The lip piercing
“Why are we doing this again?” James asks exasperated, pulling his back pack further onto his shoulder as he keeps up with Sirius’ fast pace. He groans dramatically, rolling his eyes.
“I’ve told you, Walburga would hate it so I’m getting it.” He states, marching further down the street of London with a grin on his face. He spins around so he’s walking backwards as he smiles at the brunette. “There’s only so many things I can do until she gets that I’m not going to be this professional lawyer type like Regulus is trying to be.”
He turns back around but he can still feel the heaviness of the sigh that James makes. “You can only push that woman so far Sirius, for your sakes I hope you know what you’re doing.”
“Yeah, yeah. She’s already kicked me out so may aswell go for the home run and piss her off more until she disinherits me.” He laughs humourlessly as he says it, shaking his head as he continues to walk down the street. Cars are parked all alongside the road as they get stuck in traffic and he thanks the heavens that he decided to walk instead of drive today, London traffic was always terrible but with the roadworks it was always worse.
He hears James curse as he steps into a puddle, his vans getting soaked so that the black actually looks black and no longer the faded grey that they’ve become. It makes him laugh as he starts to pull his hair into a bun, the tie just about holding his hair in place as he messes up the edges so that it doesn’t look too put together.
“I get the whole piercing thing, sure,” James says as he walks into step with him, “but why your lip? You nearly cried when you got your ear one done.”
“That’s different,” he dismisses with a hand as he feels his cheeks heat up, “they’re meant to hurt more because of the cartilage.”
He knows it’s bullshit but he wasn’t about to admit that having his lobes done hurt enough and that babies probably made less of a fuss than he did. James wouldn’t get it anyway, the man already had his nose done since age sixteen by his mums friend and he barely flinched. He remembered asking his mother back then if he could get a face piercing before shutting his mouth as she started to scream and pitch the whole aspect of looking for a job and the fact piercings were for the devil.
He was so sure that by going home with his ear piercing that Dorcas did for him would make her see red and for it to be the last straw. The disappointment was astronomical when all his father did was purse his lips and mutter about how he could hide it with his hair. His mother had been furious, the cane she had when her leg played up soon leaving marks on the back of his leg that are still there today in little thin strips of white. But he still didn’t get disinherited, and what’s a few more scars really?
He thought the last straw would have been when she kicked him out but surprisingly she still held him in an iron grip to make a name of himself in a more “higher profession” for the Black family name. He scoffs as he hears her tinny voice shrill in his head, the speech she always insisted on repeating to the Black brothers whenever a choice was brought to their attention that could affect their career.
They continue to walk along the pavement as James starts his rant on his coursework, the words ‘erosion’ and ‘corrosion’ being thrown around easily in his drawl. The desi man had taken geography in uni, claiming that he wanted to make a difference in global warming and the effects that humans are having on the planet but Sirius was smarter than that, the man just didn’t want to let down his parents who insisted that he should do what he’s good at. Sirius doesn’t think that the man realised that also included what he liked doing but the Potters have a way of life working out for them, James now in love with geography more than he ever has been and even more passionate about pollution and the way the tectonic plates shift. He smiles as he nods along, trying to grasp the ideas that the other man is pitching.
“-and yeah, it’s absolutely mental honestly! Oh, Pads, I think we’re early.” He cuts himself off as he checks his phone as they near closer to the tattoo parlour. The choice had been harder than he thought it would have been considering that they were in the centre of London and a tattoo shop was roughly every mile in any direction no matter the location you started from. They decided on ‘Red Moons’ after their friend Dorcas insisted that her girlfriend has gotten a piercing and a tattoo there and loved it. She had already gone back a couple of times if the collection of ear piercings that Dorcas has gotten since says anything about it.
Checking his phone he sighs, 3:03 gets reflected back at him showing that he was atleast ten minutes too early. “Should we go to Café Nero and grab a drink before we go in?” He suggests as he nods at the café a couple of blocks down the street. James just grins and nods before nudging him backwards and taking off in a sprint. “You fucker, Prongs!” He shouts as he starts to sprint after the man. He should have started to run before he suggested it, knowing for a fact that James wouldn’t let him pay for the drink when the other knows he won’t use his own heritance and only spends the money he makes in the art shop he works at. He groans as he pushes open the door, already seeing the brunette pushing up his glasses as he stares at the menu board. Admitting defeat he grabs a seat to the right of the door and unlocks his phone to check the Twitter page for the tattoo parlour again.
He wasn’t nervous, just curious. The page always seems to update if they do a piercing and sometimes posts videos, the lip one being the last one they posted a couple of days ago as soon as he made his decision. He feels his stomach tighten as he watches the video again for the tenth time today, flinching as the lip in the video gets pierced before a second later the stud is in place. It looks painless if he goes off of the ‘Marls’ posted in the video. The woman doesn’t even flinch as the man pushes the needle through but it doesn’t calm him, his leg already shaking under the table as he watches the video once again. The woman seems to have more piercings than he thinks is possible on a face, both sides of her nose being decorated with studs and the underneath of her nose with a ring, her cheeks having blue jewels that catch on the light of the camera where her dimples should be. And when the camera zooms out he can spot over four in her one ear. She’s used to it, he thinks, she must be if she’s had so many done.
He can’t help but click on the persons account and click on her most recent photo, thanking the power of the internet as he zooms in on the woman’s ear. Six, she has six of them, all going down the arch of her ear and ending with a big female sign on a hoop from her lobe. He’s jealous as he swipes to the next photo to see that the woman has got style, the side nose piercings having been different on the day the photo was taken, a thin gold chain running from one to the other.
It distracts him for a few seconds before he sees an ice latte being placed onto the table infront of him. He pockets his phone and looks up at the man who seems to be in a daze. James’ cheeks are flushed a bright red and a smile is tugging at his lips so big that Sirius knows it’s not from the fact he won the race and paid for their order.
“What’s got you grinning?” He asks as he stands and takes a sip of the drink, humming his approval as he tastes the caramel.
“I just met my future wife.” The other states, grinning wider as he says it and steps out into the street.
“Your future wife?” He deadpans but smiles none of the less. It isn’t like James to be dramatic, he’s a complete hopeless romantic at heart but he’s never declared that he would end up marrying a person ever, so she’s got to have been something. He states so.
“Oh yeah, definitely. She’s something alright, you should have seen her!” He takes a huge sip of the drink in his hand, Sirius knowing it’s something with pumpkin without having to ask. The man always gets the festive drinks, always claiming that it’s a waste if he doesnt and then later regretting not getting them. He carries on as his hands flap around in the air, “she’s beautiful, inside and out. I already know, she’s perfect.”
“We were barely in there for five minutes-“
“-Listen,” he interrupts, “I’m telling you, she’s perfect. She ordered the same as me, pumpkin hot chocolate and then when I made a comment she looked me up and down and smirked, before she told me to fuck off and left.” He rushes the last part but Sirius still hears it. But he looks so proud that Sirius really doesn’t want to ask but still, he can’t help himself.
“She told you to fuck off?” He can see James roll his eyes as they stand outside the tattoo parlour before nodding his head and leaning against the wall, his red coat sticking against the stone as he sighs dreamily.
“I may have said something like ‘a spicy drink for a spicy woman’,” he grins proudly as he tilts his head to look at Sirius, no shame on his face as he carries on, “she hated it clearly but that just means I got to try harder y’know?”
“Oh god, you’ve gone mental.” He quips, taking another sip of his drink as he feels his throat become dry as the seconds tick on and his piercing gets closer. “You literally just got told to fuck off and you want to try again?”
“Well, you want tattoos yeah?” James asks, his eyes lit up as he looks at Sirius. He raises an eyebrow at the man, nodding slowly at the bizarre question. “Well the barista knew her order by the time she got to the till so she’s a regular. It just means that we need to book you in more often so I can go across the street and look out for her.” He winks as he relays the plan. He nearly whines a the idea of not having James by his side as a support when he gets his first tattoo but just sighs frantically as he places a hand on the crazy mans shoulder.
“You are going to become a stalker for this woman?”
“Definitely.” He replies affirmatively, grin never leaving his face as he starts to describe the woman as he kicks off the wall and pats himself down. “She’s curvy and gorgeous and makes me want to give up geography just to start a subject on her, right? She’s ginger but I bet if you called her that she would hit you, you know I like feisty women right? Not even that, she likes the same drink as me! We’re practically soulmates.”
“Yeah, soulmates, got you.” He clears his throat as he takes more of his drink, half of it gone now due to the nerves in his system. “Right, let’s get this sorted then.”
James just nods as he continues to talk about the mystery woman that Sirius doesn’t half the heart to tell him that looking at this parlour he doubts he’ll be back.
The warmth hits him first but the appearance hits him second. The walls have been painted a dark green underneath all the plaques and drawing of skulls. The corner of the room has a marked wooden table and a settee that looks as though it’s been there for years by the way the leather is peeling off in places. The space underneath the ceiling is furnished with what looks to be punk and metal music records and the floor is sticky when they walk in, his boots sticking and unsticking grossly. There’s a woman shouting in the back of the store which is hidden by a distressed looking door, the pale yellow paint not matching the other decor at all. It all looks grubby and makes Sirius want to wash his hands as soon as he enters. He grits his teeth and looks at James and thinks that his face must reflect what he’s looking at if the grimace is anything to go by. They walk up the counter that is just a piece of cork board nailed into some wood with a little computer to the side of scattered paper.
He clears his throat as he pushes the little bell on top of the wood, the sound ringing throughout the store. He sends James a glance as he hears boots thudding across the floor behind the door along with muttered voices. James gives him a little encouraging smile as the door opens.
And yes, he thinks he could come back here for a tattoo for James to stay in the café because the man infront of him is someone to marvel at.
The first thing he notices is the scars running across the mans face, the white stripes and streaks littering along his face standing out against the golden brown of the mans skin. The crooked smile flashed their way almost makes Sirius lose his breath if it wasn’t for the dire need running through his veins to act cool.
“Ah my 3:15, Mr. Black is it?” The man asks, as his lanky form curves over the counter to write along the notepad left there. He raises an eyebrow at the two of them, the slit in it should make him look intimidating but all Sirius can think is that it makes him look hot, dangerous.
He clears his throat as he tries to answer, “yeah, Sirius is good though.” He doesn’t mention the fact that he wants the mans voice to sound his name out loud to see if it also sounds like honey. Another crooked smile gets sent his way before the man is typing away at the computer, his nails chipped with flecks of black polish.
“Ah good, just a lip piercing today, is it?” The man asks, eyebrow once again raised. He just nods as he takes in the fact that the off-blonde curls on top of the figures head bounces as he looks between the computer and Sirius. “Right then, come with me,” he looks behind Sirius for a second and nods his head as he says, “you can wait on the sofa, if that’s alright.”
“Oh, Sirius wanted-“
“Just wait there, James.” He interrupts, not wanting the golden man behind him to think that he needed James in the room to hold his hand. A look of confusion flashes across the desi mans face as Sirius widens his eyes pointedly before he’s nodding and holding back a grin
“Yeah, I’ll wait on the Sofa, Pads.” James shakes his head as he walks towards the corner of the room, hesitantly lowering himself on the leather before pulling out his phone. Sirius doesn’t bother to talk to him any further, turning around to give the other man a nod and following him through the back door. He can’t help but take in the way the mans blue and green striped jumper flows loosely around his body, the sleeves obviously coming past his hands but instead bunched up on his wrist. It’s cute.
“Right, so just a lip one today, yeah?” The man asks as he directs him through a narrow white corridor before entering a painted yellow room. The room calms him almost immediately, the whole interior a lot more welcoming than the waiting room. He nods absentmindedly as he looks around at the dotted plants in the corner and the stacks of books on the discarded table to his right. He’s trying to take everything in as soon as possible, the kettle is a light blue on the counter next to two matching sets of cups. There’s a couple of canvases and pens laying across the floor in the corner with one that looks to be a start of a mermaid. There’s two bean bags on the left of the room and other bookcases full of what seems to be records but he can’t take them in as he follows into another back room.
This one is different, the room almost blanketed in white except for the black laying down chair and the silver trays and equipment. So this is where he’s getting the piercing then. His thoughts are answered when the voice sounding like honey continues.
“Sorry about the trek, we didn’t plan out the rooms very well clearly but this one was the easiest to sterilise. Anyways, have you decided on what side you want it on?” He’s talking to Sirius over his shoulder as he starts to move around trays and needles, clearly preparing for the reason why Sirius is even here.
“Uh, yeah. I’m thinking here?” He points at the left side of his lip with his finger, the place where he keeps placing a fake ring on to try and get used to it when no one was around. He found it looked better on that side rather than the right, the left going with his smirk more as it seemed to tilt up more on that side. The piercer looks over his shoulder before nodding, grabbing a few packets and making his way over to Sirius. “Not going to hurt there, right?”
“It’s going to pinch but you’ll be fine. Right, I got silver, gold or black, what do you fancy?” He asks, holding up three packets of studs. Sirius frowns in confusion at them.
“I wanted a ring?” He asks, slumping slightly as he realised this place may not have them. He tries to keep his eyes on the packets instead of the other mans but can’t help himself as he looks into the mesmerising brown swirls. The other man chuckles at Sirius, shaking his head in clear amusement. He furrows his eyebrows, no longer wanting to get pierced in a place like this if they treated people stupid for asking questions. It all fades away as the man answers, still amused,
“You start off with a stud before you can use a hoop. Hoops cause the skin to bump up and gets infected easier.” He explains it gently for him to understand and Sirius almost feels grateful that the man didn’t say it condescending but instead all he feels is stupid. He feels himself redden as he nods. “So, silver, black or gold? Personally I think black would suit you but it’s your choice.”
“Black.” He says instantly without thinking. He can already hear James laughing in his head at the idea that he answered without even contemplating any of the choices, the man already calling him whipped in his imagination. It’s worth it when the man smiles at him. Some of his teeth show, the one having a small chip on the bottom of it standing out.
“Sorted then, want to get on the bed for me?” Goldy, he’s resulted to calling him that in his head, asks him. He feels his heart stutter as the man just grins at him. He shuffles over to the bed as he feels his cheeks heat up, the innuendo loud in the silence between them, not even the low punk music being played in the background distracting from it. Goldy starts to fidget with some of the equipment before coming over to Sirius with a pen, mumbling, “just gonna draw a dot for where I’m gonna pierce you, okay? Then you can go check it out-“ he stops talking as he places the pen against Sirius skin, “-and see if it suits you.”
He gestures to the mirror as he pulls back with a smile. Sirius shyly smiles back before going over the mirror and seeing the little blue dot on the bottom of his lip. It’s amazing how he can be stood in a piercing shop and talk about it but the little dot on his face makes it seem more real. He takes in a huge breath as he stares at it in the mirror, his heart thudding in his chest at the realisation of what he’s about to go through. He catches Goldy’s eye in the mirror and instantly relaxes, he can atleast pretend to be brave enough to get the mans number.
“Yeah, whatever.” He shrugs as he says it trying to act nonchalant but the placement is perfect. It’s exactly where he’s been placing the fake jewellery and loving it, he can already feel the confidence hitting him at the realisation at the fact he’s going to get it after finally waiting so long. “It’s a good place there right? Not so painful?”
“Yeah, least painful place on the lip. Okay, take a seat and I’ll get everything ready.” The man muses as he starts to lift his jumper sleeve up to his elbows and put on gloves. Sirius just catches himself before he gasps when the mans forearms are shown. The tanned skin is blemished there too, scars slashed across each of them in different directions and lengths. Sirius walks towards the bed and tries his hardest not to stare, the white lines reminding him of trails left behind by aeroplanes in the sky, the blue marked with white pollution but looking so much more interesting with. “Let’s get this on the road then.”
The man raises a wipe to his lip as he starts to wipe the skin, leaving Sirius to stare at the mans hands. They’re so manly, Sirius wishes his hands looked like that. He looks at his face instead. He can only describe it as mesmerising. He thinks he could look at it every day and discover something new, another freckle or another scar, another beauty mark or another dimple. It looks almost too much, chaos on the brink of becoming a mess. Almost like when a garden over grows with flowers, all so beautiful and startling but you never want to remove one. It looks like paint splatter, every flick and drop leaving it’s mark but only adding more creativeness. He looks like art.
A clamp is suddenly tightening around his lip, Remus smiling opposite him. If he wasn’t almost about to have a needle shoved through his skin he might have even called the moment romantic, the man opposite him so focussed on his lips when all Sirius can think about is how the man smells like chocolate and pumpkin. He gulps nervously, shifting in his seat before the man is placing a gentle hand on his shoulder to keep him steady. He then removes it when he’s sure that Sirius isn’t going to move. “Take a deep breath for me,” Goldy says as Sirius does what he asks, “and a deep breath out.”
Sirius starts to heave out a breath before it gets taken from him with a punch, a sharp pain hitting his lip before it stops just as soon as it starts. He feels his lip throb slightly as the man cuts the line of plastic and pushes the stud through. He shakily breaths as Goldy nods and steps back with a smile.
“You did great,” the curly man praises, Sirius heating up and shifting at the tone of the voice, “just gotta put on this ball and then you can go and see.”
He stays still as the man tightens the ball on the stud, the tip of his tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth as he does so. Sirius can’t help but be proud of himself for not crying out loud even though his lip feels slightly on fire. The man steps back with a flourish, pointing to the mirror before he’s back to the pierces of paper on the corner of the room and taking off his gloves.
“I’ll just need you to sign here and pay then after you checked it out.” He hears him say but he can’t do anything but stare at his reflection. It’s not too noticeable but the black stud is obvious enough that his eyes get trained to it. His lip is a little red around the bar but he knows it’s going to look amazing when it’s healed, he grins at himself, only wincing a little at the movement of the bar and placing the tissue that Goldy gave him at some point underneath the ball to collect the left over blood. “It looks good.”
“Yeah..” he nearly chokes out after he agrees when he realises the other man had said it, feeling his grin widen he continues, “all because of you mind.” He can’t help but wink at the man in the mirror but feels a little silly when the man isn’t even looking at him. He turns around and makes his way over to the piercer and feels pride fill him at the little pink on the mans cheeks, knowing he put it there. Goldy stands up straight and inspects the bar in his lip before he glances up at Sirius with a soft smile.
“Do you mind if I take a photo for our page?” He nods his disagreement, not caring if his face is plastered anywhere with how good it looks right now with the black stud on the bottom of his lip. The man is grinning and snapping a photo of his face in a second before he’s asking for Sirius’ Twitter handle. He coughs awkwardly at that and regrets never updating the name from when he was younger.
“Blackdoglover.” He mutters it quietly and looks away, cringing as he hears a stifled laugh infront of him. “It’s from a while ago, just never changed it.” He doesn’t know why he feels the need to tell the man except for the sole reason he’s still stood so close to him.
“It looks good on you, suits you.” He says instead of bringing up the name, Sirius thanking the gods above for now embarrassing him further. He feels his phone buzz once the photo has been posted before he’s flirting back.
“You tell all the clients that they look good then or at I just so lucky?” He teases. He doesn’t know why he’s asked it but he feels the regret hit him as soon as the man pulls himself up to full height stiffly and gives him the pen before pointing down towards the piece of paper.
“Sign here please and then it’s just £35” he states before turning around and cleaning down the chair. Sirius can’t help but tense at the awkwardness that floods the room after that, not knowing what he said wrong. Maybe the man wasn’t even interested or attracted to men, that’s got to be it. He chances a quick glance over to the man bent over in the cleaning cupboard and shakes his head, he’s never been this wrong before. He just sighs, signing the sheet and placing the money next to it.
Clearing his throat, he says, “thank you.”
“Don’t worry about it, you know the way out yeah?” He doesn’t even turn around to look at Sirius as he asks it, the question sounding more like a statement than anything else. He nods regardless, making his way out of the room and contemplating on booking another piercing just to apologise. The dull throb in his lip insists it’s a no but he can’t help but wrack his brain over other possible piercings he could get without them being so painful. Maybe he could try numbing cream?
He leaves the room awkwardly and navigates himself through the yellow door before he’s stopped by a short woman with ginger colours bangs and a similar looking jumper to Goldy except that it’s pink and navy. She looks surprised to see him before she’s nodding in realisation.
“Remus is done then?” She asks as she glances down at his lip and back up. He looks at her stupefied before she rolls her eyes and stares, “The one who does the piercings. His name is Remus.”
“Oh, oh yeah, yeah he’s done. Remus” he confirms, the name rolling in his mouth satisfyingly. “Remus is done” he adds again for no other reason than to say the other mans name again.
“Okay, cheers lovely.” She looks at him oddly but keeps the smile on her face. “Hopefully see you again soon, Remus is starting to do tattoos again next week though so you’ll have me to put up with if you want anymore piercings.” She adds a cheeky wink, her long eyelashes that look too natural to be fake but too long not to be fake dramatically flicking. She gestures for him to follow her to the front and starts to narrate the plan of his aftercare for his piercing as she goes. She’s shorter by him by atleast a foot but Sirius can tell the woman is easily intimidating by the way she clicks her fingers when Sirius is seeming to zone out.
He nods along with what she says and thanks her for the little bag of salt and tea tree oil she gives him.
“I’m Lily so if you need anything you can always ring up and ask me or pop in and see either me or Remus and we’ll check any worries you have, okay?” He smiles at her and thanks her as the woman just nods before walking past him and into the room he’s just left.
He takes a deep breath as he pushes open the door and walks up towards James who’s sat there looking all too interested at his phone. He looks up when he hears the door creak shut behind him, eyes widening as he stands and makes his way over.
“Shit Pads, it looks good.” He grins at him and pulls him into a one arm hug before he’s staring intently at his lip.
“Why do you sound so surprised?” He speculates at the brunette, pushing open the front door and grimacing when the cold air hits him once again. His iced coffee gets placed in his hands as they start to walk down the street.
“Well, no offence but I didn’t actually think it would suit you, y’know?” He offers before he falters, “dont give me me that look, you’ve got a very posh face, alright? Didn’t think sticking metal in it would look good.”
“Yeah, yeah, you’re forgiven if you get me another drink, this one tastes like piss now.” He explains, crossing the street to throw it into the closest bin. “Also, I think you’re right about your wife. I’ve been thinking about getting a tattoo…”