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The room was completely silent, save for the soft hum of the shower which Chloe was currently in, leaving Red to sit on her bed, bored, scrolling through videos.
She sighed, getting up and walking over to her desk, looking for anything she could do to pass the time. She drummed her fingers impatiently on the desk's wooden surface, surveying the mess that covered it— papers scattered around it, books strewn here and there, a couple candy wrappers...
She shrugged, lifting up a book and deciding to start organising the desk. It felt a little strange doing this, after all, Red was absolutely not an organised person like her girlfriend was. Chloe kept everything very neat and orderly; hearts, Chloe's shelf with all of her trophies and awards, all neatly sorted into specific sections that hung just above the desk was one of many examples of that.
Red tilted her head to the side, examining them. Chloe really was a star student, wasn't she? A chuckle slid past Red's lips as she looked at them; three for fencing championships, a couple for chess tournaments, others for academic awards...Red couldn't possibly be any more different from her girlfriend, could she?
They were absolutely polar opposites. Red was fiery, loud, rebellious, sarcastic, admittedly pretty chaotic, and Chloe was calm, wise, smart, organised. It surprised Red sometimes when she actually stopped to dwell on the topic— how could two people so different from each other get along so well, and have so much love for each other.
Red shook her head, snapping out of her trance. There she was, getting sidetracked again as usual. Rolling her eyes, she sighed, lifting up a comic book and sliding it into place next to her other ones.
More crumpled sheets lay covering the desk, and she grabbed a handful of them, scrunching them into a ball and throwing them across the room into her trashcan.
Turning back to the desk, she picked up another book and let out a shriek of surprise. Underneath it was a huge spider, still moving too.
Red jumped backwards with the fright, her back smashing right into something, and then there was a loud noise as one of Chloe's trophies hit the floor, shattering into pieces.
Red's heart stopped, her whole body tensing as her wide eyes took in the sight. The trophy was broken to pieces, shards of it covering the floor, and she felt a stab of anxiety rise up inside of her as she frantically got to her knees.
What was she meant to do now? Could she— could she just pick it all up and hope Chloe wouldn't notice? Fuck, of course Chloe would notice, she dusted the trophies every week, she was so proud of them and—
Red reached out, trying to scoop the pieces together, wondering what on earth she was supposed to do now. Fuck, Chloe was going to kill her, Chloe was going to hate her, Chloe was going to be so mad at her—
Fighting panic, she picked up a couple of the shards, and not realising just how sharp and jagged they were, cut her hand on one of them. She winced, turning it over to see a long, dark crimson line across her palm, blood already visible. But she didn't care, her own pain was the least important thing in the world right now, one of Chloe's prized trophies was broken on the fucking ground because she was so careless and pathetic and clumsy and—
A sharp voice cut through her head, one she knew far too well, and hearing it was enough to steal the breath from her lungs.
Hearts, Red, you're such a disappointment.
All you ever do is make things harder for me, Red, you know that?
Why have you always got to be so difficult?
Honestly, I've never had the displeasure of knowing anyone as clumsy as you.
For goodness sake, Red, can you ever do anything right?
Ah, so not only are you a burden, you insist on causing trouble everywhere you go?
Red forced herself to breathe in— or at least tried to. The breath was shallow, not enough to curb the increasing panic that made her chest twist, anxiety gripping it from all sides, pressing down on her, the room starting to spin.
All she could picture was Chloe's face— how upset she'd be before it would switch to annoyance and she'd scream at Red for being stupid and careless enough to ruin something so special and important to her.
Cold, sickening waves of dread crashed over her as she scrambled to pick up the rest of the pieces, probably cutting her hands up even more, but it wasn't like she'd even notice, all she could feel was the dizzying sensation in her head, the room spinning, nausea swiping at her viciously, her vision blurring with either panic or tears, how could she be sure?
What in the name of hearts was she meant to do? Come clean and disappoint Chloe, upset her, make her hate her? Hide it and hope Chloe didn't ever find out? What if she did? Then she'd know Red was a pathetic jinx and a liar—
She fought to tug another breath into her lungs, but it traded places with a strangled sob that choked its way out of her throat, her body shaking as she hyperventilated.
Why did this have to happen? Why was she nothing but a ridiculous fuck-up who couldn't do anything right, why did she ruin everything for everyone she loved—
Her heart pounded against her chest, blood roaring in her ears, which she could barely even hear over the sound of her heavy breathing— but as heavy as it was, only shallow gulps of air entered her lungs.
Her stomach churned and she fought to push back her nausea as she kept frantically picking up pieces, her heart hammering like a drum, the rapid beat of it reminiscent of her mother's footsteps, thundering down stairs or a corridor, her stern expression one of pure frost. That was what Chloe was about to do, she was going to lose her mind—
And then, the door to the bathroom opened.
It took Chloe a few seconds of staring at Red in shock before Red broke down, her ragged gasps getting worse and worse.
"I'm so—"
"What happened?" Chloe asked, her voice low and soft.
"I'm sorry!" Red choked out, bringing a hand up to her face instinctively in an attempt to shield herself, "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry, I'll be better, please don't—"
And then a pair of arms were around her, holding her. Not too tightly or firm enough to smother Red more than her panic already was, but firm enough for safety to start creeping in and replacing the fear.
She opened her tearful eyes to see Chloe kneeling on the ground next to her.
"What happened to your hand?" She asked gently, reaching for Red's wrist to bring her hand away from her face, inspecting it carefully.
"I'm sorry..." Red whined again, her voice cracking.
"Baby, stop apologising and breathe for me. I just asked about your hand, darling. I'm not mad." Chloe assured her softly.
Of course she was, the trophy was broken and Chloe must hate her right now and—
"I need you to tell me that it's okay—" Red sobbed out the words through more panicked gasps and cries, aware that she must sound pathetic, "I need you to tell me you're not mad, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..."
Chloe slid a hand down Red's back, holding her. "Of course it's okay, love..."
Tears slid down Red's cheek and neck, soaking the neckline of her t-shirt as she cried into Chloe's arms.
"I'm not mad at you..." Chloe whispered, kissing the top of Red's head.
Red surrendered her weight into the princess's arms, letting her girlfriend hold her, her breathing starting to steady a little, the panic and nausea that been coiling inside of her slowly ebbing away.
"I'll fix it," She whispered through her tears, "I can fix it, I promise I'll fix it, I'm so sorry Chlo..."
Chloe gave her head a shake, brushing Red's tears away with a thumb. "You don't need to fix anything," She said quietly, "I'm not mad at you."
Red wanted to believe it. But all her life, every time she had broken something or messed up, she had been faced with anger and wrath and...she was waiting for it now, on instinct. And instead, Chloe was...holding her?
It didn't make sense. Wasn't she meant to be yelling at Red? Or maybe hitting her? That was what people did, right? That was what was meant to happen when someone was careless and made a mistake. They deserved to be taught a lesson, right? That was what Red had been told, so...?
"Baby, can you stand up?" Chloe asked after a while of holding Red on her lap on the floor.
Weakly, Red nodded, getting off Chloe's lap and standing up on shaky legs. Chloe got up too, and headed off to the bathroom. She reappeared a moment later with a bandage and wipes, and Red looked at her in confusion.
"What are they for?" She asked, puzzled.
Chloe seemed to mirror Red's confusion in her own tone and expression.
"...For your hand?" She answered, as though it was a question. "I don't know what you mean. What else would they be for?"
Red paused, blinking slowly. "I...I'm fine. My hand's fine, it's not important."
Chloe looked at her incredulously, letting out a disbelieving laugh. "Seriously? Red, your hand is covered in blood!"
"It's a scratch," Red dismissed her bluntly with a wave of her non-injured hand. It was fine. She was fine. Her pain didn't matter, the fact that she had gotten hurt didn't matter in the long run— she had broken something precious to Chloe, so she deserved it anyway.
"Red, no, stop. Sit down." Chloe gestured to the bed.
"Chlo, seriously, I'm—"
"Sit down, Red. Now." Chloe said firmly, but there was no malice or anger in her eyes, just gentleness and concern.
Weakly, Red sat down on the edge of the bed, swallowing back tears as Chloe took her hand, sitting next to her and softy wiping the cut.
Red hissed with the pain. "Sorry," She muttered through gritted teeth, "It stings a little."
Chloe leaned in and kissed her cheek. "I know, baby. You don't have to say sorry."
Red hung her head, feeling miserable over the whole situation. "Of course I do. I broke your trophy..."
She kept her gaze fixed on the floor, tears stinging the back of her eyes.
"Red, can you look at me, love?"
Red squeezed her eyes shut, looking away.
"Red, please."
Slowly, Red managed to look up and into Chloe's concerned doe eyes. The blue-haired girl reached forward, cupping Red's cheek and wiping her tears away.
"It was a trophy, Red. It's not the end of the world. My first instinct would never be to yell at you. It was just to make sure that you were okay. You hurt yourself— that's more important than a trophy, darling."
Red felt more tears well up in her eyes. "But it was special to you..."
Chloe leaned in for a kiss that knocked the breath right out if Red's lungs, pulling her in by the front of her shirt, so fiercely that they almost fell backwards on the bed. Red's eyes widened with surprise, but she melted into the kiss, her eyes fluttering shut, her hand coming up to cradle the back of Chloe's head.
Chloe pulled back, shaking her head. "You're more special to me than a damn trophy, Red." She said earnestly, then leaned in to kiss Red again.
And Red smiled, finally starting to believe her words as Chloe leaned in to kiss her again.