Chapter Text
ABNola1004: It’s weird that we’re doing this, right?
Royale1132: It’s only weird if you think it is. This is the new paradigm of communication, ABNola.
ABNola1004: Oh god, don’t call me that.
Royale1132: What shall I call you? Should we exchange information?
ABNola1004: No.
ABNola1004: No personal info. I’m already way out of my comfort zone.
Royale1132: No personal info then.
ABNola1004: Ok fine, you can call me ABNola.
Royale1132: And what will you call me?
ABNola1004: Royale, of course.
Royale1132: Perfect.
Royale1132: Did you notice how I didn't ask any questions about the meaning of your username?
ABNola1004: I’m applauding you.
Royale1132: Don’t inflate my ego already. We just met.
ABNola1004: Wouldn’t dream of it.
“What do you mean you talk to him online?” Claudia screeched as Louis opened the bookstore, letting them both into the dark space. “Like, online, online?”
“Would you keep your voice down?” Louis reprimanded, turning on all the lights and catching a glimpse at Claudia’s wild expression before busying himself so he would not have to maintain eye contact.
“There’s no one here,” Claudia told him. “I can yell if I want to.”
“Why are we yelling?” Madeleine asked, walking into the store, looking like a runway model. Louis always wondered how the woman appeared so put together at eight in the morning when he knew for a fact she had been up late the night before, drinking and smoking with her other posh, French friends.
Louis watched Claudia’s mouth fall open slightly as she stared at Madeleine- she had been harboring a not-so-secret crush on the other woman for over two years now. He stifled a laugh at his friend’s expression.
Claudia shook her head as if that would make her forget how stunning Madeleine truly was. “Uh,” she began. “Louis is talking to someone online.”
Madeleine dropped her bag on the front table. “Louis. That’s so… comment ça se dit… desperate?”
“Desperate,” Louis said, rolling his eyes. “That’s how you say it. Desperate.”
“Forget ‘desperate!’” Claudia yelled again. “It’s dangerous... Offering up your information to a stranger on the internet.”
“I’m offering no information,” Louis argued. “I’m simply just… talking.”
There was a pregnant pause while Claudia and Madeleine looked at Louis as if he had sprouted five new heads.
“Need I remind you…” Claudia began slowly. “... that you have a live-in boyfriend?”
Daniel.
Yes.
It was not as if Louis did not feel bad about talking to his electronic pen pal while Daniel slept soundly next to him in his bed. Daniel. His lovely, cranky, eccentric, difficult Daniel.
“So?” Louis asked, trying to sound innocent.
“Are you having freaky cyber sex with this person, Louis?” Claudia wondered.
Louis waved his hands dismissively. “What? No. It’s innocent. We exchange emails. Sometimes we instant message… That’s it.”
And that was all it ever would be. Louis would never allow himself to admit that username Royale1132 was one of his best friends. Or that over the course of three months, Louis had opened up to a complete stranger more than he ever had to his own boyfriend of two years. Or that, late at night, Louis wondered what his online friend looked like– if he was handsome or not, if his hair was long or short, what color eyes he had.
“Oh yes, they’re definitely having cyber sex,” Madeleine told Claudia as the two of them began to laugh at Louis.
He knew he should have kept his weird online correspondence a secret.
“I’ll have you know that a lot of people are meeting this way now,” Louis defended himself. “And it’s not all sexual. Sometimes, people are merely looking for a new friend. It’s almost the new millennium ladies, catch up.”
Claudia and Madeleine continued to laugh.
Lestat felt his eyelids grow heavy as he sat in his last meeting of the day. They were only a few months away from the next three projected openings for Lioncourt Books in New York City. His father had trusted him with overseeing the Upper West Side location– Lestat’s “Big, Wide, Gaping Opening” as his six, shitty older brothers had referred to it in a mocking tone for over a year now. It did not matter that Lestat had successfully opened fifteen other smaller branches in various East Coast cities, it would never compare to the hundreds of locations the rest of his family was responsible for all over the country.
“Lestat,” his father’s voice echoed throughout the meeting room. “If you need to go take a nap like a kindergartener, be my guest, but take it elsewhere.”
Lestat sat up straight in his chair as his brothers laughed at him. Only Jesse looked at him with any sort of sympathy. Jesse was his father’s executive assistant who had reluctantly taken on the launch of Lioncourt Books’ official website. She had been up to her neck in meetings for a year now, while also being responsible for making sure that Lestat’s father remembered to eat three times a day. The worst part of the whole situation was that Lestat knew that his father would ultimately take credit for everything Jesse had done for the launch, rendering all of her hard work pointless.
“You should try one of those Red Bull things,” Jesse told Lestat after the meeting mercifully came to an end.
“What is that?” Lestat asked.
“An energy drink that tastes like piss,” Jesse explained.
“You’re really selling it.”
“It will keep you awake for days.”
“I don’t need to stay awake for days, Jesse,” Lestat responded. “I need this fucking Upper West Side location to finally open… Where do you think I should go after we’re done? Hawaii? Mexico? Maybe Australia.”
“You’ve never taken a vacation in your life,” Jesse reminded him.
It was true. It was not as if Lestat did not appreciate luxurious things such as an all-inclusive resort. In fact, if it were up to him, Lestat would be taking a vacation at least once a fiscal quarter. But, that was not what Lioncourt men did. Lestat’s father was glued to his cell phone at all hours of the day and believed that everyone else on the planet should be as well. This was because Lestat’s father knew that if he ever stopped working, he would have to spend time with his new wife and his seven children from multiple marriages, which was something the patriarch deemed undesirable.
“Well, a friend of mine recently told me to take one, so I think I will,” Lestat said.
“A friend?” Jesse asked. “Who? Armand?”
“God, no,” Lestat balked. “Armand’s worse than I am. He hasn’t taken a weekend off in months. And ever since we got that espresso machine, he’s been on edge more than usual.”
Jesse simply stared at Lestat, waiting for him to explain. He dragged her into his office and shut the door.
“Oh my god, what?” Jesse wondered. “Is your friend a serial killer or something?”
Lestat thought about this. It was not… entirely out of the question.
“No,” Lestat denied. “At least, I hope not.”
“What?!”
“Well, can you ever really know a person?” Lestat questioned.
“Lestat, get to the point,” Jesse laughed.
Lestat took a deep breath. “I’m talking to someone… online.”
Jesse raised an eyebrow slightly. “Online? Like in a chatroom?”
Lestat nodded.
“And this is the person who told you to take a vacation?”
Lestat nodded again.
Jesse sighed. “Well, I’m certainly not going to judge where you get good advice.”
Lestat deflated. “Oh, thank god you don’t think it’s weird. I’ve been doing my best to convince myself it’s not.”
“Lestat, the internet is literally my livelihood at the moment. I don’t care if you’re in a chatroom talking to a stranger,” Jesse reminded him. “How did this even happen, though?”
Lestat lowered his voice. “I stumbled into a group discussing the best queer novels of the twentieth century, and there he was, singing James Baldwin’s praises. I guess... he just immediately seemed familiar. ”
Jesse chuckled. “Oh, wow. That’s so cute.”
“And, he won’t confirm, but I’m positive he’s originally from New Orleans,” Lestat continued.
“Fate, some may say!” Jesse joked.
Lestat rolled his eyes. “Enough. We simply share a lot of similar opinions, so we started sending messages back and forth,” Lestat explained. “I’ve been trying to tell him this is all completely normal and the new standard of communication.”
“So, he thinks it’s weird,” Jesse filled in the blanks.
“I think he’s a bit… apprehensive of the whole situation. That’s all,” Lestat easily dismissed.
Lestat had done his best to convince ABNola1004 that what they were doing was harmless. And yet, his anonymous pen pal refused to divulge any personal information other than sex and location. Lestat supposed it was fair to assume the man he was talking to was also queer considering where they “met.” The lack of information normally would not have bothered Lestat, but over the past couple of months the two of them had grown… quite close. Or rather, as close as two strangers on the internet could become. Lestat would never broach the subject, but he was ready to meet his friend in person, no matter who was on the other side of the computer. However, Lestat knew he was alone in this desire.
“Well, it’s definitely something to be apprehensive about,” Jesse replied.
“You just said it wasn’t weird,” Lestat scoffed.
“Doesn’t mean it’s not something to be apprehensive about,” Jesse reasoned. “Not even two minutes ago you were unable to confirm if he was a serial killer not.”
Lestat sighed and dramatically fell into his office chair. “Take my mind off of this– what’s going on with the construction?”
“Shouldn’t you know that?” Jesse raised an eyebrow while taking a seat across from him. “Everything is going well for a Thanksgiving week opening. Your father’s only concern for any sort of competition is that store down the block, Azalea Books?”
Lestat pinched his nose and straightened up in his chair, imitating his father as best as he could. “Ah, yes. The local bookstore that every inexorable Upper West Side resident pretends to support in order to prove that they have not conformed to the easy, commercial consumerism that we all secretly crave.”
Jesse laughed. “That was scary. Truly.”
“What exactly is the concern about this particular bookstore?” Lestat wondered. “It’s not as if my father has had trouble bulldozing neighborhood businesses before.”
“The owner and his family are incredibly beloved in the community,” Jesse explained. “Going after this store… in any way, shape or form, could be dangerous for Lioncourt if we ever want any sort of business on the West Side.”
Lestat contemplated this. “Maybe the owner is looking for a reason to close? I’m sure my father could cut them a check.”
“You think your father hasn’t already tried that?” Jesse asked. “It will take a miracle to get this guy to close willingly. He’s not going down without a fight.”
Lestat took a deep breath. “Let me go visit this bookstore. See what kind of threat it actually imposes on Lioncourt Books.”
Royale1132: I have a problem at work.
ABNola1004: Hello to you too, Friend.
Royale1132: Hello, Friend. I have a problem at work.
ABNola1004: Let’s figure it out.
Royale1132: What about your “no personal details” rule?
ABNola1004: Just don’t include any personal details then.
Royale1132: I have to go check out the competition. I have been tasked to see if my company can successfully put them out of business.
ABNola1004: Wow, okay. Do they deserve to be put out of business?
Royale1132: Many businesses do not. I’m afraid my hands are tied.
ABNola1004: I suppose I get that.
Royale1132: You don’t think I’m a horrible person for trying to put someone out of business?
ABNola1004: No. I don’t think you’re a horrible person.
ABNola1004: In fact, I know you’re not a horrible person.
Louis looked towards the door as a man walked in, clearly trying to save himself from the rain. He watched as Claudia greeted the customer and offered him a plastic bag for his umbrella. Claudia was not normally this friendly, but she had been bored all day at work since there had been little to no foot traffic due to the weather. She and Madeline had been playing cards for the past couple of hours while Louis lazily shelved a new vintage collection they had just received.
Louis listened as the man walk around the store slowly. Once the footsteps grew closer, he turned towards the stranger.
“You looking for something in particular?” Louis asked before feeling his breath catch slightly as he finally got a long look at the customer’s face. The man was… handsome. Beyond handsome. He looked like he had wandered off a film set. His jawline was the kind of jawline a man would take into a plastic surgeon as a reference photo.
Louis tried not to be too obvious– even in New York City, there were plenty of bigots around every corner. However, from the way the man was staring at Louis, it was clear that the attraction was, at least, somewhat mutual. His eyes were currently roaming up and down Louis’ body.
And then Louis remembered Daniel. He cleared his throat.
The other man opened and closed his mouth quickly. “Uh, no,” he answered. “I just moved into the neighborhood. I was exploring.” He had some sort of muddled European accent that was quite charming.
Louis smiled. “Ah, well, welcome to the neighborhood.”
“Do you live here as well?”
“I do,” Louis confirmed. “A couple of blocks over.”
“That must be convenient for work.”
Louis laughed. “Yeah, the commute is pretty great.”
“And how long have you worked here?”
“Ten years now,” Louis said.
“This place came highly recommended,” the man mused. “It must be a neighborhood favorite, no?”
Louis paused. He felt a pair of eyes on him from across the store– Claudia was looking over at him, making a kissing face.
“You could say that,” Louis agreed, ignoring his friend.
The customer laughed. “Sorry, you’re busy. I’m asking too many questions.”
“No, no,” Louis insisted. He gingerly put down the vintage book he was handling. “Please. Not a lot of people have braved the storm today. You’re more than welcome to talk our ears off.”
“It’s true,” Madeleine shouted from across the store.
“I’ve been contemplating taking a nap in the back all day,” Claudia added.
Louis shot her a reprimanding look as the stranger raised an eyebrow.
“She’s kidding,” Louis told him.
“I’m not,” Claudia said.
Louis took a deep breath. “Are you sure there’s nothing I can help you find?”
The man looked around the store and then back at the books that Louis had been shelving. “Vintage?” he asked. “First edition?”
Louis smiled, excited to talk about them. “I wish these were first edition. Most are just very, very old.” He lifted up a copy of Anna Karenina . “I’ve been waiting for this one for months. I’m already insanely jealous of whoever will buy it.”
“So, I shouldn’t be the one to purchase it then?” the man wondered.
Louis was taken aback. “Do you want it?”
“It’s a favorite of mine.”
Louis felt his fingers grip the book as he glanced down at the book’s unique cover. He realized then that he had secretly been hoping that no one would ever purchase it so he could keep it forever. But who was he to deny this paying customer?
“I promise I’ll take good care of it,” the customer said.
“I’ll ring you up,” Louis said, walking to the register.
“That will be ten thousand dollars,” Claudia said, batting her eyelashes.
“Stop it, Claudia,” Louis reprimanded. “It’s not that rare.” Louis was unsure if he was assuring Claudia of that fact, or himself.
The man simply smiled at Louis. “I’ll pay whatever I need to,” he joked.
“It will be one hundred and ninety-six dollars,” Louis told him.
Despite the fact that he knew he was buying a vintage book, the man’s eyes widened slightly. Still, he opened his wallet and pulled out his credit card before quickly putting it back and taking out cash instead. “I just got paid,” he joked.
Louis simply nodded his head. Truthfully, he did not care how his customers paid as long as they actually did pay. He could feel Claudia and Madeleine staring at the two crisp hundred dollar bills from their stools next to him.
“Tell the owner I’ll definitely be back,” the customer asked. “Maybe for a slightly cheaper book next time,” he added with a wink.
Louis felt his stomach flip. He completely forgot how upset he was about letting go of this book. This man was incredibly attractive.
“Tell him yourself,” Claudia said, going back to her card game.
The customer furrowed his brow.
Louis shrugged. “I’m the owner. Louis DuLac. Nice to meet you.”
“You’re the owner?” the man replied, sounding shocked. “You’re so... young.”
Louis chuckled, knowing that was not what this stranger actually wanted to say. “Well, there isn’t an age requirement, thankfully.”
The man laughed along with him. He seemed nervous suddenly. “No… of course not.”
“And you are?” Louis wondered.
The man held out his hand for Louis to shake. “Lestat. Just call me Lestat… Thank you, Louis. Ladies.”
Lestat practically ran out of the store as Louis shouted after him. “Be careful of the rain! The book is delicate!”
Lestat smiled at him and wrapped the book in his jacket, quickly opening his umbrella and disappearing into the storm.
“What a weirdo,” Claudia said.
“Very hot, though,” Madeleine countered.
Claudia snapped her head up to look at Madeleine.
“Really hot,” Louis agreed.
Claudia turned her attention to Louis and narrowed her eyes at him. “First your cyber boyfriend, now Lester. Poor Daniel.”
Madeleine giggled.
Louis rolled his eyes. “His name was Lestat.”
Claudia raised her eyebrows. “Just make sure your three boyfriends never meet, Louis. Or, if they do, make sure I’m in the room when it happens.”
Royale1132: Favorite Capote novel?
ABNola1004: Definitely Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
Royale1132: Ahh, so you’re idealistic.
ABNola1004: How does that make me idealistic?
Royale1132: It’s such a weepy, romantic ending. Everything is wrapped up perfectly. She gets the cat and she gets the man.
ABNola1004: You didn’t actually read the novella did you?
Royale1132: No, I did not.
ABNola1004: Go read it.
Royale1132: Okay, yes. Fine.
ABNola1004: I can’t believe you called me idealistic.
Royale1132: Are we fighting? :)
ABNola1004: No, I would NEVER fight with you, Royale.
ABNola1004: I'm rolling my eyes, just so you know.