4. Mood Killer
N oble’s smile dropped as soon as the elevator doors closed, even if it had been somewhat genuine before getting in.
It was hard not to smile anytime he caught sight of the redheaded owner of the Cross Heritage Private Library. The man was—well, really, the only adjective he could come up with was adorable. The man’s copper-red hair had been up in a messy bun, like always, and his outfit today was dinosaur themed, even down to his numerous piercings. Noble hadn’t been able to stop himself from noticing that the colors complimented his pale skin.
Ollie Cross had a diamond-shaped face, a small pointed nose that somehow held up his large, rounded glasses, and a squarish yet soft jaw. Freckles were scattered across his nose, cheeks, face, neck…really, they were likely everywhere. Not that he would allow himself to think about where else they may be. The man was rather short, and on the thinner side. Which definitely should not have made him think about how easy it would be to pick him up and move him.
His assumption was that Ollie was mid-twenties. Which, on top of everything else, would make him too young for Noble, even if he went by the age he was frozen at. But he wasn’t positive about the age thing, as…those outfits of his were unique. And while they probably wouldn’t suit most people, they somehow fit the freckled man perfectly.
What he did know was that Ollie found him attractive. It was pretty obvious. And Noble couldn’t say he wasn’t interested. Over the year he’d been coming to the library, there had been a few times when he’d almost caved to the man’s horrible, stumbling flirting.
He hadn’t though. Noble really didn’t have the right to think about dating, or anything beyond hook-ups. Not with how messed up his life was, and how he was head-wise. He couldn’t even add on, ‘at the moment’, as messed up just described most of his life. Always had.
Just another reason why he really should stop randomly spying on Ollie while he read to the children… Beyond the fact that it was bordering on creepy at this point.
He sighed and pushed the thoughts away as he forced a smile back on his face on the elevator doors opening. Walking out, he headed left towards the open doors of the Rare Books section. Entering, the thoughts rushed back as he spotted Ollie sitting at the research desk, a bright-white smile on his freckle-covered face.
The man’s cheeks were flushed, and his breathing was slightly elevated, which pretty much told him that Ollie had likely run up here. Noble’s smile, which had faltered at the sight of the man, recovered quickly as he approached.
“Was not expecting to see you here,” Noble said with a fake laugh that he knew would sound genuine to most. “Weren’t you just downstairs?”
Staring up at the man, Ollie quickly gave himself a pep talk in his head. Okay, Ollie, you got this! It’s just talking! You talk all the time. No big deal.
He cleared his throat. “O-oh, w-well, Eashaa is on break, and I know you u-usually end up here, so…I used the stairs.” By the time he’d finished, the smile on his face was barely hanging on amongst the scorching heat rising in his cheeks.
Hell , he cursed in his head. Jahla was going to laugh her ass off.
Noble’s brow rose with a chuckle. “You could have joined me in the elevator.”
Ollie blinked, his face heating even more. Yeah, that would have been the smart thing to do. Wait, no it wouldn’t, because being in an enclosed space with a man he couldn’t even speak more than two words to without messing up would have been a horrible idea!
Though, to be fair, it was the same with anyone he found attractive, when he was trying to flirt with them. Be they man, woman, or nonbinary, it really didn’t matter. Fake flirting with friends? No problem. Real flirting? Shy bisexual mess—yay…
But the more he talked to someone he had a crush on, the better it became. So if he could talk for a bit longer here with Noble, then he?—
Ollie flinched back as Red jumped onto the table. The cat’s back was arched, his fur rising as he let out a loud hiss towards Noble.
“RED!” he gasped.
Jumping to his feet, Ollie plucked up the prickly cat, who yowled angrily as he struggled to stay on the desk, causing a few papers to be sacrificed. “Enough of that! Bad cat!” he admonished as he sat the still hissing cat on the floor.
He gave a slightly wide-eyed Noble a weak smile as he apologized. “I’m so sorry about that. He really…doesn’t like you very much.” Ollie gasped on realizing what he’d just said and squeaked, “Not that you aren’t likable! We here at the library love when you come in! He’s just being difficult.”
Noble let out an almost hesitant chuckle. “It’s fine, I knew what you meant. And it’s not like you can force your cat to like me.”
Ollie would if he could, but… He glared down at Red when the cat’s hissing ramped up. Red had walked around the desk to stand beside the poor man. Ollie would like to say it was the first time that something like this had happened, but it wasn’t.
The cat, for some reason, didn’t like Noble. Which really had been one of the reasons why he hadn’t spent much time talking to the man. Mainly as trying to flirt in the presence of constant hissing was a major mood killer, on top of the stuttering, that is.
Ollie didn’t understand it himself. While he didn’t know Noble too well, the man had been nothing but nice to him anytime they interacted. He never even got mad about Ollie’s cat yelling at him.
Could it be possible that the two had previously had a bad interaction? No, he was sure they hadn’t.
Red never left the library, besides when he took him on walkies, and security would be all over anyone attempting to even yell at his cat, let alone abuse him. And as far as he could tell, the two had never been alone together.
Ollie would usually trust an animal’s instincts, but in this case, he wasn’t going to. Besides, Red also hissed at every ice cream truck that just so happened to pass them during walkies in the summer.
“Red, you either cut that out, or I’m locking you in my office!” he snapped.
The sound stopped.
Meow , his cat said monotonically, before flopping back into a sitting position as he gave Noble the evil eye.
“Again, sorry about that,” Ollie said as he turned back to Noble. A happy smile slipped onto his face on realizing he hadn’t stuttered again!
YES! He had just known that the problem would resolve itself once he talked to the man for…longer than a few seconds!
Noble was eyeing Red with a frown, but it dropped away quickly and was replaced with a smile. “Don’t worry about it.”
“Right!” He cleared his throat. “What are you looking for today?”