#themus

Point was! Remus always enjoyed his weekly trips to Logan’s bookstore, loved stepping into the shop and lose himself into the words dancing under his eyes. Today, however, he was even more excited than usual, because the new book from his favorite horror had finally come out and Logan had called him just a few hours before to confirm they’d received the books to sell.

So yeah, Remus had been vibrating in excitement the entire morning, drawing a fond smile out of his boyfriend as Thomas pointedly moved the coffee pot as far away from him as he could.

And now there he was, pushing the door open as he skipped inside the bookstore with the biggest grin on his face. Logan smiled back at him from the counter, checking out one of the clients as his brother approached.

“So? Where is it??” Remus asked, leaning forward over the counter and wiggling his mustache.

“Why, salutations to you as well, Remus,” Logan answered, rolling his eyes in fond exasperation as he gently pushed his brother back towards the other side of the counter, “I am well, thank you for asking.”

“Come ooooon! You know I hate small talk, and you’re keeping me from my one true love, some good horror shit!”

“Someone should inform Thomas of that, then,” Logan shot back, an amused smirk tugging at his lips as he gestured towards the inside of the bookstore. “Your book is in the ‘new releases’ section’, just behind that shelf. You can’t miss it, I assure you.”

Remus let out an excited squeal, shooting a quick thank you to his brother before rushing towards the indicated area. And sure enough, there it was, in all of its glory -cover as black as Thomas’ coffee in the mornings, with small, almost invisible green details around the title and the ominous figure decorating it.

Oh, Remus was already in love.

Without missing a beat, Remus bolted forward, grabbing one of the volumes displayed. He stared at it for a few moments, admiring the way the green details shone under the artificial light of the shop, before turning the book around to read the synopsis. And oh, did he like what he was reading -this book was prefacing itself to be a goodie, and Remus simply could not wait to get home and get started on his reading.

Excited as he was, however, he had failed to notice the woman staring disdainfully at him from the other side of the aisle, holding a child close to herself as she glared daggers at the grinning man. Once it was clear Remus wasn’t going to notice her glare though, she decided to switch to more… noisy ways of making her opinion known.

“I will never understand how people enjoy that kind of crap,” she commented rather loudly, her words easily reaching Remus’ ears. Confused, the man looked up, finally noticing the lady staring at him.

“It’s gross and messed up,” she kept talking, not even hiding the way she was directing her comments to the book Remus was holding so dearly.

The boy at her side tugged at his mom’s pants, looking up at her with wide eyes. “Why, mom? That cover is so pretty, it shines green!”

The woman -Karen, Remus mentally decided to call her as he held the book close to his chest- scowled, holding the kid just a little bit tighter.

“Because those books are written by deranged people, and only someone just as deranged could ever enjoy them.”

Remus couldn’t quite hide his wince at those words, holding the book in his hands just a little bit tighter. Usually, those kinds of comments didn’t bother him much, but he’d been so excited about the new release that hearing someone bash it to the ground like that felt pretty much like someone stomping repeatedly on his heart before throwing it at his face.

Thankfully, it seemed like he at least wouldn’t have to deal with that woman much more.

“If that really is your opinion, then I am afraid I’ll have to ask you to leave the store and never come back,” came Logan’s cool voice from behind them, making everyone turn around to look at him.

“Excuse me?!” the woman exclaimed, looking downright scandalized.

“What, are you going to kick me out only because I’m not afraid to say the truth? I want to talk to your manager right now!”

Logan simply arched an eyebrow, looking absolutely unfazed. “I am the manager and the owner of this establishment, Karen, so I am afraid you’re out of luck here.”

“It’s Jennifer, young man, and I don’t appreciate the tone you’re using right now! If this is how you treat your consumers, then I promise you I’ll never come back here again!”

“Jennifer, Karen, same thing,” Logan shot back, “and thank the stars for that, I wouldn’t want the likes of you in my store anyway. Now, please leave the premises immediately before I decide to escort you out myself.”

And off Karen went, huffing the whole way as her son did his best to follow along. Logan let out a sigh, immediately turning around to focus on his brother.

“Hey, you okay?” he asked, tone strangely soft as he laid a hand on his shoulder. Remus took in a shuddering breath, managing to give Logan a small smile.

“Yeah, don’t worry about it,” he answered, choosing to ignore the sudden churning of his stomach and the heavy weight he could feel pressing on his chest.

“I will always worry about you, you moron,” Logan said. “You should go home, I think being with Thomas would be very beneficial for your mood. We’re still on for that dinner tomorrow, yes? I believe Roman is bringing over that Janus boy he’s been seeing, so you can bring your boyfriend too, if you so wish.”

“We’ll be there, you whale penis,” Remus confirmed, his smile turning a little more genuine. “And what about you, bringing anyone to the dinner? Maybe a certain emo cutie from Pat’s bakery?”

The younger did not miss the way Logan’s cheeks had immediately turned a shade darker at his words, nor the way he was not pointedly avoiding his gaze.

“I believe that is none of your concern, Remus,” Logan said, coughing into his elbow to clear his throat. “Now go to your boyfriend, and bring that book with you.”

“I still need to pay you, Specs,” Remus pointed out.

“You can pay me whenever,” Logan waved him off, adjusting his glasses up his nose. “It’s not like we don’t see each other on a regular basis.”

“Alright, alright,” Remus conceded a small laugh escaping his lips. “You made your point, I’m going. Thank you, Lo.”

Logan smiled at his brother, patting him on the shoulder. “Of course, Remus, anytime.”

+++

When Remus had skipped his way out of the front door that afternoon, Thomas had been very much aware he might as well not see his boyfriend again before dinner -knowing Remus, he’d let himself linger in the bookstore even longer, but Logan was very precise when it came to closing hours and was very much not above dragging his brother out of the store against his will.

The dude may be scrawny as heck, but after dealing with the twins’ bullshit his whole life he was far too used to these kinds of things.

Point was, Thomas had decided to use the afternoon to his advantage and clean up the flat a little, from sweeping the floor to cleaning the dishes and throwing out the trash. He’d felt strangely productive, so he’d decided to make the most of it.

He had just settled himself on the couch with a good cup of tea and a book when he heard the front door open again, his eyes moving automatically to the clock hanging from the wall of the living room.

Huh, it was still relatively early. Thomas frowned, listening as Remus shrugged off his coat and kicked off his shoes -had something happened back at the bookstore?

All it took was for Thomas to see Remus’ expression when he finally entered the room and yup, something was definitely wrong there.

“Hey,” he said, his voice soft as he stood to greet his boyfriend with a hug. “You okay, big guy?”

“I am now,” Remus answered, sagging completely into Thomas’ embrace and nuzzling his face into the crook of his neck.

Thomas simply hummed, letting himself enjoy the contact for a few seconds before guiding them both back to the couch. Carefully, they sat down, never quite breaking out of the hug as Remus ended up sprawled on top of his boyfriend.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Thomas asked, raising a hand to gently card his fingers through Remus’ hair.

Remus’ answered with a sigh, basically melting as his boyfriend gently scratched at his scalp -he reminded Thomas of a cat. A feral, chaotic cat who also happened to be cuddly as heck.

“Just the classic Karen bitch talking shit about books that don’t conform to her idea of proper,” Remus finally grumbled, not even bothering to raise his head out of where it was pressed into Thomas’ neck.

“Ah,” Thomas said, visibly wincing -he knew exactly what type of person Remus was talking about, and he also knew just how nasty their comments could be. “I’m sorry you had to deal with that, Rem. It sucks.”

“Tell me about it,” Remus chuckled, humming as Thomas left a kiss on the side of his head. “I got my book though, so I’m counting that as a win. Also, Logan invited both of us to dinner tonight, so there’s that.”

“Good to know,” Thomas chuckled, mulling something in his head for a few seconds before speaking again. “Would you read that book to me? Like, out loud?”

Remus stilled, pushing back a little to look at Thomas with a confused frown. “It’s a horror novel.”

“Yeah, I’m aware of that,” Thomas nodded, an amused smile dancing on his lips.

“You hate horror, it makes you anxious,” Remus pressed on.

Thomas hummed, worrying his bottom lip between his teeth.

“That’s true, yeah,” he finally conceded, “but it’s a book, so it probably won’t be as bad as a horror movie or show. And besides, you’ve been really excited about this, and I want to share some of that excitement with you.”

Remus looked down at him for a few seconds, looking almost surprised, before a small, soft smile tugged at his lips.

“You’re a sap,” he chuckled, leaning down to steal a kiss, “but you’re my sap, so I’m not complaining. Promise you’ll tell me the moment you feel uncomfortable with the story?”

Thomas nodded, pushing his head up a little to steal another kiss. “I will, I swear.”

It still took them a while to get to the book, spending quite a few minutes exchanging small kisses and a few ushed laughs. At some point though, Remus did reach for the tome he had left lying on the coffee table, settling himself comfortably onto Thomas’ chest as he opened it to the first page.

“There was something utterly terrifying about ghost towns.”