Author's Note
Hello!
Just a quick message as a heads up- these characters have human first names, Vladímir for Blueblood and Beau for Fancypants as an example. They’re not canon or anything, they’re just for fun.
Okay thank you, enjoy!
Falling
Vladímir Blueblood did not ordinarily wake up at 3 PM.
Normally, he was up some time by noon, at the very latest. His classes began at 1 on Mondays and Wednesdays, at 2:30 on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and his extracurricular activities were all crammed into Friday. The weekends, of course, were free for indulging in all of the reckless luxuries that college parties could offer.
Were it a morning after one of those nights soaked in alcohol and sweat, it may have been easier to understand why he’d awoken at such an unusual hour.
But it wasn’t.
Instead, when he rolled over onto his side to take a peek at the digital alarm clock on the windowsill, it was 3 PM.
On a Friday.
Blueblood studied the date through the haze of his groggy awakening like it would warp itself into a different date and time, if he willed it to. Such was not the case. All that changed was a minute passing, 3:00 becoming 3:01, and his phone, plugged in just beside the clock, lighting up with various notifications he could not make out.
A schedule involuntarily ran through his head, flowing like water in a stream. His meeting with the university’s student government would have been at 9 AM. Following would have been his debate team meeting, marked squarely at 11 AM. Afterwards was his own pride and joy, the Canterlot Hedge University Cartography Club he had established within the university moments after he’d enrolled. It would have ended only a few minutes ago, at 2:45 PM.
He had missed all of them.
And yet, he did not react past a blank gaze. A sound came eventually, a disappointed sigh that dragged all breath from his lungs, but his expression was still. He closed his eyes as the sun assaulted them through the one or two blinds skewed just enough for the light to bypass his covered window. He begged his body and soul to return to warm sheets and pleasant dreams. Memories of flashing lights and slow music, his peers shouting his name, cheering for-
His eyes snapped open. There were voices outside his door.
Vladímir sluggishly sat up from the loving embrace of his blankets, careful not to scrape the top of his head against the popcorn ceiling. He brushed off flakes that had fallen in the night off of his duvet, grimacing as bits of off-white dust clung to the fibers. Heaven help this college if any of the plaster had gotten into his hair again.
Some time between his thoughts, the door had opened, though only part way. His roommate’s back greeted him, along with snippets of gossipy-sounding chatter snaking in from a group in the hallway.
“If you ask me-“
“-sounds so absurd-“
“-horse ears? Please-”
“-early retirement.”
The group snobbishly chortled, though his roommate thankfully waved them goodbye. Before he fully stepped in, however, pale pink hands wrapped themselves around his back, no doubt in a parting embrace.
Vladímir scoffed, looking away from the scene. Of course, that also meant he wasn’t paying attention when the door finally shut, and his roommate focused his full attention on him with a warm smile.
“Ah, Vlad, there you are.”
“Good afternoon, Beau,” Vladímir greeted, nodding gently in affirmation as the blue-haired young man hung his suit jacket up on a nearby clothing hanger. It would surely be put back on in an hour’s time, but Beau Fancypants took pride in organized cleanliness. He could respect that.
“I was concerned when you didn’t attend the meeting today. Are you ill?”
Internally, Vladímir admonished himself. Beau was in student government with him, in charge of arranging many of the campus’ social events. Surely he would have wanted to speak with him about the fall celebrations coming up.
The reminder made him grit his teeth, though he answered with carefully rehearsed patience.
“Did I miss anything of note?”
“That’s not what I asked.”
Beau finished smoothing out a pair of dress pants, breaking focus and staring at him. The wisps of a recently shaven blue mustache were beginning to regrow, framing his pale blue eyes, which widened once he got a look at his roommate’s sleeping attire.
“Oh, la vache! You slept in your clothes??”
Vladímir hadn’t taken the time to examine himself, but looking down confirmed it- he had managed to fall asleep in one of his cocktail suits, now wrinkled by tossing and turning.
“I suppose so.”
Beau knitted his eyebrows together, expression taking on a look between worried and frustrated.
“Vlad-“
“-who taught you that phrase?”
Beau raised a lavishly trimmed eyebrow.
“Which?”
“La vache. Was it the transfer girl? Fleur?”
A complete lack of response all but confirmed his suspicions. Vladimir finally threw back his covers, shifting his position so that his feet dangled off of the high-risen mattress.
“The literal translation is ‘oh, the cow’, you know. I would call her more of a goose, personally.”
“Vladímir.”
A crooked smile finally crossed his face, though it vanished when Beau made eye contact with him again. It was the kind of stare his roommate gave him when the student government was discussing budgetary restrictions for social events. It meant business.
“We are dating now, you know. I don’t want you to make those jokes about her.”
“You would have laughed at it last year.”
Beau sighed, steering clear of the argument bait and pushing up his silver spectacles so that the frames hugged his face.
“You still never answered my question.”
“I don’t have to.”
“You only do this when you’re in a bad mood. Tell me what’s wrong.”
Vladímir huffed indignantly and slid off of his bed, landing with a soft thud on the dorm’s polished wooden floor. He stormed off to their shared bathroom without so much as a second glance. He didn’t bother being gentle with his suit when he entered, roughly unbuttoning it and tossing it off into the corner, leaving only the cream-colored button-up underneath. He snarled at his reflection in the mirror- his hair was ruffled and unkempt, blonde tufts curling out every which way. His eyes were still glazed over from sleep, complementing his sullen pout just a little too well.
He rolled up his sleeves and turned on the faucet’s hot water, dipping his hands into the lukewarm stream and drenching his face.
“Have you read the news lately?”
Vladímir glared sideways at the slightly foggy mirror, catching Beau’s reflection in the doorway. The condensation fogged up part of his roommate’s face, but he didn’t seem upset anymore. Still, Vlad huffed, rolling up his sleeves and lathering his facial cleansing soap between his palms.
“Take a guess.”
“Then I’ll take it as a no.”
Vladímir rolled his eyes and scrubbed his complexion, waiting patiently for Beau to explain himself anyway. He often did.
“I’m surprised you haven’t. It was about the Fall Formal.”
A bitter bark of a laugh escaped his lips as he rinsed his skin, water dripping down his face into the sink’s enamel-coated basin.
“And what disaster was it this time?”
“You must promise you’ll believe me.”
“Unless I have reason not to.”
The conversation came to a brief halt as Vladímir dried himself off with a nearby hand towel, folding it neatly by the sink’s edge.
“Well, for lack of a better description… Sunset Shimmer was blasted by a horse-fueled magic rainbow beam after becoming a demon and attempting to brainwash the school.”
The silence that followed was deafening. Neither man looked at the other, just staring straight ahead at the bathroom mirror, hardly blinking. Sensing the palpable confusion, Beau jumped in to pick the conversation back up.
“I assure you, I am not exaggerating. It’s national news, Vlad. Everyone on campus has been discussing it-“
“-no, no, just- stop. I believe you.”
Beau raised his eyebrows, much more surprised than offended.
“You do?”
“Your usual storytelling is significantly less… absurd.”
Vladímir pinched the bridge of his nose, squeezing his eyes shut as the full reality of the situation began to seep in.
“My aunt must be beside herself.”
“She’s been in every interview I’ve read.”
“Figures.”
He popped the cap off of his regular tube of moisturizer, squinting distastefully as it sputtered. He had hoped it would last another week, but the pitiful dot of product resting on his fingertips dashed any thought of that.
Beau, however, clearly took his silent annoyance as something else, as his voice took on a more sympathetic tone.
“I’m sorry. I know you’ve been trying to avoid any mention of it.”
Vladímir shrugged. Incorrect, but not terribly far off the mark, either.
“It’s fine. It’s not as bad coming from you.”
But his mind betrayed his words. As he dabbed the lotion conservatively around his eyes and cheeks, he drifted back to the dream he’d been having.
The tall windows of the auditorium stretching out to the bright starlight, slow music wafting through the room. Punch in the room’s corner, perfect for making conversation. The Fall Formal Prince crown being placed on his head as his peers roared in approval. His aunt, Principal Elanor Celestia, smiling in approval as he went to join his friends.
But unlike the dream, the scene shifted. He was seated in her office, a file placed between them on her desk. His aunt was frowning, sorrow and frustration in her eyes, but all he held was fury.
“But I’ve been waiting ALL YEAR for this!”
“The Fall Formal is a privilege, not a right. You know this.”
“I deserve to participate! You can’t just exclude me!”
“You are failing your classes, Blueblood! You hardly show up to them!”
She was the only one who could get away with calling him by his last name.
“And if that wasn’t enough, your peers have approached me on several occasions to make complaints about your character!“
“I have been NOTHING but-“
“-you cannot call your classmate’s lunches ‘carnival fare’! You can NOT use other people’s clothes to clean up STAINS!”
“But-“
“-no.”
Her tone was grave, now, and it caused the fiery teen to go silent. She closed her eyes and covered her face in her hands, shuddering in anger.
When she finally met his gaze again, they were no longer in her office, but at the Canterlot High graduation ceremony. They were a great distance away from the crowd, and her eyes were wet with unshed tears, but her gaze was resolute.
“Your mother, heaven help her, wanted me to get you through high school and off to college. I need you to understand how many strings I had to pull for this to happen.”
She choked back a sob, and for once, he believed her. His grades had only barely improved, and he still often skipped class to hang out and go shopping, yet his final grade somehow calculated to a perfect C average, and Canterlot Hedge University had somehow accepted his registration.
“You’re an adult now, Blueblood. You need to find someone to live with, somewhere to go. I can’t cover your bills anymore. I just can’t.”
She pulled him in for a hug, and despite angry questions boiling beneath the surface, all he felt was numb.
Vladímir felt a hand on his shoulder, snapping him back to reality. He nearly cried his aunt’s name before realizing the hand was his roommate’s. Beau rubbed his thumb against the button-up’s cotton cloth, the feeling surprisingly soothing. He took a deep breath in and out, alerting the blue-haired man’s attention.
“Are you alright?”
Vladímir’s automatic response, the agreement he’d always answered with, popped to the forefront of his mind- but it caught in his throat. Instead, he shook his head, reaching for his toothbrush. The quiet lingered for a bit as he brushed his teeth, though he caught his roommate staring off into space inquisitively. It was minutes before he spoke again.
“We should go out tonight. There’s a new bar in Restaurant Row. I’ll pay.”
Vladímir spit out his toothpaste and ran his brush under cold water, dabbing off his lips with another towel.
“You always pay.”
“And someday, you’ll pay me back.”
“…thank you.”
Beau smiled comfortingly, his eyes crinkling with compassion as he stepped away from the bathroom door.
“It’s my pleasure. Change before we leave, though, would you? You’re a mess.”
Beau laughed at his roommate’s petulant groan, but said nothing more as he got ready.
Vladímir ran a brush through his hair, staring into the eyes of the man in the mirror. He flashed a confident smile at him, hoping it would do enough to mask the weariness in his eyes.
It didn’t.
