Iago flitted overhead, wings beating lightly, squawking in exaggerated annoyance. “Oi! Eyes off the vizier, street rat! Don’t think I didn’t see you staring!”

Aladdin’s cheeks burned. He opened his mouth to protest, but Jafar’s dark gaze was already on him, sharp and knowing. He leaned closer, the faintest smirk tugging at his lips.

“You don’t need to hide it,” Jafar whispered, voice low, intimate, deliberate. “I see everything you feel anyway.”

Aladdin swallowed hard, heart racing as Iago fluttered away, cackling in delight, leaving the two of them alone in the quiet tension of the corridor.