Paint Me Blue [bxb; mpreg]

Chapter Eight

O. 12th

Reese breathes softly, eyes droopy as his brush glides across the canvas of dull sad colors. Blues and purples swirling together with dark clouds of black and grey joining in. The paint moving on it's own, spreading and taking form into something breathtaking. Splotches of white are flickered off a thicker brush and land onto the nonsensical painting in just the right place.

He hums softly, momentarily pausing and closing his eyes. He let's his imagination take him away for just a moment. He can see it, the overpowering blues fading into harsher tones of purple until it's darker yet. The sky captured onto paper. Stars glistening impossibly bright. Clouds blown away by imaginary winds.

He breathes deeply, eyes opening as he continues to paint, allowing himself to get lost in the music and the colors. He's so immersed in his work, in just being, that he doesn't hear his name being called.

A tap on the shoulder startles him and he looks up, finding his name on Payton's lips, "Reese?"

"Hi," Reese whispers, slipping off an earbud.

"Hey," Payton greets just as softly, "Why are we whispering?"

Reese cocks his head to the side, realizing that Payton has never experienced something so stress relieving, something so close to magic.

He shrugs, finding the words too hard to explain, "no reason."

Payton nods, dragging a stool next to Reese's. He plops down and his eyes are briefly drawn to the painting. It's... something. He's never been much for fine arts, but it's rather beautiful. He's seen thousands of galaxies in different medias and still, for some inexplicable reason, the one before him beats any other.

"It's beautiful," he admires.

"Thanks," Reese hums, shutting off his music and placing the brush in the dirty water.

"Sorry if I interrupted you," the jock apologizes.

"It's fine."

They sit in silence for a few seconds before Payton turns to face Reese. A small laugh on his lips as he reaches out to swipe at some blue paint on Reese's cheek.

Reese looks into Payton's warm eyes, gaze tender and kind.

His cheeks heat up and he forces himself to look away, coughing a small, "Thanks."

"Yeah, no problem," Payton says, voice tight with his own embarrassment.

He doesn't know why he did that.

All he knows is that he could get lost in Reese's eyes.

Reese grabs a clean paper towel and passes it over his cheek to get rid of any residue.

"So," Payton begins, "about our project."

"It's almost done, right?"

"Yeah, I just finished proof reading over both our parts and added any extra resources we used just in case," Payton nods.

"Awesome," Reese smiles, "We can send it in almost an entire week before it's due."

"Yeah..."

They lapse into an uncomfortable silence again.

After their touching talk a few days ago, they've become more distant. It's almost like when they first met, when they first began getting to know each other. The silence filled with awkwardness that is comforting in an odd sort of way.

"Are you scared?" Payton blurts out suddenly.

Reese raises a brow.

"About presenting?" He continues.

The younger teen bites his lip before breathing deeply and deciding to be honest, "Yes, actually. I'm not... I've never been good with public speaking or presentations."

"Me neither," Payton says.

"Liar," Reese retorts easily, a small smile on his lips, "you lead a team, I mean, you're the captain. You give speeches all the time."

"Yeah... guess you're right, but if I'm honest, sometimes it's hard."

"Oh," Reese frowns, he reaches out to touch Payton's hand on his thigh, at the last moment stopping himself, "I can't control the volume of my voice. Sometimes I speak so low that no one can hear me or I feel like I speak too loud it's deafening. My hands get cold and I can't stand still."

"I... My voice wavers a bit and sometimes it even cracks," Payton blushes, "it's a problem."

"I'm a problem," Reese huffs with a small laugh.

Payton looks at him with wide eyes before he snorts a laugh of his own, "You're anything but a problem, and if you were, I guess you'd be my problem."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Reese asks, wondering if he should be offended.

"You'd be mine to figure out, like a rubix cube. I'd refuse anyone else to touch you, because you'd be mine and only mine."

"Oh," Reese breathes.

Payton clears his throat a bit making Reese snap out of his trans and look at his lap.

"I'll catch you again tomorrow?" Payton wonders, his voice returning to a gentler and softer tone.

"Yes," Reese nods, "tomorrow."

Payton smiles, quickly squashing the urge to lean in, to brush away the loose curls of chocolate dyed hair that frames Reese's chubby face.

Reese waits until Payton is gone before turning on his music and slipping on his earbuds. He looks at his painting and he can just see his reflection in the wet paint.