As soon as the world around him regained shape, sound, and smell, Caecus noticed something soft was beneath his head.
His eyes fluttered open, and an involuntary groan left Caecus' mouth.
"Ugh…"
A sharp pain came from the back of his head, as if he had been struck by a baton.
The pillow beneath his head was comfortable though, as it was strangely warm.
Echolocation turning back on, he started making sense of his surroundings.
'Nice… I'm back in my room… wait that's not–'
From above a voice interrupted his thoughts, the vibration of the vocal cords traveling all the way down to his pillow.
"You're awake." Nyx's voice resounded, relief in her voice apparent.
The pillow moved, and he was too late to realize that what he thought was an extremely warm, and soft pillow, was just Nyx's lap.
Immediately he stood up, face a deep crimson, and noticed that they were on her bed.
When he left the bed, and was back on his feet, the world around him began to spin.
Losing control over his balance, Caecus felt the ground closing in.
But before anything could happen, arms enveloped his frame, and he felt Nyx's body press against his back.
"Don't stand up right away, you're still concussed." She said, grip not lessening.
Instead of letting go, she dropped backwards, sitting down on the bed, while pulling him with her, making him sit next to her.
'Wait… she's hugging me!'
Caecus tried removing her hands but she didn't let go.
His brows furrowed, and irritation was etched into his voice.
"Please let go."
"No. You're still concussed, you'll fall if I do."
'It makes sense but it still feels extremely wrong for some reason…'
"...How long was I out for?" Caecus still tried removing her hands, which didn't budge a bit.
"Two hours, it's 8 PM." she answered, while taking out her soul phone.
'That long?'
"Okay, I need to go to my room, we have class tomorrow.", Caecus said.
"But you still have a concussion. You won't be able to reach your room on your own." Nyx answered, grip unrelenting.
"I'll call Titus, he's big enough to carry me."
"Titus is training right now, he told me that I should tell you that he wouldn't eat dinner with you tonight."
"What do you want me to do then?" the blind boy's irritation grew.
"Hmm… how about you stay with me for the night?" Nyx answered, teasing.
"..."
"I'm just kidding, I'm just kidding. Let's go to the cafeteria together, I can carry you."
"Absolutely not. Titus is of ridiculous size, so it's okay if he carries me, but when a girl does it? The people will gossip!"
Nyx's grip tightened around his shoulders, making him cry out in pain, as she pressed right on his bruises.
"Ow!"
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that." She loosened her grip immediately, but Caecus saw that as a chance.
As fast as a lightning, he infused himself with his soul essence, and pushed himself off the bed, running off.
Just as he was about to reach the door, the world flipped, but this time Nyx didn't save him.
She simply watched as he crashed face first against the floor with the momentum he had gained from infusing himself.
'Fuck.'
Not wanting to embarrass himself any further, Caecus supported his frame on the wall.
Drip.
Hot, metallic blood was coming out of his nose and staining Nyx's floor.
The embarrassment didn't increase… it multiplied.
'Just let me die.'
…
Caecus felt a few gazes, as he was riding on piggyback, with Nyx being the one carrying him.
They entered the cafeteria, where she sat him down on a chair, while grabbing food for the both of them.
'So much about not wanting to be treated like someone's little brother…'
His entire body was aching now, bruises scattered across his pale skin, and he had a few on his cheeks too.
Nyx arrived with the food, carrying both of the trays.
The black haired boy noticed the chocolate bar on his tray, and it was as if all the worries in the world had been washed away.
Not hesitating, he immediately grabbed it, and started munching on it.
He felt the noctis heiress eye him, to which he just raised his shoulders.
"This is my reward for today, you know?"
Her gaze immediately softened, and then she spoke.
"You know… I'm sorry about today. I didn't estimate my power well." She avoided eye contact, and looked down.
Caecus was startled, as from what he had seen of her so far, apologies were rare.
"It's fine. I can take a little beating you know! Although… if you do that next time I'll never train with you again."
"Understood."
They engaged in conversation about their classes, as Nyx told him something about the other culmen.
"There is a commoner in rank eight."
"Yeah I know Elijah right?"
Nyx seemed surprised by his knowledge, but then nodded.
"Yes Elijah, there is something weird about him. He is a commoner, but still has a soul density that is even a little higher than yours. But not by much. Even though I am an heiress, I've never seen a mutator, other than the Zenith that was our age."
Mutator was how they referred to people with soul densities that didn't correspond to their genes.
"He is a lucky guy, although Aure– I mean the Zenith is something else…"
Nyx nodded in response, but her eyes narrowed a tad, as she heard Caecus interrupting himself.
"I heard that he came here on recommendation of the vice-principal."
"Yeah he announced it right before me to the guard when we entered Psychéion. "
"I was thinking to recruit him to Noctis. He'd be a valuable recourse, especially if he married in, and had children. " Nyx seemed to be rubbing her chin in thought. "Although it'll be hard to find someone suitable for him in my corpus."
"Why don't you marry him?" Caecus said that without thought, after all in principle he was a good match for her.
Nyx froze, and the air seemed to grow ten degrees colder.
"No."
"W-why not? I mean he's a good match–"
"I have someone who I want to marry already. " Nyx answered coldly. Caecus could swear he felt killing intent in her voice.
'Wow… she seemed to be a little obsessed about that person she wants to marry.'
"Mind telling me who it is?" Caecus asked, voice still as innocent as ever.
"I do."
'Well, damn. A sure hit way to ruin the mood I guess. Mental note: Never talk to her about the guy she is enamored with.'