Submissive King

(Day 15: Sunday Morning)

"What's everyone whispering about?" Ben asks, as he glances around the cafeteria. A group of guys are laughing, and some of the girls appear to be a little annoyed.

Doug looks around, "I'm not sure, but they seem to be staring at you."

"Why do you think it's me?"

"Hmm. Let me see," Doug slowly responds. "I'm nothing more than a clumsy dork, and right next to me sits the new ruler of Auradon. Hmm. I wonder who they could be talking about."

"Okay," Ben lets out a stressed breath. "I get it. They're talking about me. But why?"

"Didn't you have some contract with the news networks?"

"Them and the paparazzi." Ben shakes his head, "The idea was to keep my personal life out of the spotlight."

"Until you became king," Doug reminds him.

"Oh, man. You're right." He takes a bite of his toast as Doug takes out his phone. "But I'm not a scandalous person. I have nothing to hide."

Doug laughs, "Everyone has something to hide." but then his smile slips.

"What is it?" Ben worries.

He slowly shakes his head, "Nothing. It's nothing." but soon his gaze moves up towards a towering Chad, and Ben's sights follow.

"It finally makes sense," Chad smirks. "You're not stupid. You're just a pushover."

"What are you talking about?" Ben disbelieves.

Chad's smile turns into an arrogant grin, "When you brought those villains here. They must have convinced you to somehow."

Doug stares blankly at him, "Chad, stop being an idiot. The island has no contact with the outside world. How could they have convinced him?"

"They have magic. Some are even animals, human hybrid creatures. They could have found a way." He glares at Ben, "And now they're here because of you. You let them into Auradon, and all because you're such a pathetic pushover of a king."

Ben feels his temperature rise, as his anger flares, but he tries to take calming breaths; although, they end up short and shaken, "Why don't you stop being such a jerk, Chad, and just go away."

"Why? It's because you know I'm right, isn't it? You know I'd make a better king than you, and all that needs to happen for that is for the kingdom to overthrow you."

Ben clenches at the napkin, before he growls, "Go away."

Chad's eyes widen as he takes a step back, and he uneasily bows, "Yes. Your beastliness." before he turns on his heels and hurries over to his own table.

"Beastliness?" Ben questions.

"A combination between beast and your highness," Doug guesses, before Ben looks at him in confusion. "You growled at him."

Ben looks down at his plate, "No. I didn't growl. I just told him to go away."

"That's what you growled," Doug explains. "And it wasn't one of those joking ones you sometimes do. It sounded like an actual animal growl."

He shakes his head and grabs his toast, "I was eating. Something must have gotten caught in my throat."

Doug shakes his head, "If you say so." before he looks over him carefully. "Are you alright? You look a little…"

"Flushed?" Ben offers. "Yeah. I probably have a fever now. I hate getting mad. It always just makes me feel so… sick." He places a hand to his head and looks over at Doug, "Come on. Are you going to tell me what you found, or do I have to take the phone from you?"

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" he asks. "I mean, if you're not feeling well—"

Ben grits his teeth, "Tell me."

"Okay. Okay." Doug takes in a deep breath and slides away a little, before he takes another look at his phone, "The Weekend Post just posted some of their articles online. There's one here about you… and it's accompanied by a very interesting picture of you and Mal."

"What do you mean, interesting?" Doug doesn't speak, only offering him a concerned look. "Hand it to me."

"It could have been worse," Doug tries to negate as he hands the phone to Ben, but when his roommate receives the phone he can hear a growling coming from his throat. "It's not like they caught you two actually doing anything. You're just on a date… making out."

"Did you even see the headline?" Ben infuriates. "Submissive King. That's what they think this photo implies."

Doug calmly comments, "No one's actually going to believe it. Everyone knows that a person's sex life doesn't necessarily determine who they are as a person."

"Everyone except Chad, you mean." Ben tries to skim through the article, but the only thing he can focus on enough is the line that says: you know what they say. What you do when you think no one's watching determines who you really are.

"Chad's an idiot," Doug counters. "Of course he would believe this, but I bet they only titled it like that for views. The content could be completely different."

Ben sets the phone down between them, "No. It isn't." before he shuts his eyes and tries to slow his breathing. "I think I'm going to skip practice."

"And do what?" Doug asks. "Go to your parents' early?"

Ben's mouth gapes open, "Oh, no. They read the paper. Like, the literal paper. When they see that picture of me and Mal it's going to be a five by five detailed photo."

"God," he whispers. "These people really don't think of who's going to see these things when they post them, do they?"

Ben tensely laughs, "No. Of course, not. They're very shortsighted like that."

Ben slowly walks into the dining room, and his parents look at him. "Mother. Father." He takes a step forward, "You didn't see the paper yet, have you?"

"Son," his father grimly replies. "What do you think I'm holding in my hands?"

"Oh. Right," Ben looks away from him for a moment. "I'm sorry."

"For whatever for?" his mother laughs.

"I don't know," Ben tiredly replies. "I just feel so stupid. I didn't even remember that that contract ended once I became king."

"You went to a secluded area, and they followed you," his father points out. "You did what you could. If they were that desperate to get a story, then they might have even followed you here. You couldn't have been any more careful. This isn't your fault."

"Still," Ben shakes his head. "I should have known. I should have known it was a possibility. I should have been more prepared. I— I—" He takes a few steps toward the table and plants his hands down onto it, as he lets out a long, shallow breath. "I don't feel very well."

His mother walks over to him and places the back of her hand to his forehead, before she looks at her husband, "He has a fever."

Ben takes a seat, "It's nothing. Probably just stress."

"Stress is a killer," his father reminds him.

"Especially for me," Ben finishes. "Yes. I know."

His mother takes a thermometer from her small bag, "Here. Take this."

"This is ridiculous." Ben resists the urge to roll his eyes, "I always have a fever." before he places the thermometer under his tongue.

"Which is why we need to be extra careful," his mother reasons.

Ben watches as his father rings the kitchen bell, but with the object in his mouth he's unable to complain. When Mrs. Potts comes in all his father has to say is, "Ben has a fever." for her to confirm that she'll get something to help.

When it finally beeps Ben comments, "You didn't have to do that."

"Oh. Really?" His father nods down, "What does it say?"

Ben looks down at the number, "One O' Two."

"One O' Two point what?"

"Point two," he irritably replies, before Mrs. Potts strides in and sets the items in front of Ben.

His father smiles, "Thank you." before the servant exits the room.

Ben takes a sip of the Alka-Seltzer fizzy drink, "So. It might be a little high." before he eyes the ibuprofen. "But is all of this really necessary?"

"You know it is."

Ben takes a deep breath before downing the pills, "Yeah, but… aren't you ever afraid that I'll gain some kind of tolerance or something?"

His parents give each other a look, before his mother replies, "Let's just hope that doesn't happen." She puts the thermometer back into her bag and smiles. "I'm going to get a puzzle."

"Noo," Ben lets out as his mother walks away. "Mom!"

"Don't worry," she calls back. "I'll make it a nice, big one."

Ben shakes his head and takes another drink of the medicine, "I hate puzzles. Why do we always need to do stupid puzzles all the time?"

His father smiles, "The idea is to focus your mind on a calming activity, until enough time has passed for you to be objective with the current issue."

Ben huffs a laugh, "The article is making people think that I won't make a good, strong king, just because I was letting my girlfriend take the dominant position. How am I not supposed to take that personally?"

His father clasps his hands and stares down at the dining table, "You probably don't know this, but when your grandfather was on his deathbed he still questioned if I could be a monster." He looks up with a sad expression, but Ben is too shocked to speak. "If I can look back on that and not take it personally, then you can learn to stare at news fluff pieces of scum reporters and be objective about it."

"Why did he think you may still have been a monster?" Ben softly asks.

It takes a moment for his father to put his thoughts into words, "When you spend half of your life living as an animal, it can be hard to readjust to a human life. And it did take me a while to adjust. I didn't always make good choices or behave in the right way… sometimes I still don't." He looks straight at Ben, "It didn't matter how nice the staff was or how much I've cared for your mother, and it didn't matter if I was royal or that I could provide properly for her. In the end he still thought that she deserved better than me."

"What do you think?"

His father tries to smile, "I think that I'm very lucky to have found love and someone who loves me, regardless of how rocky it may have started or how many mistakes I've made since then."

- Yeah. And what "mistakes" were those exactly?