Thin Ice (M/M Transmigration)

Chapter 5

Cale woke up to the feeling of his head pounding. It was so loud and uncomfortable that it took him a while to figure out that his head wasn't the only thing pounding, someone was banging on the door too.

He groaned and curled further under the covers, pulling them over his head to protect him from the sun's rays. But no matter how much he tried, it was impossible to ignore the noise.

"What?" he eventually managed to croak out, his mouth dry.

"What do you mean what, it's lunchtime, you've missed half your classes!" Julius announced from the other side of the door, an edge to his voice that meant he wasn't in the mood for any bullshit.

Cale groaned and pushed his head out under the cover's protection. The sunlight immediately attempted to blind him and he groaned again. He pressed a hand over his face, pressing down onto his eyes as something pounded behind them. He could almost hear the pounding in his head and he was quickly getting sick of it.

He managed to squeeze out, "What are you doing here?"

"Hallow sent me because you missed his class, idiot. Are you sick? Aren't you supposed to be better?"

"I'm... fine."

"That was a long pause, you're not fine." A deep sigh was followed by footsteps as Julius left. "Damnit, I'll tell Hallow so don't you dare leave your room. I swear if I catch you in the library sick, I'll..."

Cale didn't manage to hear the rest of Julius' words as the boy moved out of range.

He pushed himself as best as he could off of the bed, ending up in some kind of weird position where he was sitting crouched on his knees, his head pressing down on the pillow and the covers still pulled up to his shoulders. He pressed his head harder against the pillow, his closed eyes almost stinging with the force of it.

He needed to get out of bed. He needed to get to the bathroom where his medicine was stored and take the potions. Really, he needed to do a lot of things, but he couldn't seem to move.

He huffed, put his hands next to the pillow and pushed off the best he could. He managed to raise his head by a couple of decimeters, and then his strength promptly abandoned him and he fell back down on it. He grumbled out a garbled noise and felt his eyes slip closed again, exhaustion hitting him like a train running late.

Just a few minutes of rest couldn't hurt right? He'd get in a minute and take his meds, he just wanted to close his eyes, they were hurting so bad...

Ah, Calla's body was really weak, wasn't it? He hadn't really felt the effects of it, but he guessed that that was just a lucky break. Because his head really hurt, and no matter how much saliva he pooled in his mouth, it didn't seem to keep the dryness at bay.

His body fell to the side on the bed as he fell closer into the grip of sleep. Cale yawned and tried to blink his eyes open, but they closed shortly anyway.

He was really... really very tired.

It felt like Cale had only just closed his eyes when his body shook to wakefulness as the banging on the door started up again. He frowned and this time managed to crawl out of the covers, immediately starting to shiver from the cold. He stared at the door with bleary, half-awake eyes and asked, "Who?"

He didn't manage to get the rest out of the sentence out, but he trusted that it could still be understood.

"It's me." Came Julius' distinctive voice from the other side.

Cale narrowed his eyes and pressed his hands against his head again. The headache hadn't gotten any better from his brief rest. "Why?"

A single word at a time was still the best he could do.