With Hope, the Beginning of Better

Chapter 4: Once From the Barrel, Always From the Barrel

Jesper

He was worried about Wylan, he really was. Truth be told, Jesper thought that Wylan would be comfortable in the house within a few weeks of moving in. But he clearly hadn't understood Wylan's pain well enough. Just because Wylan didn't seem overwhelmingly affected by his father during the Ice Court heist didn't mean he didn't feel anything about it. Jesper had to make himself remember that Wylan's father was the reason Wylan had such a low self esteem in the first place, despite Wylan being one of the most talented people he'd ever met. What did that idiot Van Eck do to Wylan?

He looked over at Wylan. His boyfriend looked better than before, his eyes resembling rough blue ocean currents a mile from shore rather than the stormy tsunamis they resembled earlier. Still, his gaze was guarded, fortifying itself against any possible onslaughts.

Jesper felt a lump forming in his throat. After all this time, Jesper would've thought that Wylan would trust him with something, anything related to his past. Wylan did seem to trust Jesper more than anyone else, save perhaps Marya, but it still wasn't nearly enough, not after so long. But then another thought occurred to Jesper, unwelcome.

He let out a breath, slowly but unevenly. He wasn't much better, trapping his demons inside. But he couldn't tell them, not when their demons were worse than his. Inej had literally been in a brothel and faced unspeakable horrors. Even if Wylan wasn't telling everything, and Jesper knew that Wylan wasn't, he'd still been abused by his father, though to what extent, Jesper didn't know either. And Kaz...well, though Kaz had opened himself more than he'd ever done before the Ice Court Heist, Jesper still knew next to nothing about the man. Considering he hid almost everything about himself, maybe...he hid more than he was letting on. After all, Jesper highly doubted Kaz was literally the son of profit and Ketterdam.

Speaking of the devil, Kaz had just finished reviewing the plan (well, the parts he wanted them to know about) and was currently trying not to smile while looking beneath the table. Inej had once told Jesper that he was quite horrible at reading people, but even he could tell that Kaz was uncharacteristically giddy at holding Inej's hand under the table.

Jesper turned to Wylan and began rubbing circles on Wylan's hand.

"You okay?" he whispered so that only Wylan heard.

"I will be," Wylan whispered in kind as his eyes softened.

Jesper lightly kissed Wylan's head and then leaned his own forehead on Wylan's.

"No romance in the dining room," Kaz deadpanned.

Jesper separated himself from Wylan and raised an eyebrow playfully towards the grouchy man. "Says the guy currently holding Inej's hand under the table. You thought I couldn't tell, huh?"

Kaz rolled his eyes, but a smirk emerged, filled with pride. "Like you're going to do anything about it."

"You're right, I won't, for Inej's sake. Not yours."

"You two do realize you're not going to get anywhere with this, right?" Inej exasperated, now also smiling. Her expression was one that communicated oh, how will I deal with these immature children.

"Precisely," Jesper stated, "What this world needs more of is a bunch of our nonsense anyway."

"That's what this world needs?" Wylan questioned, a small grin making its way onto his face. Jesper felt enchanted by that, when his humor could bring smiles out of people when they felt down. "More of our chaos? We mess up anything we touch without trying. If we tried, the world would probably be in permanent night."

Jesper immediately made finger guns and began touching everything in sight. Dishes and silverware began clattering from his unintentional force. "Look, I ruined this! And this! You can't beat me now! I've ruined too much! Permanent night is here, my eternal best friend!"

Wylan snorted, leading to water coming out of his nose. Ignoring Jesper's tactics, Inej began speaking. "I think you've got us pegged–"

Before she finished, a bang resonated through the air. Jesper distinctly heard glass shattering in the background. The four of them immediately crouched under the table, covering their necks with their hands.

"I'll go look at the situation," Kaz rasped, briefly rubbing his knee. Bending down that quickly couldn't have been easy. He slipped out from under the table and taking his cane, rapped to the nearest window. He briefly glanced outside the now-broken window and said simply, "Razorgulls and Black Tips. Everyone, make sure you have your weapons. They're here for us."

Wylan

We're supposed to be safe here. This is the Financial District, not the Barrel, was his first thought.

Then he heard Kaz in his head, chastising him. There is no safe, not here, not anywhere.

Inej took out two of her knives and slipped into the shadows. Jesper braced his hands on his revolvers. Wylan gathered some bombs and powders from a closet at the edge of the room. He never thought he'd have a need for them, but after the Ice Court heist, he'd been nothing but paranoid.

You can never be too prepared. Mess up and another one of your friends might be killed.

Taking a shuddering breath, Wylan peered out the window. His brows rose up. A crowd of Razorgulls and some Black Tips stood outside the mansion, repeating some kind of chant like a cult. Many were young and newly recruited, carrying guns and knives. The four of them were heavily outnumbered, but Wylan reasoned that they could deal with this.

"Wylan, can you use chloro gas?" Kaz asked.

Wylan gave a brief nod.

"Good. That should take out about half the crowd. Considering these are newer recruits, hopefully they'll be clearing out by then, but if not, Jesper, Inej, and I'll surround them and deal with them. If need be, begin using your bombs, but only as a last resort. We don't want to alert the Stadwatch. Once we finish, follow me. No mourners."

"No funerals," the rest of them replied.

The four of them slipped out from a door at the side of the mansion. Kaz beckoned to Inej and Jesper and the three of them took their positions. Wylan made his way behind a carriage. He poured some ammonia from a vial into a spare beaker and then made his way under the carriage. He pushed the ammonia out on the road and then pulled his shirt over his mouth and nose. He looked out and saw Kaz, Inej, and Jesper do the same. With his free hand, he fished out some chloro pellets from his pocket and dropped them into the beaker. Jesper had used this particular solution on the Ice Court Heist, so Wylan was quite familiar with the effects it'd cause.

People in the crowd began dropping like flies. Some of the still-conscious ones, as expected, began running away in fear. Wylan knew that the effects were only temporary, that people would only pass out. The crowd, however, didn't, so it definitely made for an interesting, although somewhat horrid, spectacle.

The motion that truly caught his attention widened his eyes in fear and disbelief.

Jesper Fahey had fainted.