thinking about Kaz and Wylans dynamic again. Thinking about Kaz comforting Wylan while Jes is out on a mission, and the two of them bonding. Thinking about the parent/kid dynamic they have. Thinking I should write this wip i’ve been working on.
anyway maybe i’ll actually finish this wip and share it with y’all this time
Written for @kanejweek 2022 day 7. Theme: growth, prompts: memories, and sharing & secrets. Read now on AO3 or right here:
A fragile, quiet whimpering sound crept into Kaz Brekker’s dreams, pulling him from sleep. By the time he blinked his eyes open, Inej was already sitting up in bed, bleary-eyed and messy-haired, their two-day-old daughter in her arms as she lowered her nightgown to feed her.
Kaz let his head fall back on his pillow, sleepily watching the impossible picture before him, mother and child, happy, safe and secure in the cushion of the night. Inej smiled at him, leaning back on the pillows as the baby began to suckle hungrily.
From beyond their half-closed bedroom door, another cry, louder and stronger, started to emerge from another room.
Inej groaned good-naturedly, and Kaz couldn’t resist pressing a gentle kiss to her hair before he shuffled out of bed, standing carefully on his stiff leg. He made his way to the hallway, treading the familiar boards of the farmhouse in the dark.
The cry was coming from the room of their two-year-old son, Micah. Kaz’s gaze landed on him immediately, noting, with a pang of his heart, Micah’s crumpled little face, the silvery streaks of tears on his chubby cheeks. He was standing at the side of his cot, fat fists clutched unhappily around the bars, and hiccuped as he looked up at his father.
‘You had a nightmare, bud?’ Kaz asked sympathetically. Micah sniffled and pathetically held out his hands. Kaz leaned over and pulled his son into his arms, holding him close to his chest and stroking his feather-soft black hair. ‘It’s all right, darling,’ he soothed him. ‘You’re safe.’
Kaz rocked him for several long minutes, until it seemed Micah would settle back down, but every time he tried to place him back in his cot, Micah awoke with a start, the cries starting afresh each time.
With a sigh of resignation, Kaz decided he might as well bring Micah back to bed with him and Inej for a while. He turned to the door, Micah’s head tucked into the crook of Kaz’s neck as he sucked on his thumb, and raised an eyebrow at the little shadow peering around the doorframe.
‘You’re supposed to be in bed,’ Kaz said sternly.
Five-year-old Mila, the spitting image of her mother, was not swayed. She crossed her arms, stubborn as her father, and pouted. ‘Micah’s not in bed,’ she pointed out, ‘and I heard the baby wake up again.’
Kaz stifled his sigh, and levered his very best ‘I’m in charge here’ expression at his oldest daughter. ‘Yes, and remember what your mother and I told you? As the big sister, you’re supposed to be showing them both how well to behave.’
Mila blinked her big, brown eyes at him, unmoved. ‘But Da,’ she whined, her eyes starting to glisten with unshed tears (how had his daughter learned such dramatics? Kaz wondered in despair). ‘I don’t want to be left alone, you’re taking Micah to your room! Why don’t you love me as much as him and the baby?’ A fat, slow tear fell from her oil-black eyelashes and rolled down her bronze skin, and Kaz’s foolish heart melted completely. He shifted Micah into one arm — when had he gotten so heavy? — and held out his spare hand to Mila. She grabbed it in delight, all trace of tears disappeared, and led Kaz and Micah towards the master bedroom.
Inej looked up when they walked through the door, the baby still feeding, although slower now. She just raised a knowing eyebrow at Kaz, and he shrugged helplessly as Mila released his hand, scrambling up onto the bed to snuggle up to Inej and gently poke the baby’s cheek.
‘Are we having a family sleepover night?’ Inej whispered like a conspirator to Mila, and Mila giggled and nodded. Kaz carefully got back into bed, settling back on the pillows with Micah heavy and warm in his arms. His son was asleep now, black lashes closed over chubby cheeks, and Kaz could feel Micah’s heartbeat, strong against his own chest. Inej sighed happily and leaned her head on Kaz’s shoulder, Mila tucked between them. Kaz kissed his wife’s hair, and leaned his head against hers.
Back when he and Inej were traumatised teenagers, struggling to hold hands or even speak their feelings for one another, this would have been a dream so far beyond possibility that Kaz wouldn’t have even thought of it. But now, a decade and a half later, those old lives far behind them, they shared a life so perfect it hurt Kaz’s heart to contemplate.
‘Da,’ Mila murmured quietly, as the baby finished feeding and Inej straightened her nightgown. ‘Tell us a story?’
Kaz hid his grin, but he gave Mila a little nudge of his shoulder. ‘Which one, sweetheart?’
‘The one where you took Mama on the first date and the kitchen caught fire.’
Kaz grinned ruefully as Inej giggled beside him. The memory of that fated night was still vivid in his mind, and it was one of Mila’s favourite bedtime stories. Kaz took a deep breath, and began:
‘Once upon a time, the cleverest, most beautiful acrobat in the world lived in a place called Ketterdam, and her name was Inej Ghafa…’
Wylan really lied to Kaz ... i feel very proud, but did he though ? i honestly think Kaz knew and let him because as a dad he has trouble saying ‘no’ to his son
in case anyone was worrying about “being an adult”, i’m nearly a college graduate and any time i send an email i get so nervous i have to go “BITCH” as i press send to prove that i’m nonchalant and don’t care what people think about me in text format.
