Coffee and Cake | Cookie Run Kingdom (Espresseleine)

1~Morning~1

ᴇꜱᴘʀᴇꜱꜱᴏ ᴄᴏᴏᴋɪᴇ'ꜱ ᴘᴏᴠ

Espresso opened his eyes. He had fallen asleep the night before, which only meant he had lost hours of what could've been spent working.

He groaned, rubbing his eyes. His vision was blurry. His glasses must've fallen off during his... Much unwanted slumber.

He stretched, tilting his head up and turning it to the left and then to the right. He kept rotating it back and forth until he couldn't hear or feel the nitrogen bubbles between his bones popping.

He sighed, letting his arms fall to his sides once more as he looked around for his glasses. They were lightly colored anyways, so it'd be relatively easy to find them considering his study was mostly a dark color scheme.

Oh, there they are.

Espresso grabbed his glasses, cleaning them off with his sleeve and putting them on. He blinked twice, letting his vision adjust. He got up, noticing the ache in his back from being hunched over his desk in the same exact position all night, or, at least, from 2:30 AM to...

He checked the time.

... 8:28 AM.

He grumbled. Almost six whole hours that could have been used much better than sleeping, down the drain.

He left his study and went into his bedroom. He showered and got dressed into fresh, clean clothes. He grabbed his papers from his study and went to his living room, stacking them neatly on the coffee table.

Espresso yawned, walking into the kitchen to make some coffee. Setting his coffee maker to make enough to fill twelve large mugs, he opened his kitchen window and stepped to the sides checking the time again on his watch.

8:34:56... 8:34:57...

He sighed, already knowing what to expect. It was

Three...

Two...

"ESPRESSO, I GOT THE LATEST TE- AAHH!"

crash!

One.

Espresso looked down at Latte who had flown in through his window at her unusually high speed and was now lying face-down in his kitchen. She sat up, looking at him spitefully and opening her mouth to speak, but he interrupted her.

"For the last time, I'm NOT buying a pillow just so you won't hurt your face. It's your fault you fly in at such a velocity." He said rather loudly as if she had asked that question hundreds of times before.

Well, technically, she had.

"Ugh... Anyways-" She immediately perked up, getting ready to tell Espresso all the gossip. Not that he'd listen anyways.

He held up a hand, interrupting her.

"Your nose is bleeding."

Latte blinked, "It is?"

Espresso nodded, tearing off a paper towel from a roll and handing it to her. She took it, mumbling a thanks as she wiped the blood off and using it to block further bleeding.

"Didn't even notice, haha!" She laughed, "Alright, SO, a couple weeks ago, Raspberry told Parfait about her secret crush, and Parfait keeps almost letting it slip! All I know is that it's a girl. I find it cute, but I won't let Raspbe..."

Espresso just tuned it out. He knew she'd send him a text version later, anyways, so he didn't really need to listen. His coffee maker had finished making his coffee, so he grabbed two mugs, filling them both with coffee.

He turned to Latte and gave her a cup while she chattered.

"And so I-" she took a sip without looking at it first, gasping softly "Oh, that's fresh..."

She turned the black coffee into a latte with a cute flower design with just a little bit of her magic. "Got any cinnamon?"

Espresso pointed at a small shaker full of cinnamon. Latte sprinkled just a tiny bit on top before continuing her chattering.

Espresso glared at the cup of coffee with milk before sipping some of his own coffee. He stopped glaring after only a few seconds. He was too tired to hate a cup of coffee right now.

As he took a sip, Latte said something he never expected.

"Oh, AND Madeleine has a girlfriend."

(Help- that got me to 666 words)

Espresso almost inhaled his coffee, coughing violently for a couple of seconds. He set his mug to the side looking at Latte.

"Wh-what?"

Latte raised an eyebrow, wondering why the hell he was shocked by that of all the things she had said in the timespan of just a few minutes.

"Yeah... He... Has a girlfriend? What, are you jealous?" She snickered, poking her brother's cheek.

He swiped at her hand, glaring harshly. "No. It's just..."

He looked to be concerned. "He's had many girlfriends already... He has a new one every few months, I think."

Espresso seemed to be in deep thought as he recalled every time Madeleine had a girlfriend.

This must be... The 15th I've heard of in the past two years.

"He also seems to act... Differently in the relationships... It's almost as if they make him uncomfortable?" He murmured, forgetting Latte even existed for a little.

Latte chimed in, "So, you think he doesn't actually want to date them?"

Espresso sighed, "No, if he didn't want to date them, then he wouldn't. Though it is strange."

But don't even get me started on how it's like he doesn't even know them...

Latte let out a high 'hm!' as she thought about it herself. Now that he mentioned it, Madeleine did seem off.

Espresso shook his head, "Ah, but maybe he's just dating them because he can. I'm probably just overthinking everything."

He's probably just a prick. No surprise there, ha.

Latte looked at Espresso again. She couldn't help but think that maybe— just maybe —Espresso's 'nonsensical' thinking and observations weren't completely wrong.

Latte brushed off her dress, tossing the bloodied paper towel in the trashcan. She waited a few seconds to see if her nose still bled, but it wasn't anymore.

She reached into her bag and pulled something small out, her fist balled around it. She threw it at Espresso's face and it didn't faze him in the slightest. He didn't even flinch as the small teabag hit him.

"Well, that's all the tea I've got for you! Bye!~" she picked up her spoon, hopping on it and zooming out the window as she chuckled.

Espresso rolled his eyes, closing the window behind her. He finished his cup of coffee and went back into the living room, returning to his work in the calming daylight of morning.

He checked the time once more.

9:02 AM

"Damnit," he spoke under his breath, "Two minutes later than yesterday."