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“Leona, I have things to do. Kalim hasn’t even started his history of magic assignment, not to mention that I have to cook dinner, and —”
The prince just tsked, continuing to drag Jamil by the wrist to god knows where. His hand was warm around the other’s arm, calluses that no doubt came from sport despite how lazy he seemed. “Kalim isn’t a child, he can take care of himself.”
They strolled past the entrance to the dorm. His underclassmen were already used to their housewarden bringing Viper along, and even if they did have objections they knew better than to voice them.
They had gotten closer after their time at S.T.Y.X, a strange acquaintanceship-turned-friendship forming between them, somehow, with all of their combined pride and arrogance. All the Savanaclaw students, Ruggie and Jack combined, were convinced that there was something else to it. Not that their private, snarky housewarden would ever admit it.
“You only say that because you don’t know him,” he shot back, hopping over the stones and hills of Savanaclaw’s wilderness with practiced ease. For all his unwillingness to cooperate he seemed happy enough to let Leona guide him, walking wherever he wished. “He burnt water once. Water.”
He heard a quiet snicker from Leona, not bothering to turn around.
They walked for a while side by side, hands still together because for some reason Leona refused to let go. Daytime quickly ran out, dusk and pastel sunsets illuminating the sky. Idle chatter poured from the two of them, though both knew that they were comfortable enough to stroll quietly, remarkably similar yet solar opposites as they were. Distantly, a tumbleweed seemed to be rolling across the savanna. Peaceful, in a way that only occurred because they were alone; together.
“What’s taking so long? I meant what I said, you know. If you’re dragging me around for no reason…” Jamil announced, breaking the silence after a few minutes. Hints of irritation seeped through his voice.
Well, a viper was always a viper, Leona thought with a silent laugh. He didn’t verbalise his musings though, choosing to simply click his tongue. “I wonder how you manage to deal with Kalim with such little tolerance. We’ll be there soon.”
“If there’s so much as a single insect there I’ll never trust you again,” Jamil declared, quite dramatically. It was funny, how someone as capable and calm as him had a fear as irrational as bugs. Sevens be damned if Leona didn’t take advantage of it.
“Oh? Need someone else to get rid of the big bad bugs for you, huh?”
Jamil’s stony eyes narrowed, almost— dare he say it, pouting at Leona’s provocation. He shouldn’t have found it as endearing as he did. But so rarely did he look at ease like that, reserved only for when it was them together. Contentment (protectiveness?) flickered in his chest at the thought.
Well, he hoped so. The idea of others seeing Jamil so unguarded made him irrationally jealous. (No, it wasn’t jealousy, it couldn’t be. Could it?)
His fingers drifted to the crown of Jamil’s head, brushing away a stray hair. He allowed himself to take in Jamil’s surprised expression, catching the other’s flushed face before he turned away. Jamil cleared his throat awkwardly, perhaps to hide how embarrassed he looked.
“Well, what did you want to show me, Leona? Don’t tell me you are wasting my time,” he said, with no real bite. Either way, his face was still a muted shade of red.
“Always so impatient,” he replied. For all his teasing, he liked this version of Jamil — soft (well, softer), witty, open, leagues more than the facade he usually wore. Loved, even.
Oh. Oh, no. The unbidden thought flustered him - made his own cheeks flushed, internally berating himself. He turned around, unwilling to let Jamil spot his face and somehow hear his thoughts. With how perceptive the snake usually was, he had almost no doubt it might actually happen.
“Ah, it’s just a spot I visit sometimes.” He answered, hoping, praying Jamil didn’t notice the slight shake in his voice, and jumped off one of the boulders circling the area. A shallow pool of water was ringed by sandstone benches, trees offering shade in the mornings.
“Really? I can’t imagine you doing anything other than sleep,” Jamil said, amused. “And it seems like too much effort for someone like you.”
“Just shut up and sit, will you?”
He chuckled, coming to lay by where Leona was sprawled on the rocks. It was calming — nice, even, because there was something about Leona’s steady presence that put Jamil at ease.
He almost laughed. To call Leona’s presence steadying was a bit (a lot) of a reach, but it was curiously, miraculously true.
“…I guess it’s nice.”
Leona eyed him, with all the smugness that only a prince could wear. “What’d I tell you?”
The other looked down, averting his gaze. “Thank you for bringing me here,” he said after a beat’s silence. Whispered, like a confessional to only be said at the altar.
A hesitant arm came around his shoulder. When Jamil didn’t protest, Leona nudged his head to rest closer. And he allowed it, reluctantly, because there was no place to deny it now, this strange friendship. Was it more, less? He didn’t ask just yet, for fear of taunting the moment.
“Don’t worry about it.” Leona said.
Leona hoped that the rapid beating of his heart couldn’t be felt through his chest.
———
“Leona, it just - it wouldn’t work.”
They were in Leona’s room now, after having spent the night together. Jamil was sitting on his bed, hair unbraided as he tried to reason with him.
The sight would’ve been precious on any other occasion, domestic even. As it turned out, yes, there had been something more they both wanted.
“How would you know?” he shot back.
“You’re kidding, right? Even if Kalim wanted to let me stay with you, his parents — the Asims would never allow it. You know that.”
“Oh? What I know is that you wanted to be free. That’s why you tried what you did on the winter holidays, isn’t it?” Leona said, voice rising.
“Trying something and achieving them are two different things,” Jamil argued, fire stoked in his eyes. “Just because it seems like I have some semblance of choice now doesn’t mean it’ll stay that way. I don’t have your freedom, Leona, and I don’t get things handed to me on a silver platter just because I ask. No one will give things to me if I throw a tantrum, like that one you tried after the Spelldrive tournament?” He was standing now, face-to-face with the other.
“Never thought you to be a coward. I guess all your courage was really just for show, huh? You’re happy, to go back to being nothing?”
Leona was making a mistake. He knew that, if he was being rational. But Jamil was taunting him with his won overblot, venom coming out of his mouth. He knew it was out of spite because they were two sides of the same coin, because they would let themselves bleed until it took them to their end, just to hurt the other.
Because his own fears were real, verbalised in the form of razor sharp blades, and it was a jarring realisation that he had let someone so close to truly see him for what he was.
“You’d complain about your position, that you don’t have freedom, but it’s because you’re scared. You know that, don’t you?” He repeated in a mocking voice. Leona was standing now, face to face with Jamil, and he knew they were probably being too loud so early in the morning, and that Ruggie would complain about it later, but all that mattered was how his fists were probably clenched and how pissed he was at the man standing in front of him.
“Your privilege is making you forget things, Leona Kingscholar. I can’t escape with you into the fucking sunset!” Jamil was shouting now, damning tears welling up in his eyes that made his vision blurry. “Unlike you, there are consequences that don’t just affect me,” He said, thinking of his younger sister, Najma, his parents, who for all their flaws would still sing him lullabies to sleep as a child, feed him soup when he fell sick. “Unlike you, there are people who need me.”
And then he turned around, leaving just as quick. Leona’s fingers twitched — with anger, with the desire to get him back? He wasn’t sure.
All he knew was that there was a bitter taste in his mouth, a pressure in his throat from words that hit too close to home.
———
Now, months afterwards (No, had it been a year by now? probably more - Leona had already graduated, after all) at the savanna’s palace, he saw Jamil again.
He looked tired — not to say ugly, far from it, more so that his unshakable radiance had been dimmed. Impeccable as always, casually but rigidly dressed with those jewel adorned braids, eyeshadow that just barely hid the dark circles beneath them.
“Jamil?” Leona questioned, a slip of genuine surprise coming through. Of all the ways to be reunited with a former friend (lover?), this was certainly something. “I never thought I’d see you again, little snake,” Leona taunted, finally deigning to sit up from where he had previously sprawled over one of the palace’s many sofas. Mostly to hide his surprise and discomfort at, well, Jamil’s general presence (but not anxiety, no, he would never call it that.)
Well, he certainly fit the image of a good-for-nothing noble, at least.
“Neither did I,” Jamil confirmed, shifting side to side. Waiting for… something.
He was sure Jamil would prefer to have never seen him again. And Leona had made his peace with that, soon enough. No matter how often he saw vipers crawling around him, suffocating and wrapping his body with a vice-like grip at night, the same silver eyes that seemed to appear in every part of his day, showing up in something as trivial as a sharpened knife on a platter.
Evidently, Leona also did not lie to himself well.
“Why are you here? Thought it wouldn’t work between us, no?”
It was the wrong thing to say, he knew it, and it was evident on Jamil’s face. A minuscule change, the shuttering of his facade, one he could only spot because of how much time they’d spent together.
Jamil sighed slightly, a small inhale. It sounded like a parent’s disappointment. Like a door shutting, a path closed. “Never mind,” he said, decisive. “I made a mistake in coming here.”
But again he hesitated to leave. Somehow, there was still hope after everything, not yet extinguished. Foolish, in any other situation.
Ah, but wasn’t it a bit pathetic how quickly the prince of a nation could fold for that? Leona grabbed onto that hesitance like a starving man, like a rope amidst a crashing sea. Because it was Jamil Viper, the only man who could reduce Leona to nothing more than a lovesick teenager.
“Wait,” he blurted out. Too quickly, too mindlessly. Jamil stopped. Looked back.
“Wait,” Leona repeated, because there were too many things to say in not enough time, never enough time. “Jamil, I’m—“
“Hold on. Before you say anything… “ He started suddenly, some realisation coming tk him. “I’ve thought about it, and… It wasn’t your fault. I was just- I was angry then, and you were probably just trying to help, and I should’ve talked to you, but—” Oh, great sevens Jamil was rambling now, unable to stop himself. Only Leona’s quiet laughter stopped him from becoming an incoherent mess.
“I should’ve known better to expect an actual apology from you, yeah?” Leona asked, eyes crinkling with amusement. Even his tail was swinging.
His eyes narrowed. “If you don’t want it, I’ll happily leave-“
“No, gods, no, that’s not what I meant. You really were always like this, weren’t you?” He said, exasperated. “I meant, I’m sorry. To be honest, I just didn’t want to be…to be without you, I guess.”
Jamil’s eyes widened in genuine shock for a second before softening oh-so-familiarly. But now it was Leona’s turn to make a fool of himself, of course.
The prince signed, burying his head in his hand as if it would be able to stop the mortifying ordeal of being in love. “I guess I’m just saying I missed you,” He settled for.
What did he expect after that? Leona wasn’t sure. Maybe a long winded string of profanities cursing him and his entire bloodline that Leona knew Jamil was capable of (he had been privy to many a rant about Kalim, as ignorant and naive as the boy sometimes was), or simply a well-aimed punch straight to his precious face.
What he did not prepare for was when Jamil veritably deflated, curling in on himself, choosing to inspect the intricately carpeted ground in favour of making eye contact. “I missed you too.” An admission. Neither of them would ever know how much the other meant it.
Leona looked up, eyes wide. “What?”
He levelled him with a glare. “Don’t make me say it again.” But his face was flushed now, taking away any real anger. “…Leona?” Jamil asked again, walking closer when he didn’t reply.
He didn’t get to say anything else before the other man wrapped Jamil in a fierce embrace, strong arms wrapping around his waist and squeezing the breath out of him. Barely enough time to be surprised, really. Jamil let out a soft oof before snickering. “Could’ve just said you wanted a hug, you brute.”
Tentatively, his hand ruffled Leona’s hair, stroking the soft fur of his ears. Strangely silky given how lazy the man was. He wouldn’t be surprised if it was Ruggie who had forced Leona to take proper care of his hair.
A low purr came from Leona, who nuzzled his face into Jamil’s side even further. “You really are just an oversized cat, aren’t you?” He said with amusement, fondly, even.
Leona spared him an indignant glance before returning to… well, whatever strange feline behaviour it was. “Jamil?” He asked after a second, voice slightly muffled from the fabric of his clothing.
“Hm?”
He looked up, admiring the elegant planes of Jamil’s face, the arch of his brows, the sweep of his unfairly long lashes. “I love you,” he confessed.
Jamil allowed himself to be shocked, just for a second. “I love you too, Leona.”
And it would’ve been so embarrassing to admit if not for the idiotic grin on Leona’s face, one which Jamil was sure he mirrored.
———
“Hey, you never told me why you were here in the first place. Don’t say you came all the way to Sunset Savanna just for me?” Leona asked, wearing his trademark smug grin.
“As if,” Jamil replied with a scoff. And oh, he looked so perfectly in place sat as his bedroom dresser redoing his hair, one he hadn’t used in years but very recently had come to appreciate. In the morning light he was almost ethereal — gazing at him with beauty only the supernatural could achieve, looking for all the world like a heavenly being.
God, he was starting to sound like Rook now, that insane motherfucker.
“Kalim actually came on his father’s wishes; something about searching for decent internships in his fourth year. Anyway, I had to come with him, of course,” Jamil continued, oblivious to Leona’s emotional turmoil. “And, believe it or not, he was actually the one to suggest I ‘make things right’ between us.”
“Kalim? He knew?” Leona asked, dumbfounded.
“He’s surprisingly insightful when it comes to me, I guess. Hard to avoid when we see each other every day. Honestly, though, it was a bit strange to hear such… coherent words coming out of his mouth.”
At that Leona laughed, stretching his long limbs across the bed, still stiff from sleep. His own hair was undone, sprawled across the pillows like the wild mane it was.
“Hey, Jamil?” There was an uncharacteristic seriousness in Leona’s voice.
“Yes?” He replied, not looking away from the mirror as he braided his hair. A familiar motion, the tying and knotting of soft strands between his fingers. It was more efficient to do with magic, but there was a certain comfort in routine, he supposed.
“Stay with me. Please.”
He paused at that, opting to look Leona in the eye.
“I don’t just mean today. Stay with me, wherever you end up going.”
And it was the softness in his voice which really got him, the nervous energy flickering in his eyes. So rarely was the prince unsure of anything, least of all himself — his green eyes downcast, tail flicking impatiently as he waited on the answer.
Jamil really had gotten soft, hadn’t he? It was obvious in how readily accepted, how softly he spoke.
“Of course I will.”