May You Enjoy Your New Life

Fanfiction
Title:	May You Enjoy Your New Life
Author(s):	aimmyarrowshigh
Date(s):	Jul 7, 2012 - Sep 12, 2012
Length:	264,354 words
Genre:	Kidfic, Alternate Universe, Futurefic, Slice of Life
Fandom:	One Direction
External Links:	on AO3, on LiveJournal
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

May You Enjoy Your New Life is a 2012 One Direction fanfic that is alleged to have originated many of the tropes in the Larry Stylinson conspiracy theory, most notably the idea that Eleanor Calder signed a contract to "beard" for Louis Tomlinson. The author, aimmyarrowshigh, denounces the Larries conspiracy, but has not deleted this story.

(However, fans were already referring to Eleanor as a beard before the fanfic was posted.)

The story was discussed on the I Met You On LJ podcast episode Tinhatting Ruins Everything.

The story was originally posted on LiveJournal in installments and later posted to AO3. As of January 2021, the AO3 work is locked, but has 98,097 hits.

Author Comments

In December 2020, she answered a series of questions about her Harry/Louis fanfiction and whether it is ethical to keep it posted.

The short answer:

I’m not going to pretend like I wasn’t part of the 1D fandom and didn’t create Harry/Louis fanworks. While orphaning works is totally fine, and I would always rather people orphan their fics than pull and delete them, it’s not something that I personally want to do (at this point, at least; back in 2012, I also said I’d never move from LJ to AO3, so I reserve the right to change my mind in the future about all things!) because it would feel like trying to “dirty delete” a big part of my fannish life.

The long answer:

[...]

If MYEYNL or Landslide or Sheylinson exist, it’s because I wrote them, and taking my name off them is just kind of... giving Larries more power than they deserve to have. They don’t get to have the only voices that dictate what happens with regard to 1D fandom. I am anti-Larrie, and I was part of 1D fandom, and I think it’s like, kind of important to dig my heels in and be like, “No, I was here, I wrote this, and I am anti-Larrie anyway.”

Like... I don’t condone Larries’ behavior or language or beliefs, but I also don’t think that their existence means that MYEYNL or Landslide or Sheylinson need to stop existing. I’m not going to give Larries that kind of power. My fannish experience was outside of Larries, and it was mine, and I created things that I loved with people who mean a lot to me as fannish friends, and all of that still deserves to have record of its existence.

[...]

I 100% do not condone to behavior of their current fandom and have been calling out against Larries/Larrie Cult Behavior/the Larrie CT since 2012 -- Louis tweeted the Bullshit Tweet within a week after the final chapter of MYEYNL posted, and I’ve been very open and clear about not being okay with Larries since then. I called out the kind of toxic language and behavior that not-yet-called-Larries engaged in before that, as well, because for some fucking reason they thought it was OK to refer to people as the f-slur and shit, too. I’ve hated ~Larrie~ behavior since before they were called Larries, and I still wanted to write fic and create stuff that made me happy, even though people I thought were objectively awful were consuming it (and still do). If I refused to let my name be associated with every fandom that I thought had incredibly immoral, toxic people in it, I would have to orphan ALL of my fic, for every fandom, and that’s... not the point. At least, not to me. (Again, if other people feel differently for their own experiences, that’s totally fine and understandable!)

Also, like... at least some of, if not like A Lot Of, Larrie bullshit-nonsense beliefs are kind of my fault because of MYEYNL inventing the idea that Eleanor could be a paid beard (which, yet again: I MADE UP FOR PLOT AND WAS FULLY AWARE I WAS MAKING IT UP BECAUSE IT WAS FICTION, and that’s NOT EVEN HOW BEARDING WORKS BUT I MADE IT UP AS FICTION FOR PLOT REASONS FOR AN OVERWROUGHT FANFICTION THAT WAS FICTIONAL) and I kind of feel like I need to wear that albatross. Or whatever that phrase is. Hang that albatross around my neck, or whatever. Like, if that fic were to be ~anonymous~, then I feel like it would give undue credence to the dumb ideas that come from it. But with it attributed to me, it can always be traced back to my dumb brain and me banging on a pan yelling “I MADE IT UP WHOLECLOTH, NONE OF THIS WAS MEANT TO BE TAKEN AS REALISTIC AT ALL.” All of the ideas in my stories are not just my ideas, but my responsibilities, too. And I am going to like... keep carrying those responsibilities. If that makes sense.

[...]

[...]

Harry/Louis was so much fun for me not because of anything that Harry or Louis or 1D did, but because of the days that spibsy and I stayed up all night writing fake versions of them, or the explosion of excited, joyful posts on my dash the morning that LWWY leaked early, or how igrab flew halfway across the country to spend the night at my apartment so we could see 1D’s first-ever US tour and then dipped out to get burgers before the actual headline act hit the stage because 1D were just the opener (lol), or kingsoftheimpossible's Weird Cat Louis, or getting to meet Catie and Emma and @nichestars and so many other people in person and have coffee or whatever and talk about fanfiction in real life for once.

I loved Harry/Louis so much because sure, those pictures of them meeting Baby Lux for the first time may have been what inspired MYEYNL, but Millie was an OC that I spent a year writing and creating and actually finished a massive-length fic about, and I am always going to be proud of the massive-length stuff that I actually finish instead of getting in my head too much and forcing myself to just abandon. I love Millie. I love the fake versions of Harry and Louis that I created in MYEYNL, and I love the fake Harry and Louis that Lucy and I created in Sheylinson, and I love the fake versions of Harry and Louis that Lucy and I created in Landslide, and I love the fake versions of Harry and Louis that Hannah and I (but mostly Hannah) created in Anyplace Anyhow Anytime. I have always loved the fake versions of them that I was creating, by myself or with friends, infinitely more than the real versions.

That’s what fandom IS, to me. You see a thing and you love it, sure, but you love your own version of it infinitely more. And that’s worth trying to keep in a fond place in your heart, for me. And it’s something that I feel like, for me, is worth fighting against shitty people so that they can still exist, and hold back the tide against what the shitty people have created taking over entirely.

[...]

The Harry and Louis that starred in the fics that I loved -- and there was SO MUCH GOOD H/L FIC back in the day, holy shit -- are NOT the Harry and Louis that Larries believe in, and they’re also not the real Harry and Louis, who are just, like, dudes in their twenties who are whatever. And the more versions of Harry and Louis there are in this world that AREN’T the Larries’ version, the less ground the Larries’ versions can claim for their own.

But I totally understand looking at the carnage of the ideological battlefield and just being like, “My heart is too broken for this.” I get that, 100%.

Fan Reactions/Reviews

Several fans have quotes or symbols from May You Enjoy Your New Life tattooed on their bodies, mostly dating from 2013-2016.

sudokhuu: I did end up getting the tattoo that was inspired by May You Enjoy Your New Life and thought that I would show you it :) I got it done a week ago today and it’s still healing which is why there’s a little flaking. It’s on my hip!

aflickerofsoul: I’m moving to a new city next week and she’s starting the beginning of her Career™ soon but tonight we saw our favorite band in the venue where we first met about 5 years ago and earlier we commemorated our family by tattooing the girl who really brought us together – so here’s to me and Laur, to Millie, to the cow-murderer, and, as always, all time low. (Luvviyou always)

alltimelaur: luvviu so much 😭

bkarimoore: Muppie represents choice. The line at the end about Millie and Louis choosing each other has never left me, will never leave me. "Love is that simple sometimes."

The story was rated 20 times on Goodreads, with an average rating of 4.20/5. A 2019 review:

I fell in love with this story immediately. Being drawn in by the amazing writing and the way I felt an automatic connection to the characters. Like somehow they were people I knew in my every day life forever.

The plot was also one I haven’t seen done before. Harry having a kid during their rise to fame which I must admit made me a bit wary to read as sometimes it’s hard for me to read any fic where Harry is the slightest bit into women even if I have wrote fics where he is myself.

But the way the author handled everything was perfect. From Harry being clueless to Louis pining over him as they move into together and raise Millie and then when he does realize and their budding relationship from there.

Which speaking of Millie oh my god is she such a character.

Related Fanworks

Popular 1D fanartist lepomiere created several artworks for the fic, some of which are viewable here.

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