#again- made names for the crew cos they had basic ones

[sepublic]

It's really surprising to think about it, but it occurred to me that throughout the entire show, amidst all of her accomplishments, we technically never see Luz make a single human friend. This obviously doesn't count her parents, who are blood relations and (should be) friends by default. And it's not as if Luz didn't try, she quite explicitly did, although her attempts were dismissed by everyone else.

I don't think this is really a bad thing at all for Luz, because she has plenty of witch and demon friends, after all, and there's no meaningful existential distinction between humans and the Demon Realm's inhabitants by the end of the day, contrary to what others might claim. Likewise, there's the pretty obvious implication given by Yesterday's Lie that Luz could've made friends at the Reality Check camp, given how well Masha and co. resonated with Vee there and managed to retain their identities.

There's also those two kids (whom I named Mike and Bridget after the crew members they were based on) that invited Luz to the Halloween hayride, although Luz obviously had too much on her mind at the moment to be receptive. I wonder if Luz ever became properly acquainted with them once she started healing during the time skip, as the existence of the Earth and Demon Realm exchange program suggests that other humans have also been introduced to the Boiling Isles.

It's implied that Luz grew distant with Masha and co. after taking Vee's place, on account of technically having never been close to them to begin with; And like with those two kids that invited her, I suspect it had to do with Luz's trauma and the awkwardness of secrets creating a gap between them, in addition to Luz needing to help her friends adjust to Gravesfield. Under other circumstances Luz would've been eager to embrace her fellow weirdoes, but with her guilt over everything (including depriving Vee of her friends, I imagine) it just wasn't the time.

Again, I find the introduction of Masha and co. to be really effective because I think it rattles Luz's sense of self by making her question her decision to stay in the Boiling Isles; Because seeing Vee and her friends just suggests to Luz that maybe the Reality Check camp could've worked out, and she'd have been able to get friends without having to lie to, hurt, and be separated from her mother in the process. Which makes Luz second-guess herself, and in addition to Camila making her promise to stay, causes Luz to begin mistakenly regretting her decisions.

But as we all know, if Luz DID go to the camp, so many terrible things including genocide would've been allowed to happen without her, and so many people would've continued suffering. And she also got to live out her dream of being a witch, which you can't really blame her for attempting when she got the opportunity. What happened already happened and it's not as if Luz can be blamed for it, because how could anyone anticipate the chain of events, and ignore others who certainly did much more, with actual malice, to contribute to the trauma? Luz had to see things the whole way through and she did; Choosing herself helped others, it didn’t hurt them like Luz thought!

Anyhow, it's basically canon that Vee got to reconnect with Masha and co., and more than likely reveal her true nature and history, especially with Gus leading an exchange program she’s part of. So I like to think Luz DID make human friends in Masha and co., as well as the two who invited her to their hayride; I love how they seem to lowkey adore Luz as a fellow weirdo, and tbh, it's not as if Luz needs human friends when she already has human connections, because witches and demons are no less 'real' in terms of being people and all.

But it'd be nice if Luz ultimately found it reassuring, the realization that there were weirdoes in Gravesfield like her, and that she could've been friends with them; Especially if it did happen anyway because Luz chose both worlds and not just one. My point being, we need a lot more content with Luz meeting Vee's friends, and especially hanging out with Mike and Bridget, since we actually saw human strangers like Luz for being Luz!!! They’re canonically fans of Luz from her chaotic reputation (not the one Vee made) and were curious to see if she’d do a crazy costume again like last Halloween!!! And their existence reassures viewers that they needn’t go to another realm entirely to find weirdoes like them, because they exist right here on this Earth!!!

[kenna-is-reading]

Crescent City: House of Sky and Breath Review

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Dear Readers,

I have so many thoughts, questions, comments, and concerns in regards to this book that it made me stop procrastinating and just start my blog, already. I finished CC2 in the wee hours of last night, having flown through the last 400 pages in a single day. What I had heard going into this book was that it was a "whole lot of nothing" and "kind of hard to get through," but that really wasn't the case for me. I have owned the first CC book since it came out, but just now finished it last month. I found the first half of that difficult to read through, not because it was bad or boring or had anything wrong with it, but simply because I have the IQ of a paper towel and could not bring myself to comprehend anything that was going on. However, when I hit the last 200 or so pages of HOEAB, something clicked. Something shifted in the earth's atmosphere and I was addicted. I snatched book 2 from the library first thing the very next morning, and the rest was history. I found that I absolutely love everything about this series, from the setting to the characters to the way everything worked together. I just found all the different types of people and how they related to one another and how they operated in a modern city setting to be so interesting. In listening to other people's reviews of this book, some didn't like the large cast of characters and found it hard to keep them all straight, but as a Throne of Glass enthusiast, I felt right at home. I loved the changing perspectives and getting to see what was going on inside the heads of characters like Ruhn, Tharion, and Ithan. The character dynamics worked really well, in my opinion, and I always love the way a big group of characters interacts and banters, especially in an SJM novel. A couple of things I wanted to note specifically about HOSAB:

The Rebel Plotline

I actually didn't mind the plotline with Ophion and the Renasts. It felt like a good additional conflict to pull on the loose threads that were left open at the end of Book 1 and ended up tying into the overarching plot in an interesting way. I was disappointed that Sofie actually didn't make it, because we spend a very large portion of this book discussing her powers and attempting to find Emile, and I wanted to see how her relationship with Cormac played out, because he was a very interesting character to me as well. I was definitely sad about his sacrifice, but it was made more impactful given his final interaction with Ruhn. While he had not been around long, he was a complex character, and I found myself wanting better for him and wanting for him to be able to become the person he wanted to be. However, I still want to know more about Sofie's thunderbird powers and how they play into everything.

2. Tharion

I have loved Tharion since he first appeared in Book 1, but I was so disappointed in him in this book. Some of his choices had me yelling at the page, but his complexity makes him such a good character. We know he is overall a good person, but he can be treacherous as he struggles to juggle his loyalty to his friends with his obligation to the River Queen. The biggest question that I had finishing this book was due to the fact that when Captain Sendes saves the crew from...well...everyone, there is a line insinuating that she expects that they not reveal the truth about their camouflaging ship technology. She basically tells them, you screw us, we'll screw you. Tharion immediately returns to the River Queen and sells them out, telling her all about the ship tech and even mentioning Captain Sendes by name. Knowing the River Queen, I expected her to retaliate against the Ocean Queen's crew, or at least for Sendes & co. to discover Tharion's betrayal and refuse to help them, but this issue is never brought up again, so I was confused about that, not to mention frustrated with Tharion for blabbing everyone's business to the River Queen of his own free will. The second, probably most obvious choice of Tharion's that I was frustrated by in this book was his decision to pledge himself to the Viper Queen. I understand why he did it, and I realize that he was, in a way, punishing himself, but I can't help but feel like he could have had other options that didn't involve selling himself into literal slavery. Regardless, I love him as a character and I cannot wait to see his arc. I hope he is able to create a better life for himself and have the development that Cormac was not able to.

3. Hunt

This seems like it might be controversial because I see a lot of Hunt slander that I believe is unwarranted, but Hunt Athalar is firmly within my list of top 5 SJM men. I love him. Plain and simple, I love him so much. Having to read the ending of this book when everything he has worked for goes down the drain as his halo is reapplied was absolutely grueling. I know there is also a lot of speculation that Bryce will have another love interest simply because this is an SJM book, and I'm just not sure why or how that would happen. I think that, at this point, that is what everyone is expecting to happen, so I'd be very surprised if Sarah went that route. But whatever the case, I love Hunt and I really hope nothing happens to him. He's been through the ringer for literal centuries and I just want him to be happy!!! I also have questions following this book about his lineage. I feel like there is a lot yet to be revealed about his parentage and his powers, so I am excited to read more in CC3 and see what comes of that...if he ever gets out of that stupid dungeon. (Which, btw, sidebar: all my homies HATE Pollux and I cannot wait until he gets the Cairn treatment, preferably from Lidia).

4. Connor

This book raised SO MANY QUESTIONS about Connor. It gave me hope that maybe we will see Connor again in some way because the book spent so much time on Ithan's quest to find out where he is. And even if we don't get to see Connor or talk to him again, I WANNA KNOW WHERE HE IS! The Holstrom Bros are #1 in my heart and I want nothing but love and light for them <3.

5. The Big Twist aka Infinity War (Sarah's Version)

Now team. I think a lot of us readers knew how this book was going to end, or at least knew The Big Thing that was going to happen at some point within it. And that makes me SO UPSET! The appearance of Rhysand and that whole situation had the potential to be one of the most breathtaking plot twist mindblowing earth-shattering life-changing moments in literary history. However, the way it was handled by both the reader community AND literally Bloomsbury themselves made it so that basically everybody and their cousin's neighbor's dog's goldfish's nephew knew that the crossover was happening. It didn't matter how dedicated you were to avoiding spoilers, somehow they ALWAYS found their way onto the screen! No amount of typing "NO SPOILERS SPOILER FREE NO SPOILERS" in on BookTok stopped the spoilers from coming! Me personally, I refused to look at anything SJM related for the entire release year to avoid spoilers, because I hadn't read any Crescent City yet, I had only read up to ACOSF. So I thought I was safe. I was wrong. It was an unseasonably bright and happy day on January 10th as I pulled out my phone at the library and clicked on the Instagram app to see what exciting new things had been posted, and imagine my surprise when the FIRST THING ON MY SCREEN was a single graphic, (not a carousel), posted by SJM and Bloomsbury that read, in big bright letters, "Bryce began running again, hurtling through the cave. Back toward Nesta and Azriel. And prayed there was SOMETHING LEFT FOR HER TO SAVE." I reacted in a manner akin to that stan Twitter reaction video of iCarly opening her apartment door and immediately being blinded. I nearly threw the offending phone across the public library. I prayed to unsee. But the damage was done. I had seen. I then went to my local Walmart 20 days later to acquire House of Flame and Shadow, and I was deeply alarmed when each copy of the brand new book was stamped with a big blue sticker that read something along the lines of "INCLUDES BONUS CHAPTER WITH BRYCE, NESTA, AND AZRIEL!" Right on the front of the cover for all to see. Now you may say, "Kenna dearest, CC1 had been out for nearly 4 years at that point. CC2 had been out for nearly 2 years. They shouldn't have to post spoiler warnings anymore." And to that I say, if it were any other author or series. YES! So true! However, House of Earth and Blood is indeed 799 pages in length. House of Sky and Breath is indeed 801 pages in length. I am but a full time student, part-time worker, volunteer, sister, daughter, and friend. My reading time had been quite limited at that point. Not to mention that Sarah J. Maas is arguably the most popular author within BookTube, BookTok, BookTwt, and Bookstagram COMBINED right now, and so many people are just now starting to read her books. However, I suppose if readers DO know that the ACOTAR characters show up in Crescent City, it will motivate fans of ACOTAR to continue on with Maas's books and purchase more of them, so really it's 10/10 marketing and I must applaud the reckless major-multi-series-spoiling amid my frustration.

Overall, I absolutely love the Crescent City series, and I loved HOSAB as a sequel, and I am diving immediately into book 3. This series continues to cement SJM as a master of her craft and portrays the way that she is just an expert at putting a story together and creating characters that feel real. I am now off to devour House of Flame and Shadow, and then probably reread ACOTAR and TOG to try to pick up on some of that big-brain tricky foreshadowing she always does. Until next time, and thank you for reading my emphatic literary ramblings.

XO,

Kenna

[thychesters]

ok backlog of thoughts on the one piece arcs i did not think to liveblog! putting a bunch under a read more because this got long and i don’t want to make a ton of separate posts for retroactive takes.

- luffy really just set out to sea with the thought process of “if i die well lmao.�� decidedly unlmao, but don’t tell him that. he also immediately decided koby made a perfect punching bag

- the entire exchange with zoro was basically “join my crew!” “no.” “i think you should.” “guess i have absolutely no choice but to join.” and that is now their entire story

- luffy getting anyone to join his crew is basically just that gif that cuts between bryan cranston dancing and pointing at himself. luffy isn’t asking, either. welcome to the crew, you start in an hour.

- also, love this dinghy. two dudes, chilling in a small boat two feet apart because there’s no room. luffy’s having a blast with his two man crew and zoro’s just along for the ride. completely unfazed. gonna work on his tan and nap.

- also, also. they showed it later in the anime but it was the first thing in the manga, but luffy stabbing himself in the face. see, i remember reading the first volume in middle school so i was waiting for that scene. i also had vague memories of other characters like zoro and sanji, so it was nice to see them appear again. not so nice to remember my first introduction to one piece was the 4kids version lmao

- i love makino. this woman is like 20 on the outside but you know after dealing with luffy and shanks & co. she’s gotta be feeling 50 on the inside. i hope she gets to hit someone with a broom at some point. or go on vacation.

- shanks is like the cool uncle you’ll let watch your kid for a few hours, but only because you called another adult to watch shanks. the dude leaves a devil fruit on the bar in plain view of a hungry child and goes yep, surely nothing will come of this. of course he fuckin’ ate it. freaked out for a minute and went damn, well what can you do lol this is inconvenient

- these bandits coming into the bar and giving shanks shit, only to have luffy give the leader shit back and the guy decides well! guess i, a grown man, have no choice but to beat up a child.

(karma said lmao)

- nami showed up and said she’ll fuck luffy’s shit up if she has to. and then she did. good for her.

- i think the introduction of buggy was the first time i really went oh, so we’re weird weird here, huh. i mean, with a name like “buggy the clown” being taken seriously that’s when it clicked. AND THEN HE STABS THE STRAW HAT? sir you’ve crossed a line. luffy’s gonna chop chop your head clean off and drop it in the ocean.

- when i got to the syrup village/kuro arc i was like damn, how long is this battle. oh you fool, you pathetic fool. you knew nothing.

- jango got sent after some kids to go kill them and like. not for nothing but if i had a nickel for every time someone went after a kid in this show ...

- ok but when kuro was doing his whoosh whoosh invisible move or whatever the hell it was, why didn’t someone just get out a stick and trip him. fight’s a lot shorter then.

- zoro’s backstory thus far is just here’s his friend! and now she’s dead! he has no friends but he has a dream! he + the others need therapists.

- see when we got to sanji i knew him!! i remembered this man. 4kids also gave him lollipops instead of cigarettes. lolly suckin’ loser. love zeff too. between the anime and manga i’m not sure which canon i want to lean into more: him severing his foot to save sanji, or him eating it.

- mihawk fight!! the way luffy SCREAMED when zoro nearly got slashed in half and the weight behind “i will never be defeated again. YOU GOT A PROBLEM WITH THAT, KING OF THE PIRATES?!” ohhh these two boys in a dinghy. there are a lot of promises being passed back and forth.

- the don krieg fight! idk that guy was just annoying. not much else to say about that aside being glad when it was over. also hilarious how for each of these fights everyone took their turns. like no, no, like mihawk and zoro fight, and then we’ll go next. and meanwhile those not involved are just pivoting to watch each fight.

- i feel so bad for baby sanji. i still want to study the grown man like a bug, but that baby has been through a lot. (hey, so, does this show hate kids or something.)

- arlong park! ok this was the first arc that really shows how deep the story can get, i think, or at least the first glimpse into it. this was more than “i took over this town to get some money.” this was using a young child to get something he wanted and her using him in return. and she had to work for the man who murdered her mother! who he shot right in front of her and then laughed and dragged her away!

- zoro beat up a bunch of fishmen because he got BORED. luffy told him to wait and “what do you do while i’m gone?” “wait for you to get back” except there are bodies everywhere

- NAMI STABBED HERSELF IN THE ARM SO MANY TIMES how does she not have serious muscle pain after that? AND THEN LUFFY GIVES HER HIS HAT. that’s the first time we’ve seen that one. oh my god

- also zoro is still heavily wounded from his fight with mihawk, arlong rips his bandages off and even he’s shocked he’s alive, nami and the others are horrified, and then luffy just fuckin’ tosses him into the ocean

- luffy’s secret move in a boss battle is just to piss them off. what’s the difference between their species? idk, noses? he’s going to break arlong’s. AND HE DID.

- luffy: “huh, maybe we should get a doctor on our crew first instead of a musician.” zoro, getting his innards sewn back in: “why do you say that?”

- he’s so excited about his bounty! good for him. he’s a wanted man.

- i like this smoker dude. seems like an okay guy.

- roronoa “can i borrow money but also jk i got two swords for FREE” zoro who has so much debt his credit score has plummeted. he’s never going to be able to financially recover from this.

- usopp v daddy fight. words i didn’t think i would say and yet.

- only luffy would nearly get executed and treat it as a “WHOOPS LMAOOOO” only to have an act of god save his life.

- the millenial dragons arc. oh my god. why does apis SCREAM LIKE THAT. they spend five episodes going back and forth to two different islands. “is this the right one? oh jk actually it’s the one we just came from.” is this what hell is like

- because sailing UP a mountain into the grand line makes perfect sense

- THE WHISKY PEAK STORY AHHHH the first moment where luffy jumps to conclusions and zoro doesn’t get a chance to explain himself, but also why should he have to? and luffy yells that he’s going to kill him? they’re supposed to trust one another implicitly! since day one! and then luffy punches him in the face and he’s not holding back and neither his zoro

- luffy says “i’m going to beat the shit out of you” and zoro says “go ahead and try” and nami says “WATCH THIS”

- love that vivi’s like don’t say his name too loud! and luffy immediately goes “who, CROCODILE?”

- an island with dinosaurs. because it just makes sense.

and that’s about caught up to where i started blogging during little garden

[danepopfrippery]

I cant get over a reply to my take that Stede’s sweetness to Ed isnt patronizing, its meant to be besties sharing soft things with each other. The person said Stede treated Ed and his crew as an asshole colonizer specifically teaching Ed fine dining. Like brah if thats your take block me now cuz I cant even.

I can disagree w ppl on silly shit (steddyhands say) but when you weaponize a whole major set of plot points as whypipo when thats clearly not what it is, just go back to twitter. I think almost every script had at least one poc contributing to it. They never seem to know that. (And yes holy fuck would a colonizer be common irl and irl stede bonnet was an asshole and slave owner no argument).

As for the fine dining lessons: Ed ASKED for uppercrust lessons! Ed, mr ‘skin him with the snail fork’ sat there and genuinely wanted to learn. Ppl who think about skinning w snail forks dont generally stand for patronizing shit.

In fact Ed wanted to go to the French party cuz fine things and it was a chance to work on what Stede had taught him (and remember it wasnt one sided, Ed was teaching him shit too) and Stede didnt want to go!!! But he went! Cuz Ed wanted to! And when they insulted Ed be burned them to the ground.

As for the crew on face value id agree he was patronizing. But thats as lazy as the yummy soap take. It has been said by Rhys and others Stede saw this as a chance to play w friends he basically paid to spend time w him. They were all free to go.

And what stands out to me is several times we are shown Stede thinks of them as equals. When Lucius says only the two of them can read hes shocked by that. Never dawned on him most of them would be illiterate. Yes hes dumb (illiteracy was extremely common back then) but that says to me he never thought of these ppl are lower class than me.

He pays them, he feeds them, he added a bunch of rooms just to spoil them (u cant tell me the jam room was for his kids when the harpsichord is in his cabin). He plans little activities to keep them happy and doesnt MAKE them do anything (or punish them if they dont). He tried to talk Black Pete into sewing but never forced him. Instead of picking a fav flag he hung all of them cuz he cares about them (who else would do that cmon?!)

They only decide not to kill him cuz he can do the voices in the stories right. They love bedtime stories! Again its not forced or punished if not. Same for pickleball etc.

But the biggest one to me is what ppl grab onto just on the surface. We know racism, slavery and homophobia do all exist in this universe and we whiff it right away in ep 1. Yes the poc staff is relegated to playing servants but we werent shown who decided that (id bet frenchie cuz he knows rich assholes and u dont want to piss off the british navy).

Stede only went for that ship to make his crew like him, and only brought Badminton and co onboard to save everyone from the british navy. He immediately takes everyone into his room and dishes out outfits and fake names/backstories. This includes everyone poc and white.

How the fuck do u reckon that man had an outfit that fit not only Oluwande but Wee John?! Perfectly might i add. Its never shown what happens after only Olu still being in costume after they send the lone survivor back. Im making a leap ill agree but me thinks he had that shit custom made for his crew esp cuz a few of them had complimentary pieces. And there is no good reason that man would have something for someone as tall and large as Wee John.

The Brits dont start being shitty tip after Stede and the captain leave. At which point Jim, Black Pete and several others attack. They have no time for that shit and Stede never argues about it later. In fact he had a plan to send the beheaded bodies and lone survivor back.

And then theres the fact later Stede has a matching set of tailored suits for him, Lucius and his fuckin prisoner!!! I mean it was his idea to do that, and he had the clothes. When he meets Ed properly he doesnt even hesitate to show him his pretty clothes or share them. They stay in each others clothes all night.

In fact i looked this up and ur average wealthy man had 4 sets of clothes in this time period. Stede is obviously obsessed w clothing. Your average person was lucky to have two sets if even. Those outfits had to cost an insane amount of money even for a wealthy man.

If u were truly a classist, colonist asshole u wouldnt be doling out thousand dollar outfits like candy.

I could go on but i think what makes fake Stede endearing as a character is he is genuinely happy to make friends. And he never seems to view them lesser whether it be race or class. I just cant agree.

[scribeofpnakotis]

📓📓👀

Daingit I should have known it would be you 😂

Um ok here's to WIP hell I guess.

The first one is the OFMD idea I'm pretty sure you know about already but w/e. Basic plot is;

Alma runs away to sea at some point post ep10 but before the Blackbonnet reunion

She is found stowing away on a ship Ed & co are raiding

When asked what she's doing there (obviously rich kid, fairly clean and well fed etc etc) she says she's looking for her dad (just. Pretend this works with how e10 ended.)

In spite of himself, Ed is kind of invested. Life After Stede has been painfully, mind numbingly boring when it isn't just crushingly sad and he's once again desperate for a break in the monotony. Not getting attached this time though, no sir 🤡

There's a background here where since s1 Ed & Izzy's dynamic has gotten just, way more blatantly abusive, with Izzy lashing out with threats and verbal abuse (never in front of the crew) whenever he feels Ed isn't performing 'Blackbeard' convincingly enough. Most of the time, Ed's just dissociating to get through the day.

Anyway Ed decides he wants to help Alma find her dad (he has no idea who he is, she's not giving a name), with the justification to Izzy & the crew that she's obviously rich so her dad will probably pay a huge ransom to get her back.

So then there's an extended period of Alma living on the Revenge with Ed, Izzy, Jim & Frenchie & the rest of the crew

There's cute kid bonding with the crew bc I'm not made of stone, but the primary focus of this part of the story is on the dynamic between Ed, Alma and Izzy

Specifically with it mirroring the dynamic of Ed & his parents growing up

Alma= bb!Ed

Izzy= Ed's dad

Ed= His mum

So then it's Alma's POV of Izzy's abuse of Ed getting worse and eventually starting to spill over to her (Izzy generally fucking hates that there's this rando kid here now and also specifically thinks she's in the way of Ed being Blackbeard properly)

Culmination of the fic is Ed either killing or firing or otherwise doing something to Izzy to protect Alma (thematically it has to be murder but I don't like making my blorbo kill people)

This brings the parallel full circle with Ed protecting the kid he's basically adopted from a shitty violent white man in the way he wishes his mum had been able to protect him from his dad

Generic Blackbonnet Reunion Epilogue

The second idea newer and more vague but basically it's a TMA/Good Omens crossover called 'Hope, Love and Indigestion' (came up with the title first, can you tell?)

Current plot points include;

Aziraphale finds Pinhole Books while searching for a rare bible (leitners that are bibles anyone??)

The Boys(gn) adopt Gerry & exorcise Mary's horrible skin ghost & also get closure for Eric's horrible skin ghost

Something about how the Good Omens 'god' is the inverse of the TMA fear Entities, two halves of a whole that cannot exist without each other as per gomens themes about how binaries are dumb

Angels & demons are the positive entity equivalent of the fear avatars??? Maybe? Somehow?

Also I think Adam Young & Agnes Montague would get on really well

Mostly this is about how I like making A&C adopt traumatised children from other media

[alarrytale]

I also think Harry wants to get an EGOT. But I don't really think that was the reason for him to get into acting. I mean, Harry can get an EGOT just by writting songs for soundtracks or by having producer credits in things like TV shows/broadway shows, etc, he doesn't need to act to get there.

I think he went into acting probably because he was encouraged by his team to do so. A lot of pop stars have done the same in the past, more or less successfully. Getting themselve in a different industry, acting, in this case, will keep them relevant even if one day their albums underperforms. It's basically their way to try to expand an artist shelve life by making them known by other things besides music and establish them more as household names.

I also don't think Harry has ever seemed super passionate about acting nor that he thought he would EGOT becuase of it, as I said. I really think it was just to make him more of an household name, which they achived, because even though DWD was a disaster it made everyone aware of Harry, even people outside of his target demographic, and lots of people who didn't know who he was before.

And yes I also don't think Harry is super talented acting wise, but i actually think he is able with the skills he has to carry secundary roles of the same size of the one he had on Dunkirk. And if Harry and his team want him to keep acting he should go for those type of roles, small ones.

About his co-stars, I agree some of them resented him a bit for taking the focus away for them and the other things you mentioned. But that's a bit inevitable. Harry has reached a level that he has more star power than pretty much any actor from his generation, so unless Harry ends up in a movie with older and really established actors, or he will always end up being the focus for the media. I mean, even in Eternals, with The Angelina Jolie there, during the press tour they did for the movie every two questions were them asking the actors how it was to work with Harry.... There's not much you can do about that, I don't think... maybe Harry is too famous for his own good.

Also, about Harry being too famous for his own good. Just to say, on his defense, that most of Harry acting performances were not that good but they were also not awful. I 've seen way worse from professional actors and none of them got so much shit from film critics as Harry did. As I say once again because he is too famous for his own good, film critics couldn't miss the chance to try to knock him down a peg or two, they can't stand seeing someone be too successfull... Either way, even though Harry is surround by yes man I think he indeed knows about what those film critics said about him. And I actually felt bad for him last year because it seems that he takes to heart the things people say about him and critics didn't want to back off of him for shit. Either way, I'm sure if he wants to keep acting he will do acting lessons or something like that. Harry seems like a prefectionist.

All the anons about actor harry and my answers are under the cut.

The opinions vary, it depends on several things, but from my point of view, i agree with you.

Hi anon(s),

I agree with you, that might have been his motivation. Extending his shelf life is a good argument. I don't think he's good at acting, but also not the worst. He's just lacking natural talent and he hasn't the time nor inclination to improve imo.

I also think that Harry is not a good actor. His facial expressions are overplayed and put on (David and Ruppert are, conversely, full of “inhabited” finesse). Harry seems off when he plays. I'm sorry for the fandom but it's a fact.

what happened with the dunkirk cast ?

Nothing other than harry seemingly hanging more around the crew than the cast. It seemed like his cast mates resented him for getting the role, or they simply didn’t get along very well. I don't think they're in contact now.

Coming back to DWD, I get that you haven´t seen in because of the second hand embarassement and of course you don´t want to support OW....but is there a chance that you´ll watch it just out of the sarcasm when you know he can´t act // it needed that awful stunt and surrounding drama that became famous than the movie itself and maybee to see the difference between true actor (Florence) and singer-became-actor-because-that´s-popular-now? I mean, I watch sometimes bizzare things just because I know it´s bizzare.

(plus there´s this option to not supporting her by getting the movie you-know-where haha)

And talking about actor Harry - it´s probably also unpopular opinion but I really hope his contract with Marvel will somehow get cancelled because for me 1) Marvel´s totally desperate since Avengers Endgame and every movie after the last Avengers just sucks and so 2) getting Harry involved as a character just shows how desperate Marvel is - and I get that it´s all about money actually but still - please, Harry, you don´t need to drag yourself down this way.

If he´ll continue acting, I would prefer to see him in those small/indie movies with less famous actors. Like Taylor and Nick from RWRB.

And last opinion - I have a theory why MP went much better like how Harry fits in the cast simply because they got to know each other before filming (they had like 3 weeks for reheasals and to know each other?) and he probably felt much more comfortable with queer people who understood him and he didn´t have to pretend. Btw I also have a theory that David knows he´s gay like Harry told him because he´s gay himself and so Harry knew he can fully trust him and be open. And that´s maybe why Harry doesn´t follow him on IG because they maybe got stronger bond and so he doesn´t want any gossip (it´s enough that some tabloids wrote he had something with Emma omg). But that´s probably stupid theory, I don´t know.

No, i won't watch it. I have no inclination to do that at all. I agree with Marvel, i hope they changed their minds (if the rumours are true) and we've seen the last of his acting. About mp, yes maybe, but i just think he had better motivation to do the film. I think both David and Emma knows he's gay and with Louis. I don't think H is that close with David, also ig followers means nothing.

[hollywood-addicts]

Burns Forrest’s Background (+Lucky Foot’s)

Burns was born in the Pacific Ocean and moved to the same area as Lola: Chesterfield Square. His parents and him lived in a pond community in the area. Throughout their time at school, they were inseparable and did almost everything together, until one day in 7th grade she was pulled from school and moved away.

While Burns knew that she was starting to become a bit of a celebrity, he still had his worries about her disappearance. While being her friend, he had his suspicions about how she was being treated by her father.

Fast forward to college, while pursuing a culinary degree, he met his future husband (not officially yet because of the time) Lucky Foot. Lucky Foot was also trying to get a degree in culinary. While on a date, they found a showing of Lola’s first movie where she had a more prominent role. To promote the movie, the actors were doing a small tour around the country, with one location happening to be in their area.

(Lucky was born in Miami, Florida. He can not return to Florida for unknown reasons.)

Burns and Lucky were able to find the actors, but they were stopped by Lola’s dad who was her manager at the time. Later on in the night, they were able to find Lola’s trailer. They were able to catch up for a few minutes, but once again they were driven out by her dad, who this time threatened them with a restraining order.

Years down the line, Burns and Lucky opened a restaurant with the name Overtop Pacific. The main purpose was to help Aquatics eat “above land food” more easily. The food was basically more hydrated than the original meal, and in the restaurant, it also serves Aquatic food as well. Burns became the Head Chef and Owner, while Lucky became the Co-Owner and a waiter because he liked talking to the customers.

Because Burns still thought about Lola and wanted to follow her career, he made sure to go see all of her movies and sat down for each premiere of Batty Banter alongside Lucky.

One day, when trying to find new restaurants to go to, Lola and Molly found their way to the Overtop Pacific. After catching up and introducing Molly, the Batty Banter crew are all now regulars at the restaurant.

[juliana-jones]

Introducing the Writer Tag Game

Thanks for the tag @oliverferrie! Here is Oliver's post.

My name is Juliana Jones. I'm a writer of the fantasy, science fiction, and horror genres and I love to write about the relationship between humans and nature, solidarity, destroying The System, loving across differences, and vengeance.

I write some NSFW, which is mostly fanfic at the moment, but stay tuned. Darker themes in my work include trauma, graphic violence, abuse, and Consequences. I very occasionally write non-con and major character death, so just be aware of that. Things you will never find in my writing include any level of detail about CSA (passing mention might happen), or killing off one character purely to serve another's development or give them a quest.

In my humble opinion, my best work I've posted is "Over the Dragon's Gate" because I love how satisfying the conclusion is and the whole thing is truly a synthesis of my and my co-writer's strengths. My all-time favorite characters I've made are Treya (from OtDG, with my co-author) because he is a sweet and clueless cinnamon roll (until he isn't), two clones of the same man (Brian Connor) crewed up on the same starship who go by Brian and Connor respectively, bicker constantly, and fall for the same guy, and a new character named Edict Carusso who has Serious Issues because of the job he's been forced to do since childhood, which is basically Magical Executioner.

Something I'd love for you to know about my writing that isn't listed in this game is that I've had a lot of fun co-writing both original work and fanfic and I love to team up with people for projects. Right now I'm trying to focus on my individual work, but in the future I'll likely be open to that again!

I will tag uuuuuuuh @indigowriting, @magnus-s-writes, @kingsinking, and whoever else wants to do it.

[Rules: fill in the blanks in the original template with as much or little detail as you would like and tag some writer friends to play too. The original template can be found here.]

[lyrker]

1 n 3 n 19 n 31 n 50 for the oc asks !!!!

THIS GOT SO LONG IM SO SORRY HAVDJVS

1.First oc ever ?

I’m gonna have to pass this one to good ol’ Leader Decrose. I REFUSE to get into the backstory of how he came about, but in this old world I never dive in anymore, he’s like ? A refuge i suppose ? A set of four characters (including my self insert) were based on cards and his was the diamond.

3.Have you ever adopted a character or gotten a character from someone else ?

Odd situation but I GUESS ?? There’s a few but one I like is named Polaris and they’re like. a dying star. And their big brother figure is Cyrus, aka cc who thought the key to transitioning was dismembering yourself and using dark magic on a lifesize frakenstein doll he made.

They work in a fucked up lab but like, fucked up as in goofy as hell. They’re so silly (:

19.Introduce a character that means a lot to you and why

*SLAMS JACE IN FRONT OF YOU* I love him an insane amount.

Jace Luong was away when the apocalypse striked, lost his daughter thag he blames himself for (but he could never save her anyway), accidentally shot a guy and had to step down from his military position, more for his mental sake than anything, ended up using his best friend, and that last one sounds so bad. and it is. But it is for this Reason that makes me shake him like GRRRR I LOVE YOU. WHY DID YOU DO THAT oh yeah i’m the author loll !!

Because the point of Jace is that. He wants to help so fucking bad but he keeps Messing It Up. He is not evil and I cannot say that enough—he is very “the means justifies the ends” but that does Not mean he doesn’t feel bad for using Noah as a lab rat. When Noah came back to KILL HIM he cried because someone Came Back For Him, even if it was to kill him.

I don’t wanna take up too much space but it’s because he’s not evil just severely fucked up from losing his daughter and the life of being in a world filled with zombies that he’s trying to rush to make some sort of cure, so he can save people, so that people can live again instead of just survive, but he goes about it in a horrible way that, honestly, was probably inevitable.

He’s special to me because he’s a fuck up, but he’s genuinely really really trying. He is not a good person, though.

(also if he was a tma avatar he would be of The Lonely or Eye and that’s so silly)

31.Pick an oc and explain what their Tumblr blog would look like.

I’m going to go with RAYNE because he probably DOES use Tumblr, knowing him. His layout is green but also he’s probably using the Goth/Rave color pallet because he thinks the colors are nice and he’s a 3 am user so that dark mode comes in handy. His pfp is like, his favorite pokémon but with a ditto face.

He reblogs pokemon stuff—screenshots, fanart, memes, etc and he’s Definitely gotten into discourse abt the best game. Also he’s totally a Nightvale listener so throw in some Nightvale posts. I think he reblogs a lot of shitpost art but also just art in general.

And of course, the occasional cat photo and tumblr trademark textposts.

50.Give me the good ol’ oc talk.

I WAS GONNA TALK ABOUT NOAH & CO. BUT I ALWAYS TALK ABOUT THEM so here’s the MoMOF crew, named after the lemon demon song “Mask of my Own Face”

It’s a classic high schoolers sci fi horror story, think stranger things except without mike bc i hate him (did not finish watching stranger things)

Basically, six kids, Rayn, Rowan, Alex, Ash, Zach and Winston are friends ! Yippee ! Average middle/high schoolers.

And one night, Rayn and Rowan (dating) are just hanging out. Rowan is conked the fuck out at Rayn is gaming on his DS, and then he gets a text from Alex saying “Dude, why tf are you outside it’s like 2 am ???” and Rayn is confused outta his mind.

“Wdym i’m literally at home rn.”

Alex attaches a photo, a shot looking thru the blinds of their window of what looks to be Rayn.

Rayn sends a selfie back of the Charmander he just leveled up and Rowan fast asleep.

And it Can’t be him if he just sent that photo, because the beanie he always wears was handmade by Asher himself—whos this guy ?!?

naturally, they text everyone, everyone’s yelling in a vc and was NOT asleep like they should be, and Rayn gets the FANTASTIC idea to go and see who the person is. Alex is yelling that they will personally stab Rayn if he does.

He does anyway.

and they’re too far away now for Alex to see, but they’re watching their phones and when Rayn finally approaches the other Rayn the camera flips and it is missing Half Of It’s Face and then Rayn hangs up.

And they Cannot Find Him.

So for weeks they are searching for Rayn and are scared out of their wits about Why there were Two and they told the police, but they don’t believe them all too much.

But Rowan finds him one night, at the edge of the forest. Half of his face looks tk have been torn away and his hat and coat is gone and he looks run ragged but oh. Oh no.

That’s the real Rayn.

And it turns out, the Rayn they’d been staying with recently was a clone.

And he’s babbling about something, saying they “Can’t trust Winston”

And at the same time, Rowan gets a call. And Zach sounds like he’s running for his life, because Winston cannot talk, let alone sing, and Zach heard them whispering the lyrics to a song he doesn’t know, and ran for it.

So, while they found Rayn, they now don’t know where the real Winston is. And it’s kinda all about not trusting each other but also wanting to stay together because What If Someone Else Gets Taken, and they can’t trust anyone at All because they won’t believe them, and they could be more clones.

Other stuff happens; Ash is going kinda insane, Alex, as the eldest, feels like they have to be the parent of the group because god they’re falling apart and they can’t stand to see it, Zach doesn’t know if the things he’s catching on camera are real or not, and there’s also an almost murder and also arson !! Both by the kids (:

It’s a fun world i like to play around with because the kids dynamics are all super fun <3

[atlanticcanada]

Moncton brewery crafts new beer designed by Artificial Intelligence: 'It gave us a bunch of ideas'

The folks at Moncton's Tire Shack Brewing decided to have a little bit of fun with the future when it came to their latest beer. 

They've brewed a beer with the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI) that is available to the public right now. 

Brewery co-owner Alan Norman said they used ChatGPT - a language processing tool that uses AI in a human-like way to answer questions - to come up with a recipe for what future beer trends might be like. 

"It gave us a bunch of ideas," said Norman. 

Norman and his brew master Henry Soares wanted to have something more local so they asked for a New Brunswick example of a beer made with alternative fermentables and herbs. 

"So, it said honey. New Brunswick's got a lot of honey and then it said lavender, there are a lot of lavender fields in New Brunswick so you should make a honey lavender saison is basically what it told us," said Norman. 

The next step was to ask how to make it and the brew crew got an immediate response.

"I'm talking two seconds and it spits out the recipe," said Norman. 

Amazed, Norman then asked for a name for his new beer and once again, got an instant answer. 

"Garden Party, that's perfect. Bees, lavender, it kind of made sense," he said. 

They then used a different AI program to come up with a label which took about 30 seconds. 

The whole process was mind blowing for the team, but Soares said the beer recipe had its flaws. 

"Even though the ingredient list was pretty interesting, the numbers still had to be corrected to work for the beer. It would have also been like two per cent beer. No one wants to drink that," laughed Soares. "It still needed some human touch to it, but the suggestions were awesome. The beer turned out great." 

Norman said the original recipe would have been too watery and didn't have enough honey, so Soares had to doctor it a bit. 

"He was kind of proud of that," said Norman. "He said, 'hey, I know more than the machine, I'm the professional here,' so, man one, machine zero in the brewing sciences part of it." 

While everyone is happy with the finished product, Norman and Soares don't envision some dystopian-like future where beer is designed and made by AI without humans.

"No, I don't think so. It's a whole art thing," said Soares. "People want to have the human touch on it so they'll always be that aspect." 

Norman knows it's impossible to replace a human in the brewing world. 

"Anybody can write a recipe, but then to actually design it and troubleshoot, to actually be hands-on when something goes wrong and to fix that on the fly, that requires years of knowledge and actual hands on and training," said Norman. 

AI is currently at the ground-level, Norman said, and it will likely become more of a factor in people’s lives, for better or worse, in the near future. 

"AI is kind of here to stay. We just wanted to jump in and get our feet wet and see if we could have some fun in a low-stakes way," he added.

EXPANSION

While Norman is excited about his new beer, he's also in the final stages of a massive renovation project. 

The Tire Shack is expanding to a second 5,600 square-foot building right next door to the taproom that will double their beer producing capacity.

It will also be an event space venue for weddings, corporate functions and live music and the upstairs will have a glass atrium four season rooftop patio.  

"In the summer, you'll feel like you're in an outdoor space, but it will be covered and protected with the glass, but in the winter it's almost going to have a snow globe vibe to it," said Norman.

The new building will be open some time this summer.

from CTV News - Atlantic https://ift.tt/btHo9TW

[mariusroyale]

wip of an upcoming (hopefully) comic! i wonder if u can tell what the dialogue is gonna be from

[bestofmultiverse]

Wrote something , Let me know if yall like!

DOVE CAMERON X FEM! READER

_________

Dove was known in many ways to the world, and one of them was as the girl to date her co-stars, first was ryan, tall and handsome, with a face of an angel and a personality of a brat.

The second was Thomas, a golden boy with a smile so bright it lit a room by the seconds, their breakup was tough on dove, to admit, but she released not long after, that it was indeed, the right decision for both.

when dove and Thomas broke up, she decided that she wont date a co-star again, no mattar how cute, good looking, charming or hot, this co-star might be.

But the moment she walked into the first reading of the script of 'the last of us' , the new show she took a part in- she knew she was screwed.

The main characters of the story were 6 teenagers/young adults, gifted with special powers, who grew up in a camp designed for people like them. trough time went on people started slowly vanishing until a surprise invasion and the six had to come together to save their lives as they realize the horrors behind the vanishing of their friends.

Dove character was a golden hearted, lovely and cute "Camille": the healer, who also happened to have a close relationship with a hot headed, protective and very attractive "Elle"; who also happened to be able to produce fire from her fingertips when needed.

Elle was portrayed by y/n, and the first thing dove could think about as they set next to each other in the first reading was "fuck me".

The other girl was fit and beautiful, with arms full of tattoos and a few freckles scattered around her nose.

She was feminine indeed, with her long silky hair and delicate face structure, but everything about her gave dove "boyfriend energy", and she gulped at the thought.

She smiled at dove softly and dove smiled back.

"Cant say i have complains about my co-star" she said with a goofy grin "big fan" she offered her hand for dove to shake.

Dove shook her hand.

It was soft and dove wondered how it felt to have this hand on resting her cheek while kissing, or playing with her hair, or sending waves of pleasure as she- okay, back to the subject,

Dove smiled at her co star

"Wish I could say the same, how come i never met you, I'm sure I would've remembered a face pretty as yours" she flirted with a small smirk

The girl laughed

"Im y/n" she answered

"Im portraying Elle, the- and I'm quoting- unbelievably hot, tough, fire girl, with a heart of gold"

Dove laughed at her statement and y/n laughed as well as she shook her head.

"Okay, prince zuko"

The two chatted for a while as the room started to fill in with the rest of the main cast members and some other crew members, as the director and screen writer.

When the reading started and the part where Elle and Camille had their first verbal interaction, every person around the table could see the chemistry between the two.

Camille and Elle are going to be a hit, that was for sure.

When the reading ended and y/n escorted dove to her car, dove was coursing herself for two reasons;

The first, because she knew she was going to break the pact she made between her heart and her head.

Don't date co-stars, no matter how cute, good looking, charming or hot, this co-star might be.

And the second was because she knew she'd prefer prince zuko over prince charming, every day.

She couldn't wait for filming to start.

*** the last of us is a jerrie, camren and ziam fan-fiction written by @ for_legit (Wattpad)

in this story the last of us is basically a book turned into a show.

I made some changes, from a gender swap to names, and some skin color / sexuality/ race bc its a show and representation is important- For the real and full story, you should check it out on wattpad ***

[finelinevogue]

he’s so vogue

Description - you are the journalist for the new Harry Styles December Vogue Issue

A/N - how is everyone doing? hope you enjoy! if you have any requests please feel free to ask. love you all and have a lovely rest of the week!

warnings: swearing

[masterlist]

Being a journalist for Vogue was probably the biggest flex you could ever make.

After 3 years of studying English Literature at Surrey University, you never thought, only a year after, you'd be working as an apprentice at Vogue UK. If it weren't for your Aunty, who worked in the fashion design section at Vogue HQ, then you'd no doubt still be a broke-ass, single, lonely student. Ok, lonely you still were but your job was so full-on that you didn't have time for a relationship.

Two years into your apprenticeship you were promoted to an official member of the team, and then another two years later you got promoted to team leader in your department of journalism, and editing; The Media - or as you like to call it - "The Celeb Goss". You were beyond happy with your job and found such passion in every article your wrote. Whether it be about a new celebrity romance or the collapse of one, you found a way to story-tell in such a meditated way that everyone loved your pieces.

That's why the Harry Styles had requested you to be the one to interview him.

Of course you'd written about A-list celebrities in the past, producing articles on pregnancy rumours, or engagements, or breakups, but you'd never met them before authoring an article. You'd met plenty of D-list celebrities who thought they were mega famous, but if you mentioned their names people would turn around and ask "who?".

This is why interviewing Harry Styles was a massive thing for you.

Not very often did you get to do work out in the field, especially in these covid infested days, but nevertheless it was your favourite part of the job. Getting to meet the people you were writing about was completely refreshing, allowing you to obtain a clearer outlook on which direction to take on your journal piece.

You were asked to go to Stonehenge, where the photoshoot was being filmed, as your office of interview. Even though you'd lived in the UK all your life, you'd never actually been to Stonehenge. It wasn't really on your bucket-list, but it was a pleasure to get to see it all the same.

Being the prepared interviewer you were, you'd prepared an array of questions that you were set on asking Harry. You'd never met him before, but after much googling and youtubing of him prior to meeting him today you would already be confident in saying he's the most brilliant man to ever exist. You were really nervous that you were going to screw this interview up and make a terrible mess in front of Harry Styles.

"Lisa! What if I accidentally say something I shouldn't?" You ran your stressed hands through your hair.

This whole morning had been frantic. It had started off by you waking up late, no thanks to Lisa, your best-friend and co-worker, pressing snooze on the alarm. You wanted to look professional today so you'd put on your best shirt - only to spill coffee down it ten minutes later. So now, you smelt of coffee and were wearing what was left in your wardrobe - and it wasn't much. The only things left clean were a pair of pink corduroy flares and some, pastel coloured, graphic t-shirt to go with it.    

"You won't. Stop being so negative." Lisa rolled her eyes, probably fed up with the amount of winging she'd heard from you this morning - and you'd only been awake an hour.

"My outfit is hardly professional either." You huffed, pouring the rest of your, second, coffee down the drain.

"Well I think you look gorgeous." Lisa stated, whilst putting her breakfast bar wrapper in the bin.

You and Lisa were back and forth about you stressing, and such, for about half an hour before you had to leave. You had a great panic about losing your glasses too. You could see without them up close, but for long distance viewing and reading you were practically blind. You were taking Lisa's car, since she didn't think you were emotionally stable enough to drive. Lisa was the creative director on the set, and thank goodness she was so you could at least ramble to someone.

After a two hour drive up from London, you arrived at Stonehenge and it was freezing. Although the sun was out, it did nothing to keep your body heated. The journey up had been nice because you sat in your nicely heated car, chatting away with Lisa and blasting some Harry Styles out of the speaker. You'd made it through the first album, and the second one up to Canyon Moon before reaching your destination.

Upon arriving you could just about, without glasses, make out about 15 other cars, arranged at the bottom of a hill. There was an array of Audis and BMWs, a few Range Rovers, which you placed your bets on one was Harrys, and a green, vintage, Jaguar which was most likely belonging to the fashion editor or something. There was also a modern barn, perched at the foot of the hill, which was where Harry would be getting changed in to his various different outfits.

It took you a moment to register that Lisa had parked and was already clambering out of the car, making you look a little idiotic still blankly staring at the beautiful scenes in front, and around, of you.

But it was still bloody freezing.

You jogged a little to the boot and whipped out your white cardigan. Originally you'd thought that this would've been enough to keep you warm, but now you were starting to think otherwise.

The atmosphere here was amazing. People were rushing around left, right and centre loading, and unloading, various pieces of equipment and clothes. You caught sight of brightly coloured fabrics being carried to and from various places. There were the camera crew, and presumably director, all chatting amongst themselves. The smell of the very fresh air was so lush that you'd forgotten what it smelt like - especially after years in London.

You grabbed your bag from the boot, which had your notes, recording kit and laptop stuffed inside, before locking the car and following Lisa in to the barn.

It was lovely and warm inside - a completely different climate to than the outside. It was as if it was Bali inside and Antarctica outside. Better Bali than Antarctica though.

"Ok. Let's put our stuff down over here and then go find people we need to meet and such." Lisa instructed, you still too in awe of the place to fully comprehend what was going on.

You followed Lisa and you two ended up dropping off your stuff next to some other bags. You took a liking to the purse next to your stuff. Next to your bag, it made yours seem ancient - like it was worth nothing more than a penny. It was luscious and a beautiful baby blue colour. You softly ran your hands over it, finding satisfaction in how smooth and subtle it was.

"Hope you're not planning on stealing that, love." A manly voice appeared from behind you. You whipped around to see who's bag you'd been messing with, and it was just your luck that it was to be Harry Styles'. Of all the people's it could've been it had to be his. 

Perfect.

He looked dashing. He was in black flares and his iconic 'But daddy i love him', t-shirt, along with a huge green anorak. His hair was prettily clipped back with a pink clip, presumably placed there to gave his curls greater volume. In his hand he had a pink toothbrush and you guessed he'd come back over to put it away in his bag - only to find you caressing it instead.

"Oh - no, no. Not at all. I - uh - I just thought it was beautiful." You stammered over your words, choosing them carefully to try and make you look less like an active criminal.

"Mhm." Harry nodded whilst looking you up and down, most likely judging why a peasant like you, in comparison to him, was touching his expensive property. "Well, I love your flares darlin'." Harry looked down at your trousers, his compliment making you blush a little.

"Thank you. That wasn't professional, and neither is my outfit, I know, and I apologise." You added, because you knew that if your boss knew you turned up today the way you did she would give you a right bollocking - and potentially even fire you.

"Never apologise for flares. You look amazing." Gemma perked up, making you feel more self conscious surrounded by all these other beautiful women. Gemma was in a slouchy, knitted, jumper and basic jeans - no doubt all from shops beyond your budget - and yet she looked like a model fit for the runway for Vogue.

"Okay, sorry." You apologised again, to which you, creepily, got the exact same, stern, look from the Styles siblings at the same time.

"My stylist, Harry, introduced me to big pants. He offered whether I wanted to try a pair of flares, and I was like, 'Flares? That's fucking crazy'!" Harry laughed as he told his story, earning a laugh out of you too. "Now they're my favourite item of clothing. Have a whole wardrobe dedicated to them."

"I wish he was joking." Gemma laughed at her brother and his flare obsession.

"Well you do look handsome in them, so I understand why." Your words rolls off your tongue before you could even comprehend what you were saying. Only after you finished your sentence did you completely intake what you'd just said.

"Good start." Lisa giggled to you, before turning to walk over to the coffee station. It was a help-yourself coffee bar and you knew that you were going to bed at least five cups to get over the last five minutes alone. You'd probably drain the station before letting anyone else have any.

"Oh god." You awkwardly mumbled, not daring to see how weirdly Harry would be looking at you, before walking off outside.

You had spent less than 10 minutes here and yet you'd never felt like a bigger clown. Joining the circus had never been so easy.

The outside wind hit you like a powerful leaf blower, and your hair blew around like crazy - most likely compiling into a birds nest on the top of your head.

Today was supposed to be the start of something great. Your hopes were set on a promotion from your written masterpiece, whilst enjoying the company of one of the most handsome, most lovely, most talented men of this century. Those hopes seemed a little too distant now. They seemed to mock you, as if to laugh at how you ever thought you were going to be any more successful. You'd completely, in more ways than one, made a fool of yourself in front of your interviewee, you were so underdressed, you were caught fondling his Gucci purse and you were still bloody cold.

It all felt too unprofessional for a job where professional was practically the driving force of the company.

You leaned against the barn, taking a deep breath to try and calm yourself. You were a master in over-thinking, but unfortunately that wasn't something you could add to your resumé. You let your eyes close and the other senses come alive for a few moments. The sounds of distant sheep and the smell of the cold wind were just two of the senses that allowed you to take a step back for a minute, and breathe.

"Thank you." A voice interrupted you from your attempt of quick meditation. You looked to your left and noticed Harry standing there, still in the same outfit as before.

"I'm sorry?" You asked confused, taking a step away from the barn to considerately pay more attention to him.

"Thank you - for saying I look handsome in flares." He repeated, smirking when he added the second part.

"Oh." Was all you could respond, feeling too embarrassed to take the conversation any further. "I should—" You pointed back to the barn, using it as an excuse to leave before yet screwed up anymore.

"Lisa told me you're the interviewer." Harry added, and it only occurred to you that you'd never actually introduced yourself. "So it's lovely to finally meet you Y/N." He stuck out his hand for your to shake, which you did willingly. His hands were a lot softer than you'd expected.

"Ho... You know my name?" You asked surprised.

"Of course. I also know you're the best writer in Vogue right now." He flattered you, which made you blush. You had a feeling he'd make you do that a lot today.

"Sure." You rolled your eyes as you spoke sarcastically.

"Well I chose you for a reason, didn't I?" He rhetorically asked.

"I mean.. I, well.. I don't know?" You stumbled over your words, making yourself look like a larger fool than you did already. Today was just turning out to be exactly what you didn't want it to be. "Sorry."

"Stop apologising. You do it too often." He told you, nearly making you apologise again but he gave you a jokingly stern look, as if he knew what you were going to say, and so you decided otherwise.

"Harry!" You both turned to see there was a man waving towards you both, but specifically to Harry. "Come get changed!" The same man shouted. Harry lifted his thumbs up, as if to signal he'd be there shortly.

Harry turned back to you and noticed you shiver a little.

"I'll start the interview after I come back from the dressing rooms, yeah?" Harry asked, taking off his, khaki green, trench-coat in the process. He handed it to you before you could oblige against it.

"Wait what?" You confusedly looked down at the coat and back up to Harry.

"Gives me a piece of mind knowing my interviewer isn't going to die of hypothermia before actually interviewing me." He smiled, obviously attempting to crack a joke and you have to admit you did laugh.

"Thank you." You say, before he runs off to where he's being called to.

                                                            ••••

You'd been sat inside for a little while, waiting for Harry to come back. It gave you time to perfect your questions though.

Thinking up questions to ask Harry had been a challenging task, but one that you'd been fully invested in. You loved creating questions to ask him that were going to get to understand him on a deeper level. He was a very private man, and you completely respected that. If you crossed any boundaries, with the questions you'd ask, you would write them out of the interview. You liked to think you hadn't thought up a question that would make him feel uncomfortable though.

Pissing off Harry would be on another level of shame.

"Coat kept you warm?" Harrys voice disengaged you from your notebook.

"Hm?" You asked then replayed what he'd just asked in your mind. "Oh, yes. Thank you very much." You stood up, from where you'd been perched on the floor, picking up your nearly finished green tea as you did so.

Only when you stood up did it come to your realisation that Harry was now in costume. He was dressed in luxury. Each item looked like it cost more than your rent, and that was saddening. He looked rich and luxurious. To be quite honest, you were finding it rather difficult to take your eyes off him.

"You think the outfit is Vogue enough?" Harry asked, striking a few poses, which made you laugh. It was refreshing to see him act so relaxed and carefree, rather than a stuck-up-prick you knew some celebrities to be.

"Completely. I love it!" You exclaimed, appreciating the twirl he did for you.

He was wearing a kilt-like skirt and he looked beyond beautiful in it. Fuck toxic masculinity. Fuck being a manly man - like what does that even mean? Harry was embracing gender fluidity and experimenting the ways in which there was no definitive line between men and women's clothes anymore, and you thought it was marvellous. Revolutionary, for times as politically and socially troubled as these.

You started removing the coat in attempt to give it back to him, but he refrained you from doing so by holding on to your forearm.

"Keep it. I thought we could go outside to start the interview, so you'll be needing that." Harry told you, and you agreed - however reluctantly that was. You couldn't really complain though, because the coat did kept you warm and, what's better, it smelt divine - just like you'd imagine Harry to smell.

"Okay. Thank you. Do you want to go now?" You asked hesitantly, not knowing whether he was busy for someone else right now.

"Whenever you're ready, love." He answered, making you feel more relaxed. He was going at your pace and was making you feel settled - he was even more of a gentleman than people described him to be.

The two of you had walked around the backside of the barn in silence, enjoying the comfort of each other's presence. Well, at least you were. It was a blessing no one was back here. It was just you, Harry and the scenery that surrounded Stonehenge.

You approached a bench and you plopped yourself down on one end, whilst Harry sat on the other. He respected the fact that there was a pandemic going on, and didn't want to make you uncomfortable in any way. You still had your mask on, so Harry had taken that as you were very conscious about the virus - which he admired.

You pulled out your glasses, from the depths of one of the coat pockets, and placed them on your face, probably making yourself look even geekier than you already felt. Today was just one of those days you wished you had good eyes...

You opened your spent notebook, musty pages practically falling apart, and turned to the section of questions you needed for that interview. You were so nervous already and you hadn't even asked anything yet, all because of the previous interactions with Harry today. Your shaky hands shuffled through the pages and you cursed under your breath when you struggled to find what you needed.

"Shoot. Come on." You mumbled quietly under your breath, hoping it would make this terrible situation end faster. You mustn't have been as quiet as you thought though.

"Y/N." Harry's name broke through your clouded mind of self-disappointment.

You looked up at him to see him softly smiling at you, blowing all worries away from you away with the wind. "Yes?" You timidly asked, pushing your wind-swept hair out of glasses - where it'd gotten caught.

"You’re alright, love. You don't have to be professional around me, alright? We're just two strangers having a conversation, to get to know each other, okay?" If his words didn't calm you enough, the soothing sound of his husky voice certainly did.

"But that would mean you asking me stuff too?" You replied, confused at his implications of the phrasing 'getting to know each other'.

"Mhm." Harry nodded his head.

"Oh I don't know Mr Styles, i'm not a very interesting person." You answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, pushing your glasses back up the bridge of your nose from where they'd fallen.

"I refuse to believe that." Harry chuckled, making a quick smile appear on your face. "And please call me Harry. Just Harry." He begged, obviously finding it weird you calling him by his professional title. All you wanted, ever, was for your interviewee's to feel comfortable and safe, so if Harry wanted you to call him Harry then so be it.

"Ok, Harry," you sarcastically said, earning a shake of the head on his behalf, "you can ask me a few questions throughout the day." You told him, but you knew he'd struggle to find even two questions when he realises how bland you are.

"Does that mean you only get to ask me a few as well?" Harry smirked, already knowing the answer to that question. Unlike Harry, you had to write an article about today when you got home and so he knew that you'd have to dig as much dirt as possible from him.

"No, sorry. I don't particularly want to lose my job." You paused to look down at your notes, squinting a little as you did to see better. "Okay. Tell me your experience with corona virus."

"Sorry I didn't quite catch that, love." Harry apologised, leaning in slightly to see if he could hear you a second time around.

"Sorry." You looked down to fiddle with your fingers - a habit you'd undertaken when you're embarrassed. "Um..," you cleared your throat, "would you mind if I took off my mask?"

Your timid voice sent tingle down Harrys spine. He didn't think anyone could ever be this sweet. "Not at all, ‘course you can." He replied, again, wanting to make you feel as comfortable as possible.

You hesitantly took off your face mask, feeling like you were in some dramatic movie where they face revealed someone. You kind of liked having the mask on, because, for one, it kept you warm, and for two, you were a little self conscious with how you looked compared to all the other women here today. You shoved the mask in your pocket, with trembling fingers, before looking back down to your notes.

"Woah." You heard Harrys voice being mumbled under the wind. You eyes shot up to his and you noticed him staring right back at you.

"W-what? Is my acne playing up? I knew I should've—" You self-consciously run your hands over the areas you know you got acne. The masks really didn't help when it came to skin care.

"Hey, stop. No. You just... You look beautiful." Harry complimented you, and a roaring blush arose on to your cheeks. You'd never been called beautiful before, and so you were taking the compliment like such a 13-year old.

"Oh, uh, thank you." You awkwardly answered, not really having any other words come to mind in that moment. Harry chuckled under his breath, still keeping eyes on you for some reason.

"Would you mind repeating your last question, I didn't quite catch it?" Harry asked politely.

"Sure. Um, tell me how you've experienced corona virus." You repeated for him, gripping ahold of your pen to start copying what he says and pressing start on your recording device in case you needed it later.

"Well, it's been tedious that's for sure. However, I just want people to be safe and for life to return back to normal, so therefore i've been very MIA for a lot of the time. Keeping to myself mostly. I only went out for hikes or bike rides. All my meetings were online, so it's been very lonely." Harry kept eye contact with your figure the entire time, and if it weren't for you concentrating on writing what he was saying then you'd probably melt away under his gaze.

For such soft eyes he sure was intimidating.

"I presume the loneliness sent you crazy at times." You laughed, because you sure felt that way through lockdown. Curse being single.

"You have no idea." Harry laughed along with you, making you, slowly, feel more at ease.

"Actually, you'd be surprised." You looked at him unsure, before returning down to your notebook.

"Okay then, first question from me," Harrys words made your head shoot up, "How can someone as amazing as yourself be lonely?" He asked and you made a mental tally of how many questions he'd asked.

"Could ask you the very same question, Harry." You slyly replied, avoiding the question by answering with another question. It was a tactic you'd learnt, throughout your years of journalism, when you wanted to dismiss something .

"That's cheating." Harry pointed at you and raised his eyebrows, but you couldn't take your eyes off the big, cheeky, smile perched on his face. You shrugged you're shoulders in defence and returned to your questions. "But you did just call me amazing, so I think i'll let it slide this one time." You blushed, again, when you understood what he meant.

He was amazing though - that was the truth.

"You were in L.A. for the majority of quarantine, am I right to say?" You already knew the answer but your manager had just wanted confirmation.

"Yeah, but L.A. feels like holiday, whereas London feels like home." He answered, which you appreciated. He hasn't got lost in the way that Hollywood could let people. He'd stayed grounded.

"So what did you entertain yourself with during quarantine?" You asked curiously, slightly side-tracking from your pre-written questions - just because you were intrigued (nosey).

"Not much, not to be boring. I ate a lot of bread. I worked out pretty much every day. I wrote quite a bit actually." He used his fingers to pinch his bottom lip, something you'd noticed he did in interviews.

"Does that mean a new album on the way?" Your inner fangirl was screaming at the thought of HS3.

"Can neither confirm nor deny." Harry smirked to himself, like the cheeky bugger he is.

"That's a yes then." You joked, pretending to write it down in your notes.

"You're impossible, you." Harry laughed and shook his head. It made you feel all funny the way you could make him smile like that. You were the source of his happiness for just that moment, and that was enough to make you feel happy for a lifetime - not that he felt the same.

"Next question," you stated, moving swiftly on because you knew you had limited time, "How's your experience with Vogue been so far?"

"Wonderful. Everyone has been so welcoming and that makes it so much easier for me to have fun. It's daunting going at things alone, but i'm getting slowly used to it now." Harry sniffled a little, probably due to the freezing cold weather here.

"Must be strange, not having four best friends around you, all the time, anymore." You stated rather than asked him, sure that he was missing his bandmates. I mean, you were - so he definitely would be.

"Brothers." Harry replied, making you look up at him confused.

"I'm sorry?" You asked, giving him your full attention.

"You said four best friends. Well, actually they're my brothers." His words actually caused a rift in your heart. You could feel it being pulled apart and torn in to two. If you wrote this in to the magazine the fans would have a worldwide passing-away-party.

"Harry." You said softly, slightly tearing up at his words. "God, I swear i'm not normally this emotional." You chest your throat and try to establish your dignity - however there wasn't that much left anymore.

"Oh shut up." Harry looked away obviously trying to hide the fact that he was tearing up too. You laughed at him but didn't draw any more attention to it than you guessed he would've wanted.

"They mean a lot to you then?" You asked, hopefully not treading on any unwanted territories.

"Much more than a lot, yeah." Harry nodded his head, turning it back to face you. He could tell this conversation was now off-the-record because of your closed notebook, your undivided attention towards him and the fact you’d turned off the recording device. He liked being able to look at you, rather than the top of your head. He swore you were the prettiest girl he'd ever seen.

"You still see them often?" 

"Not as often as i'd like. Niall did come around the other week to drop off some old guitars he didn't want anymore, and then we ended up playing around with some music for a bit." He admitted, which stitched your heart back together.

"So does that mean a Narry collab?" You teased, biting your bottom lip in anticipation.

"Narry? You so are a directioner." He laughed along with you.

"And you just avoided my question, therefore there is a song out there written only by you and Niall." You concluded, which shut him up.

This conversation was going a lot better than expected. Certainly a lot better than earlier. You will be permanently scarred by the way you spoke to him and handled his belongings. It was going to haunt you forever - and yet he'd forget about it by tomorrow. Or maybe he wouldn't, which is why you felt the need to apologise.

"Harry?" You asked, clearly indicating this was still a conversation away from the interview.

"Yes Y/N?" He watched you intently, listening to your every word.

"I, um, just wanted to apologise for my behaviour earlier. I was just really nervous to meet you, and to be honest still am. I didn't mean to touch your stuff without your consent and I certainly didn't mean to make you uncomfortable with any of my comments. So, i'm sorry. I can only imagine the awful, yet true, things you must think of me." You rambled really quickly, that you were uncertain whether Harry even caught one word of what you'd says.

"Do you know why I asked for you to interview me Y/N?" Harry asked, which wasn't the first thing you expected him to say after your apology.

"No. I...well Lisa told me it was because I can write well or something." You suggested, not wanting to sound egotistical.

"I mean you do write perfectly, but no." You were intrigued now. "I asked for you because I, and this is not for your magazine, have a secret - but not-so-secret - crush on you." This time it was Harrys turn to blush.

"Harry... you don't have to say that to—"

"I'm not saying it for anything. I sincerely think you are the most delightful, most prettiest, most fucking sweetest person i've ever met." Harry exclaimed, which you were taken aback by. Never, ever, did you think that Harry Styles would proclaim his likeness towards you. Ever.

"Harry don't mess with me, please." You shyly spoke, tilting your head down in disbelief that the Harry Styles was smitten about you.

He shuffled along the bench, stopping a little way from you but close enough to reach out for you. Your heartbeat increased when you noticed his hand move closer towards you. It didn't stop till he reached your face. He took his time, courteously, pushing your hair behind your ear before removing you of your glasses. He held the right-eye frame and slowly pulled the glasses off your face.

Once he'd successfully taken them off he folded them up and placed them alongside your closed notebook.

"Can see those pretty eyes now." He whispered quietly, but loud enough for you to hear.

"Don't lie. They're so dull." You mumbled, lifting your head up slightly. His face was still away from you.

"Not to me they're not." He retaliated, looking deep into your eyes as you did his. "I hate this corona virus."

"Why?" His words were so out of the blue sometimes, it gave you whiplash.

"Because I can't be as near to you as I want to be." Harry told you. And yeah, you hated corona too. It was getting a little laborious now.

"Smooth, Styles." You chuckled. You wondered how many new and weird pick-up lines could be made from covid. 

"I know." He winked, which honestly would have made you throw up if it were any other man on the planet. Somehow, though, Harry just made it seem attractive - along with every other thing that man ever did. "After this, would you like to come back to my house for a cuppa tea?" He asked sweetly, like a five year old asking whether you wanted to play together.

"Okay. Lisa was my ride though." You said more to yourself than anything else, debating on how you'd even get to Harrys. Uber? Taxi? Lisa? Walk?

"I'll drive us, it's fine. I have to drop Gem off, but i'd be more than happy to chauffeur you." Harry kindly offered, to which you were internally screaming about. You were literally, and metaphorically, having a field-day with all this Harry content and interview.

"Are you sure? I don't want to be a burden." You question politely, not wanting to overstep any boundaries - especially in these covid infested times.

"Of course. I wouldn't have offered otherwise." He protested, waving his hand at if to say it was no bother. You were already trying to work out, in your head, how much petrol money you were going to owe him.

"Then i'd be honoured to have a brew with you Harry." You giggled at how cringe you were being, even if this was just your normal self speaking.

"Great." Harry genuinely smiled, teeth and all. "My shoot should take a couple of hours, but feel free to continue to write and journal. I'm looking forward to reading this particular article." He winked at you before standing up.

"Wonder why?" You sarcastically asked, knowing full-well it was due to his exposure of his own feelings towards you. Even though you'd never says anything back you were quite in agreement on how you felt about him, like he did you. He would be a narcissist to say he knew you liked him the same, out loud, but he knew. And you knew that he knew.

"Wonder why indeed." He gave you one last smile before he'd disappeared for the rest of the afternoon, leaving you to digest and relive the past half an hour or so.

Being Harry Styles' crush was probably the biggest flex you could ever make.

                                                          ••••

After Harry had finished up his shoot he was quick to come find you again.

You'd watched parts of his shoot and he looked magnificent. There wasn't a good enough word to describe how amazing he looked. Harry, his stylist, was probably the best stylist out there. His fashion choices were unmatched and you wanted him to be yours. You were not rich enough nor fashionable enough, ironic for working in a a fashion company, to hire a stylist, but you would if you could.

You were so proud to see what he was achieving now as the person that he was. Harry was just being Harry, without the devilish control of shitty managements or ridiculous amounts of PR stunts. Harry was more free than ever, and it definitely showed just how much he was enjoying it.

You were certain that this Vogue magazine would break the internet - his fans were good at doing that. This could be a turning point for many people, with their outdated and ignorant views. There was no room for people with racist or homophobic or transphobic or xenophobic - and the list does go on - views anymore.

You were waiting by the front door of the barn, to catch Harry as he walked past. You caught sight of him in a white robe, presumably to get changed back into his everyday clothes. He looked really pretty in the robe - very domestic actually.

Today had been a good day.

Harry asked you to send over the more specific Vogue questions to him via email, so he could devote more time in to answering them in a lot more depth. You thought he meant you'd be sending them to some PA in his team, but you were shocked to understand he'd given you his personal email.

People were walking back to their cars and packing away the filming kit. You saw Lisa and the director talking to one another, no doubt discussing some in-work gossip.

"You ready?" Harrys voice reminded you that you'd been waiting for him. You looked to see he was back in the same clothes as this morning, only this time without his coat.

"Here?" You offered, having him over the coat once again but he declined.

"Looks better on you anyways." He winked at you, before walking through the car park and to his car. You were very surprised when you found out Harry was the one to own the green Jaguar. You assumed all celebrities drove the Range Rover, but no. The vintage car added to Harrys immaculate vibe and just made him that little bit more hot.

Harry properly introduced you to Gemma, who was equally as lovely as Harry. They were both amazing people and they were crazily alike. From the way they looked, down to the way they phrased their words, they were mistakingly twins. Gemma explained how Anne, their mum, didn't know they were doing this photoshoot and that it was going to be a surprise, which you thought was so cute.

Gemma spilt a lot of gossip on Harry, to which he got very embarrassed over. You learnt that Harrys first word was Cat. You learnt that Harry is godfather to multiple children, which you found heartwarming. You learnt Harry used to be a baker - which was something he elaborated on for a good half an hour. Harry was just a fountain of memories and Gemma was the one sharing them all with you.

The drive back to London was relaxed. You sat in the back, listening to Harry and Gemma pointlessly argue whilst an Arctic Monkeys album played in the background. You forgot that people like Harry drove, and listened to music, just like other regular people. You often misplaced celebrities in society, thinking they had everything done for them but in reality that (often) wasn't the case - at least not for Harry.

Gemma was dropped off quickly before Harry drove to his. It was no surprise that the Styles siblings didn't live too far away from each other. Harrys house was beautiful. Bigger than anything you could ever dream of buying. It was a palace compared to your cupboard-sized house. You were unbelievably jealous. He gave you the tour of the house, showing you where the toilets were, and even his panic room if necessary.

You migrated to the kitchen for a bit, talking about anything and everything. Getting to know the minuscule pieces of information that no-one else was trusted with, made you feel special. Harry made you feel special - even if he weren't meaning to.

Every moment held a spark. Every touch set off a firework. Every laugh was an electric burst. He made you feel so alive.

"We can go to the living room after this has boiled." Harry said, pointing towards the streaming kettle. He wanted to show off his fancy tea collection he had, and let you have a try if you wanted to. Harry was boring and chose the basic green tea, but, after much deliberation, you chose the cranberry green tea. It intrigued you and it sounded delicious.

"Why the extensive tea collection?" Not even you, a certified caffeine addict, had this much tea in your house. Coffee was a different story and one in which you didn't want to talk about.

"They help me with my meditation." He took the teabags and placed them in his glass mugs. They had a delicate Gucci stamp on them, and you just imagined that they probably worth the same amount as your daily salary.

"You meditate?" You were slightly surprised that he did.

"I try to yeah." Harry nodded, focusing on pouring in the boiling water into the mugs. "I've got very tight hamstrings and so it helps if I meditate twice a day."

Harry finished making the tea, in the light-filled kitchen, before showing you around to the open-lounge area. Everything was modern and chic. It was exactly how you imagined it, but better. The open, red-brick, wall was a beautiful feature and one that you were a whore for! It reminded you of New York and the memories you'd made there one summer.

The sofa was a beautiful velvet, green, sofa. It was soft and gentle, a lot like Harry when you thought about it. The whole house was an architectural masterpiece and you'd be lying if you said you weren't jealous. You sat on one end and Harry went to go and sit on the other end.

"I don't bite you know?" You joked, self-consciously wondering whether he didn't want to be sat near you.

"I know, I just don't want to step on any of your covid boundaries - which is perfectly fine by the way." He added, apprehensively taking the spot next to you.

"No, not at all." You ushered him to sit next to you, as you took a sip from your steaming hot cup of fruity tea. "If I smell though, do tell me!"

"Yeah, you smell bloody awful!" Harry sarcastically remarked, but laughing afterwards to assure you he was joking. The atmosphere went quiet for a minute, only the sounds of passing cars and deep breaths being heard.

"Y/N can I ask you something?" Harry turned the tone of the conversation. It sounded like he wanted to be more serious than you two were being beforehand.

"Anything." You encouraged him to continue. You placed the cup of tea down on the table, deciding it was too hot to drink right now, and gave him your full attention.

"Do you believe in love at first sight?" Harry questioned. You didn't think you'd be having a conversation this intense - especially if you had different opinions - on your first day of knowing each other, but here you were.

"I believe you can love someone at first sight. I don't believe you can be in love with someone at first sight. Why?" You were curious as to how his brain had journeyed to this particular topic. You'd never really had this conversation with anyone before, mainly because you were unaware of the true power, and meaning, of love.

"It uh... It doesn't matter." Harry shook his head and you could tell by his body language that he was shutting you out. Maybe you'd made him uncomfortable.

"Sorry I didn't mean to—"

"No, no. Please don't apologise. It's just - I like you a lot more than you may think." Harry shyly told you, which made you all soft inside. He was being vulnerable and that was something you admired in a partner. You didn't just need love, affection and trust in a relationship. No. You needed vulnerability and heartbreak too, and Harry was revealing that part of him to you.

"I like you a lot more than you think too." You repeated, not because you felt bad for him but because you truly did like him a whole lot. Love was a weird yet wonderful thing, and if you were to hazard a guess you'd say you loved Harry. 

You couldn't wait to be in love with him.

"Does that mean I get to crown you my girlfriend?" Harry excitedly asked. Harry happy was something that should be made a constant, and you were more than happy to be in control of that.

"At least take me out first." You bargained, wishing for nothing more than to go on a date with Harry. Where you'd go, you had no idea. Everything was closed right now and there was still the chance of becoming sick with corona, but no doubt Harry would think of something not only clever, but special.

Of course you'd love to be Harrys girlfriend. However, you wanted one more, official, opportunity to really get to know him - unprofessionally. You wanted to make sure that you knew, and he knew, that you wanted to be with him because he was the charming Harry you've come to love, not because he was Harry Styles.

"So you're allowing me to take you on a date?" Harry smirked like a little child, your heart fluttering at how excited he was to be able to treat you to dinner.

"Yes, Harry. Yes I am." You answered sweetly, offering him the cutest smile you could.

You can't believe what a turn of events today has been. You've gone from nearly writing yourself on Harrys enemy list to writing yourself on to his 'people he's dated' list. Who knows what the future would offer you. At the start of the day you had wished this whole day to end and for the ground to just swallow you up, now you never wanted it to end. It was too perfect to be true and yet it was.

Harry was the most wonderful human to exist and you were beyond surprised to be the one to catch his attention. You didn't understand why you were so special, but it was nice to feel like this for a change. It was nice to feel wanted.

                                                             ••••

A few months later and you were officially Harrys girlfriend.

It had been such a crazy few months. Harry religiously took you out on dates every week. Whether it be to grab a hotdog at a local diner, a coffee from a quaint cafe, a walk in Hyde Park or a late-night drive around London - which normally ended up with you falling asleep before you could make it back to yours. On sleepless jet-lagged nights he'll still drive through London's quiet streets, seeing neighborhoods in a new way, just as an excuse to spend time with you.

Harry often stayed over at yours. Even though you looked like you lived in a shoebox compared to Harry, he liked it. He liked the subtly and normality of it all. He wanted your life to remain as normal as possible and, apart from the occasional paparazzi incident, it did. You never had anything to complain about. Of course the online bullying created emotional wounds, at the start of your relationship, but it was nothing that Harry couldn't repair with a bit of love.

Lisa has nominated herself to be maid-of-honour when the day comes - if the day comes. Harry has already pinky sworn that you are it for him. The one, as some may say. You were utterly flattered, but you certainly unsure of what the future help for you both.

You loved Harry, you do love Harry and you will forever always love Harry.

It was ridiculous to think that all this stemmed from you working at Vogue. From you studying English Literature in a city away from London. From you dedicating you extra hours gaining work experience and money to be able get in and afford university. So many moments in life have you stopped and said 'i wish i hadn't have done that', but now you were convinced that they were the best things to have happened to you - because they lead you, all, to Harry.

And, being Harry Styles girlfriend was probably the biggest flex you could ever make.

[captain-jensen]

Good Kisser, Bad Kisser

Chris Evans x Reader (smut)

Summary: You and Chris reminisce about a time when you were co-stars and things get heated

Authors note: I’ve seen comments about Chris possibly being a bad kisser based on watching him in movies and it inspired me

Warnings: 18+, unprotected sex (don’t be dumb),smut, manhandling kink, tiny bit of degradation, oral (m+f recieving),

        After grabbing a bottle of your favourite wine and some thai food you stand knocking on Chris’ front door. The door flings open and there he stands in a simple pair of sweats and a hoodie. “Finally! I’m starving, give me that” he rips the food out of your hands and makes a run for it towards the kitchen island. 

“Hi Chris! Good to see you too, it’s been a while” You say to yourself slightly annoyed that he hadn’t even thought to greet you. Nevertheless, you make your way inside and open your wine. After handing you a plate and a fork Chris pulls you into a tight hug. 

“Hey Y/N, it has been a while and I’ve missed you” He says, insinuating that he heard your sly comment at the door. You just giggle a bit and hug him back just as tightly. You guys separate and make your plates, opting to eat at the table. “So, how was filming?” he asks.

“It was good, nothing super special if I’m being honest though. The cast and crew were kind of boring and I didn’t even make any new friends” You respond forlornly. 

“Awe that’s the worst. To be fair though, I think I set the bar too high in terms of fun co-stars” He says with a cocky grin. 

“Well you’re not entirely wrong. I think you were the last real friend I’ve made on a set”

“It’s probably because I was the best kisser you’ve ever acted with” He claims, obviously deciding to stick with the prideful theme of jokes tonight. You can’t help but burst out laughing at this claim. Sure he wasn’t a horrible kisser but he wasn’t exactly the best either. Chris watches in bewilderment. “I’m sorry, did I say something funny?” he asks in mock exasperation. 

“Chris c’mon” you say through your de-escalating laughter. 

“No, what? What was so funny?”

“I just thought you were joking”

“Oh so you’re saying I wasn’t a good kisser?” 

“I mean I don’t really know about best but I’m not saying you were terrible” You try to defend yourself. 

“Well I guess that was a while ago. I mean we were in our 20s then. We’ve both changed a lot”

“Yeah you’re probably right. I’m sorry for laughing. I know I probably wasn’t the best either” you say. Now feeling bad because you might have actually hurt his feelings. 

“I don’t know. I thought you were pretty good” he responds shyly, not taking his eyes off of his food. 

“Well now I just feel bad” You say laughing.

“You don’t have to feel bad. I know for a fact I’ve gotten better since then”

“Well good for you then” you respond humorously.

“It’s just too bad that that’s your memory of me” he almost sounds actually sad. 

“It’s ok. I’m not exactly friends with you for your kissing ability. So it’s all good”

“It’s not all good. Let me show you that I’ve gotten better” He proposes.

“Um, what?” you ask taken aback. 

“Let me prove to you that I’m a good kisser now” he says again matter of factly. Clearly not understanding what has you so worked up. 

“Chris I’m not that worried about it believe me. I’m fine with the memory I have.” you say, trying to see if he was serious about this. 

“Well I’m not ok with it.” He definitely sounds serious. He stands up and walks toward you. He motions for you to stand, and despite your brains best efforts, your body obeys. He’s already standing so close to you, chest to chest. You apprehensively look up to him and see he’s already staring at you attentively. You glance at his lips quickly, and as soon as your eyes meet his again, his lips make contact with yours. This is undeniably a much different kiss than the one you had shared when you were basically kids. His lips move fervently across yours as he tilts his head and grabs the side of your face, deepening the kiss intensely. You can’t prevent the small whine that escapes the back of your throat, just like he can’t control the tightness of his sweats. He presses into you more, letting you feel every inch of him. Your hands move from their place on his arms to wind around the back of his neck. Grabbing the little hairs at the back of his head you subconsciously give a little tug and he groans deeply into your mouth, making your legs quiver. He guides you to the couch by your waist and sits you on his lap. You can feel his hands everywhere, roaming your body while his heat seeps into you and his mouth explores your chest. You moan and instinctively grind into his center. He rids you of your shirt and you do the same to him. His lips are around one of your nipples, one hand one one breast, and the other hand on your backside, gripping tightly. It’s like he’s scared you could be ripped from his arms as any second. You kiss behind his ear, finding his sweet spot making him release a guttural moan that shakes you to your core. After hearing that you’re sure he can feel your arousal seeping through your pants into his lap. It’s then though that you pull away to ask “Chris are you sure? I mean, you aren’t just trying to prove a point right?”.

“Baby I’ve honestly been thinking about this moment all these years”, he leans in close to your ear so you can feel his breath against your ear, making a shiver run down your spine. “I’ve always dreamt about how you’d feel against me like this, how I’d feel inside of you, how I’d feel tasting you”, in the midst of his beautiful speech, he catches you off guard and flips you on the couch so that you’re slightly angled off the couch. He kneels on the ground as he kisses his way down your body slowly. When he reaches the waistband of your pants he plants a dark mark on your skin, claiming you. He leaves trails of smaller marks down your thighs as he works your pants off. The slight bruising feeling of his bites matched with the roughness of his beard makes for a downright sinful feeling, matched by a sinful moan. He works his way back up your bare legs to your naked center. Placing small pecks mixed with small licks to your core he makes you a whimpering mess before he fully delves into your folds. He’s drinking you like a man who has been deprived of water his whole life. When he introduces a couple of fingers into your throbbing hole you fully lose it, coming undone within a matter of minutes. 

   Since you’ve fully turned into jelly around him, he effortlessly carries you to the bedroom, all but throwing you on the mattress. “Sorry to break it to you, but playtime is over now honey” you shudder at his words. You watch helplessly as he rids himself of his remaining clothes. As he goes to grab a condom, you stop him. “Just wait” You say, practically begging to taste him on your tongue. You pull yourself to a sitting position on the bed as he stands tall at the edge, already almost fully hard. You grab his length and stroke it a few times before giving him the same treatment of a small kiss at his tip and small licks to the underside of his shaft. His breathing becomes laboured as he watches you in awe when you take him into your mouth fully for the first time. You relax your throat and breath through your nose as you feel him hit the back of your throat. When you hollow your cheeks and moan around him he lets out a beautiful and deep moan. You work him for bit longer with a combination of your hand and mouth before he’s ripping you off of his cock and throwing you back on the bed. You gasp as your back hits the sheets but then you’re quickly being flipped over onto your stomach and he pulls your hips up. He’s working you like a doll, and you’ve never loved anything more. You feel him press himself against your back and say sensually but still firmly in your ear “I said playtime is over” you feel him rub his tip up and down your folds, collecting your arousal on his tip before he enters you. He wastes no time fully sheathing himself inside of you. He gives you but a second to adjust to him before his thrusting into you at an easy pace. Feeling every inch of him enter you again and again at such an agonizing speed starts to get to you and he notices you moving yourself against his shaft. “I had no idea you were so greedy baby. You’re having a hard time being patient aren’t you?” he asks in a demeaning tone. All you can do is mutter a pathetic little “please” while still trying to up the ante. He gets the hint and decides to give you what you want. Chris starts to move at a speed unlike anything you’ve had before. You’re certain your eyes roll to the back of your head while he pounds you endlessly into the mattress. You barely have the power to say “I’m cumming” by the time the wave hits you. All you can do is mix your obscene moan with the slapping and wet noises coming from between your bodies. Not long after hearing you and feeling you clench around him, Chris spills inside you with a groan of your name, which is almost enough to throw you again. He collapses onto your back, trying with all his might to keep his weight on his arms. You both stay like that for a second, with heaving breaths, sweaty skin, and rosy cheeks. When he finally exits you, you turn around to face him one his back. His one arm covers his eyes as he gives a light giggle and says “We completely forgot the condom”.

“Well technically you forgot the condom. But it’s ok, I’m on birth control” you slyly respond. 

“Well thank god for that, because I don’t think I could have stopped if the fate of the world depended on it” you both let out a chuckle as he pulls you into his side. “So?” he asks gazing down at you with post-orgasm bliss.

“So what?” you ask, still trying to gain back the ability to think straight.

“Have I gotten better at kissing?”

“Yeah, you could say that” You respond nonchalantly, peaking at him through one eye. 

“Well I’ve got all the time in the world to keep proving it to you” He says before getting up to get a cloth to clean you both up. As you watch him walk away you can’t help but think about what the rest of your nights are going to look like now. 

[cali-holland]

An Irregular Romance ★ Harrison Osterfield One Shot

Pairing: Harrison Osterfield X Reader

Summary: Over five years ago, Harrison followed his heart (a.k.a. you) to drama school, and the day he asked you out was the day he discovered you had a boyfriend. He thought that part of his past was behind him, but then he was cast as Leo in The Irregulars and you were cast as Bea. Romance and shenanigans ensue as he tries to navigate the resurrection of his crush on you.

Word Count: 10k

Warnings: spoilers for The Irregulars, swearing, drinking (reader gets v drunk at one point), cheating boyfriend + “open relationship” drama

Masterlist in bio

*Gif is not mine

A/N: inspired by harrison literally saying he followed the girl he liked to drama school but she didn’t like him back; the drama school is the brit school (idk if that’s what he was talking about but age wise it works better); also darci is 18+ in this fic bc it just fits better to make her around their age; plus i had to re-post this bc the tags didn’t work so rip

also just like to say a massive thank you to @duskholland​​ for proofreading this for me :) you’re the best! this fic would be missing 90% of its commas if it wasn’t for you lmao

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Harrison had been buzzing with excitement all week. While he knew for sure that he had landed the role of Prince Leo in The Irregulars, he had no idea who the other cast members were. His agent learned from Netflix that they’d announce the cast on Saturday, so now here he sat, anxiously awaiting the news as he drank another pint with his good friends.

“Anything yet?” Tuwaine asked, refreshing his Twitter timeline.

“Nope.” Harrison said with a shake of his head as Netflix’s Instagram page remained unchanged as another minute went by.

“Maybe they’re announcing it at midnight.” Tom shrugged, trying to be useful to ease his friend’s nerves.

“Everyone would be asleep.” The blond replied before taking another long drink of his beer.

“Well, congratulations whenever they officially announce it.” Harry stated, standing up with his empty glass. “Next round’s on me.”

The conversation began to wander off, and Harrison found himself deep in thought, pondering his mysterious, new castmates. Would he like them? Would they like him? Were they big names or no names? Were they people he had screen-tested with (because, truthfully, he only screen-tested with a few girls, but even then, he didn’t screen test with all of the potential actresses)? As he got stuck, trying to think of someone he’d actually liked when they screen-tested together, he was snapped out of his thoughts by Tom yelling.

“It’s up!” Tom held his phone in the middle of the table as he, Harrison, Tuwaine, and Harry, who was now back with more beer, looked over the cast. A sense of pride soared through the group at Harrison’s picture and name being on the official Netflix page for The Irregulars. Harrison read over the other names, wondering if he knew any by happenstance. Just as he recognized one name in particular, Tom spoke up.

“Y/N Y/L/N? Isn’t that the girl you fancied in drama school?” Tom asked with a smirk. His smirk seemed to widen as Harrison blushed a deeper shade of red.

“No, no, no!” Harrison grumbled, taking out his phone to look over the post for himself because maybe, if he looked from his own account, the cast would magically change. When he looked at your name and picture right beside his, realization hit him. He slumped over, putting his head down on the table regretfully.

“I’d nearly forgotten about Haz’s girl that wasn’t his girl.” Tuwaine joked.

“Wait, what girl?” Harry questioned, out of the loop.

Perhaps the stupidest but best choice Harrison had ever made in his life was following you, his biggest crush, to drama school. Why his mother even let him chase after a girl like that was beyond him; he thought she should’ve advised him against it, but with the whole “follow your heart” attitude, his mum was his biggest supporter. He did his best to impress you, to get you to notice him, but you were unfazed by him. The day that he finally got the courage to ask you out was the day that he learned you’d had a boyfriend for the past two months.

Though he didn’t get the girl in drama school, he actually enjoyed it, and look where he ended up now— a new Netflix show was on the horizon for him. Despite the fact that he was (and still sort of is) crushed and embarrassed by the fact that you (very kindly) rejected him five years ago, drama school turned out to be a blessing.

“Harrison, here,” Tom laughed as he clapped his friend’s shoulder as Harrison still didn’t lift his head from his pitiful position, “thought he’d pursue acting because Y/N wanted to be an actress. He didn’t realize that in order to get her attention, he’d have to actually talk to her.”

That was enough to make Harrison lift his head, eyeing his friend questioningly. Cutting Tom off, he defended himself, “What do you mean? I did talk to her.”

“Right— you’d have maybe one conversation with her every three weeks.” Tom turned back to his brother, “Anyway, Haz finally asked her out and, turns out, she’d been dating this other guy for months.”

“Whatever. I only asked her out because you and Tuwaine shoved me into her. Maybe she doesn’t even remember me.” Harrison pulled out his phone to check over Netflix’s Instagram, wanting to see for himself the new cast again. When he opened the app, it notified him of all the new followers he had gotten, and, with one glance at the list of names, one account stood out to him.

‘@yourusername started following you’. Harrison let out a sigh, not wanting to dwell on this any further.

“She works fast.” Harry teased, looking over the blond’s shoulder.

“We’re co-stars now. She probably followed everyone else too.”

As if on cue, a new notification came through his Instagram— ‘@yourusername sent you a message’. With bated breath, he opened it to see the message that confirmed his worst fear— you remembered him.

‘Hey stranger! How have you been?’

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With every passing day, Harrison’s excitement for this new big project grew… but so did his dread about seeing you again. He wasn’t entirely sure now as to why his gut was filled with butterflies mixed with anxiety just thinking about you. You were only ever nice to him, both before and after he asked you out. It all led him back to the same conclusion that he still had a thing for you, but yet again, maybe it’s just life that your first real crush always has some power over you.

As he walked down the strangely long hallway to the conference room, he adjusted the collar of his letterman’s jacket. Today was the big day— the first table read for The Irregulars, and the first day he’d be confronted by you after all these years. Just on the other side of this door, his co-stars and the main production crew were waiting. Everything was real now; production would start in just a few days.

With one last nervous breath, he pushed open the heavy oak door and entered the room. People were chatting as they sat around the large conference table, which had small name cards at each seat. Harrison’s eyes found you almost immediately. You were locked into a conversation with your co-star, Darci, seated to your left for the table read. To your right was one of the last available seats, and Harrison’s name was on the little card on the table. All hopes of being unnoticed by you were instantaneously gone as he took his seat beside you.

“Fancy seeing you here.” You said to Harrison with a laugh, and he was instantly reminded of how that laugh basically drove him to where he was today.

“How long has it been?” Harrison asked, trying to play it cool like he hadn’t been rehearsing this day in his mind for the past several months.

“Far too long.” You smiled.

As the last few people trickled into the room, introductions flew around the table as everyone met their new coworkers. After a cold read-through of the script and a few words from the show’s creator, the table read was deemed over. Just when Harrison thought he was free to forget about your existence for a few more days, you pulled him aside.

“Hey, Darci and I were going to get drinks with McKell and Jojo. You should come.” You offered, and Harrison chanced a glance across the room to where Darci was chatting with your other two main co-stars.

“Uh, yeah, sure.” Harrison replied. He cleared his throat before giving you a definite nod that yes, that’d be a great idea.

“Perfect.”

And just like that, the five of you made your way across town to a pub. Darci had chosen the spot, explaining that it was the best place for drinks in Liverpool, and, seeing as she’d lived there her whole life, none of you tried to argue with her.

Harrison felt a strange pit in his stomach as everyone talked and laughed over some beers, as if you weren’t all strangers a few hours ago. His eyes always seemed to land on you and your contagious smile. You looked almost exactly how he remembered you, and you still were the same happy, go-lucky girl he’d fallen hard for. It was crazy to him how quickly you gave him butterflies, how effortlessly you made him feel like a silly schoolboy all over again. He couldn’t help but wonder if you thought he’d changed since his school days, too… or if you even thought about him enough to notice. So far, you’d made no indication that he was anyone besides an old friend from drama school, making him hope you didn’t remember that dreadful day.

As you and Darci excused yourself for a bathroom break, Harrison gave himself a little reminder that he was meant to be getting to know all of his co-stars right now and wasn’t meant to be focusing so intently on you. He took another sip of his beer, turning back to Jojo and McKell.

“So how do you and Y/N know each other?” McKell asked, and Jojo tried to hide his shit-eating grin behind his beer.

“Drama school, a few years ago.” Harrison replied, trying to play ignorant.

“Ah, so it’s a schoolboy crush, then?” Jojo questioned teasingly.

Harrison felt his face heat up. Jojo and McKell were practically strangers to him, and they already knew. He was cornered, “Is it that obvious?”

“A little.” McKell said while Jojo simultaneously replied, “Very.”

“Just ask her out.” Jojo encouraged.

“That’s the problem— I did.” Harrison replied, and both of their jaws dropped.

“No way. Did she let you down easy at least?” McKell’s voice was somewhere between a disbelieving, teasing, and pitiful tone.

Harrison scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, “Well, yeah? I mean she wasn’t rude about it, but it was still a bit awkward. She was dating this other guy at the time. He didn’t go to our school, though, so I had no clue about him.”

“That’s rough.” Jojo grimaced, before he gave Harrison a hopeful smile, “Maybe she’s single now.”

“I’ve been rejected by Y/N once— I don’t need her to reject me a second time.” He shook his head with a small laugh to conceal his embarrassment. He took a drink of his beer, hoping that would calm his nerves a little.

“Incoming,” McKell said quietly, nodding in the direction of the bathroom.

“What’d we miss?” Darci asked as she slipped back into her seat. You remained standing to put your jacket on, both you and Darci completely unaware of the boys’ conversation.

“Nothing, just Jojo being an idiot.” McKell joked, to which his newfound friend just punched him in the arm, taking another long drink of his beer.

“I think I might head back to the hotel.” Your words were met with a collective groan from three of your co-stars— Harrison silently frowned as he sipped on his beer.

As your head was down to collect your things, Jojo swiftly kicked Harrison under the table. Harrison looked at him quizzically, sending him a “what the hell was that for” look. When his co-star just nodded his head encouragingly towards you, Harrison got the idea.

“I’ll walk you.” Harrison said, making you look over at him. Standing up from his seat, he insisted, “I was just about to head out, too.”

“Okay,” You smiled, still completely unaware of his interaction with Jojo.

After you all exchanged phone numbers and created a group chat lovingly titled “The Irregz”, you and Harrison left the pub. You fell in step together, walking along the sidewalk in the chilly Liverpool air back to the hotel that you’d all be staying at for the next few months.

“So what have you been up to since graduation?” Harrison asked you, his hands deep in the pockets of his letterman’s jacket.

“All sorts of things, really.” You shrugged with a smile, “I got a few TV roles here and there, did some modeling, but so far none of it has really stuck, so I’m hopeful that this will be a foot in the door. What about you?”

“The same as you, really, but, instead of shows, I’ve done some short films.”

“I see you’re still best friends with Tom.” You said in a teasing tone. Harrison felt an unusual, upsetting tug on his heartstring. Not noticing any change in his demeanor, you continued with a laugh, “It’s funny. I would’ve placed my bets on you being world-famous after graduation.”

“Me?” He questioned, surprised by your words.

“Yeah, you didn’t go to LAMDA for nothing.” You playfully nudged his arm with your elbow, and he felt his cheeks heat up once more. “Don’t be modest— I’m not wrong.”

“Can’t argue with that logic.” A laugh passed his lips, any previous bashful reservations slowly fading away.

Before Harrison could say anything further, your phone began to ring. You fished it out of your pocket and barely looked at the caller ID before sending it to voicemail. Your actions were fast, but Harrison still caught the name of who was calling, Davey, followed by a red heart emoji. And that’s when it hit him— you were still with the same boyfriend from drama school, all those years ago.

And just like that, Harrison felt a tsunami wave of heartbreak from drama school wash over him.

“Hey, Y/N!” Harrison called out as he stumbled his way over to stall you from leaving school. He had one hand holding onto his book bag strap tight enough that his knuckles were turning white, and he shuffled his other through his hair.

“Hey, is everything alright?” You asked, concerned at how nervous he seemed.

“Yeah, um, well, tonight’s opening night for West Side Story, and I was wondering if you wanted to go with me? I know it’s your favorite play, and it’s one of mine too, so, yeah, I thought maybe we could go together?” He was sure that he’d never sounded so unsure of himself. Truth is, he didn’t want to ask you out right now, but Tom and Tuwaine had quite literally shoved him in your direction, physically encouraging him. He felt rushed and unprepared.

When you smiled so captivatingly and softly at him, he felt his racing heart speed up even more. Was this it? Was he really going to take you on a date? He thought to himself. His hopes weren’t up for long as you spoke up, “I can’t. I’ve already got tickets for tonight. I’m going with Davey.”

“Davey?”

“My boyfriend.” You replied, a hint of guilt in your voice.

His heart shattered. The only reason he was here, at this school, was because of you, and now he just had all of his hopes for any future dates with you thrown out the window.

“You and Davey are still together?” Harrison wondered aloud as you two arrived at the hotel.

“Yeah,” Your response was hesitant and quiet. He knew why— there was that elephant in the room between the two of you.

Before he could stop himself from mentioning it, he blurted out, “You don’t have to feel guilty about it, you know.”

You paused, watching unsure as he ran a hand through his hair nervously. “I kinda wonder what would’ve happened if I had said yes. Davey and I didn’t even end up seeing  West Side Story, anyway, so I wonder if you and I would’ve ended up any differently.”

It wasn’t much, but his heart sped up ever so slightly— so you had thought about him, even in the dating context. Harrison couldn’t think of a response (his brain repeated “fuck Davey, ask her out again”) fast enough as you stopped at the front desk. You mumbled something about needing some towels, and Harrison took that as his cue to just continue walking. He bid you a quick farewell, wanting to escape to his room as fast as possible.

Nothing you had said tonight had been particularly flirty, but he still rewound the events in his head because maybe he missed something. As he laid down in his bed that night, his mind drifted off with thoughts of you, wondering just how he’d manage to pull off these next few months without falling for you all over again.

Over the next several weeks, his predicament only seemed to grow. Spending so much time with you (and your other three co-stars) just made Harrison wish even more that he’d asked you out sooner in drama school, and having to spend most of his screen time gawking over you added to it further. Maybe it was another school boy crush, or maybe it was intense method acting— either way, he definitely liked you.

Ever since he read the script for episode four, he knew that eventually your two characters would become romantically involved. He would’ve felt giddy over the thought (because his eighteen-year-old self would’ve died at this opportunity), but whenever he thought of the scene, he was reminded about your boyfriend. Harrison wasn’t the type of guy to hate his crush’s boyfriend, but something just didn’t seem right about Davey.

Harrison was lying on his hotel bed, reading over the episode’s script for what must have been the fifth time through that afternoon. It was Sunday, the day before you’d both film Leo and Bea’s kiss. With a beer on his side table and an array of highlighters beside it, he was set. As the words started to run together, and his glasses began to feel uncomfortable on his nose, he heard a knock at his door.

“Coming!” Harrison called out. Setting his script aside, he rolled off the bed. He was confused at who could possibly be at his door, but, figuring it was someone from set, he had the decency to slip on a white t-shirt, opting for not answering the door in nothing but grey sweats. He was thankful for his last-minute decision as he opened the door and was met with you on his doorstep. Smiling at you and leaning on the doorframe, he let out a small, “Hey.”

“Hey, I was wondering if you wanted to rehearse tomorrow’s scene.” You offered with a friendly smile on your face.

“Right now?” He asked, glancing back into his room to decipher if it was clean enough or not.

“Oh, is this a bad time?” You replied, subconsciously stepping back. “Is someone here?”

“What?” Harrison looked at you, confused before it clicked what you thought, “Oh, no, no. There’s no one here. I was just rehearsing, too.”

“So is that a yes then or-?” You trailed off.

“Yeah, come on in.” He opened his door fully, allowing you to step in. He chivalrously closed the door behind you. “Would you like water or anything?”

“Can I have a beer?” You asked, spotting the one on his nightstand.

“Sure.” Harrison nodded. While he got you a beer and grabbed his own half-consumed bottle and script, you settled on the couch with your pages in hand.

“Thank you.” You smiled as he handed you the beer, and you took a sip happily. “You know, I’m honestly so jealous of you this week.”

“Why?” He asked with a laugh, thrown off guard by your confession.

“You get to do all the palace scenes again.”

“I also throw myself off a balcony.”

“But still.” You insisted. “Leo really needs to sneak Bea into the palace just so I can have one of those extravagant ball dress scenes. I just want to feel like a princess, and I feel like it’s what Bea deserves.”

Harrison looked at you admiringly for a moment. “You are a princess.” His face dropped as soon as he realized he’d said his thoughts aloud. Coughing, he tried to cover it up, “I mean—- you were kind of princess-like in episode 3, right?”

“Smooth.” You laughed, but didn’t press the situation. Your phone began to ring, and Harrison watched as you rolled your eyes, declining the call and ultimately silencing your phone.

“Spam call?”

“More like clingy non-committal somewhat boyfriend.” You stated, rolling your eyes.

He furrowed his eyebrows, confused. You hadn’t mentioned Davey in the past few weeks— not that Harrison was complaining, but he just assumed you were private about your personal life. “I thought you and Davey were on good terms?”

“We are? I don’t know.” You sighed, taking a sip of your beer.

“If you’re not comfortable with the topic, we can just rehearse-”

“No, it’s fine. I just haven’t really talked about it with anyone. Before I came here, he asked about having an open relationship while I’m away, and I told him no. And the last time we talked, we got into an argument and that was a couple days ago. I’m not ready to talk to him, and at this point, I’d much rather talk to you than him. It’s very frustrating that he wants to have an open relationship, but he still expects me to be at his beck and call. It’s like he’s looking for someone to substitute me, but I can’t have a life of my own. He wasn’t the most supportive of me taking this job in the first place, too.” You paused, with a small shrug, “I know you’re probably thinking I should leave him, but I can’t. We’ve been together for 5 years. I don’t know anything else at this point.”

“I get it.” Harrison said softly, hesitantly resting a comforting hand on your knee. “He was your first love. It makes sense that it’s hard to move on.” He felt his own heart sink at his ironic words. After all, you were his first love.

“I wouldn’t say he’s my first love.” You said softly, placing your hand on his, squeezing it gently. “Plus, at this point, I wouldn’t even say I love him.”

A silence fell in the room. Harrison really didn’t know what to say now. He would have told you to leave him, but you already knew that, so what was the point in him repeating it? Besides, it was your relationship, and you needed to make the decision for yourself… or let Davey make it for you.

“Let’s go through the scene, yeah?” You asked, changing the topic. You dropped his hand to pick up your script again.

“Right.” Harrison mumbled to himself, flicking through the pages to the scene.

You glanced around his hotel suite for a moment, looking for something similar to a bridge rail to lean on. “Should we use the kitchen counter? As the bridge rail?”

“Yeah, that works.” He nodded. The two of you got up, scripts in hand. Harrison stood to your right, just as the stage direction had called for. There was some space between the two of you, enough room for Harrison to shuffle closer to you later, as scripted.

“You’re not on your own, Beatrice. You must remember that.” Harrison said to you, leaning on the counter but looking over to you with his icy blue eyes. “You’re very different to anyone I’ve ever met.”

“What do you mean?” You asked, looking at him curiously.

“You have something about you.” He started, awkwardly.

You cut him off, “Like a smell?”

“No, like a quality.” He chuckled softly before continuing, “I don’t know what it is, but I really like it.”

“Well, when you think of it, let me know.”

“I’ll be sure to.” He smiled at you, his confidence slowly building as the scene continued on. Harrison stepped closer to you until he was right beside you, leaning sideways on the counter. “And I’m not saying you don’t smell, by the way. I’m just saying that that’s not the thing.”

You laughed, turning your head away from him in disbelief. “You know, I was thinking of kissing you, but now I’m not gonna.”

Harrison paused, taking a moment to mentally hype himself up for what was about to happen, but also taking a moment because it was scripted for Leo to be nervous. “Well, uh, I suppose I have to kiss you then.”

You turned to him, smiling coyly. Slowly, Harrison closed his eyes and leaned in. His heart started racing faster as he felt your breath fan against his face before his lips finally found yours. It was gentle and hesitant, everything that it had been scripted to be. As much as he wanted to keep kissing you and keep tasting the sweet strawberries of your lipgloss, it had to end. He pulled away after a moment, and you seemed almost breathless as you opened your eyes to see him again.

“I meant it when I said you’re not on your own.” Harrison looked at you with more hesitancy this time, but he still kissed you with the softest passion. The script said that Leo and Bea kiss and continue to kiss for a few seconds; Harrison wasn’t counting, but he was sure this kiss was longer than it was meant to be. Again, he found himself dreading its inevitable end. If there was one thing he could do for the rest of his life, it’d be this… well, this amongst other things with you. His stomach started to stir with guilt as he remembered Davey; you were still technically in a relationship, open or not, arguing currently or not. But then it clicked with Harrison, you weren’t pulling away— no, you were fully kissing him back.

Before he could pull away and end the scene with his last few lines, a knock came from his door. Regretfully, he stepped away from you. He didn’t meet your eye as he went to answer the door while you read over the script on the counter. Flustered, he opened the door.

“Mum! You’re here.” Harrison’s eyes went wide, surprised to see his mother and his sister standing before him.

“Surprise!” She smiled, hugging him almost immediately. “We had to come and see you at your big job.”

“Are you not happy to see us?” Charlotte teased, and Harrison shook his head, pulling her in for a hug. As they all stepped into Harrison’s apartment, you waved from the kitchen.

“Hi.” You smiled, coming over to introduce yourself.

“Oh, mum, Charlotte, this is Y/N. Y/N, this is my mum and Charlotte, my sister.” Harrison introduced the three of you.

“You’re Y/N Y/L/N from drama school?” Phil said with a smile, making the connection as you shook her hand. Charlotte seemed to stifle a laugh as Harrison’s cheeks heated up.

“Yes, that sounds like me.” You laughed, brushing off any awkwardness that Harrison feared was there. “We were just rehearsing our scene for tomorrow.”

“Maybe we can come to set.” Phil suggested, sending Harrison an expectant look.

“I’ll have to ask. This is so, so last-minute, though, so I don’t know.” He replied.

“It’s a spontaneous weekend trip.” Charlotte clarified.

“We should get some dinner. We haven’t eaten much all day.” Phil told Harrison before turning to you, “Y/N, you should come, too. It’d be so lovely to get to know you.”

“Oh, I don’t know.” You trailed off, glancing at Harrison. He sent you a silent look that said ‘she seriously does want you to come… If you don’t come, I won’t hear the end of it’. “I’d love to. I just need to go change first.”

You grabbed your script off the counter, and Harrison walked you to the door. “How long do you need?”

“Like 10 minutes?” You replied, and he nodded.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know they were coming, or that they’d invite you to dinner.” He said quietly, making you laugh.

“It’s fine, but I do have to warn you, if my parents spontaneously drop by, they don’t know who you are.” You teased.

He let out an embarrassed groan, “Let’s not talk about that.”

“See you in ten.” You sent him a wink before leaving to your own hotel room. As Harrison closed the door and turned back around, he was met with the smirking faces of his mother and sister.

“So, is there anything you want to tell us?” Phil asked.

“We were rehearsing. That’s all.” Harrison insisted, going through the wardrobe to find some clothes to change into for dinner.

“Huh,” Charlotte trailed off, crossing her arms. “So, you wearing sparkly lip gloss that matches Y/N’s is a coincidence?”

“It’s a kiss scene tomorrow. We rehearsed the lines and the kisses, too.” He explained. With a pair of jeans, a clean shirt, and his red letterman jacket in hand, he made his way to the bathroom.

“Oh, multiple kisses.” She teased, making him roll his eyes.

“She has a boyfriend!” Harrison ended the conversation, closing the door to the bathroom.

Ten minutes later, you returned back to Harrison’s room, and the four of you left, making your way to an Italian restaurant nearby. You and Harrison shared anecdotes about filming so far, keeping spoilers to a minimum until the server came with your food.

“We got in so much trouble from the makeup and hair department.” You laughed as Harrison finished telling them of how you two went on the playground last week, much to the chagrin of the crew.

“It was worth it.” He added.

“Who would’ve known you’d play a Netflix prince?” Charlotte asked teasingly, but it was clear she was still proud of his achievements.

“Look at that face. He couldn’t play anything but a prince.” You joked, and he smiled smugly.

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” He stated.

“Phil, I have to say, I’ve never met someone more well suited to play a well-mannered prince.” You told her, playfully pinching Harrison’s cheek beside you.

“I remember when there was a time he was revolted at the idea of playing a prince.” Phil said, her lips growing into a smirk, and Harrison knew exactly what that meant.

“Mum, no—“ He started, but you just shushed him, wanting to hear whatever embarrassing story was about to be told.

“He watched a single Batman movie growing up— and not even a good one at that, and decided he simply had to be Batman.” She explained. “Then the Christopher Nolan ones came out, and there was no stopping him.”

“Every kid wants to be a superhero, and Batman is simply the best one.” He said as if it was obvious.

“I didn’t know you had a Batman phase.” You teased.

“Phase? He still has posters and comic books and dolls.” Charlotte added.

“Action figures.” He corrected her, making you laugh at the humor of it all.

“You know, honestly, I think I still have Catwoman action figures.” You admitted, trying to make him feel better, and Phil’s eyes lit up as she remembered another story.

“I cleaned your room a couple weeks ago, Harrison, and I was surprised to see you still Anne Hathaway as Catwoman posters.”

“Do we really have to talk about that? Does this torture not end?” He groaned.

“Fine. That’s enough for tonight.” Phil let out a defeated sigh, clearly enjoying herself.

“Y/N, if you want the really embarrassing stories, you’ve got to talk to Tom. He’s told me embarrassing Harrison stories that I can’t say in front of mum.” Charlotte laughed, and Harrison’s eyes nearly bulged out of his head at his sister’s words.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” You smiled coyly.

“Sometimes, I wonder if he forgets that I know just as much embarrassing shit that he did growing up, too.” Harrison stated, shaking his head.

The night went on with minimal embarrassment on Harrison’s end. After Phil and Charlotte went back to their hotel, you and Harrison started the walk back to your own hotel. As you walked, your hands would brush against each other’s every so often, but neither of you made any move to take it further.

“Darci’s going to be so jealous in the morning.” You said, making him laugh a little.

“Why’s that?”

“That’s her favorite restaurant in town. Plus, I just got a free meal.” You laughed. A visible shiver coursed through you as the chilly night air picked up.

“Are you cold?” Harrison asked, already taking off his letterman’s jacket.

“Thank you.” You replied, taking his offer of warmth. Your short sleeves did nothing to shield you from the cold, but he had at least been prepared enough with long sleeves. “Are you sure you won’t get chilly?”

“I’ll be fine.” He reassured you.

“I had a really nice time tonight. I’m glad your mum invited me.” You admitted happily.

“Me, too. Apart from all of the embarrassment I just went through, I enjoyed tonight.”

“I never knew you had a secret Batman fanboy side.”

“I never knew you had a secret Catwoman fangirl side.” He countered with a smile.

“Guess that means we make a good team, huh?”

“Yeah, I guess it does.”

As you smiled at him, completely content under the moonlight, he wanted nothing more than to kiss you right then, to taste the sweetness of your strawberry lip gloss again. The last bit of your walk was filled with you two arguing over Batwoman and Catwoman, two things that neither of you had ever realized you had in common before.

Harrison’s wish finally came true the next day, as you two ran through the kiss scene multiple times. It was strange at first for him, because his sister and mother were intently watching, proud to see him in action, even if it was just a kiss scene over and over again. But, with you there, he grew more and more comfortable with each take.

As a few more weeks passed by, Harrison thought that perhaps you and Davey had officially ended things, but then he heard through Darci that you had magically worked it out. Whatever magic it was, he was upset about it, and he found himself increasingly irritated at the mention of Davey.

“Ooh, we finally get to meet the Davey tonight?” Darci asked as the five of you enjoyed lunch in between shots. It had been two weeks Harrison’s mother and sister visited, and now Davey was coming, much to Harrison chagrin.

“He’s only here for two days.” You explained, taking a bite of your sandwich.

“Ah, so you’ll be very busy, then.” McKell teased, suggestively nudging your side with his elbow. You brushed off his comment with a laugh, avoiding Harrison’s eyes.

“We should get him to do that calzone challenge with us.” Jojo said to Harrison. Although Jojo and McKell had been rather supportive of Harrison’s interest in you at the beginning, they seemed to forget about it most of the time now— for which he was actually kind of grateful.

The conversation couldn’t go any further as the director came into the room, holding the script in his hands. The look on his face told all of you that something was up. He looked between you and Harrison before speaking, “Change of plans for tomorrow. Eileen isn’t feeling well, so we’ll film Bea and Leo’s scene tomorrow instead of her scenes.”

“But tomorrow was supposed to be—“ You started, but cut yourself short, realizing there was no point in arguing. Schedules, plans, things all change, and this was just part of the job. “Never mind.”

“Well, tomorrow will be interesting.” Darci said quietly, voicing what was on everybody’s minds.

The director left with a silent nod, and the room fell silent for a moment. You and Harrison wouldn’t dare to look at each other, both of you feeling awkward suddenly. Making out with Harrison multiple times, especially with your boyfriend there, was not something either of you particularly enjoyed the thought of.

Having to film no more scenes today, Harrison went back to the hotel with Jojo and McKell. He didn’t end up seeing you for the rest of the day, but he was okay with that as he wanted to go as long as he could without meeting Davey. The director had taken some pity on the two of you, asking you to come in later in the morning instead of at 6 AM like usual.

Harrison made his way down to the hotel gym, wanting to utilize his newfound free time. Normally, he’d get his daily workout in after filming, but he didn’t see a reason to not get an early start today. He didn’t expect anyone to be up this early, but as he got closer to the gym, he could hear a voice coming from inside the room, the door cracked just slightly.

“Love, I promise I’ll be back in two days.” The stranger paused before continuing, “You know I’m only here for business, nothing else.”

Curious and trying to decide if he should even enter the room, Harrison snuck a quick glance through the crack in the doorway. He felt his blood run cold as he immediately recognized the guy sitting on the weight bench. Afterall, Harrison had looked at your social media enough to recognize your olive-skinned boyfriend, Davey.

“Bit early for you, isn’t it?” Harrison nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of your voice from down the hall. He heard Davey mumbled something on the other side of the door, probably having heard your voice too.

“Yeah, but I just figured I’d start my pull-ups early today.” He replied before opening the door for you, acting like he had no clue that Davey had been in there.

“Hello, gorgeous.” Davey said to you, completely ignoring Harrison. He stood from his spot at the weight bench to wrap his arms around your waist and kiss you possessively.

“Davey, this is Harrison, he plays Leo. Harrison, this is Davey.” You introduced the two guys.

Davey looked Harrison up and down with his dark brown eyes and seemed to stand straighter, even though the blond was inches taller. Harrison was the first to step forward and politely outstretch a hand to the raven-haired guy before him. With a tight smile, Davey shook his hand, “Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise.”

Davey turned back to you, “Spot me?”

“Actually, I wanted to-” Your eyes drifted over to the treadmill as Harrison got in position to start his pull-ups at the bar. Davey looked at you expectantly, and you nodded, silently agreeing to stand there and spot Davey while he bench pressed.

Slipping on his headphones and turning on some music, Harrison began his workout. He played his music loud enough to block out your conversations with Davey. Not only was it none of his business, but god, Harrison really hated everything about him already. Hearing silence between you and Davey when his song changed, Harrison spared a glance over towards you. He was surprised when he found your eyes trained on him or, rather, trained on his abdomen that seemed to stick out from his tight white shirt. Still unaware of his eyes on you, your own eyes trailed up to his arms, watching as they flexed with each pull-up. Feeling flustered by your fixed gaze, Harrison faltered a little, and your eyes immediately darted back to Davey in front of you. Harrison couldn’t help the proud smile that ghosted his lips as he continued— you were checking him out.

Harrison finished his workout and decided to get cleaned up before heading to set in half an hour, leaving you and Davey in the gym. When he left, he was surprised that you were still spotting Davey, getting no work out in like you had planned. The whole time he was getting cleaned up (and brushing his teeth repeatedly to ensure he had good breath), he just kept picturing your staring in his head. He had worked very hard to get his body in this shape, and he was very proud of himself too, but he was even prouder that you’d clearly taken notice. If anything, it almost excited him that they’d be filming this scene today. There were a few times in this episode specifically in which Leo is shirtless, but none of those scenes had been filmed— and if this scene was going to be anything like it was scripted to be, then you’d definitely get a better show than in the hotel gym.

He didn’t see you again until the two of you were on set, in full costume and makeup. He had a loose shirt on, but underneath it, his chest had been painted with blues and purples to make convincing bruises. As he went to his mark, Leo’s makeshift bed on the floor of the cellar, Harrison spotted Davey across the set, looking bored and unhappy. His blue eyes drifted over to you next, and he refrained himself from smirking as he noticed your makeup artist applying chapstick to your lips.

While you gathered your prop lantern and the lights dimmed around you all, Harrison made himself comfortable under the ragged blankets. The director called out “Action!” and Harrison closed his eyes, pretending to be asleep as he waited for you to come into the shot. Hearing your footsteps, Harrison stirred, blinking his eyes open.

“Bea, is everything alright?” He asked, looking up at you as you stood over him.

“Let me see your body.” You said definitively.

“Beatrice—” He started, but you cut him off.

“Show me, Leo. I want to see it.” At your words, Harrison shifted slowly, moving as if in pain. He pulled the blankets down and went to roll up his shirt. “Take your top off.”

He paused, looking at you questioningly with a hint of fear in his eyes. Groaning a little, Harrison sat up and removed his shirt. He looked at you expectantly, and you set aside the lantern before kneeling on the blankets beside him. Your hand drifted over the painted bruise tentatively, ghosting over the same abs that you had been studying just hours earlier. Harrison waited for you to deliver your next line, knowing he was scripted to kiss you after it. It felt like ages that he was waiting for you, wanting nothing more than to kiss you right now. His mind went blank as your eyes found his and you leaned in to kiss him.

It was unscripted, and he was surprised, but he didn’t let his surprise stop him from immediately kissing you back. Your chapstick tasted of strawberries, just as it had the last time the two of you had a kissing scene, and he swore he was in love with the taste of it. He expected to hear the director yell cut, to hear him question why you suddenly improvised, but when nothing came, he just continued to kiss you. You pulled back, a shy smile on your face, “I don’t want you to hide your body from me anymore. It’s too nice to be hidden.”

His heart leapt as he leaned forward to catch your lips once more, this time scripted. His hands shuffled to your waist, pulling you down to lay beside him as he rolled onto his side, his chest leaning over yours. Your fingers tangled into his hair, and he savored the feeling.

You pulled back again, whispering up to him, “No more hiding.”

“No more hiding.” He reaffirmed. As he continued to kiss you, his hands sensually wandered down your back, keeping you as close to him as possible. Part of him wanted to pause the intimate scene and pinch himself, just to make sure it was really happening, but he was worried if he stopped kissing you now that he’d never get the opportunity to kiss you like this again.

“Cut!” The director called, and Harrison reluctantly pulled away from you. He could’ve sworn a small frown passed your lips as he looked down at you, not having shifted off of you yet.

“Spearmint— my favorite.” You teased quietly, as if it was only for the two of you to hear. As you laughed underneath him, Harrison couldn’t help but wonder what his younger self would think if he knew he’d one day get to make out with Y/N Y/L/N. Even if it was just for the show, it was a sight that he’d always want to remember.

“I’ve always enjoyed the taste of strawberries.” He replied softly, rolling away from you.

The director ran you two through a couple pointers for the scene, and, to Harrison’s surprise, he even suggested Bea kissing Leo first, just like you had improvised. You reasoned that you forgot your line momentarily, but something about the way you kissed Harrison made him feel like that wasn’t the case; no, it seemed like you’d truly wanted to kiss him.

After running through the scene a few more times, the director was satisfied. While you stayed behind on set to film more scenes, Harrison returned to his hotel room. Just as he was searching his toiletry bag for some much-needed chapstick, his phone began to ring with a Facetime call. Seeing Harry’s contact photo light up on his screen, he accepted and set his phone aside momentarily. He didn’t need to wonder what Harry (and most likely Tom, Tuwaine and maybe even Sam) were calling about— he had made the dire mistake of telling his easily-excited best friends about today’s scene.

“Why are we looking at your ceiling?” Harry asked almost immediately.

“I’m, uh, looking for lip balm.” Harrison admitted quietly and smiled to himself when he found some. He quickly put it on and then grabbed his phone, heading to his bed where he could comfortably talk to his friends.

As expected, his friends let out an incoherent chorus of excitement. Sam seemed to calm down enough first to ask (more like, shout through the phone), “How was it?”

“Does she really kiss with tongue? Remember Jack used to say-” Tom started, and Harrison scoffed, hearing the name of one of their old classmates who swears he had a summer fling with you once.

“I still don’t believe him, but no, not today at least.” Harrison was honestly a bit embarrassed to admit it. You were in a relationship… with a possibly cheating moron, but still. It just didn’t feel right to talk about you in that way.

“Not today? So there could be another time!” Tuwaine shouted encouragingly.

“Is she still with that prick?” Tom asked.

“Yes, but,” Harrison paused, and they all looked at him expectantly, waiting for elaboration, “I think he might be cheating on her.”

“What makes you say that?” Harry questioned. “Mate, just because you fancy her doesn’t mean her boyfriend’s a cheater.”

“No, I mean I heard him on the phone, and he said he was in Liverpool for business, not for his girlfriend.” He reasoned, “I’m just very suspicious of him.”

“You should tell her if you think he is.” Sam stated, “If he isn’t, then, oh no, you’re on bad terms with her boyfriend, who probably already hates you after today. If he is, well, she’d hate you if she finds out you kept it from her.”

Harrison let out a small sigh as the others nodded. “I don’t know. It’s not my place. Besides, she said something a few weeks about him wanting an open relationship. Maybe it’s that?”

“Okay, look, forget I asked about him.” Tom said, shaking his head, while the others looked at Harrison skeptically through the phone, “How was it to finally have your drama school dreams fulfilled?”

“Fucking heaven.” Harrison admitted with a laugh.

For the next week, Harrison resisted the urge to tell you about Davey. He wanted to, he really did, but whenever he’d finally be alone with you and mentally prepare himself for the conversation, you would always just seem so happy and content. He couldn’t bring himself to disturb your happiness, especially when it was Harrison making you happy. After Davey left, it’s like something changed within you, and Harrison had no clue what it was, but he enjoyed it.

‘You have to tell her.’ Harrison read over his most recent text from Tom again. He let out a small sigh, trying to get the courage to tell you as you sat across from him at the booth.

It was Saturday, and you two, along with Darci, Jojo, and McKell, had made your way to a club, wanting to celebrate another week down. With only two episodes left to film, you all knew your time together was starting to run low. You were all a few drinks in by now, happily buzzed. Jojo and McKell were off somewhere, probably attempting to be each other’s wingmen. Darci was telling you a story so wild that Harrison wondered if it was even true. He finished the rest of his drink and shuffled out of the booth.

“I’m going to grab another drink.” Harrison said to you two, and, without waiting for a response, he left. He made no move to flag down the bartender, leaning against an empty spot in the bar. Pulling on the collar of his blue shirt, he started to feel hot, unsure if he could handle this.

“What happened to getting another drink?” You asked him, stepping up beside him.

“Where’s Darci?” He replied, not wanting to answer your question.

“Found a friend in the crowd.” You laughed and turned to flag down the bartender. You ordered a round of shots, to Harrison’s surprise.

“Are you good?” He asked skeptically.

“Yeah,” You nodded, but with how your eyes were glazed over the alcohol and another unreadable emotion, Harrison didn’t quite believe you. Playfully, you nudged him, “I should ask you the same thing. You’re the one who’s been moping all night for god knows why.”

“I haven’t been moping.” He argued as a tray of four shots was placed in front of you two. You handed one to him and took one for yourself.

“Cheers to another week done.” You clinked your shot glass against his before both of you downed them.

As you went to grab your second shot, Harrison reached a hand and stopped you. Concerned, he asked, “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Davey and I broke up— for good this time.” You admitted, and his hold on your wrist softened while he looked at you pitifully. “He told me when he was here that he went through with his ‘open relationship’ plan, even though I never agreed to it, so he’s been basically cheating on me since I left for this job. Then tonight, he drunkenly texts me, and I know it’s just a booty call. He’s done it for years, but now I actually see it for what it is. So now, my shitty boyfriend is gone, I’m finally single, and my only plans for tonight is to get properly drunk. Maybe even hookup with a stranger— god knows it’s been a while since I had decent sex.” Harrison was speechless, and you continued, a smile finding its way to your face at the end of your venting. “Dance with me after this shot?”

“Do I have a choice?” He asked playfully, feeling your mood lighten once more. You winked at him, handing him a full shot glass. He made a mental note to keep a close eye on you and to keep you from drinking anymore.

After you both drank back the burning liquid, you grabbed his hand and pulled him out to the dancefloor. Harrison had felt the alcohol that was flooding his system earlier, but the colored lights, pounding music, and countless bodies around him seemed to make the alcohol hit him harder. There was a weight off his shoulders, knowing you were actually single as you danced with him, and yet he still felt strange about his current state with you— were you truly into him or was he just the first guy you could drunkenly hook up with?

You turned to face him, a small frown on your face, “Haz, you’re being a bit of a killjoy.”

It was then that he realized, while you were fully grinding on his body, he was relatively motionless. Your hands found his, and you planted one on your hip and another on the small of your back, low enough though that it teetered being on your ass. You leaned in closer to him, letting him get a whiff of your perfume. While one of your hands trailed along the hem of his shirt, daring to even dip below his shirt, the other traced through his hair.

As you planted a kiss on Harrison’s neck, not caring at all for the dancing bodies around you, you heard him let out a strangled groan of your name. Your nails light scratched over the deep V in his hips, hooking onto where his jeans met the line.

“Should we get out of here?” You asked Harrison, your lips right next to his ear as your voice dripped with seduction. He felt his heart flip with intoxicating excitement before he was immediately reminded of the gravity of the situation. You went to kiss him, but he moved back quickly, stepping out of your reach. Pouting, you asked, “Do you not want me? After all this time?”

“No, I do.” Harrison insisted. “I want you, but not like this, not when you’re drunk. You’re not in the right headspace for this. I don’t want to be your drunken rebound.”

“How can you be a rebound when it’s always been you?”

Harrison sighed. Oh, how much he’d love to hear that from you— sober. He was saved from having to reply when Darci, McKell, and Jojo found you two. They looked at the two of you skeptically, but Harrison just shook his head.

“I’m going to take Y/N back to the hotel.” He said as he stepped closer to the group so that they could hear him over the music.

“We’ll come, too.” Jojo insisted, even though, with his words slurred and his eyes glazed over, he was thoroughly drunk, too.

“Where did Y/N go?” McKell asked, realizing your sudden absence.

“Oh god,” Harrison muttered, and the four of them dispersed in the crowd to find you, tripping over the other sweaty bodies. Darci found you first, unable to stop you from having a couple more shots.

“No, no, you’re done.” She argued with you. You reached for the last shot that she had taken from you, but, in your intoxicated state, you easily lost your balance. Harrison quickly wrapped an arm around your waist to hold you up.

“I don’t think she can walk.” Jojo commented.

“What gave that away?” McKell asked sarcastically.

“Come on, let’s get you home.” With a small sigh, Harrison, as the most sober of the group (though he still felt fairly tipsy), proceeded to lead you out of the club.

Darci hailed a cab for the five of you, and while it was an illegally tight fit, you all made it work. You leaned on Harrison as he was pressed right up against you. On your other side sat Jojo. You mumbled softly to Harrison, one of your hands falling onto his knee, “Do you remember that year when they put up mistletoe at school?”

“Where are you going with this?” He asked you softly.

“I saw you kiss Vivian at the one outside of the gym, and I couldn’t walk in that area for three months without thinking of you. I was so jealous of her, and you just looked like such a good kisser, which I’m happy to report you are.”

“Babes, maybe stop with the drunk talking.” Darci said, because all of you could tell this was stuff sober you would never say.

Harrison looked at you in surprise— he barely even remembered when Vivian dragged him under the mistletoe, so the fact that you remembered and were jealous? And you said he was a good kisser, too. He felt a glimmer of pride overcome him.

“Ask me tomorrow, it’s the truth.” You shuffled in your seat, laying your head against Jojo’s shoulder, “Jojo, wanna know a secret?”

“Y/N, maybe-” Darci started, but Jojo cut her off.

“No, go on, Y/N.” He laughed, wanting to hear your drunk thoughts.

“Do you think I’d make a good Catwoman?” You asked, words slurring together as you grew tired.

“Catwoman? Like Anne Hathaway?” He questioned, and you hummed a ‘yes’. “Yeah, you’d make a good Catwoman.”

“Good. Tell Haz he needs to my Batman then.” Your voice was quiet, as if it was something just meant for the two of you to hear, but your voice wasn’t nearly as soft as you had thought it was, meaning Harrison and the rest of your friends were truly aware of your little drunken secret

“Okay, I’ll tell him.” Jojo reassured you, a shit-eating grin on his face as he glanced over your head to look at the embarrassed Harrison.

The rest of the car ride was silent, and Harrison helped you out of your seat. With the help of the others, he got you safely inside your hotel room. Everyone retreated to their own rooms, except for Harrison who stayed with you. He laid you down on your bed and went searching for your pajamas, which to his luck were stowed underneath your pillow.

“Can you change or—?” Harrison asked, holding out the clothes to you

“I’ve got it, though I wouldn’t mind you helping.” You said with a wink. As you started to change out of your club clothes, Harrison turned away from you and focused on getting out some much-needed pain reliever and a glass of water for you to have in the morning. He heard you shuffle on the bed behind him before you let out a small huff, “Hazzy, can you come here?”

Hazzy— that was a new nickname. To his surprise, you were already tucked up in bed, your previously worn clothes scattered on the floor around you. He set the water and meds on your nightstand before kneeling to your level, “What’s wrong, love?”

“Do you know why Davey wasn’t my first love?” You asked quietly, your eyes beginning to droop with sleep. You reached a hand out to tentatively run your fingers over his cheek before you cupped it, smiling softly at him.

He had a hunch, but he played along anyway, wanting to hear you say it, in case he never heard it again. “Why?”

“Because you were.” Your voice was so quiet that he barely heard you, but he was so glad that he did. He leaned forward and pressed a chaste kiss to your forehead, and you let your hand fall from his face.

“Get some sleep. We can talk in the morning.”

“Can you stay tonight? Please?”

“Of course, love.” Harrison stood to his full height, and when he looked at you again, you were already asleep. He softly readjusted the blankets on your bed to make sure you were warm enough, before he made his way over to the couch. Grabbing a throw blanket off the back of the couch, he settled into his bed for the night. Just like every other night lately, he drifted off thinking of you, but this time, there was an excited flutter in his heart.

The next day, Harrison woke up to you letting out a groan, loudly asking, “Why the fuck is it so bright in here?”

He slowly sat up from the couch to check on you. A smile crossed his face as you took the pain meds he’d left out and downed the glass of water. Your eyes seemed to bulge out of your head when you noticed his presence in the room. Laughing, he greeted you, “Good morning, sunshine.”

“Please tell me you miraculously don’t remember anything I said last night because I remember, and I don’t want to.” You said, pulling your knees up to your chest.

“Sorry to disappoint then.” He sent you a sympathetic smile.

With a sigh, you patted the spot beside you on your bed. Wordlessly, Harrison got up from the couch and came to sit beside you on the bed. He expected you to say something, but when you were silent, seemingly caught up in your thoughts, he spoke up, “Did you mean it? When you said I was your first love?”

“Yes.” There was no hesitation in your reply, and you turned to finally meet his eye, “It was a very intense schoolgirl crush, hence why I hated Vivian after that mistletoe incident, but seeing you again just made me realize that it was more than just a crush. I’ve regretted saying no to you all those years ago ever since you came back into my life.”

“Well, I thought I was over my crush on you, but turns out, there are just some things time can’t change.”

A comfortable silence overfell you two again before you finally spoke up with the words that had been on your mind for weeks, “I think I’m in love with you.”

“I think I’m in love with you, too.” Harrison sealed his words by leaning in to kiss you.

With no script to follow now, he felt fireworks as you kissed him back. One of your hands drifted to the back of his neck, silently urging him to continue kissing you. His hands snaked around your waist before he shifted to lay on his back, rolling you on top of him. You deepened the kiss, your tongue finding its way into his mouth. He moaned at first, fully enjoying himself, before his lips curved into a smile, and he started to laugh against your lips.

“What’s so funny?” You asked, pulling away from his lips. His hands wandered from your hips up to where your own hands were resting on his chest, and he casually intertwined your fingers.

“It’s nothing.” He said in an attempt to play it off, but the smile on his face told you that whatever he was thinking was hilarious to him. “You remember Jack Evans? He told everyone that you were the best french kisser in school, and, well, he’s not wrong.”

You let out a scoff before giggling to yourself, “First of all, how many girls have you french kissed from drama school and should I be jealous? Second of all, Jack was an ass who couldn’t kiss for shit, but I’ll take it as a compliment that he told everyone that.” You leaned down until your lips were just barely touching, “And thirdly, do you want to keep talking about drama school, or do you want me to keep kissing you?”

“You don’t need to be jealous, but I kinda like that you are.” He replied with a cheeky smile. “And you’re right. He was an ass.”

“And for the last one?” You asked, raising your eyebrows at him.

Harrison pretended to think about it for a second before he let go of your hand to cup your cheek, bringing your lips crashing back down to his.

[burritodetodo]

Tuca and Bertie went from being the adult animation revolutionary series to be (one of) the most important animated show aimed to adult people on media now. Season 2 picked up where we left: Bertie (Ali Wong) on her own pastry business and Tuca (Tiffany Haddish) trying to improve as a person, which this season makes focus. Speckle (Steven Yeun) remains where he comfortably is: being a supportive and cute sidekick. After a rough path on limbo thanks to Netflix' cancelling the show, Adult Swim picked it up as a valued player and let Lisa Hanawalt continue her story about the songthrush and the toucan.

The main thread of this season is Tuca and how she wants to be commited to a relationship like her bestie Bertie. She tries the reality show way on the Sex Bus, date apps, until she meets a nurse named Kara while visiting Aunt Tallulah. They fall on each other and start dating, but this relationship becames co-dependent and even toxic when Kara stops Tuca to be herself and transforms the hyperactive toucan into someone Kara would like to be. This ship becomes toxic and finally Kara dumps Tuca before moving in with her in a very, very shitty way. Tuca also does wacky things this season, but she has time to tell Aunt Tallulah off again and reconecting with her elder sister Terry and her niece on their own version of Halloween.

The main characters are millenials on their early 30s and having the same age of them I can feel identified on how this item is tackled (and many others I'll tell y'all later). Knowing someone and start great but then one of them shows their fangs and this becomes a one way relationship that sooner or later ends badly. And the crew did a great job on Kara (Nicole Byer) portraying as someone you really want Tuca to be with to a toxic and revealing her true facade: a controlling and self centric woman who wants people to be around her. Hopefully Tuca can grow again and be happy as we saw on a flashback of Bertie meeting Speckle on a party with her, but there's a lot to go through.

Bertie has less development, but she made a great first step: going to the shrink and talk about things that give her anxiety and how to fight them. One of them is Pastry Pete's reapperance after being cancelled for sexually harrasing Bertie. But therapy made her face things like her parents for the first time and their lousy role when she was abused at the lake when she was 12. They didn't believe her and she had to carry all that guilt and pressure of her parents pushing her to excel and not letting Roberta to be herself. And don't forget her co-dependant relationship with Tuca and some bumps when she is with Kara, or holding her move to the house Speckle bought.

Bertie and Speckle are one of the healtiest couples ever on animated shows, like Josh and Emily of Close Enough for example. Both are very supportive of each other, they have their doubts and struggles, but they help to deal with them. Or commit to please one another too, like Speckle going to buy that fancy door knob far far away.

And there is a whole arc that involves all main characters: gentrification. Represented by an annoying moss, T&B tackles the process of gentrification on neighbourhoods. This is: real estate investors buying properties on certain zones that are neglected on purpose by (generally right winged) goverments. Investors buy cheap, but change the population of those zones by making buildings fancy and trying to attract higher class tennants or people who rent. What happens to low and low-middle class people? They're forced to leave on more neglected hoods because they can't afford living there anymore. Capitalism at its best!

Moss *buys* Tuca and Bertie's building and Bertie has to move. Tuca plans to do the same soon, but in the meanwhile a Valley Girl moves into what was Bruce's the creep apartment and no one likes her because she doesn't fit there. Then Moss expands to all Bird Town, something that the Mayors (who are Tuca's twin siblings) let happen because basically they didn't care, and too much moss caused a ginormous flood that basically destroyed the city in the season finale. Because social issues are part of what is being a millenial and this one involved everyone in the town which is a thing that isn't treated so much in adult animation (except Simpsons who have many episodes about that).

This review of Tuca and Bertie's second season reflects how important is this show. I really love this show, it keeps getting better and better and not surprised on how the people who made Bojack Horseman could nail another great series on a row. Friendship, romance, gentrification and wackiness on 22 minutes of the best adult animated show at the moment which will come back in some time for Season 3 (take that Netflix!).