Chapter Text
The cold was relentless, the kind of cold that wouldn't sit still, shivering wind like knifepoints poking at eyes and ears. Rey was used to the cold. She was born in London and had lived in New York for more than ten years, but still the sharp sting surprised her. Hands numb inside her gloves she gripped the metal grating and lifted, revealing the store front of Rebel Books and Records. When she opened the door she was met with the familiar smell of paper and vinyl, her favorite smell in the world.
Rebel Books and Records was a small store. The inventory was split between vintage records, comic books and out of print rare books. She flipped on the ancient coffee pot in the back, took off two of her four layers and started turning on lights to get ready for the day. Rey loved the routine of opening up shop early in the morning, the methodical flipping of switches and computers buzzing to life. She powered up the aging desktop computer and checked the store email and facebook page before logging into tumblr.
Rey was part of several fandoms, she had gotten into the scene around same time Poe had hired her at Rebel when he handed her his stack of must-read comic books and graphic novels. Classic Marvel stuff, artsy pieces like Maus and Persephone, and finally his entire collection of Sandman, all in original single issues. She had taken to Tumblr to discuss everything from plot lines to illustrators to publishing houses. She was active on a lot of tags and had a small number of internet friends she kept separate from her real life friends. It was cool to be into comics but she tried to hide the fact that she next level nerded out online.
The cold made for slow business so she sipped her coffee while scrolling though her messages.
kylo-ren sent a photo set:
Check this out, dark horse is publishing Sherlock Frankenstein.
raven_
oh hell yes, this is the content i'm living for. who's illustrating?
kylo-ren
Jeff Lemire, his shit is pretty cool.
raven_
yeah i've read plutonia and death of x, his style is great.
kylo-ren
idk i feel like normally this wouldn't be my thing but trust DH to do it well
raven_
tbh this is totally my thing. sherlock? monsters? i'm all in lol
kylo-ren
i know you are loser, that why i sent it to you.
raven_
awww yr thinking of me <3 <3
kylo-ren
ya ya whatever.
raven_
for all you know i'm secretly a middle age man w an illicit agenda
kylo-ren
pls. no middle age man is THAT into hogwarts houses. i've seen your blog. do you rly need to sort every character into a house?
raven_
yes. yes i do.
Just then the bell above the door dinged and Rey's boss Poe walked into the store.
"God damn its cold!" He said, shaking show off his coat.
raven_
gotta go, boss man is here
kylo-ren
enjoy being a wage slave :))
Rey smiled and closed the tab. "How's it going boss?"
"Better now that i'm not freezing on a train that smells like piss. How you doing kiddo?"
"Can't complain," Rey said, moving from behind the counter to open up the boxes that had come in last night.
Poe went over to the computer and looked through music. "What are you in the mood for?"
"Surprise me," Rey said. A moment later Liar by Built to Spill began to pour from the speakers.
"Perfect," she said as she began unloading the new stock. Most of it was single issues from DC, but one of the boxes contained a few rare books which she picked up and unwrapped gently. There was a first edition of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. It was worn around the edges but it looked like it was in good shape.
"How much did you shell out for this?!"
"Not as much as someone is gonna pay for it, trust me. It was a steal."
Rey pressed her face into the book, relishing in the musty smell of the old paper. She imagined the little kid who first owned this book more than a hundred years ago. How exciting it must have been to fall into this world, the idea of traveling underwater before it was a reality. The people who had been inspired by Jules Verne and gone on to create real submarines, real diving suits. She let out a shuddering breath as she brought the book to the back display case.
Rey had always lived most of her life in books. She was an orphan who grew up in a home in London. When she was 14, she had entered a contest in the back of a magazine to win a trip to the states. She had won, and upon arriving in New York city, promptly decided she wasn't going back to the UK. She had run away from the tour, and no one really bothered to look for her. It wasn't like she had a family to miss her. The first year had been the hardest. She lived on the streets, doing whatever she needed to for food or money. Things that made her stomach turn when she thought about them now. She had wandered into Rebel Books and Records when she was 15, and begged Poe for a job. He agreed to let her work after school, without realizing she wasn't in school at all. He caught her sleeping in the back room after 3 months and instead of turning her into the cops, he helped her get her GED and enroll in online classes. He found her the crappy basement apartment she still had, and fronted her rent for nearly a year until she had enough saved. If it hadn't been for Poe, she would probably be dead.
The bell dinged again and Finn walked in, looking dazed and worried.
"What's that face?" Poe asked.
Finn plopped down into a chair behind the counter, coat still on.
"We're in trouble."
"What did you do?" Rey asked, pulling her mom face.
"Not me! Oh man, you guys. They're opening a First Order book store across the street, didn't you see the sign?"
Both Poe and Rey jumped up to run to the window. They hadn't seen it.
First Order was a chain comic book store, there were already 5 locations between Manhattan and Brooklyn.
"Fuck!" Poe ran his fingers through his hair.
"No you guys this is going to be fine," Rey said, looking between the two panicked faces.
"Honestly, sure we sell comics but we also have records and rare books and people know us, they're going to stay loyal. Who knows maybe this will even become like, comic book ally."
"Oh sweet little Rey, you absolute cupcake, sugar soup angel face. No. We should be very, very worried," Finn said. Rey made a sour face at him and opened her mouth to argue.
"Okay look, yes Finn it's concerning but Rey is right. We don't need to panic right now."
"So what do we do?" Asked Finn with a huff.
"We carry on as usual. Rey keep unpacking boxes, Finn go do inventory for records, see what got lifted this week."
Everyone set themselves to a task without another word, Rey flashed a big smile at Poe. In truth, she couldn't stop to think about what it would mean for the store to close. This was the closest thing to home she had ever had. She wouldn't let it happen. She just wouldn't.