Welcome to the third entry yet first publication in fanfiction counterparts of the My Failed Love Life series.

Note - this one-shot is categorized as a Thorne x Cress one but Cress isn't actually in it. She is the main idea of it if that makes any sense.

Copyright - I don't own any of these characters and I've definitely used this idea somewhere else before.

Color, Cut, and Cress:

Wearing the hood of her sweatshirt, Cinder walks through the commerce center, not wanting to be seen. Everyone around her is dressed in the brightest and highest brands of fashion, matched with overpriced accessories and complimented with faces that are caked with designer makeup. All these people are dressed to stand out but in a place where they all look the same, Cinder is ironically the one who is noticed by everyone in her oversized sweatshirt, ripped jeans that are stained with motor oil, and sneakers. With the addition of several baby hairs being a mess on her head, that is the reason why people stare at her - not because she's a cyborg or because she was the leader of a revolution or because she's the long-lost Princess Selene of Luna - but because of her appearance and lack of shopping bags (which people had tens of in their arms and the arms of their servants).

"Cinder, there you are!"

Cinder jumps at the sound of her name being yelled. As if she wasn't already in the spotlight, now she had a name to her hidden face.

Cinder scowls at the appearance of Carswell Thorne. Given any other situation and a scowl would be Cinder's usual response to seeing Thorne. Today is an exception since Thorne was the one who asked her to come to this over-extravagant mall which she looks less valuable than their trash bags.

"I told you to dress up!" Thorne yells at her. "Or at least look clean and put-together."

Cinder rolls her eyes. It's not like Thorne was dressed any better. He was wearing slacks with a bright blue polo and a khaki-colored jacket. He looks presentable whereas Cinder looks like she rolled out of bed (which she literally did). To make the situation better, Cinder just brushes back her stray hairs with her fingers after she takes off her hood.

"Better?" Cinder asks, referencing to her semi-fixed hair.

"Maybe you should keep the hood on," Thorne says, placing Cinder's hood back on her head. Cinder narrows her eyes at him. "I should've brought Winter."

"Damn right you should've."

"Can't you quickly go buy another outfit?"

Cinder gags. "From those stores? Have you seen the other people here? They look ridiculous."

"Would you rather look ridiculous or ratchet?"

"Hey!" Cinder exclaims, pointing right at him with her robotic hand. "You better shut your mouth before I shove my fist in it!"

Thorne puts his hands up above his head in surrender. Cinder glares at him for a few more seconds before lowering her hand and putting it back in her pocket. Thorne slowly lowers his hands, his eyes never leave Cinder just in case she did decide to shove her metal hand in his mouth just for laughs.

"I personally think my clothes are fine, thank you very much," Cinder defends, "but you'll have to bear with my lack of knowledge and enthusiasm."

"Again, I should've brought Winter," Thorne states, regretting the fact that he invited Cinder.

Out of everyone he could've asked to accompany him, he picked Cinder. He needed someone who had a sense of fashion and her, he's here with someone who always dressed as if she lived in the dark with no mirrors. He could've asked Jacin to come and Jacin doesn't even like him all that much. Out of their entire gang - minus Cress, since he couldn't ask her at all - Cinder is the only one he could ask and get a reluctant yes. On the bright side, maybe a contradicting opinion from Cinder might be helpful.

"Just come inside," Thorne orders.

As Thorne walks into the desired store, Cinder follows, dragging her feet. Almost instantly, her eyes are blinded by an abundance of sparkle in the shop. It was a jewelry store with endless rows of display cases that didn't have a single fingerprint on it. It wasn't only the merchandise that was sparkling, the store itself was too. Its walls and ceilings had a continuous dark-blue almost indigo color with decals of startle that gleam when light reflects in it. A giant chandelier hand in the center of the store, imitating the moon. The floor is carpeted with a dark purple pattern. The entire store had this dark imagery to it which makes all of its jewels pop out.

"Hello there," a sales rep by the name of Cynthia greets Cinder and Thorne. She stands on the other side of a display case of rings that Thorne givers over. "Are you looking for something in particular?"

"Yes," Thorne replies, finally looking up at Cynthia. "I'm looking for a special ring for my special lady."

Thorne smirks, leaning on the glass display case. Cynthia is taken aback for a moment and makes a sound that oddly resembles a seductive cat purr. Cinder stands there, feeling wildly uncomfortable as she watches the two of them and holds back her gag reflex. She also wonders why she hasn't run out of the store yet.

"Is she your special lady?" Cynthia asks Thorne, grinning while she gestures at Cinder.

If Cinder's cheeks could turn red, she would be the color of the rubies on display. Out of all the things in the world to be called, and she has been called several names, she feels most offended by being called Thorne's Special Lady. The reasons for why Cinder should leave the store keep on building up...and she's barely been in here for five minutes.

"Disgusting," Cinder states in response to being referred to as Thorne's Special Lady. "Absolutely disgusting."

Cynthia blinks once, unsure of how to react to that. The cat that purred inside of her earlier has certainly gotten its tongue stolen.

Thorne laughs to ease the awkwardness. "No, no, this is Cinder. She's a special lady but not my special lady. I have someone else. Cinder had her chance with me when we escaped prison together, ran away from her evil Aunt Levana's thaumaturge army, and when we won the revolution together. Sadly, my charms were too much for her to handle and she settled with Emperor Kai of the Commonwealth, but I'm much happier with my Crescent Moon Darnel."

Cinder rolls her eyes. "Do you even know what you're saying half the time?"

Thorne light up. "I see a future with you. I don't plan on ever leaving you."

"Say what?"

"That is a snippet of my proposal speech for Cress. The same could apply for you to a certain extent. What do you think?"

"I think you're an idiot with a big mouth and a thoroughly distorted sense of self-confidence."

"I meant what you thought of my speech, not what you think of me!"

"Oh, right..." Cinder mutters as she looks up and pretends to think. "Remind me again what Cress loves you so much about you?"

"Everything you hate."

Thorne winks at Cinder who rolls her eyes. Like before, Cynthia does a single blink but this time, she excuses herself to give them a moment to choose what they want (and not have to listen to them bicker).

"Okay," Thorne says, clapping his hands once. "Let's finally look at rings."

Cinder and Thorne look at all the rings set in the display cases all around them, feeling like they were trapped in a labyrinth of gemstones. All the different colors, cuts, and styles really peek to Thorne's interest. For Cinder, everything just flies straight over her head and into another galaxy.

"They all look the same!" Cinder screams, about to lose her mind over a sparkle overdose.

"On the contrary," Thorne says formally, waving Cynthia back over. She walks with a skip in her step and a shiny smile on her face. "Cynthia, could you give us a brief overview of these rings?"

"Certainly," she replies as if she was starting a tour. "We have several different styles such as marquise, Victorian, and some modern. Those could be combined with our various cuts such as princess, radiant, cushion, emerald, Asscher..."

The list keeps on going as if it was never going to end. Cinder stares at Cynthia, watching her jaw move up and down. None of the words were entering Cinder's ears, they were going through one and out the other. She didn't understand anything being told to her and even if she was listening attentively, she would still be left in the dark. Cinder looks over at Thorne who pays attention attentively, nodding his head at everything that Cynthia says. Cinder wonders if Thorne actually understands all the ring vocabulary or if he's just being polite.

As a way to look like she's not zoning out, Cinder looks down at the rings. The first thing her eyes land on is the price and her eyes widen as large as the diamonds on those rings.

"That's a lot of digits!" Cinder exclaims almost horrified.

"Please," Thorne replies casually, saying that word as 'puh-lease' (which bothers Cinder more than it really should). "I would buy the moon for Crescent Moon."

Cinder scoffs. "I think that'd be cheaper."

"Well, while you were in your thoughts, I had this ring in mind."

Thorne points at a ring in the display case. It was a princess cut ring with a giant diamond that was surrounded by smaller diamonds and has a band that was obviously made out of diamonds. As if that wasn't enough, the price was well in the tens of thousands.

"Wow," Cinder states out of breath. "That rock is bigger than Cress."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"Maybe."

"You're mean."

"Hey, you asked for my opinion. Don't like it? Go play with your aces. This is why we do not shop together."

"No..." Thorne stretches out. "We don't shop together because you have a terrible fashion sense."

Cinder throws her arms up in frustration, especially since her built-in lie detector wasn't going off. Sure, she didn't have a classy or girly fashion sense but she did have a fashion sense. It was just one that Thorne and a lot of other people didn't favor.

"Would you consider a ring if I picked one out?" Cinder asks. She already knows his answer but just wants to be sure.

"I've already picked one out," Thorne replies, gazing over to a much more simplistic ring.

Cinder was right and her eye was still not blinking.

"The color and cut are perfect!" Thorne exclaims, admiring his choice like it was a newborn baby. If that ring wasn't for Cress, he would most likely buy it for himself.

"Yeah, sure..." Cinder mutters, "but aren't you forgetting the most important 'C' of them all?"

Thorne's face completely changes. "You mean my most important 'C' of them all?"

A snarky grin and a rising eyebrow appear on Thorne's face as he nudges Cinder with his elbow. At first, Cinder isn't sure what Thorne is doing but when she relates her question to his reaction, Cinder regrets asking her question the way she did.

"Cost, Carswell!" Cinder exclaims right in his face. "I'm talking about the cost of the ring and not your cock!"

Thorne is taken aback and left speechless. The same applies to everyone else in the store who heard that and can't help but stare at the two of them, unsure whether to laugh or be disgusted.

"I was talking about being a captain," Thorne says innocently with a small laugh, sharpening the 'c' in captain.

Cinder stands there, desperately wanting to run out of the store now more than ever. She's mortified and is grateful to not be biologically able to blush or else she would be as red as the rubies on some of those rings.

"Okay, then..." Thorne mutters. "With that aside, I think the two of us should agree on the most important 'C' before continuing to shop."

Cinder nods. "Color?"

"Cut?"

"Clarity?"

"Cost?"

"Captain?"

"Carswell?"

"Cinder?"

"Cress?"

"Cress."

This story was based on true events. I enjoyed writing it and think that Cinder and Thorne are the best duo to fit this story. For those of you wanting an actual proposal story, that is in the works (and will also include the other couples) and I don't know when it will come out.

Thank you to everyone who has read this! Please leave me a review to tell me what you think or if you have another story idea for me to write. Go check out my other stories in the meantime!

~ MysteryGal5