Couple Tumblr shorts for fans of the Monroe twins below!
Cressida angst short
“Does it hurt to do that?”
“To do what?” She laughs, a sound that rings pleasant to the ears, as she slips on her second heel. “Smile?”
“To lie.” You stare at her hard but she just smiles, amused. “What is it, Cressy? Just—just tell me what’s wrong.”
You try very hard not to sound pleading—this is a demand, not a request. An ultimatum, if it should come to that.
“Nothing’s wrong, MC.” She brushes her fingers through your hair, and maybe in another place it could be a gesture of comfort, but you know she just wants it to lie flat.
You laugh, but it’s not full like hers. You’re done pretending. “You lie so easily. It’s like it means nothing to you.”
Cressida rolls her eyes. “Oh, don’t be like that.”
“Like what?”
She ignores you, touching up her lipstick before shoving the tube in her clutch. “The car will be here in five minutes. If you’re not going to smile, don’t come at all.”
You scoff. “You’ll find other arm candy, I’m sure.”
Cressida doesn’t look back. “You said it, not me.”
Cressida fluff short
Cressida smashes her hand on her phone until the ringing stops, and thinks it’s gone to voicemail until she hears them say her name.
“MC?” Her voice is bleary. “Why are you calling me? It’s the middle of the night.”
“I know what time it is,” they whine. “That’s the problem!”
Well, it’s good they realize that.
She would roll her eyes if she had the force of will required to. “Goodnight, MC.”
“No—Wait. It’s New Year’s.”
So they can manage to read a calendar as well as a clock. Good for them.
“I’m hanging up if you don’t tell me why you called.” Or maybe she’d go back to sleep before she could bother hanging up.
MC doesn’t say anything, and she thinks for a minute that they’ve hung up. “…I didn’t give you a midnight kiss.”
“…And?”
“I forgot to!”
She has to laugh, because it’s so silly but so MC. “Just kiss me tomorrow, stupid.”
“Mm. Okay.” They yawn. “Love you, Cressy.”
“Yeah, yeah.” She’s glad they can’t see her expression right now. “Go to sleep.”
Cyrus angst short
“I don’t know what to do anymore,” you confess, quietly, as if the louder they’re spoken the truer the words will ring.
“You don’t have to,” he says, with more tenderness than you would have thought him capable.
“Yes, I do,” you say shakily. You try to steady your breathing, to match it to his. “They’re—they’re all expecting me to—“
“Screw what they’re expecting you to do.” He says it harshly, but it’s as good as a declaration of love.
You give a pale attempt at laughter. “You know I can’t do that. They’ll never let me.”
“Say the word.”
“What?”
He speaks very clearly then, despite how quiet his tone is. “Say the word and I’ll take you away from here and you won’t have to deal with what they think.”
“They’d kill you for that.”
You can see your gaze reflected back in his dark eyes—does he recognize the love and pity both?
There’s no humor to his laugh. It rings even hollower than your own. “They’ll kill me anyway. The same way they’ve killed the rest of my family.”
Cyrus fluff short
You don’t know that your crush volunteers his weekends at the animal shelter until you show up with Kol one Saturday and find Cyrus covered in phantom cat kittens.
He’s trying to bottle-feed a kitten that’s small enough to fit inside his palm, and three others have taken to climbing all over him. One has sunken its claws into his leather jacket and is perched contentedly on his shoulder. Another kneads at his jean-covered leg, and the third is trying to steal his attention away from the littlest cat.
The other volunteer clears her throat so Cyrus can be the one to help you find the rescue animal Kol is looking for on behalf of Magi Academy, before Kol has the chance to demure that he can find it himself.
In any case, the other volunteer leaves and Kol goes off to find the rescue phoenix and you are left in a room with Cyrus and four devious phantom cat kittens desperate for attention.
You say the first thing that comes to mind, “You didn’t mention you worked here.”
“It didn’t come up,” he says shortly, setting down the littlest one and detaching the other cats from himself before standing. “Did you need something?”
“No, I was just helping Kol.” You hear a soft meow come from by your feet, but you don’t look away from him.
“Okay.”
“Yeah.”
You hear another meow, and then one of the kittens digs its claws into the skin of your ankle, sending you hurtling forward. Cyrus has to stop you from falling on your face.
“Very sharp claws for something so small,” you mumble, unable to stop your cheeks from heating.
He laughs, and the sound is pleasant. “They’re worse than Cressida and Astrid combined.”
“Ah, so you choose to surround yourself with small, evil creatures?”
“More incidental than by design.”
“Well, I don’t consider myself evil, and you seem to like my company.”
“…I’m not opposed to it.”
He doesn’t seem to realize that he’s still holding onto you, but then Kol comes back into the room and the moment’s broken, and you back away from each other hurriedly.
You go to walk out with Kol, but find yourself turning when Cyrus calls after you, “I’ll see you around.”
He’s looking anywhere but at you, deliberately making a show of trying to collect the adorable demon kittens, but you know him well enough to know what he means.
You smile softly. “Yeah. See you around.”
(I’ll be posting some extras every day until Keeper is published. Feel free to mention any characters you want extras for, ROs or otherwise!)
