AH collections

the sugar baby escapades (13)

OT6
Word count: 17704
Chapters: 18

The conversation starts as many others have.

While floating in the pool at the penthouse with fuck all to do.

"Do artist people have weirder kinks than most people?" Michael asks. "I mean think about it. Michelangelo? Dude had a thing for dicks."

"Everyone in the Renaissance had a thing for dicks," Jeremy says. "Doesn't mean it's a kink."

"Well, then look at Ryan, eh?" Gavin adds from where he's sunbathing on his stomach.

"What about me?" Ryan asks with an edge to his words. He's safely hidden underneath an umbrella while also covered in a generous layer of sunscreen. Dude has some serious fair skin.

"No offence, but you get up to some weird stuff," Michael says. "Just sayin'. Love you to bits, but you're an artist type and honestly? Kink city."

"What I do in my bedroom in my spare time is none of your business. 'sides. I don't hear you complaining."

Geoff guffaws and Gavin snickers. Michael shrugs as if to say 'I know what I am and I know what I like.'

Jeremy floats around for a bit more, eyes closed, perfectly content to let this fair day slide by until Gavin's calling him over to the edge of the pool.

"Jeremy, love," he says. "Will you do my back?"

"Do your what?"

"You know. Slather me up."

"I think he wants you to jerk it on his back and then rub it in," Geoff says.

"Not helping, Geoff." Jeremy swims to the edge of the pool and gets out to pick up the sunscreen left at the edge of Ryan's lounge chair. He settles himself over Gavin's hips and squeezes out a fair amount onto his hands before slapping them down on Gavin's back. At the touch, Gavin squawks.

"That's cold, you mung!"

"What did you expect? It's sunscreen on a hot day!"

"You know, it's a common courtesy to warm up sunscreen as you do, you know, lube for your partners!"

Jeremy shakes his head. "Suck it up, baby."

Gavin pouts and won't let up until Jeremy smooches it off.

He takes this sunscreen session as an impromptu massage. He digs into the muscles, finds himself thinking of designs he could draw, invisible lines he makes into the golden skin before him. And then that gives him an idea.

"Hey, remember when we were talking about artists having weird kinks?"

They're at Jeremy's apartment right now. Rob's out for the weekend—thank goodness—so they have it all to themselves. He transformed the office into a studio a long time ago, and right now he's gathering his paints. He has his easel set up, but he's been thinking of a different type of canvas for some time now.

"Yeah?" Gavin asks. "What about it?"

"Well. I have this idea in mind that I want to try a different type of canvas. Something more living?"

Gavin smirks. "You could not have made that sound any creepier if you tried."

"Yeah, yeah, just humor me, will ya? How cool would it be if I got to paint on your back? Like a landscape scene! With water. And a sunset. Like on a lake with trees on either side."

"You sound like you've been giving this a lot of thought."

Jeremy nods excitedly. "Yeah? And?"

Gavin answers by tossing aside his sunglasses and working on the buttons of his shirt—he's not vain enough to just rip the shirt open and send buttons flying like Michael or Ryan would. "Where do you want me?"

"Hand on! Let me make some space!"

They end up pulling out an air mattress and laying an old bedsheet over top to catch any drippings. Jeremy carefully sets his paints aside. He specifically looked into buying varieties of pain that worked in the same way face paints do. If everything goes well, maybe Gavin would be willing to do this again some time.

They've got a playlist working in the background, something low and soft that nearly puts Gavin to sleep if it weren't for the cold smatterings of paint landing on his skin.

"Oh, you big baby," Jeremy says. "I know what shit you get up to with Ryan. Don't think I don't know about the ice cubes."

Gavin snorts, shifting a bit under Jeremy and Jeremy only tuts him.

It's like muscle memory, the painting. The canvas is obviously warmer than he's used to working with and much more pliant, but Gavin's doing his best to keep still for him. It's not mean to be a work of art, but it's still beautiful none the less. When he gets lower on Gavin's back, Gavin begins to quiver.

"Heh. Tickles," he says.

So Jeremy takes note and doesn't go as low as he planned and readjusts to have the painting fade and blend into his lower back rather than reaching all the way down. He can work with this.

When he's done, he tells Gavin to stay put while he goes to fetch a large mirror and Ryan's camera that he barrowed for this purpose. "Get some lights up in here," he says, making sure his work is completely illuminated in the right ways before he gets up to take a few snap shots from multiple levels and angles.

"Okay," Jeremy says as he hands Gavin a hand mirror and helps him to sit up so he can get a good look at the painting in the larger mirror behind him.

"Wow. Fucking A, Lil J." He sounds breathless, like he couldn't imagine how Jeremy was able to pull off such a feat.

And when the pictures are uploaded onto the computer for clarity, Gavin says he should start a gallery like this. Something to do with living art, and Jeremy's half inclined to agree.