An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
RE-UPLOAD OF AN OLD KANEJ FLUFF FIC
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Kaz Brekker/Inej Ghafa, Kaz Brekker & Inej Ghafa
Summary: Inej Ghafa hasn’t seen her family in four years. Not since she’s been taken. Now that it’s been so long since she’s seen them, Inej is scared and nervous to go back. One night, while sitting on the rooftop, Kaz asks her to teach him Suli. That inspires Inej to fight her nerves and finally find her family. She asks Kaz to go home with her and he takes this opportunity to learn more about her and her people. Once home, Inej is faced with the guilt of her past, the fear of family’s reactions, and the hope of finally being ghar (home).
Ok so I have this head canon that Inej has an ugly laugh, like it’s the ugliest laugh you’ve ever heard, it sounds like a seagull being choked and Kaz drinks it up every time.
No but just like imagine pre six of crows Kaz, inej, Nina and Jesper are at the crow club and Jesper and Nina are making jokes, but inej isn’t laughing because she doesn’t find them funny and Kaz says something that’s a sad attempt of a joke and it doesn’t make sense and it’s more bitter then funny and Jesper and Nina are looking at each other like wtf was that.
But then Inej is laughing because she understood the joke and it’s funny and before you know it she’s laughing loud
Like really loud
And everyone in the crow club is looking at her and she’s just
W h e e z i n g
And
Snorting
And Kaz is feeling incredibly drunk because he can feel the raw sense of joy radiating off her
And that’s what makes him want to bottle her laughter
What if we get the Spin-off and the first thing we see of Kaz is this:
He is seated at his desk, working on the Ice Court job, window open and it’s a sunny day outside —uncommon for Ketterdam—.
Suddenly, he feels her.
He stops, lifts his eyes, and without looking at her he says: “You shouldn’t feed crows”.
Moments of silence pass by, and he wonders if maybe he’s imagining things. But finally Inej asks: “Why not?”.
Kaz then looks at her. His breath catches and he feels as if he’s seeing her for the very first time; she’s propped on the windowsill like she had been so many times before. The sun is reflecting on her long black hair, flowing subtly with the gentle wind. Her eyes are catching the light in such a way they look like melting honey. And Kaz, watching her, simply forgets how to speak.
“They have no manners.” he manages to answer. At this she laughs a loose and happy thing, and just like that, the tiny hold he’d gain on his composure is lost again.
“Neither do you Kaz.” she replies and turns to look at him. Slowly, a crooked smile scapes Kaz’s lips. “You’re back.” he says.
And then…
He wakes up. He’s on his bed at the attic on top of the new Crow Club. With the remains of his dream still lingering on his mind his eyes look to the window; it’s gray outside and his Wraith has been at sea for weeks now.
With a deep sigh only for himself to hear he gets out of bed. “There’s things to get done.” his mind tells him.
Summary: Kaz learns that holding hands without his gloves is surprisingly nice. It also leads to another surprise. (Prompt from an anon but I had also started writing it like an HOUR before getting the prompt, LMFAO. Great minds think alike. Please enjoy my humble offering of Kanej fluff. Warnings for vague references to both Kaz and Inej’s canon trauma.)
Shaking slightly, Kaz tugs the glove off of his right hand, pulling the leather slowly until his hand is bare, and places the glove down on his desk. He repeats the action with the other one, and Inej is frozen as she watches him remove his armor for her.
All the rumors about the Bastard of the Barrel — hands permanently stained by the blood of his enemies, or murderous claws like some sort of demjin…Although Inej had never believed it, she can’t lie and say her curiosity had not been piqued. But Kaz’s hands are just that: Hands.
His skin is pale, much paler than the rest of him, since it’s always guarded from the sun. His nails are short, fingertips calloused. His knuckles are still bruised from a fight with the Dime Lions a few days prior.
Inej isn’t disappointed that the outlandish rumors are far from the truth. In fact, it fills her with a sense of warmth that Kaz trusts her enough to show her the facts beneath the fanfare. That at the end of the day, Kaz Brekker is just a boy, and she is just a girl, and they are half-terrified, half-excited at the idea of interlacing their fingers, skin on skin, for the first time.
The tension in the room is thick enough for Inej to slice it with Santka Alina, but she’s left all of her knives down in her bedroom, leaving her own armor behind to even the playing field.
Her heart skips as Kaz reaches out. His pinky links with hers, and he lets out a breath she hadn’t realized he was holding.
“Alright, Kaz?” she asks.
He clears his throat. “Alright. You?”
She nods, and dares to push her hand farther into his, and he doesn’t recoil, although she sees the idea flicker across his face.
After the first time, it gets a little easier. There are still days where the water creeps up the shore, freezing Kaz in terror, bile climbing his throat, and affection is off the table until the waves recede. Inej has those days, too, where she can’t tell a loving touch from that of a client, indulging in a torturous transaction.
Hands are easier to get used to than lips, or anything beneath their clothes. They both hope they can build up to that, someday, but for now, they are content to intertwine fingers and knock their trouser-clad knees together beneath tables in the Crow Club, a little secret touch for them to share.
After a busy night, Kaz finds himself sitting at his desk, bad leg stretched out before him, the top buttons on his shirt undone and his gloves off to the side, while Inej perches on his desktop, braid loose and smiling.
He has never been good at verbalizing his desires, a fact that is stunningly shown by how long it took him to voice his affection for her. But even Barrel bosses get worn down, and Kaz has only ever turned to booze and violence to cope with that burnt-out feeling.
Maybe now, he’s found a more healthy alternative, in the way that her touch simultaneously soothes and excites him.
He lets out a little huff and extends his hand in her direction, ungloved palm facing the ceiling.
Inej raises a brow at him. “Is this your way of asking me to hold your hand?” she asks.
Kaz feels the tips of his ears burn. He can’t remember blushing more in his life than he has in her presence, and he can only hope that she doesn’t always notice. Deep down, he knows she does.
“Perhaps,” he replies.
When Inej just stares at him, awaiting a real answer, he sighs. “Inej, darling, will you please take my hand?”
Her face splits into a smile. “Of course I will.”
Rather than lacing their fingers together, Inej places her hand beneath his — her hand is so much smaller, her fingers can’t quite wrap around — and trails the tip of her thumb along the curved line on his palm, stretching from the heel of his hand to beneath his pointer finger.
A shudder rolls through Kaz, and his hand clenches in her grasp.
“Are you alright?” she asks, grip loosening.
“I’m fine,” he replies. “It just…I guess I’m not used to people touching me there. It was just…Different.”
Inej watches him carefully, like she’s trying to be sure he’s telling the truth. She must be convinced, because she gives his hand a gentle squeeze before resuming the action of tracing the little lines on his palm. His fingers give the occasional twitch, but Inej gives him the benefit of the doubt, that if he were truly growing upset with the sensation, he would pull away; she had made him promise on multiple occasions that he would not suffer in silence to try and appease her. She wants him without armor, yes, but she doesn’t expect it to all fall away at once.
When her touch strays lower again, towards his wrist, Kaz makes a soft noise in his throat that makes her look up again. “Seriously, Kaz, is there something wrong?”
Kaz averts his gaze from her face, flushed from the collar of his shirt to his ears, a dusty pink that sticks out on his pale skin, even in the dim light. “It tickles, alright?” he says, and his gravelly voice somehow sounds softer, younger.
Inej’s dark eyes widen in surprise before her face settles into the most fond, loving smile. When Kaz dares to look back at her, his heart nearly melts at the sight. He has spent so long convinced that he is unlovable, unwanted. He still hasn’t quite wrapped his head around the idea that Inej wants him, the same way he wants her. But when she looks at him like that, like he’s…Like he’s beautiful, he feels like he just might deserve her.
“Kaz Brekker, you never fail to amaze me,” she says, her tone light and teasing. “I don’t think I’ve ever met a person who was ticklish on their hands.”
He brings the hand that isn’t still clutched in her grasp up to his face, a lousy attempt to hide his flustered expression. “Shut up,” he says, but there’s not an ounce of venom behind it.
Inej laughs, his favorite sound, and uses the advantage of his covered eyes to scribble her nails against the center of his palm, making a surprised chuckle fall from his lips.
He finally pulls his hand back, rubbing away the tingly sensation on the leg of his pants.
“Too far?” she asks.
He shakes his head. “My ego is wounded, but otherwise, I’m alright.”
“Oh, please. Everyone is ticklish, Kaz.”
“Even you?” he asks, the hint of a smile tugging on his lips.
She’s gone in a flash, silently descending from the desk and out the window, an answer enough to his question. He chuckles again, to himself, and for once, the prospect of revenge is so utterly innocent, it makes some hidden, childish urge in him spring to life.
Back in her room, that same bit of childlike glee has grasped at Inej, causing an excited flutter in her stomach. Because at the end of the day, she is just a girl who remembers her father talking about the boy who would one day sweep her off her feet, and Kaz is just a boy, a lovable boy with a shy smile who has done just that.
Kaz asking Inej for permission before bringing her closer by her waist is so beautiful to me.
She was abused for years at the Menagerie and men took advantage of her every night without her consent. And now, when she imagines herself with Kaz, he’s everything she never got but always hoped for in those awful nights at the pleasure house: a respectful man, a kind man.
It’s such a simple gesture, yet it symbolizes so much and I love it.
