"OK. Dare's up first, then we can do Ollie. Curtis, I'll let you watch what's going on before you have to make a decision. It's up to you, and you don't have to get naked if you don't want to. It's all completely tasteful, though," Milo said as he unlocked the door to his room and stepped inside.
"Yeah, but I'm still serious about that calendar idea," Ollie laughed. He and Curtis had stayed close to each other throughout breakfast, and it seemed as though the dog was using the sheep as a sort of social crutch, even as he had started to open up by end. He even showed off his tongue, sticking it to the bottom of his glass. Milo couldn't help but snag a quick picture. Candid photos were their own artform.
"You can sit on my bed if you want. Make yourself at home, this shouldn't take too long. Oh, and I think Sam and Todd may drop by. Sam texted me earlier. You're not in a rush, are you?" The number of subjects was growing, and he wasn't sure how much time he'd have once classes started. Maybe he'd have to start limiting the new participants until he knew he could keep up with the increasing interest.
"Nah," Ollie had his arm around Curtis as they took their places, "Curt's gotta stop by the book store before it closes to grab some textbooks and equipment. I should probably go with." Curtis nodded, seemingly comfortable to let Ollie speak for him at the moment.
"Are we doing this or not?" Dare snapped as he started to pull off his shirt, and Milo put his camera back onto the tripod before double-checking the settings. He took out his phone and made a note of the aperture, ISO, and shutter speed as his subject finished undressing. He looked back up and got momentarily distracted again as his eyes traced the contours of Dare's body. It was hard not to linger on his dick. He hadn't seen him fully naked since their kiss and... Dare made a face at him and he got back to work.
He began to take the standard pictures as he was starting to establish his process, though he improvised a bit to highlight some of the changes specific to his roommate. There was something exciting about how Dare held himself: tense, as though he was a moment away from bolting again. He was a challenging subject, but Milo felt up to the task as he flipped the camera to a quicker shutter speed. He wasn't sure if this would be his only chance, and he could always lighten the picture in photoshop, but blurry photos were unusable. He was specifically holding his tongue to avoid accidentally scaring him away again.
The lighting wasn't quite right, so he crossed to the window and adjusted the blinds before heading to the light switch to test the difference. Maybe if the pictures were good enough, it would help Dare accept his changes. He still seemed pretty upset about the fact that he was turning into a skunk, but Milo thought the stripe to be quite beautiful as it manifest itself further due to the darkening of his hair and growing fur around it.
"OK, turn away from me, but look to your left. Um. No, like this." He started to move Dare's head but hesitated when he felt it tense. Was he about to leave again? A moment passed. OK, he was in the clear still. He risked adjusting the position again, "Now can you put your right hand over your left shoulder so I can see your claws in the pose?" Dare did so and glanced towards him.
Wow.
Milo had noticed Dare's bright green eyes before, but in this lighting? They were dazzling pools of emerald. He didn't realize he was holding his breath until Dare gave him another impatient look. "Earth to Milo. Are those bristles growing into your brain?" The amusement in his eyes completed the pose and he hurried to capture the moment before checking the display. He couldn't help but gasp as he zoomed in on the eyes again.
"What? What's wrong?" Dare started to stand up but he couldn't. Not yet.
"Nothing! You look great." Their gaze met and lingered for a moment longer than was comfortable.
Dare cleared his throat. "Are we done?"
"Just a couple more. Is that OK?" Milo couldn't help but go off book for a moment. He felt inspired. "Sorry, I'm almost done. Just a couple more." He turned to Ollie and Curtis who shrugged. He'd almost forgotten they were still there.
Milo pulled his camera from the tripod and flipped to full manual. He tested the white balance against the wall and started making adjustments, wishing he had a different lens. He'd seen tips and tricks on Youtube about which lenses were best for what type of work. He hoped he could experiment with more in class. He increased the shutter speed and lowered the aperture before boosting the ISO. He was going to go for heavy bokeh on this one, to really make Dare stand out.
He lost himself in the moment as he leaned into his inspiration, snapping photo after photo. He tried close up, far away, different angles. The way Dare cocked an eye as he leaned back so far he almost fell over made his heart skip a beat. But he couldn't get enough of those eyes. Maybe Dare would be willing to do a solo session later out in the quad or something. Ideas stacked on ideas. He hoped Dare would be amenable.
He barely heard Curtis and Ollie whispering to each other behind him.
"I didn't realize he was going to be so thorough," Curtis said.
"Nah. He's just inspired. I think he found his muse." Ollie chuckled.
Muse? Maybe. He sure enjoyed looking at Dare. He was just so frustrating sometimes. Why did they have such a confusing connection? He was so prickly that Milo was surprised he hadn't become a porcupine, like Mr. Quillson.
A knock at the door brought him back, and he realized he was zoomed in on Dare's eyes again. "Oh, that must be Sam and Todd."
----
“A skunk, huh?” Sam asked. “Well, it could be a lot worse. You could’ve become something like a star-nosed mole.”
“I…I don’t think skunks are s-so bad,” Todd added. “I-I‘ve always thought th-that they were p-pretty cool…”
Milo wasn't sure if Dare would bolt or hit Sam in the face based on the look he gave in response. He was surprised as he simply finished pulling on his shirt before walking over to his bed again.
He cleared his throat to try to quash the tension in the air. "Alright, who's next?"
Sam raised a hand, and Ollie gestured for him to proceed as he reclined on the bed with Curtis, whose tail was wagging lazily. Milo nodded and pulled out his phone to reset the settings, though Sam pulled him to the side.
"Hey, after you've gotten what you need, would you be willing to take a couple, you know, flattering pictures of me? You'll see once I've got my clothes off, but I want to show off a bit for Todd. Would that be OK?" Sam looked sheepish as his tail flicked behind him.
"Uhh...I mean, I'm not really that kind of photographer, but I can try. We'll need to make sure it's OK with the others since they're here. Do you have anything specific in mind?"