Work Text:
Wylan was ducked down behind the counter when someone walked in, ringing the little bell above the door.
It was a Thursday afternoon, and he was working his part time shift at the little independent bookstore on campus, partly to pay for tuition, and partly because he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see the look on his father’s face when he found out Wylan had been given a job there despite his Dyslexia, and that he was in fact going to go to university and didn’t need a dime of his father’s money to do it.
He straightened up from where he’d been looking for some extra bookmarks to stock in the jar by the till and saw two people wandering around. The first, a slender South-Asian woman with a long braid of black hair, perusing the mystery section, and the second a very striking man wearing a brightly patterned waistcoat who gave Wylan a wink when he saw him looking.
Wylan blushed and looked away, pretending to busy himself with the order forms, but snuck another glance when he thought the coast was clear. The guy really was gorgeous – long ringed fingers running along the spines of the romance books.
Looking at them, Wylan sadly reckoned that she might have been his girlfriend. It seemed likely – they clearly knew each other well, quietly whispering and moving easily around the store together. He would surely die alone and boyfriendless.
The guy followed the girl, now out of view behind a bookshelf, and leaned attractively against the corner. Wylan was absolutely not looking at the newly presented line of his body as he did it.
“I’m just saying, I know he likes mysteries, but don’t you think you should spice it up a bit every now and again? Widen his literary horizons.” He said dramatically.
Wylan heard the smiling voice of the woman reply, “What, you mean something like this?”
The hot boy scoffed and said, “Inej, if I didn’t know you were very much joking I would lose all respect I have for you. You know perfectly well that these,” He gestured, “are an insult to literature, made to prey upon those who have never read a proper book.”
They were standing in front of the audiobook section.
Wylan’s jaw dropped.
No way. He couldn’t believe – why was it always the hot ones who were dickheads? Wylan had gone through so much shit in his life: people making fun of him for never reading actual books, professors who dithered and delayed and complained about the hassle of providing him with online versions of textbooks so he could use a screenreader, his father, who had berated the existence of audiobooks and shamed them as lesser right to Wylan’s face.
No, he had gone through too much to just let it go. Maybe it was too small a hill to die on, but today, Wylan found he didn’t care. He rolled his shoulders and stepped out from behind the counter, walking up to where the two people were now giggling.
“Excuse me,” He said, heatedly, “I don’t know who you think you are, but maybe you’re the one who needs to widen his literary horizons if you can dismiss audiobooks so casually. Not all of us are so lucky to be blessed with the capability of reading full books and are still perfectly well educated, and,” Wylan hesitated, and then ploughed on, “probably smarter than you.”
Inej and the boy were both staring at him wide eyed.
“Accessibility to other forms of reading doesn’t detract from the words of the story, or the experience of reading it, and only encourages reading rather than gatekeeping and restricting it to an abled section of society.” Wylan narrowed his eyes.
The boy was rapidly nodding, flicking his eyes between Wylan and the audiobook display.
“In fact, the first stories and storytelling traditions were entirely oral, long before the relatively modern inventions of physical record keeping.” Wylan finished.
“Yes!” The boy exclaimed. “Yes- No- I mean-“
The girl Inej has her hand clamped over her mouth, and simply raises what she had been holding to Wylan’s view.
“I totally agree with you!” the boy continued, as Wylan’s gaze fell to what was clearly a paper copy of the book Fifty Shades Darker by E. L. James.
Wylan’s jaw dropped again.
“You- you probably are smarter than me- I mean, I actually dropped out of college-“ he pauses after a look from Inej, and finishes a bit more weakly, “-but I promise I wasn’t talking about audiobooks.”
Wylan stared between the book and the hot guy, and then went bright red.
“I- I’m so sorry, I-“
“No! No it’s- it’s fine-“
“I’ve just- heard so many people-“
“-I totally understand-”
“-but I really am sorry.” Wylan trailed off.
The boy, looking at him really earnestly, takes a breath and looks to the side and says, “Well…”
Wylan bites his lip.
“If you really want to apologise- not that you need to!” He adds quickly, and then his face falls into a slightly more expectant expression. “…Maybe you could take me out to coffee?”
It took Wylan a second to process, and then he suddenly said, “Yes!” and then, “Yeah! Yes.” And then hid his face to the side in embarassment.
When he looked back up, the guy had a magnetic smile on, and said, “Could I have your phone number?”
Wylan, mouth glued shut, nodded again, and turned to grab a pen from the pot on the counter, before taking the boy’s hand and, unbelievingly, writing his phone number on the smooth dark skin there.
“I’m Jesper, by the way.” He said.
“Wylan.” He replied.
Jesper gave him another slower, more deliberate smile and said, “It’s nice to meet you.”
Wylan nodded into his eyes, “Mhmm.”
They stood there for a second, until Inej said, “You know Jesper, you’re right, I think another mystery book is too predictable.” Jesper broke eye contact to look back at her.
“Uh.” He said.
Inej grinned. “So we should get going?”
“Right! Oh, okay. Yes. Uh, goodbye, Wylan.”
Wylan cleared his throat and gave a little wave. “Bye.”
They filed out of the shop, Jesper casting a lingering look back over his shoulder, and when Wylan was sure they were gone he slapped both hands over his face and turned away.
Oh my god. Talk about mortification. He slowly moved back behind the counter, sitting on the stool and staring at the wall. Maybe he could just hide in the back for the rest of the day.
Then his phone pinged with a message- from an unknown number. He swallowed, opened it, and his phone started reading it out.
You can tell me about your literary opinions anytime, gorgeous.
This is Jesper, by the way.
So how about that coffee?