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Since Ever After High has been putting on so many plays lately, Cupid thinks they should put on one with some sort of Greek myth. It would be a nice homage to where she comes from. Plus, it’s not like they haven’t put on backstories and fairytales before.
Upon suggesting that they put on a Greek story, Apple went looking for a suitable show. She found a musical from the mortal realm about Orpheus and Euridice, titled Hadestown.
Cupid was secretly very thankful for the choice. If they had put on her father’s story, her grandmother probably would have refused to come see it. But still, she was a little worried.
The thing is, when she saw the plot she decided that she had to play Euridice. The problem with that is the fact she’s not the only student trying out.
Apple, Briar, Raven, and Blondie all decided to audition as well. Apple is the most popular girl in the school and one of the three founders of the theater club; there’s no way in Hades Cupid could get the role over her. And then there’s the stunning Briar, a student body favorite thanks to her amazing parties. Raven founded the rebel movement and her popularity is growing day by day. Lastly, Blondie hosts an incredibly popular mirror cast. As if that wasn’t hard enough to compete with, she’s also Cupid’s best friend at Ever After! How is she supposed to go up against her?
But Cupid still wants to try out, even though she’s convinced she won’t get the role. So she gets up on stage and gives it her all. She even gets a callback!
The cast list is put up outside the charmatorium a few days later. She gingerly makes her way through the crowd to see her role. And there, so close to the top, is her name. She’s been cast as Euridice! She’s so happy she flutters up a few inches without realizing it!
And not only is she Euridice, but she saw Dexter audition for Orpheus! She saw his name up on the casting list, but was so ecstatic they were in the same play she didn’t bother to check which role he got. He’s so amazing- there’s no way he didn’t get the part of Orpheus, right?
Before Cupid can check, though, an arm slings itself over her shoulder. “Well angel, looks like we're co-stars for this! Just try not to fall in love with me, hard as it may be.” The voice is familiar, but it’s not Dexter.
She turns her head to look straight at him. “Sparrow!” She scans the cast list, and there he is. His name is right across from Orpheus’.
So she’s playing against the loudest, most obnoxious student from Ever After High. The trouble maker, the serial dater. Great.
As Sparrow lets go of her, Dexter comes up and hugs her. “Congratulations, Cupid! You’re going to be the best Euridice this school’s ever seen.” Cupid smiles and hugs him back, breathing in his scent. “I’m so proud of you!”
“Who’d you get?” she asks as they break apart.
Dexter stumbles over his tongue, looking embarrassed. “Hades.”
“Who’s Persephone?” Cupid tries to hide whatever tinge of jealousy is slipping into her voice, but she already knows. Dexter is blushing.
“Raven.”
She swallows but manages a fake smile for him. “That’s great, Dex!”
“Isn’t it?” He sighs dreamily before perking up. “Oh, there she is! Raven! Wait up!” He hurries off to go talk to her, leaving Cupid with Sparrow. From the corner of her vision, she can see Sparrow raising a skeptical eyebrow, clearly seeing through her false enthusiasm. She pointedly ignores him as she walks back to her dorm, not seeing the way he deflates at her lack of response once her back is turned.
That night, Cupid stares up at the thoroughly postered ceiling of her and Blondie’s room. After quite a bit of thinking about it, she came to the conclusion that Dexter is a really good fit for Hades. She hasn’t met the guy too often due to where he lives, but he’s really nice when you get past his awkward, deathly exterior. Likewise, Raven’s dark powers contrasted with her light personality makes for a bit of an ironic Persephone- but she’d still be a great fit for her.
But still, she can’t help being jealous. Raven Queen gets to rehearse her lines with Cupid’s crush tomorrow, and Cupid is stuck with Sparrow Hood.
Rehearsals go about as well as expected. Sparrow, as excited as he is about the role, keeps goofing off. And Cupid can’t help but sneak glances at where Raven and Dexter are playing off each other. And Sparrow’s in front of her, trying to do something with his guitar and a prop.
But she gets used to it. Two weeks into the rehearsals she doesn’t even look at Dexter and Raven anymore. She gets used to playing off Sparrow. And really, he isn’t that bad.
“Bleh,” Sparrow says, sticking out his tongue dramatically. “I keep flubbing my lines.”
Cupid giggles. “Okay, go over them again. Maybe with a new inflection?”
Sparrow clears his throat and tries again, but it doesn’t go quite right again. “Hate this. I don’t like messing up in public.”
It's the exact opposite of what Cupid expects him to say and she stumbles over her next words, “Do you- uh- wanna go somewhere alone? If you get less worried about messing up you’ll catch on faster.”
“Yeah. That would be nice.”
Blondie’s over on the other side of the theater playing Hermes, so Cupid knows the perfect place for them to go: her dorm room.
“Hey, nice place, Cupid.” Sparrow picks up a book from her nightstand, examining it. “You sure Blondie’s fine with me being in here?”
“She won’t mind, so long as you don’t sit on her chairs or bed.” Cupid sits back on the bed, looking Sparrow over. “Do you want to run the line again?”
Sparrow starts, and Cupid falls into the rhythm easily. After a few runs, Sparrow stops messing up. “I can barely remember what I was doing wrong,” he smiles, flopping back on Cupid’s bed. “Damn, your bed is soft.”
“Perks of being an Olympian,” she flops down next to him. Her grandmother may or may not have had the actual Hermes bring a goddess-grade mattress down for her dorm room. “Done for today?”
“Yeah, I think so. I don’t really want to go back.”
Cupid looks at his teasing smile. “What do you want?”
Sparrow pushes up onto his arms and shrugs. “I dunno. Tell me about yourself.”
“Hm. Well, I’m adopted.”
Sparrow blinks, “Really? Aren’t you, like, a literal goddess?” His eyes flicker between her face and her feathered wings.
“Sort of. My adoptive father is Eros, a god of love. He blessed me with immortality, wings, and an enchanted archery set. I’m as much of a goddess as my adoptive mother, and I’ll be joining in on the family business as part of my destiny.”
“So… who are your parents, then? What story would you have inherited if Eros didn’t adopt you.”
“No one knows. I wasn't born human, but no one really knows what I was. I know I’m not from this realm, though. Headmaster Grimm doesn’t really like me talking about the realm I’m from, though.”
“Huh.” Sparrow thinks for a beat. “That’s cool.”
Cupid rolls over to face him. He turns his head. “What about you?”
Sparrow hums, “I’m nothing special. You know the drill. Kid of Robin Hood, guitar master, rebel. Hot as hell,” he winks, and Cupid finds herself giggling. She’s never giggled at his antics before. “Not much to tell.”
“Hey, equivalent exchange. You can’t be just that.”
Sparrow stumbles for words awkwardly, “I know how to play the saxophone.”
“You what?”
“I play the saxophone! Or, I did. My mom made me take band in middle school. All the cool instruments were taken, so I got stuck with the sax.”
Cupid dissolves into giggles, “No, you definitely should have stuck with that! I’m imagining everything the exact same, just with a saxophone in your hands.”
“Oh, I’m not good at it.”
The picture gets clearer. The sax music in her head gets worse. “Your little punk rock band, but instead of being lead guitarist, you just bust out a sax solo each song-”
“Mean!”
Cupid’s giggles eventually calm down, “Oh, gods, my cheeks hurt from smiling.”
Sparrow half smiles, “Cute.”
Cupid flushes a bright pink, and Sparrow’s hand reaches out for a second. He hesitates before pulling it back. “We should head back.”
“Yeah, okay.” They get up, not making any eye contact. Sparrow’s red cheeks clash with his hair the same way Cupid’s pink does.
But still, during the next rehearsal, they head back to Cupid’s room. They run through their lines in private before dissolving into a chat.
“You’re pretty nice.”
“Pretty? I’m nice!”
“You can be not just-right sometimes.”
“Blondie’s been rubbing off on you.”
“Well, she is my roommate.”
“Yeah, I know.” He looks over at Blondie’s side of the room. He’s started referring to it as the forbidden side, since he wouldn’t dare sit on any of her furniture after Cupid’s warning. “And yeah, I guess I’m a jerk sometimes. I’m not, like, trying to be a bad person. It’s just easier.”
“How?”
“You already know I don’t like messing up in front of people.” Sparrow looks up at the ceiling, away from Cupid, “I don’t want people to judge me. When I joke around and play games, they don’t think of me as a person who can mess up. I’m just the class clown.”
“Oh.”
“And you’re putting up a front too.”
Cupid gasps dramatically, a trait she picked up from her grandmother. “I am not!”
“Yeah, you are! You’re obviously in love with Dexter. I see the way you look at him and Raven. You’re pretending you don’t care about them, but you obviously do. You’re jealous.”
Cupid swallows thickly, “Fine, I’m jealous. It doesn’t mean anything.”
“Of course it means something. You’re C.A. Cupid. Any guy the goddess of teenage love could be into has to be great. And you’re not with him. Why’s that?”
Cupid’s cheeks flare up red, “This isn’t your business, Sparrow.” she looks away from him.
Sparrow blinks, quickly realizing he’s messed up. He hesitates before looking up at the ceiling. “... ‘m sorry, Cupid.”
“Of course you are.”
“Hey, no. For real, sorry. I don’t think… that’s not an excuse. That wasn’t nice of me.”
“Listen,” Cupid plays with one of her molted feathers, her voice soft. Sad. “I wouldn’t make him do anything he doesn’t want to. He wants Raven. Not me. And that’s fine, I can live with it.”
Sparrow pauses, the room quiet aside from heavy breaths.
“Would… Would you rather it was him as Orpheus?”
Cupid sucks in a breath, screwing her eyes shut and sending a quick prayer to uncle Hermes to bring the right words to her lips. “I… I originally wanted him to be Orpheus. I had hoped that we’d be cast as the main couple and he’d learn to return my feelings over the course of the show’s run. I should have known that was a foolish hope. But now, I… I wouldn’t like anyone as Orpheus but you.”
She feels the bed shift underneath them as Sparrow turns on his side, no doubt looking down at her face. Waiting for her to open her eyes. “Are you catching some new feelings?”
Cupid squeezes her eyes shut even tighter, little spots of color dancing along the inside of her eyelids. “I don’t know, Sparrow.”
“I think you do know.”
“Sparrow!”
“... Sorry. I’m really sorry. I-I should go back to the theater.”
“Please,” Cupid’s voice breaks halfway through the word, causing her to cringe.
Once again, Cupid finds herself staring up at the ceiling. It’s plastered with different posters, most of them of famous ghouls and monsters. She’d bought them during her time at Monster High so she could be reminded of her numerous crushes when she looked at them. When she moved to Ever After they all morphed like her appearance did. They became more human and whimsical. All references to their monstrous origins were lost. The weird thing is that her crushes dissipated when she walked through that portal, too. All of the love she had spread across unattainable crushes were all focused on Dexter, changed from typical indecisive and inconsequential teen love to your typical fairy-tale love at first sight.
But now, she can feel her once overflowing love for Dexter drying up. Her sights have been set on a new love interest, and her feelings are redirecting themselves to this new guy.
A guy with a reputation. He’s the typical bad boy of Ever After. She’s gotten so many calls to her show about him since moving there; girls asking for advice getting with him or getting over him. There’s a rumor he only dates for song inspiration. Another rumor muses that he dates girls with nice destinies to try and trick them into giving their stories to Duchess.
And what’s a Cupid to do, but to try and build distance?
The next rehearsal, they don’t go to her room. They have to play off Dexter and Raven anyway, and it’s stilted. Apple notices, but when she asks Cupid can’t bring herself to answer. She doesn’t even look at Sparrow except for when it’s directed. When she glances over, he’s looking between her and Dexter. Like there would ever be something new.
Raven, somewhat surprisingly, is the one to pull Cupid over after rehearsal is over. “Hey, are you okay?” She asks as she sits next to Cupid, her voice soft and caring.
“Yeah, just…,” What can Cupid tell her? Nothing. “Things. I’ll work on it.”
Raven places a hand on her shoulder, “I’m here if you need me.”
Cupid can’t need her, but the warmth spreads through her body. Some of her jealousy is replaced with friendship. “Thank you, Raven.”
Raven nods and walks off, pausing to talk with Dexter for a moment. She, of course, sent him to go talk to her.
“Cupid?” Dexter’s voice squeaks like normal, bringing a small smile to her lips. “What’s wrong?”
Cupid pats next to her on the bench. “I… It’s a lot.”
Dexter sits and shrugs, “You’ve helped me through a lot. I’m ready to listen.”
“Well,” she laughs awkwardly, “would you believe it if I said I was having boy trouble?” There was just something comforting about Dexter, she couldn’t bear to leave the offer unused.
Dexter shakes his head, “No way! You’re, like, the coolest girl at Ever After. I thought you probably had your love life figured out- not to mention the whole goddess thing.”
Cupid shrugs, “I guess I’m better at setting people up than I am at figuring out what’s in my own heart. I… I’ve got this friend. I’ve had a crush on him for a while, but he’s never been interested. But now I’ve got this new friend, a guy I never would’ve considered before. I’ve caught myself falling for this new guy, but… I guess I’m scared. He’s got some pretty obvious character flaws about him, and he’s not as safe as the first guy.”
“... But?”
Cupid smiles, blushing and looking down at her feet. “But he makes me laugh harder than anyone else, and he’s exciting. He makes me actually think about things I wouldn’t have before- for better or worse.”
“He sounds amazing,” Dexter smiles. “You should ask him out. You’ve done so much for everyone else and their relationships in this school. You deserve to be happy too.”
Cupid leans her head on his shoulder. “Thanks, Dex. You’re a good friend.”
“You’re a good friend too, Cupid. I love you.”
Cupid smiles. It doesn’t make her heart beat faster, or her brain rush to misconstrue it or get depressed. She’s just happy. “I love you too, Dexter.”
Deciding to ask someone out is much, much easier than actually doing it. Especially when the last time you had a real conversation with them it ended in you asking them to go away.
The first step is reconciliation. After the next rehearsal, she pulls Sparrow to the side.
“I’m sorry,” they say at the same time. They blink at each other. “Wait you go first,” they say, and then burst out laughing.
Sparrow puts a hand on her shoulder, speaking while she’s still giggling. “I’m so sorry. Again. I know I really messed up the last time I saw you, I stepped over a line.”
“Thank you. I forgive you. And I’m sorry for reacting so harshly, even if you did cross a line.” Sparrow smiles, and they hug. “I missed you,” Cupid whispers.
“Missed you too, Cupid. So, you wanna run lines?”
“I have something better,” Cupid starts, and she runs over a love confession in her head. “Do you want to come back to my room? Blondie isn’t there.”
“Of course I do.”
She takes his hand and leads him off to her dorm, glad she’s leading so he can’t see her blushing cheeks. When they get to her room she sits Sparrow down on her bed, clearing her throat. Good thing Hermes is the god of public speaking and speeches as well as language- she only has to send one prayer as she gathers her nerves.
“I really like you, Sparrow. Romantically like. And you have a reputation for not actually liking people, and I was scared. But the time I’ve spent with you has made me realize that you’re a really, really good person. I was wrong to misjudge you, and I was hoping that you would want to go out sometime?”
“What about Dexter?”
“I don’t care about Dexter! Not anymore, and not romantically. I care about you, so much it makes my chest ache.”
Sparrow looks at her fluffy pink bedspread, his cheeks turning a nice red. “I care about you, too. Romantically. And if you’d have me, I’d love to date you.”
Cupid squeals and throws her arms around him. “Yes!” Sparrow hugs her back tightly. “Oh my gods, yes!”
Sparrow chuckles, hugging her back. “How about we go get some hocus lattes down at Book End?”
“That sounds enchanting.”
Sparrow gets up, this time leading Cupid by the hand as they head to the beginning of a proper relationship.