Chapter 1: The Start

It's been awhile since I've done an Ever After High fic, so I decided to one. This is going to be a short story, I'm thinking around under five chapters or so, but it's my first fic completely centered up Dexter X Raven, so I'm really excited.

I own nothing. Ever After High and all its content belong to its rightful owners. I don't own the cover image either.

Enjoy the chapter!

Dexter sweated bucket-loads and panted heavily as he lifted the weight up above his head while laying down on the floor of his dorm. He finally exhaled deeply as he set the barbell back on the rack above his head. He stayed a few more minutes, lying down and catching his breath, before sitting up and grabbed his water bottle nearby.

"Three," he breathed out, taking a long gulp of the cool, refreshing liquid.

He heard his timer go off and he pressed the button to silence it. He sighed as he stared at the reset numbers on the screen. Fifteen minutes. In fifteen minutes he had done three weight lifts. At this rate he'd never reach his goal.

His eyes drifted to the picture he had tacked onto his wall. He and his brother, Daring, were in it, with Daring taking up most of the area. Dexter narrowed his eyes and grimaced at the photo taken of the two of them.

Daring. He was the reason he was even exerting himself this much.

What had started out as a brotherly conversation between the two of them had then escalated into a discussion which then lead into a debate and... then things went downhill from there. But the thing that had really set Dexter off when he and Daring start throwing their voices over each other was when Daring said one, particularly nasty and shocking comment that would had definitely should had been unsaid.

"Face it Dexter! You're just the backup plan incase something bad happens to me. I've got the looks, I've got the strength, I've got the charm and the charisma, you just got everything else. Compared to me, you're just a second-rate prince, not even good enough to be one infact!"

What had originally meant to wound Dexter internally, both mentally and emotionally, instead sparked a fire, a burning passion inside of him. If all Daring had said to him was true, that strength and handsomeness was valued over smarts and brains, then he would do something about it.

So now, while Hunter was elsewhere, he was trying to build up strength. So far in the past hour he had done two push-ups, four sit-ups, five crunches and three barbell lifts. Dexter sighed again. If his father was here, he'd commented on how 'a pathetic display he had put on and that it was a good thing that he was alone, less he bring shame to his family.'

Being a Charming did have some disadvantages, like maintaining a good appearance for one.

His eyes then fell upon to a picture he set on his dresser. Set in a black and gold frame was his crush, Raven Queen. The free-spirited rebellious, yet sweet and kind girl was another reason why he was doing this. Part of the argument with Daring was the Dexter couldn't seem to land a girl while girls practically fell for Daring every single day. Part of Dexter was glad he didn't have Daring's charm with every girl that laid eyes on him, but still, he wanted to at least be able to talk to Raven Queen without stuttering or becoming embarrassed and fleeing when he was around her.

He reached out and gasped the photograph in his hand, staring down at the porcelain face of his dark-haired crush. His thumb stroked he glass covering the photo. Only she could make this difficult challenge worth one he would pursue.

His eyes went down to his watch on his wrist. By the looks of the time, he estimated that he had about another hour or so to work out till bedtime. A desperate part of him wanted to quit now, put away and hide all the exercise equipment and go to bed early, but his stubborn side kept telling him to keep on going.

Eventually, he laid back down on the stretcher and reset the timer this time for double the minutes he had before. His hand grasped onto the barbell and he started to lift once more.

But it wasn't until two lifts later in three minutes that he was completely drained of energy. He put it on the rack and contemplated if he should quit early or not. He still had twenty-three minutes left on the timer, but he didn't think he could last twenty-three more seconds before completely passing out.

Exercising had always been convoluting for him. He understood computers, he understood basically any kind of tech out there, he was a genius at Thronework. Heck, he even tutored Daring on his assignments sometimes, But when it came to working out, his mind couldn't ever wrap around the concept of it.

His eyes fell again on the picture of Raven beside the ticking timer. It was a simple picture of her, just smiling modestly at the camera in the school's courtyard. It was very simple, yet just by looking at it made his lips quirk up into a goofy, wide grin and sent his heart beating in his chest. He felt his determination go up again and, while never looking away from the picture, grasped the bar and started lifting once more.

After a few minutes into the workout, Dexter realized in shock and surprise how easier the lifting was becoming to him. He then realized as he was a few minutes in that he had already succeeded the 20 lift mark, and the timer said he still had eighteen minutes left. He then realized that by staring at the picture of Raven, he didn't feel so tired and worn out while exerting himself. He didn't know how or why, but his best guess is that through some scientifical explanation, staring at his crush distracted him from being tired and thus he was able to do more. Another grin came across his face as he kept lifting.

As the timer beeped the half an hour was up, Dexter got up again, sweating and panting profoundly, but majorly proud of himself. In the thirty minutes he had done about sixty-seven lifts. Sixty-seven lifts! Compared to his previous record of seven!

He walked over on jelly-like, wobbly legs and grasped the picture again, taking a long stare at it before looking over towards the wall where an area was cleared so he could do sit-ups. He looked at before then turning back to the picture.

He wondered.

I own the idea of staring at something to distract you from feeling tired in working out from another story that I have forgotten the name of. I've been looking on some of my Ever After High novels and watch a few past webisodes and I can honestly say that Dexter might have some envy towards his brother and some insecurities about himself. If you've read "A Semi-Charming Kind of Life", you can read that Dexter just have an open desire to be more like his brother instead of being the second banana compared to Daring. And thus my story here came to be.

Hope you enjoyed reading the first chapter! Please leave a review with some feedback, it's always appreciated, and stay tuned for the next chapter. Sincerely, v.t.7