A cold night breeze couldn't stop Tao from where he was going that night. He pulled his jacket and hid his hand inside, keep walking straight the empty road. It was almost midnight, so no wonder there were less people wandering around at a time like this. It made Tao somewhat relieved, of the fact that there was probably any single person would recognize him out there. Because he would surely get a trouble if someone he knew spotted him and knew what he would do that night. And this was the reason he sneaked out of his room while his parents had fast asleep.

He stopped himself in front of a building. The only building that was still has its light on in the area. Some neon lights placed at the top of the big window beside the door, forming words of the shop name. "Haole Studio". the curtain was shut off, so nothing could be seen from the big window, but the sign on the door informed him that the shop was still open. Without second thought, Tao opened the door and get himself in.

"Welcome~ May I help you?" A long reddish haired guy greeted Tao with a smile behind the receptionist desk. It was a small waiting room with many tattoo designs and silver piercing models framed on the wall. There was a comfy red sofa too. His right-hair side was combed to the back of the head, revealing six silver piercings on his ear. The name on his identity pin on his chest was Sungyeol. A 'what-was-he-doing-here' expression could slightly be drawn from his face, even though he preferred to stay with his pretty smile.

"I'm here to get my ear-piercing done." Tao explained, with a bit shaky voice. He had been thinking about this matter over and over again, but he was already there now. It would be a waste if he turned back. Plus, he really needed it to be done. At least one piercing on his ear, so he could tell the gang from his school that he could do it too. It was not like his school allow any student get body piercing and things like that, but he could always wear it off when he was in class, and wear it again when there was no teacher and staff… Or so he planned.

"Pardon me?" The staff chuckled upon hearing Tao's words. He scanned Tao from the top of the head, until his foot, and back to the top. "Uh, look, kid. It's-" He glanced at his watch. "Past midnight already. You better go home, wash your feet and have a nice dream." The staff smiled and waved at Tao. It was a soft smile, the nice one on his pretty face which doubled the humiliation Tao received.

"I have made an appointment here a week ago." Tao explained. He told himself already, there's no way back. He could see the staff's smile grew wider (more like a creepy awkward smile though), and then he began to open a small red journal on the desk while rubbing his neck.

The staff busily opened each page of the journal, and stopped at a certain page, with rather disbelief look, gazing at the page. "Huang ZiTao?" He looked at Tao, confirming the name written on the journal.

"That's my name." Tao nodded. The staff frowned and rubbed his neck, again. At that moment, Tao could tell that it was the staff's behavior of showing disbelief. But he surely had made his appointment there. All he could wish was that he would finish this soon and get back to his room before his parents noticed he was missing.

The staff could clearly see the notes written there, that Tao had already made an appointment with the shop. The notes said ‘Huang ZiTao. Left Ear Piercing on 2/4. Med-check: done.’  His eyes grew even larger when he saw who the culprit behind all of this was. It was written by Myungsoo on his shift.

"….. Look, kid… I guess we made some miss understatements here. We don’t serve any teen customer.” Sungyeol smiled, again. He mentally cursed Myungsoo for letting any teen on his studio. Dealing with minors was always been risky for this kind of business. Parent issues, allergies, etc. God, Myungsoo.. I should give you a spank when I see you next time, aish. He began to mentally throw tantrums.

“Wait… But on the other day…” Tao had not had time to finish his sentence because Sungyeol began to speak again.

“I’m terribly sorry for my staff’s mistake, but like I’ve said earlier, we don’t serve any minors.” Sungyeol put emphasis on the very last words.

“But Mister… I’m already nineteen!” Tao couldn’t hold his frustration. His eyes sparked desperate needs it somehow touched Sungyeol. There was a moment of silence until Sungyeol replied.

“……Tell me a story.” Sungyeol said after a while. Tao widened his eyes.

“…Pardon me?” Tao still confused of what he should do to himself if he went home with nothing.

“You seem need it for a reason. I need to know what a senior high student like you will do after getting his piercing done.” Sungyeol propped his chin on his right hand on the desk. He was pretty bored at the moment.

“W-well….uh… There are those seniors who are pretty famous in my school…” Tao stopped to look at Sungyeol’s face. Sungyeol was still standing behind the desk waiting him to finish his story, with a rather un-amused look on his face. Then, Tao continued, “They say if I want to join them I have to get an ear-piercing.”

“And then..?” Sungyeol was sure he had read this kind of story somewhere.

“….That’s all…” Tao bit his lower lip. Sungyeol then let out a sigh.

“Kid, your story doesn’t amuse me at all.” Sungyeol was about to turn his back before Tao snapped.

 “Sir, I really need this for my life. You surely know what it’s like to strive to be accepted, don’t you?” Tao explained with all of his heart. Sungyeol rolled his eyes like when he saw the cheesy scene from soap opera.

“I don’t.” Sungyeol simply answered. Then Tao made such an expression that caused Sungyeol to sigh deeper than before.

"But I guess I can make an exception this time. Since I guess there will be any customer visiting my studio. I’ll close for today after getting you done." Sungyeol explained. Then he could see a rainbow of hopes shining right above Tao’s head.

“But promise me not to tell anyone that you get your piercing here. I don’t want to get any trouble.” The staff sighed. It was not like he didn't want to do it, but Tao's innocent face made him think twice. Plus Tao really looked so young. He could get some trouble if he dealt with minors, but since there was no customer around, and he was pretty bored, so he thought he would do it quickly and get his money. "Follow me." he showed the way to the parlor room. “Ah, and call me Sungyeol, by the way.”

***

“I want to be part of you…”

Loud laughter echoed the entire room. It was the kind of laugh that would never be vanished from his memory for the entire of his life. He bit his lips, and then faced the floor beneath him, like they were the only thing he could face at the moment. He started to ask himself if there was anything wrong about his sentence.

“Hahahah, kid, you can’t be serious.”

The tallest man of the group then stepped forward. He stood precisely in front of Tao. A wicked smile formed on Kris’ face as he lifted Tao’s chin so their eyes could met.

“And why should we accept you?”

Tao shivered as the grip on his chin was getting tighter. He closed his eyes for a while, collecting all guts he should take to fight his fear.

“Because I can always do what he can do.”

Tao’s gaze pin-pointed precisely on the blonde haired young guy at the crowd behind Kris. Oh Sehun had had been Tao’s childhood friend since elementary school. Until couple of weeks ago Sehun left him with his new friends. A group of bully.

Tao had talked about this. He really didn’t know how and why Sehun joined that kind of group. But for anyone’s sake, he was too cared to let him go.

***

Tao sat on the small red chair on the center of the room. It was a tiny room, with a desk full of metal tools which he had never seen before. He waited while Sungyeol was busily checking for the tools and getting some paper in and out of the room. This made Tao uneasy. He was nervous about his first piercing.

It will be painful.

The hot metal will stab a hole on you.

There will be blood.

Words from his seniors at school kept buzzing around his head. He shook his worry away as Sungyeol approached him.

“Man, you look pale.” Sungyeol sat beside him and put the papers on the desk. “You okay?”

“…. Sungyeol…” Tao spoke like there was a stone in his throat. “Will it hurt?” He eyed the taller guy like a little child on his first time at dentist. Sungyeol let out a deep sigh. He swore he never ever liked dealing with kids.

“You can always quit if you like.” Sungyeol replied with a rather cold expression. It was already past midnight and he had drained his energy already.

“N-no, it’s not like that… I’m just...” Tao bit his lower lip and tried to gulp down all his worry. Now or never, he thought.

“I’d rather not do it if you’re not very sure about this.” Sungyeol looked straight into Tao’s eyes. Tao kept silent. “Piercing wasn’t a simple thing. It was something you couldn’t just done and undo later.” Sungyeol tried to explain.

And Tao was very aware of that. And now he was asking himself why he kept shaking and scared of all the things all of sudden.

“I’ll tell you a story then.” Sungyeol pushed the table away. Tao eyed the older guy curiously. Then Sungyeol folded his arm on his chest and started.

“Once there was a fine white bird in the forest.

His pale white feather was very soft. But it was all white from head to toe.

One day, all of the bird in the forest held a beauty pageant.

She wanted to go. But what could she do?

She was just a white bird. She was not pretty at all.

‘Maybe if I have colorful feather like other bird, I could win.’ She thought

So then, she started to collect all colorful feathers. Blue, red, yellow, any color but white.

And then she glued the feather neatly to cover her pale white feather.

So she became a colorful bird. And then, she joined the contest.

And of course she would win.

But the other birds were curious.

So they started to touch the colorful feather attached on the white bird.

And to their surprise, the colorful feather fell one by one, revealing her soft white original feather.

All the bird enraged, and started throwing rocks to the white bird.

Until she became all black and blue, from head to toe.

And then she left the forest.”

Tao looked down as Sungyeol finished the story. “What’s that supposed to do with me?”

“You said that you’re begging for an acceptance right?” Sungyeol pulled the table back and put his gloves on. Tao still eyed the taller guy with a puzzled mind. “People fight to aim things. Whether it’s bad or good it’s only you who can decide.” Sungyeol started to clean Tao’s earlobe, firmly.

Tao looked away. Things kept fighting in his head. “I don’t care if it’s bad or good. I don’t want to be the one who left behind.”

“Then be sure to keep track of where you are going.” Sungyeol played along. Tao seemed thinking for a while.

The metals were creaking as Sungyeol was busily preparing the stuff. The checkered tile on the floor stared back at Tao who had been blankly stared at them for a while. The room became much more silent as Sungyeol finished the prep and wait for Tao. “Now, are you ready?”

“I’ve made my decision.” The fuzzy mind had become much clearer. Tao looked at Sungyeol deeply. “I won’t turn my back this time.”

Sungyeol made a pleased expression. His grin left a thousand of unspoken words. He pulled Tao’s head closer and whispered to his ear “Don’t worry. To suffer and to endure are two different things, you know?”

A/N: Hi. thank you for reading >3<)/ It's my first time writing story other than fluff, so.. I hope it's not that bad .__.)7 and many thanks for madkappa for the beta and pandabun for the poster >3<)/ and fill the comment pretty please? (◕‿◕✿) thank you =3=)/

----> sshh =3=)7 anyone fancy a sequel? ///v///)7 wait me~