#i’ll be your perfect 10 ( open starter. ) | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

frenchpuppycormier · 3 years

Note

fluff 10 and/or 11 + supercorp for the sentence starters pls 💞

"Are we on a date right now?" / "I think I'm in love with you."

—

Saturday signals the best day in Kara's book for one simple reason: the farmers market. It's the perfect place to buy fresh produce directly from the grower at a lower price than those pesky retailers. Not to mention, it's fresher and it's a great way to support local communities.

Kara enjoys it most in the early morning between 8 and 9 when the California heat hasn't bombarded its citizens yet. One of her favorite memories of going to the market was when she first arrived on earth, and Eliza and Alex took her to the one in Midvale. Eliza bought her the sweetest miniature doughnuts which practically melted in her mouth. She's been a huge (understatement of the year) fan ever since.

The farmers market is located 20 blocks from her apartment, just a short jaunt or flight for the hero.

Today she decides to walk and enjoy the nice cool breeze, and the warm sun spilling on her face. She can already hear the acoustics of a folk band covering a Fleetwood Mac song at the end of main street. The leaves are starting to change, indicating the beginning of fall, and the ones already on the ground crunch beneath her feet.

Her reusable cloth bag with the words, "Okey Dokey Artichokey" and a cartoon artichoke with a smiley face and tiny stick arms, is slung over her shoulder. Lena had given it to her as a gag gift, but Kara uses it the most out of all her bags. Any gift from Lena is special and she will always treasure it.

As she rounds the corner to the market, she sneaks another look at her list to remind herself what she needs, when she bumps into someone. Hard. Fortunately, Kara manages to grab the other person's arm before they fall.

"Oh my gosh," Kara cringes. "I'm so sorry, I wasn't watching where I was—" she interrupts herself when she sees, "Lena?"

"Hey there, slick," Lena laughs and nudges the hand latched on her arm to tangle with her fingers.

Kara responds by swinging their arms back and forth, like what friends do when they haven't seen each other in months. But Kara and Lena just saw each other yesterday. This is normal, right? Kara thinks. The fluttering in my chest is completely common whenever I see my friends....Right?

"Wh-what are you doing here?" Kara speaks before her brain can catch up with her.

Lena's face lights up with a sly grin. "Can't a woman go to the market every once in a while?"

"N-no no, of course you can," Kara laughs awkwardly, "I meant, gosh I'm not sure...I guess I just didn't expect to see you here. You live all the way on the other side of town."

"Relax, love," she chuckles and squeezes her hand and releases it, Kara immediately missing the warmth. "I'm teasing you. But to answer your question, I'm in desperate need of fresh kale, and I heard this particular stand has the best in the city."

Kara feigns gagging and Lena playfully shoves her shoulder. “I still don’t understand how you can eat that stuff.”

“Who knew the green stuff that incapacitates you was kale.”

“More like your eyes,” Kara mumbles.

“What was that?”

Kara’s eyes widen. “N-nothing,” she rubs the back of her neck. “Um, so….do you care if I join you? Wandering aimlessly through the market checking out food stands with my best friend sounds like the perfect way to spend my Saturday morning.”

“I’d love nothing more,” Lena replies, smiling brightly.

—

“Oooh, look! A food truck!” Kara points.

Lena laughs at her zeal. “Let’s see what they have.”

Kara reaches for her hand and twines their fingers together before dragging her toward the truck. Lena’s stomach swoops at the action, but she calms herself down enough so Kara doesn’t notice her rapid heartbeat. Not that she would, considering food is the best distraction when it comes to the blonde.

Little does Lena know that nothing can distract Kara from Lena, especially considering 98% of the time Kara is listening to the constant thumps and quivers of Lena’s heart, but Kara doesn’t say anything.

Kara looks up at the man in the truck and politely rattles off her order, then looks at Lena and asks, “What do you want?”

“Um,” Lena quickly glances at the menu and says, “I’ll have the Avo Smash, please.” She moves to hand the man cash, but Kara stops her and insists she'll pay for it. "My treat."

Once they give their order they move to the side and wait until their names are called.

When they get their food they move to a shady spot on the sidewalk and admire how delicious it looks.

“What’s that?” Kara asks.

“Oh, it’s a piece of toast with smashed avocado, egg, and tomato,” Lena replies, noticing how Kara turns up her nose. Lena rolls her eyes and gestures at her hands, “What’d you get?”

"Uh, only the most scrumptious and melt in your mouth-watering food you can get here," she replies, eyebrows pinched, incredulously. Lena raises her eyebrows in a get-on-with-it kind of way. "French toast bites," Kara finishes, exasperated at Lena's lack of enthusiasm.

"Sweet food for a sweet girl."

Kara's cheeks grow a slight pink. Instead of replying, she dips a piece of her toast in the syrup, and shoves the whole thing in her mouth. Lena simply hums and takes a bit of her own food. Kara smiles like a chipmunk with cheeks full of goodies.

When Lena's finished with her slice of hipster toast, as Kara calls it, a small body runs into her legs from behind. She looks down and finds a small boy with sandy blonde hair and big, blue eyes looking up at her with a toothy grin.

"Hi, there," she smiles at him.

"Henry!" a woman in a flowy maxi dress and brown sandals comes running toward them. She picks him up and gives him a stern look. "I told you not to run off like that!" The woman adjusts him on her hip and shyly realizes she has an audience. "I'm so sorry! He gets too excited about their french toast."

"Oh, no worries," Lena reassures her. She carefully grabs Kara's elbow and says, "This one does too."

Kara acts hurt by placing a hand over her heart. "Well, can you blame me? They're delicious! Aren't they?" she smiles at the boy and waves. He giggles and hides his face in his mother's neck. "Someone's a little shy, huh?"

"He is, isn't he?" the mom kisses his cheek. "I think he has a little crush on you."

"Who, me?" Kara laughs. "No, I think he has eyes for Lena. As most people do." She steps forward and tickles his stomach so he looks at her. Kara holds out her hand for a high five and whispers, "Good choice." He gratefully slaps her hand.

When Kara steps back, Lena is blushing, but rather than call her out on it she ignores it out of respect. Kara smiles at her and Lena smiles back, but then she's suddenly laughing through her nose.

"Darling, you have a little," she gestures at her own face.

"What? I have something on my face?" Kara touches her cheek, but completely misses.

"Here," Lena's fingers tenderly touch the side of her jaw while her thumb swipes her lip. Lena's completely focused on what she's doing, but Kara only has eyes for Lena.

Lena pulls back her hand, thumb now sticky with syrup. Instead of wiping it on the napkin Kara knows Lena has in her bag, she sticks it between her lips and licks it clean.

Kara completely stops breathing.

"How long have you two been together?" a voice snaps her out of her reverie.

Kara gapes at her with wide eyes and stutters, "Um...we, we're uh, just friends."

"Oh," the woman almost looks upset. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to presume. Well, I'll let you get back to your morning." She smiles at them and walks away, leaving a flabbergasted Kara and quiet Lena.

They don't say anything and choose to ignore it while they continue down the street.

—

"Lena, you have to try this," Kara doesn't give her a chance to respond before shoving a spoonful of gelato in Lena's mouth.

Lena gasps and nearly chokes on the ice cold dessert enveloping her tastebuds. She hisses and nods, as she lifts her hand to hastily catch the dribbles of melted chocolate trickling down her chin. Kara winces, "I'm so sorry!"

"No," Lena shakes her head as she swallows, "I just wasn't expecting that."

"Well? How was it?"

"Y'know, I'm not gonna lie...it was pretty fucking delicious."

"Right? Marco really knows his stuff."

"Um," Lena holds her hand out, fingers spread apart to prevent more sticking, and shakes it like she doesn't know what to do.

Kara jumps to action and runs off. She's back in two seconds with a wet wipe and cleans Lena's hand. "Where'd you find that?"

"Don't ask."

"Okay?" Lena laughs breathily. "You're a mystery wrapped inside an enigma, Ms. Danvers."

"I aim to confuse," she jokes.

Lena shakes her head, and eventually says, "Thank you."

"Don't mention it," Kara smiles at her, their eyes locked onto each other. She's finished cleaning her hand, but rather than letting go, her hand stays curled around Lena's, not wanting to ruin the moment.

—

“Oh Rao, you didn’t,” Kara gasps.

Lena turns around and frowns at her. “What?” Kara gestures to Lena’s bag. Lena looks down and chuckles when she realizes what she’s talking about. “In my defense, I was drunk. You know how my shopping brain acts when I’m drunk; I buy things I don’t need.”

“Hmmm, well maybe your alcohol-addled brain just remembered how funny I thought it was and wanted to impress me,” Kara teases with a twitch of her eyebrow.

“I’m sure that’s exactly what happened,” Lena deadpans. She glanced at the words on her bag again and fondly shakes her head. It reads: Oh Kale Yeah, with a bunch of kale on both sides.

“I think so,” Kara steps closer and smiles.

“Oh, really?” Lena raises her eyebrows.

“Yep,” she ends with an extra pop of the ‘p’ and boops her on the nose.

Lena opens her mouth in surprise, a protest on the tip of her tongue, but a voice interrupts her from in front of them.

“You two are such a lovely couple,” the vendor gushes.

Lena and Kara startle, forgetting they’re standing right in front of a stand selling various vegetables and fruits and jars of honey. Behind the table is an older woman, most likely in her late 70s, with streaks of gray hair, crinkly eyes and facial lines as if she’s smiled her whole life.

“Oh, we’re not—”

“Thank you,” Kara answers, smiling bashfully. She pushes a lock of hair behind her ear and says, “I’ll take one bunch of radishes and one spaghetti squash.”

“Coming right up,” the woman replies.

Kara glances over at Lena and gives her a shy smile, before handing the woman a $10 bill and thanking her. She grabs the veggies and carefully drops them in her bag.

“Thank you two, have a wonderful day.”

“Of course, you too!” Kara places her hand on the small of Lena’s back and guides her forward.

As they make their way to the next stand, Kara laughs, remembering their conversation, “I can’t believe you bought that bag. You’re such a giant dork.”

Lena whips around and eyes Kara curiously. Kara’s hand shifts from her back to loosely rest on her waist. Lena’s eyes are squinting from the bright sun, but Kara can see the speckles of gold in them and thinks she’s never looked more beautiful.

“Are we on a date right now?”

Kara's heart quickens and she opens and closes her mouth a few times, until finally she clears her throat, "Did you want it to be?"

"I thought—”

"Because I do," Kara states. "Want it to be a date. But only if you do, of course. I don't want you to feel pressured or like I forced you to hang out with me," she retracts her hand. "That's the last thing I—”

Lena grabs her hand as she pulls it way, not wanting Kara to close herself off. "Hey, I want this just as much as you do."

"Really?"

Lena lightly presses her thumb into the grooves of Kara's knuckles, and absentmindedly plays with them. She smiles, fully dimpled, and says, "I do. Actually, I uh..." she lowers their connected hands and looks off into the distance, mind seemingly elsewhere.

"What is it?" Kara asks. She playfully shakes their arms back and forth to get her attention.

Lena looks at the ground before completely focusing on Kara and those baby blues she's come to know and love. She takes a deep breath and her voice shakes when she whispers, "I think I'm in love with you..." Lena stumbles and shakes her head, "No—I am in love with you."

Kara inhales sharply and Lena thinks she's made a giant mistake. She starts to turn and do something stupid, like run away, but Kara keeps her hold on her and pulls her forward.

Smiling, Kara slowly inches closer leaving the opportunity for Lena to stop her. When Kara's lips press into hers she welcomes it completely. Kara's hands come up to cup Lena's jaw until she moves one to tangle in her hair.

Kara disconnects from her lips, but stays wrapped up in her, their foreheads touching. "I'm in love with you, too," she whispers against soft lips.

"Good," Lena smiles and kisses her again.

#this became longer than I imagined #supercorp #supercorp fic #thanks for the request dani #<3

179 notes · View notes

idv-asktheconsigliere · 2 years

Text

Introduction + Rules

“Look, I’ll keep this nice and simple. I got roped in by the others to do this and here we are. Whoohoo. Alright, my name is Melissa Fair, my title is Consigliere but just call me Melissa. If you got any questions just send them my way.”

She came to the manor solely for business. What kind of business? It can't be legal, that's for sure.

-----

A/N: Answers are mainly texts and I plan on filling them with art later.

--Basics--

Nationality: Asian-American

Survivor type: Decode subcontainment

When did she arrive at the manor?: September 15th (Check Not Going to Bother).

Character Day/B-day: June 30th

Height: 5'2"/157.48cm

Voice Claim: Justine's Mic

Likes: Solving things, weapons, symbolism

Dislikes: Disorder among peers, funny business.

--Skill + External Traits--

Item: Paper Codes (Can be swapped, similar to Norton's magnets but it can only be used so many times before they get destroyed... Like Melly's net.)

Skill 1: Do You Understand This?

Blue paper: When in use, it increases decoding by 2% every time the skill check hits a perfect. (So 2%/4%/6%/8%/10%, it stops at 10%.)

Red paper: When in use, increases movement speed by 5% per cipher machine's done. (Max is 10%, because 15% sounds too OP.)

Skill 2: Run in with the Law

Being used to running away from the law, vaulting speed is increased by 15% for 2/4/6(one of these numbers) seconds. (I would add something related to getting terrorshocked, but that's too OP, and Freddy already has that.)

Debuff: Walk it Off for Now

Healing speed and rescuing speed is slowed down by 15%.

--RULES--

1. Just use basic internet common sense, just down below is some reinforcements.

2. Admin's(aka me, Katniss) 18 now but still don't send anything majorly NSFW, if it's for a joke pls DM me clarifying that it's a joke. Otherwise, I may carry it too far without knowing.

3. I allow magic anons so like yes you can inject her with truth serum or turn her into a mermaid. Or give her a shock collar! Wait I'm showing the Quotev anons- :ohgodohduck: ALSO! I respond very quickly, so keep those asks coming.

4. Due to life replies may receive a long answer or a short answer. Along with that, some may receive art and some may not. All I ask is don't be a whiny-

5. I may occasionally swear(if it seems fitting) and mention topics such as drugs, blood/gore/injuries, and possible threats. I will add TW to those, Melissa's position originates from the mafia, after all.

6. NEVER, EVER, HOLD BACK YOUR MUSE! THIS GOES WITH OCs, CANON PPL, AND AUs! If they want to hurt her, hurt her, the same goes for comforting and such. It'll be a lot more fun. If it's angst-heavy, I'll probably ask if we can stop, sorry I'm emotional. I do descriptive roleplaying so expect blocks of text or a short thing.

7. If you want to do some shipping stuff please let me know. I plan on having her as multiship so relationships will never ever cross each other.

8. Have fun, everybody!

--ASK LINKS + ARCHIVE--

Emojis 1

Dynamite, eye, baby, pen, baby bottle

Starters/Journal Entries based on songs!

Spotify Playlist!

Emojis 2

Growing Heart, Liar, Bouquet, See-No-Evil, Owl,

Dear [insert]...

Anyone, past me, Santa, Jealous of

Words!

Emojis 3

Dancing, book,

Emojis 4

Gestures, Mannerisms, Good Traits

Fire Emblem Heroes

Confessions

Uncomfyness

Relationship Types!

Tarot Cards

Empress, Moon, Lovers,

Interview

24, 25?

Botanical Ask Prompts

Gladiolus, Abatina + Angelica, Apple Blossom,

Masterlist

Look at the stars,

Fruits & Veggies

Avocado, Melon, Strawberry

Bother My Inbox

A WHOLE BUNCH OF NUMBERS HERE

Valentine's Day

Lovey dovey words here.

IDV Ask Game

LORE LORE LORE

--OPEN INTERACTION LINKS--

Babooshka

I'm lost.

--PAST EVENT!--

Candlelight - Roman Chiaro this event has ended. Go in the archive or go through the event candlelight tag.

--CHIARO FAMILY--

Voices

Appearance

#idv oc #idv #idv oc ask blog #aaaaaaa #let"s do this #asktheconsigliere #identity v oc #identity v #askblog #idv askblog #melissa fair #ask blog #fill up my inbox

19 notes · View notes

venicebixch · 2 years

Text

Devil in Miami part 9

drugging and angst in this part. enjoy!

Madison and I walk into Vinnie’s condo. He’s on the phone in the kitchen.

He waves his hand up at us to say hello.

“Damn, I’ve never seen him up close before. He’s cute,” she whispers.

I giggle. “I know, right?”

Once Vinnie is off the phone, he comes over to greet us.

We sit on the couch and Vinnie explains the plan so that she fully understands what’s going to happen.

She sits back and sighs, crossing her arms. “What if we get caught?”

“We won’t. It’s a solid plan. I know you just met me, but trust me. I do this for a living, I know what I’m doing,” Vinnie says.

She looks at me, pursing her lips.

“Like I said, I’m gonna do it no matter what you decide,” I tell her.

“You can take time to think about it but the junket I have set up is only open for booking for a few more days,” Vinnie says.

She shakes her head. “I’ll do it. Fuck it,” she looks at me. “I trust you, y/n. So if you trust him, I trust him.”

I nod. “I do trust him or I would have never brought you here.”

She nods. “Okay. Well, I’m in.”

“I’ll put the plan in motion, then,” Vinnie says, sitting back into his chair.

We hangout for a while, then Madison leaves. There’s a party at one of the mansions off Star, Palm and Hibiscus Islands. She got an invitation through one of her old connections. It’s the perfect place to score something big.

I know Vinnie isn’t going to want me to keep doing what I do but I’m not done making money yet. I want as much as possible before we go to Macau. As I get ready to leave, I tell Vinnie I’m going to go home shower and get some new clothes so I’ll be back later. I feel bad for lying but it’s necessary for now.

As I’m putting my shoes on, Vinnie leans against the wall by the hallway with his arms crossed.

“What?” I ask, looking at him.

“What are your plans tonight?” He asks.

“I already told you, I’m just going home to shower and get some new clothes. Lisa is probably wondering where I’ve been. I’ll be back,” I smile at him.

He nods, not smiling back. “Just be careful.”

“Of what?” I ask innocently.

He raises his eyebrows at me and shakes his head. “Call me if you need me,” he says, walking back into his room and shutting the door.

I scoff quietly. I’m apparently not as slick as I thought I was.

—

Once at the party, the place is massive. Tons of expensive artwork on the walls. I have no idea who even lives here but they’ve got money money. These houses cost into the 10s of millions of dollars.

We make our way to the kitchen and they have a table lined up with food and drinks. I get a glass of champagne and Madison gets a glass of wine.

“What’s the game plan tonight?” She asks, taking a sip from her glass.

I shake my head. “Same as usual. I might just go up and ask a guy to dance or something.”

“That’s probably our best bet tonight. It’s a safe bet most people here have money.”

I nod. “Yeah, I just gotta get tipsy enough first.”

She giggles. “Yeah. Same.”

We hear a man’s voice behind us. “Hey guys,” he says.

We turn around. It’s Marco, her connection that got us in here.

“Hey Marco,” Madison smiles.

“I wanted to show you my new car. Come out back with me for a minute,” he says.

Madison looks at me as if to ask if I want to join. I just want to get the night over with, I’m not feeling any of it tonight.

I shake my head. “I’m gonna go to the dance floor and scope the place.”

“Okay,” she nods and walks away with Marco.

I stand there for a moment then decide to get another glass of champagne.

As I’m pouring it, I notice a guy across the table glancing at me.

Our eyes meet and I give him a little smile.

“Dom Perignon,” he smiles. “Good choice.”

“It’s one of my favorites!” I say.

“It’s a classic. Did you know Dom Perignon actually invented the champagne method of adding sugar to wine?” He asks.

“Actually, that’s a myth,” I say, taking a sip from my glass.

“What?! No way, I never knew that,” he shakes his head. “Well, there goes my number one conversation starter.”

I laugh. “Just tell people that the champagne method story isn’t true.”

“I guess that could work just as well,” he smiles.

“Maybe even better.”

He laughs and reaches across to shake my hand. “I’m Alex, by the way.”

“Anna,” I say, smiling.

Looking him over, I try to figure out where his outfit is from. I’m almost certain the blazer is a Brunello Cucinelli. Worth a few thousand and common so it wouldn’t raise red flag going up online.

He’s got a few gucci rings on hands. Worth a few hundred dollars each. He’ll do for the night.

“So Anna, who’s your acquaintance here tonight?” He smiles.

“I’m single if that’s what you’re asking.”

He laughs and takes a sip of his drink. “Okay, so my question wasn’t as subtle as I thought it would be.

I giggle and look at him for a moment. “Alex, would you like to dance with me?”

Just as I ask, a woman comes up behind him and says something in his ear. He looks over at me, and for a moment my heart drops. There’s no way anyone would know anything about us to be suspicious but I still get a little paranoid sometimes.

He nods his head and says something back to the woman and then sits his drink down. “Anna, I’ll be right back. When I get back, I’d love to dance.”

Too fucking easy.

I nod, smiling. As soon as he’s out of sight, I glance around. No one is standing beside me, so I reach into my purse and grab the crushed pill, pouring it into his drink.

Madison comes back around the corner.

“I’ve got one, just got his drink. Be ready to go,” I say quietly as soon as she gets close to me.

“Damn you work fast. I’ll be in the car,” she says back, walking right past me.

After a minute or 2, he makes his way back. “You ready?” He asks.

“Well let’s finish our expensive drinks first,” I say, smiling at him and holding mine up.

“Oh yeah,” he chuckles and finishes off his drink real fast.

We head to the dance floor. I’ve got about 30 minutes before this thing kicks in so things have to happen quick. Typically we like to get them alone before doing this but I want to get this night over with.

After a few minutes of us dancing, he starts giving me the narrowed eyed look they always get and acting drowsy.

“Are you okay? You don’t look well.” I ask.

“Yeah, I just feel kinda bad.”

I give him a concerned look. “You want me to take you home?”

“This is my house. Well my parents house,” he says.

“Oh!”

Oh shit. How fucking old is he?

“You want me to get you to your room?” I ask.

“Um… yeah.”

“Let’s get you to your room. You want to tell someone you’re turning in for the night?”

“Okay.” He walks over and says something to someone and they nod. He comes back to me and we start up the stairs.

Once I’ve got him I’m his room, he walks and sits on the edge of the bed.

“You said this is your parents house? How old are you?” I ask, helping him take his shoes off. They’re Dolce and Gabbana. A few hundred dollars.

“I’m 21 but I’m home visiting from university,” he murmurs.

Oh thank god.

I let out a deep breath and stand up.

I walk over and shut and lock the door. He’s starting to nod in and out, and lays back on to the bed.

“Hold on, let’s get you under the covers,” I say, pulling him back up.

He sits up and moves to the head of the bed.

I take his jacket off and peak at the tag. Brunello Cucinelli, just like I thought.

I put his feet on the bed and cover him with the blanket. This way if anyone walks in and sees him, he just looks like he’s asleep normally.

He fights against the feeling and keeps looking up at me. He looks scared. They always do right before they nod out completely.

“You’re okay, just go to sleep. You just had too much to drink, you’ll be fine tomorrow,” I say.

Finally, he closes his eyes and they stay closed.

I realize I have no way to get these clothes downstairs. I can’t just walk out with handfuls of expensive shit.

I walk to the window and look down. It’s on the side of the house and I don’t see any people within view. I‘ll drop everything down there.

#vincent hacker #vinnie #vinnie hacker #vincenthacker #vinniehacker #vinnie fanfic #vinnie x reader #vinniehackerfanfic

19 notes · View notes

intheticklecloset · 3 years

Text

Haikyuu!! Sentence Starters #1-10

A collection of the Haikyuu sentence starters I've done, compiled for the sake of ease. These are all stand-alone stories.

~~~

1) Lee Noya, Ler Hinata

“Not such a tough little libero now, huh?”

The tease slipped out of Hinata’s mouth with ease as he grinned down at his friend, who was curled up in a giggling ball on the floor.

“S-Shuhuhuhut up, Hinata!” Noya protested, his face bright pink as he tried to hold back the flood that threatened to burst at any moment.

“I think you’re even more ticklish than me, Noya, and that’s saying something!” Hinata giggled along with his upperclassman, easily able to keep up with his squirmy movements. This was way easier than trying to tickle Kageyama. At least in this situation, he had a whole inch of height to his advantage!

Noya squealed and arched his back when the redhead found his lower ribs, crawling up from his sides. “N-Nohohohoho, nononono – Hinata, stahahahahap!”

Hinata beamed. “Why? I like seeing you smile and laugh like this!”

“T-Tickles – it f-frihihihihihicking tickles, Hinatahahahahaha!”

“Oh, really?” Hinata started dragging his fingers up and down the libero’s ribs, thrilled when Noya couldn’t hold back anymore and started squealing with high-pitched laughter. “I would never have guessed.”

“Hinata!” Noya managed before giving up the fight and laying back to take it, shockwave after shockwave of ticklish sensations lighting up his nervous system and making him laugh and squirm involuntarily. But – if he was honest with himself – he really didn’t mind the distraction.

2) Lee Noya, Ler Kageyama

“What’s wrong?” Kageyama smirked, holding Noya’s feet in his lap and trailing his fingers lazily up and down the soles. “I thought touch was your love language.”

Noya blushed furiously. “Y-Yeah, but not that kind of touch. Jeez…”

Kageyama replied by scratching his fingernail in the center of the libero’s left sole. “No? Really?”

“S-Stohohohop,” Noya giggled, covering his face with his hands and tugging at his feet half-heartedly.

In the spirit of keeping up the playfulness, Kageyama wrapped one arm around both of Noya’s ankles and held him tighter, scribbling his free hand over both feet at once.

Noya bucked his hips and tried to roll over but quickly wound up on his back again, too weak with laughter to do anything more than protest. “Nohohohohohoho!”

“I don’t know, Yuu, you do seem to be loving this just as much as if I were kissing you.”

“I ahahahahahaham not!”

“You are.” Kageyama grabbed his toes and dug in fiercely. “You should be punished for lying to my face like that.”

Noya tossed his head back and finally started laughing, gripping his stomach as if it would save him somehow. Through screechy giggles he pleaded, “Stohohohohohohop, that s-seheheheheriously tihihihihickles, Kageyama!”

The setter merely chuckled. “I know it does.”

3) Lee Hinata, Ler Suga

“No, I’m not giggling!”

Suga grinned. “You sure? It sounds like you are.”

“Well, I’m not!” Hinata insisted indignantly, trying desperately to reach the beetle that was crawling on his lower back, exactly where he couldn’t reach it. Another chuckle escaped him, making him blush. “Get it off of me, Suga! Why are you just standing there?”

“Because it’s cute that a bug is tickling you and you’re giggling,” Suga replied, taking out his phone. “I’ve got to show the guys.”

“H-Hey! Wait!” Hinata whirled to stop him, but his sudden movement caused the beetle to skitter a little further up his back, even more where he couldn’t reach it, and he arched his body and definitely, absolutely giggled. “S-Stohohop! Get it off of mehehehe!”

Suga laughed, holding his phone steady for the sake of his video. “Oh my god, just when I thought you couldn’t get any more fun to be around, Hinata. You’re getting tickled by a beetle.”

“Shut up, Suga!” Hinata felt the heat of his embarrassment on his cheeks, pouting as he crossed his arms, struggling to stay still as the bug crawled up towards his shoulder blades. “P-Please just get it off. Please?”

“All right, all right.” Suga stopped his recording, pocketed his phone, and went to shoo the beetle away. It flew off, unbothered, having no idea the cute scene it had just caused. “There. It’s gone.”

“You’re so mean. Are you really going to show that video?”

“Of course I am.” The silver-haired setter smirked, scribbling his fingers up and down Hinata’s spine quickly, making the redhead shriek and jolt away from him. “How can I resist?”

4) Lee Daichi, Ler Suga

“I told you, you didn’t have to try that,” Suga said in exasperation. “Now your arms are all red.”

“But Noya made it look so cool; I wanted to give it a go.” Daichi gave him a look. “You can’t seriously tell me you’ve never wanted to do rolling thunder before.”

Suga pressed his lips together. “Well, since you didn’t want to hear my warning, you’ll have to learn a lesson for not listening to me.”

“Isn’t nearly breaking my arms enough of a lesson learned?” The captain retorted, eyes widening when he saw wiggling fingers approaching him. He took a step back. “Suga, you wouldn’t.”

“I would.”

The setter lunged after his friend, and the two ran around the gym together, sprinting at top speeds to try and catch up to and evade each other. Eventually Suga tricked Daichi into going around the net while he ducked under it, and that finally closed the gap between them.

“No, nohohohoho, wait!” Daichi burst into giggles the instant the silver-haired setter grabbed his sides. “Dohohohohon’t do thahahahat!”

“You deserve it,” Suga shot back, grinning, “for failing to heed my oh-so-sage advice, captain. If you really want to learn rolling thunder, I’m sure Noya would be willing to teach you.”

“G-Gehehehet – get ohohohohoff! Suga!” Daichi twisted and writhed in the setter’s surprisingly strong grip, but he wasn’t going anywhere. “Stohohohohohop!”

Suga only held him closer. “Nope. This is what you get.”

5) Lee Daichi, Ler Ennoshita

“Leave me be!” Daichi snapped, turning his back and striding away.

Ennoshita blinked, surprised. He’d been watching the captain a lot more as of late, knowing his fellow second-years were looking to make him Daichi’s replacement once he graduated. He’d of course noticed how hard his upperclassman worked to remain a levelheaded, fair leader to the team – something he wished to do as well. But in the midst of his observations he’d also noticed that Daichi worked himself almost too hard trying to be the perfect example, and when he’d decided to suggest that he take it easy, “leave me be!” was the response he got.

“You don’t have to be a jerk about it,” he muttered. “I’m just trying to help.”

Daichi paused, then let out a sigh and looked back at him. “You’re right. I’m sorry, Ennoshita.”

The second-year smiled and put a hand on his captain’s shoulder. “It’s all right. I know you’re stressed. But that’s exactly why you should take it easy.” Then, inspired by something he’d seen Hinata doing quite a lot lately, he reached out to grab Daichi’s side and squeeze. “To start, you could smile a little more, you know?”

“Ah! W-Whahahahahahat?” Daichi sputtered, helpless against the wide smile that took over his features. He tried to squirm away, but Ennoshita gripped his shoulder even tighter.

“There you go, just like that! Next, you can laugh.” The younger boy grabbed both of his sides then, digging in deep, and Daichi shrieked before doubling over, loud giggles pouring from his mouth.

“Ennoshihihihihihita!”

“That’s my name,” Ennoshita confirmed, grinning, and kept tickling his upperclassman.

6) Lee Hinata, Ler Tanaka

“Come on! I see that smile! Give me the smile!”

“Stohohohohohohop! Tanakahahahahahaha!” Hinata squealed, trying his best to double over and fall to the floor. Tanaka wasn’t having it, holding onto him firmly with one arm and digging into his side with the other.

“Come on, Hinata! Stop being so mopey. We all know you’re sad and depressed because Kageyama’s sick today—”

“I’m nohohohohoohohot sahahahahad and deprehehehessed!” Hinata protested, his cheeks flaming red as tomatoes at the callout.

“—but don’t you think he’d want you to be happy and smiling with us instead of pouting all day?”

“I’m nohohohohohohot pouting!”

“Well, not anymore, you’re not!” Tanaka grinned devilishly, scribbling up to Hinata’s underarm. “Tickle, tickle, little lovebird~”

“Stahahahahahahahap!”

“Daichi!” Tanaka turned his head to his upperclassman. “You getting this?”

“Already done,” replied the captain, storing his phone away.

And Kageyama – sick in bed – opened up the video sent to him via text message and smiled, seeing his boyfriend giggling hysterically and already feeling leagues better for it.

7) Lee Yamaguchi, Ler Tsukishima

“Stop laughing, this is serious!”

Tsukishima’s harsh words only made Yamaguchi laugh even harder, gripping his stomach as he doubled over. “I-I cahahahahan’t hehelp it…t-thehehehehehey’re r-right – pfffhahahahaha!”

Tsukki growled in irritation. He could barely see Tadashi, having lost his sports glasses and his normal ones stowed away in his duffel bag. “They’re right where? If you see them then tell me where they are! I’m getting impatient.”

Yamaguchi finally regained enough breath to manage, “T-They’re…right there, Tsukki. Around your neck. They just fell, that’s all.”

Blinking, Tsukki looked down and felt around his neck for his spectacles, and sure enough, that’s exactly what had happened. He let out a sigh and put them back on, adjusting them so he could see his friend’s face, pink from laughing and with a wide smile still in place.

“You think this is funny?” Tsukki sauntered up to him. “I’ll give you something to laugh about.”

“Huh? W-Wait!” Tadashi tried getting away, but his blonde friend was taller and stronger and way more intimidating, and it wasn’t long at all before he felt fingers in his ribs, tickling deeply, precisely, drawing out unintentional giggles and squeaks. “Nohohohohoho! I’m sohohohohorry – plehehehehehehease! Tsukkiehehehehehehehe!”

8) Lee Tanaka, Ler Daichi

“Dude, you’re way too soft on them,” Daichi said, shaking his head as he watched their two wild first-years sprint out of the gym, no doubt racing to the lockers as though their lives depended on it.

Tanaka shrugged. “Eh, so they’re a little nuts. So was I, when I first started. You were easy on me then.”

“I wasn’t the captain then.”

“And I’m not their captain now. Hopefully ever, dear god.” Tanaka laughed, clapping Daichi on the shoulder. “Relax, dude, they’ll turn out fine. I did, didn’t I?”

Daichi looked at him, and his expression softened. “Yeah, I suppose you did. Still…” He reached for his underclassman’s sides, digging in deep and enjoying the surprised yell he got in return. “I think you could use a lesson yourself, knucklehead.”

“Ack! N-No, ha-hahahahang on a second, I d-dohohon’t need – god, Daichi! Stahahahahap!” Tanaka sputtered and finally broke down into giggles, trying to worm his way out of the older boy’s grip. “Cahahahan’t you lehehehet me d-defehehehend myself for f-fihihihihive seheheheconds?!”

“Mmm…no,” Daichi decided, grinning, tickling even harder. Tanaka finally began to laugh, doubling over and trying to bat the captain’s hands away. “No, I don’t think I can, my friend.”

9) Lee Suga, Ler Daichi

“Okay but look, guys – it’s so deep!” Daichi exclaimed, drilling his finger even deeper into Suga’s navel.

Suga was lying on the floor, back arched, head tossed back with throes of laughter, hands pushing weakly at Daichi’s while the captain straddled him, pinning him in place for this ticklish torture.

“STAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAP!!” Suga screamed, laughing louder and harder than anyone on the team had ever heard before. He kicked his legs uselessly, face turning red. “PLEHEHEHEHEASE!!”

“Holy crap, dude,” Tanaka laughed, kneeling down a few paces away to get a better look while the others simply stared on from behind him. “Are you kidding me with that laugh? You sound like a hyena!”

“I DOHOHOHOHOHOHO NOHOHOHOHOHOHOT!!” Suga cried, but he knew he did. He let out a loud squeal, then a snort, and his laughter turned so hysterical it was practically wild.

The others started laughing with him, catching his infectious giggles.

Daichi finally let up after another few moments, scribbling over his belly lightly to bring him gently back down from his tickle-high, and then at last easing up completely. “Your hyena laugh is the best, Suga.”

The silver-haired setter gasped for breath and let out a few residual giggles. “I’m glad you like it, you bully,” he groaned, but he was smiling.

10) Lee Tanaka, Ler Hinata

“Don’t poke me!”

Hinata grinned, proceeding to poke Tanaka again anyway. “Why? Does it tickle?”

“You little—!” Tanaka tried to grab him and tickle him first, but Hinata had always had speed on his side, and the redhead had scrambled behind his upperclassman and latched onto him, drilling into his ribs and sides. The second-year let out a yelp, trying to keep from laughing. “Gah! Get off! Hinata, this isn’t funny!”

“I think it’s funny,” Hinata replied, giggling as though to prove his point. He reached up even further into Tanaka’s underarm, and that’s when the upperclassman finally broke and started cackling.

“Nohohohohohoho! You lihihihihihittle jeheheheheheherk!”

“Aw, you’re ticklish, Tanaka!”

“I knohohohohow that! You dohohohohon’t need to tehehehehehell me!”

The redhead beamed, tickling under both arms now. “Tickle, tickle, tickle!”

“Stahahahahap it, you fihihihihihirst-year brahahahahat!”

Hinata laughed. “You sound like Tsukki.”

“I sohohohohohohound nothing lihihihihike that stuck-up – ahahahahahahaha nohohohohoho!” Tanaka tried to wiggle away from Hinata’s fingers along his neck and shoulders but found he was attached quite firmly and couldn’t be shaken off. “Hinata, stahahahahahap already!”

“Okay, fine…” Hinata relented, finally letting him go, grinning. But when Tanaka whirled on him, evil smirk in place, the redhead knew he’d made a mistake in conceding so quickly. He turned on his heel and ran.

#fanfiction #tickle fic #tickle drabble #compilation #quick prompts #haikyuu #haikyuu!!#hq #sentence starters

80 notes · View notes

fandomtookoverlife · 3 years

Text

Late

Hotch x reader

Fem!reader

Summary: you go out to brunch with the girls but your late, (as always) and they have a peak at your sex life before you leave.

Note: italics are readers thoughts

Warning: talk of sex, swearing

Words: 1.8k

Category: fluff

A/N: ok this took me way too long to write but that's ok because I like the way it turned out and I hope you do too. Also this totally isn’t based off of the dumb bitch I am and how I act when I’m late. 😂😂

also again with me not being able to come up with a name worth a shit

Interact with me if you like, anything you want,😘😘, not sure what I’ll write next we’ll see. Also not me getting this out instead of doing hw, not me, wrong bitch.

Other blog: @mac99martin

Masterlist

---

Shitshitshitshit I’m so fucking late UGH SHIT! You are so late. You’re running around your bedroom trying to get ready. You were going for brunch with the girls; Penelope’s idea, which was fine except that you were getting picked up at 11, you woke up at 10:40. For the last 10 minutes, you have been rushing around your room trying to get ready, preying that the girls would be running late as well. You’re dressed, which is good, you threw on a bit of makeup in an effort to look the least bit presentable and now you were desperately trying to manage the mess that is your hair. You had… fun last night. Aaron had come over and well like you said you had fun. Jack was at a sleepover so Aaron came to your apartment, you stayed up half the night, relishing in the time you’ve missed together in the past week. It came to an end when Aaron received a call saying that he needed to pick up Jack. At that point you decided you should get some sleep seeing as you had to get up in the morning, unfortunately for you, your own personal alarm clock left last night and you forgot to set an alarm, yep, you’re late. You’ve been checking the clock every two minutes, you were probably wasting time checking the time and now you're wasting time thinking about how you're wasting time, UGHH, but you were frazzled and freaking out so you can’t be relied upon for anything right now.

10:53

All you have to do in the next 7 minutes is clean up the rat’s nest that is left of your hair after last night’s activities, find shoes, find your wallet, purse, find wherever the hell you put your phone down and pray that you look presentable.

Unfortunately, there’s one flaw that always manages to escape you, most people don’t show up at the exact minute agreed upon.

It was now 10:56 your hair was mostly put together, 4 minutes ok I can do that. As if you weren’t already having the worst morning, it gets worse. Ya, that phone you can’t find, It has been blowing up with messages for the last few minutes.

“She’s not answering.” JJ had had none been calling you from the parking lot for a couple of minutes with no answer. Em and Pen had been checking in for the last 15 with no answer and continued to send unseen texts to you.

Em finally snapped, “alright, I’m going up.” not giving the other ladies time to respond she opened that car door and got out.

Pen rushed out after her, “Wait I wanna come!”

JJ watched the two women walk toward the entrance to your complex, looking at the empty car around her, got up as well, “ok I’m coming too.”

Emily, completely giving up on you, took out her keys and opened your door, JJ, ever the reasonable one, had protested, saying that they should knock. She got a nasty glare as Em pushed your door open.

As you said before, Aaron left in a rush last night, and you had been running around your room all morning, actually, you haven’t left your room all morning, making you completely unaware of the state of your apartment.

The women stood in your doorway in shock. You and Aaron didn’t just have fun in the bedroom last night, you had fun everywhere, the kitchen, the floor, the table, your desk, the couch, you name it you were there. In conclusion? Your apartment was a mess, for starters there were clothes everywhere, your shirt, Aaron’s jacket, your bra, Aaron’s tie, your pants and last but definitely not least your-ripped-panties right in the open directly in the eye line of the women at the door. And you were completely unaware.

The stunned women stepped in closing the door behind them, the world did not need to see this. They took in the sight, the clothing, the underwear that pen had pointed out, making sure to specify their ripped state. The next thing they noticed was your desk, what was usually a very precise desk was, quite the spectacle. Papers and folders scattered, pencil cups on their sides, pens just everywhere, photos knocked over. The tables and couch were pushed out slightly into the middle of the room, it was very clear what had happened here last night. The ladies looked at each other, their faces blank unsure how to react. A part of them was horrified, the other part really wanted to laugh. That was until they heard a noise coming from behind your door. They all became alarmed, “wait you don’t think Hotch is still in there do you?!” with your normal, horrible timing, that’s when you decided to open your door

Everyone looked stunned. You tried to start asking how they got into your apartment but you were by a frantic Emily, “Is hotch still here?”

“What? No, how did u…” the women looked relieved at your answer, when you started to ask how they knew he was here last night they gestured around the room. And that’s when you remembered the state in which you and Aaron left your apartment last night, “ohhh shit”

Emily started “Ya oh shit, look at this place”

“You guys had fun last night” JJ, always so passive-aggressive. When Pen went to pick up your panties, you sprang into action.

“Alright I’ll be out in a minute you guy can wait in the car” you practically slammed the door behind them, you look back at the mess that in your apartment, “shit”

You get your shit and get out of your apartment as fast as you can, JJ, Pen and Em are in the car waiting as ordered to but when you get in they are all smiling, “soooo, if you guys could just forget what you saw in there…”

“Absolutely not! That image will be engraved in my mind for the rest of my life!”

“JJ, come on”

“Don’t give me that did you see that place, good god Y/N what did you do in there!”

“Ummm…”

Before you could even think of an answer Pen jumped in with, “did you see all her clothes on the ground?”

“Did you see Hotch’s clothes still on the ground?”

“Did you see her desk?!”

“Alright, that’s enough” doing your best to put your foot down while also hiding how absolutely mortified you are.

“I think you’ve had enough.”

“No wonder she was late.”

Despite your protests, it went on and on,

“Do you think she has hickey?”

“Hmm, not that I can see” at this point they weren’t listening to you anyway, so you just sat there, trying very hard not to listen, at some point you had started to think about last night. It was so perfect, not only the incredible sex but just being with him, allowing your selves to let loose, show each other affection, which you don’t do around the team. And then there was the literal mind-blowing sex, his hand all over you, his mouth across your body leaving the hickeys that you actually had but skillfully covered. The many orgasms you had that your legs hurt now, your slightly sore throat…

“Do you think that HE has hickeys?”

“Should we find out?”

That was it “NO”

“Well that woke her up, you were kind of out of it there for a second.”

“Ya something up,? Maybe something on your mind, thinking about something, dreaming about it, imagining it, reliving it?” Emily was nudging your shoulder and your face was turning bright red, “oh my god she was!”

Once you had actually started eating they let the conversation move on. It was one of the best times you’ve had in a while, you laughed and joked, you really don’t remember the last time you all smiled so much. It was nice to be with them so relaxed and happy, you almost forgot what it was like.

When your phone rang you knew their fun from earlier wasn’t over, they all turn to you, smirks growing on their faces, “hey”

“hey Y/N, I’m sorry about last night,”

“Don’t worry about it, really”

“Jack doing fine now but- it was messy” he said with a tired chuckle

“No no, I get it.”

“Hey hotch” Emily had pulled you phone slightly away from your ear and spoke into it “quite a number you did on her apartment last night” you snatched your arm back from her and shot her a glare

“You're still at lunch…”

“Yes. I am.” with a laugh that was more of a sigh,

“Sorry I totally forgot, Jack just wanted to talk to you, but he can wait-”

“No no, I want to talk to him,” you blushed and everyone smiled, you said you were stepping outside and would be back, they didn’t catch much of your conversation as you walked away, but what they did catch, was way too fucking sweet.

“Wow, they are just-”

“She looks so happy” watching you talk through the window

“Her? Have you seen him?” they thought about the changes in the two of you recently, you both were smiling so much more, you seemed so energetic, he seemed softer. Both so much more selves, a weight coming off both your shoulders, you brought the light out in each other and just being in the same room as you lift the spirits of the team. Watching their fierce leader's stoic exterior melt away and your calm and loving nature amplified out of proportion.

You came back to the table still smiling while they all looked at you, “don’t start-”

JJ cut you off, grabbed your hand and looked in your eyes, “hey,” squeezing your hand, “we are so happy that you're happy.” you blushed and smiled at JJ’s soft, kind words, her motherly exterior and your friends smiling faces showing the sentiment.

After a lovely lunch, filled with smiles, laughter and best friends you pulled up to your apartment JJ had a grin on her face, “so, you want help cleaning up?” the ladies trying very hard not to start laughing.

You clear your throat composing yourself and your face heats up, again, “um no I’m good thanks” getting out of the car as fast as you could.

“Are you sure?” they call after you.

“I’m sure!” running to your door while the ladies kill themselves in the car.

They may be annoying but who would you be to complain about your life right now, how could you, you have everything you could ever want.

---

Tags:

@spencers-renaissance @averyhotchner

(lmk if you want to be tagged)

225 notes · View notes

youranxiousnerd · 3 years

Text

Spring Break Thoughts

bc i want to get stuck in an airport and break into first class

spoilers below

EJ DOING THE INTRO

the most...profound intro?

“maybe it’s really about other people” looks at gina

i have jumped on the portwell train

when i first saw they were doing zoom backgrounds i was not on board, but they’ve grown on me carlos’ sucks

miss jenn and the zoom backgrounds

NI NI HEL LO

nini didn’t you get cut?

you know miss jenn they could get together out side of school (at least the kids who are here)

olivia is so pretty

aww carlos called miss jenn his madrina

HA I KNEW IT OF COURSE CARLOS INVITED SEB

seblos tension, ill get to that later

they’re so passive aggressive guys i love it

ASH AND EJ

CASWELL COUSINS YESSS

“You guys are watching like, old, old movies”

“This is why we’re soulmates” the redyln goal has been reached bye

this...this is the only line they get?

miss jenn has obviously not gotten the memo

three weeks and you havent blocked act two

“not it”

of course sebby is the last one to leave

“bye” awww miss jenn

GINA THAT LITTLE GIG YESSSS

just one complement after another ej

AHHHH EJ WITH PAINTED NAILS YESSSSS

he looks so good ej should do it more often

ej fell hard guys

jack in the background doing tik toks i cant

gina and signs

RICKY IN A BLANKET

ugh its lynne

i dont care enough to spell her name right

“just being a burrito here”

bitter ricky, i feel ya

“I’m sorry to hear that’s it over” *smiles*

nini you should have just posted a video

ope empty notebook

awww ej’s insta

gina and jack

thats it

“she changed her name” nina is literally her real name

the leg pull away

ricky and bedding is my new favorite ship besides therapy

“Your boy Jack”

when i first saw the promo for this nini scene i was worried it was gonna be another solo (shes had like 16)

I SPY WITH MY LITTLE EYE A RAINBOW HEART

my gay heart is bursting

nina really said “rainbows are awesome” this episode

and the necklace is off

guys i love improv scenes

it was so goood

soooo howie and kourt just get no closure after that killer song last week? no nothing?

BAHAHAHA KOURTNEY BREAKING UP

i love kourtney

sofia is so pretty

okay i dont ship jack and gina but they’re fun together, little chaos demons

THE DUKE SWEATSHIRT AHHHH

“my friends, like, my castmates, they think it sucks what you did on opening night”

good talk, long overdo. nothing is solved by any means but little steps

the therapy line omfg

“HI, CUPCAKE”

“I’ll meet you in the pool” there is an ocean right behind you

“Don’t ask me”

“Ashlyn, Big Red, Miss. Jenn, Carlos”

the way seb’s face just DROPS when he mentions carlos

“Are you guys fighting” big red looked so happy omfg

“That would imply that we’re speaking”

“Who has time to talk when you’re busy posting selfies with random guys in a cabana”

guys i had to pause for five minutes because i was dying

jealous seb... where did you come from?

ALRIGHT IT IS TIME TO TALK ABOUT SEBLOS!!!!

first off, it seems the writers love to make major seblos things happen off screen. examples include there pinning and officially getting together

where... where did all this tension come from? it has been light the past two episodes then bam, everything they say to each other is bitter. since when is seb jealous? the writers have so many other conflicts to talk about and they choose jealous seb? off all thing?!?! im honestly kind of disappointed because there are so many other things to talk about from previous episodes and instead they choose this?!?!?! hopefully this isn’t the only thing that is addressed next week, it cant be. they better talk about the constant “no seb” because its an issue.

moral of the story is i hope the fight next episode isn’t about seb being jealous bc there is so much more to talk about

i am loving passive aggressive seb like i hope that doesn’t go away when their conflict is resolved bc it’s awesome

HERE are my thoughts on the zoom call

okay seb’s line about doing public makes sense with the full episode

everyone on the call is just like “wtf happened to my otp”

EJJJJ

EJJJJ I LOVE YOU

THE BEST EJ SCENE

“Hi Nini!” ejjjj

you have to watch the scene twice, one to watch nini and ashlyn and another for ej

EJ AND THE PUPPET THATS IT IM DONE

sassy gina i love her

guys i just love everybody

ASHLYN AND NINI I MISSED THIS DUO GAHHHHHH THEY’RE ADORABLE

ej is a child i love it

ricky i feel you with the songwriting

look at big red being best friend of the year now give him a plot line

i am under the impression jack recorded gina

SHIT THE CANDLE TO LAMP TRANSITION YESSSSS

i love transitions and that was it

matt is ripped

julia lester showed up this season. queen shit

she is perfect

YES BIG RED AND KOURTNEY DANCING I WANT MOREEEE

i am so confused with seb’s gloves

that has been bugging me for two days

carlos has more style then a hawaiian shirt and khakis

im in heaven the harmonies are soooo good

they are amazing they sound so good

you can hear all there voices

julia popped off

aint seen nothin is really good, i wasn’t sure about it at first but its grown. they sound so damn good the talent they hold. not the best song but its fun

the video actually looks better than i thought it would

“Wow” me too richard

jack is fun, i’d be okay if he comes back. he is a little chaos demon.

i like how the writers didn’t make them romantic (for once), hopefully gina got his number bc i would

i want to be stuck at an airport with jack

“let you go” is genius. so far the best original song this season. josh has been killing it lately. this is the ballad ricky deserves. lyrical genius. he sounds sooo good.

the one time i agree with lynne

EJ YOU CAMEEEEEE

OMFG THEY’RE ADORABLE

PORTWELLLLLLL BABY WHOOOP

HE IS GONNA TREAT YOU SO GOOD GINA

HE BROUGHT YOU FOOD AND TOOK YOUR BAG

GAHHHHHH

nOoOoOoOo thats it?!?! i cannot wait a week i refuse

i normally don’t talk about promos but episode 10 (im a sucker for sleepover episodes) is my most anticipated episode so we gonna do it.

for starters ricky has a guitar, so he might sing?

AWW THE SETS THEY ARE SO PRETTY

ooo lily is back?

blueprint?

ashlyn and ricky where have you been?!?!

seb and the girls yesss

since in a heartbeat is next episode seb probably leaves? i hope it is a private moment

oh please talk about your other issues pleaseee

“why did i never hear about this?” nina no, it was an accident alright?

gina and nini haven’t interacted this season and the first thing they do is fight.

lets hope there “beef” doesn’t take the a slot

maybe another seblos kiss?

did you know i love seblos

i have stocked up my tears for next week

35 notes · View notes

punkpanda16 · 3 years

Text

The Way I Loved You

Pairing: Namjoon x Reader, Yoongi x Reader

Word Count: 2.5k+

Summary: Five years later your heart still breaks sometimes. Sometimes we just want to understand why life isn't fair. We want the answers to our pain. And sometimes we meet other who may not have the answers but at least they understand.

Author’s Note: This just something that came to mind after listening to Taylor Swift’s That’s the Way I Loved You. 10/10 recommend listening while reading :). This is dabble not related to Mistakes and Miracles.

Warning: Fluff, Smut, A LOT of ANGST Death of character ( please be warned if triggering). Please excuse mistakes it is unedited. I just wanted to post something today

------------------

It never was that I couldn't bring myself to love him. He’s perfect. He holds open doors for me. He pulls out my chair at restaurants.. He remembers things about me that no one even seems to notice. He understands boundaries and knows just what to say when I need him.

He is everything my single friends gush over. The man my father could sit next to and talk to about almost anything. He’s the prince from all those fairy tales my mother read to me. She even says men like him are rare and worth keeping.

Namjoon is everything I could never ask for and a million times more. In many ways, I am so deeply in love with him that it hurts. But the way I loved Min Yoongi was different.

Yoongi was the opposite of everything Namjoon is. The fights, the tears, the screaming. He never called when he said he would. He never knew how to talk about his feelings. Staying up until 2am cursing his name was so common it became normal. However, nothing compared to the way we kissed in rain. The way I loved him.

-Flashback-

“Yoongi! Stop pulling where are going?” You yell as he leads you up a path.

“Trust me, baby. You’re going to love this.” He says with a smirk on his face.

“We need to go back soon or my dad is going to be mad. He said it’s going to rain soon.” You warn.

“Look baby, I don't care what your daddy thinks. Just trust me.” He says with a laugh as you pout.

“Well you should care. He has a hard enough time accepting you as it is. Don’t even get me started about what my mom thinks.” You begin ranting until you are cut off with a sweet kiss on your lips.

There was nothing wrong with Yoongi. You honestly thought he was the exact man your parents wanted for you. He went to school and worked 2 jobs to pay for school. He was charming and funny. He could be forgetful and confrontational but everyone has their flaws. You could never understand why your parents didn’t approve of him. They said he was too crazy. Well it's true, he could be a little impulsive but he had never been a reckless person . He just wanted to experience everything as if the world would end tomorrow. He wanted to feel fulfillment in other aspects of life not just financially.

“Baby do you love me?” He asked as he stared deeply into your eyes.

“You know I do, Yoonie.” You say quietly. You knew where this was going.

“Then fuck everyone and everything else in this world.” He gently grabs your hands. “Baby, if we have each other the world can burn to hell. You are the only thing in this world that could hurt me.” He ends with a kiss on your forehead.

“You know one day we have to grow up. This...us... one day we will have to face the world.” You remind him. Growing up is really scary.

“Baby, you are 21. I am 23. We are grown up.” he says with a smile.

“You know what I mean.” You wine as you playfully slap his arm. “We are going to graduate soon. Then life just happens. Love won’t stop that.” You say sadly.

He lifts your chin gently. “Well until that day comes I will store all my love for you so it will be enough for us to get through anything.”

You let out a small laugh at his words. “Yoonie we know love doesn’t pay bills or fix real problems.”

“It doesn’t have to pay for those things. It just has to make us happy. Happiness in what everyone really wants in life. When the day comes that we have to “grow up” we can figure it out. Okay?” He says sweetly.

“Okay.” You say as you return his smile. Who could resist that sweet gummy smile.

“Okay enough about this sad shit. Let’s go live another happy day. “ He says as he begins to pull you away again. You both laugh as you run up the hill. Before reaching the top he covers your eyes.

“What are you doing now, Yoonie.” You giggle.

“Things are better when there is suspense.” He jokes. He walks a few more steps before removing his hands.

“Okay look.” He whispers in your ear.

As you open your eyes the most beautiful site comes into view. You are standing at the highest point of the city. Lights going on for miles. While the world continued just a few miles away the world seemed to stop where you and Yoongi stood.

“What do you think?” He asked nervously. It was sweet that even after 2 years in a relationship he wanted to impress you.

“I love it.” You say as you pull him into a hug.

You pull back and begin to kiss him sweetly. His hands make their way up your sides until they reach your hips. Just as he pulls you closer and deepens the kiss it begins to rain. At first it’s a small drop but soon the sky opens up and it begins to pour.

“Let’s go!’ he yells as you run back to his car laughing.

-Present-

Things like that don’t just disappear from your mind. Especially, not on nights like this when Namjoon grips your hips like his life depends on it. His kiss is soft and sweet but you can sense his urgency. His hips begin to pick up speed as his moans grow louder.

Lost in pleasure you thoughts run wild. Thoughts of how much you love Namjoon. How much you want his man. Thoughts that make you wish he would have been yours before Yoongi was. Life is just unfair.

“Oh shit. Honey are you okay?” he asks as he slows down. He could always sense when you begin to slip away from him. He never got upset about it. He sometimes felt the same way you do. Yoongi was important to both of you after all.

“Yes Joon. Please don’t stop.” You moan.

“Are you sure baby? You know I understand and we can stop whenever you want. ” He asked quietly.

You reach up to kiss his nose the way you knew he loved. A small smile forms on his lips at your gesture.

“I am sure Joon. I am okay. Sometimes my mind floats away but I am so lucky that you help hold me down.” You kiss him again this time on his lips. He reciprocates instantly as he deepens the kiss.

He begins to move again. Slow at first as he kisses ever part of your exposed body that he can reach.

“Joon baby you feel so good. Faster please.” You whine. He’s always so willing to please.

“Baby I’m close.” he warns

“Inside Joonie please. I need you inside.” You encourage him. He reaches down and rubs your most sensitive spot to get you both to reach your climax. A few strong thrusts later and you both reach it together.

After a few moments of catching your breaths wrapped in each other's arms he gets up to clean you up. You are too tired emotionally and physically to move. Once he cleans you up, he joins you back in bed. He lays your spent body on his chest and rubs your back soothingly.

“I hope this is the one. I can’t wait for us to have our first little one, my love.” He whispers in your hair.

“Me too.” you hum as you inhale in sweet scent.

“Joon?” You lift your head to look him in the eyes. You find his eyes are closed in pure bliss. He hums in response but keeps his eyes closed.

“If we ever have a son...c-can we name him Yoongi?” You ask. It suddenly becomes too hard to look him in the eyes so you lower your head in embarrassment. Sensing your discomfort he reached down to lift your head to look back up at him.

“Of course we can, sweetie. Why do you look so ashamed to ask?” he frowns his brows in concern.

“W-well you know me and Yoongi. We had a past. I love you more than life itself. You know that right?” you ask as tears begin to form in your eyes.

“Of course I do baby. Why are you crying?” he asks as he wipes away your tears.

-Flashback-

“How many kids do you think we’ll have?” your question catching Yoongi off guard. He looked up with his cute surprised kitten face making coo.

“K-kids?” He asks nervously.

“Yeah kids. You know mini you or a mini me. A tiny little us.” You say with a bright smile, the one you knew he couldn’t resist.

“I-I don't know. I don’t think I’d be a good dad, honestly.” he says sadly as he sees the smile drop from your face.

“Why?” you ask as you take his cold hands in yours.

“W-well ummmm,” he scratched his neck nervously, “for starters I can't get your dad to like me. Imagine how he’d react if I knocked you up.”

“Wow “knock me up” how romantic.” you tease making a cute hue of red appear on his pale cheeks.

“You know what I mean.” His bottom lip sticks out cutely.

“I thought you couldn’t give a single fuck what my dad or, anyone for that matter, said about us?” you said jokingly.

“W-well yeah. I don't but our kids are gonna need their grandparents so I’ll have to care then.” He explains.

“You're so sweet. See, you'll be a good dad if you already care about them like that. You would put your ‘I don't give a fuck’ attitude away just for them.” you say as you kiss his cheek making him blush more.

“I mean I guess.” He says as he goes back to pretending to read his book. Thinking the conversation is over you go back to your work as well.

“Three” He breaks silence suddenly.

“What?” you say surprised.

“Three. If it’s with you...I-I want three. A boy and two girls.” He says but he never looks you in the eyes.

“Three. I like that.” You agree as you go back to work with a smile on your face.

-Present-

“I’m crying because I don't think life is fair.” You say a sob tears through your chest. Making Namjoon pull you closer to his warm body in order to confront you.

“This life...this house...what we have. He deserved it too. I just don’t know why? Why Joonie?” You ask as more tears roll down your eyes.

“I wish I could tell you baby.” his voice cracks as he speaks. You've always known it hurts him just as much as it hurts you. They were best friends and loved each other like brothers way before you came into Yoongi’s life.

“D-did he ever tell you?” You hiccup.

“I-I...he did but made me promise not to tell you. And to be honest it wasn’t my secret to tell. All he said was I had to help you chase happiness when he couldn’t anymore.”

“I can’t believe he never told me he was sick. Joon, even after five years it hurts.” You whisper out.

“I know baby. I also know that you were the best thing in his life. He never wanted to forget to live just because he was going to die.” He says as tears roll down his cheeks.”He stops as he wipes his tears before continuing. “You remember what he used to say about love?”

You nod in response, “It wouldn’t pay the bills but that didn’t matter because the one thing everyone wants can’t be paid for.” he smiles down at you as you respond.

“I want us to raise our children with that same mentality... You know he made me promise two things that last night we spent with him?” You turn to him surprised because you had never heard this before.

“What did he make you promise?” You ask as you wipe away your tears.

“First, to love you and show you the world. I was confused at first. Until he explained why he introduced us in the first place. Honestly, the first few months we dated I felt so guilty even though he was the one who told me it was okay. Don’t get me wrong I liked you a lot but he was my best friend. I could never betray him like that. But he told me to see you genuinely smile and I'd know why he chose me to look after you.” He said with a small smile.

“What does that mean?” You asked.

“He loved everything about you but your smile...he said it could make the world stop. He said I'd know real and pure love when you smiled for the first time. One day many months after he left us, you did and he was right. My heart and my entire universe stopped. Everyday I still wish you had him by your side so he can see this beautiful smile that makes life worth living.” He says as leans down to kiss your lips.

“What else did you promise?” You asked and tears gathered in your eyes.

“Live. Live that life he wished he could have but never had enough time to.” He said as he began to cry again. You pull him to your chest as you play with his hair.

“Letting go was one thing but realizing that life wasn’t just going to stop because he left us was a whole new level of pain. I learned to love again with you but I could never forget how to love him. We had plans. He deserved to be part of the life he had imagined in his head. Does that make me a bad person Joon?”

“No baby. It made you stronger. I know you love me. I know what we have is real I couldn’t give a fuck about anything else.” He says as you continue to play with his hair. Both of you now feel like a weight was lifted off your tired souls.

“You are starting to sound like him.” You joked.

“Well he did raise me.” Joon says with a dimpled smile.

“He did a great job even though he gave you that potty mouth.” You giggle.

“That’s how we will raise little Yoongi too.” He says as he rubs your stomach. Already imagining a bump forming.

“His first word will not be fuck.” you scolded playfully.

2am was the time he passed. 2am five years ago you cried like you’ve never cried before. The world stopped but not like it used to. It stopped because a part of you died too. Until someone revived you and helped you heal. You no longer scream and curse his name at the top of your lungs in anger and pain. You can be at peace and can look to the future that you deserve. Never forgetting him is not a terrible thing because you will always carry a part of him with you. In a way he would get to live out the life you planned together.

Hi everyone,

. I am sorry I haven't been active here. I appreciate everyone who continues to read and share my work. Life is just hard sometimes guys and it’s okay to take breaks and take care of yourself. I know my writing in not the best but I do it for myself and for those who enjoy it.

I hope you are all safe and healthy. I love you all. :)

P.S

Yes, it has been a long time but Mistakes and Miracles will continue. Keep an eye out for new chapters these next few weeks.

75 notes · View notes

estellaelysian · 3 years

Text

Out on the Ranch

7:00

The sparkle of lights seemed to fade in the background as the wind blew, rustling the leaves and blowing like musical notes through the deep grove of trees. The lake glistened under the pure white moon, the water shifting, rippling against the silver sparkle of light. They crossed the pasture toward the fence line in a comfortable silence. Alishka studied the gentle rolling landscape, the undulations of the fence line as it rode the contours of the land and Ethan marveled at how different this place was from where he’d grown up. It occurred to him that he’d just come to appreciate the quiet, almost austere beauty of this landscape. In the distance, the pines and oaks scrabbled together, forming an impenetrable scrim of blackness. Behind them, the chatter of crickets emerged slowly into the night. Despite the darkness, she knew Ethan was stealing glances at her, and he was not being subtle about it.

She smiled. This side of him had been coming out more often, and it seemed to make him an entirely different person in itself. She wondered if he noticed it.

‘So how long has your cousin been married to John?’

‘Six. Seven this year.’

He nodded.

At first when Alaya had invited them over for the weekend, Alishka was sure how it’d go. She wasn’t even sure how Alaya had gotten Ethan to come along, because this was clearly planned in her absence, she had no hint of it until that morning, when they were leaving for the ranch.

‘Do you come here a lot?’ he asked her, pulling her out of her reverie.

‘No, not a lot these days,’ she answered. ‘Everything’s been too busy lately, and she is also settling in…’she trailed off, unsure what to say next.

As the trees densely crowded on his side, he moved closer, and she felt her stomach flutter. He, although, seemed visibly unfazed.

There’s a shortcut from the next fence,’ she said, barely even noticing the words falling from her lips. ‘Then we can get to the river and round from there to the main house.’

He nodded again, not knowing what else to say or do.

The faint murmur of the river was becoming more perceptible as they transversed the pasture in silence. He observed the dark trees huddled together in the distance, looking quite like a very still crowd observing them.

Soon, they had reached the next fence she had mentioned earlier.

‘Okay, so…’

‘We gotta jump over it,’ she said.

If he was surprised by that, he didn’t show. Instead he just nodded, and putting both hands on the top railing, gracefully hoped over.

‘Show off,’ she teased.

Then considered her options.

The slats were too narrowly placed for her to squeeze through, so she climbed up, perching at the top before swinging her legs over. She took his hands as she jumped down, liking their calloused warmth.

They came to a halt on the high bank. The river wasn’t wide, but he had the sense that the slow moving water was deeper than it appeared. Dragonflies flitted over the surface, breaking the stillness, causing tiny ripples that radiated to the edge. Beyond the river, in the dark shade of a gnarled oak tree, he noticed the remains of an old camp and an abandoned fire pit.

After they left the clearing by the river, they started back to the house, dried leaves crunching beneath their feet. The walk itself was leisurely, and none of them needing to talk.

As they neared the house, he noticed Cooper, Alaya and John’s Scottish terrier darting ahead toward the water bowl on the porch; he lapped at it between pants, then collapsed onto his belly.

‘He’s tired,’ he said, a smile escaping him unknowingly.

‘He’ll be fine. He follows John when he rides out every morning.’ She tucked loose strands of hair behind her ear. ‘Would you like something to drink? I don’t know about you, but I could really use a beer. Unless you’d have some scotch with John- I don’t kn–’

‘Sounds great,’ he said, chuckling heartily at her confusion

‘Okay, I’ll be back in a minute.’

As she walked away, he studied her receding form. Who could’ve thought he’d be doing any of this? Who could make sense of it? He was still wondering about it when she emerged outside a minute later, a pair of ice cold bottles in her hands.

She handed him a bottle and they took a seat on the porch chairs. He leaned back and let out a long sigh before turning to face her.

‘What?’ she asked. ‘What is it?’

‘I don’t know… you make all this seem interesting. A lot more interesting than it actually is.’

She tried her best to resist the smile that was forming but failed. ‘What are you talking about?’

He just kept looking at her intently before smiling. ‘Nothing.’

8:00

‘Come on, Ethan, I am starting up the grill. Wanna join me outside and let the ladies hang out?’

Ethan laughed. ‘Ofcourse.’

‘Honey, can you hand me the steaks? They are marinating in the fridge.’

‘Yeah,’ Alaya said. ‘Ethan, would you like some sun tea? I made it this afternoon.’

He smiled. It was hard to keep track of things in this confusion. Alaya and John were chaotic. Very friendly, welcoming and nice, but chaotic.

‘Yes to the sun tea, and I’ll wait outside for you, John,’ Ethan said finally. That way, it’d be easier for him too.

‘Okay, go on, I’ll join you in a minute,’ John said, moving around him toward the fridge.

Alishka flashed him a good luck sign before he stepped outside the door. Alaya poured in the tea in four cups as John pulled out the steaks. She moved back to the stove nd opened a jar of peas which Alishka guessed had come from the garden.

‘Can’t believe you have been hiding such a fine man, Alishka,’ she said, not even bothering to hide the smirk on her face.

‘Alaya!’ she hissed, but she either missed it, or ignored it completely.

‘He is so in love with you! Have you seen it?’

Alishka pretended to focus on her cup of tea.

‘Oh come on! Drop the act Alishka.’

‘Alaya, stop, will you?’

‘No, I won’t. I haven’t spoken for enough time as it is,’ she said with a wink.

Alishka shook her head. She had no idea how she was going to keep up with her cousin’s excited hosting.

8:30

Whatever the two women inside were talking about, Ethan was grateful he had excused himself from it, for it contained too many giggles, unexpected bursts of laughter, and a certain few hushed whispers as well. He took a sip of the sun tea as John prepared the grill.

‘Late dinners are usually Alaya’s thing,’ John said. ‘She loves them.’

Ethan chuckled. ‘It’s the same with Alishka.’

They fell into easy conversation. Ethan responded to most of the questions and filled in the whos, whats, whens and wheres in his life, though only in broad strokes. John did the same, and at the same time, shared some details about his life on the ranch. From what John had said, it was pretty clear that he and Alaya were interchangeable when it came to the tasks, though she mostly preferred to handle the indoors and book keeping while he did the outdoor works.

By that time, their mugs were almost empty. Ethan strode inside to get them refilled and found Alishka and Alaya talking at the table. It seemed they had finished cooking.

As they talked, John held up the grill top. Although it was charred black in places, it looked ready to go. he reached for a bag of charcoal and dumped some into a grill that looked way too old, using his hands to spread them out evenly. Then he added some lighter fluid, soaking each briquette for just a moment.

‘This grill looks … rather old,’ Ethan said uncertainly.

‘Yeah, it is here from my grandfathers time.’ Then, as if he had noticed Ethan’s skeptical expression, he went on: ‘I know there are better grills now, but I like to do it the way we did growing up. Besides, it tastes better this way. Cooking on those modern day grills is like cooking inside.’

Ethan nodded, although he couldn’t relate. ‘And you have promised us the best steaks we’ve ever had.’

‘That I have,’ he said with a hearty laugh.

They let the coals soak for a couple of minutes before he pulled out a box of matches from his pocket and lit the charcoals, stepping back when the flames shot up. The light breeze made the fire dance in circles.

John reached for the thick steak fillets which had been soaking in the brandy. He had already seasoned them with some salt, pepper and garlic powder.

‘Okay, this will be ready soon,’ he announced as the coals slowly turned white under the flames.

9:00

Alishka retrieved the plates and utensils and finished setting the table. Alaya diced tomatoes, cucumber and shredded the lettuce before tossing everything together in a brightly colored bowl just as Ethan and John returned with the steaks.

‘We need to let these sit for a couple of minutes,’ John said, taking off his hat, putting the platter of steaks on the table.

‘Perfect timing,’ Alaya said. ‘Let me just get the peas and potatoes in a bowl and dinner will be ready.’

‘So what were both of you talking about?’ John asked taking a seat. ‘It seemed pretty funny, for starters, amongst other things.’

‘It was nothing,’ Alishka said with a dismissive wave. ‘It was just Alaya being nosy about my life.’

‘Or, it was me being the cousin you always loved and told everything to.’

‘Oh you are not that fascinating,’ Alishka countered.

‘There’s always hope,’ John quipped, making everyone laugh.

Dinner passed easily, punctuated by laughter and stories. Outside, the moon rose even higher in the sky, making it blush with a lovely mix of light clouds and stars.

10:00

Once they were done with the dishes, Alaya nudged Alishka in the ribs by her elbow.

‘What?’ she asked, setting aside the cloth she had been using to wipe the dishes dry.

‘Both of you should go riding tomorrow.’

For a moment, she just stared at her cousin, stunned. ‘You are kidding,’ she finally said.

‘I am not. Come on, you don’t come down here a lot these days, do you? So maybe you could just go riding tomorrow, have some fun and everything. We’ve got three horses, so it won’t even be a problem.’

‘What about John? What about all the chores – I-’

‘You don’t worry about that. He’ll finish work by one, then you both can go riding. It’ll be fun, trust me.’

‘Uh…’

Before she could stop her, she marched past her into the living room where John and Ethan sat talking.

‘Dr. Ramsey,’ Alaya said brightly.

Behind her, Alishka tensed visibly.

‘I was just telling Alishka about how beautiful the weather is these days, and how amazing it would be to ride in such fine weather.’

No.

‘I think you both should do it tomorrow.’

*********

This is me ignoring canon and creating worlds of my own while I am gone. Part two coming soon.

Thank you all for your lovely support and for reading, love you.

Taglist: Let me know if you want to be added or removed

#ethan ramsey x mc #ethan ramsey #open heart #ethan x mc #ethanramsey #openheart #choices #fanfiction

32 notes · View notes

internalsealpanic · 4 years

Text

Lover, Tell Me, if You’re Able

Summary: You trek down to the underworld to save a certain Robin using your admittedly limited knowledge of Greek Mythology. Nothing a little moxie can’t fix right?

a/n: I’ve been wanting to do an Orpheus Eurydice thing with Jason for a while now. I’m pretty sure this has been done but I really wanted to take a stab at it.

listen to this song while reading: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zP47npl3rHo

warnings: angst, slight body horror, unhealthy grieving, bad decisions, and kind of an eating disorder caused by unhealthy grieving. There is some tooth rotting fluff though.

word count: 5,049

You snorted in your usual short, breathy laugh—which according to certain asshats sounded less like a laugh and more like the death rattle of a hyena —as you nearly tripped over what felt like the fiftieth rock in the past half hour. You cursed quietly wrapping your shaking arms around yourself letting your unkempt fingernails dig into your thoroughly abused coat which probably had a few unwanted holes by now. It wasn’t even that cold nor was it even remotely scary. You know, aside form the ghostly moaning bouncing off the walls but that was par for the course in Gotham subways. No big deal.

After what felt like the seventieth rock, you swore. You swore loud and vicious and cutting. You swore to capital ‘G’ god that when you found Jason Peter Todd you were gonna curb stomp his ass into next week. This is his fault for being stupid enough to- to-

Just like that, your anger and frustration plummeted into grief.

Your mind fell back to the funeral,

For the first since you entered the dark tunnel a few hours ago—a few days ago?—, you could feel the cavernous walls threatening to close in on you as you took another shaky step.

To all the ‘I’m sorrys’ and condolences,

You could feel your rib cage fall open. Each gentle pat on, gentle look, and hushed whispers scooping out your insides leaving a vast empty cavity save for a heart that ached too much to beat properly and a pair of lungs clogged with too tar to breathe. The expanse of your chest feeling too full and too hollow at once.

To all the ‘he died too young’ crap,

No shit!

No friggin shit!

He was 16. He was six-fucking-teen. He just got his fucking driver’s license.

You wanted to scream but the words lingered in your bones. Instead, the nestled and furled into a mantra and worked their way up to your throat, burning. As if folding and creasing them into a perfect, proper eulogy of hand-picked words would bring him back.

You knew it wouldn’t. You weren’t foolish. You weren’t that hopeful. You weren’t even disgustingly hopeful. You were Alley born. You were practical and brutally realistic. You were also not dumb. As much as people in Gotham Academy seem to believe, you weren’t stupid. You knew there was no ending to his story that involved a long peaceful life. He was also a child of the Alley, born of Gotham’s gutter, there was no way he would not die young.

Your tongue felt heavy like a tombstone being set into place.

And to all the ‘he’s in a better place now’

HA!

The words set your grief a flame burning it into the kind of white anger that consumes even those around you.

Fucking hilarious.

Just fanfuckingtastic.

You’d see about that.

You took a long sobering breath holding it in afraid that if you breathed out the anger would seep out leaving you with nothing but grief.

After what felt like an eternity, you breathed out sure that all the anger, all the irritation, and all the sputtering hope had settled in your bones.

You were going to get him back.

You will.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Jason tapped the edge of your science textbook with his pencil morse coding something and clearly demanding your attention. You rolled your eyes, moved your textbook an inch closer to you, and continued reading through the passage electing to ignore your likely scowling best friend.

He tapped again. You didn’t look up sure that he’d go away if you pretended his existence was an elaborate hoax. This ingenious strategy is probably why you two have been glued together for the last 10 years.

Losing patience, he snatched up your textbook earning a petulant, half-hearted glare from you. “What the fuck do you want, Jay?”

“Do you remember the Myth of Orpheus and Eurydice?”

You blinked at him, honestly confused.

He gave you a questioning look. He could probably see the gears turning in your head.

You’d heard the names before but you were struggling to associate them with anything. Until it clicked.

“Oh yeah, Hadestown the dude with the guitar-”

“Lyre,”

You made an affronted noise which made him roll his eyes at you but you could see the slight twitch in his lips at your antics. You would count that as a win.

“He plays the lyre, you uncultured swine. Did you even read the packet?” He asked lightly tapping your head with your textbook.

“Your posh bitch is showing,” you snorted. he tapped your head just a tinsy bit harder with the textbook. You scowled at him. He gave you a gentle reassuring smile which roughly translated to ‘it was an accident I swear’. “Uh sure. Yeah. Course, I read the packet” you lied reaching over for your textbook which he sets down on the table behind him.

“Are you even literate?” He joked.

“Last time I checked I needed that to forge doctor’s notes for rich snots,” Jason wrinkled his nose trying his level best to scowl at you but from the crow's feet forming at the corners of his eyes the laughter bubbling in his chest was clearly winning out. You knew he was just worried about the unnecessary risk you were taking but it was a bad habit from the Alley days you couldn’t shake. It wasn’t like you were likely to get caught.

“The In Class Essay is next period, dip shit” he sneered as harshly as he could. He was so bad at being a hard ass that you just smiled. “Yet here you are talking to me and depriving me of my education,” you snarked, gesturing vaguely to your book.

You could technically get up and get it yourself but you were too lazy and you were pretty sure Jason wasn’t gonna let you get the book that easily. “Sides, it’s English who cares?” At that, Jason wrinkled his nose in disgust. “How am I friends with you again?”

You hummed, leaning back in your chair, tilting your head back dramatically before flinging yourself over the table to snatch up the textbook from the table behind him. You were a good amount taller than Jason which really wasn’t something to be too proud of. The bar wasn’t too fucking high.

You plopped back down to your chair grinning ear to ear victoriously immensely enjoying his shocked look. Then he looked like he was about to deck you.

“Well for starters, I’ve saved your ass from getting shanked about 15 times now. That’s just counting instances out of uniform,” He looked at you affronted. You simply rolled your shoulders. “Plus,” You reached into your blazer pocket and produced a beat-up looking tootsie pop ring.”You’re the one who proposed,”

Jason turned a luminescent shade of red as if you had just pulled out his entire cash of porn which you’ve done. “Why do you still have that?! How?”

“Because you still haven’t given me a proper one,” you said smugly tilting your head to the side inviting him for a rebuttal. He sighed exasperated. Resting his chin on his hand, palm covering half of his face, he glared at the opposite wall making damned sure that he didn’t look your way. The flush in his ears peaked through his cropped curls. It was hard to catch but your nosy ass definitely heard him mumble “I’m saving up,”.

Your face broke into a stupidly wide smile, a warm feeling bubbling up in you. “I’ll hold you to that, lover,” you cooed cheerfully, giving him a quick peck on the nose as the bell rang. You could see the mortification attack his entire being in waves.

——————————————————————————————————————————-

Stumbling out of the tunnel, you find yourself in a fray of souls all crowding towards the shore. You keep your head down and shuffle in step with the dead.

‘The dead hate the living’ Constantine warned as he handed you the drachma and a beat-up old map. You handed him a wad of cash. He didn’t seem to care that money was dirty.

You keep your expression carefully blank and focus on your feet but the sheer anxiety crawling up your spine rattling every vertebra was making that very difficult. You swallowed thickly trying to think of anything else but the depressing moans and absolutely haunted expressions were also making your life difficult. Instead, you focus on your award-winning bullshit speech that was surely going to win over the lord and lady of the underworld. Ok, sure, you weren’t half the thief Jason was nor were you even half as smart. But you were definitely the better conman. You might have had absolutely no interest in English class but words have always been your friend. You could definitely spin it with the best of them. It helped that all the rough edges that came with being an Alley kid tucked themselves neatly away behind trustworthy eyes and easy smiles. Even gods could be taken for a ride, right?

Somehow you made it to the shore without incident and even got yourself on the boat without even as much as a glance from the ferryman. That was a little unnerving but you weren’t about to complain. Not when it brought you a step closer to your goal. It might have been partially due to your unkempt appearance. Long nails, dead fish eyes, ratty coat, sallow cheeks, and dimming complexion all thanks to this wonderful diet called ‘grieving over your dumbass boyfriend/best friend because he decided to be a dramatic bitch and die an untimely death’. Part of you wonders if you simply want to bring him back so you could murder him. Maybe. Looking around at the haunted looks on your fellow passengers move that to a probably.

Uncomfortable, you jam your hands into your coat pockets. One hand dug deep into the recesses of the pocket where the little ring was safely squirreled away. You fidgeted with it passing it from finger to finger like the coin trick you’d learned a while back.

——————————————————————————————————————————

“Marry me,” Jason demanded unsurely, kneeling on one knee clasping your hand with both of his tiny ones. His little face ironed into something serious but cheeks flushed making them, what the girls called, pinchable but even at age 6, you were able to resist if simply for the fact that you were dumbstruck by the fact that your best friend and crush was suddenly at your doorstep in the middle of the day and clasping your hand.

“What?” You asked tugging your hand away but he didn’t let go. He absolutely refused to.

“Marry me,” he insisted. “I’m proposing,” he added shyly seeing how the confused furrow in your brow did not disappear. “Lena said it was a good idea,” he added quietly.

A round of hoots and hollers exploded behind you including Lena who was laughing her ass off. Even Carol and Lassie who were busy doing their makeup were snickering and giving you a thumbs up respectively. Your face burned hot and you scowled at all of them which just made them laugh louder. You snapped your attention back to Jason who looked at you with bright earnest blue eyes. Fuck. You crossed your arms trying to look intimidating and failing miserably because of just how goddamned cute he looked. Manipulative bastard.

“Don’t you need a ring for that, bud?” you challenged.

“Oh yeah,” He scrambled digging through his various pockets before producing a tootsie pop ring. Your hackles rose. What the hell Lena?

“Look at the size of that rock!” Josaline hollered from behind you. You could see the teasing smile on her face. You wanted to shrink. You wanted to maul them. You also wanted to burst because your crush likes you. You had a tiny, itsy bitsy crush on Jason for a while now. You’ve always declared that it was small but that didn’t stop the girls from teasing you relentlessly and this was just a nail in the coffin. You wanted to scream at Jason but the way he looked at you made your little heart flutter.

“Fine,”

He grinned wide. “Great! We can share rent,” he said his earnest smile turning cheeky. You swore some of the girls were choking from laughter. That was the moment you decided to make Jason Todd’s life miserable.

——————————————————————————————————————————-

As it turns out, traversing the underworld wasn’t that hard.

Nope. It wasn’t any harder than going around crime alley. At least here, you weren’t too worried about getting shot.

Nope.

It was just incredibly. Fucking. Depressing.

The atmosphere was suffocating and the only thing you’ve heard for hours were people listing their regrets when they weren’t too busy sobbing. Given they have every right to be this way. They did die after all. But Christ! You being able to understand it didn’t mean you could stand it.

Jason owed you big time.

Jason owed you the largest bowl of ice cream complete with 20 different flavors of your choosing, a mountain of whipped cream, a shovel full of sprinkles, and an ungodly amount of chocolate syrup.

And a hug. A long ass, bone crushing hug.

Yeah, you’re definitely demanding a hug. You don’t care if his pansy ass tries to break for it. You were getting the hug.

Once this was done-

You turned the thought over in your head pointedly ignoring the fat droplets of tears now streaking your face. You weren’t entirely sure whether they were from relief or unrelenting anxiety. If you succeed, your 8 months of hell would have been worth it.

But what if I fail?

What happens when I fail?

The thought seized your breath, your lungs constricting as if their cage of bones was threatening to collapse in on itself in your effort to shrink away from the possibility. You stopped breathing completely. A bad habit you picked up from your first foster home after social services took you from your home. Apparently, they didn’t think a group of hookers could provide a safe loving environment for a kid. Assholes. Breathing meant relaxing. Relaxing meant letting your guard down. Letting your guard down led to bad things. Jason never commented on your new habit after you two reunited. After you both found yourselves at the mercy of Gotham’s streets.

“Lover tell me if you can~” You paused but not quite long enough for a response. Not like a few months ago when you’d wait catatonically for Jason to respond with the verse you’d forgotten in his oddly melodious voice. Singing was the one way you’d learned to breathe out after locking up without triggering a panic attack. Sure, it annoyed the hell out of a lot of people but who cares. You liked it. Your voice was decent. Plus, Jason loved it when you sang. Your breaths flowed easier accompanied by a melody and the smile on Jason’s face every time you sang always took your breath away.

——————————————————————————————————————————-

“ Lover, tell me if you can Who’s gonna buy the wedding bands?~” You hummed the rest of the forgotten stanza under your breath as you wrap the ‘acquired’ blanket around the both of you. Gotham winters were a bitch but you tried your best to keep your spirits up which basically meant teasing Jason to hell and back. Who knew calling him lover would annoy him so much?

Instead of the intended reaction, Jason simply continued to the next stanza sounding a lot more in tone than you. You huffed partially from amusement partially from frustration.

“Figures you would know this song,” you teased.

Jason scowled tugging more of the blanket around himself as a lame form of retaliation. You leaned in closer to him and wrapped your arms around him. He huffed not really able to stay mad at you for too long.“It’s from Hadestown. The old woman at the pawnshop always plays it when she’s working,”

“Horse shit, all she ever plays when I’m there is Madame Guillotine,” You wrinkled your nose.”She probably hates me,”

“Gee, I wonder what that’s about,” Jason smirked.

“You know, she probably has a crush on you,”

“EW! Shut up!”

“Come on we gotta milk it-”

He elbowed you.

“Fine,” you relented, rubbing your chest and letting your head lean on his. You watched the snowfall basking in what little warmth you shared.

“Promise me you’ll sing that when-”

“IF”

“When we get married,”

“Fine but ya gotta sing the entire GI Joe theme song plus the Baby Shark Song,”

“BET”

——————————————————————————————————————————-

You stood before large obsidian doors bouncing on the balls of your feet. The doors were carved elegantly with swirling patterns and sprawling carvings of flowers and bones. Dramatic but very pretty. Your stomach churned as the doors lurched open.

You were going to be sick.

Before you were a long table piled high with every kind of food you could think of. Likely you would have had to pick up your jaw and mop up a cascade of drool from the floor if not for the last few months. Your stomach threatened to implode if you kept looking. Months of not eating properly did that to you. The first few months were the worst. You were barely able to keep a bite down without your body convulsing and rejecting it. Sadness had hollowed you out and filled you with something else during those months.

Now, you shifted your gaze to focus on the tall man sitting imperiously at the other end of the table on a throne carved out of precious metal. How someone looked imperious while eating was a mystery to you. It might be the fact that he was abnormally large looking to be around 10 ft tall. His frame was broad which contrasted greatly with the regal features of his face which were set in a rather loving configuration as he stared deep into the eyes of the dark-skinned woman as she recounted what sounded like a hilarious encounter with a dryad. The woman was unnaturally pretty with sculpted features and wild curls. She looked right at home underneath the sun which made her presence here ease your fraying nerves. They smiled at each other smitten with each other’s presence which almost made you feel guilty for interrupting their moment of marital bliss.

You clear your throat as politely as you could drawing their attention and possibly their ire towards you. You took a deep breath, the kind that inflated your entire body, and forced it out through your nostrils as your mouth was busy reconfiguring itself into an easy smile.

“My Lord Hades. My Lady Persephone,” You greeted bowing your head courteously. Your gestures were less grandiose and theatrical as the ones you used on the rich punks in Gotham which they happily lapped up. No, you made sure every movement, every posture, and every word was quieter, trying your damnedest to radiate sincerity and reverence from every pore in your body. Sure, you didn’t have Jason’s easy charisma and sure, you didn’t have the power Dick had for making everyone fall in love with you instantly but you were damned if you were going to make a fool of yourself in front of two literal gods and squander your only chance at getting your boy back. Not when you’ve come so far. Not when you’ve done so much. Not when you’ve dirtied your hands this much.

Hades looked neither pleased nor displeased by your presence. Good enough. The fact that you were still intact might have something to do with the mischief in Persephone’s eyes. She looked extremely amused despite your interruption. You hoped, which you didn’t normally do, that that boded well for you.

“I am her-”

“We know,” Hades interrupts.

Your body twitched. Rude. But you schooled your features into something resembling pleasantry.

“You’re here for the boy,” He adds, waving his hand. Without time for your brain to process. Jason is there battered, bloodied, and bruised. The dazed look in his eyes made him look haunted which made your breath seize. A cocktail of anger and sadness and relief swelled in you as your body twitched forward. All you wanted to do was hold him, to stroke his hair, to sing to him, to take him to Dr.Thompkins to get his injuries sorted out, and possibly watch the old woman thwack him on the head half a dozen times. Hell, you would offer to count. Your stomach churned and you felt dizzy. This is the most alive you’ve felt in months. This is also the most fearful you’ve felt in months. You felt like you were going to fall apart and recongeal into an entirely new person.

Focus.

It was hard to do when you saw how tattered his Robin uniform looked but you managed to straighten yourself out enough in time to catch Hades as he watched you appraisingly, searching for raw desperation in your features. You tucked it away in your bones and in the deepest recesses of your chest. He seemed amused and even mildly impressed by your restraint so he dined to push further.

“What are you willing to trade for him?”

Everything.

Your mind screamed automatically. The word dangled thickly at the edge of your tongue.

You would have plucked each and every star out of the sky and fashioned them into a necklace that would adorn Lady Persephone’s neck.

You would have used Poseidon’s ocean to douse the sun.

You would have used the fires of Tartarus to set the world ablaze. It deserved it for the hand it dealt Jason.

You would do anything if it meant having Jason back in your arms.

You bit your cheek hard forcing yourself to refocus. You shifted your posture making a show of thinking if only to gather yourself. You knew the answer. It might not have been the right one and if you’re being honest, it wasn’t even a good one. You rolled your shoulders trying to mold yourself into a more sure version of yourself.

“My future,”

The room plunged into silence.

Jason who had looked like he was not all there widened his eyes and shook his head at you. You simply leveled him a smile full of cocksure and hot air. Sure, your future wasn’t worth much. People have told you as much. But it was a novel offer. It wasn’t every day that a mortal offered their fate to you and gods love nothing more than novelty.

Both gods remained silent. Hades narrowing his eyes at you and Persephone stared at you with an unreadable expression. The longer the silence wore on the more your confidence waned. The treacherous chorus in your head began to sing of the failure that has yet to happen.

Persephone let out a trill of delighted laughter and Hades shook his head in amusement, his solemn lips twitching into the beginnings of a smile. Both you and Jason stiffened.

“My love, just let them go,” Persephone pleaded sweetly cupping Hades’s face gently. It was an intimate gesture that made even you soft.

“My dear…”

“It was not the boy’s time, my love,”

Damn straight, it wasn’t!

Hades let out an exasperated sigh before looking at you again. “I will grant you both freedom if you pass my trials,”

“Anything!” The word spilled out of you too quickly, too raw. A satisfied smile wrinkled at the corners of Hades’s eyes. Fucker.

“I will have you do three trials-” He flicked his hand and Jason materialized beside you. “-with the boy’s aid,” Without an ounce of hesitation, you gathered him into your arms with all the bravado and restraint giving way too stupidly unfiltered happiness. Without meaning to, you let fat droplets of tears streak your face. Jason copped your face giving you a wry smile and wiping away the tears with his thumb.

“You look like shit,”

“So do you,”

You both laughed. You kissed his palm and took his hand from your face and kissed his knuckle. A flush crept on to Jason’s face but he couldn’t hide that any better than he could hide the loving look in his eyes when he looked into yours.

The trials were almost insultingly easy especially when you had the world’s best Robin with you. Sure, you were battered and bruised but it was nothing you could not handle. You suspected that Persephone was rooting for you. That or Hades just wanted you out of his hair. Either way, you didn’t care. There was no way you were failing.

You returned to Hades’ hall, arms full of spoils, and Jason’s hand interlaced with yours. You both try to fight off the hopeful feeling bubbling in your chest but there was no helping it when his hand was warm in yours. You smiled gratefully at Persephone who returned it in kind, looking sincerely happy for the both of you. You made a note to send her an appropriate sacrifice once you were back on the surface.

Hades inspected your spoils and hummed. Your stomach lurched. Jason squeezed your hand and kissed your nose. Persephone practically squealed at the adorable gesture while Hades just smiled at his wife’s antics.

“You have succeeded,”

“Thank you-”

“But I have one last trial for you,”

Hades holds up his hand before you could protest.

“Do you recall the deal I made with Orpheus?”

You nodded almost numbly. Jason gave you a surprised look which you returned with a scowl.

“Good. I will make the same deal with you. Does that sound fair to you?”

You both nodded frantically. You knew this would be hard especially with your frayed nerves but it was nothing you could not handle.

On the way to the tunnel, you held each other close, soaking up contact while you could. When you reached the tunnel, you hesitantly let go of his hand making sure to remember the feeling of your fingers intertwined together. He pressed kisses to every inch of your face likely feeling guilty over your haggard state. You whispered jokes and half baked promises to appease him in return as you squeezed him harder. You walked tensely up the tunnel trailed by his ever quieting footsteps. You began to hum every song you could think of including the very annoying ones which earned you a lot of annoyed grunts and critiques from your ghostly companion. You also chattered about everything you could think of. All the latest gossip. All the things you learned during your global crime spree. You may have left out the crime spree but you could deal with the fall out later. Instead, you focused on the happy things. The things you wanted to do with him once you two got out. Once, you brought him back to Gotham. Sure, Bruce was probably going to maul you for all the trouble you’ve caused the JLA but fuck them. Seriously fuck them.

After what felt like an eternity, you saw it. You saw light. Bright, crisp, and blinding. You were going to cry. You were almost there. You were almost out. Your body launched into a sprint. Your chest felt like something in it shook loose and your body was lighter than it had ever been. You were almost there. You could almost feel the sun on your skin.

You ran into the light and -

——————————————————————————————————————————-

You woke up on the damp earth.

Everything ached.

Your veins felt rusty and sluggish.

Your mind even more so.

Snow flitted down to the earth in gentle feathery flakes.

Your senses returned to you one by one.

The sound of shouting and car horns littered the periphery of your consciousness.

Your fingers felt cold and numb.

The familiar smell and taste of Gotham smog overwhelmed your senses.

That wasn’t right.

That wasn’t right at all. You were in Mani in southern Peloponnese. You were face to face with one of the Gates of Hades just a few hours ago.

You shuffled through your coat. You did not have your drachma. You did not have your map.

You snapped your head in every direction looking desperately for any sign of Jason. Not even a single footprint.

Your stomach dropped as despair took hold of you and clung to every bone in your body. Pulling yourself up unsteadily, you stood taking baby steps towards a thoroughly battered brick wall. Fishing your phone out of your pocket, your phone began dialing a number automatically.

“You have reached Wayne Manor,” Alfred’s posh voice carries over the phone.

Your breath stutters. The words claw their way out of your chest.

“Jason- Jason, he-”

Alfred remained silent. Alfred was likely shaking his head in pity. You couldn’t stand that. You could barely stand the feeling of your skin right now. Your resounding failure rippled underneath your skin making you tremble on to your knees. You could do nothing but crumple to the ground in pathetic sobs as the weight of agony and despair weighed over you.

“Jason. Jason. Jason.”

You whispered apologetically, reverently. The words would not call him back. Those words could never call him back.

—————————————————————————————————————————–

Piece by piece Jason returned to himself.

Jason woke up swallowed in darkness. It was deep and unyielding. Even his training with Batman could not alleviate the anxiety that brought.

The second thing to return was his hearing. It was deathly silent save for the pounding of his own heart and his frantic breathing.

Where was he?

The air around him tasted stale and the resolute smell of formaldehyde was inescapable.

Then the pain lanced through and all his memories came back in a splotchy kaleidoscope of fear, fire, and pain.

He was dead.

He died.

He was in Ethiopia.

He was trying to save his mom.

Oh god.

Where is Bruce?

Where is he?

Why is it so dark?

Jason tried to move his limbs but it was no use. He was boxed in.

That’s when the smell of earth hit him.

Jason pressed his hands every which way.

He was literally boxed in.

Was he in a coffin?

He tried to scream.

His mouth was wired shut.

Oh god.

He was going to die.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The ending was a bit rushed. I might edit it later. Thank you so much for reading. Feel free to roast me in the comments.

(Note: I tried editing the ending to make it more panicky and claustrophobic. I don’t know if t worked.)

This was inspired by the fact that Jason Todd: Not-So-Outlaw by goawayolivia never answers how Jason came back.

Here is my answer. It is pure dumbassery.

taglist:

@birdy-bat-writes (enabler)

@idkmanicantenglish (sweet heart)

@batarella (Because I honestly blame you for this)

@multifandomgirl-us

@foenixphire

#jason todd x reader #jason todd imagine #Jason Todd #angst #My writing #attempts at humor #dc fanfiction #reader insert #imagine #hurt/comfort #kind of #more on hurt #have fun #batboys #batkids

200 notes · View notes

thxvclvxts · 3 years

Text

muse: Elijah open to: anyone

“I would sell you for one singular tortilla chip,” a lie, “don’t test me, I’ll do it.” He wouldn’t do it. But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t say it anyways. “Now tell me what’s going on before I sell you and make everything worse.” Yet another lie he seemed to be holding too tightly to. He would sooner go to the nearest grocery store and buy every single one of their favorite snacks before he would be responsible for making their day worse. “Seriously, though... you can tell me anything.”

#i’ll be your perfect 10 ( open starter. )#open rp #indie rp #open to mutuals and non mutuals #starters:Elijah #he's the only one of my muses who wants attention pls love him lol

16 notes · View notes

lindstromm · 3 years

Text

Simplified Bookbinding: Font and Text Ornaments

In the first post in this series, How to Make a Cheap First Book, I set out the four steps of bookbinding:

1. Format the text and print it. (This post is all about this step.)

2. Create the text block.

3. Create the case.

4. Attach the case to the text block.

In this post, I’ll give some pointers to get your story from a word processor, or an AO3 story, to a printed page. There are two main formatting sections: (1) the intro pages like the title page and the “about this book” page:

And (2) the text of the book, which may include specialized chapter title font and text separators:

Formatting tips and pics under the cut.

I use Microsoft Word for formatting and printing. I know one method and I stick to that, and I use basically the same formatting process on every story. I get overwhelmed if I have to do something specialized every time or have too many choices. So look at this tutorial as your starter pack, and once you get comfortable, branch out and get as fancy and specialized as you want.

In the Simplified Bookbinding method, we print on A5 pages, which makes the pagination a whole lot easier than printing signature booklets. I have two separate files per book - the intro pages are one file; the text is a second file. This way I don’t have to figure out how to suppress page numbers on part of a file. The intro pages file does not have page numbers; the text file has page numbers.

Page Setup in Word

1. Open a new document.

2. Click “Layout” then “Size.” You need to tell Word that you’re printing on A5 size paper. If the dropdown menu doesn’t include A5, then click on “More Paper Sizes” at the bottom of the menu and fill in the A5 size manually. It’s 5.83 wide by 8.27 high:

Click ‘OK’ and let’s get started putting text on the page.

The Intro Pages

Go pull a professionally published book off your shelf and look at the title page. You’re going to format your title page basically the same way. It’s going to have the title, the author and maybe a text ornament. Center it on the page.

I googled the name of the fandom to get a text block that says “The Old Guard.” A recognizable symbol for that movie is the main character’s labrys, so I googled “labrys line drawing” and snipped it. I titled my story “The Next Job” because I lack the fanfiction ability to select beautiful lines of poetry for story titles. Not as lovely, I’ll grant you, but it fits better on the spine of a book. Anyway, play around with your formatting until you like how it looks. Print a test page.

This is a good time to find out how to print on A5 paper. My printer has a paper size option in the menu, in which I could select “A5″ and then just push the paper holder in the tray for the smaller paper. If you don’t have a printer or can’t connect it, then . . . um, problem. Some bookbinders send print jobs to Staples or other office supply shops. You would have to ask them about printing on custom sized paper and see what they charge. (If you’re going to have it printed at a shop, don’t use easily identifiable text ornaments unless you want to explain to the print shop employee why you aren’t violating copyright laws.)

Depending on your fandom, you may be able to find a fun text ornament that identifies your fandom, like the Avenger’s symbol, a Star Trek symbol, Star Wars, whatever fandom you’re in, I’m sure there’s a graphic you can use. Things like these:

Now we’re going to format the “about this book” page. Look at a professionally published book. This is where you have the copyright information and publisher information. I put in basic information in a list format. In most of my books, I put in a word count and which font I used, just so I can keep track of about how many pages a word count will be. You can put in different info.

On a third page, you can format the author summary and any author notes you want to include. I keep author notes that talk about what the story means to the author. I don’t keep author notes that are basically apologies for not updating often enough. That’s entirely up to you.

So those are your intro pages. It’s 2-4 sheets of paper. I always set 4 blank pages in front of the title page. You’ll notice that professionally published books have a few blank pages before the title page as well. I also put 4 blank pages at the end of the book.

Story Text Pages

Now we’re going to format the actual story. There is a page limit to how much you can bind into one book when using this Simplified Method. You’re limited by the size of the binder clips used in perfect binding. Yep, true, binder clips are your limiting factor. The most I can usually get into big binder clips is about 225 sheets of paper. It varies depending on your paper weight. Take out about 12 sheets for intro and end pages, and that leaves me about 210 printed pages, which double-sided is 420 pages of text. The max word count I’ve bound in one book is 140,000 words. You can bind lengthy works but you will have to play around with margins and font size to keep the number of pages to something that fits into the binder clips.

1. Open a new Word document.

2. Set the paper size to A5 the same way you did for the intro pages document.

3. I always set all four margins to 0.7 just to get more words on a page. I wouldn’t go much smaller than that. You can keep your margins at 1 inch if you want, and I would recommend it if you’re printing less than 50,000 words.

4. Insert page numbers.

5. Go to the story on AO3. Make sure you’re in the “Entire Work” view because it’s a pain to cut and paste chapter by chapter. Press Ctrl-A to “Select All.”

6. Navigate back to your document. Press Ctrl-V to paste the entire mess into your document.

7. Save the file. Save often. You don’t want to lose your formatting.

8. Delete all the stuff that isn’t story text. The “Select All” will have picked up all the buttons and the kudos list and comment box and everything. Just delete it all until you only have text left. The text will have spacing between paragraphs, no indents, chapter headings in the middle of pages, and so forth.

9. When you’ve got nothing but text, press Ctrl-A again to select all the text and we’re going to do some basic formatting. With all the text selected, make these changes:

a. Change the font to Gentium Book Basic 12 pt. (There are hundreds of fonts to choose from. I stick to Gentium Book Basic 12 pt or Book Antiqua 12 pt for the text of the story.)

b. Get into the paragraph format menu. Change the spacing Before and After to 0, and add a first line indent of 0.3. On an A5 page, the standard indent of 0.5 is too deep.

Click out and your page count should change drastically to something pretty close to what your finished page count will be.

10. Now we’re going to format the chapter headings. If you’re in a highly merchandised fandom, you’ll be able to find custom fonts that you can use for chapter headings. Some are free to download. I’ve got the font for Frozen and another one for Star Trek.

Fun, right? If you don’t have a fandom-specific font, I recommend using Narkisim or Baskerville Old Face for chapter heading text. Both are included with Word.

a. If you have more than a couple chapters, it’s easier to set a Heading to auto-format your chapter titles than it is to select text, change font, and center for every single chapter. To do that, format Chapter One the way you want it. Select font, font size, center it on the page (you’ll have to turn off that 0.3 first line indent for just the chapter heading text). While you have your chapter heading text formatted and selected, go to the Home menu and right-click on Heading 2, then select the top option: “Update Heading 2 to Match Selection”. I couldn’t get a snip with the right-click, but this is what you want to right-click on:

Then for your next paragraph, just select the text of chapter number and title, click Heading 2, and it automatically applies all the formatting for you. Yay!

b. With the copy and paste we did to get the text from AO3 into Word, the chapters may start in the middle of a page. Make sure you press Ctrl-Enter at the end of a chapter to start the next chapter on a new page.

c. If you want to insert a text ornament at each chapter heading, that can be fun. If that’s too much right now, don’t worry about. I didn’t start using text ornaments until I had done about 15 books. You’ll have to work to get the text ornament the right size and positioned under the chapter heading text.

Are you done with chapter headings? Moving on!

11. Scene breaks. You know those places inside a chapter where there’s a scene break? Go look at a professionally published book. Many will just have a double space between paragraphs to mark a scene break. That’s probably the easiest way to mark a scene break. Go right ahead and do it that way.

12. Text separators at scene breaks. If you want, you can put in a text ornament to mark a scene break. There are full line text ornaments, or tiny text ornaments:

I found all my text separators by googling ‘images text ornaments’ or ‘text dividers’ and then snipping from the screen. Here are a few I haven’t used yet, which aren’t quite as blurry as everything I take a photo of (sucky camera phone):

To get a text ornament on the page of a Word doc, you go to “Insert” and click on “Pictures” and then select your image file. Then you have to resize it and position it, plus curse because it knocked all your text out of alignment, wonder what the purpose of image anchors are, drag, accidentally drop it in the middle of the paragraph, discover that Word has green guidelines that appear at random. I tell you what, text ornaments are a real treat. I just like them, okay? I like the way they look, I mean, they are annoying to work with. I did discover that once I have it resized, I copy that image, and then paste it into the next scene break rather than inserting the image from file again. That way I know all the text ornaments are the same size.

All done? Got it all formatted? Looks so great, doesn’t it?

Take a deep breath. Take a few days off. The hardest part is yet to come.

Printing

You’ll have to figure out how to print double-sided on A5 paper. I have very little advice here. It’s going to be you figuring out how to get your printer to cooperate. I’ve discovered that auto-double sided printing does not work on A5 paper. The print rollers just aren’t designed for little pieces of paper. My inkjet printer would auto-double-side on A5 paper, but it would offset the text on the front and back by a centimeter. My laser printer won’t auto-double-side at all on A5 paper. I manually double-side the pages. I can do it in batches of 20 pages at a time, so it’s not so bad.

If you are manually double-siding, make sure you know how to orient the pages when you stick them back in the printer. Instead of practicing on your actual book, just print pages that are blank other than the page number. Print pages 1-10 double-sided and see if you have to rotate the pages 180 degrees, or flip them over before putting them back in the paper tray.

Printing is a pain in the butt. Especially if you run out of toner partway through, or your printer starts printing a black line down the middle of every page. WHY??? It just does. It takes me about an hour to print about 80,000 words. I hope you will someday be more efficient than I am, but that’s how long it takes me.

Phew. Okay. Formatting and printing are done. Yay!! I’m very proud of you. That’s a huge job.

#simplified bookbinding #bookbinding #bookbinding for beginners #renegade publishers #renegade bookbinders #font and text ornaments #lindstrom2020 #op

111 notes · View notes