Adonis' "Maia" Bird

If I had a cent for each time I called that bastard ‘Adonis’, Maia Gletscher thought with a scowl, I’d be able to buy myself an upgrade for my weapon. Keep flirting, asshole. Keep flirting.  Electric green eyes landed on Mirko Erde, who charmed his way through a throng of admirers who came from various classrooms just to see him in Room A08. Maia looked away when one of the admirers saw her glaring, and the girl released a high-pitched giggle in the air that made her skin crawl.  I hate that stupid cow and her babbling bunch of idiots.

“We have to go now, Mirko,” the girl pouted, leaning in closely and not noticing the young man flinch, “we have training in a few minutes. Being late would get on our personal record.”

“Better go and leave, then,” he replied. The group of girls giggled collectively and rushed out of the classroom, the raven-haired male releasing a sigh of relief. Finally. He thought they’d never leave. Mirko’s sharp topaz eyes caught sight of Maia, who was taking out her pad for the lesson and smiled, walking over to the chair in front of her and sitting on it, watching her.

Maia could only glance up with a raised brow. “What do you want, Adonis?”

“I just wanted to say hi to the charming little ginger,” he answered. “And take this seat.”

Her eye twitched. “I’m not charming nor am I little.” A frown passed her lips, “Someone was already sitting there, Mirko. Don’t be rude.”

Mirko merely shrugged. “Hey, it’s a free world. It’s not like the prof assigns seats anyway. And the temporary owner isn’t sitting on it, so I’m taking possession.”

“Whatever. Do what you want, I won’t stop you.” She turned back to her pad, swiping the screen and quickly reading over the previous day’s notes. “Better go reread your notes, Golden Boy. No one wants the Wonder Erde to fail a possibly surprise quiz that could affect whether we would go through Initiation or not.”

He laughed into the air, making her roll her eyes. Confident bastard. “Sadly for you, I already studied the night before, dear Maia. Special abilities of the Earth and Sky, hm?”

“How could I forget that you’re a living example of such prime wonders?” Maia had nothing against Mirko’s parents – Amaya Himmel and Arthur Erde – it was their son that was a prick. “Who knows, they might make you fly in today’s lesson while making a mountain rise.”

“Nothing compared to shooting out electrically-charged daggers of ice.”

For some reason, that comment made her flush a light red.

“Shut up, you know that isn’t possible.”

“Maybe it is. Mom and dad were just discussing the topic over dinner last night. Through the years, the genetic code of Technikans might have shifted. Who knows if it might shift again in the near future?”

She let herself smirk.

“If that’s so, then I may have the ability to kick your ass one day, even with your fancy Earth-Sky mix, Adonis. Better look out for that.”

Mirko was about to throw out a reply, but their professor entered the room and all was silent. As he turned to face the front, he could feel Maia’s success at winning the ‘argument’ radiating throughout.

* * * * *

 Mirko and Maia were childhood friends. Their families were good friends, and they thought it would be natural to let their children interact with each other. Mirko Erde was a few months older than Maia, and found himself inches shorter until he hit his growth spurt at fourteen, leaving Maia to be the smaller half of their duo.

Mathias Gletscher and Arthur Erde’s frequent outward dislike for each other both made different effects on the children. Maia grew up with a slight dislike for Mirko, while Mirko was amused and confused on why the fathers constantly butted heads. Amaya Himmel and Eri Blitzschnell didn’t know why as well, and just let it be, letting the males sort out their deal.

When Mirko and Maia officially began their training, fifteen-year-old Mirko constantly found himself surrounded by females, which both flattered and confused him greatly. Growing up, however, this irritated him and he brushed his being a ‘heartthrob’ off, which gave the females the impression that he was modest. Maia, however, resented this ever since and merely snorted at the shallowness of the situation, being one of the few who didn’t ogle over his constantly tussled and embarrassed smile.

Mathias supported this, encouraging her to not fall for the ‘son of a prick’ so quickly. Even at all. This resulted in Eri punching his shoulder and scolding her husband, telling Maia to do whatever she wanted. And it turned out that what she wanted was to constantly criticize Mirko’s constant flirting.

On the other hand, Mirko didn’t understand why he was such a favorite among the opposite gender. He had black hair and light-colored eyes, so what? Desert Students also had the same eye color, and rarely the same hair color. He was one of the few Earth Students in there, so why not have them ogle over them? Arthur didn’t understand as well, and Amaya could only smirk, saying that it was her good looks that got passed on to their son. She had later told him that it would pass.

Sadly, it had not passed and still happened at their age of eighteen. Maia grew out her ginger hair and focused on getting into the Barrier Department, ignoring any admirers if ever they came. (Further impressing her father and gaining her mother’s approval. Don’t fall for men like this prat, she once told her, sending a look towards her father, who shook his head with a smirk.)

Mirko couldn’t understand why Maia constantly insulted and mocked his being a heartthrob when he clearly didn’t like being one, and was confused over the matter until he decided that irritating her with it would be the best he could do to get her attention. He embraced his so-called ‘title’ and flirted back with his admirers, always looking over for her reaction.

And just as he expected, she looked disgusted and slightly envious.

* * * * *

Break time for the day would last for two hours, more or less. Finally fighting off the group of girls that surrounded him yet again, Mirko quickly ducked into a classy coffee shop, taking out his wallet and requesting for his usual drink at the counter. The barista flashed him a smile and returned his change, instructing the baristas behind to immediately prepare his drink.

“We’ll call out your name when it’s ready, sir,” the barista affirmed with the same sunny smile. Mirko thanked her and turned away, looking for a table when his eyes spotted Maia, who was silently sipping at a cup of hot coffee and reading something from her tab. A twinkle came to his eyes and he approached the girl, who didn’t sense him coming closer and merely kept reading.

She felt a presence and glanced up, raising a brow upon seeing Mirko leaning on a chair that was across her. “Adonis,” she greeted, going back to the piece of text, “aren’t you supposed to be with your little groupie or something?”

“No, I just got rid of them before getting in here.” He ran a hand through his hair and tried to sneak a glance at what she was reading. “Maia, you know that I really don’t like those…girls.”

“You seem like you enjoy the attention.” The faux politeness was gone and her usual irritated tone was back, she swiping the screen a little too much that it landed a few pages more than she intended. “Flirting with those blondes, letting them surround you – people would tend to think that you’re a womanizer, Mirko.”

“But I’m not-”

“I know you’re not,” the green-eyed girl snapped, “so why the hell are you even doing it if you don’t like it? You can just say you’re not interested and they’ll stop.”

He sent her a look.

“Do you really think they’ll stop?”

Before she could reply, the barista delivered his drink, wishing him a good meal and skirting away. Mirko took the silence as an opportunity to take a sip from his cold beverage, Maia finishing her own and pushing the empty cup away.

“You won’t know until you ask.”

“Why won’t you ask?”

Coward. “The chance of them believing me is as high as the chance of me managing to use both my parents’ Glacier and Lightning abilities. So, no. I don’t want any Alpha Bitch Poison in my system, thank you very much.”

The corners of his mouth switched, and he resisted the urge to smile.

She was never this sarcastic or disgruntled.

“Come on, ‘Maia bird’.” The nickname made her glare icily. “Help me out here. I don’t even understand why they call me a heartthrob or a lady-killer.”

“One: Don’t you try calling me that again. And two: just tell your little gaggle of girlies that you don’t want anything to do with them. Ever again.”

With that, the ginger stood up and left him alone, walking out of the coffee shop and not looking back. Mirko could only look on sadly, confused as ever and trying to figure out what he should really do.