Chapter Text
The weather has turned cold, and Bilbo unlocks the doors to the University Library with fingers that are almost numb. It’ll be a quiet one today, presumably. Budget cuts have meant that the Library is now open to the public, too, but not many seem to know that, and with the hours students like to keep it’s often midday before anyone but Bilbo and his staff are in.
He has barely filled the kettle before he hears the creak of the old hinges behind him again, and calls out from the office, “Not yet, thank you! 9am!”
“But you’re here,” says a gruff voice.
Bilbo stomps out to the desk and comes face to face with quite the most handsome man he’s ever seen, tall and blue-eyed, with a hawkish nose and a dark beard. He looks irritable, and a little startled. Not a student, unless he’s a mature student.
“I wanted to use the internet,” says the stranger, and Bilbo is too stunned to do any more than point to the computer desks in the corner. He watches the stranger walk over to them and flees back to the office. Tea suddenly seems an even better idea than usual.