Gil has a sexy water shooting in boxers and a white dress shirt 😏
"This is dumb."
"Come on," Thena smiled as Gil fussed with his 'wardrobe', "you know how these shoots are."
"I wish I didn't," he grumbled, visibly embarrassed.
"Stop it," Thena laughed faintly. She had seen him plenty of times like this--shy and flustered at the wardrobe picked for him. "You look good. And that is the whole point of this."
"I still don't know whose big idea it was to even nominate me," he practically pouted as the lighting for the set was finalised."
"It's based on general consensus, Gilgamesh," she chided him, tugging at the front of his shirt for him one last time. "And Sprite says there has been a bit of a resurgence for you online as of late."
Gil had stumbled into a nomination for sexiest man of the year (or alive, or whatever they were calling it these days). And he wasn't overly pleased with it, especially when he found out that he had won. And furthermore, that they wanted to do a sexy photo shoot for the occasion.
He had initially wanted to decline, but his manager practically frothed at the mouth at the idea. One did not simply decline the title, nor the publicity that came with it.
King had said, verbatim, "go on and slut it up, big guy", so...that was helpful.
"Okay," Gil gulped, stiffly walking towards the set.
He had fussed and fussed, saying that plenty of options were just not him, or they wouldn't be believable that it was something he did regularly. At first he had suggested they just follow him around at the gym for the interview.
But the editor had gotten a tip off that Gil was a great cook.
Thena watched from the sidelines as they directed him. He was wearing a white button up shirt, and absolutely nothing else. Well, a pair of black boxer-briefs. Gil had said he looked completely ridiculous. Thena had told him not to argue with the producers.
He did look sexy.
Gil slouched over to the stove, grasping the handle of the pan just to really sell that he was doing some casual and lazy home cooking (in his underwear). "Y'know, I can't help but feel it's kinda dangerous to advertise this. Cooking without protection can-"
"Okay, big guy," the photographer murmured, obviously not listening to him. "Tug those sleeves up a little more?"
He did have great forearms.
"And," they adjusted the lens, "lean back a little, like you're talking with someone behind you?"
Gil was still terribly stiff. For all his acting prowess, photo shoots were not something into which his talent could translate naturally. He was too shy, too uncomfortable showing off his body.
"Think about who you're making these eggs for!"
Gil looked at the spatula in his other hand, "you really wouldn't need this just to scramble some eggs."
The producer sighed, rubbing their forehead. "Okay, let's try...something else."
"Gladly," Gil sighed, dropping himself from the unnatural pose.
"You!"
Thena blinked as she found a finger pointed at her, "me?"
The producer nodded, wagging a finger until she came closer to the set, "you came with him."
Yes, Gil had both been mortified at the idea of her seeing him like this, but also too shy to come all by himself for what could have been anything from a sports shoot to a total fanservice scene.
"What about her?" She was grasped by the shoulders to indicate to Gil that she could be the subject. "We put her at the other side of the island, out of frame, you just talk to her for a little. Think you can do that?"
Gil sighed at the grating and patronising tone. But he understood that his discomfort was primarily the cause of it. He looked at her, "are you okay with this?"
"It's not a problem," she answered, mostly for Gil's sake. Although she was all but shoved into the seat by the producer who obviously thought this would be quick and easy.
"Okay," Gil sighed as he resumed his place in the best lighting for the shot. "So, uh-"
"Well, you're right, you wouldn't use that thing to scramble eggs."
Gil did glance over his shoulder partially at her, pretending to make the vague gestures of cooking.
"You always just use chopsticks when I watch you," she tilted her head, although saying that was possibly more incriminating than she intended it to be. She just meant that he cooked a lot when he was over at her house (a lot).
"I mean, it's not like it's bad for making eggs," he shrugged, moving the spatula as stirring something around in his empty pan. "But it kinda cuts through them rather than keeps them airy and fluffy."
Thena smiled, happy just to watch him loosen up somewhat. "You could be making pancakes, I suppose."
"Huh," Gil mused, examining his pan at the suggestion. "I wouldn't really recommend a stainless steel nonstick for it, but I guess it's not impossible."
"You make delicious pancakes."
Thena continued to chat with him lightly and causally. It did actually seem to help him loosen up and forget about the cameras and the lights and the lack of pants on him. He would turn towards her every once in a while and then go back to staring at his imaginary dish.
"I think we got it!"
Gil blinked, "really?"
"Yep," the photographer declared happily, with the producer nodding enthusiastically in relief. "We're all good."
"Oh, uh," Gil set the pan and spatula down on the set stove and stepped back, "great."
Thena smiled at him; he was immediately back to being self-conscious and shy. She stood from her seat, "come on."
Gil started tugging at the shirt immediately, rolling down the sleeves to keep his hands busy. "Thank god, let's get outta here."
"Get some pants on, you mean?" she couldn't resist a little tease, which made him turn scarlet right to his ears. "Oh, come on, Gil. Your backside looked quite fantastic, I thought."
"Thanks," he snarked, eagerly heading right for the changing room to put his normal clothes back on. He looked over his shoulder before disappearing completely, "should I be concerned about you looking when I'm cooking at home, now?"
She shrugged with a faint grin, "what would you prefer I look at?"
Gil never did come up with a reply, retreating from her flirting.
She also needed to recover, actually. He did look good in the shirt and underwear they had selected for him. And while it wouldn't show up on the page, she had actually seen that it wasn't specially lined just for the shoot. She hadn't seen everything but she felt that she had seen...enough.
She twisted her hair over her shoulder, running her fingers through it, although making sure that the tips of her ears were covered.
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