FIC: he says he reckons i'm a watercolor stain (Avengers, Ensemble, PG)
TITLE: he says he reckons i'm a watercolor stain
RATING: PG
FANDOM: Avengers
CHARACTERS: Ensemble
SUMMARY: Steve takes an art class.
AUTHOR’S NOTES: Written for derangedfangirl from her prompt. Title from Tori Amos's “Father Lucifer”.
It had been Pepper's idea. “You should go out, get involved with the community,” she'd said. “It keeps you young. My grandmother-”
“I can't be as old as your grandmother,” Steve said.
“Actually, you're older,” Pepper said, smiling apologetically.
So Steve signed up for an art class. He had thought about taking a cooking class, or maybe history-you know, do a little catching up-but the idea was to relax and engage, not to fret or set things on fire.
The team's support was mixed.
“That is about as useful as ... you are,” Tony said, and then looked slightly surprised when Pepper elbowed him in the ribs.
“Do you get to draw naked ladies?” Clint asked.
“I think it's great to have an outlet,” Bruce said.
Thor didn't seem to understand, but clapped his hand on Steve's shoulder hard enough that Steve's knees buckled.
“Seriously, though,” Clint said. “Are there naked ladies?”
Natasha gave him a look, and he shut up.
The first assignments were still lifes: arrangement of fruit, glass bottles on tables, Christmas presents wrapped in plane white paper stacked on top of each other. Steve found he enjoyed the commitment and discipline of drawing, and he was making friends in the class, too.
Paint was introduced halfway through the session. Steve failed miserably at drippy, untameable watercolors and messy, hard to mix oils, but acrylics were relatively easy, and he soon took to it.
The final assignment was a series of portraits. The instructor suggested painting one's friends and family. Steve started raising his hand to explain that all his friends and family were dead, but then he realized that might not be true.
“Steve, I would love to sit for you!” Pepper said. “How flattering.”
Steve set up an easel in Pepper's office, and during a slow day he painstakingly sketched and painted. The hardest part was the freckles. The rest was relatively easy: Steve had been nervous at the prospect initially, but Pepper was so easy going and warm that he was able to relax. He focused on getting the right color of ivory for her skin, and painting the way the sun reflected in her copper hair.
Bruce was surprised by the proposition, but agreeable. Like Pepper, he was good at sitting still, and so unobtrusive that Steve wasn't nervous. Steve used white with a little bit of blue to render the shine of light on Bruce's glasses that hid his eyes.
“You wish to paint me?” Thor asked. “Tell me, is this the kind of painting where you render a likeness of me, or the kind where you apply paint to my skin?”
Steve wondered what Jane had gotten Thor into. Or it could have been Darcy. That was probably more likely.
Thor smiled the whole time. Steve concentrated on correctly portraying his massive biceps, and on the sparkle in Thor's eyes, which were kinder than Steve had realized.
Steve painted Clint and Natasha together. This was somewhat of a challenge at first, since Clint kept whispering things to Natasha and she kept trying not to smile. Eventually they settled down, though, and Steve found a double portrait not as difficult as he'd first thought. He painted them holding hands, their heads tilted slightly inward toward each other.
For a variety of reasons, Steve approached Tony last. The biggest reason was that Tony kept saying, “Go away.” Steve imagined that Pepper had something to do with his finally agreeing. He did not actually sit for the portrait, however; Tony invited Steve into one of the upper floors of Stark Tower, where Tony moved frenetically around the room doing something dangerous-looking with a soldering iron. Steve left the portrait somewhat unfinished; he was able to capture in pencil the features of Tony's face, but he was unsure of how to get the paint down on the canvas. Tony's hands, though, Steve was proud of; he painted them at an angle as Tony motioned to You.
Steve got an A on the project, and Pepper hung the portraits in the lobby of Stark Industries.