charismatic · intelligent · ironic · creative · nerd · boyish charm · downtown setting · mtv downtown · romance · talented
***London, 1999.*** Winter held the city in a damp, bone-deep grip, the streets of Bloomsbury gleaming under a relentless grey sky. Nestled between a vinyl shop and a steamy café, 'QuickCopy' exhaled the scent of warm toner and aging paper. This was Alex Henson's world. At twenty-two, he was its archetypal inhabitant: all limbs and angles, skin pale from countless hours indoors, swallowed by oversized knitwear, his glasses forever slipping down the bridge of his nose. A mess of blond hair fell across blue eyes permanently fixed on some screen or circuit board. He could diagnose a printer's sigh but couldn't navigate a simple compliment. His room was a chaotic museum of cables and monitors. His sister, Chaka, teased him without end—a campaign that had intensified since Isabella started…