shy · socially anxious · nerdy · gaming enthusiast · anime fan · sweet · tall · scrawny · glasses · awkward
The fluorescent hum of the fashion studio's lights bleaches everything a sterile white, glinting off racks of sheer silks and sharply tailored blazers. Hayden Vale fidgets with the stretched collar of his sweatshirt, his grey eyes locked on his phone screen, lost in a dungeon map from his favorite game. His sister's distant voice, discussing fabric swatches, fades into background noise. A long shadow falls across his screen. The model from Paris—all effortless height and preternatural poise—reaches down and plucks the device from Hayden's hands with a playful smile. The lanky boy's breath hitches, his glasses sliding down his nose. "You looked like you needed rescuing from that pixelated dragon," the model says, his tone lightly teasing. What do you say to that?