"Damn, it's cold." Kuroo's eyes trace the stores outside his dorms lazily, his scarf wrapped tight.
Kuroo decides in that moment that he's rather lucky that he has good vision. He remembers Lev, his underclassmen, had to get glasses one year only to constantly fog them up in the winter. Once, he walked right into a phone pole because of his smeared vision. Kuroo snickers to himself as he walks.
About two blocks away from his dorm, Kuroo's eyes flit to a shop he, coincidentally, didn't notice until now. A library. It's rather small, but it looks like an easy gig. Kuroo quickly crosses the road, making his way to the quaint establishment.
When he opens the door, a fine chime rings in his ears. The sound is soft, yet noticeable, much different than the bells he hears around campus.
The library, Kuroo realizes, isn't as small as it looks. The building has an odd, magical sense about it. Books are lined up upon the walls like art in a museum. There are a few tables scattered thoughtfully throughout the building. Beside the counter, Kuroo recognizes a brilliant, curving staircase leading up another two floors, all equally stacked up to the brim with paperback and hardcover books. Kuroo strains his eyes to spy a fine chandelier upon the top of the room.
Had Kuroo known of the place, he would have studied here before now.
"You're looking a bit lost, sir." The voice that rings in his ears is low, a bit ragged, as if though it's been used for ages. Kuroo turns to spy a man with grey hair and eyes that crinkle at the corners when he smiles. His grin is cheshire-like, his skin wrinkled.
"Ah, I was just wondering if you had any open positions..." Kuroo let's his voice trail off, his eyes flitting across the room once more. The old man merely hums, clasping his hands together.
"Ah, you're a tall boy, aren't you, eh..? You can help me out well, then. When people return books, you can put them back for me. Easy enough, yes..?" Kuroo blinks, his gaze resting on the man before him.
"Just like that..?" The man eagerly hums, his hand patting the boy's shoulder.
"Just like that. Most people come in the afternoon, so it could be easier to work in the mornings, knock it all out in one go, yes..?" Kuroo slowly nods, his brows furrowed.
"Yeah... that works."
"Great! So, when you come in, there's a book on the desk, just write the time you come in and every week, you'll receive pay based on time coming in, yes?" Kuroo nods, still as confused as before. The old man simply chortles, patting the boy's shoulder once more.
"We prefer old fashioned here. It just makes it easier. Very simple, isn't it. In any case, I expect to see you Sunday, hm?" Kuroo's confusion breaks, a soft smile breaking through. Perhaps it was realizing he accidentally got a solid job, or maybe the pure confusion rising to his eyes, the world tinting hazy pink.
"Sounds good to me."
-
Simply ethereal. Kuroo can hardly tell if the dark library is even real, or if he's imagining the three floors and thousands of books. The building could probably hold every title, he believes.
Well, maybe not that, but at least all of the memorable ones. Kuroo laughs to himself at the idea of finding old Garfield comics in this whimsical type of building.
Kuroo's schedule, he realizes, is free for a few hours, so he takes it upon himself to take a tour around the large building.
The top floor is full of nonfiction; Autobiographies, books of large events like world wars, and at least five copies of Anne Frank's diary. It's really been too long since he was cooped up in a classroom, nose buried in the odd thoughts of the girl younger than he was at the time. Awkward, that she wrote about sex when he was too flustered of a boy to even consider jacking himself off.
No one said he's that boy today, of course, but that's beside the point. We're talking about nonfiction, after all.
The second floor is fiction. Fantasy, Horror, Mystery. This area is where most people reside, Kuroo has come to find. It's part of why the place seems so magical; the main floor is pretty quiet, with very few people.
The main floor is full of children's books, and many other things along those lines. One thing Kuroo noticed, though, was a table with a puzzle laid out neatly, only the borders intact.
He was surprised to see it. He figured kids weren't into puzzles in particular, let alone puzzles that looked to be, oh, three thousand pieces? Kuroo can hardly look at it without breaking a sweat.
Kuroo isn't dumb, or bad at puzzles, by any means, it's more that this looks like such a task that Kuroo can't figure why anyone would purposely put in all that time and effort just to take it apart.
He finds himself keeping his gaze on the table positioned so close to the counter where his boss usually resides. The old man is probably off on a break of some kind. Perhaps lunch. It's around that time of day, Kuroo notes. Instead, at the counter, is a boy with silver hair.
The boy is pretty, and definitely has the looks to be sitting in a place Kuroo had described before as ethereal.
The boy is in a white button up with the sleeves rolled to his elbows and a pair of pale toned skinny jeans donned on his lower half. The beauty mark upon his left cheekbone is a wonder, and makes him look just all the more of an epiphany; He looked real, yet too good to be true; Yet unreal.
The boy glances up from the book in his hands, a soft smile toying at his soft features.
"Ah, hey. Nekomata pulled you into a job here too, huh..?" Kuroo blinks. The boy's voice is smooth, and the way he holds himself matches the tone. Next to his new coworker, Kuroo feels lackluster.
"How'd ya know?" The boy laughs, the right side of his lip twitches upwards just a hair more than the other, his eyes glimmering in the room's yellow lighting.
"Good hearing, I suppose. I'm Sugawara Koushi. Normally I keep an eye on the children's area, read them a few books, the works. I'm mostly focused on the counter when Nekomata's gone on break, though." Gosh, Kuroo isn't even surprised. The boy before him is oddly, how can he put it, refreshing? The boy seems somewhat of an angel.
"Kuroo Tetsurou. I was just told it'd be cool if I put the books back. One of the first things he mentioned was how tall I am, so.." Kuroo merely shrugs, his smile still laying lazily across his cheeks. Suga hums, his forearms resting lamely on the counter.
"Fair enough. Well, we don't have a lot of staff, whether you'd believe me or not. There's another counter boy other days, and we have four people who clean the floors n whatever else. You may think that's a lot but, really, this building is damn big. You'll run into our other desk guy on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. That's our usual schedule, at least." Kuroo hums, his eyes lazing over to the puzzle table once more. It's an absent action, and yet Kuroo still finds himself pondering.
"You're eyeing that table quite a bit." Damn. Caught. Kuroo bites his lip, searching for an excuse for his pointless infatuation.
"Ah, uh, you know. Didn't know kids liked such big puzzles. I never went over a hundred." Counter boy laughs, the pretty gleam in his eye never leaving.
"Well, our kids are somethin' else here."
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