#valedn

*nervous laughter*

Here’s the next update. AO3

AO3

Summary: Emperor Kaito and Linh Cinder try to escape their suffocating royal life while attempting to go on their first date. For valedn.

The rest of the items were things from her time with Adri, Pearl, and Peony. Most of it was tools, but there was a picture of her with the family. Cinder scowled at it.

"I was so… lanky," she said. "And that hair. Ugh. Why did I ever think it looked good."

The last piece was… an empty pedestal. A news clip flickered to life when she pressed the button on the pedestal. It was of that fateful night — the ball from three years ago. She winced at how pathetic she looked...

First chapter | AO3

AO3

Summary: Emperor Kaito and Linh Cinder try to escape their suffocating royal life while attempting to go on their first date. For valedn.

She halted her steps to the tea shop when she spotted a familiar form leaning against the wall. He was looking away from her, but already Cinder could feel her partially synthetic heart attempting to break out of her rib cage — the rat-tat-tap beating reverberated through her head. He was dressed just as casually as she was in jeans and a hoodie, black this time and decorated with metallic lettering.

Before she could leap into an alleyway in a final attempt at an escape, he turned to look in her direction. When his eyes caught hers, his face lit up with a smile and he waved. She was at his side, cheeks aching from the grin — was she smiling and when did her knees find the strength to walk the rest of the way? — but she couldn't resist. She pulled him into a hug.

Warnings of hormone levels increasing flashed across her vision, but she ignored them. She was hugging Kai and… and his arms her holding her in place.

He smelled of some sort of cologne and soap and incense. And he was warm and firm. Had she not hugged him before, she would have doubted that it would be possible, but yes she quite liked being held by him. It was reassuring.

"Hey," he said, his breath tickling her ear and cheek as he pulled away.

"Hey," she said. Not for the first time, she was glad that he wouldn't be able to see her blush. If he knew how embarrassed she was by her instinctive reaction, he would have run far, far away by now.

She felt stupid, smiling up at him and him smiling down at her. The giddy excitement that passed through her as they waited for the other to say something sent shivers down her back.

"So, uh," he said, stuffing his hands in his pockets as his eyes skittered away from her for the first time, "you… You look great."

"Thanks," she said, smile softening — her cheeks felt relieved and so did she. She wasn't the only one who didn't know what to say or do. "you look great, too."

"So, um, shall we?" He offered up his elbow to her. She looked between his face and the elbow as he waited patiently for her to take it. With shaky hands, she looped her arm through his.

AO3

For valedn

Summary: Emperor Kaito and Linh Cinder try to escape their suffocating royal life while attempting to go on their first date.

"It's hideous," Cinder said, her face twisting into a scowl as she looked at her reflection in the floor length mirror. Behind her, Iko twisted up her hair into a messy bun before deciding against it and letting Cinder's hair tumble back down.

"It's not that bad," Cress said, pinning the hem up an inch… or five.

"I look like a lemon. How is that not bad?"

"You look pretty," Iko said, assuring her friend. She rested her chin on Cinder's shoulder and wrapped her arms around her waist. She stuck out her tongue and crossed her eyes, a vain attempt at making the Lunar princess laugh.

"I look like a lemon."

Cress huffed and undid the pins, sticking them maliciously back into the tomato shaped pin cushion strapped to her wrist. Cinder winced at each stab.

"Fine," Cress said. "We'll try a different dress — there was fifteen already, all very pretty on you, but it's your date. Iko, the pink one."

"I think the blue one would look better on her," Iko said, fingering the lacey monstrosity.

"Iko, pink suits Cinder's complexion much better than the blue."

"But the blue will make her seem softer, girlier."