Joe and Nicky have worked together for three years, but Joe’s crush can be reliably dated back about six months. (Of course he has a crush, and of course he can admit that to himself, he’s an adult. Doesn’t mean he’s going to admit it to Booker.) They’d known of each other, of course, but it’s a relatively large library and material services folks are notorious for rarely emerging from their back room, where they hoard fresh barcode stickers and the laminator.
In which Joe is a youth services librarian, Nicky repairs books, and their coworkers have their suspicions.
No archive warnings apply. Library AU, modern setting, no powers, fluff, emotional honesty, the inherent romance of a ride home
Joe/Nicky | 10400 words | Mature
What I loved: OH BOY EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS. I’m a librarian by training and this fic made me so nostalgic for the public library. It is a love letter to libraries, pitch perfect from the contact paper to the microfiche to the collegial conversations dunking on MLIS programs - and on top of that it is incredibly cozy and sweet and vulnerable. The romance is utterly gorgeous, totally believable, and this is one of my fave AUs in the fandom already. If you haven’t read this one yet, move it up in your list! Also, I’m a simple woman - I see a Mary Oliver themed title, I start crying a little bit.
The author is on Tumblr as @emjee and honestly please feel free to reblog at the source rather than from here; this fic is one day old!