Chapter Text
“Let’s go, bookworm. I’m closing up for the night.” Khadgar didn’t recognize the voice, nor did he look up from the book he was reading. He had 20 more pages and the spy couple had been flirting with each other the entire time and he wasn’t about to let this slide without finishing the damn thing.
New York City’s public library was a huge sprawling place and one of the biggest libraries in the United States. Khadgar was lucky to work there, but to be honest he wasn’t the best employee. He was always very early and stayed way past closing time, so much so that he had given the last closing guard such an awful time that he quit. Now there was this new guy, and if Khadgar had looked up, he would have noticed that he was almost a typical bouncer type: tall, burly. He had long hair and a beard, so that made him the hipster type, and his eyes were a ridiculous shade of blue, but Khadgar hadn’t noticed.
In response, Khadgar put up a solitary index finger, indicating that he needed a minute to finish his book. He propped his feet up on the circulation desk and flipped the page. He still hadn’t looked up at the night guard.
Grumbling about how he didn’t know there were such a thing as entitled librarians, Anduin Lothar headed off to do a final sweep of the place. It appeared to be deserted, and most of the lights were out anyway.
Anduin drew a map out of his pocket and took a look at it. There were too many places for people to hide and he’d have to settle on a quick scan.
The guard wasn’t big on architecture, but could appreciate the library for what it was. The huge lions outside were a nice touch and he had been teased since he was a boy that he looked a little like them, and so some creative person decided to give him the nickname “Lion,” but it hadn’t really stuck with him past high school, and that was quite some time ago.
The windows were rather large on this floor but the shelves were positioned such that their charges wouldn’t be damaged. It was raining outside, and the streetlights cast a ghostly glow around the huge building. It was early enough, so there were many cars still out and about. For a Friday night, people were just starting to go out and getting home might be annoying tonight with the influx of people. If memory served, a big-name band was playing at Madison Square Garden and it always seemed to clog up the subways.
By the time Anduin reached the second floor, a resounding “Are you fucking kidding me?” and a loud thunk greeted Anduin’s ears. Damn the search. The assholes that decided to stay in the library two hours past close could stay there all night for all he cared. People that committed wouldn’t hurt a thing.
When Anduin came back down to the circulation desk, the young librarian was nowhere to be found. Cursing to himself, Anduin looked around the huge room and heard some shuffling off to the left. The place was mostly dark and the most prominent lights came from the windows near the roof and the lights that hadn’t been replaced since the 40s in the coat room.
“Bookworm--”
“The name’s Khadgar.” The boy’s clipped reply echoed through the space, and Anduin might have felt a bit intimidated if when he found the kid he was straining to reach the shelf to put his book back.
“Would you like some help, Khadgar?” Not waiting for a reply other than a frustrated grunt, Anduin took the book from the boy’s beefy hand and shelved it himself. He wanted to be proud of himself, but there was already a space where the book was supposed to go.
“Not there. One over. It’s the second in the series.”
Anduin did as he was instructed. “So what happened?”
“You don’t have characters flirting for two book straight and then say ‘And their lips met.’ It’s lazy. Readers deserve better.”
“So you like romance.” A hint of a smirk tugged at Anduin’s lips.
“The more genres you love, the more you love to read,” Khadgar pontificated.
“Party line?”
“You bet. No, I’m not big on romance. I graduated in English with a minor in Library Sciences and need to decompress every now and then.”
Anduin hadn’t gone to college. He flirted with the idea of joining the military for a while, but a buddy of his got him in a club for a summer and the bouncer mentality had stuck with him ever since. But preparing for basic training had gotten him pretty buff, and he was vain enough to maintain appearances. Plus, he might have to deal with an entitled librarian or two.
“I suppose that’s fair.” Anduin stepped back and allowed the librarian to pass. They started to walk out of the building together.
“Well…” They stood outside and Anduin fished around in the pocket of his canvas pea coat pocket for a carton of cigarettes. Pulling one out, he offered one to the younger man.
“That’ll kill you.”
Anduin chuckled and lit up anyway. “Suit yourself.”
“What does your girlfriend think of that?” If the kid was joking, he wasn’t letting on. Anduin was too tired to be angry that everyone automatically assumed everyone was straight and he would otherwise get on a soapbox about it, but tonight the kid was getting wet and perhaps smoking wasn’t the best idea in the rain, but also the kid looked really cute, with his attempt of a beard/mustache thing and dark wavy hair and eyes dark as a night on the Hudson and the size of the city itself.
“What makes you think I have a girlfriend?” Anduin’s voice was low with smoke and he had to hand it to the kid. He was straightforward. And that was probably the only straight thing about him.
Khadgar shrugged. “I wouldn’t be surprised if someone like you was attached.” The librarian shuffled and started to walk. To be fair, Anduin did like girls a bit, but he definitely had more of a leaning to the rougher sex. Though whomever would consider this kid rough on first glance was an idiot.
Anduin followed him, glad that his subway station was in the same direction. The rain was easing up some, but nonetheless Anduin pulled his hair down from the bun it was in so that it sat better when he put his hood up. Khadgar had pulled up a dark blue umbrella from his satchel that Anduin had just noticed he had. He’d rolled up his baseball-sleeved hoodie and the guard noticed the odd mark on his right arm.
Since when were birthmarks cute?
“I’m not...that sort.”
Khadgar nodded. “Good.”
Again, Anduin had to laugh. They were coming up to his station.
“Shit,” the boy swore. It almost sounded forced. He was a Classics major, and what business did someone that educated have limiting himself to swearing, at least in English? Anduin shrugged to himself.
“Hm?”
Khadgar had stopped and was staring at him with wide eyes and hair that was wet and getting in his eyes. Anduin’s primal instinct told him to brush the hair out of the younger man’s eyes, but the fact that he was a self-respecting human with self-control kept his hand at his side.
“I never asked your name.”
Anduin passed by him and headed down into the subway station. Khadgar followed.
“Anduin Lothar.”
All of a sudden, Khadgar grinned and it was like the rain had stopped. Plucking the cigarette from Anduin’s fingers, he took a pull from it and blew rings into the air. He gave it back to its owner.
“You know, I don’t remember what ancient language it’s in, but that means ‘lion.’”
’Oh, for fuck’s sake.’
Anduin crushed the cig underneath his shoe and pulled out his riding card. The boys both scanned theirs and headed down to their train.
“This city is insane,” muttered Khadgar as way more people than necessary got off the train when it pulled in. He and Anduin stepped on and sat down. To his new friend he said, “Funny how these things go.”
“Funny, indeed.”
~~~
Khadgar was the night guy at the public library, and Anduin was the night guard, so every night for the next week or so they had a similar interaction: Khadgar finishing a book (Anduin was honestly shocked at how quickly that boy consumed literature) and Anduin getting upset about something that the kid was doing that was keeping them longer than was necessary. Though if he was honest with himself, Anduin liked getting to spend time with him. Khadgar and the other librarians were supposed to turn out the lights and had time to put back the books from the day, and Khadgar was always the last one out and he always was the one to wait for Anduin to come and lock up.
“To someone who didn’t know better,” said Anduin one night, “people might think you’re trying to spend time with me.”
“To someone who didn’t know better,” responded Khadgar one evening when he was being especially petulant and even read the last fifty pages to Anduin as he sat at the circulation desk twirling his Maglight and played the light all over the walls in random patterns.
At this point, Khadgar had taught Anduin where all of the genres were and how to shelve, and so he handed the book to the taller man and got up to lock the circ desk and finish counting the money that they had collected from Friends of the Library donations and late fees.
As Khadgar zipped up his hoodie and pocketed his phone and wallet, Anduin returned.
“I liked that one.” The guard hadn’t been much of a reader when he was younger, but the grand finales and plot summaries that Khadgar was giving him was turning him into a book-lover. He’d even picked up the Harry Potter series off of Amazon (after the most brutal of tongue-lashings from Khadgar for not even having seen the movies. Anduin, if he remembered correctly, had been ironically told that he was ‘un-American’ and ‘didn’t have a childhood.’). He had busted his way through one and two on his own time, but the nights were for Khadgar. He was a great reader, inflecting his voice and changing it ever so slightly for when characters were speaking. It was sometimes like he wasn’t even reading; he was telling the story from memory, that was how interesting he made it.
“I’m figuring out your genre, slowly but surely. Maybe I’ll start reading A Song of Ice and Fire to you. We have a billion copies, and I even have them at home.”
“That’s that HBO show, right?”
“Mm.” Khadgar hip-checked the gate open and stepped out into the common area. They walked together toward the entrance and Khadgar, as was his habit, rolled up his sleeves, exposing his birthmark.
Without really giving it thought, Anduin grabbed Khadgar’s arm and gave the mark a good look. The younger man gave a surprised cry and briefly tried to pull away, but Anduin’s hand was firm and the look he gave the shorter man stilled him. Their eyes lingered a little longer than was necessary, but Anduin was stroking his fingers over the intricate mark and Khadgar hissed at the sensation.
“Sensitive, eh?” Anduin was still holding Khadgar’s left arm, but he had lowered it and stepped a little closer.
Khadgar wasn’t stupid, obviously, and he appreciated how smooth Anduin was. With a close-lipped smile, Khadgar looked up at the taller man and snorted.
“I’m actually not ticklish at all.”
“Good. Neither am I.”
Anduin got the worst grin on his face and his hands flew up and tickled under Khadgar’s armpits. With surprising agility, the librarian turned around with a yelp and leaned forward so that he was curled into Anduin. Their heights were similar enough that the taller man was caught off balance and rolled off Khadgar’s back. He stumbled on the marble and it was enough for Khadgar to go for the knees and bring him down.
Anduin had left his hair down that day and it splayed all over the marble floor and his piercing blue eyes met Khadgar’s as the shorter, stockier man straddled his waist. They were both panting and staring at each other.
Khadgar wasn’t sure how it happened, but Anduin leaned up ever so slowly, as if to go in for a kiss. Hooking his ratty sneakers around Anduin’s thighs, Khadgar mirrored his movement, eyes closing and ink-stained hands snaking up Anduin’s arms, which had slithered up his waist, tugging on his hoodie and the ghost of a hem of his shirt to finally resting on his shoulders.
They were inches apart when Anduin had the advantage, cupping his hands around Khadgar’s neck and the back of his head. He was stronger, and with speed that Khadgar didn’t anticipate, Anduin flipped him over and his back slammed against the hard marble tiles. The librarian grunted in surprise and pain and retaliated with a knee to Anduin’s gut.
The guard laughed and stood. He reached down to help the librarian up, but the stream of epithets had him second-guessing. He walked away.
“Hurry up, bookworm, or I’ll lock you in here.”
“Go ahead. I could stay all night in here.” Khadgar was starting to get himself upright and plannig a counterattack.
“Suit yourself.” Anduin did it. The glass door that separated the bustle of New York to the serenity of its grandest library closed with a resounding bang. Anduin locked the door and Khadgar was there within a few seconds.
“I was kidding,” he said nonchalantly. “I need to feed the cat.”
“Should have thought of that before you ran your smart mouth.”
Khadgar’s eyes shone with untold thoughts that were definitely not G-rated at that comment. Realizing that Anduin was seriously not about to unlock the door, his eyes turned pleading. “Seriously, Anduin. Let me out.”
“Do you want to go out sometime?”
“I want to get out, yes.”
“No, you idiot.” He waited until Khadgar re-processed what Anduin said and realization struck his features harder than his back had hit the marble a few minutes ago.
“You’re being coercive,” Khadgar accused.
“You’re being obtuse.”
“You can thank me for expanding your vocabulary.”
“If you go out with me, I’ll thank you for all manner of things. And you can read to me whenever you want. And I’ll stop giving you shit.”
“No you won’t.”
“You’re right. I won’t.” They were grinning at each other through the glass.
“After work on Saturday?” Khadgar’s tongue darted out to wet his bottom lip.
“I’ll pick you up at seven.”
“No shit.” The library closed at five on Saturday, and Anduin showed up two hours after close.
A rustle of keys and a click of a lock, and Khadgar was freed. They entered the night together and headed to their subway station. Khadgar didn’t let his face betray his glee until he got off the red line three stops before Anduin, and the night guard didn’t realize until someone say down next to him that Khadgar had left his hoodie on the hot subway car.
Anduin would have to head into the library early tomorrow to give it back, because knowing that idiot bookworm, he’d catch a cold between now and then.