Chapter Text
The Library was actually pretty quiet for the first time in awhile. There was nobody arguing over facts and art, or being driven up the walls by the local thief. They were just all too busy, apparently, to be making much noise.
Ezekiel was creeping through the aisles with bookshelves towering over him. He didn't care. He never cared about books and stuff. Just more cover for the best thief in existence. Besides, he was more focused on the ambush he was about to put into action. He quickly ducked down as a book by his head was pulled out from the other side. Apparently whomever he was stalking didn't want to come around to the other side to retrieve it. Good thing the bookshelves were able to even do that. Better yet, Ezekiel's position was still secret.
The Australian rounded the end of the bookshelf, his eyes resting on the back of the person he'd been waiting to catch alone, the one he'd been basically stalking. He walked up as swiftly, but silently, as possible. Then he stabbed his fingers into the person's sides as he exclaimed, "Found you!"
A laugh escaped him as the person jumped, then whirled around. Jacob Stone was now glaring down at the thief, obviously not appreciating the way Ezekiel decided to get his attention.
Ezekiel was undeterred. In fact, he was used to it. Recently, however, he found that Stone seemed a bit slower to anger with him, not as quick to fight. He wrote it off as that he'd finally earned Jacob's respect, or maybe a romance like everyone kept joking about.... But he doubted it. He gave a light smack to Stone's arm as he grinned up at him. "Well, Stone, how've ya been? Seems like we haven't been seeing each other as much."
Stone shifted uncomfortably, pursing his lips as he looked everywhere but at Ezekiel. Then he heaved a sigh. "I've been doing fine. Now I have work to do, so excuse me." He turned and began to walk away.
Ezekiel followed after him, pretty annoyed that he'd been written off like that. So he decided to just talk away about what he'd been doing without Jacob Stone. "So Cassandra and I went out for ice cream because the Clippings Book wasn't offering us anything to do, so we were bored and it was hot. I tried to invite you, remember? But you said no, you were too busy. In fact...." He jogged a bit ahead of Stone and put a hand on the other male's chest to stop him. "You've been saying no every time I invite you to do something with me. Even when we're partnering up for training or even when we're splitting up on an actual mission. What's going on?"
Jacob looked down at the thief and hesitated. He cleared his throat and shook his head at him. "Sorry, Zeke. But you're not the only one who finds other things to do to entertain himself." He pushed passed his fellow Librarian.
"Since when do you call me Zeke?" Ezekiel called after him. He ran to catch up with the country boy.
"I don't know. Thought you might deserve a nickname. We've all got one."
"Uh, that's not true. Flynn hates having nicknames for himself unless they depict how great he is-"
"Great! Go get him to hang out with you. You'd have great tales to share with each other making your egos a little bit more luminous."
Once again, Ezekiel got in front of Stone to stop him, his expression demanding. "Why are you avoiding me?" It was a blunt question, with very little leading up to it. Ezekiel wasn't the most intelligent person on the planet, but he certainly wasn't the dumbest either. He was observant, and he could see when people were trying to avoid him. He was used to it; it was in his nature to be a bit annoying.
Stone took a step back, a bit surprised by the question. But he knew this would come some day. He'd been avoiding Ezekiel for about a week now and he could see it was bothering his friend. But he wasn't going to admit to it. "I'm not avoiding you."
Ezekiel folded his arms across his chest as he glowered. "Last night was when we were supposed to eat pizza and play video games together."
Stone sighed slightly as he was tempted to roll his eyes. Why did The Library decide to give itself its own gaming room in the first place? It probably just wanted a place to put Ezekiel when he needed to be occupied. "Ah, yeah, I... forgot."
Ezekiel wasn't buying it. "You? Forget?" He laughed sarcastically. "What an accomplishment!"
"Zeke-"
"Stop calling me that!"
Stone pursed his lips in response. He really didn't want to make this worse than it was. "I just had work to do."
"Work to do? We haven't had anything to do for almost a week! What could you possibly be doing, Bookworm?!"
"Bookworm?!"
"Yeah. You've been reading a lot of books lately. Don't look so surprised. I notice things, too, you know?"
"Yeah, I know. I just didn't know you could without some sort of screen in front of your face."
"Wow. Just, wow."
Stone started to feel anger boiling up inside of him. He just wanted Ezekiel to leave him alone so he could get his thoughts back in order, figure himself out. He felt like he was being backed into a corner, being forced to admit something he didn't want to admit. And just like a wild animal, he was about to snap.
"Now tell me the real reason you're avoiding me." Ezekiel looked determined to figure out what was going on.
"I'm not avoiding you!" Stone yelled. He turned red in the face. "Why are you so freaking annoying?! If I don't want to hang out with you, I just don't want to hang out with you! Maybe it was a mistake I ever gave you my respect! It was a whole lot better when I didn't associate myself with a jackass criminal like you!"
There it was. The snap. Stone immediately regretted it as his brain had time to process what his mouth had just spat out. He looked at Ezekiel desperately. "I'm sorry, man. I've just got a lot of-"
"No, it's fine. I- I get it. At least I now know you never really meant for it to get this far." Ezekiel turned to go, trying to hide the pain in his expression. He hated feeling like this. It left him feeling helpless and vulnerable. He felt a strong hand grip his arm. He turned to look back. Stone was looking at him with a face full of regret. "Please, Jones, I didn't mean it."
"Save it for the judge," was the curt reply. The thief pulled himself out of Jacob Stone's grasp and rushed off, not looking back even once.
Stone stood there, the book he'd grabbed a little bit earlier still in his hand as he watched his thief go downstairs. Wait, his thief? Where did that come from? He looked away and shook the thought away. He sounded possessive, and there was no way he was claiming Ezekiel Jones as his own. Maybe a friend or brother, but never something he owned.
He turned to walk the opposite way of Ezekiel, his mind racing too fast for his liking. Then he got another heart attack as Cassandra jumped out from behind the next aisle of books. "Cassandra, don't do that!"
Cassandra beamed at him as she laughed. "I got you!" She exclaimed, pointing at him. "Did the couple get into a fight?"
Stone snorted with derision and pushed passed her. "We are not a couple!" He yelled over his shoulder.
Suddenly, Ezekiel was yelling from down below. "Guys, guys, come look at this! The Clippings Book has found us something to do!"