Chapter Text
In maybe the five minutes it had been since her sister had left, chasing after Max, Pink couldn't get the words Red had last said to her out of her head. They echoed in her mind and the fact of the matter was, those words rang with truth, creating an unfamiliar pit of remorse in her stomach.
“Pink, you shouldn’t have said that.”
The words hadn’t been spoken in a scornful manner with the intention of shaming Pink or making her feel like a disappointment but that was the effect they’d had on her. Pink wasn’t sure what had changed between the relationship she had with her sister but as of late, it seemed like Red didn’t want her around anymore.
Pink felt a tightening in her chest at the thought of that. Her sister was her best friend. She loved her more than anything. Such an idea might have been a little odd to others. In her family, it often appeared that Red was the favored child. She was the immediate heir to the throne and the pride and joy of their mother, who believed Red could do no wrong. Pink knew her mother loved her too, but the sheer adoration the Queen had for her elder sister could not be ignored.
The preference for Red was apparent among her peers as well. By no means was she an outcast at Auradon Prep, but she was certainly the lesser sought out of the two Hearts sisters. It hurt sometimes, to think about that, so she tried not to. A lot of the time she didn’t have to anyways. She had the support of her sister. That was more important than anyone else’s validation.
A frown manifested itself on Pink’s face. It wasn’t an expression she usually wore. All her life she had been an optimistic person. Looking on the bright side of a situation came naturally to her. Smiling and trying to make others feel the same ever present joy as her was something she loved doing. She loved being kind to others, and she tried to see the good in everyone.
That’s why it had been unusual that she had snapped at the VKs in the way she did earlier. Despite her initial reluctance of their joining on this rescue mission, she had enjoyed having them here. Getting to know them a little more. She had done her best to be kind to them all up until this point.
Her attack against them had come so suddenly. One second she was having fun, singing and dancing with her own HK companions and all the while enjoying the friendly competition they were engaging in with the VKs, and the next she was plagued with doubts, doubts strong enough that she voiced them, hurt feelings over them.
Her fears about the VKs’ potential ulterior motives weren’t entirely outlandish, she supposed. Saying that she was brave enough to admit a suspicion that others in the group might have shared wasn’t a stretch. That didn’t make the accusation any less cruel though.
Pink looked up from the mushroom she had decided to take a seat on to observe the individuals she had slandered.
The Smees were passed out together on a hammock, swaying gently. Some distance away, Hazel was having a conversation with Chloe. Pink averted her gaze down to her hands which fiddled with the mesh of her skirt guiltily. She had never felt so sick.
It wasn’t fair. The judgement she had made against them. Even if it were true, if they really were working against them, if they had been in on the capture of her mom, it still wasn’t fair to them for her to assume so.
Everyone here was born into a world in which their futures were defined by the actions taken by their parents. Actions they could not influence and did not automatically condone.
If your mother or father happened to trek a villainous path in their life, you, just by being born their child, were evil by association. The vice versa applied as well. The very ground you walked on was deemed blessed if you happened to have heroic blood coursing through your veins.
Would Pink, who as a person felt the greatest joy when bringing happiness to others, completely lose such a meaningful trait if she had been born to an evil mother? Would she not retain her moral compass? Just because of who her parents happened to be?
Thinking about it now, Pink recognized that it was a ridiculous notion. The reality was that your parents couldn’t decide what path you followed. Whether you were good or not was up to you.
Pink let out a deep breath before forcing herself to stand up. As distressing as this was for her, it must have been even worse for the others. She owed them an apology. Especially Max. He was the one she had downright singled out.
She glanced back at everyone else before turning around and making her way towards the direction she had seen her sister go.
They can’t have gone too far. We came to this tree to seek shelter from any tricks Maddox might have laid for us outside of it. They wouldn’t have left its sanctuary.
With that thought in mind, Pink began to stride confidently into the depths of the greenery before her.
She hadn’t been worried that her guess could be wrong but still, she also hadn’t expected to find Red and Max so fast. She’d only been walking determinedly for maybe 30 seconds before she nearly crashed into the very people she was searching for, both of whom were rushing eagerly towards the direction she had come from.
Pink couldn’t help the yelp that escaped her as all three of them came to an abrupt halt. Max and Red let out their own startled screams before they realized who the vibrant person standing in front of them was.
“Pink?” Her sister’s face contorted in surprise. “What are you doing here, we almost trampled you over! You really have to stop doing that appearing out of nowhere thing,”
A sheepish grin made its way onto Pink’s face. “Sorry,” She clasped her hands together in front of her awkwardly.
“I was looking for you guys, I um,” The smile melted off her lips as she turned her gaze to Max whose own face still seemed stunned.
“I need to speak with you.” She told him this directly.
Red’s eyebrows furrowed together slightly, glancing between the two. “There’s no time for this right now, Pink. We have to get back to the others, Max came up with a plan to stop his dad.”
At this, it was Pink’s turn to look surprised.
“Oh,” she said quietly. Her sister’s immediate dismissal stung.
Don’t focus on that. Max has a plan. Saving mom is the priority right now and this can help him gain everyone else’s trust too…
A tight lipped smile forced its way onto Pink’s face.
“Right, you’re right. It can wait. Let’s go back…” She hoped her disappointment wasn’t too noticeable but she had always been incredibly expressive in her body language.
“No, it’s okay. We can spare a few minutes. It’s still dark out anyway, we can’t get a move on until sunrise,” Max cut in.
Both princesses of Hearts turned to look at him. Pink was shocked to find that his eyes were intently on her.
“You sure?” Red asked skeptically.
Max nodded, not looking away from Pink. “Yeah.”
“If you say so… I’ll wait for you two with the others,” Red said, shooting them one final glance before walking off.
Pink swallowed, feeling suddenly nervous. How could she word this?
“I’m sorry for saying that I thought you were a traitor and conspired with your father to kidnap my mom.”
Yeah, that wasn’t going to work.
“You don’t have to do that, you know,” Max interrupted her train of thought.
She looked up at him, eyebrows shooting up in confusion. “Pardon?”
“Fake a smile, I mean. If you’re upset about something, just let yourself be upset about it. You don’t always have to be happy,” He continued, his voice a little softer than it regularly was.
He walked off to sit down on a nearby mushroom and Pink stayed standing in place, staring at him, utterly dumbfounded.
“I wasn’t, I didn’t-“ She didn’t know why she was even attempting to deny it. Perhaps it was because she didn’t want him to believe he had read her so easily. Or maybe facing that truth about herself, that habit of hers of pushing down any emotion that wasn’t positive, was uncomfortable for her.
Her mouth closed on its own, unable to finish whatever lie or excuse she was about to say.
Hesitating for a moment, she made her way over to where he was and took a seat beside him. The mushroom was quite large but even so, there wasn’t much space between the two of them. Their elbows brushed against each other slightly and Pink felt a warmth in her ears and cheeks for reasons she couldn’t fully understand. It was her shame, likely.
“I don’t quite like being upset…” She admitted into the silence.
“If you smile, even while sad, eventually you start to smile for real. Pretending that I’m not upset allows me to stop being upset. Or to get over it quicker, I guess.” Though her words sounded self-assured, Pink wasn’t actually sure how much she believed them.
It was true that she always tried to set aside feelings that weren’t pleasant, because she really did love being happy and feeling anything contrary to such an emotion was difficult to deal with. So if something ever happened that made her smile falter or caused that painful tightening in her chest that she so despised, she used all her self control to not dwell on it. To smile even brighter. She told herself that it helped. That the emotions were quickly forgotten.
But sometimes she laid in her grand pink bed at night, hugging her dear plushies close in hopes of being brought comfort to no avail. Because instead of falling into a quick, peaceful slumber, all she could do was dig herself into a bleak, lonely hole where her insecurities thundered in her head until finally she allowed a tear or two to fall.
Pink hadn’t noticed she’d gone quiet for too long until Max spoke up again.
“I don’t think anyone likes being upset. But just because it’s not nice to feel it, doesn’t mean you should neglect the feeling. Oftentimes, you just end up feeling worse if you do.”
She blinked once. Twice. Then she turned to face Max whose own eyes were staring down at the ground.
“I’ve built up a lot of resentment for a lot of things over the years. For a long time I just dismissed it, but I’ve found that suppressing my emotions only intensified them. It made them too much to bear. So I’ve decided to let myself be more vulnerable. Not just with myself, but with others, too. Opening up was hard at first but in the long run it’s been worth it.” he continued.
Pink’s lips parted slightly from the sheer sincerity in his voice.
Max finally looked up and turned to look back at her too and almost immediately his face reflected immense concern. “Pink, are you okay?”
“Huh?” her voice came out more as a squeak.
“You’re crying.” Max stated.
Oh, was she?
Pink sniffled and wiped away some of the tears that she hadn’t even noticed had begun to stream down her face.
“I… Your words were just very moving.” She steadied herself with a few deep breaths, closing her eyes for a moment before opening them. She decided then that she was going to open up more than just her eyes.
“No, I’m not okay, Max. My mom is in danger and I’m worried about her. I could use some comforting from the only other relative I have, but since yesterday, it’s like I’m a nuisance to her. I understand she’s busy trying to take the initiative here but she just feels so distant. It’s like she doesn’t even know me…”
“This stuff has been internally bothering me but I’ve just been pushing it down like I always do and- and it’s just like you said! It’s been growing and growing inside of me and I think that might’ve been what caused my outburst earlier. I was so mean to you, Max. I shouldn’t have said what I said, I feel so terrible and I’m so sorry.”
Without thinking, Pink reached out and took one of Max’s hands into her own. His eyes widened.
“What I said was absolute nonsense, you’ve proven that to me. Please don’t take what I said to heart. I don’t care if you don’t accept my apology but I couldn’t bear it if my words continued to hurt you.”
Max stared in silence for an agonizingly long amount of time. Pink held her breath. Oh dear. Had she made him uncomfortable?
Oh dear…
Horrified, Pink glanced down at her hands which maintained a firm grip on Max’s. She dropped it and started to apologize frantically.
“Oh my hearts, I’m so sorry! I hadn’t even realized I’d grabbed onto you, I guess I just needed some additional physical support and-“
“Thank you.” Max cut her rambling short, wearing a small, grateful smile.
“Huh?” she found herself saying again.
Had she heard that right?
“Thank you for apologizing. And for confiding in me. I know it’s hard,” He paused for a moment, seemingly considering his next words.
“Don’t worry about what you said earlier. I won’t lie, I was a little wounded at first but it wasn’t entirely because of you. I was just frustrated because it’s something I’ve been dealing with all my life. The belief everyone has that I’m not to be trusted because I’m like my father. But I assure you, I’m not. I have a plan, Pink. We’re going to save your mom.”
Pink felt her eyes well up with fresh tears but strangely enough she didn’t feel sad anymore.
“Thank you, Max. For coming along, for the advice, for hearing me out,” She smiled softly, and though it wasn’t her signature bright, wide grin, it grew from a special, genuine joy in her heart.
“I’m going to try to be more open about my true feelings from now on.” She vowed.
Max smiled back. He brought up his hand and patted her head gently before retreating it back to his side and standing up. “I’m glad to hear that.”
Pink’s own smile grew and she followed suit, hopping to her feet. As soon as she was upright she just about flew into Max, throwing her arms around him happily.
“Thank you,” She repeated, squeezing tightly.
Max stiffened in surprise before he relaxed, patting Pink’s shoulders somewhat awkwardly. It didn’t come as a shock that Pink was a physically affectionate person but it was still going to take some getting used to.
“Of course,” He answered and after a few more seconds of being victim to the younger Princess of Hearts’ fiercely strong hug, he was released.
“We should get back to everyone else, I still need to apologize to Hazel and the Smees!” Pink said animatedly.
“Oh! How do I look? My face isn’t a mess is it? I was crying quite a bit,” Pink began to look frantically through her purse to try finding her compact mirror.
“Let me see,” Max offered.
Pink looked up at him and he stared back, scanning her face.
“You look…” He attempted to identify any sort of imperfections.
He went silent yet again. That wasn’t promising…
“What, what is it? Is it that bad?” Pink was starting to freak out.
“No, no, you look…” Max had long since found the right word for what he thought. He swallowed before finally finishing his sentence. “You look fine…”
Pink’s mouth fell open. A beat passed. Then another. And then she shrieked.
“Oh my hearts, I look awful!”
Max was startled. “What? No!”
“Fine, Max? That’s the description you went for? You only choose that word when you’re trying to spare someone’s feelings!”
This was news to Max. He opened his mouth to protest but Pink just shook her head.
“No, you know what, it’s whatever. We need to get a move on, you need to tell everybody your plan!” With that, Pink reached forward and grabbed Max’s hand, turning around and pulling him behind her, back towards where she’d initially come from.
Max stumbled after her, holding his hat down with his other hand to ensure it didn’t fly off from how fast Pink was taking them.
Despite having advocated against pushing down feelings earlier, he did his best to ignore how unusually fast his heart was beating in his chest and how an unfamiliar warmth had begun to spread across his face.
All the while, the most suitable word he had come up with to describe how Pink looked to him raced through his mind.
Beautiful…