Axy smirked when Falk blushed and nodded. “Yeah. I will… but it doesn’t matter.” He looked at Falk, unsure about why he was about to say it. “But I’m going to the Smoke.” He smiled at Falk. “You can have the book if you want. I don’t think I should take it.” He hated that he was leaving right after meeting his first friend.
Falk’s head snapped back up and his jaw dropped. He’d heard of the Smoke but he always figured they were just rumors. “Really? When? Why?” He’d always imagined the Smoke to be like the Rusty forests, where anything could happen at any second and you could be kidnapped or eaten by some unknown wild animal and he wasn’t sure why anyone would want to leave the safe city life for something as terrifying as that.
Axy smiled at Falk and pulled out a random book. “Cummings is a poet. I found one of his books once I keep it under my bed. But look.” He showed Falk the spine. “It’s like the author’s initials and then some other stuff. It must have been some universal way to organize them. But most are ruined. It sucks.”
Falk ran his fingers along the 300 plus year old book. His eyes widened and looked at Axy when he said he kept a book under his bed. “You took one back to Uglyville? Won’t you get in trouble if someone finds it?” Falk blushed and looked at his feet when he realized how bogus he probably sounded.
Axy looked at Falk and almost smiled. “Bisexual. Like… bi for two.” He shrugged. “Everyone did when I came out. Not that I knew what I was doing.” He licked his lips and looked down. “My favorite is a poet named E. E. Cummings.” He looked up at Falk and gave a small smile.
Falk nodded and smiled softly. “Bisexual…I don’t really like yelling. I’ve never yelled at anyone.” He put the book he was reading back on the shelf and turned back around to the rest of the library. “Who’s E. E. Cummings? And how did people find stuff in here? It’s so big…there must have been hundreds of books. Thousand, maybe.”
Axy looked at Falk and frowned. “It’s when…. I like boys… I like them the way I should like girls.” He sighed and was now expecting hate from Falk too. “He got lucky I guess. There were really pretty Rusties.” He put the book back on the shelf and turned to face Falk. “So… anything you want to yell at me cause I’m gay? I know plenty of slang for it.”
Falk picked up another book from the shelf, a novel. He began reading as Axy explained and talked. He looked back up at him, confused when he asked if he wanted to yell at him for being gay. “No…why would I want to yell at you?” He sighed and looked back down at the book. He knew everyone thought that liking the same sex was wrong but he’d never been one to dislike or hate people for trivial things such as sexuality. “I guess I’m gay too…but only half, because I also like girls. I just never knew the word for it so I never told anyone.”
Axy shrugged. “No one hung out with me when they found out I was gay and then I just came here instead of trying to meet people.” He stopped and looked around. “My favorite? Um… I know which one makes me laugh.” He lead Falk to a shelf and pulled out a thin book. “It’s called the ugly duckling. It’s like…. the Rusties predicted the future.”
“What’s gay?” Falk knew he’d heard the word before but it wasn’t often used so he had no idea what it meant. Falk followed the older boy to the shelf and took the book from him, opening it to the first page. He flipped through the pages, only skimming over the words. He felt sorry for the duckling and it reminded him of a lot of the uglies, including himself. “Yeah, only the duckling didn’t need a surge to become pretty.” He said, handing the book back to Axy.
Axy looked at the young boy and nodded. “That makes sense. I guess if I had friends I might feel the same. But who knows.” He looked up at the large building and nodded. “Yeah. Come on.” He took Falk’s hand gingerly and walked him into the dimly lit building. Most of the shelves were still there, but a lot of the books were missing or ruined. “This is it. The books are interesting. They tell about everything from the Rusty times.”.
Falk looked at the other boy confused, “You don’t have friends? Even I have friends and most people don’t even know my real name.” He blushed slightly when Axy took his hand but he didn’t flinch or pull away. He looked around at all the books, wondering what kind of tales the told of. “Which one’s your favorite?”
Hey Benji.
Falk! How are you?
I’m good, how are you?
Axy nodded and started walking in the direction of the library. He had removed his hand from Falk’s shoulder a bit hesitantly. “So why do you abide by the rules so much? Is it really fun to just hang out at the dorms all day?” He walked slower than usual, not wanting to accidentally lose Falk.
Falk shrugged and looked down at his feet as they walked. “It’s just easier to follow the rules. I always twitch too much when I try to do tricks so it’s just better to stay in the dorms with my friends, ya know?” Falk shrugged again and looked up the the old run down building from centuries ago. His eye ran over letters he couldn’t read and he wondered if Axy could, since he liked books. “Is this it?”
