#And appearing on camera on their friend's popular-ish accounts invites attention

[otomes-and-tears]

hello!! if its alright i'd like to request headcanons for step 1 Qiu and Tamarack with a fem!reader who aspires to be an idol. they like to practice idol and vocaloid dances and wear frilly dresses and accessories. If you want too, you could add their reactions in step 2 to reader actually posting dance covers online and getting popular on social media. :3

thank you!!! I hope this isnt too complicated and makes sense <3

♦ Qiu & Tamarack with Idol!MC (Step 1 and 2) ♦

► tags/warnings:

► words: 945

► A/N: Hope you enjoy! Little PSA. Since the request specified both Step 1 and Step 2 Tamarack and Qiu, I used he/him pronouns for Step 1 Qiu and switched to exclusively they/them pronouns when I wrote the Step 2 section.

► Masterlist

Tamarack

Step 1 Tamarack Isn't at all familiar with idol culture, or Vocaloid, for that matter;

She is too much of an outdoorsy type to spend too much time online, and I think that at that age, her grandparents wouldn't let her go online, or would only allow it under strict supervision;

So she'd only have access to cool math games or things of that nature;

Mc would be her first exposure to idol culture;

Tamarack would ask SO MANY questions! It's something so important to her new friend that she'd like to know everything about it!;

She'd be FASCINATED by the frilly dresses, and would likely BEG to try on any of the hair accessories;

You can trust her to always be there, cheering MC on when she's practising, and Tamarack would be happy to help her come up with ideas for her future idol career;

Like, coming up with call and responses, fandom names and stuff;

Likely, practising with her around wouldn't be really helpful because she'd be dancing along to an entirely different choreography or excitedly cheering MC on;

It's amazing for morale but not so much for memorising your steps! ;

Also, at that age, she’ll be painfully blunt if she doesn’t like something, so she’s the best person MC can go to for honest opinions about stuff;

In Step 2, she still shows her support but in more practical ways!

Like helping MC set up their camera to film, or be able to give her pointers on how the audio sounds;

She's always the first person to like and comment on the videos, and is insanely proud of MC's newfound popularity, although she is not surprised at all that it happened;

I mean, she saw firsthand how hard she worked. How much she struggled and how much practice led to all the skills MC perfected over the years;

Of course she would succeed!;

At that age Tamarack is very insecure about herself, so I think part of her would wonder why MC bothers spending time with her now that she's internet-famous;

It's a thought she tries to shake but always comes back to torment her eventually;

Sometimes, when Tamarack thinks that she’ll move away with her parents, she’s thankful for MC’s videos, because they mean she’d still be able to see MC’s face and hear her voice whenever she misses her;

I think at that age, you’d see slight influences from MC’s hobby influencing Tamarack too;

Like, how you see more frills in her dresses, a light-stick charm with MC’s signature colour hanging from her bag and Mc’s covers littering her playlists;

She finds herself learning to play Vocaloid songs on her Cello;

Is still very honest about things she likes and dislikes in MC’s work, but is better at expressing it in a gentler way

Qiu

More familiar than Tamarack on idol culture;

He’s online a bit more, and I can totally see Ren as a Vocaloid fan that would introduce Qiu to it!;

So Step 1 Qiu is blessed with base knowledge, but he’d still ask many questions about it anyway;

Like what style Mc is going for, what songs they know how to sing etc…;

And he’d try to help her as much as possible;

But Qiu helping is a lot more different than Tamarack. Like, he may fumble his ballet choreographies sometimes, but he’d try to help her memorise hers!;

He’ll cheer her on while she practises, like Tamarack, but be more restrained about it and try to give her notes afterwards;

I think he’s also the type to think of ideas during class and pass her a bunch of little written notes from his notepads on things he thought of (including little drawings when he’s able to!);

He is much kinder about criticism, to the point of sometimes being a little too kind and not critical enough;

So he’s the person to go to for reassurance if she’s feeling particularly insecure about her hobby;

He acts a little like MC is already famous, and when questioned he just says, with a smile, that he can sense that she’s going to make it;

So he wants to assert himself as the first member of her fan club!;

Step 2 Qiu is colder, but they’re no less supportive;

Just, perhaps, a little envious of her sense of purpose;

How cool is it that MC has known what she wanted to do and who she wanted to be since she was little? And that, while she has matured, she’s only grown more certain of her dream?;

How they wish they had that same certainty about anything; 

It doesn’t diminish their liking for her. It’s just another way they grow to admire her as they both age;

They find her newfound internet fame a little unsettling, but they're happy for her as long as it’s something she wants and enjoys!;

They know what it’s like for people to have certain expectations about how you act and what you can offer and the last thing they want is for her to burn out like they did;

So they check on her, discreetly. And makes sure MC knows she can always say no, and that her life doesn’t need to revolve around making her fans happy and satisfying their every whim;

Would only carry discreet merch, and would not make a big deal out of being friends with her;

They are still a big fan and supportive of her work, but they want their friendship with MC to be a respite from the turbulence of internet fame rather than an extension of it;

They snap at anyone who recognises MC and make her feel uncomfortable at school