Chapter Text
The last time he even picked up a camera was when he was taking pictures of the love of his life.
Richard was situated on the bed, sleeping soundly. The dawn sunlight had lit the room so perfectly, pressing a nice cascade of almost pastel colors against the white sheets. The sleeping man let out slowed puffs of breath as he dreamt, shifting every couple minutes for comfort.
Gavin sat on the bedside table, aiming his camera lens at his lover. He peeked through the little glass slot, trying to find the perfect shot. He needed the right positioning. The camera shuttered quietly in the room. It spat out a printed picture from the front mouth, which Gavin gladly took. He set it down to let it develop before looking back at Richard. He jumped a little when he saw Rich staring back at him.
“You taking pictures of me again?”Richard sleepily asked. He rose from the bed, stretching with both arms up. Gavin chuckled, putting the camera down next to the picture. “Can I see?”
“It’s not done developing yet,”He replied, handing over the picture anyway. Richard puts his arms down, cracking his neck for a moment before grabbing the photo. The faint silhouette of Richard was setting in with grey tones. Gavin clambered back into bed, settling down next to Richard with a head on his shoulder. Rich tilted his head to press a kiss to Gavin’s forehead.
“What will you do with this one?”
“Mm. I don’t know. Scrap book it maybe. Whatever. I just felt the need to take a picture.”
“Why of me?”
“Because.”
Richard let out a small laugh. “Alright, love. Let me go make breakfast. Do you want omelettes?” Gavin nodded against Rich’s neck. He placed the picture back next to the camera. Gavin let Richard get up from bed. Before he could walk away, Gavin reached for Richard’s wrist.
“Yes, love?”
“Move in with me?”
“...”
The photographer didn’t have the heart to see Richard’s expression.
“..Of course, love. I was wondering when you’d ask.” Richard came back, leaning down and holding Gavin’s cheeks. He smiles and presses a kiss to Gavin’s lips. “I adore you.”
Gavin pecked right back. “I’ll help you make breakfast.” He stood up from bed,following the other out the bedroom.
The camera and photo wouldn’t budge from their places until months to come.
-
Perhaps he should’ve thought this through.
His step brother, Elijah, had talked him into it. Elijah’s studio was running low on photographers, and apparently Gavin was his only hope.
At first, Gavin thought nothing of it. He had done a shoot for Elijah before, and it went pretty smoothly. It was a simple advertisement shoot for some fancy cologne, surely this time wouldn’t be any harder. It shouldn’t be any harder, Gavin thought. Elijah’s studio wasn’t that popular. At least he hoped so.
Elijah’s studio wasn’t the biggest of studios but it wasn’t the smallest of studios. Two walls were made of brick, and the other two seemed to be solid smooth with a coat of white paint plastered over it. A giant white tarp was hung from the ceiling and positioned neatly on the floor for a clear picture taking environment. Though there were windows in the studio, they were covered with blackout cloths. It was a nicely spaced place, enough room to move as much as you’d like but not enough room to have as much as you want in your picture. The magic of editing would do you a solid for that. Gavin and Elijah were quite the team in that sense. He would take the pictures, and Elijah would bring them to life through editing and color tweaking.
Once he arrived on set with his camera, Elijah had rushed over to him. “Finally you’re here! I need you to sign this before you do the shoot,”Elijah urged, pushing a clipboard and pen into Gavin’s hands. Gavin blinked, looking down and reading what the paper was about. “It’s an NDA,”Elijah supplied. “Sign it already, before he gets here.”
“Woah, woah, a fucking NDA? I didn’t need an NDA last time. I’m doing you a favor here, I deserve to know what’s going on,”Gavin said, uncapping the pen in his hand with his teeth. The pen tip hovered over the sign line. Elijah sighed, running a hand over his face.
“You know NINES? The faceless singer? He needs pictures done for his new album and merchandise release,”He explained. “He really liked our pictures, specifically your cologne shoot. Maybe it’s because that shoot was the only monochromatic one this month on display, I don’t know. But he wanted you to come in.” Elijah placed a hand onto Gavin’s shoulder. “Please don’t fuck this up for my company.”
“So, you’re saying that you aren’t low on photographers, NINES, t h e NINES wants me, Gavin fucking Reed, to take pictures of him,”The photographer reiterated, sounding a little dumbed out. The other man nodded. Gavin took a deep breath before signing on the NDA.
Elijah did a small fist pump. “Okay, okay. So, NINES wasn’t really specific on what he wanted. All he said is that it had to be kind of, angular? You get that, right? That’s for his posters.” Elijah adjusts his glasses, and tugs a smaller piece of paper from his pant pocket. “Angular shots, posters, colors. Ah! Colors. He wants a very colorful album cover, or a very darkly colored album cover. Either way we need to take a colorful and a dark color one, because that’s what he paid for.”
Gavin tapped the pen on the clipboard nervously. “Colors aren’t really my thing..Best I can do is dark colors..”
“Hey, sometimes you have to test your boundaries as a photographer. Do this for me, Gav, I owe you one,”Elijah said.
“You owe me more than one,”Gavin reminded. He handed back the clipboard and pen back to Elijah, which the other gladly took. “Do I look okay?”
Elijah stepped back, looking at Gavin up and down. He put a hand on his chin , appearing to be in thought. “Hm. You could do better but overall, nothing is disappointing. Turn around.” Gavin turned. Elijah made a noise of agreement. “Yeah, no, you’re good.” Gavin turned back to Elijah, his cheeks a little pink.
“That wasn’t really necessary,”Gavin sighed, awkwardly fixing his black shirt under his leather jacket. Elijah laughed.
“It was. You’ve been single for far too long. Needed to make sure those jeans actually fit your physique,”The other responded. “Didn’t know you owned skinny jeans.”
“Why wouldn’t I own a pair? Who do you take me for? Hank?” Gavin questioned. Before Elijah could reply, the door to the studio opened. About three people walked into the room, all speaking to one person who hadn’t entered the room yet. Gavin’s heart beat a little out of rhythm.
Finally, the person they had been waiting for was here. NINES stepped through the threshold, looking as good as ever.
NINES is a well known staple of multi genre artists in Detroit. Gavin listened to his entire discography, addicted to his voice and the tracks he made. They were either heavy in bass and energy, or incredibly down trodden with sorrow. His range was overwhelmingly outrageous, but it worked for him. NINES, although he never had shown his face, was also partly popular due to his attractiveness. He had an air of elegance that was particularly chilling yet warming. His hair was perfectly coiffed and his hands were the epitome of the artist hand stereotype. Playing the piano certainly did contribute to that. NINES was tall, and everything he wore accentuated that. From his dress shoes to his, wow, is that a black corset?
“It is. It’s custom made from the corset place downtown,”NINES said. Ah, Gavin had said his thoughts aloud. “It’s quite nice to meet you in person. Your photography is stunning.”
Gavin took a deep breath to calm himself a little. This is a client, he reminded himself internally. He stuck a hand out to NINES, which the singer gladly took and shook. “It- It’s uh. Nice to meet you as well, NINES.” Gavin tried to make eye contact, but the mask NINES wore blocked his eyes with shadows. Its design compared to NINES’s outfit is minimalistic. The face cover is a simple white porcelain mask, with number nines dripping from the eye slits as if they were tears.
Gavin pointedly looked away from NINES’s mask, and decided to pay more attention to NINES’s arms. To no one’s surprise, the guy’s pretty built. The white sleeves of NINES’s button up was rolled to his elbows, revealing some tattoos itched into NINES’s skin. Did everything about this guy have to fit Gavin’s idea of a hot man?
The two let go of each other’s hands like a match striking against the rough material of a match box. The air ignited with a sickening yet alluring tension between the two. Gavin swore under his breath. “Uh. Yeah. We should probably get to discussing what you want for your photos. I heard a bit from Elijah.”
“Ah yes. I wanted to let you know I’ve changed my plans a bit,”NINES informed. His managers seemed surprised with this sentiment, and began whispering to each other from a distance. NINES put a hand on his right hip.
“How do you feel about men in feminine clothing?”
Gavin blinked. NINES’s album covers were usually the artist in masculine clothing. The sudden change in pattern shocked him a little. “You sure? You don’t usually, yanno, wear that stuff in your album covers.”
“Oh. A fan? You must know that I hardly stick to one genre. I don’t want to stick to one typical clothing style either, hence, feminine clothing. My newest album focuses on subjective beauty, which I want to highlight with a bit of dramatic clothing. Maybe lack thereof,”NINES said, pausing for a second. “I winked at you but then I remembered you can’t see my face.”
Elijah chortled from the sidelines,but quieted down when Gavin glared at him. “I can work with that,”Gavin huffed. “You got any changes with the colors you want? Vibrant color isn’t really my thing.” NINES let out an exhale, seeming to be in thought.
“How about I give you creative freedom? I shouldn’t restrict you to only my needs. Artists shouldn’t restrict themselves in the cages commissioners set them in if there’s creative freedom. Restricting your creativity would be against my whole thing.”
Gavin nodded, running a hand down his face. “I guess. You know you don’t have to talk so..poetically to me. I’m not a fucking reporter.” NINES laughed from behind his mask.
“It’s just how I talk, darling,”NINES responded. “I wanted to ask you something, actually. Are all your pictures monochrome? Or have you done color before?”
Elijah perked up from beside Gavin. “Gavin used to do color photography. He actually specialized in colors awhile ago. His work is amazing-“
“Elijah!” Gavin interrupted. Elijah stopped talking with an annoyed look. NINES crossed his arms.
“I used to do color photography but.. something personal happened and I just.. Didn’t do it anymore. Which is why I wanted to know about any color changes. I prefer monochrome, but if you really want color work, I guess I could do some,”The photographer sighed. He looked up to where NINES’s eyes would be behind the mask. “I really can’t tell what you’re fucking thinking with that thing on your face.”
“I’m smiling at you.”
Gavin awkwardly tried to smile back.
“Don’t force yourself to smile.”
Gavin stopped smiling.
“Absolutely lovely.” NINES supplemented. Gavin’s cheeks tinted with pink. Heat trickled into his chest, his heart beating irregularly just for a moment. He tried to ignore it.
He was a used match standing next to a pristine match box that undoubtedly had other matches it could ignite. He was a sad bulldog next to a tall Doberman Pinscher in a dog park full of prissy poodles. The feeling of being not enough to be commissioned by such a famous man slowly settled in.