“You know, you're gonna get in trouble one day.”
It startles him so much that he loses his grip on the harsh stone wall, hitting the ground hard and swearing under his breath. He feels the panic set in his veins, body already going into fight or flight at the idea of getting caught sneaking around, but when he looks up it isn't a Bronzebeard guard or someone sent to drag him back to the dwarfanage, it's Jaina, watching him with her arms crossed. The feeling that washes over him is part relief and part embarrassment, but he tries to shake it off, rubbing at his ankle where he landed on it a little too hard.
“You fuckin’ scared me, Jaina.”
“Good,” she says, “that was kind of the point.”
She stares down at him for a few more seconds before reaching out to offer him a hand, and he takes it, letting her pull him to his feet. She manages it easily, even though he's almost twice her height.
He clears his throat, tries to shake off the humiliation of falling on his ass in front of Jaina, but she's shaking her head at him like he's a rowdy child.
“One day you're gonna get caught,” she says, and Hardwon shrugs.
“Yeah, well, maybe.”
“Definitely.”
“Maybe,” he repeats, gesturing up towards Gemma's window, “it's not happened yet, though.”
“That doesn't mean it's a good idea to keep pushing it, Hardwon. Do you have any idea what my father will do if he catches you?”
He shrugs again, but this time there's more false bravado behind it. “Nothing I can't handle.”
Jaina shakes her head, and Hardwon doesn't even try to hide his pout. She's older than him, only by a little, but he feels every bit of it now as she looks over at him with her judgmental older sister stare. “You're gonna get yourself killed, Hardwon Surefoot. Just to— do whatever you were doing up there.”
“We were just hanging out,” he says, even though they were making out, a little, but he thinks Jaina can tell that by the blush on his cheeks anyway, “I don't know why it should matter. We like each other.”
Jaina narrows her eyes. “Courtship has to be pursued through the proper channels. Maybe if you—”
“Your dad wouldn't let me and Gemma be seen in the same room together no matter what I do. I live at the dwarfanage and I dig the mountain. I'm a bastard, Jaina. She's a princess. You're a princess.”
“Don't,” Jaina wrinkles her nose, and it makes Hardwon smile, “you should be at the dwarfanage now. Go home, Hardwon. Go to bed, before someone catches you.”
“Well, someone already did, technically. You already caught me.”
“I won't cover for you,” she says, and her voice is harsh but Hardwon knows she's lying. She's covered for him before, saved him getting his ass kicked a few too many times. He appreciates the hell out of her for it, even if he does a bad job of showing it. “Go to bed,” she repeats, and Hardwon nods.
“You should probably be the one going to bed, though. Don't you have a fight tomorrow?”
“Yeah,” she nods, eyes shifting. Jaina is hard to read, a lot of the time, all stony exterior and harsh glances, but so is Hardwon, too. So he can see the way her jaw twitches, the way she's not all that sure of herself. She's nervous.
“You're nervous,” he says, and she immediately goes red.
“I am not nervous,” she scoffs, “she should be nervous.”
Hardwon grins at her. “Hey, she probably is. She should be. You're gonna crush her.”
Jaina nods. “Right. She should be.”
It makes sense that she's nervous, even if Jaina is too proud to show it; her fight tomorrow is with one of the best, an absolute machine, brutal and strategic and strong as a ox. One of the best, for sure.
Jaina is the best, though. Hardwon knows she doesn't have to worry too much. At the very least, it'll be an incredible fight.
He hears someone call his name from somewhere, abruptly, his blood freezing like ice in his veins as he prepares to be caught by someone, but Jaina looks up, eyes pointed towards the window Hardwon just climbed out of. When the tilts his head he sees Gemma waving at him, trying to get his attention. Her dad must have left. She must have convinced him there was no Hardwon around, somehow, even though it sometimes feels like he can sense his presence, can sniff him out in the air.
He smiles up at her. She looks beautiful, obviously, because she always does, hair and beard hanging long and unbraided, shining silky smooth where it catches the light.
“Hardwon,” she hisses out of the window, barely loud enough for him to hear, “are you okay?”
“I'm all good, babe,” he yells back a little too loud. Jaina fully facepalms.
“How have you not been caught?” She says, and he's not sure if she's saying it to him or to herself.
He can't see her all that well, but Gemma leans out to look at him, far enough that he worries she might fall.
He's not the only one, either.
“Be careful, Gemma,” Jaina says, somehow whispering loud enough that Gemma can catch it from her window.
“Are you harassing Hardwon?” She shouts, seemingly fully given up on being quiet.
“No,” Jaina says, and Hardwon nods, smiling.
“Leave him alone, Jaina.”
“He's making a racket right outside in the middle of the night.”
“But I love him,” she says, and it makes him grin up at her, even as she's still staring down Jaina.
Jaina holds her gaze for a long moment, and it's like they have some kind of argument with just their eyes. Hardwon would think they were casting a message if he didn't know them well enough to know neither of them could do that.
After a long moment, Jaina relents, huffing out a sigh. “You're lucky it was me that found him instead of a guard,” she says, then turns to face Hardwon again, “you got lucky, Hardwon. Next time, you might not be so lucky, and I won't cover for you.”
He smiles at her because he does feel lucky. He feels like the luckiest guy in the world.
“Thanks, Jaina,” he smiles, and she rolls her eyes like her showing any kind of warmth towards him is a hardship, even when it's shrouded in layers of denial, but Hardwon knows it's there. He hopes Jaina knows he'd cover for her, too.
Jaina nods once, curt, then turns to leave, and Hardwon turns back towards the window. “I'm coming, Gemma, baby—”
He lifts his leg to start climbing again, but feels a pull on the back of his shirt, dumping him on the ground on his ass. Jaina is looking down at him and shaking her head. If she was taller than him she'd have picked him up by the scruff of his neck like an unruly kitten probably, but she has to settle for tripping him to the ground and glaring at him.
“Go home, Hardwon” she says, and Gemma laughs.
“You know, if this is how you treat your friends, I would hate to be fighting you tomorrow,” he grins, and he can tell Jaina takes it as the compliment it was intended to be, mouth twisting into a smile like she didn't intend to but can't stop it.
“Leave,” she says, and he finally nods, letting Jaina pull him to his feet again.
Gemma leans over the edge of her window, just far enough that he can hear Jaina panic beside him. “I'll see you tomorrow, Hardwon,” she says, and blows him a kiss. Jania rolls her eyes.