Kai and Cinder One-Shots

Truth or Dare

Thorne is hosting a party, let's see how this goes ...
Truth or Dare and double date with Cresswell
Prompted by: @StoriesToReadAndLove and @BreannaHarrison5

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The last week had been a bummer. Cinder hadn't slept a wink, because this Queen thing was a little more taxing then she had thought.

First, there had been an attempted assassination. The traitor was behind bars, but that didn't exactly take away the fear. Next, the weather had been a terrible hot and humid combination the whole week. Iko's personality chip had developed a bug in it's processing, so she was out of commission before that could be fixed. The cherry on top of this fantastic week? Kai was gone the whole time on a diplomatic mission to the UK.

So yeah, Cinder needed a break.

Unfortunately, Thorne took it upon himself to deliver this.

"You're only sixteen, Cinder," he had explained. "Girls your age should be worried about what type of lipgloss to wear or if their portscreen is almost out of battery."

Cinder gave him a look, like, "wow, I can't believe how much of an idiot you are."

Thorne just smirked. "I propose a party. Your boyfriend is returning tomorrow, yes? Bring him too." Before Cinder could protest, he strutted from the room, looking very pleased with himself.

He came back five minuets later with the time and place.

Cinder didn't want to go, and she would have argued that the time at a party would be better spent sleeping. Nevertheless, she went. She needed to have fun, or whatever variation of fun Thorne had made up.

Thorne had a dingy old apartment in San Franscico, there he said would be the place. Cinder didn't understand why they couldn't just use one of the hundreds of empty rooms in Kai's palace. But Thorne insisted, as the host, it was his duty to treat them.

And so, Cinder and Kai stood in front of a small apartment building in the middle of San Fransico. The hover they took sped away down the old street.

Scratch dingy, really dingy.

The whole of San Fransisco had gone downhill ever since the tide rose and drowned half the city. The water was controlled now, but the town was never the same.

"Wow," Kai blurted, then immediately he looked embarrassed. "Sorry, it's just, if Thorne wanted a better apartment, he could always ask us."

Cinder shook her head. "It's better that he lives for himself. I'd know."

Kai was silent for a moment, then he smiled. "Man, you're hot when you get deep."

"Shut up."

Inside the lobby, the floorboards creaked, and the old, moldy staircase protested as Cinder and Kai walked up. There was only one floor and about six apartments. Thorne was in the second one.

Cinder knocked on the door, and it creaked open.

"Hello?" Kai called. They walked into the one room. The apartment was falling apart, but it was comfy enough, with a big fluffy couch and bed and a netscreen. The hole-in-the-wall kitchen of to the right and actual light switches completed the picture.

Suddenly, the dim lights went dark, and the door slammed shut. Kai yelped and grabbed onto Cinder's arm. They both froze in place.

There was some shuffling, and and an incoherent whisper.

"Carswell? Turn on the lights it's pitch black in here." A voice, recognizable as Cress, suddenly said. The lights flickered back on. Thorne sat in the middle of the room, his legs crossed. He hissed at the light.