#when he thinks he's ugly and bloated and unfit to be in the high fashion world

[introspectivememories]

Missing your veil inspired model Bernard au if you have any more ideas for it please share would love to hear them 🙏🏻🙏🏻

god i havent thought about this au in sooo long but i do have some hc!! (og veil!au posts here and here)

so after the Billboard Incident, tim becomes, like, obsessed, with bear and he doesn't realize it's bernard until he's on like a 2am deep dive and finds out that "bear" is just bernard's modeling name and his real name is bernard dowd

and tim's a little confused bc what the hell is bear doing modeling??? back when then were in high school, bear used to talk all the time about cooking

but also, tim's famous!!! bear's famous!!! why did he never reach out?

and then one day, tim's doing like a photoshoot to announce the new wayne collab with some up and coming modeling house and the director of the photoshoot says that he'll be working with another model

cool, whatever, at least he gets to work with a pro right? and the door opens and out comes bear with his hair artfully tousled and lips painted a pretty pink and he's wearing clothes that show off his broad shoulders and oh my god, the fucking boner is back

and as he discreetly tries to hide it, he opens his mouth to greet bear except, bear's eyes go stone cold and the grip on his coffee cup gets tighter

"what the hell is this?" bear says coldly and then he turns around to talk to his manager

"you said i wouldn't have to work with him. in fact, it was the one thing you promised me, when i signed that contract."

tim sinks back into seat stunned as bear's manager drags him off for a quick conversation. when bear comes back the shoot goes off without a hitch but bear says nothing but the bare minimum to him the whole time

tim pulls bear's manager aside to talk privately before the shoot ends

"did i do something wrong?" / "mister drake, you know i can't tell you what my client has told me in private and even if i could, i still wouldn't"

"i havent seen him since high school. i just wish i knew what he was mad about."

"mister drake, more than bernard being my most valuable client, he is also my friend. i can't and i won't tell you the reason but, you look like a good guy. and in all honesty, i think you'd be good for him. so i'll leave you with a hint: maybe it's not about what you did do, and more about what you didn't do."

"if you're his friend, why're you helping me?"

"bear's good now, he'll be great when he can move on from whatever's stopping him. i think it's you. this hurt has been festering for almost a decade and if we're being brutally honest, it's your fault. so you fix it, so that my bernard can be up there with the greats."

bear's manager turns to leave and right before he exits the door he looks back and says, "and if all else fails mister drake, just remember that apologies are usually a good place to start."