| [Jul. 8th, 2016|09:22 pm] |
Ryouma tried to push up. He managed head and shoulders off the pillow, but he still couldn't see Kakashi's good eye. Probably there wasn't anything to see anyway, because Kakashi could manage expressionlessness with the best of them, at least when he only had one eyebrow and a slice of cheekbone to worry about. Still, he wouldn't say something like that unless he meant it…
"Why do you wear a mask?" Ryouma asked.
That got Kakashi to look at him, at least. He must've been used to the question, because he seemed more thoughtful than surprised. Not quite expressionless: his brow crinkled down a little, etching a faint wrinkle in pale skin. His jaw skewed sideways, as if he was chewing over how — or whether — to answer.
Then he sighed and said simply, "I don't like my face."
"It seems all right to me," Ryouma ventured. "You got a good profile. Straight nose, clean jaw, nice angles. Mask's tight enough we'd know if you had a frog-mouth, anyway…"
Kakashi's eye curved into a smile. "You are so stoned, Tousaki."
"Drugs don't make me blind," Ryouma said stubbornly. His head was growing too heavy to hold up again; he thumped back down into the pillows. "What don't you like?"
"I'll give you three guesses," Kakashi said, drought-dry. "First two don't count."
Ryouma squinted at him. Clearly Kakashi thought the answer was glaringly obvious, even to a man with fuzzy clouds for brains, but Ryouma'd seen the edge of Kakashi's mouth when that lightning strike he'd called down on Iebara burned his mask off, and it hadn't looked froggy then. A little thin-lipped, maybe, but still as finely carved as the razorblade cheekbones and fine-bladed nose promised.
Scars, maybe. But the rest of Kakashi's body was latticed with old silver and newer ridges; he wouldn't be ashamed of a scored cheek or a twisted lip.
Which left…
"Acne? Everybody's had it. Bet the lieutenant could get you a cream if you asked him."
Kakashi stared at him. A shadow dimpled the mask over parted lips. Then he laughed, helpless, absurd, a rough, unpracticed sound that shook his shoulders and dropped his head. "I knew you'd get it."
Obviously, Ryouma hadn't. But he hadn't seen Kakashi laugh like that before, either. He wriggled his shoulders down into the pillows and let himself enjoy brief victory unsought.
Kakashi caught his breath at last, shook his head, rubbed a thumb over his mouth. "How's the knee feeling?"
Ryouma tried flexing the knee in question. The joint refused to bend; pain stabbed back at him, spiking down to his toes. "Shit," he hissed, and lay still. |
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