Theme: #69; seriousness is my shield
Characters: Kanda-centric

Kanda Yuu does not smile. It is a simple fact, up there with other bits of indisputable knowledge, such as

1. Rabi is too damned loud.
2. The bean sprout AKA Allen Walker cries too much.
3. Komui should not be allowed near any sharp and potentially dangerous objects without a guardian.
4. As an amendment to the above fact, Komrin mark whatever does not qualify as a guardian, nor will it ever.

Kanda has his reasons for not smiling, of course. For one, smiling means you're happy. As he has learned during his time as an exorcist with the Black Order, "happy" is synonymous with "idiot". Rabi is a prime example of this, as are a few of the other exorcists.

Rinali is an exception, because Kanda knows Komui would not hesitate to unleash every single drill he possesses on him if he even thinks that his sister is stupid.

He contents himself by deciding that Rinali isn't happy all the time, so only acts foolish at certain times.

Kanda is no idiot, and therefore he does not smile. So long as he continues to promise death whenever someone bothers him (he does not make threats or warnings, he promises and he always keeps his promises), no one can get close and any and all attempts to break through the barrier he's so carefully erected around himself have failed.

Glares, sullen silence, stoic expressions, solitude... they are all the perfect shields.

But sometimes the silence rarely lasts. Sometimes his meal is interrupted by the teasing quarrels between two lively exorcists, or the teary pleading of one vampire to not be the one to have to chase down a garbage-spouting fiend who has stolen the muffin basket yet again. Sometimes he can hear Allen and Rinali laughing together, or Miranda's nervous stammers as Bookman asks her a question, all the while slipping her ham under the table for a shamelessly begging puppy.

And sometimes, the only person who is brave enough to sit at his table (other than the energetic lot engaged in other activities) will smile and quietly remark on such things in such a ridiculous manner that a smirk will work its way onto his face-- only to vanish in an instant.

It won't do to have anyone find out that Kanda Yuu can smile, after all.