Shadow and Bone - One shots!

Jesper - Flower Adventure

Flowers were your favorite thing. You'd take your time when going into town to smell and admire the flower vendors. Jesper took notice of this, often asking what your favorite flower was and had you'd seen them recently while in town. You two made it a routine to wake up early before the crowds and check out the vendors before missions. Whenever the opportunity was unavailable, he still took the time to discuss with you what you wished to see that day and how much you both would have enjoyed the outing. This day, you two weren't needed at the Crow Club and finally had a break that was in dire need to be taken advantage of. The night before, you both agreed to go to the markets the next day. You woke up early, got dressed, and waited for Jesper at the Slat doors. But you were shocked to see Jesper rush out of his room, a mess and disoriented. He quickly made his way to you, out of breath.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Have a late-night visitor, I assume?" I giggled and elbowed him. He fixed himself and cleared his throat.

"Not that it's any of your business, but no. I just woke up late." He retorted. I raised an eyebrow at him and he rolled his eyes. "Let's just go."

I put my hands up in an act of truce and held open the door for him. He strutted out, and I followed behind him, then caught up to be beside him. We walked around a bit, visiting food vendors before going to see the flowers. We traveled around the streets before stopping so I could see beautiful zinnias.

"These are gorgeous," I said as I looked at them, admiring the lovely colors and discussing the vendors' growing methods. I felt Jesper's eyes on me as we spoke, but after a minute, I thanked the vendor for their time and walked away.

When we were further away, Jesper stopped me and pulled me away from the street. He took out his hand from behind his back and handed me one zinnia from the previous vendor. I gasped and stared at him. He moved the hair from my face and gently placed the flower onto my ear.

"Ta-da," He said in a silky voice. I felt my heart flutter as he ogles me. I looked away to hide my blush and nervously laughed.

"You stole this, Jesper," I said and gently pushed him. He laughed and wrapped an arm around my shoulder.

"Stealing in a social construct, I call it taking with skill!" He says, letting go of me and happily walking ahead. He turns to walk backward so he could face me.

As we walked the townspeople started to fill in the gaps of the empty streets as we wandered around, he remained facing backward to look at me. He pointed at various things and made comments on them, noting that they would look bright they would make the club look, but knowing Kaz would never let them sit there– and if he did, he would let them wilt away.

I noticed as we walked that when he'd face forward to look at the merchandise, he'd only do it for a moment before rotating his body to look at me again. During the moment that he took to get ahead of me, walk for a millisecond, and turn around, he appeared he missed me and hadn't seen me in forever. He acted like he never wanted to look away, as though he would never see me again if he did.

"Stealing could get us a lot of things, you know. All the things we desire." He still went on to defend himself while I scoffed at his unwillingness to let a conversation die.

"But it could also get us in a deal of trouble. You don't want Kaz to be furious with us, do you?" I said as I jogged up to him and stood beside him. His body and eyes followed as I did so. Then I spotted another vendor with perennials and pointed to them. "Perennials!"

He turned to look at them, to only be dragged by me when I grabbed his hand and walked him over. The vendor kindly complimented the flower Jesper gave me as merchandise enchanted me. Jesper didn't let go of my hand as I made a polite conversation with the vendor and bought a bouquet, then waved him off.

"I love the colors of those," Jesper said, pointing at my bouquet. I held the large bundle of flowers with both of my hands and smiled brightly at them.

"Incredible, aren't they? I'm thinking of placing them at my bedside." I said while we walked. I excitedly played with the flowers, rearranging them and fixing the wrapping. I looked up when I noticed him walk away. I called after him, but he seemed to ignore me while fumbling through the crowd.

I navigated through a wave of people trying to find him, being pushed and grabbed as I went. I called out his name, now more agitated and overwhelmed by being alone.

In the crowd of loud strangers, I heard my name being called. I yelled Jesper's name, walking towards the voice till I saw him in the distance. I quickened my pace and stood in front of him, his hand again behind his back.

"You took off! I couldn't find you!" I yelled furiously at him.

"I sincerely apologize. Something caught my eye, and I had to have it." He explained in a very animated way.

"What was so captivating that you had to have it?" I asked, and he winked at me. I let out a tiny gasp as he removed his hand from behind his back, holding a beautiful flower crown made with chrysanthemums.

He was staring at me as I reacted to him, then gently took my hand and pulled me closer to him. Jesper carefully removed the flower from behind my ear, fixed my hair, then placed the crown on my head. He fixed my hair again while I closed my eyes, letting him adjust the crown. When his hands moved from my hair, I smiled at him as I opened my eyes and felt his hand grasp mine again.

"You look stunning." He said in a low voice so only I could hear him in the rowdy crowd. He grasped my bouquet and placed the zinnia inside along with the perennials.

"Thank you, Jesper," I said to him.

We stayed in that position for what felt like eons as people passed and moved around us. His eyes studied my face, his hand warm against mine, and he traced his thumb on the back of my hand. But I looked away from him when I smelled something delicious in the distance.

"Do you smell that?" I said while looking around. He looked up and followed my gaze.

"Smell what?" He took a deep breath in to catch the smell but shook his head. "I smell nothing."

"Do you not smell the baked goods? It smells heavenly." I started walking towards it with Jesper in tow. I bought two of the tarts the baker was selling. I happily handed Jesper one and took a bite out of the other.

"This is delicious!" I said as I continued to eat. I looked at him eating his too, smiling.

"I couldn't agree more." He said, but a loud thunderclap followed his sentence.

I looked up and clouds billowed above us, darkening the once beautiful blue sky and showering the cool rain over us. People around us began rushing to nearby buildings to rid themselves of getting soaked. But me and Jesper stayed in place as we laughed at people's worry, watching them trip and fall in the mud. We trudged our way back to the Slat, taking our time to talk and let the rain hit us in the cool air.

"The rain feels nice on my skin," I said and ran my fingers through my moist hair, pushing it back and out of my face. He stopped beside me, allowing me to fix myself and take off my coat to take in the relaxing atmosphere.

"The rain looks beautiful on you." He spoke in a low voice, his eyes scanning me, and he softly smiled. I felt my heart flutter, and I stared at him.

"You don't mean that," I muttered, but he reached up and fixed my flower crown again.

"You do not believe me?" He questioned in a sorrowful voice, moving his hand from my head to my cheek and softly caressing it. But I shook my head.

"I just doubt you mean that truthfully. Surely you've said that to many before?" I asked him. Jesper faintly giggled, then gently kissed my forehead, then rested his against mine.

                         I will only admit such intimate things to you, my love.