Work Text:
An empty library, without a single patron in sight, quiet and peaceful. It wasn't an uncommon sight during Kabru’s shifts, most of which took place on the mornings and early afternoons of regular weekdays. People, he found, tended to visit the library in waves. Rarely did an individual come and go without another few following shortly behind. Curiously enough, most of the time those people had no relation to each other whatsoever, presumably having come from different directions for different reasons, and they rarely if ever acknowledged each other at all. Some of them came rushing to return a book they'd forgotten about, hoping and praying that they could avoid paying a late fee, which Kabru was sometimes merciful enough to forgive – within reason,of course. Others took their time, quietly wandering through the aisles, and would come up to his desk minutes later, struggling not to drop anything from the pile of books in their arms. Once the wave was over, he would get a moment of respite as he waited for another one to start. The phenomenon fascinated him. It wasn't only limited to the library, either. The same was true of, say, shopping centres. Kabru himself had often found himself being part of such a wave. It was, he suspected, due in part to public transit, the bloodstream of the city, transporting groups of people to specific locations in somewhat regular intervals. That couldn't have been the whole explanation, though. There must have been more to it. An imperceptible pull of some kind. Was seeing somebody enter a location enough of an incentive for others to follow? It certainly would have been for him, under the right circumstances.
Kabru aimed to spend the time between the waves wisely, with tasks that needed to be done, but weren't so urgent and time-consuming that he wouldn't be able to drop them if somebody came in. He would check in with Yaad and his co-workers, or he would sit at the computer and browse the catalogue, or he would look into the drawers of the desk to make sure that everything was in order. Sometimes, and this was perhaps his favourite task of all, he would grab a few books from the pile of returns and put them back where they belonged on the bookshelves. It wasn't a particularly difficult task (though, for some reason, many people still struggled to do it correctly, which only gave him more work to do). Each of the books in the library had on its spine, along with the title and the name of the author, a sticker that identified its country of origin. From there, it was only a matter of finding the bookshelf with the correct label, and to make matters even easier, the countries were sorted alphabetically, so he could gauge approximately which part of the library he should head towards. The catalogue was surprisingly diverse, much to his personal delight, including literature from all corners of the world. A sense of tender, mildly suffocating nostalgia filled his heart whenever he identified a book of South Asian origin. Sometimes, if something about the book caught his attention, instead of putting the book back on the shelf, he would discreetly set it aside to check out for himself after his shift.
He was in the middle of this exact task, slowly approaching the end of his shift, when the door opened abruptly, signalling the arrival of a patron. He clutched the book to his chest and peered out of the aisle, already wearing an inviting smile on his face. “Welcome! Good afternoon!” he chirped cheerfully, approaching the desk, and promptly froze, leaning slightly forward with one foot in the air, his eyes wide open and his eyebrows riding up his forehead. His heart skipped a beat and his body instantly filled with mysterious warmth. Laios quietly closed the door behind him and turned towards Kabru, fixing the hood of his jacket with one hand. He kept the other one behind his back, most definitely trying to hide something. His face was visibly flushed. Putting his hand over his mouth, Kabru set the book down on the desk, without tearing his gaze away from Laios’ face even for a moment. “Oh, it's you,” he murmured shakily, lips curling into a smile.
His feet carried him towards Laios on their own, so fast that he nearly knocked him over on impact. Kabru buried his face against Laios’ chest and wrapped his arms around his waist, giving him a heart squeeze. In just a few moments, he would inevitably remember that he was, indeed, still at work, and should not allow himself to get distracted and display affection so openly, but perhaps because there was nobody else here (except for Yaad in the office, of course, currently out of sight), or perhaps because he was simply too happy to see Laios to pay any mind to the world around him, the idea had not yet occurred to him. Instead he rubbed his cheek against Laios’ chest and got on his tip-toes to kiss his cheek.
“Now, if memory serves,” he said playfully, taking a step back as he put his hands inside the pockets of Laios’ jacket, “you were supposed to pick me up from work tomorrow, not today. That's not to say that I'm not happy to see you, but I have to wonder… Were you too impatient to wait another day,” he hummed, tilting his head as he cocked an eyebrow, “or is something else the matter? None of the books you borrowed last time are due yet, and I know you haven't finished reading them yet, at least you certainly hadn't yesterday when I last saw you, so I have to assume it's not about that,” he mused, studying Laios’ face curiously as he spoke. “You're here to see me, then, but for what reason, I can't begin to guess. Something so urgent that it couldn't wait until tomorrow, it seems...” he hummed, stroking his chin. “Should I be alarmed?”
“Ah, no! I mean, not really, uh…” Laios stammered vaguely, scratching the back of his head with his free hand. “I mean, the plan didn't change or anything! I have everything prepared for tomorrow already. This is, uh, something else. I kind of forgot about it earlier,” he explained, presenting Kabru with the rose he'd been hiding behind his back, “but today is Saint Nicholas Day, so I thought I should bring you something. Wait!” he blurred out, startling Kabru as he took the rose out of his hand. “That's not the whole thing! I just gotta, uh, take it out of my backpack,” he explained struggling to free himself from the grip of the backpack, “so just wait a moment!”
Kabru watched him quietly, twirling the rose around between his fingers. He instinctively brought it up to his face and sniffed it. The last rose Laios brought him was the one he made out of paper. This was a real one. Once he was home, he decided, then he would compare the two. Somehow, he suspected that he would end up favouring the one made by Laios. “Saint Nicholas Day…?” he prompted inquisitively, glancing up from the rose to see that Lails had, at last, won the battle against his backpack.
“Yeah! I guess you wouldn't celebrate it, huh?” Laios furrowed his brow, bringing the backpack to his chest. It was very noticeably plump. Whatever was inside must have been so large that it barely fit, threatening to burst out of the backpack without any help from Laios. “You know how on Christmas Eve, everyone puts gifts under the tree?” Kabru did know. Vaguely. The details seemed to differ depending on the speaker, though. He could have sworn that it wasn't Christmas Eve, but Christmas Morning, and stockings were involved somehow. That must have been a different tradition than the one Laios was raised with. “On Saint Nicholas Day, you kind of do the same thing, except you put them under the pillow instead. It's usually something small, like a toy or some chocolate, but it doesn’t have to be. I guess it depends on the pillow,” Laios went on as he started pulling his gift out of the backpack. “Usually, it's just for kids, but Falin and I still do it. Falin wakes up early, so she's the first to put the gift under my pillow, but she always accidentally wakes me up…” he said, puffing out his cheeks. “I just wait for her to go to the bathroom so I can sneak in and put the gift under her pillow. Anyway, I thought I should give you something, too.”
In that instant, he finally managed to pull the present out of the backpack, somehow without dropping either in the process. A large teddy bear, well over a foot tall and decently wide, stared at Kabru with its big, shiny bright blue eyes. There was also a blue ribbon tied around its neck. Cautiously, Kabru reached out and touched the top of the bear’s head, putting his hand between its perfectly round ears. Its fur was pleasantly soft to the touch. Colour-wise, it was a warm shade of dark brown, with its ears and tail being slightly darker than the rest of its body, and the area around its mouth, as well as its paws, bearing black paw pads, being slightly lighter, presumably for the sake of contrast. Kabru’s bottom lip quivered as he took the bear out of Laios’ hands. He squeezed it close to his chest and cleared his throat before he spoke. “Thank you,” he said softly, looking up into Laios’ eyes. “It's really cute.”
“Ah,” Laios exhaled, smiling with relief, “I’m so glad that you like it… There were a lot to choose from, but when I saw this one, I had a feeling that you'd like it. And you know, now that I look at it again,” he hummed, stroking his chin as he squinted at the bear, “it kind of looks like you, doesn't it?”
“Huh?” Kabru furrowed his brow, blinking rapidly in disbelief. “Is that not why…? You only just… noticed…?” he muttered under his breath, looking down at the bear. He could have easily been convinced that it was custom-made to resemble him. Was that nothing more than a coincidence? Impossible. And yet… just because it was Laios, it seemed entirely possible that he would make the perfect choice entirely by accident. Kabru shook his head and laughed softly. “It does, doesn't it? How cute. Where did you find it, anyway?”
“Oh, pretty close by,” he said, pointing at the door. “I stumbled upon it yesterday on my way home from the market. It's a pretty weird store. The only thing they sell are teddy bears. Some of them are ready to buy, but you can make the employee stuff one for you, too. You just tell them which one you want and then you can watch it get stuffed in the machine. Pretty cool, huh?” he said, wearing a pleased smile. It was immediately obvious which option he chose. “I guess they must've opened pretty recently. I've never seen anything like this before!”
There was a mischievous twinkle in Kabru’s eyes as he listened to Laios. “I see,” he murmured, stroking his bottom lip. “Would you mind taking me there? I would like to see that. My shift,” he added, glancing at the clock, “is just about over, anyway.”
Laios’ eyes shot wide open and glanced around the library. “Oh, right. I forgot you were still at work,” he muttered apologetically, scratching his cheek. Kabru reassured him with a chuckle and a dismissive hand gesture. Thankfully, it wasn’t as if he had anything better to do. “You wanna go, huh? Right now?” Kabru eagerly nodded his head. “Uh, sure, alright. I can show you. I still remember the way.” He nodded, putting his backpack back on. “I'll wait outside for you, okay?”
Kabru watched him leave, clutching the teddy bear in his arms. He carefully put it down on the desk, along with the flower, to wait for him while he clocked out. He looked reluctantly at his bag, and then at the teddy bear, and scrunched up his nose. Theoretically, it should fit just fine. After all, the only thing he brought with him to work was his lunch box and the book he just checked out for himself. But he distinctly remembered how thoroughly the bear filled out Laios’ backpack, and he couldn't shake the feeling that it would be even worse this time. The alternative, though, was going inside that store with the teddy bear in his arms, and that he absolutely couldn't do. He took a deep breath, stuffed the plush toy into his bag as carefully as possible and, pushing it down with one hand, used the other one to quickly zip it up. Only then did he exhale and pick up his bag. All good.
Having picked up the rose on his way out, Kabru rushed out the door, nearly tripping down the stairs right into Laios’ arms.
The store, as it turned out, really was just a short walk away from the library. The banner above the door featured a cartoon teddy bear, smiling invitingly. Laios pulled the door open and let Kabru come in first, and then nearly bumped into him from behind when Kabru froze at the doorstep, overwhelmed by the interior of the store.
To say that there were teddy bears everywhere would not be an overstatement. They sat on every surface inside the store, except for the floor, and they filled the baskets placed around what Kabru had to assume was the stuffing machine. Careful not to bump into any of the children waiting in line with their parents, Kabru approached one of the baskets, stroking his bottom lip as he examined the contents. The teddy bears inside these baskets were, as he expected, the ones that had not yet been stuffed. He picked one up and instinctively shuddered. There was something disturbing about the sight, as if the bears had been skinned alive and promptly discarded. Though, of course, the opposite was true. They were yet to come alive, so to say. He couldn't help but wonder how Milsiril would have felt about this. Would it have been a good idea to point her towards this kind of store? Perhaps not, he thought, scrunching up his nose. She would definitely react way, way too emotionally.
“If you want another one,” Laios said, materialising right behind him out of nowhere, “you can pick whichever one you want, and when it's our turn we can put it in the machine.”
Kabru shuddered involuntarily. “Ah. Thank you.” He glanced at Laios quizzically. It seemed like he realised why Kabru asked to come here, but not quite. Was it better to clear up the misunderstanding, or not? On the one hand, it might have been funny to hand him the bear after the fact and tell him that it's a gift. On the other hand, if he believed that Kabru was picking another bear for himself, he might assume that it was because he didn't like the one Laios gave him and was too polite to say so, which would have been unfortunate. On yet another hand, if he knew that the bear was a gift for him, he might feel compelled to choose the appearance himself, and Kabru couldn't allow that. He had a very clear idea of what he wanted for Laios. Somehow, he had to navigate around all of those points, all of whom seemed mutually exclusive. “Can you hold the line? I'm going to look around.”
Kabru looked into each basket, stroking his bottom lip. The bears were divided by fur colour, it seemed. There weren't as many choices as he'd expected. All of the bears came in natural colours, mostly shades of brown. The one he was after… Kabru closed his eyes and hummed to himself. Light brown. Honey brown. It would be ideal if it had amber or golden brown eyes, too. He approached the next basket, and his heart skipped a beat. It was as if he himself summoned it into existence. A bear with soft, short, light brown fur and brown eyes with a golden tint. He pulled it out of the basket immediately and showed it to Laios.
“What do you think?” he asked, as casually as possible. Laios narrowed his eyes at the bear, stroking his chin. Kabru held his breath. Finally after what felt like an eternity, Laios gave him a thumbs up. The bear had been approved. Kabru exhaled softly.
The two of them certainly stood out among the crowd, a fact of which Kabru was not fully conscious until they moved to the front of the queue and he saw the look on the employee’s face. Presumably not many young men visited the store, except perhaps for those accompanied by a girlfriend or a little sister. Kabru squeezed Laios’ hand as he showed the employee the bear skin. “Do you want to give it a heart?”
Kabru blinked quizzically, somewhat intrigued. “A heart?” He looked at Laios. Did you do it?” he asked under his breath.
“Oh, yeah,” Laios whispered, leaning towards him. “You can put a heart inside the bear before they hook it up to the machine. I did it. Would've felt wrong not to, honestly. They make you kiss it before you put it in, though,” he added, sounding somewhat flustered.
“Oh.” Kabru nodded his head. “Yes, of course.” He was promptly handed a heart made out of fabric, pleasantly plump. He squeezed it between his fingers a few times before giving it a chaste kiss, all while maintaining eye contact with Laios. The bear’s back was split open, allowing him to put the heart inside, placing it roughly in the middle of the chest area. The employee closed the bear’s back, leaving only a small hole near the bottom.
The bear was promptly attached to the machine. Suddenly, the purpose of the small hole at the bottom revealed itself. Kabru covered his mouth with his hand, hiding his smile, but his eyes still twinkled humorously, revealing his amusement as he glanced in Laios’ direction. Laios, on the other hand, was fully engrossed in the process, and seemingly unaware of any undertones that may have occurred to Kabru. Perhaps that was for the better.
“How much stuffing do you want?”
“Oh, as much as possible, I suppose,” Kabru said, giggling. “A teddy bear has to be huggable, after all. The plumper,” he hummed, discreetly poking Laios’ belly, making him squirm, “the better, I would say.” His eyes met Laios’ and he winked playfully. Laios blinked a few times before finally looking away, cheeks flushed. Kabru rubbed his back as an apology for flustering him. He couldn't possibly help himself.
“Oh,” Laios remembered, “you can pick out accessories and clothes if you want. I figured it'd be better to go without,” he said, twiddling his thumbs, “but I figured you might be interested.”
“Oh, yes. My bear had a blue ribbon, I remember. It would be appropriate if yours had one to match,” Kabru said casually, picking out a thick, red ribbon. He wrapped it around the bear’s neck as soon as he received it, and nodded approvingly to himself. Behind him, Laios shuffled in place, opening and closing his mouth without saying anything. He watched Kabru pay for the teddy bear and followed him out of the store. Only then did he speak.
“My bear…?” he murmured, twiddling his thumbs, while Kabru attempted to give him the toy. “Really?”
“Well, yes. Of course,” Kabru said calmly, trying not to laugh. “It even kind of looks like you, doesn't it?” he hummed, bringing the bear up to Laios’ face. There was one noticeable difference between the bear and Laios: the former could not turn pink in an instant. Kabru laughed softly, sending Laios a fond smile. “Somehow, I feel like we should switch?” he remarked in a playful tone.
“Oh, yeah. I know what you mean,” Laios said, finally taking the bear out of Kabru’s hands. He stared at it curiously. “It feels like I should have the one that reminds me of you, and you should have the one that reminds you of me, right? Maybe, after a while,” he mused, tapping the bear’s nose, “if we sleep with them every night, they're gonna smell like us, and that's when we could switch!” he suggested cheerfully.
Kabru covered his mouth with his hand and buried his face against Laios’ shoulder. “Yes,” he said, convulsing occasionally with stifled laughter, “that’s a wonderful idea.”