Dominic

[nola_remus]

If Gavin worked in a public library, patrons might get an email or autocall when their checkouts were about to expire. And that sounded pretty great to Gavin—no human interaction necessary, pay any fines online, perfect. But since this was a university and the people in charge didn't want their poor students to become even poorer—or be denied a diploma, which could happen if library materials weren't returned—they had to personally call everyone who had books overdue.

It was, more or less, the worst.

There was no open office space, so he had to use the main help desk, out in the open. As he did with every single call, Gavin did a little mental psych-up—this is dumb, it's just reading a script—and took a deep breath before dialing. It rang a few times, and he was starting to think he might luck out with voicemail, but then the patron picked up.

With a wince, Gavin said, voice soft so as not to disturb anyone, "Hello, this is the Tulane Library—no, Tulane, not public. Maybe your child goes here?"

While they sorted out the very complex issue of what the library was, Gavin stared out into the library and—oh God, it was the hot guy. Bunhead guy! Coming his way!

Gavin sank down in his seat a little, trying to disappear, and said into the phone, "Yes, right, well, it looks like your son has a book that's about to be overdue, so if you pass—the name?"

He checked his notes, and was one-hundred percent sure he now looked like he was dying. "Uh, it's called Make Your Own Sex Toys?"

Gavin glanced up, and Jesus, he was making eye contact with the hot guy. "Repeat? Um, yes, ma'am, that was Make Your Own Sex Toys. No, SEX toys. Right."

Hot guy was grinning down at him, enjoying the show. And Gavin was surely going to die.

Comments

[nola_sirius]

Dominic had some time to kill and itch for reading, so he had wandered into the Tulane library -- one of his favorite places, actually -- to saunter through the stacks and find something that spoke to him.

But some things speak louder than others. Like a beautiful, shy young man turning beet-read. No one should make that human talk on the phone, was Dominic's first observation -- Gavin was almost squirming! The second was that he looked particularly handsome when he was flustered.

Dominic would know. The face this man would make if Dom decided to wink at him was, well, it was special. He genuinely held it close to his heart as one of life's pure delights.

Dominic moved forward, languid and fluid, and leaned against the help desk. "Can I put that book on hold? I'm very interested in the topic." He grinned, smile all wide and bright.

[nola_remus]

Dying. Gavin was dying now. If a sinkhole could spontaneously open up and swallow him, thanking Jesus would be his last words.

He squirmed in his rickety rolling chair, the phone still pressed to his ear as he locked on to those gorgeous, laughing eyes that didn't seem to want to let him go. Not even as he was saying, "Yes, ma'am...well, it's ten cents a day...no, I don't—okay, I'll call back."

Gavin replaced the phone in its cradle with a little more force than necessary, then covered his face with his hands. Dying. "I can put a hold on it for you," he said through them, voice muffled.

[nola_sirius]

When Dominic started laughing, it wasn't at Gavin. It really wasn't -- it was at the sheer hilarity of the situation, the delicious awkwardness, the way Gavin covered his face in his hands. The way someone covered in tattoos could be so fragile! It was like a painting. Like a scene from a play Dominic would have written. In short, he was into it.

"Hey, where'd your face go? Are you dying of embarrassment? You can't die on me now, you have so much to live for, and you haven't even added me to the waitlist."

[nola_remus]

Gavin cracked his fingers, peering at him with one eye through the gap. Somehow, it looked like he was smiling. "Do you really want to touch a sex toy book a freshman's had for twenty-one days?" Because Gavin was going to deep-clean the hell out of it when it was returned, if ever.

[nola_sirius]

Was the sweet indifferent library guy finally having some fun with Dominic? This seemed like voluntary fun! What a day for the ages. "That poor, poor deprived boy. Can I steal your records and send him a professionally made sex toy? He deserves it. Or at least he deserves to know porn is on the internet these days. Maybe just point him out sometime and I'll teach him about Pornhub. Hi Gavin," he added, settling both arms on the desk and arching his back, stretching, settling in for what would be probably 30 seconds of joy before Gavin insisted he had to get back to work, if past encounters were anything to go by.

[nola_remus]

Gavin could just imagine the poor kid, being accosted by a friendly stranger in the library about sex toys. He'd probably quit school forever, hide at home, and just rely on whatever alarming phallic objects he found laying around the house, and that wouldn't do.

So Gavin dropped his hands and said primly, "No record stealing"—he hesitated—"Dominic."

Why did he always feel weird about using hot guy's name? It felt like Gavin shouldn't be paying attention to patron names, he guessed, and usually he didn't. Just when it was important.

[nola_sirius]

"You know my name," Dominic said, not quite surprised. Well, what he really wanted to say was 'you're going to let me know you know my name?' but that seemed like it would put the delicate contradiction of a boy on the spot, and Dominic wouldn't stand for that.

"I hear you loud and clear, though. No record stealing! Your integrity remains intact for another day."

[nola_remus]

"It's on your record," Gavin said, feeling like an idiot. He'd really never said it before? Just thought it? He thought it a lot. "And you check out a lot of books..."

I'm not a creep! he wanted to say, but that was stupid. Creepiness was in the eye of the beholder.

"Also, we're allowed to use extreme force when protecting library materials, so it's for the best," he added with a shrug, joking but straight faced.

[nola_sirius]

"Do you know what I check out?" Dominic asked, and he would swear, if asked, that he mostly meant the books he checked out from the library. Mostly.

"Damn, I talked myself out of extreme force? You should have told me before, so I could make informed decisions." He grinned again, and sure, why not: he threw in a wink.

[nola_remus]

He didn't want to lie by playing dumb, so— "Philosophy books, right? Is that your major?"

Which, obviously, it had to be, right? He wanted to die, basically, and even more so when Dominic winked at him. Winked! At him! Gavin knew he should be offended—who did this guy think he was, Cary Grant—but honestly, it worked on him.

[nola_sirius]

This guy was so sweet. Dominic was completely charmed by every single way that Gavin refused to be charming. It was the reason why Dominic always wanted to talk to him; it was also the reason why he had never asked Gavin out. "That is my major, you win first prize. It's cute that you've noticed. Especially now I know you're not sharing my secret book records with anyone else."

[nola_remus]

Cute? Like really cute, or in a patronizing way? Not that it mattered—Dominic was dating someone, and that someone wasn't Gavin, which was fine. Gavin dated other former foster kids, or guys who looked at his tattoos and thought he was down to party, or occasionally sweet, sad, messed-up boys he met at rallies. Not winking, long-haired Cary Grants.

"Oh, we share the secret records among ourselves," he found himself saying, still thinking about that wink. "Intra-library gossip is extremely kosher."

[nola_sirius]

"Trust a librarian to use the prefix intra, which, as you of course know, is objectively sexy." Dominic absolutely had internal lists of words that could get it and words that couldn't. Didn't everyone?

See, this was interesting. Dominic had long-suspected that Gavin was fun, and now he was finally seeing it.

[nola_remus]

Gavin tried very hard to ignore how that word made his heart beat a little faster. "It's the one sexy thing. The rest is disinfecting sex toy manuals and checking the pages for bedbugs."

[nola_sirius]

"How many sex toy manuals is this school giving to its students? I knew I chose the right institution. Have you ever found bedbugs?" Keep talking, Gavin, you're doing so well!! Dominic was having a great time, thank you very much.

[nola_remus]

"No, because if I had, I'd still be under industrial showers right now." He'd lived in a house with bedbugs for a while, as a kid. The best way to get rid of them was to just discard or burn everything infected, so the parents just decided everyone could live with them. Gavin still had a few scattered scars, from scratching. "And we have as many sex toy manuals as the student population requires, so a lot."

[nola_sirius]

Gavin in the shower. What a beautiful thought. Dominic didn't mind if his smile suggested that he was, indeed, picturing it. "Crisis averted. How does one safely make a sex toy? Have you tried?"

[nola_remus]

Something about Dominic's smile made Gavin feel bold. "No, why bother?" He held up his hands. "God gave me two."

[nola_sirius]

Dominic's laughter was not library appropriate. It was full-throated and sincerely appreciative, and it was loud and it was long. He was just... so... happy.

[nola_remus]

Gavin ducked his head and looked around guiltily, but none of his supervisors were around, and the students either didn't notice or had headphones on. Still— "I'm going to have to shush you," he said. "Librarian law."

[nola_sirius]

"Speaking of sexy." Dominic held his hands up in surrender. "I'm ready for my official shushing."

Turns out, the beautiful shy Librarian actually is charming. Well well well. This... could be a problem.

[nola_remus]

It wasn't wrong to flirt, right? Even though the other guy was seeing someone else? A fine-avoiding criminal of a person, sure, but still—Dominic was someone else's territory.

So Gavin kept it simple. Pursed his lips, brought his finger to them, and, "Shhhhhh."

[nola_sirius]

"You've really mastered the classics," Dominic said admiringly. A straight up shh! "The finger move was the perfect touch. I'm telling you, I feel chastened. I'll never raise my voice again, not under your roof."

There was such an elegance to Gavin now that he was really talking. Dominic was fascinated.

[nola_remus]

"It's the first thing they teach you when you apply for a Masters," Gavin said, which, God, he wished that were true. Some sort of class in having authority would be great, at least. Like when you needed to put an end to flirting with a cute patron who made you want to keep talking.

"And philosophers talk a lot, right?" But he couldn't help smiling as he said it.

[nola_sirius]

"The mysteries of the library science programs: revealed. This is like one of those shows when a magician wears a mask to sell out his community and reveal all how all their tricks are made. Are you going to be cast out of the library secret society?"

Dominic chuckled. "Evidently I talk a lot. Love the sound of my own voice and my own thoughts. What else can I do with that but philosophy? I totally respect that you've decided to caretake books, though. They're precious, they need some love from a hot smart guy."