Capricious

~(In)Security~

I was hoping that Cindy would not be rude.

Erik sat rather uncertainly on my bed as we tried different swatches of foundation on his arm.

"He's definitely an ivory 4." I remarked.

"Yeah he's very pale." Cindy agreed, she seemed very chill considering what we'd gone through recently.

"You try living underground for a century and then we'll see who's tan!" Erik hissed defensively. 

"I meant no offence!" Cindy replied her hands pulling away from him defensively.

"Cindy maybe you should get started on the filler..." I muttered.

"I- good idea..." She sighed.

As Cindy went over to the kitchenette I put some concealer on my finger and smiled at Erik.

"Would you mind taking off your mask?" I asked gently. 

"It's not like I have a choice..." He growled. 

"Hey I'm not gonna judge." Cindy remarked as she continued to stir the gel.

"You can't promise that..." He muttered darkly. 

"Alex didn't." Nadir pointed out, sitting down on the bed next to Erik. 

"Yes, thank you Nadir!" I smiled, bringing my hand up to Erik's face.

I smeared the concealer around on the outside of his angry red scar, it seemed to be slightly larger than the last time I'd seen it.

"That's different, Alex is different." Erik smiled, his blue eyes gazing into mine.

"Thank you." I blushed, breaking eye contact. 

"Well, the gel is done, let's see what I have to work with here..." Cindy chirped.

I could feel Erik tense up as Cindy neared us with the gel.

I reached for his hand, holding it gently in mine.

Cindy looked up from the cup of putty, her eyes locking onto Erik's face.

She sucked in a big gulp of air, then let it all out at once. "Oh..."

"Go ahead, say it..." Erik practically dared her. 

"...Well you're no Kardashian but neither are they." She shrugged.

"I'm no what?" Erik snarled.

"They are celebrities who have tons of different surgeries. For aesthetic purposes."

Erik's face was pure confusion. 

"SURGERY... just to look nice?!"

"Yeah, lemme get a pic."

"Should I start applying the gel?" I asked.

"Yeah." Cindy replied. 

I took up the popsicle stick and started layering the gel into the indented scars on Erik's face.

"How's the temperature?" I asked.

"It's warm, not hot."

"Good." I smiled, trying not to notice how intently he was watching me. 

I finished the first coat as Cindy sat down on the bed on the other side of Erik.

"Here's a before and after of some of them."

"Wow. These women are beautiful why did they feel such drastic things were necessary?!" 

"It's simply society, besides Cindy that's way less impressive than some of the facial reconstruction from WW1 and WW2 ... We should show him some of those."