"Is it going to hurt?" Chad's voice was rough with fear as he looked up at his boyfriend.
"It will for a second, but the pain will go away." Ryan soothed, holding Chad's hand and gazing down at him with adoring blue eyes.
"I'm scared." Chad admitted. "I've never done this before." He looked around. There were so many people. "I can't believe I'm doing this in public." He said nervously.
Ryan laughed. "Don't worry, Chad." He squeezed his hand reassuringly. "You can close your eyes while I do this, if you want."
Chad nodded, shutting his eye obediently.
He gasped out loud as the needle went through his ear, and gritted his teeth. He was Chad Danforth, and he did not show any signs of pain in front of anyone. Except, perhaps, for Ryan. But Ryan was Ryan, and he was more important than Chad's reputation. It was for Ryan that Chad had come out of the closet, and it was for Ryan that Chad refrained from joining the 'most disgusting things you can eat' contest at the jock's table last week.
His gripped Ryan's hand tightly as the needle shot into the other earlobe, and then it was over.
"Um, Chad?" Ryan asked, sounding a bit concerned.
"Yea?" Chad asked, a bit afraid. He opened his eyes quickly. "Did something go wrong? Did my ear fall off?" He looked on the floor in case there was an ear, unattached to a head, on the tiles.
"No, you're fine, but you're kind of killing my hand." He said, pointing to their joint hands, where Chad was doing his very best to squeeze the life out of Ryan's hand. "If you break my hand, I won't be able to use it later." He hinted meaningfully.
"Huh? Oh, right. Later." Chad said, winking. "You can make all the excuses you want, Ry, but I'm going to kick your ass at bowling even if you can use your hand." Nevertheless, he loosened his grip slightly, still holding the pale boy's hand.
Ryan rolled his eyes. Chad's obliviousness could be adorable cute at times, but sometimes he was so ignorant and misguided Ryan couldn't help but wonder how he hadn't been expelled from East High yet. "I meant the other thing we were going to do later."
Chad's eyes widened slightly. "Oh." He let go of Ryan's hand quickly. "Is it all right? Do you need me to kiss it better?" He asked urgently.
Ryan laughed, and yanked his hand away. "It's fine." He said, affectionately tousling Chad's hair.
Chad winced. "My ears are sore." He complained. Ryan swooped down to kiss Chad.
"Better now?" He said cutely.
Chad shook his head. "No, they still hurt." He muttered. Ryan crossed his arms, looking offended.
"Well, I think the earrings look good on you."
"Really?" Chad leaped up to look in the nearest mirror. Ryan had picked out ruby drop earrings that looked good with his skin tone. Trust Ryan to know what would look good with Chad's complexion. But besides that, Chad felt something he had never felt before.
"I feel…" Chad tried to express the feeling into words. "I feel pretty."
-Fin-
A/N: I know it's awful. It's just something that popped into my head, and I wanted to write it. I was listening to West Side Story when I wrote it.