For me and many others, Wattpad was an escape during our teen years. A lot of the time in fanfic, we would write about what we wished we had, and for me, that was a real friendship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But I never expected to find a friend through an author’s note.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Christmas 2019<\/em>. Just like the previous year, I once again got the worst secret Santa gift in class. I don\u2019t want to sound tragic, but this was to be expected when I had nobody to defend me. Instead, they just laughed about my gift.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I sat on a row of tables on my own and opened a smashed Halloween bath bomb with last year’s packaging. Alongside was a tiny old written notebook that was dated 2013. The budget was \u00a320, and the girl didn\u2019t even bother to rip out the pages with her name. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So, like any chronically online teen would do, I published a very depressing author\u2019s note on my Stranger Things<\/em> fanfic. It was a great release for me to talk anonymously. Of course, I was scared somebody would find it, but I wanted to be heard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And somebody did hear me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI remember that author\u2019s note actually. I had a similar experience with these chocolates being handed out in class. I don\u2019t know why I reached out, but I think I related in some way,\u201d Sasha told me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n @ilovechocolate64<\/em> on Wattpad, or Sasha for this article, had a very popular Wattpad fanfic called \u2018The Malfoys<\/em>\u2019 which amassed over 196,000 views.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe must have just kept talking, and neither of us were in a great place with our mental health at school. We were talking about our experience, and the Wattpad friendship just went from there.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n I related a lot to Sasha. We were both in Year 11, both lived in North London, and both of us are Taurus (I was really into astrology).<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ve tried to go back into our wattpad accounts and look at the DM\u2019s, but sadly, the messaging feature in the app was taken away in May 2024. The next generation of writers may never know what it is to have this experience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLowkey, don’t meet strangers\u2026\u201d said Sasha. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut we got Snapchat first, so we were able to verify neither of us was an old man. I actually had no social media, I really just lived on Wattpad, but I downloaded them before we met.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n I faintly remember thinking it\u2019s weird Sasha had no social media, so thank the Lord she wasn\u2019t a creep, and we were able to enjoy our shopping trip without having to run to the police station.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOddly enough, it [stranger danger] didn’t even occur to me,\u201d she explained. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I really want to emphasise here that we should not be meeting strangers without telling somebody.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt’s so funny because I forget about Wattpad when we talk. It got to the point where I couldn’t even remember we actually met through fanfic.\u201d Sasha said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What\u2019s different about having a Wattpad friendship is that you automatically have a common interest with shows and movies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sasha and I were equally obsessed with fandom culture and spent our time imagining scenarios. As our friendship developed, we found it easy to talk about our personal lives because it couldn\u2019t get back to anyone that knows us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We did eventually tell our parents, and we both visited each other’s house. But we had to get creative with how we met.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI lied and told my mum that I met you at a college tour. I\u2019m keeping my name anonymous because I would still get murdered for this!\u201d Sasha said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut thank you for backing me up and doing your research on that college.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our friendship is just further proof of how tightknit the fanfic community is. It\u2019s supposed to be a safe place and an escape from our mundane lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI do think everyone is so lovely in the fanfic community. Some people are really supportive with the comments and checking up on you when there\u2019s not an update. There’s a nice community there, people are always open to making friends.\u201d Sasha continued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s true. I\u2019m still getting concerned comments years later about when the next update is and how they hope I\u2019m okay. I should probably get back to those readers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sasha really did shape my teenage years. She even got me into football, which is crazy because I ended up working in that space for a while. I owe her a lot of credit, even if she insists it\u2019s all my hard work. Sasha was the first friend that believed in me and, despite us talking less these days, I always know we have time for each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I suppose my love for Wattpad goes beyond reading. It\u2019s a place where I found a community during a time when I felt really alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Wattpad DM\u2019s might have disappeared, but our friendship never will.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Wattpad is not just a place to write fanfic. Aya sat down with her online friend turned real life bestie about meeting through fanfic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":212,"featured_media":1295,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1,10],"tags":[37,132,130,23,57,128,129,127],"class_list":["post-1292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kudos-posts","category-kudos-top-story-posts","tag-ao3","tag-bullying","tag-dracomalfoy","tag-fanfic","tag-fanfiction","tag-onlinefriend","tag-strangerthings","tag-wattapd"],"yoast_head":"\n
\u201cI don’t remember it being a fear of mine. I remember being like, this is a teenage girl I really get along with<\/em>. And when we found out we’re the same age, I thought, “Oh my days<\/em>.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n