craquaria ✰ i love you, or whatever

Chapter 1: I am a super star

Aquaria's POV

I had been locked up in my hotel room for an entire day. No internet, no music, no nothing. Only me and my drag. And don't get me wrong, I usually enjoy being alone, but there's a difference between being alone and feeling lonely. And it got to the point in which I had started to feel more like the second one. Still, I was super excited. Ready to start the competition and show everyone what an amazing performer I am. Anxiety and nerves? Oh, we don't know her. I was feeling super confident, ready to get started. And there i was, in LA. It was finally the first day of shooting season 10 of Drag Race, my whole life i had waited for this moment.

Once I was done getting ready, someone from production knocked and my door and asked me to follow them. He took me to one of the rooms of the huge long hallway that's located before the Werk Room, and told me to wait until someone else from the production crew came in and took me into it. I could hear noise coming from outside the room. I knew that the other girls were already there, greeting each other and recording their entrances. Ugh... They were taking way too long and I started to get bored.  While i waited, all I could think of was about my past, every decision that i had taken got me here, into this moment, in which my entire life would change forever.

My drag name is Aquaria and i just turned 21 years old. I come from NYC, which, not to brag, but has the best drag scene in the entire country, if not the entire world. I moved there a couple of years ago,  as soon as I finished high school, pursuing a career on women's wear at the Fashion Institute of Technology and the dream of become a huge designer. During my free time i had always loved to experiment with makeup and looks, and once i moved to New York my love for it just continued to grow, which allowed me to develop a fast-growing fan base from all of the looks that i posted on instagram. I started studying during the day and doing drag at night, enjoying every second of it.
One year into college, I realized that school wasn't for me. I realized, that the night life and the performance arts were my real passion and that although i had tried really hard to convince myself into staying at school, i knew in my heart that i couldn't do it anymore. One day I decided that i had delayed the decision for way too long and with tears running down my face, I called my mom and told her. It was the most stressful and emotionally challenging experience i had ever lived, it was much harder than coming out of the closet. I think it was because it did not only involved me and my future, but also my parents' huge investment on my education. At first my mom got worried, afraid of where my money would come from and how would i even pay rent. But once we talked it through and I convinced her that I would take care of every single decision regarding my future and assured her that I would be okay, she encouraged me to follow my dreams and supported me all the way. After that stressful conversation I went back into my room, felling grateful for having such an understanding family. Soon, I started mentally planning what i was going to do from now on.
I decided that the best thing that i could do was try and continue to make my fan base grow, creating new makeup and fashion looks, being active on my social media and trying to get into every single drag gig that i could, knowing that it wasn't going to be easy. New York City it's a tough place to live in, specially being a drag performer at such a young age. Due to the fact that there are so many amazing performers, I've struggled a lot to build a name for myself. Mainly because, being this young and having already been labeled as an "Instagram Queen" people sometimes wouldn't really take me seriously. I got into the night life at the age of 17, and let's be honest, legally, no club could have taken me as seriously as I would have wanted to, but that never stopped me. It's a factor that I have actually taken as and advantage, and it has encouraged me to work even harder. I've always had to see my way through things. Sneak around clubs, getting my older drag queen friends to get me gigs and pulling the necessary strings for getting me inside the clubs without an ID. That's how i came across my "drag mom", Sharon Needles.
Around the age of 18 I was her biggest fan. I'd go to her shows and hang with her after. I've always liked being around people older than me, so our relationship built up very fast. I have known throughout my whole life that i prefer "learning from", rather than "learning with". And what a better example to learn from, than the biggest drag race winner herself. We became really good friends and she'd help me get into drag and improve my performance abilities. She'd tell me what to avoid saying and whom to avoid talking to. She's been such a huge role model for me, im so thankful for her. She's more of my Drag Mentor, rather than my Drag Mother because although she is the one who got me introduced into the "official" night life and educated me on what the real drag scene is, i wouldn't say she's the one who got me into drag for the first time.  I started doing drag at an early age. Maybe even before I was born. I've always known that my main goal in life was becoming an international super star, and being here was a huge step towards that.

Suddenly, i heard the door being opened and I turned around, facing it. There he was. A crew member, telling me that they were ready and that they were waiting for me. I suddenly felt butterflies all over my body because of the excitement and with a huge smile on my face I nodded my head, avoiding to verbally answer, because i knew that my mind was way too scrambled up and that anything that came out of my mouth in that moment would not make sense at all. I followed him through the hallway, until we got to the doors of the Werk Room. My moment had finally arrived, and I couldn't have been more excited.

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Hiii, how are y'all taking it 🥺🥺
Please leave comments and tell me what's on your mind and what would you like to see in the future. I'd love to write just short imagines but I need ideas. I used to have an old acc with many fics but somehow it got deleted and I'm stuck w this new one. Anyway, hope y'all liked it 🧡🧡