Work Text:
Even Floyd would have to admit that his first 'confession' to Jamil Viper had been more of a split second passing fancy. In the time it took him to say, "Hey, you're a land person, right? Let's go out" he also lost interest.
Even if he lost interest in dating Jamil he would remember the flicker of surprise then disdain before Jamil put on his professional servant's face and gently redirected Kalim away from the Octavinelle students.
In Floyd's defense he had just graduated boot camp and it was the first week at Night Raven College and the dating scene on land was sooooo different from the one in the ocean. Also, Jade had been delighted so it had obviously been worth it.
The second time Floyd asked Jamil out it had been a little more calculated. The thought 'hey you could take Jamil to the Halloween dance' rolled through his head during a joint lesson when Floyd had gotten tired of listening to the teacher and looked around the classroom instead. Jamil had been hard at work, eyebrows furrowed, pen dashing across the paper to take notes.
And Jamil's tongue had shown just slightly. It looked a bit like a tongue-eating louse peeking out from an unfortunate fish's mouth to him. Floyd laughed out loud and Professor Trein had given him demerits for it.
Not like Floyd cared. Land history could be interesting sometimes, there was all this junk people did that seemed kind of pointless. A lot of land conflicts over weird stuff solved by even weirder politicking around. He knew Azul liked that stuff in his own way, amassing power and resources in funny little ways. Floyd enjoyed it too, sometimes. But mostly it seemed like there were way more direct ways of solving problems.
(Oh, but when he was interested and when he did have the patience for it. . . well, even Jade said it was a sight to behold and Azul got that extra greedy look in his eyes.)
And so after class Floyd stopped Jamil in the hall. He slung an arm out into Jamil's way, delighted at how the Scarabia student slid under without missing a beat. Which only made Floyd stick his leg out to trip him too. Apparently Jamil hadn't expected that and stumbled a little.
"Heeeyyy, Sea Snake~" Floyd thought he'd made a good impression, really. He got Jamil's attention, hadn't he?
"Absolutely not." Jamil said before Floyd could even ask him to the dance.
"No fun." Floyd said in reply, sighed and headed the other direction. Now he needed something else to distract him.
Basketball Club was okay.
Floyd liked it okay.
Sometimes he really liked it. Sometimes he didn't like it at all.
Right now it was just okay. There were all these drills they were supposed to do and lunges and jumps and stuff. Passing the ball and doing what they were told was totally boring. But he did like running faster than other people, throwing balls harder than other people and lunging further than other people.
So he just stopped running halfway through a lap and laid down on the ground. Most of the other club members skidded to a stop or made a wide berth around him. It was pretty funny. He only narrowly avoided Jamil's sneaker imprint on his face, however, by rolling to the side.
"Oi." Floyd said.
"Stop wasting time." Jamil replied as he kept jogging. "As a team we're supposed to complete our laps."
"Don't wanna."
Floyd sulked for the entire lap Jamil did and once the other came close again he leaped up to try and tackle him. Jamil had been prepared — they'd only shared the club for just under a year but he was quick to adapt to others actions — and started running full speed. Floyd let out a whoop of laughter and followed, chasing.
"Got ya~" Floyd cheered once he finally caught up to Jamil and dragged him to the floor. Their bodies squeaked and slid on the polished hardwood. Jamil cursed but somehow he also looked smug.
"Good teamwork." Jamil said snidely.
Floyd had to sit back on his heels and stare for a moment. Yeah he just got played but it had been fun. So his eyes slid half-shut, he let his mouth take that dangerous angle that always felt so comfortable.
Even Jamil wasn't immune to it. Or maybe Jamil especially wasn't. He always had that air of a mid-tier fish, a predator and a prey. The kind of fun fish to play with that knew about hidey holes and fast escape routes but would also take a bite out of a weaker fish when it could. A surprise fight or flight.
"Aaa~aaah," Floyd sighed. "I still got ya though. So ya gotta give me something."
"I do not."
"Go on a date with me."
Jamil's face said 'are you shitting me'. Floyd knew his face said 'I might be'.
"No."
"C'monnnn, it'll be funnnn."
"No, it won't."
"Seaaa Snaaaaakeeee."
"Get off."
Floyd wheedled a bit more but Jamil was unmoved. Eventually Floyd gave up and stood up. He offered Jamil a hand up but the other refused it. Funny.
Floyd was extra moody after Azul's Overblot. He and Jade agreed they had 'fucked around' and 'found out' and neither of them exactly regretted it but Floyd couldn't help his mood swings. He skipped club one week, skipped half his classes the next. He got a perfect 100 on Crewel's exam just because he could but didn't bother to turn in the essay.
That's how he ended up in extra lessons. Crewel had dumped a pile of papers on him and been all do this extra work or you'll fail. Then Jamil had come in and Crewel gave him the same speech and then just left.
At least that was funny.
"What happened to get you here?" Floyd spread out across the entire row of desks. He had not started his work.
Jamil looked at him with an expression Floyd had learned was something like 'Kalim set the kitchen on fire' or 'Kalim wrote a blank check to a stranger' or 'Kalim invited everyone to a party without notifying me and then said I was going to make a banquet and do circus tricks for them' or whatever.
"Kalim blew up the lab. And he is my responsibility so. . ."
"You didn't." Floyd sat up and grinned ear to ear. He knew exactly where this was going.
"And so I have extra lessons." Jamil ground out.
"Should just let him fall on his face." Floyd advised. He started to leaf through the papers Crewel left. Baby shit honestly. He could finish it in a flash if he wanted.
"That's not how it works." Jamil sounded tired.
"What? 'Cuz he's the Housewarden or whatever?" Floyd shook his head. "You'd never see Azul pull that stuff. Though, maybe I should try an' put a bomb in his potions bag. . ."
Briefly, Jamil smiled.
That made Floyd pleased and he started to write down the answers on the work Crewel had given him.
"I wouldn't get to see it though. . ." Floyd groaned. "It wouldn't be worth it if I can't see it. His face would be soooo funny and he'd be all how did this get here? And probably know it was me so then he'd be all Floooydd!!!!"
Floyd's impression of Azul was middling but Jamil snickered anyway.
"I'll show ya my favorite bomb recipe." Floyd offered.
Jamil stopped laughing.
Floyd counted this as another rejection.
The fifth time Floyd asked Jamil Viper out was a few weeks after his Overblot. There was no good time to be all 'hey so I saw the most intimate failure of your bid on freedom and was wondering if you'd go get a burger with me' and Floyd wasn't really against being awkward but even he had standards.
But there was no way that Floyd Leech was going to forget Jamil Viper.
The thing about Floyd was he liked interesting things. He'd pursue something if it sparked and held his interest. He didn't collect items like some mermen and once something lost its shine he could lose it and not care. He didn't have the patience to slowly build something from scratch, he would go at it with the speed and force of a hurricane.
But people were entirely different. Sure, sometimes he'd approach them the same way — fast, dangerous, understanding the interaction could be over in a blink. Once someone caught his interest, though, Floyd wouldn't mind investing in them. He'd give Epel encouragement because he wanted to see where the little guppy went. He'd build Ortho up because the angel fishie was endlessly entertaining.
Azul was a constant source of joy. A bright spot burned into his brain from when they were younger. A funny little octopus with so much willpower he could make things happen. Azul who did so many things he would complain about, who thought up games and schemes and convoluted plans Floyd could only enjoy. And of course, Azul could break him over his knee, incredibly strong Azul.
Jamil was entirely different from Azul. He's not that physically strong, for one. Floyd was pretty sure in a straight strength contest Jamil would lose. He had never really gotten Jamil to go all out with him, though. Magic aside, Jamil was always holding something back. While Floyd knew some of it was because of this bullshit with Kalim now it wasn't just that.
If Jamil was a dolphin caught in a net he'd always be saving some air and strength to swim away in the end. Jade was the same way, a little extra reserve hidden away for the right moment. Floyd was the opposite. He was going to give it all in the moment. And he had wanted to see Jamil do it too.
"Geh." Floyd said out loud.
"Floyd?!" Jamil replied and interrupted his thoughts.
"What're you doing here, Sea Snake?" Floyd asked.
"This is literally the school store." Jamil's voice is clipped and tight.
"You look kinda short." Floyd said. What he meant was that after seeing Jamil's Overblot, the mess of writhing snakes, the powerful Phantom and swell of magic, the Jamil in front of him looked so much smaller. It had been kind of interesting in its own way, but the dangers of succumbing to blot outweigh the fun. He's never had interest in fighting dying men.
Jamil spluttered.
"Suits you better, though." Floyd continued. "When ya get too big for yourself it's kinda cringe." He had said something similar to Azul before too. But unlike Azul and the twins Jamil didn't have years of understanding so he grabbed the detergent he needed and pushed past Floyd.
"Like I care what you think." He snapped.
"Hey, wait, wait, wait a minute." Floyd trailed after. He'd get that spice Azul wanted for the lounge later. Maybe. "Hold up."
"What do you want, Floyd?"
"Wanna grab a meal at the lounge? I'll put it on the house. Azul'll be livid."
The corner of Jamil's mouth was tugged up slightly. It was almost a smile. Floyd felt a moment of triumph but then Jamil shook his head.
"No." And after a moment, added, "No, thank you."
Gross, thought Floyd as they part ways.
Floyd's forgotten the exact rules of this year's Beanfest. In honesty, he's never really cared about the event and as soon as he saw Jamil heading off into the trees all bets were off. He's technically on the same team as Jade this year but Jade had just followed his line of sight and smiled wide.
It's about as perfect of a fight as it could be: They're both third years now and it's the last Beanfest they'll ever participate in. Jamil doesn't even protest — 'we're on the same team' — or try to run. Instead he drops his bean blaster and crouches down into a fighting stance as Floyd drops down from the trees on him. Jamil is agile and thoughtful, but Floyd is relentless. Jamil's movements go from planned to hurried and he goes from clearly holding back to being pushed further and further to using up his reserves. Spots of Jamil's blood get on Floyd's gloves — he gets a good crack across Jamil's nose, but Floyd's left eye stings and swells from one of Jamil's blows too. Floyd probably breaks a finger against the ground as Jamil slides away from him but for all he's agile Floyd has a longer reach. They end up on the ground in a tangle, breathing hard, sore, and bruised. Floyd presses his forearm to Jamil's neck like an iron bar but under him Jamil doesn't look put out at all, instead there's a rawness on his face — maybe it's the smeared makeup or the blood still trickling from his nose but it just feels honest.
Floyd smiles and relaxes a little. He takes it in.
Jamil takes the opportunity to throw the hard heel of his hand into Floyd's face — he hears the clack of Floyd's teeth, the surprised yelp and more importantly feels the shift in Floyd's weight. With the same muscles he's used to do a back spin during dance he throws Floyd to the side and rolls on top.
Under him Floyd laughs and laughs, even more breathless and with bloody lips now. "Got me there!"
"This was pointless, we're on the same team." Jamil says, but he's smug.
"Well, ain't no rules about how we can't fight each other." Floyd actually has no idea if there are any rules against that.
"So, now what." Jamil asks. He doesn't move off of Floyd and Floyd doesn't try to make him.
"If I won I was thinkin' I'd try again." Floyd shrugs.
"Try again?"
"Even though I lost. . . why not?" Floyd hums to himself, "Well, Sea Snake, wanna go out?"
"Is this really the time to ask that."
"There's never a good time so I just ask when I feel like it. So, wanna have a good time with me?"
Jamil studies Floyd. Floyd has that hapless grin on his face that promises excitement at possibly other people's expense. It's a little different from his truly malicious grin that promises danger to whoever it's directed at. Jamil realizes he's being included in the mischief, it's an invitation to come along for the ride.
"Sure, why not?" He replies.