Chapter Text
The day Cinder’s been dreading comes within the month.
The red light in the corner of her vision, warning her that she’s about to regress, comes back in a matter of days, and while she wanted to quietly remedy this on her own, Iko immediately notices something is up and rats her out to the rest of the Rampion crew.
It’s a snowball effect from there. Cress and Thorne, fresh off an antidote run to America, immediately go to pick up Wolf and Scarlet before arriving back at the palace. Cress won’t stop mentioning how excited she is, all but confirming that Cinder can’t back out even if she wanted to.
And of course, out of a weird sense of obligation, because that’s the only reason Kai would want to be around her regressed self after her utter freak out last time, he joins her.
“I just wanted to tell you that I care about you.” Kai says, putting a reassuring arm around her shoulders.
Cinder doesn’t quite believe him, but the physical touch is nice.
Scarlet and Thorne greet them outside.
“Hey, Cinder!” Thorne says. Even for him, he’s smiling widely. “Head on in. The kids are inside.”
“Cinder!” Before Cinder can step over the threshold, she’s tackled into a hug by a very excitable Cress. She’s not dressed in the princess attire from last time, but instead one of Thorne’s T-shirts—which fits her about the same as a dress—a pair of capri leggings, and of course, funny socks. These ones have alligators in suspenders riding scooters on them.
“Hi, Cress.”
“I missed you!”
Cinder grins, unable to resist getting swept up in Cress’s energy. “I missed you, too!”
Wolf trots up behind her, shoulders hunched, head ducked. He still looks massive beside tiny Cress, but the way he holds himself makes him look that much smaller.
He smiles shyly and waves, and it finally hits Cinder that he may not be here to look after Cress and her.
“Wolf’s littler than both of us.” Cress whispers. “So you gotta be extra nice to him, okay?”
Cinder glances back. “Well, how old are you?”
“I’m six! What about you?”
Cinder opens her mouth to respond, when she realizes she doesn’t know. She hates to say it, but she doesn’t even feel small. Now, she doesn’t have the best frame of reference, since she regressed due to a panic attack and hasn’t regressed since.
“It’s okay.” Cress assures her. “You can be the oldest for now.”
“Thanks.” Cinder gets the feeling that this is Cress’s way of being nice.
Cress nods, her big smile highlighting her freckles. “So what do you wanna do?” Cress asks her.
Cinder blanches. She thought she’d be hanging back, observing. She couldn’t handle being responsible for everyone’s fun. That’s so much pressure! She’s stuck there, frozen, when Thorne joins them.
“So funny that you’d mention that, princess.” Thorne says. He takes the time to readjust Cress’s collar. “Because I have something for you.”
He pulls a bracelet from his pocket. It’s made of string, and decorated with beads, but Cress stares at it like it’s the emperor’s crown jewels.
Cress gapes. “Really?”
“Just be on your best behavior. You have two shy newbies to watch out for.”
Cress nods seriously as Thorne secures it around her wrist.
“This is the Leader Bracelet. It’s for when the kids start fighting. Basically, if you’re wearing it, you’re in charge for the day. What movies we watch, what snacks we get, what games we play. It was one way for Wolf to get a word in over Miss Bossy-Britches.” With a coy grin, he pinches Cress’s cheek.
“Hey!” She swats at his wrist. “No teasing!”
“Cress also uses it when she’s feeling smaller than normal. She gives it to me so I know it’s okay to take charge. Maybe it can be your turn with it next time.”
Cinder tries and fails not to grimace. “Thanks, but no thanks.”
“It’s okay, Cinder. You don’t have to be in charge if you don’t want to. I’ll make every day really fun for us all! Wolf really likes to color. Is it okay if we color?”
“Uh, sure.” Frankly, she’s just glad Cress didn’t ask her what she liked to do, because she had no idea. Then again, that might be why she didn’t.
“Yay! Let’s go color!” Cress takes her wrist and all but drags her away.
Cress leads her and Wolf to the same kiddie table she was at last time Cinder saw her, but with considerably more chairs this time.
“You looked kinda uncomfortable with Kai.” Cress whispers once Wolf has caught up.
“It’s…new.” Cinder admits. “Everything’s new.”
“It’s okay. Just say the codeword and I’ll come in and get you out of there, okay?”
“What’s the codeword?”
Cress pauses to consider this. “Red glitter.”
“Red glitter?”
“It’s my least favorite kind. So if you ask me for it, I’ll know something is up.” Cress plucks a stuffed animal from one of the chairs, holding it out in Cinder’s direction. “This is Flipper. Carswell bought him for me when we went to the aquarium, but you can borrow him for now.”
Its fur is unbelievably soft. And the weight does feel nice against her chest. Cinder accepts, if only because it gives her something to do with her arms. “Thanks.”
“Uh-huh!” Cress and Wolf sit shoulder to shoulder, moving easily around each other as they lay out crayons and pieces of paper. “What are you gonna draw, Cinder?”
“Oh, I don’t think I’m gonna color today.”
“Is it because you don’t know what to draw?” Cress asks. “That’s okay! We have coloring pages too!”
Before Cinder can protest, Cress slides a folder over the table. Inside is a collection of coloring pages, featuring everything from puppies to net drama stars. Cinder plucks out one at random, which happens to feature a multitude of smiling fish, and gets to work.
It’s surprisingly easy to get lost in the work. It’s easy, simple, and her cyborg enhancements are surprisingly good at helping her pick out nice complementary colors.
That being said, she can’t help overhearing.
“What am I supposed to do?” Kai says. “I don’t wanna make her uncomfortable or scare her.”
“Are you serious?” Scarlet asks.
“Watch and learn.” Thorne adds.
Cinder hunches her shoulders, going back to her work, when Thorne comes into view.
Without a word, he cups Cress’s face in his hands and blows a gigantic raspberry against her cheek. She shrieks with laughter, and he pulls away. “Having fun?” he asks.
She nods. “Look at how good Cinder is at drawing!”
Cinder’s eyes snap to her own paper. She hasn’t really been paying attention to her coloring, and now that she does, she still doesn’t think it looks all that spectacular, but Thorne grins regardless.
“Looks amazing, Cinder.”
Something stirs inside of her, and the world gets a little less complicated. She likes being complimented, even if it’s for nothing special. She’s so used to be criticized that the tiny compliment makes her heart jump for joy.
“Thanks.”
Thorne nods and turns his attention back to Cress. “Well, Miss Leader, would you like to help me with snacks?”
Cress nods, hopping onto Thorne’s back before he has the chance to protest. The two trot off, leaving Wolf by himself on his side of the table. He looks more than a little lost.
“I’m coming.” Scarlet assures him.
It’s hard to ignore how Wolf perks up when he sees Scarlet walking his way.
“Hi, pup.” She steps into his open arms, cradling his head against her chest. She points to his drawing. “Is that the farm?”
He nods.
“That looks so good, honey!” She nuzzles his cheek, and he preens under the attention.
Cinder cranes her neck, shocked to see a near perfect replica of their Rieux farm. Cress’s drawing of princesses and knights looks sloppy in comparison. How is he able to draw that well with those claws?
She glances up again, only to immediately avert her eyes. Scarlet and Wolf speak in hushed tones, too quiet for Cinder to hear. Whatever they say, Wolf nods his head, and takes Scarlet’s hand. She leads him off without a word.
“Hey, Cinder.”
“Hi.” A jolt of embarrassment runs up her spine to see Kai standing over her, looking down at her like this. Half of her is finding coloring relaxing, while the other half isn’t small yet and feels ashamed to be seen like this.
Kai persists, either ignoring or not noticing the awkwardness. “What are you working on?”
“Just coloring,” she answers.
“Cool.” He glances up, gaze flitting to somewhere over her head. “Is it okay if I sit with you?”
“Sure.”
He sits, and immediately half the tension dissipates. It’s better when he isn’t looming over her, when they’re both sitting and a kiddie table instead of just her.
Cinder isn’t sure what to say. Her head is starting to feel fuzzy, which her eye scanners have helpfully informed her is part of her regressive state, but being so close to Kai makes her feel twice as out of her depth.
Thankfully, they only sit there for so long before Cress comes barreling back in.
“Hey, Cinder.” Cress whispers. Her grin is conspiratorial, as if everyone within five feet can’t hear her. “What’s your favorite kind of cookie?”
“Um, chocolate chip?” she guesses. Adri never really let her have the cookies she made, and since leaving, it hadn’t been high on Cinder’s priority list to try, but she knew people liked chocolate chip and figured she would too.
“That’s Wolf’s favorite too!” Over her head, Cinder notices Thorne making very insistent gestures at Kai. That’s when it clicks with her.
He has absolutely no idea what he’s doing.
Well, that makes two of them.
“That looks really nice, Cinder.” Kai says.
She shrugs. “It’s the cyborg parts. It automatically tells me what colors go good together.”
“I was never very good at drawing.” Kai admits. “Maybe you can show me?” He peels off his suit jacket and rolls up his sleeves.
“Yeah, sure.” She scoots her chair closer to his until their shoulders touch, which sends a bolt of electricity through her. Remembering her place, she looks to him, grateful she can’t blush all over again. “This is…okay?” she asks.
Kai smiles. “Of course. Anything that helps you is fine by me.”
And much to her surprise, Cinder smiles back, because she actually believes he means it with all his heart.