And they were roommates
Iâm having fun with the rise of red trailer! This movie is going to be absolutely bonkers and Iâm going to have a great time. Also I think Red and Chloe should be in lesbians together.
"Who are you?"Â
The girl jerks her head up from her paint. Her lips are red, not like blood, but like the last-season cherry red lip tints that were on trend before the current sheer glitter gloss phase swept in. "I'm your new roommate."Â
Chloe stops. SheâsâÂ
Sheâs misheard something. The girl must mean dorm mate, or neighbor, or else thereâs been some sort of mistake. Sure, sheâs living in a double room as just one student right now, but thatâs because nobody else in her class needs the accessible shower on this floor. Unless this new girl also has a prosthetic? She canât count that out yet. Maybe thereâs just been a communication error. "My what?"Â
The girl grins, and yeah, thatâs definitely cherry-red lipstick. So last season. "Roommate. You have those here, right?"Â
Chloe takes a second to assess the possibility that sheâs been hit on the head and this is all a hallucination. Sure, sheâs out of her room later than sheâs strictly supposed to be, but thereâs nobody but this girl around who could have hit her, and sheâs been up late studying, not fencing. Her swords arenât even out of their cases yet.Â
The odds that this hot-but-weird girl is just a concussion- induced hallucination are low. Chloe pinches her own arm, subtly. Yeah, ouch. Odds of a hallucination are less than 5%, and dropping further the longer the girl stands here staring. "Yeah, but this isn't my room. This is a hallway."Â
Cherry-red rolls her eyes. Her hair is red too. Same shade, like she bathes in it. "Outside our room."Â
"Okay,â Chloe admits, because yes, this girl is in almost the right place, if she really is who she says, and the school really gave her a roommate with no warning. âBut this still isn't our room. You can't paint the hallways just because they're outside our room. It's against the rules, and also, it stinks. Can't you open a window before you vandalize school property?"Â
"No."Â
Maybe the fumes are whatâs causing the hallucination. "Fine, then I'll do it."Â
Red flinches forward. "No! No. You can't."Â
Well, isnât that something. Little miss trouble doesnât want the whole school smelling her spray paint stunt yet. "Why not?"Â
Chloeâs watching the girlâs face, so she sees the moment of hesitation before Red opens her mouth. "Because it's nighttime. Duh.â
Her mother always says that itâs important to have courage, so Chloe pushes. In the form of rolling her eyes. And popping her hip. Sheâs going to look like the most annoying, stuck-up princess ever, and then once her maybe-roommate gets angry enough, sheâll show her hand. "So? It's September. It's not too cold out. We're allowed to open the windows for fresh air, and besides, even if we weren't, you don't seem to care too much for the rules."
"I care about one set of rules. Mine."Â
Chloe turns to the window, but she keeps the girl in the corner of her eye. "Cool. I care about being able to breathe in here, so I'm opening the window."Â
Sheâs lucky that she catches the flinch. Red is good at keeping a straight face, even with paint cans in each hand and an unknown stranger harassing her about her artistic hallway design choices.Â
"Fine,â Red casts her eyes up to the ceiling like sheâs annoyed, instead of afraid. Or maybe she really is annoyed, and Chloe is just wildly misreading the situation. âDon't come crying to me when your face gets eaten."
"Myââ donât think about kissing her. Donât think about kissing her. Donât. Throwing herself face-first onto that red smirk is the last thing that Chloe needs to do right now. Even though it would feel good and probably distract the girl from the whole vandalism thing. âMy what?"Â
Red throws Chloe a look like she knows exactly what sheâs been failing not to think about. "Your face. Eaten off. By the toves."Â
"Sorry, the what?"Â
"The toves,â Red repeats, like Chloeâs the fool for not knowing what a tove is. âThey're wonderland creatures, you wouldn't get it anyway. Just donât worry about it.â The smirk is back. âGo ahead, open up that window. See where it gets you.âÂ
Wonderland. Red.Â
Ohh, this girl is from the Red Queenâs court. The notorious topsy-turvy upside-down land where rules arenât real, and if theyâre not, then theyâve got to be followed anyway. Chloeâs never been allowed to travel to wonderland herself, but sheâs got a souvenir snowglobe that her brother brought back for her un-birthday when she was ten, so she likes to think of herself as a little bit of a multicultural expert. Â "If they're from wonderland, then why are they here?"Â
Red spins one of her paint cans over the back of her hand. Sheâs not looking at Chloe anymore. Not that Chloe wants to be looked at. Sheâs cool, and calm, and sheâs totally not feeling anything like butterflies in her belly from the way Redâs lips curve up at the corner. Â
"My mom."
"This is a boarding school,â Chloe points out, only because itâs weird to have parents at school. Not because she wants Red to look at her again. âWhy would your mom be here?"Â
"To visit me?" Redâs voice drips with condescension. âDuh?âÂ
Right.Â
Bubbly princess time.Â
Chloe smiles, and forces the threat of a giggle into her tone. "That's fair. I deserve that one. Are you going to go inside our room, or just stay out here in the hallway?"Â
Red spurts a little heart of paint around her own reflection in the hall mirror. "I don't have a key. Yet."Â
"Did Fairy Godmother check you in? OrĂąâŹâ Headmaster Uma. She's the one to see about that. Sheâs really cool, she probably wonât even give you trouble over showing up so late.âÂ
Another heart. This time itâs over her face. "She's dealing with my mom."Â
Thereâs a message there, and Chloeâs not dumb enough to miss the fact that her new roommate, vandal or not, doesnât want to talk about it. "Oh. Okay. I guess I can let us both in for tonight."Â
Red adds a little lightning bolt from her other can, bisecting the hearts. âMuch appreciated, princess. Iâll try not to get paint on your bed.â
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fic list!
jal (in timeline order - fics are all standalone however!)
whatâs there to be faithful to? (i am faithful to you, darling): jay and mal give each other tattoos
you feel your heart taking root in your body (like youâve discovered something you didnât even have a name for): itâs a cold night on the isle, and jay doesnât want to go home
a flash in the sky: jay and mal get caught in the rain
even when i look away i am still looking: jay is hurt and mal tends to his wounds
your body told me in a dream it's never been afraid of anything: mal has a nightmare, and jay is there to comfort her
the black sky and all those lights: jay and mal spar (valentineâs day fic)
eventually the birds must land: jay, mal, and vulnerability
the place where we weren't stitched up quite right: jay is ill, and mal gets him to eat
core four
take the light inside you like a blessing (like a knee in the chest): there is a storm on the isle
you were burned, about to burn, or still on fire: jay finds it hard to stop stealing in auradon
misc
youâd break your heart to make it bigger: uma cares too much
you find yourself down the hall again (the lights gone dim): coach invites jay round for dinner, and jay begins to learn what family is
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