Hello everyone. I found myself with a bit of time and wanted to get back to some of my older, creative outlets. This story arc was always a lot of fun for me to write, and for years I had one particular chapter that I wanted to add once I felt up to crafting it properly. I sense I may delete it and rework some sections in the future, but for now I hope you enjoy it.
###################
The paper sheet forest.
Kuki came into the library and waved to the student working the circulation desk. The younger girl returned the wave with a smile, but out of courtesy to the rules of the library they did no more than whisper a quiet hi to one another, even though the library had few patrons on a Saturday afternoon.
Kuki had worked at the library a great deal while in undergrad, and knew most of the staff still working here now. As a graduate student now, Kuki had to focus on completing her studies without getting distracted with part-time work - even if it meant that her student debt was accruing while she put herself through her nursing program. It stressed her out at times to imagine the growing debt balance that she was responsible for, but it was all done in the service of her education and her long-term career prospects, so she bore the stress as best she could.
Passing the circulation desk, Kuki walked toward one of the large tables in the main hall where she could set out the books and papers she brought with her to read from and write in. She had a laptop too, but she had found that the simple motion of drawing a writing implement across a sheet of paper helped her to learn the material better than if she were just typing it on a screen.
After setting up and organizing her materials, Kuki opened her phone and saw that she had a text from her study partner.
Be there soon.
She started to craft a response, then stopped herself, deleted the text she had composed, and with a smile she rattled off a long series of underscores and periods.
_._ _ _ _ _ .._ _... . _ _ . ._. :)
It was a longer way to say something simple, but she liked doing it for the increased practice that kept her knowledge of Morse code fresh. After sending it, she took a moment to scroll back through her messages and marveled that she kept answering with this kind of long-hand method as far back as the day after getting back from Japan.
While on the flight back to America with Wally several months ago, Kuki had wanted to keep talking after their 'first night' and what a relationship going forward might look like. It had not been possible to discuss it in the car with her grandparents, and it was difficult to do so when sitting in plane seats next to economical business people and families who were making constant trips up and down the aisles during the flight. Anyone would be able to hear what they said, and she had wanted to bring up some of the intimate aspects of the previous night and discuss what they meant for them in terms of relationship expectations. Typing messages to one another on their phones might have worked for a little while, but once the batteries ran out they would be silenced again.
Wally had found a solution by downloading two PDFs to his phone before the plane started to taxi: one was for Morse code, the other for American Sign Language. He and Kuki had spent a few hours practicing letters with either technique, and once they had the hang of things they had started talking to one another with hand signs, and tapping on one another's arms and legs. It had been a good choice because his phone battery was almost dead by the time they started to be able to communicate more than a word or two without needing to double-check the dictionary. It was also good in that this had given them excuses to be physical in a way that was somewhat acceptable in public, even if it was a bit juvenile.
The communication was slow, but they had been able to talk through a few things without ever speaking. After hours of delicate, letter-by-letter communication, the end result was that they both admitted that they were committed to making a real effort to advance this relationship. While neither were going to forgo their respective career paths for one another if it ever came to a choice, they agreed that they would date, officially and exclusively, and help one another in the next stages of their collective existence - and that they were eager to continue exploring their physical compatibility once they got back to the 'States.
Kuki still liked to text Wally in periods and underscores, and in person she still liked to tap out simple words on his arms. When they first tried it on the plane Kuki had been so stimulated by those simple touches that she had wanted to get into some more intense cuddling right there in their seats. Since they had gotten back to school, Kuki had taken to using Morse code taps to indicate to him when she wanted something but needed to be discreet in asking. Sometimes it was simply to let him know she was hungry, or sleepy, or bored so that he could help attend to her needs expediently, whatever the setting - especially if others were around. Tapping his arm with a finger tip, or the whole finger, had also given her plenty of opportunities to touch him in any setting, and he had done the same for her in turn, and sometimes on body surfaces other than her arm.
Back in the present, Kuki received a response with two hand emojis: a hang-ten and a fist. She knew that was Wally trying to sign 'Y' and 'S', or 'yes' regarding her demand.
Wally could communicate in Morse code as well, but had taken a greater interest in Sign Language once he had been able to combine it with his knowledge of martial arts. He said that many of the letters reminded him of certain hand positions for different strikes in kung fu. He went further to say that it made letters feel like strikes, words feel like combinations, sentences like forms, and conversations like combat. Whatever they may have meant to him, he had learned them well.
Kuki put her phone away and got back to reading and taking notes. As she went, she would often leave little dots and dashes in the margins to say something was 'I'mportant (..), or 'S'erious (...), or of the 'H'ighest importantce (...).
After half an hour of working on her notes, she heard one of the chairs across from her slide out, and someone set their book bag on the table in front of her. She had not heard the approach, so it made her smile to consider that there was only one person she knew who could stay so light on their feet.
My boyfriend.
She snuck a quick peek to see that indeed it was him, and once she confirmed it she settled back into her papers. Before she did, Wally met her gaze with a smile as he set up his own books and sat down to read his articles and make notes for his classes. He scanned the room first as he sat down across and to her right, seeing that there were few others around. He also looked closely among the book stacks as if he expected to catch people peering at them.
Feels like we're in a paper sheet forest, he had said out loud to her once, and so it was. A vast thicket of paper sheets sandwiched and bound and stacked densely across hundreds of wooden and metal shelves. Wally liked hiking and enjoyed traipsing through a forest, but he always took it all in one tree at a time, and so here he could think of this place for its parts - the pieces of paper.. After her days working here, Kuki knew that one had to view the library (or forest as Wally would have it) in a more abstract way to keep up with the organization. That said, she still found it charming to think of this place as a forest.
It definitely gave the impression of being some place where the distractions of the rest of the world did not impose themselves so keenly. That was why she and Wally came here on Saturdays to work near one another. Apartments had so many things crammed into such a small space that it sometimes became hard not to get distracted. The couch sometimes felt like it was just inviting you to nap for a moment. The television often drew the eye whether it was on or off. Having the fridge nearby just begged you to get a snack.
For Kuki, the biggest distraction, at least whenever Wally was around, was the proximity of a bedroom and the possibilities it afforded them to explore their intimacy. After they had settled into a routine of classes and semi-regular outings, she and Wally had started up their physical relationship again. Ever since Japan, the two had found it difficult to put aside their carnal appetites unless they were someplace where it would be inappropriate. To be sure, they were not devoid of the ability to control themselves, they merely saw little need to do so when it was clear to one another how much they enjoyed the physical interactions they were exploring.
The library, for the most part, helped to squelch that drive just enough to get their work done together, but she knew that they were in for a rough time of it today. The previous night they had had one of their few proper dates since their grad programs had started up again. The two had gone to a nice, evening-only restaurant after Friday labs and shared a good meal - they even shared a glass of wine. There were no tests in the next week, so they were not cramming and could afford some time together. After eating, Kuki had insisted that they should go on a walk to burn off the heavy meal and get themselves ready to sleep. Wally had insisted on some partnered activity like sparring, but Kuki had little interest in martial arts and knew she would just look foolish. Wally had then teasingly suggested another coupled activity, but they had been through a lot that week, and neither of them were quite up to it - though the desire was still there. He had walked her to her apartment after the lengthy sojourn, then shared a good night kiss before heading back to his place to shower and sleep. Now, after a peaceful night, Kuki was revisiting the thought of 'coupled activity', and she knew that she would be in danger of acting on it a great deal more if she were not in the paper sheet forest.
The appetites of the young adults have a way of sneaking up on them, and after an hour and a half of reading and writing, mid-afternoon was settling on them and they were starting to lose focus. Each had taken moments to stretch, walk to the fountain to get some water, or stand up and pace during that time, but they had found themselves repeatedly looking across at one another. In fact, they had started engaging in so much back-and-forth eye contact that it was beginning to cut into their productivity.
More than that, Kuki was finding herself increasingly aroused by Wally's stares. His green eyes casually scanned her from underneath his straw-like bangs, glancing from her head down to where the table hid the rest of her lower body, and up again. She felt her stomach tying itself in knots, and her face becoming flushed, and she kept tucking her lower lip under her teeth where she bit at it and wetted it with her tongue. She might have snaked a leg out to caress his calf with her foot, but Wally had seated himself just out of reach, so she had to settle for looking and knowing that she was being 'respectively ogled' by him.
At last Kuki decided that enough was enough and some tension needed to be released. It would only take a few minutes, and it would not be sex, but the activity should be fun, and hopefully they could go back to work with better focus afterwards. She turned her eyes slightly askance from Wally to make sure no one was watching. She pursed her lips in her uniquely cute way, trying to hold a smile at bay so that no one else could see. Her cheeks were turning pink and she knew for certain that even though he had not moved, Wally had his attention completely on her. With her long, slender fingers, Kuki began to sign letters to him. She gave three very crisp motions, though they were delivered almost languidly and conveyed a very deep and intimate meaning. Those three letters managed to accomplish two things in the young man she directed them towards. The first was that his attention was so thoroughly ensnared that he seemed to forget that he was there for anything other than her. The second was that it produced a hormone load to his brain that nearly shut it down. If nothing else, it caused him to drop his pen on the table.
Wally watched Kuki's hand move between three positions, and in his mind he rattled off the names he used for memorizing them:
Long-fingered Southern Dragon claw,
Tiger claw squeezed tight,
Phoenix eye and tucked-thumb.
Repeat.
Repeat...
W-E-T. W-E-T. W-E-T...
Once his brain caught up, Wally's eyes went wide and reflexively he took a deep gulp.
In the last few weeks, Kuki had used that particular word - spoken, signed, or tapped out - whenever she wanted to put the books aside and go do something physically pleasing. The pleasing activity might take different forms, but always involved actions that were wholly inappropriate to demonstrate anywhere they could be seen.
Thank goodness for all of the books, each of them thought.
Back when she had worked at the library, Kuki learned that some of the others had occasionally wandered into certain corners in the book stacks where others did not go. They used particular aisles at particular times when others were not around, to get a bit handsy with a partner. Kuki had never done it herself since she never really found a boy she felt comfortable doing that with; until Wally of course. She had used the old trick a couple of times with him here in the last week or two, and it was an exciting way to release some tension and take a break from studying. The word she was signing to him she had taken to using because it described the current state of a very specific part of her anatomy; one which he had developed a deep fascination with and was learning to appreciate in many ways.
They made their moves like a choreographed dance. Kuki stowed her papers and books in her backpack and tucked it under the table, then looked Wally square in the eyes as she stood up. As she walked into the bookstacks she gave him one last shy yet seductive backwards glance. He waited a full fifteen seconds before stowing his own materials and following her.
From her years of student work experience, Kuki knew which stacks were likely or unlikely to be occupied at any time of the year. She knew that certain reference sections in the far corners saw no one for days at a time, and she knew when the grad students had exams and would be buried under mountains of books in certain corridors as they crammed. She knew that right now a certain set of corridors would be wholly unoccupied: there were no qualifying exams for months, the cleaning staff would not be in until later that night, and any reshelving would have happened recently.
Kuki walked down the corridor and turned into the stacks she knew would be unoccupied. Wally was coming up nearly ten meters behind her, moving tenderly, and stopping at each intersection to be sure that there was no one else around. She smiled at his caution - knowing it was a bit overkill - but made no comment. She approved of his attentiveness and saw no reason to discourage him.
When he finally got to her she grabbed the back of his head and pulled him in tight as she pressed her lips to his. He responded in turn by putting one arm around her back to pull her up against him and ran the other from her shoulder to her mid-back.
When he brought one of those hands up under her blouse, she shuddered.
Although they had done this before, and quite a few of the girls she had worked with had done this almost daily, a part of her still felt scandalous. This had been a place of work for her for nearly four years during her undergraduate program. Now she was using it as a hook-up spot like some horny teenager. To think she was doing such a thing in the place where she had seen other students eating Power Bars and sipping from water bottles as they pulled down various books for their classes. She and the other library docents had hauled carts through here to restack returned books and confirm that the all-powerful Dewey Decimal System was being respected.
What she was doing was scandalous, improper, and dangerous - and it was making her want to do more.
She allowed one of her hands to let go of his head and ran it down over his pants to stroke against the surface and get a sense of the shape underneath. She could feel a swelling beneath and decided to grip his waist and press herself against it. She felt him throbbing against her, and could feel her own aforementioned "wetness" beginning to soak her underwear. Despite the discomfort of dampness and temperature, she found the pleasure of pressing herself against Wally made it feel much better.
While Kuki had no plans for them to actually have sex here, and she had learned that Wally was even more shy about being overtly demonstrative of their affections in public, the thrill of the intense foreplay was too good to stop. Since she only intended to be back here with him for a few minutes she felt no need to slow down or pace herself. They had a need for this contact, so they might as well enjoy all that they wanted.
Wally was keeping an ear open and occasionally his eyes flitted to the sides in case he could spot someone through the books coming down the corridors. Kuki knew he nearly always tried to remain aware of others in case they could be caught out. That did not mean he was neglectful of his role in this activity. He took his lips away from hers and used his chin to tug on her blouse until it dipped so low that her bra was exposed. Then he proceeded to administer fierce kisses to the tops of her breasts. She breathed deeply and then gasped and sighed when his kisses became playful bites. He scraped at her skin with his teeth in a way that was equal parts pain and pleasure, then attended to each scrape and light scratch with a dab of his tongue and kissed away the extra moisture to prevent a hickey from forming. She gripped the back of his neck to encourage him to continue this sweet torture while she moved her hands along his back and arms to enjoy the feel of him shuddering at her touch.
The faint stubble of his chin prickled her skin, and the tip of his nose pressed gently but firmly into her chest. When that nose began to quest deeper into her cleavage, his hands began to trail up behind her neck and down her back to massage her sensuously. With his nose pinched between her breasts, Wally had to take deep breaths through his mouth to avoid passing out, and his hot breath against her skin made Kuki's heart race. She ground herself into him, rocking her pelvis in a way that massaged them both below their respective waists. When his nose slipped under her bra and grazed the edge of one nipple, Kuki's knees almost buckled, and she felt ready to slide down into the book stack with him on top of her and really turn up the heat.
She steadied herself by biting her lip, taking a deep breath and delivering a sharp internal admonition to herself.
You're still in public.
You're still in public.
Her deep breathing had the effect of puffing up her chest, and Wally took the opportunity to press his face against her that much more. It was hard to breathe when both his mouth and nose were against her skin, but when he felt her squeezing him closer, it felt like he must be doing something right. She gripped the hair on the back of his head and felt tears in her eyes as she strained not to scream out from the pleasure she felt at all of this contact.
Wally turned his head and used his tongue to lightly tease her other nipple. It was cramped for him, especially with her bra in the way, but feeling her strain against him even harder was a welcome reward. More than that, he found her scent to be absolutely intoxicating and was happy to smother himself in it. Kuki clenched her jaw and pressed her pursed lips against his head so that if she let out a loud gasp, it would be absorbed against his scalp. It also put her nose above his head and left her free to imbibe that mesmerizing, masculine scent right off of him.
Kuki had found that Wally's scent, particularly around his head, was like catnip to her, but she was only able to smell it quite rarely due to him being slightly taller than her. It was at moments like these, when he leaned in close and she pulled him to the right place beneath her nose, that she could inhale deeply. It was a deeply sensuous act, and she inhaled the scent like a rich perfume.
When at last Wally pulled back his head to catch his breath, she only allowed him three inhales before she craned forward to kiss him again. He all but lifted her off the ground and into his embrace, and she thought that she would melt. His hands under her blouse continued to caress her skin, and one slid under her bra in the back. After the stimulation of his kisses and caresses she was sorely tempted to undo the clasp in order that he might proceed to yet more amorous activity. Once again she retained just enough knowledge of her immediate surroundings to know that this place was still too public to disrobe to that extent.
When he finally set her down and they broke for air she half considered bagging it and going back to one of their apartments to make love - or at least to his car where they could lie down in the back and remove just enough clothing to allow for some activities that were almost as exciting, if less risqué, than outright sex. Her blood was up, and from the dilation in his pupils he seemed eager to take things further as well.
They still had work to do however, and needed to focus. Once she had caught her breath she straightened her clothes, ran her fingers through her hair, and gave him one last peck on the lips before she walked out of the stacks. He followed not fifteen seconds behind.
Back at the table they returned to their work with more sated appetites and a better focus on the tasks ahead. They were able to keep it up for another two hours before they started paying more attention to each other than their studies again.
Seeing that there was no one else in the hall who would mind a tapped out signal, Wally tapped the table a few times with his finger tip and the full phalanx to distinguish short and long signals.
Tap, Long Long, Long, Tap Tap, Long Tap, Tap Long, Tap
Kuki gave her demure smile and responded with the same hand sign gestures from before to indicate she felt like another study break.
This time, while Kuki walked back to the stack, Wally took a more circuitous route, stopping by the bathroom to wash his hands thoroughly before he made his way out and over to intersect with her. The delay made Kuki a little annoyed, but that feeling evaporated the moment he got to her. This time he was bolder, cradling her head in his hand as he kissed her deeply, and running his hand not against the surface of her pants as she had for him, but under her belt line and into her underwear. Kuki's eyes went wide to feel his hand against her bare skin in such a private area, but she was so excited by it that she simply held onto him and waited to see what he would do.
Wally had learned that while he certainly enjoyed it when Kuki touched him or had sex with him, he found it even more thrilling when he did something to her that produced obvious and pleasurable responses. He had learned that subtle touches that built into bolder and firmer contact seemed to be the best way to get such a response from Kuki. He had already done a great deal with her breasts earlier, now he felt it was important to give some more attention to her other erogenous zones - especially since it was likely to produce the responses he wanted and because she herself had indicated that it was particularly W-E-T.
By trial and error Wally had also learned that he needed to keep his fingernails short if he was ever to use his hands to make contact with Kuki in any of her sensitive zones. His fingers often had calluses from his martial arts, but he could cover up most of the roughness with thorough hand washing just before making contact, so he made sure to do just that, and to keep his nails trimmed.
He was satisfied that both requirements were taken care of at this moment.
He stroked the skin between her legs, feeling that it was indeed a few degrees warmer than outside, and that some perspiration and other moisture had accumulated. He kissed her and massaged her tongue with his own while his fingers toyed at the lips they found in her pants, and she began to jerk and convulse as his fingers slid over the slick regions between her legs. Her breathing hitched and she broke the kissing to look him in the eye as her pupils dilated. He kept his gaze firm as his fingers danced across her opening and grew ever wetter. He teased at the swelling inner lips that seemed to soak his hand, and brushed again and again at the firm bundle of nerves he felt near her front. Kuki gripped his head with her hands, gasped sharply, and bit her lip as if she were about to scream. Her breathing came even quicker and she looked half ready to either fight or run.
Wally had learned that this same look, when directed at him, could have a third meaning as well.
He curled his fingers carefully to put more pressure on the nerve bundle and felt her hips buck against him to create more friction. He felt his pants getting tighter and his own breath getting shallower as he induced these responses in her, and he was sorely tempted to strip off her pants and start using more than just his hands in that area where she was so sensitive.
It took what felt like a near-Herculean will to stave off that desire.
In the paper sheet forest, mate. He told himself.
He wanted to go on and on, but he also knew that doing any more of this same thing to her would start to shift the pleasure to pain, and for him as well. Any more would need to wait until they got somewhere more private.
He kissed her one last time and drew his hand out of her pants. Once his hand had cleared she took a few moments to catch her breath, but then kissed him again to make it clear that she had enjoyed it. He stopped at the bathroom again to wash his hands before returning to her at the table.
A few hours later, Kuki decided she had studied enough and decided she would call it a day.
As she was getting up she asked if he was hungry.
"I could eat." He responded.
She could see a smoldering look in his eyes and she utterly failed to keep back a smile as she thought about what she might be in for back at either his apartment or hers. Whatever it was, she intended that he would be equally overtaken in the ensuing activities.
"Well, how about we get some bento and finish up at my place?" She offered.
"Sure, I'll drive." He offered in return.
They walked out of the hallway and into the atrium where Kuki saw the same young librarian seated at the front. The younger girl saw Wally walking in step with Kuki, and gave a look to her more senior coworker that made Kuki blush again.
#########
And there we are. I will probably do some rewriting again, but for the most part I think this arc has run its course. It was meant to be light and fun, and it drew from some of my own experiences, but now is probably a good time to hang it up.
Thanks to everyone who read and commented.