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                             vivianne could easily lose it all; always being quick to crack under pressure. but not now, not in front of him. upon james’ return, part of vivi was surprised agreed to help and that he didn’t just come back with the librarian himself. that’s when the brunette had to remind herself: he’s a hacker, not a snitch. at least it was a more positive take on the male, albeit his statement left her pale pink lips agape.❝smart aleck…❞ vivianne muttered, before gently grasping the stale napkins from his own hands. it wasn’t supposed to be construed as a rude gesture — she was just felt the more waiting that went on, the worse of the mess there’d be and the probability of her getting in trouble increased. something she was sure he’d be satisfied with.❝y’know talking isn’t allowed in this area, right?❞ vivi retorted, as she refused to look back to james. the tiny woman deemed the spill way more important than to view a possible smug grin plastered across his stupid face. while the mixtures of ink and coffee soak up into the paper towel, her brows furrowed when it finally registered: james kwon just helped her. that alone almost made vivianne apologize, for that it was a part of her nature… except she abandoned that idea (as hard as it was) solely because she’d rather not give him the amusement. instead, the petite woman mustered up, ❝you should be more careful, losing footing for some so tall is dangerous for yourself and people like myself.❞ dark eyes focusing on the now crumpled sheets of paper, and a fairly dry table.

                  lips  remained  dormant  at  the  sound  of  her  benign  remark,  but  his  eyes  glittered  with  the  fond  amusement  he  kept  HIDDEN  behind  his  rugged  shell.  from  what  he  remembered  about  vivianne  during  the  few  days  he  was  investigating  ,  she  did  not  seem  like  the  person  to  scream, yell, or  curse.  a  personality  trait  of  hers  he  admired,  but  he  also  desired  to  see  crack.  not  by  his  own  doing––  no ,  but  merely  as  a  spectator.  which  is  why  her  little   r e t o r t   was  more  or  less  cute ;  as  if  she  was  just  JABBING  him  in  the  side  with  a  little  pen.  ‘ and  yet  you  are  talking , ’  the  words  couldn’t  stop  a  small  smile  then  as  he  wiped  off  whatever  tiny  drops  of  spillage  was  left. standing  up  tall,  the  lights  from  above  soften  his  features  as  he  looked  down  at  her  and  the  ruined  drawing.  beneath  the  damp  and   s t a i n i n g   marks  it  was  good.  impressive  even.  james  looking  away  and  gulping  back  a  slight  TWINGE  of  guilt.  ‘ yeah,  you’re  right.  my  teammates...  cornered  me  and  i––  should’ve  been  more  careful.  the  drawing  still ....  looks  good  though. ’

“i… can’t say this is my best work.” nami hadn’t ever attempted making smoothies before, but he also didn’t think they would be hard to make, either. the flavor that hit his taste buds was something so painfully disgusting that he couldn’t even think long enough to show a reaction. instead he focused on swallowing it before peering up at the other, who he had promised a smoothie to. something he was now deeply regretting. “this was the test run,” he said after a moment. “i can do better than this, i swear… but maybe i should just uber eats us some smoothies until i get the hang of it.” he pouted dramatically at the outcome, feeling guilty for making a promise he couldn’t keep - as small of a promise as it was. “i can get you food, too? are you hungry?”

              ‘ luckily  for  you ,  i’m  not  that  picky  with  food–– ’   though  , nami’s  attempt  at  a  smoothie  was  certainly  a  TEST  for  james’  tastebuds.  the  corners  of  his  round  eyes  grimacing  only  slightly  as  he  continued  to  sip  the  thick , mushy  colored  liquid  for  the  sake  of  the  losing  confidence  male  before  him.  ‘  but  ,  ya’ know  this  is  nothing  compared  to  the  nasty  ass  protein  shakes  coach  makes  us  drink ,  so  this  could  be  worse.  ’  patting  him  on  the  back  ,  he  took  another  sip  (  practically  used  to  the  taste  now )  while  he  dabbed  at  the  sweat  on  his   b u s h y   brows  with  a  towel.  practice  that  day  more  DIFFICULT  than  usual  ;  their  coach  pissed  off  for  whatever  reason  and  naturally  took  it  out  on  the  team.  as  much  as  those  two  hours  sucked  ,  nami’s  suggestion  of  food  made  it  all  the  better.  ‘  wipe  that  look  off  your  face ,  i  told  you  it’s  fine...  but  you  can  buy  me  some  food  if  you  want.  i  won’t  say  no  to  a  free  meal. ’

grace sat smack dab in the middle of the lounge, her various science textbooks and papers sprawled out on the coffee table and ground around her. she hadn’t meant to make that much of a mess in the shared space, it was just suppose to be a small study session which was the main reason she had chosen there rather then the library. but, instead her radius seemed to grow and grow as she became more engrossed in the work in front of her. she was so focused on working out a acceleration physics problem that she hadn’t failed to notice the person now near here. it wasn’t until she was finished did she notice them, their sudden presence causing her to jump softly, “oh, i’m sorry,” she apologized quickly and softly as she reached around for a few of her paper, “—did you need some space? i really didn’t mean to take up this much,” she continued to frantically gather her papers, realizing just how rude she was being taking up this much space.

                down  the  stairs  and  through  the  hallway  towards the  lounge , james  did  his  best  to  shake  off  the  boring  ,  required  class  that  had  spent  whatever  energy  he  had  LEFT  from  morning  workouts.  some  days  bleeding  so  long  that  just  taking  a  single  step  became  his  mount  everest––  meaning  a  little  leisure  time  and  a  smoke  was  rightfully  deserved.  while  he  intended  to  stroll  right  out  of  the  building  as  quickly  as  his  legs  could  muster ,  the  sound  of  agitated  GRUMBLES  and  a  gut  feeling  told  him  to  stall.  pushing  his  thick  rimmed   g l a s s e s   back  up  his  nose  after  having  rubbed  some  exhaustion  out  of  his  eyes  ,  a  frantic  girl  and  a  mound  of  paperwork  covering  most  of  the  small  area  came  into  his  blurry  view.  a  FOND  smile  instantly  coming  to  his  lips   as  he  remembered  how  grace  had  once  cluttered  his  own  floor  with  her  c l o t h e s  in  a  similar  fashion.  though...  they  have  hardly  had  any  interactions  since.  a  realization  that  had  little  impact  on  the  male ,  but  nevertheless  he  stopped  to  say  hello.  his  black  torn  up  boots  just  stopping  centimeters  from  one  of  her  MANY  papers.  ‘ –––   don’t  worry  about  it  grace , ’  he  yawned  , a  fist  covering  his  mouth  as  his  head  titled  to  get  a  glimpse  of  her  project.  ‘ what  are  you  working  on? ’

                normally it took an enormous amount of effort to bring out even the smallest ugliness within vivi. but the nature of their, encounter, easily put the brunette on some kind of edge. and it was usual for her to be standoffish with some added exhaustion, except james — got whiff of it regardless of the petite woman’s health or state of mind. at first vivianne didn’t even realize it was him, not with the hat that allowed the male to be fairly well hidden. who was she to decline his assistance? sure if he were just watching where he was going, none of the coffee would’ve been spilled… but vivi could’ve prevented that herself if she followed the rules of the library and never had the beverage on the table in the first place. clenching her eyes shut for a second, to be sure this wasn’t some prank; the brunette let out a sigh. ❝p—please… just hurry? it’s getting everywhere.❞ vivianne was close to pleading, and if it didn’t work she’d just find someone else. but for the mean time, she used whatever free paper that was deemed useless to her at that point to slow the spread of the luke-warm liquid.

                    what  a  weird  circumstance  this  was––  james  the  most  floored  the  moment  he  realized  she  WASN’T  going  to  yell  him  off  the  grounds  ;  something  that  has  become  normalized  in  his  well  paying  hobby.  though  the  people  he  exposes  has  no one  to  blame  but  themselves  ( and  to  be  fair  the  people  who  paid  for  it  to happen ) ,  james  was  the  one  who  took  the  hit  to  his  own  character  for   p u r e l y   being  a  conduit  of  sleazy  information. nothing  had  appeared  to  be  any  different  with  vivianne...   who  ,  james  believed  ,  had  not  cared  so  much  for  her  appearance  in  the  eyes  of  others  could  have  AVOIDED  her  own  messy  screw  up.  what  happened  then  similar  to  their  current  spill.  a  ruined  drawing  ,  he  believed  he  would  get  blamed  for  ,  easily  having  survived  had  she  followed  the  rules.  unfortunately  this  was  his  fate  and  he  had accepted  that  long  ago.  so  he  did  as  she asked  , james  muttering  a  soft  ‘ yeah...  sure ,  okay ’  before  finding  the  bathroom  and  exiting  with  some  brown  paper  napkins.  ' you  know ,  drinks  and  stuff  aren’t  allowed  in  here  right? ’  

         vivianne had been twirling a gel pen between two digits, as brown orbs focused onto the details on the paper. studying, in the library? not this time. the brunette hadn’t even thought of reviewing her last class’ notes, for her mind had been more consumed by an idea that refused to stop poking her. and anyone who had been watching over vivi, they’d realize how quickly her wrist made work against the paper. in her reality, it felt like everything was in slow motion — as if nothing else matters. that was until someone bumped into vivianne causing her to scribble across the entire ‘masterpiece’. to make matters worse, the petite female spilled her coffee; not only on the paper but the table as well. an exaggerated gasp escaped lush lips as she scrambled to salvage the sketch. ❝hey, can you help a girl out?❞ vivianne asked, voice nearly trembling in fear of a librarian finding out.

                  even  the  ever  observant  hacker  with  a  keen  principle  of  keeping  everything  in  its  place  and  NEVER  stepping  out  of  order  could  somehow  lose  his  footing.  it  could  happen  quite  easily  too –––  the  old  70s  carpet  of  the  library  beneath  the  worn  down  soles  of  his  boots  that  would  have  to  disintegrate  off  his  size  10  feet  for  him  to  finally  throw  away  just  begging  to  snag  and  knock  him  backwards  into  whatever  the  universe   d e e m e d   the  most  convenient.  that  being  vivianne !  someone  he  knew  quite  well  though  not  in  any  kind  of  NORMAL  circumstance.  not  from  class  or  a  coffee  shop ,  but  from  the  confides  of  her  messages  relating  to  the  very  core  of  asteria :  starred.  as  if  he  hadn’t  done  enough  damage  to  her  already  (  not  that  he  necessarily cared  ) ,  he  had  seemed  to  ruin  her  nicely  drawn  artwork  as  well.  eyes  known  for  their  rather  large  nature   g l a r i n g   backwards  at  his  teammates –– who  ,  he  would  be  sure  to  mention  later ,  was  the  very  reason  for  the  whole  fiasco.   ‘ sorry  ‘bout  that , ’   he  mumbled  beneath  his  breath ,  eyes beneath  a  black  cap  trailing  along  the  smoky , dark  liquid  that  covered  the  light  wood  like  a  CANVAS  of  its  own.  ‘ i’ll  get  some  napkins? ’  uncertainty  lingering  in  the  statement  as  nothing  of  the  sort  seemed  available.