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Apple White was a good girlfriend and she believed that wholeheartedly, she loved Raven more than she would have ever imagined at the start of the year, and perhaps that one day would be the death of Apple. Recently her mother had put her in charge to learn more of the basics of being queen and while she was excited to take on the role, her free time went away faster than a dragon in the sky so she only really saw her Raven in the mornings and nights as they did share a dorm, but it wasn’t enough for Apple she felt like she had been neglecting her dearest so she made sure to text her quite a lot in the day.
Fairest: Dear!! Hey! I’m going to be in a meeting so I’ll be busy, excuse my late replies :D
As you can see, she’s not really used to texting others, she kept her blue gaze on the screen waiting for her blackbird to reply though she hadn’t replied, that’s odd! She must have not gotten the text. The future queen tried again.
Fairest: Raven? Are you there?
She again went to stare at her phone, tapping her foot impatiently, what could be taking her so long? There was nothing that couldn’t wait for them to talk, right? She was about to send another text to nudge her lover for a text, before the door clicks open and she shoves the phone in her dress pocket.
“Ma’am, The Good King is here.” One of the dwarves told her, The Good King was a respected man and friend of Snow White so she must treat him with the utmost respect, she didn’t really know a lot about him though and while being unprepared worried her, she had confidence in her abilities as a princess. It’s a shame she hadn’t done any research into him but the meeting was very short notice.
“I’ll be right there!” Apple chirped before walking ahead of the elf, Raven still on her mind as she stepped in, seeing the king sitting at the other end of the table, he was wearing a regal purple coat and his hair as dark as the night sky, he had gold accents and was wearing firm black boots, his crown gold with purple gems, Apple could tell what his favorite color was. Reminded her of Raven ever so slightly.
“Hello sir, my mother told me you requested a meeting with me?” Apple kindly asked the taller king, who nodded and began to speak in a kind tone. His title as The Good King seems rather accurate right now. Though Apple’s kind demeanor fell as she heard his words.
“Greetings Apple White! I’ve come to discuss a simple topic, courting is the one.” The Good King said in a lighthearted tone, his attitude was like a gleeful school girl.
Apple sighed, did her mother set her up with another suitor? When she already chose the person she wanted to be with forever after? Apple lifted a pale hand before beginning to firmly explain to the other her circumstances.
“I apologize if my mother misinformed you, however I already have a partner of my choice.” I held back an offended huff, he was most likely deceived by my mother after all, Ugh! I have some “friendly” words for her after this I swear!
“Oh, no, I’m aware.” Apple blinked, suddenly puzzled at the large man’s reply. Was he about to be homophobic? She wasn’t going to stand for that. He clearly noticed the agitation in her expression and began to speak up again.
“I came to speak about my daughter, Raven Queen.” He clarified quickly to the future queen.
Apple’s mouth fell open.
“RAVEN HAS A DAD?” Apple shouts in shock, The Good King bursts into a fit of laughter at the reaction from Apple, who was stuttering as she examined the man.
“Of course, did you think she was just made up of magic?” He responded as he cleared his throat, a present smile on his mug. His joking tone reminded her of Raven; their shared resemblance was beyond a shadow of a doubt officially to Apple.
“YES!- well, that’s a good point actually.” Apple blurted before her tone suddenly sheepish, she had made a fool of herself in front of her lover's dad, today is not her day.
“Right, right. Now back on topic. I wanted to learn more about you. My blackbird has gone through quite a lot and I’d rather not see her heartbroken as well.” He hummed, Apple isn’t all that shocked about his wariness, after the Dragon Games incident…
“You know, she texted me when all that affair with my wife had happened. About how she woke you up with a kiss, how did that happen?” He inquired, Apple’s face went blank as she didn’t really know the answer to that herself.
“We’ve been… trying to figure that out ourselves.” Apple concluded with a resigned tone, after Apple’s apology they had been researching what exactly had happened. They soon found that true love can change due to the course of actions and the demons that follow all of us, but that had been a rather vague article in itself as finding your soulmate is one in a million unless you’re born into a story. Which as we can see now, doesn’t even make it any less complicated!
“I wouldn’t stress over it, sometimes these things just happen.” He resumed in a calming voice, perhaps he was saying that for me, or more likely saying that so I don’t stress out Raven.
“I try not to, it’s in the past after all.” A blatant lie left my red lips, he caught onto it but he lets it slide, Apple hopes it’s not brought up again.
“If you haven’t realized already, I’m not here under business terms, I simply wanted to meet the only lady Raven didn’t reject.” He chuckles after that, leaving Apple confused as he brings it up. Has Raven seduced other maidens?
“Excuse me?” Apple says much more coldly than she first intended.
“Hey hey hey, you’re still the one who won, so don’t ruin it for yourself by overthinking kiddo. I left some papers for your mother about borders and I’ve talked about everything I’ve had to do for now, so I’ll be leaving now.” The Good King finished as he began to get up, Apple quickly began to try and come up with a question, she had the perfect opportunity to get to know Raven better and she wasn’t going to waste it.
Especially when her girlfriend is ignoring her.
“Wait!- wait, I don’t have any plans after this meeting- how about we spend some time together? We could talk about Raven more and it could help us both out!” Apple insisted with a hopeful tone to the older man, she could learn more about her past and he could learn more about the now Raven, it’s a win win!
“Hm… well, I don’t need to be back until 5PM. So I accept your offer, princess.” He accepted in a calmed voice, offering a large hand for the petite princess to shake.
“It’s a deal!” Apple beamed as she took his hand and shook it with great intensity.
The first activity Apple decided on was a picnic, she was put on the spot okay?? Normally you would only go on those with people you know well, but it was all she could do on short notice. She took a single glance at her phone and still no Raven. Then, Apple sat down on the blanket and placed the basket down, offering the older man food. They mostly sat in silence at first, before the girl tried to start a conversation.
“I don’t know what you exactly like so- I tried working off Raven’s taste.” My girlfriend was a picky eater so I hoped the apple didn’t fall far from the tree- RAVEN’S AWFUL PUNS ARE WEARING OFF ON ME. The Good King dug through the basket and let out a booming chuckle, it felt wholehearted as he examined all the food inside, pulling out an apple pie.
“Well, you seem to know her well then.” He bellowed in a lighthearted tone as he cut it open with a plastic knife. You could tell he really loved his daughter but honestly who didn’t.
“I do! I make sure to know everything I can about her, I want her to always be happy around me!” Apple squealed towards her dad, beginning to list out the things she adored.
“She loves music so much and her guitar too! I made sure to get her a nicer case for her birthday because hers was all scratched up and I wouldn’t stand for that, she prefers coffee over tea but has a soft spot for tea because of Maddie. Oh! Oh! And-“ Apple’s rambling was soon cut off by the king snickering towards the golden haired girl.
“It’s sweet that you know so much about her- or creepy, very creepy.” The King jokes towards the other, who huffs and hisses back playfully in response.
“HEY!- I’ve been her roommate for a while of course I know a lot about her! Tell me, what do you know about her?” Apple said, trying to coax some childhood information out of him.
“Raven has a love of roller coasters, I bet you know that, but when she was younger she was terrified of the idea of going on one, it took me going on the ride with her for her to calm down- her mom ended up hexing the poor worker anyway when she began to panic but, it’s safe to say she’s over it now.” He recalled with a light smile resting on his bearded face.
Apple giggled at the image of Raven being terrified on a roller coaster, it made her dumb reaction to being on a ride for the first time feel less stinging to know Raven was once like that, now she can tease back! Apple one, Raven zero!
After their food Raven’s father glanced to the watch on his wrist, they still had about an hour before he had to go, so he glanced at the heir to the throne and announced what they were going to be doing next.
“Tagging?! That’s illegal! I- I can’t do that!” Apple sputtered, clearly not expecting the man to pull out spray paint cans and then leading her to a brick wall hidden away from sight.
…After he threw a rock at a camera from a hidden angle. Yep, Raven definitely got her mischievous side from both of her parents.
“C'mon! Live a little, Snow White is stiff as hell and everyone knows it, it might be your only chance to fully understand Raven!” He insisted with a smile, the option to deny was still on the table but…
If it was to understand Raven better…
“Fine, I’ll do it.” Apple blurted to the king who brightened up as she did and clapped his large hands.
“Perfect!” He hollered in victory as he took out a blue bottle of paint and handed Apple a gas mask, which she quickly put on as he began to draw lines and circles, Apple didn’t really get the point.
“What… are you drawing?” Apple asked quietly, still terrified of being caught by a guard or worse- her mother.
“You see… the key to understanding Raven lies with this, take a can and start making whatever you want, you’ll see what I mean.” He explains while continuing his work, Apple picked up a crimson red can and hesitated as she began to spray as well, as the first burst of red hit the wall she leaped back in fear with a yelp of surprise, as if that wasn’t meant to happen, the king began to laugh as he continued his work.
Apple huffed as she tried again, mindlessly drawing lines and dots, before the king put a hand on her shoulder and tried to coach her a little more.
“You have to put your heart into it, think of anything! Like, what helps you get up in the mornings? What’s important to you?” He added with a thoughtful look, his kind gaze on the high schooler.
Apple nodded with a new passion to it, the first thing that came to mind was Raven as she began to spray her heart off, the Good King cheered her on as he added to her work, he seemed proud as they worked together on this tag, the heir wasn’t used to such a look but… it made her feel good- good isn’t a correct way to put it, it felt… amazing?- She don’t know how to describe it.
Raven was lucky in her heritage- well besides the whole Evil Queen heir thing but Apple accepted that she’d never be like her mom.
Soon they stopped, she took off the heavy duty mask and glanced up at their work, it looked like a pair of wings, hearts being placed all over them as a small pattern, Apple left out a soft huff as she felt her back being patted by the 5’11 man.
“See? That wasn’t so bad now was it?” He reassured softly as Apple’s face lit up, she understood what he meant by it would help her understand Raven.
“Letting your free spirit fly keeps you happy and healthy.” Apple proclaimed in a confident tone, even if she hadn’t fully accepted that as the truth.
“What did you say?” The King pestered, trying to get her to repeat it.
“Sometimes- maybe breaking a few rules to let you be yourself is good for you.” Apple rephrased, putting a hand to their artwork. Running her hand down the rough brick wall.
“There it is! I’m glad this wasn’t pointless for you.” He commented, ecstatic about this whole trip before looking at the time.
“Oh! That’s my cue, I called a car to take you back to Ever After, I’ll see you later!” He began to run off after quickly stating that, though he stopped and turned back to her one last time.
“Take care of her, okay?” He reminded, before running into a limousine and shutting the door, Apple waving as he drove off and her own ride arrived, she sighed lightly though her new found exhaustion didn’t stop her from taking a photo of their work. Before crawling in and shutting the door.
Soon enough she was back at her dorm, the ride lingered on for so much longer in her head than it actually was, she was back to staring at the texts Raven never replied to, it made her a little nervous if she was honest, what could Raven be doing? She had to tell her about this hexallent day as soon as possible!
She had been sitting at her vanity scribbling on a piece of homework before she heard the door to the dorm creek open at about midnight, the sound of Raven’s heels echoing into the dorm as Apple turned to face her with a bright smile.
“You’re out late roomie, why didn’t you reply to any of my texts?” Apple hinted at her irritation towards being ignored, but she quickly noticed how pale and dulled her blackbird looked.
“Whoa! What have you been up to?? Are you okay??” Apple stood and ran over to her lover, frantically glancing over her poor condition.
“I… don’t want to talk about it.” Raven yawned as she spoke, looking at Apple with her purple gaze before making a small request.
“We can talk about it in the morning, alright? For right now I just want to head to bed already.” Raven slurred out, she wasn’t intoxicated merely running on a lack of sleep, seemingly close to the hallucination stage, hmph! She shouldn’t be such a night owl if she doesn’t want to become like this.
“Of course, we can cuddle if you’re heading to bed now.” Apple offered, using her secret weapon.
Puppy dog eyes.
“I wasn’t going to say no, you can put those away.” A tired chuckle leaves the witch as she unties her shoes and throws her blazer to the side, then stopping and using magic to change into her sleepwear when it hits her she could do that.
“Convenient.” Apple teased.
“Yes, it is.” Raven stuck out her tongue as she flung herself into bed, clearly out of it before Apple crawled in behind her and wrapped her arms around the witches waist, snuggling her, Apple decided to share a little bit of her afternoon.
“You know, I met your dad today.” Apple said casually, nuzzling into the crook of Raven’s neck.
“Mmm… that’s nice...” Raven mumbled to her Apple, seemingly not processing her words for a solid few seconds before exclaiming in shock.
“Wait WHAT?” Raven hollered out, the tiredness trying to overtake her body however she was holding out for a reply from her lover.
“I’ll tell you in the morning.” Apple smirked as she put her head on top of Raven’s.
“You can’t just leave it there!” Raven interjected, clearly a little concerned about how Apple met her dad today.
“Then maybe you should reply to my texts next time.” Apple snidely remarked, there was no true malice in her words of course, but Raven shot back quickly.
“It’s not my fault Kitty stole my phone so I would be focused on helping her and Maddie, she didn’t want to see me making “kissy eyes” at my phone, whatever that means…” Raven huffed in response to explain what she’d been doing all day.
“We’ve earned this night of sleep, I’ll explain in the morning, I promise.” The blonde girl quipped as she placed a kiss on the top of the other's head.
“You better, I probably wouldn’t remember even if you did tell me right now anyway” she joked, though there was likely more truth to that then you’d expect from someone like her.
“Night, Apple.” Raven said in a soft voice, yawning again before she became silent.
“Goodnight, my blackbird.” Apple mumbled before pulling her closer and falling limp to the realm of dreams.