Inspired by this
[A quick jamikali fic for Valentine's Day]
“Here.”
Jamil handed him a pink box with a cute heart-patterned ribbon wrapped around it in a small bow. None of that was very Jamil-like. Kalim had expected a Valentine’s gift this year as always, but in his mind, it had been a single bitter chocolate truffle thrown at him not this – and that was the better outcome he’d imagined; Jamil could have given him nothing at all and Kalim wouldn’t have been able to fault him for it.
But there was something and from the looks of it, this must have taken a great deal of effort. That alone put Kalim in a great mood.
“Thanks, Jamil! Can I eat it now?”
The box fit in a single hand but it wasn’t light by any means. What kind of chocolates were they? The first time Jamil offered some to him, they were quite simple, nothing more than chocolate reheated and poured into tiny cups before being sprinkled with cutesy nonpareils. The second time, they were sand roses, crunchy under his teeth as he bit into them as soon as he was allowed to. Every year since, Jamil’s chocolates had become more and more elaborate as his cooking skills had improved. Last year’s were shaped like little parrots, painted red and blue with delicate and precise magic. What could this year’s box hold?
“Sure. But before that, I have something to tell you.”
“What is it?”
Jamil’s lips curved into a mocking smile. “There’s poison in them.”
“Wow, really– wait, what?!”
“There’s poison in them,” he repeated, leaning against the wall with a satisfied smile.
“That’s… A joke, right? Right?”
“Maybe. Or maybe not. So, what are you going to do, Kalim?”
“I–”
“You can give it back if you want. After all, you can’t trust someone like me, can you?”
“That’s not true!”
“Really?”
The onyx eyes fixated on Kalim were devoid of emotion, simply staring at him – Kalim held Jamil’s gaze until it was uncomfortable to do so before looking away.
Jamil was probably lying. If he’d really wanted to poison Kalim, he could have done so a hundred– no, a thousand times over. Even after Overblotting, he had done nothing – for better or worse, he’d stayed by Kalim’s side and protected him as always. So, the poison thing was a lie. It was.
It had to be.
Except Jamil’d taken to telling him about his plans to overthrow his family every few days, mostly when Kalim failed a simple task as if to remind him he was still far from a worthy heir or rival. Even if the poison wasn’t fatal, perhaps it’d be debilitating enough to make him run a bad fever – and then Jamil would scold him for being too naive.
Tugging the ribbon to untie it, he opened the box. Inside, carefully aligned heart-shaped chocolates were waiting for him. If he brought one to his mouth, it’d be over. Whatever his choice would be, he felt like Jamil wouldn’t be satisfied though.
Kalim didn’t doubt Jamil’s actions. His words were something else. Jamil’s hands were always gentle, treating Kalim like a precious and oh-so-fragile thing when his words stung, taunting him just to make fun of his reactions afterward. Preparing sweets so small and so perfect meant he’d spent a long time on it – wasting all this work to teach a lesson wasn’t worth it. Or maybe it was? Jamil was the kind of person who put his all into everything he did, even if said things were only temporary.
In the end, Kalim’s mind was full of hesitations and unanswered questions.
“If you can’t make up your mind, just throw it away,” Jamil sighed. “I still have to make dinner so hurry up.”
“I can’t just throw it away!”
“So what? You’re going to stare at it until the heat death of the universe? Just admit you can’t trust me and let’s move on.”
These words prompted Kalim’s brain into action. Just because he couldn’t decide what to do didn’t mean he didn’t trust Jamil, far from it. Even if his servant gave him a dozen reasons why he shouldn’t trust him, Kalim would counterattack with a hundred about why he was trustworthy.
So Kalim held the box high up and tilted it, pouring all its contents inside his mouth.
“Kalim!”
Jamil sounded less mocking than exasperated as he took the box out of Kalim’s hands and set it on a nearby table. Lips pressed into a thin line, he cupped Kalim’s face, pinching his cheeks which were full of chocolate – delicious one at that, milk with a praline heart that melted on his tongue.
“How dumb can you be?! You’re going to get a stomachache if you eat that much chocolate at once!”
“I–”
“And don’t talk with your mouth full!”
Kalim swallowed as much as he could before opening his mouth again. “It was good!”
“I know that; I made it.”
“Thanks!”
“You’re welcome. That’s not the issue… What were you trying to accomplish here?”
“That I trust you…?” Kalim tilted his head. “I think! I knew you wouldn’t put anything inside, y’know? But you were testing me so I was thinking about it really hard!”
“I wasn’t testing you. I just wanted to see if you were still a fool who’d just eat anything I gave you.”
“Sounds like a test. So?”
“You still are an idiot. Congrats, master.” He lingered on the last word, dragging it out, scornful. “And what if there was real poison in it?”
“You wouldn’t do that,” Kalim affirmed as he moved away from Jamil’s hold to take one of the last chocolates out of the box, popping it in his mouth.
“Don’t eat that much before dinner.”
Kalim hummed a noncommittal answer as he licked his lips. He’d hesitated earlier but his first assessment had been right – Jamil wouldn’t do that. Why he tried to pretend he could was a mystery though. Was that a test? Or just another attempt at bullying? Knowing him, it could be anything.
“By the way, I have chocolates for you too! And…” Kalim attempted to build up suspense as he reached for his schoolbag slumped against his bed to take the sweets he’d wrapped in plastic inside. “There’s no poison in them! They’re full of love.”
“That’s worse.”
Despite saying this, Jamil immediately held out his hand, waiting for Kalim’s offering. His sweets were much less elaborate than his servant’s, having only started cooking once he joined NRC, but receiving them seemed to make Jamil happier than when Kalim used to get his family’s chef to prepare them. They weren’t anything special but if Jamil was happy, so was Kalim.
“I made them with Cater and Lilia during our club hours,” he explained and Jamil’s slight smile turned into a grimace.
(Afterward, Kalim went through a thorough interrogation to make sure Lilia hadn’t touched anything he’d made but that was a story for another time.)
