The son of Aladdin and Jasmine

Chapter 39

Platonic kisses on the cheeks <3 (Xavier trying to make Jay mad)

Aziz barely had time to react before a body threw itself at him. He hugged her back on instinct, holding her tightly, doing his best to avoid looking at the scars that he knew were lining his sister's body. He didn't see her in the hospital, his parents wouldn't let him, but he had seen from the photos they had shown him when he got out of the asylum. She looked to be doing fine, and according to his parents, she had made a quick recovery, a fact that he had been deeply grateful for. He didn't think he'd be able to live with himself is she never recovered.

"Jesna let him breathe," He heard a voice he recognized as Xavier said with a little bit of a laugh in his tone, "You're going to suffocate him if you keep hugging him so tightly."

"Well, excuse me for being happy," She shot back, but pulled away, holding Aziz at arms length, "I really missed you, Aziz," She said softly to him. 

"I missed you too," He said, keeping his gaze locked on her face and not the scars tracing up her neck, "I'm glad to see that you're ok."

"I'm more than ok," She said, pulling him over to his bed, all fixed up, and sat him down, "How have you been? Have you been holding up ok?"

Aziz gave a small shrug, looking around the room. It was entirely spotless, something unlike Xavier, who no doubt was cleaning the place because he was coming back. Speaking of Xavier, he was standing off to the side of the bed, fairly close to Xavier but noticeably distant from Jay. He'd almost been expecting them to be all over each other, especially considering the events that had taken place last time he had seen them. 

"Are you hungry?" Xavier asked, tilting his head, "I can run and grab you something to eat if you'd like."

"Thank you, but I'm alright," Aziz said, sending him a small smile, "I ate earlier, I'm fine."

"Oh, lovely, your favorite phrase," He responded with a teasing smile, "Glad to know that hasn't changed a bit."

"Well, I gotta keep something constant about me," Aziz said with a shrug.

He glanced back over at the door, having almost forgotten that his parents were there until they spoke. They had been wise to keep quiet until that point, the second they did speak both Jay and Jesna's heads turn to glare at them slightly. Jay was much more subtle about it, though, Aziz gave him some credit for that.

"Are you going to be ok getting resettled?" His mother asked gently, keeping her eyes focused on him.

"I'll live," Aziz said simply.

"You're fresh out of the asylum, are you sure you're ok coming straight back here?" Jay asked, the first thing that Aziz had heard him say as he glanced over.

Aziz noticed the small scrunch of Xavier's nose when he heard Jay speak, but decided better than asking about it. He'd ask Xavier later when they were alone.

"I'm not fresh out," Aziz said with a shrug, "I've been out for three months, did mom and dad not tell you?"

Sure, they had told him they didn't, but he just wanted to make sure. Jesna stared at him for a moment, confused, and then she turned her head towards their parents.

"He's been out for three months?" Jesna asked in what sounded like disbelief, "He's been out of that terrible place for three months, and you didn't bother to tell us? What, did you lock him up in the palace for that time? You think isolation would help him?"

"They said that it had slipped their mind," Aziz told her, answering for their parents, "Don't get too mad at them, it was peaceful enough."

"Were you in that palace the entire time?" Jay asked him, "Why didn't you reach out?"

"They took my phone," Aziz said simply, shrugging as he turned to Xavier, "I did try to write you a letter, though. Did you not get it?"

Xavier shook his head, "No, I would have remembered that," He said, "I'd recognize your awful handwriting anywhere."

"What did you do to his letter?" Jesna asked their parents, "Were you seriously isolating him to that degree?"

"We were aware he sent one," His mother said, "But we didn't do anything with it. We actually encouraged him to send it to him."

"Why were you writing me?" Xavier asked, tilting his head, "Wouldn't you have been writing Jesna or Jay?" 

"You're the smartest person I know when it comes to magic," Aziz said, nudging him and showing him the cuff on his arm, "Figured that you'd be able to help me out, so I wouldn't have to wear this."

Xavier scrunched his nose a bit when he saw it, the same subtle disgusted look he'd put on when Jay spoke. He took Aziz's arm gently, turning it over in his hand and studying the cuff, his fingers tracing along the ties in the back of it. 

"Magic blocking," Xavier hummed, "That's not gonna help you control anything, you know," he tested one of the laces, finding it tied tight enough to not undo at a single tug, "These do no good, you know, my brother had to wear them-" he paused, clearing his throat, "They do more harm than good."

"You making him wear that too?" Jay asked, glancing over at his parents and nodding over at the cuff.

"He put that on all on his own," His father said simply, "No one made him wear it."

"Well, blocking out that magic is going to do him no good," Xavier said, "These things have a tendency to stop working after a while," He let go of Aziz's arm, "You know, I could always teach you," He offered.

"Really?"

"Yeah... whether you want to get rid of it or not, leaning how to control it would probably do you a lot of good," He shrugged, "It'll save you from a lot of weird looks having to wear that around."

"Thank you," Aziz said, giving Xavier a smile, "You know I really missed you."

"I missed you too," Xavier said, leaning over and pressing a kiss to Aziz's cheek, "It's way too quiet around here without you."

Aziz almost missed the way that Jay slightly clenched his fist at Xavier's actions. Now he really did need to ask Xavier what was going on because Xavier stopped doing things like that when him and Jay got together.

"Mom, dad, can I talk to you both?" Jesna asked before glancing back at jay, "Actually, we need to talk. Outside."

Both their parents nodded, "Are you gonna be ok?" His mother asked Aziz.

Aziz gave a small nod, "I'll be fine. I'll just catch up with Xavier."

"Alright," His father said, "We'll come check on you before we leave."

And with that, they followed Jesna and Jay, shutting the door behind them. 

"So..." Aziz started once the door was closed, "What going on between you and Jay?" 

"Ugh, don't even get me started."