Chapter 2 – Negotiating Wardrobe Choices

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And thus began the strange cycle of Harry's unwilling servitude. Every day he'd meet Chad at the back of the shop, more asleep than awake, and every day he would take Chad out to some new restaurant for lunch. It was during these meals that Chad learned that Harry, Gil, and some guy named Jay were scheduled to set off on some grand tour through all of Auradon starting in the fall. They were going to act as ambassadors - which Harry grumbled about - but also explore the unknown (which he was actually excited about), though this unfortunately parted him from Uma, who as far as Chad could tell was Harry's sun and moon and stars.

Every day Lila would shoot Harry dubious looks, because apparently the noble was a bit eccentric when it came to fashion. All of his clothes were well made but they were - well, weird. Long coats over soft textured sleeveless shirts, and he always had eyeliner on, smeared with some degree of effortless dismissal. Harry never paid her any mind, and for all that he offered wry critiques to the clothing Chad altered, he never made fun of the clothes Chad wore, despite the fact that most of them were homemade, all of them were patched, and despite Chad's efforts to regularly clean them, they always seemed a bit dingy. But they were comfortable and covered him which was good enough for Chad. And, apparently, good enough for Harry too.

There was a chance Lila didn't share this opinion, but Lila had seemed to have some kind of bone to pick with Chad since the moment she had first starting working in the shop when he was fourteen, managing the bulk of the alterations by himself in the gap between the previous seamstress' end of employment. It didn't help that Chad had been harried, running on too little sleep and just- painfully awkward, hair a mess of curls because he didn't have time to breathe let alone cut it. She'd taken one look at him and been immediately unimpressed, not that Chad could entirely blame her. He just wished she would reevaluate her opinion now that he was older.

It was what led to the subtle jabs when they were working that Chad mostly ignored, though it was harder to do so when Lila was more overt. And it was even harder when she'd given up on words altogether and just- it wasn't her fault that Chad was clumsy, but he felt like sometimes she maybe set him up for catastrophe just so she could watch, and that day the catastrophe happened to come in the form of a bottle of liquid clothing dye splashing across Chad's front - dousing his secondhand sweater, painfully mended jeans, and glued together sneakers with ugly dark blue splatters.

"Come on, Kit," Lila groaned, picking up the mostly empty bottle before it could spill out onto the floor. "You've got to watch where you're going."

"Sorry." Chad was too busy staring at his clothes, wondering if they could be salvaged and knowing they likely couldn't. He'd have to retire these to around-the-house clothes now, but that meant he would have to throw together another outfit so he could make it to next laundry day.

"Maybe ye should watch where you're going," Harry growled, appearing at Chad's side in an instant. "Come on, we're getting ye some new clothes."

"What?" Chad blinked. "No, I've got to-"

"She spilled it, she can clean up her own damn mess," Harry growled, grabbing onto Chad's wrist and tugging him towards the front of the shop. "I'm not gonna sit around while you work in wet clothes because of her butter fingers."

They were in the front of the shop before Lila could protest, and fortunately it was empty save for Mr. Marius, who looked at the two of them with an open sort of confusion.

"We're taking an early lunch today," Harry declared, eyes narrowed as though begging Mr. Marius to challenge him. "We'll be back shortly."

Neither Chad nor his boss was able to get a word in edgewise before Harry was dragging him out the door, into the sunny street where Chad's ruined clothes became all the more obvious.

"Harry." Chad tried to tug his wrist from the noble's grip to no avail. "I'm fine. I should go back and help her clean up."

"You're fine if I say you're fine." Harry pulled him down the street, seeming to hone in on an upscale clothing boutique that Chad had never stepped foot in on the basis of never being able to afford anything in there. He had sort of forgotten it existed. "And right now, I say you're not fine."

"That's not how it works," Chad hissed. "And we can't go in there. I mean- I can't go in there, obviously you can. It's too... nice."

"It's a clothing shop," Harry countered as though there was absolutely no difference between a high-end boutique and a secondhand retailer. "We need to buy clothes; they have clothes to buy. I fail to see the problem here."

With that last comment he dragged Chad into the shop. It was all wood and marble with a minimalist design, an open sort of layout that made Chad even more out of place in his ruined clothes, made even Harry not belong with his vibrant red and tartan patches sticking out among a sea of pastels and subdued textures.

"We should go," Chad whispered, trying to keep himself away from the expensive fabric in case the dye was still dripping. "If you're really set on this, I know a place-"

"Hello, gentlemen." A sales associate slid into view as a picture of polished refinement. Her platinum blonde hair was slicked back into a low pony and her outfit was a mixture of soft grays and pale pinks. "I think you might have the wrong shop."

Harry looked around, confused. "This place sells men's clothing, right?" he asked, missing the subtle jab. "That's what we're looking for."

"Our clothing speaks to a certain level of... taste," the sales associate countered. "-that can be out of the price range for some people." She made a show of looking them over, Chad's tarnished clothing and Harry's whimsical outfit. "Perhaps I can recommend the thrift shop down the street? You might be more comfortable there."

"And what the hell is that supposed to mean?" Harry growled. "I've got money if that's what you're worried about-"

"We cater to a certain clientele." A clientele that did not include them or people like them. "I just don't think you'll find a good fit here."

"Harry, please," Chad whispered, squeezing the other teen's wrist. "Let's just go."

There was a painful second where it looked like Harry was going to deny him, but then he finally relented with a snarl, slipping his hand properly into Chad's before tugging him towards the door. "Fine. I wouldn't want to buy clothes here anyway."

Going back into the sunlight didn't make Chad feel less ashamed, though it was certainly less confining. He was cowed enough that he didn't immediately question Harry's next step, which was why he didn't blink when the noble pulled a sleek looking phone out of his pocket, starting a call.

"Hey, Jane?" Harry asked, dragging Chad further down the street. "Yes, duckling, it's Harry. Do me a favor and contact that alterations shop I've been working at and let them know we need Kit for official royal business or some shit for the rest of the day." There was a pause. "No, it's not for me. If it was for me, I wouldn't ask a respectable person such as yourself, now would I?" Another pause. "Thanks, darling. I owe you one."

"Harry," Chad hissed as they went towards a public parking area. "We can't just- play hooky. It won't take long to get clothes from the shop I was telling you about, we might still even have time for lunch-"

"It's already done." Harry tugged him towards a navy car with tinted windows, opened the passenger door to reveal a leather interior and a fancy console Chad didn't even want to think of touching. "Think of this as payback for the outfit I ruined."

"That's what the free labor was supposed to be," Chad said as he and Harry had a stare-down that ended with the other teen bodily picking Chad up and depositing him unwillingly into the seat.

He must have locked the door behind him because Chad couldn't figure out how to open it again, could only pout and worry about ruining the leather when Harry slid into the driver's seat. "Then think of it as payback for dealing with Lila all the damn time. Now I'm going to get you a new outfit and it's going to be a nice one because you deserve it, and you are gonna shut up about it and I dunno- pick a radio station, or something."

"...I'm not supposed to listen to the radio," Chad mumbled.

With an exasperated growl, Harry picked a station himself, muttering quietly under his breath as he drove the car off to who knew where.

So Chad guessed he was being kidnapped.

Strangely enough, he wasn't panicking nearly as much as he probably should be. Maybe that was just Harry's charm.

...and maybe Chad was just doomed.

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After the conversation had broken down, Chad had taken to watching the Auradon scenery pass them by, trying to absorb the world around him that he rarely got to see. Despite how infrequently he traveled, Chad seemed to recognize some of the buildings they passed, which made a lot more sense when Harry eventually pulled into the drive that led up to Auradon Castle.

"I thought you said we were going shopping," Chad hissed, staring at the place he had boldly escaped with a respectable trepidation.

"No, I said we were gonna get you clothes," Harry countered. "Nice ones, and this is the one place I know we can get them without someone being a shit about it."

This must be how it was like to be a rich person. Don't like fancy boutiques? Just go to the castle, problem solved.

Chad was trembling slightly when Harry maneuvered them into some small, private parking lot that only housed a few other very fancy looking cars. Harry guided him into the castle proper before tugging him behind another hidden panel just like Lady Mal had before.

"We'll get ye some clothes, grab ye some lunch and- I don't know, do whatever the hell you want," Harry decided, pulling Chad up some stairs. "Ye earned a day off."

"No, I didn't." Chad wasn't sure why he was still arguing with Harry because it wasn't stopping him from dragging Chad through ornate hallways. "If I had watched where I'd been going-"

"She was waiting for ye," Harry growled, pulling Chad towards a very familiar set of double doors. "Jealous minx. She knows you're too nice to think it was malicious but I'll be damned if it wasn't."

There were no footmen this time so Harry pulled the door open himself, guiding Chad through the royal suite until they were back in the king's room.

"Why are we here?" Chad asked when Harry finally let him go, the other teen puttering towards the closet.

"Mal said she gave ye some of Ben's stuff before," Harry called from the closet. "That means it'll fit ye. And it'll be way nicer than anything they have in that dumb shop anyway."

Chad took a second to process this, then found himself charging into the royal closet, which was much bigger than it looked from the outside and Chad definitely shouldn't be there. "You can't give me King Ben's clothes," he gasped, internally sobbing at the way Harry dismissively dug through such fancy garments. "They belong to the king."

"Yeah, and he'll be happy they're going to a good home," Harry said, tossing a few button ups onto a large ottoman before moving to a different section.

"They aren't yours to give."

"They weren't Mal's either," Harry scoffed. "But she did, and Ben didn't care then, just like he won't care now."

"That's different," Chad pressed as Harry grabbed a handful of sweaters at random and then moved on to pants. "Mal's his fiancé, she knows what he doesn't wear."

"I look at him enough to figure that out too," Harry declared, frowning in confusion at the wide array of tan slacks that possessed subtle but noted differences. "...the fuck does he need so many pants for?"

"Because he's the king." Chad didn't know what Harry failed to understand about that. "With kingly duties. Don't grab those - we're not even close to the same size."

"You're right," Harry said, thankfully pulling away from the pants. "We'll steal those from Jay. I think Evie forced him to get a pair of khakis as a punishment and he would not mind losing them." He pulled out his phone again, shoving it against his ear. "Mrs. Potts? It's Harrison-" Harrison, Harry's real name was Harrison - what the hell? "-I'd hate to be a bother, but could you send someone to fetch a pair of pants from Jadir's closet? They're khakis that were definitely misplaced - yes, could you send them to his majesty's suite?" A pause. "You're a peach, my dear. Thank you."

"Do you know everyone who works here?" Chad asked as Harry started digging through a random drawer for socks. There were a lot of different colors.

"Just the important people," Harry dismissed. "Hey look, blue." He held up a pale blue pair of socks whose need Chad honestly couldn't fathom, but then those were being chucked onto the pile of clothes too as Harry moved onto shoes. "Do ye think these would fit ye? Or do we need to order some from a catalogue?"

"Probably the second option, I've got small feet," Chad replied distractedly before he realized what he said. "I don't need shoes."

"Yes, you do." Harry shifted his gaze between Chad's feet to the king's shoes and conceded his point as true. "Mal's got a laptop around here somewhere, we can order them off that."

"I'm not supposed to use the internet," Chad pressed as Harry scooped up the pile of clothing and marched back into the bedroom, plopping it on the bed, not unlike Mal had the day of the ball.

"Of course you're not." Harry rolled his eyes. "Technically, I'll be the one using it, you just look over my shoulder and pick out a pair ye like. Maybe we can order ye another set of those," he said, motioning to Chad's shoes. "But, ye know, new."

"I'm not a charity case," Chad snapped, feeling helpless. He'd worked hard for everything he had, and it wasn't much but it was still his, and he was proud of that.

Instead of denying him, Harry snorted. "Don't I know it. My life would be way easier if ye'd just accept some damn presents." His cool gaze turned back towards Chad, pinning him in place. "Ye think I don't know what it's like to scavenge for everything ye need? Cuz I do. I get it. But now you're in a place where ye can actually get nice things, so just accept the damn clothes already." Before Chad could interrupt, the front door chimed, and Harry grabbed his wrist before striding back towards the suite entrance. "I know what happens when you're left unattended," he explained, so they accepted the delivered khakis together, Harry practically preening with smugness.

The showdown began when they had finally collected the last of the clothes, Chad crossing his arms stubbornly. "I'm not doing this."

"Come on," Harry groaned, looking up towards the ceiling in a bid for patience. "Ye work hard, ye deserve nice things - what about this is difficult?"

"Those belong to the king," Chad snapped. "I'm not stealing from the king."

"Oh, yes you are," Harry countered, and that was the last thing Chad processed before Harry was on top of him, wrestling Chad out of his ruined sweater.

"You are such an asshole," Chad hissed, frustrated with his inability to escape Harry's grabby hands because he spent the majority of his time doing chores and Harry was like, a professional Tourney player or something who yanked Chad's sweater off of him like it was nothing before tossing it aside. "What is with you and your inability to take 'no' for an answer?"

"I like justice," Harry countered, shoving Chad onto the bed so he could pull off the blond's shoes one-by-one. "I like it when talented little seamstresses get presents instead of relegating themselves to the bargain bin because some twat in a clothing store is too stupid to sell to him."

"She did have a point," Chad muttered as Harry tore his socks off, shifting up onto the bed so they could wrestle over his pants.

"No, she didn't," Harry hissed, pinning Chad in place as he popped the button in an easy movement. "Now, would ye just hold still?"

"And make this easy on you?" Chad groused. "Yeah, I think not."

"Because evil forbid if it was easy," Harry growled, undoing Chad's fly in a sharp pull and this was not how Chad had envisioned ever getting stripped down by someone else. Granted, he'd always thought it would be more of a team effort and for intimate reasons - but of course Harry would take this from him too, further proving to be the most contrary human being in all of existence.

Harry was in the middle of easing the pants down Chad's hips, Chad clutching onto the nobleman's shirt out of spite, when there was the very pointed sound of a throat being cleared right next to the bed.

Both of them froze to see the king standing there, looking torn between confusion and amusement, and Chad wanted to die right then and there.

"I'm glad you two seem to be getting along," he noted, cheeks dusted pink out of embarrassment for both of them and their childish behavior.

Chad let go of Harry's shirt so he could hide his face in his hands. "I hate you," he mumbled. "I hate you more than I can say. More than there are words to possibly express."

"Yeah, yeah," Harry drawled, tugging his pants off the rest of the way now that Chad had surrendered. "I get it, you're a drama queen."

"I hate you," Chad repeated stubbornly, which was maybe not the best statement he should make against the king's friend in front of the king himself, but he had literally nothing else. "You are such an asshole. Why do people like you?"

"He's passionate," the king said brightly. "And he grows on you, over time." There was a pause. "...are those Jay's pants?"

"They're Kit's now," Harry huffed as he dragged the new pants up Chad's legs, who – out of pettiness – did very little to help him. "Since Kit's got ruined."

Chad sighed. "It was my-"

"It was not your fault," Harry snapped, zipping the fly and setting Chad to appropriate rights in fast movements. "The other bloody seamstress at the shop dumped dye on him."

Chad finally pulled his hands away from his face so he could glare at Harry. "She did not."

"She did too," Harry countered, grabbing one of the white button up shirts and wrestling it onto Chad's frame. "And when I tried to get him new clothes at a shop, they denied us service for being too interesting."

Chad flushed, because that had more to do with him than it had Harry, even if Ben seemed suitably concerned over the accusation.

"What was the shop's name?" the king asked. "I can get them looked into-"

"It was more our fault than their's," Chad mumbled, flushing when Harry's fingers scraped his torso when he buttoned the shirt onto him. "They're used to catering to-"

"A certain demographic," Harry sniped. "Well, fuck 'em. I know Evie mostly specializes in girl's clothes, so I brought him here."

"That's fair," the king said, when that absolutely wasn't fair. "Go ahead and take what you need. Hold on-" He ducked into his closet. "I think I've got some stuff I haven't worn in a while you can have."

This had Harry positively preening. "See? Told ye it would work out."

"I hate you," Chad muttered one last time, because it was true.

"I like ye too, Kitten." Harry winked, forever incorrigible.

It was at that point Chad gave up, slipping the light blue sweater over his button up so Harry wouldn't have to, reluctantly accepting the king's clothes that would definitely be saved in the back of his closet and only be worn if he absolutely had to because they should be reserved for special people, not for Chad.

Definitely not for Chad.

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Somehow or other Chad found himself having lunch with Harry and the king, the latter of which was joined by Lady Mal, who wore an impressed smirk.

"Boys," she greeted, running a hand through Ben's hair before pressing a kiss to his forehead, sitting in the empty seat. "I see you decided to give away more of Ben's clothes."

"There's a story to that," Ben said before Chad could sputter an apology. "I'll share it with you later."

"Oooh, gossip," she mused. "Consider me hooked." She turned her gaze to Chad. "Hi, Kit. Harry's not giving you too much trouble, is he?"

"Until today he's been perfect," Chad murmured, prodding carefully at his salad. It was very artfully arranged and also very tasty and he had no hope of ever recreating it, which was a fact that saddened him greatly.

"What?" Mal pressed a hand against her chest as though she could not fathom the very prospect. "Our Harry? The picture of perfection?"

"Shut up," Harry mumbled, digging into his salad, an annoyed sort of flush building on his cheeks.

"No seriously, he behaved?" Mal pressed. "He helped you at work and acted like something that might resemble a gentleman?"

"He did," Chad confirmed. Annoyed as he might be with Harry and his good intentions, he wasn't going to get the guy in trouble just because Chad was embarrassed. "He's very helpful around the shop."

"Where I learned a lot of things," Harry said with a stilted kind of forcefulness. "For example - Ben, Kit here is an avid reader."

"You did not learn that in the shop," Chad hissed, knowing this was Harry's way of pulling the focus off of him, but the king was already brightening up with a look of excitement.

"You are?" Ben asked, smile so wide that Mal stared at him fondly. "My mom and I are pretty big readers too. What genre do you like?"

"I stick with fiction, mostly." Or entirely. "But I'll um... read a little bit of everything. I like adventure and romance-" At Harry's delighted grin, Chad flushed. "-stuff with a happy ending, I mean."

"Yeah," Mal hummed thoughtfully. "Why search out extra tragedy, right?"

Chad didn't reply, but that was essentially the reason. Life could be hard enough as it was. Books for him were an escape, and he tried to keep those escapes as lighthearted and hope-filled as possible.

"You should show him the library after lunch," Mal continued, stabbing at her salad. "You two can geek out over the books."

Ben leaned towards her with a meaningful grin. "It was my understanding that you also enjoyed those books."

"Just the magic ones," Mal sniffed, though didn't outright deny him. "So, post-lunch library visit. It's happening."

"Fine," Harry sighed, and Chad didn't know what else to say so he settled on eating his salad.

It was, after all, rude to turn down an invitation.

-:-:-:-:-:-

"Oh, wow," Chad breathed, craning his neck up to get a better view of the second level of books that surrounded an upper balcony. This place was easily three times bigger than the library in Conques, and seven times the size of the fiction section. "Oh." He pressed a hand against his mouth to try and keep from gaping, fingers itching to trace the ornate leather bindings.

He dropped his gaze and realized that Harry was watching him with an unreadable expression on his face, likely cataloging Chad's dumb-hick response to make fun of him later.

Comparatively, King Ben's expression was one of open delight, as though Chad's awe made him nothing less than pleased. "Here," he said, motioning for Chad to follow him. "This way. We've got a great selection."

He didn't lie. The fiction section of this library took up a full wall, both stories, and it boggled Chad's brain to think how long it would take for one person to read them all.

"We've also got the novelized versions of our parents' stories," Ben admitted with a flush. "You know- the whole 'Beauty and the Beast' thing, and all the novelizations from the other kingdoms in Auradon."

"I've never read those," Chad admitted. The one time he'd expressed an interest his father had gotten very grave – at least, as grave as he ever did – before warning Chad away from those books. He never expressly forbade them, but Chad had the feeling his father preferred him to stay away from such endeavors entirely, so he had.

"They're good," Ben laughed. "They're simplified and not entirely accurate, but there's a lot of happy endings." There was a pause, and then- "Or if you'd prefer something strictly fictional, we have a good collection of romance stories my mother likes..."

Chad was embarrassed to say that he was entirely won over by the summaries, at least until King Ben made noises about Chad borrowing them.

"King's orders," Mal said before he could protest. "Harry?"

"I'll put these in the clothes bag," the nobleman grinned, and Chad just sort of gave up all over again.

When they finally left the castle, it was with a fat duffel bag full of clothes and another bag of food Mrs. Potts sent them off with, Harry grinning the entire drive back to the alterations shop.

Chad finally won an argument and was allowed to part ways with Harry there, shouldering the duffel bag and hooking the food bag to the handles of his bike, which he then walked home because of all the stuff he had.

He still got to the cottage earlier than he normally would have, and as a little treat to himself he started reading one of those books, figuring that if he had to borrow them, the least he could do was return them quickly, right?

It was the polite thing to do.

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Endnotes:

Among other changes, I decided that Harry would join Gil and Jay on their adventure, mostly because Harry is so overprotective of his second mate. He definitely wouldn't leave him alone with *Jay*, of all people.

I gave Chad small feet because his mom had small feet, thus making her shoes unique to only her - it seemed appropriate ^_^

Until next time :)