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Seth had always had a passion for photography. The ability to capture beautiful, natural moments to share with anyone in his life. Every sky of shining diamonds, every river of running sparkles, every windswept valley of paper thin life underfoot, and every creature that lived among the three were all captured in frozen time and hung on his walls so he could appreciate the moments forever. Seth wasn’t really a perfectionist about it though. There were multiple moments where Link had gotten into the shot, bounding through the grass, barking at the squirrels, splashing in the rivers, but Seth didn’t mind. Photography was his way of capturing the beautiful moments in his life, and the moments were always a bit imperfect. His beautiful moments don’t need to be perfect, only real.
That sentiment he held was the biggest reason he was convinced that his current internship was the universe messing with him. Fashion photography was never really a career path he’d imagined for himself, mainly because he just never liked the idea of it. Yet here he was, interning as a fashion photographer for the time being. It wasn’t the worst, the models were all quite nice and it was good work experience, but he didn’t particularly like it. He mostly hated how smoothed over and edited down all his photo’s ended up being. He started saving the originals just so that they still existed, imperfections and all.
When Seth got to the studio that morning he was met with the news that the designer was currently in a meeting and the shoot was rescheduled for a little bit later, which would’ve been great to know before he came, but oh well. After a while he decided to wander up to Brian’s dressing room to kill time. Brian always made for good company, despite the constant flirting, and he never really minded Seth hanging around on breaks and such. Walking down the halls, he followed along with the pattern on the walls until he got to Brian’s dressing room. He heard music flowing out from the edges of the door, an upbeat tune mingling with the faint sound of Brian’s voice and the yelling of a bird, and he decided on a more quiet entrance.
As he creaked open the door, the first thing he saw was Brian. He was dancing around, singing into a makeup brush. He occasionally pointed it up to Navi, who was generally flying around his head, and she belted out little noises well enough to the tune. As Seth gently shut the door behind him, it took everything in his power not to laugh at the scene in front of him. This was a side of Brian he hadn’t seen before. Brian was peppy and fun, sure, but he tended to present himself as a more cool guy around Seth, not the kind of wholesome dork that has duets with his parrot. Now this was a moment Seth had to capture, partially so he always had proof that it happened, partially because he had no idea if he would see it again.
He got his camera out of his bag, careful not to make too much noise, and lined up his shot. He had to realign every few seconds, but he didn’t care. Every new shot was a new pose, almost like frames of animation or stop motion. Seth let out a small chuckle as Brian pulled pose after pose, unknowingly providing him with even better shots. Navi swirling around in the air also came off great on camera, a little beam of feathered sunlight joining Brian in the fun. Seth knew he didn’t have much left of this moment, as the song was drawing to a close and so was the dancing, but he also knew he could count on Brian to deliver a great ending pose. Brian eventually came to a stop, pointing directly at himself in the mirror as he sang the last words. He seemed like he was about to pull his hand back when Navi decided to land on his finger, and both of them laughed as Seth captured the truly perfect ending shot.
While Seth checked the photos he’d captured, Brian was over there making a fuss of Navi, and Seth found himself semi-distracted while looking through the shots. Some of them were a bit blurry, but most of them looked great, and these were probably gonna be his favorite photos of Brian. As he looked up from the camera, he noticed Navi flying around again as Brian sat down on his sofa. She didn’t seem to have a spot she was flying too. She often didn’t, she just flew around for the sake of it. However she also seemed to have decided that Seth’s camera was an interesting thing she had to investigate. Not for the first time. Seth rolled his eyes when the little bird landed on his camera and peered down at the lens, as if expecting it to show her the secrets of another world.
“Wha- Seth!?” Brian was answered first by a loud chirp from Navi, before Seth chuckled and encouraged Navi off of his camera so he could put it back in his bag.
“Hey Brian, fun concert?”
As Seth walked over, Brian gained a dusting of pink on his cheeks and he stammered out a few things to try to explain himself.
“You saw that? Listen, Navi was making a lot of noise, so I thought I could-” Seth chuckled a bit more as he sat down.
“Hey, no need to explain things, I get it. I mean, I’ve had full blown conversations with my dog.” Brian chuckled a little and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, before pausing for a moment.
“Wait, did you have your camera out?” Seth openly laughed as Brian blushed even brighter. “Did you get photos of that?”
Seth found it a little hard to talk as he was laughing, but he managed to string together a sentence while getting his camera out from his bag again to show Brian the photos.
“Relax. It was only a few, and I’m not gonna do anything with them.” Brian shoved his face into his hands and groaned, draping himself over the arm of the couch somewhat dramatically.
“Fuck… they’re probably gonna look so bad.” Seth looked over at him, puzzled and amused.
“What? No way. The entire thing was adorable, and so are the pictures.” Brian rolled around on the couch, somehow flipping himself around without falling off the couch.
“But I didn’t even have my makeup done! I wasn’t camera-ready!” Seth’s smile dropped at Brian’s last sentence. For him, ‘camera-ready’ wasn’t exactly a thing.
“You didn’t have to be. Moments like that aren’t something you can make ‘camera-ready’.” Brian looked at him with confusion, sitting up a bit as to not strain his neck.
“But you’re a photographer. You’re supposed to take pictures of me showing off outfits and stuff. It’s what you came here to do.”
Seth rolled his eyes, clicking back though the photos he’d taken since his last shoot with Brian.
“That’s what I agreed to do for work experience, not what I actually like about photography.” Brian still looked confused, so Seth elaborated. “I don’t actually like taking pictures of models that are just just gonna get edited until they’re barely recognizable. I take pictures to capture moments, and moments aren’t free of a few blemishes.” Seth shifted his hand to show Brian a picture of a black and white blur jumping into a river. “Like with this, I had everything lined up for a nice, calm river shot, and just as I snapped this picture Link dived into the river. Sure it wasn’t what I was expecting, but it was still a nice moment, so I kept it.” Brian still didn’t quite understand, looking off to the side sheepishly.
“Okay, but that’s a fun moment with your dog with nature around you. Why take pictures when walking in on me singing with my bird?” Seth looked back over and smiled again, flipping back to the photos he took of Brian.
“Well firstly, you two were very photogenic for those who don’t know they were on camera. Guess that’s why you call yourself the star huh?” Brian squinted his eyes at the comment.
“What do you mean?” Seth smirked, showing Brian one of the pictures. Navi landing on Brian’s shoulder as if she was looking too.
“Well, think about a sunset. It’s one of the most beautiful things nature has to offer, but it doesn’t know that. It doesn’t even know we’re looking.” Brian just looked even more puzzled as he looked through the photos, and Seth chuckled. “It’s just like you were. Oblivious, yet beautiful.”
Brian lit up in a bright blush as Seth spoke, stuttering while trying his best to process what he meant.
“Wha? That’s ridiculous! I mean, it takes effort to look this good.” Brian ran a hand through his hair, trying his best for a charismatic look to distract from his flustered deminer. Seth just rolled his eyes fondly.
“Not with the kind of beauty I like to capture.” He then flipped to the final photo he took, shifting to show Brian as well. “The kind of beauty I love is just joy. Those small, happy moments you’d draw on in your darkest days. Can’t you feel it?” Brian’s eyes widened as he understood, a faint smile creeping onto his lips.
“Okay, I kinda get you now.” Brian looked away as he spoke, Navi snuggling into his cheek as he did so. Seth raised his camera to his eyes, and Brian’s eyes snapped back as he heard the telltale click of the camera.
“Wha- seriously?” Seth chuckled as he lifted his camera down, checking the photo he’d just taken.
“What? You looked beautiful.” Brian’s blush darkened as Seth laughed again. Seth turned his camera to show Brian the picture, and Brian couldn’t help but let his smile widen at the shot.
“Okay, Okay. Just don’t take anymore until the shoot. You don’t wanna run out of space.” Seth rolled his eyes, but nodded. Putting his camera back in his bag before Navi could fly onto it again.
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The shoot had gone well, and Brian was now relaxing and watching Navi play. His roommates were playing some video game in the other room, but Brian just wanted some alone time with his bird. Navi was playing with her swinging ball toy when Brian’s phone buzzed. As Brian went to check, he saw Seth had sent him three pictures. One of him pointing the makeup brush microphone to Navi, the one when Navi landed on his finger at the end, and the one of Navi snuggling into him. Brian groaned in embarrassment at what happened, the sound prompting Navi to fly onto his head and gently touch her beak to it. Brian smiled softly at it, noticing that Seth had sent one more message.
“In case you ever need a happy moment.”