When I Saw You

He laughed when Paul flipped him off again. "Nice meeting you, Balian. See you at practice next week, Arrow."

"Arrow?" I asked when Trav walked away. Pink tinged the deep tan on Paul's face.

"The nickname just had to follow me from high school," he muttered. "In an interview after I came in first at State during my freshman year, my coach said I always went through the water like an arrow, straight and true. Back then, I was this scrawny little stick. The kids started calling me Arrow to tease me. Of course it stuck."

I tried to keep a straight face but it wasn't going to happen. I sank back against my seat, laughing helplessly. The visual was just too funny.

"You're an ass." Paul threw his balled up napkin at me, but he was chuckling too.

"Sorry," I gasped. "Sorry."

"No you're not."

I shook my head. "Okay, you're right." I was not sorry I'd met this amazing guy. Not at all.

****

It was a lovely weekend. We spent every minute together, many of them naked. Paul even posed for me several times. I got out my light equipment and caught some shots of him in front of a cream backdrop I'd set up in the small studio I had in my spare room. The nude pictures were going to go into a special file, only for us.

"Okay. Turn over and do that throw again." I'd asked Sammy to get a fellow teammate to join the shoot. Wrestling was all about balance, movement, and judicious use of force. To get the kind of shots I needed for the motion of the throws I wanted to feature, I needed two guys. I didn't mind the extra cost because it really paid off. The kid he picked was a bit smaller but so flexible I couldn't believe some of the positions he managed to twist into.

After four hours, the guys were exhausted. Sweat was dripping off them. I'd kept a bunch of water available in a cooler and tossed them bottles and clean towels when the shoot was over.

"Thanks a lot, you two."

Sammy's friend groaned as he collapsed on the bleachers while I cleaned up my equipment and stored it. "Remind me never to become a model. Oh, my god, I'm sore!" he said.

I chuckled. Every shoot with the athletes I'd chosen went well. Posing for a photographer might be new to them, but I could tell they were all used to taking orders. They were more patient than a lot of other models I'd worked with, repeating each motion I needed until I got the shots exactly right. It took a few weeks to finish all the shooting and editing for the photos of the athletes for the gallery show. I didn't have any trouble not gawking at them. Paul had been working hard practicing, so he didn't stay over very often, but when we had time we were like two horny kids who couldn't get enough of each other. The 'massages' I gave him drove him crazy, but I enjoyed getting to do it.

The day of Paul's shoot was overcast. It hindered my plans, since I'd hoped to utilize the natural light coming through the glass ceiling, but I managed to pull off a new idea I'd had after we'd met up with Paul's friend Trav. As I set up my equipment, Paul's coach expressed some concern about him diving outside of practice but I promised I wasn't looking for anything fancy and wouldn't push Paul to do anything he shouldn't.

Cort had popped in to most of my shoots, and of course, he was there for Paul's. Maybe asking him to help me clarify part of the morality clause wasn't as subtle as I thought.

Paul was on the diving board so I could check the positioning and get the needed light readings.

Cort was there when I climbed down.

"You're dating him, aren't you?" he asked.

"Why do you say that?" I deflected his question with one of my own.

"The way he looked at you. Even more, the way you were looking at and touching him. Those Speedos don't hide much, you know."

I might have touched Paul a little more than necessary to get the readings but he was temptation incarnate. I couldn't not touch him. Still... I frowned at Cort. "You shouldn't be looking at him like that."

He laughed and slapped me on my shoulder. I winced. "Possessive bastard. You haven't told me about anyone you were dating in so long, I decided to find out for myself who you were doing. It had to be one of the models you were using. I knew you had to have some other reason for asking me to look at the athlete handbook with you. So... is having your swimmer everything you thought it would be?"

"None of your business. Now, if you don't mind, I have to work. Don't you have some guys to go torture with suicides or something?" I set up the tripod and glanced through my viewfinder to line up the shot.

"You can only put me off for so long. Amanda said come over for a barbeque tonight, and no excuses. Bring your guy, or I'll tell her you have a boyfriend and won't bring him over."

She'd kill me. "I'll ask him. He is pretty busy getting ready for his competition," I said.

"Excuses won't save you. Even legitimate ones," Cort said over his shoulder as he left the pool.

That evening Amanda was grace itself, her gently rounded stomach leading the way as she brought out the salads while Cort grilled. Paul had agreed to come and he was setting the table while I finished plating the deviled eggs.

"I'll admit I had an ulterior motive when I asked you to dinner," Amanda said. She stood beside me stirring up a pitcher of lemonade.

"Oh?"

She seemed a little nervous. "I was wondering, and Cort said just to ask you and it'd be fine, but would you take some pregnancy photos of me and then baby's picture when he's born? We can pay you."

"A boy? You're having a boy?" I grinned at her. "Cort must be relieved to be on familiar territory." He was such a guy's guy, though he was extremely gentle with Amanda and always had been.

"Yeah, I think he about passed out from relief to be spared from the pink and frilly world of baby girls."

I laughed. "I bet." I hugged her lightly, her stomach pushing against me. "I'd love to take pictures for you. And you won't pay me a thing. Don't even think about it."

"Thank you." She wiped at her face. "Damn hormones." She laughed, her eyes shining up at me.

We went out with the eggs and lemonade. "Ready?" Amanda asked Cort. Paul was standing beside him arguing about some game between some teams I didn't know. Flipping the last thick burger onto a serving plate, Cort nodded and we all sat down at the table.

The burgers were perfectly grilled, with a nice smooth cheese melted on top, but I didn't tell Cort that. He spent the first twenty minutes of dinner teasing me about robbing the cradle and asking how many supplements I was taking to keep up with my young boyfriend.

Paul had taken it pretty well, but his thigh against mine began to jiggle. There was only so much he could say to someone who worked for the college. Fortunately, I didn't have to worry about that. Cort shut up really fast when I told him how much it would cost if I made him pay me to the pregnancy and baby photos Amanda had asked me about. I never would, but that got Amanda on his case. She'd cracked him good upside the head and made him apologize for teasing us.

He went red in the face but muttered, "Sorry." He stuck his tongue out at me when he thought Amanda wasn't paying attention and earned another smack. We'd all laughed when Amanda grumbled about having two kids in the house.

****

Unfortunately, Paul's trip to Nationals was the same time as the gallery show. He felt bad about it, but I knew life wasn't perfect. It would suck being apart for a week though; we hadn't spent more than two days without seeing each other since that first day when I'd made the best decision of my life.

"I'm really sorry," he said.

"Stop saying that." I stroked his face, giving him a short kiss. We were having dinner out to celebrate both events since we both had our own obligations and couldn't be together. I opened his door. "Come on, get in. I have a surprise for you."

We drove through the city, the sinking sun turning the clouds bright-pink and pale-lavender that contrasted with the darkening blue sky behind the buildings. I put my hand on his thigh, unable to resist touching him whenever possible. We'd been dating almost six weeks and that need hadn't lessened at all.

"Where are we going?" Paul was looking around.

"I told you, it's a surprise." We were within a few miles of the surprise, so I asked Paul to close his eyes.

"Balian!" he complained.

"Come on, do it. Trust me." I hit my turn signal to make a right. "You'll like it." I hoped he would, at least.

Paul grumbled but he closed his eyes. As soon as I parked, he started to open his eyes. "No peeking!"

"You're being silly."

"This deserves a special entrance. I'll be right around to get you. Don't peek!" I hurried around the car and opened his door. Paul held out his hand and I helped him up onto the sidewalk. I guided him from behind, one hand on his elbow.

"Hold on."

"What are you doing? Are those keys?"

I unlocked the door. "Jeez, can you be patient for two minutes?" I teased him.

"Okay, okay." Paul stood there waiting while I flicked on the lights, only turning on half of them. I started walking him forward again, weaving our way around the room. I pulled him to a stop. "Right here."

I needed to see his face when he saw it for the first time, so I stepped to the side of him. Taking a deep breath, I said, "Open your eyes."

Paul's mouth dropped open. He was staring at a blown up photograph of himself falling toward the water. His body was outlined with a bright, white light just inches from the light blue surface of the pool, his whole body a taut line from linked hands to pointed toes.

I'd titled the photograph "Arrow".

He'd complained that I was a bigger slave driver than his coach that day. It was important to show the world how I saw Paul, and I was relentless in achieving it. I'd lost count of the number of times he dove off the platform, but I'd made it up to him with a full-body massage to ease the soreness in his shoulders and calves. It'd taken a strip of lights hung on the wall behind the area to create the halo of light around him. I'd wanted to recreate our first morning together, the first time I'd taken his picture.

"You're amazing," Paul said breathlessly. "I can't believe that's me. You see me like this?"

Every muscle stood out in his back and ass. I'd put him in a white Speedo for the shoot and the stark contrast to the deep tan skin of the rest of his body matched the white illumination shining around his body. He almost looked nude, but wasn't. It was a small compromise to my artistic vision.

He reached out and grabbed my hand, pulling me over to him. I put my arm around his shoulders, and he snuggled into my chest. "I didn't do anything special. Everyone can see you like this." I still struggled with that but I wanted to show Paul how he looked, his tight body sculpted in the quest of his sport.

"You're beautiful all on your own. I was drawn to your body when I first saw you. After we met I knew your body was great, but you were even more amazing. Of course I was right," I said. I smirked down at him.

Paul laughed and kissed me. Our lips met softly. "I'm glad you were right," he whispered.

THE END