Just another normal day for the not-so-perfect fairy tale characters. Mal started to wake up feeling kisses on her cheek, not that she doesn't like it, but being woken up isn't the best part of her day.
"Hi, good morning."
Her husband said, smiling as soon as he saw her finally open her eyes.
"Good morning." She forces herself awake and turns to him, who is kneeling on the edge of the bed, watching her. The handsome king is already perfectly dressed in his traditional blue suit. "Don't you get tired of blue?"
"I'd ask the same about purple."
He joked, hearing her laugh.
"Why do you wake up so early?"
"It's not that early, Your Majesty."
"Oh no? What time is it?"
She asked, yawning.
"Well, today is Friday and..."
"Oh no, there's a meeting with the Council."
She jumped up to interrupt him.
"Actually, no, it's only Monday."
He got up and chased the woman across the room.
"Ben! Why didn't you tell me before? You scared me."
"You have no idea what day it is, do you?"
He asks, already disappointed.
"There's no board meeting, the paperwork is due on Wednesday." She began to tell him what they were both up to and, seeing the puppy dog look on his face, she got tired of joking and threw herself around his neck. "Just kidding, happy 24th birthday and happy dating anniversary." She gave him a brief kiss. "Do you really think I'd forget? Your birthday might be, but our anniversary? What kind of wife do you think I am?"
"The wife, who's been very busy lately."
He isn't wrong. Mal definitely isn't like a Cinderella, she really liked being in control of Auradon. She likes to know how everything is going and, while Ben takes care of the boring meetings, she takes care of the buildings. She is a good queen, sometimes thinking about how her mother would feel. She isn't evil like Maleficent, but she is a queen, a great queen.
"Seven years ago, you were crowned king and officially asked me to date you, as if it hadn't been for weeks."
"Under a spell doesn't count, and to the sound of Once Upon a Dream you said yes."
He says, remembering it perfectly. The song was chosen by Audrey, and he doesn't even remember being asked to change it. The fact is that they have to dance to Once Upon a Dream.
"Good memory Florian." She kissed him again. "I think we should get ready." She remembered when she noticed that he was already asleep on her chest.
"No, it's my birthday and I want to spend it with you."
He said, kissing her neck.
"You're still King Ben, and I'm pretty sure your mother wants to congratulate you too."
She warned him, even though she enjoyed the kisses.
"Just one more minute, please."
With a lot of effort, or nearly so, the two of them got up for coffee with Belle and Adam.
"My baby is already 24."
Belle said, cuddling her son.
"He's already a married man, I said we had to have two children."
Adam joked.
"Excuse me, if I may congratulate your highness."
"Really Lumiere?"
Ben caught the man's eye, calling him "your highness".
"Sorry, it's a habit. Congratulations, Ben. I bring you news from the committee organizing your party, Mrs. Jane asks you to be advised that there will be a delay of one hour."
The butler told him.
"It's all right, sometimes Jane gets very stressed about these events."
He said calmly.
"She just tries too hard. And if the birthday boy will allow me, I'll absent myself from his presence for at least 40 minutes."
She warned, kissing his cheek.
"And where is my lovely queen going?"
He took her hands and kissed them.
"To see Evie, she wants to meet me."
When he says her name, Ben knows it's serious.
"Okay, take care, I love you."
"I love you too."
(...)
Since the death of her nephew, Mal has tried to spend as much time with her friend as possible, even with her real commitments.
" E., can I come in?"
Mal asked, but already entering through the back door of her private studio.
'M. Come in, I'm here." She shouted. "Guys, I want a darker red dress here, okay? I don't think this color matches." Evie is talking to her dressmakers as she walked up to her friend. "Hi, you're an hour late." She smiled, showing her watch.
Evie is fine. Living one day at a time. She still woke up during the night and went into the baby's room, crying a few times. With time, she went back to the studio and still isn't going to her downtown businesses, but no one could demand anything of Evie. One day at a time, that's all.
"I'm sorry, today is Ben's birthday, and you know how things always turn out."
She sat down to rest her feet.
"Yes, but it's much better than years ago, remember what it was like? It was like a national holiday."
"We're trying to save as much as we can, we're going to need to spend more than we planned on the new hospital."
Evie knew that, but she let Mal do the talking.
"And two years later, we're still paying the price for what happened."
The Evil Queen's daughter spoke without any humor. Although, one of her greatest efforts has always been to ignore the loss of Tommy.
"Evie, I'm sorry..."
Mal felt she has said the wrong thing. He always avoided talking about the subject.
"Calm down, let's forget about it. I called you here to try on the dress, it may not be a holiday, but you still have to look elegant."
"Okay."
That is always her line, whenever the subject came up two years ago, she would talk about dresses.
"I always used to know your measurements, but I think I've been working too hard, I've has to change my hips twice."
She said calmly, ready with her tape measure and needles.
"You know, if it is up to me, I'd take anyone, wouldn't you? The one from the last dance is still fine."
It isn't. She smeared the dress with soy sauce.
"Have you forgotten that I'm the queen's stylist? I'm not going to be talked about badly, if you're dressed badly I'll die."
"Do you know about Jay? I haven't seen him for days."
He changed the subject.
"Voluntary work, Lonnie's mad at him, because he doesn't want to go to the North West with her, I suppose he's right, what would it cost to accompany her?"
Jay and Lonnie's relationship isn't a topic they talked about.
"She's not going to die if she's away from him for a week, either."
Mal defended his friend.
"Really? You know you have a fight with your husband because you don't see him for three days, right?"
Evie and Doug aren't like these two couples. The stylist is always traveling first, and Doug has been shuttling between Auradon and other provinces since graduation.
"We live in the same place, Evie, it's different."
She tried to defend herself.
(...)
Evening came and, with it, the big event. All day, Ben had been hugging, greeting, receiving gifts and all sorts of things from the kingdom and, just when he thought he was finally going to sleep, for at least half an hour, the clock reminded him of the ball in his honor.
"Ready?"
Mal asked, placing her earring in front of the stairs.
"As usual, and you?"
He asked, offering his arm to her.
"Showtime."
She said, giving him a brief kiss.
"King Benjamin and Queen Mal!"
(...)
Ben's favorite time is when he pulled Mal into a dance and the two of them spent the night like that.
"I think the best day of my life is when I decided to stay here."
She confessed, as they danced.
"Funny, mine too, but after the engagement, wedding, wedding again and all the other days with you."
"You always win at this romantic thing.
She teased him, as they continued to dance softly.
"Although, I think we'll have other better days, too."
"Oh yeah? For example?"
"Children, I think that when we have our children, those will be the best days of our lives. My mother always says that the best day of her life was when I was born..." He speaks animatedly, but it sounds like he's in a monologue. "Mal? Mal, are you there?"
Whenever the subject of children came up, Mal would freak out and change the subject, this time it is Adam who saved the queen's life.
"We want to make a toast to our beautiful son Ben."
The former king spoke and Mal went over to them.
(...)
At the end of that long night, when they finally go to bed, it is just time for sleep to come.
"It was a good day today, wasn't it?"
Mal asked, getting ready for bed.
"Yeah, apart from the fact that I've hardly seen you, it's great."
He pulled her close.
"Stop complaining, we spent the whole night together." She got out of his embrace under protest. "A present for you."
"For me?"
"Yes, I'm the only one who hasn't given you a present, and it's still our anniversary, right? Here." She handed him an envelope containing two travel tickets, "It's to Paris, you always say you haven't been there for years."
"How do you..."
He sat up in bed, trying to process the information.
"Before you say anything, I've personally cleared your schedule. We have two days off, and you have no choice but to accept, King Ben."
"Are you serious?"
He asked with a gigantic grin on his face.
"And I joke?"
She looked at him seriously.
"I love you, queen."
He said, kissing her cheek.
"I love you, Ben."