Lunar Chronicles Oneshots

Oneshot #3: Blue

Cress tugged at her hair as she read from her portscreen. "Umm." She licked her lips and looked up at the mess they had already made on the counter. "It says here to mix in the dry bowl into the... not... dry... bowl...?"

Thorne gave her a sharp nod. "Got it," he said, an overexaggerated serious look on his perfectly made face. "Dry into not dry." He picked up the yellow bowl and spilled its contents lazily into the blue bowl with a shrug, a cloud of flour erupting. "Beautiful. Next?"

Cress let go of her hair and tucked it away instead. "Now you have to mi--"

"Mix the ingredients. Right." Thorne grabbed a whisk and started jabbing it into the bowl.

Cress frowned and set the portscreen down. She took a step towards Thorne. "Captain that's not how you--"

He waved her away and hopped onto the counter by using a stool for help, since his hands were busy. He kept jabbing the mix as he sat on the counter with his legs tapping against the cabinet below. "I've got this, Cress, really."

She frowned, but didn't stop him. She sighed and looked to the oven. "It's almost done heating. You should hurry it up a bit."

"Right. So anyways I was thinking we could match later tonight? Maybe wear blue... You like blue, right?"

As flattered as Cress was that Thorne wanted to match with her, she couldn't help but worry they wouldn't get the cake into the oven in time. They only had an hour and a half left and they still had icing to make and they were still dressed in pajamas.

She nodded absently and jumped at the oven's beeping. "Are you done, Captain?"

"Are you even listening?"

"What? Oh! Yes, yes I'm listeni-- Captain are you done mixing or not?"

He looked into the bowl and then angled it so that Cress could see. "I think it's ready."

She fidgeted with her hair, trying to calm herself. Five heartbeats passed before she finally answered in a calm voice. "Captain that's not mixed at all."

He shrugged and set the bowl down beside him on the counter. Instead, he focused his eyes on her. He tilted his head and pursed his lips. "Would you prefer pink? I'll wear pink if you want me to. I look good in all colors, honestly, so it's up to you."

She swallowed down a groan and placed Thorne's hands in between her own. "We need to finish this cake."

An unreadable emotion crossed through Thorne's face, but he quickly recovered with another sharp nod. "Of course. You're right." He jumped off and picked up her port. "One third chocolate chips," he read through squinted eyes. Without turning around he grabbed a handful of chips from the bag and threw them into the batter.

"Captain!"

"I've got this Cress, really."

And so it went; Thorne throwing things into the batter at random and Cress trying to follow the exact recipe.

She stared into what they had done to the mixture. "This is not what it should look like."

He dipped his finger in and licled it. "Sure it is." Thorne grabbed the batter, poured it into the cake pan, and shoved it in the oven. "It's just not cooked yet. Now, about what we're wearing..."

Cress glared at him, something she'd never done before, and jabbed her small finger into his hard chest. "You can't just do that, Carswell!" (Thorne seemed hurt at her lack of Captain name calling.) "This was supposed to be perfect and I spent all day trying to make the cake while you didn't even care what you did. You're irresponsible, immature, and... and... and I'm mad!"

Thorne stared down at her, his eyes wide. Cress let her hand fall to her side and she turned her back to him as heat started to crawl up her cheeks. She crossed her arms across her chest. She shouldn't have yelled like that, and yet she had. But what was she supposed to do? Just watch as Thorne didn't even listen to her? That was not how things would be.

Finally, a sigh came from behind and then a hand landed on her shoulder. "Cress?" he asked, his voice low and filled with guilt. "Please?"

Slowly, she turned around to face him.

"I'm sorry. I just... I don't know. I didn't see this as baking for Kai's private birthday. I--I saw this as a way to-- to just spend time with my girl, you know? And I-- I thought you would want to match. But..." He sighed, scratching at his chin. "It's okay. I'm sorry. I-- I'll go now." He grabbed his brown leather jacket from the counter and walked out of the Rampion's kitchen.

A squeak escaped from Cress' lips and she ran to catch up with him. The Rampion's metal floor stung against her bare feet. She caught him just as he was about to open the door. Cress wrapped her arms around his torso and buried her face into his jacket. "Blue's a good color," she whispered.

Thorne laughed, returning the hug with a much tighter embrace. "How about cupcakes? I think those can be made quicker..."

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