A/N: Hello! Welcome to this peaceful AU with Dorssia + JIOR setting. This is actually the first HaruEru fanfic I wrote, and I had wanted to write until the end but I was like, meh, let's just make it multichaptered. So here it is. L-elf didn't have any military training, so while he's still sardonic, calculative, and observant, I don't think he's as cold. Haruto is just there being his saccharine sweet self, I think. I have headcanons on what Shoko, A-drei, and Lieselotte should be in this story, but I don't know if they will appear or not.

Oh, also, I haven't worked in libraries yet, so any technical mistakes would be solely on my part. Inputs will be precious.

Nevertheless, enjoy!

ハルエル

He was simply one of those stalkers. L-elf didn't like those types, so he didn't see any reason to act differently around this one.

His shift at the local library always began with checking what his co-workers had done previously. As the receptionist, he took care of the customers' needs, strictly speaking about borrowing and returning books, as well as pointing out directory search for a specific title or author. When he felt like it, he could always make a small talk. Recommending another author in the genre, perhaps, or reviewing that new title which just came out last week. Just enough to pass as a sociable worker. Yet, it was sort of vexing. He specifically chose to do part-time job on the library to deal with books instead of people, and here he thought that the owner had made him the face of the place. If not, why else would he get more front desk shifts than inputting data in the back room?

L-elf felt neutral towards the attention he got; it was flattering, even, that a brief business smile could make a girl visibly melt in front of him. But he hated being self-conscious around people, wondering if they had an ulterior motive or not. Especially this insufferable naive idiot who grated on his nerves. If glares could murder, then L-elf had stab him in the heart and shot his chest twice, just for today. Considering how the customer never failed to show up twice a week on his shifts, he would be considered an immortal.

Tokishima Haruto's records showed he only borrowed books on the day that L-elf worked there. The brown haired boy had the gall to pretend not to notice L-elf; yet all he did was peeking through the book when L-elf wasn't looking at him. If Tokishima Haruto didn't actually read the books he was borrowing, L-elf would've filed a complaint on him. But when he returned them, he always chattered about the content. L-elf had gotten so used to it that he had dropped the sociable act and outright glared at Tokishima Haruto to shut up, whose dense skull failed to notice every single time.

"I'm borrowing these!" A cheerful voice came up behind, just an hour before his shift was over. Punctual as usual, L-elf thought as he turned around to find Tokishima Haruto handed over two novels. L-elf only sighed at the male as he took the books. His eyebrows frowned, and he wished Tokishima Haruto would get a clue and get lost from his sight already.

"...done," L-elf said, handing the book back as well as Tokishima's member card. Without sparing a glance, he went away to finish his other desk jobs.

"Wait. I have a snack, do you want to try some?" Tokishima suddenly asked as he reached into the bag. It wasn't with him while he sat; the bags must be put in the lockers beside the front desk before a customer got into the reading area. "Here. Homemade redbean jelly. Yokan."

The silver-haired male's eyebrow went up questioning the offer. "I know yokan," L-elf mumbled under his breath. He couldn't begin to fathom whether Tokishima was serious or not.

"Take one!"

Apparently he was. L-elf shot another murderous glare. If he took it, would Tokishima Haruto get out of his sight already? There was some surprising persistence in the other male that showed up from time to time, and there was no sign of him leaving unless L-elf reacted to the offer, it seemed. Most likely he wouldn't be scolded for eating on his shift, even though there was an acting manager in the library. He sighed, took a cut of yokan, then muttered a begrudging "Thanks."

"Try it, it's really good," Tokishima said. L-elf stood still for a moment. He didn't know what drove him against refusing the prompt, because he did decide to try it.

What a surprise, it was different than the store-bought yokan. The taste was delicate, the hint of natural sweetness was always there in every bite, and the aromatic red bean as it spread in his mouth was superb. Did Tokishima make this himself?

Apparently his face showed what he was thinking, because Tokishima grinned at him. It was a rare smug grin coming from the other, and L-elf felt irritated. However, instead of commenting anything, the blue-eyed male just nodded to him and put the box back to his bag, and made his way off of the library.

Just as L-elf predicted, wasn't it? Well, it was a win-win situation; he didn't hate the yokan at all.

Afterwards, everytime Tokishima Haruto went to the library, he would bring all sorts of different, wildly assorted food. L-elf couldn't even imagine how a cream cracker would taste good with traditional pickle, but it did. What bewildered him even more, was the fact that he never refused the food. Maybe he was hungry for being all afternoon clamped inside the indoor library. But even after considering the possibility, he never brought a snack for himself either. It was just not possible that he waited for Tokishima to bring him snack, wasn't it? (No matter how good they were.)

Tokishima always came wearing his uniform. Neat tosca blue coat with an emblem of Sakimori high school. That was an elite school. He didn't even know how Tokishima Haruto could enter the school, he looked like an idiot. Must be a different screening to choose the students. L-elf himself had a gakuran uniform that he took off everytime he worked for a part time job. Besides the part time in the library, he had had others, which he dropped immediately after the impossible working hours. Not that keeping his grades were hard, but he needed a controlled environment without too many elements in the equation, and the extra hour to sleep didn't hurt in maintaining concentration during classes.

That he revealed these information to Tokishima Haruto surprised himself too. He said them begrudgingly, sure, but maybe his tone wasn't snappish enough, because Tokishima now spent more time talking to him than reading, especially when there was no immediate customer. Most of it were around the contents of a book, but personal questions kept popping out from time to time. And even the not-so-implied insults he added to his answers couldn't deter Tokishima Haruto from coming back.

L-elf kept himself in check for never asking such questions in return. Asking them would imply that he was interested to get to know Tokishima Haruto, which wasn't the case.

For some reason, Tokishima never talked about himself either.

They were disgusting.

L-elf could feel the coarse texture and sticky sweat from the palm which touched his fingers as he handed over the owner looked at L-elf as if he was some kind of meat; it was impossible to miss the racing breath. The drool was invisible, but it was definitely there.

"Sir, these are your book," he stated coldly, as if unfazed by the treatment. He could see the customer's Adam apple moved in a gulping motion, and L-elf didn't want to think the reason behind it. He was handing over a high-rated almost porn books, with way more than suggestive covers, but L-elf managed to keep his face straight. The library didn't have a screening over the books, though they put sensitive topics on a separated room, where this man must have taken from. He shot a sharp glare, but maybe Tokishima Haruto managed to make them dull, because this didn't stop the man from brushing his hands as he took the books.

There was a leer as the man said, "He he, thank you, L-kun."

"It's L-elf, Sir," he corrected as if the man said his name mistakenly. L-elf blatantly ignored the possibility that it was some kind of nickname the man had for him.

As the man finally passed because the next person in line coughed, L-elf tried not to think how repulsive what happened just now was.

Of course, he also tried not to think why Tokishima Haruto didn't come today.

"Excuse me, I want to know how long I can borrow these..." the customer in line said, and L-elf nodded coolly as if he wasn't lost in thought just a second before, attending to her inquiry.

Time passed without many members came over to the front desk afterwards, and L-elf thought how time had been stretching today. It made him feel even more weary than usual, and his body felt sluggish. He was not in charge to close the library, but it was the end of his shift. So L-elf took off from the front desk and walked around to change back to his gakuran. Practically, he was only wearing the gakuran coat over his white shirt, so he didn't get inside the changing room too long. He took his briefcase-style bag and walked outside the back door.

"L-kun."

The repulsive feeling drenched him over in an instant, and he turned around to see previous disgusting customer stood between him and the street just five meters from the back door. L-elf immediately calculated his choices. He could outrun such overweight middle aged man, but the man was too big that there was a worse possibility of getting caught as L-elf tried to pass through him in this alley. Working in the library made him less agile than his middle school days. It wouldn't hurt to try, though.

"Sir," he acknowledged the man's presence and walked towards the street nonchalantly as if they were simply passerbys.

Getting closer, he could hear the man's breath was even racier. For a split second it threw L-elf off of his composed mask. Could he just kill this disgusting man and get it over with? No, of course he couldn't.

"Look at me, you Dorssian refugee!" the man spat the words, and L-elf's eyes widened at the insult. "Be good and come here, you worthless boy. I will treat you like some piece of shit you are! Hey!"

L-elf had already stopped listening and made a twist to his right side. The man followed his movement as predicted, and that was when he took a full stop and jumped to his left side, so quick he was already slipping by the moment the man noticed what was wrong. L-elf could do such a sudden accelleration to his advantage, and even though the man was more swift than he looked, the silver-haired boy already reached the street.

Shit. He was hoping a bustling street, but there were only a few people. They looked at him strangely, as if asking what such a light-haired boy doing in this area. L-elf had an archetypal look of a Dorssian, and in this JIOR area, it was too obvious how foreign he was. No, he couldn't stay here, the man was just behind him.

Taking momentum as he landed to the street, L-elf pushed himself up and ran towards his left, off, away from this place as far as he could. He knew he was stronger than that man, he knew he could attack the man by force and winning, but what would happen next? It would just turn out worse from him, the inequality for the non-native citizens.

That couldn't happen. This was why he hated stalkers. But even more so, he hated himself. He hated this hair color and his pale complexion. He hated the fact that he wasn't born a JIORian.

"L-elf!"

Horror felt like a cold winter shower against his skin.

"L-elf, wait!"

It terrified him that he tripped over nothing and fell to the ground, knees first. At least he wasn't hurting his hands or face.

"Wah, that looks painful, are you okay?"

This voice... it was not the man's. He recognized this one. L-elf straightened himself up, and he finally turned around to see the familiar dark brown strands of hair, even though the face was dark from the lamp street right behind the caller.

"To... kishima Haruto."

Said boy crossed arms and sighed. "Your run is really quick, you know? ...You look pale, are you okay?" he repeated the question. His voice was ridiculously warm, and L-elf sighed deeply. He wouldn't admit it, but it was a relieved sigh.

"Why.." didn't you come today, L-elf found himself almost asking, but stopped himself. L-elf just realized Tokishima wasn't in his uniform today, and upon closer look, he was holding the books he borrowed last week.

It seemed that Tokishima followed his gaze, because he lifted the books. "These? Ah, I went to the library just now, but the front desk was closed already. I guess I'll pay the fine for being late tomorrow."

"Tomorrow..."

But tomorrow L-elf wouldn't be there. His cheeks got warmer involuntarily for having such thoughts. He had thought that Tokishima came to the library because of him, but for the first time, L-elf considered a possibility that he was too vain to think like that.

Tokishima Haruto gasped, and exclaimed, "Look! You're hurting afterall. It's not a wound anymore, it's a gash!"

L-elf frowned. "Stop making such a ruckus over it. It doesn't hurt, I'll just treat it at home," he said. But when he started moving his legs, there was a sudden sting of pain. He looked down, and noticed the torn trousers and the bleeding knee. On the ground, there were several sharp pebbles. He was unlucky to be falling straight onto those.

"Is your home far?" Tokishima asked as he approached closer.

"...yes," L-elf hesitantly answered. He commuted by train, continued with a long walk. And as much as he could stand the pain, if not being treated it might cause infection. "I'm fine, Tokishima Haruto," he said when the brunet wore a worried expression in his face. It was an alien expression. L-elf didn't get it from people that often, if ever.

"Uh, my home is just over there, we can treat your wounds if you come with me."

That notion caught L-elf off guard. "What? You're but a stranger to me, that's presumptuous of you to think I'll just follow you to your place." Yet at the same time, L-elf found himself not actually minding it. Why? What made this boy different than other stalkers? Yes, there was still a possibility that Tokishima Haruto was one of them. L-elf should be more vigilant than this.

His words didn't deter Tokishima, because he had this stubborn look in his all too blue eyes. "But it makes sense. It's near, and you need to be treated, and I'm not a stranger, I'm more like an... acquaintance," he said. There was a slight dejected tone on the last part, but L-elf didn't address that. "...she must be rubbing off on me..."

Did he hear it correctly? 'She'?

But Tokishima merely mumbled the sentence, so L-elf figured it was not meant for his ears. At the very least, it shouldn't cause him to feel this irritated. What the brunet offered was highly rational, and L-elf, as much unused to kindness as he was, wasn't above utilizing any advantages life offered him, even in the form of a very saccharine person like Tokishima Haruto.

Some dignity dictated him to fix his standing posture and maintain a calm stepping moves, no matter how painful they were, but his silver strands swayed as he nodded. "...Fine, lead the way."

ハルエル

。。。

A/N: And so here ends the first chapter. :) Thank you for reading this far! Next chapter will have more HaruEru moments I think. Ah, those awkward moments. I love awkward misunderstanding moments which resulting in innocent blushes and unresolved tensions.

Reviews will be most appreciated, and if I tend to repeatedly make the same grammar/tense mistakes, feel free to hit the PMs! :3