"Iko, do we have to go?" Cinder whined. It was unusual for her to whine but she really didn't want her wiring to short circuit.

"Yes we have to."

The war was over, had been for six months now, and everything was going just fine and dandy...minus the fact that Iko was forcing her to go to the pool in the palace. And not her somewhat new palace on Luna, they were on earth which meant they were in the New Beijing palace. The place where Kai lived, and as much as he accepted her for being a cyborg, she didn't want him to see her in a swimsuit.

Someone knocked on the door. "Cinder, can I come in?" Cress called.

"Sure."

The door opened and Cress walked in. She was wearing a blue bikini with a sheer white cover-up dress and black sandals. No doubt Thorne had told her what to wear.

"You don't have to wear that you know," Cinder pointed out.

"Huh?" The petite blonde seemed confused. It quickly melted away to insecurity, as was evident in her voice and the way she played with the ends of her now barely-past-shoulder-length hair that was in a French braid over her shoulder. "Oh, I picked this out myself, is it bad?"

"No, sorry I'm just surprised to see you in a swimsuit, I guess." Cinder quickly covered her tracks, not wanting Cress to feel embarrassed.

Cress smiled, "Are you coming."

"She doesn't want to." Iko spoke before she could even think to.

"Why not?"

She answered as reasonably as possible, "I don't want my wiring to short circuit."

Iko rolled her golden eyes, "stop coming up with excuses and let's go!"

Scarlet was relaxing in a lounging chair by the pool, reading a book on her portscreen. She usually wasn't one for luxury, preferring to enjoy the simpler things in life. But she had to admit that after all she had been through in the last year, this felt pretty nice. She glanced away from the port to watch Wolf for a moment as he did laps in the water. Unconsciously, she bit her bottom lip while staring at his muscular body.

Winter looked up from her portscreen, "It would be wise to stop staring." She advised from beside her.

Scarlet snapped out of her trance, the faint tint of a blush forming on her cheeks. However, there was a particular blonde in the pool as well, so she couldn't help but tease back. "Same goes for you."

Winter only chuckled, "I wasn't. You, on the other hand, we're practically drooling."

"You're as bad as Thorne."

"No one is as bad as Thorne."

"What about being as bad as me?" Thorne asked, striding through the door in gray swim trunks and a t-shirt. He pulled the shirt off as soon as he sat in the chair next to Scarlet. "I'm truly hurt," He jokingly put a hand to his heart, feigning sadness.

Kai sighed, he needed a break. Nothing too long, just a few hours away from his paperwork, that's all. He immediately got up from his desk and walked through the corridors to his suite, having a second destination in mind. He changed into red patterned swim trunks and grabbed a towel, then was off again, this time in the direction of the pool.

He was surprised when he got there, not expecting to see Scarlet, Winter, and Thorne chatting in on the chairs. A quick look to the pool and he noticed Wolf and Jacin were there too. "Huh." He said to himself, yet Thorne heard him over the noise of the lapping water and looked his way.

"Your Majesty, come join us!" Thorne grinned.

As much as the guy annoyed Kai from time to time, and as much as he despised his arrogant attitude, he was actually pretty decent. He'd, surprisingly, been a lot of help during the war with tactics and the like--almost as helpful as Jacin's intelligence and Wolf's strength.

"Hello Kaito," Winter greeted.

"Hey," Scarlet acknowledged.

"I was surprised to see everyone here," Kai commented, hunching over on one of the lounging chairs. "I'm not used to the palace having so many normal people around."

Thorne looked at him like he was crazy. "We're considered normal? The Thief, Farmer, Mutant, Soldier, and Lunar Princess."

"Compared to royal advisers and cabinet members? Yes, you are."

"Frenchie...the emperor just called us normal!" Thorne jumped up, pretending to make a big scene. Now Kai remembered why he didn't like the guy when he first me him: he truly was arrogant.

"Oh no, what are we going to do." The redhead said in a monotonous voice. She then rolled her eyes, "Really Thorne, act your age and stop being so over dramatic. You're twenty-two years old, act like it." She scolded him as if he was a small child, always had and always would.

Kai grinned, "Thanks Scar."

She faked a salute, "Let me know anytime he decides to push your bottons, I'll gladly offer my services to push back." 

The group's witty banter always amused him. "Well, I'm going to go blow off some steam. Being Emperor is really getting to me." He tossed his towel on the chair and walked over to a box he had hidden in a plant when he was younger. Inside was a pair of goggles. He had no idea why he still kept them there, sentimental purposes maybe? Anyway, he put the goggles on and hopped in the pool.

He had probably been doing front crawl laps for only about ten minutes when he heard shouting. Kai stopped when he got to the next wall, coming up from to see what all the yelling was about.

He had to admit, the last thing he expected to see was Cinder with her hair up in a ponytail and a fluffy white towel wrapped around her shoulders. She had recently gotten skin grafting on her cyborg limbs, and it was still strange for him to see her without any metal. He had told her more than once that she didn't have to do, she was already perfect the way she was, but she insisted.

Cinder was trying her best to back out of the room, but Cress and Iko were pushing her towards the chairs. "No. Iko, I swear to the stars if you don't cut it out right now I'm going to take your chip out of that escort-droid and put it in a hover!" 

Kai laughed at her empty threat and climbed out of the pool. "We all know you don't mean that Cinder." He rolled his eyes at her.

Cinder stopped struggling for a moment and stared bug-eyed at him. "I'm going back to my room." She attempted to make another escape, but Kai wouldn't have that. He grabbed her around the waist, her back to his chest,  and pulled her over to the pool. " Kai don't you dare! My wiring--"

But it was too late, he already threw her into the water, pulling the towel off in the process. Thankfully the doctors that had done her skin grafting had let him in on every need-to-know detail, so he was well aware that being submerged in water would not do anything to harm her wiring. Her limbs were also made a more lightweight metal, so now she weighed like an average person would.

When she surfaced, she was glaring at him. She really hated water. "Kai!" He knew the words that came out were meant to sound annoyed and mean, but if anything she just sounded defeated.

She swam to the stairs and got out, her whole body dripping off the excess water.

It wasn't until then that he realized she was wearing a black and white polka-dot bikini--Cress and Iko's work no doubt. He was staring without knowing it. She was always so self-conscious about herself, hiding behind baggy t-shirts and cargo pants, and he didn't understand it. He especially didn't understad it now that he could see more of her. She was beautiful. Why did she always try to hide?

Someone faked a cough behind him, "I don't need to see you two looking at each other like you're in wolves in heat anymore. We get enough of that between Wolf and Mademoiselle."

Kai looked to the ground and was blushing, he knew if Cinder could, she would be too. 

Scarlet rolled her eyes, "We do not."

"You kind of do..." Cress said.

"They're not wrong." Winter added.

While they kept arguing, Kai grabbed his towel from the chair and walked over to Cinder. He wrapped it around her shoulders, faces inches apart.

"I'm not happy with you."

"I know."

"You better change that."

He leaned closer and planted a slow kiss on her lips. "Better?"

"Mmm..."

Kai bent down again, this time picking her up so that her legs draped over his left arm, "Kai, put me down--" He silenced her with another kiss. "I'm hungry, what about you?" She nodded. With Thorne, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter still arguing about how each of the couples "make eyes at each other", Kai and Cinder snuck out of the pool, Cinder still in his arms.

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Long time no see, huh? Fluffy, fluff, and more fluff with this one. I love how it turned out, I thought it was going to be really bad, but i like it! Love it? Hate it? Tell me what you think and comment below for what you want me to write next (captinswan, snowing, outlaw queen, cindai, wolflet, thress, wincin, everlark, fourtris, eugunzel, hiccelsa, jarida, jelsa, kristanna, merricup, clintasha, captain widow/romanogers, pepperony, Thane, Brutty, Tasertricks... You can tell me others and I will do them if I know who they are). I have a Lunar Chronicles, Mericcup, Wincin, Hiccelsa, Eugunzel, Clintasha, PotC Jelsa, Captain Swan, and Avengers meet RotBFTD crossover in that order coming up next. I can't promise quick updates on this book since I have other stories to write.

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PrinsessSelene04