This is the first chapter in a series of short, prompt-inspired oneshots/drabbles I'll be posting. It's pretty much me practicing writing short, coherent narratives under timed conditions for an English exam I'm taking in a few months.

Many thanks to wavingthroughawindow for a) requesting that I do an SOC series of oneshots in the first place, since I wouldn't have gotten this idea without that, and b) giving me so many brilliant prompts!

If there's any oneshot you'd like to see written, feel free to send me a prompt via PM or say it in the reviews!

Disclaimer: I don't own Six of Crows; it belongs to Leigh Bardugo.


Prompt: Someone gets their first phone

From: wavingthroughawindow

Setting: Modern AU, the gang are all in class at school.

Word Count: 999


Kaz Brekker's eyes were riveted to young Wylan Van Eck's bag. Jesper Fahey, Kaz's self-proclaimed best friend, glanced between the two, before leaning over to jab the eleven year old boy in the arm. The eyes flicked to him in barely concealed annoyance for an instant, before resuming their staring.

"Kaz? What are you looking at?"

He didn't get an answer, so Jesper slumped in his chair and studied the object of his friend's fascination.

It wasn't a particularly remarkable bag, pale blue and mud-splattered. It was of a blatantly expensive design, because everyone knew what sort of person Jan Van Eck was, but the trouble Wylan had gotten from his classmates over it had led to the item being thrown into ditches and puddles quite often.

But all this was common knowledge. Why was it catching Kaz's attention now?

"Just leave it, Jesper," Inej - no, The Wraith, as she'd insisted on being called; she was going through a phase where she wanted to be a ninja when she grew up, which Jesper, in his humble opinion, thought was really (fucking) cool - said, "there's something inside there that Kaz wants, and he won't be dissuaded until he gets it."

Jesper tried to mouth the word she used for a moment - diss-way-dead - before giving up. "Do you know what's in there?" he whispered excitedly, leaning over the table to listen.

Inej smirked. Of course she knew; she was The Wraith. "Yeah; I told him. It's-"

"Don't tell him." They turned their heads in unison to see that Kaz, whilst he hadn't broken his vigil, had actually deigned to say something on the topic.

Inej shrugged, giving him a smile that meant she was sorry, and Jesper scowled. "Well, fine then," he huffed. "I'll ask him myself." And he leaned over to throw a pencil at Wylan Van Eck, the person about whom all the ruminating was being done.

Except he missed. The pencil swerved too far right, and whacked into Nina Zenik's chair instead of the back of Wylan's pretty blond head. Her brown plait thumped against her back as she twisted violently in her chair. Wylan didn't even notice; he was glaring bewilderedly at his paper.

"I thought you had good aim, Jesper," Kaz murmured.

Jesper crossed his arms. Best friend or no, Kaz was mean. "In video games I do!"

"What's all the fuss about back there?" the teacher asked suddenly. All the students jerked to attention, guilty of being caught ignoring the Fjerdan languages lesson. School wasn't fun, but no one wanted to miss Golden Time just for chatting.

"Nothing, miss," came the chorus, and the teacher backed off, mollified.

Once her eagle eye had moved on to snap at some other raucous eleven year olds, Nina turned eagerly back round. "What's all the fuss about back there?" she asked mockingly, but with a genuine curiosity.

"Kaz and Inej won't say."

Nina raised an eyebrow. "Then let's just ask Wylan." And she picked up the pencil Jesper had thrown, and jabbed him with it. "What's in your bag?"

The small boy - Jesper used to think Wylan was the youngest in the class, but no; that was Inej - jumped, his golden hair flopping about his face like a puppy dog's wagging tail. "What?" He pushed his hair out of his eyes, blushed crimson, and repeated, "Pardon?" No doubt he'd gotten into trouble before using plebeian, uncouth phrases like "What?" before.

Nina had no such inhibitions. She rolled her eyes. "I said, what's in your bag? Kaz's been staring at it for ages."

Wylan's hand crept over the front pocket of his bag, where Jesper now noticed a very noticeable bulge. What was it? "Nothing."

"It's a phone," Inej cut in finally. Everyone glanced over at her; Jesper was alarmed (but not particularly shocked) to see all of her stationery erected into some complex and delicate building structure on the desk in front of her, with her page still somehow still chock full of lesson notes. "Wylan's got his first phone."

Nina's reaction was by far the most vehement. "OOOH! You have a phone? Can I see?"

Wylan froze. "I'm not supposed to show it to strangers. . . it's for emergencies. . ."

Nina pouted. "We're not strangers. We're your classmates." At Wylan's wavering expression, she proclaimed loudly, "We're your friends." He blushed even harder at the admission, and glanced over at Jesper, who nodded. Yes, he had to admit: He was kinda fond of the merchling.

"And you're the first in the class to get a phone! We just want to see it!"

"He's not," Inej said idly, eyes still fixed on her stationery structure. She placed a pen on the top of it, and scowled as it clattered to the floor, taking a few more with it. "Matthias was."

Nina's head snapped round to look at her desk partner so fast her plait whacked him in the eye. "Really? Why didn't you say? Can you show me?"

Matthias, too, was reluctant. "But Great Uncle Brum said I shouldn't show it to anyone. . ." he said, with about the same pitiful level of force that Wylan had been able to muster. Nina's pleading look was getting too much for him, though, and he huffed a sigh and relented. "Fine. . . It's right - in -" He frowned at the contents of his bag; rummaging a hand around inside, he came up empty. "Here."

Nina sat back dejected, but a stifled laugh from Inej had Jesper glancing back at her - and freezing, his own laugh building in his throat.

Kaz was leaning back on his chair, flipping something between his fingers: a new-looking smartphone with a case bearing a howling wolf on the back.

Matthias scowled.