Chapter Text
Red almost turns around three separate times before she ever reaches the rabbit hole, but all she has to do is picture the scene of Chloe stepping away from her and relaxing as someone else took her by the hand. It’s the image of Chloe dancing with some prince. Smiling, laughing, no matter how genuine it might or might not be.
Ella had called him her suitor. Charming had boasted about how taken they were with each other- having always drifted together for these events. They both expressed how happy they were to see Chloe so happy.
Her chest hurts. She has to keep taking her hands off the wheel to scrub at her face, but it never quite fully clears her vision.
The guards stumbling down from the front doors of the castle look slightly panicked as Red climbs out of the car she might have stolen, but she pays them no mind, pushing past and up the stairs. She ignores the calls of concern, grateful that it’s late enough that the rest of the castle staff have already turned in for the night.
The staff in this timeline are weirdly friendly.
When she gets to her room, she strips from her dress. She tries not to think about the expression on Chloe’s face when she first caught sight of her.
It doesn’t matter. She walked away. She had to, or it would be worse later. Seeing that- Chloe dancing with him, and hearing Chloe’s parents themselves talk about the future, made her realize how this was always going to end. Or how it maybe wouldn’t end, but there would be no light at the end of the rabbit hole.
Being with Chloe isn’t a ‘just for now’ secret, it’s a secret-secret- like her mom’s sugar sweet past was covered up in the previous timeline. It will always be a secret. Red will always be something to be ashamed of and shoved into the dark when anyone looked over.
She doesn’t know why she’s surprised. And she’s not, really, in hindsight. No one ever loves her the way she loves them. That’s just not the way things go for her. But Chloe was so… Chloe did love her. She believes her when she says it. Just.
Another tingle of panic and regret burns through her, making her have to clench her fists into the duvet to keep herself from making for the door.
Maybe Red lied when she made her claim of believing she deserves more. Maybe she should just take what’s offered. But she’s greedy. And she’s selfish. She’s always had to hide her feelings, and she’s so tired of it. She thought she wouldn’t have to with Chloe. Chloe insisted that she didn’t.
And, hearts, she’s been so stupid. She knew better-
A knock breaks through her tumbling thoughts, making the emotions fighting in her chest sharpen to a point that she directs at whatever well-meaning staff coming to check on her. “Go away!” she snaps at her door.
The voice that comes through, though, isn’t some random aid. “Red, it’s me.” It’s low and soothing, more of a coo. “The guards told me you returned. Without your driver. In an Auradon car. Can I come in?”
Red’s throat closes and her heart slams into the blockage at the sound of her mother’s voice, no matter the lack of threats or raised decibel. It’s instinctive panic, first- just for a flash of a second- but it quickly evens out to mere stress and confusion. She doesn’t want to talk to her mother- to deal with that whole separate mess of an emotional toll just interacting with the woman brings.
It’s gotten better, easier, but it’s still so strange. She doesn’t want the woman to come in. But she also can’t just deny her. You can’t tell the Queen ‘no.’ Even if she’s Bridgett now. So she doesn’t say anything.
She hears the doorknob turn, and feels her looking in from the doorway. “Oh, baby,” her mother sighs upon seeing her sprawled out in the center of her bed. She must look pathetic, with her makeup a mess and tears on her cheeks. She had avoided looking into the mirror as she pulled on a pair of sleep shorts and one of the shirts she’d stolen from Chloe so long ago she probably doesn’t even remember that she’d been missing it.
Red instantly shifts onto her side, putting her back to the queen and hiding her face. She doesn’t think she’ll ever stop expecting the criticism to fall from her mother’s lips, but she has stopped doubting reality when it doesn’t. She feels the bed sink as her mother sits on the edge and runs a nail over her temple, collecting the hair off her face.
“What happened, baby?”
The question twists inside Red’s chest like a physical thing pressing against her lungs, making it hard to breathe. Not that she was breathing easy before.
Her knuckle brushes gently over her cheek, but all she can feel is panic, because the only one who has ever offered comfort before was Chloe and she’s not here. Red ruined it.
“Don’t,” Red manages to get out past her squeezing throat. It’s hard initially. “Please go. Please leave.” Then the words just keep falling as the grief raises like an oncoming wave of desperation as she doesn’t want to fall apart in front of her but kind of already is. “Please. Please, please, please-“
“Okay,” her mom says quickly, voice suddenly strained as her hand disappears from her face. “Okay, okay, I’ll go.” The mattress shifts as she stands, but she lingers a moment more. “Whatever it is, it’ll be okay, Red. I’m here if you need me. Always.”
A sound escapes Red’s constricting throat as her mother closes the door. It’s raw, and strangled, and undoubtedly a sob.
It won’t be okay because Red ruined it!
No, no, nothing is ruined, she has to remind herself. She knows that this pain is temporary. It was much better when they were friends. Just friends. Chloe won’t be scared to be seen with her, because there’s nothing for anyone to pick apart in their interactions. This is better. Or it will be once it scabs over.
Red has reached the point of numb emptiness, and has been sitting in it for a while, drifting in and out of consciousness, when her window abruptly shatters.
She instantly bolts upright with a gasp, heart in her throat as it thunders in fear. Her sore eyes lock on the broken shards littering the carpet for a long moment before slowly sliding from the bed and creeping to the window.
She slowly pokes her head out the hole, eyes widening at the person standing below it.
“Did you just break my window?” Red asks, voice coming out rough but coated in incredulous disbelief.
Chloe’s hands slide from where they are covering her mouth in shock, curling and pressing against her cheeks. “I didn’t mean to,” she squeaks. “I-I was trying to be romantic!”
“Romanti- by throwing a rock through my window?!”
“Well, clearly it didn’t happen the way I imagined it.”
Red stares down at the girl, humor and exasperation running through her, before she remembers why Chloe shouldn’t even be here.
“Nevermind,” she shakes her head roughly. “Just. Get out of here.”
“Wait, Red, can we talk? Please?”
Her dress looks just as beautiful under the Wonderland moonlight as it did under the brightly illuminated ballroom. “Someone might have heard the glass break. Go home, princess, before someone sees you.” Red turns away from the window before she can respond- and before Red can see the girl look around herself in paranoia for that exact scenario.
She shoves earbuds into her ears before flopping face first into her bed. She hugs a pillow tightly, wishing Chloe hadn’t even bothered coming here. She’s calmed down enough that she’s not panicking anymore about her decision. And Chloe showing up doesn’t change anything. They’ve talked before, and it didn’t fix anything- Chloe couldn’t fix anything. This, now, just makes it all harder.
A yowl that has nothing to do with her angry playlist has Red sitting up fast and twisting to view the window.
Through the music, she can hear that familiar voice whimpering far too close. “Ow, ow, ow, that hurts so bad.” Red yanks her earbuds out and lunges for the window, using her sleeve to scatter the glass off the sill as she looks down. Chloe clings to the side of the castle just below the lip, pale and gripping a vine for dear life while staring down at her other hand that is shaking as she stares down at the glass embedded in the palm. “Oh gods, that’s a lot of blood.”
Red lets out something like a yelp as she leans forward, stomach digging into the window frame as she attempts to grab fistfulls of her dress, but her fingers just go skidding over the bejeweled fabric. After a moment of fumbling, she manages to hook her fingers into the tight laces on the back and haul her over the ledge into the room.
“Chloe, what the fuck,” Red, admittedly, minorly panics. “What were you-“ he brain stumbles, tripping over itself, “-you’re scared of heights!”
“Y-yeah,” she agrees, trembling all over as she stares down wide-eyed at her hand that drips a bleeding trail down her elbow and to the floor. “S-sorry about your carpet.”
“Forget about the fucking carpet,” Red bites, plucking the fragments of glass swiftly out of her hand before snatching up a discarded shirt and pressing it firmly against the split skin.
Chloe winces and makes a pained noise. She follows blindly as Red pulls her to the attached bathroom and gently guides her down onto the closed toilet seat. Once she’s steady, she uses her free hand to rummage under the sink and pull out her first aid supplies. It’s not nearly as extensive as her old one.
A quick glance between switching the shirt for gauze tells her it’s going to need a couple stitches for the deepest parts. She automatically starts threading a needle when Chloe demands panickedly, “What are you doing.”
Red blinks. “You need stitches.”
“I’ll wait for a real doctor, thanks,” Chloe says, carefully covering Red’s hand with her good one and gently pushing it away.
“Right. Yeah,” Red agrees. She sits back on her heels, staring down at the bloody gauze in the princess’s curled fist. As her heart calms from the unexpected burst of adrenaline, exhaustion seeps back in, leaving her just feeling tired, and sad. She sighs, casting her eyes down and away. “What do you want, Chloe?”
She doesn’t see the hand that comes up to touch her face. Only feels it as it ghosts along her cheek. She can’t bring herself to pull away. Her eyes close, squeezing shut. “Can you no-”
“I told them. My parents. I told them that I was in love with a girl- you- and I didn’t want to dance with princes or marry anyone else."
Red’s head jerks back up in shock. “But you- What? No, Chloe, you shouldn’t have done that. How did they react, what did they say?”
“I’m not actually sure?” the girl shrugs helplessly, a nervous laugh sounding too brittle as it slips out. “I kind of panicked and jumped out a window.”
“You-” A disbelieving burst of laughter tumbles out of Red’s mouth, too. “What? You, Miss ‘come-through-the-damned-door, Red’ Chloe Charming, used a window as an entrance and exit today?”
“It was on the first floor,” she dismisses humbly, lips twitching up in uncertain charm.
Red shakes her head. “Chloe, you shouldn’t have done this. What's going to happen, now?”
“I don’t know. I really don’t know, Red, but whatever it is, I don’t care." Chloe's head shakes in denial, flattening her palm against her cheek so she's gripping rather than caressing. "You were right, you don’t deserve having to hide who you are and what you want again. No one does, and I really have been such a hypocrite for asking you to after trying for so long to get you to believe that. And I know it might be too late-" she scoffs at herself angrily, hand loosening as she ducks her head, "-it’s too little too late- but I just had to at least-”
Red cuts her off by standing up to her full kneeling height and catching under her chin to guide her face back up. She kisses her firmly. Her stupid princess instantly melts into it, allowing it to deepen however Red wished. Or wanted.
And Red wanted. With every kiss they’ve shared, it’s like she’s stripped bare and entirely at Chloe’s mercy. She doesn’t know if it’s merciful or not, the way Chloe kisses her back. At first, it didn’t feel like it. Chloe has a way of kissing her that heightens every sensation, every emotion, every awareness. It’s like her heart is yanked from her chest, drawn up her throat, and settles in her lips, bruised and swelling with every press.
Tasting her own dried tears, or maybe even Chloe’s, doesn’t dampen that.
As Red surges forward, asking for more, Chloe’s hand moves automatically to splay against her neck, only for first contact to make her flinch.
Red feels it and quickly withdraws Her eyes lock on the bloody bandages the princess draws protectively to her chest as Chloe lets out a breathless huff with a touch of frustration. “Sorry.”
Red shakes her head. “Let’s go get that hand taken care of.”
“I only need one,” Chloe retorts playfully. Then reconsiders. “Not even one, really.”
“Charming,” Red deadpans. She mostly just feels amused, because Chloe very clearly doesn’t mean it. She mostly doesn’t mean it, at least. The way she holds it, and the bead of sweat that trickles down her tense temple, shows how much pain she’s actually in.
But she’s still joking, and her smile is still cheeky as she flashes it at Red’s unmoved expression. “That’s me,” she agrees charmingly.
“Only sometimes,” Red allows, softening enough to let her fondness show.
Chloe’s smile widens as she leans forward enough almost to touch noses. As she does, her head tilts, grinning lips hovering just an inch away from Red’s reluctant smirk. “What am I the rest of the time,” she challenges.
The playful taunt has Red's heart tripping- a breathless moment like falling before you're caught- before it stumbles and takes off in a rush of liveliness. Red lifts her hand, touching the warm cheek of her Auradon princess. Her chest burns with emotion. Her voice lowers in sincerity. “My heart.”
Chloe rocks back as she’s caught genuinely off guard. “Oh.” Then her expression softens into paste. Her good hand lifts, knuckles grazing along the back of her arm, down to her elbow. It's feather light in its drag of skin on skin, but it sends sparks crawling across her ribs. The heat of it seeps into her skin like a blush. “Yeah, I’d rather be that,” Chloe murmurs.
The shared breath between them draws thin. Charged. Raw.
“I know,” Red says, dropping her hand to her girlfriend’s wrist as she stands, because she clearly won’t budge on her own. She pulls her off the toilet lid toward the door. “Come on.”
Red doesn’t get far before it occurs to her that she doesn’t really know where she should be taking Chloe. She’s only ever met the Royal Physician twice, and that was because she was in bad enough shape that her mother sent the man to her directly.
With those thoughts fresh in her mind, she hesitates for a long moment in the hallway. Then she glances at Chloe to see her grimace of pain and the way she cradles her bloody bandages to her chest, and she simply tugs her in the direction that would take them to her mother’s door.
She knocks before she can start second guessing herself. She’s not going to delay Chloe's aid to avoid an uncomfortable situation.
Her mother answers the door already wearing a worried expression as she pulls on a wrap over her sleeping attire, and her brow furrows more as she catches sight of the Auradon princess.
“Chloe, what in Wonderland are you doing here?”
Red opens her mouth to respond, but Chloe beats her to it, rushing out, “I’m in love with Red.” Red promptly chokes. “I don’t wanna meet suitors or marry a prince, or any guy. I want Red. Just Red.”
The bewildered expression that initially comes over the queen’s face, softens a bit as Chloe presses blindly on with her mad as a hatter ramble. Her mother’s gaze flicks to Red searchingly, eyebrow lifting.
“That’s-” Red sputters, cheeks flaming in horror and mortification. “Not why we’re here,” she gets out. She touches Chloe’s bent elbow, guiding it out. “Mom, she's hurt.”
Bridgett’s eyes sharpen, locking on the gauze. “Come in here, sit down,” she says, pulling her door open wider, and ushering them in as she presses a button on the wall to call someone. Either a castle aid, or the physician directly. “What happened?”
“She was trying to be romantic,” Red says dryly. She remembers the shock of shattering glass and finding Chloe gaping from the other side. “Oh, also, my window is broken. Can we get someone to fix that in the morning?”
“What?” Her mother blinks, glancing up from Chloe’s hand that she was inspecting the damage of. “Why, what happened to your window?”
“Chloe threw a rock at it,” Red shrugs.
“What?” her mother repeats, only seeming to become more confused with Red's explanation, not that she really blames her. Red is still confused about that part, too. But what does Red know about romance? She wasn’t allowed to have anything to do with it until recently.
“That’s the romantic part, apparently,” she adds helpfully.
Her mother’s flickering, uncertain eyes, finally land on Chloe for answers. “How is throwing a rock through her window romantic?”
A sound of vindication escapes. “That’s what I said!”
Chloe groans, sinking into her chair and burying her flushed face into her uninjured hand. The other one is held slightly out to the side of her face, trembling. Red wants to take hold of it, or slide into the chair with her to offer any kind of support, but her mother’s presence keeps her at a distance. Even if Chloe went and blurted her feelings out the second she opened the door, Red doesn’t want to test that new openness right at this moment. She doesn’t need to introduce more stress right now. And not in front of her mom.
A knock sounds at the solar door.
“Enter,” her mother bids, standing from her girlfriend’s side even as a smile twitches at her lips.
A vaguely familiar man enters the room, giving a deep sweeping bow as he juggles a bag fit to burst with how stuffed it is. “My Queen,” he says.
“Yes, Mr. Reese, come in,” she says warmly. “If you could take a look at Princess Chloe’s hand?”
The man’s head lifts, turning to them, and then he descends on the blue princess perched in the arm chair. “May I?” he requests even as Chloe stiffens as he gently guides her hand for a better view. After a few moments of him hemming and hawing, he starts rummaging in his over stuffed bag. “Yes, this will need stitches. No worries, I have all of my supplies right here.”
Chloe does fine as he wipes her hand with alcohol and other disinfectant, but when he pulls out a syringe needle, the rest of the color leaves her girlfriend’s face. “Oh gods,” she murmurs, looking away.
Red can’t hold herself apart, then. She settles on the chair arm just beside her. To her surprise, Chloe instantly turns into her, hiding her face in her neck while her good hand finds a grip on her thigh. She jumps as it slides to the inside, eyes darting toward her mother, who is still observing them.
Red feels herself flush, heat sweeping through her and settling in her neck and ears. It’s not a friendly hand placement that it rests. Her thumb grazes the bottom edge of her sleep shorts as it makes self-soothing strokes over her skin. She can suddenly smell Chloe’s scent so much stronger as the crown of her head hovers just below her nose.
After a moment of hesitation, she allows herself to press the tip of her nose into it, taking it in all the more. It calms her racing heart. She’s not sure if the erratic beat is from their audience, the high hand placement, or from how she can feel Chloe’s every flinch as the doctor works on her hand. But a glaze of calm settles over her with each following inhale.
“I’ll prepare some tea,” her mother says, going to knock on the tea trunk. Red can feel her energy seeping away as her adrenaline fades, and she stares dully as the Queen has a quiet conversation with her teapot.
As she watches more cups tumble out of the trunk and start arranging themselves, her attention shifts as Chloe does. It’s just a small movement, her girlfriend breathing a little more deeply on one of her breaths, but her entire awareness narrows to her spot hidden in her neck. “Red?” Chloe ventures in a small voice.
“Yeah?”
“I’m sorry.”
Red’s gaze flickers to the doctor, who doesn’t look up from his work, and to her mother, who is pretending as if even whispers don’t carry across a small room when it’s the only conversation happening. “You already said that,” Red finally responds.
“I’ll do better.”
Red wishes they were alone for this. She can’t help feeling that Chloe isn’t thinking clearly right now. Tomorrow, she’ll realize she made a mistake, and regret being so open in her affection in front of all these people. Red nuzzles deeper into her curls, passing her thumb over the intricate lace on her shoulder.
“I didn’t want you to give up your future, Chloe, that wasn’t why I tried to walk away.”
The hand on her thigh squeezes. “Red, you’re all I want for my future. Nothing else is worth it if you’re not there. And you were right. You were right to walk away- you deserve the world- I really do believe that. But I wasn’t offering that to you.”
“I don’t want the world.” Her mother wanted the world. Her original mother. It was a terrible world. “I just want you.”
“Then you can have all of me, Red, always. I promise I won’t hide you anymore.”
Chloe’s face is still buried in her neck, but Red feels frozen staring down at her crown. At the hands holding on to her like she might disappear.
Like, maybe, she needs Red as much as Red feels like she needs her. She swallows, that possibility catching at her insides as she tries to brush it off- but it’s like a burr stubbornly clinging to matted fur.
“Okay,” she breathes out.
Her daze gets broken as Bridgett settles in the armchair across from them. She does it smoothly, like she hadn’t been giving them space right up until this point, and it's complete coincidence that she happened to return at the perfect interval for it not to be an intrusion.
“Do your parents know you’re here, Chloe?” she asks.
“Um.” Chloe finally lifts her head, but she doesn’t remove her shoulder that is wedged into the back of Red’s ribs. “No. No, I didn’t tell them.”
“You know I have to?”
“Yes, I know,” she confirms calmly.
Mr. Reese sits back, drawing their attention as he starts sorting his things away. He tosses them into a plastic bag, including the bloody gauze, and then ties it up before stuffing it into his larger bag.
“Keep this bandage on until this time tomorrow. Clean it with soap and water, and then pat dry, don’t rub. Don’t soak it, either. You want to keep it dry if you’re not actively cleaning it. Any questions?”
“No,” Chloe says, shaking her head. “No, thank you.”
“Won’t you have a cup of tea with us, Mr. Reese?”
“No, I should think not, your highness.” Chloe’s attention gets caught on the cup that hops onto the saucer in front of her, skilled enough to not spill even a drop. She’s seen the tea sets before, but every time, it catches her fascination and wonderment. Red uses her distraction to take her hand and examine the bandage that stands stark white against her skin.
A strange pull tugs at her, and before she can process what she’s doing, she lifts the hand and presses her lips where she knows the injury to be under them. Chloe’s head tilts back, gazing flickering to meet hers. Her fingers, that have been limp since she started being treated, slowly curl to brush along Red’s jaw.
Red's breath stutters, catching in the back of her throat and making it impossible to breathe.
Her mother’s soft voice brushes against the moment, her continued presence not startling, but forgotten until then. “How long has this been going on between you two?”
Red quickly drops the hand from her face, turning her eyes away in discomfort.
“Since last February,” Chloe answers.
Real surprise registers on her mother’s features before it softens again. Red reaches out for her tea, softly thanking the teapot. She passes the cup to Chloe, who takes it absently, before holding her hand out for another cup to titter into her reach.
Luckily, her mother’s set is very well behaved. Her own is a bit like her and likes to rebel at times, spilling tea and making her have to give chase under chairs and over tables. Flushing, she can’t help wondering the personality Chloe’s tea set would take, if she ever took her to pick one out.
“I know the upper world can be a bit unaccepting in regards to some relationships…” Bridget ventures.
“It’s not really like that anymore. Most people don’t care, but for royals.. If my brother abdicates, Ellasburg would be left to me, but now that I’m out, the court could push for my removal.”
“If you want a kingdom, princess, you can have Wonderland,” she immediately offers.
Chloe’s eyes snap to her. “You can’t just-” she sputters, a strangled sound escaping, “-you can’t give me a kingdom, Red.”
“Sure I can,” she shrugs. “It will be mine one day. You can have it.”
Before either of them can react, her mother snatches something up and throws it at Red’s head. She’s had lots of things thrown at her head before. She’s usually always expecting it, but she’s grown lax in this new timeline.
She wasn’t expecting it this time. There’s nothing to duck behind. All she sees is something flying at her face from the corner of her eye, and Red yelps, lifting her arms to cover her head. She knows immediately, as the sound is coming from her throat and the pillow hits with a soft thunk against her forearms, that her reaction is too big- too out of place. Too loud. She immediately lets herself fall out of the seat, falling to the floor in the most dramatic of flairs.
“She killed me,” she moans, reaching toward the ceiling. “Princess, she killed me. Avenge me.”
“That is not how you propose, Red of Hearts!” Bridget exclaims emphatically, and it is undoubtedly Bridget in her beratement, not the Queen of Hearts. It’s distinctly missing the undertone of threat.
“Propose? Who said anything about proposing? That was merely an offer. If we do, at one point in the future, get married, then I can be consort while she rules.”
The sound of a bubbling giggle reaches her ears, and she rolls her head to see Chloe looking down at her, cheek resting in the fold of her elbow as she drapes herself over the arm of the chair.
Red’s entire being warms. Her heart rattles her chest like a drum, wild and unpredictable. “You wouldn’t be so cruel as to make me rule alone, would you?”
“That’s the perk of having an ambitious wife.”
“Unbelievable,” Chloe lets out a scoff that seamlessly blends with another soft giggle. Then she yawns, big enough that she has to sit up before she sags forward again, shifting to fold her other arm under her chin. “Besides, it’s not that I want to rule. The idea is terrifying, actually. But if it’s not Chad or I, Ellasburg will become a power vacuum with everyone who could possibly have a claim coming out of the woodworks to fight over it. It would bring instability to the kingdom.”
Red understands with the contradicting sensation of sinking and soaring, that Chloe is choosing her over her kingdom. The kingdom that Chloe has been determined to protect since their first meeting.
Red takes in her drooping eyes and slumping body. “You’re tired,” she notes, because that's easier than working out the finer details of her own emotions. The adrenaline must finally be fading. As she realizes it in her princess, she suddenly feels it in her own limbs. Heavy. A slowness in her brain. She sits up off the rug. “We should go to bed.”
“Yes,” Bridget says, setting her teacup down and moving to stand. “It’s late. Why don’t you both head on up. Chloe, I’ll give your mother a call and let her know you’ll be spending the night.”
“Thank you,” Chloe says sincerely, climbing to her feet. Her hand reaches out, and Red takes it, running her thumb over the edges of her bandages. She pulls her up to her room, far more calmly than she dragged her from it.
She can practically feel the late hour in the dim halls. She has the inevitable urge to sneak. To keep to the shadows in case a guard happens across them out past a curfew that no longer exists. She manages to resist with minimal anxiety over it. It helps that Chloe is there beside her.
It’s better once they reach her room. Chloe automatically moves to riffle through her drawers, and Red steps up behind her to loosen the laces down her back before moving to turn down the bed.
As Chloe lets her dress fall, Red can’t help the smile that spreads at the familiar black boots she kicks off after it. She had been wondering how the princess managed to climb the side of a castle in full formal-wear.
Chloe follows her directly into the bed, head falling onto her chest and plastering herself half on top. Red accepts the position she finds herself in. The weight on her is grounding, and she can feel the other girl’s heartbeat against her ribs, slowing to match hers, and for the first time in weeks, there isn’t a tickle of doubt in the back of her mind.
Red inhales deeply, running her hand down Chloe’s arm all the way to the start of the bandage. She makes little circles on the tape holding it in place.
“I love you,” Red coos softly.
Chloe squeezes her in response, wiggling impossibly closer. “Love you more,” she sighs.
Red’s air catches in her lungs. Then rushes out all at once. She wants to believe it. Badly. She just doesn’t know that she does. Then again, she didn’t believe it the first time Chloe claimed to love her at all. Fortunately for her, Chloe is very persistent. So, she’s sure that her girlfriend will be very adamant in convincing her.
She really really wants to be convinced.