Jily Oneshots (pt2)

Upside Down

by Bob_The_Other_Zombie on archiveofourown.org

"You've got to be kidding." Lily folded her arms, giving an unamused look to her publicity team.

They exchanged glances, before returning their stares to her. "No." said her manager. "This is not a joke. It's common practice in the business when things are starting to get a bit slow, and-"

"Things aren't starting to get a bit slow!" Lily protested. "There's no need for this!"

"Lily..." her publicist said.

Unfortunately, it was true. Lily's first three albums had been huge hits, rocketing her to international fame. Her most recent one, however, had practically tanked for all but her most loyal fans. It was humiliating, and frustrating- she just wasn't inspired to write anymore. Her first album had been written during high school, as she went through all of the normal adolescent changes, and her next two were written as her world expanded and her fame grew. But lately, her life had settled into a rhythm of album-tour-publicity, and she suddenly couldn't come up with any good song ideas. It didn't help that she had the pressure of a reputation as a great songwriter to maintain, or that management was encouraging her to stick to certain marketable topics.

"Is this about the next album?" she asked. "Do you want to give me a reason to write love songs, or something?"

They exchanged glances. "No, Lily." her publicist said. "We just think you could use the publicity right now. We've got to keep you in the public eye, or else your career may never recover."

Lily folded her arms, leaning back in her chair. Her career was certainly important to her, and she'd definitely seen too many articles speculating that this last album was the start of her fade into obscurity.

"This will give you more artistic freedom." said her manager gently. "Once we get you back to where you were two albums ago, you'll be able to write whatever you want. Look at Adele, she could write a song about grocery shopping and it'd still be a hit."

And that was certainly true as well. But... "Why does it have to be him?"

"The Marauders are the biggest band in the world right now, we're lucky they're agreeing to a relationship stunt-"

"Why not any of the other Marauders then, why-"

Her manager extended three fingers, ticking them off as she spoke. "Sirius is trying to maintain his image a partier, Remus has all those gay rumors so you'll come off as a beard, and Peter isn't nearly as famous as the other three. It's got to be James."

Lily groaned. Her few memories of James were not pleasant- they'd met once before, at a VMA afterparty a few years ago, where he'd hit on her and then promptly thrown up all over her shoes. She'd stayed away from the Marauders ever since. They seemed like the typical boy band stars- entitled, irresponsible, and immature.

"It won't be that bad." said her manager. "Just a few public outings together, maybe some coy answers to interviewers and a little Twitter interaction. We just want to stir up buzz around you so you don't get completely forgotten."

"Fine." said Lily. "Just...no kissing, all right?"

Their first 'public outing' was a few weeks later, after everyone's manager had called everyone else's manager and all the legal protections had been set up so no one could be sued. James had attended a few of the same legal meetings as Lily, but they hadn't really interacted. For the most part, James had been quiet, focused on the terms of their agreement. And, well, okay, he had tried to introduce himself once, but Lily had ignored him. Just because they were about to get along in public didn't mean she had to talk to him in private, too.