The next morning, Lia woke up with a soft smile. As she let the memories from the previous night wash over her, she allowed herself to sink further into the mattress, wanting to just lie there and let them play through her head. After a couple of minutes though, she pulled herself out of her bed with a deep sigh – she had a long day ahead of her and didn't have the luxury of being allowed to stay in bed. She had a kingdom to run.

So, as she usually did, she slipped on the dressing gown that was laying on the chair by her vanity and sat down to do her skin-care routine and her make-up. Her maids arrived just as she finished and it didn't surprise her at all when Kayla, the more excitable of the two, immediately began drilling her about "the mysterious masked man who everyone was talking about". Apparently, once people had found out who she was, the gossip about the man she had been with all night had begun, especially when people noticed she danced with someone different during the last dance.

Lia chuckled as she put away her make-up. "Swear it won't leave this room? I need to figure some stuff out before anything happens."

Even Mandy, Lia's other maid, looked incredibly interested at this point. "We swear," she and Kayla said simultaneously.

Lia bit her lip a little, "Well, his name is Andrew Almasi."

"Wait, the Sultan's son?" Kayla asked, her eyebrow raised.

Lia nodded, "Yeah."

Kayla pulled her phone out of her pocket and immediately typed something in. A smile came on her face when she found what she was looking for. "Woah. He's cute."

Mandy came over and looked over her shoulder, "I'd even go as far as to say that he's hot," she agreed with a nod of appreciation.

Both Lia and Kayla stared at her at that point in confusion.

"What? Just because I'm a lesbian, I can't appreciate the aesthetics of a guy? I'm uninterested, not blind."

"True," Kayla agreed, "But seriously, Lia, wow."

Lia laughed, "I guess he is really good-looking. But he was behind a mask most of the time, remember? He was so sweet though. And funny. And really, really thoughtful. He just made me feel...normal for once in my life. Like…" she trailed off at the look on their faces. "What?"

"Oh my goodness, you're totally falling for this guy!" Kayla exclaimed in excitement.

Lia blushed heavily, "Oh, hush up and get on with your work, will you?" she told them, as she grabbed her brush and began running it through her hair.

Kayla and Mandy grinned at each other but did as they were told and set back to work. As the girls busied themselves around her, Lia had to bite back a small grin as she thought about the previous night.

By the time she had done her hair and was dressed and the maids had left to start their duties elsewhere, the pleasant memories had given way to fear: What if he wasn't as wonderful as he'd seemed last night? What if he just wanted something casual? What if he wasn't able to cope with the publicity they were going to receive? What if being with him wasn't the best thing for Auradon? These thoughts went round and round her head, making her second guess everything that had happened last night. She didn't know him, right? They were still basically strangers, even if they had spent so much of the previous night together. She didn't know him, right?

Well, she had, of course, met him a few times when they were children – they'd even played together when the adults were in meetings. But that all stopped when she was about eight years old. As soon as she turned eight, she began having her private lessons that existed to prepare her for life as a princess, and then life as a queen, which left not much time for playing with other royals. After that, she'd seen him in the halls during her last two years at Prep and noticed him hanging out with his many friends during the dances, but they'd never really interacted beyond a polite smile.

Lia was putting some earrings in, thinking all these things, when her door banged open and her sister practically bounced in. "Good morning!" she cried, with a cheery voice.

Lia stared at Lucy in confusion, "Uh, hi?" While her sister was an early riser, she wasn't really a morning person. Nor was she someone Lia would describe as 'perky'.

"It's the morning!" she exclaimed with a wide smile as she dropped onto Lia's bed. "And I want to hear all about the mystery man."

"You literally know who he is," Lia reminded her, as she slipped on a pair of flats.

"I know his name, sure. But I want to hear about everything that happened last night. Come on, how often do we get to have talks like this?"

"We talk about Will all the time," Lia reminded her, with a pointed look.

"But we never discuss your love life."

"That's because there is nothing to discuss." Lia began walking towards her door when suddenly it slammed shut and she heard the lock, "Really?" she demanded, whirling around to Lucy. "Locking me in with magic? Lulu, I don't have time for you to act like a whiny teenager."

"Hey!" Lucy protested.

Lia sighed, "Sorry, that was unnecessary. But I really need to get some breakfast so that I can get to the office."

"Lala, you're the queen! It's not like you're going to get fired for going into the office a little late."

Lia sighed, "Look, Lu, I know you miss us having time for girl talk but-"

"Why are you so scared to talk about him?" Lucy interrupted.

Lia froze for a second before sighing and joining Lucy on the bed, "I'm not scared to talk about him," she began, "I just have some things I need to figure out. And I promise the second I've figured them out, I'll tell you anything you want to know about that night."

Lucy laid her head on Lia's shoulder, "You know if you need help to figure things out, I'm always here for you, La."

Lia nodded, "Yeah, yeah, I know." She then smiled a little, "Okay, I'll tell you one thing but you keep it to yourself. Not a word to anyone."

"I promise!" Lucy exclaimed, sitting up with excitement.

Lia wet her lips a little then spoke, "We kissed." Lia was thankful that all the time playing tourney on the grounds with her dad had given her quick reflexes because she managed to cover Lucy's mouth the millisecond that a squeal began to form from it. "Shhh!"

Lucy pushed her sister's hand away, "You kissed?" she demanded, her voice almost a whisper, "Wait, did you kiss him or did he kiss you?" she added, her voice returning to its usual volume.

Lia laughed, "You're just going to want all the details about it now, aren't you?"

"Obviously."

"Okay, here's the deal, I tell you who kissed who and you let me out."

Lucy sighed, "Fine."

"It was kind of both of us? He leaned in really close to wish me a happy birthday and I closed the distance."

"Okay, I have so many questions."

Lia laughed, "And I have no time to give answers. I promise I'll tell you everything soon. I just need to figure out everything first. Now unlock my door."

With a huff, Lucy obeyed and the two of them headed downstairs where breakfast was being served.

The following week was not an easy one for Lia. Between the articles in both newspapers and gossip magazines trying to find the identity of this "Mysterious Masked Man" who'd reportedly been with the queen for most of the night, and her advisors continuously asking if anything was to come of this "fling" she'd had at the ball (she'd done her best not to get insulted by that insinuation), Lia didn't really have time to sort through her own thoughts – it didn't help that Lucy ambushed her once per day (well, ambush was a strong word – she'd just ask once per day if Lia was ready to talk about it yet). Throughout the day, though, she would find herself wondering what he was doing or replaying their conversations or their kiss in her mind.

In the end, Lia found herself simply lying awake at night for longer than usual, trying to process that night and think about whether or not being Andrew was the right choice. She had been planning to do some research into him but she'd barely felt able to breathe, so she simply tried to remember what she already knew to aid her in her decision.

Finally, a week after the ball, Lia found herself sitting on the bed, the fedora and mask in her hands. She often looked at them, using them as physical proof that that night had actually happened. After a week of thinking about it while fending off reporters and her advisors, Lia decided to turn to those who were always ready to help her when a crisis just got too much for her.

When Lia entered the family sitting room, she was pleased that both her mom and her sister were there. Her dad was away for a couple of days because Lia had asked him to go talk to some nobles in Olympus who were kicking up a fuss about a new piece of legislation that Lia had recently passed – those particular nobles were always difficult with Lia so she found that the peace was much better kept when the former king acted as their go-between.

"Mom, I need to talk to you," Lia said as she sat down on the sofa opposite Mal, next to Lucy.

"What's wrong, Baby Bear?" Lucy started to get up at this point, but Lia grabbed her hand and pulled her back down to the sofa. She wanted more than one perspective on this and it would also mean that Lucy got to hear more about Andrew – two birds, one stone.

"I'm…" Lia sighed as she put her head in her hands, "I'm having boy trouble." She looked up to see Mal smirking at her and Lucy grinning widely. "Yeah, I said boy trouble, get over it and help. Please?"

Mal laughed, "Okay, Baby Bear, what exactly is the boy trouble?"

Lia sighed, "Okay, so you know how I spent most of my birthday ball with one guy?"

Mal nodded, "Yes, I do know. Everyone is trying to guess who it is."

"Andrew Almasi," Lia told her, "Son of-"

"Aziz and Annie. Yeah, I went to school with them. Great people. Andrew's a pretty great guy too, but I've only met him once or twice. What was he like that night?"

This time when Lia sighed, it was a little dreamily, "Wonderful. He was sweet and kind and funny and so patient with me. I told him I needed some time to think about it and he accepted it so graciously."

"He sounds great," Mal agreed, "So what's the problem?"

"Maybe he was a bad kisser," Lucy chimed in, with a sly grin. Lia glared at her.

Mal raised an eyebrow, "You kissed him?"

Lia nodded, still glaring at her sister, but then turned back to Mal to reply, "Yes, I did. And for the record, it was a really nice kiss. I just…I don't think I know him well enough."

Mal looked at her confused, "So go on a few dates and get to know him. That tends to be how dating works."

Lia rolled her eyes, "Sure. If you're not the queen and can step foot outside the castle without at least one photographer being ready to snap pictures of your lunch. Besides, you know I'm not really into the casual dating thing. I don't really see much of a point to it."

"Okay, so get his number and get to know him over text," Lucy pointed out.

Lia sighed, "It's not even the getting to know him thing. It's just...what if he's not as great as I think he is? And what if he's not looking for anything serious? And what if he's not the right choice for Auradon?"

"Lucy-Belle, you wanna take the first two?" Mal asked, looking over at her youngest.

"Absolutely," Lucy replied, "Okay, first things first, you ask if he's not as good as you think he is?" She pulled out her phone, "Well, he works as a bookkeeper for the CEO of a non-profit organisation."

Lia raised an eyebrow, "I know that. He rejected the throne in Agrabah to work at You & Me under Aunt Jane. She introduced us at the last annual event." You & Me was a non-profit started by her mom, dad and Aunt Evie, to aid the children of the Isle with finding missing parents, restoring the Isle to liveable conditions, offering therapy and any other ways that they could help these kids lead the best possible lives – it later developed to help any child in need in Auradon. After she'd graduated from college, Jane had taken over the company and had been running it ever since.

"And you didn't tell me?" Lucy demanded, incredulous.

"It was thirty seconds at most! He needed to ask Aunt Jane something, Aunt Jane introduced us, I said hi, he bowed and then he was gone. Honestly, I didn't even remember that until the day after the ball."

"Okay, new question, why do you remember that? It was five months ago."

"Because it wasn't long after he'd given the Agrabah throne to Adrienne. His name was still pretty fresh in a lot of people's minds. Not to mention, you know as well as I do how much all these names are drilled into us."

Lucy shrugged, "Fair point." She looked back at her phone. "Okay, he also used to volunteer at animal shelters in high school and hang out with the younger kids at balls, even once he was in college, and he helped in the rebuilding of that school that collapsed a few summers ago." Lucy put her phone down, "I also remember that he was really popular in Prep because he was such a nice guy. Almost everyone thought he was a lot of fun to be around."

"Almost?"

"You can't please everyone," Lucy reminded her. Lia had to concede to that point because she knew that very well from experience. "So, in summation, he's probably even more wonderful than you thought."

Lia smiled and nodded, "Yeah, I guess so."

"And as for your question of what if he's not looking for something serious, what did he say when you asked him for time?"

"That he'd wait for me," Lia answered immediately. She'd replayed that particular moment several times in her head, trying to see if she could decipher whether or not he meant it.

"Would a guy promise to wait for something that he wanted casually?"

Lia shrugged, "I guess not. Before the mask came off, he did promise not to run, even though I told him it was about to get complicated."

Lucy swung her hand in a voila gesture. "And you think this is a guy who just wants something casual?"

"Okay, okay, point taken." Lia sighed. She didn't know why she hadn't thought of that. She was usually really good at analysing situations, but then again, they'd never really been situations of that nature. She was definitely not as good at this romantic stuff as Lucy was.

"Okay, Mom, you're up," the twenty-year-old princess said, looking over at her mom.

Mal leaned forward, "You worried about whether he'll be good for Auradon?"

Lia nodded, "Yeah. I need him to be someone that Auradon trusts and that he'll cope with helping me run a country without taking over and that he'd be okay with me having more power and with how little privacy we'll get in comparison to the life he already has."

"I'm going to give you some advice, so listen carefully, because this is not advice I'd just give on a whim," Mal told her, "Especially to you because it goes against your very nature."

Lia frowned, now a little scared and a little worried, "Okay…?"

"Baby Bear, for once in your life, be selfish."

Lia blinked a few times. She wasn't sure what she was expecting, but it most definitely wasn't that. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Be selfish," Mal repeated, "Look, you are a wonderful queen. You put your people first, always put other needs before yours. Even as a little girl, you were always so selfless. But in this situation, I'm asking you to be selfish. Everything that you're concerned about will come up at some point or another but you don't need to worry about that now. What you're talking about is if he marries you, which is much further down the line. Baby Bear, let me ask you one question: do you want to be with him?"

Lia looked down at her hands for a second before nodding, "Yes. Which is why I'm so worried about this, Mom. What if I make the wrong choice?"

"Lia, I love you and your heart for the kingdom, but this isn't about Auradon. It's aboutyou and what you want. You might be queen, but you're allowed to want things for yourself, not just for your kingdom. And trust me, dating a guy won't cause your kingdom to fall to ruins."

Lia frowned, "Didn't all of Auradon get cursed just because someone was upset that you were dating Dad?"

Mal rolled her eyes, "A completely unique situation that is unlikely to ever happen again. But I'm being serious, Baby Bear. Go be selfish."

Lia nodded, "Yeah, okay. Thanks, Mom." She embraced her mother before getting up and heading back to her room to put away the fedora and mask she'd left on her bed.

It took Lia a week to work up the nerve to go 'be selfish' like her mom recommended, but it wasn't a bad week. It was filled with encouraging conversations with her parents (where she was reminded that just because she was queen, didn't mean that she couldn't be a person too), and retelling details of the ball to Lucy, who absolutely gushed about it ("This is almost as romantic as when I met Will!" "Didn't he accidentally hit in you in the face with a door?" "I said what I said.").

Admittedly, working up the courage didn't take long, but then she realised that she had absolutely no idea what she was going to say or do or how she was going to contact him. She finally came up with a plan (with a little help from Lucy) and that was how exactly two weeks after the ball, she found herself being escorted into Andrew's office by her Aunt Jane.

"He'll be up here in a bit," Jane said with a wink just before closing the door. Lia took a few deep breaths as the nervousness began to set in. She fiddled with the items in her hands for a second, then went to look out of his window, which helped calm her a bit (it was a really great view).

Soon enough, Lia heard the door opening and she turned around, locking eyes with Andrew as soon as she did. Andrew's eyes were wide but he didn't say anything. Lia simply smiled at him. It was so good to see him again in the flesh, and it appeared that he looked as good in a simple shirt and blazer as he did in waistcoat and cape.

The door slammed behind Andrew, which seemed to knock him out of whatever trance he was in, "Lia-uh, Your Majesty." He gave a little bow to which Lia inclined her head a little.

"Hello, Andrew," Lia replied, keeping her voice steady and polite. "I came to return your possessions." She held up the hat and mask in her hands.

"I suppose you'll want yours back then," Andrew replied, heading over to his desk and pulling open one of the drawers. Lia was surprised to see the white mask so carefully tucked away at his workplace. "I figured I should keep it on hand in case I was going to get a royal summons or something," Andrew said in response to her unasked question.

"How practical," Lia replied, "Yours just stayed in my room."

"I guess this means that you've had enough time?" He made no move to go towards her, so Lia walked the two steps between her and the desk, then laid his hat and mask on the desk.

"Yes, I have," Lia replied. Her polite facade broke away as an uncontainable smile spread across her face, but Andrew was still looking at the mask he had carefully taken out of the drawer. "I'm going to take some of my mother's advice."

"Oh?" He looked up and was seemingly taken aback by her wide smile.

"I'm going to, for once in my life, be selfish."

Andrew raised his eyebrows and went around to the side of the desk where she was stood, clearly catching on. "And what would that mean?"

"It means that I want to give us a go, without thinking about all the possible implications of what it could mean for Auradon."

Andrew hummed softly, "Your Majesty," he began as he took a step towards her. Lia smiled playfully and took a step back, "Are you asking me out?"

"So long as you stop with the formal titles," Lia replied. Andrew grinned and took another step towards her – Lia once again stepped back, though it was a very small step. "But you have to be okay with what you're signing up for." Andrew stepped forward again but Lia didn't move this time, "This can't be a casual thing, and you'll be in the public eye even more than you did when you were younger." Andrew took a small step forward again, "It will be difficult and stressful at times but you have to be ready for that because I can't be with someone who can't cope with that-"

"Lia," Andrew interrupted, now standing nose-to-nose with her, "I grew up royal too. I know what I'm signing up for." Lia let out a shaky breath, feeling herself get warm from the proximity, "I'm going to kiss you now, okay?"

Lia smiled, "Please do." Her voice was much shakier than it had been when she'd been warning him but that thought flew out of her mind when his lips touched hers, feeling excitingly new and comfortingly familiar all at the same time.

As his hands wrapped around her waist to pull her closer and her hands rested on his shoulders, Lia knew that this was probably the best decision she could've possibly made.

And that's the end of this particular story! I do have a few more about Andrew and Lia so if you want to see those, please let me know and I'd share them with you with excitement!

Once again, thank you to wildflowerchildGrace who is the best creative consultant and friend a girl could ask for, as well as an awesome creator of pretty cool OCs.

Love you guys,

SparkyGurl