Summary: SPAMANO- Lovino forgets his book in class one day. He doesn’t think anything of it when he initially retrieves it, until he notices his bookmark’s been replaced! What the hell sort of note is this supposed to be? And what kind of idiot leaves a note in a random library book anyway? Obviously not one who would remember to sign their name. (Fic exchange with @codevassie)

Has anyone ever told you just how wonderful books are?
For one thing, they allow you to escape from your hellhole of a life. But, more
than that, they’re just so entertaining I find. What was before a dreary day
becomes a world full of fantastical wonders, interesting people, and wise,
thought-provoking dialogue.

Books allow you to think without having to actually
think, if you get what I mean. Your dull day-to-day adventures take a backseat;
page my page you reach your emotional limit of how much heartbreak, gore, and
betrayal you can withstand. Books challenge your wits by having you guessing at
what happens next, only to have something completely unexpected happen and
shock you into a reverie of other possibilities.

Life? Life is predictable and boring.

But as for books? Books are never boring; they keep you
on your toes, or rather, finger tips as you flip through them

I’ve always been an average person. When I read a book,
however, I’m no longer that average person. I see the story through the eyes of
the protagonist. I am a willing and active participant in their journey through
my imagination alone.

That’s why I read. I read to forget how mediocre real
life is. I am a nobody-turned somebody with just one flip of the page. I aspire
and idolize about what I could become should I adopt some of the traits of my
favourite characters. I imagine how cool I’d be if I lived in that fantastical
universe.

Unfortunately, most people do not share this profound
sentiment of mine for books. In fact, my going to the school library everyday
at lunch was interpreted as stand-offish. Some were even bold enough to say
that I lived in my own world. And perhaps I did. Even so, what I did was none
of their fucking business.

This high school was awful to begin with. It was a harsh
reality filled with crude, loud, and dumb people who only cared about
themselves and their petty social relations. My little brother, Feliciano, was
one of those people. He had befriended everyone in the school, smiling for even
those whom were secretly jealous of his natural popularity and despised him.

On the other hand, I was known as Feliciano’s snappy
older brother with a sour attitude. People avoided me, which was unnecessary
because I already kept to myself. I didn’t have much friends, and it’s not like
I needed any either. I couldn’t stand how fake people were.

I also couldn’t
keep up with false pretenses in real life. Books were my guilty pleasure in
that sense; I could live a lie without actually having to lie to anyone but
myself.

It was better this way anyway.

The bell for lunch rang, and I was quick to gather my books
and leave the Math room. The class was held in the Seniors’ wing, which only
meant trouble for a single junior like me. Bella and Eliza meant well – despite
being annoying as hell sometimes – but I really wasn’t interested in developing a love life.

The fact that I was an open bisexual only widened their
matchmaking possibilities. I had a chronic problem of always being polite
towards girls, and Bella and Eliza had unfortunately interpreted this as their
invitation to become my ‘love mentors’.

And what a horrifying prospect that was. Besides, it was
pointless to even attempt matching me with someone. Sooner or later, my sarcasm
or perpetual irritability would scare off any potential suitors. Thus, to
prevent this potential rejection from happening, I did what I did best: run
away from my problems, find myself an isolated spot, and bury my nose into the
spine of a book.

That’s why everyday after Math, it was a race to see
whether the prey would escape the hunters. Today, I just so happened to be
lucky.

I poked my head out into the hallway, and upon seeing
that the coast was clear, I left for my own locker. Bella and Eliza weren’t in
sight, and I didn’t exactly care to wait around for them. Any minute now and
they would come bolting around the corner, looking for a good place to corner
me.

Just in case, I ducked my head, maneuvering through the
loud crowds in the hallway until I reached my locker in the Junior’s wing.
Feliciano was a sophomore, but his stoic, emotional bastard of a boyfriend was
a Junior like myself. Hence the reason why Feliciano and the potato had their
lockers next to me. Ugh.

That’s another thing about myself, if you haven’t already
noticed. On paper, I’m eloquent and well-spoken, but speak to me in real life
and all I can manage to usher out is a grunt, a profane curse word, and maybe
an eye roll or two if I bother to waste such precious energy. It was like
comparing a politician to a near-speechless caveman. Speaking wasn’t my forte,
I’ll just leave it at that.

Feliciano exploded like a chatting bomb the moment I
began fidgeting with my lock combination, my books tucked under my elbows. I could
already feel my ears ringing as he continued to enlighten me with every detail
of his last class.

“Lovi! How was Math! I’m guessing great, since you’re so
so so smart! Aren’t you going to ask me how Art class went? It went great, just
in case you were wondering! I painted a water-colour of Luddy, and you know
what he said? He said that it looked just like him! He even wants to frame it!
Isn’t that right, Luddy?”

“That’s great,” I mumbled, going unheard us per usual.

Ludwig’s looked at the ground, embarrassed and trying to
shrink in on himself despite being the size of a fucking skyscraper. “Feli,
please, don’t say things like that so loud,” he groaned. “People are going to
hear you.”

“So?” Feliciano beamed. “People deserve to know just how
much I love you. Did you hear that everyone? I LOVE LUDWIG AND HIS PRETTY BLUE
EYES!”

While I put my school books into my locker, I’m pretty
sure I heard a now red-faced Ludwig repeatedly bang his head against the wall. Ha!
Serves that potato bastard right. His pain was my gain.

“Anyways~!” Feliciano trilled, grinning from ear to ear.
He pulled out his lunch thermos, which surprise-surprise, contained enough
pasta to feed an entire village. “Would you like to have lunch with us, Lovi?
It’s finally beginning to get warm out! Besides, you look like you could use
some sun. The winter’s made you unnaturally pale, fratello.”

I waved off Feliciano with a lazy hand motion. “Can’t,” I
answered, stuffing a forkful of my own pasta lunch into my mouth. The library
had a no-food rule, so I always had to rush-eat my lunch if I wanted to spend
time there during the break. “I want to finish this book I’m reading and find a
new one to take home tonight.”

“But Lovi,” Feliciano whined. “You can’t just spend your
entire high school life in the library.”

“Watch me,” I smirked. My smile faltered as I put my
emptied thermos back into my bag. I peaked over the top shelf of my locker,
only to find that the book I was reading wasn’t there.

“Crap!” I facepalmed.

Feliciano cocked his head to the side. “What is it?”

“I must have forgotten my book back in the classroom,” I
said waving over my shoulder at Feliciano. I had half the mind to stick up my
middle finger at Ludwig, but it appeared that his older brother Gilbert was
already giving him a hard time because of Feliciano’s earlier comment.

“I’ll see you after school!” I called out.

“Don’t forget that it’s Friday.” Feliciano shouted back.

“Yeah, yeah! You cook the pasta, and I’ll rent the
movies. Have we ever celebrated the end of the week differently?”

“Nope~!”

Feliciano and I said our goodbyes one last time before I
set off towards the Math classroom.

Thankfully, Bella and Eliza were busy matchmaking
elsewhere.

Currently, they were dragging a blond, green-eyed Brit
into the girl’s bathroom against his will. I did a quick motion of the cross
when I saw that Bella was holding several bottles of hair gel and hair spray,
while Eliza had a pair of scissors and tweezers in stow. I honestly didn’t want
to know. I had witnessed nothing, as
far as I was concerned.

As expected, the book I was reading was resting in the
metal basket underneath my desk.

With forty minutes left before lunch ended, I then headed
towards the library with the intent of finishing my book and finding a new one
to read.

Entering the library, I was welcomed with a cool gust
from the air-conditioned vents. Another perk of the library was that other than
the office, it was the only place in the school that was heat and body-odour
free.

The nameless senior who regularly volunteered at the
front desk looked up from his lunch (how unfair) to meet my gaze, his green
eyes kind in welcome. I nodded my head in acknowledgement before heading for my
usual cubicle at the back of the library.

As stated before, I wasn’t a very chatty person. I saw
that senior on a regular basis outside of the library as well. He was friends
with Gilbert and Francis, and had his locker next to Bella and Eliza, but I’ve
never actually talked to him before. Although, judging by his choice of
friends, perhaps it was better that we only knew each other by face. Even if he
was…admittedly attractive…

…There was just something about him that unnerved me. He
was too perfect with his sun-kissed tan skin, pearly white smile, and lean
physique. He was one of those angel-types that you couldn’t help but be a
little envious of. I wanted to hate him but I couldn’t, you know? So, all I was
left with feeling was mild irritation for not being as likeable as him.

Regardless, I’m getting off point, and I wanted to finish
this book. All was swell until I realized that the spot where I had dog-eared
my place had been smoothed out. Instead, a bookmark was placed at the back of
the book.

Furrowing my brows, I turned over the red bookmark,
finding that a note was taped underneath it. The handwriting was messy, and
there were several smears of ink and food stains. I could barely read it
without getting a headache. It was my curiosity which drove me to look into it
further:

Hello!

I’ve
noticed you have a love for books too, so I thought I would share some of my
favourites with you!

Let’s
play a game. Every time you finish a book, leave it by the desk in front of the
printer. You know, the one beside the Librarian’s station?

Each
day, I’ll leave a new bookmark with another title of a new book for you to
read. All the books I’ll recommend to you can be finished within a day!

How
does that sound? (We’ll start Monday, if you’re up for it!)

Fun,
right?

Well,
to start, you should totally check out “The Prince’s Whisper”

Happy
reading 😀

Confused and agitated, I snapped the book shut. What the
hell sort of note was that supposed to be?! A joke? And why the hell was there
a doodle of a tomato on the bottom? Also, what kind of idiot leaves a note in a
library book anyway? Obviously one dumb enough not to remember to sign their
name.

“What the hell?!” I spluttered out loud.

“Shhh!”

“Oh, fuck you and your Mom,” I replied to the unknown
‘shusher’. I didn’t hear from them again.

Disgruntled, I finished the book I was reading with
twenty minutes left to spare. I then pondered over the mysterious note,
concluding that the book scavenger hunt couldn’t hurt me if it was indeed real.
I was always looking for new books to read.

The only problem now was that I would have to ask for
help. Normally, I just searched through the bookshelves until I came across a
book that looked interesting enough. Unfortunately, this book scavenger hunt
left me with no other option but to seek that senior’s help at the front desk.
I mean, I could always just search for the book myself, but it would take a
whole lot longer, and I was already running out of time.

And so, that’s why I found myself standing before said
oblivious senior. Said senior was slumped over the front desk, his head of
messy brown hair buried into his arms, fast asleep.

What an idiot.

I should have just looked for the book myself.

I cleared my throat. “Um, excuse me?”

The senior jolted awake, gasping. His eyes then fell on
me and his face reddened with embarrassment, although, with his tanned skin it
came off as pink. “Oh, um sorry!” he apologized, nervously rubbing the back of
his neck. “I wasn’t expecting anyone! People mostly just study in here.”

“So,” I waved around a card that had the title of the
book the mysterious note writer had recommended to me. “You won’t help me
then?”

The senior waved his hand so abruptly that he had knocked
over his water bottle. “No! I mean…of course, of course. Just one moment!”

I watched with incredulous eyes as the senior opened the
wooden gate of the front desk, nearly tripping over his feet. “Dio,” he
muttered to himself. “I should listen to Francis more often! I can’t believe
this actually worked!”

SMACK!

The senior did in fact trip this time, catching himself
on a nearby desk.

I repeat: what an idiot.

I raised an eyebrow in question. “Are you all right?”

The senior laughed nervously, blushing again. “Si, si!
I’m fine! Great actually! Now, let’s help you find this book,” he said, taking
the card from me. “Oh, you’re in luck! I know where exactly where this one is.
We don’t even have to use the computer. Follow me.”

“Huzzah,” I muttered sarcastically, following the senior
as he excitedly turned into the fiction section of the library.

I watched as he clumsily bumped into several people, chairs,
and cubicles. It was like he wasn’t paying attention at all to where he was
going. Yup, he was most definitely an idiot. He reminded me of an excited
puppy: he lacked coordination, and his wagging tail thumped against and knocked
over just about anything within reach.

“You must not be asked for help a lot, huh?” I inquired.

“You’re right! That’s why I’m so excited to finally help
someone find a book! All I do is sit at a desk all break and do nothing. I
finally get to move now! The name’s Antonio, by the way. I see you here all the
time. It’s funny because we’ve never spoken before, even after a whole year!”

“Yeah…” I trailed off, a bit put-off by how chatty this
guy, correction, Antonio was. “Well, the name’s Lovino. I’m a junior, which is
probably why we haven’t talked until now.”

Antonio stopped abruptly, humming and muttering under his
breath as he ran his finger along the spines of several books. “Well that’s no
fun,” he replied, pressing his lips into a pout. “We’re only a year apart.
Juniors and seniors can talk, you know. I don’t meet many people who appreciate
books as much as I do. It’s nice to meet you, Lovino.”

“Pleasure. And how do you know that I like books?” I
asked dryly, tapping my foot against the ground, a stern expression on my face.

I didn’t see the brief flash of worry that crossed over
Antonio’s face.

“I told you!” Antonio happily exclaimed, crouching down a
shelf when he didn’t find the book he was looking for. “I see you here all the
time! You do nothing but read! It’s pretty admirable, actually. I usually have
to stop after a while because I get headaches. But you, you read as if your
life depends on it!”

“I like reading,” I mumbled lamely.

“I know! I can tell,” Antonio stated the obvious.

“Aha!” Antonio exclaimed, pulling out a book from the
bottom-most shelf. “There she is,” he said proudly, standing straight and
holding out the book for me to take.

I felt a bit uncomfortable, reluctantly acknowledging
that he was several inches taller than me and much more muscular. Fuck, he
really was perfect. “Ah, um, thanks,” I responded oh so brilliantly, wanting
nothing more than to place a pillow to my face and scream my head off for how
awkward I was acting.

Antonio handed the book to me with a sunny smile. “Enjoy,
and don’t be afraid to ask for help next time!”

“Next time,” I repeated blankly, still too flustered to
look him in the eye. He was too much to handle: too happy, too nice…too
there…too real…

Antonio mistook this as me asking him a question.

“I-I m-mean, you’ll be looking for more books, si?”
Antonio stammered.

“Hmmm?” I murmured, flipping open and looking over the
book; seemed interesting enough. “Yeah, sure. Thanks again.”

I turned to leave.

“Hey, Lovino?”

“Yeah?”

“See you around? It’d be nice to chat with you some
more.”

I felt a weird fluttering in my chest. Antonio looked at
me with so much hope that I couldn’t dare to disappoint him. Not with those
puppy dog eyes he was giving me. You would have to be a monster to say no to
him. I wonder how many people he’s manipulated into getting his way just by
using them?

Either way, to my shock, Antonio genuinely looked like he
had enjoyed our brief time spent together.

That was quite unexpected. Perhaps even unthinkable. I
would have never dreamed of predicting something like this to happen to me.
Especially in a library of all places.

This boy was trouble, trouble for making me like another
person other than myself and Feliciano.

“All right,” I agreed, surprising myself when I felt my cheeks
stretch into a faint smile. Antonio’s own smile was wider and brighter than the
entire room. “I’d like that too.”

Talk about unpredictable.

…

The past week and a half was spent in a never-ending
chase. Each morning, I’d enter the library, finding a new title to read in the
book I had left on the desk by the library’s printer, as instructed. And at the
end of each day, I’d leave my finished book in the same place.

I still had no idea who was leaving me these
recommendations, and I was beginning to become impatient. I hadn’t been
disappointed with any of the books recommended to me. They were all so good.
It’s like the person knew exactly what I liked: fantasy, with a bit of romance,
but mostly just coming of age stories.

Antonio stood by the library’s front desk, impatiently
awaiting my daily arrival. He really did remind me of a dog.

“Hola, Lovi! What book will it be today?”

Oh yeah. Now that I was regularly asking for Antonio’s
help, we had struck up an odd kind of friendship. He must have warmed up to
people really fast because now he never stopped talking. I already had
Feliciano to deal with, damn it. I could do without another chatty person in my
life.

Unfortunately, Antonio had a tendency to push himself
into other people’s business. He was also really thoughtful, seeing as how he
packed an extra tomato in his lunch just for me. I’m telling you, the idiot
knew everything about me. Each day, I was met with several questions on his
part. Obviously, he was trying to get to know me, so I didn’t mind telling him
things here and there.

Honestly, he was my first friend, and despite how silly
and airheaded he was to be around, it was just nice to have someone to talk to.

“I thought I told you not to call me Lovi, bastard,” I
grumbled, handing Antonio the slip with the new book title written on it.

“But I think Lovi’s cute!” Antonio pouted, causing me to
sigh and roll my eyes. “Plus, good friends use nicknames for each other.

“Fine, whatever. Let’s just find this book already.”

Although I didn’t respond to it, I was secretly glad that
Antonio thought of me as a friend. It flattered me a lot more than I thought it
would. He was used to my clipped rudeness, so he didn’t take offence to my
silence; another aspect about him that I liked. I could be myself around
Antonio without having to worry about being reprimanded.

Antonio determinately nodded his head, figurative tail
wagging like crazy.

I followed him into the fantasy section, where he pulled
out my next book to read. I accepted the book from him, inspecting it over. Not
bad, not bad at all. I did love myself a good medieval magic fable every now
and then.

“You read through books really fast, huh?” Antonio asked.

“I suppose so,” I replied.

Then something dawned on me. Antonio spent time in the
library both during lunch and after school. He must have seen the mysterious
note writer enter the library at some point or another. Surely, he could help
me figure out who this person was?

“Say bastard?” I asked, ignoring Antonio tsking at my
foul language. He could take it or leave it.

“Hmmm?” Antonio responded, crossing his arms like a stern
mother hen. He was only a year older than me for Christ’s sake. Did he always
have to be so patronizing?

“You volunteer at the library after school, right?”

“S-si,” Antonio spluttered, giving me a questioning look.
“Why?”

“Can I ask you a favor?”

“Sure! Anything!” Antonio eagerly nodded his head.
“That’s what friends are for, right?”

“Uh…yeah,” I agreed. I would never understand how anyone
could get excited so easily. I could say I wanted to murder someone, and
Antonio would agree without even listening to me. Everything I do, Antonio will
inevitably accept, just because his “Lovi” is interested in it. He praised me
like a God, and it unnerved me.

“Anyway,” I continued. “I’m going to let you in on a
secret, so keep it down.”

“All right,” Antonio crouched over, playfully placing an
index over his lips. “What is it?”

Stop
looking so cute, damn it.

“You know how I leave my books on the desk beside the
printer when I’m done with them?”

“Si, it’s because you’re just too lazy to put them back,”
Antonio fondly snickered.

“Of course not!” I hissed, whacking him on the back of
the head. “Dio, you’re such an idiot. I have a lot more respect for books than
that, che.”

“Ay!” Antonio whined.

I inhaled deeply, calming myself down before I considered
murdering Antonio. The thought crossed my mind very often when I was with him.

“Look, there’s someone in this library leaving notes for
me at the end of every book I read. They give me book recommendations, like
this one,” I held up the book in my hand. “That’s why I’ve been taking out so
many books lately. And that’s why I leave the books I finish at that specific desk. The deal is that I
read the book, place it on the desk when I’m finished with it, and once I’m
gone, they leave a note containing a new title for me to read.”

“Oh,” Antonio hummed, swallowing heavily. “That’s…interesting.
How long has this been going on for? D-do you know who they are?”

“A little over a week, and I have no idea,” I sighed.
“They’re too much of a coward to leave a name. But you can help me, since
you’re practically here all the time. I’d like you to watch that specific desk after school today
and report back to me if you see anyone
or anything suspicious. I have a
feeling that they leave the notes once school is over.”

“…Maybe they’re just shy?” Antonio proposed, fidgeting
with his hands.

“Who cares about that!” I snapped. “I just want to know
who they are. They’ve given me some fantastic reads, and I want to properly thank
them for it. So, will you help me or not?”

Antonio’s lips eventually curled into a grin, although it
seemed a bit more forced than usual. “Okay, Lovi!” he agreed. “I’ll keep an eye
out for them! You can count on me!”

“Good,” I nodded my head. “I appreciate it.”

“I appreciate you,” Antonio mumbled to himself, which
obviously went unheard by me because the Universe just likes to tease and
torture me so.

Turns out I could be just as dense and oblivious as
Antonio.

Who would have thought?

…

My first mistake was trusting Antonio to use what little
brain cells he had. I conveniently forgot that the Spaniard had the attention span
of a walnut.

…

“Hola, Lovi!~!”

“Yeah, yeah, bastard. So, did you catch the person?!”

“…I might have…um….fallen asleep by accident, eheh.
Sorry.”

“-?!”

…

“Hola, Lovi~!”

“Did. You. Catch. The. Person?”

“No…but I did snapchat a muy adorable video of a squirrel
hanging on the window.”

“-?!”

…

“Hola, Lovi~!”

“You didn’t catch the person, did you?”

“…No…There was a two for one special for Quesadillas at
Mucho Burrito. I couldn’t miss it!”

“Agh! You’re useless!”

“Ay! That’s not nice! Would you…like a Quesadilla?”

“-?!”

…

Since it was clear that Antonio wasn’t going to catch
this person for me – by virtue of incompetence – I decided to take things into
my own hands. I pretended to leave after school, and when I was sure that no
one was looking, I hid myself in the lounge at the front of the library. I was
stowed away behind a bookshelf, peaking through the cracks to have a bird’s eye
view of the desk beside the printer.

I was going to catch this person, damn it.

I wanted to know who they were.

I wanted to thank them…

Perhaps I even wanted to become their friend.

I didn’t take my eyes off that specific desk. Even when…Antonio walked towards it. What was
that bastard doing?! He was going to scare away the mysterious note writer!

Oh…

Oh…Shit…

Antonio was
placing a note at the back of the book I had
left there.                                      

I inhaled sharply, my thoughts leaping to connect the
dots of all the clues I had been too oblivious to piece together. Not once when
Antonio helped me find a book did he ever use the computer to locate where they
were. He must have already read them previously.

The tomato doodles left on the notes was exactly what an
idiot like him would do. That bastard sure did love his tomatoes.

He had even defended the mysterious note writer when I
had called them a coward. Why? Because he was the one writing the notes
himself!

It all made sense now! No wonder Antonio never caught the
person writing the notes. It’s not like he wanted to out himself. This would
explain all those horrible excuses he had used on me. I mean, really? Turtles
don’t need to be walked. And since when do people iron their shin pads?

The only question now was why? Why did he want to keep
himself anonymous?

Too bad I let my temper get the best of me. I didn’t
think anything through as I stood up and stomped over to Antonio, pointing my
finger at him as if we were in an overly melodramatic fanfiction piece.

“Oi! Bastard! It was you all along, wasn’t it?!”

Antonio dropped the book on the desk as if it were
scalding hot. For good measure, he took several steps back. He looked like a
deer in the headlights with widened eyes and trembling lips. He clearly hadn’t
been expecting me to stake him out like this. “N-no! I just…I wanted to see if
I recognized their writing, that’s all!”

“Oh yeah?” I leered, snatching the book from the table.
“Let’s compare them then, shall we?”

I ripped out the note from the back of the book, glared
at Antonio, and then strode off towards the front desk. I picked up a sheet of
Antonio’s math homework, which surprise-surprise, had a similar doodle of a
tomato on it.

“Care to explain this?” I snapped, holding up the
evidence for him to see. He was backed in a corner, and wouldn’t be getting out
of this any time soon.

Antonio bowed his head.

“Busted,” I smirked. “So, Antonio. Enlighten me with your
idiocy. What could have possibly motivated you to do something like this?”

Antonio looked up at me, guilt written on his facial
expression. “Well, I’ve seen you reading here for a while now, but I was always
too shy to talk to you. My friend Gilbert also told me that you were rude and
mean, so that put me off a bit. My other friend Francis then came up with the
idea to communicate with you via notes. It was pretty simple, really. You would
ask for my help, and we could become friends that way. I planned on stopping
the notes once we became good enough friends, and I knew that you would talk to
me without needing a reason. Now I see how immature and childish I was in going
about it…I guess I just wanted an excuse to talk to you…”

Books
challenge your wits by having you guessing at what happens next, only to have
something completely unexpected happen and shock you into a reverie of other
possibilities…

Antonio’s confession caught me off guard. I hadn’t been
expecting such a sweet and genuine response from him. I would have never
guessed that someone actually wanted to befriend me. I wasn’t just flattered; I
was embarrassed that it had taken me this long to realize Antonio’s true
intentions. Life had always been predictable for me. And then there was
Antonio, an oblivious, silly anomaly that had an annoying tendency to get on my
nerves and keep me on my toes.

Perhaps it was this unpredictability that made me like
him so much.

I cleared my throat, failing miserably to get my heart to
settle back into my chest. “Okay, first of all. Gilbert’s an idiot, you
shouldn’t ever listen to him. The same goes with Francis; all he knows is how
to be a pervert.”

Antonio frowned.

“But,” I held up a finger. “This is quite possibly the
dumbest, sweetest thing someone’s ever done for me, so thank you. All your book
recommendations were wonderful, truly. Although, I’m still trying to wrap my
head around this. You could have just sat with me? I don’t bite, you know. I
may be rude and sarcastic at first, but I don’t actually mean any of it.”

Hope sparked in Antonio’s eyes, his lips slowly lilting
into its residual sunny smile. “I told you, didn’t I? I was shy and didn’t know
how to approach you. You were basically unreachable; I’ve never seen anyone be
so into the books they read.”

“Well then,” I huffed, extending a hand for Antonio to
shake. “Hello, sir dumbass. My name is Lovino. Would you care to sit with me,
read some books, and discuss their meaning afterwards?”

I swear to God, Antonio’s face lit up like a Christmas
tree.

“Shake my hand, bastard,” I growled under my breath.
“This is getting awkward.”

“Oh!” Antonio snapped out of his daze, one where he had
been grinning like an idiot at mere air. “Hola, Lovi. The name’s Antonio, and I
would love to do that with you. Perhaps afterwards, I could walk you home?”

“It’s a deal,” I smiled, the widest one I’ve worn in a
long time. “And Antonio?”

“Si?”

“Thank you.”

The room’s temperature increased by several degrees. “De nada,”
Antonio replied. His smile was almost becoming blinding at this point.

Antonio and I then set off towards the back of the
library, finding a table to sit at.

As we read twin copies of the same book, I couldn’t stop
myself from staring at him. I had finally found someone who shared my love of
reading. Sure, we were different, really, really,
different, in fact, but in the end, we balanced each other out.

Antonio’s brows were furrowed in concentration, the tip
of his tongue poking out of his mouth. He hummed under his breath as he read,
which caused me to smile to myself.

Just then, Antonio looked up to meet my gaze, cocking his
head to the side like a confused puppy. When he suggestively wriggled his brows
at me, my throat constricted and my heart raced in my chest.

Crap.

I would have never predicted developing a crush on such
an idiot.

Who’s the idiot now?

 ~The End