THIS BELONGS TO @PaperTigersBlackAndWhite ON AO3
Taehyung spots the sign hanging outside the tattoo and piercing shop and digs his heels into the pavement, whining out loud so Jimin, his best friend turned traitor, can see just how upset he really is.
"No, Jiminie, seriously! I'm too young to die!"
"You're not going to die, drama queen," Jimin laughs, yanking Taehyung forward with determination. And because Taehyung is a tall and lithe beauty, rather than five foot seven of protein shake and hours sweating in a gym, Jimin can drag him along with ease. Taehyung whines and whinges and drags his feet, but he still lets himself be pulled, because Jimin would probably keep dragging him even if he lay down on the pavement, and his dignity cannot allow that kind of a scene.
"It's not fair!" he cries. "I'm crying, Jiminie! Look at these tears," he widens his eyes for effect, making his bottom lip wobble and willing some actual tears to come to the surface to back up his claims.
Jimin laughs and pokes his tearless cheeks, obviously not concerned by his state of distress. Taehyung makes a mental note to find a new best friend, one that shows sympathy in the face of dire circumstances.
"It is fair! You made a bet, and you lost it," Jimin reminds him.
"You have no proof I made that bet," Taehyung sniffs.
"Actually," Jimin pulls out his phone, quickly locating a video clip taken a few nights ago, with Taehyung standing on a chair mid-rant, cup raised high and a group of their friends standing around him, cheering.
Video-Taehyung yells out, audible, even through the tinny speakers of Jimin's phone, "There's no way in hell Namjoon-hyung's got better game than me! If he gets laid before I do I'll get my game-less dick pierced in penance, and that's a promise!"
"Stop that," present (and horribly regretful) Taehyung shoves Jimin's phone away from his face. "I didn't know he already had a girlfriend! And that was at Jackson's party; I wasn't sober, so you can't hold me to it!"
"You were designated driver. You drank soda and juice all night, so you only have your own rash statements and the sugar high to blame," Jimin shakes his head, grinning.
"My mum hasn't given me permission?" Taehyung tries as a last-ditch attempt, only a few paces from the door of the tattoo and piercing place already.
"You're twenty-three," Jimin rolls his eyes. "As much as I love your mother, Mrs Kim never has to know about the dick piercing."
Taehyung whimpers as Jimin pushes open the door and ushers him in first, approaching the girl at the desk with the same enthusiasm he imagines a criminal would have walking to the gallows. The walls of the shop are painted a strange shade of yellow that should be ugly, but instead complements the cool artwork on the walls – paintings and sketches of a whole host of subjects, some of them accompanied by photographs of the art tattooed onto someone's body. Three wooden benches that look almost like church pews occupy one corner near the door, with shabby pillows thrown over them for comfort. A wooden cabinet with a glass front holds dozens of stands of shiny body jewellery for sale, and Taehyung shivers looking at all the little bits of metal that will one day go through someone's skin. An open double doorway leads into the back of the shop, where Taehyung can see beds like they have at the doctors, some of them occupied by customers while a tattoo artist looms over them, the buzzing of machines and chatter just audible over the jangle of old rock music coming through speakers across the shop.
The girl at the reception desk Jimin is leading him to is extremely pretty, with long dark hair and sleek nails tapping on the desk, and if Taehyung didn't feel ready to die because of what he's here for maybe he'd consider asking her out. That, and she's covered in elegant swirls of floral tattoos that look delicate, but the thought of all the pain that went into the intricate artwork laced over her arms makes Taehyung shudder. Anyone willing to put themselves through that could probably kick his ass to hell and back without breaking a sweat.
"Hi, I'm Jennie. Welcome to Tribe tattoo and piercing parlour," She tells him in an Australian-accented drawl, tone suggesting she greets everyone the same way. "How can I help?"
Taehyung drags his eyes away from a pattern of forget-me-nots twisted over her collarbones when Jimin elbows him in the ribs, taking a step forward to the desk and clearing his throat.
"I'm, um, here for a piercing?"
She raises an eyebrow at his questioning tone.
"Do you have an appointment?"
"Um, no?"
"Where d'you want it?"
"My, um. My," Taehyung swallows and gestures at his crotch, wincing just at the thought.
"Right," Jenny drawls, small smirk on her face. "Is that cock or balls?"
"Definitely his dick," Jimin grins, looking far too excited considering Taehyung is probably going to finish this day as a eunuch, if his friends and this stupid bet have anything to do with it.
"What he said," Taehyung grimaces, regretting all of his life choices.
"Cool," Jenny shrugs, like she deals with guys coming in ten times a day asking if they can pay someone to stab their dick. Taehyung wonders if she really does. "Not that it should matter, but our piercer's a dude. You cool with that?"
"Yup," Taehyung swallows. He's fine with whoever really, as long as he still has a functioning penis at the end of this. He's trying not to think of it sexually, though he's not sure how well that'll go when he's got someone's hands all over his junk.
"Cool," Jenny says again, flicking her hair back and producing a sheet of paper and a pen that she holds out to Taehyung. "Fill this out, sign it, and bring it back to me."
He takes the form with shaking hands and sits down on one of the benches in the waiting area. He writes in his name and contact information, and puts crosses in boxes asking him about any allergies, heart problems, skin conditions or blood diseases.
"This is so cool," Jimin says in a stage whisper next to him, eyes wide as a man comes through to the reception area with his forearm wrapped in clear plastic over a bright new tattoo of a koi fish swimming over his skin. And then, to Taehyung's surprise, "You're gonna be so cool, Tae!"
"What? I'm gonna have a hole in my dick!" Taehyung hisses back, wincing again and pulling his form closer over his lap like a form of protection. "How is that cool?"
"It's so badass," Jimin says, dreamily staring through into the room where people are getting tattoos. "Not like ear piercings; everyone has them. You'll have... like... shiny junk."
"True," Taehyung grimaces. "Won't that be weird?"
"It'll be hot," Jimin informs him confidently. "I used to have this friend back home who had a piercing down there, and everyone he was with went fucking wild for it, I'm telling you. Guys, girls, the lot. You'll be a legend."
"Huh," Taehyung sits up a little straighter. "I guess that could be kinda cool."
"Very cool. The coolest of cool," Jimin tells him, barely a hint of irony in his voice.
Taehyung finishes the form feeling a little better, and goes up to hand it back to Jennie at the desk. She checks over it quickly before picking up the phone next to her and tapping in a number, holding it to her ear without looking at Taehyung.
"Hey, Jeongguk? Got a guy in to see you about getting his dick pierced."
Taehyung cringes at her volume, no louder than a normal phone conversation, but feeling loud enough that he's worried people in the other room will hear. He can hear Jimin snorting behind him as the colour rises on his cheeks, but he refuses to turn to look at his sniggering friend.
Jennie listens for a few seconds more before humming and putting the phone down, looking back at Taehyung.
"Our piercer will be with you in a few minutes. Please take a seat to wait for him."
Taehyung shuffles back to his place beside Jimin and repeats the positives in his head over and over again. He'll be a sex god, and be able to pick cool jewellery for it. He'll stay a man of his word, and hopefully get some street cred for going through with it. If the worst comes to worst, he can just take it out and let it heal up if he doesn't like it. He just has to get through little moment of pain today.
He's so immersed in his inner pep talk that he only focuses back on the present to someone unfamiliar calling his name, making him look up and back to the reception desk.
Standing next to Jennie is now a man, tall, almost as tall as Taehyung himself, holding Taehyung's form and looking over right at him. He's got black ripped jeans and stupidly big work boots and a plain black t-shirt that is loose enough not to hug his body tightly, but tight enough Taehyung can tell the guy is built solidly. He's got a sleeve of intricate black tattoos over his left arm, though his right is startlingly bare given the amount of body art in the building. What Taehyung finds himself focusing on though is the guy's face, with his smooth jawline and pink lips just slightly parted from saying Taehyung's name, and his wide eyes fixed on Taehyung, one perfectly sculpted and pierced brow slightly raised as he waits for a response.
"Oh, me!" Taehyung says, coming back to life and scrambling out of his seat. "I'm Kim Taehyung!"
"Right," the guy by the desk nods, looking Taehyung up and down quickly. "I'm Jeongguk, your piercer for today. Please come with me."
"With a face like that, I'd be coming embarrassingly quickly," Jimin murmurs from behind Taehyung, as the piercer turns and leaves.
"Shut up," Taehyung hisses, smacking his best friend over the head before he does a little skip-run to catch up with the piercer.
"He's gonna have his hands all over you, you lucky bastard!" Jimin whines back, making Taehyung flush so badly he can feel it, quickly catching up and praying Jimin wasn't loud enough for the piercer to hear.
Jeongguk leads Taehyung through to a side room off the main tattooing space. It's big enough to hold the kind of reclining bed Taehyung would expect to see at the doctors (even complete with a disposable paper sheet), and a counter along one wall with cabinets beneath it, small labelled plastic boxes stacked on top. It's noticeably sparsely decorated in comparison to the main shop, the walls paling to undecorated cream rather than the artwork-covered yellow outside. Taehyung steps into the little room and jumps slightly when Jeongguk shuts the door behind him with a click.
"Please, sit down," Jeongguk says, gesturing to the bed as he looks back down at Taehyung's form. "So... penis piercing." Taehyung swallows nervously, twisting his hands together. "What kind?"
"Just... just a piercing in my dick," Taehyung frowns. "Is there more than one kind?"
Jeongguk looks up at him blankly, like he's trying to work out whether Taehyung's being serious. But his nonplussed expression must convince the piercer, who gives a long-suffering sigh and crosses his arms. Taehyung doesn't notice the way it shows off muscles, at all.
"Where do you want it? Head? Base? Top, sides, or what?"
"Jesus," Taehyung mutters, frowning. He didn't even think there would be so much variety in such a small area. "What's the most common one?"
"A Prince Albert."
Taehyung stays mute, trying to recall if he'd ever heard where that was before.
"It goes on the end," Jeongguk sighs, obviously taking pity on him. "It goes in through your urethra and comes out on the underside of your dick, just behind the head."
"Oh, ow," Taehyung shudders, cupping his hands over his crotch.
"It's one of the least painful piercings on the body," Jeongguk shrugs. "Usually people say it's not even as bad as getting your ears done."
"Sign me the fuck up to King Alfred, then," Taehyung tries for a grin, giving Jeongguk a cheesy thumbs up. He thinks for a second that he's managed to crack a laugh out of the piercer, but he only gets a hint of a smile before the guy is rolling his eyes at him.
"It's a Prince Albert."
"Whatever."
Jeongguk turns and starts pulling things out of drawers; a couple of small pieces of metal that must be the piercings, a sealed bright yellow packet, a thin plastic tube. He keeps glancing at Taehyung sideways, like he's trying to work out whether Taehyung's being serious or just going to jump up and run. Taehyung isn't going to run. He's going to stick to his promises.
"You need to take your pants off," Jeongguk points out, glancing over his shoulder at Taehyung still sitting fully clothed.
Taehyung has an awful sense of dread at the now very tangible realisation that he's going to have to strip in front of this piercer. This gorgeous piercer called Jeongguk who is going to see his dick and then stick a needle through it like a cocktail stick through a sausage. God damn it, the universe hates him.
But Taehyung is a man of his goddam promises. Even if they're really fucking stupid ones.
So he grits his teeth, unbuttons his jeans and slides them off with his underwear, stepping out of them and standing awkwardly by the bed, hands clasped in front of himself to preserve the sparse tatters of his modesty while he can.
Jeongguk turns around from getting things out, holding up two small bits of metal, each in a transparent tiny plastic bag. One is like a little curved stick, and the other is a ring.
"Barbell or ring?" Jeongguk asks him, jewellery glinting in the light. Holy shit, one of those is going to be inside him.
"You choose," Taehyung says weakly, closing his eyes.
"Barbell it is," Jeongguk says briskly, putting the ring away.
"Great," Taehyung groans. He's putting metal in his dick. What the fuck is he doing.
"Lay down now," Jeongguk instructs, turning away. It saves Taehyung some of the worry of how to lay himself out on the bed whilst still keeping his hands over his dick. He's distracted from preserving his modesty by a snapping sound as Jeongguk pulls on thin latex gloves, like his dentist wears. It looks strangely professional on the young man, a sharp contrast to his casual clothing and tattoos and artfully mussed hair.
"Jesus," Taehyung mutters to himself, letting his head fall back on the bed, squeezing his eyes shut. His ass feels weird on the disposable paper sheet, and he's half naked in front of a stranger that's about to be all up in his stuff. Literally.
"You alright, man?" Jeongguk asks, and Taehyung cracks one eye open to see the piercer looking distinctly more amused than before. He probably gets off on other people's pain, the sadist. Maybe piercing people is this guy's kink. Or he's just laughing at Taehyung's dramatics. Taehyung's sure it's the sadism one.
"Great. I'm fine," Taehyung waves him off, as Jeongguk comes over with a little metal tray that he lays on the bed next to Taehyung. Taehyung looks before he can stop himself, seeing the needle and it's bigger than he expected, bigger than sewing needles or even the big ones his grandmother used to use for her wool tapestries, holy shit. He likes to think the squeak he lets out comes off as masculine and dignified, but suspects that's not the case from the piercer's amused smirk.
"Hands off, then," Jeongguk waves at where Taehyung's still covering himself. "Can't do it when you're all covered up."
"This is weird," Taehyung says to himself, finally removing his hands and letting them drop to his sides as fists, staring deliberately at the ceiling, avoiding looking at Jeongguk now that his dick's out in the open.
"It's fine, dude. Think of me like a doctor, or something," Jeongguk snorts, and Taehyung jumps when he feels those plastic-covered hands on his dick, lifting it up and pulling gently at the skin. "Just gonna mark up where the piercing will go, okay? Making sure it won't get in the way and shit when you're hard."
"You're gonna make me hard to pierce me?" Taehyung squeaks, looking down to see Jeongguk moving his skin around. He wouldn't be against a little touching from Jeongguk, per sae, but this does not feel like the time nor the place, and he'd rather have more time to get in the mood. It's all a bit too clinical for his tastes.
"No," Jeongguk snorts, actually smiling now. "When you've had some practice you can tell where the piercing goes, whatever state the dick is in. And I've had a lot of practice."
"So you're good at this, huh?" Taehyung asks, watching Jeongguk holding his dick with a strange sense of detachment now. It's one of the weirdest things he's ever done. He's laying on a paper-covered doctors bed, with a hot young guy close enough to his dick that he can feel his breath on sensitive skin (which is not helping the whole Not Getting Hard Situation at all, thank-you very much), as said hot guy concentrates on marking a spot on the underside of Taehyung's dick with a dark pen, biting his lip in concentration as he does it in a way that is really also not an image Taehyung needs to be presented with right now, with nowhere to hide any extra blood rushing south.
"Yeah," Jeongguk finishes marking the spot, leaning back and letting go of his dick so that Taehyung can breathe again. "You happy with that being where the piercing goes?"
Taehyung looks down and sees the spot Jeongguk's marked, having the strange knowledge that this will be the last time he ever sees it smooth and unmarked by metal or some kind of scar.
"Oh god. Sure. You know best," he waves weakly.
"Great. This'll only take a minute then," Jeongguk quirks his lips looking up at Taehyung. He grabs a packet off the little metal tray and rips it open, pulling out an antiseptic wipe which he proceeds to use all over Taehyung's dick, feeling like he's been enveloped by a tiny icy breeze. Taehyung can't help but shiver at the feeling, biting his tongue to prevent any comments about how he'd usually be more impressive, if it weren't for the cold.
"Not to get too personal, but have you ever used a sound before?" Jeongguk asks, ripping open another little packet and squeezing it to get some clear gel over the fingers of his left hand, rubbing them together.
"Used sounds? Like... noises?" Taehyung questions, utterly mystified, distracted by the gel on Jeongguk's hands that looks unsettlingly like lube.
"No, a sound. Like a stick," Jeongguk gestures down at Taehyung's dick. "Like... god, you're so vanilla, man."
"Hey! I know sounds! One of my best friends is a music major!" Taehyung pouts, feeling defensive. Namjoon's never mentioned his degree involving needles and dicks though, so he doesn't know why Jeongguk brings it up as he picks up a narrow plastic tube from his little tray of torture instruments.
"Whatever. I'm just going to put a tube up your urethra, okay? Makes this quicker, and easier for you."
"A tube up my what?" Taehyung squeaks, hands coming over his crotch protectively. "It's not big enough to fit a tube up there, what the fuck?!"
"Calm down," Jeongguk rolls his eyes, tugging Taehyung's hands away gently enough that Taehyung could stay covered if he wanted to. He lets the piercer lay them back by his sides though, staring with wide eyes now at the gel on his left hand.
"You're not being serious, right?" Taehyung laughs nervously. "That's like driving the wrong way up a one-way street!"
"Yes, I am being serious," Jeongguk laughs at him. "Don't worry, it's just a little stretch. Loads of people get off on it, actually, so you don't have to be worried."
"People get off on a lot of things I should be worried about," Taehyung grumbles, as Jeongguk rips open the yellow packet with the needle in, as if to emphasise his point.
"Just lie back and breathe deeply. The tube will probably hurt more than the actual piercing if you squirm," Jeongguk mutters, concentration in his eyes as he hunkers down over Taehyung's cock, small plastic tube now lubed up in his hand and poised to go somewhere Taehyung's very sure nothing should enter.
"Wait!" Taehyung squeaks, clapping his hands over his mouth. Jeongguk pauses, looking up at him questioningly. "Are you sure this is what you're supposed to do?"
"Taehyung," Jeongguk says very slowly, with a voice normally reserved for young children being educated on the most basic facts of life. "This is my job. I'm a professional with specific training in piercings, including a course in genital piercing. You would not believe the number of dicks I've seen and done much more complicated piercings on."
"And you're sure this is how you do this one?" Taehyung points at the tube. "You're really sure this is how Prince Angus works?"
"Absolutely. I've done a Prince Albert a thousand times on other guys, and got it myself a couple of years ago. We had a guy in three days ago get one, and he was totally fine, so chill," Jeongguk says, patting Taehyung's thigh.
"Oh god. So many dicks with holes in," Taehyung whines, wrinkling his nose.
"You ready?"
"Just do it."
Taehyung feels the slightest pressure on his slit, and then he's biting down on his hand while Jeongguk reminds him to breathe and slowly slides the thin plastic tube in, and Taehyung can't think beyond the stretching pressure where he's never felt anything before, rendered totally breathless as his legs jolt upwards automatically, toes curling as he whines into his hand.
"Easy does it," Jeongguk murmurs, carefully easing the tube deeper inside Taehyung until it's low enough, keeping his lubed up hand gently holding Taehyung's cock still. "You alright up there, Taehyung?"
"Jesus," Taehyung pants, moving to lower his legs now that the initial intrusion has stopped but stopping again as the movement jostles his dick slightly, making him feel everything again. It feels so wrong. He hates it. But everything is pulling and there might be a strange kind of pleasure underneath the sting that he doesn't want to think about.
"Okay, I'm gonna do the piercing now," Jeongguk tells him, patting his leg with his free hand. "It's gonna be a pinch of pain, but it'll only take a second. Keep breathing. Deep breath in, and then let it out when the needle goes in. Ready?"
Taehyung manages to nod, but doesn't know if Jeongguk can see it, on account of him staring with some determination at the ceiling. He hears the clink of metal, and Jeongguk shifts his grip slightly, and then the sharp stab just off the end of his dick that makes him tense up and jolt, swearing as he feels every minute shift of Jeongguk's hands on him through the needle going through him, feeling like in that movement he can feel every tiny shift of the universe through that fucking needle.
"Breathe out," Jeongguk reminds him quickly. Taehyung obeys, letting out a rush of his remaining air and sucks oxygen in again, feeling his head swim with sensations, adrenaline rushing through him.
"Fuck," Taehyung cries with passion, pressing his hands against his eyes hard enough to see spots.
"One second, I'm putting the jewellery in now," Jeongguk tells him, and then there's a pushing that almost hurts worse than the actual piercing did before finally Jeongguk lets go of him a second later.
"Holy Jesus fucking hell," Taehyung whines into his hands, clenching his teeth against the pain, which is admittedly receding very quickly now that Jeongguk is finished.
"You're all done, man! Didn't even bleed too much or anything," Jeongguk says, and when Taehyung takes another deep breath and opens his eyes to peek down from between his fingers he sees the piercer definitely laughing at him this time.
"Is it over?" Taehyung checks, scared to look down. He imagines blood everywhere, his dick in tatters (though actually now it just feels a little bruised, throbbing and stinging slightly).
"It's over," Jeongguk rolls his eyes. "No need to be a baby about it."
Taehyung bristles at this.
"You just stuck a fucking needle in my dick! That's probably thousands of nerve endings you went through! I'm allowed to be in pain!"
"It only goes through, like, a millimetre of skin, you know. Your ear piercings go through far more tissue than that does."
"Ow!" Taehyung says emphatically, glaring at Jeongguk to drive his point home. Jeongguk just laughs, shaking his head and picking up his little tray of tools to take it over to the counter.
Taehyung gingerly sits up, trying to jostle himself as little as possible, and looks down. He sees his dick an angry red colour at the end in a way that's unusual when he's not hard, and a little bead of metal nestled in his slit. He can't help but carefully lift his dick up, just to see the other end of the jewellery coming out of the underside, blood already beading around the silver in a scarlet edge.
"Fuck," he breathes, feeling woozy at the very tangible sight of the piercing, however much the pain has already receded. He flops back on the bed and tries not to think about it.
He's got metal in his dick. Dick metal. In his dick. Going through a hole. Where his skin and blood used to go.
He feels lightheaded.
"You okay, man?" Jeongguk asks him, one eyebrow raised as he comes back over to Taehyung, drying his freshly washed hands.
"Peachy," Taehyung slurs, flashing the okay sign at Jeongguk. "I have a new hole in my dick. Which is totally how I wanted this day to go."
"Alright then," Jeongguk says, in a way that lets Taehyung know Jeongguk doesn't believe him. "I need to tell you about aftercare. Are you feeling good enough to listen?"
Taehyung groans but tells him to go ahead, and listens to Jeongguk's little speech about saline solution and wearing tight underwear to avoid painful jiggling and what's a normal part of the healing process and what he should be worried about. Then he realises he's still naked from the waist down. He grabs at his trousers, before Jeongguk shoots out a hand to stop him.
"Wait! There's something I should give you first."
"What?" Taehyung squeaks, eyes darting around the room in panic. What more can there be? He's done right? The pain is over?
Jeongguk turns to one of the cabinets under the counter and pulls out a small box. A very pink box of pads that he opens and pulls a little plastic-wrapped square out, closing the cabinet and holding the pad out to Taehyung, who stares at it for a second in befuddlement.
"I'd kinda hoped you might have noticed by now that I don't have a uterus." Taehyung chuckles awkwardly, stepping back, "Given what you just did to my dick."
"You might not have all the parts, but it sure is your time of the month," Jeongguk smirks, still holding out the pad for him. "Trust me, man. You're gonna bleed for a little while and you don't wanna wreck your pants."
"Oh, shit, yeah," Taehyung grimaces at his gently bleeding dick and gingerly lifts the pad from Jeongguk's fingers. He fumbles it open and sticks it onto his underwear before tentatively pulling his pants back up, wincing at the over-sensitivity of the new piercing.
He sits down and tries to listen to Jeongguk running off instructions on how to keep his new piercing clean, tuning out once he realises it's pretty much the same as for his ear piercings, but still accepting the printout of instructions Jeongguk hands him from a stack on the shelf. He's just a little (read: a lot) distracted by the way he can feel the piercing as a gentle pressure in the head of his dick, the way it sparks with feeling with every little shift, and he can't help wriggling in his seat, just a little, shivering at the way it feels.
"You okay to go, now?" Jeongguk asks him at the end of all his spiel, pierced eyebrow raised, jerking Taehyung back to the moment.
"Yeah. Yeah, sure," Taehyung nods weakly. He must stand up too fast though, getting a headrush that makes him stagger forward a step before Jeongguk catches him, strong hands on Taehyung's biceps.
"You sure you're good?" Jeongguk asks, and when Taehyung looks up from the flash of collarbones he can see this close to Jeongguk he sees the piercer's eyes fixed on him with what looks like genuine concern.
"Perfect," he mumbles, deciding to use this moment for a little bit of self-indulgent exploration of those smooth pecs (it's the blood loss affecting his head) and pushing himself back up with hands against Jeongguk's chest, gasping when he feels the distinct hard press of piercings under both of his hands, not sure what to do with that little discovery. Jeongguk's hands are warm when he takes hold of Taehyung's wrists, gently but firmly pulling his hands away from his nipples, jaw tight.
"In this establishment we run a strict policy of look but don't touch with our staff," he murmurs, staring at Taehyung with a dark gaze, unreadable.
"You got to touch me, though," Taehyung pouts, twisting his wrists free of Jeongguk's grip and stepping back. "No fair."
"That's business, sweetheart," Jeongguk smirks, opening the door to the little room. "Which means it's time for you to pay up."
Taehyung tries not to grimace, feeling like he's waddling slightly as he makes his way back to the front desk, pleasantly surprised by how little it hurts, but given that he was picturing fountains of blood and agony he supposes it's no surprise that it's anticlimactic.
Jimin jumps up when he gets to the waiting room and bounces over gleefully.
"You did it? You really did it?"
"Of course I did," Taehyung sniffs, trying to look dignified as he shuffles over to the front desk, pulling out his wallet.
"Really? That was quicker than I expected," Jimin narrows his eyes.
"Yeah. It was easy," Taehyung bluffs. "Barely felt it really. I'm surprised you made such a fuss over the whole thing, Jiminie."
"Yeah, 'cos you were real calm and collected back there," Jeongguk rolls his eyes, appearing next to Jennie behind the desk, Taehyung's form in his hand.
"Oh my god, did he cry?" Jimin gasps, gripping onto Taehyung's shoulders from behind.
"No!" Taehyung cries indignantly, at the same time as Jeongguk says "Only a little bit," with a chuckle.
"God, Taehyungie," Jimin giggles, collapsing against Taehyung's back while he glares at Jeongguk's smug expression.
"Liar," Taehyung hisses. "Filthy liar. I can't believe I trusted you with my dick."
"Oh, Jeongguk here knows a lot about dicks," Jennie smiles slyly. "You were in safe hands. Literally."
Taehyung blinks, not sure if he's just dirty-minded at this stage or if that really held the implications he heard. Jeongguk is signing the form without looking at him, head bowed so he can't see his expression, and Taehyung has no idea what to make of it before Jennie smiles angelically and asks him for the payment, accepting the cash he hands over and shutting it away in the till.
"Thank you for coming to Tribe. I hope we'll see you again," she smiles.
"Yeah, thanks," Taehyung mumbles, taking an unsure step back and nearly colliding with Jimin. "Thanks, Jeongguk."
"No problem," the piercer looks back up at him. "Look after it for me, yeah?" he nods down at his recent work on Taehyung.
"Oh my god," Jimin breathes, too close to Taehyung's ear. "Did you just..."
"Sure," Taehyung squeaks, feeling dizzy with possible implications. "Bye!"
And he stumbles out of the door to the shop as fast as he can manage, and Jimin delights in telling all their friends about how Taehyung got the piercing from some kind of lust demon, and that he made a total fool of himself in front of said piercer.
2 Months Later...
Taehyung spots him from across the club, and it takes a few seconds of staring and a glimpse of a tattoo sleeve down his left arm before he really remembers who the guy that seems so familiar is.
Right across the bar is the guy that pierced his dick two months ago.
"Hold my drink," he tells Hoseok haughtily.
"Can I drink it?" Hoseok responds quickly, catching Taehyung's glass before it slips from his relaxed grip.
"Sure. Don't wait up," Taehyung waves carelessly, focus elsewhere as he strides off. Or rather tries to stride off, but rather slowly pushes and twists his way through the crowd to the bar where dick-piercer sits talking to somebody short and blue-haired, sipping on something dark.
"You!" Taehyung shouts, when he's close enough to point threateningly at the guy and narrow his eyes at him intimidatingly. Or he hopes it's intimidating, at least. "You made me stop wanking for a week and a half!"
The piercer turns around with some level of surprise and confusion at his outburst, stopping whatever he was saying to the short guy now looking down at Taehyung with some level of concern.
"Excuse me?" the piercer blinks, looking affronted as he scans Taehyung up and down.
"What the fuck?" questions the piercer's friend, looking between them with a glower on his delicate features.
"You put an Albert in my dick and it hurt too bad to jack off! And you gave me my first period!" Taehyung is now right in front of the piercer and uses the opportunity to poke him in the chest, fuming.
"Oh, I remember now," the piercer's expression morphs into an amused smile. "You came in for a piercing. How's it healing up?"
"Fine, I guess," Taehyung huffs. "Doesn't really hurt anymore. Still haven't gotten laid in like... quarter of a year, thanks to you."
"This is not a conversation I want to hear," Jeongguk's friend says, expression of mild disgust on his face as he backs away. Neither Taehyung nor Jeongguk watch him go.
"You were what, couple of months ago now? Should be good to go," Jeongguk raises an eyebrow, and he looks so smug for some reason Taehyung can't pinpoint, which infuriates him enough to take another step closer, really getting into the guy's space. The piercer holds his ground though, leaning back into the bar a little so he has space to stare Taehyung down.
"I mean, maybe," Taehyung sputters. "But what if they freak out? I've got metal in my dick! How do I handle that situation?!"
"Are you looking for a tutorial in how to have sex with a piercing?" Jeongguk cocks his head, and Taehyung can't tell if he's imagining the suggestiveness tangible between them now.
"Are you offering?" he challenges in return.
"I'm game to buy you a drink, at least," Jeongguk shrugs, nodding at Taehyung's empty hands. "Make up for all the suffering I've caused you."
Taehyung blinks for a second, head swimming from the switch from anger to sexual tension, simmering over his skin and settling into his limbs under Jeongguk's gaze.
"Fine. Southern Comfort and lemonade," he orders, as haughtily as he can manage while moving to a more relaxed position against the bar with Jeongguk.
"Ugh. Have you seen they do real whiskey here?" Jeongguk points at the rows of bottles behind the bar.
"The least you could do after causing me weeks of forced celibacy is get me the drink I like," Taehyung growls.
"You literally paid me to do the piercing you asked for," Jeongguk rolls his eyes. "And no offense, but I'm not going to get all sympathetic over a Prince Albert." But he still gives Taehyung's order over to the bartender and pays before depositing the drink in front of Taehyung.
"What's the most hardcore piercing you've ever done, then?" Taehyung challenges.
"Hmm, there's a couple of hardcore ones," Jeongguk watches Taehyung take the first sip of his drink, which is delicious, fuck you very much, Jeongguk.
"Tell me," Taehyung encourages.
"There's this piercing called a frenum," Jeongguk says holding up a pointer finger. "Say my finger is a dick. They go like this," he draws horizontal lines across his finger," on the underside of your dick."
"Oh, ow. But not as bad as I expected," Taehyung frowns.
"Maybe. With one or maybe two," Jeongguk raises an eyebrow. "But we had a guy come in wanting a Jacob's ladder, which means having them going all the way along the dick."
"Oh, wow," Taehyung breathes, half horrified, half impressed.
"Yeah. Plus he wanted it extended onto his balls, so like, ten piercings all together," Jeongguk groans. "It could've been done in a couple of sessions, but he insisted on only doing a couple at a time, so it took weeks to get done. And he was one of the creeps you get in, too."
"How d'you mean?"
"Obviously part of the job involves getting all up in people's junk," Jeongguk gestures at Taehyung's crotch to illustrate his point, "which is whatever, most of the time. And some guys get hard, which is fine, it's not too uncommon when someone's touching about down there."
"Especially if it's a hot piercer like you," Taehyung raises his glass to Jeongguk and takes a sip.
"What?" Jeongguk blinks.
"What?" Taehyung repeats innocently, batting his lashes. Jeongguk shakes his head, brushing the moment off.
"Anyway, some of them aren't just hard. They're like, getting off on it. This guy was one of them, and he'd moan while I was doing it," Jeongguk grimaces. "Fucking awkward. Kept flirting with me, too, like I'd want anything to do with his gross dick except sticking needles in it."
"Bet you see more dicks in a week than a hooker," Taehyung giggles, dragging his fingers through the condensation on his glass. "You're probably an expert on dick ranking."
"Probably," Jeongguk smirks, lifting a shoulder in a shrug.
There's a pause while they both drink, eying each other over their glasses, until Taehyung breaks.
"Go on then."
"What?" Jeongguk raises an eyebrow, like he doesn't know exactly what Taehyung's going to ask.
"C'mon, man. I gotta know," Taehyung shoves Jeongguk's arm gently, resists the urge to stop and squeeze because damn, that was solid. "How do I rate?"
"You want me to say how good your dick was?" Jeongguk actually laughs at this, teeth flashing in the blacklights of the club.
"On a scale of one to ten," Taehyung encourages. "In comparison to the general population, how am I, in your professional opinion?"
Jeongguk pulls an obvious thinking face, stroking his chin and looking down teasingly, as if he'd be able to see through Taehyung's pants.
"Hmm," Jeongguk purses his lips. "Seven. Maybe a Six."
"What?" Taehyung gasps, hitting Jeongguk's arm again, harder this time. "Pretty sure I'm better than that, asshole!"
"Well," Jeongguk licks his lips, leans in a little closer with a hand ghosting down Taehyung's side as his breath tickles Taehyung's ear, close enough to be discreet but audible over the music. "I didn't get to see it in action, so there's still a chance for you to raise your score."
Then he leans away again, looks at Taehyung like he knows exactly where he's got him when he sips from his glass.
"Is that a challenge?" Taehyung tips his head, small smile playing on his lips.
"Could be," Jeongguk shrugs, coyly swirling the ice at the bottom of his glass.
"Right," Taehyung huffs, finishing the last of his drink in two gulps, setting his empty glass on the bar and picking Jeongguk's from his hands and putting it down next to his own.
"Let's dance, dick-hole boy."