Chapter Text
Inej was the godmother, Jesper enthusiastically filled the position of ‘World’s Best Uncle’. Kaz, though, was very good with Oliver. It helped Oliver was a quiet kid who didn’t talk, but it was Kaz who could make him laugh without fail.
Oliver would coo something, and Kaz would look at him and say something like, “You’re right, that is a good point. I’ll make sure to add it to the papers.” And Oliver would laugh so hard he’d fall over, every time.
Nina was worried Oliver annoyed Kaz, but she was no longer worried when she saw Kaz had gotten two pillows for either side of Oliver so when he fell over he wouldn’t hit the floor.
Nina felt complete with Oliver by her side, little hand always clinging to her skirts or her hand, his quiet presence the missing piece she never knew she needed.
Until the day.
The day she went to the Crow Club to visit Kaz, Oliver humming from his perch on her hip.
The day Oliver spoke, the day he didn’t just say one word.
Kaz was sitting behind his desk, dark circles under his eyes, looking grim and tired. Nina swept in, urging Oliver to be quiet so as to not disrupt Kaz as they entered.
Kaz massaged his temples, glancing up.
“What business, Nina?” He asked tiredly, giving Oliver a small nod.
“Nothing that can’t wait until after you get some rest.” Nina said lightly, setting a packet of papers away from him on the windowsill.
Kaz glared, or as well as he could looking like he was about to fall over. “Hand it over, Nina.”
Nina pretended not to hear him, and set Oliver down. He scampered over to a little corner where Kaz kept a few toys for him in a small basket.
“You need to rest, Kaz.” Nina said, crossing her arms.
Kaz sighed, massaging his closed eyes with the tips of his thin fingers. “I don’t have time for this, Nina, please, just hand them over.”
“What do you have to do that’s so important?” Nina demanded. “Look at yourself, Kaz. You’re about to fall over.”
Kaz cradled his head in one hand. “Nina.”
“Kaz.” Nina said firmly.
Kaz scowled, and they began a heated discussion that was escalating into a fight, in fact Kaz had just stood up and braced himself on his desk to be at Nina’s eye level.
It was interrupted by Oliver’s giggle. It was loud, he usually only giggled like that when someone was playing with him.
They both looked over at him, Nina’s scolding finger still in the air, mouths half-open.
Oliver was looking over Kaz’s shoulder, about a foot above his head, smiling and waving his fists.
Kaz blinked. “Nina, what is your whelp smiling at?” He asked, no real anger in his voice.
“I don’t know.” Nina said, confused. “Oliver, my fetla, what’s wrong?”
Oliver giggled again, still looking above Kaz’s shoulder.
“Hi!” He said, one of the new words Jesper had taught him. “Hi!”
Kaz stepped around the desk, and still Oliver grinned, not even noticing his movement.
“He’s never done this before,” Nina said, befuddled. “Oliver, wha-“
Oliver waved, still smiling. He turned to Nina for the first time. “Where ka?” He asked, and Nina stepped aside, allowing Kaz to approach.
He knelt in front of Oliver. “I’m here,” he said quietly.
Oliver looked at him, then back at the corner, nodding.
“He looking for you.” He said simply, pointing.
Kaz pivoted, looking at the empty space.
“Who?” Kaz asked, face pale.
Oliver looked at the corner, then back at Kaz.
Jesper had been teaching him to say his name, and to their shock that was what he used in that moment.
“Jordan!” Oliver giggled. “Like me!”
All the color drained from Kaz’s face, and he stood shakily, looking at the corner as though he was expecting to see someone, face pale as death.
Nina scooped up Oliver, stepping to Kaz’s side.
“I’m here,” Kaz said again, looking to Oliver.
Oliver clapped his hands and looked longingly for his toys in the corner, and Nina gently nudged him.
“You can go play in a moment,” she whispered.
Oliver reluctantly nodded.
Kaz was so pale Nina worried he’d pass out.
“Oliver, honey, tell Uncle Kaz what you see.”
“Jordan.” Oliver said simply.
“What does he look like?” Kaz asked, voice hoarse.
Oliver looked at the corner critically, then pointed to Kaz. “Look like ka.” Oliver bounced on Nina’s hip, giggling.
“Why are you laughing?” Kaz whispers.
Oliver twisted his face into a cross-eyed, mouth-open stare, then went back to normal and dissolved into giggles.
“What else?” Kaz asked, desperation in his voice. “What else?”
Oliver made a motion like hair standing straight up and waving back and forth, his chubby hands going back and forth above his head.
Kaz clapped a hand over his mouth, looking like he was going to throw up. He turned away, horror on his face, but then Oliver clapped his hands.
“Ka!”
Kaz turned to him, face full of nothing but dread and grief. “Yes?” He said quietly.
“He say to you!” Oliver said, looking cross.
Kaz nodded slowly. “I’m sorry for trying to leave,” he said quietly. “What is he saying?”
Oliver looked confused.
“Please, Oliver, tell me.” Kaz whispered, hands trembling.
Oliver nodded. “Jorda say….”
He wrinkled his little nose, then said another phrase clearly.
“I sorry.” Oliver said simply. “He say I’m sorry.”
Nina watched as Kaz’s face crumpled, and she understood she was not meant to see this.
She left, confident Oliver would be okay, and went to wait in Inej’s room.
Kaz asked Oliver to draw a picture, and while his toddler art skills were lacking, the one thing Kaz was looking for was absent:
Pox wounds.
The simple face Oliver drew was complete with the waving hair, a few simple lines Kaz assumed was supposed to be a shirt, and an outstretched arm.
The face was clear, and smiling. Oliver added Jordie’s signature dimple almost as an afterthought, and Kaz picked up the drawing, looking at the corner and back at the drawing.
Circles of damp bloomed on the paper as Kaz’s hand shook.
“Inej told me….” Kaz swallowed. “Today is their day of honoring the dead.”
Kaz looked out over the Barrel, not making eye contact with her, tracing circles on the concrete wall.
“According to tradition,” Kaz clears his throat. “Their lost loved ones return from the land of the dead to visit the living.”
Kaz tugged at the sleeves of his shirt, falling into silence.
“Inej told me…” Kaz said quietly, almost embarrassed, “that you leave out food and drink as an offering for the spirit. Would you…” Kaz visibly steeled himself. “Would you help me make something for him?”
Nina smiled to herself. “Of course I will.”
Later, Jesper, Nina, Oliver and Kaz were tearing up the Crow Club’s kitchen, laughing and doing their best to make pastries. Oliver sat on the floor, flour in his hair like snowflakes, happily munching on chocolate chips.
Kaz looked like a ghost, he was so covered in flour, and he had his arms crossed, and despite the angry narrowing of his eyes, the corner of his mouth was slanted in a smile.
Jesper, the perpetrator of the flour explosion, danced around the room with the broom, loudly singing an off-key tune, doing nothing but spreading the flour around.
Nina was manning the pot full of oil, flipping the flat pastries in it and removing them when they were golden. She had flour smeared over her apron, but wasn’t nearly as bad off as Kaz. She passed him a damp towel, hiding a grin behind her hand, and he scowled a thank you and cleaned off his face, smiling lightly.
The front door opened, and they heard lively chatter. Inej and Wylan peeked into the kitchen, both grinning, before their faces turned to shock and surprise when they saw Kaz covered in flour and Jesper spinning across the floor holding a broom that was cleaner than anything in the kitchen.
Wylan laughed and tried to sneak a pastry from Nina’s pile, but she instead corralled him into being the one to dip them in sugar.
Inej sat on the counter, Kaz leaning against it next to her, and she rested her arm on his shoulder, uncaring of the flour. She patiently began to clean the flour from his hair, Kaz shaking his head like a wet dog, clouds emerging, making Inej laugh and lean away, coughing.
Kaz looked at Jesper and clicked his tongue disapprovingly.
“What?” Jesper asked defensively, pausing his dance.
“You wouldn’t last a minute in a real dance,” Kaz said, crossing his arms.
“I’d be better with a real dance partner,” Jesper protested, a smile tugging at his mouth.
“Oh?” Kaz raised an eyebrow. “Let’s do this.”
He straightened, Inej’s mouth dropping open before she laughed and clapped her hands.
“You’re about to get shown up, Jes!” She cheered, elbowing Nina to watch.
Jesper and Kaz began an elaborate waltz, both trying to subtly sabotage each other at every turn. Kaz smoothly dodged Jesper trying to trod on his foot, and he blew a cloud of flour from his jacket into Jesper’s face.
“No fair!” Jesper laughed in between coughs.
Kaz turned to Inej, and he held out a hand to her, a shy smile on his face. Inej grinned and leapt off the counter, taking his hand. Kaz bowed to her, and they were off, their feet clearing paths through the flour settled on the floor as they expertly stepped together, not a step out of place.
Jesper and Wylan did their best to mimic them, but soon enough they just gave up and went to help Nina, filling the room with laughter and chatter.
Kaz looked into Inej’s eyes, and when she smiled, he felt like he could live forever.
Inej smiled, seeing the look on his face, and she smoothly swept him into a dip, careful to not let his jacket touch the floor.
Kaz twisted his foot to hit the floor just right, and he turned expertly on his heel, pushing Inej off balance, and before she could fall, he caught her, hand clasped in hers.
“It’s just like the heist we did at the ballroom,” Inej reminisced with a laugh.
“That was more stressful than Hellgate,” Jesper called.
“You got the easiest part, Jes,” Kaz admonished with a grin, pulling Inej to her feet. “You didn’t even have to dance, and Wylan was the one who cracked the safe.”
“Yeah but watching him was really hard on my nerves,” Jesper whined before he broke into a grin.
Wylan rolled his eyes and threw a pinch of sugar at him, giggling when Jesper tried to catch it on his tongue.
Kaz cast a fondly exasperated look at Inej, and she smiled, squeezing his hand.
Was there never another dream? He remembered her asking him once.
He wasn’t sure what to call this little group he had, this sort of family, but it seemed as close to heaven as someone like him would ever get.
Inej elbowed him, and he looked at her, confused.
“You’re thinking about how you don’t deserve this,” Inej said. “I can tell. You’re wrong.”
Kaz slipped his arm through hers. “Agree to disagree, my dearest Inej. Now, I have an idea.”
He looked at her, a glint in her eye, and she smiled wickedly.
“Spill.”
“Who can steal the most pastries from Nina without getting caught.” Kaz nodded his head at Nina, who was trying to convince Jesper that eating the raw dough wasn’t a good idea.
Inej grinned. “You’re so on.”