Archive of Our Own

When would Kalim get it through his head that he couldn't invite people to his bedroom without warning!?

Jamil silently fumed as he walked to his master's dorm room. Luckily one of their dorm member had warned him that Kalim had come in with Silver! How many times had Jamil scolded him—"Kalim, for the last time, it doesn't matter that Silver is your friend!"—and yet that fool never listened!

He forced a serene smile as he knocked on the bedroom door.

"Kalim? It's me."

"You can enter!" Kalim yelled out.

Kalim and Silver knelt by the low table, a field of school work spread out like a deck of cards. Kalim's bristled look told all about his scholarly frustration.

"Jamil, good afternoon," Silver greeted politely.

"…Yeah," Jamil answered shortly with a twitching smile. "Kalim, you should have told me that you'd invited someone over. How am I supposed to know I should make you snacks?"

"Oh, it's OK! We don't need snacks!" Kalim exclaimed.

"Please don't trouble yourself on my account," Silver said.

Were it that eyes were guns, Kalim would already be dead. Jamil sighed. "Are you studying?"

"Uh… N-No," Kalim said.

Silver turned to him but didn't say anything.

Not that Jamil needed his reaction to realize Kalim was lying. He pointedly avoided looking at the mess of homework on the table. He wished he could ignore Kalim's shiftiness, but unfortunately if anything happened, it would be Jamil's neck on the line.

He fixed Kalim with a look.

Kalim squirmed. "…OK, so maybe it's homework… But you don't need to help!"

Silver nodded. "Kalim is helping me study."

"Yeah!"

"…Kalim is?" Jamil said doubtfully. "For Silver's sake, maybe it'd be best if I joined you…"

"You don't need to!" Kalim insisted again.

"I understand your concerns, but Kalim has been exceptionally helpful," Silver said.

Jamil started to seriously worry for Silver and squinted at his head for any sign of a head wound. He seemed to be the same as always, including his dazed and distant gaze.

Kalim pouted. "Jamil doesn't believe me at all… But look here!"

He waved a paper until Jamil capitulated and grabbed it. Magic Analysis, he noticed—that was the homework assigned last week. Jamil's class had already corrected it yesterday, so Jamil mentally filled in the correct answers and…

…Huh?

"You… Silver, you know how to copy handwriting?"

"Should I? I'm afraid I have not received that training…"

"So this belongs to," Jamil said, then fell silent in his shock.

"It's mine!" Kalim said cheerfully.

Jamil scanned the page again. Theories flew through his mind:

• Kalim had bribed someone for the answers. But why? He had no reason to.

• Someone else had slipped this counterfeit homework into Kalim's notes and Kalim was scatterbrained enough to forget he hadn't done this. No, wait, that sounded like something Jamil would do.

• Kalim had been replaced by a perfect doppelgänger whose only mistake was thinking Kalim was a good student. That couldn't be it, they had long since planned for this possibility.

• Kalim had received a blessing that made him a good student, boosted his smarts, or allowed him to complete his homework without otherwise influencing him. Except that Jamil had been helping him with homework just yesterday and been witness to his complete lack of brain.

• Or, and this was the most improbable… Kalim had seriously studied and achieved this of his own merit.

Jamil slowly lowered the paper.

Kalim peered up at him with shining eyes, a proud smile on his face. That alone confirmed which theory was correct. He knelt down and held a hand against Kalim's forehead, then checked the size of his pupils. Kalim pushed him away with a laugh.

"Jamil, you worry too much! I'm not poisoned!" he said amidst giggles.

"Allow me to doubt that," Jamil said, stone-faced.

Despite Kalim's whining, Jamil continued to seriously inspect him. He could tell from the first glance that he didn't need to, but went through it anyway if only to bother him.

"C'mon," Kalim pouted like a child, "Silver and I still need to study."

Saying so, he glanced toward Silver. Jamil squinted.

"It's fine, I understand Jamil's concern," Silver said. "I, too, was startled by your sudden proposal to study together."

"Eh? Really?"

Kalim rubbed the back of his head. Jamil was so baffled by his bashfulness that he stopped inspecting him. He followed the trajectory of Kalim's glance again. What was it with Silver?

Did he want to show off?

Why? It wasn't like Silver was a particularly good student either… and Kalim didn't need to help him with schoolwork in order to be his friend. They got along plenty well already.

So why…

Why was Kalim acting like… like…

Like…

!!

Jamil stiffened. He abruptly stood up and moved away.

"Don't let me interrupt you," he said.

"It's fine," Kalim replied mulishly.

"Feel free to join us," Silver said.

Kalim's head snapped up, and he stared at Jamil with wide eyes. Jamil didn't reply for a beat too long, lost in his shock, and Kalim clasped his hands in a plead.

Jamil rubbed his mouth, trying to hide his reaction. "No, it's alright. I'm tired from club, so I think I'll rest until dinner." He smiled kindly at Silver. "But thank you."

"OK! Thank you Jamil!" Kalim rushed out. He jumped up and started pushing Jamil to the door. "You should rest well!"

"See you tomorrow, Silver," Jamil said over his shoulder.

"Yes, let us meet again soon," said Silver.

Kalim closed the door behind them, then whispered with a red face: "Jamil!"

"Hm? What is it?" Jamil said with an angelic smile.

"…You know what!"

"Do I?"

"You, you know I…"

"You what?"

Kalim glanced back and made sure that the door was closed, then said in what he probably thought was a whisper: "I… studied so hard so that I could help Silver… If you're here, then it'll all be for nothing…"

"Heh."

"Don't laugh! I'm serious."

He said all this with a pout and crossed arms, but Jamil was well aware of how serious he was.

"Just tell me next time you invite someone over. I need to know these things."

"Okay… Sorry, I completely forgot!" Kalim's pout quickly disappeared into a smile.

"It's fine since it's Silver, but don't do this with anyone else."

"I know…" Kalim said. "Jamil, so you like Silver as well!"

"Hah! Not as much as you do."

Kalim stopped talking.

Jamil shook his head and, despite all his animosity for Kalim, found his heart softening. So even a guy like Kalim would falter when in love.

"I'm off. Good luck with your showing off."

"Oh! Um, thank you!" Kalim said, once again not understanding his mockery.

Jamil waved him off. Kalim slipped back into the room, and through the door, Jamil heard him sit back down. Papers and pens shuffled noisily.

"Sorry for the wait! Let's continue."

Silver acquiesced, then said apropos nothing: "Kalim, I didn't realize you studied for my sake. Thank you."

"…Huh? …Wait, you heard that?"

"I've been told I have good hearing."

"…Oh."

Jamil snickered as he walked away, and felt, not for the first time, that having Silver around wasn't so bad, after all. Especially if it led to Kalim embarrassing himself!