Radiating positive energy, you can always count on Jewel to make your day brighter. He is happiness incarnate, with an everlasting smile and boundless optimism. He never seems to sit still, his infinite energy always appearing to spill over in the form of, say, a bouncing leg. That being said, he can come off as irritating to some, especially those who get overwhelmed easily. Though his loud presence does function as a warning to everyone who might not enjoy his company.

Those who Jewel doesn’t manage to scare off with his intense energy get a loyal friend. His loved ones are literally everything to him. Jewel rarely spends time alone, and even though he is quite confident and independent, he feels lost whenever he’s been on his own for too long. Jewel is also willing to go to great lengths for his friends and family—no matter how heavy or trivial the situation is.

Jewel has a bad habit of trusting people a little too easily. He is a bit naive, believing that everyone deserves a second chance—or three, maybe even four. No matter how much someone hurts Jewel, he most likely will just hide it behind his signature smile and forgive. He truly will put other people’s wellbeing over his in any situation.

These people-pleasing tendencies do span a lot further than that. Jewel actively avoids any kind of conflict, settling for blissful ignorance. Maybe this is why Jewel’s problems tend to pile up, with him occasionally ending up extremely emotionally exhausted. He, however, in his blissful ignorance, will never admit that this is a problem. Does it even happen in Jewel’s rose-tinted world?

These neglected thoughts and feelings do not go completely ignored, though. The outlet Jewel uses is art, and despite him not actually facing his inner turmoil while he is painting, it is the only time he allows himself to feel those emotions, as long as he can put them on paper. It might come as a surprise to most how a cheerful person like Jewel can create such melancholy pieces. He prefers painting landscapes with a surrealist, lonely feeling, perhaps with some creatures lurking in the shadows.

Where Jewel shines in the realm of artistic ability, he is lacking in academic intelligence. He has never been the brightest, and struggled quite a lot back when he was in school. Even to this day Jewel struggles with highly abstract concepts and even basic math. Still, he likes to think that he makes up for his lacking intellect with his positive and highly social personality, as well as his artistic ability.

When Jewel’s parents were expecting their first child, they didn’t know they’d get two instead. But the ultrasounds didn’t lie, and so the couple welcomed two baby boys into their family. The older of the boys was Jewel, by twenty minutes, and his younger identical twin was given the name Marlow. The boys’ parents were caring, but they weren’t prepared for the chaos raising Jewel and Marlow would prove to be. Still, they tried their best, and the boys’ childhoods were happy as they didn’t lack anything.

In the twins’ childhood Jewel often acted as Marlow’s voice, since he—unlike Marlow—didn’t have any issues speaking to strangers. Marlow, in turn, helped Jewel with things like reading and numbers, as Jewel seemed to lag behind developmentally in these areas just as Marlow was doing socially. Though where Jewel seemed to lack on the intellectual side of things, he was gifted with a heap of creativity, and liked to draw and paint from a young age.

All of this led to Jewel and Marlow being extremely attached to each other. This was especially noticeable in Jewel, who would usually almost shut off whenever he was separated from his brother, and the usually cheerful and social boy would be stuck inside of his head with all of his thoughts. It was especially prevalent when Jewel proved to be quite dyslexic, and though the school provided an opportunity to go to another class where kids who struggled with learning would get more support in certain subjects, Jewel seemed to do worse without his brother. So even though Jewel needing help from his brother hindered Marlow’s learning, it did Jewel no good that he didn’t even seem to try when he was without Marlow. This naturally raised some concerns not only for the boys’ parents, but the teachers as well.

As an attempt at trying to make Jewel a little more independent, their parents signed him up to a children’s art school. Surprisingly Jewel liked it, and even though he wasn’t as confident and outgoing without his brother, at the very least he managed to be without Marlow for an hour a week, enjoying making art. Sure, he might have been a little whiny and reluctant about going to the lessons, and a little extra clingy towards Marlow after, but their parents were patient with the boys, realizing that they had to be separated sometimes, and that it was only for their own good.

As the boys grew up and entered their teenage years, Marlow seemed to gain a sense of independence and started trying to form an identity apart from Jewel, but the older of the two seemed to struggle with this. Jewel still seemed to be extremely attached to his brother, not really knowing how to deal with Marlow suddenly wanting some space. This caused some serious tension between the brothers for the first time in their lives, even though it wasn’t too often that Marlow lost his temper with Jewel.

As Jewel didn’t seem to outgrow his unhealthy attachment to his brother, his parents finally decided to force the boy to go to therapy. They’d been to counselors and such before, but this time they felt like Marlow was getting anxious thanks to Jewel’s constant presence and that it was time to do something, as Jewel was getting a little too old to be this dependent on his brother. Still, Jewel saw no problem in his own behavior, so therapy did little to help as the boy had no intentions of working on his issues. So him clinging onto Marlow would continue for many years to come.

Of course Jewel had other friends, as he has always been social, but he shared those friend groups with Marlow, and barely had anything of his own. That’s how he preferred it, as he couldn’t imagine living without his brother by his side. The simple fact that Marlow wanted to move to the guest room from their shared bedroom when they were around ten years old was tough enough for Jewel, so it truly was small steps he had to take.

Only after a few years of high school Jewel started to outgrow his unhealthy attachment to Marlow. It was better late than never, but Marlow had to endure a lot along the years when Jewel was a constant presence in his life. At least when the boys were around 17 years old, Jewel started to open up a lot more whenever he wasn’t with his brother, and eventually he found his confidence without having to cling onto Marlow constantly.

Despite finally being able to be on his own without his brother constantly by his side, it was a hard pill to swallow that after high school, he and Marlow would be going to different cities, if not completely different states for their studies. His fears turned out to be correct, as both of them headed into different schools in completely different states. Jewel was heading to Boston—to a prestigious art school he had applied to partially as a joke since he was sure he couldn’t get in considering his sub-par academic performance so far. But thanks to the art school his parents put him in, and Marlow’s help with Jewel’s application, Jewel didn’t have any other choice than to move all the way across the country.

Even though it was tough for Jewel to be so far apart from his brother, he got adjusted to the student life in Boston pretty quickly. He made friends with his roommate, and found his social circles with relative ease. To ease up the anxiety from being apart from his brother, Jewel made sure to call Marlow nearly every day, and sure enough, when the boys were visiting their parents for the holidays, Jewel wouldn’t give Marlow a minute of peace.

Jewel’s five years of studying in Boston went by surprisingly quickly, and soon enough he was back in Grants. The small town never left Jewel’s heart, and hearing that their old art teacher was retiring soon, Jewel thought that maybe he should try to get the position. Besides, his grandparents had just moved away from the other side of the semi-detached house Jewel grew up in, his parents still living in the other, leaving the other side empty. So Jewel took the opportunity and made his grandparents’ old house into his own home. He also got the job as an art teacher for the local school, which secured his financial situation.

For a bit over a year Jewel’s life stayed unchanged, but then his parents moved to the city after his mother’s job. It shook Jewel’s everyday life a little, since he couldn’t simply go to his parents’ door and knock if he got lonely. Sure, he had friends, but Jewel’s thirst for social interaction wasn’t easily satiated. That’s why Jewel took to calling a lot of people, often even at odd hours if they’re close enough. Maybe not in the middle of the night, but it wasn’t far either.

Quickly after Jewel’s parents moved away, Jewel connected with a familiar face—Vincent Ayer. Vincent, being two years younger, was never exactly Jewel’s friend, but Jewel recognised him from their school years. After all, they’d probably been to the same parties a couple of times during their high school years. This time, however, the pair discovered a spark between them, and started dating. Their relationship developed quickly, and Vincent had already moved in with Jewel only after four months since they started dating. Of course none of this had anything to do with Jewel’s loneliness—at least not according to Jewel.

Jewel’s parents weren’t too happy about Jewel’s choice of partner—Vincent seemed nice enough, but he had some odd quirks and no sense of boundaries. However, they respected Jewel’s choices. It wasn’t like they had to endure Vincent’s company often, as they lived an hour’s drive away from Grants, and there hasn’t been any family holidays since Jewel started dating Vincent. That is exactly why Marlow hasn’t seen Vincent yet, and Jewel is slightly excited about introducing his boyfriend to his brother.

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