Chapter Text
Axl loved art. He loved music, of course, but he was also very fond of paintings and sculptures and so on. So when he finally got his own house he decided to buy paintings to give the place some life. And that’s how he ended up sitting on his new couch and looking at the painting he had bought. It was a portrait of a woman in a gray dress and white belt. She had short and curly brown hair, and she was leaning against some sort of furniture. Axl wasn’t sure whether it was a chair or a weird table. The background was very uninteresting, just a brown floor and gray walls that had a darker stripe at the bottom. The paint was chipping and the canvas had some rips. The paint job wasn’t that great either in some places. It looked uneven and flaky in a couple of spots and the woman's face was crooked. Now that he really thought about it, he wasn’t sure why he bought it.
A couple of days prior, he had entered an auction. He admitted he had a couple of drinks, but he also sat at the very back and didn’t really see the painting before he got his hands on it. Axl knew that he should probably just give it up, but he couldn’t. That would be admitting he made a mistake, which he didn’t want to do. As soon as Slash had visited after the auction the man burst out laughing at the sight of the painting. “Really? This is what you decided to spend your money on?” The man laughed. So no, he couldn’t just get rid of it. Besides, the more he looked at it, the more interesting it became. Who was that woman? Who painted her? Why?
Axl opened his laptop and tried a couple of searches. Eventually he figured out that he needed to take the painting to an art restorer, and luckily for him, there happened to be a studio near him. After a quick search he found reviews for the place. They were mainly positive, telling how good of a job the restorer had done and how nice the pieces looked afterwards. Some of the reviews did however mention the restorer being rude to them, and Axl became worried. Was he really about to just give his painting to some mean old guy? What if despite the glowing reviews he decided he didn’t like Axl, and fucked up his painting?
Somewhere along the way Axl had really gotten attached to it. It was the first piece of art that he had ever purchased himself, and despite Slash’s(and Duff’s and Steven’s) comments he saw a lot of potential in it. He desperately wanted to know what it had originally looked like. After some careful consideration he decided to go visit the place.
The drive wasn’t long, and soon enough he had found the place. It was a nice looking small building, although a bit worn and old looking. It was on the side of a small road, surrounded by a couple of trees and overgrown grass. There was a sign hanging from the window, which read “OPEN”. Axl took the painting that he had carefully wrapped by the instructions on the website and entered the building. He was greeted by an empty reception and a couple of small couches. He rang the bell on the counter, but no one answered. Eventually he walked in through the doorway that had see-through plastic curtains hanging on it. He looked around at the place. It was a nearly empty room with a couple of tables, both metal and wooden. He saw two other doorways with plastic curtains. The walls were plain white and on one of the tables there was a painting laying flat on a piece of baking paper looking material. He walked closer and looked at the painting. It was a landscape of a seaside town. Axl could clearly see the part where all the grime had been removed. That part of the painting was vibrant and the details of the water were clear, leaving the rest looking horrid in comparison. He was excited for his painting to get the same treatment.
“Don’t touch it! What the hell are you doing here!?” Someone yelled and Axl whipped around to face the man entering the room in a hurry. Instead of an old guy like he had expected, the man was around Axl’s age, with black hair and dark green eyes. He was dressed in a slightly loose black t-shirt and jeans with a dirty brown apron tied around him. Axl felt like time slowed down. Is this what those people felt in those cheesy rom-coms? He completely blanked out, only focusing on the other man, and his slightly chapped lips that had a ring on the left side that shined in the light, his thin waist he wanted to put his hands on, his long legs that he wanted wrapped arou-. He shook his head slightly, trying to put a stop to the lewd thoughts. “How did you get in here?” The man asked in an irritated tone. “Through the door,” Axl answered, hoping for the other man to drop the angry expression he had. But Axl had no such luck, and instead the man looked even more pissed off. “You shouldn’t be here, get the fuck out,” the raven haired man said and pointed to the door. “I’m a customer,” Axl explained, and held up the painting. The man furrowed his brow, and gently took the painting from him. He looked at it for a while, and said; “You know you could have just called?” The man looked back up at Axl, and he felt his cheeks heat up slightly. “I know, but I wanted to meet you in person,” Axl explained, and shifted on his feet slightly. The man’s expression changed, he didn’t look as angry anymore. Not happy, either, but his eyes shone slightly and his gaze looked almost teasing. “You’ve gotten attached to it, huh?” The man said and Axl could feel his face turning even more red. Before he could answer, the other man continued; “But that’s okay, that’s why you brought it to me. Because you see the value in it, don’t you?” Axl nodded at him.
The other man surprised Axl with a small smile, and turned his gaze back to the painting. He opened the wrapping carefully and tilted his head a bit, turned the painting slightly and then nodded. “I can work with this,” the raven haired man announced and put the painting on a rack. “Come back tomorrow, same time,” the other man instructed him. “Now get out, I need to get back to work.” Axl thanked him profusely and went back home.
He returned the next day around the same time. He parked his car in the same spot as yesterday and walked up to the building. Axl had hardly slept the night before. He had been too nervous about the painting before, but there were other things on his mind now too. He walked to the receptionist desk and rang the bell. This time he waited for the other man, and soon realized he didn’t even know the name of the person handling his painting. It made him slightly nervous, but also very embarrassed that he hadn’t even asked.
The raven haired man walked through the doorway, his hair now up in a small ponytail. His pale neck was fully on display and his shirt had changed into a tighter one. Axl had to keep himself from drooling, and then fainting when the man blessed him again with a small smile. “I forgot to introduce myself yesterday,” the man said, and stuck out his hand. “My name is Izzy.” Izzy. The name suited him well. “I’m Axl,” the redhead said and took Izzy’s hand. “Axl,” Izzy said, the name sounding sweet as honey when he said it. Axl wanted the other man to say it over and over again. “I thought I recognised you from somewhere. You’re in that band, right?” Izzy then continues. “Yeah, Guns n’ Roses,” Axl responds, sligh heat rising to his cheek. “Do you listen?” He then questioned carefully, and the teasing gaze returned to Izzy’s eyes. “Hard not to, you guys can’t be avoided,” he chuckles. “But it’s not bad, definitely not. I’m just more of a glam rock guy myself,” he then continues, possibly noticing the slightly defeated look on Axl’s face. “Follow me,” he then says, and walks towards another doorway that Axl hadn’t noticed on his last visit, but this time it did have a white door on it.
The room turned out to be an office, with a table and a couple of bookshelves. On the table there was a computer and a cup of coffee. Izzy bent over slightly and logged into the computer. Axl got an appreciative eyeful of the other man's ass before realizing how creepy he was being, and turned his gaze elsewhere. “So here’s your painting under a blacklight,” Izzy then says, and Axl turns to look at the computer. “Here are the spots with the most damage to the canvas,” he says and circles the darker spots with his finger. “And here are the spots where another restorer has painted over. As you can see, most of the paint is on the dress and the face,” he continues, and Axl leans closer to take a better look. “Huh,” the redhead says. “That’s why it looked so odd.” Izzy nods. “You’ve got a good eye for this.” Axl continues staring at the painting. “So what will it look like when you're done?” He eventually asks. “As close to the original artist's vision as possible. I will fix up the canvas, remove the dirty varnish and the other restorers paint. It will look as if it had just been painted,” Izzy promises. Axl trusted him.
It took almost a week until Axl went back to the studio. He knew that he probably shouldn’t distract Izzy anymore, but he really wanted to see the other man at work. He parked his car in the same spot as always, and rang the bell. Izzy walked through the doorway. His black hair was slightly messy and Axl wanted to smooth it out with his fingers. “Hello?” The other man asked in confusion. “I want to see my painting,” Axl said, before realizing how rude it sounded, and added a “please”. “I haven’t started it yet, I have other customers too,” Izzy responded with a small chuckle. “Oh,” Axl said. For a moment the men stood in silence, and Izzy tilted his head slightly. Axl thought it was adorable. “Uh… Sorry for bothering you,” Axl said eventually, the words sticking to his throat, and turned on his heels. He walked straight to his car, his face flushed in embarrassment. Of course Izzy had other customers. What was he thinking?
Axl tried to keep himself from visiting Izzy again. He trusted the other man with his painting, and he didn’t want to be a constant bother but he desperately wanted to see if the other man had done something to his painting yet. Eventually he couldn’t take it anymore, and he had to go see him. Axl put on one of his nicer coats, a long black leather coat and sunglasses, and decided to stop by the store near him to buy something for the other man. Partly as a gift, partly as an apology for disrupting his work earlier. He didn’t know what the other man liked, so he ended up buying him some milk chocolate. He was already in his car when he thought if he made the right choice. What if Izzy liked dark chocolate better? He groaned and got out of the car, going to the store to buy some dark chocolate. Axl got in his car once again and started driving to the studio. He parked his car in his usual spot and walked in. He rang the bell and waited, but eventually he got bored.
Axl walked through the same doorway he had when he first visited the place. He noticed the raven haired man by one of the tables with a piece of canvas in front of him, slightly hunched over. He had a magnifying glass in his hand and a slight smile on his lips. Axl once again tried his best not to stare when he noticed the tight black jeans the other man was wearing. He knocked on the table next to him and the other man flinched. Izzy turned to look at him, the smile on his lips now gone. “Hi,” Axl said, and Izzy nodded in response. “Are you here to see your painting?” He asked and turned back to the canvas. “Are you working on it already?” Axl asked. “Yeah, I don’t actually get too many customers. I just had to finish the other one before starting on yours,” Izzy responded with a small, but slightly sad sounding chuckle. Or maybe he imagined it. “But I have something to show you. I removed the canvas from the frame and I found some writing on the back of it,” he then told the redhead. Axl's eyes lit up in excitement. “Really? What does it say?” He questioned. Izzy picked up the magnifying glass and cleared his throat. “My dearest wife, Catherine. Painted on her birthday the 11th of February,” Izzy read quietly. Axl could almost feel chills going down his spine, he wasn’t exactly sure why. “Damn,” he said when he couldn’t think of anything else, immediately feeling stupid about his choice of words. “Yeah, damn,” Izzy responded, not sounding nearly as apathetic as he usually did. “Must be nice to be loved that much,” he continued so silently that Axl almost couldn’t hear him. He decided not to say anything about it, instead putting the chocolates on the table. Izzy raised his eyebrow slightly in confusion and Axl smiled at him. “I got these for you, didn't know which one you like better,” he says. Izzy blessed him with another smile and straightened up. “I was just about on my lunch break, you can join if you want,” the raven haired man said and took off the brown apron he was wearing. Underneath it he had a worn looking Queen t-shirt, and the tight jeans had a black leather belt with a large silver buckle looped through the belt loops. “I love that band,” Axl said and Izzy gave him a slightly shy smile. “And I’d love to join you,” he then added quickly. The redhead wasn’t sure if he imagined the slight blush on the other man’s cheeks. Izzy nodded and left to go to another room, and Axl followed with the chocolates.
“It might be a little cramped in here, I hope you don’t mind,” Izzy said when he opened the door to a smaller room. “I don’t mind,” Axl reassured and followed Izzy to the room. It was a small space with some string lights hung from the ceiling and pillows on the ground, and a piece of wood attached to the wall. Axl set the chocolates on the makeshift table, and after some shuffling they managed to both sit down in the cramped space, their legs tangled together. Axl removed his sunglasses and set them on the plank next to the chocolates. Izzy pulled out a small metal box that had a sandwich in it. He ate in silence, and Axl didn't know what to say. Eventually the silence became too much, and he asked; “How did you get into this?”. Izzy looked puzzled for a moment, and then said; “The restoring?”. He had a small bit of salad stuck to the corner of his lips. He licked his lips to get rid of it, the redhead following the movement closely. Axl nodded, and Izzy stayed silent. “Through my family,” he eventually said, with a tone that gently suggested that the topic was off limits. For now at least, Axl thought. “What about you? How did you get the painting?” The raven haired man asked, and opened the pack of dark chocolate. Of course he liked dark chocolate. Axl entertained him with the story of how he got his hands on the painting, and the reactions of his bandmates. That got him multiple small smiles and even a quiet laugh when Axl quoted the colorful language Slash had used to describe the painting. Axl considered that a major win.
The next time Axl visited Izzy he had made some serious progress on the painting. Izzy was cleaning the painting with a cotton swab when Axl walked through the doorway, this time not bothering to ring the bell. He knocked on the table gently and the other man looked up to him. Izzy smiled a bit and returned to the painting. “It’s starting to look really nice, take a look,” he said and stepped back. Axl walked closer. The women looked completely different. On her lips was a small smile and her cheeks were rosier. Her eyes were more lively too. “The dress was originally this light blue you can see here,” Izzy says and points to the small part of the hem that he had cleaned. “Huh,” Axl said. “It’s really bright,” he continued, and then groaned in his mind. No shit, he can see that. “Yeah, a lot of people assume that the paintings made back in the day were just made really yellow and dark, when in reality it’s the dirty varnish that makes them look that way. You can see in these parts where I’ve removed the varnish the paint is much brighter,” Izzy explains quietly, with a patience Axl had rarely heard. The man didn’t treat him like an idiot, but rather took the opportunity to teach the redhead about something he was clearly passionate about. It made the butterflies already residing in his stomach erupt in a wild dance. “That makes sense,” Axl responds. “But what about… I don’t know… The Mona Lisa? Or other paintings like that? Why don’t they clean those up?” He eventually asks, wanting Izzy to talk just a bit more. “The paint might get damaged during the restoring process, and being such a famous and valuable painting they can’t take the risk,” Izzy explained. That also made sense.
Axl was in the studio with the rest of his band. He was fiddling with the mic stand, completely lost in his thoughts. Mainly the ones revolving around Izzy. They were working on some new material, but Axl could hardly concentrate. Slash snapped his fingers in front of the redhead's face to get his attention. Duff was looking at the two of them with a slightly annoyed look and Steven had dropped his drumstick on his lap. Axl snapped out of his daydreams and turned to look at his bandmates. “What is it with you today?” Slash questioned, but didn’t sound too angry. Mainly curious. “Nothing, nothing, let’s just continue,” Axl brushed him off and gave Steven the sign to count them in once more. He knew he wouldn’t get any harsh reactions from his friends, but for now he just wanted to be alone with his feelings.
The next time Axl visited, the painting was almost finished. It only needed a few touch-ups with paint, and then it was done. Axl felt kind of sad not getting to visit Izzy anymore, but he felt like it was for the best. The other man had invaded his dreams and late-night fantasies far too many times. Maybe it was for the better if he just forgot the other man entirely. He walked through the doorway but he didn’t see Izzy anywhere. “Hello?” He called out and soon the other man poked his head through another doorway. “Hey,” Izzy said and smiled a little. “Hi,” Axl responded and walked over to him. The room was smaller than the one Izzy usually worked in, and it only had one small table and a painting stand with a stool in front of it. His painting was on the stand, and Axl watched silently as Izzy returned to filling in the parts where the old paint had chipped off. Eventually he started talking, and conversation flowed easily. It had turned out that the pair liked a lot of the same things, so they wouldn’t run out of conversation topics any time soon. Occasionally Izzy took a while to respond, so immersed in his job that he couldn’t focus on anything else. Axl didn’t mind, he liked watching the other man when he painted. And in general. He could wait a while.
The sun was going down when Axl finally decided he should leave. His eyes landed on a picture he hadn’t noticed before. It was on the small table on the other side of the stand, and without thinking he reached out to pick it up and get a better look. In the picture there was an older man with a young boy on his shoulders. The boy had brown hair and the same green eyes that Izzy did. It didn’t take a genius to connect the dots. The picture was so worn he couldn’t exactly tell where they were, but he guessed it was a forest or a backyard. “It’s my grampa,” Izzy said quietly. The other man had turned to look at him, and now was watching Axl with an unrecognizable look in his eyes. “He owned this place, he was a restorer. That’s how I got into this,” he told Axl quietly. It felt like he had been let in on a well kept secret. Izzy was silent for a moment, and then turned back to the painting. “Where is he now?” Axl dared to ask, making sure to keep his voice as gentle as possible. “He died, almost a year ago,” Izzy responded after some silence, his voice laced with more emotion than Axl was prepared for. “I’m… I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have asked,” Axl responded quickly, noticing the slight shine on the other man’s eyes. “It’s fine,” he responded and wiped his eyes a bit. “I’m sure he was a nice man,” Axl said when he couldn’t think of anything else. Izzy laughed and sniffled, and wiped his eyes again. “No, not really. He was a real hardass sometimes. But that’s how he was raised, y’know? He grew up with that “men don’t cry” mentality. But he got a lot better while I grew up, being the crybaby I was. And still am, apparently,” Izzy spoke quietly, furiously wiping his eyes. “Sorry, I shouldn’t cry in front of custo-” Izzy started, but couldn’t finish his sentence before Axl pulled him into a tight hug. He froze first in shock, but eventually melted against the redhead and shook with the force of his quiet sobs. Axl petted the other man’s hair softly, whispering quiet words of comfort to his ear.
Eventually Izzy sniffled and pulled away. “Sorry, I just… I’ve drowned myself in work so I wouldn’t have to think about it all. I guess now that you brought it up it just overflowed,” he explained, his cheeks blushing slightly in embarassment. “It’s okay, I don‘t mind at all,” Axl reassured him and smiled a bit. Izzy smiled back. Axl stayed for a bit longer.
An aura of sadness loomed over the two men when Axl came to pick up the painting. “It’s beautiful,” the redhead said quietly, looking at the finished painting. “I’m glad you’re happy with my work,” Izzy responded quietly. For a moment they looked at each other, suddenly a lot closer to each other than before. It would be so easy to just lean in and- Izzy cleared his throat. “I’ll uh… I'll send the bill in the mail,” he said and stepped back a bit. “Yeah, thanks again,” Axl said and left the studio with a hollow feeling in his chest. He went home and hung up the painting above his tv in the living room. He felt like he should be admiring it, but he couldn’t bring himself to look the woman in the eye.
That night when Axl went to bed he could hardly sleep. His mind was plagued with the images of the other man, and he turned restlessly in the empty bed. He had to do something, but he didn’t know what.
The answer came sooner than expected. He was walking around town trying to clear his mind, when he stumbled upon an antique store. With nothing better to do he decided to take a look. The place was old and worn, reminding him a lot of the old studio Izzy worked in. From the very back, hidden behind a table Axl found exactly what he needed. A small painting with a bit of damage to the paint job. It portrayed a bowl of fruits with a black background. He immediately bought it without hesitation, took it to his car and drove straight to Izzy’s studio.
Izzy looked quite tired when Axl arrived at the studio, but his eyes lit up immediately upon seeing the other man. Axl smiled at him and showed the painting. Izzy looked at it for a moment, and then said; “I’ll have it assessed by tomorrow, but from the looks of it I’ll just need to clean it up and fix some of the paint.” Axl nodded and they chatted slightly awkwardly for a bit, but eventually Axl said goodbye and went home. He slept a lot better that night.
The next day Axl walked into the studio, and Izzy was already working on the painting. “I started doing this first thing in the morning,” the other man told him and smiled when Axl slid a pack of dark chocolate to him on the table. He watched the other man work for a while, just admiring the way his dark hair fell on his shoulders and shone in the rays of sunlight pouring in from the windows. Eventually he had to leave, and he drove home. He crashed into his bed and called Slash, who picked up almost immediately. “I think I’m in love,” he told the other man miserably, and frowned slightly when Slash laughed. “With who? Yourself?” “No, you idiot! With Izzy!” Axl sighed and buried his head in the pillows. “Who the hell is Izzy?” Slash asked. “He’s the guy who fixed my painting,” Axl explained and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “He did what now?” Slash questioned in an ecstatic voice. “I didn’t tell you?” Axl asked, realizing how focused he had been on the painting and Izzy. “Uh… No?”
After telling the whole story about the painting, Izzy and the second painting Slash was silent for a moment. “So this is the love of your life?” He asked eventually in disbelief. “You haven’t met him, you’d understand if you had!” Axl said defensively. “Okay, okay! Sorry, I just… I’m so confused,” the other man said. “Me too, don’t worry,” Axl replied. After promising to call Slash back with updates and telling him to call the others to come see the painting some day he hung up.
The next time he visited the studio Izzy had already started working on the painting. Like he had said, it seemed pretty simple and straightforward. Axl kind of hoped that some issues would be revealed during the progress, but he had no such luck. He only managed to visit Izzy around three times due to his busy schedule, each time only chatting for a couple of minutes before he had to leave for some bullshit meeting, and then it was finished.
It wasn’t any easier to say goodbye for the second time, even though Axl knew now that he had a strategy to keep meeting the other man. Still, it felt like he was keeping a big secret, and that wasn’t fair on Izzy. Axl had given him a small smile, but the other man hadn’t returned it. Why was it so easy to be with the other man, but so goddamn difficult to leave? He left the studio with the painting, and put it in the trunk of his car. He didn’t want to look at it right now.
Axl drove home as some love song played silently on the radio. The evening was starting to turn into night, and he put the painting up on the wall in the hallway. The moon shined through the tall windows and painted the house in shades of blue and gray. The portrait of Catherine watched him from the wall almost mockingly, and Axl left to go brush his teeth before he did something stupid like flipped off a painting. He went to bed and tried desperately to not think about green eyes and pale skin.
He woke up to banging on his door. He hesitantly got up, put on a bathrobe that he had left on a chair in his room and walked to the door. He opened it to see Steven, Duff standing on his doorstep. “What the hell are you doing?” He questioned annoyedly. “We're here to see the painting,” Slash informed him and walked in with the others following him. “In the living room,” Axl muttered to them and went into the bathroom to brush his teeth. He goes to the living room to see the other staring at the painting in wonder. “Damn, the guy really knows what he’s doing,” Slash said. “Yeah, must be good with his hands, huh?” Duff said and turned to look at Axl with a crooked smirk on his lips while Steven snickered on the couch. “You told them?” Axl asks Slash who looks at him with a teasing smirk. “I just told them exactly what you told me. You know, about his Queen shirt and the jeans that made his ass look great,” he responds, shrugging slightly and Axl swears he could strangle the guy. “Whatever,” he huffs and goes to the kitchen to get some breakfast.
The trio left soon enough, but not before Slash made him promise to do something about his predicament. Axl laid in bed and thought about his promise. What would he do? What could he do? Eventually he remembered Izzy's words about just calling him, and he looked up the website to see if it had his number on it. It did, and Axl called it after some careful consideration. Or rather, no consideration, which in turn made his heart skip a beat when the other man picked up. His hands were sweating and he was glad that the raven haired man couldn’t see him. “Hello, this is Izzy Stradlin from Sweetwater Restoration, how can I help you?” The other man’s voice from the phone sounded like heaven, and Axl forgot to breathe for a moment. He swallowed slightly and took a deep breath. “Hi Izzy, it’s Axl,” he said. “So you finally figured out how to call, huh?” Izzy teased playfully and Axl chuckled. “Well, you didn’t complain last time, so I’m blaming you for enabling me.” Izzy laughed, and it sounded so sweet that Axl thought he was going to vomit from the stress. “So what do you have for me this time?” Izzy asked and Axl took another deep breath. Here goes nothing. “Actually, I don’t have a painting for you. I was just wondering… If you’d... Maybe… Uh…” He started but the words failed him miserably. “Yeah?” Izzy said quietly, sounding like he was just as nervous as Axl was. “Will you go out with me?” Axl eventually managed to blurt out in a whisper, and almost had a heart attack at the silence that followed. Just when he thought he had fucked it all up, he heard a quiet but warm response.
“I thought you would never ask.”