Chapter Text
Pink Hearts always knew that she will never be queen of Wonderland, that she will never use her family’s crown when everyone knew that there was an heir to the throne. When her older sister, Red Hearts, was the pride and joy of their mother, Bridget Hearts, who was always teaching her eldest child the ways of becoming a great ruler for Wonderland.
The person who will rule after her with the same kindness that Bridget liked spread among her subjects who were happy of living under the rule of the Queen of Hearts, of the woman who loved her daughters deeply but didn’t change the fact that sometimes her youngest child felt like she was constantly living in the shadows of her sister.
And Pink knew that she didn’t have any real reason to feel that way, because she had a loving family and considered Red her best friend, but nothing changed that sometimes she hoped for everyone to see her as more than just the spare of Wonderland. She wanted everyone to see the real Pink and who she could be without anyone comparing her to her perfect and wonderful older sister.
Without anyone seeing her as a mini-Red instead of her own person and a princess who wanted to find her way in the world outside of Wonderland, she wanted to go to Auradon Prep just so she could meet new people there, make friends and maybe even fall in love with someone. Maybe with a prince or just a simple boy who saw her as more than just another royal.
Who saw Pink Hearts as her own person and not anything else, not even a target for small pranks like Max Hatter thought she was. The son of Maddox Hatter who not so long ago became a guest in the royal castle of Wonderland during the summer after the Fairy Godmother and Principal Uma tried to locate most of the newly arrived VKs in different kingdoms to spend the summer and learn how to be good with people who volunteered to host them since their home was the Isle of the Lost and couldn’t return there during the summer break.
So, since the Queen of Hearts was and very old friend of Maddox Hatter, she quickly agreed to host his son in her palace in hopes of him learning to be a good kid from her daughters. From the girls who since day one became the target of his pranks, and even if Red took them lightly and didn’t pay attention to them nothing changed that Pink quickly became used to them and learned how to prevent them after her beautiful pink hair became green thanks to a potion that Max put on her shampoo three days after his arrival to the castle of Wonderland.
It took a whole week for her hair to become pink again but that didn’t change that after that incident Max sometimes escalated his pranks to the point where Pink felt lucky of no one getting hurt by the inventions, he made to help himself to prank her.
She still recalls the time where she ended upside down on one of the towers of the castle after Max used a giant claw to grab her by the leg when she was taking a stroll alone in the garden of the castle.
*****
But those awful memories didn’t matter now, not when Pink was leaving the royal library of the palace with a romance novel in hand and was making her way towards her bedroom with a calmness that quickly was interrupted when she saw Max appear in the hallway that leaded to hers, Red’s and even his room that was placed in front of hers.
Something that her mother insisted to do for the boy to learn to be good from her children, especially from her youngest daughter who noticed that Maddox’s son had a smug smile that told her that he has made another prank that was surely waiting for her inside of her bedroom.
Inside of her personal space where she wasn’t going to let that VK boy ruin for her, not when she still believed that one day he was going to lose interest in pranking her and will finally become someone good and maybe even a close friend.
–Good afternoon, Max. –Pink said, while she smiled at him at the same time they passed next to each other on the hallway and Maddox’s son gave her a look that made her know that he wasn’t expecting her to look happy. Not when they both knew that a prank was coming and that Max was hoping to hear about it after it happened, after Pink fell for it instead of knowing that she had to be careful because of the surprise that surely was waiting for her inside her bedroom.
–Princess. It’s nice to see you today. We didn’t have any chance of seeing each other after lunch. –Max told her, in the moment he stopped himself in the hall and the pink-haired girl did the same thing just so she could continue smiling at him before saying:
–I was searching a book for you at the library. And I was hoping you could read it to me while me take a walk on the gardens.
With a voice that was so joyful and cheerful that Max couldn’t help himself from feeling like there was something wrong with the girl in front of him, because she didn’t usually wanted him by her side and instead she did everything in her power to avoid him unless she couldn’t because of her mother insistence.
But now she wanted him to read to her while they walked in the garden, the only place he thought was his safe place in the palace and where no one could judge him or even look at him with hate like most people in Wonderland did after he was taken out of the Isle of the Lost and sent to Auradon Prep to study and become a good kid.
So, there must be something wrong with Pink even if he couldn’t tell what, even if he decided to just look at the princess in front of him for a few seconds before he finally decided to let out an annoyed sigh and say:
–Fine. I will read the book to you. But you truly need to learn how to read, princess. –. Making Pink quickly frown because of the insult Max just threw at her, but quickly putting a smile back on her face at the same time she said:
–Great! Come with me to my room so I can grab a bookmark from my desk.
Before pushing the book towards Max’s chest so he would take it and grabbing his right hand in hers just so she could quickly drag him towards the end of the hall where their rooms were.
Just so seconds later they could stopped themselves in front of Pink’s bedroom door, the entrance that the princess “tried” to open but without any success because Maddox’s son quickly saw her struggling with the door. With the entrance that had behind a machine that would throw purple paint towards the princess if she managed to open the door to her bedroom.
That entryway that she started to shake with so much frustration that a moment later Pink let out an exhausted and frustrated sigh before she turned around to face Max and, with kicked puppy face, said to him:
–I can’t open it. I think it’s stuck. Could you try and open it? I’m not that strong.
Making the boy in front of her sigh with annoyance before he finally decided to do what she wanted and try to open the door, knowing that his invention surely was the cause of the door being stuck thanks to the paint that surely already threw before it dried and made the door impossible to open for the pink-haired girl.
For the princess of Wonderland who smiled at him while he gave her the book back and pushed out of the way, before he finally took the door’s handle and pull it down just to easily open the entrance of the bedroom where he quickly found his machine waiting for him and filled with the purple paint that was meant to land on Pink but quickly ended up drenching his entire person.
Making the princess beside Max burst out laughing, because she managed to trick him into falling for his own prank. She outsmarted the boy in front of her and that made him feel so humiliated and angry that before he knew it, Max had Pink cornered against the wall behind them and was glaring daggers at her while the paint that was covering him was staining her clothes and the book in her arms that she kept against her chest while looked at Maddox’s son with a worried expression that didn’t took away the anger in his face that stayed there while he said:
–Do you think this is funny, little princess? Because it’s not and now you will have to pay for this, I will make sure that you wish you were never born.
Causing Pink to feel a little bit worried, because she had never received a threat from Max and now seeing him this angry was something truly unexpected. And maybe it was because it was the first time in the entire summer that she managed to make him fall into his own prank, but it was also the first time they were so physically close to each other that she could smell his natural scent.
The smell of citrus, jasmine and even candy that covered him completely in that moment where they both stayed standing against the wall while looking at each other in a complete silence that Pink and Max were waiting to be broken by one of them. But not by anyone, not by people of the palace especially in that moment where they suddenly heard someone saying:
–What is the meaning of this?
Making them turn their heads around just to see the Queen of Hearts looking at them with a horrified expression on her face that quickly made Pink and Max know that what just happened between them would only lead them to just one path.
A grounding for an entire week.