PICTURE PERFECT // Jack Manifold X Reader

7

The twins were already in the classroom when you entered. You grabbed the seat between them, setting down your camera bag and your other school books on the table in front of you. Ty barely looked up from his phone when you sat down, but Dawn smiled at you, pushing her half finished iced coffee in your direction.

You picked up the cup, raising an eyebrow. "For me?"

"If you want." She said. "I don't feel like finishing it."

You wrapped your lips around the straw. "Thanks mate."

You finished off Dawn's coffee (which wasn't half bad) as class kicked into gear. It would be another regular day - photographing the modeling students or going outside to capture some nature, and turning in your final product at the end of the class. Luckily, you actually had a lens that worked today.

As Mrs. Winters sent you off on your way for the class period, the twins rose from their seats, taking quick stock of their outfits. Like most days, they were sort of matching - the same color scheme in each of their looks. Today, it was a combination of beige, cream, and white that complimented their dark hair and skin tones nicely. You let them do their once over - a routine for photo shoot days, as looking at their outfits would help them decide what kind of background would be good.

"We could do that brick wall near the front of the building?" Ty suggested. "It would bring the warm tones up-"

"I'm thinking that grey cement wall near the art rooms." Dawn said. "Cool tones are better for this one-"

"But it's going to look all dull with grey in the back-"

"I'm tired of brick-"

"Let's go to the art room wall." You said, cutting the argument off and slinging your camera bag over your shoulder. "Everyone's going to be outside, and I want to talk to you guys anyway."

Ty looked dejected as he followed you out of the room, but Dawn grinned, slinging an arm over your shoulders and leaning on you as you walked out the door. You never really liked choosing between the twins, but when you had to, you tried to even out the sides. Last time you had been out and about with the both of them, you had sided with Ty about where to eat. Now, it was Dawn's turn.

You made your way to the grey wall outside the art rooms without fuss, and started to put together your camera as soon as you got there. The twins took their places against the wall, waiting for you to starting shooting.

"So you wanted to talk to us about something?" Dawn asked.

"Yeah." You said, flipping on your camera and kneeling to get a good angle. "It's actually about the email I got yesterday."

The twins leaned nonchalantly against the wall, looking at the camera with passive disinterest as you took a few photos. "How did that go by the way?" Ty asked.

"Really well." You said. "It's some youtuber that needs photos for a merch drop, and he didn't ask about previous experience or anything so it looks like I actually might be doing this one."

"That's sick." Dawn said as they switched poses. "He seem legit?"

"Yeah." You said, snapping a few more shots. "He's got over a million subscribers and in the pictures of the merch he sent me, it was actually the guy from the channel and everything. He responded really fast in the emails too."

"Nice." Ty said. "That's great. You have a time or anything set yet?"

"Not yet." You said. "Actually, that's kind of what I wanted to talk to you guys about."

"Oh?" Dawn asked, leaning against her brother's shoulder for the next pose.

"So, we were talking about getting this shoot together," You led in. "And I asked him if he had any other models besides himself, and he said no. So naturally, I was like, 'I know a guy'."

"Ah." Ty said, a wry smile coming over his features. "You know a guy?"

"Well, two actually." You said, smiling back at him. "Anyways, if you guys aren't busy whatever day we end up choosing, I'll give you some of the money if you come along. Obviously, you don't have to, but I just thought I'd ask."

Dawn and Ty traded a look then, doing that speaking-without-opening-their-mouths thing that you had always been a little jealous of. You snapped a few photos as they did, just in case one of the shots turned out good. When you pulled the camera away from your eye though, they were looking back down at you.

"If we don't have anything else going on, we'll do it." Ty said.

You grinned. "Great! Depending on how many hours he wants, I'll pay you guys-"

"Don't worry about that part." Dawn said, waving a hand as she cut you off. "You need the money to replace that lens you smashed to pieces, and we're your best friends. You don't have to pay us."

Your heart squeezed in your chest at her words, and you stood up from where you had been crouched on the ground. "Guys, that's really sweet, but I still would feel really bad if I didn't pay you-"

"Nope." Ty said, popping the p. "Won't hear it. We're doing it for free and you can't stop us."

You glanced between him and Dawn. "C'mon-"

"The only reason we didn't buy you a replacement lens ourselves is because we knew you would have a fit about the price." Dawn cut you off. "You're not paying us."

Part of you was having a riot right then, screaming in your head about how it wouldn't be right of you to have them do this and then not pay them, but the other part knew there was no chance in getting them to change their minds now. They had already fought you down on it once - if you tried again they would take it as an offense.

And, it was rather nice that they were willing to forgo pay so that you could put the entire profit towards replacing that lens.