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The weather has been surprisingly perfect. Not too warm from the lingering days of summer and not yet too cool from the impending crisp autumn breeze that's sure to arrive and stick around any day now. Harry has been taking full advantage of it, soaking up every drop of sunshine he can get. He loves sitting on one of the benches outside his apartment building, letting the sun kiss his face while he reads a book, his cat, Evie exploring as much as the range of her leash will give her, and yes you can walk a cat just like you'd walk a dog. Harry has to fight the urge to scoff every time someone looks at him like he'd ripped a five hundred page book right down the middle with his bare hands when he mentions his and Evie's walks.
Today, though, Harry has chosen to forgo the beautiful sunshine to try to make some progress on the state of his apartment.
He's started doing some fall cleaning because he didn't have the time when everyone else was elbows deep into spring cleaning. He'd only just started his new position at the university library last January as the new head librarian and was putting a lot of his time and energy into work and trying to gather his footing. With a semester now under his belt, he feels ready to start getting things done.
After three years of living in the same apartment, he's managed to gather a lot of clutter, as one does when they continuously accumulate new things but never throw anything away. Harry's got two garbage bags full of clothes he plans to donate. His closet alone had taken him nearly a day. But now, Harry was staring at the real disaster: his bookshelves.
One entire wall in Harry's living room is nothing but bookshelves. Floor to ceiling, dark walnut colored bookshelves that are so overfilled, Harry started piling books in stacks in front of the rows of books already there, cramming more in any possible free space he can find. He is drowning in books, and despite the joy in his heart of being surrounded by as many of them as possible, he's ran out of room to get any new books. Book lover problems are hitting Harry hard and he sighs as he places his hands on his hips while staring at the shelves, not feeling inclined to part with any of his beloved books, but not having a choice.
Evie meows, rubbing her black and white spotted body against his calf before shoving herself between his legs to stand and contemplate his woes with him. Her face tilts upward, big, green eyes nearly glowing as she stares at him and meows again.
"I don't need your judgment. I know its a problem. Can't you see I'm working on it?" The cat stares at him, a slight tilt to her head. "I'm trying to figure out where to start. Seriously, Evie, the best way to do that, is to see the whole picture." Obviously, Evie ignores him, but continues rubbing herself against his shins.
"Fine, fine, fine! I'm going, see?" He makes his way towards his shelves, forcing his hands to pluck books that he doesn't see himself reading again, or ones that the thought of getting rid of doesn't make him want to light himself on fire.
Twenty minutes later, he has an impressive stack he feels good about passing along. A grand total of six books. Harry moves to one of his classics shelf and the first book that catches his eye is his well loved, penguin classics edition of Pride & Prejudice. This cover was never his favorite, and he owns a stunning navy and gold leather-bound copy as well as a floral vintage edition he found at a thrift store. Did he really need three copies?
No, but he did need two copies, and he is not getting rid of the ones with pretty covers, shallow as it may be. He grabs the penguin classics edition, briefly thumbing through the pages, flashing glimpses of highlighting, underlined text and his own words jotted in the margins. Maybe someone else will love it as much as he did. He carefully adds it to his stack. Seven books. That's enough damage for today. Grabbing his navy and pink Celestial Natural Foods tote bag, he shoves the books carefully inside and slips his sunglasses on, drifting out the door and locking it behind him.
*****
One of Louis' favorite things about Oak Acres Apartments is the entry way. When he'd first toured the gated apartment complex, it's what immediately drew him in. The path leading up to the buildings is lined with a flowerbed on each side, along with white iron benches on both sides of the path. Even more intriguing are the two red, wooden boxes sitting on posts beside each of the benches. The boxes resemble oversized birdhouses, with doors on the front and glass windows. He peeked through the glass the day he moved in seeing both boxes filled with books, but didn't have much time to look around. Niall only had a couple hours to spare that day to help him move everything off the U-Haul and into his apartment. Somehow, to his own surprise, they managed to get it done.
The next few days were a whirlwind of unpacking and trying to get everything sorted and put away while simultaneously starting his new job as an advisor at the state college. His life still feels like it's turned upside down, but at least his kitchen and living room are free of boxes. If that's mostly due to the fact that he shoved half of them in his bedroom, no one has to know.
Coming home from work, he's strolling along the path, passing the intriguing book filled boxes. He finally decides to stop and take a look inside. There's a metal plate attached just under the sides of the roof meet that reads "Little Free Library: Take a book, leave a book." Interesting, Louis thinks. He's never heard of little free libraries before, but he's impressed at the concept of being able to exchange books for free. He's not a bookworm, but he does enjoy the occasional mystery or sci-fi novel when he can be bothered to choose that over playing a video game.
He pulls the small knob on the door of the box, finding it so full, books are stacked on top of the books lined on the shelves. There are a lot of yellowed edged mass market paperbacks that look like they were published the year his Nan was born. He continues scanning over the titles, running his finger over the spines. His finger stops about halfway through the second shelf as he taps on a book.
Pride and Prejudice. Louis somehow had been lucky enough to avoid having to read it in high school and college. He wasn't so lucky when it came to having to read Persuasion for his European lit class. Let's just say, it didn't take him long to decide the talented Jane Austen's writing wasn't for him. Louis slides the well read novel back on top of the stacks of other books. He keeps looking, moving to some of the titles that are stacked on top. About that time, the book starts sliding forward off the book tower on the shelf, and in his scramble to catch it, it slides out of the box and lands open and face down on the grass near his feet. He wonders briefly if the Jane Austen's ghost is trying to haunt him. Louis looks around and then reaches down to pick it up, and that's when he notices handwriting inside. He sees page after page filled with highlights and black ink handwriting in the margins, almost crowding the printed words at times. Curiously, Louis flips to the first page and sees the highlighted word, "wife" with an arrow pointing up to the handwritten word "husband", along with a continued note about how Austen surely would have been more inclusive for his fellow gays had she not been born in her era.
Not being able to help himself, Louis smiles. Maybe he just needs some interesting commentary from this random guy to help him get through the novel. Tucking the book under his arm, Louis shuts the door, then momentarily freezes once he realizes he's taking a book, but doesn't have one to leave. He feels a strange sense of guilt even though no one is around to witness his... his crime? Is this actually illegal? He snorts to himself as he starts heading down the path again towards his apartment, swearing to himself he'll find two books in his meager stash to make up for his potential thievery.
*****
Starting a new school year always excited Harry. In his student days on through college and even now as a member of the staff. All the nervous freshman with their naive smiles waiting in line as Harry gathers their textbooks for them. The seniors already filling the tables that are sprinkled throughout the library, working on papers the eager professors have already assigned while whispering under their breath how happy they are to almost be done. Harry loves all of it. The only downside of it is he's been so busy at work, he hasn't gotten the chance to read much like he usually does during the slower hours of the work day.
That doesn't stop him from wanting to find something new and exciting to read, which is why the first thing he does when he gets to his apartment is head for the little free libraries. He's pleasantly surprised to see that all the books he'd donated weeks ago are gone. All but Pride and Prejudice. Harry can't help but feel sad for his once deeply loved book and how he appreciated it holding all his thoughts and secrets.
The book looks a little more worn than when he put it in the box. He can see some of the pages are dogeared and it sends a uneasy feeling through him. As much as he loves annotating his novels, dogeared pages are one of his biggest pet peeves.
He knows he shouldn't, but he grabs the book, deciding to take it back home with him, along with a historical romance with a shirtless duke on the cover that he grabs at the last minute. He reaches into his messenger bag and shoves a copy of The Divine Comedy in it's place. Tucking his books under his arm, he heads towards his apartment, already picturing the look of disappointment on Evie's face when she sees that he's brought back a book he'd gotten rid of. When he unlocks his apartment, Evie swarms his legs, a constant meow coming from her. Harry tries to walk to the counter to set his books and bag down without tripping over her.
"I don't need your judgment. It was one book. I got rid of the other six."
Evie leaps to the counter, stepping on his books without a care, continuing her meowing.
"That one was an impulse find. Let me have my vices. If I can't find a real man, at least I can read about sexy times with one." Harry grabs a can of cat food from the fridge and pops the lid on the can, sitting it on the counter in front of her. Her "judgment" immediately quiets as she begins eating. Harry watches her for a moment, thinking he should probably work on finding more friends than just his cat to discuss novels and his single status with. Leaving Evie to her dinner, he grabs his books once more and makes his way to the couch to sprawl out and unwind. He picks up Pride and Prejudice, flicking the pages a few times before deciding to start with it. It's somewhat considered a comfort read at this point with how many times he's read it.
He starts at the beginning, eyes lazily flicking over the text along with his own notes. A grin takes over and a feeling of nostalgia overtakes him as he remembers a younger version of himself writing those thoughts. He flips to the first page, ready to begin reading when his eyes widen suddenly, and he sits straight up on the couch. In blue ink, there's new notes written in the margins, shoved near his own that he'd written in black ink. He'd always used black ink. Black ink and a yellow highlighter. It was the method to his madness of annotation. Now, new things in the text are underlined in blue ink along with the notes, and Harry's not sure what to make of this.
With confusion knitting his brows together, he quickly flips the next few pages, seeing the same unfamiliar handwriting in blue ink sprinkled throughout the next few pages. He flicks towards the end, continuing to see the ink and goosebumps break out on his arms. Someone has annotated the book he's already annotated and it's somehow made it's way back to him. Harry has donated his books with his scribbles adorning the pages before, but never had this happened before. A stranger had read his thoughts and commented back. The whole thing makes him feel both embarrassed and giddy, like him and the stranger are sharing a secret.
Glancing back at the book, he starts to read, but doesn't make it beyond the first line. Where Harry had highlighted "wife" and wrote in "husband" above it, the anonymous reader had underlined the word and added his own note below Harry's note. "Austen would have loved the gays. Feisty lady wouldn't have been able to stop herself from exploring the prejudices we face."
Harry felt himself blush and felt stupid doing so. God, it just felt so personal, having a discussion among the pages of one of his favorite love stories. Finding out that the reader was also more than likely a gay man, and could potentially be Harry's very own Mr. Darcy is a bonus.
Once he gathers himself, he continues reading, eager to read the story in hopefully a whole new light.
*****
Louis may have forgotten about his promise to donate two books to the free library when he shoved Pride and Prejudice back in the box the other day, but he's righting his wrong now. As he already knew, Pride and Prejudice was not for him, but he can admit that the whole experience was interesting. Reading another person's thoughts did make struggling through the dense writing that he wasn't used to more bearable. He did wonder why the original owner parted with it. The man clearly adored the book. Louis snorts to himself remembering the smiley faces with actual hearts for eyes drawn in the margin near the end when Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy finally got their shit together.
On the contrary, Louis had no qualms about ridding himself of it. He snorted to himself thinking about whoever picks it up next seeing the differing opinions of the original owner and himself scribbled into the margins. He'd never written in a book before but something about the wrongest of it gave him a thrill. He figured he might as well considering the shape the book was already in.
When Louis gets to the little library, He pulls open the door, with a Blake Crouch novel in hand, ready to shove it in, but something catches his eye. Pride and Prejudice is on the shelves in a different spot than he left it with a bookmark sticking out of the top. Without even looking, he shoves his novel in and nabs up the Jane Austen. Upon cracking it open, he sees that its not a bookmark, but an index card that has a message written in the same penmanship that he'd become used to reading recently. The card read: "Dear future owner, I'm terribly sorry someone had the nerve to dog ear a Jane Austen. 'Blue Pen' must be as silly as Mrs. Bennett herself to have done so, though I hope you find the ramblings among the pages entertaining. Warmest regards and happy reading, H."
There's no way. The book's original owner took the book back? And possibly read his ridiculous commentary?
Staring at the card, a snicker escapes through his pursed lips, and he's already reaching into his messenger bag to grab a pen. He bites the top off of the pen, holding it between his teeth as he writes, in blue ink of course, underneath H's message. "Says the man who scribbled all over the book first. That's richer than Darcy himself. Let's not be ridiculous, Caroline Bingley."
He doesn't think this H person is pretentious like Caroline, not really, but he figures H will either appreciate the playful nod back to the novel. That is, if H happens to see this again. He's still quite perplexed that H took the novel back again after donating it once in the first place.
After slipping the book back on the shelf, making sure the index card is sticking out of the top again, he shuts the little free library and starts the walk back to his apartment. He looks up from his phone just in time to scoot to the right side of the sidewalk so he doesn't collide with a man walking a cat on a leash as if it were a dog. Seriously, a fucking cat. Louis thought he'd seen everything, but he'd been gravely wrong.
"No, Evie. We are not chasing the blue birds again. Don't you even think about it, naughty kitty."
Louis glances back over his shoulder, catching the man pointing a stern finger at the cat. He quickly turns forward again, deciding that pretty, strange men who speak to and walk cats should not be allowed to distract him with how busy he already is settling into his new job and apartment. It's preposterous.
Plus, Louis is and always will be a dog person.
*****
"You just had to act naughty when we were passing by a hot guy." Harry tells Evie as he gently tugs at her leash to urge her back to the sidewalk and away from the tree where a few bluebirds are perched high in the branches, taunting Evie with their chirpy songs. "You couldn't have held your tail high, chin up and looked like the lovable, sweet kitty that you are, could you? Maybe then he'd have stopped and asked to pet you. That would have been the cutest meet cute!"
Evie crouches down on the sidewalk, shaking her little butt before dashing forward in a charge, causing Harry to jog to keep up with her.
"Slow down," he scolds, after a couple minutes. He stops, putting his hand on his hip to catch his breath. Evie has led them towards the front entrance of the complex, close to the Little Free Library. Harry heads towards the box, forcing Evie with him.
"We're going back inside in one second. Do not judge me." Inside the box are mostly the same books that were there the last time he checked it. A couple of new sci-fis, but Harry loves himself too much to ever make himself suffer through one of those. Pride and Prejudice was in a different spot and that made his heart jump with excitement. He felt ridiculous.
It turns out his giddiness was justified when he grabbed the book, opening it to find a message from blue pen scrawled on the index card he'd left. Harry scoffed, reading over the note, "I'm no Caroline Bingley."
Evie let out a low growl, probably annoyed with Harry at forcing her to stand still for this long.
"I know I'm not an Elizabeth either, but Caroline?"
Harry pats the pockets of his joggers, instinctively looking for a pen, but of course he doesn't have one. Why would he have taken a pen on a jog? He tucks the book under his arm, then readjusts Evie's leash. "Alright, back home, Evie. What the-"
His eyes bug out, staring at Evie in horror. "What have you got in your mouth? Spit it out!" He squats, grabbing his cat's head and trying to pry open her mouth.
"What the fuck?" He stifles a gag at the pieces of caterpillar he removes from Evie's mouth, flinging the slimy remains off his fingers. "What if that was poisonous? Do you have a death wish?" He's mean mugging his cat, who simply meows, and starts rubbing against his legs. "I should make you go vegan for that."
Shaking his head, Harry leads them back home as quickly as possible so he can start googling poisonous caterpillars.
*****
"Sharing a meaningful reading experience with the book is different than destroying the pages with folds and creases. AND STAINS! Did you set your coffee cup on page 156? How could you do that to a book you loved, Blue ink? It's careless! Your Wickham is showing."
Louis laughs as he reads the note left by H. He's already got his pen out, scribbling a response on the card. He freezes when an idea hits him. One that could be incredibly stupid. H could be weirded out and stop replying altogether, which would be unfortunate. It could ruin the fun.. or could end up being something great.
He grabs his pen and writes back in the little space left on the card. "I never said I loved this book. Actually, I'm not a fan. If you'd like to tell me all the ways I'm wrong in that, I'll be at the Roasted Cafe at 6 pm on Friday. Bring this book with you so I'll know its you. If you don't want to, that's okay too." He quickly shoves the book back in before he chickens out and changes his mind.
With his hands shoved in his pockets, he heads towards the main building where the post offices boxes are. Louis hasn't checked his in three days. Oops. He's not used to the inconvenience of having to walk so far off to check his mail. When he steps inside the office lobby, he sees the cat-walker standing at his open box, thumbing through envelopes. Louis finds his box, then takes a glance back over at the man, smirking.
"No cat today?"
"What?" The man pulls his gaze from his mail and over to Louis. Big, beautifully green eyes are staring at him.
"Your cat," Louis holds his hand out, miming holding a leash.
"Oh, Evie! No. She's in trouble," the man replies, with a small pout.
Louis chuckles, pulling the mail from his box. "What for?"
"Nearly giving me a heart attack," he snorts. "She chased a squirrel up a tree yesterday and was walking one of the limbs like a tightrope."
"Shit," Louis laughs out. "What can you expect when you let a cat outside though. At least you didn't have to call the fire department to come get her down."
The man stares blankly at him for a beat and Louis' eyes widen. "No way. You did?"
Solemnly, he nods. "I wasn't going to mention that part."
Louis starts cackling again.
"She really is a good cat. She's still getting used to her environment," the man defends, starting to giggle.
Louis tucks his mail in his messenger bag, locking his box back. "I hope she starts behaving better. Would hate for you to have to call the police if she decides to up her game and commit a kitty crime."
"I'd hate to have to bail her out of purrr-ison," The man laughs, loudly, quickly raising his hand to his mouth like he's slightly embarrassed he let the loud sound slip past his full, pink lips.
Louis might be fonding a little. The guy is cute, sue him. "If you need an attorney, I know a guy. Not sure what his rate would be defending a cat, but he'd do it if I told him to."
"I'll keep that in mind," he says with a smile. Louis lets his gaze linger a moment more, before nodding and giving a little wave and heading towards the exit.
*****
Louis is nervous. He can't keep his hands out of his hair, flicking it one way, only to immediately move a hand up and trying to fix it again. There's no telling what his hair actually looks like at this point. He could go to the bathroom and check it, but then he would be able to stare at the door and wait to see if a man came in holding Pride and Prejudice.
He wonders if he will show up. Once again, he's battling himself over the sanity of his choices. Glancing at the watch on his wrist, he sees it's five minutes past six. If he is planning on showing up, he's late. If he's not planning on showing up, well Louis is a fool. The bell to the door chimes and Louis nearly breaks his neck trying to turn to see.
No. No. No.
No way is his best friend just walked in and is about to witness Louis either meeting someone blindly for the first time or getting stood up.
"Niall," He calls out loud enough for Niall to hear him. Niall grins, waves, and starts making his way towards Louis.
When he reaches Louis' table, he opens his mouth to say hello as he sits, but Louis doesn't have time for any pleasantries.
"You have to leave."
"What?" Niall's brows furrow, and he looks around the room like that will clear things up before looking back at Louis. "Why? I just got here."
"Because, I'm meeting someone."
Niall gives him a shit eating grin. "Aw, Lou, cute. I thought you weren't ready to date yet. You said you wanted to get settled before you started trying again."
"I'm not dating. This, isn't a date meeting. It's a.." he trails off, then shakes his head. "A friend meeting. But I don't want you here to witness it."
Niall nods. "Understood. But I can't leave. I'm meeting someone here too."
The sigh that leaves Louis' mouth seems endless. "Meet them somewhere else."
"No can do, Lou." Niall reaches behind him, pulling a book from his back pocket. "I have to meet them here cause-"
When Niall sits Pride and Prejudice on the table between them, Louis wants to scream. Instead, he snatches the book. "What the fuck are you doing with this?"
"Found it in the book box outside your place when I left the other night. There's a note in it-"
"That's me, you idiot. You weren't the one writing the notes, so why did you take the book when you knew the note wasn't meant for you?"
Niall opens and shuts his mouth a few times, stammering. "I just, I dunno, thought it might be fun. I wasn't doing it to sabotage anything."
Louis nods, trying to calm himself down. Niall is a good person, a great friend. But he doesn't always think things through. "You're the dumbest lawyer I know."
"Hey, I've only lost one case my entire career," Niall defends himself, and Louis snorts, shaking head before taking a sip of tea from his mug. As upset as he is that H isn't coming, he's also feeling more relaxed for that same reason.
"I think all your common sense got shoved out during law school," Louis jokes.
"I did need the extra head space," Niall agrees with a cackle.
Niall heads to the register to order a coffee. They sit and talk until they both finish their drinks, Niall laughing so hard at one point, Louis swears coffee was bout to spew from his nose. That was when Louis finally told Niall he should go, after confirming dinner plans for later next week. And after Niall stood to hug him goodbye and apologize once again for ruining his pen pal meet up.
*****
The book has been gone for three days. Harry's embarrassingly sad about it. He's not sure why. It's not like he could have went on passing notes in a book with a stranger for much longer. Still, he wasn't ready for it to end yet. A part of him is wondering if he donated another one of his Austen's if that would spark blue ink to pick it up and start this all over again.
Friday evening as Harry is out making his rounds with Evie, he already knows he'll be stopping at the library box to check again, even though he already knows what to expect. He opens the door of the box, eyes roaming the titles and sighing anyway when he doesn't see it.
"Alright, Evie. Mr. Darcy hasn't left us any gifts." Harry peeks again, moving a couple of the books around just to make sure it isn't hiding behind them. "Don't supposed you'd be up for watching the movie tonight, would you? I'll even relent and put on the one with Keira Knightley."
Harry looks down and frowns when he sees the Evie isn't standing beside him. Instead her leash is pulled and she's rubbing against the legs of the guy from the mail room.
"Sorry about that." Harry gives the leash a gently tug. Come on, Evie."
The guy's lips are thin as he's biting back a grin, eyes lit with amusement. "Mr. Darcy, huh?"
Unfortunately for Harry, the ground does not open and swallow him up. "Oh my god, you heard that? Can we maybe act like you didn't?" His hands go up to cover his face.
"Don't think I can forget, sorry," the man says. He clears his throat, stepping closer to the book box. "My good opinion, once lost, is lost forever."
Every nerve in Harry's body short circuits at the familiar quote. He moves his hands down from his face, gaping. "Blue Ink?"
The man reaches into his satchel bag, pulling out Harry's worn book, offering it out to him. "Guilty. Though everyone else calls me Louis. H?"
"Harry," he softly corrects, taking the book. Their fingertips brush and it's cheesy as shit, but Harry's feeling like the main character in one of his romance novels right now. "I wondered where you'd disappeared to."
"Funny story," Louis starts with a soft laugh, a hand rising up to brush at his fringe that the slight breeze is sweeping in the wrong direction. "I wrote back, asking to meet up with you tonight. I guess my friend took the book out of the box before you could get the message considering he's the one that met me for coffee.."
"I bet that was awkward to explain," Harry snorts. "So uh, did you really not like it? The book?"
"I don't think it's bad. Just, not for me. Sorry, I guess that sort of sours the Mr. Darcy image of me, yeah?"
Harry arches a brow, amused grin on his lips. "Well I'm not Elizabeth so, I don't think I need a Mr. Darcy."
"So Harry would consider a Louis?" Louis says and its ridiculous, yet it's the perfect beginning.
"I think he'd like that."
Louis' smile takes over his face and Harry once again, has to admire how attractive he is. A soft "meow" from below has them both looking down, Evie still brushing up against Louis' legs. Finally, Evie is playing the part of the perfect wing-kitty. Louis kneels down, petting her head, giving her a quick scratch behind the ears. Evie already looks positively in love with him.
"My feelings will not be repressed," Louis quotes, still giving Evie all the pets. Looking back up under his long lashes, he finishes, "You must allow me to tell you how ardently I'd love to get to know you."