Subtle (ClockwiseDream)

Lionel closed the last open book in front of him with a small sigh, the last bit of homework and studying he had to do for that day finally done. Now he had the rest of the day free, he thought, stretching his shoulders as he did so, for he had been sitting in the same position for quite some time, unlike his friends, who were originally supposed to meet him there, but bailed once the figured out he had homework on his mind rather than fun. They were already used to him and his habit of always doing everything well before the deadline as he was used to them always doing everything at the last minute possible so no one was exactly angry because they were tricked or left alone to do their homework in the student lounge.

He was finally done, however, and that meant he could probably go out and track the rowdy bunch down, joining in on their fun. Just as he was about to stand up and do that, however, he felt a hand patting against his shoulder. Hey a low voice said, and at first Lionel couldn't place it. That however changed as soon as he turned around.

''Hey'', he said, answering with a smile. ''Volkan, right?'' Lionel had not been with the Circus long and has joined it mostly for the cats in the first place, but the people there were nice and friendly and he, well, liked people. He had also somehow ended up in an act rather than just working with the cats, and though he still wasn't exactly sure how, he did not mind.

''What brings you all the way over here?'', he continued in a friendly voice and an open smile. As far as he knew, the full time workers of the Circus had their own rooms there so he couldn't be living here. Was he looking for him for some reason? He couldn't imagine why, though, but it was as possible as anything else.

@"Trahnael"

''No, don't worry, you didn't disturb anything'', Lionel said, waving his hand through the air, a friendly smile still on his face. ''I have just finished with these actually'', he said, pointing to the small mountain of books and the few notebooks that he had brought from his room with him... a few hour ago? Yes, a quick glance to his watch told him. He had been sitting in the lounge for exactly two hours and twenty seven minutes. No wonder he felt as stiff as a board. ''My homework for this week'', he explained after a moment with a small shrug of his shoulders.

The man in front of him seemed nervous, fumbling with the end of his hoodie and avoiding eye contact from time to time. It made it seem like he didn't really want to be here, despite him having approached Lionel first. Still, the young lion tamer continued smiling, his expression friendly and open, taking no note of those silent signs. To him, they didn't matter much anyway, he had others, much better ways of telling what was going inside people's heads, even when he wasn't actually reading their minds.

''I did that when I first arrived too'', Lionel said, leaving his seat and standing up for he couldn't stand sitting still for any longer. ''Just walked around the Island. It's amazing, isn't it?'', he asked, turning towards Volkan but not meeting his eyes directly as not to make him uncomfortable. ''I mean, I've been to plenty of places around the world, but the sights here still managed to take my breath away'', he said, thinking back on those first few days. ''You should see some of the photos I've made'', he added. ''They are quite good.'' Most of them were a bit old, though, from the time before college and all, but that didn't change the beauty of the sights he had captured on them.

''Feel free to ask me if you need help getting anywhere else'', he added afterwards, realising that he probably should have said that first. ''I've been here for five years, I'm reasonably sure I would make at least an okay tour guide.''

@"Trahnael"

''My books?'', Lionel asked, looking back at the stack at the table, not yet ready to pick them up as he was still stretching the stiffness out of his shoulders and arms. ''Nothing about them, I'll just run up to my room and exchange them for my camera'', he said, smiling back at Volkan as he said that. ''I'm a photography major'', he explained, finally picking up the books from their resting place on top of the small table from which he had just stood up. ''Can't go anywhere without it'', he said, shrugging his shoulders. He was still a bit stiff, but that was going to work itself out soon if he truly was going to go outside and take Volkan on that tour.

''Unless, of course, you would prefer me not to?'', he asked a second later, guessing that the other man, being shy, and he knew, like he always knew all those little things that other people would probably miss, that Volkan was shy, despite the huge body, a deep voice and a seemingly blank face. ''I can just drop this off and be back in less than five minutes.'' It would be weird, like it always was, just seeing things, and simply thinking 'Oh, this would make for a perfect photograph' instead of just making it, but he had done it before, he wasn't born with the camera glued to his hands no matter what some of his friends said, and him feelingly slightly off was always better than making somebody else uncomfortable.

''Or we can just start the tour here'', he said, a bright smile still on his face. ''You can come with me up to my room. Tell me what you've seen already so that I know what's left to show you and all. It's better than you standing here waiting for me to return, right?''

Lionel gave Volkan a slightly curious look, before nodding his head quickly, his shoulders giving a slight shrug as well.

''Sure'', he said, giving a soft laugh in the end. ''If you want to'', he added, though he felt just a bit awkward too just suddenly release his books to Turk. ''But you don't really need, to you know?'', he said, his smile growing a bit softer as he saw just how embarrassed Volkan was. ''Return the favour, I mean. It's barely a favour anyway, I need to make some new photos for school projects this year anyway, and a walk itself would do me good too.'' After all, he had just spent more than two hours for sure simply sitting in his chair, bent over his work.

''So honestly, it's no problem'', he repeated himself, shrugging his shoulders again. ''But, yeah, if you want the books you can have them'', he said, quickly getting over his awkwardness as he wasn't a type to hold on to such things for long. ''Thankfully, they are not that heavy today'', he laughed, shuffling his books slightly so that Volkan could make a quick grab at them.

''I would have probably asked you to hold them while I found my key anyway'', Lionel said, laughing lightly as Volkan took his books from him, holding them carefully in his hands as he stepped to the side. ''So it's just easier I let you take them now anyway'', he joked as he stepped forward past Volkan, setting out towards the door leading into the hallway which connected the lounge to he rest of the dorm.

''You're lucky I hadn't brought one of mine encyclopaedia down with me though'', he added as he walked down the corridor slowly so that Volkan could keep up and walk by his side rather than behind him. ''Those alone are twice as heavy as that small pile'', he explained, laughing as he stopped by the stairs leading up towards the next floor.

''My room is up on the fourth floor'', he said, pointing to the stairs. ''We can take the elevator though if you do not want to drag those up the stairs'', he said, pointing towards the books. They weren't heavy, not really, but he still imagined that Volkan might not want to drag them five floors up if he did not have to.