It was pretty uncomfortable, but there were some silver linings. Well not for them so much, but for fans and After-haters*, at least. Such as, when they were asked about fan fiction. Which by the way is a terrible idea, generally speaking! At least pretend the fourth wall is intact, holy hell!
*I don't want to say 'antis;. There's just a very specific type of entitlement, bullying and moral panic I associate with this word, because of dear ol' Tumblr.
Anyway, After wasn't mentioned by name, but the interviewer (Ben Winston) said “some of [the fanfiction] is getting published,” and After is the only fanfic that's getting published, so.
What they had to say and in particular, how they said it, was … let’s say, noteworthy.
Here's the link, if you want to see their reactions for yourselves.
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| From left to right: Niall, Harry, Liam, Louis and Zayn. |
First of all, I do not believe any of them when they say they haven’t read the fanfiction. Some of them are better liars than others, but these boys are not stupid or ignorant, and they don’t shelter themselves from the fandom.
I will start with Zayn, because Ben turns to him first and his reaction is pretty easy to analyze.
Zayn says, “I can’t say I’ve ever read any of it,” then starts rubbing his eye. Touching your face when you talk is a classic sign that you are lying. And the way he looks - yeah, he’s definitely read some of it! Then, when Liam is talking Zayn says, “and what I’ve heard from Louis as well, it’s crazy, I’d never even want to read some of it.”
I buy that Zayn doesn’t go looking for fanfiction - he doesn’t seem like the type - but the way he smiles when Louis is talking about the “cute little stories” - yes, he knows of it, at least. As for After - if this is something to go by, I think we can agree he's probably not too pleased.
Now, on the other side of the couch, we have Mr. Niall Horan. What can I say about Niall, really?
“I don’t think I’ve ever read any of it. Where do you even go looking for it? *laughs*”
Poor, innocent Nialler! He doesn’t even know about Tumblr (even though Liam admitted they do go on Tumblr in another interview), Instagram (even though he has one), Wattpad and AO3. Yeah, I’m not buying it!
Then Ben mentions the Channel 4 bullshit-mentary, as some of us lovingly call it. (It did not represent the fandom fairly at all, it made it all about the scandal and it was all around extremely cringe inducing.), and Niall laughs. Suffices to say, I don’t believe Niall for a second. He finds the whole thing way too amusing for someone who doesn’t even know where to find fanfiction, you see!
Onto Harry. Here’s the thing about Harry - he is the most obvious person on Earth! He is not subtle, and more often than not he doesn't attempt to hide how he really feels. That’s why I find Harry’s answer - or non-answer - really interesting.
See, Harry talked a lot throughout the rest of the interview. He answered every question. On the fanfiction question, however - he just makes a face and fiddles with his hair and jeans. I think at some point he started saying something like “I think,” but he was interrupted by everybody else talking over him. Either way, this expression says it all. That is the face of someone who is deeply uncomfortable and is just too nice to say anything.
It also pretty much proves that Harry totally reads fanfiction - or at least, that he is more aware of it than anyone else in the band, and there’s no way he could’ve missed After, of all things. It's the most famous story in the fandom. He must have read or at least know enough about it, and he sure doesn't seem to care for it!
Finally, my favorite reactions: Liam and Louis - the masters of throwing shade!
Liam is kind of the official "spokesperson" of the band, so he is usually the most diplomatic, but even he shades Anna a little. First when Ben says, “it’s a whole different world,” Liam continues,
“Yeah, exactly, it’s a whole different thing. But like you are saying - some of it just blows your mind and some of it is just completely off the mark. *makes a face*”
As for the first part of that statement, he could have been talking about anything, but the second part? Yeah, he was vagueing about After!
And then when Niall says, “I don’t even know - where do you go looking for it?” and Ben says, “Well that documentary on Channel 4;” Liam continues,
“You know I remember that, when I saw it on that, that documentary on Channel 4 and it just popped up and I was sat next to me dad and it’s the most awww-kward picture ever, I'm just looking at it: ‘Wow,’”
I don’t know what he’s talking about here exactly, but it's most like the graphic fan-art - probably the gay manips, because that documentary was insistent on giving everyone second-hand embarrassment.
Ben stops him then,
“Yeah, we don’t need to go there. But I know what picture you are talking about,”
Even though you brought it up, asshole! Which made Liam laugh uncomfortably.
But the award for best reaction goes to Louis!
First, Ben starts with, “some of it is getting published,” and Louis just says in astonished voice,
“This girl got a fortune, yeah, she’s getting a book deal, can you believe it?!”
There's absolutely no way to misinterpret that. Anna Todd is the only person getting a publishing deal and getting a "fortune" out of it.
Louis also licks his lips, looking angry and then when he is asked for a specific answer, he just looks exasperated and says,
“I’ve come across some [fanfiction] before on Twitter, and I think it’s utterly bizarre, some of it, to be honest. I mean some of them are-are-are like a nice little story, but some go very deep and very, very weird.”
Here, I’m getting that Louis reads fluffy fics, but the rest of it - he could be talking about After, he could be talking about tons of other stuff. Personally, I’d like to think he’s doing both.
In conclusion One Direction were asked about fan fiction and After was mentioned. They pretended they were like:
But in reality, they were like:
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