'Why Him?' || Madeleine x Espresso

chapter 10, closer

"Espresso, are you alright?" Madeleine asked him, slowly unfolding his arms. Espresso slightly smiled.
"Yes, I'm alright. But since the blizzard is over, I should get back to work." Espresso commented. Madeleine nodded with a straight face. Why was Espresso suddenly changing his mood? Was it because of the kiss? The confession? He didn't know.

"It's sad that your leaving so soon. Shall I help you carry your work materials?"
"I can manage, thank you." Espresso replied, walking over to grab the heavy bag. While he was walking to the door, struggling to carry the bag, Madeleine looked down at his boots. By god he felt super off. He looked back up at Espresso and smiled.

"Have a goodnight, my dear Espresso!"
"you too, Madeleine. I'll be seeing you soon then." Espresso sighed before walking out the door.

The night went by slow. Espresso stayed up while working while Madeleine tried to catch some sleep, but ended up pulling an all nighter. In the morning, he felt drained. No emotion or energy came from Madeleine. When Madeleine was outside the next morning, he couldn't even think correctly. He had forgotten everything that had happened that night with Espresso as well.

In the morning, Madeleine walked to a nearby tree to catch his breath, but only found himself a shaking mess. Trying to settle down, he sat down beside the tree and huffed. Could this day get any worse at all? Slowly looking around his area, he noticed Espresso talking to Vampire. It looked like Vampire was annoying him while Espresso was kindly telling him to stop, but nothing was working. Vampire was just being annoying as usual.

Madeleine rolled his eyes before letting out a long sigh. Now considering that Madeleine didn't need to protect the kingdom in quite some time, he knew that somehow, someway, he had to get up and do work that day. It just hit him like a big yellow bus! he had a mission and didn't even know it. That's when he thought about something. Instead of going alone, what if we brought someone with him?

"Man." Madeleine sighed. "I feel so drained today, I could barely get any sleep. And knowing I have a mission today--" he paused. He had just remembered he had the mission. Quickly standing up with a quiver, he yelled, "I HAVE A MISSION!" the knight ran as fast as he could, past Espresso and Vampire, dodging trees, going in every direction he could to find a shortcut, but he was giving up. He's using up most of his energy, and he must get this mission completed. Finally reaching his house, he ran inside, closing the door behind him.
"Oh drats-" Madeleine said, weakly walking to his room. "I must get this done quickly, I have no time to lose!"

Minutes later. Madeleine hasn't came out of his house. Something must have happened, but nobody could see it. They could see him in a hurry, but we're to busy to bother seeing if he was alright. Many minutes later, seeming like forever to Madeleine, his armor was on, his Shield and Sword we're in his hands, he was ready to set off! But one problem, he was about ready to fall asleep. Madeleine was downstairs while trying to polish his sword, but was interrupted by a knock at the door.
Madeleine set his sword and shield down, and quickly ran up to the door and swiped it open.
"Hello?"
"Good evening, Madeleine."

"Oh, greetings Espresso." Madeleine held open the door. "You may come inside if you'd like."
"No thank you, I must decline. Im only here to ask you something."
"Ask away, my dear."

Espresso hesitated. He didn't know if he was gonna sound offensive or not, but he followed his instincts.
"Have you gotten any sleep? You look...erm." he noticed Madeleine's messy hair, eye bags, him battling to stay awake, everything.
"...energy drained."
"Oh, unfortunately I haven't gotten any sleep last night." Madeleine nervously laughed, slowly stepping out of his house. Now Espresso being sleep deprived, he didn't honestly give a flying pickle ricks asshole, but he was just curious as all.

"Madeleine, you do know I can handle the mission for you. Correct?"
"I did not know that." The mage face palmed with a sigh.
"I can cancel your mission so you can rest." Espresso said. "I'll do it for you. You clearly can't."
"Oh, alright. Will you be safe? It's a mild mission, the big ones."
Espresso raised an eyebrow.
"I've fought things bigger than werehounds, Madeleine. I got this." Espresso explained. Madeleine let out a tired sigh.

"Well, alright. When your back, come tell me so I know your okay."
"I will, don't worry."
Espresso planted a small kiss on Madeleine's cheek before walking off. Madeleine knew he couldn't take it, but he probably could. Considering Espresso didn't give a shit about sleep, Madeleine wasn't so sure why he's helping him. But whatever, it's life.
The knight slowly shut his door and began walking to his couch. Once he arrived, he flipped onto it, face first, getting into his position. The knight slowly shut his eyes, drifting off into a peaceful sleep.