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Piercings & Clarity

Summary: In which Dayeon drags 032 to get something pierced with her, and he ends up making a friend all on his own.

Alternatively:

Hyeokjin gets a phone call about giving two teenagers their first piercings and ends up finding out that he actually has more in common with the kid with red eyes than he's thought. Also, Jaehyeong is there.

Chapter based off fic by lloydskywalkers

***

032 was distracted.

Dayeon can see it — he keeps tearing at his cuticles so much that there is blood, his foot keeps jumping, and his red eyes sometimes go glassy in thought mid-conversation. She wonders how someone who has spent most of his life hiding how he felt can have such obvious cues.

"What is it?" She finally asks.

Isak jolts. "H-Huh?"

"I said, what is it? You've been anxious all day." Dayeon says. Isak opens his mouth to argue, but Dayeon cuts him off. "And don't you lie to me — you've been biting the skin around your nails since before we sat down. You're already bleeding."

Isak glances down to see that, yes, the skin around his thumbs has been bitten raw. Dayeon casually sits back in her seat, crossing her legs and triumphantly taking a sip out of her exquisite blend of milky taro boba tea.

Isak huffs, and as if to make a point, shoves his hands into his red jacket pockets. Wrappers of kimbaps and empty cup noodles sit between them on the table as he sulks. Dayeon rolls a tapioca pearl in her mouth and crushes it, tasting the delicious blend of tea bursting through.

Lowering her voice and leaning close, Dayeon gently taps her converse sneaker against his own. "You can tell me."

Isak stares at her for a long time with his red-colored eyes, looking at her like he's trying to fit what sort of category she belongs in for the types of people he's met behind his eyes. Dayeon meets his gaze evenly, not wavering in the slightest even though she feels like her nerves are about to burst through her skin.

He opens his mouth and closes it before suddenly turning away. Stupidly, Dayeon can't help but feel stung, like she's just been rejected. She immediately pushes the analogy away before she can dwell on it more.

"It's nothing," she almost misses his sigh. "Really. Just a mission gone wrong." His hands come out again to twist the straw wrappers into a knotted mess.

A pang of anxiety shot through her. "Is everyone okay?" She asks.

He flinches, and Dayeon knows she's hit a nerve. The tapioca on her tongue suddenly feels too large to swallow.

"Hey," she says softly. She reaches over to take his hand, but Isak dodges, already curling into himself and making himself smaller and harder to catch. "Isak."

He freezes at the sound of his name, and Dayeon takes the opportunity to grab him before he can escape. She swings her leg and hooks her ankle around his own for extra measure. "Is he alive?"

"Yes."

"Is he going to be okay?"

A pause, before he says so softly, Dayeon has to strain her ears to hear. "... y-yes."

Dayeon squeezes their clasped hands and says nothing, letting her silence speak for itself. She can feel 032's hand trembling under her own, and she holds it as long as she needs to as he tries to steady it.

Finally, he lets out a deep breath and leans back into his chair. Dayeon pulls away, too, and reaches for her boba, needing something to occupy her hands. She watches as 032 collects himself, rubbing at the spot between his eyes. "Are you okay?"

032 lets out a deep sigh and drops his hand. "Yeah. Thank you."

Her lips pull into a soft smile. "Anytime," she says and hopes he can see how sincere she's being.

Dayeon thoughtfully twirls the boba tea with her straw, the tapioca pearls and ice slush swirling around the cup as she observes 032. He's picking at his food, and she knows that even though he doesn't have an appetite, he's going to eat anyway.

She wants to ask — she wants to know — which one of the Numbers had gotten hurt. If she knew them.

(The giant who had gently led her to the car, her hand so tiny while encased with his. The driver, who had leaned over and buckled her seatbelt when she was blind. 002, the second-in- command who had saved her. Who had cut off the ropes and pulled down the gag and told her it was over. She only knew his number because she had begged for it in a moment of weakness, desperate to know who she was talking to.

He had let her see his tattoo. Had let her run trembling fingers over the black ink until she calmed down, and in return, she didn't dare avert her eyes upwards. Instead, she pulled the blindfold down herself and said thank you.)

She forces herself out of her memories. She shouldn't press 032, not unless she wanted him to close up forever. It was clear he was blaming himself over whatever had happened. Now wasn't the time to be a detective. Now was the time to be there for her friend.

A sudden idea came to her, and she stood up, taking the last few sips of her boba before throwing it in the trash.

"Hey," she says suddenly, and Isak looks up. She smirks. "Wanna do something impulsive?"

Isak blinks, surprised, before he gives her a grin as slick as the devils'.

***

"Dayeon, are you sure about this?"

Dayeon looks up from where she's texting on her phone and blinks. "Huh?"

Isak is walking on the inside of the curb, subtly protecting her from the cars on the street as she strolls on the sidewalk. The orange glow of the sunset casts dancing shadows at their feet as they walk together.

"I mean, are you sure you want to get your ears pierced?" Isak clarifies. "You don't have to do this just because I'm not feeling well, you know."

But Dayeon waves him off. "No, I want to do this. I was the one who brought it up, remember?"

He could not argue with that.

"I already texted the guy who's gonna pierce our ears that we're on our way." Dayeon changes the subject. "He's setting up right now."

"He's done piercings before?"

"Yup." Dayeon grins like she's hiding a secret. "He's the reason Yeona's hiding her belly piercing."

Isak snorts.

"Why? Are you having doubts?" Dayeon asks. Her brown eyes peer into him worriedly. "I did sort of drag you into this. You don't have to do it if you don't want to."

"No, no, I want to do this," Isak assures her quickly. He looks down as he walks, absently kicking a stray chunk of concrete. Once again he thinks of 018, the memory of him bleeding out in 008's arms, the severe lines drawn in 002's face when he reported that it was Alice of Forest that had nearly killed one of the Numbers.

His fault. If only he had been more thorough when he'd run a background check on her. If only he hadn't assigned 018 with that mission. It was supposed to be a simple body-guarding job. 032 should have realized the red flags when Alice — the supposed VIP at the time — had dangled that much cash at him when she said she simply needed security.

He forcefully drags himself out of his thoughts and focuses on Dayeon in front of him. Dayeon, who had clocked on in an instant that something was bothering him. Dayeon, who accepted the bare-bone explanation he gave her and didn't press. Dayeon, who was taking the both of them to get their ears pierced just so he could distract himself.

He had always thought that piercings were cool when he was younger. They just seemed to make the wearer so adult. The novelty had worn off when he'd gotten older though, because usually more adult meant more of an asshole — 004 being a prime example, even though he had already been an asshole long before he had smothered himself in edgy piercings and tattoos. He had never imagined what it would be like to get piercings himself — he didn't have time to imagine something as frivolous as that — but if he did he imagined it would be by 004's hand, probably in a shitty basement somewhere and with a rusty needle.

And seeing by how much he trusted 004 with a pointy object near his face, the possibility of that happening would be about zero.

Although, maybe 004 would do it anyway without fucking it up just to piss 006 off.

"Well, you don't have to worry," Dayeon says confidently, snapping him out of his thoughts. "The person who's piercing our ears is completely professional!"

Seeing her beam up at him, Isak didn't have the heart to tell her he didn't share her sentiments.

***

When Hyeokjin received a text from Dayeon that she and her friend wanted impromptu ear piercings, he wasn't really sure what to think. It was sudden, out of nowhere, and the only background he got on the decision was that her friend needed a spark of "teen rebellion" in him.

He was pretty sure Ijin would break his arm if he found out he had given his younger sister a piercing without telling him, so that should have very quickly decided on what his answer would be for her request.

Hyeokjin texted back his agreement and began setting up the tools he would need for future teenage mutilation.

Half an hour later, there's a small click that comes from the door and Dayeon peeks her head in wearing a bright smile. "Hey! We're here!"

Yeongchan is busy streaming, but he looks up to give a brief hello. Jaehyeong looks up from his video game, his jaw practically unhinged from being crammed with triangle kimbaps. Ijin and Seokju are busy bodyguarding at SW with Yeona, so it's only them.

Jaehyeong swallows his meal forcibly, managing to only look slightly pained at the action. "Hey," he greets hoarsely. "Come in."

She walks in, leaving the door open for a foreign boy to enter slowly.

He recognizes him — shoulder-length pale blond hair, red eyes; he's pretty sure his name is Isak. Hyeokjin had only met the kid a couple of times — Dayeon had introduced him and Ijin had said he was one of his friends from overseas and that they grew up together. He was a bit quiet and hesitant around them, and the only thing Hyeokjin knew about him was that he was insane at video games (likely better than Yeongchan, but he had a sneaking suspicion he was holding back) and that he could probably fight as good as Ijin (which was a terrifying thought).

"Hey," he snaps a quick photo of Jaehyeong stuffing his face and stands up. "You ready to get your ears pierced?"

Dayeon beams and nods. The blond kid merely shoves his hands in pockets. He seems so apprehensive that he looks ready to stab him with a pen if something goes wrong.

Hyeokjin takes it like a champ, though. He's dealt with a range of customers in his extensive, side-hustling career as an ear piercer. He couldn't expect the kid to be as enthusiastic as Dayeon — knowing her she probably sprang this on him and he said yes without thinking because he was blinded by her smile and big eyes.

He leads them to the backroom with Jaehyeong trailing after them.

"You lucky bastards," Jaehyeong says as soon as he sees all the professional equipment Hyeokjin had pulled out. He resists the urge to sigh — he knew this was coming.

"What?" Dayeon asks.

"You got all these fancy toys to pierce your ears," he gestures to the needle gun and rubbing alcohol. "You know what I had?" He doesn't wait for an answer. "An earring and an eraser."

Hyeokjin groans. "Dude, shut up, we were twelve. And you're the one who wanted a piercing to begin with."

"Mine got infected! I nearly lost my ears!"

"No, you didn't. Stop being dramatic. You were just being a baby about it." He rolls his eyes.

He turns to reassure the two younger teenagers, who suddenly look a lot more apprehensive than they did before. "Don't worry, he's just being dramatic. The worst it got was being red and swollen, and that was because he didn't bother to clean it."

"I still can't put earrings in!"

"— Because you kept on getting more piercings before they actually healed! As long as you take care of your piercings, that won't happen."

The blond kids' head bobs and Dayeon steps forward.

"I'll go first," she says determinedly. She takes a seat on the couch and tucks her hair behind her ears, showing no signs of nervousness except for her clenched fingers.

"Do you know anyone who has a lot of piercings?" Hyeokjin asks the blond kid to fill the silence as he snaps on his rubber gloves and marks Dayeon's ears.

"Y-Yeah, I know a guy who has a ton of them all over his face."

"What kind of piercings does he have?" Jaehyeong asks.

"Umm ..." the kid looks up in thought. "An eyebrow piercing, a lip piercing, a tongue piercing, and a bunch of ear piercings."

"Sounds like an awesome guy," Jaehyeong remarks.

"Not really, he's an asshole."

"Never mind, then," He dismissed immediately. "Compliment withdrawn."

The kid ducks his head, but Hyeokjin can see the small smile that he tries to hide tugging his lips. From the wide grin Jaehyeong is sporting, he can tell he sees it too.

Hyeokjin switches to icing Dayeon's ears next, and prepares his earring gun. Jaehyeong covers his eyes as he presses it against her cold lobes, and after a brief countdown, pierces her ear. Dayeon lets out a small gasp, and the kid tenses from where he's watching protectively over his shoulder. Hyeokjin tries not to sweat as his eyes drill a hole in the back of his head as he does the other ear.

"Finished," he announces, relieved. Dayeon bounds toward the mirror hanging up and her eyes go round with awe as she stares at the glimmering jewels.

"Wow," she breathes, admiring herself in the mirror. "They look amazing. Thank you, Hyeokjin." She beams at him, and he feels his face grow warm with embarrassment.

"No problem," he coughs.

She starts going through her purse. "How much do I —"

"No," Hyeokjin holds up a hand to stop her protest. "It's for free."

She freezes, staring up at him uncertainly with big doe eyes. Hyeokjin wonders why she looks so wary, before he suddenly remembers that for however sweet and kind this girl was, she wasn't used to receiving good things. He meets her gaze evenly, silently telling her that it was okay. Finally after a long moment, she acquiesced, slowly withdrawing her hand from her purse. Hyeokjin releases the breath he didn't know he was holding and mentally reminds himself to give both the Yu siblings more good things for free.

God knows they needed it.

She gives him a thankful, if slightly hesitant, smile, and he returns it.

"The hell?" Jaehyeong ruins the moment. "You didn't give me a free first piercing! I had to pay you!"

Hyeokjin feels a vein in his temple pulse. "That's because you kept on whining when I was doing it! Stop complaining! There are two special clients here!" He yells.

"I'm special too, dammit!"

Hyeokjin shook his head before returning to the blond kid who's watching the whole exchange with interested red eyes. "Whatever. You're just jealous everyone else has a cool, badass piercing and you don't."

"Fuck off," Jaehyeong scowls. "Just wait until my ears finally heal, I'll show you badass."

"Oh yeah, I can't wait to see what kind of cheap skull earring you infect yourself with next —"

Jaehyeong snarls and storms off in a fit of embarrassed rage, blushing all the way to his roots as he flips them off without looking back. Dayeon looks back and forth between the two of them before following — but not before giving her friend an encouraging thumbs up, who suddenly looks much more uncertain now that she's not there with him.

There's a beat of silence as they are left in the room alone. Hyeokjin suddenly feels awkward without Jaehyeong or Dayeon there to act as a buffer.

He snaps on a new pair of gloves and gives him a grin. "You ready?"

***

The kid is not entirely reassured, even though Hyeokjin had sworn he was safe. When he pierced Dayeon's ears, it had taken about five minutes.

Clean the ears, ice 'em, put the earrings in the gun, and shoot.

But this kid? He kept fidgeting, perpetually moving, constantly jumpy. He kept shifting positions until finally, Hyeokjin had him cornered into the arm of the couch, sitting criss-cross with him hovering close on his other side so he couldn't escape anymore.

The kid twists his fingers together, looking like he was trying not to bite them out of anxiety. "It's better than being stabbed with a knife, right?" he asks, seemingly forgetting that he had watched Dayeon take the stinging piercing like a champ not even ten minutes ago. "Like, I can do knife-stab pain, but I was kinda hoping it wouldn't hurt that bad ...?"

Hyeokjin ... didn't entirely know what to say to that. Has this kid been stabbed? Seeing how he had grown up with Ijin, the thought was very likely, even though Ijin hadn't exactly been detailed about his life before Korea. He just knew life was dangerous over there and that it sucked.

"It'll hardly hurt at all," he says, slightly perturbed. "If you have the same pain tolerance as Ijin, you're not even gonna feel it. Trust me."

For some reason, the kid tenses at the word. "A-Alright — hey!" He flinches back, eyes wide.

Hyeokjin instantly puts his hands up. "Shit, sorry! It's just rubbing alcohol." The kid's eyes lock on the alcohol-soaked cotton ball and relaxes. He settles down again, and Hyeokjin assumes it's safe to continue, slowly rubbing the cotton against his earlobes.

"Sorry for being so jumpy," the kid mutters after a moment. "I'm not used to being so ..."

A bunch of questions jump forward, but Hyeokjin bites his tongue and simply shrugs. "It's alright. Lots of people are nervous for the first time. You should've seen Jaehyeong when he first got his."

The kid snorts, and Hyeokjin finishes cleaning his earlobes. Satisfied that the kid won't suffer any immediate crippling infections, he grabs the earrings they're using and the gun.

"You ... know what you're doing, right?" The kid asks, suddenly apprehensive now that the needle is coming into play.

"Of course I do," Hyeokjin says. "I pierced myself and Jaehyeong's ears when we were younger. And you already know I did Yeona and Dayeon. I tried to do Seokju and Ijin, but they're too straight-laced. I would've pierced Yeongchan's the first week we became friends, but he chickened out last minute."

The kid presses his lips together to hide his laugh. "If you had come up to me with a needle the first week we met, I probably would've booked it, too."

"Hey, watch it!" Hyeokjin swats him. "I'm older than you and the one holding the gun. You better watch it, or else I might slip up."

"Alright, alright," the kid says hastily, backing down at the threat.

Hyeokjin smirks, flexing his wrists. "Alright, I'm gonna ice your ear so it's numb, then do the actual piercing. You want a countdown?"

"No," he says, hands fisting anxiously in the sleeves of his red jacket.

"Alright," Hyeokjin nods absently. It goes quiet as he starts numbing his ear, loading up the gun with the earring, and piercing it. The kid, for all his previous drama, didn't even flinch when it happened. His eyes were shut and he looked lost in thought. Hyeokjin bet he didn't even feel it happen.

"So," he starts conversationally as he presses ice to the other ear. "What really brought this on? And don't give me that teen rebellion thing Dayeon fed me — I mean it."

The kid snaps his eyes open, staring at him with wide red eyes. It turns from shock to studying, with a hint of defensiveness to it. It reminds him of Ijin and his past, of Yeongchan and his bullying, of his brother.

Hyeokjin stares back, unfaltering and serious. He wants him to know, wants him to see, that he can trust him. That he was genuine and carried a real concern.

He wanted him to know because even though he didn't know this kid with secrets, he genuinely cared about him.

Isak hesitates, breaking his gaze and biting his lips. He fidgets in silence for a few moments before sighing.

"It was just ... something from work. I was in charge of putting people on their assignments, but I messed up. I wasn't as thorough as I thought I was and ... one of my colleagues got injured. I don't know — it's dumb, but ... I guess I felt like wanting to do something stupid. It'd be nice to mess up on purpose for once," he says quietly. "Without consequences."

Hyeokjin's frown deepens, his thumb pressing against the needle of the earring.

It's not that he doesn't understand the sentiment — of course he does, probably more than he'd like. Hyeokjin is not exactly a stranger to messing up. He's definitely not a stranger to beating yourself up over it afterwards. He understands all too well how it can build up — the constant fear of failure, the pressure not to mess up, the resentment and anger when you do.

It's just sometimes you're struck with the most irrational desire to fuck up on purpose out of pure spite. Hyeokjin gets that.

At least Dayeon was smart enough to pick something that wouldn't hurt anyone.

"Well," Hyeokjin snaps himself out of it and pierces the other ear decisively. "I wouldn't call this messing up because it looks pretty damn good if I do say so myself."

"Yeah, alright." Isak takes a breath. "Okay, I'm ready. Pierce my ear."

"I already did, genius. Did you miss what I just said?"

His eyes pop open. "Huh?"

"Told you," Hyeokjin snorts. "Pain tolerance. Ear piercings are nothing if you're able to hold your own against Ijin."

Isak is frozen for a moment, then he scurries over to the mirror and brushes his blond hair away so he can get a look at it. Hyeokjin hovers behind him, suddenly nervous.

"Do you like it? You can always take it out if you don't. It'll close up on its own, and you can get it done by an actual professional —"

"I love it," Isak blurts out. He traces his finger over a little silver stud. "Thank you."

Hyeokjin lets out a tiny breath of relief and smirks. "You're welcome. Just make sure to come to me when you want more piercings done."

He beams, and for a split-second the kid actually manages to look his age. "Definitely."

He leaves Isak with a set of instructions on how to take care in his piercings, with him nodding diligently, before they head out of the room to join the others. Ijin, Seokju, and Yeona must have come by sometime, and the room is filled with warm laughter and annoyed shouts. Isak immediately makes a beeline to Dayeon, who is sitting on the beanbags, and she instantly begins admiring his new piercings.

Dayeon catches his eye and smiles gratefully.

Hyeokjin returns it and goes to sit by Jaehyeong, who pauses his game. "So, how was it?" He asks lowly.

Hyeokjin thinks back as he settles into his chair. "It was good," he says honestly. "I like him. He's a good kid."

Jaehyeong's grey eyes glance towards Ijin, who is sitting with Yeongchan as they discuss video games.

"Guess they all are," he says as he resumes the game. "From wherever the fuck they came from."

Hyeokjin smirks. "Guess so."

***

"Dayeon?"

"Hmm?"

"Thank you ... for this. I really needed it."

Knuckles gently knock against each other in the dim moonlight as they walk home.

"No problem. You had fun?"

"Yeah. Hyeokjin made me promise to come back to him when I want more piercings."

A soft laugh. "That's good. You'd look good with more piercings."

A flash of red crosses his face, glowing so brightly they're like embers in the night. He tries to hide by ducking his head and shielding his face with his blond hair.

"Will you ... come back with me for more?"

"I dunno. How badly will your brother complain about not being there for your piercings?"

"Probably a lot. But he'll get over it."

Another laugh, before her head tips back to look at him, lips curling into the warm smile that forms the small indents of her dimples.

"Then I'd love to."

***

#teenage mercenary #mercenary enrollment #032 #yu dayeon #ju hyeokjin #lee jaeyeong #yu ijin #032 & dayeon #long fic

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