“No!” 

Never once had Ryan’s body reacted this quickly, pushed himself through the, for once, unlocked door of the atelier, storming over to Elias in long, desperate jumps, only to stop him right at the wrist, just millimeters before the white paint hit the canvas, and the mesmerizing painting atop it. 

Immediately, Elias flinched around to stare at Ryan, who breathed heavily in and out, and they both halted in their movements, frozen in their spots, too confused for anything. 

“What—What are you doing, Elias?” 

“Why are you barging in here, again?!” he hissed right back, yanking his wrist out of of Ryan’s grip, but Ryan wouldn’t let go, pulling Elias’ arm further away from the canvas, trying his very hardest not to get any white paint onto that cyberpunk city Elias had painted. 

“Stop!” 

“You stop, you damn geek! What, are you stalking me?!” 

Stutters, once again, and embarrassment in the form of confusing heat. “N-No! I—I have a social studies class nearby, and decided to look at the paintings before I went! But I saw you about to ruin your own damn painting, again!” 

“What’s it to you?” Once again, Elias tried to yank his arm back, but Ryan wouldn’t allow it. 

“Don’t do it! Are you crazy?!” 

“Let go!” Elias yelped back.

“No! Not until you put down this enormous brush!” 

“How am I gonna put it down if you’re holding onto it, you idiot? And you’re supposed to be in engineering?! We’re doomed!” 

Beside Elias’ seat, he had a little rolling tray with multiple containers, all filled with different kinds of paint and brushes, and atop it, a tainted cup of all kinds of paint, all turning into one mushy, gray color. It was filled with clean water, with which Elias had wanted to clean his brushes.

But it would never come to that point, with the both of them struggling for the big, dripping brush of white paint, when the cup knocked over, and Elias suddenly let go of the brush, making Ryan stumble backwards with it, only to drop it, making it splatter himself with all the white paint. 

Water spilled across the floor, following the white paint before Ryan, and the sloshing sound the foam roller made. Ryan’s black sneakers were ruined, and splatters of white paint were all over his jeans. 

Elias stared at the mess before him. “Tsk. Are you fucking kidding me?”

“You—You suddenly let go!”

“You should have just let go in the first place,” Elias buzzed, dropping his head into both his hands for an even louder, angered sigh.

“It’s—It’s fine. I’m sure it’ll wash out, will it? My shoes, they’ll come out clean, right? Can I even throw them in the wash?” 

“You look like an absolute idiot.”

Ryan went on to pick up the foam roller with the white paint on it, and carefully placed it onto the plastic holder it belonged to. “What were you doing with this, anyway?” 

Elias didn’t answer. Of course not. He kept his head low, staring at the spills on the ground, and simply sighed.

“You—If you hadn’t tried to ruin your painting, I wouldn’t have had to come crashing in here like this.” 

“I wasn’t ruining it.”

“You totally were! This white paint, it’s like you were going to erase it, or something!” 

Ryan reached for a roll of napkins nearby, hoping to wipe the white paint off his pants, but it only seemed to spread further, ruining his jeans all the more. With how thick the paint was, and how invasive it dug into his pants, there was no way he could get it out. 

Elias watched, grunting to himself and shaking his head in annoyance. 

“You’re such a nuisance, Tyler.”

“Please … my name is Ryan. Remember my name, at least,” Ryan pouted. 

“Why would I want to?” Elias hissed. “You keep invading my workspace with your stupid face, and you keep texting me endlessly, as if you can’t get a hint, and you barge in here uninvited—“

Ryan’s sulking made Elias shut up, and slap his hands onto his own thighs. Staring at Ryan’s ruined pants made Elias all the more mad, and he stood up from his stool, pacing around the room in search of a mop nearby to clean up the water-and-paint spill on the floor. 

Then, he approached Ryan, to his own surprise, making him flinch backwards as soon as Elias reached for his jeans. “It won’t wash out if you let it dry,” Elias grumbled.

“T-That’s not the problem here!” Ryan responded right away, making Elias roll his eyes at how loud Ryan was, his voice practically drilling through Elias’ ears. “You keep avoiding the issue at hand! Why—Why are you ruining your painting?!”

“Seriously, why are you so damn annoying?” 

“I just saved your art! Be thankful!”

“Saved my art … ?” Elias scoffed, and the both gazed over at the canvas. All Ryan saw was a majestic city, lights drawn to perfection, colors chosen immaculately, and again, such a lonely, empty vibe, without a single person in that painting, but broken pieces of electronics on the ground, being rained upon. 

Ryan’s gaze slithered sideways towards Elias’ face. But while Ryan had nothing but amazement for this painting, Elias had anything but. A disapproving frown dominated his face, and a clicking of his tongue would follow, only for him to avert his gaze as if he couldn’t stand to look at his work any damn longer. 

“You call this art?” he scoffed, shaking his head. 

“… What?” Completely baffled, Ryan watched as Elias reached for the canvas, only to drop it right onto the ground, painting facing up — it was dry, and luckily didn’t smudge, but for Elias to throw it onto the tarnished, dusty ground … Why would he do this to his own precious art?

Ryan stared, a quiver in his chin.

“This garbage? You can have it. Just get it out of my sight.” 

“Elias … don’t say that …” 

“I was going to start over, but someone had to fucking interfere.” 

“Hey … There is no need to start over and erase this one,” Ryan pouted, kneeling to pick up the canvas, his fingers reaching for it so gently, as if he was afraid of hurting it. His eyes gazed over the painting in weird sadness, almost feeling pity for this unloved piece of art.

Garbage? Why would you say that, when it’s so precious?