Drowning (Kaz Brekker)

ii - Asra

"I didn't think you'd be up." She said.

Kaz simply shrugged.

Talkative indeed, Asra rolled her eyes. She spyed a pot of coffee on the table beside him. She grabbed a cup off his table and headed over, slipping onto the windowsill to sit. Kaz watched out the corner of his eye. Asra ignored him and poured herself a coffee. She sat back and had a small sip.

Kaz watched her. Asra watched him back. Then he looked away, and she did the same. And that was that. Almost every night Asra would wake, gripped by nightmares. She'd slip from her room, into Kaz's office, and he would be there. After a week, there'd be a coffee waiting for her, set on the edge of his desk. Sometimes they'd speak, often they didn't. Kaz would pour over paperwork of some kind or simply sit and brood. Asra would sit and stare at the world beyond her windowsill perch. Words weren't needed. There was a solidarity between them. They were bound in subtle rings of exhaustion and comforting silence. That kind of thing couldn't be put into words, even if they wanted to.

It became a game, almost. To Asra anyway. A kind of race to see who would wake first. She always lost, he was always first. It was a first for her, and Asra almost choked on her coffee when she realised. She'd lost. Kaz had won a game he didn't even know existed. That should've scared her. That should've been impossible. Yet once the shock died down all Asra could feel was curious.

"Do you even try to sleep?" She asked the next night, walking over

Kaz spared her a look. "Do you?" He went back to his documents or whatever they were.

Asra hummed, taking her usual seat. "Touché." She sipped her coffee, studying him the way she always did everyone. "Why not?"

"Why not what?" He didn't look up.

"Why not sleep?"

He lifted his head, turning to her. He studied her, the way he always did. By now, after nearly four weeks of working for him, Asra had got used to him. She just met his gaze, patient and stubborn and curious all at once.

"Why don't you?" He said at last.

"Why do you answer all my questions with more questions?"

"Why don't you answer them?"

"Why don't you?"

Stalemate. Bound in rings of exhaustion and silence, trapped in a web of stubbornness and secrets. Kaz went back to his papers. Asra sipped her coffee. And silence settled over them, more comforting than any blanket or bed.

"Bad dreams." Asra said at last, eyes on the ceiling.

"What?" Kaz looked up to her.

"Why I don't sleep, bad dreams." She looked down, meeting his gaze. "Your turn."

He was quiet a moment, eyes far off as he looked back to his papers. Then he spoke, voice just as distant and softer than Asra thought possible from Kaz, which is to say not prying/sarcastic/a threat.

"Same as you."

Asra nodded. She sipped her coffee. Kaz went back to his papers. And that was that.

Kaz Brekker was interesting. That much was certain. The gloves, the insomnia, the secrecy. Asra could respect it, she almost liked it. It was... nice, in a way. Every part of her that made her insufferable, staring back at her over the rim of his coffee. Those silent nights with Kaz Brekker, meaningless and not nearly as boring as she expected, Asra almost felt normal. Almost felt human. Almost felt real. It was an odd thing, and she didn't hate it as much as she expected.

Maybe the Ketterdam smog was rotting her brain.
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Author's note:

Much better:)

I like this chapter. This sets up Asra and Kaz's Soc dynamics pretty well I think.

Also btw there's gonna be four chapters before we actually get into Soc. Two more then we get into it :)