"Can I paint you?"
Because of his magic, he was constantly challenging himself and practicing his skills by painting whatever he could find. His favorite has always been portrait painting, and while looking for a muse one day, Reedus Jonah came upon one Lyon Vastia.
Reedus loved his art. He loved the way it allowed him to protect his friends, and how he's able to bring a smile to people's faces. Art was a miracle, a precious gift from God, and he took enormous pride in his artistic ability.
He dabbled in many sorts of genres, but his favourite would always remain the same. Portraying human emotions in his paintings pushed him to challenge his limits, so that's why Reedus loved portrait painting.
Of course, for an artist like him, the most horrifying thing that could ever happen... was art block.
Whatever Reedus drew, he found himself groaning in frustration at the dark lines on the paper, reaching up to crush it between his fingers.
"What's wrong with you?" Gray asked, frowning at the building pile of crushed paper scattered on the floor.
"I have nothing to draw!" He moaned. "Every time I tried to paint something, it feels like I'm missing something... I don't feel satisfied at all..."
Gray raised a brow, glancing at an uncompleted painting of Mirajane smiling sweetly up at him. He couldn't find anything wrong with it. It was still an incredible rendition of their bar mistress, but he wasn't really an art person anyway so perhaps he wasn't the best critic.
"Hm," But he didn't like seeing a comrade upset either, so he wanted to try to help. "Why don't you get out of the guild? Since you can't seem to find any inspiration in here..."
"Oui, you're right..." Reedus smiled, before picking up his brushes and palette. "I hope I can find a muse outside..."
"You will." Gray grinned. "You're Reedus Jonah of Fairy Tail. When you come back at the end of the day, I'll be expecting another masterpiece from you!"
The artist blushed in pleasure, looking really pleased and touched.
"Oui, so look forward to it, Gray-san!" He beamed back, feeling really fired up now. Packing his supplies into his art bag, he left the guild brimming with motivation.
Three hours later, and four stations away from Magnolia, Reedus was wandering the streets of Margaret Town, his earlier motivation dwindled from his exhaustion. Along his way, he had painted flowers, animals and a few interesting and attractive people. But they all seemed to lack something...
Now he was sitting outside a coffee shop, a paper cup of cappuccino in one hand and his sketchbook in the other. As his gaze wandered, he was doodling a dog in his sketchbook.
"—Come on, give me back my sock already!" Reedus looked up and recoiled instinctively as a blur shot past and nearly ripped his top hat from his head. He almost dropped his coffee in his hurry to grab his hat.
"This will teach you to mess with my shampoo, you shitty mutt!" The woman yelled, waving a white piece of rag in her hand.
Reedus recognized her instantly, that striking pink hair and blue eyes and charming laugh. Sherry Blendy was a woman of conspicuous beauty, and while not the most beautiful he has ever seen, she still exuded a sort of aura that commanded attention from men and women alike.
He had forgotten that Margaret Town was where Lamia Scale Guild resided.
"I hate you, bitch!" Toby shrieked angrily, tearing after her. "Give it back!"
Laughter followed after the two bickering mages, and Reedus's gaze was tore from the lovely woman. Walking behind them in a more sedately pace was their two male teammates; Lyon Vastia and Yuka Suzuki.
"Stop them already, Lyon." Yuka huffed, shaking his head. "They're making far too much noise in public."
"Toby should know better than to mess with Sherry's beauty products in the first place." Lyon laughed, and Reedus was struck at how utterly different he looked then. "Maybe this will teach Toby a lesson."
At Yuka's exasperated sigh, Lyon chuckled again. There was a loud crash up front, and then Toby was screaming bloody murder. Yuka groaned and hurried his pace, heading towards the commotion. Lyon smiled at his retreating back, shoving his hands into his pockets as he continued on slowly.
Reedus tossed his coffee into the bin and rushed after the other mage. If he's going to grab an opportunity, it would be when Lyon's alone now.
"Wait up, Lyon-san!" He cried out, catching up with the Ice-make mage.
Lyon turned and blinked at him in surprise and confusion. There was such an array of emotions on his face, flashing across his sharp, lovely face – and all in the span of seconds. Reedus wanted to capture all that emotions and paint them. He wondered why Gray has always called the older man stoic, because there were so many beautiful emotions in this man's eyes.
"Can I paint you?" He blurted out unthinkingly.
There was a beat of silence, where Lyon stared at him with suspicion and uncertainty. Reedus felt his cheeks heated up in embarrassment. He was never this forward usually, and to Lyon, he was probably just a stranger.
"Sorry, I'm Reedus Jonah from Fairy Tail." He introduced himself hastily.
A touch of recognition entered dark eyes, and Lyon relaxed. The lines on his forehead smoothed out, and his smile became more genuine.
"Ah, you're that mage who uses Pict Magic, right?" He guessed. "I remember you painted Chelia once. She still has your painting on her wall."
"Is that so?" Reedus flushed, pride welling up in his chest. He always felt unbearably happy when people kept his paintings as mementos. It was one of the highest forms of praise to an artist.
"You were saying just now... You want to paint me?" Lyon asked hesitantly, looking unsure of the words coming from his lips.
"Yes! I mean, if you don't mind, Lyon-san. I have been looking for a muse for the entire day..." He sighed despondently, trailing off at the end.
"And you found your muse... in me?" Lyon sounded sceptical, and Reedus panicked for a minute, not wanting to scare off the younger man.
"Oui, I find your emotions fascinating. I want to paint them." He calmed himself, staring at Lyon with a determined look. He has always found Lyon a little intimidating, but the smile the man had given Yuka was the deciding factor. There was something soft and gentle in his eyes, and Reedus wanted to bring those emotions alive on his canvas. "Plus, you're really good-looking as well. I would be greatly honoured if you would allow me to paint you, Lyon-san."
He watched Lyon floundered in his spot, and felt cold sweat broke out. If Lyon was to reject him here, he's going to have to return to the guild emptyhanded, because he doubted he'd be able to find another muse like Lyon.
"Alright..." Lyon finally decided, but there was still a hint of hesitance on his face, like he was genuinely bewildered that Reedus wanted to paint him. "I suppose I can help you out, if you really couldn't find anyone else."
Reedus beamed.
"You looked really satisfied." Gray commented that evening, a grin playing on his lips as he leaned over to peer playfully at Reedus's face. "So I guess you found your muse after all. So, where's your masterpiece?"
Reedus's cheeks pinked and he pulled out the scroll shoved at the side of his bag. It was wrapped delicately in plastic, a red ribbon holding the canvas closed.
"I found my muse in Margaret Town." He said proudly. Gray watched him broke open the wrapping carefully in bemusement, but he's already used to the care the man treated his art.
"Oh, Lamia Scale?" Lucy piped up in curiosity, seating herself atop the table with a glass of soft drink in her hand. "So did you paint Chelia again?"
"No," Reedus unrolled the canvas, gently brushing his fingers over the dried paint. It was unfortunate he couldn't utilize his best canvas material, and he hoped Lyon would agree to another painting session. "I found someone else."
"Oh!" Lucy gasped as her eyes fell on the subject of Reedus's art.
The man was almost unrecognizable, but that's probably because she has never seen him smile like that before.
The lake in the background shimmered from the sunlight, fishes swimming under the clear surface. The huge willow tree beside the lake was majestic and so detailed she could see every leaf that drooped towards the ground. Lucy has always admired Reedus's talent, and how he's able to bring out the best in everyone in every of his painting.
But gorgeous scenery aside, the subject of Reedus's painting clearly stole the show.
Lyon's long legs were sprawled out in front of him, ankles crossed. He was resting against the great trunk of the willow tree, and the shadow of each leaf pattern was painted on his face, half enveloping them in darkness. His eyes were half-opened, drowsy with tiredness, but there was a small smile on his lips as he watched the open lake and the bird soaring down to snatch a fish for its meal out of the waters.
Somehow, Reedus had managed to catch every emotion imaginable on Lyon's face. There was a softness in his face, a perpetual amusement in the slight quirk of his lips – almost arrogant, but subdued at the moment. His eyes were gentle, and he looked to be in deep thought, and Lucy could just envision the man thinking of his guild mates and their shenanigans and being forever exasperated with them.
"This is beautiful, Reedus..." She murmured in awe. "You made a great comeback!"
Reedus looked immensely proud of himself. "I am only able to accomplish this because of Lyon-san. I hope he'd agree to another painting... I wanted to give this to him, but he declined and said I could keep it."
He glanced at Gray, who had been suspiciously quiet the entire time.
"What's wrong, Gray?" Lucy prodded.
"Nothing. I just never imagine the bastard could ever look like this..." Gray muttered, tearing his gaze from the painting.
"Well, I have half a mind to buy this from you, Reedus." The blonde laughed. "If I'm not sure that Natsu's going to accidentally destroy it the next time he breaks into my apartment..."
"Why the hell would you want to have a painting of that bastard for?" Gray exclaimed, staring at her as if she had grown a second head.
"Because it's art, obviously. Even I have eyes to appreciate it." Lucy answered sarcastically.
As the two started bickering, Reedus grinned and kept away the artwork. Gray was right; he did bring back a masterpiece after all. Whilst the artwork's in his ownership in the meantime, he would keep it in his collection.
Lyon might have been intimidating in the beginning, but Reedus liked to think he came away from that painting session understanding the man a little more. He liked to think that they were friends now, even if he had sort of betrayed Lyon by showing the painting to Gray...