Read the room-The Library Between

Chocolate

He ran two hands through short, bronze-brown hair and his eyes sifted through the library impatiently.

"He looks distressed." Emma states bluntly from the counter one Saturday morning.

"Maybe he's not a morning person. Or it's because his friend isn't here yet." Evans mumbles with his eyes shut.

He turns his head slightly and opens one eye to watch her expression. "Anyway, shouldn't you be going? We don't need a repeat of last time you worked in the morning."

Emma clenches her fists and faces him defensively, "Shush! I won't stay the whole time!" She makes a "Hmph!" sound and folds her arms.

For a brief second she looks at Evans, who was still watching her, then hides her face and mutters, "I wanna get to know my citizens."

"Your... citizens?"

She raises her voice slightly, "My citizens."

Evans opens both eyes and sits up with a new look. He wanted to laugh, but he took in her expression in that moment.

"...What?" Emma slowly raises two hands to her cheeks to feel her face.

It's hot!

Evans's awe melts into a small, tired smile. "You're easy to tease."

"Sh...shut up!"

"I didn't even say anything," He laughs, quietly, surprising himself and embarrassing her even more.

~~

He's mad. That's why he's not here.

The human boy groaned restlessly out loud.

He sat with a strained look on his face in the corner of the library, hands folded on a coffee table in between the two seats.

Suddenly, he pressed his hands to his face and whined like he might cry.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!

~~

Emma poked Evans gently, then pointed to the boy in the corner.

"He's making noises." She says flatly, with her eyes narrowed on the boy and an eyebrow raised in concern.

"You gonna stop him?"

"...No... Should I?"

Evans doesn't respond and puts his head on the desk with his eyes shut. Emma groans.

"Oh," she stops her groaning. "The other one just came in."

~~

Footsteps approach, and through his fingers he sees the other boy sit down across from him with a smile.

"C-Cam...Camden!" He exclaims with blatant surprise, and watery eyes.

"Hey!" The smile on his face shows no signs of any indignation. The other boy relaxes slightly, and blushes lightly at the smile.

The human's eyes get lost on Camden. He has two small horns on his forehead and a small, round face with big, brown oval-shaped, eyes. His skin has a golden yellow color that's seen in a sunset topped with curly dark hair.

"H-hey. Where... were you?"

"Oh!" He exclaims as he sets a plastic bag down beside the chair. "Sorry! Ethan held me late at practice to work on something for a little longer. I meant to text you but... I got distracted..."

Camden rubbed the back of his neck, then reached into the bag. "Here."

His eyes started in the librarians' direction, then quickly away, trying to lay low. He slid the chocolate across the table.

The boy sits and stares at the chocolate for a few seconds, then looks back up at the demon, suddenly on the brink of tears.

"I thought you were mad at me!"

Instead of crying, he just whines and sniffs. The two boys receive lots of glares from the people around them.

"W-what?!" Camden glances around him and catches some of the glares, distressed. "Why?"

He stops making noises and folds his arms, heat rising to his cheeks quickly. "'Cause I couldn't make the last date."

Camden watches as the other boy turns his head away, embarrassed, and smiles. He reaches across the table, taking the boy's hands in his own.

"I know things come up sometimes, Max. You don't have to be able to make everything."

Max struggles to get any words out, and Camden laughs.

"Now! I feel like we owe the librarians!" Camden exclaims with a victorious look.

"This is all a bribe to get me to check out a book, huh." Max sighs in defeat, and emotional exhaustion.

~~

"The demon boy brought chocolate and then made eye contact with me." Emma says with a rigid tone and her teeth grit.

"Are you gonna go tell them to leave?"

Emma glared at Evans and let out a deep sigh. "As long as they don't touch the books, I'll live." She mutters in defeat against her own morals. "I'm going home."

~~