Chapter Text
"He's taking me out for brunch!" Wylan whispered down the phone to Nina as Jesper got changed out of his dance clothes in the toilet down the hall. They were just about to leave for his car when Jesper hurried back to grab his old clothes and change out of his sweaty ones. It gave Wylan the perfect amount of time to tell Nina everything about his time at the Crow Club, once again.
"Oh my Saints! And he didn't ask Marya for her blessing first?" Nina gasped mockingly. Wylan heard a snort in the background and he furrowed his brow.
"Nina, stop putting me on speaker so Matthias can hear everything I'm saying!" He hissed, clenching his fists at his sides.
"Oh come on, Matthias is very wise, he gives great advice! Come here love, speak to Wylan, he's spiralling about brunch." There was some shuffling from the other side of the call and then it was Matthias speaking at him.
"Wylan, are you sure that this Jesper isn't just asking you out for... brunch?"
"Wow Matthias, a real gem there, I'll be sure to store that one in the vaults for later." Wylan sighed, peering round the corner to check Jesper wasn't coming out of the toilets yet.
"What I mean is, you're spiralling over nothing. You met the man yesterday. Go out and have brunch with him, he's your colleague now anyway so it makes sense to spend time with him and get to know him since you'll be seeing so much of each other." Matthias said, his deep but soft voice bring Wylan a sense of calm. "Maybe later on down the line it'll turn into brunch, but for now just go have... brunch."
"I think I get what you mean Matthias. Thanks." Wylan chuckled, leaning back against the wall and shutting his eyes. "Nina is right, you're pretty wise."
"I'm always right." Nina said loudly, stealing back her phone. "Now go enjoy yourself! Saints knows you deserve it."
"Thanks Nina. And thank you too Matthias." Wylan mumbled down the line, smiling and playing with the bottom of his shirt. "I'll see you later."
"Who was that?"
Wylan jumped at the sound of a voice behind him when he hung up the phone and whirled round to see Jesper, now changed and ready to go. Wylan pocketed his phone and wiped his suddenly very clammy hands down his jeans.
"Just my roommates, letting them know I'm going out with you." Wylan flushed then at Jesper's raised eyebrow. "Well, n-not going out but just you know- going out for- for-"
"I was just teasing, come on. I wanna show you my favourite place." Jesper grabbed Wylan's hand and dragged him out of the door, Wylan happy to be led wherever Jesper wanted to take him. They had to make a stop quickly for Wylan to chuck the music books in his car and grab his wallet, but in no time at all, they were at the little cafe Jesper had spent the whole five minute walk talking about.
"I swear Wylan, best waffles in the city, in the whole country!" He raved, pushing open the door with a ding of a bell that hung above it.
"I hope they live up to the very high expectations you're setting up then." Wylan said, looking around.
It was a cute little place, a few tables, not many of them occupied and the ones that were mainly being filled old couples coming out for lunch. The counter was filled with sandwiches, paninis, salads, baked sweet treats, anything that you could want for lunch. And there, behind the counter, was the famous waffle iron that Jesper hadn't shut up about. Wylan was pretty excited; he'd decided to forego breakfast on account of his nerves so food of any kind sounded very welcoming. The prices carefully chalked on the blackboards above the till weren't crazy expensive, but pretty steep and Wylan chewed on his lip. Maybe he'd have to save waffles for after his first pay check and get a sandwich for now instead. He was saving as much as he could so he could move out as soon as possible to give Nina and Matthias the space they needed. He felt Jesper nudge his waist gently.
"I'll get your waffles. My treat. You can pay me back sometime, hm?"
"Oh, Jesper no, it's fine I'll be okay without-" Wylan stuttered, trying to stop him, but Jesper had already found his way to the till.
"Hi there, two portions of your finest waffles please, sweetheart." He said, leaning forward on the counter on his elbow and flashing the server a charming smile. The lady just rolled her eyes and rung them up without saying anything. "And two iced lattes-" (Jesper quickly sent Wylan a questioning look, to which he nodded in reply) "-done in the usual style if you please?"
"When I finally get out of this job you're gonna have to pay me back for all these free drinks Jes." The lady was shaking her head but Wylan could tell there was a friendliness to it. She had, after all, seemingly given them one of their lattes for free.
"Oh my sweet darling Anika, you know how to treat a man well." Jesper blew her a kiss and walked to find a table, Wylan following him and throwing a quick thank you as he went. Jesper chose the table closest to the window that overlooked the quiet street. It was midday on a Thursday so it wasn't a surprise there weren't many people around. It was nicer this way though, and Wylan appreciated the peace and quiet.
"So, I have to ask, why did Kaz drag you into his office alone earlier?"
Wylan looked away from the window and back at Jesper who was staring at him intently. Wylan started tapping his fingers on his legs, the melody of one of the pieces from Jesper class the day before. Kaz's office. Yes, that was certainly something.
It felt like he was being taken to the head teacher's office, following Kaz across the room, the thump of his cane against the floor echoing around the high ceilings. They hadn't exactly had the warmest first impression; that simple nod at Wylan's outstretched hand hadn't filled Wylan with much faith in himself, and now here was was being taken away to speak to the owner of the school in private. Ghezen he was sweating a lot.
"Sit." Kaz said once they'd gotten inside the office and shut the door behind them. He was gesturing to a chair in front of a large dark mahogany desk where a much larger chair sat behind it. That was were Kaz lowered himself down slowly, and leant the cane up against the desk, the menacing crow head staring at Wylan. He sat.
"Did I do something wrong already?"
"Would you like me to read you these papers that you so carelessly signed without even knowing what's written on them?" Kaz said, ignoring Wylan's question and laying the contracts down in front of Wylan again. "Which is something you should never do by the way. Jesper wasn't wrong, you don't have a clue what I could've put in those."
The words in front of Wylan were swimming at double speed now and it felt like his world was turning. This- There's no way. How could Kaz know? Who would've told him? Wylan hadn't mentioned anything to Inej or Jesper. And Nina would never tell some old university friend. He felt his face burning bright red and he sputtered trying to find any words to counter what Kaz was saying.
"I'm- I just- I'm a fast reader." He croaked.
When Kaz simply looked at him with a raised eyebrow he stood suddenly and walked around from the desk, hugging his arms around himself and squeezing tight. He couldn't look at Kaz, not with that stupid stare he was shooting him. What a dick. Bringing Wylan in here just to rub it in his face that he couldn't read. This was just like every other job he'd tried to get over the past few months; he'd get so close and then fall at the last hurdle because of something that didn't even matter to the job he was doing. He thought he'd found something different at the Crow Club but of course it was the same. They're all the same.
"Look, if me not being able to read is too much of an issue for you then I'd rather you just let me go now, I don't need to hear all of your bullshit, okay?" Wylan didn't turn to face him when he spoke. He moved closer to the door with each word but stopped when Kaz called his name.
"Wylan. Please, sit back down."
Wylan turned his head slowly and saw that Kaz was looking at him earnestly, gesturing to the chair once more. There wasn't anything malicious in his eyes. More a kind of stranger determination. Wylan cautiously sat back down, still with his arms wrapped tight around himself.
"I look into people before I hire them. And I'm pretty good at it. I know your story Wylan." When Wylan opened his mouth to protest, Kaz just held up a gloved finger to quiet him. "I'm not asking you to talk about it. Trust me, I want an emotional family discussion even less than you do. I just want to help you."
"But I-"
"I don't care if you can't read words. I care that you can read sheet music. And if Jesper's right, you're pretty damn good at it." Kaz said simply, leaning back in his chair and picking up the papers once more. "Now, will you let me tell you what you signed into now?"
Wylan blinked a couple times. Kaz, this terrifying looking man, was sitting across from him, acknowledging the fact that he couldn't read, accepting it, and offering him help. The last time he'd sat across from someone and had a conversation about this it.... well it hadn't ended like that. So Wylan just nodded, and looked at his hands that were moving endlessly in his lap.
"Yes, please." He nearly whispered. "And thank you."
Wylan thought back on that interaction as he sat with Jesper and found himself wondering how he got so lucky to be in the position he was in.
"He was just running over some additional details that we needed to discuss in private." Wylan replied, the lie rolling off his tongue like second nature. His nose was suddenly filled with the most amazing smell he'd ever had the pleasure of smelling, as Anika brought over their iced lattes and waffles. They were drenched in chocolate syrup and piled with strawberries dusted with icing sugar. Wylan gaped at his plate and Jesper laughed at him.
"Told you they were amazing. Just wait until you stop looking at them and actually eat it."
Wylan didn't need to be told twice to dig in. And Saints were they everything Jesper promised. He had to bring Nina here, as soon as humanly possible. As he ate he tried not to think about the fond smiles Jesper kept throwing him and focus on the food but he knew his face and blush was betraying him.
"So, how did you start the school? There aren't many in Ketterdamn and you, Inej and Kaz aren't the kind of people who look like they would run a dance school." Wylan said, swallowing a mouthful of strawberries and syrup.
"Well I moved here from my home in Novyi Zem to go to Ketterdamn University to study agricultural business." Jesper paused to chuckled at Wylan's shocked reaction. "Yeah, that's how everyone looks when I say that. I was raised on a farm and my Da wanted me to keep the business going, so he sent me off to get a better education, the idea being that I could come back and run the farm with him and get everything booming."
"But that didn't quite happen." Wylan said, pointing his fork and Jesper and grinning.
"Quick as a whip you are. University was awful. I hated all of the classes and would go out every night far too late doing some bad things in... bad places." Jesper rubbed the back of his neck and sighed, like this part of his story was hard to relive. Wylan could understand and didn't press him. "One night I was caught in the middle of a particularly concerning drunken brawl when Kaz rescued me. Turns out if you use that cane not for its intended purposes, it can be pretty damn dangerous. He then introduced me to Inej and the rest is history. I dropped out of my agriculture course, joined a dance one, Inej was already a master at all things acrobatics and just needed a teaching qualification - which we ended up getting together - and Kaz was a master at businesses doing an economics course. I pitched the idea for a school on a night out and, thank god, they actually thought it was a good idea. It took a while for it to get off the ground of course but Kaz has a funny talent for enticing people in and now we're one of the most popular schools in Ketterdam."
Wylan was impressed. It was a lot for people as young as Jesper, Inej and Kaz, but they all seemed to know what they were doing and were very confident. He felt lucky to be joining a team like that.
"That is of course, an extremely simplified version of events. Maybe one day I'll tell you the rest." Jesper finished, shoving a big spoonful of waffle in his mouth.
"Yeah, I'd like that." Wylan said, leaning forward on his hand and looking at Jesper. Ghezen, even with a ridiculous mouthful and food all around his face he still looked drop-dead gorgeous. It was practically sinful the way Jesper cleaned off the spoon with his lips before setting it down on his plate and Wylan wouldn't have been surprised if he'd done it on purpose.
"And what about you Mr Van Eck?" Jesper countered, matching Wylan's pose and leaning close to him. "What makes you tick?"
Now that was a question. Wylan was extremely grateful when his phone started ringing loudly. He smiled apologetically at Jesper when he pulled his phone out and answered it.
"Wylan honey?"
"Oh, hi Mama." Wylan was surprised that his mum was calling him out of the blue. They rarely called and tended to meet in person instead. "What's wrong?"
"You said you were going to come over and paint with me today? We were going to work on landscapes?" Marya was speaking in her normal sweet tone but Wylan could practically hear her smile. She knew he'd forgotten.
"Oh Ghezen, Mama, I'm so sorry I'm out with a friend but don't worry, I'm coming now." Wylan was already stood up and putting his jacket back on when he saw Jesper looking at him, stunned. He slowly sat back down.
"Wy honey, you don't have to leave your plans immediately just for me. We can paint tomorrow, you know that right?" Marya said softly. The thought was nice but Wylan never liked to cancel on his mum. He hated thinking about her being alone too much.
"I know but it's fine. I'm coming. I'll see you in a bit okay? I love you Mama."
"I love you too Wylan."
Wylan put his phone away and looked back to Jesper. He didn't look hurt as such, more surprised, as if he was still trying to take in what had happened in such a short space of time. Wylan felt a surge of bravery and put his hand over Jesper's on the table. Jesper's eyes flitted between their joined hands and Wylan's eyes for a moment.
"I'm really sorry Jesper. I have to go it's my Mama she- I see her as much as I can and I guess I was just excited about the job and the amazing waffles today that I forgot. But it'd be great to do this again some day." Wylan then added with a wink, "Brunch I mean."
Jesper laughed loud, a beautiful sound.
"I understand. You should spend as much time with your mum as you can." Jesper stood first now, still holding Wylan's hand as he pulled him out the chair. "Would it be okay if I message you and maybe we can meet up to practise the music? You can play and I'll show you the tempo of the routines and the order I usually do my classes in."
"Yeah, that sounds great." Wylan said with a grin. He dropped Jesper's hand and tried not to feel the emptiness of his own hand too much. "And, thanks, for the waffles."
Wylan left the cafe, waving to Jesper through the window as he made his way back to the Crow Club, blaming the warm feeling spreading through his chest on the summer heat as he fought back grinning like an idiot walking down the street.