A photographer's dream

by pok_bepxtep

Everyone knows there's like tons of pictures of boys online. Anyone denying seeing such pictures is either lying or blind. And for those with loads of fantasy: I'm not referring to the pictures where clothing is optional. There's quite a lot of studio pictures of boys out there that are meant as portfolio for young starring models.

But, as most people here reading these stories, those portfolios can sometimes inspire the human fantasy, taking it far and far beyond modeling a new pair of jeans. Mine's been playing in my dreams more frequently than the reruns of The Simpsons.

I've written stories here before. One's called 'Taken for granted', a story that's been abandonned due to a plot that didn't seem to work. The second's 'Sander', which I've quit posting here around New Year's Eve 2007. Then I'd stated I'd stop continuing that story, but I've carried on nevertheless. I should post a new installment any time soon.

In the meantime I decided to give 'Sander' some rest and try and write out my model studio fantasy, so here goes. Enjoy reading! (If you did, then mail me at pok_bepxtep@yahoo.com).

Characters:

-Patrick; 38 yrs old; behind the camera

-Sebastian; 10 yrs old; in front of the camera

-Vicky; 34 yrs old; Damian's mother

Part One: The request

Before I can talk to you about some very special request a customer made, let me first tell you about the business I run. Actually, the business itself isn't that special, but I thought it'd be nice to know how one would come to me with that request.

My name's Patrick Taylor and I now have the respectful age of 38. About 8 years ago I started out as a photographer, doing mostly weddings and stuff like that. At the beginning I worked alone, but apparently the pictures I hung up in the shop-window were good advertising, cause only two years later I could set up an entire studio and I had to hire some people to help out.

Having more people taking pictures, I could specialize in doing shoots for communions and birthdays of kids. Not that my work was that special, but apparently I knew how to approach the children when taking their picture and making those pictures look good. I can't really recall many kids who didn't enjoy modeling their brand new 'don't you dare ruin them' clothes.

We did all kinds of shoots with kids. There were practically no limits to what the parents wanted. Some wanted the classic pictures somewhere in a park, others preferred studio pictures. I even had parents asking to go abroad for the pictures, which I happily did. Nothing more fun than combining work and pleasure on a little trip. And of course, everything the parents wanted brought in the cash to further expand the business.

Being the boss of the company I of course had all privileges I wanted, going from a tax deductable company car to getting the last say in who took on which assignment. I'd already been very aware of my attraction towards young boys and in the end that was all I did. And I did it very well, cause even my fellow photographers from inside and outside the company were very appreciative about my work.

The word of my specializing in doing shoots with young boys spread out fast and wide. Quite a few kids ranging between five and twelve were presented to me by their parents to please make a nice photo album of their young ones. They would also bring brothers and sisters, which I didn't mind. Of course I preferred brothers, but I still had a business to run and refusing customers just cause they were girls wouldn't exactly be wise.

Now, as for my approach to getting the kids to enjoy having their picture taken, it isn't exactly rocket science. The mistake most people make when they want their sons and daughters to pose before the camera is that they all take it too seriously. How can you want a kid to smile nicely if they're forced to stand still and to look into the lens for like two minutes before the picture's actually taken.

What I do is let the kids be kids, even when the pictures have to be kinda serious. Even though some seem to be really camera shy, I think they still like the special attention they're getting. A compliment here or there or a funny remark always helps to break the ice.

What I usually do is first let the kids adjust to the studio or to the settings the pictures will be taken in. To make that work, I always ask the parents to leave the studio or to give me and my models some time alone. Most kids seem a lot more relaxed when mommy and daddy aren't looking. Of course there's parents who absolutely want to be there, which is fine by me, but then I still ask them nicely to give us enough free space to work with.

Then, if the shoot's outside, I let them explore the environment or I just let them play and run around a bit. When they do I follow them from a distance big enough to give them their space and close enough for my lens to reach. I always use those moments to take the first pictures. They know they're there for a photo shoot, so they make no big deal of it when they see me flashing the camera, but they usually go up in their play enough to forget about the camera and to completely relax. When the time is right, I get them to pose there where their parents want them to pose. By that time, they're completely at ease and their smiles are the genuine ones that give kids their charm and the forced ones that make the children look kinda dumb.

The same more or less applies for studio settings. There I make sure I get the right crops, usually toys they can play with. I first let them play with the toys, which they are glad to do. Some toys they've never seen, so most of the time they really get into the playing. As the kids are building their lego constructions or racing their HotWheels, I take pictures, catching their expressions as they go vrooom-vrooom or bang-bang. Sometimes it's really amazing to see their fantasy work overtime when they get those toys in their hands. After a session of playing, I just follow the same steps as I do with outdoor shoots.

When parents then come back to see the results, I always show every picture I took that looks presentable, always in two piles. First they get to see what they wanted to get: the ones where their kids pose nicely before the lens. Those pictures always meet to their approval and I let them choose the ones they like best. After their choice is made, I dig out the shots I took before that set. And you can guess it: the pictures of their kids playing and running about are much more popular the imposed ones. Most people go home with an album with a collage of both sets. The kids, they always leave happy and proud of their pictures.

The request I usually get are always quite classic, but there's always some exceptions. Some parents, especially the mommy's, think their sons are made to be professional models. Sometimes they're right, too, but more often it's their mother's love that makes them believe their sons are cut out for a life as a star.

When that happens, the mothers usually come to me to make some kind of portfolio, which is usually quite pricy. They have with them like an entire wardrobe of different outfits their boys have to wear during the photo shoot. I've got a little space where they boys can change into other clothes, so that's not a problem. The wardrobe ranges from a boy size tuxedo, over all kinds of sports outfits to just every day boy clothes.

Once in while some mothers take it even a step further by asking me to take pictures of their sons in swim wear or underwear. Usually the kids know about this before they arrive, but it always takes me a bit longer to get them relaxed. Most of the time I just let them play a bit longer and I talk to them a lot about school and hobbies and tv and whatnot. I always save those underwear or swim wear shoots for last. That of course requires some stripping, something most kids are relatively okay with. Just the pants or shorts come of a bit less voluntarily, but then I try and act as if it's not a big deal. Eventually they all oblige and it only takes a few snapshots for them to get used to the idea of being half naked in front of the camera.

Of every shoot the entire crew does we keep an archive, all per category. Every picture's on a dvd, together with three copies, just in case one got lost or damaged. The best pictures are in print, stocked in albums standing neatly next to each other in chronological order. Then, the very best of them get printed in poster size, about 35 by 25 inches. Those either get hung up in the window-display, or I put them in a booklike display in the shop. I'm sure you've seen those around in poster shops. I can tell you, those posters get lots of attention and there's been quite a few people asking if they were for sale (they are not).

During my carreer I've seen quite a lot of handsome young boys posing before my camera. I must admit that my attraction towards them has become stronger cause of those very close encounters. Some kids I really liked working with, as they seemed to love the camera. When a boy shows he really enjoys it, I always end up chatting with him during the shoot. I get to know them quite well and even though it's only temporarily, during the photo sessions, we end up as friends. I often still see some of them in town and they always say hi and wave at me when they see me.

So, as you'd guess, I was pretty happy with the way the business was going. Of course, the share of little boys modelling before my camera were a very nice addition to the success. With the rest of the team working for me, I could easily pick out the cutest of the lot and delegate all the lesser attractive projects to the other photographers.

Two months ago I did have a very tough decision to make, concerning one of those projects. On a rather rainy wednesday evening, just before I would close the shop and call it a day (I'd just had a nice session with a funny little 7-year old), a woman in her thirties came in with her son. I won't describe the woman to you in detail, except that her ways were already hinting at the odd request she was about to make. But apart from that, I barely noticed here, cause my attention was drawn towards the boy standing next to her.

He had brown, half-long hair, stylishly combed sideways, with some messy bits here and there to give it a very lively effect. There was a small amount of gel keeping it all in place and it made the boy look gorgeous. As he and his mother came to the front desk I installed to welcome customers, his beauty became even more apparent as the spotlights hanging over us reflected in a pair of eyes that seemed to be blue. But when that light hit his eyes in some angels, you could also notice some green which gave his eyes a very mysterious look. Whatever colour they were, I was hooked on them and it was very hard not to stare at him. The light blush appearing on his cheeks told me he knew he had my attention and that he was very much aware of his magnetism.

Further down his face, he had a lovely little nose a pair of very delicate lips. His smile also showed a perfect set of ivory teeth. This boy was a true piece of art, a statue carved to perfection. His tan, the mysterious eyes, the flushy cheeks and the moist lips were painted with colours no painter would be able to mix. And as he was standing there before me, in a black sleeveless shirt and a pair of black jeans board shorts, I could tell that the rest of him was just as perfect. The big of skin he showed -his arms and his shins- at least looked very appealing. My hopes to be able to have him pose in swim wear were getting very high, but I was already glad to have such an angel in my store.

Snapping back to the real world, I invited both boy and mother to sit down at the desk, offering them a drink. His mother refused, but the boy gladly accepted a fresh can of coke. We went through a brief introduction. The mother's name was Vicky Andrews and she lived in a restyled farm outside of town, together with her husband and the boy sitting next to her. Sebastian, his name was and he'd be ten later that month. After sharing names and writing down the necessary information for future referrence (invoices, adds for this and that...) I asked them the one question every shop owner asks his customers.

"So, Mrs. Andrews, how can I help you?"

"Please call me Vicky, errr... Patrick," she said kindly. "It's about my boy Sebastian here. He already told you he's got his 10th birthday coming up and my husband and I wanted to do something special for that."

"Okay."

"Every year we have his picture taken around his birthday, so when he's all grown up we can see how he changed over the years. But 10's a special age, so we thought we could do something a bit different from what we usually do."

"I see. So this year you'd like me to take those pictures, then?"

"Yes, that's the idea. We kinda heard about you from family and friends. They were all very satisfied with the pictures you took for them. They especially complimented you on how you treated the boys you took pictures of."

"It's always nice to hear the word gets spread like that. I take great pleasure in my work, so I guess it kinda rubs off on the kids. It's quite fun working with the youngsters."

"Yes. They showed me some of your pictures and they were of a very high standard. Even when they mentionned the rather steap price, I was convinced that you'd be the right man for Sebastian's birthday pictures."

"Great!"

I was actually quite flattered with all the compliments. And of course hearing Mrs. Andrews officially hire me to take birthday pictures for here nearly 10-year old son was very good news. As we were talking, the boy just sat there listening, trying his best to not show off how bored he actually was. I of course had become quite good at picking up the signals from boys his age and I knew he'd start losing his attention and his patience, so I turned to him for a bit.

"So, Sebastian, you're almost 10. You throwing a big party?"

Hearing his name he sorta woke up from his daze. "Party? Oh, yeah, all my friends are coming. We're even gonna have a big trampoline to play on."

"Sounds cool, Sebastian. Gonna have a big cake, too, I suppose?"

The boy nodded enthusiastically: "Yeah, with lots of chocolate and whipped cream."

"I like them like that too. You make sure to save me a piece, will ya," I said, winking to let him know I was kidding.

"Hehe... Maybe."

"Say, this might take some time. If you want to, there's a tv set and a Wii over there. Wanna go and play, instead of sitting here with us grownups and getting all bored."

"Can I?"

"Of course you can. That's what it's there for. That is if your mom's okay with it."

"Mom?" he pleaded.

"You go ahead, love," Mrs. Andrews said. "Have fun."

I showed him where to go and told him to enjoy himself. Gratefully he got up, taking the rest of his coke with him and dashing off to the little cosy area I'd created for kids who come here for their pictures. A good investment that had been, cause I spent quite some time with the boys in there. It sometimes helped breaking the ice playing together.

"It shows you know your way around kids. Thanks for letting him play."

"Not a problem. Kids are supposed to play and have fun, not sit still and do nothing."

"I guess."

"So, what kinda pictures did you have in mind?"

"Well, that's one of the reasons why it's good Sebastian doesn't hear us talking. He knows about the pictures, cause he's used to doing that for his birthday. But as I said, we'd like to do something a bit special."

"I see. You're making me really curious."

"When it's time for Sebastian's birthday photo album, we always go out getting him some new clothes to wear. We're gonna do that this year, too, but we're gonna get different sets."

"Nothing special there."

"No. But apart from the pictures with those clothes we would like to have a set where Sebastian is... errrm... without clothes."

"You mean in his underwear of speedos or something?" I wanted to know, not fully grasping what she meant by 'without clothes'.

"That too, but apart from that, we would very much like to have pictures of Sebastian without any clothes. So no underwear nor speedos."

"Naked? Oh, my, that is special indeed."

That was my visible reaction. Deep inside my imagination went through dozens of possible scenes of this woman's son posing before me in his full glory. But I had a business to run and there are certain aspects that pleaded against taking pictures of naked children. The boy was a true diamond and my attraction towards boys was big enough to want to go through with it, but I didn't want to risk my business getting in a bad daylight and having to close down because of this. Furthermore, I had absolutely no plans to end up in jail for something like this. In this modern age, people were open for pretty much everything except naked kids. So, I had to disappoint Mrs. Andrews.

"I'd love to do all the pictures with those different outfits. Photographs of him in underwear or something similar are okay, too. But I'm afraid I'm gonna have to say no to doing pictures of Sebastian naked."

"If it's a matter of payment, I'm willing to pay more for it," she offered.

"Money's not the issue, here, Vicky," I said. "But taking pictures of naked children is a very risky business. Too risky to jeapordise the existence of this photo studio."

"You're talking about child pornography, right? I only want some innocent pictures of Sebastian, I don't want him to have sex in them, or anything."

I could tell she felt insulted, even though I'd never brought up the pornography thingy. But she was right to open the discussion. So I played my trump card: my own open mind towards nudes."

"Oh, I know you're not talking about pornographic images. There's a very thin line between ordinary nudes and pornography, especially with children. Too thin to risk crossing it or even getting near it. I do admit that it would be nice to do it, just because I think pictures of naked children can be very beautiful."

"So, if you had the choice and there wouldn't be any risks, you'd do it?"

"Definitely. And I hope you don't mind me saying this, but your son would make a very nice subject."

"Heh. You're not the first to notice how attractive he is. The photographer we worked with before would always hang one of Sebastian's pictures up in his display."

"I can imagine, yes. It's really with regret that I have to say no to this."

"What if we would do this unofficially?" Mrs. Andrews then suggested.

"Unofficially?"

"Yes. If we keep this between us, maybe the risk wouldn't be as high."

"Maybe, but the risk is still there," I said. "Ignore taking the pictures I could do, but I could never get rid off them. I still have every single picture I took in my archive and I don't want to make an exception just cause they'd be naked pictures."

"I understand, I'd feel the same way."

"You do seem to be really set on this," I remarked.

"Yes, Patrick. I've seen some of your work and I was truly impressed. It'd be a shame if you didn't use your talents to capture Sebastian's naturally given beauty."

"As I said before, Sebastian would be a great model. It'd be quite a challenge to take naked pictures of him. I've never done anything like that and I must admit I am kinda curious if I'd manage."

"So... Are you gonna do it?" Vicky wanted to know.

I thought about it for a while. I usually got my priorities right. The business was not to be put at stake because of this. But here before me was a mother asking me if I would please take pictures of her naked son. A mother's wish to be able to always see her child the way he was when he turned 10. And a unique chance for me to try and find out if I can persuade a boy to pose before me without the modesty of underwear or swimwear.

Vicky seemed genuine about her wish and I had no reason not to trust her. I think she's been collecting all of her courage to come and ask this of me in the first place. So, I went through the options to at least be able to pass the bucket to here if people were to find out about it and start making a show off it.

"Okay, on three conditions," I finally answered.

"Which are?" she wanted to know.

"One: I'm afraid I'm gonna have to charge you a bit extra. I'm gonna need more time with Sebastian anyway, because it's gonna take a different approach to get this done."

"Money's not a problem, I'm willing to pay whatever price you ask," she agreed.

"Two: I want you to sign a contract in which you and your husband take all responsibility in case people get word about this. I trust you, but without any signed agreement, it'd be your word against mine and I wouldn't wanna end up being mislead."

"I understand. You write out whatever needs to be in that contract and I'll sign it. I'm pretty sure my husband will agree aswell. We've been discussing this for some time and we both agreed on doing this."

"Okay. And last but not least, Sebastian has to be willing to do this, too. I don't want to tell him to take off his underwear during the shoot and scare him off. If he takes off his clothes before the camera it's because he wants to."

"Oh... That's gonna be the tough part, I think," Mrs. Andrews sighed. "He's pretty shy when it comes down to having his picture taken. The other photographer always managed to get him to pose nicely and the pictures were always pretty nice. But I thought you'd be a better choice for doing this, cause of your reputation with young children."

"I think it would be best to talk to him about it, right now," I suggested. "I might be able to convince, but he needs to hear about it from you first."

"If you say so..."

"Let's go to the cosy area, he'll be more at ease there to talk about this," I suggested.

"Okay," Vicky agreed.

Together we went to the cosy room where we found Sebastian swinging the Wii control around, playing some tennis and enjoying himself. The floor being fully carpeted, he'd taken the liberty of taking his shoes and socks off to be more comfortable. That by itself was a pretty good sign that at least he'd be willing to take some clothes off.

When he saw his mommy and me enter the room he smiled at us briefly but was too engulfed in the game to pay anymore attention to us. Knowing the game, I could tell he'd almost finished, so I told Mrs. Andrews to sit down in the couch and wait until Sebastian scored the last point. When he finally did he looked very happy to have had the chance to play and have some fun.

I then asked him kindly to turn off the Wii and the television and to come and join us on the couch. He politely obliged and tried to drink up coke that was no longer in the can I'd offered him at his arrival. I got up and walked over to the fridge where I kept all the beverages nice and cool. I gave the boy a fresh can of Coke and offeren his mother something aswell. This time she settled for some mineral water, which I gave here with pleasure. I grabbed a Coke for myself to blend in and to be able to clear my throat before telling Sebastian about his mother's big plans.

"You seem to be pretty good with those games," I said, carrying on with the friendly chat we'd had before I'd sent him off to play.

"We've got one at home, so I know the games," he said.

"Ha, you're experienced. I oughta take you up for a little challenge, then, sometime."

We chatted a bit more and when I thought he was completely at ease, it was time to hit the real topic of our talk.

"So, Sebastian, do you know why you're here, now?" I asked.

"Errrr... You're gonna take pictures of me, right?" he guessed.

"You're right," I nodded. "And do you know what kinda pictures?"

"Oh, probably like the last time," he said. "We went buying new clothes like we did last year, so I guess you'll take pictures of me in those clothes."

"That's about right, yes. Find anything cool to wear or did your mother pick them out?"

"I picked most of them out myself," he stated proudly.

"Are these part of it?" I asked, pointing at the black shirt and black board shorts.

"Uhuh," he nodded.

"You've got a good taste for clothes, then, you look very good in these," I complimented him.

"Really? Thanks!" the boy smiled brightly. Flattery helps with boys too, ey.

"I'm looking forward to seeing the other clothes you bought. Now, did your mother tell you everything about the pictures she wants me to take of you?"

"I guess. Why?"

"Well, she's got something special in mind," I explained. "But maybe you'd better ask your mother about it."

"What's he talking about?" Sebastian asked his mother, looking really curious about what the big fuss was all about.

"Well, my love, you'll be 10 in a few weeks, right," Vicky told her son, gently weighing her choice of words.

"Yeah... What about it?"

"You'll be a big boy, soon. Daddy and I would like to have some special pictures of you so we can remember you as the little boy you still are."

"Special pictures?"

"Yes. We would like Mr. Taylor here to take pictures of you without your clothes on," Mrs. Andrews finally said.

"What? You mean... Naked?" Sebastian asked in shock, not believing his mother could actually say such a thing.

"Yes, honey, naked," she confirmed.

"But... you're gonna see my weiner... and my butt...," the boy realized.

"Yes, but we've seen all that so many times when we would bathe you and help you get dressed."

"That was when I was only 6... I'm almost 10, now. You haven't done that anymore since."

"I know, but..."

"No, I won't do it," Sebastian decided, crossing his arms in front of him to make sure we understood the message.

"Why not?" I asked him.

"I won't tell you why not," he said stubbornly.

"You don't want your mommy to know why not, I suppose. What if I promise not to tell, would you say it to me? You know, a secret between us boys?"

"Maybe... I guess," he agreed.

"Well, then. Vicky, would you mind leaving us men alone for a bit so we can talk this over?"

I winked at here to tell her this was when I would take her son over the edge. Of course I did it so Sebastian wouldn't see. His mother left the room, leaving me with her child in the hope I'd manage to get him to do what she was wishing for.

"Okay, now it's just us. I think I understand why you don't wanna do this."

"You do... ?" Sebastian wondered.

"You're a 10-year old boy. Well, almost, anyway. There's not many kids your age who wants their parents to see them naked. So it's absolutely normal you'd say no to this."

"It is?"

"Sure," I nodded. "Now, what would you do if someone else asked you to do is, without your parents knowing."

"You mean, like you," Sebastian said. "I don't know."

"Did you ever do something naughty like this without your parents knowing?"

"Hehe... Yeah..." the boy blushed.

"Wanna tell me about it, or is it a big secret?"

"You promise you won't tell mommy?"

"Of course I promise, this is between you and me, Sebastian."

"Okay... Well, errrr... I once had a sleepover with my friends Josh and Alex."

"Sounds cool, they're your age?"

"They're in my class."

"And what d'you do?"

"Well... we were in Alex' room... he'd locked the door so no one could get in and we played cards..."

"Play cards, huh?"

"Heh... yeah... Something like black-jack."

"Cool. So, what was the naughty bit?"

"Well, we made a rule that the one who won the game could take a piece of clothing off with the others."

"Oh, I see... A bit like strip poker, huh. Now, how many clothes did you finally take off?"

"Hehe... Everything," Sebastian giggled, getting rather amused with telling me his secrets.

At this point I already got to where I wanted to go. Find out if he would get naked without his parents knowing. But while I had Sebastian telling me his secrets, I got curious about how naughty he'd actually been. I'd also seen him move his hands to his private area, the memory of the games with his buddies having their effect on him.

"So, you all ended up naked. Must have been pretty exciting, no?"

"Hehe... Yeah... I'd never done that before..."

"Whose idea was it? Alex?"

"Yeah."

"So, when Alex told you about those special rules, did you ever say you didn't want to do it?"

"No... I kinda wanted to do something like that for some time," Sebastian confessed.

"Really?"

"Uhuh. They're my best friends and I sometimes wondered what they'd look like naked," Sebastian explained.

"That's cool. So when Alex suggested playing strip blackjack, it must have been like a dream come true?"

"Yeah, kinda."

"Who was the first to lose his undies, then?"

"Errrr... No one, actually. When we were all in just our undies, we kinda agreed taking them off together."

"Oh, you mean like countdown from three and then down with the undies, huh," I kidded.

"Hehe... Yeah," Sebastian nodded.

"So, when you were all naked, what d'you do next?"

"First we just kinda checked each other out, you know watch each other's weiners and butts."

"Did you like that?"

"Yeah, it was quite funny, showing off our privates like that."

"I can imagine. What d'you next?"

"Oh, nothing much, but we just stayed naked until it was time to go to bed. We slept naked, too."

"Cool. I bet when you have your next sleepover, you'll be doing this again, no?"

"Heh, we might. It was fun."

With his little secret told, he seemed glad he'd been able to tell someone, even though I was still pretty much a stranger. His story did open up some perspective and I was not about to let it go to waste.

"So, you kinda liked being naked and showing off for your mates?" I asked, trying to get to the main issue of our chat. The goal was still to persuade him to get him naked in front of the camera.

"Hehe... yeah, it was pretty cool."

"Then, if you enjoyed that, why don't you wanna do that in front of the camera?"

"That's different, that was with my friends. I don't want my parents to see that," he complained.

"I can understand that," I agreed. "What if your parents weren't around when those pictures are taken?"

"You mean, just you and me?" he asked, wanting to know if he got the message.

"Yeah, why not. We're both boys, so there's nothing I haven't seen before. You just told me you liked showing off, so why not do it for the camera?"

"Dunno... I don't really know you well..." he said, sounding as if he was starting to come up with excuses.

"That's right, you don't," I admitted. "But you just told me about those naughty games you played with your friends. You might not know me, but yet you didn't seem to mind telling me all that."

"I guess..."

"You said you had fun being naked with your friends, then right?"

"Yeah."

"What was the real fun part, then?"

"Dunno... I guess the best part was just being naked," he said, blushing again. "It kinda felt nice to not wear clothes for a change."

"Then, while you get the chance, why don't you allow yourself to have that same kinda fun again?" I suggested.

Fun is what kids want and being naked was fun for Sebastian. My goal was to see if the opportunity to have the fun he wanted to have would be appealing enough for him to drop his final reserves and to just enjoy himself. Sebastian sighed deeply and seemed to scan me with those bizarre looking eyes of his, trying to see if I wasn't playing any tricks on him.

"Dunno... I guess it'd be okay..." he gave in.

"Sure. So, what do you say? Still don't wanna do it, or are you in for some fun?" I finally asked. Let's see if I'd worked my magic on this little cutie.

There was a bit of silence as Sebastian was weighing his options. It reminded me of those Tom and Jerry cartoons where a little devil and angel version of the cat or mouse fight over doing something something bad. He then took a deep breath to announce who'd one the fight. It was the devil.

"Okay, I'll do it," he said.

I smiled gratefully at him, feeling a bit proud I'd been able to convince him. "Cool! It's good to see you wanna give yourself a little treat."

"Uhuh. You gotta promise a few things, though," he added.

"Sure, you name it," I agreed. I was already glad he'd said yes, so I had no problems with a few concessions.

"I don't want my parents there when you take the pictures. Not even close. I don't want them to see me naked."

"Well, they'll see the pictures, afterwards," I informed him, "but I'm with you when you don't want them to be there the whole time. I'm pretty sure your mother will agree and if not, I can be very persuasive."

"Heh, I noticed," he smiled. "You also gotta promise never to make fun of how I look."

"Oh, I can assure you that won't happen," I vowed. "I think you're pretty cute and I'm sure you'll look great without those clothes on, so why would I make fun of you?"

"Well, errrm... " he stammered, "when my friends and I played naked that night, I kinda got a... you know... down there..."

"A stiffy?" I filled in the blanks. "You're a boy, Sebastian. Boys get stiffies."

"Yeah, but it's kinda embarrassing," he admitted shyly.

"I understand. If it happens while we're doing those pictures, you can always take a break to make it go down, okay?"

"Cool, thanks," he smiled relieved.

"That's okay, Sebastian. I told you before, we're both boys, I know how you feel. Something else you'd like?"

"No, it's cool," he said, shaking his head.

"Good! Now, let's go tell your mother the good news, shall we?" I suggested.

"I guess. You're gonna tell her about your promise, right?" he wanted to make sure.

"Of course, kiddo," I said. "A word's a word, ey. Come on, let's go see where your mom's hanging out."

Together we got up from the sofa. He politely handed over his empty coke can, which I dumped in the bin, and then followed me back to the desk in front. His mother had found some magazine and seemed to be focussed on the article she was reading. The commotion we caused got her attention and with a kind smile she greeted her son. It was no surprise that she looked curious about what the outcome of her boy's chat with me was.

I wanted to make sure she knew it was his decision and his alone, even though I did a lot of convincing. So I shoved him a bit closer to his and said:

"Go ahead and tell your mom what you decided. I think she's almost dying with suspension."

"Hehe, okay," he giggled nervously. "Mom... I said yes."

"Really, honey? You sure about this?" Mrs. Andrews asked, almost too enthusiastically.

"Yeah, I'm sure. But Mr. Taylor had to promise me something," the boy said.

"Oh, what might that be?" she wanted to know.

I decided to answer that question for Sebastian, so as to show I meant it when I made my promise. "He wants to go through with this, but only when you or your husband aren't there when we take the pictures."

"Oh, you mean it'd be just you and Sebastian, then?"

"That's what he wants, yes," I confirmed.

"Is that true, Sebastian?" Mrs. Andrews asked her son.

"Yeah..." the boy answered silently, almost afraid to look his mother in the eyes.

I understood how the boy felt and decided to support his back. "I think Sebastian's like any other boy. I don't think there's many kids his age who'd want their mother to see them naked."

"Maybe," she nodded, "but can I trust you with him."

I knew she was referring to all the newspaper articles about kids being molested and stuff like that. It was her idea to come with this request, though, and I was surely not going to accept being compared to those people the news talked about. So, to make sure she didn't change her mind about this, I decided to reflect her distrust in me.

"If you didn't, you wouldn't have come to me with this, in the first place," I told her.

"I guess not, but I didn't expect it to be like that," she admitted.

"I understand. I'll leave it up to you to decide how badly you want those pictures."

She seemed to need some time to think about that. I was not going to give her the chance to back away, now, not when I had Sebastian willing to go through with this. I got to admit it to myself, I'd taken quite an interest in this project, simply because the boy was such an incredibly beautiful creature. And I might be mistaken, but I do think he wanted this just as much, if only because he'd get the chance to have some good old fashioned fun.

"Look, I did my best to get Sebastian interested in this and I think he'd be disappointed if you would say no, after all," I tried to hit her sore spot. And then my finishing touch: "Besides, you wanted to do something special for his 10th birthday. See this as a birthday present to him."

"Oh, you're right," she finally surrendered. "He seems to trust you, so I guess I should to."

"Of course, you won't regret it," I declared my victory. "You'll get some very unique pictures of an equally unique boy. And for him it'll be an experience he'll never forget. Right, Sebastian."

"Hehe, yeah, I guess," he smiled.

"It wouldn't be a bad idea to come back some other time to discuss the details," I proposed. "It's getting a bit late, now, and I think Sebastian here's got school tomorrow."

"Yeah, that's right. Would Friday at six be okay with you?" Mrs. Anders said.

"Friday at six is perfect," I accepted. "I'll have the necessary papers ready and then we can make the necessary arrangements for this little project."

"Okay, then."

"You're welcome, too, young man," I invited Sebastian. "I wanna try and whoop your little butt in that Wii game."

The boy grinned deviously and said: "Fat chance!"

"Hahaha! See you later, ey, buddy," I said, shaking his hand. Our eyes met a last time and I could see that familiar look of happiness I'd seen with so many other boys. But there was something else in there that I hadn't seen before, something I could quite put a label on.

He dashed off to wherever their car was parked. I turned to his mother and shook her hand more formally, bid her goodnight and let her out. When I closed the door and shut it off for the day, I had to replay the whole scene that had played before me, this evening. That scene was often mixed with the images of a naked Sebastian I had yet to lay eyes on. But mostly I was wondering what that look in the boy's had been... I'd always been very found of the boys I'd had as models, but somehow I knew this would be a whole different ball game.