“I’m thinking of growing a beard,” he says to her, partly because it’s the truth but mostly to distract from the way she’s looking at his face; Inej sees too much in him, always has, and some days her gaze is like being stripped bare, down to the dirty black of his soul. “Adds to my reputation if I look more fearsome,” he says, and doesn’t add and less like a boy who you might still love, if you weren’t careful, like someone who could give you everything you deserve.

But Inej only makes a soft dismissive noise, pacing towards him on silent feet until her proximity makes him breathe faster; all she says is, “That sounds like just another way to distance yourself from me, Kaz Brekker - making your face rougher won’t work,” and her kiss, when it comes, is feather-light enough that he doesn’t even flinch.
*
(The TSwift prompt flood amused me, btw.)