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twenty-nine: library infiltration

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["None of us like to think about how ed up we all are."]

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"Amazing," D.O said in wonder, flipping through a heavy book. "To think we could find everything we need right here."

"Yes, D.O, that's what a library is for," Juyeon said snarkily. D.O rolled his eyes at her.

The two had gone straight to the library after therapy, and D.O seemed genuinely shocked to see so many books in one place. They had grabbed as many as they could and formed a little fortress with them, poring over each book together for information.

"Hey, there's something here," Juyeon said, pointing with her finger. D.O leaned in to see. "It's a comparison between PC leader Lea Dawson of the 1870's and some normal army leader of the same time. There were all these ridiculous similarities between them, especially in battle tactics. Some believe they were actually siblings. I never knew you could have one sibling be PC and one be normal."

"Useless and exactly the kind of thing Strange would like," D.O said with a little smile. "Note down the battle tactics too, Strange appreciates that kind of thing. Honestly, with all the interest he's putting in battle in history, you'd think we're fighting a war."

Juyeon snickered. She was surprised at how talkative D.O could be when he wanted to. It was different ... and a little fun, actually. "Anything from your book?"

"Some stuff on how a few PC vigilantes escaped normals suspecting them to be witches. I wrote it all down."

Juyeon couldn't help but grin. "You know what, D.O? At the rate we're going, we'll ace this project by April for sure."

"Yeah. We will." He gave her a real smile then, a nice big one that stretched his lips into the shape of a heart. Juyeon found something in her pages extremely interesting and pretended the heat in her cheeks was from the warmth of the library.

There was silence afterwards, broken only be the flipping of their pages and the librarian doing something in another aisle. A bird twittered outside.

"Can I ask a question, D.O?"

"Can I stop you?" was the bland reply.

She hesitated, curiosity burning away at her but still trying to hold herself back. "Why don't you like your … your real name?"

D.O stiffened, but his terrifying aura didn't appear. Juyeon took that as a good sign.

"I … just don't like it," he said through gritted teeth.

Juyeon was no psychological expert, and she struggled to choose her words carefully. "Can I ask what happened to make you think that?"

"I guess you could say it gives me bad memories? 'Triggers' and all that?" he gave her a bitter smile. "You should know. You're not one to talk about your past too, eh?"

It was Juyeon's turn to become rigid. She fiddled with a corner of the page in front of her, staring at black text she could no longer see. "Yeah, true. I'm such a hypocrite. I'm sorry. I was just curious."

"I'll tell you if you tell me," he offered. She could see that he, too, was curious about her. It was strange, to have someone be genuinely interested in her beyond getting homework help.

Juyeon raised an eyebrow at him. "That's not going to happen."

It was his turn; one strong eyebrow quirked upwards, in a surprisingly mischievous expression for the normally softspoken boy. "Then we'll both never know."

Juyeon pulled at her braid, frowning, then relaxed and let out a small laugh. She and D.O were honestly too well-suited for each other.

A sudden onslaught of noise shook them out of their private moment and sent a terrified librarian running for cover. Loud voices interrupted the peace of the library.

"Whoa, Suho hyung! I didn't know you knew where the library was!"

"Eh, it was a lucky guess."

"Where are they? Heyyy, Yeonie! D.O! C'mon out!"

D.O opened his mouth to answer them, but Juyeon shook her head frantically. She indicated the books spread around them and gave him a hard look that clearly meant for him to shut up. Having Exo here would just distract them all, and frankly there were suddenly way too many people intruding into her sanctuary.

"There's too many aisles. Let's just knock the bookshelves over."

Juyeon jumped up in horro