a little bit messy
before azul arrived at night raven college, he had practiced his laughter in the mirror more times than he’d be willing to admit.
he perfected it to be short, professional, and sharp in a way where no one could ever tease him for it. the reason why?
his true laughter was horribly messy, riddled with snorts and hiccups, and to be frank, was extremely embarrassing. and so, like every part of himself that he hated, he knew he had to fix it.
and for the most part, the carefully crafted persona, and especially his laughter, had been fooling everyone without much effort. it only took him a week to feel confident that he could make it until graduation without anyone ever hearing his genuine laughter. aside from jade and floyd, of course. but even for them, it was a rare sighting.
that is, until he met jamil, who had knocked him off his feet before the other had even known of his existence. who had looked at him with confusion and subtly hidden annoyance when azul had approached him the first time, after azul had already made a name for himself at the school.
jamil, who he had fallen in love with, and somehow, had eventually learned to return his feelings. the thought of that is still something azul finds hard to grasp.
and ironically, the reason all of this happened was because he had heard azul’s genuine laughter.
it was sometime after jamil’s overblot, and his. the glares or the fearful looks never quite stopped ever since the day he had lost control and his blot had taken over him, no matter how much it seemed like it may. while it wasn’t a feeling azul would have described as great, he reasoned it would be better to be feared than to be made a target again.
he knew that jamil would be receiving the same stares, the same hushed whispers in the hallways, the same feeling of realizing you were being avoided, and a part of azul didn’t want jamil to feel alone in that. for business purposes, of course.
so, azul often would find him, which wasn’t particularly difficult because they had similar classes and he just kept the other company. he never left despite jamil no longer bothering to hide his irritation.
one of these times led them to studying in the library together before an upcoming exam. it was actually quite peaceful, the two of them working side by side, each focused on their own thing. azul quite enjoyed it and he had a feeling jamil did too.
it was a good time to figure out the spring menu for the lounge as well, so he smiled contently as he went back to work.
he didn’t know how long they were there for but eventually, jamil had poked him in the side to get his attention, which.. well..
“hck—!” azul yelped, whipping his head at the other, who had a look of surprise on his face. the situation caught up to azul, who blushed at losing his composure like that, before looking around to make sure no one else heard.
fortunately, it seemed like no one else but the librarian, who was focusing on closing down, was in the library.
“w-why would you do that..!” azul asked, flustered.
“it’s just time to leave. what was that?” jamil said, slowly as he just stared at azul.
“w..what. oh, okay. shall we head off then?” azul smiled, scrambling to pick up his belongings and get out of there so he could come up with an excuse to why he had just yelped like that.
“…”
“jamil?”
the other only stared. it was actually making azul a bit nervous, but he forced himself to make contact. always make contact.
“are you .. ticklish?”
“of course not. let’s go, the library is going to close soon.”
jamil smiled, in a way that looked a bit too sinister for azul’s liking as he reached to poke at azul again. azul dodged it, but that only made jamil look more determined.
was azul in trouble?
jamil had kept trying to poke the other, and he had almost succeeded until a cough came from the librarian, who was watching them clearly waiting for them to leave.
jamil and azul looked down, a bit ashamed, as they finished packing up their items and walked out. they each exhaled and looked at each other before jamil suddenly burst out in laughter. azul wasn’t quite sure what to do. should he laugh too?
unfortunately (or maybe not), he didn’t have to choose because jamil had taken his confusion as an opportunity to squeeze his sides. which.
well, azul was ticklish, okay! so of course, he laughed. and to put the icing on the cake, he snorted. was he going to have to figure out a way to erase memories?
“st-stohop! wahahait!” azul cried, trying to run away, but apparently the idea of him being in a situation like this was appealing to jamil, because jamil viper had started to chase after him.
“why? can’t handle a few pinches to the side?” jamil teased.
“leave me alone!” azul cries, trying to will the blush off of his face, and get as far from jamil as possible.
the problem is that one has horrible stamina and the other is on the basketball team.
it’s not difficult to understand why minutes later, azul is on the grass in the courtyard, being tickled by a very sadistic laughter who is milking in all his laughter.
azul could die, he thinks. in fact, he SHOULD die. but the laughter doesn’t stop and neither does jamil, but he can’t bring himself to tell jamil to stop either. he’s not ready to unpack why that is. another time.
“gaHAHA-hic!” azul laughs, and he meets jamil’s eye, who has a smile on his face. and that’s what catches azul off guard. it’s a real genuine smile from jamil and jamil’s eyes are on azul.
somehow, it makes the touches on his skin all the more sensitive and it’s only seconds before he’s begging for mercy, snorts and hiccups and his messy, rambunctious laughter filling the air.
and he wants to be mad, but how could he when jamil is looking at him so softly. he’s too flustered to try and say anything so he shuts up.
“you should laugh like that more often. makes you look a lot less safety.” jamil says, after a while.
“nonsense. no one was ever meant to know..”
“you’re acting like it’s this huge secret, but it’s just a laugh. a… a…” jamil sounds flustered and azul looks over. jamil is turned away, clearly not willing to meet azul’s eyes. “a really cute one…”
azul wants to giggle like a loser, but instead he pounces on jamil instead. “shall we see yours?”
“nohoho—wait!”
that was the start of their many tickle fights, their feelings, and maybe the idea that jamil knowing his genuine laughter wasn’t the worst idea. it was quite the opposite actually.