"Is this going to hurt a lot?" Kawamura asked as he looked over at Akutsu.

"Well, it will pinch a little, but that's all. Jeez, you're such a baby!" Akutsu scoffed, rolling his eyes.

Kawamura just pouted. He hadn't seen Akutsu much recently, especially after both finished their tennis careers. They kept in touch, well, more like Kawamura insistently checked in on the other man, but it was growing harder as high school started to draw to an end for them. Akutsu seemed to draw further away from everyone as the threat of going to Uni came upon him. So, hoping to make him open up a bit, Kawamura arranged for the two of them to hang out on a Sunday that was free for both of them. Akutsu wasn't very enthused by the idea of being dragged around by Kawamura, but thankfully the sushi chef-in-training let the some-what frightening boy decide what they should do.

Which, of course, involved Akutsu's newest obsession.

Piercings.

Now Akutsu was very tasteful when in came to permanently marring his body, and thus far he only had his left lobe pierced (and currently sporting a silver stud) and the right side of his bottom lip (with its small black hoop). He wanted to get a couple more piercings, but he wanted to really think hard on which parts to get pierced next, so for the while he was content with just spending his time Googling pictures and stories about piercings gone right and wrong.

In truth, Kawamura wasn't very excited about Akutsu's choice in outing, though he knew that he could always let the small hole scar over. Since he was nervous about it, Kawamura only wanted one ear pierced. When he had said that, Akutsu thoughtfully looked at his friend, nodded, and said in his gruff voice, "your right ear." Not really caring, Kawamura shrugged and agreed.

But that was over an hour ago. Now that Kawamura was in the chair with the piercing gun held up to his ear, he was really regretting letting Akutsu talk him into it. Kawamura shot Akutsu a worried look and just seconds before the earring was punched into his lobe, Akutsu grabbed Kawamura's hand and squeezed it tightly. Kawamura gasped and then jolted as a swift prick burned into his ear.

"All done," the cheery attendant smiled as Kawamura just stared at Akutsu, who had let go of his hand just as quickly as he had grabbed it. "Here," she continued, holding up a mirror for Kawamura to use to inspect his new, silver, stud.

"Thanks," Kawamura said as he looked at his reflection, embarrassed by the flush on his cheeks. He got out of the chair and followed the young woman to the counter to pay the $30 for the stud. Kawamura reached into his pocket for his wallet, but before he could even pull it out, Akutsu was handing the money over to the woman.

"Thank you. Please enjoy! Oh, and here are the care instructions that you have to follow to prevent any infections from occurring. Have a great day!" The woman handed a small bag to Kawamura, and the two boys left the store, waving to the attendant.

"Thanks for paying," Kawamura said sheepishly.

"Whatever," Akutsu huffed. "I was the one to make you get the damn thing, even though you don't want it."

"I want it!" Kawamura countered. "I think it looks... cool."

Akutsu studied Kawamura's still-red ear. "It looks nice," he said quietly, causing Kawamura to blush.

"You know," Kawamura began after a few moments of silence. The two had aimlessly wandered into the park. There was a light breeze and the sun was strong, though the shadows were starting to elongate. "We're kinda a match now, aren't we?"

Akutsu shot Kawamura a quizzical look.

"Well, you're left ear has a silver stud and now my right ear has a silver stud! Together, we make one pair!" Kawamura beamed.

"...I know..." Akutsu whispered after a minute.

"Huh?"

"Takashi," Akutsu started. Kawamura was a bit surprised, seeing as the two hadn't used each others' first names since back when they were little kids learning karate together. Akutsu continued, "I... planned it like that..."

"Oh, okay," Kawamura said, still very confused about what Akutsu was saying.

"I think that we belong as a pair," Akutsu suddenly blurted out, dropping his usual stone-like guard. He felt very vulnerable, but this was the opportunity that he'd been waiting oh so long for. "Takashi, I really like you." Akutsu rushed the words out, making them jumble together.

"What?"

Akutsu, who was now blushing dark red, took a deep breath and repeated, much more slowly, "I really like you."

"Oh, okay," Kawamura replied, completely taken aback.

"Yeah..." Akutsu trailed off, feeling utterly defeated and embarrassed.

"No, wait!" Kawamura said loudly as he shook his head. "Jin! I like you too!"

"You do?" Akutsu asked, not wanting to get his hopes up.

Kawamura was now laughing and had a couple tears of happiness running down his cheeks. "Of course! Jeez, I've loved you for so long, Jin! I can't believe this!" Without another thought, Kawamura wrapped his strong arms around Akutsu in a tight embrace.

Akutsu stiffened at first, but quickly relaxed into the other's touch, and eventually he reciprocated the action. "I can't believe it either..." Akutsu breathed into Kawamura's neck as he slowly inhaled the sushi-man's scent.

"I guess this means we really are a pair," Kawamura laughed as he tightened his grip ever so slightly.

"Yeah," Akutsu smiled. His eyes caught sight of the shining stud in his now-boyfriend's ear. Akutsu leaned in and pecked a quick kiss onto the metal. "I guess we are."

So I read the manga Yatteraneeze! a while ago, and it explains that in like the 1990's if a man had a left ear piercing it indicated he was a seme and a right ear piercing was an uke XD so with that in the back of my mind I wrote about these two dorks. hope you guys like it! (and sorry about OOC Akutsu XP) thanks for reading, and especially to walroose! reviews are very much loved