AN: Follows In A Name, can be read alone but might make more sense with added context.
At first Dmitri is purely patchwork, browns and tans and milky whites peeling like a reptile unable to fit into himself. Skin inconstant as shifting sand. When he looks up, Beck can't be sure his eyes will even be the same color they were moments ago.
He hides himself in layers of fabric even when weather does not permit, claiming he's used to it. Once there were jobs in Las Vegas and the Caribbean, Madripoor and Southern California. He managed. Beck makes a point to pass bottles of water when he can. Although neither of them comment on the sometime-Chameleon's flush, he accepts them gratefully.
Dmitri describes himself as something filthy, disgusting. Obscene. But when they take to the couch side by side, Beck finds his clothes are clean and warm and he smells faintly of soap.
He holds Dmitri to his chest as gently as possible, lulls him to sleep against the thrum of the universe where a human heart should have been.
The new body passes superficially for a man. Violet irises (two of them), a nose, high cheekbones. Dusty brown hair. What looks like flesh under removable clothes.
But Beck is still cool to the touch, his skin hard and glassy. He does not breathe, his face will never color with blood or sunlight, and the faint suggestion of ribs along his torso is only that-a suggestion.
(Those abs are obviously fake, but when Dmitri says so Beck scoffs and replies that they're nothing of the sort. He made them himself. Dmitri finds he can't contest that.)
He has no unusual markings, no scars, no signs of where or who he's been. But his smile is wide and his eyes crinkle and he talks with his hands like a lunatic child.
It's easy to imagine Beck is someone who has never been and can never be hurt.
It isn't the truth, but Dmitri finds some comfort in imagining.
The changes do not all come at once.
He starts growing his hair out. Clumps come in different colors and textures-straight and curly, light and dark, thick and thin. When it's long enough he dyes it black and begins to straighten as much as he can. Not his natural color, but it's not a failed imitation of it either. Not like his brother's deep brown at all.
Later there are earrings, pale green and small. Beck noticed the piercings before they went into use again. Dmitri explained they were leftovers from when he looked ordinary-a simpler tool for adopting new identities and manipulating impressions. He is no one but himself when he utilizes them now.
Eventually, when it is hot and they have seen enough of each other to understand, Dmitri begins wearing t-shirts around the house. Beck finds the cracks in his skin are more stable and colors change position less than he remembers. He's gained weight and muscle over the years. While the shedding hasn't stopped, it comes in manageable fragments these days.
Dmitri lets Beck run his fingers over him like a project in cartography, memorizing landscapes that will disappear sooner rather than later.
But being brief does nothing to diminish beauty, and Mysterio wants to remember everything.