[Kiska]

Calix tried to pretend like he wasn't being nosy when Ace set his papers down and wondered to himself if he'd disturbed the quiet too much for the language professor to continue. It hadn't been his intention, and in retrospect, he probably should have found a different copier where he could be alone to do something that he most certainly shouldn't have been doing. It wasn't his job to make sure the students had what they needed to their club presidents or teachers on time; all he had to do was help them do their research and make sure they had the materials they needed. To be honest, if the student knew he needed three hundred copies of something that day, then it was his own poor time management that had failed him. Calix didn't have to cover his ass for him.

Just like Calix didn't have to keep quiet about the other librarian coming in late every day and leaving all the work for him and the assistants. He just couldn't help thinking about what would happen to the man if he lost his job. Would the public library take him on? Not likely. Not after being fired from a prestigious establishment like this. And no Omega was going to want an Alpha who couldn't hold a job and provide for his family; that was out of the question. Calix certainly hoped there was someone out there for his colleague who wouldn't mind picking up his slack; from the beginning, the siren had made it clear that that Omega would not be him, even speaking it out loud to make sure that he never tried it again. Even that was after almost a full year of putting up with unwanted advances that were all too easy to turn down, even for someone who was terrible at saying no, and even close to his heats.

The sudden rush of movement around him and the stretch of a large pair of wings only startled him marginally--Calix had his own wings hidden in the form of tattoos on the pale skin of his back, and he knew well how nice it felt to let them out, fanning them as far as they would reach. He enjoyed sitting out in the open where the wind could catch the dark feathers, and he could almost pretend that he was flying again. Any chance of that happening had been torn away, though, with the way his left wing sat crooked from about the middle down; there was even a spot that was permanently missing feathers, and he was sure that attempting flight like that would be painful at best, fatal at worst. But understanding the need for relief didn't mean he was expecting it out of nowhere, and when he jumped, he nearly spilled his tea.

He watched as the dark wing curled between him and the copy machine, and Calix's cinnamon brown gaze followed it from its tip all the way to the base, and by default, to its owner; his eye brows were raised and his eyes wide, cheeks inflaming slowly as he was called out on his indiscretion. He probably wasn't in that much trouble. Maybe. He took a breath, lips parting instinctively as he wondered how to respond, then sighed and shook his head. He knew. There wasn't really a short, sweet way to explain himself when even he wasn't sure why he was doing it. He'd listened to enough of the squabble to know that the student needed the copies before class because he wasn't going to have another chance, and he was behind in making them as it was.

Maybe it was because he could identify with a person who procrastinated, who didn't do and say the things he needed before it was too late. So, as an answer, he shrugged and set his tea on the coffee table. Tentatively, the siren slipped closer to wind delicate hands around one of Ace's, tracing letters into his palm, slowly so he could catch every one. "It was the right thing to do." Whether it was against the rules or not was one thing. Morally, there was no way that Calix was going to let either student fail, even if it was their own fault for letting themselves get behind. It was this nature of his that saw people take advantage of him often, and Calix fell for it every time. "Margaritas ante porcos. Am I right?"