glow of the mark (six of crows soulmate au)

chapter sixteen (jesper)

The ship was unsettlingly quiet after the murder of Kozlov. The only noises were the crashing of the waves against the boat.

"Jes?" A knock sounded at the door of his small cabin. Jesper grinned when his arm glowed in response.

"Come in." He replied, setting down the Rubix cube he'd been working on.

Wylan entered and shut the door behind him, his eyes were red, his cheeks stained with tears.

"Wylan? Are you okay?" Jesper asked, patting the spot on his bed beside him.

Wylan sat next to him, "I-I feel like a monster. I just helped kill someone."

Jesper wrapped an arm around Wylan, pulling him closer. "I know, it's not a good feeling. I remember the first time I helped the Dregs murder someone. Normally, it was hard to disturb me. But, the feeling of knowing that I had just contributed to that person's death sent me in a downward spiral for a bit."

"What do you do about that feeling now?" Wylan rested his head on Jesper's shoulder.

Jesper though for a moment, "Now, I'm somewhat used to helping Kaz with these things. It still bothers me, but not as much. I still get that shitty feeling, I usually tend to distract myself until it goes away."

"That's probably not the healthiest."

"Who are you to bash my methods?" Jesper joked.

Wylan laughed, "Someone whose opinions matter."

"Says you." Jesper lightly punched Wylan's arm.

"How rude." Wylan grinned.

Jesper kissed Wylan, "Yes, I'm the rude one."

Wylan's cheeks turned red before he burst into a fit of laughter. "Inej showed me a photo of what I look like whenever I blush, and now, I can't help but laugh whenever I feel myself blush."

"It is a funny and cute thing to see," Jesper smirked.

Wylan rolled his eyes, "You're the worst."

"Love ya too," Jesper spoke the words before he realized what he had said.

Wylan's eyebrows raised, and he stayed silent, a small, embarrassed smile creeping onto his face, "I-I gotta go."

"See ya," Jesper replied awkwardly as Wylan left the room. Jesper flopped back onto his bed and groaned before kicking the wall. Inej's room was next to his, so they came up with a code (used mostly by Jesper when he didn't feel like getting up to go over to her room) to communicate, consisting of different kinds of knocks (the most common being a loud thump, which meant for the other to come to their room). It was the same back at the Slat since their rooms were situated next to each other as well. 

Not long after, Inej entered his room, "What did you do this time?"

"I accidentally told Wylan that I love him." Jesper shoved his face into a pillow. He was not one to get embarrassed, but Wylan was different.

"Well? Do you?" Inej sat on the end of his bed with her legs crossed.

"I don't know." 

"Why are you coming to me for advice?"

"You're Inej, you know everything."

"Not the secrets to love."

"Pull up that Wikipedia database you seem to have engraved in your mind."

"Very funny. If you do love him, tell him that you meant it, that you know it's early, but you've felt this way for..?"

"I don't know! I knew there was something about him when we met a year ago... I've felt like this for... God, who knows? Maybe the past six months..?"

"We could tell."

"Huh?"

"Well, Wylan was more obvious, but you were pretty obvious too."

"Okay, whatever. What if I want to pretend like it didn't happen?"

"Wylan will still remember it, even if you convince yourself it didn't."

"You're insufferably right." 

"I apologize for telling you the truth, Jesper." Inej joked.