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Eduard was beyond done. He had come home to find his older brother-slash-guardian Ivan was out. Oh, but he wasn't just out. He was out and he had taken a certain object with him. A certain object that actually belonged to Eduard, despite their house policy of "sharing". A certain object that happened to be Eduard's life, heart, and soul. A little device known as his laptop.
Ivan hadn't left a note saying where he'd be, although Eduard was over 90 percent positive he was with his boyfriend, Yao, more likely than not trying to raise supporters for their half-assed utopian revolution.
Fuck him and his revolution, he can get his own computer.
Eduard sighed. If he wanted to get any work done at all today, he'd have to visit the library. Joy.
It wasn't that he had anything against libraries. They were quite useful inventions, and really, he was all for people gaining more knowledge. But that was exactly it-there were people there. Again, he didn't hate people, he just didn't want to be around them when he was working. Or relaxing. Or most of the time. People were only to be seen for the purpose of social interaction.
But he'd do what he had to do to. So, with a grudge in his heart, Eduard set out for the local library.
It was a quiet little place, the ground floor consisting of computers and non fiction, the upper covering fiction. Marble columns framed the beautiful double oak doors, carved with scenes and symbols straight out of classic literature.
What Eduard hadn't realized was just how few people actually went to the library after five on a Tuesday. By 'few' he meant, well, zero. There wasn't a soul in sight as the door creaked shut behind him, reminding him of that dumb film Raivis had gotten from the school moron, Alfred. He and Toris had gotten Ivan to beat him up after a week of being kept awake by their youngest brother. It hadn't been incredibly difficult, considering the tension between the two after Alfred had loudly insulted Ivan's precious utopia in the middle of the cafeteria. Without being provoked.
With a sigh, Eduard sat down at the nearest computer, groaning quietly as it took ages to load. His computer wasn’t shit like this. He’d personally modified it to run so smoothly, you’d question whether or not you were in a sci-fi action movie. It brought a smile to his face just thinking about it- a smile that disappeared as soon as he realized he couldn’t even access the internet without a code from a librarian. What the fuck kind of out-dated library didn’t have instant internet access? What did they think people used computers for?
Running a hand through his hair, he stood up, looking around to see if there might be a desk where he could look for the password. Honestly, wasn’t there even a single staff member working? Why had the door been open? The sign had said they didn’t close until eight on weekdays...
Wait, the main checkout desk was upstairs, for god-knows-what reason. Sure, most of the books were up there, but still… it didn’t make tons of sense. Eduard groaned again. He wasn’t lazy, no, but it was still unnecessary physical movement that he hadn’t been planning on. Basketball covered the majority of his interest in physical activities, and climbing stairs didn’t even make it on the list. Especially the mammoth staircases of public libraries.
With a resigned look, he made his way up the significantly-less-painful-than-he’d-made-them-out-to-be stairs and into the main section of the library. Finally he saw another person. Sitting at the desk, reading what appeared to be an 1000 page book on puffins, was a silvery-blond haired teen, maybe a year younger than Eduard at most.
He didn’t look up when the other reached the top of the stairs, probably not noticing that there was anyone else in the building. The boy seemed bored, but not with the subject. Eduard moved forward awkwardly, trying to make enough noise to alert the other to his presence.
Only when he had reached the desk did the other look up, “Yes?”
Eduard raised an eyebrow at the bored tone. Didn’t he learn how to interact with customers? Oh, whatever. It’s not like he was having a better day himself, “Any chance you have the internet password?”
The boy snorted, “If I did, d’you think I’d be reading something as old as this? Do you know how difficult it is for me to not pen in corrections on all the out-of-date information?”
The blond froze, “So I can’t access the internet?”
“Sorry,” he shrugged, not really sounding like he cared.
“What the hell am I going to do, then? My brother just up and took my computer,” Eduard mumbled, more to himself than the other. But it did catch the boy’s attention, “You have an annoying brother too?”
Eduard laughed, “Try three.”
“Might as well say four, for me, even though most of them are cousins or friends of each other. Yippie-kay-yay, right?”
“Yeah.”
The boy scrutinized him for a minute before extending his hand, “Emil.”
“Eduard,” he accepted.