Work Text:
"Hey, Kiyo, can I ask something?"
The man raised his head, looking away from the paper he was writing on, and looked towards Rantaro with a raised eyebrow and a "hm?"
"Well, uh, I've noticed that you're really good at eyeliner. Do you think you could teach me sometime?" Rantaro asked, not making eye contact.
Not knowing how to do eyeliner wasn't exactly a lie. While living with his sisters, Rantaro picked up a lot of more traditionally feminine skills, such as skincare, nail art, how to properly accessorize, but he never was able to fully understand how to do eye makeup.
The lie is claiming that he cares to learn it. Something about putting a pencil anywhere near his eyes was daunting, and he thought he looked fine the way he is. While a sharp wing coming from the corner of the eye, complemented with some smudgy black looked beyond gorgeous on some, he didn't think it suited him.
Alas, he was desperate. For some unexplainable reason, all he cared about was trying to find some way to talk to Korekiyo, to spend time with him, to be close to him in a way that didn't involve schoolwork.
In response to the strange request, Korekiyo nodded. "Of course. If you want, I could show you right now." He stated while digging into his bag. He pulled out an eyeliner pencil. It seemed almost new.
There was no going back for Rantaro. This was happening. "Let's go into my sister's room. She has a really nice vanity." He suggested, pulling himself from the wooden table that they cluttered with paper and office supplies.
They made their way into the empty bedroom, despite a few protests from Korekiyo, who seemed concerned about invading her privacy. In the response, Rantaro mentioned that she was at University and the room has been deserted for the past three or so years now. Korekiyo nodded hesitantly.
Rantaro turned on the lights and opened the curtain, an action that sent a bit of dust into the air, floating around the bedroom. He stood by Korekiyo in front of the vanity mirror. As usual, the other man was tense and stiff, looking uncertain.
"I'll show you how I do it on my eye, then you can try on yourself."
Rantaro nodded, and Korekiyo uncapped the pencil. He leaned forward, getting his face as close to the mirror as possible, and began tracing over the faded eyeliner he'd applied that morning.
Starting by rubbing the product under his eye, he narrated exactly what he was doing, along with discussing some of the history behind the product. Apparently, the first record of black eye makeup comes from ancient Egypt; it was used as a form of religious praise, to enhance beauty, and to aid eyesight. Or something like that. Rantaro was mostly zoned out during the lecture.
Instead of listening to the small details about how, historically, the shine of the product indicated a person's class, he was fixated on watching Korekiyo. The way his hands, stiff and steady, clutched the pencil, making the fabric around his silk gloves crinkle. The way he focused so heavily on his reflection in the mirror. He also could help but notice things that had nothing to do with the eyeliner crash course. The light dotting of freckles that adorned his high and sharp cheekbones, the strands of long hair that fell into his face, the piercing color of his eyes, that seemed to be a shade of gold. Rantaros mind wandered.
He wondered what the mask that covered the bottom half of his face could be hiding. He wondered what it would feel like to touch the strands of dark hair. He wondered how a person so objectively strange could also be so undeniably beautiful. He also briefly wondered why his mind was drifting to such romantic scenarios, why he would find someone like Korekiyo attractive in the first place.
He came back to reality when Korekiyo passed him the pencil, requesting he try to do the same on his own eye. Rantaro smiled weakly and leaned towards the mirror.
He clutched the pencil like his life depended on it, and started by drawing a short line from the corner of his eye. The angle it went at was awkward, but he tried to ignore how bad he thought it looked and trust the process.
As he drew another line, connecting the previous one to his eyelid, he could feel Korekiyos gaze on him. He was most definitely doing this wrong. He gulped.
This went on for about two minutes, Rantaros hands shaking as he poorly applied the liner, Korekiyo silently cringing.
"Okay." Korekiyo eventually said, prompting Rantaro to look up at the other man. "I don't think this is working." He said bluntly and took back the pencil. "How about I do your other eye for you."
Rantaro nodded with an 'mhm' as Korekiyo moved closer, wedging himself between the vanity and Rantaro. He leaned against the wooden furniture and instructed Rantaro to close his eyes.
Rantaro obeyed, feeling his head spin and heart pound.
"Please, do try not to flinch," Korekiyo said, pressing the product into the corner of Rantaro's untouched eye.
Rantaro was hyper aware. He focused on, well, everything. The fabric from Korekiyos glove brushing against his cheek, the pencil being rubbed around his eye, careful but firm and steady, the other boys free hand lifting up Rantaro's chin. He was definitely blushing. Whether or not he wanted Korekiyo to notice was currently undecided.
Like when he was doing his own eye, Korekiyo narrated the process, explaining every little detail. Though, like last time, Rantaro didn't care to pay attention to the lesson. He leaned into the touch, trying to memorize exactly what the gloved hands felt like against his face. All of his thoughts were jumbled, instead of a coherent line of reasoning, his mind was giving him lines of static, keysmashes, and error messages.
"Finished. Would you like me to fix up the other eye as well? It looks rather, well.." Korekiyo hesitated as if he was trying to find a nice way to describe the scribbles around Rantaro's left eye "...uneven."
Rantaro nodded, answering with a "yeah, sure"
Korekiyo used his thumb to wipe the product, though Rantaro could only imagine how unsuccessful he was and how much black was smeared on his face. Still, he tried to make it work.
About five minutes later, Rantaro felt the man lean away and heard the 'click' as he recapped the eyeliner pencil.
Korekiyo lightly sighed, looking tired. "Behold," he said, gesturing towards the mirror.
Rantaro looked at himself, leaning towards the mirror. The left eye was more smudged than the right, with product smeared down his cheek. Other than that, it was almost perfectly symmetrical. Two long and thin wings left the corners of his eyes and wrapped around his eyelid. What do you know, he actually looked good.
Rantaro slowly twisted his head, looking at himself from different angles in shock and awe. Korekiyo, however, did what he did best and broke the moment. "This has been a nice break, but I think we should get back to our assignment, don't you agree?" He said
Rantaro couldn't do much besides nod. "Yeah. Thank you, by the way." He said.
"Of course. Makeup has always been an interest of mine, and I'm happy to share it with others. There's a fascinating history behind most products, even researching why humans feel the need to alter their appearance is an intriguing endeavor. It says a lot about the construct of beauty as a whole."
Korekiyo was rambling, and Rantaro had no choice but to listen. The other man was a bit strange, and he didn't have too much of an interest in "deconstructing the concept of beauty to its roots", but seeing the gleam in Korekiyos eyes made it worth it.
It was at this moment Rantaro realized how bad the crush he had developed was.
Once Korekiyo had finished with his ramblings, Rantaro offered the rather awkward response of "Plus, it looks nice"
Korekiyo laughed lightly. hand raised to cover his mouth (Rantaro assumed it was a habitual gesture, for it made no practical sense, considering the mask) "yes, yes, that too."
"Hey, before we get back to work, I have one more thing to ask you," Rantaro said. He wasn't entirely sure what he was saying, nor were any of his words planned before they left his mouth. He was running off of instinct alone.
"Alright."
"Would you like to, perhaps, hang out sometime outside of the project? This was really fun and I'd like to spend more time with you." Rantaro's proposal was blunt and straight to the point, though he probably looked visibly nervous.
Korekiyo seemed off put. His eyes widened and he tucked his hair behind his ear. He seems to mess with his hair a lot when he was in deep thought, it'd be hard for Rantaro to miss the way he toyed with it while writing something for their project.
A beat of silence passed, and Rantaro started to wonder if he had made a mistake. He didn't voice his doubts, however.
After a bit, Korekiyo answered with an "I'd love to. My sincerest apologies for zoning out like that, it's just that no one's ever really asked me that before. Oh my, I'm talking too much, aren't I? Anyways, yes. Now, let us get back to work, no more distractions, okay?"
Rantaro smiled, and sighed an airy "okay"