Be Our Guest

It was difficult for Una to stay in human form after Fauna helped her change back. Walking hurt now. It felt like there were knives being pushed into her feet with every step. She didn't show it—she was Isle-raised, she knew better—but that didn't stop her from wanting to be back in the ocean where there wasn't any pain, where she could breathe. Mal noticed. Una suspected she felt similarly. Mal had been looking out into the shadows of the lush woods more often than the three of them without faery ancestry.

"We can make do without you if you need to leave," Mal said. "The ocean's big. You could disappear and I'd let you go."

Una shook her head. She wasn't going to abandon them. She wouldn't do that. They'd only just figured out how to get the wand and the trident both, she wasn't going to make the plan have to be rewritten again.

"Okay," Mal said. "A few more days and then..."

And then they'd steal the wand and any sense of normal they'd experienced in Auradon goes out the window.

Before the coronation could happen, they had to get through Parents' Weekend. As Ben had promised, they had a video call with their siblings and sometimes-allies back on the Isle planned for Friday afternoon. Then on Saturday they'd have to mingle with the Auradon families for long enough for Jay, Aziz and Lanlei to introduce them to their parents, and to eat lunch because they were not going to miss a meal. Otherwise they'd be avoiding the 'heroes' so no one tried to kill them because they were mad that the Isle didn't finish the job.

Okay, the 'heroes' probably wouldn't try to kill them. Still.

The week passed by with agonizing slowness. Even Mr. Jefferson's high-energy enthusiasm in math class didn't stop every second on the clock from feeling like an hour. And then finally it was Friday. Classes ended early and Mal, Evie, Carlos and Una hurried to the room where they had Remedial Goodness while trying to look like they weren't hurrying. Ben and Fairy Godmother were waiting for them with a computer screen nearly the size of the chalkboard set up on one of the desks.

"I thought you said you'd get us a laptop," Mal said.

Ben smiled. "This is just as secure and you're expecting a lot of people, right? With this you'll be able to see everyone."

Not for the first time that week, Una wished that Ben wasn't so good. Truly good, not playing at it like a lot of their classmates. Their parents might spend less effort on destroying him if he were a little bit wicked and less fun to crush.

Carlos bounced on the balls of his feet. "They're supposed to call soon."

None of the other three Rottens reminded him that working clocks were hard to come by on the Isle and that the gathering of people from three different gangs would be delayed for as long as possible. He already knew.

The call came five minutes after the scheduled time. Una stood straighter as the video loaded. She had to be absolutely sure not to show any hint of pain. Una and the others wouldn't be as easy to fool as Auradon people.

"Is it working?" Harry's voice asked a second before he, Gil and the people they'd listed for Ben appeared onscreen.

"I think it's working," Gil said. He gave a little wave. "Hi."

Next to Uma, Dizzy bounced in her seat. The wood that Una could see making up the walls and ceiling of the room they were in indicated that they were below decks on someone's ship, probably Uma's since Gil and Harry were both there. Uma, Harry, Gil, Dizzy, Diego, Hayden and Hadie were crowded closer together than they'd ever have appeared in public, managing to fit all of them into the frame.

Mal's eyes locked on Uma and they somehow stared at each other through the screen.

"Uma," Mal said finally.

"Mal," Uma responded. "You're looking well."

"It's amazing what food that's not rotten can do," Mal said.

Ben made a small sound like one of his Tourney teammates had elbowed him in the gut.

Uma's lips curled into a smirk. "Nice that someone from this hellhole gets to find that out."

"Your dress is amazing, Evie!" Dizzy blurted out. "You made it, right? Is Auradon amazing? Is it like we thought it would be?"

Evie smiled at the younger girl. "It's even better. They have this food called ice cream. It's cold and sweet and if you eat it too fast you get a brain freeze."

"A brain freeze?" Hadie asked with his fire-blue eyes wide. "What's a brain freeze?"

While Evie answered questions from her practically-sister and younger half-brother, the other Isle kids studied each other. Gil had a cut on his arm that looked shallow and dirt streaked across his cheeks. Harry had a new knife tattooed on his wrist with Cassim's signature curved blade (nice to see the King of Thieves was still alive and kicking) and his hook was so clean that it was clear he'd hooked someone recently. And then there was Uma. She was as perfectly put together as it was possible to be on the Isle if you weren't Evie, but a muscle in her cheek kept twitching and her eyes darted around the room intermittently. Something was going down on the Isle and they wouldn't be able to ask what with Ben and Fairy Godmother listening in.

"What's happening there?" Mal asked when Dizzy paused for breath.

Okay, so maybe they could ask. This was why Mal was the leader and not Una.

"The Huns keep trying to move in on your territory," Uma said.

Mal raised an eyebrow. "And you're keeping them out?"

Uma bared her teeth. "I prefer you as a neighbour. You owe me one."

"More like seven," Harry grumbled.

Seven times? The Huns had tried to take their territory seven times? Una was surprised Harry had only the one new tattoo.

"It's been an interesting month," Hayden drawled.

Diego scoffed. "That's one way of putting it."

Evie put Una in red for the start of Parents' Weekend. The dress she'd made their first week in Auradon fell to the middle of Una's claves at the longest points of its purposefully uneven hem and fit perfectly at the bodice. Evie had also added a clasp to Harry's pocket watch and had Una wearing it as a necklace. Its weight was comforting, especially with the looks some of the exactly on time parents were throwing their way.

They hovered together at the back of the crowd while Doug and the other student organizers officially opened Parents' Weekend by voluntarily singing and dancing. Most of them weren't very good at it without magic pulling their strings. The rap section was extremely cringe-worthy.

"Thank goodness that's over," Lanlei said. "Come on, my parents are over there."

Mulan and Shang (they insisted on being called by their given names) were about twelve kinds of awesome. Shang and Carlos ended up having an intense discussion about engineering that the rest of them left them to with smirks and smiles. Mulan was interested in them, not their health or their goodness or their grades. Being part of a discussion with her was a nice way to spend the half hour before Jay and Aziz asked them to come meet their parents.

Even though Aziz wasn't really her boyfriend, Una was nervous, which she'd read was normal when meeting the parents of the person one was dating. It didn't help that Ben stole Mal away to be introduced to his parents and Evie had followed to watch her back. Carlos was more nervous than Una was. His eyes kept darting around, scouting escape routes.

"Relax," Una told Carlos.

"You relax," Carlos muttered.

"Both of you can relax," Jay said. "They already like you. Mom said so."

That didn't make Una feel any better. If the Sultana and Sultan already had their expectations too high, she and Carlos could only disappoint.

Jasmine and Aladdin were talking with Coach when Jay, Aziz, Carlos and Una approached them. Coach spotted them first and gave them a wave.

"How're you doing, kids?" Coach asked.

Una shrugged. Carlos gave a wobbly smile.

Coach grinned. "Meeting the parents, huh? Scary stuff. I'll catch you later, Al." He walked away, leaving Carlos and Una to try not to panic.

"Mom, Dad, this is Carlos," Jay said. "My boyfriend."

"Hi," Carlos squeaked.

"And you must be Una," Aladdin said. "It's nice to meet both of you."

Carlos and Una shook hands with the former street rat. Aladdin looked a lot like Cassim, even without the beard his father had had since forever. They had the same eyes—kind, some of the only kindness there was on the Isle. Aziz took after his father. Jay looked a lot more like Jasmine.

Jasmine smiled at them. "Jay and Aziz won't stop talking about you. It's nice to finally put faces to names."

Aziz blushed. "Mom," he complained.

Jay elbowed his brother. "She's not wrong."

Carlos laughed a little. "It's good to meet you too. I—" He looked at something over Jasmine's shoulder and his eyes widened. "Please excuse us."

Una ran after Carlos without prompting. She'd followed his gaze to the croquet field and that was going nowhere that didn't end in curses.

Carlos and Una fell into line beside Evie when they reached where she was standing slightly behind Mal. Mal was clutching a croquet mallet so tightly that her knuckles were white.

"Maleficent is still on the Isle," Ben said to the stately older woman standing next to Audrey. "This is her daughter Mal."

The woman gasped. "Her daughter?" She turned to Ben's parents. "I thought you taught him better than this." Belle and the Beast King didn't get a chance to respond before she turned back to Ben. "These children are as bad as their parents. You setting them loose will take us back to the days of the poisonings and the coups and the spells—the spells! My daughter was raised by faeries because of her mother's spell! Her first steps, her first words—I missed it all!"

"Queen Leah, please—" Ben was cut off by Mal.

"And? Your daughter is perfectly fine. She got raised by three Good Fairies." Mal gave a thin-lipped smile that verged on faery-cruel. "How do you think my mom raised me? I'll give you a hint, the last time she hit me it was because I didn't kill a kid who stole from me."

Una remembered that. She and Uma had still lived with Ursula then and they'd seen Mal's bruised cheek when they met up on the beach to play Harriet's ball game. They'd split into gangs as usual, but that time the gangs weren't temporary. Uma had yelled at Una for letting Mal take her, even though they both knew no-one refused Mal what she wanted. The party had taught them that well. They split up and they both survived.

Queen Leah inhaled sharply. She shook her finger in Mal's direction. "You see? You see this? They're villains!"

Audrey smirked. "Let's go, Grammy. They're not worth your time. They shouldn't even be here."

Una curled her hands into fists and looked to Mal for her cue. She could punch Audrey for that insult at least a little bit, right? Mal met her gaze and shook her head almost imperceptibly. Drat.

"We're not villains," Carlos said. He spoke loudly and clearly and seemed surprised by himself for doing so.

Chad Charming pushed his way between the Rottens and Audrey and her grandmother. "Yeah?" He addressed each of the Rottens in turn. "You stole another girl's boyfriend. You tried to kill Aziz. You smile when people get hurt. And you, you're nothing but a gold digger and a cheater."

Una had to give Chad one thing, he sure was good at making a scene.

The heroes within earshot gasped. There were so many of them. Queen Leah and Mal had drawn a lot of attention. Fortunately, they'd also drawn the attention of some of the Rottens' allies.

"I asked Mal out," Ben said.

"Una never tried to kill me!" Aziz said.

"Magic mirror in my hand, who's the biggest jerk in the land?" Evie turned her magic mirror towards Chad. He knocked her hand away, which revealed to at least half the people gathered around them that the mirror was displaying a picture of him.

Carlos's teeth were bared in the rarest of his expressions—the one that promised he was going to dole out pain and enjoy doing it. For the first time ever Una had to stop him from getting into a fight. It was difficult because she wanted to hit Chad too. Instead, she grinned. Carlos only smiled when people got hurt because it was safer to blend in. It was a reflex. Una smiled because it made people scared of her. She hoped Chad was scared.

Chad drew his hand back again and for a second all bets were off. Then a blonde woman in a white lace dress grabbed his wrist. Cinderella narrowed her eyes at her son, almost glaring but of course a queen couldn't glare.

"Chadwick Arthur Étienne Charming-de Laure, I'm sure you were not about to hit this girl," Cinderella said.

"Mom!" Chad exclaimed.

Cinderella dragged him away with an apology directed at Evie. Evie watched them go, her fingers clenched tightly around her magic mirror.

Mal glared at Audrey and her grandmother. "Don't pretend you know what our lives are like. Come on, guys." She turned on her heel and walked away. The other three Rottens followed. Nobody stopped them.

"I'm so sorry," Ben said.

"For what?" Mal asked. "Can you control what Audrey's grandmother does?"

"No but..." Ben shook his head and sat down in the empty chair at Evie's sewing table. "I should have done something."

Evie looked away from her mirror for a second to meet Ben's eyes. "You did plenty." Her reassurance meant very little when she started reapplying her lipstick for the third time since she, Mal and Una had gotten back to their room.

Jay sighed and leaned his head back against the wall. "I really thought she'd gotten better. I should have known."

"Why would you?" Aziz asked. "Queen Leah's smart enough not to cause a diplomatic incident. The Isle is fair game."

Una looked back and forth between the two princes of Agrabah sitting on the floor of their room. It sounded like they were leaving something out.

Mal held up her hand in a gesture that ordered a pause. "What are you talking about?"

Jay looked at Carlos, who was sitting next to him and half-heartedly playing tug-of-war with the Tourney team's adopted dog. "We're talking about...my father."

Una got the feeling that he didn't mean Aladdin. That would be too easy.

"Your father?" Carlos asked.

Jay met Carlos's eyes. "Jafar."

Of course.

A/n: I got the idea for Parents' Weekend (rather than Parents' Day) from Natasja's "Stand By Your Friends (Don't turn your backs)" (on Archive of Our Own).