"Oye. Y/N. Wake up."
The snappy tone of the librarian breaks you out of your slumber. Fixing your glasses, you mumble an apology.
"You gotta stop studying yourself to sleep here," Ms. Oliva whispers pointedly, "there's some odd people."
"I know, I know." You mumble, lifting your face off of your notebook.
She sighs and walks away, leaving you with your pile of research. You realize you have a sticky note stuck to your cheek still and peel it off, looking around to see if anyone noticed.
The university library is massive, and as you peer around from your spot on the main reading space, you spot a few older men and women, probably professors, sprinkled around, with their noses in books or laptops. You turn your head and see a quick flash of movement, a man, you think, in a hoodie is sitting a few tables behind you, looking way, way too intently down at a book on his lap. Some curls poke out from the hood. You've seen them around here before, usually with some sort of book on theatre history. Probably a theater major. Always wearing the same green hoodie pulled over his head, embroidered with a geometric pattern with hourglasses. You're certain he must have seen that. At least he's pretending not to. You turn around again and start to stack your books, shoving them into your bag.
As you make your way to the lobby, you pull out your phone, opening the Uber app. Time passes slowly, and the chill of the rain outside starts to creep into the lobby through the gaps in the rotating doors. With your forehead pressed against the cold glass, you watch for your Uber through the rain. You shift your bag to the other shoulder, realizing it feels a little too light. Oh crap- your laptop. It was still sitting on the desk.
You turn around and launch into a sprint, trying to get back to the main room in time. As you turn the corner past the desk, you run face first into something- no, someone- that wasn't there before. You find yourself on the floor, clutching your tailbone looking up at the man rubbing his forehead. A lanky guy with a full head of deep black curls stands above you, holding a green lump of fabric under one arm. His muted plum button up compliments his green eyes. Kinda attractive, but you shake your head in an attempt to undo that thought. You don't think you've seen him before.
He holds out a hand, offering to help you to your feet. His hand is a little clammy, but otherwise soft and warm. You nod in a quiet "thank you", and go to move past him. He holds out a gentle arm, stopping you.
"OH nonono I uh. I was hoping you hadn't left yet. You forgot your uh... your laptop." You turn around and find him holding out the bundle, handing it to you. You take it and unfold it a bit, enough to see your laptop, covered in all of your memey cat stickers, nestled there. As you gingerly unwrap it, a wave of gratitude washing over you as you slip it into your backpack and zip it up.
You go to hand the fabric back, finding only air where the kind stranger had been standing a few moments before. A car honks outside. Shoving both the fabric and laptop into your bag, you run out to the Uber, profusely apologizing to the middle aged ginger man in the front seat.
Getting back to the dorm, you plunk your bag on the desk, soaking wet. You pull out the fabric, and notice... sleeves. Then a hood. Then the telltale embroidery, the hourglasses. Oh my god. That attractive man who brought you the laptop was hoodie guy. Well, at least you knew where you could find him again. You fold it, getting a whiff of something that smelled like... caramel and Columbian spices. Not bad. You leave it, and all of your other stuff, on the oak desk and head to bed. Your roommate walks in, interrupting your slumber by turning the lights on.
"Heyo. Do you know when our history exam is? Is it Wednesday or tomorrow?" You groan and reach behind your head, throwing a small pillow at them. They giggle.
"I don't know. Check my calendar. It's on my desk."
"Thank youuuuu!" You flop over, letting her do her thing. You each had your own rooms, striking lucky with the dorm lottery. But Candace had a habit of forgetting, well, everything.
"Ah. It's Wednesday. Fantastic." You hear her go quiet and some shuffling.
"What are you doing?" She was so nosy sometimes.
"Where did you get this?" You roll over. Candace is pulling the sweatshirt out from under your laptop, unfolding it.
"Oh. Some guy at the library used it to carry my laptop to me after I forgot it. Nice guy. Disappeared though. I gotta give it back."
A shit-eating grin spreads on Candace's face.
"Do you know who this belongs to?"
"No... I just know what he looks like. Black hair, green eyes-"
"That's the one. So you saw him, without this thing? I've never seen him without out."
"I mean, yeah-"
"I think his name is Bruno. He's in my voice class. He doesn't take this thing off," she folds it back up. "I have class with him tomorrow from 9 to 11. I can give it to him. But considering he gave it to you, I think you should be there to do it."
You can hear the tone in her voice, hinting at a new target for her to try to pair you with. You choose to pretend to not notice. You're too busy with your art history studies, there's no time for dating around.
"Yeah, yeah whatever. I'll be there. 11 am."
The last thing you hear before you drift off again is silverware clinking as Candace has her late night meal.
YOU ARE READING
UNIVERSITY: A College AU
FanfictionA soft and fluffy AU where reader meets Bruno, and all of his anxiety, during their senior year at college. Chapters are about 1000 words long. Currently 23 chapters, but most are drafts and waiting to be replenished and edited. There's so much. Rea...
