Ben (wantschange) wrote in thecityof, @ 2018-02-22 09:04:00 |
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Valentine’s Day. It was such a simple holiday that Ben didn’t understand. They had never really celebrated Valentine’s Day back in Auradon. Mostly because they believed that every day should have been an opportunity to show the one you loved how much you cared about them. But here in Los Angeles, Valentine’s Day was obviously a holiday that everyone took seriously and throughout all the chaos Ben figured they deserved to have a little normal in their lives. And a little normal never hurt anyone, right? Being King of Auradon meant that nothing was ever done in easy fashion. Ben had managed to secure them dinner on the rooftop of the complex complete with purple and white twinkle lights, strawberries and their favorite foods they had come to enjoy since being pulled here. It was cute and what they needed. Ben had done his research and everything just kind of flowed together the way he had intended it too. After dinner he took her to watch some cheesy movie and now they were downtown walking the streets hand in hand and Ben wasn’t even done yet. It was still early and the moon was bright as it lit their path down to the beach where a bonfire awaited them. “I know things haven’t exactly been easy since we got here. And I know Valentine’s Day wasn’t celebrated on the Isle.” In fact, he was sure Valentine’s Day was nothing more than Harry’s birthday back on the Isle, and the pirate made sure they all remembered it too. “So I wanted to make this one special. You can tell me if I made it completely cheesy.” The king didn’t even care. The bright smile remained on his lips as he helped Mal sit on the log in front of the fire and he took a seat beside her. It was all strange. Everything was different here and while he was always with Mal there were times when it felt like they were miles apart and Ben wanted to change that. He was going to change that. They deserved so much more here. She deserved to have that bright light inside of her shine here. And it would. They just had to get past all the bad. It was true that she felt some distance when it came to herself and Ben, but it wasn’t a distance that they could help. Los Angeles was a lot bigger than Auradon, it seemed. The city was like a gigantic kingdom, bigger than the Isle, a city that didn’t seem to end although Mal knew that there was a barrier that kept this city out from the rest of the world. Mal had been to all the other lands, too. She remembered having to go to all these lands to appease her new appearance as an Auradon girl. As princess Mal even though deep down she hated it. A part of her was tired of the dresses and the perfect appearance but Los Angeles didn’t make her have to do that. The city itself was just hard - hard on Mal because she didn’t remember anything and probably hard on Ben because he needed to find his own place like she did. It didn’t help that Mal wasn’t sure what to do when it came to her friends. Carlos and Evie were pirates now and she couldn’t even begin to accept that, didn’t know how to shift what she knew to the way things changed in LA. One minute they were all together and the next they weren’t. The next minute Evie loved the pirates and Carlos did as well. It was like going back to the Isle never happened. It was like none of it mattered to them when it was still fresh in Mal’s mind. When Ben told her that he had this whole day planned out for them she didn’t know what to think at first. She knew part of it was because he wanted to make up for their crazy lifestyles and how school was a lot harder than it should be for any teenager. It was hard on Mal because she didn’t get certain things, didn’t know anything about the world they were in or about simple facts that she was supposed to pick up on. Thankfully the study sessions were helping her out. Mal had even made some new friends at school and they were helping her, too. Liam was really good at certain subjects but Mal was starting to realize that maybe Liam was helping her for a whole other reason that she obviously couldn’t bring up to Ben. Did Ben even know Liam? Did the two share any classes? “Cheesier than your crown boxers?” she asked him teasingly, smiling as she warmed her hands near the bonfire after sitting down on the log next to him. The whole day was actually really nice and it reminded Mal that Ben only wanted to do everything that he could to please her. Everything with them would be fine if it wasn’t for all the horrible things that wanted to happen to them on a daily basis. “It was actually really perfect,” she confessed, her legs brought up so that she could wrap her arms around her knees. “We haven’t done something like this and we should. Going out on dates seems like the normal thing couples do, right?” Ben snorted softly at her teasing. Their first date had been when he was under her love spell but once he had jumped into the water it had all been completely washed away and that’s when Ben knew that he was truly in love with her. It was messy and complicated but Ben didn’t care. Being with Mal was what he wanted. And he hoped that she still felt the same way. “Well, I admit. Those were pretty cheesy.”. But life in Auradon was just that. Cheesy. And Ben couldn’t help that. He was trying to change a lot of things but he never really understood how hard everything was once he became King. He was so busy. There was always someone needing his opinion or imput or be was needed somewhere. His father had made things look so easy but Ben wasn’t his father and he didn’t want to be. He just wished that everything that his father had done didn’t constantly fall on his shoulders. Ben wanted to be his own person. Be remembered as something more. And now he was here in LA anr everything was new and different and it was like be was learning everything from the start all over again. School was the hardest. There was so many things that none of them understood but Carlos seemed to pick up on it all easily enough. The kid was a genius and part of Ben thought that maybe he should have reached out to Carlos to get him to tutor both him and Mal. That was only because he didn’t know this Liam kid was tutoring Mal or his intentions with his girlfriend. “So tell me.” He said softly, glancing over at her to watch the shadow of the fire dance across the pale skin of her face. “How are you really fitting in here?” Because there was so much that was going through her mind and Ben didn’t want her to run away from him again. “But they were cute.” And Mal thought that entire time Ben was still under that love spell. She didn't realize until the very end that the spell had been washed away and his feelings were real. There was no need for that cookie that was supposed to undo it all. Mal was at a loss for words. She didn’t believe that Ben could actually love her back, that his feelings, or her feelings, could end up being so real. Mal knew that she didn’t quite belong in Auradon but she did belong with Ben. She did love him. She enjoyed everything about him and yes, maybe things weren’t easy but when were they? Mal was just glad that he was here, that she could actually wake up in the morning, turn on her side and see Ben there, with his messy beastly hair. When Ben asked how she was fitting in Mal smiled, smiling because she had met some interesting people. “Well, would you believe me if I told you that I know werewolves?” Mal didn’t know how to believe it at first. She knew that vampires were real because of Harry but werewolves? Literally people who could turn into hairy, growly monsters? It was surprising but not entirely something that shocked her core. Mal could turn into a dragon. “I met Liam and Theo when I was walking and they introduced me to fast food. They’re nice. I think Liam is in a class of yours, actually.” Mal thought that she saw him when she met Ben for lunch at school. Ben smiled. Yeah, he was a complete cheeseball and sometimes he couldn’t break out of that. He remembered when he had gone to the Isle and had to pretend to be badder than he was. His look completely changed by Evie. It was then that he understood things a lot better. He saw where the VKs had come from. How they lived. Why they were the way they were. And Ben accepted it. Those were his people and he knew they deserved more. Better. The kids shouldn’t have been punished for the parents mistakes. If they ever made it back to Auradon he had plans to change things and he wouldn’t stop until it was done. “Liam and Theo?” Ben arched a brow because he had seen them both on the network. Sure, Liam seemed kind of harmless but Theo had come off as a dick on more than one occasion and Mal was friends with him? That was certainly new. But the werewolf part was what pulled him in more. “Wait, so they’re like real werewolves?” Which wasn’t that insane. His own father was a beast. Harry was a vampire. It all came rounded in one way or another. “Liam. Right.” Ben nodded and chuckled half to himself. “The one constantly giving me a death glare for no reason.” Well, now he knew why. “Guess it all makes sense now.” There was a slight smirk that formed on his lips. “Can’t say I blame him. I’d be jealous of me too because let's face it. You're kinda hot.” Mal made a face because okay, maybe she wasn’t that naive but Liam knew that she had a boyfriend, that most days after class it was Ben who was waiting for her at the end of sixth period so that the two of them could walk home together. Mal just thought that Liam was a good friend and Theo, while dickish, was funny and she wanted to get to know them more, she wanted to learn more about the things that she didn’t know, werewolves and whatever else that existed in Los Angeles. “He’s not jealous.” Mal said, rolling her eyes as she smiled, bumping her shoulder against Ben because she knew it was just...Liam being Liam. Right? Mal frowned as she thought about it, wondering if maybe she was just ignoring it, not seeing what she didn’t want to see because her eyes were set on Ben, because she loved him. Because Mal just wanted the one person who could make her feel safe and at home. “But I do want you to meet him and Theo, their friends? I want us to make friends. I want you and I to try our best to be normal here.” And Mal just wanted that normalcy to fill them, for the two of them to just love each other and be there for one another the best way that they could. Mal knew that the angels would try and hurt them, challenge them in ways that they didn’t want. “And if you do, will you be nice?” Mal asked, giving Ben a small look because even though Ben wasn’t exactly a werewolf there was still “beastly” parts about him, an anger that could very well be brought out. Ben had to smile because he knew better. He was a guy. Guys had that intuition. They knew when another guy wanted their girl even if their girl couldn’t see it. Liam seemed harmless on all accounts but that was before Ben found out he was a werewolf and really that was kind of a game changer there. He slipped his arm around Mal and let his fingertips tease against her side as he nodded his head. If she wanted him to meet her friends then he would. He wasn’t opposed to meeting new people or starting a life here. It was what he had been trying to do since he arrived despite knowing that they could be sent back home at any time. “What’s normal anyway?” It was just a question but there might have been some truth to it. There was nothing normal about this version of Los Angeles and the crappy thing about that was this was the only version that Ben and Mal knew because they weren’t from this world. Everything was weird and complicated and mixed up with magic and monsters. Still Ben was trying here. It was all they could do. “I’ll be nice.” He nodded and sighed softly. “I can try to be nice.” Because that was usually his default setting but this place had a way of changing you. While Ben hadn’t tapped into his beastly abilities back in Auradon yet there was no telling what that would actually be like when he tapped into it here. It was true. What was normal? Mal’s life was anything but. She knew that life was hard for her but it sort of seemed harder here in a city that threw one thing after another. Everything was confusing and Mal was just trying her best to fit in. When Ben slipped his arm around her she was reminded of the comfort only he could bring. Once again Mal was thankful that when she arrived she had Ben here with her. True, she had her friends but Mal was so...distant from them. She tried her best to accept it, to see the changes for what they were but she just didn’t think she was capable of changing, too. If she could accept that her friends were pirates when it had always just been the four of them. “Would you think less of me if I told you I don’t know where I belong anymore?’ Mal felt so scared to say the words but it was how she felt. Mal didn’t know where to fit in anymore. A part of her wanted things to be the way they used to be but that couldn’t happen here in LA. It couldn’t happen when so many things had changed. “It’s scary that so much can happen and I missed everything.” Maybe if Mal was around she could have told Evie and Carlos that Uma and the rest of her crew were just bad people. People who would just do whatever they wanted to get what was owed to them, as if that was the right way to go about things. Mal knew better now. She had chosen good in order to get a clean slate. At the time it’s what she thought she wanted. “I’m just glad that not everything is different.” Mal turned to look at Ben, her thumb brushing over his chin as she leaned up just enough to kiss him - sweet and soft, everything that Mal loved about them, about the way they loved each other. That didn’t change. Mal still loved Ben so much that losing him, living in LA without him, it scared her more than anything else. Ben paused and stood still for a moment when Mal asked her question. It actually made him frown. No, it wasn’t unusual for Mal to feel like she didn’t fit in. She had felt the same way while she had been in Auradon, and he knew that. Ben never wanted her to go through that again. Yeah, the boy king always knew who Mal was. He had fallen in love with her for it, but that had twisted her upside until she had run back to the Isle. Here there was no running and he knew how hard things had been for her. Seeing Evie and Carlos as a part of the pirate crew wasn’t settling well with her and Ben didn’t know how to fix that. The two VKs had made a decision while Mal had been here once before. But that wasn’t Mal. And the things she had done, the choices that were made, weren’t hers. The pirates weren’t all that bad though, at least not in Ben’s eyes. He had seen something in Uma that night. Had talked to her. On the lost revenge. The sea witch just wanted her and her crew to be free. No one could blame them for wanting off the Isle and it hadn’t seemed like they had done anything extremely awful since they had been there. But that was a losing battle to talk to Mal about. And he knew to choose his battles wisely. “You fit in wherever you want to be, Mal.” He tilted his head and turned to face her directly. “You have no idea how amazing you are. You’re stronger than anybody I know. You don’t have to pick one side to fit in anywhere. You can embrace it all.” And that was the truth. Even if she decided not to stick close to the other VKs. She could make it here. He leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to her lips before lowering his head and brushing his nose against her shoulder and sighing softly. “You’ll always have me. I’ll always be right here. I promise.” Nothing could tear him away from her. As Ben spoke she took what he said to heart. Maybe she didn’t have to fit in just one place. Maybe it wasn’t all that hard because Los Angeles would always be the way it was and the people here, the pirates, her friends, the other villian kids, they all would be here too and Mal needed to accept that. She needed to figure out how she was going to be who she wanted to be with these people whether she liked them or not. Mal needed to be there, she needed to accept that she wasn’t going to go anywhere until the angels wanted her do. Until they made that choice. “Come on,” Mal stood up and waited for Ben to take her hand before dragging him away from the fire. The air was cool and it was dark but the moonlight was bright and she could see Ben, smiling as she brought her arms around his neck so that he could grab her waist, the two of them...dancing because yes, dancing was something that they did. “So, are you going to end the night with a solo act?” Mal asked, unable to help but be a little snarky considering the things that they did, the things that Ben did back in Auradon, when she had given him that stupid cookie and he literally sang to her in front of the school. “You know, r-i-d-i-c-u-l-o-u-s?” Mal raised her brows, the ocean waves crashing in the background, Mal remembering how she felt for Ben, how she did everything she did because she wanted to trick him but in the end she ended up actually falling in love with him. In all honesty, it was that simple. Sure, this place wasn’t kind. It constantly gave you battles and had you second guessing yourself. Threw you in challenges. But this was home until the angels were done with them and it wasn’t Auradon or the Isle. They could be who they wanted here. Make their own path and just try to live. Deep down Ben was grateful that he wasn’t a king here. He was just a kid like his friends trying to survive. He got to experience things the same way everyone else did and wasn’t constantly haggled to pick and choose and decide for everyone else. He was born to be a leader and he loved it. But something it was overwhelming. Sometimes he just wanted to be Ben. Ben’s hands easily set on her waist as he pulled her close. The moonlight shined brightly against her purple hair and Ben grinned. God, he had been a fool for this girl. And he still was. Complete head over heels for her. He never wanted to lose that. He never wanted it to change. “You must have thought I was a fool.” Because he had been. He had basically ended his relationship with Audrey that day and confessed his love for her in front of everyone. He wouldn’t have changed that for anything. He leaned down and softly nipped at her ear as they danced, “And did I mention that I’m in love with you?” He sang softly, his lips brushing down along her neck to press a sweet kiss there before lifting his head and staring down at her with another cheesy smile. “Because I am. I love you. And everything about you.” “No but it was a little embarrassing.” Mal couldn’t help but smile because the whole thing with the singing and the dancing, with the way Ben surfed an entire crowd to just get to her and ask if she wanted to go out with him. Obviously she said yes because she thought it was the spell and Mal thought that she could use Ben to get closer to Fairy Godmother’s wand. In the end Mal did fall in love with him. How could she not? Everything about Ben was perfect. She loved him so much because if not for him then Mal wouldn’t have realized how good she wanted to be. “When I came to Auradon it’s true that I didn’t feel like myself but you did show me who I wanted to be, Ben.” Mal didn’t want to be like her mother. It ripped her apart, tore her insides to shreds when she was trying to figure out how she wanted to live her life, if she wanted to be...good. She wanted to be with Ben. “It’s why that I know that as long as we’re together I can face anything. I can be strong. I want to be strong for you, for me.” Mal brought her body close, her head pressed into Ben’s chest because for the moment she wanted to remind herself what his heartbeat sounded like. The rhythm in his chest. How soothing it was to listen to. “It’s starts with you and me, right?” Mal asked, pulling back so that she could look at Ben, her body leaning up again so that she could kiss him again, this time with purpose. “You can’t say that I ever do anything without a bit of flair.” Ben laughed softly and shrugged. He didn’t care if he had made a fool out of himself because he would have done so much more, so much worse, to prove his love for the Villain Kid. He saw so much inside of Mal that she couldn’t see herself. When he had first laid eyes on her he knew how much she would mean to him. He didn’t know how he knew, he just felt it and right away he was drawn to her. And that only grew with every day that he was around her. Ben inhaled deeply as he thought about his next words. There was so much that he could have said. He never wanted Mal to change who she was because she had chosen to stay in Auradon. He knew things were insanely different for her. That she was overwhelmed when it came to the duties of a princess and being the lady of the court. It was a lot to take in. Ben had never asked her to change but he understood now how much pressure she was under. How everyone looked and stared and expected things. Ben knew how that felt all too well and he just needed something for her to understand that was in love with her and not who she tried to be. That was what the mural had been for. A gentle reminder of how much he loved her. “You don’t have to be just one or the other.” He said softly. “I think it’s kind of impossible to be.” Because they all had roots they were connected to and Mal wasn’t born an AK. She was a VK with good tendencies and an amazing heart. “I think we just find a balance between it. Something that makes you, you.” He wrapped his arms around her and held onto her tightly as his lips brushed against her hair. “Whatever comes our way, we got this.” They were stronger than either of them realized. Otherwise what the hell were they even doing here? In a way Mal had realized that she could still be everything she wanted to be without changing herself. It was true that she didn’t want to let go of her roots but she wanted to be with Ben. Mal still wanted to be good but not at the expense of herself. She learned that she didn’t have to. In the end Mal could still be that villain kid who grew up on the Isle. She could be a little bad. Mal could be anything she wanted to be. “No, I don’t.” And she was glad that Ben understood that. The fact that he did meant everything and she was happy that he was able to catch her in that mural, the way her eyes turned green because that was a part of her. It was the part of her that she knew Ben loved. “Whatever happens, whatever we have to face, I want to make sure we do that together.” Because in the end, despite what came their way, Mal knew that as long as they stood side by side they could outmatch it. Everything could still be different or maybe tomorrow everything could change but what didn’t, what wasn’t going to was this, the way the two felt. “Let’s go home, yeah?” Mal was starting to get a little chilly and she knew that there was still the rest of the night to enjoy. A part of her wanted to just curl up in Ben’s bed and watch a movie with him until one of them fell asleep. Ben was more than a foolish boy king. He understood things when nobody else could. He was willing to listen. To pay attention to what mattered and didn't dwell on the past. It was why he was so intent on changing things. Why he wanted something more to look forward too. Ben could adapt to any situation and that was being proved more and more by his reactions to things lately. "I think that's a promise that I can keep." And he would do whatever he had to in order to make that happened. Everything was different her in LA but that didn't mean that everything had to change either. It would happen. Ben and Mal were changing in different ways every day that they were here but he also knew that they would get stronger together too. Ben nodded his head and stole one last kiss before he found her hand and they started walking back towards the complex. "I have one last gift to give you before the night is over too." It was a simple necklace that reeked of everything that Mal was about but he couldn't lie. The rest of the night just curled up with his girl did sound like the perfect way to end the night. And that's exactly how it would be. |