Chapter 2 – At the Ball
A heaping thanks to my beta, Kei Luna Shoryu for reviewing this chapter! I am forever grateful for your patience, Kei, and if you guys have a fancy for some power rangers' fanfiction, you should check out Kei's stuff, it is quite good :)
Notes – Chapter title comes from the song 'At the Ball' from Cinderella III – A Twist in Time.
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Due to 'Lance's' disastrous first evening at the festival Chad strongly considered not going to the second, or maybe avoiding the deal entirely. But his mother hadn't given up after Lady Tremaine had destroyed her first creation (okay, maybe she had a little, but Chad didn't have a fairy godmother so he had to pick himself up by his own two bootstraps) so he refused to either, putting together a new outfit out of more durable fabric. Fabric that would dry quickly in the event that he was pushed into a fountain.
It would be easier to go as someone else, but Chad had come to like Lance, the awkward homeschooled kid, and he refused to let Jay of all people scare him away from the festival. Chad still had performances to watch and food to taste and he could cheer and eat as much as he wanted because it couldn't possibly reflect badly on his kingdom.
Plus, tonight Ben had opened the doors to his palace to host a ball for any and every one, which meant the festivities outside the castle were likely to be Jay-free. It was brilliant.
Chad started on the food stalls first, because he hadn't gotten to them yesterday and he was drawn in the by the delicious smell of meat pies (frequently forbidden by his grandfather for being 'peasant food', anything that could be eaten with your hands like an uncultured heathen wasn't good enough for their family). He stifled giggles of anticipation as he paid for the treat, warm and steaming and so good as he bit into it, already moving off to find his next score. There was a stand of flaky apple tarts nearby, and the idea of ignoring proper order of cuisine spoke to Chad on a spiritual level. Here, he could have dessert first if he wanted to, and didn't have to politely bow out after a few bites – he could have as much as he could pay for and no one would care. Yes, this was definitely worth it.
At least, until he heard a familiar voice.
"Hey, it's you."
Chad blinked when he realized he was being spoken to, turning to see Carlos staring at him with a look of interest, Doug lingering behind him.
"Yeah," Carlos continued when he got a good look at Chad's (masked) face. "You're the guy Jay pushed into the fountain."
"My name's Lance," Chad sniffed, wiping beef juice off his chin. He didn't want to become known as Jay's victim, no matter how temporary this persona was. "And your friend's a lunatic."
"He's really sorry," Doug offered.
"And he's not a lunatic," Carlos cut back in. "He's… passionate. And bad at spontaneous planning. Which led to you getting pushed into a fountain."
"Yes, thank you - I was there," Chad snapped, taking a vindictive bite of his meat pie because he wanted to eat it while it was still hot and it was so good. "Why aren't you inside?" he asked, waving at the castle.
Carlos' smile grew. "We were looking for you, actually."
Doug sighed. It was a familiar kind of sigh, as though the world's issues had been put upon his shoulders. "Jay would like to apologize," he explained. "And by extension, Mal and Ben wanted to apologize in Jay's behalf."
"Awful lot of trouble to go through," Chad drawled, narrowing his eyes. "I'm still not a floozy."
"Um…" Doug blinked. "Noted?"
Carlos' smile was so wide it threatened to split his face. "Dude, you really want Jay to suffer? Come to the ball and then don't give him the time of day."
"Um." Doug looked alarmed by this, but Chad nodded to show he was listening.
"You can't lose," Carlos continued. "There's food and dancing and you can make Jay grovel on his knees. It's a win-win-win."
Chad sighed. He did like winning.
"Fine," he said, because he didn't want to see what would happen if he tried to decline. Assuming Carlos actually had been looking for him. "I'll come. Just- don't push me into anymore fountains."
"I think I can manage that," Carlos chirped, offering Chad his arm like the obnoxious little shit that he was.
Well, it was still better than Carlos being perpetually annoyed by Chad. He'd take it.
Chad accepted the arm, ignoring Carlos' smirk as he popped the last of his pie in his mouth, walking towards the castle with what he refused to acknowledge as anticipation in his stomach.
"Well," Doug murmured, taking up Chad's other side. "This will be interesting."
Pretty much the best way to put it.
-:-:-:-:-:-
Despite being a ball open to all levels of the public, Ben and Mal had spared no expense on decorations. Garlands of fresh ivy trailed from the ceiling, and the marble columns were shined to gleaming. There was, as Carlos had said, a bevy of food and drink and dancing, and beyond the large glass doors Chad could see the gardens had received a similar treatment of fairytale lights and silk draperies. It was very posh and very lovely and Chad couldn't help but think of how his mother would have adored this. Chad's mother was all about equality among the classes, of cherishing the workers by whom the kingdom was carried. Chad tried to keep that mindset himself, though his commitments had to be out of the public eye due to his grandfather's differing opinion. It was one of the matters where discretion was the better part of valor.
"Like it?" Carlos asked when he saw Chad eyeing the décor. "It's mostly Jane's handiwork."
"Wow." Chad let out a low whistle of approval. "Your girlfriend is skilled. The flowers are…" Chad felt himself get flustered, for some reason feeling tongue tied under Carlos' expectant stare. Likely because the other teen was usually waiting to criticize him. "It's very lovely."
"Yeah," Carlos mused, but it didn't seem derisive. If anything it was dreamy, as though basking in pride at his girlfriend's work. "There's a lot of greenery here."
"I like it." Chad always would, though he rarely got a chance to work in the gardens. Such things were beneath him. "It makes things feel… fresh."
"Which is one of the few things you get in spades in Auradon." Carlos pulled them to a stop, grabbing both of Chad's hands. "Can I have this dance?"
"What?" Chad blinked, felt a nervous sort of flutter in his stomach.
"This dance," Carlos pressed. "You know, to add to the not-giving-Jay-the-time-of-day plan."
Beside them, Doug sighed. "Here we go."
"So?" Carlos wagged his eyebrows. "Wanna dance?"
When it was put like that…
"Sure," Chad allowed with a shrug. "But I want to check out the food tables later."
As his normal princely self there was a strict limit on what Chad could actually partake in at public events, so most of the time he just pretended not to stare longingly at Ben's table of hors d'oeuvres. Mrs. Potts was a master at coordinating her kitchens, and Chad had been longing to taste her delicate finger foods for years. He was pretty sure he'd had some of her cooking back when Ben would still invite him to sleepovers, but he couldn't remember it.
Carlos' gaze flashed in something like appreciation. "Fair enough," he said, and then they were off.
Unlike Jay, Carlos let Chad lead, which made it feel like they were working together to achieve a goal of fluid dancing rather than Chad being bodily dragged around the dancefloor. It was nice. Carlos was a pretty good dancer.
"You," Chad huffed between spins. "Have got some moves, Mr. De Vil."
"Back at you," Carlos laughed. "How'd you get so good?"
"Practice." Chad shrugged. "It's different doing it with another person, though."
Who wanted to be there, and wasn't just his instructor or a friend of the family or royal connection that had to dance with Chad. Granted, Carlos was only dancing with him to annoy Jay (though Chad still wasn't quite sure how that could be annoying), but he'd still asked and looked like he wanted to be there.
Carlos' gaze got a little speculative. "I suppose it is. So, how are you liking Auradon?"
It was at this point that Chad realized, through no real effort of his own, that Carlos must have come to the conclusion that Chad – or, 'Lance' – was an Isle kid. It was the only thing that made sense with his line of enquiry, and Chad supposed he could correct him, but it wouldn't really matter in the end anyway, so what was the point?
He took the topic change in stride. "What's not to like about Auradon?" Chad countered. "Granted, any kingdom going through diplomatic reforms is going to have its share of troubles, but overall the political climate seems very positive, which bodes well for any changes King Ben would like to make." Upon seeing Carlos' blinked confusion, Chad shrugged. "I um… read a lot."
"Because you're homeschooled."
"Right." Great, that just confirmed that Jay was a roving gossip. "Does Jay share everything with you?"
What greeted him was a look of surprised contemplation, like Carlos hadn't expected him to connect those very basic dots. "We try to," he replied with a shrug. "You know how it is."
No. Not really. Not at all.
Chad made himself look away, as per proper waltzing etiquette, and cleared his throat. "Sure do."
Carlos was perceptive, so he probably already saw through Chad. Or Lance. Whoever. Chad didn't have anyone close enough to him to consider sharing his secrets because most of them couldn't stand him, or what was left of his persona, and the only one who actively sought him out was Audrey because she still kind of had bad press from the whole 'excessive bout of evil' thing.
Before Carlos could reply, the music seemed to wind down to a slower tempo, one of the more modern, romantic couple songs humming through the air. Chad cleared his throat, ready to make a break for the food tables, but Carlos held onto him.
"One more?" he asked, as though he was not a person with a girlfriend. "It will make Jay really annoyed."
At this point, Chad hadn't even seen Jay, so he wasn't sure that was actually true, but this was the first time someone had earnestly asked him to dance in a while, so he relented with a shrug. He settled Carlos back in his arms and then blinked when the other teen just, kept moving forward, until he was resting his head on Chad's shoulder and had an arm around his waist and they were chest-to-chest and his eyes were closed in something like contentment-
Chad hoped the other teen couldn't hear the way his heart was beginning to pound in his chest, hoped that the heat building under his collar was just in his mind and that he wasn't a sweaty mess. Carlos seemed so… happy, there, relaxing like he felt safe in Chad's arms, and that was a humbling thing. That he would be that trusted.
And it was stupid, because Carlos had already declared that they were doing this to mess with Jay, and if Chad read anything into this it was his fault. So he wouldn't, because this was Carlos who was dating perfect Jane and Chad was literally a nobody. So it was fine. It was fine.
When the music changed again, Chad made an effort to detangle from Carlos slowly, to not pull away as though he'd get burned (though in a way it felt like he already had). He was just about to suggest relocating when a perfectly manicured hand settled on his elbow.
Chad knew those nails anywhere, as he spent far too long staring at them, pondering their owner, and hating himself because of it.
So he couldn't quite hide his trepidation when he turned to face Evie, regal and poised and lovely, staring at the two of them in a fond sort of amusement that made Chad ache inside. "Having fun?" she asked, aiming the question at Carlos.
A red sort of flush spread across the other teen's cheeks, likely from exertion. "I've got a great dance partner," he mumbled. "What's not to like?"
Chad… really didn't know what was happening, but Evie laughed, the sound like twinkling glass. "I don't believe we've met. I'm Evie."
She held out a hand for him and on instinct, Chad took it, offering her an awkward bow that was a hundred percent organic. "It's an honor to meet you, your highness. I'm Lance."
As little as Chad's grandfather liked it, Evie did possess a legitimate claim to the Hanover throne, as Queen Snow White and King Florian hadn't had any children, and Queen Grimhilde's royal pedigree went back for centuries. Honestly, if Evie hadn't been trapped on the Isle, she would have a much more valid claim to the throne, but as it was, she'd have to wait until Aunt Snow stepped down before she could take her place.
None of this Chad could say under normal circumstances, but now that he was someone else, he thought it was only right to give Evie the credit she deserved.
When he looked up, Evie was staring at him with a wide gaze that melted into fondness, her smile so warm that Chad could bask in it.
Would have, if Carlos wasn't grinning so weird. "You two should dance," the inventor declared, stepping away from their huddle with barely concealed excitement. "That would annoy Jay a lot."
"What's this about annoying Jay?" Evie asked, forever concerned for her friends. "Wait, are you the fountain guy?"
"I would rather that not be my new nickname," Chad sighed. "But there was an unfortunate incident with a fountain that I'd rather forget."
"In that case, I think I owe you a dance," Evie decided, shifting gracefully into place. "If I may?"
Something in Chad's chest twisted in a funny little patter. "I'd be honored."
Dancing with Evie was everything Chad suspected his parents' first dance had been like. His Aunt Anastasia said that his mother had danced like she was floating on air, every move effortless, and Evie was much the same, so much so that Chad felt dull in comparison, even if he tried to step up his game to slightly more Lance-polished levels. Evie was just- effortless, and it was odd having her so close when the last time Chad had seen her she only had eyes of pity for him.
"So," Evie began part of the way through the dance, when it became obvious that other people were staring at them and Chad was nervous. "What are you doing in Auradon?"
"I… make clothes, actually," Chad settled on. "That's one of the reasons I might have been a um… bit harder on your friend than I should have."
"You made this?" Evie asked, thumb brushing against his coat. "It's brilliant."
Chad felt his cheeks flushing. "I'm pretty happy with how it came out."
"Do you need a job?" Evie pressed and whoa, right, he was just- some rando so what did she know. "I've been looking to branch into menswear-"
"That's very kind," Chad forced himself to say, because who was he, to Evie? Just another lost child trying to find their way, and Evie was incapable of turning her back to them. "But I… I need to do this on my own."
This legacy he had created had originally been for his mother, but over time it had really grown into Chad's own passion, and he wanted to hold onto that. It was one of the few things he had in his life that his grandfather didn't control. It was his.
"I respect that." Evie's voice was uncharacteristically soft when she said it, a thoughtful sort of praise that made Chad feel unbalanced inside.
He cleared his throat in an effort to center himself. "However, if you ever want to do a collaboration…"
He could create a label for Lance on the side. A niche market for more alternative clothing, stuff that wouldn't sell in his usual stores.
Evie's smile was blinding. "I'd like that."
Chad found himself matching it. He'd never thought he'd get the chance to discuss fashion with someone else, someone who had an actual passion for it, and the prospect of – sharing ideas and building something together was so very tempting.
"Another?" Evie asked as the song drew to a halt. "Since Carlos got two."
"That um, only seems fair-" Chad began to say, but was cut off by the ominous rumble of his stomach. "S-sorry. Ignore that-"
"Nonsense," Evie soothed, hooking her arm through his elbow and tugging him towards the food. "I've monopolized your time without even seeing to your needs like a good host."
"Technically, King Ben and Lady Mal are the hosts," Chad pointed out. "And it's kind of unfair to expect them to look after each guest's individual desires."
He focused on the explanation to keep the embarrassment at bay, because as delicious as the meat pie had been it wasn't exactly large, and Chad hadn't been able to eat anything else since breakfast.
"That," Evie mused. "Is quitter's talk. Here." She drew them close to the table. "Let's load up some plates, shall we?"
"Okay," Chad said, because it was nice to follow someone else's lead, especially if that person was Evie. "Okay."
Chad grabbed a little of everything because Mrs. Potts was a wizard and he was sure it was all good. There was all manner of food available, though Chad stuck to the less fancy stuff, as it was what he got less often. There were also desserts and Evie got a full plate of them, lemon madeleines and mini eclairs and dainty tea cakes, calissons and macarons and flower-topped petit fours. They took their haul out to the garden, splaying it on a stone bench that was still warm from the sun.
"Oh wow," Chad hummed around a mouthful of food – the fish and chips were greasy but salty and hot, and it was sort of bizarre but filling in a good way. "Why haven't I tried this before?"
"I know what you mean," Evie laughed. "When we first came over, Carlos would eat sweets for every meal. It's so easy to get lost in the flavor."
"I don't blame him," Chad said, taking a bite of one of the caramel macarons. "I would eat these all the time if I could."
"You should see Mal with strawberries," Evie mused, taking another dainty bite of her petite fours. "She's an actual monster. And don't get me started on chocolate fountains."
Chad perked up. "Are those good?" He had only been able to look at them, though conceptually he counted them as a win. Like, melted chocolate you can dump anything in? How could that not be amazing?
Evie's smile broadened. "They're great. Ben got one for Carlos' birthday, which was both brilliant and a catastrophe."
"Did he go too far?" Chad asked cheekily. "Did he reach beyond the natural bounds of man and come back scorned? Much like Icarus, doomed by his own hubris?"
Evie was giggling now. "Let's just say there were a lot of sugar comas all around," Evie decided, making neat work of her mini quiche. "Do you read a lot?"
"Not like his majesty, I'm sure." Chad stared at his plate and settled on one of the cheddar gougères. "But books can be… good friends." It was a way to gain knowledge when his grandfather was trying to act as a gatekeeper to what his world entailed, and they kept Chad company in the long summers, when the loneliness became too much for him.
Evie's smile dimmed ever so slightly. "I never thought of it like that."
She'd never had to, but Chad was glad for that.
"I've been told I'm weird, so I wouldn't worry about it," he said, recalling Jay's declaration.
It looked like Evie was going to make some kind of consolatory reply, but she was interrupted by the arrival of a sweaty Carlos - Doug and a giggling Jane in-tow.
"Hello," the young De Vil cheered, snatching up one of Evie's little onion tarts and popping it into his mouth. "What's the hap's, people?"
"You would know if you'd stuck around," Evie chided, offering out her dessert plate to Jane who gladly took one of the calissons and grinning when Doug slid onto the bench beside her.
"Sorry, couldn't-" Carlos said around a mouthful of tart. "Had to keep Ben and Mal company on the dancefloor. Keep the snobs from monopolizing their time."
"Those snobs are our allies."
"Who keep trying to monopolize our future king and queen on the dancefloor," Carlos summarized. "But we saved them, so it's all good."
"Doug," Evie sighed, turning to one of the voices of reason of their group for comfort.
Her boyfriend grinned. "It really is all good, Evie."
"In that case," she began, eyes half-lidded and sultry. "May I have this dance?"
Doug rose to his feet in a fluid motion, offering her a bow. "I'd be delighted."
They made their way back inside with a couple of waves, and Jane claimed Evie's vacant seat, Carlos choosing to throw himself on the ground before them, snacking off each of the plates.
"Hey, Lance," Jane greeted with a shy flutter of her fingers. She was wearing a new gown today, not from Chad's collection, so it was probably Evie's handiwork. "I'm sorry about yesterday."
"You couldn't have known the limits of Jay's… excessiveness," Chad decided on. "I mean, I couldn't have known either. I didn't actually expect him to chase me."
Carlos muttered something like, "As though he could have ignored that" but then Jane was making fluttery motions with her hand, drawing Chad's attention.
"Jay gets-" She fumbled for the right words. "Excited, when um- presented with a challenge."
"I don't think I was that much of a challenge for him." Seeing as he had little trouble keeping up with Chad. Or tackling him into a fountain. "Or if I was, he definitely failed."
"I'll say," Carlos grumbled, and this time Jane actually shot him a look of annoyance.
"So," she began brightly. "What do you think of Evie?"
"And her boyfriend?" Carlos pressed, looking up with innocent eyes.
Chad blinked at the sudden change of topic. "Well, I haven't had much of a chance to speak to Doug, but… I think they're both pretty kind." He knew Doug was kind, was generous with his time with those who needed help tutoring, in either academics or music, and he was always lending a hand to help run Evie's business and related charities. There were no alternative motives there, it was just- who Doug was.
"And I think," he continued. "That um… kindness is a severely underrated quality."
"Here, here," Carlos said, holding up a mini croque-monsieur in a mock toast, though his eyes seemed to soften, like he meant it.
Jane held up one of the macarons to mimic him, about to say something else, when an annoyed voice broke into the party.
"What the hell, Carlos?" There Jay was, people scrambling over themselves to get out of his way as he stomped through the garden. "Has he been here the whole time? You knew I was looking for him!"
"Did I?" Carlos asked, eyes opened wide in a show of innocence. "Dear me, I must have forgotten to text you."
Ah, so Carlos had been pranking Jay by getting Chad where he knew Jay wouldn't look – though all of that was confusing in the first place because it begged the question, why was Jay looking for him? Was this a pride thing? Chad bet it was a stupid pride thing.
Chad narrowed his eyes at Jay, who had apparently been searching for him because Chad had besmirched the other teen's honor. And Jay thought Chad was a tool.
"Jane," he said suddenly, remembering Carlos' plan. "Would you like to dance?"
He could practically feel Jay's confused stare.
Jane was also confused but she recovered quickly, taking his proffered hand. "Of course. I'd be delighted."
"Hear that, Jay?" Carlos giggled as they began to move away. "She's delighted."
"Shut up," the other teen huffed, sounding appropriately annoyed.
"Are they always like this?" Chad asked when he got Jane to the dancefloor, the two of them falling into an easy two-step.
Jane smiled. "It depends. Sometimes they can be at each other's throats and sometimes you can't get them apart if you tried. They've been together a long time."
"I wonder what that's like," Chad mused before he could think better of it. The closest he had to that had been Audrey, and that was, well, Audrey.
"You know," Jane began, tone somewhat dreamy. "I kind of feel the same. But I've got Carlos now, and- well, once you get one of them, you sort of get all of them."
"Share and share alike?" Chad asked, pondering the delicate flush that dusted Jane's cheeks. She really was quite pretty.
"Sort of," she replied. "There wasn't a lot of good on the Isle, so when they got something that was-"
"I get it." You had to savor the special things. And it was admirable, that they would share these friendships with each other. Chad certainly never had anyone be that generous to him.
"Right." Jane nodded. "I'm sorry."
"Why?" Chad wasn't sure what brought that on.
Jane's flush darkened. "You must have been lonely."
It took a lot of effort for Chad not to stop still, right then. Effort to keep moving as though nothing was wrong, as though he hadn't been ruthlessly gutted.
His tongue felt thick and clumsy and he wasn't sure what to say, because there was no past tense about it, but somehow he muddled through. "N-not your fault," he decided on, eventually. "But I appreciate the sentiment."
Fuck, she must have been talking to Carlos. Of course she'd been talking to Carlos, she was dating him and Carlos had already established that they shared everything with each other.
They spent the rest of the dance in silence, Jane likely feeling awkward where Chad was rattled, that his fake life and real life were so similar to each other. He wondered if he was going in too deep, but the festival was only a week long anyway. After this, the magic would be done.
There was no going too deep.
-:-:-:-:-:-
He spent the rest of the evening taking turns with anyone who wasn't Jay around the dancefloor. After Jane was a bashful Doug who allowed Chad to lead him in circles, and then he was claimed by Carlos again for a quick polka that ended with both of them falling into helpless laughter. He was stolen by Lonnie at one point, the young warrior sticking her tongue out at Jay as though claiming a prize before she disappeared into the crowd, and then there was Evie's shining elegance and aching poise and everything was so good and so much that Chad thought he would be sick with it.
And then he actually was sick, because he had eaten too many rich things too quickly and long story short he ended up in some guest bathroom off the beaten path with Evie holding back his hair, Doug offering a wet compress for the back of his neck while Chad hurled his guts out into the toilet.
It was horrifying and humiliating and Chad wanted nothing more than for the floor to swallow him whole, to spare him this misery, but maybe this was just- karma. Chad had used Evie once upon a time, and now Evie got to watch a version of Chad at his lowest point, tears burning at the corners of his eyes as he hocked up an assortment of fancy appetizers.
"It's okay," Evie soothed, which was sort of the worst part because she was consoling this pitiful creature, comforting him like a lost child. "It's okay. This happened to us when we first came to Auradon too. It's just too much of a good thing too fast, is all."
Chad, who was accustomed to living off of protein shakes and a variety of very healthy but very bland salads sort of understood why his body was revolting against what he had subjected it to so furiously. Auradon food was cooked heavily with butter and cheese and- everything he wasn't used to.
"Sorry," Chad coughed, hiding behind his manners out of reflex. "You don't h-have to-" He wretched again.
"This isn't your fault." That was Doug, and it was weird to feel his hand on Chad's shoulder, weird to have his comfort when for so long he'd had his derision, and it wasn't like it was unjustified but still, it hurt. "And we're not leaving you, Lance. You're our friend."
Such simple words so easily given, and it was stupid that it made Chad want to cry because they had known him for what, a few hours? That was nothing. And still, they wanted to befriend him, despite the fact that he had dragged them away from a very nice party because he couldn't keep his food down.
The door creaked open before Evie could add on to that, the sound of booted feet scuffing across the tile easy for them to hear. "Is he okay?" Shit, it was Jay, though at least he sounded worried. That was… something. "I brought Ginger Ale, and Carlos is gonna see if he can find a doctor-"
"Don't," Chad croaked, shoving a hand in front of his eyes. Maybe if he couldn't see them they would all disappear and he could be miserable in peace.
"Maybe we don't need a doctor." Evie's suggestion was sweet but was definitely, well, not a suggestion, and Chad could just picture Jay's rushed nod to obey her. "Thanks for the Ginger Ale, though."
"Right." Jay seemed distracted. "Okay, I'll just…"
Evie's tone melted into one of fondness. "We'll see you soon, Jay."
"Bye, Jay," Doug offered, equally kind, and where did they keep finding all of his generosity and why did they spare it on people like Chad who they had maybe just met? It wasn't fair.
When he was down to a few pitiful dry heaves, Evie guided him back from the toilet, offering him a glass of water to clear his mouth. Chad took it without meeting her eyes, without looking at either of them, really, because two people so smartly dressed shouldn't be crouched on the floor of a bathroom, regardless of whether it was a fancy castle bathroom or not. There were just- lines.
"It's okay," Evie repeated, kept repeating even as they guided Chad from the bathroom, into a bedroom that could only be described as chic and… frilly. Everything was an assortment of whites and pinks and warm browns, giving it a cozy but fashionable sort of feel.
Evie sat him down on a white couch and handed him a bottle of Ginger Ale. "This will help settle your stomach."
It also had a lot of sugar, so Chad had never tried it. But she seemed confident; despite the fact that Jay was the one who had delivered it, so Chad decided to trust her and cracked open the bottle.
"Do you know whose room this is?" Chad asked, sincerely hoping the answer would be 'no'.
"It's Evie's," Doug replied, crushing his pathetic dream.
Now that he'd said as much though, Chad could see her design area in the corner, a dress form clad in a half-finished gown next to her sewing machine. There was a desk covered in fabric swatches that had a bulletin board liberally covered with designs fixed above it. All in all, it looked wonderful, and Chad was amazed she didn't have more stray threads floating about. He just about always did.
"I'm really sorry about this," Evie repeated, though it was still unnecessary. "I should have warned you this could happen."
"You didn't make me eat anything," Chad said, taking a sip of his drink. It was cool and refreshing and sweet, but somehow it settled his stomach, which he had already given up on. "I am responsible for my own bad decisions, but I appreciate the sentiment."
"Doesn't mean we can't feel bad about it," Doug pointed out pragmatically and of course he would say that because he was stupidly fair and stupidly nice and Chad wanted to hate him but couldn't.
Instead, he turned his attention to Evie's design area. "Are those your designs for Mal's wedding dress?"
"Yes." It was nice to see Evie preen, because honestly, she deserved it. "And her bridesmaid's dresses. Would you like to see?"
"If I may," Chad replied, forcing himself to contain his enthusiasm when he really wanted to make grabby hands at the drawings and analyze them until the end of time.
Unsurprisingly, the base sketches were brilliant. Sometimes Chad wanted to hate Evie for how talented she was, but that felt petty even for him.
"Wow," he said, marveling at the design. "If you just-" He cut himself off when he realized what he was doing. "Change absolutely nothing because this is perfect."
"No, I want to hear it." Evie's grin seemed to share a bit of his excitement. "What are your suggestions?"
"I mean, if you drape the top like- Do you have another dress form? I could just show you. It requires hand sewing but since it's just one dress-"
"Got it," Evie said, and Doug was already rolling out a fresh dress form from the closet, offering Chad a wrist holder for sewing pins. He strapped it on.
"So if you start by draping it here…"
-:-:-:-:-:-
Time became meaningless, in that there was another very talented, enthusiastic human collaborating with him so he didn't care about it anyway. They were working on what was slowly becoming an elegant fusion of Isle edge and royal tradition, and Chad loved it so much he didn't even care that he wasn't going to technically get credit for it, because Mal was going to look amazing and he got to help.
He wasn't sure if Doug had stayed with them the entire time or not, it was easy to get lost in their work, but he always seemed to be there when they needed him. Either handing off tools or getting new reams of fabric or reminding Chad to finish his ginger ale, and then later forcing him to take a break to eat some crackers just so he wouldn't be working on an empty stomach (which was sweet, too sweet, and Chad wouldn't be able to register that generosity until later, because he was so consumed with design work).
Currently, Chad was in the process of pinning the layers of petal shaped ruffles that would form the skirt in place, the rest of his treated fabric splayed across Evie's cutting table. Evie was working on the corset and cap sleeves – they decided to go for a more simplistic top to compensate for the dramatic skirt, and Chad knew the process would be tedious to finish it but he was so excited to see what that final product would be. Obviously, it would be stunning; he just hoped Mal liked it.
He was just stepping back to admire his handiwork when the door to the room flew open, revealing a slightly bedraggled Mal who immediately flopped onto Evie's bed.
"Evieeeee," she groaned, tossing the pair of heels she had carried in with her onto the floor. "You left me."
"In a second, Mal," Evie replied, distracted. She was in the middle of sewing the boning into the corset, which meant she had little focus to spare for non-dress related issues.
"Ugh," Mal groaned, her narrowed gaze sliding over to half-finished skirt pinned to the dress form. "You guys are lucky that's so cute. You have been in here for hours. You got so in the groove that you missed the ball and left me alone."
"Um." Chad blinked at her, torn between grabbing another one of the skirt layers and checking what time it was. Well, he could fit in one more. "Sorry?"
"UGH," Mal repeated, louder, obviously trying to get Evie's attention. When she realized the futility of her plight, she collapsed back onto the bed. "Don't even know why I tried. You're Lance, right?"
Chad, who was unprepared for the non-sequitur, almost fumbled his skirt petal. Almost. "Yep," he said, and knew by Mal's coy grin that he hadn't been as smooth as he'd hoped. "Um- hi."
"Hi." Mal offered him a lazy wave. "Carlos was right, you are cute."
"Excuse me?" Chad could feel his face heating, though hopefully it was hidden safely behind his mask.
"You," Mal repeated, committing to the whole weird compliment thing. "Super cute. I'm Mal, by the way."
"Definitely knew that," Chad said, then realized what he said and decided to go back to pinning the skirt petals in place. "Your ladyship," he hastily added.
Mal was laughing at him. "Okay, I'm not as upset about Evie bailing, now," she decided. "If you want to catch the fireworks, you're gonna have to get going though."
"Sorry?"
"You probably didn't see them yesterday," Mal explained. "Since you were…"
"Right." Dripping water everywhere and cursing the world. "Thanks, but um…"
Mal waved him off. "The skirt will be there later. Go. The others are in the garden; Doug can show you the way."
Well, it was her castle. Or at least, it was going to be. Chad decided to take the order for what it was.
"Thanks," he murmured, taking off the wrist pin holder and setting it beside the rest of his fabric pieces. He spared one last glance to Evie, but she was still absorbed with her task, brows furrowed in concentration. "Could you…"
"I'll give her your regards if she doesn't make it back out," Mal assured him. "Now, be gone. Please."
Couldn't get a clearer dismissal than that. Chad supposed after an evening of schmoozing, Mal was owed a certain amount of privacy with her friends, so he didn't mind.
He offered her an awkward bow before leaving to the sound of her giggles, and found Doug lingering outside the door with a smile on his face.
"I see you met Mal," he noted, guiding Chad back down the maze of hallways. Now that he wasn't frantically trying to hold down his stomach, Chad realized they were much deeper in the castle than he had previously thought. He wondered if all the VKs had rooms here. It seemed likely.
"Yeah." Chad rubbed the back of his head in a tell of nerves he wouldn't normally indulge. "She's um… something. A good something, though," he rushed to say. "She's going to be a great queen."
"You think so?"
"She set the Isle free, didn't she?" After what had been furious deliberation. "She and Ben are working to put proper aid programs into place. She's already got a good start and she hasn't been crowned yet."
"There are some that don't share that opinion," Doug mused.
Chad rolled his eyes. "Traditionalists, maybe. Change can be scary, and some respond to fear… drastically." People like his grandfather, who had been enraged at the idea of four VKs 'poisoning' the reputation of Auradon Prep. His temper had only worsened when the barrier was taken down for good, and Chad had spent the majority of his summer playing damage control to his mood swings. "But we can't let fear dictate our movements. Progress requires innovation and this-" He offered Doug a smile. "This is a good innovation."
"I'm glad to hear that," Doug said, though it wasn't like he'd expected Chad to disagree. Which made Chad wonder why he had asked in the first place. "Here we are."
They used a different back door to lead into the gardens which were now deserted, save for a couple lingering on the first stone terrace.
"Hey!" Carlos waved as soon as he caught sight of them. "If it isn't the worker bee! You okay?"
"Yep." Chad hoped his embarrassment wasn't too obvious, though he knew it was likely a fleeting hope. "Sorry about, um-"
"Definitely not your fault, dude," Carlos said, clapping him on the shoulder as soon as he drew close enough.
"We're just glad you're feeling better," Jane added. And this- it wasn't just the necessary pleasantries for the sake of being polite, she meant it.
It was sort of nice, to have her mean it. To have them care.
"Mal stayed with Evie," Doug said, thankfully taking over the conversation so Chad wouldn't have to stutter over himself. "They'll probably stay there for the rest of the night."
"Mal was pretty wiped," Carlos replied. "I don't know how Ben does it, actually."
"Lots of practice," a new voice said, and then Ben was joining them on the patio, Jay half a step behind him. "Hey, you must be-"
"Lance!" Between one moment and the next, Jay was in front of him. "I mean-" He did this weird thing where he seemed to shrink in on himself, putting on his usual air of charm Chad saw him try and fail to use on ladies. "How you doing, hot stuff?"
"Better, weirdo," Chad replied, unable to hide his confusion. "Thanks for the Ginger Ale."
Chad's eyes must have been more tired than he'd estimated, because he thought Jay's cheeks got a little red. "You're welcome. Ben introduced us to that stuff when we first came over."
"It was a real life saver," Carlos noted, though for some reason he was sniggering. "Also, this is Ben."
"Yes." Chad flushed. "Hello, your majesty," he said, bobbing in another quick bow.
"Oh uh- that isn't necessary," Ben assured him. Though it kind of sort of was because Chad was supposedly no one to him. "We're all friends here."
"We literally just met," Chad pointed out, feeling his brows furrow.
"I mean-" Ben continued in that way that meant he was course correcting without being flustered, because he had been put through too much training to surrender to such trivial things. "Any friend of Mal's-"
"Who I also just met."
Carlos was full-on laughing now. Jay just seemed kind of pained.
"You're friends with Evie," Doug offered.
Ben seemed to latch onto that. "Any friend of Evie's is a friend of mine!"
Okay there, captain enthusiasm. No need to get all… weird.
"Alright," Chad relented, because he didn't know how else to proceed. "That doesn't seem like the best tactical decision, but it's your call."
"Tactical decision," Carlos crooned into his elbow and Chad just- he got it. He was dumb. It had been cool for the ten minutes Carlos had been nice to him, but now he was getting back to Chad-treatment, and he didn't need that.
"Actually, I'm just gonna- go," Chad said, because retreat was the best option in the face of a mostly negative outcome. "Thank you, for everything."
"Wait!" It was Jane who rushed forward, nudging her boyfriend into Jay's side. "Ignore him. He just- had too much sugar."
"The fireworks are about to start," Ben said. "Would you watch them with us?"
It had been so long since Chad had been met with Ben's expression of earnest kindness that his resolve crumbled almost immediately. Because Ben used to be his closest friend when they were children, but that had changed when Ben was made for bigger and better things and Chad was just- the last option available, the one that was expected to be great but being too brave or kind or charming would upstage his father, so a… persona had been created.
And unfortunately, Ben hadn't really liked that persona which- Chad didn't like it all that much either, but it was all he had. It was his only weapon against his grandfather's expectations.
So he'd lost a friend. Or all of them.
He still had Audrey. That was something.
Chad sighed. "Okay," he relented, following Jane to lean against the railing, the others falling in line beside them. He thought he heard Jay and Carlos have a terse whispered conversation, but he decided he didn't care enough to try and eavesdrop. The evening had already surpassed every expectation he had. He didn't know what else could happen.
It had been a long time since he had watched fireworks outside the safety of his room. The first few festivals after his mother's death, his father had made the security detail have Chad back home before sundown, unwilling to risk the hazards of the night. And then for a while celebrating the festivals became a duty more than an indulgence, with brief public appearances before Chad was locked away again, stuck staring out his window, wondering if his mother could see the lights wherever she was.
Watching them with company was almost like coming home, almost like having father smile again and his mother's kind laughter ringing in his ears. It wasn't the same, because these people weren't his, not really. He was, essentially, a stranger to them, but there was still a measure of comfort there, and Chad relished it.
Halfway through the firework display, Carlos caught his eyes with a few small hand movements. When he saw he had Chad's attention, he nodded down below them, towards the next garden level.
When Chad's gaze shifted down he saw that, low and behold, there was a fountain right beneath them.
He felt his inner pettiness preen.
Without having to coordinate, Carlos and Chad moved as one, unceremoniously shoving Jay over the railing and into the fountain below. He landed with a tremendous splash that was drowned out by the fireworks, not that Carlos or Chad would have heard it anyway, because they were too busy laughing.
"What?!" Came Jay's outraged cry from below. "Carlos, you little shit!"
"Yes, yes, blame me," Carlos hissed between laughs. "Oh, wow. Jane, did you get that?"
"Yep." Jane offered him a thumbs up, and it was then that Chad noticed the phone in her hands, likely aimed to capture the entire affair. "Wave at the camera, Jay!"
"Don't think you're safe, Jane!" Was the responding shout. "I'm gonna give you such a wet hug when I get up there, your head will spin!"
"And that," Chad said, wanting nothing to do with Jay's revenge. "Is my cue to leave."
"Wait." Carlos grabbed at his shoulder before he could pull away. "What's your phone number? Maybe we could meet up tomorrow?"
Um. "I don't have one," Chad said, and for once that was actually believable, because the influx of new Auradon residents were so behind technologically it was laughable. "But hey, maybe I'll see you at the games!"
He left when he heard Jay charging up the stairs, trying to forget the look of what might have been frustration on Carlos' face when he found a familiar spot in the garden wall to climb over. It was a security concern, but one Chad had exploited too many times to worry about someone else discovering it.
Day two of the festival had been exceedingly more successful than the first one.
He wondered what day three would bring him.
-:-:-:-:-:-
Endnotes:
Not so many story notes this time around. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, followed, and favorited the story so far! I'm glad you enjoy it ^_^
Until next time :)
