"Nibs, why am I-" "Please, Kovu? It's going to be so pretty when I'm finished, and you're the only model majestic enough. Now, raise your head and straighten your back, shoulders back, and hold your arms out. No, not straight out-I mean, hold them in a low v, like a cheerleader."

Silence followed this comment, as well as a raised brow. "No, I'm not calling you a cheerleader-do you see this?" The dirty-blond gestured paint-coated hands toward today's attire, a simple pleated black skirt and spaghetti strapped shirt paired with strappy heels. "I don't really have room to talk." The raven-haired man sighed and did as previously told, eyes locked on the ceiling. "Alright, alright… Truce."

"Who are you drawing this for?" He finally asked, and Nibs smiled a bit as he flicked his eyes from Kovu to the easel, giggling, "Me, silly. If it wasn't, I'd be buried in god only knows how many pages of reference pictures to make sure it was just so." A lie, Kovu knew, but he let it set. "Why me, then?"

"Like I said, you're majestic. Perfect for this piece." "What exactly does 'this piece' consist of?" Nibs shook his head. "I can't tell you yet-you'll see it later, when I'm all the way finished… and I lied. Go slack. Now look down instead of up-like there's someone below you and you're curious as to what they want. But keep your arms out." Kovu sighed again-god he was bossy!-but complied, lips twitching into a smile when he heard the younger of the two laugh in relief, "Perfect, perfect! Now stay… still."

For no less than an hour, Kovu stood motionless. His arms were hurting and so were his feet, but he didn't dare move-if he did, he'd mess Nibs up. The blond was now painting as if he was possessed, and when he finally slumped and set down the brush,, Kovu sat on the floor where he was, rolling his shoulders and rubbing his arms.

"Thank you, Kovu! Now all I have to do is draw the other figure and it will be flawless." Kovu looked up to reply and found Nibs bent over to gather the empty paint tubes from the floor where he'd tossed them, getting quite the nice view of lacy red panties. He looked away quickly, face burning as the sight engrained itself into his mind. "No problem, Ray. It kinda makes me feel nice that you use me to pose for you so often."

"Well, you've got a nice body-muscled, but not scarily so. Your face is symmetrical, and you have a nice skin tone. You don't have to dye your hair to get it midnight black-trust me, I can tell-and you take care of yourself. But, you're flawed enough that you're real, and I don't want art that looks fake-not when I can help it." He said it all nonchalantly, no trace of embarrassment on his face, but Kovu was still as red as the panties he kept stealing glances at-not entirely on purpose, either!

He absently rubbed at his shoulder, glancing away when Nibs turned to face him. "Oh, god, I bet you're so sore-I'm so sorry! Here, let me help." And before Kovu could protest, Ray was kneeling behind him, thumbs pressing into his aching muscles. He hissed and growled, and Nibs reached around to pop him on the nose. "Bad. I know it hurts, but stop the snarling! It'll get better, I promise." He sighed and tried to relax. "Huh? Ack!" He was shocked as he was shoved forward onto his stomach, moving to sit up until he felt a light weight on his back.

"Easier to reach this way, you know." 'Oh god, oh god, oh god…,' Kovu thought, body going rigid. There was a sharp pain as Nibs thumped his ear and scolded, "You relax right now or I'll make you pose more!" He gulped and nodded, going limp. Nibs hummed a bit as he rubbed Kovu's back and shoulders, carefully rubbing the muscles in his arms as well. He squirmed to scoot up, dragging part of the ravenet's shirt up as he did so, literally torturing him when he didn't bother to push it back down before sitting on the small of his back-he could feel the soft lace of Nibs' undergarments against his skin, and he flushed bright red again.

"You're tensing again-I'm not going to hurt you or anything, Cocoa." He finally massaged his lower back and got off him, an odd look in his eyes as he chirped, "Okay, finished!"

It was a full week before Kovu saw hide or hare of Nibs, and even then it was the minimum. Confused as to why he was being avoided, he walked up to his studio one day and went straight in without knocking, only to find a huge-huge-canvas against the wall, a smaller one beside it. The smaller canvas was him exactly as he'd posed the other day, along with a faceless, colorless other figure, looking up at him. And on the larger canvas…

He had huge, snow white wings, extended out and drawn with insane detail. He was either landing or beginning to fly, and his expression read, 'you are important, and I love you'. On the ground sat a half-finished demon-it looked like a normal human, but with black wings and a set of black horns. They looked up at angel-Kovu with an almost heartbreaking look of longing-not of sexual longing, but a look of someone who has been overlooked every day of their life-even angel-Kovu, who was looking just to their right, to another demonic figure obviously meant to be Kiara.

He walked forward, hand brushing the figure. Who'd asked Nibs to paint this? Who had he hurt so badly? He heard a gasp followed by a ceramic mug shattering on the floor behind him, and when he looked, Nibs' skirt was already swishing through the doorway into his apartment. "Wait!" He followed, growing more confused every second. "Ray, wait!" "No!" The response sounded suspiciously like a whimper, and Kovu ran harder, putting his all into catching his artist and sighing in relief when he overtook him, arms going around his chest and pinning his arms to his sides.

The blond writhed in his arms, trying his damnedest to get away and went limp when he found he couldn't, hair cascading over his face to hide it. "Ray, who is the demon? Who asked you to make the painting?" "…No one asked me to make the painting. But you'll see who the demon is when I'm done, just-just let me go, okay? I need to finish it before I go crazy."

Green eyes narrowed in thought, and their owner asked hesitantly, "…it's you, isn't it?" And by the way the more flamboyant of the two trembled, he knew he was right. "…Kovu, I know you don't mean to, but you're squeezing too tight. Would you mind-?" The older man loosened his arms a bit, but didn't let Nibs go.

"It's inaccurate, you know. Your painting, I mean." Teary brown eyes gazed up at him, half-hidden by blond hair. There was a sniffle of, "How?" and Kovu felt guilty-to Nibs, that probably sounded like he'd found a flaw in the style, not the image. "The angel. He's…" He took a deep breath, and murmured, "He's looking at the wrong demon."

Realization dawned in tawny eyes, and Nibs smiled a little, breathing out , "I'll…I'll have to fix that, huh?" Kovu just leaned down and pecked his lips softly, smiling when Nibs laughed against his lips.

Two days later, he walked into his own apartment-which, of course, Ray now had a key to-to find the painting on the wall, the she-demon now wearing a look of disbelief as the angel smiled down at the male demon, whose eyes were glowing and content. Taped to its frame was a piece of cardstock that read, 'Happy Birthday,' and Kovu couldn't help his grin as he turned around to find Nibs smiling in the doorway, waiting for him.

*dodges things* I know, I know! It is a crack pairing, but it is a cute crack pairing! Like Clack-you know, ClayXJack from Xiaolin Showdown? No? Well…

…Thank you for reading-this is actually going to tie into another of my stories sometime very, very soon, so watch for me, 'kay?

~Mel