You're still brooding about the encounter as you walk to class the next day. Entering the room you unintentionally scan the desks for the pink eyesore.

He's not here.

You'd never admit it but you're a little disappointed by the empty seat behind you. As usual your classes go by with lecture after lecture, the entire day holding little of your attention.
Loaded with homework you decide to go the library. The walk is to the centrally located grand building is quick, a two minute walk from any lesson holding building on campus. Pushing open the wide glass door you wander through the vast mahogany bookcases to free table of matching wood.

Placing your things down you grab your assignments and place them in no particular order on the table. Grabbing your math book you begin to copy down formulas in its respective subject notebook. You’re making good progress, half way down with your obscene amount of work.

“Tokki, you look like you’re trying to burn a hole through the table by staring at it.”

Startled you nearly fall out of your chair and an involuntary cry of annoyance and surprise escapes your lips. Your pencil falls to the ground with a clatter, a smug snicker immediately following. Setting your jaw you pick up your pencil and blatantly ignore him, determined to ignore him and get your work done.

“Is that what I missed today? Well, I’m glad I wasn’t in class then.” Zelo comments idly to himself. He has the nerve to sit himself on the remaining space of the long table, rather than just sitting in a chair like any other normal person would.

Then again, he isn’t exactly what you’d personally call normal.

“Then why are you here? If you skipped class why come to the library? Kind of defeating the purpose of avoiding work.” you snap irritably, staring blandly at his cross legged form in front of you.

“Oh, look. You’re talking.” he points out with a steady grin.

Glaring you return to your homework with a scowl. Thankfully he doesn’t continue pestering you, though he makes a point of looking at your work disdainfully. Some reason that bothers you more than if he were to actually talk pointlessly to you.

“Is there something you want?” you mutter. The effort it takes not to push him off the table makes you want to give yourself a prize, impressed you have that amount of self restraint.

“No, I just like bothering you.” he replies as blunt as ever.

“Why me? Can’t you bother someone else who doesn’t have a ridiculous amount of work to do?” Though, in all honesty, you’re actually glad for the distraction.

“That’s your own fault for doing it. And no, I’m here already so I’m just going to stay.”

You groan loudly in irritation. Why does he insist on making your life so difficult? Why you of all people?

Then again, it’s nice having company.

It’s not like you don’t have any friends, you have some acquaintances you get along well with. Okay, so maybe you don’t have many close friends. Still, you’re used to being on your own and get by, with or without people.

That doesn’t mean you don’t like having people around, even if it is Zelo per se.

“Fine, if you’re going to stay then keep your mouth shut. Unlike you I actually have work to do.” you snap, trying to concentrate on a particularly annoying problem.

That adds one more to the one already sitting in front of you.

“Like I said it’s an optional thing. You have work but that doesn’t mean you have to do it.” You give him a pointed glare which he returns with a grin. Without saying anything you go back to trying to work out the difficult problem (the one you can actually do something about), making a point of flipping through your book with larger movements than necessary.

After a solid fifteen minutes you manage to solve the equation. You let out a relieved sigh, glad you finally figured out the stupid calculation. Noticing your triumph Zelo leans over and studies your paper. He smirks.

“That’s wrong.”

“How can you know that? We learned this today and you weren’t in class. Enlighten me on how exactly you know this is wrong after I spent more time than I’d like checking it.” you spit aggravated. There is no way you just wasted fifteen minutes on this question just to get it wrong. You definitely aren’t about to get corrected by him either.

“How do you think I got into this school? I’m not an idiot. Now give me that.” he replies blandly with a roll of his eyes. Snatching up your notebook and pencil he begins erasing all your hard work and scribbling his own.

“What the heck! You can’t just-” He’s handed the notebook back before you’ve even figured out a proper complaint. Pursing your lips you look over his “correction” dubiously.

Crap.

It actually makes sense. A lot more than your previous one. He’s right.

That peeves you all the more.

“I’ll take your lack of clever reply as I was right. You’re welcome.” His voice is self-satisfied with an underlying tone of amusement. Staying silent you stuff the notebook along with the rest of your belongings on the desk into your backpack. Zipping it shut you throw it onto your shoulders and begin to exit the library.

You weren’t about to get anything done with him bothering you and you just wanted him to stop doing things to irritate you so much. The only solution is to go to your dorm where he can’t do either of those things.

“Aw, you’re just going to leave now? You really are no fun, you know that?” he whines catching up to you.

Why does he always follow me?!

Granted, it’s only happened once before but, you have a feeling he’s already decided to leech himself onto you.

Ugh, why me?

Once outside of the library you round towards him with all the venom you can muster. “I’m only going to ask you once not to follow me. I suggest you leave me alone, now.” You’ve never really been an intimidating person but, with all the added annoyance and stress of work you’re pretty sure you could scare off a mountain lion if you had to.

Zelo holds up his hands in mock surrender with that smirk you hate so much curling on his lips. “Didn’t know you could get so vicious, Tokki.”

Tokki?!

“Stop calling me that!” you shout angrily.

“Why? It’s fun and it suits you, though not at the moment. You’re more like a rabid Tokki right now.” he says grinning at his own joke.

You’re about to punch him in the face and he’s acting like this is a friendly fight between old buddies. Well, guess what, you’re most definitely not buddies. Not now, not ever.

“I don’t care why you call me that, just don’t!”

“Why should I care about your preferences when you don’t care about mine? That’s not very fair.”

“You pestering me isn’t fair!”

“That’s not entirely true, you started it.”

“How?!”

How on earth did you start this and bring this upon yourself?!

“Huh, I don’t feel like telling you.”

“Fine, don’t! I don’t care anyway!”

“Sure you do, you asked how. Therefore you do.”

Sputtering nonsense furiously you glare at him with more anger than you’ve felt in a long time. The last time you felt this angry was when you found out your father died.

At the instant you realize that your anger dissipates. A heavy weight burdens you as thoughts of your father’s death fill your mind. You try so hard to keep it out that once it starts, it just doesn’t stop.

This is why you haven’t tried breaking your routine life style. As boring and predictable as it is, it keeps these thought away and locked in the back of your mind. You can suppress them with ease knowing you’ll never have something unexpectedly bring them up.

You’re afraid to try.

Afraid that if you come out of the habits in your life that this will torment you. That these thoughts will never stop haunting you.

You’re afraid.

And you blame Zelo, the smug idiot he is, for dragging you into this predicament.

This is his fault.

Everything is his fault.