Thin Ice (M/M Transmigration)

Chapter 9

"So? How did it go?" asked Magdalena, her arms crossed over her chest as she rested her body against the bookcase behind her. She rose an eyebrow when he didn't immediately respond, her lips dragging into a haughty smirk and said, "That well, huh."

Cale covered his face with his hands and let out a muffled, "It went really well."

She hummed and pushed off from the bookcase. Sashaying across the floor, she sat down opposite him across the table. They were in the library, the time ticking ever closer toward midnight, and Cale had been here for hours, trying to study. It wasn't going very well; more than a week later, and his mind was still occupied by Julius and their date and Cale's revelation. It had been a tough week, where he had constantly found himself daydreaming any time he wasn't concentrating enough on class.

It wasn't like him, he knew. He wasn't usually the type to daydream often, but Julius made his mind go blank and then it just got away from him. He couldn't keep it under control. His mind was so full of studying and Julius that sometimes it got mixed up.

Magdalena clicked her tongue and smiled mischievously at him. "Did you kiss?"

"No," Cale said. He lowered his hands and sat up properly, staring her in the eyes. His eye twitched at the amused look she leveled him with. Scowling slightly, he said, "We didn't kiss."

"Then why are you avoiding me?" Magdalena asked, a no-nonsense tone to her voice.

Cale's gaze drifted down to the open notebook sitting on the table in front of him. He muttered, "I just needed to think."

The silence was worse than any response she could have given him. He licked his lips and his mouth formed a smile without his permission. "The date went really, really well."

Humming, she put her elbow on the table and rested her head on her hand. Smirking at him, she stared silently until his eyes broke away from her's and then she let out a bark of laughter. Cale twitched at the suddenness of it, but he felt a puff of laughter escape him as well. It was kind of funny, wasn't it? That the date went so well that Cale was panicking. Things were moving so fast; he hadn't even been in this world for a full year, much less known Julius for long. And yet, Cale was in love with him.

It felt like he should be panicking. When he voiced his thoughts out loud, it sounded ridiculous. Like something from a cheesy romance novel, like out of a bad romcom. But he wasn't panicking. He didn't think things were moving fast. He simply thought... well, he didn't really know what.

He enjoyed spending time with Julius. And right now, what he needed most to keep going—trapped in another world, in a body destined to die at a date coming ever closer—were things that he genuinely enjoyed and liked.

He found that he couldn't regret it.

"Are you ignoring me?" Magdalena's voice broke through the haze of his thoughts, and Cale immediately blinked at her.

It took him a bit to realize what she had said, and then another bit to think of a response that wouldn't get him hit, and then he said, "I was thinking about Julius."

She covered her mouth with her hand as he burst out laughing again. This time, common sense made Cale gesture at her to quiet down; they were in the library and she had bene laughing loudly for too long now. Soon, a librarian would come to see what the big deal was and, worst case scenario, they might be thrown out of the library. Cale couldn't afford to be thrown out, he had so many things that he still needed to look up.

Thankfully, she quickly quieted down. Snickering quietly behind her hand, he wondered what was so funny. No matter how he examined it, he couldn't see it. But he had other, more important, things to worry about.