My explanation on why I ship Briar Beauty and Ashlynn Ella together from Ever After High, and if you'd like to get into them instead of reading this, you can read some of my fics on here and @ AO3! (User is saintzkay <3) -- I also take requests, I honestly don't mind writing for EAH!
Intro post just in case i lose it
I've been shipping these two for a long ass time, ever since I got into Ever After High as a kid (I vaguely remember watching it as a baby but I wasn't consistent, so I watched it all in 2024 to understand the plot line), let's just say I was looking for an One True Pairing that I was gonna stick with and bam!
These two are literally made for each other, let me get to explaining on why I ship them in the first place so you'll understand my vision!
"Legacy Day: Apple's Tale" This interaction with Apple is the main reason on why they're my favorite OTP.
"Hey!"
"Hi, Ashlynn!"
"Want to go on a nature hike later? I haven't been in the woods in days.. and it just feels so good to get back to what really matters."
"New shoes?! (squeals) Where?"
"It's a shoe thing."
"Well, she is Cinderella's daughter."
The way I have to give Briar her credit for knowing about Ashlynn's obsessions for shoes, it's a simple detail but it's so cute! Considering the fact that they were childhood friends, I'm sure Ashlynn's shoe obsession was much more mild than it is now, well, I'm just assuming that.
"Ashlynn's Fashion Frolic"
"I can't wait to struct the catwalk in one of your spelltacular dresses, Ashlynn!"
Briar was being SUCH a supportive girlfriend there, matter of fact, she gives me wife material whenever she's around Ashlynn for some reason lmao, I dunno why.
"Well, we better hurry up! You guys know my story, things kind of unravel when the clock strikes 12."
"I thought it was midnight?"
"I'm more of a morning princess."
Ashlynn will always be my favorite I swear.
When Ashlynn's step-sisters came to her fashion show, Briar's eyes evidently screamed: 'I don't know who these bitches are but they better not hurt my girlfriend'!
"That's it. We have to put a stop to this!"
Briar being (over) protective of her is so cutesy, she's definitely the protective type of girl and I love it! I wish we could have seen some protective brilynn content throughout the series, it would have been very fun to explore.
"Your destiny saids you have to wait on them, right?"
"Yeah? (gasp) Oh, I get it! Maybe we all wait to see what happens to them when the clock strikes noon!"
Also I adore that ending of the webisode when Briar gave Ashlynn a look then became cocky in less than a second, lmao I love Brilynn's pettiness.
"Apple's Birthday Bake-Off"
Briar was way too excited to think that Raven tried to poison Apple instead when it was her! (I love hyperactive Briar Beauty).
"I wish there was something we could do."
"Yeah, but it's not like you can make Raven poison her."
"Great idea, Ash! I'll pour a little creature concoction into Raven's cake and Apple will think Raven tried to poison her!"
The way she just drags Ashlynn into her chaotic shenanigans. 😭
"We could just get her some cute shoes or something..."
Once again as said, Briar was excited to gaslight Apple, at least Ashlynn tried to stop her before absolute hell broke loose, sometimes I wonder if Ashlynn tires to persuade her to not do batshit things like a mother does to a reckless child... (Ashlynn lowk gives me mom vibes when she's around her, just a thought.)
"MirrorNet Down"
"I can't share the cute shoes I found online!"
"I can't tell everyone about the hexcellent new band playing at The Red Shoes dance club tonight!"
"A tell I'm guessing the Headmaster would love to be told?"
"What do you say you cancel the test and give us a little more time to study."
Not Ashlynn legit nodding her head, that proves how locked in she is with her relationship with Briar, or she's just trying to look cool in front of her lol, guys it's a cute thought – let that sink in.
"Thronecoming"
"You ready? I can't wait to finish my float! And I did it without harming a single flower!"
She sounds like a little kid during this whole conversation and it's so adorable the way she talks to Briar, it's like her VA makes her voice meeker than it already is.
"Harming a flower?"
"Hey! Plants have feelings too, y'know?"
"You go ahead. I just need to sew up this skirt."
The fact that Briar knew what was going to happen.. the foreshadowing is insane.
"Okay, see you there!"
"Ow, my finger!"
Ashlynn hasn't even left the room for more than at least 10 seconds and she's already falling into her enchanted sleep 🥹✌️
Anyways, she was super anxious about her falling asleep for 100 years, I mean it's her destiny, but when she was in the dorm sleeping her life away (smh), Ashlynn was like 'Oh let me go check on my child'.
Bro, their dialogue this whole scene makes me wanna start CRYING, Mattel when I fucking catch you.
"Oh no. How long have I been asleep?!"
"Well, you missed float building."
DID YALL HEAR THE PAIN IN ASHLYNN'S VOICE? She really wanted her to be there! 🥺
"But.. that's one of the best parties of the year!"
"It's okay! It's not like–"
"No! It's not okay! Is this what it's gonna be like when I sleep for 100 years? I'm gonna miss out on all the fun, and my friends."
"You always knew this was gonna happen, that you are gonna be the next Sleeping Beauty."
"I know! but, now? It just feels... real!"
"Well, you haven't signed the StoryBook Of Legends yet."
Ashlynn, mi amor, I adore you but why mention this while comforting your wife bro?
"Ashlynn..."
I KNOW Y'ALL HEARD THE PAIN IN BRIAR'S VOICE WHEN SHE SAYS HER NAME. WHAT ELSE IS FUCKING THERE?
"Look, Briar, you wouldn't be the first person to question your destiny, I mean.. I already signed and I kinda wished I haven't, who knows what's gonna happen between Hunter and me?"
"So.. your saying I shouldn't sign? I should... rebel?!"
You seen what Raven did on Legacy Day... bro.
"I'm saying.. you have choices."
Briar listen to your wife for once goddamn. 😭
"Okay, Thronecoming? Totally off on the wrong slipper."
"Well, since the book is a fake, at least Raven can't sign and I don't have to decide on what I'm gonna do!"
SPOILERS: The fact that Raven turned evil in the last episode of Way Too Wonderland, damn, that's crazy work.
"Unless.."
"Unless, what?"
"Unless, Raven decides to go looking for the real StoryBook Of Legends."
"She wouldn't do that! Would she?"
When Madeline, Raven, Apple + Cedar went to go find the StoryBook Of Legends, this Interaction between them is so simple but cute.
"Where are they going?"
"I don't know."
Few seconds later she completely yanks Ashlynn's hand without permission, which is so crazy.
This whole interaction between the girls is so funny yet sad, if you see what I'm putting down.
"Wicked. I wonder if we're supposed to-"
"Raven!"
Okay.. did everyone and their Fairy Godmother follow us here?"
"Well, I didn't follow you! But I got bored at the game so I'd thought I come check this place out! What are you all doing here?"
Cupid, babes that's recon stalking... (sometimes I forget that her and Raven share the same voice actress).
"We're trying to find the real StoryBook Of Legends, so Raven can sign."
"I'm sorry but.. I can't let you do that!"
Mattel, I will try to be civil when I say this but fuck you. Y'all made Briar so damn tragic and miserable like please give my baby a break, actually fuck allat y'all made BRILYNN TRAGIC I CAN'T TAKE THIS SHIT NO MORE. 😭
"If you find the real book.. that means I'm gonna lose you all!"
Damn, she's gonna lose Ashlynn (and the rest of her friends), the girl who was always there for her in a time of need, thinking about it like this will make me sick In the stomach I can't lie.
"Briar? Maybe we can find another- Raven no!"
"I'm sorry, Briar!"
That one scene where the eight main girls are together after they gave the pages to Giles, Briar was clinging on to Ashlynn's shoulder, awe! 🥹
"Hey, Briar? Can you come help me with my hair?"
"Uh... Yeah! Um... coming!"
She's so fuckin' whipped, we're gonna ignore the fact that she styled Ashlynn's hair so cutesy?
It's alot of scenes where they're holding hands, talking or even sitting down together in the background, but there's 100% that Briar is a lesbian or aromantic based on her evident interest in Ashlynn, and I'm not saying she is but there's a huge What If... I will gladly make a fanfic based on this huge ass What If.
Epic Winter: Oh they had some chemistry, But Bribelle was kind-of rushed, since we barely got scenes of Brilynn. Which isn't the writers fault, maybe they wanted to focus on Briar and Faybelle's dynamic more.
"Meeshell Comes Out Of Her Shell" A bunch of Brilynn interactions + Madeline being the cutie she already is.
"I'm gonna knock everyone's slippers off at the talent show next chapter day!"
"Uh-huh!"
"Neat."
"Hey, here comes that new girl, Meeshell! I heard she's shy. We should invite her to sit with us."
"Hey, Meeshell!"
"I never met someone so shy before..."
Ashlynn was giving her the I Agree With My Girlfriend look word to my madukes bro 😭 (I'm so sorry but slang is so funny to use when explaining somethin' to me, it's a habit lowkey).
"Meeshell, your voice is so... fairest! You should totally sing in the Talent Show!"
"Everyone at school would filp their crown if they heard you sing!"
At the end of the webisode, they were sitting next to each other, giving Meeshell supportive looks, y'know? Like their some proud parents of their child who just learned how to ride a bicycle for the first time. 🥹
hii could you do mean & jealous red x f reader ?♡︎
pairings: red x fem!reader
genre: a little bit of tension & flirting (it’s all fluffy at least from reader’s point of view)
warnings: as requested in the ask red is jealous & mean, reader is also rather inconsiderate
note: it’s implied that reader could be the same one from this oneshot, but this can easily be read as a standalone!! featuring ally, daughter of alice, from descendants wicked world (huge thank you to @perfect-revenge for suggesting her) and my oc engelica, daughter of the enchantress from beauty & the beast!
“—and i don’t actually care, at all, really!” red rants with one hand in ally’s hair while her other gloved hand flails about angrily, flicking specks of blue dye across her friend’s room, “it’s just that she’s always there. always! and i know she has other friends, because everyone is always at the new kids’ beck and call when they first arrive—but pretty little engelica’s never with ethel, or even bloody eric! it’s always my girlfriend!”
ally nods along timidly, doing her very best not to draw the rampaging beast’s attention to her, lest she face red’s wrath—while also, desperately, trying to remind red that she’s only here in the first place to help dye her hair.
“right, but about the dye—”
red groans to herself, none the wiser of her friend trying to get her attention, as she takes her frustration out by tugging harshly at ally’s blonde roots, “and it’s even worse because i can just smell that she hates me, too! she has to be trying to take what’s mine, i just know it—because i see the way she glares at me! like i’m competition!”
ally dives to save the open bottle of blue dye before it spills everywhere, after a particularly passionate wave of red’s arms hitting at it as if she wishes it were some girlfriend-thief’s face.
(and she keeps her mouth shut about defending her roommate against red’s suspicions, having a whole two hours of complaining to remind her that a singular word in defence of the princess’s sworn enemy would land her right in her crosshairs.)
“well, guess what, engelica!—which is a stupid name, by the way!” the girl named after a colour shouts, “—i’m not afraid of you; i’ve fought mome rath’s bigger than you!”
“that’s great, now—”
“and you know what? i’m going to go find her right now! yeah! i’m going to show her how things work around here!”
ally already starts mourning ever seeing her blue streaks upon her head ever again, as she sighs long-sufferingly, “red, before you go, could you please just finish my hair! it’ll be so quick, just—”
a plastic glove covered in hair dye slaps ally square in the face (for all it’s worth, accidentally—though ally doesn’t think the sentiment will help her forget the bitter taste that slips into her agape mouth, or the slightest sheen of blue that will stick to her eyelashes and eyebrows for the coming weeks) as red whirls around at the sound of the bedroom door opening.
red’s heartbeat syncs with the tune of your melodic laugh as it swirls through the room like a warm sunbeam, eyes locked on your angelic smile—and, to ally’s horror, growling, when she realises just who your smile is directed at.
“oh, that’s so funny!” you praise engelica, walking beside you in all her treacherous red-flowing-dress glory.
(and if red’s mind were a little less clouded by jealousy, she’d be able to pick out the gleam in your eyes that only ever comes out in full force when you’re buttering someone up—and she might even realise that engelica being the daughter of the most powerful sorceress in auradon, is also a rather important detail to consider when you’re smiling at her far brighter than even your closest friends.)
but all your girlfriend sees is your attention swallowed whole by a girl your parents would be far quicker to welcome into the family than herself (knowing terribly well just how much your mother and father’s approval is worth its weight in gold to you), and she descends upon the two of you with thunderous stomps.
“hey!” red chirps with a strained voice twice as high than normal, “how are you guys?”
finally noticing you have company, you turn to red in shock—that is quickly replaced with intrigue at the way she sizes engelica up like she’s her next meal, and you find yourself fantasising about her looking at you like that.
“oh, we were—”
you lay a heavy hand on engelica’s shoulder, leaning in towards her until the sides of your heads touch, “we were just on the most fabulous walk! weren’t we, dear?” your voice drips sickly sweet as you interrupt her, jumping at the opportunity to rile your girlfriend up even further than she already seems.
red’s jaw clenches, and you have to hold back the curl of a smirk growing upon your lips—as you giddily feed into her animosity, almost growing dizzy at the sight of her dark eyes glaring at your ‘friend’, as you bat your eyelashes ever so innocently.
“were you?” red grits, “that’s so wonderful!”
“it was nice…?” engelica frowns at your sudden closeness—and tries not to shrink under the harsh gaze of a girl she swears she’s never even met before, but who appears to be barely holding herself back from jumping at her with bared claws.
“was it?”
“it was rather magical, wasn’t it, engie?” you make eye contact with your girlfriend (for what feels, to her, like a torturous eternity) before turning back to engelica and affectionately readjusting the neckline of her dress.
“well, yes, i suppose,” the enchantress’s daughter smiles at you awkwardly.
the moment red watches engelica’s lips curl upwards—blind to the stiffness of it, nor noticing the way the girl slowly tries to wriggle out of your abrasive affections—she’s taking a step forward until her face is a breath’s away, with possessive outstretched arms, and dragging you back to her side with the tightest grip you’ve ever felt.
all while the young enchantress watches with boundless confusion at the red-haired girl trying to scare her out of her own dorm room, and red can only hear her heart clawing in her chest—screaming to spill some random girl’s blood for taking what’s hers—; you let your wide grin slip free as you lean into your girlfriend’s embrace.
“that’s so cool!” red squeals, keeping up the taunting kindness, as her sharp nails dig into your waist—head tilting menacingly, like she’s practically begging engelica to make a move so she can finally have an excuse to tear her limb from limb.
“…thank you?”
“mhm!” red hums like the whir of a meat grinder, “well, you should probably leave now, yeah?”
the girl stuck in the doorway finally looks relieved at the chance to escape whatever twisted torture chamber she’s walked into—but barely gets a second to so much as imagine the sweet taste of relief, as a flash of manicured nails makes a grabby hand at her.
“oh sweetie, please don’t go!” you coo, making a show of fighting against the restraint of very same arms that feel like the hug of a cloud plucked right from heaven wrapped around you.
but red is nearing the thin end of her emergency supply of patience, and wastes no time in tugging you back even further into her side.
your girlfriend’s arms slowly push you down until your legs are awkwardly bent, so she can loom over you with blood red irises swallowing your soul whole, as she mutters, “your friend is too busy cursing entire households into inanimate objects to stick around, my princess.”
she pouts mockingly as she hisses, “isn’t that right, engie?” but still doesn’t look away from you.
your supposed friend (though she’s never quite considered the princess who treats her like a purse dog to be much of a friend) gapes at red’s piercing words daring to insult her mother. and then her gaze snaps to you, expecting the two-faced priss who’s been making a whole game of taking her side throughout this unnerving confrontation to at the very least scold her rude girlfriend for being so unnecessarily cruel—but all engelica finds is you staring at your girlfriend with shooting stars glistening in your eyes; completely ignoring the outside world in favour of fawning over someone engelica dares to almost call a bully.
(you couldn’t care less for teasing red further anymore, not when you’ve been plunged into a boiling hot sea and can barely keep your head above water when she’s scowling like that. all you care about now is red kissing you, hard.)
you don’t even notice engelica fleeing down the hall, your entire world revolving around red as a delicate finger finds her soft curls, and twirls her loose hair with a beaming grin.
you murmur as if she still isn’t glaring holes through your head, “hi, red.”
her jaw ticks (but you don’t miss the way she unconsciously leans into your pull on her hair, and could never unhear just how hard her heart pounds against her chest for you), “why were you going to that girl’s dorm with her?”
“oh, well…” you hum—hesitating with a smirk like you have something to hide, and you hadn’t actually simply been following the new girl around trying to squeeze magical secrets out of her—“i don’t know, babe… maybe a kiss will help me remember?”
as red dives in until your batting eyelashes peck her skin—ally; still sat (uncomfortably beyond words) amongst brushes and dyes, finally decides enough is enough, when she can’t hold back a frightened squeak at yourself and red beginning to blatantly make out in her dorm. the poor blonde scrambles to bundle everything into her arms, and balance the scruffy towel draped across her shoulders, as she stumbles across the room with wide eyes that try their very best to avoid the sight of red hoisting you up upon engelica’s desk.
“i’ll just be going now— bye!” she squeals to deaf ears, all but sprinting away from the sound of red whispering into your neck, as she wonders if engelica might be willing to help her finally finish dyeing her hair.
omg can you do Red x R, where they have the same friend group but are constantly bickering and arguing with each other and the rest of the group are used to it, they’re just betting when they’ll finally kiss or get together
pairings: red x gn!reader
genre: i’m not sure? it’s not actually angsty… just enemies to lovers
warnings: arguing, yelling, shoving, the start of a physical fight but it gets shut down quickly, tension, reader is nicknamed “flopsy” as they’re implied to be the child of the white rabbit (but don’t worry, it’s just a nickname, i never actually name the reader)
note: this features ace & chester from the books, and is set during some sort of alternate version (where nothing goes wrong) of the second party also from the books, which wouldn’t have been possible without the help of @trashfr0g & @idontliketomatoesleavemealone, so a huge thank you to them!!!
ace leans over from the stool he pulled up beside the armchair chester lounges on, stretching until his face is right beside his friend, but even still has to shout to be heard over the booming music.
“what do you think they’re arguing about?”
they both turn back to squint across the room, craning to hear what you yell at a stony-faced red.
the fight started off like it always does, quiet, and mostly unassuming—though the second you pulled red aside from deep within a conversation, katy had been quick to give her friends a knowing look. you’d tucked yourselves away in a dark corner, whispers growing ragged as the two of you were incapable of having a conversation where you didn’t disagree on something (even just for the sake of it—chester remembers you insisting to red that you hated her favourite flower, moments after expressing your admiration for it behind her back).
and in just a record one minute, you’d tried to storm away from the girl who’d been sneering at you—but had been blocked, as she jumped in front of you. the one thing that was clear amongst dim lights and the distracting flashes of the disco ball, was the way your jaw clenched so tight ace swore you were going to snap a muscle.
the only words your shared friends had been able to make out so far, had been red accusing you of whatever this was, being ‘all your fault’ and demanding you not be a coward, and ‘finish what you started’ as she’d jutted an accusatory finger at your chest.
now, chester and ace have made themselves comfortable across the ballroom, claiming front row seats to the show of red (the same girl they always catch watching you walk away after gatherings like she yearns to reach out and keep you by her side forever) huffing with tautly cross arms, and yourself (who would deny it to your grave, but have been caught several times biting back smiles at red’s same jokes that you insist are ‘childish’ and ‘idiotic’) flailing your arms in her face as you all but scream at her.
“maybe flopsy just really likes red’s dress,” ace offers, as you attempt to angrily push at red’s shoulder (decorated with a soft pink strap and a delicate bow) but trip over your own momentum as she steps out of your line of fire, “and they just dunno how to express it.”
chester chuckles, “or maybe they’re arguing about the volume of the music; flopsy’s always so uptight about that,” the boys grin, as you dramatically cover your ears with your palms, no doubt yelling nonsense over red’s shouts as you pretend you can’t hear her.
“or— ohhh!” ace’s eyes widen as red throws her head back in a humourless laugh, sharp teeth glinting in the sparkling of the disco ball.
“oh, she’s mad mad,” chester agrees, as his friend nods in awe.
ace is on the edge of his seat, as red takes a threatening step towards you, still grinning menacingly as she nears and nears, until the two of you are just a breath away from colliding.
“yes!” ace cheers—having confidently bet that tonight the two of you would finally confess to each other (or at the very least kiss in the heat of the moment)—as red’s hot breath puffs against your cheeks that crease with a scowl, “it’s so happening!”
chester can’t deny that you both totally just glanced at each other’s lips when the other wasn’t looking, and that the princess’s flushed cheeks can definitely be partly blamed on the fact that she gets visibly dazed whenever she’s close enough to you that she can smell your shampoo—but the other part fuelling her red cheeks, is undoubtedly pure rage, wide eyes burning holes into your face when you tilt your head, as if daring her to do something.
with a raised eyebrow at his over-excited friend, chester grimaces, “it looks more like they’re gonna beat each other up,” as you step impossibly closer to the pretty girl you’ve been butting heads with since the moment you laid eyes on her.
“pfft,” ace shakes his head, “you’re just sour you’re about to lose the bet.”
for an agonising moment, the two of you silently glare into each other’s eyes, as your heart pounds wildly and your hands itch to reach out and grab at her (to hold her hand sweetly, or elbow her in the stomach, you have no idea—maybe if you yank at her arm you’ll have an excuse to run your fingers down her skin).
“uh huh…” chester mutters, unconvinced, as he already starts getting up from his chair, as he watches red’s hands twitch by her side.
by the time red gives a hard shove to your shoulder, sending you stumbling back, the boy is flying up from his seat, ready to break up the fight before the two of you do something even more stupid—when a hand tugs him back.
“hey! no interfering!” ace cries, unwilling to accept the fact that the odds (more like, two lovestruck teens who couldn’t express a genuine emotion even if they tried) are not in his favour tonight, as he tries to hold chester back from marching across the room, “they could just be, y’know, letting off some steam! which could then lead to—”
red starts aggressively toeing off her heels, as you regain your balance with clenched fists—and chester is immediately slipping from his friend’s clutch, with a resounding, “nope!”
with a reluctant sigh, ace watches as his friend disappears across the room, and can no longer deny that there is definitely some potent bloodlust (pooling in-between the regular lust, of course) in the two of yours’ eyes, as you attempt to pounce at red with a furious growl—but are swiftly held back, as chester reappears and wraps his arms tightly around you from behind, and wrenches you away from your target.
kicking and screaming as your friend restrains you, ace quickly sprints across the room to tug red back from clawing at you when you briefly become an easy target for her blind rage.
ignoring his friend’s knowing gaze just two hostile friends away, ace drags red several steps back from you, as the two of you still screech and growl at each other about some inane argument that—not for the first time—leaves the boy genuinely surprised at how the two of you seem to have endless amounts of energy to waste your time on pointless fights (not that he’d ever quite understand that strong pull that always tugs the two of you towards each other—and if a disagreement is the only excuse you can think of to stay close, then so be it).
“ugh,” he mutters to himself, as red’s sharp nails dig into his arm around her waist, “are you sure you guys don’t wanna just kiss it out?”
but red’s head whips around at his words (and he’s lucky your keen ears don’t pick it up too, as you’re too preoccupied with trying to bargain with chester that him letting you wrestle with ‘that disgustingly rebellious princess’ is actually somehow ‘for the greater good’), her wide eyes meeting chester’s behind her, as she clamours, “what!?”
sighing disgruntledly, as his gaze finally finds chester rolling his eyes, ace shakes his head, “nevermind,” and waits for his friend to settle down her thrashing, so he can dig through his pocket for some loose change to hand over to a smug cheshire cat.
So I've got another idea, Red x daughter of Alice from wonderland!reader
kind of an enemies (because of their parents) to lovers/forbidden love. where the reader doesn't dislike Red and actually sees the good bits of her, and Red despises the reader (only publicly but is secretly in love with the daughter of her mothers enemy)
Thats all I've got but im sure when you get some inspiration you'll make something big out of it ♡
pairings: red x fem!reader
genre: fluff & flirting, but also red being internally very angsty and conflicted
warnings: mentions of beheadings & death, red having an unhealthy relationship with her mum, reader is locked in a cell awaiting execution (don’t worry though it doesn’t actually happen)
note: i gave reader the 2010 movie’s alice’s lastname this time, switching it up for fun! she doesn’t make an appearance but it’s important to me that you guys know adult alice is a total badass
after spending a good ten minutes luring all the guards away from the dungeon (again, she sighs, why are they only ever good at their jobs when it inconveniences her), red peaks around the corner of the stairs, finally catching another glimpse of you—sat on the rough stone bench of your cell, humming softly as you gaze up at the tiny slits of the outside world slipping through the gaps of the barred window.
red doesn’t know why she’s putting all this effort into catching so much as a fleeting glimpse of the prisoner beneath the castle. but from the moment she saw you and your mother stood outside the walls of the kingdom—the only foe red’s mother couldn’t defeat all but handing herself and her daughter over to the queen’s whims, all because of something about ‘negotiations’—she couldn’t take her eyes off of you; and couldn’t fight the magnetic pull that kept bringing her to the dungeon stairwell, something deep inside her begging for you.
your calm voice echoes down the dark hallway, “back again?”
red’s breath catches in her throat, freezing as your eyes leisurely turn to face the princess lurking just around the corner, greeting her with a lazy smile as if you have all the time in the world to make out the outlines of red’s body hidden in the shadows.
“am i really that interesting?”
surely you aren’t, red argues, but then why is she here again, running after you like a hungry bandersnatch?—but you can’t be, red can’t be sneaking away to visit a prisoner awaiting her beheading like this, especially not one who’s the daughter of her mother’s most despised enemy.
she has to hate you, red reminds herself as she emerges from her hiding spot with a scoff, “you’ve got a big ego, kingsleigh.”
but your smile never falters, watching her approach the bars of your cell, nearing even as she insists she wants nothing to do with you.
“i’m just keeping an eye on our prisoner, making sure your scheming mother doesn’t play some elaborate trick to save you,” red sneers, pouring every bit of bitterness she feels when her mother fumes at yours into words she desperately hopes slice through your perfect skin like a knife (hoping, if you’re convinced that she hates you, it might magically become easier to believe it herself).
with a tilted head, you gaze up at red—from the jagged seat you make look almost comfortable with the way you perch atop it ever so pleasantly, “why would we come all this way, only to spend the day saving me from the guillotine? that sounds like a rather odd plan for some mother-daughter bonding, don’t you think?”
something about your smooth voice, spouting words like poetry, entrances red like a pocketwatch swinging back and forth, back and forth, back and forth—
but your words, when she tunes into more than just your birdsong, only serve to remind her that the only thing she’d get out of befriending the girl who beckons her closer, is nightmares at the end of the day; when she won’t be able to get the image of your head falling clean off out of her mind. she doesn’t even want to begin to imagine just how haunted she will be when your beautiful voice turns soured with screams.
red forces her eyes to roll, “imprisoning people and cutting their heads off actually sounds like a greatday out,” she tries to prove to you that she’s not someone to giggle with as if you’re best friends; she’s the daughter of a merciless tyrant, and you need to get out of her head.
“do you think so?” you muse, acting like you know something she doesn’t.
(you peer through the gaps in red’s towering walls, spotting the little cracks where she lets herself breathe out of reach of her mother’s searing clutch, and admire the blinding rays of light that beam out from her true self.)
“uh… yeah?” she mutters, too busy trying to figure out you and your bright eyes that look like they can see right through her, to realise how unsure of herself she sounds.
“okay.”
“okay?”
you laugh, and it’s the most melodic thing she’s ever heard, “do you want me to argue with you, red?”
she frowns, crossing her arms over her torso to protect all the ugly confusing feelings whirling inside. you need to argue with her, yell and shout and beat her until she’s a bloody mess that doesn’t remember why she ever liked you, so she can finally make her mother proud.
(please, never argue with her again, take her into your arms with a warm smile and show her all the places you used to play with friends as a kid, and hold her hand under the sunset that settles upon anyone but here.)
when she doesn’t answer, you purr, “i don’t want to argue with you red.”
her voice shakes as she asks, “what do you want, then?” wishing the two of you could go back to snapping back and forth—because at least then, she could watch you swirl around her lies like a trained dancer, and you’d be just distracted enough on pointing your toes and keeping your back straight to not focus on the way she’s gasping for air just out of arm’s reach.
but instead, you grin—like she’s finally said the right thing, like this is the moment you’ve been waiting this whole time for (and red almost feels pride that she was able to please you)—and rise from your throne.
your custom jewellery—of wood-carved fantasy beasts and metallic wonderlandian flowers—dangling like stars in the night sky, and mismatched little charms hanging off your well-loved boots, jitter like windchimes in the kindest breeze as you step towards the threshold of your cell. a hand disappears into one of the countless handsewn pockets littering your baby blue dress, and pops back out to reveal a scroll that just fits in the palm of your hand, as you step nearly toe-to-toe with red.
you reach your arm through a gap in the bars, fingers open wide to offer the paper. and red isn’t sure just why she trusts you—when you could’ve enchanted this little scroll to instantly set her skin ablaze until it all burns off, or have laced it with deadly poison just like she used to watch her mother do back when she made the last opposing royals of wonderland drop like flies—but she does, and grabs the offering as if you were handing her a ring from down on your knees.
“what is it—?”
red flinches backwards, as the scroll leaps into the air. it unfurls in a flourish of golden sparkles and the faintest smell of grass on a rainy day in overland, revealing bright blue script glistening like it was scrawled in glitter, reading… an address in london?
“what is this?” red’s eyebrows dip at the writing, rising it closer to her face as if, if she were to rub the shimmering text into her irises, it might make more sense.
“my address, for mailing.”
“mailing? mailing what?” why would she need to know how to mail anything but a death notice, to the door of a house that will soon only be haunted by the memory of a girl, who met her untimely demise in a world some still don’t even believe to exist?
you hum, “letters.”
“letters?”
“i’d be happy to go back and forth like this with you any other day, rosy,” you smile as though you truly mean it, like you would stand here entertaining red’s embarrassing babbling like there’s no better pastime, “but i’ve kind of already got somewhere to be today, sorry.”
red looks back up to stare at you disbelievingly, “you really do think you’re gonna make it out of this cell—let alone out of wonderland—alive?!”
you just shrug, with a cheeky grin that well resembles the sharp all-knowing teeth of the cheshire cat.
“well, how else would i read all the letters you send me, if i’m not back home to receive them?”
and before red can even begin to inquire just why you’re so certain that someone who (is meant to, but, deep down, doesn’t even know how she could ever despise the treacherous kingsleigh daughter when she smiles at her so sweetly) hates your guts would ever write you letters—a cacophony of loud crashes echoes down from the castle above like raucous thunder, and a storm of impossibilities begins.
pleasepleaseplease red x fem!reader, 5 times where reader tried flirting with red and letting her know they like her but red is oblivious, 1 time red finally realizes pleasepleaseplease
pairings: red x fem!reader
genre: a mix of angst and fluff, but it’s a happy ending
warnings: miscommunication, a few mentions of gods/heaven, reader is relatively mean (not to red) ((she’s audrey’s younger sister))
note: this is officially my longest oneshot so far at literally two words under 5k! oh my goodness, i was not expecting it to be this long!!! also… i made chloe and red tourney players again and no one can stop me!
1. love at first sight
in front of you, just across the lawn of auradon prep, stands the most beautiful girl you’ve ever seen. she’s a vision of an angel, with her piercing eyes looking over every detail of the unfamiliar school (which you want nothing more than to be blessed with them looking into yours), and her striking red lips that curl upwards curiously (which you want nothing more than to be pressed against yours).
and you immediately know; you want her.
you’re quick to abandon your friends at their picnic table, tuning out calls asking where you’re going in favour of dusting off your pristine dress and fiddling with your hair until it sits perfectly.
within seconds, you’re stood right in front of the red-haired girl’s path, and silencing her tour guide without so much as a glance in his direction.
“welcome to auradon prep,” you speak with all the grace you can muster and smile with a tilted head confidently, as you introduce yourself (including your full name and royal heritage of sleeping beauty herself, of course).
jonny darling just sighs from beside the girl, resigning himself to never finishing the tour on time—your classmate knowing all too well how persistent you are, having learnt that the hard way after a particularly volatile group project.
the girl, on the other hand, has no idea she should probably fear your manicured fingers and designer dresses, and instead simply looks at you with a mix of confusion and apprehension; unsure whether a preppy royal approaching her like she’s a trespasser in your domain means she’s about to get her head torn off by your pearly white teeth, or swept off her feet to a salon and be turned into a carbon copy of the other ak’s.
“hi…” she replies, a frown forming as you expectantly hold your hand out to her (inviting her to kiss it in greeting—as even though she’s also a girl, there’s no one quite as princessly as you, so you of course outrank), “i’m red, from wonderland... my mum’s the queen of hearts.”
you nod with fluttering eyelashes, giggling airily—with the back of your hand still held out towards red—as you hold eye contact with her.
“red of hearts?” you muse like it’s a lyric with a serene tune, “how romantic.”
red’s eyes widen a little, certainly having never heard that seconds after meeting a girl who stares at her like she wants to swallow her whole.
“uh… sure?” she shrugs awkwardly, before finally reaching out for your outstretched arm.
your heartbeat picks up as her partially gloved hand meets yours, and you giddily anticipate her searing red lipstick painted across your skin. but your sky-high hopes plummet to the tips of your shining pink heels, as instead of kissing the back of your hand, the princess simply shakes it with an unsure grimace.
but you barely let your features drop, upholding your meticulously practiced polite expression and not letting so much as a second of shock pass through the walls.
“i’d better—” red points her thumb over to jonny, who still stands off to the side trying not to laugh at the interaction (but mostly at you; it’s rather cathartic to see the girl who burnt half his hair off for accidentally spilling her nail polish fail so miserably), “y’know, get going…”
and by the time you let out the softest, defeated, “right…” she’s already far gone, carrying your hopes and dreams, and most importantly your heart, in her fumbling (unfairly heavenly warm) hands.
2. a stronger approach
the next time you see red, you’ve decided to generously let her off the hook for the mishap at your first meeting, under the assumption that chivalry must simply not be a thing in wonderland.
so when you see her wandering down a random path rather aimlessly, you take the perfect opportunity to be a little more… direct about your intentions, and invite her over to where your friends are sitting. she perks up at the sound of your sing-songy voice calling you over, looking relieved to see a familiar face as she makes her way over to the picnic blanket you’re all circled around.
the moment she’s within your reach, you’re dragging on the hem of her jacket and all up tripping her over to sit so close beside you she can almost hear your heart beating past layers of lace and silk.
you’re far too concentrated on holding her stuck right to your side to realise she’s trying to ask you something—instead busying yourself with straightening the collar of her jacket as if you’re not the very reason it was askew, and strategically keeping your hands on her chest for a moment longer than necessary.
she tries to catch your attention, “i—”
“red, from wonderland,” you all but purr at her, leaning towards her face until you hope all she can smell is your floral perfume you picked out just for her, “has anyone ever told you that you have lovely lips?”
her mouth falls open at your words—her mind that had already been spinning around itself trying to find her away around the maze-like school, now works double-time trying to process a compliment that all of a sudden has her very aware of your own pink lips smiling at her.
she shakes her head slightly, trying to knock everything back into place before she does something irrational… like leaning a little further forwards, it would be so easy, if she were to just—
she snaps out of her spiralling mind at the slightest tug of her loose hair, sputtering a cough as she comes back down to earth to find you running your glistening nails through her red strands—still watching her every move with that fair smile and batting eyelashes.
“you know,” you hum to yourself, as if in your own world where red is actually replying to your remarks and not figuratively tripping over herself at every sentence, “most girls here would kill to be as beautiful as you, dear…”
“how can i—” she turns to plead with your friends, who are enveloped in their own conversations, seemingly unbothered by you actively torturing the poor girl in front of them, “how do i get to the, uh, r.o.a.r clubroom from here?”
a blonde girl, with sharp features but surprisingly toned-down clothes for someone hanging around the likes of you, looks over to red with raised eyebrows—that grows amused as she takes in the full scene of you fawning over a girl who’s now convinced that she’s somehow found herself in the centre of some elaborate ak hazing ritual where the goal is melting her down to a puddle.
“what was that, red?” she laughs to herself, unaware of that literally being the name of the wonderlandian who looks like a bucket of red paint fell over her head.
“i have a friend trying out for the r.o.a.r team,” red near whispers, almost fearful of what might happen if you hear her desperately trying to escape your affectionate clutch, “i really need to get there, like, 10 minutes ago.”
the blonde snorts, vaguely gesturing in the opposite direction red had originally been heading, “follow the main path all the way past the tourney field, the amphitheatre’s right at the end.”
red finally lets herself breathe out in relief, swiftly slipping out of your caressing hands the second your nails pause their entanglement with her hair. before you can even begin to explain what an enchanted lake-water face mask is, your girl is all but sprinting across the lawn and out of sight—to the ill-hidden delight of your friend, ethelwyn, who fails to hide her laughs at your expense behind her cascading blonde hair.
“you scared her off!” you all but growl to someone you’re very much considering no longer being your friend anymore, if she’s going to ruin your chances with the girl of your dreams like this.
to ethelwyn’s right, erin joins what appears to be your friends’ new favourite game of making fun of you, and snorts at your comment.
“yeah, right, ethel scared her off—and not you with your borderline making out with her.”
“shut up!” you pout petulantly, “when we’re married and you two are lonely singles for the rest of your life, you’ll see how wrong you are!”
3. a helping hand
for the past week, your life has been like a game of cat and mouse; you catch sight red just down the hall, and the moment she spots you she sprints away.
but, if anyone asks, the reason for your stroll around auradon prep right now has nothing to do with her (you are not desperate, suitors come flocking to you, you have no need to chase them around campus!). you are simply enjoying the weather of a stormy day by wandering the halls of teachers’ offices that you’re technically not allowed in—totally just on official student council business, not tracking down your wonderlandian.
you try to stop your heels from clicking against the floor as you slink down the halls, peaking into the ajar doors of empty offices and even emptier classrooms—when a sound just further down the hall makes you stop short.
your breath gets caught in your throat, frozen still in the fear you might be caught. your ears strain to make out the voices coming from a few offices down, preparing yourself to either ever so innocently lie your way out of this to a gullible substitute, or prepare to make a run for it in stiletto heels.
but, as you take a couple of painfully careful steps closer to try to hear clearer, a wonderlandian accent reaches your ears, and a victorious grin breaks out.
you quickly straighten the straps of your dress and double-check your makeup in your pocket mirror, before taking confident strides towards none other than the office of your great aunt fauna; currently inhabited by her, red, and… ruby fitzherbert?
you loiter just outside the doorway with a frown, eavesdropping on their conversation as you try to catch yourself up on why being in the same room as ruby, of all people, could possibly be worth either red oryour great aunt’s time.
“—is a mandatory subject, but was originally designed solely for children moving here from the isle,” fauna explains softly, joined by the sound of shuffling papers, “so the headmistress and i thought a different approach might be better.”
she continues to explain the ins and outs of remedial goodness 101 and why it’s not quite the right class for red, but you find yourself zoning out, overcome by boredom from listening to her drone on and on about a class you could pass in your sleep. you’re just about starting to wonder if this was all a ruse of red’s to annoy you into leaving her alone, when your great aunt (who, for the record, you do love—when she’s not meticulously explaining school schedules) finally says something that reels your attention back in.
“—so we decided it best for you to have some assistance, which is where ruby comes in.”
“hi,” she greets red, her cheery voice so high-pitched that it pierces your eardrums, “i’m ruby!”
(you relish in the way red barely spares the blonde a muttered “hello,” back, gleefully imagining your girl not even bothering to glance at ruby, like she does to you even when she’s fleeing in your opposite direction.)
“ruby has volunteered to help tutor you, in addition to your own personalised main remedial goodnesscourse,” she pauses to no doubt kindly smile at the girls like she does whenever she has to break up a fight between you and audrey, “any questions, girls?”
and having just been giving the perfect opportunity, you swoop in with a saccharine smile and only lightly condescending voice.
“i have a question, aunty,” you greet red (as her eyes widen and mouth drops open) with a flirtatious wave and ruby with a cold shoulder, “doesn’t someone as wonderful as princess red deserve a, well, better tutor?”
fauna sighs your name in warning, whilst ruby turns to glare at you with growing indignation—neither signs of disapproval discouraging you from doing what’s best for red (and you).
“it’s just that—and no offense, rubes,” you blow a kiss to her, with full offense intended and communicated, as she crosses her harms stiffly to hold herself back from jumping at you, “surely she deserves a tutor that isn’t failing unabridged fairy tales from the nineteen regions? like, well… me.”
fauna’s disappointed disagreements and ruby’s appalled scoff followed by her totally impolite rant about how you took the easy way out of unabridged fairy tales (which, you’re certain just comes from a place of bitterness because she’s the first of her sisters to not be invited to belle’s esteemed book club) all fall on deaf ears—as you instead busy yourself with mouthing a, “hi,” to red, and batting your lashes at her until she stops avoiding your gaze.
ruby rudely clears her throat to call for your attention after a minute, scowling at you as fauna gives up on diffusing your never-ending antagonising, and simply puts an end to the conversation.
“no,” she answers you, “ruby’s grades are absolutely good enough for her to be able to sufficiently tutor red.”
you scoff at the blatant lie, expecting better from your own family—but also know that there’s no winning with arguing against fauna.
turning to red just before you make your exit, you lean to her ear, and whisper, “i’m always happy to tutor you, any time dear,” before twirling around in flurry of angelic white fabric and pink accents, and ever so politely leaving the office (though, ruby thinks the way you walk would be more aptly described as the strut of an airheaded gazelle) and leaving red blushing, trying to decipher if your offer might have meant more than just a promise of scholarly assistance.
4. an offer she can’t refuse
in place of her running away at the mere sight of you, red has all but disappeared from your daily life. but, you also haven’t heard so much as a whisper of your girl going anywhere near ruby fitzherbert, so you’re absolutely counting this as a win—and you’re riding off the high of said win, as you make your way down the dorm halls bright and early, giddy to intercept red just as she’s leaving her dorm with the perfect excuse to start seeing her more often again.
you catch her just as she’s leaving her room (with her hair tied up in a bun, as loose curls frame her face like she was crafted by proficient brushstrokes of the most talented painter to ever grace the world), all but cheering out her name.
startled, she jumps as you suddenly appear in front of her, bearing a smile oddly more genuine than she’s ever seen from you.
“red,” you grin, eyes glistening as if you’ve poured fairy dust in them with the sole purpose of entrancing her, “how are you?”
she frowns at the juxtaposition between the way you can barely stop yourself from bouncing up and down on the tips of your toes, and the painfully casual greeting.
“uh… good?”
“great!” you answer far too quickly, but still try to hold yourself together with your smile dulling aloofly and never quite sinking into your usual soul-enveloping eye-contact, “do you happen to have balls back in wonderland?”
red’s not quite sure how to explain that any sort of celebration is strictly banned back home—especially when she can barely figure out how to answer a simple “how are you?” when you’re acting so unpredictably; not really wanting to find out how your mood might immediately flip if she mentions all the beheadings.
so, she just shrugs and utters a rather unsure, “no…”
“oh, that’s such a shame,” though you really don’t appear to be all that saddened with your bitten back grin and barely contained excitement seeping into your bright voice.
you gaze casually down the hall, keeping up the façade of the utmost casualness, as you consider, “well, my family are hosting a little something in our holiday castle this weekend, and i suppose since you’ve never experienced one before—”
“oh!” red remembers the envelope that smelt of roses chloe had gifted her, since her family would be visiting chad this weekend and couldn’t make it, “yeah, i’m already going to that!”
your hands just about to reveal the hand-written invite behind your back freeze.
“oh…?”
red doesn’t catch on to the way your face falls; unaware of the invitation tucked away, and oblivious to both the time it took you to craft the perfect personalised note, and just how important you considered the act of being the one to hand it to her.
“yeah!” she nods awkwardly, nervously easing her way out of the conversation with steady steps, “well, i guess i’ll see you there…!”
and with a gesture of finger guns she immediately regrets, red disappears.
5. the ball
throughout a life spent labouring away in front of mirrors at unhealthy hours of the morning, perfecting every single eyelash and etch of lipliner for everything from a day at school to simply an afternoon spent studying—you have never spent as much time working on your appearance as you did in preparation for this ball.
you don’t even remember why your parents are throwing it anymore; all unnecessary memories purged to make room for the perfect eyeliner stroke technique, and exactly where you’ve stashed emergency makeup across the ballroom.
you, deep down, are never actually certain that you look good enough on any given day—but especially now, you don’t think you’ve ever been less sure of your every decision, from the tightness of your corset to the point it’s hard to breathe but frames your torso like you’re straight out of a fairytale, to the hair you called on three separate maids to redo over and over again until it looked effortless enough for poorer girls to look upon your natural beauty with envy. even if your older sister had gone out of her way to smile at you in the reflection of your vanity, and promise that you (always) look fantastic—you still don’t feel like it, not with your nerves running at an all-time high as you’ve spend all night frantically scanning the ballroom for red.
but when you finally do spot her, dressed to the nines in a gown that has no business hugging her body so perfectly, you almost wish you hadn’t. now that she’s here, everything is suddenly very real, and you can’t help but overthink your plan.
what if she doesn’t come running to you? what if she truly couldn’t care less about you? what if instead of falling for your cold shoulder and dropping to her knees for you like so many partners have in the past, she’ll just be happy that you’ve finally stopped bothering her—
you don’t know whether breathe a sigh of relief, or take a tiny dessert spoon and carve out your heart, when red makes her way over to you with a shy smile carved into the face of a goddess.
(red isn’t sure how any single person can possess all the beauty in the world, but she’s not surprised that if anyone could look this ethereal, it would be you; the girl with the rosily glossed puckered lips she can’t stop imagining the feel of against her every inch of skin—the girl she has to repeatedly remind herself to not eye up-and-down like some sleaze, but still keeps finding her eyes tracing along your body no matter how hard she tries.)
as red stands in front of you in a hazy silence for what feels like an eternity, you’re slowly drawn out of your performative dismissal of her, feeling a magnetic force that finally pulls your eyes directly back to hers—and under her gaze like this, you strangely don’t feel scrutinised like you always did under past partners’ cruel eyes.
(red doesn’t remember what the urge to cower from your unrelenting eyes felt like anymore. now, she feels at ease, like the two of you have met at a halfway point, tucked away in your own little world where all that matters is that the two of you find there’s nothing nicer than simply the other’s presence)
her eyes drop to your lips.
“oh. my. gods!”
your cousin, ariana, comes barrelling towards you—scowl sharp as thorns and tone so bitter it could poison a baby, as she complains to you like red isn’t right there.
“who had the nerve to invite evie grimhilde?!” ariana screeches, as you and red battle immediately averted gazes and rapid heartbeats, “she has no respect, she’s wearing a dress made out of literal newspapers, for goodness’ sake! and don’t even get me started on her plus-one! it’s bad enough that we have a literal villain for a queen, we shouldn’t have to look the other way when these people start bringing literal pirates into formal events…”
ariana’s rant trails off as she finally becomes aware of someone who isn’t worth a kingdom in gold, recoiling at the sight of red fidgeting across from you.
“who are you?”
“ari,” you hiss.
but red doesn’t seem as dismayed as you might have feared—and apart from her very fake smile, you’d almost believe she’s happy to be talking to your stuck-up cousin.
“i’m red, nice to meet you.”
ariana raises an eyebrow to you, seemingly physically unable of acknowledging red for more than two seconds, “who’s this?”
“my—” crush, soulmate, love of my life, girl who you’d better back away from because i have no reservations about brawling with a family member if they mess with someone who makes me this happy.
“i’m her friend, from auradon prep.”
and as the words of pure adoration fall short on the tip of your tongue, for the first time; you’re the one who walks away.
+ 1. happily ever after
“wow, is she glaring at you?” chloe jogs up to stand beside red, joining her in watching you plow through cheer practice fuelled by the fury in your veins that doubles every time you glance across the tourney field and see red. chloe winces as she watches you scream at a freshman for being out of time, well aware of just how scary you can be after growing up parallel to you and your equally intense family.
“yeah,” red mutters miserably.
her friend tries to comfortingly pat her on the back through the tourney muscle suit, “i’m sorry, red. what happened?”
“she’s the girl i was telling you about.”
chloe’s movements halt in perplexion, “…you mean, the one that you like?”
“the one that hates me now,” red reminds her, too busy gazing after you longingly to notice chloe’s growing confusion.
“right… the same one that’s madly in love with you?”
red finally tears her eyes off her long-lost love, to fix chloe with the deepest frown a person can possibly make, silently pleading “what the hell are you talking about?”
(you feel impossibly angrier when, as you ignore some junior who thinks they have any right to tell you how to lead your team tries to get your attention, you turn back to the tourney team smattered across the field, to find red isn’t even looking your way anymore.)
(your teammates have no idea why you’re suddenly so overtly harsh, but if they knew just why you were being so cruel, it’s safe to say they’d suddenly become very invested in saving your love-life—if only for the sake of their aching bones.)
“red…” chloe speaks gently, like red’s some sort of toddler who doesn’t understand something veryobvious, “she is literally head over heels for you.”
red can’t help but laugh at the possibility of—even before she ruined everything without even knowing how—you ever seeing her as anything more than a thorn in your side desperately clinging to an unachievable crush.
“yeah, that’s funny chlo.”
“i’m not kidding, i swear all she ever talks about is how much she, y’know, loves you.”
…what?
red’s mind freezes, her brows pinching together as she slowly turns to face her best friend, who’s staring at her with a shocked face that insists she can’t believe red didn’t know this already—between all the rumours of you sitting red on your lap between classes and the two of you sneaking out right as the bells rings, chloe honestly just thought red hadn’t told her about your official relationship yet because she wanted to keep it a secret.
“are y—”
“hey, blue! coach wants to talk to you!” ramona fitzherbert calls out to chloe, colliding with her teammate with a friendly arm hug around her shoulder—her jovial expression turning puzzled as she breathes in the two tense girls “…what’s going on with you guys?”
red swears, “nothing—” at the same time chloe says they’re talking about you.
“oh!” ramona nods understandingly, “trouble in paradise?”
“wh— huh?” red sputters, completely thrown for a loop at the second person within far too few minutes thinking the two of you are dating.
“look at her,” red points to you watching the group like a hawk, “she looks like she wants to kill me!”
“oh yeah, because the girl that literally goes around calling you ‘her princess’ would dare lay a finger on you,” ramona snorts, “i bet she’s just thinking about kissing you, or planning some other gross public display of affection for after practice.”
as red falls down the rabbit hole of her mind, into a sea of facts she can’t get straight and an even deeper lagoon surging with warm feelings constricting at her poor heart—to her left, a scheming grin grows on chloe’s face.
“red, she really cares about you,” chloe meets red’s eyes as she starts steadily pulling her friend by the hand across the tourney field, “and whatever happened, i know you guys can figure it out, i believe in you!”
“what are you—?!”
but before red can even process that her feet are still moving, chloe has shoved her the rest of the way towards the cheer team and ran back into the distance, leaving red an agonising couple of meters away from you; planted on the short grass like a deer in headlights, as your fiery gaze stutters when it catches on the sight of her suddenly so close.
red doesn’t know what exactly it is that kicks her body into action (whether it be the flecks of hurt she can finally spot in your eyes from here turning her stomach, or the sudden realisation that there really was something more in the way you touched her like it was a second language you’re fluent in—or if it’s, most likely, the adrenaline of tourney practice still jumping through her veins and perhaps making her a bit braver than she should be) but whatever it is, it pushes her towards you with invisible hands that pray for the two of you to be close, until she’s so close her hair slipping out of her loose updo brushes against your windbitten cheeks.
“i’ve never felt the way i do about you for anyone else before,” she exhales your name like it’s the only word she’s ever cared for, hopeful eyes meeting the raging pools of conflict in yours, “you’re the loveliest, sweetest, perfect-est person i know.”
you feel like all the air has been stolen from your lungs, whipped away by the cold breeze just out of your reach—your mouth drops open in shock, as red speaks everything you thought you’d only hear in your dreams ever since the night she said you were nothing more than her friend.
“what i’m—” she heaves in a breath with a giddy laugh, “what i mean is, do you want to go on a date with me?”
your heartbeat ceases, “really?”
she nods as easily as breathing—when a lightbulb sets alight above her head.
red grabs your same hand you offered to her all those weeks ago, never once abandoning your gaze as she brings it up to her lips, and leaves the faintest outline of red lipstick like the seal on a love letter.
she reassures, “really.”
a disbelieving smile sprouts across your face, stretching until your eyes crinkle and your cheeks grow sore, and you can’t help but laugh—flooded with an overwhelming relief that reminds you of the moment you first saw red, and could pinpoint the exact second you realised that you didn’t have to worry anymore, that she was it, that your life was set for her; and you couldn’t be happier.
“yes! i do!” you shout so loud the quivering freshman on your team flinches, but neither of you could care less about anything outside of your own little bubble, where the two of you try your very best to not double over in hysterical giggles.
with your hand still securely in hers and your hearts safely tucked away in eachother’s lockets, you smile widely at her, catching your breath as you tease, “but i get to choose the location.”
“of course,” red replies the moment the words leave your mouth, never so much as considering denying you when you’re beaming at her like that, “my princess.”
and with that (and a wink so quick you have to jump to catch it with devoted hands) red sprints back to her team—feeling as if she’s walking atop the softest clouds and breathing in the heavens, as the sound of her girlfriend squealing elatedly echoes out behind her, as her very own personal cheer of encouragement.
