The Model

[Mdlftr]

[I reread a recent thread on the Forum about "Masculinity". Then this story wrote itself. Enjoy!]


Afterwards, everyone agreed that it was the first time they could remember that a magazine spread actually lived up to its hype. The Advocate found him first. The article claimed he had been ?discovered? near the Pines on Fire Island, one July afternoon. A wandering photo stringer had casually fired off a few shots, and an ambitious assistant photo editor, filling in while the lead editor was out sunning in the Hamptons, picked the famous picture out of a contact sheet.

And what a picture! It was featured in a summer article entitled, ?Beach Boys we?d like to Oil Up,? It showed a young, amazingly handsome, thickly muscled young man, shirtless and leaning against a low stone wall. Dark good looks, tight cut offs, and a sizeable bulge at his crotch all drew the eye. The juxtaposition of the hard curves of his dark olive tanned, heavily muscled body against the flat, straight planes of the light grey stone wall was electric. Arms casually crossed across his thick chest, his eyes under his heavy black brows and the smirk on his chiseled lips seemed to be saying, ?Yeah, it?s ridiculous, but, hey, come oil me up if you want.? Response was frenzied, to say the least, as thousands rushed to take him up on his offer. That month?s print run sold out in two days after hitting the newsstands, and readers flooded the office, desperate for more pictures of the guy, the one that was ?Sex on a stick?.

The photo editor, finally reached on his private, unlisted cell at the Hamptons, couldn?t understand what all the fuss was about, and then, once he saw the picture, was grateful for his assistant?s sharp eye. The assistant got a raise, and the photo editor had his next issue?s cover boy?or so he thought. It turned out, in all the oh-so-casual atmosphere of sand, summer and beach boys, that no one had gotten the guy?s name. His signature on the release was completely illegible. He didn?t have an agent, and, as the editor (and his newly promoted and demoted assistant) found out, in a frenzied round of phone calls, no one knew who he was. Other than the photog, who had met him casually on the beach, no one had met him in person, or even spoken to him. All the photographer could remember was that ?the guy had a really deep, sexy voice, with kind of an accent?.

The magazine?s publisher waded into the fray when he was disturbed at his private summer retreat on the Riviera by a frantic CIO, who called in a panic when all the servers crashed. So many readers, viewers and idle curious were so stoked to find out more about the mystery man, that the magazine?s site crashed. Then, through the gay grapevine, somebody, somewhere got hold of some internal emails for the production staff, and those internal servers crashed too, overloaded with frantic emails, begging, pleading, IMPLORING the staff for more information on the mystery man. Jaded staff had never seen anything like it. Days, then weeks went by, and the demand did not let up. ?You?d think, after they jacked off, they?d get over it,? one particularly frank production assistant was heard to remark at a Manhattan bar in September. But no, the demand, continued unabated. If anything, it only increased.

Fortunately, for his peace of mind, (and his bottom line) the editor (through his assistant) had had the good sense to buy the photographer?s entire contact sheet of the shoot of mystery man. The production staff went over these shots with loupes and scrutinized them all. They were all amazing shots. Usually, in any run, there were inevitably those shots that were ruined by uneven lighting, or a flash going off at the wrong time, or someone walking into the scene, or the model blinking, or scratching or moving or SOMETHING. Not these. ?These shots,? announced the head layout artist, ?are the BEST I?ve seen in 30 years in this business. Nobody else comes close to this quality. Where?s that photographer? Do we have him on retainer? Hire him! Give him an office, for chrissakes! Do it NOW!?

Alas, the photographer was nowhere to be found. After the initial flurry, and the confirmation that he had no information on the mystery man, he, too, disappeared. His phone went unanswered, his apartment was sublet, and his friends, enemies and even his ?frenemies? -- those jealous fellow shutterbugs who tried to follow him around, to see if they could ?get lucky?, even they couldn?t find him. In the meantime, the editor, in possession of dozens of images of the ?hottest man ever? as readers dubbed the mystery man, set about maximizing his circulation.

The September issue, pulled and redone a day before deadline, featured mystery man in a series of photo spreads ? lounging, standing, sitting. The photographer had ingenuously posed him in a number of different scenarios, and in a variety of tops, shorts, pants, jackets, shoes, boots, and sandals, with various props. In one shot, mystery man (or ?MM? let?s call him) was fully dressed in a crisp blue button down shirt, blue blazer, grey flannel pants and loafers WITH socks, peering intently at a book, amazing black brows draw over midnight dark eyes, as he scrutinized the page. That was featured in the ?Back to Class? section.

In another series, he was wearing a wet suit, which clung tightly to his broad shoulders and amazing ass. It was unzipped partway down his heavily muscled chest, showing a healthy thicket of dark, curly chest hair over thick, cobble stone abs. In one hand he was holding a spear gun, while the other hand held a spear with an impaled bright yellow fish on it. The fish brilliantly set off his amazing tan and dazzling white, perfect, straight, even teeth. In yet another series, he stood in football pads and gear, face smeared with dirt, sweat in his hairline, and helmet tucked under one muscular arm. Unlike most models, he looked like a real ball player who?d been caught at the end of a victorious game, not some pretty boy twink who had never seen a football before. In another series, he wore a wrestling singlet, arms raised, and body hunched forward as if he was ?ready for his takedown, now, Mr. DeMille.? Again, he looked like the real thing, like he really had just walked in off the matt. The publisher was simultaneously in despair and delight; despair, as he contemplated never getting more images of this one-man sex wave, and in delight, as he contemplated his monthly profits. Newsstand sales had tripled. His online subscriptions had quadrupled, and the monthly issues were sought-after collector?s items, commanding (and getting) five figures on Ebay. Pirated images appeared everywhere on the web, and a few enterprising souls put together a video of stills taken from the magazine, set to a backdrop of pounding pulsing techno pop. MM was a cultural phenomenon.

Then, in October, to the horror of the publisher, MM crossed over. Cosmo ran a new and different cover picture of Mystery Man, over the headline, ?Is He too SEXY to be Your Boyfriend? Are You WOMAN Enough?? Cosmo?s print run sold out in hours, and their servers crashed, due to overload. A threatening call from the legal beagles at the Advocate to the legal staff at Cosmo revealed that Cosmo had a completely unique and different series of pix of the Mystery Man, which had been sold to an assistant editor the month before. The situations were remarkably similar: in both cases, the lead editors had been out of town and unreachable. An enterprising junior had stepped in and snapped up some amazing images, of a beautiful, virile, masculine, amazingly muscular man that no one knew. The illegible signatures were compared and found to be identical. The photographer, who was the same in both cases, had disappeared.

Cosmo, being Cosmo, really went to town. Besides featuring him on their cover and website, they got a feature on Entertainment Tonight, as they teased about their ?find of the decade?. The night the live segment aired, Mary Hart gave her trademark semi snarky, semi serious lead in to the story and passed it off to Mark Steines. Handsome Mark, in a segment that became infamous, lead with the details of the mysterious photo shoots, the variety of poses, the high quality of the images, and the breadth of the subject matter. The story was being shot live, since the subject was so current. Both Mark and Mary were seeing the images of Mystery Man on screen for the first time. Turning to Mary, Mark commented on how the sports shots looked like those of a pro athlete, rather than a model, so authentic did MM look. Mary, breathing deeply, commented about the ?sex on a stick? image that had appeared in the Advocate that summer, then showed the image on screen. As the cameras panned back to Mary and Mark, an audible gasp was heard, followed by a titter from the audience. As the lights came up on Mark and Mary, Mary was seen with her hands raised to her face, her mouth open in shock. Mark, flushed red, was staring down open mouthed at his lap, where a large spreading wet stain was seen in his crotch.

?I didn?t mean to?? Mark sputtered. ?I mean he was just so f***ing hot, and I just couldn?t help myself.? The camera cut to commercial, as Mary began emitting a series of high squeals, punctuated by low groans, as she bobbed up and down on her chair. The show cut early to a rerun of ?Different Strokes?.

After the debacle on ?Entertainment Tonight,? Mystery Man was everywhere in popular media ? You Tube, Google, and the Evolution Forum. Even the editorial page of the New York Times ran a feature on the ?need for greater oversight on live television broadcasts, and the need to bring back ?community standards? to police the airwaves.?
Cosmo and the Advocate countered with a joint issue featuring MM on the cover, lounging shirtless and barefoot in a pair of jeans, with the heading, ?Is your Boyfriend Man Enough?? Muscle and Fitness ran a similar picture with the cover story, ?How do YOU compare? Muscle UP with our MM Workout Regimen!? Men?s Health featured yet another shirtless photo with the tag, ?MAN UP! Make those Pecs POP with Our Routine to Make YOU the ?Most Jacked Man in the Universe??. Wags talked about MM?s new nickname, ?The Most JACKED Man in the Universe?, and asked whether his new name shouldn?t be, ?The Most JACKED-OFF-to Man in the Universe.? Mark Steines took a long sabbatical from ET, while Mary took a leave of absence ?to spend more time with her family.?

Adding to the excitement was the mystery: Who was this man? Was he gay or straight? No one could definitively say, since, as Mary and Mark had proved, he appealed to both genders. As the months went on, and more images of MM appeared in the media, it invariably turned out that a photographer who was unreachable had sold the pictures a few months before, to a junior staffer. The other troubling aspect of the pictures was the extreme, brutally masculine beauty of the subject. No matter how he was posed, or what he wore, or how many or how few clothes he had on, there was no doubt that MM was ?all man?. All 6 feet, 240 heavily muscled pounds of him. He was NOT a size 40. He was NOT ?just a fitness model?. He was a MAN ? sweaty, thickly muscled, handsome and unashamed. His muscles were large, full and cut. He was the size of a pro bodybuilder, bigger even, than most, but his appearance NEVER triggered cries of ?steroids? ?synthenol? or ?fake!? There was something about his appearance and attitude that shouted ?authentic? ?all man? and ?real muscle here?. To be fair, it could have been the size of his package, which was never less than impressive, in all the thousands of images of him throughout the media. His horse cock was matched with an equally impressive set of bull balls, and they were clearly NOT photo shopped, as was breathlessly apparent in a photo set that appeared in ?Playgirl? around Christmas. That issue barely lasted a day on the stands, once word got out.

The greater cultural impact of MM seemed to be that he triggered a new consensus on ?what it means to be a man.? Heavily muscled, dark haired studs were in, everyone else was out. Hollywood responded with a casting call for ?a genuine MM type ? heavily muscled, dark haired, sexy, REAL Man.? Woody Allen movies went into a tailspin. Blond male actors in Hollywood, like Owen Wilson, couldn?t get arrested. Patrick Warburton, on the other hand, was hot again. He was even hotter when he put on another 20 pounds of muscle. Brad Pitt saw his long reign as ?King of the Hill? end abruptly, until he dyed his hair dark brown and put in some serious gym time. Even then, he never regained his previous fame, as he was seen as clearly a ?poor substitute? for the preferred look. Ethnic types, such as Italian, Greeks, Hispanics and Arabs were hot, especially the more muscular they were. Waspy types were out, unless they played the effete, degenerate, jealous villains. Surprisingly, dark haired Irish and German actors were not affected by this ban, and were welcomed into the fold. Only the blonds and red heads were shunned. Every leading man had to have obvious muscle and chest hair; otherwise he was laughed off screen. Even humor didn?t exempt you from the muscle requirement, as David Schwimmer and Ben Stiller found to their chagrin. Off to the gym they went.

America, and the world, now had a definitive definition of ?Masculinity.? Gym membership sales soared, and ?bodybuilding? became a routine part of school gym classes. No one minded, and most approved, even if not everyone aspired to ?the look.?
Gay personals had to quibble about something else, since all the old distinctions of ?masculine? ?feminine? ?straight acting? ?top? ?bottom? etc. had been answered definitively. Straight guys came to terms with themselves, and sales of beer and recreational drugs dropped dramatically.

Clarity had finally been achieved, and men everywhere breathed a silent sigh of relief, as they finally had the answer to the eternal question, ?what does it mean to be a man??


Epilogue: On a quiet beach on a remote island, a nameless, but famous man put down the latest issue of People, removed his sunglasses, turned to his companion in the chaise lounge next to his, smiled his famous smile showing his dazzling white teeth, and said,

?O.K. What shall we do next??

His companion smiled and began to speak.

[arpeejay]

Reactions (all tinged by incredible jealousy):

(1) "Wrote itself," did it?!!

(2) "Diff'rent Strokes"?! Bwaahahahhahahahaha!

(3) Hey, some of us Anglo / Scots Irish types have dark hair and chest fur!

(4) Do you work in publishing? You really nailed those interactions!

(5) You really nailed the gay sensibility, too -- good job!

(6) I love you!

xoxo

Richard

[Mdlftr]

Originally Posted by arpeejay

Reactions (all tinged by incredible jealousy):

(1) "Wrote itself," did it?!!

(2) "Diff'rent Strokes"?! Bwaahahahhahahahaha!

(3) Hey, some of us Anglo / Scots Irish types have dark hair and chest fur!

(4) Do you work in publishing? You really nailed those interactions!

(5) You really nailed the gay sensibility, too -- good job!

(6) I love you!

xoxo [Ditto ]

Richard

(1) Well, I typed the letters [Seriously, this story just popped into my head in the time it took to type it!]
(2)
(3) See Brad Pitt!! [He could be your skinnier brother!]
(4) I did work as an editor in college. Plus, I love media!
(5) Thank you!
(6) Back atcha, Babe! I've enjoyed your stories over many years, and I was actually inspired by the freewheeling, flowing, breezy style you've achieved in many of your stories!
xoxo [Ditto ]


Mdlftr

[michaelv2]

That was fabulously good. The media made to eat its own tail. What WILL they do next?

[Mad Dog]

Nice, quick story.

[bulkinupbig]

Mdlftr,
Extremely well written. Nicely detailed. Funny, witty, smart... without being insulting or trite. Very well crafted. Please continue writing stories like this. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this intelligently written piece of work. Thank you.
bulkinupbig

[GoldfishBW]

Awesome story! I laughed out loud at many spots. Thanks.

-Brad

[Mdlftr]

I've got to say, you guys and your comments, as well as the number of hits are very gratifying!!

Mdlftr

Who is thinking of his next story idea.......

[LipsK]

Hist?ria magnifica!!! bravo

Originally Posted by Mdlftr

I've got to say, you guys and your comments, as well as the number of hits are very gratifying!!

Mdlftr

Who is thinking of his next story idea.......

[Mdlftr]

Hey Guys,

It's been a while since I've posted any stories here. Usual reasons: life, life and more life -- getting in the way!

I've been enjoying the many contributions on the site. I do notice that we seem to be in the era of "continuing serial" with many of these story lines, and they are beautifully constructed and thought out. I admire the effort and thought that goes into them. Still, I have to admit that the "one off" has it's merits, also!

So, I'm putting this summer story out again for a fun read!

Enjoy!

Mdlftr

[cutlerfan]

Great story! It makes me want to find this guy and marry him! Got an address? Peace!

[toughluck]

This was awesome. Witty, clever, and an approach to a sexy story that's not often seen.
It was hot AND humorous! An instant all time fave for me!

[silvershadow]

That was great made me laugh and want to know more. I wonder if anyone noticed you wrote it like it was "hot off the presses EXTRA EXTRA" This is a very unique story can not wait for more.

[Mdlftr]

Wow, Guys,

"3,351 hits!" Whoot!

Thanks for the reads!

I hope to be submitting more stories soon - when "life" allows!

Gratefully,

Mdlftr

[SouthernSuitor]

I love this story's witty tone, and the way it makes fun of the image obsession both in gay and straight communities. My particular favorite paragraph detailed the way Hollywood responded to MM's image, and how popular tastes arbitrarily declared who was in and who was out.

One question: why "loafers WITH socks?" Usually the popular state of fashion is to portray hot young models in loafers without socks, since ankles are considered "the new male cleavage" in fashion circles. (What exactly the "old male cleavage" was is beyond me.)

[Mdlftr]

Originally Posted by SouthernSuitor

I love this story's witty tone, and the way it makes fun of the image obsession both in gay and straight communities. My particular favorite paragraph detailed the way Hollywood responded to MM's image, and how popular tastes arbitrarily declared who was in and who was out.

One question: why "loafers WITH socks?" Usually the popular state of fashion is to portray hot young models in loafers without socks, since ankles are considered "the new male cleavage" in fashion circles. (What exactly the "old male cleavage" was is beyond me.)

You CAUGHT it! The whole "loafers WITH socks" line was a deliberate play on the "loafers without socks" look that is supposed to be the epitome of sexy! I thought that someone as genre-defying as MM wouldn't be bound by convention and would go his own way. I'm glad you caught it - I had a lot of fun with this story. There were many details of a mass media campaign that just kept coming to mind. I'm glad that one stood out for you.

Mdlftr --I'm really, REALLY enjoying the reaction to this story! Thanks again, guys!

[SouthernSuitor]

Aha! I had a feeling that the caps on "WITH" was meant to be tongue-in-cheek. I bow to your wit, sir!

[iceman75]

I thought the story was very hot, I especially liked the ET hosts' reaction to photos of MM, imagine if that happened on live TV in real life, both a guy and girl get off to the same photo of someone, that was both hilarious and hot.

[Aardvark2]

Originally Posted by SouthernSuitor

Aha! I had a feeling that the caps on "WITH" was meant to be tongue-in-cheek. I bow to your wit, sir!

Don't prostrate yourself, SS, you're going to soil the knees of your Hickey Freeman.

Or is today a Hugo Boss day?

[SouthernSuitor]

Brooks Bros., actually. (And loafers without socks.)

[Mdlftr]

It's summer, and it's time, once again, to bring back "The Model"!

Shamelessly tooting my own horn, I admit, but it's one of my favorite stories that I wrote! Summer is a time for taking it easy, and recycling your own work is CERTAINLY taking it easy!

All snarkiness aside, I always enjoy a short one-off, and I hope you do, too.

Enjoy!

Mdlftr

[MuscleHintz]

Nothing wrong with recycling high-quality stories!

Sometimes it's nice to reread a classic

[Mdlftr]

400 hits in one day! Amazing! Very gratifying!

As Sally Fields would say, "You like me! You REALLY like me!"




Mdlftr

[Mdlftr]

Over 6,000 hits! Thanks guys!

[Ogun]

Very nice, but I'd hate to be out of a job . .. *Is a ginger*

[Mdlftr]

Originally Posted by Ogun

Very nice, but I'd hate to be out of a job . .. *Is a ginger*

There's always "Hair for Men".....

Or, do YOU think Brad Pitt's STILL a "natural blonde" at the age
of 40-something?


IN that case, I have a bridge in Brooklyn I'd like to talk to you about....

Cheap!

[iceman75]

I would love to read more about the Model, like if he makes a movie and everyone in the theater jacks off to him with no possible repercussions because whenever he's on screen, everyone is so mesmerized that they can't help it, the theater manager, the ushers, the security, no one is immune to his charms.

[Mdlftr]

It's near the end of summer, and I was reviewing some of my old stories and thought I'd bring back a classic.....

Enjoy!


Mdlftr

[funboy]

Very cool story - forgot about it. Thanks for bringing it back current. Would be nice to see another chapter - even if it was meant to be a one-time effort.

[MuscleHintz]

Definitely agree about the possiblity of a sequel! I'd LOVE to read the Model have a continuation of sorts.

[Mdlftr]

Over 8,000 hits! Thanks, guys! I'm very stoked and appreciative of your interest!

Mdlftr

[iceman75]

So any possibility of a sequel then?

[Mdlftr]

Originally Posted by iceman75

So any possibility of a sequel then?

Well, that would be a challenge! Let me keep thinking on some of the suggestions and get back to you.



Mdlftr

[Rarity]

Originally Posted by Mdlftr

Well, that would be a challenge! Let me keep thinking on some of the suggestions and get back to you.

When I first read this I thought it was a great story. It's still a great kind of story. Since this isn't as much a story as it is a super detailed blurb or set up describing the man, that opens up a bunch of possibilities.. So that just makes things a lot easier.

Off the top of my head:

1) A prequel describing how he got that way. While the companion could be someone who recruited him, or perhaps someone who was working with him hat somehow fell in love with the model. Or they could just be BFFs. Whichever.

2) A sequel involving how people like the model was made, possibly featuring him as a character who is the first subject. The companion could be his boss of sorts.

3) Have him be the head of some project to create a league of "perfect men" for whatever reason. And his companion could be his assistant or head honcho for the lab department.

4) A sequel involving him and his companion doing something else more normal would probably be a lot simpler, but might also not be that easy to make interesting.

[iceman75]

I like the prequel idea, was he always that way or did something or someone transform him into the ultimate male, someone so effortlessly hot that they turn gay women straight and straight men gay instantly. Like I said before, I'd like to see him in a movie, and not in a porno film, but like a sports movie or a Hercules type action movie where he gets to showing off his muscle, but simply the attraction to him over 2 hours would cause everyone in the theater to start masturbating, or to having hot sex with their partner/husband/wife right then and there because of how devastatingly hot he is. Maybe put in an anecdote about how for filming, everyone else in the picture had to masturbate before coming on set so that they wouldn't cum in their pants at his mere presence, yet all the men had noticeable hardened cocks and the women had trouble getting through their lines without moaning and rubbing their breasts a little. To keep filming on schedule, the director had to shill out salt-peter to keep everyone's libidos in control. After that point though, whenever one of those stars did a sex scene in another movie, the Model is who they pictured in their mind instead of their co-star no matter how hot they are, no one matches up to the model.