HeartBLOOD

Chapter ten

"Looking good!", Alec smirked as Magnus walked out of the bathroom. It was the day of the photoshoot and Magnus was finally done with getting ready. His hair was gelled back, his eyes framed with sparkling back eyeliner and he already wore his dancebelt and his nude shorts, all ready for the shooting. Alec had changed as well but he still wore sweatpants and a hoodie on top because he still didn't feel as if it was inappropriate to walk the halls of NYABM half way naked. Thanks to Magnus' body lotion he had no rash from the waxing on his chest. "One could say the same thing about you.", Magnus replied and Alec grinned. He had let Magnus do his hair a bit and to his surprise he got enough sleep last night which made the dark circles under his eyes a bit lighter.

They entered training room one which, to their surprise, looked a lot different than it did usually. On the opposite wall of the big window front were multiple photography backdrops in different colors. To Alec's surprise everyone was there already and apparently some stylists made some quick changes. "Over here!", Maia waved who was wearing a knee- long nude dress like most girls in the room. Only Aline and Camille were wearing nude sports bras and matching spandex. "Hey!", Alec greeted her and immediately started taking off his hoodie and sweats as he noticed he was the only one wearing cover ups. "Damn Alec, when was the last time you drank any water?", Maia asked, watching him reveal his accurate, precisely sculpted body. Every muscle was defined, every vein looked perfect. "This morning.", Alec laughed, "It was only half a cup though." "Alexander Gideon Lightwood, you manage to surprise me every time.", she chuckled and accompanied him to the stylist who put some body oil on him to emphasize his body shape and accentuate his muscles. "I tried.", he laughed and reminded himself of having to send a picture from today to Isabelle. "No, I mean it. You always look amazing, don't get me wrong, but this- every girl would drop dead on the spot just to be me right now.", she laughed. "Thank god I'm gay, there are enough young girls dying already.", Alec joked and walked towards Valentine who waved everyone close to him. "Hi, everyone! From what I saw everyone looks good which is perfect, here's the plan: We will take solo and duo pictures as well as groups of three and a final picture of all of you together for the NYABM website- you will receive the finished pictures in a few days and we will send them out to all our contacts so please give it your all- today will be exhausting but when you see the pictures, I promise it will be worth it." After a short round of applause everyone distributed themselves across the room. There were four different colored backdrops: One beige, one black, one white and one a mauve-greyish tone. To everyone's relief there also were four photographers, which meant they wouldn't have to spend the entire night in here as well. Minutes after the announcement Maia got called to the black backdrop for her solo pictures. Already wearing her pointe shoes she hurried towards the assigned photographer and put on her typical Maia- smile. The type of smile that lit an entire room, the type of smile that made you forget there was a sun shining, the type of smile that competed with the stars. Effortless, she began striking pose after pose. Mesmerized, Alec watched her. He hated pictures, besides he wasn't photogenic. But when watching her, it all looked so fun. And he knew the poses she did were not easy but they looked incredibly easy on her. She threw her leg into the sky as if it was meant to fly, she jumped so high Alec was convinced she could touch the ceiling. And during all of that her greatest accessory was her smile. Shortly after, the same photographer asked him to join in and try a few lifts and partnering poses. The very second he stepped on the backdrop he felt the pressure- if the pictures were to turn out ugly, it would be because of him. "Arched back?", she asked and Alec nodded, getting ready to lift. "Hold!", the photographer yelled and started taking pictures. Alec got to put her down surprisingly quickly- somehow, this wasn't as hard as he imagined. A few poses later Maia got sent away behind the cameras and it was Alec's time to shine. To his surprise, he knew what to do. It was like performing, but instead of the publicum he had a camera watching him. Smiling, he jumped, imagining this was part of the three minutes he had to be breathtakingly amazing. Glancing to the side during a spin he saw Maia raising both thumbs up. "Can you jump a grand jeté a couple of times for me, please? You have fantastic legs.", the photographer asked and Alec immediately did as he was told. "Fabulous!", she applauded, "Next!" Just as Alec was about to leave she stopped him:" You stay here, I need to try some trio picture with you." Hastily, she looked around and pointed at Magnus and Jonathan. "You two, come over here, you three look very different, that will make a great picture." With a grin they positioned themselves around Alec and she threw poses at them, Alec would have never thought of doing himself. "Perfect!", she exclaimed, obviously very pleased with her results. Walking off, he got chased by Maia. "Group selfie!", she yelled and gathered Simon, Raphael and Alec behind her. All smiling wide, she captured this moment and passed her phone on to Magnus with the request of taking some full body picture of all of them together. Simon next to Alec, Maia on his other side and Raphael sitting in front of them, they grinned into the camera. Little did they know that one day this picture would cause more tears than smiles.