throw your heart into reverse.

[13thopal.livejournal.com]

[sitting on a rung of a bookshelf ladder. he has a fairly easy book in his hand, but seems to have difficulty with it. his ears pin down.]

... damn it.

Comments

[prodigiousson.livejournal.com]

Are you all right?

[13thopal.livejournal.com]

[he glances up, ears flicking. eyes are narrowed, but he looks down and settles his glare on his book, face flushed with embarrassment.]

... q-quite fine.

[prodigiousson.livejournal.com]

If you say so but you do not necessarily seem it.

[13thopal.livejournal.com]

[would growl. ears just flatten down more.]

Pretty sure that everyone in this room would laugh at me if I told you my problem.

[prodigiousson.livejournal.com]

I do not think I would laugh at you. Besides, who is to say I would tell anyone at all?

[13thopal.livejournal.com]

[sighs irritably, looks up at him. tail is puffed and swaying, face is red and eyes flickering away.]

... I can't read.

[prodigiousson.livejournal.com]

That is not something that can't be easily fixed. You could learn it if you so wished.

[13thopal.livejournal.com]

[sighs, looks at him pointedly.]

You would think so, as a human who has probably learned how to read in their earlier stages. To one who's been kept in ignorance and has to learn now, it is incredibly difficult.

[prodigiousson.livejournal.com]

Than I am sorry. But if you were to find someone to teach you, you might be able to with much practice.

[13thopal.livejournal.com]

Hah. I'd be lucky to find someone who would have enough patience.

[prodigiousson.livejournal.com]

I am no scholar, but I could help you.

[owwie-my-head.livejournal.com]

Hey kitty, what're you reading? [he peers over the edge of the book to take a peek] It doesn't have a bad ending, right? I HATE BAD ENDINGS.

[llameante.livejournal.com]

[suddenly, Axel.]

I can tell you how it ends.

[13thopal.livejournal.com]

... I don't think that'd be very fair to you.

[13thopal.livejournal.com]

[he swallows and pulls back a little.]

I... don't know.

[13thopal.livejournal.com]

[--hofuck. flinches.]

... I'm more interested in the context.

[llameante.livejournal.com]

Oh~? In that case, it's usually better to begin at the beginning.

[owwie-my-head.livejournal.com]

So you haven't gotten to the end, yet? Aaah, I'm so nervous, what if it's bad?!

[13thopal.livejournal.com]

What, you've read The Outsiders before?

[13thopal.livejournal.com]

... it won't be the end of the world. It's just a book.

[llameante.livejournal.com]

Read a lot of books in my day, kid.

[he likes you because you're not trying to tear his head off for once-- yet. plops down.]

[13thopal.livejournal.com]

[glances over at him. ... tail isn't fluffed, what. this Axel is really starting to remind him of his own.]

... would you mind reading to m--

[sighs to self, pulls a knee to his chest.]

Mmn. How does it end?

[llameante.livejournal.com]

[picks up on that, but he won't call him out. instead, Axel has to think back to that particular story. he's pretty sure he's seen it before, so ...]

Let's just say that someone dies, and the hero's a changed man.

[memory-forger.livejournal.com]

[looks up to where he is] Don't like what you're reading?

[13thopal.livejournal.com]

[sighs. flips book shut.]

Sounds too much like home for my tastes.