(no subject)

[lincolnmiller]

Walking down the small aisles of the bookstore, Lincoln squeezed between shelves as he hummed along to to the music playing through his earbuds. Picking up a copy of Attachments, he tucked it under his arms as he rolled his hips and shimmied along the aisle looking for another book to add to his growing pile.

Singing into the book, he shuffled a little as he picked up the Will of the Empress and a couple of fantasy novels he thought Lee might like. Spinning in place, he turned to see the very wide eyes of Mrs Murphy who lived upstairs and always got him to help her upstairs with her groceries.

"Morning Mrs Murphy, lovely day." Lincoln began, cheeks turning a little red as he realised that he had been dancing in the aisles Again. Making a face at her, he got out her way as he grabbed a copy of Lee's favourite author's new book. Looking up sheepishly, Lincoln just nodded at the other customers (and owner) in the store and wanted to find a gigantic hole for himself to crawl into. "Great. This was a great idea. Should not have left the house."

Comments

[thediceloveme]

Lee hadn't meant to see Lincoln this morning. She'd got class prep to do and she wanted to get a jump on it when she remembered she needed to pick up a copy of a programming guide suitable for advanced beginners for Quentin. He'd come a long way over the summer and she wanted to encourage him so she'd decided to stop in to the bookstore on the way to school.

She was going to sneak up on him and surprise him when Lincoln started dancing to whatever tune he was listening to. Lee couldn't resist ducking behind a bookcase to watch him as he jigged his way around the shop. Mrs Murphy caught him and it was all Lee could do to keep from bursting into applause as he passed her hiding place, flushed red and mumbling to himself.

Lee waited until he rounded the corner and then stepped out, clapping enthusiastically. "That was awesome. We are going dancing at some point because I need to learn that whole thing."

[lincolnmiller]

"It's not a whole thing, it was just me- you know," Lincoln began, his hand reaching up to rub the back of his neck in awkward embarrassment. He had completely forgotten about other people when he'd danced, it wasn't like he didn't do geeky things in public but dancing? He personally didn't think he was that graceful. "And I think we both have a different idea as to what dancing involves."

Lincoln held up his book offerings to Lee in one hand while he looked down at her suspiciously. He hoped she hadn't recorded it. Oh god, she probably had and was going to show the guys.

[thediceloveme]

Holding up a finger, Lee took the earbuds from his hand and plugged them into her ears, breaking into a little goofy dance of her own. She grinned at him and then gave him back his buds. "I don't think you have anything to worry about with my interpretation of 'dancing'." She said.

The books he held out caught her attention and she made grabby hands at them, taking the pile. "Are these for me?" She said, looking up at him hopefully. He had the best taste and there was some awesome stuff in that pile so it could have been for himself.

[lincolnmiller]

Lincoln looked down with a little grin, watching as Lee raised her hands above her head and wiggled and danced like no one was watching. Before, he would've vaguely noticed the swing of her hips and the cute way her nose and mouth looked when she danced but now, it was like his body was just attuned to hers. Every little thing she did was magic and all that.

"I like you interpretation of dancing," Lincoln said, the smile lingering on his lips as he slightly, accidentally, smouldered down at Lee. Offering her the books, he lifted his shoulders in a shrug. "I needed a few more for the apartment, thought I'd get you a couple of copies of my favourites."

[thediceloveme]

Lee hugged the books to her chest and grinned. "You're the actual best." And then she looked up at him and noticed the hot look on his face. Lee swallowed and her own smile faded into something more sober, and she licked her lips. Dropping the books to her side, Lee stepped in close about to lean up to kiss him when a cough interrupted her. Mrs Murphy was scowling at the pair of them and Lee gave her a sunny smile, tucking her hair behind her ear.

She turned back to Lincoln and chuckled. "Maybe we should pay for these." She said, lifting the books again and then remembering shy she'd come here in the first place. "Oh crap. I have to find a book for Quentin." She rolled her eyes. "And I have to do lesson plans." She groaned, letting her head fall forward and thump into his chest.

[lincolnmiller]

Watching the look on Lee's face shift and changed, Lincoln leaned down expectantly to receive the kiss when Mrs Murphy coughed behind Lee. Straightening, he brushed a hand down his own shirt and smiled awkwardly at Mrs Murphy. Waving his fingers at her in greeting, he held his breath before his neighbour went about her business.

"Yeah, here let me take those." Lincoln said, lifting the books from Lee's arms and freeing her up to grab what she wanted. Lifting his arms up so Lee's head bumped his chest, Lincoln dropped his warm arms around her and dropped his head down to brush a kiss against the top of hers. "Why don't you come round to mine? You can work and I'll cook us some lunch."

[thediceloveme]

Not spending the morning with Lincoln seemed like a hugely dumb idea now that he said it like that. Still, she still needed to make one thing clear. Lee pushed her head into the kiss gently and then looked up at him. "You realise I have to work, right? No distracting me with epic dance parties or anything." She chided. Pushing herself away, Lee went to the technical section and picked up a couple of basic primers and the more advanced book she'd been looking for and added them to Lincolns pile.

"Okay. We should go if we're going." She blew out a breath. "So many lesson plans. This being a teacher thing is a lot more work than studying to be one."

[lincolnmiller]

"Oh no, of course I'll keep my dance parties to only a mediocre level." Lincoln replied, voice warm with bemusement as he bent his to press soft, delicate little chaste pecks against her lips. He doubted he'd distract her, all he planned to do was cook and maybe change into something comfier. "Let me just grab these."

Lincoln took the books over to the counter to pay before paying for them all. Reaching out to snag his arm over Lee's shoulder, he smiled a dorky smile at her before taking the heavy bag of books with ease.

"So, after your work things do you want to play a couple of board games or something?"

[thediceloveme]

Lincoln went from kissing her softly to running to the payment desk in about five seconds and Lee didn't have time to blink. He'd paid before she could even get her wallet out of her bag so she sighed and followed him out of the shop.

When he mentioned games, Lee nodded enthusiastically and leaned into his body, hooking her arm around his waist as they walked. "Only if we can play at Takenoko. That game is a pain in the ass but I will master it." She said, determination in her voice. "And I'm giving you money for the books when we get back to your place."

[lincolnmiller]

Bending down to brush a kiss against her temple, Lincoln looked entirely innocent as he carried their bag of books. Pressing a peck to the bridge of her nose, Lincoln pressed a kiss at the tip before pressing another to her mouth. Light and sweet.

"I know not of this money you speak of," Lincoln replied, smiling as he walked with Lee. "Fine we can play your panda game, thought you'd want to try a couple of the new ones I've got. Or a sneaky game of Pandemic. Mmm infectious disease."

[thediceloveme]

"Currency is often exchanged for goods and services." Lee paraphrased from the Simpsons. "And you need to have some of my currency in your wallet. School can pay for the school books. The others...we can negotiate on. " She said with a sly smile. It wasn't that she minded gifts at all, she just didn't want to take advantage of his sweet and generous nature." Pandemic sounds good though. Always with the infection vectors. I've been watching play throughs on YouTube and I think I know where we're going wrong." Lee added, pressing her temple against his shoulder and closing her eyes for a few steps, just breathing him in. It was sappy, she knew, but she didn't think he'd mind.

[lincolnmiller]

"I had not heard that before, what kinds of goods and servi- okay, that one was truly worthy of Roosevelt." Lincoln replied with a good natured smile. He stopped for a moment when Lee pressed her head against his shoulder. The warmth of his body pressing against hers before he leaned down, tilting her chin up so he could brush a soft, lingering kiss against Lee's lips. Smiling, he let go of Lee to head up the stairs and hold the door open to her. He'd have to get her a key to his place soon, it kind of made sense. "What kind of negotiations are we talking about?"

Lincoln followed Lee up the stairs to his floor. Humming under his breath happily, he waited for Lee to go through before sighing happily and dumping the books on the table.

"You mean the part when we blatantly cheat or the part where we really blatantly cheat."

[thediceloveme]

The kiss was sweet and Lee beamed like an idiot as he went ahead of her to open the door. "Well I don't know. Negotiations could cover many things. The removal of clothing could be one of them." Lee said, slipping past him into the apartment.

She walked over to the table and pulled out her laptop, setting up for some work. If she set up with a view of Linc in the kitchen then she couldn't be blamed. Lincoln was happy cooking in the kitchen and she loved watching him happy.

Lee smiled at the cheating comment. "Look, we can't be blamed if the game doesn't account for unethical but ultimately fruitful human experiments." She said, logging into her home server to pull up the lesson plans she'd been working on. "There has to be wiggle-room, Linc."

[freefromsin]

Ever since Caleb gained the freedom to read books outside of the Bible and bullshit brainwashing Creationism text books, he's been kind of a junkie. He hasn't come across the town library yet, but this bookstore seems pretty awesome. It's just too bad he doesn't have any spare cash to buy anything.

He's lurking, trying to inconspicuously read a book called The Road, when he sees...some guy dancing. Curiosity piqued, Caleb follows the guy across a few rows to watch. He's very entertaining.

When the guy finally seems to realize he's not alone in his bedroom, Caleb gives him some friendly applause. "Good show."

[lincolnmiller]

"Yeah, 'scuse me while I go crawl under a rock and die from embarrassment. Hopefully no one recorded me, you didn't... did you?" Lincoln looked down at the other guy, with big, worried, puppy dog eyes. The last thing he needed was the guys at the station teasing him about it. "I'd never live it down."

[freefromsin]

Caleb laughs and shakes his head, putting his hands up - one still holding the book with his finger saving his spot - as though in surrender. "I'm not the bookshop paparazzi, don't worry."

"What's that you were singing, anyway?"

[lincolnmiller]

"You make that sound like it's not a thing but this town has more celebrities than Comic Con. So, it could be a thing." Lincoln looked down his body, patting for the wires that connected to his phone before offering the other guy a headphone. "Come and get your love? It's a classic."

[freefromsin]

Comic Con?

"Wait-- it does? Like movie stars?" Caleb's face scrunched up, trying to imagine it. It seemed like such a sleepy little town, not a place where movie stars would live.

"Oh..." He took the earbud with a curious smile, putting it in his right ear. His gaze drifted to the floor as he listened, wanting to learn about all the classics. "It's good," he said in approval, looking back up. He could see why it inspired impromptu bookshop dancing.

[lincolnmiller]

"Yeah, let's see there's the actress from the Daine series. A couple of popstars, couple of indie bands, the Cabot boys who are more infamous really I guess." Lincoln began, his tongue pressing against the bottom of his lip as he paused thoughtfully to think of who else lived in town. "Oh, er an author? Couple of artists. Not been in town long then?"

Lincoln smiled, nodding and tapping along with the beat before realising what he was doing and tried to quit.

"It is, isn't it? Oh, er I'm Lincoln by the way."

[freefromsin]

The Daine series? Caleb almost asked what that was, but honestly even if Lincoln did explain, it wasn't like Caleb would know who the actress was. He knew some things, but he supposed he still wasn't totally caught up on current popular culture.

"I'm Caleb, nice to meet you," he said, trying to hide a smile at the renewed almost-dancing. "And yeah, I'm new. I just came to the area yesterday, actually. It seems nice enough."

[lincolnmiller]

Lincoln took back the earbuds gently, wrapping them round his phone before shoving them in a jeans pocket. Offering his hand, he took the smaller guy's hand before shaking it firmly. His own hands were rough with work and unusually warm to touch. The problem with being both a firefighter and a fire mage.

"It is, I've lived here all my life. Which probably makes me a little biased," Lincoln began and smiled. Readjusting the books in his arms, he gestured to the book store. "You came here yesterday and you're already in a book store? You have good taste then."

[freefromsin]

If Caleb noticed the warm hand, he didn't show it, still mostly just amused by how Lincoln had gone from sharing his earbuds with a stranger to then shaking hands.

He looked a little sheepish. "Thanks. I love to read, but the truth is I'm also kind of wasting time until I have to go do something." He nodded to the stack in Lincoln's arms with a smirk. "I take it you're also a big reader?"

[lincolnmiller]

"A little bit yeah, though I'm not yet out of bookshelf space. Mostly because I keep making more to fit them all in," Lincoln said with a warm, sheepish smile. "I'm a bit of a comic nerd."

[freefromsin]

"Oh, like...uh...Batman?" Caleb asks, trying to remember. He hasn't seen many comic books, but he thinks he knows some of them: Batman, Superman, Wonderful Woman. Or something.

[lincolnmiller]

"Yeah, like Batman. Have you never read a comic?" Lincoln asked, looking bemused at the younger man and his apparent hesitation on Batman. It was Batman, everyone knew Batman right? Lincoln was pretty sure the world would implode if Caleb hadn't heard about Batman.