❝I'll be your confidential lover. Oh, it's so entertaining, Yeah, you love trouble making, but I permit no misbehaving❞

The lights still burned in Grian’s eyes as he stepped offstage, the roaring applause lingering in his chest like a second heartbeat. Sequins caught the backstage glow, tiny fractured stars scattered across Ariana Griande’s dress as she handed her mic off with a dainty flourish: polite, precise, the kind of gesture she’d honed until it looked effortless.

Once she was out of sight, though, Grian exhaled. His shoulders sank, chest heaving as if he’d been holding the world up with every high note and spin. One hand swept through the voluminous wig, fingers catching in teased synthetic curls before he tugged it free, revealing his own cropped, wiry curls underneath. They sprang rebelliously as he shook them loose, damp with sweat and glitter-dust. His scalp prickled with relief.

The pink lip gloss still clung stubbornly to his mouth, glossy and slick beneath the harsh backstage lights. His lashes were weighed with sparkle, and his cheeks still burned with blush, but Grian didn’t yet strip it away. Instead, he collapsed onto the cracked leather sofa waiting for him, the skirt of Ariana’s sequined dress pooling like spilled champagne around his thighs. He stretched long, ankles crossed, arms overhead, sighing as if the applause outside was a storm he’d finally escaped.

“Absolute knockout tonight,” a stagehand murmured, sweeping past with an armful of cables. Someone else leaned in to grin, “That last high note? Unreal.” Compliments poured like warm rain; casual, reverent, familiar. The makeup crew hovered nearby, already brushing powder over the sheen of sweat at his temples, fussing with a smudge of eyeliner like loyal priests tending their idol.

A champagne flute slid into his hand with seamless timing. The bubbles snapped crisply against his lips when he took the first sip, sweet and sharp. He tipped his head back into the sofa cushions, eyes fluttering shut, letting the chaos of cleanup fade into a background hum.

And through it all came Mumbo, his ever-diligent shadow, leaning against the doorframe clutching a clipboard like it was holy scripture. “Right, so if we keep tonight’s momentum, the next show is in two nights, but then we’ll need to shuffle rehearsals because of the festival gig, and don’t forget—” He rattled on, his words an endless, bumbling current.

Grian cracked one eye open, a lazy grin tugging at the corners of his glossed mouth. “Mumbo,” he interrupted softly, voice still husky with Ariana’s silk and smoke, “sit down. You’re giving me heart palpitations.”

Mumbo blinked, halfway through another sentence, then huffed and obeyed, awkwardly perching beside him. The clipboard slipped a little, resting against his knee. Grian clinked his champagne glass lightly against it, chuckling low in his chest.

Designed for Scarbrina (Scar) RP Pov but doesn't have to be.

Anyone can be the VIP guest mentioned in the first message. ^^

Characters coded in: Ariana GrianDe (Grian), Mumbo (Personal Assistant)