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#soc fic
she-posts-nerdy-stuff · 11 hours
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Don't Go Blindly Into the Dark
Summary:
To hide that he can't read, Jan Van Eck has been forcing his son to pretend he's blind since he was eight years old. Wylan is now attending Ketterdam University, and meeting Jesper Fahey may very well be about to change his life. But is he safe to tell Jesper the truth? And what will Jesper say if he does?
Jesper is struggling to weigh up his life in the Barrel and his life at the University of Ketterdam, and there's a good chance that his growing debt is about to make the decision for him. He hasn't attended class consecutively for months, but maybe that will change when his newest project includes partnering up with Wylan Van Eck. But can he really leave the Barrel behind him? And how long can he keep up the pretence of who he thinks Wylan wants him to be?
Content warnings for this chapter: weapons, ptsd references, implied violence
Tags: @justalunaticfangirl @lunarthecorvus
If anyone else would like to be tagged let me know :)
AO3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/55445686/chapters/140852350
Chapter 5 - Kaz
“It can’t be a coincidence,” 
Kaz mused over Nina’s words for a moment, the cogs in his mind turning slowly to put the pieces together. It definitely didn’t feel like a coincidence. But Kaz tended to follow a strict practice of believing nothing was a coincidence. He’d told Inej that once, and she’d nodded wisely.
“Fate has plans for us all,”
She’d been sitting on his windowsill, watching the rain running down the glass. She began to trace one with her fingertip, and he followed it with his eyes. Kaz frowned. He’d left the door open, because it was raining and he didn’t want her to open the window, but for some reason he was suddenly compelled to push it shut. Like there was something here that should be hidden, that he didn’t want to entertain the possibility of anyone else ever bearing witness to. He flexed his fingers and gripped his cane tighter, refusing to move.
“Suddenly, I believe in coincidences again,”
Inej looked at him for a moment, then back to the rain. 
But it seemed very unlikely that Nina landing a strange job on the Geldstraat right before this job started was a coincidence. Kaz didn’t know what it added up to yet, but he would figure it out.
“Well, anyway,” said Nina, “I spoke to Feliks, all good for the job. He’s not thrilled about it though,”
“Of course he’s not,” said Kaz.
“He said you’ll owe him for the lost income,”
That would be more concerning if Feliks didn’t already owe Kaz money. And anyway he wasn’t really paying attention to that; mind still whirring away trying to solve the puzzle of Nina’s job on the Geldstraat last night. Not a coincidence. No such thing as a coincidence. No such thing as fate either, but Kaz really shouldn’t be thinking about that right now.
“Did they want you to go routinely? At the Geldstraat?”
Nina bit her lip.
“He said it could be an ongoing offer, if I wanted it. But he also said he lost an indentured Healer recently, if he gets someone else I don’t see him forking out any extra cash for the pleasure of my company,”
“When you say lost…?”
Nina grimaced.
“Concerningly vague,”
Kaz wasn’t surprised. He nodded.
“Alright, I’ll look into it. If this ends up being an ongoing job for you it might be good for intel. Inej is at the Crow Club, tell her to get a bag together - I want you at the university tonight,”
“Tonight? Kaz, you said two days, I have clients-”
“They’ll wait,”
“Kaz-”
“Update Inej. I need to talk to the old man,”
Nina huffed a little, but she turned on her heel and went on her way. Kaz watched the empty doorway for a moment before he slowly stood up - his leg was wreaking havoc today, and he leant heavily against his cane to find his balance. He was going to be vulnerable without the Wraith for a time, and now she was vanishing slightly earlier than expected. He’d set up a communication line but it still felt dangerous not to have her close by, gathering secrets. 
“I’m not sure I’m following,” she’d admitted last night, when they were discussing the plan.
It was before word had come from Nina and she’d left to follow her to the Geldstraat. They sat in Kaz’s office at the Crow Club - the door was closed and the room had no window, but they needed privacy and there wasn’t much Kaz could do about that. He watched Inej, wondering if they would need to step outside, but she seemed fine perched cross-legged on a chair, posture perfect, hands planted on her knees. Kaz found himself studying the tiny movements in her fingers, the occasional movement of her boots against her knee as she shuffled her feet. He bought her the boots the night they came back to the Slat, because he was an idiot and he hadn’t brought anything with him for her to wear. She’d traipsed after him all the way from the very North of West Stave to the very South of East still dressed in those ridiculous purple silks, completely barefoot. It hadn’t helped the whispers amongst the Dregs about what he’d hired her for.
“What connection does any of this have?” she asked, beginning to drum her fingers against her knees.
“It’s about forming the connections,” he’d told her, “Just focus on getting close to the mark - or let Nina get close and follow suit. Then we can discuss what comes next,”
Kaz’s leg screamed at him all the way down the stairs, only quieting slightly when he began to cross the ground floor of the Slat towards Per Haskell’s office. The Slat was nothing special to look at - actually it was ugly as hell to look at, with its faded, faintly mossy eaves, the wonky boards at the front that made it look like it was leaning on the buildings either side of it for support, and the fact that it probably was leaning on them but the boards just accentuated it - but nothing had come as close to feeling like home to Kaz as the Slat did since he’d arrived in Ketterdam and his entire world was slowly pried from his weak little childish hands. That was what this city did; took everything from you. And this is what you did to survive it: demand something in return. Scrape and claw and bleed your way through the Labyrinth until you didn’t just defeat the monster at its centre, you became it. Kaz Brekker, Dirtyhands, the Bastard of the Barrel. He wasn’t quite there yet, on the very top, but he would be. He would taste the monster’s flesh, and embrace the city as his own. The Labyrinth was meant to be a prison, but if you played your cards right you could own it. And Kaz never sat down to a card game he couldn’t win. 
“Enter,” came the gruff, muffled response from Per Haskell to Kaz’s sharp, single knock on the door.
It sounded like he’d already been drinking, and when the door was open the smell alone confirmed it. Kaz fought the urge to grimace, keeping his face a cool, flat mask as he closed the door behind him. There was a window in this room and for a strange, ridiculous moment Kaz almost moved to open it. He needed to get his head on straight - the Wraith wasn’t even here, and if she had been then she could open a damn window herself if she wanted to. 
“Kaz, my boy,”
Haskell gestured for him to take a seat, and Kaz’s leg was putting up such a protest that for once he took up the offer.
“Sir,” he said, nodding.
Haskell grunted. He was playing with one of his little ships in a bottle things again, and for a moment just let Kaz stew whilst he drove his focus into rearranging one of the tiny pieces. Kaz didn’t get the appeal of these little models but they were popular to display in merchant houses, to sit on desks or mantelpieces like the homeowner was waiting for your gaze to linger on it just a second too long so that he could tell you a long story about it and how it’s an exact replica of a ship he, in fact, owns himself. There were two half-constructed ones sitting on Haskell’s desk that he’d given up on over the last few months, and Kaz watched the man’s meaty, and slightly shaking, fingers fumble over the details of his newest one, feeling unsurprised that he’d never been successful at finishing any. After a minute had passed Haskell sighed and plunked the thing carelessly against the table, then picked up his glass and downed the last few drops before all but slamming it back down. Kaz flexed his fingers over the crow’s head of his cane, tightening his grip. 
“Brandy?” asked Haskell, as he began to pour himself another glass.
Kaz abstained.
“Alright,” the old man breathed, taking a sip before he continued: “What trouble are you here to tell me this time, then?”
What could Kaz tell him by way of trouble? That Jesper Fahey abandoned his security shift without telling anyone where he was, only for the Wraith to drag him back five hours later from a Dime Lions club? That Nina Zenik had been sent to the Geldstraat to complete a highly suspicious Tailoring job that might have had something to do with the job Kaz had been planning for so long? All he said was:
“I need Nina and Inej to start the job earlier than I thought,”
Haskell frowned.
“How long will they be gone?”
“I don’t know yet, but it’s all under control. You’ll get your twenty percent,”
Haskell’s jaw twitched. It always got on his nerves when Kaz didn’t tell him what a job was, but that wasn’t part of their agreement. And besides, Kaz didn’t want to spread the details of his plans to too many people - everything in Ketterdam leaked.
“You can’t just take my Heartrender and my best spider without telling me h-”
“They’re not yours,”
“Well they ain’t yours,” growled Haskell.
“That isn’t what I meant,”
He groaned loudly and performatively, shaking his head.
“Don’t go getting righteous on me now, boy. I want them back here within the month, at minimum,”
Kaz pursed his lips.
“I’ll try to arrange that,”
“You see that you do,”
“Yes, sir,”
Haskell snorted, but Kaz knew he lapped up every stupid politeness he gave him. He liked to think of himself as the patriarch of a large, criminally-inclined family, but everyone knew it was Kaz who did the real work. It was more of a formality for Kaz to ever tell him anything at all.
“The Black Tips are still edging away at Fifth Harbour; pushing their luck,” he said, watching Haskell run a ringer along the rim of his glass, “We should move quickly if we want to re-establish our dominance,”
Haskell waved a hand dismissively through the air,
“A mere dog yapping at our heels. Monitor the situation, if things are any worse in a few months time we can organise a parlay,”
The man really was an idiot. Kaz nodded.
“Yes, sir,”
By the time Kaz left the office, disgruntled and impatient, Nina was back at the Slat. 
“Where’s Inej?”
“Upstairs getting her stuff,” Nina said, nodding vaguely towards the stairs, “You really not going to tell us anything at all?”
Kaz sighed.
“When you get to the University, go straight to the office opposite the Boeksplein; it’s 24 hour, and they should be expecting you. You just arrived from Ravka - private journey, pepper it in because the tourist ferries don’t arrive this late - and there should be transfer papers waiting in your name. They might kick up a fuss about you being early, accommodation-wise, but-”
“But we’re two young rich girls from Ravka, it’s the middle of the night, we’re exhausted from travelling, and we’ve nowhere else to go,” Nina finished in a falsely distressed voice, winking at him, “I think I can manage that,”
“Good,” he handed her a thin stack of kruge, “That’s a month’s salary in advance, if it takes longer I’ll give you more but if it’s shorter I’ll need it back,”
She narrowed her eyes.
“This is your money? Not the Dregs’?”
He shrugged. He had to pay her somehow.
“Thank you, Kaz,”
“You won’t be any use to me if you run out of cash and starve,”
Nina sighed, tucking the notes into her pocket.
“Well thank you anyway,”
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stray-kaz · 1 year
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Memento Mori : a Kaz Brekker x f!reader oneshot
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A/N: A request! Thank you for this idea!
Summary: Reader is poisoned by a rival gang leader hoping to force Kaz to his knees by taking you down. Kaz is afraid and murderous, a fatal combination.
Reader’s nickname, because of her profession, is Bee. (And it’s just easier sometimes to allow use of some kind of name instead of being constantly vague).
Memento mori: remember you must die.
Warnings: Violence, blood, near death. Poisoning. Kaz near breaking point.
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Inej flew up the stairs in the Slat to Kaz’s quiet office, Jesper tearing after her, coattails flying out behind him. Matthias waited at the bottom of the flight, your limp, still form in his arms. Nina stood next to him, sweat beading on her forehead as she pressed both hands hard down against your heart.
“I am not a healer, I am not a healer, I am not a healer” she kept muttering.
“You’re all she has” Matthias reminded her gently. “Just keep going.”
Kaz looked up from the ledger he was filling in, irritation written all over his features, when Inej and Jesper burst in, panting. They had run all the way from the bottom of the Barrel.
“What is it?” he demanded.
“It’s Bee” Jesper managed to gasp out. “Talyss stung back.”
Kaz stood with such force his chair skidded away and toppled over. He grabbed his cane from its position leaning against his desk and pushed between Jesper and Inej, making his way down the stairs faster than they’d seen before.
He didn’t make a misstep and he didn’t stumble or fall, but when he saw you, Kaz wondered briefly if this was what death felt like. His hands shivered inside his gloves as he raised a hand to remove an errant curl from your forehead. Nina stared; it was the tenderest thing she had ever seen him do. He loved you.
“My room” Kaz rasped, and stepped aside so that Matthias could carry you upstairs, Nina edging along the banister so she could keep your heart going.
Inej was just finishing preparing Kaz’s bed when you were laid down gently on top of it. She covered up to your waist with a heavy blanket and Nina sank down beside you, her skirts rustling around her.
Kaz hovered like a ghost in the doorway of his own bedroom, watching your face, wan and lax. Your eyes rolled beneath their lids, and just as he was about to bite his tongue, come closer and hold your hand, Wylan skidded into the room and did just that. His knees slammed onto the wooden floorboards and, bright eyes wild, fluffy hair in disarray. He squeezed your hand and you whimpered, still unconscious.
Kaz took a threatening step into the room, but Jesper moved to block him, shaking his head firmly. Kaz glared at him, but for once, Jesper didn’t flinch.
“He’s her friend” he said quietly.
It was true, and Kaz knew it. Wylan was his chemist, bombmaker, demo man. And you were his poison maker, his sting, and the love of his abominable life. You worked with Wylan most days and were more now like brother and sister. He loved you, too.
Wylan looked up at Jesper then, an idea sparking in his eyes. 
“You can take the poison” he said, looking suddenly a little feverish himself.
Jesper glanced uneasily around the room as he suddenly felt all eyes on him. He rocked back on his heels, met Kaz’s implacable gaze.
“I’ve never done it” he beseeched, spreading his hands out wide. “This is what killed my mother, Kaz.”
He felt a tug on his hand and glanced down at Wylan.
“You wouldn’t need to take all of it, Jesper. She practices with poisons every day, taking small amounts to build up immunity, always with an antidote to hand. Tonight, you are the antidote. She just needs enough gone for her system to start fighting on its own” he told him.
Jesper looked at Kaz again; he said nothing. Jesper sighed quietly and gently nudged Inej out of the way so he could sit opposite Nina and clasp your other hand. He closed his eyes and concentrated, feeling his way along the channels of your veins, almost able to taste the metals in your blood.  Fine dark veins rose on the back of your hand and your eyes flew open to stare at Jesper. You tried to pull your hand away, but he held fast, swallowing hard against the pain.
Kaz’s jaw clenched so tight he thought he felt a tooth crack when your first cry rent the air. Tears spilled over your lashes and onto your cheeks, and you tried again and again to pull away from Jesper, but he was stronger than you and could sense the end of it.
Wylan held tightly to your other hand and Matthias stood sentinel behind him, a stony set to his jaw, though his eyes were worried. Kaz had never seen you cry tears of pain. He had never heard the animal sounds wailing out of you, howling at the walls and the window. He had never seen you break.
He tightened his grip on his cane. He was going to find Talyss and his band of thugs, beat him nearly to his grave and then pour his poison down his throat to send him the rest of the way.
As he turned to leave, he felt a hand lightly brush his sleeve and looked to see Nina. He raised his eyebrows impatiently, waiting.
“Bee is strong enough” Nina said steadily. “There is hope for her, Kaz.”
He merely shook off her hand and spoke over his shoulder as he walked away.
“Hope is dangerous, Nina.”
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As Dirtyhands made his way to the bottom of the Barrel, gutter dwellers avoided eye contact and leapt out of his way, edging back into the shadows. He heard the whispers as he passed, cold fury and determination disguising his limp. There were those nearby him who knew why he was there and those who had no idea and were terrified to see him. Either way, both types of people hid their faces and did their best to remain undetected.
The door to Talyss Novak’s converted warehouse was locked, which didn’t surprise or deter Kaz. Normally, he’d go quiet and careful, but tonight he didn’t care for quiet or careful. He didn’t reach for his lockpicks, he simply hefted his cane in both hands and swung it at the door handle. It crunched under the weight of the crow’s head and the inner lock clattered onto the floor on the other side.
Kaz pushed the door out of his way with the toes of one shoe and stepped across the dark threshold, cane still gripped tightly in one fist. His other hand had slipped into his pocket, gloved fingers tightening slightly around the vial of poison he had picked up from the workshop you shared with Wylan along the way. He had no idea if it was the same poison or what it did, but judging by the thick red “!!!” on the white label, it would hurt.
A hand landed on his shoulder and he twisted out from under it, wrenching slightly but not caring. He swung the cane like a truncheon and felt something give wetly under his strength. There was a strangled scream and then they all came out of nowhere, trying their best to take down the bastard of the Barrel. But Kaz would not be taken anywhere tonight. He could smell blood, and he wanted it all, the sounds of your pain still ringing in his ears.
When there were bodies heaped around his feet, some still and noiseless, some groaning pitifully, he reached down and grabbed the coat collar of the most alive one. He moved in nice and close, face blood stained and dripping.
“Your boss” he hissed, teeth bared. “Now.”
A weak hand pointed towards a twisting stair shaped shadow and Kaz dropped him back to the hard concrete floor and stepped away, the men already forgotten.
The staircase was quiet and he could hear the soft sound of blood on his glove slipping on his heavy cane. He reached the top and moved silently along the landing, again reaching for the poison in his trouser pocket. A door at the furthest end of the hallway stood ajar. His instincts screamed that the worst of Novak’s men would be behind that door, but he could not bring himself to care. They would all die.
As he approached the dark side of the door, he heard his name spoken.
“Brekker.”
The door swung open and a single lone man appeared, backlit by the interior. With a flick of his thumb, Kaz released the tiny vial stopper and circled finger and thumb around the glass neck.
“How’s your girlfriend? Still breathing? Or dead as a dormouse?”
Kaz walked forward slowly, clenching his teeth against the pain of hiding his limp. Peripheral room checks told him he was alone with Talyss. The man was a maniac, or stupid. Kaz was betting on the latter.
“Did you really think you could take me down by removing my sting? Novak, I don’t need anyone. You made a mistake thinking that I do.”
“Then why’re you here, Dirtyhands?”
“To make you pay for that mistake.”
Kaz decided to temporarily forgo use of his cane; instead he struck with his other hand, shoving the vial with its contents into Novak’s mouth, swallowing hard against the bitter bile that rose in his throat as his gloved hand forced the man’s jaw up and shut and he heard the splintering of glass plink against his teeth. 
Novak screamed through closed lids, Kaz’s hand tightening even harder. Thirty seconds dripped past and Novak finally wrenched himself away, opening his mouth to spit glass and a damp pinkish mist. He coughed, choking, and Kaz realised enough glass had been inhaled to perforate his lungs. Talyss Novak was drowning in his own blood, before the poison even did its work.
Kaz helped him along a little; he lifted his cane and lightly prodded the older man in the centre of his chest with the solid flat end. It didn’t take much prodding before he was flat on his back on the cold rough concrete, rasping blood soaked air in through piecemeal lungs.
Kaz stepped closer and leaned over him, watching until his eyes started to stare and his chest stopped spasming. Then he turned and walked out the way he came, blood and fear pounding in his ears.
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When Kaz finally staggered back in through the doorway of his bedroom in the Slat, he saw you sitting up in his bed, leaning heavily against Jesper’s chest but rosy cheeked, damp hair sticking to your forehead. Your eyes were opioid bright, glossy and damp looking, but they focused on him with the ferocity he was used to, and something loosened inside his chest. He opened his mouth, and what came out surprised all of them, but most of all him.
“Please.”
Nina held you up while Jesper eased out from behind you, then plumped several pillows up behind your back and shoulders. Inej briefly touched your shoulder and Wylan blew you a kiss. Nina leaned hard on Matthias as they walked out of the room, followed by the other three.
Alone finally, Kaz shed his cane and coat and almost collapsed onto the bed next to you. He retained his gloves, which you understood; in your current state, sweating and clammy, the touch of your skin on his would remind him too much of Jordie. But he wrapped his arms around you, drawing you down onto his chest, and held on as tightly as he thought you could cope with. 
You sighed.
“Is the problem dealt with?” you asked quietly, your voice sounding uncomfortable and hoarse.
Kaz scoffed a chuckle and nodded.
“Yes. The problem is dealt with. No more stinging the stinger.”
“Good. ‘Cause it pretty much sucks.”
Kaz tipped your chin up slightly so he could see your eyes, his expression serious.
“You will improve your immunity” he said, a statement and not a question. “I do not want to do that again.”
What he meant was: I will not survive your near death again. If you die, I will also.
You gazed back at him and nodded.
“I will” you promised. “Never again, Kaz.”
He nodded back, leaned his head on the wall of pillows and closed his eyes, settled for now with the knowledge of you safe in his arms.
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Tagging: @b3kk3r-by-br3kk3r​ 
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funnyao3 · 7 months
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"I'm not arguing with you over killing my father," Wylan says while trying to fight off a grin. "I'd highly prefer it if my boyfriend stays out of jail." 
"As if we'd get caught," Kaz says, sounding almost offended. "Van Eck has countless enemies. It'd take them years to get through the list of suspects, let alone actually figure it out. He's old, too. It'd be easy to make it look natural."
"Have you thought about killing my father before?"
"Haven't we all," Kaz states more than asks, and Wylan can't honestly say no. 
"I haven't," Matthias says after a few seconds of silence. 
"You don't count. You have like… morals 'n shit." Jesper gives Matthias a judgemental look and only gets an annoyed eye roll in response. 
"I have morals," Inej says, and then when everyone looks at her expectantly, she adds, quietly and a little shameful, "I've thought about it." 
"We are not killing my father. We're not." Wylan shoots Kaz a glare when he opens his mouth to complain, and he huffs and looks away. 
"Enough joking about murder," Wylan says, "I just want a calm, peaceful, crime free life, please." 
"You can have a peaceful life with a dead father." 
"Kaz." 
Kaz makes an expression and a little motion with his hands, as if to say Well, it's true, but doesn't otherwise complain again.
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hyper-fixated-princess · 11 months
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I’m at the point where I’m not sure if what I know is actually canon or if it was something I read in an emotionally wrecking one shot on the Ao3 at 04:13 am
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basicbard · 25 days
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In his silent reflection, he is briefly unknowable... 
Begging everyone to read @jackwolfes' gorgeous Wesper regency AU jesper fahey's guide to high society and falling in love which inspired this art <3 (you know I've got the brainrot when I voluntarily paint a landscape!!)
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19burstraat · 3 months
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when existence or when hope is gone : soc jane austen / regency au
"And have you made this entire call without once vexing or offending poor Miss Ghafa?” Captain Rietveld looked coolly at him. Inej bent her head over her sewing to hide her smiling, since she was not sure she would not laugh outright. She had not thought that Wylan would deliberately provoke the Captain, but perhaps his deference to his father did not reach anyone else. “I am sure that is not for me to decide,” said the Captain, “But I own I have been perfectly well behaved.” “Does he lie, Miss Ghafa?” “No— he has been quite tolerable company,” said Inej. “If not quite a perfect gentleman.” “You wound me, Miss Ghafa.” “I suspect I do not, Captain.”
contextual and explanatory notes about regency literary and social conventions are below the cut if you have questions during/after reading! plus some trivia for fun :)
The redacting of certain place names (—shire, — Street) is accurate to lots of old novels, where you will see it from time to time. I think it was a deliberate omission to avoid libel accusations if they accidentally invoked somewhere or someone real, or to also avoid confusing people if it contradicted real life. I used it here both to mimic the style, and also because that way didn't have to pick streets or regions lol.
The 'cut direct' was a social nuke and Kaz has balls of steel for using it on an older man who is his social superior 💀 if you very deliberately stared at and then blanked a previous acquaintance who had greeted you, it severed a relationship or acquaintance forever and could also make people turn on the person being cut. Pekka could have challenged him to a duel for it, but sensibly I think he saw the lapse in logic in giving a pistol to a soldier who holds you responsible for his brother's death and letting him shoot at you
A reticule is one of those dumb tiny handbags that regency ladies had
Governesses were in a uniquely vulnerable position. Not genteel enough for the family while not technically a servant, they tended to be isolated. While they were ofc not comparable to what Inej canonically goes through, many were abused by the families they worked for, rivalled the mothers for their children's affection, and some were harassed and abused by husbands or male visitors. There's a reason Jane Fairfax does not want to be one in Emma.
The navy lists are a publication that, unsurprisingly, list all the men, their ranks, and their ships currently trundling around on campaign. Kaz checks them to see who is still alive and to backseat drive campaigns (what's new!) and Wylan waits on tenterhooks for him to find Jesper. Which he always does because he was already looking for him.
Married couples did not tend to call one another by their given names, at least not in company; Nina and Matthias do it because they have a fond disrespect for one another. Or Nina does anyway and it's rubbed off on Matthias.
Although Kaz and Inej are comparatively very young, twenty six is pushing it for the 'marriageability' of young women; Anne Elliot was twenty seven and was considered to have lost the 'bloom' of her youth, so she is being bourne down upon a bit.
The money concerns in Persuasion— landed gentry losing money and soldiers becoming 'new' money in the war via prize money, but still being looked down upon by the old nobility— are kinda reflected through Kaz and Jesper.
(to be so honest I do not quite understand how the regency economy worked but I figured that like, no one else reading this does either, unless ur a regency specialist. if you are, sorry. how's academia?)
I think we're actually not quite yet at the peak of the 'scandal sheet' Bridgerton-Lady-Whistledown craze, but I couldn't possibly deprive Kaz and Inej of their fishmarket wife gossip habit in any universe.
I also hate Lord Byron. Next!
Nina, Matthias, and Inej are not at the Wesper wedding because regency weddings were super tiny affairs that only had v close / local family and friends at them
I think the circumstances of Kaz and Jordie having been minor landed gentry having to join the navy out of necessity may be a bit of a stretch but... Well I had to think of something to replicate Kaz's backstory with. The easier solution would have been for them to marry rich but I can see Jordie thinking that trying to marry Kaz 'Cut Direct' Rietveld off to a Duchess might be a bit tough
A trousseau was the collection of clothes that women bought before they were married; it was an expected thing, to send brides off with new clothes. Nina and Mrs Ghafa (and Jesper) are a lot more interested in this than poor Inej is lol.
The made up house names are entirely inside jokes with myself. Geldings references horses but is actually a play on the Geldstraat, Crawley means 'clearing frequented by crows', Stavewell is a play on the Stave where Tante Heleen and the Menagerie are, and I think Trasselwood is fairly obvious lol.
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jackwolfes · 4 months
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jesper fahey's guide to high society and falling in love
"Lord Wylan Van Eck seemed to make an explosive first impression with Lord Jesper Hilli Fahey. Onlookers enjoyed the sight of their chemistry as they danced although, as this author understands, too much heat with the wrong sort of chemicals can cause quite the ugly reaction."
This is not the summer Jesper Fahey plans to marry. As the son of a modest baron, he has plans for the season ahead - but they don't account for meeting Wylan Van Eck. One bad dance is all it takes to launch Jesper on the season of a lifetime; one full of long days, gossip rags and marriage-minded marquises. The best he can hope for is to avoid getting into trouble too deep to escape from, but anything might happen in a season like this one.
Or: Regency-era Wesper AU
Read on AO3
Part 1: Ch1 // Ch2 // Ch3 // Ch4 // Ch5 // Ch6
Part 2: Ch7 // Ch8 // Ch9 // Ch10
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manikas-whims · 2 months
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26/02/2024: Nina and Matthias’s son asks Kaz if he’s a bad person
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“Uncle Kaz, are you a bad person?”
They were walking down the bustling streets of Little Ravka.
Unsurprisingly his four year-old nephew, Soren, had acquired the same love for waffles as his mother. From his father, had merely acquired the sparkling blue eyes which he weaponized quite a lot whenever he needed to coax Kaz into doing his bidding.
And so, after ignoring Soren’s adorable pleas and big, blue, sparkling eyes for hours, Kaz had agreed to take him out for a snack. As such, they were heading towards this famous local diner in the area to try some ravkan-styled waffles.
Kaz had expected the child to show his excitement over it. Expected the little one to constantly persuade him into buying delectable sweets on their way. But questions about his morality were the last thing he had imagined. And from a child at that.
“Why do you ask?” He spoke in an even tone.
The child replied without a beat. “Cause a lot of people in Fee-eda say so.”
“I see.”
It’d been years since the Ice Court Heist. Despite never being able to prove it, there was a common tale spread around the Fjerdan folk about a sinister Demjin named Kaz Brekker who had come from the land of Kerch and broke down the formidable walls of the Ice Court using his dark powers. That he had peeled off his gloves inside the court and cast a sinister enchantment with the devious motions of his fingers to corrupt the sacred tree. That he was a mad man who had stolen the Shu child on a whim, and then decided to sell him off to the highest bidding nation for further entertainment.
“Wanna know what I think?” Soren asked, waving his hands in excitement.
Kaz smirked. “I honestly don’t care but you’ll tell me anyway, won’t you?”
The boy giggled. “I will! I will!”
“Well..?” Kaz waited patiently, both gloved hands now resting on his crow head cane.
“I think you’re a good person.”
The words stupefied Kaz more than they should have.
“And what makes you believe so?” He asked. He was expecting some sort of innocent and childlike response such as: because you spoil me with candy, because you show me magic or because you defend me when Papa gets mad.
The boy however, tilted his head, cheeks puffing up as he collected his thoughts and formulated a response.
“Because Aunt Inej likes you.”
Once more Kaz was left stunned. And a little flustered by the child’s words. He could only hope no one else heard it for the mere idea of someone liking Dirtyhands could stir the entire barrel with some spicy rumors. And he would not want to deal with them when his little nephew was around.
Soren’s eyes twinkled as he went on. “Aunt Inej likes me too! And, and..she told me she only likes good people. So that means Uncle Kaz is good too!”
“Alright then, ” Kaz coughed to compose himself and offered a gloved hand for the boy to hold. “Let’s get you those damned waffles.”
Soren bounced with joy at that and accepted the proffered hand as they continued their walk.
» 15/? of Manika's Mini Fics «
Read my previous mini fic with Kaz and Soren HERE
SOC Masterlist
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rupturedhaven · 5 months
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Wylan delicately unwrapped the box, smiling at the tree ornament inside; a small figurine of an elf dressed in red and green with curly ginger hair and pink cheeks. “It’s adorable.”
“I saw it and it reminded me of you, so of course I had to get it.” Jesper smiled.
“I love it. Thank you.” Wylan grinned, pulling Jesper in for a kiss before moving over to the Christmas tree in the corner of the room. Deliberating for a moment, he moved some baubles around near the front to make room for it, hooking it onto one of the branches. “Perfect.”
Jesper inspected the tree and nodded happily. “Agreed. I wanted to find one for each of us but none of them could quite capture the contempt behind Kaz’s eyes. There’s always next year.”
-The "Where Do Broken Hearts Go?" Christmas special (Coming 20th December!)
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alltheworldsinmyhead · 4 months
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ain't no mountain (high enough)
Summary:
There is a wedding on a farm two towns over from Lij. Everybody talks / or, no trauma au
#no trauma AU #everyone is alive AU #Jordie Rietveld Lives #Family Drama #Wedding Fluff #Alternate Universe - 1950s(but very vaguely)#POV Multiple #POV Outsider #Kaz Brekker gets to have a mom #Inej Ghafa gets to be a blushing bride #awkward dinnertime conversations #cottagecore au #everyone is ooc because they are happy and mentally healthy #mentions of human trafficking #Culture Clashes #heirloom jewelry #all comfort no hurt #Happiness because they deserve it
LIJ AND TWO TOWNS OVER
The wedding is to take place on the Rietvelds' farm, two towns over from Lij. The banns are read in church a month before the set date; when the names of the bride and the groom are announced, a collective gasp spreads through the congregation like wind through a wheat field.
Soon enough, a small Suli caravan arrives in horse-drawn wagons, intricately painted in yellows and reds. Their women wear veils on their heads and their children are dressed in all manner of colorful clothes that the quaint Kerch countryside has never seen before. Ilke, the miller’s daughter, falls out of her window in her attempts to get a better look, getting a broken leg for all her efforts (but then again, Karl, the shoemaker says to anyone who would listen, she was never the shiniest apple on a branch, if you know what I mean). They set up a camp by the forest edge, on the border of Rietvelds’ and van Graafs' fields. The children sneak in closer to gawk at them and their parents pretend that they don’t notice it.
It is said that the younger Rietveld boy met his bride in Ketterdam, during his studies at the University, but what the girl was doing there no one knows and the tongues waggle feverishly.
There is, of course, a leading hypothesis, because what else could a Suli girl be doing in a big city, but the voices hush wherever even a strand of hair on Theresa Rietveld’s head shows up. Everyone and their mother knows she is very protective of her younger son and she doesn’t tend to hold her words back whenever she feels his character is judged unfairly (and she feels so fairly often, according to the general opinion of her neighbors. Insufferable woman. But who could blame her for placing all of her hopes in Kazimir, after Jordan– )
Whoever she is and whatever she did back in Ketterdam, there is one thing everyone can agree on when it comes to Miss Inej Ghafa:
She’s so pretty, the little girls sigh and their fathers nod and their mother shake their heads.
The bride-to-be rides in the wagon leading the procession down the dusty country roads, all dressed up with ribbons and paper-mache lanterns and flowers. Sitting underneath the garland of red geraniums, she is as radiant as the sun, a light-yellow veil spilling down her dark hair and a sheer scarf around her shoulders. She doesn’t rouge her cheeks or lips like the bolder local girls do and she doesn’t wear curls. Her beauty is a quiet, intriguing one, not drawing attention but making it hard to pull one’s eyes away once they find her. She watches everything, wide-eyed, and Lij watches her right back.
She meets their stares, openly. Boldly.
************read more on ao3**************
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roses-and-riots · 4 months
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when the devil calls
a Kanej, Fake Dating Sci-Fi AU | rated: E | wc: 5.8k, chapter: 1/? | tags: dirty cop!Kaz, corruption + murder, revenge, fake dating
Kaz Brekker, member of the Stadwatch on Ketterdam Station, would do anything that it took to get ahead. After all, that was why he was a fucking cop.
But when a new case lands on his lap, all of his carefully-laid plans are blown up in his face. Pekka Rollins, crime boss and the target of Kaz’s ire, shows up dead––someone got to him before he could. And then there’s the entanglement that comes with the case. Inej Ghafa went from belonging to The Menagerie to Rollins, but even with his death she knows she’s not free. So in exchange for her protection, she offers to give information to Kaz… under the guise of them pretending to be in a relationship.
It’s a terrible idea that Kaz can’t bring himself to say no to. Especially as pretending blurs into reality and he finds that he has a new compass to guide his violent revenge.
read on ao3
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Don't Go Blindly Into the Dark
Summary:
To hide that he can't read, Jan Van Eck has been forcing his son to pretend he's blind since he was eight years old. Wylan is now attending Ketterdam University, and meeting Jesper Fahey may very well be about to change his life. But is he safe to tell Jesper the truth? And what will Jesper say if he does?
Jesper is struggling to weigh up his life in the Barrel and his life at the University of Ketterdam, and there's a good chance that his growing debt is about to make the decision for him. He hasn't attended class consecutively for months, but maybe that will change when his newest project includes partnering up with Wylan Van Eck. But can he really leave the Barrel behind him? And how long can he keep up the pretence of who he thinks Wylan wants him to be?
Content warnings for this chapter: weapons, implied ptsd references, gambling addiction
@justalunaticfangirl
If anyone else would like to be tagged let me know :)
AO3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/55445686/chapters/140819224
Chapter 4 - Jesper
By the time Jesper woke up, he was supposed to already be in the library. Shit. Shit shit shit. He fumbled his way into his coat and hurried out of his dorm, arriving just in time to see his new Business and Markets partner walking back out of the building. Shit shit shit.
“Excuse me,” he’d said, hurrying to catch up with the boy yesterday.
He’d turned to face him slowly. 
“Hi. Are you…” Jesper surveyed the piece of paper in his hand, as if he didn’t know exactly what it said and exactly who he was talking to, “Wylan Van Eck?”
Wylan raised an eyebrow, tapping his slender cane pointedly against the floorboards. Up close Jesper could see that the kid’s eyes were slightly clouded over, softening the edges of what otherwise would have been a startling blue, but there was no sign of whatever accident might have caused him to lose his sight - except maybe a small, slender scar above his right cheekbone. But unless a good deal of it had faded since he was a child, the scar didn’t cross either of his eyes.
As soon as the note had shown up at his dorm this morning, stating his new partner for Business and Markets was none other than the merchling he’d seen leaving the office yesterday, the reason the dean had put them together was glaringly obvious: Jesper would have to take responsibility for writing the project, so he would be forced to do the work himself instead of letting Helena Dentte gift-wrap him a decent grade. Not that a single decent grade would’ve let him escape from the approaching surety that he was going to flunk out and end up wandering aimlessly around the Barrel until - until what? Until he ended up dead in a ditch somewhere?
“You already know that,” said Wylan, folding his arms.
“Alright, yeah, I already know that. I’m Jesper Fahey, I’m in your class; Economic Principles for-”
“For Business and Markets, right,” he nodded, “We’re being reassigned as partners?”
“Yeah,”
There was a pause.
“Do you, erm, want to meet some time to get started, or…?”
Jesper wasn’t really sure where that ‘or’ was going. 
“I have to get home pretty quickly after class,” Wylan swallowed, “My father worries. But I could meet you in the library tomorrow morning?”
Jesper nodded, then caught himself and said:
“Yeah, that sounds good. Say ten bells?”
“Ten bells,” 
To be entirely honest, he hadn’t been thrilled to see Wylan Van Eck’s name on the note he was currently distractedly crumpling between his fingers. The chances of him being more likely to pay for a grade than work for it were too high, and if Jesper was going to be stuck doing all the work alone then this plan of the dean’s was going to crash and burn about twenty times faster than it was already likely to. But at least he seemed prepared to start the project - Jesper couldn’t actually remember what the project was, so he’d have to hunt through the piles of abandoned papers in his room later to try and find the original assignment. But he’d had things to attend to first, and judging by this morning he’d apparently let them get out of hand. At least he woke up on campus though.
“Wylan!” he called, rushing up to the boy as he reached the base of the stone stairs, one hand on the railing and the other using his cane to find the edge of each step, “Hey, sorry, it’s Jesper. I’m so sorry-”
“Oh, so you decided to grace me with your presence?” Wylan snapped, turning to face him.
Jesper was taken slightly by surprise.
“Really,” he said, “I’m sorry, I just-”
“Showed up horrendously late,”
“Hey, look kid,” Jesper snapped, because it only took about three seconds for him to get defensive, “I’m trying to apologise to you here-”
“Don’t call me kid,” said Wylan, turning away, “If you want to try showing up tomorrow, I’ll be here from eight,”
Jesper was too taken aback to reply, and for a moment he just stood at the base of the stairs, watching Wylan walk away. He sighed - what time was it? He pulled the timepiece from his pocket and discovered he was over two hours late. Okay, maybe Wylan was right to be a little annoyed. More than a little annoyed. 
Twelve bells. He could go to the library alone, to study for a while. He could go and find that assignment, so he knew what he was actually doing when he met Wylan tomorrow. There were a thousand things he could have done.
He walked back to the Barrel, wondering vaguely what Wylan Van Eck was doing at the library from eight in the morning. It was a rare thing for Jepser to see eight in the morning. Jesper didn't want to cross paths with Wylan again until tomorrow; it was impossible to avoid the Geldcanal on the way back to the Staves but Wylan had gone North so Jesper moved South and crossed into East Stave not far from the Slat. 
When he’d arrived last night it had been about eight bells, leaving Jesper just enough time to change out of his ugly brown coat before he got to the Crow Club, and he’d found Nina on the doorstep of the Slat. It had taken him by surprise - she didn’t come this way much. Kaz had branded her a snob for it, but they all knew Nina was only here to find a means to an end. Jesper didn’t know the full story, but her beau was stuck in Hellgate on some false charges - at least she was claiming they were false, anyway - and she was making very slow progress through the living nightmare that was Kerch’s legal system in an attempt to win his freedom. But she wasn’t here tonight, and as Jesper wandered past and up towards the Crow Club he wondered what she’d been up to last night.  He hadn’t seen Kaz, in the end, except very briefly when he crossed through the Club and gave Jesper nothing more than a sidewards glance, but he had seen Inej. 
When Kaz walked through, Jesper was briefly overcome with the need to go and apologise to him. But that was the stupid in him; the part of him that imagined Kaz would forgive him and move on as though this weren’t the fifteen hundredth time he’d brought trouble to his door. He had to wonder why he kept him around, but the answer came pretty easily: he was a good shot, and they both knew he would stay no matter what Kaz said because he had nowhere else to go. So he didn’t make eye contact with Kaz, and instead turned his attention back to his hand of cards and the group of pigeons ready to pour their hard-earned cash into the Dregs’ coffers. It had been a couple of hours later when Inej appeared from nowhere and tapped him on the shoulder.
“Saints -” Jesper jumped, “you have got to stop doing that,”
“Not likely,” she said, “I might need you, I’m going to West Stave,”
Jesper frowned. 
“You are?”
“Nina needs me for something, didn’t say what in the message. I just - well, I don’t know what she wants. She said she’d meet me at Goedmed bridge,”
“Okay,” Jesper paused, “What do you need me for? I’m supposed to be here all night,”
“Kaz knows,”
Jesper fidgeted with one of his rings for a moment, then nodded. He kept up a steady stream of chatter as they walked to West Stave, because he knew Inej would find it easier than the quiet.
“And you’re joining me at university this week then?” he asked, when he was finally starting to run out of topics.
“In three days, if all goes to plan. I don’t really know what the plan is, but…”
“Let’s face it,” Jesper sighed, “even when he tells us, we never actually know the plan. I’ll never know how he does it,”
“I think it’s called running on up to sixty percent dumb luck,” said Inej, as Goedmed bridge and the silhouette of Nina Zenik came into view ahead of them.
As they approached Jesper realised the strange thing: Nina was wearing her kefta. Of course he knew she wore one at the White Rose, he’d been enough times when jobs went wrong and either he or a compatriot needed Healing, but he also knew she never wore it outside of the building. It just wasn’t safe to wander the streets so brazenly proclaiming you were Grisha like that. He fidgeted, finally falling quiet, and he felt Inej’s eyes flicking over him. Did she know? Had Kaz told her?
“Sorry,” said Nina, looking at Inej as they met on the bridge, “I know the note was vague, I wasn’t sure how much I could really say,”
“What’s going on?”
She played with the sleeve of her kefta.
“I’ve got a job, I don’t… I don’t know exactly what it’s going to look like, and I don’t like going out in this thing. I was just going to ask if you could tail me?”
Inej nodded, slowly.
“Where’s the job?”
“The Geldstraat,”
Jesper raised an eyebrow.
“What are you doing on the Geldstraat?”
“I have absolutely no idea. Something a Merchant Council member didn’t want to touch the White Rose for,”
“So literally anything?” offered Jesper.
Nina made a face that said ‘yeah, pretty much’. Inej rested her fingers on the knife handle in her belt - the one with the roses on, Jesper couldn’t remember which Saint she’d named after. He was distracted, because he’d noticed that she laid her hands on it or any of her other knives the same way he did his guns. She was on edge.
Now, as Jesper reached the Crow Club and the sun remained obstinately hidden behind a cloud, the building was about as quiet as he had seen it all month. He fought a yawn as he wandered in, surveying the several empty tables, but before he had a chance to take a seat at one of them games that was actually in progress Kaz had appeared ahead of him.
“I need you at Fifth Harbour,”
“Well, good morning to you too,”
Kaz didn’t look amused.
“Fifth Harbour. We’re quiet,”
“It’s always quiet at this time,”
“It’s too quiet. Go,”
Jesper went. And as much as he might have wanted - needed - to do otherwise, he took himself back to the University District that evening and he went to the library the next morning. He didn’t go at eight, because that was just ridiculous, but he managed to make it for nina bells half chime and he didn’t think that was bad at all. He found Wylan sitting alone at one of the tables, apparently not doing anything.
“Hey, kid, it’s me - Jesper,”
“I’m not a kid,” Wylan snapped, turning towards Jesper’s voice.
“Sure,” Jesper sat down opposite him, “You’re an elder statesman,”
Wylan ignored him. They started work, evidently both half-heartedly, and at some point Wylan muttered:
“I hate economics,”
Jesper snorted.
“Same. What a perfect partnership,” he plunked his fountain pen onto his desk, “Why do you even have to take this class then? Don’t you inherit Daddy’s business either way, merchling?”
Wylan grimaced.
“That’s even worse than kid. And no, I don’t,”
“What do you mean you don’t?”
“How am I supposed to run a business, Jepser?” he shook his head, “My stepmother’s kid’ll take it,”
There was no spite or jealousy in his tone, and yet there seemed something profoundly melancholic about every word he spoke. Jesper wasn’t sure why being blind meant you couldn’t run a business, so he said so, and Wylan just scoffed. 
“I’m just saying,” said Jesper, “if they think there’s any hope of teaching me how to run a business they must know how to teach you to run one. And anyway, if you hate economics and you’re not even gonna run the business, what are you doing in this class?”
Wylan shrugged.
“It was the only thing that would make my father agree to let me come to the University,” he said, “One business class. Just in case,”
“Just in case of what?”
Wylan either didn’t hear that question or just ignored him, but Jesper was pretty sure it was the latter based on the blush that gathered in his cheeks.
“Why are you here, if you hate it so much?”
“To find my entrepreneurial spirit, of course,”
Wylan raised his eyebrows, his scar shimmering ever so slightly in the sunlight coming through the window.
“And what’s your grand business idea, then?”
Jesper grinned. 
“I’m thinking of providing a service for rich kids who want to make their parents mad,”
“I’d roll my eyes, but that would probably be quite fruitful,”
Jesper barked a laugh.
“And that’s without even knowing how cute I am,” he teased, “Trust me, if you knew what I looked like you’d know I’m gonna charge a pretty steep fee,”
“Is that so?”
“Sure is. What do you think merchling? You could be my first client,”
Wylan did roll his eyes then, and Jesper watched the blue move beneath the slightly cloudy film.
“I think you need to stop calling me merchling,”
“I’m afraid that would come with a price tag attached,”
“Are you flirting, or just broke?”
Jepser laughed again.
“Oh, it’s almost definitely both,”
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stray-kaz · 11 months
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Love is a Battlefield : a Kaz Brekker x f!reader drabble
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Summary: Kaz and reader get mad and get...even?
A/N: In this, Kaz has had some healing from trauma and is okay with his Crows alone touching him. 
18+ elements, but nothing overt.
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“You’ve been doing that a little too often lately” you commented, waltzing easily into Kaz’s office to see him swigging from a metal flask.
He cast you a calculated side eye glance, upper lip curled.
“What of it?”
You shrugged, leaning on the desk in front of him.
“Do you have a drinking problem, boss?” you asked coolly.
The flask was slammed onto the desk, a little of the clear liquid sloshing over the narrow rim. He glowered at you.
“I have a you problem” he shot back. 
You raised your eyebrows, askance.
“Seriously?” you demanded. “A me problem? What have I ever done to you, Dirtyhands?”
He scoffed and stood up, nose to nose with you for a moment and then taller.
“You run your mouth worse than Jesper, you hug everyone, you just love who you want, it’s ridiculous. You throw yourself into situations that are too dangerous for you to handle adequately -”
You cut him off then, fury rising.
“Adequately?” you repeated. “Too dangerous for me, Kaz Brekker? I am a healer. It’s my job to be in the warzones so I can heal. I do the opposite of what Nina does.”
Kaz seemed to stop breathing for a moment before he focused his formidable gaze on you again.
“You are not Nina” he said very quietly.
You stared back at him, suddenly aware of the snappable tension in the office. Pity you didn’t carry a knife.
“Well, of course not” you said lightly, trying to defuse. “Nina breaks hearts, I fix them.”
“You. Are. Not. Nina” Kaz repeated, enunciating every single word with the utmost care. “The danger is not for you. I am not for you. Stop trying to fix my heart.”
You just looked at him, quizzical. Kaz was authoritative, strong willed and hard headed, but never vulnerable, not with you.
“I have never tried to fix your heart” you said slowly.
He glared.
“Then what are you trying to do?” he asked harshly.
“Love it.”
You said the words so quietly, half hoping he hadn’t heard, but he had. The fine line between you snapped as Kaz rounded the desk and kissed you, hard. His gloved fingers gripped and slipped over your jaw, the other arm wound around your waist like an anchor. Not that you needed one.
You looked up at him when you broke apart at the mouth, chest heaving against his. His pupils were wide and blown, the blue a narrow ring around each. He breathed your name, shocked, and that was all it took for you to drag him back by his collar, his mouth hard on yours and all consuming.
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Outside the office, Jesper and Nina hovered, both having been aware you had gone in there earlier, perhaps even looking for a fight. Now, they could hear pens and paper falling to the floor, the clang of something hard and metallic. They could hear loud banging and felt the thin wall shake as bodies thudded against it from inside the room.
Jesper raised his eyebrows at Nina when they heard the desk legs move, screech across the wooden floor.
“Do we need to intervene?” she asked anxiously. “They sound like they’re killing each other in there!”
Jesper pressed his ear to the closed door, concentrating, and heard a gasp, a tearing of fabric, and then a moan. He straightened up, looked wide eyed at Nina.
“Nope! Definitely not killing each other!”
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funnyao3 · 7 months
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"What are we here for if you won't tell us what's happening," Nina whines. 
"I wanted to hang out with Wylan," he says with a flat tone that Wylan has already come to learn as Kaz's form of sarcasm. 
"We were gonna do face masks and watch a romcom later," Wylan says, and Kaz's eye twitches as he gives a tiny nod in affirmation. At least he's committed to the bit, no matter how much he undoubtedly wants to glare at Wylan for the terrible addition.
Nina stares at the two of them, bewildered and speechless for all of three seconds. "When the hell did you two become such great friends?"
"We've always been great friends," Wylan and Kaz say at the same time, in the same dead tone.
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quillsthrills · 1 year
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Masterpost Kanej Fanfics
For those who are interested I have compiled a list of my Kanej-centric fics below. Be warned: I am a sucker for fluff with a side of murderous rage, but I suck at angst. :)
A Life For Us 
Words: 16,447 Rating: M
Post Crooked Kingdom, featuring Captain Ghafa and Kaz Brekker deciding he might as well run the whole show. Fluff factor: High
Notes to Inej 
Words: 2890 Rating: Not Rated
When Inej returns from her first voyage on the Wraith she finds The Slat cold and empty. While waiting for Kaz to (hopefully) return she borrows his coat to keep warm, and in the pocket she finds an unexpected treasure. Fluff factor: Through the roof
The Chink in his Armour
Words: 1233 Rating: Not Rated
Who in their right mind keeps returning to Ketterdam? A Kanej one-shot (my first). Fluff factor: Bunny rabbit
Treasure of my Heart
Words: 50,357 Rating: Teen and up
AU where Inej arrives in Ketterdam to study law, but after a traumatic event her world is turned upside down and she finds herself accepting an offer she should refuse. NOW COMPLETE. Fluff factor: Soft, with a side of simping. Features all the Crows.
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kazcreates · 13 days
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The Kanej Dreams AU
(The synopsis of a fic that I plan to finish eventually)
In a world where soulmates can visit each other in their dreams if they are asleep at the same time, despite living in different countries far apart, once little Kaz Rietveld and Inej Ghafa meet, they’re practically inseparable. Inej begs her mama and papa to put her to bed early so that she can see her friend. They have the most wonderful times together, in a dreamland of their own making.
For years, it goes on like this. They play and laugh and tell each other stories of their homelands, their families, their friends. They don’t yet know what it means that they are there, together.
A little while after Kaz turns 8, things change. Inej arrives one night to their dreamscape, and Kaz is not there waiting for her. She finds him crying and distressed. He tells her that he and Jordie will have to leave their home tomorrow, their father is dead. He is terrified, but she comforts him and keeps him company throughout the night.
That’s the last time she sees him for the next 8 years.
When they meet again, the dreamscape is different. No longer the vast open fields that they had explored in their youth, but a single room, meagerly furnished. Inej is dressed in purple menagerie silks. She does not recognize the boy sitting behind the desk across from her, but she still knows his name.
“Kaz?”
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