— he what — 

Sasha stops moving. 

— he what — 

"Are you okay?"

"You what?" 

His voice sounds strange, like he's listening to himself from the outside. 

"I love you? Sorry, I kind of thought it was obvious--"

"I need to go." 

He stands up and grabs his clothes and starts toward the door, still on autopilot, then remembers halfway there why he can't do that and goes to the bathroom instead. 

"I'm sorry, I don't know what I did wrong-- please tell me, I can fix it--"

His hands are shaking a little bit. He gets his clothes back on. 

"You didn't do anything wrong." Kaleva's Auradonian. It's not — "I just have to go." 

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I don't want to hurt you--"

"You didn't do anything wrong." He reaches the door. He leaves. 

He does not go back to his own dorm, because this is not a conversation he wants to have with Harry. He goes to the library and sits on the floor in the back of the stacks and presses the base of his hands into his eyes until lights burst in front of them. 

Kaleva pulls the blanket over his head and cries. He hopes that Chen doesn't come back into the room because Chen would be so sympathetic and not ask any questions and that would make him feel so much worse. 

He'll have about an hour and a half to himself before Chen gets back. 

That's enough time for him to stop crying and get dressed but not enough time for him to stop projecting misery all over the place.

Chen sits down next to him, puts a hand on his shoulder and waits to see how he reacts. Are you alright is a pointless question, he's clearly not — "Are you going to be alright?" Chen says instead. 

Wow, it's kind of hot when Chen touches him.

This wildly inappropriate realization makes Kaleva break into hysterical laughter.

"I think I'll be okay," he says when he recovers himself.

He's still worried. "Are you ready for class or should I tell her you were sick?" 

"Might as well go, it'll be distracting."

He doesn't ask. If Kaleva wants him to know, he'll say. He moves his hand to Kaleva's back, just for a moment, then stands up and hands Kaleva his bookbag. "C'mon, we're already almost late." 

Sasha doesn't go to Remedial Goodness that day. 

Fairy Godmother sighs and marks Sasha absent. "When you don't want to attend class, should you (a) attend anyway and pay attention, (b) skip class, or (c) light things on fire in the back of the classroom?"

Harry raises his hand. 

"For the last time, Harry, 'torture people' is not the right answer. It's not even on the list of possible answers."

Harry lowers his hand and goes back to lighting pieces of paper on fire.

"You should attend class and pay attention," Claudine says in a monotone, staring at the desk. 

"Very good!" Fairy Godmother says encouragingly. "Claudine, you're one of the best students I've ever had in Remedial Goodness."

"It's all thanks to my father," Claudine says, her monotone unchanging.