#babygate was the beginning of the end

[twopoppies]

I think what a lot of people, especially those who question themselves, need to realize is babygate was a very desperate effort to divide and conquer the fandom. PR comes with a lot of strategy and imo two objectives: red pill the general public and blue pill the fans. The general public easily buys into whatever is being sold to them so it doesn’t take much effort and same goes for a casual fan like a solo. A dedicated fan like a Larrie is usually what PR targets because those fans will question every little thing and provide receipts. People call Larries cockroaches as a derogatory term but it’s also true. I think the Larry fandom is probably the strongest fandom there is in regards to longevity and organization (the fact new fans can discover most of our history very accessibly proves that) and the Larry fandom is probably the only “rpf” that has never truly been able to be dispelled or really discredited if you pay attention (which most people don’t.) Every attempt by Syco post X Factor up until 2014 was to get us to stop shipping it and take our pills, but we wouldn’t comply and in fact got stronger. So what does Syco have left to do when a fandom exposes your failure at every turn and continues to grow? Up the scale to a mind boggling degree. And what’s the best way to do that? A baby. People have a rightful discomfort when it comes to discussing children and babygate was the 1 thing that really weakened the Larry fandom and strengthened the antis. It was an embarrassing tatic but for the purpose of dividing and conquering the Larries and tarnishing our image for all time- it worked.

[radioconstructed]

// Slow burn radioapple where Al keeps being a menace because that's the best way she knows how to cope with being in crisis, her local Lucifer pushes back bc he shouldn't have to deal with this shit, they keep getting into beef,,, if he's not aware already, he becomes aware that she doesn't get this triggered by anyone else and wonders what the fuck her problem is with him,,

maybe he'll ask her. maybe she'll tell him half. she won't tell him the other half.

maybe he'll figure it out.

[skepticalarrie]

Okay but why are people mad at the twins for using Freddie as engagement (if that’s what they’re doing) but not using the same energy towards Louis for allowing it for so long? And then when he puts a stop to it, it’s not good enough because it’s “too late” this whole thing is just full of contradictions. If you’re mad at all his sisters then everyone needs to be mad at Louis too and I never really see anyone say that they are. It’s only directed towards them like he’s helpless.

I agree with you, anon. Personally, I find it pretty miserable that Louis’ sisters use Freddie as part of their influencer income. But honestly, Louis himself has done far worse by exposing him in front of a live audience and putting him in his documentary 🥴 But I did see many people leaving the fandom because of that. For a lot of people that was the last straw, and I can’t blame them at all.

I think it’s easier for people to “blame” someone else because so much about Babygate remains very unclear for us. A lot of us still don’t fully understand why Louis stayed tied to this situation for so long, why it resurfaced after such a long time, and why it came back with even a bigger exposure for Freddie. I fully believe Louis didn’t agree with this whole situation voluntarily from the beginning, but after all this time… it’s hard to justify or make sense of it. We’re so in the dark. It’s the same like people blaming their managements or labels for other stunts. It’s hard to understand or admit to what extent is actually their choice.

But with Louis’ sisters, it’s very black and white: they post Freddie to gain social media attention, plain and simple. That’s their motive, and it’s not hard to see. At the end of the day, I think it’s important to acknowledge that Louis hasn’t made the best choices when it comes to this situation… whether he was in full control of those decisions or not. And it’s also time to stop giving his sisters attention. The real contradiction is exactly that, tbh. People can’t stop complaining about their actions, but they also can’t stop giving them views and engagement. That’s the cycle we need to break.

[louisisalarrie]

Has babygate helped or hurt L’s career over time?

heyaaaaa anon. welcome to the show x

ultimately hurt it in the long run. it helped, and continues to help, his closeting, but overall he lost a hell of a lot of OG fans through bbg. but he was set up to fail with it anyway, as they were gonna put him through hell for harry to come out and then they’d end bbg and yeah. anyway.

there’s some serious factions to Louis’ career particularly, I would argue more so than Harry’s, because of bbg. It’s honestly a very interesting thing to observe, the way people either hold their idol accountable, or romanticise everything they do, create a whole diff version in their head etc., but I find it incredibly intriguing that in the same breath people can say “I believe Louis is a dad” and “louis is a good dad” because if you look at it, for what it is and run straight off the public image of he has a child, well it would appear he’s been using that kid for publicity from day one from a one night stand with some chick in LA and he never sees the kid, but when he does we know about it, and he lets his sisters plaster that kid’s face on their socials, and he’s aware of the Larry rumours and continued to put a child through all of that for… clout? Being a proud dad? Wanting to show off his son? Like… sorry, what?

The dude wasn’t fresh into fame at that point, Larry had been around for like 5 years, he was well aware of how the fandom would react. And you know who else was? SC. the big dog himself. He, and his team, created these images for the boys. If these solos wanna criticise literally ANY marketing plot or any single thing about Louis’ image or 1d’s image, they’d need to untie their entire world of thinking because SC wouldn’t just fucking allow this to happen if it was real. It’s just sooooooooo contradictory for years of work he put in to creating the One Direction™️ brand. It simply doesn’t make sense.

So I don’t really know how they make that jump in their brains, but I will say, a lot of folks who believe he has a kid, are new fans. They didn’t experience 1d in real time, and saw what went on. They also don’t bother to do their research (which im sure many of you lovely larries who are newer have), so they’re just running off his current image of straight laddy daddy andddd ultimately, that has been good for his career.

It’s a classic push of “authenticity”. Artists with parasocial relationships, unique relationships, artist to fan camaraderie, a “we’ll do this together”, and him sharing parts of his life like a kid or whatever, works really well. He’s showing us a part of his life that he thinks we deserve because we’re special to him. And bbg is a convenient way of doing so (im not saying he is encouraging or happy for this to happen at all, this is on the marketing side: its a convenient stunt).

BBG is really easy. Pull out the kid every once in a while to show off that authenticity because it works. The sisters do the work for him. They get more engagement on their socials, he doesn’t have to gf stunt, so all in all you can see how a PR rep would be able to spin this positively and try to show the “upsides” to exploiting a child. It was messily done at the beginning, but it’s established now and has had years to fester and perfect, so it’s lazier which also makes it seem more real.

Look, I’ve had a long day and all in all this is a sticky topic because I could write for 10 days on this, but ultimately bbg has worked for his current image and headlines and new fans. It’s worked pretty well. It didn’t work well for the Larrie following he had. He lost a lot of fans throughout the years. Some who ended up giving up and saying “I can’t be a fan of louis anymore because he’s exploiting this kid whether it’s fake or not” etc., so.

But I mean it’s always like that. No matter what image you go for, you’re gonna lose and gain fans. Sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. I just think it wasn’t necessary to continue on the stunt. But he owed SC, and so it stuck way longer than it should’ve. And now, no PR folks wanna touch or even start to unravel it because of the headache it’ll cause. But the lawyers will have a field day. I can’t wait for these cunts to be held accountable.

[takechonceonme]

Hello, veteran Larrie here making my reappearance on tumblr to voice some of my thoughts on babygate (the antis on twitter have been wishing death on larries so I figured here would be a safer-ish? place to post).

For context, I’ve been in the fandom since end of 2012 beginning of 2013 and so I witnessed babygate happening in real time. I remember how genuinely upset H was the day Louis told the interviewer he was “buzzing” and how pictures of B and her bump were all over the internet.

I always thought the timing of babygate was weird— especially considering L never officially got a paternity test (which don’t even get me started on that)— but what was really odd to me was after F was born and L was always out and about during holidays when F was meant to be with him, which to me was the antithesis of who L would be as a father. There is nothing anyone could say to convince me that both he and Jay would’ve fought to make sure that child spent more time with them, especially after Jay got sick.

Now, perhaps this would have made more sense if the child wasn’t posted all over social media whenever he was with the Tomlinson family, but to me it seemed that every time F was there a social media post was made. Not to mention that B’s mom would regularly post F on social media.

Anyway, flash forward to 2024 where I swear my ptsd from 2015-16 is flaring up because somehow the larries are to blame for the new statement that they’re no longer going to show F’s face. First, his face has been shown for 8 years and it’s not like people haven’t been commenting on it (e.g., he’s L’s twin) so that leads to the question of why now?

Second, most of the larries I’ve interacted with and seen online try to never interact with any social media posts made on F because many of us don’t believe that he’s L’s son not to mention that fact that that’s a child and it’s none of our business to be interacting with those posts. In fact, the people I’ve seen obsessing over it by commenting on pictures posted, etc. are antis obsessed with F (which could be a whole other discussion post because that is just crazy to me as well).

Third, it’s mind boggling that antis are so pressed about a child’s face being hidden. Shouldn’t they be happy that F is being protected given the fact that posting minors on the internet can lead to negative consequences for the child?

So, in summary, someone please explain to me how in the world you could blame this new babygate development on larries when many of us try to stay as far away from interacting with those posts as possible.

And why are people wishing death on me for retweeting gifs from the early days of larry when I try very hard to stay in my lane and not interact with antis. I promise you H and L are not seeing my account with less than 500 followers (rip because I can’t get back into my old twitter account). It’s really taking me back to 2015-16 where people were seeking others out to send that kind of hate.

[alarrytale]

hello, when the babygate ends, will we know that Louis' fatherhood was completely false, that is, Briana was never pregnant or will they simply say that Louis is not the father and hes devasted?

Hi, anon!

If they all want to save face, and get out of this mess with their reputation intact (which i assume is the deal), then we won't know. We'll just know that L is not the father of F. They set this all up from the beginning, leaking that B se* tape, showing she was having multiple partners at the time. So they've already set all of it up for how this will end in my opinion.

After L is free of that family, no one will care about the Cla*ks or who the real father is. They could just say that B doesn’t know who the father is and that would be the end of that.

[straightguysdont2]

More on Niall pls, I have always felt something shady with him considering how he still has business relations with Modest! and is managed by them. Super shady given how all of his bandmates were mistreated by them. More shade on what happened, or if the truth will ever get out pls!

👀

⬇️

**cracks knuckles, stretches fingers** yall are gonna get my blog deleted but it won’t be the first time so here goes: 🤣🤷🏼‍♀️

Things were okay (as much as they could be w that disastrous management team & S👁️m🔛 🐄🛎️ at the helm) within the band until mid-2014. However as you can imagine, Louis and Harry wanted something to change bc their lives were very much NOT okay. Louis brought in the Azoffs to rattle Modest’s cage and begin the process of changing things & hopefully ending 1D so L/H could move on w their lives. Enter “no chill Novemeber 2014” where Harry was out there wilding talking about how being female “isn’t that important” when looking for a partner. And Louis talking about having a girlfriend just for the winter. “First day of spring, see you later.” We assumed at the time that they were also in contract talks to extend the end of what was a 5-year contract (2010-2015) Everyone save N wanted the 5 years to be the end, but he loves money more than anything so he pulled a proper strop over the Azoffs being involved. Remember the disastrous Ben Winston interview in mid-Nov 2014 where he pushed for Louis to deny Larry but he refused? They all looked so sad that day bc they were ready for it to end but N said “No” so they had to toe the line yet again. All of this is also leading to Zayn’s departure. He left, in part, bc of Niall but that’s another story for another time.

In early 2015 the Azoffs finally helped Louis and Harry negotiate the end of 1D in a year (Feb 2016), with no guarantees they would ever get back together. Louis and Harry were DONE, as was Zayn (Liam was a bit like Switzerland in that he wanted to keep the peace). The Azoffs also played a role in allowing Lairport to happen but that’s another story for another day. And then something really, really, REALLY bad happened. Like idek how they made it through the OTRA tour with their sanity intact (no wonder they called it “Only The Real Alcohol” tour 😆). There was no coming back from that & it almost destroyed L&H as people (their relationship proved strong).

I’m not even going to get into how party-boy Louis and babygate and the beards and all the other shit that happened to Louis from late 2014 to when the band ended was 100% to protect Harry (might make another post ab that). Louis did what he could to make sure Harry was the breakout star under Azoff management (& N didn’t like that ONE BIT). So N agreed to stay w Modest & began working on his solo album to be released the same time as Harry’s. This is also why Louis didn’t drop his first album for about 2 years-it wasn’t by choice. Contractually, Harry/N went first so Louis had to wait (but imho Louis wanted Harry to go first which is another reason why he brought in the Azoffs)

There’s some kind of contract in place and/or lawyers involved regarding interactions between N & L/H. When H went to N’s concert recently? He was MADE to go (notice how he was just seen there and never interacted w N? That was purposeful). Do not think that ANY of these post-1D public interactions are NORMAL or unscripted bc they’re not.

N insists on the interactions but the rest can’t be arsed and they’ve moved on from him and 1D. There’s also some kind of blackmail going on that’s keeping H/L in the closet (& babygate continuing indefinitely). I have my guesses as to what that involves but I absolutely will not discuss it publicly.

And bc of the assholes who watch my blog I’m gonna say this: ALLEGEDLY

Do with that what you will.

[caralara]

With how poorly bbg has been handled from the beginning I just know the end is going to be a fucking mess as well 😭 like it was always going to be messy especially considering how long it has been dragged out but the team is terrible and I just know it’s going to be a shit show 🫠

I mean last time l looked only two people worked full time at 7 management (including Matt) so it’s no surprise they’re in over their heads…

And that PR agency has been nothing but shit, and babygate is the thing why I believe louis stuck with Simon Jones PR

[tophatsquid]

i've seen a few authors implement this idea in a non-annoying way by adding a section to the beginning author's note explaining that the sex scene starts with x line and ends with x line. if you're absolutely determined to sequester your sex scenes, this would probably be the least intrusive way to do it.

i do question how many readers in fandom are actually sensitive enough to benefit from this kind of explicit babygating. like, past a certain point, it seems more condescending than helpful. many people might skim or skip sex scenes out of disinterest, but if you hate sexual content to the point that you need it outlined with neon warning signs to help you avoid it, but you are - for some reason - still clicking on fics marked explicit, then, uhh. that, as far as I'm concerned, is a "you" problem.

[daisiesonafield-blog]

does this need seeding though? casual fans or gp won't see the arcade videos it was circulated within the fandom no update accounts posted it. as they've proven before they change narratives within mere hours. like eleanor was still hanging out at the stunt house when they were supposedly broken up but it wasn't announced yet (2015 one i mean)

Hi dear,

In my opinion it does need it. The way to approach this is as any other PR campaign. And as such, they are/would use marketing strategies for it. In this case, the smartest way to go about it is employing a marketing campaign targeting the different fanbase groups. Essentially you use strategies for super fans, casual fans and gp, etc. And they're all slightly different. It's a fact that spreading pics and videos through fandom is a way of marketing. We know this from countless 1D and solo marketing campaigns. So yeah, while this particular video isn't in the press, it has reached super fans - and that's the point.

It is my opinion that babygate will be used as PR, so it makes sense to employ these strategies.

Eleanor isn't that famous so the news of them splitting could be dropped out of nowhere. But even that was preceded by fandom rumors in 2015, or in other words, 'super fan' marketing and seeding if you will. And the news dropped as tabloid articles with pictures of Louis kissing some other girl in a pool were circulating, and in the middle of the chaos that Zayn leaving the band caused. I mean, the breakup announcement came 2 days after Zayn left. 2 days. It's a classic PR strategy to divert attention from bad press. And having a band member, who up until then was the one with the "childhood sweetheart girlfriend" back home, have a scandalous breakup announced as pictures of him kissing a different girl spread in the press - that is as much diversion as one gets.

"March 15, 2015 - Eleanor geotags herself at Louis public home.

March 18, 2015 - Zayn’s last concert with One Direction.  Zayn tweets his 22 year old tweet. Hadine breakup.

March 19, 2015 - Zayn leaves the tour

March 21, 2015 - Louis and Eleanor breakup announced, pool girl pictures in The Sun.

March 25, 2015 - Zayn leaves One Direction."

Timeline excerpt from this post

Handling the press narrative regarding "finding out" your kid isn't yours is entirely different and way more impactful and delicate than a breakup announcement from an unknown girlfriend. So the way they use PR for it will reflect that.

Note: in relation to this post

[twopoppies]

"And yeah, it'll end eventually. But I don't see it happening any time soon."

Hi Gina, I hope you are well. Have you ever considered the possibility of bbg never ending? Because after all of Louis' actions in the last 3 years, I have no hope anymore. And even if bbg ends, F will never leave his life, since Louis did it in a way that there is no way he doesn't care about the kid anymore because he is not his biological father. Anyway, I believe we have reached the point where bbg will always be in Louis' life.

I don't know, darling. I don't think Louis cares about Freddie any more than he would care about any child who's innocently part of something a bunch of corrupt adults created. I don't think he'd stay in his life and keep pretending he's his father because of some sentimental connection. That just seems nuts to me. I also really don't think they've told Freddie that Louis is his dad. That would be so fucking horrible I can't imagine the damage it would do.

For me, babygate ending is tangled up in legalities. And I can't begin to untangle any of that. I do think it will eventually end. But I see it ending with a whimper instead of a big bang. Like, a small statement and then never brought up again. But JFC, please let it end sooner rather than later. It's awful for everyone involved.

[yaz-the-spaz]

Louis isn't with Syco anymore! I’m really happy for him. But in the back of my mind I have Zayn and Liam and I'm so worried about them. When will they be free? 🥺 I hope the end is near for all of them.

Anon 2: God, what's wrong with me? As soon as I read that Louis had parted ways with Syco, I was like “He and Harry will probably come out this year” and immediately I began to have doubts about Ziam, idk why, I believe in them since 2014. And these doubts have left a trace of anxiety and I feel really weird now. I think I'm losing my mind slowly...

calmate guys, cause according to dates/timelines they should both technically be free too! from what i’ve seen circulating (and given that the announcement of louis’ official split from syco came on the 10th anniversary of his original TXF individual competitor contract being signed and that the same is very possibly true for the other boys), harry and zayn’s contracts would’ve likely been signed the same day as louis’ so theirs should’ve both ended that day too, and liam’s was originally signed either earlier in the month of july or possibly in late june, but either way his is supposedly already up too...not too sure about niall unfortunately but my guess is if his date hasn’t already passed it’s probably coming soon too!

and if you’re still feeling down just look at all this (sorry for the hard to read bit at the top, this was sent to me by a friend so i couldn’t edit it), but it seems to me like things might actually be looking up and while i’m always trying my best to remain only cautiously optimistic and not get my hopes up too much, i can’t help but feel like things might actually be turning around for them...remains to be seen as to how these next few months develop obviously but imho the signs are looking kinda good rn:

so you don’t have to squint or strain your eyes lol the part at the top says:

“Louis’ contract with Syco ended yesterday, exactly ten years after his audition...”

[skepticalarrie]

I follow a couple of Larry accounts on twitter and they're all going crazy about what's going on (AFHF, FEQW, Harry's bua, Liam potentially being with Louis for "support" in the babygate narrative,...) I don't see anyone talking about all this on tumblr so I fear I might be delusional thinking something big is coming but these Larris bring solid arguments (imo) so it's hard not to get hopeful and excited, what do you think ? xx

I think you're new, and that's usually how new people feel in the fandom. Twitter and tumblr are basically completely different fandoms and worlds apart. I’ve noticed that people who are new to this usually are concentrated on twitter, while most people on tumblr have been here for a long time— some of us since the very beginning of 1D. So yeah, to me, it sounds absolutely delusional hahaha. I don't even see the connection between any of these things. Nothing big is coming, stunts aren’t going to end, and they’re not going to come out. I’m sorry if this sounds harsh, but I watch this happen over and over every six months on twitter. And honestly, it's quite sad to see people getting all worked up and excited, only to be extremely disappointed a few weeks later...

It’s good to have fun, try to connect things, and create theories, enjoy the experience. There's nothing wrong with that! But just make sure it’s not causing you actual anxiety or unrealistic expectations, you know? This is a big concern because I’ve seen way too many people get really messed up for creating scenarios that never happened and developing severe anxiety over it. So just take care :)

[louisisalarrie]

Hi! I am bbg anon from yesterday (the fairly new one). I had read on one of the other blogs that ppl in the fandom are assuming that harry's next stunt might be with a man. It may be possible because he had been through a lot of queerbaiting allegations and HS4's response (any more might dampen his reputation) might have to do with how they want to navigate it further. I never thought that H and L would come out separately. But I had read that a lot of veteran larries thought they were seedings of a CO of H in 2015. Ending bbg is an indication of Louis being gay and Larry being real (indirectly within the fandom and outside as well if anyone has their suspicion). I think what they can do when bbg ends is to show that Harry and Louis aren't together anymore (that's the least they can do) because there's no way in hell bbg ending won't create a Larry buzz. And Harry has already been accused of queerbaiting. I think if Harry is to stunt with a man, it's a good time to end babygate. Because Harry is dating someone else now. In the present moment. And Louis had a kid for almost nine years. He must be het. And then Louis must dip for another year and come back with LT3. Maybe stunt with another woman while Harry is out with a man? I think showcasing that they have broken up is a good barter for ending babygate. It will also help Harry in his queerbaiting allegations? What do you think?Harries might be supportive if it's not Louis he's in a relationship with. Solo louies will also be sympathetic towards Louis and accept the fact that he had been cheated on with the fact that he's a father and that Louis isn't with Harry at least. Us, Larries, on the other hand will know as we always do 🤪

Hey anon! Lovely to hear from you.

Yep, I think you’re on the right track here. And again, I can’t shut my damn mouth/stop my damn brain ever so this is now an official welcome to the show!

In short, bbg was the perfect stunt so Harry could come out and Louis 100% couldn’t be tied to him, because he was a dad. It separated their relationship from the public and when you think about the time this was all happening and their team, this was the best way to solidify the end of larry, while allowing Harry to be free. How could Louis be gay if he has a kid and is fucking every little blonde thing at a club? He can’t possibly be gay, and could never possibly be with Harry, so that was the plan. It was pretty foolproof, to the public and antis at least, until it all fell apart.

Now, we’re looking at a switch in stunts. Harry comes out, and yes, if he has to stunt with a man, so be it. It’s no different than stunting with a woman, but it is an acknowledgment of his sexuality and that’s an important step forward. As I’ve said before, this is a shitty long process and it’s not gonna be easy, but if we survived bbg, we can survive anything.

So, Harry comes out with a boyfriend in the ramp up of HS4. Explains some of the love songs, right? Removes queerbaiting allegations, which you’re right, is now tarnishing his brand, and solidifies an undisclosed sexuality that’s certainly not straight. If he is seen as bisexual/not straight but still likes the gals, he still has huge market appeal and it’s not gonna lose the amount of followers he’d lose if he came out as gay. What is his sexuality? I couldn’t tell ya. But he’s not straight, that’s for sure.

Anyway, maybe this will be the best way to visualise it and theorise:

1. Louis finishes tour, has a couple of festivals, and stays far away from Harry before taking a break/writing. Opposite sides of the world.

2. Harry comes out with a boyfriend in some pap pics in the lead up to HS4, just holding hands or something. No snogging or anything, just small caresses that pick up the public’s interest. It can be a very lowkey coming out to begin with, and still while he’s flapping about kinda quietly like right now and not 100% in the public eye yet. Think of it as… a soft launch to test it with the fans.

3. After some more little soft launches of his new relationship (Insta story perhaps), Harry and boy start ramping up the PR by making more appearances and hanging out with some other super high profile celebs (this boy will not be high profile, and perhaps an influencer or something instead. They won’t be getting another proper fandom involved. That would be bad news bears).

4. Harry makes some “thank you for accepting me” style tweet, and posts an image that’s just plain colour or something, that will allude to HS4.

5. Harry drops HS4, and is active on social media more so than usual. Connecting with fans, listening parties, etc.

6. After the initial HS4 hype drops a bit, seeding starts that Louis and baby mama are having fights over F, and the timing is VERY important here between larry btw. But a possible good reason would be that now louis is done with tour, he wants to spend more time with F, B is like “nooooo u left him for so long you can’t have more custody than what you have rn” and then that ends up in court and paternity test etc. bc she’s being super shady. Also keeps his name relevant while being off tour.

7. Harry carries on with fan interaction and projects, some more pap walks with boy and perhaps something more intimate.

8. It’s further seeded by “insiders” and then confirmed by Louis’ team that he’s not the dad/he’s having personal issues right now/pls respect his privacy bc he going through some SHIT

9. H and boy are going well, he’s booked in a tour, and Louis disappears completely from public eye/social media.

10. Louis reappears months later, on the other side of the world to Harry bc he’s on tour, and says that he’s not the dad, he’s gonna still love F like he’s his own kid, and that he’s gonna just focus on writing and spend some time with his family.

Boom. 10 steps to happiness. Now, granted that the above all goes well, it seems like the perfect plan. It ends bbg, allows Harry to come out, makes the public sympathise with Louis and gives him the “good guy” award while also upholding his hettiness, and keeps larry rumours super far away.

After that happens (which could probaaaaaably take about… 6 months? If it’s done correctly? Lol) the next step is larry reconciliation, which would probably take another 4-6 months to get them fully comfy, and then it’s a decision on whether they get to come out before, during, or after a 1d reunion. Which is a whole other bucket of fish.

Alas, 10 steps, which if done right, minimise harm to both Harry and Louis immensely. This is a foolproof plan that yes, willl lose them some followers, but can be handled correctly by the right team.

So, fingers crossed that the game will begin soon!

[mercurie-and-me]

looking through my old tumblr archive rn for shits and giggles and damnnn the drama i used to get into

[thedevilinmybrain]

my babygate thoughts after watching AOTV

I want to start off by saying that these are just my opinions and I am in no way, shape, or form indicating that I am apologizing or justifying my believed closeting of a queer individual. Nor am I making apologies for someone that I do not know nor will ever know. That being said, I do feel that I am allowed to draw my own personal conclusions given the evidence presented before us and make my own critical decision based on the content.

I do not believe Freddie is Louis' son. I honestly will never believe that he is biologically Louis' son.

That being said, I do think that AOTV did an interesting job of framing the Louis/Freddie relationship in the  midst of talking about his family and the role he is so often put in. For instance, I believe that AOTV is more of a film of self discovery and reconciliation of the self than anything else. It's framed about one man's struggle to find where he belongs and if he even deserves it. So in some ways, it's an introspective film about Louis' outlook on himself as an artist, as a brother, as a friend, and as an individual.

Given the way that Louis and his sisters talk about him, Louis has always been in the role of 'protector' and 'big brother'. Even in the band, there was a sense that Louis was the oldest and that he was 'the boss' because of his skill in voicing and sticking up for the rest of the boys. We have seen it time and time again from the way he's protective of his siblings to the way he was always so involved in the `1D days. This is a man who prides himself on taking care of others and making the best of situations - a fact that I will bring up later.

When it comes to babygate and the deals and trauma that surround that, I do believe that Louis had limited say in the matter. Much like the example in the film of the producer that gave Louis hope but ultimately did his own decision on the song, Louis' life in One Direction didn't come without a slew of managers and music company people who had a say in it and made decisions. I do not think at the beginning that Louis was allowed to give much imput or control over the happenings behind the scene. As 1D went on break and Louis was able to navigate his own career with a little more freedom, I do think that input changed but considering how much of his life is hidden behind contracts and NDAs, I don't think the truth will ever be told in its entirety. And honestly, I am okay with that because at the end of the day, it's Louis' life and I am just an observer.

So, when it comes to Freddie now, I am of the opinion that Louis is more of an 'uncle' or 'family friend' to him. Given the limited amount of time we actually know they spend together, probably equal to how much Louis has seen Doris and Ernie, one can speculate that Louis isn't a constant in Freddie's life. More of a randomly visiting family memmber than a core fixture. We never hear Freddie call him Dad. We see Freddie multiple times look at the camera during the film and on other occasions such as the holidays where it feels like he's being prompted to interact with the family. It's the same feeling of seeing an uncle at Christmas that you haven't seen in ages. You know them but you're not 100% comfortable.

So, why even bother? Why does Louis make any effort at all?

I think it comes down to him being in the role of protective older brother. If there is nothing he can do about babygate, if there is nothing he can change about the narrative now, the very least he can do is make positive memories with an innocent child. I mean, what would fandom prefer? Every time they're stunted together that Louis just ignores Freddie like he's Eleanor? Found somewhere in the background looking miserable?

It's making the best out of the worst situation. Because one day, someone is going to explain all of this to Freddie. And yes, I do believe it's unfair and it's cruel to the child, but we also don't know what he's being told as his own narrative. Maybe he knows Louis as his 'Uncle Lou' or 'The UK family'. We just don't know. But what we do know is that when Louis is with him, he takes on the role of big brother. He plays with him, he gives him good memories, he provides experiences just like he did/does for his younger siblings. It's shown in the film with the way he kisses the baby twins. It's Louis being a stand in 'father figure' or 'big brother'.

I'm not saying it's right or that it's the way it should be. Honestly, I don't think closeting should be a thing at all. It's grossly unfair to everyone involved. But the Louis I know, the man we've all loved from the very beginning, would never allow himself to be cruel or cold to someone innocent. And I think he's doing the best that he can given the circumstances.

And I hope one day when Freddie finds out the truth, at the very least he can look back and be like 'Yes, this was unfair and unjust and completely inappropriate. But all I know of this man is the kindness and the fun and the good times. He didn't cause me more pain.'