Chapter 25 CHAPTER 025
Fire and ice are incompatible, they say.
They should never mix, never touch, and never be seen with feet close to each other; proximity means death, they say.
It has always been a rule repeated over and over again, drilled into their minds like an unbreakable law, something no one dares to question, something no one survives long enough to challenge.
Xavi has lived his whole life in the academy and has never realized how brutal and unfair it is. The walls that once felt like protection now feel like a cage, suffocating and watching, and he never realized until now.
He has a reputation for sleeping around; he always felt that having the other elementals was enough. He has never cared about the fire elementals being out of reach until now, and ever since he met a certain fire elemental, he seems to want a little too much, something deeper, something dangerous, something that threatens to burn and freeze him all at once. For the first time in his life, Xavi isn’t sure if he wants to stop it.
He wants a certain fire elemental that’s forbidden and out of his reach. Oh, how much Xavi wants to fuck the rules and touch him, consequences be damned.
“Hey, Xavi. Class is over.”
In an instant, Xavi breaks free from his thoughts, finding Sage beside him, poking his nose into his book, and Xavi whips his head back over to his notebook and realizes he has spent the entire period of class sketching a particular place.
“Is that the new fire elemental?”
In an instant, Xavi slams his book shut and turns to the lightning elemental, his only best friend and partner in crime. “What brings you here…again?”
Sage smirks and places his elbow on the desk, resting his head against his knuckles. “You want to break the rules for him, don’t you?”
Xavi snorts and runs his fingers through his blue hair, the smirk on his face matching the mischievous one on Sage’s face. “What do you think?”
Sage scoffs and rolls his eyes. “I won’t fucking cry at your funeral, and don’t drag the innocent fire elemental into your game.
“Who said it’s a game? And who said he’s innocent? I know he wants me too, if it weren’t for the stupid rules." Xavi’s eyes flint dangerously.
Sage clicks his tongue. “You’re going to get yourself killed, but you aren’t my problem.” he rolls his eyes once more and then reels his silver eyes over to the front of the desk, and slowly, his lips curl into a longing yet mischievous smile as his gaze drops anchor on the man behind the teacher’s desk: Professor Reis Ravenzo.
Xavi rolls his eyes and stands to his feet, picking up his book. “I should have known,” he tsks and hits the back of Sage’s head with the book.
Sage hisses, his hand flying to the back of his head, yet his gaze doesn’t leave the professor. “He’s gorgeous, don’t you think?”
Xavi grimaces at the awestruck look on Sage’s face, though he still follows his gaze back to the professor, Sage’s obsession, the reason he always sneaks into Xavi’s class just to catch a glimpse, even though they don’t share the same classes.
Xavi has to admit. Professor is the hottest man he’s ever seen, with features that look almost too perfect to belong to someone real.
Sharp cheekbones, pale skin smooth like porcelain, and long dark hair that falls just past his shoulders, tied loosely at the nape as if he couldn’t be bothered to tame it properly. His lips are thin, usually pressed into a line that screams don’t test me, yet somehow makes people want to do exactly that; people like the silver-haired lightning elemental.
Xavi exhales slowly, dragging his gaze away. “You’re disgusting,” he mutters.
Sage grins, completely unapologetic. “Says the one drooling over a forbidden fire elemental.”
"You can stay here and drool over him; I’m leaving." Xavi snorts and starts to leave, but the moment he reaches the door, Sage suddenly grabs his wrist and pulls him towards the professor, who raises a questioning brow at both of them.
Xavi stumbles half a step forward, irritation flashing instantly across his face. “What the hell—”
“Professor,” Sage calls without an ounce of shame as his voice carries an unusual charm. “We had a question.”
Xavi shoots him a look. We?
“What are you doing this weekend?” Sage bites his bottom lip as he says it.
Xavi stares at the lightning elemental like he has lost a few of his brain cells. Even Xavi has never been that bold, but the Professor raises a questioning brow.
“Why?”
Sage leaves Xavi’s side and steps closer to the desk, placing his palm against it and leaning slightly forward, silver eyes glinting with mischief and something far more shameless. He’s that obsessed. “How about a date with me this weekend?”
Xavi fights back a laugh when he sees the look of horror on the professor’s face before it morphs back into something completely unreadable.
“You’re bold for an eighteen-year-old." Professor Reis finally speaks, adjusting the glasses at the bridge of his nose. He tskes and shakes his head, as this is something he experiences on a normal basis.
“It’s a flaw or a talent, depending on who you ask.” Sage shrugs. “So what do you say, Professor Reis?”
“I’m thirty-two—”
“Year is just a number. I’m eighteen and an adult,” Sage cuts him off too eagerly, his silver eyes glinting.
Professor Reis flickers his gaze from Sage to Xavi and back, his face slightly wrinkling with irritation. “I’m fourteen years older than you. I am a professor at this academy. I’ll advise you to at least show some respect and go for someone your age.”
Sage doesn’t look offended at the blunt rejection; if anything, his grin widens like he enjoys the irritation flickering across the professor’s face. “Respect?” he echoes the word, tilting his head. “I am being respectful. I asked, didn’t I? Didn’t drag you out or anything. Besides, I’ve been sneaking in just to watch you teach. You noticed, but you never chased me out once."
The professor stares at him with a cold stare. “That is not an invitation.”
“It can be if you change your mind,” Sage says smoothly, leaning in just a little more.
“You should leave. This is ice elemental territory, and you should be in class,” Professor Reis says simply.
Sage tilts his head. “Is that a no or a ‘try again later’?”
“It is a ‘leave before I assign you detention for the rest of the semester,’” the professor replies without hesitation, then he reels his gaze over to Xavi. “Take your little friend with you,”
“Okay! That’s our cue.” Xavi immediately straightens, and he grabs Sage by the collar this time and yanks him back with zero ceremony, dragging him out of the classroom before he says anything stupid.
“You’re fucking crazy, dude,”
Sage shrugs, running a hand through his silver hair. He smirks. “It was worth the shot.”
“He’s engaged.” The words leave Xavi like a bomb, and Sage pauses for a moment, whipping his head towards Xavi, who smirks and walks away with longer strides.
How ironic. Best friends going after things they can’t have.
Never thought something so forbidden could be so sweet and alluring. Xavi is almost ready to give up his life to have a taste.
Almost.