#still wish we got a promotional photo with the 2021 film of them doing their pose (tm)

[tonymarias]

Promotional picture of Larry Kert & Carol Lawrence for West Side Story (1957)

Promotional poster of Richard Beymer & Natalie Wood for West Side Story (1961)

Ansel Elgort & Rachel Zegler in West Side Story (2021)

[wnnoah]

can’t we be seventeen.

wherein noah has a tough flight and a tough conversation. DATED : DEC 1ST 2021 COUNT : 1,662 words in 31 parass

noah barely has time to set his bags down in his new dorm before his phone buzzes and lights up with the name DAD—along with a photo from several halloweens before dressed as tinker bell because ten year old noah wanted to go as peter pan. the seventeen year old sighs, excusing himself and making his way to the balcony he and yuhi now shared. “hey dad” noah answers with the phone balanced between his cheek and shoulder. he sounds tired and, of course, his dad picks up on it.

“you alright bud? how was the flight?” he says, concern clear in his tone. noah wished he could just fold into his arms.

he straightens up and clears his throat, “yeah, yeah it was fine. lots of people when we landed. sorry i didn’t call, we just got in the door.”

“don’t worry about it kiddo, we know your busy.” in the background—noah now realizes he is on speaker phone, his dad mostly likely in their living room— he hears faintly, “ask him about the photos!” he can practically see his appa in their dining room, spread out grading labs and assignments. it’s finals seasons and noah had completely forgotten how busy it was for his biology teacher father. school was the last thing on his mind at the moment. “i will i will tae” he says off to the side, “your dad saw some photos of you at the airport!”

“really?” he left incheon international less than 2 hours ago and they were already online where his dads could see? though he wouldn’t put it past them to be following whatever w.n. trainee watch pages and accounts that surely existed somewhere. it was still strange for noah to accept strangers cared what he was wearing on the longest plane ride of his life.

“yes! you looked very handsome young man” his dad sounds proud, which makes noah roll his eyes. he groans in return. “when are you going to take a trip to see us hun? are we even going to see you for the holidays?”

not this again, “my schedules are all really packed at the end of this year. i have to be in seoul for recordings and filming christmas eve and day. i could maybe come up for new years, but i don’t know if they want me flying out of the country so close to the start of 365 promotions on the 3rd and i should be spending that time practicing anyways this new nova choreography is insane and i-”

he is cut off by his dad, “slow down, hey, hey it’s alright. you sure you’re doing okay?”

noah sighs. no, really. the ‘vacation’ was supposed to be a break and for filming, but everything was starting to pile on top of each other. learning and adjusting to two group dynamics, group dynamics and debuts changing seemingly out of nowhere. “i’m stressed” is all he can manage to say.

“well of course you are!” his dad says like it is the most obvious thing in the world. noah lets out a sigh of relief. “it’s a lot, so take it one day at a time and try not to wear yourself out too much.” noah has been so concerned about always looking humble and grateful—because he really was. but how can he be grateful when he feels like he’s drowning. the last thing he wants it to disappoint or seem cocky, especially to his friends who work just as or harder than he has. “have you thought about what we talked about before you left?”

he leans against the railing of the balcony before he starts. this again. he had barely “i don’t know what i want to do.” he did know what he wanted to do, but he knew his parents were not going to be happy about it.

“give me the phone will—noah i’m going to be frank with you because i know dad won’t be.”

“i am more than capable of being frank!”

“the last time you told the boy off after he failed a math test, it ended in tears and then we bought him a new cactus.”

“who cares about math he’s going to be touring around the world soon! and tell me you don’t love stephen.” noah cracks a smile. he really missed stephen (who had been in the ‘can live without’ pile and was still with his collection at home), his room, his parents. he needed see them soon or he might go completely insane.

“anyways” his much stricter appa returned to the phone. “school is important noah! i know you have dreams, and we support you, but without at least a high school diploma, what are you supposed to do if this all doesn’t work out?”

“appa i know it is,” noah was talking to the teacher of his dads who made sure both of his children kept school their top priorities while they were under his roof. it wasn’t that noah disliked school, he enjoyed it most of the time. noah was the kid that came home crying the first time he got a b- on a science test. “but i’m trying to be realistic. my schedules are just going to get busier, senior year is going to be crazy enough as it is. i really think if i stay in school i’ll end up failing out anyways. how will that look? nova’s main vocal fails out of the idol school, in big letters everywhere! how can i face anyone!?”

“so you would rather just drop out? how will you look then? throwing in the towel without even trying. that’s not how we raised you.”

noah stands up and gestures pleadingly even though they can’t see him. he paces back and forth while he rants, “i have been trying! i was killing myself while were out of the country to get assignments done and go to lessons and get extra practice. which half isn’t worth anything now because i have to learn a whole new song! and it’s only going to get harder! i have to record only god knows how many songs for the actual albums. 

“oh and you can’t forget figuring how i’m supposed to market myself since that’s something i have to do now. gotta practice aegyo in my god damn mirror so i look like the precious little maknae that everyone will love and adore. the next entire generation of w.n. somehow landed on my shoulders and if i mess up, that’s it! throw away all of nova and 3SIX5 cause the little kid has a math test tomorrow.”

noah stops to catch his breath. he worked himself up so much that he hadn’t realized the other line was completely silent. “appa? dad?”

his dad answers this time, “we’re still here, kid, just processing. we’re gonna discuss real quick, stay on the line.” noah takes that as a sign to sit down himself and just breathe. he really needed to get that out and didn’t even know until it was gone. he sets his phone on the ground and set them on speaker. after shrugging the black coat he wore on their last trip, he rests his head in his hands and enjoys the silence. it’s the quietest it has been for the teenager in a month. “noah?” his appa starts and noah grabs the phone so it sits in his lap. he hums in acknowledgement so they will continue. “we stand behind the belief you should finish high school.” god, noah isn’t sure he has another rant in him.

his dad chimes in, “but! we agree that you have a lot weighing on you. we also agree that you have done a lot of maturing since you started at this. we’re really proud of what you and what you will become noah. we are always on your team and want you to succeed.”

noah dares to hope with a hesitant, “so?”

app is the one to speak now, “we will let you put a pause on school. not a stop. once things have settled and you are in a more stable place you will finish high school, okay? at least your GED, then we can talk about college.”

convincing them to not make him go to college is a war for another day, today he’s won the battle. “thank you! really thank you! this will really let me focus on making sure my rookie year and make it the best i can! i won’t disappoint you.” his appa sighs, though it reads more affection than upset.

he can hear his dad take the phone with the increase in volume of his voice, “my little sunflower, when did it all get so complicated?” dad hums with concern and nostalgia for a simpler time. “it seems like yesterday we were sending you off to your first day of school. you wore those disgusting overalls you never got out of long enough for us to wash.”

“i remember those! but come on, i wasn’t that bad” he frowns dramatically even though they aren’t with him to see it. the mood is thankfully lightened at the memory. 

he hears both of his dad chuckle, “whatever you say. but hey, get some rest. you need it.”

“ok, yeah i need to. goodnight, love you.”

“love you too bud, sweet dreams.” with that noah hits end call, but doesn’t move to stand up. he sits on the balcony for a little while, enjoying the night air. seoul is a lot quieter at night than san francisco ever was and he likes it. his mind has been running a mile a minute ever since the boys got the results of the private concert, so he’s glad to sit in the silence for a little while. he isn’t sure how long he was out there just sitting, it was his own yawn that finally got him up and headed back inside.

[yourdailykitsch]

No question, Just to say so sorry about your family member passing away. Thoughts and prayers go out to you and your family. I know how that feels, my husband passed away July 6. Glad the gas leak got fixed. And, congrats on the new kitten.

Thank you all for the kind messages. Just a rule of thumb that all of us will go through some downs in our life and these past few months have been pretty rough. It’s been a tough year but I hope that the holidays bring some joy to all of you, even if they’re paired down or not the usual. Going to try to get back into the swing of things with Taylor updates. Though he’s very quiet lately as well. 

Ask #2: Is Taylor single?

Not that I know of. He’s dated someone for a long time and though this year it’s hard to keep track of Taylor let alone his relationship, given their history, I have no reason to believe that they’re not still dating. If I learned something different I’d let you all know.

Ask #3: Did Jessica white & taylor kitsch date ? Or was it just a photoshoot?

Answer: I do not believe they’ve ever dated. I’ll quote my answer from another ask about this: “You know, I don’t really know where that rumor got started as far as them dating. I’ve been a Taylor fan since FNL started and I don’t really remember it ever even being a rumor that they dated. It just showed up on that “who dated who” site and was just stated as fact. I actually don’t think it’s true. I think it started based on that photo shoot they did together for GQ but there was never any evidence that they were a thing. No sightings, no mentions of them together, he never talked about her she never talked about him. The timeline doesn’t match up either. He was with Minka Kelly for much of 2006 into 2007 which is when he was supposedly dating Jessica.”

But they did make a gorgeous couple in this shoot

Ask #4: Hello. Is this still a good address to request an autograph from Taylor? Untitled Entertainment 350 S Beverly Dr?

Answer: You can try this address. I know I’ve given it in the past and is the address for his manager. He has a new management group that is representing him, his agent has moved to this agency and it’s Range Media. But they’re very new and I don’t know if they have any information out there yet about their location.

Ask #5: Is taylor working on anything? He seems not to work alot compared to alot of other actors,which is a shame. I know its covid now but he still doesnt work alot. Does he doing anything else other than act apart from his acc charity?

Answer: I do not believe he’s working on anything. I think that this year has created it’s own set of challenges. He has committed to a project which has been delayed due to COVID. Because it’s technically an independent film it’s running into some issues with starting production because of cost for the insurance that they will need to carry in order to film with COVID restrictions/protocols. It also doesn’t help that the state they’re supposed to film in (New Mexico) is one of the tougher states on restrictions. 

As far as him not working more. We know he’s super picky about what he chooses to devote his time to and what he chooses to dive into because he does truly dive into these projects...it does seem like he’s really taken to photography and has spent a period during this year traveling to remote locations to photograph nature/animals. 

Ask #6: It’s weird that there are no details as to why Taylor dropped out of Wash Me In The River. I would find it hard to believe that it’s got to do with pay. But if it’s scheduling conflicts I wonder what he’s shooting? Maybe Shadowplay Chapter 2? Or Inferno or something else? Just kinda strange that he has now also dropped out.

Answer: Easy answer would be scheduling conflict. He was signed on for literally two weeks before dropping out. So it wouldn’t shock me that we hear he’s doing something new or Inferno is going or he is in the second chapter of Shadowplay. ‘Wash Me in the River’ still hasn’t begun filming, so say it starts by early December and would take at least four weeks...maybe he has something coming up next month or early 2021 that he’s committed to. Maybe it’s something we know about, maybe it’s something completely different. 

Ask #7: Do you think Taylor will be spending the holidays here or in Canada? Restrictions are still on but as a citizen he can enter

Answer: I really don’t know. My guess is he’ll stay in Texas because Canada has a 14 day quarantine requirement. So say he wants to go home for the holidays he’d have to leave two weeks prior to Christmas and quarantine those 14 days before he can be out and about and see family. If he’s following the rules...who knows if he has time to do something like that or if he’d want to travel if he does have work coming up that he needs to be healthy for. 

Ask #8: I hate the fact that I found out about Taylor during covid. I wish I knew about him earlier in his career so I could keep up with him during the years.

Answer: Taylor has always been really super private, so even during his busy years the most we see of him is usually when he’s out promoting projects. We saw a glimpse into his life and more about him when he started using Instagram a few years ago but he’s really really slowed down with that, understandably. Hang in there, I think he’ll bounce back. 

Ask #9: Was Neil with Taylor during the 21 bridges press tour? Since that was around the time he had his baby? Also do you think he’d be with him for when he films Wash Me in the River?

Answer: Taylor was solo, but did have his manager Stephanie with him for 21 Bridges press. Normally he’d have Neil with him or his friend Kevin as kind of his PA during press tours and just to hang out with. I don’t now if Neil will continue to be Taylor’s PA on set now that he has started a family. We’ll have to wait and see.

Ask #10: I feel like i always see the fandom say things like he needs to work more, he’s getting older, projects he does aren’t up to standard blah blah blah. But we do know that he does offered the bigger roles but he doesn’t enjoy those stories, and he def doesn’t like the press tour and the spotlight as much as the work itself. I think people fail to realize that he is carefully picking and choosing roles, and he could do a RomCom but chooses not to. He likes his privacy and people fail to understand.

Answer: I think you hit the nail on the head. A lot of fans want him to be A-list and crazy popular and on magazine covers. That’s just not in his DNA. He has, without specifically naming projects, admitted to turning down some really big roles that were more mainstream. I think part of it might have been that he went this route in 2012, did some really big budget/mainstream tentpole projects and they failed by no fault of his own. He might still to this day shy away from something like that again. I think he’s completely comfortable with being a character actor. 

Ask #11: Has Taylor ever lived with Jennifer? Even back when he was in the apartment or condo?

Answer: Yes, I do believe that they lived together in his condo at some point. She also sold his condo a few years back when he moved into his new house.