Work Text:
Holding the nail polish brush in his non-dominant left hand, Odin sticks his tongue out with effort, struggling to paint the black polish evenly across his thumbnail. He’s seen women do this and they always make it look so easy. Is it really that complicated to paint your nails? It can’t be harder than playing the bass and singing at the same time, yet he does that with ease. So perhaps what it comes back to is practise. Either way, Odin sucks at this.
“Having difficulties there?” Tom says, and Odin jumps so hard that the brush slips in his grip, painting a stripe of black nail polish across the bathroom countertop.
Odin turns his head, shooting a glare at his partner. “Thanks for that, Zane.”
Tom chuckles, idly playing with his hair (an action that brings back a powerful memory of Odin’s hands fisting that silky hair last night). “You’re welcome, darling. Now, what seems to be the problem?”
“I’ll give you three guesses,” Odin mutters, trying not to smirk.
“Well… I see someone’s using my nail polish,” Tom says. “Although I must say you’re not doing the best job. And I thought you were good with your hands, Odin,” he adds with a flirty smile.
“Oh get fucked,” Odin laughs. “I’ve never done this before.”
“As I can see.” Tom steps closer. “Why are you doing this, anyway?”
“Same reason as you. I wanna wear it.”
Tom tilts his head. “Curious. Any reason in particular?”
“I was thinking of wearing it on stage. To match all the black. And the eyeliner.”
“Very sexy,” Tom says, moving close enough to touch Odin’s shoulder. “But as you’ve just discovered… there’s a real knack to applying nail polish. One you don’t have quite yet,” he adds, his tone playful. As Odin raises an eyebrow, Tom says, “Would you like me to show you how it’s done?”
Odin rolls his eyes, but he smiles. “Go ahead,” he says, putting down the brush and bottle. “Show me your skills.”
“Of course…”
Odin pays close attention as Tom takes the brush in his left hand, using his clumsier hand to paint his fingernails. But Tom makes it look so easy, painting his nails black with smooth strokes of the brush, and if Odin didn’t know better, he’d think Tom were left-handed. But he isn’t. He’s just skilled after a lot of practise.
Committing every move of Tom’s hand to memory, Odin is certain that his work will one day look just as beautiful. Although nothing quite compares to watching an artist work his magic.