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There is no grand plan for this one. No elaborate show, no cunning scheme, no gathering her other boys together to brainstorm ideas. Yuu knows Jamil wouldn't appreciate a spectacle, so she keeps it simple, she paints her nails. On one hand is a sparkling crimson, on the other is a light black topped with a bronze shimmer.
She invites him over to Ramshackle under the guise of needing homework help. When he arrives it takes him all of two minutes to look at her hands and take in the colors painted there, and it only takes that long because he has his eyes glued to the notes he brought with him. Yuu watches Jamil sit up straight and blink twice. And then he sighs. It is a tired and long suffering thing. He leans back into the couch as he shakes his head. "No, you don't love me Yuu."
The prefect, having not predicted this reaction at all, is immediately defensive. "You will not tell me how I feel, about anything, Jamil."
"I'm sorry, but I don't think letting you delude yourself is a good idea."
"You will choose your next words very carefully."
To his credit he does pause before continuing what he must realize is a hole he won't be able to dig himself out of later. "I'm not a good person Yuu. I'm not a honest person either. Whatever parts of me you think you've fallen for, are just an act I put on for the sake of being civil."
Yuu's defensiveness dies the instant she understands that he's not trying to be condescending. He genuinely thinks himself unlovable as he truly is. Well that won't do. "Have I ever told you, that I think you're the most beautiful person I've met in this world?"
He scoffs. "You mean aside from Vil?"
"No, I mean including Vil."
Jamil sits up straight again, disbelief radiating off of him. "You have to be exaggerating."
"Have you ever known me to speak in hyperbole?"
His resulting silence is enough of a response.
"Can you trust that everything I say is true?"
"I can trust that you believe everything you're saying."
"Good enough. Jamil I do know you past your façade. I know you despise bugs, and adore dancing. I know you think your sister is annoying and your parents are spineless, but you love them anyway. And you'd do anything for them. Including put up with a boy you can't stand in order to protect their livelihoods.
I know you are vicious, with a mean controlling streak ten miles long. You aren't the best person in the world, but so what? My type of guy isn't exactly a goody two shoes. Jade and Floyd don't have a kind or innocent bone in their bodies, and I still love them. I've seen you at your absolute cruelest, yet your colors are still painted onto my nails.
You've shown me more than enough of your real self to be able to grow attached to you, grow endeared to you, fall in love with you. This doesn't have to be complicated. You don't have to overthink this like you do everything else. Do you love me too?"
Finally, her words seem to get through to him, and the vice housewarden allows himself to let his guard down, and trust the girl before him with a piece of his heart. "...Yes."
"Then come kiss me, and let's worry about the rest later."
With an oh so rare genuine smile, Jamil stands up, walks over to Yuu, and does just that. The kiss is a lot gentler than she was expecting, but that's certainly not a complaint. When he pulls away, there is a melancholic energy in the air that's being fueled from a fact they can no longer ignore. "Kalim will be crushed by this you know."
"Yeah, he will. And then he'll learn how to get over it, because despite what the adults in your life might have told you, he isn't going to get everything he wants in life. Especially not when it involves other people's feelings."
"I know that, but that doesn't help me figure out how to deal with him."
"You don't."
"I can't just ignore him."
"Why not?"
"Because..." He stops to truly process the question. What would happen, if he told his housewarden that he needed to look elsewhere for emotional support? It's not like he has no friends to confide in. It's not like he'd lash out if told to go away. Even Kalim would understand that some things need to be worked out without Jamil there to hold his hand.
A tension he's been carrying in his shoulders for whose knows how long suddenly releases, as the epiphany hits him. "I can just ignore him."
"There you go. How does that feel?"
"It feels like... I could kiss you again for helping me realize."
"And what's stopping you from doing that?"
His signature smirk curls onto his lips as he leans back down. "Absolutely nothing."
. . .
Kalim finds out half an hour later, when he barges into Ramshackle unannounced looking for Jamil, and finds the new couple making out on the couch. He's all smiles about it, laughing and going on about how it's finally happening and how he was waiting for this. The tears streaming down his cheeks do not go unnoticed by anyone in the room, but everyone silently decides not to point them out.
It takes a month for the housewarden to process his grief (without Jamil's help, of course), and from that point on he is the couple's staunchest supporter. It chafes at Jamil at first, but as time passes he finds himself grateful for the unconditional positivity. It becomes the basis of a newfound respect between them, that Jamil finally has something that Kalim wanted yet couldn't have.