A to Z and the chaos in between

c h a o s t h e o ry

Aaron and Zeke try to come up with a project for their school's science fair. Needless to say their priorities on how to use the time at the library do not allign. Or do they...

CW: strong language, smoking, inappropriate use of quiet corners in a library

*

Aaron took a deep, calming breath. Ah, the library; stronghold of cultural education and fortress of great literature. The air filled with the smell of paper and ink, the only sound the soft rustling of pages-

“Aaron.”

And Zeke Valentino Alvarez, unfortunately.

“Yo, Aaron.” 

Aaron ignored him and tried to concentrate on his research. This was already the third time he’d read this paragraph, his mind kept wandering off again and again. But if he could ignore Zeke for long enough, he should be able to at least finish this chapter- 
A loud pop sounded. Aaron’s head snapped up.

“Are you...chewing gum? In the library-” he hissed as quietly as he could. This was outrageous. Food wasn’t allowed in here, especially bubble gum. They could get thrown out for this. Zeke didn’t seem to share his worries or maybe he just didn’t care. 

“Oh, damn. I really thought you wouldn’t notice. My bad.” He grinned, clearly having hoped for this outcome and clearly not feeling bad about it. He pushed the packet of gum towards Aaron. “Want one too?”

“No.” Aaron felt the telltale twitch under his left eye; this guy would drive him insane sooner rather than later. All the more reason to ignore him and get some work done. Confident in his decision, he went back to the open pages in front of him and could almost hear Zeke’s immediate pout. “Aw, c’mon. We’ve been at it for hours,” he whined. “Pay attention to me.” 

Oh, but Aaron was paying attention to Zeke. And that was exactly the problem. He paid attention to the heat of Zeke’s thigh pressed against his own, the faint jingle of Zeke’s piercings when he moved, the tingling feeling of Zeke’s stare against his skin. But he wouldn’t admit to any of that now, especially to Zeke. So instead he sighed and turned to glare at him. Zeke’s hair was a wild mess as always and mischief glinted in his brown eyes. He looked absolutely gorgeous. But Aaron wouldn’t let himself get distracted by that, no matter how much he wanted to kiss - or punch - that stupid grin off his face. He was still debating on that one. 

“There seems to be a misunderstanding. I’m the one who has been at it for an hour. Singular, in both cases.” And with a small grunt, Aaron kicked at the chair leg Zeke was balancing on. Yeah, he had also noticed that. Chair rocking was just as prohibited as chewing gum. He suppressed a satisfied smirk as Zeke yelped and tried not to fall over. No mercy for chair rockers. 
“You know, things would go a lot faster if you’d actually help me,” he added. 

“What?” Zeke sputtered after righting himself. “I’ve helped plenty already!” 

Before Aaron had the chance to drawl a sarcastic response, the librarian, Margaret, walked by with a cart full of books. She squinted her eyes at them and Aaron ducked his head. Zeke blew her a kiss. Margaret huffed, but moved on to the next row of shelves. Zeke sighed but then shrugged. “I’m gonna win her over one of these days. Maybe I should bring her flowers?” Aaron groaned. If he got banned from the library because Zeke was flirting - very inappropriately - with the librarian, there would be hell to pay. 

“Zeke, we’ve been over this.”

“What? You jealous?” The shit eating grin was back. So was the twitching in Aaron’s left eye. Not because he was jealous. Zeke and he weren’t- they were...not really…
Well, they’d done some stuff but- it was complicated. He should concentrate on the matter at hand.