Chapter One: Mr. Obvious.
"Nugh!" A young man said shooting awake to the sound of his pestering alarm. He blinked several times attempting to unblur his vision. Once his vision cleared he yawned loudly and walked downstairs to find his mother already cooking breakfast and smiling at him. "This early and someone is already that chipper..." He thought before sitting down. "Wait... Chipper?" He contemplated on why he even used that word for a moment before he saw the clock on the microwave and realized he'd slept in by about twenty minutes. "OH NO!" he rushed frantically to his room and got dressed, piping his head up through the hole of his collared jacket and smiled in the mirror, "Okay, Ross. First day at Canterlot High! Let's not screw this up!" He smirked at his reflection and moved his hands wildly through his ash gray hair, spiking it in every direction. "Messy Monday!" He said crossing hair off of a list he had for the day and checked it again, as to not skip anything. Afterwards he grabbed his things and rushed out the door.
He approached the school and took a deep breath and sighed, "You can do this." He said aloud. He started walking again, opening the door and seemingly attracted the attention of the hallway full of people. Not everyone of course, just those closest to the door. They didn't even seem to care all that much. He quickly clutched his silver feather that hung around his neck and became quickly nervous in this new environment. He retrieved his schedule and checked his first class: History. Room 104. He quickly attempted to find it, but got lost in the process. The bell rang and the hallway quickly became empty with the exception of Ross, who was terribly lost. Luckily for him he turned a corner quickly and bumped right into someone, knocking them and himself to the floor. "Sorry! Sorry!" He quickly stood and helped the girl up, and got a good look at her face. "Wow..." He said and froze in place, and after thanking him, she left and made her way to class. He found his class very soon after.
After school he found the girl again, with her friends, a closeknit circle from the looks of things. He wondered if he could join them. Or at least her. He slid toward them somewhat quickly before being noticed. "Hey! You're the young fellow from the hallway! That was very kind of you to help a lady like myself. But you must watch where you walk." She said without even an introduction. Ross just rolled with it. "Yeah. Well that's me, not too bright this one " he smiled with his statement.
After a nice conversation with the group he learned a few names quickly and something about them. Pinkie Pie: Manic, interesting, fun loving, and just a touch insane. Applejack: strong physically and emotionally. Sunset Shimmer: a tough girl with a thing for sarcasm. Ross made an inference about her, she had a rough past. He didn't judge her on that of course. He didn't learn the name of... "Hallway Girl" that's gonna have to be good enough. He started his short walk home and looked to his left to see Hallway Girl on the same path. He panicked, "Hair." He said nervously.
"I-i'm sorry?" She stuttered and shot him a puzzled look.
"You have hair. And its neat. And mine isn't. People have hair. I'm nervous sorry." He rambled.
"I can tell, darling." She laughed.
"You have a nice laugh!" He nearly shouted before speeding up some.
She quickly matched his jaunt and looked at him again, " Are you alright?" She inquired.
"I'm sorry!" He said and avoided eye contact.
"Hey," she stopped him, "what is your name"
They made their interaction and she turned off a little after the introduction. He continued his walk blissfully and when he reached his home his mother noticed his skip into the home. "Someone's happy." She smiled as he entered the living room.
"You have no idea, mom." He smirked and quickly told her of the day's events.
"Maybe you'll go out more and tan some." His mother joked as she prepared dinner for the pair.
"Haha, mom. You know I have dad's complexion. He was pale too." He stated matter-of-factly.
"Yeah. Nate was pretty pale wasn't he?" She smiled and looked out into the open air around as she reminisced on Ross's father.
"Mom? Mom?" Ross waved his hand in front of her face attempting to bring her back to Earth. "Huh?!"
She came back quickly and smiled again, "Thanks, I needed to come back before the meatloaf burned!" The two laughed.
The next day as Ross hurried to school he ran into Hallway Girl, who he now knew as Rarity Belle, "Hey, Rarity!" He called as he rushed to catch up.
"Someone is eager to chat, then?" She smiled at him and waved.
"Always!" He said without a second thought, "I mean if you want..." He quickly shied away again.
"Why are you always so nervous around me?" She asked inquisitively.
"N-no reason... How was your morning?" He said quickly shifting the conversation. "This is just a crush" he thought to himself, "Worst case scenario you tell her now like an idiot, keep it together Grimm." He encouraged himself mentally.
"It was nice actually..." She began a speech Ross didn't mind listening to as they walked to the school. It was Autumn and the leaves were falling in such a fashion as to accent the slightest blues and green in the sky and ground against the red and orange hues of the leaves as they scattered to the ground. Ross knew that eventually he'd look more into this little crush. But for now he decided to just go about his day and try to learn more names. He met the rest of the group that day, as he was invited by them to sit at the table they claimed during lunch. He enjoyed the conversations he had with them, though he was nervous the entire time. He couldn't help but become nervous, they were female! And he was male. It wasn't his fault. He thought he had some reason way back in his mind for the nerves. He couldn't find it though.
He checked a corkboard on his way out, it had various lists on it, one containing the detention students. Tardies were a fact of life at a new school, and Ross knew that well. They landed him a detention that day. He saw another name for the same reason: Rarity Belle. Luck was either on his side, or laughed at him stutter.
He sat down in the library where the detention was being held, he sighed and layer his head on the desk only to feel a tap on his shoulder. He looked up and got nervous nearly instantly. "Rarity! Hey! Uh... Hi! How're you?!" He smiled nervously. Rarity shushed him quickly and advised him against sleeping.
A few minutes later the supervisor of the detention room left for some reason and they were left unsupervised. "Well, now that she's gone we can talk." Rarity looked right at Ross with those words. "Y-yeah." He said scratching the back of his neck. "Okay. I know why your nervous. But I'm going to ask anyway. Why are you so nervous?" She was blunt and to the point with him, making him even more nervous. He sat up and began to retort as the supervisor returned. Ross smiled and leaned back with a sigh of relief. He turned to Rarity who was seated next to him, she wasn't too happy about him being happy for not answering.
After detention Ross tried hard to leave before Rarity, attempting to get home before she could ask him again, but just as he reached the door someone grabbed his backpack and pulled him back to them. "Oh no, mister. Give me my answer" Rarity said being very firm.
Ross panicked and said the first thing that came to his head, "Fire extinguishers are filled with CO2!" Rarity let him go as he said that and he quickly ran away. She said as he left. Rarity smiled and let out a laugh under her breath. "Thank you, Captain Obvious"
"Make some friends? In a primarily female setting." Ross paused to collect himself, pulling his long hair into a ponytail, "Mom must be insane." He quickly shook it off and headed down the street.
On sight of him, Rarity smiled. And Ross immediately panicked, "Words Ross. Use words." He thought in a desperate attempt to keep calm. To no avail.
"Good morning, darling!" She greeted with her personal style. The sound of "Darling" made Ross even more nervous.
Ross stuttered and sputtered like an old car on it's last legs. Rarity laughed at his feeble attempt to speak, she was quick to urge him against speaking and "Let his actions do his talking". Ross loved the sound of that.
"I simply love the ponytail, darling." She smiled and gave it a slight swat, watching it sway like a willow in the wind.
The rest of the day was monotonous for the both of them. Class, Lunch, More Class, Go Home. Until Ross was almost out the door that is.
"Hey, Lover boy!" One of the girls Rarity was with spoke and laughed aloud at his quick blush. Her remark was met with a quick slap on her bicep by Rarity.
"Rainbow Dash!" Rarity called the girl's name as Ross nearly tripped over himself to get out of the door.
Upon arriving on his street a familiar voice greeted him, "Wait, Ross!" Rarity called after him.
Ross winced and stopped dead in his tracks, he knew what that blush of his told her. Rainbow Dash was right. And now she knew it as much as he did. Ross turned on a dime, hiding behind the mountain of hair on his head. "Y-yes?" He stuttered and looked away.
"Ross." She said now face-to-face with him, "Look at me." He did as she ordered. "Okay. I need you to listen to me." She stopped and caught her breath before speaking again. "You like me?" She said and he froze, he slowly nodded, looking away again. "Well. If you're not going to listen, then you don't deserve good news." She said faking a huff and crossing her arms, grabbing his attention. "Now that you're listening. You're a sweet guy, Ross," He winced internally, normally the word "sweet" is the opposite of good with a girl, "And I'm willing to give you a shot, Ross. If what Rainbow Dash said is true."
"It is!" Ross spoke without thinking, he began to speak from his heart. But it felt different, like he wasn't piloting his body. He felt himself say that he loved her and stopped himself, snapping back into control.
"Well then, Ross Grimm. You're a cutie. And you know how to speak to a lady." She paused and laughed again, "Sometimes."
Ross excitedly jumped from bed the next morning, slicking his hair back and watching it immediately go back to it's normal position. "Ugh... I hate my hair." He flicked the lights on in his room and had an idea. "Why not braid it?" He quickly braided his hair and walked outside, taking a deep breath. "I don't know how that all happened, but I'm excited!" He rushed to meet Rarity at the spot they normally bump into each other. When he saw her he spoke again to her without his nerves interfering. "Rarity! Hello! How're you?" He smiled widely.
"Hello, Ross. I'm fine, Darling. How are you?" For some reason that "Darling" felt different. In a good way.
"I am lovely. Not as much as you of course." He complemented her, watching her be the one to blush for a change.
"Aren't you just Mr. Friendly today?" Rarity smiled and they continued their walk a bit closer to each other than usual.
Author's Note
This is most DEFINITELY a test chapter... I still have no clue how fast this stuff should progress... I hope you like it.
