In a way, Judal had been saving himself for marriage.
However, in his world, marriage itself mounted to little more than a boozey celebration in which everyone dressed up in monkey suits and spoke of 'vows' that they had no intention to keep. Judal's version of marriage was choosing a king, the perfect king, and there was only one king that he wanted.
So in reality, it would be more accurate to say that Judal had been saving himself for Sinbad.
It's not like this was a challenge to do - he didn't get a lot of offers for things like sex, since he knew very few gay men, none of which liked him, and no way in hell was he doing it with a girl.
Still, though - it was the thought behind it. He wanted Sinbad to know that he was serious about wanting him, about making him his, and for some reason keeping his virtue seemed like the right way to do that. It was also his way of showing Sinbad that, should he accept the Magi, he would be faithful to Sinbad, and only Sinbad. This took a lot of patience - patience that, to be honest, the Magi didn't know he personally possessed. But he really wanted Sinbad, and he'd wait as long as necessary for the high king to accept him.
Apparently, the Magi had made his plan a little too obvious - Ja'far himself had confronted him about it once, all the while smiling in a way that made Judal's stomach churn.
"It doesn't matter how long you wait." The general had said, grinning almost maliciously. "He won't love you. Aside from the fact that he already has me," That part made a chill run down Judal's spine. "why would he ever love someone like you?"
It had hurt Judal a little more than he would've cared to admit, but he held his ground.
Ja'far continued. "Your patient waiting, your stupid sighs and starring at him isn't going to change that. But then again, maybe I don't know what I'm talking about - after all, I never had to wait." The white-haired man pratically spat out.
Hearing that was like a bullet to the chest.
But Ja'far simply smirked and waved a hand as he walked away. "Well, c'est la vie. It's not like I care if you go to your grave a virgin."
Judal wanted to forget what Ja'far had said, and pretend that he was still confident, and completely okay with his decision to wait for Sinbad. But the more time he spent in Kou looking out windows and sighing and daydreaming about a certain amethyst-haired king that deep down he knew would never love him, the more he realized that Ja'far was right.
It was for those reasons that he gave himself up to Kouen, the Kou's general who would fuck anything with a pulse.
And as Kouen took his time in enjoying the Magi's body, Judal tried to convince himself that he wasn't sad and frustrated that the man on him was red-haired, and not purple. He tried to swear that the tears that dared spill down his cheeks were only there because it was his first time, not because he had broken the only promise he had ever made to Sinbad. A secret promise, that the high king hadn't even known of.
It was then that another piece of him snapped away along with his virtue, and without it there was nothing left to make his heart ache.
Not even when he thought of Sinbad.