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frank and illi hardly got any quiet time. with school and their own rather chaotic home lives, they didn't get to hang out anywhere alone, unless you count the woods surrounding the school.
what they did have was the library. the very back corner. secluded and quiet, with a small window beaming a ray of sunshine.
frank laid on the ground, his head in illi's lap. illi herself was slouched against the corner between the wall and a bookshelf, one of her hands rested on frank's shoulder. she was gesticulating wildly with her free hand while complaining about the newest edition of fangoria and how they basically made a mockery of one of her favorite horror movies with their lackluster review.
frank, on the other hand, wasn't listening in the slightest. his mind was stuck on one thing; illi's lips. how they were moving while she spouted irritations like it was a spew of legal jargon on an instruction manual, but so much sweeter — well, the words were far from sweet, but the idea was there. all the talk of legal jargon without the boring-ness, he supposed. he loved watching her talk, anyway.
at the same time, he was damn near on the verge of falling asleep. illi was so comfortable it should've been a crime. it made him want to hold on and never let go.
but he didn't. his hands stayed to himself, folded over his stomach. letting his eyelids droop while he stared at illi, at her chapped lips, her impossibly smooth skin.
"they completely skipped over the best scene, too!" illi complained, whisper-yelling her frustrations to frank. "the entire movie is absolute art, and they just… they didn't understand any of it!"
frank just nodded and hummed, even though he didn't have the slightest idea of what illi was on about. he shifted, rolling onto his back to see illi better.
"maybe you could send, like… an angry letter to them or something," frank suggested jokingly. "tell them just how great it is and get them to take back their review of… that movie, and replace it with yours."
illi huffed and looked down at frank, lips quirking at the corners with a faint smirk. "i don't think you're even listening," she asked, raising an eyebrow. "what am i talking about?"
"pff, of course i am," lied frank. "you're talking about fangoria hating on, uh… what's-its-name… whatever it was called."
illi giggled. "dude, you don't have to pretend, it's okay," she laughed, and frank felt his face grow warmer with embarrassment and fluster. "i know the iero's aren't known for their attention span." her teasing was accompanied by a ruffle of frank's hair, which he happily leaned into.
"alright, fine, i didn't hear a single word of it. happy?" he chuckled, rolling back onto his side with his head still pillowed on illi's thigh. "can't help that i'm not a *huge nerd* like you are."
illi let out a mock-indignant gasp, placing a hand on her chest. "hey, i'm not a nerd! i just don't like when the best films of all time aren't given the respect they deserve," she huffed.
frank laughed yet again, trying not to alert the librarian that they were there. "uh-huh, like a total nerd would," he insisted, his lip ring glinting in the sunlight shining on his face. "i've never seen anyone get as worked up over a bad review as you have."
illi let out a "hmph," crossing her arms over her navy blue blazer. frank pushed himself to sit up, settling beside illi and leaning against the wall, their shoulders touching. "you're just mad that i'm right," he grinned.
then frank's head rested on illi's shoulder. similarly, illi rested her own against frank's head. "whatever," was all she said, while wrapping an arm around frank's shoulders. she sighed, shutting her eyes.
"what time is it?" she mumbled, and frank strained his eyes to see the clock across the room. "uh… 12:26," he answered, frowning. "lunch is almost over."
illi whined, and frank patted her thigh in a gesture of both camaraderie and reluctant encouragement. "we gotta get outta here if we don't wanna miss class."
"we never get enough time together," she complained, and frank sighed in agreement. "i know," he commiserated. "at least we still have 5th period together?"
"you're all the way across the room from me though," she quickly rebutted, frowning. "it isn't fair. we shouldn't even have to go to this stupid school."
"i know," frank repeated. he sat up, away from illi's warm embrace, and stretched his arms above his head. "come on, we gotta get going," he breathed, standing up and reaching his hand down to hold illi's.
she tried to pout, but a smile was cracking at the corners of her lips. she took frank's hand and stood, and they made their way out of the library to face the rest of their day, as together as they could manage to be in this hellhole.