Thanks to APeurDeFISH1412, JustARandomNerd, Penn-The-Writer-Is-Fucking-Magic, SpellCleaver, and 1221bookworm for reviewing!
APeurDeFISH1412: Thank you so much! I'm glad you liked it! I'm not that used to writing CressWolf, so I'm glad it worked! A sandwich maker is a thing lol… though I may have exaggerated the sound effects just a little bit. ;)
JustARandomNerd: Thanks! Hope you like this one!
Penn-The-Writer-Is-Fucking-Magic: Thank you! I love that type of sandwich as well. :) I'm glad we were able to make you hungry. I hope you like this one!
SpellCleaver: Thank you so much! Your reviews always make me smile. :) Hope you like this one!
1221bookworm: Thank you, thank you, thank you for both of your reviews! I'm so, so glad you liked them so much, it means so much to me! I hope you like this one!
This is (yet another) collab with the amazing (as always) AvocadoGoddess and rowaelinfeyrhys. All idea props go to AvocadoGoddess, and since we all wanted to write some fluffy Thinder, AvocadoGoddess let us collab! It was so much fun to work on this idea with these two amazing people. This story is extremely fluffy, and we all had so much fun writing descriptions, both for the ballroom and for all the foods! As you can tell, I really love food. :) Hope you like it, and please review!
Pairing: Thinder and Cressiko (BroTP)
Theme: Lunar Ball
Cress stopped at the top of the stairs leading down into the great hall where the second annual Lunar Ball was being held. Her breath caught. Besides Cinder's coronation, this was one of the first big events like this that she had been to. It was a huge room full of fully lit crystal chandeliers, elegant tapestries, and large urns. Some were filled with moon rocks, some with reflective pools of water, still others with flowers. A large part of the space was completely empty, save a few people twirling around it in dresses and suits and other clothes that she didn't have names for. Ballroom, then. Stars above, there were so many colors. Deep sapphire, emerald green, fiery red, sunset pink. They were beautiful even without glamour.
Further along, towards the corner of the room were huge tables laden with every possible food imaginable. She had been getting to try so much new food as she and Thorne traveled around the world, but she had never seen so many different types of food all in the same place. Around the perimeter of the room were tables covered in thick, luxurious cloth, fine dishes, and glowing candles.
Cress carefully walked down the staircase into the bustle of people below. Almost immediately, she was ambushed from behind by a mass of pink tulle.
"Cress!" it squealed. "You look adorable! Is that the dress I gave you last week?!"
Momentarily overwhelmed, Cress attempted to turn and take a look at her attacker. "Iko?"
"Who else?" Iko laughed, spinning around to display the full length of her classy dress. "Do you like?"
"It's beautiful, Iko," Cress brushed a finger down the silky material. Iko's dress ended at her mid-calf, flaring out at her waist. The top was sleek and form-fitting with tight sleeves that ended at here wrists. Layers upon layers of pink tulle were gathered at an empire waist, almost giving the impression that a large pink cake was encasing Iko.
"But I was right!" Iko practically shrieked. "That blue complements your eyes so well."
Cress laughed. "Thanks, Iko. I should never doubt your fashion sense." She scanned the ballroom quickly, taking in her surroundings.
She frowned. "Where's Cinder?" she asked. After all, Cinder was supposed to be the guest of honor.
"Oh, probably hiding somewhere," Iko said. "You know her, this isn't really her thing. I offered to keep her company, but she told me to enjoy myself. So," she shrugged, "here I am."
"Well, you certainly look amazing," Cress laughed. "How long did that hair do take?" Iko's hair was in the same twisty bun she had put it in for the gala at Los Angeles, but stars, it looked even better today.
"Only a little bit longer than last time," she said. "But you should see my nails! They took forever!" Iko held up her hand. Her nails were a deep pink, with airbrushed silver patterns.
"Those really are amazing," Cress agreed.
"Any excuse to dress up," Iko winked.
"I completely agree," Cress told Iko as she linked her arm through Cress'. Indeed, during her imprisonment in her satellite, she had had a total of three day dresses. Dressing up for a fancy event was still a novelty for her.
"Come on, let's go look at the Lunars. Some of them have the most gorgeous clothes," Iko said to Cress, pulling her away from the base of the sweeping staircase and into the twirling masses beyond.
Indeed, Cress felt like she was being swept into a fairy tale, albeit a rather stuffy and proper one. With Iko there, though, gushing about everyone's dresses and hairdos and makeup, it felt like a dream come true.
Cinder grimaced, taking another one of the disgusting bread slices, which were spotted with flecks of green, and spreading some mysterious sauce over it. Placing it in her mouth tentatively, she made a face as the taste filled her mouth.
She didn't know why she was continuing to eat it, but she had nothing better to do. This ball was honestly one of the most trying events she had to go to. Last year, Kai had been there, but this year he was at some conference. So she was left alone here, with all the fake Lunar aristocracy, strutting around and preening like peacocks. Oh, and the Rampion crew was there as well, but they certainly looked like they were having the time of their life. Cress and Iko were chatting away, presumably comparing dresses. Jacin and Winter were dancing, Scarlet and Wolf were eating food a few tables away, and Thorne… what was Thorne doing? She didn't know, but she wasn't sure she wanted to either.
She sighed. There was no way on Luna that she belonged at this ball. Even though she was the ex-queen of Luna, she didn't feel Lunar at all.
She didn't have a duty to be here at the moment as well; it was just wining and dining at the moment. Would anyone even miss her if she just slipped out? She knew she would be able to… the Lunar guards let her do whatever she wanted.
Could she just slip out for a moment?
She wasn't sure if it was a good idea, but stars, she needed some fresh air. She slowly started backing away from the appetizer table, and towards the back door.
She was almost at the door - freedom - when she felt a hand clamp down on her shoulder and stop her in her tracks.
"Where do you think you're going, Cinder?" said Thorne.
"Somewhere with no irritating people," Cinder slipped out from under his hand. "Sorry Thorne. That automatically discounts you."
"But you're the guest of honor! It would be a pretty terrible ball if the guest of honor went missing."
"The so-called guest of honor is not actually doing anything important," Cinder pointed out. "It's not like they're even going to notice."
"Come on, Cinder," Thorne protested. "Let's do something fun!"
"I think our definitions of fun are very different," she replied, turning away from him and starting to walk away.
"Not so fast," Thorne said, putting a hand on her shoulder again. "I bet I can think of something we can both find fun."
"Well, I bet you're wrong," Cinder replied irritatedly. Why wouldn't he just leave her alone?
"Say, are there any drinks at this party at all?" Thorne asked suddenly.
"Yes. But no drinking games. That is not a respectable activity for the ex-queen to be partaking in," Cinder shook her head sternly.
"Respectable? Who cares about respectable?" Thorne asked incredulously.
Cinder scowled. "People with valid moral compasses. Besides, that doesn't fall under my definition of fun. Under any of my definitions of fun. Even the loosest ones."
"Ouch, Cinder," he clutched his chest dramatically, "that hurts."
Cinder smirked in response. "I don't hear you trying to deny it."
Thorne shrugged. "How about..." he trailed off. "Oh, how about we ship people?"
"Ship people? That's the best you could come up with? Shipping Lunar aristocracy? Has someone replaced you with Iko?" Cinder asked him, exasperated.
"Hey, trust me, it'll be fun. And no, but I hang around with her a lot, and Cress calls her a lot and I hear a lot of their conversations, so some of her… personality… may have rubbed off on me," Thorne said, trailing off.
"No, we are not doing this." Cinder told him. "For about twelve different reasons that I'm not going to spell out right now."
"But-"
"No. Most definitely not." Cinder said with that terrifying look that she used very rarely and only ever on Thorne.
Thorne threw his hands in the air with exasperation. "Well then, what do you suggest?"
"I suggest that I go back to my room and start the book that has been sitting on my nightstand for two weeks now. I suggest that you go find Cress and Iko and freak out about dresses and hair or something." Cinder said, spinning on her heel.
Thorne grabbed her arm. "Hey!" he exclaimed indignantly. "I don't freak out over dresses and hair? And plus, you still can't leave because you are the guest of honor." He gave her a look.
"Ugh, fine. But since you're making me stay, you also get the honor of keeping me company and warding away anyone who seems interested in beginning a conversation."
"Well, I clearly remember that someone told me to go away, so maybe not," Thorne said smugly.
"Thorne, I swear…" Cinder said threateningly.
"From begging to threatening in 2.3 seconds. Good to know," Thorne told her with a wink.
Cinder scowled at him. "So?"
"Fine, fine, what do you want to do?" Thorne sighed.
"And we're back to square one."
"Well, I do seem to remember that I was the only one providing ideas, so you aren't really one to be complaining right now..." Thorne said.
"I'm not complaining." Cinder informed him.
Thorne raised his eyebrow, skeptical.
"Fine. You know what? Let's go look at the food," Cinder suggested, striding away.
"What, just look at it? What's the point of that? Shouldn't we at least try it?" Thorne asked slightly mockingly as he strode to catch up to her. She walked fast, especially considering that she was wearing a dress.
Cinder rolled her eyes, but a smile tugged at her lips.
"So tell me, where have you and Cress gone so far to distribute the antidote?" Cinder asked him.
"Small talk, really?" Thorne asked, giving her a mock disapproving look.
"It's not small talk, I'm genuinely interested in knowing," Cinder shot back.
"In that case, let's see. We've been to New Beijing, obviously. We went around the American Republic, we went to some of the places in the African Union, mostly around Farafrah, we visited Australia, and one or two places that had been hit hard in Europe," Thorne said, counting off his fingers.
"Did you see anything interesting? Have you been showing Cress new things? Is she having fun?" Cinder questioned.
"Oh yeah. I took her to see Vegas, so a big city type of place. We went to the beach for a day or two. She loved the ocean. I'm even teaching her how to swim! She really wants to see a forest or somewhere with a lot of trees, so I'm thinking of heading over to South America soon. They have a few places that have been hit pretty badly and could use the antidote as well. Oh, and she saw a waterfall. It wasn't one of the huge ones, but she seemed pretty amazed," Thorne finished slightly dreamily, as if his head was somewhere else, probably lost in the memories.
"What are these things?" Cinder asked Thorne, snapping him out of his reverie. Pinched between her fingers was what seemed to be a cracker with some dip and something gooey and pink piled on top. It was finished with something leafy and some red powder. Cinder sniffed it suspiciously and made a face.
"Oh come on, how bad can it be?" Thorne asked unconcerned. He took one and popped it in his mouth. He seemed to choke or something and his eyes started watering. "Okay, that was pretty bad," he stammered out, still spluttering.
At that, Cinder, who had started nibbling it quickly removed it from her mouth and discreetly dropped it in the little garbage bin at the end of the table. She walked down the table to where warm, golden bread sat braided into little wreaths. There were little birds, rabbits, and turtles. It looked good, but remembering the disgusting bread that she had eaten earlier and Thorne's mishap with the seemingly harmless cracker thing, she took a small bite.
"Thorne, come over here. This is really good!" she said in the direction of her friend as she shoved another piece in her mouth.
Thorne, who had suspiciously picked up a thin slice of some green vegetable with something bright orange on top of it, seemed more than happy to leave that table. His eyes widened as he beheld what was behind Cinder. He walked past her completely and just stared at the elaborate display of cakes, tarts, cookies, and other fancy desserts he could have only dreamed of. For a second, he only stared at the lavish arrangement, eyes wider than Cinder thought was possible.
"Why are you just standing there?" Cinder asked, snatching something from the table that looked like blackberries surrounded by a puffy crust. It was dusted with sugar and some other spice that looked suspiciously like cinnamon. "Stars, this is amazing. I need to go meet the chefs."
That seemed to break Thorne from his trance. He picked something up from the table. "Do you want one of these?" he said, raising his eyebrows. It was a small, red cupcake embellished with a dollop of white cream. It was topped with something chunky that could have been toasted nuts.
"That looks like red velvet." Cinder pursed her lips and shook her head. "I've always been a chocolate person. No, thank you."
"It probably isn't. It smells like cherry and mint? That can't be right." Thorne said raising an eyebrow as he sniffed.
"Why don't you try it and find out?" Cinder asked.
"Because I don't want to be the guinea pig this time," Thorne said firmly. "I am scarred after those disgusting crackers."
"And what if I said no?" Cinder raised her eyebrows. A challenge.
"Then," Thorne said, winking, "I would disregard your opinion." He lunged forward with the cupcake. Anticipating what he was about to do, Cinder opened her mouth just as the cupcake came toward her face. She quickly clamped down her mouth, securing the still-untasted cupcake as well as two of Thorne's fingers in her jaws.
"AGH! You maniac! You're not supposed to bite me!" Thorne shrieked. Twisting and writhing, he tried desperately to get his fingers out. Cinder gave him what would have been a smug smile.
"Fine, fine, you don't have to try it, I promise, you can just spit it out, just please let my fingers go!" he admitted defeat.
Satisfied, Cinder opened her mouth, then promptly spit the cupcake out into her hand. It was now squishy and deformed, and the frosting was melted. Thorne stared in disgust at the item in her hand, which was enough for her to keep it there for a few minutes longer.
"Throw it away!" Thorne said, shuddering.
"Why?"
"Because," he whined, "it's gross!"
"You're such a wimp," Cinder said, rolling her eyes.
"I am not a wimp!" he protested.
"That argument sounds weak, even to you," Cinder retorted. She saw his eyes flicker and knew she had hit home.
She grinned, taking another one of the cupcakes from the tray and splotching it on Thorne's forehead.
"Ah! Stars, Cinder, what on Earth? You've ruined my looks!"
"Serves you right," Cinder said self-righteously.
At that moment, Cress sidled up to the dessert table and stopped in shock as she took in Cinder and Thorne's faces.
"I won't even ask," she said finally, sighing. "Go clean yourself up, Carswell."
"Don't Carswell me!" Thorne protested.
Cress gave him a look that had him mumbling and shuffling off. Once he was gone she turned to Cinder.
"Nice shot, but you should also go clean up. You are the guest of honor, after all," Cress told her.
Cinder sighed. "I should go keep Thorne company, anyway. After all, we both participated in it." Smiling apologetically at Cress, she slipped out of the hall before anyone of significant importance could notice and throw a tantrum.
Thorne was waiting out in the hall for her. "That wasn't quite so boring, now was it?" he asked with a laugh. They started to walk toward one of the many bathrooms.
"We probably shouldn't have," Cinder said, causing Thorne to sigh, "but that was so much more fun than this boring ball," she finished.
Thorne laughed. "I knew you had it in you to be fun, Cinder."
"Oh, don't even start," she said dangerously, but there was no real anger in her voice. "Let's remember who won the last round," she taunted.
"You cheated!" Thorne protested.
"You're just a sore loser," Cinder retorted.
Thorne shoved her lightly and she shoved back, laughing.
"But really, Thorne," Cinder cleared her throat awkwardly. "Thank you."
Thorne looked at her. Wrinkled his nose in confusion. "Okay... no idea why, but I'll take it. It's not every day I hear you say it," he laughed.
"And you'll never hear it again," Cinder muttered. "Thank you for making me feel better about everything."
"Anytime," Thorne smirked. "I adore annoying you."
"I regret everything I just said." Cinder sighed. "I guess I can't take it back now, can I?"
"No refunds, darling," Thorne shook his head.
"Keep it up and I'll put frosting in your hair."
