Page 8 of A Daddy for Christmas 3: August
Thor supposed that made sense. He was more of a choose something new because you never knew what your next favorite was going to be unless you did kind of guy.
“How did you get into life modeling?” Thor asked.
“I needed the money, honestly, and one of my roommates at the time had been doing it but had to stop because it interferedwith one of his courses. He recommended me and here I am. Three classes a week.”
“Are you a student at the university?”
“Yeah, but I’m only taking one class this semester. I refuse to go into debt, so I’m paying as I go.”
“That’s very prudent of you.” Surprisingly mature, too, for someone who so very clearly needed a Daddy in some areas of his life.
Auggie shrugged. “I watched debt cripple my folks and I swore I wasn’t going to let that happen to me.”
“Was it rough growing up in that environment?”
“Not when I was little. I was a teenager before I realized we were poor and about fifteen when I realized how it was affecting my folks. They were dead by the time I was eighteen and they weren’t even old, but years of stress and unhappiness got to them.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, thanks. At that point, I was already out of the house. I’d been working since I was fifteen to help contribute, but every time I gave them money, they’d spend it on stupid shit instead of paying the electric or gas bill.” Auggie shook his head. “I don’t know why I’m telling you all this stuff.”
“Because I asked?”
That had Auggie snorting. “I’m usually pretty good at changing the subject or bullshitting about the worst of it.”
“Well, clearly you feel safe telling me.” That was Auggie instinctively trusting the Daddy in him. It boded well for a future for them. And the more time he spent with Auggie, the more he got to know him, the more he did want a future. He was going to have to content himself with post-class dinners like these, though, until the semester was over. Then all bets were off.
“We haven’t talked about you at all,” Auggie told him.
“Ask away.”
“Did you always want to be a painter?” Auggie asked.
“I’ve always been creative, colored outside of the lines, enjoyed drawing and sketching and painting as I grew up, but I don’t know that I’d say I was looking to the painting as a vocation. It’s not like anyone encourages you to put artist down as your career path.”
“No, I bet they don’t. It’s not a way for most people to make money, and you have to do basic jobs like mine to support yourself and then be creative on your own time.”
“You’re not wrong, and I know I am very lucky to have been ‘discovered’ at an early age. I am supporting myself with the artwork.”
“You have any pictures so I could see what you do?” Auggie asked.
“You know the big painting behind the desk in class?”
“Yeah, it’s my focal point when I’m posing.”
“That’s one of mine.”
Auggie’s eyes went wide. “Oh wow. That’s really cool. I like that I can look at the whole thing, look at just parts of it, or just kind of drift in the colors.”
Thor tilted his head. That sounded an awful lot like how he’d heard subspace described. “How so?”
Auggie shrugged again. “I don’t know. It’s just like, I look at it and let my focus go soft and the colors meld together and it’s like I’m floating?”
“That’s fascinating.”
“I don’t know about that,” Auggie protested.
“I do. And it is. As are you.”
