writingontheclouds

[writingontheclouds]

AHHH this was too cute

@jilymicrofics august 5: coffee

There’s a knock at the door, but James keeps his eyes on the computer screen, his fingers tapping rhythmically against the keys as he scans the inventory sheet.

“Oi.”

James's brow furrows slightly. "Hang on."

“We’ve got a customer situation.”

James looks up, his eyes meeting Sirius's. Sirius stands in the doorway, his tall frame filling the space, knuckles still poised over the doorframe.

"What sort of customer situation?" James asks, his voice edged with impatience.

Sirius grins widely. “A mad bird sort.”

James scoffs, running a hand through his hair as he shifts his focus back to the computer. "Why can’t you deal with it?"

Sirius sighs dramatically and leans against the doorframe. “She’s stubborn. Insists on talking to the owner.”

With a huff, James pushes away from the desk, the chair rolling back with a squeak. He stands up, stretching his back, and makes no effort to hide his annoyance as he shoulders past Sirius. This was the one hour of the day he managed to sequester himself in the cramped back office to catch up on paperwork. Coffee shops don’t run themselves.

Sirius follows hot on James's heels as he navigates his way back to the counter, snickering at his shoulder. He narrowly misses a full-on collision as James comes to a dead stop upon seeing her.

Her. Because she’s here.

“She’s fit, huh?” Sirius smirks. “I mean, if you don’t want to deal with it, I suppose I could—”

“I’ve got it.”

Sirius doesn’t reply, just shaking his head knowingly. James can’t even be bothered, because he knows he’s a besotted fool, but he doesn’t care.

“Oh, there you are,” she says as he walks over. Her eyes sweep shamelessly over him, and he feels a spark of that old adolescent pride. She’s stunning, with warm auburn hair cascading over her shoulders and striking green eyes that seem to burn as they lock onto his. “You’re the owner?”

“That’s me. How can I help you?”

“Well, I’ve heard great things about this place,” she says, eyes drifting briefly up to the menu board behind him, then right back to his eyes. 

“It’s… a great place,” James says lamely, feeling the heat rise to his cheeks.

Her eyes sparkle with mischief, clearly enjoying being noticed by him as much as he’s enjoying being noticed by her. She leans forward on the counter, her delicate fingers tapping lightly against the surface. James takes a small step back to put some distance between them, so he doesn’t do something really stupid.

“What’s the specialty?” she asks, her lips curling into a playful smile.

“I don’t usually make the drinks,” he confesses.

She lifts an eyebrow. “But you’ll make one for me?”

James glances around the shop, ensuring Sirius isn’t idling nearby and that there aren’t any customers waiting in the queue. The cozy café is alive with the aroma of freshly brewed coffee and the soft murmur of conversations, but the coast seems to be clear.

“You know,” he says, dropping his voice, “it’s pretty bold of you to come in here looking like that.”

She smirks, pleased. “Looking like what?”

“Oh, don’t give me that rubbish,” he says, scoffing. “You know exactly what you’re doing.”

“I’m just a girl looking for a nice cup of coffee,” she says, shrugging. She pushes her hair over her shoulder in a fluid motion, her deep auburn locks catching the light. James’s eyes follow the movement, and when he looks back at her face, her knowing smirk tells him it’s what she intended all along.

“You’re lethal is what you are,” he mutters, then without turning, calls out, “Sirius!”

Almost immediately, Sirius appears, clearly having been eavesdropping. “Alright?”

“Make my wife a vanilla latte, yeah?”

“Fucking hell,” Sirius grumbles. “I hate it when you do this. Just for the record. It’s really terrible.”

“Extra vanilla, please, Padfoot,” Lily adds, her gaze still locked on James, her green eyes sparkling with amusement.

“Learn to have foreplay like normal people, please,” Sirius sighs, glancing dully between the two of them, before heading to the espresso machine, muttering, “You two were supposed to get less weird when you got married.”

[writingontheclouds]

I want everyone to know that this is me every time someone drops a comment on something I've written:

[writingontheclouds]

Time to make PART 2 of "AO3 is down starter pack", or "iconic Jily fics you can only find on FF.net, to help you through these trying times"! (You can find PART 1 here)

That Elusive Aha Moment by Wilhelmina Willoughby

The Aha Moment: a point in time when something finally clicks. Everyone realizes that there's something more between James and Lily, though it takes some people longer than others. James has always been a slow learner.

All Right, Evans? by CokeBottleK

The thing about being Lily Evans and James Potter was that you couldn't do anything without everybody else saying something about it.

Crossroads by Emmyjean

In her seventh and final year at Hogwarts, Lily Evans finds herself facing a tragedy that leaves her life in pieces. She ultimately finds great strength both within herself and those she never would have expected.

October Thirty-First by jamespotterthefirst

Even before they were a couple, they always seemed to spend Halloween together. Series of oneshots.

Purely Business by Zayz

"They didn't do it out of love. They were not in love, nor did they want to be. They barely knew each other. None of this was romantic, not even close. What they had together was purely business."

The Rise and Fall of the Stag and the Doe by SiriusUntiltheVeryEnd

Moments. They make or break relationships. Lily didn't just happen to fall in love with James. It wasn't an accident, but a long drawn out process that grew out of the relationships of the people around them. And when it came down to it, even Lily and James couldn't fight fate.

Before The Fawn - First Draft by CalisaTenn

Before Harry, before Godric's Hollow, before the Dark Lord was defied three times... Lily Evans and James Potter discovered that neither of them were what the other had expected, and embarked on a relationship that would change the world as they knew it.

[writingontheclouds]

has kaladin considered medical school in lieu of having a panic attack

[writingontheclouds]

it's me and the four people on ao3 who understand my favorite character in the exact same way against the world

[writingontheclouds]

If you ever find yourself thinking "oh, I can't write this Cool But Impractical thing into my story, it's just not realistic", here are a few perfectly realistic reasons why people and even whole cultures would rather do something in an impractical way rather than the sensible one:

weird flex

religious reasons

religious weird flex (someone decided that they are So Religious that they consider the practical method Sinful, and people got competitive about it)

tax reasons (some ruler put a tax on doing something the sensible way and people started doing the impractical alternative as a legal loophole)

someone wildly powerful and popular preferred doing it that way, and everyone adapted to it in order to look cool

someone wildly unpopular suggested doing the practical thing, and everyone went out of their way to avoid doing that in order to not look uncool

it just genuinely never occurred to them that there is a better alternative, and their current method has been honed to perfection/adapted to the infrastructure so deeply that at this point altering it wouldn't be sensible

[writingontheclouds]

My constant struggle when writing PWP

[writingontheclouds]

Young hearts

[writingontheclouds]

We all love a Jily quidditch victory

Artist: Orarah

[writingontheclouds]

People in my fic comments will be like “Wow this story is so well planned and thought out, how do you do it?” When in reality 90% of my writing process is like

[writingontheclouds]

Writers shame: When you want to write but avoid doing it because you hate how you have to force yourself to write

Even though you know that once you start writing, you will enjoy it

[writingontheclouds]

7.2k words and I'm nowhere near half.

I'M SO EXCITED FOR EVERYONE TO READ THIS ONE.

planning and writing a long Jily College AU with soccer/ice hockey james and nerd lily. if you have any tropes/plot points you want to see in the story, send them my way! :D

[writingontheclouds]

Had to make a meme to describe me currently

[writingontheclouds]

oh to be the person in someone’s heart shaped locket

[writingontheclouds]

Me waking up: I want to write

Me eating breakfast: I want to write

Me getting ready for work: I want to write

Me at work: I want to write

Me eating lunch: I want to write

Me driving home: I want to write

Me at home, sitting in front of my laptop:

[writingontheclouds]

[writingontheclouds]