Work Text:
Nothing Kalim was doing seemed to be enough to alleviate the stress Jamil had been feeling all week. It was Kalim’s fault in the first place anyway. If he’d just noticed how unhappy Jamil had been, then maybe he could’ve adjusted his attitude and Jamil never even would’ve overblotted in the first place. It was Kalim’s fault that everyone was upset with Jamil now.
‘But, if he’d just talked to me,’ a little voice in the back of Kalim’s mind said over and over, ‘if he’d just talked to me then maybe I would’ve known what I was doing wrong.’
Kalim had tried getting ready in the morning on his own and had only ended up tangled in his headscarf - meaning Jamil had had to work even harder trying to fix his mistakes. Kalim had tried to make himself dinner, even avoiding knives and fire like Jamil had told him, and he’d only ended up making a complete mess of the kitchen that Jamil had had to clean up. Kalim had tried to seek alternative help for his alchemy exam and had only managed to make a potion that exploded in Riddle’s face, leading to more problems that Jamil had to fix. Everything Kalim tried to do had ended up creating more problems for his vice housewarden to solve. Not to mention, on top of that, the other dorm students were questioning Kalim’s decision to keep Jamil in his position and doing everything in their power to make Jamil miserable and overwhelmed with work.
Jamil was exhausted and Kalim was at a complete loss on how to fix it. He wanted to fix it. He desperately wanted to fix it. He wanted to make Jamil laugh again. He wanted to make Jamil proud. He wanted to say something nice, just to watch Jamil pull his hood over his face to cover his blush. He needed to know that it wasn’t all an act - that they still had something , even if that something wasn’t quite what Kalim had always hoped it was.
It wasn’t until he was carefully transferring Jamil’s sleeping form from his shoulder to a prone position on his bed, with an arm that was going numb after letting the other boy sleep on his shoulder for almost an hour, that the housewarden realized he’d never apologized - at least not properly. And he could start by doing something he usually didn’t like to do - utilizing his power as housewarden over the other students. As he left Jamil’s room, the report he had due tomorrow forgotten the moment Jamil had passed out on his shoulder, Kalim got the attention of the first student he came across - a freshman that Kalim wasn’t entirely sure of his name.
“Get everyone to the lounge, I have something I need to say.” The student nodded to his housewarden and scampered away, presumably to gather everyone for a meeting. Kalim really should learn his students’ names - it’s what a good housewarden would do, but Jamil had always worried about that, so Kalim had never had to. Kalim shook his head to himself as he made his way to the lounge, just how many extra things had Jamil been keeping track of just so Kalim wouldn’t have to - or because he didn’t think Kalim could ?
By the time Kalim made it to the lounge himself, most of the Scarabia students had gathered, though a few were still filtering in and Kalim was sure that some wouldn’t show up, as he knew, realistically, not all of his students would be hanging around the dorm at 6p.m. It was alright, though, he only needed most of them and the message would still get around.
“Hey guys!” Kalim didn’t get very far before being immediately cut off by one of the students in the front row of the crowd.
“Where’s Jamil?” His voice held hints of disdain - not even bothering to address Jamil by his title like he would have before winter break. “Shouldn’t he be here if you’re holding a meeting?”
“Jamil’s sleeping right now, he’s exhausted.” The housewarden’s eyebrows furrowed - the student was right, Kalim wasn’t sure he’d ever addressed the dorm without Jamil at least being there, whether he said anything or not. He was always there. “Look, I know you guys are angry with him right now, but I asked you guys to give us some time to work things out and I need you to honor that agreement. Jamil has been working so hard this week to make all of you happy and all you guys have done is ask him for more. Right now, Jamil needs to sleep so you’re going to have to fend for yourselves for dinner tonight, okay?”
The students collectively murmured their agreement and started to disperse, assuming Kalim’s speech was over.
“Oh! Also,” most of them stopped to look back at their housewarden as he spoke up again, “do any of you know how to make good curry?”
Kalim hated curry. But, he also knew that Jamil loved it - how he loved it after it had almost killed him would always be a mystery to Kalim. Nonetheless, Jamil loved curry, so, even if looking at the food raised a panicky feeling in Kalim’s chest, it was worth it to try to make Jamil happy. He enlisted help so that he wouldn’t burn down the kitchen, but he insisted on doing all the work himself - dead set on making Jamil home-made curry. If he was going to apologize, he was going to do it right. Besides, it couldn’t be that hard to make curry, right?
He was wrong. If it hadn’t been for the few students that had offered to help him cook, Kalim surely would’ve gotten at least one person killed - and it probably would’ve been himself. Still, within the hour, the housewarden had managed to create something that at least resembled curry - and the students that offered to taste test told him it ‘wasn’t half bad,’ so Kalim was going to count it as a win. At least, he was going to count it as a win until Jamil came barreling into the Scarabia kitchen, looking panicked and Kalim realized that he’d forgotten to leave a note telling Jamil he wouldn’t have to cook dinner. Jamil’s eyes only widened more as he caught a glimpse of Kalim standing in the kitchen, not bothering to pay attention to the plate of curry he was holding.
“Kalim!?” Jamil rushed forward and grabbed Kalim’s shoulders, forcing the other boy to set the plate down on the counter next to him before grabbing his hands to examine them for knife cuts or burns. “What have I told you about being in the kitchen? What were you even doing in here? I was supposed to make dinner tonight, you shouldn’t have let me sleep.”
Kalim’s eyes darted between Jamil and the plate of curry he’d put on the counter as he tried to figure out what to say. “I just - I thought you needed the sleep and… um…”
“Is that curry?” With his hands still gripping Kalim’s shoulders, Jamil’s eyes locked onto the plate of curry that Kalim kept glancing at. “You hate curry. What were you doing with curry?” Jamil’s hands finally fell from Kalim’s shoulders as the vice housewarden took a step back to appraise Kalim with a questioning look.
“Well, you see, I made that for you,” Kalim immediately started rambling, “to apologize for, you know, everything. I just figured that you’d been working really hard and you deserved something for it and I know you really like curry. I get if you don’t want it since I made it and I couldn’t really taste test it because I can’t stand curry, but I had some other people try it and they said it was fine so I know my cooking won’t kill you if you do decide you want it. I’m just really sorry and I wanted to do something nice for you because you’re, like, my favorite person and even though you hate me I—”
Two strong arms wrapping firmly around his shoulders cut Kalim off from his rant. Jamil was hugging him. Jamil never initiated hugs. Kalim floundered for a moment before tightly returning the hug with all the vigor his hugs usually contained, tucking his head into the crook of Jamil’s neck, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion despite the grin that was growing on his face.
“Thank you.” Jamil’s voice was gentle in his ear, much gentler than Kalim had heard it in a while - though his words were still laced with exhaustion. The hug didn’t last nearly as long as Kalim would have liked before Jamil pulled away to eat the curry - pulling some flatbread from a nearby cabinet.
Even though Kalim had made the curry himself and knew, for a fact, that it couldn’t possibly have been poisoned, fear and discomfort lingered in his stomach each time he watched Jamil take a bite. It was worth it though, he decided, to see the small smile that settled over Jamil’s features as he enjoyed the curry in the rare silence the housewarden provided him with.