the relationship arrangement// tyler joseph

chapter seven

on saturday morning, you woke up from a lovely dream about tyler. in your dream, he had kissed you and held you close to him, snuggling with you as you laid on his couch. it only made you more excited to see him today. you hoped that his confession last night had meant that you didn't actually have to break up with him. that you could be together, and that he would continue kissing you and touching you the way he so often tended to.

as hopeful as you were that you and tyler might actually stay in this relationship, you still had an inkling of fear that he wouldn't want you anymore. from what you had seen in other people's relationships, oftentimes guys would lose interest and leave, even if they had claimed to be in love. you knew that tyler wasn't exactly like other guys, but that didn't take away the doubt you had festering in your head. you just so badly wanted this to work out.

once you had finished getting ready, tyler came over. you didn't have any official plans for the day, so the both of you were just sitting in your room as you tried to think of something to do.

"we can paint?" tyler suggested, looking down at the box of acrylic paints that sat on your bedroom floor.

"i don't have any canvases," you replied, sighing. painting did sound fun though, so you tried to think of something else you could use other than a canvas. you looked over your entire room, until your eyes landed on tyler, and you had an idea. it was so strange, you were almost too nervous to say it out loud.

tyler turned towards you, noticing your staring. "what?"

"i could paint you," you offered, earning a confused look from him.

"paint my face?"

"your back," you clarified. it would give you enough room to paint an entire landscape.

"sounds good to me," he answered simply. you smiled, glad that he didn't seem to care in the slightest and that he was going to go along with your weird idea. you stood up and grabbed the box of paints, leading tyler into the backyard.

"maybe you should just lay in the grass, so we don't get paint everywhere," you explained. he obliged, pulling his shirt off over his head. he tossed it to the side before sitting down in the grass. you tried not to make it too obvious that you were staring as you caught a few glimpses of him, drinking in the sight of the sun shining down on his chest. he must've still noticed, because his lips curved into the tiniest of smirks, causing your cheeks to heat up.

"ready?" you asked. he answered you by laying down on his stomach, allowing you full access to his back. it was tanned and appeared to be smooth to the touch. you had to refrain from trailing your fingers down the middle and across his shoulder blades. instead, you grabbed a paintbrush and dipped it into a light blue. you started by lightly brushing it across the top of his back, both the paint and his skin glistening under the sun's glow.

"that actually feels good," he mumbled. "what are you painting?"

"i'm not sure," you replied, coating more of his back with the same blue paint. "maybe just a sky."

"you should do a sunset."

"i should," you stated, deciding to do just that. you painted hints of purple and pink, mixed with some gold and yellow to make it look more like the sun was setting. once the background was finished, you added in clouds by continuously tapping the paintbrush against him. he was mostly quiet throughout it all, so you figured this must've been relaxing for him.

after finishing some final touches, you told him that you were done. he sat up, and as he did so, you started covering one of your hands in the blue paint. he furrowed his eyebrows as he watched you, obviously clueless as to what you were about to do. you smiled, placing your hand against his chest just so that you could leave a handprint.