[There's lot that can be said about Kell. He's impulsive, dramatic, grumpy, has way too little control over his temper. Hardly any of it would make him a coward, but he tends to run away from problems and hard topics. Usually, it's a very bad idea. Usually, it's for the better when he finally makes himself admit and spit it out what's been bothering him. With one exception, the 'what ifs' and 'could have beens'. Those he tend to overthink when he just should leave them alone. Those work better when he does not think about them. When he doesn't want to think about them. Those are the things impossible to resolve. What would he do if he were in Jesper's place? How far he would go if it was him on the outside and Rhy on the inside? Does a line that he wouldn't have crossed even exists for him?
It's better to leave those question be and don't think about it too hard. If he did, he might very much don't like the answers, and he might have been wrong anyway.]

But you weren't. You came, and you saved us. That's what matters.

[Knowing there's a darkness inside and actively looking into it are not the same things. Kell reaches up, wraps his arms around Jesper's neck, closing his eyes as he fully gives into the kiss. It's sweet and tender, two things Kell always has difficulty accepting. Always on his toes, always vigilant. But he's not like that with Jesper. He'll take everything that Jesper is willing to give him, to show him. There are no expectations between them, and it's wonderful and freeing. There's nothing to prove, nothing to be sorry about. With Jesper, he can just be.]

You and I have very different definitions of perfect it seems. I prefer flawed. Flawed does not [Kell opens his eyes, stares into Jesper's, gray like the sea, silver like the moon, and marvels how right it all feels.] scare me. You saw the whole of me and you did not run. [Too many people did. Even when all they had seen was barely a fraction.] And I did not run either.

[Underneath his grumpy exterior, the brooding, the drama, his unwillingness to trust, his tendency to see the worst in people. The darkness, the turmoil and hunger of his blood magic. Under all this, there's a person good and kind, who cares deeply. So deeply that he'd go out of his way to make an old, blind king smile, while the man's own family just waited for him to die, and Kell's family didn't make a tiniest of effort to write more than a bare sentence of useless platitudes in their letters.
Who'd risk his life for people who doesn't know him, care about him or even fear him. A person who's ambitious, but also just and sweet, and sometimes funny. A good storyteller with a keen eye for detail. Barely anyone sees this person ever. For long time, Rhy was the only who knew it existed. Now, Jesper knows too.]

I love you too.

[Everything is so different with Jesper. Kell knows that Jesper belongs with the Crows first, then Matt, and only then with him. But knowing that doesn't make him feel third in line. Not the way his adopted parents made him feel. Their love, if he can even call this love, their acceptance, was always conditional. It makes him feel a part of something. Makes him feel wanted, seen and accepted with everything he has, everything he is. Like he belongs too. It's rare and beautiful, and Kell doesn't know what to do, how to react to it, only that he wants it to last.]