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6 - Going Higher


Harry's already up when Ben yawns and blinks himself awake. When he does so, Harry looks over to him and snorts. "Aren't royals meant to look good in the morning?"

"Who?" Ben asks, then shakes his head. "I mean, what?"

Harry rolls his eyes and pats his back pockets before pulling out a small, rounded shard of mirror. "Take a look, princess."

Ben hesitantly accepts the unconventional mirror, groaning when he sees his hair sticking up in at least eleven different directions. He tries to push it back a few times but only ends up making it worse so he gives up, not wanting to spend too long with someone else's mirror.

"Anything you do would be ruined if Uma threw you off anyway."

"Off?" Ben asks, suddenly more nervous than he'd been at his coronation.

Harry shrugs and takes the mirror back, tucking it into his pocket. "Off. Off the ship. It is an Isle..."

"But I could die."

Raising a ridiculously perfect eyebrow, Harry asks: "Can't you swim?"

"Of course!" Ben replies indignantly, "but it's different... I don't have anywhere to swim to if you throw me off."

He's given only another shrug in response so he stays silent after that, wondering if he's going to spend the day in the brig again or if he'll end up trying to swim back home by the end of the day. He carries on wondering until a girl he's never seen before greets Harry by jumping onto him and locking her legs around his middle.

"Morning," Harry laughs as he spins them around, then gently peels her off and stands her up. It's a routine that's obviously been done before and Ben has never seen a pirate so affectionate, a moment so beautiful.

"You're on lookout duty this week," the girl says once she's steady on her feet again, giving Ben a head-to-toe lookover before adding, "and I'm guessing he's going with you."

This week? Ben frowns in confusion, not having kept track of time at all. He knows they'd come to get Mal in the middle of the week but everything else had blurred together and he hadn't even thought about how much time had passed. He wonders how long his parents will wait before assuming he's not going to come back and moving on from him entirely. Tears prick in his eyes at the thought of being forgotten and left behind but he blinks them away, trying to be stronger and tougher and braver like he should be.

"-llo?" the girl waves a hand in front of his face, clearly exasperated.

"Sorry?" Ben replies, biting the inside of his cheek.

"Told you he's useless," Harry mutters to the girl, who snorts and waves before sauntering off to who knows where for who knows what.

"I'm not useless."

Harry makes a face Ben can't decipher and rolls his eyes. Only then is it that Ben notices he has the beautiful shadows around his eyes again and he can't help wondering how he'd gotten it to be so perfect when everyone back home takes so long - and uses actual mirrors - to make it look even half as good.

He's pulled out of his thoughts when Harry starts walking. It takes Ben a while to notice the accusatory stares of the crew because he's too busy watching the way Harry walks as if he'd invented the action. Unsure of what to do alone, he blindly follows, hoping it's the right thing to do, then regretting his decision when they get to what he now knows is the crow's nest and Harry starts to climb without a second thought, leaving Ben to nervously stare up at him.

"Are you coming or do you prefer swimming?" Harry calls over his shoulder.

As much as Ben wants to say no to both of those options, he can't deny that trying to swim in leather is definitely the worst thing he can think to do so he sighs and starts to climb. It's hard and he slips at least thrice before he even gets halfway but he just grits his teeth and pushes himself to move, needing to prove the pirates wrong and show he's not just useless. While he's dimly aware of Harry watching him from the top, he tries to focus only on the surface underneath his hands and feet, having climbed higher than he's ever done so in his life. It works until it doesn't.

"Your kingdom will fall before you get anywhere, weakling!" Someone yells from the deck, followed by cruel laughter. As if that's not hurtful enough, they must then kick the mast because it vibrates and throws Ben off, his grip failing for a moment.

His heart lurches as his feet slip but he bites back his scream, scrambling for something to hold onto as he sees how far up he is. Even though he'd only slipped a few centimetres, it'd been enough to scare him so he's breathing heavily when he starts to move again, this time faster and less careful. He's ready to give up when his head suddenly crashes into something and he cries out, hugging the mast for dear life as he loses his grip once more.

"Hey, you're at the top now, it's fine," Harry tells him, his voice soft, "but you have to let go and pull yourself up."

Ben shakes his head. "I can't, I can't, I can't do it."

He hears a sigh, then sees a hand in his peripheral vision. Blinking, he looks away from the rope he's holding onto and sees Harry holding out a hand for him to take. Despite everything, Ben doesn't even think before taking the hand, his fingers interlocking with Harry's like they were created for this moment. Then he's being pulled so he kicks himself up to help Harry and, slowly, he's able to crawl through the little door and collapse on the wood, exhausted and slightly embarrassed. He almost misses the cool touch of Harry's hand when they let go of one another.

"There we go," Harry says as he closes the door so neither of them falls, then kneels beside Ben. "You alright?"

Ben nods but he can feel the tears in his eyes so he says nothing, hoping Harry will ignore him or something. He can't understand why anyone would willingly choose to do that more than once and he doesn't even want to think about how he's meant to get back down.

"Hey, princess, come on, it's not that bad."

Harry's voice is soothing but Ben's heart is still racing when he admits: "I never want to do that again."

"It's only one week."

The sound Ben makes is probably akin to a whimper. He goes red immediately, looking anywhere but at Harry to avoid being ridiculed, and is pleasantly surprised when he hears Harry chuckle.

"You are such a princess." Harry grins.

"I wish..." Ben sighs. And, with that, it's Harry's turn to be shocked. Upon seeing his expression, Ben shrugs. "I just... It'd be less of a hassle than being king, you know?"

"I don't," Harry replies honestly.

"Oh, sorry..." Ben mentally kicks himself as he leans against the edge of the crow's nest.

"Not going to stand?" Harry raises an eyebrow again.

Shaking his head, Ben says: "This is more than high enough for me."

Harry smiles in amusement but accepts it at that, turning to watch the waves as if they were truly searching for land in the middle of a storm instead of looking out for visitors or trespassers in a ship stuck at its harbour because its captain wants to be a queen instead.


Thanks for reading! Perhaps a review? Until next time!