When he brought the length of ribbon to Jonathan, he was rewarded with a smile.
“You’re quite good at this,” he said, taking the bit of metal and positioning it in the flash pan, which was now connected to the camera by a wire of some sort. “Are you certain you’ve no previous experience with photography?”
Charlie shook his head, wishing he could find the words to express how desperate he was to learn.
He couldn’t speak in front of the dark man, who continued to watch the two of them with intense curiosity, though. He didn’t think he had a right to speak in the man’s presence unless given permission.
“Right,” Jonathan said, no such reticence on his part. “Brutus, would you care to do the honors of arranging the composition or would you allow me to do it?”
Charlie blinked. Brutus. It seemed a fitting name for a man who looked like that.
Too perfect. It couldn’t possibly be the name the man had been born with.
“By all means,” Brutus said, nodding deferentially and gesturing toward Phoebus. “It is your craft. You may stage the photograph as you see fit.”
Jonathan nodded, his smile completely unaffected by Brutus’s commanding presence, and stepped forward to position Phoebus.
It occurred to Charlie that maybe he should be jealous as Jonathan touched the young man, arranging his limbs in a perfect manner to display his beautiful body. He didn’t have any sort of claim on Jonathan’s affections, but he remembered how alive and how magnificent Jonathan’s touch had made him feel the night before, and part of him wasn’t ready to share that with anyone.
But the way the dark man watched his reactions instead of monitoring what Jonathan was doing had Charlie rigid with wariness and unwilling to even think anything that might draw too much attention to himself.
“Do you, er, wish Phoebus to be in a state of arousal,” Jonathan asked, glancing over his shoulder from where he bent over the young man, “or is this relaxed state sufficient?”
“He’s beautiful just the way he is,” Brutus said, tearing his eyes away from Charlie to smile at Phoebus.
Phoebus smiled docilely and adoringly back at him.
“Very well, then,” Jonathan said, returning to the camera. “Charlie, would you like to hold the flash pan?”
Charlie jumped as if the device had already gone off and rushed to the side of the camera, taking the device as Jonathan handed it to him.
Jonathan transformed into an artist intent on his craft from there. He fiddled with his camera a bit more, then clicked the button that both opened the aperture for a brief second and caused the ribbon in the flash pan to ignite. Charlie flinched at the sudden brightness and scrunched his nose at the acrid scent that followed, but he didn’t drop the pan.
“A few more, if you please,” Brutus asked as Jonathan removed the exposed plate and took it back to the table againstthe wall. “These are for a particular display at the club my brother and I own.”
Charlie’s eyes widened a bit, and he stood straight again, watching Brutus and waiting for the man to say more.
“Ah,” Jonathan said as he returned to his camera with a fresh plate. “Everyone seems to belong to a club these days.”
Charlie blinked at him. Did he not catch what Brutus had actually said?
“Clubs are remarkable places for gathering likeminded souls,” Brutus said, crossing his arms, leaning back against a bureau, and feigning casualness.
“So I’ve been told,” Jonathan said, his attention on his camera. “Charlie, another magnesium ribbon.”
Charlie jerked into motion, though he would much rather have listened to Brutus. He returned to the work area to cut another strip of magnesium.
“Do you belong to any clubs?” Brutus asked Jonathan.
“Heavens, no,” Jonathan laughed. “I dislike the feeling of being claimed by any group, be it a club or a family.”
Charlie glanced suddenly over his shoulder at Jonathan. A tight sadness filled his gut. How could anyone dislike the feeling of belonging to something or someone?
“Our premises are discreetly tucked away in a little corner of Tyburnia,” Brutus went on. “I think you might enjoy the pleasures The Zagreus Den has to offer.”
“I’m certain I would,” Jonathan said, though he was so distracted preparing for the next photograph that Charlie wasn’t certain he’d even heard Brutus. “Charlie,” he said, straightening from checking his lens and gesturing for Charlie to come to him so he could prepare the flash.
“You would like the Den, too, Charlie,” Brutus said, his wolflike smile following Charlie as he attended to Jonathan. “You would find it very interesting indeed.”
