return_to_nola | Dominic

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Dominic

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"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.

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."

"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.

"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."

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?"

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

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.

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."

"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.

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."

"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.

"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.

"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."

"If they do, they'll strip me of my cardigans and bookcart and ceremonial catalog cards. It's a fate worse than death." More contritely, he added, "I shouldn't have said you talk too much. There's just not a lot of conversation here, most of the time."

And not a lot of being called hot, what, a hundred times? What was going on here? Should he tell Elspeth?

"I have several follow-up questions. One: what happens to the cardigans, are they given to baby librarians? Two: Where do they file the confiscated catalog cards? Three: Will this turn you into a loose cannon, like every copy who has to turn in his badge in a movie or an SVU franchise?"

Oh, Dominic was having so much fun. And also, talking too much. He couldn't wait to tell Elspeth that the library boy was naturally, unpretentiously, funny. "Wait, four: Do you love the quiet or do you wish you had more conversations in here? At the pre-approved decibels, of course."

Gavin counted off on his fingers. "One, they're deconstructed and used to carpet the children's section. Two, under C, for confiscated. And three, I'm too tightly wound to be a loose anything."

Why was talking with Dominic so easy? It was weird. He'd never talked with any patron so much, ever.

"And four...it depends on who I'm conversing with." And if Dominic weren't with someone, Gavin would've winked right then. Maybe. At least considered it.

“You have an answer for everything,” Dominic noted, admiringly. His perception of Gavin was rapidly evolving. Funny, he was realizing, wasn’t the right word for Gavin. Oh, he was definitely under the umbrella of funny, but this was wit. This was cleverness. This was, a little, drollery. This was also, Dominic noticed with real pleasure, a touch of flirtation.

“And you make tightly wound look attractive. I like conversing with you too, you know. I wondered what it would be like if we talked more.” And it was wonderful. Actually, it was almost spooky. He had a strange sense of what might be considered deja vu. Like this talk was familiar, broken in. Like they’d done it before. Like they should do it over and over again.

Gavin reared back a little, stunned. Was...was Dominic sort of, perhaps asking him out? And what would Elspeth do to him if he said yes?

Okay, but no. This was more likely a friendship. Making friends as adults was hard—not everyone came with a built-in house of foster sibling friends. Though Dominic didn't strike Gavin as the type who was ever lonely.

"There's a new coffee place nearby," Gavin said slowly, carefully planning his words so they didn't imply too much. "If you ever want to talk there."

Usually, when Dominic asked people out, or tried to express interest in them — especially after a conversation that felt as easy and as life-affirming as breathing — the other person didn’t look so stricken!

But then, Gavin was shy. That much was obvious. It had taken how many brief little moments of conversation before they ended up using names, before Gavin even seemed to try on a little reciprocal flirting.

Still, he made that precious, cautious, offer, which was more than Dominic had ever expected, and by which he was somewhat... moved? Gavin was clearly someone who took so much care of his words and his place in the world. Not everyone with sometimes-sad eyes would ever take this much care. It was really something.

“I can’t believe you asked me out before I could actually ask you,” Dominic had to say, he just had to, and he smiled. “I love a coffee place, especially for a date. What are you doing when you finish work?”

Because Gavin had been so careful to be non-committal with his phrasing, Dominic had to be the one to use more clear language. He understood why anyone would linguistically offer someone an out or the chance to set the terms of a conversation or a plan, especially when they were motivated by vulnerability. And because Gavin had ventured out there with concrete plans, Dominic was absolutely not going to leave him hanging with ambiguity.

"What about Elspeth?" Gavin blurted out, because he had to, he HAD to. He'd seen the drama of his parents cheating on each other multiple times and didn't want to contribute to that for anyone else. And also he was pretty sure Elspeth could and would destroy him if she felt like it, and surely Gavin made a more appealing target than a hot, charming guy with a manbun and maybe the best smile in the world.

Dominic looked at Gavin liked he had suddenly sprouted three extra heads. “What do you mean, what about Elspeth? Are you dating her?”

"No!" Gavin wasn't insulted, but haha, no. "I thought you were."

Oh. Ohhhh! Oh! Okay! Okay, well that shed some light on a few things. Dominic laughed — not much, and kindly, more touched by Gavin’s decency than amused by the mix-up. “No, no, no. We’re not dating. We’re great friends and sometimes we’ve been lovers, but only extremely casually, on a whim, months apart.” Curiously, Dominic noted his own use of the past tense, as though he wanted to demonstrate that if Gavin liked monogamy, it wasn’t off the table for them.

Oh God, God. And Gavin was such a square he hadn't even considered that. Yes, of course nonmonogamy was a thing! And friends with benefits! He was just too cautious to ever consider that for himself.

With Dominic, though? Gavin studied him carefully, thinking about this draw he'd always felt toward him, ever since the first time Gavin had spotted him browsing the stacks. He wasn't totally sure what Dominic wanted out of this, out of anything, but...maybe he could take the risk.

"I'm glad," Gavin said finally, smiling.

Oh boy. Gavin had a smile that warmed some unknowable place in Dominic’s heart. Had he seen this smile before and been chasing something like it forever, or had he just been waiting for it his whole life? Also what was happening to Dominic, he of the nonmonogamy and long sexy weekends, why was he thinking so romantically about this sweet, witty, endlessly interesting guy!

“Is this why you usually ignore me when I flirt with you? Or have you just been playing a great game of hard to get?”

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