ALWAYS, kotlc

art

"That..." Keefe tilted his head sideways, staring at what she'd drawn.  "Looks suspiciously like a pooping gulon."

"How would you know what a pooping gulon looks like?" Sophie inquired, smirking. "And really- it doesn't look that bad."

Keefe glanced at it again. "It really does," he promised, making her laugh.

Keefe had challenged Sophie to an art contest- a terrible idea on her part -and she had originally turned down his offer. But a few minutes of taunting and a lot of harmless smirking made her instantly take the deal again- and now she was regretting it.

Their first challenge was drawing Silveny- and Sophie had the perfect image of the mama alicorn in her mind. But for some reason, her hand just didn't draw it the way she imagined it in her head, and... Keefe was right- it did look like a pooping gulon.

Meanwhile, his was a beautiful painted portrait of Sophie and Keefe riding on her back. The colors were perfect and every line and detail was realistic and so much more graceful than Sophie's gulon-going-to-the-bathroom.

Sophie blushed and shoved her artwork aside, snatching up a new piece of paper and a sharp pencil.

"Teach me how to draw like you do," she decided happily.

Keefe smirked at her and tore a hand through his hair. "Okay... what are we drawing, my Lovely Lady F?"

Arg- why were the flutters back again? But not the nervous, awkward flutters.... the one that made Sophie feel so perfectly right- and also assured her she was turning neon red.

"Whatever you'd like," Sophie told him innocently.

"How about Fitzy?" Keefe suggested.

Sophie took her pencil and drew a gigantic scribble across the page, pressing down on the paper so hard the tip broke and fell off of Keefe's desk.

"Good answer," Keefe noted, laughing. "Okay... let's draw Calla's panakes tree."

"Works for me," Sophie put in, replacing her paper and re-sharpening her pencil. "How do we start?"

"Draw the trunk first," Keefe directed, tilting his page and slowly sketching a curved grey line. "It should be a little slanted towards the middle and thicker near the bottom."

Sophie stared at what she'd drawn- it looked like a piece of poop.

Keefe smirked and held her hand in his, gently guiding her pencil down the page. Sophie felt herself blushing at his touch but kept quiet as she watched the line slowly curve down to the bottom of the page.

"There," Keefe whispered, lifting off her hand and pulling away to stare at what they'd done.

Keefe walked her through the rest of the tree but Sophie could hardly focus. Her eyes kept drifting to the way his hand wrapped around hers and guided it down the page.

When they'd finished, Keefe pinned her drawing up on the wall in front of his desk and let her bury her head onto his shoulder.

"Love you Foster," Keefe whispered.

"Love you too."