Remember how Ben said the first time he asked Mal to stay they were eighteen and she said no...oh look at that. We're at eighteen *cackle*
Ben.
Eighteen. Senior Year.
It was almost Christmas.
And Mal still wasn't his girlfriend.
After Uma and Mal's little throwdown, things had been relatively calm.
Relatively.
On the plus side, the two gangs had started to mesh. Jay and Gil had been the first to realise they had something in common - food. So Jay had appointed himself Gil's Auradon Experience Guide. And things had followed on from there.
Now Gil and Jay were planning a summer trip to experience even more. Ben couldn't go as he had duties to attend to. And he assumed Mal would go, even though he hadn't heard anything. Uma and Harry, and Carlos and Jane were going too. Lonnie was still on the fence, but Ben was sure she'd do at least part of it. And as for Evie...he could still hear Doug's snort when Jay had asked if they were coming too.
Evie I-want-to-live-in-a-castle sleeping outside with nowhere to plug in a hair dryer?
Um, Rude.
Babe. I love you. But there is no way on this earth you'd survive whatever they're planning.
On the other hand, Ben had had his own teething problems with the latest VKs after the fight.
Well, more like one particular VK.
Ben did not like Harry Hook.
He knew why. Harry was Mal's ex. And despite Mal's offhand comment that it hadn't been serious, Ben could tell there was more than a little hurt on the pirate's side.
Ben knew more than just a bruised ego when he saw one, especially when it was aimed at the girl he was kind-of-dating. He saw the odd longing looks when Harry thought no one was looking.
Uma saw it too, but she was better at pushing her reaction away.
Ben...not so much. He was a little jealous.
Maybe more than a little.
It didn't help that Harry flirted with everything with a pulse.
Or that Mal and Evie always shut him down by being bigger flirts.
Carlos and Doug weren't above sliding into the picture, putting their arms around their respective girls (Carlos and Jane weren't together yet, but it was happening) and making their points. No one knew what was going on with Jay and Lonnie, but even Jay bristled.
Ben didn't have that luxury. He had to be nice.
It was his programme. His decision to bring them over. He couldn't afford to be petty and jealous.
Jealous Ben tended to let the Beast rule instead of his head. And the Beast was territorial.
It had made him bolder. More likely to put his hat in the ring than stand on the sidelines to wait and see what happened.
Which meant they were a couple in every sense except the actual label.
He made sure that Mal was too busy with him to even think about Harry Hook. Or anyone else.
They hooked up. They studied together. They went on dates that they refused to call dates. She gave him good luck kisses before Tourney matches.
It was getting harder to pretend he wasn't one thousand percent into this.
Especially on nights like tonight, when they were curled in his bed with the laptop between them. Streaming the latest release that they were too well known to watch in a cinema together.
Mal had even more power than he did. It wasn't an abuse of power to make a move anymore.
But he still hadn't done anything about it.
And he was running out of reasons why.
He just had to bite the bullet and say it.
He just had to tell her.
There was no reason he couldn't do it right now.
There was absolutely no reason why he couldn't do it right now.
He...he could do it right now.
In what he really hoped was a smooth move, Ben pushed the laptop away. Mal looked up at him curiously, smiling when he pulled her towards him.
She came easily, and he realised he didn't remember when she'd stopped holding herself back around him. It just kind of happened. He was sure it was around the point where they'd returned for senior year.
She smiled into the kiss, letting him set the pace.
"Not that I'm complaining...but can I help you?" Mal laughed when they broke apart, trailing a hand up and down his arm lazily.
"Stay."
"You say that like I was trying to leave." Mal smiled, confused, curling into his side.
He knew it must seem like a strange request to make mid-movie.
Every other weekend, students over the age of fourteen were allowed off campus. It meant the school was quiet, and there was a general acceptance that this was when all the couples began sneaking around.
Ben and Audrey were the only students important enough to have a single dorm, everyone else shared. Mal shared with Evie, and Doug shared with Chad. Which usually meant that Doug hid out in Mal and Evie's dorm when Chad had 'study partners' over, and that Mal wound up in Ben's dorm when she got sick of third wheeling.
There was always the odd instance of 'falling asleep studying' - after a certain point, with the doors locked, you were as well staying where you were - and Ben and Mal had turned it into a game, trying to spot who Chad's latest conquest was by who was late for breakfast.
Evie was too much of a princess to let either herself or Doug get caught. And Mal...well Mal never stayed.
But he wanted her to.
"Stay." Ben repeated, punctuating the word with another deep kiss. Mal reacted instantly, her fingers knotting in his hair, pulling him closer so that he hovered over her, tangling her legs with his. Ben broke the kiss to trail kisses along her jaw, murmuring, "You always run off before dawn."
Every time, right from their first night, months ago, she'd snuck out afterwards. Ben had been ready to doze off, wondering how he was going to get through the morning assembly without falling asleep or looking like someone who'd finally slept with his not-girlfriend, when Mal had pressed a soft kiss to his lips and told him she needed to get back before Evie woke up. And then, before he could even point out the locked doors between their dorm rooms, she'd muttered some incantation, and the next thing he knew he was waking up two hours later, feeling completely rested and wondering if it was all a dream.
It was a pattern that he was determined to break tonight.
He could be un-Princely when he wanted to be. If he wanted a relationship with Mal, he needed to embrace the chaos.
He could do that.
"Maybe I like not being spotted sneaking through the halls back to my room." Mal laughed, but she wouldn't meet his eye.
"S'not sneaking if everyone knows about us." Ben murmured, nuzzling her cheek with his nose. He knew she was a sucker for the cute stuff, even if she didn't admit it. And she was ticklish. Things no one else knew about her.
And if he had his way no one else ever would.
"Mal, I-"
Mal froze beneath him before he could get the first syllable out, and Ben choked on the words.
She's not ready. She doesn't feel the same. Abort. Abort.
He was not Chad. This was not like Chad.
He'd pushed too hard. He should have taken the hint the first time she deflected.
He just had to slow down and pull back and...
As he was trying to work out how to extract his foot from his mouth, Mal sighed and wound her arms around his neck. She kissed him softly, and his heart dropped.
The distance was back.
Where she had melted into him moments before, now she made sure there was nothing but space between them.
This kiss was an apology. And a promise. And so many big feelings he didn't know which part to focus on first.
He knew this was it. That whatever progress they'd made would be gone come morning, and he'd be powerless to stop it.
He should have just kept his mouth shut.
Reaching up to cup her cheek, Ben tried to pour the words into the kiss. To make sure Mal knew, even if she wouldn't let him say it.
Too soon, Mal pulled away. Ben kept his eyes closed, waiting for her to say the words that would end them.
They were still for a long moment, their shallow breaths and thudding heartbeats the only sound. Ben didn't know what Mal saw in his face. But he wasn't naive enough to think it would change anything.
Sighing sadly, Mal rested her forehead against his, tightening her grip on his arms for just a moment. Then she whispered, "Princes marry future queens. Not Lost Girls."
Before he could argue, she dropped one final kiss on his lips.
And then she turned to mist under his fingertips.