a͟m͟b͟i͟v͟a͟l͟e͟n͟c͟e͟ - espresseleine au

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When we returned from the ball, Madeleine took a shower while I read a book and I showered while he watched a movie.

The shower was relaxing, and I had much more tension stored than I thought. I got dressed in pajamas and went into the living room to join Madeleine.

He was sitting on one end of the couch and watching a movie and I sat on the other end and read my book.  After a bit, I put down my book, sighing. "Madeleine?" I asked.

He looked over at me, pausing the movie. "Yeah?" he replied, smiling.

"Why are you smiling at me?" I asked, temporarily forgetting my question.

"Because I love looking at you," he said, still grinning.

I laughed. "You're such a hopeless romantic."

"And you're not?" 

You can't tell him, but I have an entire shelf of romance novels at home. "You're insufferable," I said, putting my hand over my face.

"But you love me anyway." was his reply.

I looked down. "Can- can I have..."

The look on his face turned to one of concern. "Can you have what?"

"...cuddles."

"Of course!" he said, pulling me onto his lap.

We sat in silence for some time, while we watched Robert Downey Jr. get beat up by Jeff Bridges. "I don't know why you like these action movies, Mads. Seems rather... repetitive?"

He grinned, and that's when I knew I'd made a mistake. "Well, that's what makes the magic! For example, in Iron Man 2..."

I fell asleep sometime during his lecture(?) and woke up about the time he was finishing off. "..and that's why the MCU is the greatest cinematic universe of all time!"

Then he blinked at me. "'Spress, did you fall asleep?"

"...maybe. I'm sorry! I was just really tired, and I like falling asleep to the sound of your voice, and-"

He cut me off, squeezing me. "C'mon, let's both go to sleep. I don't mind. Your needs are worth more than my weird interests."

I nodded, sliding off him. He grabbed my hand and we meandered over to the bedroom together.

We fell asleep spooned again, although this time it was deliberate, not spur-of-the-moment.

In the morning, we woke up to the sound of an alarm ringing. I blearily looked up, my eyes full of sleep, but one glance at the clock jolted me awake.

It was 9 am. Our train left in 30 minutes.

"Madeleine!" I yelled, shaking him. "Get off your ass, we're late!"

He, too, looked up sleepily. "Whazza-huh?" I pointed him at the clock and he jumped out of my arms and ran to get changed. A "Fuck!" came from the bathroom as I let out a wry chuckle.

I got changed in the bedroom, then dashed all over the suite looking for any lost trinkets or knick-knacks. Madeleine emerged from the bathroom looking disheveled but passable and soon joined me in my frantic rushing.

20 minutes later, we were (reasonably confident that we were) ready to go. Stopping only for a rushed goodbye to Clotted Cream and Oyster, we beelined to the station, catching the train with 5 minutes to spare.

Heaving gasps of relief, we boarded the train and found a bench. I wanted to find seats, but Madeleine insisted on a bench. His reasoning was unclear until he pulled me into a hug-cuddle and we stayed like that the whole way home.

People gave him dirty looks because his two suitcases were blocking the hall. "Now do you regret bringing them?" I asked, smirking at him.

"Nope!" came the chipper reply. "Still don't care about what others think!" He paused to consider, then said, "Except you, of course."

We emerged from the train at our stop (Madeleine somewhat slowly due to all his baggage) and took a quick shortcut through the forest to get to the Palanaeum. Madeleine was ahead of me since he was the trained fighter with all the armor.

As soon as he could see the Palanaeum, he dropped his bags and froze. I pushed past them to see what had him all worked up, then did the same thing.

The Palanaeum was in flames.

"Well," I commented dryly. "At least we have packed bags."

sorry for the sucky-ass chapter, writer's block FUCKING HATES ME