The theatre was cushier than Mal expected. For it being the one room she hadn't seen yet, it was definitely not a disappointment, especially with Ben lounging on one of the large couches as she and Evie and Doug entered.

"Where are Jay and Carlos?" Evie asked beside her as Mal took Ben in.

His hair was tousled just right, no sign of the crown, or of any crown hair after several long hours of wearing it. His pajamas the exact opposite of the regal silk she had been expecting, but a worn t shirt with the logo for the Auradon Hummingbirds in a dark blue, his plaid sleep pants the same blue and green and white. He looked perfect and she couldn't help the smile that pulled at her cheeks.

"They went for snacks ages ago," Ben admitted, "Though they probably got distracted by the chocolate fountain," He guessed.

Typical Jay and Carlos. Chocolate and fountains equaled trouble and delays in movie plans.

Evie sighed, though Mal knew she wasn't really that disappointed. "I'll go check on them," She said, turning down the aisle toward the concession stand of the Royal theatre. Doug followed, as Mal guessed he would, leaving Mal and Ben alone.

Mal found that it was the perfect opportunity to tease him. "What? No footie pajamas with little crowns on them?" She asked, lingering over by the doorway, letting him get an eyeful of the little number Evie had forced her in, the one that she felt was more like lingerie. The one Evie had said that Ben would go crazy for, and so far, she wasn't wrong.

His reactions were subtle, his Adam's apple bobbing in his throat as he swallowed hard, the quick blush that he subverted. "Nope," He answered with a smile. "And what about you?" He answered back. "Gave up the leather for silk and lace?"

"Evie made me," Mal admitted, giving a little twirl making the top fly up a bit, and the sheer robe billow like a cape. A bit of teasing was fair, right? "She wouldn't let me get away with the leather shorts though I begged."

He laughed and she knew he had been imagining it. "At the risk of sounding like a cad," he began, and she followed his eyes down her body again, "With a body like that, I would promise you my kingdom again and again and again." He stood, closing some of the distance between them.

"I like Evil Ben," She admitted with a laugh, "He could rival the Gastons with his lewd pick up lines." She walked her fingers up his chest and into his hair. "Though he should remember that his girlfriend is now good and would never ever tease him in any way shape or form."

Ben practically snorted. "You can tease all you want for now," He told her, "but you should know that once I can kiss you freely, all bets are off."

Mal felt the blush appear on her own cheeks. The thought of it, quite thrilling, the reality of breaking the promise soon approaching making her stomach do flips. "Do I have to cuddle up with Jay or Carlos during this movie night while the lust spell you're under wears off, King Benjamin?" She asked innocently.

He pulled her closer, making her gasp. "No spells, and no King tonight," He told her, "Just your boyfriend, a very desperate teenage boy itching for-"

Evie cleared her throat and she and Ben separated slightly "Do I have to get the spray bottle?" She asked with a wink that Mal didn't miss. She had become quite protective since they found out about the consequences of "just one kiss".

Mal was just glad she and the others hadn't walked in a few minutes earlier. "I'll be good," Ben said, pulling himself further away from Mal until all he held was her hand. Then he pulled her back to the couch where he had been lounging before and they all settled in on the several couches and started the first Charmington Chainsaw Charade movies.

Mal snuggled into him as the credits rolled, showing a teenage girl in an old fashioned cheerleader uniform running through a cemetery, screaming her head off. Ben smelled woodsy and crisp and clean, his heartbeat loud and steady in her ears, as the credits played on.

She realized Ben had never watched any horror movies with them when Jay started laughing from one of the couches behind them and Carlos joined in as the girl ran into the mausoleum chased by the chainsaw wielding murderer.

She and her fellow VKs used to laugh at the misfortunes of the heroes and heroines of the horror movies. No matter how serious the plot, they always found something to laugh at. The Charmington Chainsaw Charades were the cheesiest horror movies in all of Auradon.

No wonder they had started laughing.

"I want the AK opinion," Jay voiced as the aged credits gave way to the first scene after the gruesome bloodbath of the cheerleader. "The plots behind these are cheesy, right?"

Mal felt Ben shift against her to look at Jay in the back of the theatre. "They're from when our parents were kids," He answered. "Nowhere near as what passes at scary today," He explained. "I mean the scene when Carrie sings to the chainsaw, who would do that in real life?"

Doug laughed too. "That, and it's backed with the Beedles," He said, "The Beedles are not scary at all."

Evie scoffed. "You all just don't appreciate cinema classics," She said, crossing her arms tight and pulling away from Doug's arm around her.

"I still can't believe they made five of them," Carlos answered, snuggling Dude close to him, or so Mal guessed.

"Three is by far the best," Mal said. "The scene where Carrie is possessed by the chainsaw wielding killer is almost realistic."

Ben laughed beside her. "If you don't count that the background music is the cheeriest song by the Beedles, Goodnight Moonshine."

They all seemed to laugh at that. "Ok Ben and Doug," Jay continued, "I want to know your plan to take out Johnny Chainsaw and don't spare any bloody details."

"Easy," Ben answered, stretching to look over the couch to find Jay in the semi darkness. "Hide out in the athletics shed from number four, bash his head in with a tourney shield and turn him into the authorities."

"Boring!" Carlos and Evie both shouted out.

"Besides, in four, he's already the ghost of Johnny Chainsaw," Evie pointed out. "You're dead against a ghost, Ben."

"Should have just let Mal save you," Carlos added, and even Ben smiled at that.

"Doug?" He asked, passing the conversation onto his fellow AK. "Any better suggestions?"

"Time machine to prevent his tragic backstory?" Doug asked, as if he wasn't even sure himself, "or a machine to trap ghosts if it's post three," He added.

"We'd just take him out VK style," Jay admitted.

"Make him cry for his mother by the time we were done," Mal added with a wicked smile.

"Can we please just watch the movie?" Evie whined and they all laughed, then returned to the movie.

Mal snuggled into Ben yet again, her head finding the perfect position against his chest, as he wrapped his arm lazily around her shoulder and rested his hand on top of her head gently. She wrapped her arm over his abs and rest her fingers against his side.

As the movie continued, the plot building up to reveal Johnny Chainsaw, the jaded killer with his chainsaw possessed by Hades, Ben began running his fingers through her hair, varying the pressure from light as air, to a massage like pressure. She reciprocated, drawing little jagged hearts against his hip, his heartbeat in one ear, the shrieks of Carrie DoGooder in the other.

They stayed comfortable like that for quite some time, through the rest of the first movie and halfway through the second. That is until Harry DeWolf was introduced, the plucky, fake prosthetic wolf mask almost laughable.

"I could never love a beast like you, Harry." Carrie's voice came from the projector, "I already promised to go to prom with Jack Bloodgetter."

The line was supposed to be campy and cheesy, but Ben tensed up against her, his thoughts obviously somewhere else. She had stopped drawing designs against him nearly a half an hour earlier, her hand resting lazily against him, but he had continued rubbing her head, and her back gently, lulling her almost to sleep, until he had tensed up.

She watched him for a few seconds, the scene continuing on, the flashes of light catching Ben's hardened features. Something had made him tense up like she had never seen him tense up before.

She leaned closer to him, their arms still tangled around each other loosely. She pulled him to her tightly, resting her forehead against his neck gently and after several seconds he seemed to ease up. Then she began to draw soft hearts against his hip again.

The peppy prom scene gave way to blood and gore, and Mal found herself relaxing against Ben again, the screams of the fake 50's teens almost like lullabies to her ears.

"I love you," He whispered into her hair several minutes later. It was barely even a whisper at all, but enough for her to hear it over the sounds of the screams from the projector in her half asleep haze.

The screams of the teens being showered in blood giving way to his voice and other strange scenarios in her dreams.

Sometimes I think you're the only person who can save me from myself.