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Post by Cres on May 1, 2005 12:29:17 GMT -5
Chip closed the door behind him - with a little jiggling as it really was rather stubborn - and then looked around. He wasn't about to start cleaning the place up before the blonde got there. What was the point? There wasn't anything there he didn't want the kid to see.
The walls on the door side were filled with framed pictures, all of Chip's own artistic design. There were quite a few of Dan and his family there, but less of Chip's own folks. Sweets had been an especially pretty model during their trips to Italy, and there was one especially cute picture where she was posed on a stone fence, her family villa behind her. Chip's personal favourite was the one with Dan poised on his bike, however, a distant look in his eyes and wind going through his hair. Dan hadn't seen him take the picture, and had protested over him enlargening it and hanging it up, but it was Chip's studio so what could he do?
As for other respects, the place looked like any other photographing studio. There were the blinds in the windows, the large unicoloured backgrounds and the stand on which Chip kept his best camera.
Something less orthodox perhaps was the comfortable red-cushioned couch, spread out into a bed. Chip realised the open bed might be a bit too much, so he packed it up neatly and folded the blanket over the cushions. There. That would look innocent enough.
While waiting for Ace to appear, Chip went over to the mini fridge he kept in one corner and took out a bottle of soda. He didn't really drink alcohol - he disliked its effects on one's mental condition. Then he went to the sofa and sat on it, taking a gulp of the soda. Anticipation bubbled in his stomach and he had to get up once more to go and check from the mirror how his hair looked like. A little messier than in the morning. Chip corrected it minutely before returning to the couch. Well, now, all that was missing was the boy.
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Post by Kat on May 1, 2005 12:46:46 GMT -5
Ace walked up to the building, noticing that it was right beside the headquarters for Gauge magazine, a fairly new fashion magazine he was quite fond of. That must be the magazine Chip had mentioned earlier. He opened the door and walked in, heading for the stairs and walking up to the third floor. Walking out into the corridor, he looked for the door to Chip's studio, seeing the cardboard sign and shaking his head, walking over to the door. He stood in front of it for a moment, wondering if he was perhaps rushing into this a bit too quickly. What if Chip was actually expecting anything out of him? Would he actually give in right away? Grabbing the handle he pushed the door open, walking into the studio and standing in the doorway, looking for Chip. Spotting him on the red couch he smiled. "Nice place."
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Post by Cres on May 1, 2005 12:55:49 GMT -5
Chip heard Ace's footsteps before he heard him open the door. He noticed he had stopped by the door for a while. Insecurity? Or vanity,wanting to check everything was in order before coming in? Either one, Chip smiled at it a little. When Ace opened the door and complimented the place, his smile widened and he got up.
"Not really," he said with a chuckle, "but thanks anyway." He took a sip of his soda and eyed him from top to toes. "Come on in, unless you're afraid the roof will fall on you." He glanced up. "Sometimes I swear to god I wouldn't be surprised. Want a soda?"
Chip noticed himself being slightly nervous. That was new.
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Post by Kat on May 1, 2005 13:04:26 GMT -5
Ace smiled at Chip's comment about the roof, glancing upwards and nodding his head. He walked in and closed the door behind him, looking over at Chip. "Sure, what do you have?" Waiting for Chip to list off what was in the fridge, Ace turned around and looked at the pictures, noticing quite a few of Dandy. He wondered briefly if there might be something going on there. He noticed the pictures of Sweetheart, looking at them in surprise. He had never really taken much notice in Sweetheart's looks before, she wasn't exactly his type. But she was really pretty. Chip just managed to catch everyone's good side it seemed.
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Post by Cres on May 2, 2005 7:32:36 GMT -5
Chip walked over to his minifridge, grabbing out all the different sodas and juices he had in there and piled them on top of the fridge.
"That's my selection," he said with a shrug. "If you want something with alcohol we'd better pop by the store. I don't really drink." Then he noticed Ace looking at the walls of pictures.
"As you can see, I don't get the chance to photograph others than my family friends very often," he said, waving a hand across the walls. "Sweets has always been most obliging, but I mostly have to surprise Dan. He doesn't like being photographed." He gave a laugh. "So I do it more just to bug him."
He didn't want to give anything away about Dan and him. It was bad enough to keep the secret, he didn't want anyone feeling sorry for him. And the more people knew, the bigger the chance someone would slip something, and then his life would be ruined.
"So," he looked at the selection on top of the fridge. "What's your poison?"
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Post by Kat on May 2, 2005 12:04:59 GMT -5
Ace shook his head while still looking at the pictures. "That's fine, I don't drink alcohol much either. Usually only a drink or two at parties, or whenever mom and I go out for supper. I tend to prefer white wine over anything else, always makes me feel more sophisticated." He glanced at Chip and winked, smiling when he mentioned Dandy not enjoying having his picture taken. "Yeah, a few of my friends are always so dead-set against having their picture taken, I don't know why. They're all good looking and photograph well. Some people are just stupid that way I guess. Sweetheart takes nice pictures though, I never really noticed how pretty she was before. You do a good job."
He turned around to look at the fridge, walking over and picking up a bottle of orange juice and turned back around, leaning against the wall. "I try not to ever drink soda, being the health freak I am. I'd be foolish to do anything to chance ruining my amazing physique, after all." He opened the bottle, taking a sip and looking around the studio.
"So, some friends and I are going to be having ourselves a picnic in the park sometime in the near future, could I possibly get you to come so you can snap some pictures for me? See, I love pictures and I would kill to have some nice professionally taken ones. I could pay you of course. You can pick the payment."
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Post by Cres on May 3, 2005 5:35:28 GMT -5
Chip smiled, starting to pile up the rest of the bottles back into the fridge. He was about to crack a joke about paying with his butt, but left it unsaid. That sort of rough humour went through to Dan well enough, but he wasn't so sure about Ace. Sure, the blonde looked rough enough and had a bit of a loud mouth, but he suspected that might go over his limit.
"Sure, I'll come," he said, shrugging as he closed the fridge door and sat on it. "As for payments..." he smiled, eying Ace meaningfully, "I'd say having you for a model is payment enough."
He chuckled and drank his soda empty, then threw the bottle to the wastebin.
"Yeah, I guess I've got a few bad habits," he said with a smile, referring to the soda. "I have to say I do quite prefer guys who take care of themselves, though. I dated a junkie once." He shuddered. "Won't be going down that road again. The last time around I found him overdosed from the bathtub. You can believe me it was hard explaining the cops what the fuck he was doing in my tub in the first place."
He pointed out a picture of a green-haired boy, around Ace's age, with a languid expression in his eyes in a rather... exposing position. He had his clothes on, but it could be clearly seen that the drugs had had their effect on his body, and the cigarette in his hands spread ugly smoke around him. It was a picture that had the feel of corruption and decay written all over it, and though it was artistic, it was also very troubling.
"That's him, actually," Chip said. "That was the only picture I ever got from him. He's dead stoned in it. He never even knew I'd taken that."
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Post by Kat on May 3, 2005 14:22:01 GMT -5
Ace looked at the pointed-out picture, amazed at its expression. Seemed he could catch ugliness just as well beauty. "What did you see in him to start dating him in the first place? I used to have two best friends once, well two male best friends, that is. Chase and Mack. When we started high school though, we started drifting. Chase and I got swallowed up by the older, popular jock crowd, while Mack drifted off with the older druggie crowd. He started out with cigarettes, which annoyed me enough, but when he started smoking pot, I just cut him out. I don't have any time for that crap, I didn't even give him a chance. Which sucks in a way, because he was a fun guy. But you have to sacrifice to get what you want out of life, and now Chase makes up for it. I've kind of molded him into the best friend I wanted, actually. I'm very good at manipulating people." He turned from the picture back to Chip, a devious smile on his face. "Probably not the best thing to tell you right off the bat, but honesty is oh so important these days. I wouldn't want to mislead you in any way." He left that comment open, figuring that he'd let Chip decide whether or not he wanted to take the bait it offered.
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Post by Cres on May 3, 2005 14:45:46 GMT -5
Chip smiled, not at all taken aback by Ace's words. He had guessed as much already by the way the kid went on with his friends, and Chip himself was quite used to manipulating others for is how part. He liked to be subtler with it, though.
"Honesty is important in every relationship," he answered, then glanced at the picture on the wall. "As for him, he was rather cute when we started dating in the first place. Besides, I didn't know about him and drugs. And I made the mistake of liking him too much, so when I found out, I tried curing him. The fucker even stole my camera to get money for drugs, but I forgave him. I suppose I used to be a bit of a sucker when I was younger." He shrugged and then looked at Ace, a meaningful look in his eyes. "Nowadays I tend to be more selective with my... partners."
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Post by Kat on May 3, 2005 14:52:49 GMT -5
Ace was still looking at the picture as Chip made his comments, a smile on his face. "So you liked playing the mom role, trying to save him from his problems? That's cute." He noticed the look Chip gave him and smirked in reply, looking back at the picture. "I suppose if he wasn't all obviously drugged up, he probably would be better looking. I never much cared for the heroin chic look the fashion industry seemed to love a few years ago." He walked along the wall over to the couch, sitting down very gracefully. He was feeling a little predatory at the moment and he noticed that whenever he was in that mood, it tended to bring out the feline movements in him. He took another sip of his orange juice, his eyes scanning over more pictures. The studio had a nice feel to it, very relaxing. He could easily see himself spending some time here, letting Chip photograph him. He did like putting himself on display quite a bit, after all. Maybe he should get into modelling.
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Post by Cres on May 4, 2005 3:45:15 GMT -5
Chip watched Ace walking to the couch intently, enjoying every movement. The blonde really had good movements, he noticed. He wondered how easy it would be to get him to undress a little for a few photographs. Chip didn't exactly have anything... inappropriate in mind, but some artistic photos worked better with less clothes. And as for some others... he wondered if he might take the boy out shopping for some appropriate clothes. He rather fancied the idea of buying stuff for Ace, for some reason. He supposed it had something to do with a certain... feminine side to Ace. All the fuss over his looks, and certain maneuvres of his... yes, when it came to role-casting, Chip could well see himself as the "husband" and Ace as the "wife". He chuckled to himself as he wondered what the boy would think of that view. Most boys would have been offended. He wasn't so sure about Ace. The blonde was strange that way.
Chip suddenly noticed it had been far too long that he had remained silent, just watching Ace. He whipped up a smile and drew his thoughts to another direction.
"Sorry if I seem to stare," he said with a low, almost purring voice. "I was just picturing how you'd look like in an Italian wine garden." He gave a laugh. "I've always wanted to do some ancient Roman style pictures. I can just see you dressed up as Apollo, with all that blonde hair of yours." He scratched his chin as he examined Ace with his eyes. "You know, gold is really your colour. I bet you'd make a great Apollo."
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Post by Kat on May 4, 2005 19:49:26 GMT -5
As hard as he tried to fight it, Ace couldn't help but smile at Chip's comments. While he always acted as though compliments never phased him, like he was so used to hearing them he was sick of them, he had to admit that Chip's words were really working their magic on him. Comparing him to Apollo? That was almost more than the blond athlete could bare.
"I have to say that that sounds rather intriguing. I could do ancient Roman style pictures. I like the artistic side of photography, it's more interesting than regular shots." He took another sip of orange juice, pulling his feet up on to the couch underneath him. "I've never been to Italy, actually. I've been so many other places in Europe, Germany, France, Austria, Holland, Spain, Greece, but never Italy. I'd like to go some day." He smiled at Chip, wondering what it would be like to let the older guy show him around Italy.
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Post by Cres on May 5, 2005 0:19:00 GMT -5
Chip smiled confidently, coming over to ease himself on the couch as well. He spread his arms on the backrest [[err... I hope that's the correct word]] and crossed the left leg over the right one.
"Really? Never been in Italy? That's something we'll have to remedy, then, isn't it? I'll have to take you someday," he said. "I've got folks over in Italy, and we go there nearly every summer, so I know the place pretty well." He gave a laugh. "I'm practically an Italian myself, so we don't have to use hand signals to communicate with the locals, either."
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Post by Kat on May 5, 2005 18:31:19 GMT -5
Ace smiled, leaning back into his corner of the couch, looking at Chip. "That sounds like a plan. You show me Italy and I'll be your golden Apollo." He took another sip of his juice, still studying Chip's face. He was very good looking and had a nice body and Ace couldn't help but visualize him wearing some hot Prada clothes. Maybe they'd go clothes shopping in Italy, clothes shopping anywhere in Europe ranked highly on the blond's favourite ways to pass the time list.
"So, are you going to want to take any pictures today? Or was today just for a visual of your studio?"
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Post by Cres on May 6, 2005 6:51:27 GMT -5
Chip smirked.
"I just thought to let you give a bit of a rest with the juice," he said and got up again, going to the camera he had in the stand. He started examining it, to make sure it had film in it. Then he smirked over his shoulder to Ace and turned around, aiming the camera to the blond. He snapped a picture before Ace had the time to even flinch. "Then again," he said as he grinned to him, "I like taking people by surprise."
He evaluated the camera in his hands.
"I guess it might begin to be the time to consider a digital camera," he mused. "I'm just sort of hung up on the older stuff. They've got character."
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