The Cure

(Day 17: Tuesday Evening)

"What is it?" Mal asks after she shuts the door behind them.

Ben shakes, "The rumors. They haven't gotten to you yet, have they?"

Mal huffs, "Ben. I'm your girlfriend. I think you know they have."

"But you know they're not true?" he asserts. "Right? You know they're not true."

She only pauses for a second before replying, "Yeah. I know."

"Good," Ben laughs. "Because they're not true. They're not."

Mal walks up to him, "You're scared."

"I'm not scared," he denies. "Why would I be scared?"

"You're scared, because you're afraid the rumors could be true. You think that growl actually meant something, that it could turn into something more." She hears his shaky breaths, "Breath." as she sees a tear fall from his eyes. "And don't cry."

Ben shuts his eyes as Mal wipes the tear away, "Everything was going so great. You know? I was king, I had you, and my grades have been fine." He sniffles. "This could take all of that away from me." He places a hand to her face, "I just got you. I can't lose you."

"You're not going to lose me. Okay?" Mal firmly states. "This thing isn't going to take anything from you, because it's not going to turn into anything."

"You sound so sure," Ben whispers.

"That's because I am sure. Your father was never really a beast. It was nothing but an enchantment, an enchantment that broke long before you were born. The beast doesn't exist anymore, so there's no way you could be one either." He doesn't look at her, so she lifts his chin for him to see her, "I have magic. I know what I'm talking about."

"I growled at him," Ben sadly looks at her. "I didn't hear it at the time, probably because I was too mad to, but the more I think about it the more I can hear it." He takes a disbelieving breath, "I actually growled. Humans don't growl like that."

"It doesn't mean anything," Mal dismisses. "People mimic birds all the time. You must have just mimicked some animal you've heard before."

"I find that hard to believe."

"Even if it does mean something, which it doesn't," Mal comments. "If by some extremely small chance your father retained some beast qualities and those somehow got passed onto you, that doesn't make you a monster. It can be dealt with, and if that happens that doesn't mean you would lose me or your crown. Because I would be here to help you through it."

He smiles painfully and hugs her, "I love you, Mal."

She places a hand on his back, "I know."

He half laughs, "I thought you would be mad at me."

"Why would I be mad at you?"

"I thought that if I told you, then you wouldn't want to be with me anymore." He breathes, "I thought you might not understand."

Mal puts her other arm around him, "I understand more than you could know."

He places his cheek in her neck, "You're always so nice and cold." Mal doesn't speak, and it's a good few seconds before he continues. "I hate crying."

"Most people do."

He lets go of her, "How's my temperature?"

She places a hand on his forehead, "In comparison to what, me or a normal person?" as he shuts his eyes and she moves the hand down to his cheek. "You do feel a little extra hot right now." She leans in and whispers, "But I think I've got the cure for that." before she kisses him.

He opens his eyes and smiles, "How do you manage to stay so cold?"

Mal places a finger to his lips, "Shh. Let's have a little less questions and a little more contact." She glances over, "Which bed is yours?"

"Ugh," he laughs. "You're killing me."

She wraps her arms around him and places her lips centimeters from his as she repeats, "Which one?"

He takes a few steps back towards the one on the right, "This one."

Mal kisses him, "Good." and then pushes him onto the bed. "How do you want me?"

"How do I, ah, what?" Ben asks.

She goes onto the bed and hovers over him, before she places a hand under his shirt, "Is this good?" He merely nods, so she moves in closer. "How about this?"

Ben feels her cold lips on his mouth, before she moves down to his neck. "Ah, yeah. This— this is good."

"Make sure to tell me if you lose too much feeling."

He breathes in deeply as he stares at the door, "We shouldn't be doing this. Someone could come in."

Mal whispers, "Do you care?"

Ben feels the cold move along his neck, "No. I don't care, but I should. I should care." Mal switches her hands so that her left one goes to the other side of his neck and her right one moves from his arm to his side. "No one's going to come in here. Doug's too busy with Evie. We can take a moment for ourselves."

"As we should," Mal says, before she silences him with a kiss. "But I think I've cured your temperature." She teases, "Maybe we should stop."

"No," Ben lets out. "We just started. Don't stop."

Mal smiles, "If you say so." before she continues on.

- Yeah. I know the chapter title is a little click-baity, but with such a short dialogue I failed to see a better option.