idea: supermodel (and actor) vincent (vincenzo) dario romano attends dua lipa's release party for future nostalgia. dua is long-time friends with vince through gigi and bella hadid as they are all IMG models. vince is of italian and filipino descent, who is originally from melbourne, australia. jennie is friends with dua as well, but through her seoul concert turned collaboration in kiss and make up.

---

Vincent let out a frustrated sigh as he struggled to find a decent parking spot next to the Avalon Hollywood club, opting to just park his Tesla a little bit up the road from the club entrance and call one of his managers to pick it up instead. 'Is this what I get for being a little late?' he thinks to himself. He'll just tell them to drop it off at his house and go back with Gigi when the party's over. Quickly finishing his call with his manager, Vincent sees the said Hadid walking towards and smiles widely, ending the call with a 'ciao' and putting his phone away in his jacket. For his best friend's event, he'd thrown on his oversized white dress shirt, layered with a white cable-sweater vest and his Off-White varsity jacket, topped off with some black wide-legged pants and Off-White chunky boots. He may just have put this outfit while on the plane ride here, but he was not about to be slacking at a semi-public event. Sliding his dark shades up onto his head, he calls her name with a placid smile. Opening his long arms out for the woman, she runs into them with a patter of her heels, an equally wide smile on her attractive face.

"Vince! Oh my god, I missed you!" She squealed excitedly, making the man laugh. They were almost the same height now with Gigi's high heels giving her an inch or two, but still not enough to beat Vincent's 6'2 figure. Gigi looks to the parked black Tesla X behind him before gasping loudly and smacking his arm with an open palm. "Don't tell me you drove here! Didn't you just get back from Melbourne two hours ago?!"

"Hey, hey— I drove right from the airport to here! I didn't want to miss Dua's release party," He explains, playfully rolling his eyes like it was the most obvious answer in the world. The Aussie had to fly for a photoshoot back in his hometown for the next month's issue of Vogue Australia but flew back for a day just to attend Dua's album release party. "I'm getting Drew to pick it up now and I was actually hoping I could head back with you?" Vincent asks her with an unsure tone, dropping an arm from around her while the other rested gently around her waist. His main manager, Andrew, said that he'll be there in five minutes, so he'll just wait for a bit to hand him the keys.

"Of course you can, but only because I missed your face. Just know you owe me dinner for tonight~" Gigi replies in an almost sing-song manner, patting his cheek lightly. He could only nod with a huff, spotting his manager in the near distance. Gigi left the warmth of his hold and instead stood beside him, waving a hello to Andrew who had a slightly exhausted expression on his face.

"Finally, look who made it! What took you so long, Drew?" Vincent teased, handing the keys over into the shorter man's hand. Vincent absolutely loved to tease his manager in all that he did because he knew that the older man couldn't do anything about it. That was just their dynamic and he wouldn't change it for the world.

"You asked me to come here in the middle of my break! You're lucky that Avalon is a five minute drive from the office..." Andrew facepalmed, trying to keep his anger inside, but he knows that he would be willing to do anything for his favourite client. "Anyways, I've got to get back and do some work for you. Do you know how many people want you to be booked and busy?"

"At least ten?-"

"Rhetorical question, 'cenzo! Now go enjoy your party with Miss Hadid here—hello, by the way—but I'm going now, no more questions. Send my regards and congratulations to Dua!" He says as he walks to the driver's side of Vincent's car, waving a goodbye and driving off before the two models can even say anything back. Gigi and Vincent watch the car turn the corner of the street and look back at each other. Gigi looped her left arm around her friend's arm, smiling brightly. "Let's go?"

***

After the pair had their photos taken at the entrance of the club with a posted sign with the words 'The Moonlight Edition' plastered on it, they walked into the building past the many guards and staff who greeted them with smiles. The music was blasting so loudly throughout the club that you could hear it clearly from the main hallway area. Walking through the main doors, they were met with the bright, flashing multi-coloured neon strobe lights as songs from Dua's latest deluxe album played. Silhouettes of hundreds of people dancing and singing their hearts out to his best friend's songs made him proud beyond words.

The club was decorated with pictures of the album's concept photos and videos being displayed on countless screens around the large room, the main DJ playing the tracks on the elevated stage while the large main area in front had some couches on the outer edges where a few people were sitting and chatting. There were two small opera boxes on the left and right side with open railing, with one or two people watching the dance floor with drinks in their hands. In the loge, there were several booths and more seats surrounding the bar and where most of the waiters with plenty of drinks on hand were walking around. The balcony overlooking the entire room was the private area for those who were really close and important to Dua.

Walking up the stairs and making sure Gigi didn't fall in her heels, they made it to the balcony where Dua saw them enter. The Albanian hurried over to the two with a bear hug enveloping the both of them, screaming in excitement and joy—but mostly slight tipsiness. A few people had turned towards the two IMG models with curious stares, but one particular pair of eyes lingered on Vincent longer than everyone else.

Dua leaned back from her hug with Gigi, raising her eyebrow right at Vincent and an accusing finger. "I can't believe you made Gigi late! Always the bad influence, aren't you Romano? I thought you loved me?" She jokes with her thick British accent, a giggle escaping both of the women's lips.

" off, you know I love you. Why do you think I flew here?" Vincent can only laugh and shake his head, leaving a small kiss on the side of her head, "Oh, and I had to have my manager pick up my car from the front since I couldn't get a parking spot. He told me to say congratulations on his behalf–"

"You came late and you're the one complaining? Typical behaviour coming from the Vincenzo Dario Romano. Maybe you are a bad influence." Gigi joins in from his side, her arm still looped around his as she looks up at him with a smirk. Whenever and wherever the two would meet up, they were always stuck to each other by the hip and always had a hold on each other... physically. A hug, an arm around the waist, holding hands– even just sitting next to each other. It was a habit the both of them couldn't shake off unless they really needed to, but they would always find their way back to each other one way or another. Even Gigi's own partner, Zayn, didn't even question the affectionate behaviour of the two as he felt secure knowing that the two weren't those types of people. About to open his mouth at her use of his full government name (the audacity), Dua hushes him with a raise of her hand.

"First off, please say thank you to Andrew for the congratulations... but before you two steal me away from the rest of my bloody guests for the night, let me introduce you to someone! Come on, they're super nice." Dua says with a smile stuck to her face as she practically drags the both of them to the corner where she was before. There stood a somewhat familiar face, dressed in a matching Chanel crop top and miniskirt. He couldn't lie when he thought that she looked extremely pretty, and he was constantly surrounded by people who looked like they were made for the clothes they wore. Whoever this person was though outdid them so easily and even more effortlessly. "This is Jennie, who you may know from the girl group Blackpink. They're huge in Korea and they even performed at Coachella. Jennie, this is Gigi and Vincent. I've known them for a really long time now and I'm sure you've seen them around too."

"Nice to meet you both, it's so nice to finally meet you two." Jennie says with a smile on her face, Gigi moving forward to hug her in greetings. The two share a friendly embrace, but Vincent chooses to respectfully side-hug her (even with the huge height difference between them) as he's only just met her. Her perfume immediately grabbed his attention, eminating a slight jasmine scent with a hint of citrus. Whatever it was, she smelt nice and it seemed to fit her well. Her voice seemed a little familiar as well. Maybe since it's a Kiwi accent? He'll have to ask.

He leaned back with a habitual to his lips, a smile following as he looked down to make eye contact with the shorter girl. "It's nice to meet you too. I knew you looked familiar, so it's nice to put a name to a pretty face." A light blush appeared on her face, sheepishly smiling with a 'thank you' as he drops his arm from her shoulders and places it around Gigi's. "Also, you're a Kiwi right? Correct me if I'm wrong though, I just picked it up from your accent."

"No, no, just the accent! I just studied in New Zealand for a few years but I was born and raised in South Korea." She explains as the small group consciously move to a couch on the side of the balcony, sitting down comfortably as a waiter nearby places some drinks down on the circular table in front of them. "And I'm assuming you're Aussie from what I can tell. One of my members is actually from Australia too so I just assumed."

"Yeah, you're right. Well damn, that's so cool! Hopefully we can meet them soon. It'll be like an Aussie meet-up," Vince half-jokes, making the others laugh over the loud music playing. He leans towards the table in front, grabbing two flukes of champagne and hands one to Gigi who chose to sat beside him (unsurprisingly) before taking a long, hard sip of his own. Jennie and Dua already had their own so he simply leaned back in the seat as the three women began to talk about the album and anything else that came into their minds. 

***

As the night got deeper and deeper, the four celebrities found themselves becoming more and more drunk. Dua had forgotten about the rest of her guests temporarily and just sticking to the small group she had created in the corner of the balcony. The seats were a little more occupied, with Bella, Hailey, Justin, Kendall, and Kylie joining them in conversation. With Jennie now having been introduced to the Hadid's, Jenner's and Bieber's, it was like a light welcoming of a new member in the inner circle. A lot of people were still downstairs dancing away, and even the group had done that for a short while but retreated back to the comfort and privacy of the balcony. 

"So, Jennie... have you got your eye set on anyone? Like, anyone?" Kylie asked, holding her empty glass and leaning on her crossed legs. The conversation had now swerved to relationships and love interests—as all drunk conversations seem to head towards—and the single people were being targeted.

"I, um, right now? No, but I used to date this one guy who was also in my kind of work a year ago before we broke up since it went public." Jennie says with a crestfallen sigh, the others looking at her with sympathetic and understanding gazes. They know it better than anyone else of what happens when something so private like a relationship is made media material. "Recently though, I've just been happy focusing on myself and doing my own thing. I think I needed that break up."

"You go girl, that's how it should be! To happiness!" Hailey raises her glass before throwing it back, Justin laughing beside her and patting her thigh. The others decide to make a toast to being happy, no matter what it is and raise their glasses.

"Now, don't think we forgot about you, lover boy." Kendall says with a glint in her eyes, Vincent now taking his last sip of the night. "What happened to that cute girl you were talking to? Such a simp."

Groaning at the reminder as everyone laughs at his misfortune, Vincent puts his head in his hands. The girl that he was talking to was a non-celebrity friend of Dua's that she introduced him to a short while ago, having met him while the two were in London for a meeting that the singer had to attend to. The two had hooked up and kept talking since then; Vincent flew over multiple times to spend time with her (ahem, and a little bit more than that), but only until the moment that she had announced that she had lost feelings for him a few months ago. To say that Vincent was devastated is a bit of an understatement, but he can't be too mad at himself since the two were never in a relationship anyways. The two ended their situationship with no hard feelings so he wasn't letting it affect him as much as it normally would. Jennie just stared at him curiously, wondering what he would have to say.

"We stopped talking talking back in November or something, but we stopped fully talking like a month ago since she got super busy with her own . Other than that, I've not done anything since then. Just like Jennie is, I guess." The model admits, putting down his glass and giving everyone a once-over. Jennie finds herself almost whipping her head at full speed at the mention of her name, but stops herself and simply gives him a smile to which he smiles back. Justin pats his back and reassures him that everything will work out, and does the same toast as they did for Jennie.

Speaking of which, Jennie and Vincent had this unspoken tension between them as they kept stealing unknowing glances at each other throughout the night. They had a one-on-one conversation of their own while the rest of the group were in other smaller conversations with one another. Finding out more information about each other and their line of work, as well as their problems and insecurities they face while in such a big and public industry, they started to become more open and comfortable with each other. They shared countless jokes and had generally fun banter, already having some stupid inside joke between the two. Vincent had to admit that it was a breath of fresh air talking to her, with Bella noticing he was basically giving Jennie heart-eyes whenever she opened to speak; not to mention the quick glances he would take of her lips.

Peeping over the on the other side of the balcony, Gigi sees that they've all been talking for so long that most of Dua's closer guests have left and only a few remained. Checking the time on her phone, she gently tugged on Vincent's sleeve as he talked to Jennie, looking at him with a look of 'it's time to go' as they both get up and decide to head off. It was around 11PM and Vincent had to go to sleep for his flight back to Melbourne later in the day, and Gigi had to head back to her baby before the day ended.

"I'm so sorry that we had to leave so soon but we'll make it up to you, I swear." Vincent apologises to Dua, hugging everyone goodbye with Gigi doing the same. Dua took his words seriously with a nod before he faces Jennie, hugging her properly this time, with her unintentionally snuggling her face into his chest. Again, the height difference was a little insane as Vincent was almost a whole foot taller than her but Jennie was also wearing heels so it wasn't too bad... but still pretty big.

"It was so nice meeting you, Jennie. Hopefully we can do it again soon." Vincent smiles, leaning back to look down at her. His low voice and accent had her weak in the knees. "I think I would need some way to keep in contact with you though."

Jennie blushes at the man's subtle (yet successful) attempt to ask her number, giving him a genuinely bashful smile as she pulls out her phone, unlocks it and hands it to him so he can put his number in. With a proud beaming expression that he couldn't hide, Vincent presses his number in and saves the contact as 'iest Aussie #1', handing the phone back to Jennie. Seeing the contact name, she dramatically gasped and smacked his chest, shaking her head in disbelief with her blush deeping on her face. "Vince! Ugh, now what the hell would Rosie say if she ever sees you calling me?"

"I can fight her to keep the title, respectfully of course." He laughed, his whole undivided attention still on Jennie as he failed to notice that the rest of the group watched their interaction with teasing looks. Seeing Jennie type a message and his phone pinging immediately after, he checked his messages and handed his phone to Jennie. "Now, your turn. Unless you want me to save you as Future Girlfriend."

Jennie quickly grabbed the phone from his hands, whining at his teasing as he could only laugh harder at her flustered state. Normally she would be able to keep her composure and have the ability to flirt back confidently, but with Vincent it was like everything she had known just flew out the window. She muttered some complaints to herself but loud enough for the man to hear, making him send heart-eyes her way as she kept her head down to look at the screen in concentration. She handed his phone back with a satisfied sigh, crossing her arms across her chest as he glanced at the contact name she had given herself.

"Really? You know what, fine." He said with pretend dejection, shaking his head as she did to him. In reality, he had found it incredibly cute. Jennie had saved herself as 'The One and Only ❤️' as he sent her a rolling eyes emoji in their messages. They laughed at each other, stuck in their own little world until Gigi comes up to Vincent and tells him it's time to go, for real. "Okay, actual goodbye though. For now, at least. I'll text you, beautiful."

Taking off the shades that have been on his head the entire time, Vincent carefully places it onto Jennie's head and makes sure not to mess up her styled hair. With cute smiles, they have one last, lingering embrace before Gigi and Vincent wave goodbye to the group once last time before heading out of the venue.