Ren could not paint. This was a discovery that actually surprised Yoh, if only just a bit. It wasn't as if he was trying to recreate the Mona Lisa, or make a tribute to Picasso, or anything that would be even remotely difficult. They were just supposed to paint the living room. Ren was getting more paint on himself than he was on the walls.

With a particularly girly screech, Ren managed to dump half a bucket of white paint all across his chest. Yoh burst out laughing, throwing his head back.

Scowling, Ren tried to wipe some of the goop off himself. "Shut it, Asakura." he reached a hand up to smooth some of his hair out of his face, only to freeze when he felt the paint start to drip down his cheek.

Yoh chuckled and set his paintbrush down. He was still amazingly clean, with just a few specks on his apron and shoes. He tutted under his breath while reaching for a small towel. "Geez Ren, Jun said we were painting the walls, but she didn't say anything about painting you."

"Ha, ha, ha." Ren sneered. He took a step forward, fully intending to smack Yoh upside the head. With a yelp, he slipped in a puddle of paint and landed flat on his butt.

Tao Ren. The graceful, exquisite, intelligent boy that had left Yoh in wonderment because of how perfect he often seemed….was sitting, covered in paint, and pouting.

Yoh dropped to his knees in front of the other boy, still chuckling. He began wiping paint off Ren's face with his towel. The smaller of the two began to protest, but stopped and settled for a stubborn frown.

Wiping the last of the paint, Yoh smiled at Ren. "Aww…C'mon babe, you can't be good at everything.'

Ren let out an overly large sigh and waved one of his arms, "But…but this! It's supposed to be easy!" He sighed again and crossed his arms over his chest, pouting again.

Using a finger to tilt Ren's head back a bit, Yoh gave the upset shaman in front of him a small kiss. "So you can't paint: big deal. It's just one of the things that make you Ren."

Glaring at Yoh, Ren huffed. "Why do you always have to be so damn philosophical?" Yoh just grinned and pulled both of them to their feet.

"I'll help you wash up, babe. We'll tell Jun to call the others over to paint….and maybe I'll give you some private painting lessons." Yoh leered a bit at the end. Raising an eyebrow, Ren made a show of pretending to think. "I don't know about that, Asakura…I hear Lyserg is quite the painter. Maybe I should ask him for…tips."

Yoh yanked Ren to his chest, the paint from Ren's apron smearing across his own. He kissed Ren again, longer this time, and nipped at Ren's lips. "Over my dead body, Tao. The only one who's going to be teaching you anything is me."