Summary: Cress lives in an apartment building, across the hall from her new neighbors Kai and his roommate Thorne. Kai has his fiancee over for the night and Thorne does not want to be there. ((implied cresswell relationship in the past))
Cress generally wasn't a people person. She liked her loft. It was cozy and warm and no one bothered her. She liked to read and she worked from home. She could almost always be found with a mug of steaming tea and her laptop, programming the security measures for Luna Inc. Her only companion was her dog Nova, a little black terrier who loved to cuddle next to her while she worked.
That night, she was wearing cozy pajama pants and an old computer camp t-shirt. She was sitting on her day day bed under the window trying to work out a particularly difficult block of coding. It was around 10:30 at night when she noticed that Nova wasn't curled up next to her feet like he usually was. She set her laptop down next to her and climbed off the bench, slipping her feet into her slippers. She walked through her apartment, placing her mug on the counter as she passed through the kitchen on her way to the living room. A low whining could be heard from the entryway and when she walked down the steps she found Nova pawing at the floor in front of the door. Unsure about what would be behind the door, she scurried back into the kitchen and grabbed the first thing she saw to defend herself with, which just happened to be a frying pan that was sitting on the drying rack near the sink. Her hair flowed behind her as she tiptoed back to the front door. Nova was still whining there, sniffing at the crack between the ground and the door. She placed her hand on the door knob, squeezed her eyes shut, hefted the pan over her shoulder and took a deep breath before slowly opening the door. She regripped the the handle of the pan with both hands before peeling her eyes open and looking out. She jumped slightly when she saw a man curled up in a sleeping bag in front her new neighbors door. She edged forward and tapped his back with her foot. The man groaned and rolled over, pulling his pillow over his head. She huffed slightly and took a step closer to him. Still wielding the frying pan, she nudged him again with her slippered foot.
He groaned again then sat up. "Kai I swear if you ask me for a condom I'll-" he paused in surprise when he saw who was standing over him. Her blond hair was down to her waist. She was holding a frying pan in her right hand, which had dropped to hang at her side. Her glasses were perched on her nose and light freckles dusted her cheeks. She looked confused, as if she was trying to decide if he was really there. He contorted his own face as the immediate recognition of her face clawed at his heart. He pushed his hair off his face as he said, "Cress?" She looked at him for a second longer before whispering, "Carswell?" He shuffled out of the sleeping bag and stood up. "Hi," he responded, a distant quality haunting his voice
She looked at him and furrowed her brow. "What are you doing here?" she asked quietly.
"Well my buddy Kai and I moved into this apartment last week," he said, gesturing to the door behind him and reaching up to rub the back of his neck, "But he has his fiancee over tonight and I really did not want to hear them through the wall all night. So I just… came out here." She looked at him for a minute, a rosy tint beginning to fill her cheeks as she held in more and more emotions, then sighed.
"Come inside, you can sleep on my couch," she said, sounding dazed and sad. He smiled, a small, no-teeth smile, gathered his sleeping bag and pillow in his arms and followed her inside her apartment.
Nova sniffed at his feet as he stood in the entryway, but he didn't bark, perhaps faintly recognising his smell. She headed straight in towards the kitchen, placing the unused frying pan back in the drying rack. He stepped up into the main floor of her apartment and looked at her. She walked to her right into the living room, pausing for a minute and gesturing for him to follow her. They walked into the comfortable room and she stopped and turned to face him.
"Where were you?" she asked. "2 years Thorne, where were you? You stopped texting and calling, where were you?"
"I abandoned my post in the air force. I went to Europe for a while, then to Asia, where met Kai. He was studying abroad with Cinder, and he said he was looking for a roommate. So I moved here last week," Thorne replied, running hand through his hair nervously.
"Wha- When did you abandon?" she asked shakily.
He sucked in a breath before replying guiltily, "About 8 months ago." Shock spread across her face like wildfire.
"8 months ago? Carswell, did you never think to call? Or write? You know they told your family you were MIA, did you know that? We thought you were dead, Thorne. Do you know how it feels to think that someone you love is dead?" she said. Tears were streaming down her face as she sat down on the couch and pulled her knees to her chest.
He stood frozen for a second as he watched her cry, old feelings and emotions bubbling back up to the surface. He walked to sit down next to her leaving space between them and put his head in his hands. They sat there in silence for minute and he listened to her muffled sobs. Finally he reached out a hand and placed it gently on her back. Her head tipped up slightly.
"I'm sorry," he said solemnly. His heart clenched when he saw her sit up straight, shrugging his hand off her back.
She looked at him for a second, before pulling him into a tight hug. He was shocked at first, but then wrapped his arms around her and held her closer. She rested her head on his shoulder and whispered, "I thought you were dead."
He nuzzled his nose in her long hair, breathing in the familiar shampoo. "I know. I know. And I'm so, so sorry Cress." He nudged her chin up to look at him and brushed a loose lock of hair out of her eyes. "I'll never leave you again. If you take me back, I swear, I'll never leave you."
She closed her eyes and pressed a kiss to his lips. He kissed back, pulling her even closer.
"You're still sleeping on the couch though."
A/N: Eh. I'm not really too happy with how this turned out. I SWEAR IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE FLUFF. Oh well. I'll try again.
Prompt:
((i got up at 2 am to get some snacks at the convenience store down the street)) My dog started freaking out and whining at the front door so I opened my door, only to find you trying to sleep on the floor of the hallway because your roommate has his fiancée over so i guess i'll lend you my couch for the night AU
-'grantere' on tumblr (list of aus i really need to see written:), first phrase modified by me
