This ask had two parts; I'm doing option two. I might come back to the other as some point, but we'll see.
This is set after the Kaz and Nina Bonding Fic, but should make sense out of context. I'm not sure if I ever pinned down when that story was set, but it takes place in late spring six years after CK which means Kaz, Nina and Jesper are all twenty-three. Wylan's twenty-two. Inej probably just turned twenty-three because she's described as almost seventeen in SoC which takes place in early spring so her birthday is in the spring sometime.
If anyone wants to prompt me for this and a plethora of other fandoms: go ahead! My Tumblr url is emjenenla, and I have a couple prompt lists floating around on there.
This one got a little long, but its me so really what more would you expect?
"Do you smell something burning?"
Nina paused and looked back at Kaz, who had paused in the center of the street and was smelling the air. Jesper and Wylan paused as well. They were heavily disguised and had been giggling in a way that lead Nina to believe they didn't often go to meet the Wraith at the docks very often. There were downsides to pretending not to associate with the reprobates of the Barrel.
"Now that you mention it…" Jesper began, but Kaz was already lunging away from them and grabbing a running Barrel kid by the back of the shirt. They conversed quietly for a moment, then Kaz took off down a side street, running full tilt.
"Well, that happened," Jesper said throwing up his hands, before they all took off down the street after their fearless leader.
The further down the street they got, the stronger the smell of smoke became more and more obvious and when Nina looked up she could see a column of smoke rising up above the buildings. Kaz rounded a corner up ahead. He could be fast when he wanted to be. Nina, Jesper and Wylan skidded around the corner a minute later and beheld a building which would have been pretty nondescript if it was not currently engulfed in flames. People were gathered around, holding onto each other and clutching at pails obviously no match for the blaze. As Nina watched a dark-clothed figure pushed their way through the crowd, ran across the open stretch of street and up the steps of the building. Kaz vanished inside without looking back.
"What the-" Wylan burst out, confirming Nina's suspicion that Kaz had not turned into the kind of person who would selflessly throw himself into a burning building to save people in the years she'd been gone.
They ran down the rest of the street and pushed their way through the crowd. People were shouting and speaking nervously; it was impossible to tell if anyone had recognized Kaz in the brief seconds it had taken him to push through the crowd and make it into the building. They reached the front of the crowd and stared at the burning building. The flames were now consuming the front door and the entryway.
"Who wants to go first?" Jesper asked, trying and utterly failing at levity.
They didn't have time to contemplate what to do much more than that, because at that moment a downstairs window was broken out and Kaz hurled himself out of it in a shower of glass, smoke and flames. He hit the cobblestones hard and rolled several times before coming to a stop several yards from the burning building. He was clutching his cane and a metal box of the size that might be used to hold papers to his chest.
Nina started to move towards him but then someone pushed past her. It was a young Suli woman with her hair in a long, dark braid wearing the clothes and hat of a pirate.
It took Nina an embarrassingly long time to recognize Inej.
Inej skidded to a stop next to Kaz, grabbed the shoulders of his coat and hauled him back to his feet and through the crowd. It was impossible to tell if she'd noticed anyone's presence but his. Nina, Jesper and Wylan followed them down a nearby alley. By the time they had caught up, Inej had let Kaz collapse against the wall. He was coughing and wheezing for breath. It was obvious he could barely breathe. There was an angry red burn along one of his arms.
"That's what you get for running into a freaking burning building," Nina said to announce their presence.
Inej looked up in surprise. She really hadn't noticed them. "Nina," she said, her eyes wide. "You're back."
"Surprise," Kaz coughed, his voice even more raspy than usual. Inej looked mystified. Nina wished she could ignore the fact that none of her old friends had seemed to expect to see her again.
"Kaz'll never admit it, but he's the one who convinced her to stay long enough to see you," Jesper told Inej, then he crouched down to look at the metal box which Kaz was still clutching. "That's what you put your life in danger for?" he asked. "Whatever's in there better actually be worth it."
"It is," Kaz said. They waited for him to go on, but he said nothing more. Of course he didn't..
"Kaz," Inej said, slightly warningly.
"Later," Kaz wheezed. "I'll tell you about it when I can actually breathe."
"I'm going to hold you to that," Inej said sternly. "Can I help you back to Jesper and Wylan's or do we need to wait until you can make it on your own?"
"You can help," Kaz said. His tone was strange like he wasn't sure sure if being able to let Inej help him walk was something to be proud of or not, though perhaps that was just all the smoke he'd inhaled.
"Alright," Inej said. "Why don't you let Jesper take the box so your arms are free? I'm sure he'll guard it with his life."
Nina could see Kaz think about it, but eventually he handed the box over. Jesper took it and gave it a careful shake like he was worried there was a bomb inside of it. Kaz gave him a look that clearly said, "you are an idiot" but let Inej help him back to his feet without actually saying anything. They straightened up together, Kaz leaning heavily against her. Even though none of their bare skin was in contact, it was still bizarre to see them touching. When he saw her looking, Kaz gave Nina a look that implied the result would be much different if anyone else tried to touch him.
Inej looked them all over, and huffed out a laugh. "What's so funny?" Kaz croaked.
"This," Inej grinned. "Here we are, all together and it's business as usual. I'm not sure why I'm surprised."