#now imagine the concept album these four would make
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my beautiful brain came up with the most brilliant idea! 🤩
imagine a supergroup with mine, Lexie’s, Char’s and Sanna’s men 🎸🎹🥁⭐️🌟💫
@fancycolours @glennsdick @burn-on-the-flame
the lineup:
Eric Stewart - lead guitar
Glenn Frey - lead/rhythm guitar
Robert Lamm - keyboards/keytar/moog
Mick Tucker - drums/percussion
and EVERYONE would partake in vocals as this would be a very “democratic” band - a free for all if you will, no one gets left behind - plus our men can all sing like birds ☺️
#✨ 10cc-eagles-chicago-sweet supergroup ✨#now imagine the concept album these four would make#it would be a SMASHING record the world would not be prepared for it 🤩#the real rockstar wives of tumblrTM 🤝 their men 💙💜❤️🧡#eric stewart#glenn frey#robert lamm#mick tucker#queue
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notes on "mr. snarl"
hello, hello, hello welcome to the mr. snarl is high camp discourse. i've been readin' and thinkin' and drivin' myself nuts over this, so i'll be blabberin' on for a good minute. bear with me.
before we dive into any discussion of camp, we ofcourse need to understand what camp is in the first place. camp as an idea is nearly impossible to neatly put down in a few words or a sentence. it has no definition as of such. camp is loud. camp is ostentatious. camp is exaggerated. camp is 'too much'. camp is gay. camp is ironic. camp is cheeky. drag is camp. marlene dietrich is camp. baroque art is camp. cher is camp. mommie dearest (1981) is camp. the rocky horror picture show (1975) is camp. dostoevsky is camp.
the girlies who get camp get it, those who don't, don't.
however we do have susan sontag's 1964 seminal essay 'notes on "camp"' from where most of our contemporary ideas and understanding of 'camp' comes from. in her essay, sontag noted 58 points on what camp is or might be. for our purposes in this post, we'll go by those. because it is the camp bible of course. and i am a pretentious bitch.
now before we get to the meat of the matter, a quick detour to discuss the many faces of alex turner.
alex's personas have now come to as closely associated to his image as an artist and public figure as blonde wigs are with dolly parton, i suppose. it even has its own section in alex's wiki page. he is one those performers to whom the "eras" concept can truly and perfectly apply. he is a different man on stage with every new album, each 'era' is unique from the other and distinctly defined. a new 'era' for alex is not only a change of a haircut or a new pallette, it is a total revamping of his mannerisms and performance style and public image. be it mr. schwarz (the car era), mark (tbhc era) or oliver tate sr. (early sias era), each one of his personas is another way in which he represents the themes of that album. understanding a persona is integral to understanding the album.
and alex admits to as such. each Performer is a fractured reflection of his own self, and of the album.
but. but. i do not think that he has always made use of the Performer, or atleast, tried to make perceivable distinctions between them. in the first three-four years of his career- during WPSIATWIN and FWN, he presented as just Some Guy. just another normal bloke from sheffield. which, you could argue, was the persona that fit the context of those albums, but i would say that he was probably not putting that much thought into it at the time. it isn't until TAOTU that we see alex using his on-stage fashion to project a certain kind of image that ties in with the music he's playing. (do i think it's miles' handiwork? yes.). the lil suits and ties and beatles-mop cuts, y'know.
the first distinct Performer appears during the Humbug era. the soft-spoken, brooding, fawn-mannered poet who is probably hiding a bagful of secrets and hang-ups behind those layers of brown curls- let's call her him aly. then we have the bright-eyed, puppy-smiled, deep-voiced loverboy of the early SIAS era. i propose to call him oliver tate sr. (after the guy from submarine (2010) obviously). then mr. snarl- we'll get to him later. the loud and theatrical and slutty and deliciously gay EYCTE era persona. then the melancholic space poet mark of TBH&C and finally the suave auteur of The Car- mr. schwarz.
mr. snarl is the one who has garnered the most fascination and endured the most in popular imagination. dare i say, AM-era alex turner is a lowkey late 2010s pop culture icon. it is very easy to understand why- the quiff, the leather jackets, the perpetual sunglasses, the biker boots, the LA drawl tinging his sheffield accent, the devil-may-care wantoness. the girlies on tiktok and pinterest aren't obsessed with him for nothing.
so, what makes mr. snarl camp? what am i yapping on about?
let's get back to sontag.
camp is artificial. camp is ironic. mr. snarl is too. he is a character. he is a mask. *cue the bourne identity and body paint*. 'artificial' does not imply fake or dishonest. we should be careful not to be quick in putting any value judgement onto this artificiality- the aritifice is a quality of camp. you can't appreciate camp, if you snigger at the artificial.
2. camp is character. mr. snarl is a character if there ever was one. extremely defined, visually and behaviourally- you see a performance and can immediately recognise the moment mr. snarl is peeking through. he is also very intensely one thing- very intensely masculine, very intensely rockabilly, very intensely rock god. he is 'instant character' as sontag puts it, which is why perhaps he so immediately and so firmly gripped our collective imagination.
3. camp is exaggerated. camp is style. do i even need to elaborate on this? Ben Beaumont-Thomas of The Guardian said it much better than i could- alex ironically "played with the role" of being a rockstar but simultaneously "can't help but be a real rock star." so, to put it in sontagian terms, he is not a rockstar but a "rock star"
the 2014 brit awards speech is the peak of this ironic, exaggerated performance i think. (i'm still waiting for someone to do a drag performance based on it).
4. but to me, what makes mr. snarl camp is his performance of gender. now let's get one thing clear- camp is not effeminate or queer behaviour. it is the "spirit of extravagance", so any kind of extravagant and ironic presentation of gender can be under the purview of camp.
this performance of gender is not the david bowie or marc bolan or brian molko kind, no. this performance of gender is much subtle, much more nuanced- he wasn't playing around with rigid definitions of gender or crossing gender lines. he wasn't trying to say something with it necessarily. i doubt even, if it was a purposeful thing that he was thinking of back then.
but mr. snarl is a performance of gender. it is a performance of masculinity. and the thing that makes it so very interesting is that it was a cis, straight man doing it.
[if y'all are interested, another interesting example is dolly parton + her persona + her performance of exaggerated femininity. for more on that i'll point you towards be kind rewind's video essay on her.]
mr. snarl was an image of a very certain kind of masculinity. 1950s, elvis presley, rockabilly, greasers, james dean- these are some of the pop culture touchstones that come to mind when we think of mr. snarl. he is also decidedly american. a "fictional character from america" as alex later put it. was this whole persona thing an effort to conquer america then? perhaps...but eh. there is no way i can conclusively say that. it certainly helped that cause. AM the album was very us-american in essence-- it drew from hiphop and r&b after all. the soundscape of the arctic monkeys was very much rooted in its northern british indie roots, and AM was the first one that was clearly not. and mr. snarl was just a visual reflection of that. [for more on how the arctic monkeys conquered the us]
mr. snarl was a certain kind of masculine in a way alex turner personas haven't been previously or since. he has always presented as conventionally masculine. even the humbug persona- him being my girlfriend notwithstanding- is not much different from the aesthetics of say, ray davies or mick jagger or george harrison back in the 60s and 70s. the slightly effeminate dramaticism of eycte is not exactly gender-bending as such.
but mr. snarl was hypermasculine. masculinity has had an interesting place in his lyrics up until they- they are both critical ('brianstorm' 'a certain romance') and fascinated ('jeweller's hand' 'catapult') of more aggressive masculine characteristics. (he does use a lot of very sexual but not necessarily erotic language to describe said masculinity- but that's another can of worms.) mr. snarl was in a way, alex being those characters from those songs he was writing about. mr. snarl also very aggressively straight. straight with a capital s. his songs in AM still had the self-abasing and submissive undertones to the narrator that love songs from humbug and sias, but much toned down. he was out there shouting out his girlfriend on stage. and who can forget the "ladiessssssss!" moment. he had models hanging off him in photoshoots.
you probably saw these photos and thought- "what the fuck?!" with a cackle. that is exactly what makes mr. snarl camp. the irony, the ridiculousness of it all.
5. i don't think alex was trying to be or do camp. camp is best when it is not intentional. i can even confidently wager alex would not take it as a compliment if i showed him this essay. a lot of very "serious" people look down upon camp as something lowbrow and tacky and unserious. but it isn't. i would go ahead and classify mr. snarl under naive camp- he is trying to be straightlaced and serious, but failing grandly, which makes it deliciously camp.
so. mr. snarl was an exaggerated representation of masculinity. in a sense, mr. snarl was basically drag. alex turner being "Alex Turner".
#alex turner#arctic monkeys#the last shadow puppets#camp#susan sontag#i spent wayyyy to much time on this#journal of alex turner studies
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Sunny and Home and Basil (and Sweetheart?!)
Hey all! I've been thinking a lot about how home is represented in Omori, and especially about how Sunny thinks about home and imagines it. Omori Spoilers Ahead!
So to start this off, it has been noted quite a lot that Sunny associates the concept of home with Basil. The main thing that people point out to support this is the fact that before Memory Lane and right after the fight with Basil, it's Basil that is waiting for Sunny in front of his house to welcome him home, but there is so much more to look at when it comes to this concept.
For starters, the theme music for Basil's house in both the real world and Headspace is entitled "A Home for Flowers", but there are some very specific flowers that Basil's house is a home for. Within Headspace, it is a home for tulips, which is the flower associated with Sunny, courtesy of Basil. The other two flower versions of this are Sunflower and Daisy. Sunflower plays during the Birthday Memory of Memory Lane, and Daisy plays in Basil's Meadow after the true Something battle. Finally, the Empty version of this theme is what plays at Basil's house in the real world. Basil's home is also a home for Sunny, within Sunny's head. The Empty version shows that in the present day, Basil's home doesn't really provide any respite for either Sunny or Basil, because metaphorically, neither of them have been "home" since the Incident.
However, I'd also like to put forward that there's another big thing within Headspace that tells us a lot about how Sunny views the concept of "home".
Sweetheart's Castle
Sweetheart's Castle is a very interesting area of the game that the player spends a lot of time in. In fact, it can tell us a lot about how Sunny feels about the concept of "home" if you pay attention to the little details it gives us. For now, I would like to set aside the fact that the castle is associated with Sweetheart to talk about what happens in the castle itself.
To me, the castle is very clearly based off of Basil's house, or more specifically, the things that happen during this part of the game take a lot of inspiration from the memory of Basil's birthday.
To start out, there are four tasks that the player must complete while inside the castle. The first is assisting with preparing a strawberry cake, which is a clear parallel to the Birthday Memory, since it implies that Sunny was involved with the making of Basil's cake in the first place. The castle is also filled with many other strawberry cakes that Sunny/Omori associate with different smells, and bring the player to different areas of headspace. Check out my other analysis on Sunny's relationship with food and cooking for more details!
Within Sweetheart's bedroom, the player has to destroy a statue of Spaceboy, to be replaced with a statue of Sweetheart. In addition, Sweetheart's bedroom contains a bed that the player can rest at to heal, much like a picnic. To me, this very much relates to how Basil's bed is the only one that Sunny notes is comfortable, other than his own. It also is reminiscent of how Basil's birthday party in the Photo Album appears to have ended in a sleepover. The bedroom is also filled with different kinds of snacks and sodas, and this is also the area where you can get the Teapot weapon for Hero, and learn the Teatime skill.
Next, you have to go to the Royal Library to assist with the guest list. While I don't think the group had to think too hard at all about who was invited to Basil's birthday party, since it's pretty much just the friend group, there are some interesting things about this area. Sweetheart's Castle's purpose within Headspace is to cover up the Lost Library, so the fact that a library was included at all is interesting, considering the connotations. Within this area, you can find the Interesting Book for the "Fascinating Literature" side quest, a poetry book, and the Book charm, which can increase experience gain. To me, this relates back to Basil's love of reading, which he shared with Sunny.
Finally, you go to the Royal Ballroom to assist with preparing the Sprout Mole Choir to sing at the wedding. You might be able to say that this area is reminiscent of Basil's love of listening to Sunny and Mari practice their music, after all, it was Basil and Hero that moved all of the stools into the practice room to listen to the two. This room also contains a Sprout Mole that you can slow dance with to restore the party's Health and Juice. No matter if you dance with them with Aubrey or one of the boys, they will always say, "That was so much fun... Ah... What is this feeling? My heart is racing so fast... Thanks, hehe...". Just a little interesting thing for Sunny's mind to include in this area, specifically with the small plant creature that enjoys tofu.
The associations don't end there. There is also the Royal Gallery, which contains a bunch of art. Though we don't get to see it much in the real world, Headspace Kel notes that Basil does enjoy art, along with reading, flowers, and photography. The player can even become art in this area, by standing on a podium. You can once again do this with any character selected, so this could very much reference that Basil prefers to take pictures of his friends, since he is afraid of losing them.
Then you have the Royal Theater, where there are 11 different movies that the party could watch, which absolutely could represent how Sunny and Basil would have sleepovers where they would watch movies, or more generally represent the group watching movies as part of Basil's party. The castle also has a large garden, which is something that Sunny's mind also associates with Basil.
But What About Sweetheart?
I won't go into too much detail about what Sweetheart represents, as there is a very good post about it already, but to paraphrase what's important, Spaceboy and Sweetheart both represent aspects of Sunny, and his relationship with himself/Omori. Some people try and say it represents how Sunny really feels about how a relationship with Aubrey would go, but I think this concept is a little bit of a stretch. As far as we're concerned here, Sweetheart represents Sunny's broken idea of love following the incident, as well as his inability to even conceptualize what loving himself even means following what happened to Mari.
That being said, there is a character within Sweetheart's castle that does appear to represent someone other than Sunny...
Look at this dude, with his stupid dumb teal hair, pink hairclip and overalls. Wait
After finishing up the primary quest line in Sweetheart's Castle, you have the ability to meet a character by the name of Rococo. Rococo has some interesting similarities with Basil's story. He doesn't really have his own people due to his original planet being destroyed, in the same way that Basil doesn't really have his own family outside of his grandmother. He was taken in by Sweetheart and her family in a way that is similar to Basil being accepted into the friend group, and more specifically, how he appears to have spent a lot of time at Sunny and Mari's house. He'll paint pictures of Omori's party, in the same way that Basil in the real world would take photos of his friends, but not a lot of himself.
He sleeps on a futon with sheets made of the finest materials with a self-heating and cooling option. Seeing as Sunny recognizes Basil's bed as comfortable, this could be seen as a reference to Sunny sleeping on Basil's bed during sleepovers, while Basil himself slept on a rollout futon.
The fact that he has been sealed away from Sweetheart's castle reflects both how Headspace itself is filled with things that Basil loves while Basil is kept away from it by spending most of the game sealed away in Black Space or restricted to a picnic blanket, and how Sunny has physically shut out Basil in the real world for four years, keeping the two apart. Rococo is also depicted as being very lonely after being sealed away for so long, even growing desperate when the party tries to leave before he can tell his story, in a manner that resembles how Basil behaves during the real world segments of the game.
If you want to take the connections between Sweetheart & Rococo and Sunny & Basil literally, Rococo even says this:
Obviously, you don't have to take everything literally here if you don't believe there is any kind of romantic connection at all between Sunny and Basil, but this backstory does kind of parallel the way that the past is told in Omori. For instance, after meeting Sweetheart, Rococo has a gap in his memory of a few years leading up to he and Sweetheart falling in love and moving into the castle. Meanwhile, we know almost nothing about Sunny or Basil or anyone else in the group during the period of time between when Basil joined the friend group and when Basil started taking pictures for the photo album. Within the photo album, there are many things that imply that Sunny and Basil became closer throughout that final year than they were before, even if Basil already considered Sunny his best friend from the first picture. The falling out between Sweetheart and Rococo is more metaphorical than literal, as the thing that caused Sunny to lock Basil away both in his mind and in real life was the fact that he was a reminder of a past that Sunny desperately wanted to forget, not that Sunny was becoming more popular and receiving fan mail and requests from suitors, though you could see Rococo as representing the real Basil that was locked out and the suitors and popularity as representing the new friends that Sunny created within Headspace.
The Castle as Home
So how does this all line up with how Sunny sees "home"?
Below the castle is a little area with an NPC by the name of "The Keeper of the Castle".
The Keeper tells us that the castle takes the shape of one's deepest desires. "A place to return to. Somewhere to call home." In a way, since Sweetheart represents an aspect of Sunny, we could say that part of Sunny desires his home to be represented by this castle.
The Keeper also tells us that it knows that Sweetheart will soon leave, and it will need to look for a new owner. If you are playing the Hikikomori route, Omori will become the new owner of the castle. However, Omori/Sunny has rejected the real world in this route. He has rejected reconciling with his friends, ending the delusion, and he has rejected his special connection with Basil, with Basil's photo album no longer referring to the two as best friends, and instead referring to the friend group as a whole as Basil's best friends.
To that end, once Omori becomes the castle's new owner, all reminders of the reasons that Basil is associated with home are erased. All of the strawberry cakes, the art, the books, the garden, and Rococo himself are erased, leaving behind the "Boring Room", where all Omori/Sunny can do is sit, surrounded by pictures of a past that no longer exists, which is emblematic of how Sunny's own house must feel after those four years inside without his friends and his only family being a busy mother.
This is the hikikomori route's twisted version of Sunny "finding his way back home." No Basil, no Mewo, no Mari, and definitely no violin or Memory Lane. Only reminders of Sunny's broken family that he is confronted with every day, with all of the reminders of his friend group and especially Basil ripped away and forgotten. And this is how you get the "Welcome Home" achievement.
Hope you enjoyed!
#omori#omori analysis#sunnflower#omori sunflower#sunflower omori#kind of#i guess#sweetheart#omori sunny#omori basil#rococo#sweetheart's castle#omori spoilers#hikikomori route#keeper of the castle#rococo says he would do literally anything for sweetheart#omocat says that basil would do literally anything for sunny#thats real interesting#anyway if headspace still exists post true ending you just know that sunnys mind is moving himself and basil into that castle
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1. Intro
Author's note : I'm so with our vote, 112 votes? I didn't expect this interaction, I thank everyone who participated and voted <3 Not all chapters will be like this, short or focused on thoughts, but this one in particular, I couldn't imagine it in any other way
Explanation: Briefly explaining the concept of this series, they will be fics based on Ari's eternal sunshine album. Each episode will be a completely different story, and may or may not connect, it will be turned to the old racha (Chan, Bin, Minho and Hyun.) With chan in emphasis on why I'm Channie utted, it's inevitable.
About the warnings, I prefer to put it by chapter, since they will be different stories.
About this chapter: almost established relationship, chan and s/n idols, secret relationship, fluff, romance, sweet nonsense.
🎂 ˖ ࣪ ‹ bang chan ☁️⁺˖ ⸝⸝
How do I know if I'm in the right relationship? Okay, feeling things and smiling at nothing seems like the sign, but… How do I know if I'm not going to get hurt once again?
I should be afraid to risk myself once again, even worse, risking our careers, but I can't care like anything else if it's not the two of us.
Watching christopher work brought me this feeling, we are moving towards a relationship, adjusting our lives succinctly and without the other noticing, it's been months since we met as mutual friends, we got closer, more intimate, more comfortable with each other, and today we are in this cafe, he worked eagerly on something on his notebook while trying to have time for me, and I didn't hear anything he was talking about. Shouldn't I know that kind of thing? Feel it right in the background and accept it? Just give me up?
I don't know
But we kissed, like, five weeks ago, and that didn't come out of my head, I wonder if when he thinks about it, it makes him smile like he does me. He seemed to want it as much, just as he wants now, he wants me to be in his life.
"So what do you think?" He asks as he smiles under that black cap, that damn smile. "Does a movie night sound good?"
"We can do it, you know, after some adjustments to my schedule." He smiles once again and goes back to the computer, I sigh thinking about how inspiring he has been, I had already composed four songs just this month, and it still seemed so little. "But where would it be?"
I really think I don't mind being the only one in love among us, as long as someone loves. "Don't worry about it, leave it to me." He goes back to typing on his computer, and I love how I don't have to worry about anything while I'm with him. "Only be beautiful, not that you need to." He raises his sharp eyes quickly and laughs when he sees me blewing hard. I'm glad I ordered iced coffee.
I would love to be who he thinks of, but I must be, after all he comes to me whenever we have a day off or a day off, today is a clear example. He could very well be with his members somewhere nice, but he passes them with me.. should that mean anything? Isn't that right?
For the first time I knew how to be loved, even if I don't know for sure that he loves me. Does it make any sense?
"Please choose a good movie this time." I say taking another sip of my drink.
"Hmm, I don't know if I want you to pay attention to the movie, or to me." He says thoughtfully, and aimda looking at the notebook screen, I feel his hot hand covering mine that was on the table.
After so many frustrations and loves that went wrong for me, I wanted this one to work out, if everything ended today, I wanted to be the one he thinks of, if the sun didn't shine or the moon forgot to come, I wanted to be the one he thinks of. Because I know that the woman he loves will be the happiest person in the world, and I would like it to be me.
#bang chan#chan x reader#bang chan x reader#bang chan fanfic#skz imagines#skz fluff#bang chan fic#christopher bang#bang chan imagine#skz smut#chan fluff#bang chan imagines#bang chan scenarios#chan x y/n#chan x you#bang christopher chan#stray kids bang chan#bangchan#chris bang#skz bang chan
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OOR 2001 - Nr 8 - Rammstein interview
Rammstein <Germans have a very good sense of humor>
Rammstein: those are boring, surly men, who take themselves too seriously and even are perhaps a little 'wrong'. You would think. But with the release of the third album Mutter, singer Till Lindemann and drummer Christoph Schneider prove that Germans do have a sense of humor. "Only... we don't laugh."
by Robert Heeg
Actually, Rammstein's entire career is a joke. Or at least a bizarre twist of fate. Born and raised in the GDR, Lindemann, Schneider, keyboardist Flake Lorenz, bassist Oliver Riedel and guitarists Paul Landers and Richard Kruspe despite state censorship managed to develop into stubborn punks with their own vision on hard music. Only in '93, long after the fall of the wall, did they convert their ideas into the total concept Rammstein. In addition to hard industrial metal with a gothic touch, this concept also includes a well-oiled show in which sweaty male bodies and stunts with fire play a leading role. Despite international aspirations, the mother tongue was retained. That did not stop the albums Herzeleid ('95) and Sehnsucht ('97) from being very successful. Even in the US, entire tribes sing along at the top of their lungs during the performances. It must be a great victory for the six 'Ossies'. Can you therefore blame Rammstein for using images from the propaganda film Triumph of the Will, by Hitler's court filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl, in a video clip.
How does Mutter differ most from its two predecessors?
Till: "We used more acoustic instruments and recorded a string orchestra 'live' for the first time. We also worked on the mix for a very long time. We even broke off a mix because the album started to sound too much like Sehnsucht. We were looking for a more modern sound"
The official biography says that no one sounds like Rammstein, but I definitely recognize that rigid sound of Die Krupps...
Christoph: "Yes, of course. And there are more bands with which we have something in common. In that bio they are probably referring to the combination of show and German-language singing."
Till: "Especially that German thing, yes. Most acts sing in English, which sounds much rounder than German. So we do offer something new internationally."
The lyrics on Mutter seem less harsh, slightly more personal. Is there a thematic shift?
Till: "You should interpret them the way you want. Use your imagination. I do believe that they are less abstract than before, they have become clearer stories. However, we try to stick to our well-known style."
If you used to express yourself in macho rhetoric such as: 'Wollt ihr das Bett in Flammen sehen', you now cry for Mutter. Back to the womb?
Christoph: "Mutter is simply the word that fits the mood of the record, you don't have to look for any special meaning behind it. Inspiration can really come from anywhere: personal experiences, magazines, a book, a good film... It makes It doesn't matter. It can also happen if you happen to get your finger stuck in the electrical socket. Anything."
Is this a democratic band or are there members who have more influence?
Christoph: "It is quite a democratic whole. And that does not always make it easy when you are in a hurry. Fortunately, there is also a producer [Jacob Hellner] who makes decisions every now and then. It is also a lot more productive that we now sometimes work in smaller teams. If there are six of us, there is always someone who disagrees with something."
Till: "It is good to learn that you occasionally have to defer to the majority opinion. After three or four weeks it often turns out that the consensus was the basis for the right decision. It is essential that you share everything as a band: equal rights, equal duties. It has been my experience that when someone feels underexposed in a band, they usually leave."
Would Rammstein be over then?
Christoph: "It's like cutting off an arm. We would continue, but it would be very different."
In interviews the band members sometimes come across as a bit rigid. You rarely allow yourself to be lured out of your tent.
Christoph: "That depends on how someone responds to us and our texts. Every journalist does that in his own way, and we respond to that. But I know that we are considered difficult. Whether it is photographers, cover designers or people at the record company, they experience us as difficult. That is because we have a very strong opinion about how things should sound and look. We don't compromise well."
This also applies to the language...
Till: "Yes, why should we? Words are free."
And you were also right, in America people sang along with complete lyrics.
Christoph: "Well, at least they tried, haha. In any case, we had a good time with their attempts. They looked like teenagers going to their first pop concert, not having fully understood the lyrics, but still trying to sing along. Very amusing."
You guys have something special with America. Did that start when David Lynch used two of your songs for his film Lost Highway?
Christoph: "That was our first contact with America. It made us a bit known and gave us the opportunity to perform there. However, it was very difficult to make the right contacts and bring Sehnsucht there. We only managed that in '98."
American record companies are traditionally skeptical of European acts. Especially when they stubbornly continue to sing in their native language.
Till: "If you hang around somewhere in the middle, that is certainly true, yes. But once you are successful, you can do just about anything there. The most idiosyncratic acts are often the most successful."
Idiosyncrasy is also often poorly understood. For example, you are often associated with the extreme right. You went one step further by using fragments of Leni Riefenstahl films in the video for the Depeche Mode cover Stripped.
Christoph: "We have never really understood that prejudice. In our opinion, it is not demonstrable. In interviews we have often said that we have nothing to do with it. We are busy discovering our own German music and creating our own German band , and we have mentioned many things that have to do with our culture. We are getting quite tired of the allegations. People simply have an opinion about us, no matter how often we contradict those prejudices through the media. The only thing we can do now all that's left is to just continue making music. If you follow us a bit, you know that we have nothing to do with the right. For the people who still need an explanation, we have included the song Links 234 on the album. Listen to that."
Is your sense of humor and sarcasm underestimated?
Till: "Oh, you either understand us or you don't. There is no in between. You either love us or you hate us. The fans understand our intentions."
Christoph: "The problem is that people are always presented with something that is ready-made. But as soon as they have to interpret something for themselves, think for themselves, they have a problem. You do have your own opinion, right? Then don't ask me what you have to think about it. I can't explain it either."
Don't you secretly cherish those different reactions a little?
Till: "If people think we are really bad, that is of course often annoying and questionable. But it is indeed better than not arousing any reactions at all."
Christoph: "It did surprise us, but it has become part of us."
You also evoke reactions with the show. For the stunt with the dildo, you were even held in an American cell for a couple of hours in '98.
Christoph: "Americans are easily shocked by things that we consider very normal here. But for those involved it was certainly not a pleasant incident, I can assure you. Perhaps Till would like to say something about that."
Till: "We don't do something like this with premeditation. We mainly do a show like that for fun and to illustrate the music. That makes it a bit more pleasant for us on stage, because at least something happens and time goes by faster, haha. And the audience is grateful that there is also something to experience visually. It is not our style to deliberately evoke such extreme reactions. It is not as if we plan it, it just happens naturally."
And yet... Does that rebelliousness have nothing to do with your GDR youth? Is the animal out of the cage now?
Christoph: "That is probably innate, yes. In the GDR, of course, nothing was allowed and the music scene was of little significance. We spent our youth and teenage years in the GDR, so it could not have been otherwise or that it left an indelible impression."
Till: "Yet we weren't really rebellious. We just did what we did, also on stage. We just lived it up, and actually we still do. Only later did we realize that it was quite bold to do that in the GDR."
Were you influenced by show bands like Kiss?
Christoph: "Of course. I wasn't that impressed with the music, but I did have the posters hanging. Musically we were more impressed by Udo Lindenberg, AC/DC, Neubauten, the Neue Deutsche Welle. Very few of them actually came to the GDR. But we didn't know any better. If a band came, it would be talked about for another five years. Those performances were incredibly inflated. haha."
Did you feel like second class citizens?
Till: "That was a big problem, yes, because we were constantly looking to the west. I think the worst thing was that we were not allowed to travel. That was really sad. Other than that, life wasn't that bad, just the traveling... ."
Once an Ossie, always an Ossie?
Till: "Certainly. We still live in East Berlin. Due to our extensive travelling, I don't know whether the term Ossie still has the same meaning for us. But it remains our homeland. You carry it with you in your heart. "
Am I wrong or are you parodying the cliché image that foreigners have of Germans?
Christoph: "You might think. Well, we know how people sometimes think about Germany. Never mind, there is little we can do about that."
Till: "We like to exaggerate and that's part of parody. Only... we don't laugh."
Do you think Dutch people understand German humor?
Christoph: "Germans have a very good sense of humor. But let's talk about you, with your Big Brother-Shit! 1)"
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1) The Big Brother reality tv show format was originated in the Netherlands, first aired in 1999, and had spin-ofs in many other countries around the world
--
List of other Rammstein OOR interviews
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You know what I want as a fan of The Monkees? Three things: 1. I want a documentary of them making Headquarters ( there had to be some video hopefully) showing not only how hard the boys worked and want they had to go through to make this album, but also how they were together in the studio when they were allowed to do want they wanted. 2. A real true biopic or miniseries like Bohemian Rhapsody, Rocketman, Elvis, etc. showing the good, bad & ugly. All of it. Seeing their story finally get
(cont) told letting people know all the BTS. Really good actors playing them and getting into the all of it. I even got a title Hollywood, Listen to the Band. Not only is perfect because it was the last song they played together before peter left, but it's what they were asking the whole time. Finally 3: Restored concert of either Japan ( there is suppose video) or any concert showing the amazing show these boys put on. We've heard audio and see some in the tour ep, but imagine if we could see a full restored concert in all it's glory showing everyone what they did and were capable of. So yeah that's my three. Sorry for so many messages, Tumblr kept cutting me off. I just feel their story needs to told and their hard work needs to be seen. If people knew maybe they see them differently and with more respect, What do you think. BTW, I LOVE your blog! I've been browsing through it and it's one of the best Monkees blogs I've seen. Thank you for it :)
omg this was such a joy to log in and see! thanks for sharing this insight. but, to add to what you're saying, YES YES YES. TO ALL OF THIS. re: the movie -- you're so onto something. like, i don't see as much of it now, but since i'm kind of the old wine aunt of monkees tumblr, i remember the days when we'd all sit around and just make a complete mockery of the daydream believers movie. and, while it's in no way a perfect movie (or even a good one, lmao) it just proves that there's a good story at the heart of the monkees' tale. it's a perfect found family piece -- four people from different walks of life coming together to make something great. i think their story would resonate better now than it did in the '60s (mostly because i don't think our society cares much about the concept of 'selling out' / authenticity is viewed differently now than it was in 1966).
i hope we'd be able to see more concert footage, too! they were a great live band (AND still are, speaking as someone who's been fortunate enough to have seen all of the different lineups, save the four of them and micky, davy & peter) and their live show was truly where they cut their teeth. correct me if i'm wrong, but mike or peter (or was it MICKY? google is free, but i'm too in the zone to double check) has/had a great quote saying that when they were on stage, just the four of them, was when they really became the monkees. they became a real band -- i think it was micky, just because that's one of his go-to quotes (kind of like the shrek/i'm a believer one). thank you so very much for sharing your thoughts with me & the kind words about the blog! i'm happy to spread some love and light & i'm glad you found my content and like it. thank you endlessly!
#crying i dont get asks EVER and seeing this i was like :o#ask#anonymous#anon i hope you're doing well wherever you are<3
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I've seen so many "gen z has no iconic artists" things recently and it's so boring how this happens with every new batch of 20 somethings in music. like I remember people saying the same thing about millennials and now no one says it because it's obvious who their icons are, now that they're in their 30s and 40s. the oldest genz-er is 26 right now. most genz-ers in general are still teenagers, but 26 is the oldest, most gen z ARTISTS are like 19-22 right now, and none of your favs put out their magnum opus at 21. kendrick lamar was still making club rap mixtapes under kdot, weyes blood was working a radio show and had zero albums, thundercat was the bassist for a thrash metal band with zero albums, flying lotus was an intern at an indie label with zero albums, beyonce hadn't dropped an album as beyonce yet, hozier was a back up singer with zero albums, rihanna was part of an unknown girl group with zero albums, lana del rey was also still a no name underground artist playing clubs...with zero albums. most of them are only tangentially in the industry and none of them are doing what they're known for at this point, much less dropping the album that cemented them as an icon. kendrick has like six mixtapes and two albums before good kid maad city (dropped at age 25); weyes blood has 3 albums and 3 eps before titanic rising (dropped at age 31); lana del rey -- as evidence by her many recorded but unreleased songs -- has entire catalogs before she breaks through with born to die (dropped age 27) and then four more albums until she has what most would consider her instant classic (NFR!, yes, most consider this her first classic, I'd probably say it's ultraviolence but we're talking widespread recognition as a classic-- anyway she dropped NFR! at 34); rihanna doesn't drop her inarguable classic until she's 28 (ANTI), after seven albums; kali uchis, who is the absolute youngest millennial artist makes her first album period at 24; beyonce's first classic album is self titled (again we're talking widespread recognition), which she drops at 32; flying lotus drops cosmogramma when he's 32 etc etc it keeps going on like this. as far as I can tell most of these artists didn't get generational icon status, really, until their 30s, especially because they weren't handed Icon status at the first album everyone liked. gen z artists are still in their early 20s -- mid 20s at the latest, which is before some of these artists even produced their first album.
"can you imagine [random genz artist] ever dropping [iconic album from 10 years ago]" nope, but that iconic album was a huge shock at the time too. no one expected gkmc or to pimp a butterfly from the guy who made bitch I'm in the club -- even people who loved section 80 didn't expect that. no one expected a genre bending concept album from the woman who made single ladies. no one expected a mainstream chamber pop breakthrough from the woman who made storms that breed (again I do love this album, that's not the point). no one expected cosmogramma from the guy scoring adult swim shorts (that's actually my favorite work from him, but again). it's just entirely possible billie eilish makes an instant classic after not impressing you for half a dozen album cycles. megan thee stallion could switch it up and make a genz illmatic in a few years as far as we know. ethel cain might have an inescapable crossover hit that becomes a decade defining album. or, much more likely, the people who will make generation defining work have still not made a single album yet because we're like five seconds into genz's being old enough to buy a drink.
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rewrote hana's bio! i'm not putting it up officially yet (it'll be up once i get a theme happening and whatnot) but i WILL put it here for people who wanna look! it's largely the same as the one on her slides document, except expanded into more of a proper prose format (i suppose?) and makes reference to worldbuilding concepts which i have developed since originally writing her bio :)
Hana Morishita was born on the 1st of April 20XX to Takuya and Saki Morishita, joining sister Ami as the youngest child of the household.
Theirs was a home of strict Christian values: attend Church every Sunday, follow the teachings of the Bible so that you shall be accepted into heaven like all the other decent, God-loving folk. As a child, this was all Hana knew, and she was happy living her life this way growing up.
It was thanks to a camping trip at the tender age of four that began to lead Hana off the beaten path.
The trip itself had been a standard one, a holiday shared between the Morishitas and some friends from church. It was during a walk through the woods that Hana - who was always happy to follow along with the people she loved - was separated from the group. The crying child, desperate to be reunited with her family, only managed to wander further and further away, lost and confused as she was in her state of distress.
What caused her crying to cease was a sight unlike any other - a spider-like creature with more arms, legs and eyes than she could count, taller than the tallest man. Its movements were disjointed, and it was easily able to bend and change its shape to suit the geometry of the land as it pleased. Such a sight would have had life-altering effects on an adult. A child of such a young age, however, is still learning about life and the world around them, and thus are not affected in the same way.
Hana was soon found by her mother, but something seemed off about her; a lost child, not crying, not terrified, and a change in demeanour in the otherwise bright and happy child. She was taken back to the track with the rest of the group but, when she looked back to see the creature one last time, it could no longer be seen.
The changes in Hana’s demeanour were not permanent, and she does not remember the events of this day in the long run.
Like anyone growing and learning about the world, Hana went through a number of different interests, but there were a few that stuck, but relevantly for now, her love of song and dance, which she picked up during her early schooling years and continued throughout them. Her love of such things was so great that Hana, at the age of 16, went against the grain of suggested professions from her parents, such as following in the footsteps of the lawyer-in-training Ami, and successfully auditioned to become an idol. Her parents, who did (and continue to) not understand the true value of artists, frowned upon this decision and warned against it. Hana was set on her dream, however, and ignored their words.
Fame was found quickly for Hana. At the age of 17, only some months after her successful audition, Hana’s debut single, Sugar Rush, was released and well received throughout the pop-loving community. She rocketed to stardom faster than anyone could have ever imagined - though her parents still did not approve of this path in life, believing God would not condone her choices. This continued to go ignored by Hana.
Whilst on tour to promote both herself (the idol who goes by the stage name Miyu) and her new album some months later, Hana stumbled upon an odd curio shop purporting to be a supplier of horrors - another one of those lifelong interests Hana had held on to for so many years. Though it was dark and murky and the smoke almost had Hana coughing up her lungs, Hana decided to peruse the wares, finally settling on a leather bound tome with no writing on either cover or spine, purchasing it on a whim.
It was in her hotel room that she opened the book, finding written inside a language she could only hazard a guess as being Latin - though other parts were in a language that was clearly not of human origin. Hana believed it to be just a bit of fun and games, written by an author with a penchant for that kind of thing. As she fell asleep that night, however, she could not get the purported spells about which she read out of her mind.
For the remainder of her tour, Hana did not open the book, though not once was she able to stop thinking about it (save, of course, to focus on her performances). It was after the tour, in the comfort of her own home, that Hana opened the book once more and found a rather simple sounding spell, conjure darkness. Much to her surprise, after chanting the requisite phrase, her home went completely dark, light being snuffed out as though it had never been there to begin with; the spell had worked.
Three months passed. After her success with the conjure darkness spell, Hana became more and more enthralled with her book, learning all that she could about the spells inside, along with purchasing more tomes with even more spells and magic - specifically dark magic - practices. As her own skills advanced, though, she couldn’t get the original book out of her head and the language within which was of unknown origin.
After much investigation and searching, Hana found a group who were able to answer her questions. She had been correct in her assumptions of the language not being one created by humans; rather, she discovered it to be the text of the Elder Gods, with her book in particular relating to the very god they worshipped, named Vh’thra. They explained their god to her - that Vh’thra was the deity of death and rebirth, one of eight in a pantheon known as La Cour de la Lune, or The Luna Tribunal - and, without giving it much thought, Hana decided to join the cult; after all, she had spent her whole life worshipping another god and following another religion just because she had been told to. She was indoctrinated into the cult and began following the cult’s teachings without question.
Despite her career as an idol, teaching herself dark magic practices and her cult activities, Hana completed schooling with high grades. Although university was an option open to her and urged upon her by her parents, Hana decided to continue her current life path.
In the present day, at age 22, Hana continues to juggle her idol by day, dark magician/cultist by night lifestyle. Her practices and beliefs are kept hidden from all, particularly those closest to her, lest it ruin her career; likewise, her career is kept secret from those who worship Vh’thra or any other Elder God, knowing that these people (who she knows little to nothing about personally) are not necessarily ones who should be trusted.
It is not out of nihilism that she wishes to aid the cult in one day summoning their revered god, at which time she will supposedly bring an end to all things in our dimension. In fact, she believes it is out of a desire for knowledge and to do something interesting that she pursues such things. The reality is that the truth stems back to when Hana was four years old and the long forgotten encounter with a creature of many arms and eyes, which did not obey the laws of physics as we humans understand them, which has drawn Hana to the strange, the unknown and the eldritch…
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Dollar Bin #26:
Bob Dylan's Bringing it All Back Home
Ah, the initially alarming, deeply flawed, but ultimately classic, transition album:
Neil Young started his deep dive into the ditch with Time Fades Away's bungling fever; Tom Petty crept off the plantation in search of SoCal zombies and skateboards with the hodgepodge airplane crash of Let Me Up; Joni Mitchell jumped off her increasingly precious clouds and instead fed us mysterious brownies, terrifying electric piano trance music and street corner clarinet; Paul Simon abandoned Artie on their graceful bridge and dove straight into the troubled water he'd formerly avoided at all costs, determined to reunite Mother and Child; Ringo and his clever lads joyfully totaled their quaint and geriatric tour bus so as to embrace rampaging chaos.
Each of these artists would have made their fans happy by staying the course. The public wanted endless choruses of All Together Now from each of them. After all, no one ever wants to see their hero just do it in the road.
But thank god they all swerved into the ditch, transitioning through straight up weird songs like L.A., Duncan, Woodstock and All Mixed Up to new, previously undreamt heights with Tired Eyes, American Tune, Blue and Free Fallin'. Thank God Paul McCartney shrieked about monkey sex long enough to give us Hey Jude.
Like most concepts in the Dollar Bin, Bob Dylan charted the seemingly reckless course for each of these vital transitions. And so let's talk about Bob's own transitional mess/masterpiece of a fifth record, Bringing it All Back Home.
It's of course tempting to think of the record in terms of Sides A and B: Like the 66 tour that followed, Bob makes an electric declaration alongside a conciliatory acoustic compromise.
But I think that assessment is all wrong, or at least too elementary (for the tour and the album). Rather, I think Bringing it All Back Home has four different, mingled song sets to consider: there are a) two tossed off novelty songs, b) three hastily recorded future masterpieces, c) three sprawling problems, and d) two songs that are total filler.
Add a fifth category: there's also one - and only one - full success on Bringing It All Back Home. That's right, it's one of my favorite albums of all time and yet I think there is only one song on the record that Bob did right the first time:
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Despite the popular imagination there are plenty of Dylan tracks which feature great singing. At least once a decade Dylan reminds us that he's capable of nailing a melody alongside surprising and perfect phrasing.
Want a handy, 70 year long, left field list from off the top of my head? I'm happy to provide!
60's Moonshiner
70's Knocking on Heaven's Door
80's Blind Willie McTell
90's Lone Pilgrim
00's Nettie Moore
10's Long and Wasted Years
20's Key West
Dylan sings She Belongs to Me with similar elegance and personality, yes? The song is built on repetition and yet nothing seems to occur more than once. He tells us twice that his lady friend is an artist, he bows down to her twice and describes her firm footwork, you got it, twice, but he does so in such different fashions, stretching the second phrase in the second line of each verse just so, like a tableau vivant that has obviously changed - but how? - while you were blinking.
Indeed I've always thought of She Belongs To Me as the musical version of the album's cover, the most staged and ambitious of Dylan's career. Albert Grossman's impossibly elegant wife, the piles of rick rack and the precious kitty cat in Dylan's lap: like the song's title itself, none of these things actually appear in Dylan's perfectly paced, intimate and stately song. But every detail seems borrowed from the song's missing verses.
(It's too bad a literalist approach was taken for the Basement Tapes cover. I'd prefer images from the absent songs rather than the drunken tea party dress up vibe that was chosen. Dylan, at least, seems to understand this: while everyone else mugs for the camera he flips his stringed object 90 degrees and dreams about the door...)
Dylan of course opened his 66 tour each night with She Belongs to Me, and all the versions are successful. But none of them touch the arrangement from the album track: Bruce Langhorne's swaying, gurgling lead guitar, the unobtrusive but burgeoning drums: everything waltzes along perfectly together and insists that Bob keep up. And keep up he does, still finding chances to linger without ever getting sleepy. It makes for lovely, lovely music: perfect from the beginning.
But most of all we think of Bringing It All Back Home as an introduction to masterpieces that Bob, and everyone else, has been wrestling with ever since. Dylan recorded the whole album in 3 days so it's no wonder that songs like It's All Over Now Baby Blue, Love Minus Zero/No Limit, and Mr Tambourine Man are so complex that we're still getting to the bottom of them.
I'm not going to spend much time on Mr Tambourine Man here; check out the Dollar Bin (#6?) on Judy Collins' Fifth Record. Suffice it to say that Dylan's first version is great, but is obviously not the master take in that there were at least two competing versions that same year that were just as good.
But let's linger over Love Minus Zero/No Limit. It's one of my all time favorites, period. I have no real idea what Dylan is trying to tell us but the poetry never fails to knock me out. Consider the third verse, which echoes Proofrock's yearning, anticipates Get Smart and makes touchstones out of everything from chess to Daniel's prophesies about Nebuchadnezzar's faulty artistic future. This is Dylan and his most obtusely wonderful:
The cloak and dagger dangles,
Madams light the candles.
In ceremonies of the horsemen,
Even the pawn must hold a grudge.
Statues made of match sticks,
Crumble into one another,
My love winks, she does not bother,
She knows too much to argue or to judge.
And yet the album's dense arrangement simply does not understand the song's greatness. The same backing players who both corralled and gave Bob space on She Belongs To Me here force Dylan to rush through his thoughts and linger over nothing; we don't need complexity behind such lyrics and the melody: works of art always look better without gilded frames.
Dylan knew as much; he knew he couldn't hope to contain the song's multitudes on first attempt so he gave up after two series of rushed attempts over two days. But on The Other Side of the Mirror, recorded the following summer at the Newport Folk Festival, we see him come much, much closer, as the wind howls like a hammer no less, to unveiling the song's full greatness.
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I'll make a nerd club comment quickly, however, about Bringing It All Back Home's mono mix. I grew up listening to this record on an 80's era CD that made everything sound like it had been recorded in Dylan's private vomitorium. Listening this morning to my more recently purchased, but almost 60 year old, mono record, I wondered if the album track is way better than I claim here.
When it comes to others trying to touch Dylan's own interpretration of the masterpiece I usually groan (when Eric Clapton tried to play it at Bob Fest, I, listening live on some barely-there FM station, almost shouted my famous farmer buddy Ned, who was driving his dad's ancient suburban, off a very windy mountain road. Thanks for not letting us die Ned!).
The best cover of Love Minus Zero that I know of is hardly a cover at all. Witness the Go-Betweens sneaking it in to their song Clouds (no, not that song Clouds; this is one of their own with that title):
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But even so, I'm sticking to my guns: Love Minus Zero is best unadorned and sung by Bob.
The album's other lyrical masterpiece, It's All Over Now, Baby Blue, has an even richer history and an even more questionable start. I can understand, wholeheartedly, while Dylan felt done after the album's eventual take was in the can. The swirling, melodic bass alone makes the track worthy of inclusion on this, or any other, record. Dylan adds impassioned vocals and sensitive harmonica; it all comes together into a marvelous flotilla of music.
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But the song still includes a straight-up, gasp-worthy, mistake. Check out the third verse, second line. According to Bob himself, the lyric is, and always has been, "all your reindeer armies, they're all going home". Following up on Bob's seasick sailors rowing home, this is a bizarre and perfect lyric for a bizarre and perfect song.
But Dylan sings nothing of the sort. Instead we get something that sounds like "your empty handed army-ers are going home." That's not the same thing Bob! Indeed it sounds like you were so into this take 1/2 way in that you blew it, then shrugged and went out to kick it with Nico or something. Dude, Bob, give us another take!
He did of course. Like She Belongs to Me, he made the song a centerpiece of his 66 tour, usually nailing it. And many others have given us earnest versions of their own, from Them's Beck-worthy cover to the obligatory Byrd's version, and so on.
But this entire post was inspired by Chan Marshall's just released take of Baby Blue. If you haven't heard all of the Cat Power re-creation of Dylan's Judas concert, get your act together, stop reading this and do so right now.
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Why, oh why, doesn't Dylan tour and record his next album right now with Chan and Fionna Apple sharing the vocals with him? You know both women are game, and I guarantee you both of them would remember it's reindeer we're talking about here, not armyers.
Okay, that covers the initially tossed off classics-to-be. Let's talk about the problem songs: It's Alright Ma and Gates of Eden. There's a lot to be said in favor of these songs. They both feature dense writing with bumper-sticker-ready tag lines. "Even the President of the United Sates Sometime Has to Stand Naked" and "The Savage Soldier Just Sticks His Head In Sand and Then Complains" are a bit wordy but there's plenty of room on the back of my 08 Honda Civic Hybrid. I'm ready to make people tailgate me and squint.
But Dylan delivers both numbers as dirges. Frankly I have to take a deep breath to get through them back to back. Listening is like doing your homework, and, while I'm a pretty good teacher, I'm a lousy student. Thus, they are problem songs.
But Dylan figured out one of them, It's Alright Ma, in a big way in 74 while on tour with The Band. He belts it out in frantic double time, creating the perfect Watergate Era protest song. Obtuse and direct, vague and fierce:
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I was negative 2 years old at that point but I swear I heard Dylan's holler in utero, beckoning me to join the argument here on Earth. I'm happy to have answered the call, and I hope I never see Trump naked. But jail would be sweet...
As far as I know, Gates of Eden has never been similarly salvaged but I'd argue it's ready for resuscitation. Bob's dense Adam and Eve tale is just sitting around 60 years later, waiting for someone other than Bob to finally give it some life. Check out the lyrics to the second verse; there's plenty worth wrestling with here:
The lamppost stands with folded arms, its iron claws attached
To curbs 'neath holes where babies wail, though it shadows metal badge
All and all can only fall with a crashing but meaningless blow
No sound ever comes from the Gates of Eden
I don't know how a lamppost can shadow a metal badge under wailing toddlers, but the whole thing freaks me out in good ways. I wish Leonard Cohen had given Phil Specter the boot and sung this with Bob instead of Don't Go Home With Your Hard-On.
The third of the problem songs is problematic in an entirely different sense. Yes, I know that Maggie's Farm is historically important because Bob used it to help create punk rock in 65 by lighting up Newport's speakers and driving Pete Seeger into an axe-wielding rage, but the song has basically no melody and is, to my ears, pretty dull. Name me a good version. Dare you! Meanwhile, I ain't gonna talk about this song no more.
I'm afraid to say that the remaining two categories, Bringing It All Back Home's novelty songs and its filler, are less rich pastures for us to dwell in, but let's visit anyway, shall we?
First of all, I'm here to tell you that one of Bob Dylan's masterpieces, Subterranean Homesick Blues, is nothing more than a novelty song. By that I mean it's a gimmick: awesome once and then never worth redoing by anyone, ever again. I've never heard a Dylan live version of any kind - he knows better - and I dare even my famous brother to produce a quality cover. (And if he plays me the Red Hot Chili Peppers' take I will declare him no longer famous.)
Simply put, I think the song is a fantastic and spontaneous piece of wit that would go stale the moment it is ever retold. Do I like the song and its sweet one liners? Sure! I dare say I have even taken a fair bit of Bob's advice to heart over the years. No one's ever caught me hanging around an inkwell, that's for damn sure. But I never want to hear the song in any other context beyond the opening two minutes of this record or in the poster flinging alleyway bit.
Thankfully Bob feels the same way. Can you imagine a Budokan version, slowed down to a reggae beat and chanted with the ladies while Dickicus Maximus on the sax shows off his swaggering mass? Or imagine a Jesus phase rewrite accompanied by auto-harps entitled Jesus is the Answer Blues (Christ's in his Heaven's, mixing up the punishments; I'm on the pavement thinking about the rapture..), or a Neverending Tour take wherein no one other than Bob, including the band, even knows the song is happening (must be Cat's in the Well?) until Bob suddenly tells everyone to light themselves a candle, at which point everyone goes from stupefied to frantic because they failed to hit record on their smuggled-in iPhones.
Instead of covers or remakes we're left with a long line of other novelty songs in the same vein. We're talking End of the World As We Know It, about 1/4 of every great song in Elvis Costello's catalog from Pump it Up to Beyond Belief and, I'm so sorry because now it's stuck in your head, We Didn't Start the Fire.
Dylan knew his 115th Dream was a one-off joke from the get go, and so he added the hilarity from the first of its only two attempts onto the intro for the record. I never miss a chance to grin at the nonsense Bob and Captain A-Rab get into, but this song is not on any best of lists and, like Subterranean Homesick Blues, has thankfully never been attempted by anyone since.
Curiously, it's also the last "Bob Dylan's Dream" song we ever got from Dylan. I guess there are really only two of them, but I think of the two I Shall Be Frees and Talking World War Three Blues as additional members of the genre. Now don't get me wrong, I love Series of Dreams as much as any other Bobhead, but images of running and climbing are no substitute for another song from Dylan's ridiculous dream journal about harpoons and Bob being reminded that he is not Christ.
That leaves us with the filler: On the Road Again and Outlaw Blues are exactly that. Had he written them, Stephen Stills would proudly place these songs on his Greatest Hits package; they are that bad.
Dylan's made more than just this one transition record, of course. John Wesley Harding... Street Legal... World Gone Wrong... Maybe all his records are transitions!
Just imagine us ten years and three new Dylan albums from now. Bob is a spry 92 and has just added a cheap-enough-for-me lager to his whiskey line. And, at long last, he has invited me over to the bobpad as my famous brother's plus one; that's right: after years of rejecting interview appeals from even the AARP, the Bobster finally wants to talk, and my bro's more than earned the gig. Our plan for the evening is to quiz Bob about how he transitioned into yet another masterful phase way back during Rough and Rowdy Ways.
Now that's a dream I'd like to hear him sing about.
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for superhero fic: 2, 8 (besides wtei), 9
for fine reunion: 7 for tori, 20, 22
and 13, 21 in general
Oh my god hiiii who are you <3 Putting these under a cut bc of how much I wrote LMAO
Superhero AU
2: How did you get the idea to write this?
WataEi week on twitter had a list of prompts and one of them included hero/villain au which made me think about how those are like... complicated and interesting roles for wataru and eichi respectively since theyve both played the protagonist and antagonist and how this could be an AU where you can explore that and another theme (masks) in a really fun way. It kinda like. appeared in my head fully formed especially bc superhero comics are a past special interest i've come back to a couple of times now.
8: Which character is gonna have the biggest storyline?
I meant to follow the broad strokes of ES1 main story and just retell it in this new framing device or rather like... see where it goes from there, so it would probably end up being Tori or Hokuto depending on where the dice of my focus falls. In a version of the story I was thinking about doing a type of monster of the week format similar to how many magical girl shows do it where the monster in question is like... the manifestation of the Mental Issues someone is having so I think in that version a lot of them have the potential to get a day in the spotlight.
Thinking about it some more though I really enjoy the worldbuilding I did for Yuzuru so. Honestly he's also a big candidate. It just feeds really well into a lot of the stuff that's happening.
9: Is there anything in the fic you're not so excited about writing?
I got extremely stuck on the worldbuilding and overarching plot and how to make it work without it being boring (bc of how much of it is retelling the main story) and also just... making the kinda complex morality stuff I wanna highlight work in a kinda cartoony setting?
The other thing is smaller but Wataru alternates pronouns depending on their identity in this story (at least in Eichi's POV) and keeping that straight is a headache and a half for me tbh.
fine reunion
7: What are your plans for Tori?
Okay so the setup of this fic is, essentially, what if EP:Link bad end where fine ends up disbanding, which means... you kind of have to imagine Tori's development re: the rest of fine as being stuck in that specific point in time? The last selfish thing he asked for didn't come true, so what does that mean... in this case it means he's suspicious of Wataru and passively pissed despite being aware that it's not fully justified.
I think at the same time he's grown more independent. He's grown up in a lot of ways that we can also see in ES2 and I think has become a lot more savvy and aware of unsavory business practices both by his own family and others. I think out of fine he's the one who seems like he's changed the most simply by virtue of being the one who had the most growing up to do. I think he's both become a bit more like Eichi in the roles he fills and a lot less like Eichi in how he does it? And where it all goes... we shall see!
20: Give a vague description of something that will happen without revealing too much
fine reunion album tour. four people with pent up emotional issues. in one bus and/or hotel room.
22: Will this fic include more angst or more fluff?
The reason I'm like willing to write it is because ultimately I want to lean towards fluff? I think there's ways to do this that get angsty really quickly and my original concept for it was leaning into that but ultimately I wanna focus on like... the fact that yes if fine split up these characters would stay the same in some ways but just how much personal growth is up to you as a person and imo one of the now most important things abt fine which is that they are together as a unit because they like each other and want to be.
There's still gonna be some angst and some topics are unavoidable just bc it will touch on like. idk a large part of the premise is that Eichi is doing the whole reunion bc he's doing an early retirement as an idol because of his health (no acute reasons and more of a precaution but it's still. yknow) and that Wataru left after EP:Link to become an actor. So there's issues.
General Questions:
13: Is there any unwritten/unpublished fics you haven't mentioned you're gonna do?
No promises but I still want to write something about Wataru and Keito working together on a script for Dramatica and what that would entail. I also wanna do a 5+1-ish (4+1?) thing/series about Wataru kissing the other eccentrics or something.
Part of me wants to one day do a collaboration on something with my boyfriend but we'd have to figure out the mechanics and I haven't brought it up to him yet, soooo 🤫🤫🤫
21: Is there any unwritten fic that you don't know if you ever will write?
Originally I was going to do a proper sequel to the Watareichi fic I wrote that's been shrinking in scope for a variety of reasons (less interest in writing wtrei as anything but exes, dissatisfaction with the fic it'd be a sequel to). There's a longer version of the Wataru & HiMERU drabble I wrote that'll never be done because uuuuuuh I really don't care for HiMERU anymore.
I have this whole AU i plotted out at some point where Wataru and Mama have a unit together bc I thought it'd be funny for a unit swap prompt but ultimately that's probably never going to happen.
IDK I have WIPs from fandoms I'm no longer in does that count?
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Interview with Julian Koster about Chocolate USA in Flagpole, July 14, 1993 [source]
transcript:
CHEWING THE CHOCOLATE CUD
Chocolate USA is more than a band; it's a concept, and, according to Julian Koster, vocalist/writer/musician, it's an attempt to bridge the gap between fan and band. “Chocolate is more a ‘thing’ than a band. It's an idea,” he said while spooning out the sour cream from his chicken burrito while we sat at Compadres. “When I was a kid the bands I listened to opened me up; they were like my best friends.” He went on to describe the intensity of emotion and intimacy one feels when connecting with the music. So many bands build walls around them and what Chocolate would like to do is “make something without a backdrop. The idea is... the world has to be limitless.”
We originally drove off towards town in Chocolate’s newly acquired red van with white paint sloshed in swirls along the sides. The van is the band’s current prized possession once belonging to Bar/None, Chocolate’s record label. Performers such as They Might Be Giants, Freedy Johnston, and others have graced its exteriors and left their marks in the guise of bumper stickers and stage passes plastered on the metal sides and dashboard. A Soul Asylum all access pass looms from under the radio while bumper stickers proudly proclaiming “My other car is a penis" and “Bush Wishing Well — please give a shit about greedy Republicans” cover the sides of the well-worn vehicle. There's a Freedy Johnston backstage pass, and a few others with handwritten band names, now smudged through time.
There's also the cow... and our reason for driving downtown in the first place — to find paint that will cover the Wooden Cow Guest House insignia in the middle of Julian's four foot high wooden cow. “I'm into a cow phase at the moment,” he said while we walked towards the art shop carrying the cow. “It’s the imagery of cows on the side of the road — no matter where you tour, there are cows on the side of the road. I used to pass this cow pasture all the time when I was in high school so it brings back certain memories to me,” he said. I asked him if he had written any ‘cow’ songs. He began singing one, to no surprise.
Their debut album, All Jets Are Gonna Fall Today, was released by Bar/None records just a couple of months ago, yet the material for the album was written and recorded several years ago while Julian was at the high point of his adolescent angst. “Bar/None took it as is. Most people block adolescence out of their heads, I released mine nationally!” It turned out that Bar/None was Julian's favorite record label at the time. “I was a huge fan of They Might Be Giants, Yo La Tengo, Ordinaires — they were my three favorite bands. [Bar/None] responded right away to the LP. They are the neatest, funniest people I've ever met working with indie rock. [With All Jets] we preserved the time and what was there. We're definitely a Bar/None band — we fit in that mindset.”
The band currently has 25 songs to weed through for their second release planned for January, some of which are partially recorded. In the meantime the band is planning to release a vinyl only EP in the fall. But for the past two years
Chocolate has been running their Chocolaty Good Smash Hit of the Month Club. What you get when you join is a personalized mini album with covers
made by the band “Nothing in the club will ever be anywhere else.” Julian is also working on radio play ideas, characters involved with the band — both real and imagined — and has worked with real life characters such as Eugene Chadbourne and Daniel Johnson on projects. The current Chocolate lineup is Keith Block on drums, Allen Edwards on guitar, Paul Wells on bass and mandolin, Liza Wakeman on violin, and Julian on guitars, mandolin, concertina, and turntables. “I'm inspired by George Clinton and the Parliament and Funkadelics. They were very much a family. Our ultimate goal is to bring the band’s garage and the kid's bedroom closer together.” Julian asked for the time while smashing a bite of burrito into his mouth. Evidently he had two other phone interviews to take care of and he was already late for one of them. We rushed out of the restaurant, not forgetting the cow, and descended back into the heat and the red van “Did I tell you what I'm going to do with the cow?” he asked. I wasn't sure I wanted to know the answer. “We're going to put it on stage with us — do something with it — I'm not sure what....” We got back into the van and drove off, securing the cow in the back seat.
I had to ask: How did this cow fetish come about? “During the time we were recording All the Jets, the cow stuff was coming into effect,” he said. “I fell in love for the first time at age 16.” Evidently seeing cows brings back the memory of the cow pasture Julian used to walk by during his high school days, when the love bug first struck... “It was a case of unrequited love. It blew my mind — about love and what we were going through at the time. It was during adolescence and about adolescence. There was no perspective. I was in the middle of the ocean and I was swimming without a life jacket. That was adolescence — that was love.”
Hillary Meister
Chocolate U.S.A. are playing at the 40 Watt for their Athens album release party on Wednesday, July 14. They
play rarely in these parts and are about to embark on a national tour. Catch them now before they travel down the
winding pastured road...
#Chocolate USA#articles#interviews#Julian Koster#Keith Block#Allen Edwards#Paul Wells#Liza Wakeman#1993
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Do people have head canons about concept albums?
Anyway, I've long heard people talk about how Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band isn't a complete concept album; that after the first two songs it doesn't pick its thread back up until the title track reprise. More recently, however, I've come around to the idea that, y'know, maybe it doesn't?
The Lonely Hearts Club Band are supposed to be an alter-ego for The Beatles, right? Well, to me, this has always been an album by Sgt. Pepper's called Beatles. Why did they pick that name? I'unno, but anyway, yeah, this is an album by Sgt. Pepper's, and these are all songs they'd write. It's kind of like Cruising With Ruben & The Jets, if you've heard that one.
And bringing up Zappa, I imagine that's why there are songs on here with crowd noises; those are live tracks mixed in with the studio tracks. Maybe even they're that ahead of their time and some of these songs are live tracks with overdubs like Zappa would do. Now, I don't know what number album this is that they're only now including their title song, but I'unno. Maybe it wasn't something they wrote until a while after they started, or maybe it's always strictly been a live concert intro that they never felt the need to include on an album until there'd been such a fan demand for it. Or, maybe, it flowed so well into "With A Little Help From My Friends" that they figured, "Ah, screw it."
Speaking of that, there's the discrepency of Billy Shears. If he's "the singer," why does he only sing one song? The way I see it, he's not a member of the band; he's a guest singer. Like, I'unno, Roy Harper on Pink Floyd's "Have A Cigar". Could be something they wrote together and decided to let Shears sing. Hell, maybe "the singer" in the title track is adustiable for whoever sings the song after it—even if their last name doesn't rhyme with "years." Like, I'unno, the idea that Billy Shears has to be the lead singer... The only two things I see backing that up are the Yellow Submarine movie and the Sgt. Pepper's movie, and, like, I'unno. The Yellow Submarine movie had to come up with a lot of stuff outside of the song it was named after, so that could just be its own thing, for one, and that's not even bringing up the question of if we should treat the Frampton/Bee Gees movie as any sort of authority.
One last thing I wanna address, and this is something I thought up as I was typing this—the Beatles on the album cover. As in, the mop top Beatles, to the right. How's that explained? Uh, those could be Johnny & The Moondogs in this universe, I guess. And if we're following my logic, I suppose that would also make "Hello, Goodbye" a Sgt. Pepper's song since they wore the costumes for the music video, and the mop top four even make a cameo?
But, yeah, the point of this post is: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is a band. Big surprise. A different one from The Beatles, anyway. And none of them are Barry Gibb.
#text#rambling#music#headcanon#concept album#the beatles#sgt peppers lonely hearts club band#i could think through this a lot better or i could just get it out there and i clearly chose the latter
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AJR – The Maybe Man
There’s something to be said for a band who knows how to make a well-crafted, thought out, and carefully mapped out album. AJR may have just made their early-career masterpiece on The Maybe Man, a record that is brimming with purpose, an ultra-personal touch, and better structurally organized than any of their previous four LPs. The Maybe Man finds the three brothers (Adam, Jack & Ryan Met) at a crossroads: they’ve just made their most commercially and critically successful record in 2021’s Ok Orchestra, the band recently announced their first arena tour, and yet the material found on this record is dripping with self-doubt. For a band that got famous with songs like “Bang!” “Weak” and the ultra-viral “World’s Smallest Violin,” the opening song/title track finds lead singer, Jack pondering vulnerably, “Wish I was a stone so I couldn’t feel / You’d yell in my face, it’d be no big deal / But I’d miss the way we make up and smile / Don’t wanna be stone, I changed my mind,” while getting into heavier material (lyrically) with “God Is Really Real” that comes to terms with their father, Gary’s, untimely passing. As close as I am to my dad, I can’t imagine going through life without my own mentor, and I commend AJR for tackling this concept head on with grace on The Maybe Man.
After the crisp production of the vulnerable opening statement, “Touchy Feely Fool” follows with a more upbeat song about Jack’s own social awkwardness. Lyrics like, “Life is pretty cruel / For a touchy feely fool / I would give anything to not give a shit, but I do / I would give anything to not give a shit (about you),” paint a person focusing on the cards life has dealt him, and coming to terms with his next step forward. “Yes I’m A Mess” opens with a whistling melody before Jack’s trademark croon sets the listener at ease. The bouncy rhythm supplied by bassist, Adam, paired with the great keyboard-laced production of Ryan make for a memorable song on the front half of the LP.
“The Dumb Song” comes up next in the track sequencing and features a stellar trumpet solo in-between the verses to give a vibrant texture to the song. It slowly builds to the self-deprecating chorus of, “When we go down / When kingdom come / Don’t look at me, don’t look at me / I’m just too dumb.” Fan favorite, “Inertia,” nearly didn’t make the final cut of the record, and it’s hard to see why not. It’s one of the more creative songs on The Maybe Man and lives up to its name by providing just the right push to the finish line.
“Turning Out Pt. III” continues the self-exploration found on AJR’s last three records, and offers some additional context on the three brothers’ headspace and their reflection on how life is “turning out” for them. One of my favorite songs in the set comes in the form of The Beatles/Beach Boys-inspired “Hole in the Bottom of My Brain” that bounces along with a pop sheen to it that makes it one of the most memorable tracks the band has crafted to date.
“The DJ Is Crying For Help” was one of the first songs to be released from The Maybe Man, and features an electric-charged fiddle solo in the early stages of the song, that continues to be looped throughout the interspersing of lyrics as the single unfolds. The crowd-pleasing anthem of “I Won’t” is sure to be a live favorite when AJR maps out their setlist for The Maybe Man arena tour, which has already sold out one date at NYC’s Madison Square Garden. While the experimental “Steve’s Going to London” may play off as filler for some casual fans, it offers a brief reprieve from the heavy lyrical material found on their dad’s tribute, “God Is Really Real.” On this song that will likely be tough for the band to play live due its ultra-personal tone, Jack mentions, “My dad can’t get out of bed / There’s something in his lungs / I think that’s what the doctor said / I gotta leave for Paris now / My band goes on at 10 / And my dad can’t get out of bed.” It’s so fucking heartbreaking to listen to, as it nearly unfolds in real time, until the closing lines… https://chorus.fm/reviews/ajr-the-maybe-man/
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Sept 11 2022
Filmed another wedding yesterday. To keep it brief, it was really good. The wedding itself looked great, the people looked good, and the vibe was loose and fun. The photographer I met there were fun too, two gurls named Danica and Hannah. I have another wedding with them next Saturday in Parksville.
The feeling of some momentum is nice. I feel like I’ll have enough quality footage on my portfolio to start charging next year.
Still feeling good in the head. No anxiety. If any, it manifests as grumpiness/avoidant vibes. It really seems to me (from my current perspective) the anxiety really starts with a choice of what you’re going to focus on. Emphasis there on “starts”.
Your long-term vibe, which is your habitual state, determines how you feel. You can’t choose to have a positive negative long-term vibe directly. This “long-term vibe” is an average of all your short-term vibes. These “short-term vibes” are come from what we’re thinking about.
Think about something nice/cool: you get a good feeling from that. Do that for an hour, two, four, and you get a positive short-term vibe. Short-term vibes, as the name implies, come and go. They’re as fleeting as the thoughts that inspire them.
When our long-term vibe is negative, willing forward good thoughts to inspire a good short-term vibe can be hard work because we’re working against the wind, per say. For a while, any good feeling we feel must be very deliberately created. As soon as we forget to think good things, our negative thoughts (as a result of our negative long-term vibe) return. When this happens we must find another good thought, concept, something to conjure into our mind.
We can enter into negative long-term vibes unintentionally. This makes it tricky to begin correcting it because it seems somewhat unfair that we need to so intentionally think “happy thoughts” now. It feels like we’re conning ourselves, or brainwashing ourselves back into mental health, when we should be doing it genuinely.
I was working very hard on becoming an established musical artist, the first steps toward success. I ran into a lot of bumps, made mistakes, hit dead-ends, none of which inspire good feelings. I started getting quite sick of getting things wrong, or things going totally different than I expected, even when I had such faith and positivity. I started trying to think as judgementally as I could, so as to get into the mind of a total stranger who was reasonably skeptical of up-and-coming rock bands.
I tried to think of all the things they would shrug off or just happen to not connect with, so as to avoid putting time and energy into them. Examples would be a full album release; who’s got time for that! Music video? I’ll watch 10 seconds. Stage on top of VW Bus? Okay, sorta corny.
I’d imagine all the possible ways that a good idea would fail so as to make them stronger if I decided to execute one. Which was the most impervious to the fickle and dismissive gaze of the eye of the stranger?, with his nose in the air.
I thought this was very good to do. Pressure test everything. Double, triple armour on everything. A plan B… and C, and D. This was how you survived the storm, and made excellent progress.
To cut to the chase, I was unintentionally forming a negative long-term vibe by filling my mind with all the negative possibilities that harm my productivity. I didn’t notice because I had already (weeks, months, before) formed a strong positive long-term vibe, which was making me feel otherwise happy and in control.
After many many many months of this I eventually had a systematic breakdown. I couldn’t stomach the bad vibes anymore and I became mentally sick. It was a total surprise, which made my anxiety (etc) worse because I didn’t understand why or how this came to be. I was totally ignorant to how I had accidentally done this to myself, progressively with no ill intent.
For months I wallowed and suffered through just about every powerful negative feeling. Panic, depression, sadness, paranoia, guilt, anxiety, the list goes on and on. It was relentless and only stopped when I was really sleep deprived. When my mind had energy, it started back up. I deep into a the extreme reaches of a negative long-term vibe.
Eventually time levelled things out a little. I started focusing on recording and being productive and getting back on track. These things helped the trend a little bit. Summer came around, which helped the trend a little too. Again, unintentionally I was influencing my long-term vibe.
Things eventually got decent. I was still dealing with negative feelings though, of loneliness and sadness. I wanted to hang with my friends and play music, like normal. I focused on these thoughts and let them into my frame whenever they randomly wanted.
I had another period of quite intense anxiety and panic permeating my days. This is when I remember that one night in the darkest of my being swallowed by anxiety, I conjured a memory into my mind of being at the beach with the guys and this let a flash of pleasance into my mind. It was a shallow little island in the dark sea of despair that was flooding my mind.
So I began doing the same thing. Conjuring at will any thought or thing into my mind that I liked for this reason or that. Sometimes it was that I made a new friend, who worked in a recording studio and whaf fun it was going to be to be friends with them. Or playing with Ethan again in a more simple setting again. Or thinking about having money. Or whatever. Certain thoughts would lose their appeal through a change in situation or just getting bored of them. Then I’d find other things I liked. Pictures of nice MCM houses. Videos of electric pianos. Thinking about fun in minecraft. Bushcraft videos.
This is practicing being happy. Over time I somewhat unknowing began to feel like I had a substantial influence over what was happening in my mind, and consequently how I felt. This growing sense of control eased my anxiety more and more until I no longer had anxiety.
- interupted
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Hey hunny, can you plz make a ateez yunho imagine of having a sexy concept with idol!reader. They both have feelings for one another so this took their feelings another level and everyone noticed their chemistry??
Here ya go sweetie!! It's not exactly what you asked for but I hope you will like it ♡♡♡
📷Photoshoot | Jeong Yunho📷
Pairing : Yunho x Fem idol reader
Genre : Idol au, fluff, suggestive
Summary : Read and find out ;)
Words count : 2.7k
°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°
You were a trainee for over two years after auditioning, you came with a friend, having wanted to get in together. You both made the promise that if either of you weren't chosen, you'd be happy for the other, unfortunately she didn't make it. It was hard to say goodbye, but you're still in contact and she's training in an other company.
You debuted about a year ago with four other girls who are now your best friends, people you wish to keep close for a long time. You're a vocalist, main dancer, second youngest and one of the visuals in your group. You guys are slowly getting more recognition with all the promotions you've been doing, working hard and determined to show everyone what you can do.
Yunho is your celebrity crush and you let it slip while getting interviewed, the fans caught on quickly and couldn't pretend they didn't hear a thing. Actually completely the oposite, they kept sharing that part of the interview and tagging your group and ateez to get Yunho's attention.
It worked, he saw the short video and ended up watching the whole interview. He already heard about your group a few times, but after he definitely wanted to know more, about you especially.
Since then, he started following you closely with secret accounts, making it a daily habit of visiting your social medias. The boys always tease him when he's deeply focused on his phone, his facial expressions betraying him, smiling from ear the ear or even blushing on rare occasion.
For his birthday, Wooyoung bought him one of your albums and they all surrounded him as he opened it immediately with so much excitement. To say he was filled with joy when he pulled your photocard would be an understatement, he almost jumped from his seat, but refrained to do so for his sake. He doesn't need another reason for his members to annoy him.
Till this day, Yunho preciously keeps your small picture in his wallet, stealing a quick look when he needs an energy boost. The others don't know about that information, if they did, he wouldn't hear the end of it.
On your part, let's say your ateez collection is close to complete. You have your fair share of Yunho photocards, aslo keeping them dearly in a small box placed right on top of your nighstand, next to your bed. Nari once wanted to prank you, hiding one of them and telling you she teared it accidentally and threw it away. Well, she learned the lesson to never mess with your things again, she did barely escape your grip when you were about to choke her. The girls had to physically rip you away from her, not that you would've actually hurt anyone.
You apologised for your crazy behavior and she did the same, both easily forgiving each other and laughing it off. At least now, no one dares to touch any of your belongings without asking first.
》》
The exact moment your manager walks in the practice room, you know something's up. He shortly explains that one of his contacts was able to get him an oportunity for one person to model for a magazine. "We'll have more information the day of the shoot, but for now you guys need to choose one person. I'm letting you girls decide."
The shouts full of enthusiasm dies down after a few seconds, but the excitement is still present. "Should we vote?"
Aera's the one to make the suggestion and the rest of you agree. After each of you state your opinion, you make a decision. Chosen by two of your friends, you are the lucky one who will take part in the photoshoot.
》》
The week before, you eat healthily and get some tips from one of your friends in another group on how to prepare for it without worries. You even start to workout more intensely so you could feel more comfortable in front of the camera.
》》
The night before, you can't sleep because of the huge amount of stress, you know it's going to be fine, but still can't help it. You don't want to make a mistake, let down the people who made this possible for you. You're going to do everything you can to meet their expectations.
》
To say you're nervous would be lying, you're terrified. It's your first time having a photoshoot this big and everyone's new, strangers that you meet every minute. You were so used to the usual staff members that you feel a bit overwhelmed and it's not even the least of it. They suddenly reveal who will be your partner for the shoot, someone you never thought you'd personally meet one day. The one and only, Jeong Yunho.
You almost burst on the spot, heart fluttering with apprehension. That's when you see him, he's getting guided by another man, walking towards you. He looks ethereal, so much more beautiful in real life and you're starstruck.
You bow and smile uncontrollably, feeling shy and nervous. Your mouth opens in amazement when he brightly introduces himself. "Hi I'm Yunho, really looking forward to working together!"
His teeth are on full display, eyes full of cheerfulness. You barely manage to respond, but get yourself together nonetheless. "I'm Y/N, nice to meet you! I'm happy to work with you!"
He laughs softly, happy with your answer. You just hope you didn't sound too eager, the last thing you want is to embarrass yourself infront of him.
You exchange a few more words before being taken seperately to prepare for the shoot. You enter a small room with a mirror on one side of the wall, a table full of makeup and a few chairs placed infront. The other side has a curtain arranged to create a small fitting room and clothes hanging on a moving clothing rack.
The stylist is the first one to take care of you, bringing you a set of clothes and inviting you to change behind the curtain. You put on the pieces of clothing carefully, cheeks getting darker when you get to the top. It's going to be a new look for you, never having worn something so bold.
Once you're done, you make your appearence and the woman whistles with satisfaction. She then proceeds to adjust the outfit for it to appeal to your body perfectly.
You're wearing a pair of light blue ripped jeans, a black lacy corset as well as a short unzipped leather jacket reaching your waist, showing off your curves. Cute ankle boots covering your feet to match your top and to finish the look, a thin silver necklace hangs on your neck down to your cleavage and rings decorating your fingers.
The hair and makeup artists are the next to doll you up, guiding you to sit infront of the mirror and getting to work right away. They converse with you and praise your natural in and out beauty, laughing from time to time, basically having fun and making you feel comfortable.
"All done! Sweetie you look gorgeous~" The girls squeal and some other people present in the room shower you with compliments, you bow and smile politely, feeling your confidence boosted. You have to admit, you do look pretty hot.
Your glossy, plump peach lips, look deliciously kissable. Light shiny eyeshadow, slightly smudged along the lower lash line, nothing too heavy, just perfect to bring some glow. Your hair is curled at the base, half up in a small bun, stray pieces falling along the side of your face.
"Well you're all set beautiful, let's get to it!" One of the staff tells you, leading you out of the room, to the set.
Once again you see Yunho, but he looks even more handsome then earlier, wearing a similar outfit to yours. Jeans with a black shirt, tucket into his pants, an unbuttoned plaid shirt and a leather jacket as well. He has some accesories too, rings like you. One side of his hair flipped back and the other covering his forehead, almost reaching his eye.
You're called by the photographer to join Yunho on the set, getting you out of your thoughts and stopping you from drooling over the sexy man of your dreams.
You bow to both men and politely smile, waiting for further instructions. You weren't told about the concept or anything about the shoot yet, it's all a surprise since they want it to be more natural and improvised.
"Ok guys! Today we're going for a sexy concept, we'll need you both to pose while being close to each other. Some skin contact would be perfect, but if you're uncomfortable just take your time- oh and don't be shy to make suggestions. Be bold!" The photographer speaks without a break, leaving the two of you to process all the information in a rush.
Almost right away, you get in postition and move along with each other. At the start, you both avoid touching each other, being a bit shy, but knowing that eventually you'll need to do it. After a few takes, you take the initiative and ask Yunho if he would be ok with you putting your hand on his shoulder, he nods letting you move forward. You're facing him making him turn to you as well, taking your other hand in his and overing it above his chest, looking at you for aproval. You smile and verbaly answer him. "It's fine, if I feel uncomfortable I'll tell you."
"Good, me too. Let's just do whatever comes to our minds and set boundaries then." You both agree on that and from then it all goes smoothly. You change your poses every few seconds, getting more relaxed as time goes by.
Close to the end, Yunho grabs your waist softly, his eyes meeting yours and you look away flustered. The photographer tells you both to keep that position, praising your good work. "That's it! Beautiful!"
"Alright last take! Y/N could you please make eye contact with Yunho! -And place one of your hands on his stomach, the other can stay right there!" You gulp nervously, but listen to the men and look directly into his eyes, your right hand slowly sliding down his chest to his stomach. You notice him slightly tense up, but he relaxes against your touch in just a few seconds. You smile at him uncontrollably, making him shyly lower his head and reciprocate it.
"Perfect! Wow you work so well together, I can only say good things." You grin, feeling proud and relieved from the results of your efforts. Yunho mirrors your bright expression, thanking everyone and you follow his actions. "Thank you so much for giving me this great opportunity."
You word your gratefulness to the photographer, once again receiving more praise than expected and a certain person waits for you to be finish so he can escort you to the changing room. You walk together in a comfortable silence, your arms brushing against each other. There's some tension in the air when you reach the door, about to go on seperate ways. The strong attraction you both feel towards one another making surface now that you're alone.
"So.. I guess we'll see each other again one day." You say softly, disappointment clear in your voice. The boy coughs in hope of covering the sigh of discontent he accidently lets out, nodding in agreement nonetheless. "Yeah, uh... It was fun today.."
You don't utter another word, not having any idea of what to say and he copies you, scratching his head in awkwardness. With one last goodbye and glances full of yearning, you enter oposites rooms.
Once by yourself, you let out a deep breath, hand on your chest, feeling your heart beating like crazy. You're facing the door, forehead leaning on the large piece of wood, taking a few minutes to get it back together. "Shit, I think I'm in love."
You jump from the sound of hurried knocks through the door right infront of you, frowning in wonder. "Yes?"
"It's me." Hearing the voice of the person behind, you immediately rip the door open. Your eyes meet making your breath hitch and he quickly pushes you inside following right after. You whisper yell at him, in hopes of finding out about his surprise visit. "Yunho what are you do-"
"Shhh." He shushes you, putting a finger on your lips to convice you further. You nervously watch him close the door behind his huge body, waiting for an explanation.
"I can't leave without telling you." He says making you even more confused. You raise your eyebrows and lean your head forward a bit to show him you're listening. When he's sure he has your full attention, he keeps going. "I thought I just deeply admired you- and I do of course, but I think it's more than that. I- may have feelings for you or.. more? I know I'm dumb-"
"Are you serious!?" You raise your voice, your whipsers now almost screams. His eyes widden at that and you think he might just cry so you hurry to comfort him. "No no no! I'm not mad or anything, Yunho I'm so glad you had the balls to tell me or else I would've never told you.. I feel the same way!"
He smiles in relief, his shoulders visibly untensing and you both chuckle at the situation. He scolds you for scaring him like that, almost having felt his heart crack thinking you didn't wanna have anything to do with him. "Sorry, but you really surprised me there!"
You laugh some more and then when it dies down and the atmosphere becomes serious, you know something is about to happen or at least you want it to.
You're satisfied to feel his hand coming up to hold the side of your face, making you look up at him. His eyes don't leave yours, they're full of desire and it makes buterflies errupt in your stomach, but the words leaving his mouth next makes you a bit dizzy. "Can I kiss you?"
You nod, not trusting your voice to sound strong enough and he laughs breathily at your obvious nervousness. "Fuck! You're adorable~"
He tries to restrain himself from lunching at you with too much agressivity, instead moving in slowly. His lips capture yours and you instantly let your body melt closer to his, moaning softly against his mouth when he grabs your waist and holds you tight.
The kiss becomes intense quickly, Yunho pushing your back to the door and poking your lower lip with his tongue so you'll part them to give him entrance. You do exactly that, a whine escaping you uncontrollably when he enters your mouth.
You eagerly suck on his tongue and he groans, grip on you becoming tighter. He moves so your bodies are glued together, hands reaching for the back of your thighs, signaling for you to jump.
You don't hesitate to do so, wrapping your legs around his waist and gasping when you feel his bulge against your center. "Yunho~"
He kisses your neck and nips at your jawline while you struggle to breathe from being so overwhelmed. Your fingers depserately grip at his hair, trying to find a way to keep focus. When he unexpectedly bites hard enough to leave a mark at a very sensitive spot on your skin, you tug on his hair at the base of his nape and bite your lip to prevent from letting out a loud yelp.
He apologies softly, afraid of possibly having hurt you, but you shut him up with another kiss. It escalated quickly and it's about to be even more heated, but a voice outside the room makes the both of you stop abruptly.
You're breathing heavily, lips swollen and eyes dark, full of lust. Yunho places you down, noticing your shaky legs and smirks before answering the person outside. "Yes what is it?"
"Oh- umm.. Miss Y/N needs to be ready to leave in ten minutes, she has something important to do!" A young women speaks through the door, flustered from finding out that you weren't alone. You giggle in Yunho's chest, shaking your head. "I'll be ready, thank you!"
Yunho keeps pecking you all over your face while you try to escape his hold. You finally manage to get out of his grip, but now you have a sulky boy on your hands. You finish getting prepared to leave and before you do he speaks his thoughts. "I know it all happened pretty fast and I mean we did literally just meet a few hours ago, officially.. but would you want to exchange numbers and see where it leads us? I really don't want this to be a one time thing and we kinda confessed to each other earl-."
He leans into your kiss when you succeed in shutting him up for the second time. "Don't worry, I feel the same I already told you~"
You give him your number and he sends you a heart so you can save his, you smile at his cuteness and he blushes, a complete turn from a few minutes ago.
At the last second you both say goodbye and promise to call each other later when you get home, kissing one last time and going on your ways with heart in your eyes.
#idol!reader#ateez x reader#yunho x reader#jeong yunho#ateez#ateez scenarios#kpop#ateez imagines#atiny#ateez fluff#yunho imagines#yunho scenarios#yunho x you#ateez idol au#idol au#jeong yunho fanfic#yunho smut#ateez suggestive#yunho oneshot
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“Harry’s stylist, right?”
Summary: Harry and his personal stylist are great collaborators, on screen and off. She helps his visions come to life and in turn they’ve become close friends. As she helps him to bring his fashion dreams come to life during the Fine Line era, will some other dreams come to life as well?
or
Harry and his stylist go from colleagues to friends to lovers because they’ve been in love with each other from the jump
this fit is very important to this part lmaooo - I literally have no idea what to call this lol, anyway I've been sitting on this for forever and I wanted to get something out for yall and i love this story there will be a part 2 when i get to a writing mood. I love this story bc its my literal dream - anyway!! pls enjoy and reblog and lmk what you think :)
Word Count: 14k | Warnings: swearing, drinking, tame for now, should be smut eventually - aka slow burn (what else would you expect from me at this point i guess)
part 2
-
“Hey, H, I just had a question about one of the SNL outfits? Do you have a sec?”
Harry looked up from his phone and raised his brows at his stylist, Y/N.
Y/N had worked with Harry previously. In photoshoots for Another Man magazine and his most recent Gucci campaign. As well as some other random times, such as one-off award show looks and specific appearances. However, this past summer Harry had hired Y/N to work fulltime for him, exclusively. He had told her that he was planning on releasing his second album in the winter and he wanted someone there to help him plan his clothes for music videos, award season, interview appearances, as well as tour outfits.
Y/N stood just inside the doorway of the room, leaning her back against the wall, looking expectantly at him. Her eyes were wide and her lips were pursed. She was dressed simply in a white satin skirt and a matching cropped button-up, they both had cream flowers embroidered on, paired with horsebit slim Gucci mules. Her style was eclectic, but she had definitely noticed an increase of Gucci in her wardrobe since starting her employment with Harry.
Y/N’s passion in life was fashion and clothes and she constantly worried that one of Harry’s outfits wouldn’t deliver as much as she wanted it to. He was quick to tell her not to worry so much though, as long as they both were happy with it, how could anyone else not love it. Plus, he’d always add, it didn’t really matter what anyone else thought. But as more and more events began to crop up, Y/N’s worry over her work grew. She had only been the head stylist for Harry on projects that were still underwraps - except for Lights Up which had been released a couple weeks ago now.
The first project she ever worked on with Harry as his full-time personal stylist was the Lights Up music video. She had never worked so closely with one person for so long on just one project. Harry was insistent in vision and came in the first day filled with ideas, what he imagined for the video's concept and how he wanted to incorporate clothes. She had been happy to make his dreams become reality.
The two of them spent hours at his house for weeks, pouring over every detail of every outfit he planned to wear. They both wanted it to be perfect. And eventually, it all came together, exactly how they had planned. All of the garments for the video took up two entire garment racks. Y/N had made Harry pose in every single outfit for polaroids that she dated and then put into a lookbook she started for him. She had told him she planned to document every outfit she styled for him and Harry had been so excited. The outfits he wore in the video were received with praise when it was finally released, and Harry and Y/N were overjoyed. There was already a party for its release, but they both were especially happy that night. Throughout the evening, Harry and Y/N would gravitate to one another and fall into side conversations about the outfits and what people had been saying. Even if Harry said it didn’t matter, he and Y/N both knew, at the end of the day, they loved when people were happy with their work.
“Sure,” he bounced to his feet, but Y/N made a hand motion telling him that he could stay seated. He settled back down as she crossed over and sat beside him on his couch.
She was at his house in London today planning his next few appearances that were promotion for the upcoming album, Saturday Night Live was next. Harry had been taking a break from their work until she had come in.
It wasn’t unusual for Y/N to be at his house, they had been working together for months now. First, it had been for his outfits in his music videos that were filmed in late summer and early fall, like Lights up, but also a few other ones. Now, it was clothing for promo appearances, interviews, and listening parties. Next, it would be tour outfits, which she had already started planning, but officially, they hadn’t started discussions yet. Harry had helped her to get a flat closer to his house in London just for her to be able to head over and help with the planning or fitting of his outfits more easily. She also was constantly traveling with him to his appearances, making sure outfits were perfect right before whatever show it was or making last minute adjustments in case either of them decided something wasn’t right.
While Harry was a big guy, his waist was far trimmer than a usual man built to his size, this meant she had to take in a lot of his trousers at the waist. As well, with his shirts and coats, she’d have to take them in or out depending on how Harry wanted the fit to be - either perfectly tight or perfectly oversized. He was particular, but she appreciated his drive for fashion and how he cared for his appearance. Before performances, she often had to take things in or out based on any body fluctuation that had occurred since the initial fitting.
She was looking at her sketchpad that held all of her notes on his clothes - which was different from the lookbook of polaroids - including patches of the actual colors and little Harry figures dressed in what he was going to wear. Right now, she had the pad opened to a page titled “SNL Opener - November 16, 2019”.
“So I was thinking with your opening monologue outfit, it might look better to have a different colored blazer? A matching yellow would be great, but if you did more of a toned down - maybe light tan or beige - blazer with gold embellishments, you’d elevate it to look sophisticated and stylish, rather than just stylish. It’d be exactly like the runway look - which I know you sometimes don’t like, but I think it’s what looks best.”
She ran her finger between two swatches of what she thought would be the better blazer color and the one Harry had originally wanted. He wet his lips and gazed at the page as he thought about what she said. Normally, she liked monochrome on him, but she thought the deep blue underneath a completely yellow suit might wash him out on the stage.
“Yeah,” he pointed to the top beige swatch, “I think I do like this better.” He paused and turned his head to Y/N, looking in her eyes before asking, “Is that all?”
“Er...no,” Y/N ran a hand over her unstyled hair, slightly fluffed by her constant musing of it. She often fiddled with it while she worked, better than biting nails she always said when confronted about her tick. After a sigh Y/N continued, “I was just on the phone with Jane from Gucci and she said that for Look 57 they could only send your technical size, for some reason they can’t custom make it. Meaning, I’ll have to tailor the whole thing to you when it arrives. Is that alright? Or do you want to choose something else?”
She flipped to a page that said “SNL WS.” Harry followed her hands and nodded realizing she was talking about the Gucci suit he wanted to wear for Watermelon Sugar. It was a watermelon’s inside red. When he had found out the suit came in that color, he had danced around the dining table for what Y/N had felt like was an hour, humming the tune of Watermelon Sugar excitedly. Finally, she had coaxed him to sit back down and get back to their other work, which was still picking out clothes.
“No, that’s fine,” Harry shook his head and used his thumb to scratch under his lips absentmindedly, “It really needs to be that color.”
She nodded, she knew what his answer was going to be, but she also knew he still liked to make the final decision.
“Alright, we’ll just have to meet for longer when everything arrives, to tailor that one. Then the rest of them should just be making sure the fit is perfect.”
She rose up from her seat and patted Harry’s shoulder, leaving him to his thoughts, as she went back to finish up the calls with Jane and the designers.
He caught her hand in his before she completely walked away, “Thank you, Y/N.” He was so grateful he had hired someone who was as driven as he was and understood his fashion sense and wanted to help enhance what he was thinking, rather than someone trying to control him or just going along with whatever he said. Neither would be productive or helpful, thankfully Y/N loved her job and cared to do things right.
She grinned before exiting, “H, you’re going to be this century’s style icon if it’s the last thing I do.” He laughed as she walked out of the room, leaning back on the couch to continue his lurking on Instagram.
-
One week later
“I’m here, H! I come bearing Gucci and more!” Y/N said as she shuffled through Harry’s front door, she held a deconstructed rack and a garment bag filled with heavy suits and things. Inside were Harry’s four most important outfits for SNL, some other garments for SNL, and some clothes they had talked about for his upcoming listening sessions later in the month. Y/N needed to check the fit on all of them and begin tailoring the Watermelon Sugar suit. The key Harry had given to Y/N, previously, had let her in, but she assumed he was home. He said he’d be.
When Y/N rounded the corner she found another empty room. Confused, she set down her large items and went to search for Harry. Y/N literally needed him to be here for this part. It was the only real time she actually needed to see him in person - but that was beside the point.
“H?”
She wandered through the different rooms of his home. Normally, Y/N didn’t go into the other rooms, she was always mainly in his lounge area, the dining room, and a little casual office room he had - sometimes the kitchen for water, his bedroom once. Still not finding him, she decided to venture to the furthest door, Harry’s bedroom, she remembered.
Harry groaned at the sound of a knock on his door, he rolled over in his bed. After a few moments of hearing nothing else than his groan, Y/N felt like she had to go in and check on him.
“H, it’s 12:30 and we agreed we’d meet at noon. Are you feeling alright?”
Y/N moved into the room and found a shirtless Harry surrounded by rumpled sheets, clutching at a pillow. He groaned into his pillow again in response. Her legs bent at the edge of the bed and she reached out to smooth some of his chestnut hair out of his face, “What’s wrong?”
He moved his head to allow his eyes to look at her, “‘M so tired, don’t know why. My stomach kind of hurts too…” Y/N looked at him quizzically, before running her hand over his tan forehead once more, this time checking for a fever. “You don’t have a fever. When did you go to sleep? Have you eaten anything today?” With her help, Harry moved into a seated position, head tilted back against the bedpost. He sat silent for a moment before blowing air out of his mouth. “Went to sleep kind of late for me, I guess...Haven’t eaten.”
“Ok, you’re just tired from staying up late, you old man, and you might be a little dehydrated and hungry. Listen, I’ll go make you some food if you get up and prepare yourself for the day. We need to get all your clothes fitted so that I can fix anything before next week.” Y/N was always good at getting Harry back on track when he got distracted - or even out of the station, when he wasn’t in the mood to work on something. She slid from her perch on the bed and walked to almost the edge of the room before Harry called her back.
“Can you pick out my clothes for me?” His soft, tired voice whined. “So hard...and you’ve got the best eye. Pleaseeee,” he pleaded softly.
Rolling her eyes, Y/N sighed and made her way back into his room. Crossing to the door that led to his walk-in closet, she set to work. As silly as he was being, she could never pass up on a chance to pick out an outfit for Harry.
“You’re literally going to be changing the entire time, H, you could have just thrown on sweats,” she called back to him once inside the smaller room. He repeated how she always picked the right thing, even for just around the house. Again, Y/N rolled her eyes at Harry, but she also couldn’t hide the warm smile on her face that was due to his compliment.
She couldn’t believe how dramatic Harry could be sometimes. Right now, he was a lesser form of hungover and he was acting like his life was ending. Y/N had made a note a while ago to never agree to a meeting on the day after any partying. She learned the hard way one particularly terrible Sunday. She had come round his house at a similar time, noon-ish and found Harry dead asleep, backwards in his bed. When she had roused him, his only responses were grumbles and groans. She had to not only pick out his clothes, but also help dress him. Then, after providing water and aspirin, she moved all their work into his bedroom so they could work from there. Harry had proved to be a baby when it came to hangovers. But, she hadn’t realized he could get like this even without being truly hungover.
After settling on his live aid t-shirt, that Y/N was eternally jealous of, located at the front of his drawer and his favorite corduroy trousers, she walked out and threw them in the direction of his toned, but slumped body. “I will not get you boxers, that is most definitely not in my job description, Boss.” Y/N sent a pointed look in his direction, moving to finally leave the room. While he was technically her boss as her employer, their work relationship was extremely collaborative and it never felt like he was in control of her, she just liked to give him shit for being a drama queen.
“Guess I’ll be going commando. How’s that going to work with me changing in front of you a bunch of times?” He teased right back, taking the clothes you had thrown at him and giving them a onceover. His teasing signalled that he was already feeling better.
Y/N shook her head and walked out of the room, “For the love of God, Harry, please put on underwear before you come out and continuously strip in front of me!”
The words he shouted after that were muffled, but they were something along the lines of how the human body is beautiful and shouldn’t be covered up. Unbelievable. As she set to work on making both of them some lunch, she finally heard Harry begin moving around. They had a lot of work to do as it was and whenever Harry was in a mood, whether it be a good mood or a bad mood, they always seemed to have a hard time focusing.
One night, that could be seen as the poster child for Harry and Y/N’s procrastination, was during the planning for the Adore You music video. Harry was in a super good mood that day and he had brought that energy to their meeting at his house. Y/N was supposed to be fitting him for the various outfits, but Harry, in his mania, ordered an overzealous amount of Chinese food. It took her and Harry hours to even make a dent in the food. And while they passed the time with eating, Harry and Y/N got further and further from their tasks, opting for conversations that included more fun topics than work. They had gossipped about some of the other people they worked with, Harry had begged for “the tea” about some of his other staffers and Y/N was happy to oblige. As much as Y/N would hate to admit it, she loved when they got off of work subjects and talked about how their day’s had been and what has been on their nerves lately. It was a nice way to decompress, it was like hanging out with a friend, except it wasn’t, not really.
Harry shuffled into the kitchen wearing what Y/N had picked out for him. Her smile grew knowing that he hadn’t changed what she’d picked. His confidence in her and her abilities never failed to feel like the biggest compliment.
“Go sit at the dining table, I’ve made us some little sandwiches and then we can decide the order we want to go through the outfits in.”
Before following Y/N’s orders, Harry continued his shuffling around, first to the cabinet for a glass, then to the fridge for water. At the end of the table, she set the plates between the head of the table’s spot and the one to its left. Harry took the side spot, so Y/N was on the end. After a bite of his food, Harry moaned loudly in contentment. This caused an amused look on Y/N’s face, there had been nothing special in his house so she had just made what was possible. This meant that Harry’s satisfaction was a little over the top.
“You’re acting like you haven’t eaten in a week. What did you do last night that got you in such a twist?” Y/N asked as she took a sip of her own glass of water. Harry nibbled at his lower lip after swallowing, trying to understand why he was particularly tired today.
“I guess I forgot to eat properly yesterday and then I went out running. And I stayed up late on the phone with,” he paused, eyes flashing to Y/N and then away again, “someone for SNL.”
Y/N hummed at his words before going back to her own eating. She didn’t understand why he hesitated about telling her he’d been on the phone last night, it especially irked her that he wouldn’t even say with whom. Professionally, it wasn’t really her business, but Harry was never secretive with her. Plus, it seemed to be work related so why was he being so flighty about it.
Moving forward, Harry peppier from eating and simply moving around, the pair set to work. They decided on trying on everything else first and then saving the Watermelon Sugar suit to the end. The other three main pieces for the night fit perfectly, Y/N had to only do minor reworks of certain areas.
“H, I need you to hold still…” Y/N interrupted Harry’s ramblings as she was crouched beside him.
She had to take up the hem on the pant legs so right now she was trying to pin them in the place she and Harry had agreed upon, without messing with the pleats.
“Sorry,” He mumbled, straightening out his back to stand taller.
He stayed quiet for a bit until Y/N popped back up, she looked at her notebook for reference on what she still had to tailor.
“Okay, next, the pants crotch is looking pretty fitted, so I assume you want it taken down a bit,” Y/N said as she got back into her crouching position. “Look in the mirror and tell me where you think letting it out looks best, I don’t have the best vantage point when I’m up this close…” she trailed off, placing her measuring tape directly on top of Harry’s crotch and running it down his leg a ways.
Once done with her first attempt at where she thought was best to let the pants out, she turned her eyes to the mirror that showed Harry in his suit with Y/N on her knees before him. Harry cleared his throat as he looked in the mirror, seeing Y/N with her eyes wide in anticipation in the position she was in made him want to run and hide. Her hands were extremely close to his dick, but it was literally her job, he knew he had to shake the thoughts that were running through his mind.
“Maybe just a bit further up actually, as much as I like the high waist with dropped crotch, I want this suit to have that specifically tailored look,” his hands motioned for Y/N to bring the drop up a ways.
Her hands then brought the measuring tape up, once again grazing over his area. Again, Y/N looked at Harry through the mirror for approval, and this time he gave it and she placed a single pin in the place where the pants would be let out to.
Standing up, Y/N hoped Harry didn’t notice the blush gracing her face. She was a stylist and used to being around naked bodies as well as touching around a man’s crotch when working. But Harry in this suit must have been magic, because she had felt extremely vulnerable on her knees in front of him in it. She had felt flushed the minute he hadn’t liked what she had done initially and she hated that she felt that way for some reason. Beginning to work on the sleeves of the suit set her at ease, Y/N was thankful to no longer be kneeling or in such close proximity to what was under Harry’s pants.
“Anything on your mind of late?” Harry broke the silence.
Y/N hummed with a pin stuck between her lips, folding up the suit jacket’s right sleeve. Plucking it from her mouth after a few silent moments, she said, “Not really, haven’t had time to do much else lately. Always thinking about you,” Y/N flushed as she realized what she had just said. “I mean, thinking about you like about your clothes and when they’re going to arrive and what I need to do about them, not you personally, sorry that came out wrong,” her blush intensified as she rapidly fumbled through her last sentence.
“Ow!”
“Oh my god!”
While Y/N had gotten flustered with her words, she managed to stick the pin she was using straight into Harry’s flesh. She immediately removed the pin from where it had stuck him.
“Oh god, I’m so sorry, H, we’ve got to get this off. I need to make sure you’re not bleeding onto the suit.”
Y/N rushed around to Harry's backside and began slipping off his suit jacket as Harry chuckled and began to unbutton the shirt as carefully as possible.
“‘S alright, Y/N, if there’s any blood on the shirt it’ll blend in, blood is practically the same color.” She glared at him through the mirror and Harry continued to laugh, “That is not funny, H, I shouldn’t have stuck you in the first place.”
“No, no,” Harry hushed Y/N as she began to slip off his shirt from one side to the other, taking off the sleeve on the side she hadn’t poked, “you’ve got so much on your plate with all the planning for the upcoming events. Then you worked yourself up over a little slip.” As Y/N carefully unbuttoned the cuff of the sleeve to try and slip off the shirt with the least amount of blood on it as possible, Harry finished with, “I wouldn’t mind if you were just thinking about me, though, an’ not the clothes.”
This time, Y/N was very in control, not willing to let herself slip up a second time today. She didn’t know how to respond to what Harry had just admitted. It wasn’t like this hasn't happened before. Both of them were guilty of making little comments that made it sound like they were interested in each other in a way that was a little different than professional or friendly. But every time the other person always had the responsibility to shut the idea down or completely blow past what their counter had just said.
“Harry…” She began, it was soft and pleading, like she was saying she couldn’t entertain that idea. Examining his forearm, after pulling the shirt completely away and resting it on a nearby chair, she saw a little spot of blood protruding from the pin prick she had caused. “Where do you keep your bandages?” Y/N decided that it was best to brush past Harry’s words this time and went off to find his first aid kit. Harry stood there, shirtless, staring at the blood on his arm. It really wasn’t a lot and it wouldn’t have done anything to the suit, but Y/N was always so careful and never wanted to ruin any of Harry’s clothes.
On her return, Y/N came upon a shirtless Harry perched on the edge of the table, with one arm crossed and his other - that was bleeding - being held slightly away from his body, as if Harry was afraid to touch it. His posture was slumped so Y/N could see his spine curving beneath his tanned honey-soft skin and his shoulder blades slightly flexed. While most of Harry’s body was covered in tattoos, she noticed how the closest tattoo to his back was the small line drawing of a guitar on the back of his left shoulder. Other than that his smooth back was bare. Y/N found it interesting that Harry had never chosen to ink his back. She jogged lightly back into the room and Harry’s head turned to watch her approach. His bottom lip was caught between his teeth as he regarded her. She noticed he was being particularly quiet, but she had no idea why. Maybe he was still tired.
Y/N set to work on finding the correct tissue, neosporin, and bandage for Harry’s small wound. As she worked on fixing up her mistake, Harry’s eyes followed her movements. Green eyes flickering between her hands on his arm and her own eyes focusing on her task.
“After this, I actually can just head home and finish the rest of the work,” Y/N said as she unpackaged the bandage, “I already know where I need to take in the suit sleeves and the shirt’s sleeves were looking fine. So, I can get out of your hair and you can get to sleep early tonight.” She placed the nude toned bandage over Harry’s arm, she was a little sad to find he didn’t own fun bandages. That was something that she expected from Harry, but she resigned that maybe she didn’t know everything about Harry.
Before Harry could speak, Y/N continued, “Don’t rehearsals for the show start tomorrow? When are you flying to New York?” She ran her hand over the bandage, smoothing it in place. Her hand lingered there as her eyes looked up and met Harry’s. Harry twitched his arm away from Y/N’s touch and scratched his nose slightly.
“Yeah, I’m flying out tomorrow morning. When are you set to fly out?”
“Friday. I’ll get in before the final dress rehearsal and then I’ll be there for the show.” Y/N stepped back and began to rehang the suit jacket and shirt that they had discarded in her haste to not get blood on them.
Then Y/N stood there staring at Harry. He looked at her slightly confused by her doing nothing when she said she was leaving. “Pants, H.” She said finally when she realized he had forgotten he was still wearing the suit pants. “Oh! Sorry,” Harry exclaimed as he began to unbutton and remove the pants he was wearing. He handed her the pants and she exchanged them with his live-aid t shirt. He took it graciously before slipping it on and disguising his toned body beneath it. Then he took his pants from earlier and fully redressed himself.
“Damn!” Y/N said and Harry’s head flipped to watch her as she began to put all of the clothing back in their garment bags and take down the rack.
“What’s wrong?”
“I just pinched myself with the rack, I’m all left feet today.”
“Here,” Harry chuckled as he walked over to help Y/N, “let me help you with all this. Just in the boot of your car, yeah?” Y/N nodded and smiled in appreciation for Harry. He grabbed her keys laying on the table and then took the rack and a garment bag. Even if things sometimes got tense between them, for whatever reason, he was always quick to move past it and be thoughtful and kind in the best ways for Y/N. After shaking her hand out, she grabbed the last garment bags and followed Harry out to her car. Harry shut the back of her car softly and turned to face Y/N, she stood beside her car door, ever so slightly leaning against it. He walked to her side and smiled.
“I’ll see you in a week,” he said before wrapping his arms around Y/N’s much smaller frame. His body was radiating heat and it felt good against Y/N in the crisp night air of London. She pressed into his hold and wrapped her arms around his waist and squeezed him hard. “Less than...Can’t wait to see you make an absolute fool of yourself out there.” Harry protested her tease with a small, “Hey!” but mostly focused on his hands on her back and the way her hair felt especially soft under his chin. Finally, Y/N pulled away, “Kidding! You’ll be amazing and you’ll look killer while doing it.” She winked before opening her car door and driving off. Harry was left with the lingering scent of her perfume and shampoo mingling in his nose.
-
It was the Saturday night, November 16th, 2019.
Harry and Y/N were in his dressing room before the show started. His outfits for the night were lined up, except for his opener one that Y/N had just dressed him in. His first change would be for Light’s Up, then a couple skit outfits that had to be moved elsewhere for quick changes, then the Watermelon Sugar suit, and then finally his end of the show casual look. The opener looked incredible, it’s fit was impeccable and Y/N knew people were going to love it.
She stepped back from Harry to give his whole body a once over, the SNL hairstylist had just blown out his hair and given him a sort of middle part. It definitely looked good and paired with the suit - Y/N could already tell it was going to be a hit by all accounts. Harry grinned back at her, doing a little dance to show just how much he was loving his clothes and how excited he was.
Grabbing the lint roller, Y/N gave the lapels of his suit jacket a once over and then moved it slightly out of the way to roll the big collar of Harry’s shirt and the bits of the body of the shirt that were showing underneath the jacket. Basically, Y/N was lint rolling over Harry’s clothed abs. Apparently, that was a ticklish area for Harry because he began to squirm and giggle under the tool’s touch.
“Seriously, H?”
She smiled as she said it, so excited for Harry that she couldn’t be mad at his relestness.
“Can’t help it. ‘M so giddy. Plus, I’m a wee bit ticklish.”
Y/N gave him a single laugh before removing the lint roller and smoothing over the shirt against his stomach and then over the lapels when she put the jacket back in place. She adjusted the Gucci reader’s she was wearing today, that were more for decoration than anything, but she liked to pretend they made her see better.
“You look smashing, Mr. Styles. Absolutely gorgeous, if I do say so myself.”
“Are you talking to me or the suit?” Harry asked as he flipped to look in the full length mirror in the dressing room.
“Can’t it be both?”
“Sure,” Harry said, he noticed the clock and realized it was his time to get in places. He leaned down and placed a small kiss on Y/N’s cheek, “It’s my time, thank you, Y/N.” She blushed at his words and actions. As he walked out the door, she called after him, “Break a leg, H!” He sent a final air kiss in her direction before completely disappearing.
She looked at the clothes hanging on the rack in the room and palmed over the fabric. Checking the lapels and brushing the lint roller over the, she finally stepped back and was happy with how they looked. When the show was just about to start, she flitted to the part of backstage where she could watch Harry perform. She giggled along to his monologue and grinned whole-heartedly when the crowd would roar with approval. Y/N had heard all of the jokes already because of the dress rehearsal yesterday, but it didn’t matter. Harry was killing it. She also took time to appreciate how good Harry looked in his suit on stage. In front of the lights and all the people, his suit shined brightly with the pops of blue and yellow and the oversized grey-iege jacket. His soft chestnut hair billowed perfectly to frame his forehead as he sipped from the faux martini. Y/N bit her lip to stifle her laugh. The fact that Harry, her boss and friend, was up on the Saturday Night Live stage with pink and blue nails sipping from a faux martini, it was perfect.
When Harry came back for his first performance change Y/N was right there waiting for him.
“Hi, that was really good,” she smiled up at him as he began to take off his coat.
He smiled brightly back at her as he exhaled a hefty breath, “You think so?”
“Yes! C’mon, everyone loved it. You delivered it all perfectly…” she took over undoing the buttons on the shirt because Harry was moving too slowly. “I’m in a man band now…” Y/N mumbled under her breath before chuckling.
“Did you just imitate my accent?” Harry said, now pulling off his sleeves.
Y/N moved around his back to take the shirt to hang and grab his Lights Up outfit. They worked like a well-oiled machine together, constantly taking over roles to get things done more efficiently, but never stepping on each other’s toes.
“Nope,” she winked before handing him the black sequin jumpsuit and exchanging it for his yellow pants. After rehanging the pants and bringing over Harry’s different set of boots, Y/N said, “Y’know, I’d have to say that your hair is giving your suit a run for its money.” She placed the shoes on the table beside Harry and began to fix into the place different parts of the jumpsuit, moving to zip up the back and then coming to the front to smooth it.
“What do you mean?” Harry looked in the mirror and delicately touched the edges of his hair, considering Y/N’s statement.
“No one ever really sees it how it is, nicely blown out but not too much product so it falls to frame your face. What’d you tell the hair person you wanted?” Y/N stepped back to allow Harry to change his boots from one Gucci pair to another, like he did with most of his wardrobe.
“Just told them to make me look mature. You think it looks good?” He looked up at Y/N when he asked the question.
“Think it looks sexy, that’s what I’m saying, no one’s gonna be able to focus on your clothes with how good your hair looks.”
“Ah,” he deftly runs his hands down his suit as he looks in the mirror.
Y/N just stares at Harry, checking him over one more time. She wasn’t lying about his hair, it was sexy and she wanted to run her hands through it to feel how soft it was. In a complete friend way of course.
“I like it…”
“It looks like you just rolled out of bed, but the bed was made of angel feathers.”
Harry laughed at Y/N’s description. He shifted his body to face her more and moved closer to her in the process.
“Alright, you should probably get back out there,” Y/N closes the gap between them and adjusts the chain of his jade and silver crosses and brushes over his broad shoulders.
They’re professional touches, but her movements hold an undercurrent of intimacy that neither of them realize. If anyone had been looking on, they would see how Y/N’s fingers delicately caressed Harry’s skin right before she cradled the pendants to move them in place. They would also see Harry instinctively lean forward into her touch and breathe slightly deeper to take in her scent. When she brushes over his shoulders, he straightens up at the touch and shows he’s ready to get back out there. It’s as if she prepared him to go.
Harry sings Lights Up and the crowd loves it. Sarah kills her drumming and Mitch eats up lead guitar. The backup singers bring out a different tone to the song. It is all around an amazing performance.
As Y/N clapped along with the crowd from backstage, Aidy Bryant approaches her.
“You’re Harry’s stylist, right?”
Y/N turns her head at the woman next to her, “Yeah?”
Aidy smiles, eyes slightly gleaming, “Well, you’re wonderful at your job.” As Y/N is about to thank her, Aidy continues, “And Harry knows that too, he talked about you all week. We all thought you were his girlfriend at first.”
Y/N laughed lightly and had to keep herself from letting her jaw drop at Aidy’s words. She even choked a bit on her own spit and had to cough slightly before even being able to think of a response, “Well, um, yeah...no, H, Harry is just my employer and...friend. No dating, we just get along well. Which is important since we spend a lot of time together - for work of course!”
Aidy smiled sweetly at Y/N, “Yeah, Harry explained that when Beck asked him how long you’d been together. At first he had said a couple months and then said ‘wait, Y/N is just my stylist, we’ve been working together for a couple months’ and then we all felt really dumb.”
“Don’t feel dumb,” Y/N reassured her, unsure why she was actually continuing this conversation, “He loves to talk about clothes and that’s where I fit in to his life, so I’m sure my name would come up a fair bit. Was that it?”
“Yeah I guess, but-” Aidy began to say more, but Y/N cut her off.
“Oh gosh, I’m sorry, but Harry’s finished and I’ve got to go help him change for his next song.”
Aidy was left in Y/N’s wake, chuckling to herself, fully reassured about the reason that they had all thought Harry had been dating Y/N. Because they already acted like a couple. And they were both helplessly in love with one another and neither of them knew.
The rest of the show went off without a hitch. Harry continued to wow the crowd and Y/N sent him off from his dressing room always looking fabulous. Just as he was about to walk back on stage for his final farewell, Y/N noticed a tiny string on his trousers zipper. Unable to stop Harry and unable to grab at the string without looking odd, she had to let him walk on stage with it. It wasn’t actually a big deal, but Y/N sighed in annoyance because she knew that string was going to bug her for the rest of the night.
“Treat People With Kindness!” Harry finishes off his farewell.
Applause begins to sound and the cast is out front hugging and chatting, while Y/N is watching from the side still fixated on the string on Harry’s pants, now simply dangling. Finally, they begin to clear the stage because it’s time for the after party. Y/N knew there was no stealing Harry away to fix the problem that was now fixated in her mind. Every cast and crew member was trying to talk to him, congratulating him, hugging him, anything to spend time with the incredible man. Y/N couldn’t blame them, but she also wanted to be able to go some place quiet and debrief with Harry about his outfits. She wanted to look up what people were saying about his clothes and discuss the critiques with Harry. She also wanted to start discussing what was coming next with Harry. But most of all, she just wanted to hang out with Harry.
What Y/N wanted wasn’t going to happen anytime soon, which she knew, but it still only grew her annoyance with that string. If only she could get it off of him, maybe then her mind would be able to relax a little.
She meandered backstage, resigned she wouldn’t be talking to Harry for a while. There she went to find the band’s dressing room, knowing she would find Mitch or Sarah who she’d be happy to talk to. They weren’t ones for the spotlight and no one ever really seemed to want to brownnose with them at events like this. Y/N had met them a few times.
The first was when Harry had asked Y/N to meet him in the studio in mid July, Mitch and Sarah had both been there helping Harry finish up something for the album. Y/N never asked what, she liked music quite a bit, but when it came to the technical part of it, it went completely over her head. Harry had introduced them both and they seemed lovely. After that, she had seen them around for an event or two of Harry’s. It wasn’t much, but it was more than any of the other people around right now.
Just as she was about to knock on the door it swung open, revealing Harry’s entire backing band. “Hey,” Y/N said sheepishly, “Harry’s being fawned over by the masses and I don’t actually know anyone else here. Is it alright if I hang out with you all at this after party? I doubt there’s going to be anyone really dying to meet the stylist.”
She smoothed her own clothes as she spoke. Y/N wanted to look professional tonight because sometimes when she was dressed in more fun or “young” clothes she got mistaken for someone who had snuck in. The only thing that got people to not question her authority to be where she was, was a card that read ‘staff’ that she would clip onto whatever she was wearing at places like this. Tonight, she chose a pair of purple plaid pants, a sleek lilac tank underneath a cream knit shawl, and cream Gucci mules. Ever since Harry took an interest in Y/N’s pearl necklace, she had largely stopped wearing hers because she hoped never to be photographed matching with him. However, she had known the pearls would have completed the look, even putting them on in her hotel room, twisting a pearl in her hand as she looked in the mirror, and then taking the necklace off again and settling on a different silver necklace instead. The ‘staff’ card was clipped to her pants pocket tonight.
“Of course!” Sarah said as the band began to file out of the room, “You might want to take your tag off now, though, you’re done working for the night.”
Her laughter rang sweetly through Y/N’s ears and she smiled back before removing her identifying card. She hated the piece of plastic and was glad to take it off, it never went with her outfits, but she had gotten tired of taking out her business card every time someone asked what she was doing. Y/N was sure that during the tour she’d be fine without it, but as Harry’s show appearances were beginning to ramp up she knew it would be helpful to have.
“Thanks...you all were amazing out there tonight. Second time on the SNL stage right?”
The group of you began to walk in the direction of where the after party was being held. Mitch piped up, “Thanks. Yeah, I love their box stage setup, it’s pretty cool.” Y/N was happy that she had people who were easy to talk to so that she wouldn’t be alone tonight.
Arriving in the room of the party, they were all quick to grab the alcohol that was being provided at the pop up bar. Y/N wasn’t normally a fan of drinking at events like these, mainly because she was not usually invited to this part of the night and when she was she wanted to be alert. But she figured there wasn’t much else to do so she took a hearty sip of the champagne. It was a little sweet, her face scrunched.
“Too sweet?” Mitch questioned when he saw Y/N’s face.
“Just a little for my taste.”
“Harry’s not going to be drinking tonight then. So particular about his alcohol,” Mitch continued.
Y/N laughed, “Well I’m glad, then I don’t have to deal with him being a baby about his hangover tomorrow.”
Mitch quirked an eyebrow at Y/N’s statement. Sarah and the others in the band had dispersed to mingle with the SNL party goers, leaving Mitch and Y/N to their conversation.
Realizing what she said could be seen as slightly weird out of context, Y/N quickly started again, “because I’m supposed to go shopping with Harry tomorrow. He wanted to go to Gucci and a couple other stores here before flying to LA. I’m going back to London until the listening parties, so we need to figure out the finishing touches for those and..” Y/N trailed off trying to remember which looks weren’t completed yet for the next few shows, Mitch waited patiently, “a few of the suits for the Late Late Show. He’s not happy with one of them so we might switch it. But anyway, you know how he is with a hangover. Proper child.”
Mitch threw his head back in laughter at Y/N’s serious look that she gave him. “Yeah, he can be...a lot. I meant to tell you, Harry looked great tonight. All of the clothes were fantastic,” Mitch added.
He was kind and Y/N appreciated him sticking with her. The two of them had rested themselves against a wall near the bar, sipping their champagne and enjoying each other’s company.
“Thank you.”
Mitch opened his mouth to say something else, but Heidi Gardener, another SNL member interrupted.
“Y/N, right!?”
Y/N and Mitch both turn to her, equally taken aback by the sudden burst of energy from this person they didn’t really know. Y/N nodded.
“Oh my gosh! You have to tell me where you got the jacket Harry is wearing!”
Heidi even goes as far to point in Harry’s direction. Y/N knows what she’s talking about, but her eyes still wander to where she pointed. Harry stood in a clump of people, surrounded by Ben Winston, James Corden, and the Gerbers who had all come to watch. She sighed as she watched his eyes shine as he laughed with a smile on his face. She hoped that by now the string had fallen off his pants by now, if not she was going to kick herself later.
“Oh, it’s Bode,” Y/N’s eyes coming back to meet Heidi’s happy face, “but it’s custom made from a vintage blanket. There’s only two that exist.”
Y/N and Mitch watched as Heidi’s face dropped.
“And I’m pretty sure the designer owns the other one,” Y/N added, “Sorry.”
Heidi smiles and jokes, “Know any ways I could possibly get Harry to give me his?”
“He loves that coat. I have no idea what you could possibly do to convince him he didn’t need it anymore.”
“Sex, probably,” Mitch says under his breath.
Heidi doesn’t catch it as she walks back off and Y/N turns to swat him with her free hand.
“What? He always gives away his clothes to girl’s he has crushes on.” Y/N rolls her eyes at Mitch’s words.
“Probably best if you don’t inform the masses about that,” a new voice says.
Unbeknownst to Mitch and Y/N, Harry had broken away from his entourage to steal a few minutes with his two friends, his best friends if he was being honest. They laugh together as he wraps his arms around their shoulders and pulls them both into his chest. Y/N feels the warmth radiating from Harry’s body as she snuggles into his side. Her hand wraps under his jacket and around his waist to squeeze right about his hip bone. His face is gleaming with a small sheen of sweat, but his smile is so big she barely notices his perspiration as he looks down at her.
“Heard you were talkin’ shit?”
Mitch quips, “Us? Never.”
Harry scoffs, “Come off it!”
When he releases Y/N and Mitch from his grasp, Mitch straightens up while Y/N’s eyes immediately go down to Harry’s crotch. She’s not paying attention to their conversation as she tries to make out in the dim light whether the string is gone or not. The men realize she’s not listening and they both follow her gaze.
Confused, Harry asks, “Y/N, any particular reason you’re staring at my dick?”
Her head shoots up, eyes wide and cheeks flushed from embarrassment.
“I wasn’t!”
Mitch laughs and decides he wants another glass of champagne right then, mumbling something about how that was his cue. Harry smiles, knowing she wasn’t doing what he had said, but still intrigued to know what was going on in her mind.
“You had a string right on your zipper and it’s been bugging me since you went out for your outro. This is the first time I’ve seen you on your own and I couldn't exactly go up to you in a random crowd and grab at your crotch. But now I can’t see in this light…” Y/N bit at her lower lip and furrowed her brow still trying to see if the string was there.
“Have you really been thinking about it this whole time?” Harry asked, slightly concerned.
“Yes...I know it doesn’t matter, but I just want your clothes to look perfect.”
Harry takes a deep breath as he makes a small smile at Y/N. Then he brushes over the front of his pants, hoping he removes the string if it's still attached to him. “There, I’m sure it’s gone now. I’m sorry you had to worry about that. Just know everyone I’ve talked to has been raving about the clothes.” He placed his ring-clad hand on Y/N’s upper arm and squeezed it.
“You did an amazing job,” Y/N said.
Harry pulls her into his chest one more time. This time without Mitch so both of Harry’s arms go around her shoulders and both of hers go around his slender waist. Again her hands disappear under his coat and thumb over his warm white t-shirt, her face resting on his chest right next to the word ‘Sex’. His arms tighten around her back as they rest there for a while. Y/N always has to make herself pull away, knowing that Harry will stay there for as long as he can - in anyone’s embrace - and remembering they’re in a public setting, she didn’t want anyone to assume things, even if she had already been made aware that people had.
“We’ll debrief more later tonight, yeah? The champagne is terrible so I won’t be drinking,” Harry said.
Y/N laughed under her breath as she smiled at his words. Mitch and her knew Harry too well. She nodded about getting together later, “Alright. Get back to your fan club.” Harry narrowed her eyes at her words, not sure if she was trying to sound sarcastic or not.
-
Hey, I’m back at the hotel. Just let me know when you want to debrief :) x
Y/N texted Harry the minute she got back to the hotel, she had no idea if he had left before her or was still at the after party. All she knew was that it was late and she was starting to get tired. Still, it was important for them to talk about their plans for tomorrow and she also really wanted to just be with him alone. Whenever they would debrief after big events Harry and Y/N would laugh at all the outrageous stuff they had seen go on throughout the night.
When she was still a freelance stylist she had helped Harry to plan his Camp outfit at the Met Gala. That night, they never even went to bed and had to debrief about the clothes the next afternoon over tea at the Palace. Both her and Harry were recovering from their exhaustion and nursing equally terrible hangovers. But there they were, sitting in the center of the dining area of the hotel, being served some of the nicest tea and sandwiches Y/N had ever had. It was amazing. Y/N had never felt that rich in her life before and Harry had told her the craziest stories about the most famous people in attendance. It was almost unbelievable what these people would reveal to Harry and Y/N was happy to listen to all of it, promising to never tell anyone else. That outing was probably the first time Harry realized he really liked Y/N and wanted to work more closely with her.
While tonight wasn’t quite as wild as the Met Gala had been, Y/N was still excited to hear any funny stories Harry might have in addition to their clothing talk. They really hadn’t had much time to chat since she had gotten to New York yesterday so it would be nice to just be alone together. Even if Y/N chalked their debriefs up to ‘shop talk’, she was always very excited for them.
As she reached her hotel room door, her phone buzzed with a message from Harry.
I’m still out, but should be heading back soon. Up to you if you want to wait up or we can just debrief in the morning while we shop. x H
Y/N sighed at the message, she wanted to wait up and debrief before tomorrow, if not for alone time with Harry but professionally for being able to plan out their shopping tomorrow. Where Harry was carefree, Y/N was meticulous and planned out. She liked to have fun, but she knew when she had to get her work done, even when Harry was off in his own mind. Their work styles mostly coincided, Harry could be serious and focused, too, but often when he was surrounded by all his famous friends he had a hard time saying ‘no’ to whatever came up. So Y/N knew that Harry’s definition of ‘soon’ could range from actually soon to almost dawn. She really hoped he actually meant soon, so she shot him a text saying:
Just knock on my room and if I open it we can debrief lol x
Harry smiled down at his phone when Y/N’s text came through, slightly chuckling before double tapping and placing a heart reaction of her text. Then he was pulled into the limo that one of his friend’s had gotten them and was handed a flute of champagne.
Back at the hotel, Y/N threw her phone on the bed and decided to change and simply settle in for the night. If Harry made it back, he made it back and if he didn’t she’d wake up well rested.
Maybe thirty minutes into scrolling on her phone, Y/N heard a rough knock on her door. She was actually quite surprised that Harry had indeed been back soon. Rising from her snuggled place in the bed, she shifted around her night clothes and padded to her door. There stood, rather hung, a slightly disheveled Harry. His hair was whipped into disaster, something was smudged on his face, and she noticed a stain on his t-shirt that hadn’t been there the last time she’d been with him.
He slurred her name as he stumbled through the doorway. Y/N closed her eyes and sighed in exasperation. She was in awe that somehow Harry hadn’t gotten off his ass in the past hour and a half.
“What happened to not drinking tonight?”
She walked beside him and helped shove him into a sitting position on her bed. He flapped his arms, chaotically trying to get his plaid jacket off. Throwing her phone in the direction of her pillow, she moved to help Harry with his jacket. After quite a bit of strugglings, Y/N finally got the Bode jacket off of him successfully and threw it onto the nearby chair. Sighing, she settled beside him.
“So, Harry, care to explain?”
“Hi, Y/N…” He swayed slightly, attempting to face Y/N more. She threw out a hand to his shoulder, gripping him tightly to try and steady him.
“We went in this limousine, and they had champagne - good champagne - and I drank a bottle or so pretty quickly.”
“Or so? Oh Harry...I mean you’re free to make your own choices, but I don’t know if this was one of your best.”
“Wasn’t...wasn’t my idea. I was planning on just going back to the hotel. Then James convinced me to come out for a bit. Then the champagne was looking good so I went for it.”
“Like I said, you can make your own choices,” she patted his arm and went to the en suite bathroom to wet a washcloth to clean off his face.
“So, is it champagne on your shirt or am I going to have to go through hell to get the stain out?” She called.
Harry groaned and leaned back on the bed, fingering at the crisp white sheets. “Champagne,” he finally muttered as Y/N reappeared into the dim room, only the outside world and the light in the bathroom lighting this area.
“And on the face?”
She climbed onto the bed and kneeled beside Harry’s prone body, beginning to swipe at the smudge on his face. He tilted his head to face her, bringing the cheek with the dirt to lay facing perfectly up. His jawline showed perfectly and she felt the strength that laid beneath the skin she was washing.
His eyes flitted up to her face, trying to stop the spins he was currently experiencing. He hadn’t thought he was that drunk until he had been required to find his way up to their floor on his own.
“Lipstick?”
She sighed, running the washcloth over his cheek once more, and tried to push the image of some woman (or man who wore lipstick, she guessed) with her lips all over Harry’s face. She didn’t want to know who it was or why it was. It was too hard, especially after the day of people asking her about Harry and her relationship and insinuating things about him and his romantic life. She just liked to keep the words Harry and romance apart as much as possible, it made her life easier that way.
“It was only from-”
“It’s ok, Harry, I don’t need to know who you were…” She stopped herself, not even wanting to say ‘kissing’ or ‘snogging’ or even worse ‘shagging’. Adults were human beings and they could do a lot in an hour and a half. And again, she didn’t want to know.
“You keep doing that. Are you mad at me?”
“I’m sorry?”
“Calling me Harry, not ‘H’. Is it because you’re mad at me?”
“No,” she sighed, shifting to sit more casually, “No, I’m not mad at you. I just wasn’t expecting you to show up at my door like this. I try not to worry about you, but then when you show up like this, it kind of affirms I had reason to be concerned.”
She took a hand and smoothed over Harry’s tousled hair, he rolled his head back to face the ceiling. “Like I said, you’re an adult, capable of making his own decisions. And, I am just your stylist. I’m just glad you made it up here and knocked on my door. Probably would have given someone else a fright.”
He laughed, starting to sober up as the spinning in the room stopped. Her hands on his face and hair were soothing and sobering.
“Thank you for caring about me, love. And going beyond being just my stylist, you’re my friend Y/N.”
His eyes flickered shut and Y/N stared at his soothed features. His words were still slurred and she was sure the use of love was just his britishness slipping through his drunken state. The part about being more than a stylist, she tried to push it away, telling herself not to read more into it than her heart would like to. Even though he said she was a friend as well as a stylist and not anything more, it still sent so much joy through her body. He didn’t just see her as a work colleague and he had said it. But in his inebriated state, Y/N didn’t want to take everything he said as gospel.
She moved him up the bed with a little bit of his sleepy self’s help into a more comfortable position. It was pretty late now and she wasn’t going to kick him out. It would have been rude and unkind and that were two things Y/N rarely was. She went and grabbed the extra blanket from the cabinet and draped it over Harry’s large body for extra warmth since he refused to get under the covers. She also slipped off his boots and stained shirt per his request before getting into the other side of the bed and falling asleep.
-
She awoke to a shifting body beside her and she sat up confused as to who it could be. Quickly, Harry showing up drunk at her door came flooding back and she turned to look at the groaning Harry beside her. His arm was thrown over his face as he moaned, just waking up as well and experiencing the first bits of his hangover. This was going to be a long day.
“Hullo,” his voice was especially low, groggy and hoarse from the night before. He peaked over at her from behind the crook of his elbow. His eyelids barely open and his eyelashes weighing them down so much so that she could barely see his sleepy jade eyes.
“Good morning, H. Have a nice rest?” Y/N sat up and began to ready herself for the day, rummaging through her suitcase for an outfit and moving about the room.
Harry’s arms went to his sides as he worked to sit up, eyes following her figure as she moved around, seemingly not groggy very much unlike him. “Erm...I’m sorry for showing up pissed.”
“S’fine, H. Just glad you didn’t end up in a ditch or someone’s bed - someone’s that you might regret…” She barely regards him, throwing a single glance his way before shuffling to the bathroom to change. She knows they’ll be photographed today, it’s almost inevitable right now. Everyone knows Harry is in New York and people are buzzing to see him after his performance last night. She slips on the 70s inspired dress, the v-neck and long sleeves settling perfectly on her frame, it hugs her curves and lands around mid-thigh. Rolling on the bold mustard yellow tights and strapping up the brown leather mary jane heels, she looks herself over in the mirror. She then tries to tame her hair and do the rest of her routine, knowing she needed to get on with the day, shopping first and flying home second. Making sure Harry was okay was also on that list, but she couldn’t pretend like she wasn’t a little disappointed in him after last night.
When she returns, Harry is sitting with his legs hanging off the edge of the bed, head hanging as he’s hunched over himself. “C’mon, you gotta get going, kid. Lots to do today.” She’s pacing over to Harry’s deflated figure to pick him up and prompt him to get moving. When she arrives by his side his head lifts and his now more awake eyes stare up at her.
“I’m sorry for yesterday, really. I mean it.”
“I told you already. It’s fine.”
“It’s not - or it wasn’t. You called me ‘Harry’ last night. I don’t think I’ve heard you call me that to my face since we started working together. I took your answer last night because I was swimming in it, but now, thinking about it. I know you were upset.”
She huffs, taking a seat beside Harry on the bed, choosing to not look at him, slightly confused why she had been so upset and why he was pushing it. “Ok, yeah I was annoyed, but I was also genuinely worried. I didn’t know you could physically get that drunk in that small amount of time. And then you show up at my door with somebody else’s…” Y/N falters, catching her slip up and deciding to fix her gaze on her shoes and their intricate design built into the leather.
“You’re upset that I had lipstick on me?” He’s trying to meet Y/N’s gaze, but her eyes are really interested in her shoes. His tone is confused, he’s trying to understand what’s going on in her mind.
She scoffs, risking a glance to Harry but then returns quickly back to her dress this time. “Please...it was just inconvenient for me, okay? Thought we were going to debrief and stayed up late for you. Then I had to take care of you after you hung out with your famous pals and I had barely even seen you all day. Felt a bit used.”
Harry shifted in the bed, turning to face her by tucking one leg beneath him. He places a hand on hers that was placed on the end of her dress. Her eyes finally meet with his and she feels her breath slightly catch in her throat. His eyes are piercing, his gaze intense, maybe even a tinge of anger. “Y/N, I would never have come to your room if I even had an inkling that this would be how you’d interpret it . Even though I was drunk, I wanted to see you, that’s why I came up here, because I wanted to be with my friend, one of my best friends, not because I just needed some pushover to care for me.”
She sighs, feeling icky still about the whole situation. She sometimes found herself in fights that she never intended, she wished she hadn’t said anything at all. But she also knew that wasn’t healthy either. Flipping her hand, she intertwines her fingers with Harry’s and smiles for the first time that morning. His expression softens at it. “Look, I’m sorry too, H. It honestly wasn’t that big of a deal, but I appreciate that you’re such a great guy and boss to want to truly apologize and make sure I’m comfortable and happy… Oh, and I promise I’ll never call you anything but H from here on out - unless you tell me otherwise.”
He cackles unabashedly at her words, before suddenly clutching at his temple with his free hand. “Fuckin’ hangover,” he mumbles. She smiles and stands up, beginning to throw his shirt and shoes from the end of the bed at him, “You need to get ready. Go pop some advil or whatever. My flights at 5 so we haven’t got all day, H.”
“There she is,” Harry grins, beginning to put back on the stained ‘Sex’ shirt.
As he hustles out of the room, shoes in hand, she calls to him one last request, “When you’re in fresh clothes make sure you bring me that stained shirt. Gonna have to spot clean it when I’m back in London!”
“Of course! And we’ll debrief as we shop, yeah?”
“Yes!”
The two of them were shouting to each other as the door continued to close on them. Chuckling to herself, she begins to pack up her room, knowing she had to check out before they left. Her spirits already lifted, she doesn’t even notice as she throws Harry’s forgotten Bode jacket into her suitcase with some other items that had been on her chair. She wouldn’t notice it until she was back in London unpacking from the trip.
Shutting the case, she springs back up from her crouched position and walks to look in the full length mirror again. Her fingers run the length of her dress, leafing over the slightly darker brown embroidered flowers that were woven into the tan fabric. She squints as she turns sideways and pops a heel up behind her. It looks good, but something is missing. Rummaging through her carry-on she pulls out her old butterfly bandana she used as a head scarf and begins to fix it into place on her head. Placing large sunglasses on the bridge of her nose, she feels like the look is complete and gives herself some poses in the mirror; a peace sign, an air kiss, a Marilyn Monroe. She laughs at herself.
A knock on the door shakes her from her childish fun. Straightening up, Y/N saunters over to the door, swinging it open with ease. “H?”
“You ready?” Harry stands in a fresh pair of Marni trousers paired with a striped orange and mauve Marni sweater. He, like Y/N, had this thing about wearing the brand you planned to shop at. He didn’t always stick to his rule, but he usually didn’t like to wear Gucci when he shopped at Gucci.
“Yeah, just need to check out and drop my baggage at the front to be held for later.” Y/N slips through the door and notes how his outfit compliments hers. She wouldn’t mention it, but it's something to think about since he had known what she was wearing. She wasn’t sure why she noticed things like that, if asked, her answer would probably be that it was the stylist in her, just her job.
-
Stepping out of a black town car on the side street next to Gucci to go in the side entrance would never get old for Y/N. She had never really enjoyed the idea of fame, but from a young age she had known she wanted to be able to afford the finer things in life. Going into the Gucci store now, especially with Harry, was like going to the candy store once you’re a grown up and can buy whatever you want rather than what your parents will allow you to.
Today, Harry and Y/N didn’t have as much time as they would usually like to spend in the store, but they were just happy to be doing what they loved. Y/N had been ecstatic to find out Harry found shopping to be an essential part of his life and that he liked to do his outfit shopping in person rather than online. Trying on clothes and picking out things you liked just was so much more fulfilling when you were in the physical store. Then make that all happen with Harry Styles as the buyer, then it was a real party. The stores liked to pull out their Champagne and clear the store to allow him privacy, specifically when it was for clothes for projects under wraps. In the beginning of her employment, it was only ever Harry who would do the trying on of clothes, but as the two of them got acquainted and comfortable with each other, she found herself trying things Harry would pick out for her. At first, she would veto some items saying they were too expensive for her, but eventually she learned that her new salary covered whatever it was. She had always enjoyed designer labels and choosing to be a stylist meant she had nice clothes, but only working for Harry had caused her closet to double in size and triple in value.
“So we are looking for some trousers today,” she tells the worker at the store, reminding them of what she had already called ahead about. The employee nods and proceeds to lead them into the room where they had laid out an assortment of pants for Harry to pick from.
“What do you think of these?” Harry walks out and strikes a pose, popping one of his hips to the side and his hands on his hips. The pants strain around his thighs, but fit practically perfectly everywhere else. His slim waist is perfectly encircled by the fabric and he’s decided the sweater he was wearing didn’t match them and he’d rather go shirtless. This choice technically should allow her to solely focus on the pants, but it actually makes her focus that much more diverted. She makes a spinning motion with her pointer finger as she purses her lips. He takes a quick spin and the boot cut slightly flares with his movement. The pants are a dark brown with a single plaid crossing in a lighter brown. They are only lightly flared, which she prefered to the extreme flare that some of Harry’s suits had. She narrows her eyes at the pants to keep her gaze from shifting to the taut muscles of Harry’s arms and torso or the dark ink that licked over his skin in the beautiful designs of his choice.
“They’re nice,” she pulls up a picture of the top part of the outfit he was planning on wearing, “Do you think they match with this though?” Harry walks over to her seated position and bends to look at her phone. His skin radiates heat and the smell of his cologne and she sniffles slightly with her sensitive nose. His eyes flicker to her face when he notices her little noise, but returns to looking at the phone when she doesn’t spare him a glance. She felt his gaze on her, but couldn’t bring herself to look from the phone. She knew his proximity would make it even harder for her to keep her eyes off his naked torso. The expensive smell of Harry mixed with the expensive smell of the store was a lot to handle.
“Yeah...no. You think they’re not right,” she widens her eyes at Harry’s words when he pulls away. He turns to the mirror in the open dressing room and fiddles with the waistline of the pants. “I agree,” he finishes before stalking back into the room and shutting the heavy velvet curtain that worked as the door to it.
He tries on five more pairs of trousers and finally settles on two pairs for the two different listening parties. A heavier, wool-tweed pair that was dark brown and then a lighter brown tweed pair. He was still in the lighter pants as he stared into the mirror. He beckoned to Y/N, and she quickly set down the flute of Champagne she had been sipping at lazily as he admired himself.
“Is it possible for you to take it in a bit more,” he says in a hushed tone to her, not wanting the workers to overhear. They were helpful but if they overheard they would wait for the store to tailor the trousers and he preferred for Y/N to do it. He rubs at the waistline again and she moves closer, her hands going to his sides. Her fingertips graze the naked skin above the trousers and Harry shivers at the coldness of the new touch. She ghosts softly over the waistline herself and smooths the fabric until she’s pinching a small amount on each side. She hums, pulling back from Harry and looking at the fit of them now, examining whether that makes them look better.
Then she nods and smiles up at Harry, “Ever the slender waist,” he grins right back as she admires him. She knew how much he liked praise and she was happy to give it to him, especially when he was so deserving. “I’d say size down, but then your thighs and bum might strain the fabric too much.” His face turns to a smirk as she blushes at her words. She releases the fabric and takes a hand to pat Harry’s smooth chest before walking back to her seat on the lovely couch.
“You sure you don’t want to try anything on, Y/N? Saw some killer boots when we walked in that screamed you.” Harry calls from behind the curtain, presumably getting redressed. Her laugh comes through the curtain slightly muffled, yet still a sweet melody in Harry’s ears.
“Definitely not now, we’re leaving any minute. Plus, I’ve got plenty of Gucci boots, don’t even show me them or I’ll be tempted.”
His laughter rings through the curtains, loud and unrestrained. She smiles to herself, unable to discourage the pleasure that weaves through her at the sound. His presence in all the different ways she experienced it was instantly comforting.
-
When she arrives back to her London flat, she practically flops on her couch once she’s inside the door. Her luggage forgotten at the door, as she shrugs off her coat. It was around 7 am because she had chosen to take the red eye for some reason. She groaned as she thought about the day ahead of her. Even though Harry was halfway across the globe, she still had plenty of work to do. She had to finalize the outfits for the listening parties now that they had the pants to complete the looks. Then she had to start thinking about Harry’s December appearances. She had sent ahead his Late Late outfits that he had needed in Los Angeles for the pre-filming, but she still had to deal with the outfits for the live part of the show.
Today, she was set to go pick up the other pieces needed for the listening parties as well as items for the Graham Norton Show and Jingle Ball. She was most excited for her travels because that meant looking at brand new clothes that were perfect and gorgeous. She also knew she needed to spot clean Harry’s shirt, which didn’t spark as much joy in her tired mind.
The idea of the shirt staining with alcohol was what brought her out of her snuggling with her comfy couch. Sure, it couldn’t get that bad, but still she was a worrier and it would pain her if the iconic shirt got ruined. She padded back over to her luggage, now without her jacket or shoes. Her major suitcase got flipped on its side and she began to unzip it. It came open easily seeing as it was stuffed with her clothes and various items. She had to rummage a minute for Harry’s shirt that seemed to have run away inside the bag. Finally, the large white shirt made itself known and she grasped it happily.
As she looked over the stain near the collar of the shirt, her eyes traveled to a piece of fabric peeking out of her suitcase. It was a familiar blue, cream and white. A specific fabric she would never misplace, would never not recognize. Harry’s plaid Bode jacket. It was iconic and she loved it, but why did she have it in her suitcase. She definitely didn’t mean to have it, it’s genuinely just one of Harry’s jackets so it wouldn’t make sense for her to bring it back with the show's wardrobe. She tries to think back to yesterday, when she was still in New York. Thinking about why she would have it, she places the memories of Harry coming to her room, taking off his coat, and accidentally leaving it in her room all fit together. She must have just absentmindedly placed it in her suitcase without even realizing. She’s sure Harry wouldn’t mind, she’d shoot him a text, though, to tell him she had it. So he wouldn’t worry about whether he’d lost it or not.
When she gets ready for the day, she finds herself being drawn to blue and cream. Her outfit is understated and she just knows the jacket would finish the look. She loved that jacket and now that she had it, would it be a big deal if she wore it out. She figured it was fine. After she grabbed her purse, keys, and other essentials, she slipped on the coat. Harry was very broad shouldered and it hung oversized on her. She loved the look and snapped a selfie in the mirror before she headed out. While it felt a little narcissistic to constantly take photos of herself, she felt like as a stylist it was important to document her looks just as much as she documented her clients.
What she didn’t think about is just how much the rest of the world liked to document her client and those who were seen with her client. She didn’t think about how she had just been seen with Harry yesterday. That thought didn’t even cross her mind as she walked around the streets of London picking up her work. As she saw some photographers out and about (whom she assumed were for famous celebrities, not her). How it might seem with her wearing the Bode jacket Harry had worn on SNL two nights ago. The Bode jacket that there were only two of.
None of it crossed her mind. Not until it was the end of the day and she had a whole slew of texts from Harry’s manager. A few from Harry, and others but the other fifteen were solely from Jeff. She was a bad texter so as she walked into her flat and finally looked at her phone after putting down all of her garment bags her eyes went wide.
Please tell me you’re not out in London right now!
What are you wearing??
That cannot be Harry’s jacket Y/N
Seriously?
Please call me.
CALL ME. NOW.
- All from Jeff.
She grimaced. The others from her friends including Harry would have to be ignored right now. Even if Harry was her boss, Jeff was who she had to deal with when it came to public appearances and it didn’t seem like she could get around this one. Normally, she never had to deal with him, but it seems today wasn’t normal.
-
part 2
#harry styles fanfiction#harry styles x reader#harry styles#harry styles x you#harry styles x y/n#harry styles fluff#harry styles angst#harry styles smut#harry styles fan fic#harry styles fanfic#harry styles oneshot#harry styles one shot#harry styles imagine#smut soon#part 1#harrys stylist right?#agh pls enjoy im so nervous#feedback is needed or ill be sad#hopefully you enjoy#lmk!!
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