The morning was quickly fading into afternoon and the citizens of Auradon were going about their daily business. It was a beautiful day and those who enjoyed being out and about were taking full advantage of it. Town centre was full of people coming in and out of shops, some laden with bags, others carrying nothing but their cellphones. Cafés were full of people enjoying whatever drink or snack of their preference, socialising with others or working on their laptops. The local park was full of the chattering of people and the sounds of children playing.
Over in Castle Beast, up in the family wing, if you listened carefully, you would hear the light humming of the future queen, as she floated around her room, gathering things up.
"Do we really need this many pillows and blankets?" Her fiancé, the king of Auradon, asked, peering at her over the stack of pillows that she put in his hands, which was so high, that it was just below eye-level when he kept his hands by his hips.
Mal turned to him with a grin, "Of course!" She replied, a pile of blankets gathered up in her arms, "There's eight of us! Besides, the more pillows and blankets, the more comfortable we are."
Ben laughed, "Okay, if you say so. Come on, this should be enough. We already have quite a few in the cinema downstairs."
"Okay, okay," Mal replied, "Let's go."
The two of them headed downstairs, carrying their stuff carefully into the room that had long ago been dubbed 'the cinema'. The only thing it had that resembled a cinema, though, was a large screen that pretty much took over most of one of the walls. The rest of the room just looked like a furniture store. There were loads of comfy chairs, sofas, love seats and pouffes scattered all over the place, along with beanbag chairs and soft rugs. It seemed to have the perfect place for just about anyone to get comfortable to enjoy a fun movie.
Once down there, Mal scattered the blankets across the different sofas and chairs as well as the floor, before taking the pillows from Ben and doing the same with them.
"There! All ready for when the others come over," she said with a grin.
Ben smiled back at her, "I still don't see why we had to drag all these pillows and blankets down," he said, looking around, "There are plenty of comfortable chairs down here."
"Aww, poor little king not used to doing some work for himself?" Mal joked.
Ben laughed before suddenly running at her and tackling her down onto the large pile of blankets and pillows, causing her to shriek and burst into an uncontrollable fit of giggles, causing Ben to also begin laughing. Mal pushed him off of her, quickly grabbed a pillow and hit him in the chest with it.
"Oh, it's on," Ben threatened, grabbing a pillow of his own. The two began exchanging blows and the room was filled with the sound of pillows hitting bodies, laughter from both occupants and the occasional shriek from Mal. The stopped when they heard the sound of a clearing throat.
They both looked up to see the butler stood there. Mal went slightly red, though she still couldn't contain her giggles and Ben managed to compose himself enough to speak.
"Yes, Cogsworth?"
"Some of your guests have arrived, sire," he said, moving aside to see Evie, Carlos and Lonnie stood there.
Mal was still giggling but she managed to stop long enough to say a quick "Hey, guys". Cogsworth then departed and left the five of them to it. Before anyone else had a chance to speak, Mal quickly nailed Ben in the face with her pillow, causing a large "Oof!" from him. She then quickly got up and went to go say hi to her friends, who were good-naturedly rolling their eyes.
"Do you guys want some privacy?" Carlos asked.
Mal shrieked again because Ben grabbed her from behind and hugged her back to his chest. Mal stopped herself from laughing and shook her head. "No, sorry. We were just being silly."
"Well, I brought popcorn," Lonnie said, holding up several bags of popcorn, "I've got sweet, salty and sweet and salty. Are we eating from the bags or have you got bowls for me to pour them into?"
Mal pulled away from Ben and went to grab the big multicoloured plastic bowls she'd brought in a little while earlier. "Here," she said, handing them to Lonnie. Lonnie took them gratefully and sat them down on a pouffe whilst she poured each bag into a different coloured bowl.
Ben was just telling the others to make themselves comfortable when they heard the sound of two people bickering. The door opened to reveal Cogsworth with Jane and Jay, as well as Doug.
"No, you just have no taste," Jay was saying, walking in before Cogsworth had a chance to say anything.
Jane gave a humourless laughed, "What, because I actually like plot in my action films?"
Doug rolled his eyes and thanked Cogsworth for bringing them down. The butler nodded and left, still looking somewhat miffed at the rudeness of the other two. "Make them stop," the half-dwarf whined when the door closed, going to Evie and laying his head on her shoulder, "They've been arguing about films the whole time I've been around them."
"You get used to it," Carlos said, leaning his head against the back of the sofa, "They don't talk to each other often but when it comes to films, it's impossible to shut them up." He then held his arms out and Jane automatically went into them, still arguing with Jay.
"I'm just saying that the special effects don't matter as much if there is a decent plot. If it's all special effects and no story, what the heck is the point?"
"It looks awesome," Jay replied sitting on one of the chairs.
Lonnie put the bowls of popcorn on the floor in front of everyone and interrupted the argument so that she could explain which colour had which flavour. She then sat down on Jay's lap and draped her arm across the back of his neck. "Jay, I love you, but shut up," she said when he tried to counter whatever argument Jane had given him.
Jane gave him a smug look to which Jay stuck his tongue out. Evie, Doug, Ben and Mal all looked at Carlos questioningly.
"Only when they are around each other and only when they're talking about films," Carlos said, as an explanation for their odd behaviour, "I've never seen either of them act like this otherwise."
Jane and Jay both ignored him. "What are we going to watch, anyway?" Jane asked, cuddling into Carlos.
"No romcoms," Jay jumped in quickly.
"Then no action films," Evie replied, kicking off her heels and tucking her feet under herself, leaning her head on Doug's.
"Can we also rule out anything foreign?" Carlos replied, "I'm not up to reading subtitles today."
"Well, how about a comedy?" Ben said, always being one to make a quick decision, "A normal one, not a romantic one," he added, to assure Jay.
"Why bother?" Mal replied, "Watching these guys is amusing enough," she said, gesturing to Jane, Jay, Carlos and Lonnie. She got a pillow to head from Jay for that.
"Comedy is good," Evie piped up, "I'm sure we can find something funny."
Ben grabbed the remote and they began scrolling through the films on the way-too-big screen. Suggestions were thrown out and vetoed for a while before they finally settled on one.
Everyone was quiet when it began and curled up with their significant other. Ben and Mal had taken one of the love-seats and Mal had her head on Ben's chest, whilst he was playing with her hair. Doug and Evie had chosen to sit on a love-seat as well, with Doug's head still on Evie's shoulder and her head on top of his. Their fingers were linked together. Jane and Carlos had chosen to take one of the two-seater sofas and when the film began, Carlos had grabbed a blanket and spread it over the two of them. They were now sitting with their legs tangled and Carlos's arm around Jane's waist. Lonnie was still sat on Jay's lap and Jay's arms were around her whilst she rested her head on his shoulder.
Soon, it was discovered why these guys don't often have movie nights together. Jane looked over at Jay, realising he had the popcorn she wanted and leaned over to ask for the popcorn in a whisper.
"Why, you not salty enough?" Jay asked, causing the others to roll their eyes as they tried to focus on the film. He passed the popcorn anyway.
"Nah, it's cause she's already too sweet," Carlos replied, keeping his eyes on the film.
Mal groaned and looked over her shoulder at Carlos, "Come on, that was cheesy even for you."
"You mean..." he picked up a piece of popcorn, "Corny?"
This caused groans from Lonnie, Jay and Mal. Jane hid her giggles in Carlos's shoulder, Ben shook his head but cracked a smile as he kept his eyes focused on the screen, and Doug and Evie just ignored them. Everyone fell into silence for a second before something happened in the movie, causing most people to laugh whilst Jane cringed.
"How can you guys find that funny?" She asked. "It's just embarrassing!"
"Which is why it's funny," Mal replied, "Now hush."
Jane went to argue but Carlos just put his hand over her mouth, smirking a little. Jane glared up at him and removed his hand from her mouth, huffing slightly as she put her head in the crook of his neck. Carlos turned his head slightly and pressed a kiss to the top of her head, though his eyes were still on the screen. He then looked over at Jay and Lonnie and saw that they were leaning into each other for reasons that he honestly didn't want to know. He grabbed a cushion and chucked it at them, hitting Lonnie in the back of the head.
"Carlos, what the hell?" she exclaimed, causing Doug to shush her.
"Innocent eyes here," he said, putting his hands over Jane's eyes, "Keep it PG." Jane batted his hands out of her face with a laugh whilst Lonnie and Jay just glared before settling back into their earlier position, with Lonnie's head on Jay's shoulder.
After that, things just got a little madder. They discovered Mal was one of those people who talked during films which Ben was fine putting up with but the others were shushing her constantly. They also discovered that Jay could sometimes be a messy eater when it came to popcorn, so the movie was periodically interrupted by Lonnie complaining about the crumbs that he was dropping everywhere. Carlos also had to be woken up at least once because he'd dozed off and begun lightly snoring. Evie and Doug just ignored everything that was happening around them and stayed curled up together, concentrating on the film.
They watched two more films after that, and even then pillows were thrown at couples who were getting a little too close for comfort, popcorn was passed around and spilt in the process, and things were tripped over when people got up to go the toilet.
Finally, after the third film ended, everyone began helping clean up, picking up the pillows that had ended up everywhere and laying all the blankets on the sofas so that Lonnie could go around with the hoover. Carlos and Jane offered to clean the bowls and Jay, Mal and Ben took blankets and pillows back upstairs.
While they were straightening out the cushions of the sofa, Doug turned to Evie, "So, never have a movie night with those guys again?" he said.
Evie laughed, "Maybe we should stick to our own movie nights."
But despite this, when everyone was back in the cinema and getting ready to say goodbye, Mal suggested they do it again soon and everyone agreed eagerly, even Doug and Evie. It didn't matter how much they drove each other crazy, these friends were always willing to spend time together. And that was one of the many reasons that no one could ever deny that this ragtag bunch of teenagers was a family.
Here you go RockThat! I know this one is a bit messy and random and strange but I had so much fun writing it, so I hope you enjoy it!
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Response to Reviews:
kbear100: Thank you! And awesome. Looking forward to it :)
wildflowerchildGrace: I'm so glad you enjoyed it! And thank you so much for all your help on this one! Love you!
RockThat: I'm glad you enjoyed it! I hope you liked this one too!
Guest: I'm so glad! And as for Tyrone's parents, I don't know. All I know is that he was someone who was on the Tourney Team, so I just put him on the R.O.A.R team as well. I don't know if his parents were one of the heroes or not.
Love you guys so much! SparkyGurl
P.S. Please don't be afraid to leave constructive criticism. It helps me.
