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adapted-batteries · 6 years

Text

Beware the Bear

Fandom: The Librarians

Rating: General/sfw

Relationship: Jazekiel

Word Count: 2333

The Library acquires a canine guardian after a mission to a monastery in Tibet, and it turns out he’s more magically skilled than anyone realizes.

Or, alternate summary: How many times did I type "god" instead of '"dog" when writing this? (the answer: it was almost every time I tried to write “dog”)

Also posted on my Ao3 here.

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Stone and Ezekiel being more than friends had been happening for a long while. They kept it on the down low, and thanks to Ezekiel’s paranoia, no one knew about them. No one seemed to pay any mind that they left together sometimes, and they carefully timed their entrances after spending the night at each other’s places, though more often than not they ended up at Stone’s place.

For the most part they kept themselves off each other unless they were alone in the Library, though they kept themselves in check more after Flynn and Eve got tethered. Neither of them were sure the new immortals didn’t know everything that happened in the Library. The Librarian and Guardian both assured they weren’t connected to the Library in that manner when the LiT’s berated them with questions about how it was like being tethered, but Stone liked erring on the side of safety. Neither Flynn or Eve ever brought up him and Ezekiel if they did know about the secret kisses had in the depths of the Library, and maybe a blowjob or two, which Stone and Ezekiel indulged themselves in sometimes.

The trio went on a mission to a monastery in Tibet, which according to the Library’s records of the place, was known for the temple dogs they raised. One of the dogs of the previous year’s litter, apparently the runt (Tibetan mastiff like dogs aren’t small, even if they’re the runt of the litter), took it upon itself to help the trio deal with the artifact messing with the laws of magic at the monastery. It turned out the dog was a vital part of the mission, with a nose for magical objects. One of the monks noticed how the dog worked so well with the LiTs, and ended up giving them the dog as the gift.

Eve was certainly surprised when they returned. “Um, is that a dog?”

“It’s a magical dog!” Cassandra said, bounding into the Annex, the small bear of a dog right on her heels.

Jenkins nodded at the dog almost reverently, and then glanced to the newly arrived Librarians. “You didn’t steal this dog, correct?”

“No, it was a gift for helping the monastery out with this,” Stone replied, placing an ornately carved wooden box about the size of a thick phonebook on the main table. Stone looked at Ezekiel sternly. “Do not open this here, no matter how much you want to see what happens.”

“I wasn’t going to,” Ezekiel retorted, patting the dog on the head.

“Before anyone opens it, I will take it to the dangerous artifacts wing,” Jenkins said, picking up the box gingerly before he left the Annex.

“Dangerous artifact taken care of, now the next order of business is him,” Eve said, pointing to the dog. “You need to decide if someone is going to keep him at their place, or if he’ll stay here, get the necessities for a dog, and name him.”

“You’re not gonna help us?” Ezekiel asked.

Eve sat down at her desk. “I’m not the one who brought a dog back.” She looked expectantly at the trio, who just stood there. “Well? Any names?”

Stone went thoughtful. “I always wanted to name a dog after Michelangelo.”

“Oh, I like the name Galileo,” Cassandra said.

Ezekiel eyed both of them with mild contempt for using the famous people in their fields. “How about Bear? Because he’s huge and from a distance kind of looks like a small bear.”

“I vote for Bear too,” Eve started, giving an apologetic look to the somewhat disappointed Stone and Cassandra, “Not that famous people have bad names...but Bear suits him more.”

Bear let out a content boof.

“Sounds like he likes Bear too,” Stone said. Bear looked at him, wagging his tail.

“Time for Bear’s first shopping trip!” Cassandra said excitedly, hurrying down the corridor. Bear loped after her, tail still wagging.

---

Two hours later the trio and Bear returned to the Annex with a nice, plush dog bed, new gold and maroon collar and matching leash (Cassandra insisted he needed it because it suited him, not because he belonged in Gryffindor), a bag of dog food half the size of Cassandra (which Ezekiel carried because he wanted to prove to Stone he could), and probably too many toys and treats because all three of them seemed to be competing for who could spoil Bear the most. Bear certainly wasn't going to stop them, he knew what was best for him.

He liked the monastery where he was raised, but he loved living at the Annex. Not only did he have six people to watch over (even if three were immortal), but the place seemed to heighten his senses with all the ambient magic. The magic certainly made his ability to project his thoughts much easier. It took a few days of trying to communicate to his people for them to realize they were actually hearing him, not just reading his facial expressions super well.

Cassandra was reading something intently, sitting at a stool at the main table. Whatever it was, Bear could tell it was perplexing, complicated enough to keep her hunched over the book for a good two hours, unaware that Bear was watching her. Instead of softly boofing to get her attention, he projected “Time for break” at her.

The thought snapped her out of her study; she glanced around the Annex, everyone else who was in there (Eve and Stone) still working away at their respective desks, not looking at her. Finally her gaze found Bear, watching her expectantly. She tilted her head to the side, thinking for a moment, then started to focus back on the book, so Bear projected the same phrase again.

This time she looked directly at Bear, initial shock flooded by curiosity. She waved a hand in front of her (Bear learned quickly that was how she used her magical ability), and then the words “Did you say that?” in her voice appeared in his head.

“Yes,” Bear thought back.

Cassandra grinned and shot off her stool towards the middle of the Annex. “Guys! Bear can talk!”

Stone and Eve both looked up, Stone a little less focused because he had been deep in research land. Eve blinked at Bear. “I didn’t hear anything.”

“Not verbal, telepathic,” Cassandra corrected. She looked at Bear, gesturing towards Eve.

He hadn’t had any success with getting his thoughts to Eve before, but maybe now that she was focused on him, it would work. “Can project thoughts,” he sent to her, but based on her lack of reaction, she didn’t hear it. Bear looked to Stone, trying the same phrase, but again he got the same blank look. Bear looked back to Cassandra. “They can’t hear me. Not sensitive enough.”

“He says you guys aren’t sensitive enough to hear him. I guess since I can send thoughts, I can receive them easier too,” Cassandra said.

“The monks didn’t mention anything about telepathy,” Stone said.

Cassandra looked at Bear for his answer. “Rare ability. Needs lots of ambient magic,” he sent to her.

“He says it’s a rare ability, and because there’s so much ambient magic here in the Library, it’s easier to do.” Cassandra started heading out of the Annex. “Let’s go find Jenkins or Flynn and see if they can pick up your thoughts,” she told Bear. He happily followed.

Flynn and Jenkins could, in fact, receive Bear’s thoughts, but not as easily as Cassandra could. When they finally found Ezekiel, which didn’t take as long as Cassandra thought it would thanks to Bear’s nose, they learned Ezekiel wasn’t sensitive enough either. Bear hoped with enough time and training from Jenkins, the ones who couldn’t hear him now could eventually.

---

Eventually that did happen for Eve , and once she was able to understand Bear, she used that talented, magical artifact finding sniffer of his to find the Librarians whenever they ran off when there was work to do. When someone got found, they were annoyed...but not for long because who can be annoyed with happy, fluffy dog that weighed as much as a person. Cassandra and Stone were always pretty easy to find, but Ezekiel liked to make it a game, to “keep Bear sharp” he told Eve.

Today Bear was sent to find both Ezekiel and Stone. He followed their scents deep into the Library. Last time Bear found them together, Ezekiel had heard him so he couldn’t surprise them. He was determined to spook the thief today.

Silently he padded around shelves, careful to keep his claws from clacking on the concrete floor. Their scents grew stronger, meaning he was close. There was more than just their usual smells; Bear noticed scents similar to what he sometimes smelled from the older dogs back at the temple, smells that meant in two month’s time, there was another litter of temple dogs arriving in the world.

Bear had seen Flynn and Eve put their mouths together on multiple occasions, but he hadn’t seen any of the others do that until he peeked his head around the edge of the bookcase Stone and Ezekiel were behind. Clearly Ezekiel was occupied enough to not notice Bear, being pressed against the bookcase by Stone, which meant Bear won this time. He boofed at them both to get their attention.

Both men were startled, Stone stepping back a good three feet. “Don’t sneak up on us like that,” Stone said, smoothing back his hair.

“It’s not his fault. Baird probably sent him to get us,” Ezekiel said, brushing out the wrinkled state of his shirt from Stone’s hands. He smirked at Bear. “Though you did good this time, I didn’t even hear you.” Bear let his tongue loll out, his version of a smile.

“Alright, let’s go see what Baird wants,” Stone said with a huff. Bear didn’t know why they seemed so startled; Flynn and Eve didn’t act like that, but then again this was the first time he saw Stone and Ezekiel doing that. Maybe Cassandra would know why. He always asked her questions when humans didn’t make sense.

“There you two are. What were you doing that was more important than being on time to our sparring practice,” Eve asked, that last bit aimed at Stone.

“Oh uh, was doing some research, and ran into Ezekiel,” Stone mumbled, trying to avoid the question.

Bear had no problem reporting to Eve, so he projected an image of what he’d walked into. Stone seemed to realize a bit too late that Bear could do that; as soon as he saw Baird’s jaw drop a little, he quit saying anything. Ezekiel was just intently watching the wall in between Stone and Eve, which meant he was focused on Stone in his peripheral but trying to hide it (Bear noticed he did that a lot). Satisfied his job was done, he plodded over to his bed and laid down.

Eventually Stone cleared his throat. “Whatever he showed you, uh-”

Eve cut him off, trying to do the best with the awkward situation. “I have no problem with you two...um...being intimate, but you need to do that in your spare time, not work time.”

“Understood,” Stone said, clearly ready for Eve to start walking to the sparring room.

Eve wasn’t ready to go just yet. “Can I ask how long this has been going on?”

“Well, you see…” Stone started.

“It’s been awhile,” Ezekiel answered, finally done with Stone’s awkwardness.

“You both know you don’t have to hide anything from us,” Eve said, looking at them both.

Stone and Ezekiel looked at each other, then Ezekiel said, “We know.”

Eve watched them a moment more, then walked towards Stone, heading towards the door. She clapped her hand on his shoulder. “Time to sweat Stone, and you can’t blame Ezekiel for distracting you to get out of the extra ten minutes you’re going to make up for being late.”

“I wasn’t gonna-” Stone started, scowling at Ezekiel when he started snickering. “Next time I’m not gonna listen to you runnin’ your mouth when I’m trying to do work.”

“Then you’re gonna have to do better controlling yourself then,” Ezekiel said smugly. “I didn’t even have to say a full sentence before you had me pinned against the bookcase.” As soon as he remembered Eve was there, he put on a nervous smile. She just rolled her eyes at him.

Stone laughed under his breath at him, then started walking out with Eve. “We’ll finish that later,” he said to Ezekiel.

“You better,” Ezekiel called after them, savoring the embarrassed/frustrated noise Stone made when he said it. Annex to himself, he walked over to Bear, who was just resting his eyes. “Stone’s not mad at you for earlier, you know, he’s just, not a very open guy.”

Bear nodded at him, tilting his head to the side after to get Ezekiel to continue. He knew that already, Stone didn’t smell angry one bit, but he also knew Ezekiel liked to talk to him too.

Ezekiel smiled at him. “You know, you may have caught me at a bad time today, but I’m not ready to let you have another win just yet. Five minutes, then try to find me, okay?”

Bear boofed and nodded at him, standing up and stretching.

“Game on then,” Ezekiel said, patting Bear on the head, then zoomed out of the Annex.

Bear did find him, mainly because Ezekiel didn’t do enough to cover his scent again (it took a lot to hide it from Bear), and managed to sneak up on him again, though Bear noticed Ezekiel’s mind seemed to be other places, so he got Ezekiel to take him outside for awhile.

Bear liked the temple; it was home, it had many kindred spirits, and the monks were very kind caretakers. But he loved being the first animal guardian for the Library.

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Post Notes: I had this idea floating around in my ever-growing list of fic ideas for almost a year, mainly when I was reading through The Dresden Files and got to Mouse being introduced. For those who don’t know, Mouse is Harry’s canine companion, a temple dog from a monastery. Essentially the dogs are Foo Dogs in Tibetan mastiff bodies, and act as sentries. They’re tough, but not immortal, and can interact with spirits. They also have a super bark, and are very intelligent.

In the books Mouse only speaks once, in Changes, but I figured with the amount of ambient magic in the Library, Bear projecting thoughts wouldn’t be a long shot.

#flynn writes #jazekiel #the librarians fic #the librarians shipathon #librariansshipathon #shipathon18 #jazekielweek

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