In my fic Imperial Coffee, Thorne and Kai are roommates, and Kai being the organized person he is, he’s used to cleaning up after Thorne’s...messes. As if I needed another reason to love Kai.
@mf-islands drew Thorne, Kai, and the laptop. I drew all the random objects because she kept shoving the sketchbook at me.
Btw, I stopped posting Imperial Coffe on Tumblr because posting something on four different sites is tiring, but if you want you can read it on both fanfiction.net and Wattpad!
deviantART | Wattpad | FanFiction.Net
Kai has just started working as a normal employee at Imperial Coffee, except he’s not normal at all: his parents own the company. The problem? He has no practical skills whatsoever. Luckily for him, Cinder, the senior employee, does. Search the #ImperialCoffee tag on my page to read all parts!
Author’s Note: I was orignally gonna end the plot on this chapter, but it didn’t seem right. So I rewrote it and ended it on a cliffhanger. Meaning IT IS OFFICALLY GOING TO BE A LONG FIC! Yayyy.
Cover lineart by @mf-islands; Coloring and cover-ifying by me
Cinder couldn’t breathe. She’d been wrapped up in Kai’s words and smiles; simply him being there made her calm, more like herself, even when she relived parts of her past that normally made her anxious. It wasn’t meant to last.
Everything came back. Kai was no longer in her mind; all she knew was that Carswell Thorne stood in front of her. She knew that his hair was rumpled, that he had scruff on his chin, that his lips were dry and chapped. He was angry.
She tried to open her mouth, to say something, but there were no words to say.
Then she felt a hand on her arm. Kai was looking at Thorne with confusion, his stance protective as he took a step forward.
“Thorne,” Kai said, nodding. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m just visiting my best friend.” Thorne spit the last words as if daring Kai to question them. “What I’m wondering is what you’re doing here.”
Something finally clicked in Cinder’s brain. She gasped and forced herself to steady. She removed Kai’s hand from her arm and stepped around him so she could make eye contact with Thorne.
“He’s here as a friend. He works at Imperial Coffee with me. I’m surprised you didn’t know, since you’re roommates, after all.” Part of Cinder wanted to reign back, shrink into the floor, melt away until there was nothing left of her. The greater part of her wanted fire. “Then again, you never seemed to pay that much attention to other people.”
She wanted Thorne to see the truth, for him to understand...She could never see him that way. They were friends, always had.
If they couldn’t be friends, she wanted Thorne to move on. If he hated her, she could lick her wounds forever but at least he could escape. At least he could lose hurt behind anger.
“I know I messed up last night. Cinder, you have to listen to me.” Thorne reached an arm out but dropped it before it could reach her. “I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry. If I knew...I wouldn’t have...”
“You wouldn’t have what? I’ve known you for six years. I’ve known the way you flirt, the way you say words that didn’t mean anything. That never bothered me too much, because I was different. Thorne...” Cinder turned her head away, closing her eyes. “Last night I realized I was no different from them.”
“That’s not how it is.” Thorne reached out again, but this time he didn’t stop himself. He traced her cheek with his hand, trying to force her to look at him. She kept her eyes closed.
“I can’t do this,” Cinder said, firmly. “I can’t do this. I’m thankful you were my friend, but now it’s over. You know it is. So why are you still trying?”
“One more time,” Thorne said, dropping his voice. “Because I want to hear you laugh at my jokes one more time. I want to hear you say my name. I want to hold you in a hug and comfort you, one more time. Stars, Cinder, I just want to see you happy, and I want to know I’m the reason.”
Cinder pulled back from Thorne’s hand. Her eyes opened, and she shook her head.
“I’m sorry, Thorne. I know you’ll find someone else. I’m not hard to replace. Just let things go. You know it’s right.”
“No, I don’t know. I don’t understand. And I can’t replace you.”
Cinder held her hand out. “Give me back the key, you won’t be needing it anymore.”
Thorne shrunk back, slipping the key into his pocket. Cinder tried not to cry.
“Give her her key back.”
Cinder looked back at Kai. His voice was even, commanding. She’d never seen this side of him. His voice...how could someone refuse when he spoke like that?
“It wasn’t yours to begin with, and she’s asking for it back. I know you, Thorne. You’re not a stalker. Don’t start now.”
Thorne shook his head and pulled the key from his pocket, tossing it at Kai’s feet. “This isn’t your business, Kai. But you’re right: I’m not a creep. I’m respectful and genuine and I’ll just have to hope you’ll realize that, Cinder.” His voice broke, and Cinder bit back a sob. She didn’t know if she could say another word without bursting into tears.
“I hope you’ll realize that because if you don’t...I don’t know where that’ll leave me.”
He slammed the door behind him, and Cinder stopped holding back.
Kai didn’t know what he expected when he’d asked to come to Cinder’s apartment. Maybe he expected to get to know her better, maybe some understanding.
He got that, but he couldn’t help feeling more lost than ever as he leaned over Cinder, wondering how to make her feel better.
He wasn’t her friend. No, maybe they had said that, but they were still just two people who saw each other every so often. He didn’t know what to say, what she liked, what she didn’t, what her boundaries were.
He didn’t know what he would do when he returned to his apartment, how he would face Thorne. He could stay at his parents’ the night, perhaps, but that was one night. He couldn’t keep staying somewhere that was no longer his.
What a mess.
He pushed his hair back from his forehead and breathed deeply. Cinder needed him to be strong.
So he wrapped his arms around her, hoping to reach her in the darkness she’d pulled up around herself.
“You’re okay, you’re okay, you’re okay,” he whispered. “Everything is fine.”
Cinder, he thought, as he tucked her into bed after she’d finally fallen asleep. Who are you really?
He’d seen another bed in the apartment, so he wrote a short note in case they came back before Cinder woke up.
Cinder needed help, and if he couldn’t give it, he would find those who could.
Cress almost didn’t notice the note, as tired as she was. She’d worked overtime again, and her eyes were sore from the screen’s light. Only her body’s lack of sleep allowed her to fall asleep at night as if it knew protesting against her sleep schedule would be suicide.
The note was on the pillow, and she felt it under her head when she laid down.
Dear Cinder’s roommate,
This is one of Cinder’s friends. I’m concerned about her because she seemed very upset tonight. I don’t know what you can do about it, but please take care of her if you can.
I think Cinder carries more than she lets on.
- Kaito
She scrunched her eyes and watched the sleeping form on the other bed. Cinder appeared to still have her day clothes on, and she wondered if this Kaito guy had tucked her in. What happened?
She tried not to feel guilty. Cress and Cinder worked at adjacent shops—Cinder in mechanics and Cress in IT. However, while they were close, they hadn’t had a lot of time together, since Cress often stayed late and Cinder was normally asleep by the time she was back.
Cress’ life was too busy for friends outside the workplace, nowaday. It wasn’t that she didn’t care—because she did, as much as she depended on time alone—she simply didn’t have the energy or time anymore.
Cress knew her roommate’s life wasn’t all cut out for her. It wasn’t for Cress either, and that was how they’d bonded. Both ran away from home. Both talented, but forced to put every ounce of blood and sweat towards their future.
Back when they had more time together, they’d have conversations before going to sleep. That didn’t happen anymore.
Cress realized she knew almost nothing about her roommate’s current life. She sighed and set her alarm an hour earlier than usual. She needed the sleep, but she’d made up her mind.
If Cinder needed help, she had to be there. Cinder had done the same for her.
Maybe there was distance, but one thing was true: they had each other's back.
Cinder woke up to the scent of pancakes and tea. She sat up, only to find her forehead pounding. She loosed a sigh and fell back on the bed.
“Cinder, you’re up!” Cress sounded strangely cheery. “I made pancakes for you before work, come get them while they’re still warm!”
Cinder groaned, but slid her feet to the floor and sat up. Cress was bouncing around the kitchen, humming to herself.
“Thank you, Cress,” Cinder said, sitting down at their small table. “This is really nice, I don’t know the last time I had anything other than cereal for breakfast.”
“It’s no problem.” Cress pulled up a chair for herself and plopped a pancake onto her own plate. “Plus, I realized you have a really great friend, and I needed to step up my game.”
“Great friend? Who are you talking about?”
“Some person named Kaito left a note for me? He told me...um.”
Cinder stopped chewing. Her stomach dropped. Oh no. What had Kai said? How much did Cress know?
If she wanted to drag anyone into the mess, it was anyone but Cress.
“What did he tell you?” She found her voice sharp and closed her eyes to pull herself back.
“Just that you might need some comfort. That’s it.” Cress’ cheery smile came back. “Now hurry, we’ll need to leave soon.”
As soon as Cress left, Cinder kicked her shoes off her feet. There was no way she was going to work today. If she’d learned anything from the day before, it was that.
Instead, she slipped back into her bed and tried to fall back asleep. She couldn’t.
Her phone rang. And rang again. And again. She turned on her side and looked at the caller ID.
Iko? Why was she calling her? Normally Iko would text before calling.
She picked up.
“Iko?”
“Cinder. I-I’m—” Iko cut herself off. Cinder could hear heavy breathing. She sat up.
“Iko? What’s going on?”
“It’s Peony,” Iko said, voice wobbling. “She’s sick.”
Kai has just started working as a normal employee at Imperial Coffee, except he’s not normal at all: his parents own the company. The problem? He has no practical skills whatsoever. Luckily for him, Cinder, the senior employee, does.
I bring to you...Imperial Coffee! If anyone remembers this post, you’ll know this is a culmination of clichés I threw together into one big TLC fanfic.
This Ship Weeks, I’ll be posting four parts to four themes, starting with Home. ALSO, CREDIT TO @mf-islands FOR THE DRAWING! There are a couple more to be posted soon, and a cover will be released at the same time as the writing~
