Come Back to Us✔ (N.Mikaelson & E.Mikaelson)

Chapter XVIII: Painting

"Are you going to tell me where we are going?" I asked Nik as he drove. We've been driving for a bit, not too long though to be alarming. We were still in Virginia. Nik looked over at me with a smile on his face, the kind that reaches all the way to his blue eyes causing them to sparkle.

"I'm not going to kill you, love. I actually do enjoy you around." He assured with a bit of a teasing tone in his voice. I gave him a look, raising my eyebrow at him. "Do you not trust me, Revna?"

"Of course I do." I told him sternly. He laughed, reaching over and grabbing my hand. I smiled as he placed our hands on my lap, his thumb rubbing my hand gently. "Are you taking me to an art museum?" Nik let out a huff.

"Not yet." Nik admitted. I smiled. Clearly I had guessed something for us to do. "Don't guess. You'll ruin the surprise." Nik whined. I laughed at his whine.

"I never thought I'd hear the big bad Hybrid whining over ruined surprises." Nik squeezed my hand slightly as he laughed with me.

"You forgot Original, love." He said looking over at me with a pout, "Original big bad Hybrid." He added. I laughed some more at him, shaking my head at him as I notice us pulling into a parking lot. My eyebrows furrowing at the building.

"Painting with a Twist." I read out loud as Nik parked. I glanced over at him. "You took me to a painting studio?" I questioned as he looks to me.

"Is that bad?" He asked looking worried. I could see the panic flashing through his gorgeous blue eyes, worry of me not liking the date idea. I offered him a smile.

"It should be fun. But I have to admit, I can't paint to save my life." I admitted. Nik laughed.

"You can't be that bad. But either way, we'll see won't we?" He got out of the car, speeding over to open my door. "Come on, love. Humor me." He held his hand out for me, which I gladly placed my hand into.

-

Nik ended up signing us up for a couples painting class. Where we would paint how we saw each other without it being a portrait. Our canvases were pointed away from each other so we couldn't see what the other was painting. I looked up at Nik to see him looking at me. His eyebrows flicking up playfully as he winked. I let out a laugh before picking up the paint brush and looking at the palate of paint before me.

Glancing back at Nik- he was already painting, his bottom lip in between his teeth as he focused. It was adorable. Looking back down, I took a deep breath before dipping my brush into the red paint. Painting wasn't something I did often. I appreciate art- I don't do it. But I had dabbled at one point in my long lifetime. Living a long time gave you opportunities to try new things. To master them and move on to something else.

My mind was unfocused as I kept looking back up to Niklaus. Watching him move around, his blue eyes would flick up to look at me every so often. Not noticing my eyes on him.

"Time's up!" I jumped at the lady that stood at the front of the room. Nik snapped his eyes up, spotting my eyes on him. A smile spreading on his face. He reminded me a lot of an adorable puppy. "Now, switch places. The point is to see how they see you. Try to figure it out before they explain it." She spoke as I looked down at the painting I did. A wolf staring back at me in reds and oranges- yellow thrown in. The yellow eyes staring right back at me giving me a shiver. I walked around the canvas to see Nik in front of me. Before we walked by, he pressed a sweet kiss to my cheek.

I smiled before standing in front of his canvas, staring at it as my smile dropped. The painting was of a woman- but she had no face. Instead there was random paint spread over in random places. My eyes scanning it slowly before glancing up to see Nik already looking at me. His smile was gone as well. Were we both interpreting the paintings wrong?