Nothing was going according to plan. Was there even a plan? Honestly, Wylan wasn't sure. Kaz probably had a plan, but none of the other Crows knew what it was. And this probably wasn't following the plan. After all, Wylan couldn't remember the last time that one of Kaz Brekker's plans didn't involve any form of stealth.

Perhaps Wylan had some explaining to do...

If Wylan was being honest, it had been all his idea. He had explained to the Crows that he'd like to go back to his dad's mansion and gather some of his belongings; things like sheet music, pictures, paintings, and just some sentimental items. Kaz shot the idea down immediately, claiming that marching onto enemy territory wasn't the best plan, and Wylan understood. However, the other four Crows claimed that they should go. After all, Jan Van Eck wasn't going to be in town due to merchant business and Alys Van Eck was out of town receiving some vocal lessons from a school abroad in Fjerda. It was the perfect window.

"Okay, we just grab some of Wylan's things and then get out," Kaz explained while lockpicking the large front gate, opening it and allowing the Crows to run through. They were hidden under the cover of darkness, the sky a smoggy black due to the amount of pollution that Ketterdam exfoliated.

Inej scaled up the side of the building, sliding a second story window open and slyly pulling herself into the mansion. Afterwards, she made her way down the steps, unlocking and opening the front door from the inside. She motioned for the Crows to enter, each one of them taking a moment to stare at all of Jan Van Eck's priceless and plentiful belongings. The whole foyer was filled to the brim with valuable and expensive items; anything from vases, to statues, to portraits, to glassware, to figurines, to tiny coins. Everything in the merchant's home was placed in order to impress company with his wealth. Unfortunately for him, his current visitors were the most dangerous criminals in Ketterdam.

"Look at this! It's stunning," Nina spoke up, pointing to a gorgeous red vase that had been finely crafted and encrusted with rubies. The red pottery was opulent, displaying many gemstones and quite the array of details.

Wylan tilted his head as he examined the vase that he'd seen in his father's foyer many times before. He always hated it. It was too much and seemed to selfishly draw attention to itself. Sure, it was made of expensive materials, but that didn't mean it was beautiful. Wylan tended to spot beauty in broken things; in Ketterdam, in his mother, in the Barrel, in the Crows, in Jesper Fahey. However, beauty in his father's eyes was something opulent and functional, working the way it was intended to. This is why Wylan would never be valuable to his father; that was the harsh reality of the situation.

Taking careful steps towards the vase, the Crows watched him with worried eyes; almost as if they believed him to be reminiscing on his time living with his father as his heir. They couldn't be more wrong. Wylan's brain was consumed in thoughts of how twisted and manipulative Jan Van Eck had truly been. How unloving and unkind he'd been towards his son's learning deficiency. At the end of the day, Wylan had still been his son. But that didn't matter; apparently that had never mattered to the wealthy merchant.

He wasn't sure why he did it, but afterwards he was so beyond glad that he had. Stark white fingers belonging to the merchling grabbed onto one of the ruby handles, dragging the pottery towards him. Rather than catching it, Wylan allowed the priceless artifact to fall onto the tiled floor and shatter into millions of unfixable pieces. Silence loomed over the six Crows after the initial loud crash of the vase breaking, the other five looking between one another with worry. Jesper held Kaz's gaze, the two boys seeming to be thinking the same thing: Wylan was not okay. Meanwhile, Wylan kept his glare transfixed on the shards of red pottery that was scattered across the once clean floor; the merchling smiled.

"I've always wanted to do that..." Wylan quietly admitted to the group, not moving his gaze from the ruby fragments that now littered the tiles. Inej placed a careful hand on Wylan's shoulder, standing at his side.

"Why?" Inej asked, seeming to be fully invested in whatever had gone on behind the closed doors of the Van Eck mansion.

"It's just a thing... Just something to fill space. In the grand scheme of things, did it really even matter? How can he be so willing to hold onto physical things that he believes hold value through their beauty yet... Yet he can easily feed his son to the Barrel?" Wylan muttered quietly, still staring down at the mess he'd made of the pottery. He wasn't going to cry, no matter how much he wanted to. Even as he felt the lump form in his throat and tears cloud his vision, he knew he wasn't going to allow himself to cry.

Silence was the only response. Long and tense silence. A void of sound. Wylan felt alone, even though he knew he wasn't; after all, he still had Inej's hand on his shoulder. She tightened her hold, even, signifying that he wasn't stranded. He didn't believe it. Wylan felt as if he was drifting in an inky pool that represented time and space, swimming amongst the stars and listening to lost seconds tick by.

Finally, the silence broke. Shattered, quite literally. Five of the Crows jumped, turning and seeing Kaz Brekker standing over a splintered mess of glass, which had once been a intricate statue of a horse. Now, it was a fractured disaster. Another one of Jan Van Eck's prized possessions turned into a pile of useless pieces. A weak smile appeared on Wylan's lips, eyes focusing on Kaz.

"Oops," Kaz deadpanned, not a single drop of sympathy in his voice for the item that he'd just broken. They all knew it hadn't been an accident. Kaz Brekker wasn't one to cause accidents. This had been intentional. Slowly, the other Crows caught on.

"Oh no..." Nina muttered, slamming her elbow into a mahogany china cabinet that held Wylan's father's collection of precious antique glassware from a wide variety of countries; many of them shattered against one another.

"Ah, dammit," Matthias grumbled, shoving the china cabinet over the rest of the way, resulting in none of it being salvageable. Nina gave Matthias a high five for that, both of them grinning. Believe it or not, all of the Crows loved destruction.

"My hand slipped," Inej added, kicking the leg out from a small table that held a petite stone statue that vaguely looked like Jan Van Eck. It crumbled to pieces when it hit the ground.

The last of the Crows wasn't playing along. Instead, an ivory-handled revolver was removed from his holster, pointing the weapon at one of the many portraits hung on the wall, pulling the trigger instantly. The loud gunshot echoed throughout the room, leaving a circular hole in the center of Jan Van Eck's forehead in one of the paintings.

"Let's fuck shit up," Jesper spoke, a clear edge in his voice that none of the Crows were familiar with. But they didn't need to be told twice.

No one was home at the Van Eck mansion, meaning that the Crows had free range to do whatever they pleased. If they didn't have to worry about stealth, then they were going to loudly destroy absolutely everything. Kaz was still a bit hesitant, thinking about what would happen if neighbors or pedestrians heard anything. But something deep within the Bastard of the Barrel's soul ached. It was the pain of sympathy merged with absolute fury. Kaz Brekker would never forgive Jan Van Eck for what he'd done to his first wife and son; a Crow never forgets.

"Matthias! Let's look for where the rich merchant hides his liquor!" Nina yelped, clearly far too excited to raid the mansion. Matthias attempted to look upset, but he was slightly enthused to get absolutely wasted while on a job. The two of them sprinted towards where they believed the kitchen to be, ready to search every cabinet.

"So, who's going to tell them that my father keeps his alcohol in a store room in the basement?" Wylan asked as Inej smiled, releasing Wylan's shoulder before turning her attention to Kaz.

"I bet I can hit Van Eck in more portraits than you," Inej piped up, eyes alight with a challenge. She gripped onto one knife and held another one out for him to take. He seemed to weigh out his options.

"I don't know why you're so eager to lose, Miss Ghafa. But I accept your challenge," Kaz replied, the sides of his mouth quirking upwards as he took the knife she was offering him.

"Jesper, would you like to come with me to get my things?" Wylan asked, looking over at Jesper Fahey, who's expression was still clouded by something so unfamiliar. It wasn't anger; anger wasn't a strong enough term. It wasn't sorrow, either. It was anguish merged with rage; Kaz had the same look, but less intense.

But when Jesper turned to look at Wylan, all of the outrage melted away and left him looking saddened. The sharpshooter nodded, extending his hand to the merchling and gesturing for him to lead the way. So that was exactly what Wylan did, accepting Jesper's hand and dragging the boy he'd grown rather fond of up to his childhood bedroom.

Due to the large nature of the Van Eck mansion, Wylan's room hadn't been repurposed yet. Instead it was just locked up and preserved. Jesper picked the lock, swinging the door open and watching as Wylan's heart shattered. Everything was exactly the same, almost as if it was frozen in time. Stuff was still scattered about the way it had been while he packed for the music school his father had promised to send him too. He'd been so thrilled that morning, because, for once in his life, his father was displaying affection despite the things that Wylan wasn't capable of doing. That morning, he'd fooled himself into believing that his father loved him. How wrong he had been. How completely ignorant he was.

Jesper squeezing onto Wylan's hand was the only thing that brought the smaller boy back to reality, forcing him to resurface from his thoughts. Wylan blinked a couple times, feeling Jesper's gaze locked on him. Wylan squeezed Jesper's hand back before slowly letting it go, wandering into the room. Jesper followed after him, glancing around curiously.

"So, this is where you were raised?" Jesper asked as Wylan nodded, looking over and watching the sharpshooter fiddle with a cleaning wand for his flute, a small folded cloth pinned to the end in order to wipe all of the spit out of the instrument's interior.

"Yeah..." Wylan whispered, watching as Jesper moved on to the stack of frail pages that was located next to the flute care items. All of it was sheet music that his father, his mother, and Alys had compiled for him. He's played every single one of them, too; he'd even managed to memorize a few of them.

Without asking, Jesper picked up the whole stack, handling them gently. Wylan felt his heart race, something warm brimming inside of him. Wylan quickly looked away, finding himself locating the paintings that his mother had made for him when he was younger. He pulled them off the wall, collecting them up. Meanwhile Jesper packed up the flute care items, stowing them away in a small box that had been left on the desk; he added the sheet music to the box as well, being extremely careful not to bend or crease the pages. Wylan rummaged through his room for a little while longer, claiming all that he needed and leaving everything else.

"Is that it?" Jesper asked, resulting in Wylan nodding his head and the pair leaving the room of Wylan Van Eck's childhood.

"I do have something I want to give you, though," Wylan explained, placing the paintings and boxes down outside of his bedroom door, Jesper doing the same. Wylan began leading the way down the hall, opening up a set of double doors that was located at the end of the corridor. When the merchling pushed the doors open, it displayed the interior of his father's office. It was filled with so many rare and breakable things, desk piled high with a variety of documents and parchments.

Wylan walked over towards the desk, standing up on his father's chair and reaching for the set of items that sat on display. When he grabbed them and handed them over towards Jesper, the sharpshooter inhaled a sharp breath as he looked at them. They were an absolutely stunning set of revolvers, handles crafted of onyx and the remainder of the weapon was created from white steel. Jesper had to blink a couple times, attempting to make sure that he wasn't imagining this.

"Are you sure, Wylan...?" Jesper muttered as Wylan rolled his eyes at the other boy's politeness.

"They're not mine, Jes. They belong to my dad. You'll use them much more than he ever will," Wylan explained as Jesper accepted the set of revolvers, flipping them on his fingers as Wylan weakly smiled and watched. Wylan would never admit this, but he was always impressed by the way Jesper spun his revolvers; the merchling found it extremely attractive.

"Well, thank you, merchling," Jesper spoke with a wink as Wylan felt his ears turn pink, weakly grinning as he glanced around the room.

"Is this where your father spends most of his time, then?" Jesper questioned as Wylan exhaled a sigh, staring blankly at all of the papers scattered across his father's desk. All of the words and letters seemed to jumble together, none of them making any sense to the young Van Eck.

"Yeah," Wylan muttered as Jesper approached him, gingerly caressing his cheek and forcing his attention away from his father's things and towards the sharpshooter. Wylan blinked, his clearwater blue eyes trained intently on Jesper's stormy grey ones.

"Good..." Jesper quietly replied before stepping closer towards the merchling, quickly pushing his lips to Wylan's.

Wylan had not been expecting the kiss, but he was more than glad to receive it. The merchling closed his eyes, wrapping both of his arms around Jesper's neck as the sharpshooter's nimble fingers played with his golden curls. Jesper's hands then traveled down Wylan's body, wrapping around the back of the merchling's thighs and picking him up, placing Wylan down on his father's cluttered desk. Jesper then occupied his hands with swiping all the papers off the desk, everything falling onto the floor; Wylan smiled against Jesper's lips.

Jesper wasn't finished just yet, however. If anything, he was just getting started. Wylan could hear soft thumps coming from downstairs, which he identified as the sounds of Kaz and Inej throwing knives into the drywall. The concept of all the Crows being in his father's house and destroying it made everything inside of Wylan feel great; or maybe that was just Jesper's tongue, which was on the inside of Wylan's teeth. Nina's loud howl of a laugh communicated that her and Matthias had found all of Jan Van Eck's alcohol.

"Is your father homophobic?" Jesper softly asked as Wylan laughed, keeping his eyes shut and feeling the sharpshooter's breath against his own lips.

"Of course he is. My father is the worst in every way, shape, and form..." Wylan breathed as Jesper grinned and laughed, instantly going back to kissing at Wylan's lips. Then the kisses trailed down the merchling's throat, resulting in Wylan releasing a soft gasp in surprise.

"Jesper?! Wylan?! Finding everything okay?!" Kaz called from downstairs as Jesper's fingers messed with the buttons on Wylan's shirt.

"Yeah!" Jesper responded as Wylan giggled, glancing around at all of the papers that were now strewn about the office.

Wylan couldn't understand most words, but there was one think that he definitely knew how to read: his own name. The merchling blinked a couple times, his shirt halfway off and Jesper Fahey still tugging at the material. But why was Wylan's name on that paper? Carefully, Wylan caught Jesper's hands, the sharpshooter noticing the merchling's distraction. Then both boys were looking down at the sheet of paper, 'Wylan Van Eck' written across the top of it in his father's handwriting.

"What does it say...?" Wylan asked as Jesper grabbed onto the page, picking it up and analyzing what had been scribbled onto it. Intaking a sharp breath, Jesper shook his head.

"Nothing but the regular bullshit..." Jesper lied, and Wylan could easily see through the false voice.

"Okay. But what does it really say? This time with less lying," Wylan requested as Jesper sighed, skimming over the words once more as Wylan witnessed anger settle on the taller boy's expression.

"Basically, it's your father jotting down ideas for how to pass off your death. It's from a while ago... Back when—"

"When he tried to have me killed," Wylan finished as Jesper sighed, dropping the parchment and grabbing onto both of the shorter boy's hands.

"He's not going to touch you ever again, Wylan... I'll make sure of that," Jesper softly promised, Wylan weakly smiling as Jesper pushed a gentle kiss to the merchling's cheek.

The two boys went quiet, listening as Kaz and Inej taunted one another and threw knives into the different paintings of Jan Van Eck. Meanwhile Matthias and Nina were laughing so hard, glasses clinking together as they toasted and took more shots of some strong alcoholic liquid.

"Can you teach me something?" Wylan asked as Jesper arched an eyebrow and grinned.

"Humor me, merchling. What can I teach you?" Jesper questioned as Wylan laughed, pushing himself off the desk and grabbing onto a blank sheet of paper, placing it on the desk. Next, Wylan located a pencil, tossing it on the desktop.

"Teach me how to write your name," Wylan requested as Jesper smiled sweetly, sitting down in the desk chair and pulling Wylan down onto his lap.

"Okay," Jesper responded, grabbing another pencil from a drawer, placing his chin on Wylan's shoulder to see the piece of paper.

Jesper largely wrote out each letter to his name, Wylan copying the symbols in his own shaky writing. Wylan Van Eck's handwriting wasn't that bad, seeing as he used it when writing out different chemistry and math equations, but the symbols that make up the alphabet were rather strange for the merchling. Finally, JESPER FAHEY was written twice on the paper in two separate handwritings. Wylan felt so proud of himself, seeing as this typically wasn't something he ever wanted to do; now Wylan knew how to write two things: his own name and Jesper's name.

"Can you write your name?" Jesper asked, pulling up a new piece of parchment. Wylan nodded, writing out WYLAN VAN ECK at the top of the page. Jesper grinned, pride shining in his eyes as he looked at the merchling's name in writing.

Wylan watched as Jesper added more writing to the page, the shorter boy recognizing Jesper's name along with a few of the more common terms, such as 'a' and 'and'. Wylan tried so hard to understand the words, but he just couldn't. Eventually, he gave up.

"What does it say?" Wylan asked, looking back at Jesper, who was grinning like a maniac.

"Nothing much. Basically that if he ever looks at you again, I'm going to kick his ass," Jesper promised, pressing a gentle kiss to the tip of Wylan's nose. Both boys fell into a small laughing fit.

"You promise that's what it says?" Wylan questioned as Jesper grinned and nodded.