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Buck should've probably seen this coming, but when Tommy glanced at him softly and invited him on a date at painting with a twist, he eagerly agreed without stopping to think of the implications of that nor the reason why Tommy was so enthusiastic about the idea of painting together.
Truth is, he loves spending time with Tommy, no matter what they do or where they go, and he's absolutely enjoying this date, too, but he's also struggling because art is not his thing at all.
The instructor is nice and definitely very good at her job, but Buck's having a hard time keeping up with what she says. Or rather, he understands what she says but struggles to do what he's supposed to, because he sucks at drawing and painting.
He's trying, okay? He's trying to follow her instructions and angle his hand correctly and use the right brush and the right color but he's pretty sure he's making a mess, even if the instructor keeps encouraging and complimenting him.
And sure, he knows this is more about enjoying the experience than painting a masterpiece but he'd like to paint something nice anyway, and he's a bit of a perfectionist so he's doing his best.
It's date night, so they're supposed to make complementary paintings that they can't show each other until the end, which is probably a blessing.
Tommy's sitting opposite from him, their respective canvas in the middle, so he can't exactly see anything but his face, but he can tell that his boyfriend is perfectly at ease. He seems in his element, he doesn't even ask questions to the instructor since he's lost in painting.
There's a little wrinkle on the bridge on his nose that tells Buck that he's deeply concentrated, and it's honestly a sight to behold so Buck gets a bit distracted until the instructor prompts him to go on, giving him some advice.
He's supposed to be painting a half-heart shaped wave, using the colors of the bi flag, and it's not that bad but he's not sure it's going to be nice either, and he has no doubts that Tommy's painting will be better than his own.
"I'm done," Tommy proudly announces five minutes later, and Buck widens his eyes in disbelief.
"What? How's that possible?" He asks, frowning as he takes in his own painting. He's barely finished with the background. "I still have to paint the wave, you're cheating."
Tommy chuckles, tilting his head and smirking like the smug bastard he is. "I'm not cheating, I'm done for real. You wanna see?"
"I wish," Buck says, rolling his eyes.
"You can, if you want," the instructor chimes in, glancing between them. "It's not really a rule that you can't see your partner's painting before you've done with yours, just something I suggest to make things funnier," she says, inspecting Tommy's canvas. "Besides, I think that your boyfriend here might be really helpful," she adds, winking at Buck.
Buck is very, very curious now, so he stands up, rounds the table and– oh boy, Tommy has painted a masterpiece. He's not an expert, but he can recognize a wonderful and flawless painting when he sees one, and Tommy's definitely is.
He used the gay flag colors to paint the wave, and he also added a lot of details and nuances that make it look real, like a picture. He's stunned and speechless, and can't help but stare in awe at the canvas and then at his boyfriend, who almost looks– bashful.
"Baby, it's amazing. I didn't know you were so talented," he says, surprised. "You're an artist, and a damn good one.”
"Uh– Thank you, baby. Not sure if I’d call myself an artist but I– I paint in my free time. I've never mentioned that before because I didn't know how to bring it up, that's why I planned this date," Tommy admits, smiling sheepishly. "I've started painting a few months after I came back from my tour in Iraq, and it helped a lot. I've never stopped since then, it's something I really like and apparently I'm also good at that."
"You are," Buck affirms earnestly, squeezing his shoulder. "It's nice that art is one of your hobbies. I'm so bad at it, but it's calming and it definitely helps to clean your mind."
"It does. It's the reason why I started painting in the first place," Tommy replies, and then stands up and pokes him in the ribs. "So, you could use some help?" He teases, wrinkling his nose.
Buck chuckles, blushing as he nods. He sits in front of his canvas again, trying to concentrate even if having his boyfriend plastered to his back doesn't help at all.
He lets Tommy’s gentle fingers guide his hand on the canvas and listens to his advice, mesmerized by his touch and his voice and his strong body behind him and his breath fanning the side of his face. He's so gone on this man, and he's even more distracted now, but he eventually manages to finish the painting with Tommy's help.
“It looks nice,” he declares, stepping back to look at it. “Well, not as beautiful as yours but–”
“Shut up,” Tommy scoffs, leaning in to kiss his cheek. “You should be proud, it's your first painting.”
Buck blushes and reaches out to squeeze his hand, smiling brightly at him.
Their instructor comes closer, complimenting Buck herself, and then she prompts them to put their two canvases next to one another.
When they do that and a heart-shaped wave comes to life in front of them, Buck feels warmth spreading around his ribs. Tommy hugs him from behind, lacing his hands on Buck's stomach and hooking his chin on his shoulder, and they stare at the painting for a while longer, just existing in this precious, lovely moment.
The painting is far from perfect, and Tommy's definitely better than his own, but they've created it together so it's theirs and Buck thinks it's what makes it wonderful.
They've been dating for a month so he's pretty sure it might be way too soon to have this thought, but as he closes his eyes, he imagines hanging that painting on the wall of a bedroom that now it's Tommy's but might become theirs one day, and he knows he wants it. He wants to keep dating this incredible man and creating wonderful literal and metaphorical paintings together.
He turns around in the circle of Tommy's arms and it takes a glance at him to know that Tommy wants that too: they might not be perfect, but they complement each other just like those colors on a canvas.