okay stop

She called it.

She called it.

Daring Charming’s life had been decided for him since he was 5 years old. He was to be the next King White, consort of the next Queen White, ruler of Ever After. It was a great honor, his parents told him. Of course, it also meant that he had to change everything he was.

As a child, he was too messy, too loud, too wild. His behavior was not befitting of the next King White. His hair was too light, his eyes were too pale, his smile too crooked. So he changed himself, he dyed his hair religiously, wore blue contacts, practiced his smile in the mirror.

He was always perfect. He had to be.

That all changed the day Raven renounced her destiny. 

At that moment, even among the horror dawning on the faces of his fellow royals, a tiny part of him was exhilarated. The chance for him to be free from this life danced in front of him. He knew it was wrong of course, especially since his destiny was far cushier than most of his fellow royals. 

Hell, all he had to do was be Apple’s husband. All he had to do was smile and wave next to her during important events. Sure, he may want to do more, but no one gets everything they want in life. Besides, he already signed the storybook of legends, there was no backing out of it now.

Daring ignored his stomach churning. A life of nothing but empty press conferences, political meetings where he had no say, and paperwork flashed before his eyes. He choked down the revulsion that rose in him. He was being ungrateful

It’ll be fine, It’ll all be fine.

Flash forward to now, and all was not fine. 

Daring was confirmed to not be the prince of Apple’s story, his relationship with Lizzie fell apart after he went on that stupid, stupid, date with Kitty, and he had no idea what to do with Rosabella, sure they were technically a fated couple, but after few subpar dates, they called it quits.

He went up to the mirror in his room, carefully looking at his reflection, a practice he had since he was 8 and Snow White discreetly pulled him aside during an event to scold him for having food stuck in his teeth. She had also apparently informed his father of this misdeed, who decided that the only way of correcting him was to put a match out on his face.

He wore makeup for days after that, and King Charming got him a state of the art scar vanishing cream. It was hexcellent of course, no one but him and his dad ever knew it existed. His fingers lingered on the place the scar should’ve been if it wasn’t removed. For just a moment, he felt a pang of jealousy at Dexter, how he never had to act perfect. 

He felt ashamed at himself for thinking that, sure Dexter never had to be perfect, but he was neglected. Their father barely noticed his existence. And yet, there was still a persistent voice at the back of his head insisting that while Dexter would never have any attention on him, he was freer for it.

Daring bit his lip, the jealousy surging through him once more. Free, something he would never be. Unless, a thought sprung to the forefront of his mind, wild and unruly, his first thought was to cut it down before it did any damage to his perfect reputation. 

He cringed inwards, his reputation was already in tatters, his fangirl group had drastically reduced after it was discovered that he wasn’t Apple’s Prince Charming. He already knew most of the girls only hovered around him because of his popularity, but to see it confirmed crushed what little pride he had left.

He made up his mind, he was going to drop out of Ever After High. 

It had nothing more to offer him. The only reason he even attended the prestigious high school in the first place was because of his parents' insistence. “You will make strong connections with the other families there.” They said; He scoffed at the memory. If anything, his relationship with the other story characters had worsened. Not to mention that his studies as the Royal Consort far outstripped anything taught at this elite boarding school.

Before coming to Ever After High, he knew what was expected of him, and how to accomplish his goals, but now, every ideal he held dear was lost in a sea of uncertainty. 

But maybe, just maybe, this was the out he’d been desperately searching for in the deep recesses of his mind. He could just take up a remote post in the United Charming Kingdom and eventually be forgotten. Sure, there will be a lot of questions asked about how the Charming golden child fell this far, but he could live with them. He could not however continue living a lie.

The silence was stifling as he packed his bags. The mirrors should stay behind, he decided. He wanted a clean start and all mirrors did was bring up bad memories of being trapped in the mirror dimension. (And of failing his destiny.) A dark part of his mind whispered.

Headmaster Grimm, put up surprisingly little resistance to his decision. The man must have realized that arguing with his students is a losing battle. 

Grimm frowned, he had never seen the golden child of the Charming family look like this before. He usually had a vapid bright grin on his face, alongside an air of suave charm. The boy, no, man, in front of him had none of those qualities. His face was one of steadfast resolve, and maybe it was just him, but even some of his physical attributes seem to have been changed. His eyes and hair seemed a touch too pale, and his canines seemed longer somehow. 

Grimm sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. The stress of this job was taking its toll on him. He got his first gray hair when he had the Evil Queen as his student, and despite her daughter Raven’s insistence on not being like her mother, she still made everyone else’s lives harder all the same.

Daring got the first train back to Charming Castle. 

His reception back went as expected. King Charming’s icy glare seemed to have permeated the entire palace. The Queen’s attempts at lightening the mood failed as he reciprocated his father’s tone, bluntly answering his questions and adding nothing to the conversation. In any case, the real talk between the two would have to be done behind closed doors, away from his mother’s prying ears. There was no point in worrying her.

As the servants cleared away the plates, Queen Charming watched as her son and husband retired to a private office, most likely to discuss him dropping out of Ever After High. She was worried. Out of all of her children, Daring was the one she had the least stress over, and yet here he was going against his father for the first time since he was a child. She’d never had trouble reading him before, he was a sweet, if somewhat naive, happy-go-lucky kid. She had a gut feeling that something was going to go very, very badly.

The two men stared at each, not knowing what to do. Daring broke the silence, “I’ve dropped out of school.” King Charming paused, choosing his words carefully, “I’m aware. I want to know why you did that.” 

Daring sighed, here goes nothing, “There weren’t any benefits to being at the school. Any previous connections I made I’ve lost after it came to light that I wasn’t Apple’s Prince Charming.” He watched as King Charming’s temper rose, “And you really couldn’t have found a way to stop that information from leaking?” 

Daring’s temper rose too as he listened to his father speak, but he bit his tongue as he knew that talking back won’t serve any of his goals. “Blondie was reporting live to everyone in the school, including Snow White, there wasn’t much to do there.” “Wasn’t much to do there? Wasn’t much to do there? You should’ve figured something out! And now we need to figure out a way to save at least Darling’s reputation since yours has been shot to hell!” King Charming fumed.

Daring swallowed a lump of red hot anger, of course he didn’t do enough, he did everything his father asked of him to do and somehow it’s still not enough. It never is. Before he could think his words through, he snapped back, “Then maybe I should just leave!” He registered his words too late, King Charming was already out of his and was fisting his son's collar. “You don’t speak to me like that Ever After! Do you hear me! You don’t speak to the man who raised you like that!” 

The fury in his father’s voice should have shocked him, but it didn’t. He was only disappointed in himself for not being careful with his words. The situation needed to be fixed and fast, before his mother came to investigate. He switched his tone to a more deferent one “I didn’t mean any disrespect to your highness! I was only offering a solution to the problem we face at hand!” 

The King’s eyes narrowed, silently searching for any lie, he then released Daring’s collar, and waved his hand to continue. Daring spoke quickly, “I believe that I should be given a governorship to a remote principality in our Kingdom and stay out of the public eye for a while. In time, people will begin to forget this situation entirely.” 

King Charming scratched his chin as he thought. The boy wasn’t wrong, it would lessen the damage to their family’s reputation. That being said, he might have caught some of the more radical ideas espoused by a certain Raven Queen at the school. He might try to change some of the more traditional aspects of how the Kingdom was run. He needed to put Daring away where he would do minimum harm. King Charming’s eyes spotted a map of the Charming Kingdom. The Kingdom was separated into 10 separate principalities. 

The 3 southwestern principalities of the Mercantile Charmings, Romantic Charmings, and themselves, the Royal Charmings, who ruled over everyone else, were the most densely populated, along with being the seat of power. This made it unsuitable for Daring as he would constantly be in his way. The 3 southwestern principalities were more rural, consisting of bustling towns and small villages scattered across the map. They were important to the Kingdom because of the crops they produce, making them the breadbasket of the country. He then remembered that he was destined to be the beast to Rosabella Beauty, a very opinionated princess, not traditional at all, much to his annoyance. 

The King frowned, “Aren’t you with Rosabella Beauty right now?” Daring cleared his throat, “We’re actually split up, she’s a rebel and doesn’t believe that we should be married just for a story’s sake.” King Charming snorted. How typical of his son to not manage to convince a princess to follow the path laid out for her. He always was soft with women. That being said, not having to deal with a whiny daughter in law might just be for the best. 

The Southwestern principalities would be out then, he didn’t want Daring trying to meddle with the farmland with those radical pesticide free nonsense Rosabella Beauty was spouting. Honestly, the beauties needed to control their women, Briar Beauty was out making a fool of herself at every major royal gathering he had been to.

Daring was getting nervous, usually his punishments just involved running laps, or being abandoned in the woods and made to find his way back, or brutal sparring with his father. Maybe he pushed it with his ideas.