Original Prompt: "Beth and Daryl paint a room and get a little carried away." (The first time anyone specifically asked for something from tiny apartment verse, awww!)
Also, this is an expanded version of the the one I posted on tumblr, it was a bit short so I added to it.
It had been a long day at work, spending almost his whole afternoon working on some piece of shit car that had a dozen things wrong with it. Frankly his opinion was that the owner should just give up on it, but of course they didn't want to. And Daryl could respect that, in some ways, even if he was annoyed at putting so much work into a car that would inevitably break down again. But it was his job, and so he did it, though by the end of the day all he wanted to do was sink into his seat at the kitchen table and relax. Maybe read a book, or tug Beth over to the couch with him and curl up to watch a TV show...
Only Beth seemed to have something else in mind, at least judging by the look in her eyes as she came to a stop in front of him, bare feet toeing the line beneath the archway that separated the kitchen and the rest of the living space. Rocking back and forth over it on her feet, she blurted out, "I think we should paint the kitchen and living room."
Leaning back in his chair at their tiny kitchen table, Daryl raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms over his chest, waiting for the inevitable explanation.
Sure enough it only took a moment before Beth, standing in front of him and still rocking from toe to heel and back again, went on brightly, "We could go pick out colors together and take the day off work, and make it a whole thing. Just imagine how pretty it'll look!" When Daryl didn't respond other than to raise a brow again, Beth took it as her cue to plead with him. "Oh come on, Daryl… if we paint the little kitchenette a nice pale yellow, it'll make it look bigger…"
Daryl chuckled. "Beth, nothing'll make this tiny apartment look bigger."
"Okay, okay I know but…" She stuck her hands into the pockets of her little jean overalls, biting her lips as she shrugged her shoulders and peered up at him from under her lashes. "I've just always wanted a yellow kitchen, that's all. But I understand if you don't want to, that's fine…"
He knew she meant it. He knew she'd drop it and not be upset, not even say a word. But she didn't have to. Cause the truth was even if she'd had him at 'I think we should paint the kitchen and living room', there was no way on earth he could resist after knowing she'd always wanted a yellow kitchen. Cause whatever Beth wanted, Daryl would do his best to make sure she got. And if she wanted a yellow kitchen, then damn it, she would have one.
And that was what found them that weekend, the counters cleared and covered in taped-down newspaper and all the furniture moved into the center of the room. He was dressed in his rattiest pair of jeans and a worn t-shirt, and Beth had stolen another of his shirts to wear over her ripped pair of jean shorts. 'Painting clothes' she called them; the kinda clothes you wouldn't care if you got paint on. He was pretty sure that was all his clothing but he had to admit she looked extra cute, swallowed up by his oversized shirt.
She'd had chosen a gorgeous pale yellow for the kitchen; he couldn't decide what the color reminded him off more, sunshine, or her pretty hair. He'd been the one to pick the color for their tiny living room though, a blue that Beth said reminded her of the sky but that Daryl personally thought reminded him more of Beth's eyes. The plan was to paint the kitchen first, and then the living room, using the archway between them as a divider.
That was the plan, anyway. The kitchen beyond the archway was so damn tiny that the two of them could barely fit together in the space between the 'U' shaped counters, fridge, and oven and there was barely any wall to paint. It should have taken barely any time at all. It should have been easy.
Should have been was the key phrase, of course. Because Daryl hadn't taken into consideration what being so close to Beth did you him. How tempting she might be with her hair tied up, swishing and brushing her neck as she worked. How being as close to him as he was meant every time he inhaled he could smell the apple scent of her shampoo and the faint hint of honey that lingered on her skin.
He had also not anticipated how damn adorable she would look paint smeared across her cheek.
"Here, you've got something…" Daryl reached out an swiped his thumb across the smear of yellow paint on the apple of her cheek.
"Hey!" Beth narrowed her eyes at him, lowering her paintbrush from the wall to eye him suspiciously. "Did you just smear paint on my cheek?"
Chuckling, Daryl retorted, "No… it was already there, I swear." He really was being honest. But something about the way she looked just made him wanna smile, and maybe she was reading that smie the wrong way...
"Mhm. Sure it was…" For just a moment he thought she was gonna go back to brushing yellow paint onto their white walls… but instead he watched as she swiped her thumb over her brush and then reached up, her eyes wide with false innocent as she murmured, "Oh look, you've got something…" He felt the paint smear across his chin as she breathed out in mock-surprise, "Oh, whoops!
"Whoops?" He'd show her whoops. Grinning, Daryl reached up quickly and thumbed his paint-smeared finger across her nose, leaving a streak of yellow in it's wake. "Oh look, you've got more now, tsk tsk."
"Tsk tsk, hm?" No longer even trying to look innocent, Beth's eyes were lit up in delight, a mischievous smirk curving up her lips as she raised her brush and dragged it right down the side of his neck. "Oh, tsk tsk, you've got paint all over your neck! How could that have happened?"
"Little minx…" One growl, and it was all downhill from there.
Literally, as they both ended up tangled on the floor, paint staining both their hands as they alternated between tickling each other and wiping paint across whatever expanses of skin they could reach. At one point she had him straddled, pinning him down to smear yellow paint into his hair. But in the next minute she was under him, pressed to the ground and squealing as he slid his hands up under her shirt and tracked paint all over her stomach in the process.
Daryl was just glad they'd thought to put down paper on the floor, or this would have been a hell of a mess to clean up later.
Although he wouldn't have complained. How could he, when the entire paint fight ended up with her panting beneath him, shirt tossed into the other room and jeans dangling from her ankles, arching up her gorgeous, paint-spattered body as he made love to her right there on the kitchen floor?
And after, as he lay there with her tucked against his chest, they both looked up at the half-yellow walls and a smile crossed Daryl's lips too.
"You know, I think you're right. It does make the kitchen look bigger."
"Mmm…" Beth nuzzled her paint-splattered nose against his neck and smiled. "Told you painting was a good idea."
"Well. I definitely ain't complainin'…"
No way, no how.
