Overdue
Author’s Note: thanks to Savitri van der Velden on Facebook for the inspiration for this story
Abel approached the circulation desk with trepidation, even though his favorite librarian was working, the one they called Beau. Abel loved to read, he loved the library, and sometimes he thought he loved Beau.
Beau was the quintessential nerdy librarian with wire-rimmed glasses, a carefully tamed cowlick, and random old-fashioned elements like bow ties and suspenders mixed into a typical outfit, despite the fact that he didn’t seem much older than Abel’s own thirty-five years.
But there was something more than Beau’s quaint geekiness that stirred Abel’s heart (as well as his cock), a sort of severity that made Abel quiver on even the best days.
Beau always greeted him politely and transacted their business efficiently—though he didn’t work the circulation desk often, he knew exactly what he was doing—and Abel couldn’t help noticing the way the other librarians deferred to him.
Abel wanted to defer to Beau too. Beau’s reserved demeanor and extreme competence seemed to demand it.
Normally, he would be thrilled to see Beau, would even manipulate his place in line to make sure Beau was the one to help him, but today was different.
Today he was returning his books late. He was such a fast and voracious reader that he never had any trouble finishing the stack of books he borrowed every week before they were due, but a couple of weeks ago he’d come down with a terrible flu, one that had lingered and lingered and left him so drained that, despite having spent most of a week in bed, he hadn’t done any reading at all.
“Next,” Beau said imperiously, as if he expected Abel to serve him.
He was wearing a tweed jacket, giving him a particularly scholarly air, but his cowlick had worked its way partially free and there was a faint flush to his skin, as though he’d been doing something strenuous in the back.
Under other circumstances, Abel might imagine what that something strenuous could be, but since today he had to admit that he’d been a bad boy, he just shuffled meekly forward and handed over his books.
“These are overdue, I’m afraid.”
Beau flipped open the cover of the first book and evaluated the paper glued inside it through his owlish glasses. “I see.”
“I had the flu,” he explained as Beau processed the books, scanning and typing without comment. “And I wanted to finish that thriller. I really enjoyed it.” He smiled hopefully, but Beau didn’t smile back.
“Next time, Mr. Ridgeway, give us a ring. We can extend the loan over the phone. That will be a dollar ten in fines, please.”
“Oh, Abel is fine,” he said as he dug out his wallet. Mr. Ridgeway sounded so formal considering he always thought of Beau as, well, Beau. And also considering what the two of them got up to in his fantasies. “I’m afraid I don’t actually have any cash on me. Do you take credit cards?”
“We do not. The processing fee for such a small transaction would be more than the fine itself.” Beau said this like Abel ought to already know it, like Abel was a child who’d made a mess and was now inconveniencing the adult trying to clean it up.
Abel swiped a hand over his forehead. He had his winter coat on, and it suddenly felt very hot in the library. “I’m sorry. I can, um, bring it next time?”
Beau nodded, but his expression didn’t soften. Abel took off his coat, wishing he wasn’t wearing a sweater beneath it. Gosh, the library was warm.
“Is there something else I can help you with?” Beau asked in a way that suggested Abel was on his last strike.
The more timid part of Abel’s brain was telling him he ought to walk away—run away even—but he needed new books to read this week.
And he wasn’t done having Beau look at him disapprovingly.
“Would it be okay if I checked out books today?” he asked, peering up through his eyelashes at the librarian who appeared to loom over him because his posture was so ramrod straight. “I promise I’m good for the money.”
“Mr. Ridgeway,” Beau said, somehow drawing himself up even taller.
“We don’t cut off our patrons over a dollar and ten cents.
We don’t even cut off those who are indebted to us for significantly larger sums. We merely ask that you try, in the future, to either return your books on time or call us when you become aware that you won’t be able to do so. ”
“Okay.”
“If that’s all, Mr. Ridgeway?”
Abel slunk away, though he couldn’t help continuing to take quick peeps at the circulation desk as he worked his way through the stacks choosing this week’s books.
Sadly, Beau left before he’d finished curating his selection.
The librarian who checked out his new pile of reading material didn’t seem to care that he had an outstanding fine.
She was a very nice lady, but she didn’t make his heart beat or his pulse race or his sweater too warm.
Of course, now that he knew how easy it was to call and ask for an extension, he had no excuse for bringing this next set of books back late.
He’d finished all four of them quite promptly and was eager for new ones, but he found himself delaying a trip to the library long enough to incur a new fine.
And he didn’t bring any cash with him either.
He’d been fantasizing about Beau since first laying eyes on him, and the fantasies had always had an authoritative lean to them.
With, for instance, Beau giving him orders as he sucked Beau’s cock or telling him how best to take it as Beau fucked him.
But now a new element had crept in—one of punishment.
If Abel was bad, really bad, Beau might decide to correct him.
And so he not only waited to bring his books back until they were overdue, but he lingered around the circulation desk until Beau relieved the nice lady librarian.
“I’ve been very bad,” he suggested as Beau handled the books with crisp precision.
“After promising that you wouldn’t be,” Beau said with an arched eyebrow. “If you’re trying to enrich the library, you can make a donation to our Friends of the Library fund.”
“I don’t have any money anyway,” he said carelessly. “For the fine or whatever.”
“I see.” Beau crossed his arms over his chest. “We do have a relief fund you can apply to, if you need financial assistance.”
Abel hadn’t meant to imply that he needed financial assistance. “Oh, I can pay the fine. I just didn’t bring any money.”
“And yet you promised you would be good for it.”
“I know.” He grinned, which caused Beau’s features to settle into even harder lines. “I was wondering if there was a penalty besides the fine.”
“There is not,” Beau said decisively. “Good day, Mr. Ridgeway.” He held out his hand to take the books from the customer behind Abel, and Abel slouched off to the side to make room for her.
Well, that had been a waste. Beau wasn’t picking up on Abel’s dirty hints at all.
Beau just thought he was rude and ungrateful.
He glanced back at Beau, sorry now that he’d been so difficult, only to find Beau watching him.
Beau looked away quickly, but he’d definitely been staring. Maybe at Abel’s ass.
Abel kept checking as he roamed the stacks, making a point of appearing engrossed in a book and then peering out of the corner of his eye to see what Beau was up to. And what Beau was always up to was watching him. Then the nice lady librarian came back from her break and Beau went away.
Abel sighed and turned his attention to finding something new to read for real, but his mind kept trying to figure out how to get Beau angry enough to act.
Then he saw it. The New and Popular table.
For most books, you got three weeks with a renewal period of another three weeks if needed, but these books were limited to fourteen days with no renewal because so many people wanted to read them.
It would be impolite of him to borrow one of these and then not return it on time.
That was probably the sort of thing that really pissed librarians off.
So he went over to the table and grabbed not just one, but two, of the books, which was the max you were allowed to borrow from this table.
He hardly even knew what the books were, but whatever they were, they were exactly what he needed.
He waited as long as he dared before returning them, guilt over hoarding two new and popular books warring with excitement over how angry Beau would be with him, how disapproving his expression might get and how frigidly formal his words. Could Abel hope for more?
He slunk into the library with the books hidden in a reusable tote, as if overdue books were contraband, then lurked at the magazine rack until Beau came to the front and logged into one of the computers.
He spotted Abel immediately, his gaze already frosty as if he’d been monitoring Abel’s checkouts and knew he was overdue.
Abel was so enjoying Beau’s harsh scrutiny that he didn’t immediately go up to the circulation desk, and as the minutes ticked by, Beau’s attention became both more overt and more annoyed.
Abel’s cock stiffened and his breath grew shallow.
This was foreplay of a most exquisite sort, but if he didn’t make a move soon, the lady librarian’s break would end and Beau would disappear to wherever he kept himself when he wasn’t working the front desk.
Abel edged toward the velvet ropes marking the line, dragging his feet like a recalcitrant child who’d been summoned to the principal’s office, peering through his lashes at the hard set of Beau’s mouth and eyes.
Even Beau’s bow tie seemed stiffer than usual.
“I’m afraid—” Abel started.
“I’m well aware of your transgressions,” Beau interrupted. He checked in Abel’s books with precise, controlled movements, somehow never taking his eyes off Abel as he did it. Abel’s skin heated, his face flushed, and his cock was practically leaking.
“I’ve been inconsiderate.”
“Indeed.”