“Is this necessary.”

“Hey, you’re my muse.”

“But seriously? Painting my face?”

“I know it’s itchy. And I’m also painting your hands.”

“Are you fucking kidding me…”

“You guys are cute.”

“Shut up,” Deimos hissed. Gabriel smirked at him and popped another chip into his mouth. Mira rolled her eyes and grabbed Deimos’ cheek again. He blinked rapidly as Mira applied a thick coat of white paint down his nose. Half of his face looked normal, the other half looked like something out of an impressionist painting. Blues, reds, yellows and pinks accented his skin, highlighting and shading the curves of his cheekbones and bringing attention to his vibrant green eyes. Mira was almost finished painting his nose and had to only worry about his lips and chin next.

“Why the hell is he here anyway?” Deimos said suddenly, breaking Mira’s concentration.

“Well you’re being photographed so obviously you need a photographer expert,” Gabriel smiled, swirling around in Mira’s favourite leather chair.

“I don’t like him one bit,” he replied bluntly.

Mira laughed. “It’s good to know you guys are comfortable with each other.”

“Really though, it’s been our…fifth time meeting?” Gabriel chirped up.

“You slapped my ass the third time we met.”

“He slaps everyone’s ass,” Mira muttered, going back to painting his nose.

“Now punching someone straight in the chest after their ass getting slapped? That’s abnormal,” Gabriel joked.

“I think that’s a reasonable response,” Mira pointed out.

“I’ll do it again,” Deimos spat. Mira smirked at him. He acted like an angry Pomeranian. Small, harmless, angry and cute. (Even though he was the tallest between the three of them)

Gabriel rolled his eyes and munched on another chip.

“I’m working on your lips now, talk and I’m shoving the paintbrush in your mouth,” Mira said as she cleaned her paintbrush and dabbed some purples under his nose.

Deimos rolled his eyes and quietly let her do his lips.

“Well now that the beast is silenced, we should go get dinner later and watch a movie,” Gabriel said as Mira stared at Deimos’ kissable lips. “Deimos can come if he wants.”

“I thought you liked Deimos,” Mira sneered.

“Hey, thought that was a secret between both of us.”

“Like you keep secrets.”

“Incredible. When I thought seventeen year old Mira wasn’t savage enough, nineteen year old Mira is even worse.”

“Blame it on Deimos.”

“Damn, another thing I really like about him.”

Deimos’ eyebrow furrowed. With one look, Mira knew he was basically communicating, “Guys, I’m still fucking here and listening.”

Mira was surprised by how casual Gabriel was with Deimos. Or more notably how casual Deimos with Gabriel. The first time they met was a shitshow, partly because Mira never formally introduced Gabriel as her ex to Deimos, which didn’t help the second time they met because Gabriel was in full-on flirting mode. Which Deimos despised. Round three was even worse because of the said butt slap and punch in the chest happened, but thankfully round four seemed to smooth out because Deimos was slowly getting used to Gabriel’s advances and knew how to shoot him down.

“Seriously though.” Gabriel suddenly interrupted Mira’s zone again and wrapped an arm around her. “Let’s go get dinner and watch a movie.”

Deimos and Mira exchanged looks. They were planning to just sleep around the house afterwards, but from the quirk of the eyebrow he gave her, Mira assumed a decent meal and lying around a theatre would be good too.

“Fine.” Mira waved him off. “What movie do you wanna go see?”

“Have you seen all of the good ones already?”

“Absolutely.”

Deimos smiled at her and she smiled back. Gabriel fell back onto the couch and scrolled through his phone, pouting a little. Mira finished up his lips and chin and worked a little on his neck, making him tilt up his chin and giving her free reign to his neck. Since he was being turned into an art piece, Mira asked him to remove his shirt to not distract away from the painting on his face, and gave Mira every opportunity possible to touch his bare chest. She knew he was hesitant about it and to not make it awkward, invited Gabriel to come over. She was in love with his body, she couldn’t deny it. His lightly tanned skin, his full figure, his…perk nipples. God, she hasn’t been this close to a semi-nude Deimos since the Incident. She tried to play it cool, but every few minutes, she’d glance down at his chest and see how his nipples were still hard and pink. She wanted to touch him. She already was, but she wanted to slide her cold paintbrush down his neck, across his collarbones and tease his nipples. She wanted to tease them with cold paint and with a dry soft brush. She wanted Deimos pinned underneath her while she tortured him slowly with the flick of her tongue. She wanted to kiss him. She wanted to taste him. She wanted to fuck him.

At some point, Mira realized how incredibly sexy Deimos was. It might be from sketching and painting him constantly now because of the upcoming exhibit. It might be from finally accepting the fact that she’s looked up porn that specifically referenced Deimos’ kinks or looks. It might be from the fact that she licked and sucked his nipples before.

Mira swallowed thickly and looked at Deimos. He looked back, his eyes softening to her gaze.

“God, you’re so beautiful,” Mira blurted out. Deimos blinked and glanced at the hand that rested on his chest. Mira didn’t even realize she was touching him and shyly retracted away. However, Deimos grabbed her and laced their fingers together.

Mira’s face blossomed red. She knew she had slipped up. Slowly, Deimos brought her fingers up to his lips and suddenly playfully bit her knuckles. She held her breath.

“Hurry up,” he hissed. With the inclusion of paint, Mira didn’t know if Deimos was blushing like mad or if he was truly this suave. The girl let out a tiny gasp and took back her hand, feeling his teeth and tongue on her knuckle still. Thankfully, the paint was dry and she didn’t need to fix his lips, not that she would mind touching his lips more.

“Are you guys seriously flirting while I’m trying to talk to you?” Gabriel called suddenly. Two arms wrapped around Mira’s waist and Gabriel’s face popped up on her right. His eyes were big and he was pouting.

“S-Sorry,” Mira stuttered. Gabriel frowned at her, his eyebrows raised in curiosity.

“I was asking you guys if you wanted to watch Wonder Woman or Guardians of the Galaxy?” He repeated.

Mira glanced at Deimos and he shrugged. “Wonder Woman,” he replied.

“Wonder Woman,” Mira echoed back.

“Wonder Woman it is,” he smiled. “Hey, you wanna go to Lee’s work for dinner? He works at a great pizza place.”

“Sure.”

Gabriel smiled at them brightly. “Great, a poly date!”

Deimos frowned. “Poly?”

“Polyamory,” Mira specified. “Individual with multiple partners. Gabriel’s polyamorous.”

“Hell yeah I am,” he sneered and stood up. He massaged Mira’s neck and back. “Mira’s poly-curious.”

“I just don’t care,” she pointed out.

“Oh,” Deimos blinked.

Mira looked at him concerned. “Sorry, this is probably new to you-”

“No, it’s ok,” he said quickly. He looked at Gabriel and picked at his nails. “I’m just surprised you didn’t tell me sooner…”

Fuck, that stung. Mira was never good at opening up, especially with subjects like these. She didn’t know where Deimos stood on the multiple partners thing. Having a girlfriend and having girlfriends are two different things. She bit her lip nervously. “Sorry, the topic never came up.”

“You don’t have to apologize,” he said quickly, suddenly aware of his comment. His hand touched Mira’s cheek and she smiled and kissed it softly.

“You’re my best friend, dude,” she laughed. “I have to tell you stuff.”

Deimos frowned. Gabriel on the other hand, was just calmly watching them. And pouting again. And Mira knew exactly how he felt. She’s known him for years, of course she knows how he feels. Jealous, betrayed. But by who?

Deimos was one step away from scratching and peeling off all the paint on his face and hands. God, this paint was for canvases, not for his fucking skin. It fucking burned and itched like a bitch. Yeah, he looked magical and cool because of Mira’s skills, but it didn’t make up from the fact that his face was on fire. Sighing, he sat in front of a white wall while Mira and Gabriel set up the lights and camera. Gabriel gave Mira hugs when she didn’t expect it and whispered into her ear casually. Deimos wished he was desensitized to it already, but he fucking was not. He might be better had hiding how fucking petty and jealous he was though.

The both of them chatted quietly among themselves as Gabriel positioned the camera, looking at Deimos with intensity he wasn’t ready for. Mira’s eyes ran down his figure, calm, serious and calculated, the intense expression she gave to her artworks when she was planning out a game plan. She quickly left the room and came back with some gel and instantly ran her fingers through his hair. She gave Deimos no warning and he shivered at her cold touch as her fingers ran down his scalp. He didn’t want to whimper to her sudden invasiveness, but he did. It freaked him out how good it felt having her fingers running through his hair. He tried not to think about her grabbing his hair in other situations. He tried not to.

“Alright, even more pretty,” Mira said, smiling brightly at him. She bopped his nose and left him dying inside while she hurried back to Gabriel.

Deimos couldn’t stop thinking about Mira’s hands in his hair.

After a few standard profile shots were taken, Mira experimented more with Deimos’ poses and walked back onto set to move his head or arm in place. Her hands were hot and several times she slid her hand to the bottom of his back. He tried not to freak out at how sensitive he was but Gabriel noticed. Mira had ran back into the living room to retrieve some more paint and clothes when Gabriel walked onto the set and grabbed his chin.

“I know you want Mira to fuck you, but chill out,” he hissed.

Deimos stared at him wide-eyed. He was about to bark back a response, but Mira came in rambling about how she wanted him to put on his shirt again and then afterwards paint his feet. Gabriel smirked at him and retreated back to the camera.

Instead of thinking about kissing the shit out of Mira, Deimos thought about strangling Gabriel. It made his clothed shots more intense and Mira liked it, however after painting his feet and leaving him just in his underwear, his pissed off expression gained a lot of criticism from her.

“You’re supposed to look like an Adonis, not a Deimos,” Gabriel sneered.

“Fuck off, Gabriel,” Deimos barked. Mira glared at Gabriel.

“What?” Gabriel smiled.

“Gabriel, go in the living room, I’ll finish the shoot,” Mira snapped.

“Are you sure you don’t need me?”

“Yes, I’m capable,” she hissed. He rolled his eyes and sauntered out of the studio. Mira closed and locked the door behind him. Dramatically, she sighed.

“Sorry, he can be a dick sometimes,” she muttered, pushing her hair out of her face.

“Do you mean every time?” Deimos pointed out.

She sighed again and shook his head. “He genuinely is a great guy.”

“Hard to tell.”

“Do you feel uncomfortable with him here?” Mira walked over onto set and sat beside him.

“No,” he paused and looked at her. His heart raced. “I’m just jealous of him.” He couldn’t fucking hold it in anymore.

Mira blinked at him. “…There’s,” her voice was so soft, “There’s no need to be jealous of him. You’re my muse, remember?”

He sighed and shrugged. “He’s…just...” He wanted to kiss her. He could kiss her. It would make sense. He could finally just give up.

“I love you more than I love Gabriel,” she said suddenly. Deimos’ eyes snapped wide open. “I’ll say it over and over again to prove my point.”

“Y-You’re,” he stuttered. He stuttered. He’s never felt so nervous in his life. “…I-I love you too.”

She smiled at him and rubbed his arm. “Do you think you can do a few more shots?”

He chuckled. “Dude, I can go for an extra four hours without him in here.”

She chuckled back and pushed the hair out of his face. “Ok. Where are your boundaries right now?”

“What do you mean?”

Mira’s cheeks turned red. “There’s this one shot I’d like to do…but that requires you to take off your underwear.”

“Oh,” he said bluntly.

Mira’s face got redder. “You would be shielded, I’d get the backside of you, but if you’re not ok with that, then it’s fine! I absolutely won’t be mad.”

Deimos fantasized about this in a dream. Without the paint all over him.

He breathed in and out. “Ok.”

Mira’s panicked expression dropped. “Wait, really?”

“Yeah,” he nodded. Thank god there was paint hiding his blush.

“Are you absolutely sure, though?” Mira frowned.

“Yeah,” he repeated. “You’ve been imagining this haven’t you?”

She bit her lip and nodded.

“Ok, thank you,” she smiled. “Oh, but first, we need to paint the rest of your arms and knees.”

“For fucks sake, Mira-”

* * *

Deimos leaned over Mira to see the camera’s monitor.

He was there. It was weird seeing him.

He was there, his back to the camera, his hands, arms, face, knees, legs and feet painted. His private parts were well out of view as he draped his body across the white floor, the leg nearest to the camera stretched out while the other was folded. He balanced his weight on the hand furthest from the camera and bent the other. His face was in profile, lips slightly parted, eyes distantly looking at the lens and expression shy and timid. Instead of his nude figure being the main focus, it was more about the paint. The white floor was painted wherever his skin touched, as if the colours from the ground was being sucked up and soaked into his skin. It was oddly beautiful. He was beautiful. He’s never felt that way about himself.

“You look perfect,” Mira whispered. Excitedly, she looked up at him and suddenly grabbed his face. With one yank, her lips fell onto his, and then they were gone, Mira running out the door to show Gabriel.