Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“What about this part?”

Jamil pointed to one of the pictures they took of the temple walls. The murals had been covered in scriptures and faded paintings. It really was quite fascinating; if Leona hadn't been dying to get rid of Phil and Tumbo and get some good night's sleep, he probably would have wanted to stay and explore.

“Hmm?” Leona hummed from his bed, his leg bouncing up and down on top of his knee as he lounged on his back while Jamil buzzed about in his room.

The floor was littered with pictures, courtesy of Jamil. “What if we miss anything? I am not coming back here ever again,” Jamil had said while flashing his phone everywhere.

“Leona,” Jamil said impatiently. “I need your eyes here.”

Leona rolled onto his side, resting his head on his hand casually. He grinned. “My eyes are at your service.”

Jamil was standing in the middle of his own created battlefield, finger still pointing downwards at one of the pictures, though it was almost completely covered by his own sleeve.

Another thing Leona hadn't expected of Jamil; his personal style was loose and casual, nowhere near what Leona thought it'd be. He was currently wearing a gigantic oversized sweater, with long sleeves, and his hair in a messy bun.

“Can your eyes stop looking at me, and start looking where I'm actually pointing?” Jamil said, putting his other hand on his hip. He cocked his head, his face a mix of exasperation and amusement at Leona's lack of attention.

“Alright, alright,” Leona sighed, grunting dramatically as he rolled over to the edge of his bed to get a better look. “What is it?”

“Those runes on the scarab mural,” Jamil bent down and pressed on a particular part of the script, “there. ‘To cut’, that could be about cutting the scarab in two. Right?”

Leona hummed, gesturing for Jamil to give him the picture. “Probably, let's see,” he said, his eyes roaming around the picture.

“Well?” Jamil looked at him expectantly while he read, holding his breath.

As Leona reached the last line, he snorted. No fucking way. He fell back on his bed laughing.

“W-what?!” Jamil spluttered, taken aback by Leona's outburst. “What does it say? Surely I wasn't that far off?” Then, in a more insecure voice, “was I?”

“Nah,” Leona said, getting back up after he had his fill. “In fact, you were right on the money. It said to cut the beetle in half, alright.”

Jamil gave him an unimpressed stare. “Alright. Ha ha, you got something I didn't. Care to share with the class, already?”

Grinning, Leona gave him back the picture between his two fingers. “It's a recipe. On how to cook beetles.”

“...A recipe,” Jamil repeated, gaping at him.

“On how to cook beetles. Yep.”

“Please tell me you're joking,” Jamil pleaded. He looked ready to go back and burn down the jungle after all.

“As much as I'd have loved to have come up with a joke like that, unfortunately it seems I'm not nearly as funny as the universe is. Sorry,” Leona said, not very apologetic about it at all.

“The good news is that you were pretty spot on with your translation,” he patted Jamil on the shoulder. “You're improving, good job.”

Jamil gave him a miserable look before crying out in frustration. He flopped backwards onto the floor, pictures flying away from impact. “This is so pointless! We're never finding this thing, I couldn't find anything on it before either.”

“Woah there, leave the healthy dose of cynicism to me, I'll start to get an identity crisis.”

“You can share,” Jamil said wistfully to the ceiling.

“Sure, I'm good at that,” Leona chuckled, “want some depression to go with it?”

“Pass,” Jamil deadpanned, though Leona caught him almost smiling.

The clock ticked in the background while Jamil was wallowing away in his bug-induced crisis. Leona sighed, “alright, Mr. Cynic, let's think about it. How'd you find the first one?”

Jamil shot him an incredulous look. He sat upright, his energy back in full, “don’t tell me you didn't pay attention a second time.”

Whoops.

Leona shrugged sheepishly, “idiot induced trauma response. I remember nothing of those 4 days.”

At that, a smile crept on Jamil's face, no matter how much he seemed to want to look exasperated with Leona. He rolled his eyes. “Well, I'm not explaining it a third time. Your loss for not appreciating my internet sleuthing.”

Ah right, the bug forum shit. Hmm, Leona thought, maybe…

“You said you couldn't find anything on the other one, you mean on the internet?”

“Yeah,” Jamil sighed, “I did a lot of research online to find anything about the scarab, or the Cave of Wonders. There's obviously a lot on the cave itself since it's a pretty popular myth, but the tome I found seemed to be one of the few places actually describing how to get there, so there's nothing on the scarabs let alone where to find them.”

He shuddered, “I know more about scarab beetles than I've ever wanted to know in my life. This whole thing has to be part of the curse, there's no way this isn't a punishment.”

Leona snickered, “maybe instead of your freedom you should wish for a bug-free world. Seems like that would give you more joy in life.”

“...Leona,” Jamil said immediately, his face suddenly serious. His hands folded into each other as if he was making a business deal. “Can I bribe you into using your wish for a bug-free world?”

Leona's eyes widened, “my wish?”

Jamil rolled his eyes, “relax. Obviously I'm joking– well, mostly joking– I'm not going to take your wish. I'm just saying that if you have a price–”

“Wait, hang on,” Leona interrupted, “what do you mean by ‘my wish’?”

“Huh?” Jamil cocked his head in confusion, “from the cave. Wait– you didn't think you'd get a wish too?”

“Uhh…I hadn't considered it,” Leona admitted, his mind reeling. A wish? He had just assumed he'd just be there to get Jamil his wish to be free. He hadn't considered he'd be getting one too.

Jamil gave him a mixed look, somewhere between confusion, wonder, and– was he getting flustered? Leona was confused, why would Jamil be flustered when Leona was the one who completely missed the obvious; they'd both find the cave, so it wouldn't be far-fetched to consider they'd also both get a wish.

“Uh, well…” Jamil said, still inexplicably flustered for some reason. “I don't know for sure of course, but I figured since we'd find it together you'd be entitled to one too.”

Leona stared past Jamil, his mind fuzzy. A wish. He could wish for something to fix his miserable life somehow. The weight of it sunk in slowly, threatening to smother him. What would he even wish for? Leona started spiraling thinking about all the things he wished he could do, or be–

Snap, snap.

“Leona, you there?” Jamil said, snapping his fingers in Leona's face. He looked concerned. “Are you okay?”

Leona refocused on Jamil's face, still infuriatingly pretty and a lot closer than he'd expected. He swallowed, “yeah, I'm good. Was just thinking about what to bargain for your bug-free world. It would cost ya, we'd be ruining entire ecosystems for your peace, y'know?”

Jamil's concern melted away. He gave Leona an amused smile as he put his head on his knuckles casually. “Oh? Are you seriously considering it? What could a guy like me ever offer a prince like you?”

A kiss, Leona's mind offered unhelpfully, and he really wished his eyes didn't betray that thought by glancing down to Jamil's lips. He quickly diverted them back up to Jamil's eyes, which didn't help at all, but was at least more acceptable behaviour.

Leona cursed at himself for slipping up, and even more for wanting to follow up on it. “Uh… I'm sure I could come up with something,” he said eventually, before Jamil could question it.

Jamil lifted his head up off his hand as he raised his eyebrows. “Come up with something? You couldn't think of anything? Ouch, Leona, that's cold even for you,” he scoffed, pushing himself off the ground.

He hadn't sounded upset but Leona cringed anyway. He grabbed Jamil’s shoulder in an attempt to keep him from getting up. Jamil however had not accounted for it and he tumbled forward into Leona. Leona braced himself quickly on the bed to prevent them from falling backwards onto the bed.

“W-Woah– sorry,” Jamil flushed as he pushed himself out of Leona's chest again. Leona took it back; the universe wasn't funny at all.

The situation caught up to Jamil as he noticed Leona's hand. He gave Leona a confused frown. “Wait– why did you do that?”

Leona was stuck between trying to deal with Jamil's being way too close for comfort, and trying to remember what he was going to say before Jamil face-planted into his chest, again.

“Uh…” Leona said dumbly. “I was just gonna say it wasn't like that. You have a lot. To offer, that is.”

Jamil's eyebrows raised in surprise. He glanced at Leona's hand again, flushing a bright red. “...Oh, I see.”

No!

Leona removed his hand from Jamil's shoulder as if he'd burnt himself. He groaned and pushed Jamil away before getting up off the bed.

“Not like that. I would never ask that of you.” Leona grimaced, “don't expect me to.”

He didn’t want Jamil to think he was doing all of this just to get into his pants; in fact, it kind of stung that Jamil would think he was capable of something like that. His stomach sank at the realisation that even if his feelings were ever requited, they’d only get tangled up in Jamil's web of self-devaluation and the inherent power imbalance between them.

Jamil was frozen in place, his eyes darting across Leona’s face as if trying to process what had just happened before the hurt settled in on his face. His lips pressed together in a way Leona was now intimately familiar with.

“Of course I didn't,” Jamil glared back, “I told you, Leona. I know where I stand.”

He didn't, of course. Leona sighed and closed his eyes. He didn't know, but it was for the best that he thought he did, anyway. At least he wouldn't think he was some commodity for Leona to enjoy in exchange for his help.

“Look. All I was sayin’ was that you're more capable than you think you are, even though I told you the opposite before. I can see the irony of that, at least. Don't sell yourself short, especially for my status.”

Leona could visibly see Jamil ease up while he was talking, the frown on his face fading away into a wary look.

“You wanna be free? You gotta start thinkin’ like a free man. None of this prince nonsense.”

Jamil's mouth turned up into a smile and Leona was thankful he managed to salvage his fumble. “You know the prince part was a joke, right?” Jamil put his hand on his hip, his other raised up in exasperation, “I swear you get a hard-on for lecturing me.”

“Maybe. Who's to tell?” Leona grinned, "you seem to like it, since you're still here.”

“I'm still here in spite of it,” Jamil scoffed, but gave Leona a cheeky smile. “I guess you're right, though, as usual. What's the point of freeing myself if I don't allow myself to treat the Prince of Sunset Savanna like a commoner?” he said with a deeply sarcastic voice.

Leona barked out a laugh. “Yeah, alright. Maybe just me, then. Wouldn't want you to cause an international incident.”

Jamil sobered up at that, and gave him a fond smile.“Y’know, Leona. If I didn't know better, one would think that that was a request for friendship.”

“Good thing you know better,” Leona grumbled, ignoring his cheeks heating up.

“Yeah,” Jamil said, not sounding perturbed by Leona's denial.

An awkward silence set in. At least to Leona, Jamil seemed to be enjoying whatever he was thinking of while Leona squirmed.

“So…” Leona broke the silence, “the scarab.” Bringing the topic back to what he wanted to talk about before they completely derailed it with this nonsense. “We should try to search the internet.”

Jamil groaned miserably, as if he'd forgotten why he was here in Leona's room altogether. “Now you're just being a dick about it,” he huffed. “I told you three times I did that already. I only found one half while looking for it.”

“Yeah, but what if you sucked at it.”

“Excuse me?” Jamil said in outrage. “What's that supposed to mean? You think you can do better?”

“No,” Leona said, delighted that Jamil took the bait, “but that's my point. Neither of us are like those losers from Ignihyde, so who knows what we're missin’.”

Jamil's eyes widened in understanding, “you don't mean…?”

“That's right,” Leona gave him a toothy grin, “how'd you feel about a small school reunion?”

—

“I knew it. I knew it. The moment I recovered from the OB status I saw the pop-up ‘SSR troublemakers will remember this…’ and I knew it was going to come back to bite me. I couldn't even reset the save file like usual, ahh this sucks…” Idia had gone off after Jamil had requested an audience in Idia’s office, and Leona had not so gently reminded him that he owed them for S.T.Y.X..

“Um…” Jamil tried to interject, but it fell to deaf ears. Leona just rolled his eyes, too used to Radish Sprout's theatre by now. He crossed his arms and leaned back into his chair. This could take a while.

Idia groaned, “this karma system came back at the worst time. There's an anniversary event going on for Best Girl's Christmas costume, and I can't miss out on it just to explain to some jocks how to turn the pc off and on again. I had expected Azul to come for a favour one day, but he would just whine and guilt trip me into hacking him some extra ScroogeCoin, which is EZ, but jocks are just the worst.” Idia finished with a deep inhale. “U-um…what did you need me for?”

“...If you don't want to help,” Jamil started, but Leona interrupted him with a hand on his arm.

“Nah, he's gonna hear us out whether he likes it or not.”

“Not,” Idia piped up unhelpfully.

“Don't care,” Leona growled, “don’t be selfish and hear him out.”

Idia's eyes darted between the two until it finally landed on Leona's hand, which Leona quickly retrieved.

“Ahh,” Idia said, his lips turning into a big gleeful grin, sharp teeth and all. “Well, well. Looks like I got the game genre all wrong, I didn't know I was a random NPC in a BL visual novel. What is this, a side quest for bonus affection? Is Leona the MC, or Jamil? I bet it's Leona. Although both of you are really too hot to not be a love interest. Ah…what a waste to take eachother off the market like that…”

Leona's hands twitched in annoyance. Jamil glanced at Leona, his face thankfully showing zero understanding of what Idia had just said. Or at least, not yet. Leona wasn't going to let him linger on it.

“Yeah, not doing this,” Leona grumbled and looked around. “Where's Ortho?”

To Leona's surprise, instead of continuing his annoying yapping, Idia completely deflated, melting into his weirdly neon office chair as if he wanted to disappear.

“Ahh…Ortho isn't here right now,” Idia said with a voice that lacked any of his previous energy.

Ah shit. Leona shifted uncomfortably. If something happened to the little bean sprout…

“Wait.” Jamil thankfully spoke up before Leona felt pressured to deal with it. “Ortho isn't here? He should've graduated by now, right?”

“He did,” Idia sighed dramatically. “He's traveling right now.”

“Traveling?” Leona blurted out, unable to stop himself at the mental whiplash. “That's it? Why on earth are you actin’ like you buried the kid? Again.”

Idia glared at Leona. The tips of his burning hair turned a red hue, before it disappeared back into the familiar blue.

“Ehhh…ha…haha. I forgot I was talking to Mr. 0 EQ,” Idia shook his head in defeat as he shrugged. “Really, you'd expect there to be some character progression after four years, but I guess if you've written yourself off like a side character, you'll get the character progression of one too…”

“The fuck does that mean?” Leona got up, his blood boiling, “you're really startin’ to piss me off.”

“Wow, amazing new dialogue, I'm still waiting for the DLC,” Idia leaned back in his chair, twirling some kind of mechanical pen in his spidery fingers. “I'm all for retro, Leona, but in your case I'd probably wait for the remake.”

“How ’bout I remake your face–”

“Alright, shut up!” Jamil snapped, interrupting them before Leona could follow up on that promise. “You two are both terrible, petty, and immature babies, and I still can't believe you’re both older than me.”

“H-Hey, w-woah. Don't lump me in with Mr. Sigma Male over there, I'm a completely different archetype…Besides, I've been very patient with you guys considering you two came here to harass me in my own office. If this wasn't some B plot romance novel, I would've totally kicked you out by now.”

Jamil breathed in deeply through his nose, before breathing out.

“Regardless,” he said with strained calmness, “if you two could stop trying to rekindle your third year in high school, I would really appreciate it if you,” he pointed at Idia, “could listen to me, and you,” he pointed at Leona, “could shut up.”

Leona let himself fall back into his chair with a growl, the chair creaked under his weight as if it too was offended by Leona's lack of tact. Whatever. They wanted him to shut up, he'd shut up. He closed his eyes in protest.

Side character… the words echoed in his mind as he forced himself to drift off while Idia's grating voice mixed up with Jamil's in the background.

—

Leona woke up when someone shoved him against his shoulder. He grunted, “what?”

“Get up, we found it,” Jamil's voice rang next to him.

His eyes shot open, sitting up in his chair to see Jamil and Idia standing side by side. Jamil looked quite pleased, he had a warm smile on his face as he held a thin blue tablet.

“You did? When– how?” Leona slurred through his sleep induced brain fog.

“See, this is why you never skip cutscenes,” Idia said, shaking his head in mock disappointment. "You always miss important plot development when you least expect it. Like how I once skipped what I thought was a boring airship scene only to find out afterwards that they killed off my dragon waifu. I'm still so devastated.”

“Idia's right, I think,” Jamil said, giving Idia a sidelong glance. “It's a bit of a long story, but Idia found an obscure ad listing on Prince Ali-Express, and tracked it down to a small shop in the Scalding Sands.” He flipped over the tablet to show a screenshot of the ad, showing the other half of a scarab. At least, a blurry image of one.

Leona squinted at the pixels, “How d'you know it's not fake? Isn't Prince Ali-Express a website for selling shitty knock-off garbage?”

Jamil's face went deadpan. “Idia can explain,” he said, giving the tablet back to Idia who gleefully took it before mumbling something about rich people.

“Wee hee hee, I'm glad you asked,” Idia twirled the same mechanical pen from before in his fingers once more before clicking on the end. A big hologram appeared. “You see, I developed new AI technology to enhance heavily pixelated images to ultra HD quality, and then analysed the reflective qualities of the metal to confirm its match to the half you already obtained. Then–”

Leona put up a hand, “so it's real. Got it.”

Idia's face fell into a deadpan stare rivaling that of Jamil. He glanced at Jamil who now looked weirdly amused and pleased with himself. “S-seriously? You were the one who asked… I don't get how he does it, Jamil must have his masochism and patience stats at MAX. Does this guy even have a dump stat? Maybe taste in men, though Leona did max out his looks…”

“What was that?” Leona asked, raising his eyebrow.

“N-Nothing,” Idia stuttered, going back to his hologram. An enhanced image of the scarab half appeared with percentages attached to various areas. “I'm about 99.925% sure that it's the real deal, and if it's not, well…” Idia did an I dunno gesture. Tough luck he supposed.

Leona looked from Jamil to Idia, and grunted, “good work. Thanks.”

Idia's eyebrows raised up all the way into his flamed fringe, his eyes round. “D-did I hear that right? Mr. Leona Kingscholar said thank you? I see now, Jamil bugged his AI in this plotline somehow. It all makes sense… as expected of Triple Threat Jamil. Irresistible competence.”

Leona's ear twitched in agitation. He turned his attention to Jamil, “he got the location, yeah? Let's bail before I lose it with this guy.”

“I'm right here…”

Jamil snickered, glancing between the two in amusement before patting Idia's arm. “Yeah, thanks, Idia. You've been a great help. Tell me if Ortho ever visits the Scalding Sands, I'll make sure to give him the good tips. It's the least I can do.”

Idia smiled at Jamil and nodded gratefully. Leona was confused, when did they get all buddy buddy? Surely not during his one nap…

Leona grunted reluctantly, “I suppose I could get the bean sprout a tour guide if he ends up near Sunset. Wouldn't want my country to get sued by S.T.Y.X. if anythin’ happened to him during his stay.”

“OOC Leona, s-s-scary–” Idia shivered. “I-I mean, thanks Leona. I'll tell Ortho you said that, he'll be happy to hear from you.”

“‘S that right?” Leona's lips curled up. He had liked the mini Shroud, even when he had tried to destroy the world as they knew it. Ambition to be admired, Leona supposed.

“Sure,” he said, not knowing what else to say to that. He turned to Jamil, “you all set, or do you two need to say your emotional goodbyes or whatever after bonding while I was asleep?”

Jamil still had that amused smile on his face. He rolled his eyes, while pulling his phone out of his pocket. “Don't worry, he was going to give me his number so I could stay in touch, right Idia?”

Leona raised his eyebrow. They were?

“W-w-well, I-I–, yes I was, b-but–” Idia stuttered, his hair turning pink. He fumbled his tablet as he tried to unlock it, “Oh bother. I know we said we were going to exchange numbers, but that was before Leona decided to skip all cutscenes and get all weird about our friendship level up. I don't want to be the NPC pushed into some shitty miscommunication trope forcing the MC to realise their feelings for the love interest before it's too late…”

Idia finally unlocked his tablet and tapped on it a few times before Jamil's phone made a confirmation noise.

“U-uh…do you want it too?” Idia asked Leona in an attempt to make him less of an awkward third-wheeler.

Leona threw Idia a sarcastic smile, “sure, why not. Heck, why not make a group chat while you're at it? Would love to continue this–” he gestured between them– “further, but through text.”

Idia beamed and tapped his tablet a few times before Leona's phone buzzed in his pocket, as well as Jamil's a second time. Great, of course the guy would take this exact moment to not read into the situation.

“Wonderful,” Leona grit out, “now that that's settled, let's mosey on out of here, shall we?”

Jamil nodded, “Idia, can you send us the coordinates?”

Idia grinned gleefully, “Oh, I can do more than that. Just make sure to send me some merch from the Cave, K?”

—

“Nice of Idia to let us use one of his mirrors.”

“Yeah,” Leona grumbled as he stepped out of the mirror. “Nice.”

“He's lonely, you know,” Jamil gave him a sidelong look as he grabbed his phone for further navigation sent by Idia along with what Leona figured were copious amounts of chat images.

“Hmm?”

“Idia,” Jamil clarified. “He's lonely. That's why he's sad about Ortho. He can't leave S.T.Y.X. like Ortho can, but he can't exactly blame Ortho for wanting to see the world.”

“Ah,” Leona muttered, feeling his face heat up. That sounded embarrassingly familiar; he hadn't particularly benefited from Ruggie's acceptance into Sunset Savanna’s professional magishift team, but he couldn't exactly blame him for not staying behind to pick up Leona's clothes his entire life. In the end Leona was happy for him and his family, loneliness aside. “That's rough.”

Jamil snorted. “Yeah,” he said, tapping a message on his phone. A barrage of messages seemed to come back before Jamil stowed his phone again. “Come, this way.”

“So why didn't you ditch me for the recluse nerd now that you've found it?” Leona muttered. His ears flattened involuntarily, hating how useless he had felt since the temple. Embarrassed by the fact that he’d just felt jealous of Idia out of all people. This whole crush thing was a bigger death stroke to his ego than all of his experiences at NRC had been.

“You can't be serious,” Jamil laughed incredulously, “are you jealous? Of Idia?”

“No,” Leona replied immediately, “just wondering why you're still wasting my time when you no longer need my help.”

“Ahh,” Jamil smiled in understanding, a smirk appeared on his face and Leona knew he would not care for the follow up. “Don't worry, I do still need your help.”

“Why's that?” Leona asked reluctantly.

“Well you see, Idia did a ‘history check’ on the shop's sales history.”

“...And?” Leona pressed impatiently.

“Turns out that the shopkeeper's most generous deals have been for newlyweds. He has a real romantic streak.”

“No.”

“Why not?” Jamil huffed, crossing his arms. “You didn't seem to have a problem with it when Phil and Tumbo thought we had sex in a jungle.”

“That was different.”

“How? If anything that was worse!”

Leona couldn't exactly deny that, but it still felt so much worse to pretend to be married to Jamil. He felt his face heat up. “No to newlyweds. Can't we just pretend to be a couple or somethin’?”

“Seriously!? You're haggling over the nature of our fake relationship?”

Leona shrugged, “you may be good at acting like you like someone, but I don't think I can pretend to be a lovesick newlywed.”

“Ugh– fine,” Jamil deadpanned. “Then, can Your Highness at least pretend to like me enough to date me?”

“I think I could manage something like that, yeah,” Leona smiled. His tendency to be charmed by Jamil's outrage outweighed the dread of having to pretend to date him.

“Alright. Enough wasting time, let's get this over with.”

He walked past Jamil, who gave him a tired and exasperated look.

“But you're the one who…” Jamil sighed. “Nevermind. It's this way.”

—

“Remember, no names, and you’re not a prince. We have to be low profile and make him think it’s not valuable, okay?” Jamil said, when they arrived in front of the shop. Leona looked up. It was a quaint little antique store, unassuming.

“Don’t worry, I got plenty of experience with being of no value, even as a prince,” Leona drawled.

“That is not funny,” Jamil glared, pressing his lips together, fighting to keep them neutral.

“It was a little funny,” Leona grinned. “You gotta admit.”

Leona had to chuckle at the various expressions fighting for dominance on Jamil’s face. It looked like Jamil didn’t want to find it as funny as he did for some inexplicable reason.

“I will do no such thing,” Jamil huffed, crossing his arms. “I need you to not hate yourself while dating me, He’s gonna think I’m making you miserable. Pretend I fixed you or something.”

Leona snorted in surprise. “Fixed me? ‘S that your power fantasy? You barging into my life and me falling head over heels for you, making me forget my miserable existence. How romantic, darlin’,” he said, ignoring how embarrassingly accurate that probably was. He didn’t want to think about what he would do after Jamil no longer needed him.

“N-no, I just meant for our cover.” Jamil spluttered, “Not that you need fixing, I mean– you could stand to be a little bit less…” Jamil trailed off awkwardly, clearly regretting this conversation.

“...A little bit less what?” Leona growled, tired of this age-old conversation of him needing to fix his attitude. “Please do tell me what part of my personality could use work now.”

“Less self-deprecating,” Jamil blurted out. His eyes went wide at his own outburst. “I mean–, It’s just– You’re so smart, and rich, and…uh, decent looking,” he swallowed, face turning red. “It’s frustrating when I’m not even half of what you are.”

Leona’s eyebrows shot up, at a loss for words. Jamil fidgeted with his hair, which now had his hair jewelry in them again, so the bells chimed gently as if they were trying to soothe both of them. It seemed to work.

“Alright,” Leona gave him a wry smile, “I’ll pretend to like myself for the cause, but only under the condition that you stop comparing yourself to me. A guy’s gotta be able to hate himself comfortably from time to time, y’know? Helps to pass the time.”

“Oh stop that,” Jamil huffed, though this time he couldn’t help the smile on his face. “You’re ridiculous. Fine. Deal.”

Leona snickered, “look at us, already bickering like a real couple in front of a store before we even entered. How’s that for a convincing act?”

Jamil glanced at the door, and blanched. Leona could see the shopkeeper waving from inside through the glass panels.

“Oh no,” Jamil lamented, rubbing a hand over his face. “Okay. Change of plans. Pretend that we’ve had an argument, and you’re dying to make it up to me.”

Leona raised an eyebrow in amusement, crossing his arms. “Why am I the one makin’ up? Clearly you started this one.”

“Because,” Jamil said with finality, pushing against the door. “Let’s go.”

“Ah, Salam. Welcome, welcome,” The shopkeeper greeted them warmly with high energy. “What can I help you two with? You are together, yes?”

Jamil gave Leona a meaningful stare. “For now,” he said coldly, looking back at the shopkeeper to give him a polite bow. “If you'll excuse me, I'll be leaving it to my partner, since he seems to know everything.”

With that, he stalked off deeper into the shop, leaving Leona behind to deal with the shopkeeper alone. The little shit.

Leona sighed as he rubbed his face. “I seemed to have upset my partner earlier, somehow. Do you happen to have anything for sale that could soften him up? Like, I dunno… jewelry?”

The shopkeeper watched Jamil stalk off before giving Leona a pitying look, “ahh, young love can be rough around the edges. I get it, but bribery is not the way to go, young man. You should try to talk to him. The best gift in a relationship is understanding, after all.”

Leona's eye twitched, of course this guy had to be a walking ‘live, love, laugh’ movie. “Great, thanks for the advice. I'll go do that.”

He walked behind Jamil, who was now studying some kind of wand. “What’cha got there, hon?” he mumbled over Jamil's shoulder. Jamil jumped up with a yelp, his shoulder smashing into Leona’s jaw.

“Ow, damn– chill,” Leona grumbled, rubbing his sore jaw.

“S-sorry,” Jamil turned around quickly to check up on him. His hands touched his face gently, thumb running across his bottom lip, where he'd accidentally bitten it.

Leona was frozen solid, he heard his heartbeat rushing through his ears. Jamil was too occupied with fussing over him to notice, mumbling something about how it was a good thing he brought disinfection wipes.

Jamil's face was too close. His nose scrunched up in concentration as he inspected Leona's busted lip. Leona couldn't take it anymore, he leaned forward in a daze.

“W-what are you doing?” Jamil pushed him back, his face turning a bright red, and Leona realised he had just tried to kiss him. Shit.

“Uh…” Leona straightened himself, his mind racing for any good excuse. He scratched the back of his head. “The shopkeeper got suspicious, so I figured I'd play the part. Was I not supposed to?”

Jamil gaped at him for a second before hissing, “you gotta warn me when you're planning on doing something like that, Leona. What the hell.”

“Spur of the moment, s'rry,” Leona shrugged, feigning nonchalance. “I guess I'm a method actor.”

“Why is he suspicious anyway? How did you already fuck it up? I was away for one minute.”

“Part of my natural charm,” Leona drawled. He nodded his head towards the wand Jamil had held before. “So what were you lookin’ at, anyway?”

Jamil looked behind him where he'd put down the wand in surprise. He picked it up for Leona to see. Upon closer inspection it was more of a sceptre; a golden sceptre with a green jewel pinched in at the top.

Leona whistled, “looks like the real deal. What d'you think it does?”

“I don't know,” Jamil turned it over, the green jewel reflected in his grey eyes. “I can't shake the sense that I've seen it before…”

Jamil looked at it for a few more seconds, reluctant to put it down. He clearly wanted it, and Leona recalled his passionate monologues regarding magic staves. Leona's ears perked up, an idea popping in his mind.

“Want it? Could buy it for you.”

“What? No! Why?” Jamil quickly put down the sceptre. “Sorry. I got distracted, we're here for the Scarab.”

“Too bad,” Leona grabbed the sceptre the moment Jamil put it down, “gotta ‘make it up’ to my boyfriend after all.”

“Leona,” Jamil hissed as he grabbed his arm, “don't be stubborn. If you buy this for me to make up for our fight, what's our excuse for the scarab?”

Damn. He had a point. Leona sighed and put down the sceptre. “Fine.”

Jamil let him go, a fond smile on his face. “If it makes you feel better, I would much rather have this sceptre than a disgusting golden bug, so…thank you.”

“Don't sweat it,” Leona grumbled, trying his best not to feel the sting of rejection. “So now what? He didn't want me to buy you anythin’, gave me some Hallmark bullshit about communication and understandin’.”

Jamil snorted, “let's not torture the both of us with that. Not your strong suit.”

“Yeah, 'cause you're the patron saint of communication. By all means, show me how it's done.”

“Alright, I will,” Jamil rolled his eyes, “I'm sure I can beat your record of one minute.”

Leona stepped aside with a mock bow, “after you, my love.”

Jamil groaned at his antics, and pushed past him, walking up to the shopkeeper who had clearly been watching them this entire time.

“Um, excuse me,” Jamil started with his trained servant bullshit façade. It was unsettling to watch after having seen the real Jamil for days now.

“First of all, I must thank you for the lovely advice you gave my partner. It was most effective, he was so communicative and understanding. Something he had such difficulty with before, right sweetheart?” He grabbed Leona's arm and leaned into it, his head resting on Leona's shoulder.

Leona closed his eyes, “right.”

Jamil smiled gleefully, clearly enjoying the drama. Leona wondered if the film club would've been better for him. He shuddered at the thought of Jamil and Vil teaming up.

“I apologise for our negative energy from before, I hope we haven't offended you in any way?” Jamil continued. “My partner and I were looking for a way to celebrate our anniversary.”

“Wonderful! Congratulations to you two.” The shopkeeper looked between the two with an excited hop. “Don't worry, I understand. Communicating your feelings can be hard.” He gave Leona a very obvious wink, and Jamil choked down a laugh into his shoulder.

“Yeah, you really saved my hide,” Leona drawled, ignoring Jamil. “So about that gift. Got anythin’ nice and shiny? Preferably with bugs, my partner is obsessed with them. In fact, if ya got any live ones–”

“Gold is fine!” Jamil interrupted, his voice breaking in his panic. “Ahem– I mean, I do…love…bugs, dear, but I'd much prefer one that would last forever.”

“As you can see, my partner here is a bit of a magpie. So if you got anything bug-like made out of gold, that'd be ideal. Nothing’s too expensive for my dearest little Viper.”

Jamil shoved his elbow into Leona's side, before finally releasing his arm to do damage control. “N-no, that's not at all what he means. I’m just allergic to most metals. Do you have something made out of gold?”

“A bug,” Leona added, deeply enjoying this now.

“Yes, sweetheart,” Jamil gritted out. “A bug.”

The shopkeeper gave them both a very confused look. Unsure what to do with them. Leona groaned internally; they were definitely not selling the lovey dovey. He'd be surprised if the shopkeeper wanted to sell them anything at all at this point.

“I don't think I have any of the sort,” the shopkeeper said eventually, looking at the both of them apologetically. “The only jewelry that comes to mind is a broken piece some peddler dropped off a while ago.”

Jamil perked up, “Could we see it, please? We don't mind a bit of damage. If anything it would be a nice reminder of our lives before we met each other, right darling?”

Leona almost snorted; talk about laying it on too thick. Of course, unlike Leona who had to try his best not to gag, the shopkeeper practically cooed at the sentiment. “How lovely, you two. Okay, give me just a moment to grab it.”

With that the shopkeeper disappeared into the backroom, and Leona couldn't help himself, “really? We don't mind a bit of damage?”

Jamil gave him a deadpan stare, “well it worked, didn't it? At least I didn't fuck it up the first minute.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Leona rolled his eyes. “Just didn't peg you for the romantic type, Viper.”

“Shh–” Jamil shushed him, quickly looking at the backroom door, “what'd I tell you about names.”

“What're you so worried about, anyway? Not like you're the prince here.”

“Leona–” Jamil hissed before he caught himself. He clasped his hand over his own mouth, turning red.

Leona laughed heartily, ruffling his hair. “Relax. You worry too much. If he ends up ripping us off I'll just bankrupt my brother's bank, it's not like he puts it to good use otherwise.”

“Augh, stop!” Jamil pushed away his hand to fix his pretty hair, though he didn't look all that offended. His face softened up, his eyes darting back and forth on Leona's face. He was probably considering his words carefully.

“You could use your wish to fix that,” Jamil said carefully. “Your country, I mean.”

A familiar dread settled into his stomach, unwelcome as always. The lizard’s dream flashed in his mind again; the wasteland that he'd created, that his choices created. Wishes were already notoriously hard not to fuck up, and he would definitely fuck it up, but to waste the opportunity…he would be doing his country a great disservice.

Leona swallowed heavily, “I could.”

Jamil gave him a concerned look, but as he opened his mouth to reply, the shopkeeper came back through the door with an exuberant and dramatic pose.

“Here it is! Boy, you wouldn't believe the mess in there, it's a miracle I found it at all, but lucky for you two I deal in miracles.” He winked at both of them.

He presented a velvet blue box with a flourish, in it was indeed the other half of the Scarab.

Jamil was entranced. He reached out to grab the scarab before the shopkeeper snatched it right out of his grasp. “Ah, ah, ah, young man,” a smirk appeared on the shopkeeper's face, “no touching the goods.”

There you have it, Leona thought. There was no way it was going to be this easy.

The shopkeeper eyed them both carefully, as if assessing them. “Say, why are you so interested in this particular relic, anyway?”

“R-relic? Who said anything about a relic?” Jamil stammered, “we just wanted a keepsake for our anniversary.” Jamil gave Leona a panicked look, pleading him to step in.

“That's right,” Leona affirmed, and Jamil gave him a disappointed look. Leona shrugged at him; what did he expect? He wasn't a drama club member.

“You two think I was born yesterday,” the shopkeeper said with a knowing smile, “trust me when I say it takes a lot better performance than you two just gave me to fool me, kiddos. Now tell me. What's your business with this relic?”

Well, shit. The gig was up before it started. Leona glanced at Jamil who… looked strangely calm.

“Ah, my apologies, sir,” Jamil said as he stepped in front of the shopkeeper. “It was wrong of us to insult your intellect like this, please accept my humble apology.”

The shopkeeper gave Jamil a suspicious look, but Jamil continued on before he could respond.

“The one you behold is your master. When I ask you a question, you will answer. When I give you a command, you will assent. Snake Whisper.”

Jamil smirked triumphantly, “now, who do you listen to?”

The shopkeeper's eyes turned red, his face neutral as he nodded, “you, master.”

Leona barked out a laugh. No way.

“Wow, ‘you could have done that this whole time’. Hypocrite.”

Jamil shrugged sheepishly as he grabbed the scarab out of the shopkeeper's hand.

“‘Looks like it’,” Jamil winked with a playful twinkle in his eye, twirling the scarab between his fingers.

Leona felt like the bottom of the shop disappeared beneath him as a rush of affection hit him. He could no longer deny it; this was more than a crush, and he was no longer sure that he wanted to let Jamil go after this was all over.

No. He knew he didn't. He wasn't going to. It was time to fulfill his promise he made to himself years ago; to find his own pride.

Even if this whole wish thing ended up being a wash, he'd make sure Jamil had his freedom, and hopefully he would share it with Leona.

He grinned back at Jamil. “Well, smartass, let's go get your wish.”

“Let's,” Jamil agreed, beaming brightly.

Leona mock bowed again. “After you, my love.”

Jamil rolled his eyes as he walked past Leona. Leona grinned and followed suit.

—

“Alright, this seems like a good spot,” Jamil said as he landed on the sand in the middle of nowhere.

Leona jumped off his broom, “really? What makes this spot better than the rest of this unending pile of sand?”

“I chose it,” Jamil said simply, “and we're out of the city's light pollution range.”

Leona looked up. Jamil was right about that; the night sky looked especially gorgeous here in the middle of the desert. They had decided to wait until night time to reunite the jewels, or well… Jamil had. Leona had not been as patient, but Jamil had made a good point in not wanting to fly across the Scalding Desert during the day.

“So,” Leona said, “what's the plan?”

“First,” Jamil said while rummaging in his bag, “we grab these.” He pulled out the two scarab halves. “Then, according to your translations, when we put them together they'll show us the way to the Cave of Wonders, and if the images are anything to go off of, we have to chase…it.”

“Which brings me to my next point,” Jamil said, pushing the two halves in Leona's hands. “You do it.”

Leona looked down at the two pieces in his hands in confusion. “Why me?”

“Because,” Jamil started with a serious tone. “If it's true that it starts flying to the cave, it'll be way too close to the real deal, and I don't want to be anywhere near it when it happens!” His voice raised in that high tone he only reserved for bug outrage.

“Ah,” Leona laughed. “Sure, I'll do the honours. You ready?”

Jamil's face sobered up and nodded. He clasped his broom tightly. “Ready.”

Leona pushed the two halves together and for a split second he thought nothing happened, but then the line down the middle lit up brightly. The gold melted into one solid beetle. It sat in Leona's palm for a beat and then it flew up into the sky, a shimmery golden trail followed in its tracks.

They quickly jumped on their brooms to follow it. Jamil a little bit more behind than Leona, no doubt attributed to the eerily realistic fluttering of its wings. It really was astounding magic; ancient magic never failed to amaze Leona.

The scarab eventually fluttered onto a mound of sand, slowly melding into a giant tiger head.

“Woah,” Jamil said, in complete awe. He got off his broom and slowly approached the entrance, which appeared to be the tiger's mouth.

Leona had to agree. He hopped off his broom beside Jamil and peeked into the mouth where sand had turned into stairs.

“Well,” he said. “ready to make that wish?”

Jamil swallowed heavily, but hesitantly set one foot inside. The cave didn't budge, it kept glowing a pretty gold. He sighed in relief, and smiled back at Leona.

“Yeah, I am.”

—

The cave certainly didn't disappoint in grandeur. They were blinded by the mountains upon mountains of treasure as they descended the stairs down into room after room. Stairs after stairs.

Leona whistled, “damn, we shoulda brought a bigger bag.”

“I think we'd end up more cursed than before we entered,” Jamil said, his finger tapping his chin pensively as he studied a monkey holding a gigantic red jewel.

“Ya think? That seems like a waste, what's the point of all this treasure if no one can use it ever?”

“Hm…well, some people might be okay with being cursed in exchange for being wealthy. Anything has a price,” Jamil said casually, moving on from the monkey to walk deeper into the cave.

“Yeah?” Leona asked, following along. “Seems like you don't think it's a good deal if you're this determined to get rid of yours.”

Jamil turned around to walk backwards to face him. a playful smile on his face. “That's just it, isn't it? I have never had a choice in this deal. If I'm going to sell my personhood, I would want to be the one to bargain. I'd be much better at it than my shitty ancestor.”

Leona frowned, not particularly caring for how casually Jamil sounded. He remembered how easily Jamil had accepted their miscommunication in Leona's bedroom.

“Oh? Are you seriously considering it? What could a guy like me ever offer a prince like you?”

Leona now knew that what he wanted from Jamil was something not even a wish could grant him. He wanted something Jamil could only offer out of his own free will.

“Jamil,” he said as he closed the distance between them.

Jamil stopped in surprise, giving him a curious look. “What?”

Leona leaned forward as he grabbed for Jamil's hands.

“Jamil, I…” Leona paused, hesitating. He wanted to confess so badly. He wanted to ask for Jamil to stay with him after all of this, but he knew that if he asked now, Jamil would probably somehow twist it into some fucked up transaction for Leona’s help in all of this.

He closed his eyes, and took a deep breath.

“Jamil, when we get to the last room,” he said, opening his eyes in new determination. Jamil looked very nervous now.

“Yeah?” he asked, his hands tugging on Leona's slightly, as if he was feeling out his escape plan.

“When we get there, I want you to have my wish.”

Jamil's eyes widened, he pulled his hands out of Leona's. “What? Why? What do you mean?”

“I have no need for it,” Leona pressed, resisting the urge to catch Jamil's wrist as they retracted. “Besides, if you recall, I said I'd be here to help you find it regardless of whether it’s a figment of your imagination.”

Jamil wasn't responding; he stared at Leona incredulously, his expression a mix of disbelief and suspicion.

Leona sighed, “look. Don't think too hard on it. What kind of prince would I be if I needed a wish to fix my country? There are just too many factors to consider and I…” Leona stopped right before he choked.

He swallowed. “Take it.”

There was something else in Jamil's eyes now. He gave Leona the slightest nod.

“Thank you,” Jamil said in a soft voice.

“Don't sweat it. Seriously, if I catch you feeling like you owe me, I'm gonna lock you up in here,” Leona said while walking past Jamil, entering the last treasure room. Feeling a lot better now that he no longer had the looming promise of a wish on his shoulder. Besides, Jamil essentially had no wish to use for himself since he needed to use his on clearing his curse.

“Noted,” Jamil said, unable to suppress his smile despite trying to look exasperated. “Won't be grateful whatsoever.”

“Atta boy,” Leona grinned. “Now repay me by going first, I'm not getting cursed for nothin’.”

Jamil threw his hands up in the air, and stepped through the last door. “Why of course. Watch your step, Your Highness. Wouldn't want you to trip into the many curses laying on the floor.”

Leona chuckled as they stepped through the door. Unlike all the other rooms, which were all filled to the brim with gold, jewels, and other undoubtedly priceless relics, this room was more like an actual cave. The small brick path led down to a small stone bridge surrounded by water. Barely a bridge, honestly, more like a few rocks scattered into the lake close enough to make it possible to cross all the way to the center which held a tiny pedestal.

Jamil was squinting ahead as he moved down the stairs.

“It's so dark– is that water?” he squeaked as he accidentally stepped in a small puddle on one of the steps.

“What? You can't see that giant lake– ah,” Leona grinned, realising what was going on. “You herbivores really are so helpless, want me to hold your hand, Viper? Wouldn't want you to trip into the lake after how far we've come.”

Jamil shot him a withering glare, but it faltered the moment they arrived at the edge of the lake.

“...Okay,” Jamil said after a beat of staring into the water.

Leona raised an eyebrow. “Okay, what?”

“Okay, hold my hand,” Jamil mumbled, raising one of his hands. “You're right. I can't see shit. So, help me, oh great carnivore.”

Ah. Leona swallowed. “You're jokin’, right?”

Jamil huffed, “no, Leona, I'm obviously not! It's pitch dark in here, will you help me or not?”

Leona glanced between the rocks and Jamil. Him and his big mouth…

“Can't you just summon a light or somethin’?” he asked desperately.

“Huh? Oh, yeah. I suppose I could…” Jamil muttered sheepishly, reaching for his pen. If Leona didn't know better he could've sworn Jamil had sounded disappointed.

Jamil quickly cast his light spell and a blinding light erupted from the pen’s tip.

Leona hissed, raising his hands to block the light. “Not in my face, Jamil.”

“What? It was nowhere near your face!” Jamil huffed, moving his pen way behind him. “It's not even that strong…”

Leona blinked the black spots out of his eyes and looked around. He cursed inwardly, he couldn't see nearly as far as before Jamil had cast his light spell. His eyes clearly couldn't handle both night vision and a light source so close to his face.

He sighed, and closed his eyes in defeat. “Put that out. I'll get us across. Just hold onto my hand, or whatever.”

Whether Jamil was happy about going back to plan A Leona didn't know, but Jamil put out the pen in record time.

“Okay. I trust you, Leona,” Jamil said, offering his hand again.

“Yeah, yeah. So you've said.”

He grabbed Jamil's hand, firmly ignoring how it made his heart skip a beat. They were surprisingly calloused for hands that looked so elegant. Though, Leona supposed that that made more sense for someone who had been doing the hard work for someone else their entire life.

“Alright, follow my lead,” Leona said, taking a first step on one of the rocks, desperately trying to focus on the path before him. Jamil nodded and entwined their fingers together for extra security, which did absolutely nothing for Leona's concentration.

They carefully traversed the stone bridge with Leona leading until they finally reached the stone island in the middle of the lake. From there a small ray of light hit the pedestal at the end of another pair of stairs. Leona immediately opened his hand to let go of Jamil’s when Jamil reached the island, but to Leona’s horror, Jamil’s grasp tightened before he could.

“Wait, Leona, I see it! That’s the lamp from the book,” he said excitedly, tugging Leona towards the stairs, and Leona gave up the struggle before it even started.

“Yeah, it sure is. Whoever put it there must really love their cardio,” Leona huffed, starting to feel winded after so many stairs.

What an embarrassing display. He definitely had to get back into shape when he got home; there was simply no way he was gonna have this in common with the board game club, no matter how often they had tried to entice him to join by offering to hold a chess tournament. Which, for the record, had never once tempted him, even if Leona would have crushed it and them.

Jamil looked back with a knowing smirk. “Oh? Don’t tell me the mighty king of Magishift has let himself go. What would Jack think?”

“Shut up,” Leona glared back. “I could still fly circles around that guy, out of shape or not.” Not that he was. Out of shape, that is. It had just simply been an off-season, for about 3 years.

“Of course. Apologies,” Jamil said in amusement.

“But, just so you know. I think it looked good,” Jamil continued after a few more steps.

“What did?” Leona asked in confusion.

“Y-your–” Jamil spluttered, trying to tug back his hand in embarrassment of the conversation, which Leona refused to let go now, out of spite. “Uh, just that… when I woke you up that one time. I thought it looked nice, the extra… fluff.”

“...Fluff,” Leona echoed. His ear flattened. Did he really get so out of shape that Jamil noticed immediately after four years?

“I-It’s a good thing, I swear,” Jamil scrambled awkwardly, looking away. “You look good.”

…Huh. Leona looked at the back of Jamil’s head and then down to their linked hands in stunned silence. A lot of things started to click in place. Things which, Leona was embarrassed to admit, he should have probably picked up far sooner in hindsight considering his love for deciphering hidden meanings in obscure texts. His heart skipped a beat at the realisation that his wish may not be so out of reach after all. He felt nauseous and it wasn’t because they were finally nearing the top of the stairs. The lamp gleaned in the bright beam of light, but all Leona could look at was how it reflected the light into Jamil’s eyes, giving them almost a golden hue.

“Thanks,” Leona swallowed, still overwhelmed by the revelation. “You too,” he added, “you always have.”

Jamil’s eyes widened and he opened his mouth to reply, but Leona couldn’t let him finish. Not before he got what he needed; it would only make things complicated.

He sighed and nodded towards the lamp in front of them. “Well, what are you waiting for? Get your freedom already so we can get out of here and I can finally get back to my life.”

Leona pretended not to see the flash of hurt in Jamil’s eyes as he quickly closed his mouth.

Nodding, Jamil stepped forward towards the lamp. “Alright.”

Jamil carefully touched the lamp, and closed his eyes in anticipation.

They waited with baited breath. Time passed through the slow dripping of the cave around them.

“Well?” Leona asked impatiently, looking over Jamil's shoulder. “You feel anythin’? Cause it seems broken.”

Jamil frowned, lifting up the lamp to inspect the inside. “I don't get it. It's empty.”

“Maybe it moved,” Leona quipped, “Try looking for a notice.”

“Yes, thank you, Leona.” Jamil gave him a deeply unimpressed stare. “Are you done? How about you cut the stupid jokes and try to remember reading anything about the lamp. You know, the reason why you're here? What happened to ‘finally getting back to your life’?” he spat out bitterly.

Oh, he was hurt hurt. Leona winced, he may have overdone the asshole act a little. He'd have to fix that later.

“I didn't read anything special, I swear, “ Leona raised his hands in peace. “Try finding an inscription or somethin’.”

Jamil’s face softened up. He sighed, looking more closely at the lamp.

“Ugh. It’s so disgusting,” Jamil shuddered, reaching back into his bag for his disinfection wipes.

“Seriously? You’re gonna disinfect the ancient lamp? I’m pretty sure no one has been in here to deposit any fresh germs on there for a long time.”

Jamil ignored him and started wiping off the lamp. Leona rolled his eyes and turned around to wait out Jamil’s mandatory germ obsession.

“Leona, help!”

Leona whipped around immediately. Jamil was giving him a panicked look, the lamp in his hands was glowing a bright hot red.

“What’d you do?” Leona said, rushing to Jamil’s side. “Drop it.”

“I didn’t do anything!” Jamil shrieked as blue smoke came out of the tip of the lamp. Then, something exploded out, ricocheting across the cave, and Leona moved in front of Jamil, pushing him back with his arm just in case it hit him.

“Oy, that never gets any better,” a loud booming voice erupted from behind the pedestal.

When the smoke faded, Leona saw a big blue being.

“A genie…” Jamil muttered, pushing past Leona's hovering arm.

“That's me!” the genie replied animatedly. “Wow look at you two, what are the odds of that? Two masters for the price of one. Don't tell me it's Black Friday, because I am way too out of practice to go mano a mano with random middle-aged ladies; last time was when they discontinued the spicy sauce at my favourite local shawarma place, and boy let me tell you I did not win that one.”

“Uhh…what?” Jamil gaped at the genie in confusion, before giving Leona a questioning look to make sure he wasn't hallucinating.

Leona shrugged back at him; who knows, they might be. At this point, he half expected to wake up and realise this was all a very very strange dream after having eaten one too many of Falena's weird protein bars. He really should look at the ingredients of those one of these days.

“Oh, I'm only joking,” Genie laughed at their confused faces. “I've never beaten up middle-aged ladies, and also there's no such thing as a two-for-one master deal. So, who's the lucky guy? Or do I need to give you guys some time to play some rock, paper, scissors. Some tic-tac-toe? Personally, I'm partial to some good ol’ fashioned thumb war.”

“Him,” Leona interjected, hastily pushing Jamil forward, already growing tired of this guy. “He's the one who found the lamp.”

“Y-yes,” Jamil said, not before giving Leona a glare for putting him on the spot. “Please, I need your help.”

Genie shrunk down to their size with a sympathetic look. He sat on top of the pedestal where the lamp was before. “Well how about that, it's been a while since I was asked so nicely. Well, laddy, what seems to be your wish? I can grant you anything you desire. Well, aside from the big three no-no's, of course.”

“Big three no-no's?,” Jamil asked.

“Well, yeah, there's rules to wishes!” Genie rubbed his hands together, clearly excited for what was to come. “Here, let me sing you a song to elaborate. Oh, I haven't done this in ages.”

Leona groaned, why did everyone need to be so annoying? “Hey, is it possible to skip the song? I'm afraid I'm not very musically aligned. Don’t suppose you've got a summary of it somewhere?”

The genie deflated. Literally. Leona watched him deflate like a blue balloon across the cave, landing back on top of the pedestal.

“Oh, alright,” he said, his deflated arm pushing something in Jamil's hand. “Here's a pamphlet with all the dos and dont’s, be sure to read all of it. Oh!”

He zoomed behind Jamil, depression forgotten.

“And don't forget the fine print, very important. And here, there's this review of the musical version of the song, it's my favourite. Here's one from the live-action, but it's probably for the best that you ignore it exists.”

Jamil was starting to struggle to hold all of the papers and cutouts that were getting stuffed in his arms, looking increasingly more and more distressed. “C-can’t you just tell me the three rules?” he asked despairingly.

Genie froze mid ramble about some weird parody musical that Leona hadn't bothered to listen to. “Ah, yes. I suppose I could do that too.”

He snapped his fingers to make all of the papers disappear from Jamil's grasp, almost causing him to fall over before he caught himself.

“Alright, so. No asking me to kill anyone, no asking me to make someone fall in love, and no wishing for more wishes. Oh, and no bringing people back from the dead. That last one is not a hard rule, but trust me, you don't want me to.”

“That's it?” Leona and Jamil cried out in unison.

Leona groaned, all that fanfare for the most basic wish stipulations in the universe. He understood the no killing rule now.

“You'd be surprised how many men try to break the love one,” Genie shook his head in disappointment. Then he clapped his hands together, “Alright, let's get to business. Tell me what you need help with, son. But before we do, let's make this a little bit more comfortable shall we? It's way too drafty in here if you ask me.”

The ground beneath them shimmered and morphed into a plain, flat, dimly-lit room; the lake water seemed to evaporate into big decorated vases in the corner of the room.

“W-woah–” Jamil yelped, clutching at Leona's arm when the stairs melted into the floor, expecting to fall, but there was no gravity change at all. It was as if they were never there. Strange.

“Hmm… A little boring, but it'll do,” Genie said, tapping his chin pensively. He turned towards Jamil. “Now, where were we? Ah yes, your wish. Hit me, slugger.”

“Right,” Jamil straightened himself, his face determined. Though Leona could sense his anxiety from here.

“It's a bit of a long story,” Jamil started to explain.

—

“I see,” Genie said pensively. His cheerful and overly energetic behaviour had significantly dialed down as Jamil progressed his story. He held a more unsettled expression on his face now.

“So your wish is–”

“To be free from the curse,” Jamil nodded at the genie hopefully. “You can do that, right? I read the rules, it doesn't say anything about breaking contracts.”

Genie's face stayed neutral and Leona was starting to get a bad feeling about this. He unconsciously shifted closer to Jamil, as if that could possibly help temper any bad news.

“I can break curses, you're right,” Genie replied carefully. Leona held his breath, and from the sound of it, so did Jamil.

“But, kid…” Genie gave him a pained look. “You're not cursed.”

Leona's stomach dropped. Worriedly, he glanced at Jamil, who wasn't perturbed at all to his surprise.

“What?” Jamil frowned. “No, I am. It's the whole reason I'm here. I feel it.” He raised his hand up to his chest for emphasis.

“I mean it, kid. I sense no curse on you.”

“So then why do I still– why am I still like this?!” Jamil's voice turned shrill, his breathing erratic. He started shaking his head in disbelief. “Why do I still feel fear every time he leaves the palace? Why do I still feel like jumping in front of him whenever someone twitches, why do I still do everything he asks? Why–”

“Why can’t I leave that place?” Jamil cried out, his whole body shaking in frustration.

Shit, this is what he was afraid of. Worst case, even.

“Jamil…” Leona warned.

“No,” Jamil ignored him, eyes fixed firmly on the genie, “you're lying. We found the cave, we found you. You're a genie, you can fix it – you can fix me. So, why won't you?”

The genie gave Jamil a pitiful look before shaking his head, “there's nothing to fix, kid. There is nothing wrong with you.”

For what seemed like an eternity, there was no sound but the slow trickle of water from the ceiling and Jamil's heavy erratic breathing.

To Leona's relief, Jamil closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm himself. He opened them again with regained clarity.

“Fine, then grant me a different wish,” Jamil said with an eerily calm and calculated voice. An unsettling smile painted on his face.

Dread filled Leona's stomach with a vengeance, he knew that look, he'd seen it at the antique store.

“I wish for you to look me in the eyes, genie of the lamp,” Jamil purred, moving closer.

“Jamil. Stop,” Leona growled, pulling Jamil by the shoulder to face him.

“No,” Jamil shook off his hand furiously, his usually calm grey eyes pierced through him with rage. “You don't understand. You'll never understand, I am not like you, I refuse to be like you!”

Leona froze. Jamil's words hit him like icy daggers in the chest. He tried to swallow down his hurt, but it seemed stuck in his throat.

For a few tormenting seconds, all Leona could hear was the rushing of his own blood through his ears, and Jamil's heavy breathing.

“No,” Leona said, after finally swallowing down the lump in his throat. “You're not.”

Jamil stilled, then. His eyes widened as he remembered himself. Regret filled them as he slowly stepped forward.

“Leona…” he said, reaching for Leona's face, gently caressing his face in apology. “I'm sorry.”

Leona sighed as he leaned into Jamil's touch. He looked into Jamil's apologetic eyes. “‘S fine. I understand.”

“I truly am sorry,” Jamil said again as his sad grey eyes looked into his own, soothing the pain in his chest. In fact, everything felt foggier, like he could no longer think straight. Shit. Jamil.

“The one reflected in your eyes is your master. If I ask, you shall answer me; if I command it, you shall bow to me.”

Leona tried to fight the haze as Jamil's now red eyes pierced through his mind, but he knew it was too late.

“Jamil–”

“Snake Whisper”

No… Jamil's conflicted face was the last thing Leona saw before his mind went blank.

. . .

. .

.

. .

. . .

“Finally taking charge of the story, are ya, kid? Not the way I would've done it…”

Jamil's lazy eyes shifted to the genie, his hands dropping from Leona's face, who was now completely under his control.

“What are you on about?” Jamil drawled, uninterested.

Genie just gave him a look of pity. It pissed Jamil off, why did everyone look at him like that? Kalim, Najma, Leona. Jamil was so sick of it, sick of being pitied, sick of being stuck.

What were they seeing that Jamil couldn't? What was wrong with him?

“There's nothing wrong with you,” Genie repeated as if he could read his mind. “Not in the way you think.”

“So fix me in the way you think,” Jamil spat out, losing patience. “You're an all powerful genie, surely you can work out the semantics.”

He eyed Leona who was still waiting for his command. Ignoring the pang of guilt and longing in his chest, he looked back at the genie. “Unless you want your little home dusted. My friend is real good at destroying things, y'know?”

“Alright,” Genie replied, that infuriating expression still on his face like Jamil hadn't just threatened his life.

“Once upon a time, when I was a lot younger, I met a kid just like you,” he started, a look of nostalgia on his face. “Same kind of youthful arrogance too, now that I think about it. You two may have gotten along…”

“I didn't ask for your life story,” Jamil hissed in frustration. “I swear if you're just stalling for time…” He glanced at Leona just in case. Still under his influence. Good. “Get on with it.”

Genie sighed and shook his head, “man, youth these days has no patience for a good build up. Fine, I'll skip the whole prequel.”

“The boy set me free,” Genie continued, tone suddenly very seriously, “thousands and thousands of years of being held captive. Passed on from master to master, and suddenly I was free.”

Jamil stared at the genie warily, not sure where he was going with this. If he was free, then what was he doing here?

Genie smiled, “so I left immediately. I went on a vacation, traveled the world, traveled time, and then… I went back to the boy.”

“You… went back? Why?” Jamil swallowed, suddenly feeling nauseous, “why would you go back when you were free? I don't understand, you didn't owe him.”

He didn't owe Kalim, he didn't owe his family. He owed no one.

“No, you're right,” Genie said. “He made a promise and kept it. I was grateful, but I didn't owe him my loyalty. The thing is, I may have been free physically, but mentally… Years of servitude does things to ya, kid. After a while I felt lost. I was so used to being someone's property, and then suddenly I had to decide what to wish for. For myself.”

Jamil swallowed. His palms sweaty, “I know what you're doing. You're wrong. I'm not like you, I don't want to go back. I don't…I don't.”

“Then you don't,” Genie pacified, “I asked myself what I wanted, and I wanted to go back to the boy. You've been asking me the wrong question, and you've been asking it to the wrong person. Instead of asking me for freedom, ask yourself what you wish to do now that you have it.”

“If you had your freedom, what would you be doing with it?”

Jamil's eyes widened as Leona's question under the night sky rang in his head, followed by his answer.

“Anything. Everything. I've wanted to travel the world for so long, see new places, meet new people. Be someone else's guest for once. I want to meet crazy locals, to listen to their stories, and to never have to worry about my family's reputation, or the Asim’s. Just mine.”

Images of them miserably trekking through the jungle, guided by the two crazy locals, flashed in his mind. Leona offering to buy Jamil a rare relic, just because he had shown interest in it. Leona inviting Jamil into his palace, his room, and Jamil realised…he hadn't been thinking about his duties this whole time, he hadn't felt like going back once.

I've never had the space or time to even think about creating lasting friendships...or relationships.

Realisation hit him hard. Jamil's face crumbled, knowing he'd just ruined the only good thing in his life. Leona would never want to speak with him again after this.

Jamil turned to look at him, but as soon as he did warm hands touched his face. He froze in fear; Leona had broken out of his spell. Green eyes pierced through him with a whirlpool of emotions, and Jamil struggled in his grasp to look away. He clutched at Leona's hands.

“L-Leona, p-please. I didn't mean to– I didn't– I–”, he choked out. Ignoring the way his eyes burned. “I'm sorry. You didn't deserve that, I…don't deserve you. I wanted to be free so I could–”

“Shut up,” Leona growled, before pressing their lips together. Jamil's eyes widened, his hands stopping their struggle in shock.

Oh. Jamil's mind went blank.

Leona pulled back, his face as red as Jamil's. He was still glaring, but Jamil could feel one of his thumbs wiping away a stray tear.

“Idiot. Such a fuckin’ idiot.”

Jamil paused for a second, his eyes darting around Leona's face before finally deciding that he deserved this wish granted. He wrapped his arms around Leona's neck and pulled him into another kiss.

Leona groaned and pulled him closer by wrapping his arms around his waist. “Jamil–”

“No,” Jamil interrupted him sternly before continuing his desperate assault, “you’re right. Shut up.”

Leona chuckled into his mouth.“...Alright,” he hummed, letting Jamil deepen their kiss. Jamil pressed himself against Leona's body with a soft moan. His hands tangling in Leona's hair–

“Ah…young love, how I missed this,” Genie’s voice rang behind them. Jamil jumped at the sound with a yelp. His hands pushed against Leona's chest as he felt his face burn with the heat of the Scalding Desert.

Leona didn't let Jamil push him away, his arms still holding his waist. Jamil blushed harder, “L-Leona, let go!”

“Hmm…nah,” Leona hummed contently, “let the almighty cosmic being be a pervert. I'm not lettin’ you go any time soon.”

“Absolutely not,” Jamil huffed, pressing the palm of his hand against the side of Leona's face, pushing him away. Leona finally let go, with an amused smile on his face. His tail swished behind him happily. “Fine. Later.”

Jamil's stomach fluttered at Leona's transparent happiness, caused by…him. Incomprehensible.

He dusted himself off and cleared his throat, ignoring the heat in his cheeks, “erm, sorry about that.”

“No need to apologise,” Genie said, wiping away a tear dramatically. “It reminded me of something, is all…”

“Right,” Leona spoke up beside Jamil. “So did you two do the whole wish dance yet? What'd I miss?”

Jamil felt embarrassment and guilt bubble in his gut, remembering what he'd done the past few minutes. He recalled the genie's story.

“Huh.” Jamil furrowed his eyebrows and pressed a hand against his chin, realising how weird it actually was. “Wait. Your story. You said the boy set you free. Why are you even here?”

The genie beamed, suddenly very energetic. “Ahh, finally starting to ask the right questions now, kiddo. Good.”

Genie looked around, and shook his head. “Oh my, where are my manners? Let me fix the place up.”

He clapped his hands together excitedly and whirlpools of magic surrounded both Leona and Jamil, blowing them into the air before settling down onto what seemed to be a couch. The cave had completely changed.

“Wait– is this…” Jamil said in shock.

“...the antique store,” Leona finished for him, sounding equally shocked.

“Well, when Al was no longer around, I needed a new hobby, y'know?” Genie twirled the wooden chair in front of him and sat on it backwards, his appearance now that of the shopkeeper.

Jamil's mind was reeling, “so this whole time you– I–” He looked at Leona who for once looked just as lost as Jamil felt.

“Why?” Jamil asked, at a loss.

“Well, you know,” Genie waved his hand casually. “When a couple walks into your store, pretending to be in a romantic relationship whilst clearly actually pining for each other. A genie can't help but be a little bit intrigued when they then proceed to hypnotise you and rob you in a quest to find…well…you. I haven't had television like this since my favourite telenovela got canceled.”

“Ah,” Jamil flushed, mortified by his embarrassing behaviour in the past couple of days. “...Sorry for robbing you.”

“Oh it's ok, you did pay for it, after all.”

“We did? wha– how?”

Genie pulled out a brown wallet. He did not. Jamil whipped his head towards Leona who looked as unbothered as ever.

“Woops. Must've dropped it,” Leona drawled, pretending to be casual.

Jamil stared at him incredulously for what seemed to be forever. This man… Jamil would never understand how someone could simultaneously be the biggest dick on the planet and the most thoughtful. This was why he had stood no chance, even though he had tried so desperately to avoid falling for him over the course of the past few weeks.

A rush of affection hit him when Leona laughed at him, likely for the face he was making, as usual. He was so used to trying to stuff down that feeling before, but… he supposed he no longer had to do that.

Jamil smiled, remembering the promise he made himself all those years ago. He no longer had to wait around for other people to save him, he would grant his own wishes from now on.

“Say, Leona. Before you go home... I don't suppose you want to find out what that sceptre does? I'd hate to leave loose ends.”

Leona's face lit up, his tail betraying his excitement. “Yeah. I'd like that.”

After all, he already got one wish granted, why not three, or even a hundred? And maybe, if he'd let him, he could even grant Leona's.

“As you wish.”