Chapter Text
It started, as these things tend to, with Chloe. Sweet, charming and a hopeless romantic, a textbook princess if there ever was one, and Red’s lovely yet entirely too energetic roommate. A roommate who clearly did not understand that normal and sane people do NOT wake up bright and peppy and early on a Saturday morning. At 6 am.
Yet, here they were, at 6 am on a Saturday morning, with Chloe buzzing excitedly over Red’s bed. Red spared her a groan and turned to face the other, Chloe-less side, nestling deeper into her bed. Whatever Chloe wanted could wait.
It could not wait, apparently. Chloe, with all the grace of a kicked puppy, flopped down on Red’s bed with an audible whine as she started prodding at the prone form. Each poke sent a small shiver down Red’s spine, wrenching her from the blissful grasp of her dreams. Huffing in displeasure, she pointedly ignored Chloe’s attempts, trying to fall back into the sweet embrace of sleep.
Poke.
Clocks, her bed was so soft. So nice and comfy, she could almost feel the sleep overtaking her-
Poke.
Were the pokes getting faster?
Poke.
“Red,” Chloe whined. “Wake up.” The audible pout and adorable whine had their intended effect, as Red turned over to blearily stare up at Chloe, who was currently making the most pathetic puppy dog eyes at her. Unable to help herself, Red felt the corner of her lips quirk up in a semblance of a smirk as she took in the blue haired girl above her, bathed in the morning light, sulking and oh so endearing as she clung stubbornly to the book in her lap. Spades, she was beautiful. It was almost enough to forgive her for the 6 am wake up call. Almost.
Eyebrow raised, Red turned to pointedly stare at the clock beside her.
“Morning, princess.” Red drawled, sleep rendering her voice huskier and deeper than usual. A squeak sounded as Chloe appeared to shut down, a light haze of pink gracing her cheeks as she floundered for a response, clutching the book with a white knuckled grip. Odd. Red reached out to rescue the poor book from Chloe’s grasp, tender fingers stroking soothingly over tense knuckles. Red had seen odder, of course, hailing from Wonderland and all that, so she paid it no mind.
Apparently recovered, Chloe laced their fingers together with a honeyed smile.
“I was reading about soulmates,” she explained, affection dripping from her tone. “There’s this spell, Red. We could-”
Nope. Red groaned again and turned her head away from Chloe’s bright eyes, flinging her free arm over her face in an effort to shield her from the literal sun above her. Despite this, her other hand remained laced with Chloe’s, drawing strength and comfort from the petite girl. Who, despite the calluses formed from hours and hours of handling swords, had really, really soft hands.
Chloe squeezed her hand, seemingly unperturbed by the interruption as she brushed her lips over Red’s knuckles in an unprompted, yet sweet kiss. Red started. Despite their many hours spent together, Red was still sometimes taken aback by the casual affection Chloe would oftentimes grace her with. A touch here, a kiss there, and clocks, when she would crawl into bed with Red, requesting cuddles? It was overwhelming, for sure, but Red wouldn’t have it any other way.
Chloe brought her free hand to rest on Red’s face, cradling her gently in an almost loving manner. Red sighed, melting into the touch. She allowed her face to be turned to face Chloe’s, peeking out from under her arm to make eye contact with the soft brown eyes above her.
“Please?”
Red huffed, pouting petulantly yet unable to find it within herself to deny her princess. It would be like kicking a puppy, she decided. Not even she would do something quite so evil. She closed her eyes and nodded in resignation.
Chloe cheered, flopping forward to tackle Red in a hug. Red was on board, which meant all that was left to do was casting the spell.
Oh.
They had to cast the spell.
So maybe spellcasting and potions making were better off being explored by people much more adept than two bored princesses with an almost non-existent combined knowledge of magic. And cooking ability. Red perched on her bed as she eyed the bubbling liquid apprehensively, taking in the ooze and wobbles of the squishy grey potion.
“And this does what, exactly?” she inquired, peering at an equally as unnerved Chloe. Chloe quickly schooled her features into that of excitement, beaming broadly at Red. Holy hearts, she needed sunglasses. She needed a whole lot of other things too, if the warm, squishy and gooey feelings that fizzled in her stomach were any indication. Like ice cream, maybe. Cherry ice cream sounded good.
“It’ll help us find our soulmates, Red.” Chloe’s breathy tone broke Red out of her reverie, shocking her back to a harsh reality of barely palatable soulmate potions. A frown broke out across her features as she eyed the potion sceptically. Was this really necessary? What if Chloe’s soulmate was a no good, rotten and horrible person? What if he treated her terribly? And what if he was nice, good and kind? What if he replaced Red in Chloe’s life?
Red froze, unsure of where the thought had come from. Of course she would be happy for Chloe to find her soulmate, whoever he was. And of course Chloe wouldn’t abandon her. They were best friends, and no stupid boy could ever come between them.
Chloe was hers. Her first friend, her first roommate, hers. Red would kill for Chloe. She would die for her. Spades, those were strong thoughts. Dangerous, too.
The brush of Chloe’s knuckles against her own brought Red’s attention back to the present. Chloe smiled, a soft and delicate thing, contrasting the earlier beam of sunshine she adorned. Red smiled back, a gentle look in her eyes reserved only for the girl in front of her.
There was a kaleidoscope of emotions in Chloe’s eyes as she handed half of the potion to Red. Fear, anticipation, excitement, hope, and a glimmer of something unidentifiable, yet equally as potent. Red hesitantly took the bottle.
“Bottoms up, princess.”
Her world exploded in sparkles of blue and gold.