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hannahmcne · 5 years

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It’ll Be Us - Chapter 2

"Ben and I just had the funniest conversation." Jay texted to a group that included Mal, Evie, and Carlos. Mal glanced up from the forms she was filling out for Powhatan Cotillion and glanced at the phone screen, skimming the message as Jay followed up the text with a winking emoji.

"Perchance, was it the same conversation he had with me?" Carlos asked. "That included a date and some plans and Mal's left hand?"

"Wait," Evie commanded. "He did that with you guys too?"

Mal clapped her hand over her mouth as a laugh bubbled up inside her. "No way." She texted. "For real?!"

"He asked for my permission." Jay confided. "And I got to see the ring."

"You got to see the ring?" Evie exploded. "I didn't get to see the ring!"

Carlos sent a string of diamond ring emojis and gifs. His texts were usually littered with stickers and moving pictures, as they had been ever since Ben had introduced him to the world of downloadable add-ins. "I got to see it too." He bragged. "Did you know he's had it ever since our last year at Auradon Prep? It's super fancy too – Mal, you're going to love it."

"Did he tell you guys when?" Mal asked. Several angry emojis from Evie came through. "Like, when he's planning on proposing?"

"We're not supposed to tell you," Carlos explained. "And Evie, the reason you can't see the ring is because that'll ruin the after-proposal freak-out you and Mal will have. It's pretty obvious."

"I want to see the ring!" Evie protested. Several emojis with swearing symbols covering their mouths emitted under her name. Mal let out a laugh.

"The powhatan coronation." Jay texted. Mal's mouth dropped open.

"Jay!" Carlos protested.

"You're not supposed to tell her that!" Evie screeched.

"The Powhatan Cotillion? I'm literally making plans for that right now, as we speak." Mal informed her friends. She glanced sideways at the abandoned papers under her elbow. They suddenly seemed a lot more important than they had thirty seconds ago. Could she literally be helping to plan her own engagement?

But as quickly as the shock sunk in, doubt replaced it. "Ben's going to propose to me on the night they're inducting Ka-Okee into the royal courts? That doesn't seem like him at all. He wouldn't steal the spotlight from her."

"Well, he's going to." Jay insisted. "He told me ALL the plans. Apparently, his parents already approved the idea when he asked them for permission too."

Mal scowled. "How many people is Ben going to ask if it's okay to ask me to marry him before he actually asks ME to marry him? I'm kind of the deal-breaker, here."

"I think he still has to ask his grandfather, the fairy that cursed his dad, all the gods of Olympus, a stone from the Enchanted Lake, all of Auradon, your mother, and the lint from your clothes before he asks you." Evie theorized. Five laughing emojis quickly reassured Mal that Evie was, in fact, joking.

"Oh." Carlos deadpanned. "Has Ben asked Maleficent yet?" Mal's blood ran cold at the question.

"You can't really… communicate with a lizard." Jay pointed out uneasily. "I mean, I guess she could flick her tail and hiss, but she can't really give permission."

Mal swallowed, and typed out: "Yeah, and I don't think Ben is dumb enough to ask someone we all know would say no." Her statement felt like ice water running over their conversation. The chat fell silent for a few seconds. Then Evie tried to pick up the beat again.

"Everything's so much easier for the boys." She proclaimed. "When Carlos proposed to Jane, he asked FG and Jane's dad. No biggie. And Jay had to beat Shang in a sword fight, but still, not much of a problem. But when Doug wanted to propose to me, he had to pick between not asking anyone or trying to find a way to communicate with my mom through the barrier of the Isle and convince her that he's good enough for me. And you know what he picked? Three hours of being screamed at by Cruella, Jafar, and EQ before my mom told him no and he hung up and asked me anyways. And now Ben has to jump through all these hoops because we all know who Mal's mom is, and he has to think of 750,000,000 people as well."

"That swordfight was NOT easy." Jay protested. "I got my leg all slicing up. You know how hard it is to get on one knee when you're covered in an entire half-inch of bandages?"

"You're coming up on fifteen months of engagement." Evie pointed out. "Are you guys going to tie the knot or no?"

"We are," Jay assured her. "She just got a new job though, so we're rearranging dates AGAIN."

Mal picked up her pen and continued scribbling, though she glanced at her phone frequently to catch up on the conversation. Briefly, she opened a text line to Pocahontas and asked: "Does Ka-Okee want chains, key charms, pen toppers, or lip balm party favors?" She felt tempted to follow up the message with: "Jane kinda loves the pen toppers," but knew the joke would only be appreciated by her.

A suspicious message appeared at the top of her phone. "Okay guys, I think we convinced Mal Ben is going to ruin the Cotillion. Now we got to figure out how to get her away from the main party… any ideas?"

"CARLOS WRONG GROUP CHAT!" Evie exclaimed. Several emojis with blue faces and hands slapped to their cheeks in shock or surprise followed.

"OH CRAP" Carlos mourned. A gif of someone slipping on a banana peel with the words 'oops' appeared underneath his message.

"ABORT MISSION ABORT MISSION." Jay groaned. "Ugh, Carlos you're telling Ben." A single teary-eyed emoji from Carlos was his only answer.

Mal reentered the group chat, biting her lip to keep from smiling too hard. "I'll just pretend I didn't get that, and we'll call it good." She added a thumbs-up to accentuate her point. No one responded. She got the feeling they were too busy lecturing Carlos in the correct group chat.

The date on the papers read September 30th. It was now September 16th, meaning that in less than two weeks, she could have gone from girlfriend to fiancée, and that was a thought that created a smile she couldn't wipe off her cheeks.

Pocahontas responded: "Pen toppers", which made Mal burst into laughter. As she included the request in the paperwork, her phone buzzed one last time. This time, it was from Ben.

"You still okay to make it to Powhatan Cotillion?" He asked. "I forgot you had a visitation day with your mom that day."

Oh, well that reminder certainly put a damper on her mood. Mal pinched her lips together and let out a breath. "Yeah, I'll be there. Can't wait!" She added a smiling emoji for extra effect.

"What about the Palace open-house for next week?" He asked. "For the anniversary of the formation of Auradon? You have a day with Evie scheduled, but I have it here that you're opening that event?"

Mal let out an audible groan. "Oh, that. Yeah, I remember. I'm not really looking forward to that, though."

"You'll be great," Ben assured her. "Have fun with Evie."

______________________________________________________________

"The carpets are being cleaned today," Belle announced as Mal entered the room for breakfast on the morning of the Open House. "They weren't able to make it last night, so they're going to be doing the main rooms this morning, and the rest of the palace in the afternoon. Is your room good for them to go through?"

"I think so." Mal furrowed her brow as she fixed a bag over her shoulder. "I'll run back up before I leave with Evie for the day." She sat down between Belle and Ben, who leaned over to give her a quick kiss on the cheek.

"What time are you getting back tonight?" Adam asked as he poured himself a large glass of orange juice. He glanced at his watch and followed this up with: "Ben, thirty minutes."

"We're leaving at three, so I'll be back around three-thirty, before traffic starts up," Mal sighed. "Plenty of time to get ready before five."

Belle nodded approvingly as Ben finished his breakfast and got up. "I'm off," He sighed, pushing his chair back under the table.

"Already?" Mal frowned. "I just got here."

Ben set his hands on her shoulders. "I'll be here tonight. I'll come to find you when you walk in." He leaned down and kissed her cheek again.

Mal let out a longsuffering sigh as he stood back up. "I'll be the one in purple," She reminded him. "Good luck with work."

"I'll need it," Ben laughed. He disappeared out a side door as Mal started reaching for food. A frown was stuck on her face.

"It'll get better, dear," Belle told her, reaching over to pat her hand with a smile. "Eventually, you'll be able to go with him to some things."

"They told me the separation would get better back when I graduated, and it's only gotten worse," Mal grumbled as she stole a helping of breakfast salad. "And really, all I want to do for the rest of my life is paint, draw, and be with Ben. Is that too much to ask?"

Belle laughed. She glanced cautiously at her watch. The doors opened and Lumiere appeared. "Queen Belle, King Adam, Lady Mal," He greeted, inclining his head to each. "I've come up to inform you that your cleaners for tonight are here and that Evie is waiting for Mal outside."

Mal frowned and pulled out her phone to check the time. "Ugh, she's early," Mal moaned. "I'll have to run down to my room and then head out." She stood up, taking her plate with her.

"Don't worry about the room," Belle rolled her eyes. "You're usually tidy. I'll just have someone glance through it to make sure nothing official or important is lying out before I send them up. Take more food with you, dear, or you'll starve."

Mal frowned as she took a few bagels and some strawberries. "I can run down. Evie will understand."

"Shall I tell the cleaners to start in the ballroom?" Lumiere asked. "I believe we have servants setting up things in there in about two hours."

"Yes, please, Lumiere," Belle nodded. "Have fun, Mal. Don't worry about the room."

"A spa day isn't really my idea of fun," Mal sighed.

"Evie's turn to pick?" Belle smiled. Mal nodded glumly. Belle laughed. "Well, good luck," She told her young protégé before she turned to Lumiere to discuss plans for tonight. Eventually, it'd be Mal's job to delegate maintenance crews, but for now, Belle did it as the unofficial head of household.

Mal hurried out to the circle, where Evie was waiting in her pretty blue convertible car with the off-white leather seats. Mal liked the car a lot, mainly because it wasn't as long as the palace limos and was therefore much easier for her to drive. However, Evie never let her drive it because a.) Mal didn't have her license and b.) Mal didn't exactly have the best track record with cars. She'd stolen and crashed/scratched the palace limos a few too many times for Evie to feel comfortable leaving her dream car unattended anywhere near Mal.

"Do you have it?" Mal asked, giving Evie a hug without so much as a 'hello'.

"Of course," Evie smiled. She led Mal to the passenger side of the car and reached down to lift out a silver dress bag with a hanger sticking out of it. She let down the zipper and Mal let out a laugh.

"You're not even being subtle, E," Mal remarked, leaning onto Evie's shoulder with a bright smile. The dress inside was her signature purple color and was obviously made to flaunt as much as possible. It latched above Mal's left shoulder and left her right one bare and hitched at her knees so there was no chance of her tripping on it. The fabric was soft and silky, and honestly reminded Mal of Evie's blue dress from her cotillion years and years ago.

"Now just imagine," Evie let out a breath and held her finger up as if she were framing a moment in the air. "A week from now, you're wearing this dress, and Ben gets down on one knee and-"

"Evie!" Mal burst into giggles, looking around them carefully. "Shh! You never know when the paparazzi are tailing me." She covered her mouth though, as the wonderful image Evie had just described filled her imagination.

"I can't believe you're getting engaged!" Evie proclaimed, much louder than she'd been whispering. Mal flinched. "Just think, Mal, Queen of Auradon. I honestly can't believe it."

"Honestly, I'm okay to just stop at 'wife of Ben'. The queen title, it can just-" Mal made a waving motion with her hand and then reached forward to drag a hand down her new dress. "It's beautiful, Evie. Thank you so much."

"It's going to be amazing," Evie promised. "Now come on, let's hit the road. When do you have to be back? Six?"

"Five," Mal corrected her. "I have to be there to read the official 'Celebration of Auradon' thing at the opening of the party, and to welcome everyone, and then to talk to people who may or may not secretly hate me for my mother." She let out a sigh and opened the passenger side door. It had been a long time since she'd opened her own car door, she realized. Between Ben and all the palace people and magistrates, she hadn't even been able to take more than a few steps without being on someone's arm. She supposed that would only get worse once she was queen.

As she collapsed into the leather seat, she let her lady-like posture fall a bit so she could slouch into her seat as Evie walked around. "You know," She began, "we might not be able to do girl's days as often anymore. Ben says they're going to track my phone, and, well, you know how he always has guards around him? It'll probably be the same for me."

"Why don't they just give you a knife?" Evie asked, climbing in on her side and shutting the door. "You can protect yourself just fine."

"Well, so can Ben," Mal reminded her best friend. "Remember Ben on the Isle back when we were seventeen? He's more than able to protect himself."

"He got himself captured within thirty seconds of walking away from us," Evie protested with a distasteful sneer. "And don't say those words ever again."

"What words?" Mal asked, raising an eyebrow.

"The words about the years," Evie whined. She clicked her seatbelt into place. Her fancy embellished sunglasses were kept in a little compartment underneath her radio. She removed them and flicked them open, sliding them onto her face. "It doesn't feel like it was that long ago. You make us sound like our parents. 'Remember when we were ruining lives?'" She mimicked and shuddered.

"Are you afraid of aging?" Mal asked incredulously as Evie put the car into gear.

Evie winced. "Aren't you?" She asked.

Mal shook her head. "Not really. Why are you afraid?"

Evie left one hand on the wheel as they left the circle and began to approach the visitor's center. She rested the other hand on her belly. "I don't know," She whispered. "It all just seems so… real lately. I mean, just a few years ago you were stealing candy from babies and now I'm about to have my own baby myself, and soon they'll have their babies, and their babies will have babies, and one day I'll wake up and I won't even recognize myself."

Mal shrugged as she watched the visitor's center approach lazily. "I'm not afraid," She thought out loud. "I have Ben, and I'm okay to grow old with him. But… children scare me. I mean, we know of people who died on the Isle during birth or pregnancy. I think I'm always going to be scared of the idea of being pregnant and not being able to run or flee from danger."

Evie scoffed. "It looks like we're both afraid of things we can't escape." Mal winced and nodded.

A guard appeared outside the visitor's center, and Mal suddenly remembered she needed her palace pass in order to get out. She cursed and began scrambling through her purse. Evie stopped the car beside the center and showed the guard her driver's license before they both turned to watch Mal scramble through her purse. "Please tell me you didn't leave it up at the palace," Evie deadpanned as Mal began to pull out her phone, her government ID's, her credit cards, everything.

"No, I put it in here before I left," Mal insisted as she continued digging. She sighed irritably. "You know who I am, can't you just let me out?"

"Ah-ha!" The guard laughed. "And lose my job for letting the head of the royal courts out without her permission pass? Not a chance."

Mal grumbled and began shuffling through a different pocket. "Ben's not in meetings for another five minutes; I'm sure he would give me permission to get out." She let out a groan. "I have my pass photographed?" She offered.

"You know why we can't accept that," The guard told her firmly. Mal sighed. Yeah, she knew why it was important that they didn't take a digital copy in case someone was somehow impersonating her, but it was still annoying.

"Mal," Evie grumbled in an extremely terse tone. "You better have that card."

"I have the stupid card," Mal insisted. She picked up her collection of ID's and began shuffling. "I've lived here for, like, two years. I know how the stupid permission passes work."

"Mal," Evie huffed. "You know I can be detained for trying to taking you out if you don't have your pass, right?"

Mal's hand grew a bit sweaty as she shuffled through her cards with a huff. Then the blue pattern stuck out among the yellow of her Auradon Prep cards and her white standard ID's and she breathed a sigh of relief as she pulled the card out and presented it to the guard. Evie let out a breath of relief. "Thank goodness," She whispered.

The guard waved them through. "Have that card ready when you come back," He warned. "You know, in a few years or whatever, you're not going to be able to leave the palace walls without that card and an escort or two."

"Yeah," Mal sighed. "I know."

The guard gave a wave and Evie put the car back into gear. Mal grumbled as she shoved her collection back into her bag. "Why do you carry so many cards?" Evie asked irritably. "You only need your government ID and your pass, maybe a credit card or two."

"Believe me, I used to, and then Ben, Belle, and Adam had this joint freak-out session," Mal explained. "See, they're worried that if I need to show someone my ID, and I pull out my government ID, and then they snatch it out of my hand photograph it or something, and suddenly my main official ID that proves I'm a citizen of Auradon is easily attainable off the internet. So, I carry all these extra ID's in case I need to prove my identity without jeopardizing palace security."

Evie sighed. "Your life is complicated," She grumbled.

"It's about to get more complicated," Mal warned. "Ben was telling me all this stuff… they're going to tag my phone and track me. I know Ben gets lots of his texts skimmed as he sends them, and they'll probably do that to me. And, you know," She gestured at the road behind them to remind Evie of the guard. "I'm not allowed to leave alone by myself anymore. I have to have guards or be with Ben, Belle, or Adam. Anyone else has to be palace approved." She lolled her head on her shoulders to look over at Evie, who had slumped over a bit.

"So, what you're saying, is I won't be able to take you out of the palace in the future," Evie sighed. She pushed her sunglasses up a bit to glance over at Mal mournfully.

"No," Mal shook her head. "Or, well, there's a system. But no, the queen can't just vanish from the palace for a day to hang out with her friends. I can ask Ben what the details would be, but chances are we'd still have to have at least one bodyguard with us. Everything changes once he puts a ring on my hand."

"Well," Evie grumbled. "We'd better make the most of today, then."

"Does that mean we're going laser-tagging or paint-balling after all?" Mal asked hopefully. She knew it was a lost cause though.

"No," Evie shook her head. "We're going to go to the spa and then get our nails done because I don't feel like chasing you around and my fingers are all cramped up after making that for you." She made a gesture to the backseat in reference to the dress. "And by the way, I brought my sketchbook because I have tons of wedding dress ideas."

"Really?" Mal laughed. "I can't wait to see them!"

Evie smiled over at her best friend. "Are you going to put a hat on to hide your hair?" She asked.

Mal leaned her head outside the car and felt the wind race through her locks. She smiled wide. "No," She shook her head. "After all, I won't be able to do this for long. I'm going to enjoy it."

Evie laughed and together the cruised down the road, away from the palace, on one of their last trips together.

______________________________________________________________

They left the spa on time but quickly ran into problems. One, a crash had occurred outside the nail salon Evie loved, meaning they sat in the car for an additional half-hour, casually trying to hide Mal's identity from those around them who were also stopped as law enforcement cleaned up the mess. They must have done a good job because no one from the palace called to ask why the official Lady of the Royal Courts was near a public crash, but people certainly noticed the King's girlfriend's bright purple hair.

Then, the salon itself was packed. Evie's platinum membership could only do so much when the place was stretched on staff for the day. Mal began to tap her fingers anxiously as two o'clock turned to two-thirty, and then to three. Three, as in the time she'd told Belle and Adam she'd be leaving. Evie, however, didn't seem that concerned as she insisted Mal get her nails painted purple with pretty, tiny, white sequins.

They left at three-thirty, which was when Mal had been planning on getting back to the palace. But by that time royals had started to arrive, and traffic had lulled around the palace. Evie drummed her hands on the wheel as they watched the time tick closer to four o'clock. "You'd better text your not-in-laws," She warned Mal.

Mal let out a sound of absolute discouragement and she shuffled around in her purse for her cell phone. Evie craned her neck a little, spotted the palace pass inside, and turned her attention back to the road.

At four-fifteen, they finally reached the visitor's center. Evie presented her license, and they both turned to watch as Mal pulled her ID's out one by one and examined them. "Again?" The guard asked.

"It is here," Mal insisted, wrinkling her nose as she shuffled cards irritably. "Dear God, where could it have fallen?"

The guard pinched his lips together. "Please pull the car over to here," He gestured to a parking lot beside the building. The only other cars parked there were a police car and a maintenance car. A new guard began helping the Royals in the car behind them.

"Oh, my goodness," Evie grumbled as she slid the car into gear. The guard walked them all the way to a parking space.

Mal upended her bag into her lap and began irritably looking through the contents therein. Lip balm, hand sanitizer, spare ID's, credit cards, her registration that she possesses magical powers, official court identification, and documents… but no ID?

Evie put the car in gear and looked over to Mal helplessly. "Ma'am," The guard directed to Evie. "Please step out of the car with your hands behind your head."

Mal's mouth dropped open. "Are you going to arrest her?" She gasped.

"I have to follow protocol," The guard frowned. "Ma'am, please step out of the car."

Evie made a sound in the back of her throat and opened her door. "Should I turn off the car?" She asked.

"Do not touch any of the controls. Keep your hands behind your head please," The guard directed. Evie left the door open as she lifted her hands up. She sent a desperate look to Mal, who was frantically opening pockets.

"Oh my gosh," Mal sighed. "Okay, I have to have some power, right? I'm a lady of the court and-" She watched the guard step towards Evie as he revealed a pair of handcuffs, and flipped out. "Don't touch her!" She commanded, pointing at him. "Don't you dare touch her." She opened the door and began feeling along the floor of the car. "It's here, it's got to be here. Don't you take her anywhere, don't you touch her."

"Mal!" Evie took a hand from behind her head to point to the crevice between seats, where a blue-tinged card lay. Mal slumped in relief as she snatched up the pass and showed it to the guard. He nodded, and Evie slowly returned to her seat in the car. "You are awful at this card thing," Evie sighed.

"I swear it was in here," Mal gasped. "I saw it on the way here, I checked. Oh my gosh." She got back into the car and slumped against the seat.

The guard clicked his tongue disapprovingly. "You need to get something to hold all your cards," He told her. Mal nodded to his words without comment. He shooed them away and returned to help check in everyone else. The palace was growing more and more crowded as people arrived.

"Take the royal family entrance," Mal told Evie. "I have my certificate of Court Membership and my official residency card here, so you can park in the royal family's garage and… that should be less crowded." She rubbed her hands against her face and dared a look at the clock. "I have twenty-five minutes to have my hair and makeup done and to get into my dress and get to where I need to be."

"We can do it," Evie assured her. "Here, my extra makeup bag should be under the seat. Hurry and start while I direct us."

Mal reached under the seat and felt the cool clutch of the plastic bag. She pulled it up and found, to her relief, some purple shades of eyeshadow mixed in with the blue and several tubes of eyeliner and mascara. "What about my hair?" Mal asked. "I can't curl it in twenty minutes and still be able to get into my dress."

"We'll braid it," Evie decided. "You know what, I usually have extra accessories in my glove box. Check and see."

Mal obeyed and found, tucked away, a hair adornment with white studs that looked like an assortment of silver leaves, a few bangle bracelets, and a variety of necklaces. She forewent the necklaces but took the hairpiece and the bracelets out. She quickly did her makeup as Evie directed them to the royal's entrance, pausing only to give the guard an assortment of passes and papers before Evie was allowed to descend straight into the heart of the castle.

Jay and Carlos, to Mal's surprise, were waiting for them. "What are you doing here?" Mal gasped as she climbed out of the car, hastily shoving things back into Evie's makeup bag.

"We brought you your dress," Jay announced, holding up a long, white cocktail dress with blue and yellow lace scattered around the bottom like she was supposed to be walking on the sunrise or something. "Belle thought you'd be quick enough to get up in time but we saw the traffic and decided to bring it to you so you could just go straight up to the party."

"Did you get your makeup done?" Carlos asked, squinting at her. "Oh, yeah. See, bro?" He elbowed Jay in the ribs. "I told you Evie would have some stuff."

"I always have some stuff," Evie announced, crossing her arms. "Just like Mal never has her pass ready. I was almost arrested for kidnapping her on the way in."

"Tough crowd," Jay scoffed. "Sounds like an adventure. Unfortunately, you are out of time. Have you been getting any of Ben's messages?"

Mal let out a nervous laugh. She hadn't even heard her phone buzzing. "I'll check them later," She decided, taking her dress from Jay and shoving the makeup bag back under the seat.

"There's a restroom over here," Evie pointed. "Let's get you changed." She steered Mal towards the restroom and shoved open the door. Quickly, the two girls worked together to get Mal changed out of her t-shirt and ripped jeans and into her ball gown. The official one that was actually in the colors of Auradon instead of her signature color for once.

"Faster, faster, faster," She urged Evie under her breath as her friend hid Mal's bra underneath the dress and fixed the angles the skirt flounced out in. She quickly braided Mal's hair back and used the silver hairpiece to hide the hasty work. Then they ran back out to the boys, locked Evie's car, and took the elevator up to the main floors.

Belle, Adam, and Ben were all waiting beside the doors to the ballroom, exchanging nervous looks when the core four came tearing around the corner with red faces. Carlos was still holding Mal's heels, which they'd forgotten about. She was still tennis-shoe clad.

"There you are!" Ben gasped in relief as she reached him. They exchanged a quick hug.

"I'm sorry!" Mal gasped for breath as Carlos realized he still had Mal's shoes balanced around his fingertips and began trying to get her attention. "There was a crash and then the salon was backed up and traffic got crazy before I almost got Evie arrested…" She took her shoes from Carlos and Jay leaned down to help Mal take off her tennis shoes since Evie wasn't exactly the best person to be bending down at the moment.

"You almost got Evie arrested?" Ben repeated with a growing expression of horror. "What happened?"

"Did you lose your card?" Adam asked sternly.

Mal groaned as she put her shoes on the ground and tried to step into them. "Yes, momentarily. But it's fine, I got it." She borrowed Ben and Carlos's shoulders for balance as she wrestled her feet into the evil shoes.

"Well, you look great," Ben laughed as she stabilized herself with several deep breaths. She slumped against the wall, and he handed her a sheet of paper to read off of. At least she hadn't had to memorize everything. She got a cheat sheet. Mal smoothed it over and began to skim as Jay gathered up her tennis shoes and socks with rolled eyes.

"How much longer do we have?" Mal asked as she finished reading.

"You made it with exactly two minutes to spare," Ben told her with a chuckle. "They'll be presenting you, and then us, any second now."

Mal could only groan in response as her friends gave her a couple of quick hugs. "God save me from the beast that is Auradon," She whispered. "Okay, I'm calm."

The doors opened a crack and Lumiere appeared. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw her. "Come now," He commanded, taking her hand and helping her through. "It's good you're here; they're announcing you now."

And sure enough, down the hall, she could hear Cogsworth pronouncing her name with dramatic detail. "Lady Maleficent 'Mal' Bertha, of the Auradon Royal Courts, representing her home of the Isle of the Lost."

Lumiere guided her to the end of the hallway. Mal took a deep breath and turned the corner into the light. A gigantic stairway that she, personally, liked to slide down the banisters on, opened up into the large ballroom, which was currently filled with hundreds of Kings, Queens, Lords, Ladies, Dukes and Duchesses. Not to mention the servants. She painted what she and Ben referred to as a 'political smile' on her face and took hold of the banister to keep from tripping as she did her best to not resume her Isle strut down to the crowds. As always, her appearance was met with applause and murmurs of approval for her outfit.

She reached the bottom of the staircase where she saw a few familiar faces gathered – Lonnie, Jane, Fairy Godmother, Chad Charming – and carefully lowered into a curtsey before they turned their attention to the top of the stairs

Cogsworth cleared his throat. "The former King and Queen of Auradon, Adam, and Belle, representing the royal palace."

Representing the royal palace was another thing that she was supposed to do as queen. Soon, it'd just be 'Former King Adam and Queen Belle'.

Ben's parents appeared at the top of the staircase and began to descend in a dreamy fashion. They looked out over the crowd some, but not as much as they looked at each other. Mal couldn't wait for the day that was Ben and her.

Belle and Adam went to stand beside Aurora and Phillip and Tiana and Naveen as Cogsworth cleared his throat one last time. "His Majesty, representing the official government of Auradon, King Benjamin!"

She was jealous that they left out his middle name.

Ben appeared at the top of the stairs, looking down over his people with a bright, shy smile. He descended the stairs after everyone, reminding Mal of how he'd looked at her Cotillion, walking down the steps after her. This time, however, Uma wouldn't be interrupting.

Halfway down the steps, he took a microphone from a servant and looked for her at the bottom of the stairs. She picked up her skirts and walked back up to him. They met halfway. He bowed, and she curtseyed, and he pressed the microphone into her hands with a kiss to her cheek. Mal cleared her throat as he went to stand behind his parents.

"Test," She announced as clearly as possible, testing her voice and the mic at the same time. "Lovely, it works. Thank you all for coming tonight. On this evening, September twentieth, we gather to celebrate the formation of Auradon, the unification of kingdoms, and the continuation of peace in the land. It is the twenty-eighth year of peace, or year twenty-eight in the days of Auradon. King Benjamin, our second king, currently resides on the throne, long shall he reign."

The crowd echoed after her, "Long shall he reign." And thus ended Mal's memorized portion of her speech. She opened the paper without looking down and then delivered the redundant section that was heard every year about the beginning of the kingdom – how Adam and Belle had unified everything, and the election had placed ruling power in their hands. It was quick, but not quick enough. Finally, she refolded her paper and began to descend the stairs as the room erupted into applause. When she reached Ben, she tucked her folded speech into his breast pocket, and they looped their arms together.

Evie, Jay, and Carlos, who did not have to be announced, had slipped in unseen during Ben's descent of the stairs. The boys hung around the concessions table as Evie found a chair to sit down in. She was looking a bit ill. Jane and Carlos stood together, hand in hand, while Lonnie and Jay made a competitive game of sticking their tongues out at each other when their partner wasn't looking.

Belle and Adam were able to disappear to go and talk with their old friends, but Ben and Mal stayed near the stairs, backs straight, as guest filtered by, shaking their hands.

"Relax," Ben laughed in between light conversation. "It's over. You did fantastic."

"Ugh," Mal grumbled in return.

"Mal!" A sickeningly familiar cheery tone exclaimed. Mal looked up in surprise as she recognized Audrey, who was standing beside a tall, dark-haired man. She was balancing a small child – a girl – on her hip as she approached Mal with a bright, blinding smile. "Oh, my goodness, I don't think I've seen you for years! That is a beautiful dress."

"Thank you, Audrey," Mal smiled, dipping into a curtsey. "Who is this?" She gestured to Audrey's small family.

"This is my husband, James," Audrey introduced with a smile. "And this is our baby girl Angel." She moved the child as if to show her off to Mal.

Ben took a step forward and took the small girl's hand. "She's beautiful," He told Audrey. "She looks like you in all your old pictures."

Audrey laughed in agreement. Her husband, James, turned around and took two glasses of wine from a servant who was walking through the crowds. Ben watched him as he turned and offered a glass to Audrey, who accepted it.

"How have you been?" Audrey asked Mal, who watched the little girl's eyes train onto Audrey's glass. "I don't see a ring on you yet."

Mal blushed bright red and twisted her hands together. "No, no ring." She shrugged.

"Ben, you need to get on that," Audrey told her old friend with a smile. "She won't wait on you forever."

Audrey's little girl, Angel, started trying to reach for her mom's drink. Audrey swayed the girl's hands out of her reach. "Oh, no, sweetheart," She told the little princess. "Not for you. James, do we have any juice for her?"

James began to reach into a bag that hung around his shoulder as Audrey held the glass away from her. Ben and Mal watched as Angel pouted her lip and continued to reach. "Here," James told Audrey, procuring a sippy cup of juice. He handed it to Angel, but the small child wasn't interested. She dropped it immediately. Audrey leaned down quickly to try and catch it as it fell and missed entirely. Mal watched in slow motion as, while Audrey's posture changed quickly, her wine sloshed out of her glass and flew right at her.

She was suddenly aware that she was very cold as the red wine doused her bodice and rolled off of the fabric, spreading down to her skirts. She gasped as Audrey moaned in horror. "Oh no!" Audrey exclaimed. "I'm so sorry."

"That's okay," Mal gasped. She glanced around and noticed Evie was already standing up to come to her rescue. "I think I might just… go up to change."

Ben grabbed her arm in panic. "Problem," He told her immediately. But before he could say anything else, Evie appeared.

"What happened?" Evie groaned. "Oh, red wine…" She pinched the bridge between her nose in exasperation. "Do you still have your spare gowns up in your closet?" She asked.

"Yes," Mal nodded, still stunned over watching the red ruin her dress. "Let's just… slip out."

"You can't go into your room," Ben interrupted with a pained expression. "We were going to tell you when you showed up… there was a chemical spill when your carpets were being cleaned today. In the closet and over by your desk. They have to let the room air out before they can clean it because the cleaner smell isn't safe. And… a lot of your outfits were ruined."

Mal wilted. "I don't have another dress besides the ones in my room," She moaned, shivering a little as the wine soaked through to her skin and began to make her feel sticky.

"Well…" Evie trailed off hesitantly. "There's that one down in the car…" She bit her lip as Mal's expression crumpled.

"You have one down in the car?" Ben asked. A look of relief spread across his face. "That'd be excellent. Evie, can you help her, or should I-"

"I've got it," Evie cut him off, taking Mal's hand. "We'll be right back."

"Evie, you're a lifesaver," Ben told her as he took a half-step back. "Let me know if you need any help. And Mal-" He took her arm and gave her a smile. "I'll cover for you. Don't worry."

As Evie hastily led Mal away, Mal heard Ben start to say: "Thank you, Audrey," Before she was out of earshot and his voice blended in with the rest of the crowd. She sighed bitterly as Evie wove her around a few dozen crowds.

Mal pouted as Evie led her out towards a side exit. People gasped and expressed concern when they saw her heading out with her ruined dress. "It'll be okay," Evie sighed as she led Mal back to the elevators. "I think I might actually be able to get that stain out."

"I don't want to wear the other dress," Mal mumbled with a pouted lip. "That means he won't be seeing it for the first time when he proposes."

"I can make you another if you like?" Evie asked with a sigh. She gave her friend a hug, being careful to avoid the red wine. "It'll be okay."

Down the elevator they went and back into the royal garage. Evie pulled the beautiful dress out of the garment bag and Mal held back a sigh of disappointment as they walked back to the bathroom to change her outfit – again. She hated royal functions.

Evie hung the white gown up with a wince and Mal sighed as she looked at herself in the mirror. She looked like she was visiting Agrabah, or maybe Olympus with the style of the dress. And she hadn't noticed it before, but a black belt ran across her middle, sitting low on her hips. Evie walked over and set a hand on Mal's shoulder with a sympathetic frown. "It'll still be magical," She promised Mal. "And really, I can make a new dress for the Cotillion next week."

"I'd kind of already set my heart on being in this when he did it," Mal sighed. "But thank you, Evie. It really is beautiful. It'll probably take his breath away."

"Yeah, you will," Evie agreed, not-so-subtly changing the noun in her agreement. She studied Mal, and her lips pinched into a frown. "Your hair and makeup don't match now," She grumbled. "We have to redo it."

"What?" Mal frowned. "No, I'd better just get back up there. Ben's covering for me, remember?"

"He can cover a bit longer." Evie rolled her eyes as she took out the silver hairpiece and began attacking Mal's hair. The braids had made her hair a little curly, even though she hadn't even had them in for that long. Evie flounced out the natural waves and then a smile fell onto her lips. "I'm going to braid your hair like we did for your first date," She told Mal. "Can you crouch down a little?"

"Do we have time?" Mal frowned, stooping a little anyway.

"Ben's covering for us," Evie replied with an eye roll as she gathered up Mal's hair and quickly began braiding. "And I'm Evie, daughter of the Evil Queen. I always have time for fashion."

Mal sighed and leaned her chin onto the countertop as Evie fixed her hair. She had to admit: it was nice to see the hairstyle after so many years. She'd only worn it a few times since that date with Ben.

"Before you escape, let me fix your makeup," Evie commanded, finishing her work and pulling her phone out to check the time. A smirk spread across her face.

"Evie, I really have to go back up," Mal sighed. "I'm supposed to be running this thing, sort of, and-"

"I haven't been able to do your hair and makeup in years," Evie protested, folding her arms as she started texting someone – Mal assumed it was Doug. "Come on, indulge me."

Mal let out a groan as Evie returned the garment bag, now filled with the ruined gown, to the back of her car. She pulled her makeup bag out and sat Mal down in the passenger seat to correct the hastily-done makeup Mal had put on in the car. Mal squirmed and fidgeted as she glanced at the blank electronic clock in Evie's car out of nervous habit.

"This whole day has been a bust," She sighed as Evie finished applying a pink color to her lips. "For the last five hours, we've literally been late to every single thing. I just want to go to sleep and try again tomorrow."

"Oh, cheer up," Evie smiled. "Besides, you've got a whole night of dancing with Ben to get around to." She capped her lip gloss and smiled. "Viola! Hey, you're wearing Ben's ring still, right?"

Mal glanced down at her hands and held up her right one. On her index finger lay the gold ring with the beastly imprint. "Yeah, I don't really ever take it off," She reminded her friend.

"Hmm," Evie frowned. "Gold. Ugh, this dress goes so much better with silver, but I guess gold will have to work." She opened her glovebox and shuffled around before coming up with a thin-chained gold necklace. "Put this on, and then I'll take you up," Evie commanded, putting the silver bracelets and the hairpiece into the glovebox and straightening up with a sigh as she landed her hands on her stomach.

Mal frowned at her friend as she fumbled with the clasp on the necklace. "Are you okay?" She asked.

"Oh, yeah," Evie smiled. "It's just that all this running around is making me sick." She moved a hand to her mouth in a fist as if she were going to throw up, and then leaned against the car. "Ugh, I can't wait to go to bed either," She sighed. "When does this thing end?"

"At Midnight," Mal grumbled. "Hey, Auradon's got to celebrate themselves."

"Yeah, no kidding," Evie sighed. She pushed herself back up. "Let's head up."

Mal finished latching the necklace and looked down to examine the pendant. She frowned. It was of a little silver dragon with purple gemstones in its eyes. "Why are you carrying around purple jewelry?" She asked.

Evie blinked softly, as if she hadn't quite understood what Mal had asked, and then responded: "I think I forgot to give that to you. Huh. Oh well." She turned and headed back to the elevators.

Once inside, Evie pushed the button for the main flooring. "Oh, Evie, we actually need to go to the ground level," Mal corrected her, reaching to press the correct button.

Evie batted her hand aside. "Relax, Mal, I've got this." She yawned. She was pressing her hands to her stomach as if she were going to be sick. Mal frowned.

"Evie, there aren't any restrooms on the main floor. If we go to the ground floor then-"

"Mal. I've got this," Evie interrupted.

Mal crinkled her nose. "I can't even enter the ballroom from the main floor," She pointed out. Evie didn't say anything; she only made a hushing motion with her hand as she closed her eyes and leaned against the elevator walls.

The elevator doors opened and Evie, who was starting to look a bit pale, took Mal's wrist and led her out. They hurried through the hallways, tracing the same path they'd run earlier as Mal's lips pinched into an increasingly worried look. They paused outside the door to the entrance hallway, and Evie groaned.

"Is there a trash can, like, anywhere here?" She groaned, squeezing her eyes closed in pain. "Ugh," Evie felt around in her pockets for her phone and squinted at the screen. She let out a pitiful sound in the back of her throat. "Okay," She grumbled and tossed her phone onto the floor. Mal caught a glimpse of a screen full of text messages.

Evie straightened up and opened the doors. Mal immediately freaked out. "Evie, what are you doing? We're not allowed to go down the hallway after the presenting!" She hurried to shut the door, and Evie stopped her with a hand and a downright devilish look.

"Too bad," Evie grumbled. "We're going. Now." She seized Mal's wrist and hauled the stammering girl into the hallway. Mal sputtered and dug in her heels.

"I can't go down the staircase Evie! The entire room – I've already been announced!" Mal hurried to explain as she tried to wrestle her hand back from Evie. Evie whirled around in a moment of intense, spontaneous fury.

"Hush!" She commanded. "I know what I'm doing, Mal, and so help me you are going to walk down this staircase right. Freaking. Now." She released Mal's wrist and shoved her forward. Mal tripped a little and stumbled past the threshold of the hall and onto the staircase. Immediately, the room went silent.

Mal's hands shook as everyone looked up at her. She took in everything again – the large room, the multitudes of people – and it suddenly occurred to her that everyone was smiling.

She looked down to the base of the stairwell. Belle and Adam, Jay and Lonnie, Jane and Carlos, Audrey and her family, everyone was there. Even Doug, though he was missing Evie, who had suddenly vanished from the hallway. The only person beside Evie she could tell was missing was Ben.

A hand landed on her shoulder, and Mal looked up. She met brown eyes, and things somehow made all too much sense. Ben took her hand with a scheming smile and began to lead her down the stairs. He, like she, had changed clothes. He wore a black suit with, strangely, purple embellishments. A small collection of purple flowers was even tucked into his breast pocket.

"You look amazing," He whispered in her ear, guiding her down to about halfway up the stairs.

"You're wearing purple," Mal gasped. She couldn't believe it. The color made his eyes look a little darker, actually.

Down below, Evie reappeared and took a stance beside Doug, who wrapped his arms around her and gave her a kiss on the cheek. No one in the entire crowd said anything as Ben reached into his suit coat. She heard something click. "You're microphoned?" She asked. Her voice echoed a bit in the room from the speaker system.

"Gotta be heard," Ben chuckled. "Don't forget, we're on TV." He gestured out to the crowd. There were cameras broadcasting the event to Auradon, and people had their cell phones out, filming. Mal's mouth went very dry.

"You… you all set me up!" She gasped, turning to stare at her friends. Audrey had dumped her drink on her, Ben and Jay had sabotaged her wardrobe… Evie had hidden her card in the car to slow them down! She clapped a hand to her mouth in shock.

Ben laughed. "I'm not going to take any more time from the party," He told her. "After all, this has been a long time coming, and I feel like you've had plenty of warning." He took her hands and they turned to face each other. Ben cleared his throat.

"Mal, my idea of Happily Ever After changed forever when we started dating. For years now, all I've wanted in life is you. You're my partner, you're my teammate, you're my friend. And there is no one else I want to be my queen." Ben's voice echoed off the walls of the room and at the mention of the word 'queen', the entire room took a breath. Mal, for her part, couldn't breathe as Ben dropped to one knee in front of her, reached into his pocket, and pulled out the long-coveted black box. He smiled at her as he opened the box with a flourish and tears clouded her eyes.

"I want you if you'll have me. You already know my work is a burden, but you've more than proven you're up to any challenge that comes. Mal, will you marry me, and be Queen of Auradon at my side?"

Mal couldn't breathe, couldn't speak as she nodded over and over and over. She dropped to her knees beside him and threw her arms around his neck. And it was only then she finally found her voice again. "Yes," She gasped, sounding a bit hoarse with emotion. "Yes, yes, I'll marry you."

The entire room exploded into sound. Mal felt Ben fumbling with her left hand, and then something cold and metal slipped onto her finger. She withdrew a little to examine the ring. She was smiling so hard she almost couldn't see straight as she looked down and saw a silver band with a low-set diamond and dozens of pretty purple offset stones. She twisted her hand and examined the back of the ring, and then noticed something inscribed underneath the diamonds. It read: "happily ever after."

Ben got to his feet and helped her up as tears filled her eyes and immediately began to spill down her cheeks. The room was still applauding, people were still screaming in celebration as Ben tucked her arm into his elbow and began leading her down the stairs. Evie, Jay, Carlos, and all their families started up and met her halfway with hugs and calls of celebration. Mal let go on Ben long enough to latch onto Evie and begin sobbing into her friend's shoulder.

Jay eventually pried her off of Evie so he could pick her up and spin her around. "Why so sad?" He asked. "You did it! You said yes!"

Mal hid her face in his shoulder, well-aware her makeup was probably ruined. "I'm just happy," She hiccupped. "I'm really, really happy."

Evie seized Mal's hand, looking irritable. "Let me see the stupid ring!" She demanded crossly. Mal laughed as Evie spread her fingers and let out a squeal when she glimpsed all the sparkly rocks. They threaded their fingers together and let out two identical twin screams of pure excitement.

"That's beautiful!" Audrey cheered as she looked over everyone's shoulders. She smiled sheepishly at Mal. "Sorry about ruining your dress," She apologized.

"Oh!" Mal huffed, balling her fists up. "You all set me up!" She pointed at each of her friends accusingly. "I thought he was going to propose next week!"

"Thanks, guys," Ben laughed, reaching around her to fist-bump everyone one-by-one. "I owe you all big-time."

"Yes," Evie agreed, curling her lip. "We ruined a perfectly good cocktail dress and I almost got arrested."

"You hid my card!" Mal protested, digging her nails into her palms. "And that text thing! You're all dirty, dirty liars!" She pointed at Jay. "You brought my dress down so I couldn't go to my room, and you and Ben sabotaged my room so I had to wear this, and you even made me think it was going to be at Cotillion!"

"You really thought I'd ruin Ka-Okee's night?" Ben laughed. "And your room is fine. Actually, we filled it with surprises. You're welcome."

"Evie stalled me." Mal pointed at her best friend accusingly. "And Carlos-"

"Didn't almost ruin everything," Carlos interrupted with a laugh and a wince. "I orchestrated the traffic jam that almost made you late and helped with the microphones and equipment."

"By the way," Ben paused, opening up his suit coat and switching the microphone off. "Can you help me take all this junk off?" Carlos moved to help him as Doug continued explaining everything in lieu of everyone fawning over Mal.

"Carlos got the guard to slow you down, Belle asked the carpet cleaners to act as if there was a mistake and they were late, and Ben asked Audrey to knock her drink on you. The hardest part was for Evie to get you up on the forbidden staircase without you getting suspicious enough for Ben to not catch you off guard." He put a hand on his wife's shoulder as Evie began to calm down.

Evie slumped into Doug's side with a yawn. "I'm about done. Watching Mal panic about everything for the last few hours has worn me out."

"You feeling bad?" Jane asked, patting Evie's shoulder sympathetically.

"Yeah, she was about to throw up when we were in the hallway," Mal frowned, examining Evie in worry.

"I did on the way down, in the restroom," Evie sighed, resting a hand on her ribcage. "It's time for me to go home."

Ben paused. "Oh, are you pregnant?" He asked. Evie flushed and nodded with a happy smile as Doug took her hand and threaded his fingers through hers.

"Let's get you home," Doug whispered in her ear. He inclined his head to the group. "Congratulations, Ben and Mal. I don't know why you waited so long, but I'm glad you finally did it."

Mal glanced down at her hand with a wistful smile. "You had this for seven years?" She asked Ben.

"I've known for a while you were the one," Ben laughed. "I was just waiting for you to realize that." Mal blushed as she took his hand again. He reached up, guided his hand down her jawline, and brought her mouth up to his. Immediately, her friend all exploded into disgusted sounds, though it was clear they were all still very proud of what they'd accomplished. Mal relaxed as she felt the familiar magic tingle her fingertips and light her emotions on fire.

Belle appeared, hurrying up the stairs. "Mal!" She called, drawing her new future daughter-in-law away from her son. She held out her hands. "I want to see the ring!" She demanded. Mal laughed as Evie stepped forward for one last hug before Belle seized Mal's hand and began to examine the ring with intense scrutiny. Doug led Evie away, out the doors, and presumably down to her car. 'It's beautiful!" Belle proclaimed. "Now, when are you getting married? Have you talked about anything yet?"

"Nothing." Ben shook his head. "But I'd be willing to bet Mal wants a winter or spring wedding." He elbowed her with a smile. Mal immediately shook her head.

"No, no Ben," She declined. "I want, like, a tomorrow wedding. Is there any chance we can elope tonight?"

"Evie will murder you," Jay replied immediately with a wide look in his eyes. "She's been planning dresses since she learned your cotillion was getting engaged to being engaged. If she doesn't get the chance to make at least one, she will go ballistic."

"Yeah, let's not anger the pregnant Isle lady," Carlos laughed nervously.

"What do you mean, 'at least one'?" Mal asked with a furrowed brow. "Only one dress is needed, and really, we all know I'd be fine to get married in my jacket and combat boots anyways."

"Auradon might have a thing or two to say about that," Ben rolled his eyes. "The whole 'white wedding' thing is strangely important to everyone. People might revolt."

The group threw their head back and laughed before a sudden crash came from the concessions table. An entire table had collapsed, and the young Duke Alan Tudyk of Weselton was struggling to get up from it. The young man's coattails were covered in the jello pudding he'd landed in as he howled in outrage. He appeared to have been thrown, and it didn't take much deducing to see the source of the commotion. Adam's fists were balled up about ten feet away and he was shaking like the ground as a volcano went off. His face was beet-red and, for a second, Mal could have sworn she was looking at the Beast, and not Ben's dad.

"Adam?" Belle gasped beside Mal as Ben took Mal's hand and squeezed it. Adam didn't hear her as he procured an accusing finger directed in the young Duke Weselton's direction.

"Get out of my house!" Adam bellowed. More people in the room who hadn't been alerted to the disturbance when the table had crashed were staring as Alan struggled to his feet. "I'll not hear your blasphemy again!"

"Mark my words!" The Duke yelled, wiping what looked like the remnants of a slice of cake off of his face and hurling it onto the ballroom floor. "This is it for Auradon!"

People gasped in horror at his words, and Mal straightened up beside Ben, ready to fight. The Duke whirled and pointed an accusing finger straight towards their group – straight at Mal. "As sure as we stand here, she'll be the downfall of the kingdom!" He proclaimed. "We can't trust her!"

Ben stepped in front of Mal as Carlos and Jay both took up defensive stances. Mal was shocked as the Duke hurled another fistful of smashed cake from his shoulder onto the floor. He turned and stormed out of the ballroom, leaving a gigantic mess of frosting and whipped cream behind. People began to murmur as servants appeared and began to take the ruined confections away. Ben held up his hands to gather the attention of the people around him. "Please, everyone, go back to your party." He turned momentarily to squeeze Mal's shoulder and then walked to where the servants were trying to wipe things up. He picked up the platter of destroyed jello and disappeared out the door with it as Mal let out a breath.

Belle left the group to go talk to Adam. Mal watched the two interact briefly, and they headed out the door as Ben reappeared and continued to help with clean-up. Mal looked around at the surrounding guests. While many looked horrified and angry, several stood stone-faced, refusing to meet her eyes. And just like that, she was sixteen again and everyone was angry with her after family day. She could hear Jane's hiss: "he's never gonna make a villain a queen," and could feel everyone's eyes on her.

"Woah, calm down," Carlos told her, setting a hand on her forearm. Mal looked at him, confused, and realized her eyes must have flashed. She averted her gaze and took several deep breaths.

"Mal," Jay whispered. "They're wrong. You're not going to destroy Auradon. They don't know you."

Mal forced a tight smile. "I know," She whispered and looked up to the doors. She slipped past everyone at the base of the stairs and joined the few royals helping the servants clean the food off of the floor. She could feel people's eyes on her as she worked, but she didn't dare let anyone know how the situation had knocked her off-guard. One by one, everyone got up as the mess resolved itself, but Mal wasn't quite sure what she was supposed to do when she got up, so she kept pretending she was wiping up excess whipped cream until a hand stopped her.

Ben took the napkins out of her hand and threw them away. He slipped his arm around her waist and cleared his throat. "We were talking about when you wanted the wedding before we were interrupted," He recalled leading her away and into the crowd, inclining his head to anyone who stopped to congratulate them. "Assuming I can't get out of that charity event and subsequent meeting tomorrow, what's your option number two?"

"Do you think all of Auradon will react like that?" Mal asked, glancing over her shoulder to where the Duke of Weselton had landed.

"No," Ben stopped her, turning her to face him with an intense gaze. "No, they won't. The people love you. I love you. The Duke is just a close-minded fool. Don't listen to him. I honestly don't want you to think about him for another second. This night is about us, and he's wrong about you. Don't believe lies, Mal."

Mal swallowed at the tone of his voice. She'd heard him take that tone less than four times in her life. Under Uma's spell at Cotillion… at the Enchanted Lake when they'd almost broken up… no other instances came to mind right away. "I won't," She whispered.

Ben's gaze remained intent on her for another few seconds, and then he leaned in and gave her another kiss, in front of everyone. Despite the scene and the fact that they were probably being filmed somewhere, Mal felt all her worries and upsets heal. True Love's Kiss strikes again, she thought. A smile appeared on her face. "Maybe we should do a winter wedding," She mumbled against Ben's lips. "Or, like, a next-week wedding."

"Ah-ah," Ben tsked. "Cotillion next week. We can't hold an official event of that importance after their celebration. It's not nice. But we could probably do, like December. You could get married in the snow. Evie would have a field day with all the white."

"She would," Mal laughed as he returned his arm to her waistline and she wrapped hers around his. "So, what was with all the hype about Cotillion? You could have just had everyone make me think you were going to propose over dinner out of the blue or something."

"I'm not casual enough for that," Ben laughed. "And the real reason?" He snickered for a half-second and then schooled his emotions. "John Smith was complaining you hadn't finished filing your part of the paperwork."

Mal's mouth dropped open. "Oh my gosh," She covered her mouth as Ben doubled over in laughter. "That's manipulation!" She accused.

"Hey," Ben held up a hand in defense. "It was all done bright and early the morning after you had your text conversation with your friends. Two birds with one stone. You didn't see anything coming and I got you to focus on paperwork."

"You know about those texts?" Mal asked.

Ben snickered again and pulled his phone out of his pocket. "I orchestrated them," He told her, tilting the screen so she could look at what he was doing. He opened a message with Carlos, Evie, and Jay and himself – no Mal. Mal skimmed the messages and covered her mouth as she began to laugh.

Jay: "Kay Ben, I just told her abt Cotillion. She's suspicious but I think E and C 'freaking out' helped.

Evie: Yeah, she's sold on this.

Ben: What's she saying now?

Carlos: She's just spectating. She's reading all the messages but isn't saying anything. BTW she was working on Cotillion paperwork when we started texting her.

Ben: I wonder how much longer until it's actually done. She's had it for almost two months. Anyone want to place a bet for less than a day now that we've done this?

Evie: CARLOS YOU TEXTED THAT MESSAGE TO THE WRONG GROUP CHAT

Carlos: OH SHOOT.

Carlos: SHOOYT

Carlos: SHOOT*

Jay: Your an idiot.

Ben: Please tell me you didn't ruin everything.

Ben: Guys?

Ben: What happened?

Evie: Screenshot She said she's gonna pretend she didn't get that.

Ben: I think it's vague enough. She'll probably think we're going to sneak her away from Cotillion. BTW thanks for the heart attack.

Ben: Oh, she has visitation with her mom on that day.

Ben: EVIE you have a day out with her next week on the night of the Castle Party. Okay, I have a plan, and it involves lots of stress for Mal. You guys up to helping me?

Mal shook her head as she skimmed the texts and watched their plans unfold. The most impressive one, to her, was Ben saying: "If Mal doesn't tell you to go straight to the royal garage, ask her if she has the passes for it. She'll probably agree right away and roll with it without getting suspicious." She'd played right into their hands, and she wasn't even a little bit disappointed. "You guys are good," She complimented Ben. "And then none of you broke character, except for Evie when she snapped at me to go out on the staircase."

"I heard that," Ben chuckled. "By the way, I had no idea she was expecting, and I feel kind of bad for how much of our plan revolved around her."

"It would have had to have been her, though," Mal rolled her eyes. "For one, she would have wanted to have the biggest part anyway. And for two, it wasn't like Jay or Carlos could have sewn a 'getting engaged' dress and convinced me it was for next week, and then helped me change and get ready in the car, and everything."

Ben smiled as he looked down at her outfit. "You look amazing," He told her. "I prefer you in purple over Auradon colors."

"I don't look good in yellow," Mal shook her head. "Remember cotillion? And I had my bright purple hair and… yeah." She trailed off as Ben started to laugh and nod.

"Should I wear purple when we get married?" She asked over Ben's laughter. "Or would Auradon have a meltdown?"

"Auradon would have a meltdown," Ben confirmed. "Maybe Evie could put purple hints in your white dress though." He hesitated. "Actually, maybe we could do a double thing."

Mal tilted her head. "Like… two weddings?" She asked slowly.

Ben shrugged. "Maybe," He shrugged. "And you could wear purple or black or green at the private one, and we could have only our friends and no cameras, and heck, we could do that next week or month or whenever. And then Auradon can have their gigantic, ridiculous, over-the-top white wedding afterward."

Mal let out a wistful sigh. "I'm okay with that," She agreed. "I don't feel like my wedding is something I want to share with your kingdom."

"You don't want to share anything with our kingdom," Ben rolled his eyes. "Not your time, not your wedding, not even me."

"True," Mal grumbled. They hit the edge of the ballroom and walked out onto a balcony. A few couples were out, but not many. They walked over to the railing and Mal leaned down over the edge. "And really," She continued, elbowing Ben coyly, "So long as it gets me into your room quicker, I'm good with anything."

Ben hummed and rolled his eyes. "You're deathly afraid of raising the future heir or heiress of the kingdom yet you can't wait to sleep with me," He whispered as he leaned over the balcony with her.

"Well, it's the benefits, see," Mal shrugged. Her throat felt a bit tight as she considered his reasoning.

"There aren't any benefits to kids?" Ben returned with a raised eyebrow. "A little you or a little me, or a little both of us? And you get to watch them grow up and decorate their rooms and-"

"You sound like Evie," Mal cut him off with an eye-roll.

"Strictly speaking, it's good Evie is thinking like that," Ben shrugged. He put his arm around Mal and began to rub her shoulder with his fingertips. "So, when do you want to get married?"

Mal looked out into the night and considered the black, inky sky. A cool breeze drifted through and made goosebumps rise on her arms. She turned and met his gaze. "Tonight," She admitted. "I just want to be your wife already."

Ben smiled and leaned his cheek on her head. "What about after cotillion?" He suggested. "Ka-Okee gets put in next Wednesday, and Thursday I'm packed, but maybe I can move my last thing on Friday, and we can take all your friends out to DunBroch or to Paris for some whiskey or brandy, get our marriage license, have a ceremony or something, and then come home and start getting ready for Auradon's part of the celebration."

"Can we get back after midnight?" Mal asked. One of the rules, whenever Ben, Mal, or any of their friends went out together, was that the Royals had to get back before midnight. This would be a huge security blitz. He might have to add an entire extra meeting to his schedule to organize it, but it would be awesome. Mal hadn't been allowed to stay out till morning hours since she'd lived with Evie.

"You know what," Ben sighed. "That sounds fun. Let's do it. I'll probably die in meetings on Saturday, but-"

"But you're usually dying in meeting anyways," Mal interjected. "People literally drown you with their problems."

"I sense resentment in that statement," Ben laughed. He pressed a kiss to her head. "We won't be able to go anywhere until after we're publicly married, mostly because I need at least a month's warning before I can drop things and go, but we'll go on a honeymoon together after the white wedding."

"As far as me being queen, does that start after wedding one, or wedding two?" Mal asked.

Ben tossed the idea back and forth. "Technically… you'll be my wife. Which makes you Consort Queen until you're coronated with the official ceremony. So even though you're not immediately the 'Queen' of Auradon, technically your responsibilities change the moment you sign the paper. So… partial queen duties?" He shrugged. "I'll ask dad."

Mal chewed on her lip. "In theory, let's say I take on all the duties of Queen starting Saturday Morning. How does that change your schedule?"

Ben let out a physical sigh of relief. "I can't wait till I get to split responsibilities with you. I've honestly forgotten what free time feels like outside of our dates." He rubbed a hand over his face and thought. "At least half of my day Saturday would be cleared up if you started then. Because then I could move things so they're overlapping, and we can divide and conquer. In essence, my workday goes from sixteen to six, maybe seven or eight hours every day."

"Does that mean I actually get to talk to you now?" Mal asked with a smile.

"Amazing concept, isn't it?" Ben laughed. "What do you want to do? I'm okay to keep holding everything down until you're officially coronated if you want." He drummed his fingers on her bicep in a comforting thrum while he waited for her response.

"Actually, I think I might take over," Mal thought out loud. "That way I get to spend more time with you. Besides, I won't be swamped with Court Duties anymore."

"Well, you will be, but only to a degree since the courts and the monarch are separate. You already know that the king is head of court but when there's a queen she gets a say too. Her say is slightly below the king's but that's just a balance check because she has the power to veto any laws he makes," Ben explained, moving his hands a little as he spoke.

Mal let out a deep breath. "There's so much," She gasped. "How will I ever get it all?"

"I felt like that when I started out too," Ben told her, squeezing her close to his side. "But I had my parents, and you have me. We'll figure it out together. As far as your court duties go, chances are they won't release you until you're officially coronated, but I'm allowed to help if we're married."

"That's new," Mal hummed. "Usually whatever I was doing I was supposed to keep separate from you until it was developed."

"Same with me," Ben laughed. "I get to share laws in-the-making, legal cases, the works. Now it's just that you're not allowed to share what I tell you with your friends."

"The joys of National Security," Mal sighed half-heartedly. She reached for Ben's hand and squeezed her palm against his. "What else do we need to figure out? Who would marry us next week? Where would we go? Where can we find a ring for you?"

"Slow down," Ben chuckled, fiddling with her left hand so he could watch the diamonds sparkle in the dim light on her hand. "I think we have a few heritage rings in the family vaults. I had yours made special, but I could easily wear my grandfather's and get it sized and engraved. We could go anywhere within two hours of the palace and, heck, Dad can marry us since he still holds that power in the law. And if not Dad then I could easily find someone in the palace who's qualified."

Mal watched him move her hand back and forth to see the ring sparkle on her hand with a small smile. "I can't wait," She whispered.

"Me neither," He murmured in her ear. She turned her head to smile up at him and leaned up a little, ready to kiss him.

A door opened down below on the palace grounds, shedding light over all the shrubbery for a quick flash before a thud signified the door had shut again. "I can't believe it!" Someone declared down below. Mal turned away from Ben and leaned down over the balcony as a young man – maybe a duke or a prince – stalked out into the shrubbery with a young woman who had blue-streaked hair followed him.

"Believe what?" She asked in a high, snobbish tone. "Why are you acting like such a baby?"

The young man whirled around and made several angry gestures to the palace behind him. A few of the other couples on the balcony looked down with frowns. "Them, Clara, the royals!" He yelled. Spittle was flying from his mouth. Mal frowned and squinted. The two seemed to be dressed similarly, meaning they were either a couple trying to match or, more likely, two siblings, sent from the same country. The boy continued yelling. "I can't believe the audacity – how dare they?"

"What?" Clara growled, stamping her feet. "It's a perfectly good party we're missing. What's your deal?"

"I can't believe that he'd make a villain a queen!" The boy exploded suddenly, taking off his ties and hurling it to the ground with such force Mal took her hand off the balcony in surprise. "How dare he put the country in jeopardy!"

"Mal?" The girl deadpanned. "That's what you're mad about? Mal?"

"You're not mad?" The boy exclaimed, unbuttoning his suit coat and his sleeves while he turned red, even in the darkness. "He's putting the daughter of the evilest villain ever on the throne of our country, giving her plenty of power to ruin everyone's lives, and not caring that we all might die-"

He started emptying his pockets onto the ground. There were wrappers, a plastic spoon, peanuts and candies, and something greasy wrapped up in a napkin. He ripped off his coat and tossed it onto a shrub as he paced. Mal glanced around them. The other people on the balcony were intently watching the argument down below, and only two were glancing at her cautiously. She assumed most of them hadn't realized it was them standing there due to the night hiding most of their features, like her signature hair. She swallowed and glanced up at Ben, whose lips were pinched into an angry growl and whose eyes were hard with fury. Carefully, she untangled their hands from each other and looked down, examining the ring on her finger as she tried to calm herself down.

"Die," Clara repeated in a deadpan tone. "Doubtful. What, is King Ben just going to up and vanish?"

"No, she'll murder him!" Her brother exclaimed, spinning on his heel and kicking a small shrug, sending a bunch of leaves flying off of the bush. "Him and his family and everyone until it's just her and she's done everything her mom was never able to do! He's a fool, believing her lies and giving her everything she wants. You can't cater to evil, and he's just – walking around – hey Mal, you want this, sure thing. Hey Mal, you want the kingdom, here you go. Hey Mal, should I expose my neck as you raise a knife over my head? Sounds good to me!" The boy shoved his hands deep into his pockets and paced back and forth, practically steaming. "She doesn't deserve any kindness, any celebration, we ought to be summoning the army to stop her before we're all entrapped in her demonic lies and cutting her sinisterly, seductive mouth off. I wouldn't mind seeing her actually punished for her crimes and strung up like-"

"Young man!" Ben finally exploded. The sheer volume was so great that everyone, even Mal, jumped. She almost felt her frame edge into a defensive position before she reminded herself that this was Ben, and Ben wouldn't be hurting her. Her eardrums were ringing. The boy down on the palace grounds stiffened like someone had dumped ice water down his back and turned slowly. Mal dipped her head down, cheeks burning, as people on the balcony backed away from them, leaving her and Ben clearly isolated. Clara squinted up at them, winced, and turned her head away, covering her face in shame as the boy blinked up through the shadows at them. Ben took his arm from around Mal and planted his hands on the railing. He straightened up and glared – really, he glared – down at the young man.

"King Ben," The boy took a breath. His gaze fell on Mal momentarily, and his lip curled in distaste. "I apologize for interrupting your evening," He forced out, sounding like he had just swallowed a pound of rock salt before he tried to open his mouth. "May I congratulate you on your-"

"Save your breath," Ben spat, enunciating every word. He curled his fingers into the balcony railing and then forced his hands to relax. "Your worries are notable, but I assure you we take every precaution for your safety." Ben let out a deep breath and waved his hand. "Leave," He commanded. "Get out of my sight. Georgetown citizens, correct? I'll page ahead to your parents the details of this incident. So help me if I ever see your hide around here, you won't be leaving with perfect teeth. I will take personal pride in disfiguring your mouth for this conversation alone, so don't let me hear another word out of your mouth against my fiancée."

An icy feeling crept down Mal's spine as she listened to Ben's threats. She'd never heard Ben threaten anyone before – she'd never even heard him get angry before, not counting that time at her Cotillion. And sure, she'd heard threats against the royal family. Most notably from last year, when Ben's name had been smeared by the public for the crop failures. And not to mention all the threats she'd heard and had passed on regularly when she lived on the Isle. But she hadn't heard threats like this in a very, very long time, if ever. These threats were precise, striking fear into the hearts of everyone who heard them, and the tone of voice left no one any doubt that Ben would gladly – gladly – carry them out.

The boy coughed a little as he tried to clear his throat. He sounded like he was choking on his tongue as he sheepishly gathered up his jacket and picked most of the trash up off of the ground. He let out a hasty bow before he turned and headed back inside. Mal kept her gaze focused on the ground as the crowd slowly dispersed on the balcony. Her heart thudded against her chest like a hammer beating into her skin. No one said anything to them. Ben's breathing remained heavy and intense beside her. Her fingers trembled from the surprise of his anger and from the cold.

After several minutes of nothing – not touching, no words – Ben put a hand on hers. "I'm sorry for yelling," He murmured quietly.

Mal straightened up and shook her head. "Oh, it's fine. I mean, he wasn't being the nicest, and… I'm not mad."

Ben put his arm around her shoulders and rubbed her arms, which were covered in goosebumps. "Let's not talk about it," He whispered. "Come on, I want to go back inside and make sure he left. Let's find everyone."

They turned and re-entered the ballroom. Music was playing – the DJ had finally started his songs. A large area had cleared for dancing, meaning that a majority of the guests were now wandering through the other areas cleared for guest use – the dining room, the small library, the gardens, basically the lowest floor of the building. Ben and Mal skirted around the dance floor and then clasped their hands together as they began to look for Jay, Lonnie, Carlos, Jane, or Ben's parents. Mal used her free hand to reach into his suit pocket for his phone since hers had probably been taken back up to her room by Doug or one of the servants. The time read 7:20.

"Excuse me," Ben stopped a guard who was patrolling the perimeter of the room. "Can you please see to it that the young prince from King George Town is escorted out? His sister is fine to stay, but he was acting like a disrespectful snot, and I want him to leave early."

"Yes, your majesty," The guard nodded and pulled out a walkie-talkie. He began relaying the instructions he'd just gotten from Ben. As he walked away, Ben slung an arm around Mal's waist and pulled her close to his side.

"Are you hungry?" He whispered in her ear.

"A little," She nodded. Her hands still felt a bit numb from cold.

"Listen," Ben sighed, walking her toward the dining room where additional tables had been laid out. "I'm sorry I yelled. Please, don't think about that boy anymore. What he said… it's just not true."

"I grew up on the Isle, Ben," Mal grumbled. "I know how to take threats." They got in line behind a couple who immediately turned to greet them, thank them for the party, and congratulate them on getting engaged. Ben got Mal a plate of something fancy she didn't know the name of and together they wandered into the library on a hunch. There, they found their group hiding on a collection of sofas near the window, watching guests wander the gardens outside. Ben helped Mal sit down in her dress before he took a seat beside her without a word.

Adam appeared to have calmed down. He was eating the same thing Ben and Mal had just grabbed as Belle skimmed a book beside him. Their hands were intertwined. "I haven't seen you for a while," Belle smiled. "Are you alright?"

Jay craned his head to look at Mal. He was lounging on a window seat. Lonnie had collected cushions off of the couch and was lounging on the floor beside him. He was trailing his fingers through her hair as he studied his surroundings. "You look pale," He told Mal.

Janes and Carlos were sitting on a sofa together. She was leaning back into him with her eyes closed and his arms were latched around her shoulders comfortingly. But at Jay's words, Jane cracked an eye open. "Are you okay?" She asked Mal.

Mal swallowed. "I am," She whispered.

Adam straightened up. "I'm sorry if I scared you, Mal. The Duke of Weselton…" He trailed off, and Ben shook his head.

"No, it's not that, dad," He sighed. "My fault. I lost my cool with this… prepubescent scumbag who was talking about stringing her up in the gardens."

Carlos's face twisted into a vicious sneer and Jay straightened up and cracked his joints. "I hope you set the rules of things clear?" Carlos demanded in a low, threatening tone. Still, he had nothing on Ben's fierce threats. Mal barely batted an eye.

"I did," Ben assured him coolly. "But I snapped, and I know I scared you." He set a hand on her forearm. "Sorry."

"Stop apologizing," Mal waved him off. "I swear, I'm okay. I just wasn't expecting you to yell."

"You yelled?" Jay snorted. "Sheesh, who'd have thought the kitten could roar?"

"Oh, no, Jay," Mal shook her head, and a round of giggles rose up inside her. She began to laugh. "Oh, he snapped!" She clapped her hands together for added effect. Laughing helped the shock of the situation wear off a little. "And everyone around us jumped and you could see the kid's hair standing on end from fifteen feet away." Mal covered her face as she began to laugh spastically. "Everyone backed away. And then he started threatening the kid… holy crap, there are people on the Isle who couldn't have done better." She shook her head in disbelief and directed her attention to Ben. "You," She began with a smile, "are scary." She stabbed her food with her fork and took a bite, still shaking her head in disbelief.

"I don't believe it," Lonnie disagreed, shaking her head. "No. Not Ben."

"I was shaking," Mal protested, holding a hand up. "I've never seen him that intense about anything. He was all: 'you're not going to leave with a perfect smile', and 'I will take personal pride in disfiguring your face.'" She dropped off, still shaking her head in disbelief and smirking at Ben, who was looking a bit pink. "We did decide on some things for our wedding," She announced, and then elbowed Ben to signal she wanted him to talk.

Ben cleared his throat. "Mal likes her privacy, so we're going to get married ahead of time and then treat the coronation as her 'official wedding'. That way she doesn't have to wear white, doesn't have to give a speech, and is free to get drunk with her friends."

"That's not what I said," Mal frowned.

"I don't hear you complaining about the idea, though," Ben pointed out. Mal shrugged and subsided.

"When?" Belle asked, glancing over the pages of her book and smiling as if she already knew the answer, though there was no way she coud.

"Tomorrow," Ben claimed. Everyone in the group stared at him as Mal snickered. A smile spread across Ben's face. "Not tomorrow. But we were thinking about Friday. After Powhatan Cotillion. And yes, that's a literal answer."

"Next week?" Belle asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah," Ben nodded. "And it's going to be a tiny, minuscule thing. I'm going to clear my day after three, we're all going to go out for some drinks, and pick up our marriage license before we do a small, non-public ceremony. We're thinking it'll be just us in this group, plus Evie and Doug. That's it." He waited for his parent's approval. Belle heaved a heavy sigh and turned to see Adam's response. Ben pinched his lips together. "We want it this way." He added, hoping to head off any concerns.

Adam shrugged. "We always knew their wedding would be a little weird," He reminded Belle, squeezing her hand. "At least they're giving us some warning instead of just running off and doing it. Okay. Need a priest?"

"Yes, please," Ben nodded with a smile.

Carlos and Jane exchanged raised eyebrows. "Are you really okay with the King of Auradon getting married like this?"

"He's not going to be the King of Auradon, he's just going to be Ben," Mal sighed irritably. "If we – if I – have to put up with royal bullcrap for the rest of our lives, then I at least want to have my wedding in peace. And Auradon will get their fake show of wealth later, in December. Everything will be fine."

"Is Auradon going to know this is a thing?" Jay asked as he went back to threading his fingertips through Lonnie's scalp.

"Maybe eventually," Ben shrugged. "But for now, this is just for us. Because we worked hard for this." He took Mal's hand and squeezed it. "It hasn't been easy. We deserve this much."

Mal smiled. "We'll make it work," She promised him. Across the sofas, Carlos let out a little sigh and pulled out his phone. Mal raised an eyebrow at him. "What are you doing?" She asked.

"Ben… and… Mal… are… getting… married… next… week" Carlos read aloud as his fingers flew across the screen. "Don't… expect… her… to… wear… any… of… your… white… dresses. Might… want… to… start… thinking… black."

"And purple," Jane reminded him.

"And purple," Carlos agreed, adding the statement onto the end of his text. His phone dinged, and a smile spread across his face. "Evie is making death threats through Doug again," He announced to the group.

"How much longer does this last?" Mal sighed as she leaned her head onto Ben's shoulder and began playing with her ring in the light again. Ben pulled out his phone and flashed the time at her. The clock read 7:40 now. Mal watched as he unlocked his phone, went to his calendar, moved a few things around for next week, and then opened a countdown function on his watch. He inclined his head to make sure she was watching as he started a countdown to Friday, three o'clock, next week. She chuckled and let her eyes close.

"She's going to go to sleep," Carlos warned Ben. "She, Jane, and Lonnie. The girls are all tired tonight."

"Add me to that list," Jay yawned. "Lon, you and I need to go home and get some sleep." He pulled her hair back from behind her ears as his fiancée yawned.

"Agreed," Lonnie mumbled. "I'll get up after you." And, expectedly, Jay didn't move, so Lonnie stayed on the floor in her personal cushion palace.

"You guys aren't really going to leave us alone, are you?" Mal grumbled. "Ben and I are supposed to stay up with the party and it literally ends tomorrow morning."

"Yeah," Ben agreed, poking Mal's arm. "We're supposed to stay up with the party. You know, Mal, how can you expect to stay out until two or three a.m. next week if you can't make it to eight tonight?"

"Evie forced me through a spa today and I almost died of stress because of you all," Mal wrinkled her nose. "I have a reason to be tired."

Ben chuckled and set his and her plates aside. "Come on, princess," He invited, standing up. Mal, upon losing her pillow, sat up scowling. He took her hand and pulled her into a standing position. "Let's go dance."

"Why?" Mal whined. "I can't dance."

"Then let's just spin in aimless circles and pretend we're dancing so you can stay awake," Ben laughed.

"We're probably going to head out," Carlos announced. "Classes in the morning." Jane nodded and sat up, swinging her legs off the couch. Jay jolted to attention and got up, and Lonnie, true to her word, followed.

"Bye Mal," Jane bid the purplette. The two shared a brief hug before Lonnie shuffled past with a yawn. Carlos clapped Mal on the back in his hug, and Jay pulled her into a tight embrace. "See you next week," He yawned. "We meeting somewhere, or no?"

"We'll send someone to pick you up," Ben smiled. "Drive safe, guys."

Before they left the library, Ben stopped to give his mom a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Will you be turning in soon?" He asked.

"Soon," Belle repeated with a nod, setting her book down to wrap her arms around her son. "Good luck with the party. Make sure both you and Mal get to where you need to be – no funny business."

"Does it matter still?" Mal sighed. "No one would know the difference."

Ben rolled his eyes. "I'll make sure of it," He promised his mom. "I love you. See you in the morning."

"Good night," Belle yawned. She picked her book back up and leaned against Adam's shoulder as Ben took Mal's hand and led her back out to the ballroom. It was hard to believe he was all grown up, with a fiancée and his kingdom.

Mal yawned as Ben helped her weave through the crowd towards the floor. He carefully took up her arms and they began spinning with the other couples on the floor.

"Was it worth it?" Ben asked as Mal yawned a little and admired her ring against Ben's suit.

"I can't believe you wore my color," Mal smiled. "You've never looked so good before."

Ben laughed. "So, you're happy?" He asked, which was a silly question since she was always happy with him.

Mal looped her arms around Ben's shoulders and leaned into his chest. She let her eyes drift closed as they kept going, kept spinning. "It's perfect," She whispered. "Everything is perfect."

Ben chuckled. He kept Mal upright as her eyelids grew heavier and heavier until she was tripping over nothing and yawning constantly. They took a break around 10:30 on the stairs, but that was the end for Mal. She passed out on the fourth step up, with her head on Ben's knee and his arm draped around her. The pretty silver ring caught the light and scattered tiny rainbows on her face as the party continued on around her and she slowly slipped away from reality.

______________________________________________________________

Lady Mal to Become Queen - Auradon News – September 21, 28

Allow us to introduce the next royal bride: Lady Mal, daughter of Maleficent, the first maiden ever to join the official royal family. Hopefully, you already know of her from the eight years she spent dating King Benjamin, son of Beast and Belle and current ruler of Auradon.

In a history-making event, King Ben proposed to Mal in the beginning hours of the celebration of the formation of Auradon on live television. The palace has not released any details regarding when a royal wedding will take place but given that the couple took so much time just to date, it's likely we could be looking at a repeat of the famed tourney star Jay's relationship with his longtime fiancée. Jay also happens to be a close friend of Lady Mal's, so the chances they follow each other's lead may be higher than we think.

When they're wed, Mal will be the most atypical royal bride in this dispensation. She'll be the first descendant of a villain to be marrying into a royal family, and the daughter of Maleficent, at that. She's also one of the few royals who possess the ability to use magic, just a few steps behind Queen Elsa and Queen Rapunzel. Among other things she holds the title of longest girlfriend among any of the royals, the only royal raised on the Isle of the Lost, the only royal who can shapeshift, the only royal who almost destroyed Auradon and, truthfully, the most controversial royal ever in this dispensation.

Ben and Mal have been dating for eight long years, but after the first six months ended, they retreated into seclusion. Mal was accepted as a Lady of the Court six months after arriving from the Isle and has been working with him side-by-side since; even taking up politics professionally after leaving Auradon Prep to be with him. She rose to be the most powerful person in the court, taking up head responsibility right after the King himself. Most of their relationship is hidden from the public eye, though they can often be photographed on casual dates around Auradon, such as the one a few weeks ago at Auradon Prep. Over the years, people have speculated that he was about to propose several times, but each time the palace assured the public that when the time came, they would let Auradon know. Many people speculated it was because Lady Mal simply wasn't ready to take up the role of queen.

Now Mal, who has apparently decided she's prepared, is set to marry Ben and become the second half of the monarchy. She will have the power to veto laws Ben creates, direct all palace personnel, and to create official declarations alongside her husband.

The couple will live at Beast's palace where Former King Adam and Queen Belle also reside. The King and Queen have not given any official statement regarding their future daughter-in-law, but the elder couple was photographed and filmed during the engagement. It's clear they were aware that the proposal was going to go down, and that they were more than okay with it. As far as Mal's mother is concerned, it's safe to assume that she hasn't been told, as she is still available for viewing at the Auradon Zoology Emporium, where she has been for the last year in lizard form.

Ben and Mal met in the fall of 20 at Auradon Prep after Ben decreed that the second generation of villains would be given a chance to choose good and be integrated with the people in Auradon. Mal was among the first four students who almost destroyed his Coronation before turning Mal's mother into a lizard and publicly choosing good over evil. Ben and Mal, who had begun dating previous to Coronation, stayed together despite many people who doubted such a relationship would last. Things have only intensified over the years as Mal rose in politics and eventually moved into the royal palace to live with him and his family.

Today, it's clear that despite political tribulation, the couple is more in love than ever. We're excited to see everything that will happen over the next few years as King Ben and his new wife continue to make changes in Auradon. Long may they reign.

______________________________________________________________

Animosity after 'Scandalous' Royal Proposal – BG Metropolis – Sept 21, 28

Well folks, it finally happened! King Ben proposed to Lady Mal last night, on the steps of the palace ballroom in front of approximately 2,000 royal attendees. Details about the proposal are still being leaked, but Lady Mal was quoted saying: "You all set me up!" Sounds like someone definitely wasn't expecting her longtime boyfriend to be dropping to one knee that night.

Lady Mal previously opened up the party in a stunning white gown with yellow and blue details, but after an alleged wardrobe malfunction involving a glass of red wine being spilled on her, left the party. King Ben left soon after, reappearing only minutes later in a new outfit with purple detailing. He immediately called the room's attention from the staircase he was about to change Lady Mal's life on and announced that he was about to pop the question – just as soon as Evie, the owner of the popular Evie's Four Hearts and Mal's best friend, finished fixing her outfit. Soon after, Mal appeared on the top of the staircase, looking absolutely bewildered until Ben took her hand and led her down the staircase towards the crowd. He brought out the ring, gave a speech, she said yes, and the rest, at this point, is history.

However, despite the inherent happiness of the two, not everyone was thrilled by the revelation that Maleficent's daughter was about to ascend the throne. Within minutes, there was a commotion as the Duke of Weselton was thrown into a dessert table that had been set up alongside the staircase – the result of Former King Adam losing his infamous temper. Witnesses reported that the Duke was raving about the proposal and the future queen and that he even proclaimed that 'She'll be the downfall of the kingdom' before leaving the scene immediately. Witnesses also report that King Ben reprimanded a young royal who was angrily ranting about Lady Mal on the grounds.

Several other royals and citizens alike have taken alight to social media to express displeasure and worry over Mal's future appointment to the throne. A slow-growing social media presence titled 'Knights for Freedom' have declared their mission: "The throne of Auradon is not for the villains to overrun, and we won't let tyrants like Maleficent's daughter steal away our lives."

No details have been released on a royal wedding. Once Mal is instated as queen, she will have the power to block laws that Ben creates, decree official declarations with her husband, and direct all palace personnel to her bidding. Numerous failsafes exist to keep the monarchy from overthrowing itself, but it will be interesting to see, for the first time, if these systems will be effective in creating the balance of power Auradon so desperately needs. More updates coming soon.

#ben #mal #ben florian #mal bertha #evie grimhilde #jay son of jafar #carlos descendants #carlos de vil #descendants #descendants 2 #descendants 3 #disney descendants #disney #fanfic #proposal #marriage

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delhi-architect2 · 4 years

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Journal - 10 Valuable Lessons Learned During My First 10 Years in Architecture

Mike LaValley is the architect, speaker, and writer behind Evolving Architect. For more creative and nerdy insights, follow him on Instagram or check out his upcoming book.

2019 marked the end of something profound to myself and my career. I have worked in the profession of Architecture for 10 years. In May 2008, I graduated from Syracuse University with a hope, a dream, and a whole lot of student loans. It turns out that college at a private school is expensive.

Nevertheless, I was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, ready to take on the world.

And although I meant well from the beginning, the road to getting here wasn’t easy. It was paved with lessons both professional and personal that have shaped me into the person I am today.

As a way to reflect on who that person is, I’ve broken down the 10 most important lessons I’ve gleaned from working in the profession and practicing my craft. These aren’t in any particular order (except for #10 – it’s objectively the best because I said so), but they may mean more or less to you depending on where you are on your own career path today.

Enough chit chat! Let’s get started.

Lesson 1: Fast, Good, Cheap. Pick Two.

Image via Jems

It makes sense, right? Someone starts an architecture firm in order to make money. Sure, there’s the idyllic hope that every firm owner is trying to better the world through design, but if the office isn’t making money, you don’t have a job.

In comes practicality.

I learned very early on at my first job that there are really only three factors that directly affect a project. Speed, quality and cost. Depending on who you talk to, or who you work with, each project will prioritize those three factors in a different order.

It’s up to you as the Architect to work within the priorities and develop a project that best resonates with the client. Now, that said, many clients want all three — but it literally isn’t possible.

For example, let’s say you’re making something quick and cheap. For simplicity, let’s say it’s a rocking chair. If I skimp a bit on the materials and purchase some scrap wood and basic nails, I could probably make a chair fairly quickly. There’s no guarantee that it will be good though. To be honest, there’s no guarantee it will even last much longer than a few sittings.

Let’s flip that around and say that we want a chair that’s done well and quick. In that case, I could probably fabricate a great chair and make it happen in relatively little time, but you better believe it will be expensive. I wouldn’t break myself down just to get a high quality product to you quickly without being properly compensated.

It’s just a fact of life – you can have something fast, good, or cheap. It’s up to you to decide what matters most. But hey, at least you can pick two.

Lesson 2: Develop skills to make yourself invaluable

I started working three months before the world melted in 2008 and the Great Recession wreaked havoc across the globe. I couldn’t have predicted it in my wildest dreams.

As entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk sometimes refers to the market dips, it’s like ‘getting punched in the face.’

There were many times in the first years of the Recession when I caught myself trying to figure out what my next moves were. Would I get fired? Would I need to change jobs? When would my next raise be? Would I ever get a raise again?

The questions stopped being focused on the negative when I realized something simple – I need to make myself invaluable.

Instead of focusing on all of the possible negative outcomes that I couldn’t control, I started pouring into skill building, learning, and self improvement.

It may not be at the forefront of the profession’s mind today, but when I started working, LEED was the only thing I heard people talking about. I knew that not everyone had a LEED AP credential, but I also knew it was a straightforward way for me to set myself apart.

When an opportunity came up to bring a renovation project through the LEED process, I jumped at the chance to help. At the time, you needed direct experience with a LEED project to acquire the LEED AP credential. I took charge and did everything I could to learn more about sustainable design and help move the project forward.

In February 2012, I walked into the credential testing center and walked out three hours later as a LEED Accredited Professional.

The credential today doesn’t mean quite what it did when I got it, but for several years, it gave me something else that many of my peers didn’t have – a marker that identified me as a professional. While many of my friends were waiting to get their experience, I took the initiative to go and get it myself.

I became more confident in my skills and ultimately took my credential and kept pushing myself farther.

Lesson 3: School experience isn’t the same as job experience

Image via Archinect

When it comes to working in an architecture office, the first thing I always imagined I’d be doing out of school would be almost identical to what I did in studio. Anyone who’s ever actually stepped foot inside an architecture office knows that it’s something quite different.

In fact, the two are so at odds with each other sometimes that you have to remind yourself of what made you become an architect at all.

I don’t mean that in a cynical way by any means. It’s just that an architecture operates under a different set of rules.

When you’re in school, your professors are trying to teach you methods for analyzing problems in a ‘safe’ environment. It may seem like torture sometimes depending on who your professors are, but your decisions in studio are far more likely to kill a stick figure in your drawings over your neighbor in a local development project.

When you’re in an architecture office, design decisions have a real impact on cost, schedule, constructability, and ultimately, the safety of those who use the buildings you design.

However, I don’t believe that school experience is invalid. Quite the opposite – I think the framework you create for yourself can be invaluable in terms of how you approach problem solving and creative thinking.

The difference is that you need to refocus that creative know-how back into the world. The world has constraints that you can’t even imagine when you’re in school. Learning the constraints inside and out is the only way you can learn to break them without getting someone killed.

Architecture is not for the faint of heart.

Lesson 4: No one will tell you how to shape your career

I love trying to figure out what the next phase of my career looks like. I sincerely treat my career like an adventure.

I pick the vehicles, the pit stops and the destinations.

The hard truth though – no one will choose your adventure for you.

There’s a lot of autonomy needed to practice architecture. It’s very easy to wake up after years of drafting only to find out that you don’t have all the requirements met to even get your license.

You have to take charge of each step.

Now, don’t get me wrong here. I don’t mean that everyone needs to follow the SAME path, just A path.

You’re more than likely to find a bunch of peers at your office ready and willing to help you make some of these decisions based on their own experiences, but ultimately it comes down to what you want from your professional life.

Choose the adventure you want to look back on years from now and say, ‘yeah, I did that myself.’

Lesson 5: Networking is the most important career trait to nurture

Image via Architizer / Young Architect Conference

You know something crazy? I’ve had jobs at three different firms. One was only for a summer internship. The other two were full-time positions.

Okay, not too crazy.

But this is – NONE of them came without previously networking with the owners of those firms.

I met my first boss interviewing to go to Cornell University (I didn’t go there, but that didn’t matter). I met my second boss through the Syracuse Alumni Network. I met my current boss volunteering with my local AIA (American Institute of Architects) Chapter.

I can’t emphasize what networking has done for my career. Whether it was making connections with alumni or just putting myself out into the community, I look back and realize that it’s very possible to create your own luck.

Now, if I had made a bad impression with any of these gentlemen, I could have had a very different career experience. Networking isn’t something that you do in the short term. Networking is a skill that needs nurturing.

The weirdest, most frustrating thing about networking is that you have no idea when the connections will matter in your career. To be honest, some won’t in direct ways.

But networking hasn’t only provided me with jobs, it’s given me good friends, and made me more outgoing than I would have been on my own. My advice, be present with everyone you meet. You never know if that person might just be your next employer or friend.

Lesson 6: You don’t know, what you don’t know. If you don’t know, ask

The lesson I see most people around me break is that they don’t know what they don’t know. It’s the most difficult rule to recognize you’re breaking because you don’t even realize you’re breaking it.

The way I get around this — assume you know nothing.

Don’t worry about what others think when you’re asking a million questions. Questions are the best!

Would you rather make a decision without thinking about it because you’ve just ‘always done it that way’, or would you rather ask questions to someone more experienced for another point of view? When in doubt, just ask a bunch of questions. If you don’t truly know the answer to something you’re working on, you have to ask.

Lesson 7: Work on your own projects outside the office

Image via Avimeo

I personally love this lesson. Very early on in my career, I realized that I needed to develop my own portfolio of work outside of the office. You might ask yourself, “Mike, why would you ever need to do that when you’re working on such great projects IN the office?” It’s a fair question, and a good one.

I’ve always seen myself in control of my own career, my own destiny. I treat almost everything I do in my career with that mentality. Let’s take a theoretical side step: What if you weren’t allowed to use ANY of the drawings, renderings, sketches, or models in your own portfolio?

It seems a bit odd, but it happens in our industry. Whether it’s an employer’s desire to keep intellectual property (which to be fair, they’re paying you to create) or there’s a contractual clause an employer has with the client (also very fair to recognize), you may not be able to take that awesome work with you wherever you go.

That’s why I don’t worry about it.

Sure, I’ve built a solid resume from working on the variety of projects I have in the office, but I come from an early career experience when the world was melting and I needed to make myself invaluable. That type of feeling has never really left and I think it’s served me well.

In 10 years, I’ve entered almost as many independent design competitions. It probably sounds odd, but I don’t care if I win. I use the competitions as a framework to develop killer projects that mean something to me and that I can use in any portfolio I choose because they’re MY designs.

I have two rules with each competition I enter. I have to end up with some kind of tangible product (graphic, model, etc) that I can use in the portfolio. I have to learn a new technique, program, or building type to advance my skill set. If you enter a competition with the rules above, I can tell you now that you’ll exponentially learn more and have the proof that you did.

Also, competitions are really fun.

Lesson 8: Always take responsibility for your actions

I’m not perfect. Not even close.

I make mistakes all the time. Sometimes they’re small and sometimes they’re not. But I always glean something from the heartache, solve the problem and move on a bit wiser. The trick is to take responsibility though for EVERY, SINGLE, MISTAKE you make.

I can’t emphasize that enough. I mean, I could with bigger font, but you get my point.

Above the others, there is one mistake I remember like it happened yesterday. It haunts me a little.

When I was working on a renovation project in the earliest years of my career, I was in charge of reviewing potential products for a series of windows. The project was a private development to convert a historic three story building into office and residential space. The project was required to obtain a LEED Silver rating (a mid-level of sustainability accreditation for a building).

I looked at the recommended criteria that were established by the sustainability consultant for the windows. I was able to quickly identify that of the seven preliminary selections that were made by a supervisor, all except two could be chosen based on the criteria needed to meet sustainability baselines.

Five possible windows.

I let my supervisor know what I had found and he, in turn, told the Construction Manager that any of the five would be acceptable selections for the project. Side note they were all basically the same. Key word – “Basically.”

The contractor ordered something like 35 of these large, historic, sustainable super windows and everything seemed fine.

That was until I realized that one of the windows didn’t quite match ALL of the criteria. As it turns out, U-Factor is kind of a big deal. For the uninitiated, it essentially measures how well a window insulates.

Can you guess which of the remaining ‘acceptable’ windows the contractor ordered?

Yep. The ONLY one remaining window that didn’t match the criteria we needed to hit to maintain the energy model for the overall building.

When I realized the error, I had two options:

Accept the mistake I made and inform my supervisor that I had essentially cost the project thousands of dollars because of one number I missed. Pretend it never happened and go about my life. Look, as much as it would have been great to pretend, that’s just not who I am.

I walked straight into his office, paperwork in hand, and explained what had happened.

I don’t remember what I looked like in that moment, but I imagine there was very little color in my face with a hint of panic.

The most interesting thing happened though – I wasn’t yelled out of the office for being ‘stupid’ or even fired (both of which I assumed were perfectly acceptable scenarios). My supervisor looked at me and simply said, ‘thank you, Mike for bringing this to me.’

We both knew what had happened. He could see I was already pretty tormented by it.

Oh, and if I had just ‘pretended’ it away – we wouldn’t have found other ways to fix the error without replacing the windows. We wouldn’t have solved the problem. In fact, it would have become much, much worse once all of the final paperwork had been assembled for review, once the building was done, once everyone had stopped working.

Long story short — if you mess up, own it. It will suck in the moment, a lot. But if you don’t own up to your mistakes, you could be inadvertently running toward disaster rather than stopping it in its tracks.

Lesson 9: Master the art of communication

Image via Land Civil

Do you know what the most valuable course was that I took in High School?

Typing.

When you start practicing architecture, I don’t honk anyone expects the mountain of writing you’ll have in front of you.

I write everything from emails to reports, requests for proposals to contracts and all documents in between. Over time, I’ve started to really enjoy it too. I can’t explain why other than to say that writing has become another way for me to express a part of me that I couldn’t otherwise.

I’ve been introverted for the majority of my life. Only in the last few years have I really come out of my shell and put myself out there.

In a lot of ways, writing allowed me to share my voice on my own terms.

That said, communication in all forms is the quintessential skill for an architect to master.

Think about it this way – drawings, specifications, renderings, sketches, emails, phone calls, etc. – they’re all just methods to explain your intent and your vision to someone else.

If you were the greatest architect in the entire world (I have no doubt that you could be), but you couldn’t explain your designs to anyone – you would never realize any of your greatness.

Don’t take for granted the power of your voice in any medium.

Lesson 10: Keep learning always

I’m a real believer that an Architect’s journey on the path to learning never ends. Once you’re in the profession, you’re in for life.

The most profound lesson I’ve learned in the last year or so is that I will never actually learn everything the profession has to offer. In some ways I have to be okay with that.

I have to realize that the profession of architecture is more like a never-ending buffet.

Sure, you need to practice moderation and balance the types of courses you choose to make sure you’re well-rounded, but you have so much knowledge at your fingertips that you also need to try a LOT of different things to stay relevant and strong.

I hope you’ve latched on to at least one of these lessons. It took 10 hard years for me to learn them.

Here’s to ten more.

Architecture – you and me, we’re gonna be alright.

This post originally appeared on Mike LaValley’s Evolving Architect blog. Architects: Showcase your next project through Architizer and sign up for our inspirational newsletter.

The post 10 Valuable Lessons Learned During My First 10 Years in Architecture appeared first on Journal.

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