under his poised and delicate exterior, babette is a painfully shy and awkward person. he always shuts himself away from people. he's desperate for people to talk to and care about him, but he's scared of them. most people tend to assume he's just really cold and maybe a little stuck up, but it's because he's shy. he tries his best to leave conversations as quickly as he can just because he's nervous. he's very easily flustered, and he turns bright red when he's embarrassed. he has a bad habit of isolating himself. he's lonely, but doesn't like to get close to people. he has a kind of intense fear of abandonment, and is terrified of losing someone he's close to. he's extremely emotional despite his pokerface.

you wouldn't think someone who wears a lot of lingerie and slinky glittery dresses would be insecure, but babette is. he's always been really self conscious about his appearance, thinking he's too lanky and broad-shouldered to look good in the things he wants to wear. but he knows that he'd be even more unhappy if he didn't, so he sucks it up and does it anyways. he's good at hiding his insecurity, to the point where no one would know about it even if he was close to them. though he is very jealous towards more feminine or curvy people, especially men, but he's not a mean person so he'd never bring it up. but he always acts even more avoidant and cold towards them, furthering their belief that he's just stuck up.

babette was an only child. he never knew his father (because he was kind of a piece of shit and his mom made sure to get out of that relationship before babette was born), but him and his mother were very close. she was only about 18 when she had him and they never had much money, but she always took everything in her stride. she worked as a singer in a club and was always a beautiful and strong woman. unfortunately, she died when he was around 10. his grandmother raised him. he's still really hung-up on his mom's death. he never got over it and that's part of his problem, especially with isolating himself. he looked up to his mom a lot and he bases a lot of his life around what he remembers of her. it gives him a kind of connection with her, since he only really knew her when he was a child.

babette was a loner throughout school, never having any friends. he was considered weird and mopey by most of his peers, and the few people who tried to approach him were turned away. he worked as a stripper for a while once he graduated high school, mostly out of necessity because he didn't think he had any applicable skills for other jobs, and he hated it. he also though that maybe it would help him feel better about his appearance. it did not. the money was good but he found the experience extremely humiliating. he hated people ogling him, and the feeling of the body that he hates being sexualized. after a few years he finally couldn't take it anymore and quit. he currently works as a cocktail waiter. he's been working there for a few years now and is happier, but can't quite shake the feeling of being just a piece of meat for people to eye. it's not as bad as at the strip club, so he can handle it, but it's a nagging feeling at the back of his mind.

babette's house is full of antiques. he buys anything he thinks is pretty even if he really doesn't need it, saying he'll find a place for it later. his house is beautifully decorated, as long as you're into "grandma's house chic".

his grandma's been part of a little knitting club since he was a kid, and he's recently joined in. all the other ladies love him, and by now he basically has like 10 grandmas. he even refers to them as "grandma ____". he calls his actual grandmother "nana".

he has a pink record player and he likes to listen to old jazz/swing records on it.

he lives in a little cottage or smth idk but he grows flowers in windowboxes/on his windowsill and he's very invested in them

his grandma had a big fluffy white cat when he was a kid. she was his best (and only) friend.

he doesn't own a cellphone anymore. he had one as a teen and when he worked as a stripper, and got rid of it immediately after he quit. he has a pink rotary phone landline, really just for emergencies.

he got a lot of his mom's old coats/jewelry when he got older, and some from his grandma too. they're all very important to him, especially his mom's old pearls.