#and this turned into a Thing

[antivanruffles]

💜Kanej with a side of Wysper

💜 surprise kiss / impulsive kiss (huehuehue)

________________________________

It would be a lie to say he hadn't thought of it. He had, on multiple occasions, in multiple iterations. He might even admit to that, too, if he were asked outright by certain people. Or person, rather.

The truth was that the thought was never far from his mind.

Kaz would wake up and think about kissing Inej. He would go over reports and pieces of intel and think about kissing Inej. He would meet with his crew, his employees, other bosses of The Barrel, and he would think about kissing Inej.

In his mind it was appealing, something he practically yearned for, if he were being honest. Although he might not admit to it, no matter who it was that was asking.

In reality it was... daunting.

Kaz had never wanted these types of things before, and yet here he was, pining away like a silly school girl and too damaged to do anything about it.

It was at times like this Kaz was truly jealous of Jesper; who was always so easy and free with his affection. Who could--and would--happily fawn over Wylan, professing and displaying his love. Jesper never worried about holding Wylan's hand, or offering up a comforting hug. And Jesper certainly never worried about kissing Wylan. It was easy for them.

For Kaz and Inej it was more... difficult.

That didn't stop him from thinking about it though. Eventually he would have to do more than think, however.

He was at the Van Eck estate one evening, pretending to ignore Jesper and Wylan as they played footsie under the dinner table, when Kaz realized he'd had quite enough of pining.

Across the table Jesper, quick as you like, grabbed Wylan's hand and pressed a kiss to the back of his hand. It was a simple gesture, and rather innocent, but it gave Kaz an idea. And that was all he needed to form a plan.

***

It was a week later when The Wraith sailed into the harbor, taking its spot in berth twenty-two, and Kaz went to greet its captain. Kaz would never say he rushed to fifth harbor, he merely went there with the utmost efficiency. 

The dawn had barely broken when he arrived, and the crew was already in the process of unloading the ship and preparing it for some much needed maintenance, the dock a flurry of action. Even so it was easy enough to spot Inej in the chaos and barking orders, her long braid streaming behind her in the salty breeze, her shoulders back and feet braced as she adjusted to being on dry land once again.

The early morning sun glinted off her until she looked like she was gilded in gold; a saintly statue come to life.

"Inej," he called and if he sounded a little breathless, well, nothing for it now.

She turned and started moving toward him in one fluid motion, her face lighting up with a smile as soon as she saw him. And not for the first time Kaz wondered what he had done in his twice damned life to have earned her affection.

Regardless, he would not be ungrateful. Kaz Brekker knew a treasure when he saw one, and Inej Ghafa was the most precious of treasures.

"You came," she said as she stopped before him. If she sounded a little breathless, he wasn't going to say anything.

"I said I would." At her last visit he had all but promised to always greet her at the docks when she arrived, after she commented on how much she looked forward to it.

"I know, but we're a day early."

"And you could be a week early or a week late, I would still come," he vowed. 

Inej didn't say anything, just beamed at him instead. They stood there for a long while, her crew working diligently behind them as the sun slowly rose on the horizon and the world started to come to life around them.

Eventually Kaz back to himself and remembered his plan. He stepped a little closer to Inej, enough to hear her slight intake of breath at his proximity. 

"I had a thought," he said. "If I may try something?"

"Of course." She nodded, tilting her head back to look up at him, eyes curious and full of trust. 

This was a game they had played many times before, learning what was permitted, what wasn't, and what might need to be revisited again later. Kaz lifted his bare hand slowly, his gloves tucked away in his pocket, as they always were when he welcomed her to Ketterdam and when he saw her off.

Inej watched as he moved it slowly toward her face. He paused, and she met his gaze. Kaz lifted his brows in question. Inej looked torn between amusement and bewilderment, but nodded nonetheless. Permission granted he gently laid his hand over her mouth, almost as if he were trying to shush her. Her eyes were amused and he could feel her lips twitching.

Kaz was happy to learn that this type of contact wasn't a problem.

Then, before he could lose his nerve, he ducked his head toward hers. His hand acted as a barrier, stopping any contact between their lips, but the motion was the same. The intent, he hoped, was clear.

They were so close that Kaz could see each individual eyelash framing her eyes, could count them if he were so inclined. Instead he watched as her eyes widened in surprise, and then softened considerably once she realized what he was doing.

After a moment she pressed a matching kiss against the palm of his hand.

Kaz felt his breath hitch, and pulled back slowly. He dropped his hand from her mouth, fingers opening and closing against the tingling of his palm. Inej was simply grinning at him.

He cleared his throat, and tried to ignore the fact that his cheeks felt overly warm.

"Welcome home, Inej," he said at length.

"It's good to be home." She stuck out her hand, offering it to him. He obliged her, lacing their fingers together before Inej started to tug him up the dock by their joined hands.

They would go find breakfast, and discuss whatever news she brought from the sea. They would trade information and secrets, as was their routine when she returned to Ketterdam, and Kaz would think about kissing her--as he always did.

Only now he would follow through on the thought, and next time... maybe next time they wouldn't need the barrier. 

[bitchfitch]

writing advice for characters with a missing eye: dear God does losing an eyes function fuck up your neck. Ever since mine crapped out I've been slowly and unconsciously shifting towards holding my head at an angle to put the good eye closer to the center. and human necks. are not meant to accommodate that sorta thing.

[riacte]

not romantic not platonic but a secret third thing [what would happen between earth and the moon if the earth stopped spinning as illustrated by xkcd randall munroe]

[wormspoodle]

compiled some things

[problemnyatic]

when will we talk about the willful helplessness epidemic on here. So many people on this god forsaken website demand to have any and all things that exist outside their personal experiences directly, personally pre-chewed and spoonfed to them. And when you do, they'll then ask for you to swallow for them, too, because, you see, in THEIR experience..,

[yeah-yeah-beebiss-1]

in case you were wondering how things went down at the pokemon world championships this weekend:

-during the top 8 of the TCG masters division, chilean player fernando cifuentes was running a gimmick deck that consisted exclusively of four iron thorns ex and a whole ton of control-focused trainer cards in a strategy that either completely shuts down opponents or shits the bed entirely

-through skillful play and some good luck, fernando made it through 2 days in a tournament with over 1100 players to get to the quarterfinals

-fernando lost 2-0 to ian robb, who was running regidrago vstar (widely considered one of the best decks in the current format)

-in an overexuberant victory celebration, ian did what can only be described as a jacking-off gesture, on a stream with tens of thousands of viewers run by a company with very firm player conduct expectations

-the judges determined that this warranted a penalty of game loss, but for some reason, rather than applying it to ian’s next game in the semifinals, they applied it to the one he had just won in the top 8

-(it should be noted that the prize money for making top 8 is $15k while top 4 is $20k, so this jerking gesture cost ian robb $5,000)

-nearly an hour after fernando came to terms with his loss and the end of an impressive run, he was told that he was to get back on stream because he’s now playing in the semifinals due to winning by default

-the player he was up against in the semifinals was playing a deck (miraidon) that happens to get shut down hard by iron thorns’s gimmick, so fernando wins the semifinals

-said player, jesse parker, had notably had an undefeated run throughout the whole tournament up to this point, and likely would have continued that streak had his intended semifinal opponent not gotten a game loss penalty for miming a lewd act on stream

-meanwhile, the other semifinal winner is japan’s seinosuke shiokawa, running a deck (roaring moon) that players had largely written off as underwhelming months ago

-the grand finals are on the following day, so saturday evening was abuzz with a lot of people baffled by the absurdity of the situation

-come sunday afternoon, the grand finals are set to begin, with fernando cifuentes running iron thorns and seinosuke shiokawa running roaring moon

-it should be noted here that the roaring moon deck doesn’t rely very much on abilities, so iron thorns’s gimmick has very little effect - this is basically an even matchup

-fernando wins the first game of the set, and seinosuke wins the second

-the third and final game of the set is a bonafide cheek-clencher, with both players reaching a state where a single KO will win the game, but fernando manages to clinch it at the last minute

-and that’s the story of how a guy pretending to jork it led to the first instance of a pokemon world champion who also lost the quarterfinals

[cloudcastor]

We finish this, Together.

[wishfulsketching]

This is what the dynamic was like

[planefood]

rules for thee and not for me

[inkskinned]

having good & true friends will literally save and protect you in a million unfathomable ways. like okay we have written so many times about lovers. but the way a platonic friend laughs and cries with you. the way they hold your hand at 14 years old and at 34. the way they keep a little silver tie to you, touching base over and over and over. how you can go years without talking, only to re-meet and discover: oh shit! you're still cool!

there are people who have been in my life for more than half of it, and i have loved every version of them. do you know how fucking beautiful that is. yeah love will save the world. but the way friends love you is gonna save the you.

[auckie]

[krysmcscience]

I have some questions about karaoke night, Alex Hirsch. Very Important Questions. Which I will happily scream at a poor hapless baby triangle who can have no answers for me, and possibly also does not have object permanence yet.

Follow-up that is I guess suggestive, but let's be real here, Bill's a fucking triangle:

Dude slipped right into his birthday suit, lmao

this is so stupid :D

Anyway, I don't care what anyone says, this brilliant individual knows what's up - Bill is absolutely way more of a monsterfucker than Ford could or ever will be, full stop.

[shanklin]

Sentient Mystery Shack, who is really biased towards Stan, so when Ford tells Stan he has to give it back after the summer it’s on sight.

Ford keeps tripping over nothing, nothing is where it's supposed to be and somehow he keeps running into closets when he tries to go outside.

But the worst part, the WORST part is that Ford's lightbulb just won't. Work. No matter what he does it keeps flickering and exploding.

Ford is spiraling. 

There is no reason why it shoudln’t work. All his trial runs work perfectly. He’s already checked the Shacks wiring three times and relearned this dimensions science from the ground up. 

Nothing works.

The Rift? Bill? The impending apocalypse? Eating? Sleep? Who cares about that. 

WHY. WONT. THE. LIGHTBULB. WORK???

It doesn’t help that Stan keeps laughing at him.

“Then you do it!” Ford eventually snaps at Stan.

Stan shrugs and with a little song under his breath screws his own lightbulb in. It works perfectly.

Stanford screams.

[cavolini-green-tea]

👁️👁️

CEASLESS WATCHER-

[paintedcrows]

Had a silly thought about hypothetical cat curse shenanigans with @dark-lord-of-awesomeness's How to Cat Burglar a Family ;)

Bonus doodle!!

[failedgrailknight]

Shared hobbies………