what's something you learned recently? do you believe in luck and superstition? Do you carry any lucky items or follow any lucky rules? what do you wish someone would ask you?
13. what's something you learned recently?
Apparently they fixed Kelley Square! It used to be a 7(?)-road intersection with no markings or lights with one of the roads being the highway off-ramp.
Now it's a peanut-shaped roundabout that's actually navigable!
17. do you believe in luck and superstition? Do you carry any lucky items or follow any lucky rules?
No to superstition. Like, I'll feel a little weird and try to avoid "jinxing" stuff and I'll "knock on wood," but it's less that I believe in it and more "pessimism means I'm either right or pleasantly surprised."
Yes to luck, in the sense that sometimes nice things happen randomly, not in the sense that it's a resource like magic.
Gonna hit you with that "Genyatta, but Zenyatta is a famous model and Genji is his photographer." >:D
hello there babbu! i hope you enjoy this :D
Pairing: Genji/Zenyatta
Rating: T
Behind the lens, Genji feels powerful.
There is something intrinsically beautiful in being able tocapture something in a photo –the perfect angle, the perfect expression, theway light falls in a certain way, and the shadows pool just like that, a stolen moment that can look asreal or as prepared as he wants.
He enjoys the soft sound of lens recalibrating and zoomingon his target, he enjoys the whirr and the click when he finally picks the rightpose and takes a photo. He enjoys, most of all, the feeling of accomplishment,of being able to do something with his own life that at the end of the day hecan feel good about… even when his family still doesn’t understand.
It doesn’t matter if they don’t –Genji Shimada, 35, is happywith his job and his life.
He moved from a nobody to someone respected, not the onechasing celebrities hoping for a jib but the one being chased, the one who canturn even the most lacklustre setting into something glamorous, the most boringattire into a winning look.
Of course, the best photos always happen when the model isjust right.
Tekhartha Zenyatta, 20, relatively unknown but rising star, isprobably the most beautiful omnic Genji has ever met –and his photos prove it,enough that Zenyatta’s manager, a burly man with an almost constant frown, has contractedGenji for a hefty sum to make sure he is Genji’s main priority, and… Genji wouldn’tmind making Zenyatta his priority at any time.
It’s not just his beauty, because Genji has worked with himnow long enough to be able to say everything of Zenyatta shines like a brightstar.
Standing near the buffet, cradling a cup of hot cocoa in hishands, Zenyatta makes such a simple, everyday action look special. And yes,maybe it’s Genji being a little biased, but…
He snaps a photo before he can think about it, catching theway the light shines on Zenyatta’s chrome faceplate, on his naked shoulders,and hums, pleased, when the preview turns out exactly as he’d wanted it–
Before he catches himself, startled, and Zenyatta turnsaround, equally surprised.
“Ah, forgive me!” Genji fumbles with his camera, fingersliding towards the ‘erase’ button. “I had not meant to take a photo!”
“That,” Zenyatta says, though his voice holds no contemptnor anger, “is a lie.”
Chastised, Genji flinches.
He cannot begin to explain the complex mix of feelings hefelt just staring at Zenyatta’s frame, the way he looks so easily detached fromeverything yet a part of it all, how even holding a mug makes him appear unreachablebut also welcoming, how he couldn’t help wanting to steal that moment, captureit in a photo and hold on it, how intimate and personal it seems, expressingall of Zenyatta’s being into a single picture, +but he knows he’s oversteppedhis boundaries, even then.
The photoshoot has ended, he cannot–
“May I see?”
Surprised, Genji moves before he can stop himself, hands hiscamera to Zenyatta and waits, feeling jittery, as the omnic looks at thepreview and hums deep in his synth.
“You truly have a beautiful gift,” Zenyatta tells him, andsomething in his voice is almost muted. If Genji didn’t know better, he’d callit shyness, or perhaps bashfulness, but Zenyatta is a model and surely knowshow he looks in front of the cameras. “Though I would say, there are muchbetter subjects to focus on.”
“I don’t think so,” Genji says, before his brain catches upwith his mouth and he feels his cheeks burn. “I mean–” he fumbles a little,inwardly ashamed of his faux-pas, and clears his throat. “You are…” and then,he nods to himself, finishing the thought he’d so long kept to himself, “…fascinating.”
It surprises him to see Zenyatta’s shoulders jolt, and it isonly because he’s attentive to details that he notices the soft but continuoussound of fans spinning that grows just a little bit stronger then.
“Do you not think so?” Genji should learn to keep his mouthshut, but their previous interactions have been nothing but polite talk and Genjidirecting Zenyatta during photoshoots, so he feels elated now, and when Zenyattagives him his camera back, their fingers brush, leaving Genji with a tinglingfeeling in his hand.
“I enjoy watching people,” Zenyatta says, tone warm, “but I’venever thought of including myself among them.”
There, again –Genji catches Zenyatta looking away, fingerscurling together in front of him, shoulders hitching up just a fraction, andthe truth that worms its way in his mind leaves him almost giddy.
“Well, that’s my job,” Genji feels emboldened, “I enjoyworking with you.”
“I can say the same.” Zenyatta’s voice is happy, cheerful,and when he links his fingers together in front of his face, Genji feels hisheart do a traitorous flip in his chest. After a beat, Zenyatta hums and adds, “I’vealways admired your work.”
It sounds like a confession.
The fact that Zenyatta has heard of him before his managerhad employed him makes the giddiness inside Genji bubble to the surface, but hekeeps his tone neutral when he answers, “I’ve worked with enough models to knowwhat I am doing.”
“Oh, I did not mean that.”
Zenyatta holds his phone out for him to take, the tilt ofhis head making him appear almost shy, and when Genji glances down, he’ssurprised to see that the phone’s wallpaper is, in fact, one of Genji’s photos.Not one of his modelling works, nor his most famous shots at the red carpet…no. it’s one of Genji’s scenery pieces, a view of Nepal, the sky a sharp contrastwith the snow-tipped mountains, and a monastery barely visible in the fardistance.
Genji remembers that trip, hiking solo across the mountains,only armed with a small backpack and his camera, the way air had been cold inhis lungs and on his face, the way he’d felt so free and unburdened.
The way everything had seemed so beautiful.
It feels so long ago, yet the memories are fresh in hismind.
“… oh.”
“I have lived there, before coming here.” The wistful tonein Zenyatta’s voice makes Genji look up at him, surprised at the confidence. Littleis known of his life before, and that he would confide in him now… “that photofelt like home. I have been following your work since then, though… I admit, I appreciateyour scenery sets a lot more.”
Genji feels his throat constrict, and his heart flips again,but before he can think about anything he wants to say, Zenyatta’s managercalls for him.
“Forgive me, it appears Gabriel wants us to go, now.” Zenyattainclines his head towards him. “But… we’ll see each other soon, yes?”
“Yes!” Genji would never miss one of their photoshoots. Then,he stops. “The photo…?” he wants to keep it, but he will never disrespect Zenyattaif he asks for it to be deleted. “Can I keep it?”
Zenyatta hesitates. “Do you wish to… publish it?”
“Of course not!” Genji has a surge of protectiveness thatbubbles up his chest, and at that, Zenyatta makes a soft, chittering sound thatsounds a bit like a laugh.
“Then… it is alright.” Zenyatta looks down at his phone,then tilts his head to look at Genji one last time before he says his finalgoodbye and leaves.
Belatedly, Genji realises he’s basically asked Zenyatta tokeep a personal, almost intimate photo of him.
He’s glad Zenyatta’s gone, because the surge of hope andembarrassment he feels make his knees weak.
HNNNNNNNNNNGH YOUR MONSTER!SHOCKWAVE IS 15/10 HNNNNNNNNNNGH CERTIFIED WONDERFUL BIG BOY! I love the way you draw expressions and how everyone really calls back to their bot-form as humansonas while being a nice refreshing take! Your art is super good!
thank you! ^^ I originally wanted to draw a human blurr for one reason
I'M SO GLAD YOUR 1 FEAR COMIC WAS BLOWN THE HELL OUT OF THE WATER!! HAVE NO FEAR!!! IT WILL ONLY GET GAYER FROM HERE!!!
me the fuck too :’)
idk about it getting gayer tbh because legendary is now owned by a chinese production company and pr really only makes a shitton of money in china… like if you cut out the chinese market, it’s boned.
but i can tell you one thing: it sure as hell isn’t gonna get less gay, not if charlie and burn have anything to say about it.
there is something so warm and comforting about having both actors in a pairing be vocally and proudly on our side.
