#secondary audit
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mariocki · 2 months ago
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An early role for Don Henderson, skulking around as criminal fixer Harry Watson and generally being a menace, in New Scotland Yard: My Boy Robby? (2.13, LWT, 1973)
#fave spotting#don henderson#george bulman#new scotland yard#my boy robby?#the xyy man#strangers#bulman#classic tv#character actors#lwt#1973#don was already in his 40s at this point but this is still one of his earliest tv roles#he'd come to acting relatively late in life‚ having already had a career in the police (reaching the rank of detective sergeant in CID no#less‚ the equal of this show's Alan Ward (John Carlisle's asshat assistant to Woodvine)). he apparently auditioned for the RSC as a dare#but was accepted and spent several years learning his trade on the boards before he started taking small tv roles in the early 70s. in a#few years he'd be cast as the secondary antagonist in The XYY Man‚ another DS‚ George Kitchener Bulman; this would be the making of him and#the beginnings of genre immortality. Bulman would get his own spin off‚ Strangers‚ and then a further show (simply titled Bulman) and with#it came a certain amount of celebrity‚ as well as household recognition and a plethora of better roles than the kind he'd begun with#here he's a vague fixer type working for a local mob boss‚ whose job is to intimidate the sole witness in a nasty rape and murder case#he takes the job with aplomb (TW for any unlikely follower who might seek this ep out: things don't go well for that doggy)#he has very little screen time really‚ but his character is quite a scene stealer; what with his rather loud outfit and questionable wig#and his little helper friend (Derek Deadman) who I'm pretty sure is drinking Tizer in that pic above... there's an odd frisson of camp to#his role and these scenes. not that he isn't very much a nasty type (before Bulman‚ Don was very much at risk of being typecast as playing#men on the other side of the law to the one he'd worked on; his craggy face and gravel voice lent themselves to criminal types it seems)#apologies for not great pics but the youtube uploads of these eps aren't the clearest things in the world#still im very grateful just to be able to see them (and him!)
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Just realised that there's people who i've known for years that still have absolutely no clue about my obsession with musicals
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devoqdesign · 1 year ago
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Welcome to a world where user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) secrets are unveiled, paving the way to irresistible web design. In this article, we delve into the intricate details and hidden keys that will help you outrank other websites and dominate the digital landscape.
For more information visit our website https://www.slideshare.net/DevoqDesign/uxui-secrets-unveiled-discover-the-hidden-keys-to-irresistible-web-design
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fridayyy-13th · 4 months ago
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dropped the class B)
took the Spanish placement exam. i've never been more happy to fail a test in my LIFE
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toomanystoriessolittletime · 8 months ago
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into you
Summary: After almost giving up the hope to become a big actor you get offered the leading role in a period drama, leaving you to spend three months in Scotland with your male co star Dieter Bravo and maybe falling in love with him.
Pairing: Dieter Bravo x fem. reader
Wordcount: 2.247
Rating: T
Warnings: fluff, falling in love, implied smut, kissing, really cheesy movie lines I made up, confessions of feelings, reader is in her late thirties, Dieter playing the piano
A/N: Another one for  @undercoverpena April showers challenge! What's better than a Pedro character in period clothing in the rain? Making out with him hehe
follow @toomanystoriessolittletime-fics and turn on notifications to get notified when I post new fics
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You couldn’t sleep. 
The moon was shining hrough the window of your hotel room, an old castle in the middle of nowhere somewhere in Scotland. 
You had come here almost three months ago, having gotten the first big job of your career, the lead role in a period drama. The first lead role you ever got. The first big job you ever got. 
For years you dreamed of being a big movie star. 
Much like every young person who came to LA. 
Which had been almost twenty years ago. You had been about to quit trying for that one big role that would finally grant your your big success last year. 
By now well in your thirties (the forties getting closer and closer), not having any major success apart from some multi episode secondary character on some netflix shows in the latest years, you gave up hope that you would make it. 
Sometimes the residuals you got from playing Chandler Bing’s awkward girlfriend for two episodes almost twenty years ago on friends had been the only way to pay your rent.
You were looking into going back to school when your agent called you, talking you into going to this last audition. It had been as a favour to them that you agreed, the contracts between you and the agency already canceled towards the end of the month. 
They had always believed in you and you hated saying no to them because of that reason. 
Maybe it was you having nothing to lose that left you going into the audition and blowing them all away. Not that you thought you did until your agent called you not even twenty minutes after you went out of the audition, asking you to come back to read opposite the male lead. 
Still you didn’t let yourself getting your hopes up, walking back into the office building, back into the room you had been in before, now with an additional face smiling warmly at you. 
You didn’t know that in the next two hours your whole life would change. 
Not just because they offered you the job. 
No, It was the day you met Dieter Bravo.
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Of course you knew who Dieter Bravo was. 
You had admired him since he starred in the high school drama series you definitely did not tape every episode from when you were in your teens. 
And there had been no posters of him in your room growing up, nope. 
But like almost every teen crush, it faded over the years. 
You grew up, and he did too. You knew he had won an Oscar some years back, you saw the movie in the cinema back then. 
He had made headlines after that, naming him the next big thing. 
But lately the only headlines you remembered of him had been of his drug escapades and dating life. 
So you had been a little reserved when you first met, hoping he would be professional enough throughout the audition. 
Hope you shouldn’t have had, because Dieter had turned out to be professional in every single way.
Now, after spending almost two months with him, playing opposite of him, acting that you were in love with him, you found yourself wishing he would be a little less professional. 
Groaning you sat yourself up in your bed, clicking the lamp on the bedside table on, reaching for your phone. 
2:43 am. 
Taking a deep breath and releasing a long sigh as you exhaled you let your head fall back. 
In twenty four hours you would be on a plane back to the states, already on your way to shoot your next movie, your career seemingly finally starting off now that you were starring in a movie with Dieter Bravo. 
You should be beyond happy. 
Everything you dreamed off finally seemed to come true. You had three jobs lined up that would pay more than you had made in the last ten years combined. 
Yet the thought of waking up every morning and not getting to spend the day with Dieter made it all bittersweet. 
You had spent a lot of time together since getting to Scotland to shoot this movie. Not only on set, but apart from it too. He had been here before, shooting another movie and invited you out some times, showing you around. You had dinner together almost every night be it in an restaurant he wanted to show you or in the hotel. You got to know the man behind the persona you learned he put on for the public for and over the last weeks you had found yourself falling for him. 
Your fingers cam up to brush over your lips, the lips he had kissed. 
More than once. 
In front of the camera. 
But before you went to bed tonight, he walked you to your room and he had kissed you good night. Without cameras rolling. Without people around. Just you and him. His warm hand on your cheek, your back pushed against your hotel room door as he towered over you, his other hand resting on the door behind you. 
You were out of breath when he parted from your lips, wishing you a good night, leaving you watching after him with your lips parted, your brain still trying to process that he had just kissed you, as he went down the hallway until he disappeared into his room. 
You were too giddy to sleep, getting an old sweatshirt on before you grabbed your hotel key and walked out of your room, hoping he was as sleepless as you were and downstairs where you had found him often during your stay. 
You could hear the faint sound of a piano as you entered the lobby, the night manager giving you a small smile as you walked past, following the sound. 
In the far back corner of the lobby was a piano where you found Dieter playing a melody you did not recognise. 
You had found him here before, in the beginning when you could not sleep because you were too nervous to fuck this big chance you got up. 
He told you that his art supplies hadn’t been shipped yet, and that he usually painted when he couldn’t sleep.
And so instead he played. 
And you listened, sitting next to him until you both almost fell asleep, before he walked you to your room, only to be up some hours later to shoot a movie where his character denied to be in love with your character, pushing your character away until a big dramatic scene where you would finally admit your feelings to each other. 
Sitting down on the seat next to him as he played now, you let your head fall against his shoulder, hearing him inhale as he continued to play. 
His lips brushed against your temple and you closed your eyes, just listening to his song. 
When he finished you looked up at him, his eyes were already on you, an unreadable expression on his face. 
„Couldn’t sleep?“ he asked. 
You hummed in agreement. 
„Too many thoughts in my head,“ you whispered and he nodded. One of his arms came to wrap around your back, pulling you closer against his side. 
„You wanna talk about those thoughts?“ he asked and you chuckled. 
„Don’t wanna fuck the big scene up tomorrow, well today,“ you said and he gave you a small smile. 
„If someone is gonna fuck up it’s me. You make me keep forgetting my lines,“ he winked and you felt your cheeks growing warm, remembering the many occasions Dieter had seemingly spaced out during some scenes, looking at you with an expression you couldn’t place. 
„What do you mean?“ You asked, and he sucked his bottom lip in, before he shrugged and there it was again, that expression in his face, his eyes big as he looked at you. 
„I can’t stop looking at you. You’re so talented and beautiful and kind and so damn intelligent. Sexy….,“ he winked „You just blow me away and it’s like my brain stops working when I look at you sometimes. I never really felt like this before…“ he whispered and you blinked at him. 
„What I am trying to say is, I like spending time with you. I like talking to you. I like kissing you, touching you,“ he grinned and you huffed. 
„Especially when it’s just the two of us. Last week when the director called cut when we were in bed….“ He closed his eyes, shaking his head. 
You had rushed off after finishing the scene with him, having to take care of the ache between your legs in the bathroom after spending almost six hours in bed with him, shooting numerous sex scenes.
„I wish we had been alone,“ he whispered his face getting closer to yours, his lips brushing over yours. 
„Dieter,“ you whispered, his hand coming up to cup your cheek, his lips pressing against yours and you shivered. 
„Yeah?“ He asked. 
„We are alone now,“ you whispered and he nodded, before he kissed you again, deeply. 
„Would you like to have sex with me?“ He whispered and your lips twitched into a grin which he mirrored before he kissed you again. 
„Take me to your room, Dieter,“ you said, giggling when you found yourself pulled in the direction of the elevators in the next moment. 
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„This is madness,“ you shook your head, the rain coming down on you without mercy, drenching your many layers of clothes. 
„Why? Why is it madness that I have fallen for you?“ Dieter asked, in character, his white shirt clinging to his chest. 
You huffed a laugh, your character in denial about the feelings not only she had, but he had too. 
„Because we are both engaged. And not to each other. We have to end this. I have to….“ You shook your head, closing your eyes, before you looked up at him. Dieter having closed the distance between the two of you, but not close enough to touch. The raindrops where running down his nose, his hair clinging to his face. 
He looked like a wet dream straight out of a Jane Austen novel.
„All these times we spend in each others arms, they don’t mean anything to you?“ He asked. 
„It was a mistake. It shouldn’t have happened,“ you said, Dieter’s character seeing right through your lie. 
„Do you love me?“ He asked and you did not have to play the small smile that sneaked to your lips for only a moment before you fought it down. 
„It doesn’t matter,“ you said, turning away from him, but his hand wrapped around your wrist, stopping you before you could go. 
„It matters to me. ,“ he whispered, broken, and the tone of his voice made you want to cry. 
The rain continued to fall as you gave the camera time to capture both of your faces. 
„Of course I love you,“ you finally said, looking at him over your shoulder. 
„Then stay,“ he pleaded. You began to shake your head, when he pulled you against his chest, one of his hands on your cheek, brushing your hair that stuck to your face to the side, his eyes gazing deeply into yours. 
„Stay and allow yourself to be happy,“ he said, almost begging. 
„Stay here and let me love you,“ he let his forehead fall against yours and your eyes dropped close, pictures of the night he had spend with you filling your mind, the way his forehead had rested against yours as he filled you over and over and…
You opened your eyes and Dieter’s lip twitched for a second, having caught your unintended pause.
„What about our families?“ you asked, „What about my sister? She’s in your house getting ready to marry you today,“ you asked. 
„They will understand. They have to. And if they don’t, I’ll take you away where we can live our life without the judgement of others. You’ll never have to worry for money.I love you, please be with me,“ his nose brushed against yours. 
You felt his other hand on your lower back and you gasped. 
„Then take me away,“ you whispered, feeling his smile against your lips as he finally kissed you, your arms wrapping around his broad back, fingertips brushing over his drenched clothes as he deepened the kiss. 
The first thing you realised when Dieter parted from your lips was that the rain had stopped and that it was quiet around you. Too quiet. 
Looking at Dieter he gave you a sheepish smile before you looked around, finding the crew around you looking at the both of you, Dieter’s PA holding two robes in his arms, giving you a wide smile. 
„You gonna listen when I call cut now?“ The director teased with a wide grin and you let your head fall against Dieter’s chest, mortified, but he just chuckled, before he helped you get into the robe his PA had brought over. 
„We’ll meet in an hour for the wedding scene, do not be late,“ the director reminded everyone, giving you and Dieter a longer look, and you nodded. Dieter grabbed your hand, and you looked at him. 
„Can’t wait to marry you,“ he winked and kissed you again, before you both were rushed off from the set to get ready. 
And you did actually get married. 
Seven months later.
On a beach. 
In the rain. 
Without any interruptions. 
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musicforastylesrestaurant · 2 years ago
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It would be so cute if you could write about harry and yn being together since highschool and they were each others first everything and they got married very early and just their live together now yk
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From Here To Eternity.
a/n: thank you to the very kind anon that requested this blurb, it was definitely a fun one to write and i’m sorry it took so long to post! fyi i’m absolutely terrible at writing smut so please don’t come at me🫶
masterlist || ask me anything <3
likes and re-blogs are very much appreciated!!
word count - 9.8k
in which, harry and you first met on your first day of secondary school, and since then your lives have always revolved around each other. she’s been there through everything, his x-factor audition, when the band first rose to fame, when they went on a hiatus and when he made it big as a solo star. they were each others first everything’s, and that made the whole ordeal just that more special.
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September 4th, 2009 — the first meeting.
On the first day of secondary school, your nerves were through the roof. The fact that your hands were shaking was not helping the factor that you knew absolutely no one in this school.
You were absolutely terrified of being late to your classes and having to do the walk of shame towards your desk as everyone stared at you.
Walking down the hallway, you happened to spot a boy with brown curly hair, he was putting something away in his locker and a focused look on his face.
“Excuse me,” You gained his attention as you walked over to him, his snapping over to me. “I was wondering if you happened to know where room 102 was?”
He closed his locker behind him and stood up straighter. “— yeah I do, I’m heading there myself in a minute, what’s your name? M’Harry?”
Relief showered your body knowing that you had found someone to talk to and someone you could walk into class with. “My names (Y/N)”
“So are you new here?”he asked, gripping a hold of his backpack that was over his shoulder, it blended in with your school uniform.
You nodded your head. “—yeah we moved from Liverpool, today's my first day.”
“So what classes do you have today?” Harry asked as you tried not to bump into students in your way.
You glanced down at the timetable that was in your hands and let out a small groan. “I’ve got Math, English, Religious Studies and then Science”
Harry let out a small laugh. “— I’ve got the same, looks like we’re going to be in the same classes”
Thank god.
At least you would know someone in your classes through the day and wouldn’t have to feel like a loner.
“Maths is definitely my favourite subject,”Harry continued on smiling at the thought of his favourite subject. “What’s yours?”
“Oh I’m absolutely terrible at maths,”You shook your head before pondering an answer to his previous question. “— I think my favourite subject may be pe.”
As the two of you walked towards the class (more like you following behind him like a little bit of a lost puppy) you continued to chet about your favourite hobbies.
You found out that he was part of a music group named ‘White Eskimo’ and he had even invited you to rage along to one of their practices when you had time.
You found yourself laughing at the little jokes that he seemed to slip into the conversation and you felt a lot more at ease about the school day ahead.
By the time you both arrived at the door of the classroom, you felt your throat go dry upon seeing your Maths teacher Mr.Jones already reaching the class.
Not only had you made yourself late, you had now dragged your new friend down to your depths.
Great.
Harry tried to quietly open the door, hoping not to disturb the class but the teacher had already snapped their head over to see the two of you entering the room.
Mr.Jones raised an eyebrow at Harry. “Late on the first day back?”
Your new friend looked down at the ground slightly. “—M’sorry,Sir.”
The teacher let out a sigh before turning their attention over to you and eyeing you up carefully. “Who's your friend?”
“My names (Y/N), I’m new here and Harry helped me get here, it’s my fault we’re late.”I tried to explain to the teacher who just pushed there glasses further up the bridge of there nose.
“Well (Y/N) and Harry, go ahead and take the seats at the back of the class for me.”Mr.Jones nodded there head over to the two empty seats you were expected to occupy.
As the two of you sat down in the seats, you pushed a strand of hair behind your ear and felt your face flush a soft shade of pink.
Being late on your first day wasn’t so teething you expected to do. But they couldn’t really blame you.
You just didn’t want to make a bad first impression.
“I’m sorry about making you late.”You apologised to Harry, as you grabbed a pencil from your pencil case.
Harry waved you off with a reassuring smile. “— it’s all good.”
As the lesson progressed on you and Harry shared notes about the syllabus you were learning, helping each other with the work as much as you could without the teacher calling you out for speaking.
“Thanks for letting me sit next to you, you didn’t have to.” you muttered to Harry who was flicking through the textbook.
He smiled at you. “— honestly, it’s been my pleasure, and can’t wait to see where this friendship goes.”
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April 2nd, 2010 — Prom.
When Harry had invited you round his house on Saturday, you thought absolutely nothing of it.
Since you first started year eleven, you and Harry were quick to become best friends and would often go round each other's houses on the weekend and have a sleepover until Sunday.
When he opened the door after hearing you knock on it, you could instantly pick up on how nervous he was due to the fact his fingers were curled up into a fist.
“Hi, H!”you greeted him, leaning forward to press a kiss to his cheek.
There was no doubt that over the course of your friendship that you hadn’t thought about him in another way.
You spent every school day together since you started and most weekends together as well unless you were doing something with your families.
Harry opened the door a bit more. “— hey, come on in.”
Once inside, Harry led you out to the back garden seeing as it was a warm summer's day, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
Until your eyes landed on the set up.
A picnic had been set up and a red and white chequered blanket was laid out on the greenery. A bowl of fruit in the middle with some sandwiches laid out as well.
“Wow..Harry,”you breathed out. “— what’s all this for?”
“I was thinking about Prom and how we weren’t too sure about if we should go,”he explained, sitting down on the blanket with you and wrapping an arm around your shoulders. “— I wanted to ask if you would be my Prom date? I wanted it to be special.”
Did you hear him right?
He wants you to be his prom date?
“Really?”was all I managed to speak, still trying to wrap my head around his question.
He nodded his head. “I’ve been thinking about it for a while, and I can’t deny that I like you, we’re friends and going to prom together would be the first step into getting something more.”
Was this way of him saying he liked you?
Holy fucking moly.
“You like me?”
He smirked at you. “— isn’t that obvious?”
He took a sip of strawberry water from his cup. “So what do you say? Will you be my prom date?”
You flushed a shade of red making him let out a small laugh. “I would love to be your prom date!”
When Prom night finally came around, your nerves were skyrocketing.
You stood at the top of the stairs after hearing from your mum who was peering out the windows that your prom date had arrived and was eagerly awaiting for your prom dress to get revealed, so that he could like you even more.
You took in a small inhale of air before your heel clad feet started making their way down the stairs, hand holding onto the railing so that you didn’t fall and trip, and that was when you saw him.
Harry.
He was wearing a grey suit, with a white crisp shirt underneath as well as a matching grey suit vest and a black bow tie to compliment the outfit even more, his hair was styled the exact same with his unruly curls framing his face and had some black shoes on his feet.
“Wow,”Harry’s mouth gaped as he stared at you, “— you look beautiful!”
You had no idea that you would be matching colours seeing as you hadn’t even known what each other was going to wear.
This was complete coincidence.
Your dress was a light grey strapless dress with a long skirt that was layered. There was a sprinkling of light pink flowers embroidered onto the torso of the dress to add the slightest pop of colour.
Your cheeks flushed. “Thank you, you don’t look too bad yourself.”
Your mother was standing next to your father at the bottom of the stairs as well, a camera was in her hands as Harry came and stood next to you, placing a hand on your hip and bringing you in closer to him.
“The two of you look lovely.”Your mother complimented as she continued to take photos.
“Thanks mom.”You let out a small groan of embarrassment as Harry let out a small laugh.
Your father clapped Harry on the back as the two of you made your way towards the front door, he was grinning at him. “— take care of my daughter tonight, Harry.”
“I will Mr. (Y/L/N)”Harry let out a nervous chuckle.
After the two of you had said your goodbyes to your parents, Harry who had just passed his drivers test grabbed his keys out of his pocket and opened your car door for you like a true gentleman.
Once the both of you were in the seats, Harry turned to look at you with a look of fondness. “You really do look beautiful by the way.”
“And you really do look handsome.”You told him in truth, tucking a curl out of his eyes.
The drive to the venue was one filled with laughter and comfortableness when the two of you arrived at the venue, strobe lights were lining up the exterior as a red carpet was rolled out.
Throughout the entire night, you and Harry continued to dance, moving your bodies and that was when you realised just how charming and considerate Harry really was.
All in all you had a great time together.
As the night drew to a close and prom king and queen was announced, Harry placed a hand on the small of your back as the final slow dance of the evening took place.
“How would you feel if I took you on a real date sometime?”
Your heart skipped a beat and your stomach felt as if butterflies had taken home there. “— I would feel privileged.”
What a great way to end the night.
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June 17th, 2010 — the first time.
“If you're not ready to do this…''Harry panted out as you wrapped your arms around his neck from where you were laying underneath him, both of you in nothing but your knickers. “…then we don’t have to, I’m not pressuring you into doing anything.”
“I really want to do this,”you whispered, pressing a kiss to his nose. “— there’s no one else I would rather be doing this with, I trust you Harry, baby.”
After your first date, you and Harry had been on five more before he asked you to be his girlfriend and after dating for two months you finally figured out that you were both ready to take the next big step in your relationship.
Harry nodded his head and started leaving kisses down her jaw, and lower down her neck, making you squirm slightly in his grip.
He slowly pulled the waistband of your knickers down from your hips and gradually down your leg making you wish he would simply hurry up.
“God, you're making me melt over here, babe.” Harry complimented as he took sight of your bare core, glistening and all for him.
He was a virgin also, so that factor made this even more special.
“Please..please har..Harry.”you whined, head thrown back as his hand teased at your bud of nerves, he tried not to whine as well at seeing you like this.
Your first time was together.
He was getting you ready for him and that made you even more nervous.
The condom was on his length before you even got a chance to blink.
His length was bulky and there was a large vein leading up to the top of his penis, where a drop of pre cum was starting to form.
Harry laced your fingers together as he slowly entered your soaking core.
It wasn’t as painful as you had imagined but it was definitely uncomfortable.
It would take a lot of getting used to.
His eyes rolled to the back of his head at the feeling and knowing that the moisture was all because of him and no one else.
“You feel so good (Y/N).”Harry groaned as he thrusted in and out of you at a gentle pace.
You reached your hand up and pulled at his curls as moans and groans fell from both of your lips and filled his bedroom.
He kissed you with everything he had, and that was what solidified the deal for you.
You loved him.
Your legs tightened and your stomach copied.
“Let go, sweet girl,”Harry spoke softly, making a tear fall down your cheek at the pleasure you were currently facing. “— come for me, babe.”
“Let go, let go for me, sweet girl.” A wave of ecstasy rolled over your body as you came undone and felt his lips against your feverish skin.
Harry pressed a kiss to your lips. “— I love you (Y/N) I love you so much.”
Your pants made it hard to figure things out around you but you had definitely heard what he had said.
He loves you?
Harry Edward Styles really said he loved you.
You let out a small breath. “I love you Harry, I really do.”
There’s definitely a right place to say things like this and this was definitely the place.
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August 6th, 2010 — the news.
“I’ve got some news.”
You tilted your head to the side as you laid down next to Harry on the hammock in his garden, your legs entwined and your head rested on his chest.
You lifted your head up slightly. “What’s the news?”
“You know how you and mum are always saying that I’ve got a good voice?” He asked, running a hand up and down your arm.
You nodded at him as an answer, you did really think that he had a good voice, you would often hear him singing to himself getting changed in the mornings you would sleep over, you would hear him singing you to sleep at night when you were a little bit restless.
He was even part of ‘White Eskimo’ so if he was the frontman of a band then he obviously had a good voice.
“Well I think I’m going to audition for X-factor.”
You sat up completely, eyes wide as his words registered in your brain.
“You're going to audition for X-factor?”You exclaimed, “— as in the show with Louis Walsh and Dermot O Leary?”
He nodded his head. “I’ve been practising non stop, you hear me singing all the time, so it only seems like the right thing to do.”
“I’m really excited for you!” You leaned forward and pressed a kiss against his cheek out of pure affection.
“Do you have an idea about what you're going to sing?” You mused, staring at him softly.
“Yeah, I want to sing something that really showcases my voice so I’ve been thinking ‘Hey Soul Sister’.”
One of your favourite songs.
“That’s a really good song, H.” you informed him, lacing your fingers together. “— you're going to do absolutely amazing.”
He hummed. “You really think so?”
“I know so,” You assured him, the sun shining down on your skin to give it a nice sun kissed glow. “— and I’m always here if you ever want help practising.”
He laughed, throwing his head back slightly at your words, you both knew that you were a very bad singer so just the thought of you helping him out seemed funny.
“I’ll definitely consider that.”
Over the next few weeks leading up to the audition, you would hear Harry singing every chance he got.
Whether that be in the shower, in the car on the way to school, and sometimes when you stayed over you could swear that you heard him singing in his sleep.
But that only showed his dedication to impress the judges.
And that hard work definitely paid off.
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February 19th, 2013 — gaining permission.
It was a warm summer’s evening when Harry approached the front door of your childhood home.
His nerves were high as he raised his fist to knock against the wood, his mind still rehearsing everything that he was about to say to him.
After hearing someone knock against the front door, your father raised his eyebrows and went ahead towards it, opening it up and coming face to face with your boyfriend of nearly three years.
“Hello Mr. (Y/L/N)”Harry greeted the man he called a second father and offered him a grin.
Your father and Harry shook hands. “— Afternoon, Harry.”
You had absolutely no idea that Harry was going round to speak to your father tonight seeing as you were on a girls weekend with a few friends from school, and so Harry thought this would be the best time to speak to him, without you wondering where he was.
The timing was perfect really.
“I came to talk to you about something really important, if that’s alright with you.”Harry explained, his palms suddenly becoming slightly sweaty.
Your father invited him into the home and they both settled down on the sofas in the living room, Harry began speaking seeing as he couldn’t hold it off anymore.
"Mr. (Y/L/N), I know we're young, but I can't imagine my future without your daughter," Harry stated as he sat across from your dad.
"I appreciate your honesty, Harry. But marriage is a big commitment. Are you sure you're ready for that?" Your dad replied, folding his arms.
When Harry was placed as a member of One Direction, he didn’t think that his life would change drastically, he had heard stories of boy bands and their girlfriends always having a hard time, but you and Harry were beating all the odds.
The two of you were stronger than ever.
"Yes, sir," Harry answered confidently. "I've never been more sure of anything in my life. I love her so much and I want to spend the rest of my life making her happy."
Your dad leaned back in his chair, contemplating Harry’s words. "Well, I have to say, I'm impressed with your sincerity. It's not often you see such devotion in young people these days. Alright, I'll give you my blessing."
The singer let out a sigh of relief and a smile spread across his face. "Thank you, sir! I'll do my best to make her happy every day."
As Harry stood up to leave, your dad stopped him. "One more thing, James. Promise me that you'll take care of her. She's my little girl and I love her more than anything in this world."
"I promise, sir," Harry replied, nodding his head earnestly. "I'll always be there for her and do whatever it takes to make her happy."
As Harry left, your dad couldn't help but feel a sense of pride and joy. He knew that his daughter was in good hands with a man who loved her so deeply.
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March 1st, 2013 — the pier.
Coming to the pier was a bit of a last time for you and Harry.
It held a lot of memories for the two of you.
When you would spend the nights round his house on the weekends, you would sneak out of the house and go and spend some time at the arcades at the end of the pier, he even won you a stuffed unicorn once.
You had gone there after prom when he asked you out on a proper date to stare at the stars as they rested in the sky,
After your fifth date, Harry had brought you to the pier and asked if you wanted to be his girlfriend.
You had been on the pier when he told you that he was put in One Direction, you weren’t allowed to be at that audition because your parents said that school was more important, you were there when he told you that his life was about to change drastically.
As you and Harry walked along the pier, he held your manicured hand tightly.
“So how was your day, baby?” You quizzed him, swinging your hands back and forth slightly.
“It was good,”Harry replied, “— busy with getting things ready for the tour, but it was good overall.”
You knew how hard he and the rest of the boys were working so that they could get everything ready for the tour they were about to embark on, you were tagging along as well so that you could spend as much time with Harry as possible.
“I can imagine,”you offered him a small smile. “How’s all that going?”
“I think it’s going well, to be honest.”he squeezed your hand as you continued walking down the pier. “— we’re just working on nailing the set list and then everything should be ready to go.”
As the two of you walked, the topic of conversation shifted from work to your family and then to finally what you both wanted your future to look like.
Over the years you had learned to feel comfortable with speaking to Harry about everything and anything.
“Speaking of the future,” He spoke, making you glance over at him, your eyes locking. “— what do you see in our future?”
You had thought about an answer to this question for a while now and contemplated telling him, but now seemed like the appropriate time to say it.
“I definitely see us having a happy, loving life together,”you began to answer, breathing softly. “Maybe a house, marriage and definitely some kids, you’d be a great dad.”
Harry’s heart swelled after hearing your words. “That sounds absolutely perfect.”
The two of you gazed out at the moonlit waves crashing below the wooden slats that were holding the pier up.
Finally, you reached the end of the pier where Harry stopped and turned to face you.
"(Y/N), I know we're only young," he began, "but I love you more than anything in this world. These past three years have been the happiest of my life and I can't imagine spending my future with anyone else."
Your heart was pounding as she stared into Harry’s forest green orbs that seemed to sparkle in the moonlight.
"H, I love you too," you replied, your voice shaking slightly.
“Sweetheart, you're my best friend, actually your more than that, your my whole world, my absolute reason to wake up every morning, you’ve been by my side through all the hardships and to say you’ve made me a better man would one hundred percent be the understatement of the century.”
Your heart pounded in your chest, trying to regulate your breathing as your ears started ringing as you stared at the man you adored.
Your eyes widened as you watched Harry kneel down on one knee and pull out a small velvet box from his pocket. "(Y/N), will you marry me?"
Marriage.
Harry wanted you to be his wife.
You could barely see him through the tears that were falling from your eyes, but you could make out that he was crying as well.
Tears streamed down your cheeks as you nodded vigorously.
“Yes, yes, of course, I will!" You exclaimed, throwing your arms around Harry’s neck.
Once the two of you broke away from the hug, he slipped the ring from the box onto your finger, both hands shaking from the adrenaline currently coursing through their body.
The two of you embraced tightly, feeling each other's heartbeat as the gentle breeze swirled around you. For you and Harry, this moment felt like the beginning of forever.
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August, 2014 — I do.
You took in a deep breath as you stood at the end of the altar next to your father, your arm linked with his as your other hand held a bouquet of flowers.
When the familiar chords of one of your and Harry’s favourite songs rang out throughout the small registery office that the two of you had decided to get wed at, that was when you realised that this was really happening.
You were getting married.
“Are you ready, sweetheart?” Your father asked you, head tilted to the side.
You took in a hesitant small breath as you nodded at the words your father had just spoken. “Honestly, this is as ready as I’ll ever be.”
He nodded his head at your words before opening the doors to the side of the room, your breath hitched in your throat.
Your groom lifted his head when he heard whispers filling up the room and that was all the clarification he needed to know that you were present.
He hesitantly lifted his head and salt water instantly filled his orbs.
You looked astonishing.
It felt as if it was just the two of you in the room, your eyes remained locked on each other as you got closer and closer, the moment was pure and heartwarming.
Harry’s curls had grown out since your engagement on the pier so they were pushed back by a simple headband, so they didn’t block his view of you and he was adorning a suit of black colour, a white frilled shirt underneath as a thin silk black tie hung around his neck.
Your wedding dress was what you had always dreamed your dress would look like on your special day. It was Lacey and hung loosely to your figure in certain areas, flowers embroidered the sleeves and around your collar.
As your heel clad feet came to a stop by your soon to be husband, your father left a gentle kiss to the crown of your head, before taking a seat at the front two next to your mother as well as Harry’s parents and sister.
Your hand slipped into Harry’s and he rubbed soft circles on the back of it to reassure you that everything was going to be okay.
“You look beautiful, m’love.”Harry whispered as his own eyes filled with more tears.
The officiant glanced around at the people around you that were gathered in the small room before clearing his throat and beginning to speak.
“(Y/N) and Harry have decided to write their own vows as a declaration of there love for one another as well as there marriage,” the man began, looking down at the notes in his hands.
You and Harry locked gazes with each other and both offered each other a small smile, this was really happening.
“God, Harry I don’t even know where to begin,”you looked down at the piece of paper in your hand that was filled with your handwriting.
“— just for this day, I had to Google what the definition of a soulmate was but then I realised I didn’t have to. You were the definition. Plain and Simple. When we first met our first conversation was me asking you for directions, but over the past three years of getting to know you and fall continuously in love with you, I have come to known that you have showed me new directions of life, directions I didn’t think I would see unless I hadn’t of met you. You continue to make me proud and that’s one of the main reasons I love you.”
You glanced up at him when you had finished reading your vows and watched as a single tear rolled down his cheek.
Harry turned to look at the small gathering of people you had invited to be here for this special moment, and a wet chuckle fell from his lips. “How on earth am I supposed to beat that?”
He turned back to look at you, unfolding a piece of paper from his shit pocket and starting to read aloud. “— My sweet girl, m’love, when we first started dating, straight from the get go I had promised to cherish you from then on out, from our first meeting you instantly captured my heart, you’ve made me a better person, and for that I simply can’t thank you enough, your all I ever want and more, I love you and will continue to love you as long as my heart remains beating.”
There was definitely not a dry eye in sight when Harry had finished reading.
“(Y/N) (Y/M/N) (Y/L/N), do you take Harry Edward Styles to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward?”
“I do.”
“And do you Harry Edward Styles take (Y/N) (Y/M/N) (Y/L/N) to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward?”
“Of course I bloody do!”
Harry’s best man, his stepfather Robin Twist steps forward from where he’s sat next to Anne, offering both of you the rings.
The ring slipped onto Harry’s finger effortlessly.
His hands worked delicately to slip yours on.
The officiant smiled adoringly. “— with the power invested in me, I now declare you husband and wife, you may kiss the bride!”
Harry didn’t waste a second in bringing his lip balmed lips down against yours, as the taste of strawberry filled your senses, the kiss was one full of tenderness and love.
It was all official.
You were now Mrs. (Y/N) Styles.
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June 18th, 2015 — the delivery.
"I'm here!"
You looked up from the hospital bed you were currently laying on to see your husband run into the room, his eyes wide as he assessed the situation.
You were laid on the hospital bed, tears falling freely down your cheeks as your mother crouched at your bed side holding your hand and soothing you.
"H..Harry…"You spoke, voice coming out dry and hoarse.
The man rushed to your side, taking a hold of your hand and pushing some of the hair that had dried around your forehead out of your face. "— it's okay sweet girl, it's all okay. I'm here now"
Your mother gulped and looked down at the two of you. "I'll wait outside, give the two of you some space"the older women turned to look at her daughter. "You've got this (Y/N)"
Got what exactly?
Let’s answer that question.
You and Harry never really got to have a proper honeymoon after your wedding, due to the fact he was touring and didn’t have enough time to change the plans when they surrounded the band and management.
So almost six months ago, the band had decided to go on a little break near Christmas time so that they could spend the new years at home with their families and so you and Harry went back to holmes chapel.
And on Christmas Eve, the two of you christened the night and an explosion of love was formed.
You got pregnant.
And now, not even near the full term of pregnancy, your waters had broken when you were on a coffee date with your mother, your nerves were heightened especially when you had four months left in your pregnancy.
Once your mother had left the room, you turned to look at your husband, swallowing roughly. "I can't do it Harry..it's too early..they're not gonna make it!"
"Don't think like that, everything's going to be fine, I promise.” and with that he pressed a kiss to your damp cheek, grabbing ahold of your hand and rubbing the back of it softly.
Suddenly, you pinched her eyes shut and let out one of the most ear piercing painful cries Harry had ever heard, his heart beating erratically against his rib cage.
He stood up. "— I'm going to go and get some help alright..i'll be back as soon as possible"
He ran out of the room his wife was in and towards the reception area, his eyes landing on nurses who were sat there talking away. "— I need some help..my wife's having our baby"
You were clutching your stomach when Harry sprinted back into the room and resumed his position next to you, the nurses coming in followed by a doctor all smiling at you in the bed.
"Hi Mrs Styles, my names Dr Armstrong and I'll be helping you deliver your baby today, to make this experience as calm as possible, I'm going to need you to lift up your legs for me so I can check how dilated you are"
"You've got this"Harry whispered, his lips pressed against the shell of your ear.
You hesitated for a few seconds due to the fact the only person that had ever looked between your legs was harry, and the thought of any other man seemed daunting, but after Harry gave you a gentle look you slowly raised your legs up so they were bent on the bed and watched with watery eyes as the doctor slipped some latex gloves on his hand before slowly placing his hands between your legs.
The doctor then pulled his hands back, Harry letting his eyes fall on the blood on the top of the gloves, the doctor muttering a few things to the nurses, who then walked over to the other side of the room and started picking up blankets and towels.
What was happening?
"Mrs Styles, Mr Styles"the doctor cleared his throat. "— this probably isn't what the two of you were expecting but this baby is coming rather fast, and when I say fast I mean very, very fast"
Harry gulped and shook his head. "But she's only five months, surely that's not right"
The doctor smiled at the soon to be father. "That is very soon yes sir, but I have delivered babies much sooner than five months, and if we do everything right and take our time everything should be fine, I assure you"
The words just made your throat go even more dry, like sandpaper upon hearing that you were ten centimetres dilated and was soon going to be having the baby which just sent a sense
of dread to vibrate throughout your body.
"I don't want to do this Harry," You cried. "I don't want to do this..I can't"
Harry stroked a hand through your hair that was sticking to your forehead. "— you can do this sweet girl, I know you can, wouldn't have put our sweet baby in you if I didn't"
You nodded your head with all the energy that you could muster up and sat up a little bit further in the bed, your tight grip on Harry’s hand only getting tighter.
"Okay Mrs Styles, give me a nice gentle push."the doctor instructed, the nurses coming over to be on standby.
The next contraction hits your body and you ground your teeth together as you push, putting all the counter pressure in your hips.
Pushing kind of felt like when you were going to the toilet, only this was much more painful.
Tears continued to slide down your cheeks, Harry’s slightly calloused hands rubbing across her own as his own eyes welled with tears seeing the girl he loved and adored in so much pain.
"That was so good Mrs Styles,"the doctor complimented. "You're doing so well, repeat what you just did for me when your next contraction occurs, okay?"
Harry kissed your temple, just as another contraction ripped through your body, making it feel as though you were on fire.
"I can see the head."
The voices were numb to your ears, seeing as you were too busy focusing on pushing, your teeth were gritted together as your head was tucked down to your chest.
"We're so close to meeting them Sweet girl, so close,"Harry encouraged, looking in the eyes of his wife whose eyes were black.
The usual colour were filled with a pain filled black.
"The next push and you should have your baby, give me a big push Mrs Styles."
You pushed, this one feeling much longer than the others, keeping a white knuckle grip on Harry’s hand.
And that's when you heard it.
A cry filled the room, a literal babies cry.
Your and Harry’s babies cry.
"Is everything okay?"Harry quizzed, not removing his hand from your sweaty grasp.
You watched as the doctor nodded his head, letting his eyes flicker from between the two. "— congratulations Mr and Mrs Styles, you have a beautiful baby boy."
A boy.
You had a son.
A beautiful baby boy who was your’s forever.
"Would you like some skin to skin contact with your son, Mrs Styles?"Dr Armstrong asked, holding the baby in his arms.
"Yes please."You answered, perhaps a bit too quickly.
The doctor walked forward and gently laid the baby against your bare chest, moving the hospital gown out of the way.
The second your sweet baby boy was placed against your chest, you couldn't help but loud out a few cries.
Sobs even.
It may have been a bit earlier than the two of you expected, but now you simply wouldn't change it for the world.
The Styles were complete.
Harry couldn't help but let a tear fall down his cheeks, not bothering to wipe it away.
This is all he had worked for, and now it was finally here he couldn't be happier.
"Do we have a name?"one of the nurses asked, smiling at the sight of the mother holding the baby.
You locked eyes with Harry. "You tell them sweet boy"
Harry swallowed and nodded his head, not letting his eyes falter from the baby boy attached to his wife's bare chest.
"August,"he spoke. "— August Harry Styles."
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July 2nd, 2015 — the announcement.
As Harry Styles sat down for his interview, his long hair cascaded down his shoulders as he sat with the rest of the boys on the James Corden Show, a striped shirt hugging his body made of different shades of blue silk, with some black skinny jeans and a pair of chelsea boots.
He greeted James with a warm smile and sat down in the middle of Niall and Louis, he couldn't help but feel a bit nervous. It had been a while since he had spoken to the press, and he knew that they would have a lot of questions for him.
The first few questions were easy enough - how was his music career going? What were his plans for the future? But then, James asked him the question he had been dreading.
A question regarding his son.
Harry couldn’t be mad at James, it was his job after all and he knew for a fact that it was bound to come up one day, James was his friends, he wasn’t alone in the interview seeing as he was surrounded by his band mates, so he didn’t really have a factor to worry about.
"Harry, there have been rumours circulating that you have a son. Can you confirm or deny these rumours?"
Harry took a deep breath and looked directly into the camera. "I can confirm that the rumours are true," he said, his voice steady.
The host raised an eyebrow. "Can you tell us more about your son? How old is he?"
"He's just a baby," Harry replied, not wanting to really give away much about him. "I don't want to get into too many details, but he's the most amazing thing that's ever happened to me."
And it was true.
Just over three weeks ago, little Auggie flew into there lives and made them just that much better than they already were.
The sleepless nights brought the two of you closer,
Nappy changes brought the two of you closer,
And baby sick made the two of you closer.
The interview continued, but Harry's mind was elsewhere. He couldn't shake the feeling that he had just revealed a major secret. What would people think of him now that they knew he was a father?
But when Harry left the studio and checked his phone, he was overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support from his fans.
They sent him messages telling him how happy they were for him and how much they respected him for being honest.
In the end, Harry realised that being a dad was nothing to be ashamed of - it was something to be proud of. And with his fans by his side, he knew he could handle anything that came his way.
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25th May, 2023 — tour life.
Touring with your husband whilst he completed his last leg of tour was something you would never get over.
Especially now that you had two little munchkins touring with you, it made you think of all the different places the two of them would get to visit at such young ages.
Your little August was weeks away from turning seven and recently you had welcomed a little girl into the family, well not really recently.
A little girl named Margot.
Margot ‘gigi’ Anne Styles.
Touring was amazing, you got to spend all day surrounded by the people you adored to the end of the earths.
You were currently in Edinburgh.
And the two of you had woken up early due to your teething newborn and decided to head down to the hotel gym whilst it wasn’t busy and get in a little workout alongside your husband to try and get your body back to its pre baby shape.
Whilst you got ready and pumped some milk that Margot would be eating later, Harry had taken the kids down to the gym with him and told you to meet him there as that would be easier.
It really was.
As you walked into the gym, your eyes instantly landed on your husband Harry who was on a treadmill, already working up a sweat.
Seeing him working out always seemed to do something to you, and you have no idea why.
Maybe it was because you liked the look of the way the sweat would be rolling down his skin and making it sticky.
Or the way his hair stuck to his temple making him even look more delicious.
Almost ten years of marriage and you still got fireworks erupting your body whenever you were in his presence.
You smiled to yourself as you made your way over to him.
"Hey there good looking," You greeted him with a kiss on the cheek, making him freeze slightly before registering that it was you and smiling softly to himself.
"Hey m’love," he replied, slowing down the treadmill to join you, he leant over the handles of the machine and leaned down so that you were the same height.
"How's it going?"
"It's good. I’m knackered, but it’s good,Just trying to keep in shape for our little ones," he said, pointing to your son August, who was playing in the corner and drawing in his notebook, whilst your eight-month-old daughter Margot, who was asleep in her stroller, thumb in her mouth and head pulled to the side.
"I know what you mean. It's crazy how much our lives have changed since we got married," You answered, wiping down the machine before hopping on and starting up on the treadmill with a brisk walk.
"Yeah, it's wild to think about. But I wouldn't change a thing. We have a beautiful family and I'm so proud of everything we've accomplished," he said, glancing over at the kids, a smile involuntarily making its way onto his face.
"Me too," You agreed, adjusting my speed so that you were now in a slow jog. "Sometimes I can't believe we went from being just two kids in love to parents of two."
It really did blow your mind sometimes.
You remember the first time that you met Harry and your nerves skyrocketed. You were new to the school and knew absolutely no one, so when you and him became friends, it was like the two of you were meant to be.
But now, through all the good and the bad, the two of you had made it out on top, through all the hate from his fans, and all the hardships you now had the most perfect family, one that you would be able to cherish for the rest of your life.
"I know, right? But we make it work and we make each other better. And that's all that matters," Harry leaned forward and pressed a kiss to your cheek before hopping back into his workout mode, matching your pace on the machine.
The two of you continued to work out, talking about the things you normally would, like what dreams you had during the night and what you wanted to do the day before his tour.
“I was thinking we could take the kids to a cafe for lunch today,” You suggested, taking a break on the machine to take a sip out of your water bottle. “— I was thinking it would be something different, I don’t want the kids to get bored, y’know?”
Harry pondered the idea for a second before nodding his head. “Yeah, sounds like a good idea.”
It wasn’t long before you were all heading out for cafe.
It was a warm and sunny afternoon when you l, Harry and the kids approached the cosy little cafe in the heart of the Scottish city.
After your little gym session this morning, you and Harry had both gone back to the hotel room, had some showers and then got yourselves and the kids ready.
Harry was wearing a dark grey t-shirt with some pastel coloured designs on the front of it, blue ripped jeans hugging his legs accessorised with a pair of blue and white chequered vans, a blue cap and his iconic white bug eyed sunglasses over his face.
Harry had gotten Margot ready this morning, as you were in the shower. She was wearing a dark green romper, with a nice white bow headband pushing her curls out of her face, some knee high white socks adorning her feet.
After making sure that August was ready, his outfit consisted of a beige coloured oversized shirt, a cap on his hat so that he could match his daddy and a cap so he could match his daddy, and a pair of black shorts on his legs.
Once all of the kids were ready, it was then your time to get ready for the day. You shifted through the suitcase containing your clothes and decided on a simple outfit. It consisted of a pink oversized jumper paired with a matching pink pair of cycling shorts, some sunglasses and a pair of trainers on your feet.
It seemed like forever until you were all ready to leave the room.
As you made your way inside the cafe, you could see August's eyes light up with excitement as he eyed the pastry display case.
A worker greeted the four of you as you approached the counter, pulling your sunglasses up so that they were resting on the top of your head.
Your little boy turned to look at you with puppy dog eyes. "Mommy, can I have a chocolate croissant?"
"Sure, sweetie,” You nodded your head, adjusting your hands that were resting on the stroller handles as they were getting a bit sweaty. “— But just one, okay?"
You really didn’t want to deal with him having a stomach ache if he ate too many Pan Au Chocolates.
All the food sounded so good.
"I think I'm going to get a sandwich,” Your Husband spoke.
“What about you, baby?" Your husband spoke up, looking at the menu that was hung above your heads.
"I'll have a panini, I think,” You told him, turning to look at him and offering him a small smile. “And Margot is just going to have some pureed veggies."
You placed our order and then proceeded to sit down at a cosy table by the window, the sun beating through the windows. Little Margot comfortably nestled in her stroller beside you and Harry whilst August sat on the other side of the round table so that he was also next to both of you.
It was filled with small talk whilst you waited for your order to arrive at the table, the Scottish weather really was amazing this time of year.
"Daddy, did you know that I spelt a really big word with Mrs. Addams today?" August piped up, leaning forward in his seat eagerly.
August was coming up to seven so that meant that he would have already started school, but due to the fact you and the kids were touring the world with Harry that means he wasn’t able to go to school as much as he would have liked.
So in order for him to continue his studies, you and Harry both agreed that a teacher coming on tour with the two of you would be what’s best, and so far it’s been really good.
There’s been times where August’s kicked off about being too tired to learn but Harry being his father just learns that he inherited his stubbornness.
August was definitely a daddy’s boy through and through, in personality and appearance, he definitely had a little bit of separation anxiety when it came to Harry, but that was totally plausible due to the fact he was away for work quite a lot.
When Margot came into the world, she completed your family, she filled a void that the three of you didn’t know were missing and made your hearts just that much fuller.
Both children were spitting images of their father, you wouldn’t think that you were the one that carried them at all.
They both had his iconic brown curls (Auggie’s were a bit more longer due to the fact he had seen a photo of Harry with long hair and insisted he grow it out.) they had his green eyes that you fell in love with, and had his dimples and bunny teeth.
“Really? That's amazing!” Your husband gushed, reaching forward to fist bump his son with a proud smile on his face. “— What word did you spell?"
"Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!"
"Wow, that's quite a mouthful,”Harry leaned forward to press a kiss against his mini me’s forehead. “I'm proud of you, buddy."
August smiled at his fathers words before you all began to chat about something else.
As the four of you chatted and waited for your food to arrive, Margot began to fuss and squirm in her stroller.
"Looks like someone's getting hungry,” You went to stand up and go to her aid, her veggie purée that was in the baby bag under the stroller. “Let me get her a bottle."
"I can do it, love,” Harry grabbed a hold of your wrist softly, and stood himself up to approach the stroller “You stay here and eat. I'll take care of Gigi."
You smiled gratefully at your husband as he took Margot out of her stroller and sat her down on his lap as he started feeding her the purée you had made this morning in the hotel room while August and you chatted about what he wanted to do for the rest of the day.
As you finished your lunch, Harry chuckled and began to speak, "I don't think I've ever been surrounded by this much cuteness before."
That was true, your kids were the absolute cutest and the two of you weren’t biassed at all.
“And we wouldn't have it any other way." You sighed contentedly, they were your entire world, without the kids and Harry you're not sure what you would be doing right now.
With full bellies and happy hearts, you gathered your things and headed back out into the bustling city, ready to take on the rest of the day together as a family.
As you left the cafe in Edinburgh, you watched as Harry pushed Margot’s stroller, and held August’s hand so that he was close to you. You could see the fans waiting outside, and knew that you had to be careful.
As you made your way to the car, the fans started to call out your husband's name. "We love you, Harry!" they would shout.
You could feel August's grip on your hand tightening. He was scared, and you didn't blame him. You had been going out with Harry for thirteen years and still his fans didn’t cease to make you anxious. But you knew that you had to keep moving, to show that August couldn’t be scared because he would be scared if you were.
You reached the car, and Harry quickly put Margot in her car seat. August climbed into the back, and I got into the passenger seat, whilst Harry got in the driver's seat. As you drove away, you could see the fans in the rearview mirror, still calling out your husband's name.
"Mommy, why do they want to see daddy?" August asked, you could hear a slight quiver in his voice.
You offered him a gentle smile as you turned back to look at him in the backseat, his hand was holding onto his Sister’s,"Because he's a very talented singer, Auggie. A lot of people love his music."
August nodded, and you could see that he was starting to relax. You knew that it was going to be a long tour, but you were determined to keep your family safe and happy.
As Harry drove through the streets of Paris, you could feel the excitement building in the air. Harry’s husband's tour was going to be huge, and you
Knew that he was going to be amazing. But you also knew that it was going to be hard on all of you.
"Mommy, can we listen to daddy’s music?" August asked from the backseat.
"Of course, sweet boy," Harry enthusiastically reached forward, turning on the radio. Adore You came on, and I could see August's face light up.
"Your so good," August exclaimed, “— your the bestest singer in the whole wide world!” He was tapping his foot to the beat.
You and Harry both smiled, You were feeling proud of your husband and his talent. But also knew that being a pop star wasn't easy. There were always fans waiting outside, always paparazzi trying to get a photo.
You and your family arrived back at the hotel, and you quickly got Margot out of her car seat whilst Harry picked August up, although he was almost seven years old almost, he still like a cuddle.
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
May 26th, 2023 — late night talking.
“Can you believe it's been almost ten years since we got married?" You asked Harry as you lifted up his hand to play with the wedding band sitting around his ring finger.
You laid in bed with Harry in Edinburgh, after his show and the two of you were absolutely knackered.
His show was incredible like it always was, he got the crowd going like always and brought a smile on not just your face and the children’s faces but every fan's face in the stadium.
He was in everybody's safe space.
You had put the kids to bed earlier and had both shared a shower together before crawling into bed and snuggling up against one another like always.
Harry chuckled and replied, "I know, it feels like yesterday. We were so young and naive back then."
You smiled up at him, shifting on your side and placing a hand on his naked torso (he liked to sleep in just his boxers), "But look at us now, we have a beautiful family and a great life."
Harry nodded his head. "Yeah, we've come a long way. I'm proud of us."
You looked at Harry, "Remember when we used to talk about having kids? We were so scared."
Harry laughed, "Yeah, we were clueless. But now we have August and Margot, and I’d like to say we're doing just fine."
Parenting was definitely hard at times, but you and Harry always worked together to make sure that everything was going smoothly at all times, you both agreed you didn’t want your kids growing up in a household where there was animosity.
You grinned,pecking a kiss to his chest, "August is growing up so fast. He's already six years old."
Where had the time gone?
Where was your itty bitty five pound baby?
"I know, it's crazy,” Harry nodded, rubbing a hand up and down your back in a soft manner. “—And Margot is already eight months old. Time really does fly."
You sighed contentedly, "I'm so grateful for you and our family. We've been through so much, but we always come out stronger."
Harry smiled lovingly at you, pressing a soft kiss to your nose, "That's what love does. It makes us stronger."
It was true.
You and Harry always came out stronger when the two of you had a little disagreement, and that’s what made your relationship worth while.
You and Harry continued talking, reminiscing on your lives, feeling grateful for their life together. You knew that you had both come a long way, but if there was one thing you were looking forward too, it was to see what the future for their family.
"Are you okay?" You asked Harry as you noticed him struggling to keep his eyes open.
Harry shook his head, "I'm just feeling a bit tired today. I didn't get much sleep last night due to Gigi teething and the routings just started to get to me, nothing that a good nights sleep can’t fix.”
Yoy looked at Harry with concern, "Why didn't you tell me? Tonight, when the baby monitor goes off, I’m going to get Margot, I don’t care if you insist I sleep, I’m going, you need to be well rested.”
Harry smiled at you once again, yawning shortly before. "Thank you. But I wanted you to get some rest too. You've been working so hard lately."
You felt touched by Harry's words.
You knew that he was always looking out for you, even when he was struggling himself.
“Let’s try and get some shut eye.” You turned to the left and switched off your lamp on the bedside table before turning back around and snuggling into your husband's chest once again.
This was definitely your favourite sleeping position. His arms made you feel safe, as if no harm could ever come to you or the kids.
“I love you.” Harry spoke, looking down at you and puckering his lips slightly.
“And I love you, darling,” You replied, pressing one last goodnight kiss to his lips. “— from here to eternity?”
“From here to eternity.”
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ravenstargames · 9 months ago
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We are looking for voice actors! [PAID]
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The time has come! 💜 We are looking for eight voice actors to bring to life our main cast and a secondary character for the upcoming demo of Lost in Limbo, a dark fantasy-romance visual novel!
DEADLINE: April 10th!
Reblogs are extremely appreciated ; v ;! Thank you all as always for the unending support you give us!
⭐Check the audition info here! ⭐
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six-eyed-samurai · 7 months ago
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YUUJI ITADORI’s whole family is in the movie business, but he’d only starred in minor roles before the directors were looking for someone to play the main character in Jujutsu Kaisen and his uncle Sukuna, who was already cast, recommended him and his brothers. Was quite psyched about dying his hair (because Kaori wouldn’t let him before) but he spent a hell of a long time having to learn fighting techniques and complained about the pain but definitely bulked up a little. One of the most social of the cast, he’s sort whose social media is bursting with photos of him on set, fellow actors and fans. And yes, real life Yuuji is just as clueless as his on-screen persona.
MEGUMI FUSHIGURO brought his actual dogs to filming - originally there were only supposed to be one Divine Dog but he didn’t want to bring one without the other. The stylists love him because they never have to do anything with his hair as it’s already naturally spiky and messy. He and Yuuji’s on-screen interactions are a hundred per cent genuine as they get on pretty well. Off-screen Megumi looks and acts emo as his character, but more playful and judgmental. Nobody knows or suspects it was actually him that stole Gojo’s sunglasses, Momo’s broomstick and Noritoshi’s arrows. As he’s the one with the most experience with filming, having played secondary rules in teenage TV series or a cameo in his dad’s movies, Yuuji and Nobara actually look up to him a lot but do not trust his “advice” for acting. Tsumiki was going to play a bigger role alongside Megumi but with other projects coming up she decided to just play his character’s sister.
NOBARA KUGISAKI is, on the contrary to character, a city girl. One thing she does share with her Jujutsu Kaisen character however is the impulsive urges to over shop but for exotic food. Nobara is the most Internet famous actors on set due to being a part time social influencer rating restaurants. A running joke amongst the cast is how Nobara arrived to the auditions: getting directions wrong for another audition, Resonance, and ending up at Jujutsu Kaisen but decided to ball and go along with it. Sadly she eventually decided to leave Jujutsu Kaisen for Resonance when they called her back so the directors had to kill off her character; everyone will deny it but they all cried during her leaving party. She still hangs out with the JJK cast though.
CHOSO KAMO is no stranger to the movie industry, having played a few cameos in movies like Wing King, Blood and Supernova or some ads; he was so hyped and proud when the directors announced not only would they be casting Yuuji as the main role but Eso and Kechizu would be voice acting he wouldn't stop crying or taking photos (he and Jin, actually). He had to grow his hair out for the role but after that decided to keep it long, delighting his mother and all his female co-stars as Choso's very okay with them playing or styling it. He's definitely the big brother to the entire cast, splitting up Nobara and Yuuji’s arguing, chasing after Megumi’s dogs and even trying to protect everyone from Gojo’s pranks. That scene where his character started sobbing at being called big bro? When asked how he pulled it off so realistically in an interview Choso admitted he just thought of when all his younger brothers started walking and crawled to him instead of their parents. Then proceeded to bawl his eyes out again.
GOJO SATORU is a doofus both off and on screen. Some joke he barely has to act at all, seeing as his behavior never changes, varying between entertaining the younger actors with his boasts of being the best sensei ever and impressions of past characters played in Infinity, Hollow Purple and Six Eyes or annoying all his co-stars by pretending he can’t see through the blindfold despite the thinness and bumping into everyone and everywhere. One of the first people cast in Jujutsu Kaisen, he “persuaded” the directors to also star his best friend Geto, claiming they had never ever ever done a project without each other before and wasn’t going to start now. Absolutely the sort to sign everybody’s autographs and wink at the ladies at fan events but a menace to reporters as he’d just shout “Teleporting!” and run off with his long ass legs ever since JJK started. In response to people grieving over the death of his character he only posted “They think its Gojover, I’m offended”.
GETO SUGURU was originally going to play a role on the good side - the role Nanami took, actually, before the directors decided he was better as Kenjaku and Gojo decided it would be funny if the both of them were enemies. Geto is looked up to by his younger co-stars (Gojo complains that it isn’t him) for support and advice due to his even longer experience in acting in Cursed Spirit and Night Parade of a Hundred Demons. The only time he’s ever caused trouble was when he somehow found a megaphone and nobody could stop him from shouting exaggerated instructions - “Sojo Gatoru, again!” “Punch harder, IIIITADORIIIII!” “Cleave! Cleave! I said cleave, Ryomen!” - at everyone currently acting. During an interview he said the only time he couldn’t stay in character was when Kenjaku popped open his brain; he was rather grossed out by the whole thing.
KENTO NANAMI’s makeup takes about as long as Sukuna’s and that’s because it takes forever to sharpen his face and cheekbones and is not actually a blond. Is as fed up with Gojo’s antics as he is on screen, but off-screen Kento is quite relaxed and the one to post a lot of those “I’m about to get ready for filming and you’re coming with me” tours behind the scenes. He’s one of those underrated actors who don’t get the main roles but whatever they do they do well - Kento only got his big hit in Seven to Three that led to his role in JJK. They had to retake his death scene many times since everyone couldn’t stay in character, sad that he would be leaving so soon; Kento joked about going to Malaysia after his role was done in Jujutsu Kaisen.
RYOMEN SUKUNA was one of the first the directors hired for Jujutsu Kaisen, thanks to his fame from his long acting as villains in Malevolent Shrine, Divine Flame and Disgraced One. He wasn’t too happy about dying his hair pink but the tattoos did grow on him over time, as did the habit of calling all his co-stars “brats”. He’s absolutely terrifying when filming but at most he’s just old-man cranky off screen; if you see any photos of the cast they uploaded on social media, he’s the one who’s always caught off-guard and face frozen in some scowl at being suddenly photographed. Also a complete dumbass when it comes to social media, so his account is pretty much handled by his brother and manager Jin Itadori or recently his nephew Yuuji.
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𝐀 𝐆𝐈𝐑𝐋 𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐃 𝐑𝐇𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐎𝐍 The Marvel cast x Org teen femreader!
Part 1: 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐀𝐔𝐃𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍
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Summary: ❝Rhiannon Hart's life as she used to know it was about to change. She was a young actress in progress from a small town in Minnesota playing small roles from a very young age, After months of her latest project, Rhiannon thought she would continue with her daily routine, concentrating on her studies and resting. Until her representative gets her an audition with Marvel Studios, for a new character. After her audition, Rhiannon didn't believe she could be selected to play the new character, until Kevin Faige contacts her to give her the good news...❞
Part 1 of a series. Words: 1.661 Warnings: Angs, fluffy, silly things. Bad parents. A lovely and supporting grandma. She is just a girl wanting to be something in her life. This fics is was created for fun, nothing serious, also this fics is set in 2015, before the filming of Captain America: Civil War.
Autor's note: Hi! English is not my first language, and I apologize if there are any grammatical errors, you may find translation errors since I have little knowledge of English and mostly use Google Translate. I was also planning to move the fanfic to A03, but maybe I'll do it later. It's a little short ,but i'm gonna try to do the next chapter a little longer.
Hope you like it!
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Rihannon knew the process of every audition she had ever had in her life, each audition had led her to have a small role as an extra character who only appeared for a few minutes, or a secondary character who only appeared for a short period of time in several series or films, whether they are films on the small screen or recognized TV series.
But no audition compared to the one she was going to have right now.
It's not every day that your agent gets you an audition to play a new character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Not much was known about the new character, apart from confirming that it was going to be a female character, the mysterious announcement about the casting for that new character had been announced the same day that Marvel confirmed that they had opened casting for a new Spider-Man interpreter, and that excited all the fans including rhiannon.
It had been confirmed that the new mysterious character and Spider-Man would have to be close to adolescence and that they would be something like a duo, a friendship that would form unexpectedly and not at all romantic, just platonic.
And that drove the fans crazy, forming theories about whether he was Black Cat or some villain or antihero from the Spider-Man universe.
But many fans corrected them by saying that the mysterious character could be a friend of Spider-Man and Peter Parker, based on what Marvel Studios announced.
Everyone had their suspicions and theories, and yet weeks after its announcement, Marvel still did not reveal anything.
Wiping the sweat from her hands on her flannel shirt, Rihannon stood in front of the door of the large building in front of her, her head unable to question herself and create scenarios of what could go wrong at her audition.
She loved his job, she loved the world of art and acting, but she never imagined auditioning for one of the largest film companies in the world. There was a second when she thought about leaving and not attending the audition.
But she couldn't.
Not after how hard her representative fought to get her an audition, knowing how much Rihannon loved the Marvel universe and her dream of being part of the Marvel family one day.
She couldn't disappoint her representative, neither her grandmother, and much less herself, she had worked very hard to get to where she was, it would just be one more audition, just like the other auditions she had had in the past.
Right?
Ignoring the small mess of nerves building up in her stomach, she took courage and opened the door to enter the large building, she stopped for a second to admire her surroundings, noticing the walls decorated with giant paintings from Marvel movies, several statues of the more iconic characters, she continued admiring until her bluish eyes found the silhouette of a woman sitting behind a desk.
Knowing that it was the receptionist, she grabbed the strap of her backpack and walked quickly towards the woman, feeling her nerves eating away at her for a moment.
Upon being in front of her, the receptionist, sensing a presence, looked away from her computer screen, and looked curiously at the young woman with blonde, curly hair, almost impressed by the deep blue color of her eyes, noticing her shy aura smiled kindly at the young teenager, rihannon returned the smile shyly.
━━Hello sweetie, how can I help you?━━She asked softly, Rihannon opened her mouth and closed it instantly when she felt nervous.
━━I-I, uh… I came for an audition, with Mr. and Mrs. Russo. My name is Rihannon Hart━━She spoke quickly, feeling her cheeks heat at her stutter. But that didn't seem to bother the woman, who just smiled sweetly and nodded.
━━Of course, you're on time. If you allow me, I'll make a call to notify the auditioners━━━At her words, the girl quickly nodded, letting the brown-haired woman do her job.
She stepped back from the desk a little while watching the receptionist pick up the phone and dial a number.
━━Hello, sir? Miss Rihannon Hart has arrived for her audition, should I tell her to wait in the room or…? Great, I'll tell her. See you later sir━━When she hung up, the receptionist smiled at her as she got up from her seat━━Mr. Russo said that you can come and audition now. I'll guide her to the audition room━━She speaks, Rihannon nodded following the woman from behind.
On her short walk to the elevator, Rihannon began to play with the rings that surrounded her fingers in an attempt to distract her nerves. On the one hand she was nervous at the idea of ​​giving a bad impression to the directors and on the other hand she was relieved to Having memorized the entire dialogue of her script, she had been day and night reviewing each word and practicing her lines with her grandmother that she was sure she would do well.
Well, her grandmother and representative were in charge of letting her know that she would do it well.
She was so deep in thought that if it weren't for the kind woman at the reception, she wouldn't realize that they had already reached the door of the audition room.
As soon as she opened the door, Rihannon followed her, from her place she could see the Russo brothers and Kevin Faige himself talking to each other, and she felt the tingling in her stomach reappear.
━━━Gentlemen, Miss Hart has arrived for her audition━━━The receptionist's voice caught the attention of the three men, as Rihannon saw them approach, a small smile formed on her lips.
━━Hello, a pleasure to meet you━━She said with a small smile and stretched out his hand towards them.
Both directors and the executive director smiled instantly, from her place Rihannon could see a small shine in the eyes of the three men in front of them, she avoided furrowing her eyebrows at the emotion in their eyes.
Anthony Russo was the first to shake his hand with hers, sporting a smiling smile.
━━━The pleasure is ours, miss hart. Your agent has told us a lot about you━━He commented almost excitedly when he had her in front of them, Joe and Kevin Feige nodded at his words.
━━I hope for good things━━She spoke in an attempt to joke, which made the three men laugh. Kevin Faige nodded without removing his smile.
“I promise you it was, Miss Hart,” he assured, earning a genuine smile from the girl.
━━Is it okay if we start with the audition? You can take a few minutes if you want━━Rihannon quickly denied before speaking.
━━No, I think I'm fine. But you can call me rihannon, of course if you don't mind━━She said.
━━Of course. I guess, Rihannon, you've already read the script━━Seeing her nod, Anthony Russo smiled with his brother━━Great, we'll guide you to where the test will be done.━━Obeying the directors, Rihannon said goodbye to the receptionist and smiled at the Seeing her murmurs a soft "good luck" with her two thumbs up.
━━So miss hart, your agent, alice. You told us about your latest work in Teen Wolf, right?━━In response to Feige's question, Rihannon smiled and nodded, remembering with adoration her participation in her favorite series.
━━Yes, my participation was short, but I enjoyed the experience━━She responded softly with a smile. Feige and the brothers looked at each other and smiled.
━━One of my daughters loves that series, and I must admit that they adore her character in the series━━Joe commented, making a small shine appear in the young actress's blue eyes.
━━Really? I'm glad that your daughter liked it━━A smile took over her when she knew that one of the director's daughters liked her performance in the series
She did not often hear adulation about her participation in Teen Wolf, given that her character only appeared for three episodes and then did not appear again. She had played a girl who was the daughter of a retired werewolf hunter, who saved Derek Hale of an enemy shooting him with a shotgun and joining the pack for a short time, her colleagues and director of the series had congratulated her for her work, and her skills in the few stunts she had performed at the time.
Her grandmother was the most excited to see her granddaughter in the series, as was her friend Lucy, but no one other than the two of them congratulated her except for a few classmates from her school.
Upon arriving at the testing area, Rihannon allowed herself to admire the place, observing in detail the black walls, the lights that hung from the ceiling and the lamps that surrounded the small recording set, in front of the set there was a camera and three seats , in which she assumed the brothers russo and kevin feige would be sitting.
Seeing the young woman admiring the set, the CEO approached her.
━━You can leave your backpack there, if you want. We'll start in a few minutes━━He pointed to one of the empty chairs not far from where they were, with a small nod, Rihannon thanked him with a small smile and walked away to rest his backpack on the chair.
After a few minutes, Rihannon was in front of the camera - still off - while the makeup artist finished her work before she could perform her audition.
━━Forgive me for saying this, but you look like a badass Barbie━━At the comment of the makeup artist, named Ruth, Rihannon let out a small laugh as she felt the corner of her lips rise upward.
━━Thank you?━━She dubiously acknowledged his compliment with a small smile on her face. When she finished, Ruth said goodbye to her with a small smile and wished her good luck.
━━Are you ready, Rihannon?━━Listening to one of the Russo brothers, Rihannon took a deep breath and then nodded.━━Great, the camera is already on and will start recording in 3…2…1━ ━━Seeing the red light of the camera, the teenager looked forward, feeling her facial expression become serious.
The first dialogue was heard through the voice of Kevin Faige.
And that dialogue would only be the beginning of everything.
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wheneverfeasible · 4 months ago
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Sickness of the Heart
wc: 5.5k || rating: T+ || cw: sexual themes, language, slut-shaming (but for a good cause) || summary: After ending his FWB relationship with a!Eddie, o!Steve must deal with the humiliation of a self-imposed rejection sickness while interacting with the other members of Corroded Coffin. Flight of Icarus compliant. Angst with an open ending. || ao3
Note: This fic does contain a brief summary of Paige’s involvement in Flight of Icarus, so while it does contain some spoilers, this also means that you do not need to have read the book to enjoy this story. Also, while this is technically a Steddie fic, Eddie doesn’t actually make an appearance in the story itself lol.
This fic is partially inspired by @fkinkindagauche ‘s fic The Unbearable Horniness of Steve Harrington in relation to Steve’s rejection sickness. Excellent read if you haven’t yet!
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Steve was going to murder Dustin.
Or maybe he’ll let him live, he hasn’t decided yet. The kid didn’t really know the whole story, after all, so it wasn’t like he knew how utterly lost and devastated Steve felt right now, the rejection sickness curling through him in sharp pangs and dull aches. He didn’t know how much Steve’s heart was breaking with every step Steve took towards Gareth’s garage.
The only benefit was that Steve knew Eddie was out of town, setting things up with Paige for their chance of redemption. The pretty beta had reached out after the news of Eddie’s trial had made front page news even outside of Indiana, her boss apparently wanting to give Eddie a second chance at making it big in the music industry.
Eddie had been floored, energetic, and even the boys in Corroded Coffin couldn’t fault him if he ditched them again to make a better life for himself. They all knew he deserved it after everything. Except, Eddie had told them point blank that he was never running again, never turning his back on those he cared about. Had agreed to the offer to audition properly, but only if all of Corroded Coffin was invited too. All or nothing, he’d said.
After a bit of back-and-forth, Paige’s boss agreed.
It had been the final nail in the coffin for this thing between him and Eddie.
The facts were this:
During Eddie’s first senior year, Paige, with her fancy music scout assistant L.A. job, had been visiting her family in town and stumbled across Corroded Coffin playing at The Hideout. As anyone with even a passing interest in music could clearly see, she discovered Eddie and was instantly impressed with his talent and passion for music. They had…hit it off.
It had led to an offer to audition. But just for Eddie. And Eddie? Young and stupid and running away from a town that already hated him just for being his father’s son? Well, he had agreed. And then said father had come back and ruined everything, had burned those bridges for Eddie before disappearing once again and taking with it Eddie’s chance of a better life.
Had, in fact, been directly responsible for Eddie getting into drug dealing with led to…everything.
The relationship with Paige had ended messily, but not as devastating as it could have been. At least, that was Steve’s understanding of things. Over the course of his and Eddie’s…thing…the older alpha had talked about his past, slowly revealing all of this to Steve who had opened up about his own traumatic past, about his guilt over Barb, his and Robin’s torture at the hands of evil Russians, and how his parents had never truly loved him, made all that much more obvious when his secondary gender presented as omega.
It had been nice. For a moment, Steve had been able to pretend that it was something more than it actually was. Could pretend that when Eddie called him beautiful as he moved inside him, that the alpha had meant it as more than just what a good lay Steve was.
It had never been more than that, however. No matter how much Steve desperately but secretly wished otherwise.
Helping Eddie recover, then also serving as a character witness for Eddie’s trial, the two of them had grown into something actually resembling genuine friends and not just two people thrown together because of otherworldly forces and trauma. Eddie even spent a large part of his time at Steve’s house as they all prepared for Eddie’s trial, whether with the larger group or just on his own.
And then Eddie’s rut hit, unexpectedly and most likely brought on by stress from the trial, and…well…well Steve actually hadn’t had a decent lay in a while since he’d been dating betas and other omegas almost exclusively since Nancy. He missed being with an alpha. Missed being able to let himself go and fall into omega space, which he trusted Eddie with since he was his friend first and foremost.
The offer had been met with incredulity, but Steve had pointed out that things with the trial and his defense would get messy if Eddie lost control if he either tried to weather it alone or find another omega to share it with, and Steve was game if Eddie was. Purely transactional, just two bros helping each other out, never to be spoken about again.
Except neither had been prepared for how compatible they were with sex, even if they weren’t always compatible in their day-to-day friendship. So, after the embarrassment and awkwardness went away, they settled on a deal. When Steve’s heat came around, Eddie would help him out too. And he did not too long later, and it was just as great as the first time too.
And then they had sex when neither rut nor heat was present.
It was drunken sex, sure, celebrating not only Eddie’s freedom with the long trial finally being over but also celebrating the high school diploma Eddie had received in the mail that day, but it was sex all the same. And then it kept happening. Just two bros helping each other let off steam while enjoying some fantastic orgasms. Friends with benefits and that was it.
Except that wasn’t it for Steve.
No, his days of just enjoying being casual ended when he’d fallen in love with Nancy, when the idea of a Winnebago full of pups had begun to seem like something he could actually have, and he’d been chasing that high ever since. Even when he casually dated after Nancy, it has always been in search of someone to share that future with.
Enter Eddie Munson, a ridiculously nerdy and unhinged alpha who loved Steve’s honorary pups as much as Steve himself did. And yeah, they bickered all the time, clashed and argued and didn’t really have much else in common and sometimes jabbed each other with pointed insults from high school, but the sex was fantastic and Eddie was…surprisingly sweet. Sensitive. Caring. Considerate.
Eddie was annoying and hyperactive and made Steve want to tear his hair out sometimes, but he was also exactly the sort of alpha that Steve had always wanted. Steve wasn’t certain when it actually began, but it was when he was watching Eddie carefully roughhouse with the pups one day that he found himself looking forward to how Eddie would be with their pups.
And that horrifying realization had been the beginning of the end.
He knew Eddie didn’t think about him like that. Honestly, how could he? First of all, Eddie deserved better than the town slut, not that Steve ever felt ashamed about being said slut. He liked sex and he though he eventually wanted a happily-ever-after of his own, he wasn’t opposed to sleeping around until he found it. If he ever did.
Now though, realizing that his inner omega had apparently decided on yet another alpha that he knew he could never truly have, he began wondering if he was just doomed to never being properly mated. But then it wasn’t just his inner omega craving Eddie’s alpha. It was Steve himself craving all of Eddie.
He had fallen in love with Eddie Munson. And he didn’t even know when it had happened.
Which, of course, meant that he had to end things. Immediately.
The rejection sickness he’d gotten after Tina’s party had been…intense. He’d been angry too, or really just heartbroken. He’d only been able to push it down, reason with the sickness, when he decided that it was just the alcohol and the stress and the guilt and had decided to apologize for…whatever he needed to apologize for. And then It happened and the sickness was pushed back even further to deal with everything until…
Well, when he saw Nancy and Jonathan and smelled them, he knew it was well and truly over. Then the sickness hit him back harder than ever. He knew he couldn’t suffer through that again, not like that. And he knew with a certainty that losing Eddie would make his previous sickness feel like a walk in the park if he let himself fall even more deeply in love with Eddie than he already was, if he let his inner omega start even more of the courting process than it had already tried.
It hadn’t been pretty. It wasn’t that Eddie had any genuine feelings for him outside of friendship and lust, but Steve suddenly breaking things off had been…complicated. More than he had expected it to be. But Paige had come sniffing around again by then and Steve knew…fuck, he knew how considerate Eddie was.
If he knew that Steve felt the way he had, that Steve’s omega had already claimed him as his alpha, then Eddie would be a self-sacrificing idiot and give Steve what he wanted even if he didn’t want it. To spare Steve that pain. Especially if Steve accidentally got knocked up, which was seeming more and more of a possibility when Steve’s stupid omega brain kept forgetting to take his birth control because it wanted to be knotted and pupped up.
Eddie had his whole life in front of him, and now a chance to actually make it out of Hawkins and live his big rockstar hero dreams. And the chance to be with the only person Steve knew that Eddie ever had actual feelings for. Steve couldn’t take that from him. So he broke up with him…as much as you can break up with someone who was just your friend that you’re ostentatiously just using for good sex.
Eddie had been rightly annoyed when he’d arrived at their regularly scheduled dick appointment time only to be kicked out with blue balls and told that it was never happening again. Among a few other sharp words to get the point across.
Steve probably should have called him before Eddie made it to his house, before Eddie had paid for the dinner he was bringing that night, but Steve couldn’t bring himself to say the words over the phones that for all he knew were still tapped by the government.
Steve could tell that Eddie had been a bit offended too, and worried. Of course Eddie would worry that he wasn’t doing enough in bed, that he wasn’t good enough in bed, which had to be a kick to an alpha’s ego no matter who it was. Steve couldn’t really just say that he was ending things so that Eddie could get with Paige again and move out of Hawkins, however.
So he played up the angle that he was growing bored, that he was looking for something new now, even as his inner omega railed against such lies. He wanted more, certainly, but more with Eddie. Which Eddie couldn’t give him. Sure, Eddie might stick around like a martyr if Steve flashed him that pleading omega look he knew Eddie’s alpha was weak for, but that didn’t mean that Eddie himself could give Steve what he most desperately wanted: Eddie’s heart.
Which led to now, with Eddie meeting with Paige at her big fancy grownup job and no doubt rekindling old flames, and Steve stuck in Hawkins having to return one of those Dipshits and Dingbats books that Dustin had borrowed from Gareth.
The band was practicing, even without their frontman Eddie being present, and as Steve turned off the engine of his car and grabbed the ratty old book in question, he could make out something over the sporadic noise about behind the scenes footage and their eventual rise to fame.
Which…yeah. Steve knew that it wasn’t a question of if but of when. Metal still wasn’t really his preferred style of music, but he’d gone to some shows, had even been to a few of the band’s practices after he and Eddie started messing around, and he knew the boys were talented. Any music exec would be stupid to pass them up.
He grimaced a little behind his sunglasses when, with a discordant screech of Jeff’s guitar, the racket stopped. The boy in question was glaring at him, which…fair, he supposed, since he was the one that broke off the thing with Eddie, but it wasn’t like it was anything more than just sex. Nothing to warrant the glares he was receiving from the whole band.
But then, they’d never really been too keen on Eddie being friends with him, much less hooking up, and it wasn’t like they could hide that with how their scents had begun mingling. Another sign that it was high time to break it off, before it entered beyond accidental courtship and drifted into accidental bonding.
“What are you doing here, Harrington?” Gareth growled, the scent of annoyed alpha only causing Steve to fumble slightly as he brought up one hand in mock surrender and the other holding the book.
“Henderson wanted to make certain you got this back before you left,” he huffed, pushing his sunglasses up over his head to squint at the trio glaring back at him. He waved the book a little, hoping one of them took it from him so he didn’t have to step further into the garage. No one did.
“Why didn’t he just bring it himself instead of sending you of all people?” Gareth scoffed with a small sneer, never having really been Steve’s biggest fan. Not that Steve could really blame him; he knew people like Steve hadn’t made Gareth’s life easy, including Gareth’s own father.
“Ask him yourself, asshole,” Steve muttered, cocking one hand on his hip impatiently. Though the other two were only betas and thus didn’t have much in the way of scents, their posturing didn’t leave any doubt that they didn’t like him.
He just…didn’t know why. Besides Gareth, the other two had seemed relatively okay with Steve hanging around. Jeff had even once been actively friendly, while…uh…fuck. Steve always forgot the other one’s name. Stan? No. Doug? No. Grant? He was fairly certain that was wrong too. Whatever. Anyways, he had only cared that Steve didn’t get in the way of practice or their non-Hellfire DnD games after Eddie graduated.
Now they all looked at him like how they had at the beginning, when they hadn’t trusted the former jock, when they had only seen King Steve and hated everything about him on principle, only seeing another Jason Carver instead of the dude who had stood up for their friend in trial. Whatever. It didn’t matter. It didn’t hurt.
At least, that’s what Steve kept telling himself.
He didn’t let himself think about how Jeff had once clapped him on the shoulder when he had embarrassedly brought some fudge he had made, trying out a new recipe to take to the Hopper-Byers’ during one of their semi-regular get-togethers that had originally cropped up during preparing for Eddie’s trial. Now it just became a thing they did for fun.
He also didn’t think about the other one (Jesus, seriously, what was his name again?) had jokingly argued with Eddie about what class Steve would be, certain that he’d be a basic fighter while Eddie had been adamant that he’d be a paladin. Steve hadn’t known what any of it meant, but the two of them had laughed at the end and it had been with Steve, not at him.
Even Gareth had, on occasion, been almost nice to him, settling Steve on the worn red couch at the back of the garage with noise cancelling headphones and some magazines of his mother’s when practice had run long and Steve was supposed to pick Eddie up to meet up with Jonathan and the others.
Now everyone just stared at him with unconcealed looks of annoyance and disdain. He hated it. Even though it wasn’t them his omega wanted, he still felt another sharp spasm of pain from the rejection of Eddie’s pack.
It must have showed on his face, or the way his body twitched and the arm holding out the book dropped, because a brief flash of concern whisked across Gareth’s expression and he stood up from his seat behind the drums, his nose crinkling.
“You smell like shit, Harrington,” he stated, moving around the drums to get slightly closer. At least the smell of annoyed alpha was dissipating.
“Gee, thanks,” Steve dryly said with a roll of his eyes. He swallowed against the burn of bile in his esophagus and held out the book once more. “Look, just take the damn book so I can go.”
A part of him was tempted just to drop the book, to let it fall and hit the concrete ground uncaring if the edges got fucked up or not. But these were Eddie’s friends and his inner omega wouldn’t let him do anything that might upset the alpha he wanted as his own. Pathetic as that was.
Gareth moved closer then, and Steve finally thought the younger boy would finally take the stupid thing from him, but instead Gareth’s hand shot out to grab hold of his wrist with a frown on his face. The touch of another alpha that wasn’t the one he wanted sent another roil of nausea through Steve’s belly, and he struggled hard to get his arm released, causing Gareth to simply tighten his hold.
“Let go of me!” Steve hissed. He saw the other two move forward towards them, but Gareth waved them back with his free hand, which they reluctantly listened to, though Jeff frowned as he glanced over his shoulder towards the back of the garage.
“You look sick, Harrington,” Gareth said instead of doing as he’d asked. “You smell sick too.”
“He’s right,” the other one, the bassist, said after a moment of consideration while Jeff’s head cocked to the side, an unreadable expression on his face. “I can’t smell you all that well, but you look terrible.”
“Don’t tell me,” Gareth scoffed, taking a long, deep sniff over Steve that caused him to blanche. “You really have the audacity to have rejection sickness when you’re the one who dumped Eddie?”
Steve pursed his lips and grabbed the book with his free hand to shove it at Gareth’s chest, forcing the younger boy to fumble and take it while moving back a step. He glared at them, wiping at his now freed wrist as though he could wipe off Gareth’s touch. Asshole.
“Don’t be such a fucking knothead,” Steve snarled, and no, maybe he didn’t get to have the intimidation of an alpha, but omegas would be fierce in their own ways. He crossed his arms over his chest and glared at the others who were more or less gaping at him now.
And he knew, okay? He knew it was weird, being sick when he had been the one to call it off, and it wasn’t like they were even anything other than fuck buddies letting off steam together. There had never been anything but friendship and lust between them. But try telling Steve’s omega that. His nesting had been insane.
It was only by some miracle that Eddie hadn’t been clocked in to Steve’s growing emotions and affections. That he hasn’t seen just how delusional Steve had been for that brief moment when he actually thought, maybe, just maybe, just for once the person he liked might like him back, might see him as something other than a stupid, used up, good for nothing, filthy, dirty, worthless—
“Look, I’m not an idiot, okay?” Steve snapped out, flushing not just in anger this time but also embarrassment and shame at the way his eyes suddenly grew wet. He blinked rapidly, his fingers digging into his biceps. “I knew what it was and what it wasn’t. I know it was just sex for Eddie, okay?”
Steve huffed out at Gareth’s suddenly blank expression, pleased that he had at least gotten the jackass to shut the fuck up and stop stinking the place up with his pissed off alpha pheromones. He deeply sighed, moving his sunglasses to hook in the collar of his shirt to run a hand through his hair before glaring at Gareth who had moved a couple steps to the side. Putting more distance between them maybe?
“I know that someone like Eddie and someone like me would never actually happen,” he muttered, and putting it into words with someone else had the bone deep aches from the sickness sending another wave of pain.
“What do you mean, ‘someone like Eddie,’” the bassist scoffed, his hackles rising, though he exchanged looks across the garage with Jeff. Gareth sneered as well, but there was also a shrewdness in his eyes, his nostrils flaring as he took in more of Steve’s scent.
Steve rolled his eyes, throwing up a hand in frustration. He didn’t know why he was even still here, why he was trying to defend or justify himself, but his omega was telling him that these were his alpha’s packmates and thus deserved the truth.
“Like I said, I’m not an idiot,” he reluctantly said. “Eddie is…Eddie’s…” Steve huffed at himself next, scrubbing his hand over his eyes at the prickly feeling of fresh tears. He normally wasn’t much of a crier, but the hormones affecting him from the rejection sickness had him closer to blubbering at all hours of the day more than he would like.
Worse even than when it had cut through him after Nancy.
“Eddie is brilliant, okay?” he finally managed to get out, even if he was annoyed at needing to say this at all. He wished he could have just dropped the book off and left. “He’s so much braver than he gives himself credit for, he’s amazing with the pups, he’s creative and smart and and considerate and kind and probably one of the best people I’ve ever known. He’s a goddamn hero, whether he wants to believe it or not.”
Though these three had no idea what Eddie had gone through, not truly, they did know that there was more to the story than they had been told. Steve had always been quite vocal about talking about how amazing Eddie had been for the trial, and though he had to flub some of the details, everything he said had been true. Eddie was a hero, even if Eddie himself always denied that.
“And he’s hot,” Steve couldn’t help adding, with another small flush of embarrassment. “He has those stupid doe eyes that you want to spill all your secrets to, and that stupid grin that’s larger than his face, and the stupid way that even when he can’t seem to sit still, his entire focus is on you when you talk…”
Steve scoffed, ashamed of how wet it sounded, and rolled his eyes as he once more wrapped both arms tightly around himself. “And then there’s me. The asshole. The douchebag extraordinaire. The bully. The slut whose only redeeming quality is how easy of a lay I am and daddy’s money, which, by the way, I’m probably being cut off from soon, so really, what else do I have to offer except a used up pussy half the town has been in?” he sneered.
His self-hatred was probably a little too obvious with that, and he didn’t know why he said all of that anyways. Probably it had just been festering away inside of him with no one to unload on, at least no one who wouldn’t try to soothe him and lie to him and say that he wasn’t any of those things.
And yeah, maybe saying he’d slept with half the town was an exaggeration, but he had probably slept with at least half the chicks (and some of the guys) in high school, no matter their designation.
The problem was that Steve’s omega craved human connection. He never really had it growing up, his alpha father too focused on everything wrong with Steve and his beta mother too focused on making certain her husband didn’t stray to inbetween an omega’s legs…again. So Steve found physical comfort where he could, even if it meant opening thighs or mouth for anyone who shot him an interested look.
And then there was Eddie. Eddie, who never treated Steve like something shameful. Eddie, who had admitted he was wrong about Steve, even if Steve didn’t think he had been. Eddie, who even in rut had checked in on Steve and made certain he felt safe and unharmed. Eddie, who for a short amount of time almost made Steve feel good enough.
Which was the problem. Because Eddie didn’t mean it the way that Steve wanted him to, didn’t see Steve as anything other than a friend he could conveniently get off with, an omega who would never form attachments or come up with unrealistic ideas about them.
Except Steve thought he had probably been attached even before Eddie’s rut. Had too many ideas that were beyond unrealistic; they were straight up impossible. Eddie would never want Steve the way that Steve wanted Eddie.
Not when he had someone like Paige waiting for him, not when he had a future ahead of him outside of this stupid town. Steve couldn’t trap Eddie into a life he never wanted.
“So, what, you broke it off because Eddie doesn’t love you?” Jeff finally asked, his voice sounding odd and a bit louder than necessary. Steve wished he’d shut up. “You’re a used up slut of an omega with no redeeming qualities so obviously Eddie would never want to actually be with you outside of sex because he’s such a great guy and you’re not, is that it?”
Steve didn’t know why Jeff was repeating what Steve had said like that, but the words still caused him to flinch back slightly to hear someone else say them. He glared at Jeff, even as he had to hastily wipe away a traitorous stray tear that had slipped down his cheek.
“What does any of that matter,” the bassist asked. “Why would that send you into rejection sickness if you know nothing could ever come of this thing you two had? You were just using him for sex too, weren’t you?”
Steve’s frown cut across to the other beta, brow furrowing. Why did he sound weird, like he was leading Steve to say something he absolutely could not say? Not because it wasn’t true, but because it would break his heart to say it out loud.
“Come on, Harrington,” Gareth took up the goading next, taking a predatory step towards Steve who hastily took a step back. “You were just fucking, weren’t you? It didn’t mean anything to you. You were just treating Eddie like some glorified sex toy to get off, admit it. Just after an easy knot.”
“That’s not true,” Steve muttered, ducking his chin down even as he glared at Gareth with all he was worth. “I would never…” He shook his head in frustration. “That’s not how it was.”
“Nah, I think that’s exactly how it was,” Gareth said with a cruel smirk. “Why else would you have dragged him around, using him whenever you needed a good dicking. You got bored of him, isn’t that it? That’s what you said. You had enough of trailer trash like him, your bit of rough and rumble, and so you booted him so you could move on to the next target. What, gonna crawl back to Hagan next?”
Steve jerked back as though slapped. “That’s not true!” he repeated in a louder shout. “I would never use Eddie like that. He’s not trailer trash. He’s better than anyone else in this goddamned town, which is why he has to leave and never look back.”
Gareth smirked, his scent turning pleased, like Steve had said exactly what he wanted to hear. “So you broke up with him because you thought he deserved better?” he mocked, stepping closer again, though this time Steve didn’t budge. He glared furiously at Gareth, his chest heaving with his fury at the boy’s words. “Why the hell would you ever care about trailer trash like him?”
“Because I love him, dammit!” Steve yelled, eyes snapping with all the pent up emotions he never let himself actually feel, and—oh.
It truly did break his heart to say those words aloud. Steve’s face crumpled immediately, all the tears he’d been fighting back now overflowing his eyes spilling down both cheeks.
Even Gareth reacted, taking a step back and further to the side, obviously putting more distance between him and Steve’s distressed omega smell. The other boys shifted uncomfortably, likewise disturbed even without the superior senses to pick up just how much of Steve’s distress and rejection sickness was eating away at him. God, Steve felt so pathetic.
Hastily wiping at his face (not that it mattered as fresh tears continually replaced those wiped away), nose snotty and leaking, Steve glared as much as he could at the three of them. He was so angry, and so hurt, and so resigned to know that this changed nothing.
“Are you happy now?” he spat out, hating how his voice warbled and cracked. “Do you think I’m seriously stupid enough to think I ever had a chance? That I wasn’t anything more than an easy lay for him too? People like me don’t deserve happy endings. Not like Eddie does. He was going to end things anyway so I just did it for him. Assholes,” he muttered, finally turning away to leave because what else was there to say? How much more could he be hurt?
Steve paused. Right.
Turning back around, he bared his teeth as he pointed aggressively at the younger boys, shoulders back and tone once more falling back into the old familiar role of King Steve, even through the tears. “And don’t you lot say shit about this to anybody. Not to Eddie, not to the kids, not even to your fucking grandmas, are we understood?”
Jeff snorted, and Steve hated him more than he ever had for the amused look on his face. “Oh, we won’t say anything. Don’t worry, Stevie.”
Hurt clawed its way back up his throat, jaw quivering at the old familiar nickname, his sickness sending bile he had to rapidly swallow back down. All he wanted was to crawl into bed and wallow and tried to forget the alpha he wanted more than anything to be his and his alone.
Turning back around, Steve shoved his glasses back on his face before wrapped his arms around himself as he made his way back towards his car, fighting back the sobs that wanted to overtake him as he felt the rejection over and over and over again with every step away from his alpha’s pack.
He almost wished he had never met Eddie at all, had never met someone who, for such a short time, made him feel seen and heard and, biggest lie of all, like he was worth something after all.
As if he could ever be more than the bullshit he knew he was.
~
“You get all that?” Gareth asked finally after the three of them watched Steve’s car drive away. He glanced over his shoulder as Jeff moved around the drum set to the camcorder they’d set up to film today’s practice.
Jeff fiddled with the device that had been hiding in plain sight this whole time, the red light indicating it was recording until Jeff switched it off. He pressed another button and the side popped open, allowing him to pull out the vhs with a triumphant wiggle of his brows.
Gareth grinned at the other two with a pleased set to his shoulders, two matching grins meeting his own. “Excellent. After all, we said we wouldn’t say anything to Eddie. Not our fault if he overhears something he wasn’t supposed to when viewing our practice session,” he said with an easy shrug.
“Thank god, because I was sick of his moping. Should we send it overnight express to him now, or let them suffer a little longer?” Jeff laughed, wiggling the vhs in his hand.
“God, I’d say let them suffer because they are going to insufferable after this, but Eddie would skin us alive if we let his omega suffer like that for a moment longer than necessary,” Gareth grimaced, the others wincing in agreement.
“Ugh. And we thought they were bad before,” came the grumbling response, and Gareth could only snort as he glanced at the boy on the bass.
“How soon until they’re pupped up do you think?” Jeff slyly teased.
“After Eddie sees that tape?” Gareth asked with a roll of his eyes. “Same day, Jeffy. Same fucking day.”
Still, Gareth knew they were all three pleased for their friend, and as they ended practice early to get the tape sent out as soon as possible, he had the distinct feeling that when they left town in a few days, Steve would be with them.
-
Hostage tag: @derythcorvinus
Promised tag: @katyawriteswhump
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DECONSTRUCTING FANDOM MYTHS: "Harry Styles got to where he is because he was pushed by the label"
In light of Liam Payne's passing, certain middle-aged bloggers who have come back with a vengeance to spew lies all over the fandom (lies that get repeated and permeate the opinion of every chronically online fan that's adjacent to any degree to the 1D fandom or its solo artists), so I decided to deconstruct those lies. One by one.
This will be a series of separate posts analyzing it in detail.
"Harry Styles got to where he is because he was pushed by the label"
Absolutely not, not even CLOSE to the truth. I know people are aware, tangentially, of what Liam said in Logan Paul's podcast. Impaulsive, a couple of years ago. Clips of that went viral and he got a lot of hate for it. But actually go and watch it. I cued the relevant bit in the link, so you won't have to watch any unnecessary part.
In the podcast Liam says that he went from 180,000 people who auditioned down to the last 24. For the uninitiated, The X Factor was the most popular show on TV around that time and SO many people auditioned. I'll explain the process of the show briefly because it'll also be relevant later in this post.
You first send a tape in, and then you get a callback to audition in front of producers (this was in March-April). If you go through, you go to the live auditions which in 2010 happened in six cities (Glasgow, Birmingham, London, Dublin, Cardiff, and Manchester). Liam did Birmingham, Niall did Dublin, Harry, Louis, and Zayn did Manchester. 211 acts made it through after live auditions in 2010, to the next stage which was bootcamp.
Bootcamp lasted 5 days. On the second day, about half the acts were dismissed, leaving 108 standing, which were divided in four categories. Boys, Girls (these two were ages 16-27), Groups, and over 28s. There were four judges and each judge "mentored" a different category. Because of the format of the show, each category has to have an even amount of contestants (in 2010 it was 8 acts per category). The "Boys" category was very full, so they dismissed the 1D guys unless they agreed to form a group. They did, so they then went to the next stage, which was Judges' Houses. Simon was mentoring Groups that year, so 1D went to "his" house in Spain alongside the 7 other Groups. The goal of this stage is cutting the acts to 4. Only 12 acts make it to the Live Shows.
1D passed Judges' Houses and went on to the Live Shows, there were 10 Live Shows in total, with the last one being the Final. 1D made it to the Final and came in third (the winner was Matt Cardle, runner-up Rebecca Ferguson).
Anyway, as I was saying, in 2008 Liam made it to Judges' Houses, and since Simon was mentoring Boys that year, he was his mentor. He didn't make it to the final 4 acts, and was instead cut off. In the podcast, Liam says that after being cut off, Simon had dinner with him, his mom, and one of the X Factor producers, who would later become a 1D manager, and told him that he wanted to put him through but that he was too young and needed to get his education in.
Another small tangent, education in the UK goes Primary School (until age 11), secondary school (until age 16), and then two years of what's called Sixth Form (also known as college, also known as A Levels). These last two years weren't mandatory if you weren't going to university back then. Liam was 14 in 2008, so if he waited two years, he would finish secondary school. The X Factor actually lifted the age limit to 16 after this. Harry has said that he always wanted to audition to the X Factor but he was always too young (remember, he's 6 months younger than Liam so he didn't make the age cut-off in 2008, and then they lifted it even higher). And I'm adding this here because it drives me nuts, Harry DID FINISH HIGH SCHOOL. He took his GCSEs which are the exam you take to finish high school. He just didn't do those extra two years of college (none of them did, btw, Louis did first year twice because he failed it the first time, but he didn't finish either).
Anyway, so Liam has dinner with Simon, where Simon essentially tells him "you have what it takes but I'm not taking you out of school. Come back when you finish." And Liam does just that. Not only that, but he (and I'm quoting here) "sings everywhere he can." He sings for money, he takes vocal lessons. He sings at old people's homes, at his local soccer stadium in Wolverhampton (which is not a small deal, btw), he sings in pubs. He literally talks about being paid a lot for performing at times "more money than I'd ever seen."
I think a lot of people don't know this. A lot of people have no idea that Liam WAS actually a professional singer BEFORE 1D. And he's not lying, he's not exaggerating, he's not gloating in this part of the interview. It's 100% true.
Then Liam says that because of the promise Simon had made him, he worked around Liam's face to create a group. I know we've all seen the footage of Nicole Scherzinger putting 1D together through their headshots. I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the X Factor is highly staged. They didn't decide to put the band together in front of the cameras on the fly. Simon has been trying to recreate that ever since, and he's put several groups together in similar circumstances since then (Little Mix and Fifth Harmony are successful tries at it).
These boys had been auditioning since March, as I said. In fact, Liam says in the podcast that "it's pretty obvious who's gonna make it through because cameras start following them around." Remember, Zayn had the whole "where is Zayn" saga, and Harry had that segment "playing" all the female contestants. (Don't get me started on how disgusting that was, considering he was 16, but oh well). Both of these things happened in bootcamp. Why? Because the producers saw something in Harry and Zayn and knew it'd probably pay off to have footage focused solely on them. I'm not claiming it's all a big conspiracy, but clearly they saw value in them.
Liam didn't claim that he was the only reason the group got put together, but he was one of the reasons, and I think he's 100% correct.
With the fact that he was auditioning for a second time, once the show started airing, he created his own little niche fanbase.
He had a website where he sold signed wristbands.
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And even had a name for his fanbase:
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He'd gone to talk shows YEARS before 1D was formed. This is him on Lorraine in 2008. The video itself was uploaded BEFORE he first even auditioned for the X Factor for the second time.
Here's the actual video:
youtube
And now I'm going to show you, factually, how Liam was who the producers of the show thought would be the main guy and who was ACTUALLY pushed to the front.
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This was their entrance for their first ever performance at the X Factor live shows
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This is how they were standing while waiting for feedback from the judges. Liam tended to be in the middle or in the front in most photos and interviews. None of this is accidental, btw, blocking in TV is a serious matter, whoever is at the center is who your eyes will be drawn to.
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It doesn't matter how many times The Hags try to rewrite history and claim that Harry was "pushed to the front," nothing they say, no matter how many times they repeat it, can change history and what we can see with our own eyes.
That doesn't mean that they would blindly push Liam no matter what. They would course-correct if someone else started to give signs of testing better. They, in fact, did just that.
Keep in mind, back in 2010, social media was in its infancy. Instagram had just been created (and it only became a thing since 2012), Facebook was huge but it was very personal and none of the guys really used it much.
Twitter had started to become relevant in 2009, and most young people were flocking there. Justin Bieber and One Direction fans were the backbone of what's today known as "stan Twitter."
What I'll do is analyze Liam and Harry's popularity on Twitter going by the air date of their X Factor episodes, which you can find in the picture below.
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Liam's audition aired September 4 (auditions 3) and Harry's audition aired September 18 (auditions 5)
I'd love to do a proper breakdown of their follower counts but that's not really possible because there isn't an archive that can tell you that accurately. We'll have to rely on their own tweets and tweets from fans.
I'll also analyze their performances, the solos they got, how blocking was handled, etc. There was extra content where 1D was featured, and I'll address that as well, but keep in mind the extra content was only seen by a handful of people relative to the amount that watched the live shows - you can see the ratings above. We're talking 13 million viewers on average.
Neither Harry nor Liam would be featured on the X Factor again after their auditions until bootcamp aired. As you can see above that was September 25/26. There were glimpses of them the 25th (like the ones I mentioned before about Zayn dancing and Harry dating), but the main thing was the 26th when they were cut from the show only to be brought back and put in the band.
Liam had nearly 7,000 followers on September 15 2010 (10 before bootcamp).
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Meanwhile Harry had 2,800 September 26, right before the episode aired:
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The next day, after the episode aired, Harry nearly doubled his followers.
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And so did Liam by September 30, with 14,000
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Judge's Houses was when 1D was first introduced as such and they performed Torn. This aired October 2/3. I don't have data for these days.
Something must've happened October 6 (I'm thinking maybe a Twitcam?) because we have the first archived version of their accounts and we can actually see their followers.
Liam had almost 24,000 and Harry had almost 19,000
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Liam still had an edge but Harry was rapidly approaching. Liam went from tripling Harry's followers, to doubling them, to only being a few thousand above.
Here we have the airing schedule for the next couple of shows.
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1- First live show, October 9/10: They performed Viva La Vida.
Liam opened and closed the song, Zayn and Niall had short-ish solos. Harry and Louis had none. I posted pics of how they were standing above, but Liam was blocked in the middle the whole time.
2- Second live show, October 16/17: They performed My Life Would Suck Without You.
Liam opened the song and had a second solo in the second verse. Other than a single adlib by Zayn of two words mid-song, only Liam had solos. Liam was also blocked in the middle and close up for most of the song. (You can fact-check, just watch the video). At this point it's pretty clear Liam is the one being pushed. The others are barely singing. In both performances so far Liam has giant close ups that last a very long (for TV) time.
3- Third live show, October 23/24: They performed Nobody Knows
Liam opens the song and sings for quite a bit, Harry gets his first solo, performing the bridge. They're static the entire performance, with Liam blocked in the middle.
Before every performances they showed a short interview about their week, and this week they showed footage of and talked about going to the mall and how that caused hysteria with fans. After the performances was over, Dermot O'Leary, the host of the show, asked them who had to sign the most autographs. They all said Harry. Keep in mind, at this point (when the whole autograph thing happened), this boy has had NO SOLOS in the live shows. Just that one performance of Torn and his audition.
I'll now address the part about the other bits of footage they showed aside from the main performances. They had bits and pieces in a show called XTra Factor, Megamind, Question time, etc. You can find a full playlist of 1D's appearances in these videos here. That, and the video diaries, of course were the only pieces of content the X Factor made about them. These were fluff pieces that either aired during the week or after the live shows, or were internet exclusive, so like I said, the audience that consumed this was pretty small in comparison to the live shows and as such it doesn't really warrant an analysis. That said, all the members were featured pretty evenly on these, with Louis perhaps being the main one because he was very loud and energetic.
I think these videos were fundamental to establish a fandom, but I wouldn't say it really affected who was popular. Louis was by far the least popular member while they were in X Factor (this is a fact, not me being shady, and this would of course change while they were in the band), even though he was the one who was probably featured the most in this content (he was also pretty much always front and center in the video diaries, for example).
Aside from that, there was social media, where all five did Twitcams and tweeted fans and stuff. Liam was the most active on Twitter and it was an inside joke both in the fandom and with the guys that Liam was always doing a Twitcam.
We're in late October and so far, Harry has not been pushed at all. I think we can all agree on that. And yet, by the 26th, he was the most followed member, juuuust edging Liam
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You can see how Niall and Zayn have about half the followers Harry and Liam have and how Louis is trailing all five.
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4- Fourth live show, October 30/31: They performed Total Eclipse of the Heart
Niall and Liam did a call and response bit where Niall would say "Turn around" and Liam respond with the rest of the verse. Louis and Zayn had small solos. Harry had no solos, being the only one not to have any. Just saying. No solos. They start the performance sitting down. When they stand up Harry is blocked in the middle, but they switch when the song ends with Niall ending up in the middle.
5- Fifth live show, November 6/7: They performed Kids In America
Liam started the song, again. Niall had a small solo and so did Louis. Harry and Zayn did a bit where they harmonized together. Harry had one (1) solo adlib. He was blocked in the middle the whole performance, to be fair, first time this has happened so far. I can sense the air shifting but still very short solo time.
6- Sixth live show, November 13/14: They performed Something About The Way You Look Tonight
Liam starts again, Zayn has a few small adlibs. Harry has an actual big solo (and he knocks it out of the park). He's also blocked in the middle again. We're 2/3 of the way through the season and more than halfway through the live shows, btw. The X Factor started airing August 21st and finished almost exactly a month after this performance on December 12. It's clear the producers are starting to notice just how popular Harry has become and they're shifting the focus in front of our eyes. When Harry starts singing the audience SCREAMS (jump to 0:40 seconds in the video).
7- Seventh live show, November 20/21: They performed All You Need Is Love
Liam starts once again. Harry is now permanently blocked in the middle, it seems, and he has a solo following Liam. Niall has a solo after the chorus, Harry takes the solo after Niall as well, he also closes out the song with a call and response, where he sings "Love is all you need" and the rest chorus "love, love, love." The shift is in full swing. Liam is still opening, but only because he sets the tone now, and seemingly not because he's the de facto leader anymore.
8- Eighth live show, November 27/28: They performed Summer of 69 and You Are So Beautiful (other contestants were being eliminated so now the ones remaining are singing two songs).
Summer of 69: Liam starts, and he's the only one to have a full solo, the rest of the song is mostly all five with Harry doing a couple of adlibs. Zayn is blocked in the middle at first, but Harry ends up in that position when the song ends.
You Are So Beautiful: Liam starts. Harry takes the solo after. He's blocked in the middle again. Zayn has a solo after, then it goes back to Harry (complete with a high note), and he ends the song. I don't think Niall and Louis opened their mouths.
We can now update on followers, because I can finally find some more data.
December 2, Harry has 118,000 followers
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December 3, Liam has 101,000
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The shift has shifted, fully. Sorry, Liam, you had a good run.
Jokes aside, Harry forced their hand. He became the most popular one with little to no solos, while someone else was supposed to be the focus. He wasn't the focus of the extra content (that would be Louis) and he wasn't the most active one on social media (that would be Liam). It just HAPPENED. 100% organically.
Yes, of fucking COURSE once they saw the raw attraction this boy generated in hordes of girls they switched gears. DUH. Wouldn't you??? They don't make these decisions based on nothing. If the audience wants Harry Styles they'll give them Harry Styles. That is how it works.
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9- Ninth live show, December 4/5: They performed Only Girl in the World and Chasing Cars
Only Girl: Liam started, Zayn had a small adlib, the rest of the song is all five. They moved around the stage a lot, so the formation doesn't really matter all that much.
Chasing Cars: Liam starts and he's blocked in the middle at first. They switch after the first chorus and Harry blocks in the middle as he takes his solo in the second verse. He's also doing high harmonies so you hear his voice the most throughout the entire second chorus very very loud while the others blend together. This is the first time that happens so clearly. He also closes the song. This is their last performance before the final, and it'll echo the way most One Direction songs will go for their entire discography.
I have to say, the audience gets loud before and after every performance, and every time they switch solos too. The audience adores all of them. But they get SO loud when Harry starts a solo. I'd watched all of these years and years ago but had forgotten that detail.
Also, the myth that Harry wasn't as good as Liam and Zayn at this point is just preposterous watching these performances. His voice is so solid when he has to sing. Liam is obviously more steady (literal years of experience vs a couple of weeks), but he's not better than Harry by any means, just better equipped, I'd say. Zayn's voice is very thin and way more off pitch than I remembered (Harry can get flat as well, but he belts with a lot of power while Zayn at this point cannot, probably nerves tho).
Anyway, the X Factor final would air December 11/12. Obviously it aired at night, so the next two tweets are right before the final.
Liam gained 3,000 in about a week.
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Harry had gained 20,000.
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And if you've watched all the videos I linked, you'll know exactly why.
I don't really have more insight on their followers in 2010. I can't find any other tweets that mention numbers. But for the sake of completion, let's analyze the final two performances.
10- Final, December 11/12: They performed Your Song and She's The One.
Your Song: Liam started. They were blocked with separate spotlights but when they formed in line, Harry was blocked in the middle, and immediately started his solo. The bit about Harry doing high harmonies for the second chorus happens again. This time Liam closes the song.
She's The One: Liam starts. Harry is blocked in the middle yet again (it's so funny lol). He takes the second solo. Louis introduces Robbie Williams after Harry's solo, who stands right next to Harry and takes the next solo (and all the solos after this). Robbie hugs Harry for most of the performance, then Louis who's on his other side. The camera is solely focused on Robbie with a little bit of Harry, which I find fucking HILARIOUS. What incredible foreshadowing.
*
Anyway, was Harry PUSHED by "The Powers That Be"? I mean, sure, but only after they realized how insanely popular he was. They stubbornly tried to push someone else to the forefront for two thirds of the competition and only clued in towards the end.
More so, when they gave in and started to push Harry, it actually worked. 1D became massively popular with hordes of fans, and most of them latched onto Harry. It's not like they switched gears, pushed Harry after Liam, it also flopped and someone else was more popular, but they stubbornly decided to continue pushing Harry. If it happened with Liam, it could've easily happened with Harry. But it didn't.
What you need to understand is that you can push whatever you want to an audience, but just because you push it doesn't mean it's gonna work out. Some things and some people click and others do not. Marketing can only help so far. And these decisions aren't made lightly. There's a ton of market research, of analyzing data, and checking reactions. If Harry hadn't tested well once they shifted, they wouldn't have kept pushing just for the sake of it. Just like they didn't with Liam.
Things don't happen in a vacuum. Harry didn't have any industry connections to warrant a push from the start (that would be Louis, who's mom knew James Corden). He hadn't been on TV or taken vocal lessons (that would be Liam). He also had never taken musical lessons for any instrument (that would be Niall). His family was working class. His mom has recently talked about how many jobs she had when he was growing up and how exhausted she was. Gemma talked about her and Harry being latchkey kids, having to fend for themselves. We know Harry worked multiple jobs since he was a child and until he was put in the band (since he was like, 10). He'd never gone to London before X Factor.
When The Hags claim that he was "chosen" and "pushed" they never explain the why in detail. Because THEY CAN'T. Not without admitting that Harry is talented and charismatic. I've seen some say "people like him because he's attractive." I mean, of course, he is. He's very attractive. So are the others, though? Different levels of attractiveness, of course, but they all got put in that band because of their looks. If they could sing but looked fugly they wouldn't have been put in a BOYBAND. In fact, I think being cute was more important than being able to sing at the time. Not naming names, but...
There's also been claims of "well, he was probably easy to manipulat." Brother ALL OF THEM were easy to manipulate. They were working class kids with a dream. I know part of being The Hags is having a bitch eating crackers attitude to him breathing, so of course they're never going to admit that he's not just good looking, but he's also charismatic, and has a great stage presence, and has a beautiful tone of voice, and an incredible work ethic.
But most importantly he had that Thing that people just latch onto. It's not something tangible you can describe. He just has it. It's the reason The Hags have been foaming at the mouth for a decade. There was nothing extraordinary about him that would producers want to push him above the others nefariously. The reasons you want to push an artist are typically very benign because that's the nature of the beast.
He didn't get an unfair advantage among his band mates.
Someone was ALWAYS gonna be in the forefront. Every single band in the history of bands has had at least one front-person. The producers initially thought it'd be Liam, put him in that position, but Harry took that from him organically, as much as it pains The Hags.
Fast forward to right before 1D released their first single (What Makes You Beautiful, which came out August 19 2011), and Harry now has 120,000 more followers than Liam (25% more). Louis Niall and Zayn are all pretty close together in followers, about 30,000 behind Liam and 150,000 behind Harry.
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Now fast forward to around the time of their debut album release (mid November 2011)
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The difference has now stretched to >200,000 (cannot get this tweet to embed but it says Liam is almost at 800,000).
This distance will grow bigger and bigger until the end of 1D and the start of their solo careers. By the end, Niall had solidified himself as the second most popular 1D member. These were the numbers on January 2016 (after 1D ended but before Zayn started his solo career):
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Yes, once Harry became the frontman, he became THE FRONT MAN. In their first single, he sings the bridge and sings directly to the girl in the music video.
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We also know Harry was BY FAR the most prominent voice in the group.
I haven't independently verified these screenshots, but I've been seeing them make the rounds on Twitter for ages with no one fact checking them, plus they... well, they sound about right. If there's anything that's wrong about them, please let me know, but counting these numbers sounds like an absolute nightmare that I'm simply not willing to put myself through.
This is counting ALL the albums, of course, but we know Harry consistently had the most amount of solos throughout their discography.
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He also lead most choruses by far
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And while for the first two albums Liam would start basically every song, Harry would quickly catch up with the latter three
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And I was actually able to independently verify this (because it's not that hard), and the numbers aren't exactly the same but they're very similar. Somehow I have more songs? Maybe whoever did this only used the standard versions of the albums.
These are the totals: Liam 36, Harry 31, Niall 11, Zayn 9, Louis 4.
When they did interviews Harry was almost always sitting right next to the host (this would depend on what was the best spot for blocking in terms of the cameras and lights the show would use, but typically it's next to the host)
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He was typically in the middle or in whatever place gave him more attention in photo shoots and he was, for instance in the thumbnail of most music videos, a lot of the times alone
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Anyway, what's the point of this? The point of this is that my mama didn't raise a liar. Harry WAS pushed to the front once he became the most popular one... in the middle of the X Factor. And because he was pushed to the front a vicious circle (I'd describe it as virtuous, to be perfectly honest) was created, where more people heard his name, and he became even more popular, so he was pushed more. And so forth.
The media picked up on this, of course. It very quickly became "Harry Styles and his Directions."
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Harry was very gracious about it, and we'll touch on his attitude towards that and his potential solo career in a post soon, but rumors of him going solo started almost as soon as they became huge.
1D released their first single in August 2011 and their first album in November. Neither of these would be released in America until 2012 (January for WMYB and March for UAN), once they did, 1D became massive worldwide. Harry started dating Taylor Swift towards the end of 2012, and that gave him a surplus of name recognition. He was already the most popular one by far, as we've established, but dating America's Sweetheart only created more distance between his celebrity ant he other four.
Thing is, he didn't date Taylor Swift for this reason. I know The Hags tend to be conspiracy theorists (or former conspiracy theorists that never lost their ways), so they will absolutely tell you it was PR to further his career, but I PROMISE you, it wasn't. This is something that can be very easily verified by virtue of just... paying attention to Harry and Taylor's relationship a little closer than the average tinhat tends to.
I'll clarify that I'm not fond of Taylor Swift. I flat out don't like her. I don't like her and Harry together either. But I don't just believe in things I personally enjoy. I believe in REALITY. One day I'll make a breakdown post of their relationship (which has been overly romanticized and minimized in very similar amounts). But the point I'm making right now is: yes, she raised his celebrity, but no it wasn't PR. In fact, the audience was aware of them being a couple for like, two months, when they had something going on, on and off, for several years (mostly off, let's be real).
After Harry was linked to Taylor, the talk about him going solo hit mainstream media. I mean, even before he was linked to Taylor the media discussed it.
May 2012
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These reports come from The Daily Star, which is National Enquirer levels of BS, of course. Harry once sued them for alleging on their cover that he had leaked nudes and posting a manipulated picture of his "naked" body (it was photoshop). But still, why did they make this rumor in particular up? Well, because he was the most high profile member, even in May 2012.
The reports kept coming, April 2013.
Harry Styles Going Solo?! One Direction Rep Says There's "No Truth" to False Album Reports. Source
The source for this one is The Mirror, which is slightly less terrible than Daily Star, but still quite terrible. The Sun would've been their go-to publication if this was something that had any type of substance (The Sun is also quite terrible, but they did have a lot of ties to 1D's team, particularly their publicist). Of course, 1D's team shut the rumor down immediately. They did this over and over. I'm not going to show you every instance. There were even leaked emails where it was asked that Harry did events on his own and Sony politely informed them that, no, Harry didn't do events on his own without the rest of the band.
The song Don't Let Me Go leaked in June 2013, and of course people jumped.
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Truth is they all recorded versions of the songs individually. This is something Louis touched on, I think in his documentary? Harry wrote Don't Let Me go, and he recorded a demo of it, because they all did that. The song was for the band, not for himself.
In terms of writing, that's another topic I'll expand on later, but while they were all slowly dipping their toes into songwriting, Harry seemed to want to branch out. 1D had been assigned a team of writers and producers spearheaded by the super talented and successful Savan Kotecha, who was their coach in the X Factor (he's an Oscar shortlisted and Golden Globe and Grammy nominated songwriter behind a huge amount of enormous hits (Can't Feel My Face, God Is A Woman, Love Me Like You Do, DJ Got Us Falling In Love, etc).
He quit after 1D's second album, after being harassed by Louis (I will absolutely expand on this some day), but he maintained a good relationship with the others. When he left, he recommended a set of songwriters and producers to take over his place for the three following albums, this time spearheaded by Julian Bunetta (also very accomplished, but, yeah, slightly less so than Savan).
While Harry did write a few songs with both of those teams (he actually wrote Happily with Savan for 1D's third album, the last song Savan wrote for 1D before leaving). He also sought out other songwriters.
You can find a complete breakdown here, but while still in 1D Harry wrote with the likes of John Legend, Gary Lightbody and Johnny McDaid (Snow Patrol), Dan Layus (Agustana), Jake Gosling and Chris Leonard, Gavin DeGraw, Ryan Tedder, Johan Carlsson, the band Kodaline, Taylor Swift, Bruno Mars, Max Martin, et al.
Harry started writing songs he kept for himself in 2014 (he mentioned this about his song Two Ghosts, which he later released in his debut album, for instance). And he also wrote songs for other artists, such as Ariana Grande, Alex & Sierra, and Michael Bublé.
Of course, this branching out got him a ton of connections and a ton of grace from members of the industry (who have always spoken wonders about him). He mentioned meeting his current manager and longtime friend Jeff Azoff in Toronto in 2012. Obviously The Hags get bent out of shape about this, because Jeff is son of legendary music manager Irving Azoff.
But Harry's connection to Irving is completely irrelevant in terms of his popularity. As I established here pretty plainly, he became the most popular member in 2010. Their team had to visibly pivot from promoting Liam Payne as the de facto leader to promoting Harry. People latched onto him organically.
Yes, when you have that once in a lifetime reaction from the audience to an artist, different types of music people with high positions of power will take notice and want an in for themselves. We'll get more in depth about this in the next post, so I don't want to continue to waffle on a lot longer, I think this whole "Harry was only popular because he was pushed" thing has been thoroughly debunked.
He was pushed because people CHOSE HIM.
And it was a good decision to do that because he was a huge part of 1D being successful. People try to humble him so often, "he wouldn't be famous if it wasn't for 1D."
You don't know that. Justin Bieber was discovered on YouTube in 2009. Harry was in a band in high school. He did musicals in school. He loved doing karaoke and was an avid music enjoyer. He was very much musically inclined and could have very well become famous without 1D. He could've auditioned for the X Factor again at a later date. He was SIXTEEN when he was put in the band.
It is not a fact that Harry wouldn't have become famous without 1D. He could've. But we also know that the minute Harry said he wouldn't sign his contract again, the band disbanded (and that's the subject of the new post).
Harry could and has thrived without 1D. But One Direction has never thrived without Harry. So.
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themultifandomgal · 2 months ago
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From 2010- YN’s Wiki So Far
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YN YLN in 2015
YN YLN, Born 13th April 1994, is a British singer and songwriter. She is known for being part of the British pop group One Direction. In 2010, YLN auditioned as a solo artist for the British television series The X Factor. She was eliminated as a solo artist before going to judges house, however joined the then boyband One Direction.
YN attended Shrewsbury Secondary school, taking part in the schools drama department and choir. In addition to singing, YLN has also appeared in television and film, including the Nickelodeon series iCarly and the autobiographical concert film One Direction: This Is Us.
YLN along with bandmates Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson, has released five commercially successful albums, performed on a worldwide tour, and won several awards, including two BRIT Awards and four MTV Video Music Awards.
Early life
YLN was born in Shrewsbury Shropshire to parents Thomas and Lisa YLN. She enjoyed singing from a young age, putting on shows for her parents.
At the age of 14 her mother was diagnosed with stage 4 cervical cancer and unfortunately lost her battle in 2009, a year before YN’s appearance on the X Factor.
Music career
YLN finished in 3rd place alongside her bandmates on the TV show the X Factor. Not long after the show it was announced that the band had been signed by Simon Cowell and his record label Syco records. They began working on their first album in 2011. One Direction released their first studio album, Up All Night, in 2011, followed by their second, Take Me Home, in 2012. One Direction: This Is Us, a documentary about the band directed by Morgan Spurlock, was released in August 2013. The film grossed more than $30 million worldwide its first weekend in theaters. The band's third studio album, Midnight Memories, was released on 25 November 2013. The band release their fourth studio album Four in 2014. Their final album, Made in the AM was released on 13th November 2015.
YN has announced she will be releasing her first solo album very soon.
Personal life
YLN was in a relationship while on the X Factor, but they soon split up. YLN then started dating Alex. Unfortunately her whirlwind relationship came to a halt after Alex passed away in 2012.
YLN had an on and off relationship with actor Liam Hemsworth from 2013 until 2014. She had been single since, however many speculate that YLN and bandmate Harry Styles have had a secret relationship during their time in One Direction, but nothing had been confirmed.
YN has a dog named Cookie who lives with YLN’s dad or best friend Emma when YN was on tour.
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devoqdesign · 1 year ago
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An image displaying a modern UI design Concept
Did you know that a well-designed UI can significantly impact user engagement?
For more informtion to visit website: https://www.devoqdesign.com/
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kunikame · 1 month ago
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venus, planet of love. - mitsuki i.
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warning(s) : hurt/comfort, mitsukis inferiority complex, i7 are the planets dont ask me why just read the fic, i love u izumi mitsuki u are so me w/c : 1619
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you know love is real because izumi mitsuki exists, and he is full of it.
mitsuki loves many things – he loves iori, ZERO, re:vale, idolish7, his parents, the bakery, .. the list goes on endlessly, for izumi mitsuki is love itself. he is a lover through and through, he was raised with love enveloping him all around, and he spreads it around to everyone shamelessly and selflessly.
the only thing mitsuki doesn’t really love is himself – he is second. always, always second.
second to his genius younger brother, secondary to all his group members, always the kid picked last unless iori was the leader.
there was nothing particularly wrong with him that made it this way, he was, simply put, mediocre. a jack of all trades but master of none, if you will.
so you can imagine it didn’t quite surprise him to be less popular than his group mates by a huge margin. he didn’t stand out with anything, he had nothing for himself that would make him stand out – he wasn’t too likeable. he was aware of this, he has known this for a while – but it still hit him quite hard.
it was horrible, really, to see a light so bright become dim because it cannot see itself – it only sees the other lights, and becomes lost in their glow, mistakenly led to believe he does not shine at all.
it certainly does a number on the sight to gaze directly at the sun.
perhaps if he was brighter, if he was made of something different, he, too, would shine – would be loved.
you’ve always compared idolish7 to the planets in the sky, and fittingly so, as to you, a friend and fan, they are the center of a greater something. something only they can create, something that is tried and tested and truly theirs, because they shine brighter than all the stars combined, and because they deserve to have their place in the universe.
if nanase riku is the sun, a sense of purpose, then iori izumi is the moon, instinct. nikaido yamato is jupiter, expansion. nagi rokuya is saturn, responsibility. tamaki yotsuba is uranus, freedom. osaka sogo is mercury, adaptability. 
izumi mitsuki is venus, love.
for it is not love if it is not izumi mitsuki. it is not izumi mitsuki if it is not love.
you just wish he knew that.
which is exactly why when he got offers to mc on variety shows, you encouraged him to take them, to try them – maybe he’ll end up liking them. he is really funny, after all, a natural conversationalist. he is exactly the type variety mc’s like to interview the most, you’re almost certain he would be good at the job.
and he was – he was so good, in fact, he earned idolish7 their very own namesake show, with him as the mc.
he finally had something for himself, something that was purely his, something that defined and solidified his place in idolish7. something that made him irreplaceable.
seeing mitsuki try so earnestly and work so hard, you honestly didn’t know what to do. sometimes, you’d want to say “good luck!”, but other times you feel a “you don’t have to work so hard” would be better, as he was literally working himself to the bone to please everyone he possibly could – for what is he, if not love?
he never desired whatever side parts come with fame – he simply wanted to make people happy. that was his one true ambition, his goal. he doesn’t need anyone to love him, as long as they love the things he loves – as long as they love idolish7. it would sting, of course, to be left behind, to be unfavored, but he supposed he could live with that reality. he was finally accepted after all those failed auditions, he was doing what he loved, with the people he loved by his side.
he believed he could somehow get used to being disliked.
being disliked for doing something he loved however, that was a different story. 
he thought by mc-ing he could get closer to the others in popularity – and, from a certain point, it was true – his popularity did rise a bit, and he definitely did receive more fan letters and positive comments now, but the fated encounter and the unfortunate “he’s so annoying, i wish he would shut up” would continue to ring in his head for a long while to come.
he has just built up his confidence and stability like a fine tower of cards, fearing the slightest gust of wind lest it gets knocked off and tumbles onto his wooden desk in a messy pile – but instead, someone kicked the desk and the cards flew off and onto the cold, harsh ground, such a far distance off.
nagi had attempted to salvage the situation to the best of his ability, but lifting the cards off the ground isn’t going to rebuild the tower – mitsuki will have to do that himself.
handing him the cards while he does so was a simple act of kindness on your part.
“mitsuki?”
he startles mid stretch, an earbud falling out as he turns his head.
“[name]? what are you still doing here?”
“i was looking for you, then i ran into iori– he said i’d find you here,” you made your way over to sit next to him on the floor, sharing a look through the mirror facing you, “what are you doing here so late?”
“y’know, just practicing. gotta catch up and stuff, haha.”
“you’re already good enough as you are, mitsuki. you don’t need to chase after anything or anyone.”
he heaves an exhausted sigh, fiddling with the wires from his earbuds, “i do, though. i’m smaller than the others so i’m often off beat during the choreographies. i need to do more work to make sure i stay on.”
“you shouldn’t work so hard all the time. you’re tearing yourself apart trying to do this and that all at the same time – i understand your intentions, but i feel the way you’re going about them is going to bring you ruin in the end. as a friend first and fan second, i care for your health, and i don’t want to see you destroy yourself.”
“i’m not as good as them th–”
“yes, you are. you’re too absorbed in seeing them as the brightest lights to see yourself shining just as much as them. popularity polls don’t define who you are as a person, or how much you work, or how hard you try. the others know that, though, and so do i. we all see how much effort and care you put into your work, mitsuki – we know you pour out your heart and soul into everything you do, desperately trying to make it the best, trying to make people happy with you, and you do. the disapproving voices simply sound louder to you at this point in time, because those are the ones you’re most exposed to. it is however not hatred and dislike that kills entertainers, it’s love.”
the ginger listened attentively, taking your monologue in, dissecting it bit by bit. though he seems to disagree, he does understand your view and he respects it – he just doesn’t quite understand. he looks up at the mirror, staring in your eyes through it, and his seem to shimmer a tad more than they normally would under the studio lights.
“why love?”
the smile on your face feels a little melancholy, and again, he finds himself not understanding why.
“love can be overbearing and suffocating. sometimes we love things too much – so much we would kill just to keep them to ourselves. we destroy ourselves in an effort to make our loved ones happy or proud, completely blind to our surroundings becoming hazy and hard to navigate, and when you come to, you find you’re all alone in a room once filled with people. love changes, sometimes not in a good way. much like the stars burn up and disappear, the planets, too, will be destroyed by the sun,” you turn to him then, and there is a singular tear streaming down his face. you reach out to wipe it with your finger, and he blinks, “i don’t want to see that happen to you, because to me, you are love.”
“the destructive kind?”
“no, the beautiful kind. i see pieces of you in everything i hold dear, because i hold you dear.”
you see him smile for the first time that night, and it is beautiful, blindingly so – brighter than the white leds above his head. 
“i hold you dear, too.”
there’s a comfortable silence as you gaze at each other, the instrumental to their new song faintly heard from his long discarded earbuds on the floor.
“hey, did you know venus is the brightest planet naturally visible in the night sky?”
perhaps the planet of love itself was destroyed by being loved too much, but not izumi mitsuki – never izumi mitsuki.
izumi mitsuki loved many things. he loved iori, ZERO, re:vale, idolish7 – the list goes on. he was a lover, raised to love the things and people around himself.
“oh, really?”
but izumi mitsuki was also loved. loved by his fans, group mates, parents – by you.
the izumi mitsuki you knew had his love returned to him tenfold by his surroundings – be it the flowers his eyes linger on, the deep orange hues of the setting sun as they caress his face, the stray pets he feeds when he sees them – everything.
the izumi mitsuki you know is loved.
“yeah.”
maybe one day he will learn to love himself, too. 
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psychooomind · 29 days ago
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Flickering Lights
Michael Gavey x singer!reader
Summary: Michael and Violet come from completely different worlds, but when their paths cross at university, an unexpected connection sparks between them. As their relationship deepens, they must navigate secrets, misunderstandings, and their own fears. Can their love overcome the odds, or will the time put them apart?
A multi-entry, slow-burn, friends to lovers fic.
You can also read it at AO3 here.
Chapter 2
Chapter 1: First Days
The autumn breeze brushed the girl’s cheeks as she adjusted the strap of her violin on her shoulder. She was walking briskly to her first class, listening to Avril Lavigne on her MP3 player.
She was in an incredible mood, having anticipated this moment for months. Yet, she couldn’t shake the first-day nerves, so she decided to walk from her flat to the university. The imposing Gothic building loomed before her, making everything feel more real than she had imagined: she had done it—she was going to study music.
“ You’ll fail, just like your mother did .” Her father’s words had echoed in her head since she was fifteen, ever since she began expressing her growing desire to study music. Her first spark of rebellion had come when she met Hannah Abraham, a Jewish girl who studied French with her and whose parents had allowed her to take drum lessons. Hannah had mentioned that she planned to audition for a girl group in London that was looking for a drummer. The girl had spent countless hours listening to her friend play the drums after their French classes, so she wasn’t surprised when Hannah got the spot. What Violet didn’t know then was that she would become a fan of the band and, a year later, would join them as a secondary vocalist, becoming part of the incredible Wrecked Shiny Girls.
Now, three years later, she was here, refining her craft. Her father still disapproved of her choices, particularly her involvement with the band, but there was no turning back now. Besides, Frederick Bryon still had Victor, her twin brother, who was also starting university—but at Christian Church College. Victor followed their father’s orders to the letter and was studying economics as instructed.
But Violet had a clear purpose: to prove that studying music at St. Hilda’s was more than just a “rebellious phase,” as her father insisted on calling it. To her, this wasn’t simply a decision; it was her life and her passion.
When she entered her first class, Musical and Artistic Analysis, she sat at the front and waited for the other students to file in. Among the crowd, she recognised Marcey Frey and Caroline Meyer, two girls from her old school. Both ignored her, which came as no surprise—she had never had a good relationship with them.
The professor, Cornelia Shawn, was a renowned British composer who had been teaching at St. Hilda’s since the 1980s. Violet had read several articles about her and her involvement in songs by the likes of Billy Joel, Elton John, and others. When Professor Shawn introduced herself, the room erupted into applause, Violet’s hands among them. She still couldn’t quite believe where she was sitting.
At the other end of Oxford, a boy was getting dressed for his first day. Michael had chosen one of the shirts his mother had neatly ironed and folded into his bag, pairing it with cargo trousers his uncle Alfred had gifted him last Christmas. There wasn’t a mirror in his dorm room.
In fact, there wasn’t much in his dorm room at all. Just a bed with built-in drawers, already made with sheets from home the night before; a desk displaying his weekly pill organiser as its only noteworthy item; and a slightly rusted lamp he hadn’t yet tested to see if it worked. The walls were white but scarred with small patches of peeled paint, evidence of a poster once taped there before his arrival. A corkboard hung on the wall as well, predictably bare.
He had made a mental note when he arrived to unpack his clothes and place them in the drawers, but he’d barely slept the night before. His anxiety was through the roof, so he dashed out to his first class: Calculus. He was the first to arrive, even before the professor, who shuffled in at a slow, weary pace. The man unlocked the room, and Michael took a seat at the front. The professor eyed him curiously before settling in to wait for more students.
A group of students trickled in moments later, filling the room with murmurs and footsteps. The constant noise set Michael on edge until the professor finally rose and addressed the class, introducing himself and outlining the syllabus as though anyone actually needed to hear it.
Michael took notes on everything. He didn’t need to—his memory was impeccable, and he retained every word the professor said with ease. But years ago, his therapist had recommended putting his thoughts on paper when he felt anxious. Today, his thoughts were entirely consumed by calculus. As he looked down at his notebook, he felt a rare sense of satisfaction. Numbers, at least, were beautifully, perfectly controllable.
After class, he headed back to his dormitory but decided to detour through the cafeteria. Inside, a group of students his age were shouting and sitting on tables instead of chairs, talking as though they were the only ones in the room. He recognised them from the night before—the same group of misfits whose “first-night party” had kept him awake. Naturally, he hadn’t been invited.
Among them was a tall boy with a piercing in his eyebrow, laughing obnoxiously with a red-haired guy about a group of students who had tried to join the party without an invitation. Next to them, a dark-skinned boy with an afro was mockingly teasing a girl whose skirt was so short Michael could have sworn he’d seen her underwear. Meanwhile, her friend was fiddling nervously with her hair, casting provocative glances at the boy with the piercing.
Michael knew who they were. They weren’t there to study but to make a mess of things. They were the type who hadn’t earned their place but had wealthy parents footing the bill for expensive and, in Michael’s view, pointless degrees like Art or Business Management.
He, on the other hand, had spent nearly five years preparing to earn his scholarship to Oxford. Not only that, but he had the distinction of being, quite literally, the best young mathematician of his age. He’d won district, regional, and national competitions to get here. His mother had dragged him to every one of those competitions to ensure he reached his goal. And now here he was, watching others squander their privilege, lounging about with famous surnames and deep pockets.
He approached the vending machine, slid in his money, and waited for his chocolate bar. But the old, neglected machine jammed. Behind him, the red-haired boy joined the queue.
“Taking long, mate?” asked the boy, eyeing him curiously.
“It’s stuck,” Michael muttered without looking up, giving the machine a firm knock.
“What was that?” the boy snapped, his tone sharp. “What did you say?”
“The machine’s stuck,” Michael repeated irritably.
Michael sighed, delivered another frustrated knock to the vending machine, and prepared to leave. Behind him, the red-haired boy called out to one of his friends—the one with the piercing—who approached, smirking. Michael didn’t wait for the encounter to escalate. He recognised their type all too well: the kind who could spot an easy target from a mile away.
“All good, Victor?” asked the boy with the piercing.
“Yeah, the nerd broke the vending machine. No drink for me, I guess,” the redhead replied with a laugh.
Michael stormed back to his dormitory, fuming. Spoiled brats. He’d lost both his snack and his time.
As he approached his room, a nearby door slammed shut. He paused, watching curiously. After a moment, a girl’s head poked out cautiously before retreating with a startled “Oh, God.”
He stared at the door, puzzled.
“Sorry,” came a muffled voice from the other side. “I have a hard time socialising with people I don’t know.”
Michael nodded to himself and entered his own room. At least he wasn’t the only odd one on the floor.
At St. Hilda’s, Violet had just finished her first class and was heading to the bustling campus café. The atmosphere was overwhelming, like trying to tune into thousands of conversations all at once. Groups of students animatedly debated the recent tuition fee hike to £3,000 per year at universities across the country. Others read passages from Zygmunt Bauman aloud, while a smaller cluster sat to one side, strumming guitars.
She found a quiet table and sat alone, pulling out her songbook. That weekend, she had band practice, and there were still songs she hadn’t memorised. As she focused on the lines of a new melody, someone approached.
“Mind if I sit here?” asked a girl with curly hair and curious eyes.
“Of course, go ahead,” Violet replied with a smile.
The girl introduced herself as Claire, a literature student who also had a keen interest in music. Their conversation flowed effortlessly, and for the first time since her arrival, Violet felt she might find genuine friendships here.
Later, when Violet returned to the apartment she shared with her brother, she opened the door to find the living room thick with smoke and laughter. Victor and his friends had brought bottles of liquor and a deck of cards.
“Victor, what’s going on?” Violet asked, setting her violin case on the floor.
“Relax, hippie. We’re prepping for our first-night dinner,” Victor replied, raising his glass. Beside him sat a tuxedo and shirt, crumpled and ignored.
“Could you at least not turn my living room into a dodgy pub? You know you can’t smoke in here.”
“Your living room,” Farleigh Start mocked, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Beside him, Felix Catton let out a loud laugh. “Looks like the princess here thinks she owns the castle.”
“It is my apartment, Start. If you don’t like the rules, you can leave.”
“It’s Daddy’s apartment, not yours,” Start sneered.
Violet rolled her eyes. “Well, at least I have one, don’t I?”
Farleigh muttered a curse under his breath, and Victor, her brother, did nothing to defend her. Violet chose to ignore them, slamming her bedroom door shut. A chorus of male howls and laughter erupted behind her.
Victor’s friends had always been insufferable, and university hadn’t changed a thing. Felix Catton, Farleigh Start, and a few of the girls, like India Aitken and Anabell Bodley, had all attended the same school as Violet and Victor. She had endured Felix’s relentless advances and Anabell’s passive-aggressive hostility for years. In gym class, Anabell had often ensured they were paired together, deliberately targeting Violet with the ball during games.
That evening, as Violet practised quietly on her bass guitar, she made herself a promise: she wouldn’t let Victor and his friends’ antics derail her ambitions
As Michael wandered through the dining hall, he was still debating whether or not to attend the dinner. Upon arrival, he realised there wasn’t a single available seat. Every table was packed with groups that had already formed, many of them students who seemed to know each other.
Most people didn’t even glance at him, and those who did wore faint expressions of discomfort or indifference. Finally, Michael spotted an empty chair at a table tucked away in the corner. After a moment’s hesitation, he approached and sat down. The others at the table didn’t seem particularly invested in the social dynamics of the room, which, in that moment, was a relief.
A few minutes passed before a boy with brown hair and glasses similar to Michael’s sat down across from him. Michael observed him as he nervously scanned the room, clearly aware of his outsider status. To Michael, he was unmistakably one of them —another invisible presence—and that, oddly enough, made him feel a little less alone.
Without giving it much thought, Michael thrust out his hand abruptly, almost with authority, to break the silence.
“I’m Michael Gavey,” he said, his voice carrying its usual tone of self-assuredness.
The boy, slightly startled but polite, shook his hand.
“Oliver,” he replied.
“Oliver what ?” Michael pressed.
“Oliver Quick.”
“Ah, one of those, are you? A nobody, right?” Michael said with a wry smile, half-expecting a snarky retort.
Oliver shrugged, letting out a nervous laugh.
“Aren’t we all? It’s just the first night,” he replied, glancing uneasily around the room.
Michael’s gaze followed his, pointing out the packed tables where students were laughing and bonding with ease. The contrast with his own corner of the room couldn’t have been starker—a gathering of strangers and misfits.
“Look around,” Michael said, bitterness creeping into his voice. “You see what I see. It’s you, me, and the girl with agoraphobia who hasn’t even left her room.”
Oliver shifted uncomfortably, unsure how to respond. He couldn’t deny the truth in Michael’s observation. Their table was, indeed, a haven for those who didn’t quite belong. Oddly, though, Oliver found the isolation less troubling than he might have expected.
“What are you reading?” Michael asked abruptly, steering the conversation away from the heavy silence but still unable to shake his own simmering frustration.
Oliver hesitated, holding up the book in his hands.
“Nothing in particular,” he said evasively.
Michael wasted no time.
“I’m reading maths,” he announced, a smug grin spreading across his face. “Not because I enjoy it—though I’m brilliant at it. I can solve anything. Go on, test me. Ask me a sum.”
Oliver blinked, taken aback by the boldness of the claim. He hesitated, unsure whether to humour him.
“No, that’s fine…” Oliver said quickly, trying to sidestep the challenge.
Michael wasn’t having it. His need to prove himself burned too brightly.
“Come on, ask me. Anything.”
Oliver glanced at him, his expression growing tense.
“No, really, it’s fine—”
“Ask me a fucking sum!” Michael snapped, his patience wearing thin.
“All right then…” Oliver relented, pausing for a moment. “Four hundred and twenty-three times seventy-eight.”
Without missing a beat, Michael responded.
“Thirty-two thousand, nine hundred and ninety-four.”
Oliver stared, visibly impressed. It wasn’t just that Michael had given the correct answer; it was the speed and apparent ease with which he’d arrived at it. Michael leaned back in his chair, a self-satisfied grin on his face, savouring the moment.
Unbeknownst to him, at a nearby table, Victor and Felix were watching. They nudged each other and laughed quietly, mocking him from a distance. Between the two of them, they planned an idea to play a joke on him.
That Friday, Violet had already finished all her classes for the week. She caught a bus to meet her band at Barry’s Pub, a cosy venue with exposed brick walls, an open bar, and most importantly, a raised stage. For The Wrecked Shiny Girls , this place would soon become their sanctuary.
Dany, the owner, had agreed to keep them as the weekend night act, a deal that promised to boost both the pub’s reputation and the band’s popularity among Oxford’s student scene.
“This is going to be amazing,” said Walda, the band’s vocalist, as she adjusted her microphone. “Our big break, ladies. Mark my words.”
Violet tuned her bass and got ready for the opening song. As the first chords filled the air, Jessy stood nearby, chewing gum and untangling her microphone cables.
“It’s too dark,” she remarked flatly. “The stage is practically invisible.”
Violet glanced around and realised Jessy was right. The stage lacked any direct lighting, and with the pub packed, they were in danger of being completely overlooked.
Walda, sporting her punk boots and spiked hair, started grumbling that this was the only place that had given them a chance. Jessy, clearly in a mood, fanned the flames of the argument. Lorelei had to step in to calm them down, while Violet and Hannah exchanged weary looks.
Walda’s temper could be explosive, and Jessy often seemed to be there just to provoke her. While Violet felt like she was exactly where she belonged, she worried that external pressures or the lack of camaraderie between the two might sabotage the band’s potential.
She couldn’t afford to lose this.
On stage, none of it mattered—the tension at home, her father’s disapproval, or anyone else’s opinions. It was just her and the music.
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fartshitpiss · 24 days ago
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okay but Stede in the performing arts.
Stede did theater in secondary school. it was as much about the dramatics as it was about finding something to keep him from the house. his first year he did crew, only because he nearly threw up before walking into his audition and decided crew was best for him. the second year was less nerve racking and he even landed himself a speaking role! sure, he only had two lines, but it was better than nothing! by the time he graduated he'd played three leading characters and, decidedly, he'd caught the bug.
much to his fathers dismay, Stede decided to go to university for performing arts. he agreed only to pay for a Practical Degree, but Stede had made up his mind and didn't let the financial cut off get in the way of his dreams. at uni he had the best time. and the worst. he laughed and he cried and he learned and he made friends and he loved every beautiful horrible breathtaking minute. he did more shows than he could recall during his schooling. each one, each role, whether he truly enjoyed it or not, was breathed to life with every ounce of passion and strength he had in him.
after uni he floated for a year, indesicive on his next steps. but, as any self respecting actor in his shoes would, Stede found himself packing his belongings and traveling to the big apple. Broadway. it was a tough crowd with more competition than he could imagine but he couldn't see himself happy anywhere else. there was a little bakery only a street from his apartment that he gets a job at to pay the bills. when he wasn't working he was auditioning for anything he could get his hands on. in the beginning he lands a small role here or there, all off Broadway but that didn't matter to him. he didn't get anything for awhile after that, long enough he started to doubt his dream, but then came his breakout.
it wasn't leading, but it was better than everything he'd done since secondary school. and on Broadway this time, at that. Stede would only build momentum from there until he made a name for himself. a true name, one outside of the Bonnets reign of terror, in a special little space carved out just for him.
and then one day, the first rehearsal of a new show, he runs into Edward Teach on crew. literally. causing the box of a dozen lightbulbs Ed was carrying to crash to the ground. they all broke except one, leaving Stede to apologize profusely for the remainder of the shows run.
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