In apartment 303, Ignis was radiating a level of triumphant energy that was almost visible. He had spent the morning discarding his royal robes in favor of something far more psychologically predatory for a college campus. He chose a pair of charcoal grey slacks that hugged his powerful legs and a deep emerald silk shirt, unbuttoned just enough to hint at the broad, muscular chest beneath. With his crimson hair tied back in a sleek, effortless knot, he looked less like a visiting professor and more like a global celebrity trying to hide in plain sight.
But his mind was far from charming. He was fixated on the memory of the bathroom, the way Kaelan's panther ears had twitched, the way his body had felt under his hands, and the sheer, delicious thrill of the resistance.
He's bleeding today, Ignis thought, a dark, perverse smirk tugging at his lips. He's sore, he's wounded, and he's currently drowning in a sea of his own indignant pride.
He checked his reflection, wiping away a phantom drop of blood from his nose. His obsession had shifted into a new phase. He wanted to do it again. He wanted to pin Kaelan down until the boy stopped cursing and started gasping for a different reason. He wanted another forceful make out session, one where he could taste the exactly how much Kaelan's ego had suffered.
Across the hall, the door to 304 finally creaked open.
Kaelan emerged, looking like a ghost that had been chewed up by a shark. He was limping noticeably, his face pale, and his black cat ears were buried so deep in his hoodie they looked like lumps of coal. Every step was a battle against the swollen, ruined sensation between his legs.
He had spent three hours in bed practicing his curses. He needed them; they were the only weapons he had left.
As he reached the stairs, Ignis stepped out of his own apartment, looking devastatingly handsome and utterly arrogant.
Kaelan froze. His emerald eyes flared with a livid, jaded fire. The sight of Ignis looking so refreshed and "celebrity like" while Kaelan could barely walk made his blood boil.
"You," Kaelan rasped, his voice trembling with outrage. "You absolute, scaly, bottom feeding, necrotic brained gargoyle. I hope you fall into a volcano. I hope your scales rot off and you turn into a giant, hairless mole rat. I hope the universe swallows you whole and spits you back out into a pile of dragon dung."
Ignis stopped, leaning against the railing. Instead of being offended, he began to laugh. It was a rich, melodic sound that echoed through the stairwell.
Kaelan's face went from pale to a dangerous shade of purple. "What are you laughing at?" he shrieked, his short temper snapping. "Do you think this is funny? You think it's a joke to violate someone and then stand there looking like a goddamn cologne ad?"
Ignis wiped a tear of amusement from his eye, his golden gaze raking over Kaelan's stressed form. "I think your vocabulary is as magnificent as your tail, Kaelan. 'Necrotic-brained gargoyle'? That's quite creative."
"Shut up! Shut up, you narcissistic, nose-bleeding, over sized lizard!" Kaelan cursed again, a string of insults so long and specific involving Ignis's lineage and a blender that even the Dragon King had to raise an eyebrow.
Finally, Kaelan ran out of breath. He leaned against the wall, panting, his body shaking with exhaustion. He forced himself to calm down, though the bitterness in his gaze remained sharp enough to cut. He kept a solid six feet of distance between them, his tail tucked tightly in a defensive coil.
"Why are you still here?" Kaelan asked, his voice dropping to a low, angry hiss. "You got what you wanted. You broke the rules, you broke the mirror, and you're trying to break me. Isn't your ego satisfied yet?"
Ignis straightened up, his playful expression softening into something far more intense and dangerous. He took a half-step forward, and Kaelan immediately flinched back, his panther ears snapping flat.
"My ego is never satisfied, Kaelan," Ignis murmured, his voice a deep, vibrating chord. "And I didn't break you. I just... unboxed you. You're far more interesting when you're enraged than when you're pretending to be a normal human."
Kaelan glared at him, the resentment thick enough to taste. "I'm not an 'unboxed' toy. I'm a person. A person who currently can't sit down because of your perverse obsession. If you touch me again, I'll find a way to make even a god bleed out."
"You already did," Ignis said, gesturing to the bruise on his cheek with a smirk. "And I loved every second of it."
Kaelan groaned, a sound of pure exasperation. He couldn't win an argument with a man who found physical assault "charming."
"I'm going to class," Kaelan bit out, turning away and beginning the slow, pained descent down the stairs. "Stay away from me. Don't look at me. Don't even breathe in my direction, you over glorified salamander."
Ignis watched him go, his eyes fixated on the way Kaelan's fluffy tail twitched with every labored step. The obsession burned brighter than ever.
"See you in Microeconomics, little cat," Ignis whispered, a fresh, faint trickle of blood appearing under his nose as he thought about the way Kaelan had looked when his pride was the only thing he had left to wear.