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meretriculacue the frantic scramble to finish up at least a drabble. I posted most of this as part of the WIP meme over on tumblr, but here, have a self-contained story about Andres Iniesta the children's librarian and his delinquent motorcycle-riding boyfriend.
radical reference
Word in the break room was that the new part-timer, who was notable mainly for his ability to bring shy children out of their shells and his extensive collection of hideous cardigans, had been picked up after closing last night by a tattooed skinhead on a motorcycle. Normally Xavi didn't lend much credence to water cooler gossip, but when Carles the night-time security guard texted to make sure that Andres had come in to work unharmed, he felt that as his supervisor he ought to be concerned. "Andres, are you busy?" He didn't wait for a response. "Come sit at the ref desk with me and let Patricia take her lunch break."
"But -- the shelving -- " Andres cast a worried look over his shoulder at his half-full shelving cart and the deserted children's reference desk as Xavi towed him away.
"One of the pages will get to it," Xavi said firmly. He nodded to the librarian on reference duty. "Patricia, you can take your break now."
"But I already -- "
Xavi frowned, and Patricia immediately logged out of her Gmail account, collected her water bottle and retreated to the staff room. Three patrons who couldn't work out the system for reserving a computer and one confused grandmother with a new Kindle later, there was finally a pause long enough for Xavi to speak with Andres.
"Puyi was worried about your making it home safely last night," he said.
"Hmm?" Andres blinked, visibly tearing his attention away from the computer screen. When Xavi squinted, he recognized the header of a popular blog on low-budget craft ideas. "Oh, because the buses weren't running? That's very sweet of him, but I wasn't walking, someone picked me up."
"Oh?" Xavi carefully kept his tone neutral. "Is that likely to be a problem? I'm sure we could arrange a carpool, if it's inconvenient for your friend to come get you."
"No, no, um -- " Andres flushed and glanced around the deserted reference area before admitting, "I wanted to close on Tuesdays because it's easy for him to pick me up on the way home. Victor works the late shift anyway so I wouldn't see him otherwise."
"And this -- Victor," Xavi asked delicately, "is he your roommate? Where exactly does he work?"
Andres' entire face lit up in a manner comparable only to his expression when he'd started talking about his childhood love for Eric Carle and Leo Lionni during his interview. "Victor works at the community library downtown," he said proudly. "He's so happy I got this job, he really wanted me to get my MLS too but it just didn't seem practical to take out more student loans, so when Director Guardiola said the library would pay for me to get my degree part-time…"
"You know you can call her Josie, right?" Xavi interrupted. "She's not a stickler for formality or anything." Andres went even paler than usual and shook his head, and Xavi remembered belatedly the awe that Josefina Guardiola tended to inspire in people who hadn't seen her the week before budgets were due, wild-eyed from lack of sleep and ready to rip off heads after who knew how many forgotten meals. Xavi had worked with her for years, and was no longer impressed by anything less than full-on Amazonian rages. Those were rare these days, thankfully, since they were usually reserved for across-the-board budget cuts of twenty percent or more.
None of which had anything to do with what Xavi wanted to know about the mysterious Victor, and he was preparing to guide the conversation back to a more useful avenue when Andres let out a startled squeak and jumped to his feet. "Victor! You're early!"
Xavi looked up from his computer, and then up a little further. Tiny, timid Andres made an interesting contrast with the newcomer: Victor was tall and good looking in an intimidating sort of way, with a shaved head, muscular arms and several tattoos bared by the short sleeves of his Guild of Radical Militant Librarians t-shirt, a leather motorcycle jacket dangling from one hand... and a look of unabashed adoration directed at Andres on his face. "Thought I'd see what the place looked like before closing for once," he was saying. "Don't worry about me, I'll just poke around in the nonfiction until your shift is over."
"Oh -- well, okay, but -- "
"Don't worry," he repeated, with a smile that was completely at odds with his biker aesthetic. "It's not like I'll be bored. You go on back to work."
"Wait!" Andres said when Victor started to turn away from the reference desk. "I want to -- Victor, this is my supervisor, Xavi. Xavi, this is Victor, my, um. My partner."
Victor's eyebrows flew up, but his handshake when Xavi got to his feet and reached across the desk was firm. They were both silent for a moment, visibly sizing each other up, until Andres let out an impatient cough. "Pleasure to meet you," Victor said.
"Same," Xavi said, and released Victor with a satisfied nod. Delinquent or not, he thought Andres' boyfriend might be suitable after all.
radical reference
Word in the break room was that the new part-timer, who was notable mainly for his ability to bring shy children out of their shells and his extensive collection of hideous cardigans, had been picked up after closing last night by a tattooed skinhead on a motorcycle. Normally Xavi didn't lend much credence to water cooler gossip, but when Carles the night-time security guard texted to make sure that Andres had come in to work unharmed, he felt that as his supervisor he ought to be concerned. "Andres, are you busy?" He didn't wait for a response. "Come sit at the ref desk with me and let Patricia take her lunch break."
"But -- the shelving -- " Andres cast a worried look over his shoulder at his half-full shelving cart and the deserted children's reference desk as Xavi towed him away.
"One of the pages will get to it," Xavi said firmly. He nodded to the librarian on reference duty. "Patricia, you can take your break now."
"But I already -- "
Xavi frowned, and Patricia immediately logged out of her Gmail account, collected her water bottle and retreated to the staff room. Three patrons who couldn't work out the system for reserving a computer and one confused grandmother with a new Kindle later, there was finally a pause long enough for Xavi to speak with Andres.
"Puyi was worried about your making it home safely last night," he said.
"Hmm?" Andres blinked, visibly tearing his attention away from the computer screen. When Xavi squinted, he recognized the header of a popular blog on low-budget craft ideas. "Oh, because the buses weren't running? That's very sweet of him, but I wasn't walking, someone picked me up."
"Oh?" Xavi carefully kept his tone neutral. "Is that likely to be a problem? I'm sure we could arrange a carpool, if it's inconvenient for your friend to come get you."
"No, no, um -- " Andres flushed and glanced around the deserted reference area before admitting, "I wanted to close on Tuesdays because it's easy for him to pick me up on the way home. Victor works the late shift anyway so I wouldn't see him otherwise."
"And this -- Victor," Xavi asked delicately, "is he your roommate? Where exactly does he work?"
Andres' entire face lit up in a manner comparable only to his expression when he'd started talking about his childhood love for Eric Carle and Leo Lionni during his interview. "Victor works at the community library downtown," he said proudly. "He's so happy I got this job, he really wanted me to get my MLS too but it just didn't seem practical to take out more student loans, so when Director Guardiola said the library would pay for me to get my degree part-time…"
"You know you can call her Josie, right?" Xavi interrupted. "She's not a stickler for formality or anything." Andres went even paler than usual and shook his head, and Xavi remembered belatedly the awe that Josefina Guardiola tended to inspire in people who hadn't seen her the week before budgets were due, wild-eyed from lack of sleep and ready to rip off heads after who knew how many forgotten meals. Xavi had worked with her for years, and was no longer impressed by anything less than full-on Amazonian rages. Those were rare these days, thankfully, since they were usually reserved for across-the-board budget cuts of twenty percent or more.
None of which had anything to do with what Xavi wanted to know about the mysterious Victor, and he was preparing to guide the conversation back to a more useful avenue when Andres let out a startled squeak and jumped to his feet. "Victor! You're early!"
Xavi looked up from his computer, and then up a little further. Tiny, timid Andres made an interesting contrast with the newcomer: Victor was tall and good looking in an intimidating sort of way, with a shaved head, muscular arms and several tattoos bared by the short sleeves of his Guild of Radical Militant Librarians t-shirt, a leather motorcycle jacket dangling from one hand... and a look of unabashed adoration directed at Andres on his face. "Thought I'd see what the place looked like before closing for once," he was saying. "Don't worry about me, I'll just poke around in the nonfiction until your shift is over."
"Oh -- well, okay, but -- "
"Don't worry," he repeated, with a smile that was completely at odds with his biker aesthetic. "It's not like I'll be bored. You go on back to work."
"Wait!" Andres said when Victor started to turn away from the reference desk. "I want to -- Victor, this is my supervisor, Xavi. Xavi, this is Victor, my, um. My partner."
Victor's eyebrows flew up, but his handshake when Xavi got to his feet and reached across the desk was firm. They were both silent for a moment, visibly sizing each other up, until Andres let out an impatient cough. "Pleasure to meet you," Victor said.
"Same," Xavi said, and released Victor with a satisfied nod. Delinquent or not, he thought Andres' boyfriend might be suitable after all.
