Closed Like Constellations

[Elliot Briar]

Elliot wasn't sure he'd ever quite get the hang of painting. He'd certainly never get as good as Lars was either. Having given up on his own art attempt awhile ago, he'd resigned himself to just watching Lars work instead, fiddling with a paintbrush as they chatted quietly.
They'd moved their set up to a patch of sunlight by the floor, after Elliot had stopped to put some newspaper down first, and he was enjoying just watching the sunlight play across Lars and his painting. Even if Elliot wasn't good at painting, it was still calming to spend time with Lars like this. There was no pressure to do anything other than spend time together, and Elliot liked how focused Lars could get when he was caught up making something.
Reaching out, Elliot gently ran his brush across Lars' arm, connecting two of his freckles with blue paint, ducking his head to smile when the action got Lars attention, but not stopping as he connected the next freckle, moving the brush back near Lars' elbow.

 

[Lars van Houten]

When Lars usually painted, he felt like he was in a world all of his own. It was usually difficult to talk to someone else while making paintings, as he tended to be fully occupied with what he was creating. But with Elliot it was different, maybe because he knew his boyfriend wouldn't mind if he gave him some vague answers sometimes when he was too caught up in what he was doing. Elliot was one of the most patient people Lars knew, which was part of why he liked him so much. Elliot felt safe, even when Lars was doing something strange, he was always nice. Lars was just finishing a patch of flowers in his painting when he felt a strange tickling sensation on his arm. He stayed focused on the painting he was working on until he felt it again. Distracted, Lars turned his head, only to see Elliot painting on his arm. He saw the other boy was connecting his freckles with lines of blue paint, and Lars looked at him and then smiled shyly, his heartbeat speeding up. He was struck by how fond he was of Elliot and his smile, his little gestures. A warm feeling spread through him, and he laughed softly. "I'm not the canvas." He said quietly, though he made no move to stop Elliot at all. Instead, he turned his arm slightly so he could reach the next freckle more easily.

 

[Elliot Briar]

Elliot smiled when Lars indulged him, surveying more of the freckles on Lars' arm appraisingly. "You're mixed media," Elliot said, focusing more on his new art project than the one he'd abandoned earlier, smiling more when Lars shifted his arm obligingly. "I'm making a star chart," Elliot said, linking another freckle. Lars had plenty and Elliot was finding it equal parts fun to tease Lars and soothing to try and parse patterns out of the dots. "If this freckle was maybe an inch more to the left this could be Lyra," He said, frowning and rotating his head a few times to try and see if another one would line up better. Maybe he'd just have to settle for a slightly wonky-looking Lyra constellation. "I'm going to call it the Lars constellation." He decided, linking up the wayward freckle with an assured brush stroke and glancing up at Lars with a slow smile.

 

[Lars van Houten]

Lars let out a giggle when Elliot said he was mixed media. "Human skin and paint?" He asked, wrinkling his nose a little. "I suppose that can be art." He smiled fondly when Elliot said he was making a star chart, watching him paint lines between the freckles. It made him feel warm and content, and he forgot about his own painting for now. He grinned when Elliot called it the Lars constellation. "Can you make the next one the Elliot constellation?" He asked, turning his arm a little to expose more freckles. "Make it extra cute, too." He added shyly. "To suit the name..."

 

[Elliot Briar]

Elliot scrunched up his face in response to Lars' description of his newest artwork, ducking his head down and focusing back on his constellations when Lars smiled at him. "Well, the Elliot constellation is more visible in the northern hemisphere, so it'd have to be.." Elliot paused, lifting his brush and scanning Lars' skin, trying to focus on a good spot and not on heat on his own face from the compliment. He wished he could just casually say things like that as easily as Lars did, but Elliot always felt so stuck in his, worrying about whether it was the right thing to say or what Lars wanted to hear. "Right here," He settled, leaning over to dab the brush on the tip of Lars' nose triumphantly. "Very um. Cute." He said, glancing up to meet Lars' eyes.

 

[Lars van Houten]

Lars laughed softly as Elliot looked for a spot to start the new constellation, and laughed again when he eventually settled on his nose. He tried to look at the tip of his nose, crossing his eyes. "Is it just one dot?" He asked with a slight smile. "A tiny constellation." He met Elliot's eyes, blinking a little. "I'll take your word for it." He said softly as Elliot said it was cute. He could feel he was blushing a little, but he didn't really mind. He felt comfortable with Elliot, and safe. He picked up his own brush. "Actually... maybe the Elliot constellation should be on Elliot. " He said, the brush moving closer to Elliot's arm.

 

[Elliot Briar]

Elliot laughed as Lars went cross-eyed, moving his brush to connect to another freckle over his cheek. "Two dots," He said matter-of-factly, smiling brightly at Lars again. As much as navigating their relationship stuff made Elliot nervous, he still enjoyed being around Lars. When the fear of doing something wrong wasn't lurking in Elliot's subconscious and he could forget about the pressure of officially 'dating', it was nice to just relax around Lars. Lars always just seemed happy to have Elliot around, whether he was being terrible at painting or fixing Lars' tie because it was bothering him. Elliot wished he could focus on that feeling more often than the pit of fear that he would somehow misstep on the romantic side of their relationship.

Elliot laughed lightly when Lars moved his own brush to paint on Elliot's arm, shaking his sleeve back gamely. "That's fair, though I don't think there's as many uh, stars, as you have, so you might need to get creative." He said, twisting his arm back and forth a few times. Elliot had a few freckles, but not as many compared to Lars.

 

[Lars van Houten]

Lars laughed as Elliot connected the freckle on his nose to one of his cheek. "Still tiny." He told him fondly. "But better." He wondered how he looked, probably a bit silly. But Lars didn't really care about that, as he knew Elliot would like him with paint on his face too. Elliot accepted him exactly how he was, and not many people outside of his family did that. Even people he liked and was friends with usually didn't see his weirdest side, not truly. Being seen was a wonderful experience if it was with Elliot, as Elliot was always nice and encouraging to him. Lars smiled when Elliot pushed his sleeve back, unbothered with Lars' new plan to paint on his arm. He did quickly realize there weren't that many freckles to connect, and painted a flower instead. "Is this creative enough?" He asked, shooting Elliot a slight smile before painting a new flower.