All characters in this short tale of exhibitionism and voyeurism are over the age of 18. It's more of a May-August, okay maybe September, than a May-December tale.
Thanks to LarryInSeattle for editing.
Enjoy.
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The doorbell chimes and my stomach does a series of back flips. How did I let myself get dragged into this? I mentally kick myself in the ass and tell myself to get a grip. The next hour or so can be fun, if I just relax and stay focused on my 'job'. I'm not getting paid, thus the quotes. I've been volunteered. I enjoy photography. It's a hobby, an expensive hobby, but a hobby nonetheless. I'm not a serious enough amateur to claim a genre. I gravitate toward quirky. There must be a few million pictures of the Empire State Building taken every year. I can buy a postcard with a picture as good as I can hope to get with my middle-of-the-road DSLR. Why do I need a picture of that? A discarded admission ticket, half buried in a handful of autumn leaves (leaves that came from where exactly?) at the curb in front of the Empire State building, however, that might be worth a picture.
I wasn't asked by the team or any of the coaches to photograph the team but I never miss one of my son's meets, I'm lucky that way and I know it. I always bring my camera. I've learned to get there early, to allow it to acclimate to the temperature, otherwise all I get is a picture of the steam condensing on the lens. I make a point to not embarrass Liam, my son, by only taking shots of him. Halfway through the swim season, the coach got me jersey and allowed me to poolside access, as long as I stayed out of the way. Many, if not most, of the shots were shit but I managed a few decent ones. They used them, plus a few from the other parents, at the end-of-the-year dinner.
I haven't taken any photos of the team since Liam graduated. Having sailed through his first year of college, Liam is spending the summer with his mom, Mary Beth. I tried not to bitch about his decision. I had him to myself through middle school and high school. If his mom has her shit together enough to try to have some sort of a relationship, I won't get in the way. From his emails and our FaceTime chats, the summer hasn't been exactly a bed of roses but he's trying. Good for him.
Matt's call surprised me. He and Liam were friends, not best buddies, but friends. They swam together. That's primarily how I know him. Matt is the best swimmer our relatively small school has ever produced. He isn't swimming for a powerhouse college and he won't make it to the Olympics but he's good enough to get a scholarship. And he's good enough to place second in the 200-meter individual medley in his college's state division. That's why he called. He wants me to take some pictures of him with his medal. He can't afford a professional photographer but he can pay me a little, or maybe swap some yardwork, etc for the photos. I tried to get out of it. I've never really done portraits. I don't have a serious studio. I mean I can throw some sheets over a couple lamps to make some light boxes but I have no way to sync them. I don't have any backgrounds, either. He assured me it was no problem. He just wanted some halfway decent shoots for his folks. In the end, I said yes.
We set a time. I found some colorful sheets at the thrift store, sprayed very dilute bleach randomly and tried to make a backdrop. I tacked the resulting, almost passable, effort on the wall facing the small room's one window. I went to the library and read a little on portrait photography, did the same on the internet. My research only served to make me less confident. I really didn't have the equipment to pull this off. I'd basically be taking snapshots. Well, Matt said anything was better than nothing. Now, we're about to see if that's true.
I open the door before he rings the bell a second time but not so quickly as to make it clear I've been sitting here for the last thirty minutes waiting for him to arrive. I hope I mostly succeed in not looking stunned as I open the door. Matt is an unbelievably good looking kid. It's been more than a year since I've seen him, other than to say 'hi' at graduation. The extra year suits him well. He's still fucking irritatingly good looking but now he looks like a hot young man, not a hot teenager. I may have been able to swallow my gasp of awe but I can't do a damn thing about my pulse rate kicking up a notch or the gastrointestinal gymnastics that are tying my guts into knots.
"Hey, Mr. Bigland. How you been? Is Liam around?"
"Good, Matt. I've been good. No, Liam is spending the summer with his mom."
"Really?"
He doesn't bother to keep the surprise out of his voice. I nod. "Yup, she's been clean over three years now, has a decent job, and was able to get a two-bedroom apartment last year. He wanted to give it a try. I couldn't see why not. She is his mom."
Matt shook his head. "Yeah, but wow. Not to be rude or anything but she really messed Liam up."
"Yeah," I admit with a sigh, "that she did. But, like I said, she's trying." I shake my head and lead him down the short hallway of our 60's era ranch house. "Matt, I need to warn you son, I'm not a professional photographer." We enter the smallest of the three bedrooms where I've tacked the more splotchy than swirly sheet to the wall for a backdrop. A couple of pole lamps stand in the middle of the floor, pillow cases over them to soften the light. I gesture at the set up. "I mean, look. I don't have real lighting, real backgrounds, nothing."
"The pictures you took of the team were great, Mr. B. I don't have a few hundred bucks to spend on this." He snorts. "Plus, you know my folks. You think they'll appreciate the difference between what you can do, or worse WallyMart out on the highway can do, versus a real pro? Shoot, if they still made Polaroid cameras I'd have you take a Polaroid and be done with it."
The kid has a point. His parents can, most politely, be termed "down to earth". It wasn't that they were poor, no more than most of us in the neighborhood anyway, but they were either misers or really didn't give a shit what people thought. They wore clothes until they fell apart. Matt's school lunch bag was an old bread bag he was expected to use over and over again. To be fair, however, they never seemed to balk at making sure Matt had the money for his swimming.
I give him a nod. "Okay then, if you're sure. Did you bring the medal?"
"Duh, wouldn't be much of picture without it," he tells me with a smile. His teeth are something else they spent money on, I think to myself. His parents made sure their boy's teeth were straightened and taken care of. Dentistry and swimming: the two things they'll spend money on.
"Okay, put it on."
"Like this?" He looks down at the sweat pants and tee shirt he's wearing. "No way, dude. I brought my trunks. I want to totally "Mark Spitz" this baby."
He sets the gym bag he's carrying down on the floor, unzips it, stands, pulls his tee shirt over his head, and drops it on the floor. Without pausing, he hooks his thumbs in the top of his sweats and pulls them down. He steps out of them and drops them with one foot atop his tee shirt.
He's naked. I try not to stare but his body is as gorgeous as his goddamn face. He's totally shaved, pits, chest, crotch, legs, everything. The only hair is on the top of his head and the stubble on his face. Damn.
I had always limited myself to the pool area because I wasn't a coach. There would have been no reason for me to be in the locker room or shower area. It's never been clear to me if Liam knows I'm bi. His mom does and I have little doubt she'll find occasion to bring it up this summer. I should have done it first but I never could figure out a way to broach the subject.
Don't misunderstand me. I'm bi, but not a pedo. I wasn't lusting after my son's swim mates. Sure, I noticed, and frankly resented, their youthful toned bodies. I envied the fact that worrying about getting a gut or love handles was another decade or more in their future. Struggling to raise a kid, either on my own or with the handicap of an addicted mother and trying to keep a roof over our heads by grabbing every extra shift that came up, left exactly zero time for relationships. If I was going to sacrifice work hours, it would be to see my son swim.
I wanted to watch Liam swim; I was there for my son, period, full stop, end of story. Consequently, I was super careful. If he knew, or suspected, I was not totally straight, I didn't want him to worry that I was hanging out around the team because I was a fucking pervert. Even if I had been so inclined, I wouldn't have risked being banned from the meets, either by my son or a suspicious coach. It wasn't difficult. I was jealous of their youth, not lusting after their bodies.
I'd seen naked men before, mostly my age, some a few years younger, some a few years older. I hadn't seen a nineteen or twenty year-old naked since I was in high school and college. Back then I'd been too terrified someone would tumble to the fact I was a fucking queer to take a chance enjoying the view. The instinctive caution of my youth resurfaces in a flash. I turn my attention to getting the camera mounted on the tripod. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Matt reach into the bag and pull out a white Speedo. I scrutinize the back of my camera, or pretend to. I look past it and watch him get into the suit. He pulls it up and tucks his impressive cock inside the suit, adjusting it until he's comfortable and then looks up.