#HTML text formatting.

[hunnicute]

ELECTROCHRMISTRY (Hard) - Take a bite out of the Lieutenant

[This is a red check and cannot be retried]

-- SUCCESS --

[mimicoriart]

hearts, or what grows in forgotten places

there’s a hole in my chest, everyone says or perhaps they just think it, their gazes unsure,  avoiding the place where they expect to see viscera and an empty cage.

i'm not sure what they mean. i once thought that perhaps my heart had run away, or that i’d broken it like a toddler with a new toy,  so shiny it must be ruined for love of the game.

but i soon forgot to notice the lack i’d been sure everyone could see. i forgot to stay up waiting for my heart to come back  to roost behind the safety of these bars of bone.

it went unmentioned for so long, you see.  but maybe it was because for years i shone too brightly  for them to notice the shadow of absence, and now that i'm finding my place in the sky, i've settled and slowed down enough for people to take a closer look.

i forgot.

i don't know if there was anything there  before the moment i realized it was gone; i don't know if maybe there’s been something else  nestled in that space behind my ribs, between my lungs— my whole life, the ache at the center of my chest perhaps the growing pains  of a garden hidden, delicate and twisting, unnoticed as people’s gazes skittered away.

i cannot dig out this living thing rooted in my chest. i will not snip off the flowers just to prove to you there’s something  there where you think you’ll only see blood and carved out meat. this garden of gold roses is mine to shelter in the dark, sharp thorns pricking soft garden walls–but it’s mine.

[ckret2]

Hey. I’ve been looking at your posts about posting your fic on Ao3, and I just wanted to be sure— you do know that you can post your fic without having to use HTML mode, right? Like you can post it without having to type a “<p>” and “</p>” before and after every new paragraph, or use “<em>” “</em>” to make sure something in italics is recognized by the website as italics? Just look for a button on the left right above the box you’re going to be writing in that says “Rich Text” and press that. It should be right next to the button saying “HTML,” which is the default button selected, but you only have to press Rich Text to change that.

And none of your work is lost if you switch buttons. But Rich Text mode gives you a version of the posting box where you can write normally and just press the return key for a new paragraph like normal, and there’s a little menu on the top where you can choose if you want to write in bold or italics or change the spacing or whatever. I just felt like you ought to know in case you missed it and had to write the hard way.

I can't do that because the site I write on and store my fics on strips the formatting out of the document—italics, bold, etc—if I copy/paste it anywhere I've tried (all my other word processor apps, other websites, and yes, AO3's rich text editor) EXCEPT FOR tumblr, for some bizarre reason I don't know. Copy/pasting from the site I use into tumblr and copying tumblr's text to paste into AO3's editor is the only workaround I've found for this issue aside from reformatting every italicized/bolder word by hand. And I use a lot of italics.

I could copy/paste the rich text off tumblr and paste it into AO3's rich text editor, but since tumblr's stupid-as-hell post editor only allows you to select one paragraph at a time, my options are: copy/paste one paragraph at a time; manually force past tumblr's stupid-as-hell inability to select more than one paragraph by selecting the first paragraph and manually scrolling all the way down to the bottom to select the whole thing; selecting the whole chapter by going to the finished post and scrolling down to select the whole thing (which is finicky as hell if you're on a tablet, which I am); or, using select-all in tumblr's HTML format and then just quickly deleting the author's note when I paste.

As you can see, using select-all in HTML format is the fastest and least human-error-prone way to transfer text from tumblr to AO3

Every time I post a new chapter I paste the text to AO3's HTML editor and then switch to the rich text editor to insert that chapter's art.

[enarei]

not trying to stir anything but marxists.org could learn a thing or two from theanarchistlibrary.org in terms of digital format distribution

[itsohh]

Same Page

A/N: Thought this went without saying but, this is an act of fiction. Minors are never welcome on this blog, this is for entertainment purposes only and god wtf is wrong with you that I have to say this but this is not for sex education? If you're not mature enough to know a work of fiction is simply a work of fiction and not 'miss information' you're not mature enough to read smut.

Summary: After months of being unable to properly be together, you have worked up quite an appetite for your lover. It's a shame he's not really in the mood. However, states aren't always permanent and he never could resist you when you sounded like that.

Word count: 3226

Warnings: Smut

AO3 Masterlist

There was only so much you could do, there was only so much you could handle. The pair of you hadn't had any time together for what must have been months, mission after mission, constantly separated, so intimacy was out of the picture. 

  So when the pair of you finally had time off together, you knew exactly what you wanted. It seemed he knew exactly what he wanted as well. The pair of you had only been home for about ten minutes and he was already in the bedroom. It always made you smile, how in sync the pair of you were. Or so you thought, until you opened the door.

  Gaz had turned his switch on and Stardew Valley lit up on the tv. Your smile dropped, only for a second. His gaze shifted to you and he smiled kindly at you. 

  "Hey wanna come play?"

  Your feet were slow on the carpet as you slowly slid onto the bed next to him. 

  "Mmm, I had a different idea of what we could play." Your voice purred out and his eyes went back to the TV. 

  "Oh we could play Animal Crossing if you like, or maybe Mario Party but I'm not sure how fun it's going to be just the pair of us." 

  "I'm thinking more along the lines of Smashing." Your fingers hovered over the centre of his button-up for a moment. 

  "You hate Smash though- oh." His eyes shifted towards you and he swallowed when your fingers popped open his button and slid your hand on his chest. 

  Kyle cleared his throat and caught your hand before he pulled it away. "Not tonight, just wanna play. Maybe tomorrow?" The rejection hurt, just a little. But what really snapped was the burning desire that had slowly built up over the months. You pulled your hand back as if he burnt you, the reaction didn't go unnoticed and he let out a small sound. 

  "Babe, you know it's not like that. I'm just not in the mood and pretty tired I still love you-"

  "Kyle, it's fine." Your head lifted and you gave him a reassuring look "You do your thing and I'll do mine." Gaz's eyes looked away from yours but he nodded. A deep breath exhaled out from your lips and your eyes snapped to your side table. 

  Gaz tried not to stare at you the entire time your hands fumbled with the drawer. Shaking from pure desire, it wasn't easy for you to find the vibrator hidden away in the storage. Eventually, your finger made contact with the soft touch of its velvet bag and you yanked it out. A moment of silence ran between the pair of you when you sat down at the edge of the bed. When you looked up you saw that Gaz's eyes were on yours. Then they went down to the bag in your hand. 

  You couldn't help the heat that formed over your cheeks. Now that he was watching you with a complete lack of desire or arousal, you couldn't help but feel a little shamed at the fact. He had seen it many times before, walked in on you, even joined you time and time before but this was different, this time you were dirty and he wasn't. 

  "I'll- I'll head to the living room." You pointed with your thumb and abruptly got up and practically ran out of the shared room. The door behind you was slapped closed and your back made contact as your heart raced. His blank expression raced in your head, mixed with the sting of rejection, both had you let out a small groan that turned into a whimper. 

  That shame couldn't control you for long, slowly you looked down and the vibrator slid from the small bag and reminded you of that crushing core that demanded attention. Vibrator in your right hand, your left hand slowly drifted down to your clothed cunt. Your eyes closed and you bit your left pointer finger. 

  Tension left your shoulders and they dropped when your hand slipped the waistband of your pants. Just that little touch gave you so much. Your eyes snapped open towards the open curtains and you ripped your hands away from yourself. 

  You needed relief and you needed it right there and then. The curtains were promptly snapped closed and you threw the toy on the couch so you had free hands to remove your clothing. First, you removed the t-shirt from your body and then the sports bra that had you let out a little sigh of relief. Next came your pants which were dumped on the ground.

    Almost completely bare, you flopped down on the couch and grabbed the vibrator. A quiet him started from the toy and you placed it against your clit with only your thin underwear as a barrier. Your eyes shut and your mind wandered to the way that Gaz would touch you. He would start off slow, his gentle hands on the outside of your thighs. They would run up and down, feeling you up as his tongue would dance over his teeth. 

  He'd plant his hands firmly against you, indenting your flesh with his fingers. With his nice grip on you, he would pull you into his lap slightly. Kyle would be slotted between your thighs while your back would remain on the cushions. The thought of his clothed cock grinding against your cunt had you mew out. An admittedly rather loud moan as one of your hands went to grace your hard nipple. 

  The pair of you would stay like that, grinding against each other. Kyle would have that pent-up look on his face, mixed pleasure due to the friction between the pair of you. The grip on your thighs would tighten and he'd curse out before doubling down and grinding even harder. 

  You arch your back and continue your breathy moans while the vibrator works on your clit. The grip on the vibrator becomes a little tighter as you feel a wave of pleasure spread throughout your core, it's not there for very long but it has you relaxing deep into the couch. 

  The vibrator slips under your underwear and you slowly start to tease your entrance with it, your clits far too sensitive to continue. It would only need a couple of moments before you could return to it. 

  Lost completely in your imagination, you didn't notice the bedroom door open. 

  The dip in the couch had you gasp out and your eyes flung open. Kyle stared into your eyes as he mounted you slightly. Your legs were between his knees while he supported himself with the couch using one hand. Gaz leaned over your body and his face was directly above yours. 

  "Kyle?" You were still a little hazy, confusion written across your face. 

  "Hey." He paused and his eyes flashed down for a moment. "You were being a little loud there."

  "S-sorry I'll uh try to be quieter." True to your word, your voice practically vanished at the end of your sentence. 

  There was a playful look on his face and he leaned a little closer. Then his lips made contact with yours. The kiss wasn't gentle by any means. It was rough and wet, sloppy and full of desire, Gaz taking the lead. You moaned into his touch and clenched your fist to prevent yourself from latching onto him like a bear trap. 

  "I thought you wanted to play on the Switch." The words mumble from your lips the second he pulls back and you hear him laugh slightly and his free hand ran through his hair. 

  "Fuck, with you over here moaning my name like that?" Your brows raised, you hadn't even realised you had been doing so. "I'm only human, babe."

  "Kyle you don't have to-" He shuts you up with the taste of his lips and you feel his hand wrap around yours -specifically the hand with your vibrator in it. 

  "Don't need this anymore huh? Ready for the real thing?" His brow wiggled and you bit your lip. At his assurance, you couldn't help but feel the joy bloom in your chest. That earlier pain of rejection washed away. 

  A playful smile broke out on your face as Gaz continued to hover just millimetres above your head. "I dunno Gaz, I think I might continue with this." Your grip on the toy tightened and you smirked at him. 

  "Cheek." 

  "Yeah? And what are you gonna do about it?" Gaz pulled back slightly and cocked a brow at your challenge. His strong arms wrapped around your waist and suddenly picked you up. Your hand dropped the toy in preference to stable yourself in his grasp. Gaz pulled back with you and got off the couch where your legs wrapped around his hips. 

  "Thought you were happy with your toy, seems like you just threw it to the side now eh?"

  "Cause you picked me up you-" Your voice was cut off when Gaz's lips found your throat and messily kissed it, wetly kissing it as your head rolled back to give him better access. 

  "You said something?" He managed to muffle into your throat. A moan extracted from your lips was the only response he received and you could feel the way he smiled into your skin. 

  "You’re a bastard." The words left your mouth before he grabbed you and threw you onto the bed. You bounced a little and couldn't help the little laugh that escaped your mouth. Kyle had a rather predominant smile on his face before he kneeled down at the end of the bed. 

  Propped up on the bed with your elbows, you stare down at the man. He grabbed your ankles and grinned. A yank of your ankles had you surge forward where his hands kept your legs apart. Kyle's slender long fingers were stretched out over the inside of your thighs. Yet he didn't do much, he only rest his head on your right thigh where he took in the sight of you. 

  "You're gorgeous, you know that?" The devious smile on his face had softened and became one almost innocent. "Please don't take what I said earlier the wrong way." He clicked his tongue and glanced away for a second. "You're always super hot. I was just tired, you know? Felt like we never got a real break." 

  "Kyle…"

  He pressed a small kiss on the inside of your thigh. "It's like a tiredness in my bones. I mean I got a second wind when I heard yah going at it-" He gave you a wink with his smirk. "-But it's still lingering there. Think it's gonna be good to have some time off."

  "We don't have to if you're too tired darling. It's okay Kyle." 

  "Oh no, you're not getting out of this that easily." Gaz gave you little time to process his words before he turned his head slightly and bit down on the inside of your thigh. It wasn't very hard of a bite but the light pain on your soft tender flesh had you yelp regardless. 

  "You bitch!" You squeezed out and tore your legs from his grasp. Gaz's warm laughter filled the air as he climbed onto the bed after you. 

  "Oi get back here." He crawled up over the top of you and as his eyes made contact with yours, your movements slowed down until the pair of you were completely still. The smile on your face flattened and your lips parted slightly. 

  Gaz leaned in close to you, his skin brushed against your own.  "Got you." At his whisper, his lips crashed against yours. Like a bear trap, you sprung and wrapped your arms around his neck. His hand found your waist and wrapped his arm around it while he ground down against you. 

  Kyle hummed against your lips, his moans muffled against you and he rolled the pair of you until he was on his back. He manoeuvred your body until he had your thighs split apart over his legs. Seated on his lap, the pair of you parted for a second so he could remove his shirt. 

  It was flung to the edge of the room and you pressed your hands against his chest. You leaned down and pressed your lips against his. Nose brushed against yours and your forehead rolled forward to rest against his. Kyle's lips were always so impossibly soft, somehow he could kiss so rough and messy but always feel so gentle. 

  An intoxicating taste that was so unique to him, his lips on yours was something that you could never get tired of. Every touch always felt like seconds no matter how long of a moment you shared. 

  You rolled your hips down on him and he tore his face away from you. Gaz elected a hiss as his head tilted up and his eyes squeezed shut harder. "Fuck you sure know how to rile me up huh?" His voice was breathy and you felt his hand on you tighten. 

  His free hand tapped twice on the outside side of your thigh and you knew exactly what he was asking. You pushed up in your shins and disconnected your upper body from his. Kyle's eyes shamelessly explored your chest while he snapped out his belt from his pants and undid his pants. A groan of relief left his lips when he finally allowed his rock-hard cock freedom from its imprisonment. 

  A smug smile that suited his face well graced your sight while he tapped the end of his dick against your cunt. "I would ask if you're ready for me but look at you, your dripping." 

  With a roll of your eyes, you couldn't help the smile that curled your lips at his teasing tone. You steadied yourself with your hands still on his chest and he aligned himself at your entrance. Gaz opened his mouth to speak but before he could say anything, you lowered your body and slid down around his cock. 

  "Fuck." He drew the word out and his hand flew to the side of your hip where he gripped tightly. "God, it's been too long."

  "Uh-huh." You tried to make your voice light and humorous like his teasing but the strain in your voice just had it come out as a needy moan. 

  You went to move rather quickly but his hand gripped you tight. "Need a second?" You blinked down and he let out a breath. 

  "Feel like I'm a teen again getting my first hard-on, damn." 

  “Oh yeah? What was teen Kyle like huh?”

  “Surprisingly naive.” He gave you a weak smile. “I don’t think I really started understanding how the world worked until I was, what like twenty-four?” His eyes trailed off. The back of your fingers brushed against his face and his attention was drawn from whatever troubled matter his mind set to.

  “I bet teen you was a cute one.” With that sentence alone he let out a laugh and his hand let go of your waist. “Oh sure I was but something tells me that you prefer the way that I am today. You opened your mouth to speak but he made a small thrust up into you to emphasise his statement. It had you let out a groan and you took matters into your own hands. Settled in place you started to roll your hips on his cock, pleasure shared between the pair of you.

Gaz always somehow managed to fit you so well. He took up every inch inside of you. A deep sensation that you swore you could feel in your chest. That cock, too thick and long managed to push against that perfect sweet spot inside of you because how could it not? No space untouched, he filled you to your very core. With every bounce, the tip caressed your cervix. Not in any way painful but a deep pleasure that had you whimpering out his name. 

  The pace wasn't fast but wasn't incredibly slow either. Every touch was as intense as the last and had you practically trembling on his cock. "Made for me weren't you? That's it, baby." With both of his hands on the outside side of your thighs where he rubbed your skin up and down, coaxing you to continue riding him. 

  "Not gonna lie though, not sure how long I can last tonight." He admitted. 

  "Too much?" 

  "Been too long." He groaned and swallowed. "You’re insane if you think that we are only going one round though." 

  "Oh?"

  "You wanted my dick, baby, now your gonna get it. Fuck." His hands gripped on purchase and he started to thrust himself up into you. Taking charge, you stilled your actions and allowed him to fuck up into you. He didn't push it in as deeply as you had under your control, that extra inch and a half being too much for you to take at such a hard and punishing pace. 

  He throbbed inside of you, pulsated inside of you. "God I really should slow down but, fuck, you feel so good." A determined look crossed his face but mixed with desperation. So close but so unsure if he should go over that edge. 

  "Cum for me Kyle." That purr of your voice had him groan out and lift you from his cock. Seconds later his wet dick smacked against your cunt and his seed burst. 

  It roped out over your stomach and chest. It wasn't just a little either. He painted your body white as his voice deepened in moans. Gaz never was the quiet type. Slowly, you wrapped your hand around his cock and gently pumped it, encouraging it to continue. Kyle cursed out your name and thrust into your hand a little, a mix of his cum and your slick coating the inside of your hand. 

  His dick stopped jerking and his body relaxed onto your shared bed. "Damn." He breathed out a laugh and ran his hand through his hair. "That's a lot huh?"

  "You think?" You smiled back at him and brushed your thumb over the top of his member. He let out a shiver that ran across his entire body.

  "Ah- too much give me a minute." His hand flinched towards your wrist and you let go of him. Kyle's eyes flickered down your painted body, fondness adorned his eyes and he couldn't help but grin at you. He was almost proud of himself in a way. He enjoyed the sight of you, that much was obvious but he enjoyed the sight of you so deliciously covered in his seed. 

  One of his hands reached up, his pointer finger extended out. With the flick of that finger, he smeared his cum over your nipple. A devilish look formed on your face and you grabbed the hand. You brought it up to your mouth where you sucked his finger clean. 

  Gaz's jaw parted and he let out a groan while his cock twitched with interest. "You're gonna be the death of me."

[bizlybebo]

moving from ao3 rich text box to a doc so i can view it on dark mode and stop burning my eyes. this is real dedication

[riacte]

hi! i love reading your fics but i specifically love the social media shenanigans in dearly beloathed. i was wondering how you would feel if i took some inspiration from that for a fic of mine because i would love to write something that's very similarly formatted but i wanted to make sure you were fine with that (cause i'm assuming it took some time and effort to come up with) before i did. anyways your writing is awesome and i love reading it

Yes sure of course! I took inspiration from ao3 fics (F1 fandom in particular is stunning at formatting, I have so much respect for their dedication), such as this one (I basically took the formatting from this) and this Twitch streamer AU. If you're posting on ao3, there's the option of playing with HTML/CSS for a more "realistic" socmed interface, for example this one for Twitter which is magic to me. This one is an extremely impressive Discord mockup. An Unauthorised Fandom Treatise is a nice look into mid 2010s Superwholock era fandom whereas F1 rpf and indeed mcyt / streamer stuff is more "modern". Anyways yeah there's a lot of potential in this genre of fics and loads of stuff to check out on ao3 if you wish :) I love scrolling through the Unconventional Format tag because people are just so creative. Good luck with your writing!

[monarch-boo]

Look in my eyes... Look in my past.

[cesium-sheep]

the vast majority of coding is just white noise to me, even the stuff that's supposed to be super beginner friendly like drag and drop prefab interfaces. except for html. I Get html.

[sheltershock]

Hi. I made a fanfic.

I've been working on a cute little found family fic on and off for the past month so, here you go. It's posted completely finished all at once. Enjoy.

Please be normal.

(No, you don't need to know anything about Danganronpa. In fact it might be better if you don't know anything about it.)

[fanthirtheen]

I'm having this problem with AO3 right now where everything I post is italicized except, wonderfully enough, what is supposed to be italicized. When I copy and paste the chapter into the text box to upload, the formatting is correct. As soon as the draft is saved either for previewing the chapter or posting it, the italics reverse. I tried deleting all the formatting for the chapter before pasting it into AO3 text box, but then it still reverses and everything is italicized in the preview still.

Why??? I can un-italicize it in the text box, but that just gets rid of the parts that are supposed to be italicized, and unless I want to lose those moments of emphasis (or in my current story's case, highlighting the difference between spoken word and things a character is reading out loud), I'd have to go back through and re-italicize everything and hope I didn't miss anything.

This has happened to me a few times before, but now it's every time :(

[goodmode]

does ANYONE know how to get rid of empty blocks in tumblr mobile text posts?

i have a draft with like 9 miles of empty space between paragraphs

i can't backspace to delete them because they're considered different "blocks" by the absolute garbage tumblr post formatting

i can't highlight paragraphs and drag them in to fill those spaces, even though it looks like i'm holding the paragraph and can drag it around the screen loosely it won't actually let me put it anywhere

please god

[eternalflowershipping]

~ Playlist for Fairylace, the one-and-only Spiderwoman of Niwe Yorke. Genres: Classical / folk / synth-pop / etc.

Kawai Eri ~ Undine (Zougoshi Ver.) / Yoko Ueno ~ Ashita Kitto Kikasete / ZABADAK ~ Asa / Yoko Kanno ft. Gabriela Robin ~ Folly Fall / Sakaue Masumi ~ Rosa's Theme / Arai Akino ~ Adesso e Fortuna / Loreena McKennitt ~ The Lady of Shalott / Vashti Bunyan ~ If I Were & Same But Different / DAZBEE ~ Scarborough Fair / Philharmonia Orchestra ~ Le Cygne / Yoko Kanno ft. Donna Cumberbatch ~ Reunion / Toby Fox ~ Fallen Down (Peaceful River and Birdsong Version)

~ Listen on you*tube

[dayseternal-blog]

Summary: Naruto and Hinata join the Twelve Guardian Ninja of the Land of Fire’s Daimyo.  (But not really.)  Their mission is to smoke out the rat among them who’s selling political secrets to insurgents, while making sure the other Guardians don’t figure them out.

Neither can tell when their acting became so convincing.

A fake relationship canon-divergent AU.  Rated E for eventual smut (we're still not there yet).

Written for NH2020 March - Bodyguard Theme (....it's been a solid 3 years)

Chapter 4: Kiss Him Again II

As they get nearer to the daimyo’s room, she takes a deep breath.  She just has to act normal.  She can at least do that.

She pulls her attention up off the floor to face her fears.

And her heart nearly jumps into her throat, seeing his gaze fixed on her.  She swallows her nerves down, readying herself to greet him, when she realizes…

He’s not exactly meeting her eyes.   His gaze just marginally lower…

His focus, possibly on her mouth, flicks back up.

It was only a couple of seconds, but she’s rendered speechless.

He tips his head in quiet acknowledgement.  “Morning, Hinata.”

Her heart’s enflamed hotter than the heated ghost of his skin on her lips.  Somehow, breath travels through her throat, and a “Good morning” makes it into the air between them.

He’s not really smiling, his head tilted slightly, shyly?, not at all like his usual self.  He lingers a moment, as if waiting for her to say something more, but she can’t.

So he gives her one last look before turning around, heading back to their room, leaving her to wallow in worries and hopes.

-

When she finally, finally gets off an excruciatingly long shift with Taiyou, a guy she’s seen too much information of, she doesn’t know whether to be thankful or nervous.

All of her wondering about what Naruto’s thinking makes her limbs feel like jelly.  Each step she takes, closer to the bar where the rest are watching the live broadcast of the First Round, makes her feel tingly all over.

But she has to stay alert, remember that this is still a mission, and that, of all people, her mission partner should really be the least of her concerns.

She’ll be fine.

They’ll be fine.

And she’ll be fine and they’ll both be fine, and he’ll think she was just acting, and it’s not going to be a big deal, and they’ll both be normal, right?

-

He knows he’s not being normal.

He knows he’s rarely ever what anyone would qualify as normal, but he thinks that this time, he’s quite justified.

What Hinata’s been doing to him this whole mission is far from normal.

Well, maybe for her it’s normal, maybe Kiba and Shino always get this kind of special treatment?

He hates that.

It’s not fair at all that they have had someone like Hinata building them up all this time.  Maybe if he was on her team from the start, he’d be desensitized, too.  They probably don’t value how amazing it is to work with someone like her.  They probably don’t care after so many years with her, and who knows, maybe Hinata’s given them kisses...too...

When she comes into the bar, he can’t help but wonder, were those kisses his to keep?  Or were they never his to begin with?  Was she just acting last night?  And if so, if so…  how far am I allowed to act?...

He’s staring at her, and out of sudden realization that she seems slightly on edge, he manages to smile and gesture beside him in the booth.  “Hinata, here.”

She nods, appreciatively sitting down.

“Good work,” Eizan customarily congratulates them.

“Thanks,” Taiyou says, immediately turning to call the waiter over.

Hinata nods.  “Thank you.”

Eizan begins filling them in on all of the different teams, who the hopeful genin are, what villages they come from, what the public knows of their abilities so far based on their last names and clan specialties.

Hinata tries to be attentive.

It’s not easy with Naruto’s “casual” glances at her.

If she were any less aware, if she didn’t have such sharp and observant eyes, if she wasn’t already so self-conscious about him in the first place, maybe she wouldn’t notice.

But she does her best to pretend that she actually doesn’t notice him watching her in his relaxed pose.  No matter what he’s thinking, now is not the time to address it.  She focuses as much as she can on showing interest in Eizan’s conversation.

Even as his arm comes reaching around behind her, the nerves at her lower back spasming with apprehensive anticipation of his touch.

He doesn’t touch her, his hand somewhere on the seat behind her.

If she leaned back just a bit, she would touch him.  It feels like every year of maturation led up to this moment, taking every moment of experience to keep her features schooled, her temperature as even as she can.

...No, actually, she can’t handle how nonchalantly close he is.  She looks up in silent, reluctant confusion.

He meets her questioning gaze with a small smile, and after a second, she relaxes.   His focus returns to Eizan, but internally, he can’t help feeling like he passed a test.  It’s not like he’s being overly affectionate.  He’s just...trying this.  They’re a “couple” after all, so if he never gets close to her, wouldn’t that be weirder?  This is better, right, in general, for the purposes of their mission?

-

An hour into the broadcast with numerous teams of genin disqualified, and he’s feeling really nice.

She gradually leaned back a bit, then a bit more on his arm, her head now resting back on his bicep, almost on his shoulder.

It wouldn’t take much more to circle his hand to her hip, but he won’t, not while she seems so comfortable, like she trusts him completely enough to relax in his company.  His heart feels light and squeezed by something soft, happiness so gentle that it hurts.

The bar is crowded with viewers, booths just like theirs full of groups of friends cheering or criticizing the progression of the exam.  Half his attention is on the television, half his attention is on giving his own noisy commentary, and the other half is on Hinata’s reactions.  He knows his fractions are off, but there’s no brain left to do any figuring.  

He can’t stop smiling.  Her weight on his is a rare intimacy that he doesn’t for the life of him want to disturb.  He can feel the shake of her shoulders when she laughs, he can feel the texture of her hair when she turns her head slightly, he can feel the tensing of her back if something on the program excites her.

He doesn’t know where the time goes, but too soon, the first stage of the exam finishes, and talk turns to what everyone plans on doing next.

Eizan downs the last of his beer.  “I have a few friends in the other guards, I’d like to try to touch base with them, see how they’re doing.”

“You’re friends with the other countries’ guards?” Hinata asks with honest astonishment, and Naruto is suddenly reminded of yesterday, when Eizan mentioned the bloody history between The Land of Lightning and The Land of Fire.

He still needs to talk to Hinata about that.

“Yeah,” Eizan responds.  “Once you’ve been traveling enough on diplomacy trips, where the daimyo just sit around all day drinking and gambling together, you get to know the other guards fairly well, too.”

Taiyou nods.  “We’re all just standing there watching our lords lose most of the time, so it’s generally a bonding experience!  It truly is international relations.”

Hinata giggles in that way of hers, the muscles at her back jumping against his arm, and Naruto can’t help glancing down to catch her smile.

“You two don’t have to join us,” Taiyou adds.  “You should go check out some of Kumogakure’s attractions!”

“Oh, um, I don’t know, we wouldn’t mind meeting them, too.”  She straightens in her seat, and he follows, just to close the distance between them again.

Taiyou seems to ignore her as he continues, “Kumo has some really great natural onsen…museums, scenic points…movie theater…”

Eizan leans forward, eyes squinting at them.  “When was the last time the two of you went on an actual date .”

“A date?”  They both repeat his words unthinkingly, and when Hinata looks up at Naruto wide-eyed, she sees that he looks just as flustered as her.

Taiyou’s making loud exclamations of pity and disbelief, verging on ridicule, and Naruto starts trying to lie for them, “W-we’ve been on dates…we-”

“With all the extra freedom of moving out of Konoha,” Eizan interrupts, “you’d think that the two of you would have spent more time together, but I guess we’ve been pretty busy since you guys joined.”

“U-uh, yeah…” Naruto utters, and Hinata’s so glad that he already established their hidden relationship backstory.

But also, that corners them into an awkward position with their undercover mission.  Either they insist on going with them to meet the other daimyos’ guards at the risk of looking like a strange couple that doesn’t want to spend time alone together, or they go on a date, further fortifying their backstory.

Or…they can agree to go on the date, but actually spend the time spying.  She can feel heat rushing to her cheeks, but she forces the words out anyway.  “A, a date would be nice.”

Naruto stares at her, and she bites her lips before turning to look him in the eyes.  She feels so flushed, but she smiles tentatively, wondering if he understands her intention.

“Yeah.  It would be…”  His quiet agreement is a relief; it seems that the longer they do this, the easier it is to lie together.

But as soon as Eizan and Taiyou leave them out of earshot at the entrance of the bar, she hears the familiar, soft poof of a Kage Bunshin.

She turns around to see two Narutos looking at her nervously.  Before she can ask why, he answers.  “We haven’t had a chance to talk-”

She does not want to talk about why she kissed him!!

“-and so I was thinking my clone can follow them, and we can…”  He looks away, and his obvious discomfort makes her feel guilty.

She can’t look at him either.  “...Okay.”

He leads them out away from the side street, their walk seemingly aimless as she struggles to find an explanation.

She can simply tell half of the truth: that she didn’t want him to feel badly and she didn’t want Eizan or Taiyou to suspect them of lying about their relationship.  But she thought maybe Naruto didn’t mind it.  He was acting quite close since she joined them this afternoon, and it seemed he understood that they’ve been trying to act…like a couple.

What will he say?

Why would he choose talking about her shameful act over their responsibility in this mission?

In her silent stress, she follows Naruto into a nearby park.  It’s not grassy at all like in Konoha.  Instead the path twists among interesting rocky outcrops and strategically placed benches that are shaded beneath the shadows of towering stone.  In the center sits a giant memorial honoring Kumo shinobi.

Sitting down on the nearest available bench, she finally voices her concern.  “Naruto-kun, is it really okay for us to not be tracking them right now?”

“Oh.  I’m sure my clone is fine.  If he wasn’t, he would’ve dispersed.”

His self-confidence should’ve been expected.  And she realizes, she’s confident in him, too.  So really, her doubt is entirely self-serving.

Seeing her dark expression, he quickly adds, “Maybe the timing’s not too great, but we really haven’t had a moment to ourselves, and I’ve wanted to ask since yesterday, just I don’t know if you’ll be comfortable with talking about it, but as your…friend, I feel really bad that I didn’t know anything, I mean, if you don’t want to talk about it, we can just go back.”

Sorting through his rushed words, she remembers Eizan’s reveal yesterday.  Before she kissed him.  “Oh, you mean…”  She peers at Naruto and recognizes the discomfort in his expression isn’t embarrassment, but concern and shame.  “You mean when I got kidnapped...”

He nods.  “...Can you tell me about it?” he asks as kindly as he can.

“Mm…yeah.”  She breathes in, then out, letting her focus flit into the past.  “I was….three…”

He hears a story of political and family strife so bewildering, so disgusting, that the devastation in her expression is one he can physically feel in his own face.  A heat of loss burning behind his eyes, the injustice against Neji a rage at his fingertips, but there’s nothing for him to do about it.

This was all years in the past.

Kumo changed.

The Hyuuga clan has changed, too.

Hinata’s already forgiven, clearly, but she hasn’t forgotten.

He sits speechless beside her as she pats the tears from her eyes with her handkerchief, as she sighs and gives him an exhausted, tightlipped smile.  “Please don’t be upset, Naruto-kun.”

He nods, still trying to swallow down the grief knotting his throat.

“We’re…we’re all working toward a better future.”

He nods harder, emotional and moved.  “I promise, Hinata, I promise to make it so.”

“I know.”  Her quiet affirmation is sure, a strength that he’s borrowing from her in this moment, fueling him in motivation.

“Telling me everything…thank you.”  He didn’t know what he was expecting to hear, but it’s almost the opposite of his mother’s kidnapping in terms of the…ending.

She gives him a stronger smile.  “I hope you didn’t feel too badly about not knowing yesterday.”

“Yeah, I get that you don’t really tell anyone about it, but, I’m supposedly your boyfriend, right?  So I’m supposed to know these things, right?”

She seems to kind of shrink into herself, her gaze cast low.  “Then, it’s the same for me, right?”

“Huh?”

“You mentioned, yesterday, that your mother was kidnapped, too?”  She blinks up at him carefully.  “Will you tell me about it?”

“Oh.”  He suddenly and inexplicably feels like his bones are turning to jelly, and he wonders if Hinata felt this way about sharing personal secrets, too.  “Yeah, sure…”

He’s shared parts of his past with others several times before, but never like this… Never so…calmly?  To take this chance to connect just because good friends should know each other a little better than just the present circumstances…  To be quietly sitting together, to have Hinata listening, and…to tell a story about his family that he’s never told anyone, not Team 7, not Iruka, no one.

He details that time when he was with Killer B and Yamato.  Years ago now, but everything his mother told him is still vibrant in his memory.  Even though her chakra is long-gone from his seal, she left him with something even stronger.

A love that solidified him.

One that he’s never had the opportunity to share about, until now.

“She even talks kind of like me!”

“Oh, wow,” she sighs warmly.  “That’s so amazing that you were able to learn so much about her.”

“Yeah.  I never thought that I’d ever know who she was.  I wish I could’ve talked to her longer.”  He still has so many questions to ask her, so many wonderings about who she was, what her likes were, what her dislikes were…

“I think..I know what you mean… My mother passed away from an illness when I was young.  I really wish I could see her again.”

He’s known for as long as he’s known Hinata that it’s always been just her father and sister, and he doesn’t think he’s ever heard her talk about her mother.  “How old were you?”

“I was…four?  So I have a hard time remembering what she was like.  Hanabi doesn’t remember her at all, but at least we have a picture of all of us together when she was an infant.”

Concern knots his mind again.  If she was four, that means her mother passed only a year after she was kidnapped.  Putting together the timeline of Hinata’s childhood reveals a lot more about her than he was expecting.  “…I’d like to see the photo sometime if you wouldn’t mind?” “Oh!  Okay.”  She turns a small smile at him.  “When we return to Konoha, I’ll show you.”

“That sounds good.”  He smiles back, and for a moment, they sit in silence together, watching people walking through the park and enjoying the rocky scenery.

Everything on this extended mission has been so different from his life in Konoha.  This trip to Kumo emphasizes it.  He misses home a lot, but even if this is work, he’s still enjoying himself a lot more than he thought he would.

He glances down at his partner, and seemingly sensing his gaze, she looks at him, too.

“About four more months,” she murmurs.

“Yeah.”  If no one does anything fishy, it’s still a long time before their paid surveillance period ends and they can return.  “Do you miss home?”

Her gaze drifts, the look in her eyes far away.  “Yes.  I miss my family and everyone else.  I wonder how they’re all doing.”

“Hmm, yeah, it’s too bad that we can’t write to them, even if we’re undercover as ourselves.”  The chances of a letter returning to them that asks about how much longer their “mission” might take are too high of a risk.  They can’t let anyone possibly realize that they’re not here of their own volition.

Thus, the secrecy.

And the feeling that they’re effectively cut off from their previous lives.

“You must miss Ichiraku.”  Hinata’s knowingly smiling, peering at him from the corner of her eyes.

“Ha ha!  Yeah.  I haven’t had any decent ramen in so long!”  He gazes off into the distance, like he can practically see the steaming broth and noodles out there somewhere and sighs as dramatically as he can.  “Just you wait, Ichiraku!  The first thing I do when I get back home!  Is eat ramen!”

She laughs, “That sounds good!  I miss Ramen Ichiraku, too.”  Her stomach knots with apprehension at what she wants to say next, but she manages to look him directly in the eyes and say it anyway.  “You’ll let me join you?  After our mission report?”

Round, clear, hopeful eyes look up at him expectantly.

That fuzzy, pillowy feeling smushes around his chest.

He’s smiling so hard, giddiness burns a path up his calves to his cheeks.  “Of course!  It’ll taste even better with you there!”

She blinks at his bright smile, one she’s never seen directed at her with such dazzling power.  She knows she was probably blushing before, but now, she’s certain of it.  She fidgets on the bench, tightening her elbows to squeeze at her own sides, just to hold herself together.

“I mean, food always tastes better with friends, but, Hinata…”  He feels warm and open.  He feels close to her in a way he hasn’t felt with anyone besides his own team.

Something deep and real.

He’s looking for a word that encapsulates this experience, and looking at how she’s smiling with him, happy with him…  “You’re so refreshing.”

Her heart feels so full, she worries she’ll burst.  “...I am?”

“Yeah, Hinata,” he laughs.  “This mission would suck if not for you.  Can you imagine?  Me spending months like this with Shikamaru?  What a drag,” he mockingly imitates, and he grins upon seeing her bite her lips and hold in a laugh.  “Or me and Kiba?  We’d be at each other’s necks, just fed up with each other after one week!  Shino, or worse, Rock Lee?  Me and Ino?”  He comically widens his eyes and he can see her trying to picture it.

She finally shakes her head.  She knows that Ino didn’t particularly like Naruto at the Academy.  She’s not sure if her opinion of him has changed much since then, but she knows that they’re not exactly the closest of friends.  “Well, I’m sure you would’ve liked an extended mission if it were with your Team 7 members, right?”

“Ahh, well…”  Of course he’d love to go on a mission with Team 7.  It may not happen ever again.  “I miss having everyone together, but, this is a two-person mission, right?  So, as fun as it would be if it were me and Sasuke, I just can’t imagine it happening.”

With his mood suddenly dropping, she leans a little closer, wondering if he’ll share with her what he means.

Seeing how serious she suddenly looks, he quirks a smile at her.  “You know what he’s like.  I’m always trying to get him to stay.  He never does.  And, just imagining him and me, doing this mission together?”

She tilts her head in confusion, and he realizes that maybe Hinata doesn’t know much about him and Sasuke, or anything much about Sasuke at all.

“Okay, so, you know that I had a really hard time accepting this mission at the beginning, right?”

She nods, remembering Naruto’s obvious animosity toward the daimyo.

“I’m pretty sure Sasuke would hate him even more than me.  That and Sasuke just doesn’t get along with many people, I mean-”  He makes an exaggerated grimace.  “-Sasuke would probably get everybody to distrust us, not like you!  You make everyone put their guard down around you!”

She frowns.  Starts to nod.  She guesses she can see that happening.

“I didn’t like this mission at the start.  I don’t particularly enjoy sneaking around and being secretive.”

She nods, she understands that this mission isn’t Naruto’s style.  She’s still surprised that the Hokage chose him for this in the first place, but she guesses that the daimyo specifically requested Naruto’s service and paid a good amount of money to justify it.

It’s a little disheartening to know how much he didn’t want to do this.

But even if he’s not enjoying himself, she’s selfishly glad that she’s here with him.

“I didn’t like the idea of having to be away from Konoha for so long, or for needing to pretend that I don’t want to be Hokage.”

She nods, keeping her focus on her knees.

“Having Sasuke here would have made this a thousand times more excruciating because we’d both be, I don’t know, going crazy from boredom, we’d probably be trying to goad the others into revealing themselves just so that we can get some excitement out of this!”

She gives him a small smile, trying not to assume that he’s implying that he’s bored on this mission.

“We’d also probably be trying to kill each other every other day.”

She lets this strange comment sink in, and she lets her confusion show on her face.

He laughs.  “He’s my best friend, but that’s just how it is!  And well, that’s kinda just how Team 7 is!  Sakura’s always about to kill me…  We’re both always about to kill Sai… but sometimes, I swear he’s asking for it, Danzo’s upbringing or not, no one can be that socially stupid.”

Goodness, she knew that Team 7 was different from her team and she remembers seeing Team 7 interacting before, but even on missions?  Are they that high-tension, that it’s “Even on missions?”

“Yup.”  He tightens his lips into a frown.  “Of course when it gets down to the moment, we pull ourselves together and we’re awesome, but uhh, yeah!  That’s how we are!  And honestly, I wouldn’t have us any other way.”

Seeing her process all of his ranting and raving reminds him of why he got onto this tangent in the first place.

It was to explain to her…

“That’s why you’re so refreshing, Hinata.”  

Her gaze settles back on him, and he can’t help smiling at her look of surprise at the turn of topic.

“I’m actually enjoying myself!  Whenever we get to meet and talk like this, it’s fun.”  Strange heat fuzzes around his face and chest, and she’s been listening so intently to him with that glowy look on her face.  He’s suddenly reminded of how she kissed his cheek, and his eyes reactively pull away and up to look at the streaks of pink in the darkening sky.  “Um, we never argue, you know?  You’re always really nice, and I feel like we work well together, and…”  He knows there’s more to this.  “You’re just really, really nice, and I feel like you’re always there for me…”

He remembers her jumping down between himself and Pain.

He remembers how she stayed strong for him when Neji passed.

And reactively, he looks back down at her, her gentle gaze bright under dark lashes, and that deathly fear for her safety briefly flares before settling tightly in his chest.

“I’m really, very happy that we get to work together, too.”  She shies away from his intense look and focuses on her knees again.  “I really enjoy being with you.  I have fun when we’re together, and I like listening, and um, learning more about you.”  She bites her lips and slowly dares to look up at him again.

That nervous feeling trembles within him, that overwhelming sensation of too much of her attention, and it feels precious, dangerous, it feels exciting, and he waits.

“You’re always really nice, too.  And I, I want to be there for you, so I’m glad you feel that way.”  She suddenly recalls kissing him on the cheek, and she can’t believe she’s going to say this, but he’s not recoiling, he’s not rejecting anything she’s said, he’s listening quietly… “You really are the best guy I’ve ever met.”

His voice feels plugged in his chest.  Her breathy words burn his face, and he looks down at his knees just like her.  Stifling, humid heat wraps around his neck, arms, and legs despite the cooling air of the approaching evening, and he’s suddenly sweating profusely beneath his jacket.  “You’re…”  Something akin to glee buzzes at his cheeks, and he flashes a glance at her.  “...the best-”  He’s never compared her so intentionally to other girls, to his ex-teammate, yet what he wants to say still holds true.  “-girl I’ve ever met.”

Hinata stares up at him, allowing her wonder to show apparent.  A part of her wants to ask if he means it, but she knows that Naruto always speaks his truth, always tells it like he sees it, and hope blossoms full.

His shy, affectionate smile is so beautiful, she can barely look at him.  “Hinata.”  His voice around her name is quiet and lovely.

She’s never experienced him like this before.  Soft and wonderful.  This happy fuzz dazes her, and it’s his fingers sliding over her hand, hooking with her fingers, his tentative touch that forces her attention back up to his eyes.

A ruddiness tinges his cheeks, and she realizes he’s blushing.

She’s blushing, she knows she is, she always is, but he is, too.  He’s not looking away, he’s not distracted, she has his full attention in a way she never has before.

Words she’s demonstrated in action, words she’s tried to substantiate ever since she confessed three years ago…they linger on the back of her tongue, they form weight and grow heavy.  I love you.  Naruto-kun, I’ve loved you-

He draws his hand off of hers, and his gaze shifts slightly up, away from her eyes, up to the visible stress on her forehead.  “What’s wrong?”

She blinks.  She breathes.  “N-nothing.”

The tremor in her voice.  The sudden shift in her open expression to one of nervousness.  It’s clear to him that he overstepped, and he clasps his errant hand.  “I didn’t mean to-”

She grabs his hand, pulls it into both of hers, into her lap, and she doesn’t know how he can possibly be ignorant of her feelings, but her hesitance to confess was enough for her to know that she’s still not ready to make it clear.  “Thank you, Naruto-kun.  Y-you encourage me so much, and I, I didn’t know what to say.”

He stares at his hand.  His throat feels stuck.  That pinching in his chest, that smothered, smushy, cottony feeling that he’s come to associate with Hinata leaves him lightheaded, giddy, antsy.  Enclosed in her smaller hands, his own hand is happy.  He squeezes back, his fingers wrapping around her hand, and it’s right.  It’s perfect.

This friendship with Hinata.  It’s unlike any other.  He’s closer to her than anyone else in his life right now, and he doesn’t want this moment to end, he hopes this special feeling lasts forever.

He’s never felt like this with anyone before.

Air manages to make it past the knot in his throat.  “Anytime.  I’d be happy to encourage you anytime, Hinata.”

Her smile, her hands, her closeness at his side.  Her words from just a minute ago, the stroke of her thumb along one of his knuckles.  This moment is real, not acting.

So those little kisses from yesterday?

A disorienting thickness pinches in his gut, and he squeezes her hand harder for it, a silly smile threatening to wiggle out across his face.

He knows they were his to keep.

[clawheld]

its a "work on my neocities" type of day

[aces-to-apples]

The way some of you post confuses me so much, it sounds like you don't even know there's rich text on AO3