Chapter Text
Chloe had never been so happy for a day to be over. After everything with Maddox, her mom, Red’s mom, and even Red herself, Chloe just wanted to curl into a ball and pull a Sleeping Beauty (no offense to her majesty of course, that was probably very traumatic).
She and Red had sleepily made their way back to their Auradon Prep room and started to get ready for bed. Their room. Wasn’t that a crazy thought. She and Red had only known each other a short while, and sometimes the days felt longer and more drawn out, especially in Wonderland. Had it been a month since they met? Longer? Shorter? With all the time travel, then only having a week or so to adjust to their new lives created by merging with the current time line before getting sent off to Auradon on another adventure, it became hard to tell.
Chloe finished putting on her pajamas and looked in the mirror. It was strange. It was herself, of course it was, but it also… wasn’t. There were her blue curls, loose from her ponytail and falling in waves over her shoulders. Her eyes, wide and tired all at once, flecks of gold catching the light in brown pools. Her nose was just as it always was and so too was her mouth.
But looking closer, things caught in the mirror like hangnails on stray fabric. There was a scar on the bridge of her nose that she couldn’t explain. Another near the edge of her hairline, existing on her skin like a stranger in a dream who surely you must know to dream their face, but how?
Somehow, looking in a mirror felt just as disorienting as falling through the rabbit hole. To come back to an unfamiliar, identical self, on top of struggling with how easy it was for her to turn evil, Chloe felt like bashing her head through the mirror. Did she know any part of herself anymore? She was aware that at some point her feelings had been amplifying all over the place during her constant adventures, but the way they warped and turned bitter had surprised her.
Lost in her thoughts, she didn’t even notice Red had been calling her name.
“Chloe?” Red asked, now standing directly behind her.
“Huh?”
“I’ve been calling your name for a while now, you okay?”
“Yeah, sorry, just tired.” Chloe put on a charming smile.
Red. The source of so many conflicts in Chloe’s mind. Spending as much time with the girl, getting to know her, had been some of the happiest times Chloe had known. But it also brought about a different part of herself. How was it possible that this girl she had only just begun to truly know had spun Chloe’s head around.
”You sure?” Red seemed hesitant to accept that answer. “You’ve seemed kind of spacy since we got back from Wonderland? Do you want to watch a movie or something before we go to bed? Might make it easier to sleep.” Red offered, looking almost… hopeful? Though for what, Chloe didn’t know.
Chloe felt her heart briefly ease at the thought of cuddling up with Red on one of their beds, throwing on a movie and maybe even drifting off to sleep together. The moment she started to feel at peace with the idea, however, she saw a flash of herself holding a knife at Red’s throat.
Can I even be trusted around Red anymore?
Would Red trust me near her anymore?
Maybe Red meant watching a movie in separate beds, projecting it onto the wall somehow. Surely, after everything that went down, Red wouldn’t want to be close to her.
“I think I’m alright. Night, Red.” Chloe responded, turning off the room light and making her way to her own bed.
”Oh. Yeah, night Chloe.”
Chloe laid on her back and stared at the ceiling, brain in turmoil. Red had offered to spend time together, but maybe she was just trying to stop Chloe from going evil again? But she had sounded slightly disappointed when Chloe rejected her offer. Although, again, that could have just been worry about if Chloe would betray her when left alone again. What a mess. She felt selfish and stupid for her own worries. Poor Red had an entire family she never met before, a sister and a mom who were practically strangers, and here Chloe was, burdening her with her instability. Red was adjusting to being a hero kid now, learning things her previous self never had reasons nor means to know. Chloe could put her vanity aside, her self-centered thoughts. Look where it got her last time, literally turned evil.
She wanted to be there for Red in this new timeline. But she knew that wanting to be close to Red, her desire for that closeness, had led her to dark places. She wouldn’t let her anger and confusion lead her head first into impulsive trouble like before, but how? Being close to Red seemed to bring out the best and worst in her all at once. It brought out a side of her that- Maybe the best wasn't worth that much risk. But being near Red made her feel so free, so unburdened by the expectations of her roles.
Maybe a little too unburdened.
With those thoughts, Chloe rolled on to her side and shut her eyes, begging sleep to come.
—
Chloe jolted awake with a weight in her chest. A cold sweat covered her body, dreams she could only half remember clinging to her subconscious.
Chloe looked around the room to ground herself, eyes landing on Red’s peacefully sleeping form. She was at Auradon Prep, in her and Red’s dorm. She was safe. She was good. It must have been left over adrenaline in her system, that’s all.
She checked her schedule to see what time she needed to be up for class, before realizing it was Sunday. Right, she still had a day left in the weekend. Great, no classes to distract herself. Just a full day of herself and her thoughts.
She tried for a few moments to settle back down, get a few more hours of sleep, before realizing that wasn’t going to be happening. Her eyes kept opening and searching out Red, checking to make sure she was here, that she was okay. Her brain kept getting stuck, thinking and feeling way too much, mostly centered around her roommate. A morning run might help.
Putting in earbuds, Chloe left the room to do a quick jog around campus. She walked out the door and immediately spotted Luis coming out of his room.
Great.
Luis waved to her. And kept waving at her. Her initial plan to ignore him clearly wasn’t going to work, she realized with frustration.
“Morning, Chloe,” Luis greeted cheerfully.
“Morning.” Chloe returned, an attempt at being more than half-hearted. He was nice enough, but she still couldn’t help the bitterness in her chest when seeing him. How he had been Red’s knight in shining armor while Chloe was…
Stop.
“Want to join me in my morning workout? No moving mountains or churches, just some push-ups, promise,” Louis said with an easy smile.
“I’m alright, maybe another time.” Chloe gave a weak smile back, turning her earbuds up and jogging off before giving him a chance to respond.
She started her jog, trying to keep out of her own head. She watched as one of the Smee’s (she still couldn’t tell which was which) got pushed into the lake near the dining hall. Jogged past the rec center and saw some of the demigod kids playing basketball, huffing in amusement as one kid misjudged his strength and sent the ball into the bleachers, nailing a satyr kid in the head. Around the back half of campus, there was a long uphill stretch with a seated pavilion at the top, and she had to hold back her coughing as she could smell some VKs hidden inside smoking the most awful smelling weed.
After she did a full lap around the quad and made it back to her starting point on campus, she paused to catch her breath. She started to head towards her dorm but realized Red would probably be up by this point, which spiked her heartrate more than the jog. She still felt too wired. One more lap, this time she just had to push herself a bit harder. Move a bit faster. Just enough to make sure she was more calm, more in control when she went back.
She started again.
She was so focused on the movement and the feeling of her legs burning, she hardly even noticed when she completed her second lap, going back to her dorm on autopilot.
She walked inside and, incidentally, almost straight into Red.
“There you are! I got worried when you weren’t here when I woke up but figured maybe you went to grab breakfast. When you still hadn’t showed or responded to my texts almost an hour later I decided I’d hunt you down myself.” Red’s tone was playful, but there was clear relief in her eyes at seeing Chloe.
“An hour? That can’t be right, I left…” Chloe checked her phone. “Almost an hour ago. I’m sorry, I lost track of time.”
“That’s alright! Still got a whole day to spend together! It sucks, though. I was really looking forward to having the whole weekend together, move-in day being a Thursday night I figured we’d have four whole days together. Really fucking sucks, we lost more than half the time.” Red said wistfully.
“Yeah, I was really looking forward to that too.” Chloe agreed, frowning at the thought of how much ‘Her and Red Time’ got lost within their mad quest. “It’s alright though, we’ve got plenty of weekends for the next four years.”
“Starting now! Have you eaten yet?”
“No, not yet. Just went for a morning run.”
“Of course you still run first thing in the morning even after an attempted coup,” Red teased. “Well, you’ve gotta be starving after that. Breakfast?”
Chloe opened her mouth to agree, but suddenly felt a burst of anxiety at the thought of going down to eat breakfast with Red and their new friends. With Hazel, who had picked up on… something… between her and Red because of Chloe. With Luis, who would probably want to sit next to Red. With Max, who had—
“I think I’m gonna shower, first, actually.” Chloe said apologetically.
“Oh, okay. Meet you down there then?” Red asked, looking hopeful.
“Yeah, course.”
Chloe stood in the shower, losing track of time as her mind wandered. By the time she got out, she could hear the door opening to the dorm room.
“Chloe?”
“In here.” Chloe called half-heartedly.
“You missed breakfast, must’ve been a nice shower.” Red joked, but there was something else in her tone that Chloe couldn’t decipher.
“Yeah. Good, uh, water pressure,” Chloe laughed awkwardly, coming out of the bathroom in a tank top and shorts while toweling off her hair.
“Nice. I, uh, brought you some food up. Gotta make sure you don’t go hungry.” Red held out a plate in offering with bacon, eggs, and croissant.
Chloe felt her heart melt a little at the kind gesture.
“Thanks, Red. Really appreciate it.” Chloe took the plate and went to her desk to eat.
“You want company?” Red asked. “There’s room enough at these desks for two.”
Not room enough. She and Red would be practically pressed against each other.
“I’m alright, I think I’m gonna just get ahead on some studying.”
“Classes haven’t even started yet?”
“Yeah, more reason to start reading the textbooks. Gotta be prepared. Maybe we can do something later.” Chloe offered apologetically.
“Yeah! Of course! Luis, Hazel, and I talked about making use of those volleyball nets by West Wing. We could play doubles. I’ve never really played before but the way Luis explained it sounded fun.” Red said. “He offered to teach me in an hour or so, if you want to join?”
Of course he offered to teach her.
The thought of Luis putting his hands on Red, guiding her into proper form almost made Chloe snap her pencil in half. She immediately felt guilty over that, Luis was being a good friend and teaching Red how to have some fun, and here Chloe was trying to get between them.
“Yeah, I’ll think about it.”
Chloe turned back to her books, but her heart wasn’t in it. Red deserved to go have some fun with Luis without her there glaring at him the whole time. She’d probably just ruin the mood or make everyone uncomfortable. Worse yet, Hazel would probably read through exactly why Chloe was acting the way she was. She could just tell Red she lost track of time studying, Red probably wouldn’t care that much.
“I promised Pink I’d help her with decorating her room, so I’m gonna head out. She said something about being far too behind on her dorm beautifying schedule? I didn't really get it but I said I'd pitch in to make up for lost time. Remember,1pm, West Wing, volleyball. You and me.” Red said with a final pat on Chloe’s shoulder.
“You got it!” Chloe gave her a lame little thumbs up.
Chloe went back to studying, trying to ignore her heart’s urges to go spend time with Red. She just needed some space, that’s all. After everything that happened, Red would probably appreciate a break from her.
Time passed as Chloe studied, and she was only broken from her concentration by the sound of her phone vibrating. She looked over and saw a couple texts from Red asking where she was and if she was still coming. She picked up her phone to respond, but was hit by thoughts of Red laughing and playing around with Luis, Hazel teasing them for how gross they were. She tried to picture herself with them, but knew that she would probably just stand off to the side, jealous and bringing down the vibe, so she put her phone down and went back to work.
It was around 4pm when Red came back up to the room.
“Studying just too much fun?” Red asked, going for playful but unable to stop the hurt from creeping into her voice.
“I’m so sorry, Red. I must have completely tuned everything else out. Really, I’ll make it up to you.” Chloe promised, head snapping up from her book to give Red her full attention.
“You better. Dinner is in 30, you’re coming with me and I’m not taking ‘no’ for an answer.”
“Alright, just let me finish this up and put on some better clothes and then we can head out.”
“If you take longer than 10 minutes to do either of those things I’m picking you up and carrying you out of here,” Red threatened.
“Heard loud and clear,” Chloe promised.
She and Red did make it down to dinner together, no force necessary, (not that Chloe even believed Red could lift her) and met up with their new rag-tag group.
She saw them sitting at and around a bench outside the dining hall and quickly weighed her options. There were a couple places she could sit that would allow Red to sit next to her, but the thought freaked her out, so instead she shoved herself next to Hazel at the end of the bench.
“I was saving that room, you know?”
“For what, exactly?”
“Myself. But don’t worry, I’ll make do.” Hazel threw her legs up and on top of Chloe’s lap, causing Chloe to laugh and try to shove her legs off. Chloe could feel Red’s eyes burning into her, but tried to ignore it.
“Saved you a seat,” She could hear Luis saying to Red, and couldn’t help as her eyes darted over, watching Red sit next to Luis on the grass.
Chloe knew rationally that it was her choice to sit next to Hazel when she could’ve found a place for her and Red, but still couldn’t help the anger seeping through her at the thought of Red and Luis sitting together.
Which is exactly why you need to put space between yourselves. You’re getting too emotional again, too attached. Red will notice eventually if you’re too clingy, get used to not being next to her constantly.
Chloe spent most of dinner just listening as the group talked, only occasionally chiming in. Eventually, her poor sleep from the night before caught up to her, and she made an excuse to the group as she left to go back to her dorm.
She was halfway up the stairs to the living quarters when she felt a hand on her shoulder, startling her.
“Sorry! Didn’t mean to scare you.” Red apologized. “I was trying to get your attention and get you to slow down but you must not have heard me.”
“What’s up? I thought you were still having dinner with everyone.”
“I’ve spent all day with them and almost none of today with you, so I figured I’d come up with you.” Red smiled cheerfully, looping her arm through Chloe’s and leading her towards their dorm.
Chloe couldn’t stop a smile from overtaking her face.
“If you’re sure.”
“Pink showed me this stupid game that Robbie showed her and we have to beat her high score.” Red said in determination, pulling Chloe into the room and then going to set up her computer. “Seriously, this game is dumb as hell but Pink kept saying she was the best at it so now I, obviously, have to be better at it.”
Chloe half-listened with a goofy grin on her face as Red ranted about her sister.
“Pull up a chair, Clover. We’ve got aliens to kill and a Pink to upstage.” Red said, deadly serious. And she thought Chad and herself were competitive.
She took a seat next to Red, accepting the controller that was handed to her as Red booted up the game. They played through a couple levels, laughing and shoving each other, and it was almost enough to make Chloe throw out the idea of not being close to Red. Why would she ever want to put space between them when this is what it felt like to be close? Knocking shoulders with the girl whenever she purposefully killed Chloe just to get a rise out of her, covering Red’s eyes in the middle of a level to throw off her kill streak, just laughing and having a good time.
They were at a cutscene when Red laid her head on her shoulder, cozying up as the clip rolled. Chloe instinctively went to lean closer, before alarm bells starting going off in her head. The feeling of Red this close with nothing to distract her had her anxiety spiking, and suddenly she was pulling away with an excuse about promising to call her mom before the end of the day.
She darted out of the room, face flushed, heart racing, and feeling all over the place. She needed to get her feelings around Red under control, quick. She paced around outside for a while before determining it late enough that she could immediately go to bed when she returned to the room without drawing suspicion from Red.
Tomorrow.
Tomorrow she would work on keeping a tighter hold on her feelings for Red.