#lunar chronicles fanfiction

[impossiblesuitcase]

Hope In It

“The queen is dead! The queen is dead!”

Imperial Adviser Konn Torin’s hand paused mid-air from where it had been directing bodies to a bay of ships.

“The queen!” screeched the young woman, rushing into the crowd of diplomats. She was plainly dressed in a beige tunic—the rank of a servant, and Torin didn’t think he’d ever seen one of Luna’s maltreated servants acting of their own volition.

The clatter of Lunar aristocrats and frightened Earthen leaders filled the loading docks. Since the emperor had threatened to bomb the protective biodomes, the crush of people were practically clambering over one another to board the ships. They hadn’t heard any updates on the situation unfolding in the throne room since Kai had raced off to find Linh Cinder.

“What? What does she mean?” reverberated off the walls. People stopped on the ramps of the ships, watching on curiously.

“Queen Levana is dead! She was shot!” the servant choked out. Her cheeks were coated in tear tracks, her eyes manic. Torin wondered if this state of delirium had arisen from loyalty to the queen, or rather, disbelief that the tyrant could be truly dead.

“No!” cried an older man, whom Torin recognised as from one of the Lunar families. His age was only apparent from the startled slip into his natural, worn voice. Recomposing, he asserted, smooth and youthful, “This is just speculation!”

“Princess Selene shot her!” She circled aimlessly, recycling the news to every guest that would listen. “The queen was shot! She’s dead!”

A hundred murmurs repeated those words under their breath. The Lunars connected eyes in horror—and some—feigned sympathy. 

The Earthens barely held back raucous cheers.

Torin’s ears tingled. He was not a man wont to extreme emotional fluctuations, but this news almost stopped his heart. Could it be true?

Realisation swiftly cloaked him. Kai went in search of Linh-dàren. If the Princess did shoot Levana, what other blood might have been shed? 

Kai.

He abandoned his position as sentinel and reached a fellow Commonwealth representative. “Ensure that everyone remains here until you receive an all-clear,” he instructed. “We cannot yet substantiate this claim. I will go and locate His Majesty.”

“We will wait for your return,” the man replied, bowing.

Torin shook his head as his mind paced two, three, ten steps ahead. Leaving this dock now could very well risk his own life. “I may not be able to. Lend me your portscreen and I will comm Representative Li with updates.” 

The man nodded and unclipped the device from his belt.

Taking it, Torin marched ahead, ignoring the whirlpool of sentiments trying to suck him back in. The cacophony was barely distinguishable, but laughter and crying and cheers spoke much of its meaning. Fury. Rejoicing. Anticipation.

———

The trek to the throne room was much shorter now than it had been an hour ago. The once packed hallways were now absent of officials, flashy nobles, servants, even guards. It was almost ludicrous to imagine that the coronation had been on that very same day when so much carnage and destruction had occured in such little time.

Fierce shouting grew louder as Torin neared the throne room. He began to run, turning the corner to a swarm of bodies blocking his path. Doctors and nurses wearing bloodied scrubs were huddled, shouting, “Pulse is weak! We need oxygen, stat!”

He came to hover nearby but could not identify the victim past the doctors’ tight shoulders. His own pulse faltered as it led him to the worst scenario. Where was Kai?

“He’s inside.”

He spun on his heels towards the magnificent mahogany doors. The voice was heavily accented—American—and weary. 

Torin composed himself. “Thorne-jūn,” 

Carswell Thorne had not struck Torin as a serious or even responsible man in the brief time they’d met. Yet the man in front of him now looked broken and old. He was covered in blood, his clothes ripped. 

“He?” Torin ventured to ask.

“Kai. He’s inside the throne room.” Carswell’s heavy eyes scrutinised Torin—flitting from his white dress shirt down to his dark pants. Pulling an arm from behind his back he revealed a black suit coat draped over his elbow. “I think this is yours.”

Indeed it was. Torin had lent it to Kai’s young friend Crescent, hoping to calm some of her hysteria. But if the small, frightened girl was not wearing it, where was she?

“I had no intention of reclaiming it,” Torin said, taking the jacket into his hands all the same when proffered to him. It was damp and left redness in the creases of his palm. “Where is Darnel-mei?”

“She was hurt,” Carswell said, voice barely audible and tinged with…shame?

He chose to not enquire further as to what this implied. As Carswell’s hazy gaze attached to the retreating backs of the doctors, Torin wondered if the victim was Crescent. And if Carswell Thorne was somehow responsible for what had befallen her.

Partly relieved but not yet satisfied, he straightened. “Is the emperor all right?”

“Dunno. They wouldn’t let him follow her.”

His brow furrowed. Kai did seem to care for Cress, but not enough, he thought, that he would abandon his search for Linh-dàren.

The two exchanged a nod. Carswell staggered away in the same direction as the doctors. He may be in need of a doctor himself, or at the very least, a glass of scotch.

Once the young lad was out of sight, Torin cast the jacket to the ground and thrust open the heavy doors.

A figure lay sprawled on the marble floor. Getting closer, Torin’s blood congealed. It was Kai. Blood pooled around him and over the throne near where he lay, dark like the black strokes of a Japanese ink painting. The stone of the backrest was cracked in the centre.

“Your Majesty!” he cried, racing over and halting just before crashing into Kai. He slid to his knees, examining his body with burgeoning dread. “Where is it?!”

Completely dazed, shock written over his face, Kai murmured, “What?”

He seized his hands into his own. “Where were you injured?” 

Appearing confused, he squinted blearily before following Torin’s gaze to his own torso. His white coronation outfit was bright red, his skin slick with blood.

“Oh,” Kai answered flatly. “Not me. I wasn’t…It’s Cinder’s.”

Torin pursed his lips. …Cinder’s?

Kai tried, weakly, to wipe it from his arms.

Blood. Cinder’s blood.

Torin shifted his hands to the boy’s forearms, pulling him to his feet. “Where is Linh-dàren now?” 

“They just took her.” Kai’s empty gaze drifted to the doors. Ah. It was not Crescent that he’d seen being carted away.

He recovered his sensibility rather remarkably. “Shall we follow them, Your Majesty?”

Kai rubbed at his eyes. Torin hadn’t seen the boy this shellshocked since the death of his mother. “No…I don’t know if Cinder…they wouldn’t let me follow her.”

He scoffed, guiding Kai to the entrance. “You are the Emperor of the Eastern Commonwealth and the King Consort of Luna. You can go where you please.”

Kai dully shook his head. “Was King Consort.”

As they reached the doors, he retrieved the black dress coat from the ground and draped it over Kai’s stained shoulders. “If Princess Selene survives—as she will—you very well may become King Consort again someday. We will not let mere doctors stop us.”

Slowly, a light filled the boy’s vacant eyes, as if waking up from a nightmare. Without notice, he took off.

Torin fell into step, trying to match Kai’s steady pace. But Kai had transformed, emboldened by the promise of again seeing his princess. Flickers of a rowdy ten-year-old and then a slouching fifteen-year-old returned to Torin; along with his reminders to walk orderly, like a prince should.

But this determination was nothing childish. This was the gait of a man in love.

———

Blood had dribbled on the marble floors like proverbial breadcrumbs for their quest. Streaks dragged through it, suggesting fast footsteps. Neither Torin nor Kai knew where the medical wing was located, yet the second they saw that crimson evidence, Kai began running.

Slow down, Torin wanted to call for both their sakes, because the emperor would overexpend himself, and Torin was not a young man. But such a request would be cruel to him now.

They were not the only ones running. Servants fled the hallways while others huddled in trios with nervous murmurings. Just as Torin was about to reach into his pocket for his inhaler, Kai skidded to a halt. A crosspath emerged—to the left, a lavish hallway of purple carpets, ancient moon sculptures and a grand piano at its end. The right, stale white walls, dim lights and no such frivolities. In between these two was a large reflectionless window, slightly ajar. Cries of battle and howling slipped through from below.

“Your Majesty, should we perhaps—”

Kai chose right and sprinted. This time, Torin could not keep up.

As he bumbled after him, he passed Carswell Thorne, standing at a distance from a different mob of doctors. They surrounded a gurney, and when Torin saw a gleam of a shimmering orange skirt, he now knew where Darnel-mei was. Slumped against the wall nearby was a disorientated red-headed girl, cradled in the arms of one of those ghastly wolf soldiers. Torin choked on his tongue but then recognised the particular shade of green in the beast’s eyes. This was Kai’s ally, whom he had met when they concealed the Rampion in their ship on the journey to Luna. He reproached his own thoughts for the snap-judgement, especially when the man held the girl as though she were the finest bloom in a garden.

Turning the corner, Torin found Kai beside a flashing red operating room sign, motionless as a nurse explained the imperativeness that he do not impede their recovery efforts.

Resigned, he bowed his head. “Do your best, please,” came his weak voice. He watched—jealously, Torin thought—as the nurse whisked behind the large double doors.

The port at his waist pinged, an unfamiliar chime that reminded him it was borrowed. He punched in the override access code, opening to a comm from an Eastern Commonwealth officer.

“Kai,” Torin called, gently. “Her Maje–Her Highness, Princess Levana has been confirmed as dead.”

Staring at the closed hospital doors, Kai nodded. “I know. I saw her.”

And then, the memory of the throne returned to Torin. Certainly Cinder hadn’t been seated there. But it too was tainted with blood, and that pool contained much more than a single body could have produced. He drafted the cracks in the seat in his mind, the point of impact small and precise.

Princess Selene shot her.

Her body must have been taken away before Torin had arrived. But not before Kai had seen it.

The raging battle below their feet niggled at his thoughts. Hesitating, he recommended, “I suggest we declare temporary control, until Her Majesty The Queen’s status is known.”

Another slight nod. “Tell them…as King Consort, or…whatever. Just direct them to stop the fighting.”

He bowed and turned. He would first comm the Eastern Commonwealth officials to handle the loading docks, then contact their own fleet of security to instate control. Perhaps they could reason with the Lunar guards to help as well. The wolf soldiers would be impossible to restrain, but if they could at least remove the thaumaturges…

He compelled his muscles to contract, to walk forward, unsuccessfully. His feet were solid beneath him, his conscience arguing.

Torin heard a shaky exhale.

He could not leave Kai.

He spun back around and covered the distance. “Kai.”

Kai’s gaze arrived, weakly, in that of his mentor’s. It was the little warning he received before Kai buried his eyes in his wrists, sobbing.

“I can’t…” he choked. “I can’t…”

Torin planted stabilising hands on his elbows as they trembled with his shuddering breaths. 

Anyone in New Beijing Palace could have attested to the fact that Konn Torin was not known for having a propensity for affection. But Kai, he realised bleakly, guiltily, had hardly hugged a body since the late emperor’s demise. That was unacceptable.

The distance discarded, his shoulder offered, Kai collapsed into him.

“It will be all right,” Torin promised into his hair. “She will be all right.”

Shouting chased them from the closed doors; elevated alarm from hard-wearing professionals that made Kai gasp. Torin covered the boy’s ears. He needn’t know what lay behind those doors. Because none of them knew. There were no protocol-issued, well-worn documents assuring that Selene would live. They could only rely on her demonstrated stubbornness and talent of living to spite all naysayers.

But Kai’s father had been determined. Kai’s mother had been stubborn. And they were both dead. Torin had lost two great friends but Kai had lost his parents. If he let this spread to his heart, he may never awaken from this grief-stricken stupor.

“Kai,” Torin breathed, “You must live.”

“...What?” Kai whispered, confused.

He pulled back, hardened eyes peeling away to reveal softness. “No matter what happens to her, you must live.”

Kai looked to the ceiling. “I know…my people…”

“No. You must live for her. And for yourself. Only then can you have the strength for your people.” He wiped the tears away with his sleeve. “She needs you right now.”

“I can’t do anything for her right now, Torin,” he argued miserably. 

Despite it all, Torin smiled. “Do you really believe that?”

Kai’s sharp inhales syncopated with the beeps and clangs from within. Torin had always answered his questions. ‘Towin, why can’t I play with Daddy in his meetings?’ ‘Torin, why do I have to go to the gala?’ ‘Torin, why is Mama sick?’’

This question, only Kai could answer.

As those eyes had managed every time before, they reached a horizon point somewhere over Torin’s shoulder, and the determination crystallised. Torin masked a sigh of relief. For a moment, he truly believed this time might be so severe that there could be no return.

Another embrace, this one Kai initiated and pulled away from resolved. “Call off the fighting and order the thaumaturges back into the palace. I’ll collect the Eathern leaders from the docks and have them organise the crowds. We need to remove the wounded from the battlefield.”

“Shall I divert medical resources to those groups?”

“Yes,” he ordered, turning on his heel and his feet moved in step with his thoughts.  “Repurpose as many rooms in the palaces as needed. Send”—he paused, briefly, slipped a look at the closed doors, and righted himself—“Send our own medical staff as well.”

Torin followed dutifully. “And…you’ll leave Linh-dàren?”

“This is what she needs me to do right now.”

In this moment, Torin was walking beside his dear friend Rikan. This boy, this emperor, galvanised for a new purpose. To prepare Luna for its queen. To carve out a space for Linh Cinder to fill. To aid her as a friend, an ally, a partner.

The closer they got to the docks, the louder the shouting became. Frantic servants and muddled aristocrats still cried the refrain: “The queen is dead!”

No. The queen would live, and Torin dared to hope in it.

Bonus

Sometimes, Cress felt like she was getting the hang of this being around people thing. Sarcasm was becoming more obvious. Body language more telling. But then there would be a little quirk of human interactions that would demonstrate just how unaccustomed to everything she was. Today, she learnt about sneaking up on people.

Cress was halfway through closing the door to her suite when a voice purred, “What perfect timing.”

She gasped and flung around to the apparition.

“Captain!” she exclaimed, clutching her stomach. The jolt was not kind on her still-tender stab wound. 

Thorne grinned, all purple button-up and dimpled cheeks and bergamot cologne, materialised in the spot that was seconds-before empty. “Hey darlin’.”

Cress pried away her hand before he noticed it serving as an anchor and got that guilt-tinged frown. Any reminder of his (unwilling) role in her injury was a doleful experience for them both. Still, at least she could now walk without fearing her intestines would unravel.

“You scared me half to death.” She batted his shoulder.

A pleased look spread over his face. “Stealth is one of my greater qualities.”

She blinked at him. Repeatedly.

“Okay,” he relented, tone faltering. “Not necessarily.” He jutted a thumb at the door behind him. “But my room is just opposite.”

“So that gives you the right to near knock my soul out of my body?”

“I was simply coming out to say hello. I can’t believe that you’d accuse me of trying to catch a fright from you.” Thorne rested a hand on the door frame, pressing her back to the door as he craned his neck towards her. “I wouldn’t do that to my girl.”

His girl. Her heart began dancing an Irish jig for an entirely new reason. At least if she swooned from giddiness, he was in prime position to catch her. “Did you come to tell me something?” she murmured, unable to meet his eyes.

“Oh, you know,” he drawled. “I was checking out Cinder’s new place, all the bells and whistles. It’s not bad.”

“It isn’t bad,” she agreed. “It’s magnificent.”

“It’s no Rampion.” He retracted his hand from the doorframe to take hers. This time, she could look at him. “I stumbled into the gardens—nice, sure—but something was missing.”

“A waterslide?”

“Your hand in mine.” he corrected. He kissed that hand. “As long as you’re up to it, would do me the greatest honour and accompany me for a stroll?”

Her stomach throbbed. She shouldn’t walk for more than ten minutes at a time, and she’d already walked all the way to and from the dining hall for breakfast that morning. But her excitement rang louder than the ache.

“I know, it’s tough to think of an excuse not to go,” he said. “But I promise it’ll be fun. I even brought a token as a security deposit.” Reaching to his back pocket, Thorne procured a single rose, pink in its petals and tinged with brown at the base.

Cress pulled it into her fingers, awed. “It’s beautiful!” she cooed, burying her nose in the creation. “It’s a rose, right?”

He looked surprised, but only momentarily. “Indeed. You’ve probably never seen one before.”

“No.” She twirled it in her fingers, eyes fixed on the rich, fathomless colour. Oh, now she understood why roses were romance personified. She noticed that they were thornless, though she wouldn’t have minded if they weren’t. She happened to like Thornes a good deal. “Do they have more?” she asked, eyes gleaming.

“Hundreds, sweetheart.” He looked smug. His plan had succeeded beyond expectations. She was too happy to care.

“In that case, yes, of course.” She turned to the door, saying, “I'll just pull on a jacket,” when a knife twisted in her gut. She clutched her side, gasping as Thorne stole her shoulders into his hands.

“Cress! Are you okay?!” 

She gritted her teeth, hissing and attempting to take air into her lungs until the pain finally subsided. “I’m fine,” she said wanly.

He frowned. “No, no you’re not. You should’ve told me the pain was acting up.” He wrapped his arms around her sides supportively, sighing. “You need to lie down.”

“No!” she protested. “No, I want to come.”

He cast her a grim stare then pecked her cheek. “Tomorrow, okay?”

She scowled. Her injury was a poor wingwoman to her romantic life. “Okay,” she conceded, only slightly mollified.

“Here. I’ll help you get into bed.” Thorne pulled a hand away from her waist to push open the door.

Prickling erupted on her skin. She suddenly remembered what lay inside. “Oh, no, I’m fine. It’s not that bad—I can just—”

“Nonsense.”

She barely cried a “wait!” before the door swung open and the evidence spilled out in a rich floral perfume.

Thorne walked them both inside, gaping at the garden on the centre table. A mammoth bouquet of lilies, peonies, gazanias and foliage reached almost up to the ceiling. He plucked the creamy white card from the base and read it aloud:

In hopes of a swift recovery. Best Wishes, Konn Torin.

Thorne hadn’t yet blinked. Cress just about felt his token wilt in her hand. “I still love your rose,” she assuaged.

Thorne lowered the card, staring dejectedly at his intimidated rose. “I need to up my boyfriend game.”

She laughed. Cress tucked the rose behind his ear, giggling at his quizzical look. She leaned up, thirty excruciating stitches be damned, and planted a firm kiss on his lips. She pulled away. “Let’s start with that date tomorrow.”

Notes

This one's for me and @hayleblackburn, maybe the only members of the Konn Torin fan club. We're a small but loyal pit crew 😔✊

@cindersassasin @hayleblackburn @spherical-empirical @salt-warrior @just2bubbly @gingerale2017 @kaider-is-my-otp @slmkaider @luna-maximoff-22 @kaixiety @snozkat @mirrorballsss @skinwitch18 @bakergirl13 @wassupnye @linh-cindy @therealkaidertrash21

#lunar chronicles #tlc #the lunar chronicles #konn torin #emperor kai #carswell thorne #linh cinder #levana blackburn #cress darnel #wolf kesley #scarlet benoit #emperor rikan #cresswell #kaider #the lunar chronicles fanfiction #lunar chronicles fanfiction #tlc fanfiction #cresswell fanfiction

[wassupnye]

GUYS.

Look at her little baby hand just dangling and those lashes aw. Plus the red lips okayyy. My girl came out the womb serving since day 1

#the lunar chronicles #tlc #linh cinder #tlc cinder #tlc tag #AGAIN where’s her melanin:( #This is Cinder right? #I’ve never had this newer print #kaider #cinder #prince kai #emperor kai #marissa meyer #tlc fanart #tlc kai #tlc fandom #tlc headcanon #tlc fanfiction #tlc memes

[creampuffqueen]

Creampuffqueen Account Birthday Fic Bash!!!

Hello all my dear friends and followers!! Today is this account's sixth birthday, which is just wild to me. It's hard to believe I've been on tumblr for that long, but here we are. I just wanted to come on here and say how grateful I am for this account and all of the lovely friends I've made from it!

And, as a celebration, both of this account's birthday and the 400 follower milestone I recently passed, I will be opening up my fic requests!

It's been quite a while since I've done this, and it will likely be a long time before I do it again once this is over, so please take advantage of it while y'all can! I'm very excited to create things from my lovely followers' favorite characters and ships!

Now, there are a few rules/guidelines for this. Please take the time to read these before requesting!

When you send in a request, please send in the characters/ships you want AND some kind of prompt. it can be a quote, it can be one of those ship prompt things from a list, it can be some ideas and a general vibe. But please give me something to work with!

If I've posted for the fandom before, it's fair game. This is a multifandom blog and I enjoy all kinds of media. It doesn't matter how long ago it was, if you saw me post for that fandom then I will be down to write for it

These don't all have to be ship fics as I'm more than happy to write gen/friendship focused fics. If you do send in a ship, just note that for the most part I enjoy canon ships over non-canon ones. That's not to say I won't do something non-canon, not at all. But if you're stuck between two ships and one is canon while the other isn't, I'm more likely to enjoy the canon one. If you have a question about a particular ship, please feel free to send in an ask and I will let you know my thoughts on it!

Please keep all prompts SFW

BABYFICS!!! they are my specialty and I love writing them. If you've been craving seeing your favs with cute babies, this is the place to request it. Just putting this out here as I know babyfics aren't a lot of peoples' jam (which is totally cool) but they are mine! In fact they're some of my favorite things to write ;)

I reserve the right to refuse any request. If I won't write it, I will do my best to answer your ask with why so you can send another request if you want

You can send in multiple requests, but please keep in mind that I am just one person, and a busy college student at that. Please have patience! I will be doing my absolute best to get all of these written in a timely manner, but life happens, and I won't be sacrificing grades/personal life for these, no matter how excited I am to write them

I know that's kind of a lot but I want to keep things as streamlined as possible so everyone can request things easier!

Fic requests will remain open for a week or two, depending on how many I get. The fics themselves will be pretty short, probably ~1000 words each, give or take, so I don't burn myself out by writing all of them. This post will be my pinned post for as long as requests are open, and I will remove it once they are closed.

Happy requesting!! I can't wait to see everyone's ideas! Thanks for participating in my account's birthday bash!

For examples of my writing:

Writing Masterlist

Ao3 Account

#tumblr milestone #fanfiction #fic request #atla #tlok #chronicles of the avatar #amphibia #the dragon prince #the lunar chronicles #warrior cats #throne of glass

[just2bubbly]

So apparently I decided to write fluff after a long long time and I'm quite proud of myself for that! :)

Masterlist

Romantic Diversions

Ship: Kaider

Words: 925

Genre: Fluff

Kai's Perspective:

Dhsam!

The door was opened with a loud bang which caused Kai to stir from his work. This uninvited disturbance gave rise to subtle anger and he was ready to pounce on the individual who had decided to barge in his cabin in such a dramatic fashion. 

Regardless, he didn't do any of that since the person who was standing at the door was his own wife. He smiled at her sight, expecting the generic 'Did I disturb you?' from her but she had more surprising cards up her sleeves today. Her theatrical entry just led to an even bigger bouncy voice. 

"I can't believe you did that?!" she cried as she pulled a seat before him. That phrase left him more baffled than ever. Cinder wasn't the one for dramatic flair if truth be told- he was the theatre kid out of the two. 

"What did I do?" he questioned, the file he was working on completely forgotten. 

"Look," she said as she passed the tablet to him. Kai was really curious about what he had done that had got Cinder so excited so he looked into the screen without asking any further questions. 

The screen played a video: 

"Your Majesty, would you like to say anything about the lack of apprehension-" some reporter asked before being interrupted by another.

Kai was not expecting to be chased by a mass of reporters as he flew back home. Alas, he was having a press conference in the airport parking lot right now and he definitely wasn't prepared for this one. 

"Goodness, is that Dr Alan Coetze I see there," he exclaimed- seeing the familiar face of the scientist who talked in a language Kai wasn't quite fluent in. Cinder used to love watching his shows and Kai had seen them from time to time too.

"My wife, the Empress is a big fan of Dr Coetze. You would have to excuse me. I need to have his autograph. My wife would be sorely disappointed if I let down this chance," he explained as he tried making his way towards his saviour. 

The press seemed taken aback by his words, having a hard time believing that it was the Emperor gushing about a European scientist who had just won the Nobel Peace Prize for his thesis. 

"But you are the Emperor, Your Majesty-" someone argued, trying to put sense in him. 

"So what? You don't have any idea how inconsiderate intelligent people are towards royalty," he noted. His arguments made little sense but he needed an escapade and this crazily intelligent man that was standing a few yards from him was going to give him exactly that. 

"Your Majesty, you don't- " 

"I understand it's your work but you do have to be a little understanding about my situation too. My anniversary is getting closer and what better gift than the autograph of Dr Alan Coetze. You would have to excuse me for now. However I promise you, there will be a press conference in New Beijing and I look forward to seeing you all there." 

..

"Oh goodness!" Kai laughed and looked up, his wife's contagious smile made him smile more. 

"I can't believe you said it!" she gushed again. 

"Well, I had a flight to attend and the press wasn't going anywhere. I had to make some diversions," he elaborated, passing the tablet back to her. If he knew anything, he was sure this news was everywhere by now. 

"You're telling me the world's best diplomat needed a romantic diversion?"

"You're never gonna let this one go, are you?" he asked, knowing very well the answer to that question, instead he focused on signing the bottom of the page. 

"That isn't going to be the problem. Next press conference everyone is going to talk about this and this only," she pointed out, forgetting to mention that she too was going to make multiple jokes at his expense. 

He glanced at her, thinking how if these small diversions were what made her smile ear to ear then Kai would be likely to commit more of them every now and then. 

"Nothing that a small 'I love my wife' can't suffice." 

"Which reminds me - you said 'my wife' so many times throughout the entire thing." 

"I have a lovely wife. You can't forbid me from bringing her up all the damn time," he said. 

"Stars, I can't believe you," she continued to say, glancing back at the video before whispering, "I love my wonderful husband too." 

"Shh, don't let my wife hear about this. She gets quite protective," he smirked, throwing a wink in her direction. 

That made her chuckle again as she leaned over the desk to whisper in his ear, "Where's my autograph, Your Majesty?"

He tipped to stare into her brown orbs and replied, "I think I said it was an anniversary gift."

Before closing the inches between the two, he murmured, "Wait your time kitten." Cinder captured his lips with hers, her hands holding the back of his neck. One of his hands spread across her cheek, as he deepened the -

Tring! Tring!

The kiss was cut short by the comm that rang through Cinder's tablet and both of them groaned over it. 

"I'd see you at dinner," Cinder said, getting up from her seat. She was almost out of the door when she looked over her shoulder and announced, "I better have an autograph." 

Kai chuckled at the demand and had a delighted feeling for having met the scientist that day.

--

A/N: Wrote this because I have got myself fixated on this power celebrity couple and they had a fun banter on the media and I couldn't help but imagine it for Kai and Cinder. It seems a lil unrelaistic but it's mostly the modern day alteration of the royalty and media. Hope you like it! <333

tagging: @gingerale2017 @salt-warrior @slmkaider @cinderswrench @cindersassasin @impossiblesuitcase @kaiderswell @kaider-is-my-otp @therealkaidertrash21 @fangirlforever0704

#kaider #just2bubbly fics #kaito #cinder linh #lunar chronicles #tlc #fanfiction #fluff #tlc fandom #marissa meyer #selene blackburn #kai #cinder

[salt-warrior]

I’m weeks late, but happy birthday, @cosmicnovaflare! Thanks for being my oldest and dearest tumblr friend. I hope you enjoy this fic, dedicated to you and all your ancientness<3

Wildest Dreams

Summary: Kai wakes up before Cinder, and she wonders what’s up with him. (WC: 1.3k)

Cinder awoke to the gentlest caress down her nose. In years past, a sensation of such a sort would have startled her—eyes open, body out of bed. But her head was filled with softest sleep, and she felt safe here, warm, as if all were right and good in the world.

She let out a soft hum, tilting her face upward as Kai’s fingers traced the curves of her cheeks, the line of her brow, the arch of her lips. She heard him laugh, a low sound so early in the morning. A smile claimed her face, and she opened her eyes to see Kai, propped up on one arm as he looked down upon her, hair clouding his eyes, the faintest blush decorating his cheeks.

“What are you doing awake so early?” Cinder asked, raising her chin to accept his kiss.

Kai rolled his eyes. “I can wake up before you.”

“You never do.”

“Now that’s just not true.”

Cinder propped herself up to look at him, eyes as level as they were mischievous. She poked him in the chest. “Name one time.”

“Oh, don’t you start.”

She laughed, then flopped back down on her pillow, pulling him toward her, his face pressing into the crook in her neck as he mumbled inaccurate words in his defense that only made Cinder laugh harder. Her fingers played with the ends of his hair, her spare arm creeping around him to hug him close.

“What?” Cinder asked when Kai mumbled something she couldn’t quite hear.

“I said I love hearing your laugh in the morning,” he said. “It’s the only thing that makes waking up worth it.”

Cinder felt her heart pinch, as it so often did where Kai was concerned. Once, she hadn’t been sure whether she was capable of love—whether she would ever have it in her life. Between Adri and Pearl and everyone else who regarded her as a monster because she was a cyborg, she hadn’t thought it possible that another person would want her. Would love her. Would be happy to wake up beside her in the morning. She didn’t think she would ever get over her own surprise. That she would get over how dearly she loved Kai.

Shifting, Kai pulled back, resting his face on her pillow, their faces only inches apart. The soft glow of the sun’s gentle haze bled through the window, shedding warmth and light on them both. Their hands, resting upon the bed’s cover, met and twined together. Kai brought the back of her hand up to his lips, then rested their joined fingers below his chin. She watched him all the while, until his eyes met hers, unmatched in understanding, and she wondered where she would be if not for him.

“Today’s our anniversary,” Kai said, voice quiet. “That’s why I woke before you. Although, let the record show that this is not the first time this has happened.”

Cinder blinked, her chest tightening. Her brain interface conjured the day’s date, and she shook her head, confused.

“Kai, our wedding was in—”

“I’m not talking about our wedding anniversary,” Kai cut in, rolling his eyes once again. Had her heart not been racing, Cinder would have told him—not for the first time—that if he continued to roll his eyes as much as he did, they might stay that way.

“Then what are you talking about?”

“The anniversary of the day we met. It’s been five years. Five years since I came to your booth in the marketplace. Little did I know I was about to meet the love of my life.”

Cinder scoffed. “If I remember correctly, you thought I was supposed to be an old man.”

“Once again, you were not what I was expecting,” Kai said dryly. “But if you had been an old man, I probably would have still fallen in love with you.”

“You were that desperate to get out of marrying Levana?”

“Definitely. But in your defense, I think you would make an attractive old man.”

“Gee, thanks,” Cinder said, struggling to maintain a straight face.

“But I’m glad you’re not an old man. To be clear,” Kai added. He blew a little puff of air at her face, scattering her bangs. She scowled at him. “I like you just the way you are.”

Cinder watched his face, that little piece inside of her that doubted herself—that piece that spoke in Adri and Pearl’s voices—waited for him to laugh. To say he didn’t mean it.

He did not laugh. Instead, he watched her intently, every action reassuring. His thumb rubbed the back of her hand. Her fingers squeezed his tighter.

“You’re my favorite part of every day,” Kai said, his voice completely sober. “I woke up this morning wondering where I would be if not for you. And I realized that I would likely be dead. My brain manipulated, my body and title used until Levana got what she wanted, before she killed me. A knife to the heart, the plague, my own hand turned enemy.” Cinder let go of his hand and pressed hers to his cheek, brushing hair and wetness from his eyes.

“I never thought I would have the opportunity to marry for love,” Kai continued. “I never thought I would be with someone that I even liked. In all my wildest dreams, I could have never imagined you. You saved me. You saved us all.”

“It’s not something I did alone.”

“But it’s something that no one else could have done,” Kai said. “Help or no help, no one could have stood in your place and united Earth and Luna. You did what both my father and I failed to do.”

“Kai . . .”

He smiled at her. “I’m grateful, that’s all. And proud. And so unbelievably happy.”

“Me too,” Cinder said. “Five years ago, the best I could hope for was my own emancipation. To run off to Europe with Iko. I never could have imagined you, or our friends, or intergalactic peace. It just—sometimes I worry that I’m going to wake up and discover that it was all just a dream.”

Kai shifted his face beneath her hand to kiss her palm, his own hand circling her wrist. “It’s not a dream,” he whispered. “My imagination definitely couldn’t have conjured finding Princess Selene at the marketplace. Or you escaping prison with an American convict. Or me being kidnapped on my wedding day. Or anything else that happened. It’s too crazy.”

“You’re right,” Cinder laughed. She wondered why, five years later, Kai was thinking of the first time they’d met. Not once in any of the other years of them knowing one another had either of them brought it up. There were always more pressing anniversaries to consume the mind in the middle of August. Rikan’s death. Peony’s. But perhaps time was allowing them to move forward—not to forget, but to make room. Maybe time—space, everything—let the light shine through, gave them the eyes to see the good that had happened with the bad.

Cinder would never not miss Peony, just as she knew that Kai would never not miss his father. That grief and pain would always be a part of them, but so would all the joy and peace that they brought one another.

She leaned forward, pressing her lips to Kai’s. It was a sweet, slow kiss, tangled with five years of knowing and loving one another. Of making it through everything, of proceeding in the world together.

“I’d do it all again,” Kai said when they broke apart. “Just to be here now with you.”

Cinder kissed the tip of his nose, a smile playing on her lips. “Me too.”

#kaider #kaider fanfiction #the lunar chronicles #tlc fanfiction #tlc #marissa meyer #linh cinder #prince kai #emperor kai #salt warrior stories #just a bunch of fluff i guess

[gingerale2017]

Toothbrush

Fluff <333 Words: 2k Pairing: Cinder Linh x Kai Fandom: The Lunar Chronicles Setting: Around a couple months Warnings: None that I know of Ao3 Link

Someone could tell Cinder her nerves were all fried and dead and she would believe them. In fact she was surprised they were still functioning because they felt like they were on fire.

She sucked in a breath before she forgot to but it was shaky. She mentally cursed. Considering how close her and Kai’s bodies were, she was certain he heard the wobbly sound.

They decided (meaning Kai dragged a willing Cinder) to dance with each other late in the night in Kai’s room, despite the Peace Ball being three nights ago, an event where she was actually forced to dance. Kai might have said they were dancing tonight but no one could call this dancing. Instead their bodies were so close together that would surely mold together soon as they swayed.

She kept her eyes low and focused on the button on his chest. She felt as if her whole body was in turmoil. Perhaps, if she didn’t look at I’m she won’t screw up. Kai, being so close, could probably feel the erratic speed of her heart and her failed attempts to control her breathing. She was also 95% sure her hand was shaking while he held it. 

Kai, however, seemed perfectly calm, an emotion she envied very deeply in this moment. Perhaps he was lost in thought. Perhaps he was bored. Considering her lack of dancing skills, she reckoned he probably had enough with her.

He sighed suddenly, as if he were reading her thoughts, and the hand on her waist dug deeper into her back. He let go of their interlocked hands and guided hers to his neck. She gulped. He got impossibly closer as their chests met and their legs touched. 

“Cinder, my love, you don’t have to feel so tense,” he murmured, speaking for only the third time this night. They haven’t been very talkative, and for good reason. This proximity messed with her ability to breathe, how could she even dare to speak?

“Tense? I’m relaxed.” She lied.

“Then look at me while we dance. I promise you won’t have to lie when you say that.” 

Oh no. She had to resist his gaze.

Cinder chuckled awkwardly. “You talk as if your eyes are some magical item and can cure any disease whenever someone looks into them.” She said, still refusing to meet his eyes. She feared would melt or at least explode her brain.

Kai sighed again. “Darling.” he murmured, almost like he was chiding her. His hand travelled up her body in parallel to his whispers. She felt sparks from his trail, never pulling away, making her shiver. He reached her chin and tilted it up to his face. Oh no. 

Their eyes finally met and her skin erupted in goosebumps. Kai’s eyes never failed to make her knees weak. A romantic copper that lit up brighter than anything else in is room. What was once the sight she failed to avoid was now the only thing she could look at. She couldn’t look away if she tried.

It was hard to believe Cinder had managed to date the Emperor if the Eastern Commonwealth, but if anyone could, it would be the Queen of Luna.

His fingers on her chin moved to caress her cheek. His touch was definitely one of the best things she experienced with him. Her stomach did repetitive somersaults yet it did not bother her. Instead, it excited her, warming her up in the best ways. He moved his hand back to her waist.

“Shall we start again?” he said, already starting to sway. She nodded.

She felt the grip of his hands on her waist the most. In fact, she was sure he was holding her hips now. He tried guiding her back and forth but she could barely think. His eyes muddled her thoughts. She kept messing up the footwork but he reassured her with a knowing smile.

The room started to get stuffy and hot real fast. Why’d she wear long sleeves anyway? With sweatpants? In this warm climate? 

Back and forth. Side to side. Cinder forced herself to pay attention so she didn’t make a fool out of herself. Her breath came in short breaths that she worked hard conceal. But it was hard to focus when they maintained this kind of eye contact. It was intense and a little frightening, but soon enough Cinder reveled in it. 

The atmosphere shifted so quick that she almost didn’t notice. Like it was almost… natural. Suddenly there was less observing and more doing. He would slowly drag his hands from her waist to her chest while drawing circles with his fingers. Her own fingers began entangled themselves in his hair, though it was different from her habitual curling. More pulling instead. They seemed to do this on their own. His eyes darkened with something she couldn’t recognize. It made her want to do something. Cinder’s hands dug deeper into his hair, hugging his face closer to hers. She could feel his breath tickle her mouth. 

Warnings popped in her head. Thoughts we're impossible to form. Her eyes trailed to his mouth, carved elegantly on his face, and lips she wanted to kiss. Badly.

She looked up at him to find that he was starting at her lips which slightly parted at the discovery. He licked his own and started to lean in.

They met in the middle with a slow, enjoyable kiss that gradually got more passionate. Soon enough she was pulling at his hair, desperately kissing him without any thought of stopping. He pushed her back until she hit the wall. One of his hands grabbed her cheek while the other explored her lower body.

Kai left her mouth and started again on her throat, sowing kisses up and down on it. She gasped when he reached her collarbone, again when he squeezed her hip, and again when he returned to her lips. Cinder wrapped her arms around his neck, feeling more than content with his actions.

They slowed down a bit until they remembered air existed, panting extensively. His forehead bunched with hers and their lips illustrated matching flimsy smiles. 

“I wasn’t expecting that.” She confessed. Truly, she was surprised, but now that she thought about all the signs he’d been giving she should have at least anticipated it. The right space, the forced warmer climate, the crimson on his cheeks, her mind recalled all of it and truly she should have known better.

“Me neither. I’m not disappointed though.” He gave her a tender kiss on her forehead.

“Neither am I.” A peck on the cheek.

“Can you ditch the guest room and sleep with your dance partner tonight?” Kai asked. He gave her his signature puppy dog eyes and double downed with a kiss on her jaw.

Cinder sighed. “I hope so, but I have to get my stuff. I always want to, you know.”

A kiss on her other cheek. He was starting to pick it up again, as if he was saying ‘all right, break over, time for part two, let’s go, let’s go!’. 

“I know.” Kai barely grunted out, too preoccupied with sparking kisses on her neck. Cinder felt him care for the kisses he planted with careful detail before. He’d turn her neck into a rose garden soon enough and pick out her own flowers to give to her every morning. She subconsciously threw her head to give him more space. Her body obviously reacted kindly to his advancements. She never knew the lack of control she had over her body, or rather, the amount of control Kai had over hers. It was almost traitorous if she didn’t enjoy it. 

“Kai, I have to get my toothbrush.” No response. He must’ve not heard her. Now paying attention to the signs, she realized he was lost in a passionate cloud. 

He tried to push her even further on the wall that Cinder almost caved in. She decided she needed to put a stop to his activity before it went too far. Or, at least before he reached her lips because then she was confident she wouldn’t be able to control the consequences then.

Placing her palms firmly on his shoulders, she pushed gently until he realized what she was doing. His brow furrowed in confusion, then his eyes lost a little of its hungered haze. His face transitioned apologetically. “Sorry, I got a little carried away.” He straightened up. “So, will you spend the night with me, a handsome, charming, funny young emperor or in your dusty, unattractive, boyfriend-less room?”

She gave a dry laugh. “I already said yes but I need to get my toothbrush.”

He cocked his head. “At this point, just leave it here.”

“Well I need that among other things.”

“But it’s on a whole other floor!” He whined. Cinder held back a chuckle. He was unbearably cute when he couldn’t bear to be alone. “Borrow mine if you have to!” She forgot how desperate he gets. The best ego boost ever. 

“I’ll be quick.” This time she made a move and pecked him on the nose. He tried to glare but his ears reddened. “I promise.”

She left her spoiled Emperor before he could complain about her absence and practically ran to her room to collect all her things. To be honest, she wasn’t sure if she could bear to be alone again either. After so much of Kai, she could barely imagine virtually none of Kai. 

The Dark Days. They have been erraticated from her mind with no explanation. She wasn’t complaining.

Soon enough she was in front of Kai’s door with brushed teeth and fresh clothes.

When he opened the door he looked her up and down, lingering at certain moments, and raised an eyebrow. “Did you forget your toothbrush.”

“Uh, no, it’s in the bag.” She lifted a small tote bag that he was too blind to notice.

“You can always use mine.” He repeated. “It’s the same as kissing.”

“I can assure that it is not the same as kissing, and are the cause of many diseases.” 

“Such as?” 

She snorted. “Delusion. Which you don’t need more of.” She let herself in, forcing her way through Kai.

“Hey!” he countered. “On what grounds am I delusional?”

Sighing, she plopped herself on his bed. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s the fact that after I rejected to go to the ball with and you still persisted in asking me.”

“Well it worked out in the end, didn’t it?” Kai walked towards her in a very slow pace, as if he were executing some scheme.

“A revolution and a failed marriage later, it did.”

He reached the foot of the bed and crept on next to her as his goal. She gulped, a feeling of anticipation rose in her chest. “At least you’re here with me.” He inched closer until he was properly on top of her. “Safe.” He murmured, nearing her mouth. “Healthy.”

He suddenly grabbed her body, shocking her and inciting a surprised gasp. They flipped positions so that she was now on top of him. “And in my arms.”

A giddy and satisfied smile appeared on his face. She had the sudden need to wipe it off his face with her lips. More warnings lit up her vision and she blinked it away, along with the desirous thoughts. But they always lingered, like a short breath on a cold morning.

She didn’t know what to do with her arms, or her legs, or her waist. She was very much a ragdoll at this point and she wouldn’t have complained if Kai treated her as such. The only thing she could control was her head as it hovered over his. She had a feeling that if she didn’t kiss him, he would.

So she did. Slowly, tenderly, and mindfully. Her hands fired up again and found new places to trace on his chest. One of his hands got caught up in her hair while the other gradually palmed the skin of her waist. Cinder might’ve made a noise or two because Kai abruptly flipped them over again.

There was a ‘hmpth’ from one of them, she didn’t know who nor cared, and once again the kiss turned passionate. He pressed his body against her as the hand on her back slid up her shirt. He returned to her neck as her hands pulled on his pajama shirt. She felt repetitive and slightly painful tugs on her scalp as he tried to make more space for his mouth. It was more enjoyable than expected.

“Stars,” He muttered. She thought she imagined it until he kept going. “I love your neck.”

The words shocked her, even in that hungered haze. It made want to do something, to want more. She groaned as her hand grabbed his jaw and pushed it up until their lips met. She kissed him with a new type of craving, with the same type of desire from earlier. This is time she didn’t suppress it. Her metal hand slipped underneath his shirt and rubbed his back, while her fleshed one tugged his hair in a frenzy. More gasps and small noises were let out. Every time she heard her name escape his lips she would respond by kissing him on the sensitive part of his neck where she’d get more response out of. It gave her more drive to feel and peck his skin, to kiss and suck his lips, to whisper and murmur his name. Her heart pounding in her chest made it all the more intense, and even more so when she could feel his.

The more she thought about them, the more Cinder wanted to smile. While her lips were practically hovering over his ear, she couldn’t help but grin, then laughter spilled out. She dug her head into the crook of his neck, trying, and failing, to stop herself.

He pulled away so they met eye to eye. How he got underneath her, she couldn’t remember, but, stars, he was gorgeous in this angle. And his shirt was practically undone so her eyes couldn’t help but linger. She felt his soft fingers draw circles on the small of her back as he grinned up at her.

“What’s so funny, my love?” Kai asked. His voice was rough and lips plump from kissing for so long. It was surprisingly attractive. Well, it shouldn’t be surprising because almost everything about Kai is attractive, especially to her.

“I don’t know. I just felt like laughing.” She let out another giggle. “I feel so…” She paused, searching for the right word.

“Happy? Joyful? Bliss?” He offered.

“Euphoric.” She smiled, kissing his nose. She rather liked his nose, as she did his neck, and his face, and oh-so-mangificent eyes, and his elegant hands, and his intelligent voice, and his lips, oh stars his lips! She adored his lips, and how they felt against hers. Especially how they felt against hers.

Her gaze paused at the swollen sight, trying her best to swallow the urge to devour them again. Just how plump could they get anyway? 

Kai had other plans. He grinned like an amazed artist satisfied with his work. He brought his hands to either sides of her bare hips, making her heart jump in excitement, and laid her down next to him.

Their eyes met for the thousandth time that night but in this moment she saw stars, galaxies, and universes of wonder in his. 

“Kai?” She murmured, breaking the silence.

“Yes, my love?”

“I think I’m going to sleep here tonight.”

He smiled, eyes tinkling at the joke. “I think that’s a wonderful idea, my love.”

He pulled her close so they could fold on each other, limbs intertwining with limbs. She smiled as her cheek pressed to her chest. His leg rested on her hip and his hand played with her locks.

Not very long after, their hearts matched each other’s beats and they fell into a long and comfortable sleep.

A/N: So here's that one make out pic I promised to post... Whatever. Hope you like :D Tell me if you no like D:

Tagging: @just2bubbly @cinderswrench @cindersassasin @the-wee-woo-royal @deprivedmusicaljunkie @crescentchat @notjacinclay @wheresmymom-imlost @salt-warrior @rapunzelfromthemoon @briggycat @impossiblesuitcase @kaider-is-my-otp @definitelynotisabel @wassupnye (these are for my kaider ONLY fics so please ask if you want to be tagged or removed <3)

#tlc #the lunar chronicles #kaider #lunar chronicles #linh cinder #emperor kai #kaider fic #kaider fanfiction #tlc fic #tlc fanfiction #prince kai #marissa meyer #yipee

[stylinson-spagghetti]

sentence of the weekkk

All things considered, Kai reacted remarkably well to being cuddled/strangled by a stranger.

#source: ao3 #man #fanfiction #amirite #the lunar chronicles #tlc #emperor kai #shitpost

[caramelmacchiato07]

y’all ever think of a fanfiction website as a certain fandoms fanfiction website? like ao3 for me is all pjo bc i have found a bunch of fanfictions that are phenomenal on there (if anyone wants pjo fanfic recs dm me!!) but like wattpad for like (this is completely random) kotlc or lotr or something??? or fanfiction.net for lunar chronicles (honestly if anyone wants any recs for the mentioned fandoms i have loads-)

is that just me???? maybe????

#wattpad #ao3 #ao3 fanfic #fanfiction.net #fanfiction #percy jackson and the olympians #the lunar chronicles #lord of the rings #keeper of the lost cities

[ladybugpowermakeup]

Winter and Spring

As requested by @goldenclasp

_________

Winter had always heard rumors that the sunshine on Earth would melt the ice on all but the highest mountains. That spring would come and the flowers would grow thanks to the warm weather and sunshine. 

She wished she had her own springtime. Every Winter needed a spring, after all. But on Luna, the closest she could get was her own garden. Artificial. Fake. 

Just like her. 

A girl of ice and cold, sculpted of frozen marble. 

She’d often thought of how correct her name was. That she was named for the coldest and most hopeless time of the year. People told her it was beautiful when seen up close, but Winter had trouble believing it - if she couldn’t be cured of her cold and ice, how could Earth possibly be? 

“Scarlet-friend?” 

Even to her own ears it sounded far away and high-pitched. The redhead in the cage answered her across the garden. 

“What?” 

Her voice was still sullen. Perhaps she was still angry at her missing finger, but Winter had tried her best. She forced the words out, finally able to raise her eyes from Ryu.

“What is the spring like on Earth?”

Scarlet looked surprised - the first time she had looked anything but angry or scared since she arrived. 

“Why do you want to know?”

Winter shrugged. 

“I’m Winter. I want to know about spring.”

“You’re kidding.” Scarlet deadpanned. Winter shook her head. Scarlet sighed and pulled her knees toward her chest. 

“Well, I guess it’s warmer than winter. The season, not you. And that’s when a lot of the animals mate and breed. Sometimes we end up with enough ducks on the lake to almost cover the whole surface. But mostly it’s a time when plants start growing again.”

Winter nodded, but said politely 

“I know all that. Can you tell me what it feels like?”

“I am!”

“No, I mean describe how it feels on your skin.”

Scarlet sighed again and sat silent for a moment. Winter could tell she was thinking, but wished she would hurry up. The ice in her feet was coming back, gluing her to the floor. 

“It’s warm.” said Scarlet. “The ice all thaws out and it’s like you can feel the heat of the sunshine again.”

“Can you not feel it through the winter?” 

“Not as well. It’s windy and cold and usually cloudy. But when spring hits, it’s as if the sun can be itself again, not a shadowed version of itself.”

Winter nodded and closed her eyes as Scarlet continued. 

“And when you step outside on the first warm day… Have you ever had a cold shower and then wrapped yourself in a blanket? It’s like that, but almost… the opposite. Like dropping a cold piece of clothing from around yourself and finally feeling warm. That’s what the spring sunlight is.”

Winter envisioned it - the blanket around herself, and the dropping of it. To her surprise, the ice in her feet began to melt away. She gave a little squeal of delight, which made Scarlet stop speaking in a hurry. 

“Sorry.” Winter said with a half smile. “I just… I felt it for a moment.”

Scarlet looked at her in bafflement. 

“I don’t understand you, you know that?”

Winter giggled again. Scarlet had no idea that no one else in the palace understood her, either. Scarlet, in fact, was one of the few people who saw her at her more natural. This garden was her paradise - as much as she could get with the visions. But with Scarlet, they were fewer and farther between. No one else had that effect on her.

Except Jacin. 

The thought of Jacin made the ice come creeping back up her ankles, but she focused on her cold blanket and physically motioned as if she was pushing it off her feet. Once again, the ice began to release her. 

So that was it. Winter smiled to herself and thought about Jacin until her feet were entirely thawed again. 

Perhaps… just perhaps, Jacin could be her sunlight, helping to heal the Winter’s scars.

#the lunar chronicles #tlc #tlc oneshot #tlc winter #fanfiction #winter blackburn #scarlet tlc #scarlet benoit #creative writing #writing practice #oneshot #writing #fanfic #fic #lunar chronicles #writing prompt

[definitelynotisabel]

should i post my fan art?

#it not digital tho #it’s kinda bad but wtv #the lunar chronicles #bookish #lunar chronicles #linh cinder #prince kai #carswell thorne #tlc fanart #fan #tlc fandom #fanfiction #fandom #fanart

[hayleythesugarbowl]

hi could you write headcanons for dating carswell thorne from the lunar chronicles?? tysm 💜✨

carswell thorne x reader headcanons

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚ masterlist ⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚ a/n: tysm for the request lovely!! hope you enjoy these headcanons, i love thorne so much. also artwork not mine 🎀🍒

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~°~❦~°~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

dating thorne would include…

ok so when he first met you he flirted with you like crazy 

but he does that with everyone so you thought it meant nothing 

and then one time you heard him telling cinder how much he liked you 

when he finally asked you out he was so nervous it was adorable

he comes up with the cutest most random nicknames for you 

constantly teases you 

like if he can tell he made you blush he’ll never let you hear the end of it 

“well since you’re obviously smitten with me…”

he’s so protective of you though 

comes up behinds you and kisses you 

“guess who”

you become so close with all of the crew 

cinder tells you embarrassing stories about thorne 

“ok that never happened, your obviously just jealous”

scarlet pretends to gag at you guys

winter has been rooting for you two since day one 

and you have all the girl talks with her 

and cress

who totally made a playlist for you guys 

kai definitely has given you both relationship advice

jacin becomes so protective of you 

and wolf definitely cooks for you (with scarlet’s help)

you and thorne have game nights 

and he gets super into it 

and insists he “let you win”

you call him “captain” to annoy him but he secretly loves it 

he is getting used to being more intimate with someone

and he loves that he can really be vulnerable with you

always knows how to make you feel better and cheers you up by making you laugh

he said i love you first 

tried to bake for you one time and almost burnt the place down

he tells you how beautiful you are all the time 

he loves dressing up for you 

“you look…wow, im not good enough for you (y/n)”

always has his arm around your shoulders 

he just loves you so much and you guys are so happy together <3

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~°~❦~°~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ˋ°•*⁀➷ hope this is what you wanted!! let me know if you want headcanons for any of the other tlc characters. have a lovely day/night 💌🍓

#carswell thorne #carswell thorne x reader #carswell thorne headcanons #the lunar chronicles #lunar chronicles #emperor kai #scarlet benoit #winter hayle blackburn #cress darnel #ze’ev kesley #cinder linh #marissa meyer #fanfic #fanfiction #reader insert #headcanon #x reader

[impossiblesuitcase]

Fighting, and Loving

“Do you ever take those off?”

Cinder’s hands were hauled up at her chest and gloved. The thin fabric was white, though it was hard to tell when they were so heavily stained with grease and soot. He didn’t think he had ever seen her without them, but then again, she had always been working in the few times they had met.

Few times? 

Kai realised, with surprise, that they hadn’t spent even a whole hour together since meeting. It felt much, much longer.

Startled but defiant, she clocked him dead in the eye. “No.”

Huh. This girl got more mysterious by the second, yet simultaneously felt like the most honest person he’d met in years.

Plus, she was pretty cute.

It was warm in the elevator—or that could just be him. He was already simmering all over from watery grief and rage that morning when Levana stood on his balcony and cast her control over his people. Manipulating them. Brainwashing them. 

His eyes were now barren, stickiness dried on his cheeks. If Cinder had noticed, she hadn’t said anything. She regarded him with a quiet tenderness; a condolence, but not surface-level like that of so many other staff and guards and representatives.

Stars, he wanted her to come to the ball. Needed her to, now that he knew the filthy Lunars had planted the chip in Nainsi to extract information.

He was a prince. He rarely faced rejection. While he did respect her right to decline, something in him was convinced that her rejection wasn’t completely true. It never reached her eyes, as though some force was drawing the words from her mouth. Why did she hesitate if she seemed so comfortable with him? From the little he knew of her, she did not strike him as the type to indulge someone’s feelings if she did not reciprocate. 

What was holding her back? He was a prince. He had resources. He could make those obstacles disappear. 

“I think you should go to the ball with me.”

Cinder’s eyes widened. “Stars. Didn’t you already ask me that?”

“I’m hoping for a more favourable answer this time. And I seem to be getting more desperate by the minute.” 

“How charming.” 

That wasn’t the cadence of a voice that was about to accept. 

“Please?”

They went back and forth; Cinder’s responses were still vague, never giving him an idea of why she refused. Until:

“Well there are about 200,000 single girls in this city who would fall over themselves to have the privilege,” she reasoned drily, glaring at her feet. 

Wait, was she rejecting him because she thought herself unworthy? 

“Cinder,” he started, softly. Soothingly. “200,000 single girls. Why not you?”

Cinder looked torn. Insecure. “I’m sorry. But trust me—you don’t want to go with me.”

Trust me, I do.

The doors parted, she scrambled outside, and Kai internally whooped when he saw the audience.

If she thought she was unworthy, he wouldn’t hesitate to prove otherwise.

“Come to the ball with me,” he declared.

Cinder froze. The staff froze. Kai could practically already read the hundreds of gossip posts that would emerge from their gospel testimonies. 

Let the whole world know that Cinder was worthy of his attention. Then maybe she’d believe it too.

She turned around with a sharp expression, oddly reminiscent of his mother when a seven-year-old Kai shattered her crystal lamp copying Taekwondo moves from a netdrama. The expression warmed him.

Cinder manhandled him back into the elevator—which would kindly exacerbate those rumours.

The doors shut incriminatingly and she sighed. “Listen. I’m sorry. I really am. But I can’t go to the ball with you. You just have to trust me on that.”

He studied her. Her scowl spoke of irritation, but the firmly planted hand on his chest was at ease. 

She noticed his gaze and retrieved her touch.

“Why?” he appealed, almost whining. “Why don’t you want to go with me?”

“It’s not that I don’t want to go with you, it’s that I’m not going at all.”

Aha. “So you do want to go with me.”

Kai was certain that he was seconds away from finally getting through Cinder’s barrier—assuring her that it didn’t matter if she couldn’t dance, trying to allay her doubts—when something…changed. Her whole body deflated as though he’d just delivered some terrible diagnosis.

“It’s my sister.”

“Your sister?” he questioned, puzzled. Was this sister selfishly barring Cinder from attending the ball due to some slight? 

“Yes. My little sister. She has the plague. And it just wouldn’t be the same without her, and I can’t go—won’t go.” Then, like it was the truest admission of them all, she murmured, “I’m sorry.”

The weight of his insensitivity pressed into him. Great going Kai, he thought, you got so caught up in yourself that you forgot people have lives. All that flirting and pushing, even in front of a crowd! And the whole time, he’d been disturbing her.

He took a step back, reconsidering.

If she didn’t come, that meant that the ball would proceed as dreaded. Entertaining Levana, disappointing the world with his announcement, feeling the final tattered shreds of hope slip through his hands.

“Are you all right?” she asked.

He nodded, but it was a lie. He had no incentive to lie to her. “Levana thinks she can play me like a puppet. And it just occurred to me that she might be right.”

Nothing he did would change anything.

The warmth in Cinder’s gaze bandaged his wounds. He wanted to change everything.

“Imagine there was a cure,” slipped out unbidden, “but finding it would cost you everything. It would completely ruin your life. What would you do?” He leant closer, seeking some sort of surreptitious pardoning. An intimate assurance that, no, he didn’t have to marry Levana. It was completely fair for him to refuse and spare his own life.

Her face showed no hope. “Ruin my life to save a million others? It’s not much of a choice.”

Of course. Why was he even seeking that assurance? Cinder was a good person. Cinder was logical, as was he.

He would do the right thing. 

The right thing, 

the right thing,

She glanced at his lips and soon, he was doing the same.

An inner voice screamed at him. Now is not the time! You barely know her! Your country is on the brink of war and you have to find an antidote. Priorities!

But, being a teenage boy and all, priorities weren’t his friend when it came to pretty girls. 

“I’m sure this is horribly inappropriate, but… it seems that my life is about to be ruined.”

He couldn’t have changed his mind now even if he tried. Kai gently guided her elbow to have her facing him. He craned his head. It had been a long time since he’d kissed a girl and yet, he didn’t recall the thrumming of his heart ever being this loud. Cinder closed her eyes and tilted her head up. She thought this was the right thing too.

His pulse leapt up to his throat as they inched closer to each other. Her breath fanned his mouth, so hot her lips could already be on his own.

Then Cinder cried out and crumpled in on herself.

The band of tension snapped. Romantic distractions would turn into worried distractions, it turned out.

———

Kai could do with more distractions, he decided.

Despite the roughly eighty million pressing issues all demanding his attention, his thoughts kept sprinting away to Linh-mèi. Linh Cinder, who still wasn’t coming to the ball, who was still subject to some unspecified illness. 

Distraction. He pulled up his non-work related comms, hoping for a brand new alert that would pull him into something, anything. A ‘how are you?’ or ‘check out this vid’, or ‘dude, that levana chick be crazy. Stay away.’

His inbox was a barren desert.

Prince Kaito was loved by the world. Kai had no friends.

Cinder was a friend now, right?

Parted lips, her palpable jolt of surprise. Her scrunched eyes and tilted head.

Irrational disappointment gnawed at his chest. It was for the best. Kai had obviously been grief-stricken—no state in which to deliver a meaningful first kiss. Especially when for a whole second he’d looked at Cinder lying on the ground and found her face piercing and hypnotising and something was very clearly wrong.

She’d set her head in her hands, the spell broke, and he still had no idea what had come over him. Probably his sanity doing cartwheels.

Cinder hadn’t reached out. Still, he couldn’t resist shooting off a comm when he yearned for a friendly voice.

Hey, Cinder. I hope you’re recovering well. Like I said, if you need any tests done, feel free to come to the palace. We can’t have the city’s best mechanic in poor shape.  Yours, Kai.

A day passed, and nothing. She was probably resting. But an extra comm never hurt, right?

Hi Cinder, how’s things today? Any more malfunctioning androids? I’ll let you know if there are any in the palace—hopefully none of them are befalling the same fate as Nainsi. You know what I mean.

Three comms in, Kai realised he was a touch presumptuous.

“Your Highness?” 

Kai startled and flipped around to see a palace official in the doorway, head lowered in a bow.

“Ah yes, Park-dàren, a pleasure to see you.”

The woman extended a portscreen. “I have the final details for your coronation security checks. They require your approval.”

Kai shook off his distraction and strode over, once again falling into the skin of the responsible royal. When the official gave her condolences for his loss, he remembered that he would be assuming that role indefinitely.

He was professional with guards and servants, even Torin now. He wasn’t himself with anyone anymore. The Kai he’d been with his parents and classmates would be locked up somewhere in his mind. He didn’t know when he would see that Kai again.

“As you can see outlined in section eight, we are taking strict measures to ensure your safety. Once 80% of guests have arrived, we will instigate a cut-off time, in which no further guests can be allowed to enter. Citizens under criminal restrictions will doubtless attempt to enter under the guise of being late, assuming the name of someone who failed to attend—”

“Wait,” he interrupted. Clenching his fingers around the port, he deliberated. “Remove the cut-off time.”

A slow blink. “...I beg your pardon?”

Kai couldn’t help but imagine Cinder on the day, debating with herself if she would or wouldn’t come. What if she vowed to stay home, only to regret it more and more with the ticking of the clock until she raced over to meet him?

“It’s just, erm, with this time of mourning, many of the guests may feel overwhelmed at the thought of attending without my father present. But perhaps they may change their mind that very evening?”

The woman considered this—or perhaps was thinking of a way to gently inform him that that was a stupid idea.

“Of course,” she corrected finally. “Please accept my apology on behalf of our department. We had not considered that. I shall amend the protocol to allow for at least an extra hour.”

A smile tickled his cheeks, but understanding followed it, and at once he berated himself. Did he really just compromise their security for a girl? 

As he handed the port back to the woman he noticed her hands, well-kept and uncovered.

There was one person, recently, that he’d been himself with. 

“Excuse me,” he said before he could stop himself. “May I ask you a question?”

“Certainly, Your Highness,” she exclaimed eagerly.

He did not allow himself to back out now, despite the embarrassed tension caging his spine. “Do you ever…wear gloves?”

Her eyes widened. Her hands folded over one another as though self-conscious, and he studied their complexion. It was impossible to imagine Cinder’s scrappy gloves on such pristine knuckles and cuticles.

“Uh, not often, Your Highness. On formal occasions, mostly. I have a pair that I wear to the peace ball. I’ll be wearing them this year.”

He nodded, pursing his lips. “Thank you. I realise it’s a strange question. I just wondered if they would make a nice gift for someone.”

An amused smile. “Any gift from Your Highness would be an appreciated one.”

Once she had left, Kai paced over to the window to ruminate on this new idea. He was used to being welcome in any room he entered. He was certainly used to girls admiring him endlessly, and he’d grown skilled at politely declining their advances whilst secretly basking in the feeling of adoration. 

But Cinder wouldn’t be so easily swayed. She seemed stubborn and grounded and unwilling to betray her values, no matter who asked it of her. 

Kai unclipped his port from his belt and checked his comms. Still no responses.

What was he trying to achieve by this? Would she even like gloves? Or would that send the message that he was so clueless about women that her workwear was all he could think to buy her?

But these would be formal gloves, no, ballroom gloves. For the ball. He would give them to her, kiss her gloved hand and lead her down the ballroom steps. He remembered how that surprisingly petite hand had been so stiff when he’d kissed it in Dr. Erland’s office, as though his very touch had turned it to metal. 

He liked to think that she’d been romanced by it. He liked to think he had an effect on her.

Her hesitant glance at his lips. Her pull towards him in an unconscious magnetism.

Maybe she would like gloves, so long as they were from him.

———

He’d made up his mind by the time his seamstresses were fitting him for his coronation garb. They would give him the best advice.

“Say,” he wondered aloud, aiming for naturalness. “Where could I find some gloves for a formal event, perhaps, the ball?”

One of the older women, Kaminari, pulled a pin from her mouth without a glance his way. She had scolded a five, ten, even fifteen-year-old Kai many a time for wriggling during fittings. “You have a collection of gloves in your closet, Your Highness.”

“No, ah…” Treacherous heat covered his ears. “I was referring to women’s gloves.”

Now she looked at him over thin-framed glasses. Her eyes were scrutinising yet she graciously answered after a brief hesitation. “Well, the city’s department stores have the largest collections. You’ll find many fine pairs there.”

Kai enquired further, lacing his voice with casualness as though he was barely interested in such a trivial topic. Not because he feared rumours would erupt—Kaminari was a shrewd woman—but because that shrewdness enabled her to read him easily. There begged a question of why the prince would want women’s gloves, and ultimately, the most plausible conclusion was as a gift for a lady.

———

Kai sent Cinder another comm that night. She would be finished her workday, he assumed, and he recalled her mentioning a sister and a stepmother, so he waited until it was late enough that any family responsibilities would be completed.

It was also late enough that sending a comm would glaringly imply that he was thinking of her, now, at this late hour.

His previous messages were admittedly quite formal. This time, Kai hoped a laid-back approach would soften her digital wall of silence. 

Just a thought, if you feel like taking up dancing—for no particular reason at all—I’d be happy to be your instructor. I can practically see you rolling your eyes from here, but hear me out. You never know when those skills may come in handy.

The sent icon blipped on the right side of the screen. He stared at the left, drumming his fingers, waiting for the icon showing that she was responding. For the next five minutes, there was none.

Okay Kai, baaack it up a bit.

Sighing, he slid out of the app onto his netlink. Holding two fingers down, he flicked them away from himself so the feed appeared—lifesize—on the holographic projector before his bed. 

Kaminari’s recommendation was scrawled on his hand with one of her pattern markers. Saying it aloud brought an array of fashions to life, cycling one by one a carousel.

Kai’s back straightened. He shuffled closer on the bed. “All right. Display: gloves.”

He knew immediately that the particularly flashy ones that passed by would not work. Nor did peacock feather accents quite seem that of a modest mechanic.

He specified some criteria. Ballroom, elbow length, and then, classic. The pink and frills were replaced with simpler options. With no idea what colour dress she would be wearing* (if she was even coming*) a neutral colour would be the safest. With white, some were toned with ivory, rose gold or pink, and others a stark white. He liked silver best.

One instantly caught his attention. Elbow length, silver white, not gaudy but not as plain as her work gloves. The hem was rimmed with pearls for a touch of elegance. Cinder wasn’t elegant per se, but she did have a sort of unmatchable grace, uniquely characteristic to her.

Something about them felt…familiar.

Leaping out of bed, Kai tossed the port from his lap and jogged over to his closet. The lights flickered on as he opened the door, illuminating the long room that seemingly extended almost to the other end of the palace. The eighth cupboard down, third drawer on the left.

Laying neatly folded in lush velvet casing were three pairs of gloves. Kai fished past the navy and gold for the white pair underneath. He pulled them out, holding them up and inspecting them under the light.

They were ivory instead of silver, with diamonds instead of pearls. His mother hadn’t been all that fond of gloves. She always said a hand was better to hold if you could feel the touch of it in yours.

They still smelled vaguely of her perfume.

Kai held it to his face, inhaling the only remnant he still had of warm hugs and soothing lullabies and innocence. He had vowed as a child that he would never forget her scent or her voice or her smile.

No image of wide-spread teeth could come to his mind. He usually had to reference old home vids for the singsong murmurs.

Kai set them back in the tray, folded to match the others, and trudged back to his bed.

How would Mum feel to know that he would be forced to marry Levana? 

His portscreen was still there on his covers, glowing in the dimness. He bookmarked the tab of the department store and shut off the holographs so the blue light wouldn’t keep him awake. In vain, of course. His sleep had fled weeks ago.

Kai settled back into his bed sheets, closing his eyes and willing himself to rest. Instead, his mind fixed on Cinder, and he indulged in a brief, fleeting fantasy of her reaction when he delivered his gift. Would she smile? Turn red in the cheeks and stammer out gratitude? 

Or, considering her clear vehemence against attending, would she scoff and toss them away? 

No, that wasn’t the Cinder he’d come to know.

Kai turned from his back to his side, smushing his cheek in his pillow. Even if it didn’t sway her a single bit on his offer, her smile would be repayment enough. It probably wouldn’t work. Really, he didn’t know why he was so determined to buy her a gift, but the best reason he could come up with was that he simply wanted to.

———

Imagining her reaction became a hobby of his. 

Kai woke the next day, quickly dressed and ate a lonely breakfast in the empty dining hall. He distracted himself by checking his schedule. A blank hour between meetings and preparations piqued his interest. It would be prudent to use that time to practise his speech for the coronation or catch up on his father’s unfinished work or spend time groaning over his next meeting with the Lunar Queen.

Instead, he decided that if Cinder was willing to go out of her way to return Nainsi to him herself, he should return the courtesy. It would take ten minutes to get to the store by hover, around thirty to weave through the crowds in the rush hour and purchase the gloves (fifteen, if he played the prince card), and another ten minutes to return. If he did play the prince card, he might even have time to deliver them now, but if not today, he would make the time. 

Kai scheduled a hover to be posted at the palace entrance at 12:00 and set an alarm to give him notice.

Right. Now he would…work.

Time passed agonisingly. Kai had no office and was adamant that he’d stay out of his father’s for as long as possible. It belonged to the emperor, and that was his father. It wasn’t his yet. Never would be.

Instead, Kai worked in one of his sitting rooms where Torin could locate him and inform him of his burgeoning reminders. But Kai knew his father’s—his adviser was refraining as much as possible, for his sake.

09:15. Reviewing the classified strategies the Earthern Union hoped to employ to gain control of Levana.

09:21. Realising that the strategies summated to ‘We don’t know. Let’s wing it.’

09:27. Cupping his chin, eyes wandering to the window, trying to recall exactly where he’d last left his sweatshirt.

09:30. Work. Memorising the final itinerary for the coronation.

10:00. Trying to recall if he’d washed the sweatshirt that had been worn in stifling humidity and he’d definitely been sweating—

10:11. Skimming the newest report on Letumosis figures. Heart dropping to his stomach at the figures. 

10:29. Thinking of the gloves.

10:40. Work!

11:12. Mapping out the fastest route to Cinder’s booth.

Kai rammed his fist into his forehead, steeling his thoughts into obedience. His wished his brain were a limb; his arm—he could force it down with the other. His foot—he could weigh down to stop movement.

His brain was where the old Kai lived, and like an infectious tune, she was what it strayed to.

Now that the Lunars were around, Kai wasn’t so enthusiastic about the words mind and control being in the same sentence, so instead he commanded his fingers. Pick up the stylus, put it to the port and work.

It obeyed. Kai managed to concentrate until the beautiful, blessed alarm chimed through the air.

He sprang up, beaming.

Torin entered, apology pencilled on his brow.

“What.”

“Your Highness, the queen has requested an audience with you.”

All the gravity in the room dialled up to eleven, dragging every molecule of his body down with it. Kai flopped back onto the chair, grumbling. So much for that idea.

———

Kai’s schedule remained unforgiving. An extra two comms to Cinder were fruitless, and no other free hours appeared. The gloves slipped to the back of his mind.

Two days before the coronation, Kai was closing the tabs on his port and saw the bookmarked gloves. He jolted upright, knocking the underside of the coffee table and startling the china vase. 

Kai gnawed at his lip, pulling up his schedule and flipping over meetings and duties in hourly and bi-hourly increments. There would be something, he convinced himself as Nainsi rolled in with a tray of hot matcha tea.

“Thank you, Nainsi,” he mumbled as he took the cup and sipped. The scalding water sloshed over the rim onto his fingers and he thrust it down, hissing.

“Are you injured, Your Highness?” 

He tucked his hand beneath his thigh. “I’m fine.”

Her sensor glowed yellow—what he’d always thought of as her version of a nod—and she began to roll away.

“Wait.”

Nainsi stalled and swerved her cylindrical body around.

“Nainsi, could you make an order for me?”

“I would be honoured, Your Highness.”

Kai sent her the details of the purchase which she processed without delay. “Where should I have it sent to?”

Kai had been busy reexamining the gloves, even when it was too late to change his mind. “Pardon?”

“I assume they are to be a gift since they would not fit you,” she observed in that ever-neutral robotic tone. “Should I have them delivered to the recipient?”

“No,” Kai blurted. Hesitated. “I’m sure I can find some time…”

He raced through his schedule for any open slot, knowing there was none. Every meeting and hour was dedicated to some very noble, very unavoidable cause. Except, he thought as his eyes stopped on an extra coronation rehearsal mere hours before the ceremony. He’d be fine, so long as he didn’t throw the crown like a frisbee at Levana’s head.

“Have it sent to me,” he decided, clicking the timeslot and sending out a note to cancel it. “I’ll deliver it myself.”

“Certainly, Your Highness.” 

As he closed his calendar the screen was replaced with a newsfeed—article after article on the protests in the Commonwealth. Guiltily he clicked on one and was instantly rattled to see the vitriol on their faces, but also the fear. They were right. Levana shouldn’t be here. He should be able to fix it.

“Would you like the gift to be wrapped in advance, Your Highness?” 

“Ah, no, that’s fine,” he murmured distractedly. Nainsi’s sensor glowed green with confirmation and she ambled away.

He picked up his tea, now cooler, and sipped as he looked through the feeds. The hysterical cries, scathing posters and critical journalists weren’t just a blow to the regal, world leader Kaito. They hurt the Kai locked away, too.

———

When his coronation day arrived, Kai was so overrun with visitors and preparations that he genuinely blanked when Nainsi informed him his purchase had arrived. 

The knock at his door jolted him out of his confusion. Kai sprung into action, rifling through his closet for the grey hoodie and wrestled himself into it.

The courier blinked in surprise when Kai came to the door to pick up the package, but all the same bowed and handed him the box as though it held the crown jewels. He had probably expected a servant, and certainly not one dressed for a winter marathon.

“Thank you.” Kai paused. It was a plain brown box. “Uh, was there any wrapping paper for it?” 

The courier’s mouth hung open. “...You requested it unwrapped, Your Majesty.”

Kai almost instinctually corrected him on the honorific but refrained. Technically, he would only be His Highness for a few hours more.

“Of course. That is my mistake. Thank you. Never mind it.”

The man ignored this, rummaging through his bags and producing a selection of paper and ribbons. “Do you like any of these?”

Kai picked out a gold foil and noticed a sturdy-looking white bow in the man’s bag. He pointed at it. “Do you have any more like that?”

The man cut a sheet of the foil and handed it over gingerly, avoiding crinkles. When he pulled out the bow, Kai saw it was already wrapped around a gift. Without hesitation, the courier unwound the ribbon and flattened it out.

“Oh no,” Kai attempted, shaking his head, “please don’t take someone else’s—”

The bow was forced into his hands. 

The right thing to do would be to insist he couldn’t possibly accept it. Conscious of the ever-dwindling time, Kai buried his courteous instincts, thanked the man, and rushed briskly past him.

As the elevator descended, Kai ran over his plan. He could always wrap the gift in the hover, except he would need scissors and tape. He didn’t even know where he could find them. Paper was scarcely used anymore, so scissors were solely for cooking or cutting hair or clothes making or essentially any activity that a prince never did. There was always a maid or servant delegated to that task.

It was very important to Kai that something for Cinder was something he did himself.

He quickly thumbed the doors-open button, landing him five floors above the ground level. As he emerged, the adjacent elevator opened to a group of maids. Seeing him, the man and two women bowed respectfully. Kai returned a kind nod. But when their backs turned, he called, “Wait.”

They turned around. 

“Pardon me, but would any of you know where I could find some scissors and, uh, some tape?”

The other two exchanged some surprise, but the shortest woman bowed again with confidence. “We can certainly locate some for you, Your Highness.”

It turned out that the servant supply rooms had everything a person could ever need, including a large, paint-flecked table. Kai assessed the supplies and got to work. He took his time, trying and failing to get a meticulous seal and clean fold. It was shabby but functional, so he moved onto the bow. One loop was larger than the other—his bow-tying abilities were strictly limited to shoelaces.

Kai remembered how his father would wrap gifts for his mother himself. It was never the finest job, and neither was Kai’s, but that didn’t matter.

Satisfied, Kai abandoned the supplies on the table and took the wrapped gift to the palace gate where the hover was waiting for him.

———

Cinder looked completely baffled when he presented the box to her. He might as well have brought her a strangled puppy for her horrified expression.

“What?” he protested. “I can’t buy you a gift?”

Cinder’s nose scrunched in disbelief. “No. Not after I’ve ignored six of your comms in the last week. Are you dense?”

Any regret for sending those comms dissipated. “So you did get them!”

Cinder huffed, turning away. “Of course I got them.” Her tone wasn’t angry. Of course I got them; Of course I read them. Enough, evidently, to know specifically that he’d sent six comms.

Hope awoke in his chest. “So why are you ignoring me? Did I do something?”

There was a haze over her, some kind of veil, and he just needed to lift it. “It’s just that I…” Cinder fingered the hem of her gloves contemplatively. Her mouth parted. She ducked her hands under the table and blurted, “Because you kept going on and on about the stupid ball!” 

Oh.

She was nothing if not obstinate.

Kai glanced down at his gift, startled. A laugh tore out of him at the irony of it all. “Stars, Cinder, if I’d known you were going to embargo me for asking you on a date, I wouldn’t have dared.”

Cinder looked away, grumbling.

He would be reasonable; asking a girl to be your personal guest at the most documented event of the year was more of a tenth-date level of request. This girl was mesmerising; intelligent, snarky, comfortable in her grease-spotted skin. But Kai knew how to read people. There was hesitation below that: anxiety, self-doubt. 

It needed to be non-committal. Casual. A first date.

He unleashed his winning smile. “Might I have the honour of treating you to lunch?”

As though she had a specific ‘reject any non-work-related activity involving Kai’ vendetta, Cinder continued to rebuff him.

She was deflecting, so he fought back. Ask the other vendors to tend to your booth. Ask your android. That last one seemed to irritate her the most.

His public speaking instructor would have told him here: when you’re at an impasse, there’s always something else to say. Another angle to convince them.

Cinder didn’t seem annoyed with him, but she wasn’t convinced, either.

It was all right. If she wasn’t coming to the ball, or she wouldn’t go to lunch with him, there would be other times.

Cinder regarded him in a way he thought—hoped—was almost regretful.

Could there be?

In a few hours, he would be emperor. If he were busy as a prince, he would have no time for respite now. And Cinder was…nothing more than a subject. A mechanic he sought a service from. She may have been willing to kiss him, but to let him court her?

One day—in the future. Maybe.

“Come on. I can’t take you to the…B-word; I can’t take you to lunch. Short of my unplugging the processor on one of my androids, this could be the last time we ever see each other,” he said nonchalantly, hoping there was no obvious tinge of disappointment.

Cinder stared at her toolbox. “Believe it or not, I’d actually kind of resolved myself to that fact already.”

Her words cemented it. No, he would not be able to escape his fate of marrying Levana. No, he would not be free to pursue a relationship with the only person left who made him feel like more than just a figurehead.

He didn’t allow her to give him back the gloves. All the same, he would treat her with kindness, and show his gratitude, and then perhaps she wouldn’t forget about him.

Pushing the box to her, he requested, “Take it. And think of me.” 

He smiled sincerely at her, hoping it would leave a lasting mark in her memory. Something just as indelible as she had become to him.

His mood soured when Cinder’s stepsister arrived, spoiling what may be his last interaction with her. And yet as he stepped back into the crowd, he turned once more to watch. The messy hair and grease-stained clothes and magnetising charm. That was what he'd remember.

———

Kai was an idiot.

Grade A idiot. World-class idiot. All his fans who called him charming and kind and benevolent were wrong.

At first, seeing Linh Pearl at the ball was just another nail in the coffin of the awful day that was his coronation. But her news struck an unexpected chord in his chest.

Cinder’s stepsister had died. The one she had mentioned in the elevator. The reason she hadn’t come to the ball.

Kai had completely forgotten that the girl was ill. And he’d marched up to Cinder’s booth, attempting again to get her to come to the ball; he’d even nagged her for ignoring his comms! Was he so dense?

Idiot.

For all the guilt, there was also a twinge of hope. Because if Cinder was in mourning, perhaps she wasn’t rejecting him. Perhaps it had just been the wrong time. So then if…

No. It was wishful thinking. Cinder hadn’t shown up to indicate anything. And tonight he had to announce his plans to wed Levana.

“I’m so sorry for your loss,” said Kai to the girl, genuinely meaning it.

Pearl sniffed, though it was more haughty than mournful. “Thank you, Your Majesty. I know you truly do feel that in your heart. I can’t say the same of my awful stepsister.”

He blinked. “Pardon?”

“Oh, she is a monster. If only you knew what she’s really like. And don’t worry, I made sure she wouldn’t taint your generous gift with her filthy claws.”

“What do you mean? Those were a gift for her to use.”

Pearl’s sneer was frighteningly sincere. “Trust me, a creature like her doesn’t deserve them. You see, that awful, ungrateful wretch is a cy–”

A voice boomed over the speakers, spreading commotion amongst the joviality. Kai frowned at the interruption, too busy waiting to correct whatever nonsense Linh Pearl was about to spew. Then he heard the announcement.

“Please welcome to the 126th Annual Ball of the Eastern Commonwealth, a personal guest of His Imperial Majesty: Linh Cinder of New Beijing.”

Kai’s breath snagged, heart tripling in size. At the top of the stairs, Cinder stood in all her crowning glory. That being her version: a muddied, wet dress, mussed hair and—

Holding up the dripping silver skirt were silk-gloved hands. 

Every mouth hung as she descended the stairs. Heat rushed to his cheeks, then laughter to his heart. Cinder had come to the ball. She was wearing his gift. 

That had to mean something.

Cinder’s fierce eyes were trained on him as she marched forward. It didn’t even seem to bother her that her ballgown looked half dragged out of a sewer, the crowd around her staring blades and ice shards into her back. He didn’t know if she didn’t notice, or if she didn’t let herself. Kai rushed forward, blessedly excused from his delightful conversation partner. He was just preparing to meet Cinder halfway when she was intercepted by a woman. His feet stopped beneath him.

The two argued. Pearl scurried next to the strange woman to hurl accusations of her own. Cinder’s nostrils flared, and even the guards looked perplexed at whether they should intervene.

The woman raised a flat hand, Cinder flinched, and Kai saw scarlet red.

“Your Majesty!” the woman gasped out, as his firm hand locked around her wrist.

“That is enough,” he disciplined. He kept his fury contained, lest any shows of anger make Cinder even more afraid.

Pink filled the woman’s cheeks. “I am so sorry, Your Majesty. My emotions—my temper—this girl is…I am sorry she has interrupted…she is my ward—she should not be here…”

Her stepmother. “Of course, she should. She is my personal guest.” His tone was light, but commanding all the same. His eyes darted to Cinder. Traced over the shock on her face. The defused fear. The arms wrapped around her waist, cradling—or caging—herself.

He wished so fervently to strip that pain away.

Kai released the woman and ordered the merriment to resume, which everyone attempted half-heartedly. Then he pulled Cinder into his arms and into the most socially acceptable method to have a private conversation amidst a crowd: dancing.

Once having guided Cinder away, Kai was finally able to give her a closer inspection. That’s how he noticed the dark smudges on the silver silk gloves.

Okay. Maybe she had defaced his gift, but she was still wearing them. How could he expect anything else from the girl who had been so exponentially unlike anyone he’d ever met before?

Cinder gaped up at him, and while the damp glove was seeping cold into his shoulder, her waist was warm under his hand. It took only a heartbeat for him to realise that she was not experienced in the ways of waltzing. 

He chuckled. “You have no idea how to dance, do you?”

“I’m a mechanic,” she hissed, and it stirred a louder laugh under his sternum.

“Believe me, I noticed. Are those grease stains on the gloves I gave you?” he teased, because really, he couldn’t even make himself mad about it. He expressed that by twirling her under his arm, to which she stumbled and toppled into his chest.

A grin overtook him. Cinder cringed. She was wholly out of her element, and clearly uncomfortable by all the scrutiny. And yet, this flustered and dishevelled version of Cinder had come all the way to the ball for him, despite the opposition from her guardian. Despite her own self-doubts.

Then he remembered the other reason she hadn’t wanted to attend.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he started softly.

He momentarily thought that she might start to cry. “I didn’t know how.”

“I would have understood.”

The more he apologised, the more at ease she seemed. It was as though he was pardoning her, assuring her that being here would not dishonour her sister’s memory. She looked at him like she was seeing his face in whole for the first time; not just in pieces.

A voice came to him, Torin this time, lecturing him that this was a foolish pursuit; that he would still have to make his announcement of his betrothal to Levana. But it was a small heartache he didn’t dwell on it. Because something else Torin had once said came to him.

“Perhaps you’ll meet a girl at the festival. Have a whirlwind romance, a happily ever after, and have no more worries for the rest of your days.”

Cinder tied her fingers in the hair at his neck. She was here. Reasons she had rejected him didn’t matter now. He liked her. She liked him. There were no other reasons needed.

Somehow, ludicrously, Cinder being here meant everything.

As long as Cinder was around, he knew that the Kai locked away inside of him would stay alive. And, one day, return.

Fighting, and loving.

Notes

…And then everything crashes and burns spectacularly :D 

Writing Kai at this stage is so interesting because his life is falling to pieces and yet he is so effortlessly flirty with Cinder, making it appear that he's coping. Then you get to his povs and he is not coping, and when you read 'The Mechanic' you see how he wants to sound "witty" to impress her. He was holding in all those emotions so he could flirt effectively lol. Anyways I recommend reading these scenes in the actual book because I didn't include all the dialogue, just snippets to highlight Kai's perspective.

I am most indebted to @spherical-empirical for the line, "I can practically see you rolling your eyes from here, but hear me out." It was from a post from a long time ago, but I started this fic a long time ago. I am VERY happy that this is finished after TWO YEARS of it sitting in my drafts.

@cindersassasin @hayleblackburn @spherical-empirical @salt-warrior @just2bubbly @gingerale2017 @icarusignite @kaider-is-my-otp @slmkaider @luna-maximoff-22 @cosmicnovaflare @kaixiety @snozkat @mirrorballsss @skinwitch18 @vincentvangothic @bakergirl13 @wassupnye @linh-cindy

#the lunar chronicles #tlc #lunar chronicles #linh cinder #kaider #prince kai #emperor kai #emperor kaito #kaider fanfiction #lunar chronicles fanfiction #konn torin #nainsi! #she's probably never been tagged before

[wassupnye]

Some of you don’t even know it but your fanfics are literally my Roman Empire

@/luisamariiaa

#booklr #fanfiction #fanfic #the lunar chronicles #linh cinder #kaider #prince kai #tlc #cinder #marissa meyer

[distancingreality]

One Thing Different: Jacin Kills Sybil

#this came to me while rereading Cress #jacin clay #cress darnel #mentions of winter hayle blackburn #jacress #the lunar chronicles #tlc #fanfiction #sybil mira #the rampion crew #one thing different #book 3 #not canon compliant #jacin is always having a bad day #ao3 #angst #au

[just2bubbly]

KAI AND CINDER TAKING A NAP TOGETHER

Hey there, anon! Thank you for the ask- took a long time to get back to this but I'm finally out of the writer's block (as I'm procrastinating instead of studying for my ese) Here's a short drabble about these two! Hoping you like it! :)

Cinder's Perspective:

The room's quiet, if you select to ignore the faint snores coming from the young Emperor who was huddled on the bed, his manuscripts and tablet scattered around his sleeping figure. That's how Cinder had found him when she was halfway through the door chucking, "You won't believe what I'm about to get—"

Lying in a very discomfiting position that would likely leave him sore after he woke up. She checked her inner time clock, it was too early for him to be sleeping.

"It seems dad is too tired to hear our endeavours, Sadie," she whispers to her buddy, who continues to waggle her tail from the mischief they had had.

Cinder releases the leash from her collar and tells her to stay put as she cleans mud off her paws. Sadie sniffs in acknowledgement and gets cleaned. Leaving her with some treats, Cinder gives her husband attention.She approaches the bed, clicking a picture of Kai dozing off since it was too adorable to miss and also as evidence of how much he overworked himself that could be used in an argument about his health.

Cinder gazed fondly at him, as he continued to be lost in the realm of slumber having no idea that his two favourite people were there staring at him. She takes the reading glasses away from his face and keeps them on the side table after which she continues to gather the documents and arrange them chronologically so it would be easier for him to work on later. She does look at it's content without meaning to and learns that he is still caught up in the Asian Summit recordings that happened last week and makes a mental note to ask him about it later.

Once she has cleaned the bed and arranged his material aside, she quickly soothes him into getting in a more comfortable position and covers him with a duvet but thinking better of her unfinished work and unwritten drafts she decides to join him.

"Do you want to join us, Boo?" She asks Sadie, knowing she would be jumping at the first opportunity to get into the bed.

She barks as she jumps onto the bed, making room for himself near Kai's feet followed by Cinder who wraps both with the duvet. Kai somehow sensing her presence pulls her closer and cradles her to his chest, which fills her with warmth. She breathes in the smell of fresh sheets, his cologne and the musky scent of grapevines and feels at peace.

Kai mutters something in his sleep, making Cinder smile. Sadie curls her body between the two, already lost to sleep. Her mind gets sulled as tunes into the soft and steady heartbeats of Kai and the rhythmic rise and fall of Sadie's small body makes her fall asleep too.

__

A/N: My college friend has made me a dog person so couldn't help but add her doggo's name in this fic!

Taglist: @gingerale2017 @salt-warrior @slmkaider @cinderswrench @cindersassasin @impossiblesuitcase @justcatchrosesandthornes @fangirlforever0704 @kaider-is-my-otp @cosmicnovaflare

#asks #anon <3 #kaider #tlc #the lunar chronicles #marissa meyer #just2bubbly fics #kaito #linh cinder #tlc fandom #fanfiction #ft. sadie who is my new bff's dog

[dramaticinsomniac]

Hi there! This is a cringy introduction post

I’m Jim, a dyslexic english major who loves to read 📚

I adore fantasy, sci-fi, Y/A, queer and neurodiverse rep, but also will literally read almost anything!

Some of the great loves of my life so far include: The Shadowhunter Chronicles, Percy Jackson, Inkheart, Folk of the Air, The Raven Cycle, Graceling Realm, The Remnant Chronicles, Shades of Magic, and The Lunar Chronicles.

I am perpetually emotionally invested in fictional worlds and fictional characters, and am an avid consumer of fanfiction as well as published literature

I’m just getting back into having a public account after taking a hiatus from being perceived, and am building a following again!

Come be a dork with me about my favourite things!

#fanfiction #fantasy books #shadowhunters #percyjackson #the Raven cycle #Graceling #shades of magic #folkoftheair #the remnant chronicles #excerpt from a book i'll never write #percy jackson #folk of the air #the lunar chronicles #inkheart #throne of glass #grishaverse #six of crows #villians #the magicians #red queen #ao3 #marauders #ya fantasy #ya scifi #bookish #booklr #the shadowhunter chronicles