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‘’Hey, guys!’’ Kalim enthusiastically walked up to the four Heartslabyul students, eating their lunches in the cafeteria while seeming to have an intense conversation. Jamil was right behind him, following him wherever he wanted to go as usual. ‘’It’s great seeing all of you here! Can we join you?’’
‘’Yes please!’’ Ace immediately agreed, practically seeming to beg for their presence. He looked desperate to get out of the conversation he was currently having, while Deuce had his head hanging low in what appeared to be shame and Riddle looked absolutely pissed off. Trey was quietly enjoying his meal without meddling into the conversation as he wasn’t a part of it. All in all, it seemed like an ordinary situation between the four of them.
‘’Is something wrong?’’ Jamil asked while he and Kalim had a seat at the opposite side of the table.
‘’Ugh… Ace and I just got our test results back from professor Crewel and they weren’t good,’’ Deuce murmured, clearly embarrassed about it.
‘’I didn’t even fail!’’ Ace shouted.
‘’Don’t try to talk this right. You barely passed. 65/100 is an embarrassing score,’’ Riddle responded sternly, to which the freshman groaned.
‘’How come I’m the one being lectured? Deuce only got 40/100!’’
Deuce turned his annoyed gaze at his friend. ‘’I studied way harder than you. I spent every night trying to memorize that stuff. You barely even glanced in your book.’’
‘’And yet I still scored higher than you.’’ Ace smirked provocatively at him. ‘’What does that tell you?’’
‘’It tells me you don’t take your studies seriously at all,’’ Riddle answered instead.
The heated conversation continued and Trey looked at the two Scarabia students with a sheepish smile while Kalim could only chuckle at the amusing scene in front of him.
‘’You guys have such an interesting relationship. I can tell you all care a lot about each other in your own way,’’ Kalim said, completely oblivious to the grimaces it earned him as the others clearly didn’t agree with him.
The conversation instantly settled down once Jamil spoke up about something that caught his attention. ‘’Hold on, Kalim. What are those?’’
Kalim was about to take a bite out of his lunch when Jamil suddenly stopped him. ‘’Don’t they look delicious? They had mini pizzas in the kitchen! Do you want one?’’
‘’Why would you take that?’’ Jamil asked, completely ignoring the question. ‘’You know junk like that upsets your stomach.’’
Everyone was suddenly way more invested in the Scarabia couple, amused by Jamil who was acting like an overprotective parent.
‘’Aw, but they look so good…’’ Kalim whined. ‘’Then maybe I’ll just have one instead of all three,’’ he tried to compromise.
‘’Absolutely not. I don’t want to listen to your complaining the rest of the day about feeling sick.’’ Jamil sighed while he took the plate of pizzas from him and got up. ‘’I’ll take these back and get you a salad instead.’’
‘’Wait, I can take them back as well!’’
‘’No, I’ll take care of it. You just sit and eat the rest of your food before it gets cold.’’
And with that, Jamil left to do just that. Kalim watched him leave with an adoring smile resting on his lips, when he suddenly heard Ace sigh.
‘’Life must be so easy when you have a servant like that in your life,’’ he murmured enviously, earning him an elbow in his side.
‘’Ace!’’ Deuce hissed at him. ‘’Jamil is clearly a very important person in Kalim’s life, not just ‘a servant’. Have some respect.’’
‘’It’s true,’’ Kalim acknowledged, his face positively glowing like it usually did when he spoke about Jamil. ‘’Jamil is the most important person in my life. He means the world to me and I could not imagine a life without him.’’
Riddle couldn’t help but smile at his wholesome confession. Deuce and Trey looked just as endeared by it. ‘’You’re lucky to have Jamil with you,’’ Riddle said. ‘’Not only does he possess all the qualities of a good vice-housewarden, he clearly cares a lot about you on a personal level as well.’’
‘’You must be happy to have such a good friend in your life,’’ Trey added.
‘’Oh, he’s way more than just a friend,’’ Kalim stated, which nobody at this table had trouble believing, but none of them were prepared for the statement that followed. ‘’He’s my husband.’’
Ace immediately spat out his drink and, along with everyone else, he turned his astonished gaze to the housewarden, who didn’t waver one bit when he said that. He didn’t seem to be joking at all, so naturally nobody really knew how to respond to that.
‘’Husband?’’ Deuce eventually asked. ‘’As in… you two got… married?’’
‘’We sure did!’’ Kalim responded just as enthusiastically as before.
‘’That’s not even possible!’’ Ace said, in complete disbelief.
‘’No, it’s true!’’ Kalim insisted. ‘’It’s still one of the happiest days of my life. We had an intimate ceremony, we exchanged rings… Well, I gave him a ring. It was all a bit spontaneous, so it wasn’t a very traditional wedding, but it was still better than anything I could have imagined.’’
The group exchanged confused glances among each other. They could hardly believe that those two actually got married, but Kalim spoke about it so passionately that it just had to be true.
‘’If you don’t mind me asking,’’ Trey said, overwhelmed by curiosity, ‘’How exactly did that happen? And more importantly, when?’’
Kalim felt an immense sense of joy spreading throughout his chest. ‘’I’m so glad you asked,’’ he answered with a radiant smile. ‘’I’ve been dying to tell people about it!’’
Long ago at the Al-Asim residency, 8-year-old Jamil wandered the hallway until a faint giggling sound led him into Kalim’s bedroom. His eyes scanned the room, but he didn’t have to look very far to find his clumsy master and friend. He looked very unimpressed by the sight of a small foot sticking out from under the bed. While he obviously wanted to call him out, he took a deep breath and remembered his mother’s words.
‘’Don’t be smarter than the young master. It’s our job to always be beneath those we serve.’’
No matter how often he reminded himself, it never got any easier, but he had no choice but to live by those words. So after pretending to search the rest of the room with obvious giggling coming from underneath the bed, he spoke up.
‘’Okay, I give up. I have no idea where you’re hiding.’’
Kalim immediately got from under the bed after Jamil admitted defeat, smiling from ear to ear. ‘’I was hiding under there the whole time. I told you I’m good at hide and seek!’’
Jamil just nodded along without really saying anything about it, as it would just piss him off more. ‘’Well, it’s been fun, but I should help my parents with their chores now.’’
‘’Wait, Jamil!’’ Kalim quickly grabbed ahold of the boy’s hand before he could walk away. ‘’Can’t you just stay for one more game? Please?’’
Jamil exhaled softly through his nose. He always felt so irritated whenever playing games with Kalim, simply because he was never allowed to show his true capabilities. But whenever Kalim looked at him with those big crimson eyes of his, Jamil found it hard to refuse any of his requests for some reason.
‘’…What do you want to play now?’’ he caved with a sigh, which instantly returned that big smile to Kalim’s features.
‘’I want to play house!’’ he suggested, which was actually a relief to Jamil since it didn’t involve any competitions.
‘’All right,’’ he agreed. ‘’Who do you want me to be?’’
‘’You’ll be the dad,’’ Kalim responded, ‘’And I’ll be the mom!’’ Jamil frowned at him while Kalim thought for a bit and a goofy smile appeared onto his face. ‘’I’ll look for a dress in my sister’s closet!’’
‘’Hang on,’’ Jamil stopped him before he could run out. ‘’You can’t be a mom. You’re a boy. That makes no sense.’’
‘’Well yeah, but… we can’t both be dads, right?’’ Kalim asked innocently.
‘’Why not?’’ Jamil crossed his arms. ‘’There’s nothing wrong with that. Two dads could be happy together.’’
‘’Oh, sure!’’ Kalim immediately acknowledged. ‘’But is it possible for two dads to have a baby?’’
Jamil thought about it for a bit. While he was a bit more educated on the topic than Kalim, he didn’t yet have the knowledge to fully understand how anyone but a woman and a man could have a child together.
‘’No, I suppose not,’’ he answered softly. Still, it bothered him for some reason that Kalim thought couples only existed of a man and a woman. He didn’t know why, though. He just knew that he didn’t want Kalim to pretend to be a woman for this game. ‘’Well,’’ he suddenly spoke up, ‘’Maybe you can’t have two dads, but you could have two husbands.’’
Kalim stared at him in silence, a faint blush suddenly appearing onto his cheeks that took Jamil by surprise. Kalim’s heart leapt in joy before he looked hopefully at the boy. ‘’I can be your husband, Jamil?’’
Jamil flinched at the wholesome question and it made him feel all flustered. He didn’t expect him to be so happy about his suggestion. ‘’Er, yeah, sure? If that’s what you want…’’
‘’I do! I really do!’’ Kalim exclaimed happily, again catching Jamil off guard. ‘’Wait here!’’ Suddenly the excited boy ran off to search both of his nightstands, leaving Jamil to wonder what he just said to evoke such an excited reaction from him. Even for Kalim this was a bit of an overreaction to a mere game.
A moment later he seemed to have found what he was looking for and he approached Jamil with the small, glimmering object in his hand. Jamil instantly recognized it. It was a golden ring that Kalim had gotten for his birthday last year. He was very attached to it, as was evidenced by his decision to keep it stored in his drawer instead of wearing it, as he was far too afraid to lose it. It was very expensive; Jamil’s parents could never afford something like that even if they worked a lifetime for it.
‘’What do you need that for?’’ he asked him.
‘’I’m going to give it to you, of course!’’ Kalim answered with a giggle. ‘’We have to get married first to become husbands. And couples exchange rings during weddings, right?’’
‘’Wait, you want to do the whole wedding thing first?’’ Jamil groaned softly. ‘’Is that really necessary? Can’t we just get to the part where we’re husbands already?’’
‘’No, then it wouldn’t feel real!’’ Kalim insisted. ‘’First we’ll get married, and we can do it right here. I’ll give you the ring and then we’ll have our first kiss as husbands.’’ Kalim seemed to get all giddy and excited when he mentioned that last part, before his chaotic mind remembered something else. ‘’Oh! And then we have to cut the cake of course! We should ask your parents to bake a cake for us so we can cut it together!’’
‘’Come on, Kalim, that all sounds like a drag. And it’s embarrassing…’’ Jamil nervously ran a hand through his semi-long hair, his own cheeks dusted with a light pink. A wedding? A kiss? Seriously? Those were a lot of unnecessary additions for a make-belief game. ‘’Besides, I don’t even have a ring to give to you…’’
‘’That’s all right,’’ Kalim reassured him before gently grabbing his hands. ‘’I don’t need one. I just want you to be happy, that’s all I care about.’’
Jamil’s heart fluttered in response to those wholesome words, even though he knew it was all just part of the game. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves, reminding himself that this would be over soon and that he could get through this without dying of embarrassment.
‘’Okay, the wedding is starting,’’ Kalim announced, gently squeezing Jamil’s hands while looking deeply into his eyes. There was a very long pause and Jamil was waiting for Kalim to continue, until his clueless young master suddenly smiled brightly and shouted: ‘’I do!’’
Jamil let out an exasperated sigh and looked at the boy absolutely dumbfounded by his lack of knowledge. ‘’You can’t just say that without saying anything before that! What are you saying ‘I do’ to? The marriage officiant has to speak first.’’
‘’I know, but that marriage man says so many things at weddings! I don’t remember all the words,’’ Kalim whined, resulting in another sigh from Jamil. If he wanted this to hurry along, he guessed he would have to take the lead.
‘’Fine, I’ll do it. Listen carefully so you can repeat it later.’’ Jamil looked into the hopeful eyes of Kalim, who were gazing at him excitedly, which made it difficult for Jamil to get his heartrate under control. But after taking a little while to compose himself, he spoke again. ‘’Do you, Kalim Al-Asim, take Jamil Viper to be your lawfully wedded husband?’’ he started softly, watching Kalim becoming progressively happier as he continued to speak. ‘’Do you promise to love and cherish him in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, for as long as you shall live?’’
As embarrassed as Jamil felt right now, watching that radiant smile of his young friend somehow made it tolerable.
‘’I do,’’ Kalim responded again. Now it was his turn to ask the same thing. ‘’And do you, Jamil Viper, take Kalim Al-Asim as your… waffle… as your husband?’’ Jamil snorted and an amused grin crept upon his face as Kalim definitely did not remember anything he just said, which was proven even further by his next words. ‘’And do you promise to love him forever and ever and do all the other things that were just said?’’
‘’I do,’’ Jamil answered, not caring at all about the lack of formality. Kalim’s tunnel-vision about simply becoming Jamil’s husband was charming in itself.
Kalim took Jamil’s left hand and placed the ring on his finger, or at least as far as it would go. Jamil’s hands were just slightly bigger, so the ring didn’t slide on all the way, but Kalim didn’t seem to care. He then took both of Jamil’s hands in his own again and looked expectantly at him, practically bouncing on his feet. Jamil knew what it was he wanted now. Kalim closed his eyes and pouted his lips in an exaggerated way, so Jamil used a few seconds to mentally prepare himself before he finally leaned in and pecked his lips briefly and lightly, but it seemed to be more than satisfactory to the white-haired boy. He was excitedly jumping up and down while his cheeks gained a rosy color as the innocent kiss made him feel all shy.
‘’I can’t believe we’re actually married!’’ he squealed before tightly wrapping his arms around Jamil, hugging him clumsily. ‘’I’m so happy! This was the best wedding ever! Now we get to spend the rest of our lives as husbands!’’
‘’Y-You’re getting a bit carried away,’’ Jamil stammered as he started to feel a little uncomfortable with Kalim’s enthusiasm. ‘’I hope you remember we only did this because-‘’
But Kalim was far too excited to hear anything he was saying. ‘’It’s time to cut the cake now! Let’s go to your parents!’’
‘’Kalim, please just wait a minute!’’
But Kalim was already running ahead, skipping down the hallway while he continued to cheer to himself and anyone who was willing to listen. ‘’I’m Jamil’s husband! We just got married!’’
Jamil sighed in defeat, not even bothering to chase after him. He could never tell what was going on in that head of his… Kalim had never been this excited about a simple game before. It gave Jamil a bad feeling about this, but he decided to let this go for now. There was another concern on his mind, after all. He took the ring from his finger and looked at it thoughtfully. He should try to return this to him later today, but it sounded like Kalim was pretty set on Jamil having this permanently. It was too small to fit him, though. And if his parents would find out he had it, they would make him return it to Kalim anyway. He wondered what he should do with it…
There was a long silence. Riddle and Ace looked at the gleeful boy like they were in utter disbelief by his completely oblivious attitude, while Deuce still seemed endeared by the story, despite the fact that it was now abundantly clear to all of them that it was just one big misunderstanding.
‘’Ah, I see now,’’ Trey responded with a soft chuckle, but he decided to let Kalim live in his delusion since it didn’t impact anyone. Except Jamil maybe. ‘’That’s quite a story. I have to admit I underestimated your definition of ‘spontaneous’.’’
Kalim laughed in response. ‘’I’ve been told I’m impatient! I couldn’t wait any longer.’’ While he continued to talk, he failed to realize that Jamil just returned with the salad he got for him. ‘’When Jamil proposed to me, I was overwhelmed with happiness. I wanted to make it happen right there and then.’’
‘’What did you just-‘’ While Jamil only overheard that last part, he looked completely mortified as he immediately understood what Kalim was referring to. ‘’What nonsense have you been telling them?!’’ He quickly sat down next to him. ‘’For the last time: We are not married! It was a game! And I’ve asked you not to share that misconception with anyone else!’’ Based on his tone of voice, it was clear that Jamil had spent many days from that moment forth reminding Kalim that it was indeed just a game they played.
Kalim laughed sweetly while wrapping his arms around Jamil’s. ‘’It’s fine, you don’t need to be embarrassed. These guys won’t judge us.’’
‘’That’s not what this is about! I’m telling you you’re wrong! There was nothing official about it and we were 8 years old, for crying out loud!’’
But Jamil knew he was not going to be able to convince him at this point, since he hadn’t succeeded the last few times either. Instead he just buried his face in his hands in defeat while Kalim clung to him like a lovesick puppy.
‘’I hate to tell you this,’’ Ace suddenly told Jamil, ‘’But you know Kalim better than anyone. You were digging your own grave the moment you agreed to play that game.’’
‘’I know…’’ Jamil murmured. He couldn’t deny it, after all. ‘’If I knew he was going to take it seriously, I never would have agreed to it.’’
It was as if Kalim couldn’t hear anything they were saying; he was way too caught up in the idea that Jamil was his husband and he continued to talk about it with the Heartslabyul students. While he lost himself again in the details of their ‘wedding’, Jamil reluctantly let him ramble on about his delusions while nervously twiddling with one of his hair accessories. Luckily everyone was too caught up in Kalim’s story to recognize that particular accessory as one of the details Kalim mentioned in his story earlier.
No matter how hard he had tried, he never succeeded in getting Kalim to accept the ring back. And while he was sure that that stupid game meant nothing to him, he still couldn’t bring himself to get rid of the ring. So he had transformed it into a hair accessory that blended in with all his other golden clips and he had worn it ever since, without anyone ever finding out about it. That way his parents couldn’t force him to return it to the Al-Asim family and Kalim would never find out how much Jamil treasured that little moment between them as well.