Màu nền Màu tối Mặc định Xám nhạt Xanh nhạt Xanh đậm Vàng nhạt Màu sepia Vàng đậm Vàng ố

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Khloe's POV:

I left Nico laying face down on the bed while I gathered up what I needed.

He had already set up a towel underneath him if I were to get paint anywhere.

I told him that there would be less worry about that if we did this on the floor, but he insisted that we do it on the bed

And his shirt... well that was long gone.

Clipping my ring to my necklace to avoid getting any paint on it, I began to look over what I had, and what I needed in order to pull off the picture I had in mind.

Grabbing the few brushes I'd need, I then grabbed the black, blue, red, yellow, and white. I figured that would be all I needed.

Nico already held the cup of water that I would need, telling me hed be more than happy to do so during the entirety of the process.

He eyed me as I walked back to the bed and strategically hopped up onto it without setting my full hands onto it.

"Am I allowed to know what you'll be putting on me yet?" he asked, laying his head on his arms as I straddled his lower back.

I shook my head, setting the brushes onto the towel at his side before I began twisting the caps off of my paint.

"Nope," I said, tracing his hair off of his shoulders, since I was gonna use them for my palette, "I want it to be a surprise."

He accepted that rather quickly, showing even more that he was just happy to be a part of this.

Although, I really did hope that he was going to like the scene I had in mind.

I trailed my eyes down his unfairly perfectly sculpted back, eyes furrowing at the red lines that still sat on his skin even four-ish days later.

Nico told me that he was going to let those heal 'naturally'. Whether it was to tease me or that he was actually really into them, I wasn't really sure.

"Can you uh... heal these real quick?" I asked, growing quieter from embarrassment as the sentence went on.

I caught his cocky look meet my eye, his smirk just barely being hidden from the way he was laying.

"Because they'll be in the way or because you're embarrassed?"

"Both?" I answered honestly.

He hummed lowly, seemingly thinking it over.

"I don't know," He started, his voice already trailing with trouble, "I've grown quite attached to them. You're going to have to give me some more incentive."

My brows furrowed at this game he decided to play.

Then somehow, my next words managed to pass my lips without passing my brain.

"I'll be more than willing to give you more in the near future."

I had to stop myself from looking surprised at my own words to add more effect.

Nico, on the other hand, looked surprised for both of us for just a few seconds.

I guess neither of us was expecting me to say that.

"You have yourself a deal there, sweetheart." spoke cheekily. 

I was about to return, but quickly got distracted by the sight of every mark on his skin slowly fading away from the bottom of each line to the top.

You couldn't even tell that anything was there, to begin with.

In all honesty, the sight was kind of mesmerizing.

"Good?" His voice snagged me from my thoughts.

I nodded, grabbing my brushes and getting to work.

Mixing the blue with a bit of the black, I painted down the rectangle in which the actual picture was going to be in.

Nico surprisingly didn't react to the feeling of it all.

In fact, he looked more at ease than anything, his eyes shut and his breathing slow and even as I worked.

I could actually tell that his breathing was on purpose, probably trying not to mess me up.

Which he wouldn't, but I thought it was cute.

Seeing him like this was actually quite refreshing.

With all the work and dates he's had to attend for these past few weeks, there weren't many times where he could actually fully relax.

I'd almost go as far as to say that he was enjoying the feeling of this.

His eyes opened ever so slightly as I dipped my brush in the water he heald, now being done with the background for now and onto working on the forefront.

Which was all just going to be a black silhouette save for a few small details.

I wanted this to be simple yet give off the feelings I had during the night that I was painting.

A small smile reached my face as I intricately painted the outline of our features at an angle where you could portray how the silhouettes were positioned.

At least that was what my attention was focused on until I felt Nico move.

I looked up to see him turning and lifting his head as much as he could to try to catch a peek at what I was doing.

He laughed when I used my free hand to push his head back down.

"No peeking," I said sternly.

"Yes Dear," he practically purred, "Am I allowed to at least ask questions to try to figure it out?"

I returned back to my work, glancing at him a couple times to make sure he wasn't trying to peek again.

"I don't see why not."

"Ok," He resituated his arms so he could lay more comfortably, "Is it an object?"

I shook my head.

"No."

"A memory?"

"Yes."

He thought for a moment.

"Are you in it?"

"Mhm."

"Am I in it?"

This time I paused for a moment.

"Y-yes," I admitted.

I saw his smile grow ever so slightly before I moved on to paint out the silhouette of the tree that we sat by that night.

He drummed his finger against his arm.

"Its the night I took you to the meteor shower, isn't it?" He declared proudly.

I lifted my brush before speaking.

"How did you guess it that fast?"

He gave a small shrug.

"I was just trying to remember a memorable night between the two of us, and the amount of dark blue and black you've been using told me that it wasn't the ball, so I went with my next best guess."

I huffed out a small sigh, a little bit bummed that he guessed it so quickly before I set a base of bright orange paint for the light of the coals he set up to keep us warm.

"What did you wish for that night?" He asked, now sounding genuinely curious.

I felt a blush crawl up my neck.

Back then I thought that there was absolutely no possible future for Nico and me together, nor did I even think he thought of me in any romantic way.

Then again, that night was also when I came to terms with my feelings for him, but everything was so perfect that I didn't dare think too much about it.

Which was why every single time a saw a streak in the sky I wished and pleaded for the same thing no matter how impossible it seemed.

I smiled a bit as I drew my brush along to create those very streaks.

If there was even a spark of hope for it, I didn't want to miss that chance. 

"If I tell you mine will you tell me yours?"

"Of course," He answered.

I drew in a small breath.

"I wished that that moment would last forever. That that feeling I had wrapped in your arms under the sky could stay with me. But I think the reality of it was that I just wanted to feel that romantic aura that that whole setting gave off whenever I was around you because that was the first time I had felt a feeling of wanting to be with someone that strong in my life."

My mind blanked at soon as I saw Nico staring at me and realized that I had been rambling on.

"If I didn't care so much about messing this painting up, my lips would be all over you right now." He informed in a matter-of-fact way.

Judging by his half-suppressed laugh, he must have felt my legs tense in response to that.

Luckily he carried out his side of our agreement soon after.

"At that point, I was so infatuated with you that it physically ached whenever the thought of not being with you crossed my mind, so I wished for the nearly impossible outcome of somehow being able to call you mine."

I felt a tightness in my chest as I added some final details to the picture.

He wished for me? More importantly, though, we wished for each other...

"So... both of our wishes came true?"

He nodded.

"Indeed they did."

I guess people weren't lying when they said that that meteor shower was magical.

That or it was just some really lucky coincidence.

"Well on that note," I scooted off of him, blowing on the paint to help it dry a little "It's finished."

"Really? Already?" He asked as he very carefully lifted himself up.

"Mmhm. It's mostly just silhouette, so it wasn't that difficult, "I explained as he headed into the bathroom to see it through the mirror.

Although once he turned to see it, he froze, eyes going completely wide in an almost unblinking stare.

That's when I realized I wasn't actually worried about him liking it until now.

Despite that I kept quiet, watching him turn his head and body a numerous amount of different ways to get every angle.

A couple moments later and he stood still, the look on his face showing that he was deep in thought.

"Khloe," he eventually began, his voice soft, "I love this."

"Really?" I asked, perking up a bit.

"Really," He concluded, finally turning to face me.

Then, he asked me a question that I absolutely wasn't expecting.

"Do you still want to be a tatoo artist?"

The question itself caught me more off guard than it probably should.

I hadn't actually thought about it, but since he brought it up, I could tell that my want to do that was still there.

"Yeah, I guess. Why?" 

Instead of speaking, he instead knelt down in front of the cabinets below his sink, pulling something from underneath it.

When he stood again, I recognized it to be the gift from Xander that I never opened.

I didn't even know what to begin to think as he walked it over to me.

"I remember you telling me that a whole ago and it stuck with me, so when Xander asked me what to get you, well..."

I gently took the box he offered me and began untying the bow.

With the previous conversation, I really shouldn't have been as surprised as I was when I opened the box.

Within it sat a silver tattoo machine, needles ink, and what I was assuming to be some aftercare products.

"If you're up for it," Nico began, causing me to face him, "I'd love to have your art on my body permanently."

I felt like my eyes might bulge from my face.

"A-are you sure? I mean, tattoos are like forever forever and for a vampire thats-"

He stopped me with a hand on my shoulder.

"I'm very sure Khloe. I've actually been thinking about this for a long time or I wouldn't have had Xander get it for you."

I thought this over for a few seconds.

Even from my limited knowledge about vampires, I knew he had at least 1500 more years of living.

For my work to be on him for that long... Even if I was no longer around...

Or would a tattoo even last that long?

"Of course I'd love to do that for you, but I've never even held a tattoo machine let alone know how to use it."

He smiled reassuringly.

"I'm not saying now, I'm just saying eventually. In the meantime, I'm happy to get you whatever you need to practice. I'm sure I can even manage to get my hands on some cadaver skin if you so desire."

Again, I thought for a few moments.

I had wanted this since I was a kid, so obviously I was going to take this chance to learn how to do it, even if I don't go anywhere with it.

"What would you even want?"

his smile slowly shifted into a grin before he was standing by his desk within the blink of an eye, now holding a piece of paper between his fingers for me too see.

It took me a couple seconds before I recognized it as the dreamcatcher drawing that he insisted that we took with us.

The one I drew only a couple days after he bought me.

"Why that?" I questioned, trying hard to hide my mix of flattery and embarrassment.

He began to walk towards me.

"Well, I'm you're dreamcatcher, right?"

Oh...

I hadn't even thought about that, but he was right.

Whenever I've slept with him, the nightmares that used to haunt me night after night completely disappeared.

How I didn't make that connection sooner was almost embarrassing.

But above that, I found his words insanely sweet.

"Ok," I nodded, "I'll do it. As soon as I'm confident enough in my abilities, I'll do it."

 An almost elated look covered his face before he reached me, tucking my head up with his fingers.

"Take all the time you need, love. Im not going anywhere."