#does anyone have screencaps of the moments tyler appears?

[chefgeofframsay]

Safe And Sound 11/15

Title: Safe And Sound Chapter: 11/15 Pairing: Eventual Michael/Reader Rating: PG-13 for the series Word Count: 4,260 Summary: Six months ago, your life was turned upside down when you won a recording contract on a singing contest reality show. It’s been a blur since then, and things were looking up for you, but people were starting to cross the line with you, putting your safety in danger. At the urging of your label, your manager found you a bodyguard that you could connect with, someone who would be a friend on the lonely nights of traveling. However, instead of getting the bodyguard that oozed masculinity, you got Michael.

The first night of the tour went off without a hitch. It continued, night after night, to go incredibly well. You were lucky enough to have some really wonderful audiences who wanted to get involved. They were as excited to see you as you were to see them and it created a wonderful energy that kept you going. You were nervous, but you didn’t feel like you were drowning anymore. It also helped that Michael was keeping his promise, night after night. No matter when you turned to backstage, he was always there, giving you an encouraging nod.

 As Trevor said, the press before the show every night was getting easier. In most places, it was just one radio interview with a dj that wasn’t a complete dickwad, and maybe one magazine interview. Sometimes, it was a blogger. Either way, it was easier than it was in LA. Michael was breathing down Trevor’s neck more every day. Michael was just continuously annoyed that the record company was willing to send you into shitty situations like that radio interview in LA for the sake of exposure, and that for two whole weeks of the two, food time wasn’t in the schedule. It was added after a particularly long argument with the two men.

 Every day, Jon and Ashley would go on about someone else they thought was cute. Sometimes, you joined in because being with them was fun and people were cute. They constantly teased you, trying to convince you to flirt with people you thought were cute, but you just shook them off. Michael always left after those conversations in a bad mood and you weren’t sure why. When you brought it up to Jon and Ashley in the moments where Michael wasn’t around, they’d just share a knowing look with each other. It was getting annoying.

 The youtube show was going surprisingly well. In a phone call with Ryan, who was in more constant contact with Trevor than he was with you, he told you that the executives were thrilled beyond belief at the response the show was getting. Apparently, you were right. Letting people have access to things but running ads seemed to pay off. The meltdown you’d had garnered thousands of views, as well as well wishes from fans. It’d also sparked shipping of you and your bodyguard. One night, when you properly alone in your bunk, you watched that episode, trying to see what they saw. In part, it was because you were curious to see where they were coming from, and in part because you wished it was true. No matter how much you tried to shake your feelings for Michael, they were just getting stronger, and you couldn’t avoid him. You just kept telling yourself he didn’t feel the same way, and you were lucky to have him as a friend, but it was there, nagging.

 ‘Look at the way he fucking wrecks anyone who remotely poses a threat!’ one commenter stated, ‘He really has to love her. Look at how he did everything he could to make her more comfortable.’

 A few more minutes of browsing the internet, you found a screencap of Michael looking at you while you were on stage. It was a rare moment to see him at ease like that, especially around other people.

 ‘Get a man who looks at you the way that Michael looks at [Y/N]’ the caption read.

 You’d even read a ridiculous theory that the reason Michael and Trevor were always fighting was because you were hooking up with Trevor (you definitely weren’t) and Michael was jealous. Deciding strangers speculating on your love life was not something you wanted to see in-depth, you left that corner of the internet, and ended up watching cat videos until you fell asleep. After that, you found yourself looking over at Michael more, desperate to catch him looking at you the way he’d done in that screencap, but no such luck. It was probably a fluke and didn’t mean anything anyway.

 About four months into the seven-month tour, everyone had seemed to hit their rhythm. The show was great, the youtube channel was thriving, and you’d all grown pretty close. Even Cole, the man behind the camera that followed you around, and you had developed a bond. You’d all fallen into routines and those were what kept you properly sane. Between shows, you spent a good deal of time in your bunk on the bus, either asleep or destressing with youtube videos or something like that. No one really interrupted this me time, not even Michael, and you were eternally thankful for the chance to recharge your batteries, so to speak.

 You were just about asleep when there was a loud bang, and the bus gave a jolt. You tried to sit up, realized you were in a bunk, and instead rolled out as the bus pulled over to the side of the road. You weren’t the only person who had been startled by the commotion either, because Michael was out of his own bunk, and Cole was popping out from the back area, putting his camera over his shoulder. After a minute, everyone had appeared and was filing out of the bus, leaving everyone to stand on the side of the road.

 “What’s going on?” you asked, looking nervously at the bus, which was now smoking ominously.

 “Something broke,” Michael said shortly. “Do you not see the smoke?”

 “Yes, I see the smoke,” you replied, giving him a curt look. “I meant does anyone know what it is.”

 “Not yet,” sighed Jack, the bus driver, a man with a beard and a kind demeanor. “Give me five minutes and I’ll figure it out.” With that, he headed towards the smoking bus, and disappeared behind an open compartment door. You’d always really liked Jack. There were times you made your way up to see him, and the two of you had generally pleasant conversations. He’d stated once he was surprised that you were so willing to talk to him, and you made a point to do so every chance you had.

 “Trevor already looks to be having a meltdown,” Cole pointed out, nodding in the direction of your tour manager, who was on the phone and looking particularly panicked. Michael chuckled beside you, and you frowned.

 “He’s doing his job,” you said defensively. “You realize if the bus is broken down, we don’t get there in time, and the whole thing’s screwed, right?” You’d noticed Cole had turned the camera from Trevor to you and Michael and you sighed internally. Most of the time, the cameras didn’t bother you, but there was always a moment, like on the first night, you wish they weren’t around at all.

 “How do you think this is all going to go?” Tyler, the show production manager, asked as he joined the throng of people you were with.

 “I mean, I hope the bus can be fixed and we’re not out here too long?” you responded. “We have a show to get to.”

 “And what about you, Michael?” Tyler turned to your bodyguard. “What do you think of the bus breaking down?”

 “This is fucking stupid,” Michael replied shortly. You burst into laughter at his response. That was Michael, to the point and annoyed. Both Tyler and Cole gave you a look as you continued to laugh, wiping a tear out of the corner of your eye, but Michael didn’t seem to care. In fact, there was a momentary smug look on his face, as if he were proud of the fact he made you laugh.

 “Great,” sighed Cole. “Grade A content, Michael.” He was clearly annoyed, and for some reason, that made you laugh even harder. You definitely felt bad about that, and you felt worse as Cole shot you a look, but you couldn’t control it. You tried to apologize, but not being able to stop laughing made it incredibly hard.

 In the end, the bus wasn’t as broken as originally anticipated. Jack, and a mechanic from roadside assistance, ended up being able to patch up whatever it was that was leaking. When the fluid hit the engine, it caused the smoke you all saw when you got off the bus. Being only forty miles or so from the venue meant that it was safe to get you there, but the patch job wasn’t going to last forever. You overheard Jack and Trevor on the phone with someone from the record company on your way back onto the bus, but you weren’t entirely sure what they were planning. Maybe it was another bus since the one you were on now was absolutely going to need to get fixed.

 The show that night, blissfully, went off without a hitch. The biggest problem after the bus situation was that Jon couldn’t figure out what you looked better in. You’d ended up in pleather leggings and oversized sweatshirt with a cartoon print that you’d probably sweat in, but he was muttering about how it looked okay but it wasn’t right. You weren’t sure how to really allay his concerns, but you went out on stage just the same, and did your thing.

 After the show, and the meet and greet, you went out to find that there was a new bus since the other one was going to need to be properly repaired. It was more or less the same on the inside, and it only took you a minute to switch all your stuff from one bus to the other. Then, you were curled up in your bunk and out like a light. You managed to sleep all the way through the night, and by the time you woke up, you were pulling into the next venue. After rehearsal, you took to wandering, and ended up stumbling upon the mobile office for the youtube show team.

 “Hey, [Y/N],” Tyler greeted, giving you a warm smile as you meandered in. “What can we do for you?”

 “Just figured I’d come say hi,” you explained, “I’ve got a little downtime and I feel like I don’t really see you guys.” You waved to Aaron, the guy in charge of editing that you’d met way back at the launch party, and he gave you a nod before turning back to his monitor.

 “That’s kind of the point,” Cole chuckled from behind his own computer. “We’re the ones filming. We don’t usually end up on screen.”

 “Doesn’t mean we can’t talk when you’re not filming,” you countered, and all Cole did was shrug in response. “So, how does this whole thing work, anyway?” you asked, turning to look at Tyler. Tyler smiled at you, seeming a little excited that you had seemed to take an interest in what they did. He launched into an explanation of what happened after Cole was done filming, and how things got edited and sent out, double checked by someone with a non-mobile computer set up, and then uploaded.

 “Do you guys have a lot of footage?” you questioned, looking over at Cole. “You know, that you don’t end up using?”

 “A ton,” answered Cole. “Want to see some of it? It’s pretty much all boring stuff, that’s why it didn’t get used, but I shot it. Someone should watch it.” You chuckled, nodding. You headed for his station, and he got up to let you sit down. He reached over you, clicking around on his computer until a ton of files in a folder came up.

 “This is all the most recent stuff,” he told you, “if you click back, you’ll go to labeled folders, and they’re all dates. Makes enough sense.” He clicked on a file, which launched, but then quickly switched back to the list of files. “At some point, you should watch that one I just opened,” he told you, an undiscernible look on his face. “I think you might find it interesting.” He set you up with a pair of headphones, and left you to it. You picked through the files, watching a few minutes of conversations you’d had here and there before getting bored and picking another one.

 Eventually, you decided on watching the video Cole had picked out for you. In the still frame was Michael and Trevor, neither looking particularly happy, and what you assumed was a door that was blurry. Cole had definitely been hiding behind something when he’d filmed it. You looked over at him, giving him a questioning look, but it was missed completely as he was talking to Tyler. A little nervous, you decided to hit play.

 “—ou can’t just do that!” Trevor was saying, “And I didn’t plan this shit, so don’t come to me and start yelling. I have as much say in what gets scheduled as you do.”

 “I can just do that,” Michael snapped back. “I’m her fucking bodyguard and if they’re going to continue put her in harm’s way, I’m going to continue to say shit about it.”

 “Look,” Trevor sighed heavily, “I get it, you’re good at your job, but I don’t see why that means you have to make mine harder. I’m trying to do what’s best.”

 “If you were actually trying to do what’s best for [Y/N], you’d take care of her,” Michael told him, “She shouldn’t have had to continuously ask to have time to get food between interviews. You realize she’s useless to the record company if she’s dead, right? Fucking do your job and take care her.”

 “You’re doing a pretty good job of it yourself,” said Trevor.

 “Because someone fucking has to,” replied Michael, glaring at Trevor. Trevor looked exasperated, but then after a moment, his brow furrowed in confusion, and then something seemed to dawn on him. He rubbed his face for a moment before dropping it back down.

 “Are you ever planning on telling [Y/N] that you’re in love with her?” Trevor asked.

 Your heart dropped into your stomach, and for a moment, you couldn’t breathe. Trevor thought Michael was in love with you? There was a part of you that wanted that to be true, that you wanted Trevor to be right. But he couldn’t be. You were more than certainly into Michael like that, but it was dumb. It had been a dumb crush, and considering how much time the two of you spent together since Ryan hired him, it made sense that you still had feelings for him. It was one-sided, though. It had to be. He didn’t feel the same way about you. Or did he?

 Michael looked at him, and his expression softened slightly. He wasn’t glaring at Trevor anymore, just looking at him. He was opening his mouth to speak again when…

 “Hey!” A voice came from beside you as the video was paused and the headphones were pulled from your head. It was Ashley, looking a little frantic.

 “Wait, wait, wait!” you exclaimed, “Ashley, I need to watch that!”

 “No time!” she told you, “we need to get you ready for this interview. Big deal!” She was tugging you up and you were making noises, pointing back at the computer as she pulled you away.

 “You don’t get it!” you whined. “That’s a bigger deal!” As she tugged you out of the production mobile office, Cole looked back at you, giving you a knowing look. He’d heard the whole thing and he wanted you to know but you hadn’t finished the video.

 “It has to wait,” Ashley sighed, “Trevor’s having a fit you’re not ready already.”

 “Trevor!” you exclaimed, “I need to talk to him, like, now. You don’t understand.” As the two of you headed for the dressing room, you saw Trevor off by the stage, talking to one of the crew members. You shook Ashley off, almost sprinting for your tour manager.

 “You!” you shouted, pointing at him as you approached. He looked up, deer caught in the headlights look on his face. You grabbed his arm, tugging him along until you found a quiet corner. You shoved him against the wall, holding him by the arms so he couldn’t get away.

 “We need to talk. Right now.”

 Trevor looked at your hands holding him, and then up at your face. “Is it about the fact you’re into me?” he asked, “Because Jon and Ashley already told me and honestly, [Y/N], I’m flattered, but I’m going to have to pass.” You stared at him, bewildered. He laughed, an easy smile on his face. “I’m kidding, I didn’t think they were serious and by the look on your face, I’m right.” With a little bit of effort, he freed himself of you, grabbing you by the wrists, and removing them from his arms. He stepped back from the wall and let go. “Now, what has you all worked up?”

 “The conversation you had with Michael the other day,” you stated in a rushed voice.

 “I have a lot of conversations with him,” Trevor pointed out. “Which one are you talking about?”

 “The one where you asked him if he was ever going to tell him he was in love with me,” you told him. Trevor’s face fell. Whatever he thought you were on about, it certainly wasn’t that. He suddenly seemed uncomfortable, and looked down at his shoes.

 “Wha—how did you even know about that?” he asked, his voice dropping to a lower volume.

 “Cole,” you said shortly.

 “Of course,” he sighed. “Look, what goes on with you and Michael isn’t any of my damn business, and I promise, I won’t tell a soul.” You stared at him.

 “Tell anyone what?” you asked. “Trevor, I didn’t get to see what he said. You need to tell me, now.” He looked even more uncomfortable, shaking his head.

 “[Y/N]…this really is—isn’t any of my business,” he told you, trying to dig his way out, but you needed to hear it. You weren’t giving up.

 “Trevor, please,” you begged. “Just tell me what he said.” He looked up from his shoes, making a face. After a moment, he slumped, and nodded.

 “Look, I’m not getting in the middle,” he told you. “If he comes after me again, that’s on you and I swear…”

 “He won’t,” you groaned, “now talk!”

 “He told me that you had enough to worry about without having to figure out how to reject your bodyguard,” Trevor informed. “And that if I told a soul, he’d kick my ass.”

 You couldn’t even begin to describe how you felt as those words hit your ears. You were into Michael…and he was into you. He’d told Trevor, the last person you’d figured he’d tell anything personal to, that he loved you. Michael didn’t deny it. You couldn’t believe it. You were somewhere between floating on a cloud and panicking as your heart thumped a million times a minute.

 “It explains why he’s being such a dick to me,” Trevor sighed. His words shook you from your thoughts and you gave him a confused look.

 “What?”

 “Well, Jon and Ashley knew you thought I was cute,” he explained. “Maybe Michael did too. Saw me as competition.” He chuckled, nodding behind you. “You really need to get ready, by the way. Ashley’s still right there.” You turned to see her waiting a few feet away from you. You nodded, thanked Trevor, and headed for Ashley, still in a daze. She led you to the dressing room, where wordlessly, you grabbed the outfit Jon had picked out for you and gone to put it on. The two of them were speaking as animatedly as ever, and constantly asking you questions, but you were still trying to process it all. Michael loved you. It wasn’t until you were sitting in Ashley’s chair, and she was working on your hair, that you managed to find words.

 “Cole…Cole records everything,” you stated. Ashley and Jon went quiet, both giving you curious looks.

 “Did he get something the public can’t see?” Jon asked nervously. “He should know better than to be recording you when—”

 “Not me!” you exclaimed, cutting him off. “He got this conversation between Trevor and Michael.” You paused, and they both looked at you intently, waiting for you to explain why it mattered. “They were fighting again, surprise. Michael was like ‘you need to take care of her!’ and,” you did your best Michael impersonation before breaking out your Trevor, “Trevor was like ‘you do a good job of it already’ and then Trevor just kind of stared at him and then he asked Michael if he was ever going to tell me he was in love with me.” You paused. “He didn’t deny it either.” You looked at the two of them, expecting them to be as surprised as you were, but they weren’t. They simply just looked at each other and then back at you.

 “Did you guys…not hear me?” you asked. “Michael’s in love with me.”

 “We know,” Jon said shortly.

 “We’ve known a while,” Ashley pointed out. “Honestly, I don’t know how you didn’t see it.”

 “What are you talking about?”

 “Think about it,” Jon said, leaning on the wall as Ashley went back to fiddling with your hair. “He got real angry, that silent, grumpy angry, where his muscles tense, when we were talking about you how you should hook up with Trevor if you thought he was cute.”

 “By the way!” you interjected. “Fuck you guys for telling Trevor.” Jon smirked, chuckling.

 “It was a joke,” he told you. “You both needed to loosen up a little and I was trying to help. But I wasn’t serious. I figured you had your heart set on Michael.”

 “Yeah?” you asked, “why?”

 “Because I’ve seen the way you look at him,” he said simply.

 “Plus, he was the only one you wanted when you were freaking out that first night of tour,” Ashley pipped in. “Trevor and I weren’t any help and then Michael came in and the both of you went to each other. It was sweet, honestly.” You could feel yourself blushing under your makeup.

 “You should tell him you know,” Jon told you. You looked at him, eyes widening.

“What? Why should I?”

 “Because you already know he feels the same way,” he scoffed. “It’s a risk-free bet, kid. Just tell him.”

 You opened your mouth to protest, but at that moment, someone knocked on the door and it swung open. Michael found his way into the room, closing the door behind him. He nodded at the three of you before sitting himself on the couch and letting his eyes fall shut. Jon made a face and jerked his head towards Michael. You shook your head as best you could without messing Ashley up. Jon mouthed ‘tell him, damn it’ and before you could reply, Ashley was giving you gentle squeeze on the shoulder.

 “You’re good to go,” she told you. “Jon and I have to go talk to Trevor about getting some more stuff, and we have to find out if we still have a budget. So, just hang out here until the interview? I’m sure we’ll be back.”

 With that, the two gave you thumbs up and headed out of the room, closing the door behind them.

 You sighed heavily, feeling nervous in the way you had back when you first auditioned for the show that started it all. You were part on an adrenaline rush, part feeling like you were going to vomit, but you took a deep breath. You turned to Michael, who was still sitting on the couch with his eyes closed. You gulped, before speaking.

 “Hey, Michael?” you called over to him, voice wavering slightly. Damn your nerves.

 “Yeah?” he replied in a tired voice. Your mouth went dry, but you could picture Jon and Ashley, pushing you to just saying.

 “I…uh, I heard about your conversation with Trevor,” you told him. He opened one eye, looking at you as you stood up, walking over to the couch. You took a spot next to him, playing with the zipper of your boots once you could reach them.

 “Which one?” he asked nonchalantly, still looking at you through his one open eye.

 “The…” you started, faltering. You had to do this. You opened your mouth, and then shut it quickly. You took a deep breath, and saw Michael was looking at you with both eyes open now, head turned towards you. “The one where you told him you love me.”

 His face fell, and then contorted into anger, and then into what you could only assume was panic. He stared at you for a moment, mouth opening and closing. He seemed to be searching for something, anything to say to you. His immediate response wasn’t to deny it, like he hadn’t with Trevor, but it overall seemed to be more of an intense reaction, and you weren’t quite sure what to make of it. He wasn’t saying anything and you really needed him to because the silence and the look on his face was killing you. “Fuck,” Michael groaned, his hand going to his hair. He pulled at the growing curls, still trying to string a sentence together to say to you. “Fucking…I told him I’d kick his ass,” he muttered, “Fuck, [Y/N], look, I—”

 Michael never finished his sentence as you were struck with a moment of bravery. You grabbed his face in your hands, and before either of you knew it, your lips were on his.

#michael x reader #fic #series: safe and sound #wc: 4K #rt reader insert #rt imagine #ragehappy

[valerie]

My Point of View of Our Side

I started writing this a bit ago, maybe a week after the action all went down. I have hinted about it and I’ve finally decided to post it. I feel that it needs to be out there in the universe…

If you don’t know me…

Before social media, in the time of fan forums and fan created fan sites, I found myself hooked by the Herc/Xena fandom. I learned so much about interacting with fellow fans, how I wanted to portray myself online, and the perils of being part of a group as a fan. I attended various conventions and met my fellow fans in person along with the actors and actresses from our favorite shows. I befriended like minded fans who are still my friends to this day.

I stretched out my creativity by writing fan fiction (go on, ask me about the Temple of Ares) as well as maintaining fan sites for different actors or singers. I was one of many Kevin Smith (“Ares”) fansites and the one for Erik Thomson (“Hades) as well as William Gregory Lee (“Virgil;” he let me use his name as my URL). I even had a Ryan Gosling site! I gathered up articles, screencapped tv and movie appearances, even recorded sound bytes! All in good fun, of course.

I don’t know when I stopped updating my sites. It was a gradual slow-down. Kevin died. Erik’s work was in Australia and I didn’t have the means to watch some of it. Greg’s gigs were few and far between and I eventually let go of the URL. I switched web hosting providers and lost some of my site files that way. My site turned into a blog, which works better for me now, I think.

I don’t have active fan sites on my own domain now but I am still a total fangirl. I just choose to show my fangirl love via social media. I do screencaps of my favorites and show them off (hello, Sullivan Stapleton). I’ve written my Listworthy posts, which are basically love letters to my favorites. I’m part of the Jacob Davis Squad (spreading the word on singer songwriter Jacob Davis), I can be found in various Tyler Rich fan groups, I’m all in for Jordan Davis. The aforementioned groups are loosely organized and I’m more a member just doing my part to spread the word than an actual driving force. And I’m happy with it. (Although it helps that I’ve met Jacob, Tyler, and Jordan and seen them perform live.)

Behind the scenes of a particular unnamed fandom

Then there’s Fans of Listworthy5*. (This isn’t about publicly calling out anyone and I don’t want to affect any tenuous relationship we might have with Listworthy5 so I thought I’d not mention him by name even though if you know me and my affiliations, you know exactly who he is and what the group is…)

We are a group whose purpose is to spread the word on actor Listworthy5. We support him and his work. We interact with fellow fans, hopefully in a positive manner. We have a blog as well as accounts on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, and even Pinterest. The Twitter and Facebook accounts probably get the most interaction and traffic due to their function while the Instagram posts get a fair amount of likes.

My friend started the endeavor and almost five years ago, she asked me if I would like to be part of it. After some reflection, I said yes. Yes, I had to take some time to consider it because I knew it would be a commitment and it had been a long time since I’d actually set myself to be more active as a fan. I wasn’t sure I could keep up but I wanted to try because why the heck not?

The Kickass Show (starring Listworthy5 and Listworthy6) was winding down at that point and we wanted to keep the attention active on Listworthy5. The Twitter and Facebook accounts were steady but could use more attention. The IG opened up about six months after I joined. We brought in another person, then another. One of them left then we added two more. We were a group of five for a year and a half or so until very recently.

What does it take to be one of our group? First and foremost– trust. When my friend asked me to join her, she trusted me. When we expanded our group, we trusted those invited. This is supposed to be fun and informative otherwise why do it? Contrary to what people might think, we aren’t doing all of this just for his attention. Do we want his attention? Sure! Are we willing to sell each other out for it? Umm, no. Do we want meaningful dialogue with our fellow fans? Of course. We’re not in it to stroke our own egos. We’re in it to share with each other and with our fellow fans.

When you’re in a group promoting and sharing the love for the favorite, you operate within certain parameters. Who sets those parameters? In our group, for the big decisions, we defer the one who created the space. More often than not, if a majority of us feel the same way, she will defer to us. But it’s supposed to be a group effort, especially in terms of the big things. My personal philosophy is this– you shouldn’t know if it’s one person or fifty in terms of who’s posting from our accounts. We speak with one voice, perhaps bringing our own flavor now and then. But we do for the group because we respect one another, Listworthy5, and our fellow fans.

The incident aka it’s not all sunshine and roses

One of our members took the initiative and worked the connection already established with Listworthy5. She managed to score not just one but three interviews with him under our auspice. The interviews were long and full of information. His responses were thoughtful and personal– just what fans love to read to learn about their favorite. It was a great thing for our fan group– not just for us behind the group but for the fans who adore Listworthy5.

Just after the third interview was conducted, this particular member decided– without consulting any of us– that she was going to take full control over the Twitter account. She changed the contact information and the password in an attempt to lock us out, even though IT WAS NOT HER ACCOUNT TO TAKE.

Let’s stop right here for a moment. Let’s think about this. This particular member– not the founder, mind you, but someone who’d been with us for at most a couple of years– decided to take a part of our fan account for herself without consulting any of us. She didn’t reach out to the founder or any of us. She just decided on her own that she was going to take the fan account for herself. And she expected us to be okay with it.

We invited her into our group. We trusted her to do RIGHT in the name of the group. In her statement to us as to why she was taking over the account, she said, “Your motivation is attention from” Listworthy5. She accused us of not doing enough work. She took credit for the current status of the twitter account. And she ended thusly, “You’ve not been blocked from the page just from acting as an admin. Please do not choose to get ugly or hateful through the page. It will only reflect poorly on you and that would make this all the more sad.”

So the person who actually got personal time via interviews with Listworthy5 believes that WE are the ones only motivated by attention from him. The person who locked us out of OUR group account is telling us not to get “ugly or hateful” through the page. Isn’t the act of locking us out just a little ugly and and a touch hateful? Oh, and were we supposed to be happy that she didn’t BLOCK US from the account that she DID NOT create?

She banked on our own honor and civility, assuming we’d not call her out publicly for what she had done (we have not said anything publicly). She thought we would just swallow the bitter pill of her betrayal without action (we had plenty of words about it). She thought she could still be part of our group but have the twitter account all to herself (otherwise, where was she going to post the interview that rightly belonged to our group). She thought she could say nothing when we demanded the account back since it was not hers. She thought she could disrespect us and just get away with it.

The fallout

The lockout did not last long. We were able to take back the account the same day (she did not give it back– she just wasn’t as clever as she thought she was) and we changed all the passwords to the other sites. She thought she locked us out but we ended up stripping her of admin rights to our group.

So what happened to that third interview conducted under our group name, you might wonder?  Well, she posted on her other fan site as if it had been done for that site and not ours. She even re-posted the previous interviews to that particular fan site, the only concession noting that the interviews had been originally posted on a previous date but not WHERE they had been originally posted.

Here’s the thing– there were signs that she would go off the rails at some point. Re-reading the previous interviews, she injected a lot of her own personal experience into the questions. She conducted then posted the second interview without letting us know. She deleted photos (of Listworthy5!) that were cross posted from the IG to the twitter account because they did not go with HER vision yet she retweeted her other fan site’s posts when they had nothing to do with Listworthy5. She demanded that she be the only to post to the twitter account. For a lot of her time behind the twitter account, half of the posts did not DIRECTLY involve him. She accused us of not doing enough work yet we were too polite to tell her we weren’t comfortable with all the non-Listworthy5 posts on the twitter account.

Trying to shut us out by claiming an account that didn’t belong to her was a baller move, albeit one that backfired on her. From her statement to us, I could tell she thought she was doing the right thing by stealing from us. When we were trying to tell her to give back the account, we challenged her to create her own fan site. We didn’t care as long as we got our account back from her. She used her position as a group member to ingratiate herself into Listworthy5’s good graces. He will never take sides (and I don’t want that from him) but she framed her decision as one made *with* him. I’m personally suspicious of that notion but I’m a little naive at times.

(IMO, it just doesn’t seems like a good idea for an artist to choose sides in fan disputes, especially, if in his eyes, no one has done HIM wrong. You know what I mean? He doesn’t need to know about our “in-house” conflicts.)

What’s happening now?

Perhaps this is my way of getting my part of our side out in the open. Listworthy5 won’t read this but maybe the people who might have taken the former member’s side (and why are there even sides?) will see this and have a more complete picture of what went down.

Our trust was broken.

We were betrayed.

Respect was shattered.

Maybe it sounds melodramatic to state it as such but we were all genuinely hurt and angry by her actions.

What matters for our group is to continue to promote Listworthy5 and his work. We do this out of love and we want it to be fun as well. Knowing that we have even a sliver of his attention is enough (for me, at least). Knowing other fans appreciate our efforts is the best reward. Sharing our love and adoration for him– in fun ways, in serious ways, in thoughtful ways– is the important thing. We are a group because we want to bring different facets of fan adoration to the mix. The recent kerfuffle was merely a blip that could have been avoided if not for the ego and self righteousness of one who obviously believes there’s only one way to “fan” and that’s HER way.

Lesson here – there is more than one way to “fan.” There is no wrong way as long as there is respect for the artist, the fellow fans, and yourself. When you’re gathered into a group to promote a particular artist, there must be respect for your fellow group members. The artist appreciates it all if he’s worth anything. Making him choose between fans is disrespectful not just to him but to fans who have worked just as hard as you. Being a fan isn’t a contest– it’s enjoying the artist and your fellow fans. No fan is better than another. We’re all different. And that’s a good thing.

from My Point of View of Our Side

#My Point of View of Our Side