#and because though he’ll never admit it Louis wants an audience so he can be peak Dramatic

[high-fructose-lesbianism]

Daniel isn’t there because Louis wants to be interviewed. Louis isn’t willing to answer questions or be lead off-topic. He’s gonna tell his story the exact way he wants to tell it with minimal interruption, thank you. Daniel is there because Louis hasn’t yet worked out how to use modern technology to record himself.

[multimetaverse]

HSMTMTS 3x05 Review

The Real Campers of Shallow Lake was a funny ep that unfortunately showcased some of HSMTMTS’ biggest flaws. Let’s dig in!

The most important reveal tonight was Ricky admitting that he has a crush on Gina which was caught on camera and will no doubt come up again. I’m sure Rina shippers loved this ep and in fairness they did have great chemistry during their duet

Of course, we’re perilously close to an emotional cheating story line as Ricky has for the past several eps been toeing the line of appropriateness in his interactions with Gina, Gina is now using Ricky to get payback at EJ for his keeping secrets, and Ricky’s feelings are becoming so obvious that EJ has already noticed and other characters have started to notice 

The Disney plus instagram account posted about the Rina/Portwell love triangle and while there were some comments supporting the ships the most liked comments were complaints about the love triangle being a recycled S1 plot and being unnecessary and poorly done. I think those kind of comments are closer to how the casual audience is reacting to this plot as compared to the more ship dominated discourse in the online fandom

And no one can deny that this is a recycled plot line. Hell even the Ricky and EJ slap scene was an almost beat for beat redo of their passing the basketball scene back in S1. Not to mention the fact that it’s obvious that this love triangle is going to end the exact same way with Ricky stealing EJ’s girlfriend for the second time in less than a year! It’s not surprising that most of the audience wouldn’t enjoy seeing this play out when it’s been done before and there’s no real suspense

At least back in S1 Ricky could somewhat justify his actions in that he had known and loved Nini for a long time and EJ was a pretty bad dude. Now though he has no excuse. He’s known Gina for less than a year, they never dated and were just flirting for a few weeks before Gina had to move, he got back together with Nini, had 5 eps of negative interactions with Gina to start off S2, didn’t talk to Gina during the final 7 eps of S2, broke up with Nini and a couple months later started dating Lily, broke up with Lily in 3x01, and only started his friendship anew with Gina in 3x02 which was less than a week ago in universe, and now here we are. Real the first time as tragedy the second time as farce vibes

When laid out it this story looks like an unplanned mess because it is an unplanned mess. It’s not Tim’s fault that the original couple this show was built around is now irrevocably gone but there’s no excuse for such sloppiness. As I’ve said before if Tim wanted to explore either Rina or Portwell then he should have just picked one and not done the other. If he was so desperate for a love triangle then he could have just introduced a new character for that purpose

I guess the only thing I’m hoping to see come from this debacle is someone, anyone, confronting Ricky and telling him he needs to back off. I doubt it will happen of course since even though Ricky and EJ are both main characters some main characters are more equal than others

I was chatting with a friend about EJ’s future and how they think it’s looking likely that he’ll be written off in S4 and I agree. At best he might appear for a few eps. It’s hard to see him and Gina having scenes after they inevitably break up this season, there’s no realistic way he’d still be friends with Ricky, and they already have a built in escape hatch with his dad’s St. Louis school

It looks like we were bamboozled by the D23 website listing EJ’s name as Eric James when it is unfortunately Elton John. It’s a very lame reveal and shatters what little realism is left in this show. There’s no way a rich white dude like Cash Caswell would wake up one day in Utah in George W Bush’s first term which was so Republican that they gave Bush 71% of the vote in 2004 which was his highest percentage in any state and name his son Elton John

Also it was depressing to see Carlos not knowing Cash’s name since he was one of the few characters actually there for his presentation back in S2. Whether the writers just forgot or didn’t care is for the reader to decide 

We finally got the Jet and Maddox sibling reveal. It makes sense that Ricky is so shocked, they really look nothing alike and it’s surprising that the show decided to make them full siblings instead of step siblings. Still they’re an interesting duo and Adrian has the strongest voice of the male cast in my opinion. Very interesting that they’re hinting at homophobia with Jet having outed Maddox to their parents

Nice to see them exploring anxiety with Kourtney, it was part of EJ’s original character pitch before S1 but was dropped likely on Disney’s insistence 

The Carlos and Ricky friendship is really quite lovely to see

Ricky and Jet are also nice to see as Ricky slowly chips away at Jet’s walls

That Rina leaker had claimed that a main female character would come out as Bi this ep which obviously didn’t happen. They’re clearly setting up something with Ashlyn and even had Maddox ineptly tell Ashlyn that she has a crush on Val. I hope that Disney doesn’t censor wherever Tim wants to take this story

Ricky’s line about being ready to be hated by America was darkly funny and meta and I wonder how Joshua felt when he first read that line

Looking Ahead:

I hope EJ called Miss Jenn to try and salvage things

Jet being expelled from his school is interesting in that could be a contrived set up to get him to East High but that seems like a stretch to send a kid two states over for high school. And we know that Tim is ruthless when it comes to disposing of characters

I’m glad to see such open rep with Maddox but I can’t help but wonder if they’re only able to go so far with her story as well as introduce heavier family issues and homophobia only because there’s no intention of her being seen again after S3. Perhaps most worryingly is that Seb basically being written off seems to have been the price for the new lgbtq characters in S3. We know he’s back for S4 and it seems that Ashlyn will come out as bisexual by the end of this season so that means S4 will have three lgbtq main characters. Will Disney allow a fourth?

They’re really upping the hints that the kids will get famous as a result of this documentary which is a disastrous idea. It’s odd to know that even as I’m typing these lines here in Meta Manor that the S4 scripts which very well could destroy the series are being written

My last question of the night is what exactly is Tim planning for the rest of the series. I’m sure he has lots of ideas but does he have any good ones left?

Until next week Wildcats

[justalarryblog]

Hey beca! How are you? Do you have any recommendations fic like hl already in relationships, mpreg harry, they struggle to have a baby? Or arranged married? That have 100k words above? Thanks

Hi anon, thanks for the message! I'm doing fine, I hope you are too. :)

The only one I have mpreg!Harry that they struggle to have a baby is this one:

I Hope You Dance by @wickedarcher_08 (83k) | Explicit

Louis and Harry have been struggling with infertility for over a year. After many failed attempts, they decide to seek a specialist, but they end up with more than they ever dreamed.

For mpreg!Harry that is +100k words, I have:

Say Something by @kingsofeverything​​ (105k) | Explicit

At fifty years old and recently divorced, Omega Harry Styles isn’t interested in dating. When his doctor suggests a heat and rut matching service, he signs up out of necessity. It’s the only use he has for an Alpha in his life.

Twenty-eight-year-old Alpha Louis Tomlinson aims to change that.

I also have a tag for Mpreg fics in case you wanna check if there's any other to your liking.

For arranged married, I've read these:

Through Eerie Chaos by @mediawhorefics (102k) | General Audiences

For as long as anyone can remember, Old Hillsbridge Manor has always been believed to be haunted. Everyone in the village agrees and keeps a respectful, fearful, distance. New in town after a bad breakup and an internship that led to disappointment rather than a permanent job, Harry Styles figures taking pictures of the decrepit building could be a great new creative project. Or at least a much-needed distraction while he searches for a job and crashes at his parents’ new house. No one warned him about the apparitions though; about the music, the laughter, the people who flicker and vanish when you call after them, the echoes of a past that should be long gone… Harry has never believed in spirits but even he can admit that there’s something weird going on. What starts as mere curiosity evolves into a full-blown investigation and soon enough, Harry finds himself making friends with an aristocrat from the 1920s and struggling with finding the best way to tell him that he’s dead.

The Ghost Hunter AU where Niall lives to prove ghosts are real, Zayn is a skeptical librarian and Harry gets caught up in a century-old mystery and catches feeling in the process.

Part 1 of Through Eerie Chaos

tastes like summer, smiles like may by @outropeace (47k) | Explicit

“Is this true?” Harry grabbed the beta by the shoulders. “Bryce, where did you hear that?”

“There’s rumors going around the castle,” he smirked. “stories about his beauty and his cold attitude. They know he is an omega only because of his scent, but he has never had a heat.”

“Do you know what this means?”

Bryce smirk grew into a big smile. “He can’t give you an heir.”

A cold prince, an alpha with nothing left to lose and a kingdom with a secret.

Praise the Mutilated World by @creamcoffeelou, @delsicle (106k) | Explicit

It was August when everything changed.

By October, the leaves changed, and so did Louis’ heart.

OR: An enemies to lovers dystopian au where Harry is an elite alpha and Louis is a rebel omega with too much to fight for. Every move made is monitored, and a fertile omega’s purpose in life is one thing: to give children to their alpha.

a dream is a wish your heart makes by orphan_account (22k) |Teen And Up Audiences

Fairytale retelling of Cinderella, where Harry is a servant boy who’s too kind, Louis is a prince in an arranged marriage, Liam is Harry’s step brother, and Niall is Louis’ dutiful grand duke.

Si Pudiera Volar by @softfonds (68k) | Explicit

When Harry’s fiancé leaves him for his cousin, he looks the other way for the sake of his happiness. He’ll do anything to forget about him, including joining a monastery. It isn’t until his cousin’s former lover, a pirate, appears that he realizes everything is not as it appears, and an honest pirate might be the only person worthy of his heart.

Or, a fic loosely based on Corazon Salvaje.

The Murmur of Yearning by @mediawhorefics (93k) | Mature

Four years ago, Harry Styles was forced into a marriage of convenience to enrich and ally both his and his promised’s families. The sudden, and slightly suspicious, death of the Marquess of Haxshire, however, brings great disturbance to Crescentfield Hall and, as his late’s husband’s closest male relative, Harry unexpectedly finds himself the head of a family he never felt he belonged to. Between a meddling distant cousin hellbent on inserting himself in Harry’s life, his wicked and mistrustful mother-in-law and his late husband’s advisors refusing to help or take him seriously, Harry struggles in the fight to keep what he’s earned and make the Estate finally feel like home.

Luckily, he doesn’t stand completely alone and finds himself an unlikely ally in Mr Tomlinson, the elusive Land Stewart who has been taking care of the property in the shadows for years. Louis Tomlinson is caring, patient, and unlike everyone else, he doesn’t seem to think Harry committed a murder.

the sanctity of patience by @scrunchyharry (22k) | Teen And Up Audiences

When young Lord Harry was chosen by King Louis of Bavaria to become his husband and prince consort, Harry thought all of his dreams had come through. His illusions came crashing down when he understood it meant living in isolation in the alpine castle of Neuschwanstein with a husband who turned out to be far from what he had hoped for.

His illusions vanished, Harry will have learn to appreciate what has and even, perhaps, fall in love with his imperfect husband and his castle.

Winter Pines and Ocean Eyes by @binarysunsets (14k) | Teen And Up Audiences

Harry is awoken by the sudden weight of his dog across his chest, and he yawns and stretches his arms above his head, relishing the crack of his back the gesture produces and sending Fen tumbling down onto the bed. There’s a niggling sensation that he has something important to do that day, but in his still-sleepy state he’s struggling to recall what it is. When it hits him, he freezes mid-rub of his eyes, and his hand slowly falls to the furs strewn across the bed. His fingers tangle into the fur and he bites his lip.

Right. It’s that day.

The day he’s meant to travel south.

Or, the arranged marriage au between young viking Harry, son of his clan’s chief, and a certain caesar by the name of Louis, heir to the empire.

Liberté by @larriebane(64k) | Mature

AU. 1647. “Pretending you don’t have a heart is not the best way to not get it broken. It’s just the easiest.”

Or the pirate AU I always wanted to write

Teenage Rebellion Never Worked Out So Well by @panda_bear21 (55k) | Not Rated

“I’m an adult!” He glanced down at Harry, who seemed anything but at the moment, where he was definitely on the brink of a temper tantrum. “We’re both adults!” Jay glanced to Anne again, before breathing out a heavy sigh. “Yes, but you’re both adults that do not have jobs and who live off of our money… Which means, you have to do what we say… or you’ll have to find a new place to live.” “You wouldn’t do that.” Louis dared, hoping his glare was enough to guilt trip his mother into calling the whole thing off. Or to tell them that it had all just been a huge joke and they weren’t actually being forced into marrying a complete stranger. “Oh, but we would.”

Or the super cliché arranged marriage fic where things escalate way too quickly.

infinitely all for me by @swallowsmateforlife (10k)| Explicit

The Alpha Louis’ been betrothed to since he was 14 has finally come of age and Louis’ been delivered to his home.

or: the one where they figure it all out

keep me safe, keep me sane, keep me honest by @hilourry (8k) | Explicit

Louis is the Prince of England. All past omega princes and princesses have been married and pregnant at age 18, so his parents arrange him to be married to Harry Styles, the royal family’s PR guy.

Sail Across Me by @iwillpaintasongforlou (21k) | Explicit

Harry is a prince that is about to be forced into marriage against his will and running away to sea seems like a much better option. Louis is the captain of the infamous pirate ship The Rogue and he has a thing for helping defenseless creatures. Especially when they're as pretty as this one.

London is well worth a mass  by @dolphinaaaa (93k) | Not Rated

Louis is an Omega prince of France. When he is 13, he is betrothed to Harry of England for politics. The wedding will seal the alliance between the two coutries. This is their story.

Please feel free to check my fic tags if you want to search for other fics! Happy reading, anon!

[sunsetcurbed]

you showed me faith is not blind (miracles happen)

Pairing: Alex/Willie Words: 3,416  Rating: T  Warnings: none  Chapter: 1/11 read on AO3

Summary: “I don’t suppose you’ve heard of Frederick Alexander Louis Mercer?” his grandmother asks with a deep frown, crossing her ankle behind her other foot carefully. He frowns. Here’s that pub trivia he doesn’t know. “No, I can’t say I have.” “Frederick was Beasiga’s crown prince,” she tells him with a meaningful look, which he doesn’t understand. She leans forward. “And Frederick was your father.” Alex’s mind blanks. “That’s… okay,” he says, bobbing his head in a quick nod as he presses his lips together and bites the insides of them, trying to will some thoughts back into his mind. “I don’t think—I’m not sure you’re quite right on that. Because if you were, then—“ “Then you would be Alexander Charles Taylor Mercer, Prince of Beasiga.”

(*)

(or: the willex princess diaries au that no one asked for but I wrote anyways)

(1)

1 e and a 2 e and a—

"On the edge of great, on the edge of great, on the edge of great," Alex sings into the microphone, listening to the rest of his band around him and hearing the audience of their music class as he performs his midterm with his band. On one hand he's thankful that the four of them only have to perform once for all of their grades instead of four separate performances—less opportunities to mess up. However, on the other hand, he's bummed about it because it means they only get to play in front of their class once rather than four times. Performing music for a live audience is like nothing else—even if it's an audience as simple as a group of thirty high school students. The music their band makes is undeniable, so even while listening to performances is routine in this class, most of the students still end up getting into their music and dancing along.

Alex drums and sings along and watches Julie from behind as she belts out her high note at the beginning of the final chorus. He can't keep the grin off his face as he sees various students dancing in their seats to the song. He makes eye contact with a few and even sends one of them a wink, just as he hits his last cymbal before Julie and Luke go into their duet over the piano. He looks towards his two band mates and friends and smirks at them being just a little too close for a midterm performance, but—glancing at Mrs. Harrison—the teacher doesn't seem to mind, so. The two of them finish and all four of them stand and take a bow, and Alex lets the cheers and clapping wash over him.

"Very impressive," Mrs. Harrison compliments. "Who composed the song?"

"Julie and I wrote the lyrics, all four of us worked on the melody and harmonies, and each of us worked on our individual instrument to compose our piece," Luke answers readily.

"It was very well done," she nods at each of them in turn. "I'm sure you'll be very pleased with your grade. You all may take your seats."

Alex follows behind Reggie to their group of four seats in the back of the music class room, nodding at a few of his class mates as he goes when they offer him praise. When they get back to their seats Mrs. Harrison calls for the classes attention and then next performance goes, and then Flynn goes next, and then music is over for the day.

"We nailed that," Luke bursts as soon as the bell rings to end class.

"Luke, what was that riff at the end of the bridge?" Reggie asks with wide eyes. "It was killer."

"You think so?" Luke asks, bouncing on the balls of his toes. "I didn't mean to improv but it came to me and it sounded so good in my head so I just—"

"Luke," Julie smiles softly, placing a hand on his upper arm, "don't worry. It was incredible. You were right to add it in."

Luke looks between the other three band members and bites his lip. "Yeah?"

Alex laughs. "Yeah, buddy."

"Awesome," he grins, swinging his backpack up onto his shoulder and hopping towards the door. "And now—that's three midterms down and only two to go."

Alex groans. "I only have one left."

Reggie frowns. "Why are you more upset about that then Luke is about two?"

Alex sends a look at Reggie. "It's public speaking."

"Oh no," Julie murmurs from next to him, reaching up to rub a comforting hand on his shoulder. "You'll be okay. Just imagine you're sitting behind your drums."

"Yeah, that's never worked."

"Imagine you're on stage with us," Luke says from Julie's other side, tossing his arm around Julie's shoulder and leaning in her space so far that he's nearly in Alex's space as well.

"That's also never worked."

They reach the cafeteria then and their conversation falls away as they make their way through the lunch line. Alex grabs only an orange, because if he's going to be giving a speech in the next two hours, he doesn't want to give his stomach much ammunition.

They make their way to the back table of the cafeteria where Flynn, Willie, and two of Willie's skateboarder friends, Greg and Shawn, are waiting for them. Alex can count the amount of words he's said to Greg and Shawn over the past two years on both his hands, but they shared Willie nicely, so that was enough for him.

See, Alex had met Willie in elementary school at recess—it had to be at recess because Willie was a grade above him. Alex remembers Willie doing cool tricks on all the playground equipment—flipping off the benches, pin wheeling on the bars, jumping off the parallel bars—exciting things like that. He'd always had Alex's attention. And then in fourth grade Alex jumped off the swing really far (he'd never admit it was on accident). Obviously this started a jumping contest off the swings and the only one who bested him had been Willie, who came over and introduced himself after the recess aides stopped the competition. At the time, Alex didn't know what he was feeling when Willie smiled at him. He'd been told crushes were for girls, so he didn't realize that his crush was on a boy. Over time he'd learn though, and over time it'd develop.

It wouldn't progress much further though until Willie was in tenth grade and Alex was in ninth, both of them at high school. It was Alex's second week at high school and he lost rock, paper, scissors to Luke and had to go up to the concession stand at the beach to get everyone their hot dogs. On his way back to the group, however, Willie skated right into him. After lengthy apologies, Willie took him back to the concession stand and bought him new hot dogs in apology, plus an extra one, and joined them. That day would cement Alex's helpless crush on Willie which—

Has not gone away now that they're half way through fall term in Alex's junior year of high school.

Ask him how he's doing.

"Hey, hot dog!"

(He's doing great.)

"Hey, puka," Alex rolls his eyes back, eying the puka shell necklace around Willie's throat. Willie grins wide at him, bouncing his eyebrows up and down. Alex moves to take his seat next to Willie.

Willie takes a bite of his sandwich and looks at the group. "How'd your music midterm go?"

"So well they left me there," Flynn huffs from where she's picking her lunch out of her lunch box. "I had to put my trumpet away and by the time I was done they were gone!"

"You know what Luke is like after a performance," Julie apologizes to her friend. "I couldn't keep him still if I tried."

"It's for that reason and only that reason that you're forgiven," Flynn says.

"Our midterm was amazing though," Luke jumps in as soon as Flynn finishes speaking. He looks up to the ceiling and shakes his head. "Man, I wish you were in the music program so you could have seen it—but we'll play it for a gig soon, so I guess you didn't miss too much—"

"We did kill it though," Reggie leans forward, around Alex, to see Willie. "So you can be sad about missing that."

"Consider me sad, then," Willie says. "Flynn, how did you do?"

Flynn answers, and the rest of the table is quiet, giving Alex a moment to let his mind wander. Next period is his public speaking class, and his final midterm. His biology midterm had been yesterday, so after public speaking he's technically free to go—well…

Not actually. He's got an obligation after school today, but. He's not exactly sure how he feels about it.

He doesn't need to think about that now, though, because the rest of lunch passes with various conversations ranging from the start of new songs ("where's my notebook—write that down, write that down!"), cats versus dogs ("you can train cats too, you just don't have enough patience"), and the dance team ("there were kazoos and immediately I knew I was in the wrong"). It's a good distraction from his impending doom of public speaking, but when the bell rings to dismiss them from lunch to class, he realizes that it was just that: a distraction.

He feels his hands clam up, his breathing pick up, and his pulse skyrocket. He can't even force himself to get up from his seat.

"Hey," Julie's voice says from across the table. "We'll be here for you after your speech, yeah? I have a free period after next period since we already took our history midterm so I'll meet you here, okay?"

Willie's hand falls on his shoulder and Alex is already tense so it doesn't even matter that he gets even tenser. "Hey, man," he says "I read through your speech like, ten times. It's ace, you've got this. Don't even bother looking at the audience, just read right off the paper, okay? You don't even need public speaking skills, you're gonna be a fucking rock star."

"C'mon," Reggie says, standing behind him. "I'll walk you to class."

Alex looks at each face surrounding him, and each of them are encouraging, each of them believe in him. He closes his eyes then and swings his legs over the bench and stands up. "Yeah, let's go."

"Good luck!" he hears a group chorus behind him, but he doesn't look back to acknowledge them, doesn't think he can because if he looks back then he'll see their faces and he'll want to hold on to them and so he focuses on the feeling of Reggie's arm brushing against his and keeps walking forward. It doesn't even take them two minutes to get to class, and then Reggie is shaking Alex's shoulder and wishing him luck. Alex doesn't look at Reggie's face for the exact same reason he didn't look back at his group of friends. He doesn't think he'd actually go into class if he'd looked at Reggie.

So he doesn't look at Reggie, and instead walks into the classroom where Mr. Kullins is waiting. Alex takes his seat—second row next to the window—and waits while the rest of the class files in. He pulls his speech out of his backpack and stares at it. He mumbles to himself, reciting his speech as students fill their seats.

"You never write a theme for a movie thinking 'this will live forever.'" John Williams, famous composer, said this. He and countless other composers create the accompaniment to films we know and love. Consciously, we hardly pick up on these melodies, but subconsciously, they influence how we consume the media. A good score can cause a tear, while a great score can make you weep. A good score can make you pause while a great score can make you hold your breath. A—

The bell to start class rings and Alex clenches his fist tightly around the edge of his desk, fighting down the wave of nausea that rises up in his throat. Mr. Kullins is speaking in the background, welcoming everyone to class, explaining that they'll be finishing up the last of the midterms today. It's in alphabetical order by last name, and Alex isn't sure if he's glad to have been granted the grace of going on the last day, or if he wishes he had just gotten it over with on the first day.

McConnell, Rebecca goes first and Alex's nausea rises. Then Stenson, Ryan goes, and the nausea is in every part of Alex's body now, from his head to his toes. Then Mr. Kullins calls Taylor, Alex, and Alex really, genuinely thinks he's going to be sick.

Don't even bother looking at the audience, just read right off the paper, okay?

Right—like Willie had said, he could pretend he was just reading it to himself, right? Just read it straight off the paper. Alex stands from his desk and walks to the front of the room, going to stand behind the podium that's set up for their speeches. He sets his speech down on the stand and doesn't lift his head, not once.

"Everyone, give Mr. Taylor your full attention," Mr. Kullins says from where he sits behind his desk, and Alex wants to scream at him. No! Let them—let them go on their phones! Let them talk to each other! Don't make them pay attention to me!

He starts by taking in a deep, quivering breath. "'You never write a theme for a movie thinking 'this will live forever.''" Alex pauses here, swallowing. He can hear people in the audience shuffling. Someone shifts in their chair and he glances up to see who it was. Shit. All of their eyes are on him. Quickly, he looks back down at his paper. The words are blurrier than they were when he started, and there's a pressure in his head that wasn't there at lunch, but he presses on. "John Williams, famous composer, said this. He… and countless other composers… create the accompaniment to films we know and love… Consciously," he glances up again against his better judgment and feels his face flush hot when he connects eyes with one of the students. "Uh. Consciously, we hardly pick up on these melodies, but subconsciously—" Alex cuts off when a large black dot dances in front of the words he's reading. His throat is burning all the way down to his gut. Without thinking, he leans both his arms on to the podium and hides his face between them.

In, 2, 3, 4.

There's murmurings from around him, but he can't lift his head.

Hold, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.

There's a louder murmuring from closer to him this time, but he can't, he can't.

Out, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.

There's a hand on his back.

His head shoots up, and the room spins.

"Mr. Taylor?" Mr. Kullins asks with a cautious voice, and oh, does he have a lot to be cautious about right now.

"Gotta sit," Alex says quickly, moving to the back wall as quickly as he could to slide down it and put his head between his knees to continue his breathing exercise. He might have felt embarrassed, but the alternatives were passing out or throwing up—he'd know, it's happened multiple times before.

He hears footsteps all around him and the shuffling of desks as he assumes students are trying to move to get a better look at him, but he keeps focused on his counts, and lets Mr. Kullins tell them that the next student is going to go. Someone gets up from their desk and shuffles their papers around before settling it on the podium. Alex briefly wonders what happens to his paper.

The rest of class passes with Alex curled up in the back of the class room, listening to his final three class mates give their speeches, and then they're done. There's extra time left before the bell rings, so that means extra time for everyone to stare at him, so he picks his head up, confident that he's not going to pass out or throw up anymore, and looks at Mr. Kullins. His teacher looks back at him and wheels over in his chair to Alex and frowns at him.

"Are you okay?"

"Now I am. I was about to pass out," Alex explains, far beyond feeling embarrassed about it.

"Does… that happen often?"

"With public speaking?" Alex asks. "Yes."

Mr. Kullins frowns. "We'll speak with Principal Lessa, see if we can't get something figured out. You're not the first one. Do you think you'd be able to do your speech for just me?"

"No, yeah, that would be fine, I just… not… crowds."

"Aren't you in a band?"

Alex nods, just as the bell rings. He carries on, anyways. "Yeah. But that's—different. First, I'm not alone when I'm with my band. Second, I'm good at drums. I'm not good at speeches."

His teacher sighs. "Alright. Your midterm grade will be delayed but we'll speak with Principal Lessa next week."

"Thank you, really."

He nods. "Your speech is on the edge of my desk. Don't forget it when you leave. Are you okay to leave?"

"Yeah," Alex nods, pushing himself to his feet. He's a little unsteady at first, but his balance comes back quickly and he's able to make his way to Mr. Kullins desk and grab his speech. He goes to gather his backpack then, stuffing his speech inside of it, and waves goodbye to his teacher, who waves back.

When he leaves the classroom, he makes his way to the cafeteria like he promised Julie he would. She's waiting for him at their usual table, waving and beaming. He offers a small smile back as he sets his bag down.

"You got through it!" she yells. "It's over!"

Alex laughs humorlessly and slips on to the bench. "No, it's not."

The smile drops off of Julie's face. "What?"

"I nearly passed out, so we're talking to Lessa and I'll be giving my speech to just Kullins. Which, is better, I guess, but now I still have to worry about it until next week."

"Oh, Alex," Julie sighs. "I'm sorry. I wish the band could just… be there with you."

"That'd be nice," he says, putting his elbows on the table. "But I still suck at speaking anyways, so I'm not sure how much that would help."

"Alex, that speech you wrote is amazing," Julie says. "You're good at words, which is what speaking is. What you're concerned about is how people perceive you. When you have us with you, you think that people are looking at you similar to how they look at us just by association and you're okay with that because you love us. But when you're alone you think that people are looking at you similar to how you look at you, at that's nitpicking every little thing and criticizing every fault."

Alex blinks, stares at her. He feels his mouth open, ready to defend himself, but he's not sure what he'd actually say, so he forces it shut again. Julie sits, staring at him, unwavering. He leans forward on his elbows and brings his hands together, twining his fingers. "I… okay."

Julie rolls her eyes and huffs a small laugh. "Come on, Alex, you know I'm right."

"Do I?" Alex asks, voice pitching up an octave. Because, really. Does he? He's pretty sure it's more due to what he told Mr. Kullins—he's good at drums, he sucks at speeches. Even if he is good at words like Julie said, speeches are an entirely different brand of words. They're spoken word. And that… that is the kind of word that Alex does not do. See, if his assignment were an informative written paper on the impact of film and television scores, yeah, Alex would ace that. But it's not. And not because he thinks his class is looking at him the same way he looks at himself, Julie, but because he sucks at speeches. He says 'uh' too much, he pauses in weird places, his flow is weird, his thoughts wander, and he could go on. There's no room for any of that in papers—well, yes there is, but they can be edited out, is the point.

Julie reaches a hand across the table and covers Alex's fingers with it. She shakes it and offers a soft smile. "You should. You would kill speech class, Alex. You just have to get out of your head."

"Yeah, the person with anxiety has to get out of their head," Alex says, flipping his hand over so he can grab hold of hers. He shakes her hand so her arm wiggles. "Never heard of that quick fix before."

"Hey, I never called it a quick fix! Just said it needed to happen."

Alex smiles at her and pulls his hands back. "I'll keep that in mind." Julie lets him drop the subject after that and they turn their attention to their home work, settling into silence. 

[statusquoergo]

Harvey gets arrested! And might lose his license! And Samantha is working on something special! And Katrina wants in! And everyone’s up against Andrew Malik! Boy, that’s a lot of stuff, this is going to be one jam-packed episode!

I mean, yeah, it is, but we’ll get to that later.

Continuing our merry cavalcade of returning guest stars, Harvey arrives at his condo, bottle of wine in hand, to find Sean Cahill loitering out front, having been arrested by Andrew Malik for “[conspiring with Harvey] to swap Mike Ross for William Sutter.” He’s shown up now to “get their stories straight.” Harvey responds by…demanding that he’s now Sean’s attorney of record so that they “can talk about anything and it’s not admissible,” and Sean agrees despite the fact that the optics will be downright awful. And very suspicious. These guys are idiots.

Looks like this week’s spin of the Wheel of Exploitable Social Justice Issues landed on the #MeToo movement; Esther Litt, appearing for the first time since Season 5 (“Hitting Home” [s05e07]), with zero lead-in, interrupts Louis’s dictaphone rant about his and Sheila’s attempts to choose a baby name to ask Louis to help her tank a merger which is apparently “solid as a rock,” on account of the fact that the company her company is planning to merge with employs her former mentor, Paul Richmond, who sexually assaulted her fifteen years ago. She doesn’t want to go public with the accusation because “women who come forward get put through a meat grinder,” but she does want Louis to “make this deal go away.” Anyone want to put a bet down on Louis being able to keep his head and not out his sister to this piece of shit? I believe the odds in Vegas are sixty-five to one against.

Based on the fact that Harvey “[doesn’t] give a shit about wine,” Donna quickly deduces that something serious must have happened to hold him up; Harvey confesses that Malik is after Cahill for conspiring with Harvey, which Donna and Harvey both know perfectly well is bullshit because Malik doesn’t care about Cahill (and how dare anyone other than Harvey be the target of some pointless personal vendetta). Long story short, they’re both worried, but they don’t have any other choice than to trust Cahill, so that’s what they’re gonna do.

I’m starting to think Suits is pulling out its courtroom set at every possible opportunity in an effort to maintain its credibility as a legal drama, since ninety percent of the buffoonery that goes on at the firm itself is just everybody’s torrid social affairs occasionally gilded with the odd misuse of legal terminology. So here we are again in court for some distinctly not-a-trial activity as Malik argues that Harvey should be removed as Cahill’s attorney based on the fact that he’s the one Cahill allegedly conspired with, and they’re trying to use attorney-client privilege to get away with the crime.

Couple things; Malik’s case might’ve been strengthened by bringing up Aranson v. Schroeder, 671 A.2d 1023 (N.H. 1995), wherein a “malicious defense” liability was created for “counsel who engages in the fostering of an unfounded defense or pursues a defense for an improper purpose”; also I hate to break it to…all of them, but Harvey’s only been Cahill’s attorney for about a day, and the subject of their alleged conspiracy wasn’t regarding legal advice or representation, so it’s not covered by privilege.

Harvey asks how this is any different from a joint defense agreement, the answer being that a JDA refers to communications between a client and attorney being conveyed to another of that attorney’s clients, not communication between an attorney and one of his clients (even if the attorney is also his own client), but Malik instead accuses Harvey of setting the case up for a mistrial (how) so Harvey offers to resign if Malik wants to hand it over to someone else. Malik refuses to “[walk] away from a case [he’s] been building for eight months,” Harvey claims that Malik isn’t charging Harvey directly because it’ll look like a vendetta, and the judge interrupts their little cat fight to decide that Cahill’s willingness to waive his right to a mistrial grants him the “right to his counsel of choice,” because those things are related, and “[he wants] discovery documents in [Harvey’s] office in an hour,” so I guess one hour of Suits time equals six months in the real world, if any mathematicians in the audience want to do the calculations.

Louis shows up in Katrina’s office to make a delightful hypocrite of himself in light of this episode’s “women’s rights of autonomy” theme to declare that whatever she’s doing isn’t as important as what he needs her to do, although I guess it’s fine since she caves immediately? Anyway he shows her the terms of the merger and she reasons that the thirty percent premium (the what now?) means that the company must be covering for something, so all Louis needs to do to tank the deal is figure out what that is.

Surprise! Malik called Faye to get Harvey kicked off Cahill’s case. Harvey continues Louis’s beautifully unaware misogyny theme by telling Faye that she’s “not a real attorney” (uh, yeah, she absolutely is) and refusing to drop Cahill, which Faye counters by informing Harvey that she’ll represent Cahill instead (I told you she’s a real attorney) because Harvey’s involvement is a conflict of interest, which she knows for a fact because—wait for it—she read Malik’s affidavit from Kevin Miller “swearing that [Harvey] conspired with Sean Cahill to get Mike Ross out of prison.” Harvey blows her off by claiming that he has “actual work to do,” as though the affidavit doesn’t implicate Cahill exactly as much as it implicates Harvey, and at this point it’s really inarguable that Harvey deserves to be arrested for something, I don’t even particularly care what it is anymore. Maybe someone’ll frame him for murder, that’d be a fun change of pace.

So I hope no one took that bet that Louis would hold his tongue during his meeting with Richmond, because after a brief back-and-forth that ends with Richmond declaring that Esther’s company is his now, Louis absolutely loses it, yelling that Richmond is a “piece of shit” and that he knows what he did, threatening to “come right after [him]” if he doesn’t give up on the merger deal. Richmond basically admits to having assaulted Esther but says he’ll charge her with slander if Louis doesn’t drop the issue, and I know this isn’t Law & Order: SVU or anything, but seriously, this plotline is being handled with all the tact and deftness of a baked potato.

Reviewing the massive trove of documents they received during that magical one-hour discovery, Cahill makes what in hindsight is an excellent point when he asks if “Mike Ross [was] really dumb enough to straight up tell his cellmate what he did.” Harvey defends Mike by saying that they needed Kevin to trust them, and Cahill complains that if Kevin doesn’t recant, he’s going to “slap him with a parole violation and he’s going back to prison” (what?), although Harvey points out that would make Cahill guilty of witness tampering, so maybe let’s not. Alex, who’s helping them out because how’s he supposed to earn his pay this week if he’s not on camera, suggests using the power of the SEC to put pressure on Malik, because “this is a vendetta, and when it goes south, it’s gonna look as bad for Malik’s superiors as it does for him.” Assuming it does go south, of course, but I’ve certainly never accused any of these guys of any sort of modesty before and now seems a terrible time to start. Meanwhile Alex will keep investigating why Malik is doing all this now, being that “the Sutter case was in the public record and so was Mike’s release,” and that was like…three years ago. I think. Point is, it’s been awhile.

To answer Alex’s totally legitimate question about the suspicious timing of all this, Harvey arranges a meeting with Kevin Miller, who explains that he was given immunity (I guess for his nonexistent role in the conspiracy), contingent upon his not warning Harvey what Malik was up to, in exchange for his testimony, because “if [Malik] convicted Cahill and [Kevin and his wife Jill] didn’t cooperate, he’d void the deal [they] made, Jill would go to prison, and [Kevin would] go with her.”

Okay so first of all, this threat relies on Malik convicting Cahill, but without Kevin’s testimony, he basically has no case, so that means nothing. Second, if he’s talking about the immunity deal he offered at the start of that conversation, what the hell does he have to offer Kevin immunity for, and if he’s talking about the deal Harvey made with Cahill acting on behalf of the SEC, the SEC is definitely not under the purview of the judiciary of New York, so Malik really doesn’t have the authority to go around overturning it in the first place. And I mean I get Kevin not knowing that before he gave his testimony, but why wouldn’t Harvey mention it? Like, right now?

Then Kevin smugly confides that “[Malik has his] affidavit, but he doesn’t have proof,” referring to Harvey’s recording of Sutter, but, dude, an affidavit is proof. Either that, or Kevin committed perjury, in which case he’s probably going back to prison no matter what deal Malik does or doesn’t have the authority to overturn. The one useful hint Kevin has to offer is that whoever set Malik off on the warpath after all this time, it wasn’t Sutter, because Sutter died eight months ago, so I guess this wasn’t a total waste of time after all. The big problem now is that Malik couldn’t have gotten this information from anyone but Sutter, but there’s no record of them ever having spoken; never fear, though, because Donna’s on the case! Turns out the information was a deathbed confession to another inmate. But who?

Pause on that one while Esther rips into Louis for breaking his promise not to tell anyone about the assault. Louis wants her to go public, she doesn’t want to do that to her kids, there’s a lot of yelling, and she tells him to leave both her and the issue alone.

So who heard the deathbed confession? Returning guest star and resident creeper Charles Forstman! Forstman admits that he arranged all of this specifically to spite Harvey, of course, and refuses Harvey’s offer to maybe get Cahill to possibly cut his remaining sentence in half in exchange for giving up the goods because “the side [he’s] on is always gonna be the side that’s against [Harvey].” Side note, he is easily my favorite character in this episode, and this is very much my favorite scene.

Part II

[ourheroictommo]

(1)" - Was it that Eleanor wasn’t there when he got off stage? Because I was also wondering where she was at tbh- Imagine dating Louis Tomlinson and showing him zero affection. She has no excuse to be a as cold as she is. Unless she seeks out hate about herself she’d see none of it. She has no excuse to hide in these backstage videos. Jordan clearly follows them around all the time and she goes out of her way to look miserable and distant. The only +

Anonymous said: (2) + stopping her from showing affection in public is her pride and I can’t stand that. She doesn’t love him enough to overcome her own pride. Her instinct isn’t to wait for him and hug him after the performance but her instinct is to hide from the cameras. I have no respect for that" “ - You snapped. That’s exactly what I’m feeling. Louis deserves better partner. Everyone around him (Helene, his band mates, etc) showing more affection towards him then his own girlfriend. (3)+ This is bullshit. Even Niall was there after Louis’ performance.- Yep. Deserves better and I wish he knew that”“ - Her fans say it’s because she hates the camera, yet she ran a blog where her job was to pose for the camera and magazines call her a model although I’ve never seen her do any real modeling. They just can’t admit she’s not a good supporter to Louis. - She absolutely does NOT hate the camera. Look at all the pics she posts of herself when he’s gone. + (4) + For the year she ran the blog she enjoyed posting herself very much.” + (5) “ - I’m so glad he got that hug from Helene. He does deserve a partner to support him. Eleanor couldn’t be bothered to be there before the performance, even though he was just hanging out with Niall someone she has known for years. He admitted how nervous he was before the performance. She wasn’t there with him backstage either. She just walked in front of him or behind him when he was leaving the hotel. She wasn’t even paying attention to his performance in Madrid, she was just hanging + (6) + out with friends. He deserves so much better.- Walking in front of him or behind him looking miserable, drink in her hand and cigarette in her hand. Physically traveling next to him and enjoying his money isn’t what “support” is. Even Danielle waited for Louis to get off the Pride of Britain red carpet and she grabbed his hand to show affection” + (7) + “ - She’s a witch. Solo Louies would literally adore her if she gave us something ANYTHING that says “I love Louis Tomlinson” any fucking gesture ffs- Right? Like imagine if she hyped him up and showed him love. Showed us what boyfriend Louis like. We are so starved that we hyped Rebecca Ferguson up for 5 seconds of thirsty looks. Imagine cute boyfriend Louis content, she could get us on her side if she wanted but she continues to act like she’s above his fans and hates them. But Louis + (8) + loves his fans. How does that work?”“ - As much as I dislike Harry these last few years, I still think of that commercial director’s comment about how Harry and Louis stayed as the other was being filmed to make sure they didn’t need something when they were filming the commercial during 1d. Selfish Harry could be there to support Louis, but Eleanor couldn’t be there for Louis. I hope she enjoyed her free Mexican vacation. - I remember that comment and I always wonder if it was fake. But + (9) + I do remember actual proof that Louis did stay behind watching Harry multiple times. But you know, I think Louis deserves better than Harry as well.”“ - That’s why this relationship just can’t last. She hates his fans but he’ll be touring for months around his fans. She won’t go near Freddie. This is not something that can last. The end will come at some point.- I agree. Their thing isn’t goals in any way shape or form” + (10 finally) Someone quoted those on my TL, maybe from Tumblr. I don’t know what to say, this poor girl will never win with some of ugly people who apparently need help for hating a complete stranger who has done nothing to them. Louis deserves better fans and I hope one day he will have. Plus, why Tumblt is like that? Took me forever to send you the quotes!

What the fuck is even this shit?????

“ - Was it that Eleanor wasn’t there when he got off stage? Because I was also wondering where she was at tbh-

Even Niall was there after Louis’ performance.

She wasn’t there with him backstage either. She just walked in front of him or behind him when he was leaving the hotel. She wasn’t even paying attention to his performance in Madrid, she was just hanging + (6) + out with friends.”

What a huge pile of horseshit. She wasn’t with him backstage because she went to watch the show! To see him perform from the audience! Niall was backstage because he hasn’t performed yet. Helene was backstage probably to give Louis the final instructions or whatever - she’s a part of Louis’ team. Eleanor wasn’t backstage because she was watching Louis’ performance from the audience. Why do they blame her for that? There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that! She surely congratulated him afterwards anyway. 

“Solo Louies would literally adore her if she gave us something ANYTHING that says “I love Louis Tomlinson” any fucking gesture ffs- Right? Like imagine if she hyped him up and showed him love. Showed us what boyfriend Louis like. We are so starved that we hyped Rebecca Ferguson up for 5 seconds of thirsty looks. Imagine cute boyfriend Louis content, she could get us on her side if she wanted but she continues to act like she’s above his fans and hates them.”

Have these idiots forgotten her v-day posts? Or how she hyped him and looked at him like he hung the moon at the twins’ birthday party? Or how much she cheered for him at the xfactor in 2017? Not to mention all her tweets and insta posts from when they were dating the first time around. What more do they want from her???

“Imagine dating Louis Tomlinson and showing him zero affection. She has no excuse to be a as cold as she is. Unless she seeks out hate about herself she’d see none of it. She has no excuse to hide in these backstage videos. Jordan clearly follows them around all the time and she goes out of her way to look miserable and distant. The only ++ stopping her from showing affection in public is her pride and I can’t stand that. She doesn’t love him enough to overcome her own pride. Her instinct isn’t to wait for him and hug him after the performance but her instinct is to hide from the cameras. I have no respect for that"

Have these dumbarses forgotten how since Louis went solo they’ve been commenting on his twitter, his instagram and all his interviews that ‘WE DON’T CARE ABOUT HIS PRIVATE LIFE!!! WE DON’T CARE ABOUT WHO HE’S DATING!!! WE’RE HERE FOR HIS MUSIC!!! FOR HIS MUSIC ONLY!!! NOT FOR HIS PRIVATE LIFE!!!’

And Louis gave them what they asked - all his social media, which used to be a healthy mixture of music/promo and personal stuff, are now strictly music/promo related. He stopped posting about Eleanor, Freddie, his friends, his siblings, his dogs, he stopped posting random pics of his shoes - the only non-music related stuff he still posts are the occasional selfies on his insta stories.

And now they are suddenly begging for ‘cute boyfriend Louis content’???? Really? Really???????

You fucking begged Louis to post only about his music. And you got what you wanted - his mexico igtv is about his music. And also about Niall. Why? Because no one throws a tantrum when Louis and Niall hang out together. Louis’ fans love Niall. Niall’s fans love Louis. In fact they are begging both of them for more content of them together. So of course Louis delivered. 

Whereas imagine all the outrage if instead of footage of Louis and Niall chatting in private, there was a footage of Louis and Eleanor chatting in private in his igtv. Or instead of Louis and Helene hugging, it was Louis and Eleanor. I guarantee you, these weirdos would be the first ones to harass Louis team because of that - ‘how dare they include her in his promo stuff!!! how dare they divert attention from Louis as an artist and show him like nothing more than just a boyfriend!!!’ Like if they do this every time he mentions her in his interviews, they would totally do that in that case too - come on!!!

You want ‘cute boyfriend Louis content’??? Go try the same thing you did back in 2017. Go to his twitter, his instagram, his interview comments but this time write about how much do you in fact care about his private life, how much do you in fact care who he’s dating, how much would you in fact enjoy boyfriend Louis, how much would you in fact appreciate (and not hate or harass like you did in the past) Eleanor publically supporting and showing her love to Louis - do all of that and who knows - maybe he’ll listen to you once again!