Work Text:
It wasn’t right today, so he put aside the brushes, the pencils, the pens, and used the only tools that were left - his hands. He dipped them into a deep bronze. An idyllic colour.
It shimmered as his fingers swilled the thick liquid around the tub. It reminded Jihyun of their hair at dusk, when the sun dipped low, away, and said goodnight.
It used to be a melancholy time for him, when he watched the sun slip away. But that was a different time, a different place.
Jihyun drew his hand down the blank canvas, unguided, unsure, watching the bronze paint spread across the soft texture. It was oddly…freeing. This felt like something he should have done in his youth, but his childhood was guided, walked on a path of expectation, rather than honesty and want. But for people like him, there never had been much room for the latter.
Until now.
He dipped his other hand into a teal, close to his hair colour, and echoed the motion of the bronze. His colour felt demure, smaller, next to theirs. They shone so brightly, their worth a thousand times radiant than he deserved, but still, their love was his.
Fingers touched. Paint mixed. Jihyun smiled.
“Finger-paints today, huh?”
Jihyun laughed softly as their voiced touched his ears. They weren’t meant to see, yet.
“Nothing else was working, so why not go back to the basics?” He twisted a bronze curve with a finger, echoing a curl of their hair, covering an eye, casting a small shadow just over a cheek.
“How about this basic?” They set a plate with one of their triple filled sandwiches at his side, garnished with a messy salad and crisps. Cooking wasn’t really their forte, but effort and love was. “You haven’t eaten yet and it’s evening.”
Jihyun lifted his paint stained hands and raised his brows. “Give me a sec.”
“Let me help.”
They took Jihyun by the elbow and guided him to the sink by the window, watching small drops of paint fall down his fingers. An strange combination of colours. Teal, like his hair. And a shimmering bronze. Odd, but beautiful. They were glad to see Jihyun be freer with his art, slowly letting the binds of his past, of his memories break away, one by one. Was there enough room for new ones to weave, now?
Jihyun leaned against the sink, watching, as they turned on the taps and grabbed the soft, scented soap. “I may have regressed to childhood finger-painting, but I can definitely wash my own hands,” he teased with a soft smile, half hidden by the evening shadow.
“Yeah but as usual, you’ll just get paint everywhere. It’s cute, but at this point, some of the furniture in here could be artwork.” Their smile extinguished any malice to their words, and their touch reaffirmed as hands, met hands, pulling them beneath a steady warm stream of water.
Sweet bubbles bloomed between their fingers as the soap slipped, then fell, tumbling into the basin. They bumped hips as Jihyun shuffled closer, tangling hands together as they softly scrubbed away the paint.
“You’ve been spending more and more time in here lately,” they said, keeping their eyes down and focused on their hands.
He expected this.
A thumb rolled across their knuckles, as if pressing his unspoken words into each one - words he’d kept tucked behind his lips, prickling away.
“It’s close to the anniversary of when we met. It just -”
They lift a damp hand to his cheek, tracing a touch of bubbles from cheek to lip. “Memories. I know.” He touched their hand, the tinge of glitter lingering on his skin as fingers twist together. “You wanna talk?”
Jihyun shakes his head. “This is enough, for now.”
Body, to body, they both sink together, wrapped in the decadent quiet of his studio and the running water. Thumb brushes the last of the teal off his hand, skin, to skin.
They catch Jihyun’s eyes, downcast, tired. Then a kiss follows, from the tips of their toes.
“You’re always enough, you know,” they whisper against his lips, tasting bubbles in the corner.