Chapter Text
Jamil looked over the guest list again with a growing pit in his stomach.
The attending segment had all the usual suspects; Kalim's old clubmates, friends he'd grown close to over the years at NRC, and the typical entourage of socialite's spawn hoping for a party or early connections of their own. Of course, Kalim being Kalim, Jamil was expected to plan accommodations for the tentative list as well; those too polite or politically entangled to refuse outright. That was the list which he was truly dreading.
Lilia and the Diasomnia brigade he was bringing along had never batted an eye at Jamil's circumstances, and they weren't any more likely to care now. Cater had kept in touch well enough to know where things stood, which typically meant that Trey did too.
He was prepared for them. He was unhappily bracing for a small handful of old schoolmates to attend, but hadn't predicted just how large of a crowd Kalim had actually invited for his eccentric little attempt at a class reunion.
It hadn't even been five years since graduation, and reunions were supposed to be for classmates, weren't they? Not everyone he'd ever met at school.
{ I thought he'd been getting better about these things… }
The idea of having to face this many of his old schoolmates, all gathered to celebrate how far they'd come in life while he remained Kalim's attendant, was humiliating to say the least. And considering the specific company…
Jamil looked over the list once more, as though some names would simply disappear if he squinted hard enough.
He could handle most of them, he didn't care about most of them enough to be worried -it wasn't like he'd ever run into them on his own anyway, but… some delusional part of him had been too optimistic to expect Leona.
Leona, who'd had some of the highest hopes for him of anyone. Leona who had a way of spotting every flaw and failure and didn't hesitate to point them out. The one who took the time to try and help, even if he didn't quite know what he was working with.
Leona, who he had no choice but to disappoint.
Jamil sighed, placing the list down with a little too much force. It didn't help that Leona also happened to be one of the few people Jamil had ever truly admired.
…Well, perhaps a little more than admired.
Jamil shook his head. That ship had long since sailed -or sank, more like. Sank before it had ever been built.
{ Seven, this is going to be the worst week of my life. }
Leona sighed his irritation.
In front of him, black ears twitched from within a nest of vivid orange hair. Their white spots bored into him like the watchful eyes of an irate babysitter.
{ Good, he heard me. }
Leona snorted at the lack of further reaction, and wondered for the fiftieth time why he had bothered coming to this reunion. What had he been expecting, really, a casual little get-together among friends?
What friends. The only one he was really doing this for was Ruggie, and only because the hyena would never forgive him for missing out on a chance to feast.
{ Should've just bought him a ticket and let him go it alone. }
It wasn't like the little shit was all that invested in his company anyway; the second Leona got slapped with this whole retainer business Ruggie had split like lightning, running off to enjoy the party and leaving Leona behind to be dragged through all the formalities of a royal visit. That ungrateful bastard.
"Would you care to view the botanical gardens? It's one of the star attractions of the Asim estate, and there is a vantage point coming up-"
"Just take me to the food already, I'm starving," Leona lied. He'd be willing to eat cold leftovers at this point if it meant getting the guy to shut up.
The ears flicked again with suppressed irritation. "Of course, sir."
Leona ran a hand through his hair in an attempt to check that his own ears weren't lying flat. It'd be just plain embarrassing if this guy showed better self control than him. The action set off a whole commotion of clattering beads, prompting his retainer's ears to swivel back towards the sound, and Leona cursed his own wardrobe.
Regardless of whatever Kalim thought he was doing, this was definitely a formal event, and if Leona wanted to keep his family off his back, then it was going to call for formal dress.
At least for the initial welcoming feast, Leona was stuck in the princely attire his mom had commissioned for him; a traditional wrapped tunic in sunset shades of yellow orange and red, complimented by a vivid blue shawl of fine Scalding Sands silk -a token of recognition for the people inviting him.
At least the jewelry was more his style, though a little excessive.
The Tigerboy, to his credit, kept his eyes firmly on the hallway in front of him. Leona took the lapse in chatter as an opportunity to take in his surroundings while he considered strategies for ditching this whole babysitting charade. Or, barring that, an acceptable way to leave this whole event early. Either way, he wasn't about to endure a whole week of this shit.
If he didn't know any better it would've felt like a deliberate insult, the way they had singled him out and insisted that he be accompanied by a bodyguard from the moment he set foot on Asim property. Knowing better almost felt worse -it was just the Asim's standard protocol for covering their asses when royalty was involved. Leona was just another prince on their roster, receiving the default accommodations.
{ That'd explain Jamil's whole bodyguard headtrip, back then... }
Now there was a thought. He somehow hadn't considered that Jamil might be here for the reunion as well. Granted, that seemed unlikely. That guy had been geared up to disappear and never look back once he got out of whatever was going on with Kalim, Leona didn't really expect to see him anywhere near this place.
{ For his sake, I hope he's up to something more interesting than this.}
Leona tore his eyes away from the mosaiced arches to glare at the back of Tigerboy's head once again. Maybe the retainer mandate wasn't a direct jab, but a part of him did wonder about them choosing a fellow beastman for the job.
Maybe they assumed he would feel more welcome "among his own people", or maybe they were all as blissfully airheaded as Kalim and really thought two big cats would get along. Granted, maybe they just figured that if they were gonna expect someone with no magic to protect Leona, it should be someone with enough sheer brute strength to pretend they could make up for it.
Either way, they'd landed him with the kind of friendly, bright-eyed idiot that always managed to remind him of Falena.
The guy had started off all polite smiles and friendly chatter -grating shit. Like some tour guide at a children's theme park. Compared to that, the tense silence was infinitely more tolerable.
Leona went back to staring out past the balcony. Colorful rooftops glinted like jewels under the desert sun, the endless sprawl of the Asim estate echoing their vast treasury even in appearance. The teal shimmer of peacocks dotted the lawn outside, while the peacock green of Asim servants bustled in and out of passing rooms in a hush.
Every step echoed off the tiles, bouncing down a hallway that never seemed to end… perhaps the silence was worse.
"What was your name again?" he asked Tigerboy for lack of a more interesting topic.
The guy hazarded a curious glance back at Leona, clearly caught off guard. "Uh… Rehan, sir," he answered awkwardly.
"Rehan, huh…" Leona looked him over more critically, noticing him squirm a little under the scrutiny.
Each time the guy opened his mouth it got more obvious that he was out of his depth in addressing superiors. Everything from his clumsy formalities, to his easy gait and casual slouch said that he was new to the job.
Sure, he had a warrior's build, and the thick scars that striped his face and arms would imply a decent share of battles… but, Leona was willing to bet that the closest he'd ever gotten to combat experience was back alley brawls, if anything.
"You been working here long?" he prodded.
Rehan flushed at the question, turning away and running a hand over his ears in an obvious attempt to hide the way they flattened. "A little while, yeah."
"A little while, sure," Leona scoffed. "Do they usually assign new hires to guard royalty around here, or is this whole thing just about looking like they tried?"
The tiger's shoulders tensed, but he didn't turn to look at Leona again. "The Asim family values the safety of their guests, and take pride in providing the highest standard of protection available."
"Uhuh…" Leona raised his eyebrows at the back of Rehan's head with enough doubt to be palpable even if the expression went unseen. "So I guess that means availability depends on the importance of the guest, then."
Black ears twitched, but Rehan refused to dignify that with an answer. At least Leona didn't have to be the only one unhappy with their arrangement.
By the time they reached the main hall, the Tigerboy was definitely tuning him out. The remainder of Leona's jabs elicited nothing beyond the kind of standard, canned dialogue that career servants fed to rich brats the world over.
Great.
He was being handled now. Politely managed like some entitled child. Ruggie would be losing his shit over it if he saw this.
{ 'If you're gonna be mad about it, maybe don't act like such a spoiled rich kid in the first place.' } Yeah. He was gonna get an earful over it.
Speaking of Ruggie… considering the smells that filled the room from the moment they entered, the guy was bound to be lurking around somewhere. Probably flitting between tables and serving trays and scoping out corners to hide out and devour his haul.
Leona scanned the room, as though finding Ruggie first would somehow lessen the humiliation of arriving fashionably late with a chaperone.
The hyena proved elusive -or maybe Leona was just too easily distracted these days. Either way, his search was derailed by the sight of vivid teal and long dark hair.
Kalim was there too, chatting enthusiastically with the stranger who had caught Leona's eye.
Only their back was visible from this angle, adorned in the classic teal-green of Yasamina silks and trimmed in gold. Their poise must have been the thing that made him look twice; regal posture and graceful motions, back straight and shoulders loose but not quite relaxed. An excess of hair was piled up into a woven crown, with braids and baubles leftover to spill across their shoulders.
There was something familiar about that figure -Leona would be inclined to assume it was some other visiting socialite based on how they carried themself, but something in their build and demeanor rang of a fighter.
Kalim caught him staring before Leona could draw any conclusions, beaming with an excited wave in his direction, and the stranger turned to look his way.
It turned out to be a man, even more beautiful in profile, but damningly familiar.
Jamil spun to face him, hair and silk billowing as he moved, eyes growing wide as they locked with Leona's.
Leona found himself staring openly. Thoughts piled up and crashed as they refused to cross his mind. Jamil seemed to freeze in place until Leona blinked, forgetting to wave entirely, and the spell broke.
Jamil blinked rapidly in return, paused to say something to Kalim, and made his way over. All Leona could do was watch.
His underclassman had always possessed a certain grace and elegance that set him apart from the crowd, but now the crowd seemed to part around him.
Jamil moved with more confidence these days; weaving between the guests like water rather than a shadow creeping up the wall. He'd added a little more muscle to his compact build, his shoulders had even broadened a bit, but his frame was still slight.
Lithe would be one way to describe him, if one was willing to sound like a creep about it.
Maybe Leona was staring too much. Maybe there was just a lot new to take in. Or maybe it was that Jamil never broke eye contact the entire time.
Leona caught himself enough to start preparing a greeting by the time Jamil got into earshot. He cleared his throat, inhaled to speak… And watched gray eyes flick to the left before shining with recognition.
"Rehan?!" Jamil practically shouted in his excitement.
{ Rehan?? }
Tigerboy lit up at the sound of his name, bouncing on the balls of his feet like an eager kid half his size. "Jamil! I knew I recognized you!"
Jamil's pace quickened until Rehan caught him in a firm hug, lifting him off his feet to twirl in circles while Leona watched, dumbfounded, and more than a little irritated.
"You two know each other?"
{ And since when had Jamil ever smiled like that? }
Jamil turned to him with remnants of the brightest smile he'd ever seen still glowing in his face -only to fall away in an instant.
He blinked at Leona, eyes going momentarily wide before his gaze dropped to the floor. Jamil cleared his throat awkwardly.
"Leona- …It's good to see you, I wasn't sure you would come."
He was practically muttering now, the night and day shift from how he greeted the tiger was almost painful to watch. Leona tried not to show it as Jamil continued his halting attempt at a greeting.
"I'm… glad you did."
"Yeah…" Leona muttered back, falling victim to the oddly contagious tension. "I wasn't expecting to catch you around here either. You look- uh…"
{ Look what? Beautiful? } he berated himself in his head. { Who the fuck even says that as a greeting? Might as well kiss his hand while you're at it at that point, if you're gonna be a freak about it. }
"...You look like you've done well for yourself."
That, at least, was also true. His outfit was lavish and well tailored, with intricate damask on high-end silk and hand-beaded trim. The gold details around the hems went perfectly with his hair charms, and the whole ensemble fit like it was made for him. Definitely not cheap -and probably the most eye-catching thing Leona had seen the guy in since the Fairy Gala, come to think of it.
The truth was, he looked great. Even if the teal palette seemed out of place for him, it was definitely flattering. And maybe it was rude for Leona to be wondering how he managed to afford it, but hey, maybe it was a gift. After all, he was apparently still in touch with Kalim, so-
"Canapes, your highness?"
Leona turned to see one of the Asim's servants, dressed in the Yasamina green uniforms of the evening and somewhat dwarfed by the serving tray he was offering him. He couldn't help raising an eyebrow at the title.
"Do they make you guys memorize every important face you're gonna have to see tonight? Sounds exhausting."
The servant froze, eyes wide as he began to stammer some kind of answer.
"Relax," Leona sighed, taking one of the ornate snacks to release the guy from obligation. "I'm just the spare, no need for all the formality."
"But-" The servant looked even more distressed at the dismissal, stumbling over how to respond. His eyes darted from Leona to Jamil to Rehan and back, until a familiar sigh drifted in from Leona's left as Jamil noticed the situation.
"Thank you," Jamil told the guy comfortingly. "And don't worry, he's just like this. He won't file any complaints."
The servant shot Leona one last doubtful look before dropping his gaze respectfully. "Thank you, sir," he muttered briefly, wasting no time in spotting another guest to hurry off to.
Jamil clicked his tongue as he watched the guy leave, turning a disapproving frown on Leona the second the figure disappeared into the crowd.
"You know, whether or not you care, your hosts are still stringent about formalities. Stop taking it out on the people who will get punished for disappointing either party."
Leona felt his ears flatten hopelessly at the scolding. His first impulse was to snark back at him -for old times' sake if nothing else- but found himself hesitating at the familiar cut of Jamil's outfit.
{ No fuckin' way… }
He was too distracted by the effect earlier to notice that he'd been seeing that same shade of teal all day. It would have been easy enough to dismiss it as just a popular color, but the style… the only difference between Jamil's outfit and the servant's uniform was a bit of added flair.
Jamil took his hesitation as a refusal to reply, and waved it off with a lighthearted eye-roll.
"Anyway, yes, to answer your question; Rehan and I grew up together. We were friends since middle school, I'm sure I've mentioned him before."
Rehan's ears perked at the comment. "Is this a friend from NRC?" he asked with a tilt of his chin towards Leona which almost seemed to be avoiding eye contact.
…And was Leona imagining that hint of judgement in his tone?
"What, you mean you never talk about me?" Leona quipped with an arch glance at Jamil.
He was interested, though not overly surprised, to observe Rehan prickle at the implication. With the way the guy had been looking at Jamil since they'd laid eyes on each other, Leona was already starting to suspect a thing or two about his feelings on the matter. What he didn't predict was the way Jamil seemed to be flustered into silence.
A few years ago he would've just shot back with something scathing and moved on, but now his gaze dropped to his feet before he managed to recover.
"As a matter of fact, I haven't had the opportunity," Jamil replied a little stiffly as he looked back up to meet Leona's eyes again. "We haven't seen each other in- How long has it been?"
He turned to Rehan with the question, adjusting his braids to cover his reddening ears. "You were out of the country when I returned from Night Raven, why didn't you tell me when you came back?"
"I didn't really get the chance…" Rehan offered Jamil an apologetic wince as his striped tail flicked bashfully over the sudden accusation. "I didn't know you were here until I got hired, and you were still on that trip with Kalim when that happened, so… I've been meaning to track you down."
{ Trip with Kalim? what would possess him to take Kalim if he had a choice? }
"But we found each other now!" Rehan was exclaiming before Leona got to finish the thought. "And look at you! You look so beautiful! Like a desert flower after the rain~"
Leona had to suppress a retch, but didn't bother trying not to roll his eyes. Even if the guy was joking, it was still too obnoxiously cheesy to take with a straight face.
Jamil shot him a glare over it, then a softer glare at Rehan. "Quit that. It's just formal clothing, I don't even look that different."
{ Still selling yourself short, } Leona thought wryly.
Rehan made a show of being wounded by the rejection, then turned more sincere. "Come on, you've totally transformed since middle school."
Jamil rolled his eyes, visibly squirming under the compliments. It would've been cute, if the guy giving them wasn't so irritating about it.
Rehan snorted at the denial, clearly not finished tormenting him. "I mean, look at your hair! It must be like twice as long now -have you been growing it this whole time? I love how you did it up with all the charms and everything-"
"It's been like that since college," Leona cut in impulsively, suddenly too fedup to think ahead. "He decked it out in charms casually too, and it looked just fine back then as far as I'm concerned."
Rehan looked like it was taking all his self control not to snarl, settling for a heated glare. Leona raised an eyebrow in reply, half-wishing he'd try saying something.
He would have been tempted to egg the tiger on if he hadn't caught the wounded look on Jamil's face as he grabbed defensively at his braids.
Leona hesitated, and Jamil erased the insecurity from his expression in an instant. Instead he leveled Leona with an imposing stare.
"Is that so?" he mused. "I could have sworn you felt differently back when you threw one into Tartarus."
"He what-" A hundred emotions crossed Rehan's face as he struggled to bite his tongue, and apparently processed the rest of the statement. "What is Tartarus??"
Leona tried not to cringe visibly at the reminder. He liked to think that he'd grown up a bit since those kinds of antics, though apparently not enough to keep his foot out of his mouth.
His phone buzzed in his pocket, devastatingly loud in contrast to the tense silence he'd just caused.
Jamil, though, seemed satisfied enough with the barb to leave it at that. Instead he turned his attention to Rehan's questions, making a valiant and ultimately doomed effort to suppress a cocky smile. "It's a long story, but maybe I can tell you once we're done with work for the night."
{... Work? }
"Oh, yeah, you're on guard duty tonight too, right?" Rehan asked far too casually.
Jamil responded with the same long-suffering eye roll that he'd always reserved for thoughts of Kalim. "When am I ever not?"
"You still work for these people?" Leona blurted out before he could think twice, voice tinged with traces of outrage which he failed to suppress. An outrage more vehement than he would have predicted from himself.
This time Jamil didn't rally so fast. Leona could've sworn he even flinched.
And this time, Rehan didn't manage to hide his snarl.
" 'These people' are the Asim," he growled, "One of the most prestigious families in the entirety of the Scalding Sands."
"Rehan…" Jamil warned, unheeded.
"And as the attendant to their heir," Rehan continued, voice low but just as biting as any shout, "Jamil holds higher status than almost any other servant in this city. Who else would you suggest he work for?"
"Rehan!" Jamil hissed, and the sound spurred Leona's moment of guilt into anger.
"Who else?" he growled back. "Why should he be working for anyone? Who says-"
"Leona, enough." Jamil ordered in a whisper, too quiet for anyone but a beastman to hear the vicious edge in his tone.
The intensity made Rehan and Leona both hesitate, and in the following silence Jamil wouldn't meet their eyes. Leona didn't have time to figure out how to apologize before they were hit simultaneously with an excited shout and the aura of some kind of berry-scented perfume.
"O-M-G is that Jamil? Hiiiii~!"
Leona blinked as Jamil was swept up in a flutter of bright fabric and orange hair for what couldn't have possibly been a welcome embrace.
Cater only released him for a moment before clasping his shoulders to look him over, making a sound which could only be described as an affectionate shriek.
"Look at you! You're so hot in that outfit -ugh I totally hate you right now! Lemme see your hair, did you get new charms?"
Rehan seemed to drop his hostility in the confusion as they both watched Cater gushing over Jamil with even more bubbly affectation than Leona remembered. Leona couldn't help being just as distracted, and had to wonder at this point if he was the only one in the room who didn't feel comfortable fawning over Jamil's looks straight to his face.
{ Was it weirder not to hug him? } he wondered as Cater managed to trap Jamil into some kind of partial chokehold in an attempt to keep him still for a selfie.
Jamil tolerated two photos before tapping out, carefully peeling Cater's hand off of his shoulder to extricate himself.
"Cater, you've been spending time with your sisters recently…"
"Oh ew you can tell??" Cater released him instantly at the comment, looking uncharacteristically mortified.
"Gross. But, yeahhhh me and Trey were visiting the family when we got Kalim's invites," he admitted. "It's so lucky that the Asims have their own transportation mirror, could you imagine the travel costs if we had to fly back-to-back like that? Never would've happened -Oh!"
Cater turned to Leona with only marginally more subdued excitement. "It's Leona! Come here, I haven't seen you in years, don't think I'm not coming for you too just 'cause you're royalty!"
There was no chance to escape before Leona found himself caught into a hug and the customary Shaftland kisses on each cheek. By the time Cater released him he felt as frazzled as Jamil looked, and could hear a stifled snort of laughter from Rehan.
"How've you been?" Cater asked brightly, still seizing his attention by force. "And wow b-t-dubs, you're totally rocking those colors, love it!"
He didn't wait for an answer before shifting his attention over to Rehan. Leona hardly bothered hiding his smirk as the tiger rapidly shifted from amusement to panic.
"And who's this?" Cater asked him. "I don't think we've met, I'm Cater Diamond."
When Cater offered a handshake instead of the hug he was bracing for, Rehan's ears hesitantly peeled back up from where they'd flattened. There was only a brief moment of doubt before his expression warmed up again and he accepted the hand gladly.
"I'm Rehan," he answered with the glowing smile of a man who didn't know his own strength. Or, more specifically, didn't notice the way it made Cater's eye twitch as his hand succumbed to a vice grip.
Leona couldn't decide whether to laugh or sigh. The guy was big and bright as a sunny day -that same kind of doofy charm as Falena.
{ Awful… }
"You're a friend of Jamil's too?" Rehan asked as soon as introductions were out of the way.
"He was in Kalim's music club at NRC," Jamil volunteered before Cater could answer. "He and his partner come to visit fairly often, so you will likely see a lot of each other."
"He just doesn't like to admit that we're his friends too," Cater added in a conspiratorial stage-whisper, much to Jamil's silent displeasure.
Even so, Jamil didn't deny the statement, which said a lot coming from him. Though it did kind of beg the question of what he would have said about Leona if Leona hadn't teased him over it before he got the chance.
Then again, at this rate maybe it was kinder not to know.
"Soooo~" Cater prodded with an awkward sort of enthusiasm, "What're you guys up to over here? Enjoying the party?"
All at once, Jamil's expression went cold.
"The usual," he answered without making eye contact, tone unbearably flat. "Catching up on things; discussing careers, what's new in life, what isn't -things one would expect at a reunion."
If he was intending to hide the bitterness in his voice, he certainly wasn't trying very hard. It left a moment of awkward silence which Leona suspected he didn't have the right to try filling.
Jamil spared them all the trouble by spotting Kalim in the crowd and excusing himself with a stiff bow.
"Speaking of careers, I have to get back to work. Kalim needs something."
He strode away without another word, leaving Leona to chase after him with whatever attempt at an apology he could come up with on the fly.
Or at least, Leona would have followed. If Rehan didn't move to block his path.
The tiger glared at him, braced like he had no intention of moving. "He has business to attend to."
Leona held his stare, tail lashing as he packed down the impulse to fight the guy on it. At this rate he was acting more like Jamil's bodyguard than Leona's -but maybe that wasn't such a bad thing.
…That didn't make Leona any more inclined to back down, though.
"Oh shit, I almost forgot!" Cater exclaimed in chipper disregard of the tension. "Trey's totally gonna sulk if he doesn't get to see you too. C'mon, I left him at the dessert table -mind if I borrow this guy?"
The last question was directed at Rehan as Cater was ushering Leona away. The Tigerboy looked at them both doubtfully.
"Chill, I promise I won't drag him out of the room," Cater soothed. "There's security everywhere, if Jamil can step away from Kalim for a few minutes, I'm sure prince charming here will survive too, 'kay?"
Leona sighed when the guy didn't budge. "I'm a guest, not a hostage, right? How about you go tell Kalim hi for me -'Prince Leona extends his gratitude for the invitation' or whatever, that's still within your job description right?"
Rehan narrowed his eyes, no doubt weighing the pros and cons of doing what Leona wanted vs getting to avoid his company for a minute. Inevitably the temptation to get away from him won out, and Rehan offered an awkward bow before turning to follow Jamil's trail.
Cater sighed the moment Tigerboy seemed to be out of earshot. "You really got a way with first impressions, huh?"
Leona turned to look at him with raised eyebrows, surprised to find no trace of the bubbly disposition. He'd always known it was fake, but, he hadn't expected to see the guy looking so openly tired.
"Come again?"
The weariness disappeared in the flash of a smile, and all at once Cater was back to a more mellow version of his usual self. "I thought I was gonna have to break up a fight for a minute there -could've cut the tension with a knife."
Leona rolled his eyes even as he allowed himself to be dragged through the crowd. "So all that was you meddling…"
"Nah," Cater snickered. "I wanted to say hi to Jamil. The rest was me trying to stop you two having a catfight in the middle of the party- Oh! Found him!"
Leona didn't have a chance to respond as Cater picked up the pace, clinging determinedly to his bicep to keep him from lagging behind.
"Babe~ Look who I found!" Cater called to a familiar tuft of mossy hair.
Trey turned around just in time to be yanked into a selfie along with Leona. Cater managed a few rapid-fire shots before either of them could escape, and allowed them a moment to recover while he looked through the pictures on his phone.
Trey readjusted his glasses with a sigh, and nodded in greeting. Leona couldn't help but notice that, while his boyfriend had gone with traditional Sands silks, Trey was dressed in a linen suit. And judging by his awkward posture, even that was too fancy for his comfort.
"Uh, nice to see you again," he ventured with an artificial smile. "I didn't expect you to show up."
Leona chuckled derisively. "Yeah, me neither."
All things considered, he was still deciding if he regretted it or not.
His phone buzzed again and he finally relented to checking it, finding a series of texts from Ruggie.
Rug: [man i can hear you shoving your foot in your mouth from all the way over here. need me to bail you out?]
Rug: [oh shit nvm you went for the whole leg. rip]
Rug: [asjsjkshejs how's the photoshoot going?]
Leona frowned, ignoring whatever bland conversation starters Trey was offering.
[Har har. And I can smell you all over the snack table. Might as well come and say that to my face]
Rug: [lol with those two? you're on your own, catch you after the party ✌️]
{ Maybe I do need other friends… }
"O-m-g you guys are terrible sports," Cater giggled, waving the phone in front of Trey and Leona to show off a picture of them both frowning at the camera with Cater sandwiched cheerfully between. "I'm printing this one out to hang on the wall."
{ ...Maybe not that badly. }
"Must you?" Leona asked without much hope.
Cater hummed gleefully in reply. "Already sent in the print order~"
Leona growled despite himself, and heard Trey chuckling from much closer than he'd noticed the guy standing.
"It's just his way of being sentimental," he told Leona under his breath. "Might as well leave him to it."
"Aaanyway," Cater turned back to them with drinks in hand that Leona hadn't even seen him grab. "How've you been? Like, actually."
"What?"
"You tell me." Cater nudged a cup into his hands -some fancy bedecked glass that looked far too fragile for a party, and carrying the scent of alcohol. "All I know is that you and that new friend of Jamil's looked like you were about to throw down, what was up with that?"
Leona took a sip of the drink, more to hide his irritation than anything. It was something sweet and floral mixed in fruit juice.
"Old friend, actually," he grumbled. "Some guy from middle school who thinks it's some kinda honor to be licking the Asim's boots."
"He what now?"
Leona nodded in the direction of Jamil and Kalim. Rehan had joined them, all smiles despite Jamil's transparent misery. "What's the deal with all that?"
Cater sucked air in through his teeth, following the direction of Leona's gaze. "Ah. Yeah, that."
He took a large sip of what smelled like definitely not his first drink of the night, carefully avoiding eye contact. "It's… a bit of a touchy subject. I'm guessing that's what got him in a huff?"
Leona glared sidelong at him. "A huff? That's what you're calling it?"
Cater winced, the tipsiness becoming more apparent now that Leona was paying attention. "Wellllll I usually call it Servant Mode, t-b-h. He gets like that more when he's mad, but, it's just kind of a thing when he's around the Asims."
He gave a mildly apologetic shrug. "Nobody likes Servant Mode, but he does chill out a lot when he's away from the Asims."
Leona's tail whipped at his own legs as it thrashed irritably. "...If nobody likes it, why's it still happening?"
"It's complicated," Trey explained, guiding Cater away with a hand at his waist in order to wedge himself between them. He fixed Leona with a somehow both mild and pointed stare, brow raising in an almost imperceptible challenge.
Leona frowned, but got the message. He brushed his tail to the side to stop the motions and took another sip of his own drink. { Can't always blame the messenger. }
Trey dropped the offensive once Leona did, and joined them in watching Jamil with awkward dread.
"Nobody's shared the full story," he volunteered, "but there's some kind of Asim family …drama, I guess, surrounding Jamil's job these days. From what I gather, even Kalim wants him to move on. The only problem is that Kalim's dad is the one actually employing him, so Kalim can't let him go."
Leona frowned harder at that. "Why the fuck doesn't he quit? He graduated from Night Raven for crying out loud, it's not like he can't find other work."
This time Trey was the one to wince, and Cater took over explaining. "That's the part where it gets complicated and nobody will share the full story…"
Leona took a longer sip of his drink, the mild buzz he was building up doing nothing to soothe his frustration. Across the room, Kalim was chatting brightly with a significantly less hostile Rehan, while Jamil attempted to mask his sulking in a way that shouldn't have been able to fool anyone as well as it seemed to. It was just as ridiculous to watch now as it had been when they'd all first met back at school.
No.
It was worse now.
Now, Leona knew exactly how much Jamil had wanted out. He'd heard all about Jamil's frustrations and ambitions and plans for 'freedom'.
{ Who the fuck would call this freedom? }
"...You said he chills out when the Asim aren't around?" he asked at last, garnering two curious glances.
"Um, yeah," Cater answered cautiously. "Like, when we're out of the estate. He's not as closed off as he used to be when nobody's judging his, like, conduct or whatever."
Trey hummed in agreement. "Honestly, even back then the contrast was pretty huge. I think the most genuine I've ever seen him was during that tour of the city when we visited for the festival."
"He gave you a tour of the city?" Leona asked. { Just how long is the guy's job description? }
"Mmhm," Cater confirmed for him. "Kalim had some kinda responsibilities to deal with at the time, so he had Jamil show us around all day without him."
"No kidding?" Leona's ears perked up as an idea began to form in the back of his mind. "They actually allowed him to leave Jamil's sight for a day?"
Cater shrugged. "They have enough other staff here to keep an eye on him. Turns out Jamil actually gets breaks now."
"Huh… good to know." Leona finished off most of his drink and found a tray to leave it on. "Thanks."
He left them with a distracted wave as he made his way through the crowd to Kalim, who was just as delighted to see Leona as he'd been for everyone else who crossed his path.
Rehan was significantly less enthused, but managed to hide it well enough for Kalim to ignore.
"How are you liking the Scalding Sands?" Kalim asked as soon as the formalities were completed. "Is this your first time visiting?"
"Eh, I've stopped by a time or two. Never stayed in Silk City before, though-"
"Oh! I'm so glad we could host your first visit!" Kalim's eyes lit up at the statement, wide and energetic enough to bring on a headache just by looking at them. "My dad will love that -he was so happy to hear you were coming, I know he can't wait to meet y-"
"Yeah, great. Glad to hear it. Anyway," Leona tried to speak fast enough to avoid him changing the subject. "I hear there's some pretty good sightseeing around here."
Kalim blinked as his mind dodged the hint, leaving Rehan to pick it up.
"Ah, right." The tiger straightened his posture, trying for a professional tone which sounded an awful lot like an imitation of Jamil. "I had mentioned the gardens earlier-"
"Nah," Leona waved away the offer. "I know what trees look like. I wanna see the city."
"Ohhh!" Kalim was visibly struck with understanding now that they were speaking his language: hospitality.
"Yeah of course! We can set you up with a tour guide as soon as tomorrow if you-"
"I hear you've already got the best guide in town right here," Leona interjected with a nod in Jamil's direction.
Jamil raised an eyebrow, composed enough now to control his expressions, but clearly not forgiving enough to make them friendly. "I sincerely doubt that you heard that."
"Oh yeah?" Leona broke into a cocky smile. He never could resist teasing that withering glare. "Maybe you're not right as often as you wanna believe."
"Then I wouldn't make for a particularly good tour guide, would I?" Jamil shot back without a hitch. "Or perhaps you don't have everything figured out as well as you want to believe."
Leona felt his smile widen, and could see Jamil's lips twitch with the effort not to smirk in return.
"I say it's worth a shot," he insisted. "You can drag me around a bit, for old time's sake."
Kalim made the smallest, most unobtrusive sound he could manage while still obtruding enough to get their attention.
"Um," he hazarded once he was moderately sure they were listening. "I'm sure Jamil could show you around, and I'd be happy to join you! I'm just gonna be busy in the morning tomorrow so-"
"Tomorrow morning works best for me," Leona replied without backing down from Jamil's stare.
He heard a muttered "okay…." from Kalim.
Jamil's other eyebrow crept up to meet the first. "I didn't realize you could wake up that early."
Rehan cleared his throat, putting on a stern expression. "As your bodyguard, I will be accompanying you. I can wake you up in the morning too."
Leona's smile dropped at the prospect of Rehan tagging along, and Jamil's broadened into a shameless smirk.
"But of course," he murmured, eyes still locked on Leona's. "We wouldn't dream of leaving you behind, his royal majesty could use all the help he can get."
"So… You didn't mind showing him around tomorrow?" Kalim asked. He'd clearly grown to be observant enough to be uncomfortable with the tension. "I know it's pretty short notice…"
Jamil blinked for possibly the first time since they'd locked eyes, and finally turned to Kalim with an affectionate sigh. "It's fine. Saber has been needing another plant anyway, I can pick one up during the tour."
"Sabir?" Rehan asked, just as confused as Leona was by the comment, even if he did make more sense of the name itself.
Jamil hummed a distracted affirmative. He was already going into his own head to plan things out, just like he used to; brow creased in focus, lips moving to mutter half-spoken thoughts.
"He gets fussy when there aren't enough in the room…" he murmured as he turned away. "Now, I'll have to reassign some of the morning events. I'm sure Samirah could manage the entertainment -Kalim, you'll be needing a copy of the schedule-"
"Wait a minute." Leona caught him by the arm, the small touch seeming to get to him more than any of the hugs so far. "I owe you something."
Jamil frowned, more with curiosity than offense, thankfully, but it left Leona standing there with half a plan and nothing to show for it.
"Uh…" He patted at his clothing in search of something small enough to work, until he heard the clink of his braid knocking against a bracelet.
{ Ah, that'll do. }
He'd managed to forget about the ornaments tied into the ends of his braids today -more flashy bullshit his family had insisted on, but he was suddenly grateful for them.
"Here, gimme a sec," he muttered as he worked at the threads keeping the thing in place. It was even gold, with some red-orange stone set in the end. Perfect.
Leona gave up on preserving the braid and just snapped the strings with a nail, handing the charm over to an alarmed Jamil. "Now we're even, for Tartarus."
Jamil stared dumbstruck at the thing until Leona made like he would drop it.
"But, your braid-" Jamil stammered as he caught the hairpiece out of the air -lightning fast reflexes, as usual. "It's coming apart!"
"So?" Leona asked, nonchalant enough to get under Jamil's skin. "It's not like I don't know how to rebraid my own hair. Or did you forget again that I don't need babysitting?"
"That is not the point-"
"Then what is?" Leona cocked an eyebrow, challenging him to come up with a better excuse. "I'm giving it to you. I don't need it. And I don't want it back. My usual shit has been working out just fine this whole time."
A million emotions went through Jamil's face in an instant, finally settling on a stubborn glare as he closed his fist around the bauble. "Fine. But now who is the one that hasn't changed his style in years?"
Leona allowed himself to grin fully. "Hey, I never said it was a bad thing. See you tomorrow."
Jamil answered with only the slightest of smiles before turning away again to continue his muttering. The guy really had a way of making every plan sound like a plot.
Leona found himself smiling at Jamil's retreating back. It struck an unexpected chord to see that old habit again, he'd almost forgotten how endearing it could be.
Maybe it was just good to see that there were some things about Jamil which definitely hadn't changed.
{Maybe coming here wasn't a complete waste after all…}