Nothing Hip

FIC: Define Forever (Ben and Kate, Tommy/Kate)

2013-04-01T01:20:22Z

Title: Define Forever
Fandom: Ben and Kate
Pairing: Tommy/Kate
Rating: PG
Summary: Tommy works on accepting the fact that he's just going to love Kate forever, and she's never going to love him back, and maybe that's tragic and awful and a total rejection of the optimistic everything-works-out-the-way-it-should-be, love-conquers-all worldview he's always lived by, but that's just the way it is. Or maybe it isn't.
Length: 7,900 words
Notes: Written and posted PATHETICALLY LATE for the nothing_hip February challenge, Ho Hey by the Lumineers. Thanks to lavender_basil for the awesome beta!

Define Forever

February 2013 Wall of Glory and Wall of Shame!

2013-03-04T05:05:00Z

CONGRATULATIONS TO THOSE WHO ACHIEVED GLORY IN FEBRUARY!

earnmysong kicked ass with let's hope for some (Jennifer Lawrence & Bradley Cooper RPF, PG, 666 words, All Jen wants at the moment is to lie down somewhere and die.)

empressearwig took names with all the blood that I would bleed (Young Justice, Dick/Zatanna, PG-13, 2600 words, Five things that happened on the way to Dick and Zatanna having a history.)

cashewdani brought it with 1, 2, 3 (The Office, Brian/Pam, PG-13, 4378 words, It’s while she’s laughing over Jim’s answer of mixed berries yogurt that Brian feels himself smiling the tiny smile that means he kind of likes a girl. )

kyrafic beat the shit out of failure with Like Taking Candy (New Girl, Nick/Jess, PG, 675 words, "Jess," he says pleasantly. "Why the hell do you have a baby?")

irishmizzy emerged triumphant with trying to do it right (The Office, Pam/Brian, PG-13, 4300 words, He never expected to be in Scranton for three months, let alone three years.)

frey_at_last carried the day with a good thing going (30 Rock, Jack/Liz, PG-13, Five years later, a (not so) surprising development.)

care_says crushed it with you carried romance in the palm of your hand (Pitch Perfect, Beca/Chloe & Becca/Jesse, PG-13, 7311 words, Beca spends the weeks before Christmas cramming for finals and barely speaking to anyone, the exception primarily being Cynthia Rose, since they live in the same room.)

miss_bennie won out with let's hope for some (The Office, Pam/Brian & Pam/Ryan, PG-13, 3500 words, Pam and Brian the Boom Guy during The Negotiation. Because why not?)

maidenjedi dominated with Been Livin' a Lonely Life (Almost Famous, multiple pairings, PG-13, Over the years, all their lonely lives.)

littlestclouds vanquished with look at what might have been (baseball RPF, Rick Porcello & Vanessa Palestina & Max Scherzer, PG, 1622 words, Rick had never been one to get too sentimental about the future, not even when he was a dude, but now that he wasn’t one he couldn’t help thinking about everything he’d be missing out on.)

juniperlane ran out of synonyms with been sleeping here instead (Go On, Ryan King & Anne, PG, 2000 words, Anne gets a little more than she bargains for when she picks up the pieces of King's latest emotional breakdown.)

AND ETERNAL (OR AT LEAST UNTIL APRIL) SHAME TO THESE LOSERS

(Let me know if I coded anything wrong, you guys, I basically haven't slept in like a week. ALSO I AM TRYING TO READ ALL OF THESE IN ALL THE FANDOMS I KNOW BUT AM HIDEOUSLY BEHIND, BUT IT'S COMING. Also I can't believe so many of you came through this month, AMAZING JOB, EVERYONE!)

(Also you remember if you're a sad sack on notice, you can still post fic late to get your name off the on notice board!)

been sleeping here instead [go on: gen, Ryan King, Anne]

2013-03-04T01:16:23Z

Title: been sleeping here instead
Fandom/Pairings/Characters: Go On; Ryan King, Anne (gen but really more accidental relationship)
Rating: Teen (for swearing)
Word Count: 2000
Warnings/Spoilers: Through 1x17, Ring and a Miss.
Summary: Anne gets a little more than she bargains for when she picks up the pieces of King's latest emotional breakdown.
Author's Notes: Written for the February Challenge at nothing_hip - wall of shame avoided, and as a late birthday present for annakovsky because we both agree that Anne is potentially the greatest character of all time and that fic should exist for this show.

been sleeping here instead on AO3

FIC: Been Livin' a Lonely Life (Almost Famous)

2013-03-02T21:52:35Z

TITLE: Been Livin' a Lonely Life
AUTHOR: Maidenjedi
FANDOM/PAIRING: Almost Famous, multiple pairings
RATING: PG-13
DISCLAIMER: Not mine, not making money.
SUMMARY: Over the years, all their lonely lives.

Notes: For nothing_hip, February 2013, song "Ho Hey" by the Lumineers. A lot of this genre of music makes me think of some of the really good stuff that came out of the late sixties and early seventies, and I watched Almost Famous last weekend and thought, man, the Lumineers would have fit right in. Or their song would have. Hence, this.

-

She is dancing next to him as they stand in the shadows behind the stage. If it could be called dancing. Her arms are stretched high above her head, her hips sway and occasionally brush his. Her eyes are closed and she's mouthing the words.

"You belong with me, you're my sweet...."

He follows her lead and closes his eyes. Maybe she's singing to him.

It is 1973, and then 2013, and time really has no meaning anymore. Rock and roll is dead and rock and roll is alive, man, alive! It's over and then it wasn't, and now they're here again, together like they never left.

But if William opens his eyes, and Penny isn't there, well. He'd rather stand and sway and have the dream, thanks.

-

The guys did a reunion tour in 2001, a big deal in the mid-Atlantic states and some of the midwest. They were putting out their first album together in nearly twenty years, and it was okay. A cover or two, some retreads of their early stuff ("Feverdog" was track 4, and Jeff was surprised to find he still had it). They opened for newer, bigger bands in the big cities, and headlined in smaller venues.

They were older. Ed was the only one who still wore his hair long. Larry was balding. Russell...well, he wasn't going to age well, everything he did and all. Jeff was distinctly grey on the edges.

Mostly people just wondered who they were. DJs and newspaper people would interview them and say "Stillwater," murmuring the word. "Yeah, they were great. Real music, you know, the kind that sticks with you. Russell Hammond, right?"

And Jeff would nod and say yeah, and whoever was doing the interview would start talking about Russell's solo albums and how his career really took off in the early eighties and when they remembered Jeff was sitting there it was "it is just so nice that Russell's bringing the band back together."

Jeff would sigh, every time. "Yup, that's pretty much what happened."

(It was Ed's idea, at a party Jeff gave. He and Larry and Ed sat around Jeff's pool, drinking Coors and remembering far better times, and Ed said, "Why don't we do an album again?" Russell agreed later. Jeff called William, had him give Russell a hint.)

-

Leslie left him in 1982. For good. She never walked through the door again.

"Get sober," she said, not yelling. That's how he knew it was over. "Just go get clean. And don't call me, okay? It'll be better this way."

He'd been trying to leave her for ten years, and now she finally walked out the door on her own.

He did get sober, for awhile. But then it was 1984 and he had a third album out. He got a phone call, on the road, he was in Topeka or Tallahassee or Tulsa. "Hey, Russell. It's William. William Miller."

They talked for awhile. William was doing a piece for GQ, and he wanted to talk about Russell's music, what it meant, where it was going.

"It's shit, you know."

"I know." William was always pragmatic. "But they don't know it yet."

And the conversation took a turn, as it always did when they talked on occasion. "You seen her lately?"

William sighed, and Russell could hear him pour a drink. "No. You?"

Russell hadn't seen Penny since 1973.

"I have a song for her. Tell her...if you see her. We can get together, the three of us. It'll be great."

"Yeah."

-

She went to Morocco.

And came back two years later, pregnant. She showed up on William's doorstep, fully expecting a lecture from his mother and pity from him. She got neither. Just a hug, and a place to sleep.

When the baby came, she gave it up. She stayed with them a little while longer, and then one night wrote a note. She was walking to the dining room to leave it under the fruit bowl when she saw Elaine sitting at the table.

"Leaving again?"

Penny shrugged. "I can't stay."

"Morocco?"

Penny's eyes swelled with tears. "No, I'm done with that. All of that."

Elaine nodded and sat back in her chair. "He loves you, you know that."

"Yeah."

"Yes," Elaine corrected. "He does. And you love him, it's as plain as daylight. Are you going to break his heart? For what?"

Penny held out the note. "For me. I can't stay."

Elaine took the paper and nodded. "Okay. You're not my daughter, I can't stop you. But remember, he would do anything for you."

Penny turned to walk out the door and as she opened it, she looked back at Elaine and tried to smile. "I know. But I can't say the same."

-

"I don't know where I went wrong, but I can write a song...."

William shouts in Russell's ear. "These guys are pretty good."

Russell nods and shouts back. "Yeah. Maybe rock isn't so dead after all?"

William shakes his head. "This isn't rock. But it's good."

-

Ed died in 2011. Car crash.

At the funeral, Russell tells Jeff about his idea.

"We do something simple. Like the old Paul Simon stuff, quiet and real. I already have two songs I want you to hear, maybe we could do them together."

Russell's last solo album came out in 1994, and the big reunion album never broke the Top 100 in Billboard. Jeff's doing okay, but he knows Larry struggles, and Russell, well, he says he's been sober. For awhile, anyway.

So Jeff nods. "Let's talk in a couple days. Get past this first."

"Yeah."

-

They open for an upstart folk-rock band two years later.

Penny comes out of retirement for it. She holds William's hand and they sing along to each of the six songs in the set. Jeff's voice is rougher, older, but oh, it's good like he never was when he was young.

When the set is over and the stage is reset for the headliners, Russell comes and finds them.

And Penny sings along to the big song of the night, arms in the air, hips swaying, eyes closed.

"I'd be standing on Canal and Bowery...she'd be standing next to me."

-

"Promise you'll write?"

"Maybe."

"That's not really an answer."

"I'm not sure what you want to hear. This is something I need to do. You can't follow me. You said you couldn't."

"Don't be gone forever. I'm not sure I'd still be here if you are gone too long."

A long look, a smile, a sigh and a shrug of the shoulders. "I would never expect you to wait for me."

-

end

let's hope for some (the office; pam/brian, pam/ryan)

2013-03-02T17:58:18Z

Title: let's hope for some
Fandom/Pairings/Characters: The Office;Pam/Brian, Pam/Ryan
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 3500
Warnings/Spoilers: None, unless it really is 2007 again and you haven't watched S3 of The Office
Summary: Pam and Brian the Boom Guy during The Negotiation. Because why not?
Author's Notes: Written for nothing_hip's February "Ho Hey" Challenge, and also as a really, really late birthday gift to mozarts_friend. Sorry your party's so lame! Remember when we were really into Pam/Brian like we all jumped into a time machine and then lost interest and collapsed in on ourselves like dying stars? Me neither. It was very late, internet.

::let's hope for some::

Challenge, March: Wide Awake by Katy Perry

2013-02-28T18:32:59Z

ANNOUNCEMENT: Since February is an asshole of an abbreviated month, and since we're about to run into a weekend, I'm announcing a nothing_hip GRACE PERIOD. Any fics posted between now and Sunday night (March 3, let's say at midnight Eastern time) will count as being on time for the Wall of Shame/Glory.

(And you can continue posting fics for that challenge indefinitely; also remember that if you get put on the Wall of Shame but post a fic for that challenge late, you can get taken off the Wall of Shame.)

In the meantime, since it's the end of the month, I am posting the challenge song for March! Sign up here to get in on March's WALL OF GLORY/SHAME challenge. This month I'm going to say that you have a week to sign up to get in on this, so any time between now and March 7. But if you don't sign up for the challenge and you still post a fic, you will get on the wall of Lesser Glory and I'll still link your fic in the post at the end of the month, so no worries, you're just living a cowardly, risk-free life, you weenie.

March's song is "Wide Awake," by Katy Perry. I really like the video for this song, actually, I would recommend watching that and then writing me fic with weird Minotaur/Labyrinth imagery. Also this song kind of bums me out because I imagine that Katy Perry is literally the only person in the world who thought that Russell Brand might be an awesome, Prince Charming-esque husband. Oh, was he not easy to live with, what a shock. :/

Wide Awake, Katy Perry

I'm wide awake
I'm wide awake

I'm wide awake
Yeah, I was in the dark
I was falling hard
With an open heart
I'm wide awake
How did I read the stars so wrong?
I'm wide awake
And now it's clear to me
That everything you see
Ain't always what it seems
I'm wide awake
Yeah, I was dreaming for so long

[Pre-Chorus]
I wish I knew then
What I know now
Wouldn't dive in
Wouldn't bow down
Gravity hurts
You made it so sweet
'Til I woke up on
On the concrete

[Chorus]
Falling from cloud nine
Crashing from the high
I'm letting go tonight
Yeah, I'm falling from cloud nine

I'm wide awake
Not losing any sleep
I picked up every piece
And landed on my feet
I'm wide awake
Need nothing to complete myself, no

I'm wide awake
Yeah, I am born again
Out of the lion's den
I don't have to pretend
And it's too late
The story's over now, the end

[Pre-Chorus]
I wish I knew then
What I know now
Wouldn't dive in
Wouldn't bow down
Gravity hurts
You made it so sweet
'Til I woke up on
On the concrete

[Chorus]
Falling from cloud nine (it was out of the blue)
I'm crashing from the high
I'm letting go tonight (yeah, I'm letting you go)
I'm falling from cloud nine

I'm wide awake
Thunder rumbling
Castles crumbling
I'm wide awake
I am trying to hold on
I'm wide awake
God knows that I tried
Seeing the bright side
I'm wide awake
I'm not blind anymore...

I'm wide awake
I'm wide awake

[Chorus]
Yeah, I'm falling from cloud nine (it was out of the blue)
I'm crashing from the high
You know I'm letting go tonight (yeah, I'm letting you go)
I'm falling from cloud nine

I'm wide awake
I'm wide awake
I'm wide awake
I'm wide awake
I'm wide awake

trying to do it right (the office, pam/brian)

2013-02-24T19:53:53Z

Title: trying to do it right
Fandom/Pairing: The Office, Pam/Brian
Rating: PG-13
Length: 4300 words
Summary: He never expected to be in Scranton for three months, let alone three years.

LJ | AO3

Like Taking Candy (New Girl)

2013-02-21T20:22:09Z

PHEW, I MADE IT, I DON'T HAVE TO GO ON THE WALL OF SHAME.

Title: Like Taking Candy
Fandom: New Girl
Details: Nick/Jess, kinda.
Notes: FOR annakovsky, ON THE OCCASION OF HER BIRTH. (Yes, I'm just blatantly sucking up to the mod.) If you send me enough emails about New Girl babyfic, this is what happens. Warning: The only episodes of New Girl I've ever seen have been on planes! I have no idea what I'm doing, yay!

Also written for my curtainfic trope_bingo square and the February nothing_hip song challenge!! So multiapplicable!

Read it on Livejournal
Read it on AO3

all the blood that I would bleed (young justice, dick/zatanna)

2013-02-17T13:21:03Z

Title: all the blood that I would bleed
Author: empressearwig
Pairing/Fandom: Young Justice, Dick/Zatanna
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: ~2600
Disclaimer: I own nothing, this is all for fun. This hasn't happened. Yet. Etc.
Summary: Five things that happened on the way to Dick and Zatanna having a history.
Author's Notes: This is entirely dudski's fault. Written for nothing_hip's Ho Hey challenge.

[all the blood that I would bleed]

Challenge, February 2013: Ho Hey by the Lumineers

2013-01-31T20:01:40Z

Our song for the month of February is "Ho Hey" by the Lumineers. You may know it from such greatest hits as SNL last week, half the commercials on TV, and Top 40 radio. Despite the bearded hipster-ness of their folk rock, admit it, you would still be embarrassed to listen to this song in front of someone from Brooklyn, much less to admit that you had it on repeat 1 as you sang along in the shower this morning. (You might worry about how much your neighbors can hear through the walls, because you can totally tell the guy upstairs has had a cough for like a week. But whatever, that is your neighbors' problem, fuck yeah, you listen to the songs you want!)

Yeah, I'm in my 30s now you guys, so you're going to get some songs basically from Volvo commercials. It's just going to happen.

Ho Hey, by The Lumineers
(Ho!)
(Hey!)
(Ho!)
(Hey!)

(Ho!) I've been trying to do it right
(Hey!) I've been living a lonely life
(Ho!) I've been sleeping here instead
(Hey!) I've been sleeping in my bed,
(Ho!) sleeping in my bed
(Hey!)

(Ho!)

(Ho!) So show me family
(Hey!) All the blood that I would bleed
(Ho!) I don't know where I belong
(Hey!) I don't know where I went wrong
(Ho!) But I can write a song
(Hey!)

1, 2, 3
I belong with you, you belong with me, you're my sweetheart
I belong with you, you belong with me, you're my sweet
(Ho!)

(Hey!)
(Ho!)
(Hey!)

(Ho!) I don't think you're right for him
(Hey!) Look at what it might have been if you
(Ho!) Took a bus to China Town
(Hey!) I'd be standing on Canal
(Ho!) And Bowery
(Hey!)
(Ho!) And she'd be standing next to me
(Hey!)

1, 2, 3
I belong with you, you belong with me, you're my sweetheart
I belong with you, you belong with me, you're my sweetheart

Love ‒ we need it now
Let's hope for some
So, we're bleeding out

I belong with you, you belong with me, you're my sweetheart
I belong with you, you belong with me, you're my sweet
(Ho!)

(Hey!)
(Ho!)
(Hey!)

This year, nothing_hip is also introducing the optional feature of signing up to be entered into the Wall of Glory/Wall of Shame contest. Comment here at any time during the month saying you want to do it, and then if by March 1 you have completed a fic and posted it to the community, you are a fucking champion who will be put on the Wall of Glory. If you turn out to be a wretch who can't meet even the SMALLEST OF COMMITMENTS (the minimum length requirement for fics in this community is 100 words, you pathetic sad sack) and don't post a fic, you will be put on the Wall of Shame for February. March will start a whole new contest and new walls of shame and glory!

(Bonus features: if you post MORE THAN ONE fic in February, like some kind of horrific overachiever whose guts I already hate, you will be put on the Wall of SUPER GLORY. You will also get SUPER GLORY if you write a fic that's more than 10,000 words long. Also you can take yourself off the February Wall of Shame if you post a fic late, I'm not a monster.)

(Also I will probably make the Wall of Glory and the Wall of Shame a sticky post, so your shame/glory will be seen by LITERALLY DOZENS.)

2013, we're coming for you.

2013-01-30T17:33:14Z

This is just a notice that nothing_hip is getting a revival! I think we are going to go one challenge a month this time, so we have time to finish stuff. So your first challenge will be posted here on February 1!

(Reminder how this works: a non-hip song will be posted to the community as a prompt. You then write any fic you want, inspired by the song. You can post fics whenever, you can finish old stuff you've been working on, and old challenges are always active if you want to write to one of the previous songs! Which, if any of those old links are dead, just leave me a comment and I'll reupload.)

I'm also trying to think of ways to motivate us even more -- I really want to use this challenge to finish fic I've been working on. So I was thinking of possibly giving people the option to sign up to be held accountable? SO at the beginning of the month when the song is posted, you can comment to that post if you want to commit to writing for that challenge -- then at the end of the month, I will post a Wall of Glory with all the people who completed the challenge like goddamn heroes, and a Wall of Shame of the people who failed miserably like fucking jerks.

Obviously it would be totally optional to sign up to be shamed if you don't post a fic, but the option is there. ALSO IF ANYBODY HAS OTHER MOTIVATIONAL IDEAS LET'S TALK ABOUT THEM -- like, maybe it'd be nice to have prizes for people who succeed or something but I don't think I have the time myself to follow through on anything there. But yeah, brainstorm your fic motivation ideas here, what gets you writing?

ALSO if you want to suggest songs, comment here and I can put them on a list to be used at my discretion. What IS your favorite Katy Perry song, is what I am asking you.

FIC: To the Victor, the Spoil (Hunger Games, Katniss/Haymitch)

2010-10-07T17:41:24Z

Title: To the Victor, the Spoil
Author: annakovsky
Fandom: The Hunger Games trilogy
Pairing: Katniss/Haymitch (plus references to Haymitch/Finnick, Katniss/Johanna, Katniss/Finnick)
Rating: NC-17
Length: 13,416 words
Warnings: Nothing much more disturbing than the books themselves, though to be fair that is pretty disturbing. Off-screen compulsory prostitution. Some violence. Suzanne Collins, you are quite the bundle of rainbows. Plus the big age difference of the pairing, and possibly underage sexytimes depending on where you live (Katniss is 17 in the story).
Spoilers: This goes AU at the end of the first book of the series, but includes references to backstory and characters we don't get until Catching Fire and Mockingjay.
Summary: (contains spoilers for the first book, highlight to read) No berries, no mockingjay, no rebellion. Katniss killed Peeta in the arena, and now she has to live with herself like every other victor.
Author's Notes: Thanks to kyrafic for encouragement and a great beta job. Written for the Tik Tok (Ke$ha) challenge at nothing_hip. Tick tock on the clock but the party don't stop. Whoa-oh-oh-oh.

To the Victor, the Spoil

you build me up (you break me down) (fringe/inception; peter, eames, arthur)

2010-09-06T01:15:43Z

Title: you build me up (you break me down)
Author: empressearwig
Pairing/Fandom: Peter, Eames, Arthur; Fringe/Inception
Rating: PG
Word Count: 4400
Disclaimer: I own nothing, this is all for fun. This hasn't happened and will never happen. Etc.
Summary: Peter always has a friend.
Author's Notes: Written for the Tik Tok challenge for nothing_hip, albeit in an incredibly late fashion. And because irishmizzy made me do it.

[you build me up (you break me down)]

LYRICS: Build Me Up Buttercup

2010-08-30T14:40:33Z

This week's song is Build Me Up Buttercup by The Foundations, which will be the last song of my stint updating the community this year. Lyrics are below, and the mp3 will follow in a locked post for members.

Why do you build me up (build me up) Buttercup, baby
Just to let me down (let me down)and mess me around
And then worst of all (worst of all) you never call, baby
When you say you will (say you will) but I love you still
I need you (I need you) more than anyone, darlin'
You know that I have from the start
So build me up (build me up) Buttercup, don't break my heart

"I'll be over at ten", you told me time and again
But you're late, I wait around and then (bah-dah-dah)
I run to the door, I can't take any more
It's not you, you let me down again

(Hey, hey, hey!) Baby, baby, try to find
(Hey, hey, hey!) A little time, and I'll make you happy
(Hey, hey, hey!) I'll be home
I'll be beside the phone waiting for you
Ooo-oo-ooo, ooo-oo-ooo

Why do you build me up (build me up) Buttercup, baby
Just to let me down (let me down) and mess me around
And then worst of all (worst of all) you never call, baby
When you say you will (say you will) but I love you still
I need you (I need you) more than anyone, darlin'
You know that I have from the start
So build me up (build me up) Buttercup, don't break my heart

You were my toy but I could be the boy you adore
If you'd just let me know (bah-dah-dah)
Although you're untrue, I'm attracted to you all the more
Why do I need you so

(Hey, hey, hey!) Baby, baby, try to find
(Hey, hey, hey!) A little time and I'll make you happy
(Hey, hey, hey!) I'll be home
I'll be beside the phone waiting for you
Ooo-oo-ooo, ooo-oo-ooo

Why do you build me up (build me up) Buttercup, baby
Just to let me down (let me down) and mess me around
And then worst of all (worst of all) you never call, baby
When you say you will (say you will) but I love you still
I need you (I need you) more than anyone, darlin'
You know that I have from the start
So build me up (build me up) Buttercup, don't break my heart

I-I-I need you-oo-oo more than anyone, baby
You know that I have from the start
So build me up (build me up) Buttercup, don't break my heart

Also, consider this nothing_hip Fic Amnesty Week! Have something half-done (or one-eighth done) based on any of the older songs? Post away!

LYRICS: Jessie's Girl

2010-08-19T02:58:58Z

This week's challenge, which will run through next Wednesday, is Jessie's Girl, by Rick Springfield. Mp3 to follow in a locked post!

Jessie is a friend,
Yeah, I know he's been
A good friend of mine
But lately something's changed
That ain't hard to define
Jessie's got himself a girl
And I want to make her mine
And she's watching him with those eyes
And she's lovin' him with that body,
I just know it
Yeah 'n' he's holding her in his arms late,
Late at night

You know, I wish that I had Jessie's girl,
I wish that I had Jessie's girl
Where can I find a woman like that
I play along with the charade,
there doesn't seem to be a reason to change
You know, I feel so dirty
When they start talking cute
I wanna tell her that I love her,
But the point is probably moot
'Cos she's watching him with those eyes
And she's lovin' him with that body,
I just know it
And he's holding her in his arms late, late at night

Like Jessie's girl,
I wish that I had Jessie's girl
Where can I find a woman,
Where can I find a woman like that
And I'm lookin' in the mirror all the time,
Wondering what she don't see in me
I've been funny,
I've been cool with the lines
Ain't that the way
Love supposed to be
Tell me, where can I find a woman like that

You know, I wish that I had Jessie's girl,
I wish that I had Jessie's girl
I want Jessie's girl,
Where can I find a woman like that, like
Jessie's girl,
I wish that I had Jessie's girl,
I want,
I want Jessie's girl

LYRICS: Tik Tok

2010-08-10T20:34:45Z

Sorry for the delay on the new tune! As always, feel free to keep posting fic for older challenges.

This week's song is Tik Tok by Ke$ha. Lyrics are below, the mp3 will follow in a locked post, which you can see by joining the community.)

Tik Tok
Ke$ha

Wake up in the morning feeling like P Diddy
(Hey, what up girl?)
Put my glasses on, Im out the door - I'm gonna hit this city (Lets go)
Before I leave, brush my teeth with a bottle of Jack
Cause when I leave for the night, I ain't coming back
I'm talking - pedicure on our toes, toes
Trying on all our clothes, clothes
Boys blowing up our phones, phones
Drop-topping, playing our favorite CDs
Pulling up to the parties
Trying to get a little bit tipsy

[CHORUS]
Don't stop, make it pop
DJ, blow my speakers up
Tonight, I'mma fight
Til' we see the sunlight
Tick tock, on the clock
But the party don't stop
Woah-oh oh oh
Woah-oh oh oh

[Chorus]

Ain't got a care in world, but got plenty of beer
Ain't got no money in my pocket, but I'm already here
And now, the dudes are lining up cause they hear we got swagger
But we kick 'em to the curb unless they look like Mick Jagger

I'm talking about - everybody getting crunk, crunk
Boys trying to touch my junk, junk
Gonna smack him if he getting too drunk, drunk
Now, now - we goin' 'til they kick us out, out
Or the police shut us down, down
Police shut us down, down
Po-po shut us -

[Chorus] x 2
DJ, you build me up
You break me down
My heart, it pounds
Yeah, you got me
With my hands up
You got me now
You gotta that sound
Yea, you got me
DJ, you build me up
You break me down
My heart, it pounds
Yeah, you got me
With my hands up
Get your hands up
Put your hands up
No, the party don't stop until I walk in

drfiting alone apart (glee; rachel/jesse, rachel/finn)

2010-08-05T01:45:00Z

Title: drifting alone apart
Author: empressearwig
Pairing/Fandom: Rachel/Jesse, Rachel/Finn; Glee
Rating: R
Word Count: ~1700
Spoilers/Warnings: All aired episodes
Disclaimer: I own nothing, this is all for fun. This hasn't happened. Yet. Etc.
Summary: Rachel doesn't regret not sleeping with Jesse.

[drifting alone apart]

Parks and Recreation fic, An Auditor Among The Living Dead, Leslie/Ben

2010-08-04T06:03:23Z

Title: An Auditor Among The Living Dead
Fandom: Parks and Recreation
Rating: PG
Word Count: ~1,100
Pairing: Leslie/Ben (Leslie/Awesome)
Summary: Zombies have come to Pawnee, and Leslie is as crazy competent as ever, even in the face of the apocalypse.

running just as fast as we can / holding on to one another's hands.

when we're together, disney rpf, david henrie/selena gomez

2010-08-04T03:30:01Z

Title: when we're together
Fandom/Pairing: Disney RPF, David Henrie/Selena Gomez
Rating: R
Length: 8800 words
Warning: Underage.
Summary: They both just got out of relationships and they're in really weird places right now and whatever, it doesn't mean anything. It's totally casual.

[when we're together]

LYRICS: Free Love Freeway

2010-08-02T03:25:15Z

Reminder: you can still post fic for last week's challenge at any point.

This week's song is Free Love Freeway by David Brent (Ricky Gervais). The challenge will run until Sunday, August 8. The lyrics are below, and the mp3 will follow in a locked post. (Join the community to see it.)

Pretty girl on the hood of a Cadilac, yeah....
She’s broken down on freeway nine.
I take a look and her engine’s started,
I leave her purring and I roll on by....bye bye

Chorus:
Free love on the free love freeway,
The love is free and the freeway’s long…
I got some hot love on the hot-love freeway
I ain’t going home cos’ my baby’s gone

A little while later, see a senorita,
She’s caught a flat trying to make it home,
She says “Por favor, can you pump me up?”
I say “Muchos gracias, adios. Bye Bye.”

Free love on the freelove freeway,
The love is free and the freeway’s long
I got some hot love on the hotlove highway,
Ain’t going home ‘cause my baby’s gone.

Little while later I see a cowboy crying,
“Hey buddy, what can I do?”
He says “I lived a good life, had about a thousand women.”
I said “Why the tears?”, he says “cause none of them was you.”

Free love on the free love freeway,
where the love is free and the freeway is long…
I got some hot love on the hot-love freeway
I ain’t going home cos’ my baby’s gone

Fic: alone now (Harry Potter, Dr. Granger)

2010-08-02T03:21:03Z

Title: alone now
Fandom: Harry Potter.
Summary: Book 7 spoilers. Hermione's mother in Australia.
Notes: Hastily written for nothing_hip.

I think we're alone now / There doesn't seem to be anyone around -Tiffany

He knows: he went over everyone, & nobody’s missing.
Often he reckons, in the dawn, them up.
Nobody is ever missing. -John Berryman, Dream Song 29

( Australia's a wonder. )

LYRICS: I Think We're Alone Now

2010-07-27T13:08:53Z

The first song for this year's nothing_hip is "I Think We're Alone Now" by Tiffany. This challenge will run until Sunday, August 1, but you can still post your story after that -- stories for any song are welcome at any time.

The lyrics are below, and the mp3 will follow in a locked post. (Join the community to see it.)

I Think We're Alone Now
written by Ritchie Cordell

Children behave
That's what they say when were together
And watch how you play
They don't understand
And so we're

Running just as fast as we can
Holdin' on to one another's hands
Tryin' to get away into the night
And then you put your arms around me
And we tumble to the ground
And then you say

I think we're alone now
There doesn't seem to be anyone around
I think we're alone now
The beating of our hearts is the only sound

Look at the way
We gotta hide what we're doin'
cause what would they say
If they ever knew
And so we're

Running just as fast as we can
Holdin' on to one another's hands
Tryin' to get away into the night
And then you put your arms around me
And we tumble to the ground
And then you say

I think we're alone now
There doesn't seem to be anyone around
I think were alone now
The beating of our hearts is the only sound

Nothing_Hip Comeback Tour: Now Even Less Hip

2010-07-26T14:41:43Z

Attention, girls and boys, fans and ladies. Announcing the:

nothing_hip Comeback Tour
August 2010
(and a little bit of July)

Yes, nothing_hip is creaking back to life for the dog days of summer: more embarrassing songs you hate to love, more excuses to write random fic or ficlets inspired by said songs.

How It Works: Refresher Course: ~~Every Sunday~~ Tomorrow, and every Sunday thereafter through the end of August, an MP3 of a song will be posted in a locked post (so you must be a member of the community to see the mp3 post). The songs will all be awesome, but somewhat embarrassing - e.g., Wham!, yes, The National, no. (I mean, you feel good about liking "Fake Empire", but you feel bad about liking "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go". BUT YOU LIKE THEM BOTH, ADMIT IT.) The members of the community will then have until the following Sunday to post their song-based ficlets - fic can be posted at any time during that week. (Deadlines for this challenge are not strict - if you finish up your fic a little late, feel free to still submit it.) Any fandom is welcome, and the more fandoms you write, the awesomer this will be.

Ficlets shouldn't be song fic; instead, the songs should be used as inspiration for whatever fic you want to write. This is a great opportunity to finish up fic languishing on your hard drive, or to write ficlets for fandoms you've always meant to write, but have never gotten around to. In other words: DON'T put the lyrics to the song in your fic. DO put the song on repeat one as you write. The inspiration can be very, very loose, and part of the fun is seeing the diversity of stories that come from one song.

Stories should be at least 100 words, but any length beyond that is welcome. They can be any rating, any fandom, real person or fictional. While any content is welcome, please put a warning if the story contains incest, abuse, non-con, or anything else that might trigger someone. Stories can be posted to the community (with a cut tag) or posted to your journal and linked here. When posting, make sure you put a header including the story's fandom and character or pairing, as well as rating, title, author, etc, etc.

So tell your friends to join! Get inspired by past challenges! And stay tuned for tomorrow's song!

Title: Number nine with my head on the bar: HIMYM/FNL, Ted & Jason

2009-03-24T12:44:51Z

Title: Number nine with my head on the bar
Author: spamdilemma
Fandom: HIMYM/FNL crossover
Characters: Ted Mosby & Jason Street
Rating: G
Wordcount: 1052
Notes: Spoilers through HIMYM (s4, ep 5) and FNL (s3, ep 8); timelines are off. Also: fall is winter, winter is fall, and this can be... seasonal au?

Barney in drag should not be the last thing Ted sees before he calls it a night, and so he walks down and catches the train across the river, to New Jersey. The second car's mostly empty, except for one other guy sitting alone, staring out the streaky darkened window. He's in a wheelchair.

He turns around as Ted drops his messenger bag down in the row across. "Evening, sir," he says, and it's so genuine that Ted forgets himself.

"Hey, how's it going?" Ted asks, because he's not actually a New Yorker.

"Fine, thanks. Yourself?"

Ted stretches his legs out and thinks, a moment. "A little tired, but what's a commute, right? New Jersey here we come."

"Yeah, it's my first official week on the job -- in Manhattan, I mean. So this whole riding trains and subways thing is taking some getting used to."

"How're you liking New Jersey?" Ted honestly wants to know.

He looks up at him. "Oh, it's good. It's been real good." He rubs his hands together and laughs: no gloves. "Truthfully, though, the cold is just about killing me. My girl didn't warn me about that."

"I hate to say it, but December is the least of your worries, my friend."

"Seriously?"

"Oh yeah," Ted says, fussing with his scarf like a veteran. "I'm from Ohio." The guy seems reasonably impressed, unlike certain other acquaintances.

"I'm from Texas myself. I mean, it gets cold at night there at this time, and on the odd year we might even catch a whiff of snow, but nothing like this. I think my system's in for a shock."

Ted laughs a little. "You moved up here recently, then?"

"I'm very green." He shakes his head. "It's been a wild ride. I wasn't sure about anything when I left -- and it's still so new, that I got everything. Everything I wanted."

"Followed a girl?" Ted asks then, because, well, a romantic -- that he is.

Jason's smile is slow. "Yeah. Yeah, I did." He offers a hand. "I'm Jason, by the way. Jason Street."

"Ted Mosby," Ted says, taking it.

---

Ted sees Jason most weekdays, when he makes it out to see Stella on the train. And Jason, well, Ted will just say that he's a lot better company than the occasional skate-by high-five with Matisse.

At first it's more about killing time -- it feels like lately Ted's been spending all his time tunneling from one place to another. But Jason has an open face, a way about about him, and it's nice. Jason's nice in a way that Ted hasn't thought about in a long time.

And then come the baby pictures. "This here's Noah," Jason says proudly, holding up the small screen on his cell. "And this pretty girl with the red hair's his mama, Erin."

"Well, who's this robust man in fur, then?" Ted asks. It's a mall Christmas photo op.

Jason grins over the pull of his collar. He flips his phone shut. "What, don't they celebrate the holidays in Ohio?"

"I could've been raised non-denominational."

"I saw the candy cane socks you're wearing," Jason points out.

"Must've sorted them with the colors," Ted coughs.

But Jason drops things easily. He's more interested in the stake of the Cowboys in this year's post-season. "I don't know about Romo," Jason sighs. "When push comes to shove, he needs to make it count. Where is his head at, you know?"

Ted nods in what he hopes is due seriousness. "You played football then? Is that how it, uh, happened?" He tries not to look at the chair, but then reconsiders. It'd be ruder to look away.

And it's probably too personal a question, but Jason doesn't seem offended -- or even surprised. "Nature of the game. That's what they only tell you afterwards." His smile is a little wry, but not bitter. "Can't stop loving it, though."

"What position did you play?"

"Quarterback," Jason says, to Ted's relief. Even he knows that one. "I was a talent too. Scouted by Notre Dame in my freshman year. But things changed, obviously. It took me a while to realize that it wasn't for the worst."

Ted thinks of Lily, thinks of Robin. He tries to picture his future as being more than a blank face. "Hey, do you want to have dinner with me and Stella and Lucy?" he asks suddenly. "Your family too?"

Jason sits up in his chair and smiles. "That'd be great. Just let me know when."

For someone who's demonstrated, multiple times (purposefully alone, okay?), against the injustices of the jock hierarchy, Ted might just throw this Street kid a bone.

---

"I'm getting married," Ted says in greeting, shrugging off his overcoat. "Eloping, sort of."

"Way to cut to the chase," Jason says, shaking his hand. "Congratulations, man."

"Yeah, it's been --" Ted makes a big, sweeping gesture with his hands. "Wow."

"So I take it Stella did the asking?"

Ted laughs a little, under his breath. "Actually, we're sort of taking over her sister's wedding. She broke up with her fiancé, and everything's booked -- no refunds. It'd be a shame to let it all go to waste, right?"

Jason starts to frown, but shakes his head. "But the timing's right? For you two?"

"I guess," Ted says. He's been worrying more and more about that. Before there'd always been something off -- girl meets other boy, girl moves away, girl doesn't want the same things. The same life. But it's different now, it has to be, because Stella wants this. Ted can be spontaneous, sure thing. It's the doubt creeping back in that he needs to shatter.

"Well, I'll be seeing more of you, in any case," Jason says, snapping Ted out of it -- whatever 'it' is. "You did say you'd be the one doing the moving?"

"Oh. Oh yeah," Ted says slowly. "We agreed it would be best. For Lucy -- and us."

"I've started to warm up to New Jersey, believe it or not, although I am glad spring is in sight. It's no Texas barbecue, but I think I can deal." He looks up at Ted, and his is a life spent looking ahead, not back.

"I'd invite you to the wedding, but the seating's tight as is," Ted apologizes.

Jason waves him off. "Don't even worry about it. I'll be sick of your face soon enough."

And they laugh at their future truths and future selves and lives just waiting to be lived.

Your Father's Map (Life, Rachel and Ted)

2008-11-22T05:50:53Z

Title: Your Father's Map
Author: spamdilemma
Fandom: Life
Characters: Rachel and Ted
Rating: G
Summary: Ted and Rachel buy a kitchen table. (Or don't.)
Wordcount: 1105
Notes: Is summer over? (AKA me not belonging to a Life fic community.) Spoilers through the second season.

We'll take the trail marked on your father's map

Accountant Ted gives in (or is paid to give in -- maybe that's part of his job description) and Rachel goes with him to Williams-Sonoma to look for a table. It's not until they're actually in the store, shuffling beside aisles of matching dish sets and crystal stems and every gleaming surface magnifying their unease, that they realize -- these are things to put inside cupboards and line shelves. These are nice things for houses that already have a kitchen table, and an island, and a pantry stocked with muffin pans and stainless steel pots, cookie cutters shaped like zoo animals.

They don't have any of those things, and Rachel pushes her hair out of her face in annoyance because she'd never lived like this before. She'd never been rich (not like stupid Charlie Crews, whom she can't bring herself to call "Uncle," to connect herself to him like he actually likes her instead of what she stands for), but she'd eaten breakfast every morning like a normal human being.

"I don't think they sell tables here," Rachel says, thumbing through a stack of cloth napkins, embroidered aprons. She half expects Ted to scold her; rattle off a Don't touch anything. But he doesn't. He just turns around in the store expecting, whatever. Rachel waits.

Ted clears his throat. "Yeah, I could've sworn they sold tables."

"Haven't you bought one before? You're like sixty."

"I happen to be forty-eight," Ted says, exasperated. He runs a hand through his (gray, Rachel thinks, gray gray) hair. "Anyway, I had a wife then. I had a housekeeper. They took care of home matters."

Rachel almost asks what happened to them, but stops herself. Prison happened and they're gone -- what's the point? She feels something akin to pity, but shrugs it aside. Maybe it's mercy setting in. Maybe she doesn't really care.

"Well, I guess we better make another quick stop somewhere. I have a meeting at four. I'll just ask one of the employees where a table store is around here?"

"I don't think there's such a thing as a table store," Rachel says scornfully.

Teds holds his hands out. "Rachel --"

"I'm just messing with you. God." She bites her cheek as Ted turns away to speak to the woman at the counter. She's making pumpkin bread in little ridged tins and Rachel suddenly wants to cry. It's not like it's something she remembers or even wants to do. She just -- she can hear her dad telling her not to take the Lord's name in vain, to be thankful, and that sick feeling rolls over in the pit of her stomach: her whole life was a lie and she willingly lived it. She still holding to the comfort of his voice even after knowing the truth.

Ted comes back with directions written haphazardly on the back of a lemon chicken recipe, checking his wristwatch. "Okay, so Susan recommended this furniture store nearby. Big selection. Free delivery for purchases over -- well, we'll just go over."

Rachel opens her mouth to say, Oh so you're on a first name basis already, but her throat is tight and she touches the napkins again because they're soft and messed up already and she can't trust herself to say a thing.

"I mean --" Ted starts to say, "we don't have to do it today. If you're tired."

Rachel just nods and walks out the door to the parking lot, Ted trailing behind her, and when they get home Charlie's not there because it's not like he has to be anywhere at all. Rachel hides out in her room until she hears Ted walk his careful edgy walk down the hall, the soft beeping of the alarm set. The house is huge and quiet like a cavern, and it's like Rachel can't upset it. The bright uneven stare of the sun outside is something like relief.

She's sitting out by the edge of the pool when Ted returns with pizza (again) and they eat side by side looking at the fake blue water.

"It's nice out here," Ted says, hesitant. "I mean, once the threat of the coyotes manages to leave my mind." He frowns. "Damn."

Rachel squints at the brown hills sloping up and away from the house and tries to imagine wild animals, but can't. She only ends up thinking about sugar cookies in the shape of lions.

"Anyway," Ted tries again, cutting into the silence. "Charlie should be back soon. I'll tell him about our little misadventure. Maybe tomorrow we can find the right store."

Rachel shifts to face him, sudden. "Do you ever feel like you're haunting this place?"

"Look -- I know I live above the garage, but it's not as if I consider myself a ghoul."

Rachel makes a weird sound in the back of her throat and it's surprising, mostly because its near enough to a laugh. "No, it's not that. I only wondered, if maybe, you understood. We don't belong here. We don't belong anywhere. People take us in, tell us where to go, and we do."

"Do you remember your life before?" Ted asks quietly. He doesn't have to specify when, what life.

And it doesn't happen often, but sometimes -- sometimes Rachel remembers. "Parts," she says. "The therapist asked me to draw pictures after it happened, and I would do that for hours and hours." She stops to think, to pick at a hole growing at the knee of her jeans. "Or maybe it was minutes. It's hard to tell when you're a kid."

"Yes, time is funny that way," Ted says, distant enough for Rachel to think, Maybe he does know.

"But yeah," Rachel says, looking away. "I can remember what it felt like not to have to run away and keep running."

It's more than she's said to anyone in a long time, least of all to Accountant Ted, but he doesn't seem more uncomfortable than usual.

"Hey I, uh, bought some design magazines," he says, rifling through his briefcase set against the deck chair. "It's actually a big decision, buying a table. Some research would be wise."

"It's just a kitchen table -- no greater meaning," Rachel says, but takes from Ted the stack of custom shelving and wood stain and homes she'll never live in. "Although, it's nice to look."

"It is," Ted agrees, standing up and stretching, his back cracking but not too much. "Anyway, I'll just be in the living room."

"Okay," Rachel says, rolling up the bottom of her jeans and slipping her feet into the water, slow, so that the surface doesn't break too hard.