The Lady Likes Librarians

[crankyoldman]

Fandom: FF8
Characters/Pairings: Cid/Edea, OC (well, I used another FF character's name, but she's an OC)
Rating: PG
Summary: How Cid and Edea met, or how nerdy boys get the hot girls.
Notes: I just needed something cute, and a younger, less haunted Edea is a joy to write. I also got to flex my old first-person narrative muscles again, they're a little stiff. Lenna is from FFV, I just used her name and general appearance, but by all standard purposes she's an OC. I just didn't want to think of a name. XD



I was under the impression that finding a Knight was a clinical process, and based on the sorts of natural dualisms that I had always been able to understand. A mind needs a body, a magical source needs a physical grounding. I was very small when it came to me, so I could understand why they would worry I would lose touch with reality. My father had always told me, from what he read of smart people's opinions on the subject, that I could have all sorts of interim knights, and maybe two or three true Knights in my lifetime.

Because it's all about balance. If Hyne could create Sorceresses, then some people were born Knights. More of them than us, though. It had to be a dangerous job.

I was old enough now not to have romantic ideas about Knights and Sorceresses. But it didn't mean I was completely without romantic ideas period.

From my vantage point in the Philosophy section, just over a few of the heavier books, I could see he was still reading. There had been five occasions we had been in this library together, and I had as of yet be unable to figure out how to approach him. I supposed for a normal girl, this was a typical dilemma, but I had the added problem that most men around my age found me unsettling.

Also, he was very cute. Cute boys were especially unnerving.

Mother would have told me to be bold. Be bolder. I wasn't really shy, was I? Of course not. I had spoken very clearly when the officials came to see my family, and when the college had questioned my admittance. I raised my hand in class. I was as normal and well-adjusted as I could possibly get, and yet.

Maybe he was supposed to come to me. He was the man, after all. That was how my artist friend met her charming doctor. Only her charming doctor wasn't rendered near comatose when reading... well I couldn't make out what he was reading. But it had to be good, because he'd forgotten to push up his glasses for the past ten minutes and his bowlish brown hair had migrated back towards his eyes after he'd pushed it back... no I would talk to him tomorrow.

I turned to go, sneaking through the book stacks like some kind of library reject, when I almost ran into this blonde woman. She didn't say anything to me, just regarded me coolly before heading to where the object of my dilemma was sitting.

"You're still here, Cid?" she said, voice smooth and aristocratic. It took him a moment to look up at her.

"Well, it's so wonderfully quiet around here. I'm more surprised to see you here, Lenna."

"I study."

"Economics is very different from library science."

From the way that she was standing, sort of half-smiling and leaning a little towards his direction, she very clearly wanted some private library time with him. I felt a rock in my stomach before I realized that he was completely oblivious to this.

Clearly, I had to put a stop to this nonsense.

I ran a hand through my hair, and hoped that I didn't have too many flyaways. Would I make up some kind of thing about being lost? Well, it wasn't like I needed a plan, I just needed to get in there and inform this lady of good breeding that I had seen him first, without saying as much. I wished I had a mirror.

"Hello." It was all I could manage to say, exposed in this little reading area. Lenna barely regarded me. But Cid, once he looked up, stared. I wanted to go back behind the books.

"Hello," he replied, as if he couldn't think of much else to say either. If I wasn't used to people staring, I would have found his gaze to be a little rude. And maybe it was romantic of me to think that he knew what I was. Because I certainly knew what he was now that I was actually within a couple feet of him.

He was a cute knight.

"And you are?" We both ignored Lenna. I would ask him exactly who she was anyway, later.

I was becoming more comfortable with the situation, now that I had finally figured out what it was about him. I didn't have to be necessarily attracted to a knight, but the best ones had some foundation. Family, usually. But no one in my family was strong enough to take it on.

"Would you like to get some coffee?" I found myself asking, in that calm and cool voice that echoed the few times I'd let myself cast in front of people.

"Yes, just, ah, let me grab my books."

He fumbled, and Lenna gave us looks that suggested that we were insane. Which I suppose to someone outside of our little crooked fairytale bubble it probably looked that way. But these were modern times and I couldn't hope he'd come across me, considering how engrossed he got with his reading.

---

It took two espressos before he would talk to me. I didn't go out for coffee often, because coffee shop types tended to take themselves too seriously, and I had enough seriousness to deal with. I was sixteen and already past the lower academies. I wondered how old he was.

"I've been having dreams about you," he blurted out in such an ungraceful way that it was charming.

"Dreams?" I didn't drink as strong of stuff as he did, it was mostly milk and spice in my cup.

"Except you're older. You're... how old are you?"

"Sixteen."

He made a few hand gestures, which looked a little silly, before he put his palms down flat on the table and swallowed. "You're sixteen?"

I couldn't believe I was nervous earlier. He was a regular walking set of neuroses. "Yes, sixteen. I got in early. I have... gifts."

I hoped we could get this awkward bit out of the way. I was studying Literature, technically, and if he was a librarian we would have a lot to talk about.

He pushed his hair back. It would have been easier if he just parted it to the side instead of letting it all hang in his face like that. Gravity would win out eventually. I wanted to reach over and fix it for him, but he would probably have a heart attack if I did that.

"My name's Edea. I forgot to mention that earlier."

"That's a really impressive sounding name."

I could tell that whatever it was that I did in his dreams, he rather liked it. Of course, it was probably innocent. It wasn't like I'd personally been giving him dreams. If I had, they probably would have been a little more... interesting.

"I want to talk to you about books. Not any of the weird things that might have led up to how we met. Is that alright?"

He seemed taken aback, but it passed quickly. "Which sort of books?"

"Well, you could start with what you were reading."

---

It took three "dates" to figure out the pertinent information about him. He was only five years older than me, he hated female confessional poets, was on the library staff part time, and had no intention of ever dating Lenna.

It didn't take long for me to memorize his schedule and skip the appropriate classes that went with it. Mother would probably be disappointed at that, but she'd done worse things to snag Father. And as much as Cid would sometimes almost ask if I was supposed to be in class, he never did.

And he found all the fairytale books for me.

"I looked you up," he said one day as he was reshelving the children's books the college had for some of those that studied education. It was strange to me that there were the books, but none of the children around.

I sat on the edge of his cart, because it was fun to be pushed around on it. If any of his supervisors came around, I'd get off of it. But it allowed me to kick my feet and act a little more my age. I didn't have to be extra mature with him, because he seemed to know when I'd get there eventually.

"And what did you find out? My middle name? Because it's awful."

He had a very quiet laugh, like he was always afraid of laughing loud and full. "Yes, but that's not what I was going to say."

"Oh so you found out why they admitted me early, then."

"...Are you reading my mind?"

I blinked at him. Mind reading wasn't exactly easy, and I had no intention of ever practicing it. If I had a choice, I wouldn't practice it at all, but it wasn't something I could ignore. It was better to learn enough so that I could control it, until I had a little more help with it.

"No, I can't read minds. Well, not yet."

He seemed to consider that. "What can you do then?"

I didn't really like showing it off, like some kind of trick. But Cid had never looked at me like I was a freak or anything and I did want to impress him. So I took his water glass and froze the contents of it. He adjusted his reading glasses and poked it.

"Why ice?"

"It's the safest. Would you have rather I burned up this library?"

"No."

"So what can you do?" It was only fair. Everyone had some kind of trick. Mine just happened to be a little flashier than other people's.

For some reason, it made him turn a little pinkish. It made me want to hop off the cart and kiss him. And I might have, had one of the supervisors not come by just then.

---

"This is what I can do," he said, a week later, taking me out to a park because sometimes even librarians went outside. He was holding a stick like he was going to do something amazing with it. I tried not to laugh.

"Pretend there's a dragon. And that I'm fighting it."

"But I like dragons, don't hurt it."

He paused and frowned for a minute, his thinking face. "Well, imagine something you don't like."

I imagined Lenna there. It was petty, but she always gave me sour looks. As if I stole him or something.

Cid was all elbows in his technique, but there was a hidden kind of grace, like a master swordsman could pop out at any moment. Maybe I could help him along, because I had already decided that this was my Knight, even if he was shy about such things. He finished with what I guessed was a flourish.

I clapped. "I shall have to get you a more elegant weapon someday, Sir Kramer."

He pulled the hair out of his face. "Sir?"

I gave him a peck on the check, the most he'd allow me for years. "I'll tell you when you're older."