Madeleine Grows a Pair

21 - There's No Storm Brewing

Woo! Another chapter! Y'all are getting this one first since AO3 is down. I've been a bit busy, what with speedrunning my driver's license and all, so it's been pretty slow. On the upside: I get to write some major bonding and hurt/comfort now >:D

Have a good one!

Whoever taught Espresso that empathy was overrated was absolutely correct. He hated this.

He couldn't keep his gaze away from the bloodied form of Madeleine as he was carted through the door by the arms of one of Strawberry Crepe's wafflebots. The paladin's eyes were blissfully closed like his back wasn't soaked with jam from the point his cape tied around his shoulders all the way down to where it skirted past his legs. There wasn't any gash through his clothes, there weren't any tears or blemishes (aside from his gloves, which were scuffed with dirt), there was just jam.

What happened?

He'd seen Madeleine just earlier that day. He had seen him smiling, eager to learn more about himself, voicing his concerns, and feeding in more knowledge about his wings. He was still shaken from the wing incident, but he was improving. He was doing better.

And now, not too long later, he was unconscious with jam staining a newer-looking cape.

Espresso had just seen him. It felt like it was only moments ago that he was talking to the paladin, writing things down, hell, even writing that note to tell him about his change in plans. Not even a day had passed. Not one.

He stared helplessly at the excessive jam, thoughts all spiraling into one phrase:

What the hell?

Espresso couldn't tell what kind of emotion bubbled up inside him. There was no indication other than the burning feeling in his heart and the tightness in his throat. He couldn't blink. He couldn't even breathe without choking on the thick saliva pooling in his mouth. Breathe. Breathing.

Fuck, was Madeleine even still breathing? Was he even still alive?

Espresso's hands buzzed as he reached for Madeleine's neck. He wasn't sure if he could do this. He wasn't sure if he wanted to know the answer.

Then his hand pressed against cold dough and he couldn't stop himself from shaking the paladin like he'd wake up and everything would be fine and the day would rewind and he could pretend that this never happened.

He didn't move. Espresso almost laughed, trying to wrangle in his feelings and manage them. Of course he wouldn't respond, why would he? He was unconscious. He was unconscious and cold and...

Espresso waited. He counted.

And then a shallow breath left Madeleine and he almost collapsed.

Madeleine was alive. He was okay; scratch that, he was breathing. He was also bleeding out and what the hell was Espresso doing this whole time?

Shaking himself out of his trance, he looked at Pure Vanilla with desperation, longing, and whatever else was brewing in his hot pot of emotions. He didn't even notice that the healer had been next to him the whole time, scanning Madeleine with the orchid eye on his staff looming overhead. It couldn't have been more than a few seconds that passed before he stood straight and guided the wafflebot somewhere else. Espresso couldn't get himself to follow.

Instead, he stumbled back into the waiting chair, trying to stop the circle of thoughts that kept repeating in his mind. Every time he did, it only took a few moments for him to slowly veer right back to thinking about the whole thing all over again.

It would be a while until Madeleine was secured, Espresso knew that, and while he also knew that the time would be better spent on his experiments, it would be impossible at best. An unfocused mind made a terrible scientist. There was no way he could go back to his lab and handle equipment like he wasn't terribly distracted, especially not with the way his hands trembled in his lap.