Archive of Our Own

“Absolutely not.”

“But Seaaa Snakeeee,” Floyd whined, shoving his phone directly into Jamil’s field of vision. “Look at all these couples posting cute pictures for Valentine’s Day. We never do anything like that.”

Jamil rolled his eyes, lowering the phone out of his face. He'd already seen enough of his classmates making kissy faces at each other during the brief interludes when he'd scrolled through his Magicam feed throughout the day. “Because it's… cringe,” he said with a grimace. “I know you think so too.”

Floyd shrugged, the movement jostling Jamil’s thighs from where he lay with his head in his lap. They'd come to Jamil’s room to do homework, in theory, but as usual it had resulted in Floyd demanding Jamil’s attention until he gave up on the possibility of getting any work done. “Sure. Super cringe,” Floyd agreed easily. “But if everyone else is gonna be annoying and flex their relationships on Magicam, I wanna do it too.”

“No thank you,” Jamil said, with finality.

Floyd groaned dramatically, rolling off of Jamil and burying his face in the duvet. Jamil rolled his eyes at the theatrics. “Fineeee,” he mumbled. “I get it. You're embarrassed to be datin’ me and don't wanna air it out.”

Jamil frowned. He knew, logically, that Floyd was fucking with him, that he didn't actually believe what he was saying. It was with great annoyance that Jamil found the words affecting him regardless.

It was true that, to the average person, it was probably hard to tell that they were even dating. Nothing much had changed from before, besides the fact that they spent more time together now, along with the typical… physical things that couples did. It was all that Jamil was capable of; he absolutely wasn't cut out for romance. Floyd had never made any indication that it bothered him, but maybe, deep down, it did.

“…One picture,” Jamil grumbled defeatedly. “And I’m not posting it.”

“Yaaay!” Floyd said, sitting up and bouncing on the bed a little in his excitement. “We’re gonna need a cute setup if we're gonna compete with all the other saps… maybe Goldfishie will let us use the rose gardens… do you have a tux?”

Jamil felt a cringe go down his spine. “A tu— we’re not getting married,” he said helplessly. “Can't we just take a quick selfie right now and get it over with?”

“Haha, no,” Floyd said. His eyes lit up, suddenly, and Jamil sent a sense of dread as he picked up his phone. “Ooh, I know. We're gonna call in an expert.”

Jamil let out a long, deep exhale through his nose. “Great,” he said flatly.

—

“Oh, this is perfect. Your uniforms are supes cute,” Cater said enthusiastically as Floyd practically dragged Jamil out of the locker room and onto the empty court. “Everyone loves a themed pic! #Couplegoals, haha, get it?”

“Scoring in basketball isn't called a goa— you know what, whatever,” Jamil said wearily. “Let's just get this over with.”

“Alright, alright, here's the plan,” Cater said, holding up his thumb and finger of each hand as if he were framing a photo. “Your adorbs height difference is totally cammable, so we're gonna use it to our advantage. Jamil-kun, hold onto Floyd-kun while standing on that basketball, and Floyd-kun, put your hands on his waist like that… perfect!”

Jamil deadpanned at Floyd as he clutched his shoulders, balancing steadily on the ball beneath his feet. How his agreement to take a single picture had turned into some sort of circus performance, he wasn't quite sure. Floyd was lucky he liked him. “This is ridiculous…” Jamil muttered, but there was no real bite behind it. Floyd just grinned and pinched his waist lightly.

“And now for the final touch…” Cater said, holding his phone up to snap the photo. “Give me a big ol’ smooch!”

Jamil nearly fell off the ball. “What?” he spluttered. He glared at Floyd accusingly, as if he had been the one who'd said it. “I’m not letting you post a picture of us kissing.”

Floyd blinked at him, expression equally amused and surprised. “Damn, Sea Snake,” he said with a smirk. “You're actin' like he asked us to film a porno.”

Cater raised a hand to his chin thoughtfully while Jamil took a brief interlude to choke on his spit. “The kiss is the whole point though… kinda kills the vibe if you're just standing there staring at each other,” Cater said, before putting his hands up placatingly in response to whatever expression was on Jamil’s face. “But it's fine! Just give me a sec, I’ll come up with a prude version!”

“Pr— I’m not a prude,” Jamil said exhaustedly. Public displays of affection just made his skin crawl in general; he was hesitant to kiss Floyd if he knew even one person was watching, let alone the whole school and whoever else followed Floyd on Magicam.

“Can confirm,” Floyd said with a salacious grin. Jamil could have strangled him. “Aaanyway, I have an idea. Hang tight.”

Jamil flailed slightly as Floyd moved away, taking the leverage Jamil was using for stability with him. He managed to maintain a wobbly balance until Floyd grabbed him by the waist again a moment later, holding a second basketball.

“Do you want me to balance that one on my nose or something?” Jamil asked flatly, but with a small smirk that he hoped conveyed the intended lightheartedness. He could probably stand to be a bit less ornery about the situation.

Floyd snorted. He held the basketball in one hand and pointed it straight out to the side toward the camera. “Look, if I hold it up like this, it'll cover our faces,” he said proudly. “That okay?”

“Ohemgee, that’s genius,” Cater chimed in excitedly. “It totally adds to the composition of the pic. #Innovator.”

Jamil thought for a moment, before shrugging. “Alright,” he agreed. “I'm fine with that.”

For a moment, Floyd just stared at him, before lowering his arm. His smile softened slightly. “Y'know, the first time I saw you in this uniform was when I realized how hot and cool you are. You jogged onto the court with your hair up and your game face on and suddenly I didn't care about playing anymore, I just wanted to look at you,” Floyd said. Jamil coughed, feeling his face heat up. “Do you remember that? Our first game?”

Jamil couldn't help but smile. “Of course,” he said. “I passed the ball to you and you punted it at the basket with your head.”

“And I made it in!” Floyd said, far too proud of himself.

“And you got disqualified for the rest of the game,” Jamil added with a fond eye roll. He sighed, reaching up to brush Floyd's bangs out of his face. “Nothing’s ever been boring with you, I’ll say that much.”

Floyd beamed at him. “Happy Valentine’s Day, Sea Snakey,” he said, raising the ball up toward the camera once more and leaning in to kiss him.

There was an audible shutter from Cater’s camera, and Jamil pulled away slowly, flushed and slightly lightheaded. It was ridiculous that he still got flustered like this when Floyd kissed him, like he was still suffering from a lovesick crush even after months of dating.

“Got it!” Cater said, looking down at his phone screen. His expression dropped slightly. “Oh, uh…”

“Let me see!” Floyd interrupted, actually bothering to make sure Jamil was safely on the ground this time before bounding over excitedly. His expression brightened as he gazed down at Cater’s phone. “It's perfect! Wanna check it out, Sea Snake?”

Jamil waved him off. “I’ll see it when it's posted,” he said. If he looked now, he would probably see some kind of inconsequential flaw and want to retake it, and he really just wanted this to be over with. “Um, thank you, Cater-senpai. You really didn't have to do this.”

“Oh, please, no thanks necessary!” Cater said, waving him off and grinning almost… nervously? “Well, I gotta head to class. Ttyl!”

Jamil watched him go, frowning suspiciously. He was interrupted before he could think too hard about it, though, by Floyd stepping in front of him.

“Hey, Sea Snake,” he said, spinning his basketball on the tip of his finger. “Wanna see who can balance on one of these longer without holding onto anything?”

Jamil sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose exasperatedly. “…Winner pays for dinner tonight,” he said.

Floyd grinned. “You're on.”

—

“Ugh, seriously, can't you guys get a room?” Ace complained as he scrolled through his phone from his seat on one of the locker room benches. “Now every time I'm in the gym I’m gonna have to think about the two of you sucking face.”

Floyd cackled, bending at the waist until that his face was level with Ace’s. “Aww, Crabby’s jealous that he's got no one to suck his face on Valentine’s Day,” he said with a sharp grin. “If you're good I’ll let you borrow Sea Snake for a minute, but you'd better not slip him any tongue.”

“Ew,” Ace said, shoving Floyd’s face away as he laughed heartily at Ace's expense.

“Please don't pimp me out to our underclassmen,” Jamil said flatly, shutting his locker and crossing his arms over his chest. “And don't be so dramatic, Ace. You can't even see our faces in the picture.”

Ace raised an eyebrow. “Uh, I don't know what picture you're talking about, but…” he said, trailing off as he watched Jamil’s face darken.

Jamil whipped around to look at Floyd accusingly, but Floyd was pointedly avoiding his gaze, whistling a carefree tune as he packed his gym bag. Jamil stalked over and snatched Ace’s phone out of his hand. He felt his eye twitch.

“Floyd,” Jamil said through clenched teeth.

“We look good, right?” Floyd said cheerfully, clearly immune to the homicidal vibes radiating from Jamil. “Look how many likes we got!”

“The ball is like, a foot below our faces!” Jamil snapped irritably. Ace was following his phone with his eyes anxiously, as if concerned that Jamil was going to throw it against the wall. Jamil considered it. “You didn't even try!”

Floyd rubbed the back of his neck, and had the audacity to look sheepish. “I did ask if you wanted to see it before I posted it,” he pointed out. “But come onnn, it turned out great. Look at us, we're all in love and shit.”

Jamil scrubbed a hand over his face, before allowing himself to truly look at the picture for the first time. It wasn't like it was terribly unattractive or anything. In fact, Floyd was right, it was a good picture. Jamil looked… happy. He had been happy, in a moment. He supposed that wasn't a terrible thing to share with the world.

He sighed, handing Ace his phone back. “Alright, whatever,” he said, feeling himself calm down. “It's fine.”

“Yeah? You're not gonna kill me?” Floyd asked, wrapping his arms around Jamil from behind and resting his chin on his shoulder. “I can delete it if you really hate it.”

“I… don't hate it,” Jamil said. He shuffled his feet slightly. “Um, I’ve never spent Valentine’s Day with someone before, so… I guess it's nice to have a picture. So I’ll remember.”

He felt Floyd grin against his cheek. “Remember how much you loved me when we were seventeen?” Floyd asked.

“Remember how much of a pain in the ass you are,” Jamil corrected flatly.

Floyd laughed loudly in his ear, pressing a wet kiss to Jamil’s cheek. “Don't worry, Sea Snake,” he said brightly. “I’m gonna be remindin’ you of that every Valentine’s Day for the rest of your life.”

Jamil felt himself flush, but the moment was almost immediately shattered by a loud, obnoxious groan from Ace. “Can you guys go back to fighting or something?” Ace complained. “Seriously, how are you gonna whine about PDA and then do this sappy shit right in front of me?”

It was a fair point, but honestly, Jamil had forgotten he was even there. Ace was such a consistent third-wheel in their lives that Jamil hardly noticed him anymore. “Don’t worry, Ace,” Jamil said sympathetically. “I’m sure someone will love you someday.”

Ace spluttered. “You too?!” he said exasperatedly. He glared at Floyd, accusatory. “What the hell did you do to Jamil-senpai? I swear he used to be nice…”

Floyd smirked lewdly. “I can go into detail about all the things I do to him, if you really want,” he chirped.

With a pointed slam of his locker, Ace stalked away, muttering something about quitting basketball and joining the track club as he went. He’d made the same threat pretty much every day since Jamil and Floyd had started dating.

Jamil rolled his eyes as Floyd burst into laughter, smiling fondly despite himself. “Come on, we should go get ready,” Jamil said, throwing his gym bag over his shoulder.

“Oh yeah, gotta get snazzed up for my cute Valentine’s Day date~” Floyd said cheerfully.

“Don’t forget,” Jamil said with a smirk as Floyd held the door to the locker room door open for him. “You’re paying.”

Jamil chuckled to himself as Floyd grumbled something about unfair and cheating under his breath, reaching out and taking his hand despite the crowded hallway.