A one shot inspired by "Nutcracker" from Straight No Chaser

Disclaimer: I actually love The Nutcracker, but that song is actually funny. And somehow I thought Mal would react the same way to the ballet.

Mal twirled her engagement ring. It has been a few months since Ben proposed, and they were both very busy planning the wedding, which was set to take place on the anniversary that they met. However, Ben had just called saying that he had a Christmas surprise for Mal. How he had managed to do that, she had no clue, as she hadn't found the time to go Christmas shopping.

Just then, a knock at the door interrupted her from her thoughts. "Come in."

The door open, and her fiancé walked in. "Hey Mal." he said, wrapping his arms around her.

"Hey Ben," she said as she hugged Ben back. "Everything okay?"

Ben nodded. "Yeah, I just have a surprise for you. Well, an early Christmas present really."

"Oh?" She tilted tilted her head, wondering what it could be.

He smiled. "Tickets to see The Nutcracker."

Mal's eyes widened. Did she just hear that right? "What?"

"I know, right?" We are going to see the classic Christmas ballet together." Ben must've noticed Mal's wide eyes, because them he raised an eyebrow. "You okay?"

Mal quickly nodded. "Yeah, I just thought you said something else. Look, I have a lot of work to do, Lady of the Court you know, but I'll see you at dinner, okay?" As part of being Lady of the Court, she had gotten her own room at the castle after she graduated.

"Alright then." Ben kissed Mal's forehead, then walked out of the room, leaving Mal to start thinking about how she could get herself out of this situation.

Later on, Mal heard a knock at the door again, except this time, she knew who it was. "Come in Evie." When Mal couldn't think of a good reason to not go to The Nutcracker with Ben, she decided to call Evie to help her out.

"Hey Mal," Evie said as she walked in. "What's going on?"

Mal whirled around, wearing an expression akin to the one she had when Ben asked her out on their first date. "Ben's taking me to..." She shivered. "... The Nutcracker." Mal had tried to think of any way she could weasel herself out of it. She could say that she had too much work to do, but Ben would probably work his butt off to get his work done so that he could take her to The Nutcracker, and it wouldn't seem fair. She could pretend to be sick, but he would see through her in a second.

Evie, however, smiled brightly. "Mal, that's wonderful! Why are you so upset about it?"

Mal resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "E, you know that I've never been into ballet. There's just something about people in tutus that drives me up the wall. I've also looked it up, and I can't believe I'm saying this, but the Mouse King is even scary than my mother."

Evie's mouth opened a little, indicating that she got the point. "Why don't you just tell him the truth, M?"

Mal sighed. Sometimes, it seemed like Evie didn't get it. "Evie, you don't understand. This is out first Christmas, and probably only Christmas, as an engaged couple, and next year, we'll be married, and I'll be queen. If I don't like, or at least tolerate what he likes, what will that say?"

Evie sighed. "Mal, I'm pretty sure..."

However , Mal interrupted her. "And besides, Ben seems so excited about this. I just don't want to let him down."

After a long moment of silence, her best friend finally spoke. "Alright, how's this: I'll get tickets myself and take Doug to the valley the same night. That way, you won't have to face this alone. After all, it will be our first Christmas engaged too." Evie had gotten engaged to Doug about a month after Mal and Ben had. They sometimes wondered if the two men had planned that on purpose.

Mal threw her arms around Eve in gratitude. "E, you're the best."

It was the night of the ballet. Mal was rushing around the room, trying to get ready. The reason why she was running so late was that she had finally found time to do some Christmas shopping and had to finish wrapping one of Ben's presents. She heard Ben knocking on the door for the fifth time. "Mal, are you ready yet? Evie and Doug will be here any minute."

Mal put on her second earring. "Just a bit." Once Ben found out that Evie and Doug were also coming, he suggested that they all go there together, so, they were all carpooling in Doug 's car.

Once she came out, Ben's jaw dropped open. "Mal... You... You look..."

Then a car horn beeped, and Mal giggled. "Come on my handsome beast, they're already here." They both rushed out the door, and as soon as they got into the car and buckled up, they were off.

"Ugh, I knew I should've checked the traffic reports before we left," Doug groaned as he leaned against the driver's window. Just as they were nearing their destination, they came across stand still traffic.

Evie reassuranly put her hand on Doug's shoulder. "It's alright honey, we left early enough, and we're almost there anyways."

Ben looked over and smiled at Mal. She smiled back before looking out the window. The sidewalks were crowded crises with shoppers, rushing about to buy Christmas presents. It made her dizzy just watching them.

Despite the fact that they eventually got past the traffic, they had trouble finding a parking spot and barely managed to get into the theater before the house lights went off. Mal kind of hoped that the profound apologies and promises that the theater would make the parking lot bigger from one of the ushers would continue on for the whole show, but soon enough, they were in the theater getting into their assigned seats according to their tickets.

"Did you get seats next to us on purpose?" Mal asked as she slid down in the seat next to Evie.

Evie shook her head. "No, I swear, it was a complete coincidence." Mal shrugged . At least Ben remembered that she didn't always like "special arrangements" . They sometimes just made her feel awkward.

Then, the ballet started. The opening notes reminded Mal of some video game that Carlos played, but she couldn't make sense of anything else. Why was the tree growing, and who was making it grow? Why were the toy soldiers and the nice fighting? When Clara and the Nutcracker entered the Land of Sweets, Mal thought that whoever wrote this must've been hungry at the time. And that's when her eyelids started getting heavy.

Mal was startled awake by the change in music. As she looked around, she realized that she must've fallen asleep. Luckily, no one had noticed. She stretched in her seat, wondering if the ballet was over yet. She didn't know how much more she could take.

Suddenly, she got an idea. She leaned on closer to her fiancé. "Hey Ben, I have to go to the bathroom."

" Okay, don't be too long, " Ben whispered back. "I got you some hot chocolate if you want anything to drink anything."

Mal looked into the cup holder in her seat. Sure enough, beating in there was a Styrofoam cup. He was just so sweet. She smiled at Ben and mouthed "Thanks" before getting up out of her seat and walking out the doors, blinking as she stepped onto the lights. It did feel good to stretch her legs though. She looked around the lobby, and soon spotted that the concession stand was still open. She figured that even though she didn't like the Nutcraker, she should st least get Ben a cupcake or something, since he went through all of that trouble.

After half of a cup of hot chocolate and what felt like an eternity for Mal, the ballet was finally over. However, the night had one more suprise. Just as they were exiting the theater, the paparazzi decided to swarm them. The forsome barely managed to get into the car and get out of the parking lot.

Once they were on the road, Ben gently took Mal's hand. "I'm so sorry. I didn't even think about what might happen if reporters showed up."

" It's fine, " Mal quietly said as she stared out the window. She was so tired right now that all she wanted to was go to bed.

"No, it's not." He put a hand on her shoulder . "Mal, look at me." Mal turned her head towards Ben. Even in the darkness she could make out his hazel green eyes. "Have you've been feeling more stressed since our engagement?" She shook her head . "Mal, please, I know you 're keeping something."

Mal sighed, deciding to confess her fears. "Ben, I love you, but how is this going to work? I mean, if we don't even like the same things how are we going to get along? What will people think? "

Luckily, Doug had decided that now was a good time to pull over, so Ben unbuckled his seat belt and moved closer to his fiancé. "We've been over this. You just have to be yourself. It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. As long as we're together, that's what really counts." Mal nodded, finally coming to her senses. "I take it you didn't like the dance then?"

Mal shook her hear . " It was horrible. But you seemed so excited about it... "

"Mal, the only reason I took you there was because I wanted our first Christmas together to be special."

Mal couldn't help but be touched. "Aw, Ben, you didn't have to do that for me. Being with you makes Christmas special for me. "

Ben smiled and hugged his true love. "Thanks Mal, but if you ever try to drag yourself to an event you don't like again, maybe I'll take you next year. "

Mal hugged Ben back and smirked. "Well, I guess you don't get the cupcake I bought for you then."

Ben's eyes widened at the word cupcake. "What?"

Thanks for reading everyone! I do have some of my own ideas, but requests are very much appreciated.