For the past four hours, Asher had been posted at the circulation desk. A brisk, rainy spring evening outside had come and gone, and the Cinderace had spent it — maybe mercifully, maybe regrettably — all safely indoors. Now the sky outside the windows was dark, and the only light in the library came from the soft-glowing oil lamps along the walls. A soft, warm look for the place.

All of those lamps were going to have to be put out soon, because the clock over the lobby doorway said they were just a couple minutes until closing for the night. Two hours ago, the place had been buzzing (by the library’s hushed, respectful standards) with students checking out library books and studying at the desks upstairs. Now everyone was gone.

Below the clock, an Ivysaur stepped back from the front doors of the library with a heavy sigh. Clematis was his name, a full-time librarian on staff. He’d just fastened the front door lock.

“Well, I don’t know about you, Asher, but I’m wound up like a clock spring,” the Ivysaur grunted as he came back towards the big wide desk. He was a good-looking creature, expressive eyes and a charmingly wide mouth that quirked at the corners when he smiled. The flower bud on his back was thick and red, a real rose in the making, permanently wound up tight and surrounded by broad coarse leaves. He sauntered right up to the desk and put his broad-clawed front feet on the edge. “Ugh, what a day. Didn’t even have the good graces to tire me out. How are you doing?”

“Full of vim and vigor,” the Cinderace intoned listlessly. He wasn't such a bad-looking specimen himself — a bipedal bunny, blue where his fire-type species was usually orange, his Aurum gear hanging by a cord from a leather belt on his waist. But after his day’s work, after a full day of classes and study, his lucidity was hanging on by a thread. Even so, he bravely continued, “I have the easy job around here, honestly. I just stamp the books and help put away returns. It's the people at the reference desk who have the really fun time. Your ilk, not mine.”

“Oh, don't sell yourself short. You're part of this library like the rest of us, part-time or full.” Clematis smiled. “Though, uh, if I can keep you for a few extra minutes after closing, I was thinking of cleaning up some of the study rooms for the night.”

“The study rooms, huh? What’s up there?”

Clematis’ smile grew some teeth. “Privacy.”

That word hung on the air for a nice, long moment. Asher savored it. He’d always had an eye for some of the librarians on staff, but Clematis had never quite made any bigger move — never gone beyond smiling when he caught Asher looking at his thick reptilian haunches from behind. But now, with that one single word, the door of possibility had flung wide open between them.

It wasn’t a romantic development, exactly. But after the long day of work, Asher would have fucked a hole in the ground if he found firm enough soil. The Cinderace stood up and flexed his soft, limber, white-furred arms. Standing up also gave Clematis a look at his groin, which he leaned forward while he stretched out. “You know, I always wondered if you had an interest in me the way that I did in you,” he mused. “It's so hard to tell when we're all being so professional. I think you'll find me a pretty lovely source of company — if you can keep up.”

“If I can keep up?” Clematis snickered through his words. “Oh, my good sweet rabbit. I've been wondering what it would take for you to make a move on me. If I could finally take off my ‘associate director of the library center’ mantle for you, and put on my ‘horny Ivysaur’ mantle instead. Don’t get me wrong — I wanna see what you’re capable of. But I think you're gonna find that there's more to me than a cute face.”

“You do also have a pretty cute ass,” suggested Asher, which made Clematis snort. He reached down and kneaded his groin, where his sheath was already exposed to the whole world. “You seem like a real icon of fertility around here. You have no idea how many times I have thought about planting my seed in you.”

Clematis tilted his head with a wry stare. “Well, I can tell you haven't been with a lot of grass creatures like me, because — to continue the plant analogies — that ‘planting seed’ imagery is really quite low-hanging fruit.”

Now Asher snorted.

The Ivysaur went on, “The truth is, we all get into this profession — all of us on the staff — because of our love of sharing knowledge. But it's not like working in a professorship. We’re not in charge of anybody, and unless somebody wants help on a research project… well, you've seen how it is. People don't come here to socialize. We're also not in the exclusive club of the faculty, so to speak. It puts us in a strange position, where the dating pool is maybe a little smaller than you might think.”

Asher scratched at his neck. “Is this a really roundabout, book-loving way of saying you’re desperate for a good fuck?”

Clematis grinned shamelessly wide. “I like your brevity. You would make a good writer.”

And there it was. The whole truth about Clematis’ interest in him. It wasn’t just that Clematis enjoyed the look of Asher, or that they had a mutual appreciation as library workers. This was a virile male beast who needed somewhere to put his urges. Who needed someone to help him run free. Only tonight did the staid librarian finally come out and admit it.

Asher leaned down onto his elbows on the desk, putting his face just inches away from the Ivysaur’s own. His hips raised behind him, and he wiggled them side to side, bouncing his cute white tuft of a tail. Unbroken eye contact. “Nah. Not until I get myself some new life experiences to write about.”

Clematis’ eyes widened subtly — a brief flicker of surprise at Asher’s forwardness. But he quickly found his composure and answered slyly, “Well, this is a library. We conduct a lot of research here. You could stand to learn a lot if you have the right help.”

For a moment, Asher thought about leaning in and stealing a kiss. It wouldn't have taken much. Up this close, he saw all the details of Clematis’ face in the soft golden lamplight — how those big, dark eyes followed Asher’s every move, how those broad herbivorous teeth glinted in their winning smile. He even smelled the faint, summery aroma of Clematis’ flower, bound up as it was by its own petals. A literal bouquet. Almost appetizing.

But no. The time wasn’t right just yet. Asher stood up straight once again and recollected himself, though there was no hiding the plumpness in his sheath. Quite in fact, he showed it off on purpose.

“Alright! Well — you want to go upstairs? Give me a couple minutes to close up here, and I'll follow your lead. Although…” The Cinderace trailed off, looking around the room. A mischievous smirk grew on his face.

He asked, “This entire place is going to be closed, right? Nobody left in here but the cleaners? Why don't we just do it right here at the circulation desk? Get something flowing around here besides books.”

A knowing smile crossed Clematis’ face. But he replied, “Trust me. We're going to want a smaller room for what I have in mind.”

Asher raised his paws in good-natured surrender. “Alright! Couple minutes.”

In truth, he didn't feel even slightly cheated. His heart already soared with excitement. It wasn't just a long day that he needed restitution for. It was the past month of work in the library, getting to know the staff — getting to know Clematis in particular, and being so close yet so far.

And it really did take only a couple minutes to close up.

Once all the end-of-day procedures were over, Asher and Clematis stood before the door of the study room upstairs. It was one of a long row of rooms, facing the endless grid of bookshelves that composed the wide-open upper stacks. A large glass window by the door permitted the light from outside to spread in — usefully, since it was otherwise pitch dark in the study room, the far windows to the outside revealing only the charcoal-black shapes of nighttime. More importantly, the inner window let them see that the room was empty.

The anticipation had taken on a giddy, rushing quality in Asher’s chest. He understood perfectly well what he was doing — agreeing to have sex someplace where it was never supposed to happen, where people weren't even really supposed to touch each other. But the library had closed, and nobody was there to object to what the building’s stewards did on their own time. Asher’s sheath still sat extra thick and heavy on his groin, simmering with untouched excitement.
 
Clematis extended a prehensile vine from beneath the leaf canopy on his back, holding a metal key on a ring of others like it. He unlocked the study room door, pushed it open and said, “After you.”

Asher had brought a glass-sided oil lamp with him. He set it on a wall hook inside the room and turned up the flame, filling the space with a sultry, shadowy but steady glow. Next, he drew the curtains over the outside-facing windows. No one out there needed to peek in.

When the Cinderace turned around, he discovered the door already closed. Clematis stood before him with a big, knowing smile. “I think you know where to begin,” he said.

“Oh, yeah. Let me strip for you.” Asher grinned impudently as he reached down for his belt — which, of course, held up no clothing whatsoever. It was really just a utility holder for his waist. All the same, he unbuckled the garment and let it fall on the floor around his feet, leaving his nice thick sheath untouched. “Like what you see?”

“Oh, yes,” Clematis breathed. “I can’t wait to see what you have inside that sheath of yours. What’s the line? As surely as flowers begin as seed, a manifold joy comes from simplest need.”

“From, uh, the Wanderer’s Legend by Genu the Illegible,” remarked Asher, smiling. But what he really thought, and why he really smiled in that moment, was: This guy is such a dork. Quoting old literature when he’s about to bone down. I love it.

But with all his clothing removed — or what little had ever passed for it — Asher no longer wanted to stand still and talk. He sank down into a kneel in front of Clematis, his rear end resting on his feet, and his knees invitingly wide apart. In the same motion, he rested his paws on his furred thighs, right before the frilled golden cutoff between white and blue. Just presenting his sheath, since Clematis had obviously taken such a huge interest in it.

He asked, “What do you think? Why don't we start turning these words of ours into actions? You’ve had all this time to stare me up and down. All these months. I don’t want you to wait a second longer.”

“You don’t want to wait a second longer, you mean,” Clematis retorted playfully. But instead of continuing his thought, the Ivysaur nodded in assent and stepped in a little closer. Then a little closer still, one careful footfall at a time, until his broad reptilian face had nestled directly into the taller male’s crotch. A smooth, scaly pressure. The warmth of his breath felt positively cool as it wafted over Asher’s fur in all the little crevices — over the ballsack, around the sides, along the thighs.

Asher was about to open his mouth to say something, but Clematis got there first. The Ivysaur’s lips parted, smiling indulgently, and a big, broad tongue slipped out over Asher’s balls. Slick, wet warmth spread over him, gliding along up and down. Forbidden pleasure in a place like this.

“There it is,” Asher sighed. He rested his paws on the back of Clematis’ head, but he didn't need to put on any pressure. He didn't even need to say anything more. His partner had the idea already.

Seconds drifted onward, and the licking continued. Asher’s member sprouted eagerly from his sheath: a thick, pink, pointed organ, perfectly smooth but twitching with the life of arousal in its veins. The flesh grew directly into Clematis’ mouth, surrounded by warmth: that big, smooth tongue along the underside, and a much firmer but slippery palate on top. It was all Asher could do to hold still. He wanted to grab his new Ivysaur like a living toy, pin him down on the floor, fuck that face until he finished off — but he needed to save himself. There was a bigger prize waiting than the one he had already been given. And he wanted it tonight.

So Asher held still, and his paws clenched on Clematis’ head and neck, but he didn't press hard. He just leaned back and admired the sight of his esteemed colleague in the shadowy lamplight, eyes closed and nostrils flared, sucking blissfully all over Asher’s cock. Never before had Clematis looked so relaxed. So blissful.

And Clematis kept on going for a couple minutes, bobbing his head up and down along the length, encouraging the bunny to push deeper into his mouth. It was a good rhythm. But eventually, he planted both of his front feet on Asher’s thighs and pulled away, just enough to get his jaws free so he could look up at Asher’s face. “You want someplace fun to put your own face while I do this?” he asked, rhetorically. “Try my flower.”

Asher frowned in bemusement. “What are you gonna do, Stun Spore me?”

“Oh, far from it.” Clematis had that look again. Here came more dorkiness. “You see… I come from a rather odd stock, like most of us in the library do. My pollen doesn’t seem to really poison anyone. You might get a runny nose if you stick it in there too long, but… what it really does is put certain hormones into overdrive.” The Ivysaur glanced up at him with a sneaky, knowing smile. “In layman’s terms: It gets you horny.”

“I'm already pretty horny,” Asher pointed out, wiggling his hips side to side and rubbing his length along Clematis’ chin in flippant emphasis.

“Not like this.” Clematis wiggled his whole trunk in reply, making his flower shake above his back. “Go on. I'm only asking you to literally smell the roses. It can't be that bad, can it?”

Asher sighed and shrugged. He couldn’t argue. As Clematis settled back in between Asher’s legs, taking that length back into his mouth, the bunny dipped his head down and pressed his nose right against the opening at the top of the Ivysaur’s big red bud. He drew in a long, forceful breath.

The first thing he wanted to do was sneeze. Ticklish pollen flooded his nose, his throat, all the way into his lungs, riding on the wave of the deep rich floral scent he’d just inhaled. In fact, Asher lifted his head and covered his mouth just in case he actually did sneeze it back out — knowing his luck, there was a decent chance the pollen might come back out on fire. But it never actually got that far. Instead, the tickling sensation lingered on the verge of too much, before it began to gradually melt back down into the baseline of his body’s usual feelings. Maybe a little bit warmer than before. A little bit more sensitive.

And Clematis’ mouth was still hard at work on him. Asher took a moment to just bask in that loving attention on his cock, a smile growing on his own lips. He didn't want any more of the pollen just yet — maybe it would have some effect on him, but he wanted to focus.

But now, as seconds passed and turned into minutes, the pressure of Asher’s virile, orgasmic need began to grow. He couldn't hold out forever. And maybe it was building up a little faster than he was used to. A little easier. His balls ached with desire, coming from deep within his body, like he was already pent up. Like had spent his evening work shift watching people rub their dicks instead of checking out books for them. Asher looked down at Clematis’ flower wonderingly. Was the pollen already having an effect on him?

It almost didn't matter. The fact remained: Asher had one shot, and he wanted to spend it wisely. This time, he was the one to pull back from their little union, withdrawing his rigid member in a mess of drool. “Turn around,” he urged. “On the chair. I wanna fuck you the proper way.”

“Oh —” Clematis started to say something witty, but stopped for a brief coughing fit. Maybe the back of his throat had just gotten more of a treatment than Asher realized. The Ivysaur collected himself with some effort and asked, “What do you mean on the chair? Do you want me to stand on it or something?”

“No, like this.” Asher stood up. He picked up one of the wooden chairs and set it down with the back against the wall, right underneath the internal window, looking out into the darkness of the stacks. Where any onlooker could have seen them — if the library had any. “C’mon. Hop up on there. Take a peek out the window with me. Maybe we'll get lucky and spot someone we like.”

Clematis clambered up obediently into the chair, raising his stubby tail to reveal his cushy, round rear end. It was considerably fuller than most quadrupeds, and certainly more than most reptilian Pokémon — courtesy of not having a huge broad tail to make room for. That left the view open to his cheeks, a pair of round curving haunches with a tight, dark blue-green puckered star in between. Everybody got to see that whenever they were behind him. Including Asher.

Until today, Asher had filtered it out just like the sight of any other nude quadruped. It was just part of life. But now, looking at that hole, all Asher could think was how unfathomably eager he was to fill it up.

“Beautiful,” Asher murmured.

Clematis said over his shoulder, “You know, Polaris and Octantis are working this evening, so we might actually get lucky after all.”

Asher knew the exact duo that Clematis was speaking of. A Plusle and Minun, a pair of brothers who’d come from rural stock and had oddly tall statures for their species. They worked together in some library department that Asher knew nothing about. As far as he knew, they were just more librarians.

He positioned himself right behind Clematis, lining up his dripping wet cock with those big thick grass-type cheeks, and asked, “So, wait, is it just you, or are all of the full-time staff here desperately horny?”

“Most of them, but then you have to narrow down which ones are also gay.” The Ivysaur grinned. “Now make like a swimmer and dip in.”

The only sane move was to obey. Asher lined up his cock with that inviting hole and pressed in with his tip — just as Clematis flexed outward, opening up his tight muscle-drawn star into a nice slippery letter O. Just like that, Asher’s shaft slid inside. One inch, then the next, onward until his sheath firmly kissed the bare flesh of Clematis’ entrance. He took in a long, shuddering deep breath, and the air smelled like that thickly floral pollen — to no surprise, since that budded flower was practically right under his chin in this posture.

“Ohh, yes,” Asher breathed.

“Yes is right,” gasped out Clematis, between low pleasured grunts of his own.

Asher looked down at himself. His pink girth was neatly wrapped in the taut blue-green ring of Clematis’ entrance, which dipped in deep and dragged out just as far with the growing thrusts of Asher’s hips. Those big, hefty Ivysaur cheeks bounced and jiggled every time Asher thudded into them. Higher up, Clematis’ flower jostled around with the force of those same thrusts, spreading that richly fragrant flowery scent into the air.

He almost didn't notice it at first — but soon, Asher’s eyes tracked farther upward still. In the glass of the window, he just made out the shapes of Clematis’ face. Looking away from Asher, not even aware he could be seen, but reflected like a mirror in the perfectly smooth pane. The Ivysaur’s features were so laden with feeling, so tense yet brimming with sublime pleasures under the surface, that Asher saw it even in that faint, ghostly reflection.

“Oh, you’re taking it well,” Asher murmured gleefully as he sped up the pace of his thrusting. The chair rocked subtly beneath them, creaking even though it was pressed against the wall, in time with his big shameless plunges. His climax was brewing inside him once again, inching towards joyous completion — but not there yet. “Makes me wonder what it would take to really find your limit.”

“You wonder?” Clematis breathed. For once, he didn't have any eloquent, book-smart rejoinder. Just two words in between his heavy, labored breaths.

“Yeah …” Asher slid his paws down Clematis’ back and held the Ivysaur by the haunches. “What if I gave you a smack on the ass right now? These paws… nnnf… weren’t just made for stamping books.”

Clematis got out the start of a laugh before it dissolved into his pleasure, and he grunted, “Try it.”

Asher raised his right arm. He brought it down in a big, hefty swing, not too hard yet far from soft. His paw connected with Clematis’ right ass cheek with a nice loud WHAP. Both cheeks jiggled side to side from the impact. A beautiful ripple effect, all centered around Asher’s cock as it plunged relentlessly into that slippery soft hole.

“Mmmnn!” Clematis stiffened, then relaxed just as quickly. He turned and grinned impudently at Asher over his shoulder. “Oh, you can do better than that, can’t you?”

In Clematis’ reaction, Asher realized something: He wasn’t dealing with someone delicate. It reminded him of his cherished Sylveon Fey, who had defied his expectations and specifically asked to be treated rough. He was dealing with someone he could really cut loose with.

Probably anything was valid short of using his fire. They were still in a library, after all.

So Asher said, “Let’s find out,” and raised his arm once more. This time, the Cinderace smacked harder. He really put his body into it, turning his shoulders to put the musculature of his torso into the swing. WHAP. This time, Clematis groaned loudly and pressed his forehead against the glass, squirming on the chair and fidgeting with his back feet.

“Ohh-hhh,” the reptile groaned, panting for breath as he pushed back into Asher’s thrusts. “Now we’re getting somewhere. You have a lot of… a lot of brawn for a librarian!”

“I’m a lot of things,” Asher retorted, before he wound up for a third spank. He delivered it with his same paw on the same spot — another big, satisfying impact. Clematis groaned even louder and pounded the back of the chair under his front feet, one then the other. That big thick Ivysaur ass just kept absorbing the blows, so thick and juicy that Asher stood no risk at all of injuring the muscle underneath. The guy wasn't kidding — he really could take it.

What an invitation. Asher had never had a reason to grin so wide in the library. He said, “You really do take it like you’re made for it. I could punish your ass every night all month!”

“Oh, damn,” Clematis gasped. Still no eloquence from the Ivysaur bottom.

“All I gotta do is show you how much I like it,” Asher went on, punctuating his words with another big spank. “This is just the start!”

The buildup took him another few minutes. The pressure in his balls couldn’t be ignored. But now, Asher didn’t just hold on and thrust. He smacked Clematis’ ass every few seconds, first from the right, then from the left, then back again — and he even put a tiny whisper of his fire-type heat into his paws, so that the strikes left faint dark-blushing marks on the bluish skin. The whole time, Asher thrust for all he had, leaning deep into it and periodically bracing his free paw on the window glass.

Maybe it would smudge up, but he didn’t care. This study room hadn’t meant a thing until Asher and Clematis had claimed it. From now on, this room would be the space where they fucked.

To Asher’s surprise, Clematis finished off first. Maybe it was the spanking that did it — the lingering raw heat that had built up in those cheeks. Or maybe it was the all-delicate surfaces inside him, the inner structures that Asher’s cock pressed right up against. But the end result was the same: Clematis suddenly let out a long, quavering groan, his claws tightening on the back of the chair, and his inner muscles squeezed forcefully on Asher’s length. A muffled wet pattering from underneath him announced the escape of his payload onto the chair’s wooden seat, one pulse after another, in time with the squeezes of his ring. The whole thing only took a few seconds. But it was long enough to push Asher over the edge.

And Asher’s own orgasm took him by surprise too. The buildup in his loins reached a delicious crescendo, just like always — and then a swell of newfound energy sprang through him like the flow of an opening floodgate. The Cinderace groaned and shuddered, his legs trembling underneath him, struggling to hold up his weight, as the avalanche of pleasure sent a shockwave of tingling enjoyment all the way from his toes to his scalp. His cock stiffened and jerked inside Clematis, and he kept thrusting — shallower, now, not ramming as hard — as the first shot of seed gushed silently out of his tip, vanished into his partner’s body. The second shot was just as big as the first. So was the third, and the fourth. Asher marveled at the feeling of the sheer volume of liquid racing up the length of his shaft, spilling out to pool up around his own gliding flesh. It was all he could do to hold on for dear life until his body was done.

When he finished, Asher slumped forward and rested both his paws on the window, elbows locked to keep himself upright. Any farther forward and he would have pressed his face right into Clematis’ big red flower. He felt suddenly overheated — a rare feeling for him — like his body had just worked more than its natural share. “Damn,” he sighed, head hung low, once he had slowed his breathing enough to speak. “I think you weren't kidding about your pollen. That was gigantic.”

Clematis laughed breathlessly, rested his head against the window glass for a moment, and then laughed again. “Yeah, that was… oh.”

Asher looked up. Something had just made his partner react. Something outside the room.

Standing there in the middle of the stacks, an oil lamp held aloft between them, were two rodent Pokémon. A Plusle and a Minun. Two soft, slender, cream-furred mouse boys, one marked red and the other marked blue, each of them standing at maybe two-thirds Asher’s height. They were peering in at the window of the study room, and Asher watched as their curious concern gave way to shocked realization.

Polaris and Octantis, in the flesh. All of the noise must have gotten their attention. Asher couldn’t help but smile. He had already come this far — why not a little farther?

“Hey, friends!” Clematis exclaimed. He realized the sound of his actual words wasn't carrying well, so he extended a vine and opened the door by a crack. “Guys, come on in here!”

The two rodents gave each other a bemused look, then a shrug. They scurried up to the door and ushered themselves inside, whereupon Polaris immediately sneezed. “Oh, no, it’s pollen,” he cried, in his cute, high little Plusle voice. “I’ll never survive!”

Asher pulled out of Clematis — his member slipped free with a satisfying tug — in order to survey the newcomers. As he did, he realized that his arousal had failed to diminish after the climax. He was still perfectly hard. In fact, the usual sated emptiness of post-orgasm afterglow was only half there, like he’d stopped pouring out the pitcher partway.

Clematis slipped down to the floor a moment later. A big white spatter decorated the seat he had just been standing upon. He raised a hind leg knowingly at Asher, revealing his cock for the first time: a pointed pink thing, thick and tapered, undulating in an almost prehensile crook. His testes must have been internal, because that was it. But the thick white droplet drooling from his tip left no doubt to the Ivysaur’s own virility.

Octantis shut the door and hung up his lamp on the remaining wall hook, opposite the first. The room grew considerably brighter and less shadowy with the second light source. He said, “Well, I expected some of this, but, um. I expected you, I mean, Clematis. But Asher? What are you doing here?”

“Fucking you and your brother in a minute,” Asher replied mirthfully, coming over to rest his paws on the table. He put his feet wide apart, showing off all the goods between his thighs. “No need to explain yourselves. C’mere, both of you. Make yourselves comfy.”

Asher didn’t know why he had posed himself this way. He was a top, through and through — his partners’ attention belonged on his cock and balls, no farther back. But in that moment, he didn't really care. That pollen-powered excitement racing through his loins in place of the afterglow was too needy. He wanted more love and care on his body, no matter who from, no matter where — no matter how.

Polaris scooted himself closer and asked, “Um, so um, are you sure about this? I don't know if we're really in the right place right now. I don’t…”

“Oh, stars, I could melt,” breathed Octantis, cutting his brother off. He knelt down on shaky knees right behind Asher’s feet, resting his paws on the backs of the bunny’s thighs — a wholly unfamiliar sensation. Nobody belonged back there. But the overlarge Minun craned up his neck and kissed the underside of Asher’s ballsack, slowly and softly, with a faint tingle of unaimed electricity. Just enough to make the hairs stand on end.

“That’s nice,” Asher sighed. “Lemme help you out a little…” And with that, he lowered himself onto his elbows, planting his feet much wider apart. The new posture tilted his hips down, spreading his rear cheeks a little, and lowered them right down onto Octantis’ face. He looked back meaningfully at Polaris, who was standing transfixed with eyes like saucers.

“Oh! Right, hello! Um!” Polaris exclaimed, fidgeting left and right. His bare cream-yellow sheath had given way to the start of his cute little pink arousal, and he put a paw on top of it self-consciously, only to remove it just as quickly.

Asher beckoned the Plusle closer with a jerk of his head, while Octantis’ paws slid up along his butt and dragged through its soft downy fur. “C’mon, you. Get on down there. My dick won’t suck itself.”

Meanwhile, Clematis just hung back and watched, a satisfied smile on his endearing reptilian face. He’d had his fill for now. But a spectacle was unfolding.

Polaris flushed brightly at Asher’s invitation. But his erection just kept growing for all to see, and he folded under the pressure of so many eyes on him. He scurried under Asher’s arched front and sat himself down on his heels on the floor, as though using the Cinderace’s body as a hiding place. His arms wrapped around Asher’s hips, those little rodent paws grasping Octantis’ own on the back. And he slid his open jaws rapidly — almost effortlessly — up the entire length of Asher’s cock, seating the big slick organ deep inside his mouth with the back half pushing down the folds of his muscular throat.

The sensations inside Polaris’ mouth were more than a regular mouth-fuck. That familiar electrical feeling, like Octantis had just done, spread along Asher’s rigid shaft. An uncanny, vibrant tingle of heightened sensation, another layer of enhanced pleasure on top of the pollen hormones suffusing Asher’s nerves.

In response, Asher snorted in surprise and began, “Oh, wow, that’s pretty —” And then Octantis’ lips closed against the tight, delicate hole under Asher’s fluffy tail.

Energy arced through Asher’s body. A raw, delicious, pulsing electrical current, flowing from Octantis’ open mouth to Polaris’, straight along the Cinderace’s pelvic floor. His muscles twitched hard with each pulse, making his cock flex inside Polaris’ mouth, and even making his ring squeeze down around Octantis’ probing wiggling tongue. Asher gasped in surprise and pleasure both, dropping his forehead onto the table as his paws clenched into fists and he held on all he could. His cock surged with renewed vigor. He could have filled Polaris with a payload like no other on the very spot.

But the fiery Pokémon wasn’t one to be put out of shape for long. He rapidly readjusted his stance on the table, bracing his weight upon his left forearm alone, leaving his right arm free to reach down and grab the back of Polaris’ head. “Thaaaat’s it,” he groaned, not hiding the trembling shudder under his words. “I’m gonna pump you so full of cum, it’ll fucking ache.”

Polaris moaned. It was the only sound he could make — his mouth was stuffed full. And when Asher’s cock pushed into his throat, even that sound went out of reach.

For the next couple minutes, Asher did nothing but thrust. His balls swung freely between his two partners, brushing on each of their faces, and his cock throbbed lewdly inside Polaris’ mouth with the racing tempo of his heartbeat. He kept his head perked up, and sometimes he glanced over at Clematis on the side, but the real focus was on those lovely thrusts. Every pull, he shoved his ass back into Octantis’ face. Every push, he shoved his cock deep down Polaris’ throat. An urgent rhythm, befitting his hot, panting, fast-rising need.

He loved how the two rodents felt underneath him — how their paws clasped together so tight on his hips, how they kissed and suckled in tandem, and especially all those cute little noises they kept making. Octantis was the worst offender. His throat was wide open, and he moaned and sighed in a cute, squeaking register, little grunts of high-pitched ecstasy. Even still — the best part was the electrical current. Asher had never felt anything like it. Not the harsh, branching shock of a lightning attack, but a constantly pulsing flow of power between two exact points on his body, a brilliant conduit of starstruck nerves and squeezing muscles right along his lowest reaches.

The fact that he had someone’s mouth on his rear end was a distant idea, not even a fully lucid concern. There was no worry to dismiss. Asher’s balls didn’t just ache now — they roiled with pleasure, beset from all sides by the storm inside him, threatening to let loose if he even twitched in just the right way.

These two mice were showing Asher a way to feel pleasure that his body had never taught him. He was lucky. And he made sure they knew it.

When Asher’s climax rolled in, he didn’t fight it. When his loins jerked and pulsed with an electric energy all of their own, he didn’t try to slow it down. He already knew this wouldn’t be his last one for the night. The Cinderace gritted his teeth and held tightly onto Polaris’ head — as his puckered hole squeezed just as tightly on Octantis’ tongue. The tingling, electrified pleasure flowed out of him in fierce, silent spurts, making Polaris swallow rhythmically as the load forced its way down his throat.

It was over in a few seconds. But in truth, it wasn’t over at all. Asher pulled out his cock and stepped away from the two mice with one easy motion — to his own mild surprise, that orgasm hadn’t taken the strength out of his legs. He still stood up straight just fine. Even after his partners’ mouths left him, though, the afterimage of their electric charges remained — an uncanny, buzzing lightness in the muscles of his undercarriage. “Wow,” he sighed. “That was a new one for me. You two should be proud.”

But ‘proud’ wasn’t quite the image that Polaris and Octantis evoked. The brothers had slid down to the floor as soon as Asher broke the link of their clasped paws. Now they sat side-by-side, panting for breath in a two-object heap of sprawled limbs and slumping shoulders. No more electric charge. And for all of their unusually tall stature, the Plusle and Minun looked just as small as anybody else when they were sitting on the floor. They didn't answer Asher at first, or even really acknowledge him, too busy staring into space while they recovered their breath.

And both of them still had fully erect cocks. They hadn’t left any telltale white stains on the floor, or on their fur. Which meant that even besides Clematis’ pollen, which seemed to lift all the usual rules and limits, Asher still had work to do that night.

“Hey,” Asher called out, loudly in the confined space of the room. “Focus up. You two.” He rapped his paw on the table a couple times. Polaris looked up curiously. Octantis just fell flat on his back.

“Yes?” Polaris asked.

“How good are you at taking dick, Polaris?”

There was no joy quite like watching the Plusle’s face stiffen with surprise. “Why, I never — I —” Polaris stammered helplessly. “I could never — to simply announce my private doings to the world! That business is sensitive, don't you, you see, you understand, I —”

Clematis cut in. “He’s good at it.”

“Augh!” Polaris covered his face in both paws.

“Alright, focus up, Polaris. Hey.” Asher lifted his foot and nudged the mouse’s shoulder, unwilling to hunker down on the floor for it. “Hey, stand up. I'm gonna need you to get on top of the table.”

Polaris lowered his paws obediently and looked up at Asher in surprise. “The table? But, uh, but I’m not sure I can stand on it —”

Compared to a regular Plusle, Polaris was quite large. Compared to a full-grown Cinderace, he was still about half height, and considerably less than half weight. Asher reached down and grabbed Polaris under both arms, hoisting him into the air with a grunt of effort — Polaris squeaked in surprise and started to struggle, but Asher sat him right back down on the edge of the table. A heavy lift, but not really a difficult one.

“Don’t stand,” Asher said coolly. “Lie on your back. Legs up. Keep your hips on the edge. I think you know what this is supposed to look like.”

“What about me?” Octantis started to ask, before a green prehensile vine shot across the room and wrapped around his waist and arms. He squeaked in surprise — but didn’t struggle, even when the vine tightened and pinned his elbows to his cute little sides.

“What about you,” agreed Clematis, grinning fiendishly. “We’re gonna put you to use, don’t you fret.”

Polaris watched his brother with concern for a moment, until Asher nudged him on the chest and recaptured his attention. In a wordless, stupefied daze, the Plusle lowered himself back onto his elbows, legs wide apart, showing off his pink cock and cream-yellow balls like he never could’ve admitted liking out loud. He grasped his legs one by one under the knees, curling up halfway as he hiked up both thighs and revealed the pink puckered rim between his cheeks. His short thin tail, which ended in a big red plus sign befitting his species, hung loosely off the edge of the table.

Asher eyed that plus sign carefully as he stepped up close. He didn’t know all the details, but his suspicion was that every red-colored part of Polaris’ body served as an electrode. If he wasn’t careful, his balls might have gotten an extra jolt when he wasn’t expecting it.

So the very first thing he did was grab Polaris’ tail and stuff it under the mouse’s back, ignoring the squeaks of protest on the way. “Theeere we go,” the Cinderace murmured. Now it was his turn for a fiendish grin. “Look at that beautiful ass of yours. It looks so tight.” His paw ran down the puckered folds of flesh, making Polaris hide his face again. “Hey — none of that, hey, look at me…”

Polaris slid his paws down his cheeks reluctantly, just enough to peek over the tops at Asher’s face. “Are you really gonna, um…”

Asher glanced down at the other pair on the floor. Clematis had pinned his partner down on the floor, face-up and ramrod-straight in all those vines. Now he climbed onto Octantis’ face and fitted his smooth pink taper of a cock into the Minun’s mouth. One thing the vines didn’t cover up: Octantis’ cock. That cute little appendage stood up as fiercely rigid as the blade of a Stone Edge, and with a lot more twitching.

“I think we're doing exactly what we need to do,” Asher mused as he turned back toward Polaris. He had to stand on the tips of his toes to line up his cock with Polaris’ hole — so that was what he did, balancing with his free paw flat on the table. “Keeping up with our friends down below. Don’t you agree?”

By now, Asher’s nose had ceased to really smell the pollen in the air. But he still felt it in his throat and lungs — that thick, cloying heaviness, constantly suffusing his body with a strangely vivacious warmth that no fire could imitate. Whatever effect the pollen had on him, he was sure he had reached the maximum effect of exposure. Not in the least because even after two orgasms — two! — Asher’s cock stood just as furiously hard as it had at the beginning.

He slid his cock inside Polaris with a big, firm plunge. And for good reason: Polaris’ ring was still completely tight when he started. No prep, no going slow, no lube beyond the slickness he already carried. In a single word, the push in was rough.

Polaris turned his head and bit down hard on his own paw to muffle his squeal. It still came out loud. Asher sighed and smiled with tongue-lolling pleasure, basking for a few moments with his hips pressed tightly against the mouse’s, just letting his cock throb away inside that too-tight hole. The anal ring was the real culprit, in the end — that one band of muscle, so much tighter than the rest of Polaris’ walls. But as Polaris bucked and squirmed in delighted overwhelm, the whole passage massaged Asher’s cock. From base to tip. Not an inch of his member escaped the attention.

With his otherwise broad, powerful toes resting on the floor so precariously high, Asher took his time getting into motion. He bent down and rested both his paws on the table under Polaris’ arms, looking his partner in the eyes, waiting for the eye contact to be returned. Eventually, Polaris met Asher’s gaze, still squirming and whining between heavy breaths.

That was when Asher started thrusting. Slowly, of course, giving Polaris’ poor punished insides the opportunity to stretch out and get used to the massive intrusion holding them open. They hadn’t built up momentum together yet. Which meant it was time for a little teasing.

“You know, before you got in here, I was fucking Clematis in the ass … and I was spanking him the whole time.” Asher smirked. He watched Polaris’ reactions carefully — so far, still just struggling to hold on, gasping and panting with exertion and overwhelm. And the whole time, he eased his cock out and in, just by an inch or so, enough to keep it hard as he filled those walls tight. “I don’t have to do that with you, do I? Clematis has such a big, thick ass. So heavy. It was almost like I was hitting the visor of a Bastiodon.”

He turned and called out a little louder, “Hear that, Clematis? I’m comparing you to a Bastiodon!”

“I’m right next to you,” Clematis grunted, still thrusting into Octantis’ face amid a constant stream of slippery slurping and throaty gagging noises. “And my ass is way prettier than either end of a Bastiodon, so feast your eyes.”

The Ivysaur punctuated his thought by bouncing his hips and jiggling his ass cheeks in the air over Octantis’ head. Asher had to agree — they were a dreamy sight, even in the low light of the lamps. But he couldn’t let that idea go unchallenged.

“Yeah? Feast your eyes,” Asher retorted, and he lifted a paw and smacked his own ass playfully with a tilt towards Clematis. He was so far past caring how the others felt about his being a top. He liked showing off. Teasing them all. It made his already throbbing-hard dick even needier, made it push into Polaris’ tight tunnel even deeper. Brought him closer to his next climax.

“Oh, f—fuuuhhh,” Polaris sighed, his eyes unfocused and low-lidded as he panted with his tongue out. No more electric charge for now. He was pinned.

Asher picked up speed gradually. His slow, shallow thrusts lost their delicate touch, turning into a nice rutting pace against the table’s edge, limited only by his feet barely touching the floor. Soon, Polaris wrapped his arms around Asher’s wrists, locking them into his armpits — it was the only way the mouse could avoid getting scooted forward onto the table. Asher smiled in satisfaction between heavy breaths, and he allowed it. He allowed it all. Even when a faint electric charge tickled Asher’s skin from Polaris’ red paws, he trusted nothing bad would come of it. They’d already made it this far.

A slippery wet inch-thick vine ran down Asher’s tail and glided between his cheeks.

“Nnh!” The Cinderace stiffened from head to toe. That sensation had come out of nowhere. He looked down at its source, already knowing what he’d see: Clematis, perched over Octantis and vigorously humping, with a second vine coiling into the air behind Asher’s back. The Ivysaur grinned merrily like it was the simplest, silliest thing in the world to tease Asher’s butt with that pesky vine.

And it really kind of was. Asher snorted and said, “You missed,” then doubled down his efforts on Polaris.

It didn’t take long to reach his third orgasm. Asher just kept thrusting the whole time, beaming with self-satisfied delight, as he watched Polaris’ desperate reactions beneath him. His cock surged with pleasure. One more big gooey release, deep in the Plusle’s body.

Clematis’ vine poked into his hole right as it started clenching. Asher’s muscles grabbed and tugged on the thick round intrusion, and he groaned in delight as his body suddenly wrestled to get its orgasm out. The blockage inside his hole was so big, so aggressive — but it drew out his climax a few precious extra seconds, making his legs tremble violently beneath him as the last pulses eked their way out.

It came as no surprise when Polaris climaxed too. That already tight ring clenched even further, and a small but messy load of white finally spilled its way onto the mouse’s belly. Polaris threw his head back and squealed in wild delight — no muffling his voice this time. Complete abandon.

“Didn’t miss,” Clematis panted, as he withdrew both of his vines and sat back heavily on the floor, finally pulling his length out of Octantis on the way. As his first vine unwound from Octantis’ body, it revealed a spent, panting, dazed Minun with a new mess of shiny drool around the lips. That rodent cock was drenched in a mess of its own seed, but still just as hard.

Much like Asher himself. The Cinderace pulled out and finally put his weight back on his feet, leaving Polaris panting for breath on the table. His cock was glistening wet, dripping seed from the tip — but still hard. The post-orgasm crash of oversensitivity still hadn’t hit.

“Alright,” the Cinderace declared. “I’m two for three. You know what that means?”

“I can’t count,” Polaris moaned, rolling slowly onto his side. “What are… what are mathematics, anyway?”

Octantis’ eyes gradually focused on Asher’s face. He sat up with a groan, massaging his jaw ruefully. “I’m in trouble, aren’t I,” he slurred.

Asher beamed. “Only the fun kind of trouble. C’mon, get up. I want you on the chair. Standing up.”

“Like I did!” Clematis said. He wrapped both his vines around Polaris’ waist and carefully moved the mouse down onto the floor beside him — a nice, easygoing little cuddle. Maybe fucking someone’s face was hard work. Maybe they both needed a rest.

Which was fine, because Asher had eyes only for Octantis now. The Minun reached up and took Asher’s paw, pulling himself upright with another softer groan. But the moment he was up, he beelined for the chair and stepped up onto the seat, straddling Clematis’ now-spread out white puddle from earlier.

“Fuck, I’m horny,” Octantis grunted. He grabbed the top of the chair and arched his back, curling up his minus-sign tail to show off his perky cream-hued ass cheeks. That pink puckered entrance was barely visible in the lamplight — but clearly completely untouched, just like his brother’s had been.

“I know what you mean,” Asher chuckled as he stood right behind Octantis’ back. Facing the shadowy near-darkness of the stacks through the big flat window pane, just like before. But this time, the Cinderace’s urges ran wild. This time, his heart pounded with the long-running effort of the night — and his balls positively glowed with pleasure, a staggering three full-size orgasms already behind them. He pushed his cock right against Octantis’ hole and slid it in without another thought.

Octantis dropped his head down and hissed in a breath through his teeth, fidgeting from foot to foot as the big throbbing flesh forced its way into his tight passage. “Gaaah, that’s so fucking good,” he bit out, his reservations forgotten in the haze of Clematis’ pollen. “Just fuck me. Just fucking wreck me right now.”

Asher laughed louder this time — not in mirth, but in delight, as he started thrusting. “How could I not!”

And the slick, tight walls around his cock were just the beginning. Octantis curled his tail around Asher’s shaft in a soft, furry loop, hooking the minus sign onto his own tail base. A faint pulse of electricity filled the bunny’s loins, tingling and directionless, lighting up his nerves with splashes of sensation like raindrops falling on pavement. A barrage of tiny little touches, toying with Asher’s skin just enough to make him tingle anew.

“Nice trick,” Asher grunted, already humping away at nearly full speed. “You practice that with your brother a lot?”

“Hey!” Polaris squeaked indignantly behind him.

“Who cares,” breathed Octantis, victorious and exultant as he basked in the throbbing glory of Asher’s manhood. “Fuck me good, Asher. I wanna feel the ache of that cock in there all damn week.”

The Cinderace gladly obliged. He bent down over Octantis’ back and grabbed the top of the chair. Octantis sweetly put his paws atop Asher’s, a lot like his brother had done — locking the two of them in a lusty, heedless embrace. The swirling heat in the room, the thick air full of lust-inducing pollen, suffused every last nerve in his body with the gleeful, unthinking rush of naked urges. And finally, after all these months in the library, after three orgasms and a marathon of new sensations … Asher fucked like a bunny.

His hips hammered into Octantis’ rear in hard, fast, rutting smacks. His cock bulged with wild, unyielding desire. With every thrust, the burgeoning promise of his fourth orgasm began to take shape on the horizon, one more gift for his new friends — one more gift for himself.

A dim orange light appeared in the stacks. The bookshelves threw long shadows onto the walls and ceiling, sweeping massively across as the light moved sideways, coming closer.

Octantis, still panting and sighing with pleasure, looked up and gulped. “Uh-oh.”

“Uh-oh,” Asher repeated, grinning. He didn't stop. He didn't ask his friends to turn out the lights. There was no point — anyone still in the library could easily come over and see. He had decided to just own it.

The light source came around the corner into view. It was another glass lamp, held in the paw of a bookish Flaaffy. Maeve was her name — one of the cleaners, a pink-and-white bipedal sheep Pokémon with a leather belt full of cleaning tools and supplies on her waist.

Maeve turned and looked directly at the study room. Asher leaned down and licked the side of Octantis’ head sensually, right over the electrode, relishing the tingle it gave his tongue. While Octantis froze in place, Asher looked back at Maeve with an impish smile.

In that moment, Asher realized that he didn’t care who was watching. Not even a little. It could have been a different librarian, or another student worker, or just some random student — it could have even been one of his own teachers. Octantis was petrified on the spot, trapped between his shameless lust and his sudden self-consciousness — but not Asher. He wanted Maeve to look at him and remember.

And for a few shocked seconds, that was exactly what Maeve did. She watched, wide-eyed, with dawning realization as Asher kept humping into Octantis from behind. The eye contact lingered long enough that Asher’s cock throbbed harder inside his partner from the attention.

Then the Flaaffy squealed and ran off in a tizzy, taking the offending light source with her.

“Hah!” Clematis laughed, before anybody else could react. “Perfect. She's gonna be rubbing one out to that in the morning.”

“She — won’t tell?” Octantis asked, his posture still stiff with doubt.

The Ivysaur snorted. “Nah. She’s as horny as you.”

Octantis dropped his head back down and sighed, “Oh, fuck,” but not with dismay. They were words of sheer, ecstatic overwhelm. Asher hadn’t stopped his work for even a second. The Cinderace’s impending climax hurtled closer with every ram of his hips.

In fact, Asher leaned down and murmured into Octantis’ ear, “Get ready. I’m gonna stuff you so hard it takes your breath away.”

“Take it,” Octantis gasped. And that was all he could scrape up for an answer.

For the next minute straight, Asher knuckled down and worked. It wasn’t easy anymore — his thighs ached and quivered with fatigue, and his lungs ached too, probably from all that pollen he’d breathed in. But he didn’t care. He didn't just want to climax one more time. He wanted to give Octantis his due. To complete the set. To fuck every living creature he got his paws on in this dark, shadowy library. His loins needed it.

And the point of no return was finally upon him. Asher didn't say a single word out loud — he didn’t have to. His cock spoke for him, bulging suddenly and pushing an extra inch deeper. But just in case anyone had any doubt, Asher rammed in one more time and held still, sighing with pleasure as his cock shoved its way deeper than it had ever reached into Octantis’ insides.

The Minun’s tail tightened into a pinching loop, an extra ring of pressure around the base. But all that escaped his throat was a feverish gasp. Voiceless.

Asher’s teasing words just now hadn’t been hyperbole. He’d just driven the air out of Octantis’ lungs by shoving his length in there so deep.

There was no measuring the crash of sheer, tingling, ecstatic release that coursed through Asher’s whole body. His climax unleashed with such a forceful wave of pleasure that he no longer felt the Minun’s electric charge. Like the sun drowning out the light of the stars. As the Cinderace’s cock bucked and fired off its biggest load yet in those walls, his legs started to give out from underneath him — he grabbed even tighter onto the chair for support, for dear life, and held on as the orgasm unfurled. Sticky, wet fluid pooled up around his tip, oozing down his length, leaking out of Octantis’ hole and down both their ballsacks. The best was finally here.

Octantis took it bravely. In other words, he threw himself into the abject surrender of his own climax, head tilted back as he moaned his joy to the skies. His ring squeezed tight on Asher’s girth, helpless to keep out such a huge throbbing organ, and a few bright golden sparks flew harmlessly from the electrodes on his cheeks. His own climax, brought on completely paws-free, added another layer to Clematis’ coat of white paint on the seat.

They rode it out for a long, long moment. Weightless, but struggling to stand up together. Serene, but drowning in Clematis’ pollen miasma. Carefree, but knowing Maeve had just seen everything. Asher’s climax dribbled out its last in a few final clenches, and he let out a deep, long breath as his loins relaxed.

Naturally, the first thing he did was pull out his length and examine it. The pink flesh was still nice and hard — but the pressure had finally abated. The pollen had unlocked Asher’s entire reserve of stamina to use on his balls, and now that entire reserve was expended. He was too tired to keep going.

So he leaned up, patted Octantis’ slumped, breathless form on both shoulders and said, “Oh, yeah. I think we just got exactly what we needed. Don't you?”

“Fuhhh,” Octantis gasped, hanging onto the back of the chair by his forearms. The rest of him hung limply, tail drooped and legs unmoving, just as worn out as Asher was.

Behind them, Clematis turned and gave Polaris a long, sensual kiss on the mouth, before he pulled back and said, “Well, I'm feeling pretty good. Why don't we get some fresh air? And leave the door open — this room is going to need to air out.”

“No kidding,” Asher sighed, sitting back against the edge of the table to give his legs a badly-needed rest. “I’m… I don't even know how I'm feeling now. Crazy. Can’t even think.”

“Fresh air it is!” Polaris declared, pushing himself to his feet. “Come on, everyone! Hop to!”

Ten minutes later, all four Pokémon were cleaned up and outdoors. The front porch of the library was all dark — a big marble staircase, lined with big fluted pillars, leading down to a major pedestrian path on campus. A few passersby meandered along in the light of their lanterns. The buildings all up and down the street glowed with faint orange lamplight in some of the windows, all different Pokémon settling in for their nights. A far cry from where they’d just been.

It was a clear, crisp night. The only noises out here came from a chorus of resident Kricketune. And the only faint wisps of pollen in the air came from trees.

Asher’s head was so much clearer with Clematis’ pollen working out of his system. After he’d run out of stamina, that foreign influence on his body had gone from alluring to oppressive. But the fresh air out here was doing him wonders. He already felt like a new Cinderace.

And his fellow library staffers had a special glow around them as they gathered on the porch. Polaris and Octantis were joined at the elbows, smiling and giggling to each other, like they’d just had a fun night out on the town. Clematis stood apart from the others with a quiet, serene smile on his face, just taking in the beauty of the outdoors with the utmost gratitude. Asher stood in the middle of the group, the two rodents on one side and the reptile on the other.

On one level, Asher still felt like the student worker amid the team of real professionals. On another, he’d just orgasmed inside every single one of these professionals’ cute tight butts. Even in the stone-cold sobriety of the outdoors, that thought made him giddy. So gleeful that he didn’t know what to do with it.

The night looked like any other out here, but the four Pokémon had just shared an experience that only they knew the depth of. Their little secret together.

Well, almost.

“I hope we didn’t just get in trouble,” Ashwer remarked. “I need this job. I also need to be in good standing with the Academy. I don't know about all of you, but I am still a student. ”

It was easier to talk about that particular doubt than about the fact that he’d kinda sorta bottomed just now. He still remembered the feeling of Clematis’ vine under his tail — he doubted he would ever be able to quite forget it. But if that detail was water under the bridge to his fellow library staff, he was happy to leave it that way.

Clematis said, “Well, I don't think Maeve is going to try to get four of her co-workers in trouble. It's not like I haven't seen her do the odd little bit of mischief herself, anyway.”

“Really?” Asher asked. “She screamed and ran off.”

“Well, yes, but she took a moment and chose to do it first. She’s a little bit on the theatrical side, you could say. No, I’ve seen her doing considerably more provocative things in considerably less private parts of the library building.” Clematis flashed a big, wide grin. “She's usually just a little shy when something reminds her she's not the only horny being in the world.”

Asher’s mind raced as he tried to imagine something more ‘provocative’ than what he himself had done: full, penetrative intercourse with another staffer. Where did one go from there? He quickly dismissed the idea before it could work from his head down to his poor, overtaxed loins.

Polaris chimed in, “I, for one, hope we stay in touch! It's so nice to enjoy the company of our friends in the library. By which I mean library employees, not necessarily in the library building.”

Clematis gave the Plusle a mild, knowing smile. “Thank you for disambiguating. I was about to bring my six closest friends to the library and sit them down for lunch in the middle of the stacks.”

“I assume by this that you mean Octantis and me, plus four other, completely unrelated individuals,” said Polaris haughtily, leaning into his own uptight primness on purpose.

“Actually, the more I'm thinking about it, the more I'm realizing that I only really have friends in my work sphere,” mused the Ivysaur. “But they, or rather you, are really the best kind of friends. Like how the phenomenon of love, according to the great philosopher Palides, is nothing more than the best kind of madness.”

Dorks, Asher thought, smiling. All of you are dorks. It’s amazing.

But Polaris had a point. A new door had opened up between Asher and these three staffers. They weren't just co-workers anymore. Maybe they never would be. And yet they’d be giving him instructions on the job, monitoring his performance, deciding whether he got to stay or had to leave for the next semester — all of the long-term concerns that Asher had effortlessly wiped aside during the waking dream of Clematis’ seductive pollen.
 
He said, “I guess I’m the odd one out here. I’m friends with a bunch of students already, so… I only spend a little bit of time with all of you at the library. I hope that's not too weird. I'm actually still hoping it's not too weird for me. But this was fun tonight. — I’m still figuring it out.”

“Well,” Octantis said, looking up at Asher guardedly, “if you don't want to dwell on this, we don't have to push it. I'm going to go back to my housing with Polaris now, but if you prefer, my next day at work can just be another day at work. I know you have your own life to live.”

That reply stopped Asher short — including his self-doubt. A new door had opened up. Octantis was giving him the opportunity to close it again. Maybe tonight was it between them. Maybe they actually could go back to normal together, if Asher wanted to leave these three on the porch to their own devices.

Octantis looked up at Asher, expecting an answer. Those big dark eyes were so calm and accepting — and despite all the terrible delights that the four of them had wallowed in together, the Minun bore himself now with a sincere look of dignity. Someone who could make his own choices, who understood the consequences of his actions.

That kind of attitude deserved some respect.

Asher shrugged good-naturedly. “I dunno. I'm gonna have more evening shifts before this academic year is out. It can't always be just a boring trip home, can it?”

The Minun’s face spread into a big, delighted grin. And Asher knew he’d said the right thing.