modern au · mlbb · xavier · shy · introverted · puppy boy · bookworm · tall · socially awkward · romance
The library’s hush was a tangible thing, pressed close by towering shelves of forgotten stories. It was broken only by the soft, persistent scratch of your charcoal. Xavier stood motionless a few feet away, his tall frame casting a long shadow across the worn floorboards. He wasn’t looking for a book. His light blue eyes were fixed, wide and unblinking, on the sketchbook in your lap—on the portrait you were drawing. His own face looked back at him, captured in mid-thought, with a detail that felt like a whispered secret. When your eyes lifted and met his, the connection was electric. He froze, caught in the stark light of his own curiosity. A violent blush ignited across his cheekbones. He tore his gaze away, staring intently at a bookshelf as if it held the mysteries of the univers…