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The afternoon had passed slower than usual at Paradise Manor. Hua Cheng had left earlier with a special client, leaving Yin Yu in charge of the studio. This had occurred several times throughout the month, but he didn’t really have anything better to do, so he’d man the studio to support his coworker’s budding relationship. Besides, he really liked Xie Lian.
Leafing through some tattoo designs, he heard the bell at the door jangle. His first thought was that it must be his coworker, but it was way too early for Hua Cheng to get back, so it must have been a client. He looked up with a smile on his face and high spirits—until he saw the client waiting in front of the counter.
The boy’s hair was fluffy and curly, and it looked like he’d tried unsuccessfully to flatten it out with gel. He was a little shorter than Yin Yu, and his face had child-like features. He was also wearing a school uniform, which made Yin Yu ask himself, “If he should be in school, then why is he here?”
“How can I help you?” He said as politely as he could. “I’m Yin Yu.”
The stranger looked around for a few moments before nodding. “I’m Quan Yizhen.”
After giving his name, he bent down to take a look at all the piercings they had on display in the glass case under the counter. Then he quietly flipped through some tattoo designs. Yin Yu left him in peace until he finally returned to the counter.
“Can you tattoo me?”
“How old are you?”
Instead of responding, Yizhen pulled out his student ID and showed Yin Yu the backside where his birth date was. In fact, the ID showed that that very day was Quan Yizhen’s birthday, the very first day of his legal adulthood.
“Happy birthday,” he congratulated. “Do you know what you’d like?”
Yizhen shook his head.
He wouldn’t be the first person to enter the shop not knowing what he wanted. Most students only came in to satisfy a temporary rebellious urge, and they usually changed their minds and left before the needle even got close to their skin. It was important to really think it over before committing to a tattoo, after all.
“Why don’t you come back when you’ve found a design that grabs your attention?” Yin Yu offered.
“I want one today.” The response was firm.
“Do your parents know?”
Yizhen didn’t respond.
Yin Yu sighed, then handed him the design book he’d been skimming through. “Do you want me to choose something for you? Hua Cheng knows more about tattoos and designs, if you’d like me to call him.”
Yizhen thought on the offer for a few minutes before shaking his head.
“I want you to do it.”
The response made his eyebrows raise a little. He refuse to let himself be surprised and decided to come around the counter to stand next to Quan Yizhen—although Yin Yu was older, Yizhen almost surpassed him in height—he took the design book and flipped to the simpler designs. These were the best for a first tattoo.
The farther from a bone, the less it hurts. Arms are usually a good place for first timers,” he explained. “Do you at least know where you want it?”
“On my back,” he said, and then asked, “Do you have any body mods?”
Yin Yu nodded. “I have a couple piercings and a tattoo on my shoulder.”
“Can I see?”
The question took Yin Yu off guard.
He tried to think up an excuse to avoid showing him, but then again, it wasn’t like there was a reason to avoid it, so he just took off his shirt. The chilly air brought goosebumps to his skin.[1] When he turned back to look at Yizhen, he suddenly felt very uncomfortable. This wasn’t the first time someone had asked to see his tattoo, customers often used it as a reference for positioning and how their tattoo would look.
The raven was the size of his palm, its wings extended like it was about to take flight. Originally, he’d wanted to put an inscription underneath it, but he’d never been able to think of a good enough phrase and he wasn’t too confident in Hua Cheng’s calligraphy work.
“Did it hurt?”
“Yeah, a lot. The upper back is usually a fine if you avoid the shoulder blades,” he couldn’t help but smile a little at the memory, “If you want, I can do the same design a little farther from the bone.”
His offer made the other smile.
Without any further direction, Yin Yu put his shirt back on. Quan Yizhen followed Yin Yu through the studio until he gave Yizhen instructions. It was somewhat surprising to see the lack of fear or nervousness on the other’s face; he imagined that Yizhen would lean back when he saw Yin Yu adjust the length of the needles in the machine, but even when he brought the tattoo gun a few centimeters from Yizhen’s skin, it seemed he was determined.
Yin Yu could feel the heat of his skin through the latex gloves. Before he turned the gun on, he couldn’t help but admire how smooth and beautiful Yizhen’s skin looked. It was a little tanner than Yin Yu’s skin, and he almost felt he could compare it to a canvas awaiting his brush strokes; moments before he had plotted the design base with a marker, to give Yizhen an idea of what it would look like.
“Tell me if you feel dizzy or nauseous. We can take a break whenever you want,” he advised before he started.
Yizhen shuddered when he felt the first touch, but he remained firm. He bit his lower lip a bit, but otherwise, he showed nothing more than slight discomfort. Every once in a while, Yin Yu reminded him to breathe. It was going much better than he’d hoped. Neither spoke and the hum of the machine was all they could hear. When he finished the lines, he brushed the skin just below his creation involuntarily.
“Sorry, originally, I wanted to put an inscription here on mine,” he confessed.
“Can you put one on mine?”
“Maybe when it’s healed,” he said with a smile. To hear that he was still willing to get work on his back seemed funny. Looking at him, Yin Yu never would have imagined that he had such a high pain tolerance. “For the time being, you should think of the phrase you’d like.”
Yizhen returned six weeks later. Yin Yu had almost forgotten him, as well as his promise to embellish his tattoo, until Yizhen showed him a piece of white paper with an inscription on it. From the confident manner Yizhen moved, Yin Yu concluded that the tattoo had healed well and Yizhen hadn’t had any problems with his parents over it.
“Is this the inscription you want?” he asked, reading the writing.
«引玉之砖»
«YinYuZhiZhuan»[2]
Tossing out bricks to bring forth jade. He tried to convince himself that it was just a coincidence that Yizhen had chosen the one proverb with Yin Yu’s name in it. Yin Yu. The expression had always been kind of depressing to him. So what if he wasn’t anyone great or valuable? Wouldn’t you use a brick to polish jade?
“This might hurt a little,” he warned.
Yizhen didn’t even move during the procedure.
Since he already knew the precautious he should take, Yizhen left after he asked Yin Yu about the meaning behind the crow, his favorite bird. They exchanged a few more words of banal conversation that brightened Yin Yu’s day, which successfully let him forget the particular phrase he’d just tattooed on the other’s shoulder.
Quan Yizhen was back in the salon only three weeks later.
“Are you healing well? Are you feeling any discomfort?” the questions left his mouth the other could say a word as to why he’d returned.
He took off his shirt cautiously to show Yin Yu the tattoo. The crow flew majestically, but there was some slight redness around the letters even though the scabs had already fallen off.
“I came back because I want a piercing,” explained Yizhen as he buttoned up his shirt again.
Hearing this, Yin Yu felt a little ridiculous for being worried earlier. He pulled out a leaflet with the name of each type of ear piercing so the other could see them.
“Boys your age usually get their ear lobes done. Or would you rather get a helix?” Yin Yu asked, pointing to each on the image.
Yizhen meditated on his words, but it seemed he’d already decided on the place before even showing up.
“I want my nipples pierced.”
The words petrified Yin Yu for a second.
Yin Yu had been a little younger than most would imagine when he’d gotten his nipples pierced, even if it was only a few years ago. Compared to other piercings, it was pretty painful. People usually started with their ears, but it wasn’t his place to judge. Besides, Yizhen wasn’t exactly like most people.
“It hurts way more than getting your ears done,” he scoffed.
“Your clients told you?”
Yin Yu’s shoulders sank slightly with the other’s serious expression. “I speak from experience.”
With this comment, Yizhen’s gaze gropped to Yin Yu’s chest; Yin Yu barely managed to hide his chest from the teenager’s eyes.
“You don’t seem surprised,” Yin Yu pointed out.
Like he’d been caught in the act, Yizhen brought his eyes back up, and he almost seemed ashamed.
“You said you had piercings. Plural. But you only have one in your ear,” Yizhen explained, then added, “Did it hurt?”
He smiled.
It had been about two months since that conversation, and Yin Yu was surprised he remembered it at all. Now he just had to force himself not to relate Yizhen’s decision to get his nipples pierced with Yin Yu’s own nipple piercings. Surely he’d only made the decision out of curiosity. Nothing weird about that, nothing to worry about.
“I got the left one done first,” he began to explain, wondering whether it would be weird or helpful to show Yizhen his piercings again. “I waited a month before I decided to do the right, since I usually have a low pain tolerance.” After saying so, he stepped away from the counter to for the tools he’d need. “I have to measure your nipples first before putting everything in the autoclave. Do you know what type of jewelry you want to put through them?
“Amethysts,” responded Yizhen.
And then he pointed to a shining pair resting under the glass. They were curved and their shine had caught Yin Yu’s attention from the moment he saw them in the piercing magazine he subscribed to.
“Straight bars are less painful and facilitate healing…” he began to say, but the other interrupted him.
“I want them to give as a present.”
The response made Yin Yu raise his brows, and he completely abandoned to instruments in his hands.
“You don’t want the piercing anymore?”
Yizhen shook his head.
It was the first time he’d changed his mind. Yin Yu might even have been a little disappointed. He didn’t let the feeling linger as he pulled the jewelry and made sure it was sterilized. Then he dropped them into a transparent plastic bag. He wanted to ask the other what had made him change his mind, but it didn’t feel polite.
He remembered that he’d mentioned how painful the piercing was, but that didn’t seem like a good enough reason for Yizhen to change his mind.
“Then, are you giving them to your girlfriend?” he questioned, trying not to appear too interested.
“It’s not for a girl.”
The response for some reason made his heartbeat stutter.
He’d assumed that Quan Yizhen was straight, as he assumed for all of his clients, but he wasn’t surprised to learn he was wrong. The knowledge brought with it a strange emotion.
“Oh, then they’re for your boyfriend?”
“He’s not my boyfriend yet.”
They exchanged these words with serious expressions, and then it was Yin Yu’s turn to speak.
“Well, it’s a pretty peculiar gift.”
“I want to give it to him as a declaration,” confessed Yizhen.
“I hope he accepts.”
Yizhen nodded.
It felt like his gaze seemed like it was trying to say something, but Yin Yu wasn’t sure what to call it.
“Me too.”
That was the last thing he said before he left the studio.
A week had just passed when Hua Cheng tossed him a small purple box with a yellow ribbon. It had been an easy morning, and Hua Cheng was only in the studio because his boyfriend’s classes at university were running late. Yin Yu wasn’t sure how to react to the sudden gift.
“This is…?” he asked.
“A student dropped it off yesterday. Told me to give it to you.”
This answer immediately made Yin Yu reach for the ribbon, but he didn’t take the lid off just yet.
“A student?”
“Seemed to me to be a client of yours.” Hua Cheng explained.
Yin Yu felt his heart go still for an instant when he saw the brilliant gems and the little note stuck to the inside of the lid. He couldn’t say he was surprised, but somewhere in his heart there was a strong emotion that was made it difficult to hide his smile for a moment.
“Amethysts to match your eyes.”