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cerealmonster15 · 13 days

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A Special Gift [Twst] [JamiAzu]

Jamiazu/Ashenviper week day 4: Jamil's birthday

[Ao3 Link] [See Ao3 for additional notes]

Wordcount: 3,629

Summary: It's Jamil's birthday, and his friends planned him a party! Azul may have put in a little more effort than he cares to admit, but that's okay, because the twins and Kalim are there to unleash the secrets for him.

“I’m busy.”

Jamil gathered his books with a huff, avoiding eye contact with Azul as his classmate hovered in the space beside him. A little too closely, Jamil thought.

“Oh, come on, now,” Azul said, undeterred and smiling as confidently as ever. “Are you telling me you can’t even spare a few moments for yourself on your birthday of all days?”

Jamil looked up at Azul with a frown. “If I did, I certainly wouldn’t be using up such precious time to do something for you.”

The audacity of this guy…

Azul shook his head and followed Jamil out of the classroom. “No, no, Jamil… Not for me, but with me!” He said as if it would make even an ounce of difference to Jamil.

It didn’t.

“I don’t care how you’re trying to spin it,” Jamil said, continuing to walk forward down the hall and once again refusing to look Azul’s way. “Whatever you have going on at the lounge does not, and will not, involve me. Goodbye.”

Azul let out a dramatic - likely practiced - sigh. “Oh, Jamil… I didn’t want to do this, but you’ve simply left me no choice,” he said as vaguely and dramatically as possible, taking out his phone to send off a text to someone.

Seconds later, Jamil’s phone rang.

Jamil stopped in his tracks. He turned, narrowed his eyes at Azul, and answered the call. “...Kalim? Whatever Azul said, don’t-”

“JAMIL!” Kalim’s delighted shout was so loud that even Azul could hear him without the help of speakerphone from where he stood - not that Azul was standing particularly far from Jamil, mind you. “Can you come to Mostro Lounge as soon as you’re out of class? PLEEEAAASE!?”

“Wh- NO! Why!? What did he tell you?”

“To call y- I mean! Nothing!” Kalim squeaked. A few other voices giggled on the other line in the background, and Jamil thought they sounded suspiciously fishy.

“Are Jade and Floyd with you?”

“...M… Maybe…?”

Jamil sighed, shut his eyes, and pinched the bridge of his nose. “...Kalim, you know it’s my birthday. I know you remember because you woke me and my roommate up when you stood in the hall singing to me this morning.”

Kalim confirmed this statement with a sheepish laugh.

“So I know you didn’t forget, which is why I have to ask why you’re insisting I spend my time going along with whatever scheme Azul undoubtedly has planned over there? What are you even doing, anyway? Tell me you didn’t sign a contract with him-”

“As I’ve told you before,” Azul spoke up in an attempt to remind Jamil that he was still standing there with him, “there’s no trickery involved!”

“Yeah, don’t worry, Jamil!” Kalim insisted. “I wouldn’t ask you on your birthday if I didn’t think this would make it even better! Just come over and we’ll be waiting!”

The line clicked off, and Jamil shoved his phone into his pocket with frustration and defeat. He turned back to face Azul again, scowl in place. “...Let’s get this over with. But if I find out you’ve done something shady with Kalim and caused a bigger headache for me,” he said, stepping closer to Azul and leaning into his space, poking a finger in the center of his chest for emphasis, “I’m going to make it your problem, tenfold. Got it?”

Azul’s breath stalled for a brief second. He stared, wide-eyed into Jamil’s stormy gray eyes and nodded, hoping the flush he felt in his face was only internal and that his growing smile wasn’t obvious. “Y-yes, of course. Like I said, nothing to worry about. Shall we go?”

Jamil stepped back and sighed. “Let’s make it quick.”

Jamil was met with a face full of confetti and what sounded like a thousand shouts of celebration as he and Azul walked through the doors of Mostro Lounge.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JAMIL!” The collective room cheered, though Kalim’s voice was unsurprisingly the loudest heard among them. Several people from Scarabia were in attendance, as well as the basketball team, classmates, and other familiar faces. The whole lounge was apparently booked out for Jamil’s birthday, as the tables were filled with platters of food and various gifts from classmates.

“YOU MADE IT!” Kalim was now standing in front of Jamil with a big, bright smile plastered on his face. “Were you surprised?! Azul and I were trying to keep it a secret from you, but when he texted me that we had to go with plan B, I was worried we’d lose some of that WOW factor… Oh, but you looked totally startled when you walked through the door, so it all worked out, right?”

Jamil slowly blinked in response to Kalim’s stream of ramblings.

Azul laughed and pat Jamil on the shoulder. “While it certainly made the final step of this plan a bit more difficult, I must say I admire your conviction when it comes to your suspicions. That’s a good quality to have in terms of self preservation.”

Jamil rolled his eyes. “Sure, whatever. I can’t say I was expecting a surprise party, even with how weird Azul was being. So, yeah. I guess I was surprised.”

Azul smiled. “Well, a very happy birthday to you, and I do hope you will enjoy the festivities. We have the lounge booked until 8pm - unless, of course, you’d like to pay by the hour for any extended time?”

Jamil answered this by turning away and walking into the crowd to find someone else to talk to.

As the party went on through the evening, Jamil found he actually enjoyed himself. The music - an alternating combination of Pop Music Club’s performances and Ignihyde’s hi-tech stereo - was lively and fun to dance to, and the food was plentiful. Several of Jamil and Kalim’s mutual friends were in attendance of the party, and be it by chance or because some of them were actively trying to give Jamil a break, there was always someone nearby to keep an eye on him.

Granted, some of those people were a little less trustworthy. Two tall, approaching shadows cast downward onto Jamil from behind, and when he turned, he found himself face to face with both of the Leech twins, and also a smiling Kalim standing between them.

“Heya, Sea Snakey!” Floyd grinned down at Jamil. “How’s it hangin’? Ya finally loosen up enough to enjoy the party?”

Jamil noticed out of the corner of his eye that Riddle, who had been standing a few feet away moments ago, was no longer anywhere to be found.

“Yeah!” Kalim chimed in. “Are you having fun?”

Jamil took a deep breath, but nodded. “...Yeah. It's kind of fun to forget about everything for a while. Uh…” He dropped his gaze. This party was because of Kalim, after all, and Jamil would be remiss not to express his appreciation. “Thanks. I’m honestly surprised you kept all this a secret for so long.”

A smile that was a little too gleeful for Jamil’s liking spread across Jade’s face next. “Ah, yes… We all have Azul to thank for that, don’t we?”

“Yeah, definitely!” Kalim agreed with an enthusiastic nod, splashing some of his juice with how excitedly he moved. “I’m so glad Azul came up with this idea, and he already had it all planned out!”

Jade nodded. “He was very thorough, wasn’t he?”

Jamil held his hands up. “Wait, wait, back up. What are you talking about?”

“Your party plans, duh,” Floyd answered, walking over and propping an arm on Jamil’s shoulder. He leaned down with a grin that mirrored his brother’s. “Azul’s had it aaall planned out for, like, a month or something. We made fun of him for planning so early, but he just insisted it ‘had to be perfect’ for ya, hehe.”

Jamil’s jaw clenched and his brows furrowed. “Azul planned…? Ugh, of course… I bet he just wanted an excuse to overcharge Kalim to rent the space out, right?”

“Umm,” Kalim tapped his chin. “I don’t really remember how much he said it would cost…”

Jamil sighed and shook his head. “Of course not-”

“Actually,” Jade interjected, “Azul hardly charged Kalim a thing. It wasn’t free, mind you, but he offered Kalim a friends-and-family discount rate for what he would normally charge for a party in the space.”

“Are you sure this is Azul we’re talking about?” Jamil asked with a frown. “If that’s the case, then he probably wants to hold it over my head once the day’s over.”

“Actually,” Jade interjected yet again, his smile growing at Jamil’s irritated expression in response, “Azul asked us not to say anything to you. We were meant to act as though it was all Kalim’s idea, if anyone asked.”

Kalim gasped and covered his own mouth. “Oh! Shoot, I totally forgot that part!”

Floyd cackled out a laugh. “He also told us not to tell ya the details of the gift he gotcha. You opened it, right, Sea Snake?”

Jamil shook his head. “I hadn’t seen a gift from Azul anywhere.”

“Oooh, I bet he hid it in a pile of other gifts ‘cause he’s all shy and embarrassed about it.” Floyd laughed again and swung around to lead Jamil in the direction of a nearby table that contained the presents from the party guests. He started grabbing packages and tossing them aside in search of Azul’s.

“Floyd!” Jamil scolded, moving to catch the falling gifts before they could crash to the ground. “Don’t make such a mess!”

“Yeah, yeah, whatev- OH! Here it is!” Floyd turned to Jamil and cheerfully shoved a small box into his hands. “C’mon, open it right now!”

“Ooh, I wanna see what he got for you, too!” Kalim said as he and Jade appeared on either side of Jamil. All three of them stared at Jamil with great anticipation.

Jamil, seeing no way out of this, relented. He tore the wrapping off of the package, revealing a small, nondescript box. Jamil held his breath, a little nervous about whatever could possibly be so exciting that Floyd demanded Jamil open it immediately… Or why Azul was allegedly being so cagey about it.

He lifted the top, revealing a silver hair comb accessory, decorated with shiny pearls and seashells.

“If you’re wondering how much it cost,” Jade spoke before Jamil could say anything, either able to read Jamil’s surprised expression or simply anticipating his train of thought, “the answer is likely much less than you’d think… A least, in the monetary sense.”

Jamil rose an eyebrow, glancing up at Jade, then back down at the hair comb as he picked it up to examine it. “What do you mean? Is this something you’re saying Azul had laying around and chose to pawn off on me because he wasn’t using it?”

Jade laughed. “Oh, no. That’s much more my brother’s style.”

Jamil did remember witnessing such an exchange between Floyd and Riddle a few weeks ago. Floyd had given Riddle a book band that he apparently ‘didn’t need,’ and though Riddle seemed annoyed by the comment, Jamil did see him using it quite often…

Floyd shrugged. “Eh, yeah. Azul put in waaay too much effort, if ya ask me. Goin’ diving for pearls and shells by himself on the weekends, and even learnin’ the magic he needed to put the whole thing together.”

“Awww!” Kalim clasped his hands together and stared adoringly down at the hair comb as if it were a newborn kitten. “It’s SO sweet that Azul would do that for you!”

Jamil’s response was less dignified as he sputtered out his words. “Wh- he- What? You expect me to believe that Azul Ashegrotto would go out of his way for such trouble to make me a gift that he wasn’t planning on using as leverage against me later? Why would he do that? Why would he of all people want to keep it a secret?”

“Well,” Jade looked over the moon to expose whatever remaining secrets were happening behind the scenes here. He glanced around the room to check if Azul was around - though he didn’t particularly look concerned by the possibility of being overheard - and continued. “In some parts of the Coral Sea, there’s something of an older tradition to express your feelings to someone by hand crafting them a wearable gift. The receiver wears the gift as a display of their accepted and returned feelings. And,” Jade pointed to the pearls attached along the teeth of the comb, “It’s considered all the more special if the one giving it went as far as collecting the materials themself.”

“Oh my gosh,” Kalim gasped, gripping Jamil’s arm tightly, “do you think Azul’s trying to tell you something with that hair comb?!”

Floyd snickered at the look of complete and utter shock on Jamil’s face. “Hehe, I was surprised, too, considering’ Azul’s always goin’ on about how traditions like that were dumb, and that ‘only foolish, lovestruck merfolk indulge in such frivolous fantasies,’ but i guess he must REALLY wanna win ya over, Sea Snakey!”

“Yes,” Jade nodded, “what a shame it is that he was too shy to give it to you directly. It’s a good thing we were here to let you in on the details and significance, isn’t it?”

Jamil’s heart hammered so loudly in his chest that he tuned out the rest of whatever the trio around him were saying after that. Instead, he stared down at the accessory in his hand, gently running a thumb over the pearls and examining the craftsmanship…

It looked well assembled, and Jamil couldn’t help but wonder if Azul had a pile of test duds he went through before he made something so sturdy, and so pretty… Was he ever planning on telling Jamil about the traditions, or that he did every part by himself? Was anything the twins said even true?

Jamil glanced up at the boys, and one look at the devious expressions from either Leech brother was more than enough to tell Jamil that these were not their “excited to be lying” faces, but rather their “excited to be embarrassing their longtime friend with the secret truths they possessed” expressions… Jamil and several of their fellow second-years had been around the pair long enough to be able to tell apart the two similar looks. And as for the Coral Sea traditions…

Well, Jamil supposed he had some fact checking research to do after the party.

The next morning, Azul took a seat for the first class of the day with a small pang of disappointment in his chest. You see, he had a system when it came to arriving to class: he wanted to be punctual and early, but not too early. He’d nearly perfected his arrival time to just one minute after Jamil typically, coincidentally arrived to class. So long as Azul arrived after Jamil found his own seat and was already settled, but not too late that other people could snag any empty seats beside him, that almost guaranteed Azul a shot at sitting next to his favorite classmate.

On days like today, however, Azul sometimes would overshoot his timing, or perhaps something would happen on Jamil’s end to delay him by a few precious moments, and Azul would end up at class first. In these instances, Jamil was almost certain to take an empty seat much farther away from Azul, if one was open. Now, Azul was dedicated to his goals, but he wasn’t going to get caught standing around the classroom door just waiting for Jamil to walk in! That would just be strange, and Azul Ashengrotto was NOT strange. Instead, he accepted the Jamil-free fate, and supposed this would just give him reason to catch Jamil after class to ask him about how he felt about the party the night before.

Heat crept up from his neck to his cheeks as he also wondered if Jamil had opened his gift. The party was so busy that he hadn’t had much of a chance to really talk with the guest of honor after things got started, and Jamil had swiftly left before it got too late into the night. The twins claimed Jamil had “an ever so wonderful time,” but taking Jade and Floyd at face value for situations like this was not ever a good idea in Azul’s mind.

Still, Jamil was smiling when Azul managed to steal a few glances of him throughout the night…

“Woah, who’s the new guy?” A student sitting in front of Azul whispered to the guy beside him. “He’s kinda hot…”

“That’s literally Jamil, you dummy!” The other one whispered back. “He’s just done his hair up all different and fancy today.”

Azul’s head not-so-subtly shot up at the mention of Jamil. He darted his gaze towards the classroom’s entryway, and sure enough, there was Jamil- with his hair pulled back into what looked to be an updo neatly formed at the base of his neck, and a few strands of hair - curled, they seemed - framing the sides of his face.

Azul could not stop himself from staring if he tried, but in his defense, Jamil was known for the unique, signature hairstyle that he normally always came to class with. What made today so special that he wanted to change up his routine? Yesterday was his birthday, after all…

“Damn, have his eyes always been that pretty?” The student from before whispered to his friend. “You think I shoulda asked him for his number at his birthday thing last night?”

The friend snickered and swatted his friend in the arm, and Azul found himself frowning, glancing over at the pair. Sure, on one hand, he was glad to hear Jamil was getting the recognition he deserved for just how beautiful he was…. But on the other hand, who did this guy think he was, talking about asking Jamil for his number just because he put his hair up? If that guy was too distracted to notice how beautiful, skilled, and crafty that Jamil was EVERY day, then did he really even deserve to consider asking him out? Jamil was a hidden gem amongst common men, and he should not be settling for people who would otherwise not even give him the time of day if not for a new hairstyle. He should be with someone who saw him for who he truly was with all his potential, his power, his flaws…

Azul was so distracted by his own mental tirade that he did not notice Jamil had made his way into the classroom and was now taking the seat directly beside Azul - something he practically NEVER did when there were open seats still available, by the way.

And yet? Here he was, next to Azul, his face fully on display, hair tied back and held in place with a silver hair comb decorated by pearls and seashells-

“WH-!?” Azul jumped, the delayed and startled realizations of both Jamil and his hair comb’s presence hitting him at once. “Jamil?!”

“Yes, hello to you, too,” Jamil said, pulling a notebook out and pointedly staring down at its cover.

Azul stared at Jamil, wide-eyed for a few seconds, before clearing his throat and attempting to regain his composure. “A-ah, yes, good morning… Um,” he glanced down at his own book, then to the side at Jamil, then down again, then back at Jamil. “Is that… The comb I gifted you…?”

Jamil nodded. “...I’d think you’d sound a little more sure about recognizing something you gave me, but, yeah.”

“I was just surprised to see you wearing it! …So soon, I mean,” Azul fidgeted with his tie, the tightness of how snugly and securely he wore it suddenly feeling absolutely suffocating on his neck. “Of course I’d get you something I’d think you would want to wear.”

He had to remind himself that there was no way Jamil would know about the significance of such a gift, or what wearing it could imply. Really, what was he thinking, going out of his way to do something so bold, and then not even have the courage to-

“I was reading a bit about Coral Sea traditions last night,” Jamil continued, abruptly cutting off Azul’s train of thought. “There’s some interesting stuff in there, but…”

Azul watched Jamil bite his lip for a split second, as if pausing to debate one last thought in his mind, before relaxing and turning to face Azul.

He raised a hand to his updo and gently brushed his fingers against the pearls of the comb. “I might need your help with some of the specifics…”

Azul’s breath hitched in his throat, and he wondered if Jamil was implying the things he thought he was implying… Just how much did he know!?

“R-right, of course,” Azul squeaked out. “I’m… sure we can come to some sort of agreement for my assistance.”

“Mhm…” Jamil turned back to face forward as the professor entered and class began.

Not that Azul could focus for that first half of class, of course. He kept stealing glances of Jamil’s side profile beside him, and to check to make sure he really wasn’t imagining the comb in Jamil’s hair today.

Soon enough, class came to a close. Jamil stood, dropped a piece of paper onto Azul’s books, and made a mad dash for the exit before he could say anything.

Azul’s heart pounded yet again as he unfolded the paper…

Thanks for the comb. I guess I’ll have to think of something to mak give make for your next birthday to make up for it.

Azul carefully folded the note back up and slipped it into his bag, suddenly feeling as though February couldn't come fast enough.

#ashenviper week 2024 #jamiazu #ashenviper #azul ashengrotto #jamil viper #twisted wonderland #twst #cereal writes #another middle of the night post from MEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!#i hope i didnt miss any formatting issues lol ok BYEEEE

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