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It’s well known that Kalim will try out anything her friends so slightly think is cool. Even if it was only once. You mention that your beach vacation was so fun? She’ll suddenly go and drag Jamil along with her just to experience her friend’s happiness.
So what did the poor girl expect when Kalim said she decided to take art for the semester? And all because Silver mentioned it was really calming, especially when it’s your last period of the day.
So now, Jamil was dreading the day they started their painting unit. Extra work for laundry, cleaning the supplies she brought home and likely having to deal with bright paint stains left by careless movements.
And of course, Jamil always ends up to be right. She has to catch Kalim nearly staining her pure white shirt because she decided to pay attention to tell a story about a cute parrot she saw rather than her brush.
But Lady Luck decided to bless Jamil one day. She was done with club practice early and the dorm was empty enough to take an unbothered nap! Sure she could do this whenever but it felt way better when you don’t hear “Jamil help me with this” or “Jamil could you show me how to do that.” She could just lie down for 30 minutes.
But 10 minutes later, Kalim comes back from a very extended lecture from her art teacher. It was the final project and it would last a month. “Draw something! Anything beautiful! Ugly! Whatever!” That was pretty fun, she supposed. Those instructions weren’t hard. Plus the teacher was the type that everyone loved and just made class super chill, so she wouldn’t grade based on skill, just effort. But Kalim had one little complaint… She had no inspiration!
Flowers, landscape, animals, even abstract- She’s done it all the past few months! Kalim wanted to make something totally new! Something that’d be cool enough to hang up!
As she was sulking over to whine to Jamil over some sort of treat she had made yesterday she saw that Jamil was out cold on the couch. Kalim knew how tired she got so she wanted to be as quiet as possible. She’d just wait to ask for ideas when she got up! Easy!
She sat still for a minute! Then a minute turned into five until Kalim decided this was getting her nowhere!! She wanted to paint and she wanted it as soon as possible! As she was just about to tap Jamil then it suddenly came to her.
Jamil has a pretty face, naturally put together and her most distinctive trait: that pretty, shiny hair veiling her face! The perfect muse! Surely nothing was against the rules of painting your very close friend!
Kalim set down her paints very quietly. Jamil was fast asleep so she stayed still enough for her to use her as a reference. So Kalim was basically doing easy work! And after she thought critically for what she was about to paint, she picked up her brush!
.
.
.
.
And she’s finished! That took a little long but it felt great! Like really great.. What was happening exactly? Her heart was racing and she just wanted to paint more and more! Did she like painting Jamil…? Probably, but only as a regular friend! But Kalim’s curious little mind couldn’t help but test her theory just once more!
Just one more!
.
.
.
She made five paintings of Jamil.
All different colors, poses, compositions… She genuinely hid herself in her room to sit in there for 3 and a half hours. Painting. Jamil. Not one reference used, just pure memory.
Looking around the canvases spread all around did look a little obsessive but lots of famous artists did things like this! Like uhm…Whatever! But Kalim thought this was a perfectly sane thing to do!
Kalim didn’t truly need the other four, so she just packed up the one that had loads of flowers in it. It was a simple, lovely Jamil laid on her stomach, her eyes being a focal point as them and the flowers were the only ones not colored in shades of grey like the rest of the drawing. You would say “But aren’t Jamil’s eyes already black?” But that’s only because you don’t know Jamil’s eyes like she did! Kalim could tell the difference, Kalim will always know what’s different about her dearest friend.
Kalim carefully slid the canvas into a huge plastic bag and began to clean (well attempt to.) All that remained was the rest of the beautiful portraits of Jamil. Kalim didn’t understand why but she actually thought deep and hard about where they were to go. Usually she’d put art she didn’t really need to look at again in the treasure room. But something about these specifically made them special.
Ethereal.
As if there was something that enchanted her within the strokes.
This needed to go on a wall
Jamil soon woke up later than she’d like. She still had dinner and Kalim to take care of.
“Kalim! Are you home?”
She drowsily shouted out whilst tying her apron. Only to be surprised to see the pearl haired girl sitting down on the kitchen floor eating the flesh of a grapefruit with a spoon.
“What’d I say about snacking when I’m about to make dinner?”
She scolded. Kalim only whines and playfully bumps herself into Jamil’s leg, leaving her forehead against her thigh.
“But it was just sitting in the fridge!”
Jamil would hear it out only to roll her eyes and just use her pointer finger to make a distance between them again.
“Just go study for 30 minutes. I know you got something for your assignments next week.”
Kalim only sighs dramatically like a child yet gets up anyway.
Jamil, even after about 30 minutes of finishing dinner, noticed that some students were crowding around something. She shrugged it off as a dumb video they were giggling about. Plus they weren’t her responsibility so she only reminded Kalim about it and let her spread the word.
But as Jamil was moving towards Kalim’s room she noticed a few people not-so-subtlely glancing at her. She usually stayed out of rumors or something of the same nature, but when it came to herself and her plans to blend in with the faceless crowd she couldn’t ignore it.
So she squeezed past the group of people to see. And it turns out they were staring at a wall. Not just a blank wall with the usual Scarabia wallpaper, but a wall full of paintings. Painting of her.
Nothing particularly ugly or sloppy about them. They were, frankly, quite gorgeous. But that aspect is what embarrassed her about them the most! Now she had people whispering and teasing about Jamil having a secret admirer! This was bad!
Now looking at it closely, she recognized this sort of brush stroke…! Oh she was in so much trouble!!!
“Kalim!”
Jamil wasted no time as she flung her door open and grabbed her by her pajama shirt.
“Take them down!”
Kalim was confused yet as well scared and Jamil aggressively shook her like she was a maraca.
“Take what down?!”
“The paintings!”
“Why!?”
“Because they’re embarrassing!”
Kalim slightly whimpers at that. She believed she was calling them a disgrace to be looked at.
“A-Are they ugly?!”
Jamil slightly loosens her grip. She didn’t want to admit she liked the paintings, but she also wanted the loud part of her screaming that not only was being a muse embarrassing but inappropriate as she was Kalim’s servant! (And a girl!)
“No- it’s just- why would you paint me?!”
Kalim didn’t even waste time thinking about her answer.
“Cause you’re pretty!”
Jamil froze. The sharp tongued girl for once had nothing to say. Of course Kalim would give such a simpleminded answer… But still, all this attention and praise directed towards her is still a lot to take in.
“No! No, no, no! Put them in the storage room!”
Kalim characteristically whines at the command but slugs off her bed anyway. Jamil stayed there for a couple minutes, attempting to put her hands on her face as if it’d make the flush go away. Why did she have to work for the most blunt girl in the world?!
Jamil lied awake that night, still thinking about the fact Kalim sat there for hours dedicating precious time to depict her in paintings. It was… something. It was flattering yet, she hated it. Jamil hates big gestures.
Just as she was about to at least try and shut her eyes, she heard the creak of her door. It doesn’t take a genius to recognize the movement as Kalim. She always went into her room without knocking no matter what she could potentially be doing. “Are you angry at me?” Kalim asked pitifully.
Everything about this interaction was giving Jamil the impression of a kitten pawing at you for not looking at it. “[sigh] No.” Jamil groggily said as Kalim climbed into her bed without permission just to wrap her arms around her. “Then why didn’t you like the painting?” “It’s just…” Jamil doesn’t know how to admit it without those big red bug eyes of hers unnerving her as they stare. “I just don’t like a lot of attention on me.”
Kalim stayed silent for a few seconds, not because she was confused but because that was stupid. “Why? You’re pretty!” Jamil flushes, less severe than last time but still. “You call everything pretty.”
Kalim keeps punctuating her points by tightening her grip, seriously she has the strength of a gorilla. “Yeah, but you're really really really pretty!” Jamil rolls her eyes but Kalim keeps talking. “Like, you’re slightly tall, your hair looks like silk, you have a cute hooked nose, your face is symmetrical—“ “Okay!” Jamil assumed cutting her off would make the flood of compliments stop but she just had to be able to hear the last comment. “And you have a nice figure!” What.
“I’m sorry?” Jamil was so taken aback by the compliment that she didn’t try to register that she was encouraging her. “Your curves are appealing!” And that comment registered a pillow shoved hard into Kalim’s face. She shrieks as her cheek and the pillow within a silk pillow case make sudden contact. “Don’t say that stuff about people. It makes it sound like you stare at me.”
Kalim made some muffled sounds, likely talking underneath the pillow. Jamil lifts the pillow up to give her the right to speech again. “Repeat that.” “I do stare at you.”
And back to the pillow.
But Kalim managed to stop it by holding her hand between it and her face. “Wait! Wait, wait, wait! I was just being observant, I swear on Magic Carpet!”
“Have you considered that that’s creepy?” Jamil kept up with the shove war going on between her hands and Kalim’s. “Sorry! I get bored, I can’t help it!” “Is that why you painted me?” Kalim nodded from below her. “Wait- I mean- No. It’s because you’re my very best friend!”
Jamil gave up on temporarily smothering Kalim at this point, all she did was mutter “Friends don’t do that. And we aren’t friends.” Kalim, not hearing her, finally sat upright to snuggle into her chest, and Jamil let her.
“I’m sorry.” She sulks. And because Jamil deems herself a dumbass, she pats her back and says; “It’s fine, just don’t do it again…. And your paintings are nice.”
Kalim got an A on the painting by the way.