The rain beats down on the pavement outside they library, and Jongdae figures he probably should have gone home hours ago, his cat was sure to have made a terrible mess out of his dry kitten food. The itty-bitty orange ball of fluff suffered from a disease called ‘since you’re-not-home-giving-me-attention-I’m- going-to-ruin-your-stuff-hehe!”, and boy did he. Despite his innocent look and mini-stature, Jongdae thought he was the Satan himself on four paws with whiskers. It’s always the small cure ones that turn out too be evil.

 

 Sehun had almost even convinced the brunette to take the kitten back to the adoption center; he took one look between the distressed kitten giving him large doe eyes that said ‘please don’t leave me’ and once at the center before promptly turning on his heels and crawling right back into the passenger side of Sehun’s jeep, said man staring at the other the way he always does when Jongdae buckles under the slightest pressure – pressure being the kitten’s pathetic gaze and that’s how Chen feels right then; pathetic, because he cant even say no to a kitten. So they go back to their dinky little apartment and Sehun ignores him the rest of the day. Several days later, Jongdae managed to talk Sehun into being best friends again with bubble tea and this little pineapple upside down cake Sehun had been eyeing at the café the last couple of days. Of course, Jongdae liked pineapple anyways so it was a win-win for him.

 

He’s startled from his thoughts when an employee of the library backs into him, the book in his hands dropping to the floor in a crumpled heap and he wont admit it ever but he may have let out a far from many yelp. He bends to pick up the book, the pages folded from the abrupt drop to the floor and he all but pouts because books shouldn’t be crumpled like that.

 

                “I’m really sorry.” The stranger says, pulling Chen from his obnoxious pouting and he waves a hand in dismissal, and all he notices is dewy skin and chocolate hair. “Would you like help finding anything?” the employee asks after a moment but Jongdae declines and thanks him politely before leaving the man to continue pulling books from a cart and pushing them up in their respective places on the book shelves;

 

Jongdae doesn’t pay it a single thought and instead finds himself in the art aisle, surrounded by row upon row of books of ancient Egyptian architecture, and books about Michelangelo’s life of sculptures. He leafs through each book until his orbs scan over a shiny navy blue book with golden letters on the spine spelling out ‘Gustav Klimt’ and a wide grin splits on his cheeks, a slim hand pulling the book from the shelf and he hurries to find an empty table where he litters the surface with more art textbooks, a laptop and a pair of thick rimmed glasses speckled with amber are pushed up a perfectly straight nose bridge, before he’s finally settling down and stuffing himself  into the corner seat in the back of the library, his nose buried in the pages of his favorite book as he delved into the Vienna Secession, practically staring over the broad shoulder of the Austrian symbolist painter Klimt as he paints Judith II and Hope, his two favorite pieces from the Austrian that show the contrasting promise between new life and the terrible force of death. While The Kiss was a more famous piece and beautiful all in it’s own place, celebrating the attraction of the es, he appreciated the glorious detail of golds and life that Klimt expressed, the thin line between life and death and leaves him wondering what Klimt had experienced in life that he could paint such emotion in and bring these works of art to life.

 

 

                The rain still falls outside the walls of the library, and most everyone had left, Chen noticed, and makes a quick glance at his watch that clearly shows five-thirty—that meant he’d wasted his entire day off at the library and Sehun was bound to be home by now, wondering why there wasn’t dinner ready or being finished up, and he mentally cursed. He knocks the chair backwards in his haste to gather his things and cringes at the loud ‘whap!’ that resonates throughout the library as it collides with the hard linoleum floor, the few remaining people and employees faces wrinkling in distaste and honestly he’s way too embarrassed to say anything so he scrambles to sit the chair right up and scurries out of the building, cursing under his breath as he does so. Relief eases from him when he shoves open the door only to be crushed a moment later as rain pelts down on him from above. His arms are held up in some pathetic attempt to block the completely inconvenient  rain because, of course—of course it would be just his luck that he has to wait for the bus and god knows how long that’ll be—

 

“Fifteen minutes.” A soft voice seems to answer his thoughts out loud, and Jongdae nearly jumps out of his skin then.

 

                “…What.” Is his clever response, and he notices he’s no longer being drenched in this stinkin’ rain, the stranger having held his umbrella over him as well.

 

                “The bus—it’ll be here in fifteen minutes.” The stranger chuckles warmly, his eyes crinkling in the corners and soft pink lips stretch over pearly white teeth, and really, it’s a pretty smile. Jongdae manages to notice dewy skin and warm brown hues that gaze at him in amusement, framed by rich chocolate hair, and why is he just noticing this?

 

                “Oh you’re the guy from earlier.” Chen lamely replies, mentally kicking himself for it. His alter self is taking a beating today.

              

                “Oh, yeah.. sorry—about bumping into you, I mean.” He apologizes again. “Fresh start? I’m Joonmyeon.” He introduces, his smile is pleasing to the eyes, soft and delicate in a way that only someone like Jongdae could appreciate with his eye for detail. His eyes are welcoming, open and overly trusting and Jongdae cant help but to take the extended hand in his and shake it, his own little smile gracing his features.

 

                “Jongdae.” He tells him in return, and it’s not long before they’re talking openly as if they hadn’t just met, Joonmyeon cracking a god awful joke about the weather that leaves Jongdae staring at him in mock horror until the other man is flushing a delicate shade of red and scratching at the nape of his neck, before Jongdae cracks another grin and blurts out an invitation for tea at his place; and god help him, because how can he not really want him to come over?

 

 

 

The ride home is warm and fun, the men more than happy for each other’s company as they share a seat back to his apartment.  Twenty minutes later they’re stumbling through the door and shaking rain droplets sticking to their jackets from the their forms; the thick, seasoned aroma of spaghetti filling their senses and elated mewl comes from around the corner as a little orange ball of fur barrels towards the pair and jumps at Jongdae’s  leg—tiny claws digging into sensitive flesh and he all but doubles over, scrambling to pull the kitten from his body, the pair coming into the kitchen to find Sehun bent over the stove stirring something, steam rising above him in small puffs.

 

                “Sehun-ah—“ Jongdae starts but is immediately cut off by the younger man, a spoon being swirled into the air as he talks.

 

                “Your demon cat destroyed the plant in the window, ya’know, the one my mom sent me, put puncture wounds in my neck and pooped on your pillo—oh. Hello.” He stops mid-sentence as he whirls around and realizes they have company. The boys become acquainted, eat dinner and converse over tea after dinner, talking for hours on end about the library expanding, Sehun’s college friends dating amongst themselves. Jongdae’s grandma calls about five times and yelling about how her grandson should visit her more often because she’s old and needs his help before it’s dark outside and Jongdae is showing Joonmyeon out the door.

 

                “You know,…” Joonmyeon begins turning back towards Jongdae, a curious brow raised as he watches a shy Joonmyeon chew his lower lip briefly. “This was fun and, well, I’d like to hang out again sometime.” Jongdae breaks out in a large, dorky grin, nodding his head so quickly his brown hair shakes a little.

 

                “I’d really like that.” He says in  return, leaning against the  door frame.