Chapter 1 – Charming the Dragon

Summary – Chad and Audrey had their foot in the door, now they just needed to stay there. With Gil and Jay in their corners you'd think things would be easy, but it was one thing to get the explorers to fall in love with their public personas, it was another to woo the rest of their polyamorous relationship to the side of Chad and Audrey.

Fortunately, they always did enjoy a good challenge.

Also known as: That time Chad and Audrey found a way to put down romantic roots, and maybe, just maybe, revealed the stubborn survivors that hid behind their masks.

-:-:-:-:-:-

"Okay, here's the deal," Mal said when the tears had finally died down and she had pulled Chad and Audrey aside for a talk. "We-" she said, motioning to the group at the other side of the room that was doing a terrible job of pretending not to eavesdrop. "Are all in a relationship, but there's sort of a basic understanding."

"Which is…?" Chad prompted, because if Audrey did it Mal would probably start spitting curses.

"Obviously, we have a lot of people here," Mal said, getting a snicker from Harry that prompted both Uma and Evie to bat his arm, urging for silence. "With a lot of different levels of involvement. So you guys are in, but that doesn't mean that, for example, Jane has to start canoodling with you. You work your way up to that stuff, and maybe it won't happen," she explained, watching them closely for their responses. "We have relationships in here that are really strong friendships and relationships that lead to sexy times. We are not all obviously head over heels in love with each other, but there is a basic appreciation that stems from loving the same handful of people as someone else."

"So…" Chad began, his brows furrowed in thought. "We're dating you guys, but we're not really dating you guys. But we can potentially work up to dating more of you." He shared a look with Audrey. "Did I get that right?"

Mal pressed her hands together, holding them in front of her mouth. "Yeah, that's about it."

"But I get to date Gil?" Audrey asked, focusing on the important part.

"Yes!" Gil cheered from the other side of the room, earning a scatter of laughs from the others. "I mean- I'm not listening. I was talking about something else."

"Yes," Mal confirmed, wearing a wry smile. "And Chad is dating Jay. Anything that goes from there will have to be worked for."

"This makes sense," Chad said, because flattery could get you most everything.

"Damn straight, it does," Mal said. "Now go forth and hug your boos. I think we've all had enough drama for one evening."

She hadn't even finished talking before Gil was upon them, indicating that Audrey's position in this mess of polygamy was safe, at the very least.

Now to move forward with the rest of their plan.

-:-:-:-:-:-

"Okay, we're in," Audrey said, pacing a path up and down her bedroom – Ben kind enough to give Chad and Audrey a suite close to the pirates. "Now we just have to make sure we stay in."

"True," Chad hummed, pushing tearful reunions and small declarations of love to the past in favor of focusing on logistics and strategy, which would benefit them in the long term. "For the moment, we're passing fancies."

"And let's face it," Audrey sighed. "Most of them don't like us. It's why they made them choose in the first place."

"So we prove we can be useful," Chad said. "They can't hate us if we're useful. Eventually, they can begrudgingly accept us."

"Cleary," Audrey hummed, looking over Chad's tablet one more time for the Hummingbirds' scan results of the room, but they had already confirmed there were no bugs. That didn't mean there wouldn't be – Chad and Audrey's inclusion was, obviously, a last-minute affair. "Let's start with the weakest links, shall we? I'll target Uma and the pirates – she likes me because I make Gil happy, and as long as I don't hurt him, I should be able to win my way into her and Harry's affections."

"My job is harder," Chad admitted, and Audrey nodded, since there was no point in sugarcoating it. "Carlos doesn't like me, Evie doesn't like me, that puts Doug and Jane off limits for the moment."

"Cater to Mal," Audrey advised. "She's the one that judged you as worthy. Suck up to her without being obvious about it and stay out of everyone else's way. It's what they'll be expecting."

"Cool." Chad tapped frantically at his laptop as he reformulated his plans to account for him being based in Auradon Castle. He'd have to go to school here now, but at least Sardinia wasn't that far away. He could teleconference for all the stuff regarding his label, and teleport for political subterfuge.

Ah, the life of a Sardinian prince.

"Yes," Audrey said, smoothing down the skirt of the elegant dress Chad had made her. "Yes, it is. Now let's get to work."

-:-:-:-:-:-

"You sure you don't mind?" Jay asked, looking adorably concerned while Chad pretended to lazily flip through a magazine that he was really checking for his clothing adds. "You just joined us-"

"Bruiser, Pumpkin," Chad said, laying on the pet names that made Jay blush for some reason. "I've had you for a year. I'm definitely okay with you spending a few days with your friends. Go, have fun, woo the hell out of them. I'll still be here when you get back."

"Knew you were the best," Jay said, interrupting Chad's magazine perusal so he could pick him up and spin him like a total, lovely schmuck. "Carlos still thinks you're selfish."

"And I am," Chad assured him, patting Jay's bicep. "But I also like you a lot, and want you to be happy, so go forth and do that." He melted into the kiss Jay gave him, swallowing a whine because it seemed to end too soon. "I've still got Audrey and Gil to hang out with – it's cool."

"Ravish you when I get back," Jay promised with a laugh, giving Chad one last kiss. "But seriously, thank you. Carlos and Evie just- they've missed me."

"As they should," Chad hummed, petting a hand through Jay's hair. "You are very miss-able."

"Who'd have thunk it?" Jay said when he finally put Chad down, brushing their noses together. "Chad Charming is my boyfriend."

"And Jadir the giant human dork is mine," Chad snarked, earning a sputtered objection from Jay that ended in another kiss.

"Okay, I'm um- going to pull myself away now," Jay said, murmuring against Chad's lips. "Or I will stay here."

"Go," Chad urged, nudging him towards the door. "Have a good time."

"Love you," Jay said, giving him one last peck on the cheek that made Chad's face flood with a genuine warmth.

"Love you too," Chad whispered, and maybe Jay knew how hard it was for him to get the words out because the grin it earned him was brilliant and warmed Chad all the way down to his toes.

"Be back before you know it," Jay promised, and then he was gone, and that was okay.

This was, after all, all about sharing. Chad couldn't be greedy.

It was not a 'useful' quality.

-:-:-:-:-:-

"You holding up alright?" Mal asked day one into Jay's mini vacation with Carlos, Evie, and their respective partners. "Everything… okay?"

Chad, who had not wanted to present a level of behavior that was not expected of him, had been sticking close to Audrey and Gil in Jay's absence – at least when he wasn't insanely busy with his duties as a prince – so he hadn't really expected to get any alone time with Mal even though she was his first supposed target.

As such, he allowed his surprise to show as he looked up from his sketchbook, where his next formalwear line was slowly coming together.

"I'm alright," Chad admitted, sliding into a dopey grin. "Thanks for asking. Are um… you doing okay?"

Mal chuckled at him, but it seemed amused as she breezed through the kitchen, rooting through the fridge for what was likely the bin of strawberries Ben kept on hand especially for her.

"I'm alright," she echoed, taking the full box of fruit and setting herself across from Chad. "We're finally getting some of our reforms pushed through, and thanks to you and Audrey, we actually have places to put the Isle refugees that are minors."

"Just doing our bit to help," Chad said with a shrug. "Everyone deserves the certainty of knowing they have a place to sleep that night."

Mal let out a low hum as she bit into a strawberry. "That's an awfully articulate way of putting things."

Chad looked at Mal carefully. "You know my mother was a servant, right? She had thoughts about basic guaranteed civic liberties."

Thoughts that ultimately got her killed, not that Chad had learned as much until later.

"You never mentioned it at Auradon Prep."

"I didn't mention a lot of things at Auradon Prep," Chad countered. "That wasn't what I was there for."

He had mostly gone to Auradon Prep (and Auradon Junior Prep, by extension) to get out of the way, according to his grandfather, and to formulate his own expectations for his future leadership of Sardinia in one of the most secure locations in all of Auradon. Chad had spent a lot of time buying into his grandfather's propaganda, but when the curtain had finally pulled back on the violations of basic liberties, Chad had known he needed to build himself into something stronger in order to fix the wrongs he believed were being committed. He then spent his time training to be the strongest, most cutthroat warrior he could be.

He didn't have time to make waves outside of that.

"No," Mal said, taking another vindictive bite of her strawberry, neatly cutting it down to the stem. "I suppose you were just there to have a good time."

"Mal," Chad set his pencil down so he could give the future queen his full attention. "Ben is a very special case in regards to monarchy promotions. Most heirs do not ascend their thrones until their predecessors are either dead, have proven unfit, or willingly retire – such as the case of Corona. Ben was forced into his position early because of the laws his father set up to guarantee the control of the United States of Auradon stayed with Central Auradon – the kingdom that he ruled. Because of this, Ben wasn't allowed to be a kid, but in truth, most heirs are not given that privilege outside of Auradon Prep. So yes, I did try to have a childhood outside of my duties, because I knew that was the only chance I'd have to do so."

Which was a lie, Chad hadn't had a true childhood in years, but Mal didn't need to know that.

Mal narrowed her eyes, dwelling over this new influx of information, and Chad returned to his designs. He needed to get at least three of these done if he wanted to stay on schedule, and then it was off to homework before he had to review which councilmen back home needed to be bribed.

"Jay said you were good at planning things," she declared suddenly. "Ben wants me to host some tea party thing to make nice with a few of the Central Auradon socialites that are trying to stir up unrest against his newest slate of proclamations." She eyed his with careful consideration. "Would you help me plan that?"

"Fuck yes, I'll help you plan that," Chad said, forgetting for a moment this was not Audrey, but refusing to care. "I'm awesome at that shit. Come on, grab your strawberries, I wanna see what you have so far."

"Um…" And that was how they ended up in Mal's office, an explosion of paperwork and catalogues splayed across her poor desk. "I don't have much. Usually Jane helps me with this stuff, but she's-"

"Getting some justified canoodling," Chad said, making a beeline for the half-filled seating arrangement chart that some optimistic assistant had put on an easel for Mal. He saw what she had, and immediately started rearranging people.

"Hey," Mal cut in, her tone concerned. "Jane said those had to go in a specific order-"

"They do," Chad agreed. "There's an art to this. An art to rewarding the people who have been relatively helpful and an art to subtly saying 'fuck you' to the assholes that have been trying to roadblock your efforts, and it's all an unspoken agreement no one talks about but everyone knows and-" He frowned at the diagram. "Do you have an overflow table?"

Mal gave him a blank look. "What's an overflow table?"

"It's where you stick the busybodies who didn't bother to RSVP but show up at the last minute expecting to be catered to," Chad said, grabbing a marker so he could add an additional table to the diagram. "If you don't have an overflow table, whoever you have running the event has to squeeze in extra chairs at the last minute and pretend that was their plan the entire time but if you have an overflow table you can put it in like, the worst place, and then everyone can publicly shame them for being inconsiderate assholes." He turned to point the marker at Mal. "Always have an overflow table."

Mal stared at him as though she had never seen him before. "Have you ever sat at an overflow table?"

"Nope," Chad said, grinning as he went back to arranging Mal's guests. He knew most of them, and those he didn't were neutral parties that would get placed in perfectly neutral positions. "I RSVP, like a gentleman."

"Huh," Mal said, thinking this over.

"Be sure to have your party planner keep tabs on the people who RSVP'd but didn't make it," Chad advised. "You'll need to send consolation notes depending on why they missed – life happens, of course, sometimes they get flat tires or family members get sick, and sometimes they were just being assholes, and you get to go through the fun game of either comforting them and assuring them they'll get an invitation to the next event, or subtly calling them out for being a dick."

"I didn't realize there was so many ways to call people out on their bullshit in high society," Mal noted.

"That doesn't surprise me," Chad said. "Ben's too nice for that stuff, but if you don't do it, people will take advantage of you to make a statement, and the stuff you guys are doing is too important to allow for that."

"Yeah," Mal said, watching Chad carefully. "It is." She set her box of strawberries to the side. "Okay, let's get to work."

"Let's," Chad agreed, and then they dove into the thick of things.

-:-:-:-:-:-

"Fuck," Mal said later when she collapsed atop her bed, the Lady of the Court all but demanding they vacate her office once the bones of the party had been put into place. "That is so much more exhausting now that I actually understand how it works."

"It will get easier," Chad advised. "This stuff will become second nature to you, and once you've got a staff you really trust, it all just sort of becomes clockwork." He perched carefully on the chaise lounge Ben kept likely out of sentimentality, as it was easily the most useless piece of furniture Chad had ever encountered. "And until then, you've got me and Audrey."

Mal let out a small scoff, blowing some loose curls out of her face. "Yeah, like Audrey would help me."

"Part of the terms of her punishment was therapy, Mal," Chad said, keeping his tone carefully unprovocative. "It helped her a lot. And Gil helped too."

"Yeah," Mal said after a moment. "She does seem really attached to the guy."

She loved him, but okay, they could go with 'attached' for now.

"He's a great guy," Chad said. "At least, the version of him we got to meet."

"He was like that on the Isle too," Mal said, thankfully getting his point. "Loyal to Uma, still all smiles despite rotting in garbage. It freaked the rest of us out, but in hindsight, Uma was lucky to have him."

"She knows it, I think," Chad said, feeling another swell of unhappiness at the thought of any of them suffering for the crimes of their parents. "Hey um… want me to run you a bath, or something? I can peace out so you can savor the sweet victory of successful party planning."

Mal gave him another one of those weird looks. "You can run us a bath," she countered. "Since we both worked on it."

It was a challenge, or a test, but Chad had a good enough handle on his dumb persona through years of necessity that he reacted appropriately – meaning he blushed like a damn buffoon.

"I mean, if that's um- what you want," he said, like he hadn't been expecting it. "You don't have to."

"Wouldn't have said it if I didn't want it," Mal drawled, a tiny grin pulling at her lips. "Hop to it, blondie."

Chad swallowed. "Okay."

Fun fact – Ben's tub was stupid and big. But it was also the king's tub, so unlike most receptacles of its size that would take forever to fill, it had additional faucets that had water heated and filling the tub in under five minutes. Chad added some bubble bath he saw on the shelf because he liked the idea of his dumb self latching onto that, but he ignored the scented candles and the bath salts because his method acting already had his heart pounding in his throat, wondering how this was going to go.

"Okay," Chad said, wandering back into Mal's bedroom. "We can-"

"Cool," Mal said, walking past him in a fluffy purple robe and nothing else, her clothes clearly discarded behind her on the bed.

Alright. Neat. Okay then.

"Well?" Mal said as she casually slipped off her robe, staring him down as though daring him to look over her naked body and he was- yeah, not doing that, all for eye-contact all the way. "You gonna soak in your clothes?"

"Um." He could see his blush darken in the reflection of the mirror. "No, I'll just…"

Mal perched on the edge of the tub with a grin, perfectly content to watch Chad fumble out of his clothes. She raised a brow when he folded them out of habit, leaving them on a ledge until he was easing off his boxer briefs, almost flinching when Mal let out an appreciative whistle.

"So the curtains do match the drapes," she said, admiring his pubic hair, and Chad was torn between boasting and being embarrassed.

"What?" he stuttered. "Yes. I mean-"

"Just get in the tub, Charming," Mal ordered, and Chad got in the tub.

He was unprepared for Mal to settle in his lap, but he curled an arm around her waist on reflex, anchoring her still so she could curl against his chest.

She let out a contented sigh, the warm water easing the tension in her muscles. "You ever do this with Jay?"

"Sometimes," Chad allowed. "The ship's tub was a lot smaller. And um… he wasn't exactly super patient."

Mal laughed. "No, he really isn't, the dumb fuck." She let her head fall back against his shoulder with a sigh. "You know he likes you for more than just sex, right?"

"I know," Chad said, allowing his voice to get smaller. "When he… when he was going to leave you guys for us…" She tensed and he restrained himself from petting her side, the way he would have with Audrey. "It was hard to wrap my head around."

"You get it," Mal said, her voice quiet. "You understood what he was giving up."

"It didn't seem acceptable," Chad replied. "He had like… six Audreys he was turning his back on. And for what?"

"For you," Mal said, her tone unreadable.

"It wasn't enough." Even Dumb Chad knew that much. "So I know he cares. I don't get why, but I'm not going to take it for granted."

Mal didn't say anything for a long moment, and then she was turning, moving to straddle his thighs so they were face-to-face, her upper torso rising above the surface of the water in a tantalizing tease.

"Good," she declared, and then she was cradling his face between her hands, pulling him into a hungry kiss that took Chad by surprise. He was beginning to think maybe all Isle kids kissed like this, like it was going to be their last, at least the first time they initiated anything, because Mal was just as all-consuming and determined as Jay had been back when they'd first gotten started.

"Mal," Chad whined, the response genuine because he felt so overwhelmed, and she let out a small, territorial growl the seemed like a mix of crooned delight and pointed claiming.

"Here," she said, and then she was raising his hands to cup her breasts, pale skin slick with water, shining like a tease.

She felt good, but Chad didn't find it surprising, because Jay only talked about Mal all the time, and while part of that affection may have been built from nostalgia, at least half of it had to be genuinely prompted.

"Atta boy," she said when he began squeezing her carefully, daring to brush against her pert pink nipples and getting a wicked smirk for his efforts. "Just like that."

"M-Mal," Chad moaned when she began nipping at his neck, a certain heat swelling between his legs. "You- you don't have to-"

"Blondie," Mal growled low against his throat. "I do whatever the fuck I want." And then she bit him, hard enough to draw blood, letting out a satisfied moan all the while.

"Shit, shit, shit," Chad panted, since that apparently did things to him. "Mal, you feel so-"

"Good, baby boy," Mal finished for him with a smirk. "You feel good." She made a show of looking him over. "You're just as pretty as Jay said you were. Bet you feel pretty too." And then her hand was sliding lower, finding his hardened length with clever fingers and giving him a firm pump.

"Mal," Chad crooned, shaking against her. "Can- can I-?"

"You wanna touch me?" she asked, taking one of his hands and sliding it down her abdomen with a wicked look, letting it settle between her legs. "You can if you want, Slick."

"Fuck," Chad said, wanting to focus on her because he was pretty sure she was using magic to cheat or something, making him feel so unbearably hot, about to fall apart, or maybe it had just been a really long time since he had sex with a girl he cared about. He'd have to talk about it with Audrey later. "M-Mal…"

"That's it," Mal urged as he began to stroke the outside of her pelvis, carefully teasing that small nub that left her gasping. "N-Not too much."

"I won't," Chad promised, letting his free hand fall to her waist while she steadied her hands on his shoulders. "I um… Audrey taught me how to-"

"Of course," Mal sighed, but it wasn't said with derision, a smile spreading across her face. "You experimented with your best friend. It's what I did too."

"Fuck," Chad said rather articulately, getting a pleased laugh from Mal that led to her kissing him again.

She shivered in his hold, felt so good as he began to ease a finger into her. He didn't know if this would go further, didn't really plan for it, but if he was here he may as well show that he could be useful, he could be generous, and if that involved making Mal shake and moan then so be it.

"There you go," Mal would growl every once and a while, curling her fingers through Chad's pale locks. "That's it, just like that…"

And then she'd kiss him, and Chad would ache with the knowledge of a job well done, feeling her get so close-

"Decided to reward yourself?" Ben's voice called from the doorway, sounding fond and amused. "You know, you could actually leave your clothes in the bathroom, give the servants less of a heart attack-"

He trailed off when he strolled through the door, freezing still at the sight of Mal and Chad in the tub, who really couldn't hide what they were doing. Should they even hide what they were doing? Mal said he was included now-

Chad was maybe part way to a potential freak out when Ben's expression crumbled into something murderous, and that was about all the warning Chad got before he found himself getting yanked out of the tub, Mal calling after them as the king marched Chad into his bedroom, throwing him down onto the large bed, careless of whether he was dripping water or not.

Ben loomed over Chad with a scowl, boxing him against the bed with a furious expression. "You will not use her the same way you used those girls back at Auradon Prep."

"I know, Ben," Chad rushed to say, even though this seemed to make the king madder. "She's Jay's best friend, I would never-"

"She is not here for you," Ben snapped, looking over Chad's body and settling on the interest still throbbing between his legs with a scowl. "She is not here for you to charm and forget."

"Ben-"

"She is a treasure," Ben snapped, flinging his coat off before digging through his nightstand in full beast mode.

"Ben!" Mal said, scrambling out of the bathroom with her purple robe around her. "Ben, knock it off! I told him he could-"

"Of course you did, he's so damn charming," Ben snapped, stomping back to Chad and pressing one of his thighs up against his chest. "You like fingering things so much-"

"Ben!" Mal was trying to wrap herself around the king's back. "Don't do something you'll regret."

"I don't regret this," Ben said, and then he bit the shit out of Chad's neck, just over Mal's mark.

It hurt, enough to leave Chad gasping, enough to let his natural instincts take over. The moment Ben let him go, Chad was shoving the king off of him, slipping out of his hold until he could stumble away, eyes wide and pulse racing.

Ben's chest was heaving, the king likely struggling for composure, but Mal seemed to be in shock, staring between the two of them with an expression of ultimate confusion.

"What the fuck, Ben?" she snapped.

The king's attention was entirely on Chad. "Do you know how many people looked at you in hope over the years? Do you know how many you ignored?"

"Do you wanna know how many people gave a shit about me?" Chad countered. "Because the answer is-"

"You're stubborn and selfish."

"I literally gave up Jay!" Chad snapped, wondering how long Ben had been holding onto this.

"So you did one good thing," Ben snarled. "Finally."

It was like… like Ben had completely ignored the entire year of charity events Chad had done specifically for his causes. It was like they didn't matter at all.

"Ben," Mal hissed, her tone reproving. "He literally spent the afternoon helping me with my shit. People change. I changed. Whatever… this is," she said, moving to stand between the two royals. "Find a way to get over it. Because guess what? I'm not stupid. I'd know if he was just using me for sex. If anything, I was using him."

Chad flinched. Didn't flinch. Didn't do anything but stand there stupidly, because he and Ben were fine so long as Chad didn't infringe on his romantic territory, and then it was back to the fun game of kicking Chad around like the garbage they thought he was.

"I…" the king trailed off, clarity seeming to slide into his disposition. "I… fuck, I-"

"Yeah," Mal said. "You were real fucking stupid. And now you're going to apologize."

"That's fine," Chad said, his voice tight, horrified to find himself tearing up. "I'm just- I'm gonna-"

Retreat like a motherfucking champ, because that was apparently what his body wanted to do, ignoring any of the cries that echoed out behind him.

-:-:-:-:-:-

Endnotes:

Hey, check it out, it's beast Ben, everyone. Beast Ben with his inability to be rational and adequately express himself. What a lovely dude.

So here's the sequel that's been finished for just- way too long. The poor thing's been waiting for me to finish the first story, which is why it's longer/more flushed out. This story will consist of 8 chapters of story content and 1 chapter of deleted scenes. The deleted scenes will be posted along with chapters 7 & 8.

I update once a week, generally on Sundays, but because things have been so crazy lately, I decided to make an effort to update twice a week. So there will be one update on Sunday and one update on Wednesday/Thursday for now :D

Story notes:

"Flattery gets you everything" is a quote from the musical 'Starship' by Team Starkid. The entire thing is on Youtube and I highly recommend giving it a look.

Until next time :)