Michael glared at Philip who stared sullenly back. It was very difficult to see any love in his eyes now.

Some weeks before, Philip had come home at eleven o' clock. For Philip, that was early. Michael was still up, exhausted from marking phase tests. Philip came home elated rather than high. He came home seductive.

'How would you,' Philip said, sitting on the arm of the sofa, 'like to be photographed in the nude by me.'

'It depends on what it's for,' replied Michel.

'It's for my next and breakthrough show. It's called Lust.'

Ah.

'You're going to be the centre piece.'

'Am I, now?'

'Yup. I want your cock to be the anchor. I want it to look earth-bound. I want to adorn it with grass and soil and flowers. And I can tell people: it's my boyfriend, actually. It will all be terribly Gilbert-and-Georgeish.'

Philip. Phil, you are 31 years old. Shouldn't you be getting beyond this?

'Are you trying to get into advertising or something? It won't work, Phil. If advertising agencies like your stuff, they just steal it and call it a quote.'

'And that promotes you too. Just hear me out.' Philip shifted, smiling on the arm of the sofa. 'I haven't pitched it to you properly.'

Pitch? What are you, a filmmaker?

'Everything is a branch of pornography, including religion.'

'No, Phil, it's not.'

'In this sense. It uses the same techniques as pornography. Nothing to do with sex. Pornography is to do with keeping people comfortable and managing their disappointment. You cannot give someone sex except by giving them sex. But you can give them a substitute, and make sure it's barely just good enough. So they're not satisfied and have to come back for another fix. McDonald's hamburgers are pornography. Blockbuster movies are pornography. The key to their success is that they don't offend and never satisfy. The other thing is that nobody gets hurt. Or rather they get hurt, but there's no real pain. So, in The English Patient you can set people on fire and Cut off their thumbs and everything still reads like a Fiat ad.'