MASTERMIND.

"Yeah well, pretty sure our moms couldn't be more different," Sebastian didn't actually know very much about Thea's mother since she wasn't very forthcoming with the information but he imagined their relationship wasn't built on a solid foundation given what he did know about her. "Not in a good way for you. But for me? I think it's fun," And equally amusing to look at if he was being honest. Truth be told, Sebastian just approved of the obnoxious and it reminded him of the days he played concerts and the crowds dressed up in their most ridiculous looks. "I don't know, I kinda like Valentine's day. Just because I'm alone doesn't make me like it less," Sebastian said with the shrug of his shoulders. "Unfortunately no date, but the night's young so we'll see what happens."

"Thank your lucky stars," she told him with a smile. She didn't wish her upbringing on her worst enemy, let alone someone she actually liked the way she did Sebastian. "You would. As long as you don't start wearing ruffles yourself, I think we're good. Although you might be able to pull off the pirate look and they wear ruffly blouses." Thea considered his words, nodding slowly. It was true that she had grown up to be a little... cynical. Things like love, relationships, family made her skin crawl most of the time. "I think, technically, you're supposed to find a date before the event, not during, but what do I know. If anyone can find someone this last minute, it's you."

"Yeah, it would be," Sebastian repeated once more. It was common knowledge, but perhaps not to someone like Thea who lacked those parental figures in her life. Either way, Sebastian went to the gala because his mother asked him to and it was as simple as that. After all, he loved his mother and she was kind of all he had now. "Mostly all the ruffles, actually," Sebastian joked with a smirk. "But I think this, well, this is more my speed," He said, hands motioning to the general space around them to indicate the night club. After all, clubs like these had been his second home once upon a time. "Besides, much like everyone else here, I just didn't wanna be alone on Valentine's day."

"Yeah, obviously, it just wasn't the most enthusiastic response. I can't imagine going to an event like that with my mother. I imagine she'd make some kind of scene and I'd end up having to hold her hair by the end of the night," she said with a chuckle before taking a large enough gulp of her drink to forget all about her mother. "The ruffles were distracting and not in a good way. Honestly, imagine carrying that much fabric around for an entire night." She looked around the club, forced to admit that this was miles better than the stuffy gala. For once, she felt like she actually fit in here. "I think we should should cancel Valentine's Day. Why do we, as a society, continue to put ourselves through this? A third of us act like lovesick nerds and the rest just feel lonely." She glanced back at him. "No hot date?"

"Well, I sure hope not," Sebastian said with a small laugh as he shook his head. Truth be told, he was just glad to be away from the happenings at the Franklin Institute and unwinding. Most of the time he felt like he had to be on his best behavior when his mother was around, but when she wasn't, then that's when the real fun could start. "Yeah well, she's kinda all I got now so it'd be shitty of me to say no," he shrugged his shoulders, not that he had been particularly close to his father but he could certainly tell that his mother leaned on him more ever since his father's passing. "I don't know, I kinda dig the ruffles. But I'm easily distracted so maybe that's why."

Thea watched him as he reacted to her comment about his mother, not seeing the adoring smile she usually saw on other people's faces when they talked about their mother. Maybe he didn't have as good a relationship with her as she thought. "It'd be shitty of you to say no? That's not too convincing, just so you know," she pointed out, not wanting to pry anymore. He had gotten kind of touchy last time they talked about his mom. "What were you distracted by? The obnoxious display of wealth or all the fake smiling happening?"

Random Character Development Questions

"Yeah well, cougars are great but I tend to stick with people my own age," Sebastian said before confirming one of her suspicions, "That was my mom." As he spoke, he loosened the tie around his neck that his mother had picked out for him and called the bartender over to bring him a drink. "Love my mom but these galas are torture. What about you? Didn't really see that place as your vibe, unless you were there to make fun of the suits, because then I definitely get it."

"Fair enough. I wasn't picking up much of a romantic vibe anyways, which makes sense now," she said before taking a sip of her drink. "I think I underestimated how much of a momma's boy you are. Again, no judgement. I think it's nice. She must be a good mom." If he was willing to put up with a stuffy gala on Valentine's Day for her, he must really love her. Maybe that was the norm, but she couldn't relate. "They aren't, but I do like seeing people all dressed-up. This guy asked me out and I had no other plans, so... Didn't see the harm in going. I did see some pretty interesting fashion choices. People really like ruffles."

Puente w/ @martinthea

Thea was at the bar with some friends, sipping on whatever sweet cocktail the bartender had made her, when she suddenly lost her friends' attention to someone that was standing behind her. She wasn't too surprised to find Seb standing there, looking all dapper and charming. She could see what had captivated her friends so much. "You could say that," she said with a shrug. She did, technically, have a date to the previous event. Danny was nice, but she wasn't sure it was going anywhere. "What about you? I thought I saw you earlier with a somewhat older woman. Either you're into cougars or you brought your mother. No judgment, I respect either scenario. Either way, you looked pretty busy."

for: @martinthea

"I hide all the good stuff when you come over," she told him with a grin, watching him pace around the kitchen trying to find something better than what was in the fridge. It was pretty cheap beer, admittedly. "There's gin under the sink. Are you going to tell me why you need a drink so bad?" She had an idea what it might be, but there was no way she was bringing up she-who-shall-not-be-named and accidentally getting him even more freaked out.

"And where do we go from there, exactly?" Sebastian couldn't help himself, however, not wanting to push his luck too much he decided to laugh it off. "Well, you know I'm glad we were able to meet up again under very different circumstances. Otherwise you probably would have continued to just think I was some asshole musician. Now you know that I'm some asshole musician who's not too bad company," He added, showing a genuine smile as he shrugged his shoulders. While first impressions might have said a lot about a person, Sebastian liked to think that second impressions might've been better. "Yeah but they'd like it a little too much. I don't wanna feel cheap when I'm on stage, you know?" Not that he had graced a stage in six months, but he hoped one day he'd get back there. "That might be a good idea but maybe I'll send you my outfit of the day photos for approval everyday."

Thea looked up at him, a little taken aback by his question. Both because it was kind of bold, even for Sebastian, and because she really didn't know where they would go from there. Thankfully, he broke into laughter a second later and she awkwardly joined him. "You could ask me out again and I would most likely say yes," she said with a chuckle, playing along. "Yes and you would've missed out on being friends with me. That would've been the real tragedy." He wasn't wrong, she had a feeling his music would take a backseat if he ever stepped out on a stage naked. It would kind of defeat the purpose, she assumed. "I can approve your outfits. For twenty bucks a pop."

DANNY'S HOUSE w/ @danny-mancini

"Okay so if i'm hearing you correctly you don't wanna get rid of me. You want to spend more time with me. And hang out. And do shit together that doesn't include paying a bill. Yeah, I'm totally hearing you right," Sebastian started off with a smug look across his features. Perhaps he was exaggerating, but all he needed was an inch to see the mile and Thea seemed to give him that much. "Yeah well, I've found that caring too much about your images takes away from the art. So it's nice not to dress up or make a big deal about how I look because it shouldn't matter. I know it does matter, but I don't know, sometimes I wish it didn't," It certainly made Sebastian wonder if he was actually talented or if he was just cute and charming enough to have a massive following. Turning to drugs and alcohol had been a way to fit the image set out for him as a frontman, and these days all Sebastian was trying to do was find himself again since somewhere along the way he had lost that. "Yes, ma'am. Although no promises, I have no idea what my future holds these days."

"Alright, let's not get ahead of ourselves. We can start with me not actively trying to get rid of you and go from there. " Thea made a mental note to keep the compliments to a minimum. He was clearly an expert at taking the smallest comment and running with it and she just couldn't give him the satisfaction. "I mean, people would probably like it if you went up on stage naked, too. You should test it out. It would definitely get rid of the dressing yourself issue." She was only teasing, obviously, not that she didn't think he might actually do something like that. She'd seem him drunk, she had a feeling there was very little he wouldn't do. "I'm never styling you ever again, so I think the odds of history repeating itself are slim to none. It's probably better that way, for the sake of our budding friendship."

"You know a more effective way of getting rid of me would be just to straight up tell me. I get it, I'm not everyone's cup of tea, I won't take it personally," Sebastian said as an easy cop out for Thea to take if she wanted to do so. As egocentric as Sebastian could be, he wasn't trying to trap someone into hanging out with him. He knew that she didn't hate him, but if one day that changed, he wanted her to know it didn't have to be a hard thing to do. "I speak my mind, I just don't usually have very strong opinions when it comes to what I'm wearing on a photoshoot," Sebastian said with the shrug of his shoulders. "Too late, you already said it," he added with a wide grin as he tried some more injera and spread it through some of the colorful-looking dips before chewing away. "I know I haven't said this before, mostly because I really don't remember some of the shit I did back on those photoshoots and stuff, but I'm sorry if I was an asshole or whatever," He figured it was overdue, especially since he found himself in her company more frequently and he wanted to keep that going so the best thing he could do was own up to his faults for the sake of whatever this was.

"Hey, I'm not saying I want to get rid of you, I'm saying I want to get rid of the bill. Very different," she insisted with what she hoped looked like a slightly innocent grin. Thea would have no problem telling Sebastian she wasn't interested anymore, if that were the case. As of now, she still enjoyed his company and saw no point in doing such a thing. "You should. It's your image and, like it or not, that stuff's important in your business. I mean, don't go making some other poor stylist's life difficult, but I like the clients who contribute way more than those who don't." She might've been good at her job, but she didn't want everyone she dressed to look like style clones of herself. Fashion isn't one-size fits all. "Alright, don't get all sappy. You've been forgiven. I wouldn't be here if you weren't. Just don't do it again."

"Oh I think you're in too deep to leave me hanging this far in the date," Sebastian said, a smug expression making itself known across his features. Besides, he had a feeling that the very fact that Thea even showed up, let alone continued to stay, spoke volumes to how she actually felt about the evening. After all. she seemed like the type of person to bolt once someone did something she didn't like, so while Sebastian could be annoying beyond belief, he hadn't crossed any of her lines. And he considered that a win. "I have amazing taste. I've just never had the opportunity to show it off because they've always hired a stylist for me." Shrugging his shoulders, Sebastian reached over to take a sip from his glass of water before continuing on, "I think I'll wait it out. I'm not much of a coattail rider, my ego would never have it," he half-joked. Truth be told, he was very prideful, and while he was working on that in therapy, it was difficult for him to accept handouts, especially ones done out of pity. "I mean yeah, I can still blame you a little..." he muttered under his breath before his smile gave way.

"I don't know. It'd be the perfect excuse to get out of paying the bill," she said jokingly, if only to avoid having to agree with him. It was a little too late to ditch him nor did she didn't actually want to. He was annoying and irritating, which made the fact that she was having fun with him all the more confusing. Maybe that said something about her that she wasn't quite ready to face. "Seriously? You don't strike me as someone who doesn't speak his mind when he wants something." Not that she really had any idea how things worked in his world, but she always thought that once you were famous enough people just... let you get away with whatever. "Your loss. I'll do my best not to forget you when I'm rich and famous, but I can't make any promises." Her eyes narrowed playfully when he kept giving her shit about being sort of a bitch at first. "I was going to say I don't think you're all that bad anymore, but I don't think I will now..."

THEIR APARTMENT w/ @martinthea​

Her roommate's greeting every time she walked into their shared apartment was one of the reason she still enjoyed living with other people so much. People asking her about her day, caring about what she did while she was gone... well, she never had that before. "Does it need to be a bad day for us to open a bottle of wine?" Thea asked as she hung up her coat and put down her purse in its usual spot. "It was fine. Same old, you know. Yours?"