A/N: To anyone who's miraculously still around, my deepest apologies for the insane wait!! And sorry this chapter isn't that good, I didn't have time to proof-read!

Cinder blinks herself out of her sheepish daze and coughs. "Do you want something to eat?"

Kai shakes his head. "I'm good, thank you."

At his expression of gratitude, something else dawns on Cinder. "Oh, thank you for the cinnamon roll and the coffee! I don't think I ever said... They were lovely!"

The smile Kai sends her is so beautiful, Cinder almost stops breathing. Luckily, he doesn't mind the pause in their conversation and glances at her arm instead. "What happened?"

"What?" Cinder asks, then glances down to see the pinkish smudge on her skin. "Oh, I burned it while making... I can't remember what I was making... but it's definitely a burn."

The two of them share an awkward silence for as long as it takes the washing machine to finish its cycle, at which point they both jump at its high-pitched beeping. Cinder recovers before Kai's finished stumbling, and she moves past Kai to grab a clothes' basket without really thinking about it. To her surprise, Kai's opening the door to silence the screaming machine when she turns around.

"I-"

"I might as well help, right?" Kai asks. As much as Cinder wants to thank him, she can't think of anything other than how excited Iko would be if she could see them now. She must have made a face because Kai raises an eyebrow at her and asks, "What, are males not allowed to possess domestic skills?"

Cinder laughs instead of making a sarcastic comment back like she'd wanted to. Apparently, even her unleashed - previously bottled - wit isn't a strong enough match for Kai's sass. Especially when his sass is aimed at her.

"Just not used to the help, I guess." Cinder shrugs.

Kai frowns and Cinder mentally curses herself for saying it but, thankfully, he just smiles at her. "Better get used to it as long as I'm around, princess."

There's an infinite number of replies she could give, a crazy number of ways to express her gratitude, an insane range of ways to respond to something like that, but she can't bring herself to let down her walls enough to express anything so she raises an eyebrow. "Right, because you're totally skilled at mechanics and totally could have fixed your car all by yourself..."

"Hey, my broken car is the only reason we're unloading your washing machine together." Kai blinks at himself. "There's a sentence I never thought I would say..."

"I'm sorry?" Cinder offers.

Kai just shakes his head but then loses the balance of his crouch position and headbutts the washing machine, immediately cursing in ice-cream flavours before rubbing his head. Cinder finds herself giggling at his clumsiness, then claps a hand over her mouth to try and stop the sound because she's not used to hearing it emerge from her own throat.

"Aw, don't do that," Kai tells her, his expression softer than the adoring look in his eyes and his eyes brighter than the sun peering at them through the windows.

"Do what?"

Kai's tan skin flushes a pastel pink as he seems to realise he'd said that out loud. He stares at her for a moment before exhaling slowly, then clearing his throat. "I meant, um, don't- don't cover up your laughter. It's, uh, it's really cute."

If Cinder was a machine, she would have overheated and potentially broken down. Instead of breaking down, she drops the basket she was holding, before her reflexes kick in and she fumbles with it before catching it again, her finger almost twisting back in the process. She doesn't mind the ache; the temporary pain is much better than the alternative of further embarrassment, in her opinion.

"Sorry," Kai whispers, pushing his hair back. Not that the action is useful because it simply flops back as soon as he lets go of it. The sight only makes Cinder's heart melt more, and she has to physically stop her face from breaking out into the curviest smile in all of history, choosing to kneel down beside him and help pull out the damp clothes.

"Is that...?" Kai pauses. "Is that dress yours?"

Cinder follows his gaze before shaking her head even though she already knows nothing in there is hers.

"Okay. That's good, who wears a carrot-themed evening gown? You'd have to be crazy..."

There's something about Kai thinking the people she despises are unstylish that gives her some sort of happiness. Even though she does feel guilty for thinking so selfishly, she can't hold back her excitement at having an ally in the world. She loves that he doesn't side with them but it scares her; she doesn't want them to meet him or even know about him because he's the one person she's fully chosen to associate with and she doesn't want that taken away from her. She wants to keep Kai away from her makeshift family because she doesn't want those two parts of her lives merging but she's afraid that isn't possible, and she's never been so afraid in her life. What is it about this boy, she asks herself, that causes her to be like this?

"You okay?" Kai asks softly; Cinder blinks.

"Flying," she replies, smiling as best as she can.

The two of them finish hanging the clothes up on the drying racks in record time and, like never before, she actually has fun doing it. It's probably due to Kai narrating his opinions on the outfits as if they were in a fashion programme, Cinder admits to herself, and she knows talking to the boy who'd crashed into her glass door was a good idea.

"I have to, uh, I have to get back, I'm sorry, I-"

Cinder cuts him off with a hug.

He gasps into the embrace before tentatively placing his hands on her back in return and relaxing a little. She smiles as the two of them share the same air for almost half a minute, both of them accepting the action as something they'd wanted but something they hadn't wanted to ask for. And the action itself feels warm, it feels safe, it feels like they're in a bubble that can't be pierced by even the sharpest of piercing tools.

"I'm sorry I made you unload unfashionable clothes instead of doing something fun," Cinder whispers.

Kai only sends her a dazzling smile. "A wise and crazy man one said that if you can't do domestic chores with your friend, you shouldn't go on a date with them the following weekend."

"Who said that?" Cinder asks, frowning and laughing at the same time. And then she realises... "Wait, did you just ask me out on a date?"

The way Kai's face lights up in relief is answer enough. She would have gone on a date with him anyway but the crinkles around his eyes and the dimples shining under the artificial light of a kitchen make her immediately nod her head. It's not regrettable because he winks at her, happiness carved into his smile. "I suppose we should refrain from planning in advance and see where the stars lead us."

"Alright, kite boy. Sounds like a plan." Cinder hears herself say it but she's too excited to really acknowledge or think about it.

As much as she wants to, she can't open the back door in fear of leaving evidence that will only result in further grounding; she has to hope Kai doesn't mind and ask him to climb out of the window once again. Luckily, he doesn't mind and practically dives out before saluting her and sprinting down the curved road until she can't hear his footsteps anymore, only the sound of his soul ringing in her mind like an endless melody.

Long after he's gone and she's resumed her list of tasks, her eyes widen and her lips curve up as it dawns on her that he'd called them friends.

Thanks for reading, if anyone even is. Love you <3