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“Your hands are much bigger than mine!”
Kalim is loud, and the pitch bounces off their porcelain tea set though it isn’t enough to disturb Jade’s focus. He had gone the extra effort procuring these tea leaves with Jamil’s recommendation for Kalim in mind, so he stayed quiet and concentrated while Kalim let his thoughts flow freely.
“Is that so surprising? I’m much taller than you...” is the eel’s hummed response as he peeks into their teapot, satisfied at how the color of the tea steeps and darkens. “...though maybe it’s because I don’t have legs that my hands are so big?”
Kalim knows Jade is making a joke but ponders a response in no time. “Maybe!” The Asim heir’s legs swing widely underneath the table with a cookie already pinched between his fingers. “Did you ever expect your human body to be bigger or smaller once you took your potion?”
Thinking on it, Jade and Floyd aren’t as reserved as Azul, showing off their mermaid forms whenever the chance arises. It makes for a fun swim practice with them around! Though with Jade always wearing gloves, Kalim hasn’t had an opportunity to look at his hands real close!
Gratefully Jade doesn’t have his gloves on while he brews tea, and as Kalim looks at it….it seems like a normal hand. It’s not blue like in his true body, and he doesn’t see the clawed fingertips that other students have mentioned before in recollection. It looks soft…
very soft.
“...Kali…Kalim-san..”
Huh?
Almost nearly biting into his finger, Kalim comes back to his senses with a blush blossoming across his face. Jade stands where he was a few minutes before, not having moved an inch—watching him with an amused expression.
All in all, Jade looks delighted to have caught him so off guard.
“Ahh, Jade! I’m sorry I totally wasn’t paying attention to what you were saying!”
If his boyfriend was bothered by it, it didn’t show it in the slightest, but Kalim had yet to determine what that twinkle in his sharp eyes could translate to.
“If you want to reschedule, I can al-”
“Nooo!” Kalim yells, threatening their whole table full of tea and sweets as he stands up from his chair “...don't say that! I love having tea with you!” immediately, he sits back down, embarrassment prickling at his neck.
“I didn’t mean to get so distracted.”
“...my my, and you nearly sent over our table too..”
The spread in front of them could rival one of Kalim’s parties but on a much smaller scale. A lazy susan houses the tea kettle with various small containers of loose-leaf leaves. There’s a spread of meats, cheeses, cakes, and sweets courtesy of the Mostro Lounge’s test kitchen and what Kalim had brought from his dorm.
It all looked even better, considering Jamil’s stamp of approval. Kalim knew that was probably not an easy task coming from his vice-housewarden, but Jade barely looked bothered when he arrived with his basket.
He doesn’t know what kind of exchange or talk Jade and Jamil had, but as long as he could still have high tea with Jade each week, that’s all that mattered!
Right! Focus back on Jade. He was answering a question!
As if knowing when the other’s attention was back on him, Jade continued from his current thought.
“If you ask Azul about the potion, he would say that he wishes he were taller. With most of our weight being our additional limbs or tails, who’s to say? I haven’t had the chance to meet with other mermaids like myself with land permits for schooling.”
Kalim ooh’s and aww’s as Jade answers, propping his chin up with a free hand as he bites into another cookie.
Life in the ocean sounded so interesting! Though growing up not completely landlocked, Kalim did have the big channel that ran through Silk City! Still, that can’t compare much to life underwater.
“You’ve always been so interesting, Jadey, and beautiful!” Kalim smiles, focused solely on the person in front of him. “I thought so when I first saw your mermaid form! You were so long and tall and blue, and you glowed like a gemstone!”
“..i-is that so?” Jade is unnaturally slow to respond, slightly shaken as his cheeks tinge.
Jade had succumbed to Kalim’s earnestness before and survived but finds himself critically weak to it, especially when it comes out of nowhere. It becomes a near-killer move as it comes from a place of genuine honesty.
Jade’s lips fight to regain their polite composure as he goes back between grinning formally and awkward embarrassment. He doesn’t know what to say…
Eventually, the tea is prepared, and Jade presents Kalim with an already-presweetened cup! Which was nothing more than Jade spooning in sugar and watching how the housewarden’s eyes lit up.
Tea with Jade had become a weekly event since their first time. It had become especially ritual when they finally got together. Though Kalim loves watching Jade work, his loyalty card at the lounge proves that sitting at the bar during Jade’s shifts was worth it.
Kalim gets his tea presented in front of him, and he can see Jade’s neatly trimmed cuticles and buffed nails. Not a single claw in sight. “Please take a sip, Kalim-san, and let me know if you like it. I can leave it at the Mostro Lounge whenever you want to visit.”
Pretty nailbeds and no dark fingers aside, Kalim takes the cup presented to him right away. He blows at the surface of the tea once before taking back a sip.
That sugar rush hits him quickly, and the Scarabia housewarden hums in praise. “Delicious! You get better at making tea every time!”
Pointed teeth peek from behind his lips as Jade nods. “It was Jamil’s recommendation, so I could hardly be given all the credit..but if you must…” the words fall off as Kalim continues to sip and kick in delight with his cup.
They both get a little lazy and sleepy right after tea, and just like tea is a ritual each week, so is their nap. Led by Jade to a spot close by, he kicks away a few sticks before he kneels, holding his arms out for Kalim to take.
“Would you like to sit down with me, Kalim-san?”
How could anyone refuse?
It was less of a sit-down and more of a throwing himself on top of Jade, but both heads clear any roots and make it to the grass with only a tiny grunt coming from the much taller one. Things briefly go quiet as they settle, and the leaves rattling above them with the push of a few summer breezes makes for an all too peaceful and serene mood.
There is barely a warning when Jade slides his hand behind Kalim’s head, and his eyes nearly flutter closed, expecting a kiss. After a brief pause, Kalim can hear the sound of a closed-lip laugh coming from Jade, and the eel softly starts to bite and nibble at his cheek.
It’s ticklish as it always is, and Kalim squirms and giggles, his blush concentrating on his face as Jade doesn’t relent just yet. The Scarabia housewarden is barely trying to get away, patting at the arms that have him trapped as if someone had just told a funny joke.
“Did you have fun at tea today?” the voice in Kalim’s ear is clear after a deliberate sneak attack.
Kalim nods, finally taking Jade’s hand in victory like he wanted to at the start of their date. Fingers curling around the width of the mermaid's palm and bringing it close to his face, Kalim studies it, and Jade gives him the utmost respect in silence.
“It’s as soft as I expected, even with all the scars..” A pale, thick scar nearly covers the center of Jade’s palm, and every fingertip has its own little knick.
“Cities in the coral sea are concentrated in specific areas. If you wanted to go anywhere, you had to swim. That meant exploration was our primary form of entertainment. Ship ruins were of Floyd’s particular interest.”
“...and the scars?” Kalim was listening genuinely, but his slight worrying made it hard to focus on what Jade was saying.
“We don't have many branches to use to poke into small caverns or corals. Most mermaids ought to have a few small scars on their fingers and palms.” Jade flips his hand over to show another scar; it runs across his hand and hooks around to the side of a long wrist.
“I know it can be unsightly, so gloves are usually preferred.”
Subtly Kalim feels that Jade is pulling his hand away, feeling an ick that was too strong to suppress while they were together. “I LOVE YOUR HANDS!!” the words come out faster than either of them has time to prepare for.
Jade blinks in his surprise, finding Kalim had flipped over on his chest with his hand still held between them. A deep red pair meets mismatched eyes.
It looks like Jade was once again on that receiving end, weak to that earnestness of Kalim and that impossible strength of his beliefs.
Feeling hypnotized, Jade can no longer school his expression.
“You’re so talented at brewing tea, and you can carry so much, and your handwriting is so neat, which makes your notes helpful to follow. Your hand is so big, so it’s easy to hold onto when we walk together, and it’s so smooth and soft, and it shows that you take very good care of your skin! I don’t mind if you wear gloves all the time, but it feels very special and nice to hold your hand like this, so can we do this more often? Even if it’s just to fall asleep together?”
Jade’s face was burning under this sun, his mouth twisting in deep embarrassment at all the praise. “Kalim-san, do you have no mercy?”
Yelling, Kalim immediately lets go and throws his arms around Jade’s neck with an expanding list of apologies.
What a remorseless tactic,
Jade thinks, trapped within Kalim’s arms with the sun's weight on his chest.
It’s become a comfortable thing to fall asleep to.