#cressthorne

“Captain?" "Cress." She couldn't not say it, although she realized he was right.It was sort of scary. Much scarier than it had been the first time she'd told him, out in the desert. It was different now. It was real. "I'm in love with you." He chuckled. "I should hope so, after all that." He leaned forward and pressed a kiss against her temple. "And I love you too.”

companion to this

The satellite is cold. The tunnels and mines on Luna were cold too so she was used to it, but the dry chill still makes the joints in her fingers sore if she spends too long programming without a break. 

They're sore now.

Carswell Thorne is being dragged through the Hollywood Market on a unseasonably cold September afternoon. He's fifteen years old. He should be in control of his own life. Not being ferried along like a child. He's not very happy about it. 

The market is crowded. Not more than usual, but it's always crowded. It's fantastic. Carswell can sneak away through the crowd while his mother is talking with her tailer. He knows she'll be there for at least the next 25 minutes. That gives him plenty of time to scoot over the the booth two aisle over displaying old second era guns. 

He's darting around a slow moving couple when he spots it. It just sort of glimmers in the corner of his eyes and he skids to a stop. It's a tiny silver tie pin and it looks exactly like freedom. A 214 Rampion. 

Whats a Roadtrip Without Music 

Satellite Call Sara Bareilles // Sunshine Lollipops and Rainbows Lesley Gore // I Would One Direction // Blue Eyes Blind Zz Ward // Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk Rufus Wainwright // Grace Kelly Mika // Moon River Andy Williams // Don't Just Sit There Lucius 

  For maybe the first time in his life Carswell Thorne was lost in thought. It was a good kiss. A great kiss. She even said so. But for the life of him Thorne couldn’t figure out why it had been so good. It’s not like he ever kept his eyes wide open in previous kisses, they usually fluttered shut at some point. And he knew his other senses were getting stronger the longer it took to fix his eyesight, but this was next level seeing stars.

It was like with his eyesight gone he had to use his whole body to find her lips, lined up and pressed close from toes to chest to ensure he wouldn’t have to search for her mouth and everything just slotted into place. People were shooting at him and all he could focus on was how soft everything was. Her hair was soft, her dress was soft, her lips were soft. He could feel the little goosebumps prick up on the back of her neck. He heard the sigh drawn out of her as he nudged their noses together.

It’s half a week later and he still can’t stop thinking about it. The whole crew is assembled in the galley, planning out their next move and how to sneak onto Luna, and Thorne can’t get his mind out of his own head. His thoughts are swirling with things like ‘Was that her first kiss? It had to have been. Where else was she going to get kissed?’ Slowly, Thorne realizes that the room is silent.

“Well?” Someone asked indignantly from his left. It’s probably Kai. Thorne is nearly positive Kai hates him. He’s alright with it.

“I’m sorry, were you looking at me? I still can’t tell.” He responds, waving a hand in from of his face and slumping further into his chair. Thorne can see colors and shapes after three days of the eye drops but details and finer features are still developing.

 Cinder lets out a huff. He can tell she’s rolling her eyes. That was her ‘Thorne you’re an idiot and I’m rolling my eyes at you’ huff. “We’re trying to figure out how to split up. One group is going to go get Scarlet out of the dungeon and one group is going to the main comm deck.”

“I dont get why we need to split up at all? Can’t we just all go together? It would look much more dramatic on the net news if all six of us burst through the door together?” Iko piped up. Her voice was a little more tinny than the others. He never noticed a difference in android voices before, maybe his ears really are sharper. Or maybe it was a result of getting her head torn off last time they were on Earth.

“Dramatic is the last thing we need Iko. We’re trying to be sneaky” Cinder said. “So we split up. Cress has got to go with me to the comm deck. She’s the only one who can hack the system and broadcast my message on all lunar systems.”

Thorne shifted his blurry gaze over to where Cress is sitting on a large crate. He can’t tell if she’s looking back at him. For a brief moment he wishes she was, and then guilt bubbles up in his stomach and he looks away.

“So whats the big issue” Thorne asks.

“I have to go get Scarlet” Wolf said from the corner.

“Wolf…”Cinder said, her voice softer than a moment ago

“No. I have to go to her. I have to.”

“Wolf” Thorne interrupted, “You know you have to go with Cinder. She’s got to be near you to keep you cool.”

He waited a moment to see if the ex-lunar soldier retaliates, but he stayed quiet except for some low growls. “Kai and I will go rescue Scarlet.”

“I most certainly will not be going anywhere with you.” Yep. Definitely Kai.

“Kai, stars, please. Can you just let me get this figured out?”

“He’s a criminal, Cinder.”

“We all are Kai. I apparently tried to assassinate you once, remember?” The discussion lapsed into silence. Thorne heard Cinder get up and move to the other side of the room. Iko sighed dreamily at whatever was happening and Thorne found himself glancing back up at Cress. For a moment he could have sworn she was blushing, until she coughed and said, “Well at least I may have figured out how to get everyone onto Luna despite most of us being human or shells.”

She continued on, talking about the deactivated chip in Cinder’s spine and retrofit it to work in reverse. Apparently if everything goes right it will give off small signatures of bioelectricity that would read as Lunar.Thorne knew he wasn’t smart enough to understand whatever techno-blah-blah-blah Cress and Cinder were going over now so he just leaned back and listened to the sound of her voice.

He was startled awake (stars when had he fallen asleep?) by a small nudge at his shoulder.  He opened his eyes to see Cress standing over him. This close Thorne could see how blue her eyes are.

“Eye drop time” she said, helping him to his feet.

He followed her down the hall to the med bay and took a seat. He hears Cress pull the vial out of the cabinet before coming back. He looked up and tries not to think about the soft pads of her fingers on his cheek and brow. She bit her lip in concentration. It was… really cute.

He blinked away the extra moisture as the drop hit his right eye and waits for the left to be done before sitting up.

“Almost gone.” Cress said, shaking the little bottle. There were only two or three more days worth left. “How do you feel? I mean, is your vision getting better.”

“Nearly there. I would like it to improve a little more before we go storming the gates of the queen’s palace although I can just about see myself in the mirror again so thats a relief.” He winked at her and her cheeks flush. The guilty feeling bubbled up in his stomach again.

Cress moved out of his line of vision to put the solution back in the drawer. They’ll do another dose of the drops in a few hours. Thorne blinked again and moved his eyes around, trying to get the solution to work faster.  Thorne wondered briefly if he’ll still get to indulge in these private moments with Cress after his sight returns. Probably not, there won’t be a reason for it. He stopped blinking.

Cress drifted back into view and she moves to the door. Thorne sat up a little too quickly and the rush makes him dizzy. “Hey Cress, wait a second. Was that your first kiss? Back on the roof of the palace?”

She doesn’t turn around but it looked like the back of her neck was turning pink.