Couldn't Care Less // Espresso x Madeleine // CRK

chapter two

Espresso slumped against his work desk, groaning. His headache had doubled ever since he'd started on his experiments, and they were not helping him focus. He'd already swallowed some headache pills, drank lots of water, closed the blinds, everything that Latte had suggested to him before. Headaches were nothing new, but that didn't necessarily make them easier to deal with.

Espresso had woken up with massive pain in his head. At first, he guessed it was the beer he'd drank yesterday, but judging by its size now, it probably wasn't. Espresso had confronted Latte about it, but she had had no advice for him.

"You've dealt with headaches before, no?" She'd said.

Espresso rubbed his forehead, willing his eyes to continue on his studies. It'd been a project he'd been working on for about a month now, to upgrade his skills along with a faster cool down for them. Unfortunately, it was Madeleine who had suggested Espresso improve his cool down because of its amazing abilities to deal damage repeatedly and draw enemies away from him and the others.

Speaking of Madeleine, Espresso hadn't heard from him yet, thankfully. After their first expedition together, Madeleine had moved into the place right across from Espresso's house only about a month ago. Madeleine always seemed to find a way to talk to Espresso whenever they'd finished a quest together.

Espresso didn't particularly need to go on quests with Madeleine, but Gingerbrave seemed insistent on putting the two together, and Espresso required coins constantly to fuel his projects. There'd been one time he'd told Madeleine of his troubles. The knight had offered to provide Espresso with the things he needed. Espresso had looked at him like he was crazy.

Espresso snapped out of his thoughts. There was no time to think over headaches or idiots. He'd wasted precious time yesterday, with both the time spent at the bar and sleeping. He was sure his ingredients would expire soon enough if he wasn't able to use them now. Espresso continued with the text, scribbling down notes with messy handwriting and clicking his pen constantly.

Only when he'd finally calculated the amount of time he needed to proceed with the next step did he realize he'd been missing one crucial ingredient: sugar. Espresso set down his pen and looked around his laboratory. No sugar in sight. Surely he hadn't misplaced it, right? He was confident he had it last time he checked...

Espresso groaned. He'd probably forget everything he'd gotten from the text after getting sugar cubes... he didn't have time to go shopping.

Perhaps he could ask someone for them. It seemed like a pretty ridiculous idea- sugar cubes were expensive, nobody would give them to him for nothing in return. Unless...

Espresso knocked on the door, plastering a smile on his face. The door opened, revealing a disheveled blonde with his hair tied in a messy braid and a face that gave away the tiredness.

"Oh! Espresso!" Madeleine quickly patted down his hair in an attempt to fix the loose strands.

"Greetings, Madeleine." Espresso said. "I was wondering if you had any extra sugar cubes I could use for my experiment. I just realized I had been missing them, so I was hoping-"

"Of course!" Madeleine interrupted him, beaming. Espresso cringed. Despite having just woken up and a horrible bed hair, Espresso could feel the happiness radiating off Madeleine. "I do not use sugar cubes often, you can have as much as you need!" He stepped back.

They stood in silence for a moment.

"Please, come in!" Said Madeleine sheepishly. Because of course, Madeleine thought that every cookie knew when to enter somebody's household on their own.

Espresso stepped inside. The house was neat, with a color palette of yellows and whites. Espresso wasn't sure what to think of it. He hadn't expected such an organized living space, but he hadn't thought it would be exceptionally bad. The house was decently decorated, unlike Espresso's.

Madeleine looked at him while closing the door, watching for a reaction. Espresso propped his glasses higher and cleared his throat.

"The sugar cubes, Madeleine?" He said.

Madeleine snapped out of his trance. "Yes! You are welcome to stay here while I get them from the storage room."

As Madeleine hurried away, Espresso took to examine the house further. On a bookshelf near the fireplace, there were pictures of what seemed to be Madeleine's family. Espresso had never really heard of Madeleine's family, despite the latter seeming to enjoy talking about himself. The house had a cozy aura, and Espresso could see the comfort in living in it.

He wasn't planning to live in it, of course.

If he lived in such a place, he wouldn't have room for his experiments.

Although, he had to admit Madeleine's home was nice.

Espresso heard footsteps and turned to see Madeleine with two decent-sized bags full of sugar cubes.

"Here are the sugar cubes!" Announced the latter, holding them out to Espresso.

Espresso didn't need this many for his experiment- but, it wouldn't hurt to take a little extra, especially if Madeleine was offering him it.

"Thank you," Espresso took the bags. "Maybe you are worthy of your title, knight."

Madeleine looked shocked, but his smile grew bigger. "It's nothing to thank me for, Espresso! I shall provide you with anything you need!"

Espresso couldn't help but give a half-smile. He left Madeleine's house with more sugar than he needed, as well as more happiness than he expected. Perhaps Gingerbrave was right about everybody liking Madeleine. Madeleine seemed to have a way of making people like him.

Espresso got to his house and shut the door behind him, He sat down in his work chair and set down the bag of sugar cubes. He reviewed his notes and then finally steered his attention to the sugar. He picked up a bag and examined it closely, and that was when he noticed something on the tag.

Madeleine had given him expired sugar cubes.

Espresso ended up going on a shopping trip.

a/n: I had to rewrite the starting a few times... thankfully, the chapter turned out okay! I love this chapter because it emphasizes Madeleine's personality traits (or at least how I perceive him-). I don't really know where I'm going with the next few chapters but if I start hating these chapters or something I'll probably edit them/rewrite them lol. Give me any feedback you have!

p.s. I've been trying to get Madeleine in crk... don't make fun of me devsisters just hates me okay... I was able to flex sorbet shark off to somebody I know who didn't have them but now they have sorbet so they can flex their promotion one madeleine...