As a student, managing work was frustrating. The work itself wasn’t difficult. What was difficult was mustering the sheer amount of patience it takes to not grab the dictionary you’re using and whack a certain dimwit over the head so that he can learn how to define the phrase I’m trying to finish this assignment. The boy only had two classes with you and immediately decided that you were his best friend, following you like a lost puppy.

               “(Y/N)!” He shakes his phone in front of your face as you barely get through your second sentence that night. Perhaps, you think as you reluctantly turn to him for the hundredth time, working at the library was a bad idea. “Look!” He’s playing a video on his phone and he glances at you to make sure you’re watching, “this is the video my friends took after I drank too much.” You wince as the on-screen version of him laughs at a shaky camera. “This is after I dumped my girlfriend,” from the corner of your eyes, you see him glance at you for your reaction, but you’re already squinting at your computer screen and trying to ignore the drunk droning coming from his phone.

               “(Y/N),” he whines too loud because you’re in a library for goodness sake and the last thing you need is to be kicked out. You eye your dictionary because you’re really, really starting to consider how hard you would have to hit him so that the force will knock him out long enough to finish your assignment if it didn’t kill all his brain cells in one hit, but even then, maybe that was for the best considering how he probably doesn’t have an-

               A cough interrupts your thoughts.

The both of you whirl around. Low and behold, there stands your savior in the form of a tall boy who’s ruffling his mop of bleached hair. A frown is embedded into sharp features as he eyes the nonexistent space between you and your classmate.

               “Sorry to interrupt,” he snorts unapologetically, “but can I have some time alone with my best friend please?” He stands unmoving until your classmate falters. The both of you wince at the angry screech of chair meeting floor as he storms out the library.

               “Thanks, Bri,” you’re sighing in relief.

               “Anything for my bestie,” he grins sheepishly at you, tough Brian gone. “You looked ready to pound him in the head with that dictionary.” You tiredly grin back as he takes the chair beside you. “He should be the one thanking me for saving his life.” Your relief turns into a flood of gratitude because here Brian is, mouth wider than the diameter of the moon, eyes watering as he yawns and you’re reminded of how little sleep he gets. 

               “Oh,” he remembers why he came to the library in the first place and wrestles with his business textbook before slamming it open and pointing at a heading, “can you explain this?” You hum as you scan over the text and for once your brain is able to hear itself think as you quickly explain the chapter. For the next half an hour you both work in peace, just the way you like. But that’s when sh*t hits the fan.

               Your classmate and three more of his friends come storming back in. His ‘friendly’ persona is gone and he’s red in the face, swearing, and causing an absolutely unacceptable ruckus.

               “There he is!” Your classmates point at Brian and as you watch in alarm as two of them hoist him out of his chair by his arms, dragging him backwards. One of his groupies circle like a wolf does a lamb. The stupid smirks as you stand from your chair, glaring at him.

               “What are you doing?” You hiss as you glance around nervously. “This is a libra-“

               He interrupts you with a laugh so dumb and so ugly you almost lose all your brain cells and go blind. Almost.

               He stalks up to you and leans in so close, you can smell the alcohol in his breath and the stink of his cologne. “I’ll let your bestie go if you promise to go out with me,” he sneers.

You wrinkle your nose in disgust as you tippy toe to peer over his shoulder and exchange a look with Brian. Brian just shrugs back helplessly. You almost miss the look of surprise on your classmate’s face before anger takes its place. “I’m right here,” he snaps as he pushes you back with a little shove.

Just when you’re hoping you can avoid a fight, Jae and the rest of your friends come bristling into the library and you recognize the Superman theme in the song that Sungjin is whistling, that dork.

Dowoon shoves your classmate away from you and Wonpil comes to stand in front of Brian’s capturers, Sungjin in tow. Jae sends you a cheesy grin. Your classmate’s anger grows into a snarl.

“Quit playing superhero. You’re out numbered,” he’s face to face with an unruffled Jae. You open your mouth to correct that if he could actually count, he was that one that was outnumbered, but no one’s paying attention to you so your mouth snaps shut.

Tension grows as said classmate begins pacing around Jae.

“ off,” Jae snorts coldly. “Can’t take a single no, can you?” He sneers and every hair on your arms stands as you brace for a fight to break out.

“Um, guys, I really don’t thi-“ you start, but your classmate interrupts.

“Shut up!” You glare at him as he raises his arm to punch an unfazed Jae.

“Oh, for ’s sake,” you snap as he grabs Jae’s collar, “listen to me,” but no one pays attention.

“What if I beat you,” he points at you “and take her?” There’s a snort from Brian on the opposite side of library as he mutters you can try. It earns him a cut on the lip.

Then all hell breaks loose and you’re standing helplessly to the side as people are launching themselves at each other. You spot Brian under a heaping load of dumb*ss and you try to fish him out, but squawk when someone runs into you. You tumble to the ground.

Red. All you see is red. And from the tips of your fingers to every toe on your feet, you feel red, you hear red and all the screaming can. Go. To. Hell.

 Maybe that’s when all the exhaustion from the night really gets to your head. With one stride you pick up the closest book, which happens to be the dictionary, and focus on your target.

One breath in and your eyes narrow with all the concentration you were never allowed to have, chucking it with all the force and accuracy as if you had done it thousands of times. One concussion coming right up with a side dish of fried douche bag and a hefty serving of *sshole.

“TAKE THAT, YOU NUGGET!” you screech at the top of your lungs and the dictionary goes flying. It hits him square on the back of his head and he drops onto the floor with a heavy thud. “This is a ing library! Fight to death somewhere else, you inconsiderate s!” You’re gasping for breath.

Everyone but Brian is staring in frozen shock. The silence is broken as he grins something suspiciously along the lines of I told you so.

­­___

You brace against the cold winds with your textbook tucked to your side and Brian teasing you on the other.

“Seriously,” he’s almost giggling, “ nugget?” You trudge on miserably as he prances about like a little girl. An adorable little girl. “But, man, you turned into she-hulk back there.”

You ignore him to wallow in your misery instead.

“Brian, I was kicked out of the library,” you whine, “how am I supposed to finish my essay?”

“Yeah, for destruction of property,” he’s wearing a sh*t eating grin. You object. The dictionary’s pages were still in tact and technically still could have been used; none of this was even your fault. Each clump of snow is your classmate’s face and you try to kick at them with as little pettiness as you can. Keyword: try.

Another cold wind and you’re shivering so uncontrollably that Brian stops his teasing, catches you by your hand, and tugs you in the opposite direction.

“Let’s go to my dorm to finish up your essay! I have hot chocolate!” He wiggles his eyebrows suggestively. You don’t protest, rather, let him tug you along and somewhere along the way, you see his eyes soften and cut lip turn up as he teases, “Thanks for saving me back there.”

 You smile back. The warmth of his hands is enough to melt your heart.

“Anything for my bestie.”

A fun fact about this piece was that this was completely based on my own experience. The only difference was that I didn’t have a superhero best-friend Brian *sobs*