#progress is progress!

Even my painting skills have vasty improved. From January 2021 to December 2021. Hopefully next year I'll draw like I wish I could.

[Or a WIP where Yosuke is an esthetician and Yu is a new fashion model. You guys ever see “Neon Demon”? It’s nothing like that.]

It wasn’t like Yosuke to be so nervous before a big show.

It would be one thing if he was a rookie, but he’d served as a make-up artist for Junes’ annual runway show since he’d started high school. The young man could go heads or tails around some of the company’s less experienced designers and successfully jive with even the most high-maintenance models. While he was no expert when it came to fashion, Yosuke prided himself in being versatile in how he created looks to pair with last-minute looks or adjustments.

Things never went off seamlessly, but it was never anything he couldn’t handle. A clothing swap that called for a smoky eye rather than a graphic, liner-based look; a model having an allergic reaction to a lipstick and Yosuke having to recreate the same aesthetic on a fresh face in half the time; or even when a burst pipe doused his brushes and palettes in water and he had to makeover models by pinching their cheeks for blush and applying loose pigments with his fingertips to models’ eyelids and lips. He’d washed his hands so much that day that blisters had formed on his fingertips and his palms were dry for days.

However, none of those occasions held a candle to the current degree of turmoil rousing the Junes esthetician department.

A delay on the subway had caused almost all their models and artists to be late. Except one.

Their newest model, Yu Narukami, had biked to the show from his part-time job and was waiting in Yosuke’s booth for further instruction.

“Yosuke!” his father called over a sea of bobbing, perfectly coiffed hairdos. “There’s a new model who needs your attention ASAP. Get to your station, now!”

Yosuke threw on his smock and made a beeline downstairs. He took the stairs two at a time before jumping into the landing and sprinting down one of the facility’s many back hallways.

Sitting there was a young man with silver hair and a sturdy frame. His shoulders, unusually wide compared to the build of the models they usually worked with, were corded muscle. His face was…definitely aesthetically pleasing to view. If Yosuke wasn’t such a staunch professional, he might have even dared to call the other man ‘handsome.’

But that was a whole can of worms he didn’t have the time or desire to open.

“Are you the new guy?” Yosuke asked as he shut the door and extended a hand to him. “I’m Yosuke. Sorry for being late! I tried to run, but…”

He was still panting for breath from sprint. That combined with his sudden entrance must have made him look genuinely crazy. In spite of everything, he didn’t seem off-out by the hysteria. He slipped his hand into Yosuke’s and gave a confident shake.

“No problem. It sounds like a madhouse up there,” he said. His eye contact was as confident as his handshake. He didn’t falter for a second. “I’m Yu Narukami. Nice to meet you.”

“Yu, huh?” Yosuke asked. “Nice name.”