He hadn’t expected him to suddenly weight shift, but thankfully Markus caught himself with a chuckle - easily though supporting Shiro in stark contrast to his own well being. “I can do that while you two go on ahead, I’ll catch up. Isn’t that far anyways,” his head lifted better, giving him light squeeze until he felt the grip loosen up. Markus freed him, putting his hands on his hips.
“Yeah, we can do that. I’ll walk Shiro down, then.” His attention finally perked off from his cheek, eyes catching Shiro’s whereabouts before moving as well.
But easily, it caught both twins’ attention when he made his odd mention, although Niklaus wasn’t against the idea. It was his love after all.
Markus on the other hand… Tilted his head, brows upturning a bit with a lack changing smile. “Maybe we can hangout for little bit. You can come back and cozy up in there afterwards, don’t worry.” Despite any paranoia, he didn’t feel left out for any means. But there, he was the first once to move along from them, shimmying away from his spot and careful when he got to the door to slip by Shiro without bumping him. “I’ll meet you guys over there-” Markus shot him a passing glance before carrying on ahead.
Niklaus didn’t fall behind, and instead stopped behind Shiro, popping his hands up on his shoulders with a squeeze.
“Maybe we can pick some stuff out to bring back here so you can lay down and read too, if you like.” A small ushering push urged Shiro forward gently, his grip remaining, “as many as you like too, they can’t stop all of us for nabbing all the books out of there.”
His scrambled thoughts and the ever present worry over accidentally creating an unpleasant situation between the twins blindsided him from the purity of Markus’ gesture. As soon as he departed, Shiro opened his mouth as if to say something, but couldn’t get his words out. By the time he let out a vague croak and tried to reach out for him, the twin was already out of sight. His defeated posture didn’t have time to slump before it jolted back upright under the gentle weight of Niklaus’ hands. His shoulders felt tense, his unease palpable as he began walking on ahead with his head slightly bowed as if to conceal his face even further from the twin’s gaze. Beneath the curtain of hair, his conflicted expression dawned both anxious and flustered, but it was up to him to decipher what was going on inside of Shiro’s mind. On the one hand, he was happy to get some time alone with Nikalus and he wouldn’t waste it on brooding over things that were out of his control.
After what felt like forever, he placed his hands on top of Niklaus’ and timidly pressed down on them, acknowledging their touch. The fuzzy warmth he felt back then returned to his chest and brought some color to his pale cheeks, a rosy dash of life.
“I would like that very much,” he said, his soft voice resounding cheerful. “I’ve never been able to get through an entire book on my own, but maybe if I read it to you out loud, then…”
His words trailed off absentmindedly while he was distracted by the other doors they were passing by. They all looked exactly the same save for the number plates and other labels on them, a large enough dormitory to house the entirety of the staff in case of an emergency lockdown. Either way, Shiro’s eyes were spinning from how the environment shifted not far from where they were. Past the leisure area, the odd office-like building architecture opened itself up into the waiting lobby where the elevators were located, along with a staircase. By the looks of it, Markus was long gone.
“This floor looks exactly like the floor above it… It’s no wonder I got lost,” he murmured as his footsteps slowed down to a stop.