Personal Space (Wednesday Night, July 11th)

"I just got your voicemail," Ben informs. "It's not too late to talk, is it?"

He takes a moment, "I have an hour."

"May we discuss this on screen?" Ben unsurely responds.

"Give me a minute. I will request a chat."

"Okay. Thanks," Ben says, before the call ends. He stares at the laptop, and a few moments later the request pops up. He answers it, and he awkwardly smiles as he feels his heart speed up, "Hey."

King Charming frowns, "That was a very incriminating video."

"Uh," Ben shifts in his seat. "It was."

"Please, explain," he prompts.

Ben wets his lips, "I, um." He takes a deep breath and faces him, "I invaded Mal's personal space, she defended herself, and then she tried to kill herself."

"You invaded her personal space?" Charming questions.

Ben's eyes shift, "Yes."

He shakes his head, "For what purpose?"

He eyes down, "I don't know." before he frowns back up. "I just got closer to her than what she felt comfortable with."

"And this was after you broke up with her?" he rebuttals. Ben touches the scratches on his cheek, and Charming turns away. "Of course, it was."

"I didn't want to hurt her," Ben defends.

"I don't believe you did," he meets his eyes, "but if you weren't dating her at the time, you had no cause to initiate that kind of interaction."

Ben whispers, "I don't even really remember doing it." and Charming intently listens. "One minute she was taking a hamburger out of the pan, and the next my cheek felt warm. She seemed scared, and… I could only assume why."

He takes a moment, "And what was that?"

"That," Ben's voice shakes, as he gulps down the tears. "I…" He lifts a shoulder, "I just—I hadn't eaten, so I just assume…" He wipes a couple tears away, "Are you mad at me?"

"No," Charming frowns. "I'm worried about you. And my son. Your friendship means a lot to him, but I can't knowingly put him in danger. Do you have any explanation for this?"

Ben takes a deep breath, "I think so." as he tries to pull himself together. "The doctor has this theory, but I think that perhaps it's something else."

"What is it?" he questions.

Ben holds tight onto his arms, "If I tell you, can you not tell my parents?"

"I think that rather depends on what it is," he seriously answers.

Ben nods, "Okay." before he opens his mouth; however, the door opens, and his eyes widen as he watches his father enter the office.

"Is this how it's going to be now?" his eyebrows raise. "You're going to just run to your mother," he points from Ben to the empty doorway, "whenever I discipline you?"

Ben hurries to put the computer on mute, "Father." before he stands from the chair.

"If you have a problem with me," he angers, "you discuss it with me. You don't go to her!"

"I'm sorry," Ben apologizes, before he eyes down. "Wait. What's this about?"

"How I barred you from your bank account," his father supplies, "because you had the nerve to tell a fellow royal how terrible of a father I am." Ben falters, and he continues, "You're still a child. You cannot tell me how to parent."

"I just needed someone to talk to."

"And then you go tell your mother about this?" he disbelieves.

"I didn't tell her anything," Ben insists. "I needed to pay the bill. She was there."

"Bill?" he gives him a look.

"I, um." Ben scratches the back of his head, "I was at a restaurant with her."

His father strides forward, "You went out with her?"

"Just to eat," Ben reassures.

"Just to eat," his father grits his teeth. "You sicken me." Ben eyes away, and he glares at him, "She's your mother. Do you have no decency?"

Ben furrows his eyebrows, tears intruding his eyes as he faces him, "Aren't we supposed to be discussing my money."

"Your money?" his father's jaw drops. "I think you mean my money. Over half of that is from when I was still ruling. You took it when you and your mother plotted to take the crown."

Ben quietly states, "You agreed it would be good for your health."

"I didn't agree to anything," he shouts. "Belle manipulated me to give you the crown, and you took it from me."

"I didn't want to be king," Ben exasperates.

"No." His father nods, "You just went along with what your mother said, because you have this sick infatuation for her."

Ben evenly replies, "You're right. I am a sick, horrible being. Can you go now?"

"Not before you apologize," he asserts.

"Apologize for what?"

"For telling Charming I'm a bad man and father," his blue eyes piece at him.

Ben makes a noise before shaking his head, "I can't."

"You will if you want access to that money."

Ben narrows his eyes, "You know what?" before he leans forward. "I don't need you or your stupid money."

His father straitens, "You will regret this." before he slowly turns and exits the room.

After he leaves, Ben takes a deep breath and settles back in the chair, "Damn it." before pressing the button again. "I only put you on mute."

"Are you okay?" Charming concerns.

Ben shakes his head, "Just tired." as he rests his elbow on the desk and places a hand to his head. He fails to speak, and Ben's frown deepens, "You know, I should go."

"Hold on," he hurries. "We were discussing what you think happened with Mal."

"Well," Ben reasons, "I've decided I shouldn't share any more secrets with you."

"Ben," he breathes.

"Sorry," Ben simply says before exiting the call. He takes a shaky breath, gulping as tears fall from his eyes, and wipes them away before accepting the call again. "What?"

"I told your father what you said, because I thought he should explain himself and clear up any misunderstandings you two had," Charming comments.

"My father's all about war," Ben counters, as more tears leave his eyes. "Diplomacy is my mother you're thinking of."

"If I knew how much trouble you would get into," he apologizes, "I wouldn't' have said anything to him." Ben stays quiet, and Charming watches as he wipes the tears from his face. "How is he able to keep you from your money?"

"His money," Ben sadly laughs, before he shakes his head. "The account was made before I turned sixteen. He had to cosign it with me."

"But it would still be your name on the account." He reasons, "You can make it so only you have access to it now."

"If I could before," Ben mutters, "I definitely can't now." He eyes down, "Not without the bank questioning why my father felt the need to keep me from it in the first place… They'd probably think I'd been spending it recklessly or something, and he was trying to help me."

"Do you have a safe, maybe, at home somewhere?" Charming considers.

Ben's quiet for a long moment, "I have some money saved, but most of what I had left I had to spend at dinner when I found out my card wasn't clearing." He deeply frowns, "The rest won't last me long."

He frowns in return, "Maybe you should just apologize, even if you don't think you have any reason to. You're fairly independent. I know you're going to need that money."

"If I could apologize," Ben softly says, "I would have done it, but he does this kind of this all the time… I just couldn't find the words." He faces him, "No. I'll just have to find another job. The health store is hiring. I can try there."

"Aren't you still relearning English?" he questions.

Ben half laughs, "I don't have a lot of options here. I pay for my own medicine too. I'm literally going to die if I don't get a job."

"Wait," he lets out a breath. "Die?"

Ben falters, "I'm going to have to open a bank account only I can control too, so I should get going."

"It's the middle of the night," Charming counters.

"Is there anything else we needed to discuss?" Ben bypasses.

"Uh, yes," he recalls. "I still need an explanation, so Chad can continue to see you." Ben shakes his head, and he reassures, "I won't tell anyone. Whatever it is, you can tell me."

"Really?" Ben hopes.

He pauses, "I think something that's causing this type of behavior, an adult should know… even if it's not your parents."

"Thank you," Ben mumbles.

"Please. You can tell me."

Ben nods, before he faces him, his mouth opening before he admits, "I just, um, have a lot of bad eating habits, I guess?" He twiddles his fingers, "I'll, uh, either not eat or eat a lot, sometimes both." He stares down, "Sometimes I start to eat something, and the next I know, it's gone. Like, I already ate it, but I won't remember it." The tears fall to the desk, and he looks up at him, "I don't remember almost hurting Mal. Or Lonnie. Or anyone. I didn't mean to do it. I never drink on purpose. It's almost always by accident."

"So, when you don't eat enough," Charming clarifies, "you sometimes drink from people and don't remember it?"

"It's not just… the drinking," Ben anxiously answers. "It's food too. It's ice cream. It's peanut butter. It's whatever's for dinner." His voice crackles, "That's how I know the doctor's wrong. This isn't happening because I can't accept what I am. It's happening, because I can't figure out how to eat frickin' right. Food's just too hard, and I hate it."

"It's probably harder as a carnivore," Charming thinks, "trying to figure out how much of what food group you really need or which you can even have."

"I can't have vegetables," Ben nearly smiles. "I can't chew them."

"You can't have vegetables?" he questions.

"Well, I'll have pickles," Ben backtracks, "and Mother will steam some, which is easier, but they will still taste bad." He cringes, "Actually, all food tastes pretty disgusting. I don't know why I even brought that up."

"All food?" his mouth gapes.

Ben makes a face, "Unless I'm distracted." and his eyes shift. "Maybe it's a sensory thing. They're just too heightened or something."

"I think, maybe," Charming proposes, "you should at least tell your doctor about this. If he's going to try to treat you for something, you want it to be for the right thing."

"No," Ben immediately responds. "I can't do that."

"Why not?" His mouth opens, but he doesn't speak. "Ben?"

"I just feel like I can't," he slowly responds.

"Like how you couldn't apologize to your father?" he inquires.

"No," Ben lets out a breath. "This is different."

"Then why can't you?"

"Because," Ben begins, before he lets out a breath. "Because, then we wouldn't be able to get away with it."

His eyebrows furrow, "We?"

"Me," Ben's eyes shift, before he corrects, "I wouldn't get away with it."

"Get away with what?"

He looks off in thought, as he slowly replies, "I don't know."

"You don't know?" Ben turns back to him and shakes his head. Charming takes a moment, "If you told them, you wouldn't get away with your eating disorder."

Ben's eyes widen, "Who said anything about an eating disorder. I never said—"

"If you told the doctor," Charming calmly responds, "he'd be obligated to tell your parents. They'd keep an eye on you. You wouldn't be able to do the things you do now."

"I don't have an eating disorder," Ben furiously whispers. "I just have bad eating habits. That's it. That's all."

"Ben," he tries to reason.

"I'm sick enough," he insists. "I can't have an eating disorder."

He frowns, "The way you feel about your mother isn't an illness."

Ben looks away, "That's not what I was referring to." He stays silent, and Ben turns back to him, "You must know I'm actually ill."

"Ben," he falters. "I don't know what you mean."

He wets his lips, "You remember when I was little and my parents got upset when you and Ella took me to the hospital?"

He nods, "I do."

Ben frowns, "I, um." as he glances down. "My parents were upset, because I had already taken medicine and when you took me to the hospital, they gave me an overdose." He meets his dark brown eyes, "I have a high body temperature, even after I take medicine for it."

He takes a minute, "I don't understand."

"I'm ill with hyperthermia," Ben evenly explains. "I take medicine to lower my body temperature every day, but it still remains high." He glances down, "Whenever I get a cold or the flu, I am lucky to survive."

"How could we have not known about this?" Charming comments in confusion. "The council should have been made aware of this."

"I have very little say in my own life," Ben frowns at him. "You didn't know about my illness for the same reason you or I wasn't told what I am." He shakes his head, "My parents thought I would be dethroned if any of this was made public."

"The council should have known," he insists.

Ben eyes from the desk to him, "I'm making a will in case anything happens to me." before taking a deep breath. "And in that will, I will be giving my crown and position as king of this country over to Chad."

"To Chad?" he disbelieves.

"There's no one I trust more," Ben discloses. "Chad cares about the people. He will make sure they get everything they need and deserve."

"Well, yes," Charming recognizes, "but…"

"Chad's worked alongside me this past year," Ben informs. "He knows what goes into the job and how important it is that it gets done."

"There's no one else you'd want to rule?" he questions. "Not even your girlfriend? Anyone else would want to secure their partner's standings, elope, and give everything to them."

"Mal's not my girlfriend anymore," Ben reminds him.

"You were happy with her," he excuses. "I've never seen you that happy, even with Audrey. What you two had was special."

"I assaulted her," Ben asserts. "And she tried to kill herself because of it. I'm not good for her." Charming eyes down, and Ben takes a calming breath, "Okay. Let's say Mal gets diagnosed with something, she's treated for it, and she still wants to be with me." He looks back up, and Ben continues, "Mal may be a leader, but she doesn't strike me as political. Her mother pressured her to take the crown. I don't think she actually wants the job that comes with it."

"Chad has plans," Charming comments. "He wants to go to college. He wants to play pro tourney. He wants to fall back on a sports health position. He can do that if he's running a kingdom, but do you really think he's going to want to run an entire country?"

Ben thinks, "I know Chad wants to be king. I don't know if he will still want to be king if he doesn't have me to turn to, but he really is the only one I trust with the job."

He nods, "Okay."

Ben wets his lips, "Um. I really could use Chad's help with some king stuff. Could you possibly allow a supervised visit for tomorrow afternoon?"

Charming nods again, "I think I can do that."

Ben tries to smile, "Thank you."

"Just," Charming looks over him. "Keep your hands and teeth to yourself."

"Of course," Ben frowns.

-Posted:07/13/2019

Megan First off, I will say the Taylor Swift song you recommended before sounds way better when I'm listening to it over the radio at work and not sitting at my desk watching the music video. As for the D3 song you recommended, I listened to it, but... Aside from liking songs with more of a melody (and probably fewer voices), I think the video was jarring me too much for me to appreciate the song. Especially the first time I listened to it, I just noticed a lot of things that didn't make sense. If you look at Dizzy's hair (yes, Dizzy, because that's how it's spelled in the cast trailer) you will notice there's probably been a huge time jump. This makes sense if they want Ben to propose, but it doesn't make sense when Uma swore revenge at the end of the last movie (And, yes, it could be hair extensions, but I feel like you need longer hair for that anyway). Depending on what happens in this next movie, I don't know if I'll be able to make it cannon in my fanfic series or not. I know I plan to make the second one compatible, but if Mal teams up with Hook and Uma that conflicts with what I have here, and I rather do like the idea of Hades being Mal's father, so... yeah. Did you read that short story? It's the second chapter of Islander Adventures. I left it vague, just in case. Anyway, maybe the song will be better with context of the movie, but the songs they've been releasing early (like Genie in a Bottle) really doesn't make sense to me. The movie's about the new VKs coming to Auradon, a sleeping curse, and Mal needing Hades' stone/gem to break it. I don't see how that Genie song would be relevant in an hour and half long movie. It doesn't seem relevant to me. Surely, there's better things to spend five minutes on.

- So, I really need to shout out pinkcrazyness for either following or favoriting every single one of my Descendants fanfics. You thought you could hide from me, but you were wrong. Please, comment. I'd love to hear from someone who I know for sure has read everything. (If others of you have, feel free to leave a comment saying so, but my other Descendants stories are seeming a little bare. They could use a little love, you know.) Anyway, enjoy today's post. Make sure to leave a comment of what you think so far, and don't feel shy on my other stories either. I love reading your guys' thoughts and predictions. And for those of you who are still here from the first story (Isle Problems: Behind the Scenes), thank you so much for your dedication. You are awesome!