"Thorne, you're in love with Cress."

5 Minutes earlier

Whatever Thorne expected when he entered Ze'ev and Scarlet's apartment, this wasn't it. Usually, they would catch up and arrange plates and tons of food on the counter as they waited for the game to start, the whole atmosphere already buzzing with excitement. Instead, the whole group sat or stood around the living room in silence, looking expectantly at him as he walked into the living room.

"Who died? Aside from those poor chickens whose delicious wings I brought with me?" He held up one of the paper bags in his hand, balancing it with some more boxes with salads and sides. He paused for a laugh, a smile, but was met with silence. "Okay, seriously, what's going on?"

"We need to talk to you."

He paused at Cinder's serious tone. "Is this an intervention?" He mentally checked everything that could have caused an intervention. He didn't drink more than the others (and handled it way better at that), he didn't take drugs, his gambling days were mostly behind him and even his awe-inspiring number of ladies had lately been manageable. He ignored the slight thump in his chest at this thought and focused on the confusing reactions from his friends and colleagues.

"No!" Scarlet, Ze'ev and Kai said, as Cinder, Iko and Jacin said "Yes."

With a fluid motion, Winter stood up, hands elegantly reaching out for him as she pulled him on one of the empty seats, facing everyone. "It's not an intervention, we just want to talk to you about your feelings."

"My feelings for you, darling? You know you're my dream girl," he told her with a practised wink but his attention was on everyone else.

Scarlet came from where she stood at the counter to get his bags. "See, this is part of the problem."

Kai gave the redhead a pointed look. "There's no problem. We just thought, we should talk with you. About how you're doing and … feeling."

"Yes, feeling," Iko repeated in a giddy tone. "And what you're feeling for someone."

"Iko, that's not how we planned to go about it," whispered Cinder out of the corner of her mouth but Iko wouldn't have any of it.

"Oh, please. There was no real plan. We should just go and tell him."

Feeling uneasy, Thorne wondered if he could just up and leave. He had been excited for their traditional get-together to watch the game. It had just been him, Cinder and Ze'ev in the beginning and slowly, their group had grown. Scarlet accompanied Ze'ev and her culinary skills had brought their little junk food group to the next level. Cinder brought Iko and Scarlet brought Winter and after a while, Jacin and Kai and Cress joined. They did a lot together as a group but game day was Thorne's favourite activity.

But whatever was going on right now, it didn't seem like much fun and it was not how he had planned this afternoon to go.

Ze'ev handed him a bottle of beer. "Just listen."

"Listen to what? All of you blabbering nonsense? I thought we wanted to watch the game?" It was too early but pre-game time was another favourite of his. He would handle the bets of the outcome and discuss strategies and players, already snacking and drinking. Taking a gulp, he took a furtive glance around the room. Cress wasn't there already and he was grateful that she at least wasn't part of their friends' antics.

"Thorne, we lately noticed a few things and-"

Scarlet cut in. "You're our friend and that's why we thought-"

"Guys, I thought we thought we should just straight up ask him-"

Winter hummed a tune that Thorne vaguely recognised as a love song. Ze'ev brought himself a beer and clinked it against Thorne's with a commiserating expression while Cinder tried to draw Thorne's attention to her.

It was Jacin, who had been silent so far, that cut into the chatter.

"Thorne, you're in love with Cress."

There was a long silence during which everyone looked with a mix of exasperation and trepidation between him and Jacin. The mood, that had been chaotic so far, was now tense and strange and even more uncomfortable than before.

Thorne raised an eyebrow. "I know," he admitted with more bravado than he felt. But since the cat was out of the bag, he might as well get it over with. If they expected him to deny it, they were wrong. He couldn't help but be a bit annoyed though. As if he wouldn't know his own feelings, come on.

"It's okay, you-Wait, what did you just say?"

"You knew?" Iko clucked her tongue, sounding disappointed more than anything. "Boo! That's boring."

"Sorry to disappoint you, darling." He leaned back, trying to exude as much confidence as he could. "You think I wouldn't know myself better than any of you? You're a bunch of-" he thought how to phrase it elegantly but thought better of it-"walking disasters. Romantic catastrophes. None of you should have ever gotten into a relationship and even now I'm confused on how it even happened."

He pointed to Ze'ev. "You lied to Scarlet the moment you met her." Ze'ev hung his head and Thorne moved his accusing finger toward Scarlet, "You, mon amour, think it's a romantic declaration to point a shotgun at a guy." Scarlet narrowed her eyes. His finger moved again. "You two-" he pointed between Cinder and Kai-" are a mess. It was nothing but 'will they, won't they' with you and it went on for months. And don't get me started on you, snowflake," he teased Winter. "Your boy kept his distance for how long because of - you know, I don't even know why? I just know he should have kissed your beautiful mouth the first moment he saw you. Instead he pined and didn't so much as hold your hand for years. YEARS! And don't you giggle there, missy," he told Iko with an impish grin. This was good. This was easy. Deflecting was his forte. He might get through this.

Iko tossed her stunning blue braids over her shoulder, smiling at him expectantly. "Oh, and why shouldn't I? You have nothing on me, Carswell."

Thorne snorted. "Nothing? You're the worst. Has anyone ever really understood what goes on between you and Kinney?"

Iko gasped. "There is nothing going on between me and Kinney. There's no me and Kinney. There's me - being gorgeous and all around amazing- and there's Kinney - being a stupid poopface." She stuck out her tongue at him. "There's no me and Kinney."

Thorne blew a kiss at her. "Ah, sounds like true love."

"Take that back!"

"Iko and Kinney sitting on a tree-"

"Cinder, make him stop!"

"K-I-S-S-I-N-G"

"Thorne!"

He just laughed. It was way too easy to rile up his friends. "Listen, guys, I … appreciate whatever it is you planned to do but it's alright. It took you how long to figure out I have a little crush on Cress?"

"Thorne." Cinder sounded exasperated but Thorne wouldn't have any of it.

"It's a crush. You know how I am. I crush on most pretty girls. Half the time I think I'm in love. I don't even know how often I've said 'I love you' to a girl but it was lots of times. And it never meant anything. I crushed on you girls as well. And Ze'ev. I mean seriously, dude, who wouldn't? Look at those arms." He added an appreciative whistle for good measure, snickering when the other guy turned red. "Seriously, it's nothing I can't handle. I like Cress, yes, and I'll get over it."

"But why?" Kai shifted and Thorne didn't miss the way he leaned a little into Cinder. "Why would you want to get over it? Cress is great-"

"Cress is amazing," Thorne corrected before taking another big gulp of his beer. He expected he would need a few more bottles to get through the evening.

Kai smiled. "She is. We all like her. And we like you too."

"Aww, Kai. You're just saying that to make me crush on you? Alright, alright, you're now on my list as well." He gave Jacin an apologetic shrug. "Sorry, dude."

"Thorne, be serious for a moment," Winter said, shifting so she was very much in his personal space and stared at him with those grey, almost unreadable eyes.

With her dark curls, amazing skin and beautiful features, Thorne had to give it to her, she looked lovely. Perfect even. His mind wandered to short frizzy hair, light dusting of freckles across a button nose and he knew none of it should be more attractive than the stunning beauty in front of him.

But it was. He thought of bright blue eyes and a shy smile, small fingers typing swiftly over a keyboard and short blonde curls leaving the most desirable spots on her neck free to be kissed and caressed and to him, there was no one as beautiful as Cress. Not even the probably most beautiful woman in the world.

"Okay, I am serious." He faced the rest of the group and took a deep breath. "As I said, I appreciate all of you and what you were trying to accomplish. Yes, I like Cress and no, it's not going to happen. We're working together. I'm not looking for anything long-term either and Cress … Please, don't make a big deal out of it." He glanced around the apartment. "Also, where is Cress? You're better not hiding her in the closet to listen to all this. She hates cramped spaces."

Scarlet shook her head but the look she gave him was fond. "She's not here. We asked you to come earlier to have a chance to talk to you and told Cress to be here by six."

"What if I had absolutely denied that I like Cress? That could have been a very awkward evening." When no one said anything, he just sighed in exasperation. "I told you. Disasters. All of you." He turned to Jacin. "How did you get roped into this? It's not like you cared about my love life before."

"We just want you to be happy," Jacin evenly stated with just a touch of sarcasm edged to his smile.

"No thanks to you, but I am happy. Cress is happy. We're pretty happy, just not together. Now, can we get this part of the day over and start with what I came here to do? Watch the game? Comets against Wolves, remember?" He emptied his bottle and wiped a bit of foam from his lip. "I for one really want to go on with this evening. So, bets. Who's in?"

The bell rang. No one moved. "That must be Cress. It's still a bit early though?" Scarlet wondered out loud with a glance at the clock.

Thorne snorted. "Come on, you know that she's uber punctual. Guys, please. Don't be weird, don't say anything. Let's pretend this never happened. Hold it, Scarlet." He grabbed Scarlet as she made her way to the door and gave each of his friends a hard look. "I mean it. None of this should come up again. I don't want to you to make any comments or give either Cress or me funny looks or set us up or lock us into a closet or make me take her home or-"

"We get it." Jacin rolled his eyes in annoyance but Thorne ignored him.

"-or do anything weird. No match-making. Do you understand me?"

Only when they all agreed, did he let go of Scarlet to get to the door. He heard Cress's sweet voice and a second later, she appeared, holding a stack of boxes.

Everyone greeted her while Thorne went to get himself another beer.

This was gonna be a long evening.

A/N: This is my take on the idea of Thorne being the one who has feelings for Cress first instead of the other way around. I absolutely love Cress's crush in canon, the way she daydreams her ideal hero and it absolutely clashes with the reality that is Carswell Thorne ... and then she falls even harder. And Thorne only realises he has feelings for Cress when he thinks she's over him ... because of course he does. Wonderful idiots, both of them. I love them so much.

In my other fics, I usually can't go the route because of the way I imagine the stories to go but in general, Cress is more in touch with her feelings and has no problems with falling in love. Thorne is the one who needs a little more convincing. But here, I just wanted to explore this dynamic because, well, I wanted to read about Thorne pining for Cress (also, the lack of Thorne's POVs in "Winter" was outrageous) but if I can't read it, I might as well write it myself and hope others will love the idea as well.

But yes, it's kinda based on "Winter" when Thorne is in love with Cress but ... doesn't really act on it? In parts because he thinks she's over him but also because he doesn't feel it's the right time or he's the right guy. He only acts when she reveals that she was jealous of the kiss he shared with Luisa. So, this fic, while an AU, is kinda inspired by canon and how Thorne acts there. And also, I wanted to involve the other characters. It's similar to Thorne and Kai's conversation in the cockpit (again, at the beginning of "Winter"), so it draws on that ... except Kai is sensible. The rest of the Rampion crew ... not so much.

That was a long talk for not-so-long chapter but hey, that's what the notes are for, right? Please let me know if you enjoyed this fic. I'm so grateful and happy every time I get reviews because then I know that people like what I'm reading. I'm always doing my best with my writing and if you like it, please leave a review. Thank you.