Full Summary: Logan is an 18 year old kid pushed into modelling by his mother, although he secretly wishes for a normal life. Carlos is a struggling photographer, finding it hard to make ends meet. When Carlos gets offered a job with a photographing company Logan models for, they meet for the first time. What happens when their worlds collide? Will they notice the difference, as well as the similarities they both share?

Behind The Lens

Chapter One; In A Life We Never Wanted.

Click Click Click.

The camera continued to flash, the bright light beaming down on the pale boy stood in front of the green screen, his crooked grin plastered on his face as he posed for the machines. He continued to turn in different positions, the photographer asking for specific poses. He wanted a smile. Hands in pocket. Leaning forward a little. Flare open the jacket.

All the while, Logan was more than willing to accommodate for the pushy man. After all, he's been doing this since a young child.

When he was 7, his mother would take pictures of him throughout the year, putting them altogether to create a homemade calendar for the next year coming. When a local company came into Texas looking for young models to appear in TV commercials, Mrs Mitchell was more than willing to allow her son to audition. And of course, once you've seen the goofy grin of a cute 7 year old boy, you couldn't help but fall in love. Soon after a few, minor and local commercials, his mother now slash agent, pushed him to go even further. At the age of 15, he was signed to a huge modelling company located in California, and without thinking about school or friends that Logan was going to leave behind, they moved. That was the start of Logan Mitchell's modelling career.

Now at 18 years old, it's been the same daily routine. He's never had a normal childhood where he could hang with people, make new friends, spend quality time with the people he loved. His daily schedule was jam-packed with photoshoot after photoshoot, combined with a few minor interviews and appearances, after all, he was known as being the next big up and coming male model to have graced California's sidewalks.

The flash soon dimmed down, people slowly coming to a halt for the day.

"That's a wrap!" The large man behind the camera shouted, moving away from his equipment.

Logan's eyes re-adjusted to the normal light, the blur from the flashing slowly going away, colours being restored. But before he could even react to reality, he was soon bombarded by his mother. Mrs Mitchell, or Johanna as he normally would have to call her nowadays, was a weird mother. She became to obsessed with the money and the fame that Logan got from standing in front of a camera, and slowly but surely, she turned from being an adoring mother who wanted the best for her son to a controlling, pushy agent.

"Logan sweetie, you done fabulous!" Johanna squealed, her phone hid under her long brown hair, pressed against her ear.

"Thanks.." Logan quietly replied, watching his mother walk away once more.

As much as he found it fun at first, he was slowly growing bored of the constant cameras shoved into his face, the constant flashing that blurred his eyes and caused him to see stars.

Logan quickly followed his mother as she walked, phone still pressed against her ear. At 18, Logan had quite a lot of money. He done tons of modelling and commercials, gaining quite the amount of dollars for the past 3 years, and luckily, he was just able to move into his first apartment, alone. Well, if your mother living a floor down from you is called alone, then yes, Logan was finally able to live alone.

He followed her throughout the building, his mother getting faster and faster as she started to verbally abuse the person she was now talking too. She stopped hastily, Logan almost crashing into her. She screamed before pulling the phone away from her ear, angrily slamming the device shut and throwing it into her handbag.

"What was that?" Logan cautiously asked.

"Stupid people, sweetie. They said you have 10 minutes to be at the next photoshoot in central California." Johanna replied quickly.

"Oh.." Logan mumbled, hanging his head down low.

He was hoping, more praying, that that photoshoot was the last for the day. It was already reaching 3:00pm quickly and Logan's been at multiple photoshoots all day starting at 8am. He's been on the go, going from limo ride to flashing cameras and then back to limo, repeating the same torturous cycle over and over again for the last 7 hours of this bright Monday.

"We need to move fast now, sweetie." Johanna smiled, dashing down the hallway, her high heels slamming against the ground on each step.

Logan breathed in a huge sigh, releasing it as he jogged after her, his blazer flowing around as he ran.

He pushed open the door, noticing his mother being helped into the all too familiar limousine, Carlton holding the door open. Logan approached it, forcing a smile onto his face for the sake of Carlton. He was a middle-aged man, middle-class who desperately needed a job. Whilst he wasn't qualified to drive a limo, Logan took pity on him when they talked in the middle of the restaurant. He found out all about Carlton's family, his youngest daughter having been diagonosed with leukaemia, wasting away quickly. He needed the money as soon as possible for treatment, to save her, and if not, to at least make the last few months she was going to be alive peaceful.

"Afternoon, Mr. Mitchell," Carlton smiled, nodding the tip of his cap.

"Afternoon Carlton," Logan smiled, climbing into the seat besides his mother. "Thank you."

Johanna stared at Logan for a while, carefully watching the boy stare cluelessly out the window. His eyes were fixed on the scenery, but more importantly, the people that were strolling the streets in their couples.

Since becoming this big deal, Logan was restricted on what he was allowed to do. No drinking, no partying, no girlfriends, no life basically. Logan was restricted, trapped, in a life that his mother controlled with the buttons on her mobile.

"Logan, cheer up. You'll get wrinkles." Johanna said bluntly, pulling her mirror and lipstick out of her handbag. She carefully applied them, puckering her lips up as she put the blood red lipstick onto them, smothering the area.

"Yes mom.." Logan replied, moving his gaze only to meet his mother's glare.

"Johanna, sweetie. You have to call me Johanna. We need to look professional after all." Johanna replied as she kissed her lips together to spread the lipstick.

Logan heaved in another deep sigh, before moving his eyes down to his blazer, marvelling at the black material that shined slightly. He's never noticed it before. This is the same blazer he's been wearing all morning, no doubt he's probably worn it before. But he never had the time to notice small details. It was always just smile and pose.

The limo soon came to a halt, appearing outside a rather large mall. As Logan studied the scenery, his door was opened by Carlton, the man giving Logan another nod of his cap and a friendly smile, a smile that Logan relished, reason being he rarely saw a genuine smile anymore. When people smiled at him nowadays, it was only because they wanted something from the teen sensation.

Logan climbed out, closely followed by Johanna. He looked around the scenery, noticingthat ha the crowd d formed near the entrance, full of screaming fan girls. He walked through them rather quickly, keeping his head down low as cameras flashed, pieces of paper being shoved into his face for an autograph. Johanna put on a false smile for all the girls, telling them that Logan was running late. Well, that was half the truth. The other half was because Johanna didn't want to lose out on the amount of money she was gaining from this simple photoshoot for a magazine.

Walking down the halls, Logan was in a daze. The screaming fan girls, autographs, people telling him that they loved him. He wasn't a singer or anything, he wasn't an actor or part of a band, all he done was stand in front of a camera and pull of his famous, goofy grin. That was it. Nothing hard.

Johanna placed a hand on her son's shoulder, pushing him faster down the halls.

They soon entered a rather dark room, the only light coming from the main spotlight shining down on the green screen, the yellow illuminating against the green. The man behind the camera smiled, moving his hand forward for Logan to take his spot in front of the camera, ready for another round of cheesy grins and awful poses.

Logan done as he was told. He grinned, posed, turned around and around, meeting the expectations that were set for him. All the while, he looked at his mother, noticing the mobile glued to her ear once more. It was a rare sight to see her without it. After all, that device was the reason why Logan was bouncing around from photoshoot to photoshoot. He sighed once more, taking the direction of the photographer to place his hands into his blazer pocket.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the city and the other side of life, was Carlos Garcia.

Carlos was a college drop-out, not staying long enough to complete his course in photography. He was passionate enough about it to stay, but the main problem was the money. Carlos couldn't afford it, he could barely afford to stay alive. Every week was another struggle to make ends meet, to pay for his food and rent, to pay for water, electricity and gas. At an extremely young age, Carlos lost his mother in a car accident. She was hit by a drunk driver on her way home from one of her many jobs. She died on impact, Carlos' youngest sister that was inside her belly also dying. On that night, Carlos' life fell apart. His mother died. His unborn sister died. He never knew his father and now, at the age of 5, he was going to be placed into foster care.

None of his family wanted to look after Carlos as well as his younger brother of a year, Roberto.

They bounced around from family to family, each time they said they liked the kids, then a week later they were shipped away to another orphanage. They travelled all across the US, staying with families from all the different states. Minnesota. North Carolina. South Dakota. Illinois. He's probably been to each of the states once in his life as he grew up.

He attended school like a normal kid when a family finally decided to adopt him and his brother permanently, residing in the suburbs of California, although, he was far from being a normal kid. He struggled to fit in, to be accepted by his peers. He was never bullied, just simply the outcast, the one on the sidelines, forgotten. Roberto followed him everywhere. He was all Carlos had really. Roberto struggled to fit in too, although, reaching high school, he excelled in football, becoming the star quarterback of the team, whilst Carlos pushed himself into photography in a desperate attempt to fill the void.

But by 18, Carlos moved out, quitting college within the first month. He always argued and disagreed with his new 'father', often clashing on many topics, the most common being Carlos' sexuality. His adopted parents were strict Christians, thus, they hated homosexuals. Whilst his 'mother' took the news pleasantly well, his 'father' refused to accept that Carlos was gay, simply assuming that he was confused, possibly even losing faith in Jesus.

He stayed in a small apartment, more like a bed sit. It had everything he needed. A cooker, fridge, bed, shower, toilet and TV. He could survive just on that, after all, without a real job or means of income, he had no other real choice.

Sometimes, he would hang out in the park down from his apartment, using a sandwich board to advertise photographs for $1. It was pointless, but it normally allowed Carlos to make enough money to survive for another week. That, and many weekends he worked at night in the bar down from him, working behind the counter.

"Carlos man, get up!"

Carlos' eyes flickered open, the sound of a fist hitting his door repeatedly snapping him from his sleep. He struggled to his feet, using his fist to softly rub his eyes. He moved across the floor slowly, approaching the door to his apartment. He pulled the brass lock off, opening the door to reveal his friend Kendall Knight stood in the doorway.

"Dude, it's 3:00pm!" Kendall complained, entering the apartment. "You need to get ready!"

"I've worked all night Kendall, I'm going nowhere." Carlos groaned, moving back to his bed as he slid his feet across the floor.

"Yes you are!" Kendall smirked, grabbing Carlos by the arms and spinning the Latino around.

Carlos' head whirled, before his eyes made contact with Kendall.

"Why?" Carlos whined, his eyelids closing on him.

"Because.." Kendall let go, stepping back. "You need a job and I know where to get one!"

"I have a job, remember? You make me give you free drinks all the time.." Carlos mumbled, furiously blinking in the hopes to keep himself awake.

"Yessssss.." Kendall replied with a hiss on the s. "But there's this photoshoot going on down at the mall, and you could crash it and show them your mad photography skills!"

Carlos looked at his friend, the dirty blonde fringe laying gently above his bushy eyebrows. He raised an eyebrow, watching Kendall jump up and down on the spot, clearly excited. Carlos breathed in some air, before releasing it, submitting in defeat.

"Fine!" Carlos snapped, heading to the bathroom to get freshened up.

After a few minutes, Carlos returned, his hair perfectly quaffed, his teeth sparkling. He looked fresh and ready. He moved over to his chest of drawers, Kendall carefully watching him as he put on a t-shirt and jeans, sliding on a jacket before grabbing his apartment keys and camera bag. As he picked them up, Kendall launched himself from his seat, rushing over to his friend.

"Let's go!" Kendall cheered, gripping Carlos by the wrist and dragging him out of the apartment, Carlos hastily locking up before he was pulled along by Kendall.

They got in Kendall's car that was waiting on the road, the engine still purring. Carlos sighed as he climbed in the seat, his camera bag swinging around as he made contact with the leather. Kendall quickly jumped in, pushing his foot down on the pedal and speeding off, living faint skid marks on the road.

They drove through the streets of California, the car's sunroof open as the sun poured in, illuminating the black interior. Kendall was humming to a song, tapping away at his steering wheel as he switched to whistling the lyrics instead. He was happy, whilst Carlos was a bag of nerves.

They soon pulled up at the back entrance of the mall, Kendall turning the car off and looking at Carlos.

"You only get one shot in life 'litos.. So you gotta make it big time," Kendall grinned, patting Carlos on the shoulder for encouragement. "Good luck!"

Carlos sighed once more, climbing out the seat and closing the door, Kendall's grin being the last thing he saw as he entered in the back side of the mall. It was dark, the lights barely making enough to see. He wasn't supposed to go this way, this was for the employee's of the various shops located inside. Nerves building, Carlos sprinted down the hall, desperately wanting to reach safety.

He passed the many doors, the hallway getting brighter and brighter as he reached the end, hearing the sound of clicking and people talking. He carefully pushed the door open, noticing the mass of people sat in chairs, all holding on to some photography equipment. They were all talking about the model posing, telling each other about moving the camera and lighting to catch his good side.

Carlos' eyes widened as he sneaked in, noticing the large green screen in front of him, a pale boy stood in front of it with a goofy grin. Carlos couldn't help but get that warm, fuzzy feeling inside, butterflies flying around as a lump formed in his throat. He was getting nervous just looking at the model under the spotlight, his hands in his jeans pocket as he smiled, bending forward slightly.

Carlos edged himself along the back wall, eyes glued on the model. He was gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous.

But soon, he was snapped out of his trance.

"Excuse me, what are you doing here?" a woman asked Carlos, her red lipstick dominating her facial features as she glared at him.

"I-I-I-I.." Carlos stuttered, slightly intimidated by her presence.

Suddenly, everything went quiet. The noise of the clicking cameras stopped, everybody turning to face the Latino, sweat now building up on his forehead. He stood there awkwardly, gazing at the many pairs of eyes fixed on him. There and then, he wanted to be swallowed by a black hole that formed under his feet.

"Who's this?" The main photographer asked, climbing out of his seat to approach Carlos. He stared the boy up and down, finally noticing the camera in his hand. "Amateur are we?"

Carlos eyes grew bigger, the nerves freezing him in place. He simply nodded, parting his lips to speak, but being too dry, he couldn't speak a word.

"Okay then kid, let's see what you got." The man said, moving back to his seat. He pointed his hand to it, suggesting Carlos to sit in it.

Hesitantly, Carlos moved forward, noticing the model's eyes fixed on his, his head slightly tilted. Carlos took the seat, his shaky hands grasping hold of the camera. He moved his head forward, squinting one eye as he focused in on the model, clicking away at the buttons.

"Andrew, we need this to be done professional!" Johanna complained, throwing her arms around in a fit at the photographer.

"Johanna, give the kid a break. It will be done perfectly." Andrew reassured Johanna, giving Logan a thumbs up.

Carlos continued to click away, a smile peering onto his face at the smile from Logan, a smile directed at him. After a few more clicks, he pulled away, looking to face Andrew. Andrew smiled, clearly impressed by his skills.

"Well well well, you're pretty good," Andrew chuckled. "Excellent even."

Carlos smiled, climbing out of the seat. "T-Thanks.." Carlos started to walk away, happy in the fact that he got some praise from a professional photographer. Andrew peered into the camera, studying the pictures that Carlos just took. He grinned, realising the potential that Carlos has.

"Hey kid!" Andrew shouted.

Carlos spun around, his heart throbbing against his ribcage. "Y-Yeah?"

"How you fancy a job? Working with me?" Andrew asked, smiling at the awkward boy.

Carlos soon grinned, his whole body overwhelmed with happiness. "That would be awesome! Thank you!"

"No problem. Hey, don't go yet, come take some more shots," Andrew suggested, urging Carlos to come forward. "Let's see what you're really made of."

Quickly, Carlos dashed across the room again, not taking no notice of Johanna's growing scowl towards the young boy. He sat in the seat, continuing his clicking as Andrew smiled on. Logan on the other hand was happy for the boy, his smile for the camera now not being as forced as before.

Okay, so for some reason, FF wasn't letting me read the story, saying that it didn't exist..

Thoughts on the story? I personally haven't come across a similiar story, so I think it's unique-ish.. Should I continue with it or what? You guys will end up deciding for me!

Let me guys know. I got super excited over writing all this, it was so much fun and frankly, I love Cargan too much to not enjoy it anyway. Review please. Much appreciated. :D