yumemigaoka | Don't we all want some excitement? [INTRO/OPEN]

[Now that he's finished orientation and has plenty of work to do, Sylvain has been assigned his own desk. It's not exactly a private office, but it isn't the worst cubicle either. It is fastidiously neat, and the handwriting on the form he is working on is quite pretty.]

Oh, Hoshino-san, good morning.

[He is somewhat surprised to see her approaching him, especially with coffee! Maybe she is the kind of person who always repays little favors... but, ah, she explains why just a second later and he wishes she hadn't.]

It's always funny when a job that's supposed to be boring becomes exciting in the wrong way. [he chuckles and shakes his head, the smile on his lips just a little too desperate to be believable] Not the first time I've been decked and it won't be the last.

[Wait, no, maybe that wasn't the right thing to say-]

[ He says it like it's a joke and Ai... technically smiles but the way the expression works itself onto her face is more like a wince than anything. It'd be one thing if he was just brushing her off in an attempt not to make a fuss but... Well. Ai's still hit or miss when it comes to reading people on the best of days, especially strangers, but that looks just a little too much like one of her own smiles for her to want to leave it alone. Even if really, it's probably better if she does.

She hesitantly sets the coffee down and then folds her arms across her chest, if only to try and make her obvious trepidation a little less so. ]

Well, hopefully we can make it the last time you get hit in the face here. I'm thinking next time someone checks on him, I'll make them poke him from a distance just to be safe.

[ Her smile wavers and then eases into concern. ]

I just didn't feel right leaving it alone, though. What a way to get welcome to a new job...

[It's a strange feeling he gets when she doesn't leave it there. He expected her to smile it off and leave, since he's clearly not going to make a fuss about it... he finds that he's both irritated that she isn't leaving it alone, and weirdly glad about it, at once. He chuckles without humor.]

Poking him with a long stick sounds like a good idea from now on.

[He sips the coffee to cover any expressions he might make. It is milder and sweeter than he'd usually make himself, but it isn't bad by any means.]

I have definitely learned my lesson about bothering sleeping dreamers. I'll be more cautious from now on.

[He smiles at her in a way he intends to be reassuring, as if he has absolutely no idea how upsetting it might sound that he's basically blaming himself for getting punched. The smile itself is a little too wide, and it stretches his lips in a way that shows that they're still a little swollen, and stretches his concealer in a way that makes it crack, just a little, and a sliver of purple bruise shows for a moment before his smile fades.]

[ Their smiles shift almost in tandem — Sylvain's vanishes entirely but Ai's takes on a different tone and hue. It's a little hard to read, not as seemingly blithe and open as her usual smiles, but something about it is... alarmed. Maybe even a little frightened, as subdued as it is. It almost looks like the expression of someone who's just caught their reflection giving them a nasty smirk in the mirror.

It takes a second before she knows what to say. ]

He really hit you that hard...?

[ Her brow creases a little. She ends up with one hand clasped uncertainly in the other, like she's unsure of whether or not she should reach out to touch and she's stopping herself before she does. ]

Hold on — if you're still that beat up, I don't really know if you should be here at work...!

[He doesn't know what to make of the expression she's wearing as his own smile fades. His brain doesn't want to compute it. Then she comments and it takes every ounce of his self control to not check his face in the camera on his phone. He doesn't stop himself from lifting a hand to touch his jaw, and he feels the edge of a crack in his makeup.]

Ah...

[A frigid bolt of shame cuts down through his spine, and his eyes take on a darker tinge.]

It isn't as bad as all that, I'm just very vain. I can't stand anything as ugly as a bruise being visible on my face. I learned how to do makeup when I was a teenager, cover up the acne and stuff, you know?

[He is aware that his attempts to brush this off are starting to look desperate but he doesn't know how to stop.]

[ He's talking too fast. Even now, after all the work she's done to try and correct it, Ai knows she's the slowest person in the room to pick up on anyone else's feelings. But even she knows what it means when someone starts babbling too quick like that — or rather, she knows it entirely because she's the person she is. Something oily and unpleasant rolls in her stomach; recognition. The panic of having to explain a bruise or a bump when you weren't expecting anyone to ask and you don't have an answer prepared.

Her heart sits in her throat and it takes her a few seconds to work out how to talk around it. ]

Okay. [ She won't push. God, she can't push something like this. She barely knows the poor guy. And even if she did... what would she even say? ] Um—

[ Okay. Come on, Ai. You're an idol. Smoothing over awkward situations is what you get paid to do. ]

Take twenty minutes or so and go fix it up in the bathroom, if you want. But then tomorrow, or the day after — whenever you've got time free, go and see about getting it checked out if it's still a problem. ... alright?

[He's been caught out. To what extent, he can't be sure, but there's too much knowing in her eyes, combined with the way her tune changes... he didn't do as smooth a job of that as he should have. Maybe her pretty face put him off guard or something. At least... she's letting him save a little bit of face. He will take the out and speed off into the sunset with it.]

All right, boss, fair enough. I'll stop by the clinic and come in a little late.

[An offering, his vulnerable belly. Is she satisfied?]

[ She nods, still looking a bit ill at ease but — satisfied. At least for now. ]

Okay. If anyone asks why you're coming in late, tell them you were running an errand for me. You were just posting a letter and I was a bit too busy with meetings to run out and do it myself, so you offered to do it before work.

[ There. That's a good enough story. Not too many details and they're both on the same page. And it means Sylvain doesn't have to actually tell anyone else. Problem... not remotely solved but kicked slightly further down the road to address later. It'll do. ]

... Will you actually do me a favour, though? I don't see anything like this happening again but — if it does, will you make sure to get it actually checked out before you come back into work?

[And yet another out being offered, planning ahead to avoid more discomfort. Something subtle nags at the back of his mind, but doesn't quite take form. He's still staving off panic too much for that. His mouth is dry, and he sips at the coffee she had brought him again to try to smooth over his voice.]

Well I don't want to reflect badly on you, or the DU, by failing to take care of my health. [He's doing this as a favor to her, and not for himself, after all.] All right, I promise.

[And just because he's a stupid asshole who can't take any vulnerability seriously, his eyes take on an in-joke kind of sparkle and he offers up his hand, pinky finger out.]

[ And with that, her smile finally cracks into place - it's not as bright as the ones she usually wears while bobbing around the DU but at least it's not that slightly-too-knowing look of concern she'd been subjecting him to just a moment before. And there's a matching twinkle in her eyes as well, of bemusement and a sort of fond frustration. ]

Jeez, the things it takes to get you guys to look after yourselves...

[ The scolding tone to her voice is more playful than genuinely annoyed and she doesn't hesitate to reach out and hook her finger around his. Pinky promise. ]

Don't we all want some excitement? [INTRO/OPEN]

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