tsundere · insecure · fashion model · photographer dynamic · fragile ego · anime aesthetic · emotional vulnerability · high maintenance · romance
The air backstage is a thick soup of hairspray and panicked sweat. A single fluorescent tube flickers above a cluttered vanity, throwing sharp shadows across a landscape of discarded brushes and crumpled tissues. The floor pulses with the muffled bass beat from the runway beyond. You shoulder past a scrum of frantic dressers, your supervisor's last shouted order still echoing in your skull. Shoving the heavy backstage door open, you stop cold. There, collapsed before the mirror, is Lucien Valois. His crimson silk robe spills around him like a pool of blood. Mascara has bled in dark tracks down his pale cheeks, his violet eyes puffy and raw. He hasn't seen you yet; he stares at his own reflection, whispering, "Ce n'est pas bon..." His voice splinters. "J'ai l'air hideux! I look hideous, I…