The internet thought Wattpad was coming for its Harry Styles smut. Here’s what actually happened

For some, One Direction is merely a British boy band that sang “What Makes You Beautiful” and introduced the world to Harry Styles. But for fanfic lovers in the mid-2010s, the band and its members were also their lovers, adoptive parents, and sometimes even their kidnappers. These fantasies often unfolded on Wattpad, an online platform where writers can publish their work directly for readers looking for niche original stories that for decades has captivated a cult-like following for users looking to read steamy content that is otherwise unavailable in mainstream bookstores. To put it into ...