Chapter Text
Nicky enjoyed his trips to the library. A lot of them weren’t strictly necessary since many primary sources could be found online these days. But there was just something so satisfying about thumbing through the pages of an old and forgotten books or tracing the lines on a manuscript that was hundreds of years old (with gloves and a very careful touch of course).
And then there was Joe.
Nicky had never met such a beautiful man before. It wasn’t only his body – and Nicky wasn’t blind the man was very hot – it was his soul that was beautiful. The way he interacted with children or the elderly, the way he joked with his friends, the way he managed to coax a smile out of Nicky even on the worst days…
Nicky really wished he could write poems because no prose in the world could do that man justice. Certainly not anything Nicky could write. (And there absolutely was no notebook filled with odes to Joe’s beauty and drafts of how Nicky could ask him out hidden on Nicky’s desk.)
But Nicky knew that Joe was just doing his job and the last thing he wanted to do was be a creep that made people uncomfortable by asking them out at work. Also Nicky was so flustered he barely managed to string a sentence together whenever he talked to Joe. So, there was that.
That didn’t mean he couldn’t enjoy his little crush from afar. The short interactions they had whenever he signed out books really brightened his day and a crush had never hurt anybody.
Nicky could already feel his mood lifting as he walked up the steps of the library building. The weather had been dreadful and his umbrella was of no use with all the wind. Plus his editor had send him the last round of revisions and as much as Nicky loved her he had reached a point where he just wanted to throw his latest book out of the window if he had to look through it one more time.
He was definitely procrastinating by going to the library to research his next book but what Quynh didn’t know…
Pushing open the door of the library he immediately spotted Joe standing behind the info desk. He barely managed to school his face to a normal and pleasant expression (instead of an ear-splitting, in no way appropriate smile) before the other man had spotted him and gave him a little wave.
Nicky gulped. It should be illegal for anyone to look this beautiful under fluorescent light. Joe was wearing his hair in a messy bun today. That and the dark red knit, slightly too big sweater made it impossible for Nicky not to imagine how Joe would look on his couch engrossed in a book on a day as rainy as this one.
“Good morning, Joe,” he greeted his crush, glad he didn’t sound as flustered as he felt. The last thing he wanted was to make Joe uncomfortable.
“Morning Niccolo. Looks like it’s still coming down out there,” Joe replied, with a sympathetic scrunch of his – adorable – face.
“It doesn’t look like it’s gonna let up anytime soon. I know we need some rain after that dry summer but I really want some sunlight.”
Joe nodded in agreement, making a curl topple loose from the bun and end up in front of his right eye. He blew it out of his face carelessly and Nicky felt himself go weak in the knees once more. It had to be illegal to be this cute and hot at the same time.
“Me too!” Joe agreed enthusiastically. “But enough about the weather. What can I help you with today?”
~*~
Nicky knew better than to completely blow of Quynh. He was pretty sure his editor had a sixth sense for that and once had even shown up at Nicky’s apartment where he had been three seasons into his rewatch of The Good Place that he had coincidentally started right after getting a list of revisions from Quynh the day before.
He really didn’t want her to show up at the library. She was also his friend so of course she knew about his little crush on Joe, but she was very much not subtle so with Nicky’s luck she would just straight up ask Joe if he fancied Nicky and he would never be able to show his face again.
He liked working here. Relatively early he had asked Joe what he thought was the best desk in the library. The other man had shown him a hidden gallery that was on the third floor of the building from which he could look down into the main library room. Since then, it had been Nicky’s go to desk and since the door to the gallery was normally closed the desk had been empty & waiting for him most days.
It made him feel a bit special and brought a smile to his face every time. It was as if he and Joe were sharing a secret between them.
Despite his hatred of all things editing once he actually started (after staring into space and wasting time on social media for an hour) he managed to get into the flow of things. If he hadn’t set an alarm, he would probably have wound up being late for dinner with Andy and Quynh – again.
Gathering his things, he did his best to stretch out the kinks in his neck from staring at a laptop for hours. He was getting old. It might be time to start exercising like Andy was always telling him to.
As he headed down towards the ground floor, he caught a glimpse of the sky outside. It was still full of heavy, gray clouds but at least it had stopped raining for now and the wind has also died down. Eh, it was probably the best he could expect for now. Hopefully he could make it to Andy and Quynh’s place before it started up again.
Rounding the corner, the information desk came into view. Joe was still manning it (Nicky’s heart skipped a beat but he was good at ignoring that) but he had been joined by two of his colleagues. If Nicky remembered right their names were Nile and Sebastien – though he had heard Joe call the man Booker and he would love to hear the story behind that nickname.
The three of them seemed to be engrossed in an intense debate by the looks of it. Walking towards them Nicky couldn’t help but overhear them.
“I’m telling you cult leader.” Whoever they were talking about, Nile seemed to feel very passionately about them.
“Okay if anything, today’s list is a point for my theory. Because ‘Be you own Undertaker – how to dispose of a dead body’ is something a serial killer would look up,” Sebastien replied just as passionately.
Oh. Nicky felt dread settle in his stomach. They were talking about him. And they thought he was a serial killer or a cult leader. Joe thought he was a serial killer or a cult leader.
So much for his attempt to not be creepy.
“If he were a serial killer, he would not need to get a book from the library on how to dispose of bodies,” Joe chimed in with exasperation. “And he’s not a serial killer or a cult leader he just… I don’t know has a weird taste in books or whatever. We have actual people watching porn on library computers, this is not that weird in comparison.”
The dread that had settled in his stomach was replaced by warmth as he heard Joe defending him. And yeah, he knew his tastes in books was a bit to the eccentric thanks to his choice of genre. He had meant to give a heads up at some point, but he had always been too flustered by Joe so he kind of… forgot. (And he probably wouldn’t have gotten out a complete sentence anyway.)
Nicky started walking towards the information desk again, the trio behind it were still so engrossed in their discussion that they hadn’t noticed him yet. Pulling together the wit that tended to leave him when the most beautiful man in the world was in front of him Nicky knocked on the desk to get their attention.
“You’re both wrong. I’m a researcher for a secret government agency that fights the occult,” he replied, channeling his 8th grade theater class to sound as serious and threatening as he could.
“Really?” Nile asked, her eyes lighting up.
Nicky barely managed to stop himself from laughing, instead schooling his face in an expression of stern displeasure. “Yes, and my colleagues are already on their way. We need to take you in to determine if the knowledge you have is a threat to the peace treaty we have with the afterlife.”
A beat of awkward silence followed his declaration. Nile, Sebastien and Joe staring at him, obviously unsure what was happening. Nicky tried to keep a straight face, but he lost it when the three of them exchanged uncomfortable looks.
“Of course I’m not a secret agent,” he said, laughing. “Or a cult leader or a serial killer for that matter. Have you looked at me?”
“We have looked at you. A thirty something white guy who is into weird shit? Does not not scream serial killer,” Nile chimed in, despite Joe elbowing her and hissing her name in disapproval.
“Fair enough,” Nicky replied with a shrug, touched that Joe was trying to defend him. “But I’m way more boring. I’m an author of historical fantasy novels and also a research assistant for whatever history project wants to pay me.”
Nile huffed, clearly disappointed. “It would have been cooler if you had turned out to be a cult leader.”
Nicky laughed - he liked Nile. “Eh, I’m only 38. There is still time to become a cult leader. I’ll let you know when I get started.” He took a glance at the clock on the wall, noticing that he was somehow already running late. “Sorry to end the career planning but I need to get going. Did you have time to get the books?”
Joe reached behind himself and grabbed a stack of books and handed them to Nicky. Only now did Nicky notice the red that colored his cheeks and how embarrassed he looked.
“Thanks for your help, Joe,” he said with a warm smile as he took the books from him – for once not feeling like a self-conscious idiot in front of Joe.
Finding out that his crushes colleagues (and maybe his crush) thought he was a serial killer and/or cult leader was somehow so funny it balanced out his usual mortification. It did seem to have turned Joe silent though.
With a shrug Nicky put the books in his bag and said his goodbyes. If he hurried and the gods of public transports where benevolent he might only be a reasonable amount of late.
“See you soon future cult leader,” Nile called after him and Nicky gave her a little wave.
Nicky was almost to the door when there was a hand on his shoulder, stopping him in his tracks.
He whipped around ready to tell whoever had grabbed him to get out of his personal space only to come face to face with Joe. Joe’s face was still flushed and he was breathing like he had run a marathon instead of the few steps between his desk and the library door.
“I’m sorry,” he blurted out, shocking Nicky into silence. “We shouldn’t have talked about you that way. It was unkind and I tried to get them to drop it but it’s so boring here sometimes. But that’s not an excuse, I should have done more. You didn’t deserve that. I’m really sorry.”
Nicky just blinked, his brain going into overload with Joe in his personal space all flustered and flushed. It took him a few seconds to get himself to focus back onto what Joe was saying instead of how unfairly good he smelled.
When he didn’t immediately react Joe’s face fell and that spurred him into action because Joe should not look sad because of him.
“It’s fine. Really it is. One of the perks of working with the public is speculating with people. Really don’t worry about it.”
Joe wasn’t convinced it seemed because he shook his head. “No, it wasn’t fine. You have never been anything but nice to any of us and I look forward to your visits. We shouldn’t have gossiped about you. Let me make it up to you with a coffee or something.”
Maybe it was that the absurdity of the situation, maybe it was the amount of coffee he had had today, maybe it was how close Joe was, but Nicky found his mouth moving entierely without his conscious input.
“There is nothing you need to make up Joe. I thought it was very funny, it made my day. But you can take me out for a coffee anyway.”
Joe blinked and Nicky was already cursing himself for his boldness. He had sworn to himself he wouldn’t be a creep who asked someone out at work. Why did he lose all his cognitive functions whenever Joe was around? What if he turned this awkward and he could never return? What if…
“Like a date?” Joe asked, disrupting Nicky’s panic spiral.
Well, in for a penny in for a pound.
“Yeah, like a date,” Nicky confirmed breathlessly.
The smile that lit up Joe’s face was well worth all the panicked thoughts of the last few minutes. “A date. I’d like that Niccolo.”
“Call me Nicky,” Nicky replied with a matching smile.
“It’s a date Nicky.”