index

Message-ID: <57503asstr$1207426201@assm.asstr-mirror.org>
From: "Gymnopedies" <gym@SoftHome.net>
User-Agent: SquirrelMail/1.4.10a
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Importance: Normal
Subject: {ASSM} The Agency 20 (m/t, exhib)
Lines: 1601
Date: Sat, 05 Apr 2008 16:10:01 -0400
Path: assm.asstr-mirror.org!not-for-mail
Approved: <assm@asstr-mirror.org>
Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories.moderated,alt.sex.stories
Followup-To: alt.sex.stories.d

Copyright of this story is retained by the author and it should not be
reposted to any newsgroup or website without permission. Any form of
commercial use is strictly prohibited without the express permission of
the author. The author can be contacted at gym@softhome.net

The usual disclaimers apply: don't read if you are prohibited by
location, are under legal age, or if you are likely to be offended by
explicit descriptions of gay sex. The story is pure fiction and is not
based on any actual events.


The Agency: Chapter 20 - Proposition
by
Gymnopedies



"God, you look rough."

Damian looked up from his cup of coffee and, with a tired smile, he
stroked his stubble covered chin. "You don't look so good yourself," he
replied. He leaned back in his chair and stretched, trying to ease the
kinks out of his back, shoulders, and arms. It was now 9.30 in morning
and Damian was sitting in Sean's office, across the desk from his
friend. The two of them had been up all night.

"You should go get yourself cleaned up," Sean suggested. "Maybe grab a
few hours sleep."

"I'm not going until Eric's been dealt with."

"You don't need to be here for that," said Sean. "In fact it might be
better if you weren't. I can handle Eric. And if he does decide to give
us any trouble, Max is around."

"I know, but..."

"No, Damian. Go home. Check on Danny. You can come in later if you feel
up to it. Do you have anything booked in your diary for today? If so
I'll get Carol to cancel it."

Damian shook his head. "My next shoot isn't until tomorrow. I stayed
late last night tidying up yesterday's shoot so that I would have some
free time today to sort out that other matter that we discussed
yesterday. I assume I can still go ahead with it?"

Sean shrugged. "Well, since you're determined that you're not going to
let me close the agency down, I don't see any reason not to. We may as
well push ahead with business as usual." A soft smile spread across his
tired features. "Why do I get the idea that there is possibly some
emotional involvement here?"

"Sean, I hardly know the kid. I just thought it would be a good move
for the agency." Damian gave a smile of his own. In truth, he wasn't
completely sure about his own motives behind his plan, and it was
likely that Sean was at least partially correct. He was acting on gut
feelings, and those gut feelings were almost certainly influenced by
his own emotional needs.

"Whatever you say," smiled Sean. "Just be sure that you don't get hurt."

Damian was about to respond but was interrupted by Carol's voice coming
over the intercom on Sean's desk.

"Sean, Eric's here."

The tension in the room was suddenly intense. Damian stood up, his
heart pounding and his stomach churning with suppressed anger.

Sean was also on his feet. "Damian, you're staying out of this," he
said, firmly. "I'd prefer it if you went home. But if you refuse to go
home then you can wait out in reception. I'll take care of Eric." He
opened the office door and stood back to let Damian go through.

The young photographer stepped out into the reception area. Eric was
standing by the reception desk, looking his usual tired and untidy
self, but obviously completely unaware that his extra-curricular
activities had been discovered and that his time at "Boys On View" was
about to come to a sudden end. Damian glowered at the man, struggling
to control his temper and fighting an impulse to charge over and ram
the bastard's teeth down his throat.

"Eric, come through to my office please," said Sean. "Carol would you
locate Max for me and ask him to join us?"

Damian drew himself in as Eric walked past him. The older man looked
his younger associate up and down, clearly taking in Damian's unshaven
face and his dishevelled appearance. An amused sneer appeared on his
face.

"Fucking bastard," Damian muttered, his hands clenching into fists as
his side.

"What's your problem?" Eric paused, his bloodshot eyes narrowing.

Damian glared at him, grinding his teeth as he struggled to hold
himself back. "I should..."

"Damian! That's enough!" Sean snapped. "Eric, get into my office, now."

With a derisive snort, the balding man turned to his boss. "Yeah, I'm
coming," he said.

Damian's breath hissed out from between his teeth as he watched the
door to Sean's office close. He jumped as he felt a hand on his arm and
turned to see Carol standing next to him looking concerned.

"You OK?" the young woman asked. "You look like you're ready to kill
someone."

"It'd be no more than that scum deserves."

"Come and sit down," said Carol, leading Damian over to a nearby couch.
She sat down next to him, her hand on his knee. "You want to tell me
what's going on?"

Damian sighed. "Yeah, I guess I may as well. You're going to find out
soon enough anyway. Eric's getting his marching orders."

"He's being fired? Why, what's he done?"

"Well for starters, how about renting out his boys for sex?" Damian
glared at the receptionist as if daring her to try to defend the man.

"He's done what?" Carol's jaw dropped open.

"You heard me," said Damian. "There's other stuff as well, but that's
the worst. That's the worst by a long way."

The door that led up to the studios opened and Max, the stocky video
technician hurried through. He gave them a grim smile and disappeared
into Sean's office.

"Danny came to me last night," said Damian. "He's was in a right state.
He even had a hand print still on the side of his face where Eric had
hit him."

"He hit Danny?" Carol shook her head as if unable to take this in.
"Why?"

Damian closed his eyes for a moment to gather his thoughts. Then he
began speaking, giving Carol a brief explanation of what had occurred
the previous evening. After appearing out of the darkness in the car
park, Danny had burst into tears and asked for help, begging Damian to
go to Sean and insist that he be transferred away from Eric, but
refusing to say why. Since it was obvious that something unpleasant was
going on, Damian had taken Danny back to his flat, sat him down with a
hot drink and forced the boy to tell him the full story. Danny had been
reluctant to say anything, but eventually everything had come out. Eric
had been setting up private sessions where Danny would dance and strip
in front of a small group of clients, which was perfectly fine, and
normal agency practise, as long as all such sessions were properly
chaperoned. However, Eric had allowed things to go a stage further,
letting the clients actually get their hands on Danny and feel him up
in exchange for an extra fee. This was totally against the agency's
strict rules which, except in very limited circumstances, totally
forbade any physical contact between clients and boys. Danny hadn't
liked being pawed and groped, but he had allowed it continue, since it
was soon over and it did bring him extra cash. After several such
sessions, the level of activity had increased and Danny was made to let
men, and sometimes women, wank him and bring him to orgasm. It was not
long after that that things progressed to oral sex, and Danny was
forced into giving the clients blow jobs. He'd told Eric that he didn't
want to do this, but the man had bullied him into continuing with these
sessions, saying that if he told anyone about it, his time with the
agency would be over. Then, last night, things had reached their
ultimate conclusion. Danny had attended a session with three
businessmen. He'd stripped, as usual, and let them watch him play with
himself. They'd had a good feel, and then one of the men had said that
he wanted to fuck the boy. Danny had refused. Things had turned nasty
and there had been an almighty row, culminating in Danny grabbing his
clothes and storming out. He'd tearfully admitted to Damian that he had
actually believed that the men were going to rape him. Eric, who had
been waiting outside in his car, had been unhappy that the boy had
refused to cooperate and really got stuck into him during the drive
back to the studios. Danny had told Eric that he wasn't going to do
this sort of stuff any more and Eric had completely lost his temper and
struck the boy across his face.

After hearing this story, Damian had immediately called Sean and
together they had come back to the studios. Eric hadn't been there, but
they had searched the man's studio and his computer. On the computer
they found sets of images of several of Eric's boys, including Danny,
engaged in sex with adults, both women and men. This had been the last
straw for Damian, since this was all too much like the things that he
had been forced to endure during his own teen and preteen years. The
agency's mentoring system was designed to ensure that this kind of
thing was never allowed to happen, but Eric had abused his boys' trust
in the worst way imaginable. Damian had been all set to go round to
Eric's house and make the man pay for what he'd done. Luckily, Sean had
managed to restrain Damian and after further searching and piecing
together what information they could find, the two of them had settled
down in Sean's office to discuss what should be done next. During the
early hours of the morning, Sean had had a crisis of conscience,
blaming himself for what had happened and had decided that the best
thing would be to close the agency completely. Damian had had to argue
long and hard to talk his friend out of this, pointing out all the good
things that had come out of it and how, for boys such as Jon, the
agency was the best thing that had ever happened to them. Eventually,
Sean had agreed that closing everything down would probably be an over-
reaction and that the only option open to him was the relatively simple
matter of getting rid of Eric.

"Sean was really going to close us down?" Carol asked. "I suppose I can
see why."

"Yeah, he took things pretty badly. But I eventually got him to see
sense," said Damian. "Though I really wish he'd let me deal with Eric."

Carol looked at Sean's office door. Her lips were set in a firm line
and her eyes flashed fire. "I'm with you," she said. "He deserves worse
than just losing his job. Where's Danny now?"

"Back at my flat, sleeping it off," said Damian. "Going over it all was
really hard for the poor kid. I told him to stay there until things are
sorted out here. I rang his parents and explained where he was, though
I didn't say anything else to them; I don't think Danny wants them to
know."

"That's understandable," Carol agreed.

There was the sound of raised voices coming from the office, though it
wasn't possible to make out the words.

"Maybe I should go in there," said Damian.

"You stay where you are," said Carol. "Sean and Max can manage. If you
go storming in there you'll make things a lot worse. You stick to
looking after the boys and let Sean handle things like this." She
lightly patted his thigh.

Damian gave her a smile. "By the way, there's something that you should
know," he said, changing the subject entirely. "Bryan's got a huge a
crush on you."

Carol giggled. "Yeah, I've noticed. It's partly my fault for flirting
with him. But I can't help myself; he's so sweet. I'll try to be a
little more careful in future and not give him any encouragement. I
don't want him getting hurt."

"He'll survive," Damian grinned. "It's all part of the joys of being a
teenager."

"Of course, now that you're no longer a teenager, you're immune to such
things," laughed Carol.

Damian felt himself blushing. "Maybe not quite," he admitted. Then he
turned his head to look as the glass main door opened. "Oh shit."

Danny stepped into the reception area and stood there, looking
sheepish. "Hi," he said, nervously. "I thought I'd better come in and
see what was going on."

Damian jumped to his feet, his eyes flicking between the worried
looking teen and the closed door to Sean's office. "Danny, I told you
to stay where you were. This isn't a good idea. Eric's in Sean's
office."

"Oh fuck!" Danny's face went pale.

"Let's get you upstairs into my studio until he's gone." Damian took
the boy's arm and was about to lead him away when the door to Sean's
office flew open and Eric stormed out.

"Oh dear," Carol murmured, softly.

It took just a moment for Eric to spot Danny. "You fucking, lying
little bastard," he raged, charging towards the boy.

Damian yanked Danny back and moved in front of him, his arms coming up
and his hands balled into fists.

"Eric!" Sean shouted rushing after the maddened photographer. "Leave
the boy alone."

Eric had reached Damian and was trying to pull the young man out of the
way to get to Danny. Damian held onto Eric with one hand and was trying
to punch the man with the other but was unable to get sufficient
leverage. Sean grabbed Eric from behind and struggled to pull him back.
He was joined a moment later by Max, who was breathing heavily. Eric
now had hold of Damian with both hands, making it impossible for the
young photographer to land a decent blow. Behind Eric, Sean gave a
curse of pain as the heel of the Eric's shoe connected sharply with his
shin. Damian glanced briefly back over his shoulder to check that Danny
was OK and saw the boy cowering back looking scared and upset.

"For God's sake, Eric," Sean shouted, finally managing to get a firm
grip on the man's elbow. It looked like Max had managed to get hold of
Eric's other elbow and together the hauled him back.

Eric continued to struggled, his face red from anger and the effort of
fighting as he shouted obscenities, mainly aimed at Danny, and
threatened the boy, telling him that he was going to be sorry.

Then Carol suddenly stepped forwards and slapped Eric sharply across
the face. The man fell instantly silent, looking at the young
receptionist in complete amazement.

"You want another one?" asked Carol, her tone icy. She held up her hand
as if to reinforce her threat.

"Bitch," Eric muttered. He stopped fighting and jerked his arm from
Sean's grasp, raising his hand to his face as though checking for
damage. He glared at Carol for a minute, and then turned his gaze on
Sean. "You're all going to be sorry," he snarled. Then he pulled away
from Max and headed for the stairs that led up to the studios.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?" Sean demanded, once more
catching hold of the man's arm.

"I'm going to get my things," he said.

"Oh no you're not," said Sean, firmly. "Anything that's yours will be
sent on to you. I want you out of here, now."

Eric looked as his former boss for a moment as though about to argue
and then suddenly turned and stormed out of the door.

There was a short silence, broken only by the sound of heavy breathing.
Then Max gave a disgusted snort.

"Good riddance to him," the video technician muttered, gruffly. He
crossed to Danny, who was being comforted by Carol. "You OK, kid? Take
no notice of the stuff he was saying; he's all hot air. Give him a
couple of hours and he'll have crawled inside a bottle. With any luck
he'll never come out again." He gave a sigh. "Well, I've work to do.
I'll leave you good folks to it." He ambled off up the stairs.

Sean watched Max go with a smile and then he approached Danny. "How are
you feeling?"

"OK, I guess," said the boy. He forced a smile of his own, though he
was obviously badly shaken by everything that had happened.

"I want you to go home and get some rest," said Sean. "Take some time
off. Come and see me in a couple of weeks when you've had time to think
about things and we'll talk about where we go from here."

"But I'm booked to dance at the club tonight," Danny objected.

"No you're not," said Sean. "All your appearances are cancelled for the
time being. You need some time out. If, after you've thought things
through, you want to carry on, I'll assign you to a new mentor and he
will take care of things from there."

"But..." Danny stared at Sean and then turned his gaze to Damian as
though looking for support. "I don't want time out. I want to carry on.
And I want Damian to be my mentor."

Sean shook his head. "I'm sorry Danny. We all want what's best for you.
You need some thinking time. And I'm sorry that I can't assign you to
Damian. Ralph Cooper has seniority, so I'll probably assign you to him."

"I don't want Ralph. I want Damian," Danny almost shouted. "And I keep
telling you that I don't need thinking time. Damian, tell him." It was
obvious that he was upset.

Damian shrugged, helplessly. This was something he and Sean had argued
over. Sean had been adamant that Danny and the rest of Eric's boys
should be given time away from the agency in order to think things
through. Damian hadn't been sure that this was good idea, but Sean had
refused to be moved on the issue. The idea of transferring Danny to
Ralph Cooper had not come as a surprise to Damian. Danny was still
potentially the agency's biggest earner, and therefore Ralph, being the
senior photographer, should get priority.

"It's not fair," complained Danny. "It's like I'm being punished for
what Eric did." He was close to tears.

"Danny, you're not being punished," said Sean. "We just want what's
best..."

"Oh, I've heard enough." Carol, who had had her arm around Danny's
shoulders, let go of the boy and stepped up in front of Sean. She stood
glaring at her boss, her hands on her hips. "Maybe I should give you a
slap as well," she said, sharply. "You need some sense knocking into
you. You owe Danny, big time, for what's been happening to him. I don't
know the details, but it sounds to me like he's been going through a
real bad time recently. He's asking to be put with Damian because he
knows him and trusts him. But because you're afraid of rocking the boat
and upsetting the other photographers, what Danny wants gets ignored
and he gets put with someone he doesn't know at all. Have you stopped
to think how he must feel about that? You've always claimed that the
boys come first in this business, Sean, but I'm starting to wonder. How
about really putting the boys first for a change?"

Sean stood with his mouth open. He started to say something then
appeared to change his mind. His face reddened and he looked down at
his feet. After a moment he looked up again, his eyes on Danny. "I'm
sorry, Danny," he said. "I was wrong. If he's willing, Damian is you
new mentor, effective immediately."

Danny gave a whoop of joy and rushed over to Damian and threw his arms
around him.

Sean grinned at Carol. "I knew there was a good reason that I kept you
around," he said.

"Someone has to keep this place running," she replied, with a smile.
"You're a good man, Sean." She leaned in and affectionately kissed the
man on the cheek and then without another word, she returned to her
desk.

"For a minute there I thought she was going to ask for a pay rise,"
said Sean, speaking to Damian, his voice low. "You get yourself home
and get some sleep, I'll see you later." He looked at Danny. "I'm
genuinely sorry for everything that's happened to you. I'm going to
make sure that nothing like that happens to any of our boys ever
again." He squeezed the boy's shoulder. "I'm sorry Danny."

Damian watched Sean return to his office, then gave his new charge a
smile. "Looks like we're partners after all," he said. "I hope you
don't regret it."

"No chance," Danny grinned. "It's going to be so cool."

"We'll see," said Damian. "Though I agree with Sean about one thing: no
'Little Dancer' tonight or for the rest of this week."

"But..."

"We're going to take things easy for while," said Damian. "Eric was
pushing you far too hard. You need to relax and have some fun."

"But I love the dancing," Danny protested.

"You can still do it," said Damian. "Just not this week. I'll tell you
what: how about I try to set up that shoot with Bryan that you asked me
about a while ago?"

"That would be awesome," Danny grinned.

"It would only be a soft shoot," Damian pointed out. "Bryan's still a
bit shy. But I think I can come up with something that will allow the
two of you to have some fun."

"Sounds great. I can't wait."

**********

The traffic was bad, and the drive to Bryan's house seemed to take
forever. Damian tapped impatiently on his steering wheel as he moved
forwards at what much of the time was little better than a slow crawl.
Damn! Why did he feel so nervous? The worst that could possibly happen
would be that the boy might say no. That would hardly be the end of the
world. And even if he said yes, things still might not work out.
Perhaps it would be for the best if he said no now; that would
certainly save a lot of trouble, and possibly even a certain amount of
heartache. Damian sighed and shook his head. Sean had been right about
the emotional involvement, and the young photographer wondered, not for
the first time, if he was making a mistake trusting his heart rather
than his head.

At last, Damian drew the car to a stop outside of Bryan's house and
turned off the engine. He leaned back in the seat for a moment and
closed his eyes, taking some deep breaths. He was still extremely
tired, and this did nothing to help his nervous state. After being up
all night due to the 'Eric' episode, he had finally got home around mid-
morning and had immediately gone to bed to try to catch up on his
sleep. However, in spite of his almost total exhaustion, sleep just
wouldn't come. He was still wound up from the morning, and also worried
about the afternoon. After a couple of hours, getting more and more
frustrated, he gave up and got himself a shower and a shave. Even if he
couldn't sleep, he could at least try to make himself look decent. He
made himself a snack for his lunch and after eating only half of it, he
decided that there was no point in putting things off any longer.

So now, here he was. He climbed out of the car and made his way up the
front path to the door, his heart thumping. What the hell was the
matter with him? He was more nervous than a teenager on a first date.
He rang the doorbell.

Bryan's dad answered the door and he gave a smile as he saw Damian.
"Hi, Damian. Come on in."

"Thanks, Richard."

"You want Bryan?"

"Yeah, please. If he's around."

"He's in the lounge. Go on through."

Bryan was on the computer playing a game. He glanced around as Damian
entered, gave a smile of greeting, and then took a moment to save his
game before closing it down.

"I hope I'm not interrupting your saving the planet," said Damian.

"No, I'm just filling in time," said Bryan, with a grin. "You brought
me more prints to sign?"

Damian laughed and shook his head. "Not this time. There have probably
been a few more orders come in since yesterday, but they can wait until
I see you again. I've brought you this." He held out the envelope that
he was carrying.

Bryan accepted the envelope, looked inside and pulled out a CD.

"Those are the pics that we took yesterday," Damian explained. "There's
everything on there; both the ones that I took and the ones from the
camera that you and Jon were using. I've also added the full edited
photoset as it will appear when it goes online; just don't let on to
Sean about that."

"Cool," said Bryan. He looked up from the CD and gave his dad a shy
smile.

"So do I get to see them, or do I have to wait until they go online?"
asked the boy's father.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt to let you see them," said Bryan, his face
colouring slightly. Then he appeared to realise something and he shot
Damian a worried glance. "You said everything is on here?" he asked.

Damian laughed again and nodded. "Everything except for a few that
weren't suitable and that have been deleted. You've nothing to worry
about."

"Oh, OK, thanks." Bryan looked relieved. He put the CD back in the
envelope and lay it beside the computer.

"I was wondering how you would feel about another shoot later in the
week," Damian suggested.

"What sort of shoot?"

"Similar to the one that you did yesterday, except with Danny instead
of Jon."

"A shoot with Danny?" Bryan grinned, then looked uncertain, then
grinned again. He was obviously recalling the dancing lesson that he
and Jon and received from the older boy. "Erm, I dunno."

"Don't worry; I'll make sure he behaves."

"It won't get him into trouble with Eric again, will it?"

"No, we can all forget about Eric," said Damian. "He's gone. Danny is
now on our team, so there are no problems at all with the two of you
posing together."

"A shoot with you and Danny together sounds good to me," said the boy's
father, encouragingly. "You know your mum's got a soft spot for Danny."

"Dad!" Bryan's face flushed red.

"I don't think you're exactly helping, Richard," Damian laughed. "Think
about it, Bryan. You can let me know in the next day or so. Also, I
want you in one day next week for a non-nude shoot. We've had a
commission from another site; they want three sets. You're becoming
extremely popular."

Richard put his arm around Bryan's shoulders and hugged him, proudly.
"You hear that," he said. "Everyone wants you."

"Yeah, and I even get to keep my clothes on for a change," said Bryan,
wryly.

"Anyone would think that you were shy or something," Richard laughed,
giving the boy another hug. "Damian, can I get you a drink or anything?"

"No thanks," said Damian. "There are things I need to do." He took a
deep breath. "Is Robert around?"

Richard looked surprised. "Yes, he's up in his room. Do you want him?"

"Please, if that's OK."

Richard went out into the hallway and shouted up the stairs. "Robert?
Can you come down please?"

*********

Robert was in a world of his own. He lay shirtless on his bed, eyes
screwed shut, headphones over his ears, and the volume pumped up to a
level where it made his eardrums hurt. He silently mouthed the words of
the songs, his body and arms thrashing as he joined in with the frantic
guitar solos. He was halfway through one particularly intense extended
solo when he felt a touch on his arm.

"Shit!" The boy's eyes flew open. His heart was thumping from the shock
of being pulled so suddenly back to reality. He knocked the phones from
his ears, and fumbled with the controls of his MP3 player as he tried
to turn off the music. Then he glared at his dad who was standing over
him wearing an amused smile. "You nearly made me wet myself."

"You looked like you were having a fit or something," the man grinned.
"I've been shouting you from the bottom of the stairs for the past few
minutes and I thought I'd better come up and see if you'd died."

"I nearly did when you grabbed my arm," Robert panted. He was
breathless from the physical exertion of being so involved with the
music. "What do you want me for?"

"Damian's downstairs. He wants to talk to you?"

"Damian? What's he want to talk to me for?"

"I've no idea," the man replied. "You'd better come down and find out."

"But..."

"Hurry up, Robert, he's waiting."

Robert swung his feet to the floor and quickly hunted for his shoes and
pulled them on. He grabbed his shirt and fought to untangle it and pull
it over his head, then quickly straightened his hair with his hands
before hurrying after his father.

He caught up with his father in the lounge. Bryan was also there, and
so was Damian. Robert automatically lowered his eyes as he stepped into
the room, feeling uncharacteristically shy in the presence of the good-
looking young photographer. He wondered what Damian could possibly want
to talk to him about. Then it hit him. Damian had come round to tell
Bryan about how he had found Robert looking at his brother's picture on
the computer. That must be it. Oh shit. Now there going to be a row. He
tensed up, ready for the worst, as he raised his head to meet Damian's
gaze.

"Hi Rob," Damian smiled.

"Hi," Robert replied, nervously. Maybe Damian hadn't come to drop him
in it after all. "You... you wanted to talk to me?"

"Yeah. There are a couple things I wanted to talk to you about." Damian
paused and glanced at Bryan and the boys' father, who were both
watching intently, obviously wondering what Damian wanted. "You want to
come for a drive?" he asked the seventeen-year-old.

"What? Erm, yeah. I guess," Robert stammered. "Oh, no, I can't. I'm
grounded."

Damian shot an enquiring look at the boy's father.

"It's OK," said Richard. "You go ahead."

"Erm, yeah, alright. Just give me a second to grab my jacket." Robert
turned and dashed back up the stairs to his bedroom, where he'd left
his jacket hung over the back of a chair. When he got back down, Damian
was waiting by the front door.

"We may be a couple of hours or so. Is that OK?" Damian asked the boy's
father.

"Sure," Richard replied. "If he's not back we'll save him some dinner,"
he grinned.

Bryan, who was standing watching, didn't look especially happy. "Where
are you going?" he asked.

"Oh, just here and there," Damian replied, with a smile. "I'm sure Rob
will tell you all about it when he gets back.

Robert followed the man down the front path to the street and climbed
into the passenger seat of the car. He fastened his seat belt and
waited as Damian got into the driver's side, buckled up and started the
engine.

**********

"Hmm, I wonder what that's all about." Bryan's dad let the curtain fall
back into place and moved away from the window after watching Robert
drive off with Damian."

"Damian's probably going to try to talk Robert into doing some
modelling," said Bryan, sulkily. "He told me that he'd mentioned it to
Robert on Sunday when he dropped off those prints, but that Robert said
no. He said that he was going to try again because he says that sets
with brothers are popular."

"Damian really wants Robert as a model? That's great," the boy's dad
smiled. "I hope Robert has the good sense to say yes this time."

"I hope he says no," said Bryan. He dropped down onto the sofa, his
chin down on his chest. "I don't want us photographed together."

"Why ever not?" The man sat down next to Bryan. "I'd love some pictures
of the two of you together. What's the problem?"

"I just don't want to do it," said Bryan. "Do I need a reason?" He'd
decided on his position and he was now digging his heels in. What had
started as simple reluctance was rapidly becoming a matter of
principle. "OK, maybe some ordinary sets would be alright. But I'm not
being naked with him."

The boy's dad gave a laugh. He put his arms round his son's shoulders
and gave him a hug. "You're a funny one sometimes," he said, brightly.
"You said you'd never be photographed in those tight shorts, but in the
end you did. Then you said you'd never be photographed nude, but you
did."

"Well this time it's different," Bryan mumbled, keeping his arms
crossed over his chest and refusing to respond to the hug.

"Maybe you'll change your mind when it comes to it," said the man. "I
hope that you will. In any case, you should be pleased for Robert that
he's getting this opportunity. Robert's going through a difficult time
at the moment and this may be just what he needs to help him get back
on track. If he does say yes, try and be pleased for him when he gets
home." He stroked the hair away from Bryan's forehead, and then gave
the boy another hug. "Do it for Robert. Please."

"Alright, alright, I'll pretend to be pleased," Bryan laughed, unable
to keep up his sulk in the midst of this display affection. He squirmed
and pushed his dad's arm away. "Dad, I'm thirteen. I'm too old for
cuddles."

"Really?" The man pulled back, looking amused yet at the same time
disappointed. "I guess you are growing up." He gave a sigh. "OK, if
that's what you want; no more cuddles."

"Good," said Bryan. He'd been meaning to point this out for some time,
but hadn't said anything as he didn't want to hurt his dad's feelings.
However, now that he'd said it, he couldn't help feeling a certain
regret. It was always nice having strong arms around him; it was
comforting and made him feel safe. Maybe he shouldn't have said
anything after all. But then again he was thirteen. Hugs and cuddles
were for little kids, not for teenagers. He was going to miss them, but
it couldn't be helped. It was time for his parents to realise that he
wasn't a little kid any longer; he was on his way to becoming an adult.

"So what about this CD that Damian's just given you?" the boy's father
asked. "Are we going to have a look at it, or are there things on it
that you'd prefer me not to see?"

Bryan instantly forgot all about cuddles and glanced nervously over at
the brown envelope that lay next to the computer. "I... I guess it
would be OK for you to see it," he said uncertainly. "It's the shoot
that me and Jon did yesterday. We're both naked." He briefly met his
dad's gaze and then quickly looked down, blushing.

The man reached out a hand as if to pat the boy's shoulder, then seemed
to think better of it and drew back. He gave a smile. "We can leave it
if you prefer. I expect the set will be online before long anyway."

"No, you can look at them," said Bryan. "Besides, I want to see them
myself." He gave a grin. "It was really good fun. Damian gave me and
Jon a camera and we took pictures of each other, and Damian took
pictures of us taking pictures of each other. Damian said that all the
pictures are on the disk, even the ones that me and Jon took. I want to
see how they've come out. We did some really silly shots, especially
Jon. What are you laughing at me for?"

The boy's father was chuckling softly. "Like I said, you're a funny
one. You were so dead set against being photographed without your
clothes on, but look at you now, so excited about it."

Bryan blushed again. "Yeah well. We had a good time."

"I can tell. And it's really good to see that you enjoy doing it so
much. You've no idea how much I envy you, Bryan. I wish I had had the
chance to do something like this when I was your age."

"You do?"

"I do. I suppose that like you I would probably have been a bit
reluctant at first, but I think once I got going I would have loved it."

Bryan gave his dad a considering look. Just for a moment he got an
image of the man completely naked and posing for Damian's camera. He
quickly pushed the image away. This was not something that he wanted to
dwell on. Thinking about your parents being naked was almost as bad as
thinking about your parents having sex. It was cringe-making almost to
the point of being stomach-churning. "Yeah, OK. I'll start up the
computer," he suggested, wanting to change the subject.

"While you do that, I'll go get myself a drink," said the man. "Do you
want one?"

"No, I'm fine."

Bryan turned on the computer, waited for it to finish booting up, and
then inserted the CD. The images were sorted into three folders
labelled "raw", "B & J", and "final". He opened up the "B & J" folder
and brought up the first image.

"Hey, are you starting without me?" The boy's dad had returned from the
kitchen with a mug in his hand. He pulled across another chair and
squeezed in next to Bryan.

"These are the pictures that me and Jon took," said Bryan, looking at
the image on the screen that showed him in T-shirt and shorts, looking
completely lost. "We had to invent our own poses, but Jon didn't give
me time to get ready."

"So I see," the man smiled.

Bryan quickly cycled through the pictures, recalling how much fun he
and Jon had had. As the series moved onwards, the two boys lost their
shirts and then their shorts as well. There were lots of silly shots
and a fair number of shots that didn't show what they had been intended
to show. Bryan was disappointed to note that most of these latter ones
had been taken by him. On the plus side, he found that he wasn't quite
as embarrassed about his dad seeing the nudes as he had been on
previous occasions. It seemed that he was starting to get used to it.
However, as they neared the end of the series and came to an image of
him sprawled on his back on the floor with his legs open, the shot
taken from between his outstretched legs and showing his dick and balls
in close-up, he did shrink back into his chair. What made it even worse
was that he suddenly realised that this was the first time that his dad
had seen him naked since he had shaved off his pubic hair. However, the
man merely smiled and waited for Bryan to move onto the next picture.

After going through all of the pictures taken by himself and Jon, Bryan
moved onto the folder marked 'final'. These were the images that had
been edited and put into the order in which they would be appearing on
the website. It was immediately obvious that these were far better
quality images than the ones that they had previously been looking at.
They were crisp and well composed; they looked professional rather than
amateur. Another thing that was obvious was how much fun the two boys
were having. The photographs captured the atmosphere perfectly, showing
two teenagers messing around and having a really good time.

"Now that's different." Bryan's dad leaned forwards to get a closer
look at an image that showed the boys, totally naked, with Bryan
sucking on Jon's finger. "Talk about suggestive."

"What do you mean?" Bryan asked, worried.

"Oh, nothing," his dad grinned. "Just my imagination working overtime.
Go on, keep going."

As they neared the end of the sequence, Bryan started to become more
worried. What if Damian had lied, and left in the boner shots? The boy
quickly dismissed this idea, telling himself that he was being silly;
Damian wouldn't do something like that. Though what if he'd left them
in by accident? That was possible. With a trembling finger, the young
teen moved onwards through the final few images. Even without boner
shots, these last few were embarrassing. They showed the two boys
pressed together, and even though it couldn't be seen in the pictures,
it would be obvious to anyone looking at them that their dicks would be
touching.

"Now these are really nice," the man said. "Just hold on second." They
were on a full length body shot of the two naked boys with their arms
around each other, looking into each other's eyes.

Bryan forced himself to wait, until he decided that they had been
looking at the picture long enough and then he clicked onto the next
one.

"Oh..." The boy's dad gave a gasp as the final image of the set opened
up. It was a close-up, soft focus shot of the boy's faces. It could be
seen that they still had their arms around each other and they had
their heads slightly tilted and their lips open and almost touching as
if about to kiss.

"Oh shit!" Bryan muttered. This was awful. It really did look like he
was about kiss Jon on the lips. Everyone was going to see a picture of
him about to kiss another boy. "We didn't really kiss," he said,
nervously. "I wouldn't have done it even Damian had asked us to." He
looked up at his dad, terrified that the man was about to accuse him of
being gay.

The man looked at the image for several long seconds and when he
finally turned to look at Bryan he was smiling. "That is one of the
most beautiful pictures you've done so far."

"Yeah, sure," said Bryan, disbelievingly. He was certain that his dad
was making fun of him. "It's really awful. I hate it."

"You shouldn't. This is a very special picture. Seriously, Bryan, this
is by far the best one of the set."

"But it looks like me and Jon are going to kiss," said Bryan, not
understanding why his dad would like this one the best. "It makes us
look... well... gay."

The man smiled. "It looks like two boys who like each other great deal
and have a special friendship. You and Jon have become close friends
over this past couple of weeks, and that comes through in this picture."

"Yeah, we're good friends, but we're not gay or anything."

"Stop worrying about appearing to be gay," said the man. "Just enjoy
what you have. Be yourself and do what feels right for you; don't waste
your life worrying about what other people think."

Bryan was quiet for a while, thinking about what his father had said.
Was the man saying that it would be alright if he had kissed Jon? He
wondered what his dad would have to say if he knew about him and Jon
jerking off together, or even worse, the blow job he had received from
Danny after the dancing lesson. Both of these things had felt good at
the time, but he had felt guilty about them afterwards.

"I've had an idea," the man wore a wide grin. "Why don't you ask Jon if
he wants to stay over one night at the weekend? It will pay him back
for the time you spent over at his house. Better still, ask him if he
want to come for Friday and Saturday night. We can make a full weekend
of it and take him out somewhere on Saturday. What do you think?"

"Yeah, I suppose it would be OK. But where would he sleep?"

"In your room, of course. There's plenty of room to put in an extra
mattress on the floor."

"Yeah, OK. I'll give him a ring later and ask him." Maybe it wasn't
such a bad idea, the boy mused. In fact, it would be fun.

**********

"Where are we going?" Robert asked.

Damian didn't answer immediately as he concentrated on pulling out into
the traffic, and then he gave the boy a reassuring smile. "I'm taking
you to the studio. I thought you might like to see where everything
happens."

"Well, yeah, I guess. But... why?" Robert was puzzled and more than a
little nervous. He'd only met Damian once before, just for a few
minutes a couple of days ago. What could the man possibly want him for?
"Has it got something to do with what you were asking me about Bryan?"

Damian laughed, lightly. "Not this time. This time it's about you.
Don't worry; you're not going to be forced into anything that you don't
want. I'll explain everything when we get there."

Robert looked at the man, worriedly. It was funny how he tended to
think of Damian as a man and himself as a boy, even though there was
actually very little age difference between them. He seemed to recall
Bryan mentioning that Damian was twenty. Robert's eighteenth birthday
was just over a week away, so Damian was only a couple of years older,
three years at the most. It probably had something to do with Damian's
confidence; the young man always appeared so sure of himself. Robert
wished that he possessed even half of that confidence. There was one
thing that Robert was sure about; he thought Damian was hot. In fact,
on Sunday night, after his first meeting with Damian, he had lay in bed
and imagined himself in Bryan's position, posing naked in front of the
man. The fantasy had culminated in one hell of an orgasm. Of course,
that was only fantasy; there was no way he would ever have the guts to
do it in reality. But could that be what Damian wanted to talk to him
about? Could he be intending to try to talk Robert into doing some
modelling? Not much chance. Who would want to look at him with his
clothes off? Just the thought was laughable.

"You OK," Damian asked, after several minutes of silence.

"Yeah, fine."

"I take it Bryan didn't catch you looking at his pictures?"

"No. Thanks for not saying anything."

"No problem. So, were you looking at them out of curiosity or was it
maybe something a little more than that?" The question was asked
casually and delivered with a smile.

"What do you mean?" Robert's heart was suddenly racing.

Damian shrugged. "I just wondered whether it was simply a case of big
brother being curious what little brother had been up to, or whether
you were looking at the site for some other reason. Though I guess the
look on your face answers that question for me." He gave a grin.
"Preferring boys to girls is not a big deal, Robert. There are a lot of
us who feel like that, thank goodness, or I would be out of a job."

Robert stared at the young man, his mouth open. Had Damian really just
said 'us'? Was Damian gay?

"Of course, I'd pretty much guessed that you were gay from your
reaction when I caught you looking at the pictures," Damian continued.
"Does your family know?"

"Erm, yeah," said Robert. "I told them about a week ago."

"How did they take it?"

"Mum and Dad were fine. In fact, they were great. I think Bryan was
more worried about what would happen when his friends found out."

Damian laughed. "That sounds like Bryan. I suppose your being gay is
the main reason that Bryan doesn't like you looking at his pictures."

"Yeah, something like that." Robert wasn't about to mention the part
about Bryan discovering that his big brother had been using one of his
pictures as jerk-off material.

"What about your friends; have you told any of them?"

Robert shook his head. "No. No one knows except Mum, Dad, and Bryan.
And you," he added, with a shy smile. It was strange how easy he was
finding it to talk to Damian. He could see why Bryan liked the man so
much.

"Oh well, plenty of time for that. You can tell people when you feel
it's the right time."

They turned off the main road and down a slipway that led to an
underground car park. Damian reversed the car into one of the bays and
they both climbed out.

"There's a lift, but I prefer to take the stairs," said Damian. "I need
the exercise, since I spend most of each day sitting on my backside
looking at a computer." He led the way up three flights of stairs and
through a door into a carpeted hallway. In front of them was a large
glass door with "Boys On View" stencilled on the front.

Robert followed the man through the door into a large reception area,
luxuriously furnished with a sofa, comfortable chairs, and a carpet
that the teen felt himself sinking into. This was certainly no shady,
backstreet establishment. A pretty young woman sat behind a large
reception desk. She looked up as they entered and Damian led Robert
over to her.

"Robert, this is Carol. She's the person who single-handedly keeps this
business on track."

"You've no idea just how true that is," the young woman replied.

"Carol, this is Bryan's brother, Robert."

"Pleased to meet you Robert," said Carol, with a friendly smile, as she
took the teen's hand. "Yes, I can see the resemblance. Are you going to
be joining us?"

"I, erm, don't know," Robert replied, not knowing what to say. He
didn't have any idea, yet, why he was here.

"Robert and I have some things to talk about," said Damian. "I'm taking
him up to the studio. If anyone calls, I'm not in. Unless it's really
important."

"OK, you got it," said Carol. "I'll see you later, Robert."

Damian led Robert up another carpeted staircase and through a door into
a long corridor.

"These are the photographer's studios," Damian explained. "There are
some more 'themed' studios up on the next floor."

"I didn't realise everything would be so big," said Robert. "That
reception area and all these studios..."

"We're in the glamour business," Damian explained. "Our clients expect
everything to look good, including our offices, so the public areas,
like reception, have to be top notch. We have to create the right
impression."

"I guess so."

Damian's studio was a large room, half carpeted, half with a panelled
wood floor. Damian tossed his car keys down onto his desk and took
Robert over to a large leather sofa. He sat down, indicating that the
teen should join him.

"Now, down to business," Damian smiled. For the first time, Robert
thought that the young man looked a little nervous.

"When we spoke on Sunday, you mentioned being interested in becoming
photographer. How serious were you?"

Robert blinked in surprise. This was something that he hadn't expected.
He'd fantasised about taking pictures of boys since he'd first found
out about Bryan's modelling, but never expected it to go beyond
fantasy. In spite of Damian's claim that he spent most of his time
sitting in front of a computer, Robert still regarded it as a dream
job. "I guess if I were ever given the chance, I'd like to give it a
go. But I don't know anything about photography."

Damian was silent for a moment and then he nodded. "Not knowing
anything at all could be a problem, since you would need to find an
agency that would be willing to teach you on the job. Most agencies
want experienced photographers. However, I've had a word with my boss,
Sean, and if you're interested, he's agreed to take you on a trial
basis. You'd spend time with me, learning about what the job involves
and hopefully picking up some skills as you go along. You'd then know
enough to be able to decide if it's something that you really want to
do."

Robert couldn't believe he was hearing this. Was Damian really offering
him the chance to be around cute, naked boys and take photographs of
them? "This is a joke, right?" he said. "You're not really serious?"

"I'm as serious as you want me to be," said Damian. "The opportunity is
there if you want it. If you aren't interested, then it's not a
problem."

"Oh God! Oh shit! Of course I'm interested," Robert blurted. He started
to giggle and then tried to stop himself as he realised that it made
him sound like an overexcited pre-teen who had just been given the most
amazing Christmas present.

Damian appeared both amused and pleased by the boy's reaction. "Before
you get too carried away with it all, there are a few conditions. When
you've heard these you might change your mind."

"Conditions?" This brought Robert back down to Earth. Here comes the
fly in the ointment, he told himself. Just as things were going so well.

"The first thing is that the position is, for the most part, unpaid,"
said Damian. "All the photographers here work on a commission basis.
This means we are paid based on what we produce and how popular our
sets are. It will be exactly the same for you. Unfortunately, it's
likely to take a while before you are able to produce anything that is
usable, so you can't rely on the photography to bring you an income."

Robert shrugged. "I don't have a job anyway, so it's not as if I would
be giving anything up. It's a shame though; some money would be nice."
He gave a grin. Yes, some sort of income would have been nice, but
hell, he'd happily pay for a job like this, so he wasn't about to
complain on that score.

"The second condition is that you sign up for a photography course,"
said Damian. "There's one starting at one of the local colleges in
September. It's only a few hours a week and the classes are held on a
Saturday morning, so they won't interfere with school. It lasts for six
months. It's only a basic course, but it will give you a good
grounding. We'll pay for your course fees, so the only thing that you
need to do is attend the lessons and enjoy it."

"Yeah, that sounds OK," said Robert. He was feeling happier again.
These were conditions that he could live with.

"There's one final thing." Damian's expression had turned serious.
"This condition is mine rather than Sean's. My own background is in
modelling rather than photography, and I believe that if you're going
to become a good photographer, you need to be able so see things from
the model's point of view; you need to understand how your model feels.
You can only do this if you've done some modelling yourself. So, if I'm
going to show you how to become a photographer, you have to agree to
sign up as model and get some modelling experience."

It took a moment for this to sink in. "You want me to be model?" Robert
shook his head and gave a short humourless laugh. "I couldn't be a
model."

"There's no obvious reason why you can't," said Damian. "Admittedly
you're close to the upper age limit as far our agency is concerned, but
you look good, and provided you can learn to relax in front of the
camera, I think that you would be a really good model. Also, your
income from the modelling would make up for you not being paid for the
photography."

Robert really wasn't sure about this. "What sort of things would I have
to do?"

"Ideally, you would give everything a go. There're the standard non-
nude sets, nudes, and then the more hard-core stuff."

"Hard-core? What's that?" The teen had seen the nude site, but hadn't
heard anything about anything harder.

"Sets that show boys with erections, and sometimes having sex."

"You photograph stuff like that?" This was totally beyond belief.

"The limit is your own imagination," said Damian, with a gentle smile.
"The only things that we insist on are that the boys are willing and
happy. The same applies to you; no one is going to force you into doing
the harder stuff if you really don't want to. If you want to go ahead
with the photography, you have to agree to at least some nude work. The
more hard-core stuff is optional, but I'm only prepared to let you
become involved in the photography side of the hard-core scenes if you
have already tried them yourself first."

"I don't know." Robert sat shaking his head. This was too much to
digest in one go.

Damian patted the teen's leg reassuringly. "You don't have to make your
mind up about anything now. For the time being just think about whether
you are prepared to do simple nude work. If you decide that you are,
then we can go ahead. You can decide on the harder stuff later."

"Yeah, OK."

Damian sighed and got to his feet. "I know it all feels like such a big
deal when it's first dumped on you. But everything is much more fun
than it sounds. Ask Bryan. He was dead set against any sort of nude
work to start with. Hell, at his interview he even swore that he would
never even be photographed in his underwear. But now that he's started
to settle into it he's had loads of fun doing the nudes. Anyway, how
about we do a few test shots?"

"You mean you want to take my photograph? Now?" Robert frowned. "I
don't know."

"I'm not suggesting a full shoot," Damian grinned. "I just want to take
a few pictures and see what you look like through the camera."

"What would I need to do?"

"Just stand around and look pretty."

"Yeah, right." Robert gave an embarrassed laugh. 'Pretty' was certainly
not a word he would ever use to describe himself. In fact 'ordinary'
would probably be better, and that was on a good day. "I guess it'll be
OK," he said. Then he had a sudden thought. "You're not going to ask me
to take my clothes off are you?"

"Well, I was hoping for at least some shots of you with your shirt
off," said Damian. "I'd like to get some sort of idea what you look
like. You look great with your clothes on, and I would imagine that you
would look even better with them off, but it would be nice to be able
to be sure. Let's make a start and see how we get on. If you start to
feel too uncomfortable we can stop."

For Robert, just the idea of Damian pointing a camera at him, even when
he still had all of his clothes on, was enough to make him feel a
little uncomfortable. But he decided not to say anything. Instead he
thought about what he was being offered here. He was going to get the
chance to watch boys strip and to photograph them, totally naked, and,
from what Damian had just said, he might even be able to watch them get
hard and maybe play with themselves and possibly even each other. All
he had to do to make all of that happen was to let Damian take some
photographs of him. And what was even better was that he might even get
paid for the photographs. Bryan seemed to have had money pouring in
recently, and Robert decided that he would be delighted with even a
fraction of his brother's income. The only thing standing in the way of
this incredible fantasy-come-true was his own inhibitions.

Damian had crossed to the other side of the studio and was busy turning
on some lights that stood on metal stands, moving them around. Robert
went to join the man.

"So where do you want me?"

Damian's eyes widened slightly and his lips twitched as if amused at
the question. "As far as the photography is concerned, I'd like you
over here in front of this blue curtain. Just stand there and try to
relax." He quickly finished adjusting the lights and collected his
camera from his desk. "OK, here we go."

To begin with, Robert felt extremely awkward. But after a few shots he
started to relax. This really wasn't so bad. He cocked his head and
smiled at the camera.

"There we go," said Damian. "You're getting into it now."

"What's going to happen to these pictures?" Robert asked.

"Nothing. It's only a test run. They won't be appearing on the website
or anything like that; no one will see them except you, me, and Sean."
He took a couple more pictures from different angles. "Right, now how
about some pictures with your shirt off?"

"Yeah, OK," said Robert, with a shy smile. He took off the jacket that
he had still been wearing and then pulled his shirt over his head,
handing both the shirt and Jacket to Damian who dropped them onto a
nearby table. It was a strange feeling, standing here with his shirt
off. He wriggled his shoulders to relieve some of the tension.

"You look good," said Damian. "You've got a nice body."

"Yeah, sure," said Robert, glancing down at himself self-consciously.

"I mean it. You really do look good. Slim, not overly muscular, but
just a nice amount of definition." Damian took a few pictures. "Put
your hands up behind your head for me. That's good. Now twist at the
waist. Give me just a hint more of a smile. Perfect. You're good at
this."

Under Damian's direction, Robert moved through several more poses,
quickly gaining confidence as he went along. He wondered whether the
nice things that Damian was saying to him were true. He liked to
imagine that they were, though he strongly suspected that it was really
a case of the man saying these things to help him relax.

"Good. That should do for those," said Damian. "Now, are you up for
some underwear shots?"

"I guess I may as well." Robert kicked off his shoes and then
unfastened his trousers, pushed them down and stepped out of them. "You
want me to take my socks off?"

"I think so," Damian smiled. "It'll look better that way."

As the seventeen-year-old removed his socks, he glanced at the door.
"No one's likely to be coming in, are they?"

Damian shook his head. "No, you're safe. Kick your clothes out of shot
for me. That's it."

Robert was now wearing only a pair of loose grey boxers. He
straightened the waistband and then glanced down at the front to make
sure that the buttons were closed. Luckily, they were.

"OK, let's get a few of you like that and then we're just about done,"
said Damian. "Stand facing me with your hands on your hips. Good. Now
keep your hands on your hips but this time stand with your back to me.
Turn your head and look at me over your shoulder. Great. How are you
feeling?"

"Better than I thought I would," said Robert. "It feels strange, but
not too bad. I'm still not sure about naked pictures of me appearing on
a website though."

"That's a big step," said Damian. "Most boys have a bit of trouble with
that at first. The biggest worry is always the thought of family and
friends seeing the pictures. How do you feel about that?"

"Scared," Robert admitted. "My mum and dad haven't seen me with nothing
on for ages. I was probably about eight or something like that. I can't
even remember."

Damian gave an understanding smile. "It seems scary now, but I think
you would be surprised how quickly you would get used to it. What I
would really like to do now, just a finish off with, is get a couple of
shots of you without the shorts. If you let me do that now, it will be
so much easier for you next time."

"You mean get naked? I really don't know." Robert had more than half
suspected that this was coming.

"I'm not going to force you. But if we're going to press ahead with
training you to become a photographer, then you're going to have to go
naked sooner or later. At least if you do it now it means that you
won't be spending ages worrying about it."

Robert still hesitated. He really did want to do it, and he kept
telling himself that he was being silly. All those boys on the website
had done it, including Bryan. Yeah, if Bryan could do it, then he
could. Not giving himself any more time to think, he pushed his shorts
down, stepped out of them and stood upright. He gave a short,
embarrassed laugh. "Go ahead. Take your photographs."

Damian smiled and raised the camera. "Turn towards me a little more.
That's really nice. OK, hold it like that." He took several more
photographs. "All done." Still smiling, he approached the teen.

Robert found that he was grinning happily. He felt as though he had
overcome some great hurdle. "I can't believe I just did that."

"You did fantastically well for a first time," said Damian. "And you've
got nothing at all to worry about; you look terrific." He eyes moved up
and down the teen's body.

"Thanks," said Robert, blushing.

"A small point though, if we're going to go ahead. I'm afraid this will
have to go." Damian indicated Robert's untidy bush of sandy coloured
pubic hair. "You can either take care of it yourself, or I could do it
for you."

"You mean you would shave me?" Robert took an involuntary step
backwards, and then checked himself. He got a tight feeling in his
stomach at thought of this good-looking young photographer touching him
down there and handling his dick and balls. He found the idea exciting
and he started to blush.

"Not today," Damian laughed, seeing the boy's reaction. "Maybe next
time. I'll leave it up to you." He casually reached out and ran his
hand over Robert's bare chest then turned his hand around and allowed
the backs of his fingers to slide down over the teen's stomach all the
way down to the top of his pubes. "You really do look great, Robert,"
he said, almost wistfully. He took his hand away. "Get your clothes on.
We're done for today. Let me get these pictures transferred to the
computer and then if you want, I'll print you a couple off to take
home."

Robert released a slow, ragged breath as he watched Damian walk away.
The touch of the man's hand on his chest had been incredible. Just for
a moment he had expected Damian to actually touch his cock, and the
fact that he hadn't left the boy feeling somehow cheated. No one had
ever touched him like that before. He was seventeen, almost eighteen,
gay, and completely lacking in any sort of sexual experience other than
that provided by his own hand. He wanted more. He wanted to feel Damian
touching him everywhere. The thought caused his cock to stir and it
gave a slight twitch. Shit! He was starting to get hard. In a panic he
grabbed his shorts and pulled them on.

By the time Robert had dressed, Damian had printed out several of the
pictures and laid them out on his desk. The teen wandered over to look
and cringed when confronted with an image of himself, totally naked.

"These are really good considering that no preparation went into them
and I haven't done any touching up," said Damian. "They're not exactly
the most artistic shots ever taken, but that's down to me, not you. You
make a great model, Rob."

"It's weird seeing myself like that," Robert grimmaced.

"You'll get used to it," said Damian, with a smile. "These are for you
to take. I'll put them into an envelope for you. Then I had better see
about getting you home."

Around twenty minutes later, Damian's car pulled up outside Robert's
house. The photographer turned off the engine and turned to his
passenger. "Thanks for coming Rob. You can let me know what you decide
about this photography business."

"I've already decided," said Rob. "I want to do it. I don't know about
the hard stuff yet. But I want to do the rest of it."

"Excellent," said Damian grinning widely.  "In that case, I'll give you
a ring in the next couple of days and we'll sort something out."

"Yeah, OK." Robert's heart was beating wildly. His was going to get the
chance to photograph naked boys. This had to be a dream. "Is it OK for
me to tell Mum and Dad?"

"Yeah, of course it is. Oh, and before I forget, in that envelope with
the photographs are a couple of forms that have to be signed. They're
the release forms that allow you to do the modelling. You'll need to
get one of your parents to sign them as well, since you're not eighteen
until next week. You can let me have them back next time I see you."

"OK, I can do that."

There was short silence. For some reason, Damian now appeared extremely
uneasy about something.

"Well, I guess I'd better be going," said Robert. "Thanks for
everything. I can't wait until we get started." He reached for the door
handle.

Damian's hand came out and grabbed Robert's arm. The photographer
swallowed, nervously. "Rob, before you go, there's one more thing." He
hesitated and licked his lips. "This has nothing to do with the
modelling or the photography, or anything else, this is... well, this
is just about me and you. Would you..." he stopped and sighed and then
gave a grin. "Damn, I feel like a school kid." The grin disappeared.
"Rob, would you like to come out with me sometime?"

Robert looked at the man, disbelievingly. "Go out with you? You mean...
you and me? Like a date?"

Damian nodded. "Yeah, whatever you want to call it. We can go
somewhere, or you can come back to my place for a meal, anything you
like."

"You're asking me out?" Robert's heart was thumping madly. This great
looking guy was actually asking him out. "Yeah. Yeah, OK. Whenever you
like. Yeah, I'd like that."

"OK." Damian looked intensely relieved. "How about tomorrow night?"

"Tomorrow would be good."

"OK. I'll call you and we'll decide what we're going to do."

"Yeah, fine." Grinning like an idiot, Robert opened the car door and
climbed out. "Bye then. See you tomorrow. Oh, and thanks again."

"Yeah, see you tomorrow," said Damian.

Casting frequent glances back over his shoulder to the car, Robert made
his way up the front path to the house. A seriously hot guy had just
asked him out. Any minute now, he knew, he was going to wake up.

**********

Bryan was back playing his game by the time Robert returned home. He
turned away from the computer as he heard the sound of the front door,
and glanced at his dad who was sitting reading a newspaper.

"Remember, be pleased for him," the man said, smiling.

"Yeah, OK, I will," said Bryan. He had more or less come to terms with
the idea of Robert doing some modelling, but there no way that the two
of them would be posing naked together.

Robert stepped into the room wearing the broadest smile that Bryan had
ever seen. He was clearly extremely happy about something.

"Guess what?" the older boy grinned, obviously excited about sharing
his news.

"Damian asked you to do some modelling," said Bryan, coolly.

Robert looked a little bit surprised. "Yeah. How did you know?"

"Damian told me yesterday that he was going to ask you," said Bryan,
feeling that he had scored a point in revealing that he knew about this
before his brother did.

"I take it from your expression that you said yes?" said their dad,
putting down his newspaper, and getting to his feet.

"Yeah, I said I'd do it," said Robert. "But there was something else as
well." He paused, still grinning like an idiot. "He's going to teach me
to become a photographer."

It took a moment for this unexpected announcement to sink in. Then
Bryan shrugged. "That's nice. I didn't know that you were interested in
photography."

"Not just ordinary photography," said Robert. "He's going to teach me
to become a model photographer, like him. I'm going to be helping him
at the studio."

There was a short silence, and then a cold, sickening feeling settled
in Bryan's stomach. "You're going to be doing what?"

"I'm going to help Damian when he's doing shoots at the studio. Well,
OK, not really help him. But I'll be there so that he can show me how
to do it."

"That's great," their dad beamed. "So you're going to be both a model
and a photographer. I'm really pleased for you Robert." He gave the
teen a short hug.

"You're going to be there during the shoots?" Bryan was still trying to
convince himself that he'd heard wrong.

"Yeah. So it looks like we'll sort of be working together. Won't that
be great? And then, just as I was getting out of the car..."

"You're not going to be there during my shoots," said Bryan, his tone
now cold.

For the first time since he'd entered the room, Robert's grin wavered.
"Well, I dunno. Damian said..."

"I don't care what Damian said," said Bryan, his voice rising. "You're
not being there for my shoots."

"Bryan." The boys' father stepped between the two teens. "Cool it a
little. You can sort it out with Damian later. I'm sure he can arrange
it so that you're both happy."

"He'd better, because I'm not having my photograph taken if he's going
to be there," said the younger boy, glaring at his brother.

"Bryan, that's enough. Now just calm down. No one is going to make you
do anything. I really can't see why you're making such a big deal over
it." The man held Bryan's gaze for a moment and then turned to look at
his older son. "What happened as you were getting out of the car?" he
asked.

Robert gave his brother what could only be described as a disappointed
look and then turned his attention to his dad, his smile quickly
reappearing. "Damian asked me out."

"He did?" the man looked surprised.

"Yeah, I think he really likes me."

Bryan started to laugh. "Don't be stupid. He takes everyone out. He
took me and Jon out after my first shoot. He took us for a pizza and
then to the cinema. It was so that he could get to know us better,
that's all. It doesn't mean that he likes you. What did you think, that
he wanted to be your boyfriend or something?"

Robert's smile faded. In fact, he looked crushed. "I... I don't know. I
thought..."

"In your dreams," laughed Bryan. Robert looked genuinely upset, and
Bryan felt a little bad about this, but he kept going, unable to help
himself. "You can't go out anyway. You're still grounded."

"What's that got to do with you?" Robert hit back. "You're just jealous
that you'll no longer be the centre of attention all the time."

"It's you that's jealous," snapped Bryan. "You saw me doing well at
something and now you have to try to spoil it for me."

"You think that's why I'm doing it? Just to spoil things for you? I've
got news for you Bryan, you're really not that important. Besides, it
was Damian's idea. He came looking for me, remember?"

"You could have said no."

"Why should I? Why should you have everything your own way all the
time?" Robert's tone was rising to match his brothers. "You're just a
spoilt little kid."

"Yeah, maybe I am," Bryan shouted back. "But at least I'm not a filthy
queer."

Robert looked like he'd been slapped, and Bryan knew instantly that he
had gone too far. He wished that he could take back what he'd said and
even opened his mouth to say that he was sorry, but the words wouldn't
come.

There was a long, sickening silence. Bryan stood looking at his
brother, while Robert slowly shook his head, his eyes glistening with
unshed tears.

"Bryan, go up to your room." The boy's father spoke the words calmly,
but there was a coolness in the tone that the young teen had not heard
before.

"But..."

"Just go, Bryan," said the man, a little louder, making it clear that
he was not about to be argued with.

His eyes down at his feet, Bryan brushed past his brother, hurried out
of the room and up the stairs. With each step the hurt and anger inside
him increased. He felt bad about the things that he'd said, but at the
same time, none of this was fair. He'd been doing the modelling first,
so why had Robert got to interfere? It had been going so well and now
everything was ruined. He closed his bedroom door firmly enough for it
to give a satisfying thud without actually banging, and threw himself
down onto his bed. It just wasn't fair.

He lay there in silence as the minutes ticked by, waiting for his dad
to appear, just as he always did. They would have a long talk, where
the man would point out how badly Bryan had behaved and the young teen
would feel genuinely sorry. There would be the hugs as they made up,
and then Bryan would be left alone for a while to think about things.
That's the way it always worked. And this time, more than ever before,
Bryan really needed that hug. Only this time, his dad didn't come.


The story continues in Chapter 21: First Date

Feedback is encouraged and always much appreciated. Email me at
gym@softhome.net or visit my discussion board at
http://www.gymnopedies.info for more stories, news and previews.

-- 
Pursuant to the Berne Convention, this work is copyright with all rights
reserved by its author unless explicitly indicated.
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| alt.sex.stories.moderated ------ send stories to: <ckought69@hotmail.com>|
| FAQ: <http://assm.asstr-mirror.org/faq.html> Moderators: <story-ckought69@hotmail.com> |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|ASSM Archive at <http://assm.asstr-mirror.org>   Hosted by <http://www.asstr-mirror.org> |
|Discuss this story and others in alt.sex.stories.d; look for subject {ASSD}|
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+