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When Chloe first met Red, they were about the same height.
It was a silly thing to remember. Of all the details she could've forgotten over the months, that one stubbornly clung to the back of her mind. The exact angle she tilted her head down to meet Red's eyes, secretly enjoying that Red had to look up just a little whenever she was about to argue. How the Wonderland princess always had to take one extra step to catch up whenever Chloe's long strides carried her down the halls of Auradon Prep. How easy it was to drape an arm over the other girl's shoulders whenever they wandered through the school together.
Red was a little on the scrawnier side, her form built to slip through shadows and outrun Wonderland's guards. Chloe, meanwhile, carried the solid strength that came from years of sword lessons, her shoulders broader, her arms firmer.
She liked that. Feeling a little bigger than the quick-witted rebel. Red had a knack for rushing into everything like the world might vanish if she stopped moving. Chloe liked being the one who stayed put long enough for Red to circle back into orbit. Granted, it took the Charming a while to warm up to her. Somewhere between surviving school, studying together after class, and getting hopelessly distracted by Red's endless schemes, their reluctant allyship became friendship. Then friendship became… something else she couldn't quite admit yet.
Then, just before summer break, Red slipped both hands around Chloe's and tugged her closer. It was one of those breezy afternoons that begged for picnics and croquet on the castle lawns. The last day before the dorm halls would empty as students went back home. They had been finishing the last of their packing for the holiday. The dorm room, usually cluttered with Chloe's fencing gear and books and Red's art supplies, felt strangely bare now.
"Can I kiss you?"
For one spectacularly embarrassing moment, Chloe forgot how words worked.
Not because Red had asked. Because she'd asked so casually, like she was borrowing a book.
"…What?"
"I just want to try." Red shrugged, trying very hard to look as though she hadn't just derailed Chloe's entire afternoon. "What's with all the hype, anyway? All those Auradon prissies keep talking about first kisses like it's some fairy tale ending."
Chloe blinked. Sometimes she forgot Wonderland had spent years cut off from the rest of the world. Customs that felt obvious in Auradon were completely foreign there. "It… kind of is."
She took a small step backwards.
Red only matched it with a step forward.
"Nervous, Princess?" Her grin widened. "It's just a peck. How's it any different from hand kisses? Or cheek kisses?"
"Well…"
Every touch between them had started as a question. A brush of knuckles while walking to class. Shoulders bumping together over homework. Their knees touching beneath the dining hall table. Red would always hesitate for the tiniest fraction of a second, watching Chloe's face before deciding whether to stay where she was or move away again.
Her eyes would always echo the same question. Still okay?
Chloe's answer was almost always the same.
She stayed. Sometimes she'd lace their fingers together. Sometimes she would lean against Red first, just enough to let her know she wasn't guessing anymore.
Red learned quickly.
Soon, she'd invented little habits of her own. Leaning in under the excuse that she couldn't hear Chloe. Standing just inside Chloe's space whenever they queued for lunch. Tilting her head until Chloe instinctively leaned down to hear whatever "important secret" she supposedly had to whisper.
Half the time, there wasn't a secret at all.
Chloe never minded. She liked watching Red discover that she didn't have to perform to be worthy of affection.
The silence stretched. Red raised an eyebrow. "Just kidding, Chlo. I know what they are." A cushion bounced harmlessly off her shoulder. "You should've seen the look on your face!" Red laughed, still grinning as she reached up to cup Chloe's chin. "Like a deer caught in headlights."
Chloe swatted her hand away, cheeks warm enough to betray her. "You can't just ask someone that out of nowhere!"
"Why not?"
"Because!" Chloe searched desperately for an answer that didn't involve admitting she'd been thinking about kissing Red far more than she'd ever intended. "Because those kinds of kisses are earned."
Red squinted. "Earned?"
"Mhm."
"How?"
Crap. Chloe racked her brains, coming up blank. She could fence blindfolded. She could recite three generations of royal etiquette from memory. But apparently she couldn't explain kissing.
"It just…" She gestured vaguely between them. "It takes the right… circumstances."
Red nodded slowly, the way she would whenever she was indulging in Chloe's by-the-book reasonings. "And what circumstances are we missing?"
Chloe's gaze darted everywhere except Red's face. In a moment of complete desperation, she blurted, "You're too short."
Red blinked. "Excuse me?" She scoffed in disbelief.
"You heard me."
"Chloe," Red looked her up and down as though checking for sudden blindness. "You're looking down by, what, an inch?"
Chloe folded her arms. "An inch is still a height difference."
"King Ben's way taller than Mal, and that didn't seem to stop her from sticking her tongue—"
"That's different." Chloe deflected.
"How?"
Chloe lifted her chin with all the dignity a princess could muster. "I still have to look down. And everybody knows that First Kiss Rule stipulates that two—" lovers, her brain traitorously supplied. "—willing parties must be of the same height to kiss. For the first time. Period. It's actually common knowledge."
"That's stupid. Literally every other historical couples have a height difference." Red stepped closer until there was barely any space between them. "How about now?"
Chloe's heart lurched. "You're proving my point."
"I don't even know what your point is anymore."
"It's…" Chloe gestured vaguely between them. "…the angle."
"The angle."
"Yes."
Red tilted her head to one side. "How about now?"
"…No." Chloe's cheeks burned hotter.
The other side, amber eyes more mischievious than curious. "…Now?"
"No."
Red leaned forward another fraction, squinting up at Chloe as though examining a particularly stubborn lock. "What if I stand on my toes?"
"Red."
"What if you slouch?"
"Red."
"What if I find a very small hill?"
Chloe cracked a smile. "There will be no hills."
Red sighed dramatically. "Fine." She slung her bag over one shoulder and started walking away, only to glance back with that infuriatingly smug smile. "Maybe after summer break then."
Chloe watched her disappear down the corridor before pressing both hands over her burning face. What kind of excuse was you're too short?
The worst part was that Red had actually looked like she'd been considering whether she could fix it.
The matter was forgotten surprisingly quickly.
Or perhaps it wasn't forgotten so much as quietly tucked away, neither of them willing to poke at it first.
Summer had a way of filling every empty space. Their conversations became letters instead, arriving every week without fail. Chloe's came folded neatly beneath pale blue ribbon, carrying the faint scent of lavender from her wardrobe. Red's were messier, stuffed with impossible pressed flowers and hastily sketched maps of places she'd wandered, as though she couldn't decide whether she was writing a letter or documenting an expedition.
They wrote about everything.
Tiny things, mostly. New recipes. Family squabbles. A caterpillar that Red swore had declared a personal vendetta against her. Chloe suspected the caterpillar had simply been hungry.
By August, the thought of not writing to Red every few days felt stranger than writing to her at all.
By the time Auradon Prep reopened, Chloe had almost forgotten she'd spent the last week counting down the days until she could see Red again. She spotted the familiar head of red hair almost immediately.
"Red!"
Red turned just as Chloe hurried down the corridor, the two of them bumping together when Chloe failed to slow down in time.
"Miss me that much?" Red laughed, steadying them both with a hand around Chloe's elbow.
Chloe opened her mouth to answer. Closed it just as immediately as whatever she was about to say slipped her mind.
It wasn't until Red tilted her head in question that Chloe realized why.
She was looking up.
Not by much. But enough that everything felt wrong.
Red's hair had grown longer over the summer, loose waves brushing the collar of her jacket. A tiny gold stud now sat beside one nostril, catching the light whenever she smiled. The darker eyeliner probably shouldn't have suited her as well as it did.
Chloe's stomach gave an entirely unhelpful little flip.
"…You got taller."
Red's grin spread so quickly it could've powered the entire school. "I did, didn't I?" She sounded unbearably pleased with herself.
Chloe stared another second, as though if she looked hard enough Red might politely shrink back to normal. Instead, Red stepped closer.
Close enough that Chloe instinctively prepared to rest her arm across her shoulders—
Her arm hovered awkwardly in midair.
Red, infuriatingly, noticed. "Were you trying to do the thing?" she snorted, her voice already wobbling with laughter.
"No." Chloe defended a bit to quickly.
"Chloe."
"I was stretching!"
"Mid-conversation?" Red laughed so hard she had to duck her head for a second. When she looked back up, there was an unmistakable glint in her eyes, the kind Chloe had learned meant terrible decisions were about to be made.
She stepped closer and rested her chin lightly on top of Chloe's head.
Chloe's thoughts scattered like someone had dropped a deck of cards. Being looked down at by Red should not have felt this… distracting.
"…Red."
"Hm?"
"Get off."
"I don't know…" Red sounded entirely too comfortable. "I kind of like it up here."
Chloe could actually feel the redhead smiling. "This is evil."
"This," Red corrected, giving the tiniest, most obnoxious little pat to the top of Chloe's head, "is payback."
Chloe reached up to push her away, only for Red to stubbornly lean more of her weight down with an exaggerated sigh. "You know," Red mused, "I always wondered why you liked doing this."
"I never—"
"Turns out…" Another thoughtful hum. "It's kind of comforting."
Chloe could feel the vibration through the top of her head. "You're unbelievable."
"I'm taller."
"You're insufferable."
"Those aren't mutually exclusive."
Despite herself, Chloe laughed. She really had missed her.
Red finally lifted her chin, though she didn't step back. They were still standing far closer than most friends probably would have. She looked down with entirely too much innocence. "Oh, by the way."
Chloe had just enough time to relax.
"Have you thought about your answer?"
Her answer.
Chloe's smile evaporated.
Summer.
That last day in their room.
"Can I kiss you?"
"You're too short."
Every mortifying second of that conversation crashed back into her all at once. Her gaze darted upward. Red was still taller. Still smirking that infuriating smile of hers, waiting for her answer. Chloe's face burned so quickly she thought she might actually combust.
Not a single coherent thought survived.
Red waited another second before laughing.
"I'll take that as a yes." She murmured before leaning in.