Disclaimer: Twi is Stephenie Meyer's blah. Blah.
Warning: boy love. Dude-ish sexual activity. you get it.
EZrocksangel and I got together and collaborated to write this for Angstgoddess003 as her birthday present. Happy Birthday, AG.
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Salvaging the Awkward Moment...
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No dude aimlessly paged through a book titled The Absolute Male unless his mind was preoccupied with something or someone else.
She examined him more closely. His paint smeared jeans, four day-old beard, and the tint of cobalt blue under his nails gave him away. Art major, she thought with a roll of her eyes.
But the girl watched art dude's eyes for a moment, waiting for him to notice that the pictures contained fully nude portraits of well-endowed men. She knew he noticed the moment his nostrils flared, essentially attempting to scream to the world "I'm an artiste. I can look at nude men and not get aroused," yet she was sure his act had failed miserably when his fingers wrapped around the binding of the book so tightly his knuckles turned white, and he squeezed his eyes shut, and yet when they opened again, his expression showed neither arousal nor arrogance. His face was solemn—thoughtful, even.
Curious... she noted, her head tilted to the side as she speculated over the guy's behavior.
She waited. Happily, she didn't have to wait long. A basketball-tall blond guy, wearing glasses and a dark blue sweater vest, suddenly swept around the corner.
The two men collided.
The blonde's eyes went wide at the same time that art boy's did, but art boy was smaller and lighter, so he was the one who ended up falling backwards into the bookcase. The book in his hands flew and landed with a dull thump, falling open to a photograph of a well-endowed male model perched on a stool. Art boy tried to snatch the book up first, but the blonde grabbed at the same time, and then they were both brushing fingers only to retract them and reach again for the book and then retract again, nervously apologizing for their awkward synchronization. Finally, it seemed art boy allowed the blonde to take the lead, and the blonde picked up the book, standing while apologizing and holding the book out.
With a flustered, mortified smile, Art boy snatched the book out of the blonde's hands.
The blonde looked flabbergasted, but then he saw the title on the book cover, and his eyes widened, which only caused art boy's embarrassment to deepen.
Art boy tried to explain, "I don't like—I mean—" he swallowed, running his fingers over his scruff. "I am in a figure drawing class. We draw humans... and stuff."
"You're an art major?" the blonde asked, obviously trying to be helpful.
"Yeah, I'm Edward," he explained.
"Jasper." He held out his hand.
"Right. Nice meeting you, Jasper," Edward replied, but his voice shook slightly, and it was painfully obvious to anyone that he wanted to run away from the mortification of the situation in general as soon as possible. "I guess, I'll be off?" he asked as terse question.
Before Jasper could reply, Edward spun suddenly on his heel and marched down the aisle, tossing the book of excellent man flesh onto an empty shelf.
The girl would have felt bad for Edward but for the look on Jasper's face. Jasper's eyes were glued on Edward's plaint-spattered, charcoal dusty ass. Jasper looked slightly disappointed, but he also looked... rather interested.
Well, this would be interesting. The girl smiled to herself, and then she went to retrieve the abandoned book...
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The next evening found her in the library at the same desk, perched behind the sleek, black computer—a nicer one than the crappy PC back at the dorm. She kept one eye on her Flash project and another on the other patrons of the library.
She was hoping for a show. The interaction between the two boys the prior night had been fascinating. She'd spent the better part of the day thinking about the spark between them, and she wondered if they had as well.
An hour into the evening, the lanky blond—Jasper—made an appearance into her quiet corner. He put his stack of books down on a desk and lowered himself into the creaky, padded chair. He pulled out a some musty history tome, but even though he gave it his best effort, she could tell he wasn't reading.
He was watching. Waiting. His eyes were focused half-an-inch above the top of the book, scanning the room. His face was a bit flushed, and every time someone walked into their quiet area, his eyes flicked guiltily over his glasses in their direction. An amused smile settled across her lips when she was rewarded for her patience as Jasper nearly leaped out of his seat the minute an aloof Edward walked through the stacks.
Edward spared Jasper a fast look, only to see Jasper looking back. Both of them caught, Edward gave Jasper a brief acknowledging smile which the other man returned easily.
She sat back in her seat and watched Edward continue past Jasper's table and into the wide row of bookshelves that lined the room. After an exact count of ten, she heard a chair push backwards, scraping across the hard, linoleum floor and felt, rather than saw, Jasper slip down the same path.
He did not. But he did! She wanted to clap! To sing a song. Or make a pretty montage of the moment. Let the mating games begin!
She made herself wait a count of five, before she, too, bolted for the stacks. She made sure to go two aisles down, far enough away to be concealed but close enough to hear. She found them around in the reference section. Things were going well. Jasper, it would seem, had some basic social skills.
"I just wanted to apologize for running into you yesterday. I was in something of a rush—and wasn't paying attention to where I was going." Jasper smiled brilliantly.
"Oh." Edward flushed but seemed incapable of speech, he ran his hands down his paint splattered t-shirt nervously.
Jasper and the girl both eyed the muscles under the thin, tight shirt.
Come on, Jasper. He's just shy...
Jasper, thank the Lord, didn't back down. "Are you in the library often?" he asked, leaning forward.
Good. Good. Get in his space. Test him out. She nodded to herself. He had her total approval in this.
Edward seemed to freeze and then shiver at Jasper's nearing proximity as he pulled at his hair and sputtered, "I-I'm in the library a lot. Do you like the library? I like the library. There are books and stuff?"
Jasper blinked, absorbing Edward's reticence and then took a step back.
The girl clamped her hand over brow and then pressed her entire face down onto the bookshelf in front of her, almost ready to cry at the wrongness of it all. Now Jasper was thinking that Edward didn't want him! When REALLY, it was so totally obvious that the utter hotness of being in Jasper's proximity was doing a number on Edward's speech patterns. Stupid. Stupid. Fucking. MEN.
But then they were so cute...
Edward, at seeing Jasper draw back, appeared to rally and asked, "What do you like to do? I mean, when you're not in the library? Do you like to go out with people?"
She had to hold back a laugh... "Go out with people?"
Jasper, though, was completely serious. "Yeah," he nodded, looking down. "I go out with people all the time," but then his head shot up. "Well, not all the time, and not with a lot of people, but when I found the right, er... person, I'd expect I'd spend a lot of time with them."
YAY! She was ready to burst into applause, despite the wishy-washy "people" business.
But then Edward had to fail her.
"I don't go out much."
She had to restrain herself from pounding her fists into the floor.
Jasper took it as the final rejection. With a sad face and another awkward apology, he left a minute later.
Edward seemed to stand still for a long minute, not moving and obviously lost to thought, until suddenly his face crumpled. Poor fucking idiot. He'd only now realized how he'd missed the most amazing opportunity of his entire fucking life.
She couldn't be mad at him as he sat down and crouched in the aisle with face buried in his hands. She wanted to comfort him and tell him it would be okay, but she didn't know him. He didn't know her, and she had been eavesdropping. And yet, looking at him and recalling Jasper's look of disappointment, she resolved herself to do something.
There was no reason these pretty boys couldn't be engage in frisky lip locks! It was heinous! It was was wrong! She was going to fix this shit!
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Little did the two handsome men from the library know, but she was a computer nerd with mad skills—one of those geeky types that could hack into the school data base and stream out any type of information she needed. Like dorm assignments. Library check-outs. Email addresses. Social Security Numbers. NASA codes...
What they also didn't know was that she had a soft spot for 1. romance 2. other nerds and 3. boy love. To have the triple combination of two nerdy, idiotic men clearly digging one another yet not having the fucking bollocks to make a move...
Inaction was not a choice in hell.
Thus, she set to work.
Edward (Cullen—she discovered, after a quick round of searching) was most certainly the underdog in this tragic love story. Gorgeous, wildly talented, and notoriously eccentric, he had only one problem. No one knew he desperately coveted the sexy man parts of the tall, blond and dashing architecture student, who had a solid 3.9 GPA, lived in a single in Browning Hall, drove a 2006 Lexus SUV, and owed $37.60 in library fines.
No one knew but her.
The shy but godforsakenly sexy Edward Cullen, it would seem, needed to come out of his oppressive closet—and really, who in the world could be better to assist him than the nerdy, little computer geek no one ever noticed?
She began her plan by sending an email to Edward.
Mr. Cullen:
Your request of Death in Venice is now available. You will have until November 11, 7:00 PM to collect your request.
Thank you,
Flo Brown
Library Staff
After she clicked send, she began work on her second email. She felt Jasper would need a bit more of a "push" than her sweet Edward.
Mr. Whitlock:
You're copies of The Civil War: A Narrative by Shelby Foote, Battle Cry of Freedom by McPherson, and Killer Angels by Shaara are now two weeks past due. Your current amount owed is $37.60. If these titles are not returned by 7:00 PM tomorrow, the entire cost of these books will be billed to your account.
PLEASE NOTE that the release of end of semester grades will be held if any a student fails to have a ZERO balance on their library account.
WE TAKE BOOK FINES SERIOUSLY.
Warmest regards,
Toots Bronigann
Library Staff
The girl smiled happily at her hard work. Maybe, she was being a teensy bit conniving—but just the teensiest of teensy bits—and besides, THIS WAS IN THE NAME OF LOVE! In her heart, she knew that all these two needed was a simple push in the right direction… and yes, she would certainly prefer it to be one down a long, poorly lit, rarely used reference aisle.
Her heart was generous that way.
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At around 6:45 PM the next day, the girl hovered around the librarian desk waiting for the two star-crossed lovers to arrive. Tugging anxiously on one of her pigtails she glanced at her watch to check the time.
Any minute the victims of her manipulations would either show or not. She was bouncing in her black, zippered boots to the point that she actually knocked over one of the books on display by the front counter.
She needed to calm the fuck down.
Luckily she was the only one around. Well, if you wanted to call it librarians were busy with an emergency. A shelf had fallen on the third floor in the languages section. It had fallen and knocked over the shelf behind it, which had knocked over the shelf behind that one. Now, Swahili and Arabic were mixed with Mandarin and Hindi, and the girl was quite sure that world dialects would never be the same at the university.
She shook her head. Those librarians, they should really have paid more attention to the creaky 1940s shelving . With so many books loaded on those ancient shelves, one just never knew when the whole set up would...
Snap. Tip. Fall.
At 6:45, both Edward and Jasper walked in at the same time. She wished she could admit to being surprised at their dual punctuality, but something about Edward's over-eager pace and Jasper's stylish messenger bag gave them away for being the crushing boys she knew them to be. It truly was a match made in nerd-boy heaven.
Edward walked up to the check out counter first—his eyes focused on his iPhone, unaware that he was about to run into Jasper's back—which he did, one second later.
"Ugh," he said, almost dropping his iPhone, but then he glanced up, saw Jasper, and a panicked look washed over his face. "Oh! It's you—well, I-I, um, guess it's... er... my turn to apologize for running into you?"
Jasper, highly amused and clearly happy to see Edward again, gave him a lazy smile —at which, both Edward and the girl swooned.
Clutching desperately for balance onto a large column separating the rooms, the girl let herself wonder what it would be like to wake up to that face in the morning—those gorgeous cheekbones and that yellow-brown hair—but then that thoughts cut off—because she saw Edward's face, his mouth slightly open, his knuckles turning white as his hand clung to his phone like it was his anchor, and his eyes looking almost frantic—looking at Jasper before jerking to stare at the counter and then to sneak another glance again before staring at the floor. Then there was the way Jasper just seemed to take it all in one slow, suave stride.
No, she decided, having one or the other would not be sufficient. Watching the two of them together on the other hand...
"No problem," she heard Jasper reply, the grin still gracing his lips. He was confident but she noticed something Edward hadn't. Jasper's fingers were balled into tight fists by his side.
He totally wanted to touch his hair.
She wanted to touch his hair.
Someone needed to touch his hair—immediately.
Edward didn't reply. His eyes were trained on Jasper's mouth.
His impossibly soft-looking, pink mouth.
Jasper cleared his throat.
Edward's eyes suddenly shot up to Jasper's—and he realized—again—but then he seemed to compose himself. He leaned back on his heels and said, "I um...think that maybe I am er...supposed to meet the Librarian here by seven? Have you seen anyone? Any people? Librarians?"
Jasper stared at Edward with a puzzled expression, "No, in fact, I'm supposed to meet her here by seven, too—otherwise my credit history will be in jeopardy, I fear," he joked. He glanced around the area, "It looks like someone stole the librarians."
The girl snickered from her hiding spot. "Stole the librarians," indeed.
Edward, naturally, turned beet-faced and said nothing.
But Jasper said nothing either!
These two were pathetic and going nowhere fast, but then...
Edward did the most amazing thing. He fulfilled their fantasies right in the middle of the library. It was almost like porn. He shrugged slightly and ran his fingers through his erratic hair, causing the whole mess of it to stand on end. The simple act was innocent and random and vague—yet at the same time it was anything but. The girl clamped her hand over her mouth for fear of being heard laughing. She forgave Edward for everything. That move was totally intentional—it made him look sheepish and nervous, but that one motion, the hand in the hair—it was pure sex—and Edward knew it. It would seem that she'd fucked up and misjudged the boy—he spoke with actions—not words.
Jasper had watched the entire action with something close to awe. His jaw was hanging open.
The girl hoped he'd drool.
Because then maybe Edward would lick it up! A girl had to have dreams.
But instead, Jasper's mouth snapped shut. "I"m heading upstairs. There's a book I want to look at. You want to come?" Jasper asked, cutting to the chase.
Edward turned a hint of pink, but nevertheless, he smiled and nodded. "Yes, umm... sure."
"Good," Jasper murmured, and his gaze swept up and down Edward's body before he turned and made for the stairs.
Edward followed him with a wide smile.
Twenty paces behind, the girl followed with eager skips.
As she crested the top of the steps, the girl knew she had ventured into questionable territory. Was she a voyeur? A stalker? A pervy college junior with too much time on her hands and a fascination with boy on boy romance?
A solid yes to all of the above.
Jasper and Edward went far down the long row of shelves, passing study rooms and small lounge areas until they reached the far back corner of the library. They stopped when they reached the final line of shelves. Then Jasper, not sparing a glance for Edward, reached up on his tip toes to grasp a book that was on the top shelf.
With the fucking shelves in the way, she couldn't see Edward's reaction, but she did see the way he seemed to take a step forward. Then he asked, "What's the book?"
Jasper chuckled. "Soviet Power Structures under Lenin," he read allowed.
"Lenin was an interesting man," Edward murmured, and then he leaned forward, and the girl saw through the gap in the shelves as his hand reached out, brushing along Jasper's arm until his fingers stroked the completely meaningless book. "Russian art suffered under him in many ways, though."
"Russian art..." Jasper repeated in a voice she could barely hear.
"Do you like art?" Edward asked him, and the girl had to suppress an excited giggle as Edward's pulled the book out of Jasper's hands. She heard the reverberating clang as it hit the lower shelf.
"I do," Jasper replied in a voice that sounded as if was out of breath.
Which made her wonder....
She looked down through a lower shelf to see Edward's other hand...
On Jasper's hip.
Thumb out.
Thumb inches from a sizable pants bulge.
The girl had a near moment as she almost knocked an encyclopedic-sized volume off the shelf.
But above the two idiots were still talking. "Hmmm," Edward hummed, and then he leaned up to...
The girl stood on her tip toes to see it.
Jasper met Edward half way. His hand reached up to grab the back of Edward's jaw and his lips parted, and he took a there was the slow descent of faces until Jasper caught Edward's top lip between his own lips, and she saw the subtle glimmer of Edward's pearly teeth press into Jasper's bottom lip and then the back and forth, lips catching lips and then the subtle debut of red. (They were onto tongue!) Jasper's hands were in Edward's hair and along his jaw. His breaths were frantic puffs, and Edward was being a handsy bastard, totally gripping Jasper's ass and...
She had to look down through the lower shelf again.
Holy fuck.
Yep. Thumb rolling up and down on the bulge.
No wonder poor Jasper looked ready to keel over.
She was ready to keel over just watching it. The girl kept her eyes glued to the boys on the other side of the shelf but made quick fanning motions with her hand. Was it getting hot in here?
The two of them were edging slowly toward the back wall. She noticed, with interest, that the previously shy Edward had become the aggressor, dominating the moment. Jasper seemed to be incapable of doing anything but backing up as Edward's persistent presses drove him backward. When they reached the wall, Jasper's head hit first, and he jerked back with a quick yelp, breaking the kiss.
Edward's hand left the lower parts of Jasper and quickly moved to cup the back of his injured head. "Shhh," he cautioned. "We don't want anyone to hear."
Jasper nodded, and then asked with a crafty, "And just what would they hear?"
Edward gave a light laugh, and then reached down, gripping Jasper through his jeans again.
Jasper gave a shocked and low groan, and Edward, himself laughing, pressed his hand over Jasper's mouth to smother out the sound.
"Yeah, maybe we should do this somewhere else..." Edward shrugged.
The girl, peeking through the shelves, felt like crying. Her mouth even opened and the words, "No" almost tumbled over her lips.
Almost.
But Jasper saved the day.
"No."
Thank God.
Edward looked confused. "No?" he asked incredulously.
Jasper shook his head "no," and then rasped, "Now. I need you now," and then he shoved wide-eyed Edward, and the dynamic between the two changed. Edward stumbled back, at least two or three feet, but Jasper kept up with him, his hips pressing Edward still farther back, and then they were closer to the end of the aisle. The girl followed Jasper's eyes until she saw what he saw. An empty book cart.
She was more then pleased when Jasper's hands scooped up under Edward, lifting him with straining biceps and then Edward was on the top of the shelf of the book cart. The cart creaked under his weight, and she closed her eyes waiting for it to break, but it never happened. When she looked again, she could tell the angle of their bodies was near perfect, because Jasper pressed into Edward, and Edward's legs came up, wrapping themselves around Jasper's long waist, beaten green Birkenstocks half dangling off his toes.
There was another kiss. Jasper dark blond head dipped into the curves of Edward's neck. Edward's heels dug in--his shoes dropping to the ground one at a time. He pulled on Jasper's sides with a jerk.
A whispered round of cursing caused her to strain her ears.
"Fuck."
"God. Damn."
It was with the cursing and the grinding that the motions were established, the slight roll of the cart aiding them in their mid-aisle frottage.
"Fuck. Dear fucking—holy shit."
"Fuck-fuck-fuck."
Edwards hands moved up and down Jasper's back in a semi-constant rhythm while Jasper's hands were braced against the cart,and there was the wonderful way his ass so obviously flexed through his jeans, even as each thrust into Edward became faster and more frenzied.
Both she and they realized at the same time that the cart was about to...
The cart smacked against the book shelf. There was the softest of creaking sounds, and then a series of books toppled. Jasper jerked them both out of the way.
They fell along with the books, landing at the side of the cart.
She thought they might stop then. She feared it, but they didn't. Books and bruised bottoms be damned! If anything, their movements intensified—hands and lips fighting furiously. They seemed to need more (which was fine by her), and Edward's t-shirt was pushed upwards and then Jasper's blue sweater vest was thrown to the side and the tails of his white button-up were pulled out of his pants and the shirt was shoved up. Edward was on top of Jasper, and stooping down, she could see Jasper staring with a smile into Edward's eyes, and the bottom part of their chests and their abs were touching, and she was sure that skin felt soft and warm and taut...
Jasper proved her point on this.
"You feel—so—fucking—amazing," he grunted
Edward answered by yanking up Jasper's shirt. His latched on to a pale mauve nipple and while his other arm was bracing him, balancing him while he still kept an angle against Jasper.
Jasper obviously liked the nipple sucking move, but it seemed he wanted Edward higher up, because he grabbed him, fingers hooked in belt loops and pulled Edward up his body so that he could kiss him soundly, and mostly so that the excellent friction was restored.
They didn't talk much after that.
Ear lobes got bitten. Jaw lines got traced with tongue. Noses clonked at an oddly angled kiss.
The girl lay on the floor, trying to keep the perspective clear as she watched them over the tops of a row of accounting principles books. She knew it when the moment started to draw close.
They both gave these rapid, hissing pants, and Edward's fingers dug into Jasper's shirt—she was pretty sure those nails would leave cobalt crescents—and Jasper started nodding furiously, and then his eyes clenched, and Edward gritted his teeth, and Jasper wrenched Edward's mouth onto his, and they finished on the floor with their kiss suffocating their groans.
Well done, boys. The girl smiled softly, almost proudly.
They lay there, panting and looking into each other's eyes.
She left them there, feeling for the first time like she was intruding. She went down the stairs and sat a bench just outside the library.
She dug through the bag she had placed at her feet. Rummaging for a minute she pulled out a pack of cigarettes and but groped around impatiently for her lighter. Irritated she huffed for a minute trying to decide what to do.
They emerged roughly ten minutes later, disheveled and lost to bliss. Jasper had his hand on Edward's book bag strap, and he was tugging it gently and urging Edward to head to his place. They stopped directly in front of her.
On impulse, she hopped from her position on the bench and asked, "Hey, ummm... neither of you happen to have a lighter, do you?" She held out her cigarette as evidence of her need.
Jasper shook his head no, but Edward reached his blue-stained fingers into his pocket and pulled out a green lighter. "Here," he said, and a soft yellow flame burst out of the top.
She inhaled and blew out a puff. "Thanks," she said. Her appreciation was for more than just the light.
Edward nodded and shifted his focus back to the man who was still pulling him in the direction of his dorm room.
"Please?" she heard Jasper whisper as she walked away and settled back down on her bench.
Edward agreed, not verbally, but he allowed himself to be pulled in Jasper's direction with a smile on his beautiful face.
The girl sat thoughtfully for a few long minutes, taking slow drags on her cigarette. If she put enough effort into it, she bet she could hack into the video feed from Browning Hall...
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