#youngjo x nonbinary reader

“It’s been months! When will they return the book?” You asked, ears turning red from anger.

“I don’t know. That isn’t something I can surely tell you,” the librarian behind the counter told you.

“Can you at least tell me the name of the person that has the book? Maybe I can find them and convince them to return the book,” you said with a fake smile.

The librarian shook her head. “Sorry, that is not information we can share with our customers.”

You huffed and rolled your eyes. You weren’t upset with the librarian. She has told you the same information for the past few months about the book you desperately wanted to check out. You were the first on the waitlist but that did no good when the current owner didn’t want to return the book. It was the last book in the crime series you had been reading. It was from an author that wasn’t well known so there was only one copy of that book. You had been reading other books in the meantime, but you grew tired of waiting.

You weren’t sure how much longer you would have to wait, and you even considered buying the $60 book. It was a crazy price for an indie author, but it was such a good story, you were almost willing to spend the money. But you weren’t that desperate.

You walked through the aisles of books, looking for your next story to indulge in. You weren’t a huge fan of crime, but you had exceptions. You were a huge hopeless romantic, living vicariously through stories, but it was just that one crime series that really had you by the neck.

As you scanned the shelves, you saw a book on the top shelf that caught your eye. Being so short, you huffed in annoyance as you looked nearby for the nearest step stool. You placed it on the ground and reached up for the book. As you were about the grab the spine of the book, a large hand came from nowhere and grabbed it before you.

“Hey! I was going to get that!” You looked at the man that grabbed the book. He was slightly taller than you as you stood standing on the step stool.

The man smirked and then whispered. “We’re in a library.”

Your jaw dropped in awe. You couldn’t believe he was trying to play this off as if you weren’t mere centimeters away from grabbing the book. You got off the step stool and crossed your arms over your chest.

“I was getting that book. Why did you grab it when you clearly saw me reaching for it?” you asked, blatantly annoyed.

“Isn’t there a saying that if you touch something first then it’s yours?” The man said with one eyebrow up.

“Yeah, it’s called Finders Keepers!” you said in a rushed tone as you grabbed the book from the man’s hands and ran across the library. You could hear loud footsteps right behind you as you ran and tried to make it seem not so obvious that you were running in the library.

You ran down a dark aisle of books, completely secluded from the rest of the library. You squatted down and tried to be as small as possible to hide from the man that wanted your book.

“I’m going to find you,” the man whispered in a sing song. “I came here specifically for that book!”

You held your breath as you seen the man walk back and forth between the aisles that you were hiding in. After a few minutes, you no longer saw him. You stood up slowly, and stuck your head out, looking both ways to make sure the coast was clear. As you saw no one, you walked right out and bumped into the one man you were hiding from.

“And I’ll take that!” he said as he ripped the book straight from your arms.

“Give it back to me!” you shouted in a whisper. “Go get another book.”

You tried to grab the book back, but he raised it above your head, making it impossible to reach. You gave up, your shoulders dropping in defeat.

“Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a book to check out,” he said with a large smile. As he turned around, you stuck your tongue out at him and mimicked his tone.

You followed him towards the exit of the library as he went towards the check-out desk, and you went towards the door to leave. You noticed the librarian smiled at him, making it known that she knew who he was. You stood back but close enough and tried to listen to their conversation like the nosy person that you were.

“Youngjo, it is so nice to see you again,” the librarian said to him. You rehearsed his name in your head, the name sounding incredibly unique to you.

“It’s nice to see you too Kathy. How’re the kids?” he asked her.

“Oh, same as always,” she started. “Do you have Psycho Crimes to turn in yet?” she asked him. Your eyes widened at the book title. That was the book that you had been waiting months for!

Youngjo laughed. “No, not yet. I will return it when I am ready.”

“I have someone that has been waitlisted for a very long time and they have been asking me about it every week.”

He shrugged his shoulders. “Then they should have checked it out before me.”

And that was the end of their conversation. He’s a complete self-centered jerk!

The man turned around after checking out his book and when his eyes met yours, they widened at the fact that you were standing there watching him. He continued to make his way towards the exit, and you followed behind him, burning holes into his head as you glared at him. He approached his car and before he opened his door, he turned around to face you.

“You need to get over it. I’m returning this book next week. You can check it out then,” he told you.

“I cannot believe you’ve had Psycho Crimes all these months! You are the most self-centered selfish jerk I have ever had the unfortunate chance of meeting!”

“Like I told Kathy…” he began to say and then pause. “Wait a minute, you’re the one that is waitlisted? You’re the reason why Kathy has been nagging me every single day to return the book!”

“Sucks to suck, doesn’t it? And I’m going to keep nagging until that book is in my hands!” you yelled. At this point, it was barely 10am and it had been such a terrible day that yelling is making you feel better.

“If you want it so bad, why don’t you just come over to my house?” he asked you. You furrowed your brows and slightly pouted. You waited a few seconds for him to say, “just kidding”, but he never did.

“What is it that you want? Who invites strangers to their house?” you asked.

He laughed and smirked. “Well, we did play tag in the library so were practically friends.”

“Somethings up. I refuse to go with you,” you told him.

“That’s fine. The offer is still open until I drive away,” he said getting into his car and closing the door. He started up his car and you really contemplated on getting in this man’s car and going to his house, for some book. Was it worth it?

Without thinking any further, you walked over to the passenger side and got into the car. You buckled your seatbelt and looked at the man as he looked at you.

With a smile, he said, “I’m Youngjo, and you?”

“Y/n,” you said simply.

“How do you know I’m not a serial killer?” he asked you.

You replied, “Well the chances of there being two serial killers in this car are a little astronomical.”

He laughed, a little harder than you expected, and put his car in drive and drove off and out of the library’s parking lot. Mere minutes passed by, and you approached a neighborhood filled with homes that you never thought you would see in real life. Some homes were tall, and some were long. Some came with large yards and others came with large farms. Youngjo took a turn down a cul-de-sac and approached one of the largest homes on the street. Not only was it large, but it was long with a huge yard.

“There’s no way you actually live here. This is a joke, right?” you said admiring the house.

Youngjo laughed. “No, it’s not. But I’m flattered. I do work hard for the things I own.”

“That being everything except Psycho Crimes, right?” you snarked.

Again, he laughed. “You know, you’re funnier than I thought you would be.”

The two of you got out of his car and walked inside the large home. It’s architecture very geometrical. He removed his jacket and you followed suit, afterwards walking into the main room.

“Take a seat. I’ll be right out with the book,” he said as he walked down a hallway. You sat on his grey couch, and it felt softer than your bed at home. He came out from his hallway with the book in his hand. You got excited, knowing that Psycho Crimes was officially going to be in your hands. He handed the book to you, and you opened it and examined it. But then you realized something was off.

“Why is this book hard back? There was only one ever made and the author has it. Is this the library’s book?”

Youngjo didn’t answer any of your questions as he watched you examine the book in confusion.

“I don’t understand,” you said under your breath. And then it dawned on you. You gasped loudly and looked up at Youngjo. “Please don’t tell me you’re the author of this book.”

Youngjo laughed. “Okay, I won’t.”

Your eyes widened at his half confession. “No way. I am so sorry for how I’ve treated you because of this book. Are you sure you’re really the author?”

Honestly, you couldn’t believe what was happening. You felt like you were in some other dimension where things didn’t make sense in the world.

“If you’re the author, why do you have the library’s version?” You asked as you looked at him. He took a seat next to you on the couch.

“I was actually trying to get another copy of the book because the one at the library is all worn out and tattered. I wanted there to be clean versions of my book series at the library.”

You continued to examine the beautiful hard cover book as you spoke to Youngjo. “Why are you handing me this when it’s the only one available?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “If you were willing to get physical with me over the book, I think you might deserve it a little more than me.”

You looked up at him. “I was never going to get physical. I would’ve just nagged Kathy,” you laughed. He laughed along with you and leaned back on his couch.

“Did you know, you are the first person I’ve ever met that actually liked my crime series? I’ve tried so many genres in the past and have been successful in all of them except crime. So, what was it that made you like this one?”

You thought a moment about it. “I honestly don’t know. This series is the first I’ve read in a long time outside of the romance genre. It was misplaced at the library in the romance section and when I read the summary from the first book, it sounded interesting. I just decided to try reading it and I came to like it.”