That's it, Mal was screwed! Why did everything perfect have to be tainted. Mal rushed into her and Evie's suite. She had lunch with Ben and his parents scheduled in an hour and she was not presentable. Ben and her sex haze had been popped like a bubble upon realizing Ben had accidentally given her a big fat purple hickey on her neck. She had no idea how she was going to cover it up before lunch. A scarf would look ridiculous in this summer heat. It was so dark, how would she cover it up? She needed Evie!

Evie's eyes widened seeing Mal rushing in in a panic.

"Evie I need you!" Mal cried at the same time Evie exclaimed "Mal what happen- ahhh!"

Evie saw the spot. She jumped into action grabbing a bunch of makeup and throwing Mal down on the bed.

"Help I have lunch with Ben's parents in an hour," Mal was all worked up and didn't know how to ease the panic. Would Belle still be nice to her if she thought Mal was corrupting her son? More feelings of unworthiness flooded her.

Evie could see Mal's panic building. She had to distract her. "Good on Ben! This is dark, he must have been paying you quite the attention. Didn't know he had it in him." Evie teased.

Only a best friend can know the right thing to say. Just like that, Mal was laughing. "Evie!"

"Tell me about the crime while I cover the evidence. Come on, I need to live vicariously through you for a bit." Evie began to put powder where she had just thrown on some makeup.

"Doug not doing it for you?" Mal teased.

"He's so timid to try anything. I'm going to have to be the one to initiate. But honestly I'm enjoying the innocence of it all right now. I wasted too much time chasing guys because that's what my mom always beat into my head. I'm content just taking it slow for now. But that doesn't mean I don't want to hear all about your escapades miss." Evie prompted.

Mal sighed, giggling nervously. "Ben's just so sweet and attractive he makes me melt. But every time I tried to go further he just wanted to talk about it."

Evie laughed knowingly, "and of course you hate communication."

"Hey! That's not true." Mal knew it was a little true. "I just was worried to tell him about my experiences. What would he think of me?"

Evie stopped to hold Mal's hand. She understood her fears. Mal continued, "But I got backed into a corner. It was tell him or stop making out forever."

Mal and Evie shared a laugh and Evie went back to covering her makeup. "I told him this morning and he was so compassionate about it. Then one thing lead to another."

"That's all I get." Evie feigned offense and Mal blushed. She wasn't sure she could talk about it.

"Alright. I will grill you for details another time. But for now you are covered up. The best I could do. Wear your hair on that side to cover the rest."

"Thank you so much!" Mal hopped up to get dressed and rush back over to the castle for lunch.

When Mal walked into the dinning room of the castle, not only were Ben and his parents there, but also a lot of their castle staff. Lots of hustle and bustle happening.

Ben lit up when Mal walked in and moved to pull out her chair for her to sit with them. He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before sitting back down.

"Afternoon Mal, sorry for the chaos." Adam apologized. Mal held back a laugh, they didn't even know what real chaos was if they thought this was chaos.

"We're preparing for cotillion!" Belle exclaimed excitedly.

"Mom I hadn't really had to opportunity to talk to Mal about it yet." Mal was confused and looked to Ben. But Belle spoke up excitedly, "Cotillion is a presenting of the new ladies of the court. It's an old tradition where women the royals favored would be presented as ladies of the society and would thus be allowed to attend all the royal events. It's honestly more of just a party to honor special women of the kingdom. More specifically welcoming significant others of the royals into the society."

Ben felt a little panicked. He hadn't brought this up because he had no idea how Mal was going to react to it. He hadn't figured out the right words to explain it to her just yet and here his mom went using all the wrong language. Thankfully his mom had left out the part about it generally only being for the serious girlfriends' of the Kings. Ben didn't want to put that kind of pressure on Mal.

Mal stared blankly, trying to compute what Belle meant. "Wh-what do I have to do?"

Ben jumped in quick to try to diffuse the situation, "You don't have to do anything you don't want to. It's really just a party. You would be my guest of honor and we dance. Everybody dresses nice and is invited."

"That's not entirely correct son, technically Mal is THE guest of honor," Adam jumped in not getting the hint.

"Dad!" Ben exclaimed, focusing his attention on trying to discretely scold his father for not seeing the scenario playing out.

Mal started nervously tugging on her hair. Trying to discretely bring fresh air to her neck. Completely forgetting about the hickey she was trying to cover. It caught Belle's eye while her husband and son argued. She was taken aback but tried not to let it show. This would have to be something Belle discussed with Adam on how to handle. But not right now.

Mal didn't want to cause Ben's whole family distress. She was scared to be on the spot but it was okay. So she had to dance. She just wouldn't think about all the people staring at her. "It's okay really. Sounds really nice. I'm sure Evie will be ecstatic and want to make us dresses."

Ben walked Mal back to her suite after lunch. He grabbed her hand before she went in, pulling her back to him. He brought his hand up to stroke her cheek. "Hey, I'm sorry I didn't tell you alone and that my parents bombarded you."

"It's okay," Mal pulled him in for what was supposed to be a quick kiss goodbye. But the instant their lips touched the memory of this morning rolled over both their bodies. Mal clutched onto Ben's shirt as she deepened the kiss. He stroked both her arms because he didn't trust his hands to touch her anywhere else and they were still in public. Ben pulled back, knowing he had to head back home.

"I just can't seem to get enough of you now can I?" Ben kissed the top of her head safely before departing back to the castle.

His walk back he touched his lips like they were electric and tried to return his breathing to normal. But he still wore a wide grin walking through the castle doors. Ben was absolutely smitten with Mal, it intensified tenfold now that they had taken their first steps to being intimate. He felt totally out of control and he couldn't find the will to care.

Ben almost ran straight into his dad upon entering the castle's front doors.

"Son we have to talk," Adam burst Ben's happy bubble. What could this possibly be about?

He led him into the study and had him sit.

"Is everything okay?" Ben asked worried something had gone horribly wrong in the kingdom.

"It's come to your mother and I's attention that you might be engaging in sexual intercourse." Adam put it bluntly.

If Ben had a drink he would have spit it out. As it was he was coughing in discomfort. "Dad what?!" Ben was at a loss for words for once. Where had his parents gotten that idea from?!

"Your mother asked me to speak with you about it."

Before Adam could go on Ben cut him off. "Dad, Mal and I are not having sex. Not that it's any of your business! Where did you get this idea from?"

Adam let his temper get the best of him "Benjamin it is absolutely your mother and I's business. You may be king now but you are still a teenager and thus under our supervision as parents. Furthermore you being king is the biggest reason this kind of behavior will not be tolerated. We just had this discussion-"

Ben cut him off again, his temper flaring up as well. "My behavior won't be tolerated?! I do everything you guys ask of me all the time. Heck I've been doing that my entire life. Groomed to rule Auradon. Everyone watching my every move under a microscope. Never allowed to let loose or be free!"

"So is that what this is about? You just feel like being rebellious. Putting marks on Mal so the whole world knows what your up to! Tell me son how exactly is that going to give you more freedom? You think that's going to make the media let up on you?!"

Ben's temper faltered. Even though he hadn't given Mal the hickey on purpose, he hadn't really considered being careful to protect the both of them from having more lenses on their personal life. "I- I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking. It wasn't on purpose. I would never do something to put Mal in a situation like that. She already has enough pressure on her."

Seeing Ben soften caused Adam's temper to deflate as well. He leaned forward putting his hands together, elbows resting on his knees. He stared at his son solemnly. "Ben, I know I can't control everything you do at your age. And this isn't really a discussion we've had with you because frankly it never seemed like it needed to be said." The implication of his relationship with Audrey was left unsaid but both knew the meaning of Adam's words.

"I really love her."

"We know you do. Which is why, if you haven't crossed that line already, we strongly disapprove of you doing so. It's complicated son, for a myriad of reasons. First of all Mal is from the Isle-"

Ben stood up anger bursting again. "How could you say that! She's the most amazing person and that doesn't-"

"That is absolutely not what I meant. Sit down and let me finish. Because of that people are watching your relationship extra closely. We all know how wonderful Mal is, but not everyone is going to be so supportive. You're asking people to throw out a lifetime of prejudice and traumas their parents caused. It's not so easy even though it's wrong. You could be putting her reputation on the line with everybody watching your every move. If you don't care about your own reputation maybe you will care about hers."

"The details of our relationship isn't anyone's business."

"No it's not but that doesn't mean it isn't going to be."

Ben was entirely stressed now. He understood everything his father was saying. But having alone time with Mal, experiencing all that they had together so far, it was one of the only times Ben felt freedom and bliss. He loved her so much, he needed to be able to express that. He leaned forward, raking his hand through his hair and tugging.

"Even though your mother and I strongly discourage you continuing on this path. I think it still needs to be said that even if nobody catches you there are a lot of other issues this could cause for you."

Ben sat up looking at his father in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Being intimate with somebody changes your relationship, and not always for the better."

Ben was really confused but trying to seem mature and not let it show. Adam continued, "Its a vulnerable thing, very raw and honest. There needs to be total trust and total communication. Not everything will always go right. It's not a perfect thing. Jealousy and distractedness can arise. It's a very big and adult thing and it changes a lot. You BOTH need to be ready for that. And your mother would kill me if I didn't bring up the obvious. Having sex can lead to pregnancy. If you're adult enough to have sex you have to also be adult enough to be safe about it and accept the possibility of the responsibility of a child. Some of this may be obvious and some of it may not make sense to you right now but you'll think back on this when it does. Your mother and I sincerely hope that you wait and that you consider what I have told you today. As King it is your duty to be dedicated to the people and be a shining example for everyone."

Adam leaned forward patting Ben's knee before getting up to hopefully leave him with his thoughts.

Ben didn't know how to feel or what to do but one thought was clear in his mind. He couldn't tell Mal about this talk. She had enough pressure on her.