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‘That was- he’s really good,’ Wylan stammered and Jesper had to bite his lip to stop himself from laughing as Pekka Rollins’s son walked away from the piano, smiling happily at the complete ruckus he’d just caused. How Wylan managed to even somewhat stay polite was a mystery to Jesper, but then again, so were many things about Wylan.
‘I just think,’ Wylan said, stumbling over his words and Jesper had to stop himself from staring at him like a lovesick puppy. He’d really not expected to feel quite so… untethered around Wylan so quickly, but something about the other’s wide-eyed wonder, his small smiles, his surprising resourcefulness and downright insane skills with chemicals had unlocked something in Jesper that he hadn’t known was there.
‘With a bit of practice,’ Wylan continued, ripping Jesper out of his musings. ‘That could turn into something like this.’
Then, Wylan sat down at the piano, long, delicate fingers hovering over the keys for a short moment before he began to play a soft, delicate, mournful but also cautiously brilliant melody.
Jesper’s breath caught in his throat. For a single moment in time, nothing mattered, not the fact that they’d broken into Rollins’s house, not the fact that Rollins had a son, not the fact that Kaz had blown up the Crow Club, not even the fact that Jesper had no home and was wanted for murder- because Wylan’s playing opened up his heart and made his soul sing. He blinked a few times, feeling unexpected tears in his eyes as he watched as Wylan ducked his head, his eyes closing slightly, his fingers caressing the keys and saints, Jesper had never been jealous of a piano before. Jesper watched the gentle unclenching of Wylan’s jaw as he sank into the music, watched as some of the tension seeped out of Wylan’s shoulders, like he’d found safety in this maelstrom of bad decisions and violent mob bosses.
Jesper couldn’t tear his eyes off Wylan’s face, the slope of his neck, the long eye lashes adorning those oh-so-inquisitive eyes, that were half-lidded in concentration and… bliss? He catalogued the ways Wylan’s fingers easily slotted into place, the short moment stretched into eternity as Jesper watched Wylan play and suddenly, desperately something in Jesper shifted. He’d wanted to kiss Wylan since the moment he’d first seen him in the tannery, mousy brown hair mussed and sweat dripping down his face - and he had kissed him, had done much more than kissing, but now, suddenly, he wanted to do it again. He frankly never wanted to stop kissing Wylan, or to stop hearing his voice, soft, shy, but surprisingly incessant at times. He didn’t want to stop listening to Wylan play the piano, he didn’t want to stop hearing his opinions, he didn’t want to stop annoying him and he didn’t want to stop heroically saving him from goons.
That didn’t happen. That never happened to Jesper. His life didn’t lend itself to stability or relationships, and he’d been content with a string of short-lived lovers. He hadn’t thought he wanted anything else. But now here Wylan was, stumbling back into Jesper’s life like a prince who’d fallen out of a storybook, eyes wide and inquisitive, a sharpness in his wit that Jesper had severely underestimated and an uncanny, exceedingly brave kindness.
Wylan leaned forward a bit, gently letting the music taper out and Jesper was transported back to the moment, realising that he’d been staring at Wylan like a fool, but a quick glance away told him that both Alby Rollins and his governess had done the same thing. Wylan’s playing had inspired awe even in the little demon of a child. Jesper heard Wylan shift and like a moth drawn to a flame, he looked back at Wylan, hoping against hope that the tears that had started to form in his eyes weren’t quite as obvious as he thought they would be.
Wylan’s expression was open and Jesper wanted to lean down and kiss him, breathe his air, tell him how beautiful the music had been, ask him where he’d learnt it, ask him what music he liked and if he could play more and then he wanted to kiss him again and again and never stop because Wylan was the most interesting person he’d ever met and wasn’t that a saint-given miracle? That he’d met Wylan again, after that fantastic first time.
And yes, maybe it wasn’t so much a miracle as it was Kaz’s meddling (who, undoubtedly, had remembered when Jesper, uncharacteristically, had mourned the loss of morning sex and cuddles after Wylan had left), but Jesper didn’t care, not really. Maybe he’d ought to thank Kaz, one of these days, when the man wasn’t busy gambling their lives away.
Wylan’s soft smile disrupted Jesper’s thought process again. Even if the other had stopped playing, just looking at Wylan’s face, his surprised smile and his wide, beautiful eyes made it feel like Jesper’s soul was singing.
‘That was nice,’ Alby said and Jesper blinked, remembering that he wasn’t alone with Wylan and that they were still very much in a house they’d just broken into.
‘Thank you,’ the governess said and Jesper gathered himself enough to nod while Wylan stood up, an easy smile on his face.
‘You’re most welcome,’ Wylan said, an easy charm in his voice. ‘It’s always a pleasure to help a young student with his first forays into musicality.’
Saints, Jesper wanted to kiss him.
Wylan and the governess exchanged a few more pleasantries before she bade them goodbye because Master Rollins the younger was itching for his afternoon tea.
Wylan and Jesper hurried out of the room as quickly as they could, down a corridor and into another abandoned room when they finally looked at each other again.
Jesper started giggling silently.
‘Hoppe and Sons?’ he asked, moving into Wylan’s space more than was strictly necessary as they slowly creeped to the window to monitor the guards outside.
‘Hey, it worked, didn’t it?’
Jesper grinned.
‘It worked perfectly. Good thinking,’ he said.
Wylan smiled, blushing slightly.
‘Thank you.’
‘Where’d you learn to play the piano, anyway?’ Jesper asked.
Wylan shrugged.
‘There was an old one down the street from the tannery,’ he said, avoiding Jesper’s gaze. ‘Some of the old warehouses I used to sleep in before Kaz found me also… had some out of tune pianos in there.’
Jesper cocked his head.
‘So you just… learnt it?’
Wylan looked back up at Jesper.
‘Why not?’
Jesper shrugged.
‘I wasn’t expecting you to have quite so many talents,’ Jesper said, letting his eyes run appreciatively over Wylan’s red face. ‘Is there anything else you’re hiding from me, gorgeous?’
For a moment, Jesper could swear that Wylan looked like a deer caught in headlights. Then, he rolled his eyes.
‘I play the flute, if you must know.’
Jesper’s mind short-circuited for a moment, imagining Wylan’s delicate fingers running over a flute, his bottom lip pressed against the mouthpiece.
‘They’ve gone,’ Wylan said and Jesper blinked.
‘What?’
‘The guards. We should go.’
Jesper cleared his throat.
‘Oh, right. Yes.’
Wylan raised an eyebrow at Jesper, but shrugged and walked away, slipping out of the window in front of Jesper who was still trying desperately not to think too hard of whether Wylan could sing and if yes, if he would sing for him.
With a shake of his head, Jesper returned to the present, pushing himself out of the window after Wylan and hurrying away towards the road.
‘That went surprisingly well, all things considered,’ Wylan noted as they were far away enough to breathe easily. Jesper chuckled, noting how Wylan walked just slightly closer to him, their arms pushing against each other and their fingers brushing. It sent shivers down his spine.
‘It was definitely one of the weirder heists Kaz has had us do.’
Wylan looked up at him.
‘Heists, plural?’
Jesper grinned.
‘If there’s something Kaz is good at, it’s heisting. And I excel at it.’
Wylan’s lips stretched into a soft smile.
‘What was your favourite?’
Jesper blinked, surprised at the question.
‘Oh- the one time we tried to kidnap the sun summoner was… eventful.’
Wylan stopped in his tracks.
‘You kidnapped the sun summoner?’
Jesper shrugged.
‘Well, we tried. Technically it worked, but she sort of kidnapped herself so-’
‘She- Jes, how do you kidnap yourself?’
Jesper grinned, throwing an arm around Wylan and pulling him along, ignoring the way his heart skipped a beat at the other’s use of his nickname.
‘So we’d successfully infiltrated the palace, which wasn’t a small feat, but then Arken, the guy Nina also worked with, small world, huh? Well, he betrayed us and tried to kill the sun summoner so we’d kind of given up on getting her, so I left to get the horses and then I saw Alina just… leave and climb into the trunk at the back of the carriage. We found out later that she’d found out that the Darkling was… well, still the Darkling, and wanted to run away but in that moment it really felt like some saint had finally smiled down upon us.’
Wylan stared up at Jesper, leaning into his touch slightly.
‘That sounds… eventful.’
‘That’s putting it nicely. Ravka… was a lot.’
Wylan smiled.
‘I can imagine.’
‘You should have seen the look on Kaz’s and Inej’s faces when I told them we had the sun summoner in our trunk,’ Jesper said, letting himself indulge in storytelling with such an attentive audience. ‘Priceless.’
‘I can’t believe you’ve met the sun summoner,’ Wylan said as they rounded the corner to where they’d parked the rat catcher carriage. ‘Was she… nice?’
Jesper nodded as they climbed up on the carriage, both settling in the seat that technically was just shy of too small for two grown men.
‘She was very nice when she wasn’t trying to blow us up for kind of accidentally kidnapping her. She gave Kaz her necklace- and Inej really looks up to her.’
Wylan didn’t shift away from Jesper as they started their journey back towards the cemetery. Jesper tried very hard not to read too much into it.
‘I can’t believe you tried to kidnap the sun summoner,’ Wylan laughed. ‘Although, it seems very Kaz.’
Jesper snorted.
‘It does, doesn’t it? Kaz’d probably try and steal the moon if you offered him enough kruge.’
Wylan giggled, soft and melodic and Jesper wanted to bottle that sound up and keep it with him.
‘I don’t doubt he’d find a way,’ Wylan said.
‘It would all go horribly wrong but then he’d have another fifty backup plans and somehow, we’d still end up shooting our way out.’
‘Sounds chaotic.’
‘You don’t know the half of it.’
Wylan was quiet for a moment. Then, tentatively, he turned towards Jesper.
‘Have you ever thought about walking away?’
Jesper laughed.
‘All the time. I’d never do it, though. Kaz and Inej- well, they’re who I have left here. And they’ve been there for me in their ways… and I won’t forget that.’
Wylan leaned his head back against the carriage, humming a soft melody.
‘Sweet,’ he murmured. ‘They’re- well, they’re lucky to have you.’
Jesper looked at him, eyes off the road for a few moments, unable to answer in his usual suave way. Wylan did things like this to him, things that left him breathless, reeling, unable to muster his bravado.
‘Thank you,’ he said, instead, nudging Wylan with his thigh. Wylan smiled softly, eyes back on the road and Jesper mimicked him, acutely aware of the fact that Wylan hadn’t moved his thigh. They sat there, in near complete silence, the only thing breaking it Wylan’s soft humming. Jesper revelled in it, the soft melody settling over them.
Finally, Jesper asked the question he’d wanted to for a while.
‘Can you sing?’
Wylan turned to look at him.
‘A bit…’
Jesper’s courage halted for a few moments, unsure if he could bring himself to ask for anymore. Then, he decided to throw caution to the wind.
‘Could you- I mean, I don’t hear… nice music very often, so…,’ he trailed off.
Wylan was quiet for a few moments and Jesper thought he’d probably asked something really strange, but then, suddenly, Wylan began to sing.
I had a thought, dear
However scary
About that night
The bugs and the dirt
Why were you digging?
What did you bury
Before those hands pulled me
From the earth?
I will not ask you where you came from
I will not ask you, neither should you
Honey just put your sweet lips on my lips
We should just kiss like real people do
Jesper couldn’t hold back the tears from filling up his vision again. Wylan’s soft voice was uniquely suited to the song he’d heard many street merchants play- a song he’d been particularly fond of. He’d heard Wylan hum the melody before, but hearing him sing, voice soft and mournful was so different. It was all he could do to not start crying or turn to kiss Wylan.
‘Ah- I don’t know the rest,’ Wylan mumbled, as they turned a corner into a more busy part of Ketterdam, close to the cemetery.
Jesper shook his head.
‘T-that was beautiful, Wylan,’ he murmured. ‘Thank you.’
He couldn’t look at Wylan, because if he did they might never make it back to the cemetery- if it were up to Jesper, they’d stay in the carriage, or, saints, run off somewhere were Wylan could play the piano to his heart’s content and sing and Jesper could stand next to him and bask in his brilliance.
‘You’re welcome,’ Wylan whispered, pressing his thigh against Jesper’s. ‘I haven’t– I don’t really have much reason to sing, these days.’
The carriage came to a halt in an abandoned alley close to Black Veil. Jesper took a deep breath, forcing himself to think of the murder charge and Kaz’s feud. He turned to Wylan, a hand moving to the other’s bicep.
‘If you ever need a reason… just let me know,’ he said, softly. ‘We should head back.’
Wylan looked up at him, and Jesper found himself caught in deep brown eyes and long, elegant lashes that framed Wylan’s eyes. It was impossible not to stare at Wylan, with his soft lips and his eyes and his hands and his smile, but his eyes- Jesper thought they were his favourite part about the other boy, simply because he could get lost in them, over and over again.
‘I’ll keep that in mind,’ Wylan murmured.
Jesper smiled.
‘And I’ll hold you to that,’ he answered, jumping off the carriage and he could swear that he heard a soft intake of breath and a silent giggle. Something in his chest lightened and Jesper suddenly couldn’t wait to be alone with the novice again, even if it meant getting ordered around by Kaz some more.