Espresseleine oneshots 🍂

Just One Touch 🍂

Just a heads up this is the one I also have posted separately. I wanted to add it here but I don't wanna delete the og.

Type: Fluff,

Warnings: None

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Espresso's skin was cold, empty, and untouched.

From childhood, he'd not once received a hug.

And now, though having a close companion or two, he'd still not received one. Did Espresso's cold demeanor scare them off?

It had all been catching up to him. The sleepless nights wishing someone would hold him, the way he watched the other cookies embrace and wished he'd had that. It was constantly eating away at his brain every minute. He felt so, so starved.

But one day, Madeleine's hand had grazed over his. From that day forth, that's all that's been on his mind.

He'd sit in his room, replaying that moment over and over again. He would hug his pillow, burying his head in it, pretending it was Madeleine. He'd been crushing on his so-called "frenemy" for a long while now. Not that he'd tell a single soul, though. He felt as though he must keep up his constant act, no matter how soft he wanted to go when Madeleine was around.

Despite how much he told himself he didn't want it, he wanted it. It felt embarrassing in his eyes. He wanted to be vulnerable around Madeleine. He wanted to sit on his lap or nuzzle his face into his chest. He wanted his affection.

So one day, he decided.

After hours of talking to himself and trying various methods online to help soothe his touch-starvedness, he decided.

He would ask Madeleine for a hug.

One hug. Just one. Nothing special. It would be simple. It could quench his thirst for touch, but it could also be more of a make-or-break scenario. What if he did succeed in said hug but craved more? How embarrassing it would be to ask again.

He just wished he could ask Madeleine out already. Then Madeleine would give him all the affection he so desperately needed, right? But there's no way Madeleine liked him back. There's just no way.

-

The first time Espresso tried asking, it was after a battle in the woods. He and some other cookies had been out on a mission to claim land for the kingdom. Some weird creatures had overtaken it. After having his eyes glued to Madeleine for the entirety of the battle, they succeeded.

Espresso came up behind Madeleine a bit shyly, raising his hand to tap on the man's shoulder, but the knight turned around before Espresso even had a chance to do so.

"Hey! Espresso! What's up?"

"Oh-" Espresso retracted his hand.

"I saw you eyeing me the whole battle. Something wrong? Was there a spider on my back or something?" Madeleine chuckled with that stupid, cute, hideous loud laugh of his.

"Ah. Why I just-" Espresso paused and panicked. "It's nothing."

Madeleine raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yeah. Nothing of your concern, moron. I was just focusing on how dumb you look in battle."

Before Madeleine could reply, Espresso had already walked off. Who knows in what direction. Simply taking a walk.

-

The second time wasn't much better, unfortunately.

The two were on the clock all evening and had met up outside the artisan's workshop. Though, by meet up, it was more Madeleine finding the man sitting all alone on break, eating a granola bar.