Work Text:
{i. jesper/wylan}
The Crow Club is always a popular spot in Ketterdam, but it’s even more so on New Year’s Eve. They’ve brought in a live DJ who’s been meshing together all of the top songs from the past few years, and there seem to be even more colorful lights flashing throughout the bar than usual.
The champagne bottle in his right hand is well on its way to empty, and Jesper is just about to take another sip of it when he finds it plucked out of his hands.
He finds the source of the theft easily, his redheaded boyfriend taking a long swig from the bottle.
“You could’ve just gotten your own,” Jesper tells him, though it’s more yelling than speaking given the general volume level of the venue.
Wylan’s lips curl into a sly grin. “Well, where’s the fun in that?”
“The fun is that I get to keep my champagne to myself,” he replies, but he’s mostly joking. He really doesn’t care if Wylan takes his drink. And if watching his boyfriend wrap his lips around a bottle does things to him, takes his mind to places away from this dancefloor, places they’ll definitely find themselves later tonight, that’s just an added bonus.
“I’m just trying to even things out for how many times you’ve stolen my drinks,” Wylan answers, but he still hands the champagne bottle back to Jesper.
He takes a long sip, scanning the room as he does so. “Have you seen any of our friends lately?” he asks, changing the subject abruptly.
Wylan raises an eyebrow. “ You’re asking me if I’ve seen anyone in this crowd?”
A laugh bubbles from Jesper’s lips. Only one of them is a solid head taller than most people, so of the two of them, Wylan is definitely not the one who’s going to be sighting people in a crowded room.
“It’s almost midnight, isn’t it? They’re going to miss it!”
“I’m sure they’ll show up eventually,” Wylan replies sensibly, though he also scans the room once more in search of any of them.
“You’re probably right,” Jesper agrees, before reaching out for Wylan’s hand. “Dance with me?”
“As long as it’s not on a table.”
The tables are all completely packed with people, and Jesper’s happier dancing right here rather than fighting for a spot up there at the moment anyways, but he pouts somewhat dramatically nonetheless. “Fine.”
Jesper lets himself sink into the music, taking the chance to obnoxiously serenade Wylan to “Watermelon Sugar,” and the redhead blushes even more furiously than usual.
And god, Jesper’s just… he’s so in love. He’s in his absolute fucking element tonight, the bright lights and loud music and steady flow of alcohol in his veins, and yet the single greatest part of his New Year’s Eve is standing right in front of him, shaking his head fondly.
Vaguely, he recognizes that people around him have started counting down, but he doesn’t even care. He wants to kiss Wylan right now, and timing be damned, he’s going to do exactly that.
He throws his arms around his boyfriend, his hand that’s holding the champagne bottle briefly smacking into something solid in the process. He kisses him soundly, enthusiastically, and Wylan quickly responds with the same fervor.
“You know you’re way early,” Wylan says, in between kisses. Jesper thinks he vaguely recognizes someone shouting a ‘four.’
“As long as we’re still kissing at midnight, it counts,” Jesper declares, capturing Wylan’s lips with his own again.
And when the clock strikes midnight and the crowd around them breaks into cheers, they still are.
Wylan pulls away half an inch, just far enough to whisper, “Happy New Year, Jes.”
“Happy New Year, Wy.”
{ii. kaz/inej}
She should’ve known that following Kaz through a back door in the Crow Club would end with the two of them somewhere they definitely shouldn’t be.
But she’d let him lead the way anyways, her hand slipping into his as he led them up a flight of stairs and through a heavy metal door that definitely should’ve set off some sort of alarm but somehow didn’t. And now, they’re outside.
It’s cold on the abandoned rooftop, the unadorned concrete providing little shelter from the icy Ketterdam wind. Kaz’s hand is wrapped firmly in hers, though his leather gloves provide little in the way of added warmth. He’s always run colder than her, and the added barrier means that he’s doing little to counter the winter chill.
But it’s quieter up here, the pounding music and loud voices replaced by the sounds of the city below them and the occasional pop of premature fireworks. It’s darker too, the faint light catching the side of Kaz’s face and setting off his sharp jawline.
Unlike the chaos below, up here it feels as though they’re entirely in their own world.
She walks over to the edge, looking out at the city around them. Kaz drops her hand, and she’s about to turn to find out the cause, but instead she feels his hands rest on her shoulders. It feels like a question, so she leans into the touch, giving him her answer.
He responds by stepping into her, his chest against her back, his arms sliding off her shoulders and wrapping around her.
They communicate like this so easily now, without any words, just purely reading one another in the unspoken. Even her parents had pointed that out while they were in town, the way that she and Kaz sometimes seemed to have entire conversations between them without ever uttering a word.
On the eve of a new year, she’s even more inclined toward sentimentality and reflection than usual, and she can’t help but think of how much has changed in the last twelve months. A year before, she and Kaz were still both, for their own reasons, utterly terrified of the very same physical contact she’s currently taking immense comfort in. He’d been someone she considered a very dear friend, but they’d both been far too deep in denial to be anything more than that.
And now…
“It’s almost midnight,” Kaz’s rock-salt rasp whispers into her ear.
“You think we’ll still hear the countdown from here?” she asks in reply.
As if in response, there’s a loud set of hoots from the streets below.
“It seems like we’ll manage.”
She turns in his arms, away from the view of the city. She has to tilt her head back to look up at him properly on account of their height difference, and his eyes are, perhaps unsurprisingly, already fastened on her.
Though his body heat doesn’t provide much in the way of countering the cold, the warmth in his gaze sets her insides on fire. This is the version of Kaz reserved exclusively for her, the one that’s gradually fought its way out of years’ worth of steel armor, the one she loves the most.
She knows, now, why he’d been so keen to escape the Crow Club and the crowds for a bit. Because right now, they’re the only two people in the world. This moment belongs entirely to them.
Well, them and the drunk folks a few stories below who have started shouting their way down from ten.
But those people can’t see them, can’t intrude on this moment. This private midnight is all their own.
She snakes her arms around his neck, pulls his face closer to hers so that their foreheads almost touch. The final few seconds before midnight stretch out endlessly, and she lets herself sink into it, enjoy this moment as much as possible.
The revelers below finally make cries of ‘happy new year!’ and Kaz’s lips come down to brush against her own. It’s a soft kiss, barely there at first.
“Happy New Year, Inej,” he murmurs against her lips, their breath intermingling.
“Happy New Year, Kaz,” she returns. “Now, are you going to kiss me properly or - ”
She doesn’t get to finish the sentence, because he does exactly that.
{iii. nina/matthias}
Their bed is cold when she wakes up, and she burrows further underneath the heavy down comforter. Matthias usually doesn’t leave her alone in the mornings, not without at least trying to wake her up, but at least Heartrender is still curled up at her feet. It takes her longer than it should to get up, her hangover pounding against her skull. At least Matthias has left a glass of water and Tylenol on her bedside table.
Heartrender’s paws pad after her as she walks out into the living area, the sweet smell of coffee driving her towards the kitchen. She’s greeted by her boyfriend’s strong - and shirtless - back, and she honestly can’t remember the last time she was this happy. Matthias’ apartment might be covered in glitter after one too many mishaps during their pre-party last night, and there’s still a hole in the wall near the entryway where Heartrender accidentally ran into while he was still a puppy, but this chaos is their home.
A home that is obviously missing waffles, but Nina’s almost certain she threatened the rest of their friends with certain death if they didn’t get together for brunch this morning, so that’s entirely on her.
“Good morning,” she sighs, wrapping her hands around Matthias’ waist and kissing him on the shoulder. “Is that coffee for me?”
He nods as he slips from her arms, continuing to fiddle with the extravagant espresso maker that she’s been banned from using after one too many tries that ended in what he called ‘liquid dirt.’ It only takes seconds for him to hand her the mug he’s been working on, the caramel drizzled over the steamed milk exactly as she’d taught him.
She leans forward to kiss him in thanks but he brushes by her almost immediately. Ouch .
“Is everything okay?” she asks before putting her coffee down.
If they’re going to argue, she’s going to want that later to clear her head. But Matthias doesn’t answer her, choosing instead to flop down on the couch with Heartrender by his side.
“Matthias?”
Silence again. He knows this is the best way to rile her up, but it’s the fact that he’s pushing these buttons at all that pisses her off the most.
“Get your head out of your ass, Helvar. If you’ve got something to say, say it. You aren’t Kaz fucking Brekker, and I won’t put up with this nonsense.”
That seems to spur him into action. He turns to her in one fluid motion, but he doesn’t look angry, he looks hurt.
“Where were you last night?” he asks, staring her down with those eyes so blue it makes her head spin. “I was looking for you everywhere, but I couldn’t find you.”
“I was dancing…”
“But you were supposed to be with me . The demjin broke into an abandoned rooftop for Inej, Jesper spilled his champagne all over me when he kissed Wylan, but for some reason, you didn’t even want to be near me.”
That stuns Nina into silence, and her mouth opens and closes several times as she tries to find the right words to say. He’s wrong - she absolutely wanted to kiss him at midnight, she’d just been so wrapped up in the Harry Styles medley they’d been playing at the time that she hadn’t realized the countdown had started, let alone ended. And hadn’t she found him almost immediately and kissed him so hard she thought her heart would explode?
Besides, a kiss on New Year’s Eve isn’t exactly the most romantic. Before she’d met Matthias, she usually just found someone else at whatever party she was at, and half the time she wouldn’t remember their name the next morning.
But this was Matthias Helvar, and judging by the defeat in his eyes, it was something he’d been excited for, especially after Jesper had made such a big deal about it with Wylan yesterday. She was probably going to be his very first New Year’s kiss and she’d ruined it entirely.
Her throat feels too dry but she pushes out the words anyways. “I’m sorry.”
He looks away, quiet again, and Nina feels her heart beating so hard against her chest she wants to scream. She can’t go back and change what happened, but she damn sure can do her best to make it right.
She relaxes as he lets her fall against him on the couch - he can’t be that upset if he’s pulling her in closer to him - and she snuggles up against him. His warmth is a welcome comfort, and she stretches up to give him a soft kiss on his cheek.
“Let’s skip brunch,” she murmurs, wrapping her arms around his solid body. “I don’t want to spend today with anyone else but you.”
Matthias squeezes her softly before lightly kissing the top of her head. “And miss waffles?”
“I’ve told you this before, and I’ll say it again. You’re better than waffles, Matthias Helvar.”
He pulls away from her, smiling that smile she sees in every one of her dreams. And then his lips are on hers, soft and warm, and setting every inch of her body on fire. Not for the first time, she’s so painfully aware of how much she loves this magnificent, wondrous boy.
“Happy New Year, Nina.”
“Happy New Year, Matthias.”