Lee Jihoon was a simple man. He liked to read, he liked coffee, he liked music, and he didn’t like surprises. His life was pretty organized, everything was mentally planned from the moment he woke up to the minute his head hit the pillow. He worked like clockwork, everything was accounted for and there was almost never an error in his calculations. In fact, most of his high school teachers had thought that he was either a genius or he had some sort of problem. Jihoon, however, didn’t think he was special. Sure, his hair was dyed blonde – uncommon, but not altogether too surprising – and he was a bit on the shorter side, but he was just like everyone else. Neither did he think he had some sort of mental illness or problem, as mentioned before, Jihoon was normal. He just liked things a little simpler than most, and that was why other people thought he was weird.

          “You should really get out more hyung,” Kim Mingyu stated as Jihoon scanned his books. The younger boy was a high school student in his last year and constantly dropped by the library that Jihoon volunteered at – Pledis – to study and get research material. Jihoon wasn’t really sure why the boy didn’t just search things up on the internet – usually the only people at the library were kids and older adults – but at least the studying part made sense (although Jihoon was pretty sure Mingyu just rented out one of the quiet study rooms to sleep).

          “Why are you telling me how to live my life,” Jihoon retorted, piling the books neatly from largest to smallest and frowning when he realized that one of the books was square rather than rectangular – thus ruining his format. “You’re younger than me.”

          “Yet I’ve probably had more life experiences,” Mingyu shot back, drumming his fingers on the counter. “I mean, what interesting things have happened to you recently? And no, the fact that your favourite cafe stopped selling a certain drink is not interesting.”

          “I’m still mad about that,” Jihoon rolled his eyes, mouth souring when he thought about how the cafe around the corner no longer sold his favourite beverage. “But I wasn’t going to talk about that.”

          “So something interesting really has happened?” Mingyu asked, a little too shocked for Jihoon’s liking. “No way! But Soonyoung hyung told me you only left the apartment to go to school and come here!”

          “Soonyoung is stupid and doesn’t know how sweaters work,” Jihoon mumbled, mentally face palming at the time Soonyoung wore his sweater inside out and backwards for the entire day until he came home and Jihoon pointed it out. “Anyways, something interesting did happen, I guess, I don’t think it’s important but Soonyoung thought it was and you’re both simple minded so I guess you’ll think it’s intriguing as well.”

          “What happened?” Mingyu jumped up and down on the balls of his feet like an excited puppy (Jihoon liked to think that Mingyu might have been a canine in a past life). “Wait, did you just call me simple minded?”

          “Well, it’s not really a big deal but there’s this guy that comes in today every week at exactly 5 PM and walks around the entire library while I’m shelving books. He then sits over there,” Jihoon pointed at the small sofa on the other side of the room, “and stares at me while he does his work. Then, when my shift is about to finish, he walks up and asks me what kind of book I would recommend or other stuff like that, before leaving without taking anything out.”

          “Oh my God that’s so cool!” Mingyu shouted, which caused another volunteer to turn around sharply and glare at them. “Like, it’s almost as if you’re in a drama!” Mingyu continued, much quieter this time.

          “No it’s not,” Jihoon denied almost immediately. “I don’t even know who he is.”

          “Do you like him?” Mingyu grinned and tilted his head to the side like a puppy (seriously, Jihoon is 90% sure that Mingyu is a dog reincarnated).

          “What, I don’t even know his personality. I guess he’s good looking, but I’m not going to judge someone based on that,” Jihoon replied, crossing his arms against his chest.

          “Well it’s almost 5, too bad I have to go,” Mingyu pouted (Jihoon was sure that if he had a tail it would’ve drooped). “But figure it out! You haven’t dated in a while right hyung?”

          “My love life is none of your concern,” Jihoon flicked the (much) taller boy on the shoulder. “Now leave, you’re going to miss your class.”

          “Aw, you remembered my schedule!” Mingyu smiled, giggling even though there was a red mark appearing on his arm.

          “I’m going to either kill you or get a migraine if you stay any longer,” Jihoon muttered under his breath, sending Mingyu a death glare.

          “Fine, fine, I love you too hyung!” Mingyu sang before skipping away from Jihoon before the older man could properly reprimand him.

          Rolling his eyes, Jihoon cleared his table and got back to work. He didn’t have to work at the library, but he liked to help out anyways. The library was quiet and homely, it allowed Jihoon to relax – which was quite difficult when you’re a university student buried under debt – and the work wasn’t hard. Jihoon even managed to finish most of his homework behind the counter since almost no one came to the library anymore. That fact made him a little sad – Jihoon remembered the hours he spent at a library as a kid – but there was no helping it. These days, kids would rather be playing on their tablets and phones than reading. And if they did read, it’d be on their electronic devices. Almost no one appreciated the feeling of a book anymore, but Jihoon wasn’t the type to preach. If people preferred the electronic way, who was he to judge them? It didn’t make him a ‘better’ person because he read the actual book rather than listening to the audio book or watching the movie. Everyone liked to experience things in different ways so if his and other people’s opinions differed, well, there was nothing to get riled over.

          Feeling a breeze of hot air from outside, Jihoon looked up from his essay and spotted the mystery man that had overtaken Soonyoung and Mingyu’s lives. Casually checking the time on the computer in front of him, Jihoon noted that the man was late – it was fifteen minutes past five – before trying to ignore the fact that the man had taken his normal spot. The sofa was on the other side of the second floor (the library split up into four floors, with group and independent study rooms on each floor), but it was in direct view of the desk that Jihoon worked at. For some reason no one had placed any shelves or displays in the way so Jihoon was increasingly aware of the man watching him as he tried to string a conclusion together for his essay. Sighing, Jihoon decided to start shelving books since he had been staring at his paper for the last ten minutes. Standing up, Jihoon notices the man on the other side of the room get up as well, before Jihoon loaded a cart with books and began to start shelving them.

          The library format was pretty simple, just how Jihoon liked it. The first floor was for children and youth books, the second floor housed comics and adult fiction, third floor was for non-fiction and movies, while the fourth floor was reserved for medias in different languages. Starting on the second floor, Jihoon began to shelve the returned books, putting them all in their original places. He felt the mystery man follow him as Jihoon made his way to the first floor but he tried to ignore it. This was a weekly occurrence, nothing changed in his habits, so something this simple shouldn’t bother Jihoon the way it did. However, Jihoon blamed it on Soonyoung and Mingyu’s talk of the man being a potential lover, Jihoon was hyper aware of the man’s every move. From the way he walked so silently over the carpet, to the way the man’s cardigan didn’t seem to hide the muscled form underneath, Jihoon could barely pay attention to his own movements. This was probably not the best thing to do when you’re pushing a cart full of books, something Jihoon learned when he tripped over a fallen book and went flying into the cart.

          “,” Jihoon cursed, eyes closed tightly when he felt himself fall on the ground. Jihoon groaned, already feeling the millions of bruises that would begin to form later that night, before almost yelling in pain when he tried to stand up.

          “I would, uh, not do that if I were you,” a deep voice advised, causing Jihoon’s eyes to open. Staring down at him was the mystery man, eyes filled with concern and the corners of his mouth slightly turned upwards in amusement. “Your ankle doesn’t seem like it’s in the best condition.”

          “,” Jihoon stated when he looked down, even though he was wearing skinny jeans, he could already see the bump around his ankle. And now that the man had mentioned it, Jihoon was starting to feel a burning pain in his right foot.

          “Are you hurt anywhere else?” the man asked, clearing the space around Jihoon so he could sit more comfortably. “I don’t think any books landed on your head but I’m asking just to make sure.”

          “No? I don’t think so? I have bruises for sure but the biggest pain is my stupid ankle,” Jihoon replied, feeling quite useless as the other man quickly collected the fallen books and placed them all back on the cart. Pushing it over, the man positioned it behind Jihoon and locked the wheels in place.

          “Lean back,” the man commanded with an air of practiced superiority. “Good,” the man continued when Jihoon automatically followed his orders. “Now I’m going to roll your jeans up, is that okay?” the man looked up and Jihoon quickly nodded in consent. As the man slowly, but carefully, rolled Jihoon’s pants up, Jihoon tried to cool himself down. Now that the shock of the accident faded, Jihoon was beginning to turn red as he realized that the man had basically seen him trip over a book – a book – and fall into the cart he had been pushing. Resisting the urge to bury his face in his hands, Jihoon concentrated on the man’s actions instead and watched as the man’s eyebrows furrowed at the sight of Jihoon’s wound.

          “Is it bad?” Jihoon risked asking, leaning forward to look at the ankle himself.

          “Don’t move, you’re going to hurt yourself even more,” the man pushed Jihoon back, causing Jihoon to lean against the cart (which a shocked look on his face, the man was obviously athletically fit but Jihoon wasn’t expecting him to be so... handsy). “Sorry, I’m a lifeguard and that’s protocol, guess I was a little too rough?”

          “No, that’s okay, my ankle hurts a lot more than what you just did,” Jihoon replied, mentally noting that the mystery guard was a lifeguard (and probably walked around shirtless for a couple hours a week).

          “It looks sprained, nothing too bad – although you should probably stay off of your feet for the next while,” the man reported. “I’m Seungcheol by the way, Choi Seungcheol.”

          “Nice to know the name of my hero,” Jihoon said without thinking. “I mean, what.”

          “It’d be even better if I knew the name of my damsel in distress,” Seungcheol laughed, not minding the fact that Jihoon had probably just quoted a million cheesy romantic novels. “Although maybe I should say bachelor in a bind?”

          “Lee Jihoon,” Jihoon replied, blushing at the thought of him having to be saved (although he was the one who referred to Seungcheol as his hero in the first place). “So you’re a lifeguard?”

          “Yeah, I used to volunteer at the community centre that’s connected to this library but recently they’ve given me a job,” Seungcheol answers, “so no need to worry, I’m practically a paramedic.”

          “Is that why you’re always here?” Jihoon blurts out. He resists the urge to smack himself across the face, maybe Soonyoung and Mingyu were right. Jihoon had been stuck in his room for so long that’s he’s forgotten proper social etiquette.

          “Uhm,” Seungcheol blushes, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly. “Kind of?”

          “What is that supposed to mean?” Jihoon furrows his eyebrows, watching as the previously confident lifeguard suddenly turns shy and awkward.

          “Don’t worry about it, we should get you home. What’s your address?” Seungcheol changes the topic quickly.

          “Uh, I can just call my roommate to come pick me up,” Jihoon offers instead, a bit hesitant on giving a total stranger his address. Even if said stranger was incredibly handsome and was definitely showing interest in Jihoon.

          “Are you sure? Actually, it’d be better if both of us helped you home. Call him up then,” Seungcheol replies, standing up. “I’ll finish shelving these books in the meantime.”

          “What, no, it’s my job!” Jihoon protests immediately. He wasn’t one to ask for help, especially when it was his fault that he was unable to shelve the books in the first place. “One of the other volunteers will do it.”

          “Don’t worry about it,” Seungcheol smiles before leaning over and picking Jihoon up in his arms. “Just sit tight here okay,” Seungcheol easily deposits Jihoon on the sofa he had been sitting on before. The taller man then goes back to the cart and continues shelving all the books on the second and third floor. “Did you call him?” Seungcheol asks as he finishes the task. He had put the cart back in its original place (having watched Jihoon for long enough to know where almost everything was).

          “Yeah, he’s actually right there,” Jihoon sighs, pointing at the over excited blonde bounding into the library. “His name is Kwon Soonyoung by the way, we’re both first years.”

          “Jihoon!” Soonyoung cries – a bit too loudly for a library setting but it wasn’t like anyone was there anyways. “My poor baby are you okay?” Flittering around the shorter boy, Soonyoung practically checks every part of Jihoon’s body before he settles on sitting closely next to Jihoon, with his arms slung over Jihoon’s shoulder. “I can’t believe you hurt yourself!”

          “It’s okay Soonyoung,” Jihoon sighs. Soonyoung’s energy complemented Jihoon’s mild nature quite well, but sometimes it was a little much. “But I’d be a lot better if you loosened your grip on my neck.”

          “Whoops, sorry,” Soonyoung apologizes, laughing. “Anyways, is this your knight in shining armour?”

          “Yes, that would be me,” Seungcheol says in amusement, having quietly laughed at the whole predicament. It was hard not to, with the way Soonyoung fluttered around Jihoon like a mother bird. Most of the time people thought that the two were dating (even though Soonyoung had a boyfriend of three years) but to Seungcheol the two just looked like incredibly close friends, almost brothers.

          “Oh how amazing,” Soonyoung grins, instantly liking the manly, yet homely, feel that Seungcheol gave off. “So Jihoonie tells me we need to get him home?”

          “I could probably piggy-back him home if you guys live close, but you’d have to carry his bags and other things,” Seungcheol responds.

          “Okay, I’ll go get his things, meet you at the front,” Soonyoung says quickly, before Jihoon can protest against being carried again.

          “No,” Jihoon states when Soonyoung leaves. Seungcheol looks at him before he shakes his head slowly. “I am not going to be carried home like some helpless maiden.”

          “You really like medieval terms don’t you,” Seungcheol notices. “I noticed that you’re always reading those kinds of books.”

          “I do have an affinity for them,” Jihoon admits, turning a bit red. Most boys (and girls) grew out of their fascination with the medieval world when they became teens but Jihoon still thought that knights and castles were the coolest things next to music.

          “In any case, we can do this two ways. Either you climb onto my back with some dignity remaining or I’m just going to carry your bridal-style back to your apartment,” Seungcheol states, holding up two fingers. “Which do you want?”

          Ten minutes later, the two boys meet up with Soonyoung at the front of the library with a blushing Jihoon perched on top of Seungcheol’s broad back. Soonyoung leads the procession and they arrive at the shared apartment within minutes. Unlocking the door, Soonyoung quickly disappears into Jihoon’s room before motioning for Seungcheol to deposit the boy onto his bed.

          “Now that wasn’t so bad was it?” Seungcheol asks. Jihoon raises his sheets over his still red face and glares as Soonyoung passes the doorway.

          “I don’t even know anymore,” Jihoon mumbles, causing Seungcheol to laugh. “Are you leaving?” Jihoon drops the covers and looks up sharply when Seungcheol straightens up and grabs his bag from the floor.

          “Yeah, I was actually supposed to have a shift at the pool thirty minutes ago,” Seungcheol confesses, laughing nervously. His job was usually relaxed (other than the fact that he might have to save someone’s life any minute) but his fellow worker, Jeonghan, was pretty strict on coming on time.

          “Oh, then you should hurry up! Why didn’t you tell me?” Jihoon gasps.

          “Because,” Seungcheol leans in, “helping you is probably going to end up being a better story.”

          “S-story?” Jihoon squeaks, unnerved at the close proximity of his and Seungcheol’s faces.

          “Yup, I’ll be waiting for more developments, text me when your ankle gets better,” Seungcheol grins before tossing Jihoon’s phone into his lap. He walks to the doorway and turns around, “I’m filed under ‘Knight S.Coups’, hope our story will end in a happily ever after, Jihoon.”

So this is for Dango27 because I feel like I utterly failed their request and I needed to apologize in some way. I actually wrote this fanfic under Dango27’s original prompt but I realized it didn’t fit so I rewrote that one and just gave this one to them as a sort of present?

I feel like I made Jihoon a little too meek in this oneshot but it’s always fun to experiment with the different sides of a character! Plus, Jihoon works in a library and stays in his room all the time (like me) so he’s bound to be a little socially awkward (also like me).

This is also cross posted on my Tumblr.

In any case, thanks for reading and I do not own anything in this story other than the idea and plot, any similarities to other works of fiction are purely coincidental or have been used as sources of inspiration. Please do not repost this anywhere without my permission; plagiarism isn’t nice!

Hope you’re smiling!

~ Alateni