Aquarelle [h.s]

eleven

Thinking about it, I should've probably told Harry about my almost sudden change of plans beforehand. It would've saved us - and him especially - a lot of trouble, but at the same time it did give a new gentleness and airiness I hadn't expected to what I'd planned to do, so I couldn't really complain.

I couldn't exactly tell what possessed me to do something like that, as the artistic value of it was close to nonexistent, but maybe that was exactly the reason why I chose to do something like that. After all, something that can hardly be classified as artistic could easily end up being classified as rather surprising, or even intriguing, in the right contest. Either that, or just a hot mess. I could just hope that it would've been the first option.

I told Harry to keep his coat on as we would've spent the couple of hours we were given outside in the second he entered the studio. He was a bit surprised by it as we'd never done it before, but he didn't complain, or ask why, for the matter. I liked the way he did whatever he was told to do whenever we worked together, even though I was slightly unsettled by it as well, considering that none of my models had been that obedient before.

We went out, and he still didn't complain when I told him about the idea I'd had. My time was running out and I was definitely starting to get nervous and go with any weird idea I had, hoping that at least one would've been good, but he didn't need to know that. That was how I'd ended up with some of my best artworks, just a collection of ideas that probably shouldn't have worked out, but that mysteriously had ended up being quite nice.

I'd decided to take him around London to take pictures of him in different places. I was particularly interested in some benches. Considering that I loved to sketch anything that was around me, I'd always been quite fond of benches. I supposed it would've been nice to sit him in some of my favourite ones, and even though I was sure something like that wouldn't have held a particular meaning to a random observer, it did to me.

We left our cars at the studio, deciding that it would've been better to walk to do what I'd planned to do, and that was my second mistake.

Harry also didn't complain when I asked him to take off his coat so that the pictures would've turned out nicer in the second we reached the first bench, but I wished he would've when he did take it off and I realised that he was only wearing a thin white dress shirt, with his sleeves rolled up, and black jeans. It dawned on me that, not having expected to go outside, he was definitely underdressed, so I tried to be as quick as possible, wasting only about five minutes of his time taking pictures of him before handing him his black coat again.

And so we continued, walking around and only making small conversation and little comments, stopping every once in a while to take pictures. Harry decided to take off his coat for every single one, even though I'd told him he really didn't have to after the first one, not wanting him to get sick.

He also didn't complain and hour and half later when we reached the sixth bench, even though it was the twenty-third time we stopped. It surprised me to realise how much he was willing to do whatever I asked him to do when it came to being my model. He'd always been quite obedient when he'd modelled for me, but it was still surprising to see the lengths he would've been willing to go for me. I could just hope he wouldn't have ended up getting sick because of that.

I draped his coat over my arm and played with my camera before lifting it up and taking a few pictures, making sure they were good before giving him a quick nod to let him know that we were good to go.

I gave him his coat back in the second he stood up from the bench, watching him as he quickly put it on, closing it and shivering into it, the freezing cold of London finally having started to take a toll on him.