Compatibility

9

He started stroking the canvas with his brush. But as hard as Markus tried to focus on painting, he kept remembering what had happened a couple seconds ago. He wanted to forget it. He wanted to dismiss it as an accident for both. But Markus liked being that close to Simon, and he felt guilty for it. Why was he feeling this way..? What was he feeling? He was genuinely curious. It was hard to paint and dismiss error messages telling him that his system was overheating at the same time. But he managed.

Markus closed his eyes and took a deep breathe. He ended up drawing the horizon. The colors and structure were there, but Markus was dissatisfied with the results, he believed he could do better. Yet again, Simon had a different opinion. "Wow... Markus that's-"

"Really not good.." Simon gave Markus a stare of disapproval. "No! Markus that is beautiful! That's one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen!" Simon pouted and sighed. Markus couldn't help but smile to himself. At least Simon liked it, but Markus had gotten so used to his style that almost everything he painted was so dull to him. He looked over at Simon, and smiled. "What? You want this one too?" Markus teased. "I mean if you're not gonna to keep it.." Markus chuckled and carried the canvas to the side. "You're turn pretty boy. You try painting something now." Simon frowned. Markus could tell he was flustered by the name.

Markus placed a new canvas on the stool and handed the palette and brush to Simon. He hesitantly walked closer to the canvas and brought up his hand to begin the painting. He was frozen for a couple seconds, but soon started. He began painting a structure. He made it so that most of it was damaged and destroyed. It gave it an abandoned look. He also painted a bell at the top. Markus could tell straight off the bat what he was making. Simon took a couple more seconds for detail and color. Then he finally put down the brush.

It was the church-or their current Jericho- Markus noticed Simon had paid extra attention to the bell. The colors that Simon had used to represent the sky were vermont colors all blended together. It made the bell stand out with its more rugged golden looking color. Even though Simon was a beginner, he really had a way with colors. Markus didn't even think Simon knew that colors triggered different feelings. Despite this, he did a fantastic job at making Markus feel at peace. Something that only being alone made him feel.

"Do you.. like it..?" Simon's sudden comment caught Markus by surprise. Markus guesses he was staring for a bit too long. "Yea.. yea it's great, actually.." Simon smirked. "Almost as good as yours right?" Markus also gave him a smirk, glaring at Simon with his eyebrow arched. "Almost.." They stood there for a couple seconds, Markus admiring Simon's creation. "It's getting late" Simon blurts, "We should probably be going into standby mode soon. We don't need you shutting down in the middle of tomorrow."  Markus wasn't too happy with the fact that their lesson had to end right then and there, and Simon noticed this. "Don't worry Markus, we can continue this another time." Simon's tone made Markus want to believe him, but Markus knew not every night would be like this night. He knew it's not everyday that Simon would agree to do something out of his comfort zone especially with someone he still barely even knew. But Simon had put so much trust in Markus that he was willing to do so.

"Okay.. fine.." Markus went to go sit down on the first row of seats infront of him. He noticed Simon walking the opposite way. "Where are you going?". Simon stopped in his tracks. He turned around, "Oh- I uh.. I figured you wanted your own space. You know you've already done enough for all of us..". Markus didn't want Simon to go, he wanted him to stay. He'd been alone for so long, too long. Yes, sometimes he found bliss in being alone, but he didn't fancy being alone all the time. He couldn't remember the last time he had been close to another-that would be true if markus hadn't deliberately crawled over to Simon and had "forced" him to kiss Markus- He had missed how it felt carrying Carl to the bathroom every morning, he felt like he had finally had a home... or did he? He hadn't deviated then so did he really ever feel so? Markus wanted Simon to be like family to him. The only problem was that the way Markus felt towards Carl was completely different from the way he felt about Simon. He was still trying to figure things out.

"Please stay.." Simon's eyes widened. "You...you want me to stay..?" Markus hadn't realized he had said that out loud, but according to Simon's response, he had. "Uh.. Yea, why go over there when your already here?" Markus tried to make the situation less awkward, but the more he tried the more awkward it became. Simon didn't talk or move for a couple of seconds-Probably preconstructing every possible thing that could go wrong to avoid it- but after those second passed, he began moving to the same row of seats that Markus was sitting at. Except he was 5ft away from him. Markus didn't know why he was so far away and he didn't appreciate it. "Do I smell or something?"

Simon turned to glare at Markus. He was speechless. Of course Markus didn't stink, if anything he smelled like paint and chalk-the good kind- "No.. of course not, Markus."

"Then why are you sitting so far away?" Simon blushed. He suddenly found himself questioning why the leader of the deviants, their savior, their rA9 wanted Simon to be closer than 5ft during standby mode. Ofcourse there was that one time where he woke up with Markus leaning up against him but that was without Simon's knowledge. This moment was different because Simon's was fully aware of Markus' position and if he did something wrong, if he made a wrong movement, something extremely bad could happen. (at least that was the way Simon's saw it)

Simon cautiously scooted in. Once he was at least a foot away from Markus, he stopped scooting. He figured that was the safest distance to be and by the looks of it, Markus thought so too
Or did he? "C'mon Simon.." Markus cooed while he took charge and closed the gap between himself and Simon. "I won't bite" They were practically touching shoulders now. "That is.." Markus continued while he laid his head back. "Unless you want me to.."

Simon didn't even dare to try and look at Markus, fearing that Markus would be looking directly at him and watching at what a mess he was, all the blue blood that was in Simon's face made him look like he was suffocating. Simon tried forging the thought of Markus- NO! Simon refused to think of it. A couple seconds pass and Simon can hear faint noises that seem to be coming from Markus. Without thinking Simon turns to take a look, and is surprised to find Markus silently giggling to himself.

Simon playfully hits Markus in the chest with his elbow. "Not funny." Half of his voice was serious, and the other half was embarrassment. "Aww c'mon, I'm just teasing." Simon started to see error pop ups, letting him know that if he didn't temporarily deactivate himself he would shut down. He intelligently did as told and went into standby. Leaving Markus silently snickering to himself.

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Don't ask me where they're getting all those canvases.