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“Cupid?” Blondie whispered into the dark room, unsure if her roommate were already asleep or not.
The reporter hadn’t meant to stay out so late, however she had gotten wind of a new student transfering in that evening. If the daughter of the Emperor was now attending Ever After High, well, that was definitely something that Blondie couldn’t bear to put her Mirrorpad down for- especially considering that the newcomer shared her father’s fashion sense (or rather hextreme lack there of).
When no response came, Blondie squinted while stifling a yawn, adjusting to the dark, before realising that Cupid’s bed was completely empty despite the covers left in disarray.
Hopefully the girl had only gotten up to use the bathroom, Blondie thought, attempting to keep her growing alarm at bay as she flipped the light switch. However, the bathroom door was cracked open with no one inside. What she also found open was the sliding door to their small balcony.
“Blondie Lockes here,” She hissed into her Mirrorpad, having fished it back out of her bag. Thank godmother she had left it on enchanted-sleep mode rather than shutting it down completely. “I have just entered my dorm room to find my roommate, C.A. Cupid, missing.”
Blondie paused for dramatic effect as she approached the billowing curtain.
“I fear she’s been –Note to self: replace later with 'dun-dun-dun' effect in editing- kidnapped.”
Blondie peered around the door, peeping out into the night air over the top of her device.
The night breeze gently ruffled Cupid’s moon-bathed feathers, stark and white as bone in the dark, as she stood outside of the iron railing, teetering on the edge of the balcony.
The Mirrorpad clattered to the cement.
“Cupid!” Blondie shrieked, though her voice didn’t sound like her own, as if she were hearing it only through one of her broadcasts. “Get down from there!”
The other girl turned to her, eyes wide in surprise as the wind tousled her hair across her face.
“What are you doing?” Blondie cried out again, rushing toward the balcony. “You’re going to fall!”
Unfortunately, as everyone knows, one mustn’t say things aloud in a fairytale if they don’t wish for them to come true.
Blondie had never moved so fast in her life. An obscure part of her mind vaguely considered trying out for Bookball after this, as she managed to grasp Cupid’s wrist just before she could topple over to the ground bellow.
She didn’t let go of Cupid’s wrist until they were safely back inside, balcony door shut and locked, curtain drawn.
As a reporter, it was her job to remain unbiased, and it was trait she prided herself on. However, there was something decidedly ‘not just right’ about whatever Cupid had been doing out there.
“Cupid…” Blondie began softly now, but the other girl turned away from her. “Is there anything you want to talk to me about? It’s okay, you can tell me.”
Cupid sat down on her bed, hugging a heart-shaped pillow to her chest. “You’ll laugh…”
Blondie sat down beside her, placing a supportive arm around Cupid’s shoulder, feathers tickling her arm in the process. Her skin was cool against Blondie’s own. How long had she been outside like that?
“You know I won’t. Some of the things I’ve heard the other students say when I was interviewing them? Do have any idea how hard it is to not laugh when Daring starts going on about the injustice of the so-called ‘mirror shortage’ around the school? If I can keep a straight face through that, nothing you can tell will get a laugh, cross my tart and hope to fly!”
Cupid snorted. “Well, you see, that’s just the thing- I was trying to fly.”
Blondie pulled back in surprise. “You mean that you can’t?”
Cupid fixed her with a look as if to say ‘Don’t you pay any attention to your roommate?’. “Have you ever seen me do it?”
“…No, actually. ...I can’t say that I have. I just kind of always assumed that you didn’t want to. I mean, Faybelle’s always fluttering all over the place, so I thought that maybe you just didn’t want to be like her or something.” Blondie ended in a shrug.
“Well, I can’t,” Cupid gave a half-hearted flap, her wing bumping Blondie’s arm aside, before looking down at her lap. “When I saw everyone riding in the Dragon Games, I thought to myself ‘I should be able to do that too’, you know?”
Blondie gently laid her hand upon the other girl’s. “If you had asked, I’m sure they would have let you play…”
“You know that’s not what I’m talking about. …Look, it’s late. Let’s just get to bed.” Cupid stood, letting Blondie’s hand drop to the mattress.
While Cupid cocooned herself in blankets, Blondie went back out onto the balcony to retrieve her Mirrorpad, only to find it cracked from end to end. Oh spell, she thought while waking it back up to make sure her last recording was still there. Hopefully she could take it to Raven or Farrah at lunch tomorrow and have them fix it. She did briefly consider picking the lock to Raven’s room, and having her take a look immediately, however she was feeling pretty drained.
It could wait, she thought, crawling into bed. This was followed, however, by a more startling realisation- There was now something in her life more important to her than her work as a reporter.
Although she did enjoy running her Mirrorcast, there were times in which being perceptive in matters of the heart caused more apprehension for her than anything else.
Cupid had lost track of just how long she had been aware of Blondie’s feelings. Casual touches, late nights spent comparing notes on their respective broadcasts, shared lunches and glances- it all added up into something more than Cupid thought that she was ready to deal with, if even she did return the feeling quite a bit. She had kept hoping that Blondie would make the move when she was ready. If there was one thing Cupid had seen time and again, it was the fallout after someone had been pressured into confessing before the time was… just right.
She began to scribble in her planner, drawing little hearts around the times, trying to find the best slot between classes to try again at flying.
“Eep!” Cupid squealed suddenly, shutting the pink planner with a snap as Blondie sat down beside her, setting her bowl of porridge down onto the table.
“Feeling any better today?”
Cupid sighed, picking up her fork to idly stir around the peas on her tray. “Sure, sure…”
“Hey, listen,” Blondie began. “How about I help you with this, this project of your’s. At least this way someone’s there to spot you.”
“I can’t ask you to do that for me. Don’t you have a new episode to broadcast tonight?”
Blondie shook her head with a smile. “I just left Humphrey with an extra recording I had saved up for a rainy day.”
“This one?” Cupid asked, neck craned back to look up into the giant tree on the very edge of the Enchanted Forest.
“Mm-hmm! I interviewed the Pixies- with help from Ashlynn, of course- and it turns out that this is the tallest tree on campus! Featherly says that it’s ‘just right’ for take-offs! Now, wait there just a spell,” Blondie urged before sprinting off into the near-by bushes, only to come back out heaving and huffing as she dragged a mattress through the grass and leaves.
“Er, where did that come from?” Cupid asked. She very much hoped that someone had been throwing it out behind the school, rather than it still belonging to some poor student who would not be having an enchanted sleep tonight.
“Dexter’s bed,” Blondie chirped, situating the mattress underneath the tree.
Cupid groaned.
“You see,” Blondie continued, flopping down onto the mattress with a little bounce, “First, I tried Raven and Apple’s room, but their mattresses were too soft and too firm- who would have pegged Apple as the firm type?- so I thought, ‘Let’s see what the boys are sleeping on’, and here we are we. I mean, I’m sure you’ll do great, but I thought there could be something to cushion any falls, juuuuust in case.”
It was probably the only time Dexter had ever had a girl anywhere near his room, the poor guy, Cupid thought as she joined Blondie to sit on the appropriated mattress. A whiff of that Hexx body spray the boys around school all overused wafted out of the fabric, quickly reminding Cupid how relieved she felt to have gotten over her crush on the boy ages ago-not that he wasn't nice, of course- but her latest crush? That was a different tale entirely, she thought, watching her roommate’s blue eyes reflecting the setting sun as she lay down to watch the dimming light play through the leaves.
“Do you really think it’ll work?” Cupid asked, lying down as well, turning her head to face Blondie. “Will I really fly?”
“Yes,” said Blondie, wide eyes locking with Cupid’s, backing up the plain reply.
After giving Cupid a pat on the shoulder, Blondie stood and began to work her way up the tree, her time spent as a reporter having given her plenty of experience in climbing to odd places in search of a story.
Cupid followed suit, and soon both girls were precariously perched on a high, yet- hopefully- sturdy branch.
“What’s wrong?” Blondie asked, alarmed at the tears beginning to well up in the corners of Cupid’s eyes.
“It’s my allergies again,” Cupid replied somewhat sniffly, wiping at her eyes while still doing her best to hold onto the tree. “The tree pollen must be getting to me.”
“Oh, right…” Blondie had nearly forgotten about Cupid’s condition; it had been a while since it had flared up. “I think I have a hankie somewhere…”
Blondie began to fish in her pocket, but it was too late.
“Ack-shooo!”
With one very unroyal-like sneeze, Cupid was blown backward from the tree. Blondie scrabbled to reach for her, however she wasn’t nearly as lucky as during the episode on the balcony, finding herself plunging toward the mattress on the ground as well.
Everything happened rather quickly after that.
Arms held her tight as the wind continued to rush past. Blondie opened her eyes. It was true that they were still traveling downward, but angled now, gliding diagonally like a tossed paper airplane.
It didn’t last for long, however. Both girls landed together with a thud, skidding along the grass.
“Oh spell, are you alright?” Cupid exclaimed. She’d transfer herself right back into Monster High if she knew that she had in anyway injured the girl she was crushing on…in more ways than one she realised, as she looked down into Blondie’s face, nearly as pink as Cupid’s hair.
Cupid attempted to lift herself off of the other girl, however Blondie gripped her shoulders, pulling her down into Blondie’s soft chest.
“Cupid, you did it! You flew!” She whispered in awe, pressing her forehead down onto Blondie's in an affectionate boop.
Cupid could have stood then, she could have said a thank you to her roommate, and left it at that- nothing more, nothing less. Instead, as a goddess of love, Cupid knew that actions often spoke louder than words.
And as everyone knows, one mustn’t say things aloud in a fairytale if they don’t wish for them to come true- however what not everyone knew that the louder spoken, the better.
Blondie’s lips tasted like honey and berries and cream.
Ah, Blondie thought idly as the two embraced in the dew of the spring grass. So she wouldn’t have to find a way to confess her crush to Cupid after all.
She kissed back with everything she had, images of conversation hearts and marshmallows floating through her mind. She could feel her hand groping at the grass for the purse she kept her Mirrorpad in, only to remember she hadn’t gotten it fixed yet. Blondie smiled against Cupid’s lips. She didn’t need a recording or photo of a moment like this, one that would never leave her until forever after.
End