Tangled - Part Seventeen

Finally, it was over and we lay in each-other's arms, spent. His cock slowly withered inside me and slid out of me followed by a gush of his juices, which I felt run down over my balls.
He kissed me and gently nibbled my ear.

"You are incredible!" He whispered into my ear. "You make me feel things I've never felt before. You complete me, fill my soul, my heart and my mind. I never want to be apart from you again, ever!"
I lifted my head and looked down into his love filled face.

"And I nearly died without you. You are everything to me, my breath, my life. I wouldn't exist without you."
He pulled my head down to his and kissed me again, softly and tenderly.

I lay my head on his chest and was content. With the sound of his strong, steady heartbeat in my ear, I drifted off to sleep, happy and fulfilled.

*****FORTY-FIVE : MALACHI.

I went back to work a week later. I felt guilty as I had neglected The Gallery, but Danny, capable Danny, had kept everything running smoothly as I’d asked. A new exhibition had been planned and booked, and a couple of new artists had brought their work in for us to display and sell. Lee had also gone back to work and was finding it a little difficult to adjust but he was determined to make it work.

So with everything under control, I began work on the murals for Lee's building. I had come up with the idea of reproducing classical Greek statues using a live model. I found an album of photographs of sculpture by little known Greek sculptors at the library. I checked the book out of the library and went through it very carefully. It was perfect for what I had in mind. I contracted a carpenter to build a pedestal for me and procured or had made the various props that I would need. I needed to reproduce eight of the statues, but decided on photographing double that. I knew from experience that often the end result looks different to what one expects, so I wanted to be sure that I had a wide choice of photographs to choose from.

The next task was to find a suitable model. I called on Danny's agency and glanced through their portfolio, and couldn't see anyone that would be right apart from Danny. Of course, I was a little prejudiced as my original choice was Danny himself, but I wanted to be sure that I couldn't find anyone else more suitable. So I settled on Danny and asked him if he was up for the job. He liked the idea and agreed readily.

"Of course you’ll be paid pretty well for the job." I said.
"Even better!" He said.
"Danny, you do know that a lot of the statues I'm reproducing are nude!" I told him.
"No problem." He grinned. "I've done nude modeling before. Once for an art forum for about eighty people. Live figure drawing."

Now that I had a model, I had the backing boards for the photographs prepared. These boards would eventually be curved to fit into the niches in the atrium of the building. The curve would enhance the three-dimensional effect that I wanted to create. I had one wall in my studio painted a pale gray for the background. Danny would be photographed in front of it. The photographs would be shot in black and white as I wanted Danny to have the monotone effect of stone or marble.

I scheduled the shoot for Friday and all was in readiness.
Although I had been staying in Lee’s apartment, mainly to take care of him; I had not technically moved in so one evening, I collected my things from my apartment and took them to Lee's. Lee listened, his head cocked to one side as I hauled a couple of boxes and several suitcases into his apartment.

"What are you doing?" He asked bemused.
"Kevin’s staying at my place sort of permanently now so I'm moving my things in here." I said. "Unless you don't want me too."
"Oh, I want you to, definitely." He grinned. "Is this going to be a permanent thing or just until Kevin finds a place of his own?"
"What do you think?" I asked.

"Are those all of your clothes and things? I mean everything?” He asked.
“Everything!” I said. “All my personal stuff, anyway.”
"I'll clear some space in my closet!" He said and dashed upstairs. And so, with little fuss or discussion, I moved in with Lee, permanently.

On the Wednesday I received a very welcome telephone call. Jane told me the caller was a Dr. Barker and I immediately knew that it was Malachi, Lee’s older brother.
“Hello Dr. Barker.” I said into the receiver. “This is David Grant.”
“Mr. Grant.” He began. “I’m Malachi, Lee’s brother.”
“Yes, I know.” I said. “And please, call me David.”

“Thanks.” He said. “Well David, nice to get to talk to you at last. Lee’s told me a lot about you.”
“You have the advantage.” I said. “He’s told me very little about you.”
“Right.” He said. “Anyway, the reason for this call. I need to ask a favor of you.”
“Anything.” I said. I liked the sound of his voice and I knew that I would probably like him very much.

“Okay.” He began. “First off; I know Lee very well and I know that he won’t listen to me or Kevin or Jack for that matter. You see, I need you to talk to him and I know he’ll listen to you. Trust me, I’ve tried but he doesn’t want to listen.”
“What is it?” I asked.
“Well, this week the renowned eye specialist from Germany, doctor Keen; is arriving to give a series of lectures at the hospital on optometry. He’ll be here for at least two weeks and I would like Lee to see him. I can arrange an appointment for him for Monday next week. The trouble is, Lee is not interested. I think he’s afraid of getting his hopes up and then having them dashed if nothing can be done for him. Do you understand?”

“Yes.” I said. “You want me to talk him into going to see this doctor, right?”
“Exactly.” He said. “It’s worth a try.”
“Okay.” I said. “Give me the details.”

He gave me the appointment time and place and I wrote it down carefully.
“Dr. Barker . . !” I began but he cut me off.
“Malachi, please.” He told me. “After all, we’re family now, aren’t we?”
“Yes, I’d like to think so, thank you.” I said. “Well Malachi, I’ll get him there if I have to tie him up to do it, trust me.”

“Thank you.” He said. “I’ll see you guys on Monday then?”
“I look forward to meeting you.” I said and hung up.

I thought about what Malachi had said and knew that it was going to be an upward battle to get Lee to agree to the appointment. He was as stubborn as hell and once he’d made up his mind about something, it was like trying to move a brick wall. But I’d promised never to give up on him and I certainly wasn’t going to this time either.

*****FORTY-SIX : SHOOTING DANNY.

With the preparations for the photo shoot under way, I turned my attention to our house. The main building had been completed and I went about fitting the house out. I hired the relevant contractors, gave them the details and left them to it. I made a couple of trips out to the house during the week to check on the progress and to be sure that my instructions were being followed to the letter.

I also began to work on Lee. I told him of Malachi’s call and how worried he was. I stressed that he had nothing to lose by seeing Dr. Keen and I kept at him until finally, just to shut me up, he agreed to keep the appointment. I was elated and called Malachi and told him that Lee would be there bright and early on Monday.

The photo shoot with Danny went very well. I restricted the shoot to just him, Lee and I, as I really didn't need any assistance, and as Danny and I had been lovers a century ago, he was very comfortable with me. Lee had already seen him naked and besides, he couldn’t see him anymore so he posed no threat. Jack of course, hung about until he went on shift at the restaurant.

All the pictures would feature him in the poses of the statues, standing on the pedestal that I had had constructed. The pedestal would elevate him above the plants in the boxes at the bases of the niches. The idea was that I wanted the photographs to convey the effect of stone and plaster. Any props we used in the pictures, for example; a column, a water pitcher and weaponry, were painted pale gray. When Danny turned up for the shoot, I burst out laughing at the sight of him. His hair, which was normally straight, was a mass of pretty curls.
"It's not funny!" He grumbled. "It's Jack's idea. He said that if you're going to do a job, do it properly! He went berserk with the curling tongs and wax strips. I haven't a hair left on my entire body apart from my eyebrows and pubes!"

Although he grumbled about his hairless body, he confided to me later that Jack had delighted in it and that it had enhanced their sex lives. We used a chalk like paste on his curly hair so that it matched his pale skin. It also made his hair look as if it had been carved from stone or plaster, once we'd arranged his curls carefully. He had the joyous job of applying the goop to his pubic hair and styling it into curls so that it would match his head. The end result was perfect. When he stood still, he became a sculpture.

I posed him carefully for each picture, referring to the album for every shot. Lee listened to the entire process with interest. Nearly half of the shots were nude, the rest had drapery or his genitals were hidden by the position of the pose.
We had a couple of problems here and there but they were quickly rectified.

In one shot, he was a dying warrior on one knee, with an arrow piercing his chest and it was a little difficult to keep the arrow from slowly drooping. Without clothing to hide how it was fixed to his chest, it posed a bit of a problem. I’d had just the top half of the arrow made, with the flight. On the other end was a small flat disc that we stuck to his bare chest with spirit gum and hid with makeup. Of course the arrow shaft was a little too heavy for such a small support, so it kept sagging. Eventually I told him to stay absolutely still and I fixed a fine bit of line to the flight and ran it up to a hook on the ceiling. This supported it long enough for me to get the shot, and the line would never show up in the finished photograph.

In the shot where he represented the god Apollo, he looked magnificent and proud with a sun ray helmet on his head and his hand resting on a long sword. I found him in the view finder, focused and then let out a small giggle.
He glared at me and not moving said. "What?"
"You are Apollo, a god!" I said and stifled another giggle. "You are beautiful, magnificent, naked and proud. But I hardly think Apollo would be very proud sporting that!"

I pointed at his crotch.
“What’s wrong?” Lee whispered.
“His dick!” I said. "It looks like a walnut!"
Lee stifled a giggle and Jack sniggered.

Danny's penis had withdrawn to up above his balls.
In the shots that actually showed his penis, I had to be careful that it looked just right. Too small and it looked like a broken lump of stone, too big and it bordered on pornographic. Danny was uncircumcised so it already had the right look, but we had to be careful about the size.

He looked down at himself and said,
"Sorry, can't help it. It's a little chilly in here!"
Jack leapt up and said,
"Don't move, I'll fix it!"

He stood in front of Danny and touched his chest. I couldn't see much as Jack's body was blocking my view. I saw Jack's hand disappear down to Danny's crotch.
“What’s he doing?” Lee asked me softly.
“He’s playing with it.” I said with a snort. “Jack’s giving him a hand-job.”
"You should be shooting porn, with these two about!" Lee quipped.

Jack and Danny stood still for a minute or so, the only movement was from Jack's arm. Then Danny rolled his eyes and muttered. "Okay Jack, enough!"
Jack sniggered and moved away.
I stifled another laugh.
"What now?" Danny asked.
"Well." I said. "If I photographed that, it would definitely be pornographic!" And to Lee I said. “Now he’s got a hard-on.”

Lee snorted with laughter.
Danny's cock was now a little too filled out. It now jutted out from his body splendidly, the head peeking out from under his foreskin. Danny looked down again.
"Damn!" He exclaimed. Jack was giggling insanely.
"Jack, quit it. You guys are embarrassing me!" Danny sulked.

So we had to wait a while until his penis had shrunk a bit and the head had disappeared back under his foreskin.
I eventually got the shot.
Another problem we had was when I wanted to do Youth in Repose.

The picture in the album showed a young man leaning against a column casually, his head down, his right arm across his chest with his hand resting on his left shoulder. I bolted the column to the back of the plinth and then I posed Danny, but couldn't quite get the right look. I made him shift his weight slightly to the right, but still, the musculature was wrong.
Lee stood and said. “Let me try, you stand back and let me know when it's right."

I told him to go ahead and led him to Danny. Danny eyed him warily but then shrugged and rolled his eyes.
“Go for it, what the hell.” He grumbled.
I stepped back. Jack got up from his seat and came and stood beside me, fascinated.

Lee stopped in front of Danny reached out and gently ran his hand over his torso to get a sense of his position. Then he moved slightly closer and lifted his hands to Danny’s head.
He felt Danny’s face and then re-positioned his head slightly. Then he ran his hands over Danny’s chest and down and across and over his arms.
"Okay, Danny," Lee said, his hand now on Danny's right shoulder.
"Relax and drop this shoulder slightly and rest your right hand on your left shoulder, rest it, relax it, don't hold onto your shoulder."

Danny did as asked. I held my breath, it was nearly right.
Lee ran his hand down Danny's right arm.
"Okay. Bend your elbow just a fraction and relax your hand so your fingers hang naturally." Lee said and Danny complied.

Lee ran his hands over Danny’s hips and down his muscular legs.
He said, "His right leg is slightly bent which means that most of his weight should be on the left leg."
He made Danny shift his weight, keeping his hands on Danny's thighs until he was satisfied.

"This pose is very like Michelangelo’s 'David'. Except the weight is on the other leg, and the head is down and not to the side." Lee said.
I was impressed at his insight.
I compared it to the picture, it was now exactly right. Jack nodded with a smile.
"That's it, Lee, exactly.!" I said.

Lee said. "Good!"
Then he ordered Danny to freeze.
Lee ran his hands slowly down Danny's body again, this time stopping and starting, making sure Danny hadn't changed anything.
He stopped at Danny's genitals and rearranged them so they were in a good position.
Danny rolled his eyes.

"Will you guys please stop groping me already!" He said.
"Um . . !" Jack quipped. "Enough feely, feely there, if you don't mind, big brother, That area's exclusively mine!"
Lee dropped his hands, turned and slowly came towards us.
"Just checking!" He said and leered. "And you can keep it! I have mine right here."

He reached out for me and I went to him. He grabbed me and took hold of my crotch.
"Stop it, Lee!" I chided, and pushed his hand away.
Jack giggled delightedly.
I took the shot, and it turned out to be one of the most striking poses.

I developed the negatives and then ran a series of eight by tens so that I could check the results.
They were spectacular.
Now came the task of choosing the eight that would go into the building.
Eventually, after much deliberation, the final eight were selected and I started the process of putting them onto the boards.

The boards were the same ratio as the eight by tens so it was just a matter of projecting the photos onto the boards. They were then all treated with photo-sensitive chemicals in a dark room and were ready for the projections.

I set up the sliding enlarger which I used for plan making and calculated the correct distance and exposures so that the photographs would be replicated on the boards perfectly. It would have been easier to just make enlarged pictures on photographic paper and then paste them onto the boards, but that never lasts. The paper eventually starts to deteriorate. I wanted the photographs to last a long, long time.

I projected the negatives onto the boards one at a time and developed them carefully. It was a tedious task because of the size of the boards, but as I already had all the appropriately sized baths, it was not as difficult as I'd first thought.
The end results were stunning. The almost three dimensional effect that I'd created with lighting was enhanced when the boards were curved.

I then went about completing another small project. I prepared the mock-up, took it to the printers and had two copies printed and bound.

To be continued...