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When Eiji accompanied Ash to the library, he was usually pretty bored. There were a few simple reasons he kept coming back.
For one, Eiji got stir crazy in the apartment alone. It was lonely and quiet and too much time alone with his thoughts had never been good for him. Too much time alone had led Eiji to America in the first place, driven him away from his home in Japan, a decision that felt like lifetimes ago now.
For another, anywhere with Ash was better than without. No matter the danger or the relentless teasing or how, in the library, they barely even talked to each other, Eiji always preferred to be with Ash.
But, at the moment, he was forgetting these reasons, staring across the table. If it were possible, he was sure steam would be streaming from his ears. He hoped Ash could feel the very real daggers from his eyes, but he didn’t seem to be paying attention, absorbed in his laptop and whatever research he was currently in the midst of.
Ash couldn’t just do that then ignore Eiji. He couldn’t just go on, pretending like Eiji’s embarrassment wasn’t leaking out of his skin, while Eiji fumed quietly, unable to do much else in the middle of a very public, and very busy, library.
What was worse, Ash couldn’t just pretend like he had done nothing while his legs were still pinning Eiji’s own under the table. Ash couldn’t just do that!
“Ash!’ Eiji hissed, not wanting to draw attention to himself again, having made a horribly loud squeak just a minute earlier.
This was how it had gone: Eiji had been bored, sitting across the table from Ash and doing nothing for what had to have been close to forever by then. Ash had been diligently working, like always, glasses on the tip of his nose, glowing from the light of the computer screen scrolling and scrolling and scrolling. Eiji had watched this reflected scrolling for a while, content to occupy himself with it until he had inevitably grown bored.
Like the adult he was, he’d swung his legs a little bit, relying on the motion to keep him company. That was when he’d had his brilliant idea. Gaze flicking back up to Ash, the unsuspecting victim, he smirked, then kicked.
There had been a moment where nothing had happened, probably mistaken for an accident. Eiji couldn’t have that. He kicked again. Ash stopped typing, eyebrows furrowing, and Eiji couldn’t help but laugh a bit. When Ash looked up at that, Eiji shot him a smirk, challenging. Mistakes were made. Eiji realized this shortly, but too late.
Ash narrowed his eyes and Eiji’s heart leaped. He quickly retracted his legs, but wasn’t fast enough. Caught, Eiji yelped, causing heads all around to swivel their way and a deep flush to creep up his neck and to the tips of his ears. His legs were pinned under the table expertly, because how else did Ash do anything?
This was where he sat now, embarrassed and stuck, while Ash had gone simply back to his laptop, clicking away with no hint of anything amiss. Eiji was at his mercy, no one to hear his pleas.
When Eiji had called his name, Ash had merely lifted his eyebrows, seemingly not interested enough to look away from his screen, but Eiji could see the small smirk on his lips. He crossed his arms, pouting. “Let me go,” he demanded.
Ash looked up, trying for confused and innocent. “Hm?” Eiji wasn’t buying it.
“Ash,” Eiji warned, but this only amused the other.
Ash hummed again, this time tapping his chin in a show of thinking about it. “You know,” he started, and Eiji could already tell he was going to hate whatever came out, “I have some books I need.”
Eiji flopped onto the table, earning more looks at his loudness. Okay, so that time it was all him.
“Ugh, I hate finding your books,” he complained. “You always need so many.”
Ash shrugged. “I guess you don’t need you legs then.” Then, when he started to turn back to his computer, Eiji groaned again.
“Fine,” he grumbled. Immediately, his legs were released and he brought them closer, afraid of reencapturment. Ash started scrawling titles, authors, and call numbers on a notepad, checking the reference he had pulled up on his computer - already, like he had been expecting this - before he handed it over. When Eiji stood, still grumbling, Ash smiled up at him, victorious and unafraid to show it.
“Thank you, Eiji,” he said, to which Eiji rolled his eyes.
“Yeah, yeah.” He turned, heading towards the shelves and checking the numbers as he went. “See you in twelve hours.”
He heard chuckling follow him, low and appropriate for a library. Probably to irk Eiji more.
Eiji moved among the shelves for a while after that. Like he had predicted, Ash wanted a lot of books, and only a few in clusters, the majority remaining dispersed across different sections and required a lot of leg work and lifting as the stack got taller and taller. At this rate, he’d need a basket or risk dropping them all and causing a much greater ruckus than before. Maybe if he damaged the books in the fall they’d be kicked out and could go somewhere less boring.
There was a certain charm to the library though, Eiji had to admit. It wasn’t aged and dusty like he usually found nice in libraries, though it was old, nor was it particularly small, like the one at his high school had been. It was grand and lit through many tall windows, casting shadows through the shelves. It was practically a maze in there, and Eiji had to constantly check the shelf markers to find his way, both to the sections he was looking for, and back the way he had come. It was ornate, with tall ceilings, both intricately designed or completely windowed in some rooms, and had chandeliers everywhere. It was beautiful, while the walls of books and smooth wooden tables lent to its intellectual, and somewhat warm, atmosphere.
Checking the list again, Eiji determined that he was close by yet another book he needed, though only one in this section it seemed, so he turned right, scanning the call numbers as he passed and humming under his breath. Once he had found the right area, he noticed it was close by the ledge of a window and gratefully put down his stack, relieving his load if only for a moment. After that was done, he turned back to the shelf and looked through the remaining books until his eyes had landed on the right one.
Breathing a sigh of relief, he reached out for it, brushing his fingertips over the pages and cover before something reached from the other side of the shelf, snatching his hand and holding on. Eiji shrieked, dropping the book and snatching his hand away, quickly backing up. His heart was beating out of control, his mind darting for answers, who it could be on the other side. It was a coincidence, right? The grip had been firm though; sure. They had meant to grab him. Shit, Ash wasn’t with him. What did he do if it was someone dangerous? How the hell had they found them in the library of all places?
Eiji could usually keep a level head. He wasn’t scared of much, considering all he’d been through since arriving in America. Now, though, his mind had had time to think, and it sped way past all reason and right into the clammy hands of panic. That was, at least, until he heard laughter on the other side of the shelf. Very familiar laughter?
“Ash?” he asked, out of breath and disbelieving. His mind, as fast as it had been going mere seconds before, had screeched to a stop and was laboriously trying to puzzle this new piece into the scene. As Ash rounded the bookshelf, a teasing smirk on his lips, Eiji looked him up and down, the reality dawning.
In the second Ash had rounded the shelf and seen Eiji, though, the smile had wiped from his face. When he rushed forward and took Eiji by the arms, he looked worried.
“Shit. Eiji?” he asked, looking into Eiji’s eyes and whatever must have been there. Probably leftover traces of fear, now shading over by the confusion. It didn’t take long for the anger to set in though, and Eiji swatted at the hands on his arms.
“Ash!” he scolded. “You scared me!”
At this, the tension leaked out of Ash, the worry on his face seeping away too, as he gave a relieved smile. Eiji crossed his arms, looking as indignant as he could manage, while Ash laughed again.
“I’m sorry,” he said, sounding sheepishly apologetic underneath the humor, which had resurfaced again. Eiji huffed, bending down to get the book he had dropped, sure that, once again, he was the loudest in the library. This time, though, he barely had thought to care. When he straightened, he went to put the book on the pile, brushing past Ash, but Ash caught him by the elbow. “Hey. Eiji-”
“I’m angry with you,” Eiji declared, about to put the book in its place before Ash pulled his arm away. He spun Eiji around, lifting the hand weighed down with the green bound volume, and pressing his lips against it.
“I’m sorry,” he said again, softly, and Eiji’s eyes were drawn to his. The jade in them were always impossible to look away from, not for their rare color as so many from Ash’s past had valued, but the inexplicable intricacy that resided in them. The depths and shades and stories which whispered in alien languages, all a part of Ash and only Ash.
Breaking away from the gaze, Eiji relented, smiling softly at Ash, brushing a thumb along the hand that held his, unable to do more, lest he drop the book. “I forgive you,” he said, bringing his other hand up to cup Ash’s cheek and standing on his toes to brush their lips together. When he pulled away, he saw Ash’s eyes closed, a look on his face that seemed almost lost and blissful. It made Eiji’s heart skip, knowing that he had done that. He had made Ash look like that.
He moved passed Ash, finally placing the green book at the top of the stack, as Ash finally stirred behind him. “It is good you are here now,” Eiji said, lifting half of the stack and turning around. “You can carry some.” He then dumped the pile into Ash’s arms, to which the other barely had time to juggle them. Eiji turned back to his own pile, laughing where Ash couldn’t see, but he knew he’d probably heard anyway.
Eiji picked up his own half, checking his list for the last couple he still had to find, but Ash, now perfectly balancing his stack of books, snatched the list away. “This should be good.”
Eiji shrugged. “As you wish, Boss,” he said, knowing the name made Ash blush. As they headed back the way they had come, Eiji asked, “Did you give up our table just to come scare me?”
“I thought I don’t scare you,” Ash said, looking down at him with a raised eyebrow. Eiji bumped their shoulders, looking up into the other man’s eyes.
“And you still don’t,” he said. No question. A promise.
As they walked through each room that connected the grand library together, Eiji couldn’t help but enjoy it a lot more by Ash’s side. It really was beautiful in there, but it was all the more so when the place seemed to shine a light in Ash, one so different to the gang leader he was outside those walls. While he still kept busy with his research and was relentless in his pursuit, here, he seemed to drop the weight of the world he carried on his shoulders. He was in his element, and he was happy.
That was when Eiji decided his third reason for coming back to the library, away from the lonely apartment, content by Ash's side. Eiji knew it made Ash happy, and that was more than enough to love the New York Public Library.