Chapter Text
Everything went back to normal.
Idia got some sense knocked into him, their whole group got back to Night Raven College without passing through the memory eraser, Vil became young again, and Kalim jumped on Jamil to slobber and wail again and again and again about how scared he'd been for him and maybe Jamil considers sending him off to the other side of the desert again.
He doesn't, but the thought is here.
It's a whole mess of teachers and nurses making sure they're fine for the rest of the day. As if they hadn't gone through that already back at STYX, to the point half their group rioted, tired of still being treated like guinea pigs even after having saved the day.
Their assessment is mostly the same as those scientists in pristine lab coats : Yuu and Jamil are the ones who got off of it with the least problems.
Obviously, Yuu being magicless meant they mostly did what they do best : strategize, coordinate, and order everyone around. In their group, Vil and Rook were the ones who did most of the heavy lifting.
Azul and Riddle were both ordered to rest for a couple days, and both tried to argue against it. They didn't get a choice in the end. Riddle still hadn't recovered from using too much magic, and while Azul had been more careful, he had still exhausted himself beyond measure.
That had been Leona's plan since the beginning, of course, but Jamil had been the only one actually able to hold their grounds against the STYX scientists after the whole fiasco. He had used most of his power against Idia and Ortho, but he hadn't run a marathon like everybody else, so it came to him and his Snake Whisper to get them all out without having their memories erased or more tests imposed on them.
Turns out “geeks” - as Leona calls them - really don't know when to stop or how to read a room. A bit more and even Yuu's diplomacy would have gone through the window. Wouldn't have been the first time they punched someone, wouldn't have been the last either.
So Jamil's fine. He's not sure how to feel about it.
He's not sure how to feel about going back to “normal”. Normal isn't exactly a good thing in his books. It got better, yeah, but…
But Leona’s words during their partnership might have shaken things in Jamil's head. Good thing ? Bad thing ? It used to be so easy for Jamil to decide what was good or not for him, and now he's not sure about anything anymore.
Granted, Jamil's behavior hadn't changed much after his overblot. He stopped pretending to be mediocre, showed his annoyance much more, but he still dutifully did his job like usual and, well, nothing changed.
Leona kicked the ants’ nest and Jamil feels like doing something. Something. Anything . He doesn't know what, he doesn't know what itch he's desperate to scratch to blood, but there's something .
First things first : Jamil hands Kalim to Yuu and follows Leona when he slithers out of the infirmary, most likely to get away from Ruggie to get a much needed nap.
Leona knows he's being followed, obviously, but he says nothing. Doesn't even change where he's heading. The two of them walk to Savanaclaw, right up to Leona's room, without exchanging a single word. It's only when Jamil closes the door and Leona falls on his bed that he starts talking.
“Thought you didn't want to keep serving me. Gettin’ mixed signals there, Viper.”
He's got barely veiled laughter in his voice, the smug bastard. “Definitely not here to serve you.”
Leona hums, that laughter still on the back of his throat. Jamil has to reconsider why he came here in the first place.
“I'm only here to…” The words get stuck in his throat. He has to forcefully spit them out. “-thank you.” For protecting me. For letting me make a fool of myself. For shaking me out of my stupor. For making me doubt.
Leona snarks a laugh in his pillow. “Gotta sound more genuine than that !”
Shut up, he's being genuine for once. He's even being genuine to himself, if that ain't a first. He's completely lost and he's admitting it and he hates it.
“How ‘bout givin’ me something in return then ?”
“I won't serve you,” Jamil stops him before he can suggest it. He already had to shake a persistent Azul from gripping his legs, there's no way he lets anything remotely like that happen with Leona too.
Leona hums, or yawns maybe. He looks like an overgrown cat when he stretches on his bed. Not so much when he rises, approaches Jamil, and towers over him.
“I'll take somethin’ then.”
Jamil stands his grounds. He won't give more than he bargained. He didn't even ask for this arrangement to begin with.
Then he loses footing and stumbles- backward he thinks, though two arms prevent him from either falling or backing away.
Leona kissing him was not on his bingo card - but overthrowing a government was. Jamil, shocked frozen, stares with wide eyes at the face in front of him, at the emerald green eyes challenging him silently. Sharp teeth nip at his lips, a slightly rough tongue pries them open and Jamil- Jamil…
Jamil has always prided himself for being quick witted and a rather sharp mind. He wonders where all of this went when he can't produce a single reaction.
His hands are the first to finally move. They grab fistfuls of Leona's clothes, try to pry him away from Jamil uselessly. Leona tightens his grip, one arm around Jamil's shoulders, the other at his waist, hardly putting any strength and still keeping Jamil completely stuck in his embrace.
Damn beastmen. Why is it always the animal weirdos that push him to his limits ?
Jamil tries to breath, fails to do so, gets progressively more overwhelmed as he can't catch a break until he has to punch Leona's shoulder.
Finally he's allowed to recover his breath. Grave mistake from that smiling, conniving bastard that looks right into his eyes.
“ Snake Whisper.”
Jamil does not stumble on himself when he orders Leona to release him. His legs are not jelly, his breath isn't shallow, his face is not flushed - he's not flustered !
“What the hell-”
Damn beastmen, damn princes, damn housewardens- Jamil is going to commit a genocide.