Thieves In A Pod
(tlcsw pt.3) It started with Kai's hoodie going missing for the first time and ended with Cinder's heart being stolen for the millionth time, written for prompt 'kaider thieves' in tlc ship weeks 2019!
A/N: Two days late isn’t bad, success! Slight cheese overload, not even sorry ;)
Despite Thorne being the one who literally went behind bars on multiple occasions for stealing, Cinder’s the one who apparently can’t help herself from committing random acts of theft.
Kai hadn’t even realised it was her at first, he’d just blamed himself for becoming careless and forgetting where he’d kept things. But then his favourite hoodie - really the only one he owns because he rarely gets a chance to wear them so what’s the point of having more - had mysteriously disappeared and he’d been forced to reconsider his conclusions.
There are only two people who know where he keeps it, himself included, so, when he opens his wardrobe to try and find it for film night and finds its spot empty, he knows who’s taken it.
Which is why he says nothing to Cinder during film night, and nor does she comment on it despite giving him several glances that imply she’s waiting for him to comment on it, but instead resolves to give her a taste of her own medicine.
He’s well aware that Torin would call it childish and question his sanity if he found out but that doesn’t stop him in the slightest.
Over the next fortnight before their next routine film night, he randomly steals countless little nuts and bolts, two spanners, a glue gun, five screwdrivers of varying sizes, and the hair scrunchie she wears the most.
It’s obvious that she notices because she keeps glaring at her desk as if things will magically reappear and her hair is down a lot more than usual, but she says nothing to him directly, which only gives him an excuse to carry on and be amused by the whole situation.
He justifies this with the way she keeps stealing his pens and the pile of post-it notes she knows he’d grown attached to, as well a shirt and a couple of the bracelets he’d been given by Thorne, not to mention the hoodie she refuses to return.
When they’re with each other, which just so happens to be quite a lot since they’re married, they act as if they don’t know anything, even though they’re both smart enough to have figured out one another’s motives and guessed the other’s plans. More often than not, they share knowing looks, but they don’t act on it, as if it’s an unspoken agreement to just let things unfold.
Naturally, like most things in life, their game doesn’t last forever.
Kai is reading through his list of film titles their friends had recommended to them when Cinder marches into the room, declaring her presence with a pointed cough.
“You’re just in time,” Kai says without turning around, then looks up and blinks; Cinder’s wearing his missing - stolen - hoodie.
“You,” she says with an eyebrow raised, “are quite the law-breaker for someone who literally makes them.”
Kai offers her a smirk. “You’re no better for someone who technically has a share in making those laws.”
Considering this, Cinder shrugs and flops down on the sofa next to him, softly hitting him with the sleeve of his own hoodie. “I need my stuff back, do you know how hard it is to fix things without tools?”
“Do you know how hard it is to write reports without pens?” Kai fires back, but there’s no venom in his voice, just teasing.
Cinder smiles at that, shaking her head. “I can’t say I do, your Majesty.”
Kai’s nose scrunches up as he makes a face and lets out something akin to a groan. “You really don’t need to call me that.”
Laughing, Cinder just leans on Kai’s shoulder as she glances at the notebook page filled with unnecessarily neat names, taking a moment to just gaze at how beautiful his writing his before actually paying attention and quickly figuring out a pattern in the films.
“Why are these all to do with thefts?” she asks.
Kai blinks, glances at her, looks back to the list, and then chuckles quietly. “I guess we haven’t been as subtle as we’d thought.”
Even Cinder laughs then, a sheepish smile blooming on her face. “It’s probably best, I don’t know how much longer I could have found a place to keep your pens without losing them.”
“Cinder, I love you, but you’d better not have lost my pens or I might just wage war.”
“Would you really risk fighting me and ruining your hoodie?” she asks innocently, pulling a pen out from her pocket and crossing a few options off.
Kai mock-frowns. “This is meant to be a democratic evening.”
Cinder snorts and crosses off another one when he doesn’t stop her. “This is me taking up that offer of making laws.”
“Those laws are meant to be for the country, not film night,” Kai argues, but he doesn’t exactly complain when she discards all their options sans one, the only one that doesn’t have a plot directly related to catching a criminal.
After a moment of silence, Cinder sits up properly and crosses her legs, turning to face him with a smile. “Pen for your thoughts?” She asks, twirling his pen in her hand.
Kai can’t help but laugh, taking his pen from her and speedily inspecting it to make sure it’s not broken before leaning forward and kissing her cheek. “My deepest gratitude, your Majesty.”
“Kai!” Cinder rolls her eyes. “Did you really think I’d let your pens get broken?”
He pauses, considering only for a brief moment before shaking his head at her. “I’d trust you with my pen collection any day.”
Cinder actually blushes.
Not only is that a little disconcerting because it's only newly become an option for her due to her scientifically unexpected and highly successful campaign to make young cyborgs feel less alien and more socially acceptable, but she's just not usually one to blush.
Despite both of those things, she finds that can’t help it, there’s something endearing about the way he says that, as if there’s not even the faintest margin of doubt in his mind. And they both know he’s unusually protective over his pens so it’s all but an honour to be trusted with them.
“I love you too,” Cinder whispers, not knowing if she wants him to hear that or not. He does, and the sparkle in his eye confirms that she did indeed want that.
Kai puts an arm around her as the film starts playing and she smiles to herself, wondering what her old self would say if she’d been told that she’d one day feel happiness from knowing how someone loves her enough to commit crimes with her.
If her friends could see her now, they’d say that the two of them look like peas in a pod, but that term has always confused her and now she’s content to say that she and Kai are akin to thieves in a pod instead. She’s also embarrassed to realise she literally says that out loud when Kai chuckles at her, taking her hand and gently kissing her knuckles.
“More like thieves on a sofa, love,” he murmurs.
Cinder disregards maturity and sticks her tongue out at him.
“We might be in a pod someday,” she says after a second, “and we’re already halfway there by being thieves.”
“You’ve been halfway there since the day we met and you practically stole my heart in an instant.” Kai’s words are sincere and elicit yet another blush from Cinder, who has to bite her cheek to stop her grin from exploding outward and making her look crazy.
She wants to say something equally as adorable or witty back but she’s never been the best with words so she just tightens her grip on Kai and pulls him closer, combining their personal spaces into one smaller bubble of love.
It’s a funny world, she realises yet again, but if marriage and mostly harmless theft have taught her anything, it’s that there can be no better partner in crime than your partner in life.
like/reblog but don’t repost, thanks!
