No yelling in the Library!(JD,Zac)

[Emma Hayes]

Emma plopped herself down in her chair, unloading the heavy books she had gathered in her arms. She had a report due by the end of the week, and she was already cursing herself for putting it off so long. It was for English, something she usually enjoyed, but this assignment involved comparing the history of novels. She despised history, which was probably why she had put it off. She didn't have a thing done for it, and the report was due in three days.

With a heavy sigh, she pulled the nearest book to her, flipping through it and trying to force herself to concentrate. At least the library would be quieter then the lounge and her room. Emma estimated that she could get this done with in the next few hours and then get on to doing more fun things. Or get a start on her other homework. Such as getting around to reading that chemistry chapter. She reprimanded herself, vowing to keep out distractions until she was done. Emma poised her pen over her notebook, ready to just get this over with.

[JD Paerson]

JD had approximately three weeks to work on his final report for history. This was, of course, from the beginning of the time when it had been assigned to the actual due date. Which was actually tomorrow. As opposed to three weeks from now.

But JD had a habit of procrastinating, since he always figured he could speed it out in no time anyway. He knew all the information, right? So it wasn't going to be at all hard to put all this together. He just needed to do it.

So he pulled out his textbooks and started getting set up to work in his bedroom. When music started playing in some of his dormmates' rooms, though, he decided it would be better to go to a more study-suited area. He packed up his things into his backpack and went to the library.

It was a full day, and there wasn't much room to sit. One table, though, only had one girl sitting at it. JD didn't exactly recognize her, which said nothing, but she seemed nice enough. He walked over and quietly pulled out a seat across the table from her.

"Hope you don't mind," he murmured, sitting down. "No room anywhere else." Then he pulled out his books and got to looking through his textbooks without actually writing anything.

[Zachary LaRousse]

A disgruntled grunt escaped the boy when he saw the rather full state of the library. While it wasn’t noisy that he’ll be distracted from his assigned work, it was still a bit crowded, which meant Zac had to share a table with another person. And Zac doesn’t do well with sharing. (He says he just doesn’t like people, but in reality he doesn’t have that much friends to share tables with, though he isn’t above invading a table if a situation calls for it). His frown only got worse when he scanned the area and found nothing. He was about to give up all hope when his eyes saw a familiar back occupying a not-so-full table near the far end of the room. With a smirk, Zac slowly made his way to the table, careful not to make any sound.

“Hey there pretty face, what brings you to the hell hole this time of the year?” he asked with a smirk, his mouth so close that it seems like he’s nibbling on the other guy’s ear. Zac quickly gave the guy a back hug, his right hand settling on the guy’s right thigh and the other on his chest. A rather intimate display of physicality, but that’s Zac for you. And yes, he didn’t really notice that there’s another person, a girl he has yet to meet, sitting right across the table.

[JD Paerson]

JD was in the middle of a sentence, in the middle of a paragraph discussing the church in early Medieval Europe. Then there was a breath near his ear, and his pen went skittering across the page, leaving a long trail of ink.

It felt like some fly or bug was buzzing right next to his ear, and he had to resist the urge to swat it. No matter how annoying it might be, it was not going to aid things. First of all, it would just end up swatting the other guy into his face, and secondly, if it started a fight, they would probably be kicked out of the library. Probably the girl across the table, too, since she was just in the area.

Instead JD maintained his composure and just grabbed his pen hard in his fist. Then, then it happened.

When Zac slipped his arms around JD's torso and squeezed his leg, well, that was going a bit too far. Calmly, JD placed his hands flat on the table and sat up straight, moving his head away from Zac's.

"Zac. Please get off me. I've already talked to you about doing this all the time."

Yeah, he knew Zac. They had been at Hammel long enough together, and both of them with some of the same personality traits that led them to have run-ins with one another. What had started out with the two of them as complete enemies had slowly developed into a more friendly competition to be the top student who didn't actually care. More friendly. But JD still didn't like the fact that Zac flirted with everyone, even him. Mostly him.

Previously the flirting had been relatively tame. Elbow nudges, comments. But now, this was going above and beyond anything he'd done before. Still, though, it was a bad idea to fight or make a scene. This was the library. And there was someone else. Right there.

JD looked over at the girl, who seemed more than a little confused and/or weirded out. "Um, this isn't..." he said, realizing exactly the way that this would look to an outside audience. He jerked Zac's hand off his thigh and held it out and away from him. "This isn't what it looks like," he said.

He held out Zac's hand toward the girl. "This is Zac. Say hi, Zac."

[Emma Hayes]

When other boy sat down in front of her, Emma just nodded to him and went back to her work. It looked like the boy would sit there whether she 'allowed' it or not, but she really could care less as long as he was quiet. And he was, which meant Emma was perfectly fine with the company. She considered asking him his name, or at least making some effort to be friendly, but he seemed to be hard at work. Again, this suited her fine.

She noticed to other boy walking near them, since he was coming her table mate's back and she had a good view of that direction, and didn't think to much of it. The library was crowded today and there were a few more chairs at this table. He probably was just looking for a place to sit. But then he grabbed the guy. Rather intimately. This caused Emma to stop working all together.

She didn't have any problems with homosexuality, really she didn't, but she had never met someone who practiced that lifestyle. Coming from a small town guaranteed little diversity or acceptance of anything 'different'. Emma was aware that she was outright staring but as the events in front of her unfolded, she just couldn't help it.

For a moment, Emma thought that a fight was going to break out. She was ready to bolt, when as quickly as the tension mounted, it passed. "If you say so." Emma mumbled, looking between the two curiously. Honestly, she wasn't sure what it looked like. A lover's quarrel? One guy about the rip off the head of someone who couldn't keep their hands to themselves? Either way, Emma was just glad it hadn't escalated.

She stared flatly at the hand being offered to her by the other boy. She raised an eyebrow at the one offering and shot a confused glance at the one caught in a death grip. She gingerly shook the hand, pulling back quickly. "Umm. Hello Zac. I'm Emma." She spoke slowly, still trying to figure out the situation in her head. This wasn't what she had expected when she had came to get a report done. At least the little tussle was over and things could quiet back down. She looked back up to the boy manhandling Zac. "And you are?"

[Zachary LaRousse]

Zac has always been a flirt. A flirt, a tease, everything. It’s part of his nature really, there’s not much he can do about it. Everyone who’s been around the kid long enough was somehow used to his touchy ways. But JD has always been a special case.

The boys share more similarities than just their age and gender. They both manifested their powers young (JD developed his earlier than Zac by a year, much to the latter’s dismay), hence being familiar with each other’s faces early on. They’re both extremely competitive and headstrong, may it be in academics, power control or simply being a general pain in their instructors’ butts (though not as extreme as Sam and Vincent would be, as Zac claims to still have some decency in him), leading to their rather unfriendly encounters. While they did have a few physical exchanges back then, most of their quarrels were more on insults and witty comebacks. As time passed the two claimed to have matured, their once violent rapport turning into one of friendly rivalry. They still try to outdo each other on the most trivial of things, but it’s not that unusual to see the two hanging out and simply having fun nowadays.

Constant-thorn-on-his-side-that-forces-him-to-exert-more-effort-on-everything-he-does aside, JD is special because he’s been the most frequent target of Zac’s flirtatious advances towards the same sex (which he claims, are purely teasing in intent). He always found it funny how the speedster reacts to his ‘friendly gestures’. From his obviously irked reactions to his I’m-trying-so-hard-to-stay-cool-about-this-so-get-off-me facial expressions, JD is just pure madness for the mimic. And the fact that JD claims he isn’t homophobic yet gives a similar reaction just makes him even the better target.

Zac laughed when he felt JD stiffen beneath him and started explaining himself awkwardly to the girl across them. “Oops. I’m sorry DeeDee. Should I have left it for the dorm later?” he chuckled, shifting his weight slightly so that he can ‘cuddle’ JD better. Seeing the girl staring at them only made things better. “Pshaw. Don’t listen to the big, adorable lug of a guy here dearie, it is what you think it is,” mumbled Zac, his chin snuggling comfortably on JD’s left shoulder, “DeeDee here’s still not comfortable with himself, that’s all.” Zac didn’t really care much that people might think of him as gay as he’s pretty sure he’s established himself as a jerk playboy around school. It’s not really that good of a reputation, but he believed it gave him some leeway on his actions. When it comes to JD’s image, he could care less really.

“Nice to meet you Emma,” said Zac as he shook the girl’s hand. It’s actually nice seeing him this kind and welcoming. “This here is Jonah Dennis Paerson. Call him JD for short. Doesn’t roll off the tongue easily, but you’ll get used to it.” Zac curled his left arm around the boy’s waist, giving him a light pinch on the side, hoping it’ll be enough to distract the guy and release him from the rather strong death grip. Lucky for him it was a success as he freely grabbed the stuff he so awkwardly dropped on the floor and put it on top of JD’s things. “And yes Dee, I did go here to study, not just to stalk you.”

[JD Paerson]

JD rolled his eyes over Zac's stupid nickname for him. It was even worse than the kids at the last military base who had called Jonah and his younger brother Josef the Jo-Bros.

"It is most certainly not anything romantic, that's for sure," JD said, finally prying Zac off. "Mainly because this big dope is too much of an idiot to be worth the time of day for any person. Not sure he could handle it, let alone them."

JD stood and held Zac at arms distance, grabbing him by both wrists. "Now, Zac, you are going to leave me alone today, because I have a lot of work to do."

He let go of Zac. "I'm glad to hear you have studying to do. We can both work. Alone. On our own things. And you can sit over there." He sat down again opposite Emma and started to work.

"Sorry about all this," he murmured to her. "Really. Some people just don't know how to control themselves sometimes." He shot an exasperated glare at Zac.

[Emma Hayes]

Emma, deciding that JD seemed to more sane of the two and was probably the one in the right, simply raised an eyebrow at Zac. "Likewise, I'm sure." She said of his greeting, watching the boys rough house a bit more. They were an odd pair, that much was certain. When JD returned to his seat and tried to shoe off Zac, Emma had doubts that he would actually leave, she hoped and prayed that this was not going to be indicative of the rest of her day.

"It's alright, we can't really control what our friends do." She waved off JD's apologies, with a smile. She picked back up her pen, flipped the page of her book, and settled in to get her work done in the short reprieve she was granted. "Zac just, must be happy to see you." Emma had never met someone who was so touchy, so therefore there was a good reason behind it. A reason that made it a rare occurrence-though judging from the way both boys acted, this sort of thing happened often. Which meant that she would get back to work, uninterrupted.

[Zachary LaRousse]

Being manhandled by JD is definitely not pleasant. Sure it wasn’t the response he was hoping for, but he kind of expected it. He used to tease JD about it being the product of his ‘military background’, all brawn and no finesse, and it only brought about more roughhousing from the guy. And the fact that he still can’t get out of the guy’s grip after all this years just makes it more irritating. “Hey. I’m still here Dee. I’m hurt,” he said as he put his tongue out like the mature guy that he is, twisting his wrists repeatedly in hopes of being free of JD’s grip. No hope. “You’re just bitter because I had more girlfriends than you. And the fact that you’re devastated that I keep on telling you we’re better off being friends with benefits than romantic partners.” Guess there’s just no hope in shutting Zac up is there.

Zac shook his wrists when JD finally released him from his death grip, relieved to finally feel his hands again. “See, listen to Emma over here. Aren’t you glad to see me too?” he teased as he grabbed his stuff from the table and moved to the chair between Emma and JD.

For a while, Zac was focused on his task. He was answering a few questions and scribbling down notes on his notebook. But boredom and childishness got hold of him that he ripped a page from his notebook, crumpled it to a ball and threw it to JD’s direction. Then he proceeded to make small talk with Emma, trying to appear like he didn’t do anything despite being incredibly obvious. “So Emma, how d’you like Hammel so far?” He didn’t need to ask if she’s just new here. The way she looked at them before was enough to tell him that much.

[JD Paerson]

JD made a conscious effort to work to ignore Zac's jabs about girls, dating, and orientation. It didn't really matter, he told himself. Not like he needed to keep up a reputation for anything anyway. He wasn't looking for any relationship, so why was it so important to point out that he wasn't gay? So he just grit his teeth and rolled his eyes a few times, just in case anyone was watching and thought Zac was serious.

"If he was really happy to see me," he said to Emma, "he'd keep his hands to himself. I think he just likes getting people upset at him."

JD picked up his report and went back to writing. He got another paragraph written and was flipping through his book in order to get some points to refer to, when Zac spoke up.

"Hey Zac," JD said quietly, "how about you just let people work on their homework in the library and ask them to talk about non-scholastic topics somewhere else?" Was it really so hard to try to make sure that the library stayed a place where they could study?

He glanced surreptitiously around the room to see if there were any other spots open where he could work, but the whole thing was packed. If he didn't work so poorly in his room, he'd just go there, but he knew that if he did migrate back to the dorms he would just sit in front of the television and play video games all day, which was not conducive to essay writing.

[Emma Hayes]

If Emma didn't have things to be doing and her mood wasn't slowly shifting into mildly annoyed with the situation, she might have found Zac's unique approach to handling people amusing. As it was, she was a bit dismayed when Zac decided to sit with them instead of leaving. She'd have to agree with JD, this guy seemed to like disturbing people. Emma nodded at JD. "There's that too. There are those who take pride in causing discomfort."

Emma tried to get back into the flow of her work, which was hard enough with it being a subject she detested, but was interrupted by Zac. Again. Part of her wanted to be huffy, but politeness dictated that terseness wouldn't get her anywhere. Prehaps Zac was actually quite nice to talk to, and getting sassy just because he caught her at a bad time, might rid Emma of a good connection. She tried for a pleasant look and tone, glancing up from her book with a stiff smile. "I'm enjoying the school very well, thank you. But at the risk of sounding rude, perhaps we should both heed JD's advice and talk about this some other time. We wouldn't want to disturb the other student's working here, would we?" Hopefully that was diplomatic enough to keep Zac happy and quiet.

There weren't any other tables to sit at, and Emma wouldn't have left anyway, despite the interruptions. Selfishness had reared its head. She had found this table first, and wouldn't be driven away by chatty students. Besides her room would call her to other devices and her roommates, though usually gone, were actually in this evening. Meaning Emma would be distracted by their music or T.V., or that she'd be roped into talking to one of them and would lose track of time. Either option wouldn't bold well for the paper that was so blank before her. She was really cursing herself on not finishing it earlier.

[Zachary LaRousse]

“Really now guys. What are we, six? I’m just here,” Zac said in mock irritation and hurt. It didn’t bother him really. In fact, he likes it. Good or bad, at least he’s getting a reaction from these two. They’re talking about him for goodness’ sake. It’s enough to feed his overinflated ego. Not everyone needs to like him anyway. “And you guys are both Grinches. Grinches, grinches, grinches. Who doesn’t love hugs really? I’d love someone to give me a hug right now.” Makes you wonder if he’s really not just a bratty toddler stuck in a teenager’s body.

JD talking back to him wasn’t really a surprise. The speedster does it a whole lot to him. Not that he cares anyway. Four years of constant battle of wits made him a bit immune to his retorts anyway. But he was a bit surprised when Emma rejected him too. Gosh that was unexpected. He actually thought the girl’s much too sweet to tell people off. That even if she’s extremely pissed someone, she’d just smile and politely exit, hoping she wouldn’t offend the annoying person. “Woah there missy, just when did you sprout the attitude?” he chuckled, as he gave her a rather surprised look. “DeeDee, you are a meanie. First you reject my hugs now you corrupt sweet Emma over here? You should be ashamed of yourself.” He sat straight, put his arms on his hips and puffed his chest, mimicking the comical cartoon characters he used to watch on TV. If this was any other day, he’d be extremely angry over Emma, as freshies like her shouldn’t talk back to seniors like him (Eric somehow knew it the hard way). Lucky for her JD’s reaction to Zac’s groping hug was extremely satisfying that he’d just let her rebellious behavior slide.

“Fine. I’ll be like you boring people and study now.” He reverted back to scribbling and answering the end-of-the-chapter questions. He tried focusing but it’s just not working. Not when he’s presented with two fine specimens to annoy. “Guys, what’s the difference between DNA and RNA again? Where can you find the deoxy-carbon again?” he winked at JD, saying, “There, that’s a scholastic question Dee.” Sorry JD and Emma, Zac just won’t shut up.

[JD Paerson]

"I did not corrupt anyone, Zac." JD paused in his writing and set down his pencil. "I guess it's just surprising for you that someone else has the sense to keep their distance from you." He looked over at Emma. "Congratulations, you have passed your first big test: not being intimidated by some of the idiots around."

He picked up his pencil and began to write again. He read through his essay so far to make sure that he remembered what all he was saying. Then he glanced up at Zac.

"DNA and RNA. Aren't you looking at a biology textbook? The answer should be in there. And you can't expect Emily to know." He was a little worried he might have gotten her name wrong, but surely it was close enough not to be a real bother. "I'm not going to give you the answer, either."

He shook his head. "Look, could you just be quiet? We're all trying to work here. That's why we came to the library. Just...just...augh!" And then he took his pencil and flicked it at Zac's head.

[Emma Hayes]

Emma ducked her head and hid behind her hair to keep the boy from seeing her smile. As annoying as he may be, Zac was kind of funny. But he didn't need to know that. Hugs? Really? This guy was kind of childish.

But the smile went from laughing to terse within minutes. Emma might look like a pushover and truly she avoided conflict when she could, but she still had some bite. When she was annoyed enough with you, she'd let you know it. "I've not been corrupted, I was just trying to get my work done." Not her fault that Zac couldn't take the hint to be quiet. And she really wasn't trying to be pissy, the boy had just caught her at a bad time. Though if he wanted to get mad over it, so be it.

She sent a look that was bordering on a smirk at JD, picking back up her pen with a slight toss of her hair. "Why thank you. Now if I can only pass this paper, I'll be all set."

"Emma." She gently corrected, not really caring one way or the other. She'd been called worse. "The sugar in DNA is deoxyribose and RNA is ribose. The bases differ between thymine and uracil, and I trust you can find out more from your book." She ended off her rant before she could really get into it. Emma felt her cheeks heat up and went back to scribbling in her notebook. Oh, great. She had just outed herself as a geek. Who actually remembered that kind of stuff from class?

The pencil flying at Zac's head took her mind off her initial embarrassment. She sighed loudly and rolled her eyes to the ceiling. Were they going to fight again? Emma sincerely hoped not.

[Zachary LaRousse]

Zac chuckled as the two continued to gang up on him. Not that it surprises or upsets him really – it happens to him most of the time that he could really care less. That and that’s the main point of being a noisy little brat in the library anyway. If they’d be pleased or approving of his irritating behavior, then he’d be scared, real scared. “Ow yesh yoo deed DeeDee,” he said in a muffled, kiddy, mocking voice, “I mean, normally I’d shrug off Emma’s apparent resistance to my infallible charms because she’s still young, but since you’re here, you’re obviously to blame for the child’s deviation from the norm.” And yes, he did not realize the apparent contradiction he just inserted in his well-thought out sentence. Nice one Zac. He briefly turned to Emma and smiled, “No worries dear, I forgive you. Just don’t ever do that ok? And don’t take everything this burly man here says as the truth.” Hopefully it wouldn’t annoy Emma that Zac just used a tone normally reserved for telling first graders what to do and what not to do with her.

“See! He doesn’t even know you’re name right. I do. It’s Emma. EM-MA,” he said with much energy as JD made quite the blunder with Emma’s name. “And thank you dear. You’re so smart,” he said, giving the girl a light pat on the head. “Nah, I’m too lazy to look for it in the book. It’s full of long paragraphs and-” Zac was cut mid-sentence by a flying pencil, hitting him in the center of his face, right between his eyebrows. Fortunately it was the eraser that hit him. Seems JD’s still has some pity in him. “Hey! What was that for!” said Zac, desperately trying to control his voice. He quickly stood up and walked over to JD, leaning so that their faces were only a mere millimeter apart. Lucky for Emma Zac remembered that they’re still in a library so he tried to calm himself down. “You know Dee, if you wanted to kiss me, just say it,” he chuckled as he backed away, “You don’t have to follow what that chubby football player did to Kurt in Glee.” And yes, Zac watches Glee. Only because he likes that awesome ‘dumb’ blonde Brittany (which he still can’t believe ended up with the paraplegic).