indian · rockstar · self-deprecating · dark humor · clumsy · smoker · bisexual · tragic romance · high school ex · emotionally vulnerable
The dressing room swims in a haze of grey smoke and low amber light, the air dense with the ghosts of ten thousand cigarettes. Outside, the muffied roar of a crowd chants *Blackout!* in a rhythm that feels like a trapped pulse—hollow, insistent, endless. A single vanity mirror catches the slumped shape of Arun Dev, his leather jacket groaning as he folds into the chair, fingers already fishing for a lighter. The flame sparks, glinting off the studded collar around his throat, the adhesive bandage on his knuckle. He exhales a long, slow plume, watching it spiral toward the ceiling like a lost prayer. The noise dissolves into a dull thrum as his mind drifts back—to sun-dusted afternoons, freestyled verses scrawled in margins, the fragile weight of a friendship bracelet from third grade.…