#say good bye to soft pink lei

[tartagliaxx]

fuck it. im rebranding after i finish the event

#lei.talks #say good bye to soft pink lei #shes not coming back anytime soon

[lesbenoits]

merry late secret santa!

working title: that kaider fluff thing for secret santa

word count: 4008

author’s notes: oops this is late and not very good but i hope u enjoy this incredibly cheesy kaider fic with zero (0) plot! for reference, they’re both human, cinder still has a metal arm and leg due to an actual hovercraft accident, iko is human and is great, and cinder is 20 and kai is 22. happy holidays @kindasortaameyzing  !!

The world was soft around the pair, the edges of their vision blurring. They could be asleep, were it not for Cinder’s fingers tracing designs on his bare chest, flowers and stars and swirls, tying the earth and the sky together with her fingertips. Her body was molded against his, the fine sheets draped across his waist and her body. She brushed her thumb across the freckle just below his collarbone, pressing against it for a moment. Kai’s hand moved against her shoulder, drawing her closer. Cinder presses up against him willingly, burying her face against him.

They stayed like that for a long time, his arm around her, their bodies pressed together like they had been made that way, two halves of a whole. Her legs tangled with his, his soul tangled with hers. She hummed against his shoulder, tapping her fingers gently.

“Kai,” she said finally, her voice soft, content, “what do you think it’d be like if we weren’t… us?”

A crease appeared between his brows. “What do you mean?”

“I just mean… what if I wasn’t the lost Lunar princess, just a normal Earthen girl? And you weren’t the crown prince, just Kai. Where do you think we’d be?”

“Hmmm,” he contemplated. “I mean, I’ve thought about it before, I guess. Abstractly. I think we’d be us, just a little bit of a different us. You know?”

“Yeah.”

A pregnant moment passed, the faint rise and fall of their breathing the only noise to pass through the room.

“Why do you ask?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Just wondering.”

He hummed gently, considering. “It might have been easier, but I like this us.”

“Me too.”

“You should sleep, darling.”

“Yeah,” she echoed. “You too.”

“Mmmhmmm. Goodnight, love.”

She pressed a kiss to his shoulder before closing her eyes, her head on his chest, letting the rise and fall of his breathing lull her to sleep.

*~*~*

Cinder wiped a greasy, gloved hand across her forehead, attempting to unstick a chunk of her hair from her face. Stars, it was hot.

“You know that doing that doesn’t actually make you any cleaner,” the girl propped up on the workbench behind Cinder’s counter pointed out. “The grease is just on your face now.”

An exasperated sigh escaped Cinder, but a smile curled across her lips despite herself. “I’m a mechanic, Iko. I’m supposed to get dirty.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Iko waved her hand dismissively. “I’m just saying! What if, like, a celebrity walked in here?”

Cinder snorted. “Right. Who’s going to walk in, the prince?”

“You never know!”

“Uh-huh. Hey, hand me that wrench, will you?”

Iko passed the wrench to Cinder without complaint. “You are the best mechanic in New Beijing. Not the cleanest, but definitely the best.”

“Hey!” Cinder laughed indignantly, throwing an extra bolt at her friend, who ducked it, grinning unashamedly.

“Sunken to throwing things, have we?”

“Well, I’d have you know —”

Someone behind the pair cleared their throat, and they instantly quieted.

“Excuse me — so sorry to interrupt, but is this Linh Cinder’s?”

The voice belonged to a young man, maybe a year or two older than Cinder, with shiny hair and almost perfect features. His dark brown eyes were ringed by long, dark lashes and his hair stuck up a bit in the back, but he managed to make it look endearing. His lips were pink and pouty, wearing an apologetic smile. All this with a child balanced on his hip, the little girl smiling toothily, hair braided into two stubby pigtails.

If Cinder could have gotten any warmer, she would have. “Um, yes, this is she.”

“Oh, hi! Nice to meet you.” He extended his free hand.

“Um.” Cinder glanced down at her grease-stained gloves. She pulled one off gingerly, shaking his hand. His palm was warm and dry, his grip friendly.

“Hi!” The little girl exclaimed. “I’m four.”

Cinder gave her a little wave. “Hi. I’m twenty.”

“That’s so old!”

“Lei, be nice!”

Cinder laughed gently. “That’s okay. What can I do for you?”

“Well, when Lei was little, she had a nanny android? Kind of? Thing is, it was a really old model, and now it’s stopped working. I called the company, and they just said to replace it, which would usually make sense, but Nainsi has a bunch of recordings and pictures from when Lei was little, and, well, you know.” He leaned in closer. “Government secrets.” Cinder’s eyes widened, and he broke his serious facade, laughing. “I’m kidding. It’s pure sentimentality.”

“Usually I would recommend replacing the model if it’s that old, but in this case, I can see what I can do. I’d probably have to see the physical model to be able to do anything, though,” Cinder replied. “Can you bring it in?”

“Yeah! I’ll have to check my schedule, but I can probably bring her in in a few days,” he replied, beaming. “Thanks so much!”

Cinder offered him a small smile. “No problem. Just bring her in during my work hours, and I’ll see what I can do.”

“Great. I really appreciate it. Looking forward to seeing you again.” He shifted, lifting Lei higher on his hip. “Say goodbye, kiddo!”

“Bye!”

Cinder waved her fingers at the little girl and her toothy smile. “Bye.”

He waved again and left Cinder’s shop, Lei on his hip. She sank against the counter, smiling against her will.

“Oh my stars, Cinder!” Iko spoke suddenly, having been silent throughout their entire exchange.

“What?”

“He was so cute! Don’t you think so? And,” she added, “he was clearly into you.”

Cinder’s ears grew red. “What? No. I mean, like, objectively he wasn’t horrible, but he wasn’t — and anyway, he definitely wasn’t flirting with me. He has a kid; he’s probably taken or married or something. So.”

Iko raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow. “Did you see a wedding ring?”

She furrowed her eyebrows, trying to remember whether or not there had been a wedding band on the warm hand she had shaken. “I don’t remember. Maybe not, but I’m not sure.”

“Well, I noticed, and he wasn’t. So he isn’t married. Plus, he’s pretty young. She might not even be his kid.” Iko cocked her head. “She was really adorable, though.”

Cinder hummed her agreement. “Yeah, she was.”

“Anyway, you can just ask when he comes back.”

“What? No! Iko, how could I possibly phrase that? It’d be so unprofessional.”

“Cinder. Since when has this place been professional. Like, ten minutes ago you hit a girl’s portscreen against the counter to see if that would fix it.”

Cinder huffed indignantly. “And it did!”

“Okay, true. But you know what I mean.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Cinder blew a piece of hair out of her face. “I’m still not asking him, though.”

“I can do it for you. ‘Oh, tall, dark, and beautiful stranger! Would you happen to be taken? Because you see, my friend here with the grease stain on her forehead is totally into you and would like to take you home and help you get some of that parental stress ou-ouut!’” The pitch of Iko’s voice rose several octaves as she ducked the screw Cinder threw at her.”

“You are not saying that. And just because I think he’s attractive doesn’t mean I want to jump into his bed,” Cinder said.

“That could have hurt me!” Iko protested. “Oh, and you admit he’s attractive?”

Cinder spluttered, her ears and cheeks heating up.

*~*~*

Two days later, the tall, dark and — yes, Iko — beautiful stranger and his daughter were back, this time with a large, non-functioning android in tow. He set the heavy, pear-shaped body on the counter, wiping a slight sheen of sweat off of his forehead. Iko, who had insisted on sticking around for the days he might come back, sat on the workbench Cinder didn’t use.

“Hey,” he said, a bit out of breath. “I swear she’s heavier than she looks. I’m not that weak. But she’s here, as promised.”

“Thanks. Oh, wow, she is old,” Cinder replied, already examining the android on her counter. “Where did you find her?”

He laughed sheepishly, running a hand through his hair. “Yeah. I don’t know, actually. I think my sister got her second-hand somewhere a few years ago.”

“I haven’t seen this model in years,” Cinder commented, opening the control panel on the android’s back with a tiny screwdriver.

“Do you think you can fix her?”

“Yeah. I mean, I can’t make any promises, but if I run a few diagnostics, that’ll probably reveal the problem. With older models like this, it’s usually the issue of newer software being run on old tech.”

“Huh.” He furrowed his brows. “That’s weird. I don’t think she’s been used in about three years or so.”

“Hmm.” Cinder fiddled with a few wires in the control panel, poking at a shiny chip in the back. “Do you have a few minutes? I can take her to the back and run a few tests if you have a minute.”

“Yeah, no problem.” He leaned up against the counter. “Thank you.”

“Sure.” She heaved the android over her shoulder, pulling it into the back room to plug her into one of the machines back there.

“Hi,” Cinder heard Iko say, “I’m Iko, Cinder’s friend. And you are?”

Cinder held back the urge to roll her eyes. Iko.

“Oh, I’m Kai,” he replied. “Nice to meet you.”

Kai. A good name, Iko would have said. Nice, a bit older, but in an attractive, old film way.

“Likewise. Your daughter isn’t with you today? She was adorable!”

“Oh, she’s not mine. Well, kind of. She’s my sister’s, technically, but she’s not really in the picture much anymore, and I was around, so, you know.”

“I’m so sorry for your loss; I didn’t know.”

“It’s okay, how could you have? And she’s not dead; she’s just not really around. Life happens.” His voice got a little tighter, and Cinder’s chest constricted, hoping Iko would get the hint.

She apparently did, as she didn’t press. “Well, she’s adorable. Lei, was it?”

Kai laughed, a sound he made often, and one Cinder enjoyed. “Yeah. She’s a handful, sometimes, but she’s adorable.”

“Mhmm. She really is. Looks like you, too!”

“Thanks. We get that a lot, actually.”

Iko giggled. “I’m sure you do.”  

Iko, what are you doing?

“Anyway,” Iko continued, speaking louder this time. “It’s just you and her, then?” Her voice was loud, and tone pointed, and Cinder flushed.

A slightly uncomfortable chuckle. “For now, yeah. It’s just her and me. I don’t mind, though,” he added on hastily. “She’s… she’s my world, you know?”

“Yeah, I get it. She seems like she’s just the sweetest. Cinder, back in there, she actually --”

Shit. Cinder twisted the last two wires together, then burst through the curtain separating her workroom from the rest of the shop. “I’m back, sorry! Iko, thanks for entertaining my customer,” she said, elbowing her friend in the side.

“Yes, we were just getting to know each other a bit,” Kai said, running a hand through his adorably messy hair as he shifted his weight against the counter.

Cinder bit her lip. “That might be good because I’m not totally sure I can fix this in the next half hour or so. Some of the wirings are pretty ancient and rusty. It’s fixable, don’t worry,” she interjected as Kai’s expression fell, “but it might take me a few hours. Um, if you give me a number I can reach you at I can let you know when she’s ready?”

“That sounds great. Here,” Kai said, pulling out his portscreen, “this is the best number to reach me at.”

“Great,” Cinder echoed. Great? Isn’t that what he just said? Stars, she needed to get a grip. He was just an attractive customer. Who she just exchanged numbers with. For business purposes. It was strictly business, even if he had beautiful, dark eyes she could just about melt in, and continued to do that casual-yet-sexy lean against her counter, which was more than a little distracting. And he was single. Probably. Her beautiful, single customer. Who first met her when she had grease smeared across her forehead.

He opened his mouth a little, then shut it, a small smile spreading across his cheeks. What a smile it was. “Just, uh -- thanks so much. From both Lei and me. I’ll see you soon?”

“No problem. Yup. See you.”

“I’ll look forward to it.”

Look forward to it. He’ll look forward to it.

*~*~*

“Cinder, this is the fourth time he’s come in with a broken portscreen that isn’t actually broken. He’s clearly into you,” Iko said through a mouthful of instant noodles.

“Or maybe he’s just really bad with technology.”

“Cinder.”

The pair congregated on Cinder’s couch for their weekly gossip-slash-binge-web-series-slash-eat-until-they-couldn’t-move session. Usually, they tried to cook actual food, but Cinder had a backlog of orders and repairs to do, not to mention attempting to find a college in New Beijing that offered a good engineering program and wasn’t, like, ridiculously expensive, and still allowed her time to keep regular hours at her shop. Her head started hurting just thinking about it. The point was, they were eating instant noodles cooked in Cinder’s microwave tonight.

She took a bite of her noodles, chewed, and swallowed. “See,” she pointed out, “even if I did like him, which I’m not saying I do, he’s my customer. Like, we message each other sometimes, but it’s always out work stuff. How do I break that barrier?”

Iko cocked her head to the side. “Are you serious? He’d be fucking overjoyed if you texted him to say hey. Or you could just ask him out. Skip the rest of the awkward flirting stuff. Seriously, this is like high school all over again. You like him; he likes you. That should be enough. You guys are adults, dammit!” She stabbed her noodles definitively. “Ask that boy out.”

Cinder mumbled protests into her noodles. “Yeah, yeah. Want to not talk about boys and watch trashy reality television instead?”

“Always.”

*~*~*

“Did your portscreen break again?”

“Um…. no?” Kai gave her a sheepish smile, holding out a small silver square. “It was my holoscreen projector remote this time. I can’t get it to work.”

Cinder raised an eyebrow. “Did you try changing the batteries?”

“Oh, oops! No, that must be it. Thanks again.”

“No problem.”

He didn’t move, just stood there, awkwardly running a hand through his hair.

“Um, so --” Kai began.

“No, wait --” Cinder interrupted.

“My portscreen hasn’t actually been broken --”

“I’ve wanted to say this for a while --”

“I just wanted to see you --”

“I really like you and, um --”

“Would you go out with me?” they finished together.

For a moment Cinder stared at him, and he stared back. The corner of Cinder’s mouth twitched up, and they burst out laughing, doubling over as peals of mirth washed over them. The moment one would begin to sober, they would look at one another and begin all over again.

*~*~*

The lanterns and twinkly lights strung up around the market gave off a pinkish glow, coating the night with an ethereal luminance. The couple flitted around the festival, stopping to admire handmade jewelry or, in Cinder’s case, a booth full of tech. “Look!” she’d exclaimed, holding up a tiny, robotic bee. “It’s so clever! All the little wires and look, this bit must have taken so much coding!” She trailed off as she noticed Kai staring at her, cheeks pink with excitement over the mechanical creature. “What?” she asked, covering half of her face self-consciously.

“You… you’re just… wow.” His eyes were wide and lips slightly parted as he stared at him and oh, stars, she wanted to kiss him.

She ducked her head in embarrassment and pulled him along to the next booth, leaving the model bee behind, although the urge lingered.

Cinder wasn’t totally sure when they had started holding hands -- it was sometime after the hot chocolate but before the juggling performance -- but there they sat, Cinder gingerly resting her head on Kai’s shoulder with his hand in hers, watching a musical trio perform an acoustic version of a popular song she couldn’t quite place. A few couples, mostly older people, slow danced on the makeshift dance floor in front of them (the makeshift dance floor being the dirt in front of the performers, illuminated by the lights strung above). His thumb moved gently over her hand, and she was content to stay like that forever.

Her date, apparently, was not. “C’mere,” he said, pulling her to her feet. “Let’s go dance.”

“Oh -- no,” Cinder protested. “I’m a mechanic. I don’t know how to dance.”

“It’s fine,” he assured her. “Nobody does. Just kinda sway with the music.”

“I -- oh, all right.” She allowed Kai to lead her to an unoccupied corner of the dance floor.

“First you put your hands around my neck like so, and I put my arms around your waist.” With this he placed his hand gently around her waist, pulling her a bit closer. “Then you move a bit closer,” he whispered, “and you dance.”

“Sway, you mean?”

“Mhmm. Who knows how to dance?”

“It’s overrated. This is… this is nice.”

“I agree.”

They stood like that, spinning slowly and gently swaying side to side, Cinder’s hands on his shoulder and his hands on her waist -- which were, by the way, gentle and soft and yet still burning into Cinder’s sides because it was him. They chatted quietly for a few songs, careful not to disturb the other couples -- oh, stars, was she thinking of them as a couple? -- before settling into comfortable silence. Once Cinder worked up the courage, she laid her head on his chest. Kai instantly pulled her closer, resting his chin on top of her head.

A new group of performers took to the stage in the dying twilight, this band playing softer, instrumental music. There were no words, but Cinder felt this music stirring something inside of her. Or maybe that was how close Kai was holding her, his hands on her waist and his lips were so close and his eyes and oh, stars, he was going to be the death of her.

“Cinder?” he breathed, his voice soft, soft below the music.

“Yes?”

“I really want to kiss you right now.”

“So do it.”

Looking back, Cinder wasn’t totally sure who moved first, but she knew that she went on her tiptoes to reach him and his eyes closed and his hands moved from her waist to cup her face. The kiss was so tender, searing into her soul as his lips moved against hers with the music all around them. They broke apart, a little breathless, but smiling nonetheless. Kai smiled that shy smile again, the one from the first day they’d met, and Cinder rose up to kiss him again, this kiss shorter, more symbolic than anything.

Kai was the one to break the silence, but Cinder wasn’t entirely sure whether or not his mumbling was intentional or not.

“Sorry, what was that?”

“Oh, it’s stupid.” He flushed. “I said that I’m glad you’re not an old man. Like, when someone recommended you as the best mechanic New Beijing, I imagined a grumpy old man with a bad back, not… you, you know? I’m sure glad you’re you.”

Cinder ducked her head before smiling up at him again.

“Me too. I’m glad too.”

*~*~*

“Kai. Kai. Are you okay?”

Kai glanced up from his portscreen for the fourteenth time, checking for any new messages. Dark half-moon circles hung under his eyes, betraying his exhaustion. He rested his head in his hands across the table from Cinder. “Yeah, I’m fine, just -- you know Lei’s mother? My sister?”

Her eyebrows furrowed. “Not personally, but you’ve mentioned her, yeah. Why?”

Kai sighed. “You know how she left Lei to go to Europe? She’s still there, apparently, and she got into a hover crash. There was a drunk driver, I think. They found my name in her portscreen, and they called me and she’s in the hospital. She’s fine, like, she’s going to make it and everything, but she had to have a blood transfusion, and she’s going to be there for awhile and just -- I don’t know.” He broke off, burying his face in his hands. “We don’t really speak, but she’s still my sister, you know? And I just -- I need to see her. To make sure she’s all right and has a place to stay and she’s not always the most responsible person, so I’m just worried.”

“Oh, Kai. When did you find out?”

“Just this morning. And I can’t go, because there’s no one I trust whose around to watch Lei for five days or so, so I’m stuck here. While my sister is almost comatose in the hospital in fucking Europe.”

Cinder grabbed his hand, squeezing it tightly. Her mind whirred, mentally going through her schedule and Lei’s and four days, she had four days, she had as many days as Kai needed. “I can watch Lei, if you want. I understand if you don’t want to leave her, but if she doesn’t mind hanging out in the shop with me… she’s more than welcome to stay with me. Or I can stay in your apartment, if she’d be more comfortable. It doesn’t matter to me.”

Kai’s eyes widened in gratitude. “You’d do that? Just for a few days? Are you sure? That would be amazing. Honestly. So amazing.”

“Yeah, of course,” Cinder said. “I like Lei, she’s great. And I spend enough time around her already; it’d be no trouble at all. Seriously.”

“Cinder, I cannot thank you enough. And Lei seriously adores you; she’d love spending a few days with you. Just -- thank you so much. Thank you.”

She squeezed his hands, smiling tenderly. “Of course. No problem. Go to your sister. I’ve got this.”

*~*~*

“Okay, I’m about to say something really cheesy,” Kai warned her.

Cinder propped herself up on her elbow to look at his face. “Go for it.”

“This is seriously like a fairytale. Like an old Hallmark movie or -- I don’t know. It just feels like a fairytale or something.”

She laughed, gently pushing against his side. “A fairytale, huh? Does that make you Prince Charming?”

“Excuse you; I’d make a great Prince Charming. I could totally pull off a horse and crown and… what do princes wear? I don’t know, but I could pull it off. Ride in and save the princess from aliens or something.”

“I am no damsel in distress.”

Kai laughed. “Definitely not. You’re, like, a badass princess, but people don’t know you’re a princess. A long lost princess posing as a mechanic, and a good mechanic too. Then I, the extremely handsome prince --” Cinder rolled her eyes in endearing exasperation at this “-- would come into your shop one day and totally fall in love with you at first sight. Then we’d have a long and complicated adventure story, and you would definitely save me from aliens at least once.”

“I like this reality, but that’s really sweet.” She pressed a kiss to his lips before burrowing under the blankets once again.

“I like this reality too. I wouldn’t want any other one.”

“Mmm. Me either.”

Cinder like this, liked pressing a kiss to his beloved and gently bitten lip, liked walking with Lei between them, holding their hands, liked coming home from class or work and being greeted with a kiss, liked going on double dates and being cheesy together, liked staying up late on weekends after Lei was in bed to binge their favorite web series and eat fast food, liked kissing his lips and collarbones and stomach and all of him, liked falling asleep pressed against him with Lei fast asleep in the other room.

She didn’t need daring rescues or royalty or aliens because him, Kai -- that was all she wanted. In any reality.

#kaider #mine.fic #linh cinder #kai #the lunar chronicles #tlc #fic