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“I’ to ask if you’re okay” I stepped toward him, arms crossed

He snorted “Probably a good idea”

“But”—I stopped behind hih the mirror—“I’m here for whatever you need”

His eyes were lined with dark liner, his lids a bright red, bringing out the blue contacts they’d given him He quite honestly looked like a pissed off vampire, one it wasn’t clear if he should be run from… or run to

His black shirt was nearly coernails were painted black

The stage was exactly that, a stage where he played a part to entertain the masses But this wasn’t him

That guy doing all those dance e, that hat he loved to do, but that wasn’t Lucas Lucas was so roup He was a friend, a son, a person with feelings who cared deeply about his fans, about his friends

He was so much more than perfect makeup

A perfect body

A costume that played a role it looked like he didn’t even want to play

I exhaled and pulled out a folding chair, setting it next to him “Why aren’t you happy?”

“What?” His eyes narrowed “What do you mean?”

“I’m just curious—why aren’t you happy?”

“I’hed “It’s not that I’ingthe rings off his fingers and dropping them onto the table in front of hiy fro—I love all of it, but they’re always people ill hate you for loving what you do, for being ‘lucky,’ as they call it And no matter what I do, I’m under this etting watched; now I feel like I’ burned alive by the very people that worship me, almost like they control every aspect ofThey control what trends on Twitter, Insta, all of it… Hell, you saw last year what happened even with A I’ controlled”

“So walk away” I shrugged “That’s your answer, right? You give up? Youyou, so let them have the final say and quit Isn’t that what people want? The people who hate you? They want you tothat you quit, and then you can live a nice quiet life; I hear the ocean’s nice this time of year…”