Chapter Text
Wylan pulled his coat tighter around him as he walked down the street towards his bus stop. The cold had rolled in early this year, and it seemed to creep in most everywhere. Even though he knew exactly why he hadn’t, a part of Wylan still wished he’d asked his father for a driver.
Wylan had felt as though he had tested his luck enough when Jan Van Eck agreed to allow him music lessons in the evenings, so instead of asking for a driver he had opted to take the bus to and from the Barrel on his own.
Wylan had always enjoyed music, and growing up he’d been allowed several tutors. After his mother’s passing though, his father had gotten a lot more focused on Wylan learning the business end of things, and music had been deemed superfluous and unworthy of Wylan’s time. Now things were different though. Now, his stepmother Alys was giving his father a brand new heir, one that wouldn’t be defective, and Wylan had been put to the side. With less attention focused on him he had dared to seek out music again.
He’d been hesitant at first when he saw that the lessons were held in the Barrel, having heard stories about the kind of people who moved about in the area. The lessons however were the only ones he could afford without asking his father for more money, and in the end his desperation to get back to music had won out. Which is how Wylan found himself walking alone on the dark, empty streets of the Barrel.
A noise interrupted his inner musings about the cold, and Wylan stopped to look from where it came. Just at the opening of an alley he could see a shape on the ground, slumped up against the wall.
“Hello?” Wylan asked whilst stepping up towards the alley. When he got close enough that the street light hit right, Wylan could see that it was a man sitting there, with his hand pressed up against his stomach. His blood covered hand. Oh shit. Wylan immediately got down on the ground in front of the man, trying to assess the damage.
“Saints, what happened?” he asked as he realised that there was a still bleeding wound in the man’s midriff. Wylan quickly took off his scarf and started to wrap it around the man to staunch the bleeding.
“Shit, you need a hospital, '' Wylan continued as he one-handedly fumbled for his phone. Before he could dial though, the man’s hand came up and pushed down on Wylan’s hand, almost making him drop the phone.
“No hospital” he slurred out, obviously affected by the blood loss.
“You need medical attention.” Wylan protested, but he didn’t pick up his phone again.
“No hospital… Need Kaz” the stranger managed to press out. What or who that was, Wylan had no idea. That was when he noticed the gun at the man’s hips, and his brain finally made the connection between what was likely a stab wound, the request for no hospital, and the fact that they were in the Barrel. Wylan’s heart stuttered as he cursed his luck for putting him in this situation with what was obviously a criminal, possibly dangerous.
The man didn’t really look dangerous though. His skin was dark and his black curls that were currently plastered to his face looked soft to the touch. He had nice full lips, lines around his eyes that suggested the man smiled often, and dark eyes that Wylan could see himself getting lost in. Wylan was certain that had circumstances been different, the first thing he would have noticed about the man was just how handsome he was.
The shrill sound of a phone cut through the air before he could make any type of decision as to what he could possibly do if the hospital wasn’t an option. The handsome stranger cursed as he started to pat down his coat in an attempt to find his phone. It didn’t take long for him to find it and pull it up to his ear.
“Kaz” the man answered in a strained voice that betrayed just how much pain he was likely in. Wylan could hear the sound of a voice from the other end of the call, but couldn’t make out what was being said. Then suddenly the man seemed to list forward and the blood slicked phone slid out from his hand and onto the ground. Wylan cursed as he used his body to catch the man from falling down entirely, and with the hand not pressing against the wound he picked up the stranger’s phone. As he did he caught the tail end of an irritated question.
“Fuck are you Jesper?” Wylan willed himself to not shrink under the tone of voice.
“Hello? is this Kaz?” he asked, not entirely sure why he wasn’t calling a hospital, but the stranger, no Jesper Wylan corrected himself, had said that he needed Kaz.
“Who is this?” The voice on the other end had quieted somewhat, in the way voices tended to do when the person speaking was calculating their next move.
“I found, um, Jesper here, I think he’s been stabbed” Wylan said into the phone as Jesper sat back against the wall again. The man seemed to have reacted to the sound of his own name and was looking at Wylan now. Without breaking eye contact Wylan rattled off their position as best he could into the phone. He thought he might have heard curses on the other side and something about lions, but he had trouble listening properly with Jesper’s attention focused on him.
“We’re on our way” said the voice on the other end of the phone, before Wylan could hear the distinct sound of the call ending.
“Kaz said he’s on his way” he relayed as he carefully put the phone back into Jesper’s coat pocket. Some of the tension seemed to melt off the other man’s shoulders as relief washed over his face.
“Thanks darling, you’re a lifesaver-” he said, rearranging himself to carry more of his weight on his own “-you should probably get out of here, someone as pretty as you don’t want to get caught up in all of this.” he offered as he looked back up, a hint of a smile playing on his lips. Wylan could feel the tell-tale warmth of a blush spread across his face at the compliment, and it took a little longer than he was proud of to understand what Jesper had said beyond that. It did make sense for Wylan to leave now that help was on the way, Jesper was after all very likely involved with something dangerous, but he felt reluctant to leave the other man alone.
“I’m not going anywhere” he finally said as he helped Jesper settle into a better position.
“Okay, then talk.” Jesper acquiesced.
“What?” Wylan asked, confused at the request.
“Distract me from the very painful stab wound in my stomach.” Jesper explained, but there was no heat in his voice, like he didn’t really mind having to explain himself.
“Oh, um … what should I talk about?” Wylan stammered out as he looked down, away from Jesper’s gaze.
“Tell me about yourself… like… where you from?” Jesper asked, his speech broken up by painful breaths.
“Um, Ketterdam?” Wylan said with a mix of confusion and sarcasm, a smile on his lips.
“Ha-” Jesper laughed, before he hissed in pain and tensed up. Wylan silenced his guilt by quickly helping Jesper settle again.
“I mean, you don’t look like you belong in the Barrel.” Jesper graciously added once he seemed to be in a less painful position.
“Well, I live over on Geldstraa-” Wylan started explaining before he got interrupted by Jesper.
“Geldstraat?! What the fuck is a merchling doing in the Barrel?” he asked incredulously.
“Don’t call me that.” Wylan bristled.
“Okay, what the fuck is a pretty boy like you do-” Jesper started in a challenging tone of voice that made the compliment sound more like an insult. It rubbed Wylan entirely the wrong way.
“My name is Wylan.” he interrupted brusquely, possibly harsher than deserved. It seemed to give Jesper pause, at least momentarily, before a small smile lit up his handsome features.
“Okay, Wylan.” he said, dragging the name out as he spoke, as if he was trying it out. Like he could taste it. Wylan swallowed as another blush spread across his face.
“What are you doing down here in the Barrel… Wylan?” Jesper asked, speaking slowly, seemingly fully aware of the effect he had on Wylan. When it became obvious that Wylan was too frazzled to answer the question Jesper continued.
“What sort of illicit thing would bring you down here? A lover perhaps?” there was a sarcastic tinge to Jesper’s voice now, and a hardness in his eyes that made him look almost cruel. The realisation hit Wylan that Jesper wasn’t simply teasing him anymore, but he was actually frustrated with Wylan. It was enough to startle a response out of him.
“Music lessons.” Wylan said quickly.
“What?” Jesper gave a slight jerk to his head, almost like he had been struck by the answer. A confused frown settled over his face.
“I take music lessons here.” Wylan added.
“Oh” was all that came out of Jesper at first, like it took him a while to reassess his idea of Wylan with this new information.
“Sing me something.” He said after a while with a softer smile on his face.
“What?” Wylan startled “no, I don’t sing.”
“Wylan,-” Jesper said with eyes lit up by mirth “I have been stabbed, I am in pain, and I am bleeding out, are you really going to deny a dying man some peace?”
“Help is on the way, you’re not dying.” Wylan protested.
“You don’t know, Kaz might not get here in time.” Jesper argued.
Wylan made a few more noises of protest, but he didn’t say anything more as he racked his brain for something. He wasn’t really a singer, but he felt compelled to give in to Jesper’s request. Wylan embarrassedly looked down as he started to hum the tune of the song he was currently working on during his lessons. It was a light, soft piece meant for the piano, but Wylan’s humming would have to do in the current situation.
Jesper gently touched the side of Wylan’s face, interrupting his humming, and making him look up to meet Jesper’s intense gaze. There was something he couldn’t quite name in the other’s eyes, but whatever it was it pinned Wylan in place and made it suddenly very difficult to breathe normally.
“Saints, you’re pretty.” Jesper said, and for an agonisingly long moment Wylan was certain that the other man was going to kiss him.
The shift of Jesper’s attention to something behind Wylan was all the warning he got before the man underneath him coiled with tension and went for his gun. Before Wylan had time to react Jesper had grabbed a hold of Wylan’s neck and pulled his face up against himself, as his other arm shot out behind Wylan, likely with a gun in hand.
“I’d stop there if I was you” he said to whoever was standing behind Wylan now.
“Put down the gun kid, there’s no need for this to get uglier than it has to.” a man's voice said from above Wylan. Fear shot through Wylan’s body as he realised the position they were in. A man who was likely armed was standing above them, the threat of Jesper’s gun likely the only thing that kept him from getting closer to them, with Wylan in between the man and Jesper. Jesper, who was currently bleeding out on the ground. Shame burned hot through Wylan as he thought of where his mind had been just a few seconds previously. The man had been stabbed and here all Wylan could think about was how handsome Jesper was and wishing that he’d kiss him.
“You don’t want him to see your face” Jesper said softly into the side of his head as he stopped Wylan from pulling his head back. Wylan wasn’t entirely certain what it was that he’d do if Jesper had allowed him to pull back, he just felt a deep seated need to do something. Anything.
They were too vulnerable in their current position on the ground, they had to get up someway.
“We need to get up.” he said, trying to match Jesper’s low volume from before as he tried to get his feet underneath himself. With the hand not pressing against the blood flow of Jesper’s stab wound he grabbed onto the other man, his arm wrapping around his torso. Fortunately Jesper had seemed to get the gist of what Wylan was attempting to do, and had also scrambled to get his feet underneath himself. They then together managed to get up off the ground, Wylan lifting Jesper who braced them against the wall while keeping the gun locked on the man. Jesper was still bleeding heavily, and they were still pinned there by whoever was behind Wylan, but at least now they were standing, which meant they might be able to run if it came to that.
The next thing he knew the space got flooded by sound and light as a car skidded to a stop on the road next to them. Wylan could hear a door opening and a sudden shout.
“Hey!” the voice echoed after the sound of the quickly retreating footsteps. It seemed the man had decided to give up on his quarry and flee. Wylan recognized the shouting voice as the same voice he’d heard on the phone. Kaz had finally arrived.
“Hey boss,” Jesper said with obvious relief in his voice. Wylan stumbled as Jesper relaxed more of his weight into him, now that the immediate threat was over.
Another car door and more hurried footsteps before Jesper’s weight was lifted off of Wylan. He looked up to see a blonde giant of a man having grabbed hold of Jesper, and started to help him over towards the car. Jesper followed him willingly, but still kept a tight grip on Wylan who found himself doing the same to Jesper as he crawled into the backseat of the car with him. Watching over them was a man with striking, severe features, dressed in all black with a cane in his hands. Wylan surmised that this was Kaz, or the boss as Jesper had called him.
After getting Jesper into the car the blond man ran around and to the driver’s seat, as Kaz sat down in the passenger seat. It didn’t take long for Jesper to sprawl out across most of the backseat, settling his head in Wylan’s lap. While keeping one hand pressing down on the wound Wylan started running the other absentmindedly through Jesper’s hair, uncertain if it was for Jesper’s or his own benefit.
It wasn’t until the car was on its way again that Wylan realised that he had gotten into a car with total strangers who were all likely criminals, on his way with them to a secondary location.
“What the fuck were you doing in dime lion turf?” Kaz asked from the front seat, his tone of voice like a whiplash. Wylan subconsciously found himself shrinking in on himself, trying to become smaller, but stubbornly keeping his eyes on Kaz.
“Wasn’t like I planned it.” Jesper answered with a smile, obviously trying to break the tension by making light of the situation. He was betrayed however by the strain in his voice that told of just how much pain he must be in.
Kaz looked back at them with an unimpressed expression, but before he could find a retort Jesper kept speaking.
“Got jumped … chase m…” he managed to press out. For a while now it had been obvious that it was taxing for Jesper to speak, but now it was getting actually difficult to impossible to make out what he was saying.
“Shit!” Kaz cursed from the front seat. He looked up shortly from Jesper to Wylan who willed himself to meet the other’s hard gaze. After just a few seconds though he turned back around to the front, telling the driver to hurry up before remaining silent for the rest of the ride. Wylan caught the driver looking at him curiously through the rear-view mirror a few times, but other than that no one acknowledged him further.
When they pulled up to the back of a building there was already a woman waiting for them. The car had barely rolled to a stop when she wrenched open the car door and grabbed a hold of Jesper. Between the two of them they managed to get him out of the car before the driver got to them and took over carrying Jesper. Wylan watched as the woman and the driver ran inside with Jesper’s body between them. He shivered as the cold caught up to him again, he didn’t know where he was, or what he was supposed to do now.
He could sense someone stepping up next to him, and he looked over to see Kaz standing there. The man silently gestured towards the building, obviously wanting Wylan to walk in there, and despite himself and the entire situation Wylan found himself doing as bid. On their way up to the door a second woman walked out of it, she was short with a slight build and long black hair that fell across her front in a braid. She exchanged a silent look with Kaz as he handed her something before she continued towards the car. Wylan could hear it start up again as he and Kaz walked through the doors.
Once inside Kaz led him through a narrow hallway. He opened a door and held it open for Wylan who looked inside to see a washroom.
“Get cleaned up, someone will bring you a change of clothes, there is a shower for you to use should you want it.” Kaz explained in a clipped but not unkind voice. Wylan looked up at him, unsure as to what to say. It was an obviously nice offer, but this whole situation was difficult to get a grip on.
“Then come see me in my office.” the other man finally said when it became obvious that Wylan wasn’t answering. He then turned and walked away, leaving Wylan alone.
Wylan entered the washroom and explored the space. It was a sparsely furnished room with a few sinks lined against the wall on the right, a bench on the furthest wall and four doors on the left side of the room. Each of the doors led into a separate small room with a toilet and sink, the final room was larger than the others. Besides the toilet there was also a shower in one of the corners, and a large open cupboard with what looked to be a few threadbare towels.
Wylan walked into the room with the shower and locked the door behind himself. It was when he saw his reflection in the mirror that he realised why Kaz had offered him a chance to clean up in the first place. He had blood all down his front and even some in his face and hair from when Jesper had grabbed him. Jesper’s blood. Wylan thought he’d be sick.
He hurriedly undressed and got in the shower, in there he found a sad looking, opened bottle of 3in1 shampoo, conditioner and soap. A hiss escaped his lips at the feel of the cold water, making him miss his own shower at home with its proper water pressure and steam function. The water temperature didn’t rise above tepid, and he could feel tears gathering in his eyes at the realisation. He tried to will them down and swallow around the painful lump in his throat that had appeared, but it proved futile as the entire situation crashed over him like a tidal wave and his body was wracked with sobs of exhaustion and fear. What the fuck was happening? He was supposed to be getting home now, on his way to eat dinner alone in the relative safety of his room. He was decidedly not supposed to be showering in the lair of some gang after helping a member of said gang survive a stab wound. He was supposed to have gotten on the bus home. He was not supposed to have kept a man alive by holding his insides in place.
A while later, it could have been seconds and it could have been minutes, Wylan found himself curled up around himself, crouched down on the floor. He was shivering from the cold water. Wylan aggressively rubbed at his eyes. This was not the time or place for a breakdown! Once he’d shaken himself out of his pathetic reaction he quickly cleaned off, doing his best to not look at the red water going down the drain.
He used one of the towels to dry off before wrapping it around his midriff and walked over to the door. With a secure grip on the towel he unlocked the door and opened it slowly, the room outside was empty of people. There was however a stack of clothes and an empty bag that had not been there before placed on the bench. Wylan hurriedly took the clothes and locked the door behind him again.
Once dressed, with his own clothes in the bag, he walked out of the washroom. He realised that he didn’t really know where to go now. Kaz had said to meet him in his office, but Wylan didn’t know where that was.
It turned out that he didn’t have to worry, as the black haired girl from before was waiting out in the hallway. She smiled at him as he stepped out, and Wylan was struck by how kind she looked.
“Hello, I’m Inej-” she greeted, “I understand it’s thanks to you that Jesper isn’t dead.” Wylan swallowed and gave a slight nod to her.
“Um, I guess.” he said. Before he could ask about anything further about Jesper she motioned with her head down the hallway.
“Kaz wanted to speak with you in his office.” she said before walking away, obviously expecting Wylan to follow her. Inej led him a ways down the corridor up to the last door on the left before a bend in the hallway.
“Don’t let him intimidate you too much, he might be bad at showing it but he is really grateful.” she said to Wylan with a kind voice before knocking on the door. It didn’t take more than a few seconds before a voice from the other side of the door said to come in. Without hesitation Inej opened the door and held it for Wylan to enter.
He slowly walked into the room, it was a small, nondescript looking office. Kaz was sitting behind a desk facing the door, he looked up at Wylan and gestured towards a chair opposite himself. The door closed behind Wylan resolutely as he shakingly walked forward to sit.
“Welcome to the crow Club Mr Van Eck” Kaz said as soon as Wylan was properly situated in the chair. Wylan sat up straighter at the words, suddenly even more nervous than he’d already been.
“How did you-?” he asked.
“I make it my business to know everybody who comes and goes in the Barrel-” Kaz explained “I knew from the day you started taking your music lessons.”
Wylan wasn’t entirely sure what to say to this, all he really knew was that it felt like he was being threatened. Kaz seemed to assess him for a while, and Wylan got the unpleasant feeling that he knew every little secret.
“I gotta say, I was quite surprised that a merchling like yourself would take lessons down here Mr Van Eck.” Kaz said. Wylan felt a sudden flash of anger at the man in front of him.
“My name is Wylan.” he said harshly, stubbornly meeting Kaz’s gaze.
“What exactly is it you want with me?” he then asked, needing to get some semblance of control or at the very least understanding of his current predicament. Kaz sighed and looked away shortly before once again looking back at Wylan, only now his gaze was softened by something that Wylan might have identified as regret, if he believed Kaz was capable of such things.
“At the moment I want to thank you.” he answered, surprising Wylan somewhat.
“If it hadn’t been for you Jesper would likely be dead now. For that I am in your debt.” he added.
“Oh” was all that Wylan intelligently managed to get out. They sat there quietly for a little while as Wylan tried to gather his feelings about the situation. It didn’t really help a lot, since all he managed to do was realise that he didn’t really know what to feel.
“How is Jesper?” he finally settled on asking.
“He is still being treated.” Kaz said, not seeming entirely happy with the subject.
“Can I see him?” Wylan asked.
“That would not be advisable at the moment.” Wylan tried to protest, but before he could Kaz was speaking again.
“For the moment Matthias will make sure that you get home safely.” Kaz then turned his attention to the papers on the desk in front of him. Wylan recognised it as a dismissal and got up and walked to the door.
Inej was no longer there when he walked out, instead the tall blonde who had been driving the car was waiting for him.
“Matthias?” Wylan asked, and got a nod in return.
Suddenly from around the corner came the woman that had dragged Jesper out of the car. She was wiping blood from her hands on to a rag, but she had a smile on her face.
“Hi, you must be Wylan!” she exclaimed happily when she saw him, “I’m Nina, I would offer to shake your hand but you know.” she held up one of her hands to show their state.
“Um hello.” Wylan greeted her. Looking at her overall state and her bloody clothes he realised that she likely came directly from treating Jesper.
“How is he?” he asked her.
“He is alright,” she answered with a knowing smile “he’s been asking for you, you know?” she then said.
“He has?” Wylan felt like his heart stuttered at the idea.
“Yes, he kept asking for his dashing saviour.” she said in a teasing tone. Wylan felt himself blush at her words, but he couldn’t sense any malice from her, only genuine mirth. Even though he was embarrassed by her words, her overall demeanour still made him feel safe.
“Let’s go see him.” she said motioning in the direction where she had come.
“Nina.” Matthias said with clear warning in his voice. Wylan felt himself startle slightly as he had nearly forgotten about the intimidating man.
“Matthias.” Nina merely answered in a low monotone voice, obviously to mock the man.
“Um, Kaz said-” Wylan started to speak, torn between wanting to see Jesper, and not wanting to anger Kaz.
“Who cares what Brekker said.” Nina interrupted him before turning to walk down the corridor, gesturing for him to follow. Wylan stood there uncertain for a moment, glancing over at Matthias quickly before his need to see Jesper won out and he raced to catch up to Nina. He could hear Matthias follow along behind him, but the man made no move to stop him.
She led them further down the hallway to an elevator at the end of it. Wylan and Matthias joined her in it as she pressed one of the buttons and the elevator ascended. They arrived a few floors up and she quickly led them down another corridor and opened a door for Wylan to step through.
Inside was what looked like a surprisingly well stocked infirmary, Wylan wondered morbidly why they had the need for such a room. Centre stage in the room was a hospital cot, and on it was Jesper propped up by pillows so that he could sit. A large smile lit up his face when he saw Wylan enter the room.
“My saviour.” he exclaimed happily as Wylan hurried over to him.
“How are you feeling?” Wylan asked, subconsciously bringing his hands out towards Jesper. He stopped himself before touching him though. Jesper had bandages wrapped neatly around his midriff, something Wylan could see because Jesper was otherwise shirtless. Wylan was slightly stunned at the sight of all that exposed skin. He was also not entirely certain if Jesper wanted to be touched by Wylan, and in his indecision he stood there frozen with his hands in the air. Jesper didn’t seem to mind too much though, as he took one of Wylan’s hands and brought it up to his lips and kissed the backside.
“I do believe I owe you my life.” he said as he started to hypnotically rub his thumb across Wylan’s hand as he looked at him with a warm mirthful look. It was quite frankly a bit too much for Wylan to handle all at once, and he found himself blushing and looking down. The motion was quickly aborted though by Jesper’s hand under his chin, gently pushing his face up again.
“Don’t hide those pretty eyes from me.” he said with complete sincerity. Wylan snorted at the cheesiness of the line. Jesper however didn’t seem to have meant it as anything other than genuine, and Wylan absentmindedly wondered just how much blood Jesper had lost. Any thoughts of that quickly left his mind though as he got lost in Jesper’s intense gaze. He simply stood there for a while, anticipation building low in his gut. The fingers on his chin started to gently pull him forwards. Had he wanted to, Wylan could have easily gotten out of the grip by simply not moving. However, it felt like Jesper was pulling at his very core, and Wylan was more than willing to fall into the other man.
Their lips met in a gentle kiss, and something inside of Wylan seemed to slot into place. It felt right to be kissing Jesper. It didn’t take long before he took a hold of Jesper’s face and deepened the kiss. Jesper returned in kind and grabbed a hold of Wylan’s waist, dragging him closer to the bed. Heat pooled low in Wylan’s stomach at the feel of Jesper’s tongue against his lips. He was certain that any moment now his heart was going to beat out of his chest unless he managed to get closer to Jesper somehow. As he was moments away from crawling up in Jesper’s lap they were interrupted by the door opening with an accompanying knock and the clearing of a throat.
Wylan jumped back startled and turned to the door to see an amused looking Nina.
“I do believe the patient needs his rest, and it seems that might be difficult with you still here.” she teased. Wylan blushed and looked down at the floor unable to stop from smiling.
“Nina!” Jesper complained “I told you not to eavesdrop on my heart beat.”
“Well, you are a patient under my care at the moment, so I do believe that trumps any agreements from before.” she said as she walked into the room “besides, it was quite hard to miss how this one’s heart sped up suddenly.” she continued with a gesture towards Wylan as she took a seat in one of the chairs. Wylan made an unintelligent sound as it took him an embarrassingly long time to make the connection.
“You’re a heartrender.” he said.
“At your service.” Nina said with a mocking salute. Before Wylan could figure out what else to say, or how to react, Matthias stepped into the room. He looked at Wylan as he spoke. “We should get going.” Wylan nodded at him despite the pang of disappointment he felt at the idea of leaving.
“What, already?!” Jesper said from the bed, obviously equally unhappy with the idea.
“You need to rest!” Nina protested “you’ll have to ravage him some other time.” As Matthias complained about Nina’s crude words Wylan could feel himself blush at the idea, and hoped it wasn’t too obvious just how much he wanted that to happen. He looked over at Jesper and found him already looking at him. The seated man gestured with a smile for Wylan to come over. Wylan followed Jesper’s wish, but as he leaned down to kiss him a second time he couldn’t help but be aware of the two other people in the room with them, and so he made sure to keep it short. He pulled back and gave Jesper one final smile before turning and following Matthias out of the room.
They didn’t meet anyone else as they walked back through the hallways and out into the night. The outside air felt refreshing against Wylan’s flushed skin. Matthias led him around the corner to a parking lot and up to a car similar to the one they drove here in. As Wylan got into the passenger seat he couldn’t help but look into the back seat of the car. He needed to make sure that it wasn’t the same one, and its clean state confirmed it. Wylan hadn’t felt like riding in a car stained with Jesper’s blood. Matthias didn’t need to be told where they were going, and drove quietly out of the Barrel and towards Geldstraat.
Wylan struggled with not touching his still tingling lips as the street lights flashed by outside. He could feel something expand inside his chest. Something he had trouble identifying. Something he hadn’t felt this strongly in a long time.
Hope.