Chapter Text
Alex’s Tuesday can’t get any worse. He slept through his first alarm, the hot water ran out halfway through his shower, he missed his train making him late for his first class, someone bumped into him in the elevator and spilled his coffee down his shirt, and now there’s someone sitting at his desk in the library.
And so what if it’s not his desk and its public property and he’s later than he usually is and the library is filling up fast so of course this guy has to sit at the desk that Alex has sat at every Tuesday and Thursday after class for the last three weeks. He can still add it to the list of inconveniences that have him dangerously close to standing in the middle of the street and screaming. He sits down at a desk cattycorner to his usual and wishes that he could wring the coffee out of his t-shirt as he settles in to study.
Thursday is better, Alex is up with his alarm, his coffee is perfect and, even better, stays in his cup, and when he gets to the library at his usual time his desk is empty and waiting for him. He’s halfway through a reading for his contract law class when the guy from Tuesday walks around the corner and scopes out the available desks. He’s hard to ignore, he’s tall and broad and he’s got the softest looking mustard yellow sweater on. He lingers just a moment by Alex’s desk, and Alex swears he looks annoyed when he notices Alex sitting there. Desk guy picks the cubicle right behind Alex and immediately gets to taking things out of his bag and shuffling papers around.
Desk guy beats him to the library on Tuesday, he’s got his head buried in a book and doesn’t even notice when Alex very dramatically sighs and picks the cubicle in front of desk guy, glaring daggers at him through the solid wood divider. He sends an angry text to his group chat with June and Nora and both of them send back very uninterested replies.
Alex was determined to lay claim once again to his desk, he would simply annoy this guy until he left and found somewhere else to do his work. He picked the desk right next to him, the divider just short enough that he could glare at desk guy every so often.
He started his long con by playing his music just loud enough that he knew it could be heard through his Airpods, tapping his pen along to the beat. He would lean back and clear his throat every now and then or purposefully drop something and have to reach down and get it, shaking the joined desks in the process.
Through it all desk guy didn’t even acknowledge him more than a glance over the divider when he sat down. Fuck this guy he’s too calm. And also fuck his expensive looking sweaters and that one button down he wore last week that made his shoulders look ridiculous, not that Alex was looking.
He means to be more of a nuisance, but Alex Claremont-Diaz is, first and foremost, an academic weapon, so he gets lost in his reading and taking notes and doesn’t even realize that desk guy has left. This would be a victory if it wasn’t 8:37pm and the only sustenance Alex had consumed since lunch was half a water bottle and a Listerine strip. As if on que his stomach rumbled and the headache that had probably been building for several hours reared its ugly head. He packed his things and started his trek home.
“No, June, you don’t get it, it’s my desk, I sat there for like two weeks before desk guy got there!” Alex says through a bite of a hot dog.
“Alex, I don’t think two weeks is long enough to stake a claim and it’s not like you actually, legally, claimed this desk. You’re in law school, you should know this.” June sounds done with his shit; he admittedly has talked about desk guy to her a lot, as in, he sends her an angry text every Tuesday and Thursday when he sees his stupid blonde hair and ridiculous broad shoulders hunched over the desk.
“Everyone knows that a few weeks into school you have your spot, and my arch-nemesis thinks he can just come in here and snatch up my spot!” He’s a few blocks from his apartment now and mere moments away from becoming one with the couch for the rest of the evening if he can just make it.
“Arch-nemesis is a totally normal way to refer to someone who is simply trying to study.” June says, and then sighs, “Alex, have you considered that you’re obsessed with him? I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’ve grown very fond of your angry texts about him, but I know what kind of sweater he wore on Tuesday, I shouldn’t know that.”
Alex groans, “He’s just so easy to hate and I think I need an outlet for pent up frustrations and he’s there and having a little grudge is normal and healthy probably.”
“You were so close to saying something emotionally intelligent, I have to go, I love you. Leave desk guy alone or become besties or fall madly in love or whatever.”
Alex pulls his phone way from his and groans again as he makes his way up the stairs to his front door.
On the following Tuesday desk guy is there again, typing away quietly on his laptop. The psychopath doesn’t even have earbuds in, Alex thinks, just raw dogging the sounds of the library.
A quick scan of the surrounding cubicles reveals what Alex knows to be true, every cubicle is empty, he could have his choice of any other cubicle, even the one that is objectively also good back in the corner by the stairs; but he wants his cubicle.
Alex drops his backpack a little too close to desk guys feet, and his expensive looking shoes, and plops down in the desk next to him again. Desk guy looks over the divider at him briefly, sharp blue eyes staring back at him.
Alex is suddenly a little ashamed of his one-sided grudge, he presses his lips into a sort of apologetic smile but remains in the cubicle next to him.
When he goes to play his music, he doesn’t blast it, he also doesn’t tap his pen to the beat, and he also doesn’t take notice of desk guys arms when he reaches up to stretch his back, he’s very focused on his reading thank you very much.
He and desk guy continue like this for another two weeks, desk guy keeps his cubicle in a vice grip, but Alex has found that he doesn’t really mind the cubicle next to it. He notices small things about desk guy, like the books that he has stacked next to his laptop; Dracula one day, Oscar Wilde the next, he notices that desk guy drinks tea and that he doesn’t even hate the smell, he notices that desk guy smells good; maybe some name brand cologne but also just clean.
He’s come to like sitting next to desk guy, as the semester has progressed, they’ve spent every Tuesday and Thursday next to each other, studying in silence. Alex wonders if it would be weird to introduce himself to desk guy at this point. Maybe six weeks of sitting next to each other has surpassed appropriate introduction time.
On a Tuesday in late September there’s contact, ok so not exactly contact but a granola bar.
Alex has been studying for a test for a week now and at this point the words are starting to blur together both on the page and in his mind. He’s in the zone though, he can power through, the test is tomorrow he just needs to make it through today and cram a little bit more.
At 6:30 desk guy starts packing up his stuff, books and notebooks gently placed into his leather messenger bag. Before he gets up to go, he slides a granola bar onto Alex’s desk. He looks up to see the softest smile of desk guys face before he turns and walks back through the stacks. Alex can feel a blush rising on his cheeks.
Midterm season is kicking Alex’s ass, last night he didn’t even get his pants off all the way before he fell asleep, he woke up with one leg still dangling around his ankle. After he almost trips out of his pants he manages to shower and put fresh pants all the way on and make it to campus.
The library is packed when he gets there after class, it’s been slowly filling up the last two weeks as more and more people realize they should put in some extra hours. Desk guy and his cubicle have mercifully been spared so far, until today.
Desk guy is there, his books spread out on his desk, his grey cardigan pushed up to his elbows, and on the desk next to him is a notebook and a bag in the chair. Alex is just about to sulk off and find another desk when desk guy leans back in his chair to stretch and catches sight of Alex. He quickly grabs the bag out of the chair and gathers up the notebooks, dropping the brown leather messenger bag at his feet and shoving the notebook under his laptop.
“I saved your desk; it was filling up rather fast in here.” Fuck. Desk guy is British, and blushing.
Alex can feel his own blush creeping up his cheeks as he goes to drop his own bag next to the cubicle.
“Thanks.” He says quietly, suddenly very unsure of himself.
“I’m Henry, by the way, I know I’ve been sitting next to you for weeks, but we’ve never exchanged names.” Desk guy – Henry – sticks out his hand. Now that Alex is able to actually look at him, he’s noticing even more details. He had, of course, noticed his blonde hair that looked very soft, and he had noticed the high cheek bones and strong jaw. But up close, with more than just a passing glance, he noticed the freckles scattered across his cheeks, a mole in the corner of his mouth, long blonde eyelashes framing the bright blue eyes that he had taken notice of a few times.
“Alex,” he says taking Henry’s hand in his to shake, “thanks for the granola bar a few weeks ago too, I get caught up in studying and-“ he waves a hand to try and encapsulate the all-consuming-ness of his hyper focus.
“I figured.” Henry says with a soft smile. He turns back to his laptop and continues his work.
Alex has his laptop open to his study guide, but he’s read the first question about six times, and it still hasn’t settled in his brain. Alex’s brain is currently very caught up in the fact that that he was rendered mostly speechless because Henry looked at him and talked to him.
He can admit that guys are attractive, it’s an objective fact and Alex loves facts. But the buzz in his skin feels very different.
On Thursday Alex’s class gets out seven minutes early and it’s just enough time that he beats the crowd to the library, including Henry.
He puts his backpack in Henry’s usual chair and spreads out a notebook and papers, and then plops down at his desk.
He’s just getting situated when he spots Henry walking down the aisle, windswept blonde hair and flushed cheeks. He smiles when he sees Alex and the obvious claim he’d staked on Henry’s desk. Alex starts to grab his stuff off of the desk as Henry approaches.
“Thank you for saving my desk, my professor wanted to go on and on about my thesis, I just knew it would be taken when I got here.” He flashes a smile of perfect white teeth and it makes the corners of his eyes crinkle.
“Yeah man, of course, what’s your thesis on?” Alex asks.
“Queer history in literature.”
“Oh, cool, sorry, what does Dracula have to do with queer history? Or is that just a for fun read?” Alex motions toward the stack of books that Henry has pulled out of his bag.
“A lot of people see Dracula as an analogy for queerness, many monster books can be viewed that way.”
“Huh.” Alex turns back to his book but something that’s been rattling around inside of him slots just a little more into place.
They’ve been studying for a few hours when Alex can’t look at his textbook anymore without wanting to vibrate out of his skin, he needs to get up and move and also needs to shoot caffeine straight in his veins.
He leans around the divider to nudge Henry.
“I’m going to go get some coffee, do you want anything?”
Henry looks up, slightly bewildered, “Er, no, I’m fine, really.”
“Henry, we’ve been here for hours, please let me get you a coffee.”
Henry blushes slightly and smiles, “Earl Grey tea, please.”
Alex takes the long way to and from the coffee shop on the ground floor to get a little of his energy out, he wishes he could blame it entirely on upcoming midterms but he’s got a sneaking suspicion that might not be the full truth.
He places Henry’s tea next to his elbow and sits down at his own desk.
“Thank you, Alex, really.” Henry says taking a sip.
They go back to silent studying after that until Henry gets up to leave around 7:15.
“Alex, go home, or at least go eat dinner.” He says as he packs up his bag.
“Yeah, I will, I’m going to finish this case and I’ll go home.” He crosses his fingers over his heart when Henry shoots him a look that says he doesn’t believe him, “Promise.”
He does go home after he finishes his case. He’s eaten dinner, talked to June, took a leisurely shower and is laying in bed when he realizes he didn’t take Henry’s desk. This whole thing started because he wanted his cubicle back and today, when presented with the choice, he gave it to Henry.