Work Text:
“Are you working on another painting, love?” James asks, coming up behind their boyfriend and wrapping their arms around his waist.
Regulus taps his paintbrush against his palette and sets it into his water cup, “Yes. She came to me in a dream.”
“She’s pretty.” James hums, leaning his chin on Regulus’ shoulder, “Gonna be hard to find.”
“You say that everytime.” Regulus rolls his eyes, turning to press a kiss to James’ temple, “But you do it wonderfully. Every single time.”
“It might take me a minute.”
“That’s alright. I need to finish this one before I can start the next. Wait until I get her eyes, they’re special.”
“Alright, I’ll check in later tonight.” James straightens out, presses a kiss to Regulus’ cheek, and walks out of his art room.
Later, they come in with a platter of snacks and Regulus’ water bottle refilled. Setting them both on the side table that Regulus has designated for the snacks and food that James brings him while he’s working, “How close are you to done with it?” They ask, picking up a croqueta and holding it out for Regulus to eat. The boy does so, humming at the treat.
“I just need to finish the shading.” Regulus hums, “But if you want to get a picture of it so you can start looking, be my guest.” James smiles and pulls out their phone, snapping a picture of the painting. It’s of a woman, long, curly reddish-brown hair, tan skin, and eyes a honey-filled hazel. She’s got a relaxed expression, thin lips, and her nose upturned.
“I’ll start looking tomorrow.” They hum, watching Regulus make small strokes of his paintbrush along the girl’s hair, “I’ll try to be quick about it.”
“Thank you, honey.” Regulus hums, taking another croqueta in his freehand while leaning his head back into James’ hand where it has started running through his hair.
It only takes a couple of days before James finds her. Aleah. She’s a vet tech in downtown London, not far from their apartment. That’s all that James needs to know about her though they do write down some extra information about the girl before they set out.
They make quick work of her. She’s too trusting. Falling asleep without her doors locked and without a weapon by her bed, even for a nap? Weak. She doesn’t even get a chance to scream and the fact that her eyes were closed when they struck makes their life so much easier. James is quick to put their gloves on and move the girl to the bathtub so we won’t bleed out everywhere while they’re doing their work.
While her body is starting to fully drain, they strip her sheets and throw them into the washing machine, spraying over the mattress to get rid of any possible staining. Once that’s started, they make their way back to the bathroom, pulling out their kit and getting to work.
Once again, with her eyes pre-closed, it makes the stitches easier to do after they’ve plucked her eyelids and popped her eyeballs out of their socket, severing the optic nerve with their knife. After her eyes are sewn shut, they move onto her nostrils, a bit annoying with the nose piercing that she turned out to have but they figure that Regulus might like that. After the nostrils, they move onto her mouth, making sure that the colour of her lips is hidden.
When her pretty face is shut closed, the polyester beautifully matching her skin tone, James pulls out their polaroid camera and snaps a couple photos of her, repositioning her hair occasionally and making sure that they’ve got a couple good reference photos from different angles.
After that, they start the water in the bathtub, re-sheet her bed, and leave only once they’ve turned off the water faucet.
“Reg? I’m home.” James calls once they enter their apartment.
Regulus greets them at the door, pressing a small kiss to their lips, “Hello, Jamie. Did you get the pictures?”
James nods and hands him the polaroids they took, “Here. Isn’t she pretty?”
“Stunning.” The younger gazes fondly down at the polaroids, “Even prettier than my painting. I can’t wait to paint her like this. You made her… beautiful.”
“I improved her beauty.” James smiles, “Now, let me clean up so I can make us dinner then you can start on the painting tonight. I have a feeling this will be your best one yet.”
“You say that every time.”
“And yet, I mean it.” They gently take Regulus’ cheek in their now-ungloved hand, “Every. Time. Now, let me clean up.”
By the time that James is showered and changed into different clothes, Regulus has already made several sketches and thumbnails using all of the pictures that James took of Aleah. They whip up some dinner for the both of them before Regulus rushes off into his art room and James goes to get some sleep.
Only days later, Regulus calls James into the room where he’s been basically isolating himself for days, “I finished it. She’s so pretty now.” He delights, guiding James towards his easel and gesturing to the finished painting.
James’ breath catches in their chest, “Oh, love. She’s…” They look over the painting. Where her eyes are no longer brown, instead the skin sinks into where the sockets are empty and the line where her mouth would be gone, skinned over. Her hair falls around her face in the same way that it did in the first painting but… “She’s beautiful, Reg. You did so good.”
“I love her.” Reg smiles, caressing the face of his painting, “Definitely an improvement.”
“She was pretty to begin with but this…” James pulls Regulus tight to their body, pulling him in for a kiss. It’s intense, and they both kiss with fervor. Right in front of their most recent creation.