Ever After High: The End (Male Reader)

A Charming Little Brother

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.

Daring: 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 him and his crush, Raven Queen. The free-spirited rebellious, yet sweet and kind girl was another reason why he was doing this.

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.