Usually, his brother and sister were good kids. A little mischevious, not always little angels, but they knew right from wrong and how to behave around people in public. As the one who'd been raising them since he was sixteen and their parents died in a train crash, Ashe had made sure of it. Many times he'd been desperate enough to consider stealing the things they needed, but knew it would be wrong. He used his best manners to set an example for them, taught them the value of treating people with respect.
Which was why he was sure there had to be a mistake when he arrived to pick them up from their after-school reading club and found them sitting in separate corners.
"We got in trouble," Arthur said.
"The librarian told us we were very rude and we're not allowed to take out new books this week," Julie added.
"We didn't even do anything wrong," Arthur sighed. "We just said one little innocent thing and the librarian went off on us, it was so embarrassing. Everyone was looking at us!"
"They're going to be whispering about us for weeks, it's so bad!" Julie looked up at him with wide, sad eyes, and Ashe frowned. He hadn't been to the school-adjacent library in a while, all he knew was that Mr. Tomas had retired last year and there was someone new in his place. And this new person was like those teachers who waited with bated breath for a kid to mess up so they could gleefully dole out punishment.
Ashe had come uncomfortably close to being on the business end of that, seen other friends of his get it themselves. It was a kind of injustice they didn't talk about enough in his opinion, and now his dear siblings were being hit with it.
"Where is this librarian?" he asked. "I'd like to have a word with them."
"You called?" Ashe turned around to see a tall, slender man barely older than him walking out of the adjacent office.
Oh, shit, he's hot. He had long lavender hair in a ponytail draped over one shoulder, eyes of the same color with thick lines of makeup, and soft pink lipstick. He didn't need makeup, he was probably just as gorgeous without it, but the fact that he proudly wore it was hot in and of itself.
Focus, Ashe. Just because he's good-looking doesn't mean he can get away with unjustly punishing Julie and Arthur!
"My dear brother and sister claim you punished them for no reason," he said firmly. "That they said something completely innocent and you stuck them in time-out corners like they were preschoolers. They're eleven years old, and they were completely humiliated!"
The man tossed his ponytail over the opposite shoulder and sighed.
"Tomas warned me I might get whiny parents claiming their little angels did nothing wrong, but I didn't expect a big brother," he said. "Did they by any chance tell you the whole story? Or did they leave out the part where they've been giving me trouble since day one? Making fun of my capes, calling me names like Purple Batman and drama llama, hosting their own dramatic readings of the Castle of Flaming Silver Roses books"
Anyone else would have suspected the man of lying or exaggerating, but he was looking Ashe right in the eye as he spoke. And now that Ashe thought about it, this wasn't the first time his brother and sister had tried the innocent act to get out of trouble. It hadn't worked on their parents, and it obviously wasn't working on the new librarian.
"Arthur, Julie," he said slowly, turning to them. "I want both of you to look me in the eye and tell me the truth. Did you or did you not call this man names and read porn out loud to your fellow club memberd?" The twins shared an oh crap glance, looking from each other to the librarian to their brother.
"We...may have forgotten to mention that," Julie said.
"Yeah, we didn't expect to get caught! We didn't even think he could hear us!" Arthur added. Ashe put his hands on his hips and fixed them both with a stern look.
"Then I think both of you owe Mr..." He hadn't even gotten the man's name, he realized, and his brother and sister giggled as his authoritative stance went slack.
"Leclerc," the man said. "Yuri Leclerc." Ashe nodded.
"Apologize to Mr. Leclerc," he said. "Otherwise no cupcakes in your lunches for a week." This immediately stopped the pair's giggling, their eyes going wide. After four years of being under their brother's care, they both knew when he threatened no cupcakes, he meant business.
"We're sorry, Mr. Leclerc," Julie said.
"We'll behave ourselves from now on," Arthur promised.
"Good." Ashe handed them both their coats and their backpacks. "Now let's go home. You'll both go to your room and start your homework, no internet or video games or looking out the window. Got it?" The twins nodded, and followed Ashe out of the library.
They were on their best behavior the rest of the day, including washing the dishes. Julie even cleaned the grate in the sink, and Ashe knew how much she hated touching "the yuck." They made their own lunches for the next day, dusted under the table, and cleaned the litter boxes.
They were so well-behaved that Ashe felt guilty for wanting to stick around the library the next day after he got off work, just to make sure they meant their apologies and would leave Mr. Leclerc alone. And maybe to check out a few new books now that he was almost finished with his re-read of the Squires and Stardust series.
The next day ended up being the next week. Ashe would always find an excuse to hang around the library after work, even after Yuri reassured him that Arthur and Julie had kept their word and hadn't made fun of him in days. Or even talked about the Castle of Flaming Silver Roses books.
"You're not really worried about them, are you?" Yuri asked one rainy Friday afternoon as he approached Ashe in the classics section. Ashe put back the copy of The Sunflower Fields he'd been pretending to read, his face flushing up to his ears as he slowly turned to face him.
"What gave me away?"
"If a kid acts out more than once, their parents get called in. Three times and they get suspended from the club for two days," Yuri said. "You threatening to take their cupcakes away really did the trick!" Ashe rubbed the back of his neck, smiling a little.
"There's not much else I can really punish them with," he said. "They do their chores, they always do their homework, if they're not allowed to go outside or watch TV they'll find something else to entertain themselves with. But I've been making cupcakes for them since they were little, so..."
Yuri took a deep breath, his easy smile fading and his eyes becoming serious.
"Your parents are gone, aren't they?"
"Four years," Ashe said. "I was in high school when they died, Julie and Arthur were still in primary school. We all had to pull together so the county wouldn't separate us, so they got used to pulling their weight."
"Damn." Yuri ran a hand through his hair. "Julie and Arthur never really talked about their parents, I figured they were always out working or just...not nice people," he said. "Didn't you guys have anyone to look after you?"
"Our neighbors, the Gaspards," Ashe said. "Lonato and Arabella would babysit the kids if I had to stay late at school, or if I had to work extra hours. They moved away shortly after I went off to university, though." Yuri nodded.
"They're nice people. I went to school with their kid, Christophe, but he was a few years ahead of me." He smiled. "It's really thanks to them I was never in any danger, I probably couldn't have kept the social workers at bay on my own."
"I bet you could've," Yuri said. "Bake some cupcakes, show them how clean the bathrooms are, smile a lot..." He grinned. "Your freckles alone would probably convince them without you having to lift a finger." Ashe's heart skipped a beat and his face began to heat up anew.
"My freckles?"
"First thing I noticed about you when you walked in," Yuri said. "That, and your eyes."
Ashe had always been quick to develop crushes on people. His classmates, his seniors, Christophe the first and only time het met them. But something about Yuri was different, he felt less like a giddy schoolboy than he did a man who'd been drawn in by those beautiful eyes and that smooth voice, and all he wanted to do was see him again and again.
He never would have imagined someone like Yuri giving him a second look beyond reporting Julie and Arthur's misbehavior.
"Want to know a secret?" Yuri whispered. "Even if your brother and sister had been perfect angels, I'd have wanted to memet you anyway." Ashe blinked.
"Really?"
"Really. Julie and Arthur talk about you alll the time, they worship the ground you walk on," Yuri said. "You're smart, kind, always looking out for them and anyone else who needs a hand, you work extra hours during the holidays so you can spoil them, you help them with their homework even when you still have issues with math yourself..." He closed his eyes. "I'd always wanted to meet a guy like that. A real knight in shining armor."
Ashe's heart raced, his cheeks felt like they were on fire.
"I'm not...not really. I just wanted to take care of the only immediate family I've got left," he murmured. "They're a handful sometimes, but my brother and sister mean the world to me. When our parents died, I promised I'd protect them, that I'd never let anyone separate us."
"See? Knight in shining armor." Yuri opened his eyes again, reaching for his hand. "I want to get to know you more, Ashe. Outside the library, away from the kids...can I take you out for a cup of tea tomorrow? I've only got the morning shift before Ms. Martriz takes over for the rest of the day."
Ashe smiled, resting his palm over Yuri's.
"I don't have any classes tomorrow and I don't go to work until the evening," he said. "I'd like that." Yuri smiled, writing a few numbers on the back of Ashe's hand.
"Here, that's my personal number." Ashe pulled out a pen and a scrap of paper and jotted down his own.
"Here's mine."
Julie and Arthur ran up to him just then, they'd picked their books for the week and were ready to go home for a snack. Yuri sighed with relief, seeing that they'd chosen from a series of recently-updated manga. Yuri eagerly checked them out and insisted on walking them out the door.
"So how bad did the other parents and patrons react to their dramatic readings?" Ashe whispered, so the kids couldn't hear them.
"Oh, they didn't even blink. I just really hate those books," Yuri said. Ashe chuckled.
"Me too. If they did that at home they wouldn't get any cupcakes for a month," he said. Yuri raised a perfectly-groomed eyebrow.
"You've got a mean streak. I'd never expect that from a guy like you." Ashe shrugged.
"Sometimes you've gotta be tough when you're raising kids!"