As far as first kisses went…this one was real good. Somehow they’d found themselves close together. Too close to simply ignore the fact without some awkwardness. It had been this, or walk away, and Quin had to admit to herself that she very well might have been a little hurt if Nate had turned and walked away.

The kiss itself was sweet, longer than something that could be considered truly innocent, but short enough that there was hardly a need to come up for air. Nate had made the move, and Quin approved. Nate pulled away and smiled, and the redhead smiled back, noting that her hands had found their way to his chest. Anything but an unpleasant place to come to rest.

”I don’t mind. Not at all.” Quin said, knowing that her cheeks were flushed and her heart was fluttering just a little bit. Now was the possibly awkward part. What did you do after the kiss?

”So…” she said with a slow smile, content to stay where she was for the time being. ”Do you have anything in mind for the blank canvas…or would you mind a novice throwing some paint at it?”

All said while the aforementioned pet skittered in the background, still unnoticed.

Her hands were resting on his chest and the taste of that first kiss lingered on his lips. He wanted to say something about her blushing cheeks, but he could feel his face on fire. She continued the conversation, still resting against him, which was just fine. "You are more than welcome to my canvas. If left to my own devices, I'd probably just end up painting this pretty redhead I've found myself smitten with."

He regretfully pulled away, slowly, holding her hand for a moment as it left his chest. He'd rather keep it as close as he could, but if there was going to be painting, he had to gather up supplies. As he was picking up a brush, with his awareness slowly returning, he could hear a sound he did not notice during the kiss.

He spotted Parker, his pet mutant spider, skittering across hardwood behind Quin, near the kitchen. Everything up until this moment was too good to be true. He had to prepare her for what was inevitably about to happen. He got up and walked back to his companion, taking her hand. "Quin... before we continue, I have to confess something." That sort of sentence never led to anything good, which was appropriate, since it was unlikely Quin would find his flatmate "good." He sighed. "I have this sort of pet, but he's not what you would normally think of as a 'pet.' He is sort of... well, he's a cat-sized spider."

As though he heard the word "spider," Parker skittered gleefully to his owner. His fuzzy legs brushed by Quin's ankles on his way to nibbling at Nate's Converse. "Um, this is Parker. I swear he's harmless..."

He looked into his companions eyes, deciding to preemptively mark this as the moment the date would most likely end in a blaze of glory.

They were still so very close. Quin could feel the heat coming from Nate, and she simply stood there, smiling at him stupidly as he said that she was welcome to the canvas. Momentarily regretting her question about painting when Nate moved away, Quin watched as he moved away and started gathering supplies. She left him to it, assuming that the man knew his trade better than she possibly could, and enjoying the view as he gathered.

Nate spoke, and Quin could immediately tell that something was wrong. Maybe it was his tone of voice, or the way his facial features had tightened slightly, but Quin noticed and frowned, listening with no small amount of apprehension. Here was the part where Nate told her that he was a recovering homicidal psychopath, or that he was actually a woman, or maybe that he had his last date locked in a cage in the closet. Only…it wasn’t any of those things at all.

It was that he had a pet. Quin’s mind latched on the word for the split-second before Nate could get the rest of his sentence out. A pet wasn’t a bad thing, not at all!

Except that it was a cat-sized spider. A cat sized spider that had just brushed its hairy body up against her legs as it made its way to its owner.

A small lady-like squeal escaped Quin’s lips and she scurried backwards, putting several feet between her and the giant arachnid.

Nate was looking at her, and Quin gave him a helpless look, eyes darting back and forth between him and the spider. She wasn’t going to leave. Not after how well everything had gone. A spider was not nearly as bad as things could have been…even a cat-sized one.

But still…Quin groaned a little.

”Why did it have to be a spider?”

The redhead took a deep breath, let it out, and swallowed, licking her lips in nervousness as she tried to get her mind to pull out of fight-or-flight mode.

”Parker…like Peter Parker?” she said, trying to see the thing nibbling at Nate's shoe as anything other than the object of some of her worst nightmares.

Yep, the first meeting of his ladyfriend and his arachnid pet went as well as he could have expected. She was still there, so things certainly could have gone worse. He had to find a way to somehow make owning a giant spider seem normal.

"Yes, I figured the name would be appropriate. I met him during an encounter in the park with a few mutants. It was a giant misunderstanding, but this poor little thing was left alone being attacked by a paperclip monster." He paused. "It was a very long story."

He bent down to pet Parker, who clicked affectionately. "I realize how weird it is... I was actually scared of spiders before being forced to adopt this little guy." He looked up, hoping for understanding. "I hope having a mutant spider pet isn't a dealbreaker..."

The strange pet was the result of a run-in with a few mutants in Central Park. There had been a big misunderstanding…and Nate had ended up with the spider as a pet.

And there had been a paperclip monster.

”That…is why I generally avoid the park.” Quin said, eyes still fixed on the weird little monster as Nate bent to pet it. It was a monster…but the thing seemed affectionate enough…at least towards Nate.

”And no…not a deal breaker.” Quin said, ”But it’s going to take me a little while to adjust to the idea of this kind of pet…I’m more of a dog person.”

If the spider took offense, it didn’t show, and Quin stayed where she was. Maybe she was ready to accept its existence, but she wasn’t going to get any closer than she had to.

”So…painting?” she said hopefully.

It was not perfect, but she was dealing with the news. He knew it would take time, but Parker was a better pet than Nate anticipated. In time, Parker might even win the woman over; Nate once hated spiders as well. He patted the arachnids head and said, "Quin and I are going to be in this room, so you're gonna scurry away to your little room for the night." Parker warbled in agreement and skittered away. Nate had converted a large closet into a "spider den." Parker was smart enough to be trained so he only webbed in his room.

Nate clapped his hands together, very ready to move on from the awkward moment. He picked up a pallet and a brush. Paints were in nearby bottles, ready to be added. "So now, what would you like to do? Life is your empty canvas." Ugh, lame artist humor. Smooth.

Nate sent the spider off to its room, and Quin had to smile a little as the thing skittered to obey. ”He seems well trained….” she said. Which was impressive for something she always previously thought lacked a brain. As the little guy retreated, Quin decided that there really wasn’t anything wrong with owning a pet spider like that, and that maybe she needed to give him a bit of a chance.

”Thanks for the warning.” she added, pushing a strand of her hair behind her ear. ”I’ve got this…thing about spiders.” …A thing that was usually the source of great consternation, especially if it manifested itself in front of her coworkers.

Nate wasn’t a coworker, and Quin smiled. ”But you’re very good with Parker…so maybe you two can alter my perception.”

And then, they were done with the spider and Nate was pointing out that life was an empty canvas.

There was a brush, and a pallet, and Quin wasted no time in getting some colors from the bottles that Nate had indicated. They were bright colors, and where there weren’t ones she liked, she made them. Teals and purples and bright blues and greens that probably made the real artist in the room cringe. Quin liked them though.

She wondered for a moment exactly what the paints were made of and was disappointed when she had absolutely no control of them, but picked up the brush nonetheless. Part of her wanted to revisit elementary school and draw a giant sun in the upper left-hand corner of the paper, she resisted the urge though, and instead bathed her brush in purple before painting a wide swath diagonally across the page.

She turned and smiled at Nate, ”I guess I’m not going for realism.” she said, then went after the canvas with her blue, this time flicking at the canvas with her brush, delight evident in her face and the laughter she couldn’t contain.

”You should help.”

Nate was standing behind the inexperienced artist, enjoying her wide-eyed glee as she played with colors and started brightening the board with purples and blues. "The world is more than realism. I'm keener on seeing your expression." There were times when structure was the last thing on Nate's mind; collections of colors sprawling across a canvas was sometimes the best way to get pure emotion out on a page.

She suggested having him help, which was nice of her; a date should consist of activities both parties could take part in, even if he was enjoying spectating. "I'll help, but I only have one brush out right now, and this is still your painting, so..." He got closer to her, reaching from behind to take her hand with his, giving him control of her arm and the brush. "I hope you don't mind." With Quin being just about Nate's height, this drew their bodies close, with him looking over her shoulder. He covered the brush in a shade of teal she had left on the pallet and guided her hand to the canvas, creating swirls of color that would occasionally blend together with purples and blues on the canvas to create new shades. "How is that?" he asked softly, his voice now in closer proximity to her ear.

Quin had to smile some more. It seemed as though she could do no wrong, at least as far as Nate was concerned. This was also the first time she could remember anyone talking about personal expression and colors and painting since she’d left Illinois.

Green joined the purple and blue, and Quin decided that she liked painting.

”My parents would be so thrilled that I’m doing this right now…” She said. ”They always wanted me to express myself more.”

She’d invited Nate to paint with her, but he only had one brush. Quin almost called bs on that, because she’d seen those painting shows, and artists always had more than one brush…but he moved closer to her and he was so warm, and so smooth with the way he took her arm and guided it.

The teal swirls seemed to bring the lines and arches she’d made come together, and Quin tilted her head slightly as they painted. ”I guess this is why you’re the professional.” she admitted, when Nate spoke into her ear, his breath raising goose bumps on her arms and the back of her neck. It made her want to giggle…just a bit.

Guiding the brush into some black and starting to outline some of the brighter colors, Quin tilted her head, ”I think it looks great.” she said.

”But all good paintings need a name, don’t they? What should we call it?”

Nate chuckled; she may not have been the "artsy" type, but Quin seemed to have no issue expressing herself. She was bold, excitable and talkative. Still, it pleased him to see her face so joyful and interested, knowing he was the indirect reason for the brush in her hand. "I'm thrilled with you; you're doing great," he assured her, smiling. For a novice, she was not doing badly at all.

As they delved further into the painting, the sensation of her warmth so close to him never left the forefront of his mind. With one hand helping her guide the brush, his other was resting naturally at her waist. He was so distracted by her, he almost missed her question. "Oh? You gotta be patient; you don't name a painting until it's finished, sugar. Besides," he kissed her cheek, "there's no rush..." He planted three more soft kiss, somewhat boldly, on her neck, curious to how she might respond...

Great. Yeah. She’d splattered some paint on a canvas and outlined it with black. Nate actually seemed impressed though. Quin tilted her head slightly and stared at the canvas. People always said that beauty was in the eye of the beholder, the redhead decided that must be true.

They were still very close and Quin simply relaxed, leaning back slightly into Nate as he guided her arm and draped an arm around her waist. He mentioned that a painting never got named until it was finished, and then he kissed her cheek. And then he kissed her neck. Three times.

Quin squirmed just a bit at that, and a small chuckle escaped her as her arm went a little wayward and the brush slanted across the canvas in a wide arc, a wide band of black in its wake.

”Whoops….” she said. ”I wonder what the audience will see in that bit of expression.”

It would seem his flirtatious risk caught Quin off guard, but she gave no signs that she minded. The only response he noticed was her jump at his kisses, leaving a streak on the painting.

Nate smirked, wrapping his arm around her waist, pulling her in a bit closer. "They will see it as an expression of enjoying the nice distractions in life." He kissed her neck once more, continuing a trail of kisses up to her cheek. His hand left her brush hand, lightly pressing against her cheek, turning her toward him. He kissed her lips, more intimately this time than the last. After several enjoyable seconds, he pulled away. "And I know I'm a nice distraction."

It was an intimate moment; their bodies aligned so they were facing each other, and Nate moved his hand from her cheek.

And, unable to catch himself, he started to laugh. Apparently, Nate's hand got closer to the paint than he thought. On the lovely freckled cheek of his companion, there was a purple painted fingerprint. He, a conman thief, left a paint fingerprint on a cop's face. He was unable to keep himself from laughing at where his life had taken him. "Sorry dear; guess I was struck by artistic inspiration." He held up his hand to explain his offense; sure enough, three fingers were marked with purple paint.

”Hmmm…they can tell all that from a stripe of paint?” Quin mumbled, still distracted by the kissing going on. She knew that she really should put the brakes on, but he was turning her now and they were kissing again. The first kiss had been sweet, this one had just a little more heat.

Nate pulled away and moved his hand from her face only to laugh and for a moment, Quin had to wonder if she’d sprouted a second nose or something. Nate held up his hand and in response to her unspoken question and the redhead laughed. She could feel the paint drying on her face now. At least it was purple.

The palette was close by still, and she reached out for the teal, still grinning as she left her own prints on Nate’s cheek. ”I can’t blame you. I’m pretty inspired too.”

Too much inspiration on a first date was bad idea, Quin thought idly as she continued to grin, then chuckled and looked at the painting.

”And…I think we just named our picture”

Nate laughed, feeling the remnants of teal paint on his cheek. He nodded in understanding. "Inspiration."

The moment had cooled down, but that was not a bad thing; they could save whatever might have happened for a second or third or even fourth date. Nate was fine as long as there would be another date. Nate returned to kissing Quin, much more innocently, but longer. An arm was still wrapped around Quin's waste, but the other reached out for the painting, pressing his hand against the swirling colors. He slowly brought his hand closer, resting it with his thumb and index finger at her cheek and the rest of his hand caressing her neck, leaving a nice hand-print on her. He tried not to grin kissing her, but she obviously noticed his mischief.

Quin nodded and laughed as Nate connected the dots to spell out the name she’d come up with for their picture.

Then there was more kissing then…and more paint smearing. Quin could tell that Nate was pleased with himself, but what he hadn’t realized was that she’d already smeared her hand in paint and was likewise smearing the side of his face.

What a date indeed.

She broke the kiss this time, and shook her head, wondering what she looked like in a mirror.

”We should take a picture. ‘We are the artwork.’ “ she said.