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It wasn’t Nico’s first week working at the library, but it may as well have been with how much he’d been messing up.
So far, he’d shelved at least twenty books in the Young Adult section instead of the Children’s section, wrote a book recommendation article that contained no less than eight spelling and punctuation errors, and tripped over a stray beanbag in the children’s reading area. Twice. The same beanbag. And that was without mentioning when he accidentally put an order in for forty copies of a new YA book instead of four, then had to call up their supplier to rectify his mistake. He was lucky they were on familiar terms already, otherwise he’d have been in a world of trouble.
At least it was a quiet morning. Nico’s missteps were quickly resolved without much hassle, and then he was back to tracing circles in the dust on the front desk and avoiding the stack of returns that seemed to be glaring at him. Maybe if he acted pathetic enough, he could persuade Rachel into processing them for him.
Nico, Rachel and Reyna were the only staff members in the library right now (they were the only full-time staff members, period). Reyna, his best friend (and the manager of their small library), was sure to bully him if he confessed his mistakes, so she was out of the question. Also, she was terrifying. No way was Nico ever asking her to return books for him.
When they were all in high school, Nico had never imagined this job as their collective career. Reyna had always seemed more suited to something with a strong leadership position, so it had surprised him when Reyna thrived as the head librarian. She dealt with difficult patrons with grace and shuffled money around in her sleep. The only downside to working with Reyna was that she was constantly pushing for them to expand their horizons and improve their little library, whereas Nico and Rachel didn’t see the the appeal. They were perfectly happy with their self-proclaimed ‘slice of heaven’ and reliable regulars, so why change anything?
Rachel was very much an art person. She was the main organizer of events at their library; she worked well with people of all ages and enjoyed leading Art Day on Saturdays, though they often had to get her to tone it down when she wanted to paint the walls a different colour every week. Sometimes Rachel could be a little scatter-brained, but for the most part, she was a good worker, and her artwork and interior design skills had definitely made the library more attractive to potential customers.
Nico himself thought he suited the whole librarian thing. It was a mostly quiet job, what with their location being so small; Nico still interacted with customers very frequently, but his main role was to research what books to order, what books to take out of circulation, keep their website up-to-date, and generally help keep the library running. He enjoyed his job, even if could sometimes get boring.
Speaking of boring, here came Nico’s favourite patron. Sunshine (as Nico had nicknamed him in his head) walked in through the automatic sliding doors, his hair a mess and a stack of books under his arm. He slid the books through the return slot to the left of the front desk, offering Nico a wave and a smile as he passed by him on his way to the studying area. Nico stared after him shamelessly, his finger unconsciously drawing a heart in the dust.
What made everything so much worse (and so much more embarrassing) was that he and Sunshine had never even spoken, not properly. Sunshine was constantly holed up in one corner of the library, hunched over his laptop and numerous books and notes. They’d exchanged a few words as Nico checked out books for him or confirmed the availability of a textbook or offered Will a promotional flyer, but they had yet to have a real, in-depth conversation. Nico sighed, letting his head flop down on the desk.
“Still pining, Neeks?” Rachel asked, poking Nico’s side.
“Shut up,” he said. “And I told you not to call me that at work. Or ever.”
Rachel kicked his shin on her way to retrieving the stack of returns. Seeing as she was doing his job, Nico let her go without retaliation.
Anyway, so what if he had a crush on this one guy; he’d spent way too long pining over someone who was taken in high school, so why did it matter if he was a little obsessed with Sunshine?
“Uh, hello?”
Nico’s head shot up off the desk, his customer service smile in place. “So sorry! What can I- Sunshine?”
“What?” Sunshine looked bemused, a slight flush crawling up his neck. “I- sorry?”
Nico’s smile slid off his face, replaced by a panicked expression. “Uh- I- I mean-”
“Did you just call me Sunshine?” Sunshine was definitely blushing now.
Nico alternated between keeping his eyes fixed on the floor and sneaking glances at Sunshine’s reddening face. “I didn’t- I didn’t know your name, and you’ve been coming in for- a while, I think, so I named you in my head… I’m sorry.” Nico ignored the little voice telling him this is so unprofessional that sounded very much like Reyna, steadying his nerves and looking up to meet Sunshine’s eyes.
Sunshine had his hand over his mouth, his shoulders shaking with silent snickers. “Are you laughing at me?” Nico said incredulously, staring open-mouthed as Sunshine burst into a fit of giggles.
“Oh my god… sorry, sorry,” Sunshine wiped away a tear from the corner of his eye, pressing his lips together to stop himself from laughing again. “Sorry, it’s been a long day.” He gazed at Nico, his warm blue eyes striking Nico straight through the heart. “Uh. I’m Will. But you can still call me Sunshine if you want.”
“…hi, Will,” Nico said cautiously, still bewildered. “Uh. Sorry. Again.”
“No no no, honestly, I needed that laugh,” Will smiled, waving his hand dismissively. “Thanks, Nico.”
“Hold on, how do you know my name?” Nico asked, now thoroughly confused.
“It’s on your nametag.”
Nico was losing braincells by the second, he swore. “Oh. Right.” Nico shook his head. “Right. Um, hi, Will. What can I help you with today?”
“I just need to know if a book is actually in the library,” Will explained. “I checked the shelves but it’s not there, and I could’ve sworn that the website said it was in.”
Nico nodded along. “What’s it called?” Will rattled off the name of some medical textbook, and Nico squinted. “Actually…” Nico held up a hand, walking backwards to check the shelving trolley. Sure enough, Will’s book was at the bottom, its width and hardback cover making it the heaviest book there. Nico heaved it into his arms, carrying it back out and dropping it on the desk with a thud. “Here. It was in the shelving pile, sorry about that.”
“It’s no problem,” Will said, still with that familiar, easy smile on his face, like he was talking to an old friend. “Can I check it out?”
Nico ran it through the system, handing it over to Will when he was done. Will opened his backpack and shoved it in, struggling to close the zipper. He straightened back up, lifting the bag onto his shoulder with ease. “So. I guess I’ll see you around?”
“Yeah,” Nico said, his customer service smile melting into one more genuine, more real.
“See you later, Ghostie,” Will teased, waving as he turned to walk out.
Nico felt frozen. Was he frozen? He felt frozen. What the hell was Ghostie?
“He’s talking about your sweater, idiot.”
Nico’s head snapped to the right at the sound of Reyna’s voice, then down at his sweater, where a bored ghost floated aimlessly. “How long were you listening?”
“Just the entire time.” Reyna smirked at him. “Come on, obviously you have some shelving to do.”
Nico groaned, letting his head fall back onto the desk.
Two weeks later saw Nico once again bored, sleepily sorting through a list of popular new books on his tablet and marking down which ones to order. He was technically supposed to be manning the front desk, but there was almost no one here, so if he got some extra work done in the meantime Reyna would be pleased. A warm Thursday afternoon was never going to make him super productive, anyway.
The sound of the automatic doors alerted Nico to someone entering. He glanced up, fully prepared to go back to his ordering, when he was greeted with the sight of Sunshine- no, Will, appearing as though he had just been dragged backwards through a bush.
“Hey!” Nico waved, catching Will’s attention. Will gave him a small wave back, the movement slow and weak. “You all good?”
“Mmm.” Will came to lean on the front desk in front of Nico, dropping his bag beside him and resting his head on the smooth, cool surface of the desk. “Test. It sucks. Don’t do med school.”
“I did a master’s in library sciences,” Nico said. “Did you… sleep last night?”
“Test was this morning. Studied last night. Have other homework to do now.” Will still hadn’t lifted his head from the desk, and looked close to falling asleep then and there.
“Okay.” Nico snuck a peek behind him to check for Reyna before he climbed over the desk, landing beside Will. “You’re gonna go take a nap. You can’t get any homework done like this. You’re literally about to pass out.” Nico lifted Will’s backpack off the floor – or, tried to. He dropped it after feeling its weight, concerned. “God, how many books are you carrying?”
“Too many.” Will rose from his position at the desk, swinging the bag over his shoulder effortlessly. Nico blinked and then shook it off, dragging Will over to the studying area, then doubled back to snatch a large beanbag from the children’s section and hauled it over to Will.
“Here.” Nico laid the beanbag out on the floor, gently pushing on Will’s shoulders until he sat. “When do you need to leave?”
Will closed his eyes, swaying slightly. “5:30.”
“Okay. I’ll wake you up in an hour.” Nico pointed at him. “Now rest.”
“Got it.” Will gave him a dopey smile and an awkward thumbs up, and it definitely did not make Nico’s heart skip a beat. “Thanks, Ghostie.”
“Anytime, Sunshine.”
An hour later (an hour spent mostly freaking out, Nico that was definitely unprofessional-), the timer on Nico’s phone went off. Nico swiped it away, rolling his neck to get the stiffness out of it. Time to wake up Will.
Will was sleeping steadily when Nico knelt beside him. Nico almost didn’t want to wake him, he looked so peaceful. But, Will had said he needed to leave at 5:30, so…
“Wii-iil,” Nico said quietly, shaking Will’s shoulder. “Come on, wake up.”
Will’s eyelashes began to flutter, then he cracked his eyes open blearily. “Hmm?”
“Time to wake up,” Nico nudged him again.
“Oh… oh,” Will shifted, sitting up, his hair in disarray. Nico was struck by the urge to fix it, but managed to restrain himself. “Thanks, Ghostie.”
“Of course,” Nico said, standing up as Will got his stuff together. “Make sure to go to sleep tonight. Oh, and-” Nico darted behind the front desk, reaching into a draw to get something. “Have these. Maybe the sugar’ll wake you up a little more.”
“You’re the best,” Will sighed, taking the handful of candy. “Y’know, I probably shouldn’t be endorsing this seeing as I’m studying to be a doctor, but I really don’t care right now.”
Nico laughed. “Yeah, you’re exhausted. Get some sleep, Will.”
“Bye, Nico,” Will gave him a careless smile, still slightly out of it.
Nico waved goodbye, waiting until Will was out of the library to really think about their interaction. God, Nico was so gone for this ridiculous medical student.
“Hey, Ghostie.”
Nico hummed, marking his page before closing his book. He technically wasn’t allowed to read on the job, but it was a library. It was a place for reading, it would be ridiculous if he wasn’t allowed to read. Or at least, that was what he always told Reyna. “Hi, Sunshine.”
“Um.” Will shifted back and forth on his feet, anxious. “So… you’re a librarian, right?”
Nico stared at Will blankly, then made a show of circling his gaze around the library. “Um. Yeah.”
“Right.” Will nodded rapidly. “So, do you know if there are any study groups here? Preferably on a weekend, but any time works.”
“Hmm…” Nico racked his brain. “I don’t think so, but let me look it up.”
Will stood by patiently as Nico clicked through the computer. “Yeah, we don’t, sorry. But the library the next town over does, you know Silverbow, right?”
“Yeah, my apartment’s really close to it,” Will said in recognition.
“Wait, then why do you come here?” Nico asked, furrowing his brows. “Wouldn’t it be easier to just go there?”
“Oh. Well…” Will trailed off, scratching his wrist. “I like the staff here. So.”
“Oh.” Nico paused, then, “Oh.”
“Anyway, no big deal, I can google it later,” Will said nervously, already backing away. “I’ll just…” Will turned on his heel and made for the door, shoulders hunched.
“Will!” Nico vaulted over the front desk, ignoring Reyna’s yell of “I told you to stop doing that!” and grabbing Will’s wrist. Will turned, almost afraid. “Will. For what it’s worth. I, uh. I like the patrons here too.”
A smile bloomed across Will’s face. “Oh.”
Nico flushed bright red, his words finally catching up with him. “Okay, well, I have a job to get back to, so I’llseeyoulaterbye!”
Nico dashed back around the desk, throwing himself into the tiny office behind it. Reyna and Rachel flinched back, faced with Nico’s annoyance.
“Were you guys seriously spying on me?”
This was the third time this week Will had come into the library, dishevelled and droopy-eyed, to force himself to study. Nico had been keeping track and, frankly, he was not impressed.
Will was studying to be a doctor. Shouldn’t he know that this was bad for his sleep schedule? Or was he one of those people who gave everyone else great life advice but couldn’t follow their own? On second thought, the latter option definitely sounded more like Will.
Nico was glad he’d been getting to know Will. His crush on Sunshine had only grown since they started regularly chatting, but unfortunately, so had Reyna and Rachel’s meddling.
“You should take him out.”
“What?” Nico whipped around, glaring at Rachel. “Are you insane?”
“Look at him.” Nico glowered at her harder. “He’s tired. He probably needs food. And you guys are friends. Believe it or not, but he likes you, Nico, I can tell.”
Rachel’s bright green eyes stared him down, and Nico folded. “Y’know what? Fine. But if he rejects me it’s your fault and I’m not helping with your art project on Saturday.”
“That’s a lie, I know you want to anyway!” Rachel called after him. Nico sshed her – this was a library, after all – as he headed over to Will’s desk.
“Hey, Sunshine.” Will finished highlighting a sentence then capped his marker, considering Nico with the big blue eyes that always captivated him. “So this is probably very unprofessional. But my boss doesn’t care, so... uh. You look exhausted. And, as a librarian, it's a matter of public health. So. Um. Can I take you out to lunch?”
Will looked dumbfounded. “What?”
“To relax. Can I take you out. For lunch.” Nico’s face was burning. This was such a bad idea, he has to quit his job and move back to Italy-
“Sure.”
“What?”
“Sure. I’ll go out to lunch with you.” Will smiled, already beginning to pack his books away. “If you wanted to ask me out on a date, you didn’t need to pretend so much.”
“I… I, um-”
“Unless this isn’t a date!” Will stopped dead, waving his hands frantically. “Sorry, I shouldn’t assume, I just-”
“I want it to be a date!” Nico caught one of Will’s hands, clutching it between his own. “Will. I want to take you out on a date. Now. But only if you want to?”
“Yes. Yes!” Will laughed, squeezing Nico’s hands. “Uh. I think we’re what they call disaster gays.”
Nico snorted. “Oh, yeah, for sure.”
Nico waited as Will packed his books away, then grabbed his bag from behind the desk.
“Ready?” Will asked, holding his hand out for Nico.
Nico took Will’s hand, warm and solid. “Yeah. Come on, I’m taking you on a date.”