Disclaimer: The events of this story are not true or real in any way. This is purely fiction; I am just borrowing the names of celebrities for the purpose of this story. I mean no offense to Louis Tomlinson, Harry Styles, or any other characters in or mentioned in this story.
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Harry's POV:
When Niall returned with a clenched jaw, I gazed on in a combination of confusion and curiosity. Slowly resetting his face into an evidently fake smile, he approaches me with shrug.
"Is..Is Louis all good?"
"Bloody great. Um, do you... by any chance... like golf?" The blonde switched the subject unconvincingly, but my slight interest in golf was enough to convince me not to press the matter.
"Oh, yeah."
The conversation continued like that, us animatedly talking about golf, when Louis returned. He simply nodded, pretending to be invested in the conversation despite his clear disinterest in golf.
When the blonde woman calls our attention from the stage, I spot Niall mutter something in Louis' ear. I can't catch what he said, but he has a stony look on his face and a thin-lipped frown, Louis instead returning a hopeful smile.
"Okay, I want under eights over here, nine to twelve over here, thirteen to sixteen here and seventeens-and-up here! Move it people!" The blonde directs us by age, and I spot a tag reading Louise, Lead Counsellor.
"Wait, Harry, is it?" Paul Higgins, the director, calls to me. "You're with the seventeens, 'cause you're a lead."
"Thanks, Mr. Higgins."
"Call me Paul. Everyone does." The older man chuckles, walking off to deal with a group of fourteen-year-olds who were mucking around.
"You're with us, Haz." Louis says with a wide grin spanning across his face.
"H-haz?" I ask hesitantly.
"You don't like it? I can stop-"
"I love it." I smile shyly.
We stand awkwardly in the silence, staring at each other, neither of us saying anything.
"Right, hate to interrupt, lovebirds-" Niall cuts in with a smirk.
"No, I-" I blush, trying to clarify my sexuality.
"Yeah, yeah, you're 'straight'," he says with finger quotations, "but we've gotta get you introduced to Lou."
"Who?"
"Lou Teasdale, head counsellor and the best costume and makeup artist in all of the UK."
"That's a bit of a stretch, Nialler." Louis grins in the direction of the blonde woman, who playfully glares back at him.
Once Lou directs us to sit in a circle on the stage, we begin introductions. A few kids introduce themselves, and I try my hardest to remember all the names.
"Nick Grimshaw."
"Eleanor Calder."
"Ashton Irwin." An Australian accent takes me by surprise.
"Jessica Mauboy, but I go by Jess." Another Australian, seated to Ashton's right.
"Liam Payne." The kid sitting next to Louis.
"Zayn Malik." A desi kid who's head rests on Liam's shoulder.
"Taylor Swift." The blonde girl to Zayn's right.
"Louis Tomlinson."
"Niall Horan."
"Harry Styles."
"Nice to see a new face, Harry." Lou says kindly, obviously sensing my nervousness.
"Rita Ora." Another blonde, this time dyed.
"Okay, easy enough. Most of you would know each other, some of you know each other really well," Lou says, with a glance from Louis to Nick, "but now we're all caught up. This is the most prestigious summer theatre program for under-twenties in the entirety of Europe and the UK. We have a couple Australians," she gestures at Jess and Ashton, "an American," Lou gestures to Taylor, "And an Irishman." She ends with a glance to Niall.
"For those of you who are new to our ranks, welcome, and to the rest of you, welcome back. Louis is head of the boys dorms, Jess the head of the girls. If you have any questions, go to them. If you are not comfortable with labeling yourself as female or male, you can come talk to me for us to arrange a private room , the rooms are miniscule, but we want everyone to feel accepted, regardless of their gender."
Wait, there are genderqueer kids here?
"Okay, to clarify," Lou continues, "If you are using she/her/hers pronouns, raise your hand?"
Taylor, Eleanor, Jess and Rita all raise their hands.
"And, he/him/his pronouns?"
I hesitantly raise my hand. With my mates back home, I sometimes use she/her, but only with my best friends. Only the lads from White Eskimo know about that anyway, and I don't mind using he/him. I get kind of confused, because I still feel like a guy, I just like using those pronouns.
"Anybody using mixed pronouns? She/He? He/They, She/They? Any neopronouns? Also, if you aren't using them at home, we can still use them here, no questions asked."
Liam slowly raises his left hand, as his right shoulder is still being used as a headrest for Zayn.
"Uh, last year I just used he/him, but I've started using they/them a bit as well? Back in Wolverhampton?"
"That's great, Li. No problem." Lou says warmly.
Wow. I could-
But what if-
No. Stop. Being. Scared.
I push my hand into the air, forcing the small grin to stay on my face, despite my nerves.
"Yes, Harry?"
"He/She/They. But, uh, my parents don't know."
"That's okay, this is a safe space. Right, guys?"
Everyone around the circle nods, but Nick is staring right at me with a small smirk.
"Great. Okay, so, what I want to happen is that Louis' going to get you all started on a singing warmup, while I go check on the littlies, and then when I get back, we'll get into some vocal practise." With that the blonde-haired woman turns on her (incredibly high) heel and walks across to the thirteen-to-sixteen-year-olds.
"We'll just start with a basic one, one two one, okay?" Louis asks, everyone nodding as he gets us started.
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okay so these are the ages the celebs are in this fic;
Taylor swift - seventeen
Jess Mauboy - eighteen
Eleanor Calder - seventeen
Nick Grimshaw - eighteen
Ashton Irwin - sixteen (all 5sos members are 16 in this fic)
Liam Payne - seventeen
Zayn Malik - seventeen
Niall Horan - seventeen
Rita Ora - eighteen
Shawn Mendes - sixteen
and then obvs hazza is 16 and lou is 18
this chapter is a little on the short side, but i didn't want to force more words onto the page. the chapter felt like it was done. that sounds weird, i just didn't want to overwrite if that makes sense.
xx.
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Take Your Bows ~ L.S. AU
FanfictionEighteen-year-old Louis Tomlinson is the biggest theatre nerd on the planet. Ever since he played Danny Zuko in a high school production of Grease, he's been drawn in by the stage. Now he's a counselor at the summer theatre camp he's been attending...
