How it Turned Out - Harry Styles fic Part 4
Y/N and Harry are nominated for the same Grammy and it's just a question of who will win. They finally meet in person but can they get over their phone call? Featuring anxious harry.
This is a much longer installment! I feel like we're really beginning to get into the meat of the story now.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 (working on making a masterlist hehe)
Taglist: @theekyliepage @sleutherclaw
Y/N wasn't really one to hold a grudge so she was more than happy to put her phone call with Harry behind her. Ultimately, she decided, it wasn't that deep. He'd misjudged where she was at in her career, and was probably not thinking about how the offer would sound from her end. And that was that.
It helped that they'd both been nominated for the same Grammy. Harry for his album Fine Line, and Y/N for hers called Morning Toast. That pretty much solidified that they were on equal footing to the public, and wiped any lingering imposter syndrome from Y/N's mind.
Y/N planned to make good on her promise to actually meet Harry now that she knew they'd be at the same award show. He seemed like a genuinely nice guy and honestly, their fans were right, they cold write an absolutely banging song together one day if they put their minds to it.
So she found herself bringing up their negliected text conversations the day before the award show, to send him a message.
Y/N: This is your 24 hour notice period to let me know if we're gonna end up dressed in the same outfit.
She needn't worry of course, their stylists will have made sure that their outfits were sufficiently unique, but it felt like an easy way to break the ice. Call it an olive branch.
But the hours ticked by, and no response. It was a little embarassing to be ghosted by Harry Styles himself.
Until an hour before she was due to leave, when her phone buzzed with a response.
Harry: okay I was going to send you a photo, but apparently I'm actually legally not allowed to. So I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
Y/N smiled to herself. Olive branch successfully received! It was sweet that he'd thought to send a photo.
Y/N: Oof, very suspenseful!
Before she could wait for a reply, her phone was whisked away from her so they could do her final hair and makeup checks.
Red carpets were kind of awful, but since she was nominated, Y/N figured she should make the effort to talk to some reporters.
For obvious reasons, there were more than a few questions about her outfit. Namely who she had to bribe to let her arrive on the red carpet shirtless.
"Well," she told one interviewer. "I had to sign a lot of paper work saying that I would keep my nips covered, and then practice moving without flashing everyone. It took weeks of training." She winked for effect, and to keep the interviewer on her toes. In reality, she was obviously covered up underneath her jacket, and a hand in each pocket did more than enough to keep the lapels in place.
She moved onto the next person, who asked her "do you think you'll win?". It was a slightly cruel question that he seemed to think would trap her. But she'd faced plenty of those in her time.
"I'm up against some really great musicians, I especially love Taylor and Harry's albums. But equally I know I've worked just as hard as they have and I believe that my album is a solid contender. I'll be happy with whoever wins, but I think it'd be really special for an album that openly speaks about being a bisexual woman could get recognised." She felt good about her answer, toeing the line between confident and humble. But equally, she couldn't help but feel a little guilty knowing that not every artist had the luxury of being as open about their sexuality as she was.
She moved to the next person with a microphone, who greeted her warmly before
"Harry over here!" You hadn't noticed him, but he must've arrived while you were being interviewed. He looked up and smiled at the interviewer, mouthing a brief "hello".
"I know him," said the interviewer proudly. Y/N smiled generously.
"That makes one of us!" she joked.
"Oh, you've never met him? We better change that now," he said, beckoning Harry over again. This time Harry nods and makes his way over.
"Hi Harry. Congrats on the nomination. I've got your fellow nominee Y/N here too, and she was just explaining to me that the two of you have never met."
Harry turned to look at Y/N with a smile.
"That's true," he said, extending a hand. "Nice to meet you, I'm Harry." Y/N took his hand with an amused grin.
"I'm Y/N," she mimicks, keeping up their charade. "Now tell me Harry, are you famous or something, because I feel like I know you from somewhere."
The Harry and the interviewer laugh.
"That's a mighty fine suit you've got there Y/N, almost as good as mine," Harry smiles cheekily.
"Why thank you, although you seem to have been generously provided with a shirt for once, unlike me," Y/N smirks.
"Must be a special occassion."
"Actually," butts in the interviewer. "I'd love to ask you both about that. You're both pretty notorious for doing your shows shirtless, what is that about?"
"Uhhh..." said Harry with a shy laugh. He looked to Y/N for help.
"I can't speak for Harry, but I don't think it should feel all that outrageous for people to be able to see my body. People take it as a statement from me, and to an extent it is, but that's not why I do it. I do it because I like the way it looks, I like that people are seeing me on my terms and maybe a little bit for the drama."
Harry threw her an appreciative smile, before saying "It was nice talking to you," to the interviewer, turning to Y/N to say "Really lovely meeting you," and ducking into the venue.
Y/N said her goodbyes to the papparazzi and made her way in after him, keen to talk more to him. He seemed to have disappeared into the throng of people milling about inside, however, making him difficult to find. Y/N made the rounds, saying hi to friends and congratulating those who had been nominated for awards.
She was, however, determined. She scanned her eyes over the crowds of people making their ways towards their various tables and caught Harry just as he sat himself down on
Harry," she said. "Harry!" she repeated when he continued staring stubbornly in the other direction.
"What!" he finally snapped. Y/N frowned.
"Um, are you alright?"
"Yeah, yeah," he said with an eye roll.
"I'm sorry, I thought we agreed that next time we met we would introduce ourselves properly," she said, crossing her arms for dramatic effect. "But if now's a bad time..."
"No it's, uh, thanks for saving me out there, I really did not have an answer to that question."
"No worries," she replied. He still wouldn't look at her. "I thought we could maybe have a chat, if you're interested," she continued.
"That's not necessary, I know where we stand," he said sullenly.
"What do you mean? I thought we had a deal that next time we were in the same room we'd finally have a conversation. Don't tell me that interview was all for show?"
"Well yes we did say that, but that was before-"
"Before I bruised your ego by rejecting your generous offer to make you look good?" she smirked, feeling like she'd hit the nail on the head of what his problem was.
"No I-"
"Relax, I'm a big girl. It's not that deep, Harry." She really meant it as well.
"No that's not what happened okay. That's not what I mean," he pleaded.
"Seriously, let's start over. I hear there's a spare chair at my table, and if you're not here with anyone, I think it's high time we got accquainted, yes?"
"Oh of course," he said, a little confused. "I'd be honoured."
"Honoured? My, aren't we old fashioned," Y/N said. "Alright, well my table is over there." She pointed to her table. "So when you have a moment, pop over and say hi."
Harry's eyes widened in some emotion that looked strangely hopeful given his previous rudeness.
"Yeah, I will be over in a few minutes, I promise," he said with alarming sincerity.
"Alright see you then," Y/N said.
As he had so solemnly promised, Harry did sit down at the spare seat next to her a couple of minutes later.
Y/N opened her mouth to speak, but found a hand planted over her mouth.
"Please just let me speak, first" Harry implored. "Don't say anything until I've said my piece," he begged. Y/N's eyes widened in confusion, but Harry just waited until she nodded before removing his hand.
"Jesus, take me out to dinner first will you?" Y/N joked, pointing towards his recently moved hand. Harry met her with an irritated look.
"Okay, sorry! Shutting up now." She zipped her lips.
Harry waited a moment as if to check she really was going to stay quiet, and then started speaking.
"I just wanted to to apologise properly for what I asked you. I am so embarrassed about how I treated you on the phone. I was so wrapped up in how great you are, and how great your music is, and I somehow decided that that was something I could use for my own benefit. I wasn't even thinking about how it would seem on the other end. I never meant to imply I thought I was better than you, or more successful or anything, because you're truly one of my favourite artists. And I just think you're so so cool and I'd really like to be friends. And now you think I'm some pretentious dickhead, and maybe you're right, I don't know. And then I was so rude to you earlier. I didn't mean to snap at you I was just so scared I was gonna fuck it up again." He blurted the whole thing out in one breath, staring stubbornly in the other direction and wringing his hands in his lap.
"Harry," Y/N said, cautiously reaching out to stop the movement of his with one of hers, and using her other hand to gently coax his face back in her direction. "You're shaking," she pointed out, concerned."
"Shit, sorry." He snatched his hands away and planted them solidly on his thighs.
"No it's okay, look at me yeah?" She gently pulled his hands away. "Look at me."
With what looked like a concerted effort, he did as she asked. His eyes looked a little glossy.
"God, this is so embarrassing," he said. Y/N shook her head as if to say this won't do.
"Okay, now you be quiet yes?" she said. Harry nodded obediently. "I was very sleep deprived and caught by surprised when you asked me to open for you, so I'm sorry if I came across angrier than I was. I was a little peeved, I'll give you that, but I meant what I said earlier. It's water under the bridge, let's forget the whole thing and be friends okay?"
Harry smiled nervously.
"You're sure you don't secretly hate me?"
Y/N chuckled.
"Course I don't," she smiled. "Now then, what do you say to a drink?" she said, reaching for a two glasses and the bottle of prosecco in the middle of the table. Harry nodded , and watched as she pours them a healthy amount each. She handed him a glass.
"Cheers," she said. "To us." Harry clinked his glass against hers. "And may the best album win."
"Oh please," said Harry. "Everyone knows it'll be yours that wins.
"I don't know... people seem pretty obsessed with Watermelon Sugar."
"Hey, you know for a fact One Time* outstreamed Watermelon Sugar by far," Harry pointed out.
"Youve done your homework, pulled that statistic out of no where didn't you?" Y/N laughed, surprised. "I may have outstreamed you, but only one of us was smart enough to release a song that was appropriate for the radio," Y/N replied, referencing the rather explicit lyrics of her song.
"You so could've come up with a radio appropriate version, surely?" Harry asked with genuine curiosity.
"Oh yeah, tell me how I could've rewritten the lyrics I just wanna take you home and fuck you into something they'd play on the radio without it sounding completely ridiculous."
"Hm, okay let me think," Harry said, taking a sip of his drink. "This is harder than I expected."
"Told you!"
"You could've said, um," he paused again, making Y/N laugh. "How about take you home and screw you, oh no, that's terrible." He shook hid head and laughed. "Yep, you were right." The pair chuckled.
An announcer came onto the stage and asked people to return to their seats.
"That's my cue to go back to my table, I guess," said Harry. "But will I see you at the after party? I'd love to talk more."
"Yeah I will be, I promise," Y/N replied, echoing his earlier words.
"Great." Harry hesitated. "And good luck, you really do deserve it."
"Good luck, Harry. So do you," she said with a smile. With a final nod, Harry made his way back to his seat.
***
The award show was good fun, with great performances from other musicians, including a few of Y/N's friends. But in all honesty, she couldn't really pay attention.
She was nervous about the outcome of her nomination. She wanted to win, or else get the whole thing out of the way. The anticipation was a lot.
But more than that she found that her eyes kept slipping to find Harry's several tables away. From their short conversation earlier, it was clear they had a similar sense of humour, so when a presenter or a winner said something that made her laugh, she looked without thinking to see if he was laughing too. Almost invariably, he was. More important, though, was the fact that more often than not, he was looking at her too. And that meant... well it meant something, she wasn't entirely sure what.
Eventually, the time came for Best Album to be announced, and neither of them could look away from each other for a second. It's you, mouthed Harry. Y/N grinned and shook her head. It's definitely you, she replied.
Then the person on stage started to speak.
"And the winner of this years Best Album goes to..."
The room seemed to close around the two of them, as they waited.
And waited.
On stage, the announcer opened the envelope and took the card out at a glacial pace.
"It goes to Taylor Swift!" The announcer shouted.
Harry and Y/N's eyes widened in joint surprise, and they just sort of stared at one another. Y/N had quite honestly forgotten that other people were nominated for the award at all. She mechanically started to clap, eyes still locked on Harry, who remained as confused looking as ever. An honest to God grin broke out on Y/N's face at the sight of it. It seemed he had forgotten the very same thing.
Harry seemed to knock himself out of his bewildered stage with a chuckle, which caused Y/N to break into a quiet laugh, which made both of them giggle. Y/N took a deep breath in through her nose to try and calm herself, conscious that there were probably cameras on her.
Finally, when Taylor started to speak into the microphone on stage, Y/N dragged her eyes away from Harry. She really owed it to Taylor to give this speech her full attention.
The next chapter will be Harry and Y/N hanging out at the Grammys after party and finally getting to know each other, maybe bumping also into an ex... who's to say.
*Y/N's song One Time is inspired by the song One Time by Chinchilla .I imagine Y/N's version to be a bit more guitar heavy/rock influenced but the vibe of song is just so good I had to use it. Especially those vocals at the end woweeee.
My askbox is open for any questions about the series! And for those wondering, I have deliberately set this series before Harry's House for ~plot reasons~.
