My one shots

New Book (w/ Dominic & Atticus)

Atticus' POV

   Me and Dominic had gotten off of work about two hours ago, and as usual we opted to head towards our forest. But instead of working on our paintings or sculptors, Dominic pretty much immediately whipped out a thick looking book. Dominic's face is usually plastered with the same neutral expression, but when he pulled out his book, I don't think I saw him that excited in months.  I had to ignore how my heart fluttered at his unusually happy expression. But that's beside the point, because right now those butterflies in my stomach had left, instead replaced with a slight boredom.

I usually enjoyed more physical activities, like playing sports and exploring the forest. But right now, I'm just leaning against Dominic's shoulder just listening to him read.  I probably would've been more interested, if his book wasn't a part of a series, it was the second in the series. I remembered how once Dominic had opened up to me, he started telling me about this book series he was getting into. Without the prior knowledge of the first book, I don't really know any of the characters, nor really care about them. But there's no way I'd tell Dominic that, especially with him seeming so happy while reading.

The only real thing which entertained me was me cuddling into his shoulder and taking occasional glances at him. I saw how bright his eyes were flicking across pages and reading out the words to me, it wasn't every day I got to see him like this, so I savored the sight. and of course, how with his right hand he was just gently playing with my hair. So, I mostly focused on his touch, rather than his voice. But when I did tune into his voice, it only raised questions. As me not listening to what's happening, nor really knowing the characters I get confused.  Dominic never seems to mind my confusion, as he happily fills me in on what I've missed, and in some way, he always got me to understand what was going on in the book at that moment.

He did that a lot, fill me in on things I don't quite understand. Whether it be the books he reads to me, or the educational books he bought from the outside markets in town. And sometimes he explains poems to me, as the cryptic meanings of them or never clear to me. Yet Dominic always seems to explain it in a way that makes it so much easier to understand. To this day, I'll never understand how he's able to find meanings in the poets' words which I probably never would without him here. When I asked about poems, his eyes always lit up, happily explaining what he thinks it means. Sometimes I thought he only read me poems so I'd ask about them, so he could explain what they meant to him, not like I minded, Dominic's voice was always nice to listen to.

But with me now thinking about it, with almost everything he's interested in, whenever he talks about them or experiences them his eyes lit up. It was always such a heartwarming sight, seeing the normally expressionless Dominic so clearly excited about something. It was basically always about books, poems, and music, movies, and of course, painting. We didn't go to the movies often, as without us making money from our labor, we had to convince our parents to lend us money so we could go. And Dominic's parents didn't really like giving Dominic money... but when they did, he usually used it to see a movie with me, or he bought more books or paints. 

He always had a bounce in his step whenever the movie ended, practically gushing about how good they were, or grumbling about how disappointing they were. Before I met Dominic, I thought movies and books were a waste of time, but seeing how much Dominic loved them he seemingly switched my opinions right around. I do enjoy whenever me and Dominic go to the movies together, though I'll never really see the appealing of books. Yet whenever Dominic gushed about the book, how complex the story and characters are, I listen. While I don't usually meet his enthusiasm, I always just nodded and smiled while he blabbed away. 

Sometimes he talked for hours, from afternoon to dawn. There was this one time where I was scolded by my father for coming home late, as me and Dominic were in the woods while he happily talked about the books he's read.  I was about an hour late, all because of how Dominic kept me there with his talking. While yes, I don't like getting scolded, I couldn't help but look at the memory fondly. But I'm sure if it was anyone else, I'd have ignored them the next day, peeved off.  But of course, I could never ignore Dominic, I don't think my heart would let me. Just us working at different areas during our labor hours hurt me. So, ignoring him even for a day would probably make me fall apart.

I felt myself shudder at the thought, I really am smitten for this guy... I saw how Dominic's attention turned away from his book for a moment, giving me a small, concerned look. I was confused for a moment, but me suddenly shivering like I did probably freaked him out. I just gave him a smile and cuddled deeper into his shoulder. He seemingly understood I was fine, turning his attention back towards his book and he started reading it out loud to me again. 

Though I did notice how he buried his hand deeper into my hair, and how he went and rested his cheek on the top of my head. Maybe it's his way to make sure I stay calm. Not like I minded, a practically thrived off of his touch, so more of it could only be a good thing. I closed my eyes in contentment, and I let myself basically melt into his side, letting myself get fully comfortable. 

We sat there for what felt like another twenty minutes or so, and the longer the time went on, the closer I felt to me falling asleep. And like magic, it seemed like Dominic could sense how tired I had gotten. I heard the sound of him closing his book, he shifted slightly so he could put his book on the ground next to him. I then felt how he removed his hand from my hair, instead placing it onto my shoulder, me pulled me closer to him, my legs now resting on top of his.  Hid hand then trailed down my chest, then to my side. He then wrapped both of his arms around my waist as he cuddled into my shoulder.

the position was a bit weird, with me being shorter than Dominic, but not matter how weird it was it was extremely comfortable. And with us finally settling, Dominic started rambling on, in a much softer voice than he was using while he was reading. I tuned into some of the words, he was once again gushing about the characters, I only found myself falling asleep to his words. Though with how he softened his voice, it made me suspicious of him maybe knowing his rambling sometimes bored me, making it easier for me to sleep. But I decided to just keep my mouth shut, just in case he didn't know he sometimes made me bored with his ramblings, to spare his feelings of course. 

Though right before I had truly fallen asleep, I heard Dominic pause for a moment. And then, I was finally able to fully tune into what he was saying.

"Sleep well, Atticus..."

And with that, and what felt to be a kiss to the top of my head, I let myself fall asleep.