Trent - Breath

[alexdraven]

Previous parts of Trent's story are indexed here, and this follows on directly from Snap.

Joshua and Holey Rites, like the rest of Eden, belongs to the wonderfull cicirossi, who co-wrote this section. Ru belongs to the lovely tsuki_no_bara. Comments of any sort are most welcome.

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The place was a lot – more - when it was empty. Bigger and somehow more intimidating. Trent came to a halt a couple of steps in to the room. He didn’t recognize the guy perched on a stool dozing behind the counter either. Which maybe would make it easier. At least in theory. Except he was rapidly realizing he had no idea where to start after all, and maybe he should just step back out again and think about this some more.

He shifted the bag on his shoulder a little, one hand reaching behind to feel for his wallet inside it, the shine of the cases making him remember the small matter of paying for this. He inched forward a little, rather than moving backwards.

“Do I have to make an appointment , or ….?” He managed.

"Depends on what you want a hole in." A wide grin split the guy's broad, black face. "You don't if it's not something...really personal. I'm slow today."

"Do nipples count as personal?"

Trent blinked - ok, so he could do this.

"Nah. Just genitals. One or two? And how old are you?"

"Nineteen, and both. I think."

"Cool. Here, fill this out."

The guy handed him a clipboard with a form on it.

"Any allergies? Anything that would keep you from caring for them or healing? Diabetes? Auto-immune diseases?"

"Um, no?" Trent started to write in the address of the dorms before closing his eyes for a second. He scribbled it out and went with his parent's address.

"Cool. We can look at what you want when you're done."

Trent looked at him blankly for a second. The sheer volume of piercings the guy had made Trent horribly aware that he had no clue what he was getting in to.

In the end he had to ask. "Um, what I want?"

"Yeah, you get a choice, you know? Depends on what kind of look you want, what kind of ring, which way. All that stuff. You okay?"

The guy looked at him shrewdly, but not unkindly. Trent hoped he didn’t look as embarrassed as he felt.

"I'm fine" he said quickly. "I just - I guess I hadn't really checked out all the options, is all."

Nodding, the guy pointed to his paperwork again.

"Well, finish that up and we can look. Make sure you know. And you can change your mind anytime, okay?"

Trent flashed a quick smile that probably just made him look nuts, and ducked his head back to scan over the forms. "Thanks" he added after a moment.

There was a knot of nerves in his belly that he knew all to well meant he was probably fucking up another social interaction, and he realized when he went to write that he was jogging his knee. Way to go looking cool calm and collected he chided himself. Still, the guy was being pretty patient so far, and people being nervous couldn't exactly be a novelty for someone who worked here, he reasoned. He signed his name under the list of things he understood, and took a deep slow breath as he pushed the clipboard back across the cabinet top.

"Cool. I'm Joshua, by the way. Now, let's look."

Joshua nodded and led the way over to a case of rings and stuff.

"I'm Trent" Trent replied, grateful that the whole shake hands / don’t shake hands issue was pretty much taken care of, seeing as Joshua was busy with a key ring, opening up the case.

"Well, hey Trent. So. Here's some of the stuff you can choose from. Good to start with something this size." He pointed. "And probably titanium. But that still leaves plenty of room for individuality."

"Um, I was thinking something pretty plain - just like, silver colored rings? With the beads?"

"That we can do." Those white, white teeth flashed again. 'Something like this?" A small tray got shoved at him.

It took Trent a second to realize that the rings and the beads were separated out - rings in different diameters across the tops, and beads in all sorts of sizes and colors filling the rest of the compartments. He ran a finger over the lid, considering.

"Can you get any of the balls with any of the rings, or do they have to, like, match or something?"

"Well, you don't want those, I imagine." The smallest rings were pushed aside. "But anything else goes, you know? You just have to decide what you want dangling off your tit."

He got a wink on that, and really really hoped that he wasn't blushing.

"Um - I guess those rings", he said, pointing, to a smallish medium size "and maybe these - the really tiny ones?"

He indicated the line of deep blue tinted capture beads.

"Yeah. That'll work. C'mon. Let's get you back here and get everything nice and sterile."

"Cool" Trent nodded, and followed the broad back towards a three sided cubical.

The cube was all bright colors and geometrics, unlike the more modern chrome and glass main room. What looked like a huge marijuana plant grew in one corner. There were a few mirrors, too, obviously to see what you'd gotten, and a dentist type chair, only more comfy looking.

"Have a sit."

Trent hopped up on the chair, which was tall enough to leave his feet swinging. He looked around, trying to take it all in and concentrating on looking like he did this kind of thing all the time. He could see Joshua behind him, at a counter in the back corner. He couldn't quite see what was going on, but it involved enough tearing open of sealed packages, and at least two changes of latex gloves. That was enough to help him firmly squash the voice in the back of his head that was insisting this was a bad idea, and would only lead to infections and medical problems. The voice sounded rather too much like his Mom's for comfort.

"So." Joshua turned back to him. "You okay? Because we can get started."

"OK" Trent squeaked. He swallowed and tried again. "What do I need to do?"

"Well, sit still for a minute while we mark the placement. Up and down or side to side, by the way?"

Joshua waited a few beats, then waved a hand. "Your shirt? Unless you don't want the nipples done after all?"

"Oh - no! I mean yes .."

Trent looked down to undo the buttons on his shirt, cursing himself for an idiot.

"Sorry."

He tugged off the shirt and draped it across his lap, pulling his t-shirt up. He hesitated before he lifted it over his head, looking at the open front of the cubical.

"I can turn the chair if you want. I gotta leave the curtain open though, as it's just me today."

Trent could just feel his cheeks heating up. "No - it's fine." he said, giving himself the mental kick to follow through on his words.

"As long as you're cool." Joshua was trying to make it easy, he could tell. But it didn't help much. "So, horizontal?" There was cold swabbing on each nipple, and then hovering.

"Um - yes. Please." He closed his eyes and the cool impersonal fingers on his chest were oddly familiar. Maybe costume fittings and enduring stage make up do prepare you for something in the real world after all.

"Okay, let's have a look and see what you think." Joshua touched his arm, waiting for him to look at him before helping him up to go to the mirror.

The guy was doing everything possible to set Trent at ease, and he couldn't honestly say he didn't appreciate the steady hand on his elbow. The mirror showed stark black dots either side of his nipples.

Now it was coming to the crunch point - well, he certainly understood why Ru'd always been happy to have him along as moral support. He took a deep breath, noticing more than he could remember ever having noticed before how his chest moved. He nodded a couple of times to Joshua.

"That's good." God he hoped that sounded less wobbly than it did to him.

"Dude. First time's always the hardest. Then you'll be hooked." Guiding him back, Joshua sat him down again. "Now, before I poke holes, you're sure?"

"Oh great - I look that freaked?" Trent let that out in a rush.

"Nope. I always ask. Don't want someone sueing me later."

"That makes sense." Trent smiled, more at himself than anything. "And yes - I am that freaked, but yeah - I'm sure. Poke away. I want to do this."

"Gonna put you back now, okay?" The chair reclined right out from under him, and he flopped back. "Sorry." There was a bit more fiddling to the underside of the chair.

"Right." The gloves came off and another pair went on and Joshua explained to him what was happening. "We're gonna clamp, which helps me. Kat does everything freehand, and that's cool, but I don't."

More touches, more eek.

"ok" Trent nodded, like he had the first idea what the significance of that was. "Is it ok if I move first?" he asked.

: "Sure."

Trent wriggled up the couch, till he could rest his heels on the end, knees up. "Is this ok?"

"Works for me if you're comfy. Just don't put one foot higher than the other. Makes you crooked."

Trent nodded, feeling the leather cool under his neck. He took a breath and rolled his shoulders back, making sure he was straight. "Ok".

"Here we go." Joshua worked on getting him ready, chattering all the while about nipples and depth and girls versus boys, but it made little sense. "Deep breath, okay? In first, then let it out. Nice and slow."

Trent sucked in a deep breath, trying not to let himself think too hard, and let it out, long and slow and damn but that hurt. The sharp pain was over in a heartbeat, and the surprise took most of the edge of it, but still... He tensed his neck, wanting both to look down and to stay very still.

Joshua's fingers were busy, and he kept up a stream of reassurance and small questions that kept Trent anchored on him. The knot of nerves in Trent's belly had been thoroughly replaced with the hot ache in his nipple that flared a little every time Joshua moved something. When he removed the clamp Trent had to bite back a cry.

"Yeah. You're doing great. Breathe a minute." Joshua grinned at him.

"I'm good" Trent insisted.

The mobile on the ceiling of the cubical caught the light, and a fan blew sweeps of cool air over his skin, and he could hear Joshua moving around behind him, and for a moment just floating there seemed like a real good plan.

His breathing leveled out, and he rolled his head back, curious. "Everything ok?"

"Yep. Just giving you a minute." Joshua was back. "Okay. Here we go."

They went through the whole thing again. This time he was expecting it, and it was harder to make himself let out the key breath. The pinch and burn hurt more, and Trent screwed up his face, biting his lip, determined not to wuss out now.

"There. All done but the cleaning and the care and feeding instructions. You did great."

Joshua seemed sincere, not at all humoring him. Trent drew a ragged breath, and went to sit up. He felt kind of light headed and a little dizzy, and both his nipples were hot and throbbing. He ended up resting on both elbows, looking down at his own chest. They were really there. solid, and catching the light, and there. His nipples were swollen, and the little bit of blood he could see looked very very red.

He swallowed.

"Hey don't keel over on me now." Joshua steadied him. "We don’t have orange juice and doughnuts like they do when you give blood, but I have some Hershey's kisses if it makes you feel better."

Trent managed a weak grin. "Like anyone's going to say no to chocolate".

"Cool." Joshua cleaned him up and patted his back and got him some kisses, all the while chattering to cover his own goofy silence.

He managed to get through the whole aftercare lecture without having to say anything more complicated that "right" and "ok". He was still spaced and the throb in his chest was about the only thing that felt really real.

"Okay, kid. You're all set."

Joshua handed him his shirt.

"Soaking twice a day - for how long again?" Trent asked, muffled while he pulled the t-shirt over his head. He stiffened, moving carefully, as he straightened it over his chest. The jersey pushed the dressings against the hyper-sensitive skin, and he suppressed a shiver.

"About six weeks. They'll be that way for a bit."

Trent was sure he was blushing a bit, it was that obvious? Right now it was too much like pain for him to have anything to be worried about, but it occurred to him that given a few days, that might not be the case.

"Six weeks - ok." He knew he was blushing but he had to ask ... if he could just make the words come out, that is.

"Um - and six weeks till, um ..." Goddamnit the guy was smiling at him. "'Till it's ok for someone to, um, play with them?" There.

"You got a girlfriend?" The guy was definitely grinning. "I'd give it that long, longer if you're talking spit."

He made himself hold his head high. "It's not exactly an issue at the moment, but I wanted to know."

"Cool. I mean not. But yeah." Joshua himself looked kinda embarrassed. "Sorry if I got too personal, dude."

Trent blinked. He was just six for six with conversations today. The guy had been really nice, and everything, and he had to go get all on his high horse at him.

"No - it's ok - I was just .." he shrugged and gave him a sheepish smile. "sorry."

"Hey, no worries." Joshua made sure he was steady before leading him out front. “You know, there's a great cafe across the street. You ought to go get some food. Put color in your cheeks."

"Yeah. I guess I probably should eat, right?" .

“Yes. You should.” The smile was back. Trent reminded himself that the guy probably saw twenty people a week all spaced out and shaky from their first piercings.

"Thanks" Trent stopped by the door, looking back. "The whole thing, thank you."

"Good luck, kid."

"Thanks". Trent said again, before pushing off.

The main corridor of the House of Pain was busier than it had been when he’d come in, however long ago that was. Trent had to resist the urge to stick his arms straight out in front of him as soon as the thought that someone might brush into him crossed his mind.

He settled for crossing his arms cautiously over his front, and making a beeline for Quoths, just like Joshua had told him to.