Vile Attraction (Floyd Leech/Yuu, Jade Leech/Yuu)

18 ~ Ignihyde's Housewarden

"ACEY!"

Ace flinched and turned around to find Cater sprinting to catch up with him. "Whoa, Cater, what—"

"C'mere, you gotta see this!"

Cater grabbed his arm and pulled out his phone, showing him the picture he had taken of his notebook. Ace's eyes widened as he read the text over and over again, as though not comprehending. "So..." he trailed off, unsure of what to say.

"Either someone's playing a trick on us, or you're right and there's something going on," Cater said, his voice now a whisper. "And I get the feeling that someone wouldn't go through the effort of concealing themself and sneaking into my room while I'm inside just to play a prank. I mean, besides you, 'cause you've done that before."

"Wait, someone was in your room?" Ace asked, staring at Cater with a blank look.

Cater's voice rose slightly, now whisper-yelling. "Yes! I thought it was just my imagination, but then I saw my notebook, which I know for a fact was closed earlier!"

Ace remained still for a few moments, his mind working through all of the information and the fact that he was right all along before a smug grin appeared on his face. "I told you I was right~"

"Technically it was my theory, but whatevs!" Cater retorted with an equally cheeky grin before his expression turned serious once again. "What should we do now?"

"Go to Octavinelle's potion lab, obviously!"

"Acey..." Cater sighed, "You're a smart dude, but sometimes you're a few cards short of a full deck..."

"I feel like you're trying to insult me, but I've literally never heard that before."

"It means... NVM. We can't just waltz into the potion lab, Acey," Cater laughed.

Ace crossed his arms angrily, now working out what the expression Cater used meant. "I'm not dumb! I know we can't just go in! But like, what if we used a potion of invisibility?"

"We don't know when he's gonna go to the lab, though, and neither of us has the time to just sit there and wait to see if he'll show up," Cater reasoned. "For all we know, it could've been him in my room writing that hint to throw us off!"

A lightbulb seemed to go off in Ace's head after a few moments of deep thought. "Wait, I have an idea!" His brows furrowed at Cater's patronizing expression. "And it's not a stupid one this time!"

"Go on..."

"You're in the same class as the housewarden of Ignihyde, right?"

Cater tilted his head to the side. "I mean, yeah, but why?"

"And people from Ignihyde are supposed to be super techy, right?"

"Right..." Cater murmured, still not quite following.

"So why not have him help us set up a camera in the lab?" Ace finished his thought beaming, looking proud of himself.

Cater's eyes widened at the suggestion. "Wait, Acey, that's actually really smart! But one snag... He doesn't exactly talk to anyone, YK? And he even has special permission to not attend class!"

"Then let's go to his room!" Ace exclaimed, turning to walk in the direction of the exit.

Closely following after him, Cater asked apprehensively, "Right now? You think that's a good idea? He prolly won't even answer the door..."

"We won't know unless we try, right?"

The upperclassman let out a laugh. "You've kinda been sounding like Deucey lately with how stubborn you're being, haha!"