.+. [ᴏʟᴅ] || ᴜɴᴛɪʟ ᴡᴇ ᴍᴇᴇᴛ ᴀɢᴀɪɴ .+.

.+. ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 21 .+.

.+. MADELEINE'S POV .+.

I took off my armor after a day's work of sparring with Raspberry and Knight. As I was placing my armor down, I felt like somebody was looking at me.

I turned around and saw Espresso standing in the hallway staring at me. "Erm.. Is something wrong, Espresso?"

He lightly shook his head. "Oh no, no, my apologies, I was just... thinking." I raised a brow and smirked. "...Thinking about how handsome and amazing I am?"

He rolled his eyes and scoffed. "Oh, please! Don't get too caught up in your own appearance." I chuckled and walked towards Espresso.

"How's your work gone so far?" I asked him. "It's going fine. I'm making progress, that is if I don't mess up on it again."

 His works and all of his experiments amaze me. I honestly could never understand that kind of complicated magic. Though, I would love to learn it someday, even if my father doesn't approve of it.

"Would you like some donuts, Essie? We still have some from last time~" I headed into the kitchen and pulled out the box from the fridge.

Espresso nodded and sat down by the table. "Could you also make me a coffee...?" He fidgeted with his hands and blushed. "Of course! I'm glad you like it."

He quickly mumbled something. I walked over to him and placed down the box, opening it and taking a donut out. "Say ahh!"

I brought the donut close to his mouth. "Madeleine, you know I can feed myself right?" He blushed even more. Ahh... He's so adorable.. I'm so lucky that he's mine!~

"I know... I just always thought you looked kind of cute when I fed you... Plus, I like doing it!" I gave him a warm smile. He pouted and looked away, his face completely flustered.

"Fine.." He took a bite from the donut I held. I gave him the donut afterwards and went to go brew the coffee he had asked for.

...

.+. ESPRESSO'S POV .+.

...

Once Madeleine had finished making my coffee, he sat down next to me and handed me my cup. "Thank you, Maddie.." He smiled happily as I sipped the coffee.

Seeing him truly happy had always made me feel a small spark of joy inside that I usually don't feel with anyone else. I never wanted to admit it, but I love his smile and everything about him.

 I knew he didn't like being around large crowds, despite how popular he was. He would usually plaster a smile on his face but when he was with me, I felt like he was genuinely happy.

I had always wondered why. Most people hated me anyways. I finished my coffee as Madeleine put away the box of donuts.

"What do you want to do today, Essie?" I looked up at Madeleine, who looked excited. "Anything is fine, just as long as it's with you.." I mumbled the last part so he couldn't hear.

"What was that? Sorry, I couldn't hear you." I heated up even more than I did before. "Nothing... As I said, anything is fine."

He nodded. "Wanna-" Before he could finish his sentence, Latte burst through the front door. "ESPRESSO!!"

My head immediately darted towards the door. "Latte? What are you doing here?!" Latte sighed. "You weren't answering your phone again!"

Madeleine chuckled a little. "I forgot my phone in my lab! I wasn't dead or anything, stop worrying. What do you need?" I crossed my arms and looked at her, slightly annoyed.

"I just wanted to see if you and Madeleine wanted to hangout with me, Razz, Herb, Sparkling, and Vampire at my house!" I looked back at Madeleine.

He looked at me and nodded. "Fine, since I'm currently free." I responded. Latte squealed excitedly. "Ohh, this is going to be so fun! Let's go you two!" She headed out the door.

I looked at Madeleine again, who shrugged in response. We left my house and walked with Latte, going towards her house. "Soooo?~ How's you and Mads doing?"

"Shut up, Latte. Don't mock us like that." I huffed. Madeleine let out a small laugh, "We're going fine. How about you and Rasp?"

Latte was caught off guard by that question. "I- I- well- uh..." I snickered as Latte stuttered. "Oh! Look, we're here!" Latte quickly changed the subject and took out her keys.

She opened the door for us and we walked in. Inside, Herb was sitting in Sparkling's lap and Vampire sat on the couch next to where Sparkling sat. Raspberry was laying down on the other couch.

"Hello, Espresso! Hey, Madeleine!" Herb waved at us. "Come, come! We were just about to decide on what to do tonight!" Latte signaled us to sit down in the living room with everyone else.

Sparkling waved at us, as well as Raspberry. Vampire was asleep on Sparkling's shoulder with two glasses of wine on the small table in the middle of the living room.

I sat down on the floor, Madeleine sitting next to me. "So! What should we do tonight?! Any suggestions?" Latte said, looking around the room.

"I'll go with whatever Madeleine wants to do.." I said quietly, though, enough for Madeleine to hear me. "I'm down for anything! As long as Espresso's comfortable with it." Madeleine said, smiling at me.

Everyone sat there thinking for a moment until Vampire woke up. "Whaat time is itt..?" He yawned and rubbed his eyes. "Vamp! It's 6 pm right now. How was your little nap?" Herb leaned over and kissed Vampire's cheek.

"Ughh... What are we doingg?" Vampire reached over for his glass. Sparkling opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by Raspberry. "Ah, Sparkling, I got this."

She swiped the glasses away from Vampire before he could grab one of them. "Heyy! Give itt!" Vampire groaned. Madeleine chuckled as Sparkling held Vampire back from tackling Raspberry.

"How should we dispose of this?" Raspberry held up the glass. Latte smirked, looking at me and Madeleine. "Espresso or Madeleine should drink it. They came late after all."

My eyes widened. "Latte! You know I have a low tolerance for alcohol!" I scolded Latte as she giggled. Suddenly, Madeleine took the glass from Raspberry.

"Give it, Madeleine... You guys don't have be get so worked up about mee.. Just relaax!" Vampire said. He seemed to still be partially drunk. "No can do, Vamp! I got this." Madeleine was about to drink it until I placed a hand on his arm, causing him to pause.

"Madeleine, what are you doing?!" Madeleine gave a small smile in response. "Don't worry, my body can handle alcohol fine. Plus, we don't want Vampire to drink too much." Herb looked at Sparkling, then at Latte and Raspberry.

"Madeleine, you know we were just joking, right?" Raspberry said. "Of course! Although, it'll be fine, just this once."

This... This moron. What is he even doing?! He turned to look at me. Our eyes locked for a few seconds.

His big blue eyes reminded me so much of the ocean, where the moon's reflection glistened onto the water. The moon had always comforted me in many situations.

Madeleine gave me a comforting smile and took a deep breath.

"Here goes!"

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hey guys am back lol!!

1206 Words.