A change in status quo

Ch 5: questions

~~~~~

That question made time stop dead in its tracks. Espresso slowly looked up at Madeleine, Somber eyes of amber met with otherwise lively and vibrant blue ones. His uncombed brown solemnly draped down his face, and his arm laid limp while he was holding onto Madeleine's wrist. The white shirt Madeleine had previously put on him acted like a light curtain, delicately grazing the top of Espresso's dark skin.
He stared at Madeleine, awaiting for an answer.

Madeleine was speechless at the sight of Espresso like this, he felt his face begin to heat up a bit.
Madeleine subtlety shook his head and walked back a few steps towards Espresso. He sat on the edge of the bed where Espresso's feet were, he removed his hand from his wrist.
The top of the bed was lifted along with Espresso when the weight of Madeleine sat in.

Madeleine looked off towards the doorway for a second before giving a soft chuckle and looked towards Espresso. He gave a soft smile.
"Well, you're my friend, and I care about you"

Espresso was taken aback by the response, he didn't know what answer to expect, but this took him by surprise, especially the second part.

"But I've- y- you surly do know that I hate being around you in public, and I told you to stay away from me, why didn't you?" Espresso pressed, wanting more answers resolved.

Madeleine furrowed his eyebrows, he looked down for a few seconds, but didn't lower his head, he looked up at Espresso
"Well, if I didn't help you, Latte would've murdered me," Madeleine started, giving a little chuckle.

"But also, it's been forever since I seen you, we grew up together in the republic, I wanted to get to know you so badly when we were younger, but I was never really allowed to go near you. Or anyone for that matter. My parents were scared of their son having a friend that didn't do light magic, they were scared it would damage their reputation and their status. They didn't want me to practice any other magic, because gods forbid if I start practicing any other magic it would tint their magic bloodline. Whatever the hell that means"

Espresso slowly nodded, Madeleine continues;

"But fast forward a few years, me and you get chosen to find the treasure, sent out form the republic.
We had a great time for a while, I thought. I don't know what I said or did to make you start hate me.." Madeleine trailed off.

Espresso slowly shut his eyes, and let out a soft steady breath.

"I just, for the first few months we have been together on the trip, I got to know a lot about you. You are my first true friend that I have ever had, and I don't want to let go of that," Madeleine looked down, his tone sifted into melancholy, but still slightly smiled.

Espresso opened his eyes "I see" he gave a simple response.

Madeleine let light a soft exhale and stood up from the bed and walked out to get the food Latte had left out.
Espresso slightly turned his head towards Madeleine, his tired eyes following him out the door.

Madeleine slowly walked towards the kitchen, he stopped by the island where the basket had been left for a few days.
He felt his eyes become heavy, he placed his left palm on his eye and raised it upward, "Now that Espresso is awake, and once he's going to be able to walk around again, he is going to avoiding him once again"
The thought hurt Madeleine. He was confused why Espresso had been avoiding him since their parting on the quest.
Was it truly something he had said or done? "I'll ask Espresso about it tomorrow" Madeleine murmured to himself "I'd better give this to Espresso."

Espresso lifted his head up to see Madeleine with the basket, Madeleine walked closer to him and put the basket on his lap, Madeleine sank onto the chair.
Madeleine put his hands on his legs and rested his head on his palms.
Espresso ignored him, and opened the basket.
"It seems that I'm correct" Espresso quietly confirmed to himself. "It's glazed donuts." Espresso lifted up the donut and took a small bite. He was supersized that Madeleine hasn't spoken for this long, Espresso wasn't complaining though. He looked over to see Madeleine, who appeared to be asleep on the chair, he was leaned forward, strands of blonde hair dangling across his face, his back slowly moving up and down with his soft breaths.
Espresso scoffed softly and rolled his eyes, "and I thought I had bad posture."
Espresso went back to eating his donuts in silence.

Espresso had never been one to be uncomfortable in silence, but this made him slightly feel off.
Maybe it was the fact Madeleine was here? Espresso questioned himself.

Espresso had finished the last of the donuts and placed the box on the floor on the other side of the bed. He moved forward so he was laying on the bed. The light was still on though. However, Espresso wanted to sleep, quite unusual, but he never had his coffee in a whole week, he was more tired than usual. Espresso put his glasses on the shelf, just behind Madeleine and attempted to sleep. However, an hour has passed, and he was still wide awake.
He didn't feel like waking Madeleine up, but he also didn't know if he could walk yet.

After a long while of strategically planning on how to turn the lights off, he finally came to a conclusion. "Forget it" He gritted his teeth. He grabbed his glasses back from the shelf and pulled the blankets off of him to attempt to stand up.
Once he had successfully lifted the blankets off, he shuffled so his leg were dangling off the edge of the bed. His hands were behind him, placed on the bed
He inhaled and slowly lifted himself off the bed.
He seemed to be standing fine, he still kept his hand on the edge of the bed however.
He turned his head to see Madeleine, who was right next to him, he was still sleeping of course.
Espresso examined the room and after a few minutes, he spotted the light switch.

He lifted his hand from the bed and took a few steps, but before he could reach anywhere, he felt his legs become weak.
Espresso panicked, and attempted to turn around to catch himself on the bed, but his legs fell forward, leaving him to just barely catch his face from hitting the ground, he was indeed lying on the ground however, and the sound of him falling on the hard wood floor was enough to jolt Madeleine awake.

Madeleine looked at the source of the sound, just to see Espresso slowly sitting up from the ground just a few feet in front of him. Madeleine rushed over and squatted next to him and placed his hand on his shoulder. "Espresso, you can't walk yet!" Madeleine panicked.
"Madeleine I'm fine" espresso snapped back. He shoved off Madeleine's hand and stood up. Madeleine stood up as well. But he couldn't stand up for long before he fell forward again, but only this time Madeleine and caught him before he could hit the ground. Madeleine had his hand around his waist And the other under his arm. Espresso had his head on Madeleine's shoulder. He could hear soft cries.
Madeleine felt grief hit his stomach as he slowly picked up tried to pick up Espresso, but he very weakly tried pushing him way.
"Please let go of me." Espresso pleaded, tears welled in his throat, making his sentence sound groggy.
Madeleine, however, ignored Espresso and lifted him up anyways.
Madeleine placed him back on the bed.
Espresso just sat there and curled up on a ball, he hid his face in his knees and cried.
"What's wrong Espresso?" Madeleine calmly asked, he slowly moved Espresso so he was facing the edge of the bed, and Madeleine was right in front of him.

"What happened to me?" "Why did it have to be you who saved me" "I can't be seen around you, not after what they had threatened to do to me"

The last part stuck out to Madeleine. Madeleine slowly put two of his hands on Espresso's shoulders. "What do you mean 'not after what they had threatened'"? Madeleine questioned, the steady deep tone scared Espresso a little bit.

Espresso looked up to make eye contact with Madeleine, Espresso looked nervous, his eyes red from tears. He moved back to the position where he was facing the wall in front of him.

He laid his head on the bedrest.

"It's what your parent's told me before we left on the quest." Espresso began..