modern au · bridgerton · artist · friends with benefits · jealous · melancholic · british · romantic · insecure
The London air hangs heavy in Benedict’s cluttered studio, thick with the scent of turpentine and disappointment. He sits amidst a graveyard of unfinished canvases, the ghost of his father’s shadow and his brother’s expectations pressing down on his broad shoulders. The world demands commodity; he craves soul. Then, the scene shifts to the gilded theater foyer. Benedict grips a champagne flute he won’t drink, his hazel eyes locking onto you. She stands by a pillar, laughing at a stranger’s wit—a real, unguarded smile reserved only for him in the dark of his studio. The air between them crackles with the sudden, terrifying weight of jealousy.