Tyler does extra chores around the castle all the days he's home from school. Lumiere puts him to work mopping floors, scrubbing windows, polishing silverware, and vacuuming. In the evenings, he still has to do all the schoolwork he missed at the bar while Zach reads through his textbooks and writes in his new hardback leather journal that he got for his birthday. His composition notebook is full and in a prized position in his bookcase while the journal gets to take up the treasured place on his headboard with his old dictionary.
When Tyler has to go back to school, he's still a bit short of being able to afford what he and Ben and Mal agreed would be honorable compensation for the class – a bunch of goodies for them each with extra items for the kids he was heckling – but Ben and Mal aren't willing to be very merciful in this case. Tyler and Ben go through his room and clean out a bunch of things for Tyler to put up for sale on the internet. Ben and Mal go ahead and buy the supplies so he can spend his last Sunday evening at home making gifts for the rest of his classmates, but they make sure he knows he owes them now.
Tyler is sick of doing so much extra work and sick of having his parents so mad at him, so he wakes up early for school and gets ready without prompting and is excited to get out from under his parent's thumb.
At the school, Mal walks him inside with pinched lips and makes him stand by the teacher's desk while the rest of the class does their exercises. Mal can tell which kids were the most traumatized. They're the ones who refuse to stare at her as their little hands shake.
Tyler gives an apology to the entire class, refusing to lift his head more than a few inches and with his cheeks stained bright red. His voice shakes and is much quieter than usual. Occasionally, he glances at the back to make sure his mom isn't getting more mad at him. Mal watches the teacher's face. She looks pretty darn impressed as Tyler passes out his apology gifts after explaining briefly about them. Finally, Tyler is done and he does his best to not pout as he looks back at his mom.
Mal gets down on a knee so she doesn't have to stand over him. "I'm proud of you for doing that," she tells him, loud enough for everyone else to hear. "But if I ever hear about you doing something like this again, and especially if you're using Dad and me as a threat, then we're going to make sure the punishment is a lot worse than this."
"Class?" The teacher calls for attention as Mal gives Tyler a quick hug and pushes him to take a seat. "What should we say to Tyler?"
"Not Thank-you," Mal interrupts before anyone can say it. She gives Tyler a firm look. "He shouldn't have been a bully in the first place. So, don't make anyone say thank-you if they're still hurt by him."
"I'm gonna say thank you," someone mutters from the front and then turns around. "Thanks, Tyler."
Tyler just shakes his head and puts it down on the desk. "I'm sorry," He repeats and hides his face.
The teacher is impressed. "If everyone parented like you, we wouldn't have problems with bullies," she says.
The compliment helps. It does. But Mal doesn't let it show as she rests a hand on her son's neck and runs her fingers through his hair comfortingly. "I'm going to go now," she announces slowly, and he sits back up and twists around in his seat to hug her. In front of all his friends, too. Hmm. "Love you, Beastie."
"Love you too, Mom," He mumbles under his breath and then turns back to the class. The teacher starts the day as everyone fidgets with the things Tyler brought as an apology. Mal sneaks out the door silently.
Where do years go so quickly? Tyler seems to climb another grade every other day… and now suddenly Auradon Accelerated is asking Zach to specialize because he's completed all of the general education courses. He's already eligible for a degree in mathematics or biophysics and he's only eleven. Ben and Mal agree to let him go for his old favorite; Microbiology and Metaphysics.
Tyler ditches dance fully for theatre and focuses on acting and performing, just like Mal thought he would. He graduates from the children's theatre to a small-town acting organization. He's not a bad dancer still and not a bad singer either. It makes her proud because she can see some of her qualities in him when he's acting or helping to build backstage props. She has to pitch in a lot to help, and it's hard, but it's also really fulfilling with how much fun he has with it all.
Belle reaches four. She learns to dance practically right after she learns to walk and is singing in babbling tones before she can even talk. She's a big blanket lover, which is new because Zach enjoyed books and Tyler enjoyed action figures. Mal's never had to look after one blanket that gets dragged out of the house, through the mud and dirt, into the car, and around the palace. She has to time when it's washed just right, or Belle will notice it's gone and break down. So long as Ben is around to cuddle with her while the blanket is absent, then she's fine. She's a big daddy's girl. It makes Mal a little jealous because her last little baby is probably the least like her out of all of them. She loves being her dad's princess and wearing the heels that Mal hides in the back of her closet and stealing makeup and using markers as lipstick. If not for her purple hair, which she likes wearing all of the time except when she's cuddling with Ben, she'd be more like Evie's daughter than Mal's.
At the end of the year, before school lets out again for Tyler and Zach decides to stay on for the summer semester of college, he creeps into Mal's room with a little blush and asks if he can ask her something. She closes the door so they can sit on her bed and talk. Zach sits at the edge of the bed, twiddling his thumbs like Ben does when he's trying to find the right words for something and rocks back and forth with a blush. "Mom?" He finally asks. "How do you get girls to like you?"
Part of Mal's world stops. She tilts her head to consider the question. Not only who it's coming from, but how it's being presented. Her son is twelve. That's only four years younger than Ben was when he met her. She should probably start getting used to this idea now. "Well, Baby, it depends," She sighs, and Zach wrinkles up his nose at the nickname he still hates. Mal doesn't care. She'll use it when he's eighty if she's still around. She's his mother and that's a right she holds. "If it's someone specific, she might have something special that she likes you to do. If it's girls in general, then that's a little bit different."
"Like how?" Zach asks, pulling his knees up to his chest and wrapping his arms around them. It occurs to Mal how big he's gotten. How tall is he? He's not taller than her yet, right?
Mal hums and tugs on her hair as she thinks. "Okay, listen, I'm going to tell you this, but you have to keep it a little secret, okay? I figured this out after I married your dad when I was watching all my friends and his friends get married. And it's a little sneaky, but it works almost every time." She exhaled and spread her hands out a little. "If you want a girl to like you, then you need to go and find out who her dad is and who her brothers are or if she has any close guy friends. Then, you go and become friends with them. The more you act like and hang out with people she already likes, the more she'll like you."
"But dad says you shouldn't act like something you're not," Zach frowns.
"And you shouldn't," Mal affirms. "But when you hang out with lots of friends of one type, what happens?"
Zach falls silent as he thinks. "You… start acting like them," he answers finally.
"Exactly," Mal nods. "So hang out with her friends, do things you all like together, and she'll notice you like that. The second thing is to talk to her, and that's where most people stop or go wrong. Because you don't want to come right out and confess love or anything. You want to wait so that you have a good friendship first. So ask her about her day and about things she likes to do and if she mentions she'll be doing something, ask her about it later. It's really impressive when you remember things about other people. Your dad remembered my entire schedule for me when we were dating, and that helped me a lot because I sometimes forgot. And now, he remembers everything I told him about the Isle, and that's good because he knows how to talk to me about it."
"That makes sense," Zach nods, looking very comforted. "I'm glad you give straightforward answers. Dad just said to be yourself and everything will work out."
"That's important after you start dating." Mal rolls her eyes. "Taking initiative is a little different." She elbows Zach a little. "So, is there someone special you like?" She teases.
Zach blushes. "No," He protests. "No, that's silly, mom." He falls quiet, still twisting his thumbs around. "Mom? Would you be mad if Tyler or Belle or I fell in love with someone who was the same gender? Like if I fell in love with a boy or if Belle fell in love with a girl?"
"I wouldn't be mad," Mal shakes her head. "You're my son and I love you and that's the way you feel."
"But you wouldn't want me to change?" Zach asks. "Because kids at school talk about their parents and their parents sound mean."
"Zach, baby," Mal exhales and tilts her head. "What happened to me on the Isle of the Lost?"
Zach's shoulders hunch over and his eyes go wide as he gulps. "Lots of bad things," he says.
"And why don't we talk about it?" Mal asks.
"Because it hurts you."
"But it was a long time ago. Shouldn't I get over it? Shouldn't I change?"
Zach stays silent for a long, long time. Then he finally manages to shake his head. "No. It's just the way you feel."
"Exactly," Mal agrees in a hushed tone. "It wouldn't be right to tell me not to feel the way I feel. You can't argue with feelings."
Zach nods amicably at this description as if it makes a lot of sense to him. "I think Grandpa Adam might be mad," he tells her.
"Well, I think Grandpa Adam doesn't get a say in what happens in our family," Mal replies. Zach starts laughing. She smiles and leans forward on the bed to focus on Zach. "You should know one thing though," she cautions. "Because you're going to be king one day, you're going to have to decide where the kingdom will go. So if you have a son or daughter, it'll go to them. Or you might have to appoint someone else to the stead." She shrugs as if it doesn't matter that much, even though it's a pretty heavy decision. "So keep that in mind."
"I don't think I like boys very much," Zach admits with a deeper blush. "But I know lots of pretty girls. It's kinda hard to find out who's pretty and mean versus who's pretty and nice."
"That is hard," Mal agrees. "I knew lots of mean boys growing up, so when I met your dad I didn't believe he could be as good as everyone said he was."
"Dad told me that I should look out for girls like you," Zach says, puffing out his chest a little. "Because I said I wanted to love someone like Dad loves you, and so he said to find someone like you."
"Like me?" Mal laughs, putting a hand over her mouth. "That's a very mature thought, though."
"I haven't found anyone yet," Zach shakes his head and squints at the ground. "But I know lots of funny and strong girls my age, so maybe I'll talk to them first."
Mal's touched. She feels a blush rising into her cheeks as Zach stares off into the distance. "That's very sweet, honey," She whispers.
"Honey is not better than Baby, mom."
"It wasn't supposed to be."
Zach sighs irritably and hops off her bed. "Thanks, mom. That helped me a lot." He wraps his arms around her waist. Mal hugs him back, then stands up. A quick glance reveals he's now up to her mouth. Pretty soon, he'll have to lean down so she can kiss his head. A few stubborn tears fill her eyes.
"Anytime," she whispers. Zach steals one last hug and then leaves without looking back.
Tyler brings home his sixth-grade field trip permission form for both of them to sign and looks a little tense as he slides it onto the counter. "Mom, Dad?" He asks. "Our class is going to be going to the Memorial for the Isle of the Lost next week. We're going to be walking around some places on the old Isle with a tour guide. There's an alternative video, but I want to go! All my friends are going and I know it's not your favorite place but there is going to be a quiz on it and it's part of the curriculum so pleasepleasecanIgoplease?"
Ben pauses in reading his paperwork and watches his son dance back and forth anxiously with his fingers crossed for luck as he awaits their response. He's forgotten how he'd instituted Isle culture as part of Sixth Grade Curriculum. He glances over at Mal. Her expression is blank. She doesn't quite seem to have an opinion as she turns the page over and examines the details of the trip. "Bargain Castle," She whispers as she reads. "That's where I grew up."
Ben reaches across the table for her hand, but she gives him the paper instead before turning to pull out some chocolate pudding for Belle. Tyler explodes a little in his excitement. "You could come to be an advisor!" He exclaims. "You could go on the trip with us and-"
"No, Tyler," Mal shakes her head. "I don't want to go there." She flips on the radio in the kitchen and turns on the Hot 100 station. Belle starts bopping her head to the beat along with Ben as he reads. It makes her laugh to see them doing the same motion without realizing it. "I have no problems with it if you want to go, though."
Tyler deflates a little but looks over at Ben with hopeful eyes. Ben holds out a hand. "Pen?" He asks, and Tyler quickly dashes to grab him one
They don't say much else on the Isle of the Lost.