#27.10.2022 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

captaincryolicious · 2 years

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Your bookstore crush

➳ Alhaitham x gn!reader

➳ Bulleted fic ; 4.4k

➳ Modern au, humor, pining ; No warnings

You wander into your favorite bookstore you thought had closed forever, but things take an unexpected turn from there. [27.10.2022]

Zep's Note ; If this doesn't flop I'm definitely writing a part two for this. [Edit: here is part two]

content under the cut | masterlist

Tuesday, 3.46pm

There was this old bookstore on the corner of a quiet street in town. You remember going there often, until it suddenly closed down many years ago. No one knew the reason why. You simply assumed that it went bankrupt, or maybe something had happened to the owner.

Whatever it was, it had been closed for years now, and most people had long forgotten about its existence. But not you, who had such fond memories of the little bookstore. You walked past it every day on your way home, always feeling a sense of longing when your gaze pulled towards the storefront.

Until that day where you saw lights behind the dusty windows.

Your curiosity was sparked, and you inched closer to the store. For all you knew, it had been abandoned for years. No one bothered to look after it once it closed its doors, and now there suddenly were signs of life?

With wide eyes, you looked at the little sign on the door that read open, and you started to wonder; were you dreaming? It had to be. You had given up all hope that your favorite bookstore would ever open again, so this had to be too good to be true, right?

Well, there was one way to find out.

Your hand found the doorknob and you pushed open the wooden door with the old little curtain that obscured the window.

The tiny bell above the doorbell chimed softly, informing whoever was present in the store of your arrival. You waited a moment, but you saw no one. Hesitantly, you closed the door behind you and stepped further inside.

It was an absolute mess inside the store. Nothing like you remembered it. The wooden shelves stood tall and empty, and all the books rested on the floor, either in huge piles or they lay scattered in messy heaps. There were stacks of papers and little trinkets that you supposed were for decoration. It was dusty, and you saw tiny particles flying around in the light that filtered through the dirty windows. Honestly, it looked like a very local hurricane passed through the store.

"Excuse me?" you called out, since no one seemed to respond to the little chime of the bell above the door.

You heard some rustling from the back of the store, and a moment later a tall young man stepped from behind one of the shelves. It was fair to say that you needed a moment to take in his appearance, for he really stood out with his handsome face, silver hair with some streaks of pale teal, and clear turquoise eyes that held a hint of surprise upon seeing you.

"We aren't open yet," the male told you.

"The sign on the door said you were," you reasoned, feeling a little ashamed under the guy's stoic expression.

"That's an error on my behalf, then. My bad."

You nodded, unsure of what to do next. Just walk away and leave the store? That would leave you dissatisfied, with a lot of questions on your mind.

"When are you opening officially?" you asked.

"In a week," the man replied. "But I have yet to clean up everything and I'm on my own."

"Do you need help?" you impulsively asked. A split second later, you felt like planting the palm of your hand against your embarrassed face. Why did you even suggest that?

The silver-haired male quirked a brow and you felt your cheeks flush red under his gaze.

"I mean, this used to be my favorite store and if I can do anything to help it open on time, I would love to," you quickly explained.

He seemed to think for a moment, and you swear it felt like his turquoise eyes could see straight into your soul. It made you a little awkward but you tried to keep your composure.

"I assume that means you know what this store used to look like in its glory days?" he asked after a short silence.

You nodded. "Pretty much."

"Fine," he briskly agreed. "I think I can use a hand. Just don't be a nuisance and don't get in the way."

A little offended, you folded your arms. Who did he think you were? Some kid who only stuck around to make a mess of things? He was lucky that he was so handsome.

The deal was sealed, and you got to work. It mostly consisted of sweeping the dust off of the books, stacking them neatly into the shelves sorted by genre and author. A lot of interesting books passed through your hands and you avidly made mental notes on which ones you were going to buy as soon as the store would officially open.

Occasionally, other customers would come in, until the silver-haired man finally had enough and changed the sign from open to closed. After that, it was just you and him and a shitton of books that had to be sorted.

For what feels like long hours, you tried your best to help organize the little corner shop. But it was just so much work that you could hardly see any progress, much to your dismay. The only proof of your labor were the shelves that were now stacked with books – though it was nothing compared to the number of shelves you had yet to fill. Yep, it was quite a tedious task but you carried on.

You barely spoke a word to the handsome man, who was working through a stack of papers on the other side of the store.

The atmosphere was a little weird, you couldn't quite put your finger on it. One of its components was a fair share of awkwardness from your side, that's for sure.

"I think we're done for the day," his deep voice concluded after a while, and you felt kinda grateful as you put down the books you held in your hands. As much as you loved books, having to deal with hundreds of them over the span of a few hours was a bit much and you were feeling tired.

"We did quite some work, huh?" you stated proudly, stepping back to admire the vast line-up of books you had put into place.

"We did," he agreed. "Thanks for your help…"

"Y/N," you told him with a smile. "I'm Y/N."

You bid him goodbye after that, but not without casually offering to help him out tomorrow as well. He wore that questioning look again as he accepted your offer, but you realized that it may be a little weird for a total stranger to help out so eagerly.

You were just a massive book enthusiast. And let's be fair, that guy was insanely handsome. But you'd go for the books, you told yourself.

As you walked home, you suddenly realized a small error you had made today. It wasn't that big of a deal, but you still felt a little sour.

You didn't get his name.

Wednesday, 4.07pm

You felt hesitant as you stood in front of the door to the bookstore the day after. Yesterday you acted in a burst of spontaneity – or impulsivity – but today you came prepared, which made you a little nervous.

This time you knew who and what you would find behind that door; the handsome guy whose face you couldn't read and some huge piles of books. Somehow, it was easier when you could still pretend that it was an opened bookstore, like you could yesterday.

And the sign on the door read closed, which wasn't exactly inviting. You knew it was only to keep out other customers, but it had you seriously questioning whether or not to push down that door handle and step inside.

But come on, yesterday you had basically invited yourself over for today and the male with silver hair seemed to accept the offer. You were fine, there was no reason to feel so aversive towards entering.

You made up your mind and stepped inside, the little bell above the door ringing excitedly.

This time you found the handsome man in the front of the store, unloading several more books from cardboard boxes that stood here and there on the floor. God, there were so many books. You wondered if it was even doable to successfully clear the deadline of a week. Tidying the entire store in the six days he had left? He was in for a monstrous task.

"Good afternoon, Y/N," he greeted you without so much as looking up. "I can't believe you're really that willing to help me out in this dusty bookstore."

In other words, he was a tiny bit surprised that you showed up again, and you silently tsk-ed. He obviously didn't know you at all, you weren't just going to bail on him after promising your aid.

Honestly, you were still trying to figure out yourself why you were helping out a complete stranger setting up a bookstore. You weren't ready to admit that part of the reason was the guy being absurdly handsome – and come on, who wouldn't be lowkey enchanted by the mysterious aura he had?

Okay, it was only because you wanted your favorite bookstore to reopen asap!! That made perfect sense right? Of course you'd want that.

"You better give me a discount when I come to buy books," you joked to get your mind off the endless discussion about your reasons for helping out here.

But the guy replied with an "of course, that's only fitting," which took you by surprise. He was pretty considerate as well, huh?

You got to work, starting where you left off yesterday. There were still tons of books on the floor, and they weren't going to put themselves into place. Many books passed through your hand, and sometimes you took little breaks to read the summaries on the back of the books. You occasionally caught the silver-haired male looking at you, and you would as if you weren't just checking out the books. But he didn't comment on it, until he did.

"Do you like reading?" he asked, suddenly behind you. "You seem interested in those books."

"Why would I help out in a bookstore if I didn't care about books?" you reasoned. It came out a little defensive, and you uttered out a quick apology.

"I see," came the reply. "I was just wondering…" but you never found out what he was wondering about, for he trailed off and shrugged curtly. You flashed him a questioning look, but he didn't start talking again. What on Earth was he wondering?

The subject wasn't brought up again, and you were left with an unsatiated curiosity.

You were dying to ask him but you bite your tongue. He seemed the type who strongly disliked people that kept prying.

Instead you worked silently, stacking books on the shelves. Now it was you who regularly stole glances at the handsome male who worked on the other side of the store, where he was sorting through a pile of non-fiction books. Even with a concentrated frown on his features, he still looked insanely good and you struggled to focus on your task at hand.

But you managed, getting quite far until he called your name, telling you that it was enough for today. You got up, using the palm of your hands to dust off your knees.

You got ready to leave, but you had one more thing to do before you left the store.

"You never told me your name," you casually pointed out, taking a nonchalant stance – as if you weren't dying to find out the name that belonged to that handsome face.

"My name is Alhaitham," he said, and his turquoise rested on you. "Will you be here tomorrow?"

You nodded. "I will."

With that, you left the store behind you, and the soft chime of the bell gave you a ringing goodbye. You pondered quietly as you walked home.

Althaitham, huh?

Thursday, 3.34pm

You hadn't exactly told Alhaitham you were coming to the store again, but you figured he would be pretty much used to it by now. So you didn't hesitate all that much when you pushed open the door and stepped inside.

"Hi, Alhaitham," you greeted, glancing around the bookstore.

The two of you had made so much progress. There were only a few books left that lay strewn across the floor, and the number of cardboard boxes with more books had shrunk significantly. It was crazy how far you had come in two days.

Well, you had no idea at what time the guy started, and through the day he did quite some work by himself, but you also did your fair contribution.

"Hello, Y/N," his voice drifted from the back of the store. "Give me a minute, I'm almost finished putting these history books away."

You leaned against the messy counter casually as you waited for the male to emerge and give you instructions for today. You watched how the tiny dust particles dance in the room idly, caught by the light that filtered through the closed blinds.

Until you heard the dry thuds of objects falling followed by a low, whispered curse you only barely heard. That didn't sound good. You pushed yourself away from the counter and rounded the wall of bookshelves to check what happened – even though it wasn't a hard guess.

You found Alhaitham crouched between a messy heap of history books that lay scattered on the hardwood floor after plummeting down from what you assumed were his hands. The man had a frown on his face as he rubbed his left foot.

"Are you okay?" you asked, closing in on him.

"I'm fine," he assured you, readying himself to gather the books around him. The frown left his face, evening out into his usual stoic expression. But you had seen the pained frown, and guessed he dropped a few of the heavy history books on his foot. Ouch.

"Let me help," you offered, crouching down next to him as you also began to gather the fallen books.

It went smoothly, until you both had your mind set on the same book – one that told about ancient Egyptian history – and reached out at exactly the same moment. His hand came against yours as they collided firmly and a bolt of electricity shot through your arm, sending a shiver down your spine.

Ever so rapidly, you retraced your arm, but the damage was already done. A blush crept up your cheeks, and suddenly the books on the floor were very interesting – you refused to look at the male next to you, who still had his hand on the Egyptian history book.

You were panicking.

Why were you panicking?

"I'll start putting away the sci-fi books over there," you excused yourself, getting up and flashing the male a hasty smile. "Don't drop more books on yourself. Books are hard."

"I noticed," Alhaitham said flatly, confused at your turn of behavior. But hear me out, this man might be a smartass know-it-all who has his nose in a book more often than not, but he wasn't dense. He caught on quickly, but his face remained unreadable, a true actor as he pretended not to notice the flustered state you were in.

"The science fiction books are in a white box near the counter," he instructed you, and he was secretly amused by the blush you tried to hide from him.

"Alright, thanks," you breathed out, relieved when you could make your escape.

You got to work, and fortunately the shelf for sci-fi books was on the other side of the store, which gave you the opportunity to calm down quickly. It wasn't a big deal, you told yourself, and at some point you truly believed it wasn't.

Nearly all the books stood where they belonged now, and the store's interior was coming along nicely. It really started to look like an actual bookstore!

The thought also kinda saddened you, though. It meant that your time helping out here was almost over. You were just getting used to it, and especially after what happened today you had started to realize that you might have developed a tiny little crush on the handsome guy. How could you not?

Your afternoon consisted of books and many stolen glances at Alhaitham – and he would be totally aware of it but you had no idea.

"Y/N," he said after a while, approaching you with a paper bag in his hands. "Do you maybe feel like taking a break? I brought something that could suffice as a snack."

"What is it?" you asked curiously. You could use a little break, for you felt the strain of moving around books for three days straight on your muscles.

"Dried Zaytun peaches," Alhaitham replied. "Simple, efficient, and still quite tasteful."

Oh, that was nice. You munched away on those quite often when you were at home with nothing to do, so it was safe to say that you liked them.

The guy offered you the bag and you took a small handful before you sat down onto one of the few boxes that were left. Alhaitham sat down on a cardboard box opposite of you, and you sat in silence for a while as you ate your slices of dried Zaytun peach.

It wasn't necessarily awkward. The silence matched the serenity you expected to find in an old-style bookstore, and you found yourself enjoying the moment of leisure.

But after a while, small conversations would arise, and of course they all revolved around books and reading. You also found out that Alhaitham is the son of the store's initial owner, and that his father took the job of reviving the little shop again. Alhaitham was going to work part-time next to his study at the local academy.

He also asked you questions, which you were more than happy to answer. Turned out he was interested in you as a person, that much was obvious from the questions he asked.

In the end, he learned more about you than you did about him, but that was okay. After all, the air of mystery suited him very well.

Maybe you'd learn about him some day.

Your break took much longer than it was supposed to be, and by the time you realized it was already pretty late so you decided to wrap up for the day.

With a feeling of satisfaction, you headed home. It felt as if the two of you were opening up to each other. You couldn't wait until tomorrow.

Friday, 4.33pm

There was a skip in your step as you crossed the road, heading towards the bookstore that became your favorite all over again. How could it not?

You ran a little late due to circumstances, but they didn't diminish your enthusiasm to help out again. You had gotten so far already, and you were likely close to finishing. You couldn't wait to see the store when it was done!

As you venture inside, you find Alhaitham stacking the last books onto the shelves and you quickly hurry over to help him.

"You're later than usual," he commented.

"I got held up," you explained. Did he mind?

He nodded, as if that simple statement was enough of an explanation for him. You knew it wasn't like him to pry at all. Or maybe he simply didn't care, but that didn't sound quite right.

"Do you mind helping me put these last books away?" he asked, gesturing towards a few piles of books at his feet. "As soon as we finish, all the books will be into place."

What an accomplishment. After days of doing nothing but stacking books, it was refreshing to have the finish line in sight.

You worked quietly, only the sound of cars driving by outside and the soft continuous thud of books colliding with the wooden shelves resonated through the small store.

It was peaceful.

Peaceful, until you had to put the books on the highest shelf – which was just out of reach for you. With a book in hand, you struggled to put it on the top shelf, standing on your tippy toes but it wasn't quite enough for you to actually reach it. You cussed in mild frustration, but then you froze.

The book was taken from your hands as it was neatly placed onto the top shelf, but what had you petrified was the solid chest pressed flush against your back as Alhaitham stood behind you.

Your eyes flew wide and your breath halted, and you nearly squealed in panic when he moved to take another book.

"Here, allow me," he said calmly.

Had you been able to see his face at that very moment, you would've seen the amused glint in his turquoise eyes. This guy knew very well what he was doing, acting to see if he could fluster you again – it was adorable to him, though his stoic demeanor would never give away such thoughts.

You were having serious trouble breathing, and he stepped back to release you. You were quick to move away after being trapped between the bookshelves and his chest for what felt like a hot minute and you had to fight the urge to fan your flustered face with your hand. Instead you straightened your composure.

"T-Thanks, that was a little too high for me."

You had to struggle so much to formulate those words. Alhaitham wondered if he had to stop teasing you or do it more often. Your reactions were cute and you would never suspect him of teasing you on purpose. No one would ever suspect such a thing of him, for he was only seen as serious and emotionless, aloof even.

He'd think about it.

But he was leaning towards yes, mostly because he felt his own heart flutter while teasing you just as much.

Meanwhile, you were trying your best to calm your frantic heart, staring ahead of you idly because much like yesterday, you refused to look at the male who flustered the heck out of you. God, you only came there to help out in peace, this was not what you signed up for.

"At this rate, we might open the store sooner than we initially planned," Alhaitham stated, glancing around the store seemingly unfazed.

All there was left to do was some cleaning, and you gladly took the distraction. You avoided him for what felt like hours, meticulously dusting off all the surfaces you could find, vacuuming the hardwood floor (twice) and making sure all the books stood perfectly straight.

Well, all the books you could reach by yourself. You were definitely not trying to reach the top shelf again because you weren't ready for today's situation to repeat itself.

With your frantic cleaning, you earned quite a few amused glances from the handsome male with silver hair, but you were making quick wits of the dirt and dust that littered the store. In the meantime, Alhaitham did his own part as well, cleaning with you and using the trinkets he had unboxed to decorate the store to his liking.

Before you knew it, the shop was as good as done. You dropped the cloth into the bucket with water and wiped your forehead with the back of your hand. You had cooled down a lot, props to the intensity you had cleaned with. Not a speck of grime had escaped your eye, and in the meantime you were somewhat ready to face Alhaitham again.

"Whew, I think we're done," you mused.

"I think so, too," the male agreed. "Now all there's left is some administrational work, but my father will take care of that."

Then his turquoise eyes found you.

"Thank you for your help, though. I could not have done it so quickly without you. I was even worried about reaching our deadline but you made it much easier."

"I'm glad I could help," you smiled, growing a little shy under his gaze. "It was fun to set up my favorite bookstore again."

"Can I ask you a question?" Alhaitham asked.

"Of course," you tilted your head curiously.

"I came to notice that I like having you around," he admitted bluntly, honest and direct as always. "It would be a shame to see you go."

"Hm?" you brought out, cheeks tinting.

"I'd have to ask my father…" he finally seemed to hesitate, his eyes flickering away momentarily. "...but do you want to work here as a part-timer? You'd make a good colleague."

Your brain paused for a moment, were you hearing that correctly? Handsome guy was asking you to become his co-worker? It was as if you were dreaming. You fought the urge to pinch yourself – that would make you look silly in front of him – and pondered his offer for a second. There were many pros to this; an income, working in your favorite bookstore, employer discount on your fave books, and getting to work together with the mysterious guy you developed a crush on.

It was a big win-win situation.

"I would love to," you reacted.

"Alright," Alhaitham said, satisfied. "Give me your phone, I'll add my number so I can keep you updated."

You retrieved your phone from your pocket, handing it to the male in front of you. His fingers danced over the rectangular screen as he typed in the digits, before he gave it back to you.

Your eyes widened when you saw the name he gave his contact slot.

Your bookstore crush.

I told you, Alhaitham wasn't oblivious.

Though he felt a little nervous with this bold move, the way you looked at him told him that he didn't mess up.

Where your face was a blushing mess, his face remained aloof, unmoving as always. You had to get out of there. Oh God, how were you supposed to face your possible new co-worker the next time you saw him?

"I, uh, I'll text you soon so you have my number as well," you promised him, taking a few steps back to make your escape through the door. "B-Bye!"

And with that, you took your leave, leaving an amused Alhaitham behind. Your heart was doing somersaults in your chest.

Helping out in the forgotten bookstore really took an unexpected turn.

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