meet cutes, day three - librarian being confused by book choices
for amortentia, pearl dust
436 words, by google docs
The first time Scorpius comes over to Albus, he almost spits out his coffee, but he manages to swallow it.
"You want what?"
"A book about debates and a book about the cheeses of Australia," Scorpius repeats, cool as a cucumber. He pushes up the hipster-esque glasses he's wearing and looks at Albus expectantly. "You are the librarian, right?"
Albus nods, regaining his stance. He's just supposed to help people, not question their weird book choices.
Except why does he need both books? What do they have in common?
He can't help it, Albus asks. "Okay, sure. But why? Are you having a debate about Australian cheeses."
Scorpius raises an eyebrow and squints at Albus' name tag.
"Well, Albus—hi, I'm Scorpius—I didn't realise that it was in your pay to question my book reading?"
Albus bites his tongue. "Well, it's not, but—"
"So, where are those books?"
Albus sighs. "Follow me."
Scorpius returns the following week, returning the other books he took out and asking for more.
"Okay," he says, leaning against Albus' desk, "this week I need a book on ancient Roman weapons and different types of exotic fruits."
"You going on some sort of quest?" Albus asks, starting to lead Scorpius to where those books are located—because, amazingly, they do have books on those topics at their library.
Scorpius gives him a wink, grabbing the Roman weapons book from him. "Maybe, maybe."
"You're not going to tell me, are you?" Albus asks, handing him the book about fruits.
"Nope." Scorpius gives him one last wink before heading to the checkout.
Scorpius comes back for the third time and this time asks for a book on pickup lines and a cookbook.
"Now these are connected," Albus says, scanning the books into the system and handing them over to him.
"My other books were, too," Scorpius says, looking hurt. Albus raises his eyebrows.
"How?"
"Those are the topics that I'm interested in at any given time."
Albus opens his mouth, no words coming out. "Oh," he says finally. Scorpius smirks.
"So, you're interested in getting a date?" he says, motioning to the two books Scorpius has selected. Scorpius tries to lean forward but has to push up his glasses as the fall down his face.
"Maybe," he says, turning him pushing up his glasses into him fixing his hair.
"Who?" Albus asks. He's curious as to whatever poor person Scorpius is trying to impress with bad pickup lines and cooking.
Scorpius' face goes red for a moment and he takes off and cleans his glasses before staring Albus right into the eye and saying:
"You."