Settling Down with a Book

Camille wandered into the library humming happily under his breath. It had been too long since he last sat down and read. He had never really been all that good with words (he was more of a visual person), but he enjoyed looking at the illustrations in books and the comics of the last century or so were really entertaining. The boy gazed at the bookshelf, eyes flicking over the volumes. Oh. There was a comic there. He picked it up. Hmmn. Japanese. Aijin Incubus?

Opening the manga, his eyes skimmed over the pictures. Wait. That was...

He slammed the manga closed with a flustered squeak. People read that?! The boy put it back on the shelf cautiously, as though he were worried it would explode, his face bright red. He had never seen an octopus be used like that. He shuddered. Never. Again.

Jason hummed as he walked, eyes skimming over the books. He dragged his fingers across their spines as he looked at each title, dust gathering underneath them.

Despite what people think, he was a fairly avid reader. Though, not by choice (originally). His family often pushed him to read a lot due to his weak power and senses.

Noticing red at the end of the aisle, he squinted his eyes, making out his 'little brothers' shape.

His humming died down and his face split into a grin as he bounced over to his 'little brother', wrapping his arms around the boy, hugging him from be hind.

"Hello~" He sang, poking his 'little brothers' flushed cheek. It was almost as red as his hair. Raising a shaped eyebrow he poked the boy's cheek again, wondering what made the boy get so flustered?

"Eep!"

Camille almost jumped out of his skin as his "older brother" seemed to magically appear at the worst timing possible. His cheeks flushed even deeper if possible, and he squirmed in embarrassment in Jace's arms, scrunching up his face as the taller man poked him.

"Umm... hello..."

He relaxed his grip a little as he felt the boy squirm under his grasp.

Letting out a slight giggle as the boys face scrunched up, he poked it again.

"What got you so flustered?"

He poked the cheek for a forth time, jade eyes drifting up to look at what the boy was looking for. He almost had to double take when he saw what category they were in.

"Adult fiction?!" His body shook slightly as he let out a short laugh for a second.

"Why, and here I thought my little brother was innocent."

He flushed even deeper, if possible, wriggling out of Jace's grasp. "I am." he whined. "I just didn't see the category, that's all."

Not that anyone would believe that, he thought gloomily. Why did he get the feeling that this was going to come back to get him in the future? His arms crossed defensively, avoiding Jace's eyes.

"I'm going to find Alice in Wonderland." he pouted, starting to wander off across the library.

"Right, because the giant red sign is hard to miss." He joked, letting the boy escape his grasp. Other then the little jab, he took the boys word.

Glancing over at the bookshelf, full of 'adult' books, he raised an eyebrow at them, a little question popping in his head.

As he began to follow his 'little brother' on his search for 'Alice in Wonderland' he asked: "So, what book did you pick up then that made you so flustered?"

Camille flashed a silencing glare back at Jace at the jibe, rummaging through the shelves of the children's and teen's section, but so flustered that he wasn't even paying attention to what he was doing anyway.

"Can't remember. Something Japanese." the boy mumbled, urging his blush to go down. It wasn't working.

He would never hear the end of this. He just knew it. That was obvious by the stupid glint in the stupid man's stupid eye. The red head pouted, sulking.

"Japanese? Oh, have you found one of their very interesting comics?" Now that the thought about, that seemed like the most likely reason. "That, or you can read Japanese."

Grin in place, he wrapped an arm around his 'little brother's' shoulder. His other hand pushed a cheek up, forcing a lopsided smile out of the boy. He had a feeling the redhead was the master of the puppy eyes with out even trying.

"You know, you are not going to get all the boys and girls pouting like that. Unless you want to be drowning in teddies, chocolate and 'get well' cards."

He blushed deeper if possible, as Jace hit the nail on the head. "Shut up!" he whined. "I don't want to talk about it."

His face screwed up as the taller vampire tried to mould his expression into a smile, glaring up at him sulkily before turning back to the shelf, face lighting up in hope as he found what he was looking for.

"Why don't we talk about this instead?" he tried to move the conversation on, a little childishly. "I like the cheshire cat best because he's funny and..."

The boy trailed off, unsure of what to say.

Jason laughed in amusement again as he watched the boy try and change the direction of the conversation. He squished the boys face between his fingers for a second, making him pull a 'fishface'.

"He is a pretty popular character. So popular, I once saw this Japanese comic with him in it in a interesting position with a male Alice."

"You're never going to shut up about this are you?" he mumbled, his voice muffled by the "fish-face" Jace was forcing him to make.

He would never live this down. Every time Jace wanted to wind him up, he would bring out the "adult comic" story, every time he wanted to embarrass him, every time he needed blackmail material... The boy made an unamused expression up at the man, which was kind of spoiled by the "fish face".

His grin stretched, and he let out another short laugh at the scowl aimed at him.

"That is what big brothers are for~" He pulled away his hand from the boys face, leaving fingerprint sized red splodges from where he was squeezed the cheeks. "I know from plenty of experience. And, trust me, it could be worst."

Camille rubbed his face, his cheeks feeling slightly stiff, pouting. "Experience of big brothers, or experience of... that?" He nodded over to the "adult book" section, blushing again, unable to say the name of the damn genre.

He suspected it was probably both, somehow. Remembering the final thing the man said, his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"And how could it be worse?"

Jason blinked then snickered, trying to control his face muscles to not burst out laughing in surprise.

"For once, that was an innocent thing coming out of my mouth. But, yes, both of them can be worst."

He picked out a book from the self, looking over it's pastel covers before throwing it onto the top of the shelf in disinterest.

"One time, one of my brothers told me that the if you looked under a woman's skirt, you will find a pot of gold... Let's just say I had a black eye for almost a month."

He flushed, uncertain of whether to be happy that he had been funny, or embarrassed that it had been a stupid thing to say.

The boy giggled nervously at the anecdote. "You believed that? How old were you?"

He frowned a little in thought, scratching his cheek.

"I was only young... Between about six or ten... Not to sure. I guess whatever age where kids are still innocent and gullible."

He shrugged, flicked through a few more books before finally releasing Camille out of his one arm hug, heading over to a plush chair to collapse in it.

"So, what were you looking for originally? If it was true you were not looking for erotic comics." His grin spilt his face again at his jab at the redhead.

The boy broke away from Jace's grip, flushing at the jibe. "I was looking for this."

He waved the copy of "Alice in Wonderland". Beneath the humiliation, he was enjoying spending time with his "big brother". There wasn't really anyone else that he felt that he could talk to as freely as this. Jace was somehow an easy person to be around. He wasn't the kind of person that he had expected to become friends with, but somehow it worked.

But the taunts were still annoying.

"Just when I thought you had finally shut up about that." he sighed in exasperation.