TRACK (4/15) - This anthology series is inspired by The 1975's album, A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships. Each song will have its own chapter. The chapter will be written from my interpretation of the song while the song is playing, so if you want to listen to the song [on repeat lol] and read along, feel free to do so.
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In a world that is divided...
you're either an artist or a writer...
and being with each other is forbidden...
"The small ship moved- no- sailed- under the rocking Swedish wind as Captain Monroe held his post by the wheel," Harry recites as his eyes follow along the screen of his laptop which holds against the swaying movement of the train, "The princess, at the sight of the young captain, held a scornful glare from a distance, her contempt for the former followed the delusions that lead them to be lost in the Baltic sea."
"Fūck," Harry glances at Y/N sitting across from him when he hears her curse, "I messed up!" She sighs, lifting her pencil from the paper of her sketch pad and replacing it with an eraser.
"What are you working on?" Harry chuckles as he uses a finger to push her sketch pad down enough to see for himself.
"This dumb portrait assignment for my art class," Y/N sighs, scratching her head as she pulls her sketch pad back, "I cannot draw noses. They're my Achilles heel."
"Well, let me see what you have so far. I'm sure it's not bad."
"You're gonna laugh."
"I won't," Harry promises, "I have no room to judge considering I'm limited to stick people in my repertoire."
"Yeah, well you're the writer between us," Y/N shrugs as she hands Harry her sketch pad.
The train they're on shakes as she passes it to him and the grinding of the gears beneath them is deafening. They both flinch and wince at the squealing.
Harry looks over the paper, raising his eyebrows as he recognizes himself in the drawing.
"You drew me?" He looks to Y/N who's chewing her lip nervously, her sights on the drawing of Harry rather than Harry himself. "It looks like me- it literally is me, every bit of it. I don't see any flaws." There's an element of narcissism in his appraisal for the piece which he admires further until the picture is taken from him.
"Your nostrils are problematic!" Y/N huffs as she takes her sketch pad back.
"My nostrils have done nothing but exist," Harry disagrees. "I think it's fine."
"You don't see what I see, H," Y/N sighs as she rips the page from her sketch pad and crumples the paper, tossing it aside.
Harry sighs in defeat. This tends to happen whenever he gives her his commentary on a piece she's working on. It first started with him pointing out small mistakes here and there– she'd asked after all– but after several occasions where she's had to restart, or worse, he found her crying in her room (from the stress, or him, it didn't matter) he limits himself to being positively vague.
Still, he can never calm the currents of self-doubt moving in her mind when she sees the slightest flaw. And it only worsens when she's on a deadline.
Sometimes she'll be working on a piece, and he'll give her space to work and when he comes by with something to eat her floors are blanketed by balls of paper, and a slightly distraught Y/N laying within them.
