MH: Love Drunk

This was stupid. A stupid waste of time. A stupid idea. Just plain stupid. The school board hadn’t even come back with a verdict yet, so why was a tour of this school so important?

Robin had dragged him through this…portal thing, and now they were here. Robby was used to traveling by portal of course, and he realized that between realms one’s appearance could shift; his appearance at Monster High varied from his appearance back home after all. But this wardrobe change? He was not feeling it at all. Standing side by side with his father as they waited at the school’s gate, he was internally fuming at how alike they were, even more than usual. If it was one thing Robby Goodfellow did not want, it was to be anything like his father.

Their waiting came to an end as the Headmaster of the school arrived to greet them and show them through the grounds. Milton Grimm he was called, and he gave the whole 5 buck tour spiel as they walked. Robby ignored pretty much all of it with his hands shoved deep in his pockets. He half glanced around as they walked, checking out the students that roamed around. They all looked…too bright and pastel for his taste. Yes, he was color blind (more here than at home surprisingly) but telling the difference between pastel and bold colors didn’t take seeing hues. There’s no way he’d survive a full day in this place without painting something.

“Something on your mind there son?”

“What?”

The headmaster had pulled him out of his thoughts. He looked to the set of adults, blinking, again not having paid any attention to anything they’d been talking about.

“He was just deep in thought, weren’t you Robby,” Robin nearly said that through gritted teeth; obviously the old trickster was just as thrilled about being here as his son was.

“Oh, yeah, sure, whatever,” Robby mumbled, looking away again.

Milton chuckled. “Oh no need to act interested son, I’m sure listening to two old men talk about the school isn’t the least bit interesting for you. Why don’t I find you a tour guide more your own pace to show you around, tell you about the real inner workings of the school?”

He shrugged, “Whatever I guess.”

“Headmaster Grimm, I really don’t think that’d be such a good idea,” Robin started to say.

“Nonsense, you know how kids today are,” Milton waved it off. “I already have the perfect guide picked out as it is. Just follow me.”

The Goodfellows exchanged a momentary look as eth Headmaster started towards the entrance hall to the school. They said nothing, but they knew exactly what the other was saying; Robby didn’t want to do this, and Robin was telling him he better not screw up. They followed the man then, up the stairs, into the great hall. A few of the students that lingered gave some half interested looks their way; it wasn’t everyday a great legendary figure like the infamous Puck came around after all; that thought made Robby want to gag.

“Now let’s see, I told her to be here about now…ah there you are Ms. Chariclo.”

Her hair was longer, and her wings were feathered now. Her skin was warmer and missing its inked markings. But those blue eyes were the same, there was no doubting…

“Please Headmaster,” she chuckled as she came over. “Call me Cupid. Everyone does after all.”

“Of course, of course. This is Ms. Cupid, she was a former Monster High Student too you see.”

That perked her interest.

“So perhaps you two have already met?”

Robby stepped out from behind his father now so she could see him clearly. Cupid stopped dead; she hadn’t really interacted with Robby back at Monster High, mostly because they ran in different circles. But here, at Ever After High, she could see an even BIGGER reason not to.

“Well then,” the Headmaster took the silence as a good sign for some reason, “Why don’t we leave them to it while we go discuss some other matters in my office.”

“Of course,” Robin nodded.

Robby didn’t miss the warning look his father shot him before he went off with the headmaster, but once the adults were gone, it was outdone a tenfold by the death glare this girl was giving him.

“So this is where they shipped you off to hu?”

“Can it,” she said sharply.

“Why? What’d I do?”

“I don’t know, you tell me,” she crossed her arms, “What are you doing here?”

“Well, it was between getting a root canal, or taking a tour here, so I just said “You know what, why not do the most painful thing possible” because I’m just a stickler for punishment.”

“Oh no you don’t Goodfellow. You are not coming in here and messing up all my hard work.”

“What are you even talking about?”

“Do you even know what we do here at this school?”

“Other than look like bland pastel puffs?”

“Uhg!” she was getting frustrated with this. “I’m not doing this. Good luck finding your own way around the school, I don’t care if I get detention.”

She started to walk away there. Robby watched her f or a moment then silently groaned as he jogged to catch up to her.

“Cupid wait.”

“No,” she didn’t slow her walk. “I’ve been working really hard here, and I don’t need a trickster to come in and mix everything up.”

“Why would you think I’d do something like that?”

“It’s in your story.”

“What?”

She stopped now and turned on him, a hand going to her hip. “Again, I ask, do you even know what we do here?”

“I guess I don’t.”

She rolled her eyes. “Robby, here at Ever After High, we’re taught and trained to take over our parents’ stories.”

“That’s…weird.”

She shrugged slightly. “Different world, different rules. Same thing between Earth and Olympus, and I’m sure it’s different between Earth and where you’re from too.”

He nodded because it was true.

“My job here is to help everyone find their happily ever afters. It’s supposed to be within story context, but…” she wavered for a bit there, causing him to raise an eyebrow at that, “While yours,” she frowned then, “Is to go and mess with the true love I set up.”

“So you’re saying, this school teaches me to grow up to be a copy of my dad.”

“More or less, I guess.”

“Pass then.”

“Good. Wait, what?”

“Pass,” he waved it off before tucking his hand back into his pockets. “I’d rather go back to the fae realms than do that.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Nothing, just forget it,” he turned to walk back to the main hall. “I’ll just go sit there and wait for them. Don’t worry, I’ll tell your headmaster you gave a great tour or whatever.”

Now it was her turn to watch him go. She had been so distracted by the thought of what he’d do here, she hadn’t really looked at him as a person just…as a legacy. She had always had a sense about people, it helped when she was doing her job pf course. She could tell when someone was in love, when two people were just perfect for each other, and like now, when someone was very broken hearted. And that was a man who was deeply, deeply broken.

“Robby, wait,” she went after him; he stopped when he heard her say his name. “Do you wanna just, you know, walk and talk?”

He snorted. “You don’t have to babysit me, really.”

“I know,” she hooked her ram through his, trying to reaffirm her words with an apologetic smile, “I’m a really good listener.”
***
“So that’s about it,” he finished retelling the events of the past few weeks, at least the ones that he was a part of, since her departure.

Somehow during their walking and talking Cupid and Robby had ended up sitting around this statue out back; well Robby was sitting on it, Cupid was at the base. She’d been excused from her classes while playing tour guide, and since this was a class period, they were quite alone out there.

“Wow, I just…wow. Never would have pictured Chad going for either of them actually.”

“I know, right,” he chuckled slightly. “Love is blind I guess.”

“I take offense to that.”

“Ok, near sighted.”

She rolled her eyes, and then leaned back against the marble statue base. “So, do you think they’ll kick you out?”

He shrugged. “Dunno.”

“Do you regret it?”

“Getting caught being stupid, oh yeah, big time.”

She nodded slightly, closing her eyes. They were quiet for a little bit, only the sounds of birds in the forest edge that wasn’t too far away adding a background sound.

“Can I ask you a question?”

She opened her eyes and looked up to him again. “Of course.”

“Since you can make people fall in love, can you take away their love too?”

She raised an eyebrow at that. “What do you mean?”

He sighed, leaning back, closing his eyes. “I don’t think I can go back. I don’t think I can go to class everyday, being around her, seeing her…with him.”

“I thought fae weren’t well known for being monogamous.”

“If you haven’t noticed, the old man and I don’t exactly see eye to eye, and that’s one of the main reasons.”

“Robby…”

“It just…eats me alive, and I can’t help it.”

“It’s understandable; she was your first love.”

He snorted. “I’ve been dumped before.”

“No, you misunderstand,” she got up now; he looked down to her from his higher sitting perch. “She was your first true love. You’ll always love her, even as time goes on, and you grow to love others.”

“Gee, that makes me feel real better,” he mumbled, looking away.

She placed a hand over his. “It should. You know how rare and pure that is? You’re very lucky to have felt that.”

“Right, so she was my first, but obviously I wasn’t hers,” he pulled his hand away from her.

She sighed. “Well…it happens sadly. The world isn’t perfect, love isn’t a science. But it’s what I do to try to make the world a better place.”

“Must be nice to have a strong purpose like that.”

She sighed, looking down slightly. No it wasn’t; it was a really big responsibility actually. And it was a full time job too, which left her so little room for herself. Not to mention the fact that sometimes she questioned if this was even her true calling. No one here questioned her heritage, but back home…sometimes she felt like she had to prove that she was capable to doing this.

With that thought though, something clicked for her. She looked back up to the man sitting on the statue before her, his face half hidden behind a mixture of his ginger hair and gray hood. He was doing things to be as different as he could from his parents; while she was doing everything she possibly could to be more like hers. Both with points to prove, both just wanting to feel right in the world.

Her heart ached for him then. True love may have been a rare thing, but it was also a very painful thing. And she hated seeing this kind of pain.

“Alright.”

“What?” he looked back to her now.

“I can do it…sorta.”

He blinked. She sighed a little.

“I can’t take it away mind you, but I can….numb it I guess you could say.”

“How?”

She bit her lip a little, trying to find the right words. “I guess the best analogy would be like…taking some Tylenol when you have a hangover? You’re still going to feel the effects, but your head won’t be killing you as much. So by the time it eventually wears off on it’s own, you don’t even notice it anymore.”

He couldn’t help a slight snicker there. “You’re saying I’m “love drunk” now then?”

She shot him a look for that; he just chuckled.

“Sorry, sorry, it’s just Chad made me this playlist that didn’t help. I know, I know, bad joke.”

“Very.”

“But really, you’ll do that for me?”

She nodded. “On one condition though.”

He slid off the statute and landed o his feet in front of her after she tool a step back.

“Always a catch hu?”

She rolled her eyes.

“Lemme guess, I gotta stay out of your school here then?”

“Well that would be nice, but not necessary.”

He cocked an eyebrow at that.

“Look, I’m sorry about earlier. It’s just you and me, we are sort of opposites.”

“I get that,” he shrugged. “I’m not trying to step on your toes though.”

“I know that now, and I’d be happy to have you here as a classmate.”

“Then what’s the catch?”

She smiled softly. “Don’t ever change. Love the next person you fall in love with, with all your heart. That girl doesn’t realize what she’s lost.”

He returned her smile, perhaps the first genuine one he’s had for a long while. “Thanks Cupid, I needed that.”