@miss-macabre-grey asked: Bookshelf
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Lotor snuck another peek at the boy sitting in the violet beanbag chair in the corner from where he sat at the front desk. The boy had a book on his lap, lazily flipping through the pages one by one, cracking a grin every once in a while. It wasn't a very big one, but Lotor liked to think it could melt even the coldest of hearts; it certainly had melted his.
The boy turned to look up, and Lotor quickly averted his gaze, turning back to the blank page on his computer. He heard a snicker beside him, and he turned to the side, shooting Ezor the weakest glare he’d ever pulled.
"I saw that," she giggled, rolling her library lanyard playfully around her fingers, not giving a single shit about the glare he was giving her.
"Shut up," he said quietly, his olive skin flushing a deep red. He turned to look again, and was shocked the find the boy looking straight back at him.
A strangled noise left his throat, choking slightly on the sound. In the corner, the boy ripped his gaze away from the handsome young man at the front desk. He swore he could feel his heart pounding within his chest, his ribcage reverberating from the beating of his heart. His hands were beginning to stick to the plastic cover of the book with nervous sweat, and his face burned from the hot rush of blood.
'Oh fuck,' he thought, 'he saw me!'
Back at the desk, Ezor observed Lotor nervously clicking on the mouse over and over again, trying to divert his energy elsewhere. She craned her head to look at the poor boy, who seemed to be just about as antsy as Lotor. Perfect.
"Look at him," she said, watching him tap his leg, obviously jittery, "He's about as anxious as you are. It seems you two really are soul mates..."
"Ezor," Lotor hissed, "I don't even know his name!"
"Why don't you go find out then?"
"Absolutely not!" He shot back, his brain muddling over all the possible scenarios that could happen where he just made a complete fool of himself in front of the pretty boy with the blue eyes and chocolate hair.
"I'd make an absolute fool of myself," he continued, ignoring her dramatically obvious eye roll. "I'd never be able to set foot in this library ever again..."
"Okay, not that your utterly ridiculous predictions about you embarrassing yourself in front of your crush aren't interesting or anything," Ezor said, fumbling around with her lanyard, trying to find the key to the restroom. "But I really gotta like, pee."
"Leaving alone with my suffering, I see," Lotor chuckled dryly, watching her fish out the key from the jumble.
Ezor snorted. "I believe Loverboy over there shares your distress. Oh, and can you be a dear and put away that cart of books for me?"
Lotor looked up at her in disbelief. "Again?" He groaned, posture drooping slightly in his chair. "Ezor, it's the third time-"
"I know, I know!" Ezor rambled, apologetic in her tone. "I keep forgetting that Axca implemented the new schedule! I'm sorry, 'Tori! It'll be the last time, I promise!"
It was his turn to roll his eyes now, knowing Ezor too well for that to be true, but he got up anyway.
"You owe me," he muttered, hearing her whisper a little 'thank you!' before scuttling off downstairs to the restroom.
"Oh Jesus," he gasped lightly, taking in the amount of books she'd left for him. Every tiny shelf on the cart was full, and the leftover books were situated on top of the books that had already been squished in on the shelves. He sighed exasperatedly, pushing the heavy cart forward as he began his tedious task.
Fortunately, Lotor had done his own fair share of shelving in the years prior to Ezor and the other's arrival, so he was used to it. His past experience made shelving the books in their proper places look like a piece of cake, (magic hands, as Ezor described it), and he had already worked through half the cart in 15 minutes. The next book on the cart needed to be situated in the sci-fi section, so he made his way towards the proper bookshelf.
He began to make room for it in between all the other books like it, but right when he was about to slot it in, the book on the opposite side of the shelf was pulled out, revealing a pair of deep blue eyes staring back at him.
Lotor could feel his breath hitch in his throat as he locked eyes with the stranger, whom he recognized to be the boy he'd been staring at longingly only minutes earlier. The blond could feel his heart jackhammering within his chest, and for a moment, he was sure he was doomed to go into cardiac arrest. Then the boy started giggling nervously, and he couldn't help but join him, relieved to find the younger was about as confident as he was.
"H-Hi." He began timidly, his voice a sound Lotor was sure could only have existed up in the heavens.
"Hello." He answered, thanking god for allowing him to have some grace in his first encounter with the boy he'd been pining over for some time.
Though he could not see it, Lotor knew the boy was smiling with the way his tan cheeks were raised, a giddy glint in his ocean blue eyes. Something warm lit up and burned within Lotor's very core as he observed him through the bookshelf, and he so very wished he could see the full radiance of his smile instead of the tease fate was giving him.
On the other side, the young man was having trouble coming up with small talk. Growing desperate to break the awkward silence lengthening between them, he blurted out whatever his brain managed to string up.
"You work here?" He blurted, immediately regretting the words as soon as they tumbled out of his mouth.
'You idiot!' He thought, wanting to kick himself for asking such a stupid question. ‘He’s got the lanyard with his library badge on it! Of course he works here!’
Lotor looked taken aback for a second, the question catching him off guard. He had to take a moment to have a think, questioning for a split second if he really did work there or not. His hands flew up to his lanyard, and he stared dumbly at the picture on his badge before everything finally caught up to him.
“Yes!” he managed, flustered by his own daftness. He was wearing the lanyard for crying out loud! “I-I do!”
“Sorry, I should have known!” Lance told him, “I mean, I see you every day at the front desk and everything but I just...”
“Oh, it’s quite fine!” Lotor assured him, “I myself was just questioning if I did actually work here or not when I’ve got the damn lanyard around my neck, so...”
“No no, yeah, I get it,” Lance said, brushing a strand of behind his ear so he wouldn’t fidget. “I mean, you encounter someone gorgeous and everything just... “
“So you think I’m gorgeous then?”
Lance gulped, and considered trying to cover his mistake with a fib, but who was he kidding? He had been staring at the man for over three weeks now, he couldn’t deny it after that long. Besides, something inside Lance told him his pining was mutual.
“Oh, fuck it,” Lance sighed, “Yeah, I think you’re pretty freakin’ gorgeous.”
Lotor blushed a bit, slowly letting out a small breath of relief. So Ezor was right.
“Isn’t that a relief,” he said, smiling coyly, “You’re not too bad yourself.”
“I’m glad someone here thinks so,” Lance said, “But then again, I am new here.”
“Really?” Lotor asked. “I had a feeling you were. You only started coming round about a month ago, and I’ve never seen you around town.”
“Yeah, I’m not usually so reserved,” Lance admitted, fumbling with the book in his hand. “But I’m really just trying to get a feel of the whole place first.”
Something in Lotor’s eyes twinkled. “Is that so?” he asked. “Because I know a real nice coffee shop downtown I’d think you might like...”
“You don’t even know me,” Lance teased, laughing a bit with his words.
“Then why don’t we get to know each other a bit better then?” Lotor said, eyeing the cart a bit. He could get the last fifteen done in no time. “My shift is almost done, and unless you’ve got somewhere else to be...”
Lance smiled mischievously. “I don’t,” he said, a dash of flirtatiousness present in his voice.
“Then what do you say...?”
“Lance. Will you accept my offer?”
“Lotor. Should I wait for you here?”
Lotor shrugged. “If you’d like.”
Lance flopped back down on the chair, and this time, Lotor could see everything from the little space between the books, from his long, lanky legs to his smart, cocky grin. Lance shot him a playful wink, and Lotor wondered how he ever managed to find luck in scoring a date with such an...interesting man.
“Don’t leave me hangin’ too long now!” Lance called out to him in a sing-song voice, and Lotor could practically taste the sugary sweetness dripping off of every syllable.
The librarian gave him his own wry grin. “I wouldn’t dream of it,” he replied, finishing the last of the books as quickly as he could, eager to go out and have an actual conversation with the man he’d been pining over for weeks, only this time though, without a bookshelf in their way.~
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Okay, yeah, they could have just walked around the bookshelf and y’know, made out or some shit, but where’s the fun in that?
This one was a bit more challenging to write, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t fun! I really hope y’all enjoy this one as well!
