disclaimer: Pride and Prejudice and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies belong to Jane Austen. A Rake's Vow belongs to Stephanie Laurens.

Their third meeting wasn’t as odd, the only thing noteworthy about it being that it had been a week since their last encounter that Jongdae was beginning to think Tao was devaluing the meaning of their friendship to him. It was a little bit odd because Jongdae didn’t know Tao visited the library almost as often as he did.

                Having just returned the book he’d finished reading, Jongdae had disappeared off into the shelves to find more books to read in his downtime. He was facing a bit of difficulty upon discovering a book he’d wanted to read, the problem being it was too high on the shelves for him to reach. He stood on his tiptoes as he reached out to grab the book but to his surprise another hand came in and took it for him.

                Opening his mouth to mutter a quiet but grateful ‘thanks’, Jongdae decidedly closed it once more at the sight of Tao in front of him, a smirk playing on his lips mischievously. Jongdae frowned and dropped his hand that was initially held out to take the book. “Suddenly that book doesn’t seem very interesting now,” he declared, turning round and speed-walking towards the end of the shelf, far away from Tao.

                Tao let out a hushed “Hey!” as he chased after the other male. “A ‘hello’ would’ve been nice, Jongdae.” He looked down at the book in his hands. “Pride and Prejudice, huh?” He chuckled, opening the book at a random page once he was close to Jongdae. “Hmm. I’ve never read this one, but I did read the version with zombies in it.”

                Jongdae furrowed his brow, confused. “Pride and Prejudice with zombies?” That sounded absurd.

                “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies,” Tao corrected. He closed the book and held it out for Jongdae to take. “Don’t tell me you haven’t heard of it. I didn’t take you as the type to read romantic books.”

                Reluctantly removing the book from his hands Jongdae continued to scan the shelf in front of him, trying his best to ignore Tao—which proved to be impossible, because Tao was hard to overlook after breaking into his house and waking him up in the middle of the night. “I was reading A Rake’s Vow when you came,” Jongdae sighed.

                He didn’t expect Tao to know what that book was, but Tao stared at him incredulously. “Isn’t that a Victorian novel?” He asked. “God, those books have like, seven pages of . When it came to the actual though, it’s only in one sentence. Three pages when the author’s feeling generous. It’s painstakingly slow and I deem that very unfair.”

                Jongdae didn’t say anything. The fact that Tao’s expressing his discomfort about the in Victorian novels to him when they’ve only met twice before this was slightly unnerving. They barely even knew each other. “I don’t mind,” he finally looked at Tao, observing the change in his hair colour—Tao’s hair was dyed red now. “Nice hair. Where have you been?”

                Tao leaned against the shelf and smirked. “Aw, you missed me?” He cooed, “Thanks. It took you long enough to notice.”

                His ears became pink at the previous comment but Jongdae decided to shrug it off and blame it on the shelves for blocking the air-conditioner. “I’m serious, Zitao. Where have you been?”

                The situation was pretty ridiculous to him. He was wearing a white button down shirt, the sleeves hanging way past his wrist as he didn’t bother to roll them up. The shirt was tucked inside a pair of black shorts to match. Meanwhile Tao, sporting his newly dyed red hair, was wearing a sleeveless jacket to show off his perfectly toned biceps. Everything about his outfit screamed ‘I’m a punk’, making Jongdae look like a perfectly innocent and lost child as he awaited the other male’s response.

                Tao grinned. “You did miss me. And I was busy—I have other friends too, you know. You should make some. Your life seems a whole lot lonelier than mine, now.”

                Jongdae would have, had it not been that they were all almost as obnoxious and pretentious as his parents. Tao was quite promisingly one of his actual friends, hence hearing him say that he had other friends besides Jongdae made him feel a bit jealous. His heart sank, but he paid no attention to it as he responded, “Then why did you come to me last time? I would’ve been sleeping.”

                Pulling Jongdae by his waist to bring him to his side, Tao slung an arm around his neck. “Now, now, don’t be angry.” He shook his shoulders. Jongdae honestly wanted to wipe that grin off his face in the worst possible way, because he was starting to hate it. “I have a surprise for you.”

                The other male directed him to the counter, taking Pride and Prejudice from his hands and giving it to the librarian who sat behind the counter. He gestured for Jongdae to hand him his library card and Jongdae did, the card being placed atop the counter for the librarian.

                The librarian looked up. “Tao!” he exclaimed, “It’s been a while.”

                Jongdae turned to Tao inquiringly. “You come here often?”

                “How about you take me out on a date first, and then ask me that question?” Tao shook his head in fake disapproval. He removed his arm and looked at the librarian. “It’s nice to meet you, Minseok.”

                “How’s Wufan? Yixing?”

                “They’re fine,” Tao motioned to Jongdae. “This is Jongdae.”

                The librarian’s eyes suddenly feel to Jongdae’s.

                Jongdae rarely ever made conversation with the librarian, but he and Minseok had acknowledged each other for a long time since Jongdae registered for a library card. They both knew each other’s name, but their relationship consisted of nothing other than nodding and glancing at each other, thus Jongdae felt compelled to keep it like that. It was better this way; he liked to identify Minseok as the Nice Librarian Who Hopefully Stays Unless I’ve Finished Reading All the Books Here.

                Minseok seemed to agree with him as he only chose to nod at the Regular Book Borrower after taking his library card from the top of the counter and stamping the book, returning Pride and Prejudice into his hands. “Thanks,” Jongdae smiled.  Minseok saluted.

                Tao decided that he better ask what that was all about some time later, but not now.

                Once they were out he brought Jongdae over to the nearby park, a few kilometres away from the library. “Alright, I did say that I had a surprise for you,” Tao began, leaning back on the bench they were currently sitting on. “Honestly, I was going to take you to the café nearby and buy a chocolate milkshake for you but I got tired.” He crossed his legs. “So we’re just going to stay here, appreciate nature, and relax until I have enough energy to go to that café. How does that sound?”

                “You’re weird, Zitao,” Jongdae chuckled, “It sounds okay. I’m tired too.”

                “I noticed. You look exhausted recently.”

                The statement caught Jongdae off guard. Being a son, who was constantly pressured by his parents to show not poor mannerisms but astounding table etiquette, Jongdae had grown accustomed to sitting with his back straight and to not speak unless he was being spoken to. He was taught since he was young not to disappoint his parents lest their family name be affected, and at this age of nineteen Jongdae had practically mastered how to hide his fatigue under a poker face whenever he was attending his parents’ abysmally dull dinner parties.

                Jongdae stared at Tao sceptically. He knew that he’d just told Tao that he was tired, but that still didn’t explain how he managed to see through Jongdae’s poker face.

                His worry dissipated away when they finally went to the café. As Tao had told him to sit at the far corner while he went to order milkshakes, Jongdae immediately felt a sense of tranquillity take over him. There was just something about the café that calmed him down, pulling him further away from his breaking point. The sight of people minding their own business as they drank was strangely comforting Jongdae. He never wanted to leave the place.

                Tao had returned with two cups of chocolate milkshakes in his hands. He gave one to Jongdae and sat down.

                “I was only going to get one for you but the lady at the counter gave me one on the house,” he grinned proudly. “Who knew I was so charming? I should do this more often.” Jongdae scoffed, but before he could make a witty response Tao gestured to him. “So what have you been doing? I mean, you do have a life, right?”

                Not for the first time since they’d met Jongdae wanted to shove his foot down Tao’s throat. “Is this a date? I’m impressed Zitao, that escalated quickly,” he fluttered his eyelashes and leaned in, his chin resting on the palm of his hand. “Let’s get to know each other better. Do you come here often?”

                “Do you come here often?”

                “Well since we’re on a date now,” Jongdae smirked mischievously and placed his milkshake down. “You come to the library often?”

                 “You cheeky bastard,” Tao snickered. “Yes, but I don’t read cheesy novels like you do, Mr Helplessly Romantic.”

                Jongdae rolled his eyes. “I don’t see you much though,” he frowned as he played with the straw. “If I did I probably would’ve recognised you when you broke through my window.”

                “I could say the same to you. But that’s enough—you haven’t answered my question,” he momentarily sipped on his milkshake, “What have you been up to lately?”

                Opening his mouth to reply, Jongdae was stopped mid-sentence when he heard an alarmingly recognisable voice call out his name. Jongdae turned to unexpectedly see his father holding a briefcase in one hand and a cup of coffee on the other. Naturally, as a trained-to-be-the-best son he stood up, but he was quite clearly just as surprised as his father was.

                “Dad,” Jongdae greeted in his least startled way.

                His father eyed Tao from head to toe disapprovingly. Mr Kim didn’t know why his son, an ideally educated and well-mannered man, was hanging out with a dyed-red haired punk. There was no doubt that this man was planning on ruining Jongdae’s image, and Mr Kim simply could not allow that; everything about the punk—from his fashion sense to the piercings on his ear—was deplorable. He cannot befriend someone as good as Jongdae.

                “Huang Zitao, sir,” the man smiled warmly, extending his hand to him.

                “Pleasure,” Mr Kim blanched. The nerve of this punk; Mr Kim turned to Jongdae after glaring at the punk, seeing him lower his hand from the periphery of his vision. He smirked triumphantly. “Jongdae, what are you doing here?” He demanded consolingly. “You didn’t tell me you would be here.”

                Jongdae blinked innocently. “I told mom I’d be in the library. I just happened to meet Zi—”

                “We’re leaving,” Mr Kim looked at Jongdae’s acquaintance once more. “I don’t ever want to see your face again.”

                Jongdae’s eyes widened upon hearing those words come out from his father’s mouth. He saw Tao’s shoulders deflate and his expression became hard as he maintained his eye contact with his father. Jongdae stepped forward, holding Tao’s arm in the process. “Dad, what’s wrong? Zitao—”

                “We’re leaving,” his father repeated sternly.

                This can’t be happening. Jongdae didn’t want his relationship—friendship, whatever—with Tao to end like this, it just can’t.

                With Tao, he felt like he belonged. There was no need to be stiff and upright, there was no need to hide underneath an impenetrable bravado that could easily break down whenever Jongdae did, and there was no need to be worried just because Tao could tell that he was tired. With Tao, he was happy. He can see the stars. His father couldn’t just take away his source of happiness from him, even when he and Tao barely knew each other.

                Jongdae wanted to rebel.

                “Dad,” he started, but his voice was soft, barely audible. He felt Tao’s hand on his shoulder.

                “Do not disobey me, Kim Jongdae,” Mr Kim warned.

                Tao squeezed his shoulder reassuringly. “Jongdae, it’s okay. I’m totally fine with this,” he nodded, motioning towards Jongdae’s father. “Go ahead.”

                Jongdae stared at the other male in disbelief. Tao can’t be saying this. He had to be lying. “But—”

                “Kim Jongdae, do not make me repeat myself.”

                Jongdae wanted to cry.

                Tao didn’t deserve this. He didn’t deserve to smile sadly as he waved Jongdae goodbye while the latter was being forced to leave by his father. He didn’t deserve to act like everything was okay, that he was fine with it, when he clearly wasn't.