Paint Me
He wasn't sure why he had done it when he sat there later on staring at the canvas he had set up in his room. Around it were pictures of her taped to it, in various positions. They were candid and he was pretty sure she didn't even know he had taken them but they were beautiful. She was always beautiful. Which is how he ended up here. They had been at a school dance and in some miracle, her mom had shoved her into a dress. It wasn't anything too fancy (it was just a semi-formal dance) but he hadn't seen her in anything half quite that formal since her bat mitzvah, back when she still had an undercut. It was surprisingly perfect for her and he had to admit, her mother had done good this time, but that hadn't stopped her from scowling half the night because of it.
He had gone off to the bathroom and left her leaning against the wall watching the rest of their peers dance. When he had returned she had the smallest of smiles on her face when she had seen someone spill something on Paulina's dress "that papa had paid for." So he had pulled out his phone and snapped some pictures of her, silently thanking himself for accidentally breaking his phone a few weeks prior and his parents had finally gotten him a new one with a 14 megapixel camera, making those photos perfectly crisp.
He took her home after the dance and when he got home he pulled out a canvas he had put at the back of his closet when he no longer had the time to paint in high school outside of art class. He printed off the photos and that is when he sat there staring at them trying to decide which one he liked the best. One of them suddenly caught his eye and he ripped the rest of them off the canvas to get started. It was a Friday night so he changed from his dance clothes and sat in his painting gear and started to sketch. The photo he had chosen was his favorite for the fact that the light had hit her dress at just the right angle and on her face was a secret smile, the kind that was effortless and an iconic Sam thing to do.
The dress was plain but it worked for her. It was a shimmery gray colour and a silky fabric. The way she had twisted the straps around her body showed off her tiny waist made her chest look perfect and although she was only 5'6, made her legs look miles long. Her heels are what let everyone know that her mom hadn't won the whole outfit argument. On her feet were cranberry coloured 4-inch heels with spikes on the back and a spiked bow across the front, meaning if she were to kick you, it would hurt at any angle.
He took his best paints from under his bed and mixed the colours until they were just right. He hated how such a perfect photo had the background of the school gym so he instead he imagined swaths of turquoise fabric in the background making the colours of her hair and dress stand out.
When he was done with everything but her face, he rubbed his eyes and realized the sun had come up and was shining in his window, but he wasn't even tired. Painting energized him and he was in the zone just wanting to finish this, the first painting he would have finished in over a year. Doing the strands of her hair that fell around her face with the smallest brush he could find, his concentration was at its peak, so much so that he hadn't realized when his sister walked in to tell him his mom had made breakfast. She gasped slightly but covered her mouth and fortunately he hadn't noticed. She watched him paint for a few minutes only speaking when he set his brush down.
"It's been a while since I've seen you like this."
He spun around. "Jesus Jazz, scare the crap out of me why don't you?"
"I've been here for almost 5 minutes. I meant it when I said you don't get like this anymore. It's beautiful. Are you going to show her?"
"I, uh..." Danny trailed off. His first instinct was to paint it and he was so focused he hadn't really thought ahead to what he would do when he was done. "I don't know. Maybe? How would I even tell her? Tucker and Sam haven't seen me paint since the 8th grade and it wasn't great back then."
"I think you should. Isn't your anniversary coming up? She would love it."
"It's next week but..."
Jazz smiled. "Just think about it. Oh, and breakfast is ready." Danny nodded, checking to see if the paint was dry before throwing a cloth over to cover it and heading downstairs. The last thing he needed was his parents seeing it and telling her before he did.
When he got downstairs, he was shocked when he saw the exact girl he had just been painting sitting at the table.
"Morning Danny." She said cheerfully.
"It's the morning, why are you so chipper?" he asked with a yawn.
"It's almost eleven. This is more like brunch." his mom pointed out. Danny shrugged and sat down to eat with the rest of them. "You look tired, were you up late?"
Jazz snorted and Danny blushed as he said, "If by up late you mean I haven't gone to bed yet, then yes, I guess you could say I was up late."
Maddie put her hands on her hips. "Now young man, you are still growing and you need to get a good night's sleep."
"What were you doing?" Sam asked. Jazz laughed out loud this time at her brother who turned a darker shade of red, not knowing what to tell her.
"What's so funny?" Jack asked as he walked into the kitchen and sat down next to his daughter who was still smiling.
"Nothing, just the shade of Danny's face is the same colour as that paint he used for my hair by accident that one time he tried to paint that family portrait."
"Hey, that's not fair, the colour looked way more orange when it went on, it just happened to dry a dark red! Plus that was years ago, now I know what paint is good and what isn't." Danny crossed his arms hoping this would distract from why he had been up all night. But as luck would have it, he did not get that wish because his girlfriend was too insistent on knowing.
"How aren't you falling asleep right now? I'm a night person and I still have troubles pulling all nighters."
"I was making something."
"What were you making?"
"I was painting."
"You're painting again? Can I see?"
"No."
The air grew thick with tension as Sam crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at him. "Why not?"
Danny rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. "Well, because..."
"Because it's for your anniversary!" Jazz blurted out.
Danny glared at his sister then nervously glanced at Sam who was now the one blushing. "Oh, okay then."
There was an awkward silence in the room not broken until Maddie said "Alright! Bacon is ready!"
"Thanks sweet cheeks!" Jack said happily taking some for himself. The conversation returned to normal but Sam stayed a little quieter, face still pink from the news Jazz had given her. After brunch, Danny and Sam went up to Danny's room and Sam walked towards the cloth covered easel.
"So is this it? It's huge! No wonder it took you all night."
"It's really not that big. It's average sized for what I painted."
Sam hesitated. "What did you paint?"
"Well... I wasn't originally planning on giving to you for our anniversary, so if you want to see it now, I can show you."
"What did you paint it for then?"
"It just kind of happened really. I got home and felt like I had to paint." It was then Danny noticed the picture he had thrown last night were still scattered on the floor but it looked like Sam hadn't noticed yet. He slowly pulled two of them under his bed with his foot while she stared at the covered canvas.
"I didn't even know you still painted."
Moving towards her, he pushed another under a pile of clothes. "I've done more over the last few years but this is the first one I've painted in the last year or so. I guess I'm lucky my ability to paint hadn't gone away."
He moved towards the last picture but it was too late, Sam had noticed it. "What's this? When did you..."
"Last night."
"Well obviously, that was the only time I've ever worn that dress. I meant when last night?"
Danny sighed. "When I came back from the bathroom, right after Paulina got spilled on."
Sam smiled remembering that moment. "That was pretty awesome. It's not a bad photo really."
"It's not my favorite..." he muttered.
"So which one is?" Sam asked with a raised eyebrow.
Danny and smiled and said "You still want to see the painting?"
Sam's eyes widened in understanding. "You mean... you painted me?"
Danny walked to the canvas and pulled the cover off of it. Sam gasped and walked up to it. Every ripple in the fabric was perfect not a hair out of place and her smile was subtle but definitely there.
"Oh my god Danny, how did you do this in one night? And for someone who hasn't painted in almost a year... It's beautiful."
Danny came up behind her and hugged her, nuzzling into her hair. "It's beautiful because you're beautiful. The painter is only as good as his muse."
Sam turned around and smirked. "You must have a pretty amazing muse then."
Danny returned her smirk. "The absolute best."
THE END! I finished it after the first Jazz conversation on Tumblr because I didn't want it to get too long, but I added the second part because it just kinda felt incomplete to me but then I got lazy or something. Hope you enjoyed it!