///My Favorite Fics\/// by JuliusSchmidt\
Yet In Thy Dark Streets Shineth, 57k
Louis’ life has become the very thing he’s always dreaded: routine. His job is steady, his bills are paid, his friends are preoccupied, his siblings are mostly old enough not to need him, and his mom keeps pestering him about attending church. Apparently, the new minister pulls rainbows and unicorns out of his robes.
Advent arrives three months into Harry’s first call as associate pastor at St. Andrews. Life is… not perfect. He’s still figuring out how do his job and the holidays bring a whole bundle of extra stress. On top of which, he has no friends or family nearby with whom he can decompress. Louis Tomlinson shows up to worship in the nick of time.
{This fic holds a special place in my heart for many reasons. For one thing, I read it as a WIP as Alex updated it each day of advent, and it gave me something wonderful to look forward to each day when I was struggling a bit. You know when a fic is there for you when you needed it? That’s what this fic did for me. Besides all that, it’s just an incredible story involving a trope I wouldn’t have tried if it weren’t Alex’s. That is the hallmark of a juliusschmidt fic to me. I think I don’t like something, but then she writes it and I can’t say that anymore.}
With his breakout single platinum three times over and his second album still selling out in stores around the world, Louis Tomlinson has made it to the top. However, his position as Pop Heartthrob of the Decade is threatened by the edgier, more artistic Zayn, who happens to be releasing an album a week after Louis’ upcoming third. Louis needs something groundbreaking- scandalous, even- to push past him in the charts. Much to Louis’ dismay, his PR team calls in The Sexpert.
Consulting with PR firm Shady, Lane and Associates pays the bills so that Harry Styles can spend his down time doing what he really loves: poring over data. On weekends and late into the evenings, he researches gender, presentation, and sexual orientation, analysing the longitudinal study that is his father’s life’s work. That is, until his newest client, the popstar with the fascinating secret, drags him off his couch and frighteningly close to the spotlight.
{Okay, so here again is an instance of me thinking I don’t like something (ABO), and then I read it the way Alex writes it and decide I love it. The themes in this fic are just amazingly captured and relevant and important. It’s not just a fan fic. It’s so much more. If nothing else though, read it for Harry’s obsession with Niall the professional golfer.}
Harry and Louis grew up together in Lake County, Harry with his mom and stepdad in a tiny cottage on Edward’s Lake and Louis in his family’s farmhouse a few minutes down the road. But after high school, Louis stuck around and Harry did not; Harry went to Chicago where he found a boyfriend and couple of college degrees. Six years later, Harry ends up back in Edwardsville for the summer and he and Louis fall into old patterns and discover new ones.
{THE CHARACTERS. No one captures characters the way Alex does. Flawed though they may be, you still root for them to get past their issues and be together. I believe my comment on this fic said that I hate/love her for being able to write characters like this. If you’re a writer, you’ll turn green with envy at these beautifully well rounded characters. And for being in just Louis’ POV, it’s amazing how well we get to know Harry in this through Louis’ eyes. Although of course there are some surprises along the way.}
This is a fic rec celebrating @juliusschmidt ‘s birthday! Alex, I like to think our friendship began when I harassed you with daily comments on your fics, and you like to think you wooed me with horrific Niall imagines. I think that probably says it all. Listen, Alex has so many iconic fics, it was hard to choose. You should just read them all. I would assume you’ve all read little wings on my shoes, but also do yourself a favor and read the harry, you little shit series as well. It’s not “complete,” but I think it ends in a satisfying (hehe) manner.
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