Chapter Text
It’s early in the morning at Auradon University. Students wander around the courtyard, the air cold and the grass moist after yesterday’s rain. In the midst of it, Hazel is tiredly walking towards her locker, impatiently pushing some people out of the way, glaring at them with irritation. Yesterday, the pirate stayed up late studying for a test, Max on the opposite side of the room, hearing her complaints all night. The teacher made a very strict point in Royal History class: if she fails this test, she will most probably fail the semester.
And she would sooner stab herself than fail, just to not give him the satisfaction.
Right in the hallway, the others came into view. Their chatter made Hazel’s head pound sharply, with sleepiness slowly creeping in. On the side, there were the Smees and Pink. Luis was talking animatedly with Robbie, and to the left, the pirate noticed Chloe discussing something with Red.
Hearing the heavy footsteps of boots, Chloe’s eyes went up and took in Hazel’s sour mood, her eyes lingering on the eye bags and her slightly slouching body. Stopping Red mid-talk, she nudged her, and the redhead also turned to look.
When Hazel found her locker, finally, she opened it and started rummaging for her Potions class book, a class that would start in exactly ten minutes. She knew there wasn’t enough time to go grab something to eat. So, if she really wanted to make it in time, she would have to make do with an empty stomach.
The headache was just starting to get worse every second.
As soon as she found what she was looking for, she was getting ready to leave, but then the sweet smell of something reached her nostrils. Casting down her eyes, Hazel spotted a red heart cookie right at the bottom of her locker, a letter poking slightly out from underneath it.
The day had just started, and if she were in better shape, with a full eight hours of sleep, she would have wondered why that thing was right there. But, feeling her stomach rumbling with hunger, her subconscious made a quick guess: the Smees had probably stolen it from Pink and left it there. They were always grabbing things and leaving them in her locker.
Raising her hand, she swiftly took the cookie, lifted it to her mouth, and ate it. Bit by bit, the sweetness filled her tongue, and the headache diminished a little.
The pirate hummed appreciatively but stopped when someone coughed at the side.
“Yikes, what the hell happened to you?” someone asked.
When Hazel opened her eyes, the first thing they landed on was the inside of the locker. Her eyes stole a glance at the letter, her brow furrowing in irritation and her hand gripping the book harder.
Deciding to ignore Red’s voice, she opted to finish eating, a slight crunch accompanying every jaw movement. A few seconds passed before she finished, and the pirate gently licked the remaining crumbs off her fingers. Letting out a sigh, she felt the headache starting to recede.
Before she left, her eyes lingered on the letter, deciding it would be better to open it after class.
So, closing the locker, she turned around.
As soon as she did, a sudden gasp filled the hall. It startled the two girls standing in front of her, making them slightly jump and watch in stunned silence as Hazel’s breath caught sharply, her eyes fixating on Chloe. Red was growing a little nervous at the sudden change and shared a worried glance with Chloe.
It was like time stopped and rearranged itself when, suddenly, Hazel stepped closer to the blue-haired girl and, with a smirk on her face, took her hand.
“Princess, what a pleasure seeing you today.”
And everyone, everyone, stood with their mouths open as Hazel, just after saying those words, laid a kiss right on top of Chloe’s hand.
The chatter stopped, and the hall went awfully quiet, everyone watching the scene playing out.
“What the fuck?” was what left Red’s mouth as her eyes bulged and she turned to look at Chloe, her friend’s face painted a bright shade of pink, mouth hanging open and face getting even redder.
“You look absolutely lovely,” the pirate continued, assessing Chloe from head to toe and humming, stepping closer, raising one hand and playing with one blue curl, then shifting to caress her cheek with her knuckles.
Red watched the movement closely, completely at a loss for words.
“Is this actually happening?” someone said from the side. It was Robbie.
Right at that moment, Max arrived, halting and widening his eyes as soon as he spotted Hazel with Chloe. He also looked disheveled with sleep, eye bags under his eyes.
“Hazel?”
The girl stopped her ministrations, sparing poor Chloe, who took a full step back and brushed Hazel’s hand off. At this, the brunette frowned slightly and, with her lips pursed, turned to Max.
“What?” she said, crossing her arms.
“What were you doing with Chloe?”
Everyone turned to Hazel, waiting for an answer, Chloe still with a hand on her chest, her heart beating fast.
The pirate merely rolled her eyes at everyone and turned once more to the blue-haired girl.
“None of your concern. Go bother anyone else with your questions.”
Red turned to Max and nudged him with her elbow, glancing worriedly at her friend when Hazel tried to step closer again to caress her face, putting one hand on her shoulder and shoving her back a little.
“Hazel! What has gotten into you?!” she hissed, her chest rising as she breathed too hard, Hazel’s face falling at the rejection and leaning against the locker, now crossing her arms and sulking.
“Nothing! Just wanted to be close to you. What’s wrong with that?”
And with Chloe’s face flushing even worse at that, Red finally spoke.
“Max, what the hell is going on?”
The boy just watched helplessly and shrugged, raising one hand and resting it on his hat.
“I don’t know, princess. She literally just left and wasn’t like this at all.”
His hands now gestured toward Hazel’s body, who was looking at Chloe attentively, shifting closer to her second by second, the blue-haired girl watching her with narrowed eyes and putting some distance between them.
“It’s like she’s suddenly obsessed.”
“Or possessed,” he finished.
Hazel had now successfully stepped closer to Chloe, leaning against her. Both turned to look at each other with concern.
“Guys! Look at this!” Pink shouted from the side, looking inside her locker, her hand grabbing the exact same heart cookie Red and Chloe had seen Hazel eat. Her eyes carefully read the letter in her other hand, the Smees peering from behind.
When she finished reading the letter, Pink gasped.
“Oh my hearts!”
“What?! What happened?” Red was at her side in a moment, taking the letter from her hands.
This treat may look sweet, but I'll spill the tea. One bite makes you fall for the next person you see.
—Chessy
“Well, yeah. That explains everything.” Her voice was laced with exasperation, and with a groan, she facepalmed herself. “Chloe, we have a problem,” the redhead said, gazing back at her friend.
“What? What happened? Let me see!”
In a swift move, Max took the letter from her hand and started to read it, his eyes sliding quickly over the paper. Red knew how this would end, so that’s why she was mentally preparing for it. Everyone waited until Max carefully closed the letter and nodded a little to himself in silence. And before someone else had the guts to ask what the hell was going on, the boy let out a sharp laugh, clutching his stomach and pointing at Hazel, completely losing it.
Red smiled a little.
At seeing this, growing frustrated and her face burning red, Chloe detached herself from Hazel, who frowned again at the loss and soon followed her behind like a lost puppy.
“Don’t follow me.”
“You don’t mean that, princess.”
It was cute. Seeing Hazel desperately—
“In love!” Pink shouted, her voice delighted and her hands clasped together under her chin. She was looking with adoration at how Hazel carefully took Chloe’s hand again and gazed at her softly, kissing her knuckles.
The blue-haired girl shot a horrified look at Red and Pink.
“Please tell me what’s going on, guys?”
Everyone around was lost, confusion on their faces as they waited for an explanation. Red grabbed Max by his coat and pulled hard so he would be upright again, his face still contorting with humor. Taking the letter from his hand, she offered it to Chloe.
“This happened.”
Using her free hand, Chloe grabbed it and started reading as fast as she could. When she finished, her face changed completely, and she handed the letter back, now fully turning towards Hazel and gazing at her with concern. The lovesick pirate still close.
“Hazel? Please look at me.”
Drowsy with sleep, the brunette had closed her eyes for a moment, still having Chloe’s hand close to her chest. At her voice, her eyes opened and immediately fixated on brown eyes. The blue-haired girl’s hand rose and cupped her cheek. Hazel leaned into it.
Her skin was warm but wasn’t burning, so she was fine.
“Are you okay? You ate the whole cookie.”
Hazel frowned, not understanding at all, and then mumbled that she was fine, that the cookie was delicious.
“The cookie was enchanted, Hazel. If you eat just one bite, you will fall in love with the first person you see. And, well, that person was Chloe,” Red carefully explained, watching as Hazel and everyone else around took in the information.
Luis and Felix chuckled in the background, but both stopped as soon as Chloe shot them a deadly glare.
Waiting for an answer, the frown disappeared from the pirate’s face, and then she just shrugged, leaning a little more into Chloe’s hand.
They needed an antidote, fast.
“Pink, you think you can make an antidote?”
The girl was still contentedly staring at Chloe and Hazel, loving the love show, then shifted her attention towards her sister.
“I totally can, but the ingredients for it are in Wonderland.”
At Chloe’s worried frown, she then kept explaining.
“The thing is, I would have to go there to fetch them myself or ask Mom to deliver them, and that would take some time.” Her face grimaced in apology. “Sorry, guys.”
Both best friends sighed, conflicted, and then Max spoke.
“How long does it last?”
Pink seemed lost in thought, her eyebrows furrowing as she tried to remember.
“One bite lasts about two hours. The problem is, she ate the whole cookie. So I could say probably until tonight or tomorrow morning.”
“So we have to deal with a lovesick Hazel all day… that’s good,” Red said, groaning out loud.
Chloe seemed conflicted, now watching as Hazel swayed a little in her step, alternating between desperately trying not to fall asleep and trying to stay as close as possible.
Turning to Max, waiting for the guy to stop laughing altogether, she spoke.
“It’s not the cookie that’s making her like this. What was she doing before?”
“We studied all night for a test, which, I have to admit, is very important. If she doesn’t pass it, she will fail,” he pointed at the brunette’s body, “and now that she’s like this, I doubt she’ll be able to.”
He did start to look sorry now, knowing how important the test was for Hazel and how long she had stayed up studying for it.
Chloe nodded, a firm expression forming on her face.
“She’ll not miss it. I promise you.”
Turning to Hazel, one hand went to grab her shoulder, subtly shaking it, while the other one returned to her face.
“Hazel?”
The girl hummed, fully opening her eyes again.
“We have to get you a coffee. You need to get to class right now.”
The pirate frowned for a moment, but then lazily smirked, shifting closer.
“If I agree to go, can you give me a kiss?”
Chloe’s face warmed at how everyone totally heard that, turning around and trying to suppress their laughter. Except Pink; she was totally loving it.
“Maybe… only if you behave, and on the cheek. No funny business.”
The pirate opened her mouth to complain, but Chloe held up a hand, a stern look on her face, and she closed it right away.
“Right, perfect. It seems we have an agreement.”