Adapt [Scars]
Jun. 14th, 2018 08:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
esp_dragonFandom: Noblesse
Summary: Kentas wouldn’t stop looking at M-21’s scars.
Notes: Decided to give M-21 back his scars, heh.
Rating: G
Genre: General
Word count: 422
Total word count: 17,731
Status: Work in progress
Kentas wouldn’t stop looking at M-21’s scars. It was the most obvious after a spar, where his gaze would linger over them.
M-21 didn’t want to move, not after exhausting himself after the spar, but he gritted his teeth and heaved himself to his feet.
“M-21?”
“What?” He didn’t look back, heading for where he and Kentas had left their tops.
“What’s wrong?”
M-21 snorted, jerking his shirt on with stiff and aching muscles. “You keep staring at my-” Failures. Weakness. “-scars.”
“Of course I am!” Kentas said, and when M-21 turned around, Kentas’ eyebrows were furrowed.
M-21 tsk’d, dropping back to the ground now that he didn’t have a reason to stand. “Why? They’re just proof of my fuck ups and weakness.” Especially when compared to Kentas’ unmarked skin.
Kentas blinked. “Why-” He stopped, huffing. “Scars don’t show weakness.”
M-21 snorted. “It shows my regeneration was so shit it couldn’t even heal me properly.” Now it could, but that was only because of Frankenstein’s help.
“Exactly!” Kentas said, nodding.
What.
“You were hit so hard your regeneration couldn’t heal everything.” Kentas studied him, his eyes almost flicking down to where M-21 hadn’t buttoned his shirt yet. “You were hurt that bad, so many times, but you’re still here.” Kentas beamed at him. “You kept fighting.”
…What…? M-21 frowned, looking down.
He knew where most of his scars had come from. At least the bigger sweeping ones from scientists’ inquisitive blades and from fights. And…he remembered his comrades’ blank faces as they were dragged out after an experiment, their bodies unable to handle the changes, their hearts giving out from the stress.
He was still here. Alone. Because the others hadn’t survived what they’d been put through. Because M-24 had been dying when he’d fought Jake and if it hadn’t been that fight, it would have been something else.
He was still here.
And his scars were proof of what he’d been through.
“So… What,” M-21 said, looking up at Kentas again. “You like looking because they show I’m alive?” Wouldn’t just seeing him do the same thing?
Kentas shook his head with a soft huff. “They show you’re strong.”
Of course that was how Kentas thought.
M-21 traced one of the scars as he mulled it over. Then he snorted. “I just put my shirt on,” he said as he leaned back on his hands. “I’m not taking it off again.” Kentas would see them again the next time they sparred anyway.
From the way Kentas chuckled, he knew that too.
Inspired by humdrummoloch's prompt
Summary: Kentas wouldn’t stop looking at M-21’s scars.
Notes: Decided to give M-21 back his scars, heh.
Rating: G
Genre: General
Word count: 422
Total word count: 17,731
Status: Work in progress
Kentas wouldn’t stop looking at M-21’s scars. It was the most obvious after a spar, where his gaze would linger over them.
M-21 didn’t want to move, not after exhausting himself after the spar, but he gritted his teeth and heaved himself to his feet.
“M-21?”
“What?” He didn’t look back, heading for where he and Kentas had left their tops.
“What’s wrong?”
M-21 snorted, jerking his shirt on with stiff and aching muscles. “You keep staring at my-” Failures. Weakness. “-scars.”
“Of course I am!” Kentas said, and when M-21 turned around, Kentas’ eyebrows were furrowed.
M-21 tsk’d, dropping back to the ground now that he didn’t have a reason to stand. “Why? They’re just proof of my fuck ups and weakness.” Especially when compared to Kentas’ unmarked skin.
Kentas blinked. “Why-” He stopped, huffing. “Scars don’t show weakness.”
M-21 snorted. “It shows my regeneration was so shit it couldn’t even heal me properly.” Now it could, but that was only because of Frankenstein’s help.
“Exactly!” Kentas said, nodding.
What.
“You were hit so hard your regeneration couldn’t heal everything.” Kentas studied him, his eyes almost flicking down to where M-21 hadn’t buttoned his shirt yet. “You were hurt that bad, so many times, but you’re still here.” Kentas beamed at him. “You kept fighting.”
…What…? M-21 frowned, looking down.
He knew where most of his scars had come from. At least the bigger sweeping ones from scientists’ inquisitive blades and from fights. And…he remembered his comrades’ blank faces as they were dragged out after an experiment, their bodies unable to handle the changes, their hearts giving out from the stress.
He was still here. Alone. Because the others hadn’t survived what they’d been put through. Because M-24 had been dying when he’d fought Jake and if it hadn’t been that fight, it would have been something else.
He was still here.
And his scars were proof of what he’d been through.
“So… What,” M-21 said, looking up at Kentas again. “You like looking because they show I’m alive?” Wouldn’t just seeing him do the same thing?
Kentas shook his head with a soft huff. “They show you’re strong.”
Of course that was how Kentas thought.
M-21 traced one of the scars as he mulled it over. Then he snorted. “I just put my shirt on,” he said as he leaned back on his hands. “I’m not taking it off again.” Kentas would see them again the next time they sparred anyway.
From the way Kentas chuckled, he knew that too.
Inspired by humdrummoloch's prompt