the librarian ❆ kagehina

passing notes.

     it really brought him down, to say the least. he'd even worn his nicest green sweater to work today.
     shōyō switched shifts with his coworker, shimizu, only a few moments ago, and she left him with a message that was not so pleasant to the ear: a boy had come by, a tall one with blue eyes, and dropped off his return, and he had asked her to tell him he wasn't able to come by later.

     "he came early?"

     "he said he had something to do, and he couldn't come during your shift. sorry, shōyō,"

     "it's... ugh, it's fine. did he say anything else?"

     "he said he would come by tomorrow. i told him you're working all day."

     "okay. thanks, shimizu."

     "he was pretty cute. your boyfriend?"

     "no! oh my- ugh, just go! have a nice rest of the day," shōyō flushed, shoving her out of the break room in an embarrassed frenzy, laughing nervously all the while.

     "see you later!" she called, swiping a shining lock of midnight black hair behind her ear and wiggling her eyebrows suggestively as she left him to simmer in his own red-hot emotions. she's the closest thing he has to a good friend at college, and he barely sees her, but boy, does that shimizu love to pick on him!

     shōyō mumbled aimlessly as he shoved the foresty sleeves up his arms and tied the crimson apron around his waist; he rubbed away at his searing hot skin and went to the desk, enclosing himself in the librarian-only workspace and sitting down behind the computer. to his right, he found the book that tobio had checked out last, with a little sticky note covered in rough handwriting that shocked shōyō's heart into a rapid beat.

sorry i couldn't show up- i had something i couldn't miss today. i'll come back tomorrow. text me!
xxx-xxx-xxxx
~ tobio

flames engulfing the smooth, freckled complexion, shōyō did his best to control his composure and check the book back into the system. he felt a smile coming on, creeping from inside out; he stood up and shuffled over to the fiction section, wedging the red volume back between authors and looking at it excitedly. he reached for the phone in his back pocket, the sticky note in his other hand, and on the stroll back to his work desk, he typed a little message to the phone number in question.
he smoothed the apron across his chest out of habit and let out a longing huff, beginning to drown himself in the work of the day's shift and battling himself over thoughts of his new... whatever tobio is- friend, acquaintance, more-than-friend...
it's all quite up in the air at this point, shōyō knows. he just can't wait for tomorrow.