For the Climb to the Top of Mount Potter Challenge (zebra).
His pencil grazes the page of his sketchpad, shading the stripes until they're just right.
"Another zebra?" Seamus asks.
Dean glances up at him, offering him a simple shrug of his shoulders. "Yeah. I felt kind of inspired," he answers before returning his gaze to the drawing, moving onto the next stripe.
Seamus sits beside him on the bed, watching. Normally, Dean hates when people watch him draw. It seems to interfere with his creative process. Over time, though, he's learned not to mind when his boyfriend does it.
"Why do you draw zebras so much?" Seamus asks.
Dean clears his throat. He can feel heat trickle into his cheeks. Biting his lip, he chooses to ignore the question, paying more attention than is actually needed to this stripe.
"That bad, huh?" his boyfriend laughs.
"They're just, uh, just easy to draw," Dean says lamely.
Seamus snorts. "Oh, please. You draw plenty of other things easily," he points out. "This is something else. So, what's the deal? What's the story behind zebras?"
Dean groans. It isn't bad, but it's not something a fifteen year old boy would care to admit to. The more he thinks of his three year old self, the more wants to melt away. "I like zebras."
"Obviously."
"No. I mean… I really like them."
Seamus raises his brows. "Like… A fetish?" he asks. "Because I don't know how I'd feel about wearing a zebra costume."
Dean sputters. He scoots back, eyes wide. He knows what he's heard, but he still has to take a moment to figure out if those words really escaped his boyfriend's lips. "I'm not asking you to wear a zebra costume, you freak."
Seamus snorts, folding his arms over his chest. "Don't get so hostile. You're the one with the fetish."
"It's not a fetish!" Dean groans, scrubbing his hands over his face, trying to regain his thoughts. "When I was a kid, my mum took me to the zoo. I was little. Like… three. I saw the zebras in the exhibit, and I freaked out because they're just so cool. I used to wear black and white stripes and pretend I was a zebra. Mum made me stop when I ate her daisies while grazing."
He wants to punch himself. Really, there was no need to add that last bit. He could have easily left it at zebras being cool. He hesitantly meets Seamus' gaze, surprised to find that there's no judgement.
"I wanted to be a leprechaun when I was a kid," Seamus admits. "I used to pretend that rocks were gold, and I'd throw them at people."
"You… You threw rocks at people?" Dean asks, incredulous.
"Oi! You ate your mum's flowers. I don't even want to hear it," Seamus says sharply.
Dean wraps his arms around Seamus, laughing as he kisses him. "Why are kids so weird?" he muses.
"Beats me."
Dean pulls away, a grin on his lips. He grabs his sketchpad and pencil again, starting a new outline just above the zebra.
"I just told you I wanted to be a leprechaun, and you just go back to drawing? Not gonna lie, mate. Kind of hurts," Seamus teases.
Dean rolls his, but he doesn't look up from his work. It takes only a few minutes to get the outline to become something recognizable. He'll go back later and add the shading and detail. "Voila!"
"Is that a leprechaun shooting rainbows from his hands while riding a zebra?"
Dean nods proudly. "It is. I think I'll title it Kids are Weird."
With a laugh, Seamus kisses his cheek. "Perfect."