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small_giftsTitle: Book Shopping for Beginners
Author/Artist:
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kyasuriinWritten for:
remecielRating: PG
Summary and/or Prompt: "I didn't notice you here, so near " - Hyde, I can Feel (based loosely)
Any other random notes, warnings, etc.: many thanks to
kellygreen for the beta :)The bookshop was overcrowded with muggles of all shapes and sizes, all trying to find the perfect gift for that special someone. Sirius waited outside for a moment, looking in through the frosted glance and trying to judge whether it was worth it to go inside. Most of the patrons looked as used as the books, with just as much character. Crooked hats, patched-up coats, mittens trailing after them on strings… Sirius suddenly felt self-conscious in his new black leather jacket.
Telling himself it was silly to be afraid of a muggle used bookstore, he took a breath and opened the door. The people inside crowded far too close for Sirius’ liking and he found himself going down an aisle simply to get away from all of them. While he stopped to catch his breath, he took a look around. Books were in shelves from floor to ceiling and some were even sitting on the floor in small piles, which Sirius nearly tripped over. He glanced at the nearest titles, and not recognizing any of them moved to the next aisle. These books were all about wizards and dragons and things and Sirius chuckled to himself as he picked up the nearest one and read the back cover. He didn’t know where this “Earthsea” place was but it wasn’t anywhere he had ever been. He set it back, reminding himself that he was shopping for Remus.
Remus was impossible to buy for because he never actually told anyone what he wanted. It was always, ‘oh I don’t need anything,’ or, ‘I could use a quill, I suppose,’ which Sirius had no intention of buying him for Christmas. The past few years he had bought things he knew Remus liked, such as his favourite chocolate or a poster of his favourite Quidditch team, but this year was going to be different. This year Remus meant something different to him, something more than any old box of chocolate, and he wanted to make sure Remus knew that. Still, it was rather scary dodging dodgy characters in the bookstore and if he didn’t like (okay, maybe love) Remus so much he would have been out of there in a flash.
He pulled out a piece of parchment from his jacket. He had taken an inventory of all of Remus’ books and there was a lot of this Hemingway chap. He had decided he would see if there were more books by him, and then maybe he could get Remus one of those. The problem was he had no idea where to start. He noticed a girl about his age crouching a couple shelves over putting books on the shelf. Deciding she might work there, or at the very least know who this Hemingway person was, he made his way over to her, nearly tripping over two children in the process.
“Hi there,” he said, and waited until she looked up.
“Can I help you?”
“I’m looking for Hemingway,” Sirius said, hoping that he was pronouncing that correctly.
“Oh, that’s over in fiction, under ‘H’.” She pointed across the store before turning back to the books in front of her and Sirius took that as his clue to leave. He meandered through the shelving until he noticed a hanging sign indicating he was in the fiction section.
“Oh, the things I do for you,” he muttered as he bent down and tried to figure out how these books were sorted. It had only been in the last couple of months that he and Remus had become decidedly more than friends. They didn’t talk about it too much; actually, they hadn’t directly talked about it at all and so Sirius wasn’t sure if they were dating or merely experimenting or something in between. It was odd, the thought of asking Remus to go steady, because that really was, when you got down to it, what he was about to do. He hoped this Hemingway person was Remus’ favourite. He hoped he could find a book Remus didn’t already have. He hoped (though not very often because it made his stomach turn over) that Remus said yes. He hoped, he hoped, he hoped…
He found Hemingway, E. in between Hemington, E. and Herring, Y. He checked over his list to make sure he had the right author and he did. A farewell to arms sat on the shelf here just as it did at Remus’ place. There were anthologies and books of poetry but Sirius wanted a novel. He wanted Remus to look wistfully at his bookshelf every time he thought of that book and think, ‘Sirius bought me that because he cares’. After cross-checking against the parchment several times, he finally found something Remus didn’t have. The sun also rises seemed like an okay book, Sirius thought. It had Spain, which was something. Remus was always talking about how he’d like to go to Spain. Decided, Sirius picked up the book and started to make his way to the counter to pay when he bumped into someone.
“I’m sorry –“ he started to apologize when he looked up and froze.
“Hi Sirius,” Remus said, a look of obvious confusion on his face. “What are you doing here?”
Sirius discretely hid the book behind his back. “I, uh, thought it looked interesting.”
“Are you getting something?” Remus asked, nodding to the arm holding the book behind Sirius’ back.
“Yeah, for uh, Lily. I’d show you but I want it to be a surprise,” Sirius lied.
“Oh, okay,” Remus said and Sirius could tell he was a bit disappointed to not be included in book shopping, which was one of Remus’ favourite pastimes.
“Let me just pay for this, then maybe I could help you shop. For books,” Sirius said clumsily.
Remus brightened considerably and nodded. “Sure. See you in a bit, then.”
Sirius nodded and waited until Remus was out of sight before taking the book to the counter. That was close. He waited in line behind an elderly couple holding hands through their mittens. He hated that his mind went right to Moony. He hasn’t even said he’ll have you yet, he reminded himself. Growing old together was a few steps away. Nevertheless, he found a small smile creeping onto his face as Christmas music was projected throughout the store. He had a good feeling about this Christmas, yes he did.
He paid, after rummaging around for that muggle note he knew he put in his jacket pocket (but which was actually in the pocket of his jeans), and took his little brown paper bag holding the book for Moony. He found Remus easily enough in the fiction section. He was crouched, his long coat in a puddle of fabric around him. He ran his fingers over the titles, tilting his head slightly to read them and every once in a while a smile would flit over his features as if he was remembering his favourite parts of every book.
Sirius crouched beside him and put a hand on Remus’ leg to steady himself. Remus smiled at him, which only made his legs feel like jelly all over again.
“I won’t be too long,” Remus told him, “and then maybe we can grab coffee.”
“Take your time,” Sirius said softly, and he found he meant it. Hanging out with Remus in a book shop wasn’t the torture he would have imagined it to be a year ago, especially when Remus smiled at him and placed his hand on top of Sirius’.
“Okay,” Remus said with a satisfied sigh as he placed the books in his arms on top of the counter. “I think I’m set.”
“I’d say so,” Sirius teased as he watched Remus pay the girl behind the counter.
“There’s a café, just around the corner,” Remus said as they left the store, the door jingling behind them.
“Sounds good,” Sirius agreed before taking the books out of Remus’ arms. Remus raised an eyebrow.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were trying to get sweet on me.”
“And what if I was?” Sirius teased back.
Remus just smiled and opened the door for Sirius at the café. They found a booth near the back under a large tiffany-style light and slid in simultaneously.
“I actually wanted to talk to you,” Remus said once the waitress had taken their order (one coffee, black and an earl gray tea).
“Oh?” Sirius said. He played with the salt and pepper shaker without looking at Remus. “About what?”
“Um, us, actually,” Remus said quietly and Sirius looked up sharply.
“I know we, uh, don’t really talk about it...” Remus was twisting and tearing little bits of napkin onto the table as he spoke, his gaze lowered.
“Yeah?” Sirius said, his gut twisting as he tried to imagine what Remus might be trying to say.
Remus looked up then and Sirius couldn’t breathe for a moment as the thought of losing Remus overwhelmed him.
“I like what we do. A lot,” Remus started and Sirius nodded earnestly. “But I suppose I was wondering what you thought about maybe, uh, fuck, I don’t even know how to say this.”
“Stopping?” Sirius supplied, a tremor in his voice.
“No!” Remus said immediately. “No. Why, did you want to stop? Because I meant the other direction. I thought we might try… more.”
“Going steady like?” Sirius offered, a smile coming to his face as he remembered his earlier thoughts.
Remus blushed a lovely shade of red at that, which only made Sirius smile more. “Yeah, like going steady,” he mumbled. “But without the rings and stuff.”
“Definitely,” Sirius agreed and his heart felt like it might burst because Remus had said yes. “I got you a book,” he blurted out.
“What?”
“A book, at the book store place. Instead of a ring, I mean.”
“Oh,” Remus said, realisation dawning on him. “Really?”
Sirius nodded and pulled the paperback out of the paper bag. “I know you like him and this one wasn’t on your shelf and you like Spain and this takes place in Spain and so I thought – ” His babbling was silenced by Remus’ hand on his knee.
“It’s perfect.”
“Really?”
“Really,” Remus said, and Sirius got the feeling he wasn’t speaking entirely about Ernest and his rising suns, but rather something far less tangible; something that was forming between them.
“Really,” Sirius repeated.
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no subject
Date: 2007-01-01 04:15 pm (UTC)I especially like the end and the way the dialogue is written. I could have pictured perfectly the whole scene.
He was crouched, his long coat in a puddle of fabric around him.
I don't know why, but this is definitely my favourite sentence. Thank you so much again. *hugs tightly*
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Date: 2007-01-01 05:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-01 06:18 pm (UTC)But you wrote it wonderfully. I was like "awwwww" all the time whiel reading it. :)
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Date: 2007-01-01 09:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-02 07:26 am (UTC)aww, thanks :) so glad you liked!
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Date: 2007-01-01 10:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-01 11:13 pm (UTC)“A book, at the book store place. Instead of a ring, I mean.” So cute, and so like Sirius. His anxieties about he and Remus are so cute, and you're right, you can't go wrong with a bit of fluff!
no subject
Date: 2007-01-02 07:27 am (UTC)thanks :D And you can go wrong with fluff (the 'ooh Remi! ooh Siri!' sort), but I'm glad I didn't *grin*
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Date: 2007-01-02 12:09 am (UTC)I liked how Sirius accidently met up with Remus in the bookstore. I wasn't expecting it at all, and it worked well.
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Date: 2007-01-02 07:30 am (UTC)that's spooky! I wasn't actually able to grab a copy of the song but I did read the lyrics, heh. But yeah.. craziness!
Thanks for commenting, I'm glad you liked the fic :) (& your icon is lovely)
no subject
Date: 2007-01-03 06:09 am (UTC)Ooh. Would you like to hear the song? There isn't a music video for it, but I tried YouTube anyway, and found it on a fan-made video for some video game that I've never heard of. ^_^'
http://youtube.com/watch?v=C52yBJfwq2M (the song starts at 15 seconds in.)
Ah, you like my icon? ^_^ Thanks! I couldn't resist making an icon when I found out that my favorite Korean group dressed up as Gryffindors for one of their performances. XD
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Date: 2007-01-14 06:12 pm (UTC)oooh thanks for the video! Sorry I didn't get around to watching it until now! I actually really like the song, heh. thanks!
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Date: 2007-01-02 07:07 am (UTC)Lucky Sirius. *grins*
Lovely fic. *hugs it*
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Date: 2007-01-02 07:32 am (UTC)I wish I had a Remus to bookshop for *wistful sigh* alas. Lucky Sirius indeed.
Thanks so much for commenting, always lovely to read good things :)
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Date: 2007-01-03 12:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-14 06:06 pm (UTC)ahhh, I adore used bookshops :) If I wasn't becoming a librarian, i would definitely go into used bookshops :) Thanks for reading, I'm so glad you liked!
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Date: 2007-01-03 12:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-14 06:03 pm (UTC)aww, thanks! And it's lovely that you noticed details :)
Fic: Book Shopping for Beginners
Date: 2007-03-07 12:22 pm (UTC)Yay.
Lovely story.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-24 06:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-31 07:38 pm (UTC)oh thank you for saying so - that's so great to hear