Work Text:
James breathed in and out, the paintbrush in his hand shaking so hard he was sure he was going to ruin the whole canvas.
"Would you please stand fucking still?" he breathed angrily at the model in front of him, a curly-haired young man lying almost completely naked and chatting with the whole workshop, rotating his upper body left and right to keep up conversations, "I can't paint you if you keep moving".
The man, John his name was, smirked and turned back to the position James had given him hours before, "I am deeply sorry, mister Flint"
"You are so damn not" he whispered while gathering some more colour to paint the curls of the angel John was impersonating.
"I can hear you" the model sing-sang mockingly.
This was going to be a very long collaboration, James was sure.
A week later the painting, a massive representation of angels dancing in Heaven, was missing half the angels because, apparently, the model couldn't stand still to save a life.
"Mister Silver, I'm begging you-"
"Call me John, please" John smiled at Flint while changing the position of the objects around him.
"John, then, please stop moving things around"
"But they look better this way, see ?" the younger man showed with his hands, a big smile in place, white teeth showing and bright eyes sparkling, James could not really argue with someone looking like this.
He was too distracted.
"Yes"
"Yes?"
"Yes, alright, but now please, stand still," James said exasperatedly, trying not to look for too long at the fine muscles moving under Silver's skin. The damn problem was that he was supposed to look at them, it was literally his job.
James' life was very hard and it was unfair.
He listened to John move around a bit more and when he looked up he had to choke a 'wow' because he was an adult man with a dignity.
"Is this what you wanted?" Silver asked, a white sheet draped over his body hiding his crotch but revealing everything else, the position he had assumed tensing his muscles in the most exquisite way.
Flint swallowed and bit his tongue in the harshest way.
"Sure," he said, and he was pretty certain he heard the young man and few people from his staff giggle.
Just a few days and the painting was supposed to be handed to the client, and obviously, nothing was ready.
James had to paint night and day, sleeping two hours here and 3 there, eating only when his apprentices reminded him to eat that sandwich Miranda had brought him hours ago and never leaving his workshop for days on end.
On the final night, right before the delivery, he looked at his painting and almost yelled at the empty room.
The angels were still missing particulars, but the contract with the model, John, had ended two weeks before and he had been so busy he had even forgotten about his crush, as Miranda called it, for the young man.
He marched to his phone, miraculously still charged, and called John's number. Right before cursing himself for doing so and hearing the door opening and a phone ringing.
James lifted his head fast and saw John smiling and waving, phone in hand and showing his number and name flashing on the screen, "Hey" was the only thing he managed to say.
"Hey you, too" John smiled, putting his bag and jacket down on the usual stool lying around the workshop.
"What are you doing here?" James asked, not sure how to greet John after all the flirting that had ensued on the guy's part, and feeling like an idiot for asking such an impolite question.
"Billy called me this evening, he told me he was sure you'd need me tonight so," John answered vaguely gesturing around, looking casual.
"So you came"
"Apparently"
Silence fell in the room and James felt the urgent need to either go and kiss the guy stupid or paint him a thousand times on every surface available. He did neither.
"So," John said after a while "since I'm not here to just stare at the wall, what about you telling me what to do so I can help you?"
James shook his head and tried to regain some of his brain's functions, "Sure, just, I need to add some particulars to this angel" he said pointing at the centre of the piece.
"The naked one?" John asked, not looking one bit touched by the idea of taking off everything he had on.
"Yes, him" James was instead very aware of the thing, as he felt incredibly stupid for answering in monosyllables, but he did not trust his voice, not now that he knew what was coming.
He started preparing all the material and the colours while John stripped on the other side of the room, sounds coming from the street filling the silent room.
He was so concentrated in trying to get the right pink that would match John's lips that he barely heard John calling his name, "Uh?"
"I'm ready, so whenever you want we can start"
James took in the information and lifted the plate with the colours and turned around.
John was lying on the couch, imitating a position they had come up with a month ago but now stark naked, John's blue eyes settled on James' ones and they both stopped breathing for a second.
James paintbrush was shaking for a whole new reason this time, "You're the most beautiful I've ever seen" he muttered, before letting everything he held in his hands fall to cross the room and kiss John.