X-Files (MSR or gen)
He looks at this stranger and sees scepticism written all over her face. She’s laughing at him, and she’s not even trying to hide it. He’s not offended, and at first he thinks it’s because he’s used to it, immune. But then he realises that he likes it. Because her scepticism isn’t mockery. No, it’s a challenge.
He suspects she’s not an open person, that she’s letting him see her reaction to goad him, to dare him to continue. So he grins at her, rises to it, because there’s something behind the laughter that he’s never seen before.