Title: Artist
Theme: 61 – Would Of
Summary: "I haven't painted in a while. And I've been thinking about Egypt ever since we went so I wanted to do something about it."
Rating: K
Genre: General
The carpet was stained with paint.
Yami blinked at the blue splotches on the otherwise clean, white carpet. "Aibou?"
"I'm up here!"
He followed Yugi's voice. Rather, as he discovered halfway up the stairs, he only needed to follow the spots of blue and black ink that splattered the floor and parts of the wall. He reached the second floor and found Yugi lying on the floor, newspaper spread out underneath him, with brushes in his hand and paint in his hair.
"Aibou…?"
"I haven't painted in a while. I thought maybe I could get back into it," Yugi told him. "I've been thinking about Egypt ever since we went and I wanted to do something about it."
Yami leaned over Yugi's shoulder to peek at the canvas. Yugi had painted out two large, dark pyramids in the foreground. A bright sun was peeking out behind one of them, a brilliant white against the dark blue sky.
Yami frowned. The sun was low on the canvas, but it definitely wasn't dawn. "A sunset?"
"Yeah…"
"Aibou," he said, confused, "Egyptian sunsets are orange and red. They reflect the heat off of the gold sand."
"I know," Yugi said, tapping his lip in thought. "But I thought that would be kind of boring. Orange and red and yellow are very warm colors… I wanted to do something cooler, in blue. I know it's unrealistic, but it kind of fit my mood back then."
"Mood?"
"When we got back from Egypt," Yugi explained hesitantly. "I mean – you had left, and I didn't expect you to actually come back… I was upset. So I chose blue."
Yami was aware of the popular notion that artists created the best work while miserable. He just hadn't expected Yugi to take this route; knowing his partner, he had expected Yugi to curl up in himself, grow a bit quieter, smile a bit wider to confuse the others. But for someone who wore his heart on his sleeve so often, Yugi was surprising him, still painting it onto a canvas months after the fact.
"It's beautiful," he said honestly.
Yugi turned red. "Thanks." He swallowed. "I always liked to do this kind of stuff when I was a kid… I wanted to be an artist. I kind of gave it up."
"Why? You have talent, aibou. You could have been an artist…"
"I know. And I would have," he said, smiling, "but I met you."
Words: 407
A/N: I've always imagined Yugi as a guy who paint on an odd occasion. Probably because of Scribbler… Also, I completely redid Chapter 6 (Prompt 60: "Could Of") for those who are interested in going back to check it out. It's totally new now.