Fic: A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words
Title: A Picture's Worth a Thousand Words
Author: Fabrisse
Word Count: ~ 4500
Pairing: Kurt Hummel/Blaine Anderson
Characters: Kurt Hummel, Blaine Anderson, Burt and Carole Hummel, OFC, and the rest of New Directions
Summary: A student of photography asks to take their pictures.
Author note: I wanted to write and went to the prompt post. This is a fill for the following prompt.
Prompt: shiva_ranter2 said: "I was thinking that someone is doing a art-phtoograpghy project. Kurt is their subject. I want there to be a showing and the Warblers/ND/Blaine/Burt to come. Showing that Kurt doesn't equal penguin. But I also have a picture in my mind of perhaps Kurt was taking off his shirt to change outfits and the photographer got a picture of Kurt's back showing the scars and perhaps lingering bruises from his time at McKinley. Kurt's pisssed that the picture is shown, but the others have a mixture of OMG!HotKurt! and OMG!HurtKurt! reactions."
http://kurt-blaine.livejournal.com/1044448.html?thread=57164512#t57164512
Disclaimer: I put them back when I finished playing with them.
***
Nothing was ever perfect, of course. Kurt loved the fact that he was back at McKinley. He loved Blaine -- even if he was only saying it in the privacy of his head so far.
The downsides were that he no longer saw Blaine daily. There were coffee shop meet-ups and weekend dates, but no brush of fingertips as they passed each other in the hall, no chance press their legs together while they studied in the library or to hold hands at Warblers rehearsals.
On the McKinley downside, only three other people had joined the BullyWhips and Kurt was once again being checked into lockers -- by accident, anyone could have tripped -- when no one was looking. It was less, much less, than he'd had to take before, but after the respite of Dalton, it was a shock to the system.
***
Portia started heating the milk on his non-fat mocha pretty much as soon as she saw Kurt walk in the door. He looked around for Blaine as he went to pay, but Portia waved him off.
"It's on me, today," she said. "And by the way, your boyfriend called and left the following message -- 'turn your phone back on and I'll be an hour late. Sorry.'"
Kurt groaned as he looked at his phone; the battery was dead. "Well, at least I have homework to do."
Portia glanced at her colleague who nodded. "Look, do you mind if I sit with you for a minute? I can take my break now."
"Sure." Kurt liked Portia, and she'd paid for the coffee.
"It's like this. I've been accepted to Oberlin. There's a competitive scholarship that I'm trying to get so I don't have to keep working at coffee shops."
Kurt smiled. "You do make a fine non-fat mocha, but I can see how college might interfere with your coffee career. What are you planning to major in?"
She smiled back. "Studio art. I need a portfolio for the scholarship. I'm a photographer, but I'm also starting to do more drawing and oil paintings. The scholarship is partial, and it's for photography."
"Sounds wonderful. Why did you need to tell me about it?"
"I want to photograph you. I've already asked your friend Blaine when he called earlier." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I wouldn't ask you to pose naked -- I think you could be underage -- "
"I'm sixteen, so over the age of consent, but I wouldn't be comfortable naked."
"Even if all you let me photograph is your face, I still want you for my portfolio."
Kurt raised an eyebrow. "Even if?"
"I'd like a couple of shirtless shots, or at least more exposed than I've seen you here. Again, if you're uncomfortable, just say no. I'll keep it to the face or posed full body shots." Portia looked at him.
Kurt thought for a moment. "Draw up two consent forms. I'll sign the one for fully clothed and head shots and we can set up a time. I need to think about the other."
"That's more than fair."
"When would you need this done by?"
Portia wiped her hands on her apron. "A month from now, but I'd like to do it this weekend or next week. I'm using film and I do my own developing, so I can control the exposures and some of the other effects."
"Like Fred Astaire in Funny Face."
"I love that movie." She glanced over at the counter. "I'd better get back. The late afternoon rush is starting. Thank you, Kurt." She handed him a card with her phone number and a url on it. "Check out some of my work there, so you know that I'm not some mad woman."
"I will." Kurt pulled out his book and read two chapters of The Ode Less Travelled. He'd just finished the structural exercise in his first chapter, when Blaine came in.
Blaine's eyes lit up when he saw Kurt. He grabbed his coffee and biscotti and sat down beside his boyfriend. They held hands under the table and talked about their days.
Finally Kurt asked, "Portia said she'd talked to you about modelling?"
"Yes. I agreed to the nude modelling as long as you're in the room while she takes them. If you want to be. That didn't sound creepy, did it?"
"Only a little." Kurt squeezed his hand reassuringly. "I said I might do shirtless. I'd like you there, too, if I do. Have you checked out her website?"
Blaine nodded. "It's posed, but it's not fashion, and she plays around with the finish on some of them. There are a couple of dozen on the site, but there were two that really struck me."
"What were they called?"
"Nope. Skype me tonight after you've had a look and we'll see if our tastes are similar."
***
Kurt found the first of the two photos that Blaine liked easily, but he had to call for the second one -- not that he minded calling. The second photograph Blaine liked was a simple still-life.
"Really," Kurt said.
"There's something about the way she played with the shadows that really made me like it," Blaine said.
Kurt called his attention to a photo of two girls laughing at the Lima Bean. "Now this one speaks to me. I've seen fashion shoots that use laughing models, but this seems real, almost like I can hear it, but then she's done something to give it an ethereal shine."
"It says it's an albumen print. She must have used one of the really old style cameras. Cool."
Kurt grinned at his boyfriend. "So is two o'clock on Saturday good for you? Portia said she had a studio space with good natural lighting, so she wants us there while we can take advantage of it."
"Is two the earliest you can do it? Because, otherwise, I'd like to go earlier, say noon. That way we have time for a date before I have to get back to Westerville."
"Yeah, I'm working all day Sunday so that one of the other mechanics can have the day for his daughter's first communion which means he's covering my Saturday shift."
Blaine grinned. "In that case, I'll contact Portia and ask her how early she can go."
"Perfect, let me know the time."
***
At eleven a.m. the following Saturday, Kurt and Blaine found the converted warehouse that held artist's studios. Portia's was small, but it was on the top floor and had skylights as well as windows on three sides of the room. There was a complicated series of pulleys and curtains which would allow her to direct and block light. In one corner, there was a changing area and there were two closed doors next to a pullman kitchen.
Portia grinned and showed them around. "The door on the right is the toilet, if you need it. You'll have to wash your hands in the kitchen's sink. The other door is my dark room. I'm so glad you guys came."
They looked at the main space and saw some simple seating and boxes with draping. There was a low table with several cameras of different types and their lenses on it and a large 19th century box camera on a tripod.
"Look, you guys have a seat. I'll make us a pot of coffee and we can set up the first shots. I'd like some of the two of you together, studying, talking, drinking coffee, whatever you brought as props, before I do the more formal shots separately."
Blaine plopped his backpack down on the floor in front of one of the draped pedestals, and dug out his calculus textbook and a couple of notebooks. "I hope you don't mind the glasses. Allergies have made contacts uncomfortable."
"It's fine. I like it. You won't mind if I have you take them off for some shots?"
He shook his head. "As long as I don't have to move around much. I hate bumping into furniture."
While the two of them were chatting, Kurt placed his Marc Jacobs bag down on another draped pedestal and pulled out his English homework. The poetry set had several books besides Ode Less Travelled and he got them all out along with two notebooks and several pens. He pulled a cushion off one of the stools and sat down next to Blaine's pack.
Blaine smiled at him fondly and took a space next to him.
Kurt said, "You can put your feet in my lap only if you take off your shoes."
Blaine promptly popped his shoes off and did as he'd been invited.
Portia walked around the room with a simple digital camera in her hand, adjusting curtains, and taking a couple of pictures to see if she liked the lighting effects. Once she picked up her Pentax, though, the session really began.
For the first hour, they did a mix of candids and posed shots with the two of them together. At the end of her last roll of film, she changed a couple of the curtains and asked them to face the large box camera and hold still. She let them move and then posed them more formally for a second picture with the same camera.
Afterward, she gave them a break and Kurt and Blaine went to the grocery store down the street to pick-up picnic food for lunch. They brought it back and Portia asked them which one wanted to go first for the individual poses. After a quick rochambeau, Blaine ended up going first.
The first few pictures used a similar set up to the studying shots Portia had taken of the two of them, but they became more posed and she changed the lighting effects more frequently even taking one pose she particularly like with three dramatically different light sources.
He took off his sweater when she asked him to, and later took off his shirt and undershirt. He and Kurt didn't share any sports teams, so it was Kurt's first real opportunity to look at him.
Kurt tried to keep his focus above Blaine's collar bones, but didn't entirely succeed.
Portia captured some of the flirtatious dynamic between them before calling Blaine's attention back to the photo shoot.
When the time came, she asked if he were still comfortable doing a couple of nude shots.
Blaine nodded, and Portia let him go behind the screen to take his clothes off.
Kurt went back to the corner and said, "I brought a robe for you. I thought it might make it easier." He handed it back over the privacy screen.
A minute later, Blaine came out wrapped in a seafoam green silk robe. He smiled at Kurt. "Thank you."
Kurt smiled back and picked up his English homework.
Portia spoke to Blaine quietly. He peeled off the robe and she took three quick shots before handing it back to him. Then she rearranged the curtains, talked to him about the pose, and picked up another camera to take several more pictures, moving around him as she did so.
She handed him the robe and asked Blaine another question that Kurt couldn't hear. After pulling a curtain away from the skylight, Portia went behind the large camera, and Blaine turned to face it. He took off the robe, draping it on a stool out of the camera's sight, and struck the pose they'd discussed. Kurt glanced up during the long hold period and saw Blaine's back and ass, his compact, muscular legs, and blushed deeply, forcing himself to look back at his English paper.
The photographer called time, and Blaine put on the robe for a moment, while she pulled out the old plate and put in a fresh one. Once she was ready, Blaine turned his back to the camera and removed the robe.
Kurt's eye was drawn to the movement of the fabric, and he found himself looking directly at Blaine. He made himself look at Blaine's eyes, and found his boyfriend smiling shyly at him. Kurt's mouth went dry as he realized he'd now seen Blaine entirely naked and that Blaine was starting to get hard.
Portia said, "That's it. You can go change back into your clothes, Blaine."
He picked up the robe and wrapped himself up quickly. Once he'd dressed, he came back out and sat beside Kurt.
"Sorry about that. It's just, you're so beautiful and I …"
Kurt kissed him softly. "I turned you on?" he said in wonderment.
"Yes, my boyfriend turned me on. Turns me on." Blaine gave him his kiss back with interest.
"Later, you two." Portia sounded amused. She said, "Kurt, did you bring a couple of changes of clothes?"
"A couple?" Blaine said, "You should see the size of the suitcase."
Kurt rolled his eyes. "Sure, let me get my bag out of the car."
The next forty minutes were a celebration of clothes. Kurt changed into outfits behind the screen and showed them off in front of the cameras. The last of the outfits was, at Blaine's request, the one he'd worn to sing Blackbird.
At the end of that set, Portia said, "If you're willing, how about a couple of shirtless pictures?"
Kurt looked at the obvious interest in Blaine's eyes and swallowed. "Can we limit the number?"
"One on the big camera and five with each of the other cameras -- that would equal a twenty-six shot roll," Portia replied.
Blaine asked, "Is that too many for you?"
"One or even two on the big camera, and two each with the others to make a twelve shot roll?"
"I may not use all the cameras then, but I'll keep it to a maximum of twelve shots including the glass plate camera," Portia said.
Kurt nodded nervously. "I guess I should sign that release then."
Portia smiled and handed it to him, handwriting a sentence at the bottom about the agreed upon number of shots. "If it's all right with you, I'll use the antique camera last."
Kurt removed his jacket and waistcoat, but his hands hovered over the buttons on his shirt.
"Would you be more comfortable if I had my shirt off, too?"
He looked at Blaine. "I don't know. You look so good, and I feel a little silly."
"Never silly. But I don't care what you signed, you don't have to do this."
"Something inside me says that I do." Kurt shrugged. "The guys at school … I always waited to change in the locker room or changed in the bathroom stall so that they couldn't accuse me of looking at them. I mean, I got a little more comfortable before I left McKinley, and with crew at Dalton, but …"
Blaine kissed his cheek. "It's completely your call."
Portia said, "Would it be easier if you had your back to me? Your back is just as sculptural as your front. I really am most interested in the shapes and shadows."
Kurt smiled at her. "Yes." He turned to Blaine. "Is your offer still good?"
Blaine grinned and started to undo the buttons on his shirt.
Kurt raced to catch up with him, and Portia took the first two pictures quickly with different cameras as his shirt fluttered off his back.
"Kurt," she called, and he turned toward her without thinking. She snapped two other pictures with her third camera. "That twist in the line is beautiful."
There was a gasp from behind him, and Blaine said, "What happened to your back?"
He tried to look over his own shoulder, and Portia grabbed two more shots with the camera which had color film.
"Locker checks, mostly. The one going up from my hip is from a fall when I tried a new dance move. I got it right on the third try, but the first two times …"
Blaine reached out to touch a space just below Kurt's shoulder. "There's an old scar here."
"Not that old, I just heal well. That's from hitting an open locker at an odd angle. I didn't know it had bled until I got home and had to throw my undershirt away. I was able to save the sweater."
Soft lips pressed to the mark and Kurt felt his skin twitch. Neither boy noticed that Portia got two quick shots.
Blaine pulled Kurt close. "I thought you were safe."
Kurt twisted in his arms and brought Blaine's head to his shoulder. He reveled in the feel of their bodies pressed close. "I am safe, much safer than before I came to Dalton. Not everyone likes me, and the teachers can't be everywhere."
"Is even one of these marks from Karofsky?"
"No. As a matter of fact, the dark blue one mid-back? That's from yesterday. He and Santana saw the incident, and the jock who did it to me is suspended for a week. The anti-bullying policy is beginning to work."
Blaine kissed the shoulder he was resting on. "I wish…"
Kurt brushed his lips against Blaine's ear and whispered, "I know."
Very quietly, Portia said, "May I take the last two pictures?"
Both boys startled, and Kurt said, "Of course."
"Blaine, would you mind being in one of them?"
"No."
"I thought the two of you leaning toward each other over the pedestal we used for your last shots would be good, and then one of Kurt alone." She began twitching the curtains around to change the lighting.
When she was ready, they approached the pedestal.
Portia said, "All right, both of you drop the shoulder farthest from the camera for me, lean on your upstage arm and rest the other by your side. Focus on each other, and hold."
They froze for the time it took to expose the plate.
"That's great. Now, Blaine, I want you to go over toward the door. Kurt, lean on the pedestal, but look at him." The pose gave her a nice S-curve to his body and a crisp profile of his face. She made one adjustment to get some more light from the top and said, "Hold."
After a moment, she said, "That's it."
The boys grinned. Blaine put his shirt back on, and Kurt went to change into what he'd worn to the studio.
When he came out he found that Blaine had repacked both their backpacks. Kurt finished packing his suitcase.
"Thank you both so much. I'll let you know if I get the scholarship, and, if I do, there will be a show in May with the ones who got scholarships in the other fields. I hope you'll come to it."
Kurt grinned and said, "We wouldn't miss it."
***
The invitation to the show arrived a few weeks later. While Kurt and Blaine couldn't make the opening night, it was going to be continuing for a couple of weeks and Mercedes and the others in New Directions decided to go up on a Saturday for the fun of it. Burt and Carole were driving up, too, and Blaine said that David, Wes, and a few other Warblers would be there as well.
The gallery on the campus opened at noon, and the whole group were already there when the doors were unlocked.
The exhibit was structured in quarters for the four scholarship areas -- painting, mixed media, sculpture, and photography. Blaine and Kurt chose to go through the painting and mixed media areas at the front and work their way back to Portia's section.
The rest of them weren't so patient. Most of the group made a bee-line to the photography area.
Burt came and got them a few minutes later. "I think you both have some explaining to do."
Kurt was surprised. "Dad, I told you I had signed a release for shirtless pictures. I know you weren't happy about it, but it was my decision to make."
"I'm not, and it was. Come on."
Blaine took his hand. "Isn't there a volcano we can jump into somewhere nearby?"
Kurt smiled at him. "Nothing that's due to erupt this century." He sighed, and they walked back to the photography area.
They were met at the doorway by Rachel, Mercedes, and Carole, two of whom were teary-eyed and two of whom looked furious.
Stepping around them, they saw a giant color print of Kurt looking over his own shoulder bruises vivid, scars paler than the skin surrounding them.
Mercedes glared at Blaine. "I better not find out you did any of this."
Kurt stepped forward protectively. "Blaine's never touched me with anything but affection and gentleness."
Her jaw set firmly. "Is it Karofsky?"
Kurt shrugged. "He was never the only bully," he said softly.
Rachel said, "But you came back to us because it had stopped."
"It's better, now, and it's still improving."
"Why didn't you tell your father and me?" Carole asked.
"We couldn't afford to keep me in Dalton much longer, even if I'd gotten a scholarship. I missed my friends, even as much as I loved the guys in the Warblers, I missed everyone at McKinley. It really is better than it was."
Carole shook her head. "You should have told us. There were other options."
Burt appeared at his wife's side. "Including suing the State of Ohio for your school fees since they didn't provide a safe environment for you at public school. I was looking into that, Kurt. And if this is better, why didn't I know how bad it was before?"
"I didn't want to add to your stress. I had the other glee kids who were getting slushied, too."
Finn came up, "But you were the one who was dumpstered most days."
"Only because Jacob Ben Israel wouldn't walk in the front door," Kurt said. "I don't like him, but I don't think his treatment's been much better than mine."
Rachel shuddered. "Yeah, but you never tried to exchange an interview for sexual favors. He definitely has a higher creepy factor."
"Not to the jocks."
Burt crooked his finger at Kurt and his boyfriend. "So your technicolor back is only one of the bones I wanted to pick with you."
Blaine squeezed Kurt's hand and they followed him to a wall of black and white prints.
"Now Blaine, I may not be your father, but I think I speak for fathers everywhere when I say, 'what the hell were you doing posing naked?' And yeah, I know, you're over the age of consent and it's your decision, but you're sixteen…"
"Seventeen next month."
"Sixteen," Burt said emphatically. "Especially in this internet age, these photos are going to follow you."
Blaine looked to Kurt for moral support only to find that his attention had wandered to a picture just behind Burt that Blaine couldn't see.
"Blaine," he said, "Did you know that Portia took a picture of us while we were close?"
"What?"
Burt glanced over his shoulder. "Yeah, that was the other one." He lowered his voice and looked between them. "Just tell me you two are having safe sex."
They turned to him with identical stricken looks.
Kurt said, "Dad, I promise, when we get to that stage in our relationship, we'll be safe."
Blaine looked Burt straight in the eye and nodded emphatically. He walked with Kurt to find a large sized print. In it, he had his eyes closed while he kissed Kurt's shoulder and Kurt was nuzzling his hair with an air of wonderment and so much love in his eyes. The scene was tender and intensely intimate. "No, I didn't know she'd snapped any of us both shirtless other than the posed one."
Kurt picked up on the unspoken question. "I saw it over by the ones of you nude."
Burt put a hand on each boy's shoulder. "It's a beautiful picture."
"Thanks, Dad."
He wandered off to talk to Carole and Finn.
Puck wandered up and stared over their shoulders. "Does it make me gay if that picture gives me wood?"
Kurt said, "And thank you, Puck for putting it all in perspective."
They wandered over to another set of pictures, most of these were of various people and places. The laughing girls from the Lima Bean were there, but Tina, Mike, and Lauren were all standing in front of one where Kurt was raising his eyebrow at Blaine over some books and two cups of coffee.
Lauren made a low growling sound in the back of her throat. "This is why slash is so hot."
Tina grinned at her and patted Mike's thigh. "Kurt has really grown into his looks."
"I appreciate the compliment," Kurt said.
Blaine squeezed his hand and grinned at his boyfriend. "I think Kurt's always looked adorable."
Lauren turned to look at them, "Both of you. So hot together. I'm going to see if any of these are for sale."
Blaine asked, "Does what she might do with the pictures disturb you as much as it does me?"
Kurt looked at him blankly, and then an appalled expression came over his face. "I refuse to think about it."
Mike and Tina went to look at a Chinese New Year sequence farther down the wall.
Blaine lowered his voice. "You know, Portia said we could have copies of five pictures apiece. Do you want them?"
"Yes. And one of them should be the one of the two girls laughing. I really like that one."
Blaine nodded. "I'm going to have a copy of that still life I like."
Kurt said, "What else are you getting?"
"I want a copy of the one where you're holding me."
"Me, too."
"And there's one of you wearing that all black ensemble that makes me go weak in the knees."
Kurt swallowed. "Would it bother you if I asked her for a copy of that double exposed nude? The one that shows you front and back? Because you look really good in it."
"I'm flattered." No one was looking at them, so he lifted Kurt's hand and kissed it. "I'm also going to ask for that one of your back. I'm giving it to your Dad to take to Principal Figgins' office as evidence."
Kurt nodded tightly. "Help me pick out my other three."
Blaine wrapped his arms around Kurt's waist and felt Kurt just naturally pull his head to Kurt's shoulder. They both let out deep sighs of contentment.
And Blaine said, "I'd be glad to."
Author: Fabrisse
Word Count: ~ 4500
Pairing: Kurt Hummel/Blaine Anderson
Characters: Kurt Hummel, Blaine Anderson, Burt and Carole Hummel, OFC, and the rest of New Directions
Summary: A student of photography asks to take their pictures.
Author note: I wanted to write and went to the prompt post. This is a fill for the following prompt.
Prompt: shiva_ranter2 said: "I was thinking that someone is doing a art-phtoograpghy project. Kurt is their subject. I want there to be a showing and the Warblers/ND/Blaine/Burt to come. Showing that Kurt doesn't equal penguin. But I also have a picture in my mind of perhaps Kurt was taking off his shirt to change outfits and the photographer got a picture of Kurt's back showing the scars and perhaps lingering bruises from his time at McKinley. Kurt's pisssed that the picture is shown, but the others have a mixture of OMG!HotKurt! and OMG!HurtKurt! reactions."
http://kurt-blaine.livejournal.com/1044448.html?thread=57164512#t57164512
Disclaimer: I put them back when I finished playing with them.
***
Nothing was ever perfect, of course. Kurt loved the fact that he was back at McKinley. He loved Blaine -- even if he was only saying it in the privacy of his head so far.
The downsides were that he no longer saw Blaine daily. There were coffee shop meet-ups and weekend dates, but no brush of fingertips as they passed each other in the hall, no chance press their legs together while they studied in the library or to hold hands at Warblers rehearsals.
On the McKinley downside, only three other people had joined the BullyWhips and Kurt was once again being checked into lockers -- by accident, anyone could have tripped -- when no one was looking. It was less, much less, than he'd had to take before, but after the respite of Dalton, it was a shock to the system.
***
Portia started heating the milk on his non-fat mocha pretty much as soon as she saw Kurt walk in the door. He looked around for Blaine as he went to pay, but Portia waved him off.
"It's on me, today," she said. "And by the way, your boyfriend called and left the following message -- 'turn your phone back on and I'll be an hour late. Sorry.'"
Kurt groaned as he looked at his phone; the battery was dead. "Well, at least I have homework to do."
Portia glanced at her colleague who nodded. "Look, do you mind if I sit with you for a minute? I can take my break now."
"Sure." Kurt liked Portia, and she'd paid for the coffee.
"It's like this. I've been accepted to Oberlin. There's a competitive scholarship that I'm trying to get so I don't have to keep working at coffee shops."
Kurt smiled. "You do make a fine non-fat mocha, but I can see how college might interfere with your coffee career. What are you planning to major in?"
She smiled back. "Studio art. I need a portfolio for the scholarship. I'm a photographer, but I'm also starting to do more drawing and oil paintings. The scholarship is partial, and it's for photography."
"Sounds wonderful. Why did you need to tell me about it?"
"I want to photograph you. I've already asked your friend Blaine when he called earlier." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I wouldn't ask you to pose naked -- I think you could be underage -- "
"I'm sixteen, so over the age of consent, but I wouldn't be comfortable naked."
"Even if all you let me photograph is your face, I still want you for my portfolio."
Kurt raised an eyebrow. "Even if?"
"I'd like a couple of shirtless shots, or at least more exposed than I've seen you here. Again, if you're uncomfortable, just say no. I'll keep it to the face or posed full body shots." Portia looked at him.
Kurt thought for a moment. "Draw up two consent forms. I'll sign the one for fully clothed and head shots and we can set up a time. I need to think about the other."
"That's more than fair."
"When would you need this done by?"
Portia wiped her hands on her apron. "A month from now, but I'd like to do it this weekend or next week. I'm using film and I do my own developing, so I can control the exposures and some of the other effects."
"Like Fred Astaire in Funny Face."
"I love that movie." She glanced over at the counter. "I'd better get back. The late afternoon rush is starting. Thank you, Kurt." She handed him a card with her phone number and a url on it. "Check out some of my work there, so you know that I'm not some mad woman."
"I will." Kurt pulled out his book and read two chapters of The Ode Less Travelled. He'd just finished the structural exercise in his first chapter, when Blaine came in.
Blaine's eyes lit up when he saw Kurt. He grabbed his coffee and biscotti and sat down beside his boyfriend. They held hands under the table and talked about their days.
Finally Kurt asked, "Portia said she'd talked to you about modelling?"
"Yes. I agreed to the nude modelling as long as you're in the room while she takes them. If you want to be. That didn't sound creepy, did it?"
"Only a little." Kurt squeezed his hand reassuringly. "I said I might do shirtless. I'd like you there, too, if I do. Have you checked out her website?"
Blaine nodded. "It's posed, but it's not fashion, and she plays around with the finish on some of them. There are a couple of dozen on the site, but there were two that really struck me."
"What were they called?"
"Nope. Skype me tonight after you've had a look and we'll see if our tastes are similar."
***
Kurt found the first of the two photos that Blaine liked easily, but he had to call for the second one -- not that he minded calling. The second photograph Blaine liked was a simple still-life.
"Really," Kurt said.
"There's something about the way she played with the shadows that really made me like it," Blaine said.
Kurt called his attention to a photo of two girls laughing at the Lima Bean. "Now this one speaks to me. I've seen fashion shoots that use laughing models, but this seems real, almost like I can hear it, but then she's done something to give it an ethereal shine."
"It says it's an albumen print. She must have used one of the really old style cameras. Cool."
Kurt grinned at his boyfriend. "So is two o'clock on Saturday good for you? Portia said she had a studio space with good natural lighting, so she wants us there while we can take advantage of it."
"Is two the earliest you can do it? Because, otherwise, I'd like to go earlier, say noon. That way we have time for a date before I have to get back to Westerville."
"Yeah, I'm working all day Sunday so that one of the other mechanics can have the day for his daughter's first communion which means he's covering my Saturday shift."
Blaine grinned. "In that case, I'll contact Portia and ask her how early she can go."
"Perfect, let me know the time."
***
At eleven a.m. the following Saturday, Kurt and Blaine found the converted warehouse that held artist's studios. Portia's was small, but it was on the top floor and had skylights as well as windows on three sides of the room. There was a complicated series of pulleys and curtains which would allow her to direct and block light. In one corner, there was a changing area and there were two closed doors next to a pullman kitchen.
Portia grinned and showed them around. "The door on the right is the toilet, if you need it. You'll have to wash your hands in the kitchen's sink. The other door is my dark room. I'm so glad you guys came."
They looked at the main space and saw some simple seating and boxes with draping. There was a low table with several cameras of different types and their lenses on it and a large 19th century box camera on a tripod.
"Look, you guys have a seat. I'll make us a pot of coffee and we can set up the first shots. I'd like some of the two of you together, studying, talking, drinking coffee, whatever you brought as props, before I do the more formal shots separately."
Blaine plopped his backpack down on the floor in front of one of the draped pedestals, and dug out his calculus textbook and a couple of notebooks. "I hope you don't mind the glasses. Allergies have made contacts uncomfortable."
"It's fine. I like it. You won't mind if I have you take them off for some shots?"
He shook his head. "As long as I don't have to move around much. I hate bumping into furniture."
While the two of them were chatting, Kurt placed his Marc Jacobs bag down on another draped pedestal and pulled out his English homework. The poetry set had several books besides Ode Less Travelled and he got them all out along with two notebooks and several pens. He pulled a cushion off one of the stools and sat down next to Blaine's pack.
Blaine smiled at him fondly and took a space next to him.
Kurt said, "You can put your feet in my lap only if you take off your shoes."
Blaine promptly popped his shoes off and did as he'd been invited.
Portia walked around the room with a simple digital camera in her hand, adjusting curtains, and taking a couple of pictures to see if she liked the lighting effects. Once she picked up her Pentax, though, the session really began.
For the first hour, they did a mix of candids and posed shots with the two of them together. At the end of her last roll of film, she changed a couple of the curtains and asked them to face the large box camera and hold still. She let them move and then posed them more formally for a second picture with the same camera.
Afterward, she gave them a break and Kurt and Blaine went to the grocery store down the street to pick-up picnic food for lunch. They brought it back and Portia asked them which one wanted to go first for the individual poses. After a quick rochambeau, Blaine ended up going first.
The first few pictures used a similar set up to the studying shots Portia had taken of the two of them, but they became more posed and she changed the lighting effects more frequently even taking one pose she particularly like with three dramatically different light sources.
He took off his sweater when she asked him to, and later took off his shirt and undershirt. He and Kurt didn't share any sports teams, so it was Kurt's first real opportunity to look at him.
Kurt tried to keep his focus above Blaine's collar bones, but didn't entirely succeed.
Portia captured some of the flirtatious dynamic between them before calling Blaine's attention back to the photo shoot.
When the time came, she asked if he were still comfortable doing a couple of nude shots.
Blaine nodded, and Portia let him go behind the screen to take his clothes off.
Kurt went back to the corner and said, "I brought a robe for you. I thought it might make it easier." He handed it back over the privacy screen.
A minute later, Blaine came out wrapped in a seafoam green silk robe. He smiled at Kurt. "Thank you."
Kurt smiled back and picked up his English homework.
Portia spoke to Blaine quietly. He peeled off the robe and she took three quick shots before handing it back to him. Then she rearranged the curtains, talked to him about the pose, and picked up another camera to take several more pictures, moving around him as she did so.
She handed him the robe and asked Blaine another question that Kurt couldn't hear. After pulling a curtain away from the skylight, Portia went behind the large camera, and Blaine turned to face it. He took off the robe, draping it on a stool out of the camera's sight, and struck the pose they'd discussed. Kurt glanced up during the long hold period and saw Blaine's back and ass, his compact, muscular legs, and blushed deeply, forcing himself to look back at his English paper.
The photographer called time, and Blaine put on the robe for a moment, while she pulled out the old plate and put in a fresh one. Once she was ready, Blaine turned his back to the camera and removed the robe.
Kurt's eye was drawn to the movement of the fabric, and he found himself looking directly at Blaine. He made himself look at Blaine's eyes, and found his boyfriend smiling shyly at him. Kurt's mouth went dry as he realized he'd now seen Blaine entirely naked and that Blaine was starting to get hard.
Portia said, "That's it. You can go change back into your clothes, Blaine."
He picked up the robe and wrapped himself up quickly. Once he'd dressed, he came back out and sat beside Kurt.
"Sorry about that. It's just, you're so beautiful and I …"
Kurt kissed him softly. "I turned you on?" he said in wonderment.
"Yes, my boyfriend turned me on. Turns me on." Blaine gave him his kiss back with interest.
"Later, you two." Portia sounded amused. She said, "Kurt, did you bring a couple of changes of clothes?"
"A couple?" Blaine said, "You should see the size of the suitcase."
Kurt rolled his eyes. "Sure, let me get my bag out of the car."
The next forty minutes were a celebration of clothes. Kurt changed into outfits behind the screen and showed them off in front of the cameras. The last of the outfits was, at Blaine's request, the one he'd worn to sing Blackbird.
At the end of that set, Portia said, "If you're willing, how about a couple of shirtless pictures?"
Kurt looked at the obvious interest in Blaine's eyes and swallowed. "Can we limit the number?"
"One on the big camera and five with each of the other cameras -- that would equal a twenty-six shot roll," Portia replied.
Blaine asked, "Is that too many for you?"
"One or even two on the big camera, and two each with the others to make a twelve shot roll?"
"I may not use all the cameras then, but I'll keep it to a maximum of twelve shots including the glass plate camera," Portia said.
Kurt nodded nervously. "I guess I should sign that release then."
Portia smiled and handed it to him, handwriting a sentence at the bottom about the agreed upon number of shots. "If it's all right with you, I'll use the antique camera last."
Kurt removed his jacket and waistcoat, but his hands hovered over the buttons on his shirt.
"Would you be more comfortable if I had my shirt off, too?"
He looked at Blaine. "I don't know. You look so good, and I feel a little silly."
"Never silly. But I don't care what you signed, you don't have to do this."
"Something inside me says that I do." Kurt shrugged. "The guys at school … I always waited to change in the locker room or changed in the bathroom stall so that they couldn't accuse me of looking at them. I mean, I got a little more comfortable before I left McKinley, and with crew at Dalton, but …"
Blaine kissed his cheek. "It's completely your call."
Portia said, "Would it be easier if you had your back to me? Your back is just as sculptural as your front. I really am most interested in the shapes and shadows."
Kurt smiled at her. "Yes." He turned to Blaine. "Is your offer still good?"
Blaine grinned and started to undo the buttons on his shirt.
Kurt raced to catch up with him, and Portia took the first two pictures quickly with different cameras as his shirt fluttered off his back.
"Kurt," she called, and he turned toward her without thinking. She snapped two other pictures with her third camera. "That twist in the line is beautiful."
There was a gasp from behind him, and Blaine said, "What happened to your back?"
He tried to look over his own shoulder, and Portia grabbed two more shots with the camera which had color film.
"Locker checks, mostly. The one going up from my hip is from a fall when I tried a new dance move. I got it right on the third try, but the first two times …"
Blaine reached out to touch a space just below Kurt's shoulder. "There's an old scar here."
"Not that old, I just heal well. That's from hitting an open locker at an odd angle. I didn't know it had bled until I got home and had to throw my undershirt away. I was able to save the sweater."
Soft lips pressed to the mark and Kurt felt his skin twitch. Neither boy noticed that Portia got two quick shots.
Blaine pulled Kurt close. "I thought you were safe."
Kurt twisted in his arms and brought Blaine's head to his shoulder. He reveled in the feel of their bodies pressed close. "I am safe, much safer than before I came to Dalton. Not everyone likes me, and the teachers can't be everywhere."
"Is even one of these marks from Karofsky?"
"No. As a matter of fact, the dark blue one mid-back? That's from yesterday. He and Santana saw the incident, and the jock who did it to me is suspended for a week. The anti-bullying policy is beginning to work."
Blaine kissed the shoulder he was resting on. "I wish…"
Kurt brushed his lips against Blaine's ear and whispered, "I know."
Very quietly, Portia said, "May I take the last two pictures?"
Both boys startled, and Kurt said, "Of course."
"Blaine, would you mind being in one of them?"
"No."
"I thought the two of you leaning toward each other over the pedestal we used for your last shots would be good, and then one of Kurt alone." She began twitching the curtains around to change the lighting.
When she was ready, they approached the pedestal.
Portia said, "All right, both of you drop the shoulder farthest from the camera for me, lean on your upstage arm and rest the other by your side. Focus on each other, and hold."
They froze for the time it took to expose the plate.
"That's great. Now, Blaine, I want you to go over toward the door. Kurt, lean on the pedestal, but look at him." The pose gave her a nice S-curve to his body and a crisp profile of his face. She made one adjustment to get some more light from the top and said, "Hold."
After a moment, she said, "That's it."
The boys grinned. Blaine put his shirt back on, and Kurt went to change into what he'd worn to the studio.
When he came out he found that Blaine had repacked both their backpacks. Kurt finished packing his suitcase.
"Thank you both so much. I'll let you know if I get the scholarship, and, if I do, there will be a show in May with the ones who got scholarships in the other fields. I hope you'll come to it."
Kurt grinned and said, "We wouldn't miss it."
***
The invitation to the show arrived a few weeks later. While Kurt and Blaine couldn't make the opening night, it was going to be continuing for a couple of weeks and Mercedes and the others in New Directions decided to go up on a Saturday for the fun of it. Burt and Carole were driving up, too, and Blaine said that David, Wes, and a few other Warblers would be there as well.
The gallery on the campus opened at noon, and the whole group were already there when the doors were unlocked.
The exhibit was structured in quarters for the four scholarship areas -- painting, mixed media, sculpture, and photography. Blaine and Kurt chose to go through the painting and mixed media areas at the front and work their way back to Portia's section.
The rest of them weren't so patient. Most of the group made a bee-line to the photography area.
Burt came and got them a few minutes later. "I think you both have some explaining to do."
Kurt was surprised. "Dad, I told you I had signed a release for shirtless pictures. I know you weren't happy about it, but it was my decision to make."
"I'm not, and it was. Come on."
Blaine took his hand. "Isn't there a volcano we can jump into somewhere nearby?"
Kurt smiled at him. "Nothing that's due to erupt this century." He sighed, and they walked back to the photography area.
They were met at the doorway by Rachel, Mercedes, and Carole, two of whom were teary-eyed and two of whom looked furious.
Stepping around them, they saw a giant color print of Kurt looking over his own shoulder bruises vivid, scars paler than the skin surrounding them.
Mercedes glared at Blaine. "I better not find out you did any of this."
Kurt stepped forward protectively. "Blaine's never touched me with anything but affection and gentleness."
Her jaw set firmly. "Is it Karofsky?"
Kurt shrugged. "He was never the only bully," he said softly.
Rachel said, "But you came back to us because it had stopped."
"It's better, now, and it's still improving."
"Why didn't you tell your father and me?" Carole asked.
"We couldn't afford to keep me in Dalton much longer, even if I'd gotten a scholarship. I missed my friends, even as much as I loved the guys in the Warblers, I missed everyone at McKinley. It really is better than it was."
Carole shook her head. "You should have told us. There were other options."
Burt appeared at his wife's side. "Including suing the State of Ohio for your school fees since they didn't provide a safe environment for you at public school. I was looking into that, Kurt. And if this is better, why didn't I know how bad it was before?"
"I didn't want to add to your stress. I had the other glee kids who were getting slushied, too."
Finn came up, "But you were the one who was dumpstered most days."
"Only because Jacob Ben Israel wouldn't walk in the front door," Kurt said. "I don't like him, but I don't think his treatment's been much better than mine."
Rachel shuddered. "Yeah, but you never tried to exchange an interview for sexual favors. He definitely has a higher creepy factor."
"Not to the jocks."
Burt crooked his finger at Kurt and his boyfriend. "So your technicolor back is only one of the bones I wanted to pick with you."
Blaine squeezed Kurt's hand and they followed him to a wall of black and white prints.
"Now Blaine, I may not be your father, but I think I speak for fathers everywhere when I say, 'what the hell were you doing posing naked?' And yeah, I know, you're over the age of consent and it's your decision, but you're sixteen…"
"Seventeen next month."
"Sixteen," Burt said emphatically. "Especially in this internet age, these photos are going to follow you."
Blaine looked to Kurt for moral support only to find that his attention had wandered to a picture just behind Burt that Blaine couldn't see.
"Blaine," he said, "Did you know that Portia took a picture of us while we were close?"
"What?"
Burt glanced over his shoulder. "Yeah, that was the other one." He lowered his voice and looked between them. "Just tell me you two are having safe sex."
They turned to him with identical stricken looks.
Kurt said, "Dad, I promise, when we get to that stage in our relationship, we'll be safe."
Blaine looked Burt straight in the eye and nodded emphatically. He walked with Kurt to find a large sized print. In it, he had his eyes closed while he kissed Kurt's shoulder and Kurt was nuzzling his hair with an air of wonderment and so much love in his eyes. The scene was tender and intensely intimate. "No, I didn't know she'd snapped any of us both shirtless other than the posed one."
Kurt picked up on the unspoken question. "I saw it over by the ones of you nude."
Burt put a hand on each boy's shoulder. "It's a beautiful picture."
"Thanks, Dad."
He wandered off to talk to Carole and Finn.
Puck wandered up and stared over their shoulders. "Does it make me gay if that picture gives me wood?"
Kurt said, "And thank you, Puck for putting it all in perspective."
They wandered over to another set of pictures, most of these were of various people and places. The laughing girls from the Lima Bean were there, but Tina, Mike, and Lauren were all standing in front of one where Kurt was raising his eyebrow at Blaine over some books and two cups of coffee.
Lauren made a low growling sound in the back of her throat. "This is why slash is so hot."
Tina grinned at her and patted Mike's thigh. "Kurt has really grown into his looks."
"I appreciate the compliment," Kurt said.
Blaine squeezed his hand and grinned at his boyfriend. "I think Kurt's always looked adorable."
Lauren turned to look at them, "Both of you. So hot together. I'm going to see if any of these are for sale."
Blaine asked, "Does what she might do with the pictures disturb you as much as it does me?"
Kurt looked at him blankly, and then an appalled expression came over his face. "I refuse to think about it."
Mike and Tina went to look at a Chinese New Year sequence farther down the wall.
Blaine lowered his voice. "You know, Portia said we could have copies of five pictures apiece. Do you want them?"
"Yes. And one of them should be the one of the two girls laughing. I really like that one."
Blaine nodded. "I'm going to have a copy of that still life I like."
Kurt said, "What else are you getting?"
"I want a copy of the one where you're holding me."
"Me, too."
"And there's one of you wearing that all black ensemble that makes me go weak in the knees."
Kurt swallowed. "Would it bother you if I asked her for a copy of that double exposed nude? The one that shows you front and back? Because you look really good in it."
"I'm flattered." No one was looking at them, so he lifted Kurt's hand and kissed it. "I'm also going to ask for that one of your back. I'm giving it to your Dad to take to Principal Figgins' office as evidence."
Kurt nodded tightly. "Help me pick out my other three."
Blaine wrapped his arms around Kurt's waist and felt Kurt just naturally pull his head to Kurt's shoulder. They both let out deep sighs of contentment.
And Blaine said, "I'd be glad to."