Work Text:
It was a Tuesday, and Alejandro was feeling incredibly bored. After several very tense legal battles, he had been released from Chris' less than stellar custody, and into Noah's much, much better one. His parents had disowned him - for failing to win $1 million on a Canadian reality show and then being a massive disappointment on the family name - and had essentially signed over his very being to Chris in a contract that bordered on slavery and was being investigated by some of Noah's friends.
This all meant that Alejandro now lived with Noah, under house arrest because of the upcoming trial against Chris over the document that had signed him away to live in that dreaded robot suit that had given him a rather sudden and new fear of tight spaces.
It also meant that Alejandro had been sitting in his new bedroom for the better part of five hours, staring at the blank wall and wondering why beige was such a popular colour choice for things when it was the ugliest colour he had ever seen.
"That's it," he finally snapped. "NOAH!"
Noah came jogging in, eyebrow raised. It had been a couple years since the pair had starred in Total Drama together; after World Tour, Noah had managed to wriggle out of his contract in a way none of the others could, and did several other, less dangerous reality shows with Owen prior to taking in the Latino man. Now, he had a nice job in a tech start up and could afford the apartment they lived in.
"What?"
"I hate this room, it is so drab and uninspiring, much like that snake Heather's face!"
Noah tried not to roll his eyes - as much as he liked the man he had taken in, Alejandro really could be the most demanding asshole at the worst of moments.
"So? Why're you telling me?" he asked. "What, you want to me to wave my magic wand and make it… not drab?"
"Oh, ha ha - I know you are not magic, Noah - I want to repaint! I want to renovate: new furniture, new carpet, new paint, new lights! I want to make it represent me in all my glory, for I truly am glorious."
He flexed his bare chest, popping his pecs in the way he knew would entice Noah just enough to get him what he wanted.
"Ugh, don't do that now!" groaned Noah. "I have an online meeting in ten minutes - and I cannot be late again!"
"Whatever you say, Cariño," grinned Alejandro. "And about my room?"
"We can repaint!" Noah conceded. "But if you want new furniture or lights, you need to pay for them yourself - I am not made of money!"
Alejandro had a good feeling that if he pushed just a little more, maybe gave a little, he could get Noah to pay anyways.
** ** **
They could not afford the disruption that professional painters would bring; so instead, a week later on a day they both had off, they emptied the room of its furniture, donned old clothes they did not need to keep clean - or in Alejandro's case, forewent a shirt altogether so he could enjoy the feeling of Noah's eyes on him - and cracked open the cans of paint. Alejandro had picked them, and then picked out a very specific design.
"With these nice wooden floors," he declared. "We will have golden baseboards, white frame wall moulding, red walls, and more gold for the crown trim!"
Noah privately thought that Alejandro was being far too ambitious - as it was, the room was entirely painted in sensible beige with sensible furniture because it was meant to be the guest bedroom. Noah had been trying to entice Alejandro to give up on the pretences and move into the master bedroom with him for well over an entire month - but to no avail.
Alejandro was stubbornly attached to the room.
Noah cracked open a paint pot.
"Are you really doing this shirtless?" he asked again. "Is that… wise?"
"Sure - I won't have to throw out any of my designer clothes because they got paint on them this way," he retorted, shaking his ass jut a little. "That and it is always nice to feel the air on my skin."
Alejandro had spent a period refusing to wear shoes for the same reason; being trapped in a robot had ruined both his tan and his circulation - but it had also stolen many of his favourite sensations from him, like the feeling of grass between his toes, or the gentle softness of Noah's skin…
Alejandro headed up the ladder to drive that thought out of his head and grabbed the brush.
All went well for a time; the two had been smart enough to start with the crown trim at the top, so any paint running down would simply be covered up by the coat going on the wall beneath it. Unfortunately, they had not been quite so clever when it came to how they painted various parts of the room.
Alejandro and Noah had simply placed wooden planks between the steps on a ladder. The planks, unfortunately, were cheap to buy and were not designed to hold all of Alejandro's muscles.
Noah had just moved his paint can out of the way, preparing to work on the next wall. Alejandro held the other open paint can in his hand as he worked on finishing the last of the wall. Noah hummed to himself; all was going well - when he heard a snap.
Spinning around, Noah only just managed to dive behind Alejandro and catch him as the plank snapped; Alejandro fell back, crushing Noah and sending the two sprawling to the ground. The open paint can flew into the air…
… and landed right in front of Alejandro, sending a spray of red paint across his chest. Noah snorted to himself, gently wrapping his arms around Alejandro as the Latino man spluttered in shock. Thankfully, the paint had not reached any higher than his collarbone; unfortunately, his entire torso was coated.
"Well, at least your designer clothes aren't ruined."
"Not funny, Noah, Amor."
Noah wrapped his arms around Alejandro anyway, keeping him from springing up. His fingers slowly began to doodle in the paint, leaving little trails where they scraped the still-wet paint away.
"You're right. It's hilarious - and now we're down a paint can too."
"We won't have enough…" groaned Alejandro.
"Maybe now you really will move into my room," mused Noah with a smirk, using his deft fingers to draw a heart over Alejandro's own heart. Noah chuckled, and as a reward, Alejandro flipped over, ruining Noah's clothing with red paint purely so he could steal a kiss.
"I… alright, you win, Cariño. Mi Vida, I will move into your room with you - at least it isn't beige!"
Noah and Alejandro still have yet to finish repainting the guest room - they are far too busy with each other to think about it!