Keep Close [Pen]

[Ahh sorry for the wait! @"Paradox" ]

Tian scowled, gazing up at the object of his interest. He was in the school library, a place he had discovered a few days prior in his explorations of the campus. Since then, he’d had several long days of work and had been unable to return to the place, but miraculously, that day his work wouldn’t start until later. So, wanting to entertain himself without bothering his roommate too much, Tian had retreated into the sanctuary of the library.

For a while, the teen had just been glancing around, waiting for something to catch his eye. Every now and again, he would find something, maybe flip through a few pages and put it back. Nothing had been all that interesting. However, he had finally spotted something worth taking to a table with him. It was a tall, thin book, something old and worn but still in good condition for how old he guessed it was. The title and designed on the spine of the book were giveaways about its content – the book was called Phoenixes, Dragons and Other Mythological Creatures. Such things had always interested Tian, and so he had stopped and attempted to reach it. However, he failed to realize something very important.

The book was sitting proudly on the top shelf.

The bookcase was tall.

Tian… was short.

So, for several aggravating minutes, Tian had done a mixture of flailing upwards for the book, using his tip-toes, carefully trying to actually climb up the bookshelf, and simply glaring at it and wondering if he somehow had a dormant telekinesis power. He didn’t. In the heat of his desperation, instead of using a chair like a normal person, Tian had decided to stack books until he could reach, even though doing so was actually listed specifically on the “Do Not Do When in the Library” list posted on the enterance.

Still, he tried once more to just jump up and reach the book in efforts to not break the rules. Instead of grabbing the book, though, he had only bumped another paperback off the shelf below the one he needed to get to. The book fell and hit Tian’s head with a small ‘thwack’, and the teen groaned audibly. Yep, time to get the book-stepping-stool-things.

Luckily, before he could do something stupid and either knock over the entire bookshelf or get kicked out of the library, Tian heard a voice to the right. “Need some help?” the boy had asked, and the orange haired teen blushed at that. So, he had seen that little display, had he…? ’Ugh, Tian thought to himself, ’I keep embarrassing myself here…’ Christian scanned the stranger before him quickly, before nodding lightly. They were a good five inches taller than he was, so he figured they would be able to reach the book better… “Yes, please…” Tian said, his voice quiet for the library but flustered all the same. He bent to pick up the book that had fallen on his head, before pointing upwards towards the one he had wanted to knock down. “I can’t reach it… Do you think you could?” he asked sheepishly.

Tian couldn’t help but pout when he saw how effortlessly the stranger reached the book, but the expression quickly became one of gratitude. “Thank you!” Tian said as he took the book, his blush still lingering ever-so-lightly. It has been a while since the last time he had read a book like this, and he really was pretty excited. However, the white-haired boy’s next question surprised the young phoenix*.

“Oh, uhm…” Tian began, scrambling to find words that actually made sense. He was still a bit flustered, after all; the teen wasn’t used to random gestures of kindness. His entire life had been “stay out of the way” and “do it yourself”… The help was nice. “I just… I’ve always liked these mythology things is all, especially phoenixes, and now with the Academy and realizing they might actually be real… I guess I want to learn more,” he replied, shrugging. However, his eyes were bright and face happy, showing his interest in the supernatural and his own species (though he didn’t know it was his). Still, the new stranger seemed to have a habit of surprising him, and he found himself being patted by a larger hand than his own.

Tian flinched as his hair was ruffled, but not in a frightened way. It was more of a huffy little movement, the teen unhappy about being treated like a kid, but doing nothing to really stop it, either. The fact was, though, that Tian did resemble a pouty child far more than he would have liked… or was a disgruntled baby dragon a better analogy? With the way his brows furrowed, his bottom lip jutted out, and he peered into the face of the stranger with only one eye peeking open, a child was definitely synonymous… yet with the fiery blush enveloping his cheeks and the embarrassed puff of smoke swirling up from his nose, perhaps ‘baby dragon’ really was the better choice.

Tian huffed as the stranger chuckled, hastily fixing his now-mussed hair and ignoring the fact that he was smoking (again). “Messing with my hair before I even know your name, though…” the teen grumbled, before his eyes widened in realization. “Wait – what is your name?” he asked. Tian held out his hand in greeting, grinning lightly even though he was still pretty embarrassed. “I’m Christian – but please call me Tian.”

The teen, despite the awkwardness of the head-pat, already liked this stranger. He was helpful, even if a little embarrassing, and Tian could already tell he was at least somewhat kind. Friendship material!! However, his next words only solidified his descision to, yes, keep this guy around… and he didn’t quite know why. “Of course you can stay,” he said, smiling. “And thanks, but I think I might take the book back to my dorm for the night…”

[*Tian’s powers are based off those of a phoenix, though he’s still in the very beginning stages and has yet to find out about his true power spectrum.]