A Painter Steve/Gardener Eddie Oneshot
Rating T | Word count: 893 | microfic/Twitter thread
It was one of these shitty days, Steve had an art block. He had been sitting in front of that canvas for hours and hours now and nothing. Not the slightest idea, not a single stroke. And it bugged him.
He had put on his comfy clothes, turned up his favorite music, even called Robin, maybe she could help but nothing had worked.
Steve wasn’t much of a canvas painting guy anyway. He loved it, yes, from time to time but only if he had an inspiration, a muse he could follow. He loved to do it at weddings though as he did for Robin when she and Chrissy got married.
But this was not a wedding. Some arts collector had called him to paint something for his collection. And of course Steve had said yes because money and he had had so many ideas floating around in his brain. Which one by one went bye bye.
After staring at the blank canvas for another 20 minutes he decided to go to the park. He hoped sketching some flowers or people walking by would help bring back those ideas. And he had to go with his dog anyway. So he grabbed his stuff and some dog treats and off he went.
Steve had his own little bench by now. It wasn’t specifically his (his name wasn’t engraved or something) but this was his usual spot to sit and study his surroundings.
From this bench he could see everything. The perfect overview. The people passing by, the wonderful flowers blooming majestically in an even more beautiful pattern, the handsome gardener between those flowers doing his job…
Wait. Steve had to adjust his glasses. Did he see it right? He’s 100% sure he had never seen this man in his life at this place. And Steve came here on a daily basis.
Steve flipped his sketchbook open. He started with a rough sketch to get the man’s position.
The gardener was standing, stretching slightly. He had a long day for sure, Steve thought.
Long, brown, curly strands fell into his face. He wore a green overall with a black tank top underneath which exposed his arms to the fullest. He was full of tattoos. Bats, skulls, some weird monster on a string and many more Steve could not recognize from his spot. The man was muscular, but not too much. Just the right amount for Steve’s liking.
Steve was captured by this man’s beauty and grace. The dedication he put into his job was remarkable. He looked the man up and down, catching every little detail he could.
Steve was absorbed by his work, too mesmerized by this heavenly looking man.
He finished his new favorite piece pretty quickly. Steve held it up to look at it in its full beauty. He really outdid himself this time. Every single stroke was perfect .
“Come Buddy, let’s go ho-“ Steve was about to put his sketchbook back into his bag when he realized his dog was missing. And the handsome gardener too.
Steve turned around, almost falling from the bench in his movement.
“Woah, keep it slow. No need to hurry”
The gardener was, kneeling beside his dog, petting him, smirking.
“Oh I saw you two from over there” The gardener pointed to where he was standing a few minutes earlier. “I’m Eddie by the way”
“Steve. And thank you” Steve replied, taking the leash from Eddie.
“No problem” Eddie smirk turned into a wide grin. “Maybe you should look after him a bit more instead of stalking strangers”
Steve blushed slightly. He was caught red handed, when Eddie had noticed that Steve had been painting him?
“I have eyes, handsome” Eddie leaned forward right into Steve’s personal space. “Can I see it?”
Steve didn’t even have time to more turn red because confusion hit him first. “What?”
“The drawing.”Eddie pointed to Steve’s sketchbook still laying on the bench. “I saw you drawing something into that book of yours”
Now Steve turned bright red. First he got caught lurking and now Eddie wanted to see the piece of him Steve had painted without Eddie's consent and which was totally Eddie's right to see because, well, he was on it.
So Steve turned around, opening the page with the sketch to show it to Eddie.
Eddie's eyes got big. He grabbed the book from Steve to take a closer look at the drawing.
He had beautiful doe eyes, Steve realized. Dark like the night sky.
Steve instantly felt warmth spreading through his chest looking at Eddie full of excitement.
“Can I have it?” Eddie asked, eyes big, smiling softly with a tiny bit of pink blush on his cheek.
“Y-yeah… sure” Steve stuttered. “Can I just... sign it? I normally sign all my drawings. So others know who drew it”
“Absolutely,” Eddie handed the paper back to Steve for him to write his name on it.
“I’m honored to own a Steve H. original”
“It’s nothing really” Steve looked up meeting Eddies beautiful eyes.
“Do.. do you wanna grab a coffee with me sometime?”
Eddie smiled brightly “I would love to”
Big thank you to @transmascsteveharrington for beta reading🩷
