"Sweet as Sugar, Hard as Ice..."

Walking down the hall to approach the room that Doppel Malleus was staying in, with extra clothes from Malleus; Lilia was about to knock on the door but he was halted by a low voice. No doubt the other Malleus talking on the phone. Maybe a little later then? Come to think of it, Silver mentioned he was talking on the phone when he showed him to his temporary room.

Who was he talking to in such a tone of voice? It was like he was speaking to someone he held a different kind of affection for. Who would he talk to in such a way?

Inside the room Malleus leaned back on the bed, a hand running through his hair.

"Yeah thanks for that.. I needed those words from you" he rolled over.

"It's too bad you aren't here physically. I wouldn't mind having your head resting on my chest right now" he laughed a bit. "I miss your touch," he remarked.

Doppelganger Malleus' eyes caught the shadow under the door. "I'll have to call you back. It appears someone is at the door." He hung up and tossed the phone on the bed.

"You can come in," he said calmly.

"You're looking at me like you think I'm hiding something." Lilia said the armful of clothes being set on top of the dresser.

"Hm.. I was just wondering how much of my phone conversation did you hear?" Doppelganger Malleus asked.

"Eh? Isn't whatever you were discussing with whoever you were talking to your business and yours alone?" Lilia asked innocently, raising an eyebrow. He didn't like how tense the atmosphere suddenly was or that Malleus was keeping secrets but he supposed it was a part of growing up. Naturally growing boys would want their space....

"Yes it is." Doppelganger Malleus commented as he slid his phone under the pillow.

"Although I suppose the most curious thing is why you feel you can't tell me who you were talking to. You don't even have to tell me what you were talking about. Or am I invading your privacy too much?" Lilia asked his blood red eyes staring into Malleus' beautiful green ones.

"It's not something you should worry about right now," Doppelganger Malleus remarked coldly.

"Are you being… forced to keep it a secret...?" Lilia asked, 'he did say the family was close to being a mafia.'

"No! I made the choice and all the ones that led to this. I'm not being forced to do anything!" He said defensively.

"Then what is the reason for your persistent secrecy?" Lilia prodded a little desperate to get any source of information out of the boy. He merely wanted to confirm that Doppelganger Malleus wasn't in over his head or in any kind of danger.

".. I don't want you to judge me" Doppel Malleus averted his eyes. "I don't want to feel like all the expectations I have to follow also apply to my love life."

Lilia paused. "Your love li– you have a significant other?" He sat on the bed, curious now. "What are they like?" Lilia asked excitedly.

Doppel Malleus flushed.

"I guess I dug myself into that one," he remarked.

"My boyfriend is a lot of things! He's smart, like really smart, especially with math! Really good to talk to, I never have a bored moment when I'm with him, he can play the piano, he has an amazing singing voice, surprisingly a good dancer -at least he's a fast learner concerning what he doesn't know–, and is an amazing businessman saving up for his own restaurant! But he doesn't want any financial support from me saying he wants to own his own someday-"

Lilia blinked 'he's really in love with him, isn't he?'

"I may have walked into the shadow realm," Lilia said, discovering what malleus was going to be like when he fell in love with someone. Malleus didn't hear him at all.

"He's really pretty too! He has soft silver lavender hair! His hands are really firm from writing a lot and playing the piano but they aren't larger than mine so it's fun to hold his hands in mine. His reactions to it when I mention it are always cute. But then he's really cute when he's flustered-" Malleus rambled and he looked genuinely happy.

"He's got these beautiful crystal blue eyes–" Malleus said, obviously not done talking.

"I take it your boyfriend is also the source of the scratch marks on your back?" Lilia asked.

"I–" the tips of Doppel Malleus's ears turned red. "Well y-yes," he squeaked, embarrassed. Lilia pulled his magestone pen out his pocket,

"Turn around and take your shirt off"

Malleus removed the garment as requested. Now his neck was turning red.

Lilia pursed his lips, the scars weren't very deep, likely Malleus's boyfriend has extremely short fingernails. 'What is he doing to you? Though I suppose the better question is: what are you doing to him?'

When Doppel Malleus talked himself to sleep, Lilia ran a hand through Malleus's head, making his hair unkempt.

oOo

Doppelganger Malleus actually managed to sleep well without Azul which was all well and good except...

"Why do I have to attend the classes? I technically don't even go to this school!" The alternate world Malleus, nicknamed Doppel Malleus, argued.

"I'll stay here thank you," he commented to Lilia who was insisting he introduce himself to the student body.

Lilia sighed, "well there's only one thing left to do."

"What's that?" Malleus asked, looking up from where he was sitting on the floor. Lilia grinned with an amused glint in his eye.

"Oh shit" Malleus yelped and made a beeline for the door only to be immediately tackled by Lilia.

The duo joined Silver and Sebek in breakfast.

"I learned a lot of things about Doppelganger Malleus, for one he's ticklish in all the same spots as you," Lilia beamed at Malleus as he stepped down the stairs.

Malleus had the decency to cast his Doppelganger a sympathetic glance. The other Malleus looked out of breath.

"I believe that this Malleus Draconia is from another universe, somehow brought here through some very powerful magic," Lilia explained. "I would think it best if he gets a standard introduction to our world," he said to Trein. He listened intently while stroking his pet cat Lucius.

"I apologize for the intrusion," Doppelganger Malleus tried for a smile but it came off as nervous. "I'll just sit at the back of the classroom observe if that's alright with you,"

Trein looked him over "if you stay after class I can hand you a few books explaining the history of magic,"

Lilia looked at Doppelganger Malleus. "I'm Pretty sure he stopped listening after you said 'books'." He smiled at Malleus's irritated glare which he directed his way.

"I have a spare gym uniform!" Lilia said proudly a little bit before PE class.

"You mean you threw together whatever spare clothes you figured I wouldn't need anymore right?" Malleus corrected wearing his own PE uniform.

"I don't know, do I really need to go to PE class?" Doppelganger Malleus asked.

"Yes!" Lilia grinned "it'll be good practice!"

Lilia got an odd glint in his eye.

"Practice for what exactly? I can't use magic, remember?" He asked.

Then realization sank in.

"Oh. You wanna test my skills and compare me to the me you got to raise. Of course you do." Doppel Malleus sighed. He ran a hand through his hair.

"I'll just sit there and watch, odds are if something interesting comes up I'll get involved then."

"I'll just park my backside right here..." He sat down on the roof of the equipment storage shed.

"Hey! Draconia! What are you doing--" Vargas yelled.

"I'll just stay here and watch." Doppelganger Malleus announced.

"Surely there's no problem with that?" He asked as an afterthought.

Everything was somewhat boring until the next class showed. Malleus noticed that Azul was in this class and decided to pay more attention. "If they are also doing that broom riding thing it'll be interesting to tell Azul that this universe's version of him seems to have overcome his fear of heights~!' He thought, smiling a little at the idea.

Azul was doing well, he actually went higher than two feet in the air but it fell apart when he looked down and saw how high he was and lost control of the broom. Then he fell off. He didn't scream in panic, a little too used to falling off, but he did yelp and figured he might sprain his ankle or something. The force of landing on the ground never came and instead Azul felt the warmth of someone who caught him. The warmth was actually kinda nice….. His heart nearly caught in his throat as he opened his eyes and saw Malleus staring at him in concern.

"Did that guy just blur?" One student wearing a scarabia PE uniform said.

"Yeah it was like he--" another started.

"He practically vanished and materialized under Azul to catch him!" A student wearing a Heartslabyul uniform blurted, clearly shocked.

Azul looked confused since he hadn't been paying attention to Malleus.

"Those rumors are starting again..." Malleus muttered in irritation.

"What rumors?" Azul asked, gaining his own footing.

"...." Malleus didn't say anything.

"....Malleus..?" Azul pushed his glasses upwards as he looked at him.

"I swear he ran like forty-five feet in three seconds!" A boy wearing a Pomefiore uniform commented to a student wearing a Savanaclaw PE uniform.

The Savanaclaw student shrugged nonchalantly like it wasn't that serious to him.

"Don't worry about it," Malleus remarked.

"He's just as overpowered as the real Malleus!" Another student said a bit too loudly in an exasperated tone.

"It's not important." He remarked, a scowl ruining his pretty face. "Sorry I interrupted the lesson" he said looking over at Coach Vargas and letting go of Azul's arm.

Then as a last minute check, Malleus patted Azul's head "you're okay right?"

Azul tried not to blush. "Of course!" He gently swatted the hand away. Trying to enforce that he was fine without being too rude. Doppelganger Malleus walked away with a carefree shrug.

Glancing behind him Azul saw Jamil had a…. look on his face. A mostly unreadable one. Azul swallowed. "I um… am not quite sure what just happened."

"Really? And you didn't think to ask why he saved you?" Jamil now looked amused probably because of how Azul looked now, which is to say very flustered. Azul blinked.

"He didn't save me, my life was not in danger. He simply caught me," he explained.

At lunch which, for reasons Azul never understood, was after Vargas' PE class Azul noticed doppelganger Malleus. The boy who "saved" him and notably not the real Malleus Draconia, at least the one with the more obvious reputation, sitting alone.

A boy with teal colored hair approached him and started talking to him though. Leading Azul to assume that he would have company.

Malleus was frowning now, whatever the student was saying he didn't like it.

Azul made a mental note of the Pomefiore arm band and the voice who he recognized as the one who roughly measured the distance Doppel Malleus had covered in less than five seconds.

The frown deepened and Malleus stood up abruptly and punched him right in the jaw. Azul couldn't quite see his features but he could imagine the stern unforgiving look on Malleus's face.

Lilia had walked up at some point and now was holding Doppelganger Malleus back, if only barely.

"Diaz I think it's time you leave," Azul was able to hear Lilia saying.

He didn't listen to Diaz's reply.

"Azul you're paying an awful lot of attention to your rescuer," Jade nudged him.

"No I was just-" Azul attempted to deny. Then he flushed as he processed the last part of Jade's comment.

"He isn't my rescuer! How did you even learn about that so fast?" He hissed.

"Oh a little bird told me," Jade smiled.

Malleus seemed to react violently to something else because a horrible rattling and screeching noise was heard.

The entire cafeteria fell quiet, and a little over half the students were looking at the table with all the commotion.

Azul looked at where Jade was looking and saw the table Doppelganger Malleus was formerly sitting at. He almost disregarded it if it weren't for the table. It had moved a few feet so it was now in the position of a right angle.

"Azul, the table is magically weighted so it can't be moved by just anyone, right?" Jade asked.

"Of course it is, remember how Floyd found out the hard way?" Azul replied.

"Just checking," Jade nodded, his eyes still watching Malleus who had to be physically restrained by the Diasomnia Dorm leader. At least it was being restrained by Azul's standards, Doppelganger Malleus' arm was tightly gripped and Malleus looked to be whispering something to him.

"Why do you ask? Are you insinuating that the Doppelganger moved the table?" Azul blurted his eyes widening.

"I'm positive I saw him kick it as Diaz walked by, I'm sure he would have done more damage had Diasomnia Dorm leader not stopped him," Jade smiled like he saw something amusing. "Likely Diaz said something to antagonize him. I wonder what could make such a boy so angry?" Jade asked innocently.

The short vice dorm leader waved his pen and the table put itself back into its place.

"Malleus please take him outside to cool off," Lilia said and Malleus brought his Doppelganger's tray of food with him. They left out the main entrance double doors and Azul noted that the Doppelganger wasn't struggling to get out of Malleus' grip.

Diaz was nowhere in sight Azul noticed.

oOo

Azul sort of forgot the events during lunch until Diaz approached him in the Mostro Lounge with a cold look on his face.

"Why's the Doppel so protective of you?"

Azul did a double take.

"Pardon?" He asked and afterwards pushed up his glasses.

"You know, the other Malleus, the oddball human one. Why's he so nice to you?" Diaz specified.

Azul narrowed his eyes. "I'd rather not speak about what happened in PE today if that's what this is about." He said with a slight huff.

Diaz snorted, his dark brown eyes narrowed in spite.

"He seemed to get really angry when I told him what you were like,"

"I thought I told you to stay away from Azul,"

Doppel Malleus said, revealing his spot in one of the tall stools at the counter where Floyd was handing people their drinks. Doppelganger Malleus appeared to have ordered a Cranberry Delight drink if the red color was anything to go by.

Azul tensed wondering how long Malleus had been there.