Chapter 3 – The AKs


-:-:-


"This is the dining hall," Ben explained, as though the rows of polished tables and lines of food were not self-explanatory. "It serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and on the weekends, it has brunch and high tea."

"Neat," Harry said distractedly, trying to remember what those exactly were by Evie's definition.

"Our dorms also have fully stocked kitchens for those who prefer cooking their own food," Ben continued. "But mostly those get used by kids who want to bake or make sundaes or something." He paused for a moment. "Do you like cooking?"

"I can fry fish," Harry said, because his years working at the Chip Shoppe made it a necessity. "I can fry pretty much anything, but fish is one of the few things I can prepare in a variety of ways."

"Because you lived on the docks?" Ben prompted, passing Harry a plate and a rolled-up cloth napkin that likely held silverware.

"Right." Harry nodded. "So I'm open to trying things other than seafood, if ye don't mind."

Ben laughed. "I think you'll find we have a wide assortment of non-seafood options."

It was strange, Ben's kindness. He didn't seem to think much of explaining the different foods to Harry, because even though the Isle had a lot more than it used to, it still didn't have everything. They certainly had fresh fruits and vegetables, but stuff like lasagna was entirely new. Still, it seemed like a surefire win, with its abundance of cheese and tomato sauce.

"You can have more if you want," Ben said, watching as Harry spooned portions onto his plate.

Harry paused, blinking. They weren't exactly on hard times back on the Isle, but he was used to not taking more than he needed through years of conditioning. At least the food they got was substantially better now.

"Is this too small?" he asked, somewhat confused. "Will… I mean, they'll have enough, right?"

"What, for everyone else?" Ben asked. Harry nodded, which earned him a soft smile. "Yeah, it'll be okay."

Harry took a little bit more.

In the end he had pasta and garlic bread and salad, along with a bowl of something called 'the gray stuff' that Ben insisted was the bee's knees.

And now came the hard part, deciding where to sit. Evie said there would be an art to this-

"Come on," Ben said, tugging on his sleeve as he nodded to a table claimed by two other teens. "This is where I usually sit."

Harry dumbly followed Ben's prompts, somewhat confused by the continued generosity, enough so that he didn't argue his spot next to Ben as he took in the rest of the table.

"Guys, this is Sonny," Ben announced, motioning to Harry with a wide smile. "Sonny, this is Lonnie and Aziz."

"Hey, Sonny," Lonnie greeted, the girl of Imperial City descent. "Looking sharp."

"He's a tailor," Ben chirped, seemingly proud. "He sews clothes over on the Isle."

Lonnie perked up. "Hey, that's awesome."

"Thank ye," Harry said, flushing when her grin widened at his accent. Evie had said that would be another selling point, he just hadn't believed it.

"Since you're here," Aziz spoke up – the prince of Agrabah, maybe? "Could you tell us what happened on the Isle? Because for as long as we knew, it was the worst place ever, and now suddenly it's like, this quaint little city. Is it even a prison anymore?"

"People are still trapped there, so yeah," Harry replied before he could think about it, heat flooding his cheeks when he realized what he'd said. "Sorry, I mean-"

"No, hey- you're right," Aziz assured him, seeming unoffended. "You don't have to apologize for that."

"So what happened?" Lonnie asked, getting them back on track.

Harry shrugged. "We got tired," he said simply. "The kids of the Isle, I mean. We got tired of being afraid all the time, tired of fighting for our lives and being preyed upon by the criminals Auradon kept sending over. So Queen Uma and Mal organized us, and we took care of all the violent criminals. With them gone, everyone left was happy to work together to survive, so that's what we did. We finally had peace, and now the only fights that take place are minor squabbles." He turned to Ben. "We're still working on the whole therapy thing. There's a lot of trauma that's still being treated, and sometimes people act out, but it's nothing ever serious, and usually it can be addressed with a few days of volunteer work down at the schools."

They'd found that children tended to be a natural form of therapy in their own right, lifting spirits and providing distractions. It was how they'd ended up recruiting a mess of new teachers, all eager for a new purpose.

Lonnie's brows furrowed together. "By 'took care of', what exactly do you mean?"

"I mean they're dead," Harry replied bluntly. "They spent years stealing, kidnapping children, raping, and hurting people for no other reason than they could, and we didn't have a jail system to deal with them so we took them out the only way we knew how." He allowed a moment for that to sink in. "Now that Uma and Mal have taken over, we have a guard system, but they mostly find kids that managed to get themselves lost in the woods, or help walk people home after dark. Even if the Isle's safe now, old fears die hard."

"That's… wow," Aziz said. "That's rough."

That was a fucking understatement.

"We did what we had to," Harry replied. "It was that or keep living in fear, keep letting the kids and petty criminals get preyed on."

"I'm sorry," Ben said, seeming truly stricken. "You never should have been put in that position."

Harry shrugged. "It's done now."

"But…" Lonnie spoke up, her brows furrowed. "What about the new criminals that get sent to the Isle?"

"We judge 'em," Harry replied. "Petty criminals and kids get instantly assimilated, everyone else gets watched. If they prove past the point of redemption…" He shrugged again.

"Yikes."

"Well, what were ye fucking expecting?" Harry growled, losing control of his anger. "We don't want to get hurt any more than you guys do."

"Hey, it's okay," Ben said, placing a comforting hand on Harry's shoulder. "It's a broken system – I can see that. And when I'm king, I'm going to fix it."

Harry didn't expect that offering, not nearly so soon into his trip, but Ben seemed to mean it, didn't seem to be offering empty words.

"I um- I could help," Harry murmured. "Give ye our side of things, at least."

Ben gave him a soft smile. "I'd appreciate that."

"Appreciate what?" a new voice asked, some blue-eyed blond flopping in the seat on Harry's free side. "Hey, we got a new kid. Hi, new kid!"

"Chad, this is Sonny," Ben sighed, the closest he'd seemed to annoyed since Harry had met him. "Sonny, this is Chad James."

"The prince of Sardinia," Chad chirped, offering Harry a broad wink. "Where we are very invested in shoes and absolutely nothing else, obviously."

"Bitter, much?" Aziz asked with a smirk.

"Nope," Chad sniffed, poking at his food. "Definitely not."

"Sonny is the new transfer student from the Isle," Ben continued, making Chad pause.

The blond looked Harry over once, then looked him over again. "Damn," he murmured. "You are way hotter than I thought you'd be."

"Chad," Ben said, offended on Harry's behalf.

"What? He is," Chad pressed before turning his attention to Harry. "Listen, sweetheart, if you ever get tired of talking to Benny Boo, you have much better options. Like Aziz – not me, definitely not me, I'm an asshole, but Aziz can show you the world-"

"Chadwick," Aziz began with a growl. "I swear if you start singing that song right now-"

"Shining shimmering splendid," Chad continued to hum. Across the table, Lonnie lost the battle not to cackle into her hand.

"You're such an asshole," Aziz muttered, poking angrily at his food.

"Aw, what did Chad do now?" a new voice asked, and Harry looked up to see two more seats claimed by a dude in a bowtie and a shy looking girl.

Yes, finally, a person he could emulate. He just needed to do whatever the fuck she did.

Which… seemed to be cowering in her seat.

"Oh, you know, the usual," Lonnie drawled. "Annoying Ben and Aziz."

"And we missed it," new guy deadpanned before his gaze shifted to Harry. "Hey, you must be Harrison. I'm Doug, and this is Jane."

Jane offered a very timid wave before returning her stare to her tray, occasionally glancing up at Harry and flushing when he caught her looks.

"Harrison?" Chad echoed. "I thought it was Sonny."

"Sonny's a nickname," Ben pressed. "He said I could-"

"Why not Harry?" Chad pressed. "Or Rissy?"

"Because Rissy's not a damn nickname, Chad," Aziz sighed, making Lonnie laugh again. She seemed to revel in his misery.

"Whatever," Chad dismissed, seeming done with the conversation. "What do you appreciate, Ben?"

Ben, who seemed about to break into some kind of annoyed diatribe, cut off with a confused blink. "What?"

"My first question," Chad chirped. "You appreciated Sonny for something. Perhaps his sweet looks." He wagged his eyebrows suggestively, and then his hand was toying with Harry's lapel. "Seriously, though, your clothes are the shit. I thought you guys lived off of donations."

"We have magic now," Harry growled. "Our magic users can transfigure the stuff we make into whole, untarnished clothing."

"No fooling?" Chad asked, seeming genuinely pleased by this. "That's so cool."

Harry… did not know what to do with this guy. He honestly didn't understand him, because he seemed like an asshole, but he'd already openly owned up to that, so…

"Yeah," Doug sighed. "That's most people's response to Chad."

"Hey," Chad sniffed, having the audacity to pout. "It's not my fault they can't handle my awesome."

"Careful, Ben," Lonnie murmured, her smile wide. "Remember you're the prince of all princes."

"Right," Ben said through gritted teeth.

"Ben's friends with me because he has to be," Chad whispered in a volume that was very much not a whisper. "Otherwise he definitely would not be."

Ben didn't make an attempt to argue this, his left eye twitching in restrained anger.

On one hand, Harry should align himself with Ben as the most powerful person here, but on the other…

He got Chad's game now, mostly because he realized that he'd very much played it himself.

So he dropped his voice, tilting his head to the side so he and Chad could have a private conversation. "Ye alone?"

Chad froze with a confused blink. "What?"

"Are ye alone?" Harry murmured. "Does your family ignore ye?"

"What… what makes you say that?" Chad said, trying for casual but his grip was tightening in the fabric of his pants.

"Because ye seem to be going out of your way to get negative attention," he muttered. "Something ye think justifies the neglect. We see it on a lot of the Isle kids."

Chad just stared at him with wide eyes, seeming entirely shaken.

It was enough to have Harry reach over and take his hand, give it a careful squeeze. "It's not your fault."

"Obviously," Chad sniffed, ducking his head, trying to casually rub at his cheeks even though there wasn't a casual way to do that. "I'm amazing, lots of people want me around."

"They would, if ye acted more like yourself," Harry murmured, making Chad shudder.

"Light," Chad muttered, and then he was actually crying, small tear tracks pouring down his face. "Fuck."

"Come here," Harry said, and then he was hugging a fucking prince. That was his first day in Auradon, hugging a damn prince.

On the bright side, everyone else seemed as confused by this turn of events as he was, so…

He just went with the flow, offering what comfort a broken thing like him could manage.

-:-:-

"Sorry," Chad sniffed when he'd calmed down, blinking at the handkerchief Harry had offered him.

"Ye don't have to apologize for feeling sad," Harry said. "Your feelings are valid."

"I'm a prince," Chad murmured. "I should be happy with that. I can do amazing things, one day."

"Let me tell ye from experience," Harry began. "No one's really happy not having a family."

"Oh fuck," Chad said, and then he started crying again.

Which was how Harry came to cuddle him against his chest while the others just watched.

"What is happening?" Lonnie asked, seeming to voice the question the rest of them had.

"His family neglects him," Harry said bluntly. "Did none of ye notice that?"

The rest of them tensed, and then Doug's face seemed to fall into an apologetic expression. "His dad never visits on the weekend."

"Or comes to our Tourney games," Aziz said.

"Or Family Day," Jane spoke up.

Chad started shaking harder, and Harry ran a hand up his back. "That's not your fault."

"Sure, it fucking is," Chad muttered. "Obviously he knows I'm an asshole, so…" He swallowed hard. "There's literally nothing I can do to get him to talk to me because I have the audacity to look like my dead mom."

"Fuck, I'm sorry, Chad," Ben said, sounding genuinely regretful. "I had no idea."

"I didn't want you to," Chad sniffed. "I didn't want anyone to know."

Harry tensed. "Sorry. I didn't mean-"

"Hey, no, it's okay." Chad offered him a watery grin. "You get an exception. Like, you talked to me for ten minutes and had me entirely figured out."

"To be fair, I'm used to seeing this kind of trauma," Harry said. "Abusive families-"

"My dad's not abusive."

"Abuse comes in all shapes, Chad," Harry said calmly. "That includes severe neglect. When was the last time ye and your father were in the same room together?"

Chad tensed, his eyes going wide. "The um- Spring Jubilee back in March," he murmured. "It's when we celebrate my mom's birthday and he spends the entire time trying not to be miserable."

"Yeah, that's abuse," Harry said. "I'm sorry ye have to go through that."

"And I'm sorry for being an asshole to you because you're actually super nice," Chad wheezed, leaning against him. "I'm sorry-"

"I understand coping mechanisms, Chad, ye don't have to apologize for those," Harry soothed. "We should probably tell someone about this, though."

"Who the fuck's going to care about a prince getting neglected?"

"Your Fairy Godmother would," Jane spoke up. "She would care very much."

"Then we should talk to her after dinner," Ben declared, ever a man of action.

"Light," Chad simply said, then went back to cuddling Harry, which- okay, this was his new normal, he guessed.

At least he seemed to have this niceness thing down.

-:-:-

It turned out none of their collective wanted to part ways after dinner, so all of them marched to Fairy Godmother's cottage – a cozy looking house just off campus – Jane leading the way. Apparently she was Fairy Godmother's daughter, and while she seemed bashful to lead their charge, she also didn't hesitate, occasionally sending Chad concerned looks from his position beside Harry.

The blond had held his hand throughout the course of dinner, and looked hopeful when they started walking, so much so that Harry didn't hesitate to offer the prince his hand, which seemed to make him both unreasonably grateful and overwhelmingly happy.

"I don't know why anyone says mean shit about you guys," Chad sniffed as he wiped at his cheeks again, huddling close to Harry's side. "You're literally the nicest person ever."

"I'm decent," Harry corrected. "That doesn't make me the best. Don't get that thought in your head just because someone's giving ye the consideration ye deserve. That everyone deserves."

He added the last part so it wouldn't seem like a pointed comment against Ben, who spent the majority of the walk plagued with guilt.

A rift. Harry didn't mean to make it, but Uma had told him to follow his gut, and Harry had never once turned his back on a kid, not when the new Isle order gave him the opportunity to protect them.

It turned out, even princes needed help. Maybe Chad had been ignored for so long because everyone else had thought that was an impossibility, but Harry knew better. There was loneliness in Chad's eyes, a desperation for attention mixed with the fear of how his true self would be received. The blond seemed to have determined that if that true self was going to be hated, he may as well create a persona that was disliked in an effort to protect himself.

Harry had done much the same with his flirtation and intimidation tactics, and he'd felt a lot better once he'd been able to let those things go, once he'd allowed himself to let others take care of him.

"Oh, man," Chad said when Jane knocked on the door. "Aw, geez, we shouldn't do this. We should go. My grandpa always said that my neediness was going to get my dad in trouble – it's not his fault he has a hard job and he has to do it alone and I should stop being ungrateful-"

"You're not being ungrateful," Harry interrupted, his tone firm. "King or not, your dad doesn't have a valid excuse for ignoring ye, and if your grandpa knew it was happening, he was enabling the neglect, which makes him just as guilty."

Chad blinked at him sort of helplessly. "I mean, I know my grandpa doesn't like me, I just figured it was because I was obnoxious. Well, he says I'm lazy too, and stupid, but I try really hard not to be. He gives me all this extra coursework and I think I do okay but it always comes back marked up and I think he's right, maybe I'm just incompetent-"

"Okay, you're not talking to your grandfather anymore," Harry declared, making Chad startle.

"But… tough love," Chad said sort of hopelessly.

"Take it from me, that's not love," Harry growled. "That's bullying, and it's not gonna happen anymore."

For a moment, Chad didn't say anything, then he wrapped his free hand around Harry's arm, hugging it tight so he could angle himself closer.

Harry let him have the comfort.

"Oh," Fairy Godmother said when she saw the lot of them on her front doorstep. "Why the long faces? Is everything okay, Jane?"

"No, mom, it really isn't," Jane said, and Fairy Godmother didn't hesitate to herd all of them inside until they could sit in her cozy living room.

Chad, of course, chose to huddle close to Harry's side, eyes wide and body beginning to tremble as Fairy Godmother looked them over.

"What's wrong?" Fairy Godmother asked, her tone gentle.

"Chad's father neglects him," Lonnie cut in simply. "And we're pretty sure his grandfather's verbally abusing him, at least."

"He is not- it's just tough love," Chad sputtered, seeming embarrassed.

"Could you show us your text message history with him?" Lonnie countered. "Does that have some tough love?"

Chad surrendered his phone with slight trepidation, fingers twitching as Fairy Godmother scrolled through the text history.

"Oh," she said, her brows furrowed in sorrow. "Chadwick…"

"It's fine," Chad assured. "I promise it seems harsher than it really is. The man doesn't know how to use emojis, otherwise there'd be tons of smiles-"

"Chad," Fairy Godmother interrupted, her tone soft. "I'm inclined to agree with your friends on this one."

"But…" Chad looked like he was going to tear up again. "But then I won't have any family that loves me. No one-"

"Chad," Harry interrupted, wrapping an arm around his shoulder and dragging him close. "Take it from a guy whose dad actively tried to kill him on a regular basis – the families ye build for yourself can be just as important as the ones given to ye by blood. Sometimes, they can be even better. So just be yourself, and trust that people will want to love ye for that, because they will."

"I love you, Chadwick," Fairy Godmother said, eyes shining with moisture. "You're Ella's son, but more than that, you're a sweet, thoughtful boy when you give yourself the chance to be, and no matter what happens, you will always be part of my family."

"Our family," Jane echoed, her gaze determined.

With that, Chad actually started crying, pressing his face against Harry's shoulder in a bid for comfort. "Aw, man," he gasped. "Aw, geez."

"We're going to take care of this," Fairy Godmother declared. "I'll reach out to King Adam to have a formal investigation launched right away."

"D-Don't be too mean to my dad," Chad sniffed. "He- I mean, I think he's mostly just depressed um- all the time, and that's not his fault."

"Yes," Fairy Godmother agreed. "But if that's the case, perhaps he needs to seek a form of treatment." She strolled across the room, kneeling down in front of Chad and taking his hands. "It's okay to need help, Chad, and I think Sardinia has been calling for it for a while. It's time for us to answer."

"Okay," Chad whispered, seeming entirely overwhelmed. "Thank you, Fairy Godmother."

"Think nothing of it, sweetheart," Fairy Godmother said, setting the wheels in motion.

-:-:-

So that was how Harry's first day in Auradon ended in the launch of a formal investigation into the abuse of one of its major princes, along with the mental stability of Sardinia's current and former kings.

With Ben's subtle nudges, they ended up in lounge area of the Auradon prince's bedroom, all of them cuddled on his comfortable couches watching some animated movie. Harry had never seen anything like it and felt enraptured, which was a suitable distraction from the fact that Chad seemed practically glued to his side, the blond clinging to him the way Gil might have. And maybe Harry was swamped with a feeling of nostalgia and despite being separated from his partners for less than a day, he missed Gil, and Chad couldn't replace him, but he was still so earnest and sweet and hopeful when he wasn't pretending to be a tool, and Harry was tragically susceptible to those things.

Every once and a while, he could feel Ben's gaze flicker towards them, making Harry feel self-conscious, but Uma told him to be himself and hold course so Harry did just that, feeling comforted by the fact that no one else gave them strange looks.

Well, Lonnie would grin at them from time to time and even took a few pictures, offering Harry a wink when he caught her doing it.

"You really are a sweet pea," she informed him sagely when the movie was over, ruffling his hair like they were longtime friends.

"I'm just decent," Harry insisted with a grumble.

Eventually, there came a time when the others had to go back to their room, but not after Ben and Lonnie coordinated a game plan that kept one of them with Chad for the following day, all of them knowing that the media fallout would really hit then. It reminded Harry of Uma and Evie and their attention to detail, and he tried not to get distracted by it, tried to stop finding correlations between them even though he seemed unable to help himself.

Doug and Chad lingered behind when the others started heading out – or really, Doug waited on Chad, his roommate, the blond seeming reluctant to let go of Harry's hand.

"Um, thank you," Chad said, ducking his head bashfully. "I- I don't think I've said that yet. Wow, that's shitty. Um-"

"Give yourself a fucking break," Harry sighed, knowing that was rich coming from him. "I know I have."

"Aw, man," Chad shuddered, holding his arms slightly open, like he was hoping for a hug but wanted to play it off in case Harry rejected him.

So of course Harry dragged him into his arms, held him tight and rubbed an arm down his back. "You're loved, do ye hear me? Ye didn't do anything wrong, and you're loved."

"You're the best, Sonny," Chad sniffed, shivering into his contact, and eventually he stepped back with red eyes.

"Chad?" Doug cut in softly, holding out his hand with a light flush dusting his cheeks.

The blond stared at it for a moment before he blushed as well, but he accepted the handhold, allowing Doug to pull him from the room while both of them offered Ben and Harry a few last parting waves.

Ben shut the door behind them when they disappeared down the hall, letting out a weary sigh. "Fuck," he said, letting his forehead thunk against the solid wood of the door. "I've been friends with Chad for years, and I never once questioned why he was such an obnoxious shit."

"You're not used to seeing abuse over here," Harry offered, feeling a bit lost as how to proceed. "We are. Once everything got settled and the kids finally felt secure, we started seeing a whole host of behavioral problems as they worked through their trauma." He gave a soft shrug. "It manifests in different ways. I'm pretty sure Chad just didn't want anyone to forget he existed."

"Which makes it worse," Ben sighed, turning away from the door. "Thank you, Sonny. I can't thank you enough. You've been here for less than a day and you're already making things better, helping us when we're the ones that trapped you in the first place."

"Chad didn't trap me on the Isle, Ben," Harry murmured. "I'll aim my annoyance at the people who deserve it. Besides, it's when ye start hating groups of people as a whole without reservation that ye start having problems."

"Wise," Ben mused, a soft grin pulling at his lips. "I feel like I can learn a lot from you."

"Don't be stupid," Harry murmured, feeling his cheeks heat in embarrassment. "I'm just a tailor. I've never even been to school before, I'm probably dumb as-" Hell. "-um, a cow."

From what he'd heard, they were quite stupid.

"Hey, no," Ben chided. "We can have different levels of knowledge on different subjects, but that doesn't mean we're incapable of wisdom. And you are wise, Sonny." He offered Harry a grin. "I'm very glad your queens decided to send you."

He got that look again, the strange one he'd worn when Harry had first exited the limo, the one that seemed to almost pin him in place with its intensity.

"Thanks, Ben," Harry murmured. "I'm glad too."

It was a lie, but a well-received one, if Ben's smile was anything to go off of. "We're going to do great things together," he declared. "I just know it."

Harry hoped he was right, for both their sakes.


-:-:-


Endnotes:

Harry: I'm really not doing anything special, guys.

Chad, whose life has just been turned upside down: Sonny is a saint and I will forever pledge my allegiance to this precious bean.

Thanks for the feedback, everyone! It really is a delightful highlight to my day, though I do feel the need to clarify some things. Though it's written 'Sonny', Harry's new nickname is pronounced 'Sunny'. This isn't something that really phased me because I went through a brief period where I perused 'Days of Our Lives' fanfiction, which has a character with a similar situation there. Literally didn't think about how else it could be pronounced, lol. Hope this makes it less dumb! ;D

Story notes:

Sardinia is my name for Cinderellasburg, because it sounds like an actual country. I got the last name James from the Rogers and Hammerstein musical 'Cinderella'. The opening number is dedicated to listing Prince Charming's full name, which is very long, but ends in James.

Until next time