Title: Ain't Worth But A Word
Challenge: #48, technology
Fandom: Magnificent Seven (tv)
Rating: PG-13
Length: 404 words
Summary: A picture can be worth a thousand words, especially when so many words go unsaid.

Slightly chilled, Ezra drowsily reached out to pull Vin closer to him only to find the space empty. He sat up with a start, grabbing for his weapon and assessing for danger when he spotted Vin sitting on a rock a few feet away, pencil and paper in hand.

"Sorry, didn't mean to bother you none," Vin said softly, looking properly chastised and slightly guilty.

"You didn't," Ezra reassured him. "Your leaving didn't wake me. I know you are usually an early riser, but the sun is barely over the horizon. Are you all right?" Their love making the night before had been gentle, or at least it had appeared that way to him, but perhaps... "I didn't hurt you, did I?"

"No! No, Ez, it ain't anything like that. I was just," Vin broke eye contact then, eyes darting down and away, a sign of embarrassment. Ezra hated that look on his lover. "You've given me so much and I just wanted to give you something, something you could carry with you and hold onto. My letters ain't good enough yet so I thought I'd try my hand at drawing."

"Vin, you needn't feel any obligation-"

"It ain't that! It ain't obligation, Ez." Vin hopped off his perch, his movements abrupt and angry. "Love ain't about tit for tat."

Holding up his hands conciliatorily, Ezra didn't apologize. "Show me?" he asked instead.

"Pencil ain't the best. Not with the sunrise and all them colors and all. Paints or one of them cameras in those fancy stores'd been better." Vin shrugged as he shoved the paper into Ezra's hand. "I'll see to breakfast. I know you're a right bear without your coffee in the morning," he added before heading over to the horses.

It was a simple sketch, that of the sun rising over a ridge, its light playing over the face of a sleeping man. The man's face was still in darkness but drawn so that one could see that any moment he would emerge from the shadows and come into the light.

Ezra had been to museums all over the world and seen works by all the great masters but none touched him as greatly as this rough drawing. "Vin," he began, his voice less steady then he'd have liked, "thank you."

Vin merely nodded, smiling ever so slightly as he touched his fingers to his hat. "I'll get that coffee on."