It's been two years since his sweet Mick disappeared without a warning, after six blissful days officially together. Unable to move on, Ohm is starting third year at the university, his last hope fading. Then he hears a familiar voice...
Smut warnin...
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The guys were over at Ohm's place, for a bite to eat and to listen Ohm and Mick practise for a gig at EspressYo'self. One of the songs they wanted to play was the classic jazz song 'Wonderful World', a song about love and friendship. It would go well with their set at the cafe.
Rain came in a little late, after all the food was mostly gone.
"What have you been up to, Rain?" Pond asked, his eyebrows waggling.
"I developed a few photos I took of Kit. His grandmother's birthday's coming up and he asked if I could take a photo of him. He's buying a nice frame for it."
"That was nice of you," Pond said, his smile a little pointed. Rain didn't notice.
"He's interested in photography. He even came with me when I had that assignment about shadows for the photo club."
"You don't say," Noh said.
"Photography, sure," Phun said.
"Mmmm," Rain said, oblivious, and passed over a small stack of photos. "Have a look. I tried a few different poses."
Pond snickered, but didn't say anything, just reached out to the photos. The photos had been taken at the photo club's studio, which the guys recognised from having been Rain's regular test subjects over the past two years. The photos were from shoulders up, and Kit was nicely dressed, his hair combed neatly. In the first photo, that is.
"Damn, Rain. Did you fuck Kit before, during, or after taking these photos?" Pond asked.
Rain choked. "What, no! What the hell are you talking about?"
Ohm took the photos, and paused when he saw the last ones. He threw the photos on the table like they burned his fingers. "I would never let anyone take photos of Mick looking like that." Mick looked over his shoulder, and blushed.
"What?" Rain asked, confused.
"You don't see it?" Can asked. "He's not at all my type, but these are some hot photos."
"He definitely wasn't thinking about his grandma," Tin said, and everyone snickered.
"And neither were you, Rain," Pond said.
"What do you mean? I was just focusing on taking the light and exposure, composition... I haven't really looked at them." Rain took up the photos again, and shifted through them. His face turned red when he got to the last ones and he dropped the photos.
"You really didn't see it until now? That kid wants you," Ohm said.
"I could have told you that weeks ago," Pond said smugly.
"He's not a kid, he's same age as you," Rain said, but his eyes kept going back to the photos.
"What did you do to him?" Noh asked, reaching his hand to see the photos again, but Rain snatched them from his hand. Now that he saw them with new eyes, he didn't want anyone to see them again.
"Nothing! I was just taking photos. Well, I did help him pose," Rain said, and thought back to the session.
The first shots had been straightforward, and Rain had been focused on fiddling with the lights, and camera settings and such, taking multiple test shots. "Turn your head a little to the left," Rain had said, and taken more shots. "Not like that," he had complained, and gone over to adjust the angle of Kit's face. This had gone on for a while, but Rain hadn't been quite satisfied.
In the end he had walked over to Kit again, and messed up his hair a bit, and opened the top two buttons of Kit's button down shirt. Kit had opened his lips, a shaky breath swooshing out, but Rain hadn't noticed. "Lick your lips," he'd said. Rain's fingers had been on Kit's face, tilting his head back, and Kit had licked his lips slowly, keeping an eye contact with Rain. Rain had shaken himself out of a trance, and reached for his camera. These were the last photos in the series.
Rain snapped out of the memory, his face burning up.
"Just what exactly is going on between you two?" Noh asked.
Rain told them about the arrangement, thankful to let the memory go. "It's worked really well, Kit hasn't been harassed much since, and the girls have left me mostly alone, too. I'm surprised you haven't heard the rumours." It simply was a case of everyone thinking that the other guys at the Gay Table already knew.
"So you're not actually dating?" Can asked.
"No! You thought we were? How come you never asked me?"
"We thought you would tell us yourself," Ae said.
"There was nothing to tell."
"So all that skinship was just pretend? Kit's practically in your lap every time I see you with him now," Ohm asked.
"He's just playing, and I go along. He's like a puppy, why would I mind?"
"Is your middle name Denial, by any chance?" Tin muttered.
"I'm straight, but if a cute guy like Kit looked at me like that, I might find it hard to turn him down," Pond said. "What? I'm confident enough in my sexuality to admit that Kit looks sexy in those last photos. He's usually like a bouncy little puppy, but... Damn."
Rain had a sudden image of strangling Pond. Strangely satisfying.
"So what are you going to do now?" Ae asked.
"Has Kit seen these photos yet?" Mick asked. He knew that Kit was interested in Rain, but didn't think it was his business to meddle.
"Not yet," Rain said, clearly preoccupied.
"I'd advise you to figure out what you want before handing them over. And if you're not serious about Kit, perhaps you shouldn't show him the last shots," Ohm said.
"Yeah, imagine if Kit got the wrong idea that you were interested in him," Pond said.
"It would be a pity if such a misunderstanding would lead to trouble," Noh jumped in. Pond cackled and threw Noh a high five.
Rain looked from one to the other, at a loss. There wasn't anything there with Kit. Was there?
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A/N:
Kit's photo above (Gun Atthaphan) is still from one of the more grandma friendly shots. The last ones got more heated in my fan fic scenario.
