{come and find me}

“Relax, kid,” she started. “In the past 24 hours, I’ve seen a drastic change in you and it’s surprising, but refreshing.” A warm smile had spread across her face. “You’re the happiest I’ve seen you in months, Billy. And it all started with that blonde,” she observed. “You really don’t have to tell me. I’m just happy to see you happy.”

Billy froze when he saw how serious Dwynwen was. He wasn’t really sure how to handle the situation. On one hand, his boss was a really sweet woman who never did anything to make Billy feel like less of a person. On the other, any blondes he decided to talk to were really none of her business. He also had only been talking to Teddy for barely a day - that was hardly anything.

After the morning staff meeting, Dwynwen asked Billy to stay behind to chat for a moment. 

“So, Billy. Who was the blonde you were chatting up yesterday?” Dwynwen asked. In truth, she didn’t care. She was honestly being nosey. Whether Billy told her or not really didn’t matter, but she had noticed a drastic change in him the past 24 hours and wanted to know what brought it about.

Billy had been curious why his manager had asked him to stay behind after the morning staff meeting. Had he locked his keys inside the register again? He couldn’t remember.

“Well clearly it’s because you have this delicious calendar full of pictures of classic Italian treats, my dear friend. It reminded me of my rage towards modern day culture that believe sex is everything… I mean hello! Lasagna is right here.”

“... Okay, I’ll give you that much,” Billy sighed. He really did not get paid enough for this. “I suppose that opens up an important conversation about society, but if you’re going to start dirty-talking the lasagna calendar, I might have to ask you to leave.”

Teddy felt his eyes widen a little as the other boy stood up rather quickly, making his way in front of the desk he had been sitting behind. Perhaps he took this opportunity to… maybe.. dunno check him out? The boy was a little bit shorter than him, and that sort of made him grin, probably noticeably. His whole life up until this point had been a blur, but what he did know for sure was up until just recently he had been afraid of being out. A few days ago he had just said he’s gay to someone in his class, someone he barely knew, and while that must have been weird for the other person, it felt nice to him. With all of that being said, the one thing he was completely unsure about was having a boyfriend, he had never had a girlfriend for that matter. But seeing the bo– Billy standing there, he discovered he quite liked the idea of his boyfriend being shorter than him, he could lift him up and carry him, and be all cutesy. 

He followed Billy right over to the display, his eyes glancing over the different titles, it was a lot to take him. His attention turned back to Billy as he held up a book and started describing it to him. “Well I don’t know much about magic, but I think I could be the pretty blonde sidekick.” He joked, letting out a soft chuckle, as he reached up to rub at the back of his neck. “I um… I’ll sign it out. Since you recommend it.” He said, getting that same shy smile on his face as he reached out to take the book from Billy.

If Billy noticed Teddy’s eyes on him, he pretended not to notice. You know, in the same way that he pretended not to notice that Teddy was still taller than he was even when Billy stood up. Or the way that he pretended not to notice how broad his shoulders were, or how his hair bounced a little bit as they walked, or how sweet he smelled. What could he say - Teddy was definitely his type. 

“Leave the magic to me then, sidekick,” Billy laughed confidently. “You just worry about not getting murdered by any monsters.”

His heart lit up when Teddy shyly accepted the book and offered to check it out. The boy in front of him was so cute and seemed so gentle and Billy just wanted to scoop him up and shower him with affection. But that was a little unprofessional, and Billy also didn’t have much upper body strength, so that would have to wait. (Teddy certainly looked like he could pick Billy up with ease, though, he noted.) Billy clapped his hands together in excitement and said, “Awesome! I’ll ring you out, then!”

He spun on his heels with a slight dramatic flair and made a point of leading the way with a spring in his step. Under the guise of being a responsible employee kindly showing a customer the way to check-out, Billy did his best to give Teddy something to check out. He normally wasn’t this confident, but he really felt like he and Teddy were hitting it off - he wasn’t about to let that pass him by. 

At the register Billy took the book back, rang up the order, waived the rental fee, and printed Teddy’s receipt in record timing. He picked up a pen next to the register and circled the survey link at the bottom of the receipt for Teddy, and then he got an idea. He glanced from the blonde boy back down to the receipt and scrawled down his phone number as neatly as he could. His heart hammering in his chest, he handed Teddy the receipt on top of the book, hoping that the ten digit sequence on the bottom of the receipt was obvious enough. “You are all set, sir!” Billy said in his best customer service voice, unable to stop the goofy, excited smile on his face. “Let me know what you think, I’m dying to know already.”

contact name: teddy📚🔥  -> teddybear 🐻💖👅💦🏆

contact photo:

contact name:  kate 👽🥞🐶👑🖕 

contact photo:

“I mean… okay yeah sex is cool and all, but have you even had lasagna? That shit is the greatest thing this world has ever given to me. Think about it, you gotta get into the mood for sex, but lasagna is good any time and all times of the day.”

“... Is there a reason you’re telling me this? In the middle of a bookstore? In the calendar aisle?”

 we are the kids - walk the moon

grudges - paramore

waves - magic man

 rose-colored boy - paramore

finding you - kesha 

18 - one direction

Teddy perked up a little as the other mentioned a quiz he was taking, a grin tugging on his lips as he let out a soft chuckle. “Sounds like quite the quiz. I feel like I always try to get certain results on those things, but it never quite works out for me. And then when I don’t try, I end up getting results I want. It all seems kinda twisted.” He hummed, tilting his head to the side as he thought about it for a few moments. “Hey, there’s nothing wrong with Kate Winslet, she’s stunning. I don’t know who they included on the quiz, but I think I’d hope for someone like Freddie Prinze Jr. I’ve always been more into the dark hair and stuff…” He said, his cheeks heating up in a blush, as he looked down at his shoes shyly. 

After a moment, he reached up to take the ID back, sliding it into his wallet. “Sweet. Thanks so much.” He said, and turned slightly, as if to leave, when he heard the boy speak again. He really should get home, he had a bunch of  homework to do, and he really should stop putting it off, but he really didn’t want to leave right now. A cute boy was talking to him, and he wanted to keep that going for as long as he could. “Oh. Um… yeah. Sure yeah. I’d love to see them.”

Billy had to stop himself from doing a backflip off his seat. (He didn’t really know how to do one anyway, but still.) He had been disappointed for a second when Teddy had called Kate Winslet ‘stunning’ and he had been ready to make up an excuse to run away to the stockroom and hide. But when Billy heard ‘Freddie Prinze Jr.’ as Teddy’s example, his heart leapt into his throat. Straight boys don’t remember Freddie Prinze Jr., let alone know that he’s not a natural blonde. He could feel a blush rising up on his own cheeks to match Teddy’s.

He all but leapt to his feet, locking the register screen and rounding the corner of the desk. Billy kept his chin up and his shoulders square as he stood in front of the other boy, gesturing with his arm to the rest of the store. “Right this way!” he beamed, leading him to the book display with the month’s top sellers. “I’m Billy, by the way,” he said, sticking his hands in his pockets as they crossed the store. 

At the stand in question, Billy grinned and picked up a copy of one of the books closest to him, The Name of the Wind. “Do you like magic?” he asked, turning the book over in his hands. “This one is really good! It’s got all the usual fantasy novel requirements - misfit orphan with magical powers, a pretty blonde sidekick, monsters, murder - all that fun stuff!”

Teddy felt his heart skip a beat as the other asked for his name. Cool it Altman, clearly its to look up the return, not cause he is flirting or anything. “It’s um… Teddy.” He said quietly, fumbling to pull his wallet out. “I have some ID here. Might make it a little easier for you.” He said as he pulled it out, sliding it across the counter towards the other. This was going wonderfully, he totally wasn’t making a fool of himself in front of this guy. God. Being gay was so hard sometimes, boys are just too good looking. “Sorry to interrupt you.” He said after a few moments of awkward silence. “You looked busy and I feel kinda bad… I was just trying to bring this in today or else I have to pay those fees, and like no one likes those fees. But I totally get why you have them!! I’m not saying you shouldn’t or anything!!! You’re totally allowed to!!” He rambled on, chuckling nervously as his cheeks heated up into a blush.

Oh, he’s so cute, Billy thought to himself as the blonde - Teddy - talked more. Amused, he took his ID and studied it for a little longer than he actually needed to, making a mental note to look up a Teddy Altman on instagram later. While Teddy rambled, Billy’s smile softly turned more sincere as went through the motions of returning book rentals. He waved a dismissive hand when he apologized and shrugged, “Puh-lease, the only thing you’re interrupting is my boredom and a quiz that tells me which 90s heartthrob I belong with. I’m carefully curating my answers to try and get Leo DiCaprio, but with my luck I’ll probably get Kate Winslet.” 

Billy scooted the books across the counter to put away later and slid Teddy’s ID back over to him. “Easy-peasy and no late fees! Anything else I can help you with today, Teddy?” he asked, secretly hoping he’d say yes. The rest of the shop was basically dead, and Billy wouldn’t mind spending a few more minutes with Teddy. After all, he had to find out if he was more into Kates or Leos. “Y’know, we just updated our ‘chill summer reads’ recommendations, I can show you where they are, if you want!” he offered, biting back a joke about the alternative ‘hot summer reads.’

Teddy was fed up with this whole studying thing, he had done as much as he could and in all honesty he just kind of gave up. He decided to skateboard over to the book store, to return some books he had taken out, not wanting to pay those annoying overdue fines. Once inside the store, he pulled the books out of his backpack, walking up to the counter. “Hi, I’d like uh return these books.” He said with a soft smile, his eyes shifting up to look at the boy across the counter from him. He had been to this store a lot, and he had never seen this guy before, he must be new, and Teddy was having a hard time not staring at him.

@wiccanthekid​

Billy was allowed to do other work when he was on the register, as long as it was important. So, he had his laptop open to a half-written essay for his astronomy class, his notebook opened to the latest lecture, and his phone open on the latest obviously-clickbait-but-you’re-gonna-click-it-anyway buzzfeed quiz. Just as he was trying to decide if his friends would describe him as more of a tiramisu or a scone, someone interrupted his line of concentration. Annoyed, he put on his best passive aggressive customer service smile before turning his phone over on the counter and looking up, expecting to see a confused child or a crotchety old person, the only patrons who ever talked to him at this hour. Instead, he met eyes with the cutest boy he had seen this week south of Broadway. 

“You got a name?” Billy asked a little too quickly. (Real smooth, Kaplan.) “For the return, I mean. Gotta check for late fees and all that.”