Episode 2 — Valentine's Day

"Did you fall in love with me after last night?"

The words hung in the air like smoke that refused to clear. Caelum stood there looking at Sylvian with an expression that could only be described as a man whose brain had quietly packed its bags and left the building.

Sylvian tilted his head, still lying there against the pillow, golden hair fanned out, looking unbothered in the way that only truly dangerous people manage to look unbothered. Like nothing in the world could surprise him. Like he had already seen every possible reaction and found them all mildly entertaining.

"Are you trying to flirt with me?" Caelum said. His voice came out flatter than he intended.

Sylvian's eyes curved softly. "Is it working?"

"No." A pause. Then Sylvian glanced downward, just briefly, and said in the same gentle tone, "You should probably get dressed. Unless you plan to attend class like that."

Caelum looked down.

His face went red so fast it was almost audible.

He was not wearing anything. Not a shirt. Not pants. Not even socks. Absolutely nothing between him and the morning air and the quiet judgment of this golden haired boy who was looking at him with an expression of pure, patient amusement.

Caelum grabbed the first thing within arm's reach which turned out to be a pair of short pants and what appeared to be a loosened tie hanging off the bedpost, clutched them to his chest, and walked to the bathroom with the straightest back and the most dignified stride he could manage given the circumstances.

He locked the door.

Then he stood in front of the sink and gripped the edge of the counter and had a very quiet and very intense conversation with himself in the mirror.

"Hey. Hey. Hey." He pointed at his own reflection. At Caelum Voss's reflection. "Wait. I am a grown adult. I am a professor. I have a mortgage and a stack of exam papers on my desk at home and I only like women. I am not... this is....I don't even know what happened last night and I am not going to think about it." He took a breath. "I only like girls. I am not gay. This is a fictional world. None of this is real. I am fine."

The mirror stared back at him with Caelum Voss's sharp dark eyes and said nothing.

He got dressed.

Shirt. Pants. Tie knotted properly at the collar because some habits were apparently stronger than dimensional travel. He came out of the bathroom looking composed and found Sylvian already fully dressed, sitting at the edge of his bed, textbook open on his knee. He looked up when Caelum walked out and just looked at him for a moment with that small, unreadable expression of his.

"What," Caelum said.

Sylvian smiled. Slow and warm, like sunlight coming through a window that you weren't expecting. "So, darling. Come out with me today."

Caelum's eye twitched. "No."

"You didn't even think about it."

"I thought about it. The answer is no. I don't like you." He grabbed his bag from the desk. "I'm going to class."

He stepped outside and stopped.

He had forgotten about the bike.

It was parked right there at the dormitory entrance, sleek and dark, clearly belonging to Caelum Voss because of course the villain had a motorcycle. Of course he did. Caelum stood looking at it for a moment and then looked at the time on his phone.

Twenty minutes before class started.

(I don't know how to ride a bike,) he thought. (In my real life I take the bus. I have never once sat on a motorcycle voluntarily.)

He looked at the bike again.

He looked at the campus gate in the distance.

(If I crash I won't have to go to class today. That is genuinely a reasonable outcome. I could just crash a little bit. Nothing serious. Just enough.)

He put the helmet on and got on the bike.

He did not crash.

That was the most surprising part. The moment he gripped the handles something in Caelum Voss's muscle memory took over and his hands just knew what to do, his body leaning into turns before his brain had processed them, and he pulled out of the dormitory parking area smoothly like he had been doing it for years.

(It's the body,) he thought, slightly stunned as the campus road blurred past him. (I'm using it because of this character. His body just knows.)

He arrived at the university building and parked.

And immediately wished he hadn't.

Sylvian was already there, standing near the entrance, and around him was what could only be described as a small and devoted crowd. Omegas and betas, boys and girls alike, hovering at a respectful but hopeful distance, some holding out folded notes, some with small boxes, a few with flowers. Because apparently the entire university believed Sylvian Ashcroft was a beta, and betas were safe and approachable and not terrifying, and today was Valentine's Day.

Sylvian was accepting everything with that same gentle smile, saying something quietly to each person, and somehow managing to look like he was giving each of them his complete attention while also clearly thinking about seventeen other things.

Then Caelum walked through the gate.

The shift in the crowd was immediate.

Heads turned. Omega boys and betas who had been orbiting Sylvian suddenly redirected like a weather system changing course. Someone shoved a red rose at him. Then a box of chocolates. Then another rose. Then a folded letter with his name written in careful handwriting and a small drawn heart in the corner.

"Cal!!"

"Good morning, Cal!"

"Cal, this is for you."

Caelum stood in the middle of it holding two roses and a box of chocolates with the expression of a man watching a natural disaster approach from a very short distance. (What is happening. Why are they doing this. I have done nothing to deserve this. The villain has done nothing good in this entire story. Why do they like him.)

He looked up and found Sylvian watching him from across the courtyard with quiet, knowing eyes.

And then Sylvian turned and walked toward the building.

Caelum followed him.

Not because he wanted to. Purely for practical reasons. He didn't know which class he was supposed to be in, he didn't know this campus layout, and the one person whose schedule he had spent two hours memorizing from a manhua was currently walking away from him. So he followed. That was all.

(This is surveillance. This is information gathering. This is not following him because he is the only familiar thing in this entire world.)

Sylvian glanced back once. Said nothing. Kept walking.

(He noticed,) Caelum thought. (Of course he noticed. He notices everything. That's the whole point of his character.)

Sylvian walked into the mathematics classroom and sat down near the window.

Caelum stood at the doorway, looked at the back row where he was apparently supposed to sit according to every established pattern of Caelum Voss's academic career, and then walked to the empty seat beside Sylvian instead.

The entire class went quiet for approximately three seconds.

Sylvian looked at him with one eyebrow raised, just slightly. Not surprised exactly. More like a person who had been handed something unexpected and was quietly deciding what to do with it.

The teacher walked in and class began.

Mathematics. Basic university level. Caelum sat up straight and listened and within four minutes felt the specific exhaustion of a man who knew this material so well that being taught it again was physically draining. He had taught more complex versions of this to students who still managed to fail. He had written exam questions designed to test the outer limits of this exact content. This was not stimulating.

His eyes got heavy.

He tried to hold them open. He crossed his arms. He sat straighter. None of it worked because his body was young and apparently accustomed to sleeping through lectures and his brain had decided that the most threatening thing in the room was boredom and not the fact that he had woken up in a fictional universe that morning.

His head dropped.

"Caelum Voss."

The teacher's voice cut through the fog. Caelum jerked upright.

"Yes," he said immediately, in the clear and automatic voice of someone who had spent years being the one doing the calling out rather than the one being called. "Present. My apologies."

A ripple of confused murmuring moved through the classroom. Beside him Sylvian made a very small sound that might have been a laugh and also might have been nothing at all.

The teacher squinted at him. Clearly recalibrating.

The lesson resumed. Caelum lasted another six minutes before his chin started drooping again. The warmth of the room and the sound of chalk on the board were genuinely working against him and there was nothing he could do about it.

Then Sylvian leaned slightly toward him and said, very quietly so only he could hear, "Why are you so different today. Did something happen to you? Did you hit your head?"

Caelum opened his eyes. "I'm fine."

"You're sitting next to me voluntarily. You said good morning to me earlier without insulting me even once." A pause. "You're being a little cute. It's concerning."

"I said I'm fine."

"Are you really falling for me?" Sylvian said it lightly, conversationally, like he was commenting on the weather. "Well. It doesn't matter if you do."

Caelum opened his mouth.

A piece of chalk flew across the room.

It would have hit him directly between the eyes except that Sylvian's hand came up without looking and caught it cleanly, the way you catch something you saw coming from a long way off.

The class went silent again.

Sylvian placed the chalk on the desk in front of him and looked at the teacher with a pleasant expression. "I'm sorry, teacher. Cal doesn't attend your class very often. Today is actually his first time coming." A small pause. "Please forgive him just for today. I'll make sure he keeps up with everything."

The teacher looked at Sylvian. Then at Caelum. Then back at Sylvian with the expression of a person who had opinions about this but had decided that some battles were not worth it today.

"Fine," the teacher said. "Once. Not again." Then, almost under his breath, "I don't know why you bother with bad students, Ashcroft."

Something flickered in Sylvian's expression. Too fast to read. He smiled. "Thank you, teacher."

The lesson continued.

Caelum sat very still and stared at the board and thought about absolutely nothing for a full minute because his chest had done something strange and uncomfortable when the teacher said that and he did not want to examine why.

Then Sylvian leaned close again, close enough that his voice was barely a breath against the side of Caelum's ear.

"You really are my little problem," he murmured. "That's exactly why I don't want a solution." A beat of silence. "Being a little trouble suits you."

End of Episode 2

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