Author's Notes: No, I did not abandon this fic. Brainstorming for this one just comes a lot slower than Pursuit.

=_= This chapter is literally a drunken mess. If it bothers you, I'm sorry.

Chapter 7:
Broken (Part I): Golden Boy

It had been a long time since he didn't know how to answer a question. Objectively, it was a simple question: did he want to know what happened between Robin and Chrom? Yes. Subjectively, the question morphed into something much more different. Frederick couldn't decide if this would make a difference in how he treated Chrom, or at this point, Robin.

"Frederick?" The crack in her voice was impossible to miss. When she turned around to face him, he was met with a face of distraught, a look that Frederick didn't like seeing on Robin.

"This is hard for you, isn't it?" he asked.

"Yeah, I don't really like talking about what happened. Gaius knows since he was there," she murmured.

"Gaius, your best friend, right?" he said.

"Yeah," she said.

"Robin, I would like to know what happened between you two, but I also don't want to upset you, especially since you've just woken up," he said. "So, how about this? Just tell me what you're comfortable with."

"Okay, that's fair of you," she said, nodding to herself.

The tenseness Frederick had previously felt, holding her in his arms, had faded. She left his embrace and climbed off the bed.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"Just want to put some clothes on," she said while taking a large t-shirt out of her dresser. Then, she pulled out a pair of panties and slipped them on. Afterwards, she scrambled back onto the bed and buried herself into the thick blanket beside him.

Robin propped herself up with her elbow padded by her pillow. She patted the pillow beside her, telling Frederick to settle in beside her.

Frederick couldn't help but raise a brow, but he joined her anyway. "Is this one of your ploys to get me to stay in bed with you?"

The ends of her lips tugged into a smile and she shook her head. "I know you hate lying in bed all day, since you think you're wasting time. I beg to differ, but let's agree to disagree. Don't worry, you won't waste time by lying in bed with me."

"Okay," he said with a soft chuckle.

"But if you do want to stay in bed with me all day, I do have quite a few condoms that are waiting to be used," she said.

"Maybe later," he said.

"Okay, okay. So, where to begin," said Robin. She hummed in deep thought as she supposedly tried to pick where would be a good place to start the story.

"How about how you two met," Frederick suggested.

"University. I wasn't actually quite fond of him at first. I thought he was a fuckboy, seeing how he was the heir for the throne of Exalt. But somehow, he was also the golden boy of the School of Business at Ylisstol U," said Robin.

Without realizing it, Frederick smiled at Robin's initial impression of him.

High-pitched giggling coupled with stupid questions of flattery were grating not only Robin's nerves but also her ears. Groaning, she covered her ears, hoping that the professor would come into the lecture hall soon so that his presence could silence the incessant giggling. She whipped her head back to glare at the group of girls surrounding the golden boy—Chrom Exalt, the heir of Exalt, Inc.

With a deep frown, she wondered if he was admitted to the school based on his own efforts or his father's money. But then again, he was the golden boy; he must've gotten this far with some of his own abilities. He probably went to the best private school in Ylisse help him develop those skills, but Robin wasn't one to judge, even if she wanted to believe she was different from his type of people.

The sound of an opening door and the hushing of her peers made her turn her head to the front. To Robin's relief, the professor walked in and the girls finally settled down. She couldn't wait to finish her business lecture and go back to the design building, where people were much more transparent than the business students.

"I know I shouldn't laugh, but man, you look so angry!" Gaius laughed in pure amusement, at Robin's expense.

"Gaius, shut the hell up or get out," she snapped as she drew on her eyeliner.

"Well, you're kinda at my house, Bubbles," said Gaius.

"When are you going to stop calling me that? You've been calling me that since first-year," said Robin with an exasperated sigh. Her eyeliner was perfect for one eye, but an uneven mess for the other.

"You're the one who got drunk off of champagne," said Gaius while he unwrapped another lollipop and popped it into his mouth.

Robin ignored him and tried to fix her makeup. After several attempts, she let it be. Maybe if she stuck on false lashes it would hide her clumsy, rushed eyeliner. She dug through her makeup pouch and found that she did have her falsies with her.

"So, you crashing at my place after the thing?" asked Gaius.

"It starts at seven. I'll be back at your place by nine and I'll help you with the game challenge," she said. Her mouth was gaping open as she stuck on the false lashes. "But I haven't played in a while, so I might be rusty. You okay with that?"

"Rusty my ass, Bubbles. Your user name is still in the top ten rankings for the game," said Gaius with a snort. "Why not just skip this stupid networking thing?"

"I want to, but the profs emphasized that we should come," she grumbled while shuffling through her makeup pouch again. It turned out she had only brought two lip colours: coral pink and a pinkish red, but not pink itself. "Darn it. Gaius, you don't happen to have pink lip gloss do you?"

"What kind of question is that?" asked Gaius.

Robin shrugged. "It was worth a shot. For all I know, your secret hobby might be crossdressing. I support you all the way."

"Thanks," he said dryly.

When Robin arrived at the venue in the School of Business building, she put on the rehearsed congenial smile she was always taught to wear in public before stepping in. She greeted her 'friends' from the School of Business and chatted with the professors who were familiar or already favoured her. After all, up until university, she had been born and raised in this world—the world of commerce.

She went over to the bar and traded in her 'one free drink' ticket for a glass of red wine. As she sipped it, she scanned the venue to see if she had done what she had come here for. She had talked to most of the professors and caught up with her acquaintances in Business: her job here was done. Now she could go back to Gaius's place and game until ungodly hours, an old addiction that Gaius had managed to drag out of her.

Robin let out a small sigh. From the corner of her eye, she saw blue hair. Her eyes narrowed. She knew exactly who that was. Aimlessly, she wandered a couple steps towards the golden boy. He wasn't surrounded by his posse. It was strange that he was in the sidelines at all, hiding behind one of the clothed tables of appetizers.

Curiosity got the better of her. Robin glanced around before heading over to the golden boy. Once she got closer, Robin realized he was fumbling with something, a chair. The golden boy didn't notice that she was standing on the other side of the table. Robin put the glass down and cleared her throat.

Immediately, the golden boy looked up at her with wide eyes and a pronounced blush, his hands still on the folding chair. She stared back wordlessly with a perplexed frown. He looked like he was hiding something.

"Did you see everything?" he asked.

"See what?" She raised a brow.

"Umm…I'm pretty sure I broke this chair," he said quietly. "But I'm trying to fix it."

"Uh-huh," Robin said slowly equally nodding at a snail's pace in hopes of understanding what the hell the golden boy was doing. "I don't think they care."

"You think so?" he asked.

"Well, just don't go breaking more chairs," she said. For a brief moment, she wandered how exactly one breaks a chair. "Just fold it up and lean it against the wall. I'm pretty sure you could accidentally burn down the Eirika wing of the building, and they'd still forgive you, since your father is the biggest donor to the School of Business at Ylisstol U. I'm surprised they didn't rename its 'Exalt School of Business'."

He blushed an even deeper shade or red and murmured, "Actually, they did want to rename it, but my mom put a stop to it."

Robin blinked at the golden boy. In a flat voice, she said, "Cool."

"Wait, you look familiar," he said as he folded up the broken chair and leaned it against the wall. He walked around the table to come to her side. Robin wanted to take a step back as he approached, but she knew better: she stood her ground. It was a necessary quality of an excellent businessperson.

"I'm in your classes," she said stiffly.

"Yeah, you are," he said. "But not all of them. Aren't you a Business major?"

"Double major in Design and Business. I took some of the classes online during the summer so I can graduate in four years," she said.

"That's really cool," he said.

"Yeah. I'm needed somewhere," she said. "Nice talking to you."

As she brushed past him, he said, "Wait. I didn't catch your name."

Robin turned around. He was equipped with a handsome smile and an outstretched arm. "I'm Chrom Exalt."

"I know," she said. "Everyone knows who you are."

"Oh, yeah," he said sheepishly.

She almost felt a tinge of sympathy for him. Maybe she was a bit harsh on him.

"Robin Grima," she said, taking his hand and giving it a firm shake. "I need to go. Bye, Golden—," she started, but then instantly stopped mid-sentence, embarrassed at such a Freudian slip, "Chrom."

"Oh great, not you too," groaned Chrom. "I don't get why everyone keeps calling me that."

Flustered, Robin ducked away and quickly made her exit before they could exchange another words. She couldn't wait to get to Gaius's place and blow off some steam in the online world of gaming.

The bass of the sound system pulsed through her body. It was almost nauseating. Robin took a sip from her red cup—vodka and coke. She must preferred carrying a bottle of red wine around with her, but it didn't look 'student ghetto' enough according to her friends.

Robin brushed past the grinding bodies of the house party of the year. The occasion? It was the last day of classes for first semester. Ylisstol U had an informal tradition (that the school did not endorse) where the students would get black-out drunk before grinding away in the libraries for exams. The informal motto of the school was 'study hard, party hard'. Unfortunately, Robin had been dragged out by her friends from the Design building to go to the party.

There was no denying she was buzzed, especially since she was struggling to walk in a straight line and she giggled at every terrible joke someone made. Robin made her way over to the kitchen to see if there was anything to eat and she spotted Gaius talking to someone.

"Gaius!" she exclaimed.

"Bubbles!" he shouted back. "Come say hi to my friend, Jordan."

Robin stumbled over to Gaius. "Oooh! Who's this?" Robin elbowed and gave him an exaggerated wink.

"Bubbles, you're embarrassing yourself. Stop," he said with an amused smile.

Gaius's obviously male friend with a ponytail gave Robin a look.

"Pfffft," said Robin, waving a hand. "Never." Then, she gave him a serious look. "Did you know untreated syphilis causes infertility? And there's no vaccine for Herpes. Remember, kids. Use protection." Then before, Gaius could say another word, she patted him on the back and walked away.

"Did she just mistake me as a woman?" asked Jordan.

"Yeah…she does that when she's drunk. I'm pretty sure she needs glasses when she's drunk," said Gaius.

When left the kitchen and turned into a hallway, Robin narrowed her eyes at someone with blue hair. She grinned.

"Golden Boy!" she shouted down the hallway.

The person jumped and looked up immediately. He pointed to himself and mouthed 'me?'.

"Yeah, you, Golden Boy," she said, stumbling over to him. "What are you doing?"

"N-nothing," he said quickly.

She giggled at him. "Course you're doing nothing. You look super sober. Why aren't you drunk? Do you want mine?" She offered her red cup to him.

He shook his head. She recognized the look on his face. She saw it the last time she saw him a month ago at the networking event: embarrassment.

"Okay, what did you break this time?" she asked.

"What? What makes you say that?" he asked.

Robin pointed to the object he was holding in his arms. "You're holding a lamp and its neck is snapped in half."

The golden boy stared down at the lamp he had been desperately trying to fix and then back up at Robin.

"It was an accident," he said quietly.

"You know else is an accident?" she yelled at him over the loud music.

"What?" he asked.

"The fact that you're not drunk!" she shouted.

"That made no sense," he said, pausing to remember her name, "Robin, right?"

"Golden Boy! You remembered my name!" She gasped sarcastically. "I am so honoured that you would remember someone as lowly as me amongst her fan club."

This time, he frowned at her.

"What?" She smirked, crossing her arms and tilting her head. "Did I touch a nerve?"

"No, I'm just getting the feeling you don't like me very much," he said.

"Do I need to like you?" asked Robin.

"No," he said. "But—"

"What? Not used to a girl not being at your feet?" she asked.

"N-No! It's not that," he said. "I think you're judging me before you get to know me."

"What's there to know? You haven't worked for a single thing in your life. You're guaranteed a job after you graduate, and everyone automatically likes you because they're sucking up to you," said Robin. "You're obviously a fuckboy too."

"Wow, are you serious? You're judging me when you're the one who's making all the assump—"

"Shh. Shh. Shh. That's enough, Golden Boy," Robin shushed him by pressing her finger against his lips. "Let's fix this lamp first. You can bitch all you want after."

Robin snatched the lamp from him and analyzed the damage. Somehow, he snapped the metal neck of the lamp into two with the electrical wires bleeding out of the wound.

"Golden Boy, how did you manage this?" asked Robin quizzically. "Were you fencing with the damned thing?"

"No. I backed into it," he murmured.

Robin nodded at him. "Cool." He was probably warming up to do the dirty with some girl in the hallway, but then broke the lamp. She wondered how exactly he chased away the girl though.

"Do you think I should just leave a hundred G bill here?" he asked.

She snorted and gave him her cup. "Hold that. I can fix this."

Chrom held her cup and watched her balance the two pieces. It held for a moment and then the top half toppled over with the lamp shade flying off and the light bulb shattering into a million pieces. Behind her, Chrom gasped.

"You made it worse!" he shouted.

"Don't yell at me! Now it looks like art!" She cackled.

"You're insane," he said, shaking her head.

"Screw you, Golden Boy. I'm a genius," said Robin with a huff. "Maybe I should use this as my end-of-year portfolio project. I shall call it 'The Aftermath of a House Party' or 'The Shattered Dreams of University Students' or 'The Golden Boy's Fuck-up'!"

"Stop calling me 'Golden Boy'! I really dislike that nickname!"

"Oh my gods. Listen to you! 'Really dislike'? Just say you hate it," she said. She threw her hands up in the air. "Whatever, I tried." Chrom began to fish out his wallet. When he held it in his hand, Robin slapped his hand. "Don't do that. Don't buy people with money."

"I'm not! I just broke whoever's lamp this was," he said.

"Brah, have you seen how old that piece of shit is? It was probably already broken, you just didn't realize it," said Robin. "It's probably worth like a small coffee."

"So, like ten G's?"

Robin shot him a look of disgust. "What kind of fucking coffee do you drink?"

He didn't say anything. They both went back to staring at the lamp they both destroyed. It was broken beyond repair.

"Let's just walk away," she said, tugging at his sleeve. "I saved you twice, Golden Boy." He hesitantly followed her, hoping no one would notice what they were doing. Then, Robin stumbled over her own feet, fell over, and smacked her face into a wall. She grabbed his sleeve on the way down and it ripped off of the rest of his shirt.

"Gods, are you okay?" he asked, bending down beside her, scooping her up from under the arm after Robin had crumpled down to the floor

She swallowed back tears. "My face…is in a lot of pain."

"Holy Naga! Your nose is bleeding!" Chrom shouted. He snatched the sleeve from her, bundled it up, and pressed it to her nose.

"Ow!" she screamed. "Oh gods. Is my nose broken?" Robin grabbed Chrom and shook him, which made it difficult to administer first aid. "You broke my nose!" Alarmed tears streamed down her cheeks.

"Let's get you to the hospital," he said.

"This is your fault!" she shrieked.

"Robin, stop shouting at me and let me take you to the hospital!" he yelled.

"You're probably going to break my leg on the way! Like, like that lamp you broke earlier!" she screamed at him in tears at the thought that she may have possibly broken her nose. "Gods, now I'm going to ugly, Golden Boy! Are you going to take responsibility for my crooked nose? Are you?"

"I will!" he yelled. "I'll take responsibility for you! But before that, you need a hospital!"

Somehow, Chrom got her to the emergency room, which was full of other drunk students that had gotten hurt from causing mayhem. Luckily, the nurses gave them something other than his bloodied sleeve to soak up the blood. Robin sat there glaring at him the entire time in the waiting room. He couldn't tell if the glaring was from the pain or she just hated him. A lot.

When Robin was finally called up, he tagged along with her because she couldn't even walk straight. The doctor carefully removed the wad of bloodied dressing and tipped her head back for a moment.

"What happened?" he asked.

"My boyfriend didn't mean it," she said.

The doctor's face darkened as he turned to Chrom.

"What?" Chrom was flabbergasted. "No! She's kidding. Stop joking around, Robin."

"Oh, it's not his fault. It's my fault. He gets jealous easily and then he breaks things. I got in the way. Please don't blame him," said Robin. "I'm so sorry, babe. It's all my fault."

"Robin, seriously," said Chrom nervously. "He actually thinks I hit you. She's not my girlfriend."

The doctor examined Robin's nose. She winced at his touch. "Well, luckily for you, we don't have to align anything from what I can see. I don't think an X-ray or CT scan is necessary. The bleeding has stopped. Lots of ice and take some painkillers. Other than that, I think you're good to go. Come back if any other problems arise."

"Thank you, Doctor," she said.

"She's kidding," said Chrom. "Please don't call the police."

"Shit, they call the police?" asked Robin, looking at Chrom in surprise.

"If they suspect physical abuse, they call the police," said Chrom.

"No way. Really?" asked Robin. She turned to the doctor. "Look, it was a joke. I tripped and hit my face on the wall at a party. Golden Boy was nice enough bring me here. I'm just giving him a hard time. I don't even know this guy."

This time, the doctor gave her an utterly unamused look and left while shaking his head and muttered something about 'stupid YU students'. Chrom sighed in relief.

"You're mean," grumbled Chrom.

Robin laughed. "Yeah, I can be a bit of a bitch."

"Where do you live? I'll drop you off at your home," said Chrom.

"Seriously? Wow, you're quite the gentleman," she said, climbing down from the bed. "Even after all this?"

"Robin, I'm tired. Please stop tormenting me," he said.

"Now I feel bad," she said. "How about this? I'll give you my study notes for the courses we have together. I can guarantee you'll ace your exams."

"Sure," said Chrom, yawning.

The two caught a cab to her place and to both their dismay, the elevator of Robin's apartment was broken. Chrom insisted that he could get her notes at another time, but she insisted that they do this now so that they won't have to come in contact with another ever again.

He had to even jiggle her key in her lock for her to open her door because she was too drunk and in pain. Once they were in her apartment, he waited for her in the living room on the couch. Robin came out with a stack of papers in her arms. It slipped her mind that she hadn't typed out her notes yet. On the couch was Chrom who was fast asleep, lightly snoring.

She walked over to him and poked his leg with her foot. "Oi, Golden Boy. Oi. Don't sleep at some random girl's house. You're putting me in a difficult position. Golden Boy. Go sleep at your place."

Chrom didn't stir. Robin sighed and placed her stack of notes on her coffee table. Then, she grabbed Chrom's arm and pulled, but he still didn't wake up.

She shook him. "Golden Boy! Go home!" He swatted her away and laid on his side.

Robin's head spun. She didn't want to take any drugs in case it reacted badly with all the alcohol she drank. Tiredly, she retired to her room. She returned with a blanket and poorly covered her unwanted guest with it—all of him except from the knee down. Robin shrugged and went to go to bed. She'd deal with him tomorrow. She couldn't think straight.

When Robin woke up, she went to brush her teeth and wash up, but washing her face was difficult because her nose terribly swollen and there were bruises around her nose that spread around her eyes.

Gods, she looked ugly.

With a terrible headache, she went to the kitchen and boiled some water for tea. She wasn't sure if drinking caffeine with painkillers was the smartest idea. She shuffled over to one of the cupboards and pulled out a bottle of pills. The lid was being impossible to open. After wrestling with it in her hands, she finally opened it and dug out two pills. She poured herself a glass of water from the water filter jug on her kitchen table and downed the pills.

Maybe she'd make waffles.

She had a feeling that she was forgetting something. What was she forgetting?

Robin felt drawn to the living room. Maybe she forgot her phone in the living room? She wandered into the living room and saw a body on the couch.

Shit. Golden boy.

A sigh escaped from Robin's lips. She walked over to him and shook him. "Golden boy. Get up. You shouldn't be sleeping at a stranger's place."

Suddenly, he lifted his head up, startling Robin. "Where am I?" he croaked out. He groaned and dropped his head back onto the couch.

"You're at my place," she said.

Chrom sat up and stretched. "I am so sorry. I must've passed out. We didn't…" He blushed and refused to meet her eyes. "Did we?"

"Climb off your high horse, Golden Boy. Like I'd sleep with a fuckboy of all people," Robin scoffed. "I'm not easy like the other girls you 'conquered'."

"Can you stop doing that?" he huffed.

"What?" she said.

"All these assumptions you keep making about me. I'm not a fuckboy. I don't go around sleeping with every girl I see," he said. "You'd know that if you took the time to get to know me."

"Well, so far, I learned that you break things around you. Exhibit three, my nose," said Robin, pointing to her bruised face.

"Damn. That looks really bad," said Chrom, standing up to get a closer look at her face.

"Gee, thanks," she said. "You really know how to make girls feel good about themselves."

"And stop calling me 'Golden Boy'. I work as hard as anyone at Ylisstol," he said. "I got in with my own efforts. Despite what people say, my father didn't pay for me to get in."

"Cool," said Robin with a bored face. "Want waffles for breakfast? I'm not taking 'no' for an answer."

"Huh?" Chrom gave her a confused look. She threw him off. "Okay, sure."

"Come help me," she said. "I'm hangry. I also boiled some water so we can have tea. It's the least I could do for you for not trying to do gods-know-what to me in my sleep." He opened his mouth to protest, but she cut him off. "I'm joking. Relax. You're making my head hurt more than it already hurts."

"Thanks for breakfast," said Chrom before stuffing syrup-drenched waffles into his mouth.

"You're welcome. It's the least I could do for you for taking and waiting for me at the hospital," she said. "About the notes."

"Don't worry about it," he said.

"No, I need to pay you back for yesterday," she said. "Give and take."

"Robin, it's fine," he said.

"There are too many notes to photocopy and I don't think I'll type them up this time. It took too much time when I tried to do it last year," she said.

"Why don't we just form a study group?" he suggested.

Robin blinked at him, her chewing slowed and then stopped. That meant spending more time with him.

"One of the profs suggested it too. And I can finally prove to you that I'm not all those things you think I am." Chrom beamed at her. "If you do feel bad for all the stuff that happened last night, then you can make it up to me by forming a study group with me."

Robin's eyes glanced over at his sleeveless arm. She probably owed him a new shirt as well. "Sure, why not," she said. She hated to admit it, but she had been unfairly rough on the guy every time they came into contact. Maybe she'd try to be nice.

"Great."

"Do you want me to pay for your shirt?"

"Nah. I'm actually pretty comfortable."

Author's Notes: Yeah...Robin was not fond of Chrom at the start, and she's a bit of a mean drunk.

I was playing FE:A again and saw that he was the most likely to break things LOL. I can totally imagine him breaking shit all the time, freaking out, and then hiding it. So this happened chapter happened

This was also partially inspired by my friend's experience with some random drunk girl walking into her house and falling asleep on the couch. Her and her housemates were so confused when they found this girl they didn't know in their living room the next morning. Yup. Back in my uni days...boy, I don't miss them.

:P Let me know what your thoughts were. Please?