents wouldn’t ever let him pierce is his ears which is exactly why Rua thought Ruka wouldn’t want him to go against their wishes. Instead she smiled and negged him on.
“Do you want both ears pierced or just the one?” Ruka asked, excited.
“Both. Exactly like Jack.” Ruka nodded.
“I see, I see.” Ruka nodded in reply and then clasped her hands together with a gasp. Her eyes lit up with an idea, Rua could see it written all over Ruka’s face as she then asked, “Wouldn’t it be great if I designed you a pair of earrings to wear?”
“Oh, um, yeah the greatest. As long as they look cool, and not cutesy.” Rua replied.
He did think a pair of earrings made by his sister would be innately uncool but her excitement at his idea, rather than spurring it, well, he could make an exception. Unless they were really some cutesy, girly thing that Rua knows that Ruka would never want to willingly wear in a million years.
“Got it, got it.” Ruka giggled but once her laughter and smiles petered out, she blinked owlishly. “So who’s going to pierce your ears? No way one of the shops downtown would let you waltz in without parental permission.”
“Good point.” Rua replied and he crossed his arms. “I was really hoping Yusei could do it. He’s probably good at that sort of thing.”
“Yeah, probably.” Ruka agreed.
But that probably turned into certainly. The next time they swung by the garage, Rua, at Ruka’s nudging, almost immediately brought up his desire to get his ears pierced - and specifically by Yusei - and sure enough, Yusei revealed something interesting. He was the one who had pierced Jack’s ears way back when.
When Rua brought up the topic, shyly, Yusei’s expression turned nostalgic. He smiled fondly and recalled when he had done Jack’s ears. Same for Jack. He practically peacocked at Yusei’s side, absolutely bespoke and proud that Rua wanted to follow in the same footsteps as him.
“Yes, I would have been about your age when I decided I wanted to get my ears pierced as well.” Jack reflected with a grin. He folded his arms in front of his puffed out chest.
“And I made the piercing gun myself,” Yusei said, adding in, “it was a lot more difficult than I was expecting but good practice for other, more complicated projects that I was thinking of doing.”
“No way was I going to let Yusei give me a stick and poke ear piercing, I wanted the proper deal.” Jack said. He gave Yusei a pat on the back. “I didn’t doubt for one minute that my Yusei wouldn’t be able to handle the challenge of making a piercing gun.”
“Heheh, thanks.” Yusei chuckled in a tiny voice, humbled by the bombastic praise that he was receiving from Jack.
“That’s so cool.” Rua beamed. There were sparkles in his eyes.
“You weren’t worried about infections or anything?” asked Ruka. “I don’t want Rua’s ears going all gross if you do it wrong.” Her level-headedness brought down the atmosphere but in a good way.
“Of course not. Martha would have had a pink kitten if I messed up doing Jack’s, I promise I won’t mess up Rua’s ears either.” Yusei said and he patted the top of Ruka’s head. “Thanks for worrying though.”
“So? Can you do it now?” Rua excitedly asked.
“Not right now but this afternoon, let me just clean it up first - and maybe do some upgrades. I’m sure it's around here somewhere…” Yusei said as he got up, trying to retrace steps from years ago.
In the meantime, Jack shook his head, “Leave it to Yusei to keep all sorts of old junk around.”
“Hey, it's a precious memory. I would never throw such a thing away.” Yusei scolded him but sure enough.
Yusei found the old piercing gun rather quickly. He pulled it out from an old, rickety milk crate piled with goodness knows what but there it was. With a little bit of elbow grease, he got it to work arguably better than before. He gave it a clean and let Rua watch, he even explained how the mechanisms inside it worked as Yusei replaced a part here and there.
The main thing he needed brand spanking new of was the needle, for obvious reasons but he ducked out to the nearest hospital and managed to acquire one through it. When he came back from his fifteen minutes top errand, Yusei didn’t really elaborate on how he had convinced to get a new sealed needle but it did the trick.
“You're not scared?” he teased Rua one last time as he fed the needle into its holder.
“‘Course not.” Rua replied, he puffed out his chest.
“I am.” Ruka worried and this was where Rua was finally getting all the opposition that he had been worried about. “It's not going to hurt him, is it?”
“It’ll be a little pinch.” Yusei replied.
“Why? Worried that garbage about hurting one twin, you hurt both.” Jack laughed.
“What? No, I just don’t want my brother to get hurt, it has nothing to do with me.” Ruka replied, the joke completely going over her head.
“There is nothing to worry about. I promise.” Yusei said.
“I wasn’t worried. I swear.” Rua big-noted, nose in the air.
“Good, then let’s get you sorted.” Yusei said.
Everyone then drifted from the garage and into the kitchen, where the lightning was much, much better. Yusei pulled up a bar stool for Rua to sit on and he clambered up on top of it. Jack and Ruka, meanwhile, watched from the sidelines as Yusei sanitised the needle with a fresh baby wipe, for good measure, and Rua put on his bravest face.
Up until now, Rua had expected that the opposition to getting his ears pierced would be fully external. No from his parents on behalf of Ruka, no from either Yusei or Jack, calling him too young for such a thing, too. Not once did he expect it from himself as suddenly, Rua was all sorts and shades of nervous. Fidgeting as he sat on the bar stool.
“You have to be still, okay? I don’t want to make a bigger hole than necessary on accident.” Yusei warned him.
“O-Okay.” Rua sputtered out.
Ruka slinked in closer and she put her hand on Rua’s knee. He looked up at her and he clearly wanted to dismiss her with a big brave boy face but instead, he smiled fondly and put his own hand on top of Ruka’s. Heck, for good measure, Jack stepped in closer as well and put his hand on Rua’s shoulder, too. His big, strong hand just caused all the nerves prickly and fuzzy inside of Rua to soften and become a total non-issue and so, Rua stopped fidgeting for Yusei.
Yusei lined the piercing gun to Rua’s right ear and then click! It took only a second and it didn’t even hurt, to Rua’s surprise. Stunned by the absolute non-event of getting his ears pierced, Yusei then swooped in with Rua’s practice stud, to get him used to it and then the other side. Same, swift process that Rua grinning ear to shiny ear.
“See? I wasn’t worried or nervous at all.” he bragged.
“Yup.” Yusei replied and he ruffled Rua’s hair.
“You look good, kiddo.” Jack agreed, slapping Rua’s back.
“Yeah, you were super brave.” Rua gushed.
“Now, just wear these for about a month until you get used to them and then you can wear whatever you want.” Yusei said.
“Got it.” Rua said.
“Just let me know if you do have trouble, okay? I can take you to get some disinfectant, or even some different studs.” Yusei added.
“Okay, yup, I got it. You don’t have to be a worry-wart, I promise.” Rua replied, he sounded dramatically grated on.
“Glad to hear it.” Yusei said, “Now, do you want to go and have a look at yourself?”
“Oh boy would I.” Rua excitedly replied and he hopped off the stool.
He raced to the bathroom and held tightly onto the sink. He got up onto his tip-toes so he could even see himself in the bathroom mirror hung up above it and he smiled at his reflection. He looked this way and then that way, his turquoise hair bouncing with every movement as his smile got bigger and bigger.
He looked so cool. The little silver flashes in his ears catching his eye every time. And once he could start wearing his own, preferred earrings, Rua just knew he would look even cooler. So, from the bottom of his lungs and from the bottom of his heart, Rua yelled out from the bathroom: “Thanks Yusei! Thanks Jack!”
His gratitude absolutely ricocheted off the tiles of the bathroom but it made Yusei smile.
“You're welcome.” Yusei warmly replied, a little louder than his usual soft cadence, as he glanced between Ruka and Jack, as they seemed pretty pleased with the outcome too. It really was a job well done for Rua.
Yusei arriiiiiiived TToTT I wish he wasn't so spiky because then I could hug him for comfort. (Also, yes, of course he's holding the milk. That's the feature that sold me on him)
