Prompt: "If love is blind, then maybe a blind person who loves has a greater understanding of it."
Pairing: Cress x Thorne

A/N: And alternate ending to a well-known scene

["I'm honestly not sure I would recognize real love if it was…"

She swiped the back of her hand over her damp cheeks. "If it was what?"

"Nothing." Clearing his throat, Thorne leaned his head against the back of the chair.] - Marissa Meyer, Cress

They were both silent for a while. Cress watched Thorne scrunch up his face, then shake his head.

"Well," said Cress, sniffing one more time, "I'll just—"

"No," said Thorne. He sat back up, practically squirming in his chair. "Not nothing." He reached out his hand to her, and she took it, still feeling a bit shaky. The warmth of his hand had comforted her so many times in the desert, and especially now, after everything they'd been through, it was still the closest thing that felt like home.

"Thorne?" she asked, when he paused again.

"I was going to say 'I'm honestly not sure if I would recognize real love if it was standing right in front of me.' But then I realized that in order to recognize something standing in front of you, you have to actually be able to see." His voice became bitter. "And I'm blind. It was just something stupid I was going to say, really, but at the end of the day, you can see my point. What could I possibly know about real love?"

Cress took a deep breath. She ran her thumb along his palm, meaning to be reassuring, but the way he inhaled just as sharply as she did made her think that maybe she wasn't the only one who had felt a jolt of electricity run up her arm. She closed her eyes and did it again, imagining what it would feel like to not be able to see someone else in front of you, staring at you lovingly, touching you.

He had been blind on the rooftop palace, but he had still managed to kiss her. He had been blind in the desert, but he had still managed to keep her strong. He had been blind when she had been kidnapped, and he had still found her. And he was blind now, and maybe he couldn't see her, but she wanted to believe that what they shared was the real love they were talking about. It wasn't the same delusional love that she had fantasized about in the desert when she'd barely known him. It was a series of experiences, conversations, and interactions that made her love him earnestly; it had led them to this moment now.

And she thought, or maybe just wanted to believe, that maybe he was just too shy to tell her, now that he'd finally fallen in love with her too. So even though she was still a bit bleary-eyed, tired, and emotionally overwhelmed from the day's events, Cress decided to put on her courage one last time.

"If love is blind, then maybe a blind person that loves has a greater understanding of it. And I think you've shown me how to understand it too, Captain. You're so full of love it takes me by surprise every time we're together."

He gripped her hand tightly. "You think so?"

"I think maybe…the only thing you're blind to are your own feelings," she added, albeit less confidently. "Surely…surely you must know mine."

She waited. And waited, counting heartbeats and trying not to convince herself that she'd made a mistake.

-o-

[The hall opened into a huge metal room, cluttered with plastic storage crates. Through a doorway he saw the lights and instruments of a cockpit, and another breathtaking view of Earth. Two people were seated in the cockpit chairs as he approached.] - Marissa Meyer, Cress

More specifically, in one cockpit chair. A petite girl with cropped blonde hair and an expensive looking dress sat in the lap of none other than Carswell Thorne. He had his hands tangled in her hair, and she had her arms wrapped around his neck. They were kissing very passionately.

He shouldn't have expected less of one of New Beijing Prison's most infamous fugitives.

Kai cleared his throat very loudly. They broke apart, lips red, breathing heavily. The girl's face flushed as she quickly tried to jump off of Carswell Thorne's lap, only to have her dress wrap around his legs and almost cause the both of them to fall out of the chair. Now practically crimson from embarrassment, the girl managed to right herself into a standing position. Her eyes were wide as she curtsied.

"Where's Cinder?" he demanded.