"hm."

greyson stood in the young adult section, both hands busy as he turned over the books in his grip. 'legends and lattes', by travis baldree, and 'unsouled' by will wight. both were incredibly good books, with one having ten in the series, while the other was a recent addition to the fantasy genre. travis was also the narrator for will's audiobooks, coincidently enough.

but did he want both? of course he did.

stacking them into one hand, he hitches them under his arm and turns on his heel. time to go to chec-

he nearly runs into a woman.

"ope. uhm, excuse me. was a little lost in thought there." her focus on him was a bit unnerving, and he furrowed his brow. "uh, do i know you by chance?"

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he blinked at her comment. a small knot formed in his mouth, and he couldn't formulate the sentence he'd meant to, before she was moving on.

instantly, his expression lit up.

"i know, right? honestly, i sped through it and soulsmith in two days flat. what'd you think of jai long? i found his mask to be great for his character. i can't imagine what his fangs look like."

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"i'm sure he won't. will is a brilliant writer. his characterization of yerin, for example?" he chef's kisses, freezes, then quickly flushes away the embarrassing emotion.

"i, er, just mean they're really good books." with his free hand, greyson pats his hair down nervously.

"i listened to their audiobooks and just figured i'd get their physical copies too," for his eventual library of course, "what uh, brings you here?"

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greyson chuckles nervously, the blush from before feeling hot against his cheeks. his hand presses more firmly against his hair, and he can't meet her eyes.

"sorry, i, uh, forget to think sometimes before acting." a poor excuse, not that he needed one. it wasn't like she was vilifying him for it. why was he apologizing at all.

but her request perks him up, eyes widening in surprise. violet hues light up further, sparked by a shared passion. the blush still remains, however.

"y-yeah, i can!" if there was one thing he always wanted to do, it was share his favorite books with others. "i've got so many, where to start," he whispers, pulling out his phone and scanning his kindle library. there were dozens of books in there, encompassing mostly a fiction/fantasy setting. nearly all of them were progression fantasy, with a good portion literary rpgs (LitRPGs). but what could he recommend...

"have you ever heard of Iron Prince? it's a collaborative book by some guys named bryce o'connor and luke chmilenko. but it's insanely good. or maybe you'd like Beastborne by james t callum? those can be pretty long, but easy to escape into. hm..."

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if his brain wasn't deep into thinking about what books to recommend, he might've blushed further at her comment. greyson didn't handle compliments well, especially from women. it'd always been a weakness of his.

"oh it really is," he says, turning to face her excitedly. her breath was warm against his neck, but that had gone unnoticed. until now, that is. it took him a long moment before coming to the realization that she was standing right there. close enough to smell her perfume; to feel the scratching of her hair against his shoulder.

it takes all his effort not to stumble away and inevitably trip over himself. his face turns a shade redder than last, and he visibly gulps down the anxiety.

"u-uh," he stammers, trying to find out where he was, "oh, y-yeah. honestly, he does all of that well." the more he spoke about the book, the more confident he felt; this was an area he comfortable with. it showed. "this is honestly my first collaborative book, but really, the characters are fleshed out really well. there's this system of technology that mirrors magic almost, with what seems like hard rules. the combat is written really well, and it's just long enough to not drag on."

he stops, all too aware of how he was dragging on. he slips in an apologetic smile, avoiding her gaze ever so slightly. "i could go on for a while, but i think my favorite part — and brandon sanderson does it in his Mistborne novels too — is that the authors adds a little blurb right before every chapter. a slice of something outside the story that adds just a little weight to the world." he's careful not to go on too deeply this time. greyson instead clears his throat.

"if uh, that makes sense."

he became all too aware of how close she was to him again, but he suppresses the urge to back off. project confident greyson. confidence! oh, and don't tell her about your dnd character. you'll probably spook her off.

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greyson nods sagely as she speaks, eyes scrunched in thoughtful concentration. "i listened to a lecture from brandon sanderson, and he agreed. at least, in his writing." he remembered listening to mistborne just recently and was amazed at how simple — yet interesting — the magic in the book was. and a huge part of that was because of his hard magic rules.

his mind goes back to another of his favorite series — wheel of time. it kind-of teetered on the wheel between hard and soft magic, but still, it was one of the best book series he's ever read. and probably ever will again.

greyson blinks, lost in thought.

what did he say?

"yes." he answers so fast he surprises himself, then his cheeks redden, and he pats his hair down again, "i mean, yes... i do play d&d." was she reading his mind? did she have a psychic-type around?

"i'm uh," greyson chuckles nervously, "more of a DM than a player, mostly by necessity i guess? but my pinterest folder is so ful-" he suddenly remembers where he was.

"i like to... theory craft, uh.. characters..."

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he didn't know quite how to feel.

watching penelope's facial expressions was truly like watching a rising symphony. it was beautiful, amusing, surprising and a dozen other emotions he couldn't place. none of them could match her own, however.

"no shit?" he found himself saying on reflex, many nights on the game with kennedy quinn and the occasional drinks with MATIAS SILPH, DANNY HALL and skyler dross forcing his more blunt side into rising. he suppressed the urge to blush and apologize.

then he watches her count each moment down. his head rising and falling into slow, purposed nods with each one.

"uh, uh, uh— " think motherfucker think! it was all his brain was screaming at him. a sensory overload of his own doing. he pushes himself to calm down, the beat of his heart like war drums in his ears. he tries to count as he speaks, but loses it quickly.

"— uh, one. no, two, that's awesome. dming is really fun, if not a god awful amount of work— "

"— three, uhm." his mind falters for a moment, but his attention looks down at his phone to luckily keep him moving. "what's your pinterest account?"

keep going!

"four, er. it's a lot of information." the revelation forces a laugh out of him, and his eyes wander to a nearby café inside the store, "did you want to... sit and get a coffee and we can talk about it?"

was this like a weird first date?

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