off limits ✧ zb1 applyfic

✧ forty two

If someone had told Taerae, even just a week ago, that he would somehow end up participating in a makeshift runway for university fashion students... Well, he would have been very confused, at the minimum. But of course, as he often did when it came to Audrey, Taerae had gotten himself roped up in quite the unusual situation. It seemed that Audrey's professor had rented a large warehouse for their runway, even larger than his father's company's, and had constructed temporary changing rooms for the models. Though maybe changing rooms was a bit of a strong word for this contraption. It was more of a collection of curtains held up by coat racks and other objects tall enough to cover up a regular sized human.

It all felt weird, to say the least. And even as Audrey was fixing his outfit before his turn, pulling on his collar and smoothing his shirt, Taerae could only focus on the slight tremor in his hands. Why in the world had he agreed to do this horribly stressful thing? Well, unfortunately, he knew why. But damn, was he just going to go along with each of Audrey's whims, just because he was completely head over heels for her? Had he been thirteen, his mother would have asked him the age old question: "would you jump off a cliff, if she did?". Quite frankly, Taerae did not even want to think about the answer to that.

"Looks good!" Audrey exclaimed, as she observed her work. "Gosh, I'm so excited. Thank you so much for doing this, Taerae."

Her plump lips elongated into a gentle grin, as she patted his shoulder. It was getting increasingly hard to be a party pooper about this when Audrey was so obviously thrilled to be apart of this runway. Even though he felt like a fish out of water — as in, straight up about to die, Audrey's smile and cheerful tone had a way of calming his heart down. Her enthusiasm was contagious, and Taerae sometimes wondered if she made everyone feel that way, or if he really was too far gone.

"By the way," she spoke up, her eyes round in expectation, "I'd like to take a bunch of photos of you for my portfolio." She gestured to the camera dangling from her neck. "Is that okay?"

Taerae held in a sigh, a smile plastered on his face. "I mean, at this point, you can do what you want..."

He was already playing model, he might as well be photographed like one. Unless...

"All I ask is that you never, ever show them to Ricky," he added hurriedly.

Audrey let out a giggle that almost knocked him off his feet. "No worries! I'll keep them to myself." She turned her head towards the large curtain separating the changing rooms from the catwalk. "I should go out there and wait for your turn. Good luck, Taerae! I know you’ll do well."

He watched her disappear behind the curtain, his lips pursed. As encouraging as her words were, he had a strong doubt he would do anywhere near well. He'd probably make a fool out of himself out there, walking like a newborn foal. Ah, the things he did to receive even one smile from Audrey...

Far too soon for his taste, his name, next to Audrey's, was called, and he took a deep breath as he approached the curtain. He knew this wasn’t an actual Paris Fashion Week runway. They were in the middle of a warehouse with no air conditioning, the catwalk was a long sheet of white paper laid on the floor, and the people in the attendance were university students just looking to have fun. And yet, he felt so incredibly nervous he wondered how he hadn’t passed out yet.

But he was here for Audrey, and he was trying really hard not to be a quitter anymore. The last thing he would ever quit, would be quitting. He pushed the curtain aside, his hand trembling, and stumbled onto the catwalk.

It took Taerae quite a few seconds to be grounded again. For his first few steps, he almost tripped over his own feet, blinded by the unexpected amount of flashes around him. He hadn’t expected people other than Audrey to be taking photos of him. Embarrassed, his eyes darted all around the place. But when he spotted Audrey, her camera in hand, and a big smile on her face, Taerae felt his body relax. She gave him a thumbs up, before diving back to take pictures of him, and he knew he had to look as good as possible on those photos. And so, for the first time in a while, Taerae gave his all into something.