Work Text:
The day was a simple one, you and Kamal were in his kitchen this pleasant afternoon painting miniatures on his dining table. Newspaper covered the surface of it and dozens of bottles of model paint were scattered in groups between your respective projects.
It was a quiet activity, but ultimately a pleasant one as the radio continued on it’s top ten artists of the day in the background. The window was open to let in the cool summer breeze and under the afternoon sunlight the paints gleamed and shined.
Conversation came easily to you two by now, chatting about work and hobbies, the shows you’ve been watching and the movies you were looking forward to.
Every so often Kamal would remind you people die of lead poisoning from ingesting paint whenever you’d consider licking the tip of the paintbrush to make the bristles finer. You didn’t think there was still lead in paints like this but you took his word for it, his concern was endearing at the very least.
He'd been chatting about anime before but now you've fallen into a silence while you both work, he was detailing a Gundam Astraea model while you had chosen to work on a new miniature for an upcoming D&D campaign.
Normally you'd find long stretches of quiet like this awkward and impulsively talk to fill the void but with Kamal it's peaceful, enjoyable even. He has a way of making you appreciate things you didn't before like this.
You paused your work to watch him and wait for the current coat of paint to dry, observing his steady hands painting a line on the little figure that is as perfect as one can.
He catches your eye and grins.
"What do you think?"
"It's coming along great! I'm just impressed you can paint so neatly, have you ever considered being an artist Kamal?"
He hums for a moment and then laughs softly "Maybe as a hobby but I don't think it's the career for me. I'm happy enough with my day job, savin' things like this for my spare time is where it's at."
You nodded along as he spoke.
"I can respect that. I guess you might lose some of the enjoyment for it if it's something you have to do."
You watch him work on another straight line with growing admiration for how he manages to do it.
"You have incredibly steady hands, y'know that?" He seems a tiny bit flustered that you noticed. "Heh, it must be ‘cause of my career path. I guess working on something as small as teeth made me better at detailed work."
He pauses to think about that for a moment. "Or maybe vice versa. I've been painting models since, like, forever basically."
"Ah so you were born talented then?"
"Well, aha, I don't know about that-"
"And born a total dork." You stick your tongue out playfully as he responds with an indignant little "HEY."
"Takes one to know one!" He fires back with a grin and you concede, for now, matching his smile with your own as you dip your brush for another coat.
You look down at your own model, all the little details you’d have to paint seem intimidating now that you were really getting into it.
“Do you think I could borrow one of those steady hands of yours for a moment? I’ve got a few parts here I’m not sure I can get right myself.”
“Oh! Sure, yeah I can do that.”
He sets his brush down carefully and to your surprise, he hesitantly places a hand over yours and steadies it, one elbow propped against the table as he explains how it’s about moving your entire arm, not just your wrist, and bracing your arm on a flat surface to stop any shaking from smudging your paint.
You were struggling to keep up, not so much because his words were in any way incomprehensible, but distracted by how incredibly soft his hands were for someone who works with them all day.
You briefly wonder if it's because he takes incredible care of them or if it's something that comes to him naturally.
Sort of like how silky his wavy hair looks, or the ever present flush to his skin that you found unbelievably charming and cute.
His eyes were a dark brown you could lose yourself in, in the privacy of your own brain you might have called them something hopelessly poetic, as resonant as the night sky or something equally as strong a comparison.
Now they were trained on the tiny detail he was painting as his brow furrowed. His mouth went from a focused down turned line to quirking into that little half smile that made your heart do a little flip flop.
Lost in the thoughts you just barely notice his pretty dark eyes flick up to you where you’ve been sort of staring for a little while now.
“Oh, uh, do I have somethin’ on my face or-” Kamal sets the paintbrush down and brings the hand not currently entwined with yours to his face.
“Y’know if you wanted to hold hands all ya had to do was ask, Kamal.” You cover for your flustered demeanor rapidly with humor, sarcasm and also a genuine smile as you flip your hand into his and give it a little squeeze.
Your comment caught him off guard and he reeled for a good moment before catching himself and rolling with it.
“I mean, sure haha, I guess so. But where’s the fun in that, right?”
You’re fairly sure neither of you meant to wind up holding hands but you weren’t about to complain about the dream coming true this day was swiftly turning into.
You just smiled, laughed and ran a thumb over the back of his hand as he tapped the tabletop with his free hand.
“S-So anyway, uh, where were we? Um. Paint, steady lines…” His eyes met yours and he took in your expression. “Are you okay? I uh, hope this isn’t boring or nothing like that.”
Whether it was confidence or impulse was anyone’s guess, but before you knew it you were already responding.
“Nah, it’s just that you’ve got a really cute smile. S’distracting.”
His fingers curled around yours and his eyes widened, just a touch, before his surprised expression fell into a shy little smile as he looked from your face to your hands.
“I, uh, I like your smile too. It’s nice spending time with you like this. S’fun.” His eyes darted from your work, to the small bottles of paint strewn about the table, to your hands and finally back to your face.
“Do you maybe want to do this again? Sometime soon? Uh, if you’re up for it, that is. I totally get it if you’re busy or something. Or if you just don’t wanna. Or if you think this is too much or anything. I’m just… having a lot of fun today and well I like you a lot and spending time around you in general, but I wouldn’t wanna, y’know, make things weird or nothin’-”
You give his hand a reassuring squeeze and his nervous rambling evens out back into that cute little smile of his, his face flushed darker in a way that compliments his eyes incredibly well.
“I’m having fun too! Of course I would, I really like you too Kamal, I mean, I think spending time with you like this is really nice.” You match his smile with one of your own while he takes a moment to process what you said.
“I don’t think it’s weird at all. Or if it is, well, I guess we’re a couple of weirdos just having a good time together.”
In another moment of bold impulse you lift his hand in yours and gently bring towards you, your lips just barely brush his knuckles before your actions catch up with your brain and your face is overtaken by a rush of heat.
You can only imagine the same is happening to Kamal, his eyes are wide but the smile never leaves his face, if anything it seems to grow a little more.
Lost in the static that now filled your mind, every thought racing at once as emotions competed for the forefront, you barely noticed as Kamal leaned closer.
He stroked his thumb over the back of your hand to catch your attention. You looked up and met his eyes, pretty, dark and now just inches from your face.
Maybe your own bold actions inspired him, maybe it was sheer impulse on his part too, either way you could almost feel the way his heart seemed to race and his wavy hair brushed against you as he gently kissed your forehead.
It sometimes caught you off guard how bold he could be when his anxiety wasn’t getting the best of him, but it was something you appreciated all that much more.
Sweet, a little snarky and fun to be around all blanketed under that shaky but steadily growing confidence he’d been working on so much lately.
You admired it as much as you did his stunning capability to paint a tiny straight line on a model kit.
“Wow, uh, I guess that confirms it then?” You begin, a breathless laugh leaves you as he looks to the table again, but the blush on his face and the toothy grin on his face tells you he doesn’t really regret that bold move one bit.
“Ahaha. Yeah I guess it does.”
“You really are a dork.” You snort, clasping his hand between both of yours and nearly cackling at the mock affronted look that overtakes his face.
“WOW.” He brings his free hand to his chest, scoffing and shaking his head though the blush never quite leaves his face. Your wheezing only seemed to encourage the tangent he was on. “Here I am, pourin’ my soul out to you. In front of Astraea no less. And you strike me, right through the heart, with baseless insults and accusations. Can’t believe this. I take it all back, I can't be datin’ someone so needlessly cruel.”
“Aw, but who else is gonna help me paint my small army of male bards from the roads of Ba’ack.” You implored him. Your tone was playful but your heart leapt, it really was a date. “You know, the Ba’ack Street Boys.”
Kamal laughed, an abrupt snort that had him covering his mouth and chuckling hopelessly over the palm of his hand.
“Right, right. And I’m the dork here.”
“Well I never said I wasn’t also a dork, maybe I just know what I’m about.” You shoot him a playful wink and he uncovers his mouth, a big goofy grin on his face that makes your heart soar.
“Alright, as long as we’re even I’ll help you paint your boyband army here. How’s this weekend sound?”
In place of a proper response, giddiness and affection fueling your actions further, you pulled him in and with one hand entwined with his and the other gently to his face you caught him in a brief but affectionate kiss.
His free arm shot outward and you were fairly certain his legs did the same, something akin to a starfish, and it was completely charming and adorable as you quickly found everything he did.
You pulled back and both of you were lost in the giddy laughter that followed, the joy of your shared feelings sweeping the nerves away.
He may have been a total dork but that was truly what you loved about him.