Work Text:
When Elliott asks Blaine to substitute for a model that had cancelled last minute on his photo project, he doesn't hesitate. He wants stop depending on his parents, which means he can definitely use the money and obviously he's always happy to help out a friend. He doesn't even budge when Elliott describes the photoshoot as "maybe a bit raunchy". Blaine came to New York to explore and enjoy is his life and as long as it's nothing that will hurt his career later, he's grateful for the opportunity to gain more experience. After all, modelling is acting too, right?
Elliott didn't tell him anything about the theme of the shoot so he just comes in his regular polo shirt and bow tie.
"Blaine sweetie", Elliott greets him at the door when Blaine arrives at the agreed meeting point. "Come in, come in. Thank you so much for doing this again, you’re a real lifesaver!”
"It's not a problem, really" Blaine assures him. He takes in the apartment Elliott had asked him to come to. The decor is simplistic but classy and Blaine wonders if this is Elliott’s actual apartment.
"I'm kind of glad the other dude jumped the ship, you're actually kind of perfect for this."
But before Blaine can ask what exactly he's so perfect for, another guy steps out from the living room. He's a bit taller than Blaine, with pale skin and chestnut hair, and even though he’s evidently confident, he doesn’t seem arrogant. He's gorgeous. Even though he can't be much older than Blaine himself, he feels a little bit intimidated.
"Is this him?" the guy asks. His voice is high and musical, but his speech is very controlled, like that of a trained actor. To Blaine it sounds incredibly soothing.
"Yeah, yeah" Elliott pulls Blaine forward by the elbow. "Kurt, this is Blaine from my music theory class; Blaine, this is Kurt, he started the band I play in. You'll be my models today." Elliott hadn't told Blaine this would be a partner shoot, but he hides his surprise and shakes Kurt's hand politely. Almost reluctantly, he lets go of Kurt’s firm grip.
"Okay boys, let's get started." Elliott claps his hands excitedly. "Any questions?"
"Uhm, yes. What are we gonna do? I’d just like know so I can get in the right mind-set" Blaine says.
Kurt raises an eyebrow and turns to Elliott. "You haven't told him? Are you sure he's the right guy? Wait, is he even in the scene?"
Blaine's a bit taken aback. Kurt knew about this? What he is or isn't perfect for?
Elliott puts a hand on each of their backs and guides them in the living room where some camera equipment is set up. "Kurt? Chill. Blaine, sit down" he orders, pushing him toward the sofa.
Blaine sits down obediently, folding his hands in his lap. Kurt stays where he is, hands folded over his chest.
"Okay here's the deal. We didn't really get any instructions for what the theme of the project is supposed to be, just that it should mean something to us. They'll choose the best three photo series though, those will be displayed in an exhibition. This could be my chance to get noticed as a photographer and with the help of you two I'm gonna get in."
"I'll do my best" Blaine pipes in, but presses his lips together when Kurt throws him an unimpressed glance.
"So I want pics of a cute couple being all domestic in their New York apartment, and since I can’t afford to rent a location we’re gonna have to use mine." Good, Blaine thinks, romance I can do. "But," Elliott adds "I want it to be D/s"
"D/s?" Blaine asks confused.
"Dominance and Submission," Kurt supplies. Blaine feels his face redden under Kurt’s glance. "Don't worry you don't need to wave around your privates, I want it to be PG. I want domesticity and the sweetness and comfort a D/s relationship can bring. Maybe we can go shirtless but really nothing more than that. Kurt has experience with the scene and he’ll be your Dom for today. Is that ok?”
Suddenly Blaine pictures himself kneeling in front of Kurt, his forehead resting against his thigh, while Kurt threads his long fingers through his hair. He blushes when Kurt smiles at him encouragingly and averts his eyes, as if Kurt were able to read his mind.
They both give their OK and Elliott instructs Kurt to apply a little make-up to Blaine’s face, while he sets up the first scene. They get to keep their street clothes, as Elliott wants it to be as natural as possible. Blaine tries not to blush when Kurt takes his chin gently to see if the make-up is even.
Elliott tells them that he wants the first shot to be them “watching tv”. After a moment of consideration, Kurt walks over to Elliott’s spacious black leather sofa to sit. Out of anything else to do, Blaine follows suit to sit next to him.
“Uhm sweetie,” Kurt says while Elliott fiddles with his camera. “I think you should go on the floor.”
“Oh.” Blaine replies dumbly, cursing himself for blushing yet again. “I uhm. I’m sorry” He suppresses the silly urge to add a “Sir” after that. He moves to kneel in front of Kurt awkwardly, shuffling so his back is almost touching Kurt’s legs.
“Good” Kurt says placing a hand on Blaine’s shoulder and squeezing lightly. Blaine shivers with the praise.
Suddenly there’s a click and a flash and Blaine jumps. He turns to see that Elliott has taken a picture already without any signal.
“Sorry boys,” he laughs, while pressing some buttons on his camera. “I couldn’t help myself, you guys looked perfect. Kurt, maybe you should direct the shoot. I think you already have Blaine wrapped around your finger.” He winks at where Blaine is kneeling on his plush carpet.
“Mmmh, that’s a great idea. And I’m sure Blaine and I will get along perfectly.” Kurt says, sliding the hand he had resting on Blaine’s shoulder forward and down his torso, splaying his fingers a little. “Won’t we?”
“S-sure” Blaine answers a little breathlessly, trying to ignore Kurt’s finger resting over his chest. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath.
***
Blaine finds himself sliding into the role easily, or at least he thinks so, since Elliott is always satisfied with only a few shots of the same position. They move around a bit and eventually he’s allowed on the sofa, once with his head in Kurt’s lap and once resting against his shoulder while Kurt holds his wrists together in his lap. The feeling of Kurt’s fingers against his knuckles is oddly comforting.
Kurt actually sort of takes over directing the shoot. Elliott just gives him the gist of what he wants and Kurt always finds ways to put it into effect. It’s clear he has experience. Blaine finds his presence comforting and tries to do everything he tells him as neatly and quickly as possible. Following his orders is easy. His voice is soft yet authoritative and it soon clouds Blaine’s mind, so he barely notices Elliott taking pictures at all.
***
They move to the bedroom, where they do some shots of Blaine helping Kurt into his suit jacket and shoes, then Kurt tying Blaine’s bow tie. Suddenly he’s a lot more aware of the feeling of fabric pressing snugly against his neck. And he can’t stop smiling. There are constant praises from both Kurt and Elliott that have Blaine preening. He knows himself well enough to realize he thrives under attention like this, it makes him feel lightheaded and confident, like he could take on the world all by himself.
After a few hours of work, Elliott calls for a break. They gather in the kitchen, where Elliott serves them some delicious home-made sandwiches. During lunch Kurt and Blaine get to know each other a bit better. Kurt tells him he recently graduated from NYADA and is now working at Vogue.com where he interned during college and does auditions for plays on the side.
Blaine talks about NYU and how he makes his money mostly off piano gigs at local bars. He admits that he still heavily depends on parents, although he is trying to change that, but Kurt tells him to relax.
When Kurt asks him to come to their band’s next show, Blaine accepts excitedly. Elliott grumbles something about inviting Blaine a hundred times before, but only now that Kurt’s the one suggesting, he’s actually coming, though he seems more amused than offended
***
They stay to shoot in the kitchen after lunch, preparing food. It’s easy to blend out the clicking noise of the camera while Kurt guides his hands through slicing vegetables. Kurt gets a spoon to feed Blaine the pesto they just made, but the sudden noise of a police car passing on the street startles him and the food lands on the corner of his mouth. They burst out laughing, Kurt apologizing profusely and putting the spoon down. After they’ve calmed down a little, Kurt pulls him close. Blaine lifts his hand to get the sauce of his face, but Kurt stops him.
“Do you trust me?” he asks quietly.
Blaine searches his eyes, his heart beating fast at having Kurt so close. He nods once.
Kurt glances over to Elliott, busy in the background, never missing a moment. Then he cups Blaine’s cheek and leans in even closer. Blaine’s pretty sure his heart stops the second Kurt’s lips touch his mouth. He holds his breath while Kurt slides his lips over the corner of Blaine’s mouth to gather the pesto and holy shit is that his tongue?
Blaine resists the urge to grab Kurt’s head to kiss him properly when he lets go of him again.
“Jeez guys, keep it PG” Elliott says, though he sounds happy about the shots he just got, but Blaine barely registers him. He’s still staring at Kurt’s face and Kurt’s staring at his lips. He seems to realise what he’s doing because suddenly he looks away, clearing his throat and there’s a blush coloring his cheeks. God, he’s adorable.
“I think we have enough here,” Elliott says, shaking his head. They move through other rooms of the house, posing in various stages of domesticity until their photographer is satisfied with his material.
It’s late in the afternoon when they finally finish up and Kurt suggests they all get coffee together but Elliott declines. “You know me, I won’t be able to sit still until I’ve seen all these babies” he says, patting his camera. Much to his dismay, Blaine has to decline as well, since the shoot had taken longer than he expected and he’s behind on his schoolwork already.
Kurt tells him not to worry about it and offers to walk him to the subway instead, which Blaine happily accepts. Elliott ushers them out of the door, pressing some cash into their hands and kissing their cheeks and then they’re out.
Blaine’s grateful for the fresh air outside, it helps him clear his brain. He’s gotten way too comfortable playing Kurt’s sub over the day and kneeling at his side. Okay, maybe the last part wasn’t too comfortable, since his knees are starting to feel sore. But the other part he definitely could get used to.
“Shall we?” Kurt asks and Blaine realizes they’re still standing on Elliott’s stoop.
“Sure”
They walk silently for a minute, but Blaine is hyper-aware of Kurt’s presence next to him and he knows if he doesn’t talk to him now he’ll regret it later.
“So uhm. Have you been in the scene for long?”
Kurt keeps looking ahead, but his mouth curls into a smile. “A little while,” he says simply. “I basically stumbled into a club by accident my first week in New York and after I got over my initial embarrassment I liked it there. So I stayed. I started researching and realized that this was a part that was missing from my life all along. Although my dad and my friends used to tease me about being bossy in high school already. Guess they weren’t so wrong.”
Blaine doesn’t reply, taking in every word Kurt says. It’s not like he’s never been exposed to that kind of culture, he’s just never considered it for himself. It was always some abstract thing that people do. But this day has him more intrigued than anything and he’s itching to get home to get his hands on every material on the subject he can find.
“You’re a natural.” Kurt’s voice interrupts his train of thoughts.
“Sorry, what?”
“If Elliott hadn’t told me, I probably wouldn’t have known you don’t have any experience. You were very… obedient. After you stopped being shy, it felt easier than with some people who have been in the scene for years.” Blaine flushes under the praise. Kurt’s smiling but his eyes shimmer with something more and Blaine feels his stomach tighten.
“Thank you. I mean um, I’ve been acting since I started school, at modelling is not too far from acting, right?”
“Maybe.” Kurt shrugs. “But I don’t think it was just acting,” he adds with a smirk.
“Okay, you got me. I’m curious. I’ve just… never really thought about it.”
Kurt stops walking suddenly and Blaine is confused, until he realizes they’re at the subway already and he can’t help but feel disappointed.
“So if I invited you to go to a club with me the next time, you’d be interested.”
“Very,” Blaine replies, images of dark rooms enlightened only by strobe lights and leather and tall, handsome men flashing before his eyes. “Very.” he repeats emphatically.
“Good,” Kurt says. “Because I had fun working with you today, and I’d really like to get to know you a bit better. And that way you’ll know what you’re getting into.”
Blaine swallows and watches as Kurt fishes his wallet from his bag and pulls out a business card. Instead of handing it to Blaine, he slips it in the back pocket of his pants with delicate fingers. Blaine turns red when Kurt’s fingers brush over his ass, but Kurt just smirks.
“Call me,” he whispers into Blaine’s ear and the next moment he’s gone.
Blaine watches his figure disappear in the New York crowd, unable to take off his eyes.
He’s only known Kurt for a day, and already he’s hooked.