Chapter 10 – Awaken
-:-:-
Chad struggled towards awareness slowly, which in itself was enough to let him know that he wasn't in fact dead yet, which was beginning to become somewhat of a source of irritation for him. On the bright side he didn't hurt either, which he had been expecting, but then again maybe he'd used up so much energy that his senses just gave out and he was in a sort of waking coma, something he could be ironically trapped in to prolong the process of dying, because that was just his fucking life apparently.
But then he was blinking his eyes open and he could feel a body entirely within his control – albeit exhausted– and when his focus decided to settle he realized that he was in some kind of medical facility, though an entirely fancy one. He was alone, save for one Mal Bertha who was hunched in the visitor's chair beside his bed, though she seemed to have changed her ballgown to a different, yet equally fancy option, and her hair held the deeper threads of purple that hadn't developed until she'd been allowed to spend more time in Auradon and had collected more of the natural magic that lingered in the air.
That combined with the fancy crown perched on her head made Chad realize that this wasn't Mal Bertha, his girlfriend, but Mal Bertha the future queen of Auradon, the one he'd left behind after he'd gotten himself killed.
She also seemed to have been crying, her eyes red and irritated and a pile of crumpled tissues sitting on the fancy version of the rolling tray this medical facility had.
"What the hell, Chad?" she croaked when she saw he was awake. "Why'd you do that?"
It came back to him slowly. It had been so long since he'd been here, but he was able to put the pieces together.
She'd healed him, somehow. He didn't know how she'd done it, but she'd healed him the same way he'd healed the other Jay. His hair was still missing, but he seemed to have acquired some kind of knitted hat to help fight the worst of the chill, and she must be especially distraught if she wasn't taking this opportunity to make fun of his lack of eyebrows.
Chad shrugged. "Auradon needs you," he offered, voice rough with disuse. "Ben needs you."
"You didn't hesitate," Mal continued, registering his reply but not seeming to know how to deal with it. "I watched back the footage, you were standing with five other people and you were the one that didn't hesitate."
Chad remembered it in a distant way. There had been a ball and he'd been standing next to Jay because sometimes he allowed himself small indulgences and talking to the Agraben was always one of them, and that had put him next to Gil. Of course with Gil came Uma and Harry, and it was kind of nice even if Audrey wasn't there because this party wasn't big enough to rank a temporary pardon from her house arrest. It was supposed to be a relatively informal celebration by royal standards, with the fun kind of dancing and everything. It wasn't supposed to end in assassination attempts, but Chad should have known to check the place over, shouldn't have trusted the Auradon Castle security even though it had always held up in the past.
It was an inside job, obviously, it had to be. Someone didn't want to have a VK be queen so they'd arranged for Mal and Ben to have separate entrances – just like in the other world – only Chad had caught the movement before it had made contact, Chad had seen what could be played off as a harmless prank to those unfamiliar with acid and shoved Mal out of the way before the slime could make contact.
It had wrecked his body on contact, he remembered that – the agony, everything seeming to melt away.
He remembered Mal's face when she realized what had happened, her eyes wide with confusion.
"Auradon needs you," Chad simply repeated, because he had nothing else to say. "It could survive without me."
"You're a prince."
"And you're a queen," Chad countered. "The Isle kids need you."
She didn't seem happy with his explanation, wearing the same expression of conflict she'd had before she'd broken down and tried to retreat to the Isle. "How'd you know it wasn't a prank?"
"You were alone," Chad said. "And I knew something like that would be easy to play off as a prank, so I figured…" He shrugged again. "Even if it was, better to be safe than sorry." And then, when he realized he was exposing too much, that he'd gotten too used to Dumb Chad's Mal, he continued, "And, you know, that's what dashing princes do-"
"Don't," Mal interrupted, her tone hard. "Don't do that shit. Don't- you were fucking melting and you told me 'It's okay'. You were dying and you used your last breath to comfort me, so don't go back behind that prissy bullshit now that I've seen who you actually are."
"I was dying," Chad said, unsure how else to proceed. "I wanted to offer what I could."
"My dad had to help bring you back together," Mal snapped. "I did what I could but I was freaking out, and then my dad like, kept your soul in your body so I could actually heal you – that's not shit he does. That's the opposite of what he does!"
"I mean, we already knew he was a hero," Chad offered. "He helped Audrey after she definitely tried to kill you, so… I mean, he seems to like you-"
"Chad," Mal interrupted, entirely frustrated. "We put you back together, but you're not perfectly healed. We just- we put you back the way you were."
He heard what she didn't say. The old wounds – breaks that hadn't been properly treated, stab wounds, lashings, burns, bullet wounds – those were an accumulation of battle scars Chad had acquired over the course of his tenure as Prince of Sardinia.
The risks of the profession.
"Who is hurting you?" Mal asked, her voice tight. "And why didn't you ever say anything about it?"
"Well, it was mostly assassins," Chad said. "So I didn't mention it on account of not wanting anyone else to get assassinated. That's all."
There was a pause, then- "Was your mom killed by assassins?"
"Oh yeah," Chad said, didn't hesitate. "Can't prove it, though. There's no point in looking into it."
"Yeah, like that's gonna happen," Mal said, dabbing at her cheeks. "You have set my crew down a fucking rabbit hole, and you know how Carlos gets when approached with a challenge. He's been working on your laptop the entire time you've been out."
Chad tensed. "You can't let him look at that shit-"
"I can do what I fucking want," Mal snapped. "And if that involves solving the mystery of Chad fucking Charming then that's what I'm going to damn do, got it?"
Most of the shit was coded anyway, so it wasn't like Carlos would find much. Chad guessed there was no point in delving into it.
"Okay," Chad said, settling back against the pillows. He was tired. That was twice now he'd expected to die and twice now that he hadn't. Only this time he didn't have a mom or loving family or friends and a girlfriend. He was back to nothing.
He'd lived that way before; he could do it again.
"You have successfully recovered from the acid and shit," Mal said. "We could wait for the doctors to clear you but I'd rather just move you somewhere more comfortable and be done with this."
Chad blinked, looking around the cozy, private room. "This is already pretty comfortable."
He'd certainly slept in worse places.
"Comfortable according to my definition," Mal snapped. "We tried to contact your family. Couldn't get through to your dad and apparently you have some kind of restraining order that doesn't allow your grandfather to visit you when you're hospitalized."
"Yeah, couldn't get that to be a fulltime thing," Chad sighed. "So I just prioritized to keep him away when I was most vulnerable."
"Fucking hell," Mal hissed. "Why didn't you tell us your grandfather's abusive? He is abusive, right? You know we might know a thing or two about shitty family members."
"Your shitty family members are in prison." Or were in prison. The ones that couldn't be reformed were definitely back in prison, though Cruella had gone to a mental institute, which was where she belonged. "My shitty family member has a position of almost unrivaled power in Sardinia. It's not the same fight."
"But Ben-"
"Has to stay neutral," Chad interrupted. "Unless the matter has to do with the king – my dad – then he doesn't have a right to intercede unless it becomes evident that the entire Sardinian upper council has been compromised – and it has, but he won't fucking know it because my grandfather covers up that shit, so… I don't know what you want from me."
"I want to know how the guy who could make Evie do his homework and nitpick Lonnie off of the Swords and Shields team and volunteer to be Audrey's henchman to save his own skin would also, without hesitating, save someone who didn't like him, who openly made fun of him, who laughed when he was scared."
"It wasn't hard," Chad replied easily. "Your dislike for me was understandable. I never held that against you, but that doesn't make you less important or less worthy of being saved." When she still didn't get it, he continued, "Auradon has a bounty of prissy princes, it could stand to lose one. But there's only one you, and honestly, if it came down to the universe having you in it or me, it's not even a competition. It needs you. You give people hope. You fight for the little guy; you're determined to protect everyone. You have friends and family who need you, and I- I don't."
"Yeah, that bullshit's ending today," Mal growled, and then she was scrawling something on Chad's clipboard before slamming it down. "You don't get to say shit like that and do shit like that and not expect some kind of change, so fucking-" She perched on the side of his bed, wrapping an arm around his shoulder. "Come on, we're going."
"Okay," Chad said, because what other option did he have, so he just sort of sat back while Mal teleported them somewhere else entirely.
So… he guessed he was getting yet another do-over.
He could only hope that the others he'd left behind would be okay. That Dumb Ben wouldn't overreact.
There wasn't anything else he could do for them now.
-:-:-
They materialized in a truly luxurious room – something high end and sprawling – on top of a bed that could easily fit ten people, which made Chad blink.
"Mal…" he began slowly as the queen-to-be eased herself off the edge of the bed, tugging the comforter and blankets out from under Chad so she could pull them over him while he just sort of collapsed against a mountain of pillows. "Is this Ben's room?"
"Someone tried to kill me so I'm stuck in hiding so you're now stuck in hiding, and as a hero to Auradon-"
"You're a hero of Auradon," Chad countered, because before this mess, he had never openly done anything heroic.
"We can both fucking be heroes," Mal snapped as she settled him under the blankets. "You deserve the best and I'm not letting you out of my sight, so- comfy bed," she said, waving at it haphazardly. "Could you unzip me?"
"…sure," Chad said, realizing that this was a Mal that was at her wit's end. "But if you were attacked in the ballroom it was probably an inside job-"
"Cogsworth already found the leak," Mal sniffed, giving Chad another thoughtful look as he unzipped her dress. "We redid the safety procedures-"
"That might be just what they want-"
"We already thought of that, thanks," Mal snapped, and then she forced herself to relax as she started tugging off jewelry, walking over to her vanity so she could haphazardly dump it there. "Sorry, I um- I know you were trying to help."
"Hey, it's okay," Chad said, managing the energy to hold his hands up in a placating manner. "I know I'm an asshole."
"Don't you fucking start," Mal snapped, so Chad didn't, he just sort of watched her remove all her jewelry and her shoes before she stripped off her ballgown and slid into what definitely seemed to be a set of Ben's pjs, which hung off her frame in an adorable way. "I'll be right back. Please don't do anything stupid while I'm gone."
"I'll do my best," Chad offered, making her sigh before she retreated to the bathroom, likely to take care of her evening beauty routine.
Ten minutes later she was crawling into bed next to Chad, using a remote to dim the lights of the room while leaving a distant lamp on, much to Chad's relief.
"Yeah, I don't like the dark either," she said as she crawled under his arm, deciding to use his chest as a pillow as she essentially wrapped herself around his body.
Chad tried not to tense. "Will Ben be okay with this?"
"Contrary to popular belief, Ben doesn't own me," Mal snapped.
"Sorry, I didn't mean it like that-" Chad rushed to explain, but Mal just squeezed him again.
"No, I'm sorry," she muttered. "Old habits die hard or whatever. I'm just tired, and you probably are too, so go back to sleep."
"Okay," Chad said, because he was pretty exhausted, though he knew he'd have to get out and do damage control later, but for now…
He wanted to savor the moment.
So he did.
-:-:-
Chad woke up later, but that was because Ben was crawling into bed on Chad's side instead of Mal's. The king seemed determined to wrap himself around both of them, his head nuzzling against Chad's beanie while a lanky arm wrapped around the blond's waist. He had to know Mal was over there, he had to know it was Chad, but he didn't seem to care.
"Find anything?" Mal muttered, her hand stretching over to wrap around Ben's forearm.
"Yeah," Ben said, sounding exhausted. "They didn't cover their tracks well."
"People try to regularly kill Chad," Mal offered by way of abrupt segue.
"I heard," the king hummed, seeming to hold Chad closer. "We're gonna fix that."
"Okay." That seemed to make Mal relax. "It turns out he's actually not an asshole."
"You take that back," Chad muttered, making the other two startle.
"No," Mal hissed, dragging herself closer. "And fuck you for saying that."
Chad, who had gotten entirely used to his own Mal, the one that was his friend, the one he could scheme and cackle with, the one he'd grown to like far too much, couldn't help but process that the exact wrong way, like a promise instead of a threat, and immediately he found himself shivering at the prospect of it.
Apparently that was a thing he wanted. Great. Awesome. He could dive into that bullshit later, but now he had to do some quick damage control.
"Sorry," he offered, trying to shift away from her. "Sorry."
"Shit, Chad," Mal huffed, seeming confused but not annoyed. "You don't have to apologize for stuff you can't control."
The words hit him where he least expected it, because Chad had spent the majority of his life paying the price for things that were entirely beyond his control in the first place. It wasn't his fault who his dad had fallen in love with, or that Chad looked like his mom, or that his grandpa found the mere prospect of him unforgivable. It wasn't his fault he didn't look enough like his dad, that he liked boys and as much as he liked girls – all of that was beyond his control, but he'd spent his entire life apologizing for it in one way or another, because for the Duke it would always be a crime.
It was enough to have a familiar heat grow behind his eyes, enough to make his breath catch and body tense, none of which could be missed from the assholes clutching onto him, who tolerated him for saving Mal but likely wouldn't care enough to tolerate him crying, because there were lines and no one else cared anyway, and-
Chad tried to swallow his gasp but he lost the battle with his tears, couldn't stop shaking when he should be used to the injustice of it all. That was life. It wasn't fair or even, it just was, and the rest of them had to deal with the consequences.
"Aw, Chad," Mal said, the first to realize what was going on, and then a delicate hand was cupping Chad's jaw, wiping tears from his cheeks. "Sweetheart-"
"You don't have to be nice to me just because I'm crying," Chad managed, a wave of humiliation surging over him.
Mal let out a low curse, then tugged Chad onto his side so she could properly cradle his front. "No, but I'm going to," Mal said. "Because you deserve that basic decency, okay? You do."
Chad shook his head but she just kept soothing him, and he wasn't sure if it got worse or better when Ben pressed himself up against Chad's back, spooning him like it wasn't weird, like this was a thing they did, when in reality they only talked if they had to.
"It will be okay," Ben murmured, holding him close. "I promise, it will be okay."
Chad didn't entirely believe him but he was too tired to keep fighting so he surrendered to their hold, crying himself out while they held him together, until at last, sleep claimed him once more.
-:-:-
When Chad next woke up the room was filled with the soft, natural light of the Auradon sun, and while Mal seemed to be gone Ben remained, as evidence of the fact that Chad had turned to use the king mostly as his pillow, the prince sprawled across Ben's chest like he had any kind of right to be there.
"Sorry," Chad murmured when he felt coherent enough for it, trying to pull away and frowning when the arm Ben had wrapped around his waist held tight. "Ben?"
The king was looking at him with a searching expression, one he seemed to have been wearing for a while now, like he'd been watching Chad sleep in an effort to glean more answers from him. "Do you love Mal?"
And wasn't that a question to be greeted with first thing in the morning?
It was something Chad tried not to think of too terribly hard, because of course he loved Mal. What was there not to love about her? She was cranky and sarcastic and funny and strong and brave and protective and a whole host of positive qualities that Chad wished he could display half as easily. She'd been a queen far longer than she'd been engaged to Ben, had been born with a sort of steadfast leadership that made Chad jealous, but she used it for good things because at her core, Mal was a good person. It had never been a question.
Of course Chad loved Mal, he'd told as much to the other Evie, but that wasn't what Ben was asking.
He wanted to know if Chad was in love with Mal, which was something the blond had never considered.
Mostly, he realized, because he was so certain such things would lead to his destruction.
He felt his face crumple, eyes heating pathetically as he tried to shift out of Ben's hold. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "I'm sorry. I promise, I was never going to do anything-"
Ben's hand slid against his jaw and Chad braced himself to be punched, because he knew how defensive Ben was of Mal, how irrational his responses where when she was potentially compromised to him.
Chad was so ready for pain that the first brush of lips against his made his eyes go wide, because Ben was kissing him, Ben was- the king was pressing him back into the bed and kissing Chad, cradling his jaw as he hovered over him carefully and none of this made any kind of sense, because maybe Chad had sort of wanted to kiss Jay a little bit (in this world, not the other, where the rules had been completely different), but he'd never dared to consider other guys, least of all Ben, who was the most noble and greatest of kings.
"May I?" Ben asked, his hand hovering at the hem of Chad's shirt.
Damn near-death experiences compromising his sense of restraint. Chad nodded, because he was stupid, and Ben actually-
Yep, he actually was asking for permission to ease a hand under Chad's sleep shirt, caressing Chad's abdomen while he pressed kisses against his cheek, his throat.
"Ben," Chad gasped. "What are you-"
"I need you," Ben murmured, his voice low, beastly, eyes half-lidded and a dark flush seeming to stain his cheeks as he looked Chad over. "I just- I need you. Can I have you?"
He really needed to stop saying shit like that, because Chad's restored libido wanted to make good on promises that couldn't be kept.
"You have Mal," Chad reminded him, trying to convince himself to pull away and failing miserably, Ben intoxicating with his presence. "Don't cheat on her-"
"It's not cheating if you're ours," Ben growled, burying his face in the crook of Chad's neck and letting out a deep rumble that seemed to reverberate through Chad's bones, a thing that loosed a relentless flare of heat through his chest until it settled in his groin, Chad going from semi-interested to terribly aroused in under a second.
"Ben," Chad croaked, but the king had a hand cupped between his legs, was rubbing and squeezing at him while he continued to lick up Chad's neck. "W-What do you mean?"
"You gave your life for Mal," Ben rumbled, sounding more beast than man. "You didn't hesitate. You threw yourself in there to save her for Auradon, for me – I see you now, Chad," Ben growled. "I see what you've been hiding, my beast sees it, and you are mine."
"Ben," Chad moaned, gasps coming in sharp pulls because Ben was shoving his clothing out of the way so he could get a hand on Chad's dick, which was dripping more than it ever had before.
"It calls to you," Ben continued. "The same way you respond to it." He grinded his hand down, slow and filthy, and Chad swallowed a wail that took him completely by surprise, because even his stuff with Evie and the others hadn't felt this good.
"Ben, Ben, Ben, please," Chad found himself whining. "Please, it feels so good."
"Good," Ben rumbled, starting to jerk him off in rough movements. "Only the best for you."
Stuff like that made Chad shudder, made him incoherent when Ben started kissing him again – his Ben, the one that had considered Chad an obligation at best. That guy was ravishing Chad like it was his damn job, his own interest grinding against Chad's thigh, though he paid no attention to it, seeming content to dote on Chad.
It was a high Chad rode as best he could, at least until he heard the door slam, and tensed upon seeing Mal's annoyed visage at the foot of the bed, her eyes blazing green.
"Ben," she snarled, climbing up the bed with a scowl. "I wanted to be here for this, you asshole."
"Couldn't help it," Ben rumbled, slowing his pumps to prolonged teases, like he was showing Chad off. "He smells so fucking good. Feels so good, and he responds to me-"
"You were supposed to wait," Mal griped, but she easily fell in on Chad's other side, shoving his shirt up so her hand could rove his chest while she began licking and biting at his neck. "For me, Benjamin."
"He almost died," Ben moaned, rutting into Chad's thigh while he slid his hand in a lewd tease down Chad's length. "He almost died and I wouldn't have even known. How could I wait when I know he loves you?"
"Aw, you love me, Chaddy?" Mal grinned, seeming to forget all her anger as she took in this information with a delighted look. "I love you too."
"You don't know me," Chad moaned, because the two of them were very intense and very dedicated and he was holding onto his wits by the tips of his fingers.
"Half Fae, half god," she murmured, sucking on the curve of his neck. "Ben's half-beast, we figure this shit out quickly and we are greedy, demanding assholes, but… you're ours, Chad, and you don't have to stay with us if you don't want to, but know that we really fucking want you here."
"Don't go," Ben rumbled, nuzzling Chad's shoulder. "Please."
"Guys," Chad gasped. "I'm an asshole-"
"So am I," Mal snapped. "If you don't want in because you don't like us then say so, but if you're trying to decide whether or not we get to like you then just fuck off, and also let us fuck you."
Chad shuddered hard in their hold, prompting a happy smile to pull at Ben's cheeks. "Would you like that? Because we'd like that."
"Guys…" Chad groaned, but Mal was already shoving him onto his side, pushing him against Ben's chest (which the king didn't seem to mind) before clever fingers parted Chad's cheeks. "I haven't-"
He cut off with a sharp gasp when he felt a warm curl of magic press against his entrance, Mal caressing and nudging until he felt wet and thoroughly stretched somehow, and then her fingers were sliding inside him-
That time he did let out a wail, writhing against Ben's front because it felt so very damn good and he'd never done anything like it.
"Fuck, I love you," Ben said, swallowing the sounds Chad was making with a few heated kisses. "You can't make noises like that and not be ours, please."
"Ben," Chad moaned, because their lengths were rutting together now, and Mal was fingering him wide and that wasn't a thing he knew he needed until this very moment. "Ben."
"Mate," Ben growled, freeing himself from his clothes so he could pump their lengths together, urging a new swell of slick from Chad that he didn't realize he had until he was positively dripping, which had like, never been a problem before so maybe Mal and Ben were right about him responding to them or whatever.
"Ours," Mal growled against Chad's spine, her fingers probing deeper, harder. "Have you been holding onto Audrey to make your want less obvious?"
"Yes," Chad crooned, because apparently he'd been doing just that. "You weren't- this wasn't going to happen. I had to- I had to be realistic."
"No more settling," Ben growled. "You get what you want-"
"I'm greedy too," Chad gasped. "I'm sorry-"
"Who?" Mal snapped, thrusting her fingers deep, hitting some spot within him that seemed to set off fireworks behind his eyes. "Who, Chad?"
"Mal, Mal," Chad groaned as she continued stroking that spot, his length pulsing in Ben's hand.
"Who, Chad?" Ben asked, silencing his whines with soft kisses. "We need to know."
"E-Evie," Chad gasped. "And um- Jay. Carlos. I'm sorry."
Mal froze, then started fingering him with an earnest that left Chad moaning nonstop. "You don't have to apologize for those. They're mine, and they're the best."
"Fuck," Ben groaned, his falling shut with want. "Mal, can I um-"
"You can fuck him this time," Mal hissed. "He's ready, assuming…" She moved up, turning Chad's head to face her. "Do you want Ben to fuck you? Note that he very much wants to. This isn't offered out of pity."
"No," Ben rumbled, making Chad feel hot and shaky all over again. "No, Chad. Please, I need- you almost died."
"Then um- yes, please," Chad said, feeling stupid when he asked as much. "I'd like-"
Between one breath and the next Chad found himself pressed onto his back, his pants and underwear stripped off and thighs pushed up as Ben lowered himself to nudge his length between Chad's cheeks, brushing against that twitching, wet hole.
Chad had never been fucked before, not in his old lifetime and not in Dumb Chad's, so the prospect of it had him shaking. He'd never deeply considered the intimate relations between men, mostly knowing it wasn't a possibility for him (at least, not a long-term one), but he'd heard that it could hurt, that it took time and preparation.
That said, when Ben slowly eased into him the only thing Chad felt was right, the press of Ben delicious and intoxicating in its own right, making him feel full and connected in a way he'd never experienced before. He wondered if part of that came from Mal's magic, but it didn't matter because he was gifted with the sight of Ben shuddering and seeming to hold on by the tips of his fingers, staring down at Chad with a flush like he was the most important thing in the world.
"Fuck, you feel so good," Ben moaned into Chad's shoulder, rutting up into his heat. "D-Different from Mal, but so fucking good."
"That's because we're both aggressive assholes," Mal murmured as she combed a hand through Ben's hair in a rough pet before turning her attention to Chad, letting one hand settle between his legs while the other slid between hers, the queen to be finding her own pleasure at the sight of them. "With us it's a fight- but this… this is balance. You balance us."
"D-Don't say that," Chad gasped as Ben started fucking him in earnest, everything feeling so hot. "I'm an aggressive asshole too-"
"Out there," Mal hissed. "In here, you're ours."
"Love you," Ben said, and then Chad started losing track of things, consumed with heat and arousal and their solid presence, both of them comforting and cherishing him like he was anything special. "I'm sorry it took so long to find you."
"Love you," Mal said, trading off kissing Chad with Ben. "You're ours, hear me? Ours."
With sweettalk like that it was no wonder that Chad fell apart, that he felt Ben do the same moments afterwards, both Mal and the king jerking Chad through his own release until he was a boneless mess between them.
Eventually, Ben pulled out of him, though he stayed close, curling against Chad's side while Mal took the other, looking over the two of them with an expression of open delight.
"That was fucking awesome," she declared, petting a hand over the top of Chad's head.
"It was good," Chad agreed. "But seriously, I am an asshole-"
Ben cut him off with a kiss, and then when Chad tried to protest Mal did the same thing, until he could only whimper between them.
"Guys," Chad whined, but Mal only tutted.
"Some of my most favorite people are assholes," Mal muttered. "I willingly hang out with Hook, don't I?"
That was enough to startle a weak laugh from Chad, which had both of them wearing looks of delight.
"Okay, bath time," Mal declared, and then she was skipping off towards the washroom, starting up a bath while Ben started shrugging out of his clothes and then, when he was done, helping Chad with what remained of his.
So, not the morning he'd expected in any capacity. Honestly, he still wasn't sure if it was a fever dream or not.
He guessed he'd find out later.
-:-:-
Chad ended up between Ben and Mal in the bath somehow, the prince sitting in the v of Ben's legs while Mal curled against his front, her head resting against his shoulder while Chad tried not to stare at her very pretty body. She had as many scars as he did which wasn't a surprise, just- she was strong. He admired her for that.
"Yes," Ben groaned, letting his head fall back with a happy sigh. "This is it. This is what we've been missing."
"The reason Ben and I have been having so many problems was because we're both dominant assholes in the bedroom," Mal explained. "And dominant assholes in other things. We've been missing balance on a fundamental level, and that balance is you."
"You guys barely know me," Chad grumbled as she ran a hand over his bald head, the prince trying not to feel self-conscious about it. "The real me, I mean."
"We know enough," Mal said, her eyes narrowed in concentration. "Beware, foreswear, bring back Chad's hair."
A swirl of warmth and Chad felt his hair grow back into place – all of his hair, which hadn't revitalized when Mal and Hades had essentially reconstructed his body. It seemed to pause halfway, leaning more towards the length it was for Cotillion rather than what it was for the ball, which Chad honestly preferred.
"It's short again," Mal mused, curling her fingers through the soft locks.
"I grew it out for Audrey," Chad admitted. "But I didn't like it as much."
"Then I'm glad it's short," Mal declared, moving to straddle his lap. And that was- that was a queen perched there in all her glory, and Chad was only human, had just discovered his total love for her- it was understandable that he'd get a little worked up.
And then Ben was burying his face in the crook of Chad's neck again and letting out that low rumble that did things to Chad, the one that left him instantly hard for reasons he did not understand at all.
"Fairy Godmother said your blood was Fae-blessed," Mal offered as a non-sequitur, grinning as she watched Ben's hands aimlessly wander Chad's torso. "That's probably why you appeal to us on a biological level. On a personal level, you're a damn hero, so…" Her hand wrapped around his length, making him moan, his head falling back against Ben's shoulder, and he could barely keep his eyes open to watch Mal lower herself onto his throbbing member.
"Mal," Chad whimpered, because she felt so warm and tight and good, and he probably shouldn't have his dick anywhere near her.
"Mine," Mal hissed, and then she was biting into his shoulder, Ben doing the same on the other side, and it should have hurt but mostly Chad just felt overwhelmed, his body seeming electrified everywhere it came into contact with them until he was a writhing mess, Mal working herself up and down in his lap, Ben sucking bruises on his neck, and Chad-
He held on, feeling claimed by those two bites, knowing he should be freaking out because Ben and Mal had matching marks on their own shoulders, it was why Mal always had them covered, knew it was as much a declaration as a wedding ring was.
There was magic building in the air between the three of them, more than Mal's purple fog and Ben's latent beast energy. There was Chad's light, which he thought had faded, which he thought had been used up saving Jay, but he could feel it growing until it was blossoming under his skin, until he could feel himself literally glow between them.
"Yes, that's it," Mal panted, her eyes shining green and hair seeming to float with the latent magical energy. "You couldn't be bad if you tried."
Chad was pretty sure letting them claim him already made him the worst, but he could offer no more arguments because it felt right so he just held on, letting the spell take root, unsure of what the next moment would bring him.
An orgasm seemed likely, but beyond that-
Honestly, who knew.
-:-:-
The bath ended with all three of them thoroughly spent, even Ben, who had lost it from the magical intensity that had built up between them. They continued trading small affections while they got clean, the two of them dressing Chad in some of Ben's spare lounging clothes before they ate a quick meal that had been delivered to them, Mal and Ben both seeming determined to keep at least one hand on Chad the entire time.
"Come on," Mal said after they'd eaten, the future queen wearing what seemed to be a combination of Carlos and Evie's lounging clothes while she dragged Chad out of the king's suite and towards a nearby sitting room. "While you guys were getting to know each other, I was getting an update from the others. I texted them to meet us after lunch."
"Is everyone else okay?" Chad asked, a sudden string of panic going through his chest. It had been so long since he'd been in his own world, he'd forgotten to be on the lookout for constant danger.
"Everyone's fine," Mal soothed, pressing a kiss to his knuckles while she pushed open the sitting room door. "The only one who got hurt was you."
At that, Chad immediately relaxed. "That's good."
"No," Ben rumbled, not seeming to share the sentiment. "It was not."
"Minimizing damages, though," Chad said as Mal began to tug them inside. "If the extent of the attack was focused solely on me and I was healed, that's a pretty decent outcome."
"No it isn't," a new voice – Uma's voice – drawled, and Chad had honestly sort of forgotten about the pirates because it'd been so long since he'd seen them, but- yeah, there they were, along with the rest of Mal's crew and Doug and Jane, making it almost like Dumb Chad's world all over again.
They were just missing Aziz and Lonnie.
"We'll touch back on that later," Mal said before Ben could start growling, prompting the king to focus on getting them settled on the last couch available, and for whatever reason they still kept Chad in between them, despite them likely having gotten more than enough of him to last a lifetime. "For now guys, what have you got?"
"His laptop was a fucking nightmare," Carlos declared, waving a lazy hand at the referenced laptop resting on the coffee table before him. "As were all his electronics, actually. Everything's buried under multiple layers of security, and one wrong move would trigger a program that would erase all the data, so that took a while to get through."
Damn right, it should have. Chad had paid a lot of money for that set up, had dived into coding just so he could understand it, and he was glad that his efforts hadn't gone to waste. It was likely inevitable for someone of Carlos' expertise to crack his setup so he wasn't too discouraged, though it would be irritating to set up an entirely new system after this.
"When we actually got to the hidden files, everything was coded," Carlos continued.
"We ended up cheating and used magic to determine a decoded alphabet," Jane offered sagely. "And then Carlos wrote a program to translate everything into English."
"Only then, the shit was in a different fucking code," Carlos griped. "But between me, Jane, Doug, Evie, and Uma, we were able to determine that he used a combination of outdated coded systems that are available in like, three books across the entirety of Auradon, and with that determined, we were able to finally read the fucking things."
"The end result was a lot of data," Evie picked up, looking over her own tablet while Chad mourned the destruction of his lovely coding system. "He has files on everything. Files for each of us that include intercepted hate crimes, orchestrated misfortunes for bigoted council members seeking to hurt the Isle agenda – mostly exposing some of their less-than-legal activities to the proper authorities – there's a lot of stuff like that." Her gaze shifted to meet Chad's, though she continued addressing Mal. "On multiple occasions he has sabotaged Auradon clothing makers' potential slander campaigns against my line, purchased a premium subscription to Yelp on Evie's 4Hearts' behalf so they wouldn't take away my positive reviews, and prompted the creation of legislature that would allow me to purchase my own cottage in the first place. And that's just the tip of the iceberg."
"There's a mess of shit with his grandfather," Carlos picked up. "About the stuff he's doing back in Sardinia – Chad has basically been playing chess with the man for years, the two of them manipulating councilmen, the Sardinian media, and Chad's dad as they hashed out different issues. Chad's grandfather has been trying to kill him for years, which was why he kept his distance from all of us while latching onto Audrey, because she was untouchable to Chad's grandfather. Despite most of us not liking him, he has made huge efforts to help the Isle refugee programs, to help us, and I'm fucking furious about it and I haven't even read everything."
"You're… mad I helped you?" Chad asked, feeling confused, but not entirely surprised.
"He's mad he didn't see it," Jay pressed. "None of us saw it. We just saw a two-dimensional asshole and didn't bother looking into you at all."
Chad shrugged. "That was sort of the point."
"But you kept helping us," Carlos pressed. "Even when we were mean to you."
"Carlos, I was an asshole," Chad pointed out. "It would have been weird if you were nice to me."
"Not an asshole," Ben growled, dragging Chad into his lap. Mal let out an unhappy sound and then she was more or less shoving her way into Chad's lap, letting Ben curl an arm around both of them.
"…is this a thing now?" Uma asked when everyone else just sort of blinked in shock. "I'm not surprised because you're both dramatic assholes, but is it a thing?"
"Yes," Ben rumbled, nosing at Chad's throat with a low hum. "We decided Chad's ours."
"Is that even allowed?" Jane asked, brows furrowed in concern.
"I'll make it allowed," Ben murmured, kissing a spot just under Chad's ear.
"This is bullshit," Jay declared, making Chad freeze. "If you're going to do group shit, you should fucking share." And with that he was crawling up next to Mal, wrapping himself around her back and reaching over to cup Chad's jaw, like that was a thing he wanted to do.
"Um- what?" Chad asked, feeling so very lost.
"Chad," Jay said, his cheeks heated in a furious blush. "You had a five paragraph report about how you kept casually mentioning the captain and eight men thing for Swords and Shields, hoping I would figure out that the captain's sex wasn't defined so we could get around the rules without jeopardizing my position because you didn't want to give the VK criticizers any ammunition, which was why you joined every team I was on and nitpicked everything just to watch out for me. You intervened during Family Day because you knew if we attacked Audrey that Queen Leah would have our heads but if we did anything to you, it wouldn't matter. You relentlessly hounded the recruiters to the best Tourney colleges in Auradon until they would come watch me play, and then you helped me round out my application packets by goading me into doing community service and nice shit so they'd be willing to look past my heritage and actually give me a shot. And you didn't just do this for me, you did this for all of us."
"You made an entire online campaign to build support for Mal as Ben's girlfriend," Uma cut in, her expression neutral. "You were in the middle of pressuring the school board into implementing better controls against paparazzi right before she ran off to the Isle."
"You're the one that got Dude to be approved as Carlos' emotional support dog," Jane added. "You're the one that convinced Audrey to let me join the cheerleading team because you knew I hated being the mascot."
"Even if you were a good one, for the record," Chad said, feeling his cheeks flush because they were all staring at him and they weren't supposed to know about this shit.
"You shut down anyone who was racist towards me," Doug burst suddenly. "For my half-dwarf heritage. You got anti-Isle teachers fired and snuck suggestions into the central council to help settle the Isle refugees as a whole. Chad, you've done so much and you never took any credit for it; you never even tried to."
"And all while you're doing that shit you were also trying to stay one step ahead of your grandfather who was trying to kill you," Jay muttered, his gaze hard. "So yes, now that we've been given a chance to see who you really are, I also like you, and should be given a shot at wooing you."
"It's not necessary," Mal hummed, seeming pleased by this development. "Chad already likes you."
"Mal," Chad whined, because Jay wasn't supposed to learn about that.
"What a good day it is to be me," Jay declared, and then he was leaning forward, at least until he was interrupted by Ben's growling headbutt.
"Not just him," Ben rumbled. "Group deal or nothing."
"You act like that's not a bonus," Jay said, and then he was kissing Ben, which was- yes, that was a fucking great picture, one that didn't last long because then Jay was kissing Chad, which he'd kind of wanted for a while and here it was, oh fucking boy.
Uma cleared her throat. "If you guys are open to group shit now, you're going to get more offers than just Jadir," she said. "Such as me and my boys."
"Fuck yes," Mal said, grinning widely. "We can do that."
"Mal," Evie said, her expression conflicted. "Please-"
"Fuck it," Ben growled. "Everyone who wants in is in, but we're going to do a lot of communicating and rulemaking like, right now, because we're not doing this if people feel like obligations or like they aren't just as desired as everyone else here."
"Oh good," Carlos chirped, dragging Jane into the cuddle monstrosity they were slowly creating. "Because I was going to ask if we could join next."
"All the cuddles," Mal cackled. "Every cuddle."
"Yes, we get it, your inner dragon is going crazy," Uma declared with a roll of her eyes. "Have you figured out that you hoard people yet?"
"No," Mal hummed. "But now that you've pointed it out that makes a lot of sense. Now get down here and kiss me, and then kiss Chad."
"Don't have to fucking tell me twice," Uma drawled, and then she did just that.
-:-:-
Endnotes:
'But what about the other world?', you may ask.
No worries, my friends, there's an epilogue for a reason ;D
Thanks to everyone for the feedback! I know last chapter was a doozy of a cliffhanger and this doesn't quite resolve everything, but I hope at the very least it was interesting. I have more notes after the epilogue, but for now – if you're interested in more Descendants stuff, my next fic will be a Dark AU Ben-centric fic post Descendants 3 about the adventures of politically competent, cutthroat Ben kicking ass and taking names.
Story notes:
Mal brings back Chad's Descendants 2 hair, because that is my favorite.
Also shout out to Dude, the character I just about always forget about.
Until next time :)