#kaixcinder

[artsieadorationist]

Cinder ~ I still love this series!

[meygi]

Day 19 ~ Legacy (Cinder x Kai) 

Even being empress, always she can Cinder helps with the android’s maintenance in the palace. When Kai has some free time, he spends it with her daughter, who has grown up hearing the stories of the rebellion. She wants to be like her mother, so she asks Kai to makes her a metal hand when Cinder is busy. Of course, Cinder catches them. 

The first name of the daughter it’s Peony, that’s pretty obvious. Adri was mad at first, because she still blames Cinder. But anyway, she boasts with everybody about how the little princess was named after her daughter. Her second name is Crescent Moon: Cinder wanted one name about the moon, but not for that monarchy thing of put 3489 names. She wants something to honor all the people of Luna who help her with the rebolution. Cinder wanted something that had to do with the moon, but she  didn’t want to chose Channary or Jannali (maybe Levana? lol jk) because all the terrible stories, and Selene seemed very selfish even if she didn’t used it at all. She thinks maybe Artmisia, but that didn’t represent the real people. And Luna was pretty obvious... So she choses Crescent Moon for three reason: its a comun name in the moon, so that it’s representative, without Cress, Cinder would have gone to Europe probably, and nothing of that would have happened, and as a honor for Dr. Erland. 

Extra ~ Auntie Iko!

[kindasortaameyzing]

happy holidays @kaisder!!

@kaisder MERRY CRISMIN BINCH ITS ME!!! YOUR SECRET SANTA!!!! BET YOU NEVER SAW IT COMING HAHAHAH!!!!!

Anyways here’s the soulmate fic you only kind of asked for, whoops, it’s a little bit self-indulgent on my part and very badly written and much longer than I meant for it to be but oh well. HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

EDIT: this fic is inspired by this post with @nicolewrites

Most kids didn’t really scribble or draw on their own bodies. They mostly settled for walls or desks as canvasses, preferring the crayons that wouldn’t leave a mark on skin. Middle and high school was mostly the same - the occasional harried note on the wrist, a little doodle on the elbow - but everyone liked to use planners instead, trying to be more responsible than they actually had to be.

College, however, being such a total shitfest, was chock-full of people who barely had the energy to even write down half the assignments they had. As a result, everyone practically had shirtsleeves of ink.

Of course, the fact that your soulmate’s marks on their body showed up on yours could have been cute if it didn’t just confuse everyone all the time. Despite the marks fading after a couple hours, since most people’s soulmates were close to their age, it often meant double the schedules, double the notes, double the scribbles, and double the confusion.

That was the silver lining Iko always told Cinder, anyways, and the latter always just laughed. It was only when the perky best friend had left the room would Cinder look at her forearms, so blatantly full of nothing, not even her own scrawling handwriting. She’d valiantly attempted to communicate with her soulmate when she was younger, scribbling all over her arms, but the disappointment and the lack of faith had set in before long. She’d been so disappointed for so long she couldn’t even feel it anymore - it was more of a detached pity, looking at her tanned arms and the metal hand at the end of the left one, glinting at her.

Maybe it was a good thing she didn’t have a soulmate - she didn’t want to disappoint someone else, too.

Cinder nearly dropped her pliers on her foot when Iko barged into the mechanic shop.

“I’ve arrived!” Iko announced, in tandem with the bells chiming over the door. “And you won’t believe what Emilie wrote to me today!”

“Let me guess,” Cinder grunted, trying to twist in a final bolt, “It’s something so cutesy it’ll make me barf.”

“For your information, it was,” Iko scoffed, then leaned over the desk partitioning the workshop from the front, “And I know you’re a huge softie for cute stuff anyways, so nice try.”

Cinder laughed in concession.

“Cinder! Your poor soulmate is probably getting grease all over their arms!” Iko reprimanded, sliding over the desk and maneuvering through oily machinery strewn around her.

“I don’t think it works like that, Iko.” Cinder said, sighing. “Besides, we’ve been over this.”

Iko huffed and brushed away dirt on a stool before she sat on it, a vain effort to keep her pants clean that Cinder had given up on entirely. “Yes, we have. Just because your soulmate doesn’t write anything -”

“- Doesn’t mean they don’t exist, yeah, got it,” Cinder said detachedly. She almost felt numb saying it, having repeated it to herself for so long it didn’t have meaning anymore.

Iko opened her mouth to say something but got cut off by the ringing bell at the front.

“Hey, Cinder! I just met your soulmate on the street, he’s got no teeth and lives in his mom’s basement, a total catch -” came a loud voice from the front.

“Shut up, Thorne,” Cinder said, “I’ve already met him, and he spends his life mansplaining on tinder.” She swiveled on her chair, met with Thorne’s incessant grin.

“Oh, Cinder. You sure we’re not soulmates?” Thorne pouted, perched on the desk at the front. This had been a running gag ever since they’d met, when she’d fixed his car and he’d told her the worst pickup lines known to man.

“Let’s check, shall we?” Cinder grabbed a pen and drew a quick doodle on her forearm, pointing with the tip to Thorne’s blank one.

“A tragedy,” Thorne said, leaning back dramatically with his hand on his heart.

Iko tsked as she took Cinder’s arm and peered at the drawing. “Really, Cinder? Real mature.”

Cinder tilted her head. “If I actually do have a soulmate, I think they’ll appreciate it.”

“First year of college, Cinder, aren’t you excited?” Iko crooned, swinging her purse and twirling on the rain-drenched pathway to the entrance.

“Sure,” Cinder grunted, pulling her bags as well as her friend’s, “It would be if I didn’t have to work my ass off for every second I stay on campus.”

“Oh, pfft.” Iko said, waving the very thought off. “Everyone has to do that.”

They stilled as a black limousine pulled up to the curb, photographers materializing next to it. A chauffeur got out, opening the door to a figure blocked to Cinder’s view by the paparazzi.

Cinder nodded in the car’s direction. “Not that kid, I bet.”

A sudden weight landed on Cinder’s shoulders, making her wince and grounding her to a full stop. “Those douchebag trust-fund rich kids, am I right?” Thorne said, fingers tapping on Cinder’s collarbone. “Insufferable.”

“You’re a douchebag trust-fund rich kid, Thorne.”

“Well not anymore I’m not.” Thorne clenched his jaw. “Dad cut me off after I quit the ROTC.”

“Oh. I - I’m sorry, Thorne.”

Thorne shook his head. “Nah, don’t be. I have my ways.”

It was just then that the photographers cleared a hole and she managed to get her first glimpse at him.

Iko’s gasp was almost exactly what her heart felt like. “Oh, my god. I think - I think I’ve seen him somewhere. Quick, Cinder, do you remember that guy on that magazine -”

“I don’t,” Cinder said, forcing herself to rip away her gaze from him, “ and you’re going to have to be more specific.”

Thorne grunted. “Looks like I’ve got competition. He’s going to be a problem.”

Cinder sniffed, shouldering her bags. “Whatever. As long as he’s not mine.”

As it turned out, this kid very much was her problem.

He was in her political science class, sitting at the very front while she perched herself at the back and to the far right. Once class begun, she wasn’t sure if it was a blessing or a curse that she had a clear view to him and his stupidly captivating expressions whenever the professor talked about something he seemed to like.

She decided it was a curse when she left the class and realized that she hadn’t paid attention to a single thing the professor had said except that it was all critical information for a quiz next week.

But she couldn’t get rid of him. He showed up in her bioengineering class, clearly completely out of his element. Shooing away the chauffeur - or maybe a personal secretary, or something - he slipped into the seat next to hers, shooting her a quick smile before opening up a sleek, state-of-the-art laptop.

She resolutely ignored him, as well as the fluttering feeling in her stomach, until he tapped her on the shoulder at the end of class.

“Hi, uh. Could you - help me?” He said, eyes large and pleading.

“Well that’s quite an introduction.” Cinder mused, smiling slightly, stuffing her left hand into her pocket as discreetly as possible.

“Sorry. I’m - I’m Kai.” He stuck out a hand, his smile blinding despite the guilty look on his face.

“Cinder.” She waited as he stared at her for a moment, stuffing her hand in deeper out of reflex. “Sorry, um, what did you need help with?”

“What? Oh,” Kai shook his head out of his reverie and chuckled, “Well, to be frank, I didn’t understand a single thing of what went on in that class. And you seemed to know a lot, so -”

“You’d like me to tutor you.”

“Well,” Kai said, rubbing his neck, “Um, yes.”

Cinder tilted her head, scrutinizing him. “Okay. Sure”

He perked up immediately, his eyes lighting up. “Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, um, what should I pay you? Sorry, I’ve never really -”

Cinder thought about it for a moment. She’d never done this before either, but it could be a way out of long, sleepless nights at the workshop and odd jobs done just to scrounge up some money.

Then she felt like she was some sort of charity case and decided against it.

“Actually,” she said, “I have a proposition to make. I tutor you in bioengineering - and you tutor me in political science.”

He processed this for a moment. “Sure.”

As Cinder walked away a few minutes later, his number burning in the contacts on her phone, she couldn’t help but feel happier than a normal person would after agreeing to give up 9 hours a week at the library.

“So, essentially, the wire has to be calibrated to the frequency of the electricity going through your neurotransmitter.” Cinder pointed at the textbook that Kai was squinting at.

“Oh - oh, I get it. Alright.” He leaned back, satisfied in his eureka moment.

Cinder’s watch beeped. “Well - my one and a half hours are up. Time for politics.”

Kai grinned, rubbing his hands together in mock anticipation as Cinder brought out the textbook from her bag. They were only a few pages into the chapter when Cinder stopped paying attention to the words and started paying more attention to the look in his eyes as he explained it to her.

She was so lost in her daydream that her elbow knocked a lamp over, and she shot out a hand to catch it reflexively.

She didn’t realize that she had used her left hand until Kai was staring straight at it.

She cursed, retracting her hand, but Kai caught it. “I didn’t know you had a metal hand.”

Cinder sighed. If he was going to run away revolted, she might as well give him the whole reason. “Half of my left leg is, too.”

Kai furrowed his eyebrows. “It’s -”

Closing her eyes and biting her tongue, she closed the textbook and shoved it into her bag. “Disgusting, yeah, I know. I don’t need the reminder.”

“No, I - where are you going?” Kai looked up as she stood, hefting her bag on her shoulder.

“Well, I figured you didn’t really want to work with a - well, a -”

“A really cool girl with a really cool hand.” Kai raised an eyebrow, smirking. “The only reason I’d be mad at you is because you’re practically cheating at bioengineering.”

“I’m not cheating!”

“You’ve got half of the concepts attached to your arm!”

Cinder smiled, the tension releasing from her shoulders. She found herself happier than ever to open the textbook and start studying, ignoring the fact that it was maybe because her chair had shifted closer to his.

Cinder woke up to rain hitting her window so forcefully the frame nearly shook. Checking her phone on reflex, she didn’t even fully comprehend the time that was glaring back at her until a few seconds later.

“Shit. Shit, shit, shit,” Cinder said, hastily removing the covers and getting up before taking another look at the darkness outside her window.

“Screw it,” she said, opening her messages instead. She’d only just sent the apologetic text to Kai, saying she couldn’t make it to the library, when someone knocked on her door.

Half expecting it to be Kai, she whipped the door open to find Iko, bouncing on the tip of her toes.

Before Cinder could even open her mouth, Iko started. “You know that guy you’ve been tutoring? Kai? Well, it turns out his dad is a super famous lawyer and politician - like, extremely influential - and Kai’s super famous too and -”

“And he’s coming over in a couple minutes,” Cinder murmured, reading his most recent text on her screen.

“He’s - what?” Iko screeched, “And you look like that?”

“I think I look fine.” Cinder quickly looked up and down at her sweatpants, ratty bun, and oversized t-shirt. “Nevermind.”

“Quick, change before he -” Iko was cut off by knocking on the door.

Cinder almost winced as she opened the door and Kai gave her a small wave. “Sorry this was so last minute, but my dorm is just next door, so...yeah.” He shrugged, smiling.

“No, it’s not a problem. Sorry that I’m, ah, such a mess.”

“No, you look - um -” he looked her up and down, an inexplicable red rising in his cheeks, “you look great.”

Cinder scoffed. “Yeah, alright.” Feeling Iko creep up behind her, she moved aside. “This is Iko, my friend.”

“Nice to meet you, Iko,” Kai said, offering a hand.

“And you,” she said, taking it and shooting a quick thumbs-up at Cinder behind her back.

As Kai stepped into the room, Iko slinked out.

“Iko? Where are you -”

“Oh no, I’d rather not be in there when you two start doing some, ah, not-so-PG stuff.”

Cinder felt her face heat up. “Iko!” She yelled down the hallway.

Iko just winked in response.

Cinder walked into the library to find Kai wearing a large, slightly oversized hoodie over a mustard-yellow sweater and nearly choked on her coffee.

“You look like a hobo.” She giggled, the laugh burbling up her throat until she nearly started tearing up.

“Well, I’m cold!” Kai said defensively, the whine in his voice just making her laugh harder.

“Alright, alright.” Cinder said, not able to keep a smile off of her face as she sat down and opened the textbook, smoothing out the page. As Kai stared at the page, she murmured “It looks cute, anyways,” under her breath and prayed that he didn’t hear - but the pink blooming at the tip his ears made her think he did.

---

“I’m sorry, I - I don’t get it,” Kai grumbled, rubbing his forehead.

Cinder bit her lip. “Okay -  let’s try this.” She rolled up her sleeve and placed her forearm in the table, only slightly recoiling upon realizing it was her left arm. Surprisingly enough, she found she didn’t care enough to retract it completely.

Grabbing a couple pens, she began to draw on her forearm. “Look,” she said, drawing a blue line from her elbow to her wrist, “This would be ulnar nerve, connecting to the upper wire. And this,” she said, using a red pen this time, “would be the median nerve, connecting to the lower wire - that one, right there.” Biting her lip, she continued drawing nerves and wires, concentrating on her arm, until she realized Kai was looking at her, not her arm.

She turned him, making him jump. “Kai?”

“Sorry!” He said, ruffling his hair. “Sorry. I was just wondering - do you have a soulmate?”

Cinder’s outstretched hand clenched into a fist. “Well, I - it’s complicated.”

“Oh. Sorry for asking, I didn’t mean to -”

“No, actually, I - I don’t mind saying it.” Cinder needed someone new to say it to, and Kai didn’t seem like a bad audience.

“I’ve always tried talking to my soulmate, you know, doodling on my arm and all that. But they never replied, so I just stopped. Either I don’t have one, or - or they don’t want me.” Cinder looked down at the grain of the wooden desk, following the pattern.

“I don’t know why anyone wouldn’t want you.”

Cinder’s head shot up, looking at Kai wide-eyed, before his face turned a light red and he put his head down on the desk.

“Sorry, I -”

“No, it’s -” Cinder bit her lip, fiddling with her sleeve. “It’s okay. Do - do you have a soulmate?”

He waited a moment before shifting his head to face her. “Yeah.”

Cinder felt her heart sink and gulped, shifting in her seat.

“I do, but I honestly haven’t heard from her in a while. Only the occasional scribble or doodle, and it’s not even meant for me, it’s just reminders for her. I don’t think - I don’t think she’s entirely fond of me.”

He licked his lips and continued. “But the worst part is I can’t even write back to her. Ever since I was a kid, actually, because being the kid of a politician - and a future politician myself - I don’t really have the space for romance. Any marriage, any relationship, could be better used as a tactic. So I just - I don’t write back because people are more likely to make these kinds of deals if they know I’m not attached. And I don’t write back because then I will be attached.”

He let it sink in for a moment in the heavy, quiet air.

“Well that’s bullshit.”

Kai laughed at Cinder’s resolute statement. “Oh, it is. Absolute bullshit. But that’s politics.”

“You should write back to her. Just - anything. You could even explain everything.”

“Yeah, that’s - that’s not a bad idea. Thanks, Cinder.”

Cinder smiled, trying to hide the lump in her throat. “No problem.”

For a couple days after, she checked every inch of her skin for a message, a stray ink mark, anything, but the only response she got was her heart sinking further.

“Alright, so then this -”

“Relays the information to the secondary joints, yes.” Kai finished, nodding.

Cinder looked at him, examining him. “Why am I even tutoring you anymore? You’ve got all of this.”

Kai nudged her shoulder with his. “Sure, but I may not in the future. You never know.”

Cinder nudged him back, stifling a smile.

In the past couple of weeks, they’d gotten closer and closer. Kai, in particular, seemed a lot more - physical, sitting closer to her or placing the occasional hand on her back as he opened the door for her. Maybe she was just imagining it all, but even if she was, she certainly didn’t mind.

But in the middle of the tingles that ran up her arm every time they accidentally brushed hands came that sudden, sinking feeling that he wasn’t her soulmate, that his messages were appearing on someone else’s skin, not hers.

She decided she’d enjoy it while it lasted, because it wouldn’t last long, not after his soulmate started replying.

She cleared her throat, anxious to change the subject. “Why are you taking bioengineering anyway? It has nothing to do with being a politician.”

He shrugged. “Well, no, but this region has a lot of engineering and science-related facilities. If I’m to govern properly, I should probably know a little about it, right?”

Cinder was impressed up until the moment when he leaned closer and said “That, and I picked a random science course to fill up the requirements.”

She laughed, only noticing him looking at her after a full 10 seconds.

“What?”

“Oh! Nothing. Sorry.” Kai shuffled in his seat. “I just like your laugh.”

Cinder felt her face heat up again, brushing one stray hair out of several behind her ear. “Th-Thanks.”

After a few moments, Cinder found herself speaking without meaning to. “I’m not actually studying bioengineering for a major, just engineering. Specifically focusing on aeronautics and mechanics.”

“Like - rockets?” Kai said.

“Yeah. I want to work at NASA and all. I know it sounds stupid,” Cinder said, rubbing her shoulders, “my stepmother told me it was an idiotic pipe dream. At least, she said it until the scholarship came through.”

Kai frowned and rubbed her back. “It isn’t stupid. Or a pipe dream. I think it’s fantastic, and frankly, I don’t think there’s anyone else more qualified.”

Cinder smirked. “I literally haven’t even seen a rocket yet, Kai.”

“You will be, one day.” He smiled, and even that smile was enough to light her heart up.

She didn’t even notice his hand was still on her back until it dropped.

Cinder was walking through the grounds, umbrella clutched in her hand for the perpetually rainy weather, when a hand landed on her shoulder.

She gasped, ready to scream and throw fists, until she realized it was just Kai, face shadowed by his hoodie.

“I need your help.” He was gasping for air, looking like he had run all the way from his dorm.

She chuckled. “You know that’s the first thing you said to me, right?”

He smiled. “Oh, yeah. Yeah, it is.”

Cinder turned, facing him. “Anyway - what did you want?”

He took his hood off and she held up her umbrella wordlessly to cover his head. “Well, I was watching Mulan -”

“Mulan?”

“Yeah, and you know that part when the emperor is like ‘ she’s a blooming flower’ or whatever the hell it is -”

“That’s - that’s not the line at all -”

“I don’t know what it is, okay, I’m just rambling, I’m -” he sighed, dragging a hand through his slowly dampening hair. “Okay, let me get to the point. I just - I just realized I couldn’t let my soulmate get away, you know?”

Cinder felt her heart harden. “Yeah. Sure.”

“Yeah. So -” he looked at her, pleading through dripping bangs, “What - what do you think?”

“Think about what? I agree, you should ask her,” Cinder managed to get through clenched teeth before attempting to stalk away, but Kai caught her by the hand.

“Well I - I asked. She just hasn’t answered,” Kai insisted, but it just made Cinder’s heart turn into stone.

“That’s great. That’s just fantastic, Kai. Just wait a bit, I’m sure she’ll respond,” Cinder said as sardonically as possible, spitting the words out.

“No, Cinder,” Kai said, “You’re the one who was to respond.”

She stilled, her grasp loosening around the umbrella. “Wh - what?”

“You have to respond,” he said, holding up his hand to see a hasty question scrawled on his left hand, “Because you’re the one I asked.”

Cinder blinked, struggling to understand. “But you asked your soulmate. I’m not your soulmate.”

“Yes, you are. Look, just - look at your left hand.”

She held up her left hand, the metal harsh and dull and plating her heart.

They stood there for a moment, looking at each other, drenched in rain, before Kai started laughing.

“Oh, my god. Oh, my god. I’m an idiot. A complete idiot.” He chuckled, covering his face with his hands.

Cinder just put her hand down and clenched her jacket instead, ignoring the biting disappointment she thought she was immune to.

“Cinder, you didn’t get any of my messages because I’ve been writing them on my left hand, and yours - it’s metal hand. It’s not biologically yours.”

And finally, finally, as the rain slowed to a stop, it dawned on her.

“Oh. So you mean - oh.”

“Remember that time you drew nerves on your arm? Well it -”

“Came on yours too.”

“Yeah.”

“Why - why didn’t you tell me?”

“I don’t know, I just - didn’t have the guts.”

Cinder sniffed, not letting herself believe it until she could see it. “Prove it, then.”

Kai frowned. “What?”

“Prove it. Prove that we’re soulmates, right now.”

Kai fished a pen from his pocket and scribbled something on his hand before realizing his mistake and writing on his forearm. As he did, Cinder felt a faint tickling sensation on her own forearm. She pushed back the sleeve, almost scared of what she’d see, but was met with a black ink slowly appearing on the tanned skin.

When he was finished, she laughed.

“You drew that months ago, didn’t you?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I did.”

“Incredibly mature of you.”

“I thought you’d appreciate it.”

He laughed. “I did.”

The clouds broke as she looked up at him, taking him in like she’d never seen him before.

He sensed her hesitation and held out a hand. “Hi. I’m Kai. I’m your soulmate.”

She took it. “Hi. I’m Cinder, and I’m yours.”

A/N: She drew a dick on her arm, if you couldn’t tell. 

[meygi]

Day 21 ~ Reunion (Cinder x Kai)

“Cinder?”

“Mm?”

He lifted his gaze. “Just to be clear, you’re not using your mind powers on me right now, are you?”

She blinked. “Of course not.”

“Just checking.”

Then he slid his arms around her waist and kissed her.

Ok technically this was they first reunion after the ball (If we didn’t count when Cinder shoot him...)

I can’t believe that I’m done all the days on time! This was very funny and I can’t wait to next year! Also I want to thank you all the support! Even if I been here for years I’m still don’t know how tumblr work totally, so I don’t know how to reply some comments, but I really apreciate all the likes, reblogs and comments!

[meygi]

Day 20 ~ Non theme (Cinder x Kai)

I love this scene and I love shredded dresses

[kindasortaameyzing]

Cinder's just moved to a new city to, fortunately, start a new life. Unfortunately, this means a new apartment building, unfamiliar surroundings, and unknown people. Fortunately, she's just so happened to move into the same building as the Most Beautiful Man In The World. Unfortunately, every time she meets him, she's an absolute mess. It seemed fate had a skewed sense of humor.

GUESS WHO FINALLY FINISHED THE FIRST CHAPTER OF A MODERN AU KAIDER FIC AFTER A MONTH OF NO MOTIVATION AND LITTLE WRITING SKILL!

Anyways, this fic is based off of this tumblr post, and I’ve been working on it for a little while now, so I really hope you like it!

Thanks to @poetstation for the motivation and excitement and @kaisder for editing, pep talks, title ideas, totally helpful comments, and overall support 3> 

READ IT AND HOPEFULLY ENJOY IT! PLEASE REVIEW!

Cinder winced as she carried the last cardboard box from her car, hearing the battered up old thing groan in relief. This was it. The last box to be moved into her new apartment after three days of moving, in a new city, far, far away from Adri. She’d been envisioning this moment for a long time, though admittedly with less back pain.

She thanked the stars her new apartment complex had an elevator. Adri’s only had stairs, and dragging various pieces of machinery up to the 14th floor was pure hell. She pushed the door open with her back, the AC refreshing but not, unfortunately, miraculously drying her sweat-stained tank. She nodded to the doorman and readjusted the box onto her hips as she pressed the up button and waited for the elevator.

Trying to ignore the clothing and stray hairs sticking uncomfortably to her back and neck, she tapped her foot as she waited, trying to figure out a schedule for the rest of the week. Tomorrow, she’d attempt to finish unpacking the mountains of boxes she’d brought in. The day after that, there was a party held at one of the apartments down the hall, for which she had received an invitation slipped under the door last night. She wasn’t much for parties and socializing in general, but this was a new start, and she promised herself to take every opportunity. Then, a couple days after, she’d start at her new job at the NASA center nearby.

She bit her lip as the elevator door opened and she stepped in, both nervous and excited for the job. She hadn’t expected such a prestigious opportunity just a couple years out of college, but one of her professors had huge connections and her reputation as one of the smartest engineering majors on campus seemed to precede her. She’d turned in the greasy and crinkled application almost as a joke, not expecting an actual answer for a girl working at a mechanic’s shop to pay off her debts. The letter of acceptance had been an opportunity in two ways: a way to leave, and a way to start over. She certainly wasn’t expecting great pay and would probably be stuck with low-level jobs, but she’d work her way up eventually.

She was so stuck in her reverie she didn’t notice someone stick a hand through the elevator doors just as they were closing. Startled, she pushed the “open” button, her apologies on the tip of her tongue when they dried on her lips.

In stepped who she was sure was the Most Beautiful Man In The World.

read the rest here

[kindasortaameyzing]

Kai and Cinder would have the sassiest kids ever

[kindasortaameyzing]

Shipping meme thing (if you're still doing it) Kaider 8 or 22 (or both combined in one? I'm a cruel person)

You’re a cruel one, anon.

Things you said when you were crying + Things you said after it was over

~~~~~

Kai stopped in the middle of the hallway, dropping her bags with a thud that reverberated around the marble columns. Cinder jumped at the noise and turned around, her expression one of slight worry. Once she realized it was just her bag, she relaxed, but not so much that she was unaware of the tightness in his shoulders.

“I don’t get it.”

Cinder tilted her head, brow furrowed in confusion, though Kai had a feeling she knew what he was talking about.

“Don’t get what?”

“Why you have to leave. Why you can’t stay. Why you can’t be here - with me.”

Cinder exhaled, her sigh full of regret and sadness and dejection. “You know why, Kai. There was a whole meeting about it.”

“I know, I just -” He ran a shaking hand through his hair, ripping away the last shreds of restraint. He moved towards her tentatively, like if he went too fast he would tear the thick air between them. “ - I don’t understand. How they could be like this.”

Cinder straightened, tense with a spark of fury. “Don’t understand? How your people hate me and despise me so much that they’d rather have you abdicate the throne than marry me?”

He looked at her, his face tortured. “Yes. I am. They aren’t like - I didn’t expect -”

Cinder let her shoulders drop, and she looked at him with an expression of such anguish that it made his heart break even further than it already had. “They are like that, Kai. And all one million of them in the city itself won’t change their stance. We’re the ones who need to change. And I know - stars, I know-” she stopped, her voice breaking. “ I know it’s hard, it’s so hard, but we need to-”

“No, we don’t.” Kai pushed his shoulders back and came towards her. “We don’t need to.” He tried to say it with conviction, like he could act on his words, but he knew. The pit of despair in his stomach knew, too.

“We do.” Her face crumpled, and Kai knew his eyes were brimming with tears. “We have to. It’s our - it’s our damned responsibility…”

She fell against him, racked with dry sobs, and he held her so close he was sure he was crushing her. He held her as if it was the last time. He held her so close because it was.

Cinder pulled away too soon (but he was sure if she moved away hours later it would still be too soon). She took in a deep, shuddering breath. “I’m…I’m sorry.”

Kai thought about moving towards her, holding her hand or touching her face or something, but he knew as soon as he touched her any newfound resolve he had pulled together would dissolve. “I’m sorry too.” He whispered, the salty taste of his tears on his lips.

She sniffed, pulling herself back together, as she always could. Then she took her bags and walked towards the end of the hall as if she had no intention of turning back.

~~~

May not have been exactly what you were looking for, but heart-wrenching nonetheless :’(