Inspired by a conversation I had with Zadien about how I don't see Kai, emotionally stunted Kai, being as smooth with his words and intentions if he were to ever face his feelings or like someone. I feel he'd be more awkward about it, to the point that he may be (unintentionally) insulting from time to time while trying to say the right thing. So this happened. Let me know what you think!
"I didn't mean you looked bad."
Pausing her hairbrush mid-stroke, Crystal glanced over her shoulder to the figure leaning against her doorway, arms crossed so tight she briefly wondered how his sleeves didn't combust beneath the strain. It was still a shock to her sometimes, seeing him in his work getup: the starched white shirt, sleeves rolled up (of course), the crisp black tie, perfectly pressed slacks, and shiny black shoes. And, to top it all off, a face free of paint and a studded black earring in his ear. An earring. If someone were to tell her that the Kai she bladed with and the Kai standing in her doorway were the same person, she wouldn't have believed them.
And yet there he was, fresh off a day of work, pinning her with a gaze so earnest her mind briefly short-circuited. Yes, that was the reason she'd go with. Still, her eyes took another sweeping journey over his taught biceps only to snap back up to his face when he lifted an eyebrow.
"I'm sorry?" Curling her fingers tighter around the brush, she continued pulling it through the long hair she'd pulled over her shoulder.
"You didn't look bad," he repeated.
Her eyebrows furrowed and her eyes squinted, studying his lengthy form. Kai was a man of little words but, even then, she could gleam what he was implying at any given moment. Body language spoke louder than actual verbiage and she'd learned a long time ago to watch movements, even those so subtle to the untrained eye, for the information she needed. Just in case. Right now, however, he wasn't giving her much in that regard either.
His face remained blank, his body, despite bending slightly due to his weight pressing against the doorway, was stiff and tight, and his gaze was steady. Humming, she set down her brush and slipped her fingers through her silky black hair, pulling out the loose dead threads curling around her fingers. Fluttering them, she watched as they silently fell onto the deep mahogany wood of the desk. Then she turned sideways in her chair, draping one arm against the backrest and drummed her fingers on the desktop as she faced him.
"Kai, you're going to have to be more specific. I don't know what you're talking about."
He pushed a breath out of his nose and pressed his thumb and forefinger into his eyes, opposite side of his nose. Rolling his head back, she watched the muscles in his neck stretch, smoothing out his skin. She dropped her bottom lip form between her teeth when he looked down again and forced herself to sit upright and keep her face neutral. That was too close. She really had to get a grip.
"I said you looked weird. Earlier. I didn't mean you looked bad."
She blinked and then it hit her. Oh. Oh! She jerked back, eyebrows lifting as her lips parted and Kai cleared his throat, tugging at the knot beneath the stiff white collar around his neck, eyes shifting to the side.
Well! This was…huh! She didn't know the right word. Interesting? Unexpected? Strange felt the closest. There he stood, waiting for her to ease…something in him. Guilt? But he had nothing to be guilty for. He hadn't done anything wrong.
She thought back to last night; it was unusually busy with the whole team having been in town for the first time in forever. An unofficial sleepover had occurred with herself, Tyson, Kai, Max, Ray, Kenny, and Hilary the previous night catching each other up on all that they've missed the past few months with Ray being in China and Max being back in America and Kai working and Tyson, Crystal, Kenny, and Hilary attending their last year of school. They laughed, they ate, they drank, they annoyed Kai, it was perfect.
At some point she and Hilary had gone off to her room to look at, compare, and trade clothes they'd bought earlier. Due to Hilary's particular brand of encouragement (of which Tyson would call being bossy), she'd walked away from the mall with some outfits that were out of her comfort zone. But, then again, how was she to know what her comfort zone was? She'd lived on the streets for so long, fashion was the last thing on her mind. Hilary jumped at the chance of having another girl around to use her as her canvas and practically floated through the stores as if she were on Cloud 9. They poured over their haul and Hilary convinced her to model a new dress for the boys.
It was simple and cute: a light blue cap sleeve sundress with a lace overlay on top. The back had a diamond shape cut into it, showing her skin. Hilary gushed over it, but Crystal was a little uncertain. With her smaller, muscular frame she tugged on it, picking at the fabric, wondering if it looked as if it were on a hanger instead of a person.
Max and Ray were complimentary, with big smiles and shinning eyes and appreciation for her new look, Kenny spluttered his way through his long-winded comment that she finally understood was him trying to say it suited her, Tyson just said it was fine, and Kai.
Oh Kai.
He'd been in the middle of sipping the jasmine and matcha tea she'd prepared for him—he was a hibiscus or chai sort of guy but he'd been pulling long nights lately and she figured he'd need a pick-me-up—stopping mid gulp to peer at her over the rim. Ribbons of steam curled near his face, adding to the burn of his gaze. He slowly set the mug back down, his eyes dipping from head to toe. And she'd stirred beneath his gaze, shifting her weight from side to side, something she didn't want to name turning and flipping in her stomach the longer he looked.
A muscle twitched by his mouth, his eyes squinted, the when he swallowed and—
"You look weird."
Thickening silence dropped like a heavy blanket, stilling everyone. Max's wide eyes were pointed at his half-eaten bowl of ramen, Ray slowly lowered his mug of tea to the saucer, Kenny hid his head behind his computer, Hilary gasped, and Tyson snorted. She'd shrugged and went back to her room, slipping right back into her more comfortable graphic tee depicting a sun and moon yin-yang and shorts.
And that was that on the matter.
Or so she thought, until Kai showed up at her door.
And…why was he at her door? Her head titled to the side, her hair cascading. His fingers released his unknotted tie, the two-half hanging loosely around his neck. Her mouth twisted to the side, eyebrows furrowing, and then she sighed. "Ray sent you?" she asked. Kai shoved his hands into his pockets, uncrossing his ankles, standing up straight. "Yeah, he did," she surmised in his silence. "You didn't have to."
"He thinks I upset you," he said, his voice so flat that she couldn't help but laugh.
"You didn't," she said. "I did look weird. I don't wear…" she waved her hand dismissively at the clothes still strewn across her bed, "things like that. I don't wear dresses and skirts. I don't…" She stopped her sentence before it came out: I don't look right in them. Because Kai wouldn't care what she thought about herself; how she sometimes wondered if she was too muscular, too much of a straight-line in a world of curves. She sighed. "You didn't upset me, is all. I know you didn't mean I looked bad."
"Good."
"Okay."
He nodded once. Crystal mimicked his nod and picked up her hairbrush. "Can you get Ray for me?" Turning on his heel, he moved away from the door. She gripped a chunk of her hair, stilling when her eyes met the scab remnants on her knees. She licked her lips. "Hey Kai?" She waited for him to reappear in the doorway. Her mouth opened, closed, opened, closed, and she sighed. A question sat on her tongue and she hesitated. Should she ask? He certainly wouldn't care one way or another and it wasn't like it mattered much but…. Plowing forward, she asked in a rush, "How do I look now?"
She watched as his eyes carefully roamed from the top of her head, down the swoop of her hair, to her t-shirt, down to her shorts, her healing bruise covered legs, and slightly dirty bare feet from her earlier tending to the garden outside to harvest for dinner.
"Better." His eyes flickered back up to her face, a hard jolt hitting her in the stomach. "You…" he cleared his throat and, if she didn't know any better, a red tinge dusted his cheeks. But she knew better. "You look like you."
Her breath came out in a rush and a fanged smile bloomed on her lips, a pleased flush appearing on her cheeks. "Thanks."
He may not talk much but he certainly had a way with words.