Chapter 12 - Friend Like Me
"Are you sure horseback riding lessons are a good idea?" Quinn asked, nervously looking at the mare Ben was introducing her to. "I'm still getting used to having a pet cat!" She was starting to wish she had stayed in her room to play with Sweetheart.
"You said you wanted to do more princess-y things, right?" Ben replied, petting the horse. "Well, princesses ride horses. And it'll help you get over your fear of animals." The mare whinnied in response, tossing its long white mane dramatically.
"Quinn, I want you to meet Diamant." The horse looked at Quinn, moving her head closer until they were almost nose to nose. The princess shrieked and fainted, flopping onto the ground.
Ben gasped and ran over to Quinn, checking to make sure she was okay. He prepared to give her mouth to mouth, only to be shoved aside. "I'm fine!" Quinn screamed, bolting up and dusting herself off, her face bright red. She fixed her hair, turning to face the stable.
"I can do this. I can do this. I can do this." She repeated, over and over again, walking forward. She extended a shaking hand and touched Diamant on the nose. The mare nickered in approval, pushing her nose forward until it was in the palm of Quinn's hand. She bit her lip to keep from screaming, but braved through and didn't move. "I did it!"
"You sure did!" Ben laughed, hoping she wouldn't faint again. "So, do you think you're ready to start riding, or do you just wanna stick to petting the horses?"
"I think... I still need to get used to being around animals. I'm definitely not ready to get on top of one." Quinn admitted. She pet Diamant, stroking the horse's long white muzzle. She didn't understand how her mother could have been so wrong about something she sounded so confident of.
"That's fine, recovery takes time." Ben said, handing Quinn a bright red apple. "I could try to find a therapist for you, if you want. You're not the only person in the world who's afraid of animals."
Quinn took the apple and gave it to Diamant, who took a massive bite out. "I'd like that." She smiled, feeling something she didn't have a word for yet.
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"So what is it you wanted to talk to me about?" Harry asked, polishing his hook. He still refused to get rid of the thing, although at this point he was wearing it as a necklace instead of carrying it in his hand.
"I thought maybe we could have some guy time." Ben said, trying to sound casual. "Just you and me, hanging out, talking about... guy stuff. You know, male bonding."
Harry stared at Ben for a second. "Like locker room talk? Because I really don't wanna talk about girls." Harry's only experience with "male bonding" was hanging out with the Tourney team after practice. While he enjoyed the game itself, his teammates left something to be desired. "Or boys. Not into that, despite what the eyeliner might lead you to believe."
"I was gonna suggest video games, actually." Ben corrected, holding up a stack of games. He wasn't really a gamer, but he got a lot of video games as gifts because that's just what people assumed he liked and he was too polite to say otherwise. "I got this new one, Kingdom Craft, that's pretty good."
Harry rolled his eyes. "I'm more of a physical kind of guy."
"How about arm wrestling?"
Harry scoffed. "Alright, but only if you promise not to throw me in the brig when I break your wee royal arms." He teased, as they made their way to Ben's room.
The two boys sat across from each other at a table and locked arms, both determined to defeat their opponent. "I'm warning you, princey, I grew up sparring with Gaston's sons. I've got the strongest right hook on the Isle of the Lost, no pun intended."
"And I've arm wrestled Hercules' kid, so I'd say we're even." Ben replied, slowly pushing Harry's hand towards the table. "Also, you know there are ways to make friends that don't involve fighting, right?"
"Who said anything about making friends?"
"You're a pirate, aren't you? You can't run a ship with just one person." Ben pinned Harry's hand with his own. "Besides, this isn't the Isle. You live here now."
Harry looked at Ben, impressed. "I guess you're right, but that doesn't mean I have to like it."
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"Aziz told me you were getting a band together!" Ben said, leading Dante around town. Auradon Prep was built right between a traditional village and a modern shopping district, reflecting its strange position as a fusion of the past and future. "You're gonna need some new instruments, and I just so happen to know the best music store in town!"
"I don't have any money." Dante confessed, turning his pockets inside out. "Unless you're gonna help me steal the stuff I need, but we should probably wait until night for that..." He started looking around for alternate entrances to the store, and wondering which windows were the most breakable.
"I can loan you some money, you don't need to worry about that." Ben said, wanting to snuff out any idea of crime. "And you could also try getting a job. It'd help pay for the instruments and let you get used to life in Auradon." And the Auradonians get used to you, he thought.
"Oh, right, jobs..." Dante blushed, suddenly remembering this wasn't the Isle of the Lost and crime wasn't the answer to everything.
The two boys approached a store called Strings And Things, a joke which made Dante grimace. The shop owner was a cigar chomping, bear of a man who waved as soon as they stepped in. "Well if it isn't the crown prince himself, and one of his little villain friends! How can I help you?"
"I'm trying to form a band, and I need a keyboard, a base and drums." Dante explained, staring intently at the older man. There was something about him, his vibes, that felt familiar. The sort of psychic ability some gay people had to detect other members of the community. "I also need some new strings for my guitar."
He placed his guitar on the desk, which caused the shop owner to jump. "What in the world is that?!" The old man picked the instrument up and examined it. "Good gods, boy, what happened to your guitar? This thing looks like it's falling apart at the seams!"
Dante blushed, embarrassed, and then quickly acted angry to cover it up. "I built it myself, that's what happened! Out of scrap metal and shoe strings. All we have on the Isle is garbage, thanks to a certain someone." He glared at Ben over his shoulder, the flames on his head starting to change from blue to orange.
Ben put a hand on Dante's shoulder apologetically. "Hey, I'm sorry. What my father did wasn't fair to you or your friends. But I'm not my father, just like you're not yours." He locked eyes with the demigod, soft hazel meeting violent gold.
Dante tossed his head back and groaned, his fire smoldering. "Uggggh you're so annoying when you're being reasonable." He sighed, looking at his guitar. It had been his most prized possession for sixteen years, and he didn't like people telling him it was junk. "Can you fix it, or should I just buy a new one?"
The shop keep stroked his massive beard, pondering. "Well, I supposed with a few touch ups, and some real strings, it'd work just fine. But it'll cost you." He looked at Dante curiously, puffing on his cigar before he spoke again. "How'd you like a job? I could really use an assistant to help me run the store, don't got any kids of my own to do it, and you seem like you could use something to do in your spare time."
"Sure, why not?" Dante perked up, shaking hands with the old man. "I'm Dante..." He paused before saying his last name. Introducing himself as the son of Hades seemed redundant if he was trying to blend in. "Just Dante."
"Well, Just Dante, I'm Stanley!" The older man laughed, his whole body shaking. If Dante knew who Santa Claus was, he'd definitely see the similarities. "Anything else you and the prince need today?"
"No, I think we're good." Ben looked from Dante to Stanley and smiled. I think there's something there that wasn't there before. He thought to himself.
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Uma figured that, if she was going to love potion Ben, she might as well spend some time with him beforehand. See how tolerable he was as just a friend, before he became her mind-controlled not-really boyfriend. She sighed and stared at her outfit in the mirror, wondering what her dress for the coronation should look like. Quinn insisted on making one for her, but Uma didn't really know much about fashion. Back on the Isle, you just wore whatever you had and tried to make it look good.
She glanced at the clock, there was only ten minutes left until she and Ben were supposed to go on a tour of the Auradonian Culture Museum. Uma looked at the two outfits she had to choose from. Her regular pirate clothes, which she had been wearing when she first arrived in Auradon, and a sweater-skirt combo given to her by Fairy Godmother. Neither one seemed appropriate, though.
But what if... Uma turned to look at the other closet in her room. Quinn had spent a lot of the money she earned from doing other students' hair on new clothes, so surely she wouldn't miss a dress or a skirt if Uma decided to borrow it. "Screw it!" Uma dove head first into the closet and started looking for something that wasn't covered in hearts or roses.
"Uma? Are you there?" A knock on her door startled the blue haired girl, making her fall onto her bed. Uma quickly checked that she was fully dressed, and tossed her braids over one shoulder, deciding to just go as she was.
"Wow, you look..." Ben stammered when Uma answered the door, blushing slightly. She was wearing a plain yellow t-shirt and a short black skirt, along with some black high heels and a seashell shaped purse, a much more modern look than her Isle attire. If she had changed her hair as well, Ben wouldn't have been able to recognize her. "Wow."
"Wow is what I was going for, so thanks." Uma teased, pretending she had this planned. She needed everything to go perfectly on this friend-date.
"So what is dating like on the Isle?" Ben asked, as they walked together, hands uncomfortably close. "Not that this is a date! I just wanted a first person perspective on what life is like there. Yen Sid's notes weren't very detailed."
"We don't really date on the Isle. It's more like... gang activity." Uma explained. She could feel how sweaty Ben's hand was, even though they weren't actually touching. It was cute, almost. VK boys were always confident, and if they weren't, they knew how to fake it. Ben's obvious nervousness was a comforting change.
"My mom scared away anyone I was interested in, anyways. Everybody on the Isle is afraid of her..." Uma confessed. She stopped herself from adding "and me".
Ben nodded. "I've only ever dated Audrey. We just sort of decided to be together when we were kids, everyone already assumed we were dating." He pulled his hand away from Uma, scratching himself in a very un-princely way.
"So we have that in common!" They both laughed awkwardly and stopped when they realized they were at the museum. Two heavily armored men stood outside the door, both carrying a spear in one hand and a shield in the other.
"Prince Ben!" The guards bowed to show respect, but otherwise remained still. "Uma..." They turned towards her, their faces hidden by helmets but the intent obvious. She gulped, but played innocent.
"We're just going to walk around the museum for a bit. That's okay, right?" Ben asked politely, knowing they had to do what he said anyways. The guards hesitated, but nodded and stepped aside. "Thanks! We won't take too long!"
Ben and Uma started with the Atlantica section of the museum. There was a series of murals depicting Poseidon building the city for the first merfolk, and putting his children, Triton and Ursula, in charge. Uma reached out to the painting of her mother, having never seen her as a mermaid before. Was that what she would look like, if she was ever allowed to visit the sea?
"Um, maybe we should look somewhere else." Ben took Uma's hand, worried that he had offended her. She stared into his big, dumb eyes and felt something well up inside of her. A feeling she'd only felt once, maybe twice, before, and one she'd rather forget.
"I need to use the bathroom!" She yelled, a little too loudly, and yanked her hand out of Ben's. The prince quickly showed her the way, not saying anything.
As soon as Uma sat down, she threw her head back and yelled at nothing in particular. "Focus, Uma, focus!" She slapped herself, trying to get all thoughts of Ben out of head. "It's too late to develop a conscience. Besides, this is Beast's son we're talking about. It would never... he could never..." She sighed, remembering what she had to do.
Uma closed her eyes and cupped her hands, exhaling into them. "Out of sight, out of mind." Placing her face in her hands, Uma turned invisible. She left the stall and hurried out the bathroom door, rushing past Ben, who was busy staring at his phone.
It wasn't long before she was face to face with Ursula's necklace in the Hall of Villains. A tingle went down her spine, and she could feel the nautilus shell calling to her. Practically begging her to take it. It belongs to me, Uma thought, it shouldn't be left rotting in a museum.
She reached out, fingers an inch away from the glass, and cast another spell. "Glass, glass, vapor-thin, open up, I'm coming in." The case containing the necklace vanished completely, and Uma snatched the necklace, quickly stuffing it into her purse. She pulled out a nearly identical cookie Quinn had baked earlier, frozen solid so it felt like a real shell, and placed it down on the pillow, right before the glass reappeared.
Letting out a deep sigh of relief, Uma returned to the bathroom and ended her invisibility spell. She wanted to put the necklace on right then and there, but she knew it would ruin her entire plan if anyone saw it before the dance. "Just two more days." She told herself.
Stepping out of the bathroom, visible this time, Uma smiled. "Just needed to powder my nose!" She fibbed. "Why don't we look at your family history this time?"
Ben and Uma enjoyed the rest of their night, staying on the heroes side of the museum, talking and laughing, barely paying attention to the exhibits.
At the end of the night, Ben walked his still-technically-not-a-date back to her room, hoping she didn't notice how red his face was. "That was fun! Maybe next time we could go somewhere less awkward."
"Yeah, I had fun, Ben." Uma agreed. She struggled to think of what to say next. What would Quinn say? "Thanks for being such a good friend."
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And that's a wrap! Sorry this took so long. Next time, we get into the big stuff. Join me, in a chapter I like to call Kiss The Girl!