Amus

Carina broke the letters seal and scanned its contents. A second later she snorted, then covered her mouth as a fit of giggles escaped her.

Tobi blinked. “Is that good?”

“For me?” Carina said. “Probably.”

“Now I want to know?” Myrna reached out for the letter before Tobi could even ask why.

Carina passed it over. “It seems your brother still can’t stay on his broom.” She huffed, rolling her eyes. Tobi bit his lip to keep from chuckling. 

Myrna read it and sighed. “What has gotten into him?” Tobi fought to keep his mouth shut, ducking his head. He was not about to spill Luke’s motives. 

“Since Nurse Blainey's making him my charge for the afternoon,” Carina sighed, a bit too cheerfully, “I’ll need to rely on you to return these to the Restricted Section for me.” She turned and tapped the large stack of books beside the desk. She then slipped a worn key into Myrna’s hand with a folded note.

Myrna stared at the teetering stack. Then at Carina. Then back to the stack.

“I can’t carry all of those by myself.” She huffed, pouting. 

Tobi grinned, he thought her pout was the cutest thing he had ever seen.

Carina, who clearly noticed everything and spared no one, turned to him with a look of pure innocence. “Tobi can help you.”

His ears went pink so quickly that they might have caught fire. 

“Aye,” he grinned. “Course I can.” Time alone with Myrna sounded fantastic, especially without her brother snickering at his horrendous flirting and moonstruck expressions.

Myrna looked at him, then at the books, and let out a small sigh. “All right. But if you ruin any of these books, I’m letting Carina hex you.”

Tobi perked up. “Deal!”

Carina made a tiny choking sound that was definitely a laugh as she grab her bag and practically skipped out of the library.

Myrna hopped down from the desk keeping her gaze fixed on the stack. “Do try not to set anything on fire.”

“Aye, absolutely,” Tobi said, scooping up the stack, causing it to immediately wobbled in his grasp.

“Why don’t I believe that!” 

He grinned. “Probably because you make me nervous.”

Her eyes flicked up to his face, then away again. “That sounds like a you problem.”

“It is,” he admitted cheerfully. “A terrible one.”

She shook her head, but there was a softness to it now as she led the way toward the Restricted Section.

Once she unlocked the gate and they stepped inside, the light dimmed, and so did the noise of the rest of the library. The whole place felt tucked away with nothing but shelves and dust.

Tobi shifted the stack of books he carried and followed after her.

“So,” he said, his voice low, “any idea where these actually go?”

“Perhaps.” Myrna slid Carina’s note from her pocket and took the first volume from Tobi’s stack. She eyed the first low shelf and tucked it into place with a little hum. She turned back to glance at Tobi, who of course, was shamelessly watching her with a stupid grin on his face. 

“You’re staring.” Myrna sighed. 

“Aye, I am.” He grinned a bit wider. “I like to enjoy the beauty in my everyday life.”

Myrna scoffed shaking her head as she grabbed the next book and consulted the note to see where it should go. Tobi couldn’t miss the blush coloring her cheeks. It drew attention to the deep blue wisps of color along her left cheek. Tobi couldn’t help but think that they were beautiful, like brush strokes. 

Myrna glanced back to him, her cheeks darkening further as she caught him staring again. She turned back to the shelves. “Staring isn’t going to help you shelve books.”

“No,” he scratched his brow and chuckled, balancing the wobbling stack of books with one arm. “But it does improve my afternoon.”

She let out the tiniest huff that might have been a laugh and held out her hand for the next book.

He gave it to her at once, far more pleased with himself than he had any right to be.

They moved shelf by shelf, Myrna consulting Carina’s note while Tobi handed her books or reached up to put the taller ones away at her direction.

A few minutes later she took a worn book from his hands, one with faded pink and brown stripes along the spine, and slid it beside a taller volume whose red binding had long since softened toward a dusty rose.

Tobi stared at the pair for a moment. Then he chuckled and pointed. “That’s us.”

Myrna blinked. “What?”

“Them.” He nodded toward the two books, smiling helplessly. “The little striped one and the rosey faded one, that’s us.”

For a moment she looked at the books, then to him. She covered her mouth, looked away, and tried very hard to stifle the giggle threatening to escape. It didn’t quite work. The sound of it sent a rush of warmth through him.

“Oh, that’s lovely,” Tobi chuckled. “I’ll be saying things like that again.”

Myrna shook her head. “You’re ridiculous.”

“Aye,” he grinned, delighted. “But you laughed.”

She cut a glance at him, cheeks still pink, and the fondness in it shocked him. His perpetual blush stretched to his ears.

With every shelf they finished, she seemed a little less guarded. At one point he reached over her shoulder to put away a book on a higher shelf, and she looked up just as he turned to look at her.

He smiled without thinking.

Myrna furrowed her brow as she looked at him. “What?”

“Nothing.” He shrugged. 

“You’re smiling at me.”

“Am I not allowed?” Tobi’s brow lifted in question. 

“You look terribly pleased with yourself.”

He laughed softly. “Can you blame me?”

Myrna’s mouth tugged at the corners. “You’re hopeless.”

Tobi pressed a hand to his chest. “That I know.”

Myrna only shook her head and reached for another book, though he noticed she was smiling to herself now.

His flirting, if it could even be called that, only got worse from there.

“You know,” he said as he passed her another book, “I think this is the nicest task I’ve done lately.”

“It’s shelving books.”

“Aye, but you’re here.”

Myrna looked down at the book in her hands, studying the faded title much harder than necessary. “That was a very shameless thing to say.”

“Aye,” he said. “It just slipped out.” This always happened when he was around her. He became a hopeless idiot, not that he ever tried to fight it.

“That seems to happen to you a lot.” Her fingers traced the binding of the book she was studying. 

“It does when I’m around you.” Tobi shrugged. 

He watched as Myrna’s cheeks darkened at his admission, and Tobi immediately wanted to clap a hand over his own mouth. Instead he tried to recover and only made it worse.

“I mean… not that you make me say foolish things. I do that well enough on my own.”

Myrna looked up at him then, soft and amused. “I know.”

He laughed helplessly.

A few shelves later she caught him watching her instead of the titles in his hands yet again. 

“You’re staring again.” She sighed. 

“Sorry.”

She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “You say sorry, but you never stop.”

He shrugged. “Would it help if I said you’re lovely to look at?”

Myrna made a small sound under her breath, somewhere between exasperation and fond disbelief. “No, I don’t think it would.”

Tobi chuckled, grinning a bit wider .

By the time they reached the final book, he felt absurdly buoyant, all warm and bright from nothing more than being in Myrna’s company.

“That one goes up there,” Myrna said, pointing toward a high shelf.

Tobi wiggled the last book in his hand “See? We’ve done quite well. No casualties. No fire.”

Myrna gave him a look that was a bit soft around the edges. “You’re very proud of yourself.”

Tobi smiled hopelessly. “Aye, suppose I am, I got to spend time with a beautiful girl.”

Myrna froze for half a heartbeat, then tilted her head. “You really can’t help yourself, can you?”

“No,” he admitted. “I can’t.”

Her gaze lingered on him longer than usual. As if questioning, why her?

Tobi became very aware that he was still smiling at her like a complete idiot. He quickly turned toward the shelf with the final book. And caught his boot on a low stool.

Everything happened at once.

He lurched forward, splaying his arms, the book nearly flying from his hand as he tried to save himself. In doing so, he knocked into Myrna. She let out a yelp as they went down together.

Tobi twisted hard at the last second, one hand slamming to the floor beside her head, the other clutching the book. He caught himself just enough to keep from crushing her, his body braced over hers in a graceless heap. 

For a second, the whole world stopped. Myrna lay beneath him, wide-eyed, hands tangled in the front of his sweater.

Tobi’s pulse roared in his ears.

“Duilich,” he gasped, voice rough. “Merlin, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to… did I hurt you?”

She shook her head still staring up at him with wide eyes.

He should have moved. He knew he should have moved. Instead his eyes caught on the fine, wispy markings along the left side of Myrna’s face and neck, curving faintly over her cheek in the low light. Tobi sighed. They were beautiful like the most delicate brush strokes on the finest canvas. Without thinking, he let the book slip from his grasp and lifted his fingers tracing the edge of markings with the lightest touch.

Myrna went very still. His gaze dragged from the lines gracing her cheek to her eyes. One the richest brown and the other midnight blue. Both soft and impossible to look away from. Tobi wished he knew what she was thinking. He swallowed hard. His voice, when it came, was low and thick with nerves.

“Myrna…” He hesitated, searching her face and gently cupping her cheek. “Can I kiss you?”

She didn’t answer, she only looked at him, her brow furrowing ever so slightly, her eyes fixed on his as though she were trying to make sense of him. Of the question. Of whether he truly meant it.

Tobi felt his heart thud hard against his chest. He could almost see her mind reeling. A nervous breath escaped him, and then he chuckled, his thumb brushing over her cheek where his hand still cradled her. His eyes softened as he looked at her, warm and hopeful.

“You needn’t overthink it,” he murmured.

There was no pressure in it. If the question made her uneasy, he would take it back. He swallowed his own nerves and tried to steady himself long enough to say what he really meant. He let out a shaky breath.

“Myrna…I…I’ve fancied you for such a long time,” he admitted quietly, the corners of his mouth lifting in a small, self conscious smile. “An embarrassing amount of time, if I’m being honest.” His thumb brushed her skin again. Myrna remained unmoving, almost frozen beneath him. “So if the answer’s no, I’ll be alright,” he murmured, the smile drifting from his face, "because I truly care about you.”

For a moment she only stared at him, as if caught off guard by how serious he was. Then she swallowed. Without a word, her grip tangled in his sweater tightened as she pulled him closer.

Tobi’s breath caught. It wasn’t much, but it was enough. His eyes flicked quickly to hers again, because he had to be sure.

Myrna’s cheeks were pink, her expression soft and unreadable in that quiet, thoughtful way of hers, but she didn’t let go of his shirt. And she definitely didn’t push him away. If anything, her fingers curled a little tighter.

A small disbelieving smile broke across Tobi’s face. “Right,” he breathed, almost to himself. Then he leaned down slowly, giving her every chance to stop him, and kissed her.

His lips were tentative, as they brushed against hers. Treating the moment as if it were made of something fragile. He could feel her trembling, as if she were holding her breath. He kept the kiss soft, with a reverence that borderlined worship. 

Myrna’s fingers curled tighter into his sweater, pulling him flush against her. Tobi gasped against her lips in surprise. The realization that she wanted this, that she was actually letting him, sent a surge of heat coursing through him.

A low groan escaped him against her lips. The gentleness grew in intensity deepening the kiss with a desperate hunger. He tilted his head, his lips sliding over the softness of hers to claim them. 

He kissed her like she was the last drop of water offered to a man lost in a desert. His tongue slid against her lips, asking for entry. She let out a small gasp, allowing him to slip inside. He devoured her sweetness, his tongue sweeping through her mouth with a possessive heat, swirling against hers.

His hand, left cradling her cheek slid to tangle in her hair. He held her firmly enough to keep her close, pouring every ounce of the affection he’d kept buried into this kiss.

When Tobi finally pulled away, it was only by a fraction. His forehead resting against hers, their breath mingling as the warmth of her lips lingered on his.

Unable to resist, he smiled and leaned in again, stealing another kiss, slower this time, softer, lingering just long enough to savor it before pulling back.

A helpless, boyish grin spread across his face as Myrna’s eyes fluttered open to meet his. They both tried, and utterly failed, to steady their breathing. Neither of them spoke.

They simply stayed there, wearing the same shy, disbelieving smile. Tobi let out a quiet chuckle as he carefully untangled his fingers from the soft strands of her hair.

“Merlin…” he breathed, his grin growing wider. “I’ve wanted to do that for so long.”

Myrna pressed her lips together, trying and failing to keep a giggle from escaping. The sound slipped out anyway, her cheeks becoming impossibly pinker.

The sound made Tobi chuckle. He wrapped his arm around her waist and, with an easy roll, flopped onto his back, taking her with him.

“Tobi!” she squealed, surprised, landing sprawled across his chest. They dissolved into a fit of laughter, the sound echoing through the Restricted Section.

Tobi looked up at her, unable to believe she was actually there, smiling back at him, that he’d actually been able to kiss her. His heart felt so full it ached. He wondered if they could stay like this for the rest of the afternoon, smiling at one another, and discovering what this shift between them meant.