Jihoon is not cut out for detention.

Detention is such a waste of everyone’s time it’s laughable. Students are forced to spend pointless extracurricular time in school, teachers are made to ‘watch’ over them for an hour or two, bored out of their minds, and janitors are expected to stay later than mandated, waiting for the delinquents to be released before they can lock up.

Jihoon likes to consider him a decently intelligent individual. Would anyone with half a brain even consider attending something as unnecessary and redundant as detention?

Jihoon thinks not.

So he takes up temporary residence in a place of true importance, an area of the school’s campus esteemed for the unparalleled knowledge it contains within its bland white walls.

The library.

Unfortunately, Jihoon is not there to take advantage of said knowledge.

There’s a reading nook in the historical fiction section, a small enclosed area equipped with two plush recliners and a plastic lamp without a light bulb. It’s a prime hiding spot for ditching after-school, and Jihoon had taken advantage of it’s security more times than he could count.

Falling back into one of the chairs, sinking in with a sigh, Jihoon crosses his arms over his chest and grins impishly to himself.

All he has to do now is wait.

~~~

Twenty minutes in and Jihoon is ready to brain himself with the dictionary he’s been occupying himself by glaring holes into.

He hadn’t taken into account how easily he got bored when he’d hatched this plan. After five minutes of sitting silently and another five of ripping up pieces of paper he pulled from the recycling bin, he’d abandoned his spot and slunk through the rows of books in search of some form of entertainment, his shoulders hunched beneath his faux-leather bomber jacket to keep his head from sticking above the shelves.

Now, foregoing any attempt to keep himself hidden, he trudges back to his personal torture chamber to spend the rest of his ‘detention period’ in mind-numbing silence.

Except somebody has beat him to it.

He steps past the last shelf, spots the person with their back turned, and immediately jumps back, crouching low. His mind races as to who it could be.

The main librarian leaves directly after the last class period to smoke inconspicuously in her car before she leaves, and no student at this school would stay this late just to read. It wasn’t a teacher, too small.

Jihoon peeks around edge of the shelf.

Whoever it is is obviously male and obviously short and, much to Jihoon’s pleasure, obviously a nerd.

From his vantage point, Jihoon can see the white collar of the presumably starched undershirt beneath the boys tan sweater and the frames of a pair of circular lens perched high on his nose.

Finally, Jihoon thinks. Some fun.

He crouches back down to run hurried fingers through his hair, hopefully getting it to spike up, or at least give him some sort of rugged, manly look. He straightens his jacket, twists his numerous rings and earrings so that they catch the optimum amount of light to glint dangerously, and steps forward from behind the books.

The kid turns around at the stomp of his heavy boots, and Jihoon fights not to let his image falter.

This kid is unbelievably cute.

His dark hair is parted neatly down the middle, leaving it to nicely frame his adorably tilted eyes. His glasses are large, giving him that sort of boyish charm Jihoon goes crazy for.

His petal pink lips are pulled into a polite smile as he looks up up at the much taller student, an inquisitive look to him.

"Can I help you with anything?"

Jihoon puts on his most infuriating smirk.

"Maybe. What time do you leave?"

The boy an eyebrow.

"Excuse me?"

Jihoon lets his eyes rove lecherously over the kids body, unfortunately swathed in clothes a few sizes too big. It’s then that Jihoon catches sight of the name tag pinned to his chest, and Jihoon takes a step closer to squint at it.

Lee Taeil, it reads. Assistant Librarian.

This kid works here? Jihoon could have sworn he was the older of the two.

Taeil’s voice interrupts his thoughts as the smaller man brushes past him on his way towards the front desk.

"If that’s all then." There’s a snide quality to that that has Jihoon grinning delightedly as he follows.

So he’s got some spunk.

Jihoon can work with that.

Taeil goes behind the counter and stats to boot up the ancient monitor on the desk, steadfastly ignoring Jihoon walking behind him. Until Jihoon makes to step behind the counter himself, that is.

Taeil is up and in front of him in a flash, hands on slim hips as he glares up at Jihoon. Jihoon has to bite back a laugh at the picture. Taeil acts as if Jihoon couldn’t just pick him up and move him out of the way.

"Students are not allowed behind the counter. There’s a sign."

Sure enough, a small piece of card stock with a red ‘x’ emblazoned across the entire top half clearly states what Taeil had parroted from it’s place on the wall in front of him.

Jihoon pouts.

"But I thought we were friends, Taeil-ah. Surely friends are allowed?"

Taeil scoffs, and Jihoon barely resists the urge to squeeze his cheeks.

"I’m older than you, brat. Be respectful."

"Of course, hyung," Jihoon acquiesces. He slips as much innuendo into that simple sentence as possible, smirking at the red that stains the librarian’s cheeks.

Jihoon steps closer, intent on forcing his way behind the desk, but Taeil stays put, merely tilting his head back further to maintain his scathing eye contact. Jihoon’s smirk widens at this.

Damn, he thinks. This is gonna be fun.