Chapter 11 - Painting

- Paint the guest bedroom the color of your choice

Painting a room is a lot more work that people think; you need a lot of supplies, a lot of preparation, and a lot of paint. The room always looks a little off, with tape running along the ceiling and floor and furniture piled haphazardly into its centre, and being cooped up for hours on end repeating the same motion over and over while your arms slowly turn to jello can make you feel a little crazy. Of course, with the bad, there's also a lot of good; painting a room is a ready-made excuse to put on ratty old clothes and listen to loud music, and when you're finally finished, you can't help but feel a little proud.

Brennan attempted to push a strand of hair out of her eyes with a clean wrist, unknowingly smearing a line of paint across her forehead as she did so. Her wall was nearly finished; she had been repainting the back of the room for the past several hours, while Booth did the wall beside her. They had been slowly working their way towards each other since they'd started, and as Brennan took another step to her right, she felt a solid torso bump up against her shoulder. Her mouth opened slightly as she looked at the first imperfection on her wall, and she lowered her roller in exasperation.

"Aw, Booth, look what you did."

His mouth opened indignantly. "What I did? Bones - you bumped into me!"

They looked at each-other for a moment, her with a hand on her hip, him crossing his arms defensively. As he scanned her face, he noticed a streak of paint across her forehead, and he slowly began to smile.

"What, Booth?"

"Nothing. It's just - you've got a -" he gestured to his own face.

She frowned. "I've got a what?"

"You know, a little - on your forehead-"

He continued to gesture, and she continued to stare at him dumbly. Finally, he sighed.

"You painted your forehead, Bones."

She raised an eyebrow, and her eyes wandered down his body. "I'm not the dirty one here, Booth."

He looked down at his own sweats, which were speckled head-to-toe with paint, before gazing back at her perfectly clean jeans and tank-top. After a moment, he scoweled. "Why'd we pick such a boring color, anyways?"

She looked around the room. "I think it must have been to match the boring furniature... You know, I'm starting to think we should have gotten the blue after all."

He grinned, pointing at her smugly. "I told you, Bones - see? I was right."

She frowned at his finger for a moment, and his smile faded. "Let's just finish the room up and get out of here, shall we?"

He turned back towards his wall, dipping his roller, and she shrugged. "I'm nearly finished anyways. We're running low on paint, though, so try not to waste any more on your clothes."

He stopped painting once again to look at her. "You know what, Bones? I'm a little tired of you ragging on my clothes, okay?"

She smiled as she surveyed his tattered sweats again. "Ragging?"

"Okay, enough."

He bent down, coating a nearby brush in sticky paint, and flicked it at her. Brennan gasped as beige spattered across her chest, and Booth laughed smugly. Pursing her lips angrily, she reached out and swiped him with her wet roller.

He took a moment to be relieved she hadn't hit him before running his hand over his wet arm and reaching out to give her a large hand print on her shoulder.

Her shoulders fell, and she took a moment to pout at her ruined shirt. "Now you're really wasting paint."

He shrugged. "Never start something you can't finish, Bones."

Then, smiling, he swooped to pick up the half-full can of paint he had been using. She shook her head frantically, hastily backing towards the last un-finished wall. "Booth, I don't think this is a good idea."

"Yeah, you're just saying that because I'm the one holding the can full of paint."

Her eyes were wide, but she was smiling.

"Come on, Bones, I'm just trying to make the paint a little less boring." And he heaved the contents of the can towards her.

Splat.

She grimaced exaggeratedly at her paint-covered clothing. Booth laughed excitedly as he watched her, but he was suddenly distracted as he glanced at the wall.

"Hey, Bones, hey - look at that."

After glancing at him with confusion, she turned towards the wall.

"Oh, wow."

He smiled as they stepped back to admire their handiwork.

"See, Bones, which one of is the artist now?"

On the formerly white wall was a silhouette of Brennan, arms raised to shield herself against the paint, surrounded by flecks of beige that radiated out in every direction.

She nodded appreciately. "I would say that was well worth the wasted paint. It certainly provides the room with a point of interest."

He shrugged. "It was a kinda boring room."

"Definitely."

As he continued to be enamoured by the wall, she averted her attention back to her shirt. Using a hand to swipe up as much paint as possible, she casually wiped a long streak across the side of Booth's face. He didn't look away from the wall, but his expression fell immediately. Smiling smugly, she cleaned her hands on her jeans, before turning and walking out of the room.

She paused in the doorway and turned back to the sad-looking Booth."Would you like a towel?"

...

A/N: Okay, so that's two chapters in one day, but I might still post another, because there's only one challenge left until they move in together, and I've got to admit I'm kinda excited. Thanks for sticking with it.