.+. ESPRESSO'S POV .+.

The interior of the castle was extremely fancy and way beyond what I could afford. Me and Latte followed Raspberry through the long hallways, since she knew it better than we did.

"Woah... Do you and Madeleine live here?" Latte asked, looking around the hallway in amazement. "Well, we both have a room in this castle, but we don't exactly live here." Raspberry let out a small laugh.

"We only use those rooms when we need to rest after our sparring or training sessions. Otherwise, Madeleine has his own house." She explained. "What about you, Rasp?" Latte asked.

"Well, I stay in my room here, since my original house is back in the Hollyberry kingdom. I'm only visiting for a little while is all. Usually, I visit a few times a year." Raspberry took a turn to the left at the end of the hallway as we followed.

She stopped in front of a waffle cone themed door with a sign that read, "PURE VANILLA'S OFFICE"

"Here we are! Espresso, you go talk to Pure Vanilla. We'll be waiting for you." Raspberry gestured to the door. I looked at Latte, who nodded her head at me. I walked up to the door and knocked on it 3 times.
Knock knock knock!

The door opened and Pure Vanilla stuck out his head. "Oh, why hello there, Espresso. I had a feeling you were visiting today. What brings you here?" He said.

Just as I was about to speak, he seemed to have already noticed Madeleine on my back. "Oh my.. I see. Madeleine is injured. Come, come, I'll heal his wounds in my office." He gestured me to follow him inside, which I did.

He closed the door gently and took Madeleine off my back, laying him down on a bed. "How did this happen?" Pure Vanilla asked while unwrapping the bandages around his stomach.

"Well... Madeleine was out on patrol and stuff in the forest with his team of other cookies but then they got attacked by Licorice and Red Velvet Cookie. One of Licorice's minions stabbed him through the stomach when he wasn't looking...." I tried to explain calmly.

I looked at Pure Vanilla, who was examining his stab wound, and then at Madeleine. You'll come back, right, Maddie? I looked down and fidgeted with my fingers for a bit.

Pure Vanilla put his hands over Madeleine's wound and then muttered something. I looked up and saw a bright glow sparkling around Madeleine.

I watched as he healed Madeleine and then the glow faded away. Pure Vanilla then turned to me.

"I'm glad you visited my office in time. He could've lost a lot of blood." He gave me a small smile. "Madeleine should be fully healed now. He'll probably be waking up soon."

He walked out of the room, leaving me alone with the unconscious Madeleine. I walked over to the bed, sitting down on a chair by it.

I stared at Madeleine for a little bit. He seemed to be breathing at a regular pace now. I sighed and laid my head against his chest, closing my eyes.

The only sound I could hear was his heartbeat. Please wake up.. I miss you.. Wait what..? A few minutes later, Latte and Raspberry entered the room.

"How's Madeleine, Ess?" Latte asked. I took my head off of his chest and looked at her. "He's... He's healed." I replied to her.

I turned my head back to Madeleine. I saw his eyes flutter open. Latte gasped and whispered something to Raspberry. He looked around the room as he slowly sat up and then stopped when he saw me.

"...Espresso..?" He said in a quieter voice than usual. He leaned over to me, cupping my face with a small smile. I felt my cheeks getting hot. I reached up and put a hand on his arm. "Yes, Madeleine..?"

...

.+. MADELEINE'S POV .+.

...

I noticed he was blushing a little. How adorable! I wanted to tell him how much I had loved him... "You brought me here didn't you? I knew you still cared about me!" I laughed softly. He crossed his arms and scoffed, looking to the side. "Please. I couldn't care less!"

"And yet... you still went to the forest and took me to Pure Vanilla's office to get me healed." I retracted my hand from his face and took his hand, kissing the back of it.

I could see him blushing more. "Don't think much of it. It was only because Latte told me to..." He huffed. "Now, that's a lie! As soon as I mentioned you being injured, you dashed out of your lab to get to him! Even I couldn't keep up!" Latte marched towards me and Espresso, crossing her arms and shaking her head.

"S-Shut up, Latte! You didn't need to tell him that..!" Espresso quietly shouted at Latte. He crossed his arms and pouted, looking away.

Oh my holy Divine... He's so... Cute when he pouts!! I love him so much..!~ Raspberry laughed. "Alright, you love birds, since we know Madeleine is healed, I doubt that he'll be able to do stuff for a few days, since his injury was just recently healed, he needs rest." Latte nodded.

"Madeleine you can't walk all the way back home, it's too far. What if you get hurt again? So I was thinking... Maybe you could stay at Espresso's house? Well until you get back to normal of course." Espresso's eyes shot wide open and he immediately turned his head to Latte.

"Latte, are you CRAZY?! There's no way..!" Latte seemed like she was trying to hold back a laugh. "It's only for a little while, Ess, plus he'll keep you company and make sure you take care of yourself!" Espresso blushed and looked down.

"So embarrassing..." He muttered. "Fine, I'll let Madeleine stay." He stood up and whispered something to Latte.

"Oh of course! C'mon, I'll get you two there in no time!" Latte walked out of the room, Raspberry following after her. Espresso turned to me.

"I hope you don't mind if I carry you.. After all, you do need some rest, I suppose.." He looked away, a tint of red on his face.

"No need to worry, my friend! You don't have to carry me. It's not that far from the Vanilla Castle. I believe I'll be fine.." Although, I did kind of want to be carried by Espresso, I didn't want to bother him.

He nodded and helped me get back up on my feet. He walked me out of the castle and to Latte, who was waiting for us with Raspberry. As we walked towards them, Espresso mumbled something that I was able to faintly hear.

"I'm glad you're still here, Maddie."

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I tried😭

1131 Words.