"This is a horrible idea darling," Flavio chides the other, but still holds the ice cube to his ear. His best friend just laughs, playing with a spare piece of metal, cleaning it mindlessly even though he has done so 12 times. Flavio sighs and pinches the numbed ear to test to see if he can still feel it.
"Ready?" He asks cautiously. Even if he is one for spontaneous adventures, this could be dangerous. His best friend cackles and holds up a needle.
"Do it babe," He says with a casual nickname. Flavio sighs and lines up the needle to the dot they made earlier. On the count of three he cringes and pushes the needle in. His best friend hisses, breathing becoming staggered. Flavio makes a high pitched whine as it starts to bleed, pushing in the makeshift earring as best he can.
"Ew ew ew blood ew," He waves his hands about spinning in a circle from being absolutely creeped out. He glares haughtily at the laugh directed his way.
"Relax," They say, holding a tissue to their ear to stop the rest of the blood. Flavio puffs and puts his hands on his hips.
"It's going to get infected," He scolds him, again earning him a laugh.
"You worry too much." Two weeks later, his friend went to the doctor's and had to get the piercing removed due to it being blistered and pus filled. A month after that he moved just before high school began and Flavio lost contact with him, his only memory being the scrappy made piercing that they never did for him.
Flavio sits scrolling through his phone feed, checking out the new designs that are coming out and rising to the top of the fashion charts. His mind is whirling in ideas as well as the smell of cleaning chemicals in the piercing parlor. It's not so much a spur of the moment idea, as he had been thinking about getting a piercing done fora while, but finding a scrappy ring among his things sealed the deal.
With finding it brought on a slew of memories he thought he forgot. It's been too long since he's seen his old best friend. He probably wouldn't even recognize him. They lost contact so long ago.
"Alright Flavio?" Someone calls his name and he looks up to the piercer that called him. He follows the man back to a separate room. He unabashedly eyes the man, covered in intricate tattoos that are edgy yet in a way that's tasteful. Flavio feels no regret in getting an eyeful of this man in his tight black t-shirt. His body is exquisite and Flavio wants to dress and undress him.
"Go ahead and take a seat on the table here," The man tells him, closing the door behind him in the room. Flavio does as he's told, smiling brightly at him, eyes scanning the piercings that adorns his face. One ear is lined to the top while the other has only three and his lower lip has a pair of two tiny studs on each side.. Flavio wants to run his tongue over them.
"This your first piercing?" The man asks him, getting tools set up including a needle and some marking ink and cleaning chemicals. He changes his gloves nearly after every new tool is set up.
"Yes," Flavio tells him, his smile not faltering to the gorgeous smirk the man throws back at him.
"What were you thinking about getting?" He asks, standing with a toothpick dabbed in the ink. Flavio explains and shows his ear off, sitting still as the piercer dots it gently. He looks in the mirror when directed and smiles.
"Perfect," He says. It's in the right spot. He lies down when told to, taking a deep breath as the piercer explains the process.
"So what made you decide to get this done?" The insanely attractive man asks him, making conversation and distracting Flavio from the needle that is making it's way up the ranks of being placed next to his head.
"Found an earring from an old friend, decided I wanted to wear it," He answers. The piercer smiles wide at that, the smile clicking in Flavio's mind as something he's seen before though he can't place it quite right. He goes back to looking at the other's earrings. The ear with all the rings are colored to look like a rainbow. The other side however with only three, has two at the bottom and a single one up in the cartilage where he is getting his own done.
"I'm going to count to three, needle goes in on three, okay?" The piercer says to him. Flavio takes one more deep breath and nods his head. He closes his eyes tight, whining as the needle goes through his ear. He lets out a huff when the ring is snapped into place.
"See? That wasn't so bad," The piercer teases, their tone oddly familiar. Flavio puts a hand to his head dramatically in exhilaration and confusion, trying to place the voice.
"Relax Flaves I promise this one won't get infected," Flavio snaps his eyes to the wicked smirk on his piercer's face. He switches to lay on his side, gawking at the man in recognition.
"Sugar you got hot," Is all his mind can think to say. Allen cackles at that, resting his head in his hand and smiling somewhat sweetly back at him.
"It's good to see you again," He says more authentically than he probably means. Flavio just sighs, loving the way that sounds. Allen then jumps into a spiel about how to care for the piercing, going over the proper procedure to soak and clean the piercing so it doesn't get infected like his did nearly 6 years ago.
When checking out, Flavio recognizes the ring in Allen's ear as the one from so long ago. He's mildly smug Allen still has it, knowing his feelings are somewhat mutual. He winks at Allen when he leaves the place,.
"Shit Flaves!" He stops on the sidewalk to face Allen chasing after him. He smiles to the punked out piercer, still with that smirk on his face.
"You forgot this," Allen hands him a card and with a wink goes back into his shop. Flavio turns the card over in his hand and chuckles softly to himself at the number scrawled on it. He will definitely be giving his best friend a call. They have lots of catching up to do and Flavio would be such a liar if he wasn't curious to see what other piercings Allen has.
He's delighted to find nipple piercings.