3 - Beautiful Man

At 4:30 the following day, Mathias showered, dressed in his best suit, shaved, and even rubbed a bit of cologne on his neck for extra measure. Then he gathered all the change he could and walked down to the nearest bus stop.

Once on the bus, he leaned his cheek against the cool window next to his seat, remembering Francis from the night before. I'd say he's bang-worthy attractive, he thought with a grin. If my life is going down, it might as well go down with a bang. He gave a small chuckle at his private joke when the bus pulled up at the stop where he was supposed to get off. Mathias strode off the bus, spirits lifted.

His destination was about a block down the street. Francis sat on a low stone wall in front of a large glass building, staring in the opposite direction.

"Hey, Francis!"

Francis turned at the sound of Mathias's voice. "Oh, Mathias! Here you are! And just on time!"

"Yup. Wouldn't miss this for the world."

"I'm glad you're so enthusiastic about this," Francis smiled. "Let's go in."

He led Mathias into the glass building behind them. Light streamed into a wood-paneled reception room, broad-leafed plants in ceramic pots soaking up the sun. Behind a large wooden desk, a bespectacled young woman sat shuffling through papers and occasionally fiddling with her computer.

"Mona," Francis called to the lady, "I'll be showing this young man around."

Mona simply gave a grunt of affirmation, tucked a loose lock of auburn hair behind her ear, and continued. Francis led Mathias out of the lobby and down a carpeted hallway.

"So, do you live here or something?" Mathias asked.

"Quoi? What do you mean?" Francis replied.

"Well, didn't ya call me over to do it or something?"

Francis burst out laughing. Mathias's spirits fell; it was not exactly the reaction he was hoping for.

"Desolée, mon cher, but you really are dense."

"Huh?" It was Mathias's turn to be confused.

"You thought I was picking you up for sex?"

"Well, you said I was pretty..."

Francis rested a hand on Mathias's back, leading him through the glass double door at the end of the hallway. "Not that I don't find you unattractive, but trust me, this is better than sex."

What could be better than sex? wondered Mathias. The glass double door led into a smaller hallway, deep in the heart of the building. How many hallways are there in this damn building anyway? He frowned. His dreams of getting laid that night were gone and now he had no clue what was going on. Francis, however, didn't seem to care, he simply kept smiling and leading Mathias down these random corridors until they reached a large cement room, completely empty and void of decoration save for a couple folding chairs and a large, brightly lit area with spotlights hanging all around it. However, the room was definitely not void of people. There were photographers everywhere, surrounding and obscuring the stage. A burly blond man with his hair slicked back sat scribbling notes and chatting loudly in mixed German and Italian with two other men, brunettes in flashy suits. Other stragglers sat in folding chairs watching the scene, or wandered the room, trying to get a glimpse of what lay beyond the photographers.

"Francis, where am I?" he asked.

Francis smiled, flipping his wavy hair back. "You're at Image, mon cher. A modeling agency. Actually, this is our personal photography studio, but you understand, yes?"

"Modeling... Agency?"

With a condescending grin, Francis gave Mathias a pat on the shoulder. "Oui. A modeling agency. You see, last night, I picked you up to be a model."

"I can be... A model?"

"That's what I said." Turning away from the dumbstruck Dane, Francis approached the burly blond, interrupting his shouting match with the brunette duo, and brought him over to where Mathias stood, still trying to wrap his head around the entire situation.

Modeling. Modeling is a job. A job means getting paid. Getting paid means money. Money is good. So... Modeling is good.

A grin crept onto Mathias's face. His unemployment days were over! But before he could celebrate, Francis had returned with the burly blonde.

"See, I told you he was handsome," Francis beamed.

"You are right," came the reply. The burly blonde stuck a large hand out at Mathias. "My name is Ludwig Beilschmidt. I am the proprietor of Image."

Time to turn on the charm, Mathias thought, I need this gig. He shook the offered hand. "I'm Mathias Køhler, glad to meet you!" He looked around and flashed a pearly-white smile at Ludwig. "Wow, everyone here is so attractive," he complimented.

Ludwig smirked back. "Of course. It's the image of Image. Everyone has innate beauty and we can always bring it out." He motioned to the stage. "Actually, one of our top boys, Tino, was an average kid who came off the streets, just like you."

Mathias stood on his toes to try to peer over the crowd of people surrounding the stage.

Under the bright lights, two young men stood back-to-back, leaning on each other. A shorter man with delicate features, sandy blond hair, and soft violet eyes which seemed to take up half his round face. He was indeed cute, but the other man was the one who had caught Mathias's eye was his partner.

The other man stood straight and tall, with piercing dark blue eyes and unruly, wheat-colored hair which flopped over his face, giving him an air of stoicism and mystery to counter the other man's cheeriness.

"So who are those two?" Mathias asked.

"Image's top duo," Ludwig replied with a proud smile, "Tino Väinämöinen, he's got the purple eyes, and Lukas Bondevik, standing next to him."

"I see..." Mathias trailed off.

Lukas.

There was something about him that piqued Mathias's interest. His countenance simply screamed "no-nonsense". He looked so calm and composed; a prince with a gaze of ice. Mathias thought of a story he had heard when he was younger, about a young boy who had gotten enchanted glass stuck in his eye and heart and can no longer see good, and it takes the love of his best friend, a girl very dear to him, to break the spell.

A loud cough from Ludwig snapped Mathias out of his trance. "So, um," he grunted, "I'd like it if you could start tomorrow. Lukas will train you."

It took all of Mathias's willpower to retain his composure and keep from giving Ludwig a big hug.

XxX

"All right, shoot's over. Tino, Lukas, thanks for all your hard work."

"Thanks for all yours," Tino replied happily, wiping sweat off his brow. He turned to Lukas. "Nice job out there, Lukas."

"You too." Lukas gave a small smile at his partner, and they bumped fists, leaving the stage as the crowd dispersed.

Mathias leapt up from his perch on one of the folded chairs and made a beeline for the two men. "Hi!" He greeted, grinning from ear-to-ear.

"Hi yourself!" Tino greeted back.

"And who might you be?" Lukas regarded the newcomer with a skeptical eye.

"Mathias Køhler, former unemployed loser and newest model at Image!" His grin persisted. Maybe I can win him over with humor, he thought.

However, only Tino laughed at his joke. "Okay, nice to meet you, former unemployed loser!" He shook Mathias's hand. "I'm Tino Väinämöinen and this is Lukas Bondevik," he grabbed Lukas's arm to keep him from sneaking away, "and we're looking forward to working with you! Right, Luke?"

Lukas cast a sidelong glance at Mathias then quickly turned away. "Yeah. Looking forward. Right. Nice to meet you." He turned back to Tino, wrestling free. "Look, Tino, I have another shoot somewhere else after this, I need to go now."

Tino shrugged and let Lukas go. They watched him leave the room, stopping only at the doorway to peep over his shoulder for a split second.

"I'm sorry... Luke's been stressed out lately. He's usually not this impolite." Tino sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "There's this contract with an international studio he's vying for, and it's really fucking up his mind..."

"No, no. It's all right." Mathias held up his hands. "Once he lands that contract, he'll be fine, right?"

"Right." Tino smiled. All of a sudden, a faint buzzing could be heard. "Whoops," Tino said, pulling his phone out of his back pocket, "Lukas wants me in the lounge. 'Right goddamn now,' he says." He blew a lock of hair out of his eyes, slightly peeved. "I guess I'll talk to you later, Mat."

"Yeah, later, Tino."

They waved their goodbyes as Francis again approached Mathias. "So what do you think, cher? Are you willing to become a model?"

"Hell yes." Nothing was going to stop Mathias from this gig. Absolutely nothing.

XxX

"I'm going to do what?"

Ludwig crossed his arms. "You heard me correct, Bondevik."

"Why should I? I shouldn't have to cater to the needs of some newb idiot who can't even walk straight." Lukas glared at his boss.

Ludwig glared back. Tino, summoned to the backstage lounge by Lukas's text, stood between the two men, gritting his teeth and hoping his presence could keep an all-out war from exploding.

"You will if you know what's best for you," Ludwig stated tersely, leaving. "Remember, it takes a lot to make an international modeling contract, but barely anything to break it."

The door slammed shut, leaving Lukas and Tino alone in the lounge.

XxX

"A toast to the end of my unemployment!"

"Cheers."

That night, Mathias met up with Berg at a slightly more upscale bar than the one they were at a couple nights before. He was going to have more than enough money soon, why not go all-out and party tonight with his best friend? He was euphoric and Berg seemed relieved; an excellent time to hit the town.

Mathias took a swig of his beer and Berg did the same. He slammed his glass on the table with a loud thud, gleefully wiping the froth off his lip with his sleeve.

"So you're a model now?" Berg asked, civilly wiping his mouth with a napkin.

"Ayup, starting tomorrow!" Mathias replied, "And guess what?"

"What?"

"There's the cutest little snow prince at the agency I'm working for! His name is Lukas and he's so cool!" He grinned. "So basically, this is the best gig I could ever land. Ever."

Berg nodded. "Sounds great."

"And I'm supposed to start training under him tomorrow! It's like a fuckin' dream come true!"

Berg nodded. "Congratulations."

"Maybe I can even move out of that shit apartment, too..." Mathias leaned back in his chair, sighing contentedly. "Man, this can't get any better."

AN: So yeah, I've been updating this pretty quickly because it's vacation and all. But unfortunately updates are probably going to slow, as school resumes tomorrow.
It's my first time writing a lot of these characters... oop. Norway is really fun to write, too.