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"If you don't want to, just say so."
Vash peered up at his twin from beneath his mop of unruly blonde hair.
Knives sighed, studying Vash with mirrored exasperation. "Why do you want to do this anyway?"
Straddling Vash's waist, knees on either side of his twin's slender torso, Knives watched Vash chew his bottom lip in thought.
"Humans do it," Vash started carefully, as if not entirely sure he was using the correct words to explain. "And someone said they pierced theirs as soon as they were eighteen."
Knives rolled his eyes. "If you wanted to do this for your eighteenth birthday, you're several years late," he replied, not bothering to conceal just how ridiculous he found this idea. "Especially by our standards."
As he spoke, Knives idly toyed with Vash's earlobe, soft and pliant between the pads of his fingers. If his twin noticed or minded, he said nothing.
"I know that," Vash replied with a roll of his eyes. "But we look like humans around that age."
Knives frowned, face darkening. He'd told Vash again and again how pointless it was to have continued interest in humans.
Instead of starting the same argument, Knives looked down. "It's fine the way it is," Knives murmured, a sullen note in his tone as he continued rubbing Vash's earlobe between his fingers
"I think it'll look pretty cool with a piercing though," Vash replied seriously. He gave his twin a warm smile. "You'd look good with one too, Nai."
Knives said nothing. He continued playing with Vash's ear, moving from the lobe to trace the ridges of cartilage.
Vash squirmed beneath him, finally acknowledging Knives' ministrations. "Stop, that tickles," he said good naturedly. His eyes were clear and bright, trusting as ever as they gazed up at Knives.
"Will you do it for me, Nai?"
An undeniable thrill ran down Knives' spine.
If his twin knew what thoughts were circling in his mind, Knives thought, would Vash be this trusting?
Though he'd done well to hide his true feelings, the idea of marking his twin, permanently, had his pulse quickening. It flooded his body with an aching affection which had nothing to do with brotherly love.
For someone who was so sure and confident in his goals, it was perplexing to Knives how he kept this desire to himself, a secret hidden from the one he wanted to share with most, denying himself what he wanted.
"Fine," Knives replied casually, doing his best to suppress the heat flushing his skin.
Letting the pads of his fingers brush over his twin's cheek, nothing accidental about the lingering contact, Knives reached for the tools laid out.
Or the tools Vash had laid out and explained how to use. Knives just assumed his twin had looked into this enough to know what he was talking about.
Following the instructions laid out to him, Knives grasped the ice cube, melted somewhat since being laid out in a small bowl.
It dripped over Vash, who exclaimed with surprise at the cold, before Knives held it to his twin's earlobe.
The slight jerk of Vash's body as the ice pressed against his skin rippled up through Knives. The feel of Vash moving beneath him was setting off a reel of fantasies Knives had used to get himself off any number of nights.
"Still want to go through with this?" He asked, clearing his throat, and with it the slight tremor that shook his voice.
Water dripped down the back of his hand. His eyes followed a rolling droplet from Vash's ear to his jaw, captivated as it trickled down smooth skin and tendons to the collar of his shirt. A wet bloom spread as the fabric absorbed it.
A quiet gasp escaped Vash's lips. "Cold," he explained, misreading Knives' intent gaze. Eyes half lidded, breath coming in shallow burts, Knives watched and felt his twin squirm, recoiling from the melting ice.
"Is this really necessary?" Knives admonished. It was a marvel he was able to form words, preoccupied with wholly unwholesome thoughts.
Vash nodded. "I asked a few people" he started, making an effort not to pull away from the increasingly cool touch at his ear. "They said the ice makes it hurt less."
"Seems like a lot of trouble" Knives said simply. "For something painful and pointless."
The ice was melting in earnest now, between the warmth of Vash's earlobe and Knives' grasping fingers.
"That should be enough, it feels pretty numb."
Obligingly, Knives set what remained of the ice back in the small dish. Curiously, he shook the water from his hand and gently clasped Vash's earlobe between the same forefingner and thumb.
"Can you feel that?" He asked, voice barely above a whisper.
Vash was still for a moment, pondering. "Just the pressure," he said resolutely, looking up at his counterpart. "But I can't really feel your fingers. Can you do it now, Nai?"
Knives' heart gave a tumultuous lurch in his ribcage. What he wouldn't give to hear Vash ask him that, but in the situations he saw in his dreams.
It was too much, and he was getting hard despite his best efforts to keep his composure. He hoped Vash was preoccupied enough that he wouldn't notice.
Reaching for the needle and piece of cork Vash had scrounged up, Knives cast a suspicious look down. "You cleaned these, right?"
"Of course I did," Vash shot back. "I'm not stupid."
Letting out a huff of mocking laughter, Knives leaned forward, still straddling Vash but hoping the angle obscured his growing erection. It was a bad idea, and words spilled out of his mouth hastily to distract himself from the flare of pleasure as his cock shifted against Vash and the front of his pants. "Anyone who'd walk in now might think differently."
"Just hurry up please, Nai," Vash urged, unaware of the effect his words were having on his twin.
Biting the inside of his cheek, Knives leaned down. Holding the piece of cork behind his twin's earlobe, he was close enough that his breath disturbed Vash's blonde locks, sending then fluttering in a warm exhale.
He could feel Vash's body heat beneath him, swore he could hear the beating of the other man's heart in his chest, the pumping of blood in his veins.
Sensing the closeness of the needle, knowing pain was coming but unsure how much it would hurt, Vash put his hands on Knives' muscled shoulders.
The warm press of Vash's fingers clutching at him, the way Vash held his breath and went rigid under him... It was all Knives could do not to grind against his twin, to kiss his neck, to lap at the skin still wet from the ice.
Taking a deep breath of his own, Knives brought the tip of the needle down into the center of his twin's earlobe.
A stiffled cry sent shocks of heat licking over Knives' skin as Vash gripped his shoulders tighter.
As the metal met resistance, Knives couldn't stop the twitch of his hips, pressing his erection more insistently into Vash's abdomen. There was no way to hide it, he was fully hard, tenting his thin pants.
Knives bit back his own cry as the needle cleared the soft tissue and lodged itself in the bit of cork he held behind the lobe. The action felt like a release, yet it coiled the knot of arousal tighter within his core.
Vash's hold on him loosened, though his jaw was still clenched.
"Is it done? Did you do it?"
A shaky breath shuddered from Knives' lungs as he nodded.
Vash flashed an encouraging smile, as if reading Knives earnest expression as concern. "That really wasn't too bad. Once you put the earring in, we're done."
Doing his best not to let his hands shake, keeping one on the needle stuck into ear and cork, Knives clasped the small gold earring Vash had managed to procure.
He'd made a lasting mark on his twin, one everyone would be able to see. Knives held back an intense desire to kiss bruises along Vash's neck and chest, to lay claim to his twin in another way.
Desperately, Knives hurried to complete the task at hand before he succumbed.
Barely registering his own actions, Knives replaced the needle with the gold earring, mechanically fastening it.
"Done," he said briskly, averting his gaze as he shuffled off Vash. There was little way to hide how aroused he was, save to hunch over under the pretext of tidying up.
Vash pushed up on his elbows. Raising a hand to hover near his ear, be was careful not to touch but was clearly curious about the results.
"Thanks, Nai!" He exclaimed as he stood. "Here, lemme help you wi-"
"It's fine," Knives replied curtly, as calmly as he could manage.
"Go see how it looks, I'll clean these up."
Vash grinned, shouting his thanks as he ran off with barely contained glee.
As the door slid shut behind him and bounding footsteps receeded into the distance, Knives wasted little time freeing his cock.
Before Vash returned or anyone else could intrude, he took himself in hand, pumping furiously. Knees spread, one palm against the floor to steady himself, Knives recalled the image of his twin beneath him.
A strangled moan escaped him as his hand flew faster, his hips jerking forward in minute thrusts, chasing his hand as he envisioned pumping into Vash.
He was already so close it was embarassing. Savoring the memory of piercing Vash's skin, of the flesh giving way, he stroked himself, teeth digging into his bottom lip, hips jerking more erratically.
He came with his twin's name trapped in his throat, muscles pulled tight in ecstasy as he milked his release.
His hand and hips continued in a slow rendition of the frantic race to climax, gradually slowing to a complete halt. Breath harsh in his chest, body feeling weak and boneless, a whisp of shame tickled the back of his mind.
Lately, that sense of shame, the restraint that held him back, lately it was being eaten away by this all consuming want.
Hastily, Knives cleaned himself up best he could, and made quick work of the piercing implements. The ice had completely melted, and Knives dripped the remaining water from the bowl onto his face.
It helped wash away the light dusting of sweat that'd formed on his brow, cooled his flushed skin a fraction. But, Knives thought darkly, it did little to douse the flame he was holding for Vash.
If anything, it burned all the brighter.