Nowhere To Go But Up ⋆ Lin-Manuel Miranda x Reader

Chapter One

Was there some kind of sick, twisted rule where the one day - the one day - I really didn't want to be late, then the universe decides it hates me so much that it does everything in its power to make me be just that?

I leaned over to gaze out of the taxi window once again, willing it to go faster. But the London traffic was almost at a total standstill.

Bugger.... No, no, no, tell me this isn't happening!

I was never going to get there at this rate!

Why did it have to be today that my alarm didn't go off? Why did it have to be today that the boiler had to play up, meaning there was no hot water so I couldn't even shower this morning and I had no time to ring anyone to sort it?

Why did it have to be today that I was forced to dash out of my flat like a woman possessed, with no breakfast, no coffee, no shower...no nothing. And just to add insult to injury...why did it have to be today that my car decided to throw a tantrum and refused to start?

And now here I was, stuck in traffic...wonderful.

I was a photographer and I had been hired for a photo shoot for one of London's top magazines.

And not just any old shoot, either.

It was a special Mary Poppins-inspired shoot to promote the new sequel, Mary Poppins Returns, which was due for release at Christmas in a couple of months. Apparently a big name connected with the film was going to be featured too but I had no idea who. Nobody had seemed bothered to fill me in on that tiny detail.

All I knew for sure was that all the stops had been pulled out for this. Instead of merely shooting in a studio, it was going to be at various locations around the city; places with Mary Poppins connections...Hyde Park, St. Paul's Cathedral, and London Zoo were even allowing a session with some of their penguins.

I'd done shoots for this magazine before but nothing like on this scale. And never with a celebrity.

Mary Poppins had always been one of my favourites growing up and the prospect of a sequel had me all kinds of excited. The world could always use a little extra room for magic. Especially these days. So to be part of something like this was such an amazing opportunity for me.

I honestly didn't remember a time where I didn't have a camera strapped around my neck. It was my love and my passion.

I moved to London to seek new challenges, new adventures...with a dream of taking wonderful pictures of wonderful things...to hopefully rub shoulders with other like-minded creatives and dreamers.

This Mary Poppins shoot was just the ideal subject I needed for showcasing my knack of capturing a whimsical, dream-like, almost timeless quality in my photos.
I had worked for years building up my experience, earning a reputation along the way as a freelance wedding photographer. I ran a blog with a respectable number of followers, and instagram had become my best friend.

My style of photography was enormously influenced by nature, literature and classical art. To me, there was something beautiful in being able to immortalise a magical moment. I loved to create pictures which could narrate a story within a frame....or looked like it had maybe come from an oil painting from the past.

For what was photography if not another way to tell a story? To paint a memory? We lived in a world full of crazy and beautiful things...why would I not wish to try capture and celebrate it in my own way?

Even so...it was vital I didn't mess this up! This was a major shoot and I wanted desperately to get it right. This was my big chance to impress, to see my name in glossy print, and with any luck get my work out there and noticed.