Fixing Nico [boyxboy / yaoi]

Ch 19 - Tricks, Lies and Truths

~NICO~

School was the same, day in and day out: a routine that never shifted, never deviated from the boring existence I lived from day to day. 

I think I'm getting worse, I informed whoever around happened to be reading my mind, despite the fact that I was currently hauled up alone in the school library, a nest of books splayed out across the table I was hunched over. I glanced around suspiciously - it appeared that nobody seemed to care. Didn't think so.

The air conditioning in the school library was turn up to the max - I shivered uncomfortably as a thick wall of icy nothingness enveloped me, the rugged, ripped carpet underfoot doing nothing to counter the chill that surrounded me in what seemed like an inescapable bubble of ice. Then again, my entire life seemed like an inescapable bubble of ice - slowly, the stinging cold engulfed me until I was left with nothing more than a numb soul of ice and stone.

I sighed wearily - feeling very sorry for any mind readers that happened to be lingering in the shadows of the school library listening to my boring, pathetic thoughts.

Footsteps padded across the aisle I was working in - I glanced up to see the Librarian shuffling across the carpets, a small smile tugging up my lips as my eyes met his deep-set, light brown orbs for a fraction of a second, and he beamed. 

Mr Link was a twenty-five-year old Library teacher: freckles dotted his otherwise fair completion as a boyish, impish grin crossed his face. His hair was a rusty shade of auburn, with bits that look almost fire-engine red when the sunlight hit them, and light-brown eyes which were a colour that couldn't really be described in words - like melted milk chocolate and iced tea and honey spilling slowly, almost suspended midair, from the lip of a spoon. 

'Library's closing in ten minutes, Nico,' he announced, eyeing the enormous pile of books that surrounded me suspiciously. 'Uh… how about I put some of these book away for you?'

'S-Sorry,' I coughed awkwardly as I jotted down the last of my notes from frayed, torn-up book entitled The Encyclopaedia of World Mythology and handed the massive volume of literature up to him with a wobbly, apologetic half-smile. 

'Interesting read?' Mr Link asked dubiously as he studied the dusty, ratty book.

'Actually, yes,' I confirmed. 'Its for English.'

'Ah,' Mr Link sighed with a nod. 'English Advanced, isn't it? Hm. Analysing mythology is an interesting direction to go in…'

'W-well,' I stammered, 'm-my t-teacher thought it was a g-good idea…'

'It is a good idea!' Mr Link backtracked. 'It's just unusual, that's all. Which is good. Unusual is good.'

I cracked a slight smile. 'I always thought so.'

Mr Link was one of the only people in the entire school who I actually talked to and who actually bothered talking to me - the conversation had started purely out of necessity (I'd been unable to understand the logistics of the school printing system), and from there had progressed into a comfortable acquaintance. He'd chirp a hello, even smile every time he saw me enter the Library - which, let's face it, was at least four times a day. 

'You look really cold,' Mr Link observed, concern tainting his voice - I glanced down and realised my arms were a pale, bumpy mass of goosebumps, and I was shivering violently.

'Air con,' I explained almost silently.

'Do you have a jumper?' he pressed. His eyebrows had furrowed over his light-brown eyes - for some reason, the concern made his irises illuminate even more, as if some kind of sun was shin king through the inside of his eyes… the concept didn't even make sense.