pinned post.
(HARRY SHUM JR, HE/THEY, DEMI-MAN) careful, ALARIC ZHAO has arrived to the city of dreams!! they look THIRTY years old and word on the street is they are from PHILADELPHIA and currently reside in CHELSEA. They are currently living life in the city as a FASHION DESIGNER. one thing they never want anyone to find out is THEY WERE ESTRANGED FROM THEIR VERY INFLUENTIAL FAMILY AS A CHILD. too bad nothing remains a secret for long even in the city of dreams. some people say they are DRAMATIC, but i think they are AUTHENTIC.
tw: homophobia, biphobia, child abuse, alcoholism
basics.
full name: alaric zhao gender: demi-man (he/they) age: 30 date of birth: february 2nd types: aquarius / esfp sexuality: bisexual positive traits: outgoing, smart, original, confident, sociable negative traits: lazy, dramatic, impatient, over-emotional, non-committal
bio.
hello hello everyone! I’d like you to all meet alaric - my dearest oc. i’m sure you will all love them. he is BIG on drama but is also very authentic at the same time?? he is a serial-dater and almost certainly has a drinking problem. alaric had a VERY tough time coming out to his parents as a young child and is pretty much estranged from his (very rich and snobby) family. alaric is determined to make it on their own and they’re doing quite well so far!! he is almost certainly the most FABULOUS resident in chelsea! at least he believes this is the case. and I don’t blame him. here’s some more background info on them <3 (sorry it got so long skjsjsjsk)
alaric came from a very rich and very conservative family. his parents had never really been in love, but had gotten together because both of their families were very influential in pennsylvania, and so the arrangement made sense to everyone in the family. alaric was told plenty of times as a child that one day he too would make his vows with a rich, beautiful girl. (W/C: *) at the time, they didn’t see it as a bad thing, but rather something to be excited about— they couldn’t wait to make their parents proud by marrying the right girl.
the first eleven years went by quickly, and alaric grew up to be a kind, polite and intelligent young boy. he took many lessons ( including dance, piano and poetry ) and was home-schooled for a few years. despite his cold and distant parents, alaric showed true empathy and class, making everyone adore him from the day he spoke his first word — which happened to be an interesting one, because it turned out to be quite a foreshadowing of his future interests. the word? dress.
if there was something alaric was truly interested in, it was fashion. they adored it from a very young age, stealing their mother’s magazines to look at all of the gorgeous gowns, and insisting on wearing a suit to breakfast every morning for three years. his parents never took it as anything too serious, thinking he’d grow out of it at some point and start investing in some useful skills. they sent him to boarding school in norway in hopes that the cold climate would roughen him up a bit.
the thing was, though, that alaric couldn’t care less about his studies. they were incredibly lazy when it came to reading, and although they definitely had the brain for outstanding grades, their interests were elsewhere. this became the case especially once he noticed how good he was with people, and how naturally handling others came to him. he made friends very quickly, becoming popular in no time and climbing the social ladder in mere months. that didn’t matter much to him, though, because all he wanted was to have fun.
they managed to keep their grades up, mostly by sweet-talking their teachers. everything was going smoothly enough, until the spring of his 7th year, when he realised how incredibly beautiful his classmate was (W/C: **). of course, this wouldn’t have been of any trouble if the person had been a girl. but he wasn’t. and the bright, fun-loving alaric withered into a scared and self-doubting shadow of himself, trying his hardest to deny the butterflies in his stomach whenever he looked at the boy. sure, they had experienced these feelings for girls as well, but this was new. new and bad, because there was no way his parents would allow it. and he was right.
alaric spent six months trying to hide his feelings, but with the help of his friends, he came to terms with who he was. and slowly they started accepting themselves, regaining their confidence and even receiving their first kiss from the boy who had made him realise who he had been all along. and with that regained confidence, alaric decided to tell his parents. little did he know how terrifyingly wrong it could go…
(tw homophobia and child abuse for the following paragraphs.) it was the christmas break, and he had dressed up neatly, as usual. the mood was calm and stiff, as usual. alaric and his parents were eating dinner in the dining hall, the only audible sounds the clinking of cutlery. that was until alaric’s voice sounded across the table. and then there was nothing. at first, he thought that it wasn’t half bad, because he’d take silence over yelling any time.
the next few days were spent in quiet coldness, and it wasn’t until alaric decided to speak up again that it all came crumbling down. his father yelled and threw things at the thirteen-year-old while his mother cried and accused him of ruining their life. alaric wasn’t sure how long it went on, but by the time his parents were done, they were curled up on the floor, tears endlessly flooding from their eyes. that was the night alaric’s parents disowned him, and that was the night he realised that they had never loved him. and he had never felt more alone.
his parents started asking the rest of their family for help, but they only received cold, unforgiving stares. and for some reason, alaric felt guilty. so guilty, that one day they ran downstairs and told their father what they were thinking. that there was nothing wrong with liking the same sex, and that he could still very much fall in love with a girl. but their father didn’t understand. instead, after twenty-or so minutes of yelling, alaric found himself on the steps of his house, shivering in the cold as his mother slammed the door in his face.
they stayed with a friend (W/C: ***) for a while , before receiving word from their mother, asking them to return home. she even promised him his inheritance. alaric knew that it wasn’t because they missed him, but because he was their only child — their only chance of continuing their legacy. and despite knowing that, he returned home. because although his parents didn’t love him, he loved them. alaric’s heart had always been large, and even now when it had been torn out of their chest, it was still pulsing for their parents. however, as time passed, he realized that the love he had for himself was greater than the brainwashed love he had for his parents, and he started standing up for himself. he was now stronger than before, both physically and emotionally, and he wasn’t afraid to fight for what he believed in. and so things slowly settled down, his parents settling on snarky comments and angry glares instead of empty threats.
some might say that alaric came out as a victor, but they didn’t see it that way. because the part of them that had once cared about their family or love in general had completely disappeared, and because he could feel his heart slowly being turned into tough stone, his feelings now guarded by dozens of walls. but if there was one thing he still cared about, it was fashion. he intertwined his passion for clothes and makeup to his passion of making his parents uncomfortable — and voilá, thus was created the alaric zhao people know and love. although the makeup and the glitter were originally designed to disturb their parents, alaric’s style soon became very important to him, and not a day went by that he didn’t put effort into his appearance.
as soon as they could, alaric moved to new york city for fashion school. he found new passions: drinking and scx, and for a couple of years all he did was party and drink and have scx with more people than he could count (W/C: ****). however, whenever he started to develop feelings for anyone, he ran. he couldn’t get close to anyone.
as they grew up and became more and more familiar with themselves, they realised they didn’t identify with simply being “male”. however, he never felt the need to declare this to anyone, especially after their previous experience of coming out.
after graduating from fashion school, alaric quickly built his own brand - largely with the help of his name, which people had grown to know in the last few years of school, and the money he had left over from his parents. in the past years, his brand has grown and he is starting to be recognised internationally. with this, comes a fear of their parents trying to reconnect, utterly aware of how disappointed they would be if they found out that alaric is using the family name for something as fleeting and shallow and gay as fashion.
wanted connections.
family members.
boarding school friends / old friends. (possibly know alaric’s family).
fashion school friends.
people alaric knows through work: photographers, event organizers, models, other designers.
* close family friend (parents wanted the two to get married).
** first crush (boarding school in norway).
*** childhood best friend.
**** friends with benefits.
literally anything else! let’s brainstorm! <3
