Microexpressions of a Sneeze (Lie To Me) M

[Sierra]

Not sure this is worth much but lately have gotten into Lie To Me and kept wondering how a building sneeze would mess with a 'read,' etc. Writing this didn't ring so on-target but it got in my head and I just really wanted to try it out.
Feedback welcome!

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“Right. Report. Go on, then.”

In typical blunt Cal Lightman fashion, Loker’s boss tossed himself into an office chair and listened carefully. He did this with his eyes as much as with his ears, which was all the more impressive as he virtually thrummed with energy. Once you knew him it was clearly more impatience than nerves, and if you knew him a bit better it was possibly all calculated mind games. Whichever way, the fidgeting made the chair squeak.

Loker paused a beat at the prompt and gave a long, otherwise expressionless blink. He consciously restrained himself from rubbing a finger at his nose and felt Cal’s careful scrutiny as his arm barely twitched before he held it back.

It was an open but unspoken fact that Lightman had it specially in for Eli Loker, despite the young tech’s hardworking dedication and consistently excellent work. The why of it remained beyond Loker, but that didn’t stop him from trying to prove himself and earn whatever crumbs of praise he could snag.

What it did stop him from was anything that would make him look inefficient, incapable, or not in control, or anything less than on top of his game. Which was why there was no way he was going to give in to the sneeze.

As he delivered his report, he concentrated on muting each manifestation of the itchy, tickly need building all over his face. He felt them, intensely, one by one, and wasn’t sure how well he was doing but tried to get it over with without seeming to rush.

Loker’s nostrils flared for a fraction of a second. His eye twitched briefly. His upper lip flicked. Ugh, now his nose was at it again. His eyelids drooped for the briefest moment and his eyebrows raised. He conquered them all, but with each little sensation he watched Lightman watching him, and knew nothing had escaped the man’s notice.

He did, however, wonder fleetingly what the face reading expert was reading into each microexpression. That thought crinkled his eyes for just an instant, and he let it, though he tried a little harder to suppress the up-tug of his lips.

Eli knew Lightman had seen it all but he didn’t need to sneeze anymore, for the moment, so he didn’t care.

Cal’s eyes darted all over Loker’s face. Everything Loker had was anticipating being called out on some measure of the conversation his face had just had with the sneeze he’d just resisted, and he could feel in his gut the second Lightman locked on the defiance that flashed across his face.

But all his boss said was, “Is that all? Right, then.” And though he searched the kid’s face at length before he spoke, and took four whole seconds afterwards to rise, he exited the room without a backward glance.

All at once the urge returned and attacked with a vengeance. Loker drew a breath. His eyelids closed. His eyebrows rose and knit together and he could feel the pucker in his forehead. His lips parted and curled. He began to scrabble in his pants pocket for the tissues he’d shoved there this morning but then left that hand in the pocket and raised the other elbow and buried his face in there instead.

“Ahhccchhh! Hhhahhcchh! HHCCHH!”

Lowering his arm, he caught sight of his reflection in the blackness of the computer monitor on the desk in front of him. The relief he observed there was no surprise.

Eli wondered how long it would take Cal Lightman to cop to his cold and send him home.

 

[Zwee]

I remember watching this show 6-7 years ago and having a huge crush on Loker. I really liked this! Especially this part:

8 hours ago, Sierra said:

Everything Loker had was anticipating being called out on some measure of the conversation his face had just had with the sneeze he’d just resisted

I love the idea that his face had a conversation with a resisted sneeze! And I loved the premise. I wonder if Lightman is on to him yet?

[tma]

I know that this is literally over a year later but I was craving Loker sneezes SOOO badly!

 

Yum!  Absolutely loved

this ❤❤