Misc RH OC Scraps

[PENNY + AIDEN] Painting Pricing

(AN: I didn't proofread and it's 4:35 am and I have to get up by 8:00. Anyway. This was a requested scrap.)

"Alright, I've finished," Penny set her paintbrush in her paint water cup and pushed her chair back, away from the painting she had been working on.

Aiden, who had been her subject for the painting, rushed over to see it. He leaned over Penny's shoulder and stared at the painting for a bit, the silence made Penny a bit uncomfortable. She started to doubt her painting. She started making excuses for it— "the colors will be more

vibrant once they dry and I put a varnish on it. And I don't usually work with oil paints, I'm used to watercolors, so..."

"WOW!" Aiden exclaimed. He was smiling widely, and his blue eyes sparkled. "That's amazing, Perry. And this isn't even as vibrant as it gets? And you weren't used to the medium? And it looks like THIS?" He paused for dramatic effect, then put his hands on her shoulders, so when she looked up, she saw his upside-down face. "Can I buy it? After it gets graded, I mean, obviously."

"Huh?" A blush spread across Penny's face. "You actually want to buy my painting?"

"Of course! I've never looked better. How much do you want for it?" Aiden took his hands off of Penny so he could find and open his wallet. He looked at her expectantly.

She wasn't sure what to say. When people asked to keep her paintings, they usually wanted them for free— or maybe that was just Robin. She hadn't priced one before. And she still didn't think this one was as good as he was saying it was. Finally, in a quiet voice, she mumbled "maybe... Thirty dollars?"

Aiden's eyebrows knit. For a moment Penny worried if she had been too greedy. "Are you serious? That's WAY too low!"

"Huh?"

"Look at this amazing art. It's probably worth more than I could pay for it. You're asking for, like, one percent of its worth."

"It only took me a few hours... it's not my best work..."

"Patsy! This is the culmination of years of honing your skill." Aiden took both of her hands in his own and pulled her up, so she was standing. He made eye contact with her. "You are a student at Rainbow High, a top art school. You haven't flunked out or anything. Your art is CLEARLY excellent, there's proof! Heck, I charge more for photo-cards. If I can be that confident in my worth, then so can you— I'm just the subject of art, but you? You CREATE art! That's amazing. Have some self-respect!"

Self-respect? Penny glanced at the painting again. It wasn't bad, she thought. Then— "actually, my name is Penny."

"Oh. Sorry, I know someone else nicknamed Penny, so it's a little weird to use that same nickname for you."

She was taken aback. He knew it was a nickname? "It's just that my name is hard to pronounce," she muttered.

"I bet I could get it," Aiden said, smug.

Penny didn't believe him for a second. She hadn't meant to, but when she said her name, her tone was defiant, daring him to prove her wrong. "It's Prabhavathi."

"Prabhavathi," Aiden repeated, his pronunciation excellent. "See, that's much easier to remember! May I call you that?"

Penny felt her blush return. Her usual nickname wasn't bad. But being called by her actual name now felt special. Nobody else had made an effort to use that name. Even her teachers had been obviously relieved when she had said they could call her Penny. She looked down. "Y-yes."

"Then, how much do you really want for the painting, Prabhavathi?"

"Three... hundred?"

Aiden rifled through his wallet while he made soft "tsk" noises. "Still not up to what it's worth, if you ask me, but it's better than thirty. All right." He placed the money on her palm. She just stared at it, so Aiden pushed her fingers to close around the bills.

"Just remember to give me the painting when it's varnished and graded, okay? Or I totally just helped you scam me," he joked.

Penny nodded. She didn't have anything else she felt she could say. Aiden smiled, packed up his stuff, and left with a wave goodbye. Penny was left standing stunned, with her 300-dollar painting and the feeling that she wanted something more than money from that boy.