Work Text:
Initially Toshinori wanted to fish the day away. But right now as he views the waves make bunnies hop along with the wind he is instead stuck watching an artist paint. Not as planned but not a bad way to pass the morning either. Hopefully by noon it’ll have settled but his gut says it’ll be a few days before then. Mother nature is rather fickle these days.
The artist who is sat next to him is Midoriya Izuku. He learned this after the fifth time Izuku came to paint. Simple curiosity got the best of him so they engaged in small talk which lead to some nice conversations into the noon where it would end with Izuku leaving, saying he can’t spend all day painting quite yet. When he mentioned that, Toshinori felt a slight humility. He spends all his time at the beach fishing and nothing else. It feels a little unfair that Izuku can’t paint all day. He enjoys the company after all.
He had been sitting there since sunrise, half heartedly attempting to get his bait tied to his fishhook. The breeze would untie it every time, so he gave up after a good 15 or so worms were lost to the water. Easy breakfast for the fish. Pity.
When Izuku arrived his expression was slightly concerned, his eyes wide with surprise, going from the sea waves crashing against each other to the pine tree not far from them, appearing a little bit too bendy today. Toshinori waved at him and gave him an apologetic smile with a small “Good morning”. That did little to ease his expression but it did seem less concerned now. Just a bit.
The sudden change of weather is mildly worrisome no doubt. A hazard for Izuku’s work, and a warning of bad weather soon to come, possible tree death too but not something to worry about with Toshinori around to stop it. Little embers are more than enough to punch a tree to the side. Although last time he did that he broke his thumb so he might have to weigh the consequences of whether he would like to break a bone or die pushing the other away. The lesser’s probably best.
When Izuku had begun settling down and setting his easel in place, it did a quick attempt at flying off the dock. If he had not been observing the other, his quick response would not have been enough to save the easel from a wet end. Or rather, being lost at sea.
Placing it down firmly he nods to Izuku, hoping the other understood that he’ll hold it while Izuku puts weights on it. Izuku gives him a thankful smile and proceeds to put weights on the easel, minimal communication needed. A few dumbbells and a bag weighing the easel down later, they both settle into their respective seats, more than happy to be seated in the harsh wind rather than standing.
“Thank you, Mr. Yagi. I didn’t think the wind today would be so harsh. I was on auto pilot on the way here, didn’t even notice the back breaking winds,” Izuku says while smiling at Toshinori. It’s a warm expression, such joy to be there, which is flattering but he’s not sure if it’s more for the spot than his person. Izuku always smiles and gives off a happy air whenever he comes to paint. It could be both.
“Oh it’s no problem. As soon as I saw you I figured one of your supplies would fly off. I just didn’t imagine easels were that light these days,” he replies, resting his head onto his palms. It might appear a bit too casual on his part but he can’t do much else either way.
“Oh these days with the new materials and such, many things have lost their weight. It came in handy when I would have to carry the thing around campus a few years back,” Izuku says, putting a rather large rock into a small jar of what he assumes to be water.
“Say you don’t mind if I watch you paint today, do you?” Toshinori asks, hoping Izuku will say yes. “This wind makes it near impossible to get my bait on, and I’m not to sure I should throw my hook out either.” He’s been curious about what the man was always painting. Izuku always sat in a way that never allowed the canvas front to show. He would catch the man staring at him a few times then back at the sea as if he didn’t notice the quick glances. Hopefully Izuku doesn’t paint him; he hardly adds anything to the piece’s composition.
Izuku chuckles at his last sentence, a small attempt in not laughing outright at the image. “Oh that would be a bad day right there, hooks flying right into you. That sounds about as pleasant as breaking a bone.” Izuku lifts a box out of his bag and hands it to Toshinori. Taking it in hand, Toshinori stares at Izuku, confused.
“Well since you're going to spectate you might as well hold those so I don’t have to worry about the box flying away too,” Izuku says while giving him a sly grin, emphasizing his freckles. He can’t necessarily disagree with that. Not with that face.
“Alright I can do that,” he replies, setting them down, holding it down lightly with one foot. He’s not really able to move the chair closer with just one hand, the wind being too strong for that. The fact that Izuku is still painting is surprising; it’s as if he doesn’t want to miss a day.
Box back in hand, he sits close to Izuku and watches him take the lid off the box to show varying sizes of paint tubes, most on the smaller side. It reminds him of some watercolor tubes he’d seen in stores. “So are these watercolors?”
“You’re close but no. It’s actually gouache. It’s a little similar though so I understand the mistake. I made the same when first learning about it,” Izuku says. Pausing in his movement, he stares at the paints for a few moments. “You know what, maybe I’ll do oil paints today. I think my pigment will dry too quickly with this wind, but the oil won’t if I use just enough medium. Give me a moment.” Izuku places the lid back on the box, his fingers brushing against Toshinori’s own for a moment when taking the box from him. It gives Toshinori a good look at Izuku's hands. He notices how rough and calloused they are, covered in small scars and larger ones on the way up his arm ending at the fold of his long sleeve. What exactly does Izuku do for a living? What happened to him over the years?
“All right, you can take this box instead. Now if you don’t mind shielding me a bit from the wind, that’d be nice too. Don’t want to dry the oils out. Though it should be fine, really. One time a painting took three months to dry,” Izuku assures him.
Izuku sits back, arms crossed and giving him a blinding smile, and asks, “Now Mr.Yagi, what do you think I should paint today?” He leans just a bit closer to him, waiting on Toshinori’s answer.
“Well this might seem a little bit childish of me to say, but why not the bunnies hopping along the sea waves?” he suggests nervously. He hopes that description is not too confusing. He remembers it was confusing when he first learned about it, even with a child's imagination back then.
“Bunnies?” Izuku asks, expression confused, though his tone was more amused. Well at least he didn’t laugh; that’s a bonus.
“Well if you pay enough attention to the waves you’ll notice that it looks just like a herd of bunnies hopping along the sea. Or when the waves crash along the rocks over there it looks like they're falling from the resulting foam.” He explains, it’s something he heard as a child when the tides were high and the ships were rocked back and forth on the surface. It only happened during strong tides, or really windy days.
Izuku hums in understanding, leaning back. “Really now. Well let’s see then.” He turns his head towards the sea, trying to find what Toshinori describes as ‘bunnies’. It’s a few more minutes before Izuku lets out a small gentle laugh, slightly muffled by the breeze that moves through Toshinori’s ears and out.
“Mr.Yagi, I didn’t expect you to be this cute, but that’s honestly an adorable description of the sea. Pretty clever too,” Izuku exclaims happily, picking up his brush and moving the tip along with waves. “That is really quite cute. I wish I knew that as a kid. Would’ve made seeing the sea so much more fun.” Izuku starts to make more dramatic motions with his brush, a slight hopping in motion. Toshinori’s being called cute even though Izuku is acting cute.
“So do you want me to keep silent while you paint or can I ask some rather silly questions about painting and the long process?” Toshinori asks, curiosity starting to kick in even more now that it has a chance for more information, vicious thing that it is. Even if he’ll never use said painting advice or process for anything, he wants to know more about his artist friend.
“Oh you can ask all the questions you like, but why not ask more interesting questions than that? I don’t want to become Bob Ross while explaining the process to you,” Izuku jokingly exclams while taking a few paints from the box. Lifting his head to give him a quick wink he continues with, “Don’t want to bore you to slumber.” Izuku gives him a fond expression as he says that. “Then I’d just be sitting here painting you instead. And really, I’ve gotten far too use to doing that by now, Mr.Yagi,” Izuku said softly before turning his attention back to his blank canvas. Taking out another item from his bag he places a bottle of what seems to be a mix of syrup and water into Toshinori’s free hand. Izuku twists the lid open quickly and Toshinori gets a quick whiff of a rather odd chemical smell.
Shit that’s bad.
Can’t even ponder on what was just said, that smell is just bad. “Now just hold that for me for just a second or two,” Izuku says. “I know the smell is pretty bad. Just gotta get these paints out onto my palette so I can add the medium to them. Thankfully the sea has a pretty simple palette to it.”
Toshinori hums in reply, somewhat annoyed, but trying to not make it obvious the smell irritates his eyes and nose. He doesn’t mind too much, kinda; he should’ve expected this.
He didn’t expect Izuku to actually be painting him all those other times. But he doesn’t have the guts to bring it up again after they digressed from that topic so quickly.
“So, bunnies along the sea waves. This’ll be fun. Now come on, start asking those questions,” Izuku insists, mixing his paints with a pallet knife and layering brown along the canvas.
Toshinori can’t help but laugh a little at Izuku’s over eagerness. “Fine, but only if you call me Toshinori. Being called Mr.Yagi is starting to make me feel older than I am.” He’s old, sure, but not that old yet. He should have insisted on it a while back but now is as good a time as any.
“Toshinori it is. Feel free to call me Izuku,” The artist says while setting down his brush and grabbing another. Giving him a quick glance, he exclaims excitedly, “Toshinori, those questions!”
“Oh right, right. Eh, let’s see... Why are putting brown on the canvas?” Toshinori does not have an ounce of knowledge in painting so he is very confused. Absolute zero knowledge can come in handy for situations similar to this. Means many dumb questions can be asked as filler before anything too personal can be asked.
“To get a quick base on here and an outline. I like having a guide as I paint, since I’m pretty particular about the process. Don’t worry, this will dry in no time since I always keep one acrylic paint in here. Just some addition and subtraction when I do this.”
“Ah.”
Toshinori is still lost.
____
Izuku answers all of his questions rather quickly and without hassle, which just causes him to ask far more than he initially planned. Izuku’s instigating didn’t help either since it made him assume he should keep on asking even if it moved him from his original topic, like the basics and being an artist and how’s Izuku’s life has been so far.
Now he’s asking things you would ask your date. Or someone you’d want to date.
“So what are you plans for the rest of the week?” As soon as the words leave Toshinori’s mouth he recognizes he's asked too much too soon. Even if earlier he’s pretty sure Izuku flirted with him. “Well I have work for most of my days. Friday I get out earlier than usual and I usually take that time to go out and get groceries. Maybe eat out if I get extra pay. Simpler things.” Izuku replies, tilting his head at the painting, leaning a bit back, trying to get the whole picture in view rather than just little details.
“That makes sense. Working in a restaurant for such long hours can be pretty exhausting. It’s nice that they let you have most of Friday and the weekends off,” Toshinori says, imagining Izuku take orders and serving guests with that smile of his. Shame he’s never been to that restaurant before. Maybe he’ll go there during slow hours so they can chat. Italian doesn't sound half bad.
“I’m just about done here. So, what do you think? Need anything else?” Izuku asks, putting his brush down, leaning back, hands folded together as he eagerly waits for his answer. Toshinori blinks. He didn’t expect that at all, but from what he can tell it’s just about done.The dock is obviously the one they are on, and the pines and rocks around it are all too familiar to him now. If anything he considers that a person sitting at the dock is missing. It felt so empty without anyone there, someone painting, fishing, even just enjoying the view.
“Maybe you could add someone on the docks. Enjoying the view maybe? Or, I don’t know, an artist painting the view,” Toshinori comments. “Maybe us, I suppose, since we are the only ones that seem to come here,” he continues, gaze turned away from Izuku’s general direction, plainly staring at the sea in an attempt to not show his embarrassment since he had just meant to hint at that rather than say it. Izuku’s gaze and ever growing smile as he continued pushed him forward. A not so subtle blush rises to his cheeks. Not subtle in the slightest.
“Yeah that’s what I thought too. Thanks for helping me decide, Toshinori,” Izuku says, elated. Grabbing a brush, he leans toward him, giving him a quick peck on the cheek, laughing softly as he leans away and puts a bottle in his open hands. He’s oblivious to the fact that he froze Toshinori in place. All that comes out of Toshinori’s dazed mouth is a simple “No problem.” He holds onto the bottle for dear life while Izuku cleans his brushes in it, kindly having put a towel between him and the bottle itself. Odorless, he concludes after a few deep breaths through his nose.
He sits there as Izuku goes through the motions of adding the last few details, completely involved with the painting. It gives Toshinori time to settle down and comprehend what just happened between them. He’s awfully flattered and embarrassed that he can still charm such a handsome man at his age. And appearance. It’s also dawning on him that what he asked earlier is probably what pushed Izuku to do that. He’s not complaining. Just… overwhelmed.
“You can come over to the restaurant around wednesday at 10. That’s when there’s the least people just before lunch rush at 12.” Izuku makes the suggestion out of the blue, surprising him once again out of his thoughts.
“That sounds good, I can’t wait to try the food. It’s been a while since I’ve last had Italian food.” By long time he really means the last time he tried making spaghetti on his own in his teens.
“You’ll love it there. It’s nice and cozy and our chef is really good. They had gone to Italy and everything and came back to open up shop,” Izuku says, wiping his hands. Turning to him, Izuku asks, “So it’s a date?”
Toshinori laughs in shock. Goodness what has he gotten his old self into. “Yes it’s a date,” he exclaims and smiles at Izuku.
“Awesome, let me text you the address and you’ll be set for Wednesday.” Izuku beams, acting as if he just won the lottery. Well he’s not the only one since Toshinori feels the same. They exchange numbers and Izuku takes the painting with him as he leaves. He gives a quick wink as he walks away, leaving an elated Toshinori to his thoughts and empty buckets. A good catch today even if it was from the land.
The drive back home is full of traffic and stops since he left earlier than usual. The afternoon traffic doesn’t bother him too much; he is far more distracted by what had happened not too long ago, going over their previous encounters they’ve had, trying to figure out how it all came to this.
The more he goes over it in his head the more he realizes that it should have been obvious after the first conversation. He still wonders what really won Izuku over. Though at the moment he’s too happy to care and would much rather focus on the nice bubble of emotions brewing inside him instead of what started it all. He can always ask Izuku later.
Once home, an hour or so after having left the shore, he feels his phone vibrate. He unlocks it to see that Izuku has texted him the address, also leaving him a string of emoji next to a new text saying | Hope you got home alright. See you tomorrow, I want to give you the painting so be ready! ;D | Toshinori chuckles against his phone screen. He texts back a simple, | I did get home alright. And don’t worry I’ll make sure there is enough space in my truck for your wonderful painting.| . He goes about making a simple lunch when his phone vibrates again.
| <3 Great! See you tomorrow. :D |
He shouldn’t be this charmed by such a simple reply. He still is. The rest of the day he's humming along to an old tune from his younger years, all too excited about tomorrow and the next day after and many days to come.