Chapter 16 – Happy Ending

-:-:-

Ben didn't see his mom again until later that evening, when he was returning to his suite in a mixed accumulation of Chad and Doug's clothes to pick up the food. He made no effort to look presentable, happy with his mussed-up hair and comfy clothes and mismatched socks. He was pretty sure Doug had sucked a bruise just above the collar of his shirt, and Ben enjoyed pressing on it from time to time, savoring the slight sting of its existence before his enhanced healing smoothed it away.

His mom came up with the cart Mrs. Potts brought him, the kitchen head giving them both supportive smiles before she left them to stand in awkward silence.

His mom cleared her throat. "So…"

"I'm not upset," he said, because he felt that was important. "I'll be honest, I pity you more than anything, and if you're serious about marrying King Christopher and Queen Snow you should do it soon, because otherwise all the dukes that were sending their daughters after me are going to start campaigning for your hand themselves." He shrugged his shoulders in a small movement. "They're classy like that."

"Ben," she said, seeming tired. "Let's not- I don't want to talk about work."

"Okay," Ben said, because they'd have time to do that later. His mom had age and years of networking and a whole host of genuinely good allies on her side, they'd look after her the way they hadn't thought to look after Ben.

"I…" She reached forward tentatively and took his hand, and then seeing that he didn't resist, pulled him over towards the couch so they could sit down. "I'm so sorry."

"You don't- you don't have to be, mom," Ben soothed, covering her hand with his own. "I get that saying as much won't take your guilt away, but dad – he loved you. I think you might have been the only person he really loved, so you never saw that side of him and frankly, I went through great efforts so you'd never have to." Ben gave another shrug. "I just- I spent a lot of time thinking that his training was normal because I was going to do a very difficult job one day and that required difficult training. I knew I was different from the other princes; it just took me a while to register what he was doing was abuse rather than tough love."

"Sweetheart," his mom began, her eyes shining with moisture. "I'm your mother, but if this past week has taught me anything, it's that you haven't come to rely on me to act in that capacity in a long time. Audrey – after she was possessed by the scepter, she went straight to her parents as soon as she was freed. My friends mention their own children coming to them to discuss the difficulties of balancing our lives with our duties, but you and I – we never had that talk." Ben opened his mouth to apologize, but she waved him off. "My inaction caused you to see me as yet another person you had to keep up a mask for, and that never should have happened. I love you so much, Ben, no matter what – but seeing you like that in your father's office…" Definitely not one of Ben's finer moments. "You were so hurt, and worst of all, you didn't look at me as a person who could help alleviate that pain – and that's on me."

"Mom…" Ben said, because he didn't know when his mom had become yet another piece on the chessboard for him, but he suspected it was Freshman year, after his father had stolen the last of his hope.

"I'm going to do better," his mom pledged, her eyes shining. "I want to be there for you. I want to know about your pain. I don't want you to bottle up everything inside for the sake of your position."

"I mean…" Ben shrugged. "It's your position, now, and I'll be honest, I'm really happy about that."

His mom let out a wet laugh. "You were miserable."

And because she was a smart person, he did her the kindness of not trying to lie. "It was a hard job," he said. "And I was constantly fighting with dad and his supporters. Bright side, most of them have been arrested now, and those that haven't probably will be when Queen Rapunzel finishes reviewing those files, so you should have a much easier job running things."

"My boy," his mom sniffed, reaching a hand up to cup his cheek. "My sweet boy."

Ben made a face. "I'm not actually sweet."

"And I'm not actually stupid," his mom countered, making Ben pause in surprise. "You think I didn't catch you rolling your eyes behind your father's back? I know you're not as sweet as you pretend to be in public – you'd probably have far more breakdowns if you did, but that doesn't change the fact that deep down, you just want what's best for people."

"I want what's best for Auradon," Ben said. "Because that's what I was trained to do." There was an awkward pause. "And um- I guess doing that took care of the people I liked most so… yeah."

"Your life is going to be your own now," his mom said, squeezing his hands. "Whatever you want, Ben. You've already been through so much. I'd like us to go to therapy together, if that's okay."

"I… yeah," Ben said, because it couldn't hurt. "My partners want me to go to individual therapy too, so adding that on would be okay."

"Partners?" his mom echoed, her brows furrowed in confusion. "Not Audrey?"

"Yes, Audrey," Ben said. "But also Chad and Doug and Jane. That's where I just came from." He paused, then, "And where I'm going to head back to, and likely hide out with until my un-coronation or whatever."

"Oh," his mom said, and then like the true boss she was, she took the information in damn stride. "Oh good, Ben, I'm glad you have them."

"Me too," Ben chirped. "Hey, since I get to be a regular prince again, could I go to college for real?"

"Sure," his mom smiled. "We'll make that happen."

"And could I also be appointed to help Uma with the refugee stuff sometimes?"

Because of all his old jobs, he'd actually enjoyed doing that a lot.

"Part time," his mom said. "But no more than that."

"Okay." Like hell was Ben going to fight her on that. "I think I'm gonna write a book."

A beat, and then his mom's smile spread wide, like she'd found her first major swell of relief in all this. "That sounds like a lovely idea, my sweet. I can't wait to read it when you're done."

"It's going to be a boring book," he warned her.

"Ben," she began, her voice very serious. "I have learned that some of the very best adventures in life are the small ones, and those are anything but boring."

And. Well.

Who was he to argue with a queen?

-:-:-

Time passed. Ben spent most of it hiding out in the villa, trying to discover what it was like to have excessive amounts of free time. He spent a solid week sleeping in, which he'd never gotten to do before, and then sometimes he'd nap just for the hell of it – either on the couch, wrapped in a blanket that smelled like Doug or out in the sunroom, curled up like a cat and warmed down to his bones. He worked his way through a massive pile of books he'd always wanted to read but never had the chance to tackle, he worked on his own book and taught himself how to make food and painted his nails because he didn't have anyone to tell him he couldn't. He did his homework and watched all the recorded Tourney games for Auradon University so he could see Chad, Jay, and Aziz in action, and spent his time doing intensive research on the customs for dwarven courtships, because he wanted to braid Doug's hair so badly he had no words to describe it.

Between that, he had meetings with his mother, of course. Meetings to ensure a successful transfer of power where he explained all the people who would give her trouble and all the work arounds nobles tried to use on him and the countermeasures he had taken to prevent that. It was sort of like he was training the three future rulers of Auradon – which was kind of funny – but then his mom would turn it back around on him so they could plan family get togethers and his therapy sessions and his new college schedule and his diminished mandated public appearance list.

It would take a month to officially transfer his crown into the care of his mom and her new partners – and the three of them would be tying the knot in a year or something, Ben didn't know. He realized he should probably pay more attention to the details, but now that he didn't have to be on guard all the time, he just sort of… let himself go.

Because he could, damnit.

A week and a half into Ben's new life – Auradon running under the United Core Council's rule for the time being – Queen Rapunzel made a discovery in the later chapters of his father's notes.

It was known only to a few that Hades' attempt to escape the Isle had reactivated the magic in Maleficent's scepter from where it had previously rested, entirely benign, in the Museum of Cultural History. All those months ago, Audrey had been determined to utilize the scepter in an effort to turn back the hands of time and undo Ben ever taking a bite of that love potion cookie to spare him the pain that followed. Both Ben and Chad had been against it, and in the end, Ben had thought Audrey had agreed to leave well enough alone.

They saw how well that turned out.

What Ben didn't know was that while Audrey had gone through with the plan, her first attempts to use the scepter had gone well. She hadn't been possessed or corrupted.

His father had theorized that Audrey had been attempting to take the scepter back to the Moors for safekeeping – not knowing her real plan – and used one of his under-the-table magic users to drop Audrey's guard enough to allow for the scepter to grab hold of her, thus leading to the Queen of Mean. He had notes on it and everything. How to contact the magic user, what spells had been utilized, the form of magic – all of it had been verified and traced back by Genie, and with a written confession, Audrey's house arrest came to an abrupt end, leading to her teleporting into the villa one not-so-special afternoon, a confused look on her face.

"Ben," she said as she dumped her pink luggage on the ground, making a beeline for where he was sprawled across the couch. "Let the record show your that dad is a giant shithead."

"Audrey!" Ben cheered. And then that happiness was immediately mitigated with confusion. "What the fuck did he do now?"

Suffice it to say, Ben agreed with her upon hearing the explanation, but he had also agreed with her before he heard the explanation, so maybe his opinion should be taken with a grain of salt.

"My Grandma Ingrith also got arrested," Audrey said as she burrowed her way into his blanket cocoon. "So that's pretty neat."

"That's fucking awesome, is what that is," Ben said, holding her close. "Want to watch the Aziz slideshow I made for you and then take a bubble bath? I can order sushi."

"I want fucking pizza," Audrey declared, nuzzling his chest. "And ice cream. No wait, a sundae, with whipped cream."

"I can make that happen," Ben said before he tapped into his phone's secret files and cued up the video he'd made Audrey years ago that he'd been steadily adding to ever since that featured a compilation of Aziz in various forms of undress, his public interviews, and a series of Tourney plays that made his butt look good, because Audrey had always had a soft spot for the Agraben prince, even though she knew nothing could happen there.

"I want to watch Chad's next," Audrey murmured, really getting comfortable.

"The things I do for you," Ben rumbled before running a hand through her hair, and this was… yeah, this was perfection.

-:-:-

"You seem to be taking this really well," Uma noted when Ben finally gave in and accepted the invitation she had extended to her beach house that had arrived via Jane, though he'd only relented on the grounds that Audrey had been invited too and no one there was mad at him.

His un-coronation had been announced a week beforehand, though the public had already known that something was up considering the way he'd gone completely underground and council sessions had been brought to an immediate halt.

All the arrests and stuff, it was bound to raise a few eyebrows.

And then there was the huge breaking news story Queen Snow made about his dad actually being the worst individual in existence, which took the entirety of Auradon by storm. On the plus side, it further cemented the fact that evil really could come from anywhere, even from supposed heroes, and while a lot of people had attempted to contact Ben to verify if it was true or not, these were the first people outside his partners, the Core Council, and the castle staff that Ben had seen since the news had dropped.

"Oh, I'm great," Ben said from where he was curled around Jane, because he could be curled around Jane now, could hook his head onto her shoulder and get her little scratches against his scalp while Chad looked overwhelmed with happiness from his spot between Audrey and Doug across the room. "I'd feel bad if I'd left stuff unfinished, but I got everything major done that I needed to, and now I'm just going to be a regular asshole." He nuzzled Jane's shoulder because he was just so very happy. "It's pretty great."

"Would it be shitty of me to say I'm not surprised?" Uma asked, a genuine question.

"Not really," Ben said. "I mean, you guys are probably some of the most qualified individuals to recognize trauma." He paused when he realized that might be a particularly shitty thing to say. "Sorry."

That startled a laugh out of Uma. "No offense taken," she said, aiming a fond smile at him. "I sort of get why you fought so hard for us, and… I'm sorry." When Ben shot her a confused look – because what the fuck did she have to feel sorry about – she elaborated, "When you- or your fucking body double, I mean, came to the Isle, I was angry you hadn't gotten more kids off yet. I hadn't realized you'd been doing battle with your father the entire time."

"I… I tried," Ben admitted, and since they were being disgusting and honest now, he figured they could have this heart-to-heart. "The whole love-potion thing with Mal – that big song and dance I put on after that Tourney game." Which had been broadcasted like, everywhere. "It gave him enough ammunition to raise reasonable doubt. They had to keep the transfer students under a probationary period of observation. After a year, they'd be willing to hear out my proposals again, and I tried, Uma. I tried every workaround I could think of, but I couldn't do too much without being suspect, and I'm sorry. I should have-"

"Ben," Uma interrupted, her voice hard. "I fucking know, okay? I watched the report, same as everyone else. You've been doing everything you could to do the right thing while battling one of the most important people in all of Auradon. You don't have to apologize for that."

"Still," Ben said, even when Jane gave him a few comforting pats. "I wanted you to know that I wasn't just sitting around with my thumb up my ass."

Another laugh from Uma, bright enough that it earned a concerned look from where Harry was across the room, the first mate having managed to single Audrey out for some attempted flirting maybe.

Well, the guy didn't know what kind of fire he was playing with because Audrey had a look on her face that said that she was willing to flirt right back, because even if she might have no interest in the pursuit of carnal relations, her dirty talk was legendary and had brought Ben to his knees many a time.

His fiancé was so cool. Easily the best.

"I'll accept your apology if you'll accept mine," Uma said, her eyes sparkling with mirth.

"Done," Ben hummed. "Thanks for um- inviting us over. After everything that's happened…"

"She's not mad," Jane reminded him quietly, shifting her hand low to give his fingers a reassuring squeeze.

"Fuck, Ben," Uma huffed. "We of all people get doing what you need to in order to survive. You were just playing by a different set of rules." She trailed off with a speculative look. "I was angry that you wouldn't level with me, that you wouldn't depend on me to help you – but you were right to exclude me. The bullshit you were dealing with was completely out of my realm of understanding."

"Things should be more straightforward now," Ben said. "My mom said I could still help you with the refugees so uh- maybe we can work together after all."

Uma offered him a fond smile. "I'd like that," she said, before shifting into an expression that meant she definitely wanted to gossip. "Now that we're going to be real with each other, can I call you out on running off Carlos so you could hoard these guys to yourself?"

"Absolutely," Ben said, and because he wasn't that great a guy, his smile was unrepentant. "But hey, we already agreed that while we're committed with each other, we're all free to be open with other, pre-approved people."

"Which means I can kiss Carlos again," Jane hummed, leaning into Ben's contact. "Assuming he'd still want to. He's probably upset that I picked sides."

"I'll explain that I strong-armed you into a corner," Ben said. "The blame's on me for this one, Jane-"

"I went along with your plan," Jane interrupted with a pout.

"Yes, because I manipulated your sense of duty," Ben pointed out. "Just like Audrey and I knew I could." He gave her another squeeze to indicate he was done with this argument. "I'll make it right, I promise."

Assuming the Core Four wanted to talk to him again, but considering the amount of pointed texts Doug and Jane and even Chad were receiving from them, Ben was willing to bet they'd at least hear him out.

"Glad you got that worked out," Uma said, her eyes sparkling with mischief. "And if you're considering being open, could you finally tell us who the fuck your body double is?"

"Maybe," Ben said, narrowing his eyes at her. "As long as you understand that there is absolutely no way you'll ever steal him from us."

"So it was Chad," Uma declared, her smile stretching wide. "I fucking knew it."

"Uma," Ben growled, because he was mean, beasty person. "If you hurt him, if any of you hurt him, I will not hesitate to rip your fucking throats out – do you understand?"

And Uma, because she grew up on the Isle, because she was possessive and protective of her own crew, simply lit up with delight. "Loud and clear, your former majesty," she said with a wink. "I'm gonna tell Harry the good news."

"Hold up," Ben said, shifting so he was standing next to Jane with his arm around her waist. "A few things – first, Harry's really going to have to explain that he likes Chad for his personality and not because he thought he was me, because that's something Chad will forever worry about. Also, Chad might not say yes-"

"We know how it is," Uma huffed, sending him an unappreciative look.

"I was being thorough," Ben did not growl, because Uma was his friend. "And third – if you wanna do this, I need to know what we can get from it."

At that, both Uma and Jane paused.

"What do you want?" Uma tried with a look of intrigue.

"We'd have to talk about it as a group first," Ben explained. "But if Aziz is amendable, I'd like to rock his world while Audrey watches, because she's been through a lot of bullshit recently and that's something she's always wanted."

Uma lit up with a smile. "Yes, I think that can be arranged, and I mean, if we're willing to mix things up…" Her gaze settled on Jane. "I do love my bounty of boyfriends, but I'd like to get frisky with a lady, if you know what I mean."

"Oh," Jane said, a nice flush spreading across her cheeks. "I um- think I'd like that too."

"Great," Uma chirped. "Because Gil thinks Doug is a cutie patootie, so really, we can all win here."

"I will round them up now," Ben said.

And if that evening ended with him pinning a naked Aziz down against his bed, the prince moaning and overwhelmed and trying to offer Ben genuine condolences while he fingered the Agraben open, well then, that was their business, wasn't it?

"Ben," Aziz moaned, his pitch getting somewhat embarrassed when Ben angled him so that Audrey had the best view, the princess watching with a wide smile.

"Having fun?" Ben asked as he sucked a mark against Aziz's neck.

"Y-You're not g-getting anything," Aziz gasped.

"Want to know a secret?" Audrey hummed. "Ben gets just as much pleasure pleasing others as he does pleasing himself."

"Oh," Aziz gasped before falling apart, and obviously Ben had to lick him clean – that was just polite.

Later, they all ended up in one bed, Audrey clad in a pair of Uma's oversized pajamas, the princess happy to curl around a flushed Chad's back.

"Wow," the blond prince said, seeming somewhat dazed. "That was- I mean, I'm not usually in charge like that."

"I'm sure you did a great job," Audrey said, pressing a kiss to his brow.

"Oh, he fucking did," Harry gasped from where he was curled on top of Ben. "T-Thanks for sharing."

"I'm um- down for doing this again sometimes," Doug volunteered, obviously trying hard not to stare at the possessive way Uma curled around Jane and likely failing.

"Oh good," Gil chirped. "I am too."

"Then the motion passes," Uma said before promptly turning off the lights and-

Yeah, it was easily one of the best sleepovers Ben ever had.

-:-:-

"Motherfucker," was how Mal chose to greet them the next morning, Ben and his partners dressed in an accumulation of the pirates' clothes while Uma and Chad navigated the process of making breakfast. "You could have called me."

"Fucking hell, Bertha," Uma said, tossing her spatula to the side to cut Mal off at the pass, the rest of the Core Four lingering behind her. "I wanted to make sure they were settled before you started confronting people."

"Yeah," Mal huffed, shooting a look to where Ben had Harry curled in his lap, the first mate blushing furiously as Audrey demonstrated the effectiveness her dirty talk by purring into Aziz's ear, making the poor Agraben whimper. "You're really settling them, all right."

"Mal," Ben sighed, giving Harry's hip an appreciative squeeze before he slid the first mate onto the bar stool next to him, the former king deciding to take the brunt of Mal's ire as he had been the one to cause it in the first place. "I'm sorry-"

"Ben fucking Florian," Mal interrupted. "If you apologize for any of the bullshit you had to do to survive your father's abuse and look after Auradon, look after me-" Because part of Queen Snow's exposé had briefly mentioned the active measures Ben had to take to protect Mal and the others from his father's stupidity. "I will set you damn legs on fire, so help me."

She looked so certain as she said it, her eyes shining green with frustration, and for a moment Ben was absolutely swamped with how much he had missed this tiny, passionate person.

He hadn't hated Mal. He'd resented her, yes, but mostly that had been a resentment for monogamy and his council and position and the thousands of people demanding his attention and time and focus every single day. Breaking up with Mal hadn't fixed that, because even having just Audrey – whom Ben was entirely honest with – wouldn't have been enough. Like Mal, Ben was a creature of polyamory. He needed it. He needed to share his affections, as meager as they were.

He had liked Mal, but he couldn't live with her alone, the same way she couldn't for him.

"Can I apologize for not being honest with you?" Ben tried. "About the love potion thing? And our breakup?" He turned to address Carlos. "And I need to apologize for stealing your girlfriend too."

"You can apologize for those," Mal allowed. "I know you were just trying to keep us happy because you couldn't be, but you're our friend too. If you're hurting we want to help, and if I was the one that hurt you-"

"It wasn't all your fault," Ben said, cutting that off at the pass. "I knew there was something messed up with that cookie and I ate it anyway." Ben sighed. "I was hoping it was poison."

There was a distinct pause while everyone processed that.

"I'm sorry," Ben murmured, trying not to duck his head, trying to face the problems he had made head on.

"Fuck, Ben," Mal said. "You think we don't get it? We were so brainwashed by our own parents that we didn't realize how much better things were when we didn't have to deal with them anymore. Getting away from their toxic influence – that was a relief and you… you just wanted to do the same." She gave him a pained smile. "You just wanted to be free."

"And now I am," Ben mustered, trying to raise the mood again. "So um- no more manipulating and lying to you guys. At least, not intentionally. It'll probably take me a bit to break that habit completely, but it shouldn't be needed anymore."

"Also," Uma cleared her throat. "They have an open relationship, so…"

"Jane," Carlos said, needy but hesitant, and that was enough to activate Jane's protective instincts, to have the Light Fae cross to Carlos and pull him into a firm hug.

"I'm sorry," Jane murmured. "I wanted to help keep Chad safe."

"I missed you," he whispered, holding her close.

"I missed you too," she hummed, and Ben wasn't even jealous, because Jane deserved all the good things she wanted, and he could admit Carlos was one of those.

With those two breaking the ice Evie wasted no time zeroing in on Chad and Doug.

"Boys," she greeted, her eyes shining with moisture as she curled an arm around each of them. "I missed you."

"Aw man, I'm sorry, Evie," Chad said, tears building in his eyes as well. "It was my dumb council that fucked this up, and I'm not- I wasn't even super upset because it got me Ben-"

"Chad," Evie interrupted, her voice soft. "We all know you love Ben, and I'm glad that you two finally have the chance to be together."

"Oh," Chad said, about as surprised as Ben was, and then the blond was darting forward with Doug so they could hold their princess together. "I missed you too, Evie."

Doug echoed the sentiment in dwarvish, his flush darkening when Evie replied right back in his home language, getting both Chad and Doug to look at her with stars in their eyes and- yes, more good things for his mates, why not?

They deserved the very best.

"So," Mal said, drawing their attention back to the fact that she and Jay were awkwardly standing side by side. "That just leaves us."

"Mal," Ben began. "I love you a lot – that's not a lie – but we are fucking terrible in the bedroom together."

"I know," Mal gushed, getting a laugh from Uma. "We both want to be the one that does the doting and it just doesn't work."

"I'd be happy to dote on people with you, though," Ben said, turning his gaze over to Jay. "I assume you have swamped yourself with enough guilt that you'd never think of doing anything like that ever gain?"

"I wouldn't," Jay gushed, looking so very pained. "Ben, I- I don't regret the spell, I think it settled something in me, but I- what I tried to do-"

"What the hell did he try to do?" Uma asked, always one for open communication.

Jay's cheeks darkened in a furious blush. "I um- tried to get pregnant with his child with, you know, magic."

There was a pointed pause, and then Ben cleared his throat. "I meant what I said back then," he offered. "I'd be honored for you to have my child – but man, would my father have straight up murdered you."

Mal gave him a strange look. "You're not mad that he tried to trap you into a relationship?"

"I understood where he was coming from," Ben explained with a shrug. "Was it the best plan in the world? No, because as king of Auradon, I wouldn't have been able to marry more than one of you, but now that I'm just a boring old prince for at least a few decades…" Ben grinned. "In light of my mom's engagement, the council will have plenty of time to change their minds, but that aside, I'm done letting them dictate how I live my life."

"So we're just going to date whoever we want," Audrey hummed, crossing over to Ben to lean against his side.

"So…" Mal said, her hand slipping into Jay's to give him a squeeze of support. "This is the real you?"

"I'm an asshole," Ben said. "Sor-"

"He's not an asshole," Audrey interrupted with an annoyed look. "But he does think very lowly of himself because of the means we had to go through to survive his father."

"I'm trying to warn them-"

"Hello?" Mal said with a wave, getting their attention. "Ben, we are all assholes, I don't know why you would think that was a detriment. Honestly, it will make me feel less bad for hanging out with you now." She quirked a brow at him. "Assuming you stay real with me."

"I'll try," Ben admitted, earning a pleased look from her. "I realize we probably still need to have a lot more conversations about all the shit I've kept from you in the past, but going forward, can we be friends?"

"Sure," Mal said, making Ben's shoulders slump in relief. "Wanna help me pleasure Jay later?"

"Only if Audrey can watch," Ben said because he was a bro like that, and the multiple bright smiles that earned him was probably unwarranted, but damn, did they feel good regardless.

-:-:-

They managed to have breakfast before they broke apart for a second round of sex – during which Ben explained some of the measures he went through manipulating literally all of them, Audrey and Chad chiming in where necessary.

"I won't say I'm upset," Aziz admitted when Ben mentioned deliberately throwing the trail his way for the body double thing. "Since it got me these guys."

"And also us guys," Chad reminded him, and then Mal chimed in, because if Ben's poly group got to be with Uma's, there was no fucking reason her's shouldn't be.

"Let's be real," Audrey said before they all broke apart into smaller groups. "We don't all love each other because we don't all know each other like that, but most of us have strong feelings or attachments to at least a few other individuals in the other groups and we can all agree that at our core we're all awesome people worthy of hanging out with. Trying to force all of us to love everyone is probably a recipe for disaster, but we can like the hell out of each other, appreciate each other – and everyone who isn't asexual can have sex if everyone's willing. There's no reason we have to make this hard."

"Fucking preach, princess," Uma drawled, holding up her coffee cup in a sort of impromptu toast that everyone was happy to echo.

In the end, Ben couldn't help but agree. Why should they make it hard? Now that Ben had Audrey and Chad, knew that they were his forever, it was easy to split off and play around with the others, to enjoy their company and not have to worry about how they would feel the next day or what lies he would have to tell, because he didn't have to. He could dote on Jay with Mal until the Agraben was writhing, whimpering against Ben's throat until the brunette leaned back and bit his shoulder, something that seemed to settle Jay immediately, making him warm and pliant and so very happy.

"Ben, Mal," he would croak, and they'd manage him together, Audrey offering her own praises from the sideline.

Later, Chad would shyly recount how Doug and Evie had doted on him, because Evie wasn't happy upon learning that Chad thought he'd been a pity boyfriend. Later, a victorious Jane would drag a bashful Carlos from the bedroom they had claimed and shove him into Harry's lap, demanding kisses now, please, and since they'd all learned the importance of listening to Jane, both of them were happy to follow her orders. Later, Ben would watch Mal and Uma make out and think finally, would watch Gil spin Evie in easy circles and Doug awkwardly climb into Jay's lap. He'd watch Audrey and Aziz finish up what they started earlier before the others had come, and then Ben would take pity on the Agraben and shove a hand down his pants right in the middle of the living room, beating him off then and there.

"Audrey," Ben said while Aziz whined against his shoulder. "This is the best idea you've ever had."

"I only had it because of you," Audrey informed him, happy to lean against his free side and card a hand through Aziz's hair. "If you hadn't been so attached to Chad, I never would have thought of polyamory as an option."

The corner of Ben's lip quirked up in amusement. "I guess we can thank my shithead dad for that one thing, then."

"We could," Audrey hummed. "But we won't, because he didn't give us this. We got us this. We worked for it, we fought for it, we got here, and we could pretend it was out of spite to him, but it was mostly out of a lot of hard work and a tremendous amount of good fortune. None of that has anything to do with your dad, so I'm just going to go ahead and give him absolutely no credit for this."

She was right, of course. Ben had allowed his father's actions to dictate far more of his life than he should have, but this… this was his and only his, and he was pretty sure even if his dad had been the hero he'd portrayed himself to be, Ben would have still stumbled his way towards Chad. He would have gotten past his nerves and asked out Audrey. Maybe there wouldn't have been kids on the Isle to save, but fortunately there were, because honestly, Ben didn't know what his life would be like without Uma or Mal or any of the others. He could give his father credit for that, but his father hadn't shaped them into the people they'd become, they did.

And then they were kind enough to share themselves with Ben, and that in itself was a special thing, just like this now.

"N-Not to ruin the moment," Aziz gasped, pulsing so wonderfully in Ben's hand. "But could we um- n-not talk about your dad right now?"

"Fair enough," Ben hummed, giving Aziz's length a teasing stroke as a reward for his patience. "Maybe it would be better if I got my mouth occupied."

"Oh, entirely," Audrey agreed, smirking as Ben went down on Aziz right there, the Agraben's voice reaching a desperate pitch.

So many things in his life beforehand had been hard, but this- it was easy, and now, it was his.

"Hey," Chad said, breaking apart from where he'd been tagging out with Gil so he could keep Audrey company. "You cool cats look like you're having fun."

"We are," Audrey hummed, hooking her arm through the crook of his elbow. "But we're having more now that you're here."

"Oh." Chad paused, shifting his weight with a flush. "Me too, Audrey."

"If you wait, he'll get to you next," Audrey continued, a pleased glint in her eye. "We always have time for you, Chad."

"And I, you," Chad said, and they could do that now in front of other people, they didn't have to hold back anymore, because Chad's grandfather and Ben's father and Audrey's grandmother were gone, because they were finally being given a chance, because they had a life to live and they were going make the most of it.

"Perfect," Audrey said, and that-

Honestly, it summed things up rather nicely.

-:-:-

Endnotes:

If you're looking for more Descendants stuff, I will be posting the first chapter of my next fic on Wednesday. It is an Audrey-centric (sort of – it has a rotating POV for once, but she's the one that kicks things off) that takes place during Descendants 1 and involves more competent Auradon people combined with a stupid amount of sexual shenanigans because apparently that's just the kind of story it is.

Until next time ;)

-:-:-

'Lurking in the shadows, watching your every move. Tall, dark, and dangerous. A man with nothing to lose. Women can't resist him, villains can't escape. The sharpest of shooters. Your heart, he'll break. Once a spy, always a spy forever, forever. The warmest hello to the coldest goodbye, remember, remember. Spies never die, spies are forever.' – 'The Coldest Goodbye' from the musical Spies Are Forever.