The pictures he took were beautiful, he knew because when he looked at them his black and white world was suddenly filled with vibrant color. His photos told a happy story that drew people in, that took some of their burden and made it lighter. Although the bad in life were abundant, his photographs showed people proof that there was more than that. There was beauty and hope.

As he became more renown as a photographer the inspiring images he sought to capture began to fade. The faces of his models blurred together and although the pretty things offered him looks filled with emotion in each shot he felt nothing. The fashion industry praised him for such consistently divine shoots that promoted their products, but their words left him with a feeling of emptiness. He took beautiful pictures but there was nothing beautiful about them anymore.

It was frustrating.

At 22 he had taken the world of photography by storm. His days were filled with multiple photo shoots for a variety of industries, dabbling in each for in-equal amounts of time. The variety of his shoots offered him more chances to find the uplifting visions he wished to preserve while at the same time giving him a growing number of contacts and adding an unnecessary amount to his bank account.

There was so much to be happy with in his life, yet he was only disappointed and frustrated. Briefly he wondered if perhaps he was depressed.

“-aine. Blaine!” a voice whispered harshly, punctuated by a sharp ‘clack’ of a pen hitting the table. “Are you listening to me?”

Blaine stared at his assistant that was sitting across the table from him. The Asian man appeared annoyed although a small trace of worry shown through his dark eyes. The light shining across his assistant’s face changed when Blaine tilted his head and straightened from his slouch and no, there was no worry in those dark eyes; only annoyance.

“Have you ever thought of going into modeling? You’re good at manipulating the light in your favor.” Blaine smiled as he picked up the camera he had placed on the table earlier. He raised it and looked through the lens at the Asian man who snorted and leaned back in his chair. “I’m serious Wes!”

Wes shook his head and crossed his arms. “Nice try Blaine.”

The photographer’s smooth laughter echoed off the bricks of the patio they were seated in. Carefully Blaine lowered his camera back to the table before turning his attention back to Wes. “Sorry Wes, I spaced out for a bit there.”

A leather bound planner was resting on the table with numerous meetings and shoots scheduled. Everything within the small book was written with black ink in a neat scrawl; Tuesday through Thursday for the current week was full and Wes was currently working towards filling Blaine’s Friday as well.

“I asked which shoot you would prefer. It would be impossible to fit both into the same day. Actually, I can make it work so you'll do both.” Wes’s one-sided conversation ended abruptly with his decision and he quickly set to work scribbling down the shoots.

“Whoa, wait! Wait!” Blaine started. “What if I don’t want to do them?”

“You do though.” Wes said. His eyes remained on the planner.

Blaine leaned back in the rod iron seat he had been situated in for the better part of an hour and trained his hazel eyes to his camera. “…No. I actually don’t.”

The sound of Wes’s pen being placed on the cloth covered table caused Blaine to look up at the man. The hand suddenly pushed against his forehead caused him to jump in his seat.

“Are you sick?”

Blaine pulled away from Wes’s touch and batted the man’s hand away. “Of course not.”

“You never turn down offers like these.” Wes sat back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest.

“Well, there’s a first time for everything.” Blaine said, mimicking his assistant’s motions.

Wes frowned, “What’s caused this change?”

The photographer shrugged before unfolding his arms. His assistant obviously wasn’t pleased with this ‘change’ and wanted answers, which Blaine knew from prior experience was better to give sooner than later.

“You know I’m not good with talking about these kinds of things, Wes.” Blaine sighed.

Wes raised an eyebrow and watched Blaine cautiously. “So we’re talking about feelings. Were you dumped again recently or something? If you need time to get over it I’ll give you ten minutes, maybe eleven if it was really bad.”

“What? No, no I wasn’t broken up with. And again? Really? Low blow Wesley.” Blaine rolled his eyes. He picked up his coffee and took a long drink before placing the cup back on the table. “It’s just- I don’t know.”

His assistant snorted. “What do you know then?”

“It’s just-“Blaine started, pausing to piece together what he wanted to say and hoping he wouldn’t sound too ridiculous. He glanced at his camera. “I’m not happy. Simply put I’m disappointed and frustrated.”

A frown immediately found its way across Wes’s features. “Might I ask why?”

“My pictures.” Blaine said. He briefly glanced at the open planner on the table and motioned to it. “They’re just pictures. Before all of this, each photo meant something but now they- they’re not…”

Understanding dawned on Wes and he nodded. “Uplifting.”

Blaine nodded. “Yes. Something like that.”

“Your pictures are beautiful, Blaine. No one is ever displeased with what you offer.” Wes said, carefully watching Blaine’s expression.

“I am.” Blaine murmured as he picked up his camera. “I don’t want my pictures to just be something to look at. I want them to be something to get lost in. Something that reminds people that in this world there are beautiful things waiting for them. That there’s hope hiding in the most bizarre of places.”

This is the reason Wes worked for Blaine and enjoyed it. The man was passionate. Wes was half-tempted to take Blaine’s camera and snap a picture of him. The photographer would surely ask what he was doing and not understand that Wes was taking a picture of what Blaine was rambling about.

Blaine sighed. “You know what I mean?”

Before Wes could answer in the affirmative a joking voice interrupted, “Sounds like someone needs to get laid, heheh.”

Both men turned to see their waiter. The blonde boy smiled widely.

“You putting yourself out there for me, Jeff?” Blaine smiled charmingly. “How sweet of you.”

A moment of silence passed over the three before two of them began laughing. Wes rolled his eyes at their immaturity. He and Blaine had been frequenting the Warbler Caf� for nearly two years once a week when they were in town since Blaine had started photographing professionally in order to meet up in a casual public setting to plan Blaine’s schedule. Their constant presence within the caf� resulted in a strong relationship to the employees, who they now felt were family.

“Nah, the only thing I’m putting out for you is your check.” Jeff said while fighting to keep from laughing again. He placed the black book on the table before motioning to Blaine’s camera. “You have anything new on there?”

Blaine turned the camera on and took a quick and unexpected picture of the waiter. He laughed at the boy’s stunned expression. “I do now.”

“Dude, not fair I wasn’t ready for that!” Jeff complained while reaching for the camera. “You need to delete that. Like right now.”

Wes watched as Blaine continued to tease Jeff by moving the camera out of his reach. As he placed a few bills in the book to cover the check he heard Blaine comment on putting Jeff’s picture on the cover of the daily paper with the heading of: Warbler Waiter Attacks Poor Photographer. Wes allowed himself to smile slightly at the two’s antics.

“I don’t mind having my picture taken or anything but no one is going to find that even remotely attractive or worth a second glance.” Jeff groaned. His embarrassment showed through the pink tips of his ears. “Blaaaaiiiiine!!”

Said man smiled easily and shook his head. “Someone is going to look at this picture someday, smile, and think to themselves that you are the most amazing thing they’ve ever laid eyes on. And you know what? They’re going to look at it every chance they get because it makes them happy.”

“Oh? How creepy.” Jeff commented, quirking an eyebrow. He deftly took the tab from Wes and put it in the apron around his waist. “You’ve done that with something before?”

A dark pair of eyes turned their focus from the waiter to Blaine. The man was currently seated with a look of surprised confusion on his face.

“What? Well, no but-“Blaine started but couldn’t finish. He had been trying to be a romantic when he said those words.

“Maybe you need to.” Jeff said. A grin lit up his face as he took a few steps away from the table. “You know, ‘get lost in something’ or whatever.”

The caf�’s owner, Thad, poked his head out of the door. “Jeff, I don’t mind if you speak with the customers, but please don’t forget that you have other tables to serve.”

“Sorry sir!” Jeff called over his shoulder and smiled sheepishly at his employer before rushing over to him and following him inside. “Won’t happen again!”

“I faintly recall hearing you say that last week.” Wes heard Thad sigh before the door closed behind him. Once the two employees were gone Wes turned his attention to Blaine, only to find the man was staring down at his camera with a look of contemplation.

“I get lost in my photography.”

“Jeff isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed.” Wes replied. He was tempted to add that Blaine wasn’t either, but decided against it. “You’re passionate about what you do Blaine; anyone with eyes can see that. But are you passionate about whatever is on the other side of that lens? I think that was what Jeff was trying to say.”
Blaine remained silent as he thought over his assistant’s words. As much as he hated admitting the other man was right, he was. Blaine knew that when he looked through his camera nothing seemed to bring lasting emotion to him as it once had. The acknowledgement of such a realization depressed him.

“I don’t know where to look.” Blaine sighed.

Wes offered the photographer a small smile, “You find hope in bizarre places, don’t you?”

“Yes,” Blaine thought, a warm smile beginning to cross his features. “I did say that, didn’t I?”

The Asian man picked up the pen he had earlier discarded and resumed filling in Blaine’s schedule. Friday was now booked. “I suggest you start looking. I recommend starting with dumpsters. You never know what you’ll find in those.”

“Your sarcastically caring nature warms my heart.” Blaine laughed to himself as he stood from his seat to stretch. He reached out and picked up his bag and camera before turning to his assistant and offering him a short wave. “I’ll see you tomorrow at the airport.”

“5 o’clock.” Wes said as he gathered his own things. “A.M.”

Blaine gave Wes a backwards wave as he continued to walk off. It was still early and he had the day off, much to his surprise and delight. Deciding to let his feet take him where they wanted, he wandered.

By half-past three Blaine had meandered through parts of the town he hadn’t known existed. Along the way he had taken numbers of pictures that would usually leave him with a feeling of contentedness but now only left him with an aching in his chest.

“This is ridiculous.” Blaine murmured to himself as he looked through the various photos he had taken on the camera’s display screen. With practiced ease he made his way through groups of teenagers that had just been let out of school that day. To get to his apartment from where he was at he had to pass by a high school, the very thought of which made him shudder. High school, or at least freshman year, had seriously sucked.

He offered the school and its parking lot a fleeting glance, taking in the sight of various students and their cliques. The students were either approaching their beat up cars or mulling around. Blaine was about to return his attention to his camera when in his peripheral he caught sight of a figure near a dirty green dumpster; his pace slowed until he was no longer moving.

Blaine was by no means subtle towards things that caught his interest, be it an object or person, thus it should have come as no surprise to anyone when he raised his camera and zoomed in on the figure to get a better look at them.

The person by the dumpster was a boy whom Blaine assumed was a student; an incredibly stunning student at that. Blaine watched as the boy fussed with his slightly rumpled hair, before turning to straighten his clothes (which were surprisingly fashionable for a male in Ohio). The boy picked up his bag with a huff and disappeared into the dispersing mass of cars in the parking lot. Blaine watched in awe until the boy was out of sight, a small smile spreading across his face.