He was a little curious about the makeup process. It seemed pretty hectic but highly functioning, having up to three people working on a single person all at once. He decided not to get closer though, he didn't want to be in the way or be a rude guest. He wasn't sure if models were used to having an audience, they probably were, but it was his nature not to want to make people uncomfortable.
He didn't want to bother Rei and Nagisa either, even though Nagisa seemed to be doing just that, he at least was familiar with the equipment and seemed to be making himself a little useful by setting things around.
He decided to lean against a wall and wait for things to get started. He battled the urge to reach for his phone; it was a habit he'd picked up in the last couple of weeks, always waiting for a message that would never come. He did it at home all the time, but he figured the blond wouldn't approve of his obsessive compulsive behavior as he would likely call it. He sighed, he really wished he was back at his place, lying on his unmade bed and checking the phone without anyone to yell at him for it.
After a lot of preparation and some shouting, things looked like they were going to start. Makoto wondered if photo shoots always had people so on edge and in a hurry, it seemed like such a crazy tiring lifestyle but he kept the comment to himself.
He settled behind Rei and next to Nagi who was checking the computer where the pictures would show up as Rei snapped them. The two girls who were getting the makeup earlier and the guy who had been getting dressed were already taking their positions on the beach setting. Rei was directing them and telling them what he expected them to do and what he wanted to portray with the photos. It was no joke when Nagi said his boyfriend was obsessed with beauty, the guy was a true perfectionist, and highly professional, he stopped hating being there a little and started to see the fun of it. It was nice seeing someone so passionate about their work.
It was a little monotonous though; the first session lasted for like half an hour. The three models tried different poses that looked too much alike to Makoto's eyes yet to Rei seemed to be the difference between a fifth grade's painting and the Mona Lisa. The two busty girls, one blond one brunette took turns at hugging the guy suggestively or laying on the sand grabbing a ball or something. They had nice bodies, the guy too, Makoto wouldn't deny, but as he had already guessed, he didn't feel any impure enjoyment from watching them; it was merely an acknowledgment of their achievement of today's beauty standards.
They took a "break" to move to the other set. The models went back to the make up and wardrobe stations and Rei and Nagi settled their equipment again. There were a few other people in the room, some seemed to be the managers of the models, a cute red hair girl and a blond middle age man chatted with each other on a corner.
Makoto didn't try to make conversation with any of them, he already felt too out of place to try and fail at fitting in that foreign world.
The second session took even longer; the models took individual turns at standing before the white background and posing with different clothes. It was made so that while one posed the others got changed and ready, it was efficient but it still took too long for Mako's liking.
After the second round of rotating models something caught his attention though, the second male model who hadn't appeared on the first session suddenly came into action, and Makoto's heart skipped a beat.
He was wearing a jovial blue sports jacket with white sleeves and a white t-shirt with a dolphin drawing underneath. On his lower body he wore red pinkish pants with a chain hanging from his pocket. The look, while probably targeted at teenager boys, suited him, really well. Suddenly that boy looked far more interesting than anyone or anything Makoto had seen since he had arrived.
It wasn't the clothes what caught his eyes though; the guy had a weird ageless aura to him. It was hard to say if he was a teen or a young looking man in his mid twenties. He had the soft yet strong features of a boy past eighteen but he had big round eyes that seemed to cast a "forever young" spell making it impossible to guess his age.
His skin looks so soft Makoto thought as the man turned to him still looking at the camera and the light reflected on those perfect cheekbones. Makoto surprised himself staring with his mouth agape, it wasn't just the man's obvious beauty and perfect form, it was his blue inexpressive eyes that seemed to pierce right into the camera and yet at the same time they told him their owner was miles away. There was just something about the boy's every movement, so aloof so effortless, that surrounded him with that kind of simplistic yet enchanting beauty. So unlike the previous models exaggerated and obviously rehearsed poses designed to highlight their strong points, the dolphin boy -As Makoto decided to call him - looked so natural at all time. He looked so mundane yet at the same time so ethereal and unreachable that it sent a sharp stab to Makoto's chest.
Damn it Nagisa! What was he thinking bringing him to watch beautiful unattainable people? Was this his friend's way of torturing him? Taking him to ogle all the windows of the expensive shops he would never be able to afford shopping in.
As if he had invoked him with his thoughts, Nagisa elbowed him and whispered "Nice view right?" Makoto blushed and grimaced, his friend could be so tacky sometimes, Makoto often wondered just how Nagisa and he had ever managed not only to become friends, but to stay as such for so long.
When he returned his sight to the model though, he found with a violent jump of his stomach that those fierce blue eyes had been watching his little exchange with the blonde and were now intently hooked on his. His cheeks decided then it was their cue to perform a red neon sign impersonation, great... just great.
He wanted to look away like the coward he always was when it came to such situations but something stopped him. The words "magnetic" and "gravitational pull" crossed the rambling rush of his mind while he still tried to process those two impossibly deep orbs and he realized he would always be the biggest sap. He also started freaking out, because it wasn't normal, it wasn't healthy for him to feel like such a high school girl after a break up, it was a sign for trouble and he had too much of that already.
He swallowed and realized his throat was too dry and hoped for the model to return his eyes to the camera for once and for all. Apparently he had some sort of mental power for the guy did just that, not without stealing a last glance of Makoto before and frowning a little while at it. He knows Makoto thought, he knows we were talking about him, he knows I was looking at him, he's frowning disapprovingly, he probably thinks I'm the biggest creep. The thought while utterly crushing, helped to calm down his frantic heartbeat and the turn in his stomach now told him he was out of danger for the moment. As long as he remembered he was out of the guy's league and that he would most likely die alone he'd be fine, there was no room for fluttery feelings when you were depressed.
Luckily for him the dolphin boy's shoot ended shortly and it was the turn of the next model. Makoto stayed a while not to seem too obvious and then made his retreat to a door by the big windows; it apparently led to some fire escape staircase. There wasn't much room outside but it was enough of a hideout for the rest of the session. He had seen enough already and didn't care for more humiliation, his girlfriend, ex girlfriend had already surpassed his monthly yearly limit of that.
