The Cursed Library

[Seth Spiros]

Fuck this place. It gave Seth the heebie-jeebies ever since he had been "employed" by the owner. Or manager. Honestly, Seth didn't know who the fuck the guy was that hired him. The guy just happened to overhear Seth talking about needing a job and came right up to him and offered him the job. Seth had laughed when he heard that he was guarding a library. But that was before he actually saw the library.

The townies called it the Old Library because apparently it was a mostly defunct library that was only standing by the grace of some anonymous donor. Otherwise, it would have been bulldozed and rebuilt into a shopping center. Instead, it had been granted historical building status. Nobody could touch it now.

Seth didn't understand why it even needed a guard. It was an old library and if it was mostly defunct... who was he guarding it from? The occasional group of kids looking to dare each other to go inside, mostly. It was in their best interest to keep them out. But some people did visit, hence why it was only mostly defunct. It seemed the library had become a meeting place of some high and mighty looking types.

So when the new person came up to the front door, Seth raised his brows. Not the usual patron, not a kid looking to go inside on a dare. Seemed they were the opposite of anybody who came around here.

"Hey," he said by way of greeting in his usual gruff way. "I don't know what you're hoping to find here but this library is closed."

[Seth Spiros]

(I'm making this an open thread and bumping it in case anyone's interested.)

[Alejandro Riviera]

"Whoa, easy fella, I'm not here to make trouble!"

Alejo laughed as he swept the hood off his head. Whew! The rain was sheeting down outside, and he was half-soaked! Luckily the jacket he wore was waterproof and underneath he'd worn a thick gray hoodie which kept his hair nice and dry. Unlike the last time Seth saw him, Alejo was dressed in actual, normal clothes. With the hoodie, the dark green jacket, acid-washed jeans and yellow Tims on his feet, he probably looked nothing like that coked up strung out drunk idiot having sex in plain sight on the dance floor of a gay club.

He smiled impishly as he let the door swing closed behind him and lifted a hand in greeting. "Hi." Shades of him saying that after Seth pushed him off... ah, regret. His old friend. "I'm here to see the doctor."

A plastic bag dangled from his free hand, the one not doing the waving. He'd stopped by a Greek deli on the way here, thinking that Seth might like to share some food and drinks. Nothing fancy, but there was also hot soup—always nice on a cold day. By all accounts, guarding the old library was boring (and creepy) so Alejo thought why not—he could come over and keep Seth company for a few hours! Not like he was doing anything anyway, and his two guardians had mysteriously eased up on monitoring his every move. In fact, Marge took one look at him and rolled her eyes, then told him he was hopeless and that he should stop bothering them.

Bothering them! As if he hadn't been trying to get away this entire time, and they wouldn't let him!

Plus... he missed Seth. Parting with him the morning after that heart-to-heart talk felt bittersweet. Alejo had to let him go, though—he couldn't actually keep Seth hostage. Reluctantly he walked Seth out, then stood at the door waving like an idiot, wanting to... run after him and grab him and not let go. Bah. He was so pathetically enamored with Seth. It wasn't a good look, but then again, was desperation EVER a good look? He didn't want to seem over-eager though, for fear of pushing Seth away.

They could be friends. Alejo would much rather have him in this capacity than lose him altogether.

[Seth Spiros]

"Oh."

He hadn't expected that.

"Alexo, it's you."

Well, he did tell him where he worked and it wasn't as if his presence was unwanted. The job itself was boring as hell, if he didn't count the creepy feeling the place gave him. Other than that, it was mostly just standing around looking tough and scary and telling people to get lost in his gruffest tone. It usually worked. But it also meant he was left hanging around the old library bored to death for sometimes hours on end.

If the pay wasn't so good...

it was probably the least complicated job he ever held and the pay ratio to that was nice. Not that Seth desired the easy things in life but he did need to save up some money. Prize money was good, too, but it still took money to travel. Let alone just sitting here living and eating.

"If only I was a doctor," he lamented. "My job would be less lonely."

At least doctors worked with the public. Even a tiny town doctor had patients on the regular. And here Seth was, settling in his heels for the duration of his shift and resigned to doing it on his own. He didn't know how long Alexo had to hang out but it was... nice.

He smiled as he reached out and gently tugged the hoodie from Alexo's throat.

"It's healing nicely? You're taking care of it like I told you?"

[Alejandro Riviera]

"I don't know, getting paid to scare off a couple of kids a day, that's not bad," Alejo laughed as he drew closer, feeling some surge of ridiculous happiness at seeing Seth again. Too bad he wasn't in his tank top again--there was significantly less for him to ogle this time. Maybe for the better. Did he need to see Seth in an even more attractive state? Nope. (Yes.)

As Seth peeked under the collar of his hoodie, his hand instinctively lifted to touch Seth's wrist. The throat was a sensitive area still, but he wasn't afraid that Seth would poke his bruises or anything. He just needed an excuse to touch him, to make sure he was real. And he was.

"Yeah, it's getting much better." Alejo's smile was amused. "You still sound like a doctor here. All you need is the stethoscope and the white coat."

He lifted the plastic bag. "Hungry? I thought you might need some company all the way out here, all by your lonesome." Alejo winked. Even when he tried not to flirt... he couldn't help it. It was instinct!

[Seth Spiros]

"Almost too good to be true," he admitted. The job was a boon to some of the others. Seth got a feeling some of them weren't as sensitive to whatever might be happening in the library. Good for them. Seth didn't talk at length about it when any of them, since they all seemed to just shrug it off when he did mention it. Then again, they did seem like they were in a hurry to leave when their shift ended but that could just be the relief of being off duty and wanting to get home to partners or time to go out or even just to sleep.

"If only it were that easy," Seth said with a smile. Becoming a doctor would be an arduous journey. He didn't think he'd make a bad doctor, honestly. But he also didn't think he had it in him to go through so many years of study and school. "I'll just stick to first aid for now."

He could, though, he thought, as he regarded Alexo and his earnestness, become a first responder. He could still help people, heal people. He wouldn't have to go through so much schooling. It was a thought, for later. An amusing thought, wasn't it? An MMA fighter thinking about becoming a first responder.

Seth's eyes lit up.

"Starving! It's like you read my mind." He... he might have winked back in the moment. What? He was hungry and he'd been at it for several hours already. It was nice to have food and company in the form of... a cute guy. Seth gestured for Alexo to follow him with a tilt of his head around a corner.

There was a little overgrown garden that wound up a circular path that overlooked the library's entrance. A couple of benches dotted the area. Seth chose one and sat atop the tabletop, feet on the bench, looking out toward the entrance.

"This is where we usually go to rest our legs or eat," he told Alexo. "I think people used to come out here to read outside."

[Alejandro Riviera]

Yep. Way to a man's heart was always food. Always. The way Seth's eyes lit up was adorable and Alejo really wished he would just stop already. It was too much. The wink, too, he didn't even know what that did to a man. God, and Alejo wasn't even that hard up--that was the thing. Alejo wasn't sexually frustrated, he wasn't climbing the walls, his balls were just fine where they were...

This was getting pretty bad. Dakota was right. He had to shove his hand into his pocket to stop himself from doing something bad--like slip a hand around the back of Seth's neck and yank him down.

"I felt it through the air, all the way across town. My man needed me." It was a joke, spoken as a joke, laughed off as a joke. But was it? Alejo could see it. Too clearly. Seth wasn't a far cry from Judah, all things considered. They were both good, decent guys who had a heart big enough to care for themselves and for others. But... with Judah, the timing didn't seem to be right. Maybe Alejo wasn't ready to be loved. Not until he fell so hard that he had the sense jolted back into him.

What he did that night... Almost this close to really dying...

He needed Seth to save him. Really, he did. At the time he didn't think so but the more he thought about it, the more he realized that death was a cheap escape from his problems. It was an easy out and he almost took it, but... that wasn't right. It wasn't even really him, to take the path of least resistance at the slightest stumbling block.

Following Seth outside, he was surprised to see that there was more to the library than a crumbling old building. Alejo sat down on the bench and looked up at him for a moment. There was a lot he wanted to say but... Why ruin the moment. "You fit in surprisingly well here," was what he said instead as he pulled food and drinks and soup out of the bag. He set them down beside Seth for easy access and leaned an elbow against the worn tabletop, resting his chin in his palm. "So... are you going to be staying here for a while? Put down roots maybe?"

[Seth Spiros]

All the way across town, did he? Seth was sending out signals into the ether without even realizing it. He smiled privately at the term my man although he didn't say anything in response to it. That was a joke, was it not? Lightly spoken. But maybe Seth did send some kind of message, just standing here at the library, on his own.

He thought about their night together a lot. More than he maybe probably should have. He thought about what he said to Alexo, wondered if it was okay, wondered if Alexo was okay. He looked okay. Like he wasn't going to clubs and getting mauled out by gothic weirdos anymore. Maybe what he said to Alexo really meant something to him. It felt like their conversation was important, when he looked back on it. But it was hard to tell, when it was just Seth remembering it on his own. Cringing a little, hoping his words didn't seem like mere platitudes.

Because he really thought before he spoke--he wasn't just saying shit to say shit. He hoped Alexo knew that.

But he wasn't really sure how to broach the topic. Plus, everything felt so light now. Alexo seemed lighter. A lot lighter, in fact. Seth smiled again, down at the entrance of the library. They weren't too high up but it felt kind of like they were in their own little perch atop the world. Seth liked this part of the library. He could easily imagine the people of Hazleton coming up here to read under the trees, dappled in sunlight.

It was the only part of the library where he didn't feel that cold tingle down his spine.

"Here as in this town?" Seth asked, turning his gaze back to Alexo, who was looking up at him with curious blue eyes. He didn't just compliment them to return Alexo's compliment that night. They were pretty. Prettier now, in the light of the sun.

Did he fit that well here? Seth could see himself living here; he wasn't fond of big city life. He stayed in hotels for tournaments and they were fun places to visit. But he'd grown up in a small, idyllic town. So maybe his heart would always be in one.

"I travel a lot," he said. "For tournaments. But I seem to keep coming back here. So maybe." He regarded Alexo, who said he wasn't from here, didn't live here. Eventually, he would be leaving, wouldn't he? "What about you?"

[Alejandro Riviera]

Well, if Seth didn't want to be associated with a Greek god, he was sitting in the wrong place. With the sunlight at his back, touching the tips of his hair and refracting into a thousand little glimmers and glitters, he looked more than ever... almost too good to be true. Almost not real. Alejo still couldn't believe that a thing like Seth existed but it did, and somehow the gods and fate and whatever forces were out there chose him to be a part of this moment. This magic.

Fucking hell. He pinched himself under the table to stop himself from going full mush. That was a point of no return, everybody knew that. His boot scuffed the little cement circle on which the table and bench rested and came to rest against the central leg of the table. "Mmhm. This town." There was magic in the air here, magic in every particle of sunlight, every droplet of rain. There was magic to Seth's kind green eyes, to the shape of his lips as he spoke, to the timbre and pitch of his voice. Didn't they just belong together? Magic and magic?

Alejo didn't look away from him, even when he looked down. Even when their eyes met and held and some kind of spark transmitted between them. He swore it was there. A connection. A single, thin thread of fate winding around his wrist, around Seth's, invisibly tying them together.

"If what you said is true...  that for me, home and heart is where the people are..." Slowly Alejo's hand lifted; he was almost not aware of its movement. It handed on Seth's knee, light as a feather. The thumb caressed that crease in his jeans at the side of his leg, where his knee was bent, tracing the folds absently. He'd given a lot of thought to that one line especially. It kept circling around and around in his head, the people he loved, the people he wanted to love him back. People he wanted to save—he never went into being a cop for the glory or the recognition. He wanted to help people.

"Maybe..." His hand slid up a little ways along Seth's thigh, not in a sexual way—not to make an advance against him—but to feel him. Real. Solid. He kept coming back to that—that Seth almost couldn't be real. But he was. Seth was sitting here right now in this pretty part of the creepy old library grounds. His man. "Maybe I should follow my heart."

[Seth Spiros]

A hand on his knee. Or not quite his knee, but near it. Seth glanced at the gentle touch, then back at Alexo. He still thought it was true, yes, that Alexo found home where the people were. It didn't seem like it mattered where he was, as long as he loved the people that were there. And he seemed--despite his self loathing that night they met--to love quite easily. Little parts of his heart were with those kids and that old couple and yes, his ex-boyfriend.

Seth did his best to listen but that hand traveling up his leg was distracting. So light a touch and yet it felt as if it could burn a hole straight through the denim. He didn't move, though. Everything felt quiet and still. The only sound was the wind in the leaves and the occasional bird call.

Alexo said he should follow his heart while looking up at him. Not breaking eye contact. That... felt significant. His heart was people. His heart would lead him to home.

"You want to stay here," he said. It wasn't a question, even though it felt like one.

[Alejandro Riviera]

He didn't know if there was enough left of his heart for one last try but in that moment, as their eyes met and their gazes held, it felt like he did. Seth filled him with that kind of quiet confidence to believe that he wasn't beyond hope. That whatever wrongs he committed, whatever he had done in the past, he could rise above all of that. Alejo wanted to believe that there was still a better version of himself inside, the one that Seth seemed to see that night when they laid together.

"I want to go home." Home was people. It was a feeling of safety, of belonging. Home was where he didn't have to pretend to be happy when he was sad, when he didn't have to parade that false perfect version of himself when he wore all of his own imperfections like scars. There had to be a place for him in someone's heart—a home for him to finally find peace and comfort. Permanence.

Alejo stood. "I'm insanely attracted to you, Seth. Physically, of course." His smile was a little humorous. "You're what they call a total hottie. But more than that, I'm attracted to what's here." Alejo touched his temple with soft fingertips. He brought those fingers down to rest on Seth's chest, over his heart. "And here. I know I'm... still broken inside, and I can't guarantee you that it'll be an easy road to recovery, but I can—I want to try to be better. And I'd be the luckiest man on Earth if I could have you along for that journey."

Was he wrong? Did he imagine that the tenderness he saw was meant just for him? That the things Seth said, the way he held him that night, meant something? He couldn't be wrong. He didn't want to be wrong—fiercely, he wanted to be right. This time, this one time, he wanted to be right.

[Seth Spiros]

Home. And where is home now, he wanted to ask. But it seemed like there was more to it than that. Alexo spoke as if there was more to it. Their gazes were still locked as Alexo stood. Where are you going now? Ah. Well. He wished his ears didn't likely give him away but... they did. Most people didn't just come out and say they were insanely attracted to him. But he didn't know quite what to make of the physically disclaimer.

Hear him out. There was more to it. Whatever "it" was. Alexo seemed to have thought about it for a while, the same way Seth thought out his words to him. Right, well... hottie, that one he had heard before. Ladies, especially. But that was different. There were always fans at tournaments who shouted out the most lewd things. Seth never really got used to it, but it seemed to be a staple of being in the limelight, being physically fit, and skilled at something (but they didn't seem to care if he won or lost--the skill part wasn't as important as the other two parts).

Okay, his head and his heart. Seth looked down, at the fingertips over his heart. It could've skipped a little beat. He half worried it was noticeable and then wondered why he half worried about it.

So this was the insanely attracted part. Somehow, Alexo was attracted to everything. The whole package. It was kind of new ground. All of it. Seth wasn't even normally a patron of bars or clubs, but one of the guys told him about that particular one, recommended it when they noticed how tense Seth was. The job, maybe it was getting to him a little.

And at first, he shrugged it off.  Not the tension; he knew it was there. The recommendation. Seth wasn't actually much of a drinker. He'd had a single shot that entire night. It wasn't really good for the body or the mind, alcohol. Seth was more of an avid water drinker, maybe some tea. But he was there on that particular night, wondering the whole time, why am I here? But what if he wasn't there was the question now. Alexo wouldn't be here.

There was a lot of bad energy around them at that club. Around Alexo, around that guy. He didn't have to step in but he did because it wasn't really in his nature to watch and it wasn't in his nature to ignore something that bad, either. It could have been the hands of fate, placing their pawns in the same place at the same time, to cross paths. It could have been anything. Seth didn't discount the idea that there were reasons for certain things. He thought about it a lot but especially lately. Why he was here, in this town, why he was there, in that club.

Seth touched Alexo's chin, traced the curve of his lower lip and along his jaw. "Would it be inappropriate to kiss you now?"

[Alejandro Riviera]

Seth seemed like a thinker, someone who weighed his words before speaking them because he knew they could cause a great deal of harm if he wasn't careful. But he wasn't an over-thinker like Brayden, who waited too long to say everything. He was wise. Yes, wise beyond his years. The things he said that night, all of it stayed with Alejo long after Seth had gone, and his spot in the bed grew cold. It stayed with him because Seth didn't say things off the top of his head, he didn't say what he thought Alejo wanted to hear. He said what Alejo needed to hear.

Alejo waited now, knowing that Seth was thinking, taking his words in and digesting them. Thinking through the consequences of being with someone who had a fractured soul. But was that broken soul irreparable? Or was there time, still, to mend it and put it back together to some semblance of what it used to be? Alejo wasn't always like this. He used to be joyful; he had a lot of friends back in high school because he had a knack of pulling people in. He still did, but now they were the wrong types of people.

The few right types, he pushed away because he couldn't find a way to love himself enough to allow himself to love others. It was a messed up cycle, he wouldn't lie. But of course he still wanted to be loved, and he wanted desperately to love himself. That was why he was still here, and not laying at the bottom of a lake or stretched out on the highway with wheel marks down his face.

He smiled as Seth touched him, as his fingertips traced his lip. Still thinking? "Yes. It would be extremely inappropriate." Gently he eased Seth's legs apart so that he could move in between them, closer than close. Seth was technically on the job; kissing someone probably wouldn't make his boss—whoever it was—happy. Alejo slipped his arms around Seth's shoulders, leaning down to touch their foreheads together. "Because you should've kissed me the night we met."

And that would have been a bad idea, because Alejo was in a bad place that night. He would have hurt himself even more—physically, emotionally. He knew he would have pushed his body beyond its limit of endurance and in the end, Seth would've been just another guy from the club who took him home and fucked him. Even his beautiful words would have had no meaning because actions spoke far louder than words ever could. And that would have been the end of them.

But Seth was wise. He saw beyond the gratification of the present moment and he showed that he cared for Alejo by not touching him. It was frustrating as all hell, because Alejo was insanely attracted to him, but now he was glad that they didn't do anything. There was a time and a place for sex; that was neither the time nor the place.

"I don't want to get you fired, beautiful." Alejo smiled down at him, hands sweeping up to cup his face. His fingertips brushed the shell of Seth's red-tinted ears. He was so pure, Seth. So polite to ask a man if he could kiss him. He didn't have to ask, really, but Seth was a gentleman. Alejo, however, was no gentleman at all, so even as he was telling someone that they shouldn't kiss him, he was getting into that perfect position to be kissed. If anything, he probably made this scene look worse than it actually was.

"How about you come around to my place tonight, after work? I'll give you all the kisses you want."

[Seth Spiros]

"No."

Seth didn't agree with Alexo there; that he should have kissed him the night they met. He wanted to, at a few points. He thought about it. But he knew he was dealing with a delicate situation and as Alexo himself put it, somebody who was broken. Seth didn't know for a fact or not but he thought he might have met Alexo at the lowest point in his life. There was no regard for his own life, just a deep, unending well of sorrow.

To kiss him then...

No. He knew he made the right decision. In not kissing him, in barely touching him. Alexo didn't need another person taking from him in his life. That, he saw right away. Seth's intentions had never gone beyond that. Never once in the whole night they'd spent together did he ever think about taking advantage of him. Even when Alexo tried a few unsuccessful attempts at... he didn't know. Seduction? It seemed to be his default mode.

They were close now. Alexo insinuated himself between his legs like a promise and any man's heart would have raced harder at that. This... was not what he meant when he asked if it was okay to kiss him. Arms around his shoulders, face to face. Seth was starting to think his question was a mistake, that he'd inadvertently invited something else into the conversation.

Tentatively, he placed his hand on Alexo's shoulder. Maybe it would be best... to put some distance between them.

But Alexo surprised him. He did not do anything untoward. He didn't even kiss him. Seth smiled despite himself. Alexo was learning, then. Gently, his thumb traced a line over Alexo's shoulder and back again, a soothing gesture more so than a sexual one.

"The winter festival," he said, directing the conversation away from going to Alexo's place and kissing. "It starts this weekend. Do you want to go?"

[Alejandro Riviera]

See?

SEE?!

This was what he was bitching and moaning to Dakota about! Seth was so... proper. Infuriatingly, maddeningly proper. Alejo didn't think he could be any more obvious, with the way he eased between Seth's legs, brought himself in, hovered temptingly close enough to kiss. He knew he tempted Seth; he knew it. It wasn't some big-headed over-inflated sense of his own sexiness talking, that was just him knowing people. Knowing that look in a man's eyes, feeling the tension in Seth's shoulders and hearing the way his breath hitched, ever so slightly, as their bodies brushed.

He knew Seth wanted him. But Seth, he was... a gentleman.

So being obvious didn't work. Twice. He'd been obvious twice and Seth resisted him with some kind of superhuman strength. Okay that was big-headed, Alejo knew not every man wanted to fuck him (or be fucked by him) but—come on! Seth was the one who asked to kiss him! If he'd said yes, would he have? Or was it a test? No... Seth did want to kiss him in that moment. He had been touched by Alejo's plea.

There was something comforting in that, though, and in knowing that Seth wasn't only interested in some ass (or cock). He wanted to do this right, did he? Alejo sighed, but he smiled too. That little consoling rub of the shoulder was nice. Sweet. Goddamn sweet Greek god, he was going to drive Alejo crazy, wasn't he? Either he lost it or Alejo did, and one of them was going to end up bent over a table one of these days, getting fucked to hell and back. Oh, sweet Seth. If only.

"So you want to do this properly, do you?" He didn't answer the question but it was pretty obvious, wasn't it? Of course he wanted to go! Of course he did. Alejo shook his head slowly as he eased back, no longer within kissing range. "You know what this means, don't you Seth? If we do it the right way... I can't put out on the first date. I might not even put out on the second date." Blue balls incoming.

"Are you sure you don't just want to come over tonight and fuck? And we can sort out the rest later?" His tongue ran over his lower lip, the one Seth traced earlier. "Sure you want to wait that long to tap this ass?" His voice lowered to a devilish whisper, "Or the other. Way. Around?"