Chapter Text
Chloe held her breath as the paintbrush swept up the back of her knee, leaving a thick, cool line along her skin in its wake. The sensation proved to be too much and she shifted away.
“Chloe!”
“Sorry,” she huffed. “It was tickling me.”
Nathaniel sighed from his position kneeling behind her. “Are you going to be able to do this? Rose offered if–”
“I’m here, aren’t I?” she snapped, tilting her head back. ”Now keep painting. I don’t have all day.”
“Do you have somewhere to be? I told you this would take a few hours. Body art is a pretty intensive–”
“Oh, for crying out loud, it’s a figure of speech. I’m here as long as you need me, I guess.”
“If you’re sure…” The teasing swipe of the paintbrush on the back of her knee began again and Chloe tried to steel herself against it.
“You’re shaking a little,” Nathaniel commented, the paintbrush strokes never relenting.
“Aren’t you done with that area yet?” she snapped.
“I can come back to it if you need a break.” Nathaniel shifted behind her. “And you’re sure you don’t mind me painting on these shorts?”
“I bought them for your stupid little project so you may as well.”
Nathaniel braced a hand on the back of her left thigh and Chloe felt the tickling bristles touch where her shorts cut off and gave way to skin. He had moved in so close that she could feel his breath, warm and steady, on the sensitive skin.
“Thank you for doing this,” he said conversationally as if his face and hands weren’t completely too close to an area he had no business being so close to. “A project like this will look great in my portfolio. The school I’m looking at is really into using different mediums as a canvas.”
His hand slid in between her legs to wrap around her inner thigh and he continued the brushing strokes, oblivious to the torture he was putting her through. “To be honest, I’m surprised you offered. You’re the last person I thought would be okay with getting covered in paint.”
Swallowing thickly, Chloe nodded, her eyes burning a hole into the mirror in front of her. “I-I like your art.”
Nathaniel paused, catching her gaze in the reflection. “Really?”
Chloe looked at his face and then at his long paint-splattered fingers protruding from between her legs to wrap around the front of one thigh as the other held a paintbrush out to the side. “Damn it, you’re so hot,” she muttered, closing her eyes.
His cheeks flushed. “W-what?”
She cleared her throat and glared. “Are you going to keep wasting time or are you going to paint?”
“Right, uh…yeah, sorry,” Nathaniel quickly replied, ducking behind her legs to hide his burning face.
Chloe felt him faltering behind her. She shifted her legs restlessly.
“Are your legs getting tired?”
“A little,” she admitted, hoping he would move away and give her a chance to breathe.
He sat back on his heels. “You can lay down on your stomach if you want. I should have suggested that to begin with.” He shook his head. “Sorry, this is the first time I’ve done one of these.”
Nathaniel stood up and offered her his hand.
“You’ve got paint all over it,” Chloe grimaced.
He cocked an eyebrow.
“Oh,” she mumbled, taking his hand. His skin was warm against hers and she tried to stamp down the stupid little butterflies that had taken up fluttering in her stomach.
“You can just lay down right here,” he motioned to the stretch of canvas she had been standing on. Nathaniel looked around wildly for a moment and then dropped her hand, darting over to the counter. He grabbed his over shirt and waved it. “It’s not a pillow, but at least your head won’t be flat on the ground.”
He helped her to her knees. “Be careful not to go all the way back!” Nathaniel grabbed her hands and gently pulled her forward. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to drop you, promise.” She watched him with big eyes as he lowered her to the canvas, his eyes on her painted legs. “Is that okay?” he asked, pillowing his shirt under her head.
Chloe cleared her throat. “It depends on your definition of okay, but I suppose it will do.”
Nathaniel nodded and moved behind her once more. Chloe strained to watch him in the mirror but the angle was too painful. She sighed and shifted her head against the makeshift pillow. The scent of lemon verbena soap filled her nose. Why had she ever agreed to do this? Oh, that’s right. She had offered to help him because she was harboring a massive drop-dead secret crush on the stupid ginger.
She could suddenly sense him moving over her. Taking a deep breath, she attempted to look backwards. She could barely make him out crouching above her legs when she felt the paintbrush begin its torturous pattern again. She slightly lifted the leg he wasn’t painting to alleviate some of the pressure.
Nathaniel made a choked sound. “Uh, Chloe, c-could you watch your leg please?”
She strained to look back again and saw the heel of her lifted foot was a breath away from his crotch. Chloe slammed her foot down to the floor, her cheeks burning red.
Nathaniel winced. “Did that hurt? You hit the floor really hard.”
Chloe blinked back tears and buried her face in the shirt.
“Hey.” Nathaniel stood and moved to her head, crouching down again. “Seriously, Chloe, are you okay?”
“I don’t think I can do this,” she mumbled into the shirt.
“Oh.” Nathaniel fell back on his butt, bringing his knees up. “That’s…that’s okay. Like I said, Rose offered. If she can come in tomorrow, I shouldn’t fall too far behind.”
“Any blonde will do, I guess,” Chloe said miserably.
Nathaniel frowned. “What do you mean by that?”
She got up on her knees, shaking her head. “Nothing. I shouldn’t have come here.”
“If…if you think I’m into Rose, I’m not. I mean, even if I was, which again I am not, she’s with Juleka, so…”
Chloe sat back on her heels, feeling the wet paint squelch against her skin. “Why would I care who you are into?”
“Oh, uh, I guess you wouldn’t.”
“I mean, since you’re bringing it up, you may as well tell me who you’re into,” she replied as if she couldn’t care less.
“I wouldn’t say I’m bringing it up—“
“It’s probably still Marinette, I guess. Everyone just loves Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”
Nathaniel’s cheeks turned red. “No, uh, not Marinette. That was more of a silly crush years ago anyway. Marinette’s sweet but I don’t really think of her like that.”
“Oh.”
“There is someone though,” he said quietly. “Someone at school. I’ve been trying to build up the courage to…to tell her before graduation.”
Chloe frowned. “Well, I hope you’re very happy together.” She pushed herself up and stood, looking down at him. “Is there somewhere I can get this crap off of me?”
“Bathroom, right through that door.” He pointed to the far end of the room and his shoulders slumped as Chloe disappeared into the bathroom.
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Chloe scrubbed at the back of her knees and calves, trying to convince herself she wouldn’t be thinking of the way his hands felt on her skin later. The paint moved across her skin in stubborn streaks and she huffed, finally giving up. Maybe her sugar scrub could get rid of the last traces of the stupid tomato when she got home.
She grabbed a towel off the bar and paused, bringing it up to her nose. It smelled of lemon verbena just like his shirt. Did he bathe in the stuff? Curiosity getting the better of her, Chloe peeked behind the shower curtain. Sure enough, a large bottle of the scented soap sat on the built in shelf. Glancing behind her as if Nathaniel was going to burst into the bathroom at any moment, she reached inside the shower and grabbed the bottle. She popped the top open and took a big sniff.
“Damn it,” she muttered, quickly replacing the cap and sliding the bottle back into its rightful place. She scrubbed the towel against her legs and looked in the mirror. Her cheeks were still red and splatters of paint had made their way to her front but she was going straight home anyway. Hopefully no one of consequence would see her.
She opened the bathroom door and immediately honed in on Nathaniel, sitting at the counter, hunched over something.
“I’m going to get out of here,” she announced, stooping to pick up her bag.
“Oh, uh, sure, okay.” Nathaniel stood and ripped a sheet of paper out of his sketchbook. “This is for you…if you even want it. It was my mock up of what the finished piece would look like.”
Chloe took the sheet of paper and felt her breath catch. Nathaniel had drawn her tall and beautiful, her blonde hair done up in a twisting bun at the top of her head. Yellow, gold, and black paint covered her body in a bee-like pattern. The thumbnail in the corner of the page showed beautiful wings done on her back in translucent blues and purples.
“You were really going to make me look like this?”
“That was the plan,” he said, ducking his head. “Do you like it?”
“Can I have another chance?”
He looked up at her. “What?”
“Will you try on me again tomorrow?”
“You…you really want to give it another shot?”
She studied the drawing. “It’s not the worst thing I’ve ever seen. And Rose would never be able to pull these colors off like I can.”
“I made a different one for Rose.”
“Is it better than this one?”
“Well, no…”
“Then it’s settled, Red. I’ll come back tomorrow and you can turn me into…hmmm, Queen Bee,” she sniffed.
“Queen Bee, huh?” he smiled.
“I think it fits.” She raised an eyebrow in challenge.
“It’s perfect.”
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“We’re making a stop,” Chloe announced as she slid into the backseat of the town car.
“Of course, Miss Bourgeois, where do you need to go?”
“I’m a mess so I’ll be staying in the car, but you will be going into the Galleries Lafayette Haussmann and picking me up the largest bottle you can find of Lemon Verbena body wash. Also lotion and…you’ll be buying anything in that fragrance actually.”