wander [ hyunlix ]

12

The scent of warm coffee and old paper lingered in the air, occupying the quiet building's every hallway and floor.

The public library of this neighborhood was bigger than any Felix had ever visited before, even hosting a cafe on one of its upper floors. Its signs displayed the whereabouts of more book genres than he even knew existed, and he couldn't help but stare at everything around him.

He'd come with Hyunjin to the library today, a bit bored of staying cooped up in their motel room. Felix figured he would at least see what the boy was up to during his occasional visits to the place.

"So," Hyunjin spoke as he strolled through the area, Felix by his side. "Do you want any books? Since you're here, you might as well look around."

"Umm," Felix mumbled, still overwhelmed by all of the options. "Nah, I think I'll just... follow you around and see if anything looks interesting."

Hyunjin softly laughed at this. "Suit yourself," he said, hurrying off towards a certain section of the building.

It was quite the talent, in Felix's eyes, how Hyunjin seemed to know this place like the back of his hand already. The boy did go here at least once a week, but the area was so big, Felix swore he would be constantly getting lost.

A certain shelf caught his eye, and Felix stopped, tugging on Hyunjin's sleeve.
"Can I look over here?" he asked as if needing permission, followed by a nod from Hyunjin.

"Yeah? Of course," the elder answered, before pointing in another direction. "I'm, uh, gonna go over towards that section. Come get me when you're done."

Felix nodded at this, giving Hyunjin a cute smile and a thumbs up. The elder playfully scoffed, before turning on his heel and walking off.

Left alone in the comics section, Felix was free to ignore the presence of actual literature and dash straight to the manga, picking up what looked like a knock off version of Sailor Moon.
Sure, he respected his roommate's whole intellectual thing going on, but Felix?

Felix was an anime type of guy.

At one point, he found himself sitting on the floor, flipping through a volume of some 1990's shoujo manga, when he realized that he'd been in this aisle for a rather long time...

He stood up, stretching, and taking a couple of books with him as he wandered out of the shelves.
Glancing around, he didn't see the person he'd come with anywhere nearby, and thus Felix made his way over to the area he'd been told to go to.

"20th Century Literature," a sign on one of the shelves read, making Felix smile in amusement. Typical Hyunjin, he thought. He would probably have to force the boy into reading something written after the year 2000.

Felix paused in his footsteps as he caught sight of Hyunjin, a few shelves away. The boy was facing away from him, staring towards the shelf, and didn't seem to notice Felix's presence yet.

He watched for a moment, curious at the boy's behavior. Hyunjin's fingertips sat against the edge of a book, lightly caressing its spine, as if afraid to take the initiative and pick it up.

"Hey, Hyun," Felix called out quietly, walking towards him as if he hadn't been looking at him for a solid minute.

Hyunjin flinched, whipping around at the sound of Felix's voice.
"Ah, Lix..." he addressed, fidgeting with the hem of his shirt. "Did you find something you want?"