Alexia Expósito

I let him choose what to do, since he was, well, new at the whole dating thing. And he wanted to spend our first date at the library.

The Silvergrove library is a single building, but Moonshadow elves do love the illusion of privacy. So the librarians--bless them--long ago planted giant zeppiflowers outside the building and trained their enormous flowergourds to dangle inside through the arches. The petals are translucent, so you can see if a pod is occupied, and Moon help you if you’re loud enough to make the librarian smack the petals with a staff of silence.

To use the reading pod, you just stroke the marked petal and it’ll open like a ramp and let you climb inside. The librarians filled them with pillows and planted glowing mushrooms that live right inside the flower, and you can request a box of glowing butterflies from the front desk for ambience, if you like.

We did not request a box of butterflies. Runaan had plenty in his stomach already.

We picked books from the shelves and Runaan chose our reading pod--one way in the corner. And then we settled in with our legs stretched out and touching, rested back on our piles of pillows, and started reading. Runaan chose a book of poetry, and he was blushing about half the time that he read me poems, but in a very contented way. Luckily, no one else could see but me! 

It might not seem very romantic, but I picked a book on advanced jeweling techniques. I could barely concentrate on it, but Runaan liked to hear me explain things that I understood, even if he didn’t. I even got him to move over next to me so I could show him the sketches in the book. Sneaky me, because then we were snuggled, and neither of us wanted him to scoot back across the pod.

I asked him to read me more poetry, and I kept snuggling closer with each new poem and sighing happily, and he kept reading to me. Somehow, my arms ended up all the way around his neck as I cuddled more snugly against him, and I started pressing little kisses against his skin. The way he’d gasp through his nose with each little kiss and pause for a second before continuing with his poetry was delicious! 

After a few very inspiring love poems, his cheeks were in full moonberry mode, and he was literally trembling in my arms, so I decided I should rescue him. I slipped the book from his fingers and kissed him properly. Ah, the cute soft little noises he made! 

And then I teased him, “Shh, Runaan, you have to be very quiet or the librarian will come and smack our pod.”

“I... don’t know if I can be that quiet, Ethari...” 

Well, that set my heart racing, I can tell you! A Moonshadow assassin admitting that he can’t control his stealth because of the way you’re kissing him? *fans self* Hot.

I had mercy and tempered my teasing, and the librarian never had to smack our reading pod. Runaan couldn’t have handled anyone else knowing how flustered and blushy he was getting with me, and so I had to protect him, you see. 

When the library closed and we had to part ways for the evening, Runaan literally couldn’t stop blushing and smiling. It was adorable and terribly flattering. He kissed my hand farewell and asked if he could read to me again soon.

Well. I about died of happiness as I immediately agreed. Our next date was a picnic outside the village, under a tree by a small pond, and Runaan read to me again. It was beautiful, and I got to kiss him again and listen to all those cute noises without worrying about librarians!