Chapter Text
12:03 into the Afternoon; Book Sharing.
Callum and William entered the Library, William noticed how the only room in the whole school who had the privilege of having an air conditioner was the Library. "I'm surprised a private school has the funds to have that air conditioning system running all day long.." William spoke quietly to himself, unfortunately.. Callum had heard what the man was supposedly mumbling only to himself.
"The principal's office and the Guidance Counselor's room also has air conditioning." Callum commented with a subtle smile, receiving a faint glare from William.
William then proceeds to say before leaving Callum's side for now to find the History books, "Mhm, okay then. Well.. we'll meet later, I got books to find and read, and so do you."
"Oh! Alright. See you later, William!" The short plum-haired boy says with a gentle voice and cheery undertone. Callum's eyes remained on William's back for a few seconds before William disappeared behind the bookshelves, that was where Callum excitedly trotted over to where the "Comic Books" shelves were, hoping to find the comic he was waiting for all week long!
William walked through the aisles of shelves, scanning each of the book's titles and taking quick glances above the shelves which named each bookshelf with a category. Finally, William took the correct path and found himself in a quiet little corner, a conveniently placed table with two chairs, and of course.. the bookshelves that stored every history book about basic history or the history of art.
"Thanks to the person who made the style of the library like this." The man mumbled to himself before walking closer to the bookshelves and examined each book title, right away finding the book he needed.
He hummed quietly as he pulled the chair out for himself and sat down, reading the title of the book before opening it, flipping through the pages to find everything he needed to know about the `Baroque Time Period`.
Callum found himself in between the book categories named "Adventure Fiction" and "Fantasy", instead of going for the comic book he had been waiting for to come to the library's shelves, his attention was caught by a "Hawkeye" Comic. The cover looked rather cool. So, he decided to read that comic for now and maybe read the Spider-man comic he had been waiting for all week to arrive tomorrow.
After Callum grabbed the "Hawkeye" comic, he walked around the library, trying to see if William was still inside the library, which only took Callum a couple of minutes of walking before he found William in a secluded corner of the library.
Callum smiled faintly, he began walking towards the table where William sat. "William, hey! Do you mind if I take a seat?" The boy asked, accidentally raising his volume a bit too high for a person in the library, gradually toning it down as he asked William.
The dark-haired man, who rather enjoyed his peace, became quite startled when he suddenly smelled the faint scent of Callum around the corner, and after he arrived beside the table.
"Be quiet, you idiot!.. But, sure.. as long as you stay quiet, or don't read your. comic out loud.." William reprimanded with a hint of irritation in his usually solemn tone.
Callum apologized before he took the seat besides William's and sat down, "Hehe.. sorry, I didn't realize it at first." Callum then paused and looked at the pages William's hand laid on. "What page are you on now, by the way?" He asked in a subtly sweet tone as his attention from William's pages—hands—to the man's face.
William took a moment of silence in before a soft sigh came out of his mouth, then, he answered. "This book I have is primarily about the 'Baroque Time Period' between page 45 till page 60, even though it does contain the 'Renaissance Time period' and the 'Classical period'—which is my personal favourite." William replied, smiling to himself as he was quite a fan of classical and jazz genres.
"What book or comics are you reading?" William asked, turning his head over to what Callum had is his hands. "I'm going to read 'Hawk-eye'." The boy answered before opening up the comic, looking at the visual art the comic had on the first page.
William raised his eyebrow faintly, "You mentioned you were going to read 'Spider-Man 2' earlier, why'd you change your mind so sudden?" he asked while his eyes moved back to reading the information in the history book.
"Uhmm, well, I hadn't read 'Hawk-eye' yet, and I've already read a lot of Spiderman comics. So I decided it wouldn't hurt to try reading something new, plus—the cover looked so cool!" he exclaimed as he began to read his comic, eventually becoming quiet to focus on what was happening in the visuals.
William gave a subtle hum of approval before he also became quiet, both of them reading and having the words on the pages enter their mind.
Five Minutes have passes and Callum found himself intrigued and glad that he decided to give 'Hawk-eye' a read, because he loved how the plot went in the Comic. Meanwhile, William was getting tired from all the studying and writing.
The man leaned back into his chair and sighed in a slightly fatigued way, "Is Mrs. Loraine at the end of her lesson of the 'Baroque Time Period'?" William asks Callum as he closed the history book.
"Oh, yes. Just one last test this Friday about the Baroque Time Period." Callum answered, glancing over at William, noticing the faint dark circles underneath the man's eyes.
"But, her tests are fairly easy, so.. you don't really need to over work yourself, William."
The boy says with a subtly caring voice and a faint smile. William looked over at Callum, analyzing the boy's expression and as to why he sounded concerned.
"If you aren't lying, then I'll be off then. See you—" Callum's eyes then widened a bit to see William suddenly standup from his chair, "Wait! Don't you plan to read anything else here?.."
William laughed quietly, glad his teasing response really did get a reaction out of the sweet—I mean- goldfish-eyed grape haired boy. "I'm joking. I do plan to read a bit more here.."
He says as William sits down and leans his chin against the knuckles of his hand, turning his head over to look at Callum.
Callum was surprised and slightly embarrassed that he didn't see that William was just simply teasing him, "Oh- I guess I didn't notice that you were just teasing. But can I suggest that you try reading a comic?"
William thought about it, in general, he found comics to be rather childish, and even odd that Callum liked them so much.
"A comic, hmm... no thanks." He says, directing his eyes away from Callum.
"Why not? Just one comic?"
"Comics are just full of picture, barely any words."
"Just two or even one page!" Callum insisted with a pleading tone.
"No." William firmly answered.
Then, Callum pleaded again, looking up at William's face with pleading eyes, "...𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘢𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘦?"
William looked back, expecting to see Callum's normal expression. But.. was instead met with an irresistible–pleading and stupid face.
"N–.. I.. Ugh, fine. Give me that.." He answered with a slight 'tsk', taking the comic that Callum was reading from his grasp and taking a look at it.
He read the first couple of words on the first page before going back to the page that Callum was reading, he expected himself to not really like how the visuals looked and the amount of wasted space for words the comic had. Yet.. he flipped the current page, observed and read the second and third pages after that, then again, and.. again.
Callum looked at William taking a peek at the pages the man looked through. The sweet boy saw as William flipped to the other pages, his face eventually relaxing, and even seeing a very, very faint smile from William's face.
He giggled, "I thought you didn't like Comics.." Callum muttered before William caught himself getting too interested in the comic. "I-.. not really, I was just looking through the other pages, seeing how much wasted space there is for words."
The long-haired man put the comic back on the table and tossed it back to Callum, a slight pout on his face.
Callum smiled and chuckled a bit more, then, moved the comic closer to William. "You really don't need to keep up with your dislike for Comics. How about we both read it?"
Both of them went quiet, Callum waited for William's response, while William thought about his response. Should he?.. others would think of him as odd or even childish if he did, but then again, no one.. really knew hima t this school. So, there wouldn't be any harm at all if he.. tried reading a comic.
"I'll read a bit of your comic, with you.. But, you better not tell anyone that I read a comic."
William then slightly shifts his seat closer to Callum's, now just a few inches away from Callum's chair.
"Oh, great!" Callums exclaimed with a subtle happy tone, along with a sweet smile, and a small hint of redness on his cheeks.
William and Callum ended up reading the comic until they finished it, sharing conversations and opinions with each other as both of them read and looked at the visuals.
William pointed out the tiny details in the visual scenes, making up some possibilities of what might happen in further pages. Whist Callum, told William about a couple facts about comics, exclaiming there is even comics and manga that could definitely entertain William's classy and refined taste. Which.. definitely made William's view on comics or in general, books with less words and more visual a bit more positive from before.
Then, an announcement came into the library, reminding the students inside that class starts in fifteen minutes, so it would be best to pack it up and go to class early.
William was a bit startled once more to hear such a loud announcement in the library, "Do they really need to have such loud announcements in the Library, out of all places?"
"Well, we both heard what the announcer said, should we stop reading?"
"Sigh... Yes, let's go." He says before he got up and and closed the comic for Callum. "Wait! Before we leave for our next class. I.. was wondering."
William crossed his arms comfortably, and looked at Callum, 'What is it?"
Callum gets up from his chair, walks over and stands in front of William. Then, looks up at him, "William, will you be my friend? If I'm going to be honest, you are really cool looking plus nice, and your taste for things like books are really refined. Plus, you're so mysterious, like some kind of Superhero in Comics!"
William.. was surprised, a bit in shock that someone like Callum, found him as cool, mysterious, and.. nice. The words he never expected someone to describe him as, he always found himself as some sort of 'freak', 'monster', or 'mean'. And.. honestly, he couldn't admit to anyone that he felt seen in that moment, by Callum.
"A Superhero?", "Yes! A superhero, when you told me that back then, no one would mess with you, and no one dared to be mean to you because you'd fight back." Callum says with a genuine tone.
William stood there, not knowing what to say towards Callum, but.. since his parents did want him to make friends, and.. Callum was the only one willing to ask him to be his friend. William.. gave in, he nodded his head gently.
"Sure.. I can be your-.. friend." He says, his teeth hissing at the word friend.
"Oh! Thank you, William!" Callum then gave William a genuinely happy hug, his arms wrapping around the taller man.
William hissed quietly, but let himself be engulfed by the hug for a few 'genuine' moments, then he told Callum to get off.
"I'm afraid we aren't at that level of friendship yet, Callum."
Callum then realized and let go of William, "Oh! right, sorry! Maybe when we've been friends for a longer time." He replies, his tone still having a cheery undertone.
William looked back down at Callum and observed his face for a longer moment. Noticing the plum-headed boy's smile, his genuine smile lines.. Callum's sweet and bubbly eyes, his-
Suddenly, he felt something warm form across both of his cheeks, looking away from Callum's face and instead looking back at the Comic on the table.
"Hm, yeah.. maybe." William mumbled quietly, his face forming a genuine smile.
After that. Callum reminded William that both of them should probably head back to their classes. William nods his head before both of them began walking towards the exit of the library, Callum excusing himself to return back the 'Hawk-eye' comic he grabbed earlier back to where he found it. Additionally telling William to go without him, William nodded and did so. But.. waited outside the door of the library for Callum before he actually headed to class.
`End of Chapter !`