You are always the hero but listen, and I'll spare your friends just this once

Chapter 1- I never truly belonged to begin with...

AN: There will be multiple chapters to this. This is just part one as of now. I will update this as quickly as I possibly can. I hope you enjoy the scene being set and I can't wait for you to know the rest of the story.

Espresso cookie was many things.

A scholar who wished to show his magic and knowledge with the world for the next generation.

A citizen living within a new kingdom to help aid their beginning.

A friend to a select few, namely Madeleine, Latte, and Kumiho cookie. Anyone else in the kingdom would not interact much with him just like he seemed to wish.

A mage who worked hard on their craft and held great pride in it as well.

A collector of the interesting out there. More than once that he had been dragged out on an adventure, he returned with something interesting in his hands. He wasn't dumb with this, of course. He didn't grab anything right out and he always ensured it seemed to be not dangerous. He normally wouldn't hide the object either.

So why... did he not show this to the group? Why did he hide it away in their pocket and pretend he had found nothing this time? It was a gem. A purple gem which seemed to glint red at certain angles. It didn't seem to be dangerous or anything but he felt he had to hide it away from the others.

Once they had gotten back from their expedition, Madeleine ran off to make a report on it alongside Rye Cookie, Espresso had rushed off himself to go home and away from the others still presently working on unpacking things from the balloon, an apology falling from his lips which made it seem like he had one of his special packages he had to get to. Leaving a sighing Sparkling cookie trying to get Vampire cookie to just help him finally, the only way to get him to help being a little... encouragement like not getting juice today if he doesn't help.

Once they got inside their home, they sighed, locking the door and pulling the gem out of his pocket, moving it around on his hand and the faintest sign of a smile appeared on his face. The gem glinted in his hand as he looked over the gem. It seemed to radiate a sense of comfort to the small mage. He looked over it and the smooth yet rough edges caught the light in the room, blinding the mage when he went to go close the windows, making them drop the stone and rub at their eyes for a moment. With the blinds closed, they reached out for the stone again, a touch more wary with the stone since obviously, it could catch rays of light quite easily. They moved to their desk and placed the gem down on the chocolate wood desk, finding a spare notebook nearby and flipping it open to write down what he knew of the stone. He wrote for a while before grabbing the gem again, needing to feel it in his hands once more. He didn't know why but it had bothered him even with it still in his sights. Making a note of that in the journal, he sighed and rubbed his fingers over the stone, mulling over what possible reasons it may compel him to feel certain things. He thought about leaving the stone and seeing what ailments he may gain by doing such a thing but instead opted against it, ad in the end, he took the time to carefully place it into a necklace he would hide under his shirt. Once he had made it so that he had dealt with the gem, he headed for the door to head out to his laboratory. He had a lot of work to catch up on after having gone on that expedition.

~~TIMESKIP~~

Days went by and the cookie had gone back to their normal habits. An action that no doubt would draw a certain light magic casting defense cookie. Espresso flinched when there was the loud noise at the door suddenly, hearing a call from Madeleine. "Espresso Cookie, Good day to you. I came by to check on you!" He didn't even have to turn his head to know the other had already made their way inside. "... Greetings, Madeleine Cookie. May I inquire as to the state of the door?" Glancing over to the other, he could see them wince and frowned. "You didn't break my door again, did you, Madeleine cookie?" His eyes flashed as he watched the other try to make up an excuse. "Ah, well, actually... I will ensure to fix the problem myself. I'm doing some work at the shop later anyways, so I can make you up a replacement for tomorrow. But anyways, to drop that topic, I need to ensure this mage right here gets some sleep and no one has seen you left in days so either come willingly or I will drag you to rest in your bed, alright, Espresso?" He had a big grin on his face but in all reality, he wasn't asking. Espresso already knew that. He knew exactly what would happen, just like every other time the other burst in to ensure he was caring for himself. It didn't change his attempt to get away from the other. No matter how tired he may be, he could work another day or two without collapsing. Madeleine could read what was about to happen and he lunged to try to catch the other cookie but as always, Espresso was an elusive cookie and he was out the door before the other could grab him. He was no fool, he could never outrun the other but he would still attempt to. After all, the other would not catch him every last time, right? And... there was a weird feeling that he ignored that wanted him to be far away from the other. And he couldn't explain why he felt it. He could hear Madeleine coming after him as he ran. He tried to weave through the shops to try to lose the other but he knew the other would find him if he tried to hide in a shop so he kept going. It was almost like a game. He could remember playing it with the other kids when he was younger. He never did well enough in these games, however. He tried to dodge the hand that reached out for him from behind, when had the other gotten so close? He didn't move quickly enough and he was immediately trapped against the others armor, their arm keeping him from getting away again. "I caught you, now will you come willingly, Espresso?" The tone was light and ever so slightly chiding from the loud knight. Espresso grumbled out a reply that Madeleine couldn't hear but took to mean he had succeeded in his capture of the coffee mage. "Now, off to get you something to eat and get you to have that rest you must desperately need by this point... Don't worry, you can go back to work tomorrow. Just humor me until I have to go on my next expedition." Espresso sighed in an annoyed way, trying to wiggle out of the hold a few times but barely even being able to do that, he did have to admit defeat and go with the other. "... your balloon isn't leaving until tomorrow evening, I will not leave working until then." His tone was a touch sharp. "Well, at least until tomorrow morning after you eat a breakfast then, you workaholic mage." He sighed as he felt the other drag him along towards their home. "I don't see the point in you doing such things, and put me down, Ill go willingly you big oaf... you are holding me too tightly..." He sighed gently, feeling the other let go. "Ah sorry, sometimes I don't know my own strength" Madeleine was saying alongside a chuckle falling from their lips. Espresso stepped back and did his best at looking at the other in an annoyed way. "Well, either way, let us just get this over with so I can get back to work as soon as possible. And don't expect to be able to sleep in, I'm waking you at the break of dawn." He pointed at the other and tried to make themself seem intimidating to some extent to the other. The cheeky paladin made their own comment back, a smirk present on their lips. "You say that now but last time you said that, you slept in until noon." Espresso did remember that and they were not about to agree with the other on that. "That was due to a lack of coffee being on hand due to your negligence. Do ensure it does not happen again." Madeleine had chuckled, an apology falling from his mouth falling on deaf ears. Espresso had gotten ahead of the other, striding towards the paladins home while lost in thought on why there was something wrong. Normally, he would be secretly happy with the other doing everything they were doing but there was something wrong. He was feeling annoyed at the other about every little thing. He just wanted to get this over with, before he slipped up and snapped at the other. Just last time, he had actually woken up at dawn, but he had snuggled back into Madeleine happily and relaxed for hours in the others hold, happy and content with the situation. When the other had woken up, he had pretended to be asleep and then wake up from the others call when they had finished preparing a breakfast for the pair to consume. Yet now, he had a feeling like he might not be very happy when he woke up in the others arms. Perhaps he could slip away while the other remained resting.
After a meal and a small bit of banter, the pair had headed to the room, Espresso having second thoughts about coming up here but Madeleine being behind, blocking any chance he could just slip out, he just had to go along with the others whims obediently. He turned to the other, almost as though he was going to make an excuse but the other guided him the rest of the way. "Just one night here, relax. You know I won't bite." That big smile on their face, Espresso matched it with a deadpan glare. Although it slightly deterred the smile trained on the other, they still ushered the small mage to go lay down on the bed and join them once the other was down. He ignored the claims that the other wasn't tired, simply doing as always to calm the mage. He knew petting the others hair and keeping them near their chest would always get the other to fall asleep without much of a struggle. After a few moments, he could tell the other had fallen asleep, but he remained softly petting the others hair for a while longer.

~~TIMESKIP TO THE FOLLOWING MORNING~~

Sunlight had just barely started to filter into the room and Espresso was awake. He got up and immediately untangled himself from the warm arms of the paladin and wrote a note before tacking it to the door of the room. He strode away from the house after that, heading off towards his home to make up a coffee to give hi some more energy before he could return to his lab with a now yet again broken door... today would go swimmingly, and it was all Madeleine's' fault. He shook his head. He shouldn't think like that. The pair had made it up a while ago... not that long after they had constructed that puppet stand. It had been shoddy workmanship but all the same, they all ensured to take care of it in the kingdom. The children did love to frequent the stall and Mont Blanc had taken her time to construct puppets for everyone to use. It had been a cute gesture and had won over all the kids that Espresso had seen interact with the lady. After the puppet stall was completed, he really had not spent much time there. Alot of the time, he would see Clover, Herb, Parfait, and Milk cookie at the puppet stand making a show up for the children to watch. Some adults sometimes did pop by to watch a show from what he saw but it was truly for the children. Lost in thought, he bumped into Tiger Lily Cookie and groaned as a spear was pushed near his face for a second. It seemed it was one of those times Tiger Lily wasn't going to speak more than animalistic noises and he quickly excused himself from the situation, hurrying to go hide within his lab. Once within the lab, he reached down his shirt and pulled the gem necklace out so he could examine the gem. It seemed more red than he remembered. That was weird, was the purple only there temporarily? If so, then why did it appear like that when he had come across it? He immediately went to put his finding in the book. Looking over his notes on the weird gem, it seemed to cause certain feelings to occur but why would it be like that? It couldn't be anything bad, could it? At the time, he only thought that it was perhaps that it may strengthen emotions, however, had he known what it actually was, perhaps he may have tried to get rid of the gem.

~~TIMESKIP~~

It was nearly a month later that Espresso had been asked to go on another venture and he was in no position to ignore the request. The coffee mage headed to the balloon and joined the other cookies for the quest. A quick glance over and he noticed that Herb was in the role of healer, Raspberry Cookie was the charge, Hollyberry was the defender, he was the mage, and he wondered if the last cookie to join them would be a bomber, support, ambush, or ranged type. Almond cookie approached after a few minutes, apologizing for being late. He sighed as he debated on the team he had been put in. He didn't have much experience with any of the team, other than one time going out with Herb in the crew he had been assigned at that time. He got into the balloon, placing his bag down in the balloon cage and sitting down beside it with a book to read. Other than him, everyone else seemed to know each other and hold each other in high esteem. He was the random add on and according to what he had heard, it had been a last minute change due to Blackberry Cookie having been hurt during the day from a freak accident at the Jampie diner. He hadn't inquired farther on what had happened, however. The only one to really approach him on the ride had been Herb and since the other did not seem to wish to partake in the conversation, it had been a brief visit for the green leafed boy.

~~MEANWHILE~~

A red haired cookie, Pomegranate Cookie, and a black cloaked cookie, Licorice Cookie, both were in the midst of a conversation concerning the plan for the area. The one dressed in black had headed off to make some final touches and make sure their other helper, Dark Choco Cookie, actually had done their part. The one dressed in red noticed the balloon heading down, so she stealthily headed towards where they were landing, watching to see just who might have come to attempt to foil her plans. The group had started to set up camp and she watched, blending in as best as she could. However, she almost thought she would get caught once in a while when someone strayed a bit close. There was something she could feel that she should watch for. And finally, the reason came into sight. The dark haired mage had headed a bit away from the group and reached for something on a necklace string, holding it in their hand and rubbing the gem fastened carefully to the necklace string. She smiled and gave a small chuckle, heading away from the group to meet up with her unfortunately paired together partner. "We have a change of plans, dear Licorice." The cookie blinked in confusion at first before looking like they were going to snap at her and yet, by the end of their conversation, he was chuckling and both of them were quite pleased with the change in their plans.