a͟m͟b͟i͟v͟a͟l͟e͟n͟c͟e͟ - espresseleine au

Madeleine sets up a picnic

The next day, Ricotta diagnosed me fit to walk and Madeleine helped me get out of bed.

"Hm. You were correct, my legs are wobbly now. I likely would have fallen over yesterday." I remarked once I was out of bed. His arms were warm supporting my arms and back, and when he dropped them I felt that I wanted him to keep them there.

He grinned. "I'm always right, you know."

I playfully shoved him. "Oh yeah? Solve |6x+9|=8."

He blinked. "Uh... four?"

I laughed, which made him laugh as well. After a few minutes, we couldn't remember what had started it, we were just laughing at each other laughing. It was a nice sense of camaraderie that I wasn't sure I'd had before

Eventually, Madeleine straightened up, wiped several tears from his eyes, and helped me up too.

nothing about madeleine is straight

"Oh!" Madeleine's face lit up. "I have to go,  I need to plan something! You get dressed while I'm gone!"

I laughed once more at his absurdity and dressed myself.

For the next few hours, I hung around. I tried to focus on reading a book, but my mind kept straying to Madeleine. Whenever it did, there was a fluttery feeling in my stomach like I was some silly schoolgirl. I kept dismissing it, but it kept returning.

Madeleine returned about noontime. He ran all the way up to my quarters and asked me to come with him. I found his eagerness and panting to be rather cute - in the way one might find a puppy cute, of course. he led me out of the Palanaeum, through the city, and into the forest.

He turned to me. "There's a clearing just up ahead, that's where we're heading." I nodded, and he continued leading me through the forest. When we eventually reached the clearing, it took my breath away.

It was picturesque. The grass was a deep emerald green, butterflies flitted about, and the sky was clear and blue.

A picnic blanket and basket sat in the middle of the clearing. "I set up a picnic!" Madeleine said happily.

I stopped short, putting a hand to my chest. This was the first time someone (who wasn't my sister) had done something this nice for me. I blinked tears out of my eyes and said, "I- I- I-" I tried to start a sentence multiple times, but the gratitude welling up in my throat blocked it.

Madeleine saw what I was trying to do and smiled fondly. He came over and put a hand on my shoulder - wow, more fluttery feeling - before saying, "It's okay. I get it. Wanna sit down and eat?"

I nodded wordlessly and he guided me down before walking around to the other side of the blanket and sitting down himself. He began to pass out the food as I continued trying tont to cry on his nice setup.. It was a sandwich cut into triangles, a bowl of assorted fruit, and a bottle of water for each of us. There was also some bread and butter to share.

I opened my mouth, but the words just wouldn't come. I sat there for a few seconds before he seemed to understand, and came over. He opened his arms, and I just nodded and fell into the hug. 

We stayed like that for a while, me crying into his chest and him muttering things like "it's okay" or "you're perfect, Espresso." The second one would make me cry even harder whenever he said it, so this went on for some time.

When I finally pulled back, I blinked at the stain on his nice shirt, before blubbering out "I ruined your shirt!"

He looked down as if he hadn't noticed, then waved me off and said "It's fine. It's just a shirt, I care about you and your well-being more. Are you okay?" He looked at me, the intensity in those bright blue eyes making them sparkle like newly cut diamonds.

That was almost enough to start me crying again, but I shoved it down so we could enjoy this picnic Madeleine had set out for us. 

He scanned me over, seemingly assessing me for any traces of not being okay. Once he was done, he gave a satisfied little nod and went back to his seat so we could start eating.

Just before he took a bite, he looked back at me and said, "If you ever need me, I'm here for you, okay, Essy?"

I nodded wobbily and he seemed happy at that. As we ate, he gave me time to speak when I was ready, giving my mind ample time to stray to things like the nickname and "you're perfect, Espresso." I found myself considering the implications of this, and indeed most of our interactions since, oh, I don't know, ever.

Had I, Espresso Cookie, great mage and purveyor of coffee magic, fallen in love with a light magic user?

Witches help me.

apologies abt the excessive use of the word "nodding" lmao 

btw next chapter contains spoilers about multiple story arcs