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Alex has no idea he’s become semi-Internet famous until two girls in his Constitution Law class won’t stop turning and looking at him and it causes him to be so distracted he answers a question incorrectly for Professor Luna and stays mad about it for the next forty-five minutes. Still, his mama didn’t raise a rude boy, so he keeps his cool when he stops by their desks after class.
“Hey, uh. Do I have, like, broccoli in my teeth or something?”
One of the girls, a beautiful brunette with golden skin, manages to answer him while the other goes completely stiff and silent - obviously embarrassed she’s been caught out. “You’re on HDR.”
“Hmm?” The concealed annoyance threatens to bubble to the surface.
“Hot Dudes Reading!” the embarrassed companion squeaks out, holding out her phone.
Sure enough, there’s a picture on it from some Facebook post. From the look of it, it had been when he’d been coming back to his apartment after brunch with Nora and June on Sunday, and he’d pulled out his glasses to get some of his reading done. He’d had no idea someone had snapped a picture of him, and now it’s his turn for his cheeks to flush.
“Oh. I…don’t know how to respond to that.”
“Sorry, we’ll be chill next class. It was just kind of a shock, like meeting a celebrity or something,” the brunette answers.
“I…think I’d appreciate that.” All of his southern charm - he has game, he swears! - seems to fade away in the face of this strange interaction. “See you guys next time,” he mumbles, and high-tails it out of the classroom even though he normally would’ve been walking Professor Luna back to his office and peppering him with questions.
He pulls out his phone.
Alex: have you guys heard of Hot Dudes Reading???
Junebug: no, sounds fake
Chaos Gremlin (do not feed after midnight): yeah, I showed that to you babe like a year ago
Chaos Gremlin (do not feed after midnight) has sent a link.
Chaos Gremlin (do not feed after midnight): Wait, is that you????
Junebug: ew I did not need to read comments objectifying my baby bro, thanks
Alex: wait it has comments
Alex clicks the link and the tumblr app Nora had made him download when he’d come out as bi so she could “send him the best memes” automatically opens. He clicks the comments, then quickly clicks back again, deciding it gives him too much anxiety to see so explicitly what other people think of him.
Still, he scrolls the page, because hey, he’s a loud and proud bisexual man and he has eyes, and these definitely are Hot Dudes Reading. Most of the men were caught like him: on some form of public transportation, headphones in, clearly concentrating on what they’re doing and with no idea that they’re being snapped.
It gives him a weird, twin feeling of privacy invasion and voyeurism/exhibitionism, and honestly, he kind of likes the uncomfortably hot way it makes his stomach feel to both see others on the page and be seen.
His thumb stops automatically scrolling when the most beautiful man he’s ever seen appears on his screen. He has to scroll back up and check to see if he’d accidentally clicked on an Armani ad or something, the man is that gorgeous.
He’s got blond hair that falls in perfect locks over his forehead, and the bluest eyes Alex has ever seen, in the pixelized low-quality picture that has been snapped on what is obviously a New York subway train. His skin is pale and flawless, except for the sexiest damn mole above his lip. He’s wearing a high-quality brown overcoat and trousers, and he’s reading a well-worn copy of Pride and Prejudice. The comments are full of thirst, emojis, and gifs of Colin Firth covered in lake water.
And rightly so.
And then he feels badly because here he is, objectifying someone the same way that gave him anxiety mere minutes ago about himself. It’s extremely silly and he shakes his head at himself and closes the app with a swipe of his thumb.
And then he opens it back up, saves the photo to his phone, and swipes away again just as quickly.
He doesn’t have a plan with the photo or anything. He just…he just opens it up every once and awhile and strokes his finger over the blonde’s hair, wondering if it’s as soft as it looks. He doesn’t understand how the man is making him feel some kind of way just by sitting and reading. He doesn’t even know Mystery Darcy. And, yeah, maybe in his head he’s started calling him Mystery Darcy. With capital letters and everything. Oops.
Still, when he’s over at June and Nora’s place for some pre-gaming before heading to the queer nightclub they favor, he pauses in front of June’s bookshelf. “Hey, bug, can I borrow this?” He taps the spine of her copy of Pride and Prejudice.
“You have time for pleasure reading?” Nora chirps from the small kitchen/living area where she’s pouring shots.
Alex winces, because no, not really. But maybe if he shifts some studying time around, and maybe if he gets a little less sleep, he can do it. “I was asking June, not you, gremlin.”
Nora laughs, bopping over to the bookshelf and pushing a shot into his hand. “Just teasing. Come on, bottoms up, I wanna dance with you tonight and forget I ever decided to do a grad program in stats.”
“Yeah, lil’ bit, you can borrow it,” June calls from their shared bedroom just as Alex downs the tequila. “How’s this?” She spins out of the bedroom, all sparkly and gold and smoky eyes and Nora drops everything to spin with her girlfriend.
Something twists in Alex’s heart, a little like jealousy, which makes him feel like shit, of course. He’ll find a boyfriend or girlfriend when he’s out of law school. You know, when he has all the free time in the world as a junior lawyer trying to fight his way up the ladder. Yeah, right. Then.
He only realizes he’s still staring down at the book when June gives him a soft shoulder check. “Y’okay?”
“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine,” he says with a tight smile and deflects before she can push further with, “You really do look gorgeous. You’re going to break all the hearts tonight, going home with Nora.”
June just grins and rolls her eyes, tugging him along. “C’mon, jackets, let’s get going.”
Maybe he intentionally only reads Pride and Prejudice when he’s on the same train he got photographed on before. And maybe he checks the HDR blog every day to see if there’s any new posts - of either himself or Mystery Darcy.
And maybe his heart pangs extra fast when he finally shows up again.
He’s about halfway through the novel, wanting Lizzie and Darcy to just kiss already, on the fence about Wickham and commiserating with Charlotte over being an old maid - although he’s only twenty-three and facing spinsterhood instead of twenty-seven. At least he’s not a burden to his parents (yet).
He didn’t even clock whoever took the photo. They’re very good. But it’s the outfit he was wearing yesterday, so the turnaround on the blog apparently isn’t too long.
The caption of the picture reads: “If I had a nickel for every time a hot guy in New York got caught reading Pride and Prejudice on the subway, I’d have two nickels, which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it’s happened twice,” which does genuinely make Alex laugh out loud even though that had been the design, to maybe capture the attention of his Mystery Darcy somehow.
At least he’d captured the attention of whomever is connected to the blog who also rides his train.
And he may actually be genuinely enjoying Pride and Prejudice, so…he tries to put Mystery Darcy out of his mind. And then he helps himself to June’s bookshelf again, borrowing Sense and Sensibility when he’s done, because he’s found that using the subway trips that way is actually pretty beneficial to his mental health, surprisingly. Not focusing on his law studies a hundred percent of the time all the time hasn’t been detrimental to the time he does study, or his grade percentage in class.
Weird.
A few days later, he’s caught by the blog reading Sense and Sensibility and he learns that the girls from his class who’d been giggling about him the first time are named Jessi and Melissa and they totally think he and Mystery Darcy belong together.
Well, after Jessi - the hot brunette - makes a pass at him and he politely declines.
Fuck him, he’s saving himself for a mystery man riding a train in an entirely different borough.
“You should hold a sign, or something. Not your phone number because obviously, but like…I don’t know, something,” Melissa offers as they’re all walking to the library for a study session after class, because Alex is nothing if not fast at making friends. Horrible at keeping them when they find out how annoying he is, but fast at making them.
“We don’t even know if he’s queer,” Alex mumbles, trying to be the voice of reason for once.
“Yeah, but you miss a hundred percent of the shots you don’t take,” Jessi counter-argues, already displaying killer court skills. Alex is confused why Melissa laughs so hard at this, until Jessi explains, “She’s making fun of me being super into hockey yaoi right now. It’s a Gretsky quote that comes up a lot when hot boys want to fuck each other but are holding back because of the angst.”
“I…understood about half of that sentence.”
“But you heard the boys fucking, yeah? Oh, Alex, we’re going to be good friends,” Jessi jokes, taking his arm in hers and leading them to their designated table.
After a small brainstorming session - all that Alex allows before getting into actual studying - they decide on a message. He writes it out in block letters on one of his precious post-its he uses for studying, to-do lists, everything, and presses it carefully to the front of Sense and Sensibility.
There is no enjoyment like reading…
It’s nothing, really. Just…a temptation. A hopeful temptation. It may lure in the wrong fish, but…missed shots, and what not.
As it turns out, it’s not even his post-it that shows up first, but another absolutely devastating picture of Mystery Darcy, also reading Sense and Sensibility. The poster notes that the picture was taken after Alex started reading S&S, so obviously A) Mystery Darcy reads the blog or at least someone in his life does and keeps him apprised and B) he’s maybe trying to communicate, too.
Or he’s just also working his way through her works, or something. Who knows.
Still, he gets very excited texts in the group chat with Jessi and Melissa, who have become his cheering squad.
He finishes Sense and Sensibility and moves on to Emma in the time it takes for his post-it to appear on the blog. He’s also in the middle of mid-terms and stressed as fuck and tries to ignore the whole thing as an unnecessary distraction when he should be doing more important things.
He keeps reading Emma, though. Honestly, he kind of loves Emma Woodhouse in all of her annoyingness. He totally gets it. She loves her friends, and loves them deeply, and just wants the best for them, and so she meddles, and Alex totally gets it. He’s been accused of the same more than once.
He’s fucking tired after a brutal midterm when he flicks open Tumblr randomly to distract himself, and the first post staring up at him is a picture of Mystery Darcy reading, yep, Emma, complete with a post-it that reads, in clear letters, “I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.”
Alex’s heart flutters in his chest, and he feels a blush rise to his cheeks. Mystery Darcy looks wonderful. The same overcoat, but he’s obviously had a fresh haircut and his nails also look perfectly manicured with clear polish as they hold Emma open on his lap. Alex wants to replace the book in his lap and nip against those perfect, cupid-bow lips and have those blue eyes staring up at him in adoration.
Jesus Christ, he’s obviously tired and out-of-it because of mid-terms.
The comments on the post are basically like talking to Jessi and Melissa: everyone is rooting for them. The internet needs this win. At least this tiny corner of the internet.
“What’s got you so tied to your phone, hermano? Come dance with us!” June yells, some hours later, as Alex is refreshing his tumblr feed once again.
They’re back at their spot, and mid-terms are over, and he’s half in love with a figment of his imagination, so yeah, you know what, drinking and dancing sounds pretty fucking good. He chugs the rest of his drink and sets it back on the bar, then lets June and Nora pull him out onto the dance floor.
“Have you met Pez?” Nora yells above the pounding of some Lady Gaga remix.
“Like the candy?”
“Precisely, darling,” says a man at his elbow who he swears appeared out of nowhere. He’s got bright pink hair that contrasts with his dark skin, and is dressed like sin. His eyes widen when he looks Alex up and down. “And you are- well, hello. Wonderful to meet you.”
Pez offers his hand, and Alex brushes his lips across his knuckles like a gentleman, which makes Pez cackle. “Oh, you’ll do quite nicely, yes.”
“What do you mean?” Alex asks, confused.
“Why the fuck are we still talking? Come on,” Nora complains.
“Oh, my delight, I’m so sorry to have neglected you. Just let me send a quick text.”
True to his word, Pez joins them as soon as he types rapidly on his phone, and it’s very obvious that Alex has quickly become the third wheel in this situation. With a sigh, he backs off the dance floor, wiping sweat off his brow, and sidling up to the bar to order another beer.
“There is no enjoyment like reading.” The voice is deep but light, tilted with a posh British accent, and Alex whips around to see- to see him. Mystery Darcy in the flesh and bone.
Fuck, he’s got at least four inches on Alex, and the shirt he’s wearing- fuck. Alex’s brain short-circuits, and he tries desperately to remember the rest of the line. “I’ll be, uh, miserable? If I don’t have books. I think.”
Mystery Darcy laughs, a wonderfully light sound. “Not quite, but I doubt you read them annually as I do, so I suppose I can forgive you.”
“Oh my fuck, you even talk like him.”
MD raises an inquisitive eyebrow. “Like who?”
“Darcy. That’s what I’ve been calling you in my brain. Mystery Darcy,” Alex replies, like it’s obvious. “You talk just like him.”
“But I’m blond!” MD sputters. “I’ve been calling you Darcy. Because you fit the part much better than I do. I’m more of a Bingley, I would think.”
“As long as you’re not a Wickham.” Alex sticks out his hand and grins. “Alex Claremont-Diaz. Full time law student, amateur Austen fan, and definitely interested in getting your number before the evening is out.”
The blond takes his hand, shaking it warmly, and Alex almost shivers at the electricity of the touch. “Henry Fox. Professional Austen fan, if you count I’m writing my dissertation on her, full time dog dad, and could be very easily persuaded to give it to you.”
Alex can’t stop grinning up at Henry, even as the bartender gets his attention for his beer. He looks at the beer, then back at Henry. “Want anything? On me. Maybe we can find a dark corner and get to know each other?”
“I’ll have a glass of the house white,” Henry tells the bartender before slipping down a few bills. “But it’s all on me.” His hand hovers at the bar, then comes down to Alex’s hip, where Alex can feel the jolt of it once more. Henry’s thumb is brushing over his skin through his shirt, making the hair on the back of his arm come to attention.
“You saw my message on Hot Dudes Reading,” Alex says while they wait for the wine, still smiling up at Henry.
“I did, though I must admit that my mate and sister are more responsible for getting me to send a message back. I fear they’d had quite enough of my pining over internet men.”
“Well, I don’t think that’s going to be a problem anymore, is it?”
“Mmm, cocky, are you? So sure you can fulfill all of my needs of attractive ‘dudes’ reading in public places?”
Alex runs his hand up Henry’s arm, then leans in to whisper in his ear, “You can bet on it, baby.”
Waitingfortenderwerewolves reblogged:
Hot Dudes Reading posted:
[Michael Scott ‘it’s happening!’ gif]
[Image]
Image description: Two men sitting next to each other on a New York subway train. Their legs are crossed toward each other and their hands are intertwined. One man is leaning his head against the other man’s shoulder as they both look down at the books they’re reading: the blond man is reading Persuasion and the brunet is reading Tort Law: Volume 3.
#all we do is win #love wins #NYC #menlovingmen