Do it all in the name of love

Jongdae hates libraries. He hates that you have to be quiet and that even the slightest noise will get you yelled at by some old lady behind a desk. He hates that he's not allowed to eat either. Reading and doing homework makes him hungry. How is he supposed to study without being allowed a snack? Then poo on top of everything else: He isn't allowed to play videogames. At the regular library this isn't a problem, but since it's school, there's that extra rule. Jongdae groans as he shuffles through the stacks of books to find one to help with his history paper. Normally he would just use the internet, but his teacher said that they needed at least three paper sources. This is stupid. Who even reads actual books anymore? Jongdae stops where he believes that the author’s book should be. He starts scanning titles along the shelves, starting at the bottom. He doesn't see it, so he takes a step back and looks up at the other shelves. Lo and behold, the book on his on the top shelf. F--k my life. Jongdae knows he can't reach the book. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't even try reaching it. He curses his parents for making him short and curses his teacher for this stupid assignment. He glared at the book as he stands on tiptoe, trying to reach it. Why did they put the books up so high anyway? No normal-sized person could possibly reach up there. He knows the librarian certainly couldn't reach up there. He scowls, wanting to ditch this assignment and accept a failing grade. Of course, then his parents would ground him and he would be banned from after school activities. Then Yifan would kill him for not coming to student council meetings over a stupid book. There really was no way out of this.

“Excuse me, are you done here? You're kind of in the way.”

Jongdae whips around and sees a tall blond kid standing behind him. This kid is easily over 180 centimeters. The brunet already doesn't like him. How dare he be so tall? Tall guys were arrogant and thought they were so cool. Well Kim Jongdae is not impressed. However, this guy might be just tall enough to help him reach the book he needs. The shorter boy points “Get that book for me.”

The boy looks up at the book then back at Jongdae “Can’t you get it yourself?”

“Well if I could do that, I wouldn't be telling you to do it, would I?”

“Short people really are mean.”

Jongdae’s eye twitches. How dare this giant call him short? He was average height! Well according to his doctor, he was a little shorter but still. “Yah, how old are you?”

“Fourteen,” the blond answers innocently.

“Don't disrespect your elders!” The older boy slaps him on the arm “Now do as your sunbae asks!”

The tall boy sighs and grabs the book from the top shelf. He hands it to Jongdae “Geez you’re mean.”

“Hmph,” the brunet snatches the book “I’m not mean; I just demand respect.”

“Right,” the blond rolls his eyes and reaches for his own book. Once he has it, he his heel and started to walk away. “See you later,” the boy waves.

Jongdae watches as the tall stranger walks away. He didn't seem too terrible. Not to mention that he was genuinely helpful. Now he feels bad for acting like such a brat. The kid was nice even if he was a little blunt. The brunet knows that he's been irritable lately, but he shouldn't have taken it out on that kid.

Jongdae looks around and the blond guy is gone. Where’d he go that fast? Curse tall people and their long legs, he follows the general direction that he’d seen the giant go. He looks around the shelves and all the tables. It's not until Jongdae reaches the very back of the library, that he spots the tall kid. The blond is bent over a book at a small table and the older boy thinks he looks kind of handsome. Nice structured jawline, muscular arms, and gorgeous deep brown eyes.

“Can you stop staring at me? It's freaking me out.”

The blond is turned toward Jongdae and the shorter boy’s cheeks turn red. He didn't realize how hard he was staring. “Sorry,” he rubs the back of his neck. “Look, I wanted to thank you for grabbing this book for me.”

“No problem.”

The brunet shuffles his feet “So what's your name?”

“Sehun.”

“Jongdae.”

“Nice to meet you,” Sehun turns his attention back to his book.

The older boy doesn't know why, but he kind of likes this kid. He doesn't talk much, seems pretty cool, and he's not totally useless. Jongdae takes the seat across from him. He doesn't bother asking and just gets started on his history project. Sehun looks up at Jongdae for a moment from his book, then resumes reading his book. The brunet assumes this means that the giant is okay with him sitting here, not that he was going to move anyway.

Sehun doesn't know what to make of Jongdae. The older boy is quite different from him, but insists on their hanging out together. The blond doesn't mind, but he never expected the companionship. Usually people saw him, felt his cold glare, and walked away. Jongdae, however, was different. Sehun actually didn't mind his presence. Granted Jongdae talked a lot when they were together, but the older boy never expected the blond to reply and he appreciated that. Besides, most of Jongdae’s ranting was about his boyfriend Minseok. Apparently their relationship wasn't really a happy one. Jongdae often complained about some other guy named Luhan. From what Sehun remembers, Luhan was the captain of the soccer team. Jongdae said that Minseok would always hang out with Luhan instead of him and claim it was for the sake of being a better player. Sehun didn't really know what to believe since he was only getting one side of the story. Although, he did think that Jongdae could be a little over dramatic and the two guys really were just practicing. He’s not entirely sure, but he knows he's in for an earful when Jongdae arrives.

They were supposed to be meeting for lunch. Well not “meeting”, but the smaller boy always sat with the blond so he assumed today was no exception. And he's right. Jongdae makes his way over to the table, shoving other students in the process, and plops down in the chair across from him. Sehun watches as the brunet lets his head hit the table. He's not sure what he should do. Usually Jongdae just pops up and starts ranting about his boyfriend and the soccer captain. This time though, the short boy is silent and just staring off to the side. The blond rubs the back of his neck awkwardly. How is he supposed to get Jongdae to talk? He's not sure why he wants so badly for Jongdae to talk, but the silence is freaking Sehun out.

What would mom do? His mother was his go-to person when Sehun needed to figure out how to handle a situation. Pat his head. That's what she did when he was upset. He reached a long arm across the table and patted Jongdae’s brown hair. It was surprisingly soft and Sehun caught the scent of coffee. The blond assumes that is something the older boy drinks often. He has to admit, the older boy's hair has an appealing quality to it that makes Sehun decide that he doesn't just want to touch it. No, he runs his fingers through it and lets that coffee smell overwhelm his senses.

“That feels nice.”

Sehun is startled at the sounded of Jongdae's voice, but he doesn't stop moving his hand. He thinks this is calming for the brunet and maybe if he keeps it up, Jongdae will finally explain what's wrong. “Um, are you alright?”

The older boy adjusts his head to look at Sehun “Is that a rhetorical question?”

The blond wanted to facepalm “Yes. It's just that I’ve never seen you like this, not that I’ve known you that long, but still.”

“Well Sehun,” Jongdae laughs wryly “This is me when I'm pissed off, but also emotional.”

The younger boy nods “Ahh…” What was he supposed to say now? The logical next question would be to ask what was wrong, but that might be awkward for all involved. “So what happened?”

Jongdae raises an eyebrow “Are you really that interested or are you asking just to be polite?”

“Both.”

“Well at least you’re honest.”

“Minnie!” Jongdae called as he runs to catch up with his boyfriend.

Minseok turned and smiled at the younger boy when he finally caught up “How are you?”

“Great,” Jongdae hugged him tight “I’ll be even better after our date this afternoon.” It was more like a study date than an actual date, but he didn't care so long as he was with Minseok.

The elder rubbed the back of his head shuffled uncomfortably on his feet “Uhh about that…”

Jongdae didn't like the sound of that. He knew his boyfriend was about to say something he didn't want to hear. “What is it?” he asked through gritted teeth.

“Luhan and I have a game tomorrow, so I'm gonna practice with him today.”

“But you have been practicing with him all week!”

“Well Lu’s the captain and he asked me,” Minseok shrugged “I can't say no to him.”

Jongdae stared at him in disbelief. Minseok was really ditching him to practice with stupid Luhan?! But should he really be shocked? Minseok had been doing that a lot lately: breaking off plans with him to hang out with Luhan. At first he thought it was nothing, but now it was starting to worry him. “Do you like Luhan?”

“What?”

“Do you like Luhan?!” Jongdae raised his voice.

Minseok shook his head “Of course not. We’re just friends.” He kissed the younger boy's forehead “I just have to keep my commitment to soccer so I can go pro. You understand, don't you?”

No, he didn't understand. He didn't understand why he wasn't as important to Minseok as soccer was. He didn't understand why his boyfriend kept ditching him to hang out with someone else. It wasn't fair.

Jongdae nodded and gave a faint smile “Yeah, I understand.”

Minseok smiled and patted the younger boy's head “We’ll go out another day.” He kissed Jongdae's cheek and left, not noticing the tears welling up in his boyfriend's eyes.

“Does he think I’m stupid?” Jongdae scoffs “I know he's cheating on me. He should stop being an idiot and just admit it!”

Sehun doesn't know what he should say. To any sane person, it did sound like Minseok was being shady, but he didn't want to cement Jongdae's assumptions. For all they knew, he might actually be telling the truth. At least Sehun hopes so, for Jongdae's sake. “Do you really like him?”

“What?” Jongdae lifts his head and looks at Sehun.

“Do you really like Minseok?”

What kind of question was that? Of course he likes Minseok. He wouldn't be so upset if he didn't. “Well duh, was I not being obvious enough?”

Sehun resists the urge to roll his eyes at Jongdae's sarcasm “Do you trust him?”

Jongdae doesn't answer immediately. Under normal circumstances he would say yes, but he's honestly not so sure now. Things have been pretty awkward between him and Minseok for a while, and they don't seem to be getting any better. He wants to believe that his boyfriend wouldn't hurt him, but it's getting harder with every date that gets called off. “I don't know. I want to; I want to trust him so bad.”

Sehun can see the frustration on Jongdae's face; he’s clearly torn. “Give him the benefit of the doubt,” he advises. “I don't know what's going to come of it, but maybe it's best to think positive and hope for the best.”

Jongdae raises an eyebrow “Is that what you do? Or do you just not care about anything?”

“A bit of both,” the blond shrugs. “I don’t really have much to care about anymore.”

“Anymore? Meaning you did care about something or someone at some point in your life?”

“Something like that,” Sehun’s voice is sharp. He didn't mean to sound cold, but his past wasn't something he cared to talk about too much. “I’d rather just forget things like that.”

Jongdae nodded, knowing he wouldn't get anymore out of Sehun today. No worries, he could bother him about it later. The bell rang, signaling the end of lunch and their time together. “Thanks for listening to my whining,” Jongdae says as he gets up from the table.

“Anytime.”

Jongdae freezes. What did he just say? He looks at Sehun, puzzled “Huh?”

“What?”

“Do you really mean that?”

“Mean what?”

“That I can come and whine to you whenever I want?”

“Yeah if you want,” Sehun shrugged. “Your whining is the only kind I can tolerate.”

Jongdae smiles as his cheeks dust a light pink “Thanks.”

“Like I said, anytime.”

A/N: Writer's block is real. Luckily, something sparked last night and here it is. I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter despite how short is. Until next time, subscribe, comment, etc.

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