Words // Joshler

// "Don't You Dare"

In which Josh models for a painting.

"Maybe I'll shave my head."

Tyler finally looked up from his painting, brush still in his paint-smeared hand. He frowned at his lover, squinting slightly to express his disdain. "Don't you dare."

Josh laughed. "Oh, now you look up," he teased, making Tyler scoff and go back to his work again.

It was the summer after high school. While Tyler and Josh both had part-time jobs--Josh at Guitar Center, and Tyler at an art store--they still made plenty of time for one another. They'd usually meet at one of their houses or Josh's grandparents' house, but sometimes they went on little dates together. Nothing fancy, just getting ice cream or taking a walk. Today, Tyler was painting, and Josh was his model.

He modeled for Tyler more and more all the time, it seemed. The artist still wasn't showing his works to anyone but Josh, but he'd started to keep more of them instead of just throwing them away if he wasn't satisfied with them. All of Tyler's paintings were so beautiful, Josh could scarcely believe that he had destroyed so many of them in the past.

"You make me look good," he'd commented one night, admiring his lover's latest work. Tyler had simply wrapped his arms around Josh's waist, pressing a kiss to his shoulder. "You look good already."

Today, Tyler was painting an abstract, and he had asked Josh to sit on the loveseat. Modeling for abstract paintings, Josh noted, meant he didn't have to stay quite so still since the painting wasn't meant to be a perfect likeness.

"Can you take off your shirt?" Tyler had asked as he set up his easel. "I mean, for the painting."

"Sure, if it's for the painting." Josh blew him a kiss. His lover rolled his eyes, cheeks pink.

He loved to watch Tyler work. He usually couldn't see the painting itself from where he was posing, but he could see Tyler, which was enough to let him know how it was going. If Tyler liked what he was doing--if the painting was coming out the way he wanted it to--his face would be screwed up in concentration, eyes squinting slightly as he smeared just a bit of the paint with his fingers. If the painting wasn't going the way he wanted it to, he'd be frowning, hands more rushed as he tried to fix whatever had gone wrong; he was less careful when he was frustrated.

The reveal at the end of the session was probably the best part. Tyler would finally let him get up and see the painting, and it astounded Josh every time. Tyler used so many bright, beautiful colors, turning a simple still scene into a masterpiece.

All in all, Josh really did enjoy modeling for Tyler--helping him, in some small way, to create art--but there was one thing about it that he didn't enjoy quite so much, and that was getting Tyler's attention.

Tyler was so focused on his craft while painting that he barely spoke to his lover. When Josh asked him a question, Tyler's brain didn't even register that he was speaking. In a way, it was cute, and Josh didn't like to interrupt him, but sometimes he did need to talk, to ask if he could take a break or get a drink of water or something.

Josh's joke about shaving his head had gotten Tyler's attention, however. "Why shouldn't I?" he continued, still mostly teasing, although he had shaved his head once before and rather liked it. "My hair's pretty damaged from all the re-dyeing."

Briefly, Tyler looked up from his painting again. Josh's hair was a bit ragged, truthfully--he'd dyed it blue at least twice since he'd known him, both times the same shade. "Because I'd miss it," the painter admitted.

That surprised Josh. He blinked. "Really?"

"Yeah, really." Tyler went back to his painting, but he kept talking. "It's so...vibrant. It's what attracted me to you in the first place, actually."

The blue-haired boy offered up a broad grin. "Guess I'd better keep it, then."

Tyler smiled a little, too. He brushed a little bit of black paint onto his pinkie finger, and pressed it into the corner of his painting; his fingerprint was his own unique signature. "It's done."

Josh stood up, stretched for a moment, and walked to the other side of the easel. The background of the painting--the walls, the window, the loveseat--were all normal; it was Josh that was abstract. His body seemed to curve and bend in ways he was pretty sure his real body couldn't. His hair was standing on end as if he'd been electrified. He also had a singular eye in the middle of his forehead, and two extra limbs.

"I don't remember having four arms," he joked, resting his chin on Tyler's shoulder.

"Does that mean you don't like it?" his lover's voice wavered a little. He was still a little nervous about sharing his works.

Josh immediately wrapped his arms around Tyler, pressing his face into his neck. "No, of course not, Ty. I love it. It's amazing." He lifted his face up again to continue admiring the painting. "Honestly, I don't know where you get all this creativity. If I tried to paint you, you'd look like a stick figure."

Tyler laughed. "Good thing you're the writer, then."