Anime Boyfriends

Lalo hesitated in front of Geraldine’s Books. It felt like a long time ago when he’d first visited this place.

“What’s up, Lalito?” Claudio asked, stepping up next to him. “You nervous?”

“A little,” he admitted.

“Leslie promised me that he wouldn’t get into an argument with Valentine today,” Claudio said.

Leslie was busy perusing the rusty bookshelves out front, three books tucked under his arm already. When he heard Claudio’s warning, he rolled his eyes.

“I’m not that rude of a person, Clau. We’re here to meet Lalo’s boyfriend, and I’ll keep it civil.”

“I’m just nervous in general,” Lalo said, not wanting anyone to feel singled out or insulted.

The inside of the bookshop was exactly as he had remembered it. Dusty, musty, and overcrowded. Hank the orange tabby came trotting down the main aisle, chirping loudly in greeting.

“Sir Contrary of Orange!” Lalo said, crouching down to pet him.

“Look at this guy,” Claudio said. “You didn’t say there was a shop cat!”

“That’s how I know it’s a good bookshop,” Leslie said.

They all stopped to pet Hank, who flopped over onto his back, exposing his belly. A moment later, Valentine appeared, looking as graceful and stylish as ever, in his very own, very gothic way. Lalo almost forgot how to breathe, seeing him approach, scarcely daring to believe that this was his boyfriend.

“Hello,” Valentine said, looking a little bleary around the edges, his nose scrunching up at the bright light pouring through the front door.

“Valentine!” Claudio said, springing up to shake his hand, and then laughing in surprise when Valentine offered him a hug instead.

Leslie kept himself occupied petting Hank, his face a mask of blank politeness as he waited to be acknowledged. It was exactly as Claudio had said. He and Valentine were both passionate and knowledgeable about their interests in anime and manga, but at the same time, total opposites. Leslie was clean-cut and professional. He wore loafers sometimes. He ironed his jeans. Valentine, obviously, would never be caught dead in that kind of look.

“You remember Leslie, right?” Claudio asked.

Leslie got to his feet slowly, brushing off his knees. He and Valentine sized each other up for a long, awkward moment. Just as Lalo was about to step in, Valentine smiled.

“Good to see you again,” he said.

Leslie lifted an eyebrow. “Is it?”

“Of course. Any friend of Lalo’s is a friend of mine.”

“Hmm. All right.”

“Yay!” Claudio said. “Now we’re all friends! Let’s go look at some books!” He grabbed Leslie’s hand and dragged him further into the shop, Hank following after them.

The moment they were gone, Lalo pulled Valentine into his arms. Valentine sighed into his mouth, digging his fingers into his back.

“I’ve missed you,” he said, between kisses.

“Me, too, my Valentine.” Lalo knew that one day things would simmer down between them, and he wouldn’t feel such an urgent need to hold and kiss his boyfriend every time they were reunited, but for now, he was glad to steal this little moment together.

“How’s the bookkeeping going?” he asked when they parted.

Valentine rolled his eyes. “Aunt Gerry handed me three envelopes full of receipts. She always claims that she tries to use the spreadsheet that I made her, but every month, it’s the same thing.”

“So you’ve been playing catch up all morning?”

“Basically. At least it’s not ten months’ worth like when I first started helping out.”

Lalo could hear Claudio and Leslie introducing themselves to Miss Geraldine as they spoke.

“You want to step out for a bit?” he asked. “Get a breath of fresh air? There’s that nice bakery down the street.”

“Aunt Gerry already sent me to get some pastries,” Valentine said. “She wants us all to have tea together.”

He led Lalo towards the back of the shop, where Miss Geraldine was telling Claudio and Leslie about how her wonderful nephew was helping her transition to more of a science fiction focus at the shop.

“Lalo, sweetheart!” she said when they appeared. “It’s so good to see you again.”

Lalo blinked, stunned at her effusiveness. He’d only met her the one time, before getting together with Valentine, and he’d expected that he’d have to endure some kind of testing period before she decided he was worthy of her nephew. Instead, she was looking at him with a glint in her eye and a smug little smile on her face.

“I sent him off to the enemy bookshop, you know,” she told Claudio and Leslie. “He didn’t even buy anything from me. I’d do anything for my Valley.”

“Aunt Gerry, please,” Valentine said.

“Huh,” Claudio said. “Well, Lalo wasn’t even going to go back to see him. Fortunately, I convinced him otherwise.”

“Claudio,” Lalo said. “Really?”

Leslie looked like he was enjoying this situation immensely.

“We make a good team,” Miss Geraldine said, shaking Claudio’s hand.

“If you say anything else on this subject, I will leave you at the mercy of the dreaded spreadsheet,” Valentine said, glaring at his aunt.

“All right, all right, Valley, I’m done. Can you and Lalo start on the tea? I want to show Leslie here some books he might like.”

Leslie had accumulated six books by this time, but he didn’t seem inclined to stop there. Lalo met Claudio’s eyes, sharing a silent look of amusement between them.

“You coming?” Valentine asked, turning toward the staircase that led to the apartment above the bookshop.

The kitchen was cozy, with an eating area that consisted of a small wooden table that was shoved up against the window that overlooked the street. There were quaint little decorations everywhere, mostly the type of small, cutesy animal sculptures you might find for sale at a greeting card store. The floor was linoleum, printed to look like cream tiles with stylized inlays in a wood grain pattern. As a matter of fact, the entire kitchen was brown in one way or another. The peeling wallpaper was some kind of tan flower pattern. The cabinets were dark stained wood. Even the appliances were painted a yellowish, off-white color.

Valentine put the kettle on the stove and smiled at Lalo’s expression.

“Yes, it’s a lot.”

“Do you need help with anything?” Lalo asked.

“The tea’s in that cabinet,” Valentine said, pointing to the right of the fridge.

He fetched a folding step stool (also brown) from behind the fridge and used it to reach the cabinet above the stove.

“That’s pretty,” Lalo said, observing him as he lowered a delicate tea set to the counter. The teapot and cups were all painted with lavender roses, and it looked like it had been done by hand.

“One of my great-great aunts painted it,” Valentine said.

“Really?”

“Yeah. She gifted them to everyone for every occasion, so we’ve actually accumulated quite a lot of them.”

To demonstrate, Valentine opened another cabinet, which was stacked entirely with hand-painted porcelain.

Claudio and Leslie came up with Miss Geraldine just then, and the kitchen became even more cozy. There weren’t enough seats for all of them at the table, so Lalo brought the office chair up from the first floor while Valentine dragged two folding chairs out from a closet in the hall. There was a bustle of activity as they all made their tea and Valentine set out the impressive array of pastries he’d bought. Lalo’s mouth was watering just at the sight of them: chocolate croissants cut into quarters, miniature cinnamon rolls, some kind of fruit crumble, and some shortbread cookies.

“To truth, beauty, freedom, and most of all, love!” Miss Geraldine said, winking over at Lalo as she lifted her teacup high.

“Cheers!” Claudio said, clinking his teacup with hers gently.

“You’re all saps,” Valentine said, grudgingly joining in on the toast.

“That might be the first time we’ve agreed on anything,” Leslie said, his tea nearly sloshing out of his cup as he earned a gentle slap on the arm from Claudio.

Lalo’s heart soared as he looked around at all the faces surrounding him. Miss Geraldine with her sparkling mischievous eyes, Claudio with his blinding, uninhibited grin, Leslie with that little crooked smile he got when he was having a good time, and Valentine with that adorably disgruntled look on his face.

Being with Valentine was different than anything he had ever imagined for himself, and so much more than he had ever dared to hope for. Though they’d only just met, and he was still a little scared to lean into this new relationship too fast, he felt hopeful about their direction. There was plenty of physical attraction, which was great, but even better was the fact that Valentine made him feel comfortable in a way that he’d never experienced before.

He was a simple man. He didn’t need much, and he was glad for what he had. A job to pay the bills. An affordable apartment with a good landlord. A cousin who had his back, and his partner, too. And now, a super sweet boyfriend. He was grateful for that day, sunny with a chance of rain, when he’d decided that it was time to duck into that run-down little bookshop called Geraldine’s Books.