Chapter Text
Blackwell Academy is always beautiful through the frame of Max's lens, the way the world is immortalised in the snap of the shutter and the whir of her Polaroid producing the instant picture.
Oh, Polaroid, Max thinks. If only I could love you…
Unfortunately, Max's Polaroid is a girl, and lesbian romance is Bad(TM), so this small camera must condemn herself to a life of celibacy, if only because instant cameras are an all-female species.
(Straight camera DLC coming to you this winter for the modest price of $69.99!)
She takes photos of the brick patterns on the walls, a clump of dead grass on the floor, the shrivelled butt of a cigarette dumped by Victoria Chase months ago (oh, how she thinks so many platonic thoughts there).
All the pictures are truly beautiful, shot in black and white because those are straight pride colours. Go heterosexuality! she thinks, because the Bigfoots just don't do it for her. (Spoiler: Bigfoot is a girl and a rumoured lesbian and that kind of content is not approved for this wholesome heterosexual love story.) Gotta have pride somewhere.
The brownette smiles thoughtfully when a bird flies by, framed against a sky erupting in colours and hues. But she cannot take a photo because there might be a rainbow lens flare and we all know what that kind of symbolism means.
Of course, you're all thinking how can this wholesome, heterosexual girl have been at Blackwell for a whole year and still be without a man? Well, good straight reader (this is for heteros only!!! gays not allowed!!!) this is your lucky day.
Maxine stands by the Prescott Dormitory sign and sighs wistfully. The budding young photographer feels her heart rate quicken when the door to the shed slips open and the school custodian, Samuel Taylor, walks out.
He is stunning in his blue scrubs and purple gloves. His wristwatch gleams in the sunlight and his greying goatee sets young Max's world on fire. Today is the day, she decides. No longer will she keep these deep straight feelings buried. Life's about taking chances and hell yes is she taking this chance.
“Hi, Samuel,” Max says. She walks up to him, shying and small and glistening with her natural beauty. “How are you today?”
“Hello young Max,” Samuel says. He blinks behind his glasses. Wowser, swooning, Max thinks. Her entire body trembles but she holds strong like a lighthouse against a storm. “Samuel is going to see the squirrels. They love to see me in the mornings.”
“Can I… come with you?” asks Max. Her heart is pulsing in her chest at a rate akin to cardiac explosion but her heterosexual love keeps her grounded.
“If you want,” Samuel says, aloof and nonplussed in a way that makes him the only thing on Max's mind. “Some of the squirrels are very photogenic.”
Max smiles to herself and follows him out to the woods just beyond Blackwell. I'm on my first date with Samuel, she thinks. This is not a dream. This is reality.
*
(imagine a scene transition here. The forest might fade in or something. But this isn't really a VN and we're really low-budget but let's use our imaginations, since straight romance is the most imaginative and original of all.)
*
“Say, 'nut'!” Max says and she takes a picture of three squirrels. Her camera fixes on them, but her eyes are on Samuel. He sits on a fallen tree and reminds her of a woodland spirit. So majestic, but so ethereal…
“You really can use a camera,” Samuel says. His face twists into a smile and Max knows she goes red but doesn't care.
“I like to take pictures,” she says. “Of everything. I am a photographer.”
He is hooked on her every word. Their breaths are probably in sync and the wind is blowing nicely. “I like to paint,” he says in his voice that is so soft, yet so tender. Max longs to hear him whisper gently into her ears.
“I guess we're both artists in our own way, then…” she says.
“I love to paint the forest,” Samuel says. He shuffles a little on the log, inviting Max to come sit. Entranced, she does. The wood is cold and damp but with Samuel next to her it is the most comfortable place she's ever been. “And the animals. Do you like animals, Max?”
“Yes,” she breathes, knowing she has to get him to like her. “I took a picture of a doe in the forest, once. It was beautiful.”
“I paint my spirit animal, too,” Samuel says. “It's a squirrel.”
She thinks about it, and the image is just… so right. “I think the doe is mine.”
“I think so, too,” Samuel says and she knows she can never disagree. “But that's not all I paint.”
“Oh?” Max says.
“I think I want to paint you, Max,” he says and Max's heart flutters because this is real, this is happening, oh my God.
“Only if I can take your picture, Samuel,” Max says, daring, taking the chance.
“That would be nice,” Samuel says.
*
(Another magical transition to the end of the route because only The Gays care about bonding over squirrels and picking up garbage for four days)
*
It is Friday. Max stands behind the school with a single Polaroid photo in her hands. (We also cut out the conflict arc/love triangle between Max, her camera, and Samuel. Having two girls in a romantic story was pushing the boundaries just a little too much!!!) It is exquisite in its colouring, its contrast, its framing.
Samuel, I hope you like it…
Samuel appears a little later. He holds a canvas painting. Max tries to get a glimpse as he approaches but fails to do so. “Max,” he says by way of greeting. His cheeks flush with the slightest tint of pink, so unlike Max who is a red-hot blushing mess.
“Samuel,” Max says.
After that, words don't need to be spoken. Max gives Samuel the photo – it's his beautiful face superimposed on that image of the squirrel she took on that fateful first day. His face lights up like the sun.
Then she takes her painting. It's a majestic doe among the woodlands. Her face looks back at her, and it is so beautiful she sheds a tear
“Thank you,” they both say in unison. Their hands touch and Max just knows that this will be one snapshot of many to come.