A Kanej story

The Birthday Party part 1

Standard disclaimers apply. All characters belong to Leigh Bardugo. Sorry for anything OC.

Kaz-pov
Kaz never thought birthdays were much of a time of celebration. He would rather let the day pass like any other. Inej, though, wanted to do something special for his "golden birthday". Like one year of his life could be any better than any other years. He wanted to do what Inej wanted, so he put on a crisp, black suit and showed up at the Van Eck mansion at 5:30 pm sharp. He knew Inej wanted to make it special, he just didn't know to what lengths Inej would go to to accomplish that. Walking in, the first thing Kaz noticed was the balloons in the corners and the streamers hanging in a sea from the ceiling.
"Surprise!" Inej cheered, jumping out from behind a door.
Jesper came down the stairs, trying to look serious while carrying a cake that had his face iced onto it.
"What did you guys do?" Kaz asked, as Wylan came into the room holding birthday presents.
"Do you not like it?" Inej asked, looking around.
"I just wasn't expecting you to decorate this much, or have a cake, or presents," Kaz explained.
"When was the last time you got a night to hang out with me and your friends?" Inej asked, coming up to wrap her arms around his waist.
While Kaz sometimes relapsed and couldn't stand the feeling of anyone touching him, he was doing a lot better. Inej could touch him all she wanted and Wylan and Jesper sometimes got a quick hug. People he wasn't close with, still bothered him.
Kaz sighed and pulled Inej in for a closer embrace, resting his cheek against her hair.
"Once you two lovebirds are done, we can get this party started!" Jesper said, poking his head around the corner.
"We made dinner, and have cake for desert," Inej said.
He kissed the top of her head and slowly released his arms from around her. "Fine, I'll have a good time," he relented.
"You know," Inej said, "I still haven't thrown out the idea of blindfolding you and dragging you into the dining room. Wylan was the only one who thought it would be overkill."
Kaz just shook his head and started to make his way into the dining room.
The meal turned out to be delicious. They all chatted and caught up. At one point, Jesper tried to get Wylan to feed him cake, and ended up getting cake up his nose.
All throughout the night, Kaz couldn't help but notice that Jesper and Wylan took turns making pointed looks at Inej, almost as if she had told them something and they were trying to get her to tell him. By the time they made it to gifts, Kaz couldn't take it anymore.
"Inej?" he asked.
"Mmm."
"Do you have something to tell me?"
"No. Why would I have anything to tell you? I tell you everything already," she replied, making a point of avoiding eye contact.
"Inej," Jesper cut in, "you have to tell him at some point, or else he will find out on his own. Which would you rather he do?"
"Oh," Kaz remarked, "so you do have something to tell me?"
"I..." Inej started, but then stopped. She turned and buried her head into the couch cushions. Her shoulders shook with tears.
"We'll leave you to it," Wylan whispered, dragging Jesper out with him. The door to the den clicked shut, leaving the only sound to be Inej's tears.
Kaz had never been good at comfort. He didn't know what the right thing to do or say was at that moment, so he just awkwardly sat on the couch next to Inej.
He wasn't sure if it was minutes or hours of staring blankly at the fire before Inej turned into him. He instinctively brought his arms up and pulled her closer. Her tears soaked into his suit jacket.
"I just want you to tell me what is wrong," Kaz whispered into her hair. "Was it something I did? Are you mad at me? Did someone else do something to you?"
To each question, Inej silently shook her head no.
"I don't know how to tell you," she finally said. "You're going to be mad."
"I'm not going to be mad," he said.
"Do you promise?"
Promise. That was a big word. Kaz found it hard to always keep her promises to her, but right then, Kaz would do anything to make her happy again.
"I promise."
After a long pause, she finally blurted it out, "I'm pregnant."