It was the dead of night, and a certain rabbit was tiptoeing through the Order library.
When Lavi made sure that no one was looking (especially not Panda-jiji), he slid a book off of the shelf above him. Then, with one last sideways look, he opened the book and smelled it deeply.
It was his dirty little secret—he loved sniffing books…sort of like how others might love sniffing glue. It was addicting and exciting, giving him thrills each time he smelled one of those leatherbound beauties.
To him, the aroma of a book was lovelier than any perfume. The light and sweet fragrance of the paper was balanced by the heavier and richer-smelling leather. To add a surprise to it, the ink drizzled a little bit of acidity into the combo.
If you think of it this way, a book to him was similar to a good salad.
If a book didn't smell "booky" enough, he wouldn't read it. And considering the number of books he's read (and smelled), he wasn't picky.
"Getting high off of books again, baka usagi?" an amused voice asked from the shadows. Lavi jumped, glancing around frantically before spotting the owner of the voice.
His eyes narrowed while Kanda stepped out from the behind the bookcase.
While the Bookman-in-training was out of it, the Japanese male plucked the book from Lavi's hands. He too, drew the book up close and took a long whiff.
Correction- this was their dirty little secret. Both of them loved to sniff books.
Kanda, though, had his own reasons. He didn't really like the sour-milk smell of the bug intestines ink, or the burnt skin smell of the crumbling leather.
Instead, he smelled books all for the paper.
Paper smelled of home…his real home. Kanda has many memories of Japan, but the one that stood out the most was the shoji screen door. Through that door, many things, both good and bad, arrived and left.
The smell was almost identical as well: a sweet, slightly bitter smell like green tea.
"Yuu-chan, don't be so mean!" Lavi pouted, and snatched the book back while Kanda was snapping out of his phase.
"Che. Who's the mean one now?" Kanda replied, and took another book down from the shelf. While they savored the books, they interlocked their hands unconsciously.
It just felt right…just like sniffing books.
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Heh. My original (and better, but smuttier and more LaYu-ish) was deleted by my dad in a spaz attack.
So…I had to rewrite it. And I took away much of the LaYu stuff because it made no sense at all in this story about sniffing books.
And also, if you've ever smelled a book, you'd realize that it's not as good as those two exorcists think. Paper smells faintly like green tea, but also like those burnt charcoal briquettes and something like rubber tire bits. The ink smells…terrible. That's the only word for it. And the leather?
Smell your belt. Then you'll know.
~Chuu-chan~