Silver-89

First, we’ve got Nina who told Kaz everything about what happened with Matthias and how she’d gotten him locked up in Hellgate and I remember she said something along the lines of that he listened without judgment and I got the sense that there was relief for her in that.

And second, we’ve got Wylan who talks about how he confessed to Kaz that he couldn’t read and because of that his father hated him and he couldn’t be used as leverage.  There’s this sense, when Wylan is talking about his admission to Kaz, that Wylan felt surprised and so relieved that Kaz didn’t care, didn’t ridicule him.  Because that’s what his father had taught him - that his disability was a terrible weakness and people would use it against him and treat him like he’s stupid.  But Kaz didn’t.  He’s the first person Wylan shared his secret with (and also like kudos to Wylan for admitting something so painful and scary to someone he admittedly didn’t really trust or like much but he did it so the crew wouldn’t be going into an exchange blind) and the first person he trusted with that secret didn’t treat him any differently.  I think that was really monumental for Wylan, to see that his father was wrong, to see that not everyone would treat him differently and badly.

Obviously Kaz isn’t nonjudgmental for any sort of noble reasons.  He did, after all, use Nina’s confession to get her to help him with the Ice Court heist because he knew how much saving Matthias from Hellgate meant to her and how guilty she felt about it.  He genuinely does not care about other people’s shame beyond how it can be useful to him.  But there is still a relief in confessing something you find shameful to someone who then doesn’t judge you for it.

Got your boyfriend locked up to save his life?  Whatever.  Can’t read?  Not a single fuck is given on this day.  Get in losers, we’re gonna get 30 million kruge.

Although.  There is one person whose shortcoming he doesn’t tolerate well at all.  I’m talking about Jesper, of course.  Jesper, who so reminds Kaz of the brother he lost and who Kaz is also afraid of losing for the same reasons - they’re damned fools with money.  Jesper’s debt lands him in hot water and Kaz tolerates it right up until it lands them all in hot water and nearly costs Inej her life.  It nearly cost them the Ice Court job and he almost lost someone else he cares deeply about.  The tension between them in the books was so painful because Jesper doesn’t understand why Kaz has iced him out because Kaz has never been open with anybody and I don’t think even Kaz is fully aware of why he’s so angry with and unforgiving of Jesper until the end of CK when he’s finally able to understand what Jesper (and Inej) mean to him.