Chapter Text
It was the summer break, and Kamala had arranged for the whole gang to get back together for a week. She smiled looking around the room at all the people she loved most. Ammi and abu, of course. Bruno, (god, she had missed him) who was trying to learn more urdu from Aamir, Nakia and Zoe (Kamala noted that they had been spending a 𝘭𝘰𝘵 of time together recently) and even Kamran was here, who was stood awkwardly in the corner of the room, staring down at his hands.
Kamala approached him with a small smile.
"Hey!" she greeted, "Haven't seen you in a while."
He flashed his heartwarming smile and waved but Kamala wasn't dumb, she knew something was off.
"What's wrong? You know you can talk to me."
Kamran twisted his lips and looked down at the floor. "It's weird being back here"
"bad weird?"
"good weird." He paused before continuing, "it's weird being back in New Jersey though. Without my.. ammi. I've also apparently forgotten how to like, socialise." Noting Kamala's concerned expression he added, "sorry."
"For what? It's okay to feel that way, but I'll let you know, you are definitely the coolest person in the room so you don't have to worry about that." When he didn't respond, her eyes softened and she patted his shoulder, "I'm sorry about you mum. But you're not alone, you've got all of us, and we're pretty awesome!"
She internally celebrated her victory as Kamran, still looking at the floor, smiled slightly.
"awesome?" he questioned teasingly.
Kamala rolled her eyes and nodded. "𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 awesome."
"If you say so-"
Everyone in the room abruptly turned at the loud noise coming from the other side of the room. Bruno and Aamir were practically in stitches, crying from laughter about Allah knows what.
"That you don't see every day." Kamran said, smiling fondly at the scene.
"What do you mean?" Kamala asked, looking up at him.
"Bruno. It is 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 hard to make him laugh."
"I know right!"
"But that's not such a bad thing, because, when you do, it's far more rewarding."
"And now you sound like Abu."
Kamala and Kamran laughed quietly and watched as Aamir and Bruno started to slightly calm down and everyone else returned to their previous conversations.
"Bruno beta! Come here!" Kamala's ammi called from the kitchen where she had gone a while ago, presumably to make snacks for everyone. Whenever she could, she got Bruno to test her food because he was 'respectful' about it. Basically, he never told the truth and always said it was delicious, unlike Kamala and Aamir who were a little more honest towards their mother's cooking.
Bruno excused himself from Aamir and headed towards the kitchen which meant he would have to pass Kamala and Kamran on the way.
Kamala narrowed her eyes at Kamran, "okay, why are you looking at me like that."
Kamran's sideways smile turned into a grin, "I have mastered the way to make Bruno laugh."
"oh no."
"Science puns! Watch this."
Bruno was now about a meter away from the two and Kamran nudged Kamala to make her pay attention before calling out to the boy.
"Hey Bruno!"
As Bruno waved, Kamran continued, "RNA is my favorite nucleic acid because it has U in it."
As Bruno walked by he grinned whilst shaking his head, but he didn't respond or even turn to look at the two (unknown to them but because Bruno had started to go a little pink). Meanwhile, Kamran grinned proudly. As soon as Bruno got inside the kitchen, Kamran turned towards Kamala to gloat until he saw her facial expression.
"I think it's my turn to ask why you're looking at me like that?" Kamran kept his charming smile on the whole time. "Was my pun 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 good?"
Kamala finally got some words out of her mouth, "That wasn't a pun, Kamran!"
"...no?"
"That was a pick-up line! I think you just 𝘩𝘪𝘵 on Bruno."
"what? Bruno knows it's a pun." Kamran almost seemed confident until he added, "....right??"
Kamala mentally facepalmed and was about to respond until Bruno walked out of the kitchen again and made his way back to the conversation he was having with Aamir. She didn't miss the way he smiled slightly at Kamran while he passed.
Kamran returned the smile to Bruno and then looked at Kamala. "See? He gets the joke!"
"Men." Kamala retorted before abu called her over because the cricket match on the TV had suddenly shut off.
Kamran shrugged off the interaction and went to see what Nakia and Zoe were ranting about.