“You forgot your book.” - “No, I lost my book!" Jace and Bat (I forgot the ship name)
Jace was extremely exhausted, frustrated and maybe just a touch feverish when he roamed the bookstore. Two more weeks to Christmas and he had another two exams and one essay to write. For now, he really had to buy the last Christmas presents though.
“Hello. Do you need help? You look… lost?”
Blinking slowly, a little sluggishly, Jace looked up. Okay, on top of exam time and Christmas time, he had also gotten sick. Which figured because he was stressing himself out and wearing himself thing because he also had work on top of everything. And he was just exhausted and would like to curl together on the couch, or on a hypothetical boyfriend’s lap, with a hot chocolate, watching cheesy Christmas movies. Hypothetical boyfriend sounded great.
“Hello? You okay there, dude?”
Shaking his head, Jace actually managed to look at the salesperson in front of him. Oh. Nice. Cute book-store clerk with an adorable smile and dark curls falling into his handsome face.
“I’m looking for a book”, offered Jace slowly.
“Good. Congratulations, you’re at the right store”, laughed the cute guy.
Jace glanced at the name-tag. Bat. That was an odd name. With another shake of his head to clear all the fog, he grabbed his bag and put it on the shelf to rummage through it. When he didn’t immediately find what he was looking for, he started unpacking the bag, grumbling.
“Ah. There. My grandmother, she wants this specific book and she… told me the title in a letter… it. There it is. It’s apparently discontinued or whatever, I don’t know, but… you have rare books, right?”, rambled Jace hopefully, shoving the letter into Bat’s face.
Bat smiled reassuringly as he read the title. “I’ll just go and check. Come with me?”
Hastily, Jace grabbed his things and stuffed them back into his bag before following Bat toward the information counter. Bat sat down behind the computer and clicked about a little. With a triumphant sound did he turn to smile at Jace and get up.
“I’ll get it from the back. Just wait a minute here, sir”, smiled Bat.
Jace heaved a relieved sigh and relaxed some. This was the third book-store he was checking for the book. And while he knew his grandmother would probably be happy about just homemade cookies from him and some flowers, he wanted to get something special for her. This was their first Christmas together as a family, after he had found her again. He needed it to be perfect. Christmas with his foster family had always been more of a cold affair, Robert and Maryse mostly just not around because they always prioritized work over family, so it was just Izzy, Alec, Jace and Max ordering pizza and doing a minimum of self-made decorating around the mansion.
“There you go, sir”, offered Bat minutes later, startling Jace out of his thoughts.
“You have no idea how much this means”, sighed Jace relieved.
“A present for a special someone?”, asked Bat curiously.
“My grandmother”, replied Jace. “We… only recently reconnected.”
“Outfall?”, asked Bat before pausing. “Sorry, none of my business.”
“It’s okay”, assured Jace with a small smile and a shake of his head. “I was adopted as a kid and only recently found my grandmother, my only living blood-relative.”
“That… That’s nice”, offered Bat a little lost but honestly.
“Anyway. Thanks for helping me with this. Happy holidays”, grinned Jace.
Jace sat on the ground, looking under the bed and cursing. He had continued writing his essay and wanted to grab his book for a reference, just to… not find the damn book. It wasn’t in his bag, it wasn’t on his table, it wasn’t on any of the shelves, or under the bed. Nothing.
Knocking interrupted him. “The door’s open. I’m busy.”
“No, I lost my book!”, grumbled Jace annoyed, trying to crawl into the deeper corner under the bed.
“No, you would have lost your book if I hadn’t found it. You actually just forgot it. At the store.”
Frowning, Jace crawled out from beneath the bed and sat up to check who even was intruding. He blinked surprised at Bat, who smiled and held the book in his hands. Of course. He had emptied his entire bag in the book-store earlier and he must have forgotten to put the book back inside.
“You are literally a life-savior”, gaped Jace and stood up. “Wait. How did you… find me?”
“You’re using your student ID as a book-mark, which not the best idea”, offered Bat amused. “So I knew your name and your college. I took a shot asking at the dorms… And found you.”
“Fuck. You actually are a life-savior”, grunted Jace at that, eyes widening. “I got an exam in three days and without my ID it would simply not… count. I could marry you right now.”
“I mean, I’d be okay with a coffee-date for now”, laughed Bat, eyes sparkling.
“…What?”, asked Jace, blinking very slowly and accepting his book back.
Bat grinned and tilted his head. “You’re very cute. I thought so in the book-store already. So, I don’t know, figured I’d give it a shot. You, me, a date? After your exams are over?”
“This is not what I had in mind for a first date”, muttered Jace.
“Why? I asked for coffee. I’m having coffee. You’re having tea. It’s cozy, we’re watching a romantic movie”, shrugged Bat with a grin, tucking the blanket more around Jace.
The two were curled together on Jace’s bed, watching some cheesy Christmas movie. Three blankets thrown over them, Jace nursing a nice, hot tea and having a hot-water bottle against his upset stomach. Bat was gently playing with Jace’s hair.
“I keep coughing and sneezing and being generally very gross”, grumbled Jace.
“Yes. But someone has to make sure you are resting and not overworking yourself”, pointed Bat out with a grin. “Besides, I don’t mind. It’s… human. If I’d be grossed out by taking care of you, this relationship totally would have no chance at all. Now stop talking, the movie’s getting interesting.”
Jace smiled faintly and snuggled closer to Bat. His new boyfriend was really cute.
Read this here on FFNet & here on AO3!
