Part Five



“Come to work with me this morning,” Brian suggested on a Thursday two weeks later as he was getting ready. Justin, who was sitting on the bed wrapped in a towel and watching his lover raised his eyebrows in surprise. “I had Cynthia put together the model profiles you wanted and you could look through them. We could have lunch together and then I’ll bring you home this afternoon so you can work.”



“I suppose,” Justin said. “I do want to look at the models and it would be nice to get out of here for a while. Sometimes I feel like I’m caged up here.”



Brian frowned and dropped the tie he had been considering. “Caged?”



Justin shrugged as he went to his dresser and pulled out a pair of khakis, a t-shirt and a sweater. “It’s not all the time. Most of the time, I’m glad to be here. I feel safe here. But sometimes…I just get cabin fever, I guess.”



“Justin, you don’t have to stay here all the time,” Brian told him as he wrapped his arms around the younger man. “Just because you can’t drive yourself doesn’t mean you’re locked in here. I know you aren’t comfortable taking the bus anymore, but you can come to work with me, you can call Deb or your mom or Emmett. Hell, call a cab. Jack has said you should start exploring your boundaries.”



Justin nodded. “I know. It’s just easier staying here. But you’re right. I should start going out more by myself.”



“Good,” Brian said and let his lover go. “Now get dressed. It sets a bad impression if the boss is late for work.”



“Yes, sir,” Justin gave a salute and avoided the swat Brian aimed for his ass.



Twenty minutes later they were pulling into the parking garage under their building and taking the elevator up to their offices. Justin smiled when he saw the frosted glass entry to the agency. The Ryder logo had been removed and had been replaced by the graphic that Justin had designed. The name Kinnetik Advertising was emblazoned across the window.



“I see you got the signs changed already,” Justin grinned.



“And all the letterhead,” Brian said. “You did well with the design. Several of our regular clients have commented, wondering why we save our best work for ourselves.”



Justin laughed. “That’s just flattery.”



Brian quirked his eyebrow and stared at Justin. “That’s the truth. The head of our art department has been nagging me to sign the guy who designed this. If I thought you had any interest in advertising at all, I would ask you to come in here to work.”



Justin studied Brian’s face and realized he was serious. “I could have a real job, if I wanted?”



“Even if you weren’t half owner of this place, I’d hire you,” Brian said. “Justin, you are extremely talented. Disabilities or no, you could make a good living as a graphic artist.”



Justin gave Brian a slow smile, “I’m glad I don’t have to, but it’s good to know I would have options if I needed them.” Justin followed Brian into he reception area and noted that two of his graphic prints were hanging on the walls there. He hadn’t realized that Brian had taken them to be framed, or that he had decided to hang them at the office. He realized that Brian was several steps ahead of him, so Justin hurried to catch up, ignoring the curious glances of the employees.



Once inside Brian’s new office, Justin noticed more of his artwork on the walls. “Brian, when did you put these up? And the ones in the reception area. I didn’t even know you’d taken them.”



Brian grinned. “I needed something to spruce this office up. Ryder had it decorated like a mortuary.”



Justin shook his head in exasperation, but accepted the stack of files that Brian handed him. Without further questions, he sat down at the small glass conference table and began to look through each file. He made three stacks as he went: no, maybe, and yes. The yes stack was considerably smaller than either of the other two piles, but he was actually pleased with the half dozen models in them. After sorting through all of the files, Justin went back and began reviewing the curriculum vitae of each of the models and began formulating ideas about how he would like to see each one posed based upon their past work and physical attributes. He took a break at one point to ask Cynthia for a notepad to jot down his ideas about each of the models and make photocopies of their pictures and contact information. By lunch time, he had complete files for each of the six and had begun sorting through the maybe pile again.



“Hey, you ready to go?” Brian asked, breaking through Justin’s wall of concentration.



Justin shook his head. “I’ve still got a few more files I want to go over.”



Brian grinned. He loved the way Justin could become so consumed in his work that he forgot about everything else. “We should take a break to eat, even if you aren’t ready to leave yet.”



Justin nodded distractedly, his face already buried in one of the files again. “Order whatever.”



Brian watched Justin for a few minutes as he pulled out his notepad and began writing furiously. He even paused to create a rough sketch of, Brian supposed, the pose he wanted to use with that model. Justin was biting his lower lip as he considered the various photographs in that model’s file. Then he began to write more notes before setting the file aside and picking up the next. This one was quickly discarded into the no pile and Brian shook his head in bemusement as he picked up the phone and asked Cynthia to order sandwiches from the deli.



It was three hours later before Justin looked up again. He had accepted and eaten the sandwich Brian had handed him but had never really stopped what he was doing. He only stopped when he was completely finished with the files and had a list prioritizing which models he wanted to contact first.



“All finished?” Brian asked.



Justin gave a sheepish grin but nodded. “I think I’ve got what I need.”



“From that stack of files, I’d say that you have enough to keep you busy for the next six months,” Brian teased. “Anything worthwhile?”



Justin lit up as he picked up two files and brought hem over to Brian, sitting on the edge of Brian’s desk, between the taller man’s knees. “Look at these two and tell me what you think.”



Brian opened the first file and looked at the photos before reading the bio. The model was in his late twenties, tall, of Jamaican descent, with short dreads and well defined musculature. He had an easy smile and sexy eyes, but it was his strength which drew the viewer to him. The next file was for a much younger model, only nineteen. He was smaller than the first, with light brown hair and blue eyes. This time, it was the innocence and vulnerability of the model which stood out.



“You want to use these two together,” Brian deduced. Justin nodded. “I can certainly see the appeal. The juxtaposition of strength and vulnerability, of light and dark, innocence and sensuality…well, I can certainly see the potential.”



“You don’t think it will be too much, do you?” Justin asked, again biting his bottom lip nervously. “I mean, for the first time working with professional models?”



“I think it will be fine,” Brian said. “But if you are nervous about it, I can arrange to be there for your first meeting with them.”



Justin nodded and smiled gratefully. “Thanks. Will we have to go through their agents?”



“Yes, but let me have Cynthia handle all that,” Brian said as he set the files aside and pulled Justin closer to him. “She knows my schedule better than anyone and she can arrange things with the agents. She can also email a pdf of the contract and offer. Three sittings like I did? Or will you need more, since there are two of them?”



Justin paused to think. “I think at least four sittings. The first two for the photographs and sketches, the third and fourth for the painting. Possibly a fifth for finishing touches. At least two hours each.”



“I’ll have her contract for five at three hours each,” Brian said. “That way you’ll be sure to have all the time you need. Twice a week, or do you want more time in between?”



“The first two in the same week,” Justin said. “Then once a week after. With working on Debbie’s portrait, I’ll need a little extra time. Besides, I’ve been told I should get out of the house more often.”



“That you should,” Brian agreed. “I’ll get Cynthia working on this and then I can drop you home. Or, if you want to wait an hour or so, we can go have dinner together when I’m finished for the day.”



Justin thought about it for a moment. “Dinner out sounds good. And I wanted to wander down to the art department and see what they actually do down there, so now’s as good a time as any.”



“I’ll call Steven and see if he has time to show you around,” Brian said. He leaned up and gave Justin a kiss and then pushed Justin away so he could stand. “You might want to ask him about the Carry-all account.”



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Justin was impressed by the equipment that Steven showed him in the art department, but was not as impressed with the work they were producing. Steven had reintroduced Justin to each of the designers on staff, eight in all, and each one had given him a peek at whatever project they were working on. All in all, they seemed competent, and the campaigns were innovative, but the artwork was rather lackluster in comparison to the ideas that were being pitched.



After looking around the rest of the department, Steven invited Justin into his office. “So, what did you think?”



Justin wanted to soften his opinion, but his brain didn’t allow for that these days, so his answer was rather blunt. “They aren’t as good… as they should be. There’s talent and… technology enough, but there’s no passion or… creativity.”



Steve nodded. He knew that they were missing something, but had been unable to inspire his team to do the kind of work he knew they were capable of doing. “So, what do we do about that?”



Justin thought for long minutes before asking, “How many… of your team come from… a fine arts background?”



“Two,” Steve answered. “The rest are either computer whizzes or photo geeks.”



“Let me guess, based on the work I saw today, I’d say Carl and Janine are the artists,” Justin said. At Steve’s nod, he went on, “I think we need to… reintroduce the rest of the team to the fine arts. Take a few field trips… to see what’s possible, not just technologically… speaking, but creatively. We’ll go to the Carnegie Museum… and the Warhol Museum and let them get a feel for… some of the cutting edge artwork that… moves people. Then we come back here and brainstorm ideas… and see where that gets us. If that doesn’t work, then we need to reconsider the… dynamics of this department.”



Steve nodded. “Carl and Janine are both behind the curve when it comes to what is possible technologically speaking, but they have more creativity in their work than the rest of the team combined.”



“Maybe you should consider pairing… them with a computer whiz,” Justin suggested. “A team approach might… give you some better results. Now, Brian said I should… ask you about the Carry-all account.”



Steve laughed. “I’m sure he did. We’ve been killing ourselves trying to come up with artwork that will fulfill the needs of these assholes for weeks. The product they are trying to promote is a multi-function tote bag that can be changed into a number of different configurations depending on what the user needs. We’ve given them series photographs, morphed graphics, even animated graphics, but nothing we’ve come up with so far stands out. Brian’s got great copy, but we can’t seem to match it with great art.”



Justin nodded. “Can I see what you’ve done so far?”



For the next hour, Justin and Steve looked over the work and brainstormed ideas for the account. Justin even began sketching out some of the ideas as they talked. Neither man even noticed when the sky outside began to darken and the rest of the team left for the night.



“You see what I mean?” Justin asked as he showed Steve his latest sketch. “We can keep the morphing graphics and combine them with a series of morphing painted backgrounds—settings where the bag could be used—creating a collage of sorts for the final shot.”



“I should have known sending you down here would solve all our problems,” Brian smirked from the doorway. “Let me see what you’ve done?”



Justin smiled at Brian and handed him the sketches he’d been working on. Brian quickly flipped through the sketches. “Can we do this, Steve?”



“I think we can,” Steve grinned up at his boss, knowing just how good the ideas were he was looking at.



Brian smiled. “Then let’s get on this first thing tomorrow.”



“I’ll assign Mark and Carl to it,” Steve said. “Mind if I keep your sketches and notes, Justin?”



“Help yourself,” Justin smiled. “We’re all on the same team. And I’ll call you on Monday about setting up a time for that field trip we discussed.”



“Are you ready to get dinner?” Brian asked, tongue in cheek. “Or did you two have more you need to hash out?”



“We’re finished,” Justin said unrepentantly. “And I’m starving, so you better take me some place good. I worked hard for your company this afternoon.”



“Our company,” Brian smirked. “And I only sent you down here for an hour to look around, not three and a half and to solve every problem in the art department. If you keep this up, we’ll have to put you on the payroll.”



“Good night Steve,” Justin called as Brian ushered him out the door.



“We’ll talk in the morning,” Brian called over his shoulder. “Go home to that wife of yours. It’s already past seven.”



“Shit! Connie’s gonna kill me!” Justin heard Steve swear as the door to the art department swung shut behind them.