Hey Sunshine

I'll even go for the acid

He stared at the ground, silently wanting to murder himself. He felt like an intruder. He tried coughing again with no avail.

"So why won't you?"

"Nina, do we have to do this here?"

No, please don't.
"No, we have to do this here. Right now. I'm sick and tired of avoiding this issue and it's driving me insane. Either you deal with this right here or Matthias Helvar, I'm never going to kiss you again for the rest of your life. We'll still be married obviously, but I'll never kiss you."

He tried coughing once more, but when there was no response he knew it was too late.

Just kill me now, he begged. Please. I'm begging you, God-I-don't-believe-in. What did I do to deserve this?

Several seconds filled with Wylan's silent cursing passed before Matthias spoke.

"Nina..." Matthias started. "Nina..." he began again.

The girl was silent, evidently waiting for Matthias to fully construct a cohesive sentence.

"Nina, meeting you was a disaster."

Wylan paused at that, right before he would have began banging his head against the wall. If Matthias was hoping to win Nina, there wasn't a big chance of that happening with what he was currently doing.

Nina seemed to agree. "Thank you," she said curtly.

"A disaster I am grateful for every day," he continued. "Meeting you has widened my sight so much... It helps me move on from the teachings of my stepfather, and for that I am truly grateful that you are in my life. You shake my earth, and my beliefs."

Nina began to reply but Matthias continued to speak. Wylan at this point, considered killing himself right there. He had no intention of hearing Matthias's ending. He had heard enough. Five minutes ago.

"You are a disaster," he continued. Wylan silently smacked his forehead. "A cyclone, an earthquake. A storm capable of shaking everything anybody's ever known."

"I," Nina began, "am a delicate flower."

"No," Matthias disagreed. "You are so much more than that. In my home town this isn't what women do. They don't act like you-"

"What do you want from me?" Nina asked, and Wylan felt like nodding. He also felt like he was in the middle of the most dramatic radio show ever, except he was in the middle of it and felt like killing himself. Repeatedly. With his own fingernails.

"Do you want me to ask like those girls?" she challenged. "Blush at everything you do, prick and preen at every gesture of affections. Because-"

"-no Nina, " Matthias responded. "I don't. But I have no idea what I'm doing because you're so different. But I love the unknowingness of it."

There was a beat before he finished.

"And I love you."

I'll even go for the acid, Wylan thought to himself. I can probably unscrew my ears with wire cutters right?

There was a long silence before loud sounds of kissing filled the air. He was pretty sure he also heard a groan, and for a second he was glad there was pitch black. He was so so glad.

"Guys!" he finally broke, loudly shifting his position and wrapping his arms around himself. He was sure he was as bright as whenever Jesper flirted with him. Possibly even more (if that was possible).

There was a long unsteady beat.

"... Wylan?" Nina asked uncertainly. "Wylan?"
"I'm still here," Wylan said nervously, wrapping his arms around himself even tighter. His cheeks and ears burned uncomfortably.

"Wylan?" Matthias repeated. "Y-y- oh shit. You're still here."

"Yeah," he replied. "Yeah I still kinda am."

"I'm guessing you heard all of that, right?" Nina asked as another shuffling was heard. He guessed they were detaching themselves and turning to face where they thought he was.

"Yeah, I tried to interrupt you but you wouldn't stop so I just settled for wanting to use the acid on myself," Wylan said, biting his lip hard. "Sorry about that."

"We should be sorry," Matthias said quickly. "I'm so sorry I completely forgot you were in here and... "

"Yeah," Nina agreed. "I'm so sorry I got caught up in the whole thing with Matthias and that must have been so uncomfortable for you and-"

Suddenly a loud banging noise filled the air, and there was a loud clunk as an object fell from the ceiling.

"Nina? Matthias? Wylan?" an unfamiliar voice said.

"Inej?" Nina responded shocked. "Oh my God you're... on top of the elevator?"

Wylan quietly tried talking to Matthias. "Is this the girl Kaz has a crush on? The one on top of the elevator?"

"Meet Inej," Matthias whispered back.

"You know she can probably here you two," Nina deadpanned. The voice from above confirmed it.

"Yes, but it's rude to interrupt. Especially when he's never met me before. Hi Wylan, I'm Inej."

"Kaz's girlfriend," Nina helpfully explained.

"You keep repeating that and I won't get you out of here," Inej responded.

"You can get us out of here?" Wylan asked shocked.

"Yes," Nina and Matthias said in unison.

"I'm guessing Kaz has a plan for this?" Matthias asked.

"Yeah," Inej said casually from the top of the elevator. "We have a plan."

***

a/n: and here is the next chapter! thank you so much for reading, commenting, and voting! you've probably read this in every authors note ever, but seeing even a single digit on the read count go up is so heartwarming because it means somebody looked at your book and went "yeah why not". thank you guys so much!

on another note, these two chapters are going to be a double-update because i have to go to an international writing competition and due to that, i'm not getting back home until a week has passed. and i'm not allowed to bring a laptop with me because of my school's rules, so that's super annoying.

anyways, bitching aside, all rights go to Leigh Bardugo who is the amazing writer and mind behind the crows. i just occasionally move her characters around and put them in bad situations.

thanks for reading,

mercy