Closed Small Spaces

[Casper Kinnek]

Casper had been busy for nearly two weeks now- working on a massive comission. It was a set of twelve paintings, and he'd been lost in his usual haze- not really sure if he was eating/drinking, but somehow having glimpses of Linden dragging him away to bed and for meals. Unfortunately though, Casper ran out of a few colors. And being home alone at the time, he had no choice but to hit the craft store. Somehow that turned into a bigger task than he'd expected, as well. He'd been snagged by the tantalizing smells of a food place on the way, then there'd been a huge sale and he'd more than just grabbed what he'd needed, he'd restocked on a lot of things, ending up with two full bags of paint supplies that he'd carefully gone over and picked out for not only this project but several others in the back of his mind.

Several hours after leaving, Casper returned, sipping on a drink he'd brought home with him with his things in hand, and had to stop in the door of his studio. His stomach twisted, and his heart sank into the depths of his toes. He thought he might throw up. Color drained from his face. "What in the...?" He turned to set the bags down quickly before he could drop them, tears in his eyes.

 

[Linden Kinnek]

It was not unknown for linden to bring his work home, quite literally at times. as the sanctuaries main bird specialist it was not unknown for him to bring some baby birds that needed feeding every couple of hours and keep them in a box in the bedroom for a couple of days, getting up all night to give them the milk they needed.
It was a good job that lin was good at remembering to feed and care for things as the last few weeks casper had been deep in a project, and in true casper style he was fairly sure his husband would not have moved from the canvas to eat or sleep if he hadnt been the one to place the food in front of him or practically drag him up to the bedroom using kisses as a bribe.
he loved his husband so much and he loved how intently he could focus on his work. some evenings he would just sit on the sofa with Lapis curled up on his lap and just watch cas work and the worlds come to light under his amazing hands.
he had got home from work today with a surprise in tow. heh ad applied for the sanctuary to join a breaking program for a hoo hoo. and they had expected the baby bird to arrive in a couple of weeks. however there had been an issue with the mother sitting on the clutch and they had instead received an egg a week ago which had been sitting in their incubator with alarm spells on it waiting to hatch. the alarm had awaken him in the early hours of the morning and he had rushed to get ready to work. stopping as he got up and again before he left to kiss cas lightly on the cheek "Love you have a good day" he whispered before leaving the door.

It had been a busy day and he had been watching and regularly feeding the bird every half hour between doing his usual jobs. but he had managed to get everything done. with only a little overtime. He had brought the bird home with him so that he could monitor it throughout the night. he entered the small flat they had expecting to see cas there once again set up behind the easel, "Hello Buttercup, I'm home. and I have a suprise" her said. however he was surprised to see an empty apartment.
he set the box down and gave the bird its feed before heading out to the shops to get some stuff to make dinner because he was fairly sure he would be cooking tonight. he got back a bag of groceries in hand. inspired by the bird he was planning to make a ramen. he put them down in the kitchen before heading back to the sitting room for the next feed. hoewever he realised the box lid was slightly open and the bird was nowhere to be seen. "Oh drums" he muttered looking around the room to find it. he couldnt see it. he looked further and found it perched atop one of Caspers paintings "however did you get there. lets get you back into your box, and maybe get you some dinner" he said moving slowly towards the bird trying not to startle it. unfortunately he managed to knock something over and before he could stop to there was water all over the side table dropping onto the floor, and more importantly the bird had seemed to have also jumped and he saw almost in slow motion the bird raise its tail and a spread down the page. "oh poop" he said trying to grab the bird as he flew off. he looked between the two unsure what to deal with first the rogue hoohoo or the stained paining. before he decided to go oafterthe bird who had decided to land on the pendant light hanging above him out of reach. "thank you" he said sarcastically as he went to find the ladder.
he was just on the top reaching out for the bird when the door opened to show cas laden down with painting supplies and the bird in shock let out another set of business Thi one landing on a different painting. Casper, I'm sorry, I can..." he started racing out to the bird but it had gone. He saw the look on his husbands face, an experession of heartbreak and betrayal he didnt think he had seen since they were at school, the time when he had told the girls who had run into them that they weren't dating, When he had asked cas to be his secret boyfriend, when he had gone to the ball with Finn, when he had dismissed the red rose. "oh, buttercup, I am so so sorry" he said walking over to his husband arms outstretched for a hug but stopping before he made contact knowing that as physical as cas was most of the time, sometimes when he was upset he didnt want be touched.

 

[Casper Kinnek]

Casper set the supplies down, barely hearing anything. He was taking deep breaths, trying not to spiral. He shifted, moving almost on autopilot as he stepped past Linden. He could hear a hollow ringing in his ears. His canvases that were on eisels still, half of them were now dripping in bird droppings. He summoned a rag and tried to dab it away, but it had seeped into the paint, smearing his work, and Casper didn't know any spell to fix it. Shaky, he stepped back, running a hand through his hair, when he saw the water on the floor, directly dripping over the stacked paintings he'd already finished. The ones leaning against the the table.

Casper went from frozen to sprinting over, cursing, shaking as he started to pull apart his canvases. The water mess was a bit more minimal on the end ones- four of them (two in front and two in the back) were only slightly damp, and he was able to fix them quickly, setting them aside with a slight sense of relief. One that was chocked out as the six middle pieces- including the painting he'd spent the most time on, the most complex, one he'd considered to be one of his best pieces, had taken so much more damage, colors bleeding and swirling together in a mess of ruined paints and damaged canvas.

Casper sat there a moment, stunned, slow realization donning over him that he'd lost nearly two weeks of work. Four of the twelve was all that he could salvage, but without the center pieces... he'd lost his main piece, lost the intricate details that made the paintings fit, match together, made them all unique but tied together.

He'd have to start over. Cas couldn't help it, and burst out into tears on the spot, gasping for breath. "Gone, all gone," He whimpered, knowing that no spell could set this straight, could fix this disaster.