(Note: Employee/Customer AU)
WELCOME TO EMPEROR'S PARTS
She reads the sign as she brings up exactly what it is she's there for.
The shop is new, just opened, and rumor has it that it's the cheapest place for hover, android, and cyborg parts.
Cinder takes a deep breath and enters, not much a fan of new things. Towards the back of the shop, she hears a ding alerting the employees to a customer.
Well, employee.
He comes out of an archway with his black, swooping hair scooped away from his eyes and a customer-service smile on his face. "Hi, welcome to Emperor's Parts. Can I-" he gets closer to her and nearly chokes on his own words, "-can I help you?"
Cinder shoots him a fleeting, friendly grin, "Just point me to the android parts and I'll be on my way."
She tries to ignore the fact that he's a total babe – her step-sister's words for describing handsome men, not her own, they just seem to fit the best – and he flourishes his arm toward the other side of the store. "Follow me!"
She lingers just behind him as they walk through the store. She searches her mind for subjects, "So, you guys are new." She clenches her jaw, hating her choice of words.
"Just opened yesterday, actually," he turns to grin at her. "Are you a mechanic around here?"
"I run a shop in the marketplace downtown," she tells him.
He nods, "Do you work for your father?"
He asks it casually and innocently, but she rolls her eyes anyway, "No, I run it. Myself."
He looks back at her again and gives an apologetic turn of his lips, "I'm sorry, that was rude of me to assume." He clears his throat and stops, "Well, here we are. If you need anything else, my name is Kai."
"Thanks," she says coolly, walking to where they have parts for the GARD androids, though Adri doesn't even use hers anymore. Cinder grumbled to herself as she located the specific make number – 5.8.
She digs around for a control panel and pulls the box out, examining it. She walks to the front counter, "Just this."
Kai doesn't take his eyes off her as he scans the box, "75 univs."
She furrows her brow and glances down at box, "It said 100 on the price tag."
"It's on sale," her orange light blinks and she rolls her eyes.
"I don't need a discount, it's already half the price of some of the other stores around here."
Kai's smile is gentle, "Seventy-five univs."
"I don't want you to feel like I owe you anything."
"I can assure you I won't feel that way."
Her shoulders slump and she sticks out her wrist, "Fine."
He smirks as he swipes the handheld scanner across it, his ears turning red. "Have a great day, Miss Linh."
"You, too, Kai," she says emotionlessly as she leaves.
She doesn't notice the way he smiles when she says his name.
Cinder huffs as she pushes the door to the shop open, hearing the ding in the back.
She turns to head to the section with the android parts when she's stopped by his voice.
"Hi! Welcome to- oh, hey! You're back!" She can hear him behind her and she's clenching her jaw, already frustrated and not needing any more baggage to pile on top of that.
She takes the deepest breath her lungs can manage and turns on her heel, "Yeah! You have cyborg parts here, right?"
He nods enthusiastically, "Yeah, follow m–"
"–no, you can just point." She cuts him off, her voice significantly less Nice than it was only a moment before.
He deflates a bit, "Oh, uh, it's right next to the android section."
"Thanks," she mutters, almost feeling bad as she walks away.
After a few minutes, she appears at the front counter. She drops the box for a size 8 foot onto the counter. "Do you guys do big orders? This place is so cheap, and I'm assuming you give bulk discounts?"
Kai chuckles nervously, his ears shading red. "Only if you don't mind that I'm the delivery guy."
Cinder scratches the back of her head with a gloved hand, "Why am I not surprised?"
"Because I'm the owner's son?"
She bites her cheek, "That makes sense, I suppose."
"But yeah, do you want me to grab you a form? We can set it up right now. A lot of our business became bulk orders almost immediately, actually." It almost disturbs her when she realizes that his eyes haven't left hers once.
She drops her gaze to the counter, "Yeah, sure."
He disappears into the back of the store for a moment and Cinder realizes how stiff her shoulders had been. She forces them to relax.
He returns with a portscreen and a stylus, setting it in front of her. "This is just for your business and payment information along with your chosen weekly delivery date. Once we get this done, I'll comm you an order form for the deliveries. Whatever parts you need, we have."
She takes the stylus from his hand, feeling how warm his skin is through her glove alone. She ignores the spark in her stomach, filling out the form, glancing up and realizing that he's watching her, a small grin across his lips.
She signs her name across the bottom and then straightens, handing the stylus back to him, "Okay, all done."
He taps out a few more things on the portscreen before locking it, "I guess I'll be seeing you next Tuesday."
"Probably sooner," she corrects. "My guardian has been crazy with repairs lately. It's something new every day, and I never know what's next."
"Your guardian?" He quirks an eyebrow.
She tugs on the hem of her left glove, "It's complicated." She pushes the cyborg foot towards him to pay for it, "But yeah, I'll probably be back tomorrow."
Kai grins as she swipes her wrist, "I look forward to it."
Cinder can't explain why her chest feels so strange at his words.
He's pushing a hover lift when he appears at the front of her booth in the center of the marketplace.
"Delivery for Linh Cinder," he says, his eyes bright.
She stands up, "You're late."
"By five minutes!" He defends, clicking off the hydraulics of the lift and lowering it to the ground.
"Still late," she teases, moving to the other side of the table to try and help him.
He sticks his arm out, "Oh no, this is all me."
She plants her hands on her hips as he starts to unload the boxes – many of which are clearly too heavy for him, and she can see him huff and puff as he struggles to carry them the four feet to their designated areas.
"Doin' all right?" She asks, mocking him.
"Oh, yeah," he pants. "I'm… doing just… great."
The orange light flickers and she chuckles, "Well, don't say I didn't try to help."
She almost admits to herself that he's kind of adorable.
When he's finally done, he pulls out a portscreen and a stylus and hands it to her. "Just sign it and I'll be out of your hair."
Air whistles from between her lips, "Well, thank the stars. I can't believe I have to put up with you on a weekly basis!"
He flashes her a toothy smile, "You're not exactly charming, yourself."
Cinder flips her ponytail over her shoulder and barely hides her grin. "I'm a paragon of charm."
"And I'm the Emperor of the Eastern Commonwealth."
Cinder snorts, "I'll see you next week, Kai."
He winks at her and her heart stalls for half a second in her chest, "See you later, Cinder."
He can't believe that he's gone a week without seeing her when he flips off the hydraulics of the lift. "I'm here on time today!"
"Congratulations," she says without looking up from the portscreen she's working on.
He chuckles, "So validating, thank you."
She touches the screen of the port and it comes to life. With a satisfied grin, she locks it and sets it to the side, her eyes finding his. "Will you accept help today?"
He glances between the boxes and her, considering. "How much will you crush my ego if I say yes?"
Cinder jumps up shoots him a sarcastic smirk, rounding the table and lifting the top box with ease, "Only a lot, I hope."
He makes a face at her back as she moves to the back of the booth.
They almost do a waltz as they're unpacking boxes, dancing around each other and trying not to drop anything. When they're done, he hands her the portscreen so she can sign off on the delivery and pay.
"Pleasure doing business with you again, Miss Linh," he says, his face warming.
He reaches for the outstretched portscreen and, as he takes it, his fingers brush across her gloved left hand.
She snatches her arm back and tucks her hand under her other arm.
He tilts his head, giving her a nearly-accusatory look, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, why?" Her voice is a bit too airy and he can tell she's probably lying.
"You snatched your hand away like it caught fire."
Her shoulders somehow tense more, and she glances back at her booth, "I should probably get back to work. I have a lot of stuff to work on."
"Cinder."
She turns her head but keeps her eyes locked on his, her eyebrows stitching together, "It's fine, Kai."
He steps forward, "Cinder."
She groans, "Let's talk in the back. I don't want anyone else to hear."
He clips the port onto his belt and then follows her to the back of the booth. She turns to him and takes a deep breath, "I figure that if you're going to be working with me, you might as well know."
"Know what?"
"I'm a cyborg."
He glances down at her gloves, "Is that it?"
Her eyes grow wide with fury, "'Is that it?' Is that all you have to say?"
"Well, yeah. That explains the whole guardian thing, I guess."
She relaxes, "Oh, stars. Well, that was fun, but I really do have stuff to do. Go, get out."
He laughs as he turns on the lift's hydraulics again, "I'll see you next week."
He's still smiling when he leaves, satisfied in knowing that she trusts him, though they hardly know each other. Kai feels like an idiot, but she's just so… remarkable.
"Delivery for Linh Cinder!" His voice is high and chipper when he approaches, and she's half asleep at the table.
"Okay," she mutters, lifting her head from her crossed arms.
Kai leans over, "Looks like someone didn't get her beauty sleep."
"My guardian gave me about a thousand things to do last night." She replies, fixing her messy ponytail. She pauses for a beat, "You're late again."
Cinder moves to start helping him with the boxes and he sighs, "I know, I'm sorry. The business before you isn't quite so punctual."
"Too bad you can't punish them instead of me," she murmurs, clearly very grouchy.
"I'm four minutes late, Cinder," he retorts, setting a box on the concrete.
She's behind him when she speaks again, "And it's unprofessional."
Shoulders stiffening, he turns on his heel to reply, "The only thing unprofessional is–" he stops inches from her, unaware that she was so close. He stumbles over a few words trying to figure out what he was going on about, but eventually gives up.
Cinder makes no reaction, her face still as stone, not even blushing – how does she do that? – but her breathing does hitch. "The-the-the only thing unprofessional is-is what, Kai?" She asks, her voice wobbly, her eyes instinctually trailing down to his lips.
A smile plays at the corners of his mouth and his fingers flutter up one of her elbows.
"We-we should- we should probably," she struggles to hang onto her thoughts with him so close, the scent of his soap invading the ever-present smell of grease in the air. "We should keep this pr-professional."
He pauses mere centimeters from her lips, his breath hot against them, "Are you sure about that?"
"N-no," she breathes, and then he's kissing her. His fingers leave her elbow and wrap around her, his palm against the small of her back. She can't do much but trace her fingers up and around his shoulders, sending away continuous warnings in her retinal display.
He breaks the kiss, "What were you saying about being unprofessional?"
"Shut up."