“What do you like?” “Music. Numbers. Equations. They’re not like words. They … they don’t get mixed up.”
“If only you could talk to girls in equations.” There was a long silence, and then, eyes trained on the notch they’d created in the link, Wylan said, “Just girls?”
Jesper restrained a grin. “No. Not just girls.”
sixofcrowsnw challenge: take two
FEBRUARY 14-20: best moment of your otpNina x Matthias
“I am grateful you’re alive,” he said. “I am grateful you’re beside me. I am grateful that you’re eating .”
She rested her head on his shoulder. “You’re better than waffles, Matthias Helvar.”
A small smile curled the Fjerdan’s lips. “Let’s not say things we don’t mean, my love.”Inej x Kaz
“Come with me,” she said. “Come meet them.”
Kaz nodded as if steeling himself, flexed his fingers once more.
“Wait,” he said. The burn of his voice was rougher than usual. “Is my tie straight?”
Inej laughed, her hood falling back from her hair.
“That’s the laugh,” he murmured, but she was already setting off down the quay, her feet barely touching the ground.Wylan x Jesper
Jesper leaned in and said, quietly enough that no one else could hear, “I can read to him.”
“He has a very soothing baritone,” added Wylan, and then the guards were hauling his father down the aisle.
sixofcrowsnw challenge (take two) week 1: a quote for each ship
No mourners, no funerals. Another way of saying good luck. But it was something more. A dark wink to the fact that there would be no expensive burials for people like them, no marble markers to remember their names, no wreaths of myrtle and rose.
I make my husband a sandwich everyday for work. Once, I jokingly kissed it to show him that I made it “with love.” But then for some reason it stuck, and that just became the habit. Make sandwich, give it a little smooch, put into baggie. Except when I’m mad at him. Then that sandwich isn’t made with love. It gets no kiss. Yeah, enjoy that sandwich, jerkface. I hope it tastes like despair.
imagine your otp
martiantigers-blog said: Can you do wesper for 6?
6 - things you said under the stars and in the grass
“i think i want to go to ravka.”
it’s been on his mind for weeks, even months. somehow, it’s only away from ketterdam that jesper finds himself able to say it, at the edge of the farm with wylan’s head in his lap. fingers tug absentmindedly at golden curls, and it feels a million miles away from what he’s come to think of as his life.
their life.
things feel less real out here, or– maybe more vividly real than before. whatever it is, it lets him speak now and the words come out in a rushed breath, misting slightly in the night air.
“hm?” wylan blinks up at him, only half-awake. blue eyes turn darker, more luminous in the moonlight.
“ravka,” he repeats, and he can see the second wylan comes awake properly, eyes all ridiculously lit up. wylan’s been waiting for months to hear him say it. “i want to go.” there, he’s said it. deep breath. “see what it’s like.”
train, maybe. learn to use his powers properly, talk to other grisha. maybe not, but it could happen, if not soon then one day. he could visit for a while, just as a tourist, as a guest, come home, go back. one step at a time.
wylan looks delighted (of course he does, most days he’s more excited about jesper’s powers than jesper is) but somehow manages to keep his enthusiasm to a manageable level. “if that’s what you want… i think that’s really good.”
i’m proud of you.
it’s one thing to say it out there, throwing the future up to the sky and dreaming up possibilities. in three days, they’ll be back in ketterdam. jesper doesn’t know how he’s going to feel about it then, if he’ll even keep the nerve to see it through.
he’d like to try.
Anonymous said: 3, 8, 9, or 11 for wesper!!! (I love ur way with words????)
3 - things you said too quietly
jesper doesn’t look up when wylan joins him, overlooking the side of the ship. he’s used to it by now. the sea, the stars, the silent side-by-side. it’s peaceful – some might even call it romantic – and wylan hates as much as treasures it because jesper doesn’t even know it’s him.
ninety-nine percent of the time, wearing kuwei’s features is a relief. wylan can’t even recognise himself in the mirror, except as a stranger, and it makes him feel freer than he can remember. people have always told him he looks like his father. familial resemblance be damned, there’s nothing familial about it.
sometimes, just once, he wishes jesper could realise who it is standing next to him.
of course, wylan would never have the nerve to do this looking like himself, so maybe the fact that he’s here and able to do it at all is a blessing. there’s no point, though, when jesper looks at him and sees kuwei, gives him the polite smile reserved for a reticent stranger, with none of the warmth and brightness wylan’s come to know and he feels a second behind the rest of the world.
jesper doesn’t know. he doesn’t know, but– wylan hates the feeling of being a stranger among people he’d begun, tentatively, to feel at ease with.
they never talk. wylan doesn’t know much shu, and his kerch (unaccented, fluent) would give him away. jesper’s content to stay silent too, which is strange, but wylan can’t push it because he can’t speak, although he wants to ask. he wants to ask so much the need of it almost chokes him, to say something, anything.
jesper, it’s me.
would jesper care, even if he knew? now that they’re set for home (home?), going their separate ways, three million kruge richer, would he care who’s at his side when there’s nothing left to bind them together? it’s not like there’s much of a chance to find out.
just girls? no. not just girls.
did they really survive the ice court just to end up here?
“what did you say?”
jesper’s staring at him, full attention - quizzical, surprised, a little bit uncertain. shit. wylan said that out loud. muttered quietly enough that, small blessings, jesper probably didn’t have time to recognise the voice or even realise what he said, only that he said something. that’s why he’s staring, wylan reminds himself. he thinks it’s kuwei talking.
that’s why he’s surprised.
words dance on the edge of wylan’s tongue, but he swallows them down. the tips of his ears are flushed and his heart beats in his throat as he drops his eyes from jesper’s, turns back to the sea.
he can feel jesper’s eyes on him a minute longer, considering and then dismissing. what’s one more strange passenger in a crew of thieves and criminals, after all?
what’s one more could-have-been in sixteen years of not good enough?
nothing. and so they say nothing at all.
or, the one where Wylan is struggling to pay his rent and plays music on the streets, Jesper dances and has no restraint and may or may not dance along to a cute street musician, and everyone is embarrassed at what these dorks get up to. {ao3}
It was February, another snowstorm had just hit, Wylan Hendriks was behind on his rent again, and apparently no one on this street had ever learned the values of tipping.
For all intents and purposes, the day should have gone well. He’d set up near a museum that was usually filled with tourists, but today it was curiously empty. Wylan had also started off with playing the violin, which usually worked in more “cultured” areas, but there was hardly anyone around to even hear him. The most attention he’d gotten was a few vaguely dirty looks and a disapproving glance from a police officer. However, the worst part of the day was the man who had walked up when Wylan pulled out his guitar and started singing, seemingly enjoying his performance… and then walked away.
All in all, he made a whopping three dollars.
Cutting ties with your rich father is, unsurprisingly, costly.
bienmoreau said: Jes is a* at making sweet pancakes but he'll only do so for wylan (and Kuwei) because he gotta protect that street cred yo. ..he really likes being able to spoil him with good breakfasts and yes they are ofc in lots of shapes to match his boy(s). (And there's always at least one heart shaped one) but sshhhh no one can know.
i bet u £10 nina and inej know. not only that, i bet nina’s said (mostly jokingly) to matthias why do you never make me breakfast? but let’s be real, matthias isn’t a great cook, she isn’t sure she wants him to try. SURPRISE though, matthias is actually great at desserts and the very next morning nina wakes up to a plate of fancy waffles and pancakes and matthias looks so proud of himself he forgets to be tired because he spent like three hours that morning getting it right
“See now? That’s why he likes you. I know, I know—it’s none of my business, and I have no idea if he’d be good for you. Probably bring you ten kinds of headache. But I think you’d be good for him.”
queeerkings said: my dude, jesper goes into coffee shops and goes "yes hello i would like a venti caramel macchiato with three pumps of hazelnut syrup ice and matcha powder also please do this at 43.27 degrees"
wylan, the barista, makes that exact order while looking jesper in the eyes the whole time. jesper is in love
crooked kingdom countdown: week 2: favorite quote(s) ½
“You can’t kiss me from down there, Wylan.”
some wylans and a jesper :D (yep more soc art because these two destroyed me in crooked kingdom)
ily: i love you
ilysm: i love you so much
idkmilysf: i dont know! maybe i liked your stupid face
