Work Text:
The first thing you should know about Connor’s life at this point is that it sucks. Well, not completely, but part of it, for sure.
He needed to get a job, nothing too big or time-consuming, just something to help pay for college. He look up a few options and found one close by that didn’t sound too bad, and he could actually get some studying done there when things were a bit slow.
It’s been a few months since he started working at the library on the weekends – and another one or two days during the week, depending on the other employee’s nights off.
His job consists mostly of him putting books back in their right shelves after people are done using them or putting away the new books delivered to the library.
Sometimes he puts his earphones in and works his way down the many shelves in the building. Somehow the music constantly streaming helps him lose track of time and makes it all a little less boring. Because, let's be honest here, there’s not much going on here to keep it exciting. That’s the part that really sucks.
He’s yet to find any interesting guys willing to go into a rarely frequented section and have his way with him. Though there have been a few heated looks. Give him another week and he might cross that item off his list.
Today there’s no music in his ears, but only because his concentration is flicking between the books he’s shelving and the other book in his hand. He’s got an exam coming up and he wants to make sure he won’t screw this up. After all, he wants to make it big. He’ll be a great lawyer someday. Maybe then his father will actually pay any attention to him.
Anyway, he won’t let such thoughts get in the way of his success, so he continues to pull the cart full of books behind him while reading another highlighted passage.
He crosses the hall slowly to the shelves on the other side of the library – apparently someone was really interested in reptile reproduction, for some reason – pausing briefly to check the reference of the books in the cart.
What he doesn’t realize is that part of the cart is still out in the main hall and there’s a guy making his way to the front desk, barely able to see past the stack of books in front of his face.
Thus, he slammed against the cart, tripped and fell to the floor, sending half the books flying.
Thankfully, Connor reacted fast enough to keep the cart from tipping to the side and sending even more books to the floor, causing an even bigger mess.
He takes a second to realize the guy is still on the floor. And because of him, nonetheless. What if he gets fired for this? Oh man. Okay, plan time. He needs to make sure the guy won’t file a complaint.
He puts his book down in the cart and moves to help the other man off the floor.
“Oh, hey, I’m so sorry, dude.”
He grabs the man by his arm and helps him up.
“It’s okay. I didn’t really pay attention to where I was going anyway,” he says, pushing his glasses up his nose.
“Still, I should have been more careful. I could get someone killed.”
The other man looked at him with a frown and laughed.
“I don’t think the floor is dangerous enough to kill someone who trips and falls.”
Connor scratches the back of his head and bites his lip. He looks down at the mess of books, some thrown wide open, with some pages folded. He winces.
“Crap. I hope we didn’t rip anything.” He turns to the other guy. “But if we did, I’m taking full responsibility, don’t worry.”
And… wait, what? Wasn’t he supposed to make sure he wouldn’t lose this job?
The other man crouches down and starts picking them up, checking for any permanent damage.
“I think we’re fine. And you don’t need to do that at all; it’s okay. As I said, I should have paid more attention to where I was going.”
Was he looking away in embarrassment? Oh man, this guy was precious.
“Here, let me help you with that, at least. It was partially my fault, so…”
The man smiled at him. What a beautiful, big white smile that was.
“Yeah, okay. I was just checking these out. I’ve got this project coming up and there’s a lot of research to be done.”
“Ah, I was wondering why so many books. Thought you might be trying to relocate the library to your house or something,” he says casually, taking half of the guy’s books and making his way to the front desk.
“It is a very big library. It would take me many trips down here to pull that off,” the other man replies with a chuckle.
“Well, I’d be sure to help you out whenever you stopped by.”
The poor guy trips and almost falls again.
“Hey, easy there! We don’t want a repeat of the accident back there, do we? We’re almost to the finish line now!”
There’s a smaller smile now and Connor can’t help but smile back.
He places the books on the desk, the other man mirroring him before turning to face him.
“Hey, so, uh, thanks for helping me. Sorry I was such a klutz and created a huge spectacle back there. I’m actually kind of embarrassed about it,” the man says and looks down at his fidgety hands.
Oh, dear Lord, have mercy. He was not made for this. This is not the kind of guy he throws a few flirty glances and they’re back in a dark corner, pants around their ankles in less than five minutes. This seems to be the type of guy you wine and dine before you fall into that. And, again, he’s all for the random pickups, not the cute nerdy guys with glasses that are too adorable for their own good.
But there’s something about the guy that he can’t quite put his finger on. And, boy, does he want to put his fingers –
“Connor, weren’t you putting away the new books?”
Shit, his boss.
“I, yes, ma’am. I was just helping this costumer here with some books.”
She looks at the guy beside him and nods.
“Okay, but you better get back to work soon.”
“Will do.”
She walks away and Connor sighs.
“Wow, she definitely knows how to put the fear in you.”
He shrugs.
“She’s tough. But I need the job, so,” he replies, turning to the guy. “Hey, uh, sorry about that back there. You may be clumsy, but I was the one to put an obstacle in your way and you totally didn’t rat me out to the boss lady just now, so thanks for that.”
He’s about to leave, but then thinks ‘ah, screw it’.
“Let me make it up to you. There’s a coffee down the street. If you find some time away from that research of yours, maybe we could meet there later this week?”
“I, uh, I mean, sure! But you don’t need to do this just because we almost ruined half a dozen books on new technologies.”
Connor smirked and took a step closer, putting on his best charming smile.
“It has nothing to do with the books. I just really want to take out for a coffee and a chat. How does that work for you, uh…?”
“Oliver,” he offers.
“Oliver. I like it.” He stretches over the desk to pick a pen and a piece of paper to write down his number. “So, like I said, when you find some time later this week, text me and we’ll meet up.”
He hands Oliver the paper and he smiles, looking at it before putting it away.
“Sure thing, Connor. Nice meeting you, by the way.”
“Likewise. Now, if you excuse me, I gotta get back to work. They don’t pay me to flirt with cute boys, sadly.”
He walks away, only looking back briefly when he hears his colleague Erica laughing behind the desk and Oliver fumbling with his library card.