Thats How Much Id Love This Story To Exist - Tumblr Posts

This is exactly what I’m talking about, how do you guys do it?!? This is pure GENIUS and HAS to be written. I refuse to believe it won’t. Literally a lot of my ideas feel bland sometimes, like I’m writing too much about the same thing in the same way kind of, and then I see amazing stuff like this and wish I had though of it. Like, I’m in the middle of writing multiple Buckley siblings/Madney fanfictions, which is also why my current stories have been slow, but one of them is Maddie taking a younger Buck and getting the hell out of dodge, but the whole book store idea and additional notes, *chef’s kiss*.

Okay I’m done now. I think.

If you excuse me I’m gonna go and try to think up an amazing AU idea like this.

Bookshop AU + Character in Peril but for Madney Plssss

Bookshop AU + Character in Peril but for Madney

You, Nonnie, are speaking my language!

First Lines:

Maddie didn't understand how Buck always managed to lose his math book in their very own bookstore but he did. Every Monday morning she was left scouring their wide shelves of their tiny corner store looking for the wide brimmed spine with plastic red coloring that should stand out like a beacon in the middle of the second hand romance section but instead it blended in and stayed hidden from view.

The smell of the coffee that Buck was brewing to try and make up for again losing his math book was enough to ease some of the panic that itched under her skin as the press for time ticked down.

If you had told her that at age twenty-five she would own and operate her dream bookstore with a small cafe tucked in the side then she would've swooned on the spot and gotten lost in the fantasy.

If you'd told her that she would've taken her then twelve year old brother with her and ran across the country with only a handful of bags, a collection of collectable books she'd been saving since she was fifteen, and bruises on her skin that hurt down into her heart then she would've frozen up in terror.

If you'd told her that she would be looking for a sixteen year old's math book and found it sitting next to a copy of Little Women and a dog eared sun baked hardback of an Agatha Christie anthology then she would've laughed in your face.

Premise:

When Maddie flees from Hershey, PA and her abusive fiancé, Doug, she takes only what was important. Her passport, her few keepsakes, a handful of first editions she started accumulating when was she fifteen, and her twelve year old brother. With her parents trapped in their grief and hiding from Doug, Maddie and Buck arrive to the West Coast looking for a new start. Eventually, Maddie is able to open a small bookstore/cafe with an apartment above the store.

One day a cute guy walked in and ordered two coffees and a scone before taking a seat at the small table by the window so he could watch the door.

By the time he finished his scone and was halfway through the second coffee, it became painfully obvious that he'd been stood up. Taking pity on him, Maddie offers him another cup of coffee and that's how she finds out his name. Howie or Chimney as his friends call him. He's a firefighter paramedic and he'd raced him after a twenty-four hour shift to make it to a date with a girl who was more interested in the uniform than she was Chim.

It took Chimney three minutes to get Maddie to laugh. Full belly, tears streaming down her face laughing. She couldn't remember the last time anyone other than Buck got her to laugh that hard. It was nice to laugh again.

They spend hours chatting with Chimney watching as Maddie stood and took care of the store before dropping back down to pick up their conversation. She opens up about why she loves books so much and the comfort they bring. She grew up in a tomb from an age where she could remember what it was like to see light. Books were her escape; her chance to remember what light was like.

When Buck comes back from school he finds Maddie and Chimney totally wrapped up in each other. Chimney, a little confused as to why Maddie has a tall gangly sixteen year old, makes his excuses but asks if Maddie would be interested in getting dinner sometime.

Maddie, a little hesitant since she hasn't dated anyone since Doug, freezes and Buck answers for her.

"Yes," he says. "She's definitely interested."

"You only want me to go so I'll bring you leftovers."

So Maddie and Chimney get closer and it's incredibly soft and romantic and everything they deserve. Chimney takes Buck under his wing and introduces him Bobby and the firehouse. He notices the little hiccups that come with the Buckleys. How Maddie shuts down sometimes when she's feeling pressured. How Buck panics when he thinks he's messed up. But slowly Chimney's family takes in the Buckley family.

And it's good. Everything is good.

Then Doug comes to town.

Additional Notes:

There is something about the idea of Buck calling Maddie in tears because Doug has him that I wish we had gotten and if I wrote this AU that would happen (this is also because I would like to see a twist on the whole Domestic Abuse victim being the person in peril and instead would have the abuser underestimate them and have them go fucking feral because you know JLH would act the hell out of it)

Literally if Doug touched a single hair on Buck's head Maddie would've started swinging and I stand on this hill with my iced coffee like the stubborn Scottish Midwestern that I am

Maddie for Chimney's birthday does a 'Book that's like A Movie' display and it's totally cheesy and Chimney loves it

Feel like Doug would try to burn the bookstore down because he's a dick

Christmas at the bookshop is magical because Maddie literally makes it look like it came straight out of a Hallmark movie

The entire aesthetic is Madney with fairy lights and warm fires and joy. So much joy.

Maybe this would take place like starting at Thanksgiving and goes towards Christmas

Send me two (2) tropes from this list + a ship and I’ll describe how I’d combine them in the same story.