Chapter 40: Cracks

Felix Sythias’s POV:

Unlike the last time we slept together, I woke up before Alex. I glanced at the clock; only ten o’clock. I looked back at Alex. He laid on his side, hugging his tail. As adorable as it looked, he really should bring his plushie next time; I imagined that would be more comfortable. I sighed. Next time. Would there even be a next time? I hoped so.

My arms had fallen to the side during the night, so I wrapped them around him again, then shifted him up and closer to my neck so I could hold him better. He let out a contented rumble. Apparently he really liked being held. He had even said so himself yesterday, though he was quite sleepy by that point and probably didn’t really know what he was saying.

I felt… a bit guilty for listening to what he said. I liked it, I really did, but it didn’t feel like something he would’ve shared with me if he had been properly awake. It was like overhearing someone you know share a secret with a mutual friend. It wasn’t my knowledge to know. I couldn’t unhear it though, so that damage was done.

I wasn’t entirely sure what to think of his words. He liked the sound of my heart and felt safe in my arms. Those weren’t really things ‘just friends’ felt about each other, right? Was there actually some truth to what the others have been saying? Could Alex like me back?

I had promised myself yesterday to pay closer attention to how he reacted to what I did, said, or asked. And I had. It was why I had asked to cuddle in the first place. I really wanted to know if he’d say yes, and how he said it. I was expecting a reluctant agreement or something similar, but his eyes had practically lit up when I asked. And then he asked if we could sleep like that… I hadn’t even realized it was a possibility.

Between his reaction to my question, his own question, and his words, it was becoming difficult to tell myself that Alex liking me back wasn’t a possibility. I couldn’t even discount his words, either. He was sleepy, not lying. If anything, it lent credence to his words—he’d been too tired to make it up.

So, was it possible?

I shook my head, not wanting to think about it. Even if he did like me back, then what? I’d never been in a relationship before. I’d never even liked somebody before. What did you do after you figured out someone liked you back? Just ask them out? It didn’t seem like the best course of action, but I couldn’t think of anything better. And what happened after that? How would our relationship change? Would we still want to room together? Would we kiss? Would we still hang out, or would it just all be dates? Would we tell our friends? Would we… have sex? I would be lying if I said I didn’t want to, but would Alex?

I had a whole lot of questions and no answers. And there wasn’t even a point in asking them yet. I didn’t know if he liked me back, just hints that he might. There was always the possibility I was just projecting, seeing what I wanted to see, so I had to be careful. If I asked him on a date and it turned out he saw me as just a friend… our friendship wouldn’t survive.

Alex stirred on my chest, distracting me from my somber thoughts. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. Yawning, he wished me good morning. He then glanced at the clock, then back at me. Seemingly having come to a decision, he laid back down and I wrapped my arms back around him without him having to ask. I noticed he had his ear-hole pressed to my chest, right where my heart was.

I wanted to ask if he really did like the sound of my thumping heart, or if he really felt safe in my arms. But I didn’t. What if he had been delirious and made it up? I didn’t want to know. So instead, we laid there in comfortable silence for another half hour, only Alex’s occasional contented rumble disturbing the quiet. Eventually we had to get up, though. We had things to do today, after all. I wanted to go shopping, and he wanted to go job hunting.

We made breakfast together, then ate it while he told me about how the meeting went. It sounded to me like it went great—aside from the small incident near the end—and I was thrilled for him that he was able to connect with the people there. Apparently he also got a job offered by Viggi. Sort of. Either way, it was nice of Viggi. It sounded like they got along pretty well. I felt a brief pang of jealousy that he now had another person to spend time with, leaving less for me, but mostly I was just glad he’d made another friend.

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The shopping district was very busy. It was Saturday, so that wasn’t surprising. There were mostly just students walking around, since they all had the weekend free and weren’t too busy with homework. Yet. There weren’t that many full members walking around, though. They knew better than to come here on a weekend day. It wasn’t like they were limited to these two days like we students were. Most of them decided their own work schedule; it was one of the benefits of the contracts system. The downside was that you weren’t guaranteed the job you wanted, but few people actually cared too much about that. They preferred the freedom much more.

As I walked through the streets, looking at the stores, the crowd split before me like we were two repelling magnets. I sighed and ignored them. Just another day.

As always, the shops were interesting. This part of the shopping district was a sort of revolving door, or an elaborate marketplace. Shops popped up here all the time and then disappeared just as fast. They sold all kinds of items and foods. Fresh pumpkins, shovels made of woven grass, something called coffee, colorful slug-shaped fidgeting toys, strange stringed music instruments, and much, much more.

The shops could be rented out by anyone for a cheap price, so it was the place to go to when you wanted to test out new ideas, sell the stuff you made while practicing, or sell the loot you gathered on a contract. Many people visited the shops, but students especially loved this place since nothing was ever too expensive—the low quality of most items made sure of that—and there was a frankly insane variety of things to choose from.

There weren’t many things that caught my attention today, except for one shop. They sold decorated leather bookmarks, and I thought Alex might like one. I wandered over and looked through them. They all had interesting patterns pressed into them, such as leaves, feathers, pebbles, and more. The one that caught my eyes though had a lizard-scale pattern on it with a beautiful rainbow coloration. I bought it, and hoped Alex would like it. Now I just needed the right moment to give it to him.

I also bought one for myself. It was a pretty sky blue, almost the exact same shade as the scales on my back, but had a feather pattern on it. The crafter thanked me for my purchase and I was on my way again. I ignored the other shops and continued on towards the crafting part of the district. I searched the signs, referencing them to my list, until I finally got to the one I wanted. With basic potions and enchanted toys sitting in the display window, it was a very average-looking workshop. Unremarkable in every way I could think of. I knew better than to trust the display though.

The shop was owned by one of dad’s friends. He was a great enchanter and magic smith and if anyone could make what I needed, it was him. He had the annoying habit of moving his store around, though; something about not wanting to be bothered by customers. I’d been searching for almost half an hour at this point, and if I hadn’t had the list of the names he liked to use for his new stores, I would never have found it. If he wasn’t so absurdly good at what he did, I might have chosen for a lesser enchanter for the sheer convenience of not needing to go on a fox-hunt.

Stolen story; please report.

I walked through the door and into a space that shouldn’t have fit inside the building. I didn’t even attempt to understand how that worked, since I knew from experience how big a waste of time that was. I’d spent almost an hour just crossing back and forth through the door the first time dad had taken me to visit. All I managed to figure out that day was that dad had only needed to be there for an hour. I had asked Gur once how he did it, but he’d just winked.

Gur sat at a large workbench behind the counter. As I walked up to him, I saw the little gears and springs scattered about the surface. In his hands was a life-size metal cat. It seemed he was assembling a toy of some kind, or maybe a golem. It didn’t matter to me either way.

I rang the little bell on the counter and Gur looked up from his work, his bushy mustache bouncing as he did. His face brightened up when he spotted me.

“Felix, boy! It’s been a long time, how have you been?” he asked, his rough voice grating a little on my ears. This was why I didn’t like long-time smokers. He was perfectly healthy, though. This was a choice. He probably thought it made him sound cooler. It didn’t. But that was fine, his jacket full of embroidered enchantments, small interlocked gears, and mana crystals more than made up for it.

I smiled back at him. “I’m doing well enough, aside from a few setbacks. You?”

We chatted for a few minutes until Gur finally had enough.

“Alright, enough with the small talk,” he said with a wave of his hand, the faint clicking of gears giving his artificial arm a unique sound. “I have other work to do, so spit it out. What do you need?”

“I’m looking for a device to keep track of my mana-pool size, and to let me know when it changes.”

It was something researcher Solus had recommended last Wednesday for me to get. It would cost me quite a lot, but it would be more than worth it to know when my pool increased in size. Hopefully, it would let me figure out what triggered the change. Assuming it hadn’t been a one-time thing, anyway.

Gur stroked his beard in thought. He then asked a few questions, getting as much detail about what I wanted from me as he could before turning around and rapidly leaved through a few books. He checked a few drawers and materials lists, then turned back to me.

“Yeah, I can do that, I think. It will not be pleasant though. I’m not the System, so I’ll have to take a measure directly from your pool. I’m sure there’s better ways, but I doubt you have the money to fund such research. What I’m thinking will work like a weak version of the siphon, only it will measure your pool instead of drawing out mana. It will be a very weak version, but still, it’ll be uncomfortable until you get used to it. If you can get used to it, that is. And it would only work up to a certain size, after that your mana-pool’s resistance becomes too high for the enchantments to penetrate.”

I thought that over. “How much would it cost me?” I asked.

He gave me the price, and I reconsidered just checking manually every so often. It would cost me almost half my savings to get made.

I was about to ask a question, but Gur held his hand up to stop me. “Before you start haggling, don’t. The price is already as fair as I can make it. You would only be paying for the materials. They’re just going to be a tad more expensive than the usual junk people use. Just like siphons, this has to be done with extreme care, so quality is important. Unless you want to cripple yourself, anyway.”

“I… no, that’s fine. It’s within my budget,” I said. It wasn’t like I needed the money for other purposes. And it would leave me with more than enough for whatever else I’d still need to buy today. I needed to continue work soon, though. Ferrying people around paid a decent amount, and I could probably get a few royals or other nobles to buy an aerial tour of the campus.

“Alright. Half the payment up front, the rest when I complete it. It will take a week to make since I have other commissions too. I’ll have a note delivered when it’s ready for pickup.”

That was good enough for me. I didn’t need it right away, anyway. I paid the upfront cost, wincing as I watched the significant sum flow out of my account. It better be worth it.

Having achieved my goal, I walked back outside. Glancing at a nearby clock, I realized it wasn’t even lunchtime yet. I had a lot of time left to do whatever I wanted. And what I wanted was… to spend time with Alex. But he wasn’t here and wouldn’t be at home, either, so I did the next best thing and walked up to the closest candy shop.

After some arguing about not being let in, I decided to find another shop. It didn’t take long. This shop was a lot more accommodating, and they were willing to open the blinds behind the display, allowing me to look inside. With some help I picked a ton of different candies. Really just a few of everything, and a few extra of those that I knew for certain Alex would like. I paid the kind shopkeeper and went on my way, one of my saddlebags now loaded with sweet goodness. I only hoped Alex liked them too, since I bought them for both of us, after all.

After filling my bag with candy, I walked the streets for another hour before I finally made my way over to Hugo’s food stand. Both because I wanted lunch and because I wanted to see if we could set a date to meet up. I still wanted to talk with him after all.

After standing in the queue for twenty minutes—it was a busy day, it seemed—it was my turn. I ordered the usual, but Hugo didn’t have time to chat. We were able to hash out a day to meet up, though, but nothing else. Sunday next week. It felt like an eternity away, but it would have to do.

Once I got my meat on a stick, I said goodbye to Hugo and left the district since I had nothing else to do here anymore. And I wanted to swing by home—real home—and pick up some extra of my stuff before I headed back to the dorms, anyway.

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The house was eerily quiet. It was quiet on most days since dad worked long hours, but there was usually at least something making a noise. A pot sitting on the stove, slowly cooking a piece of meat for dinner. The crackle of the fireplace. The enchanted washer cleaning dad’s clothes. There was nothing now, not even the call of a bird.

I walked up to the door and it swung open before I could touch it; the enchantments registering my approach. Like most things in the house, it was wider than a regular door.

I wandered over to my bedroom but stopped in the doorway to the living room. I hadn’t been back here since before I moved into the dorms. Dad had cleaned the space a while ago. All the tables, chairs, and various decorations had been moved back into our basement for storage. The large tub where I’d stood had probably been thrown away. Two weeks and I still was no closer to making progress than the day I didn’t unlock the System.

I sighed and shook my head. With one last look, I closed the door and continued on. There wasn’t anything there for me.

My bedroom hadn’t been touched since the day I moved out almost two weeks ago. The stack of shortlisted books still laid on the carpet where I’d put them down. My bed was still ruffled up since I hadn’t cleaned it. The Potion of superior head start still laid on the shelf I’d slammed it down on—luckily it hadn’t cracked. I picked it up and put it in my chest pouch. I wasn’t sure what I’d do with it, but at least it wouldn’t be gathering dust. Maybe I could sell it? It’d be worth a ton of money. It would be disrespectful to dad’s efforts though.

I walked around the room, picking up various little things I wanted to take with me. A romance book and a book on mana manipulation—both normal sized—some basic alchemy equipment, and a nicely decorated wooden box with my toys inside—I’d forgotten it last time and was getting a little stir crazy from only using my talons.

I could take more from my room, but really, I had no need for all the junk. Like the floating light orb, what use would I have for—actually, Alex might find that really useful. I stuffed it in my bag and checked the room once more but didn’t find anything like the orb.

I waited at the doorway, looking back at my room. I’d spent the last few years of my life living here, and now I probably wasn’t returning here for months. There was no need to. I now had everything I wanted out of it. Even when I visited home, I didn’t think I’d sleep here, because by the time there was a need for that again my wings would’ve regrown. Why stay here if the dorms are a few minutes of flight away?

Thinking of flight made my wings itch for air and I stretched them a little. Just a few more weeks and then I’d be flying all over the place again. It would even mean Alex and I could sleep in for longer on some days since the school building was only a minute of flying away. No more having to walk for like fifteen minutes. I folded my wings back on my back and sighed. Soon.