Safety in The Form Of a Knight (Madeleine x Espresso)

5: An Old Friend

⚠️This chapter contains mentions of abuse and neglect! ⚠️

A loud knock at his door forced him awake. This startled him and he sat up quickly, almost falling off his couch.

The knock came again.

He stood up and walked over to his door. As he opened it, he was surprised to see Latte Cooke, his old childhood friend. He stared at her for a second; she looked exactly the same as she did when they were both kids, except she was taller.

"Um... Hi to you too, Espresso."

He jumped at the sudden voice and noticed he was just staring at her and had forgotten why he had come to the door in the first place. "O-Oh! Sorry Latte, it's nice to see you. Did you need something?"

She giggled. "Yeah! I was wondering if you weren't too busy, could you come with me to a nearby park? I've been kinda missing you lately, we haven't talked in forever!"

He thought about how much work he had to do, and the... recent events had really thrown him off schedule... He was about to decline her offer when he realized how much he missed talking to her too. It had been four years since they last spoke. He looked at her, "Alright. I suppose I can put off my work until later."

She started jumping with excitement. "Okay!! We can talk about sooo many things! It'll be just like old times! I can't wait, let's go right now!" She tightly grabbed his arm and started running, almost causing Espresso to fall flat on his face.

The park Latte wanted them to go to wasn't too far away from his house, so they luckily didn't have to travel that far. Latte had somehow managed to keep a steady pace the entire time, while Espresso was basically dying trying to keep up with his friend.

"How... How in the world d.. do you run like that??" He panted as they arrived at a park Latte had suggested.

She shrugged. "I mean, I'm not the one who stays in their house reading a stupid book all day, I actually do something with my life." She said with a sassy hair flip.

"Hah hah." He rolled his eyes, finally starting to catch his breath again.

As they began to walk along the park's path, he looked at Latte, noticing how she was admiring the morning. It was a very beautiful day, it had just the right temperature, with a slight breeze.

As they kept walking, Espresso's mind started to wander. He started thinking about how much Latte and he had played together when they were children. She had been there for him for as long as he could remember.

When Espresso was younger, his parents always expected the absolute best from him. Although he tried his hardest, there were some times when he just couldn't reach their expectations. Espresso didn't like to think about what would happen if he failed to do his very best.

Sometimes, he would worry he wasn't doing enough, and he got so afraid to fail and his mind just... brought back the memories... He couldn't think straight, it was too painful. He absolutely despised it when he remembered what would happen to him, but once he thought about them, they wouldn't leave. He tried to lock them out of his mind forever, but they wouldn't leave him alone...

It hurt him so bad...

His parents fought constantly. While he was young, he never understood why they got so angry at each other, or why they sometimes brought him into their fights. They were always so mad at each other, that they forgot to take care of Espresso. He grew up learning to be very independent, even at a very young age.