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Intimacy is not something the Crows have come to expect from Jesper.
He's a gambler, a flirt, a shooter, always looking for the next fight, and he has a sharp mouth that often gets him into trouble. If there's one thing he's not, it's soft.
Which is why Nina stops in her tracks at the sight of Jesper curled up on the sofa, with Wylan's head resting in his lap, reading softly to him as he runs his fingers through the redhead's curls.
Matthias stumbles into Nina, his large size making it difficult for him to stop so abruptly. Kaz just steps around the pair, making his way towards what has become known as his chair, without sparing so much as a glance for the two boys.
(The list of things Kaz allows to surprise him is short, and the list of things he cares about is even shorter. Jesper and Wylan's relationship features on neither.)
Inej enters the room last, a small smile lighting up her face when she sees what caused Nina to stall.
Both boys glance up at the interruption. Wylan flushes a bit, his ears turning an impressive shade of red, seemingly embarrassed, but Jesper just carries on, barely even stumbling over the sentence he's reading.
The book in Jesper's hand is one Nina knows well, a common Ravkan fairytale which she'd insisted Kaz stocked in the safe house's makeshift library (if you can call their sorry pile of books a library).
It tells the story of a young prince who doesn't fit in with his family, so he runs away to the forest and is taken in by a fairy queen. He makes friends with all the fairies and ends up helping them to defeat an evil gnome. It seems quite fitting to Wylan's situation honestly, she can see why Jesper chose this one.
Nina recovers quickly, silently reprimanding herself for staring. The Crows make a point of not commenting on each other's relationships, but she can't help the, "Cute," that slips out.
The boys ignore her, too wrapped up in each other, but she searches out Inej's glittering eyes and the pair silently gush over the adorableness of the two boys.
Matthais just shrugs (that's to be expected, he's a man of few words) but Nina notices the slight upturn of his lips that betrays his happiness for the boys.
"We've got work to do people," Kaz says, tapping his cane against the wooden floorboards. The others a roll their eyes (honestly, they just got back from a job, couldn't he give them a break?) and just like that the Crows are back to doing what they do best: scheming.
•••
The Crows had expected it to be a one-time thing, but the reading carries on. They regularly stumble across the boys curled up in a corner, or an armchair, or a bed, or a windowsill, with Jesper quietly reading to Wylan in a soothing whisper.
Wylan always listens with rapt attention, never drifting off to sleep. (Except for that one time when they'd had a late night job, and Jesper's voice was just so soothing, and the armchair was just so comfy, and Jesper was playing with his hair just right, and he couldn't help it. He'd been apologetic when he woke up to Jesper's deep voice still reading, though a few chapters had passed by now, but Jesper hadn't minded. He'd smiled and leaned down to kiss Wylan's forehead, placating him with a gentle, "You're pretty when you sleep, love.")
With every tale Jesper tells, Wylan feels the shame and insecurity melt off him. He falls in love with stories a little bit more each day, and at the same time, he falls in love with Jesper.
Jesper says it first, of course, he's always been the one who rushes into things headfirst.
"Once upon a time," he says, and Wylan almost laughs at the cliché opening (it's very out of character for Jesper) but the serious edge to his boyfriends tone has him paralysed, "there was a prince, and there was knight. The prince was misunderstood, but he had a brilliant mind, and he loved to play music. The knight wasn't very noble, he liked to gamble away all his earnings in the local pub and he had a quick temper. One day, the knight was travelling through the forest, when he heard a beautiful sound. He followed it, and found the prince playing his flute in a clearing. The knight was entranced by the boy, but he was scared that the prince would be shy if he announced his presence, so he listened from behind a tree. The next day, the knight came back, and sure enough, the prince was there playing again. The knight kept coming back, until eventually he worked up the courage to talk to the boy. The prince told him that his father didn't approve of his music, so he came here to practice, and they quickly became fast friends. They got to know each other, and one day the prince was brave enough to tell the knight that he couldn't read. The next day, the knight brought a book to the clearing, and he read to the prince. This became their tradition, every day the prince would play a song for the knight, and the knight would read in return. And then one day, the knight realised he loved the prince..."
Wylan looks up at Jesper, his blue eyes wide and searching. Jeper lowers his voice to just above a whisper, "I love you, Wylan," he says earnestly.
"I love you too, Jes," Wylan replies, blinking away tears.
•••
It quickly becomes clear their poor excuse for a library is not quite adequate.
The other crows all donate any personal books they brought with them, resulting in an unusual collection ranging from Soldier Boy (a cheesy romance of Inej's, which Wylan quickly declares his favourite) to A Complete History of Guns & Duelling (Nina's donation, a book which she was saving for Jesper's Christmas present, but decided it would be better to give him it now).
But the boys make their way through those just as quickly, and so, Jesper resorts to making up his own stories.
At first, he starts with stories from his childhood, silly little anecdotes of all the mischief he got up to on the farm. Then he branches out into fictional stories, usually featuring Jesper or Wylan as the protagonist, that gradually get wilder and wilder as the days go on.
The rest of the crows have taken to listening in, when Wylan and Jesper choose to spend their time in the living room, and on those days the stories are wilder and funnier (Jesper has always loved to play things up for a crowd, Wylan just smiles fondly at his antics). Nina's personal favourite was the story of the dragon with hayfever.
But when they don't know anyone's listening, when Nina wanders past their room late at night to see a sliver the lamplight escape under the door and to hear the quiet whispers within, the stories take on a different tone. It's that softness in Jesper again, the one only Wylan seems to be able to draw out.
On those days, sometimes Jesper talks about their future together. ("We'll have a house, with a blue front door and a garden." "And sunflowers." "Of course. And there'll be a few tiny little red-headed, frog-eyed children running around-" "I am not frog-eyed!") Other times, he tells Wylan all the reasons he loves him. ("And I love how you don't like apples but you love apple juice. Who doesn't like apples? It's adorable. And I love the freckles on your nose, because they remind me of the stars. And I love how you're still so kind, after everything you've been through." Nina left at that point, feeling guilty for eavesdropping on such a personal conversation, and if there were a few stray tears in her eyes- well, who was going to know?)
•••
When they finally take Van Eck down (Wylan still can't quite believe they've done it), and Jesper says, "I'll read to him," in that slightly dangerous tone of voice, Wylan's heart nearly explodes out of his chest.
In the frantic hours that follow, Jesper's words play in a comforting loop in Wylan's head. They're a promise, a lullaby and a battlecry all at once.
I'll read to him. I'll read to him. I'll read to him.
And Wylan knows that he has found his home in this
gambling, flirty, loud-mouthed boy, who is far softer than anyone knows.