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

[ruinedsky]

⭐ Who: Sylvain and y'all
⭐ When: All December
⭐ Where: Various places
⭐ What: New DU employee gets the lay of the land
⭐ Warnings: will add as they come up

Comments

[ruinedsky]

[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.]

[liedol]

[ 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?

[ruinedsky]

[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?]

[liedol]

[ 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?

[ruinedsky]

[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.]

[liedol]

[ 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. ]