Scolex One-shots.

Canvas

Alex woke slowly; blinking his eyes open and stretching his body from fingertip to toe in bed before rolling over to face the body beside him. A strip of sunlight peaked its way around the edge of their curtains and illuminated a diagonal strip of Scott's bare back, who laid face down, his head resting on hands and face turned away. After deciding he wasn't ready to leave this warm cavern, Alex settled beneath the covers once again.

But he couldn't sleep. Unconsciousness simply failed to claim him, his mind out of dreamscapes grasp as he lay wondering how many metaphors he could think of for sleep. He let out a yawn and smiled as the curtains fluttered, the strip of light igniting more of Scott's frustratingly perfect golden skin. Alex sat up suddenly, blinking rapidly to try and dispel his head rush. He scampered out of his room, returning moments later with a box of paintbrushes and paints under one arm and holding a mug of clean water with the other.

Alex set the box where he was laying just minutes ago and the cup on the table beside Scott. He kneeled beside Scott and tried to negotiate his way around straddling him, but threw caution to the wind, pulling the sheet down to expose all of his back and moving one knee to either side of Scott's lower back, supporting some of his own weight, fearing he would crush the other boy. Scott stirred; turning his head and murmuring "what're you doing" Alex simply shushed him, running his fingers through Scott's hair and giggling at his resounding purr.

The pair fell into a soothing rhythm; Scott writhing beneath Alex as the cold paint touched his skin, before being lulled back to sleep by Alex's rhythmic brush strokes. The elder boy focused on transforming the canvas below him into a master piece. What started as innocent lines Alex absentmindedly painted onto Scott became a marvellous nightscape; the indent of Scott's spine acting as a valley between two mountains in the foreground, a sprinkling of white snow contrasting with a deep blue fading to black sky as it approached his neck. Alex mapped constellations with stars, replacing the freckles he had memorised with tiny bright dots and added a silvery white glow to the roves of tiny houses and trees in the background.

Eventually Alex sat back to admire his work, finishing his piece with a dab of paint to the tip of Scott's nose, who groaned in protest.

"Are you finished now? Can I see?" Alex nodded, clambering off of Scott and leading the way to their bathroom. "Whoa, that's beautiful" Scott commended as he looked over his shoulder at his reflection, pivoting to see the other side. Alex gave a shy smile, blushing at Scott's complements. "It's magnificent! Can you take a picture so I can see it properly?"

Alex complied, snapping a few pictures and showing them to Scott, who marvelled over them for a lot longer than Alex thought was necessary. "You should get in the shower before it completely dries"

"I don't want to! It's so pretty I don't want to wash it down the plug hole." Scott pouted as if Alex wasn't saying it for his own good.

"You say that now, but in hindsight perhaps acrylic paint wasn't the best idea..."

Scott rolled his eyes, turning to switch the shower on. Alex examined his artwork once again, this time with a more critical eye; the shadowing wasn't consistent enough for his liking and he should have cleaned his brushes first so that the white contrasted more.

"I can feel your critical gaze on my back, you know" Scott mused, turning and pressing a quick kiss to Alex's lips. "It's beautiful." He reconnected their lips once again, not satisfied with their brief contact, "just like you".

"Shut up" Alex jested, gently shoving Scott's shoulder towards the shower.

"There is an issue with this plan" Scott said, his sly smirk playing at the corner of his lips, "you see you painted my back, and everyone knows, that one cannot successfully wash their own back"

Alex laughed, stepping forward and wrapping his arms around Scott's waist, running his fingers slightly underneath the elastic of his boxers, "a foolish mistake"

"A rookie error really" Scott added, tugging slightly on the ties of Alex's pyjama bottoms.

"If only you had someone who would shower with you" Alex ran his fingers over Scott's back, letting the paint coat his fingers, then running one in a single line from his forehead, over the bridge of his nose and pausing over his lips. Scott pouted smelling the foul stuff he really needed to get off. Alex watched Scott purse his lips and it wasn't until his paint covered hands were on Alex's chest that he realised what Scott had done. Alex looked down at the blue hand prints on his chest, "you're the worst"

Scott chuckled, pressing his lips to Alex's before he could complain again, wasting no time before deepening their kiss, holding Alex impossibly tighter until there was no space between them. "The shower's still on." He mumbled breathlessly "We're wasting water"

Alex let out a shaky laugh, "We should probably get in, huh?" Scott nodded but couldn't help continuing to kiss Alex diligently, "Scott, you're going to have to stop that"

"Whyyyy?" Scott whined.

"Literally so we can undress and get in the shower together?!"

They laughed simultaneously, "solid point" Scott added, following Alex's lead and slinking out of his underwear to join his boyfriend under the scalding hot spray.